This is how you check the weather forecast using an iPad. Thanks to my pal Jason Piper for demonstrating on his new iPad! Enjoy!
Archos 7 Home Tablet is available for pre-order through Amazon for only $199.
This looks like a pretty cool Android tablet concept, and the price actually surprises me! This device is hard not to consider at such a low price.
I’m not sure what they are offering as far as screen resolution, but I would bet that this is a Flash-enabled device with a USB port, headphone jack, and memory card slot.
Archos plans on bigger versions of their device, which will be released soon after the 7. Looking at the video of the device on the Engadget website, I was not quite as moved as I was when testing out the iPad, but what the heck… it’s cheap, portable internet access. Someone will find use for it, I suppose!
What are your thoughts about this device?
Carlton Flowers
Gadget Geek
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It amazes me that no company has stepped up to the plate to release a true iPad competitive device. I just don’t get it. Sure, we have the useless “Joo-Joo” (doo-doo, poo-poo, whatever) device, which was supposed to be the “Crunch Pad”. But what use is this over-sized tablet device when you can’t run any software on it? None. And yes, there are a couple of ugly holdover devices from the mid-2000’s that have been on the market ever since, but they are either busted ugly, way to bulky, or simply small laptops missing the keyboards.
In my opinion, the secret Google Android-based tablet device has the potential to tap the market that Apple has primed more than any other company. Google showed us that they can seriously contend, quickly, when they jumped into the smart phone market with the Nexus One device. There were rumors floating about that Google had intentions to release a device built by HTC, running on the Android operating system, sometime during the first half of 2010. But reports came forth early in 2010 that for some strange reason, they abandoned their plans and put a “who-knows-when” release date on their product.
With all of the Android applications coming onto the scene lately, I am inclined to believe that Android application development could become the next hot thing. I don’t see them overtaking Apple, but they certainly could start to pile up a considerable number of applications for their operating system. The philosophical difference between Google and Apple is quite attractive, in my opinion. If I had to choose between “open source” and “closed proprietary system”, I would probably have to go with the open-source system.
However, I must admit, I am an avid iPhone owner/user. This smacks in the face of my programming and computer-building past. I learned BASIC programming on a TRS-80 (for those of you old enough to remember), then moved on to a Commodore-64. Next, I learned the Macintosh “GUI” system and stayed with Apple until I learned how to install Windows 3.1 onto old 286 computers in order to sell them. That led to a 10-year stint as a computer system builder, expert-level troubleshooter, software nerd, and programming novice. All of this doesn’t add up to the type of person who buys an iPhone. So why did I jump on the iPhone bandwaggon? Because it’s the best smart phone on the market bar none.
But I digress… hang with me, I will bring all of this full-circle! On the computer end of things, I want to tinker. I want to modify. I want to create. I want to break it down and build it back up again. I don’t want a system that does all the thinking for me. That is why I am attracted to the idea of an Android-based system, even more so than a Windows-7 based system. Heck, I’d even be happy trying out a Chrome-based system. And Google is in a prime position to tap into the market of people who are just like ME.
My question is, how long will it be before Google and possibly HTC come out of hiding, and share with us a projected date for a tablet based on Android? How many fence-sitters will grow impatient and purchase an iPad because they are sick of waiting for a contender? How many people will grow wary of the whole tablet craze, and opt to purchase a high-powered laptop computer before we see their flagship tablet product come to fruition from vapor-ware land?
Post your thoughts!
Carlton Flowers
Impatient Techno-Geek
(photo credit to www.gizmodo.com)
I’ve been reading up on blog posting style. This weekend, I read a post on someone’s blog that basically said you should blog like you talk instead of being too formal. So that is what this post is going to be about, and it is not going to be written in my perfected polished style with proper diction and grammar!
The reason I’m considering this idea is due to the fact that I have hit the proverbial brick wall on blogging. I’ve been at this thing for about 18 months now, and my original goal was to pump out one quality article a week. That turned into one a month. Then I started unloading stuff that I normally make people pay for, and all it has gotten me is frustration, writer’s block, and a lack of income. So instead of trying to make the most blogalicious business blog with all of the finest most well-thought-out business advice and information, I think I’m just going to shoot my mouth off about the things I like, an not worry one bit about how polished and professional it ends up looking!
I started blogging to market myself as a keynote speaker and seminar trainer. I’ve been doing that for about 15 years, and figured this would be a great way to get the word out. I then took a huge liking to Twitter and social media marketing, and decided to change my whole focus as a speaker and trainer to marketing with social media. 18 months and thousands of hours of research later, I have not profited a dime. Sure, I sold 2 or 3 seminar products, and I did have a smashing Twitter Turbo seminar in St. Charles, but I had planned on touring the country on a monthly basis and really taking the training thing to the hilt.
What I have come to find out is that there really isn’t a huge demand for this as of yet. I have an outstanding product for businesses and professionals who want to annihilate the competition using social media, and it saves them countless hours in learning to do so. But the number of people out there who even have the appreciation to understand how good this information is, well, that’s a very small percentage. So what has this got to do with blogging in a natural voice? Well, I’ll tell you…
Up until now, I wanted to make each and every blog post a work of art. I wanted it to have the voice and tone of something you would find in Business Week, or the Wall Street Journal (am I flattering myself?). I didn’t want to let a single post slip through that did not keep me looking 100% professional, for fear that it could hurt my consulting prospects. But being that picky has gotten me nowhere fast. In order for a blog to really do some damage, you need to be posting daily, or at least 2 to 3 per week. And the content has to be top notch. Well that can be exhausting! The question you begin to ask yourself is, “how long am I going to do this free of charge with no feedback?”
I can’t afford to continue doing that. But at the same time, I am a firm believer in the “Go Giver” philosophy (read the book by Bob Burg & John David Mann). If you don’t pay your dues by giving to the community, you can’t expect to extract money from it any time soon. This is a law, not just a rule. So how does this reconcile itself with my issue? I think I have figured that out.
You have to give, blog, write, shoot videos, and do audios about something you LOVE. If it is not something you truly love, you will burn out. I thought I loved the whole idea of social media marketing, but it’s not my passion (I can’t believe I’m actually saying that). My passion is custom automobiles, electronics, gadgets, art, singing, public speaking, entertaining, music, and family. Those are the things that I need to be blogging about! But how in the world will I be able to create a blog that has any consistency when my passions are so widespread? The idea that came into my mind was this: Use social media marketing to promote and advance these areas of my life, and start to build a resume!
The end result is this… I think I would feel much better about my social media marketing advice if I were to speak from experience. If I can say, here’s a couple of businesses that I grew and built by using social media marketing techniques, and here is how you can do that too, I’d be in my groove. There are so many people trying to become marketing experts who have never owned a brick-and-mortar business, and they come a dime a dozen. I am a former business owner (I had 3 stores) and I am about to jump back into the business arena again. This time, I will use social media to promote my business.
In the mean time, I could be blogging about anything and everything that excites me, instead of making perfect well-thought-out polished blog posts once every month or two about social media marketing. It’s going to be hard for me to do this, and I’ll need encouragement. But if enough people tell me, “go off the cuff and tell it like it is, Carlton!” then I’m going to do it! Once I have a few success stories to share, then maybe it will be time to start making “serious” posts again. Until then, this blog could become much more entertaining…
;o)
In today’s video update, I want to talk about the iPad, iPhone 4.0, the ongoing battle between Adobe and Apple over Flash and the banning of Flash development tools on Apple devices, plus jailbreaking the iPhone. I really want to hear some of your input, both for and against, on the topic of jailbreaking an iPhone 3Gs with the current operating system. I don’t know whether or not it is truly beneficial since this could possibly lock you out of future operating system updates from Apple. I lean towards not jailbreaking, but I could be swayed to do this if the benefits far outweigh the risks. Chime in!
Carlton Flowers
If you have been keeping up on tech news, you would know that we are in the midst of a very ugly battle between Apple, Inc. and Adobe, the creator of the Flash programming platform. Recently, Apple handed down a new rule that iPhone and iPad applications must be “originally written” in C/C++/Objective-C. That means that developers cannot use the Adobe Flash software platform to create iPhone or iPad applications.
This is a bold and aggressive move on the part of Apple Inc. that tells us they want to remain 100% in control of their ecosystem. It slams the door in the face of the company who is responsible for two of Apple’s most popular software products that run on the Macintosh system, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.
Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc., stated, “intermediate layers between the platform and the developer ultimately produces sub-standard apps and hinders the progress of the platform” in response to criticism of the company’s decision to not only ban Flash on its devices, but even as a tool for creating applications. Many of the developers using Flash claim to have spent thousands of hours on applications that will now be dead in the water with this ruling.
Adobe officials and many other critics of Apple claim that this move stifles creativity, and exercises unfair control over developers. But what is more important is the fact that this is a major step backwards for any type of settlement or collaboration to be reached between Adobe and Apple.
Rumors circulated in late 2009 that Apple was considering allowing Flashed-based applications for the iPhone while still preventing Flash to run in the Internet browser. But when Steve Jobs first presented the iPad to the public in March, we plainly saw during the demonstration that there was no plan to allow Flash to even run on the device. It was later stated, rather firmly, that Apple would not allow Adobe Flash to run on its new Internet device.
While HTML5 appears to be the next generation of video encoding for the web, Apple’s bold move may help to speed the process of encouraging website designers to make the transition from Flash to HTML5. But this process could take several years, and we can’t assume that Adobe will discontinue making improvements on its Flash product which could entice developers to continue using it.
What this all boils down to is the fact that the consumer will bear the brunt of this battle as two separate formats will continue to be developed for Internet content. Those in the market for smart phones and tablet devices will have to decide whether or not they want the best operating system and applications or ability to enjoy flash content on the net.
For now, consumers who desire having one standard platform to enjoy web content may not get their wish until the tech giants decide to settle their grudges. It’s either this, or wait until a new contender enters the market that knocks Apple off of it’s device dominance roost.
Carlton Flowers
Marketing Strategist
