Switched On: On iOS, Now is Google's time

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

In the early days of the internet economy, the saying went that webpages were created on Macs, served on Unix and viewed on Windows. In the iOS app economy, it's often the case that apps run on devices by Apple, but connect to services by Google. With the exception of many games, at this point, apps increasingly strive to be internet services.

Google has been investing in more of these services for a longer time and in a way more directly tied to apps than Apple has. Google Maps has been the best example, but others include Google Drive (with its editing features), Google Voice and Google+. In contrast, Apple's biggest consumer online service success (other than the iTunes store) has been iCloud, which is less app-like and more of a silent shuttle for documents and files among iOS devices.

The latest Google app to come to iOS is the newest version of one of the search giant's oldest ones: Google Search, now noteworthy for including the Google Now feature set that has become an indirect competitor to Siri. Both interaction models have value. But whereas Siri is about having a conversation, Google Now is about avoiding one. It can do this because, unlike Siri, it is tied into a matrix of information about you through other cloud-connected Google services. Google Now is the proactive payoff for using them. In contrast, Siri requires you to manually specify your name and indicate your address.

In addition to Google's heritage being web-based (some of its early rationale for Android was to ensure that it wouldn't be locked out of Microsoft's then-ascending position in the smartphone space), it now has its own Chrome OS that is little more than a window into optimized web applications.

Much has changed between Apple and Google since the stalemate around Google Voice, an app that, at least in theory, could have done so much towards winning Google's allegiance on the mobile phone. Apple has virtually abandoned the prohibition against replicating the functionality of its own apps and Google hasn't delivered any major new functionality to Voice in years, instead turning its messaging attention to the social focus of Google+ and its integrated Hangout video chats.

One Apple policy that has affected Google apps on iOS has been the prohibition against alternate rendering engines in other browsers on the platform combined with not being able to use Apple's "Nitro" JavaScript engine. However, the speed hit that followed hasn't stopped Chrome from becoming one of the most popular apps for the iPhone and iPad.

Google's support for iOS is, on one hand, a simple way to reach out to a significant share of the smartphone market.

Google's support for iOS is, on one hand, a simple way to reach out to a significant share of the smartphone market. The company's line is that it would be open to, for example, supporting Windows Phone were the installed base high enough. However, iPhone users are desirable to Google -- not only to try to get them into Google's rival ecosystem, but to provide a broader target audience, particularly for Google's premium advertisers.

That said, Google apps on the iPhone are developing their own visual style with fonts and gestures that look and act more like a modern Android app than most iPhone apps -- helping to expose and acclimate iPhone users to Google's aspirational app interface. That situation is reminiscent of when Microsoft's Mac apps had a particularly Windows-like look and feel during the days when dark gray toolbars and status bars ran amok in Office. There was an eventual backlash that forced a reversal, but Google's services extend far deeper into our lives than Office likely ever will.

The next chapter of Google's love affair with Apple users will play out in devices that extend beyond the smartphone. Will there be a Glass app for the iPhone? Would Google Now cards pop up onto an Apple watch? For now, anyway, the detente between the two rivals is allowing rich functionality for those with divided loyalties.

Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research, a research and advisory firm focusing on consumer technology adoption. He shares commentary at Techspressive and on Twitter at @rossrubin.

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By: Unknown On 6:35 PM

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Switched On: How HP learned to stop worrying and love Android

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Only those who were at the highest levels of HP at the time will likely ever know the full story of the spectacularly botched $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm and webOS. In the span of only eight months in 2010, the IT giant's plans for the operating system underwent a titanic turnabout -- from a foundation technology that would infiltrate every crevice of its device business to an orphaned open-source project ultimately sold to LG Electronics. Was the shift driven by core business softness that precluded further investment, the personal fiat of a short-tenured CEO or a justifiable reaction to disappointing sales? All three likely played some role.

HP purchased Palm because it was dissatisfied with the options it saw in the mobile operating system landscape. Beyond the deep relationship the company had with Microsoft for PCs, it had dabbled with Windows Mobile on a couple of smartphones such as the HP Glisten that never saw broad distribution. It had also produced an Android device, an obscure netbook called the Compaq AirLife 100 that lacked Android Market and was distributed exclusively via Spanish telecom giant Telefonica.

HP faced the same dilemmas that RIM and Nokia did. Despite exceptional freedom to customize, Android was the path to commoditization that offered the chance to be a small fish in a big pond. Windows Phone, with little freedom to customize in the software layer, was a gamble on a comeback that offered the chance to be a big fish in a small pond.

Like other PC manufacturers, HP has used Windows 8 on tablets, notably on its slim, yet highly serviceable enterprise-focused ElitePad 900 that uses a clever system of add-on sleeves that provide new functionality. But when it comes to ARM-based consumer products, it has steered clear of both Windows RT and Windows Phone. Neither has grabbed significant market share from iOS or Android in the tablet or smartphone markets yet.

But now, about three years to the month that HP announced its acquisition of Palm, the company is returning to the consumer tablet market with the Android-based Slate 7. Unlike the TouchPad at its release, it's dirt cheap, coming in at $30 below the Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 and just $10 above the second-generation Kindle Fire. However, it provides full access to Google Play in a stainless-steel frame and boasts support for Beats Audio and printing. (The latter is something that HP hopes to extend beyond its own Android devices.) These may not represent the kinds of differentiation HP once aspired to with webOS, but they satisfy more consumer requirements than the TouchPad had a shot at addressing.

If anything, judging by the consolidation of power we've seen in the smartphone market, it is easier to make a case for Android as a force for commoditization than it was three years ago. But Android has improved significantly in that time. It's smoother, more polished and its developer support is stronger than ever as it stands on the verge of a major upgrade that will almost certainly be revealed at Google I/O next month. And HP will be one of the only major companies in the game with a sub-$170 tablet that offers access to the largest library of Android apps.

HP's first Android tablet should play well to its strength in the retail channel.

The Slate 7 may not set the world on fire in a blaze as red as one of its color options. And while HP may be better than Amazon at eking out some margin from low-cost devices, the Slate 7 likely won't contribute much to the bottom line that HP has its eye on in its devices business.

But after seeing TouchPad volumes crawl at the tablet's introduction and fly after it was discontinued in a fire sale, HP's first Android tablet should play well to its strength in the retail channel, particularly at Walmart, and should make for an easy bundle with a PC at back-to-school time. As it starts over in mobile, HP seeks to switch from a strongly differentiated product with marginal sales to a marginally differentiated product with strong sales. For that, there is nothing without volume.

Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research, a research and advisory firm focusing on consumer technology adoption. He shares commentary at Techspressive and on Twitter at @rossrubin.

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By: Unknown On 10:57 PM

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Switched On: Extreme takeover, home edition

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Facebook's management doesn't see any dichotomy in the phrase, "Go big or go home," at least as far as it might pertain to Facebook Home. After being dogged for years with questions about whether the Land o' Likes would create its own smartphone despite consistent denials, the company explained that its own phone wouldn't give it the reach it would need for its more than 1 billion members. With the exceptions of the iPhone and the Galaxy S series, a successful handset today might sell 20 million units. That's a number that many services would dream of reaching, but it's just one-fiftieth of Facebook's user base.

And yet, Facebook Home will start out factory-installed on only one device: the HTC First, a mid-range Android device available exclusively from AT&T. Home is also available as a download from Google Play for a handful of other popular Android handsets, including the Galaxy S III.

Facebook Home hardly represents the first time a company has taken the core of Android and extended it into something to call its own.

Facebook Home hardly represents the first time a company has taken the core of Android and extended it into something to call its own. Other examples include the Amazon Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble Nook tablets, which have taken different approaches in terms of the extent to which they support generic Android apps.

The short-lived Fusion Garage Grid10 tablet also created such a distinct layer atop Android that the company dubbed it a new operating system: GridOS. However, while the company dissolved before any GridOS apps could be released, the tablet could run a wide range of Android apps downloaded from Amazon's Android app store. And beyond tablets, products such as the OUYA, GameStick and NVIDIA's Project Shield seek to create their own optimizations or distributions for Android apps.

In several ways, Facebook Home is less of a customization than many of these attempts. For example, unlike with Amazon's tablets, Facebook Home preserves Google Play. This will make it easy to get, but also easy to remove. And so, Facebook Home faces a dual challenge.

Home requires users to make a choice around how their phones work.

On one hand, unlike with Facebook's native app, Home requires users to make a choice around how their phones work. Facebook is also not the first company to make an impassioned plea for putting people at the center of the phone experience. This has been a key benefit touted by Microsoft for Windows Phone, albeit one that hasn't been a compelling enough proposition to dramatically boost Windows Phone's market share yet.

Still, Facebook Home would seem to get around some of the challenges Windows Phone faces by not forcing consumers to choose between a people-centric, top-level experience and broader selections of phones and apps. And then, of course, many might not be sympathetic to the idea that a phone should put feeds of your social circles front and center. Apple, certainly, has rejected that notion. And as Switched On recently discussed, BlackBerry has put the message, not the messenger, at the center of BlackBerry 10.

The tougher proposition for Facebook Home will be getting it pre-installed on devices. Sure, HTC was willing to sideline its carefully crafted latest version of Sense -- which also includes a feed function -- to accommodate Facebook Home on the First. But HTC has been known to try lots of things in the name of being first. Some of these have been significant, such as Sprint's first WiMAX phone, Verizon's first LTE phone and anyone's first Android phone. Others, like the FLO TV personal television device, didn't pan out.

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Facebook remains stymied. Home is live wallpaper on steroids. In its limbo between app and operating system, it ultimately drifts closer to the former. Its ultimate significance may not be as the next version of Facebook -- an ambition that it may never have the reach to achieve -- but as a new breed of handset experience that customizes the phone's topmost layers according to the perceived needs of its users. Will the likes of ESPN, Starbucks, Harley-Davidson or Oprah be next to claim a Home-coming for their enthusiasts?

Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research, a research and advisory firm focusing on consumer technology adoption. He shares commentary at Techspressive and on Twitter at @rossrubin.

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By: Unknown On 9:33 AM

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Switched On: Unconventional, but not uncompromising

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

For T-Mobile, March went out like a lion, a roaring one. With passion for both invention and invective, T-Mobile roared against the contract during its UnCarrier announcement. The nation's fourth-largest (post-carrier) wireless operator will support its move away from contracts with a television spot that shows it as one of four bad guys riding into town to get people to do things their way, but then trades in its "black hat" for a magenta one as it no longer seeks to enforce those policies. T-Mobile says to watch carefully as each of the other bad guys has a distinct personality that reflects one of its main competitors.

T-Mobile is in a battle for getting consumers onto a network that is described as 4G, but evaluating the appeal of its announcement comes down to looking at four S's - subsidy, selection, speed and simplicity.

Subsidy

Among the motivators for T-Mobile's change of heart is the notion that people hate contracts; there are none in the new T-Mobile value plans. But is it really contracts per se that they hate, or obligations? Fundamentally, the new T-Mobile and its leading competitors are still looking for ways to defray the huge upfront cost of top-tier smartphones. Acquire the handset via other means and T-Mobile will be happy to start charging you for service, but so will its competitors.

One novel twist in all of this is that T-Mobile will offer to purchase back your phone if you don't want to keep it.

Alternatively, you could opt for what will likely be a growing selection of top-tier phones for T-Mobile's reduced out-of-store price. T-Mobile gets some credit for addressing the negative connotations of a legally binding agreement and an early termination "fee," but if you want to keep the phone you obtained at the discounted price, you'll have to keep paying monthly installments until it's paid off. One novel twist in all of this is that T-Mobile will offer to purchase back your phone if you don't want to keep it. As Tim Stevens noted in his recent Distro editorial, the appeal of that deal will come down to T-Mobile's "fair market value" buyback prices. Given the speedy depreciation of technology, though, one shouldn't expect an exceptional bounty.

Selection

T-Mobile is making the payment cost a bit more transparent. However, the cost of unlocked phones is readily available, and from there the math is simple to figure out how the remainder of the phone price breaks down over two years. In contrast, prepaid operators such as Boost Mobile or Leap Wireless either focus on second-tier phones or offer top-tier phones at a price that is generally out of reach for their customer bases. Score a point for T-Mobile on this, as the easiest to explain of its plan advantages. On the handset side, consumers that are less price-sensitive are looking for good deals on advanced smartphones and the chance to pick up a Galaxy S 4, iPhone 5 or HTC One for $99 should prove alluring.

Speed

However, early adopters not only want the latest in smartphones, but also a network that will feed it. T-Mobile notes its data-pricing advantages over Verizon and AT&T, but it is just starting to build out its LTE network. By the time it has 200 million POPs covered at the end of the year, as it says it will, Verizon may well have begun to deploy LTE-Advanced. It's easy for T-Mobile to compare its network prices to those of the Big Two. At least in the near term, though, it faces the tricky task of continuing to claim that its apples are comparable to AT&T's oranges, touting the speed of its HSPA+ network while also selling the advantages of LTE over it and the benefits of the fallback.

Simplicity

Then there's the simplicity argument. At its launch event, T-Mobile CMO Mike Sievert pulled out a small library of AT&T plan pamphlets. The array of options thematically mirrored a funny video loop played at the event showing the stars of IFC's Portlandia trying to buy a cellphone plan in a hurry, but getting bogged down by a mad maze of plans and double-talk. (One option presented was "free" after you paid a "one-time fee" for it every year.) Whether T-Mobile has succeeded in its effort to simplify depends on the group with which you compare it. The carrier has made headway against its larger competitors, but its plans are not as "get up and go" simple as those of leading prepaid offerings as they offer more options such as second lines and installment plans for which some details have yet to surface.

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Ultimately, T-Mobile is making a stronger push toward Bring Your Own Device while acknowledging that many consumers still look to their carrier as a way to acquire leading-edge technology for a low upfront investment. It's made immediate progress on differentiation and devices with the promise of a more competitive network in the offing. The most impressive aspects of its new positioning are the flexibility that it's been able to provide without excessive plan complexity and greater transparency as it closes in on a network-capacity expansion boon in MetroPCS.

Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research, a research and advisory firm focusing on consumer technology adoption. He shares commentary at Techspressive and on Twitter at @rossrubin.

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By: Unknown On 11:09 PM

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Switched On: Higher stakes, higher ground for crowdfunding, part 2

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Last week's Switched On discussed the issues around crowdfunding liability, offering examples of some recent tech projects that delivered late or inconsistently, and explaining the justification for sites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo denying accountability. Given this, there are a few options in how consumers choose to engage with crowdfunding sites.

One option, of course, is to accept their positioning. Understand that, when you pledge funds with the promise of a reward that may include the product you are backing, you are assuming risk. All Kickstarter project pages must now include a section that describes some of the risk factors in bringing the project to market although these descriptions fluctuate in how forthcoming they are. Project backers vary widely in their experience and all projects have some risk of not coming to market.

A second option is, if not avoiding crowdfunding sites altogether, at least waiting until the products they've spawned hit channels where there is more accountability. Crowdfunding sites have been fertile grounds for incubating new categories such as smartwatches (and overly fertile grounds for things such as minimalist wallets). As these products become available to the broader public after the initial backers, you may be able to purchase from a party that will offer you a refund if a product arrives late or not at all. Once products are offered via web sites of physical locations that consider themselves stores -- or even an eBay storefront or auction -- there may be more recourse.

One crowdfunding site is directly taking on the onus of consumer protection, in large part by focusing on the feasibility of -- and note this word -- inventions. Christie Street was borne of frustration when the founders' Kickstarter project, a charging station for iPhones and other gadgets called Pop, was coming to market just as Apple was transitioning to the Lightning connector. The project owners thought they might need to find a way to give the money back and found there was no easy way to do so through Kickstarter. (Pop wound up moving forward as designed and is now available for pre-order.)

Founder James Siminoff describes Christie Street as a store, but one that does not sell pre-made products. Products sold through Christie Street go through a rigorous technical analysis to determine if they can be made at all, and for how much. Christie Street will not allow a product that needs $250,000 in funding to float a $50,000 campaign. Addressing Kickstarter's assertion that the goal of the crowdfunding site is to allow backers to assess risk, Siminoff notes, "My mom is one of the people buying it. She doesn't understand if it can be made or not. The crowd can't determine that."

And that's just the beginning. Funds collected are dispersed to the inventors from an escrow account and are generally paid out a third at a time as certain milestones are reached. Factories are screened to make sure there are no child-labor abuses. But despite all the oversight, Christie Street has few rules about the kinds of inventions it will accept. Unlike with Kickstarter, household items are allowed. About the only two restrictions are food and firearms. The site will even allow consumers to purchase "insurance" on the product they're backing, which will ensure a refund even if things go wrong despite all the protective measures.

Crowd Supply is another site that combines, but also draws distinctions among crowdfunding, pre-orders and sales, allowing more cautious early adopters to cancel pre-orders if they don't like the direction a product is taking. Like Christie Street, it has few rules about the kinds of products it will accept; co-founder Lou Doctor calls it, "Kickstarter for capitalists," and agrees with Siminoff that crowdfunding for technical products entails different requirements versus artistic products: "It's like oil and water, red states and blue states. They just don't mix." Crowd Supply also helps product creators bring their ideas to market by working with a network of rated service providers and sets expectations about delivery by adjusting delivery dates depending on when pre-orders come in.

Crowd Supply currently has about 12 projects on its site, including an artistic food magazine. Many are in early funding stages although a couple are shipping. At Christie Street, without Kickstarter's traffic and resulting network effect, projects have had a mixed record out of the gate. Siminoff's own project, DoorBot, reached its goal, but only after the team kicked in money to get it over the hump. The one open project currently on the site, an earphone cord organizer called Kordl, has attracted less than $1,000 of the $25,000 sought with about two weeks to go in the campaign.

At CES, Christie Street and established accessory maker TYLT showed off a backpack called Energi with integrated gadget-battery charging. However, that product is now seeking consumer contributions on Kickstarter where it's closing in on its $50,000 goal. There don't seem to be any hard feelings on Siminoff's part; he's a backer.

Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research, a research and advisory firm focusing on consumer technology adoption. He shares commentary at Techspressive and on Twitter at @rossrubin.

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By: Unknown On 10:13 PM

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Switched On: Higher stakes, higher ground for crowdfunding, part 1

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

The power of crowdfunding is that, by aggregating relatively modest donations from what is often hundreds or even thousands of backers, consumers can help artists and inventors turn ideas or concepts into reality. The Pebble smartwatch that set the record for funds raised on Kickstarter was noteworthy for breaking the $10 million barrier. That money, though, came from nearly 69,000 backers.

Today, the two biggest crowdfunding destinations, Indiegogo and Kickstarter, offer different approaches to what gets presented on their sites. Indiegogo is a completely open site; there is virtually no screening of projects. Kickstarter, on the other hand, is a curated site. Projects must meet a range of criteria. As co-founder Yancey Strickler recently explained at Engadget Expand, the roots of Kickstarter were in the funding of creative and social pursuits. Kickstarter has been a haven for artists such as photographers looking to create a photo book or musicians seeking to cut a first album or create a music video.

Over time, though, through escalating successes such as the Glif iPhone tripod accessory, the Twine connected sensor and the Elevation Dock all preceding the Pebble tsunami, Kickstarter started to become better known for physical products and the pre-orders that came as perks for backing them. Tech and design projects now account for nearly $120 million of the $532 million raised via the site. Eventually, though, the question of liability came into focus; what happens if a backer doesn't receive the item they were promised?

On one hand, Kickstarter has taken measures to protect consumers by disallowing photorealistic renders that would imply a product is further along than it actually is. It has also disallowed ordering multiple units of a product (although certain projects have found ways around that) and that restriction may not make sense in some cases such as, say, a pair of video chat cameras. On the other hand, it has steadfastly insisted that it is not a store. Indeed, it points to such laudable projects such as a low-cost, wind-powered land mine detonator -- not exactly the kind of thing one would pick up on the next Target run (even on sale).

Still, that is cold comfort for the backers of products such as the iCache Geode, a strange and ambitious iPhone contraption combining NFC and e-paper with a reprogrammable credit card that was floated last April. The project blew past its $50,000 funding goal, raising over $350,000 and units were to be delivered in June. Some of the nearly 1,800 backers received their units to mixed reviews. Many others did not. The project's comments section is filled with angry statements from backers who had paid $159 for the product (with five backers purchasing "reseller packs" for $7,500), many of whom feel they have no recourse. As one noted last month, "I wish someone would just say, 'Look, this didn't work out, so go [bleep] yourselves.' We've just been left hanging, which sucks the most."

Other long-delayed tech projects include the Syre, a Bluetooth wristband adapter for the now long-discontinued sixth-generation iPod nanos originally due to ship last November. A recent update from the project's creators note that "we are unable to issue refunds in advance of finishing the project, as that would jeopardize the completion of the entire endeavor" although they will look into refunds prior to shipment.

Jorno, a promising folding Bluetooth keyboard, first saw public light back at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2011. It had a successful Kickstarter campaign last October after its creator, Cervantes Mobile, had initially indicated the product had been scuttled. In early February, though, the company noted only that there had been "a problem with our supplier" that would result in further delay. The update elicited frustration for its lack of specifics. The company followed up later that month with a new schedule that pegged the release of the product as September, assuming the deal with its new manufacturing partner could proceed quickly.

That many first-time -- and even some experienced -- gadget creators should experience problems and challenges navigating the rough terrain of product development and manufacturing is not surprising. While Kickstarter and other crowdfunding sites have attracted their share of established, or at least venture-backed, companies, there's a fair share of amateur hour on display.

Kickstarter says that it will take further measures to protect consumers. Its guiding philosophy, though, is to help educated adults best assess their risks.

The question of uncertain reputations and the potential fraud haunted another startup that pioneered a new marketplace many years ago: eBay. The company insisted it was not liable for transactions between those who bought and sold products. Ultimately, however, and particularly after it acquired PayPal so it could control the cash flow, eBay changed its tune. Indeed, PayPal is now often the target of frustrated eBay sellers who say that the company is too quick to pull the trigger on refunds on behalf of buyers.

Kickstarter says that it will take further measures to protect consumers. Its guiding philosophy, though, is to help educated adults best assess their risks. With their transactions falling somewhere in the gray between purchases and investments, crowdfunding sites may not be stores the way an Amazon.com is. But they are absolutely creating marketplaces. Next week's Switched On will discuss some options emerging in the wake of crowdfunding's laissez-faire.

Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research, a research and advisory firm focusing on consumer technology adoption. He shares commentary at Techspressive and on Twitter at @rossrubin.

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By: Unknown On 6:25 PM

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Switched On: A 4K in the road

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

The past decade has now seen at least three industry-wide technologies vie for the future of television -- HD, 3D and now 4K or UHD. The first of these -- HD -- represented a massive change for television that affected nearly every aspect of the TV experience from how it was captured to how it was consumed. A decade later, it is nearly impossible to purchase a TV that does not support high-definition. The second -- 3D -- was a mixed bag. While the technology became commonplace on high-end TVs, it has remained relevant for only a small fraction of programming. The question, then, is which of these paths, if either, 4K will follow.

HD, 3D and 4K have all sought to overcome high prices and a dearth of optimized content by counting on the "pull" of consumer demand. Indeed, once the HDTVs became more affordable, consumers flocked to them. However, two factors came into play beyond the increased resolution. First, the government's push to digital helped convince broadcasters to offer digital programming. As they made the transition, they added HD. Second, as TVs were transitioning to HD, they were also migrating to flat-panel technologies. Indeed, while many early HD buyers chose bulky rear-projection sets to save money, many of the early flat-panel TVs sold were less expensive "EDTVs," 480p televisions. Many flat-panel buyers cared more about the slimness of the TV itself rather than HD programming.

As long as the price delta is not too great, consumers can be sold on specs and future-proofing.

However, consumers were happy to embrace both flat-panels and HD as soon as both became available together in an affordable product, and America's TV landscape was forever changed. The industry moved on to smart TV and 3D as the one-two punch to get consumers to upgrade. However, most of the functionality of the former was relatively easy to add with an inexpensive device from the likes of Roku, Boxee, TiVo, Netgear or Apple. From the technical side, 3D was the stronger draw, but the reliance on glasses, mitigated somewhat by passive technology mostly supported by LG and Vizio, has stifled 3D content consumption. In addition, the percentage of 3D content remains limited and lopsided, heavy in mostly kid-targeted animation, and bleeding into horror, sci-fi, action films and sports.

Where will 4K land? In the short term, as was the case for early HDTVs, the question is moot for most consumers until the price comes down. Once that happens, there is some concern that sets may need to be too large for 4K to really make a discernible difference. However, the triumph of "full HD" that helped to catapult LCD televisions beyond plasma sets showed that, as long as the price delta is not too great, consumers can be sold on specs and future-proofing. In addition, while physical constraints might be an issue in some apartments or with some furniture, Americans have shown a willingness to embrace ever-larger displays on their TVs, just as they have on their smartphones.

Unlike 3D, 4K has no barriers to enjoying its full benefits every time you turn on the set.

Unlike 3D, 4K has no barriers to enjoying its full benefits every time you turn on the set, and a growing percentage of films that make sense for 4K should extend far beyond the corresponding number for 3D. Years down the road, virtually all high-end TVs will likely support 4K and the consumer electronics and content industries will figure out some way of delivering such content. However, TVs, more than any other mainstream consumer electronics product, remain furniture. While TVs have slimmed down even further from the initial flat-panel displays, there isn't the dramatic physical shift from tube to LCD or plasma that accompanied the HD transition or a government push acting to accelerate sales. It looks like the correct path for this 4K in the road will be right down the middle.

Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research, a research and advisory firm focusing on consumer technology adoption. He shares commentary at Techspressive and on Twitter at @rossrubin.

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By: Unknown On 5:56 PM

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Switched On: An ARM's race with Intel

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

As one would hope in dealing with two products that share the same name, Microsoft has maintained strong consistency between the Surface with Windows RT and Surface Pro. Allowing for a bit of girth variation, there's a similar industrial design as well as common features that have been nearly universally lauded (the snap-on keyboards) and lambasted (the underwhelming cameras). There's also an identical user interface as far as "modern" Windows apps are concerned.

This has created an interesting lab test to see what customers really want from a Windows tablet in 2013. The early and unsurprising results indicate that it's really backward compatibility -- even at a premium of half the battery life and nearly double the price. Lenovo, which offers its Yoga 11 convertible as a Windows RT tablet, will also bring out the device in a Windows 8 version. Indeed, if one is attracted to some of the advantages that Windows RT offers on its ARM-based variants, such as the Snap and Share features, multiple devices with integrated keyboards, broad driver support and desktop Office compatibility, its toughest competitor is Windows 8.

Customers, of course, don't really want devices that weigh more, cost more and have poor battery life. But the low prices and long battery life of the Surface RT devices are enabled by the Tegra 3 processor based on a design from ARM, the same architecture that is the basis for the smartphone chips designed by Qualcomm, Samsung, Apple and smaller players. And it doesn't support those old Windows apps that might enable some to use Surface as their only ultraportable instead of shifting between a notebook like the MacBook Air and a tablet like the iPad.

At CES this year, Intel devoted its keynote to talking about its march toward greater energy efficiency. It mostly focused on its early success in phones for two good reasons. Unlike with PCs, it has no incumbency in pocketable devices so there is far more to prove there, as well as great growth opportunities. Additionally, if it can compete in phones, one of the most challenging device categories in terms of power management, then tablets and laptops should be a cakewalk.

Can Intel achieve the kind of power efficiency that makes Windows RT superfluous?

And so, the race is on. Can Intel achieve the kind of power efficiency that makes Windows RT superfluous? For now, some of the company's major customers who use both architectures, such as Microsoft and Apple, seem unwilling to give up the performance and compatibility with app libraries that have been built up over a decade or more and so create devices based on both architectures.

That said, Microsoft is moving aggressively to turn current desktop apps into the future's equivalent of DOS apps; some of those Windows Store apps will run on ARM processors. And rumors of Apple's switch to ARM processors in the Mac line have swirled for years. The company has transitioned Mac processor architectures before, the last one (from PowerPC to Intel) in the name of better power efficiency. (In 2005, an Apple vice president named Tim Cook called a PowerPC G5-based laptop "the mother of all thermal challenges.") What's more, Apple now designs its own ARM chips; you don't see it entering the Intel x86 clone market or buying AMD.

More Info Live from Qualcomm's CES 2013 keynote Intel gets go-ahead for $4 billion chip plant in Ireland, will produce its next-gen 14nm processors ARM sees 16 percent profit increase in Q4 2012, 21 percent increase in royalty payments

Just as with the familiar mouse-driven desktop, x86 processors will be with us for some time to come. But as Intel continues to ratchet up per-watt performance, so will ARM. One key variable in the race is whether the critical mass of important apps can reach ARM-based systems before Intel narrows the efficiency gap, or at least until it can achieve a satisfactory benchmark such as 10 to 12 hours in a Surface-like device.

But even then, ARM may still retain advantages thanks to its licensing business model. High-volume mobile device companies such as Samsung and Apple may favor ARM for the customizations it can create for their own purposes whereas those who buy chips from the likes of NVIDIA and Qualcomm will want to play off innovations and lower prices driven by ARM licensee competition.

Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research, a research and advisory firm focusing on consumer technology adoption. He shares commentary at Techspressive and on Twitter at @rossrubin.

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Switched On: Battling for the Bronze

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

More Info Windows Phone 7.8 hands-on Nokia is hooked on Windows Phone, now has to pay for it Editorial: Betting on BlackBerry (or hoping)

Apple and Google, the latter riding on a Samsung partnership, continue to play an escalating game of units versus revenues to determine which is the top dog in mobile operating systems. However, two companies that were early players in smartphones, but late to revamp their operating systems, look on, seeking to establish themselves as solid third-place entrants, at least as a beachhead.

A couple of years into the re-emergence of Windows Phone and its slow crawl up the market share mountain, the company formerly known as RIM has released BlackBerry 10. Both operating systems lie somewhere between the cathedral of iOS and the bazaar of Android in terms of their tradeoffs between integration and flexibility, with Windows Phone offering a broader range of hardware since it is licensed and has been in the market longer.

Both BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone have burgeoning app marketplaces, but are missing many key apps. While Windows Phone has been gradually building its catalog in the years since it launched, BlackBerry's debut lineup was surprisingly strong. Still, there were numerous iOS favorites missing, including Tweetbot, Instagram, Pandora, Spotify, Hulu and Netflix. Also unsurprisingly lacking on both operating systems is strong support for Google web services such as Maps with navigation, Google Voice and Google Drive.

Strip away the app race and both operating systems also have ties to their respective pasts. The one for Windows Phone, though, is a circuitous one; it has less in common with its predecessor than BlackBerry 10 does with previous BlackBerry operating systems. Windows Mobile's history involved a close UI familiarity with the PC. From the beginning of Microsoft's mobile efforts in the PDA era, its touchscreen phone software has had a Start button and windows that could be minimized like the classic Windows desktop. Windows Phone removed the family resemblance, but only temporarily as the Live Tiles presentation became the default look for Windows 8.

BlackBerry 10's nods to the past are more concrete than reinforcing cross-product continuity (although the operating system will eventually provide a huge app-selection boost to the company's PlayBook tablet). When BlackBerry was known as RIM, it did much to attend to a loyal following, many of whom were reluctant to acquiesce to a more modern user interface. Examples include BlackBerry's support for a physical keyboard as embodied in the more classically BlackBerry (and more universally pronounced) Q10, strong enterprise management and the ability to turn the phone off at a given time.

But perhaps the best embodiment of BlackBerry DNA in BB10 is BlackBerry Hub. A listing of incoming messages that includes social network notifications, it is a modern take on the message list that was the default user interface of the earliest BlackBerry devices and embodies the company's focus on the phone as foremost a communications device. Indeed, there is no mail app in BlackBerry 10 as mail communications are managed through the Hub that is never more than one disjointed swipe away.

In contrast, while Windows Phone also has hubs strewn throughout its interface, its defining UI feature is the Live Tile, which is primarily a launcher with a light notification capacity. It takes a bit of gazing at various Live Tiles to get a holistic sense of what's going on. Windows Phone places a greater emphasis on contacts via its People Hub, making it easier to see in one place the various activities and updates from a range of people and even pin people (or rather, thankfully, their digital representations) on the top level of the user interface. It's more of an exploration model whereas the BlackBerry is a more active push to your attention. On BlackBerry 10, in contrast, family, friends and others are still simply listed in a nondescript and dehumanized "Contacts" app.

Some of the contrast might also be influenced by which products are most essential for each company as they embrace both smartphones and tablets. At the debut of Windows Phone 7, many noticed that its panoramas would be well suited to a larger display. And once it was revealed that the Live Tile user interface would be coming to Windows 8, it became clear that Live Tiles had to be a great fit for the larger displays that are more often running Microsoft software.

With BlackBerry, it's about the message. With Windows Phone, it's about the messenger.

In contrast, BlackBerry's bread and butter is the smartphone, and so much attention was clearly paid on delivering a user interface that could cram key information on the limited screen real estate without disrupting other apps. BlackBerry calls this Peek. The company's VP of User Experience Design Don Lindsay summed up the rationale at a developer conference last September when he said, "We know that, in designing for a mobile device experience, that it's all about screen real estate. And screen real estate is limited. In fact, screen real estate is precious."

With BlackBerry, it's about the message. With Windows Phone, it's about the messenger. Clearly, and as is the case with iOS and Android, all of these operating systems can relay the same information from the same people. Still, preferences in terms of interfacing with the people and information will play a role in whether consumers are willing to stray from today's most popular options as Microsoft and BlackBerry seek to recapture their former market leadership.

Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research, a research and advisory firm focusing on consumer technology adoption. He shares commentary at Techspressive and on Twitter at @rossrubin.

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Switched On: PixelSense without the premium

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Amid all the origami variations of the PC at CES this year -- things that swiveled, folded, docked and rotated around their hinges -- one of the more intriguing form factor variations came not from a twist on the classic clamshell, insurgent slate or a hybrid of the two. Rather, it was a variation of the desktop via the all-in-one, one of the few of that embryonic breed known as table PCs courtesy of the Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon.

Table PCs entered a broader collective consciousness in 2007 when Microsoft introduced Surface (a name it would later repurpose for its tablet line). A chunky, waist-high device that married a Windows PC with a 30-inch projection display and five embedded cameras, the original Surface offered an integrated multi-touch experience without a touchscreen.

Surface was capable of interaction with other devices that seemed magical, especially without using NFC. Place a marked glass on top of it and it could tell you the ingredients in the cocktail it contained. Place a WiFi-enabled camera on it and the photos would appear to spill out onto the screen, ready to be freely flipped, rotated, stretched and easily converted into emails via a simple postcard creation feature.

Alas, at about $10,000 and with most consumers already having a coffee table, Surface was too pricey for consumers. Mocked as a "big-ass table" in a parody video, it was relegated to a few hotels, casinos, AT&T stores and other public places. Prior to the release of the Surface tablet, Microsoft recreated the table-based incarnation using flat-panel technology. Samsung offers that product as the 40-inch SUR40 with Microsoft PixelSense. With a street price of about $8,000, it retains the ability to handle more than 50 touch points and interact with real-world objects.

Starting at around $1,699, though, the Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon promises to deliver much of the Surface experience at a consumer price. Unlike the original Surface, it is practical to use as a regular Windows 8 all-in-one desktop. Snap in the stand and lay it flat, though, and you can take advantage of a Lenovo app store that includes optimized games and other media-centric apps for the device. They are very much in the spirit of those early Surface apps.

Moving to a device the size of the Horizon forces one to give up the kind of orientation features one takes for granted in today's smartphones and tablets.

A good example of how this works is with the classic board game Monopoly, an engaging version of which has been created for the iPad. But putting that same experience on the Horizon really opens it up to multiplayer interaction in a way that the tablet-driven experience cannot. You can see the whole board during everyone's turns. Air hockey comes closer to approximating the actual experience (although there was some controller lag in the version shown at CES).

Just as the iPad's larger palette enabled experiences that were either inferior or impossible on the iPhone, the same can be said for Horizon versus the iPad. This is especially true for multiuser experiences, a novelty in the realm of personal touch devices. That said, moving to a device the size of the Horizon forces one to give up the kind of orientation features one takes for granted in today's smartphones and tablets. With Horizon you don't rotate the tablet; you rotate around it.

Horizon is not the first time Lenovo has been led down the sometimes challenging path of creating its own app store; it rolled its own for TV apps when it introduced its Android-based smart TV (not available in the US) at last year's CES. Indeed, yet another challenge that 2007's Surface faced was competing for developer mindshare with Apple's iPhone. But just as modern Windows 8 dockable tablets or convertibles reduce risk for the PC manufacturer by serving as a PC as well as a tablet, Lenovo can fall back on the Horizon's use as a large all-in-one with normal viewing angles and keyboard input if optimized apps don't take off. It's low table stakes for a table PC.

Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research, a research and advisory firm focusing on consumer technology adoption. He shares commentary at Techspressive and on Twitter at @rossrubin.

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Switched On: The 2012 Switchies, Part 2

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

The last Switched On covered some of the major Switchie awards for the year, but there are many other products to recognize:
The "Category's Meow" Award for Best New Category Creation goes to Supermechanical's TWINE, a small blue box that can relay information about its environment via WiFi to a website. Its fellow Kickstarter project Ninja Blocks followed suit with a more proactive two-way link to pick up an Honorable Mention.
The "Mulligans Do" Award for Best Product Revamp goes to the Apple iPod family. After a bit of staidness in the venerable iPod nano, Apple came back with larger screens and slender profiles on both the iPod nano and iPod touch. Honorable mentions go to the Kindle family of e- readers, particularly the Kindle Paperwhite, and the Samsung Galaxy S line of smartphones from Samsung, which took a huge leap forward with the Galaxy S III.
The "Voluminous Praise" Award for Best Compact Audio Product goes to the Beats Pill, which packs surprisingly clear and loud sound throughout its volume range. Honorable Mentions go to the Audyssey wireless AirPlay speakers and Kickstarter project Hidden Radio.
The "To Your Health" Award for Best New Health and Fitness Product goes to the re-released Jawbone Up. Plagued by water leaks in its initial incarnation, the Jawbone Up was redesigned to continue on the company's quest to provide a steady stream of passive contextual background information. This was a year when a number of competitors redesigned their monitors and an Honorable Mention goes to the Fitbit One.
The "Connecting Flight" award for Best New Non-Traditional Connected Device goes to the Livescribe Sky. Livescribe's strategy has taken many twists and turns since the dot-paper writing implement first appeared. The smartpen has shifted from a scrapped app strategy to a low price point and now to the cloud with the Sky, which integrates with Evernote in favor of Livescribe's Desktop app. The signature microphone and OLED display remain as the company has added WiFi. Honorable mention for this award goes to the Philips Hue app-controllable light bulb.
The "Hooray, Display" Award for Best New Monitor goes to the ViewSonic VSD220 Smart Display with Android 4.0. While HP beat ViewSonic to the punch with an announcement about a monitor that integrated the operating system, ViewSonic's was aimed more at the consumer market and offered an optical touch display for functionality even when an attached computer may be turned off.
The "We Value Your Input" Award for Best New User Experience goes to the Nexus 7 for its introduction of Google Now. Google Now recognizes that the best search is the one you don't have to make, proactively providing cards based on your context. Honorable Mention goes to Microsoft for Xbox SmartGlass, which sees the console provider branch out to offer secondary screen support to Android and iOS devices in the name of better navigation and gameplay.
The "Guess We Just Click" Award for Best New Input Peripheral goes to Microsoft for the third year in a row -- this time for the Surface with Windows RT's Type keyboard. While the Touch keyboard got most of the attention (and the bundle), the admittedly pricey Type keyboard delivered an even better input experience with a minimal thickness penalty. Honorable Mentions go to the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard for iPad, the Brydge+ laptop-style adapter for iPad and the ZAGG Mini 7 keyboard for iPad mini.
The "Set-Top Box That Rocks" Award for Best New TV Add-On goes to the Slingbox 500, the oddly shaped placeshifting device that, along with its smaller sibling, the 350, has returned the pioneering streaming box to retail to face off against the Monsoon Vulkano and Belkin @TV. Honorable Mention goes to Boxee TV, the $99 set-top from Boxee. It's a cloud-based DVR that uploads all over-the-air recordings to the cloud for consumption on a range of platforms.
Finally, the best crowdfunded device project goes to... well... it's not quite finished yet, but its creators urge you to check its updates page for how they have learned many things about the vagaries of manufacturing and how they now have someone permanently in China. Oh, and do update your shipping address.

Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research, a research and advisory firm focusing on consumer technology adoption. He shares commentary at Techspressive and on Twitter at @rossrubin.
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By: Dilusha On 4:38 PM

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Huawei Ascend D2 reportedly spied while switched on, teases an upscale look

Huawei has already confirmed that we're going to see its extra-large Ascend D2 at CES, but that doesn't mean a sneak peek is unwelcome. ITHome is more than willing to sate our curiosity with a set of photos that purportedly show a fully functional version of the 5-inch smartphone. In a sense, we know what to expect from the software: the D2 appears to be using the same customized Android layer as the even larger Ascend Mate, just without that fifth column of icons. The shots do, however, suggest that Huawei is going for a design as premium-looking on the outside as it is high-powered on the inside. Not much else is known, but we'll likely understand Huawei's fuller ambitions in Las Vegas next month.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Via: Android Central

Source: ITHome (translated)

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Switched On: The 2012 Switchies, Part 1

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

It's that special time of year between the holiday sales and the pre-CES hype that presents an opportunity to consider some of the most innovative devices of the year. Switched On is proud to present the Saluting Wares Improving Technology's Contribution to Humanity awards, also known as The Switchies. This year marks the seventh annual Switchies, which are decided based on a rigorous examination of the opinion of me, and do not reflect the opinion of Engadget or its editors. For that latter honor, nominees will need to win an Engadget Award.

This week's Switched On will cover many of the major award categories while next week's will cover some of the more obscure ones. Let's roll out the red carpet then.

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Switched On: The Three Cs of Wii U

Switched On: The Three Cs of Wii U data = {blogUrl: "www.engadget.com",v: 219};when = {jquery: lab.scriptBs("jquery"),plugins: lab.scriptBs("plugins"),eng: lab.scriptBs("eng")}; var s265prop9 = ('20386077' !== '') ? 'bsd:20386077' : ''; var modalMNo = '93319229'; when.eng("eng.omni.init", {pfxID:"weg",pageName:document.title,server:"",channel:"us.engadget",pageType:"",linkInternalFilters:"javascript:,engadget.com,joystiq.com,massively.com,tuaw.com,switched.com,techcrunch.com",prop1:"Engadget",prop2:"",prop9:s265prop9,prop12:document.location,prop17:"",prop18:"",prop19:"",prop20:"",mmxgo: true,disablepipath:true,mmxtitle:"us.engadget" + " : "}); adSendTerms('1')adSetMOAT('1');adSetAdURL('/_uac/adpagem.html');lab._script("http://o.aolcdn.com/os/ads/adhesion/js/adhads-min.js").wait(function(){var floatingAd = new AdhesiveAd("10000657",{hideOnSwipe:true});}); EngadgetMenuReviewsEventsPodcastsBuyers GuidesFeaturesVideosGalleriesTopicsHD Mobile Alt Announcements Cameras Cellphones Desktops Displays Gaming GPS Handhelds Home Entertainment Household Internet Laptops Meta Misc Networking Peripherals Podcasts Robots Portable Audio/Video Science Software Storage Tablets Transportation Wearables Wireless Acer Amazon AMD Apple ASUS AT&T Canon Dell Facebook Google HP HTC Intel Lenovo LG Microsoft Nikon Nintendo Nokia NVIDIA RIM Samsung Sony Sprint T-Mobile Verizon About UsSubscribeLike Engadget@engadgettip uswhen.eng("eng.nav.init")when.eng("eng.tips.init") onBreak({980: function () {htmlAdWH("93325870", "215", "35",'AJAX','ajaxsponsor');}});Switched On: The Three Cs of Wii UByRoss RubinpostedNov 25th, 2012 at 6:02 PM 0

In the pre-post-PC era, life was simpler for Nintendo and other successful competitors: Sell console. Sell discs. Repeat until wildly profitable. Six years ago, as Microsoft and Sony were taking part in a game of specification leapfrogging, Nintendo embraced casual and family gaming with the Wii even as it mostly ignored online play and convergent entertainment features. More than half a decade later, Sony has surpassed the original Wiimote with its Move controller and Microsoft has created a motion anti-controller with Kinect, but the Wii retains an advantage in that developers can assume the motion control is there.

More Info Nintendo Wii U vs. Nintendo Wii: fight! Real Racing 2 HD beats Wii U to the wireless, dual-screen gaming punch Sony's Wonderbook is PS Move-augmented reading, launches with J.K. Rowling's 'Book of Spells'

Today, everyone in the games business still adheres to the basic notion of compelling software selling hardware, but the source of that software and the manner through which it drives revenue has changed via models such as digital distribution, downloadable content, free-to-play, subscription and advertising. In addition, Nintendo has launched the Wii U into living rooms in which game consoles must compete not only with each other but with Blu-ray players, TiVos, Rokus and Apple TVs for physical connections as well as smart TVs and tablets as other sources of connected entertainment experiences. How it has addressed these challenges reveals much about what the company has held dear from the Wii, what it has reluctantly accepted and what it has now embraced.

Controller

As it did with the original, less expensive Wii, Nintendo has banked on a unique controller to differentiate from its competitors. But the philosophy behind the Wii remote and the GamePad (which complement each other in the Wii U) could not be more different. The original Wii remote, like multi-touch on the iPhone, was designed to simplify gameplay by creating a more natural experience that reduced button anxiety. With the GamePad, the company has not only brought buttons back to the controller with a vengeance (and in a layout that may anger console fans used to other platforms), but added an infinite set of controls and gestures via its resistive touchscreen. "Look at the TV. Now look at the GamePad. Now look at the TV again," smacks of user interface design by the Old Spice Guy.

The Wii U is blazing the trail of multi-screen gaming, but it is traveling along a bumpy road.

Whereas most Wii games essentially took advantage of the Wiimote in a relatively similar way, all bets are off with the GamePad, which can either mirror the TV display or serve as an adjunct to the main screen with the system often alerting you to shift your focus between the TV and the controller. The Wii U is blazing the trail of multi-screen gaming, but it is traveling along a bumpy road.

Cloud

Along with the final embrace of HD (and mercifully via a standard HDMI connector), Nintendo has stepped up its support for online game functionality with the Wii U. Of course, as with the Wii, the eShop should provide plenty of back-catalog nostalgia. Nintendo, though, has moved to enable day-and-date releases of Wii U titles along with their disc counterparts. Furthermore, it has created an infrastructure for developers to create the same kind of multiplayer and game network goodies that developers have come to expect on a modern console.

But when Nintendo talks of these features, it's clear that it has mostly implemented them to accommodate developers who have come to expect them on rival platforms. To wit, the company has stopped short of having system-wide achievements a la the Xbox 360 so that developers can implement the kinds of game goals that they desire, not necessarily the ones Nintendo deems important.

Content

Nintendo may have extended a lukewarm greeting toward online play with the Wii U, but it seems to have finally embraced other forms of entertainment with TVii, taking advantage of the GamePad's second screen to act as a remote control and interface to various entertainment services. It blends remote control and consistent access not only to various online streaming services, but also to TiVo DVRs via the GamePad, lessening the pain of having its relatively large footprint on one's coffee table along with second-screen programming for sports and other movies.

Unlike with use of the controller or cloud, Nintendo has taken a consistent, thoughtful approach with its TVii feature, creating a solid user interface. One challenge for the TVii offering is that its value increases as you subscribe to more broadband TV services, not to mention TiVo with its own monthly fee. TVii looks so promising, in fact, that Nintendo might consider licensing it to other tablet companies so that the functionality isn't limited to the person who happens to hold the one GamePad bundled with the Wii U.

That said, even when paired with all of its compatible subscription services, it is not likely to fundamentally change the TV experience. However, if the original Wii set a bar for intuitive control of a wide range of video games, TVii takes once TV-shy Nintendo and puts it in the driver's seat when it comes to defining a console's second-screen approach to television viewing and interaction.

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Tags: column, dual screen, DualScreen, gamepad, kinect, microsoft, nintendo, sony, sony move, SonyMove, wii, wii u, WiiU

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Switched On: Missed app-ortunity

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
This week marks Switched On's eighth anniversary.
It's difficult to remember as jam-packed a week in terms of industry announcements from major OS providers as the recent seven-day stretch that included a bevy of hardware announcements from Apple, a new tablet and OS upgrade from Google, and two major operating system releases as well as an unprecedented hardware release from Microsoft. Of course, as would be expected from these dominant digital ecosystem stewards,

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