Xbox Smartglass

I mentioned the newer Xbox Music that was just released or plans on being released in the next couple of years. This new product is similar to the cloud in that you can store movies and tv shows on a cloud and watch them on any of your devices. This is important in that transferring movies over to other devices instead of just having a DVD you could store them all together and select them whenever you want. 

Windows 8 review

Windows 8 has come out with a new and improved software, this new software no longer has the sign-in. Major upgrades to a system that need to improve their products as well as establish themselves as a strong competitor in regards to Apple. This system was very interesting, it reminds me of the system that comes along with Xbox Live which is also provided by Microsoft. All in all this system seems very interesting and it should be interesting to see the public reaction to Microsoft products in relevance to Apple products.

Sandy is year's No. 2 topic on Facebook

Social networking sites have become a popular trend in this day and age. Twitter and Facebook are great sources in getting information out the public about what is going on. Having a beach house down at the Jersey shore, I have been using Facebook to get information regarding how the conditions are down there. Currently they are not letting any residents down there to evaluate the destruction that has resulted from this storm. This new and improved technology, has created the ability to display information to people all around the country as a result of a simple click of a button. Pictures tell a thousand words, so getting to see first hand what is happening rather hearing it from a person who had the opportunity to witness it first hand. 

With this event it was reported that Hurricane Sandy was the second most popular topic on Facebook in the last year, behind the Super Bowl this past year. Being one of the most populated areas in the country and lots of people being affected, this resulted in lots of people sharing their stories about what has happened as well as pictures showing the damage. "At its peak on Monday, Sandy scored an 8.34 on Facebook's "Talk Meter," which measures chatter about a news event on a scale of 1 to 10 when compared with a baseline. So far in 2012, Sandy trails only the Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants, which earned an 8.62 in February." Some of the other events that were talked about the most included: "First presidential debate: 8.18, Vice-presidential debate: 6.79, Academy Awards: 6.74, San Francisco Giants winning the World Series: 6.71, Hurricane Isaac: 5.24, and Announcement of Rep. Paul Ryan as Gov. Mitt Romney's vice-presidential candidate: 5.21." Facebook is just a measuring stick to the overall picture of how many people this storm has truly affected from Massachusetts to North Carolina. 

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/30/tech/social-media/sandy-facebook-chatter/index.html

iPad Mini commercial

This commercial just circles back to the previous post talking about how Apple is now starting to compete with other smaller tablets in the market. The new iPad mini was just released to the market today and is showing to be an innovative product that many within the industry are going to need to deal with for many years to come. This product is clearly smaller than the original iPad because it is in the commercial.  This product meets the needs of all the people that are interested in products that are more efficient. This product is also cheaper than the original iPad pricing itself around $399, the regular is far more than that. I have an iPad and I do not use it for many things, so getting an iPad mini would be very beneficial to me because it is simple and would be something that I could use quickly. All in all the success of this product will without a doubt be very strong, the product is all something we are very interested in as well.

Apple, Facing Competition, Introduces a Smaller iPad

Apple facing competition is a territory that they have not been in a while, so it is interesting to see their reaction to the other players in the market. Apple just recently released an iPad mini which is similar to the other tablets that are currently in the market. People that buy the competing products, buy them because they are smaller than the iPad. One of the negatives of the iPad is that it is actually too big to just carry around normally compared to other tablets. "Apple’s iPad Mini, which it unveiled at a press event here on Tuesday, weighs about two-thirds of a pound and has a screen that measures 7.9 inches diagonally, making its surface area significantly smaller than that of the 9.7-inch iPad. Philip W. Schiller, Apple’s vice president for marketing, said the smaller, lighter tablet would be a good fit for people who want something more portable than the 1.44-pound iPad" If Apple has an idea for a product than in most cases they will knock it out of the park and create a product that is far more advanced than the others in the market. Other companies in the market really want to try to offer something that Apple does not offer, so having a smaller device was something they could use to impress their possible customers over whatever Apple offered. These days people will buy whatever Apple has, I would admit that I am one of those people. Fact is they just produce products that are far and beyond better than the others in the industry.  "The company is selling the lowest price Mini for $330, about $130 more than similar-size tablets from competitors." This is an example of Apple just using their brand recognition to price their product higher than the similar products in the market. Again this is an example of something that only Apple could do because of their brand image. "But with all the action in the tablet market lately, smaller models have become impossible to ignore. Google, Apple’s fiercest competitor, recently released its 7-inch Nexus 7 tablet for $200. Amazon recently introduced seven new Kindles, including a 7-inch tablet for $160 and an 8.9-inch tablet for $300. Barnes & Noble’s Nook tablet, which starts at $200, has also sold well. Combined, the three companies have sold about 15 million of these smaller, cheaper tablets, according to estimates by Forrester Research." These products are not very well-known to people in the market, and they are products that are having a difficult time competing with Apple and their iPad. Apple will always be the main players in the industry, they continue to try to come out with innovative products to grab the attention of their target markets. "Apple still dominates the tablet market; it announced that it had sold 100 million iPads to date. But it might have sold 15 million more if it had put a smaller, cheaper version on the market earlier, said Sarah Rotman Epps, a Forrester analyst." Selling 100 million iPads is amazing to begin with but noticing what their problem is is crucial to the company as a whole. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/technology/apple-facing-competition-introduces-a-smaller-ipad.html?ref=technology&_r=0

Mocking the iPhone 5

Jimmy Kimmel in a recent episode talked about the iPhone 5 and how it was going to take the country by storm. Like I have been mentioning in prior blog posts, the newer iPhone's that come out the more similar it is to the previous one that came out. I think if you lined up all the types of iPhone's in a room and asked a person to say which one is which, they would not be able to do it. Its almost similar to Pepsi and Coke as well as many popular light beers.

The point being made here is that nobody can tell the difference between the iPhone 4s and the iPhone 5. There is so much build up for a product that nobody can identify which is extremely odd. In this video Kimmel takes an iPhone 4s on the streets of Los Angeles and told the people that came up to them that it was the iPhone 5. They all looked at the device saying it was better than the previous one when in fact it was the previous one. Some of the people in this video were saying that its is so much better than the iPhone 4s, that it was lighter and just a million times better than the phone they have. I thought this video was pretty funny in relevance to the American public not knowing what they are buying. The first guy they talked to said that he had the iPhone 4s and he had no idea that the product he had was actually the one they were showing him.

Xbox music video

Just to follow up on one of my previous posts, Microsoft and Xbox are developing another service that goes along with their product. You can already play games as well as access Netflix and other apps that you have interest in. Like I mentioned before, I feel like expanding what their product offers is something that would truly help them in the future. I would not mind using Xbox for music, as well as games and other services it currently provides.

 

This video just sums up the idea to provide Xbox customers with an extra service such as music. I idea to come up with this could provide additional customers and/or products. I think this whole idea is a good one, and one that will significantly help them down the line. 

Verizon sold just 651,000 iPhone 5s last month

Verizon, one of the largest wireless cellphone providers in the country only sold 3.1 million iPhones last quarter, only 651,000 of which were the new iPhone 5. This is a surprising statistic considering the popularity of the iPhone 5. I believe that people believe that since the iPhones are so similar and just have minor changes, than why not buy the cheaper product. It all makes sense in the end; one example would also be the iPad’s. The first iPad was very expensive when it came out, and once the newer and improved products coming out resulted in the price to decrease. The nations largest wireless carrier blamed Apple’s iPhone 5 supply constraints, not weak demand, for surprisingly low number of iPhone 5’s sold in their first week on store shelves.  Wall Street analysts were still expecting an iPhone 5 sales number almost twice as high as the one Verizon reported. As a result of those numbers, Verizon Wireless posted a record profit margin of 50%. “Thanks to its industry-high subsidy of about $400 per iPhone, Apple's smartphone tends to decimate carriers' profit margins, particularly when new iPhones launch. The iPhone can be quite lucrative for carriers in the long run, but the huge rush of subscribers upgrading to the new device tends to have a nasty immediate impact on their bottom lines.”

The fact that Verizon had that little amount of sales is a bit of a surprise as a result of the release of a major product such as the iPhone 5 is amazing to see. With the holiday season coming up, the sales for the iPhone 5 will increase dramatically and help Verizon sell more iPhones. This is a product that will continue to have a large sum of sales within the next year. “Despite the worse-than-expected iPhone 5 numbers, Verizon still managed to activate 6.5 million smartphones over the past three months -- more than any quarter in its history except for the fourth quarter of 2011, when the iPhone 4S first went on sale. Verizon's 1.5 million net new customers under contract was its highest number of customer additions in four years.” So all in all Verizon is on track to start selling more and more iPhones, within the current year. 

 http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/18/technology/mobile/verizon-iphone/index.html

SNL mocks iPhone 5

With the new release of the iPhone 5 there has been many critics of the product and how it has changed since the release of the 4s. The major change in the device is relating to the Maps app. Apple used to use a Maps system created by Google. This new Maps app is developed by Apple and is very different. The ability for Apple to sell a product that is virtually the same in almost every way, it is something not all company's can do but Apple is the rare example of one that is able to do such a thing. Apple is continuing to dominate the market and they will continue to be huge players for many years to come.

This video just talks about the release of the iPhone 5 as well as making fun of it a little.

Microsoft’s Xbox Music service

Microsoft Xbox is one of my valued possessions; people would think that it would just be used for games but these days that is no longer the case. It has been based around being a game system now it is acting similar to a mix of a gaming system as well as a computer. Like I mentioned before I used my Xbox mostly for games in the past now I use it more for things not related to games. One of those things would be watching Netflix through my Xbox as well as watching sports events on ESPN 3. I think the idea of streaming Netflix through your Xbox was a great idea for Xbox as well as Netflix. I will always have an Xbox for the sole purpose of being able to stream movies or TV shows through my gaming device. They also allow you to download apps in your marketplace. I have the ESPN 3 app that allows me to watch college football games that are not on TV as a result of the area I live in. This whole idea of creating a new function for this device was an innovative idea.

At this time Xbox is now coming out with a music service that would address several demands by their customers. I am actually surprised they have not released such a product before this time. Apple is a competitor of Microsoft, and it appears that Microsoft is trying to come out with a product that is similar to Apple’s iTunes. “Microsoft announced Sunday that the all-in-one service will feature streaming online radio (think Pandora), an ad-supported or paid subscription service (say, Spotify) and, yes, music purchasing (a la iTunes). It begins rolling out Tuesday on the Xbox 360 system and will expand to the rest of the Microsoft product universe when its new operating system, Windows 8, is released October 26.” I find this to be something I would be very interested in using mostly because I like to listen to sports radio and other radio stations when I do things. Xbox music will contain 30 million songs, which makes it the world’s largest music library, in comparison iTunes contains 26 million. “Xbox Music will come installed as a feature on Windows 8. Using cloud storage, it will let users transport music from one device to another.” This would also create a larger value for Xbox down the line, it is becoming more and more like a computer as well as a gaming device. In my mind this is where the future will be, having a device that allows you to do everything such as play music, watch TV, movies, games and surf the web (soon enough..).

 

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/15/tech/web/xbox-music/index.html?hpt=te_t1

EBay unveils major redesign and same-day delivery service

The new redesign of EBay, as well as their offerings is a new and improved way to offer a service in this day and age. EBay was a very different company in the aspect of what they offer. Being an online action website they want to position themselves in a certain part of the market. This improved way of technology was new and improved when it first came out and now it is a developing trend among potential buyers. Whenever you are looking for a rare item you can go on EBay and see if it is listed on the website. Whether it is tickets, clothes or cars, EBay has truly opened the door to a different way of buying and selling products. I am a frequent EBay user, every time I consider buying a product I always look on EBay first before going to any other site. Call me a loyal customer but, in most cases, you will find cheaper products there than on the original website. For an example, I was looking to buy a New York Jets jersey online a couple of weeks ago, on the team shop as well as the NFL shop it was around $100. When I looked on EBay the jersey was $75 including shipping. If this is the difference in price for every item than there is no way I am not going to constantly go back and look for another cheap product.

EBay always had a distinct specific logo, one that everyone would realize what it is. Now they have decided to change the design of their website to one that meets the modern age. "Our site's look and feel has been a little inconsistent, chief technology officer Mark Carges acknowledged at the unveiling in New York City on Wednesday. The redesign, he said, was largely inspired by customers' increasing use of mobile devices for retail purchases.” The article talks about keeping valued customers coming back to the website constantly. This is pretty much the main goal of a company that has a bunch of success. It was mentioned that EBay has 105 million active users, which is obviously a pretty large amount. More details about the newest designs were also mentioned in the article talking about the similarity to Facebook. “The biggest change to "the new eBay" is the homepage, now called "Feed" -- evoking Facebook in name and Pinterest in design. Visitors can opt to follow brands, product types, and anything else that eBay sells. Those items will then pop up on the Feed homepage, in addition to product suggestions based on the customer's past browsing or purchase history.” They have also implemented a Google-inspired search: “EBay's search also received a makeover, with an autocomplete feature similar to that of Google and a promise of "more relevant" results.”

All of these redesigns are a result in a possible new target market, focusing on keeping the current customers of EBay but adding minor details to improve their services.

 

http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/10/technology/ebay-redesign/index.html

PC shipments to fall for first time in 11 years – forecast

In this current day and age, PC’s are no longer the main focus of lots of people in the market. Having a PC was something lots of consumers targeted, now PC’s are simply a thing of the past. This is just another example how Macs are controlling the industry and how they are now the leaders of the market. “Shipments of personal computers are on pace to fall this year for the first time since the dot-com bust of 2001, according to a new forecast from IHS iSuppli.” This is a stunning realization of where things have gone for a device such as the PC. The PC market has gone somewhere that it has never been before and it really reflects on the uphill battle these companies have in order the break back into the market.

Intel’s Utrabook was a product that was believed to help the struggling PC market. That did not end up working out so the PC industry remains far behind the market for Macs or tablets. The dramatic fall in sales in 2012 can be contributed to multiple things, mostly the result of other superior products grabbing the attention of possible consumers and resulting in a smaller market. “In the third quarter, PC shipments fell by more than 8%, according to Gartner, after the typical back-to-school PC sales boom went bust. Third-quarter shipments are typically boosted by college students buying laptops, but the past three months' PC shipments were so pitiful, they were even down from the second quarter.” This stats are truly shocking, mostly because PC’s still grab the attention of consumers that are anti-Apple or other technology. “PC shipments were essentially flat in 2011, rising just 0.5% globally, according to Gartner. At the beginning of the year, Gartner said it expected shipments to grow by 4.4% in 2012. Instead, worldwide shipments of PCs fell by 0.1% in the second quarter, according to separate surveys by Gartner and IDC. In the first quarter, they rose by about 2%.” Again these stats really show the issues PC’s are having, if the forecasters continue to view declining sales, than PC’s might have to be pulled from the market completely.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/10/technology/pc-shipments-decline/index.html

Facebook reaches one billion users

Facebook is a popular social networking site that we have all started to use more frequently in the last 10 years. I have a Facebook account, now for 6 years and I have to say it is something that really just takes up lots of your time. This could be a good and bad thing mostly, I view Facebook as something that bores me yet I always find myself constantly on it for no reason. It is annoying to a site that just takes up a majority of your time just to look at what other people have to say as well as pictures they post. I have become a bigger fan of Twitter mostly because I do not have tweet if I do not want to, I can see what people I know have to say about certain things. Twitter is a very important news source these days which I enjoy more than Facebook but that is just my view.

Facebook has just gone public and is now a key player in the American economy. Its funny to think about how a social networking site such as Facebook has so much power, but that is what is the now in this country and in the world. Facebook has had a movie come out relating to the development of the company.  This was a major movie that was very successful as well. Facebook was on a rollercoaster that shot up really quick but is still going up at this point, eventually the ride will have to come down. The fact that Facebook now has hit a major milestone having 1 billion users is truly amazing. “This morning, there are more than one billion people using Facebook actively each month," he said. "Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life” said Mark Zuckerberg Co-founder and CEO. “Topping the 1 billion mark means that Facebook now reaches one out of every 7 people on the planet.” That stat is incredible; it proves how popular Facebook is around the world. Facebook and Apple are the two companies that are really gaining in popularity, and are truly leaders in both of their industries.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/04/technology/facebook-billion-users/index.html

Foxconn workers strike over iPhone 5 demands, labor group says

The iPhone 5 is the best product on the market today, and it is one that results in a large demand around the world. Apple is one of those companies that is so powerful that they can buy their suppliers so they do not result in sales to their competitors. Having the ability to do such a thing would only be something Apple could do as a result of being such a power in several industries. The iPhone 5 is breaking all records when it comes to sales, this puts Apple and its suppliers in bad spots. If there were not expecting this kind of reaction than it will affect the amount of iPhone they could sell to customers.

Foxconn is one of those major suppliers Apple has when it comes to selling their iPhones. The recent news of Foxconn workers going on strike as a result of poor working conditions is just another issue for Apple to overcome. Workers at Foxconn’s plant in China were furious after management put forth strict demands when relating to the production of the new Apple iPhone 5. Apple moving its production overseas is something that is looked down upon, in this country. But the development of a product such as the iPhone 5 requires lots of production and demand that is hard to reach at this time. With the iPhone 5 breaking all sales records prevents  the ability to meet the demand.

This news is devastating to Apple as well as Foxconn, the work stoppage did not as long as expected. “The work stoppage lasted roughly one hour, according to Xinhua's source, who said that the plant has now resumed production. Workers on the scene reported a much longer outage to CLW, saying the shutdown extended from mid-day Friday into the next day.” This is a positive thing but now it is important for Apple to make sure this does not happen again.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/05/technology/mobile/foxconn-iphone-5-strike/index.html

Google strikes deal with publishers over universal library

Like it was mentioned before disruptive technology is something that is really taking the country by storm. The current way of going to libraries are going to change over time. I talked about a video library a couple of weeks ago that shows all the major news broadcasts of the last 5 years. This is going to be a a developing trend in our current day and age. Soon enough all the books we want to access in a library will be digital, which will take away the entire need for having to go to libraries. I was never a person that liked to go to a library or even read for that matter but the desire to take away libraries and put in a new and improved way of accessing the books we want to access.

Google has been feuding with the publishing industry for seven years trying to come to a resolution. “The fight is over Google's creation of a digital library that it hopes will eventually house every book ever published. Google announced the project in late 2004 and began scanning books -- with the cooperation of several major libraries -- but it skipped a step: getting a green light from the authors and publishers whose books were being scanned. Their trade groups filed a pair of lawsuits against Google in 2005.” This has been a coveted plan for Google considering they have been planning this since 2004. This is a perfect example of disruptive technology that will result in no longer needing to use libraries. Google had an issue with the publishers on how this whole process would go, and now they have finally agreed to a settlement. The deal that was agreed upon allows the millions of books already scanned by Google to be used as well as setting a bunch of rules for later on in the future.

This would be truly innovative for Google, this tool would be something that would be frequently used among lots of people in several industries. It is amazing to see the changes in certain everyday things that we always expect. Libraries have always been a common place among lots of public spots. Just thinking about the changes it will go through is just amazing to think about.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/04/technology/google-books-settlement/index.html 

Twice as many mobile news readers prefer browsers to apps

Whether it is an iPad, iPhone or any other smartphone or tablet, the use of these products are replacing our everyday standard products. The usual everyday things such as reading the news has been a target for several apps as well as looking up the news through web browsers on your smartphone or tablet. With the demand to read the news on tablets and smartphones, it has increased the amount of apps released to try to meet the demand. You would figure a person that likes to read the Wall Street Journal would like to log on to their app and look at the headlines. Recently people that use a smartphone or tablet have started to use the web browser to look up the news rather than using these apps that have the sole purpose of giving people the news that have a smartphone or tablet. "Sixty percent of tablet news readers and 61% of smartphone news readers in the survey said they get most of their news through web browsers on those devices. Twenty-three percent of tablet news readers and 28% of smartphone news readers claimed they use apps, while 16% and 11%, respectively, said they use apps and web browsers equally." This is a surprising stat because most of the apps are an innovative tool that more and more people are starting to use.

As a owner of a smartphone, there are several apps that I have that I do not use. One for an example is my USA Today app that I probably opened once or twice in the time that I have had. I am also not a person that really keeps up with the news but I really do not use half of the apps in my phone. I feel like the people who do read the news are not aware of these certain apps. Once the awareness increases than the use of these apps will increase. "The study found that mobile devices aren't so much cannibalizing news consumption as adding to it, particularly when it comes to tablets. Forty-three percent of tablet news readers said tablets add to the amount of time they spend with the news, and about a third said they get news from sources they didn't turn to before." It also has to do with the product, reading on a tablet or smartphone is different and cool to the current generation as well as the older people.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/01/tech/mobile/mobile-news-survey/index.html

Ultrabook sales forecast slashed in half for 2012

PC's, just saying that word makes me miss my Mac. Like the smartphone industry and now the laptop industry Apple is grabbing a firm grip on the market and the others are struggling to make enough profit. PC's were the thing back in 2005, but now in 2012 Mac's are everywhere and they will continue to be on top for a very long time. A great example of the recent success of PC's would be our current CIS600 class, most of the students went to Quinnipiac University for their undergrad program and bought the university recommended laptop. Now 4 years later, if you look around the classroom the people with the PC's are the minority. This is something I am not surprised about, I have had several different PC's until I finally crossed over and got a Mac and I have to say I will never go back. This Mac computer was the greatest transaction I have ever made, and getting the last PC (as a freshman in college) was by far the worst. Fact of the matter is that PC's are no longer a thing of the now but are part of the past.

When it was revealed that Ultrabook sales were going to be cut in half was no surprise to me considering the competitors in the industry. "One year ago, skinny, sleek ultrabooks were being hailed as the great savior of the struggling PC business." If the Ultrabook was looked at as a possible savior to this injured industry than the recent news is something most PC fans really do not want to hear. "The research firm now expects about 10.3 million ultrabooks to ship worldwide in 2012. Earlier this year, its prediction was 22 million." Looking at these stats is something that is really disturbing for many reasons. First is that 11.7 million is a significantly material difference between forecasts, this leads me to believe that something catastrophic occurred that resulted in that large of a change.

The fact that the PC industry was one that was thriving in the early 2000's and even in the late 1990's just shows the strength of a company like Apple and how they are taking over all the major markets. A decline of 11.7 million is a significant change in forecasts which is quiet alarming.

 http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/01/technology/ultrabook-sales-forecast/index.html