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Apple Poaches Levis Senior VP for U.S. Retail As Search For Chief Continues
One Device To Do All? Microsoft And Apple Face Off
Ashton Kutcher Insults Aussies: "Do People in Australia Know who Steve Jobs is?"
Apple Specialists Tekserve, Al Jazeera America's Technology Partner, Prepared Newsroom for US Launch
Tesla Model S Achieves Best Safety Rating Of Any Car Ever Tested
Apple Poaches Levis Senior VP for U.S. Retail As Search For Chief Continues
9To5Mac's Mark Gurman reports that Apple has poached Enrique Atienza from Levi Strauss, the San Francisco global clothing sales powerhouse, to become a top director for its U.S. Retail market, according to sources with knowledge of the hire.
For the full report visit here:
http://goo.gl/Rhmsp8
One Device To Do All? Microsoft And Apple Face Off
Macworld's John Moltz says there are two kinds of people; those who dream of having one computing device that they can use in every instance, and the rest of us, and that a fundamental philosophical difference currently being presented by Apple and its competitors is that Apple makes devices that it believes are better suited to particular use cases, while others, such as Microsoft, contend that one device alone can do it all.
EG: Microsoft's Surface tablet PC that Redmond pitches as a crossover between tablet and laptop (assuming you buy the keyboard for $100 extra). Surface runs desktop applications in full-fledged Windows 8, but it is touch-enabled everywhere. Moltz maintains that Microsoft believes people don't really want separate devices, but would rather have just one do-all device, which is why it likes to present iPad users as frustrated with that device's inability to be the one true product for consumers, noting that in comments promoting the Surface, Bill Gates said of iPad users: "They can't type. They can't create documents."
Not quite so. Your editor is a heavy iPad user. I type extensively on it (mostly on the virtual keyboard too; not an external), and create documents on it every day. They're not Word docs, but mostly Plain Text, which suits me fine. I'll concede that for me, it's not yet possible to do everything I need to do, including some routine tasks, on the iPad, so in that sense, Mr. Gates has a point for folks who really insist on having only one machine. But perhaps there are not as many in that cohort as Mr. Gates thinks, given the Surface's sales performance.
John Motz observes that while Windows 8 apologists talk about about the magic of being able to edit a document on your tablet with the onscreen touch keyboard on the go, and then edit it with a mouse and keyboard on the very same device. However Moltz observes that in the present era of Dropbox or iCloud, why not use a document format that you can edit on any device, with the input methods that are best suited to that device?
He summarizes that at least to date, the all-in-one philosophy has failed miserably at gaining traction on any platform, noting that powerhouse Google's philosophy is more like Apple's, ie: don't keep your stuff on your device, keep it in the cloud and use it on any device.
Meanwhile, Microsoft was forced to write off its unsold Surface inventory, taking a $900 million hit, the Surface Pro currently sells for $100 off its original price and the Surface RT is $150 less than what it first shipped for.
Apple, on the other hand, doesn't shy away from letting its devices overlap. MacBooks got smaller with the Air, iOS devices got larger with the iPad. But the company's never telling you to just get one, and Moltz says he doesn't have four Apple devices currently in service because he's made of money, but because each is simply better suited to a different use case, and that right now Apple's philosophy seems to have the most traction among users by a substantial margin.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://goo.gl/bhbmmo
Ashton Kutcher Insults Aussies: "Do People in Australia Know who Steve Jobs is?"
International Business Times' Athena Yenko says some Australians found Ashton Kutcher's remarks insulting as the actor joked about Aussies being naive on the life and works of Steve Jobs as CEO of Applereports:
"Do people in Australia know who Steve Jobs is?," Kutcher joked during Channel Seven's Sunrise program, and Ms. Yenko says he was unable to redeem himself from his blunder even when he commented that he like Hugh Jackman and had a hit on Nicole Kidman.
For the full report visit here:
http://goo.gl/uulLBX
Apple Specialists Tekserve, Al Jazeera America's Technology Partner, Prepared Newsroom for US Launch
Tekserve, a veteran New York City-based technology provider and Apple reseller, has announced their partnership with Al Jazeera America(http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/) to prepare the network's U.S. headquarters for launch. Tekserve provided and installed the equipment for the groundbreaking newsroom, which televises.
Al Jazeera America went live, broadcasting its inaugural segment to 48 million homes in the US at 3 p.m. EDT on August 21. Headquartered in New York, the channel has 12 bureaus in major cities around the country, three broadcast centres, and a team of nearly 900 journalists and staff.
Viewers will receive more than 14 hours of live news, magazine and discussion programmes daily, with news updates at the top of every hour 24/7.
“We will take full advantage of our extraordinary reporting resources to give our viewers the most up-to-date information available no matter when they tune in,” Al Jazeera America President Kate O’Brian commented ahead of the launch.
As Al Jazeera America's technology partner, Tekserve provided 350 pieces of technology to outfit 17,000 square feet of space in Al Jazeera America's midtown headquarters. The floor-to-ceiling buildout, the first of its kind to be opened by a major overseas news outlet, was completed ahead of schedule to get Al Jazeera America up and running before Wednesday's launch.
Al Jazeera America's newsroom contains state-of-the-art digital production technology and is the only news organization in the world to utilize every one of the products in Avid's suite of offerings. Avid creates the digital audio and video technology that creative professionals use to make the most listened to, most watched and most loved media in the world from the most prestigious and award-winning feature films, music recordings, and television shows, to live concert tours and news broadcasts. Additionally, Al Jazeera America is beta testing products not yet available on the market.
"We're incredibly proud of this project, says Walter Viegas, Vice President of Professional Services at Tekserve. Al Jazeera America had extensive technology needs to get their headquarters launched, and we are thrilled to see the knowledge and expertise of our engineers, project managers, and professional services team in action as Al Jazeera America goes live. We look forward to continuing to work with the network to provide, implement, and maintain their technology needs."
Tekserve has, for more than 25 years, delivered a broad range of strategic services, solutions, and products to support the technology needs of creative professionals, small-to-medium sized businesses, and top corporations. From Apple to HP, from Avid to Adobe and more, Tekserve helps clients find, create, and utilize the best possible solutions for their technology challenges.
For more information, visit:
http://www.tekserve.com
You can find out how to get Al Jazeera America here:
http://www.aljazeera.com/getajam
Tesla Model S Achieves Best Safety Rating Of Any Car Ever Tested
Independent testing by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has awarded the Tesla Model S a 5-star safety rating, not just overall, but in every subcategory without exception. Approximately one percent of all cars tested by the federal government achieve 5 stars across the board. NHTSA does not publish a star rating above 5, however safety levels better than 5 stars are captured in the overall Vehicle Safety Score (VSS) provided to manufacturers, where the Model S achieved a new combined record of 5.4 stars.
Of all vehicles tested, including every major make and model approved for sale in the United States, the Model S set a new record for the lowest likelihood of injury to occupants. While the Model S is a sedan, it also exceeded the safety score of all SUVs and minivans. This score takes into account the probability of injury from front, side, rear and rollover accidents.
The Model S has the advantage in the front of not having a large gasoline engine block, thus creating a much longer crumple zone to absorb a high speed impact. This is fundamentally a force over distance problem the longer the crumple zone, the more time there is to slow down occupants at g loads that do not cause injuries. Just like jumping into a pool of water from a tall height, it is better to have the pool be deep and not contain rocks. The Model S motor is only about a foot in diameter and is mounted close to the rear axle, and the front section that would normally contain a gasoline engine is used for a second trunk.
For the side pole intrusion test, considered one of the most difficult to pass, the Model S was the only car in the "good" category among the other top one percent of vehicles tested. Compared to the Volvo S60, which is also 5-star rated in all categories, the Model S preserved 63.5 percent of driver residual space vs. 7.8 percent for the Volvo. Tesla achieved this outcome by nesting multiple deep aluminum extrusions in the side rail of the car that absorb the impact energy (a similar approach was used by the Apollo Lunar Lander) and transfer load to the rest of the vehicle. This causes the pole to be either sheared off or to stop the car before the pole hits an occupant.
The rear crash testing was particularly important, given the optional third row children's seat. For this, Tesla factory installs a double bumper if the third row seat is ordered. This was needed in order to protect against a highway speed impact in the rear with no permanently disabling injury to the third row occupants. The third row is already the safest location in the car for frontal or side injuries.
The Model S was also substantially better in rollover risk, with the other top vehicles being approximately 50 percent worse. During testing at an independent facility, the Model S refused to turn over via the normal methods and special means were needed to induce the car to roll. The reason for such a good outcome is that the battery pack is mounted below the floor pan, providing a very low center of gravity, which simultaneously ensures exceptional handling and safety.
Of note, during validation of Model S roof crush protection at an independent commercial facility, the testing machine failed at just above 4 g's. While the exact number is uncertain due to Model S breaking the testing machine, what this means is that at least four additional fully loaded Model S vehicles could be placed on top of an owner's car without the roof caving in. This is achieved primarily through a center (B) pillar reinforcement attached via aerospace grade bolts.
The above results do not tell the full story. It is possible to game the regulatory testing score to some degree by strengthening a car at the exact locations used by the regulatory testing machines. After verifying through internal testing that the Model S would achieve a NHTSA 5-star rating, Tesla then analyzed the Model S to determine the weakest points in the car and retested at those locations until the car achieved 5 stars no matter how the test equipment was configured.
The Model S lithium-ion battery did not catch fire at any time before, during or after the NHTSA testing. It is worth mentioning that no production Tesla lithium-ion battery has ever caught fire in the Model S or Roadster, despite several high speed impacts. While this is statistically unlikely to remain the case long term, Tesla is unaware of any Model S or Roadster occupant fatalities in any car ever.
The graphic below shows the statistical Relative Risk Score (RRS) of Model S compared with all other vehicles tested against the exceptionally difficult NHTSA 2011 standards. In 2011, the standards were revised upward to make it more difficult to achieve a high safety rating.
Tesla Motors' goal is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable transport with a full range of increasingly affordable electric cars. California-based Tesla designs and manufactures EVs, as well as EV powertrain components for partners such as Toyota and Mercedes. Tesla has delivered over 15,000 electric vehicles to customers in 31 countries.
For more information, visit:
http://www.teslamotors.com/
Via: Tesla Press Releases
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