tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80982828540737444242024-02-07T03:14:33.535-08:00Business & Technology Related MusingsA place where I can rant a bit about things that intrigue meAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.comBlogger222125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-75197973662880538092016-09-06T10:25:00.000-07:002016-09-06T10:25:06.330-07:00Google Ad Revenue or Where's My Money?<br />
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<i>The post below is incomplete. I started it four years ago. In a sense it is the post that killed this BLOG. </i><br />
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<i>To be clear, I was never in this for the money but reailizing that </i><br />
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<i>A. Google is making the bulk of what little profit there is off of my work and</i><br />
<i>B. That I'd have to live to be three or four centuries old to see my tiny earnings</i><br />
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<i>kind of killed my enthusiasm.</i><br />
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<i>I'm not saying Google is doing anything wrong here. This is business, and nobody was forcing me to write or post here. Once I understood what was going on I chose to do other things with my free time.</i><br />
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<i>I'm not going to update the numbers, and I only did a quick pass through to locate obvious typos. </i><br />
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<i>I doubt many will read this and my thinking could be faulty or the situation may have changed. I'm mostly putting this out there because it has bugged me off and on that I never finished this or published. </i><br />
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<i>-Mike</i><br />
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I've been mostly indulging the tech geek side of my personality here recently. I'm going to bring things a bit more into alignment with this entry. My plan is to illustrate just how disruptive Google has been to both traditional and non traditional content providers. To be clear, when I say disruptive I'm talking about Google's impressive ability to shift revenues out of other peoples pocket and into theirs. This isn't a crime and they aren't doing anything wrong but the law of thermodynamics stats that where there are winners there will also be losers. If you're a content producer you've likely be on the loser side of this equation for reasons I'm going to explain below.</div>
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It's easy to forget that Google hasn't been around all that long. In 2001 their revenues were just eighty six million dollars. That isn't chump change but by 2011 revenues had grown to just under thirty eight BILLION dollars. </div>
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In 2001 about three quarters of Google's revenues came from advertising. In 2011 that number had jumped to ninety six percent. In their public financial numbers Google breaks ad revenues down into two categories, those generated by their own web sites and revenues generated by Google network members.<br />
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In 2011 sixty six percent of ad revenues were generated by Google with the other thirty percent being generated by Google network member sites. That translates to just under ten point five billion dollars generated by member web sites.<br />
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Publicly traded companies have a lot of flexibility in how detailed they want to be when they report their financials as being too detailed could give information that would put them at a competitive disadvantage. That flexibility is often used to provide emphasis for things companies do want talked about while obscuring things they are less interested in having discussed. The fact that Google breaks out the numbers for their Network members on the revenue side isn't surprising. That is revenue that costs them a lot less money as they are not providing the content or do as much work to get it.<br />
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Google chooses not to separate Network member numbers on the cost side of things. The most likely reason for this is they don't want to show how profitable that revenue is in comparison to the other two thirds or so of the advertising pie. There are costs associated with Network revenue since Google has to write and maintain the software that enables the delivery of ads to Network members but those costs are unlikely to be anywhere as high as for ad revenue . They lump all of their non ad related costs into the same bucket as well. Since these make up less than five percent of the total I'm going to ignore them for the rest of this analysis to keep things from getting any more complicated. A lot of this is guess work anyway.<br />
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Here are all the numbers. You don't have to spend a lot of time looking at them but do look at the percentages at the end because they are interesting and will be the primary topic of the rest of this analysis.<br />
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<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 457px;">
<colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 5010; mso-width-source: userset; width: 103pt;" width="137"></col>
<col span="5" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 103pt;" width="137"><b>Revenue</b></td>
<td align="right" class="xl67" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"><b>2007</b></td>
<td align="right" class="xl67" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"><b>2008</b></td>
<td align="right" class="xl67" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"><b>2009</b></td>
<td align="right" class="xl67" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"><b>2010</b></td>
<td align="right" class="xl67" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"><b>2011</b></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Google Ad Revenue</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$10,625 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$14,414 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$15,723 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$19,444 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$26,145 </td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Network Ad Revenue</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$5,788 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$6,715 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$7,166 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$8,792 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$10,386 </td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Total Ad Revenue</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$16,413 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$21,129 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$22,889 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$28,236 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$36,531 </td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
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<tr height="40" style="height: 30.0pt;">
<td class="xl68" height="40" style="height: 30.0pt; width: 103pt;" width="137"><b>Network
Ad Revenue % of Total</b></td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">35%</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">32%</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">35%</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">35%</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">35%</td>
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<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
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<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 5.0pt;"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
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<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 5.0pt;"><b>Costs</b></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
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<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 5.0pt;">Traffic Acquisition</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$4,934 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$5,939 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$6,169 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$7,317 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$8,811 </td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Other</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$1,715 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$2,683 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$2,675 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$3,100 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$4,377 </td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">R&D</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$2,120 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$2,793 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$2,843 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$3,762 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$5,162 </td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Sales & Marketing</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$1,461 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$1,946 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$1,984 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$2,799 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$4,589 </td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">G&A</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$1,279 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$1,803 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$1,668 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$1,962 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$2,724 </td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
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<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Total</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$11,509 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$15,164 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$15,339 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$18,940 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$25,663 </td>
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<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"></td>
<td></td>
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<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"></td>
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<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Overall Profit %</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">30%</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">28%</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">33%</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">33%</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66">30%</td>
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<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"></td>
<td></td>
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<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Google Ad Profit $</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$10,625 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$14,414 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$15,723 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$19,444 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$26,145 </td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Network Ad Profi $</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$3,985 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$4,402 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$4,651 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$5,704 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$6,094 </td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
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<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Google Ad Costs</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$9,719 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$12,616 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$12,824 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$15,852 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$21,371 </td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Network Ad Costs</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$1,803 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$2,313 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$2,515 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$3,088 </td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">$4,292 </td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;"></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
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<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Google Ad Profit %</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66"><span style="color: red;">9%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl66"><span style="color: red;">12%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl66"><span style="color: red;">18%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl66"><span style="color: red;">18%</span></td>
<td align="right" class="xl66"><span style="color: red;">18%</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Network Ad Profit %</td>
<td align="right" class="xl66"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">69%</span></b></td>
<td align="right" class="xl66"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">66%</span></b></td>
<td align="right" class="xl66"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">65%</span></b></td>
<td align="right" class="xl66"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">65%</span></b></td>
<td align="right" class="xl66"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">59%</span></b></td>
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</tbody></table>
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All the data in the tables above is publicly available. In fact you can find data back to 2001 at the following link.<br />
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http://investor.google.com/financial/2011/tables.html<br />
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Google breaks costs down into five categories listed below along with how I apportioned the costs between Google and their Network Member websites.<br />
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<b>Traffic Acquisition:</b> All costs were attributed to Google since Network members are responsible for their own traffic acquisition.<br />
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<b>Other Costs: </b>This includes stock based compensation. To be conservative I assigned costs proportionally between Google and their Network Member sites based on revenue. This is the % listed beside "Network Ad Revenue % of Total" above.<br />
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<b>Research & Development: </b>Costs were again attributed proportionally as detailed above under "Other Costs". I'm being very generous to Google here as the R&D costs for their Network Member sites has to be lower than it is for Google's own sites. I'm assuming blogger related revenues are considered Network Member related revenue and blogger didn't write itself.<br />
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<b>Sales & Marketing: </b>All costs were attributed to Google since so far as I know they don't advertise Network Member sites.<br />
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<b>General & Administrative: </b>Costs were assigned proportionally as described above under "Other Costs" and "Research & Development". This is again generous to Google as G&A related costs for Network Member sites must be smaller than for their own sites.<br />
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I'm going to reprint a portion of the table above here<br />
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<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 457px;"><tbody>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15pt;"><td class="xl67" height="20" style="height: 15pt; width: 103pt;" width="137"><b>Profit % by Revenue Type</b></td><td align="right" class="xl67" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"><b>2007</b></td><td align="right" class="xl67" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"><b>2008</b></td><td align="right" class="xl67" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"><b>2009</b></td><td align="right" class="xl67" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"><b>2010</b></td><td align="right" class="xl67" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"><b>2011</b></td></tr>
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<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 455px;">
<colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 4937; mso-width-source: userset; width: 101pt;" width="135"></col>
<col span="5" style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col>
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<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 101pt;" width="135">Google Ad Profit %</td>
<td align="right" class="xl63" style="width: 48pt;" width="64">9%</td>
<td align="right" class="xl63" style="width: 48pt;" width="64">12%</td>
<td align="right" class="xl63" style="width: 48pt;" width="64">18%</td>
<td align="right" class="xl63" style="width: 48pt;" width="64">18%</td>
<td align="right" class="xl63" style="width: 48pt;" width="64">18%</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Network Ad Profit %</td>
<td align="right" class="xl63">69%</td>
<td align="right" class="xl63">66%</td>
<td align="right" class="xl63">65%</td>
<td align="right" class="xl63">65%</td>
<td align="right" class="xl63">59%</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
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Keep in mind I was arguably generous to Google in apportioning costs. Even so<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-eZF7gjgzBpvBy6HDCgoTOAVI2hU-TGt-wsN_8zRV0lPBBKIqecrJnkIZI5XaqU-QA83QJzvexMoK90SgfnXEBlfXdyZAGJRXjZg8ElcaEqvgWtd9PzqYplsbVS6VMj-G5zZl_wrXqc7O/s1600/GoogleAdRevenue.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-eZF7gjgzBpvBy6HDCgoTOAVI2hU-TGt-wsN_8zRV0lPBBKIqecrJnkIZI5XaqU-QA83QJzvexMoK90SgfnXEBlfXdyZAGJRXjZg8ElcaEqvgWtd9PzqYplsbVS6VMj-G5zZl_wrXqc7O/s1600/GoogleAdRevenue.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yearly Advertising Revenues in Millions</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-83274553254848296362014-08-01T14:13:00.000-07:002014-08-01T14:13:05.100-07:00Lytro Illum Unboxing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
My <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lytro" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Lytro">Lytro</a> Illum arrived today. I put in my <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-order" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Pre-order">pre-order</a> early on day one so it's been a bit of a long wait. I was an early adopted of the first Illum as well. That camera felt and behaved like a technology preview. The Illum is much more refined and would have been a worthy first generation product. I've had almost no hands on time with it but here is a collection of pictures showing me unboxing it in my car along with some comments.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0lpSVRC484wwYc2LVheUM8oexrxEsaPWEv93wVA5ML4wH85XO9_O5BP3lzI_EXtQPIFhce7N-EEwGydKhAnGUVkPfmQHlXyCe2jhA25Tw7aYnmo5ixlyB4sk3zub4pJbj39wWCqAnZDFg/s1600/20140801_124846.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0lpSVRC484wwYc2LVheUM8oexrxEsaPWEv93wVA5ML4wH85XO9_O5BP3lzI_EXtQPIFhce7N-EEwGydKhAnGUVkPfmQHlXyCe2jhA25Tw7aYnmo5ixlyB4sk3zub4pJbj39wWCqAnZDFg/s1600/20140801_124846.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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The packaging was brilliant from a design perspective. Clearly somebody put a lot of well reasoned thought into both the functionality and aesthetics. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf77p5jn_7I-HHTLsemB77qT5Z6RIg_Fq6vkJELY3jIm3BR9jwOIIh4hyl8zz3geukx0ZHIlCNGDPUBI35_HS15yyETjh-r4blOr4WJIL5sgbEqyybVm7H1rZ4JW8XN10k1K74DoxMTsBJ/s1600/20140801_124937.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf77p5jn_7I-HHTLsemB77qT5Z6RIg_Fq6vkJELY3jIm3BR9jwOIIh4hyl8zz3geukx0ZHIlCNGDPUBI35_HS15yyETjh-r4blOr4WJIL5sgbEqyybVm7H1rZ4JW8XN10k1K74DoxMTsBJ/s1600/20140801_124937.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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The camera is every bit as impressive looking in person as it is in the pictures we've been seeing for the past few months. Again, great <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_design" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Industrial design">industrial design</a>. The controls seems reasonable as well from an ergonomic perspective but I haven't had anywhere near enough time at this point to be sure.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiITjwv995qc2_w1l_Kf0bh6LQASNYaqufGPodzC2gRzU7dimyiq_NhWo8NFFeNvhAZn4_VCA7qt3XxfB9hWjbqVR_GkS-5dXWX-_zIFMQOkPokwU6ogaiWOr2jH3P4sCoEUf5n1AHrf-yU/s1600/20140801_125255.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiITjwv995qc2_w1l_Kf0bh6LQASNYaqufGPodzC2gRzU7dimyiq_NhWo8NFFeNvhAZn4_VCA7qt3XxfB9hWjbqVR_GkS-5dXWX-_zIFMQOkPokwU6ogaiWOr2jH3P4sCoEUf5n1AHrf-yU/s1600/20140801_125255.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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First edition #14! It pays to be fast I guess. </div>
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The lens cap is light years better designed than the one that came with the original Lytro. The lens hood looks nice as well and is a much appreciated standard feature.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3suyLD5v3l51ZmXyKMrm3X1TvuZfPmz_TK2ADp1EqPWRCXuICpaJ_IlyUTL0fIs-5eTDoOXPU00k4YyGHfm1Fh34FJs93atTx3qyTn9w1XGDSAQmLqY7PwWeq3kGnNuCi75_Y86_eKx9W/s1600/20140801_125400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3suyLD5v3l51ZmXyKMrm3X1TvuZfPmz_TK2ADp1EqPWRCXuICpaJ_IlyUTL0fIs-5eTDoOXPU00k4YyGHfm1Fh34FJs93atTx3qyTn9w1XGDSAQmLqY7PwWeq3kGnNuCi75_Y86_eKx9W/s1600/20140801_125400.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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The hood, lens strap, battery and other components all come individually boxed.</div>
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The battery is proprietary which isn't unusual. I'm hoping the price will be reasonable when Lytro offers them for sale individually.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoWcIbAWcVluJuBpR0V__zGK6k0J1mUvJZb2QTzWqfBvsfBIXIDdt7XJAZtmpV0F5Pcpg6N6SlrE55Yc7UwBIrkWjgOSUrWjKvuPmzPozVn5PytFttuxoxtDgaQtlQMGLk5B2JwBTthIPx/s1600/20140801_125713.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoWcIbAWcVluJuBpR0V__zGK6k0J1mUvJZb2QTzWqfBvsfBIXIDdt7XJAZtmpV0F5Pcpg6N6SlrE55Yc7UwBIrkWjgOSUrWjKvuPmzPozVn5PytFttuxoxtDgaQtlQMGLk5B2JwBTthIPx/s1600/20140801_125713.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Initial boot time was short and flashy.</div>
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There were a series of fairly standard menus for setup.</div>
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<b>NOTE: </b>The Illum does <b>NOT </b>come with an SD card. You'll need a 2GB+ capacity card of your own if you want to use your Illum as anything other than a rather expensive piece of modern industrial art. Luckily I had a 64GB SD card with me so this step didn't slow me down.</div>
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The step pictured above did indeed take several minutes so I started taking pictures of other stuff.</div>
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And back to the setup screens.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzqIVOIqSuqbA-6jjdJJ3DMKVCoPqVMzVK9LIdIbHZC_nHAl9RSY2wtVfnzRTJUr52sbY0hG38uD1r-C_aUqBdeiIeF0xaASfe_F3uFigEGQSJ1pvdP8PIfaSDWXTj0vC275EgmNJkRiLX/s1600/20140801_130507.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzqIVOIqSuqbA-6jjdJJ3DMKVCoPqVMzVK9LIdIbHZC_nHAl9RSY2wtVfnzRTJUr52sbY0hG38uD1r-C_aUqBdeiIeF0xaASfe_F3uFigEGQSJ1pvdP8PIfaSDWXTj0vC275EgmNJkRiLX/s1600/20140801_130507.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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It's nice but not unique that they step through the basics of taking pictures. Particularly since Light Field photography is so much different from standard picture taking.</div>
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That's it for now. I'll have more comments and reviews on my Lytro Illum over the coming weeks.</div>
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<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.alexandrosmaragos.com/2014/04/LYTRO-ILLUM.html" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/265646866_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.alexandrosmaragos.com/2014/04/LYTRO-ILLUM.html" style="background-image: none; display: block; height: 83px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">LYTRO ILLUM: The first high-end camera that harnesses the power of Light Field</a></li>
</ul>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-50274497361926044822014-05-29T14:16:00.001-07:002014-06-18T08:19:22.265-07:00Lightfield Photography Part 2 (Lytro Illum)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/52509824@N00/13983576362" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Lytro Illum addio alle foto sfocate" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2935/13983576362_bfbb2aedea_n.jpg" height="125" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center;">Lytro Illum (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/52509824@N00/13983576362" target="_blank">KoFahu meets the Mitropa</a>)</td></tr>
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I talked a lot in the <a href="http://emkey1.blogspot.com/2014/05/a-brief-overview-of-lightfield.html" target="_blank">previous part of this article</a> about how <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-field_camera" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Light-field camera">light field photography</a> works and why it's useful. In this part I'm going to focus primarily on the enhancements to the Illum which is the recently announced second generations <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lytro" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Lytro">Lytro camera</a>. I'm going to focus mostly on why the enhancements in the Illum are potentially useful even for serious photographers.<br />
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As I opined before, too much emphasis is put on the Lytro's ability to refocus. The fact of the matter is that this ability to refocus comes at a cost. I've often referred to the first generation Lytro as a great proof of concept and it was; but it wasn't without some fairly significant faults. Those faults caused a fair amount of consternation in some circles and are likely causing Lytro some headwinds right now. If you read any of the comment sections associated with articles written about the Illum you'll know what I'm talking about.<br />
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In my opinion Lytro made a mistake in their marketing of the first generation camera. That mistake was in focusing too much on the megapixels captured while avoiding at all costs any mention of the resolution of exported 2D images. On the one hand this was understandable. 1.1 megapixels stopped being an impressive resolution a decade or more ago. The limited resolution was also at odds with their desire to present the Lytro camera as a premium product at a premium price. In addition it was generally difficult to get a good quality picture even at the 1.1 megapixel export resolution. Pictures were often soft and colors were subdued and muted in my experience. It was rare that I ended up with a final image that wasn't mediocre at best. This is not a good outcome for a camera that has as its major selling point the ability to refocus so that you can avoid bad pictures.<br />
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In addition there were aspects of the hardware that bugged me. The biggest was the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_crystal_display" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Liquid crystal display">LCD</a>. The small dimensions were inevitable given the industrial design but the quality was less than stellar. It was dim and had poor viewing angles which made the camera difficult to use. My other hardware related gripe is the lens cap. It never stayed on as the magnet was weak. Consequently I was always losing it. Having said that, I loved the concept and the technology and have been looking forward to Lytro's second generation camera for awhile now.<br />
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Enter the Illum, a product that on paper promises to be a significant improvement over its older sibling. The design is slick and modern looking with a definite nod to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_single-lens_reflex_camera" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Digital single-lens reflex camera">digital SLR</a>'s.<br />
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The lens is a permanent part of the body and features an impressive 30-250 mm zoom range with a constant F/2.0. What does that mean in layman's terms? Basically you get everything from a fairly wide angle to an 8x zoom with excellent light capture across the entire range. The ability to capture light is important as it relates directly to the quality of the picture. This is true of any camera but even more so in the case of light field photography.<br />
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Our eyes and brain are a great team. They work in tandem to create a visual experience that is generally smooth and glossy. Normal camera's don't have a sophisticated human brain doing real time processing which is why it can be difficult to get a good picture.<br />
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Getting a well focused image requires an appropriate <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Depth of field">depth of field</a>, (AKA <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_%28optics%29" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Focus (optics)">focus point</a>) and either a whole lot of light so that the exposure time is short or a tripod and long exposure time. The Illum doesn't have the human brain but it does have a whole lot of smarts and technology built in that should make it easier to take good pictures.<br />
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The first advantage the Illum has over most cameras is that 2.0 F-stop rating. The thing to know about F-stops is that the lower the number the faster the lens. Put another way, as the number decreases the lens is capable of letting in more light because it can open wider in a given period of time. Normally that is a bit of a trade off as more light means a shallower focus range. Large <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-number" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="F-number">F-Stop</a> numbers mean that most or all of a picture you take will be in focus while small F-stops mean you'll have a steadily narrower focus range as the F-stop number decreases. This isn't a problem for the Lytro as capturing the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_field" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Light field">light field</a> allows an image to be rendered that is in focus over a much wider range of distances. In effect you get the wide depth of field advantage of a high F-Stop but with the high light capturing capability of a much smaller F-Stop which should translate into better quality pictures in situations such as sporting events where fast shutter speeds are needed.<br />
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The Illum's 40 mega ray censor will capture roughly four times the light rays that the original did. This in turn translates to 4 <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Pixel">mega pixel</a> 2D images. That 4 mega pixel export number is likely a compromise that provides reasonable output in a wide range of scenarios. Macro images and images a very limited depth of field could likely be rendered at higher resolutions with good results as the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_%28optics%29" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Ray (optics)">light rays</a> captured would originate from a much narrower depth of field range and thus provide more data(light rays) at a given focus depth with which to render an image. Of course the inverse is true as well. The wider the available focus range the less data will be available at a given focus point to render from. This may explain why Lytro images can look soft. Lytro basically has two choices when they don't have a lot of data at a given focus point. They can interpolate between available light rays or look at light rays that may provide additional information but not be ideal for a given focus point. In all likely hood I suspect they do a bit of both.<br />
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The LCD may be the biggest upgrade of all though. As I mentioned above, the original Lytro's LCD was... sub optimal. The dimness, limited viewing angles and small size meant that I was often shooting blind. The Illum's much larger screen and ability to tilt will inevitably lead to a better experience. How much better remains to be seen but I'm fairly optimistic. My Cannon EOS 70D has an LCD that rotates and moves in a lot of ways that the Illum's won't but it won't tilt back without rotating it 180 degrees out from the body. This provides a similar but not identical experience and after trying it out I think I'm going to like the Illum a lot. The best shot is often taken from lower than eye level, particularly when you're tall as I am. Being able to look down and easily see the framing for the shot is very useful.<br />
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The UI on the original Lytro was spartan. That was because of the tiny touch screen and limited processing power. The Illum's Snapdragon 800 processor has four cores which will enable a much better user experience. One feature shown in the pre production models is the ability to visualize what will be within the refocusing range. That alone is worth the price of admission. It was always frustrating to me when I'd take a picture, load it into the Lytro management software and then not be able to refocus as I wanted.<br />
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Of course the big question is will all of this be worth four times what the original Lytro cost? I pre ordered mine and as an owner of the first generation camera I got an additional ~$250 discount. That was good enough for me to pull the trigger so I'll be able to explore first hand what this camera does in another month or two. I have some thoughts on the pricing that I'm going to reserve for the next part of this series.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-86265261909011791862014-05-04T18:15:00.001-07:002014-05-04T18:20:02.646-07:00A Brief Overview of Lightfield Photography Part OneThe following is an update of an article I wrote for <a href="http://makerzine.com/" target="_blank">Make Magazine.</a> A much slimmed down version with some great graphics appears on pages 60 & 61 of <a href="http://makezine.com/volume/make-38-cameras-and-av/" target="_blank">volume 38</a>. The online version which resembles what is below much more closely can be found <a href="http://makezine.com/lytro" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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The <a class="zem_slink" href="http://lytro.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Lytro">Lytro camera</a> has been around for a couple of years and the feature most people seem to talk about is the ability to fix or change the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_%28optics%29" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Focus (optics)">focal point</a> of a picture after it has been taken. But that isn't the whole story; in fact it’s just the tip of the iceberg.<br />
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Traditional cameras, whether digital or analog capture a scene from a single point of view. Photoshop and similar software enable amazing things to be done to these images but it’s unlikely that any amount of post processing will give photographers the ability to slightly change the perspective of an image, change its focal point or render it in 3D. To do those things you need to have captured the entire “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_field" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Light field">light field</a>”. The light field is made up of additional data types that include not only the color and intensity of a light ray but also the direction it came from. In addition the light field is all of the light rays that enter the camera, not just those that are focused on a traditional camera’s sensor or film to create a single point of view 2D image.<br />
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The first generation Lytro captures the light field by directing the light rays that enter the main lens onto an array of over one hundred thousand micro lenses. The micro lenses in turn direct the light rays onto a 6.5 x 4.5 mm <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_pixel_sensor" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Active pixel sensor">CMOS sensor</a> with the ability to capture eleven million light rays arranged in a 3280 by 3280 grid. Each micro lens utilizes a roughly ten by ten pixel portion of the CMOS sensor.<br />
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Capturing the light field is only the first step. The next step is to generate an image that can be viewed. Doing this has been described as “<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_tracing_%28graphics%29" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Ray tracing (graphics)">ray tracing</a> in reverse”. To explain what this means I’m going to describe how pinhole cameras work, traverse briefly through ray tracing and finally explain the Lytro rendering process. All three have two things in common. First there is an observer viewing the scene and second, the scene must somehow be rendered onto a screen that the observer can view...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjseECC3Ro_2W4j6GI80LanIoq4RBNCLW6j48JfNYykgfOI2H6_4h1fy3RcjAxMbHWyI6gcTZi0WCGCaYiXcqmrYjoX_jOGkDssmEnE6Nz-qPZu0UiHJUDe7_3QSoOI-E3XvPXoeD_ynaQ9/s1600/PinholeExample.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjseECC3Ro_2W4j6GI80LanIoq4RBNCLW6j48JfNYykgfOI2H6_4h1fy3RcjAxMbHWyI6gcTZi0WCGCaYiXcqmrYjoX_jOGkDssmEnE6Nz-qPZu0UiHJUDe7_3QSoOI-E3XvPXoeD_ynaQ9/s1600/PinholeExample.png" height="202" width="400" /></a></div>
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In a pinhole camera light rays pass through a hole in the front of the camera and appear on the opposite surface as an image that is upside down and reversed. The back wall is essentially a screen. If you were inside the camera with your back to the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinhole_camera" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Pinhole camera">pinhole lens</a> you would see the projected image in front of you.<br />
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In the case of my crude illustration above try to imagine if you can; that the scene object is a cactus. This and all other images can be clicked on to get a higher resolution version. Sadly the quality of the drawings does not improve.<br />
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In ray tracing a scene is described mathematically using geometric shapes, textures and light sources. A point outside the scene is selected that represents the position of the observer and an image is generated from the perspective of that observer...<br />
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Ray tracing differs from the pinhole camera example in three ways. First, the scene does not exist in the real world and has to be rendered. Second the “real” scene is in front of the observer rather than behind and finally since the scene is virtual, the image on the screen needs to be rendered. This is done on a pixel by pixel basis. “View” rays are cast out into the scene for each pixel and the color of the pixel is calculated based on the objects and light sources each view ray hits while traversing the scene. Sending view rays from the observer greatly reduces rendering time as only the portions of the scene visible to the observer need to be calculated.<br />
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In the case of the Lytro we have the stored light rays that describe the scene captured when the picture was taken. In order to project an image onto our screen and generate an image a focal point needs to be chosen. Given the selected focal point, the Lytro software uses the stored light rays to render the image. This is ray tracing in reverse in that the rays projected onto the screen to generate an image have their origin point within the scene rather than having been projected from the observer and through the screen into the scene.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB1FMmCMtddHF6KfunKtoxtiEbhgAUDiMoeDiDUyBsIO-NK9RiK0g9mw04rTf0tt5MWajWNr3ufQHzJal4pqPT1e0CK9a3OGMRbyHhGIQdUf43ZYuusphoizWffYZ33LzXeuTJsZHdC5XJ/s1600/Lytro.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB1FMmCMtddHF6KfunKtoxtiEbhgAUDiMoeDiDUyBsIO-NK9RiK0g9mw04rTf0tt5MWajWNr3ufQHzJal4pqPT1e0CK9a3OGMRbyHhGIQdUf43ZYuusphoizWffYZ33LzXeuTJsZHdC5XJ/s1600/Lytro.png" height="255" width="400" /></a></div>
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To review, in ray tracing the scene is rendered by shooting view rays out from the observer and through the screen while with the Lytro the scene is rendered by shooting light rays captured in the scene back onto the screen.<br />
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A recent addition to the Lytro Library software is the ability to create 3D images. This ability demonstrates another advantage of capturing the light field. As in the pinhole example imagine yourself inside the Lytro camera. Scooting around would give you a slightly different view of the external scene. The data needed to render those transitions is part of the captured light field and can be used to generate 3D renderings of the captured scene. A pair of inexpensive <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaglyph_3D" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Anaglyph 3D">Anaglyph glasses</a> is all you need. It’s easy to export the images as JPG’s so that they can be viewed by anyone with Anaglyph glasses. Below is an example based on a picture I took at the OK corral with my first generation Lytro.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9c3Jj8Kc1qHt-IJFdmAxT1yxGyTrtNgGa4C9m2soAWslUBe1oZjKy8kcM9cV0b1x4ya5oMBktqhz-yIvw_1jhMDkZ_kGiWMhTSI5JbV2NfCb0291PH5hmmXN0qOp9ckb-VzZq2B1oDxjn/s1600/OKCorralUnder.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9c3Jj8Kc1qHt-IJFdmAxT1yxGyTrtNgGa4C9m2soAWslUBe1oZjKy8kcM9cV0b1x4ya5oMBktqhz-yIvw_1jhMDkZ_kGiWMhTSI5JbV2NfCb0291PH5hmmXN0qOp9ckb-VzZq2B1oDxjn/s1600/OKCorralUnder.png" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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One downside of the Lytro camera is the lack of a published API for image manipulation. Lytro uses a proprietary image format and while a lot of work has been done to reverse engineer it and create software to manipulate images as I write this there is no comprehensive cross platform API or software available for working with LFP’s (Light Field Picture files). The best resource I’ve found is “Lytro meltdown” (http://optics.miloush.net/lytro/Default.aspx) which tends to be Windows centric but contains a lot of useful information.<br />
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Light field photography is still in its infancy. Prices were initially high and the results underwhelming but things are starting to change on both fronts. The first generation Lytro camera can now be had for under $200.<br />
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The thing I’d most like to see is a comprehensive cross platform open source library that can be used to manipulate and manage LFP files. The Holy Grail would be software capable of taking a raw Lytro file and rendering images.<br />
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The recent announcement of Lytro's second generation Illum camera has some interesting technical and marketing implications that I'll talk about in the second part of this article.<br />
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<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li" style="background: none; display: block; float: left; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 2px 10px 10px 2px; padding: 0; text-align: left; vertical-align: top; width: 84px;"><a href="http://www.wired.com/2014/04/the-clever-thinking-behind-lytros-gorgeous-new-camera-design/" style="border-radius: 2px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 4px #999; display: block; padding: 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.zemanta.com/266989743_80_80.jpg" style="border: 0; display: block; margin: 0; max-width: 100%; padding: 0; width: 80px;" /></a><a href="http://www.wired.com/2014/04/the-clever-thinking-behind-lytros-gorgeous-new-camera-design/" style="background-image: none; display: block; height: 83px; line-height: 12pt; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px 2px 0 2px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Clever Thinking Behind Lytro's Gorgeous New Camera Design</a></li>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-72261261876297680152013-04-07T14:33:00.001-07:002013-04-07T14:34:03.340-07:00A Short "Yes I'm Alive" PostHere we are three plus months into 2013 and I haven't made a single post prior to this one. I always have questions percolating around in my mind and fresh new opinions that I want to share but for whatever reason this hasn't been the right forum. For the most part I've been making short posts to Google Plus when I have something I want to share. G+ continues to be a great outlet with a lot of engagement and an ever growing user base. Of course if you listen to most of the press you'd think it is Google's biggest failure to date.<br />
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Speaking of Google, I have had a longer piece sitting on the back burner for the past few months that looks at where Google makes their money. The obvious answer is of course advertising but its interesting to look at a breakdown of where that money comes from and what the associated costs are. When I did that I discovered something interesting. I'm not going to say more about that right now but it's easy enough to figure out if you're willing to look at their financial statements. I may even dust off what I've already done and post my analysis sometime soon. When I started the final 2012 numbers weren't in yet and they should be now.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-23137142272281824842012-12-20T16:31:00.001-08:002012-12-21T10:53:44.107-08:00Kindle Fire HD 8.9 Initial ThoughtsI've had my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GFRE5A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=savebaseballcom&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008GFRE5A" target="_blank">Kindle Fire 8.9 HD</a> for awhile now but haven't commented on it for a couple of reasons. The first is that it arrived between my Acer Chromebook and Nexus 4 and was kind of crowded out. The more important reason though is I haven't been using it much.<br />
<br />
That situation has improved recently but I'm still more than a little ambivalent about it. Don't get me wrong, the hardware is nice for the most part with the screen being excellent. The software is an evolutionary step up from my original <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindle_Fire" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Kindle Fire">Kindle Fire</a> but easy enough to navigate and well suited to Amazon's business model of making it easy to buy and consume content from the Amazon store so what's the problem?<br />
<br />
I try to be technology agnostic but there are a some things I don't want to do without. At the top of that list is GMail with several other Google. You don't get the Google apps with the Fire even though it is running Android under the Amazon User Interface. Rooting the device is an option but based on my experience with rooting my original Kindle I'd prefer not to go down that path. Things tended to break and apps become unreliable.<br />
<br />
Google provides apps for <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="IOS">iOS</a>, they need to be in the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Appstore" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Amazon Appstore">Amazon app store</a> as well. <a href="http://emkey1.blogspot.com/2012/12/no-amazon-phone-for-me.html" target="_blank">I've debated </a>recently which company is to blame for the absence though so I won't take any more time on that topic here. Note you will see a picture of the Play store on some of the screen shots. This is a result of a half hearted attempt to work my way around this problem. It exits immediately when launched. :-(<br />
<br />
I also purchased the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00825BZUY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=savebaseballcom&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00825BZUY" target="_blank">Amazon Kindle HD Case</a> which is kind of expensive but nice. It is included on the images below.<br />
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Production values have gone up a bit as I'm now using my Nexus 4 rather than the Palm Pre+ to take pictures.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhJq3Gmk7prRvv23uUuX4eViI5xqVMuxSenCl2sn51JDFruRCFqipfBftZWH6TmDvB_smODePtewf_hZW30x_d-XzPGFJQwgoZJ8aw7ktd_jgCT8I7zOxUSFyQJhCTnBkMqz9tZMXrPGC8/s1600/IMG_20121220_120551.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhJq3Gmk7prRvv23uUuX4eViI5xqVMuxSenCl2sn51JDFruRCFqipfBftZWH6TmDvB_smODePtewf_hZW30x_d-XzPGFJQwgoZJ8aw7ktd_jgCT8I7zOxUSFyQJhCTnBkMqz9tZMXrPGC8/s400/IMG_20121220_120551.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The placement of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="USB">micro USB</a> port is sub optimal when using the optional Kindle Cover</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
One minor nit with the case is that the back tends to slide when it is used as a stand on smooth surfaces which causes the Fire HD to collapse slowly to the table.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf1owYrjj7Q8G4qAvpyBsqWEpULZR_NjPtV_mujk5TQ3LKF_IL3u33aM19eZHIjmBACE6_A4hdHLoX_9EN6gUjHn_gIh88J9GU1wW8o55yBGkV_BceYRAA_5akcbFBvNwPIGV-CFOZJqrq/s1600/IMG_20121220_120627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf1owYrjj7Q8G4qAvpyBsqWEpULZR_NjPtV_mujk5TQ3LKF_IL3u33aM19eZHIjmBACE6_A4hdHLoX_9EN6gUjHn_gIh88J9GU1wW8o55yBGkV_BceYRAA_5akcbFBvNwPIGV-CFOZJqrq/s400/IMG_20121220_120627.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cover is sturdy and well made. This is the front</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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As the caption on the first picture above mentions the Kindle Fire is not without design flaws. The placement of the micro USB and HDMI ports is sub optimal when the Fire HD is used with the case. Ideally they should have been put on the opposite side from the volume and resume buttons which are on the right hand side of the picture above.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw_KLknFmn4KyphC7bQdJKK7hjTUCtfZBVIj6sFYC8jLaoehI-HHmrzT24Veu_wOEK0GkVqvjuMr85SrIZjR0GqlIxGWdrUMk5uBmGBRKTaVFyazNNIW_5miDnHutq5vTLfnK6hHqK7NoJ/s1600/IMG_20121220_120638.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw_KLknFmn4KyphC7bQdJKK7hjTUCtfZBVIj6sFYC8jLaoehI-HHmrzT24Veu_wOEK0GkVqvjuMr85SrIZjR0GqlIxGWdrUMk5uBmGBRKTaVFyazNNIW_5miDnHutq5vTLfnK6hHqK7NoJ/s400/IMG_20121220_120638.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the back of the cover. Note the speaker grills</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The case fits the Fire like a glove but is reasonably easy to attach and remove. It's available seven different shades. This is "Ink Blue".<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzK5BJLYV_Yl7TXNWxfpYh-MXEu56uipvZzq69UJh03vCuampqnHT-6QO1F2BU1ew-m6q2o2YBqp-uN0O7LnJ98JLgpgRZTx3U4Txd8c2MAItv2Pa3AO6J0Eq-iPFvkm1Vtug4ZffJpl5c/s1600/IMG_20121220_120654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzK5BJLYV_Yl7TXNWxfpYh-MXEu56uipvZzq69UJh03vCuampqnHT-6QO1F2BU1ew-m6q2o2YBqp-uN0O7LnJ98JLgpgRZTx3U4Txd8c2MAItv2Pa3AO6J0Eq-iPFvkm1Vtug4ZffJpl5c/s400/IMG_20121220_120654.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can see the shiny in the picture above. I only occasionally find it distracting</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The screen automatically dims when the case cover is closed and battery life is very good when the Fire HD is in standby mode. Battery life in general seems good as I can go several days of casual use between charging.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinIqvGJq2PueOewVZ1eBT3EDiiIoFiYCPcca5wAtGRbzqMza6Mm92fnsi7L3H_3m3xGnr2zCn_BLEi3jWAmfSePdErg8VcdWsSkc_nzRrYymHt5eYMz_UVZa_Z9ASBM9E-oE27aYrAEE0y/s1600/IMG_20121220_120802.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinIqvGJq2PueOewVZ1eBT3EDiiIoFiYCPcca5wAtGRbzqMza6Mm92fnsi7L3H_3m3xGnr2zCn_BLEi3jWAmfSePdErg8VcdWsSkc_nzRrYymHt5eYMz_UVZa_Z9ASBM9E-oE27aYrAEE0y/s400/IMG_20121220_120802.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can anyone name the film?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
You can pretty much use the Fire HD as a mirror in many lighting situations. In spite of that the viewing experience is actually good the majority of the time and when the lighting is dim it looks amazing. To be fair, as you'll see in some of the pictures below it's really no worse than <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="IPad">the iPad</a> 2.<br />
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Overall performance is excellent with the included apps but I have noticed some sluggishness and lag on apps I've purchased such as "Air Harp" and "Archipelago". I'm inclined to blame this on the apps themselves since most things work fine.<br />
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The discounted <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4G" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="4G">AT&T 4G</a> LTE plan is a nice first year feature if you purchase the 4G version. It will be interesting to see if it is available after the initial year. It really isn't cheap on a per megabyte basis if you compare it to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="AT&T">AT&T</a>'s larger data plans so I think there is a decent chance AT&T will extend the offer.<br />
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</h2>
<h2>
Fire HD Versus iPad </h2>
The iPad is often referred to as a ten inch tablet when in reality the screen size is only 9.7 inches. The Fire HD 8.9 is exactly the same width as the iPad when in the landscape orientation with the difference in screen size between the two devices being explained by their very different aspect ratios.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgteqE_1opCAjX7lfHcD3mNa4eP0-68rr_fmBe3lLuHo8lqFJ9iqkkUOavU8gV9RAhXYMhM6jBr5FRAOHMEYppjt-fXi6d6ZGIcFfvJC0SzhFZt2GwcpuuKXs2fVZ6YiZyOCGro_UjCft1G/s1600/IMG_20121220_153756.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgteqE_1opCAjX7lfHcD3mNa4eP0-68rr_fmBe3lLuHo8lqFJ9iqkkUOavU8gV9RAhXYMhM6jBr5FRAOHMEYppjt-fXi6d6ZGIcFfvJC0SzhFZt2GwcpuuKXs2fVZ6YiZyOCGro_UjCft1G/s400/IMG_20121220_153756.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Fire HD nearly covers the iPad 2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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In the picture above I've placed the Fire HD on top of my iPad 2. You can see that they are much closer in overall size than you might expect given the difference in screen sizes<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBfzWBhflqj4wGzcY5A3ZmGj6ymK3lSQwoakasVNFE0uyjpYEhueJs_jSniJPBNzv08ih5Pwl5nf-27npJSNa3BW0MfNFNwtqoAz3KwWxhqKt2O7xOSlV0UcyAXRO-7GRCN5xpCqI9WGSj/s1600/IMG_20121220_153818.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBfzWBhflqj4wGzcY5A3ZmGj6ymK3lSQwoakasVNFE0uyjpYEhueJs_jSniJPBNzv08ih5Pwl5nf-27npJSNa3BW0MfNFNwtqoAz3KwWxhqKt2O7xOSlV0UcyAXRO-7GRCN5xpCqI9WGSj/s400/IMG_20121220_153818.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail showing that the width of the screens is pretty much identical as are the Bezels</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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In fact they are identical width wise both in terms of their overall size and bezel's.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSh2abdoX76CZgN1Oh4RMZUDy5eKt1ALDuZ_t_Z9F2RMUOZ6eJRn2hFJrHUsj79dpPWBSYachk5mHBD6kfgJHFCN-jC3p6xZCatO_XGRoaIJ2FLkuN-XAhTkoONUMkSl3gN5lH846tFJXg/s1600/IMG_20121220_153902.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSh2abdoX76CZgN1Oh4RMZUDy5eKt1ALDuZ_t_Z9F2RMUOZ6eJRn2hFJrHUsj79dpPWBSYachk5mHBD6kfgJHFCN-jC3p6xZCatO_XGRoaIJ2FLkuN-XAhTkoONUMkSl3gN5lH846tFJXg/s400/IMG_20121220_153902.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Side by side, notice the restrictiveness of the screens is very similar</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The size difference is explained by the 16:9 apsect ratio of the Fire HD 16:9 which leads to a shorter screen than the iPad's which has an aspect ratio of 4:3.<br />
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The iPad's retro aspect ratio means you're basically going to have the same experience viewing most movies on either since you'll get large black bands at the top and bottom of the iPad which will not be the case for the Fire HD. The iPad 2 is much lower resolution as well. This isn't an issue with the iPad 3 or 4 as they have approximately the same screen bit density as the Fire HD.<br />
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</h2>
<h2>
Conclusion</h2>
<div>
The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is a nice but somewhat flawed experience. </div>
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<div>
If you're only interested in consuming stuff from the Amazon ecosystem then chances are you'll be pleased. If you want a full Android tablet experience and you aren't willing to root the Fire HD than the Nexus 10 is a much better bet though you would miss out on instant streaming video if you are an Amazon Prime member.</div>
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Overall I'm OK with this purchase but a bit disappointed. I only have myself to blame though as I knew what I was getting into.<br />
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I don't mean to imply the Fire HD is bad. It really is a nice piece of hardware and you get a lot for your money. I just don't like having to live without GMail, Google+ and the rest of the Google app suite.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-36069470565642976932012-12-18T07:05:00.000-08:002012-12-18T13:12:14.284-08:00Nexus 4, Worth It?A month or so back I was reading about how great the Nexus 4 was and feeling like somebody had punched me in the stomach. I'd planned on being one of the first "in line" but got distracted at work and ended up missing out. When the second batch went on sale I was determined I would emerge victorious. Little did I know how difficult and frustrating the next several hours would be. Everything started out fine. I added one of the 16GB models to my cart and clicked the Proceed link. That is where the first part of this story should have ended. When I clicked the proceed button I was informed my cart was empty. Then I was informed Google was out of stock.<br />
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I'll cut this part of the story short and jump ahead three hours when I finally managed the nearly impossible task of getting one into my cart and convincing Google to let me give them my money. I was exhausted, pissed and relieved. After that experience I had very high expectations. </div>
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My previous <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Android (operating system)">Android phone</a> was a first generation <a class="zem_slink" href="http://phones.verizonwireless.com/droid/x/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Droid X">Droid X</a>. I remember hearing a lot of people question why anyone would want a phone that large. It turns out a lot of people did in fact want a larger phone which lead to the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="IPhone">iPhone 5</a> being about the same size as the Droid X. </div>
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<div>
The Nexus 4 is a bit longer and a bit wider than the Droid X, but still very manageable. Here's a picture of the two phones side by side for comparison.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOVIbBoBOt8GKGFYdRo1OQ7n8I_cK0IVPyIG3sjHD3aieFP4W81LX7cneVdRx1PVn1xHtnWvimSSyEfZUuPQi5dexwTYtcCU5Jo5MkpowRyclqbgj6WKDbeJ0pOf-1M2x8_0MJ73jhbWUW/s1600/CIMG0125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOVIbBoBOt8GKGFYdRo1OQ7n8I_cK0IVPyIG3sjHD3aieFP4W81LX7cneVdRx1PVn1xHtnWvimSSyEfZUuPQi5dexwTYtcCU5Jo5MkpowRyclqbgj6WKDbeJ0pOf-1M2x8_0MJ73jhbWUW/s400/CIMG0125.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front: Droid X and Nexus 4</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Other than the size the thing that strikes me the most about the Nexus 4 is the lack of ornamentation on the front. This simplicity is in large part due to Google's decision to not sign an exclusive selling agreement with any carrier. Maybe Google also discouraged <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Corp." rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="LG Corp.">LG</a> from putting their logo on the front. Honestly I wouldn't have minded a little ornamentation to help visually differentiate the top from the bottom when the phone is in its case because if the notification light isn't flashing it can be difficult.<br />
<br />
The back of the Nexus 4 is a lot more interesting with both the Nexus logo and LG making an appearance.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMZNE4Gl88kHknIzkBBLvbo05PUsMqcjQNgPEwweJJ524__Kbq-jIeSOdjg6ZUBLtcY7vVHlktN8KQfv1QGDEmJzjnWLvnQqcrV71v8qfvI44svC5m_T_FU75csTBAQPd2Fdg7LK-0o7XB/s1600/CIMG0130.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMZNE4Gl88kHknIzkBBLvbo05PUsMqcjQNgPEwweJJ524__Kbq-jIeSOdjg6ZUBLtcY7vVHlktN8KQfv1QGDEmJzjnWLvnQqcrV71v8qfvI44svC5m_T_FU75csTBAQPd2Fdg7LK-0o7XB/s400/CIMG0130.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back: Droid X and Nexus 4</td></tr>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I almost bought the even larger <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Note" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Samsung Galaxy Note">Galaxy Note</a> 2 but changed my mind when Verizon's online ordering system told me I'd lose my unlimited data plan. Worse still it tried to push me towards a 2GB plan for only ten dollars a month less than I'm currently paying. This was enough for me to lose my last bit of loyalty to Verizon.</div>
<h2>
</h2>
<h2>
Pros and Cons</h2>
<div>
Resolution wise the state of the art in phone cameras hasn't advanced much in the past two and a half years as both the Droid X and the Nexus 4 sport 8 megapixel cameras. Picture quality on the Nexus is better in my limited testing but not profoundly so. Where the Nexus 4 really wins over the X is Video quality. 1080p versus 720p is a big jump in quality.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Comparing these two phone in any area other than camera resolution would be a bit of a joke. The X was a great phone in its day but the state of the art hardware and software wise has advanced significantly and its would be a bit like comparing a horse to a 1964 and a half Mustang. Both are elegant and functional in their own way but the Mustang will get you to your destination faster and more smoothly.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The first thing I noticed about the Nexus was how fast it is. It loads apps up almost instantly and scrolling is essentially real time all the time. I can't think of any other way to describe the experience other than to say its "Apple like". </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The screen is clear and sharp with excellent viewing from almost any angle.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Battery life is good with a single charge lasting me comfortably through a day of moderate use with plenty to spare. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There are some things I don't particularly like but they've all been discussed at length elsewhere so I won't spend much time on them here other than to note that in a phone this inexpensive some compromises are going to be made. The one thing I will mention is the glass back. Sure, the sparkles are kind of cool but they don't justify going with a design feature makes the phone more fragile. I'll also say that the complaints about the lack of LTE don't make much sense to me. Based on the bandwidth I get at my house I could burn through my entire 5GB monthly data plan in a bit over an hour. LTE certainly has some advantages over HSPA+ but they aren't all that significant right now given the limited availability of LTE and the additional battery drain.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The biggest non phone bonus is having the freedom to pick my carrier and move at will. Right now I'm using the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Mobile" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="T-Mobile">T-Mobile</a> $30 plan which gives me unlimited text, 5GB of data and 100 minutes of voice. Tacking on taxes and tethering would bring the total to about $50 which is way below what <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:VZ" rel="googlefinance" target="_blank" title="NASDAQ: VZ">Verizon</a> and the other carriers in the US charge for similar plans.</div>
<h2>
</h2>
<h2>
Conclusion</h2>
<div>
I've had the Nexus 4 about a week and a half now and so far I'm loving it. It's not only a great value price wise it also compares well with any other phone on the market right now including <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc." rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Apple Inc.">Apple's</a> latest offering. The only downside? Good luck getting one. Google is sold out again with not indication of when more units might be made available. Apparently neither LG nor Google had a clue that this thing would be such a big hit. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My only big concern long term is hardware support. What happens if my phone has some sort of failure? When you buy and iPhone you know the answer to that question. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To be fair the Nexus 4 is just over half the price of an equivalent unlocked iPhone 5. That kind of savings doesn't come without something being lost. I'm basically gambling I never need that platinum support that I didn't pay for.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So in summary and to answer the question posed in the title of this post the Nexus 4 is an excellent phone that would be a great deal if you could buy one and based on my early impressions it was even worth the three hours of frustration I went through to buy mine. Fret not though if you didn't get one because the way these things work there will be a new Android phone out in the next few months that will match or surpass the Nexus 4. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-24684289699162803412012-12-10T13:32:00.001-08:002012-12-10T17:10:40.889-08:00No Amazon Phone For Me!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51035648958@N01/1478523081" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Amazon shipment" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="180" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1436/1478523081_c2fa3dce36_m.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="240" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center;">Amazon shipment (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51035648958@N01/1478523081" target="_blank">enno</a>)</td></tr>
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There have been rumors for awhile now that Amazon is working on a phone. It's probably safe to assume that an Amazon phone would run <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29">Android</a> since that is the case with their tablets. Having recently acquired a Nexus 4 I'm not going to be in the market for awhile but if I were I wouldn't be interested in an Amazon phone.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Amazon is Android without <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google">Google.</a> No native GMail app, no Google navigation app, no Google+, etc. Amazon's ecosystem makes this kind of work on tablets but that ecosystem advantage gets much smaller on a phone where people are less likely to want to watch a movie or partake of Amazon's other offerings. The use case for a phone is different than a tablet and a lot of things Google brings to the mobile experience play particularly well on phones. Not having those capabilities present on a phone would make for a less satisfying experience.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This problem would be mitigated somewhat if the browser that came with Amazon's tablets weren't so bad. In my experience it tends to be slow, prone to crashing and offers very poor support for GMail and Google+ in particular. GMail is kind of usable but Google+ is nearly useless. Its just not a good experience.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'll be the first to admit that I'm not your typical user but I think a lot of people would miss Google's navigation software and be frustrated by the lack of choice in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Appstore">Amazon App store</a>. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The answer to this problem is obvious. Amazon needs to get Google to make their apps available on the Amazon App site. I suspect there are roadblocks on both sides of this equation though.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
On the Amazon side is a desire to want to control the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_experience">user experience</a>. A more cynical way of putting this would be to say they want to have a clear field when it comes to monetizing their mobile devices. Bringing Google into the picture makes that impossible. Google is a profitable company for a reason. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
On the Google side there may be frustration with Amazon using Android for free and essentially giving nothing back to Google. Google can't be happy with Amazon's decision to change the default search engine on Fire tablets to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft">Microsoft's</a> Bing either. Google and Amazon don't compete in all the same markets but there is a growing overlap and that is likely a detriment as well.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
On the other hand Google has good support for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS">iOS</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.">Apple</a> is clearly a competitor as well. Google does this because it makes business sense which is why I suspect they would come to an accommodation with Amazon if an attempt were made.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Which brings me to the conclusion that the real holdup here is Amazon. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If I'm right than Amazon has a clear path forward if they really are planning on releasing a phone. I won't say that the Google Apps being missing would kill an Amazon phone but I do believe it would have a sizable impact on sales and reduce the viability of such a product. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone">smart phone</a> without Google apps just isn't as smart as it should be. When you're competing with Apple, Google and a bunch of other well established players its not a good idea to be running the race with your legs tied together.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-16010288592304630932012-12-01T18:03:00.000-08:002012-12-01T19:22:20.929-08:00Acer Chromebook C7 With 16GB Of Memory?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Most of my posts have both business and technical elements with a tilt towards the business side. Today I'm going to turn the dial all the way over to geek and expand a bit on my <a href="http://emkey1.blogspot.com/2012/11/low-tech-acer-chromebook-unboxing-review.html" target="_blank">Acer C7 review</a> while also exploring the (unofficial) memory expansion options of the C7.</div>
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First of all a word of warning. You void your warranty by opening the case of the C7. If you take a look at the bottom of the C7 you should see a sticker like the one pictured bellow. It basically tells you you're SOL if you open the case and anything bad happens later. Don't say you haven't been warned by me, and Acer if you choose to explore further. </div>
<h2>
</h2>
<h2>
To Boldly Go..</h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Below this sticker is a single screw you'll need to unscrew in order remove the bottom plate.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuVTS3BOUwcXONSZsGsia0ufYeUA-1itd9O-GkODuhr1PadvoTNeMfLzeAbn-40QP9I6r6OOXcGPEVZOp0yj2QPiDH3ywVH7ofHdlHc-9VsJv59aE_CKNDt_t9l4XyQyVURHxQNLYt-w4m/s1600/CIMG0091.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuVTS3BOUwcXONSZsGsia0ufYeUA-1itd9O-GkODuhr1PadvoTNeMfLzeAbn-40QP9I6r6OOXcGPEVZOp0yj2QPiDH3ywVH7ofHdlHc-9VsJv59aE_CKNDt_t9l4XyQyVURHxQNLYt-w4m/s400/CIMG0091.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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When you do you'll see something similar to this.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb5E_ODHkqbMRpmfDIgrsu2Z3D9UZ8VO9j8qRmSinMY1dZ974QF3lMkMSFAqK_XhIDctoffNelCfLhSViUhJs7gKax0EVi3dCHYOnyrg37-z1pRg01pnRmggM9jKI0arNeSlHaAr0xwEvA/s1600/CIMG0099.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb5E_ODHkqbMRpmfDIgrsu2Z3D9UZ8VO9j8qRmSinMY1dZ974QF3lMkMSFAqK_XhIDctoffNelCfLhSViUhJs7gKax0EVi3dCHYOnyrg37-z1pRg01pnRmggM9jKI0arNeSlHaAr0xwEvA/s400/CIMG0099.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
The hard drive is on the right and the memory is in the center. The C7 comes with a 2GB <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SO-DIMM" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="SO-DIMM">SoDIMM</a> pictured towards the top and center. If you look just below it you'll see an additional slot that is empty.<br />
<br />
I recently decided to upgrade my main laptop/computer from 8GB to 16GB as the cost with tax and shipping from Amazon was only $70. I'd had the C7 about a week when I received the 2x8GB SoDIMM's and decided to see if the C7 would work with that much memory.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR0PTxgmFGBs_OhGGUhJ6QuRIDC9F2-nGceD9AUCaFrcnT1pTRvC4mYFyHJZBk242cusgAa29eAVAkPgvXCArPVGPt14ZtF8mEEle4h6Mw_GQ4S2P_nPqtI5Ouv2tQ4Y_P0zbrLtnnpeNp/s1600/CIMG0100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR0PTxgmFGBs_OhGGUhJ6QuRIDC9F2-nGceD9AUCaFrcnT1pTRvC4mYFyHJZBk242cusgAa29eAVAkPgvXCArPVGPt14ZtF8mEEle4h6Mw_GQ4S2P_nPqtI5Ouv2tQ4Y_P0zbrLtnnpeNp/s400/CIMG0100.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Above you'll see the C7 with the 8GB SoDIMM's installed. Below is a closeup.<br />
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You can click on these images to see a bigger version but its probably not worth it in most cases since the quality is fairly low.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicfQbN66wIPjF2e_KvDoxjsv9aEY6SNoi3_IwjvmadocakqFRICZGebsFU_aae1WQyhU74KXgx9SG69jEUsZlJxc1lWXlxAQoZuNzWnEWULz9C67EQ5KRKwLlj9NbprPh8A_Yc0jyHomQI/s1600/CIMG0103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicfQbN66wIPjF2e_KvDoxjsv9aEY6SNoi3_IwjvmadocakqFRICZGebsFU_aae1WQyhU74KXgx9SG69jEUsZlJxc1lWXlxAQoZuNzWnEWULz9C67EQ5KRKwLlj9NbprPh8A_Yc0jyHomQI/s320/CIMG0103.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
The next step was to power the C7 up and see if it would work. I first tried ChrUbuntu <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Linux">Linux</a>. The results were what I was hoping as if you look towards the upper left corner of the following photo you'll see a number that starts 16 and has a lot of additional digits after it...<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSzoFbFm-L7SifjUDD0jNhxg_onR4E50U2vi9A_VXt72Nyr_8SmJv1evjif0EWosmI4ac8W8g5WGkh9Tu4ZVohnn-U5rHL-fyr6QCBR4CfCBuXbEMwkgs37KUaveKtD5vt4KAdwpeA5bKd/s1600/CIMG0109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSzoFbFm-L7SifjUDD0jNhxg_onR4E50U2vi9A_VXt72Nyr_8SmJv1evjif0EWosmI4ac8W8g5WGkh9Tu4ZVohnn-U5rHL-fyr6QCBR4CfCBuXbEMwkgs37KUaveKtD5vt4KAdwpeA5bKd/s320/CIMG0109.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
I'd had a less than stellar experience with this distro when the C7 had only 2GB. By default it doesn't setup a swap/page file and opening Chrome with a half dozen tabs was enough to cause the OOM (<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_memory" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Out of memory">Out Of Memory</a>) killer to kick in and start freeing up memory in its usual brutal and unforgiving way. Creating a swap file solved that problem but the system was sluggish which isn't a surprise. Any time you have to start using your hard drive as additional memory performance will suffer. I could have chosen a more light weight window manager but didn't bother since I was fairly sure I'd be upgrading the memory soon.<br />
<br />
ChrUbuntu is a 64 bit distro/kernel and it had no problem recognizing and using all 16GB. Having that much RAM in the C7 didn't magically turn it into a high powered workstation but it did improve the user experience since it no longer needed to swap to the hard drive.<br />
<br />
Next up I toggled the C7 to boot into Chrome OS and restarted.<br />
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I'd noticed before that the mini Linux distribution at the heart of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome_OS" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Google Chrome OS">Chrome OS</a> is 32 bit. For the non technical this means that it will normally recognize less than 1/4th of the 16GB I had installed. There is some "magic" that can be done to work around this limitation. It's called "PAE" or "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Physical Address Extension">Physical Address Extension</a>" and what it does is allow the 32 bit <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Linux kernel">Linux kernel</a> to use all of the memory that is installed. This does come at a small cost in lost performance. How much of an impact depends on a lot of different factors but about 5% is typical.<br />
<br />
I had no clue if the Chrome OS Linux kernel had PAE enabled but once the C7 came up and I logged in I was able to confirm that it does...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAv0KK7Pe7maWULKHh5vyLLdpSy2EIUZnX7sTkRxvhLVFbOmAkAC1OlszmFxqpc7KUYZAIFASgPJvdPkOCWBalyQpcnLm4lwTFSeIB2JMBzyq2JuUePwUAJei-U0DyjfoLDF_sQ6CRvNnL/s1600/CIMG0121.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAv0KK7Pe7maWULKHh5vyLLdpSy2EIUZnX7sTkRxvhLVFbOmAkAC1OlszmFxqpc7KUYZAIFASgPJvdPkOCWBalyQpcnLm4lwTFSeIB2JMBzyq2JuUePwUAJei-U0DyjfoLDF_sQ6CRvNnL/s400/CIMG0121.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The impact of the additional memory in Chrome OS was smaller since its already very light weight. Opening tabs seemed a bit quicker but that could have been my imagination.<br />
<br />
Once I'd verified that the 16GB config worked in both ChrUbuntu Linux and Chrome OS I pulled the 8GB SoDIMM's and put them in my main laptop. That left me with 2x4GB for the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromebook" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Chromebook">Chromebook</a>. Not surprisingly both operating systems work fine with 8GB as well.<br />
<br />
It probably doesn't make a lot of sense to upgrade a C7 to anything more than about 8GB since the underlying hardware isn't really up to supporting applications that would need those kinds of memory resources. You can get to 8GB at the cost of your warranty and around $40.<br />
<br />
The additional memory does seem to extend battery life a bit. I don't have any formal measurements on this though.<br />
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<h2>
Additional Thoughts</h2>
<div>
The C7 is an inexpensive work horse and surprisingly customizable. Don't like the hard drive? Invest in a solid state drive and replace it. Want more than 2GB? No problem, can do. Want to run something other than Chrome OS on it? Very doable. I haven't verified <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_8" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Windows 8">Windows 8</a> but I'd be surprised if it can't be made to work and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_%28operating_system%29" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Ubuntu (operating system)">Ubuntu</a> Linux is already a given.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'd really like to see an extended life battery. Three to four hours is OK, but I've gotten used to being able to go five hours or more before I have to find a wall outlet. It's not a fatal flaw though given the very modest price of the C7</div>
<div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-62575178158525905502012-11-26T06:39:00.000-08:002012-11-28T11:27:19.132-08:00Low Tech Acer Chromebook Unboxing + Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The production values of this unboxing are fairly low I'm afraid. I was supposed to have a Nexus 4 by now but an ill timed call at work and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Google">Google's</a> inability to anticipate demand have conspired to leave me with my stopgap <a href="http://emkey1.blogspot.com/2012/10/my-32-smart-phone.html" target="_blank">$32 smart phone</a>. I took out my frustration about this by buying another Google product, the recently released Acer Chromebook C7. </div>
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I was getting tired of hauling me first generation Alienware M11x around and for $230 including tax and shipping it seemed like the C7 might be a cost effective replacement.</div>
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The C7 comes with <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome_OS" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Google Chrome OS">Chrome OS</a> installed. I won't go into a lot of detail about Chrome OS other than to note that its basically a stripped down Linux distribution with a very simple window manager, the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.google.com/chrome" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Google Chrome">Google Chrome browser</a> and one or two other apps. Its designed primarily to be used while online but does have some limited functionality as a stand alone computer. And now onto the unboxing...</div>
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<h2>
The Unboxing</h2>
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The guitar picks in the picture below obscure my address and provide some idea as to the size of the box the C7 arrives in.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3_aabBRZMvTAXBzRVcHesx0Q8yg4e_joHn4GeIzirbq-D_gX6dD5DRH9EZSFyypeI8HJ7sQ8N38D0U_1HwKTRWNbIiO0Gs-2z-Ijj3716qsoUNDfI5S4SWLzklAk02tTJaYjKWwqbg4fA/s1600/CIMG0044.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3_aabBRZMvTAXBzRVcHesx0Q8yg4e_joHn4GeIzirbq-D_gX6dD5DRH9EZSFyypeI8HJ7sQ8N38D0U_1HwKTRWNbIiO0Gs-2z-Ijj3716qsoUNDfI5S4SWLzklAk02tTJaYjKWwqbg4fA/s400/CIMG0044.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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In a video unboxing people generally show all sides of the box. I'm not sure why but pixels are cheap so here we go...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh58Jyu1wxkprvD_LRD2JxykmMow3TCfAiKfnCfTAZMd4V-p2hUgnHm6BeQ8mbWp4iAX6KzTutH8CrLG4cw27W1OJGJ5GSsaWRJ4_NAsBXNkzIjOMcHNVcZKLfkEZgXxh2QP8PJJj8BTwci/s1600/CIMG0046.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh58Jyu1wxkprvD_LRD2JxykmMow3TCfAiKfnCfTAZMd4V-p2hUgnHm6BeQ8mbWp4iAX6KzTutH8CrLG4cw27W1OJGJ5GSsaWRJ4_NAsBXNkzIjOMcHNVcZKLfkEZgXxh2QP8PJJj8BTwci/s400/CIMG0046.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLPjHUW2zezBaFODIbZbQfgiBcywkLJkvR0fRqqB8QNDhCxIPJ7YNzCYHPNtBDKqDrTMBel64sYo2tn4ZBtJScwqnDFPm059Ty739iJyUnTmbBfzDk8XyqvMnctB0DqBbBVVGDsdMTnin5/s1600/CIMG0048.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLPjHUW2zezBaFODIbZbQfgiBcywkLJkvR0fRqqB8QNDhCxIPJ7YNzCYHPNtBDKqDrTMBel64sYo2tn4ZBtJScwqnDFPm059Ty739iJyUnTmbBfzDk8XyqvMnctB0DqBbBVVGDsdMTnin5/s400/CIMG0048.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHrHp4uliTIyydof6xEJr4wOGo5lTxNEmcgvS_xmXzLmntzz4JKg_jr0kHS90XTAJNxpQmxaprOiV78QtB1knYYjpvgfCI2M08Qsl1uwea9Egtkw_NXCV_yaQV7u6jWeWUflVudjhOOmni/s1600/CIMG0049.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHrHp4uliTIyydof6xEJr4wOGo5lTxNEmcgvS_xmXzLmntzz4JKg_jr0kHS90XTAJNxpQmxaprOiV78QtB1knYYjpvgfCI2M08Qsl1uwea9Egtkw_NXCV_yaQV7u6jWeWUflVudjhOOmni/s400/CIMG0049.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidLXGAD6ABm-Nx6CRLK2zCwBPPjHUv2qFxcNQvbXHuAhjZYr2Zt6lP5gvL4aH9gbS-sSbSHMVDxEuiWA5Bz6RUCFXpUcepeChei02DhGvRPt6FAFv0n5TyKjLE-K3CefnuTEcPLynjyguj/s1600/CIMG0050.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidLXGAD6ABm-Nx6CRLK2zCwBPPjHUv2qFxcNQvbXHuAhjZYr2Zt6lP5gvL4aH9gbS-sSbSHMVDxEuiWA5Bz6RUCFXpUcepeChei02DhGvRPt6FAFv0n5TyKjLE-K3CefnuTEcPLynjyguj/s400/CIMG0050.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Below you'll see the battery on the left, the manual in the center and the power cord on the right. The computer is in the lid portion of the box. You can see the black screen cleaner cloth that also came with the Chromebook sitting on it. A screen cleaner is a nice touch in a system this cheap.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGVPafTRfhyphenhyphen_MIGSoAwDfXXwwTX5EGiVLKdl_bDhXfoVOh9WpHYRN77TKNUgQ8nfGTLnU0FY8eTr29mycSqhESo-Ahav4WXAUJQ2B8WSe0JoSPKcCsCwp0oGtFs6jqF7jIfiYB0KDPQxRJ/s1600/CIMG0053.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGVPafTRfhyphenhyphen_MIGSoAwDfXXwwTX5EGiVLKdl_bDhXfoVOh9WpHYRN77TKNUgQ8nfGTLnU0FY8eTr29mycSqhESo-Ahav4WXAUJQ2B8WSe0JoSPKcCsCwp0oGtFs6jqF7jIfiYB0KDPQxRJ/s400/CIMG0053.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Below you can see the computer freed of its cardboard enclosure but still in the white inner sleeve that it ships in.<br />
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I'll mention here that you can click on any of these pictures if you want to see them in their full resolution low quality glory.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAPzr4iyvTOuQVFta0XkCvOmWjNdFSO6P6D-MOeO3dc6QR_qHsZ4Qoh_v3GTh0DoRkNqNIoZTqcHMdXwyAoDi6Fm5FqsfawJP5ZXTmdsw9W_RPaCWAgTDkWsEoicTvA-gQE4ecqoIlyYyh/s1600/CIMG0054.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAPzr4iyvTOuQVFta0XkCvOmWjNdFSO6P6D-MOeO3dc6QR_qHsZ4Qoh_v3GTh0DoRkNqNIoZTqcHMdXwyAoDi6Fm5FqsfawJP5ZXTmdsw9W_RPaCWAgTDkWsEoicTvA-gQE4ecqoIlyYyh/s400/CIMG0054.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Below you can see the Chromebook coyly peeking out of its sleeve. The empty battery slot is visible. Acer claims 3.5 hours of battery life with this unit. Based on my limited real world testing I'd say that is a somewhat optimistic estimate but not far off. The cord and power supply are small enough to be easily carried around.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpC6jxOnGk-s_b39-StqKFQ4RaAlGkY6SP12IRW1803CSHkpK2GJMTkDiCvy4hJ07RRV_O-aTgi2KZi9T4lnmrO4ICvxAKgwhHwrr-GCjSqC4nhVK0iuUXhJtgOAtBdem437VZ4BJVeeiW/s1600/CIMG0055.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpC6jxOnGk-s_b39-StqKFQ4RaAlGkY6SP12IRW1803CSHkpK2GJMTkDiCvy4hJ07RRV_O-aTgi2KZi9T4lnmrO4ICvxAKgwhHwrr-GCjSqC4nhVK0iuUXhJtgOAtBdem437VZ4BJVeeiW/s400/CIMG0055.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I'm not a big fan of glossy screens but this one isn't that bad compared to some I've seen. It does reflect the camera flash very well though as the next picture shows.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjog7SAqb_v7yDmadJgq3FV-MSRR8N3BcoV7rR_VUVfNNG7S5f3_8Zpdn4TbmTyi6KPrpbzBFaQzlf5NULmaqr0ynfsi31FxsrHZh_O5gz9PoioPKSHVnNI8q2RP7WQIdfkUUk5TkmxEQG0/s1600/CIMG0057.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjog7SAqb_v7yDmadJgq3FV-MSRR8N3BcoV7rR_VUVfNNG7S5f3_8Zpdn4TbmTyi6KPrpbzBFaQzlf5NULmaqr0ynfsi31FxsrHZh_O5gz9PoioPKSHVnNI8q2RP7WQIdfkUUk5TkmxEQG0/s400/CIMG0057.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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If you have a Google account and access to the Internet you can be up and running in a couple of minutes. Setup is quick and easy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjBDi4IMPbWhmlCkffSqaGYaX_HVeRvk9BVqDunDkP21maWaF0JIkdnpu9lk2m_7iA21zixuQnVk-nfQ1MdNvKL5diMyqYgAsZqjEPBxBNttwc8Tx7hlIn_RDIPfLBCc9XqKYzdj5B8X5r/s1600/CIMG0060.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjBDi4IMPbWhmlCkffSqaGYaX_HVeRvk9BVqDunDkP21maWaF0JIkdnpu9lk2m_7iA21zixuQnVk-nfQ1MdNvKL5diMyqYgAsZqjEPBxBNttwc8Tx7hlIn_RDIPfLBCc9XqKYzdj5B8X5r/s400/CIMG0060.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I didn't take careful notes but I think there were like three questions I had to answer to get logged in and started initially.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2BC9ZAFprCctWPTLWv0S4a4qxY2AE6YkqpCwLfohUDEZR5RpWbABJ6-JGTrfjffPrRkV-hXA6zCzCBZsqUn89SAQXEBA5ysV6sKmjbi8w9aYHxyE2Nx1SKjgmsNdpjWF3190Si7Hn8dzd/s1600/CIMG0062.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2BC9ZAFprCctWPTLWv0S4a4qxY2AE6YkqpCwLfohUDEZR5RpWbABJ6-JGTrfjffPrRkV-hXA6zCzCBZsqUn89SAQXEBA5ysV6sKmjbi8w9aYHxyE2Nx1SKjgmsNdpjWF3190Si7Hn8dzd/s400/CIMG0062.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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At this point I got tired of taking pictures and just started playing around with the C7.<br />
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<div>
<h2>
Review/Observations</h2>
This is my first experience with Chrome OS. So far it seems reasonably functional. I've used GMail for years and am fairly deeply invested in Google <a class="zem_slink" href="http://docs.google.com/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Google Docs">Docs</a> and search, My preferred browser has been Chrome for a couple of years as well so the transition to Chrome OS wasn't difficult at all.<br />
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One complaint, I can't seem to make the right mouse click work for spell check in the browser. I know the right click is working because it triggers actions in other parts of the operating system. It sure would be nice to get spelling suggestions when words are highlighted. </div>
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<div>
Unlike the previously announced Samsung Chromebook the Acer uses a Duel core Intel Celeron. This has upsides and downsides. Performance wise the Samsung peppier. Battery wise though there is no contest with the Samsung providing two or more times the run time that the Acer manages. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Another oddity of the Acer is the inclusion of a hard drive instead of a small SSD. This doesn't seem to impact performance much but likely contributes to the short battery life. On the plus side it is possible to install Ubuntu Linux on the C7, leave Chrome OS intact and still have a ton of space left for music, video and whatever else you want to take with you. You can't do that on the 16GB Solid state drive that comes with the Samsung.</div>
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<div>
When I installed Ubuntu Linux and booted up the C7 I found that the CPU appears to be running an 800MHz rather than the 1.1MHz it is rated for. This may be a battery preservation move if true. I observed this while plugged in or running off the battery. For the more technically inclined I typed<br />
<br />
<b>cat /proc/cpu</b><br />
<br />
To get this information</div>
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<div>
The C7 comes with 2GB or main memory. This is OK, but with 4GB DDR3 going for around $20 shipped I plan on upgrading soon. One downside of my upgrade plan is that Acer has a sticker over the screw that needs to be removed to open the bottom plate that must be removed to swap the DIMM. The sticker informs me that my warranty will be voided if I remove it. This is annoying but makes sense given the price of this thing. Acer's margins are likely razor thin and their accountants no doubt know exactly how many extra pennies that warranty will cost them if they allow the unit to be opened up. Every one of those pennies takes away from Acer's profits. Putting that sticker on there helps them meet their $200 price point and still make what they consider to be a sufficient profit. Given that I'm OK with it.</div>
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<div>
After a week or so that sticker is coming off and I'm going to upgrade the memory. Most hardware either fails within a week or lasts until it is obsolete so the risk seems acceptable given the price.. Hopefully I won't regret that decision.<br />
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<div>
Hardware wise my only complaint so far is the keyboard. It is OK, but the Enter key is too far over and a bit small. The size of the keyboard is fine otherwise and the feel is decent if a bit soft and lacking in tactile feedback. I'm able to type about as fast and accurately as I normally can though.<br />
<br />
The C7 plays 720p HD video fine but chokes a bit on 1080p HD when plugged into an external monitor. Note that Chrome OS doesn't support extending the desktop at this time, only mirroring so you have to turn off the built in display to get full resolution on the external monitor. This is a software limitation as extending the desktop worked fine in Ubuntu. Support for extending the desktop in Chrome OS is apparently imminent </div>
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<div>
Its hard not to think "born again netbook" when looking at the C7 but that isn't a bad thing. Small affordable computers that get the job done fill a niche that needs to be served. Not everyone can or wants to spend $1000 or more on an easily transportable computer. </div>
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<div>
The price of the C7 means there are some compromises but for casual to intermediate use cases its more that powerful enough. I can see this thing being a standard part of my mobile computing kit for the next couple of years. Getting 100GB of Google drive storage for free during that time is a nice bonus as well. Three plus hours of battery life is enough for casual use and something I'm willing to deal with given the price and the added flexibility the relatively large hard drive and Intel processor give me.<br />
<br />
Overall I'm very happy with this purchase. The price is great, the build quality appears to be more than adequate and I suspect it'll make a pretty decent Linux laptop as well. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-33273455602279151552012-11-19T08:01:00.001-08:002012-11-19T08:01:29.406-08:00What is "Papa" John Schnatter really saying? (Short Take)<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papa_John%27s_Pizza" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Papa John's Pizza">Papa John's</a> CEO <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Schnatter" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="John Schnatter">John Schnatter</a> pushed one of my buttons recently and I'm not going to be able to relax until I've ranted a bit about it here. I am not going to comment on his politics or healthcare reform as they are tangential to my point and I don't generally talk politics here. I am going to question his honesty or sophistication though when it comes to pricing.<br />
<br />
Schnatter's claim that he would have to raise prices to pay for healthcare related costs has gotten a lot of press. These kinds of claims generally do. The problem I have with them is that they make no sense.<br />
<br />
I'll put it this way; the thing you'll hear the most in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_school" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Business school">business school</a> is that companies are supposed to enhance <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shareholder_value" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Shareholder value">shareholder value</a>. Lets imagine a world where healthcare reform does not exist. If Schnatter knew he could raise prices and gain additional revenue would he? If he's looking to enhance shareholder value than the answer to that question is fairly obvious.<br />
<br />
Costs should never dictate pricing. In fact, costs shouldn't even figure into pricing though they do matter if you're trying to figure out if a new product will be economically viable or if an existing product can remain viable or become more profitable.<br />
<br />
When people claim they are raising prices due to increased costs I suspect they are mostly being disingenuous, particularly when you're talking about somebody like Schnatter who runs a large well knows business. Not all small business owners are this sophisticated in their understanding of pricing and so long as the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmart" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Walmart">Walmart</a>'s of the world stay away they generally don't have to be.<br />
<br />
What Schnatter is really saying if you read between the lines is "This is going to squeeze my margins and I'd rather be spending this money on things other than employee health care". Which is his right as a CEO but being that blunt wouldn't play well with employees or the public.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-86954398427725602402012-11-10T09:19:00.000-08:002012-11-10T09:19:45.043-08:00How Google';s Nexus 4 Made Me A Hypocrite<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/product/android" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Image representing Android as depicted in Crun..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="55" src="http://www.crunchbase.com/assets/images/resized/0001/4601/14601v1-max-450x450.png" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="153" /></a></td></tr>
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I've been in the market for a new phone for awhile now. I documented my purchase of a <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Pre" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Palm Pre">Palm Pre Plus</a> in this BLOG a month or so back. The Pre was really cheap and provides me with an OK stopgap but it wouldn't have been a good solution for me two years ago when it was released and it is downright primitive now.<br />
<br />
I was really close to pulling the trigger on a <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Note" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Samsung Galaxy Note">Samsung Galaxy Note</a> 2 a week or so back. I went as far as transferring our one current upgrades to my number and starting the checkout process. That is when I discovered that Verizon was going to force me out of my unlimited data plan. They offered me a two gigabyte plan for $10 less than I'm currently paying for unlimited data. I was not impressed and aborted the purchase.<br />
<br />
I discovered later that Verizon has locked the boot PROM on the Note. This annoyed me as well since Verizon has a nasty habit of layering extra stuff on top of Android that degrades the user experience. I'm sure their marketing department thinks of this as "adding value" which is one of many reasons I'm not a fan of Verizon's marketing group. The Note is a big investment even with the subsidy, I shouldn't have to put up with this kind of malarkey.<br />
<br />
But here in the US Verizon has the best network. There may be areas where this isn't the case but based on coverage maps and my own experience Verizon does a pretty good job. They aren't cheap though and they are anything but open. Even their <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="3GPP Long Term Evolution">LTE</a> phones require <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_division_multiple_access" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Code division multiple access">CDMA</a> right now which pretty much rules out any non Verizon phone. Given the limited coverage of LTE that isn't a huge deal but as coverage expands I suspect Verizon will continue this practice. They clearly subscribe to the concept that the best customer is the one you have in a (figurative) straight jacket.<br />
<br />
Enter the Nexus 4, Google's latest foray into smart phones; this time in partnership with LG.<br />
<br />
The Nexus 4 is getting mixed reviews with many people praising the build quality but questioning the absence of LTE (4G).<br />
<br />
I criticized the iPhone 4S over a year ago when it came out as a <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="GSM">GSM</a>/CDMA only phone. I'm going to make two justifications for my change of heart in regards to the Nexus 4. First LTE isn't expanding as quickly as I'd hoped. Even today its not much of a factor outside of major urban areas. My second justification is based on cost. The iPhone is an excellent and well respected product for many reasons but it isn't cheap. Unlocked <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="IPhone">iPhone 5</a>'s are not available yet but rumors point to them costing about 2x what the Nexus 4 does. I'm willing to sacrifice LTE for those kinds of savings. Its also the case that while GSM is "old" it is also much more open than LTE right now and more than fast enough for anything I'm planning on doing. It may take me a bit more time to blow through my monthly data plan on GSM but I can live with that since it would be only a tiny fraction of a month in either case if I were using either technology at peak bandwidth.<br />
<br />
There are other things missing from the Nexus 4. Internal storage options are limited to 16GB and there is no expansion slot. The battery is not removable either which means you're living from charge to charge with no option to keep a spare around for those situations where you'll be away from power for an extended period of time. Those compromises would be annoying in a subsidized phone at this price or in an unlocked phone at twice the price but for $350 unlocked I'm thinking very seriously about the 16GB version. This would mean leaving Verizon since they don't support GSM but I'm more than OK with that at this point.<br />
<br />
In the past I've criticized Apple for selling a phone that had a non removable battery, antiquated broadcast technology and no ability to expand storage. All of these "short comings" are present in the Nexus 4. As the title of this post says, wanting a Nexus 4 makes me a bit of a hypocrite given all that but it also shows that price matters. I'm a value shopper. I want good products and good prices and am willing to compromise on features if I feel like what I'm buying will satisfy my needs and the price is right.<br />
<br />
Will I pull the trigger? I'll know on Tuesday when the Nexus 4 is available to order. $350 is a great price but its still a lot of money so I'm still waffling.<br />
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<span style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Image via </span><a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;" target="_blank">CrunchBase</a><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-43878682531109076312012-10-30T12:34:00.001-07:002012-10-30T12:43:02.088-07:00Kickstarter, Parallella And 21st Century Brand Building<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;">Victorinox Swiss Army knife, photo taken in Sweden. This is a Mountaineer model. (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Swiss_army_knife_open_20050612.jpg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
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I'm a technology junkie. Its a bug that bit me when I was still in my teens and managed to buy my first computer with money I'd earned from a summer job.<br />
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Business is a passion that developed a little later in my life when I started wondering why some products succeeded and others failed. In particular I was confused when technologically superior products somehow lost out. This made no sense to me at the time and like most technically inclined people it drove me nuts.<br />
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It turns out there are some good logical reasons why companies and products fail. For instance not knowing what problem they are solving or spending their money in ways that don't actually help build their business. But there are bad reasons as well. One of the bad reasons is not being able to get the funding needed to take an idea to the finish line. This is particularly true when the idea in question isn't bad, but rather different enough from what has come before that the people with the money have trouble wrapping their heads around it.<br />
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<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickstarter" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Kickstarter">Kickstarter</a> has been around for awhile now but I'd never quite gotten around to checking it out. It turns out they provide a solution to the problems mentioned above. Kickstarter does this by providing a marketplace for ideas. If your idea catches the attention of enough people you get the money and sales you need to take that idea to market.<br />
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I have a background in HPC (High Performance Computing) which is why the recent Apapteva Parallella Kickstarter campaign caught my eye. <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapteva" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Adapteva">Adapteva</a> designs and manufacturers <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_computing" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Parallel computing">parallel processor</a> architectures. From what I can tell they are a very small company operating in a marketplace that is both competitive and cost conscious. Super computing is sexy, but very few companies make money at it and the margins are thin when they do.<br />
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Adapteva's architecture should eventually scale to 4096 cores on a single piece of silicon. That's a lot of processing power but there are issues. The current offering is only sixteen cores and each of those cores has just thirty two kilobytes of memory. I'm primarily a systems guy so I don't have a deep understanding of HPC programming but I do know that having so little memory significantly constrains the kinds of problems this iteration of the product will be capable of solving. Adapteva apparently understands this as well and chose to position their Parallella board primarily as an educational tool.<br />
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The Parallella board couple's Adapteva's sixteen core parallel processing chip with a SOC that includes two 1GHz ARM A9 processors an <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field-programmable_gate_array" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Field-programmable gate array">FPGA</a> and other useful things like wired networking and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="USB">USB 2.0</a>. The <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="ARM architecture">ARM processors</a> run Linux and the FPGA is used to interface between the Adapteva parallel processor and the outside world.<br />
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If you're not a technically inclined person just imagine this as a kind of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Army_knife" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Swiss Army knife">Swiss Army knife</a> of small computing platforms.<br />
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The Adapteva board will be credit card sized and cost just under $100. That is a killer combination.<br />
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Kickstarter isn't only about money though. The Parallella campaign was in trouble most of the way as it was not seeing the kind of growth in funding it was going to need to meet its goal of $750k. If you don't meet your funding goal you get nothing so this was a serious problem. What they were able to do, particularly over the final week of the campaign was to slightly refocus their target audience and release additional information that energized and excited their existing backers while encouraging many new backers to buy into the campaign. When the campaign ended they had raised nearly $900k<br />
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This ability to get quick feedback and adjust the message is one of the advantages of a Kickstarter campaign. That kind of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_research" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Market research">market research</a> is reasonably easy for web based businesses as the Lean Startup methodology espouses/shows but finding something equivalent for a physical product is much tougher. Kickstarter fills the niche nicely.<br />
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Kickstarter also lives up to its name by enabling people with products to build an initial customer base. Kickstarter projects such as Parallella are raising money in large part by selling the promise of a product being delivered to the backer in the future. Not all backers buy in at this level but it is an option for both backers and projects. Adapteva used this to pre sell thousands of their Parallella boards. All this helps build the company and its brand.<br />
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Funding, market research, customer acquisition and brand building can all be accomplished by a well designed Kickstarter campaign. Kickstarter isn't a non profit so all this useful stuff does come at a cost. 5% of the proceeds go to Kickstarter with another 3-5% going to the payment processors. This seems like a very reasonable cost to me. In addition project owners retain all rights to their intellectual property.<br />
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I can't really think of any downsides from the project side. There is a potential downside if you are a backer in that a project creator may never deliver on their promises. Investing is always a risk though and I suspect we'll see laws put into effect over the next few years to better cover how that situation could be handled.<br />
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I decided to back the Parallella campaign because I found the idea intriguing and I wanted to get my hands on one of their boards. If things go well I should have one by next May.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-4394277894616486782012-10-24T12:40:00.003-07:002012-10-24T12:40:37.702-07:00Apple Products Not Over Priced (But the iPad mini may be)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/33863004@N00/2325568554" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Steve & Apple Inc." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="240" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2382/2325568554_3eec1b8505_m.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="174" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center;">Steve & Apple Inc. (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/33863004@N00/2325568554" target="_blank">marcopako </a>)</td></tr>
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I have an auto translation mechanism in my brain that changes "X is too expensive" into "X costs more than I'm willing/able to spend". I'm not being harsh here either. We're all a bit narcissistic so the tendency to project our own feelings onto the rest of the world isn't surprising.<div>
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In the tech world <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc." rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Apple Inc.">Apple</a> is the company that gets the most flack for their pricing. This has been going on for decades now and will almost certainly continue for as long as Apple is a viable company. What most people fail to understand is that no company or product can realistically appeal to everyone. Apple is no exception. </div>
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I could write a bunch of text here about Apple being a premium brand and how that impacts their ability to price but I've said it all before and its really not my primary point right now. Suffice it to say that the billions of dollars Apple has in the bank server as excellent evidence that their products are as a general rule not over priced. With one exception I think they are dead on again with their latest slate of new products.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
To be blunt, the iPad mini looks like something <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Steve Jobs">Steve Jobs</a> would have killed circa mid 2010 when he was still very much involved in the day to day operation of the company. It's woefully short on the technical side which isn't fatal but what is worse is that at the prices Apple is charging it is short on value. That won't stop people from buying it but over the mid to long term it is much more likely that people's good feeling for the company are going to be eroded.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The problem Apple appears to be addressing with the iPad mini is that competitors like Amazon and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Google">Google</a> are selling a lot of units in the smaller form factor tablet market. Smaller <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_computer" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Tablet computer">tablets</a> are much easier to carry around and if people have them they'll be more likely to partake of whatever ecosystem their tablet supports. Apple is primarily a hardware company but they make a fair chunk of money off their apps and media sales. Seeding the field to their competitors was not something they could afford to do. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Lets assume Jobs was steadfastly opposed to the smaller form factor tablet. The man was a genius but he was also been known to be stubborn on things that he probably shouldn't have been. Shipping the original <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.crunchbase.com/company/next-computer" rel="crunchbase" target="_blank" title="NeXT Computer">NeXT computer</a> with a very immature optical disk technology as its only storage being one of many examples I could cite. If this is true it would mean Apple has had just over a year to get the iPad mini to market. That isn't a lot of time and they would have had to take shortcuts. Like perhaps reviving a design that Jobs had shot down. That would explain the sadly out of date tech specs. This thing is essentially a smaller more refined version of the iPad 2, a product that is now two generations behind Apple's current full sized iPad.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So maybe this is a stop gap and Apple didn't want to release it at a <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_point" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Price point">price point</a> they would have to maintain for future generations? If this theory is correct we could see a next generations iPad mini in less than a years time that supports a retina like display, some variant of the A6 processor and at least a gig of memory. A device with those kinds of specs would be justified to sell for the price points Apple is currently asking.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Personally I don't see any reason to purchase this initial version of the iPad mini. Apple underwhelms badly on the technical side and are asking for an even bigger premium than normal on the price side. The math just doesn't add up.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
They'll likely still move a lot of units but I suspect customer satisfaction on this first generation version is going to be lower than is typically the case and that could start to hurt them in the longer term. A company as successful as Apple can afford an occasional miss but they can't make a habit of it. This is particularly true now that Jobs is gone.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-5284128674416179202012-10-15T06:30:00.001-07:002012-10-15T11:51:57.396-07:00NVidia And The FOSS Community<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nvidia-Tegra-T2-embedded-Colibri-computer-module-by-Toradex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="English: NVIDIA Tegra T2 based Embedded Comput..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="110" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Nvidia-Tegra-T2-embedded-Colibri-computer-module-by-Toradex.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="200" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 200px;">English: NVIDIA Tegra T2 based Embedded Computer Module in SoDIMM format by Toradex, Switzerland (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nvidia-Tegra-T2-embedded-Colibri-computer-module-by-Toradex.jpg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h2>
Background</h2>
I've observed over the years that the FOSS (<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open_source_software" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Free and open source software">Free/Open Source Software</a>) community loves to hate <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Nvidia">NVidia</a>. <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Linus Torvalds">Linus Torvalds</a>, creator of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Linux kernel">Linux kernel</a> famously gave NVidia the finger and dropped the F bomb when describing how he felt about the company earlier this year. Torvalds isn't known for mincing words but at times he's also been less than popular with the hard core FOSS crowd for failing to be completely pure in his adherence to Open Source ideals so its probably safe to describe that event as a low point.<br />
<br />
My roots in the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-software_community" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Free-software community">FOSS community</a> go back a long way. I did some work on porting the shadow password suite to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SunOS" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="SunOS">SunOS</a> at one point and wrote or edited the bulk of the early <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySQL" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="MySQL">MySQL</a> documentation. I also did a lot of work on a now defunct open source task tracking system called "request". I love the ideals of open source software but there are times when the sense of entitlement expressed by some adherents annoys me. Companies and individuals have to generate enough revenues to get by. If they don't bad things happen. While pictures of people with signs saying "Will code for food" are amusing the reality of being in that situation isn't.<br />
<br />
Balancing the interests of FOSS ideals with the need to provide for ones shareholders or family is tricky, complicated and absolutely necessary.<br />
<br />
In researching this article I was pleasantly surprised to see that there have been changes recently that may signal an improvement in the relationship between NVidia and the FOSS community. This will hopefully be a good thing for both sides.<br />
<h2>
<br /></h2>
<h2>
The Main Issue</h2>
The central beef of the FOSS community with NVidia has centered on the companies refusal to release an open source driver for their video cards. Making matters worse NVidia has also refused to release technical details that would enable others to do so; that is starting to change though. NVidia recently released technical details on the 2D portion of their Tegra architecture. Some sources claim there will be a release of information on the 3D portion of the Tegra line as well. I couldn't find anything on NVidia's site at this time but I did find the following text at<br />
<br />
<a href="http://developer.nvidia.com/mobile/tegra-documentation">http://developer.nvidia.com/mobile/tegra-documentation</a><br />
<br />
<i>The Tegra Technical Reference Manuals are technical documents targeted at those working on open source or other low level software projects that use or target the Tegra 2 or 3 processors.<br /><br />Unfortunately at this time, NVIDIA cannot provide access to the TRM (or accompanying Embedded Controller Interface documentation) but please check back to <a href="http://developer.nvidia.com/">http://developer.nvidia.com</a> in the near future for more information</i><br />
<br />
The potential implication here are very promising.<br />
<br />
The question a lot of FOSS adherents struggle with is why doesn't NVidia just open up their source and documentation right away? There are probably a lot of reasons for that but if I were to guess, the primary reason probably has to do with being a publicly traded company with shareholders and employees that expect to be rewarded for their investment of money and/or time.<br />
<br />
NVidia likely has a number of trade secrets as well as partner code incorporated into their hardware and software. Trade secrets aren't secrets if they are documented in text or code that is widely available. In an ideal world there would be no need for such secrets but the world we live in is far from ideal.<br />
<br />
If I'm correct, releasing code or documentation would require a non trivial amount of work on NVidia's part to sanitize and remove anything they either didn't own or didn't want to reveal. That work would need to be done by valuable staff that could be working on other projects which would create both an up front cost and what is referred to int he business world as an "opportunity cost". Companies incur opportunity costs when they choose to work on one thing rather than another. Smart companies make the right choice on where to focus their resources more often than not. There has to be a strong business case for NVidia to justify making this effort. If there isn't, it simply won't happen.<br />
<br />
Yes, other companies have gone down this path successfully but that doesn't mean NVidia must or should. Another consideration is that every decision a company makes is going to reflect on its brand. NVidia has in the past essentially chosen to annoy the FOSS community rather than lose some control of how their product is perceived from a performance and reliability perspective. Is that a good choice? It depends on who you are I guess. On balance NVidia has apparently felt it is.<br />
<br />
I covered this in passing above but want to reinforce the point. Time to market in the technology sector is critical. Being first at a particular performance point can be a huge advantage. <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Micro_Devices" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Advanced Micro Devices">AMD</a> was able to put Intel back on its heels for a few years by releasing processors that provided a 64 bit IA-32 compatible instruction set and much better performance than anything Intel had. Keeping their drivers closed allows NVidia to license technology from other companies more easily than they could if their driver were FOSS. It also means all driver related coordination can take place within the company. That control likely equates to shorter time to market which translates into money.<br />
<br />
Can those difficulties be overcome? Sure but the old missive "If it ain't broke don't fix it" comes to mind. Innovation is good, but change without a strong business case is the road to ruin.<br />
<h2>
<br /></h2>
<h2>
The Larger Picture/The Future</h2>
<div>
Rumors to the contrary NVidia isn't universally opposed to FOSS. NVCC, NVidia's CUDA compiler is built on the <a href="http://llvm.org/" target="_blank">LLVM</a> FOSS compiler infrastructure and earlier this year NVidia released NVCC and contributed it back to the larger community as open source software. That's a big chunk of code with a lot of functionality. Why would NVidia have done that? Only they know for sure but I'm betting they did it because they saw it as being beneficial to their customers and to themselves. Its easy to make a business case when those two things are in alignment.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
NVidia has also shown a willingness to express support for causes near and dear to many FOSS community members such as <a href="http://blogs.nvidia.com/2012/01/nvidia-does-not-support-sopa/" target="_blank">stating they did not support SOPA</a>. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If I were to guess I'd say we'll likely see more support for FOSS from NVidia going forward. This is only going to happen though if it makes sense for NVidia. Benefiting the FOSS community at its own expense is not in the best interest of NVidia or the majority of its customers.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Getting something valuable for free is always going to be attractive. Providing something valuable for free is a much harder case to make. At the end of the day that dichotomy explains the bulk of the divide between the FOSS community and companies like NVidia.</div>
<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-30409438175267293192012-10-07T08:04:00.000-07:002012-10-08T08:44:23.165-07:00My $32 Smart Phone <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Palm-Pixi-Plus.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="picture of a palm pixi plus" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/Palm-Pixi-Plus.JPG/300px-Palm-Pixi-Plus.JPG" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="112" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;">picture of a palm pixi plus (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Palm-Pixi-Plus.JPG" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
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Recently my trusty first generation Droid X went missing. The screen has several dead spots from having been dropped one too many times as well so it seemed like a good time for a new phone.<br />
<br />
We'd used my upgrade for something else though and I'm not eligible for another until February of next year. Add in the fact that I'm not that excited about any of the current <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Android (operating system)">Android phones</a> and buying a long term solution wasn't in the cards. What I needed was something to tide me over for the next three to six months and I didn't want to spend a lot of money.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Amazon is my default search engine when I'm thinking about buying something. <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Google">Google</a> is a great general purpose search but falls down when it comes to niche cases like sales.<br />
<br />
I found some Android phones for under $100 with no contract including the original <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Droid" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Motorola Droid">Droid phone</a> at about $85 but all ran 2.X versions of Android and were likely to be a similar but inferior experience to my Droid X. Oddly the first generation Droid X is still going for $160 or so without a contract. It was a great phone two plus years ago but these days that price seems high.<br />
<br />
Enter the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Pixi" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Palm Pixi">Palm Pixi Plus</a>. <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hewlett-Packard" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Hewlett-Packard">HP</a> bought Palm a couple of years ago so the phone is an orphan which explains the low price; $32. The Pixi runs <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebOS" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="WebOS">WebOS</a> 1.4.5 which is a totally different experience to Android or <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="IOS">iOS</a>. WebOS was called <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_OS" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Palm OS">PalmOS</a> before HP bought Palm. I just looked on Amazon and its $46 now. Still a good deal and I would have pulled the trigger at that price as well.<br />
<br />
I had zero experience with WebOS so this phone also provided an opportunity to learn about a new platform. The version of WebOS on the Pixi is fairly old at this point though so I'm not going to draw any firm conclusions from my experience. HP has a way of screwing things up. It's a company in need of major changes. Having said that, I really like WebOS. It's reasonably intuitive if you give it a chance and easy to interact with.<br />
<br />
While the price was a major upside to this phone, there are downsides. The App store is a ghost town and a lot of what is available doesn't actually work once you download it. I couldn't find a free Facebook or Twitter app and I wasn't willing to pay in case what I downloaded didn't work either.<br />
<br />
What I do have is access to my email and the ability to text and make phone calls. The screen on the Pixi is small enough that I won't be using the browser much. It also syncs my calendar and contacts from Google which is a nice feature.<br />
<br />
Battery life is impressive. In light use the battery meter drops about 1% an hour meaning its good for three days plus between charges if you're just checking your email or texting occasionally. Extended talk time would kill that estimate of course but who talks on their phone these days?<br />
<br />
Based on my experience the Pixi Plus was a good good entry level smart phone when it was released. It would have been interesting to see where Palm went from there if they had the cash on hand to stay independent. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Looking towards the future, the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Note" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Samsung Galaxy Note">Samsung Galaxy Note</a> 2 might be my next phone. I like the new split screen capability that allows two applications to run in the foreground at once and I don't think the size would bug me. Another possibility is the next Google Nexus phone. It's nice to have the option<br />
<br />
While the Pixi is a closeout it does illustrate an emerging trend. Technology is getting very inexpensive. If you can afford to feed yourself then chances are you can afford some sort of computing device. The real barrier to entry is the cost of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_access" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Internet access">Internet connectivity</a> and there are ways around that as well.<br />
<br />
There has been a lot of talk about the transition to mobile devices and how they allow us to always be connected. We're also seeing the emergence of ubiquitous computing. There has been talk for a long time of every device in our houses being Internet connected and controllable. I'm not sure that is a good idea but it just might be economically feasible in the next couple of years if it isn't already.<br />
<br />
In case anyone is interested in the phone, here's the link. Full disclosure, I'd get a few bucks if you bought via the link.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ISBTUU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004ISBTUU&linkCode=as2&tag=savebaseballcom" target="_blank">Verizon Pixi Plus Link</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-31486723878668188692012-09-26T08:33:00.001-07:002012-09-26T08:33:50.805-07:00How Should Facebook Make Money? (Short Take)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44048128@N00/3270159728" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="FaceBook Knows Everything!" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3311/3270159728_d957cc4724_m.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 240px;">FaceBook Knows Everything! (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44048128@N00/3270159728" target="_blank">adamjackson1984</a>)</td></tr>
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First off, if you have the time please read this article on how <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-fbx-2012-9">Facebook has been getting it all wrong</a> when it comes to monetizing their business. It's not that long and it contains some interesting information and points.<br />
<br />
The very short summary of the above linked article is that #Facebook has been screwing up for the past several years because they have essentially been focusing their advertising efforts on the old model of identifying prospective customers for their advertisers by using demographic or "meta" information such as where people live and what their interests are. It turns out that there may be much more money to be made by knowing what people are doing now and in the recent past and targeting ads based on those recent actions.<br />
<br />
Maybe I read the article wrong but Facebook's approach seemed to be "Do it the old way with much better/more information". So they were focusing on meta information primarily rather than contextual information. The thing is, they own the meta information, they don't own a lot of the contextual information. So the meta route provides them with a lot more control and thus all of the revenue. It's easy to see why that would be attractive.<br />
<br />
In the new system they don't have that control so they won't be keeping all the money. That won't be a big deal if they end up making more by going the contextual route rather than their previous meta route. If all this is true Facebook's share price just might be very low right now relative to their future earnings. Time will tell.<br />
<br />
I think Facebook's best bet is to take both approaches. Sure, short term sales are driven by context but long term relationships with brands and companies are driven in large part by all that meta data Facebook gathers. So really the different approaches have different applications/sweet spots. One may be more profitable than the other but nobody does meta better than Facebook and there clearly is money to be made there as well since Zuckerberg and company haven't exactly been living under a bridge the past several years.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-75986773487344151392012-09-24T08:13:00.000-07:002012-09-24T08:13:45.767-07:00Apple, Still Revolutionary<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44223840@N05/5288349613" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="iPhone 2g, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="160" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5121/5288349613_9475e73c09_m.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center;">iPhone 2g, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44223840@N05/5288349613" target="_blank">reticulating</a>)</td></tr>
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One of the common themes since the announcement of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="IPhone">iPhone 5</a> is that <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc." rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Apple Inc.">Apple</a> is no longer a revolutionary company. It's far to say that the wow factor was a lot more subtle this time around but I think people are overlooking a very important feature of the new iPhone when they make this assertion.<br />
<br />
The iPhone 4 is not just fast, it's "bet the living daylights out of the competition" fast.<br />
<br />
Initial benchmarks show it to be one point five times as fast at <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="JavaScript">Javascript</a> execution and two times faster at graphics intensive tasks then the fastest <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Android (operating system)">Android phones</a>. Keep in mind that the A6 processor core Apple is using on the iPhone 5 is running at 1GHz while the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Samsung Galaxy S">Samsung Galaxy S</a>-III is running at a clock speed 50% faster than that and lagging badly in performance.<br />
<br />
Apple's A6 is a custom piece of Silicon. I've seen conflicting reports on which version of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="ARM architecture">ARM</a> reference designs the A6 is based off of but suffice it to say that whatever version Apple chose to use they've made some tweaks because this kind of performance advantage doesn't come easy or by accident.<br />
<br />
Fast processing is nice for several reasons. Apple sells an image and an experience. Their products are supposed to be smooth, of high quality and reliable. Nothing says smooth like a large processing advantage over your competition, particularly when that performance advantage doesn't come at the cost of poor <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_%28electricity%29" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Battery (electricity)">battery life</a>.<br />
<br />
Battery life is the other side of the equation. Better IPC (<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_per_cycle" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Instructions per cycle">Instructions Per Clock</a>, basically the amount of work a processor can get done in very small time period) means that everything else being equal you'll see longer times between the need to recharge on an iPhone 5 versus another smartphone doing the same task. Early reports are that the iPhone 5 is holding up as well or better than the iPhone 4S in spite of having a larger display and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="3GPP Long Term Evolution">LTE</a> 4G technology.<br />
<br />
Apple could have added a bit of bulk to the iPhone 5 and given it a larger capacity battery. They chose not to, most likely due to the additional costs that would have incurred. Going that route would have given them much better battery life than their competition. Oddly some people are actually complaining that the iPhone 5 isn't heavy enough so maybe Apple missed the boat a bit here.<br />
<br />
The performance and power advantage that Apple now enjoys is not likely to be bridged by their competition in the next year or two.<br />
<br />
It will be very interesting to see how the next version of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="IPad">the iPad</a> performs with this processor technology or the next iteration of it.<br />
<br />
The iPhone 5 is a very nice piece of hardware but the really exciting thing if you're a tech geek or somebody trying to figure out Apple's upper limit financially over the next few years is the processor technology. That is where they truly have an advantage and where they are going to be able to continue to differentiate themselves from their competition if they don't fumble the ball badly. <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-59220343419974382362012-09-17T08:02:00.000-07:002012-09-17T16:20:31.983-07:00Initial iPhone 5 Sales Tepid? (Short Take)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/97699482@N00/6730244545" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Apple Inc. new headquarters" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="86" src="http://farm8.static.flickr.com/7004/6730244545_e66df67b4c_m.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="240" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 240px;">Apple Inc. new headquarters (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/97699482@N00/6730244545" target="_blank">MarkGregory007</a>)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Keeping with my tradition of being late to the show here are a couple of thoughts about Apple's recently announced <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="IPhone">iPhone 5</a>. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Before I begin though I'm going to post a disclaimer. I've only ever been a fan boy of one company and that was <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_International" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Commodore International">Commodore</a>. They died a long time ago and watching their rise and fall along with the downfall of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Amiga">Amiga</a> cured me forever of the need to blindly support any company or product. I'm not going claim I'm totally objective. I'm human and its folly to claim I'm without bias. Keep all that in mind when reading the following.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I own all sorts of Apple products. I'll likely own more in the future. Over the past few years I've often written in praise of both Apple and their offerings. Those endorsements and purchases were based on my perception that Apple had the best product for a particular need or desire I had at the time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">On that note, the recent announcement by Apple that the iPhone 5 was exceeding all their expectations feels a little odd. Two million units shipped in the first day is great but last year they sold more than four million iPhone 4s handsets in the first three days.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/10/17iPhone-4S-First-Weekend-Sales-Top-Four-Million.html">http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/10/17iPhone-4S-First-Weekend-Sales-Top-Four-Million.html</a><br />
<br />
That launch encompassed seven countries<br />
<br />
Australia<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada">Canada</a><br />
France<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany">Germany</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan">Japan</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States">United States</a><br />
United Kingdom<br />
<br />
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While the iPhone 5 was launched in two additional locations<br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong">Hong Kong</a> &<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore">Singapore</a><br />
<br />
<span style="line-height: 18px;">Those two additional locations make an apples to apples (no pun intended) comparison difficult as do the differing time periods but its difficult for me to see two million units sold in 24 hours in nine markets as being significantly better than more than four million being sold in 72 hours in seven countries since the sales distribution is likely to be biased towards the earlier part of the initial availability window.</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 18px;">I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that iPhone 5 sales are going to exceed iPhone 4s sales but only modestly when put in context. If I'm right Apple may just be in a little trouble here.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-89815245740864780262012-09-10T07:13:00.001-07:002012-09-10T07:13:53.948-07:00Thoughts on Amazon's New Offerings <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 150px;">SANTA MONICA, CA - SEPTEMBER 6: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos holds up the new Kindle Fire HD reading device in two sizes during a press conference on September 6, 2012 in Santa Monica, California. Amazon unveiled the Kindle Fire HD in 7 and 8.9-inch sizes, with prices starting at $199. (Image credit: <a href="http://www.daylife.com/source/Getty_Images" target="_blank">Getty Images</a> via <a href="http://www.daylife.com/" target="_blank">@daylife</a>)</td></tr>
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It's obvious I'm not a pro blogger. If I were I'd have made this post right after <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Jeff Bezos">Jeff Bezos</a> finished his talk last Thursday. I'm going to try to come up with a few new insights in spite of my tardiness. Let's see how I do.<br />
<br />
First of all Bezos and his team did a great job putting this event together. The products are compelling and he told a coherent and interesting story.<br />
<br />
Companies ignore their customers requests at their own peril. An example of why this is the case is the addition of profiles in Amazon's new Fire tablets. The ability to have multiple user profiles on iPad's has been a frequent request since the first iPad debuted nearly two and a half years ago. If Apple wasn't listening Amazon was. Parents will be able to set time limits on book reading, video and games. This seems like a very attractive value add and one I suspect Apple will emulate within the next twelve months if Google shows any sign of gaining <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_share" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Market share">market share</a>.<br />
<br />
The addition of a larger Fire tablet had been rumored for awhile. The lack of FCC approval probably explains why there were some last minute claims that Amazon wouldn't make the announcement. 8.9 inches isn't that much smaller than <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="IPad">the iPad</a> when you consider that it's actual screen size is actually 9.7 inches rather than the oft quoted 10 inches. That's makes the larger Kindle Fire about nine percent smaller than the iPad and the difference in pixel density is less than half of that. It's hard not to see the large Fire HD as a competitor to the iPad at this point. This is particularly true of the 4G models which offer a pretty compelling ROI argument when you take into account the $50 data plan which provides 250 meg of data a month. That isn't a lot but it's enough to check email occasionally and bridge between wireless hot spots in a pinch. The equivalent plan for the iPad is much more.<br />
<br />
The interesting challenge for Apple is that their business model is built around charging premium prices for good but not spectacular hardware. All <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_model" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Business model">business models</a> have upsides and downsides. The upside here is that Apple has excellent margins on their hardware which drives impressive profits. Not every company can do this. Apple can because they've built a fantastic brand over the past few decades. The downside of this business model is they may be vulnerable on price.<br />
<br />
Amazon is the Walmart of the online world. They are not a premium brand but they do a very good job of delivering value to their customers by providing products at the lowest prices around. That is the kind of "service" a lot of people get excited about.<br />
<br />
People who care about buying a premium brand are very unlikely to pick Amazon over Apple just as people who value getting the biggest bang for their buck are unlikely to choose <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc." rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Apple Inc.">Apple.</a> One of the reasons Apple makes as much money as they do is that they deliver great value even at their premium price so Amazon's task isn't exactly easy. I tend to be a value buyer but I've bought plenty of Apple product over the past five or six years.<br />
<br />
Apple also makes a nice chunk of change from selling media. This is where Amazon and Apple really intersect. Amazon makes money by selling stuff, and nothing is more profitable than selling digital bits that can be endlessly duplicated and delivered nearly instantly at very low cost.<br />
<br />
It's safe to say that Apple is vulnerable on the hardware side if Amazon starts to see big gains in market share. That would threaten Apples profits at a time when tablets are becoming an increasingly important chunk of the personal computing pie. As tablets prosper laptops suffer much like desktop systems did before them. Up until now Apple has been cannibalizing sales both from themselves and <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_computer" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Personal computer">PC</a> vendors; Amazon would be stealing almost exclusively from Apple.<br />
<br />
Apple isn't without resources in this fight though. They have their own media business in the form of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes_Store" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="ITunes Store">iTunes store</a>. Rumors have been going around for awhile now that Apple wants to sell their own TV's as well and for that to work well they'll need to secure rights to even more media than they currently have. Apple could counter Amazon by offering their own media at even lower prices than Amazon. This should be doable since as noted <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc." rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Apple Inc.">Apple's</a> bread and butter is hardware. The problem with this approach is that Apple probably can't undercut Amazon by much since Amazon is used to operating on very small margins. Selling media at cost would probably give Apple only a modest advantage cost wise.<br />
<br />
Overall it seems like Apple is more vulnerable here but they have arguably the most powerful brand ever. Maybe <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sears" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Sears">Sears and Roebuck</a> back in the late 19th century was as dominant but that was a US only thing while Apple is global. My feeling is that Apple would have to mess up consistently and spectacularly for a year or two to seriously damage the good will they currently enjoy.<br />
<br />
Amazon also introduced new e-readers. I'm not going to talk a lot about these but need want to note that they made Barnes & Noble's life a little more difficult. I put in a pre-order on the Paperwhite 3G model. My <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Kindle" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Amazon Kindle">Kindle 3</a> has been <a href="http://emkey1.blogspot.com/2011/04/death-repair-of-kindle-3.html" target="_blank">rebuilt once already</a> and the thought of not having to deal with an external light was to good to pass up. I should get mine the first day they become available. One quibble though, everyone including Amazon quotes eight weeks of reading time. If you read the fine print you'll see that number is based on thirty minutes of reading per day. Lets to the math.<br />
<br />
8 weeks * 7 days = 56 days<br />
56 days * 30 minutes = 28 hours<br />
<br />
Twenty eight hours of reading with the light on isn't bad at all but it's a whole lot less than most people are thinking when they hear "eight weeks on one charge". This number is also based on the wireless being off.<br />
<br />
There has been some press about Microsoft's Bing being the default search in the Kindle Fire browser. I'm not a fan of Bing but so long as I have the option of choosing my own default I don't really care what a browser ships with. Google probably isn't feeling as mellow about this choice though.<br />
<br />
I love competition. It's good for consumers and its generally good for the companies that are competing as well. Apple has been getting a wee bit too dominant so the possibility of Amazon emerging as a legitimate competitor in the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_computer" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Tablet computer">Tablet</a> arena makes me happy. Google has a vested interest in this battle as well and might want to think about mending fences with Apple if they can because I'm not convinced they can compete any other way.<br />
<br />
Finally, while it's insulting to both <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Steve Jobs">Steve Jobs</a> and Bezos to refer to Bezos as Jobs heir apparent its still the case that if you're looking for an individual in the tech industry to follow obsessively you could do a whole lot worse than Bezos. He's a good showman and clearly knows what he's trying to accomplish with his company and how he plans to get there. That kind of confident and focused vision is rarer than it should be.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-80508727941654111452012-09-03T22:07:00.000-07:002012-09-04T06:38:44.912-07:00Kindle Fire, The Sequel?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/93119419@N00/7448050556" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Kindle Fire and Coffee" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="180" src="http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8012/7448050556_dac717a4d9_m.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="240" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 240px;">Kindle Fire and Coffee (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/93119419@N00/7448050556" target="_blank">arellis49</a>)</td></tr>
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In a few short days we'll likely know what the next <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Kindle" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Amazon Kindle">Kindle</a> tablet will look like and how it will be priced. I ordered my first generation Kindle Fire as soon as they became available for pre order and have been generally happy with it. I almost always skip a generation or two before upgrading though so I don't see myself ordering the new Fire.<br />
<br />
There is as a lot of speculation as to what the successor will look like and what it's specs will be. Price is the most important factor so far as this device is concerned so I'm not expecting to see a top of the line device when it comes to performance. Given the role of the Kindle Fire in the Amazon ecosystem there is no reason for it to be anything more than pedestrian when it comes to things like <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_resolution" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Display resolution">screen resolution</a> and processor power.<br />
<br />
The biggest deficiency of the first generation Fire was in the area of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_storage_device" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Data storage device">storage</a>. Eight Gig is just not enough if Amazon wants to maximize their ability to sell digital content. This seems like an important thing since selling digital content is the whole point of the Fire. I gave up on buying video when I discovered I couldn't even keep one or two episodes of a half hour show around if I wanted a decent selection of songs and and applications. <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Wi-Fi">WiFi</a> is common now but far from universal and I if I don't want to blast through my five gig <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiFi" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="MiFi">MiFi</a> cap I can't be downloading video via my cell plan either. All of which points to the need for more storage so content can be loaded when I'm on my relatively inexpensive home broad band service.<br />
<br />
There are three ways Amazon can address the storage deficiency.<br />
<ol>
<li>Add more built in storage</li>
<li>Add some sort of storage card slot</li>
<li>Add a Fire model with cheap or free 3G wireless</li>
</ol>
<div>
Option one is probably the most likely. I'll be surprised if the new Fire doesn't come with 16gig standard but frankly even that isn't enough. The problem with adding an <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Secure Digital">SD card</a> slot is it adds cost to the manufacturing of the device and a bit of complexity to the user experience so I can see Amazon shying away from that. </div>
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It seems unlikely that Amazon would be able to find partners willing to offer inexpensive or "free" 3G coverage but not impossible. Consider for a moment that 3G networks are starting to become a thing of the past. <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc." rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Apple Inc.">Apple</a>'s <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="IPhone">next iPhone</a> will almost certainly be an <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="3GPP Long Term Evolution">LTE</a> enabled device which will mean the last major maker of exclusively <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="3G">3G phones</a> will have finally made the leap. Phone company 3G networks should be seeing declines in usage over the next few years and the chance to make a few bucks off of legacy infrastructure by way of devices like a Kindle Fire might be attractive. The speeds on a 3G network aren't bad either even for streaming video.</div>
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The next biggest deficiency of the current Fire is a bit harder to address. The screen size is great for reading books and fine for watching video but it leaves a lot to be desired when you're trying to read magazine or other large format content. I suspect this is why <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc." rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Apple Inc.">Apple's</a> rumored mini iPad is said to have a nearly eight inch screen. I'm not sure that is large enough but it's certainly a step in the right direction. The tricky bit of course is that the screen size of the Fire is also an asset as it is very easy to carry around compared to the iPad or other full sized tablets.</div>
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<br />
I don't see Amazon having a significant impact on Apples sales. Amazon might in fact have a bit of trouble replicating the success of the first generation Fire since the often rumored iPad Mini appears to be imminant. The two companies have different business models for the most part but there is some overlap both in the customer base and the way each plans on making money off of their tablet ventures.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-36750319582301936552012-08-21T08:24:00.000-07:002012-08-21T08:24:06.702-07:00Fee's Are Feeble (Short Take)Fee's are not new but they seem to be increasingly common in situations where they weren't previously.<br />
<br />
I recently took some trash to the local dump and got sticker shock. I hadn't been in awhile and apparently prices have gone up... a lot. On my bill were three seperate lines. First was the per cubic foot charge. Then there was a "Fuel recovery fee" and finally some other fee that I've forgotten the name of. The fees were a minority of the bill but they still added a significant chunk to the total. I was not amused, particularly by the fuel recovery fee. I hauled the garbage to the dump on my own dime and unloaded it as well. Why did they need a fuel recovery fee?<br />
<br />
Hotels have started doing the same thing; "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resort_Fees" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Resort Fees">Resort Fees</a>" is generally what the extra charge is called. Apparently you're only renting the room and not the right of way to actually get to it when you pay the room rate at those places.<br />
<br />
Many airlines are doing this as well with baggage fees which leads to all sorts of fun if you aren't one of the first people to get on the plane since the carry on bins are even more stuffed full these days than they've been in the past.<br />
<br />
The point of these fees is to obscure the actual cost of the product. The problem is that people aren't stupid. After my experience at the dump I started looking for legal ways to avoid those extra fees in the future. I now look for those resort fees any time I'm thinking of staying at a hotel as well and figure them into my decision both in terms of determining the cost and deciding where to stay. All things being equal I'd probably pay a small amount extra to stay at a hotel that didn't have a resort fee. In short, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Business">businesses</a> that do this aren't fooling anyone for long and they are annoying <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Customer">customers</a> with their antics.<br />
<br />
Pricing theory tells us that the customer experience is based off of perceived value. It is not a good thing if a fee pushes the price of something beyond where a particular customer is happy with the product. They will almost certainly pay up the first time but they are going to quickly adjust down their preferred price to account for those fees in the future.<br />
<br />
Fees like the ones I've described above fall into a category of things that I refer to as "Stupid <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Business_Administration" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Master of Business Administration">MBA</a> tricks". They sound good on the surface but the end result is a net negative for the customer which is in turn a negative for the business.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-38673772328665361632012-08-18T13:01:00.002-07:002012-08-18T14:29:38.514-07:00Death To The Advertising Driven Internet (App.Net)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/22498907@N02/2616530208" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="advertising saturation" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="159" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3041/2616530208_87108825af_m.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="240" /></a></div>
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OK, so maybe the title of this post is a bit extreme. In the abstract I don't have any problem with advertising. It's been a perfectly legitimate way for companies to get their story out and has provided a means for media outlets to pay the majority of their bills and make a profit for hundreds of years. Having said that, I'm not very happy with the advertising driven <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Internet">Internet</a>. Primarily because of the impact it has had on <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Privacy">privacy</a>.<br />
<br />
<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Demographics">Demographic data</a> has been available to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Advertising">advertisers</a> for a long time now. Knowing the socio economic background of the readers of a particular type of media provided <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Advertising">advertisers</a> with the ability to target their advertising campaigns in a way that was likely to maximize the return on the dollars they were investing. The problem comes in when that infomation goes from being based on groups of people and starts being available down to the level of individuals. The <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Internet">Internet</a> makes gathering and inferring that kind of data much easier than it has ever been before.<br />
<br />
Google has made a fortune providing advertisers with the opportunity to target ads towards very specific types of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Customer">customers</a>. Sometimes I find that useful but there are also times I find it creepy which is why I've been hoping some sort of alternative to the advertising driven Internet would emerge. I like having options.<br />
<br />
All <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Business">businesses</a> have customers and most people would probably assume that people who use <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Google">Google's</a> search and other services are their customers. This is not the case. <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Google">Google's</a> customers are the people who provide the revenue that allows them to maintain and grow their business; in other words, advertisers. Companies that want to stay in business need to keep their customers happy. Generally this isn't a problem. Where the issue comes in here is that there is a financial incentive for Google to make their advertisers happy and making advertisers happy can lead to a place where most of us feel our <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Privacy">privacy</a> has been violated.<br />
<br />
Google is not unique and I don't mean to pick on them. I could say the same things about <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Facebook">Facebook</a>, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo%21" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Yahoo!">Yahoo</a>, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Twitter">Twitter</a> and many others.<br />
<br />
Given all that I was excited to see there is a new <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_service" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Social networking service">social networking site</a> that is in the early testing phase that is being built on a totally different business model, one in which developers and users are the customer rather than advertisers. Listed among their core values is the following...<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4 style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Ubuntu, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<i>We are selling our product, NOT our users.</i></h4>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Ubuntu, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 9px;">
<i>We will <strong>never</strong> sell your personal data, content, feed, interests, clicks, or anything else to advertisers. We promise.</i></div>
<br />
<br />
There are several more statements along the same line that point out the value of having the customers be the end users and developers who create extensions to their core platform rather than advertisers. More can be found at <a href="https://join.app.net/">https://join.app.net/</a><br />
<br />
It's hard not to see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter">Twitter</a> as the first potential victim of this effort given the look and feel of the current early alpha interface along with the changes Twitter has been making and the developer discontent those changes have caused. <br />
<br />
App.Net seems to be doing well in the early going and has raised over eight hundred thousand dollars in a very short period of time. they are also getting some press which is always a good sign. Ultimately though the question is will enough people be willing to pay for such a service in large enough numbers to make their business model viable? I certainly hope so but time will tell.<br />
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(Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/22498907@N02/2616530208">Will Lion</a>)<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-75928985121974597382012-07-21T13:43:00.001-07:002012-07-21T14:12:09.662-07:00Microsoft/Google/Apple, Which One Of These Doesn't Belong Part 2<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IPod_classic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="English: iPod classic front view" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/IPod_classic.png/300px-IPod_classic.png" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="128" /></a></div>
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OK, so where was I going with all that stuff in <a href="http://emkey1.blogspot.com/2012/07/microsoftgoogleapple-which-one-of-these.html" target="_blank">part one</a>? The answer to the question posited in the title of this and my previous entry is obviously <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc." rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Apple Inc.">Apple.</a> Unlike <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Microsoft">Microsoft</a> and Google Apple provides end to end experiences that terminate in consumer electronics devices but those devices are only the top of a pyramid of value creation that they own or exert significant influence over. That ownership and control means they extract a lot more profit than their competitors.<br />
<h2>
</h2>
<h2>
Apple</h2>
Apples approach isn't without risk as companies that have taken this route sometimes find themselves fragmented as keeping everybody in step is very challenging. This is where Job's crystal clear vision and iron will served Apple well but operational excellence isn't Apple's only secret.<br />
<br />
Why did the original <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod">iPod</a> do so well? MP3 players were nothing new. They had been around for several years and while they had done OK they had never taken off the way they did when Apple entered the market. Apple's success was the result of understanding what the biggest pain point was for consumers and addressing it. What was that pain point? Acquiring media. Apples answer was the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes_Store">iTunes store</a>. Yes, pirated copies of music were widely available at the time but the quality was variable and you needed to be somewhat tech savvy to acquire and manage that music. It didn't hurt Apples cause that the RIAA was busy locating and prosecuting people who partook of this illicit activity.<br />
<br />
While Apple was solving a customer pain they were also a brand new <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_model">business model</a> where they made<br />
<div>
money on the hardware AND "software" in the form of media sales. Sure, some people didn't partake of the iTunes store but most did and the revenue generated by those later media sales looks very nice on Apple's bottom line.</div>
<div>
The primary reason I was interested in Google and Microsoft announcing their own tablets is that it appeaed to be a move by these companies towards emulating what Apple has been doing so successfully over the past decade or so.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Microsoft</h2>
The problem with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer">Ballmer</a>'s recent claim that Microsoft is going to compete with Apple in all markets is that they can only do that credibly by taking one of two approaches given their current lack of success.<br />
<br />
o They can create a new business model that creates superior cash flow OR<br />
o They can emulate what Apple is already doing<br />
<br />
Neither scenario is likely to work for a number of reasons but choice number two is much more likely to bring success since there is already a very successful example to follow. Given Microsoft's first ever quarterly loss it seems obvious they are not heading in a good direction. Radical change is probably their best bet and they seemed to be moving in that direction with the announcement of the Surface tablet. Recent back peddling by Ballmer does not bode well though.</div>
<div>
<br />
<h2>
Google</h2>
</div>
<div>
Google is doing great compared to Microsoft and has a much better prognosis. There is reason to worry however for several reasons. Arguably the biggest one is the fact that the Apple/Google divorce has continued to progress with Google Maps soon to be removed as the default map app on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS">iOS</a> devices and no sign of a decline in the ongoing patent litigation between the two companies.<br />
<div>
<br />
So if Microsoft continues to fade and Apple continues its ascension platform wise Google could be in trouble a few years down the road. This likely explains Google's introduction of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome_OS">ChromeOS</a> and Android. Ad revenues are driven by search and if <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google">Google search</a> isn't available the ad revenues are going to dry up quickly. Microsoft has been trying to dethrone the Google search juggernaut for years now with little success but Apple has a significant advantage since they control the entire value chain in the case of Apple products. <br />
<br />
The introduction of the Nexus 7 is likely just another step towards Google following suit. As I said in the Microsoft section there are two ways to compete with Apple. You could argue that Google has in fact created a new business model with their search business but that business model is increasingly dependent on the good will of Apple. Carving out some space for themselves has to look awfully tempting and the Nexus 7 is likely an experiment in ascertaining how feasible that is. Google's earlier introduction of a phone was a disaster but they appear to have learned from that mistake and chose a better product for their distribution model this time.</div>
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<br />
<h2>
Conclusion</h2>
<div>
Apple is a very scary company right now if you are anywhere near a stack of money that they want to claim as their own. The landscape of history is littered with highly successful tech companies that went from giants to liquidation or acquisition bait over very short periods of time. Microsoft is starting to look like Nokia circa 2008 right now and while Google is likely better off they may only be a couple of years behind Microsoft if they don't figure out how to deal with Apple soon. Imitation may not be a bad choice for either company and its certainly worth a try.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Hopefully some of the stuff in this and my previous entry make sense. Things have been insanely busy the past several weeks and I don't see that changing for awhile so I'm kind of shoving this stuff out there a bit half baked. It isn't helping that Google's blogger software is mangling the expletive out of my formatting either. I've had to save and edit this thing twenty times as I write this trying to get the formatting to come out the way I want it.
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">English: <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod_Classic" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="IPod Classic">iPod classic</a> front view (Photo credit: </span><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IPod_classic.png" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a><span style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">)</span>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8098282854073744424.post-41690318687329411432012-07-15T15:18:00.002-07:002012-07-15T15:25:13.853-07:00Microsoft/Google/Apple, Which One Of These Doesn't Belong?<div style="text-align: right;">
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The recent announcements of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google">Google</a> Nexus 7 tablet and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Surface">Microsoft Surface</a> tablet may signal a more significant and broad change in the world of consumer electronics than most people seem to realize though Balmer's statement that the Surface is essentially just a reference design argues against that theory. Frankly I think Ballmer is either under playing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft">Microsoft's</a> plans the Surface to appease their partners or he's decided to flip flop because of pressure from both inside and outside the company. The second scenario would be particularly unfortunate. I'm going to mostly pretend Ballmer didn't essentially reduce the Surface to irrelevancy for the rest of this post.<br /><br />It's clear that Apple is the king of the heap these days when it comes to the consumer space. They make tons of money and people line up days in advance of their new products going on sale. When is the last time that happened for a Microsoft product? OK, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinect">Kinect</a> did fairly well but as a general rule people don't get very excited when a Microsoft product is released. The same can be said for Google.<br /><br />Apple is fundamentally different from both Google and Microsoft in that they are heavily involved with every aspect of their products. In business terms this means they have an opportunity to create, and capture value along almost the entire <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_chain">value chain</a>. That is a very powerful position to be in if you handle it well and Apple clearly does. This ability to create and capture value across the value chain is why Apple is so insanely successful.<div>
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The Peril of Not Being Apple</h2>
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All of which is wonderful for Apple but not so good for the companies that are trying to compete with them. Google is in a better position than Microsoft because the majority of Google's revenues are from advertising revenues generated primarily by their very successful search engine. Google knows however that this revenue stream can be choked off up stream of them which is why they created Android and continue to try new things to keep peoples eyeballs focused in their direction. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.">Apple's</a> ability to control so much of a users experience puts them in an excellent position to influence where people's attention is focused. The recent announcement that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS">iOS</a> 6 will jettison Google's map software in favor of an Apple created alternative is a case in point.<div>
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<br />Microsoft is in an even worse situation. Sure, they are probably selling a few more copies of their office suite on the Mac these days but those sales are being cannibalized from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows">Windows PC</a> side of things where sales are dropping so there is essentially no upside there either.<br /><br />Apple gains other advantages from their current approach to hardware and software. Microsoft has to support an near infinite number of hardware platforms with each new Windows release. There is no way they can test every possible combination which is why performance and stability under Windows has always tended to lag behind Apple who only have to test on a very small number of platforms that they have all the inside information on. This contributes to the quality of the overall experience when using Apple products and also lowers Apple's R&D costs which tend to be much lower than anyone else in the technology industry.<br /><br /><h2>
How Do You Compete With Apple?</h2>
I'll be honest. I don't really know the answer to this question and so far it's not clear anyone else does either but you didn't read this far in the hopes of seeing me cop out so here goes...<br /><br />If you're Google you're worried about Apple and if you're Microsoft you are probably more than a little terrified though you would never admit that in public, at least not in so many words but some of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer">Ballmer</a>'s recent actions certainly seem to be telegraphing fairly clearly that he's not feeling all that confident.<br /><br />One possible approach to dealing with Apple is to look for niches that they have chosen not to compete in. Many Android device makers have managed to make a modest chunk of change by following this approach. Apple offers one screen size for phones and one screen size for tablets. Most people seem happy with these choices but as the old saying goes, you can't please all of the people all of the time.<br /><br />The problem with that approach is that Apple can watch and wait for lucrative market segments to emerge before introducing their own product. This means that their competition is essentially doing their market research and establishing a beach head all at no cost or risk to Apple and they've shown themselves to be particularly competent at entering markets others have already spent years in and taking over in short order. MP3 players being one example.<br /><br />I still think this is a reasonable strategy as Apple isn't particularly quick to move. They like to be methodical and thorough and while they generally deliver great products when they finally enter a market there is still time to make money and maybe, just maybe establish a beachhead that they can't overcome.<br /><br />This post is getting a bit long and I haven't even gotten to my main point. I'm going to leave off here though and save that for the future.<div class="zemanta-related" style="margin-top: 20px; overflow: hidden;">
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09507325257507187171noreply@blogger.com0