Why netbooks will soon go extinct
The short-lived era of netbook computers may soon be coming to an end. The netbook market will eventually fade away in 2013, this report from Digitimes predicts, thanks in part to manufacturers such as Asustek Compute and Acer to announce they won’t produce any netbooks in the coming year.
As the Guardian notes, Asustek and Acer were the only two companies still making netbooks, while other firms such as Dell were dipping their toes into the tablet space.
The slowdown actually began in 2010, the Guardian writes. “…early that year, sales ‘took a nosedive,’ IDC’s David Daoud told PCWorld, falling from over 2m in Q1 2010 to only just over 1.5m by the end of the year. By the fourth quarter of 2011, US netbook sales had fallen to about 750,000.”
Also to blame is our own activities and functions when it comes to computing needs, GigaOm writes. “Legacy application suites are getting replaced by a seemingly never-ending stream of smartphone and tablet applications. Cloud services for productivity and storage are the new Microsoft Office and hard drive. Touch computing is becoming the norm, not the exception, and mobile operating systems are optimized for it. Simply put: Netbooks are just another example of old-school computing and world is moving on.”
Another contributing factor to netbooks’ decline is the rise of tablets. Shipments of tablets in 2011 overtook those of netbooks – 63m against 29.4m, as the Guardian points out. Tablets can accomplish some of the tasks netbooks were designed to handle and battery life for tablets has caught up with some of the netbooks available.
Do you think netbooks will die a slow death in 2013?
Apple announces new iPad with 4G LTE, Retina Display, Siri
Today Apple announced the next-generation iPad, available on March 16. Its features include 4G LTE access, Siri, a quad-core processor, and a 2048 x 1536 display, equalling 3.1 million pixels.
Apple announced that the new iPad will include access to the high-speed 4G LTE network and will feature voice dictation using the Siri tool found on the new iPhone 4S. The starting price for the unit begins at $499.
At the California event live-blogged by hundreds of news sites, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke about Apple heading into the post-PC future, saying “Our post PC devices made up 76% of our revenues.”
He added Apple sold millions of iOS devices in one quarter, specifically stating they sold “an astonishing 315 million devices through last year, 62 million in Q4 2011.”Cook said Apple sold 15.4 million iPads in the last quarter alone. More than 200,000 apps have been built for the iPad, he added.
“Everyone’s been wondering, who will come out with a product that’s more amazing than the iPad 2?” Cook said, and paused, then said, “We are!”
Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller described the new iPad, first announcing a new retina display at 264ppi. “For the first time an iPad has a higher resolution than this entire display behind you,” he said, pointing to the massive screen on stage. “That’s a fun challenge.”
The display sports 2048 x 1536, equally 3.1 million pixels. “The most ever in a mobile device,” Schiller pointed out. The saturation is 44 per cent greater compared to the iPad 2.
The device also includes the quad-core A5X processor, Schiller said.
The new iSight camera on this iPad features a 5-megapixel backside illuminated sensor on the back, a 5-element lens, IR filter, and auto-focus and auto-exposure tools. The camera also lets you do some 1080p video recording, a feature many observers expected.
Then Schiller introduced the voice dictation add-on. “The iPad, like all great iOS devices, has a great keyboard and now you’ll see there’s a new key on the bottom: a microphone.” Instead of typing, you can tap the microphone icon on the keyboard, then say what you want to say and the device listens. Tap “done,” and iPad converts your words into text. Dictation also works with third-party apps.
He also announced this iPad will offer 4G LTE service, a highly anticipated feature. The iPad 2 zipped along at 3.1Mbps on EV-DO, 7.2 on HSPA, Schiller noted, but the latest tablet will access the Web at 21Mbps HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA at 42Mbps, with LTE triumphing at 73Mbps. LTE partners in North America include Verizon, Rogers, Bell, Telus and AT&T.
Schiller said the new iPad delivers the same as the iPad 2 in battery life – 10 hours of battery life, clocking around 9 hours on 4G. Size-wise, it comes in at 9.4mm thin, weighing 1.4lbs.
The new iPad will cost $499 for 16GB, 32GB is $599 and 64GB for $699. If you want a 4G unit, it will cost $629, $729 and $829 respectively. It will be available worldwide on March 16 but Apple is taking pre-orders now.
This article originally appeared on Digital Journal [Link]
Photo courtesy of Apple
Amazon to allow users to pay $30 to remove ads on new Kindles
by Andrew Moran (Guest Contributor/Digital Journalist)
Sick and tired of advertisements? Amazon is allowing its customers to pay $30 to remove advertisements from the latest ad-supported Kindles. The $30 is the difference in price between a non-ad Kindle and a Kindle with ads.
There is now reprieve for Kindle customers who purchased the latest subsidized Kindles that contain Special Officers and advertisements.
For $30, you can upgrade to an ad-free Kindle and remove ads that you find annoying, according to a report from theDigital Reader. Also this news was discovered by a MobileRead forum user.
The steps to rid yourself of ads are to go to the Manage Your Devices page, choose the Kindle that is subscribed to Special Offers and then unsubscribe. The original tipster informed Digital Reader that Amazon would not allow its consumers to go back to an ad-subsidized version.The unsubscribe feature isn’t available for Kindle 3 (Kindle Keyboard) users.
For those interested in purchasing a Kindle, the least expensive e-reader without special offers is $109, the Kindle Touch is $139 without ads and the Kindle 3G is $149 with ads and $189 without the ads.
“It looks like Amazon noticed that a lot of people bought a K3 SO and hated the ads, and that is probably why they added a solution to the K4 before it launched,” wrote Nate Hoffelder ofDigital Reader.Amazon has not made any official announcement regarding the option.
This article originally appeared on Digital Journal [Link]
Digital Journal launches iPad and PlayBook apps powered by Polar Mobile
Digital Journal, a global digital media network with contributors in more than 200 countries, has launched two free news apps for the Apple iPad and BlackBerry PlayBook.
Partnering with Polar Mobile, Digital Journal is releasing free tablet apps that feature breaking news, blogs, image galleries and user-generated content submitted by more than 32,000 Digital Journalists around the world.
“Digital Journal is excited about the opportunity to continue working with Polar Mobile to showcase world class user-generated content on mobile devices,” said Chris Hogg, CEO, Digital Journal. “With the success of our mobile apps on iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Windows Phone devices, we’re eager to extend our mobile reach into the tablet space. Digital Journal’s tablet apps offer outstanding features with a sleek design, and the tablets themselves provide unique reading experiences we know readers are going to love.”
Digital Journal’s iPad and PlayBook apps showcase top news and commentary from tens of thousands of Digital Journal members across the world. The tablet apps also include blogs, special reports and image galleries featuring an up-close-and-personal look at communities, people and events from thousands of cities.
“We are excited Digital Journal has picked our tablet platform to further extend their presence in mobile,” said Jon Zifkin, Director of Customer Success, Polar Mobile. “Tablets will play an integral part in Digital Journal’s user engagement and monetization strategy.”
Digital Journal’s tablet apps boast an immersive and engaging reading experience with a stunning layout and social media features such as the ability to share content on Twitter and Facebook from within the apps.
The tablets apps also offer readers access to read and share Digital Journal’s Twitter and Facebook streams right within the apps.
Digital Journal’s iPad and PlayBook apps are available for download from the iTunes App Store (link) and BlackBerry App World (link) today.
This article was originally published on Digital Journal [Link]