Rants Archive

  • Can MacWorld – or any tech conference – survive the next decade?

    Can MacWorld – or any tech conference – survive the next decade?

    Posted on February 10, 2010 | No Comments
    Comic from the great NatalieDee The Grube talks about an Apple-less MacWorld and how it will be a pretty sad show without the regular one-ring circus that is the Steve Jobs keynote but that it won’t be absolutely horrible, with smaller companies actually getting some attention this time. My thinking? Nah. Big trade shows are going [...]

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  • How Apple kills hardware innovation

    How Apple kills hardware innovation

    Posted on February 1, 2010 | No Comments
    If there are two things you can count on its Death and the propensity of Asian electronics manufacturers to capitalize on a rising trend. In short, what we buy Asia makes and Asia is very happy about the iPad. And this chain of events, in turn, destroys hardware innovation. First we have this AP report about accessories makers. We haven't posted very many iPad accessories since the launch but trust me, we've been inundated. Every accessory and app company worth its salt has tasked its befuddled PR flacks to send us emails with subjects like "Supertech creates first iPad holster for cowboys" complete with rendered images of ridiculous accessories. Why do they do this? Because all they really have to do is make a call to a factory in Shenzhen and have a planeload made in a few weeks. It's that easy. This ties up resources, however, discouraging other manufacturers to try to make accessories for other devices.

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  • You’re worth it: How the “premium” perception is changing the way we buy gadgets

    You’re worth it: How the “premium” perception is changing the way we buy gadgets

    Posted on September 28, 2009 | No Comments
    This guy was asking the quality question way before the PSP Go The PSP Go just launched and the blogworld is in a tizzy about the price – $249 – and the apparent chintziness of this new PSP replacement. You see, the device doesn’t support Sony’s exciting UMD optical standard and is generally reported as “feeling” [...]

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  • Why Nokia and Sony Ericsson are failing

    Why Nokia and Sony Ericsson are failing

    Posted on July 24, 2009 | No Comments
    Fosfor posted an incredible look at what has befallen phone manufacturers and why they're all faltering. Mikael heeded over to Nokia and Sony Ericsson's sites and tried to list all of the models available. Nokia had 44 and S-E had 70. He then points out that there are three iPhones at best and in reality there are only two. It costs money to manufacture and sell things. While many of the phones on Nokia's site may be out of production, they still show them to users as if they were available. This is wrong-headed and ridiculous. The manufacturers will complain that carriers make them offer so many phones. Carrier A wants a cheap phone to sell to grandmas in Latvia while Carrier B wants a fancy phone to sell to the rich in South Africa. Cry me a river. Are we really that neophiliac that every country and every carrier has to have something a little different? Do we really have to bend our desires to what companies that essentially sell the transmission of bits over radio waves want?

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