Sony VGP-BPL8 Battery |
Posted: March 12, 2015 |
Cloud power-users, prepare to salivate: Google's back with a brand new version of its high-end luxury laptop. Oh yes, gang, it's true: It's the Chromebook Pixel, version 2.0. Like the original model, launched two years ago, the new Pixel is a top-of-the-line laptop for people committed to the cloud-centric Chrome OS lifestyle. It's similar to the first-gen device but with some significant improvements. One of them is the price: Even with its many enhancements, the new Chromebook Pixel -- on sale in Google's online store starting today -- costs $300 less than its predecessor, at $999 for the base model. I've been getting to know the new Pixel for the past few days and will have an in-depth review to share with you soon. For now, here's a first look at what's changed and what's stayed the same with the second-gen device:
The same (more or less): The new Pixel's look and feel Yup -- the new Pixel maintains the same basic design, materials, and build quality as the original. The keyboard and trackpad are ever-so-slightly tweaked in this new model, and the laptop's color is a slightly lighter silver than before -- but all in all, we're talking pretty subtle differences. And as anyone who's used the first-gen model for any length of time can tell you, that's probably not a bad thing. Mozilla is de moderne uitvoering van Sun Microsystems: de organisatie staat erom bekend innovatie op innovatie te introduceren, maar de technologie die geld in het laatje brengt, heeft problemen. In de hoogtijdagen van Sun had je prominenten als Java-oprichter James Gosling, Unix-expert Billy Joy en XML-uitvinder Tim Bray. Het bedrijf kwam met grensverleggende technologieën als Network File System en uiteraard Java. Maar de hoogvlieger van weleer en belangrijkste inkomstenbron - de SPARC-servers met het Solaris Unix OS - werd vermorzeld in de concurrentie met Intel hardware en Linux. Sun werd uiteindelijk in 2010 na een langgerekte periode van verlies overgenomen door Oracle. Vergelijk het met Mozilla, de thuisbasis van JavaScript-bedenker Brendan Eich die nu CEO-af is, maar nog steeds bijdraagt aan projecten van Mozilla. Andere grote Mozilla-namen zijn Vladimir Vukicevic, die WebGL mede ontwikkelde en David Byron, auteur van de CSS-stack. De onderzoeksafdeling van Mozilla heeft belangrijke webplatformprojecten gebouwd, zoals programmeertaal Rust, de layout-engine Servo Web, en de LLJS precompiler. Browser Firefox is erg bekend, maar die levert veel terrein in aan Google's Chrome en mobiele browsers.
Teruglopend marktaandeel Firefox staat voor een dilemma, met het teruggelopen marktaandeel en met vragen over de tools die ontwikkelaars voor het platform gebruiken. Firefox loopt al lange tijd langzaam terug in populariteit, zo blijkt uit gegevens van de tech-trainingsite W3Schools Web. Daaruit blijkt dat Firefox in december van 2009 de leidende browser was met een marktaandeel van 46,4 procent, tegenover 37,2 voor IE en 9,8 voor Chrome. Maar afgelopen januari was Firefox inmiddels gezakt naar 14,8 procent, terwijl Chrome 42,8 procent van de markt had. Ook IE en Safari kwamen hoger uit met respectievelijk 16,9 en 15,5 procent. Analist Jeffrey Hammond van Forrester Research beaamt dat het probleem ligt op de moeite van Firefox om populariteit te verwerven op het mobiele vlak. Ik denk dat dat de grootste oorzaak is. Als ik eenmaal een browser heb gekozen op het ene platform, gebruik ik het op andere om mijn links te synchroniseren, zegt Hammond. En met Chrome op Androids krijgt Google een voorsprong met gebruikers die meerdere kanalen gebruiken. JavaScript met Gecko-smaak Volgens marktvorser NetMarketShare staat op het mobiele vlak Safari aan kop met 43,21 procent van de markt, terwijl Chrome 26,59 procent heeft. Firefox is nauwelijks te zien met een aandeel van 0,67 procent. Behalve het gevecht in de mobiele ruimte, moeten Firefox en zijn ontwikkelaars zich buigen over het gebrek aan standaardtooling, zo blijkt uit een gesprek uit een Firefox-mailgroep. Mozilla-ontwerper die gaat over de developerproductiviteit Gregory Szorc overlegt mee in een lijst over standaarden om tools te gebruiken en een plan om bestaande broncode te converteren om het te laten voldoen aan heersende standaarden.
Een hoop delen van Firefox omschrijft Szorc als JavaScript met Gecko-smaak, waarmee hij aangeeft dat de gebruikte JavaScript-code niet voldoet aan standaarden. In plaats daarvan is het JavaScript dat gebruik maakt van Gecko-extensies als 'Components.utils.import()', die niet standaard zijn. Windows 7: By far the biggest group of users have Windows 7. With 55 percent of all PC users on the versatile and business-friendly version, this is a huge potential market for Windows 10. Many of the systems are aging, as Windows 7 became generally available in October 2009. Users generally stuck with Windows 7 through the Windows 8 release cycle as they dedicated their compute budgets to tablets and smartphones. With Windows 10, Microsoft is no longer forcing users to touch their screens to get things done the way they had to with Windows 8, making it a more seamless upgrade for those interested in trying the new OS on Windows 7 hardware. The Windows 7 upgrade community could go either way -- some buying new systems for Windows 10, others using the free upgrade to Windows 10 on more recent Windows 7 PCs. Windows 7 has a long time until extended support ends in January 2020. A good chunk of Windows 7 users won't be migrating for years. Windows XP & Windows Vista: Support ended a year ago for Windows XP (in use on 12 percent of PCs) and ends for Windows Vista (less than 3 percent of PCs) in April 2017. The more traditional aspects of the Windows 10 computing experience could be attractive to both of these groups of late adopting users, but both are relatively small market opportunities. 2-in-1 Enthusiasts: Full-powered PCs with screens that detach to become tablets are growing in popularity. The Continuum interface in Windows 10 aims to make the process of switching between usage modes much more seamless and natural. The Microsoft Surface is only one example. Intel recently said that there were 70 2-in-1 designs available. Windows 10 could be a driver for this segment. Bargain Systems: The prices on Windows PCs have come down rapidly with many choices in the $200 to $300 range for desktops and laptops. At those prices, systems are starting to get to the point where paying for the OS or not isn't as much of a factor. The free upgrade aspect of Windows 10 may not impact this sector much, although it should give users pause about buying PCs with cut-rate amounts of storage. No amount of free cloud storage will help if you need 16GB of free drive space to upgrade to the next OS. Corporate Purchasers: A big question mark hovers over how business purchases will proceed in the future. Pro editions of Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 are included in the free upgrade offer, but Enterprise Editions are not. Will Microsoft be successful in upselling on the manageability features and the ability to beg off on feature updates in a way that's more consistent with traditional IT approaches? In any event, the business purchase cycle tended to lag the Windows release cycle by six to 18 months.
Longer term, disentangling OS releases from a fixed hardware cycle must result in a new equilibrium for the PC industry. Apple Inc. has been able to drive big hardware sales in tandem with new OS releases by controlling both sides of the product. Microsoft has a few hardware products (Surface, Lumia), but shows little potential for working its way into a similar position. Instead, Microsoft is reliant on OEMs, and without big OS milestones to focus and organize them, it will be like herding cats to get them to embrace new hardware-dependent features. Think of the Google Android ecosystem with its mix of benefits and challenges. What that means for now is existing PC shows, such as the Computer Electronics Show (CES), could become even more important than they already are, as purchasers -- corporate and consumer -- will feel freer to make decisions in the moment based on the best available systems. Yesterday — after we proposed the idea that Samsung could be planning an Active variant of the upcoming Galaxy S6 — a mysterious device popped up in a user agent profile. The device’s model number was strikingly similar to last year’s Samsung Galaxy S5 Active on AT&T, so it made sense that’s what we were looking at an updated S6 version. Of course, other than display resolution (2K), not much other info was “leaked.” In case you needed further confirmation that a Samsung Galaxy S6 Active for AT&T is indeed a thing, the boys at SamMobile are now chiming in with details of their own. According to their sources, the phone will feature one hardware spec that’s sure to make any Android fan drool and no, we’re not talking about water resistance here. Going by the model number SM-G890A, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Active will reportedly come equipped with a whopping 3,500mAh battery — that’s a fairly big bump from the regular S6’s 2,550mAh battery (which is actually smaller than the previous Galaxy S5).
We also get a look at the dimensions 73.6 x 146.9 x 8.8mm and compared against the regular S6 model (70.5 x 143.4 x 6.8mm) is only about 3mm wider and taller, but a good 2mm thicker. Probably to compensate for that larger battery and added ruggedness. Looks like the only thing we’re waiting for now is for Samsung or AT&T to make this thing official. Well, before the device is leaked in the wild like last year’s version. Even with a more battery efficient Exynos 7 process at the helm, we could always use a little extra battery life from our devices. With water resistance, a likely more rugged form factor, and substantially bigger battery — anyone considering picking up the Galaxy S6 Active for AT&T? For the Apple Watch to do anything useful it needs to be paired with an iPhone. This means that the Apple Watch will spend its life within a few feet of an iPhone. Is there anything that you need to do on your wrist that you don’t want to do on your phone? Why would you want to read or send messages, or hail an Uber ride, on the tiny screen of the Watch when your phone is as close as your pocket?
What are the hardware devices that you use most of the time?
The Apple Watch may be the best argument for the Chromebook. I’d love to see a campus that committed a standardized ecosystem of cheap hardware (Chromebooks) running consumer-grade cloud services (Google Drive). Google has done very little to push into the higher ed market. That is too bad, as an all Chromebook / Drive campus would make for an interesting experiment. There is something about a $10,000 Apple Watch that makes a $200 Chromebook all the more compelling.
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