innovation – Page 5 – Steve Blum's Blog

Android becomes the Windows of opportunity

4 June 2013 by Steve Blum
acer, Android, asus, business, consumer electronics, geek stuff, innovation, linux, microsoft

It goes both ways. But maybe not much longer.

Microsoft continues to slide toward the back of the mass computing market pack. Three more signs it’s losing its grip on consumer-grade devices:

Acer is coming out with an ARM-based desktop PC that runs the Android operating system. Earlier this year, Acer was the first major manufacturer to report that Linux-based Chromebooks were trending better than Windows PCs.
Asus just announced a hybrid tablet/desktop product with two Intel processors that runs Android in tablet mode and Windows when it’s docked.

… More

Gigabit mobile phones teased for the 5G road map

18 May 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, innovation, mobile, qualcomm, samsung

It’s more than a 5 year mission to the next generation.

Samsung’s latest mobile technology announcement could result in faster mobile data traffic running on much higher frequency bands. Speeds of up to 1 Gbps on the 28 GHz band have been claimed, using antenna designs that are intended to mitigate the poor indoor penetration and range associated with millimeter wavelengths. It’s experimental – the commercialization target is 2020 – and intended to be a foundation for 5G service.… More

Five broadband trends shaping communities

16 May 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, innovation, public policy, qualcomm, urban land institute

A good place to talk about water, land and technology.

I was asked to do a presentation on broadband trends at the Urban Land Institute’s spring meeting in San Diego today. Specifically, it was for one of the ULI’s community development councils, which is focused on planned community developers. I had to narrow the list down to five:

Conduit is gold. Cities and private developments can build a base for jobs and industry just by putting conduit in the ground whenever a trench is opened.

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Intel's new captain must turn quickly

4 May 2013 by Steve Blum
ARM, business, innovation, Intel, mobile

A titanic job ahead.

Sounding defensive about the future of personal computers, Brian Krzanich, Intel’s newly appointed CEO, told USA Today that he’s not giving up on that sector but he will be going after the mobile market with renewed vigor.

With PC numbers falling and mobile device sales exploding, Intel is losing its dominant position in the semiconductor industry. More efficient processors based on ARM technology are the standard in the mobile world. And now, ARM chip makers are about to make a major new move into another Intel bastion, server farms.… More

Smart City technology doesn't always look like a smart move for cities

20 April 2013 by Steve Blum
innovation, libelium, public policy, telecom council of silicon valley

Don’t violate a parking meter while this guy is watching.

Cities have a hard time defining what return on investment means. That was one of the themes at a Smart Cities forum organized by the Telecom Council of Silicon Valley on Thursday.

Executives from several start up companies talked about the challenge of selling municipalities on a new way of doing business. One company, Streetline, aims to “solve parking blindness,” according to general manager Kurt Beucheler.… More

Smart watch might give Windows a boost in the mobile market

15 April 2013 by Steve Blum
CES2019, innovation, microsoft, mobile, pebble, samsung

It’s not a smart watch unless it looks smart.

Microsoft is the latest company to get into the smart watch business, or so the latest rumors say. It could be a way to give Windows a competitive boost in the mobile OS market, if Microsoft can integrate it into the ecosystem in an interesting way.

The hot smart watch at CES in January was the Pebble. It links to a smart phone via Bluetooth, allowing users see messages and alerts or control phone functions.… More

Here's looking at you, Samsung

5 March 2013 by Steve Blum
broadband, geek stuff, innovation, mobile, samsung

Bogie knew how to do it.

You’ll soon be able to control your smart phone with just a glance. Samsung will introduce eye tracking capability in the latest version of its flagship Galaxy S-IV phone next week, according to rumors circulating today.

It’ll be bigger and faster too – a five inch screen and laptop class CPU power – but that’s nothing new.

New interfaces that just work, though, are much rarer and lead to revolutionary products.… More

Santa Cruz virtually cuts red tape

7 February 2013 by Steve Blum
code for america, geek stuff, innovation, public policy, santa cruz

Starting a business is hard work and a lot of fun. And then there’s the stuff that isn’t much fun and is mind numbing rather than difficult. Navigating the maze of local regulations and permits usually falls into this middle ground.

Get the code.

The City of Santa Cruz has a twenty first century answer to this problem, called OpenCounter. It’s a website where you can enter a few quick facts about yourself and your new business, and then it’ll get into the necessary details.… More

How about renaming the company "Windows"?

5 February 2013 by Steve Blum
business, geek stuff, innovation, linux, microsoft, planet earth

Honest, my first name isn’t Baghdad.

Epidemics are easy to spot in retrospect, but it’s difficult – even dangerous – to predict that one case of a new disease will turn into something virulent. That said, our planet’s mass market of seven or so billion people is slipping away from Microsoft. They’ve caught the same bug that floored the company formerly known as RIM.

Three news items point in that direction. First, Acer is seeing growth in Chromebook sales and sliding Microsoft numbers.… More

Blackberry is as good as ever, but no better

30 January 2013 by Steve Blum
blackberry, business, innovation, mobile, rim, tomfoolery

None of this Tomfoolery for Blackberry!

What RIM, excuse me, Blackberry showed this morning was solid technology that’s ahead in some regards and more or less keeping up with the pack in others. The new Blackberry 10 operating system is consistent with what they demonstrated and described last October at MobileCon.

They have a full touchscreen phone and they’re keeping a keyboard model in play. That’s probably a good idea given that their best short term hope is to re-energize their legacy institutional customers.… More