Samsung Galaxy Tab: What the analysts say
Samsung's new tablet computer signals an understanding that it takes more than hardware to be successful, say analysts Samsung's new Android-powered tablet computer, the Galaxy Tab, has been well-received by industry analysts – even though full pricing details have still not been released. The Tab, launched at the IFA show in Berlin, is expected to herald a charge against the early success of the Apple iPad. Consumers should benefit, with a price war predicted to kick off in 2011. Here's some of the early reaction. Ben Wood, director of research at CCS Insight Apple has legitimised the tablet category with its iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab sees the tier-one brand go head-to-head with Steve Jobs' creation. Samsung is betting big on the tablet category with this device. It's the first major manufacturer to unveil a device targeting this segment but we expect a flurry of further announcement from an array of other players. The Galaxy Tab signals Samsung's understanding that it takes more than hardware to be successful
The rest is here:
Samsung Galaxy Tab: What the analysts say
In search of tablet computers’ sweet spot: screen size and battery life
Apple has some competition from a slew of companies. But it made its design decisions in a vacuum: so why did it go for the features that it did, and do they matter more than others? Here's a question: why is the screen of Apple's iPad 9.7 inches across? Why that size? Why not bigger? Or smaller? If we examine this question, we may be able to figure out the answer to another question: how are the slew of tablets being released now (hello Samsung) going to fare in the market? Consider what the iPad was going up against when it was being designed: the range of Windows-based tablet computers, which would have had screens in the 12 to 13-inch range; the Amazon Kindle, a dedicated e-reader, with a 7" screen; and the Kindle DX, launched in May 2009, which has a 9.7" screen
View original post here:
In search of tablet computers' sweet spot: screen size and battery life
Samsung Galaxy Tab revealed at IFA
Samsung enters mobile computer market with 7in Galaxy Tab, launched at IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin Samsung made its eagerly awaited new entry into the mobile computing market today with the launch of the Galaxy Tab, and hinted that further versions will be unveiled next year. The 7in Android-based tablet computer with built-in phone capabilities is expected to challenge the Apple iPad. However, with pricing details still not available today, it is not clear quite how the Tab will compare with other products. Weighing in at just 380g, the Galaxy Tab is being pitched as a single portable device that can be used to browse the internet, make video calls, watch television or listen to music. "This is not just another tablet. We call it a Smart Media device," Thomas Richter, Samsung's head of product portfolio, told a packed press conference at the at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin. Samsung executives said that the company will probably launch several more Tab models next year, possibly with different screen sizes, to target different audiences. "Based on our research, customers have different needs ... next year you might see very different tablets coming out of our company," hinted DJ Lee, a senior Samsung executive. The Galaxy Tab has a 1024x600 TFT colour screen, which can flip between portrait and landscape view dependng how the user holds it. It will be sold with 16GB or 32GB of memory, expandable with another 32GB. It has two built-in cameras for and will be shipped with several applications from Google pre-installed, including Maps and Places. The Tab also supports a wide range of connectivity methods, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, HSDPA and HSUPA. and includes a GPS chip. It will also run HTML5 and Adobe Flash.
Read more:
Samsung Galaxy Tab revealed at IFA
William Gibson: I’m agnostic about technology. But I want a robotic penguin | Celebrity squares
The science fiction writer on his relationship with technology What's your favourite piece of technology, and how has it improved your life? Whatever piece of word processing software I'm using. I never learned to touch-type. When was the last time you used it, and what for? To answer the previous question. What additional features would you add if you could
Original post:
William Gibson: I'm agnostic about technology. But I want a robotic penguin | Celebrity squares
Alien life – but not as we know it | Seth Shostak
Don't be fooled by Hollywood aliens: any extra-terrestrial intelligence we encounter is likely to be artificial, not biological Nine out of 10 Hollywood aliens look like us. Oh, sure, they might be short, big-eyed and hairless – decked out in skin smoother than gourmet prosciutto. But really, these creatures from afar are usually so anthropomorphic (aside from their grey complexions), they could pass for hominid relatives, freshly flushed from some cryptic, jungle habitat. You should expect that from movie-makers. After all, the alien characters in films should be "readable". The audience needs to look at their faces (note that they have faces) and instantly judge whether these beings are happy, hungry or homicidal. Subconsciously, the researchers who look for sentience beyond Earth in the effort known as Seti (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence ), make a similar mental picture of their quarry.
View original post here:
Alien life – but not as we know it | Seth Shostak
My bright idea: Dennis Shasha: Nature can improve our computers
The professor of computer science believes the next great leap in computing will be programming machines to behave in almost evolutionary ways Robots on Mars that can fix themselves and computers built from DNA: not science fiction but the work of scientists at the forefront of computing. Dennis Shasha, 55, is a professor of computer science at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and the author, with Cathy Lazere, of Natural Computing: DNA, Quantum Bits and the Future of Smart Machines (Norton), a survey of research in fields as disparate as engineering and medicine. This New Yorker sees an emerging common theme: that the future of computing lies in a synthesis with nature. What can computers learn from biology? We should look at the history of the two fields and how surprising it is that they should come together. Computing was really born of physics and of this "clean-room" mentality – and a lot of computing is still like that. When one tries to control every bit of accuracy and tries to ensure that nothing could possibly go wrong – well, this is very different from the messiness of nature. But as computers become more mobile and autonomous – either they can gain their own power from the environment or they have a long battery or are wireless – their problems become quite different. Instead of problems being algorithmic, which means they can be expressed as a recipe – you do one step and then the next and you finally arrive at an answer – now their problem can be: how do I survive? If the problem is how do I survive, then all of the survival mechanisms that organic nature uses become relevant. And robots that can repair themselves are an example of this? In the history of space travel, it's been easier to build a computer program to guide a spaceship to Mars than it has been to build a robot that can navigate the terrain there with anything like the skill of goat. A professor of robotics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) called Rodney Brooks saw a problem with what's known as the "monarch" model: sensors provide data to some kind of higher intelligence, which in turn figures out a model of the world before sending a set of decisions to a set of actuators (wheels, for instance). But it's very hard to construct a model of the real world. Brooks thought that the real world is its own best model, and that it's much better to have very low-level intelligences, which can work together. One intelligence may say: "Do not collide with anything" – something fundamental to avoid a bad outcome – whereas another one may say: "Explore as much as possible." But if that one conflicts with the first one, than the first one wins. And so on. As a result, in the 80s, Brooks was able to construct very simple robots that didn't need much computing power but which were able to achieve things that other robots couldn't. He suggested sending lots of little robots to Mars, which should just be let go, as opposed to highly controlled robots, which would be very expensive, could easily break and would in fact be very hard to control over all that distance
Here is the original post:
My bright idea: Dennis Shasha: Nature can improve our computers
How the internet is altering your mind
A new book claims the amount of time we spend on the internet is changing the very structure of our brains – damaging our ability to think and to learn Like nearly all the Guardian's content, what you are about to read was – and this will hardly be a revelation – written using a computer connected to the internet. Obviously, this had no end of benefits, mostly pertaining to the relative ease of my research and the simplicity of contacting the people whose thoughts and opinions you are about to read. Modern communications technology is now so familiar as to seem utterly banal, but set against my clear memories of a time before it arrived, there is still something magical about, say, optimistically sending an email to a scientist in southern California, and then talking to him within an hour. But then there is the downside. The tool I use to write not only serves as my word processor and digital postbox, but can also double as – among other things – a radio, TV, news-wire portal and shop. Thus, as I put together the following 2,000-ish words, I was entertained in my more idle moments by no end of distractions. I watched YouTube videos of Manic Street Preachers, Yoko Ono, and the Labour leadership candidates. Via Amazon, I bought a £4.99 teach-yourself-to-spell DVD-Rom for my son, which turned out to be rubbish.
Original post:
How the internet is altering your mind
Multi-tasking media consumption on rise among Britons, says Ofcom study
16 to 24-year-olds particularly adept at juggling act, cramming nine and a half hours of media into six and a half hours of actual time Britons are juggling several types of media at the same time to sate their appetite and leave enough time for everything else in their lives, the Ofcom study reveals. The average media consumer's digital day is seven hours and five minutes. From breakfast radio to peaktime evening TV, via surfing and texting at home or at our desks, media takes up 45% of our time. The actual amount being consumed is even higher, Ofcom believes, with the boom in mobile computing helping Britons to multitask. "The ability of people to surf the web on their laptop while also watching TV has given people a licence to roam while staying connected," said Peter Phillips, Ofcom's strategy and market developments partner. A fifth of our media time is this kind of "simultaneous" consumption. Those aged between 16 and 24 are particularly adept at this juggling act, and are mopping up more media than any other age group. They cram nine and a half hours worth of media into six and a half hours of actual time – data that suggests the cliche of the youngster loafing in the lounge is an unfair one. "Sixteen-to-24-year-olds go out more, and spend less time watching TV," Phillips commented. He also acknowledged that this multitasking can mean we devote less attention to any one media source, although this was more pronounced when using new technology. It appears we are simply better at combining reading, landline calls or TV watching with another activity without our attention drifting. Discovering that teenagers are happier than their parents to combine web surfing, phone calls, tweeting and TV is not exactly a revelation, and Ofcom's research does show that some other truisms also still apply.
See the rest here:
Multi-tasking media consumption on rise among Britons, says Ofcom study
Apple manager denies bribery charge
Executive pleads not guilty in US court to charges that he took bribes from Asian suppliers in return for inside information An Apple executive pleaded not guilty last night to charges that he took bribes from Asian suppliers in return for inside information. Paul Devine, a global supply manager at the company, is accused of accepting more than $1m (£639,000) in kickbacks over several years from manufacturers keen to supply accessories for iPhones and iPods. He was arrested last Friday, and appeared in federal court in San Jose in handcuffs yesterday to face 27 charges including money-laundering and wire fraud
Read more from the original source:
Apple manager denies bribery charge
Updating PCs in a small business | Ask Jack
Kate Sellers runs a small business with an ageing fleet of computers. She'd like to replace some stragglers, but can she speed up the rest? I run a small business with an ageing fleet of computers. We're looking to replace the three or four that are really struggling (at a guess they must be at least five years old, but could be older) and we'd like to keep the cost down. We don't need monitors and we need Microsoft Office; presumably it is cheaper to buy it bundled with the system. The default option would be Dell, but we were disappointed with our last purchase – a Vista machine that is subject to frequent slowdowns and crashes. Do you have any recommendations
Originally posted here:
Updating PCs in a small business | Ask Jack