BASIC: A Computer Programming Language

Computer programming has its own language, and that’s just the beginning of the software adventure. There are many different languages in computer programming, and all of them have their own purposes. In order to understand the importance of computer programming languages, knowing them, and tweaking them, one has to understand the importance of computer programming. Computer programming produces software packages, among other things, to meet our needs. We may need software for accounting, making photos bigger or smaller, or editing our home videos. Behind all these software packages are the computer programmers who use their individual languages in order to create the software.

One such computer programming language is the Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, or BASIC. BASIC is actually composed of many different kinds of programming languages that are actually higher level than most other languages. This BASIC family of computer programming languages was first designed in the 1960’s, and was originally made for non-science people to gain better access to computers. During that time, using a computer required that a person write customized software, a task that only mathematicians and scientists were equipped to do. The BASIC language was therefore a bridge for people of other professions to take advantage of the power of computers.

When the 1970’s came, the BASIC language, whether in its original form or a variant of it, spread onto microcomputers; and by the 1980’s, even home computers could be run in BASIC. Today, BASIC remains popular, as it serves as the basis for many of the more modern programming languages that have been developed in the wake of advanced operating systems and the Internet.

When it was originally conceived, BASIC was meant for beginners: it was a language that people could use easily, whether or not they were educated in mathematics and the sciences. The language also had to be a general purpose one, in that it had to serve many different needs, and not only those that mathematicians and scientists required. The root language of BASIC also had to allow for advanced features to be plugged on as experts grew more and more adept in it, and as the language found further use in many other fields. BASIC was also meant to be interactive, and was designed to show error messages that were clear and friendly; that is, these error messages had to completely explain what the problem was, which would hopefully allow the user to fix it faster and easier.

When it was first released, moreover, BASIC was free of charge, which allowed the language to spread much faster. Once the language spread much faster, it was also easy to modify it and correct errors. BASIC was also distributed to a few high schools in order to promote it faster. Thanks to this widespread use of the language, BASIC was soon implemented on several microcomputers, and by several software manufacturers.

Despite its success, BASIC has had its dissenters. For instance, some programmers find that its scripts do not show proper programming practices, and the language itself is too slow, or sometimes even too simple. Despite all these, however, BASIC has continued to thrive, succeed, and evolve, and has thus become a good tool to introduce beginner programmers to the concept of coding and computer programming.

These are only a few facts about the BASIC language. For more information on BASIC, read and do your own research through several key pages online, or using computer programming books.

Are Functions Core Concepts in Computer Programming?

Computer programming is a phrase that is bandied about quite heavily, but only few people actually understand its implications. The process of computer programming itself is difficult to understand for people who are not in the computer science field. Computer programming makes use of a code or a language: this language can be placed into several lines of code that can be translated to mean different things once they are processed as a program. For instance, the software that you use to calculate your taxes, or the software that you employ to make your simple web page are all products of skilful computer programming. Behind these software programs are scripts and codes, and these scripts and codes can mean different things.

For many different programming languages, a function can be important and can therefore be a key concept to learn when someone is interested in software and computer programming. A function can also be termed as a subroutine, procedure, or sub-query. How is a function important? For instance, if a company or institution has a library of many different programs, these programs can therefore consist of millions upon millions of lines of a source code. In the interests of time and space, you would like to keep from duplicating a certain source code in many different places.

Why is duplication so undesirable? If a source code is duplicated in many different places, it is being needlessly copied, and it can spell Hell for the programmer and troubleshooter when things go wrong down the line. If the source code is actually erroneous, the programmer or troubleshooter will have to correct the code in all the different places that it appears. If the source code has to be updated or improved in order to make the program either run faster or perform more operations, then the source code has to be modified, improved, and updated in all the places that it appears. And if the source code has to be removed and replaced with a new source code, then it has to be erased and replaced with the new code in every single place that it appears.

This is indeed time-consuming, and it can lead to more errors because of all the human intervention that has to be done. On the other hand, if there are functions that are built to handle all the different programs, then only one or a few changes need to be made should there be errors, or should the source code have to be updated, modified, improved, or changed. You can think of the function as an umbrella: it covers all of many different programs beneath it, so that you do not have to cover each program individually.

Having a single source code serving as the function is also advantageous when you have to introduce a new program that still makes use of that same source code. Because the source code is already available as an overall function or sub-program, you do not need to add the source code to the new program. You only need to find a way for the new program to interact with the source code itself.

These are only a few facts that you need to know about functions in computer programming. For more information, read up on the latest computer programs, how different programs can interact with each other using some umbrella or overall scripts, and how different programs can be improved when using functions.

Dell's Embedded PCs Take the IoT to the Mainstream

Dell on Tuesday announced the release of its first purpose-built industrial PC products for the mainstream market: the Embedded Box PC 3000 Series and 5000 Series.

The products are a response to the growing embedded computing market and the lack of reliable devices, Dell said.

The embedded systems market was valued at more than US$11 billion in 2014 and is expected to reach $23.1 billion in 2019, growing at a compound annual rate of almost 15 percent, according to a Technavio study that Dell cited.

Falling component costs, improved power efficiencies, increasing return-on-investment needs, and demand from the Internet of Things are fueling that growth.

Known Quantity

"Customers have consistently told us that current embedded solutions do not meet the level of cost-effective sophistication, scale and support they need for these to be a critical, reliable component of their operations," said Andy Rhodes, Dell's executive director of commercial IoT solutions.

Dell provides global scale and an end-to-end IT and operations technology security portfolio, he said.

The products' rugged design can withstand extreme temperatures while using a fanless cooling system, which is beneficial in several applications, according to Dell spokesperson Sarah Luden.

"These were made to be used in a wide range of industries, from digital signage to factory automation and transportation and construction. Within factory automation, the fan is the first thing to go down," she told TechNewsWorld.

"It's also much quieter, so in a hospital setting, think of MRI machines, where patient care and comfort is important," Luden added.

The IoT is a new arena for many business owners, and investing in costly computers and programmers can be a scary proposition, she noted. "For some people, the Internet of Things is new, so they want to go with a brand they know."

Why This Box Is Different

What makes the Dell PC appealing is its out-of-the-box capabilities, said Christian Juarez, an instructor at TechShop.

Dell Embedded Box PC

The IoT is helping industries streamline their processes to make work more efficient. "The whole point of IoT is bringing everything to the cloud and then connecting to the Internet and then having a control center for it," Juarez told TechNewsWorld.

"What happens a lot of times is that you have to set up the control center yourself. If you're setting it up yourself, as opposed to what Dell's offering, you have to decide on your distro, have all kinds of software running to get everything working together, you have to code things yourself, things of that nature," he said.

"With Dell, they have software built in for you, so you don't have to do that much. Software can be a huge issue, so with something like an out-of-the-box embedded machine you're going to appeal to a lot more people," Juarez added.

Microcomputers like Raspberry Pi are used for control centers, he noted, but that kind of device requires expert-level programming skills that a Dell doesn't necessarily need, which may help companies save money in the long run.

The Embedded Box PCs will be available this summer. Pricing starts at $1,099 for the 3000 series and $1,699 for the 5000 series.


Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com

Wall Street Backs Off Apple

Their fears confirmed, investors were bearish on Apple Wednesday, the day after the company reported its slowest-growth quarter ever. The company's shares closed the day at US$93.44, down 6.55 percent.

In its Q1 earnings report, Apple prepared investors for what may come next: its weakest quarter for iPhone sales in 13 years. Even worse is that the company may not see a significant boost in handset sales until the launch of the iPhone 7 later this year.

Apple moved about 74.8 million iPhones during the quarter that ended in January, and the company forecast sales of between 50 and 52 million units during the three-month period that will end in March.

The news of Apple's slowing growth came on the heels of reports detailing the rise of Alphabet, Google's recently formed parent company, valued at around $500 billion.

For now, Apple is still the world's most valuable company, with a valuation of around $562 million.

Apple reported that it sold about 16 million iPads and 5.3 million Macs in Q1 -- down about 25 percent and 4 percent, respectively, from the year-ago quarter.

Keeping the Faith

Taking note of the general saturation of the smartphone market, many investors have been turning to Alphabet, Facebook and Amazon for growth. However, those companies rely on ad revenues, which could prove more volatile than Apple's handsets reliance.

Though hardware accounts for more than half of Apple's business, the company has been pivoting toward services, noted Larry Chiagouris, professor of marketing at Pace University'sLubin School of Business.

That should count for something with investors, he said.

"Its ecosystem, to include iTunes and iCloud services, are either already dominant or possibly on the way to being dominant, and so this is not the time to lose faith in the company or its stock," Chiagouris told the E-Commerce Times.

The current perceived loss of faith likely is a byproduct of the times, he suggested. In a connected world, speed rules and investors don't hesitate to look elsewhere for growth when a company stumbles.

Also, investors are more influenced by media reports today than they were a decade or two ago, Chiagouris pointed out.

"All the reporting as of late has been on iPhone sales slowing, and so investors are reacting to these reports," he said. "The more important fact is that, ultimately, hardware companies always confront shrinking margins as the products that they make begin to become less differentiated or even commoditized."

Too Big to Fail

Paradoxically, investor disappointment might be a consequence of Apple's historic rise to become the most valuable company in the world and its position at or near the top of any list of most-respected organizations, suggested Ritch Blasi, president of MediaRitch.

"By continually overachieving in offering innovative products and services, and outperforming financial targets, it has become a darling of investors," Blasi told the E-Commerce Times. "Apple's latest numbers are viewed as not quite up to snuff, and the financial markets are feeling jittery."

While investors may want to hedge some of their bets by looking elsewhere, it would be premature to count Apple out, he said. The company didn't become this powerful by chance.

"While it may never again have the impact magnitude it did when introducing the iPhone," said Blasi, "expect Apple to rebound from this financial burp and continue on its course of changing the way we work and live."


Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com

Fresh Raspberry Pi Has Better Hardware Baked In

The Raspberry Pi Foundation on Monday announced the availability of the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B for US$35, the same price as the previous model.

It is the second major upgrade to the board in just over a year.

The hardware upgrade boosts the single-core processor of the original Pi to a faster, more capable quad-core chipset in the Pi 3. The current model is based on a 64-bit chipset that runs faster than the Pi 2's 900-MHz quad-core, 32-bit ARM Cortex-A7-based hardware. The credit card-sized computer board adds WiFi and Bluetooth support.

The machine better handles Web browsing and office tasks home users need. It opens up even more possibilities for the Internet of Things and embedded projects, according to Eben Upton, CEO of Raspberry Pi Trading. He launched the first Raspberry Pi version fours years ago.

"The new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B offers a higher level of performance than any other Raspberry Pi board on the market," said Claire Doyle, global head of Raspberry Pi at element14.

It "allows customers to develop specific applications and build new projects. We can't wait to see what customers will do with it," she told LinuxInsider.

Changing Usage Landscape

The upgrade to the Raspberry Pi hardware is a big deal for several reasons, said Jeremy Bray, owner ofCyberspace Fortress. The built-in support for WiFi and Bluetooth means users no longer have to buy third-party dongles to get those services.

"That means you are not taking up the Pi's four USB ports to get that functionality, so you can now use those ports for other things. When it comes to business applications, I have seen businesses customize them for their own uses. ... It is really just up to the business and their imagination for how it can be used in their business," he told LinuxInsider.

The Raspberry Pi will be even more suitable for advanced computer training in classrooms, noted Craig Brown, president at PicoCluster, an educational platform based on Raspberry PIs.

"The bump from 900 MHz to 1.2 GHz allows for faster processing. This is particularly welcome for clustered application learning and certainly any application or learning environment that we're running. This also makes it much better suited as a desktop replacement in classrooms and homes," he told LinuxInsider.

The hardware could use more upgrades, such as options for 2 GB of RAM and Gigabit Ethernet, even if it came at a higher price point, but that may be beyond the scope of the manufacturing plan, Brown noted.

"Overall, this is a great way to upgrade our clusters while giving us a chance to reduce costs," he said.

Business Beneficiaries

IT service businesses looking for lower costs in providing support and services to remotely monitor, manage and maintain their IT environments will benefit from the Raspberry Pi release, according to Ian Newman, CEO of IN NYC IT. His company uses the small footprint of a Raspberry Pi in clients' offices instead of a laptop or small desktop to monitor operations.

"We foresee placing the Pi in locations where clients report WiFi issues. We could use the Raspberry Pi 3 to collect data on the client's wireless infrastructure and possible interference, all without interrupting users, increasing their productivity and our response and resolution times," he told LinuxInsider.

The built-in WiFi/Bluetooth and improved 1.2-GHz, 64-bit CPU makes the Pi 3 easy for hobbyists to start developing projects on, noted Benny Estes, product manager at myDevices. The same makers that are tinkering in their homes are also using the Pi to rapidly prototype solutions for applications for their businesses.

"This tool provides companies with the ability to quickly vet an idea or improve a process at a fraction of the time and cost, with little risk. As the Pi continues to improve, it will be used in production-ready solutions and will not be limited to just prototyping," he told LinuxInsider.

Pi Specs

The Raspberry Pi 3 runs a Broadcom BCM2837 chipset on a 1.2-GHz quad-core 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 CPU. It has an Ethernet connector for 10/100 with a maximum throughput of 100 Mbps and provides storage on a MicroSD card or via USB-attached storage.

Its graphics are from a 400-MHz VideoCore IV multimedia with full HDMI port, and the system memory is 1-GB LPDDR2-900 SDRAM. Audio support is a combined 3.5-mm audio out jack and composite video. The hardware includes a camera interface (CSI) and display interface (DSI).

The Pi board can play 1080p video at 60 frames per second. It sports a new power supply rated at 2.5A5.1V. Earlier boards used a power supply rated at 2A5V.

Unlike previous boards, the Pi 3 boots directly from a USB-attached hard or pen drive instead of from an SD card. Similarly, Pi 3 supports booting from a network-attached file system using PXE.

The latest Raspbian OS image is available for download.


Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com

IBM Watson Forks Over $2.6B for Health Data Stash

IBM Watson Health on Thursday announced plans to acquire Truven Health Analytics for US$2.6 billion.

The acquisition will give the company access to about 300 million patient files, according to IBM, making it one of the world's largest holders of diverse health-related information.

One of its chief objectives is to use the data to bring more value to healthcare recipients. By integrating Truven's extensive cloud-based data sets, including cost, claims and lab results, into its own data sets, Watson will be able to create meaningful insights that can be translated into practical solutions for patients across the globe, IBM said.

Big Data's Big Impact in Healthcare

"We're adding more than 8,500 clients, which includes all the different stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem, from government to employers to health plans to hospitals to providers and life science companies," said Kyu Rhee, chief health officer at IBM Watson Health.

The acquisition of information is really about finding meaningful insights that were previously unknown, he told the E-Commerce Times. By combining Watson's analytic capabilities with Truven's rich trove of data, IBM hopes to crack many of the healthcare industry's biggest codes, namely value and accuracy.

"Now we house one of the world's largest and most diverse repositories of health-related data, and it represents about 300 million lives, if you add it all up," Rhee said.

"This is exciting because what does Truven have in terms of data? They've got a great cloud-based data set, which has hundreds of different types of cost data, claims data, quality data, outcomes data, which is now added to the other data sets we have. With the power of Watson, with cognitive insights, we are going to translate that big data into big insights to those key stakeholders in the health and healthcare ecosystem," he added.

An example of a stakeholder who would benefit from the acquisition is a doctor treating a patient, said Rhee, who is a physician.

"It's ultimately about providing more value. ... It is about improving quality, improving the health of populations at a reasonable cost. I, as a physician, want to know if I've got a patient in front of me -- whether it's taking care of diabetes, pneumonia or cancer -- I want to know that I am recommending the highest-value options to my patients in terms of care," he said. "That demonstrates evidence-based guidelines. That is consistent with the literature. That's consistent with the people like the person in front of me in terms of good outcomes. Watson will deliver those insights through cognitive computing. That's value. Obviously, I want to do it at a reasonable cost," Rhee noted.

The Price of Smart Healthcare

While there are other powerful analytics systems, none are focused on healthcare the way Watson is.

One reason is that it's a costly endeavor, especially when you factor in the countless variables such as the number of medicines, illnesses and procedures, according to Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

Building Watson was a daunting endeavor, but "IBM did it anyway," he told the E-Commerce Times.

"The first public use of Watson was for healthcare, so an awful lot of work has gone into educating the system so it can diagnose illnesses relatively quickly and very accurately. To carry this thing to scale, however, it kind of needs to be integrated with some system that already exists, thus the purchase of Truven," Enderle said.

"When you tie these two together, now you have the machine and the go-to-market and existing set of folks that can service and sell the overall solution. But now they need to scale it out and get it broadly used so people can see the benefit. Now people will be able to see the advantage of having an intelligent system, a cognitive system, which is better than anything out there," he said.

Because of IBM's huge investment in the healthcare field and its large amassment of data, Enderle speculated that the company won't have competition at that level in the near future.

"For a while now," he said, "they will be the only ones at scale."


Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com

EU Fleshes Out Privacy Shield Agreement

The European Commission on Monday released a draft of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield agreement, which would replace the controversial Safe Harbor provisions that regulated U.S. access to the data of European residents.

The legal texts aim to finalize the reform of EU data protection rules, which apply to all companies doing business in the region, EC officials said. An umbrella agreement between the U.S. and the EU would establish high data protection standards on data transfers across the Atlantic.

"Protecting personal data is my priority both inside the EU and internationally," said Commissioner Vera Jourova. "The EU-U.S. Privacy Shield is a strong new framework, based on robust enforcement and monitoring, easier redress for individuals, and, for the first time, written assurance from our U.S. partners on the limitations and safeguards regarding access to data by public authorities on national security grounds."

The plan also calls for an ombudsman within the U.S. State Department as a possible redress against any allegations of privacy violations.

Complaints against companies must be resolved within 45 days, a free alternative dispute resolution process will be available, and EU members will be able to file complaints with their own national data protection authorities, the EC said.

President Obama signed the Judicial Redress Act on Feb. 24, and the commission is expected to propose the signature of the umbrella agreement.

Lack of Privacy Protections

"They tried to put 10 layers of lipstick on a pig, but I doubt the court and the DPA's now suddenly want to cuddle with it," said Max Schrems, who filed a lawsuit challenging the transfer of private data to Facebook's European subsidiary in Ireland.

The agreement fails to protect against access to private data, among other shortfalls, he told the E-Commerce Times.

It allows companies to self-certify and fails to provide adequate protection for the private data of individual users, according to Access Now.

"The flow of data might go on for now, but there remains insufficient protection for users' private data, insufficient legal certainty for companies." said Estelle Masse, EU policy analyst at Access Now.

The bigger news embedded in this deal is the failure to address the issue of how non-EU countries should deal with EU data, said Kapil Raina, a vice president at HyTrust.

"The entire reason the EU invalidated the previous Safe Harbor laws was the revelation that government entities may be able to in fact look at noncitizen data via international U.S. companies," he told the E-Commerce Times.

Transatlantic Commerce

The deal is a strong agreement that enables transatlantic commerce while safeguarding privacy for individuals, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker said.

"The EU-U.S. Privacy Shield is a tremendous victory for privacy, individuals and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic," she said. "We have spent more than two years constructing a modernized and comprehensive framework that addresses the concerns of the European Court of Justice and protects privacy."

It underpins more than US$260 billion in digital services trade across the country and will allow U.S. and EU businesses and individuals to continue to access online services, Pritzker said.

The agreement would grant the U.S. access to data, while providing enough safeguards to the EU and offer a self-regulating mechanism at the State Department, according to the Information Technology Industry Council.

"After our initial review," said Josh Kallmer, senior vice president for global policy at ITIC, "it appears the two sides have achieved the objective of securing an agreement that both enhances privacy protections and provides the certainty needed to promote innovation and economic growth."


Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com

Microsoft Prods Skylake Users to Take the Windows 10 Plunge

Microsoft last week announced that within the next 18 months, it will end support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 on machines equipped with Intel's 6th generation Core processors, also known as "Skylake."

As of mid-July next year, Windows 10 will be the only supported Windows platform on Skylake systems, and only the most critical security fixes will be released for earlier versions of Windows -- and then only if the fixes don't cause compatibility problems for non-Skylake systems running Windows 7 and 8.1.

Intel's upcoming Kaby Lake, Qualcomm's upcoming 8996, and AMD's upcoming Bristol Ridge processors won't receive any Windows 7 or 8.1 support at all.

On systems running Windows 10, Skylake enables up to 30x better graphics and 3x the battery life of Windows 7 PCs. Also, the combo offers better security with silicon-based Credential Guard, according to Microsoft.

The announcement drew some criticism, with one blogger calling it "PR idiocy."

However, "with virtually every other high-tech product, the OS and the hardware are wedded ... from your TV to your smartphone," noted Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

"You can then tune the OS specifically for the hardware and reduce the complexity of the result," he told TechNewsWorld.

Protecting Windows 7 and 8.1 Users

Microsoft will continue to support Windows 7 and 8.1 on other systems.

It will support Windows 7 for security, reliability and compatibility through Jan. 14, 2020, and Windows 8.1 through Jan. 10, 2023, on previous-generation silicon. That includes most of the devices available for purchase now.

Redesigning Windows 7 subsystems to embrace new silicon would introduce churn into the Windows 7 code base, and it would break Microsoft's commitment to deliver security, reliability and compatibility to its installed base, the company said.

"Old OSes can't anticipate future hardware, and if you take new OSes back, you increase complexity and reduce reliability for new hardware," Enderle pointed out. Also, it would "reduce the need to buy new hardware, which then hurts profits and revenues for your hardware partners."

Running the older versions of Windows on new hardware "would be like buying a new Ford Mustang and putting a 2- or 5-year-old engine on it because you know that engine better. The end result would be a mess," Enderle remarked.

"We as customers have asked for an appliance where stuff just works," he said. "You can't have stuff just work if you do idiotic things like mixing and matching operating systems and hardware platforms."

Change Is the Only Constant

Microsoft's move is necessary because "increasingly, people don't have static environments; increasingly, they're using their computers for a myriad of things," said Laura DiDio, a research director at Strategy Analytics.

Both business users and consumers "are putting greater demand on our processors for speed, volume and variety," so new hardware and a new OS are necessary, she told TechNewsWorld. "Microsoft's giving users who aren't on the leading edge and can get by with 'good enough' a path -- but it's also saying it's got to move ahead."

Who'll Feel the Pain

The corporate side is more likely to feel the pain of upgrading, suggested Linn Huang, a research director at IDC.

"Personal security is far less complicated than enterprise security, and the PC has largely become a browser-based device in the home, particularly with the onslaught of cloud services," he told TechNewsWorld. "Consequently, consumers have less concern moving to the new OS immediately."

However, a "large majority" of organizations will be running Windows 7 at the end of this year, Huang noted, and enterprises that have "loyally" purchased models that may not be on the Windows 7/Windows 8.1 supported list might extend hardware lifecycles further than expected to postpone new hardware development.

With Windows 10 and Skylake, Huang observed, "we really are seeing the best and most interesting PCs we've seen on the market in a long time."


Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com

IDC: There's Hope on the PC Horizon

IDC last week reported worldwide PC shipments totaled nearly 72 million units in the fourth quarter of 2015, d
own 10.6 percent year over year -- the largest YoY decline ever.

While shipments in Q4 were slightly higher than in Q3, 2015 was the first year since 2008 that fewer than 300 million PCs were shipped, the company said.

Longer PC life cycles, competition from mobile phones and tablets, economic issues such as falling commodity prices and weak international currencies, and social disruptions in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific contributed to the poor results, IDC said.

The end of support for Windows XP, a surge in PC replacements in 2014 because of price cuts, and Microsoft's free upgrade program for its new Windows 10 OS also played a role.

Market evaluation of the various new kinds of PCs available -- slim, convertible, detachables and touch versions -- vis-à-vis the more traditional PCs is yet another factor.

Hope for the Future

"The down year for the PC market was very troubling for all OEMs, but I'd separate market disruptions from the broader market trend," remarked Linn Huang, a research director at IDC.

The global PC market will stabilize in the long run if there's an economic uptick, as PCs "are still a mission-critical device in the enterprise, and there's material room for total available market expansion in education as schools catch up to one-to-one initiatives," he told the E-Commerce Times.

Commercial PC refreshes "will offset long-term erosion of the consumer PC market," Huang predicted, as enterprises "will transition to Windows 10 faster than any previous Windows release, but again this is contingent upon the economic climate improving."

Overall, 2016 "will likely be a down year as well, but we are expecting some market stabilization subsequently," he said.

The Impact of New Technology

The impact of detachables such as the Microsoft Surface on the notebook market will accelerate, "directly replacing both a tablet and a notebook for an end user," Huang said.

Meanwhile, mobile devices "have had and continue to have immeasurably large impact on the PC market," and this trend likely will continue, he observed.

In the commercial field, the rise of smartphones led to bring-your-own-device initiatives, and companies "have had to steer some of their IT budget toward mobile readiness," giving PC refresh projects lower priority over the last several years, Huang said.

Innovation and Evolution Required

PC vendors need to evolve into becoming more fully formed enterprise solutions providers, and the more consumer-focused brands "will likely face heavier consolidation pressure," suggested IDC's Huang, citing Dell's planned acquisition of EMC, HP's recent split, Lenovo's acquisition of IBM's x86 server business, and Apple's push into the enterprise. There's also talk of a Toshiba-Fujitsu merger.

The figures "conceal the fact that Microsoft came up like a rocket toward the end of last year due to attractive designs and well-funded marketing efforts," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

More marketing is needed, he told the E-Commerce Times. PC vendors "need to form an NRA-like unit that can, through group funding, allow them to fight back on the message that money's better spent on other things than PCs."

Innovation is critical, but "desktops and notebooks are mature form factors," and innovation is coming primarily from "smartphones, tablets ... and emerging PC form factors like productivity tablets," said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

The productivity tablet "could be very disruptive, especially with Apple and Google leveraging their own operating systems and the traditional PC vendors trailing behind Microsoft," he told the E-Commerce Times. Vendors should "innovate and ... expand into new markets and applications."


Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com

What the PC Industry Could Learn From the NRA

One of the fascinating things about the NRA is that buyers of guns think the organization represents them, when in fact its mission is to represent gun sellers -- not gun buyers -- and certainly never gun buyers against gun sellers.

Guns for consumers largely have been banned in most of the world, with the exception of the U.S., which uniquely has the NRA. This likely makes the NRA the most effective industry association in history.

The PC industry, which is facing yet another decline -- and doesn't make a product designed to kill people (other than virtually) -- could learn a lot from the NRA. I also think the NRA could learn a bit from the PC industry.

I'll share some thoughts on that this week and close with my product of the week: a growler to end all growlers.

The NRA

The National Rifle Association is an amazing and incredibly effective organization. It is well funded, has capabilities that range from powerful lobbying to effective advertising, has broad knowledge on how to effectively use influencers, and in the face of mass shootings and significant groundswell against guns has protected the gun industry very successfully for decades.

We've seen other powerful organizations connected to milk and cheese, nuts, beef -- and especially, tobacco -- but the NRA has outlasted or outperformed them all, and it is an organization that protects an industry that makes products actually designed to kill.

The fact that this entire product class largely has been banned in developed countries other than the U.S. is testament to the NRA's effectiveness.

The PC Problem

We continue to see negative forecasts for the PC industry as a whole, and one reason is that the collective marketing spend for the industry is a fraction of that spent for things like cars. Efforts like "My PC Does What" haven't been able to turn perceptions around enough to reverse the decline.

For a while, tablets were blamed for taking the momentum away from PCs -- but that segment has even less funding and, as a result, it appears to be falling even faster than the PC segment is.

If you look at the individual trends of PC vendor sales, the firm with the largest advertising budget, Apple, is showing the strongest growth. The two strongest overall, Lenovo and Apple, both have product lines that extend to smartphones, suggesting there may be a synergy between the two product classes that most don't seem to get.

However, the overall problem with the PC industry is the continued perception that it is dying out, even though the biggest contributor to that perception -- tablets -- is itself on life support. In a case like this, an effective industry association can make a difference by addressing a large threat to the industry as a whole -- whether that threat be a competing industry, regulation, or a false perception.

One of the ways an NRA-like effort could be particularly effective would be to counter government antiprivacy trends, which are hurting the technology segment and U.S. technology products -- PCs in particular -- both overseas and domestically.

It turns out people don't like to buy products they think are spying on them, and the U.S. government has been particularly effective in scaring off buyers of U.S. technology products as a result of largely illegal spying efforts, and an inability to keep them secret.

The NRA Also Could Learn From Tech

One of the problems the gun industry has is a lack of churn, while the technology industry largely lives on churn. Folks don't cycle their guns, but folks do buy new smartphones and PCs regularly.

The NRA has resisted smart technology because it is run largely by old folks who don't want to learn new skills, and it feels this technology would increase costs and lower sales. However, smart products age out and need to be replaced regularly -- potentially increasing, or in this case creating, churn.

In addition, smart technology directly addresses one of the problems with guns, which is that far too often, they are used against their owners.

The NRA has been effective in covering up stats that indicate you currently are more likely to be shot with your gun than defended by it -- but in the end, a dead customer isn't a profitable customer, and concerns about gun safety eventually could overcome even an organization as powerful as the NRA.

So, while the tech industry certainly could learn from the NRA, the NRA actually could learn a lot from tech -- and the end result should make both far more profitable, and guns potentially far safer. In the end, that might be the nobler goal.

Wrapping Up

The NRA is arguably the most powerful industry organization in the world, effectively having blocked the elimination of a product for which killing people is a feature, not a problem.

While the PC's market issues aren't as pronounced, it is being impacted adversely, both by a false perception that PCs are being replaced by tablets, and by a screwy U.S. government strategy that is scaring buyers away from U.S. companies.

On the other hand, the gun industry really does need to address a clear safety problem and increase -- or create -- churn to build revenue and profitability, with smart technology the most likely driver. So, a collaboration between the NRA and the tech industry could result in huge benefits for both.

Don't hold your breath -- but you never know.

Now that I've moved to Bend, Oregon, I've rediscovered hard cider -- particularly Atlas Hard Cider -- and discovered growlers. Growlers, if you haven't heard of them before (and as far as I know, we didn't have them in California) are a refillable container, frequently used for beer.

In theory, you could use them for soda as well as beer and cider. They are green, because you reuse them, and They are generally less expensive than buying the beverage in cans or bottles. The problem is that if you don't drink the product relatively quickly, it will lose its carbonation -- and flat soda, hard cider or beer isn't very tasty.

The Growlerwerks Growler is an amazing looking device -- very steampunk in appearance (I'm a big fan).

It uses a CO2 cartridge to ensure your beverage is good to the last drop. It has a spigot and it is insulated, so you can bring it out for a party, and it comes in 46-oz and 128-oz sizes.

You can get it in steel -- or copper-plated for that extra steampunk look -- and pricing ranges from US$129 to $179 based on size and coating (the copper costs $20 extra).

I bought two of them -- one for apricot cider and one for blackberry cider, both from Atlas -- and they are different enough from other growlers to draw a lot of attention when I go in for a refill.

This is one of those products that just puts a smile on my face when I use it, so the Growlerwerks Growler is my product of the week.

Behind the Scenes at CES

CES surprised me again this year. For a show that comes too early in the year for most buyers and companies, it still stood out as having some truly amazing things. It will be remembered for showcasing the birth of personal flight vehicles, along with a Tesla-beating car, and Ford showing how it could do what Apple couldn't.

Surprises ranged from the return of a tech icon and the return of an iconic brand to a smart blender, and to a mystery phone that everyone was talking about but no one (that I know of) saw -- not to mention a secret meeting of technology movers and shakers. I'll fill you in on some of the back stories at CES and then close with my discovery of a new favorite thing to do there: Visit the Whisky Attic.

Personal Flight Vehicles

Apparently CES, which embraced cars some time ago, is moving toward personal flight vehicles. Showcased at the show were a drone designed to carry people and a 3D-printed JetPack from Airwolf. Granted, the Airwolf demo was as much a showcase of the printing capability as it was the jet belt itself, but both were incredibly cool.

Of the two, the Ehang drone is the more interesting, because the step from self-driving cars and delivery drones to drones that deliver you is actually pretty small. Drone transportation would eliminate the need for roads and take shared autonomous rides (something that Uber, Lyft and Ford are working on) to where they are likely to end up.

It is kind of scary that a company from China figured this out first, though. The next big personal transportation revolution may not come from the U.S., Europe or even Korea -- but from China.

The Electric Car Designed to Beat Tesla

Faraday had everyone drooling over its announcement of a Tesla-beating car. It does look like a car from the future -- but a future when we are all riding the Ehang drone, because it isn't even remotely practical.

It would be destroyed by any steep driveway or speed bump, and the problems that the Tesla had with road debris early on, when its batteries were being punctured, would be deadly to this car. Don't get me wrong -- it is a pretty thing. Still, going from a flying personal vehicle that could go most anyplace to a car that probably couldn't make it off most driveways seems to be a bit of a step in the nuts direction.

Ford Shows Apple How to Innovate

Most of last decade we complained that the car companies just didn't get it, and Tesla was the standing example of what could be done if technology concepts were used to drive automotive solutions. However, things have changed a bit. This decade, we are complaining that Apple can't innovate and Ford spoke on how to fix the problem at CES.

It has to do with allowing and promoting a willingness to take risks -- something that large companies, including Apple, don't do well. It's why most large firms have to buy innovating companies to get innovation.

Ford is driving a massive amount of change into the firm, and if you've seen the new Ford GT and some of the things it is doing with in-car entertainment, you likely were amazed at the progress.

AMD and PCs Are Back

One of the stories that resonated at CES was that while other core technology vendors were all over drones and self-driving cars and other stuff, Dell, Lenovo and HP were all about PCs. Behind a lot of the activity was AMD.

One of the most interesting 3D presentations at the event, "Cry Out: The Lonely Whale Experience," focused on the plight of whales and the massive amount of pollution in the ocean. It was really cool with water and wind effects, and a fully articulated motion chair.

Of course I wanted one for my home, but Dell wasn't receptive to my request.

Dell's Killer Press Event

Speaking of Dell, one of the things that really annoys me about CES -- likely because I'm an ex-actor -- is that even though it is in the entertainment capital of the world, the presentations tend to feature inexperienced hosts.

Companies will spend millions on staging and then have some unrehearsed executive who can't even read a prompter destroy the whole thing. Well, Dell brought in an appropriate actor, Josh Brener from Silicon Valley and The Big Bang Theory, and its press event was one of the best-flowing and most entertaining of the event. So a shout-out to Dell for getting it right.

Oh, and its products were pretty decent too.

Panasonic - Holy Crap

There were two vendors that really pulled out the stops at CES and, surprisingly, one was Panasonic. The product that had me drooling was a blender, of all things -- and not a cheap one, either. It retails for nearly US$600, but I like smoothies. This thing looks to be the smoothie king, and it looks cool.

Panasonic showed off a massive line of existing and prototype products that could revolutionize your home. One example was how to turn your garage into a brilliant man cave. It was clear that Panasonic wanted to own control over your house -- and damned if I wasn't tempted to let it.

Oh, and it doubled down on the Technics brand with some incredible sound gear and a nice turntable. Turntables are back?!?! When I first started buying my own stuff, Technics was my favorite brand, so it is great to see it back.

Lenovo - Holy Crap, Part 2

There is only one vendor that goes all the way from smartwatches to servers at scale, and that is Lenovo. No other dominant PC vendor even has watches, but Lenovo has two lines of them.

It was the first to market with a shatterproof flexible screen; it offers phone customization; it has an affordable laptop with an OLED screen (that everyone I know in my community currently is lusting after), and it showed off one of the best three screen monitor/PC combinations I've ever seen at CES, mostly because I could afford it.

Lenovo really stepped up its game this year. (By the way, one of the other things that was interesting was that Lenovo and Dell basically took over the major choke point between the Venetian convention center and the hotels. If location at an event is everything, they get the location award. I have no idea where HP was -- I never saw it.)

The Mystery Phone That Stole the Show

One of the big old backstories of CES is how Apple stole the show when it launched the first iPhone. There is always a chance that could happen again, and we were reminded of that this year, because the phone that folks seemed to be talking about the most was the Microsoft Surface phone.

Now, as far as I know, no one ever actually saw it or can even confirm it exists, but if you heard people talking about a phone it typically was the Surface phone they were talking about. That just seemed weird, because Microsoft phones typically get little interest -- but suddenly a phone that was only a rumor seemed to be getting a ton of attention. Damned if I'm not curious too.

Uber Shafts Lyft

One little side story is that this was the first time I've used Uber at CES, and it worked out rather well. Lyft actually had a better special deal, but the Uber guys went around to the hotels and put their Uber sign showing their special on top of the Lyft sign, so you couldn't see the Lyft offer.

I thought it was kind of funny, but I'm pretty sure the Lyft guys weren't laughing.

Wrapping Up

This year's show had me at jetpacks and people-transporting drones, but it was actually an incredible look at the future. CES remains both one of the worst times and best technology showcases in the world. It can be a wondrous and amazing place to be. It was again this year.

Oh crap, that means I have to go next year. Hopefully, I'll be able to ride one of those people-carrying drones into the event, because the traffic really sucks during CES.

I'll bet you thought I forgot about the secret meeting of movers and shakers at CES, but I didn't. You see, I was going to be part of a group that Robert Scoble -- a legend in our business who's now at Rackspace -- puts together every year. However, I screwed up the day, so I showed up Tuesday at Whisky Attic, although the meeting was scheduled for Thursday. I left CES Wednesday, so I have no idea what happened at that event, but when I showed up two days early, the folks at Whisky Attic invited me to stay, and I got trained on how to taste whisky.

This is now one of my favorite things to do when going to Las Vegas, because you learn something new -- you learn how to taste and drink whisky. (We all pretty much do it wrong, adding ice and water, and mistakenly smelling it first.) It is a ton of fun -- particularly about halfway through a 10-whisky tasting. It seems things just get funnier for some reason -- thankfully, Uber drove me back to the hotel.

Whisky Attic doesn't sell whisky -- a 10-bottle tasting is about $125 if you come in a group. Who knows, you may solve the problems of the world while you are there -- but unfortunately, you likely won't remember how you did it the next day. Whisky Attic is where the tech powers that be meet at CES in Las Vegas, and it is my product of the week.


Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com

PCs May Not Be Ready for VR's Breakout Year

Will 2016 be a breakaway year for virtual reality technology?

Exhibitors at CES 2016 this week seem to think so. More than three dozen of them will be flogging their VR wares at the show, more than double the number from last year.

"2016 will be the year of VR," said Brian Blau, a research director at Gartner.

"That's pretty clear with all the hardware that's going to be coming on the market and the push by developers and content producers into VR," he told the E-Commerce Times. "It will be a real awakening year for VR."

Still a Niche

Other analysts are being cautious.

"It will remain a niche, but 2016 will set the stage for the future," said Cliff Raskind, a senior director at Strategy Analytics.

"It could be a breakout year, but it will by no means cross the chasm into the mainstream," he told the E-Commerce Times.

The jump to the mainstream is at least three years away, according to a Strategy Analytics report authored by Steven Waltzer and released in October.

"The virtual reality (VR) market is expected to remain niche among hard core gamers and tech enthusiasts for at least the next three years," he wrote, "but as technology allows for a higher quality user experience at a lower price point, it will eventually emerge as an exciting new mainstream content consumption medium."

Sixfold Jump

Whether VR is a niche or not, vendors should see demand for their products climb to heights they haven't seen before.

VR headset shipments will reach 1.2 million units in 2016 -- six times what they were last year, predicts the Consumer Technology Association, which sponsors CES.

IHS Technology pegs headset shipment numbers even higher than that: 7 million.

Those numbers include all forms of headsets, from the most expensive to thecardboard models Google peddles.

"High-end integrated display headsets coming to market in 2016, which include PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, will sell well within a relatively narrow audience of enthusiast gamers that are very keen to try out the latest technology at any price point," said Piers Harding-Rolls, a director at IHS.

"I'm not a VR skeptic," he told the E-Commerce Times. "I think the technology has significant potential, but I also think we have to be realistic about how strongly it will be adopted in the short term."

Cool but Clumsy

One barrier to mainstream adoption may be the clumsiness of VR hardware.

"It's a bit of a cumbersome experience," said Glenn Hower, an analyst withParks Associates.

"It's cool and there's a novelty aspect to it, but right now it's a tough sell for the mainstream markets," he told the E-Commerce Times.

"There's still some work to do with user experience," Hower added. "2016 may see some more significant implementations, but I'm hesitant to say it will make the jump from novelty to mainstream."

More Muscle Needed

Another barrier to VR adoption may be a lack of horsepower in the existing base of personal computers.

Less than 1 percent of the 1.43 billion PCs in the world have the muscle to run VR, according to an Nvidia estimate.

For gamers, who are some of the most enthusiastic fans of VR, that means shelling out US$300 for a new graphics card -- in addition to $350 to $450 for the VR hardware.

"As such, I forecast only a minority of PC gamers will have access to the necessary source hardware to drive a successful VR experience when the headsets are launched in Q1 2016, which reduces the addressable market for PC-based headsets significantly," IHS' Harding-Roll noted.

At the same time Nvidia was appraising the ability of the installed base of PCs to run VR, it also was launching a marketing campaign -- called "VR Ready" -- to inform consumers about which of the company's graphics cards can handle VR.

"I think we're seeing a heavy marketing play here," Gartner's Blau observed.


Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com

10 Things on an Apple Fan's 2016 Wish List

When your favorite consumer tech company is also the best consumer tech company in the world, and said tech company is generally a magnet for hyperbole and blind customer loyalty -- while also producing more products at higher levels of quality than ever before -- what's left to really wish for?

Plenty, it turns out.

I'm not talking about a new Apple car or even any special new product category. As it turns out, I just want some simple things to work better. I'd like to see some refinements, really, small shifts in priority from Apple's various teams. Right now, most of Apple's products are like big glorious plate glass windows... that somehow still have a sticker attached to one outside corner. Why?

So what do I hope to see in 2016?

1. Better Apple Watch Battery Life

My Apple Watch is pretty cool and all, but you know what's not cool? Having to charge the thing every single day. Sure, I'm resigned to the fact (and habit) of charging my iPhone every single day, but there is something different about needing to charge your Apple Watch.

What is so different? You have to take it off to charge it, which means it's not able to do its job on your wrist. If I need to charge my iPhone, I can still use it while it's attached to a wall or battery. Sure, that isn't fantastic, but an Apple Watch becomes distinctly un-watch-like when you have to charge it.

2. Fix the Mac App Store

Oh boy, this is mildly annoying to me, but it's a travesty to Mac developers around the world. There are many things broken in the Mac App Store, not the least of which is low pricing pressure, no upgrade pricing models, and decent developers choosing to avoid the Mac App Store or leave it altogether.

Famous Apple fan, analyst, and critic John Gruber even went so far as to say this month that "The Mac App Storeis rotting."

I'd like to see Mac developers clamoring to get in. Why? Mac users are about as loyal to Apple as you can get -- so damn it, Apple, make their app experiences amazing.

There is some good news here, though: Apple just moved all the App Store responsibilities over to Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, which seems to be a sign that Apple recognizes the problems.

3. Better iPhone Battery Life

Come on, Apple, gives us an extra millimeter of thickness and more battery! This whole thinness fetish has a side effect, and battery life is the biggest issue. It's just maddening.

Let's have a show of hands: Who would opt for better battery life, even if it meant a slightly thicker and slightly heavier iPhone 6 or 6s? I'm in. Every freaking time. Surprise us with the iPhone 7, please Apple. Please?

4. Make an Apple Smart Battery Case

No, no, no! Apple gave us one of these, but who was clamoring for such an Apple-made battery case? Me, I actually like battery cases for when I have to go off the power grid, especially far outdoors, but the Apple Smart Battery Case is more expensive and offers less recharge power than the competition -- and it's not waterproof or particularly rugged.

So I have a compromise request on this one: Make sure that third-party Apple Lightning device licensing requirements are so inexpensive that third-party battery case manufacturers can produce competitive battery cases that also use Lightning ports for case charging rather than micro USB cables. Like I need to pack around more than one cable.

5. Get Us 48-Hour iTunes Movie Rental Periods

We're heading into 2016, and for some reason, we are still saddled with 24-hour limits on iTunes movie playback periods. This means if you start a movie one night after work, but get interrupted with say, life, you'll have to find the time within 24 hours to finish it. Either the DRM WORKS or it doesn't. Why punish your customers with arbitrary limits on protected content? It's all just so stupid.

I'm sure some of it is tied up with rights management from the content producers, but Apple apparently doesn't care enough to make it an issue and get it fixed. No wonder people think trotting out to a Redbox is smarter than using iTunes.

Bonus: While we're talking about iTunes movie rentals on our iPhones, why can't we have a 10-second skip ahead or skip back button? Those little virtual buttons are in all sorts of other video playback apps and services, but not Apple's. Why not? Why? Is it a patent issue? If it is, just buy the whole company that owns the patents. What's more annoying than missing a bit of dialogue? Rewinding too far back and then trying to return to your spot in a video.

6. Add a Retina Screen to the MacBook Air

The single-port MacBook is ahead of its time, and the super thin keyboard is lackluster. What do many Mac consumers really want? A MacBook Air with a Retina screen. If Apple released such a Mac at a reasonable price point, it would sell extremely well. I have no doubt about that.

Great balance of size with features... but I seriously doubt Apple will do it. Pity. Second best option? Admit that the MacBook keyboard is subpar, Apple. Remember that humans like how things feel, and get it right in version two.

7. Better Password Management on the Apple TV

The on-screen keyboard sucks, particularly for entering in even basically strong passwords with fancypants Siri Remote. Really not sure how this one got past usability testing.

It sure would be nice if there were a short PIN that could be used, so you didn't have to enter your iTunes password on the screen -- like, in front of a pack of teenagers -- just to rent a movie.

We don't need insane security inside of our homes, but we could use some simple security around guests and small children.

8. Produce an Apple 5K Monitor

Or even a 4K version. An Apple-branded monitor probably would be too expensive for the likes of me, but geez, part of being an Apple fan is lusting after something you just can't afford. Ultimately, I'm surprised Apple hasn't bothered to translate its iMac acumen into a sweet external monitor.

Better yet, my wish would be that Apple would build one that's price competitive (like the sweet value of the Retina iMacs), and surprise the hell out of everyone.

9. Stream NFL Thursday Night Football

Word on the street says the NFL is soliciting bids to stream NFL Thursday Night Football from Apple and other tech companies. I sure hope Apple takes this seriously and makes it happen.

This kind of "TV" solution would be perfect for casual fans who are unwilling to spend hundreds on cable and satellite packages.

10. Make Everything Just Work Better

This one comes from Brent Simmons who described an irritating Mail bug that affected his dad, ultimately leading to this:

"What I'm hoping for -- what I'm nearly begging for, more as a user than as developer -- is that Apple spend a year making things better. Nothing new. Just make things work better."

When I read that, I must admit, the sentiment resonated.

All-in-all, what's the big takeaway here? I just want refinements in my Apple experience in 2016. I don't need any new gadgets.

Oh, wait, I do have one more wish: I hope Tim Cook stands strong over privacy and encryption. As terror spreads, we all need to remember that creating digital leashes for everyone to wear is not the only answer. Freedom and privacy are key.


Source by: http://www.technewsworld.com