Post #16

I decided to read another article from engadget.com that discusses the different devices that can stream HD video content to your TV. Devices that you may have heard of that can do this is the Roku Netfix Box, Tivo, Xbox 360, and some Blu-Ray players. This is becoming an increasing trend, to build this capability into devices, to entice customers to buy their product, because they may already have a Netflix account. The large drawback of buying a device like the Roku box, is that the amount of content that can be streamed to the box is extremely sparse with there only being a handful of good movies that you can watch, and a plethora of garbage movies that you've never heard of. If services like Netflix would be able to expand their entire library to be able to be streamed to a box, it would probably eliminate the entire need to send people discs in the mail. That may be the future of content rental. Especially after seeing TVs with Netflix built in at CES, this could definitely be the difference of someone buying one TV or the other if they are of comparable price.

Post #15

I decided again to read an article from the website engadget. I decided to read about how Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, is going to take a leave of absence for health problems. As you probably know, or don't, he was not at Apple's last Macworld last week, under speculation of health issues. He has been in and out of being sick for a while now, and especially when he had cancer a few years ago. It will be interesting to see the repercussions of this sickness, because last time something like this happened, Apple's stock dropped a ridiculous amount, and there were tons of rumors about Steve's health that followed. That is exactly what Apple does not want ensuing, especially after Palm's huge announcement at CES. I will be interested to see how this effects Apple and any products they were considering launching in the near future, because any Apple fanboy knows that there is nothing the same as an Apple keynote with Steve Jobs.

Post #15

Post #14

I have continued to read from the site engadget, this time about the newly announced phone from palm. The new phone is called the Palm Pre, and is definitely designed to be a huge competitor of the iPhone. This phone has a 3.1" multitouch display, which means it will be able to support features such as pinch zoom. The bottom the phone though, also is touch sensitive, and is going to be used for gestures. The phone also has many standards that a phone of this caliber have, such as wi-fi, 8GB of memory, and a 3MP camera with a flash. Another interesting feature of this phone, is that of the wireless charger, that will be standard with the phone. After Palm not making any real break into the market for the past couple years, it will be interesting to see if this phone will be able to turn things around for them, after years in the shadows of others. Before this years CES, it was said that this was Palm's last chance to save themselves from assured destruction, by coming out with a breakthrough device. Hopefully this is that device, and the one that will keep them afloat, otherwise we may be seeing a buy out of them from someone like Motorola, LG, or Nokia.

Post #13

I am extremely interested in gadgets, and technology, so with CES (Consumer Electronics Show) this week, I feel like a giddy little school child eager to see all the new toys that will be released this year. One of the things that I have had my eye on for a while is the Sony P Series ultra-portables. It was thought that Sony may have used these as their entrance into the netbook market, but they have turned out to be a set of ultra-portables. There is a huge difference between a netbook and an ultra-portable. A netbook is a laptop that has the parts in it stripped down to the most basic things, so that it can be at a very affordable price point, but can't run really complicated applications or multi-task. An ultra-portable is the most advanced technology that is miniaturized so that it can fit into a very thin and compact laptop body. Ultra-portables are much more expensive and it isn't unusual to spend $2000 on one. Anyway, the P series is an interesting approach to UPs because it is very wide but short, length wise. There is also a very high resolution display on a small screen, which makes for a VERY sharp picture. These new UPs are expected to be at least $1000.

Post #12

I have chosen to do a post about Macworld 09 from an article on engadget. There were many rumors that were talked about before Macworld, some of them were pretty preposterous and some of them would have been really cool, but almost none of them were true. One of the biggest rumors that was basically never going to happen was an iPhone nano. I personally am glad that apple was smart enough to stay away from this, because the last thing that my iPhone 3g needs is a smaller screen, and a bigger challenge typing emails. One of the more disappointing products that didn't show its face at this years Macworld was a refresh of the iMac and Mac mini. Many people had speculated that this was surely going to be true because it has been a while since the last refresh of the iMac, and there has never been one for the Mac mini. The mini has become increasingly obsolete due to its low specs, and at least deserved a bump is CPU power and RAM. In the end Apple only announced the new 17" macbook air, a new version of iLife and iWork, and the new pricing system for iTunes. All I can do is hope that some of the rumored products will show up at WWDC later this year.

Post #11

I decided to read an article on a website called engadget. This website is formatted like a blog, where the writers post new stories they find like a blog post. I like this website because I enjoy reading about new gadgets, and technology. The article I read talked about the newly announced 17 inch macbook pro. This intrigued me, because apple has made it apparent that they are trying to become more environmentally friendly with their products. They have began to use new materials, that are able to be recycled, and many others. One of the complaints that plagues many laptops is the poor battery life. Unfortunately the 17" macbook pro does not have a removable battery that would allow the user to switch to a new one when the first dies, so apple has created a more efficient battery, that not only holds a charge longer, but it also can be charged more times before it has to be replaced. The significance of this is that there will be less batteries used, and therefore less in the landfill. I think that this is a good direction for companies to be heading in, when there is so much attention on global warming, and being friendlier to the environment. Apple is hopefully setting an example for other companies to improve their products to be more eco-friendly.