Posts by tmh66

Amazon: We cut prices to scare ourselves into innovation

It works for me

I have been using Amazon from its first few years and I have an embarrassingly long order history to prove it.

I will keep with Amazon as long as I feel they are giving me good value and customer service.

Loyalty pays both to the seller and the customer

Samsung's lovely illegal tablet: Why no one wants to know

its not just the hardware

the ipad works because the package is more than the hardware. it is the whole itunes/appstore/ipad experience with all its faults and fantastic features. it did not appear overnight and competitors had better hunker down for the long haul if they want to catch up.

i use my ipad as a media player and web browser/email station. i keep thousands of pdfs from work, my complete collection of scientific papers as scalable full colour pdfs, full colour text books as pdfs and if i need more i go online and download them directly into goodreader.

i have iwork apps for content creation and editing protocols.

i want my device to be on instantly and work all day. It is not a toy and i dont see the point of playing tunes on it, i have an ipod for that. i also dont want to have to use a rubbish app store that might be gone in two years where no one bothers to update their software because they cannot make any money on it.

i am not going to champion the apple app store as it is a nightmare to use but it is the only one that you can garantee will still be operating in 2013, that is the reality.

there are many excellent apps and more to come i am sure but the app store ecosystem is as important as the hardware for tablets and without an equivelent all the competitors are dead in the water

Intel CEO: 'Ultrabooks' will be 'holistic' success

Try holding on to it

That looks very nice and is an engineering masterpiece but the ergonomics are horrible.

Lighter, thinner, more powerful seems to be the goal these days but we already have palmtops, netbooks and tablets that are too thin to hold effectively while being used.

I have an ipad which is good for viewing but poor to hold due to weight and lack of thought given to where you hold it.

Lighter and more powerful by all means but please think about how can hold onto it. Digital cameras have done well in finding ways to improve grip and handling without adding bulk why can't ultrabook designers.

Megaquake cuts Japan phone lines

does anyone remember the last big earthquake in northern japan

didnt it shut down an epoxy factory which supplied a significant amount of substrate packaging for the chip industry. it caused a spike in RAM prices for some time. Is it a good time to buy RAM and CPU upgrades before pricing increases?.

Not axactly an important consideration for the poor Japanese trying to rebuild their country.