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Apr 28, 2011

Product Design - Piracy vs Legal Content


Cheaper, faster, not always better looking!  Piracy has an upper hand in the delivery of content because it's so straight forward.  The Internet has helped create even faster piracy methods.  P2P is ancient for media types like music and video.  It's all about streaming these days.

Your favorite soccer team's game is not on any free local TV channels?  no problem.  I watched Real Salt Lake lose against Monterrey on Justin.tv with a simple search.  I'm not advocating piracy, and would love to see legal version of the games at  realsaltlake.com   Instead I must pay for a bunch of different channels to view the team play.  Why would I pay for an upgrade package on Dish Network that includes tons of channels I don't care about?

Justin.TV
 - Go to justin.tv
 - Use the search bar
 - Watch content

Netflix
 - Go to netflix.com
 - Sign up/login
 - Browse movies (check reviews, ratings)
 - Watch movie

Blockbuster (back in the local stores days)
 - Drive to store
 - Become a member
 - Look around for movies
 - Pull out cell phone with web capability to check ratings and reviews
 - Get the movie and pay
 - Drive back home
 - Put movie in DVD player
 - Watch trailers, FBI notices
 - Press play on remote in the movie's menu
 - Watch movie

A straight path to the product makes a big difference in the consumers mind.  The content being free/cheap is a plus!  The removal of unnecessary steps doesn't apply to all types of "product", but it does for "digital goods".

Image from:

Apr 26, 2011

Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Tablet - Infinity Glass Screen Glare


I hope the video gives you an idea of what you might face if you get the X220 Tablet.  This system is made to be used indoors so treat it as such.  On the video you can see that there's more glare on the X220 screen than with my Gateway 24 inch matte monitor.  Obviously the system has a glass finish so it's going to have glare.

For those working outdoors you might want to wait the Gorilla glass version which should be better suited for that job.  Both the Infinity glass and Gorilla glass have 300 nits brightness and have IPS.  The Gorilla glass version does not have the multi-touch layer so it will be a bit brighter, and it should have less glare.  I wish I had both systems so I could compare them !

Lenovo's Kevin Beck has stated that the outdoor viewable model is "relatively bright and has very, very low reflectivity" (then they smash the screen with a pen).  Watch the video.

I can read text better with the X220's Infinity glass screen than with my Gateway 24 inch screen.  Usually I have the system at an angle and don't have a super bright source behind me so I don't have glare.  It's all about the angles with most "glass" screens and the X220 is no different.

Links:

Note: This one is for Tobi! ;-)

Apr 21, 2011

Sweet Sweet Sugar


Thanks to UCtelevision

During my first year in the USA I gained 40 lbs.  Some of it might be due to natural growth, but 40 lbs in one year is also a good amount of unwanted weight/fat.  I wasn't a total couch potato and I would bike a few miles every day and participated in soccer.  Something just didn't make sense.  What was I eating more here than the beans + rice + eggs diet of my Guatemala times.  It's that coca cola conspiracy + cereal.

I still have my sweets every once in a while but removing daily consumption of sweets has helped clear up my acne.  Mr. Robert H. Lusting doesn't go into acne and only goes over weight.  I have performed week long tests to see what happens when I eat sweets daily and when I don't.  One week with sweets end ups in acne breakouts, one week without does the opposite.

Things like cereals, sugary beverages (juice, gatorade, cola, etc), bread, ice cream, cookies, jam, ketchup, and other sweets have a big impact at many levels.  Most acne clearing products like Proactiv do not fix acne, they just treat what's on the surface.  In my teen years I consulted Dermatologist and they always told me that diet had nothing to do with it, and that I should just keep getting Tetracycline which I found out has tons of negative side effects.  I thought that when I got to "adult" status the acne would go away, but it didn't.  So... now in my 20s I still get acne but now I know how to control it.

If you decide to take out sugars from your daily life be ready to know what smokers face when they try to quit.  It sucks for a bit, but then life gets better.

If you watch the video above and get something out of it then please share it.  Some of the diet guidelines that Tim Ferriss has in the 4-Hour Body have helped big time.

Link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

Apr 20, 2011

Status of my HP DV6T Quad Edition Laptop


Got an email today from HP.  Let's see what they have to say.

Dear Valued Customer,

Due to continued product constraint of one or more components in your custom PC, we will be unable to ship your order on the revised estimated ship date. We expect your PC to ship on 05/3/11.

Your response is now required within three business days to accept this delay if you still want this order to ship. If we do not hear from you within three days, we are required by law to cancel the unshipped order.

Please respond either by email or calling our toll-free customer service number at (866) 217-6014. Customer service is available between 7:00 A.M. - 2:00 A.M. (ET) Monday through Friday and 10:00 A.M. - 7:00 P.M. Saturday and Sunday.

Due to the additional delay we would like to offer you a 10% discount off of your custom built computer.
Please accept our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience this additional delay has caused. We thank you for your patience.

Regards,
Ryan Presley

Custom PC Escalation Manager
HP Home & Home Office
www.hpdirect.com

I'm guessing HP is having some logistics problem and have delayed for the second time the assembly of the laptop.  This is by far the most irritating part of HP.  It reminds me a bit on how they announced the HP TouchPad like forever ago and won't make them until forever in the future.  ;-)   The good thing about this delay is that I get a 10% discount.

As I'm typing this message I got a hold of an HP rep and the 10% discount is from the "Price After Coupon of $860.99" which means that I get $86 back!  The refund should take between 3 to 5 business days.  Total price paid for the laptop is now $833.  This is not bad considering that the original price was $1,229.99  (I saved myself $396.99!!!)

In the end I'm saving quite a bit of money, but wasting a lot of time.  With some of those savings I'm tempted on adding a nice SSD to the system.   Maybe I could get me a new cell phone, or 3D Connexion Mouse, or Wacom tablet, or even a Nintendo 3DS.

I'm tempted on the OCZ 120GB  Vertex 3 SATA III 6.0 Gb-s 2.5 Inch SSD which is priced at $308.  The read speeds of 550 MB/s and write speeds of 500 MB/s are totally worth it.

FYI - Gizmodo has a neat article of the top 4 SSDs of right now.

Apr 19, 2011

Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Tablet - Questions Part 1


I have tried to answer many questions on many mediums (email, comments, youtube) regarding the X220 Tablet.  Here's some of them.

BFDonnelly

My questions, which should be just this side of obvious:

1. How is it to work with in portrait mode? Does software nag you about the narrow width (768px)?
2. How does it balance with the right, left hand?
3. Can you explain the options for glass vs. input--and the cost of the options?
4. Is there some good way to scroll it?

Thanks!



Jesse B Andersen

1. The portrait mode works ok. It really does depend on the size of your documents. If your read PDFs with a specific width you would have to zoom out to view them properly. If you read content that resizes like .epub files then you won't have problems with the new 768 resolution.

2. I can carry it with my left arm and use the stylus with the right and it feels solid. Carrying it with the right is also ok. As long as you hold the system at about the middle part part of the battery you won't have a problem.

3. Infinity glass is the multitouch + stylus. The Gorilla glass version accepts pen input only and is supposed to be the "outdoor" model which means that it will work better in direct sunlight. If you are in shade the Infinity glass version will do fine.

4. I'm not sure what you mean with "Is there some good way to scroll it?" If you mean scrolling through web pages or documents then you can use your fingers to do it like iPad/iPhone do it.



tivoboy

Is anyone really going to buy a tablet anymore? I mean, I HAVE an x60t or something like that. Don't use it anymore, ipad has replaced it for touch engaged things.

Not trying to create a riot or anything, but even though I LOVE convertibles and have used tablets since the beginning days - I DO think they are pretty much over.



Jesse B Andersen

I think there's a market for specific users. People that want to take electronic notes, or use it for art purposes will find the X220T useful.

The slate tablets like the iPad and Android tablets are great touch systems that deliver a wonderful touch experience. Obviously Windows has gotten a bit behind on that.

I use the X220 Tablet for several purposes. The X220 Tablet can be a Desktop PC with it's docking station, a laptop, and a tablet. It's one machine that can do multiple jobs. The key to the system working well in so many "modes" is software.


AtomicTesting

From the Lenovo forums, here is the tabbook product spec sheet for pretty much everything they've got. The x220t is at the bottom. http://www.lenovo.com/psref/pd... Hopefully that will answer a lot of questions for people.

BFDonnelly's question #3 is also answered on the Lenovo forums. You can get this tablet in a Gorilla glass version, but that version does not have capacitive touch - it is stylus only. The other option is Infinity Glass which is the 2-finger touch, 5-finger gesture device, which also works with the stylus.

Since I can see all the specs on this device, I'm curious how fast it boots to desktop. Some video demos looked like the machine actually boots up pretty slowly, but Lenovo's unboxing video was only booted to the Win7 install process, which obviously isn't a usable system until the process is completed.

Also, how well does this machine handle 3D gaming? I don't expect it to be a powerhouse since there is no option except the comparatively weak embedded video hardware, but if it can play modern games reasonably well on moderate settings I'd be happy with it.



Jesse B Andersen

From my experience the boot up times have not improved drastically. It might be because I have a 54000 rpm hard drive. The sleep/resume is were the game is at and the system does well at it.

3D gaming capabilities have improved big time since the X201 Tablet. Do not expect to run hardcore 3D games on this system, but you can run several modern games on low settings. I have a video about it on Youtube.



Willem

1. What does the difference in screens mean for the end-user
2. What is the inking capability like on the 220t. Please show extensive demo. Inking experience, vectoring, palm rest, inking speed, ink-to-test speed recognition in the TIP, Journal and OneNote 2010
3. What is the touch experience like?
4. What is your opinion on the ergonomics?
5. Any plusess and minuses between X220T and X60T?
6. What are your experiences on the screen brightness?
7. What are your experiences on battery life bewteen, heavy, light and medium use with the 6 cell battery.
8. What are your experiences on the rotation speed
9. Multitouch: true or not?
10. Sleep-wake cycle speeds? Amazing or downright disappointing?
11. Any noteworthy crapware on the system?
12. What are your experiences on fan noise and heat production?
13. Can the screen be swivled both ways?
14. Does the X220T also have a Lenovo overlaying tablet touch friendly UI as in the X200T?
15. Will Lenovo provide friendely discounts for extra batteries for its customers of previous tablet pruchaseres?
16. Will Lenovo provide better support for tis tablet customers, and keep their promise?



Jesse B Andersen

That's just too many questions... but I'll answer some.

1. Different screens for different purposes (inside = Infinity glass, outside the house/office = Gorilla Glass).

2. Inking is similar to the previous Wacom tablets. Thinking too much about this will get you nowhere.

3. The touch experience is ok. Windows doesn't do the greatest job at it.

4. Ergonomics depend on the mode that you are using it on. Great as a laptop, good as a desktop replacement, ok as a touch landscape/portrait tablet, and better than iPad at pen input.

5. I don't have the X60T so I don't know.

6. The brightness is similar to the Macbook Air. The screen is one of the best I have seen.

7. If you use the system under extremely intensive applications you will get about 1 hour (running Battery Eater), normal/medium use will get you about 4:30 hours. I have not tried light usage but I can guestimate about 7 to 8 hours. This is all with 6-cell battery.

8. Improved since the X201 Tablet. It's still no iPad.

9. Yes it can do multi-touch.

10. Great sleep/wake speeds. I got a video were I show it.

11. The review units don't have crapware/bloatware included. I presume the versions that will ship to consumers will have some bloatware. It's just how the game is played by companies that need to make money.

12. The X220's fan noise is very minimal when you are not pushing the system. If you do decide to turn Intel's Turbo Boost and Lenovo's Turbo Boost+ then you will hear the fan at it's peak.

13. The screen goes one way only.

14. The X220 Tablet has Lenovo's SimpleTap. Other than that it's just Windows 7.

15. No idea.

16. The best way to get attention when running into problems is to "bitch/complain" about them at every medium you can (Twitter, Facebook, Forums, Review places that allow comments, their Wikipedia, blogs, etc). If they promise one thing and they don't deliver then do it. For example HP is completely hideous at shipping custom made laptops. I have been waiting 3 weeks for HP DV6T Quad Edition and today I got a note that there's a delay and the system won't ship until May. I paid for a system in which I had to wait for 6 weeks. Simply terrible, hideous, and it makes me never want to buy again. I'm sure people will get a variety of experiences. It's good to know both good experiences and bad ones.


Bruce

1. This appears to have fewer buttons along the edge than even the X200/201T has. Losing the directional arrows/center OK button was a huge step down already from the X60/61T series. Are there really fewer buttons than the X200/201T? If so, what are they thinking -- that no one uses this in slate mode?

2. Going from 4x3 to widescreen was also a serious downgrade from the X60/61T to the X200/201T. At leas the X200/201T series have 1280x800 screens. I've tried 768px wide screens in portrait mode before (Motion M1400) and I've sworn to never do so again. For web browsing 800px wide in portrait mode is my minimum. Do they offer/plan to offer any higher resolution screens? I'm NOT going back to 768px wide in portrait mode.

3. Are the batteries from the X200/201T series compatible with this tablet? If not, then it will be easier for me to look elsewhere when the time comes to upgrade if I don't like the answers to 1 & 2 above...



Jesse B Andersen

1. Yes there are now three buttons which are Power, Ctrl+Alt+Del, and Rotation. I didn't use the bezel buttons that much with the X201 Tablet, and maybe there are those that did it big time with the X60/61T series. You can assign "Press" and "Press and hold" functions to only the "Rotation" button. So you could almost say that there's 4 buttons! ;-)

2. I thought it was strange to see that the system went to 768px too. Websites are not going to be redesigned to fit the resolution. I have to say that wide screen movies are actually excellent with the X220 Tablet's screen. :)

3. The batteries of the X200 and X201 T are not compatible with this system. This uses an all new battery design.

Hope that answers a few of your questions.

If you have questions you can add them to the comments and I'll do my best to answer them.  Thanks!

Apr 13, 2011

Asus Eee Note EA-800 - Kernel Open Source Code Released


Asus has released the Kernel code for the Asus Eee Note EA-800.  This should allow developers to get creative.  Maybe I shouldn't have sold my Eee Note.

Download it at:
http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=EA-800&p=20&os=

Apr 8, 2011

Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Tablet - Graphics Performance (3d gaming)


The gameplay was recorded with my video camera.

When Lenovo listed their X220 Tablet data sheet and I couldn't find discrete graphics... I was nervous and thought that Lenovo had failed at improving graphics which I thought was the biggest downfall of the Lenovo X201 Tablet.   I'm happy to say that the X220 is actually good on graphics beyond my expectations.

Games:

I think that the new Sandy bridge line is way more impressive when compared to the previous generation Core i processors.  I thought that the lack of discrete graphics would prevent 3d graphics, but it doesn't.  Yes you won't run the more "hard core" games, but you can play most games.

If you do get the X220 make sure to enable Intel's Turbo Boost and Lenovo Turbo Boost+ so you can run games as smoothly as possible.   You can access these features via Lenovo's Power Manager.

I think the system has improved from the previous generation by a lot.  I couldn't run many 3D programs with the X201.  I used a ViDock 4 with an ATI Radeon HD 5770 to do some gaming.  Lenovo said that the X220 Tablet had 2X graphics performance, and they weren't lying.

Links:
Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Tablet Website

Apr 2, 2011

Innovation In The Tech World


Hahaha!  ;-)

http://voices.allthingsd.com/20110401/everyones-an-innovator/

Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Tablet - Two, Four and Five Finger Touch Gestures


There's two screen versions of the X220 Tablet and one of them only features the stylus input, the other has a few touch features.

Touch Features:
  • 2 finger touch does scroll, zoom, rotate, etc.
  • 2 finger double tap brings Lenovo SimpleTap
  • 4 finger press and move does the equivalent of Win + Tab keys  (3D Flip)
  • 5 finger flick down minimizes all windows
  • 5 finger flick up brings the windows back again
  • 5 finger pinch locks the system

It's kind of neat but it takes a little bit of practice to get right.  These gestures come in handy especially for full screen apps that don't have a way for you to easily switch to another program.  This might not be the final version so we could see changes once the system is released.  Unofficial release date might be April 19th, 2011.

Lenovo SimpleTap 2.0


On another note Apple patented a few five finger gestures for what seems like Mac OS X... These gestures will probably be called "revolutionary" in a few years when the Macbooks finally get multi-touch screens.  Source - View Tablets - Apple Patents Five Finger Gestures.   I smell a lawsuit...