Sunday, April 26, 2009
The Shuttle X 5000TA is a European version of the Shuttle X50 all in one Nettop. that is arguably the sexiest Nettop design, as we have seen at CES, but the X 5000TA now has a price: $641 (with Windows Vista Home). Without the OS the price will go down by about $100. Of course, all that is converted from the price set in Euros. Shuttle plus mentioned versions with larger displays and possibly beefier configurations. We would love to see one of these mounted on a VESA mount - it’s compatible! 
It might sound like a weird move to a niche market, but JVC just launched a 42″ LCD display aimed at… photographers. Why photographers? considering that display can reproduce a much greater range of colors than your typical big LCD display 100% of the sRGB space and 96% of Adobe’s RGB space, whether you’re overly curious. As an amateurish photographer, I would rather spend money on a higher resolution display (this one is about 1 Megapixel), but it’s just me. 
Sony makes another attempt at the projector game with the following two models - the VPL-EX7 and VPL-EX70. Both of them share the ability to throw a 60″ screen at 1,024 x 768 resolution from a distance of 1.8m, thanks to its short focal lens. As for the latter, it falls under the BrightEra category with a contrast ratio of 900:1 and a brightness of 2,600 lumens whereas the former is more handicapped with a 500:1 contrast ratio and 2,000 lumens brightness. There is no word on pricing as at press day.
Nokia adds another Near Field Communication (NFC) device to its line up. NFC is a short-distance communication protocol (<1 feet) that can be used for contactless payments, among other things. The Nokia 6216 Classic stores your payment knowledge (credit card…) in the SIM card, which already has some robust shield features. The 6216 classic is an “average” phone that’s meant for a mass-market. The notion is that more citizens would care about easy payments that they care about installing eye-candy applications, for example.Stable and completed code for Windows 7 will be released to early adopters during the coming week, with mass availability planned for the following Tuesday.
The eagerly awaited Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 will be posted to members of Microsoft's Developer Network and TechNet for download on April 30. RC1 will be made generally available on May 5, Microsoft said late Friday.
Microsoft confirmed the dates after the RC leaked to four torrent sites, causing excitement and frustration that Microsoft didn't appear to be offering a date for release.
This is expected to be the last code cut before Windows 7 is delivered as final product, unless major bugs or faults are uncovered. Microsoft pointedly did not give a date for Windows 7's release to manufacturing when it announced the RC and has been clinging to a 2010 time frame.
The smart money, though, is on release to manufacturing and OEMs this year, as early as this summer. Consumers are expected to get Windows 7 on new PCs and as boxed product in time for the back-to-school shopping window starting in September and October or the holiday shopping season a little later.
Businesses on Microsoft's enterprise accounts are likely to get a slightly earlier lead-time on the new operating system.
Windows XP, the predecessor to Windows Vista, officially launched in October 2001 - in good time for the holiday shopping season - while Windows Vista was delivered to consumers in the fallow, post-holiday shopping period of a February - a fact that meant a disappointing start to sales.
Windows 7 has been pretty much completed from a usability perspective for a while, with people already using the operating system at work.
Windows Experience blogger Brandon LeBlanc said changes since January's beta included bug fixes and improvements to the overall "experience," He pointed to refinements in the new taskbar, the behavior of Aero Peek, Touch, and Windows Media Player.
The eagerly awaited Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 will be posted to members of Microsoft's Developer Network and TechNet for download on April 30. RC1 will be made generally available on May 5, Microsoft said late Friday.
Microsoft confirmed the dates after the RC leaked to four torrent sites, causing excitement and frustration that Microsoft didn't appear to be offering a date for release.
This is expected to be the last code cut before Windows 7 is delivered as final product, unless major bugs or faults are uncovered. Microsoft pointedly did not give a date for Windows 7's release to manufacturing when it announced the RC and has been clinging to a 2010 time frame.
The smart money, though, is on release to manufacturing and OEMs this year, as early as this summer. Consumers are expected to get Windows 7 on new PCs and as boxed product in time for the back-to-school shopping window starting in September and October or the holiday shopping season a little later.
Businesses on Microsoft's enterprise accounts are likely to get a slightly earlier lead-time on the new operating system.
Windows XP, the predecessor to Windows Vista, officially launched in October 2001 - in good time for the holiday shopping season - while Windows Vista was delivered to consumers in the fallow, post-holiday shopping period of a February - a fact that meant a disappointing start to sales.
Windows 7 has been pretty much completed from a usability perspective for a while, with people already using the operating system at work.
Windows Experience blogger Brandon LeBlanc said changes since January's beta included bug fixes and improvements to the overall "experience," He pointed to refinements in the new taskbar, the behavior of Aero Peek, Touch, and Windows Media Player.
Apple's financial results for its second-quarter of 2009 were very favorable despite a few dark spots. But though the company may have posted its most successful non-holiday quarter ever, there are still some signs that Apple is scaling back on costs in order to combat the effects of the current economic situation.
Apple's 10-Q form filed with the SEC noted that the company had 14,000 full-time retail employees as of the end of the past quarter. That number stands in sharp contrast to the 15,600 employees the company reported in the same document filed at the end of the December 2008 quarter.
Did Apple lay off 1,600 retail workers? There are other possible explanations, including shifting workers to part-time status or cutting excess personnel employed during the busier holiday quarter, but given that the figure represents more than 10 percent of Apple's retail workforce, it seems likely that a number of those employees were let go.
That jibes with other figures that Apple's disclosed about its retail segment, too. For example, the company said that it opened only one store in the second-quarter of 2009, compared with four in the year-ago quarter. In looking forward to the rest of the year, CFO Peter Oppenheimer said that Apple planned to open a total of 25 stores in fiscal 2009, half of which would be outside of the country. That's just half of the 50 stores Apple opened in 2008. Retail revenue was down year-over-year as well, going from an average of US$8.5 million per store in the second quarter of 2008 to an average of $7 million per store in this past quarter.
Retail is an expensive segment for Apple, as it requires not just hiring more workers than the company would otherwise employ, but also necessitates long-term investments like property leases and expenses like store construction and maintenance. In an environment where consumer spending has dropped off, that could make the retail segment particularly vulnerable.
Despite that, Apple has yet to close a single one of its retail outlets in the almost eight years that they've been operating. By all accounts its retail stores have been an incredible success in that time, attracting millions of customers and generating substantial revenues for Apple. However, the company's investments there are not without their risks, as Apple notes in the same 10-Q document, saying "The Company would incur substantial costs if it were to close multiple retail stores and such costs could adversely affect the Company's financial condition and operating results."
It seems that Apple has instead focused its cost-cutting measures on personnel to help avoid closing stores, but it's not inconceivable that we could see our first Apple Store shutter if the economy continues in the direction that it's been going.
Apple's 10-Q form filed with the SEC noted that the company had 14,000 full-time retail employees as of the end of the past quarter. That number stands in sharp contrast to the 15,600 employees the company reported in the same document filed at the end of the December 2008 quarter.
Did Apple lay off 1,600 retail workers? There are other possible explanations, including shifting workers to part-time status or cutting excess personnel employed during the busier holiday quarter, but given that the figure represents more than 10 percent of Apple's retail workforce, it seems likely that a number of those employees were let go.
That jibes with other figures that Apple's disclosed about its retail segment, too. For example, the company said that it opened only one store in the second-quarter of 2009, compared with four in the year-ago quarter. In looking forward to the rest of the year, CFO Peter Oppenheimer said that Apple planned to open a total of 25 stores in fiscal 2009, half of which would be outside of the country. That's just half of the 50 stores Apple opened in 2008. Retail revenue was down year-over-year as well, going from an average of US$8.5 million per store in the second quarter of 2008 to an average of $7 million per store in this past quarter.
Retail is an expensive segment for Apple, as it requires not just hiring more workers than the company would otherwise employ, but also necessitates long-term investments like property leases and expenses like store construction and maintenance. In an environment where consumer spending has dropped off, that could make the retail segment particularly vulnerable.
Despite that, Apple has yet to close a single one of its retail outlets in the almost eight years that they've been operating. By all accounts its retail stores have been an incredible success in that time, attracting millions of customers and generating substantial revenues for Apple. However, the company's investments there are not without their risks, as Apple notes in the same 10-Q document, saying "The Company would incur substantial costs if it were to close multiple retail stores and such costs could adversely affect the Company's financial condition and operating results."
It seems that Apple has instead focused its cost-cutting measures on personnel to help avoid closing stores, but it's not inconceivable that we could see our first Apple Store shutter if the economy continues in the direction that it's been going.
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