GSlusher

Android and Apple: Smartphones Require Smart Strategy

"Anyone can make an Android handset ..."

That's a negative feature, in that every manufacturer can make a substantially different Android handset with a MODIFIED OS and with different versions of the OS that may or may not be upgradeable. On top of that, they vary in buttons, hardware features, radios, etc. That makes it had for developers to ensure that their software will work on all Android handsets. What works on a Motorola handset may not work the same on a HTC handset. (What works on one HTC handset may not even work the same on another HTC handset.)

This was the situation in the PC world until Microsoft essentially imposed standard hardware requirements--I think that it was with Windows 95. In PC gaming those many years ago, a game developer would have to worry about different video cards as well as different processors.

Daniel Eran Dilger of Roughly Drafted had written extensively about the problem with Android's fragmentation.

Who Will Come Out Ahead from e-Book Success in College Classrooms?

A few obstacles remain before the Kindle & its ilk can be used for textbooks. The most expensive texts are not history, literature, language, and the like, but math, science and engineering, where texts can easily cost $120-150. Those texts depend heavily upon graphics--diagrams, drawings, photographs, charts & graphs, and equations. They make extensive use of color. The Kindle is no better for that use than, say, an etch-a-sketch. Even if they solve the color & graphics problems (which will dramatically increase the size and cost of ebooks), there will remain usage problems. Typically, a student will look at a chart/drawing/photo/di... WHILE reading the relevant section of the text. Textbook editors are usually careful to make this easy by putting the graphics on the same or facing page as the related text. Flipping a Kindle back and forth from page to page will probably be unsatisfactory. It will probably dramatically increase the time required to read technical texts.

There are many possibilities that could enhance learning--interactive charts, dynamic equations that the student can manipulate, VR-type diagrams, where you can rotate an object and zoom in and out, etc. However, the usage problems need to be solved. It might require a larger screen, roughly the size of a 15-17" laptop. In that case, one might as well use the laptop.

FWIW, I've read a lot of technical texts, both as a student at MIT (three degrees in mechanical engineering) and as an instructor in undergraduate and graduate engineering courses.

Whose Notebook PC Business Is Most Valuable?

Care to bet your life on that? I.e., if any computer using your chip experiences any problem from malware over, say, 7 years, would you commit ritual suicide in public? If your answer is "No," don't use words like "absolute certainty."

On Nov 08 09:43 AM dmeharc wrote:

> our chip works with absolute certainty.

Looking at the Market and Three Tech Stocks - Dell, Apple and IBM

Re: paying off other people's mortgages

You've been doing that for many, many years. What, you say? Yes. It's called "deducting mortgage interest." That's a taxpayer subsidy to homeowners. As far as I know, no other type of consumer debt has deductible interest. (Quite a while ago, one could deduct interest on car loans, etc.) This is why people get second mortgages and lines of credit to buy cars, send kids to college, etc., and one reason some people are now under water.

Of course, this subsidy is worth more to high-income taxpayers because of their higher marginal rates.

Apple vs. Dell: Capturing the Over 50 Crowd

"To find out, we looked at the online behaviors of a “Seniors” segment that we defined as people who visit sites geared to older internet users such as AARP.org, Eons.com, and Medicare.gov."

That does not match the headline, which refers to people over 50. For one thing, "over 50" does NOT equal "Seniors." Also, one isn't eligible for Medicare (usually) until age 65, not 50. By that logic, you should include 30-year-olds with teens. As for AARP, I'm almost 62 and won't have anything to do with them, as their primary purpose is to sell insurance that I don't need.

Dell Twitters Exclusive Discounts

Yet another reason to avoid Twitter.