Other Sites
Quantum Aims To Solve Most Common iPad Complaints With New All-in-one Accessory
Apple Updates Education Only 21.5" iMac Model, Bumps Price To $1,099
Moore's Law, Not Mobility, Killing PC Sales Growth
Seagate Rolls Out Laptop And Desktop Solid State Hybrid Drives
Apple Store Debuts in Top Spot In NCSI-UK National Customer Satisfaction Index for Retail
Quantum Aims To Solve Most Common iPad Complaints With New All-in-one Accessory
Exciting and intriguing news for those of us who struggle with the iPads manifold limitations, but maddeningly light on detail is a report by Digitimes' Alex Wolfgram that Quantum is currently working on a new all-in-one iPad accessory designed to address complaints many consumers have about their Apple tablets, including the devices' lack of additional storage, missing ports, battery life, sound quality and overall fragility, according to the company.
"The limitations of the iPad's various iterations are well-documented at this point, Wolfgram cites Quantum CEO Robert Federowicz commenting." "We aim to smash through those limitations and make the iPad more powerful and more useful than ever before."
[Way cool, I say, tell me more - Ed.]
The report notes that Quantum recently announced that engineering has begun on a new prototype of the all-in-one accessory. After thoroughly testing it, the company plans to put the device into production and have it on store shelves as soon as possible.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20130304PR202.html
Apple Updates Education Only 21.5" iMac Model, Bumps Price To $1,099
AppleInsider Staff report:
In an update to its traditional special priced Mac offerings targeted at educational institutions, Apple is now offering the newly redesigned 21.5-inch iMac with a 3.3GHz dual-core Intel i3 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD for $1,099.
For the full report visit here:
http://goo.gl/IwM0j
Moore's Law, Not Mobility, Killing PC Sales Growth
PCWorld's Brad Chacos says its not so much the shift to mobile devices that's undermiining growth of traditional PC sales, but the fact that the older computers people already have are more than adequate to meed the needs of most users.
Chacos notes that as with most economic sectors, the PC market is influenced by a myriad of factors, but watching his mother-in-law happily troll Facebook and sling emails on her nearly ten-year-old Pentium 4 computer, the possibility occurred to him that CPU performance had reached a "good enough" level for mainstream users some years ago, and older computers are still potent enough to complete an average Joe's everyday tasks, reducing the incentive to upgrade.
Chacos says that while it may come as a shock to performance-pushing power user PC enthusiasts, but Joe or Jane average computer user almost never encodes videos, or spends time fragging fools in Crysis 3., but rather spend most of their time on mundane, often Web-centric tasks: Buying stuff online, sending emails, engaging friends and family on social media, maybe watching the occasional YouTube video (on default resolutions, natch, not high-definition) or playing a few hands of Solitaire.
In other words, hardly the kind of activity that begs for an overclocked, water-cooled, hyper-threaded Core i7 processor. Or even a modern-day Ivy Bridge Core i3 processor, if we're being honest.
I have to agree. I'm typing these words on one of two going-on-13-year-old Pismo PowerBooks I still have in active service. Both have been maxed out to the limit they will support, with G4 processors, a gig of RAM, bigger HDDs, and SuperDrive optical drives, but are still exceedingly modest in spec. by today's standards. However, they still do an amazingly competent job for light to medium duty production work. My primary workstation, a late 2008 2.0 GHz MacBook is now four years old, and while extra speed and power are always nice to have, I can't complain that I find the old MacBook is cramping my style as yet.
What's more, says Chacos, the need for cutting-edge silicon could drop even further as more and more tasks that once required beefy computers transition to off-site cloud servers.
That, combined with processor performance improvement having slowed drastically since about 2005, means that newer processors are no longer that much better than their predecessors, and for Average Joe/Jane who primarily works inside Facebook, email and iTunes, the everyday difference between an older Core 2 processor and a modern Core processor is negligible.
The tablet revolution just happened along at the same time, with relatively puny ARM-based silicon proving plenty adequate for most users' needs. However, Chacos notes that the launch of Intel's next-gen Haswell CPUs should herald an era of thin, fanless tablets-slash-laptops with full computational chops and all-day battery life, and that may finally relight the fire under PC sales.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://goo.gl/RNs5N
Seagate Rolls Out Laptop And Desktop Solid State Hybrid Drives
Seagate Laptop and Laptop Thin SSHDs fuse the speed of SSDs with the high capacity of a conventional hard drive. With Seagate Adaptive Memory technology, SSHD dramatically improves boot times and application speeds, unleashing your system's performance.
The drives are offered in 500GB, 7mm design for the latest thinnest laptops, and up to 1TB, 9.5mm design for maximum capacity laptops that are up to 5x faster booting than a traditional 5400-RPM HDD.
Seagate Laptop SSHDs integrate NAND flash with traditional hard drive storage to create a laptop drive with the speed of solid state and the capacity of a hard drive, fusing the strength of SSD and HDD into one affordable and powerful device. You don't have to compromise capacity over performance. With an SSHD, you can have both.
SSHDs are also an ideal solution to upgrading an aging system with renewed performance and capacity, and are now available for your desktop computer, integrating the speed and kick of an integrated solid state drive (SSD) with the massive capacity of a desktop hard drive.
The Seagate Desktop SSHD is available in 1TB and 2TB capacities, giving you plenty of space for all of your digital content, and the combined reliability of both in a solid state hybrid drive product. A typical HDD depends on moving parts and spinning media. An SSD has no moving parts, however it's limited by how many times data can be written to it. So, separately, each technology can have a downside. Together, they complement each other nicely. An SSHD reads primarily from SSD memory, placing less wear and tear on the HDD. Writing is achieved primarily on the HDD, helping to reduce the write-cycle wear issue.
SSHDs utilize Seagate's flash management technology to deliver SSD-like performance. Testing consistently shows that Seagate Laptop SSHDs compare favorably to SSDs without sacrificing capacity. SSHD provides a great way to breathe new life into an older desktop computer. There are no special drivers or software to install and configure. It installs and works just like a hard drive.
Seagate Adaptive Memory technology effectively identifies the most frequently-used data in your computer. This data is stored in the ultra-fast NAND flash memory which results in blazing fast boot times, and a super responsive experience where you wait less and do more. This technology is constantly working and adapting to way you work and access information.
Seagate SSHDs are PC & Mac compatible.
Video:
http://goo.gl/DXEJE
For more information, visit:
http://goo.gl/HAnQK (Laptop)
and
http://goo.gl/IdbwT (Desktop)
Apple Store Debuts in Top Spot In NCSI-UK National Customer Satisfaction Index for Retail
The UK's national customer satisfaction benchmark is 75.4 on a scale of 0-100, according to a new report released by the National Customer Satisfaction Index (NCSI-UK) and the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The report details customer satisfaction results for supermarkets, department stores, electrical retailers, and internet retail.
The 0.1% rise customer satisfaction for the final quarter of 2012 is the weakest growth of the year, and is only the result of lower gasoline prices - which have since reversed course. No other retail categories show improved customer satisfaction, though some individual companies make gains.
"The new NCSI results paint a bleak picture for the short-term economic outlook," says Claes Fornell, ACSI founder and author of "The Satisfied Customer: Winners and Losers in the Battle for Buyer Preference." "There is no mystery about what's needed for the economy to take off: Higher levels of customer satisfaction and more discretionary income for British households. That's what would spur demand and foster economic growth. Unfortunately, neither is even on the horizon. Consumers dont have more money to spend and even if they did, their motivation for doing so is not getting stronger."
One of the few brighter spots in the report is that with customer satisfaction with electrical retailers stagnant at 76, Apple Stores made a strong debut in the NCSI, leading the category with a score of 83 and matching John Lewis for the highest customer satisfaction of any brick-and-mortar retailer tracked by NCSI.
Customer satisfaction with supermarkets has stalled for the past three years at an NCSI benchmark of 75 - the lowest of the retail categories. Waitrose continues to lead at 83 (-1%). Following Waitrose are Wm Morrison (78) and Asda (77). Asda shows the largest decline in customer satisfaction and is currently at its lowest benchmark in four years. Sainsburys is unchanged at 75.
The Co-operative Food shows the most improvement, advancing from 68 to 73, and overtaking Tesco. Despite a 1% gain to 71, Tesco replaces The Co-operative for the lowest customer satisfaction score in retail.
The customer satisfaction benchmark for department stores is unchanged at 78, the highest of all traditional retail categories. John Lewis again earns the top position at 83. Marks & Spencer the only department store to show declining customer satisfaction slips below the industry average to tie House of Fraser at 77.
Well behind Apple, Argos is steady at 78, and maintains a higher level of customer satisfaction than most other electronics stores. With the recent demise of rival Comet, Currys is now alone in last place, scoring 75 for a third consecutive year.
Customer satisfaction with online retail is stable with an NCSI score of 83, well above traditional retailers. It is worth noting, however, that the best-in-class among traditional retailers John Lewis, Waitrose, and Apple Stores all match the average customer satisfaction benchmark for internet retail.
Among pure-play online retailers, Amazon.co.uk continues to lead at 87, the highest customer satisfaction benchmark for any company in the NCSI. Play.com ties Amazon at 87, perhaps for the last time. Following the UK governments closure of a VAT loophole, Play.com recently announced plans to close its retail business, though may remain as an online marketplace.
Ebay is stable at 81, just below the average of all other e-commerce sites, including websites of traditional retailers (82). Apples iTunes dips 2% to 80, after three years of steady improvements.
Following a large drop in customer satisfaction last year, Ticketmaster remains at the bottom of the category, unchanged at 75.
Full results and benchmark scores from the National Customer Satisfaction Index available at:
http://www.ncsiuk.com/
Tags: News ď Tech-Industry ď
