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
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In search of tablet computers' sweet spot: screen size and battery life
You ask, they answer: Dell
Post your questions on the computing giant's green track record - it will be online until 5pm Friday to answer Bamboo boxes , low-energy PCs and tree-planting are just three of the ways computing heavyweight Dell says it is limiting its ecological footprint. This week, Dell joins us on You ask, they answer to answer your questions on its eco-credentials - just post yours below. Want to know more about its recycling scheme for PCs and peripherals
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You ask, they answer: Dell
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.
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Alien life – but not as we know it | Seth Shostak
Hewlett-Packard outbids Dell for data-storage company
Wall Street sees Hewlett-Packard and Dell rival bids as indication that deal-making is back in vogue The world's two largest computer manufacturers, Hewlett-Packard and Dell, are going head-to-head in a bid to buy 3PAR, a hitherto obscure provider of back-office data storage. HP today slapped down a $1.6bn (£1bn) offer for 3PAR, upsetting a $1.13bn takeover of the company announced by Dell last week, and fuelling a sense on Wall Street that deal-making is beginning to return after a long hiatus. The move by HP came despite a leadership vacuum at the top of the Silicon Valley company. HP lost its chief executive, Mark Hurd, this month in a scandal surrounding allegations of sexual harassment and personal expense irregularities. A permanent successor is yet to be chosen. Dave Donatelli, head of HP's servers, storage and networking business, urged 3PAR to accept the new offer: "HP's proposal offers superior value to 3PAR's shareholders.
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Hewlett-Packard outbids Dell for data-storage company
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.
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How the internet is altering your mind
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
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Apple manager denies bribery charge
Will the loss of Becta give schools a fresh chance to make technology click?
Becta, the education technology quango is on its way out. Is this an opportunity to be more creative about how we use computers in schools? The parents' evening at our local secondary was going well until we came to the art department. I pointed out that our 12-year-old greatly enjoys making videos — cutting together films taken with a Flip video camera, choosing songs for the soundtrack, and synchronising them with frame-quality accuracy using free software that came on her hand-me-down computer. Could she, I asked, do a film-making course? The school had some computers apparently dedicated to film-making. And it is art. Sort of. No, we were told sternly. Those were for the A-level course. As we drove home, our daughter complained about the school's clunky computers, and the apparently pointless tasks to be done on them, such as spreadsheets, presented as a task to be learned rather than as a means to find things out (or create interesting graphs). Her views are by no means unique. Children are often taught "computer skills" that are really "Microsoft Windows skills" – how to use Microsoft's operating system and its Office suite (its two monopolies) – rather than the possibilities of making computers do what you want. As such, children are being equipped to be uncreative office workers, just as those at the end of the 19th century were equipped for the routine of adding up huge lists of numbers in the accounts departments of big companies. Schools, it would seem, don't always have the right attitude to computers, especially given that IT underpins so much of what we do. It's very easy to forget the computer revolution, and the resistance caused when Kenneth Baker, the education secretary in 1981, introduced the idea of a computer in every school. At the time, nobody – not teachers, not pupils – knew what to make of the technology, though the pupils were markedly more eager to use it.
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Will the loss of Becta give schools a fresh chance to make technology click?
Que e-reader pulled from market
British firm Plastic Logic abandons first-generation of its Que proReader device before shipping a single unit The British technology firm Plastic Logic has abandoned the Que proReader, its pioneering e-reader device based on plastic electronics , without having shipped a single unit to customers. Plastic Logic announced last night that it was "moving on" to a second-generation e-reader, and would not sell its original product. The decision is a major blow to the company, which is based around technology that allows semiconductors to be printed on plastic rather than using silicon. The Que had been under development for several years and was one of the stars of the CES electronics show in January , but it appears that the success of rival products – such as the Amazon Kindle and Apple's iPad – means the original Que is no longer commercially viable. "We recognise the market has changed dramatically, and with the product delays we have experienced, it no longer make sense for us to move forward with our first generation electronic reading product," said Richard Archuleta, chief executive of Plastic Logic. "This was a hard decision, but is the best one for our company, our investors and our customers." Plastic Logic did not reveal any details about its plans for its second-generation e-reader. It appears that the product is not imminent, with Archuleta saying only that the company would "take the necessary time needed to re-enter the market". The original Que proReader was marketed as a product for business users that would allow books and newspapers to be carried and read in an electronic format . There were two versions, both with touch-sensitive monochrome plastic screens. A 4GB unit that supported Wi-Fi and Bluetooth was expected to cost £400, while an 8GB version which also included 3G was priced at £495. In comparison, Apple's cheapest iPad costs £429, while Amazon will soon starting shipping a Wi-Fi enabled Kindle for £109.
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Que e-reader pulled from market
Lithium: the gift of Pachamama | Raquel Gutiérrez
Evo Morales has a plan for Bolivia's lithium – but will those who brought him to power agree to it? In the south-western province of Nor Lipez in Bolivia lies the world's largest deposit of lithium. The vast and spectacular Uyuni salt flats sit 3,600 metres above sea level. They are shaped like an inverted cone, 400 metres deep, in which layers of salts have sedimented, interwoven between layers of mud and brine, in which the mineral salts have dissolved. In recent years, lithium's commercial value has risen astronomically. The development of laptops and mobile phones has depended on lithium batteries, and demand has grown to the point where it is now profitable to exploit the mineral even when it is found in a place as remote and inaccessible as this. Uyuni is in the department of Potosí, the site of the legendary Cerro Rico (rich hill), which supplied the Spanish colonial regime with silver for 200 years. Mining continued there in the 20th century, particularly after the Bolivian revolution of 1952 which nationalised the mines, creating among the Bolivian people the collective belief that they were now the owners of huge potential wealth that would never again be exploited by "foreign interests". So strong was this belief that the first attempt to exploit lithium commercially, in 1992 – 10 years before the wave of popular uprisings in defence of Bolivia's natural resources which would culminate in the election of Evo Morales – led to a period of protests across the region, and the then government of Jaime Paz Estenssoro was forced to break its contract with the Lithco corporation. Today, the potential exploitation of Bolivian lithium exposes contradictions within Morales's government, and the possibility of social conflict, as multilayered as the salt lake itself. On the one hand, Morales decreed in 2008 that the state would take full control of the exploitation of lithium. A new arm of the Bolivian Mining Corporation was set up with the aim of constructing a plant for the mineral's exploitation. On the other hand, since 2009 the Bolivian government has begun negotiations with foreign companies with a view to signing contracts for its industrial production. Interested parties include the Japanese firms Mitsubishi and Sumitomo .
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Lithium: the gift of Pachamama | Raquel Gutiérrez
Hewlett-Packard boss Mark Hurd resigns as sexual harassment probe uncovers falsified expense reports
HP shares lose almost 10% of their value in after-hours trading as news breaks Mark Hurd, the man credited with saving Hewlett-Packard, was forced to step down as its chief executive yesterday after a sexual harassment inquiry unearthed false expenses claims designed to cover up a "close personal relationship" with a former contractor. The giant IT company's shares have doubled in value during Hurd's five-year stewardship; news of his resignation sent them tumbling almost 10%. HP said it had learned about the relationship several weeks ago, when a woman who did marketing work for HP sent a letter accusing Hurd, 53, and the company of sexual harassment. An investigation found that Hurd had falsified expenses reports and other financial documents to conceal the relationship. The company concluded that its sexual harassment policy had not been violated but that its code of business conduct had been. Hurd said the decision to go was a "painful" one but admitted the investigation had made it difficult for him to continue. "As the investigation progressed, I realised there were instances in which I did not live up to the standards and principles of trust, respect and integrity that I have espoused at HP," he said. "After a number of discussions with members of the board, I will move aside and the board will search for new leadership." Hurd, who is married with two children, will get a $12.2m (£7.6m) severance payment and nearly 350,000 shares of HP stock, worth about $16m based on Friday's closing price. The company has also extended the deadline for exercising an option to buy up to 775,000 HP shares. "This is a painful decision for me to make after five years at HP, but… I believe this is the only decision the board and I could make at this time," said Hurd. "I want to stress that this in no way reflects on the operating performance or financial integrity of HP." Hurd is beloved by investors for his relentless cost-cutting but widely scorned by the thousands of employees he has axed along the way. He is credited with rescuing HP from the mess left behind by his predecessor, Carly Fiorina, and has turned it into the world's biggest technology company in sales terms by reducing its reliance on making printer cartridges and moving into technology services and other fast-growing areas of the market. Robert Ryan, the company's senior non-executive director, said the board had "deliberated extensively" on whether Hurd should go, adding that board members recognised "the considerable value that Mark has contributed to HP over the past five years". HP's general counsel Michael Holston was more blunt, describing a "systematic pattern" of submitting falsified financial reports to hide the relationship
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Hewlett-Packard boss Mark Hurd resigns as sexual harassment probe uncovers falsified expense reports