Published by Robert Pogson June 27th, 2011
in technology.
Digitimes reports that white box makers of tablets have taken 20% of the tablet market by making small cheap tablets. Competition is good. If anyone drags their feet, they lose.
see Digitimes – White-box players supply close to 20% of global tablet PC shipments in 1Q11
No one can control this market. There are too many players doing their own thing. This offers the greatest opportunity for Linux and ARM because even if M$ manages to turn a bunch of OEMs into lap-dogs, the pack will continue to roam freely supplying a superior price/performance. M$ should just stay home and wait for Linux on ARM to invade the x86 and desktop/notebook spaces.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson June 27th, 2011
in technology.
The dependence on petroleum as a motive fuel leads to some hard choices:
Find Implement other sources of energy, or- in the short term become slaves to oil exporting countries and have to make the other choice sooner or later.
The executive branch of the USA is considering requiring fleet averages of vehicle manufacturers to rise from the current target of 34 mpg in 2016 to 56 mpg in 2025… Oops! Is that even possible?
I was watching TV today when an ad for a muscular pickup truck came on which claimed 34 mpg for that diesel. I was quite surprised because my father had owned one gas-guzzler that gave only 8 mpg and the dealer could not improve that even with some considerable work. Gasoline engines are unlikely to become anywhere close to getting 56 mpg for a fleet. Diesel could. Electric could. Really small vehicles could. Are we ready to choose small cheap vehicles just as we choose small cheap everything else?
I am fortunate that I don’t have to commute to work (no work 
), and I live close to a city so deliveries by courier/truckers are simple to arrange. If I had to choose a motor vehicle today, an electric would be the way to go if range was not a problem. We use hydroelectricity so the mpg would be infinite. For city dwellers, public transportation would have to work. For rural folks, there might be a way to work with hydrogen or some other fuel than petroleum. The smaller population in rural areas would help but long distances would not. Perhaps trains will have to come back.
We live in interesting times. It’s great to have problems remaining to be solved. It gives one a reason to get up in the morning.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson June 27th, 2011
in Uncategorized.
The International Criminal Court has produced arrest warrants for Gaddafi, his son, Saif and the chief of intelligence, Senussi.
Full details are here.
Depending on how quickly this warrant can be executed, the situation in Libya may be brought to a successful conclusion. This probably puts to an end any idea that Gaddafi and his friends can simply board a plane and fly out of Libya to escape consequences. They will either be killed, captured or escape in the night over the desert. At the rate the rebels are advancing on Tripoli, the fastest solution might be to deputize them and to provide the rebels some proper equipment.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson June 27th, 2011
in technology.
M$ has stated that they are “all-in” for the cloud but it’s not working. In the UK, FaceBook has overtaken MSN as the second most popular website after Google. Twitter is advancing rapidly from the rear.
M$ is clearly losing mind-share as reflected by these numbers. The cash-cow is out of the barn and M$ doesn’t know where to find it. When various Linux distros take over the client PCs and the cloud takes over the applications, M$ will have to take in boarders or laundry to keep body and soul together.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson June 27th, 2011
in technology.
“Asustek Computer will start marketing its low-priced netbook, the Eee PC X101, in July with models running on MeeGo available at US$199 and those running on Windows 7 available at US$310-350, according to industry sources.”, according to Digitimes.
There it is and XP is too dead to hold back GNU/Linux again. So is Vista. “7″ costs too much in these small, cheap computers. MeeGo is a GNU/Linux distro developed by Nokia and Intel. While Nokia has dropped MeeGo, Intel is still involved and ASUS will ship products.
The difference between the new netbooks and the first eeePC? They do not even try to be like that other OS… They will be just as popular as Android smart thingies and perhaps faster, running native instead of interpreted code. There should be no “users return them” or “users resist them” FUD because we know smart thingies with simplified user interfaces are flying off shelves globally.
- Robert Pogson
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