Microsoft Breaks Surface in Tablet Market

Along with Microsoft's release of Windows 8 this Friday (October 26th), there will also be a new tablet product introduced to the market. The Windows Surface is the new tablet PC from Microsoft that will be their leading competitive product against Apple's iPad Mini. The edge that this new tablet will have is the sleek attachable keyboard that magnetically clips to the bottom of the PC for instant use. There will be 2 versions of this tablet available at launch; the Surface Pro and the Surface RT. The Surface Pro is advertised to be able to do anything that a current computer is able to do while the Surface RT will be for users that are only purchasing the device for a more casual type of use. The Pro will come with an option to have 64GB or 128GB of storage space with a 3rd Generation Intel i5 Processor and 4GB of RAM. This takes a huge technological advantage over the RT where only 32GB or 64GB are available with 2GB of RAM. The Surface RT will not be running any lesser type of an Intel Core Processor, instead it will be running a Nvidia Tegra 3, which will require less energy but, will not be compatible with applications outside of the new Windows App Store. This processor will greatly decrease the amount of tasks that users will be able to accomplish while using the RT, and with its $499 base price, it makes one ask if it is really worth buying.

So far, the reviews on the RT tablet haven't been the greatest. Not only is the storage low, but it pretty much doesn't fit into any customer niche. For one thing, Microsoft has made it pretty much impossible to aim the product at business users. The business license agreements that need to be agreed to when using Microsoft office programs basically states that Microsoft Office cannot legally be used for business purposes. Outlook cannot be used by businesses to check their email, PowerPoint cannot be used for business presentations, and Microsoft Excel cannot be used for business accounting. Since they're altogether relieved themselves of that segment, it should be clear that the tablet is good for educational purposes and use in schools. However, unless the tablet uses Flash it will be useless to students, especially at $499 for 32 gigs. So if it's not marketed towards students or businesses, it's more than likely aimed at the consumer population, right? Wrong. For one thing, the tablet doesn't have a very consumer-friendly name, the Microsoft Surface RT doesn't sound nearly as high-tech or trendy as the iPad or the Kindle or the Galaxy Tab. It also doesn't have nearly as many apps as an apple product. Their biggest competitive advantage is the fact that consumers want to be able to run their mainstream Windows apps, but it can't even do that, which means it definitely can't run PC games. Games are important to consumers. The bottom line is that this product is clearly not geared towards the audience of people who just wants to read emails, play games, and socialize. So far, there seems to be no customer class for this tablet other than corporate business users, who will most likely choose the slim ultra-book over the Surface RT anyway.

Cited:

"Surface." Microsoft. Microsoft. Web. 23 Oct 2012. <http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-US/surface-with-windows-8-pro/home>.

"Microsoft Surface RT vs. Surface Pro: Which Tablet Will You Want?." PC World. PC World, 01 2012. Web. 23 Oct 2012. 

Gerwitz, David. "5 big things that baffle me about Microsoft Surface RT." ZDNet. CBS Interactive, 22 2012. Web. 23 Oct 2012. <http://www.zdnet.com/5-big-things-that-baffle-me-about-microsoft-surface-

WhisperCast Makes Life Easier for Schools and Business

The aspect of having a physical textbook in grade school has begun to decline over the past few years with the implementation of ebook technology. This decline has increased exponentially with the growing market for tablet PCs, which are now being allowed in schools. WhisperCast, which is an application developed for Kindle by Amazon, now is being used in schools and businesses to purchase and distribute books and documents to all subscribed students or employees.

In the educational market, schools are now able to afford newer versions of textbooks and are able to distribute them to students easier without the risk of losing or damaging them during their use. Some schools may be reluctant to purchase new physical copies of books due to their high cost, but with ebooks the production costs are now considerably lower, thus allowing newer versions to be purchased more frequently and at less of a cost to the consumer. The stress of having to carry around heavy books will soon be eliminated and replaced with only having to carry a tablet PC. Schools can also run classroom networks where students can interact with one another over a Wi-Fi allowing a new type of learning experience. The program also allows teachers to manage their student's Kindles from a centralized system. It keeps students from misusing their Kindles and keeps them on task. The program also includes features that allow teachers to organize the Kindles into groups based on the students' grade level and allows them to distribute the assignments and classroom materials as a group or to select Kindles. Not only is the Whispercast program great for educational purposes, the Kindles provide 'classic' books that can be read and used by students and teachers free of charge.

Not only is Whispercast ideal for a classroom setting, it offers many benefits for business who utilize Kindles as well. Because the program allows for a centralized management system that can manage different groups of Kindles, it is an ideal tool for a company to give to their employees to keep everyone up to speed on what's going on in the business. The program allows businesses to replace textbooks with presentations and it is useful in the distribution of Portable Document Formats and other documents to employees and consumers as well. Security features have been incorporated into the program allowing managers and users to control device settings including Wi-Fi settings and password protection, which helps keep a business's Kindle network secure. Whispercast has also proved to be helpful with non-profit organizations as well. The program has allowed one organization to deliver more than 200,000 e-books to children is Sub-Saharan Africa via the Kindle. Whispercast also supports free Kindle apps in Windows, iOS, OSX, and Android, something that Apple's iPads and iBooks don't do. In fact, as of last January Apple didn't claim to have any real answers to the issue of how to make their own expensive tablets to students. Could this possibly prove to be a competitive advantage for Amazon over Apple? Only time will tell.

Cited:

Mlot, Stephanie. "Amazon Targets Schools, Businesses With Whispercast for Kindle ." www.pcmag.com. N.p., 17 2012. Web. 17 Oct 2012. <http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2411072,00.asp>.

Carnoy , David . "Amazon's Whispercast for Kindle targets schools, businesses." reviews.cnet.com. N.p., 17 2012. Web. 17 Oct 2012. <http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33198_7-57533963-286/amazons-whispercast-for-kindle-targets-schools-businesses/>.

Facebook Fuels Revolutions

 While most users of social networking sites use them purely for communication and entertainment purposes, certain countries involved in civil wars have been using these websites as a tool to revolt against their own totalitarian governments.
For months now Syrian civilians in Duma, a north eastern suburb of the capital have been protesting against President Bashar al-Assad's regime. These protestors have reportedly been using Facebook as a means to fight for their cause. Syrian activists have dozens of profiles on Facebook that include the photos, names, addresses, and other information on suspected awainiyya, or "The Watchers" who are government informants posing as civilian protestors. Syrian residents can use the social networking sites to report suspected informants in their neighborhood, and the suspects' activities are monitored on the site, providing the civilians with information about who to trust and who not to trust, before the suspect is 'outed'. Once outed, the suspects usually receive a quick, and often violent retribution from the protestor regime.
However, although the revolutionists claim that they don't use information and photos of suspects unless they're absolutely sure that they're informants, many civilians have speculated that some people are taking advantage of the aggressive attacks on the 'outed' government informants. They claim that some people's information gets put on the Facebook sites, making it seem like they're suspects, for personal reasons like vendettas, whether they're actually informants or not.
Because the Syrian protestors are utilizing social networking sites as a tool to aid in their revolution, the Syrian government has taken action by completely shutting down the civilian's internet to foil their efforts.

Along with the Syrian protestors using facebook as a tool to revolt against their government other
countries like Egypt have mimicked their actions. Kullena Khaled Said was brutally murdered in
response to this incident activist Wael Ghonim created a facebook page inspiring others to act on the
behalf of Said. Ghonim says "I wanna meet Mark Zuckerburg one day and thank him...I'm takling on behalf of Egypt. This revolution started online. This revolution started on facebook. This revolution started in June 2010 when hundreds of thousands of Egyptians started collaboratin content. We would post a video on facebook that would be shared by 60,000 on their walls within a few hours. I've always said that if you want to liberate a society just give them internet."

Facebook has always been a good source to use when expressing your opinions. These countries are able to utilize the social network as means of communication to protest their government and broadcast how they want the rights they deserve. It's interesting to see a website that most people use as a casual means of communication being used for a greater purpose such as a revolution. Since we live in America, and never worry about rights being taken away, it is mind-blowing to see how a government can completely take away the internet from an entire country.

Cited: Flamand , Annasofie. "Syria's protesters turn to Facebook to expose 'citizen spies'." The Guardian. The Observer, 08 Oct 2011. Web. 10 Oct 2012. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/09/syria-informers-protests-internet-facebook>.