Archive for the ‘Articles’ Category
Now, this almost made our Weekly WTF section. But, in the end, we thought Mr. Martel deserved the tag just a bit more than our friends at ZDNet. Maybe, we should have a category called Weekly ZDNet, since they keeping posting this kind of stuff so often.
So, anyways, a couple of reporters over at ZDNet got melodramatic and all, and they predicted that the era of everyone’s favourite software company was almost over. Now, their arguments are so very convincing.
Let’s have a look:
“It’s true for athletes, true for movie stars, and it’s true for businesses as well.
……
They’re loved when they start, they’re feared mid-career, then at the end they become legends.”
It’s true for idiots as well.
“I’m old enough to remember when Jack Nicklaus was first replacing Arnold Palmer at the top of golf’s heap. Augusta hated him.
…..
They don’t fear you, they know you’re going down, and so do you.”
Maybe they’re old enough?
“So it is, now, with Microsoft. All the respect shown Big Green at Linuxworld can’t mask the fact that its era is ending, that in time the open source model will triumph.
….
That time is coming sooner than anyone in Redmond thinks.”
Maybe the time of these two intellectual human beings is up? Or does Dvorak have competition?
Wait, Dvorak has competition! ZOMG!
Popularity: 8% [?]
- By Anand on Aug 11, 2007
Dear Readers,
Over the course of the past week, you would have noticed that I have not posted a single news story, while Vivek has been posting regularly.
Well, as you would know, I am going to study MSc Accounting and Finance at the London School of Economics. Unfortunately, I have had certain issues with my loan and visa applications. So, for the past week, I have been roaming around the city that we call Mumbai, to collect documents from literally every nook and corner! And, bad luck seems to follow me wherever I go.
So, I am extremely sorry to say that I will not be able to post news till August 8th. Meanwhile, Vivek will carry on with his news posting. 
Popularity: 5% [?]
- By Anand on Aug 3, 2007
We always suspected that the editorial desk at PC World didn’t exactly love Apple, but we never imagined what has happened! Wired is reporting that the Editor of PC World has quit because of differences over – you-know-what – an article on Apple!
Apparently, our good friends over at PC World were working on a story titled ‘Ten Things We Hate About Apple‘, which didn’t please the new CEO, Colin Crawford- former CEO of MacWorld, too much. Crawford, who is one of Jobs’ friends, wanted the team to be nicer to advertisers and vendors.
Now, as much as we, at Techspot, love Apple and Steve Jobs; we do stand up for the freedom of speech of the press. If the press is going to be nicer to advertisers, then we wonder where we will get unbiased news and reviews.
Indian readers will know of a certain technology navigator that routinely rates products like CMV TFTs very highly.
Now, will you trust PC World’s technology advice? We’re not so sure, anymore.
Popularity: 8% [?]
- By Anand on May 4, 2007
Okay, so Dell leaked a memo to the press hoping to prove that it’s serious about making a strong comeback.
According to theregister.com,
CEO Michael Dell penned the memo that went out first to employees and then shortly thereafter to the Wall Street Journal, once Dell’s PR team gave the all clear. The e-mail made ample use of broad statements and rhetoric to rally troops around the Dell 2.0 concept, which has a revitalized Dell trying new things like being nice to consumers to get back in the hardware game. In particular, Dell will work to make its management, manufacturing, supply chain and customer service more efficient, CEO Dell said in the memo.
Now, we understand Dell’s intentions to get some free publicity, but we think that this whole 2.0 thing has stopped being cool. And what’s with the leak?
Besides, isn’t it quite similar to Let’s be pirates of Jobs fame?
Popularity: 10% [?]
- By Anand on Apr 30, 2007
The comrades over at Meizu Me are reporting that the parent company has apparently changed the looks of the M8 for less iPhone similarity.
Now, we’ve seen some absurd articles, some absurd chair throwing, and some absurd monkeyboy dance, but we’ve never seen something like this!
We do believe them, don’t we? By the way, what are the odds that the Vista icons on the M8 did not come from the 244 original Vista copies that were sold in China?
For more pictures of the redesigned M8, head over to the Meizu Me forums.
Popularity: 9% [?]
- By Anand on Apr 24, 2007
Now we do love and respect the people over at PCWorld. They are good people up there, and, as expected of them, they write good articles. But, this article by one of their writers did have us wondering about the quality of PCWorld’s reports.
The article says:
Although Apple’s iPhone has been shrouded in secrecy, apparently some details of the interface leaked all the way back in 2004, alert viewers of the ABC television series Lost have reported.
In an episode broadcast in the US – ‘Catch-22’ – the survivors recover a bag and in it discover a satellite phone. The phone doesn’t work, but the interface looked vaguely familiar to Apple aficionados.
Several people commenting on both Flickr and TUAW reminded readers that ‘Lost’ is set in 2004, when the series debuted. “It might mean that time passes slower on the island, so it’s 2008 in the outside world already,” one guessed.
Now, if this was meant to be sarcastic or funny, then we can understand. After all, techies do need a break from their monotonous work, don’t they? But, if this was posted as a serious news article, then we would have to say that it was quite absurd. I mean it’s obvious that the person who posted the ‘time passes slower’ comment on TUAW wasn’t exactly serious. But, our friends over at PCWorld found it worthy enough to mention it in their report!
Apparently, PCWorld tried to contact Apple and ABC about this. Now, I understand that our friends have a magazine to run, and news to report; but we do expect computer magazines to report on something more worthwhile than what Mr. XYZ commented on one of TUAW’s many articles or what some zombie at a mysteries, lost island decided to do with a phone that fell from the sky.
So, will you trust their technology advice?
Popularity: 9% [?]
- By Anand on Apr 23, 2007
devilhead_satish over at our forums has posted a good review of the Sony Ericssion K790i on his blog. Good Work Satish!
Every once in a while comes a phone that will want to make you throw or hide your own phone.The K790i is one such gem of a cell phone which will the send the expletives rolling from your mouth as you initially work your way around the phone.
Looks And Build Quality
Absolutely clean and uncluttered design. In hardware terms the K790i isn’t much to look at. Small (105 x 47 x 22 mm)and light (115g) with shades of slate grey and silver and white highlights. The front facing controls are dominated by a small joystick which is one of the better ones I’ve used. It is responsive and has plenty of travel. You can program its four directions for specific functions.
There are two absolutely tiny buttons to the far left and right of the joystick that need to be approached with a fingernail if you are to hit them accurately. One launches the web browser, the other is the Activity Menu key which contains four tabbed sections: these are more shortcuts to applications, web bookmarks, notifications about missed calls and new messages, and, helpfully the chance to close any running applications that might be slowing the handset down.
The hardware controls are very well thought through. Both softkey buttons and the joystick help you access features and settings quickly, and two further small buttons above the screen give access to more. One of these calls up thumbnail images regardless of what else you are doing with the handset at the time. If you have ever fumbled on a handset for a particular shot to show to a friend you will know how valuable this is. To the back of the handset is the USP of the phone, the camera, which is accessed by sliding a cover. Also present is a xenon flash which is nice and effective.
⇥ Continued
Popularity: 51% [?]
- By Anand on Apr 22, 2007
Nemesis, our resident firangi Indian-American, had posted an editorial on quantum cryptography a long while back.
Silicon chips are soon gonna reach their limits and then what? What other options do we have? Quantum computing does offer a way out. But the technology is far from ready and needs a lot more work. Quantum computing relies on “qubits” rather than the traditonal binary “bits”. A qubit can be stored in atoms or in photons. And because of superposition, the qubit can have an additional state where it is on and off at the same time. This will allow quantum computers to use powerful short-cuts when performing certain calculations. The idea here is to get multiple qubits to entangle with each other so that the resultant computer can perform any calculation with ease. This happens because the ability of the computer increases exponentially (2^n) with the number of qubits involved. Apart from performing complex calculations, a quantum computer can also search databases really fast
But this editorial is about quantum cryptography. Read on.
⇥ Continued
Popularity: 9% [?]
- By Anand on Apr 20, 2007
