Death of a PIC

AMD has officially buried the PIC, also known as the Personal Internet Communicator, the device that was going to lead 50% of the world to the Internet by the year 2015. Many of us could see it was doomed from the start. The ugly, heavy looking shoebox had a too-slow Geode GX processor at 533MHz, only 128MB RAM, and no user upgradeable features. Running Windows CE, the thing was pretty slow and what’s worse, it couldn’t support many apps required by websites, let alone handle high quality multimedia. Targeted to be manufactured in and sold to poorer countries, the unit was priced at $185 without monitor and $235 with one, and the price was to be partially subsidized through an ISP contract.

AMD positioned the PIC not as a profit machine but more as a philanthropic vehicle that would help the world while also helping AMD gain market share against Intel. Some say that around AMD the internal meaning of the 50x15 initiative of which PIC was born was really the goal of achieving 50% of the CPU business by 2015.

But it became apparent not too long after the PIC was out that there was trouble. First, AMD moved the PIC out of its Personal Connectivity Solutions Group and into the “other” category in the first half of 2005, a clear sign that the product was losing money. Then a few months later AMD tried selling the unit through U.S. Radio Shack stores. The problem was, in the U.S. there was no ISP subsidy, so the unit at over $200 was sorely lacking when compared with one of Dell’s entry-level boxes.

Some feel that another Geode-based platform, the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child Device), formerly the $100 laptop designed by MIT Media Labs is going to negate the need for the PIC, but judging by the delays and criticism of this device, I’m not too convinced that it will be a success, either. Getting access to the internet is getting cheaper and cheaper these days, thanks to the rapid evolution of smart phones and the availability of low-cost full-function laptop PCs, and it’s likely that by the time OLCP makes it out the door some schools and governments will adopt instead a laptop or phone that has already been tested and proven.

So goodbye PIC and your relatives, we hardly knew ye but we surely won’t miss ya!

Via Ars Technica

Blog Believers

According to ipsos MORI, which, according to ipsos MORI is the second largest research firm in the U.K., blogging is now the second most trusted source for product information among those surveyed. People apparently have more faith in the opinions of strangers than those of seasoned reviewers or the companies selling the products.

While I think it’s amazing and wonderful that blogs are now used more than TV ads in product-buying decisions, I’m really not surprised. If you’ve ever worked in marketing, you’ll understand why. Companies will NEVER tell you about the shortcomings of their products, they will only emphasize and overemphasize the good things. To do otherwise would simply violate the principles of marketing. So why people don’t trust TV ads from big companies as much as average Joes reviewing the products should be a no-brainer.

On the other hand, there are numerous companies out there who make their revenue reviewing products, companies like Consumer Reports, Car and Driver, CNET, Tom’s Hardware, and PC Magazine, to name just a few. These companies are highly experienced in reviewing products and have built up great reputations as trusted sources over the years. So why are more people turning to blogs before they make their final purchase decisions? In truth, many of these review sites are paid by the companies, which make the products they review. I’m no saying they’re necessarily on the company payroll, but they get other benefits. The main benefit is ad income. Just take a look at these sites and you’ll see ads for the products they represent. This puts them in a conundrum: say what you really feel about a product and risk losing the ad revenue. Another perk is free product. The review sites are usually shipped new products to review. They don’t have to go stand in long lines and plunk down money at the store to get the latest hot gadget—no, companies ship them stuff for free, often weeks before a product release. And they do this not to get an honest opinion of their product, they do this for cheap advertising and for good sound bites which they can use as “unbiased” opinions on their products which they can, in turn, use for additional marketing oomph.

So all hail the product blog from the average Joe or Jane. We may not be the most polished reviewers on the block, but taken as a collective we have more unbiased opinions and experiences than the largest reviewers could ever possibly payroll, and we’ll really tell you what we think.

Survey via Yahoo via Reuters

PS3: Rarer than Diamonds

PS3 is out, but you’re not getting one.

People stood in line before 7AM at a store in Japan for a chance to buy the Sony PS3 space heater (good grief, they’d have to be giving away $1000 bills to get me to do this). Sony could only build 100,000 of these for the Japan launch, so stores had a very limited supply. The riot squad was standing by with megaphones, just in case things got ugly.

The launch in the U.S. is likely to inspire violence, too, with only 400,000 of these things to go around for the whole country (compare that to the Nintendo Wii supply, which we're told is 4 million units available worldwide, starting November 19). Think back to the Tickle-Me-Elmo riots of recent years or the Cabbage Patch Doll Wars of the past. And sorry, Europe, like the Holiday Barbie of a decade ago, your PS3 will be replaced by an IOU letter from Santa this year.

Let’s hope for Sony’s sake that the limited supply inspires people to pay the high price tag for this much ballyhooed, much delayed, newfangled console with its futuristic Cell processor. Sony needs some cash now, or you won’t be seeing many more of these things next year.

Via AP and AP again.

iPod Undressed

You’ve maybe seen the iPod clothing, the little outfits you can dress up your iPod with so it can feel secure and warm and maybe act out some fantasy it has of being something more than just an MP3 player. No? Well where have you been? You’d better catch up here: http://www.iattire.net/

Well, believe it or not, there are some deviant iPods out there that were born with apparently exhibitionist tendencies. Luckily, there is now hope for them. IVUE offers an iPod mod to strip off that cover of your iPod and expose its components for all to see. The kit comes with a clear plastic case for your nano, video or gen4 iPod, a pair of screwdrivers and some plastic scratch polish, lest you get a little too excited as you strip down your gadget. Woo Hoo!

Via Shiny Shiny

Arima UM650UV1: Crummy Name, Much Better Design

What a relief it is to see this newcomer in the ultra mobile world, with its stylish rounded design and integrated sliding keyboard, after living with the nightmarish images still burning in my memory of that Samsung P9000(h)! The UM650UV1 's name may not roll off the tongue, but the styling and features are smooth as butta:

• 1GHz VIA C7-M CPU + VX700 chipset
  
• 512MB of speedy DDR2-533
  
• 802.11b/g WLAN
  
• BlueTooth 2.0
  
• LED backlit 6.5" LCD
  
• 40GB HDD
  
• 4-5 hrs battery life

...all wrapped up in a 1.5 pound package. The keyboard looks like it's designed for thumb typing, which is helpful, and the LED backlight will help save some battery life and deliver some extra brightness, which may help these things actually be usable outside a darkened room! Imagine that—actual ultra mobility in an ultra mobile device. We can only hope. But for now we’ll have to wait, since no details on price or availability are out yet.

Via CarryPad.

Oops, she did it

In a twisted case of reality mimics art mimics reality, our favorite silly, overplayed, over-discussed music couple is now splitsville, thanks to the wonders of technology.

Yes, K-Fed was dumped via text message. Ouch! I think Britney got the idea by watching Text Message Breakup (caution: some smarmy language here) on YouTube.

We can thank YouTube again for archiving the historic event. Here’s Kevin’s worst moment (well, the latest one, anyway). Oooh, this is painful!

Vista Appears on the Horizon

Now that Microsoft has announced the release date for the consumer version of Vista as January 30, 2007, we can all breathe a sigh of relief. Yes, Virginia, the OS does exist, you're just not going to get it for Christmas. Of course this means that there won't be a huge push for PC purchases this holiday season, at least not bigger than a typical year, but leave it to the games consoles to pick up the slack in your credit card charges with anticipated sales of the Nintendo Wii, which some reviewers are calling a kids gaming platform, and the Sony PS3, which I'm told is very hot--literally due to the new IBM Cell CPU. Should be nice to warm your toes with on those cold winter evenings. Ho ho ho!

YouTube, ITube, WeAllTube

Daily Tech is reporting that YouTube--everyone's favorite video blogging site that has brought us such wonders as the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment and its numerous derivatives, the Steve Colbert Green Screen Contest entries and CatHead Theater--is one of Time magazine's inventions of the year. They credit the success of the site, which has grown to host 100 million videos, to the intersection of 3 phenomena: 1) the enablement of fast, cheap video development, 2) the emergence of social networking, ala Web 2.0, and 3) the consumer's impatience with mainstream news. I'd add to that list a fourth: the tremendous dearth of good TV entertainment.
Via Time Magazine.

Tech-nocracy In-Action

It’s not clear to me how in today’s technologically advanced world, that computerized voting presents us with such a challenge. Rather then streamlining the voting process, all kinds of problems arose in various polling places yesterday, including power outages, card mixups, suspected tampering and system performance problems, leading to long delays in voting. I anticipated some troubles and signed up for permanent absentee status long ago, which means I get to fill in my vote with ink on paper, something similar to the old scantron sheets they used to pass out in school on test day. No smart cards, no hanging chads. Ah, the good old days.

P9000? Pooh!

Breakthroughs in portable computing are coming, but I'm just not sure that this is one that will really take off. The latest entry in the mobile computing talent show is the Samsung SPH-P9000, an origami-style folded PC with some pretty good features, including a 1GHz processor and WiMax wireless broadband capability, but an awkward and quirky appearance. Weighing in at one pound, the P9000 wouldn’t add to much to the heft of my purse, but Razr and iPod and their derivatives don’t have to worry about losing any design of the year awards to this technological freak of nature.
Read more: NewLaunches.com