While having a bagel and coffee at a Panera the other morning, I read an article on my iPad (See I’m as pretentious cool as someone in California) from the fount of tech reporting, Men’s Health that Detroit is full of Luddites because there are not enough Best Buys in Michigan. The article made me put down my iPad and picked up my laptop so I could write this blog.
The Men’s Healtharticle looked at ad impressions from mobile ad network Chitika, the number of Apple (AAPL) and Best Buy (BBY) stores per capita, and the percentage of households that own tablets, notebooks, or laptops according to Mediamark Research.
David Zinczenko, Rodale EVP and editor in chief of Men’s Health observed in the article that iPad adoption correlates to proximity to a high-tech center, but also education levels, Mr. Zinczenko gets it right when he suggests that consumer iPad adoption is mostly about income levels.
“Let’s look at who was in line when the iPad 2 went on sale: affluent, well-educated people who had $800 bucks to throw around in the middle of a deep recession,” Mr. Zinczenko toldMashable. “It’s not that [college-educated people are] smarter than the people in Toledo, it’s just that they were fortunate enough to have the dough to attend college. As their educations progressed, their choice of leisure interests migrated toward words, narratives and research-driven pastimes,” all of which the iPad accommodates, he argues.
In case you did not notice the article started out as a study on consumer iPad adoption which incorrectly morphed into an overall ranking of tech friendliness. This is just more Detroit bashing by Men’s Health. In the past, they have called Detroit one of “Worst Cities for Men” and “The Angriest City.”
Related articles
Insights’ “Top iPad Friendly Cities” Study Picked Up by Men’s Health (insights.chitika.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
A couple of recent articles about greener alternative energy sources for tech caught my eye as I sat in my Bach Seat. First, TES NewEnergy, based in Osaka Japan has come up with a new way to charge your mobile phone by heating a pot of water over a campfire according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
The Hatsuden-Nabethermo-electric cookpot turns heat from boiling water into electricity The pot features strips of ceramic thermoelectric material that generate electricity through temperature differentials between 550 degrees Celsius at the bottom of the pot and the water boiling inside at 100 degrees. The pot feeds the electricity via a USB port into digital devices such as Apple (AAPL) iPhones, iPods, and Garmin (GRMN) GPS‘s.
Chief executive Kazuhiro Fujita said the invention was inspired by Japan’s March 11 earthquake and tsunami, “When I saw the TV footage of the quake victims making a fire to keep themselves warm, I came up with the idea of helping them to charge their mobile phones at the same time,” Mr. Fujita said.
“Unlike a solar power generator, our pot can be used regardless of the time of day and weather while its small size allows people to easily carry it in a bag in case of evacuation,” said director and co-developer Ryoji Funahashi.
The company says the device takes three to five hours to charge an iPhone and can heat up your lunch at the same time.
rb- The thermo-electric cookpot sells for 24,150 yen ($305) which seems sort of expensive to charge an iPhone when the towers are also put of power and down. TES NewEnergy also plans to market it later in developing countries with unreliable power grids. Their best bet is probably REI for all the extreme suburbanites.
Aussie greener alternative energy idea
According to PCAuthority.com Aussie scientists have developed a way to power electronics by harnessing the energy of the keyboard. Using piezoelectrics, which converts pressure into an electric current, and a thin-film technology found in microchips, researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne believe laptops could become self-powered just by their user’s typing.
The new energy source needs more work before it’s practical for low-cost laptop integration, but Dr. Mandu Bhaskaran, the co-author of the research, believes the development is a step in the right direction. “With the drive for alternative energy solutions, we need to find more efficient ways to power microchips,” said Bhaskaran.
TechEye correctly identifies the biggest challenge to this alternative energy source will be to get the power demands of computer chips down to be able to use the technology. Despite the best efforts of chipmakers like Intel (INTC) and AMD (AMD), the power drain for chips is still too high for this sort of technology.
rb- Maybe the Aussies want to bring back WordPerfect and DOS so you have to type all the time otherwise your laptop will run out of power. Image the rush to buy these devices as the green police get credits for taking more computers off the grid.
TV as an alternative energy source
Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have created a self-powered, wireless paper-based device that runs on scavenged ambient energy from the environment. The GATech alternative energy system collects electromagnetic energy transmitted by television transmitters, mobile phone networks, and satellite communications systems. Manos Tentzeris, a professor in the GATech School of Electrical and Computer EngineeringtoldGizmag the new technology can be used to power small electronic devices such as networks of wireless sensors, microprocessors, and communications chips.
The GATech team has been able to build the system by combining sensors, antennas, and energy scavenging capabilities on paper by using inkjet printing technology According to the article, the energy scavenging technology can take advantage of frequencies from FM radio to radar. So far the team has been able to generate hundreds of milliwatts by harnessing the energy from TV bands. Gizmag reports that multi-band systems would generate over one milliwatt, which is enough to run small electronic devices, including microprocessors. The Professor explains that multi-band systems can exploit a range of electromagnetic bands to capture more energy.
The Gizmag article says the system works. The researchers have successfully operated a temperature sensor using electromagnetic energy captured from a television station more than half a kilometer away. They are now preparing another demonstration where a microprocessor-based microcontroller would be activated by holding it in the air.
The researchers say the technology could be used with other electricity-generating technologies like solar. Scavenged energy could help a solar element charge a battery during the day while at night, scavenged energy would continue to charge the battery.
The Georgia Tech team believes that self-powered, wireless paper-based sensors will soon be widely available at a very low cost. Gizmag says the autonomous, inexpensive sensors would be attractive for a range of applications, such as chemical, biological, heat and stress sensing, RFID and monitoring for the military, manufacturing, shipping, communications, and smart grid applications.
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I wrote about something similar here. It is important to realize that this new alternative energy source has so far been wasted.
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
iPad sold three million units in the first 80 days after its April 2010 release. Its current sales rate is about 4.5 million units per quarter, according to Bernstein Research. This sales rate is blowing past records. iPad is outselling iPhone and the DVD player, the most quickly adopted non-phone electronic product.
the Apple (AAPL) iPad would ultimately fail in the enterprise. That is what Andy Lark, Dell‘s (DELL) global head of marketing for large enterprises and public organizations told CIO Australia.
… longer term, open, capable and affordable will win, not closed, high price and proprietary [Apple has] done a really nice job, they’ve got a great product, but the challenge they’ve got is that already Android is outpacing them.
Apple is great if you’ve got a lot of money and live on an island. It’s not so great if you have to exist in a diverse, open, connected enterprise; simple things become quite complex.
Mr. Lark claimed Dell had taken an enterprise approach toward tablet PCs. This approach will ultimately give Dell an edge. Dell has a major stake in Microsoft Windows and the desktop PC market. “We’ve taken a very considered approach to tablets, given that the vast majority of our business isn’t in the consumer space,” he said.
The cost of Apple products was another deterrent to iPad deployments. Dell’s Lark claims that the economics on a fully loaded iPad did not add up. “An iPad with a keyboard, a mouse, and a case [means] you’ll be at $1500 or $1600; that’s double of what you’re paying,” he claimed. “That’s not feasible.”
Despite the company’s history with Microsoft, it had embraced both Windows Phone 7 and Android operating systems “…Our strategy is multi-OS,” Lark said. “We will do Windows 7 coupled with Android Honeycomb, and we’re really excited. We think that giving people that choice is very important.”
Help has arrived for Apple (AAPL) iPhone and iPad owners who need access to their Microsoft (MSFT) Outlook e-mail. AppScoutsays users can check their email even when they don’t have an Internet connection.Pst Mail from Arrow Bit is an iPad app that provides offline access, potentially saving money on the user’s data plan. With the app, you can carry around a year’s worth of messages with you. Pst Mail can interact with the Mail app on your iPhone or iPad to reply to or forward messages. It can also open pst files created with any version of Microsoft Outlook.
AppScout says to find messages in large pst files, Pst Mail includes an advanced search feature. You can search by sender, recipient, subject text, message body, or even attachment name. You can also limit the search to a particular time frame. The developers offer a free lite version of the app in the iTunes Store, which has all the same features as the full version but is limited to the number of messages a user may open in each folder. The full version costs $9.99 in the iTunes app store.
Citrix (CTXS) has launched an Apple (AAPL) iPad version of GoToMyPC, a remote desktop application that lets you log in to your computer and control it on the go. Up until recently, you needed a PC to log in to a remote PC using the service. But the iPad app lets you do it anywhere you can get an internet connection on an iPad.
Mobilputing says GoToMyPC is hardly the first app of its type for the iPad. LogMein, TeamViewer, Parallels, and Splashtop all offer similar apps. But the GoToMyPC app has tight security features including 128-bit AES encryption, user authentication, and dual passwords, oriented for business.
Apple (AAPL) and Apple app developers have been sued over the collection and sharing of user data with outside companies (which I wrote about here). Two suits were filed in the Northern District of CA against the iPhone and iPad manufacturer. Apple is named in Lalo v. Apple, 10-5878.
Lalo seeks class action and claims that iPhones and iPads are encoded with identifying devices that allow advertising networks to track what applications users download, how frequently they’re used, and for how long. “Some apps are also selling additional information to ad networks, including users’ location, age, gender, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and political views,” reportsBloomberg’sBusinesWeek.
According to Wired the second suit, Freeman v. Apple seeks both monetary damages and a court order to stop the profiling by app makers being sued are Pandora and Dictionary.com, Toss It, Text4Plus, The Weather Channel, Talking Tom Cat, and Pimple Popper Lite.
Related articles
Hi-Res iPad 3 coming this year? (Report) (chatootsboots.wordpress.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Think about this while you are driving around this Memorial Day weekend. – The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan claims that for several years now Michigan State Police have been using portable devices that allow them to secretly extract personal information from cell phones In an article on Help Net Security the ACLU says that the troopers have used the devices on cell phones of people pulled over for minor traffic infractions as well as people suspected of a crime.
The article says most of the devices used are from CelleBrite and can extract a great number of data from most cell phones, including contacts, text messages, deleted text messages, call history, pictures, audio and video recordings, memory file dumps, and more. GeekOSystemssays the Cellebrite UFED Physical Pro Scanner (cut-sheet), were tested by the U.S Department of Justice. The DOJ reported the device was capable of pulling all photos and video from an Apple (AAPL) iPhone in under a minute and a half. Cellebrite says their devices also can extract, “existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags.” It can also extract your highly incriminating ringtones. These devices can also get around password protection, and work on over 3,000 cellphone models according to the website.
The ACLU is concerned that the MSP is using these devices to conduct warrantless searches without consent or a search warrant in violation of the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Help Net Security reports that the ACLU of Michigan has been requesting information about MSP’s use of these devices for nearly three years by filing Freedom of Information Act requests to the Michigan State Police. The ACLU wants the troopers to reveal the data it collected, but it has had no luck so far. The article indicates that the MSP is stonewalling the ACLU’s Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests resulting in possible court action.
Following those accusations, the Michigan State Police posted their side of the story in an official statement published on its website according to another Help Net Security article. The MSP says it has, “fulfilled at least one ACLU FOIA request on this issue …” The web-posting also claims that devices that the MSP has in its possession can’t extract data without the officer actually having the owner’s mobile device in his hand and they claim the scanners are properly used, “The DEDs (data extraction devices) are not being used to extract citizens’ personal information during routine traffic stops,” it explains. “The MSP only uses the DEDs if a search warrant is obtained or if the person possessing the mobile device gives consent.”
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Wonder why the government keeps trying to make talking on a cell phone while driving a primary offense? Could it be so the government has an excuse to stop people and collect their personal data? The last sentence from the MSP is particularly chilling since people are strongly encouraged to cooperate with the police even when they know they did nothing criminal. Warrantless searches violate the protection against unreasonable search and seizure guaranteed by the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Foxconn, the largest exporter out ofChina and a major assembler of Apple (AAPL) products like the iPhone and the iPad wants to set up shop in Brazil. Reutersreports the company is considering a $12 billion investment in Brazil manufacturing.
The company, the quintessential Chinese manufacturer, is known for its brutal conditions and plant suicidesaccording to Business Insider. Foxconn finds itself at the vanguard of Chinese labor problems, notably inflation and shortages.
Inflation is driving Foxconn out of China
The inflation is driving Foxconn out of China. Reuters says that the Brazilian government and Foxconn are now negotiating a range of details, including facilities location, financing, taxes, broadband infrastructure, and logistics. “We’ve been talking to them for three months,” said Aloizio Mercadante, Brazil’s science and technology minister.
Mr. Mercadente also told reporters Foxconn is planning to begin assembling Apple’s iPad tablet PC at its plants in the South American country by the end of November. “The negotiations are far from complete but I’m confident,” said Mr. Mercadente.
Calls to Foxconn’s spokesperson went unanswered. Apple declined to comment.
Wage inflation in China has raised questions over the country’s future as the preferred outsourcing destination for multinationals in search of cheap labor. Financier George Soros recently told the SFGate that Chinese wage inflation is “Somewhat out of control.” And the Financial Timescites a recent US Bureau of Labor Statistics report which shows that between 2002 and 2008, real hourly wages in China’s manufacturing sector doubled, while they rose by barely 20 percent in the U.S..
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The race to the bottom continues, apparently, Apple believes that $0.80/hour is too expensive for Chinese workers to build iPads. Who is going to buy a shiny new iPad when nobody can afford to buy them because we are all working a McDonald’s?
What do you think?
Could you afford an iPad3 at $0.80/hour?
Will America ever make anything again?
Related articles
Foxconn in Talks on $12 Billion Brazil Expansion, Rousseff Says (businessweek.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
le having a bagel and coffee at a Panera the other morning, I read an article on my iPad (See I’m as 
The Men’s Health article looked at ad impressions from mobile ad network Chitika, the number of Apple (AAPL) and Best Buy (BBY) stores per capita, and the percentage of households that own tablets, notebooks, or laptops according to Mediamark Research.
“Let’s look at who was in line when the iPad 2 went on sale: affluent, well-educated people who had $800 bucks to throw around in the middle of a deep recession,” Mr. Zinczenko told Mashable. “It’s not that [college-educated people are] smarter than the people in Toledo, it’s just that they were fortunate enough to have the dough to attend college. As their educations progressed, their choice of leisure interests migrated toward words, narratives and research-driven pastimes,” all of which the iPad accommodates, he argues.
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A couple of recent articles about greener alternative energy sources for tech caught my eye as I sat in my 
