Hardware and gadgets

In another sure sign of the eventual rise of SkyNet, a turn by turn GPS device guided a driver into a lake, where the man drowned. A second person in the car was able to escape. These devices are making us stupid.

As I have written previously, Google and Apple are in fierce competition with each other, which is good for all us. Competition makes both companies work harder to deliver better products at less cost. Google has just announced their Google TV service. It is a bit different than Apple's Apple TV.

David Strom has a fascinating piece on his experience test-driving a Ford Edge. Strom went to some effort to identify and categorize all the electronics options available for the vehicle. If you thought today's computer-controlled engines were complicated, wait 'til you see what you can do while you are, uh, "driving," if you want to call fiddling with all this stuff while the car is moving "driving." Strom lists, among other options:

I still remember a conversation I had about a year ago when I told an business acquaintance that Blockbuster was toast, and that it was only going to be a year or two before the company would be gone.

This site has collected a set of old computer ads from the late seventies and early eighties. Some of the goodies include:

In this report, Apple wants to increase iPad production to 3 million units/month. And in this report, the iOS-powered Apple products (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) have passed Linux to become the third most popular software platform for Internet browsing.

For older iPhone users like me (I have an iPhone 3G), the recent software upgrade (iOS 4) has been a disaster. The upgraded operating system brought only a few useful features to the older 3G and 3GS phones, and along with the minor upgrades, severe performance degradation. Frankly, it's just awful. The biggest thing is a major slowdown across the board for all apps, to the point that I use the iPhone less than I used to because it is painful.

I just tried to get the local Best Buy store on the phone to see if they have a particular model of printer in stock. After pressing '3' for a 'sales associate,' I let the phone ring twenty times--twice! No answer.

Best Buy: No answer, no customer. No customer, no sale.

India has announced a $35 computer for students. The Linux-based machine is intended to give Indian students at all levels, starting in grade school, access to an affordable computer. I proposed a $100 computer twelve years ago--at that time, no one took it seriously, but I'm glad India thinks it's a good idea.

Microsoft has killed the Kin. Don't know what the "Kin" is? Neither does anyone else. It is (was) a "social media-centered phone for teenagers." But among other problems, the monthly contract for a Kin phone cost as much as the most expensive smartphone (e.g. Blackberries, iPhones, Droid phones). And darned few parents are going to spring for a pricy phone, and a pricey voice plan, and a pricey data plan just so their kid can call for a ride after soccer practice.

With all the hype over the new iPhone in the last couple of weeks, the iPad has fallen off the radar of the press. But the tablet computer is flying off the shelves. Apple has sold three million iPads in 80 days. Or in other words, the company is selling a million iPads every three weeks. And the product is not even available in many other parts of the world yet, so the sales curve is likely to accelerate through the end of the year.

Although hardly anyone knows it, Barnes and Noble has a tablet-based book reader. Amazon's Kindle was dominating the market for tablet book readers until the iPad was announced, and Barnes and Noble and Sony were running far behind Amazon. Even so, the market for book readers was relatively small because they cost several hundred dollars--less than the iPad, but not that much less.

AT&T sold out of its entire stock of the new iPhone in one day with the largest online sales in the history of AT&T. It now appears that more phones will not be available for a couple of weeks. Phones can still be ordered from Apple. If this summer is anything like that last three summers of iPhone releases, there will be shortages until early fall.

The Australian, a major paper in Australia, has sold out the ad space on its iPad version of the newspaper. At least one paper intends to stay ahead of the news game and make the new medium work for its business. Good for them.

The market for netbooks, those small, lightweight, and inexpensive laptops, was enjoying double digit growth until Apple announced the iPad back in January. Since then, sales have slowed dramatically. And the iPad may also begin to have an effect on desktop and laptop sales.

Almost everything written about the iPad to date has been speculative and overwrought because most of the writers had little or no time actually using the iPad. Depending on what you read, you might come away believing the iPad was the worst device in the history of handhelds (...NO USB PORT MAKES IT USELESS!!) or the most important new device since the mainframe. Here is a thoughtful review that compares the iPad to the Kindle for reading books.

An article over at TechCrunch raises an interesting question. The backlit iPad (and all LCD backlit displays) can be hard on the eyes when trying to read continuously for long periods of time (e.g. when reading a book). The Amazon Kindle uses a different display technology (e-ink) that is reflective rather than transmissive. Reflective displays work better outdoors and are more like books in the way they work.

It was inevitable....an iPad-compatible vest. I'm not sure about the "sophisticated" adjective used in the ad. "Nerd central" comes to mind, though.

MacRumors reports that National Public Radio (NPR) and The Wall Street Journal are already getting ready to roll out Web sites designed specifically for the Apple iPad. Expect many more newpapers and magazines to announce iPad versions of their content over the next several months, with the iPad set to ship to buyers in the next 30 days. One of the interesting side effects--Adobe may have lost the Flash war.

FastMac is advertising something I think almost everyone wants. It is a duplex AC wall socket with two standard 110 volt sockets, but it also has two USB ports. That's right, no more wall chargers cluttering things up. You can plug your USB charging cables right into the wall. Best part--these things are on sale for a limited time (note that these are pre-orders, so you may have to wait to get them).