Stature Software

Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

Tablets are the Talk at CES 2011

January 6th, 2011 by Erin Posted in Technology | No Comments »

I’m not going to pretend I’m at CES 2011 in Las Vegas. Nope. Instead of reporting from the exhibit floor, I’m reading and writing about it from the comforts of my home office.

That said though, I’m quite envious of the people who are there. It’s the ‘World’s Biggest Tech Show’ and the buzz that is circulating through CES and beyond is almost deafening.

Tablets  - LOTS of them – are expected to be the big show-and-tell feature. Since Apple is not there, the other guys get their due. Other guys like – Acer, Archos, Creative, Dell, Entourage, Fusion Garage, LG, Motorola, MSI, Notion Ink, Samsung, Toshiba, and ViewSonic. These are all players, which CNET predicts will unveil their Android tablets – the newest crop.

Of course, a lot of serious eyes will be watching Lenovo’s IdeaPad U1 Hybrid – a laptop by day, a tablet by night. LOVE the concept. Hate the name.

The IdeaPad U1 made its debut at CES last year with a lot of fanfare. But it was never released and thus put on the back burner for much of 2010. Let the resurrection begin!

In case you’re not familiar with the IdeaPad and its pure awesomeness, Engadget gives it this powerful description:

“When the screen is locked into its upright position in the laptop’s chassis, it’s powered by a CULV Intel Core 2 Duo processor and runs Windows 7 Home Premium. But when the screen is pulled from its shell it morphs into a Qualcomm Snapdragon powered-multitouch slate with a 16GB SSD that boots Lenovo’s customized Skylight Linux interface. Two processors and two operating systems? Hybrid is right.”

And, by the way, when the IdeaPad is in its tablet form, the system then become LePad. No joke.

Two other tablets worth noting come from ASUS. They include physical keyboards.The Android-based Eee Pad Slider and Transformer both feature QWERTY keyboards and Tegra-2 processors. The Slider has a unique design with a fold-out keyboard. Innnnnnteresting.

Yes, CES will indeed live up to its pseudo-name again this year – that being the World Cup of Technology. The geeks are going crazy. And, if I was there – I would be too.

Unfortunately though, we’ll have to wait to see how consumers react to all of these new products in the year to come. Boom or bust?

 Tags: android, CES 2011, ideapad u1, tablet hybrid, tablets, tech show

Holiday Consumer Survey: “We’ll Take iPads, Thank You”

December 9th, 2010 by Erin Posted in Technology | No Comments »

Nothing says happy holidays like greed and self indulgence.

Amid the unprecedented turn of events going on with the Wikileaks cyberwar, I thought I’d write about something people really care about: Themselves.

What do we, Americans, want for Christmas?

Not world peace.

Not food and shelter for the millions of children and families around the world living in squalor.

Not an end to the recession.

Not a cure for cancer.

We want an Apple iPad 3G. Oh, and not just any Apple iPad. We want one loaded with unlimited music and apps. And, as a recent CNET holiday consumer survey shows, we want loaded iPads over Universal Healthcare as our fantasy holiday gift.

But wait, it gets better.

When consumers were asked what holiday gift they would want for themselves if cost was not an issue, the top three answers covered everything from everyday necessities to consumer electronics and high-ticket luxury items:

- their mortgage paid for the year

- a 2011 Porsche Panamera 4S

- and the Apple iPad 3G with unlimited free music and apps.

In addition to Universal Healthcare,  the iPad also ranked higher than other gifts like maid service for a year, a lifetime membership to Netflix and the Amazon Kindle preloaded with 2,000 books!

Me?

I’d take the maid service – and then, when the service expired, I’d ask for it again next Christmas.

Cleaning toilets blows. But, then again, so does paying a mortgage.

 Tags: apple ipad 3g, holiday consumer survey, holiday gift, universal healthcare, wikileaks cyberwar

Google Gets Us Even MORE Productive

November 23rd, 2010 by Erin Posted in Business, Technology | No Comments »

I’m a staunch supporter of all things Google – well almost all (remember Buzz?)

I use Google’s search engine. I use its browser, Chrome. I use its voice service… and sometimes, even chat. But, lately, what’s really come in handy is Docs.

I know Google Docs has been around a while, but sadly I’ve only just discovered how useful and convenient it really is. I rely on it primarily because I work from a MacBook and most of my colleagues work from MS Office on their pc’s. Docs lets me convert my work into any type of file… allowing seamless document circulation between parties. Docs also enables me to share my work with other people by granting them email access. All they have to do is log in.

I know. I know. This is nothing new to a lot of people. But what IS new is a just introduced Google Docs beta feature called Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office.

Basically, Google Cloud Connect is an add-on for Office that syncs documents, spreadsheets and presentations from Office 2003, 2007 and 2010 with the cloud. In other words, it takes data on the desktop and makes a backup copy in Google Docs, gives it a unique URL and constantly syncs the data with anybody else that might be sharing the same document.

The technology behind Google Cloud Connect derives from DocVerse, a productivity tool that Google acquired earlier this year that lets multiple users collaborate and edit Microsoft Office documents.

What’s fantastic is that a business team can edit a document from either Microsoft Office or Google Docs simultaneously – and Docs will save all of the revisions, so if someone messes up someone else’s edits, it’s easy to revert them.

This new launch is all about getting Office users – like my old self – to ditch the software permanently and switch to Google Docs and the cloud. Admittedly, I had resisted the change… but once I went cloud, I knew I was never going back.

Microsoft’s productivity suite had its time in the sun. Now it’s Google’s turn to shine – and it’s oh so bright.

 Tags: business collaboration, google cloud connect for microsoft office, google docs, office documents

The Future of Tech: Internet Censorship?

November 18th, 2010 by Erin Posted in Technology | No Comments »

Amid the post mid-term election fury, let’s talk about democracy and the right to free speech and due process. The very people who’ve we put in office now want to take it all away from us with a little-known bill called – Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA).

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who’s just been re-elected Judiciary Chair and is the LEAD SPONSOR of the bill, plans to push COICA through the lame duck session which started this week.

Here’s the lowdown.

Under COICA, the government could force Internet service providers to block access to sites like YouTube, Wikileaks, and others that the government claims are spurring the spread of copyrighted materials.  The Electronic Frontier Foundation lists some other vulnerable sites as well. In blocking these sites, the government would be violating the First Amendment and reasonable due process, and setting a terrible precedent that totalitarian regimes across the globe would use to justify their own crackdowns on Internet freedom.

What’s troubling is this bill has some big backers, like the Chamber of Commerce, NBC Universal, Disney, and Time Warner – to name a few. And, they’ve sent a multi-industry letter to Sen. Leahy stating their support of COICA.

The ACLU, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, and other human rights organizations have issued a letter of their own, underscoring that this legislation puts us in the company of China, Iran, and Turkey – all of which regularly censor access to online content.

The future of tech does not mean we give corporatists and big business power over the Internet. It means we keep the Internet open!

Time to wake up Leahy! Stand up for this country. Don’t make us stoop to the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hu Jintao!

Sign the petition to stop the Internet Blacklist. Or, read up on COICA and decide for yourself.

The first vote on this bill is scheduled for today!

 Tags: big business, coica, internet blacklist, internet censorship, internet freedom, patrick leahy

HP Tablet Means Business – Or Does it?

October 27th, 2010 by Erin Posted in Technology | No Comments »

There’s no doubt about it. The Apple iPad is still a hot ticket and is expected to remain so through the holiday season. But tech watchers also have their eyes on another tablet – one that claims to be less about consumption, and more about business.

Windows Slate 500.

The so-called business tablet went on sale recently with little fanfare.

Why?

At first glance a Windows-based tablet just seems like a crummy idea. But, the Slate claims to fill the role of what the iPad and other consumer-based tablets lack – and that is mobile business.

The HP tablet has front and rear-facing cameras. It has a USB port and an SD memory card slot, not to mention a 32-bit Windows 7 Professional operating system.

With the Slate, HP also has its sights set on specific industry segments such as retail, insurance, hospitality, healthcare, and education. Based on its research, HP believes there is a need for a portable, tablet device complete with customized Windows-based software in these industries.

That is all well and good… but will there ever be a real need for a business-based tablet in the broader sense? And, furthermore, is there really a big distinction between the Slate and a tablet like the iPad?

No really.

While the Slate’s suped up features standout now, it’ll only be a matter of time before the other tablets follow suit. Cameras, USB ports, and memory card slots are all expected to show up in the next version of the iPad in 2011.

And, with regard to need, well, Tony Bradley at PCWorld sums it up perfectly. He writes:

Users don’t want a tablet to be a full desktop operating system, or run all of the software, and use all of the peripherals commonly associated with PCs. They have PCs for that. The tablet is a mobile computing device with the emphasis on “mobile” rather than “computing”. The tablet needs to be lightweight, have exceptional battery life, and provide intuitive–preferably one-handed–access to all of the tasks and tools users need.

The quantifiable difference between consumer-based and business-based tablets seems a little muddled. But, I do commend HP for giving it the old college try. Spin it whichever way you want  - marketing is marketing. And, if HP says the Slate is ideal for business – and people buy it – then so be it.

Can’t knock ‘em for trying.

 Tags: apple ipad, business table, hp tablet, mobile business, windows slate 500