Month: August 2013

Poor Microsoft. Windows RT is dead and they are stuck with warehouse, after warehouse, full of RT tablets. (Hee… hee.)

Microsoft Doesn’t Want To Admit Windows RT Is Dead

Microsoft is in a tough spot. Windows RT is all but dead in the water. But Microsoft has approximately a zillion and a half Surface RT tablets collecting dust in warehouses. And so Ballmer and Co. continued its ignorant fight against Apple and the far more successful iPad with another TV spot that pits the two against each other.

Spoiler: The Surface RT is declared the winner.

Like in previous commercials, the Surface RT’s legitimate advantages are touted over the iPad and iOS. And in many cases, Microsoft isn’t exactly deceitful. The Surface, and with that, Windows RT, has clear advantages over the iPad. At first blush Windows RT feels more productive and advanced than iOS. But after a couple of swipes left and right on the Start Screen, the novelty wears off.

Of course Microsoft failed to stack Windows RT’s apps against those found in iOS.

Windows RT was a dog from the start. And now that Asus pulled back from the market, the little brother to Windows 8 will quickly fade into irreverence. With Asus out, just Dell and Microsoft remain as the only Windows RT hardware providers. Samsung, HTC, HP, and Lenovo previously pulled plans for a Windows RT tablet.

‘It’s not only our opinion,’ CEO Jerry Shen remarked to the Wall Street Journal. ‘The industry sentiment is also that Windows RT has not been successful.’

At this point, with Windows RT’s support quickly drying up, Microsoft is doing consumers a disservice attempting to pawn their unsuccessful tablet onto unsuspecting buyers shopping on specs alone. The Windows RT product segment will soon be dead, and with it, the little developer support it currently has will quickly follow suite, leaving consumers with a tablet that will be stuck in the past.”

I just got this email today as a Founder:

“Ubuntu Edge now $695, thanks to major industry backing

With 14 days to go, it’s time for our biggest announcement yet. From now until the end of the campaign, we’re fixing the price of the Ubuntu Edge at $695! No limited quantities, no more price changes. You wanted a more affordable Edge, and now you’ve got it.

How are we able to do this? Mainly thanks to all of you. The huge support the Ubuntu Edge has been receiving from all corners of the world has really sent a message to the mobile industry — and that message has been received loud and clear.

Yesterday we announced that Bloomberg LP has snapped up the first of the $80,000 Enterprise bundles, and we expect more businesses to follow suit. To make it even more appealing, we’ve raised the number of phones included in the bundle from 100 to 115.

Even better, since the campaign started breaking records on day one, we’ve been negotiating with several major component suppliers who are keen to see the Edge reach its goal and drive the adoption of new mobile technologies. This is one of the key benefits of keeping some of the core specifications open: as a result of these negotiations, we can now produce the same state-of-the-art device for less than we originally estimated.

Edge for less

So of course we’re passing those savings on to you. There’s now a single unlimited $695 Ubuntu Edge perk, which comes with a year’s subscription to LastPass Premium and a place on the Founders page. At the end of the campaign, anyone who’s already pledged more than $695 for the phone will be offered a refund of the difference.

There will be no further price reductions, and we must reiterate that the Ubuntu Edge is exclusive to Indiegogo. It will not be available to buy anywhere outside of this campaign, even at launch.

The target is still $32 million, so we will need to ship a few more phones at $695 than we would at a higher price, but we believe we can do it. We have two weeks, and we have the best community out there, so let’s get to work: share this news, get the word out, and let’s get the Ubuntu Edge made!

The Ubuntu Edge team“

Have you ever wanted to clip around an image and then delete the background? Maybe to fill it in with a solid color, or maybe even make the background transparent? Well, now you can, with this neat web site!

https://www.clippingmagic.com

“Easily remove the background from your photos to create masks, cutouts, or clipping paths, all done instantly online with ClippingMagic.com

Upload Image
Drag your image onto the drop-zone above, or choose a file using the button.

Images with sharp boundaries between contrasting foreground and background work best.

Mark Image
Mark some foreground green and some background red and the algorithm takes care of the details.

You get live feedback so you can focus your efforts on the challenging parts of the image.

Download Result
The background is removed by adding an alpha channel, with a suitably feathered boundary.

You can also share the download link, to avoid sending large files by email.”

Celebrate your geekiness! Watch the YouTubery on Geek Week this week!

This is an Open Source project called PiCast. It is an Open Source Chromecast alternative. Neat idea, but at $35.00 for the Chromecast, I am not sure the PiCast will save you any money! It runs on Raspberry Pi, so if you don’t have that already, you will need to buy one.

Here’s a link to the Github site for it: PiCast