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With last week's release of the Sony PSP in the U.S. market stealing the spotlight from the ("old-news") Apple iPod and details of the XBox likely to emerge at the upcoming E3 gaming conference, it is time to take a real look at how gaming is driving the future of PC technology and entertainment Performance as a driver in the general business PC ma...
In San Jose, California, the city IT organization started an aggressive program to build the most advanced city hall in the state. The department's leaders thought they grasped the technology, and there wasn't a hot buzzword that was missed in the proposal. The local paper, The Mercury News, took an in-depth look at the bid, and the end result was an embarrassing investigation into city technology acquisition practices and a call for the resignations of a number of high-ranking officials. Meanwhile, the construction on the city hall was embarrassingly delayed. Further review indicated the city was overpaying by millions and had violated its own polices by single-sourcing to one vendor, Cisco...
I mentioned last week that I was expecting the other shoe to drop this week at the Game Developers Conference 2005. That shoe was the next generation of the Xbox game machine, and it dropped like an atomic bomb. The collateral damage from the resulting explosion could be extensive. It may even take out Apple, forcing the company to exit the PC business...
Last week was a busy week. It started with the Intel Developer Forum and ended with an American Press Institute roundtable on the future of media. We'll cover the second event another week because there were two things I saw while at the Intel event that I believe are potentially market breakers. The first is the end of games -- particularly m...
As we move well into the spring semester, more and more kids are thinking about life after college. Those that prepared wisely already know where their first jobs will be. Those that didn't may, at least for a while, need to get used to the question, "Do you want fries with that?" Although the industry has been hammered in recent years, high-tech ...
This last month saw a number of dramatic changes, not the least of which was the involuntary departure of HP's CEO, Carly Fiorina, and the voluntary departure of her closest supporter, Alison Johnson, who was largely responsible for turning HP into a marketing powerhouse I'd like to relate those two exits at HP to something I noticed last week, whe...
This week is the RSA Conference 2005, and today I'm doing one of the opening talks at a Trusted Computing Group lunch. I'm trying to find a nice way to say that I think the most common approach to security problems these days is completely whacked, but I have struggled with the "nice" part. Here are some of the things that are bothering me User Id...
2005 will see two big waves of new laptop computers. The first, based on Intel's new Sonoma platform, rolled in last week. The second, based on AMD's new Turion processor, is still several weeks off Sonoma is the code name for Intel's Centrino bundle, which remains one of the most effectively sold concepts from that company in some time. This rec...
Last week we talked about a number of platform companies that could drive the future of the personal computer. This week we look at PC hardware, and we will talk a bit about some of the unusual products that are already on the market Most are built by small companies focused on unique segments, but each, in its own way, is looking towards the futur...
This month we've seen a number of vendors present their views of the next generation of the personal computer, starting with the traditional PC vendors at CES and ending with Apple at MacWorld. Let's spend this week talking a bit about the different camps. While it goes without saying that each is absolutely convinced it's right, each also has issues that need to be addressed...
It was rather hard to find true convergence products at CES. Most vendors are still too enamored with technology and not excited enough about building a truly consumer-oriented, appliance-like offering. I wasn't particularly excited about Apple's announcements either, but I'll leave that to another time and focus on the companies and products that stood out at CES...
As I was working up my impressions of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week, one thing became painfully clear: The most important vendor, from the standpoint of interest, wasn't even there Not since the beginning of the PC era has Apple had this much attention. While much of the attention focused on iPod accessories, it was al...
It is almost the New Year, and I'm sure many of us will be glad to say goodbye to 2004. It is traditional to make New Year's resolutions, and I'd like to suggest some for the companies that make up the high technology segment It's always interesting to have a few bad years, because you have something to compare the good years to. But I've had enou...
The end of this year marks the halfway point in the first decade of the twenty-first century, and the tech industry has already gone through a number of dramatic changes Compaq has ceased to exist as a company, having been fully integrated into HP, while IBM has gone the other way, divesting itself of both storage and personal computers. Apple has ...
2005 will see the next big battle for the home. The concept of the digital hub is slowly becoming reality, and both TiVo and Microsoft are making a run for the gold ReplayTV is all but gone. Apple seems to have taken a pass on the entire concept. Sony is a player but has never been able to gain the scale necessary to drive this market, even thoug...
Nearly four years ago I predicted that IBM would leave the PC business, and it took IBM two years to convince me that I was wrong. Imagine how surprised I was this week when IBM actually sold its PC business to Lenovo Lenovo, formerly Legend, is a Chinese company partially owned by the Chinese government. The chairman of the new company will come...
Once again we are on countdown for Christmas, and many of you will take the easy way out and give cash, checks or one of those pre-paid cards that allow recipients to buy what they want at an after-Christmas sale. But for me there is something of a letdown in getting cash for Christmas, and I tend not to remember the gift or associate the purchase with the gift giver. As a result, the only time I give cash is when cash is the thing the recipient most needs...
The Insane World of Home Electronics 2: Media DistributionLast week we chatted about home automation. This week we move on to home media distribution On top of the automation projects in my home I mentioned last week, I've also centralized my two TiVos and can watch time-shifted programming throughout the house. In addition, I surrounded my home...
As a guest of AMD, I went to Indianapolis to watch the top Ferrari team once again whomp the other nine teams in what remains one of the most expensive sports in the world. This racing team has been winning for so long and is so dominant in this sport that I often wonder why anyone watches these races anymore. The outcome often seems preordained Th...
I'm a home automation nut. When I moved into my home a friend and I spent a week and $2,000 replacing all of the wall switches and many of the plugs with remote switches. I can now turn on and off my lights and sprinklers from my bed. (The latter is a handy anti-barking tool: Wet dogs bark less.) In the 1980s I got a little carried away and comput...
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