Selasa, 14 Mei 2013
BlackBerry’s BBM For iOS And Android Announced
May 15, 2013
BlackBerry is on the cusp of
turning its proprietary BlackBerry Messenger service (BBM) into a
multi-platform experience. Keeping BBM specific to the company’s own devices
worked wonders when the company was flying high atop the market, but in looking
to reestablish its presence in the iOS / Android-dominated market, BlackBerry
is now looking to spread its popular messaging tool to users of those two
pivotal platforms.
BlackBerry Messenger will hit both the Google Play and iOS App
Stores this summer, and will be absolutely free of charge from the get-go.
Those looking to get in on BBM will need to be running fairly recent versions
of both iOS and Android, with the requirements set at a minimum of iOS 6 for
iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users, and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for those
on the Google mobile OS.
Speaking of the company’s decision to take BBM to multiple
platforms, the company’s CEO Thorsten Heins said: "It’s time to bring BBM to a greater
audience . . no matter what mobile device they carry."
Although the decision is not perhaps all that surprising given
BlackBerry’s recent plight, it is one of intrigue. BBM’s exclusivity has tended
to work in BlackBerry’s favor, drawing in new consumers wishing to be a part of
the popular network. But as the company continued to stick with the tired style
of keyboarded handset while the likes of Samsung, HTC and Apple flourished with
more contemporary designs, BlackBerry definitely lost its way somewhat.
The new-look BBM will no doubt go head-to-head with the likes of
WhatsApp, a very well established cross-platform app which already boasts
millions of users. Heins also promised that the experience of BBM on both iOS
and Android would be fully-fledged, rather than a half-baked effort cooked up
as a marketing ruse, adding: "We’re
starting with messaging and groups, but we’ll bring voice, screen share, and of
course, channels later on."
Heins described the decision to release BBM now was merely
"a statement of confidence," with BB10 being strong enough without
the need for the kicker of the exclusive messaging service.
To me, this move looks to be in the interests of driving
consumers (back) to BlackBerry, but with Heins also confident of BBM becoming
an independent messaging solution, we’ll wait and see whether this decision
pays dividends
By. redmondpie
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Author:Susanto
BlackBerry CEO Questions Future of Tablets
Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins
said the popularity of tablet computers may wane, an indication the company may
shelve a follow-up to its ill- fated PlayBook device.
“In
five years I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore,” Heins
said in an interview yesterday at the Milken Institute conference in. Los
Angles “Maybe a big screen in your workspace, but not a tablet as such. Tablets
themselves are not a good business model.”
Heins is rethinking whether to offer
larger devices even as the company pushes ahead with fresh smartphones built on
the new BlackBerry 10 platform to engineer a sales recovery. The PlayBook,
introduced in 2011, was panned by critics for debuting without built-in e-mail,
delivering the tablet a near-fatal blow. Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry
took a $485 million charge later that year to write down unsold inventory after
shipping as few as 150,000 PlayBooks in the third quarter of 2012.
Heins said in a January interview he’ll
only consider a PlayBook successor if it can be profitable. He reiterated
yesterday that a BlackBerry tablet has to offer a unique proposition in a
crowded market.
“In five years, I see BlackBerry to be the
absolute leader in mobile computing -- that’s what we’re aiming for,” Heins
said. “I want to gain as much market share as I can, but not by being a
copycat.”
Q10 Prospects
In a separate interview with Bloomberg
Television yesterday, Heins said he was optimistic about prospects for
BlackBerry’s new Q10 phone, which sports a physical keyboard. It debuted over
the weekend in the U.K.
“We have very, very good first signs
already after the launch in the U.K.,” Heins said. “This is going into the
installed base of more than 70 million BlackBerry users, so we have quite some
expectations. We expect several tens of million of units.”
The shares rose 4.4 percent to $16.29 at
the close in New York. The stock had increased 37 percent this year on
speculation that the BlackBerry 10 lineup can help fuel a comeback.
The company is counting on a wave of
upgrade buying from BlackBerry users who prefer a physical keyboard to drive
Q10 sales and help revive revenue growth. While the touch-screen Z10 sold a
million units in its first quarter that ended March 2, in line with analyst
estimates, the company’s stock has experienced volatily in recent weeks
following reports of lackluster demand for the Z10.
‘False’ Information
Department store Selfridges and outlets
of Carphone Warehouse Group Plc (CPW) sold out of the Q10
quickly, Peter Misek, an analyst at Jefferies Group LLC
(JEF) in New York, wrote in a note yesterday.
“Salespeople were well-versed on the
device, and there was more apparent buzz versus the Z10 launch,” Misek said.
BlackBerry said April 12 it would ask
securities regulators to investigate a report from Detwiler Fenton & Co.
that its new phones have high return rates, saying that the “false” information
may have been released in a deliberate attempt to manipulate its stock price.
“Whatever the motivation is, you have to
use the right facts, and that’s what we’re challenging right now,” Heins said,
referring to the company’s request for both the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission and the Ontario Securities Commission to review the report.
Data from BlackBerry and one of its U.S.
carrier partners Verizon Wireless show that Z10 returns are “completely in
line” with the industry and “better than previous BlackBerry launches were, so
the quality speaks for itself,” Heins said.
‘Remain Steady’
In a separate report last week, Wedge Partners said BlackBerry is probably scaling back Z10 production.
Misek, who has a buy rating on BlackBerry
shares, said he saw no sign of Z10 manufacturing cuts and that “Z10 sales in Canada
the U.S. and U.K. remain steady with no inventory or return issues.”
The Q10, set to go on sale in the U.S. at
the end of May, will sell through the four largest U.S. carriers for about $249
on a two-year contract. While that’s $50 more than Inc (AAPL)’s iPhone 5 it’s
part of a strategy to target business users willing to pay more for a phone
they think will boost their productivity, according to analysts including Anil
Doradla at William Blair & Co. in. Chicago
Lost Ground
The company, formerly known as Research In
Motion Ltd. (BB), has steadily lost ground over the past three years to Apple
and Samsung Electronik Co. (005930), which offered more compelling touch-
screen devices. Samsung accounted for one-third of smartphone sales last
quarter, while Apple had 17 percent, according to IDC. BlackBerry’s share fell
to 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter and then dropped out of the top five in
the first three months of this year.
Heins has said he is exploring the
potential licensing of the BlackBerry 10 operating system to other companies.
A successful introduction of the new
phones will “create a certain attraction toward BlackBerry 10, and then
whatever comes up, we will entertain any valuable discussion for the company,”
Heins said yesterday. “We are still observing and watching that space, and
that’s what we will continue to do.”
By. Bloomberg
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Author:Susanto
"Sound Camera" Can Show You the Source of Noises
By. Susanto
May 14. 2013
If you work with machinery, engines or appliances of any type, then you’ve
likely experienced the frustration of hearing a troublesome noise coming from somewhere,
but not being able to pinpoint where. If only you could just grab a camera, and
take a picture that showed you the noise’s location. Well, soon you should be
able to do so, as that’s just what the SeeSV-S205 sound camera does.
Developed in a collaboration between SM Instrument Company and the Korea
Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, the pentagon-shaped camera has
three handles on the back, and a total weight of 1.78 kg (3.9 lb). It
reportedly can be easily held in one hand. Other sound cameras do already
exist, but they’re generally larger, heavier contraptions that need to be
assembled and mounted on a tripod.
On the flat face of the SeeSV-S205, there are a total of 30 MEMS
microphones arranged in five spiral arrays. Utilizing a beamforming algorithm,
these are able to detect and locate both stationary and moving noise sources.
Additionally, a high-resolution optical camera located in the middle of the
device records images at a rate of 25 per second.
The output from the microphones and the optical camera are displayed on a
linked computer. They’re combined to show both a real-time image of the
subject, with a thermograph-like color-coded overlay that indicates the location(s)
at which the noise is loudest. A rattling dashboard, shot with the sound
camera, can be seen in the following video.
Part of the reason that the SeeSV-S205 is so much smaller and simpler than
other sound cameras lies in the fact that it doesn’t detect as wide of a range
of frequencies. Co-inventor Prof. Seok-Hyung Bae explained that this is because
“Abnormal noises coming from industrial products have relatively higher
frequencies.” As a result, it’s limited to noises between 350 Hz and 12 kHz – which
should apparently be all that it really needs.
The SeeSV-S205 won a Red Dot product design award in February. There’s
currently no word on availability or pricing.
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Author:Susanto
Apple vs. Google vs. Microsoft: One Platform Will Not Rule Them All
There are narratives circling the technology industry
that are wearing out their welcome. The primary one, and the one where I wish
more intelligent voices would prevail, is the narrative that there can only be
one winner in this industry. Namely that for Google’s ecosystem to win, Microsoft and
Apple must fail. Or that for Microsoft’s
ecosystem to win, Apple and Google need to lose. And of course for Apple to
win, Google and Microsoft need to lose.
Perhaps this narrative is best encapsulated in the
latest Nokia lumia smartphone Tv ad which showcases the apparent epic battle
between iPhone and Android users. As funny as the commercial is, average
consumers — the ones that make up the target market — really don’t care which
phone you or I use. Last year I wrote a column on that very subject called “
i chose the iPhone, You Chose Android – so what?”
As far as I can tell, these narratives are rooted in
not only a limited view of the technology industry’s history, but also in a
very shortsighted one. It seems as though since Microsoft’s Windows platform
dominated much of computing for several decades, it must mean it’s inevitable
that this domination repeat itself. It seems the expectation from many is that
we are simply waiting to see which platform wins. More specifically, which
platform will dominate computing market share the way Microsoft did in the
past. Let me explain why this is not going to happen.
Big Consumer Markets
The reason I say the “one platform to rule them all”
narrative is deeply flawed is that when Microsoft dominated computing, the
market was very small from a global standpoint. The market for PCs back then
was tiny compared with today’s market for smartphones, for example. Small
markets favor fewer players that typically dominate the segment. The
global consumer market for technology is massive. Massive global consumer
markets can sustain many players, competing for segments of markets, and all
making money.
Look at how many automobile companies the global
consumer market can sustain. Look at how many clothing companies, types of
aspirin, types of cereal, etc., the market can sustain. Believing that for
Google to win Apple has to lose — or vice versa — is like believing that for
Pepsi to win, Coca-Cola has to lose; for Burger King to win, McDonald’s has to
lose; for BMW to win, Mercedes-Benz has to lose. We all know how silly that sounds
— and that’s the point.
Interestingly, even though a few major conglomerates
own many of the underlying products that make up the variety I mention, each
product’s success often transcends the company itself but is wrapped into a
larger experience. This larger experience is bound to something central that’s
key to that company’s sustainability in the global consumer market: its brand.
Now, if we must get into a discussion about who has
the best chance to win or lose, I would argue that it’s not the platform we
should be looking at, it’s the brand.
Brands Rule the World
When you look at the global consumer market, you
simply will not find a company succeeding and competing on the basis of a
product that does not have a strong brand. A strong brand stands out. It is
recognizable. It leads to continually high customer satisfaction, loyalty and
trust. A strong brand continually re-creates an enjoyable and memorable
experience for its customers.
When a company builds a brand that the global consumer
market considers valuable, it puts itself in a lasting position. Nike, BMW,
Mercedes-Benz, Coke, Pepsi, McDonald’s, etc., are not in danger of going out of
business anytime soon. To predict their demise is as ridiculous as predicting
the demise of the strong global consumer brands in the technology industry. Of
course, not all brands survive. We have countless examples of mismanaged
companies, which lacked the foresight to disrupt themselves and invest in the
future. But the time it takes for a brand to unravel is much longer than it is
for a company without a strong brand.
A strong brand is not just sustainable, it is also
versatile. Brands compete well in their own markets, but a strong brand also
allows a company the ability to compete in new markets with new products. A
strong brand is one of the strongest, most defensible assets any company has.
It is one of the foundational things that often gets overlooked in many
analyses.
It’s time to rethink the importance of winners and
losers in the technology industry. It’s time to take a more holistic look at
which is well positioned to still exist in 20, 30, 50 or even 100 years.
Products come and go, but brands have the best chance at standing the test of
time.
Bajarin is a principal
at Creative Strategies Inc. a
technology-industry analysis and market-intelligence firm in Silicon Valley. He
contributes to the big picture opinion column that appears here every week.
By.
Time
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Author:Susanto
Minggu, 12 Mei 2013
Hanford Nuclear Waste Cleanup Plant May Be Too Dangerous
The most toxic and voluminous nuclear waste in the U.S.—208 million liters —sits in decaying underground tanks at the Hanford Site (a nuclear reservation) in southeastern Washington State. It accumulated there from the middle of World War II, when the Manhattan Project invented the first nuclear weapon, to 1987, when the last reactor shut down. The federal government’s current attempt at a permanent solution for safely storing that waste for centuries—the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant here—has hit a major snag in the form of potential chain reactions, hydrogen explosions and leaks from metal corrosion. And the revelation last February that six more of the storage tanks are currently leaking has further ramped up the pressure for resolution.Share is care ...
Author:Susanto
New Perceptions: Microsoft vs. Android
It’s
pretty clear that Microsoft, a many-time failure at mass-market tablets has
decided that if they can’t beat Apple and Android at popular tablets, they’ll
sue them instead. That’s my only explanation for Microsoft suing Barnes &
Noble, Foxconn, and Inventec over their Android e-readers.
Microsoft, we now know, from
Microsoft’s Horacio Gutierrez, Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property
& Licensing, that Microsoft was trying to win by litigation even before Microsoft commercially released Windows 7 tablets.
Gutierrez wrote, “We have tried for over a year to reach
licensing agreements with Barnes & Noble, Foxconn and Inventec. Their refusals to take licenses leave
us no choice but to bring legal action.”
Now, I’m no lawyer nor am I a
patent expert, but Microsoft’s patents strike me as the kind of bogus software
patents that are a perfect example of why software patents are a horrible idea. The patents cover such “patentable”
ideas as “Loading Status
in a Hypermedia Browser Having a Limited Available Display Area” and “Selection
Handles in Editing Electronic Documents.”
Be that as it may, the are
currently valid patents and Microsoft will try to use them to gain the money
its own tablets will never see. I agree with Pamela Jones, editor of Groklaw, the legal
technology site, who describes Microsoft’s motives as “Instead of developing a competing product,
they want to just skim off the top from the work of others.” Amen sister.
So,
why isn’t Microsoft just suing Google? A legal expert familiar with the
situation told me, “Microsoft will bring a series of lawsuits this year in
order to tee up the lawsuit it will eventually bring against Google.”
The
lawyer continued, “This is just one more step in a patent war that's going--to
spread throughout the IT industry. It will be years before it reaches maximum
intensity, and years more before the fire begins to die down. Most of this
decade will be spent in the fight, which will reduce innovation, destroy tens
of billions of dollars in value, and offer a field day to certain non-US
competitors. We warned people years ago about this, and now the Free World will
be hurt, as everyone will be hurt, by the patent wars resulting from the
companies' incautious embrace of state-issued monopolies on ideas.”
I
wish they were wrong, but they’re not. Instead of ideas and products, we’re in
for years of litigation instead of innovation.
by.
zdnet
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Author:Susanto
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