Chad's News

The author of the linked article argues that most tablet manufacturers are making a mistake by trying to cram as many high-tech hardware features as possible into their tablet computers. He contends that, aside from a small number of gadget-loving technophiles, users don’t care about those features. He then goes on to say that Apple and Amazon have the right idea, which is to create a solid base of services that integrate with the tablet, and that this infrastructure is what’s making their tablets successful. His argument makes sense to me, and if he’s right, I think we can see a shakeout in the industry within two or three years.

Link: http://www.techrepublic.com/…

Here at the Chad’s News network command center, we were the surprised recipient of an Amazon Kindle Fire—Amazon’s entry into the tablet market. After using it for a few weeks and reading some of the reviews, here are some comments:

The Kindle Fire is NOT an iPad. You won’t see all the features that you get in an iPad. But at something like 40 percent of the cost, this is to be expected.

The Kindle Fire is tightly integrated with the Amazon store. It doesn’t support the EPUB format, so forget about getting books through any venue other than Amazon. And even though it’s an Android device, you can’t purchase apps from the Android Market; instead, you have to use the Amazon App Store which contains a subset of the apps found elsewhere. (This is because the Kindle Fire, while based on Android, is not a fully-compatible Android device. So some apps won’t work on it.)

Storage space is limited, and you can’t attach an SD card to increase it. So storing videos or large music libraries on the device isn’t really an option. Most videos will need to be streamed.

All this being said, the Kindle Fire is a great device if you want an e-book reader with internet, multimedia, and apps. I’ve been having a ball with the Scrabble app. And while one reviewer thinks it will take over the entire low-end and middle of the tablet market, I think it may see some competition from the Nook Tablet.

One thing I really like is that the Denver Public Library has Kindle books that I can check out and read on my device. Way cool!

Link #1 (Review): http://online.wsj.com/…

Link #2 (Review): http://www.ubergizmo.com/…

Link #3 (Negative Stuff): http://www.nytimes.com/…
(via Kim Komando)

Link #4 (Comparison to Nook Tablet): http://www.komando.com/…

Link #5 (Comparison to Nook Tablet): http://arstechnica.com/…

NORAD is well known for its Christmas Eve tracking of Santa’s progress across the world, but this year is the first time you can use a smartphone/tablet app to track him. It’s named “NORAD Tracks Santa” and is available for the iPhone/iPad and Android devices.

Link: http://www.komando.com/…

Apple announced the iPad 2 on Wednesday, and Engadget has full coverage. Major changes include a reduction in thickness and weight, a dual-core CPU, and the addition of two cameras and a gyroscope. It will begin shipping on March 11th.

As part of the release, the price for the existing iPad is being cut by $100. If you were unlucky enough to purchase an iPad during the two weeks prior to the March 2nd announcement, you’re eligible for a $100 refund. But be quick, you only have 14 days to apply for it!

Link #1: http://www.engadget.com/…

Link #2 (Apple Return Policy): http://www.apple.com/…

Apple is reporting tremendous sales of iPads, making it “the most quickly adopted non-phone electronic product” with 3 million sold in the first 80 days and an ongoing rate of 4.5 million per quarter.

Link: http://www.cnbc.com/…
(via Kim Komando)

This is really neat! Get the Scrabble app for the iPad, and you can use iPhones as the tile racks (via the Tile Rack app).

Link: http://www.engadget.com/…

The linked article has an embedded video showing what happened when the author gave an iPad to his two-year-old daughter. Her proficiency is almost scary, which says something very good about Apple’s ability to design user interfaces.

Link: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/…

Last week Apple introduced its latest invention, the iPad. Despite the fanfare, I don’t believe the iPad will dramatically change the state of the art. I expect the chief reason for buying an iPad will be its advanced e-book reading capabilities.

The iPad has been described as a large iPhone. It can run all existing iPhone apps without modification. It runs the Safari web browser but has no support for Flash, which disables quite a few websites. It does not have a built-in camera, nor does it allow you to make phone calls (even VoIP is prohibited for now).

Link #1: http://arstechnica.com/…

Link #2: http://www.engadget.com/…