Yes, I realize it was released a month ago and I am a little late to the lather-up-in-Windows7-butter party. I've been on a bit of a blogging hiatus for a while. I got into reading and doing book reviews and then got busy with other stuff...but I am back to my senses now. Not that I am no longer going to do book reviews. I like it, in fact. But this is a tech blog...and no matter my attempts to hide it and push it deep down into the dark recesses of my persona, I am still just a simple tech geek. We are what we are, no since fighting it.
So, on that note, with some fear and trepidation, I have made the jump to Windows 7. And, so far, I love it. There are the usual pains of changing to a new OS interface (like we had with the Windows95 jump...and then in turn the Windows XP jump) where things are in different places and some ways of doing things have changed. But what I like about it is simple...it works. The way things are done might be different, but the new ways work. The old ways didn't always do that.
There are some similar issues with Vista. Legacy hardware and software support is not guaranteed. Some legacy apps that I used with XP don't work on Windows7. The majority of these apps have released newer versions that work with Vista/Windows7, but then that requires buying a new version (usually) and then likely that interface has changed and so now another learning curve to figure out how to do the same things I did before. Painful yes...but, change often is.
It seems to use system resources more efficiently than XP did. It feels much faster than XP on the same laptop. It has some new graphics and motion and frilly stuff that many home users will enjoy, at least superficially. But more important to me is that it works. It does what it says it does.
The jury is still out one whether it is their best ever. There are countless different scenarios even just with the process of migrating to Windows7 from earlier versions that haven't been fully tested. The next 6 months or so will tell the tale more clearly. I'm not going to get into all the specifics of Windows 7 just yet...mostly because I haven't had time to go through it all myself.
But, so far, I'm impressed. It's almost enough to get that nasty "Vista" taste out of my mouth.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Book Review - Green by Ted Dekker
In Green, the group known as the "Circle", led by Thomas Hunter, is fracturing. It has been 10 years since they have really seen God (called Elyon in this story). In that world, which is actually a couple thousand years in the future, the unseen is now seen. Good and Evil are incarnated and tangible. The followers of the evil lord Teelah, Elyon’s enemy, are clearly visible by the scabbing disease that ravages their body, and the followers of Elyon have had the disease washed away by Elyon’s waters. But, they have not experienced their Savior in over 10 years. It was wearing on the Circle, many of whom were used to experiencing Elyon on a regular basis, and they are starting to doubt their faith. Even Thomas’ own son, Samuel, has turned his back on his father, and the peaceful teachings of Elyon to love their enemy, the Horde, in an effort to save as many of them as possible before Elyon’s final return. Samuel has instead conspired with dark forces to wage what he believes would be a final war to crush the “enemies” of Elyon.
Thomas tries desperately to save the Circle, to help them rescue their faith, and at the same time rescue his first-born from a self-destructive path that is taking Samuel dangerously close to becoming the enemy he so badly wants to destroy. In this desperate time, Thomas finds a way back to the other reality (our reality) that he had visited before…in his dreams…to find something, anything, to help his people again.
Green is Dekker’s latest addition to what was once referred to as the "Circle Trilogy" (once…but not now, obviously. You see, this is the 4th book in the series and a trilogy is only…well, you get it). The Circle “Series” is a part of the larger epic “Books of History Chronicles” which is now upwards of 15 books broken up into 3 different series including the aforementioned Circle Series and then also the “Lost Books” and the “Paradise Novels”.
Having only recently read the original Trilogy (which includes Black, Red, and White), I was really looking forward to Green, and at the same time not so much. The books seemed to fit so well as a trilogy and although it found it intriguing to have some of the mysteries of the original story revealed and loose ends tied up, I also like the imagination that is prompted when you are left to fill in the blanks for yourself.
Green is referred to as book "Zero"…the beginning and the end. Dekker describes it himself that you can read Green as the first book, or the last book. However, having read the other three books already, it seemed to me that some of the story would be lost on a reader that had not read the others. There isn’t quite as much story development at the beginning to explain a lot of the background of the story and the characters, and given that the story was developed over 3 novels I’m not sure it really could be…or should be. There was a lot of unknown in Black (the original "first" book), granted, but the fact that it was unknown was intrinsic to the story. Nobody knew exactly what was going on in the beginning, not even all characters, and that was the fun part. In this book a reader new to the story might feel more like the “unknown” is in fact known to everyone else and they are just left out.
That said, given that I have read the other three books, I thoroughly enjoyed this story. Once again, Dekker does a fantastic job of painting the picture of the emotions of the characters and posing thought provoking questions about faith and the sometimes blurred lines between good and evil…love and hate…right and wrong. Action junkies fear not, there is no shortage of the usual suspense, action and epic battles. The evil in this one was more real and more gruesome than ever. In fact, my one complaint about the book itself is that the evil and gore are a little over-the-top and disturbing. Evil is inherently disturbing, to be sure, but Dekker’s gift of making these images come to life make the creepy that much creepier. As usual he is very descriptive of the emotion that the characters feel and with the “evil” taking so much joy and almost sexual pleasure in their “evil”, I sometimes felt the need to "look away". It was almost exaggerated and I would probably prefer it be scaled back just a bit. But, it is not Dekker’s way to sugar-coat, and I suppose it might be ultimately more disappointing to have him soften things and depart from what makes him the story teller that he is.
All in all, I thought it was a very compelling book, just maybe not for the faint of heart (or those with a weak stomach). It has the gripping drama, the suspense, and great story telling typical with Dekker novels.
A great “ending” to the story, or possibly the beginning, where the past is the future, and the future the past.
Dive in…dive deep.
Thomas tries desperately to save the Circle, to help them rescue their faith, and at the same time rescue his first-born from a self-destructive path that is taking Samuel dangerously close to becoming the enemy he so badly wants to destroy. In this desperate time, Thomas finds a way back to the other reality (our reality) that he had visited before…in his dreams…to find something, anything, to help his people again.
Green is Dekker’s latest addition to what was once referred to as the "Circle Trilogy" (once…but not now, obviously. You see, this is the 4th book in the series and a trilogy is only…well, you get it). The Circle “Series” is a part of the larger epic “Books of History Chronicles” which is now upwards of 15 books broken up into 3 different series including the aforementioned Circle Series and then also the “Lost Books” and the “Paradise Novels”.
Having only recently read the original Trilogy (which includes Black, Red, and White), I was really looking forward to Green, and at the same time not so much. The books seemed to fit so well as a trilogy and although it found it intriguing to have some of the mysteries of the original story revealed and loose ends tied up, I also like the imagination that is prompted when you are left to fill in the blanks for yourself.
Green is referred to as book "Zero"…the beginning and the end. Dekker describes it himself that you can read Green as the first book, or the last book. However, having read the other three books already, it seemed to me that some of the story would be lost on a reader that had not read the others. There isn’t quite as much story development at the beginning to explain a lot of the background of the story and the characters, and given that the story was developed over 3 novels I’m not sure it really could be…or should be. There was a lot of unknown in Black (the original "first" book), granted, but the fact that it was unknown was intrinsic to the story. Nobody knew exactly what was going on in the beginning, not even all characters, and that was the fun part. In this book a reader new to the story might feel more like the “unknown” is in fact known to everyone else and they are just left out.
That said, given that I have read the other three books, I thoroughly enjoyed this story. Once again, Dekker does a fantastic job of painting the picture of the emotions of the characters and posing thought provoking questions about faith and the sometimes blurred lines between good and evil…love and hate…right and wrong. Action junkies fear not, there is no shortage of the usual suspense, action and epic battles. The evil in this one was more real and more gruesome than ever. In fact, my one complaint about the book itself is that the evil and gore are a little over-the-top and disturbing. Evil is inherently disturbing, to be sure, but Dekker’s gift of making these images come to life make the creepy that much creepier. As usual he is very descriptive of the emotion that the characters feel and with the “evil” taking so much joy and almost sexual pleasure in their “evil”, I sometimes felt the need to "look away". It was almost exaggerated and I would probably prefer it be scaled back just a bit. But, it is not Dekker’s way to sugar-coat, and I suppose it might be ultimately more disappointing to have him soften things and depart from what makes him the story teller that he is.
All in all, I thought it was a very compelling book, just maybe not for the faint of heart (or those with a weak stomach). It has the gripping drama, the suspense, and great story telling typical with Dekker novels.
A great “ending” to the story, or possibly the beginning, where the past is the future, and the future the past.
Dive in…dive deep.
Ever-expanding Horizions
Being of an engineering mind, I am a creature of habit. So, I don't branch that far out in anything really. When I find something I like, I tend to stick to it. You know the type..."Change is not good...no matter what anyone else says." But, I've begun to branch out and read more than just Computer Magazines and Technical Journals...to expand my Geekness.
I have always enjoyed the mystery/crime drama movies based off the novels of Grisham and Patterson and the like, but have never read the actual books. I'm a busy guy, and watching the movie just seemed easier and faster. Kind of like a Cliff's Notes version of the Cliff's Notes, if you will.
As I've gotten older I've come to really enjoy the time-outs in life, though, from time to time. I don't have that feeling of being afraid I'm going to miss something as much as I used to. Maybe in a way, I'm resigned to the fact that I probably already missed it...i dunno. I decided that maybe taking time to relax and read a good book wasn't so bad after all and that maybe I'd give it a shot.
Only, I don't have any books. My library consists of computer magazines, home improvement magazines and how-to books, and a few self-help books my mom gave me over the years (most of which, I'll admit, I haven't opened let alone read...sorry Mom). I borrowed a book from my Mom to get started. No, not another self-help book, but a completely fictional crime drama that is set in a real life small town in North Carolina close to where my parents live (and happens to be where the Author, John Hart, lives as well). The book was called King of Lies and it was fantastic. I couldn't put it down. Reading those crime stories was so much more engrossing than watching the Hollywood versions of them.
So I read more. Not just crime dramas anymore, either (although, I do tend to lean that way). I used to read a ton when I was young. I learned to read rather young and I love learning in general, so I would read whatever I could. Absorb as much information as possible. I kind of feel like that again. Like a whole new world has been re-opened, as it were.
So, to make a long story, well...longer, I've signed up to be a reviewer of newly released books from different publishers. And, I am going to expand this blog to include those reviews as they come. Kind of an exciting new thing for me...and it gets me a way to build my library for free!
I know you're waiting with bated breath...so here comes the first one...
...no sleeping!!
I have always enjoyed the mystery/crime drama movies based off the novels of Grisham and Patterson and the like, but have never read the actual books. I'm a busy guy, and watching the movie just seemed easier and faster. Kind of like a Cliff's Notes version of the Cliff's Notes, if you will.
As I've gotten older I've come to really enjoy the time-outs in life, though, from time to time. I don't have that feeling of being afraid I'm going to miss something as much as I used to. Maybe in a way, I'm resigned to the fact that I probably already missed it...i dunno. I decided that maybe taking time to relax and read a good book wasn't so bad after all and that maybe I'd give it a shot.
Only, I don't have any books. My library consists of computer magazines, home improvement magazines and how-to books, and a few self-help books my mom gave me over the years (most of which, I'll admit, I haven't opened let alone read...sorry Mom). I borrowed a book from my Mom to get started. No, not another self-help book, but a completely fictional crime drama that is set in a real life small town in North Carolina close to where my parents live (and happens to be where the Author, John Hart, lives as well). The book was called King of Lies and it was fantastic. I couldn't put it down. Reading those crime stories was so much more engrossing than watching the Hollywood versions of them.
So I read more. Not just crime dramas anymore, either (although, I do tend to lean that way). I used to read a ton when I was young. I learned to read rather young and I love learning in general, so I would read whatever I could. Absorb as much information as possible. I kind of feel like that again. Like a whole new world has been re-opened, as it were.
So, to make a long story, well...longer, I've signed up to be a reviewer of newly released books from different publishers. And, I am going to expand this blog to include those reviews as they come. Kind of an exciting new thing for me...and it gets me a way to build my library for free!
I know you're waiting with bated breath...so here comes the first one...
...no sleeping!!
Monday, August 24, 2009
If your Xbox 360 has not failed yet...just wait...
Recently, a popular Video Game magazine surveyed over 5,000 video game players and found that an astonishing 54.2 percent of Xbox 360 consoles experienced severe hardware failures, more 5 times the rate than competing consoles. Sony PS3 showed a 10.6% failure rate while the Nintendo Wii was the smallest at 6.8%.
Even more alarming is the fact that of the Xbox 360 consoles that are repaired by Microsoft and returned to the owners...over 41% of those experience ANOTHER severe hardware failure, requiring yet another repair.
Remember, the bug-plagued Xbox 360 was at the center of a $1.1 billion warranty recall last year and is rather notorious for the "Red Ring of Death" hardware failure that in reality seems to happen at some point to every Xbox 360...at least all of them purchased prior to this year. With the drop in price this year of the console, Microsoft has actually sold a large number of the Xbox 360s this year over last year and that might explain why the failure rate is actually lower than most experts thought it would be. Interesting isn't it that a 55% failure rate is "better" than expected? Kind of like Bill Clinton championing the fact that he took Arkansas from 50th in education up to 49th (yee-haw!!!).
The most surprising stat from this survey, in my opinion, is that the bad experiences with the Xbox 360 reliability have not had much effect on their owners. In fact, only 3.8% of users said they would never buy another one because of the hardware issues and 36.4 percent actually purchased a second console. Just following Bill "Pied Piper" Gates all the way to oblivion.
"Microsoft stands behind the Xbox 360 as a superior entertainment console with one of the best warranties in the industry," a Microsoft spokesperson noted in a response to this damning survey. "We are constantly improving the design, manufacture and performance of the console through extensive testing of potential sources of any problems. Xbox 360 is pleased to maintain the title of 'most played console' and the vast majority of Xbox 360 customers have enjoyed a terrific gaming and entertainment experience since their first day, and continue to, day in and day out."
Well, it appears that not only is the Xbox 360 the "most played console" in the industry...it is also the "most often repaired" console and even the "most often repaired again" console.
Even more alarming is the fact that of the Xbox 360 consoles that are repaired by Microsoft and returned to the owners...over 41% of those experience ANOTHER severe hardware failure, requiring yet another repair.
Remember, the bug-plagued Xbox 360 was at the center of a $1.1 billion warranty recall last year and is rather notorious for the "Red Ring of Death" hardware failure that in reality seems to happen at some point to every Xbox 360...at least all of them purchased prior to this year. With the drop in price this year of the console, Microsoft has actually sold a large number of the Xbox 360s this year over last year and that might explain why the failure rate is actually lower than most experts thought it would be. Interesting isn't it that a 55% failure rate is "better" than expected? Kind of like Bill Clinton championing the fact that he took Arkansas from 50th in education up to 49th (yee-haw!!!).
The most surprising stat from this survey, in my opinion, is that the bad experiences with the Xbox 360 reliability have not had much effect on their owners. In fact, only 3.8% of users said they would never buy another one because of the hardware issues and 36.4 percent actually purchased a second console. Just following Bill "Pied Piper" Gates all the way to oblivion.
"Microsoft stands behind the Xbox 360 as a superior entertainment console with one of the best warranties in the industry," a Microsoft spokesperson noted in a response to this damning survey. "We are constantly improving the design, manufacture and performance of the console through extensive testing of potential sources of any problems. Xbox 360 is pleased to maintain the title of 'most played console' and the vast majority of Xbox 360 customers have enjoyed a terrific gaming and entertainment experience since their first day, and continue to, day in and day out."
Well, it appears that not only is the Xbox 360 the "most played console" in the industry...it is also the "most often repaired" console and even the "most often repaired again" console.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Mozilla Releases Firefox 3.5
Mozilla launched its latest browser, Firefox 3.5, Tuesday. This release adds new functionality, some performance improvements, new customization options, and increased support for some of the new web standards. "Firefox 3.5 brings together the most innovative web technologies and delivers them in the most complete and powerful modern browser," says Mozilla CEO John Lilly. "So much is happening on the web right now, it's a great time for browsers."
The new version of Firefox got off to a fast start with reports of more than 1.1 million downloads on the first day of availability. Firefox is already the number 2 browser worldwide, trailing only Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE).
Originally, Mozilla had planned to release a minor update (version 3.1) to the Firefox browser, but decided to release the product as Firefox 3.5 instead, which is considered a "major" release. 3.5 adds a new "Private Browsing Mode" (similar to IE 8's "InPrivate" feature) and support for the next generation HTML 5 standard.
Mozilla also claims that 3.5, because of its improved JavaScript engine (labelled "TraceMonkey"), is "two times faster than Firefox 3.0 and ten times faster than 2.0 on complex websites". I chuckle at vague performance claims that can be neither confirmed or denied in any kind of testing....what exactly defines a "complex" website? Other browsers, such as Chrome and Safari, have been making similar claims recently and each is touting new JS engines.
Speaking of Safari, Apple proudly announced 2 weeks ago the release of Safari 4 had garnered 11 million downloads in its first 3 days. A hidden detail though (taken straight from the Microsoft book of statistics) was that much of these downloads occurred due to Apple force-feeding the update to customers through its updating utility. Mozilla put that number into perspective the following day, when they mentioned that the VERY minor update to Firefox (version 3.0.11) had been downloaded more than 150 million times in 24 hours. Moral of the story...Firefox is a major player in the browser world...Safari, not so much.
Even Mozilla's presence needs perspective, however. In the US, Firefox accounts for about 20 percent of the usage share, compared to 73 percent for IE. It's a respectable number, mind you, considering that IE is available virtually by default for the vast majority of people, but 20% is 20%. Internationally, however, those numbers are closer together and in some European countries (such as Finland, Poland, and Slovenia) Firefox actually leads IE and controls about 50% of the market.
Market share in Europe will get even closer with the release of Windows 7. Due to the EU's rather unreasonable antitrust battle with Microsoft, the software giant announced recently it would meet their demands and will not include IE8 with Windows 7 (after all...they aren't asking Apple to un-bundle Safari). Microsoft will instead include IE8 as an optional add-on (called "IE 8 Pack") that can be acquired via CD, FTP, or retail channels. This version of Windows will be known as "Windows 7 E". Again, to add a bit of perspective here, PC manufacturers will always bundle a browser of some kind with their machines, and true, some of them will include Firefox instead of IE. But, Microsoft has shifted their giant "marketing" machine (some might loosely translate "marketing" as "goon squad") toward PC makers instead and it can be expected that the majority of those manufacturers will still include the new IE 8 Pack...but just maybe not exclusively anymore.
For more information on the new Firefox browser, and the free download, head on over to the Mozilla Website.
The new version of Firefox got off to a fast start with reports of more than 1.1 million downloads on the first day of availability. Firefox is already the number 2 browser worldwide, trailing only Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE).
Originally, Mozilla had planned to release a minor update (version 3.1) to the Firefox browser, but decided to release the product as Firefox 3.5 instead, which is considered a "major" release. 3.5 adds a new "Private Browsing Mode" (similar to IE 8's "InPrivate" feature) and support for the next generation HTML 5 standard.
Mozilla also claims that 3.5, because of its improved JavaScript engine (labelled "TraceMonkey"), is "two times faster than Firefox 3.0 and ten times faster than 2.0 on complex websites". I chuckle at vague performance claims that can be neither confirmed or denied in any kind of testing....what exactly defines a "complex" website? Other browsers, such as Chrome and Safari, have been making similar claims recently and each is touting new JS engines.
Speaking of Safari, Apple proudly announced 2 weeks ago the release of Safari 4 had garnered 11 million downloads in its first 3 days. A hidden detail though (taken straight from the Microsoft book of statistics) was that much of these downloads occurred due to Apple force-feeding the update to customers through its updating utility. Mozilla put that number into perspective the following day, when they mentioned that the VERY minor update to Firefox (version 3.0.11) had been downloaded more than 150 million times in 24 hours. Moral of the story...Firefox is a major player in the browser world...Safari, not so much.
Even Mozilla's presence needs perspective, however. In the US, Firefox accounts for about 20 percent of the usage share, compared to 73 percent for IE. It's a respectable number, mind you, considering that IE is available virtually by default for the vast majority of people, but 20% is 20%. Internationally, however, those numbers are closer together and in some European countries (such as Finland, Poland, and Slovenia) Firefox actually leads IE and controls about 50% of the market.
Market share in Europe will get even closer with the release of Windows 7. Due to the EU's rather unreasonable antitrust battle with Microsoft, the software giant announced recently it would meet their demands and will not include IE8 with Windows 7 (after all...they aren't asking Apple to un-bundle Safari). Microsoft will instead include IE8 as an optional add-on (called "IE 8 Pack") that can be acquired via CD, FTP, or retail channels. This version of Windows will be known as "Windows 7 E". Again, to add a bit of perspective here, PC manufacturers will always bundle a browser of some kind with their machines, and true, some of them will include Firefox instead of IE. But, Microsoft has shifted their giant "marketing" machine (some might loosely translate "marketing" as "goon squad") toward PC makers instead and it can be expected that the majority of those manufacturers will still include the new IE 8 Pack...but just maybe not exclusively anymore.
For more information on the new Firefox browser, and the free download, head on over to the Mozilla Website.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Apple touts 1 million new iPhone sales in first 3 days
As expected, Apple issued an announcement today that over 1 million of the new iPhone 3Gs smart phones have been sold since it hit the market on Friday in the US and 7 other countries, making it the most successful iPhone model yet. The previous iPhone model, the 3G, also sold 1 million units in its first three days, but that model was released in 22 countries simultaneously.
The reason for the smaller geographic release has not been publicized, but I am sure the problems that surrounded the 3G release last year were no small factor. It is also possible that, with the global economic woes, Apple simply focused on the 7 most profitable markets.
Apple was grossly unprepared for the throngs of users that tried to activate their new phones last year. The same problems occurred this time, only to a much, much smaller extent. Some customers received messages stating it would take up to 48 hours to complete activation. Reportedly, some customers received emails promising a $30 iTunes credit for the hassle, but that is, as of yet, unconfirmed.
Apple also did not breakdown the sales by region. AT&T, the exclusive US carrier for the iPhone, stated that they had sold "hundreds of thousands" of iPhones on pre-order, but didn't get more specific than that yet.
One rather unexpected aspect to the announcement was a comment from Steve Jobs himself. "Customers have spoken and the iPhone is winning, " he said in his typical flare. It was Jobs' first quoted statement since he took a leave of absence in January for unspecified "medical reasons". The company stated that Jobs, who has battled pancreatic cancer, will be returning to work at the end of the month. The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday the Jobs had a liver transplant 2 months ago, and will begin working part-time, initially. Neither Apple, nor Jobs himself, have either confirmed or denied the WSJ report.
Of course, as I pointed out before, the Blackberry is actually the king of the smart phones in the US and continues to be...by almost 3-1. And internationally, it still beats the iPhone in the Smart Phone market, although Nokia is the #1 outside the US.
The reason for the smaller geographic release has not been publicized, but I am sure the problems that surrounded the 3G release last year were no small factor. It is also possible that, with the global economic woes, Apple simply focused on the 7 most profitable markets.
Apple was grossly unprepared for the throngs of users that tried to activate their new phones last year. The same problems occurred this time, only to a much, much smaller extent. Some customers received messages stating it would take up to 48 hours to complete activation. Reportedly, some customers received emails promising a $30 iTunes credit for the hassle, but that is, as of yet, unconfirmed.
Apple also did not breakdown the sales by region. AT&T, the exclusive US carrier for the iPhone, stated that they had sold "hundreds of thousands" of iPhones on pre-order, but didn't get more specific than that yet.
One rather unexpected aspect to the announcement was a comment from Steve Jobs himself. "Customers have spoken and the iPhone is winning, " he said in his typical flare. It was Jobs' first quoted statement since he took a leave of absence in January for unspecified "medical reasons". The company stated that Jobs, who has battled pancreatic cancer, will be returning to work at the end of the month. The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday the Jobs had a liver transplant 2 months ago, and will begin working part-time, initially. Neither Apple, nor Jobs himself, have either confirmed or denied the WSJ report.
Of course, as I pointed out before, the Blackberry is actually the king of the smart phones in the US and continues to be...by almost 3-1. And internationally, it still beats the iPhone in the Smart Phone market, although Nokia is the #1 outside the US.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Palm Pre off to a respectable start...
The new Palm Pre hit stores last week and it is off to a solid start. According to numbers released by Palm, their wireless carriers sold about 100,000 Pres in the first week of availability in the market. They also report they are on track to sell over half a million in the current quarter. About 35% of those sales were to new Sprint customers (currently the exclusive carrier for the Pre).
With all the excitement around the Pre, and the news last week about the upcoming new iPhone, it might surprise you that neither are dominating the Smart Phone market...in fact neither are all that close. The iPhone has actually lost market share since Q3 of 2008 from 30% down to just under 20% currently, according to reports. No, by far the dominant force in the Smart Phone market is actually RIM's Blackberry, with over 55% market share and that is up dramatically from already impressive 40%+ market share they enjoyed in Q3 of '08. Blackberry is up...iPhone is down...you think that made it onto a slide at the Apple presentation last week??? Me neither.
Another interesting aspect to this is how quiet RIM is being about their success. They just announced a new device, called the "Tour" (which most haven't heard of...I just heard about it today, and actually thought it was a literal "Blackberry Tour" where they were going to go around the country showing off their devices...not the name of a device itself). The fact is that you can get a Blackberry, in some flavor or another, with virtually any domestic wireless carrier, unlike the iPhone which is exclusive to AT&T. In fact, even AT&T themselves has as many Blackberry users as iPhone users (again, missed in all the big giant numbers Apple threw around last week).
Worldwide, the story is different, although not better for Apple...or Palm. Nokia is the largest player in the Smart Phone market internationally with a 41% control, compared to only 20% for Blackberry. Apple is even worse though, with roughly half of RIM's control and even sits behind Windows Mobile.
It's all good for us though, regardless. More choices...more advanced technology. As long as the various formats continue to duke it out for ultimate supremacy, we the consumer continue to reap the benefits. Technology improves, prices drop, and choices expand, regardless of which Smart Phone you are partial to.
With all the excitement around the Pre, and the news last week about the upcoming new iPhone, it might surprise you that neither are dominating the Smart Phone market...in fact neither are all that close. The iPhone has actually lost market share since Q3 of 2008 from 30% down to just under 20% currently, according to reports. No, by far the dominant force in the Smart Phone market is actually RIM's Blackberry, with over 55% market share and that is up dramatically from already impressive 40%+ market share they enjoyed in Q3 of '08. Blackberry is up...iPhone is down...you think that made it onto a slide at the Apple presentation last week??? Me neither.
Another interesting aspect to this is how quiet RIM is being about their success. They just announced a new device, called the "Tour" (which most haven't heard of...I just heard about it today, and actually thought it was a literal "Blackberry Tour" where they were going to go around the country showing off their devices...not the name of a device itself). The fact is that you can get a Blackberry, in some flavor or another, with virtually any domestic wireless carrier, unlike the iPhone which is exclusive to AT&T. In fact, even AT&T themselves has as many Blackberry users as iPhone users (again, missed in all the big giant numbers Apple threw around last week).
Worldwide, the story is different, although not better for Apple...or Palm. Nokia is the largest player in the Smart Phone market internationally with a 41% control, compared to only 20% for Blackberry. Apple is even worse though, with roughly half of RIM's control and even sits behind Windows Mobile.
It's all good for us though, regardless. More choices...more advanced technology. As long as the various formats continue to duke it out for ultimate supremacy, we the consumer continue to reap the benefits. Technology improves, prices drop, and choices expand, regardless of which Smart Phone you are partial to.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Apple Announces new iPhone
Apple had its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) yesterday. Its first in sometime without Steve Jobs running the show. It was as pretentious as ever, however, and would have made their maestro proud. As usual with Apple announcements, they were of no particular consequence but were presented in typical Apply fashion with plenty of flare, inflated statistics, and general hyperbole.
The big announcement was a new iPhone, the "3G S", which will ship later this month. It has the same form factor as the previous iPhone but stated as being "twice as fast"...whatever that means. It will also support a new faster network, a better camera (w/ Video), and some other software features that won't be available to current iPhone owners. A rather nice improvement overall given the confines of the form factor.
You can see the Apple official release here with pricing. Keep in mind that the $199/$299 pricing models they offer are for new customers only. For those of you existing iPhone 3G users??? Well, much like the original iPhone owners when the 3G was released, you get the shorter (and much more expensive) end of the stick. You an expect to pay $500-600 for the upgrade, thanks to the subsidization model used by wireless carriers.
One caveat on the faster network...AT&T (the exclusive US carrier for the iPhone) will not begin rolling out this new faster network until late this year.
Also, they announced a software upgrade for the iPhone, called appropriately iPhone Software Update 3.0. This update is free to all iPhone owners, but will cost $10 for owners of the iPod Touch. This is a minor release with some improvements on some core apps, cut/paste support, and new full support for MMS messaging (which has been a long time coming honestly). Once again, however, AT&T is there to pee on the parade because it doesn't support two of the key features: US Customers cannot tether their phones to their PC and cannot use MMS Messaging. That isn't to say it won't be added later...but I am sure, as is the AT&T way, there will be an up-charge for it.
On the OS front, Apple now claims there are 35 million active Mac users. This is the first time in years that they have claimed more than 25 million Mac users. That's a big number...until you look at the number of Windows users...currently at roughly 1 billion (yep...with a "b"). That puts Mac at about a 3% market share. And that isn't even including Linux/Unix...which honestly isn't even really worth including, so I didn't.
Apple is planning to release a minor upgrade to Leopard, dubbed Snow Leopard (how cute), in September. By all accounts it looks, acts, and feels a lot like Windows 7, which is scheduled for release in late October. However, Windows 7 has often been compared to being "Mac-like", and so therefore this is really making it look more like, well, itself. Sounds more like a "Service Pack" type upgrade to me. Oh, and they're charging $29 for the "upgrade".
That last bit of "significant" news from the company was a new version of the Safari browser for both Mac and Windows. In a move somewhat Microsoft-like, the version that will be bundled with the upcoming "Snow Leopard" will have special features not available anywhere else (like crash protection). Hmm...ponderous. I would imagine the irony here is lost on most Apple folks.
In all, it was Apple simply being Apple. Condescending, self-congratulatory, with a few snippets of actual tech excitement. Nobody says more, without actually saying anything, than Apple.
...with yours truly possibly being the lone exception...and maybe the Federal Government.
The big announcement was a new iPhone, the "3G S", which will ship later this month. It has the same form factor as the previous iPhone but stated as being "twice as fast"...whatever that means. It will also support a new faster network, a better camera (w/ Video), and some other software features that won't be available to current iPhone owners. A rather nice improvement overall given the confines of the form factor.
You can see the Apple official release here with pricing. Keep in mind that the $199/$299 pricing models they offer are for new customers only. For those of you existing iPhone 3G users??? Well, much like the original iPhone owners when the 3G was released, you get the shorter (and much more expensive) end of the stick. You an expect to pay $500-600 for the upgrade, thanks to the subsidization model used by wireless carriers.
One caveat on the faster network...AT&T (the exclusive US carrier for the iPhone) will not begin rolling out this new faster network until late this year.
Also, they announced a software upgrade for the iPhone, called appropriately iPhone Software Update 3.0. This update is free to all iPhone owners, but will cost $10 for owners of the iPod Touch. This is a minor release with some improvements on some core apps, cut/paste support, and new full support for MMS messaging (which has been a long time coming honestly). Once again, however, AT&T is there to pee on the parade because it doesn't support two of the key features: US Customers cannot tether their phones to their PC and cannot use MMS Messaging. That isn't to say it won't be added later...but I am sure, as is the AT&T way, there will be an up-charge for it.
On the OS front, Apple now claims there are 35 million active Mac users. This is the first time in years that they have claimed more than 25 million Mac users. That's a big number...until you look at the number of Windows users...currently at roughly 1 billion (yep...with a "b"). That puts Mac at about a 3% market share. And that isn't even including Linux/Unix...which honestly isn't even really worth including, so I didn't.
Apple is planning to release a minor upgrade to Leopard, dubbed Snow Leopard (how cute), in September. By all accounts it looks, acts, and feels a lot like Windows 7, which is scheduled for release in late October. However, Windows 7 has often been compared to being "Mac-like", and so therefore this is really making it look more like, well, itself. Sounds more like a "Service Pack" type upgrade to me. Oh, and they're charging $29 for the "upgrade".
That last bit of "significant" news from the company was a new version of the Safari browser for both Mac and Windows. In a move somewhat Microsoft-like, the version that will be bundled with the upcoming "Snow Leopard" will have special features not available anywhere else (like crash protection). Hmm...ponderous. I would imagine the irony here is lost on most Apple folks.
In all, it was Apple simply being Apple. Condescending, self-congratulatory, with a few snippets of actual tech excitement. Nobody says more, without actually saying anything, than Apple.
...with yours truly possibly being the lone exception...and maybe the Federal Government.
Hello Blogosphere!
Well, I've been Facebook'ing for some time now and have started Tweeting recently. Now I am blogging? As if I don't have enough things to spend my time on already? Cleary I need a hobby...wait...maybe this is that hobby...hmm.
Anyway, this will basically be my periodic, often irreverant, ramblings about mostly Geeky stuff. I'm a self-proclaimed tech geek, so my postings will most often revolve around that. However, I am an avid sports nut, car nut, and home improvement..uh..nut (As evidenced by my overuse of the word "nut" here, I am clearly not much of a wordsmith, however).
So, welcome to my Geeky little world. Don't be afraid...the worst that can happen is you'll fall asleep at your job and get fired, and frankly if your reading MY blog at your office, then I would say your job is lacking something for you anyway, and you probably would be better for it. No need to thank me...
On to the Geekyness...
Anyway, this will basically be my periodic, often irreverant, ramblings about mostly Geeky stuff. I'm a self-proclaimed tech geek, so my postings will most often revolve around that. However, I am an avid sports nut, car nut, and home improvement..uh..nut (As evidenced by my overuse of the word "nut" here, I am clearly not much of a wordsmith, however).
So, welcome to my Geeky little world. Don't be afraid...the worst that can happen is you'll fall asleep at your job and get fired, and frankly if your reading MY blog at your office, then I would say your job is lacking something for you anyway, and you probably would be better for it. No need to thank me...
On to the Geekyness...
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