Consumer Reports: techple still tops in computer tech support (tech)
I have the greatest respect for the men and women behind Apple’s tech support. Despite having one of the toughest jobs in the industry, they’ve always been extremely efficient and courteous in solving my own problems. It seems Consumer Reports subscribers feel the same way. In a survey with four categories—problem solved, phone waits, phone staff and online support—3,685 subscribers ranked Apple number one in laptop tech support and 3,711 ranked Apple number one in desktop tech support. The combined scores are ranked out of 100, with differences of 7 points not considered meaningful. Apple was the only company to earn the highest Consumer Reports individual rating (that coveted red circle with the little dot in the middle) for any category—and it earned them for all four categories for both desktops and laptops! For laptop tech support, Apple scored 86 out of a possible 100, putting them above “very satisfied” (80) on average. In second was Lenovo for laptops at 63, followed by Toshiba at 60, Dell at 56, HP/Compaq at 53 and Acer/ Gateway /eMachines dead last at 39. For desktop tech support, the numbers were roughly the same, sometimes one point higher. Apple scored 87 out of 100, Dell was second at 55, HP/Compaq at 53 and Acer/Gateway/eMachines at 39. Apple’s numbers are slightly up from last year, but still within the Consumer Reports margin of error . For 2009, Apple scored 81 for desktops and 84 for laptops. Everybody else scored roughly the same within Consumer Reports’ margin of error, except for Gateway , which dropped precipitously after merging with Acer and eMachines. More detailed results for laptop tech support and desktop tech support are available to Consumer Reports subscribers only.
Former FCC Chair Says More Fiber Will Help Wireless Crunch (tech)
Laying more fiber is one way to make more efficient use of wireless spectrum, former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said on Wednesday. Speaking at a Mobile Monday event in Seattle, he was repeating an idea presented by researcher David Clark from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at an FCC panel last year. “A significant amount of mobile broadband activity actually occurs indoors,” Martin said. “That should be gotten off-net quicker.” For instance, he said he might sit on the couch in his house and look something up online using his cell phone, which doesn’t have Wi-Fi. Rather than use that valuable cellular spectrum, he could instead free up that bandwidth for mobile customers by using his Wi-Fi network, either from a capable phone or his laptop. Wi-Fi uses unlicensed spectrum and bridges a short gap between a wired connection in the wall and a user. He implied that regulations could help encourage the use of Wi-Fi and wireline networks when possible. “We should make sure we’re thinking about ways, that we have policies that try to make sure we utilize spectrum in the most effective way possible,” he said. “And that includes getting things off-net.” He also discussed other ways to make more efficient use of spectrum and praised some of the ideas that the current FCC has said will be in its forthcoming National Broadband Plan, to be unveiled on March 17. Technological advancements can help make more efficient use of spectrum, he said. That’s happened in the past. For instance, some spectrum that has been allocated for unlicensed use such as Wi-Fi wasn’t initially thought to be useable for such services, he said. “The benefits of technology will let us use more,” he said. Martin’s excited that the FCC said it plans to open up 500MHz worth of spectrum in the coming years. Currently, operators are using a total of 450MHz, so the plan will more than double the current uses, he noted. Martin said he didn’t have any details of the FCC’s plan to potentially use wireless to deliver free broadband. On Tuesday, the FCC said that the broadband plan would include an effort to consider using wireless broadband to deliver free or very low-cost broadband to underserved people, although it did not explain how. He expects that the FCC will use several methods to do that. The government could provide direct subsidies to consumers through vouchers, similar to the food stamp program , he said. The current low-income fund is a similar idea but for voice services. It can also require carriers to provide services to people, similar to the universal service program , he said. In addition, the FCC could require spectrum winners to deliver some level of free service to people. “In the end, we’ll probably see a mix of all these,” Martin said.
Arm Sees Over 50 New IPad-like Devices out This Year (tech)
The launch of Apple’s iPad will pave the way for a slew of rival products this year, an Arm executive said Wednesday, predicting over 50 tablet PC devices will be launched globally. The coming swarm of tablets has even prompted Arm, Intel’s main rival in the mobile microprocessor business, to rent more space at the Computex electronics trade show in Taipei this year to show off the devices, in addition to e-readers, mini-laptops and other devices that use Arm processing cores. “The first tablet devices will launch in the second quarter by [mobile network] carriers,” said Roy Chen, Arm’s worldwide mobile computing ODM manager, during a press meeting in Taipei. “You’ll see a lot more in the third quarter,” he added. He said many tablet-like devices will be launched in China, but companies everywhere plan to launch tablets this year, including the top 10 telecommunications network operators . He declined to name specific companies. Like many chip makers, Arm often gains an inside view of products its chips are being used in, sometimes when asked for additional engineering support and other times due to partnership programs. The company showed off two tablet devices at the Taipei news conference, both running Google’s Android mobile OS. One of the devices was from Compal Electronics , a Taiwanese electronics maker and the second largest contract laptop manufacturer in the world. The device carried a 7-inch screen and used Nvidia Tegra 2 chips inside, which include Arm cores. Compal is offering two versions of the device, one with Android and another with Microsoft Windows CE, and two choices of screen sizes, 7-inch and 10.1-inch. The device includes an HDMI (high definition multimedia interface) slot so it can be connected to a high-def TV. The other tablet was simply named the Armadillo and had a smaller screen than the Compal device. It used Arm cores in chips from Freescale Semiconductor , as well as the Android OS , but was on display to show off a quick boot-up system from Japanese software maker, Ubiquitous. The software, called QuckBoot, had the device up and running instantly.
Chinese group files complaint over "faulty" HP ltechtops (tech)
SHANGHAI () – More than 100 Chinese consumers have filed an official complaint against Hewlett-Packard Co over faulty laptop computers, leaving the door open for a lawsuit against the U.S. technology company, a lawyer for the group said on Wednesday. Jiang Suhua, a lawyer at Yingke Law Firm in Beijing , told the complaint centered on video cards which overheated and caused the laptop to malfunction. He said that around 170 Chinese sent the complaint on Friday to the country’s quality control watchdog agency, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. Jiang said the problems dated back as far as 2007 in some cases. was not immediately able to contact HP officials in Singapore or the United States. Jiang said the group wanted the government to investigate and order HP to recall all faulty laptops in China . “Yes, we can bring it to court, but right now it has not reached that stage,” he said. HP generates more than three-fifths of its revenue outside its U.S. home base. Last month, it said sales from fast-growing emerging countries Brazil , Russia , India and China leapt 41 percent from a year ago. (Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Anshuman Daga)
China tries microblogging top political event (tech)
BEIJING – So this is how you get through China ’s biggest political event of the year: “Sit still, stare toward the front, pretend like you’re looking but you’re really not, pretend like you’re listening but you’re really not … make your brain blank.” As delegates to the National People’s Congress dip into the world of Twitter-like microblogging, the Chinese public is getting a rare glimpse inside the workings, and nonworkings, of power. For the first time, some of the almost 3,000 delegates are posting brief online messages from behind the scenes as they shuttle between vast, largely immobile meetings and their hotels, sealed off from the public with police tape. China’s political workings are so controlled and opaque that some Chinese don’t know who their delegates are. But some representatives are now being scrutinized, sucked into chats with netizens and even breaking news on the social network , where anyone can post notes of up to 140 characters and choose which people to “follow,” or get updates from. “Beauty Fashion” magazine publisher Zhang Xiaomei is a member of the NPC’s sister advisory congress, also now meeting in Beijing . People digging into her microblog posts before the session started discovered her advice, above, on surviving meetings. “When people in the meeting talk on and on, you can take the chance to make your mind and body more healthy,” she wrote. “The longer the meeting is, the more you benefit.” But Zhang also posted a tidbit that Chinese state media picked up and shot through the online world. “When delegates show up, they get a laptop computer. What’s different this year is that they don’t have to be returned when we’re done,” she wrote. The offhand comment quickly turned into an investigation. Media and netizens estimated that free laptops for Zhang and her more than 2,000 colleagues would cost Chinese taxpayers about 10 million yuan (almost $1.5 million). Angry editorials and blog posts about the need for clean government soon followed. The microblogging experiment is the latest hesitant step for China, where the central government wants to stay on top of new technology but guide the message as well. Twitter is blocked in China, and two popular China-based clones this month said they had shut down for good. The delegates are using a service by Internet portal operator Sina Corp ., with the apparent blessing of the government. “Microblogs meet the practicable needs of the masses and are in tune with the times of opposing cliches and nonsense,” the Web site of the ruling Communist Party intoned last week. Now the delegates just need to learn how to use them. Ye Qing, the deputy director of the statistics bureau in the central province of Hubei, has seemed a bit rattled. When he mentioned his delegation would take photos with central government leaders , more than 50 responses blasted him, saying he was being paid to do more than that. “These criticisms are reasonable,” Ye replied. Other comments pointed out he had more than 24,000 followers but was following just two people. “I only know what ‘following’ is after seeing these comments,” Ye said. “I’m inexperienced. Sorry!” Some have used the tool to push, 140 characters at a time, for reform. Wang Dewei, a professor and a delegate from the eastern province of Shandong , microblogged about his proposal that government officials disclose their personal assets. More than 50 other delegates signed the proposal, he said — a grouping almost certain to draw attention in China, where officials suspect anything that might be seen as a collective challenge. Some of the signees were scared, saying, “If I speak too much for ordinary people, they might not make me a delegate again,” Wang wrote. The microblogging experiment might raise unrealistic expectations that delegates will become permanently more accessible, said Yiyi Lu, a Chinese politics expert and research fellow at the University of Nottingham . “Once you start, you naturally have the demand that it be a regular thing,” said Lu, who herself comes from Beijing but can’t name a single delegate. “This raises expectations. And people who aren’t doing it, others will ask, ‘Well, why aren’t you?’” ___ Associated Press researchers Xi Yue and Yu Bing contributed to this report.
Chinese Companies Plan Tablet PCs Amid techple IPad Hype (tech)
Several Chinese companies have jumped on the tablet PC bandwagon as buyers await the sale of Apple’s iPad , possibly presaging wide imitation of the Apple device in China . Apple hasn’t said if it will sell the iPad in China, but some local companies there have already started selling or planning rival tablet computers with Windows 7 , the first version of the Microsoft OS to offer a core multitouch control option suited for such devices. Other Chinese vendors are taking orders for the iPad, planning to buy the device outside of China and informally take it back into the country before reselling it. The iPhone was similarly sold on the gray market in China long before its official release there late last year, and at least 1 million iPhones being used in China were not bought from official distributor China Unicom , according to analyst estimates. One local company working on its own tablet is Teso, a device maker based in Shenzhen , the southern city known as the home of Chinese knock-off and imitation electronics, locally called “bandit” devices. The company plans to start shipping a 10.1-inch tablet with a multitouch touchscreen and an Intel Atom processor this month, a company employee surnamed Wu said via instant message, where his status message billed the product as an “imitation iPad tablet.” The Teso device will cost around US$280 outside of China and about $330 inside the country, Wu said by phone. The tablet will weigh less than 0.9 kilograms (2 pounds) and allow users to surf the Internet with a 3G mobile connection. Hanvon Technology, a Chinese maker of e-readers and other devices, plans to start shipping two tablet computers next month. Both will have 10-inch screens, Windows 7 and a price between 4,999 yuan and 5,999 yuan (US$730 to $877), a company marketing employee said. Their CPUs will come from Intel’s Atom and Celeron lines. Another Chinese company, Shenzhen Great Loong Brother Industrial, already sells a tablet computer that looks similar to the iPad . The company has said it wouldn’t rule out suing Apple over the similar design, even though, as the blog iPadInsider has noted, the company once described its product as an imitation Apple device on a part of its Web site that has since become inaccessible. Lenovo is China’s top PC maker and a global brand, but it also stepped into the tablet arena early this year by announcing its IdeaPad U1 , a laptop with a touchscreen that can be detached and used as a tablet computer. Many Chinese device makers appear to be waiting to see how the iPad actually sells, but if it performs well then a wave of imitation is certain, said Kevin Wang, an analyst at iSuppli. “Bandit” mobile phones and netbooks, widely sold at electronics bazaars in China, have appeared both as blatant counterfeits of well-known products like the iPhone and merely as generic-looking devices from unknown brands. But their defining trait has been a low price, often at the cost of quality . The likely problem for imitation tablet PCs in China will be a lack of wide-ranging applications like the pool available for Apple’s iPad, Wang said.
Intel Sees 2012 Deployment for Mobile WiMax Release 2 (tech)
Chip giant Intel, a major backer of the movement to provide mobile WiMax wireless broadband to Internet users around the world, expects the next major release of the technology to be deployed starting in 2012, an executive said Tuesday. “Standards work will be completed by the end of this year,” said Rama Shukla, a vice president and director of the WiMax program office at Intel, during a news conference in Taipei . The new Mobile WiMax standard, 802.16m, will replace 802.16e and offer far faster download and upload speeds. The new technology will provide users 170M bps (bits per second) download speed and 90M bps upload speeds, according to Intel data, and will be fully backward compatible with 802.16e. Users will be able to use the service even while traveling at speeds up to 350 kilometers per hour, he said. Current WiMax network operators are offering service packages for 16Mbps download and 4Mbps upload on networks using 802.16e technology. Shukla said that this year, estimates for the number of global WiMax subscribers range from around 6 million to 10 million, led by users in the U.S., Russia and Japan. Most of those users are turning to mobile WiMax for laptop computer use. “We see very strong momentum [for WiMax] in notebook PCs today,” he said. The earlier 802.16d version of WiMax is not called mobile WiMax because it was made for devices in fixed locations, not devices on the move such as smartphones in hand or laptops inside a moving train. WiMax is competing with mobile phone-based wireless standards such as HSPA ( High Speed Packet Access) and LTE (long term evolution) for wireless data services. WiMax is currently at a disadvantage because networks are just now being rolled out in many places and do not yet cover a significant part of the globe, unlike mobile phone networks , which cover much of the world’s population. In Taiwan , for example, WiMax wireless service provider Vmax Telecom covers Taipei , but its network does not extend outside the capital city. Meantime, Chunghwa Telecom , the island’s largest mobile phone service provider , offers HSPA throughout Taiwan. WiMax promises download and upload speeds significantly faster than those on a mobile phone network in the future, but the mobile phone industry is also hard at work boosting performance to maintain its edge.
Stanford survey contemplates iPhone addiction (tech)
Remember what life was like before the iPhone? Back when we had to print out maps for trips, do simple calculations in our heads, drive around to find a good restaurant, and watch YouTube videos on a device no smaller than a laptop? Dark times, indeed. You might even say that some of us have grown dependent on these handheld devices—perhaps even addicted. You wouldn’t be alone: a Stanford University survey administered to 200 college students claims just that. On a scale of one to five, where five is full blown addiction and one is not addicted at all, 10 percent of the respondents ranked themselves as a five, 34 percent a four, and only 6 percent were a one. That’s okay, but 32 percent of the people who said they weren’t completely addicted said that they worry they may someday walk among the iPhone addicted. Join us. Among those surveyed, I can sympathize with the 85 percent who use the phone as their watch, and even the 89 percent who use it as an alarm clock . Those jungle chimes, that happy guitar riff? Much more peaceful than the BRRT BRRT BRRT of any alarm clock I’ve owned. As for the 75 percent who fell asleep with the phone and the 69 percent who were more likely to leave their wallet behind? I’ve done both, just the other day. And the 15 percent who claimed the iPhone was turning them into media addicts? Well, it’s easier than ever to play music, games and movies, so why not? But then you get to the part where students talk about how the iPhone is like an extension of their bodies, and it starts getting a little looney. A startling 41 percent said that losing their mass-produced iPhone would be tragic, while 30 percent hailed the device as a “doorway into the world.” And 25 percent thought the phone was “dangerously alluring,” which is perhaps why 7 percent had a roommate or a partner that felt abandoned by the device’s constant use. Then you get to the affection that a curious minority feels for their iPhones : 9 percent have patted the iPhone; 3 percent claim that they don’t let anybody touch their iPhone; 3 percent have named their iPhone; 8 percent even thought their iPod was jealous of their iPhone. Truly, the pet rock has some real competition these days. Professor Tanya Luhrmann doesn’t think that it’s an unhealthy addiction; the article points out that it’s still left to question whether or not addiction to personal electronics even qualifies as a mental disorder . Rather, it’s just that these students really like their iPhones. With 70 percent claiming that the iPhone has made them more organized, 54 percent claiming that it made them more productive, and 74 percent claiming that it made them feel cool, it seems as though it might be a net positive effect. I agree with that. Having a tiny, easy-to-use computer in my pocket keeps me from feeling like I might need to stay indoors, tethered to my computer—and as far as addictions go, that’s not such a bad thing.
techple’s iPad Won’t Tether with iPhone, Report Says (tech)
We’re down to the final weeks before the debut of Apple’s famed iPad . Even with the sale date set , though, plenty of pressing questions remain about the highly hyped device. Today, one of those questions appears to be answered. Apple’s iPad and Tethering Apple’s iPad, as we learned back in January , will be sold in two editions: a Wi-Fi-only edition, set to become available on April 3, and a 3G-enabled edition, set to go on sale later in the month with contract-free data plans from AT&T . What had been unknown up until now was whether Apple’s Wi-Fi-based iPad would have the capability to tether to an iPhone, thereby letting you harness the data connection from your mobile plan to surf the Web that way as well. The apparent answer, in a single syllable: no. The iPad E-Mails According to Apple blog AppleInsider , the disclosure came straight from the head honcho’s billion-dollar mouth. A Swedish user named Jezper Söderlund says he sent an e-mail directly to Steve Jobs asking about the availability of tethering between the iPad and the iPhone — and, he reports, Jobs wrote back. Now, before you get too skeptical, remember that Mr. Apple has allegedly answered user-sent e-mails before — several times, in fact. And, as seems to be Steve-O ’s modus operandi, this message was written with as few words as humanly possible . Here’s what Söderlund’s e-mail reportedly said: “I’ll keep it short. I’m Jezper from Sweden , a long time Apple fan, currently about to replace the very last computer at home with a brand spanking new iMac i7. I’m also awaiting the release of the iPad. However, I have one question: Will the Wi-Fi-only version somehow support tethering thru my iPhone? Two devices, based on the same OS, with already built-in technology to share one data plan suggests a secondary contract could possibly be redundant. From the look of your keynote, where the iPad sits well between my MacBook Pro and my iPhone, I was hoping the three of them could interact as seamless as possible. All the best, Jezper Söderlund” And Jobs’ response, as indicated by Söderlund: “No. Sent from my iPhone” Apple and Tethering Tethering has long been an area of contention among even the most ardent Apple fanboys . After axing a third-party tethering app from the App Store in 2008, Apple and AT&T have remained decidedly vague about when the functionality could return to the much-adored phone. If true, then, the lack of tethering support on the iPad shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise. And while Jobs didn’t go into great detail about the iPad’s other potential tethering possibilities — whether the 3G-equipped model would be able to tether its data connection to a laptop or desktop, for example — most of those scenarios seem like long shots coming from the dynamic duo of Apple and AT&T. All in all, I think it’s fairly safe to say there won’t be an app for that. JR Raphael frequently covers mobile technology for both PCWorld and eSarcasm , his geek-humor getaway. He’s on Facebook : facebook.com/The.JR.Raphael
iPad for Movies? Call My Chiropractor (tech)
Apple is pitching its new iPad tablet as a multi-use consumer device, a superior alternative to clunky netbooks and laptops. Admittedly, the device does have its virtues, particularly for Web-surfing couch potatoes who’d rather not balance a clamshell-style portable PC on their laps. But there’s one area where the iPad won’t succeed: movies. In Apple’s iPad promo video , Phil Schiller, the company’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, calls the tablet “the best . . . movie-watching experience.” Not a chance. In fact, from an ergonomic perspective, the iPad is a lousy movie-watching device. In the iPad video, we see a person lounging in a comfy chair, iPad nestled on his/her crotch, watching Star Trek . Now, this particular position may be fine for, say, a five-minute YouTube clip or maybe even a 22-minute sitcom, but not for a two-hour feature film . You’d have to cradle, grasp, or find some other way to prop up the iPad for a lengthy period. In this scenario, you’ve become the iPad’s stand, and that’s no fun. Sure, you could always sit up, change positions, switch hands, and so on. Or you could buy the optional iPad stand and place the device on a coffee table. But if that’s your solution, why not simply watch movies on a laptop instead? After all, a $500 Windows notebook typically comes with a 15-inch display, which is much larger than the iPad’s 9.7-inch screen. (For you Apple devotees, the MacBook , with a 13-inch display, starts at $1000.) Of course, the iPad isn’t a laptop, nor is it intended to be. It may do some things better than a laptop — although we won’t know exactly what until it ships — but movie-watching isn’t one of them. Like to watch movies on airplanes? A small laptop is the better choice. It rests comfortably on the meal tray and doesn’t require any holding or cradling. With the iPad, however, you’ll need to hold the tablet one hand while munching on salted pretzels with the other. Or you could do that crotch-positioning trick, like in the Apple video. Either way, I’d rather watch movies on my laptop — provided there isn’t an HDTV nearby. Contact Jeff Bertolucci via Twitter (@jbertolucci ) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com .
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