Apple tops Consumer Reports survey on PC tech support
If you're looking to keep that computer running smoothly, Apple is the one to turn to, says Consumer Reports. On Monday, the consumer advocacy publication announced that the company from Cupertino had once again topped a reader survey of the best computer tech support, even going so far as to beat its own scores from the previous year.
To the surprise of nobody who's actually paid attention to the PC market in the last several years, Apple beat out competitors Lenovo, Asus, Dell, Toshiba, Hewlett Packard/Compaq, and Acer/Gateway/eMachines by a healthy margin, scoring an 86 out of 100, which the publication describes as "very satisfied." The next closest brand was Lenovo, which scored only a 63, or "fairly well satisfied." Read more...
Sencha CEO: Treat HTML5 apps as a programming platform, not a Web page
Sencha provides tools for buildings Web applications to run on a variety of devices, including tablets, mobile phones, and laptops with touchscreens. Focused on HTML5, Sencha's products include its Sencha Touch mobile application development framework. InfoWorld Editor at Large Paul Krill recently met with Sencha CEO Michael Mullany to discuss the mobile application landscape, sizing up native versus Web development, and emerging platforms, including Tizen and Firefox OS. Read more...
Bellevue College looks to online software to help autistic students collaborate
Bellevue College in Washington has deployed online learning software to help students with autism improve their small-group collaboration skills.
Fifty Bellevue students in an Autism Spectrum Navigators program have been taking advantage of a discussion board feature inside Canvas, a learning management system from start-up Instructure.
The Navigators program, now nearing the end of its second full year, has deployed the Canvas software for the past year, giving Bellevue students and teachers access to assignments, grades and other materials as well as collaboration through text, audio and video from desktops, tablets and even smartphones and tablets.
"We've had Canvas this entire year and we've seen a lot more confidence and interaction with students," Sara Gardner, manager of the Navigator program, said in an interview. "We use a social justice model instead of a medical one [for dealing with autism], so we aren't aren't trying to fix our students and rather are trying to use the technology to put students together to communicate better and...support them with skills." Read more...
U.S. carriers expected to ship BlackBerry Q10 in late May
The BlackBerry Q10 with its physical keyboard is expected to be available from major U.S. carriers in late May at a suggested price of $249 with a contract, a BlackBerry spokeswoman said late Tuesday.
Pricing for the BlackBerry Z10, already released, is $200 on AT&T and some other U.S. carriers with a two-year contract, or $550 without contract. Some carriers have discounted the contract price.
None of the major U.S. carriers have announced pricing or exact availability for the Q10, which features a 35-key qwerty keyboard and a 3.1-in. touchscreen. Read more...
Microsoft hoists ZTE onto the Android patent bandwagon
China's ZTE has become the latest firm to sign a licensing deal with Microsoft for its Android and Chrome patent portfolio.
The firm, which is one of the world's biggest smartphone makers, has agreed to stump up royalties to MS for Android and Chrome stuff just a week after Hon Hai's Foxconn signed a similar deal.
"The ZTE and Foxconn agreements show once more that technology companies around the world, including some of the world’s largest and fastest growing manufacturers anchored in China, recognize licensing is an effective way to share technology and build on each other’s work," Horacio Gutierrez, deputy general counsel at Microsoft, said in a blog post. Read more...
Developers find multiple changes in BlackBerry 10.1
The next update to BlackBerry’s latest operating system is expected to deliver a number of new features and changes. BlackBerry 10.1 made its way to developers this week ahead of a public launch with no fewer than 14 new features in tow according to fan site Crackberry.
The publication came up with the following list of changes in the update based on user feedback from their forum: Read more...
On eve of departure, Otellini looks back on four decades with Intel
Just a month away from retirement, Intel CEO Paul Otellini has reflected on his four decades with the company during his last quarterly earnings call with analysts and reporters.
Otellini is not going out on a high note, with Intel reporting a sharp drop in profits Tuesday thanks mainly to the slumping PC market. But despite finding little success in the smartphone and tablet markets, Otellini said Intel creates opportunities for itself by staying ahead of the fast-moving tech industry, and that this will drive the company forward in the future.
"Even as I prepare to pass the baton to a new generation, I know Intel's story is not completely written," Otellini said.
Intel's future is not entirely clear, but the company is putting more focus on mobile products and manufacturing technology, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64. Read more...
Intel profit dives 25 percent amid PC market slump
Intel reported a drop in profits and revenue for the first quarter, as the biggest PC market slump in recent memory weighed on its business. Intel reported a profit of $2.05 billion for the quarter ended March 30, down 25 percent from a year earlier. Revenue was $12.6 billion, Intel said, a drop of 2.5 percent.
About two-thirds of Intel's revenue comes from its PC client group, which makes chips for laptops and desktops. Revenue from that division was down 6 percent year on year, to $8.0 billion.
Intel's Data Center Group, which sells server chips and other enterprise hardware, fared better. Quarterly revenue from that division was up 7.5 percent year-over-year, to $2.6 billion. Read more...
As PCs decline, it’s Apple that’s making real money from PCs
Apple doesn't even make the list of top five sellers of PCs in the world (though it is No. 5 in the United States), but some number crunching by Asymco's Horace Dediu shows a surprising fact: Apple earns 45 percent of the operating profits in the PC industry. The top five sellers -- Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, and Acer -- together make only 33 percent of operating profit. (Operating profit is the cash the companies keep after all expenses, including day-to-day operational costs, are paid for.) Read more...
Intel sets up joint lab with China’s Baidu for mobile apps
Intel is hoping to get more Chinese developers to back its products by forming a new joint innovation lab with the nation's largest search engine, Baidu.
The lab is part of an agreement the two companies signed on Thursday that will focus on developing software for China's mobile Internet market. Developers in the country will have access to Intel-powered products, including PCs, tablets, and mobile devices, to test and port software for Baidu and Intel platforms.
"If you are a developer, you will now have more choices of platform and more opportunities in business," said Christos Georgiopoulos, Intel general manager for developer relations. Read more...
How Lenovo kept PC sales strong while everyone else tanked
By now you've read the IDC report saying that worldwide PC shipments dipped 13.9 percent, year-on-year, in the first quarter of 2013. You may have also read Gartner's report saying that worldwide PC shipments dropped 11.2 percent in the first quarter. Both companies wail about how PC shipments have fallen off a cliff, in spite of their earlier predictions -- IDC had previously foretold a decline of 7.7 percent in the first quarter, and Gartner had cited a 7.6 percent decline for the year. I figure it's just another "oops, forget what we said last time" moment. Neither company has officially updated its crystal (or brass) balls, but I'm sticking to my prediction that PC sales (net of returns) in 2013 will be around 20 percent lower than in 2012. Read more...
Microsoft plans 7-inch tablet to compete with Apple, Google
Microsoft is said to be planning a 7-inch version of its Surface tablet to help it compete with similar size devices from Apple and Google.
The 7-inch version, which will go into mass production later this year, is part of a new lineup of Surface tablets planned by Microsoft, reported The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, citing people familiar with the company's plans.
The Redmond, Washington, software giant decided to get into 7-inch tablets to counter the iPad mini from Apple which has a 7.9-inch display and the Google Nexus 7 with a 7-inch display, according to the report. The company also plans cuts in the prices of its Windows and Office software to give a boost to sales of lower-cost touch-screen devices running Windows software. Read more...
HTC One: Hands-on impressions of an impressive handset
Each year, a few Android phones manage to break out from the pack and emerge as the cream of the crop -- the devices worthy of a "best of the best" designation. Make no mistake about it: The HTC One is one of those phones.
I've been using the U.S. version of the HTC One -- on sale next Friday from AT&T and Sprint and later this spring from T-Mobile -- in place of my own personal device for several days. I'm not going to write a full review of the phone just yet; from hardware to software, the One has a lot of significant elements to consider, and I want to spend more time living with it and getting a meaningful feel for how its features work in the real world before reaching any final conclusions. Read more...