21st Century Reading

A musing note:  Like her father, my 10-year-old niece Marie is a voracious reader who loves Kindle books because you can highlight an unknown word and search Wikipedia or Google. Recently she was reading a "real" book, and found herself tapping an unfamiliar word on the paper page to search Google! 

21st Century technology hasn't advanced THAT far...yet!

Android Malware likes Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich

Android phone users, check your phone bills.  More than one half of all malware detected on user smartphones turned out to be SMS Trojans, i.e. malicious programs that steal money from victims’ mobile accounts by sending SMS messages to premium rate numbers.

http://www.kaspersky.com/about/news/virus/2012/Malware_targeting_Android_has_a_taste_for_Gingerbread_and_Ice_Cream_Sandwich

Why is Microsoft Surface so much worse than Apple's iPad ?

Is this a biased comparison?  YOU have to be the judge, via your own experiences.  ASK for hands-on (not just a demo) before you spend your hard-earned money.   Hands-on is the only way to determine whether Slate's reviewer is correct or incorrect. 

http://www.slate.com/articles/technol/technology/2012/11/microsoft_surface_why_is_the_new_tablet_so_much_worse_than_the_ipad.html

My rules for choosing a new Smartphone

Everyone has their own criteria for the perfect smartphone.  For some, a smartphone is a grown-up GameBoy.  For others, it's a portable TV set.  Another group just wants to keep making phone calls.  The high school/college set just wants to send THOUSANDS of text messages.  And then there's the group which wants to leverage these new tools to free themselves from a fixed office, get "out there" but still have all their office functions in today's "post-PC" world.  Especially for THAT group (and possibly for others as well), here are MY rules for choosing a new Smartphone.

Rule #1: Most people can't go wrong with an iPhone (I'm biased -- it's what I use myself).

Rule #2: AVOID any Android phone at a version less than 4.0 (waaaay outdated and may never be upgraded).

Rule #3: If you've still got a Blackberry, choose one of these three -- BB is on its way down.

Rule #4: If you have or are going to get an iPad, then get the iPhone, because they work the same. If you're going to get some other tablet, buy the corresponding phone running the same software.

Rule #5: Smartphone software scales up to run on larger screen tablets, but you end up with 'fuzzy' software, as opposed to a native tablet experience.

Rule #6: When purchasing a tablet, remember that most developers write native tablet (ie large-screen) software for iOS (ie iPhone/iPad) first. Apple has sold 100 MILLION tablets. Other tablets sell based on lower price, but their users' software experience leaves much to be desired.

Choosing a new Smartphone this Fall, but bewildered by the dizzying array of choices ? Here's CNN's comparison take on the three latest models: iPhone5 w/iOS6, Nexus 4 w/Android 4.2, and Nokia 920 with Windows Phone 8. Windows Phone 8 is 5th place, Android has the most users among a variety of manufacturers, and iOS6 has the most users for any single manufacturer. CNN feels Apple's iOS is the easiest to learn, Google's Android offers more flexibility and control, and Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 is "fun" and MIGHT appeal to Windows 8 users (not many of those yet either). http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/05/tech/mobile/smartphone-operating-systems/?hpt=te_t1

Windows RT is NOT Windows 8 !

Office 2013 on Windows RT/Surface does NOT include Outlook, Access, or Publisher, and Windows RT won't run most Win32 apps. In February, Microsoft is expected to launch "Surface Pro" which includes full-blown Windows 8 (not RT), full Office compatibility (NOT free, you have to pay for it as usual!), and full Win32 app compatibility. http://www.winsupersite.com/article/office-2013-beta2/office-2013-home-student-2013-rt-preview-144542

Feeds and Speeds aren't the ONLY criteria !

Comparing hardware "Feeds and Speeds" (and cost) should NOT be the only criteria buyers use in choosing a device. Microsoft has priced their new 10" 16GB Surface tablet to be the same ($499) as an Apple iPad, or a 16GB Google Nexus 7 costs less ($249 versus $329) than an iPad Mini. Vendors compare hardware specs when that's all they have to compare.

After 35 years in technology, an early rule I learned was to "find the right SOFTWARE, then purchase whatever hardware that software runs on". Occasionally, you have to make choices and trade-offs. For example, Microsoft offers Office 2013 (Word/Excel/Powerpoint only) free with the purchase of their Surface RT tablet (and the Surface's keyboard is $100 more). The tradeoff? While a Surface with Windows RT looks like Windows 8, it won't run ANY older Windows XP/Vista/7 applications, and therefore can't be considered a PC/laptop replacement. If Word/Excel/Powerpoint 2013 is ALL you currently expect to do, then a $599 Surface RT with keyboard is fine.

The bottom line is that the value of Apple's app and content ecosystem is superior to that of its competitors selling less expensive or even comparably-priced devices with their own ecosystems. iPad mini is more than just the sum of its hardware.

http://www.zdnet.com/ipad-mini-is-more-than-just-the-sum-of-its-hardware-7000006354/