ON THE STREET OR ON FACEBOOK, FACIAL RECOGNITION CAMERAS ARE POINTED YOUR WAY NON-STOP. ONE ARTIST WANTS TO LEND YOU HIS FACE TO PROTECT YOURS.
The city of Chicago monitors its citizens through ~25,000 surveillance cameras--what the ACLU has deemed a “frightening number.” These cameras connect to facial recognition software and government databases to reveal your identity. In 2013, Chicago police flexed the muscles of this system for the first time, and used it to identify and arrest a suspected purse snatcher.
Even to law-abiding citizens, that volume of cameras is overkill. In response, Chicago artist Leo Selvaggio hasoffered his own face to shield people's identities--from everyday pedestrians to active protesters--whether they’re in a public urban space or just shooting selfies for Facebook.
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In an Indiegogo project dubbed URME (phonetically, “you’re me”), Selvaggio offers three ways to buy his face, all sold at cost. The first is as a photorealistic, 3-D printed and hand-painted prosthetic mask. At a glance, it appears real to cameras and people alike.
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A second, “economic” option is a DIY paper mask kit. You can cut out Selvaggio’s visage from a sheet of paper, then stick it on your own face. No one will be fooled, but that’s not really the point. Here, Selvaggio’s face serves more as a Guy Fawkes mask--the mask of choice for hacker collective Anonymous. It’s an overt refusal to be recognized, and a visual icon that's recognized by many protesters. But facial recognition cameras, often working from low-resolution camera feeds, will just ID you (or your throng of people) as Selvaggio himself.
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The third mask doesn’t live in the real world at all. It’s a piece of open-source software that uses augmented reality to stick Selvaggio’s face onto faces in a video feed, shielding you from such platforms as Facebook’s powerful facial recognition. (Ignore the fact that Facebook can probably triangulate who is in your crazy protest video by analyzing the viewing and share patterns of its multi-billion-person social network.)
Selvaggio’s masks make a point, even if they're an imperfect solution to an increasingly stifling surveillance infrastructure. In the best-case scenario, his masks become the face of protest across the world. Of course, that teaches our surveillance systems to pay close attention to whomever is obfuscating his or her own face with Selvaggio’s mug.
What would be interesting, and more importantly, scalable, would be if hundreds of thousands of people offered their faces for Selvaggio’s platform, allowing citizens to swap faces at will. It would build so much margin for error into these automated surveillance systems that they could become reasonably useless. But then again, I’m not sure that hopping on the El with someone else’s face each day really feels like freedom.
COMMENTARY: As a strong supporter of freedom from surveillance, I'm sold on the URME Anti-Surveillance Mask, as a way to put one over on Big Brother, the NSA, FBI, major airport and local law enforcement agencies everywhere. We are constantly being watched, photographed and videotaped, and it has completely gotten out of control. The social networks, including Facebook, Twitter and Google, are all cooperating with both local, state and federal law enforcement agencies and the Department of Homeland Security to protect us from terrorists and criminals, but lost in all of this is our individual rights against being watched like we are criminals ourselves. Our faces are now stored on video tapes and photo images taken wherever we travel or visit. I am glad that Leo Salvaggio thought of a way to curtail these infrigements on our individual freedom.
For those who wish they could better remember names and faces, a new demo app for Google Glass gives you notes on how you know each person.
Although the concept seems perfect for party or networking events, the app — called MedRef for Glass — was actually designed for hospital employees. By using facial recognition technology, staffers wearing Google's high-tech specs can pull up patient folders with photo, voice and text notes.
For example, a doctor might want to record that a certain patient likes to be rolled over on one side of their body or is allergic to nuts. And because the data is shareable with Google Glass, other nurses and physicians can have immediate access to this information.
Here's how it works: MedRec adds timeline cards and sharing contacts via Google Glass. By saying a patient's name or taking a picture of their face, the device will bring up their records.
Lance Nanek, a computer programmer who worked to develop the app says.
"Hospitals are full of very busy people — often with their hands full — who work with a lot of information. Google Glass and making [data] wearable is especially being looked forward to there."
For a full look at how the app works, check out the video above.
Do you think Google Glass and its apps will revolutionize how we use technology across various fields, including the medical world? Let us know in the comments.
COMMENTARY:So far Google Glass is not illegal, but some businesses have began posting "Google Glass Is Banned On These Premises" signs. Despite a front page story appearing in the May 7, 2013 issue of the New York Times suggesting that Google is already facing a bunch of legal pushback over its face computer of the future, there are no laws on the books that make Google Glass illegal -- Yet.
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A Los Angeles privacy lawyer tells the New York Times's David Streitfeld.
"This is just the beginning. Google Glass is going to cause quite a brawl."
It's unclear how true that is, of course, because there hasn't been much actual courtroom brawling so far — mostly just Internet whining, really.
The New York Times cites a proposed bill from West Virginia statehouse politicians who "were not joking at all" about a ban on Glassing-while-driving. Except the bill seriously hasn't made it to the house floor yet. And while the New York Times cites the bill's sponsor in saying he's "likely" to reintroduce the legislation, well, Rep. Gary Howell has also said that he will introduce a study resolution to see how dangerous Google Glass really is. You know, in the meantime, and in the reality outside front-page privacy freak-out trend stories:
"If we do that, I would like to invite Google to provide a demonstration and explain if they will have some type of feature that will turn off everything."
Howell has said, in addition suggesting that he's open to other alternatives outside of the anti-Google Glass law.
But even if Howell takes his law back to the West Virginia state legislature and it passes, that hardly makes Google's new device illegal. After all, according to the New York Times,
"This is the most anticipated piece of electronic wizardry since the iPad and iPhone we're talking about here."
And by the logic of the New York Times's scare tactics, cell phones would be considered illegal in all these states that ban use while driving. Even the group Stop the Cyborgs, which has launched an anti-Glass campaign, doesn't want to outright ban the devices.
"We don't want a total ban but do we want people to limit it's use."
the group insists (in bold), in the About section of its website. While other, logical places — like strip clubs, or casinos — have banned Google Glass, people don't necessarily need laws or formal prohibitions to tell them how to properly regulate their usage of the world's foremost walking computer. Already a whole bunch of people have written about their inclination to have specific etiquette while using Google Glass.
However, even Google admits that its much discuss hardware is still in beta — and that the company is open to changes to better suit our apparently myriad privacy fears. That's basically all the Stop the Cyborgs of the world want, anyway. The Cyborgs group has three main points suggesting ways in which Google can build in enough privacy to placate the interests of privacy hawks the tech world over:
They will never allow any face recognition system or any app which automatically identifies people to work on Google Glass or on any server system connected to Glass.
They will implement a do not track system which allows people to opt out of being tracked or having information captured about them by Glass. This system should not require the person to identify themselves.
That all information gathered by Glass will remain the property of the owner or subject and will be encrypted so that it is impossible for it to be data-mined, made available to security services or used for commercial purposes.
Google chief Eric Schmidt sounds equally as open to those kind of changes himself. Schmidt said in response to a question about the scary future of data-tracking that Google will help create.
"I think you're describing a world of tracking which I think is highly unlikely to occur, because people will be upset about it in the same way you are."
He continues:
"Governments won't allow it, and it'll be bad business. And ultimately, in a competitive market, companies want the consumers to be happy. So it's true tracking in this context...you're taking a much broader view of the word ['tracking'] than any I would use. A situation where you go to people and say, 'Oh, here's our phone, and we're going to track you to death,' people are not going to buy that phone. It's just a bad business model."
I am in total agreement with The Cyborgs group recommendations to limit how Google Glass can be used. We certainly do not want automobile drivers to know the identity of random people by glancing at their vehicle plates. Individuals have a right to their privacy and preventing the disclosure of their identity to the masses. Google Glass' face recognition technology opens a can of worms that will become a legal nightmare for Google. I understand that Google has over 100 attorneys on their staff. They better get them ready for the onslaught of lawsuits that are likely to come if face recognition and private information about individuals is disclosed without permission.
Courtesy of an article dated May 13, 2013 appearing in Mashable and an article dated May 7, 2013 appearing in The Atlantic Wire
Meg Whitman’s Hewlett-Packard tried to put the debacle of its Autonomy acquisition behind it last week by taking an $8.8 billion write-off, charging that previous management had been misled by cooked books and other nefarious deeds on the part of the UK-based software automation company. The claims have turned into yet another public relations spectacle for the Palo Alto-based company as Autonomy founder and former CEO Mike Lynch fights back with fire and feist, and pundits again point fingers at HP’s management, board and outside advisers for ineptitude.
Meanwhile, a class action suit filed in San Francisco yesterday “alleged that HP had issued false and misleading statements on its financial performance and prospects between August 2011, when the $11 billion Autonomy deal was announced, and November 20 this year,” when the write down was made public, as Chris Nuttall reports in the Financial Times.
The write-off of Autonomy and class action lawsuits hit HP's stock hard today:
Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) Share Price Between November 28, 2011 and November 27, 2012 - Google Finance (Click Image To Enlarge)
The civil action was not unexpected, and more lawsuits may follow. Labaton Sucharow partner Dominic Auld tells Nuttall while disclosing that his firm is considering action of its own.
“It’s hard to imagine that this deal goes so far south so quickly without somebody having culpability.”
Whitman, now HP president and CEO but only a yea-voting member of the HP board at the time of the acquisition, effectively blames her predecessor, Leo Apotheker, and the former chief strategy officer, Shane Robison, for the bad deal.
ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall told Reuters’ Poornima Gupta and Nicola Leske when the write-off was announced.
"To put it bluntly ... this story has been an unmitigated train wreck, and it seems every time management speaks to the Street, there is new negative incremental information forthcoming."
The Wall Street Journal’s “Heard on the Street” columnist, Rolfe Winkler, offers a scathing appraisal of the situation this morning, pointing out in his lede that
“More than two people from Hewlett-Packard were responsible for the disastrous Autonomy acquisition, never mind what chief executive Meg Whitman says.”
“The sad reality may be that the company is in such bad shape that it can't afford more turnover at the top. Until it can, investors should stay away from the shares, no matter how cheap they appear.”
And as Reuters’ Nadia Damouni and Nicola Leske pointed out last week,
“15 different financial, legal and accounting firms were involved in the transaction -- and none raised a flag about what HP said Tuesday was a major accounting fraud.”
Meanwhile, Lynch, who in 1991 played a hunch that the “theories of the then-little-known 18th-century Presbyterian minister and mathematician Thomas Bayes could be used to search and understand unstructured data,” as Wendy M. Grossman relates in The Guardian, has been vigorously pushing back against HP’s charges.
“Lynch has been unusually candid and vocal in defending himself and the company he built, rather than hiding out behind a phalanx of lawyers as might be expected. He says he was blindsided by a long-prepared public relations onslaught by HP, little of which had to do with the substance of its claims about Autonomy.”
Lynch is not limiting himself to denying the accusations. Among his charges in an interview with Business Insider’s Julie Bort:
"HP executives engineered the ouster of Apotheker and appointment of Whitman because they feared Apotheker's plan to spin off the hardware business in favor of software, which caused Whitman to abandon the software strategy, which left Autonomy and Lynch in the lurch."
And to top it off,
“HP's convoluted bureaucracy created situations where its own salespeople couldn't sell Autonomy.”
If all these convolutions have you scratching your head, Reuters’ “Breakingviews” columnist, Quentin Webb, delves into such accounting procedures as “Vendor Specific Objective Evidence” (VSOE), which allows companies “to book upfront payments in full if they establish a predictable pricing framework,” in a “Guide for the Perplexed” piece.
Webb writes, pointing out.
“As things stand, HP’s accusations are hard to judge that it still has to prove its claim that it was duped by fraud which could not be detected before acquisition.”
Richard Waters and Chris Nuttall wrote in the Financial Times Friday evening.
“As HP’s reputation as the company that cannot shoot straight has grown to almost legendary proportions, its stock price has collapsed.”
It was up 2.4% yesterday to $12.74, but was trading in the $50 range as recently as April 2010. At the end of trading on November 27, 2012, HPQ shares ended at 12.36, down 0.38 or 2.98%, then dropped an additional 0.03 or 0.24% in after-hours trading.
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COMMENTARY: Coming off the biggest quarterly loss in Hewlett-Packard's history, CEO Meg Whitman braced investors for even more trouble ahead as she methodically tries to fix a wide range of longstanding problems. Those challenges will be compounded by a feeble economy that Whitman expects to weaken even more during the next year.
Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) Annual Revenues, Gross Profits and After-Tax Income FY Ending October 31, 2009 through FY Ending October 31, 2012 - Google Finance (Click Image To Enlarge)
Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) Quarterly Revenues, Gross Profits and After-Tax Income - Google Finance (Click Image To Enlarge)
On Wednesday, October 3, 2012, Whitman delivered the disappointing forecast at a meeting that the ailing Silicon Valley pioneer held for analysts and investors. The gathering gave Whitman the opportunity to persuade Wall Street that she has come up with a compelling strategy for turning around HP one year after being named CEO.
The EDS charge is the main reason that HP lost $8.9 billion during its most recent quarter, which ended in October 31. In early October, some analysts are worried HP would absorb another charge on an $11 billion acquisition of software maker Autonomy, which hasn't lived up to expectations since the deal closed last year. This finally came to pass today.
HP bought EDS while it was being run by Mark Hurd, who resigned in 2010 after the company's board raised questions about his expense reports. The company agreed to buy Autonomy during the reign of Leo Apotheker, who lasted less than a year as CEO before being replaced by Whitman.
Hewlett-Packard Merry-Go-Round in the last seven years includes CEO's Carly Fiorina, Mark Hurd, Leo Apotheker and now Meg Whitman (Click Image To Enlarge)
Whitman said.
"There are no silver bullets to solve our challenges. We will solve our challenges through consistency of leadership, focus, good blocking and tackling and, most importantly, great products and services delivered in the way that customers want to buy them."
HP said the internal and economic turmoil will cause its earnings to fall by more than 10 percent next year, a decline that hadn't been anticipated by analysts who follow one of the world's largest — and most dysfunctional — technology companies.
Investors evidently didn't like what they heard. HP's stock plunged 13 percent after Whitman's presentation, shoving the company's shares to their lowest level in nearly a decade.
HP's troubles stem from a combination of managerial malaise, high-priced acquisitions that haven't paid off and an inability to offset the damage done to its personal computer and printer divisions by the rising popularity of smartphones and tablet computers.
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Whitman maintained that she inherited a bloated, poorly managed company that hasn't been innovating quickly enough in any of its divisions, which span from PCs and printers to software and data storage.
In a recurring theme during her tenure, Whitman said that she will instill the discipline, focus and accountability needed to rehabilitate HP, but she reiterated that the recovery will take several years to complete.
It could be 2015 before Hewlett-Packard Co.'s revenue growth begins to accelerate again, according to Whitman. By 2016, she envisions HP's revenue increasing as the same pace as the U.S. economy's overall growth, with earnings rising at a faster clip.
Whitman said.
"It is going to take longer to right this ship than any of us would like."
Investors are worried HP's woes will allow its competitors — a long list that includes such technology powerhouse as Apple Inc., IBM Corp. and Oracle Corp. — to race even further ahead. In that scenario, HP is constantly scrambling to catch up with new technology trends, leaving the company in a state of perpetual disarray.
Whitman, who won acclaim during a successful decade-long stint running eBay Inc., is confident HP can recapture the drive and creativity that established the company as an industry leader through most of its 73-year history.
She hopes to orchestrate the same kind of turnaround that has revitalized IBM after a long stretch of decay brought on by the shift from mainframe computers to personal computers in the 1980s and 1990s. IBM managed to transform itself into a company focused on providing technology services and software, a transformation that HP is struggling to duplicate.
HP Turnaround Initiatives
Whitman mentioned the following initiatives to turnaround HP:
Reduce Staff - In her shake-up of HP, Whitman has already reshuffled management and started to eliminate 29,000 jobs through employee buyouts, attrition and layoffs. She's trying to trim the company's annual expenses by more than $3 billion.
Performance-Based Compensation Programs - She assured analysts Wednesday that she is imposing more internal controls to align employees' paychecks with their performance.
Utilize New Technologies - She said she is also requiring the company to subscribe to technology services offered by smaller companies such as Salesforce.com Inc. and Workday Inc. to automate many of HP's customer management and personnel systems.
Reducing Product Lines and Inventories - HP also is reducing the number of different printers that it makes. It is also rolling out a new line of personal computers and tablets running on Windows 8, an overhaul of Microsoft Corp.'s operating system that's designed to appeal to consumers and companies that want more mobile devices with touch-control display screens.
Introduce New HP Smartphone - Whtman wants HP to design another smartphone, something it did two years ago after buying Palm Inc. only to scrap the device after a few months on the market. HP's return to the smartphone business isn't planned for next year, though.
Cloud Computing Products - Whitman also is lacing big bets on "cloud computing" — a term that refers to the increasingly popular trend of storing software applications in remote data centers that are accessed over the Internet instead of installing programs on individual machines.
Big Data Products - HP also is angling for a bigger piece of the "Big Data" market, a field devoted to helping companies and government agencies navigate through the torrent of information cascading through Internet-connected devices.
The Payoff
But the payoff from those initiatives won't come in HP's fiscal 2013, which starts Nov. 1.
The company, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif., expects its earnings for fiscal 2013 to range from $3.40 to $3.60 per share, after stripping out charges for layoffs and other accounting measures unrelated to its ongoing business. The projection translates to an 11 percent to 16 percent drop from the adjusted earnings of $4.06 per share that HP expects to deliver in its current fiscal year.
HP Shares Tumble
Whitman's forecast for next year caught investors off guard because analysts, on average, had predicted HP's adjusted earnings would be $4.17 per share.
HP shares shed $2.22 to close Wednesday at $14.91. The stock price has fallen by 35 percent since Whitman became CEO last September.
In unveiling its first piece of computer hardware ever yesterday, Microsoft signaled that it was ready to strut its stuff against longtime rival Apple for the booming tablet market. The new device, dubbed Surface, is expected to be available at an unspecified-but-competitive price when the highly touted Windows 8comes to market later this year, Microsoft announced at a press conference in Los Angeles that had a sense of mystery and buzz about it that’s usually associated with the crowd from Cupertino.
CEO Steve Ballmer said that unlike the iPad, the Surface has a detachable cover/touch keyboard for word processors and numbers crunchers, as well as a built-in kickstand for viewing videos. Ballmer, in fact, claimed that the device is “completely new and different” and “a whole new family of computing devices.” Ballmer said.
“We wanted to give Windows 8 its own companion hardware innovation.”
At the same time, Microsoft’s focus apparently will remain on the eighth major iteration of Windows, which Balmer made clear remains the “heart and soul of Microsoft,” according to Michael A. Prospero, who live-blogged in Laptop.
Microsoft Surface tablet computer with computer and screen stand (Click Image To Enlarge)
Ballmer said.
“It was very important to have the hardware fade into the background with this product and have Windows rise to the surface.”
The device will be about the same weight and thickness as an iPad but has a 10.6-inch screen compared to the iPad’s 9.7-inch high-res “retina display.” It sports cameras front and back, as does the iPad, but also has a USB port and connects physically to printers. Among the unanswered questions is whether it will use cellular networks or just connect to cyberspace via wi-fi.
Microsoft Surfact tablet computer showing reverse side of screen with stand expanded (Click Image To Enlarge)
Windows president Steven Sinofsky said,
“The Surface is a tablet that’s a great PC … a PC that’s a great tablet.”
Shira Ovide pointed out in the Wall Street Journal.
“Ballmer and other Microsoft executives repeatedly use the words ‘no compromises’ to describe the tablet computers they envision running Windows 8 and Windows RT -- which means that users will be able to use work-oriented tools like Microsoft Word and Excel programs, not just be used for watching movies and surfing the Web.”
Microsoft's Surface tablet computer comes with keyboards in five awesome pastel colors (Click Image To Enlarge)
That could be a big advantage, particularly in the business market where Microsoft has long enjoyed a substantial lead over its surging rival -- provided Apple doesn’t respond in kind. On the other hand, it faces quite a challenge catching up with the more than 500,000 apps already for sale in Apple’s App Store, as well as its tight relationship with developers, which rivals Microsoft’s relationship with PC software engineers.
Apple’s, points out the Financial Times’ Matthew Garrahan,
“That’s why Microsoft is emphasizing the hardware innovations that it hopes will rival Apple, rather than show off any of the apps or content partnerships that many analysts believe it will need if it is to make the Surface a success.”
Microsoft's Surface tablet side view showing just how thin the keyboard is (Click Image To Enlarge)
IDC analyst Al Hilwa sees the combination of PC and tablet features as a "true converged" device, writes Ovide,
"A Swiss Army knife of a tablet?"
Nick Wingfield writing in the New York Times said.
“With its new tablet, Microsoft will effectively be competing directly with its biggest customers –- the PC makers who have shipped with Windows installed for decades."
When asked whether Surface would damage those ties, Sinofsky gently pushed a reporter in the direction of a stand of Surface tablets and said,
"Go learn something."
In an interview after the announcement, Ballmer was asked to describe how Microsoft’s partners felt about its latest moves. Bloomberg Businessweek’s Ashlee Vance wrote .
“Ballmer responded that he had used very precise language on stage and would not go beyond that.”
Adds Vance (parenthetically):
“He said nothing on stage that I recall as to how they felt.”
The reaction to Surface in the blogosphere appears to be mostly positive. Computerworld’s Richi Jennings writes,
“Wow, people actually like something new from Microsoft.”
Jennings, who “curates” the observations of observers such as PC World’s Melissa J. Perenson, who observed:
“The big question is, does it stand up to the hype? The answer...is yes.”
Reuters’“Breakingviews” columnist Robert Cyran writes that,
“Microsoft has managed to pull off a welcome surprise.”
But the heading on his piece aptly sums up the rest of the commentary:
“Microsoft Tablet Suffers From Lack Of Greatness.”
He concludes:
“To catch up, good may not be enough.”
But what choice does it have?
The AP’s Ryan Nakashima in a story carried by the San Jose Mercury News writes.
"Microsoft’s broadside against the iPad is a dramatic step to ensure that its Windows software plays a major role in the increasingly important mobile computing market.”
"They are saying it's a different world now and are trying to put the sexy back into the Microsoft brand."
Sexy? Hmmm. When it comes to what has made it attractive over the years, I think most analysts would say that Microsoft has displayed a pleasant personality. But all dolled up in sleek piece of compatible hardware, Windows 8 indeed may wind up turning some heads.
COMMENTARY: For the first time since the original iPad was introduced in 2010, I actually feel confident that Microsoft has a potential winner on its hands with the Surface tablet. The Surface tablet has a lot of pluses going for it.
The Surface tablet provides the laptop processing power, additional storage capability, external ports and screen closer to that of a full-size laptop.
The Surface tablet has access to a library of 100,000+ apps which is not shabby when compared to the iPad.
The Surfact tablet is Windows through-and-through so it supports Microsoft Office and enterprise-wide applications software, this will please many loyal Windows users and IT professionals.
The Windows 8 OS' user-interface is a gamechanger because its mosaic appearance works more like a webpage than the Windows desktop of Windows 7. In a blog post dated September 14, 2012, I profiled the new Microsoft Windows 8 operating system and was just dazzled with what it can do. Check out the video below:
Microsoft finally understands why product design and technology innovation are so important. If you want to "make a dent in the universe," you have to make a statement, and the Surface is just awesome.
I think the Microsoft designers and engineers did a great job of designing a tablet that is absolutely dazzling when compared to the iPad. This is a scary thought, but the spectacular design of the Microsoft Surface tablet is what I thought the next iPad would look like. Microsoft beat the Apple design team to the punch. The awesome pastel colors of the Surface cover/keyboard really sets this tablet apart from the competition. The VaporMG materials used in the body casing are definitely killer. If Windows 8 OS can bootup quickly, run smoothly without any kinks or bugs, I think Microsoft can make a dent in the Universe and in the process put a huge dent in the iPads' market share.
The Microsoft Surface Windows RT and Windows Pro are larger tablets. The screens measure in at 10.6-inches (with what's described to be full HD resolutions in Microsoft's press materials). The Surface twins are also much heavier than the iPad, about 1.5 for the Windows RT version vs. 1.44 pounds for Apple's iPad. The Windows 8 Pro model is nearly 2 pounds.
Some other points of difference include storage size: the Surface with Window Pro can include a 128GB hard drive. Since that more robustly equipped model is designed to have a more powerful, laptop-compatible processor, the added storage could be a welcome addition.
Of course, that would depend on how much it costs to take a Surface tablet home, and we've got no word on that yet. For those of you already stoked for the Surface, here's how Microsoft's new tablets stand up against the iPad 3.
iPad 3 vs Surface (Windows RT) vs Surface (Windows Pro)
Conceived, designed and engineered entirely by Microsoft employees, and building on the company’s 30-year history manufacturing hardware, Surface represents a unique vision for the seamless expression of entertainment and creativity. Extensive investment in industrial design and real user experience includes the following highlights:
Software takes center stage: Surface sports a full-sized USB port and a 16:9 aspect ratio – the industry standard for HD. It has edges angled at 22 degrees, a natural position for the PC at rest or in active use, letting the hardware fade into the background and the software stand out.
VaporMg: The casing of Surface is created using a unique approach called VaporMg (pronounced Vapor-Mag), a combination of material selection and process to mold metal and deposit particles that creates a finish akin to a luxury watch. Starting with magnesium, parts can be molded as thin as .65 mm, thinner than the typical credit card, to create a product that is thin, light and rigid/strong.
Integrated Kickstand: The unique VaporMg approach also enables a built-in kickstand that lets you transition Surface from active use to passive consumption – watching a movie or even using the HD front- or rear-facing video cameras. The kickstand is there when needed, and disappears when not in use, with no extra weight or thickness.
Touch Cover: The 3 mm Touch Cover represents a step forward in human-computer interface. Using a unique pressure-sensitive technology, Touch Cover senses keystrokes as gestures, enabling you to touch type significantly faster than with an on-screen keyboard. It will be available in a selection of vibrant colors. Touch Cover clicks into Surface via a built-in magnetic connector, forming a natural spine like you find on a book, and works as a protective cover. You can also click in a 5 mm-thin Type Cover that adds moving keys for a more traditional typing feel.
Surface for Windows RT will release with the general availability of Windows 8, and the Windows 8 Pro model will be available about 90 days later. Both will be sold in the Microsoft Store locations in the U.S. and available through select online Microsoft Stores.
I can't remember which blog post I said this, but the tablet wars are not over by a long shot. They are just beginning.
Courtesy of an article dated June 19, 2012 appearing in MediaPost Publications MarketingDaily and an article dated June 18, 2012 appearing in Fast Company and an article dated June 19, 2012 appearing in Fox News
I have often wondered whether Steve Jobs, the former founder and CEO of Apple is as brilliant as many technology experts say. Compared to other company founders and CEO's, Steve's record of innovation and achievement is quite simply: ASTOUNDING and his record is unmatched. Name another CEO who racked up so many new product successes one after another, and has been doing it consistently for decades. You can't, can you?
Steve's incredible success got me to thinking: What if Steve Jobs had some REAL help along the way? By REAL help I am not talking about assistance from his great team of new product designers and engineers who are reveered throughout the world for their creative genius and spirit of innovation. What I am really getting to is help from the beyond, help that no other company founder or CEO would ever have access to. I am talking about dark forces of the unknown, the kind of help that is so unreal and unimaginable that it would be earth shaking if the public ever became aware of it. Got you thinking, don't I?
During the course of my extensive research and countless inquiries about Steve Jobs, I received a mysterious email. At first, I discounted the cryptic words of the writer. "Naw, it couldn't possibly be", I thought to myself, while sipping on 50 year-old brandy. But, upon reflection, I became convinced, that yes, this could be the REAL help that Steve Jobs got. The sender's name was UNIDENTIFIED, but what really got me was the subject line of the email which read:
"Is this what you have been looking for?"
NASA - 5 May 1972 - Need To Know - Top Secret Level 10 (Official NASA photo)
In 1972, Apollo 2o astronauts discovered a mysterious device of alien origin laying on the surface of the Moon near the Sea of Tranquility, the landing site of several previous Apollo Moon missions. In 1978, Apple's Steve Jobs was contacted by NASA scientists to determine what it was, and the rest is history.
The EMAIL contained the above attached image and following lengthy message. At the top it was labeled Everything Below This Line is Above Top Secret. Since I live dangerously and am something of an outlaw, I will let you read it, and do with it as you may. Just remember one thing, don't tell anybody else, or you will be erased out of existence.
EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE IS ABOVE TOP SECRET
- Simon Apocryphal, November 12, 2007
"I am a former Apple employee. I do not wish to get my name out in the public because of the serious and obvious danger to my life if my identity became known. I am posting this under a false name, Simon Apocryphal. I was one of the original Apple employees. It was 1977 and Apple had just introduced the Apple II. I was a hardware engineer by trade, but in Apple's early days, it wasn't too uncommon for hardware engineers to work primarily with software. The industry was very young and there were relatively few people with a formal education in computer science.
In early 1978, Jobs requested I attend a meeting with himself, Mike Markkula, and another engineer that shall remain unnamed. For the last few months, I had been working directly with Steve Wozniak testing and refining the Disk II. The project was coming to a close as we were refining our plans for mass production, so I assumed the meeting related to my next assignment at Apple.
I remember our first meeting on a rainy Friday in January 1978. It was held in a small meeting room on our old campus. The other three participants were there, Steve, Mike, and the unnamed engineer. Jobs asked me if I wanted a Coke or juice before we started, I declined, and Mark stood up and closed the door behind me. Jobs looked at me and my engineering colleague and informed us that what we were going to talk about in the meeting was a corporate secret. He pulled out two pieces of paper from a folder in front of him and handed each of us a copy. The papers were legal documents. At the top, it read "Nondisclosure Agreement."
We were asked to sign the document before we proceeded with the meeting. We signed the documents and Markula started explaining this new project to us. He told us that we were going to meet with a company called Affiliated Xanatech in Palo Alto, California. Markula explained that Affiliated was a government subcontractor and that the government was looking for high tech companies with experience commercializing bleeding edge technology to assist them in converting secret military hardware to private consumer applications.
We were told that the government was looking into ways to fund black projects by licensing patents to companies like Apple in exchange for complete secrecy as to the true source of the technology. Private industry in Silicon Valley was responsible for some of the most incredible technological leaps in history and this fact did not go unnoticed by the U.S. government and military. We were told to not speak of this with anyone in the company, not even Steve Wozniak. Furthermore, we were told that the military would perform a thorough background check on us and brief us as to our responsibilities in regards to secrecy. Of course, we were going to need Top Secret security clearance from the government, a process that took a few months and involved the government thoroughly looking into our histories. I remember several of my colleagues being called and questioned about my background. We also filled out a book load of documents basically covering everything from our credit histories to where we went to primary school. It was an invasive process.
Markkula had set up a meeting with Affiliated Xanatech in February 1979. Jobs, Markkula, the unnamed engineer, and myself arrived at Affiliated around 9:00 am on a Tuesday morning. The building was unassuming. It was a one-story structure with a very normal parking lot and one security guard standing in a small house at the entrance. We showed the guard the special passes sent to us by Affiliated and walked into the front lobby. At that point, we were greeted by five men in black uniforms carrying very imposing M-16s. They escorted us to the elevator and we went down some three floors or more. I would later discover that the facility had at least 8 sub-levels, but I was never able to confirm that.
We met with two men in military uniforms in a large conference room. There are very few moments in life in which your entire world view is turned forever upside down, and for me, this was one of them. I still remember that turning point during the briefing when I realized what we'd just been told, and that I hadn't heard the speaker wrong, and that it wasn't some kind of joke. In retrospect the whole thing felt like it was in slow motion. When the term "extra-terrestrial" came up for the first time, the room itself seemed to go off kilter as we collectively tried to grasp what was being said. My mind kept jumping back and forth between trying to look at the speaker, to understand him better, and looking at everyone else around me, to make sure I wasn't the only one that was hearing this. But I don't want this story to be about me, so I will spare you any more insights into my emotional state at the time.
Steve Jobs listened intently and for the first time I can recall, he didn't have anything to say. He simply nodded and peered intently at the speaker as he went over Project CARMA:
Commercialization of Alien Resources for Market Assimilation
Our job was to examine recovered alien artifacts and come up with a commercial application for them related to the computer industry. The unnamed engineer and myself spent the next four months being briefed about security and the true nature of the project. I was told that if I ever went public with this information, I would be erased from existence. Furthermore, the agents threatened to erase all my family and friends. We worked under the barrel of a gun. Need to know was the order of the day. We were only given a very narrow description of the origins of the artifacts. We knew that they were of extra-terrestrial origin, but our government partners would not reveal anymore. In fact, they discouraged us from talking about the alien connections and they never brought the subject up unless we asked questions. Getting information about the artifacts was like pulling teeth. Answers were slow to come, if they came at all.
We weren't the only team working on the artifacts, however, Apple was the only team from Silicon Valley. Apple was chosen because we were small and hungry. The government disliked monopolies and IBM was considered too much of a security threat. Other companies that we had contact with during project CARMA included Boeing, General Electric, GM, and Union Carbide Corporation. Some were examining the same artifacts we were given access to, others had access to areas of Affiliated off-limits to the Apple team.
What we saw:
We had access to an advanced computer system called the LAAC (Luminous Autonomous Agnition Computer). The LAAC was approximately the size of a soda can. Its interface is hard to explain. It didn't have a screen or projection of any kind. It projected itself into the user's mind. The object was activated by passing your hand over its top. It was deactivated in the same manner. Upon activation, a projection, an almost dream-like image in vivid color appeared in your head. We were told that the first person to use the device died of a brain embolism within seconds of activation. Apparently, the machine was a learning device that automatically adjusted itself to the human anatomy. The next person to try the device suffered from severe migraines after a few minutes of use. Over time, the machine fully adjusted to the human anatomy and was completely safe to use.
For lack of a better term, we referred to its capabilities as magic. The government wasn't interesting in having us understand exactly how the device worked. They were interested in what we could take from it for commercial purposes. At first we were baffled. We knew that computers at the time could not possibly mimic the interface technology, nor could we come close to the device's capacity, which was not measured in bytes as far as we could ascertain and was unlimited in terms of storage and speed. We were interesting in its file structure. Information was stored in terms of "objects". The user selected the objects by moving an imaginary mental pointing instrument. The objects could be organized in a structured manner. It was really up to the user to determine the structure data was stored in the system.
If the user wanted to draw an image, the LAAC created a sophisticated pallet with a set of advanced primitives. I guess you could say that the program was analogous to the modern Abobe Photoshop program, but with several profound differences. First, there were no user manuals or help functions. While hooked up the computer, the user instantly knew how to use every aspect of it and the user was free to modify the program in any way the user could imagine. We used the LAAC to define a whole new way to use a personal computer. In short, we used the LAAC to design, develop and test the operating system that would first appear on the Lisa and later on the Macintosh.
You might have heard that Apple got many of its ideas for our first graphical operating systems from the Xerox PARC. This is only partially true. We used the PARC to help us determine ways to translate the advanced alien technology into contemporary computer technology. Obviously, we were constrained in terms of interface, storage, and speed. About the only thing we really took away from the PARC was the mouse, a device that allowed the user to move a cursor on the screen and manipulate computer-generated objects.
What does Steve Jobs know about the aliens and when did he know it?
We worked with the LAAC until early 1985. Our experiments were pumped into Apple's two competing system teams, the Lisa Team and the Macintosh Team. Steve Jobs worked with both teams and acted as a facilitator. His famous "reality distortion field," the seemingling magical influence Steve had over people, was partially due to his inside knowledge of the LAAC and partially due to another secret project he was working on at Affiliated. I can't give you more information on this and don't want to speculate on its meaning because I was only allowed to work with the LAAC.
As many are aware, Steve Jobs left Apple in 1985 to start NeXT. The official story was that he had a disagreement with John Sculley, Apple's CEO, over the direction of the company. Here is what I know about what actually happened.
Sculley was never informed about our dealings with the government. Jobs could have easily made Sculley do anything he wanted because of his access to the reality distortion technology, but he purposefully picked a fight with Sculley in order to create a plausible explanation for his departure from Apple.
As I stated earlier, the government does not like monopolies that threaten its power. Jobs was given an ultimatum by his handlers at Affiliated. He was told that if he wanted ongoing access to the alien artifacts, he would have to create a start up company competing against Apple. Many of the revolutionary aspects of NeXT and later Mac OS X, come from his ongoing association with the government.
Apple's association with CARMA ended shortly after Steve Jobs left the company. We were officially debriefed by government officials. We were told that we were not to ever disclose the program and that we were to continue working at Apple in order to keep tabs on Apple's use of the alien technology. I worked at Apple until 1992 and have since retired from the computer industry. I currently teach technology at a school that shall remain unnamed.
Why am I coming out now? Well, I am at that age where it no longer matters what happens to me. I have recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness and before my time comes, I want to get this off my conscience. Apple is a great company, but it is shameful that we helped the government conceal the greatest secret of all time. The public must be told the truth."
COMMENTARY: I knew it all along. I have been giving Steve Jobs and his Apple munchkins a.k.a. Apple's new product development engineers, too much credit. It now appears that every product Apple has ever produced probably had its origins from alien technology.
Now it all makes sense to me why there are so many Apple mobile products--and it scares me. Aliens are always moving from one galaxy to another. If you are using an app, iPod, iMac, iPhone or iPad, it wasn't Steve Job's vision and talent for innovation that created it. It was those evil "Greys" with the dark black almond shaped eyes, and frail bodies. Come to think of it, Jobs looks a bit frail too, don't you think?
Steve Jobs' mind empowers him to control yours and influence your very being. No wonder those Apple evangelists are such zealots, with a lemming-like behaviors, and crazy over Apple products. They would buy a toilet, if the Apple brand was emblossomed on it. Jobs burned the Apple brand into their feeble-minded brains. They will buy only Apple products for the rest of their tormented lives. Now Jobs is doing the same thing with PC Windows users. Very slowly and with stealth, he is converting Microsoft and Windows PC users to Apple products. But, no Flash.
I dugged deep into the internet, and could not find a damn thing about a company named Affiliated Xanatech. For security reasons, probably erased forever by men in black suits and sunglasses. I have a dark feeling that the company was secretly assimilated into Apple, where it now operates on black government projects to create the mobile products of tomorrow.
I got to get me an LAAC computer. Screw the mouse and pointer. It's all in my mind. I can move objects. This blog resides in my head. No more "clickity-clickity" sounds of me typing on a computer keyboard. If anyone knows where I can get one, please leave a comment. I promise not to disclose your identity.
Courtesy of an alien artifact dated November 12, 2007 from an unidentified individual code named Simon Apocryphal
Another fabulous chart by Pop Chart Lab illustrates the rise, fall, and rebirth of the tech icon.
People often talk about Apple’s rebirth under Steve Jobs as if it were purely a matter of design innovation and brilliant products. (I know: We’re guilty of this too.) But the fact is that the Second Coming of Jobs owed a large part of its success to some pretty savvy corporate strategy.
A perfect illustration of this comes thanks to Pop Chart Lab’s newest poster, "The Insanely Great History of Macintosh." Look closely, and you can actually see three distinct phases of Apple’s overall product strategy.
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The first phase, of course, is quite simple. In creating a computer for the masses, Apple really focused on a couple of products: The Macintosh and the Apple II. Which is to say, its offerings were, above all else, simple and clear:
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Apple was quickly superseded by IBM at the time. But its brand remained fairly clear and distinct throughout--in no small part because its product line was so simple. It’s easy to brand a company when they only make a couple of things.
Compare that to what happened during Apple’s darkest days. At the time, Dell and Gateway and IBM were all flooding the market with overwhelming amounts of options. The business strategy behind that was hard to argue against: Each of these companies sought greater market share by offering enough products to fit every conceivable consumer.
That’s probably fine in the short- to medium-run, if you’re a behemoth in your industry. But it makes less sense if you’re a company like Apple, just barely surviving on the periphery. And yet this is exactly what they did. Look at this ridiculous number of computers:
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And then Steve Jobs came back. Sure, he refocused the company on designing great products. But he also pulled off the corporate strategy that he succinctly described as "stopping all the crap." As a B-school professor might say, he streamlined the product offering. And he did so not in a span of years, but months. Look how radically simple the product pipeline gets after 1996:
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That simplicity, of course, was again key to Apple’s branding efforts. The could show off the Macbook or the iMac, and be guaranteed that a customer, looking for those products, would see those and nothing else. Not a million other options. Not a zillion other variations that made her wonder if the computer that first piqued her interest actually existed.
It’s a fascinating story of product strategy--and it’s all between the lines of a superb, elegantly uncomplicated chart of Apple’s product history.
COMMENTARY: In a blog post dated August 31, 2011, I told you about how on January 9, 2001, Steve Jobs gave a great presentation at MacWorld (see video below) where he introduced the public to the concept of the Digital Hub Strategy, when he said that the PC was not dead, but was evolving. Steve Jobs declared that the Mac would become "the digital hub for the digital lifestyle," an emerging digital trend driven by the internet and an explosion in digital devices: digital camera's, videocam's, portable music players, PDA's and DVD video players. Steve's idea was to use the Mac as a way to add value to those devices by making them more useful by allowing users to share digital files and be able to combine text, images, video and sound to heighten the overal digital experience.
Apple continues to implement a "thin" product lineup strategy born out of Steve Job's Digital Hub Strategy. Here's Apple's product lineup for 2012:
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Courtesy of an article dated November 18, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design
Although Apple's popular iPad tablet has been able to replace laptops for many tasks, it isn't a big hit with folks who'd like to use it to create or edit long Microsoft Office documents.
While Microsoft has released a number of apps for the iPad, it hasn't yet released an iPad version of Office. There are a number of valuable apps that can create or edit Office documents, such as:
Quickoffice Pro.
Documents To Go.
iWork suite for the iPad.
But their fidelity with Office documents created on a Windows PC or a Mac isn't perfect.
Walt Mossberg's review of a new app and service that brings the full, Windows versions of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint to the iPad, free of charge.
This week, Onlive Inc., in Palo Alto, Calif., is releasing an app that brings the full, genuine Windows versions of the key Office productivity apps—Word, Excel and PowerPoint—to the iPad. And it's free. These are the real programs. They look and work just like they do on a real Windows PC. They let you create or edit genuine Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations.
I've been testing a pre-release version of this new app, called OnLive Desktop, which the company says will be available in the next few days in Apple's app store. More information is at desktop.onlive.com.
The OnLive Desktop app stores documents in a cloud-based repository.
My verdict is that OnLive Desktop works, but with some caveats, limitations and rough edges. Some of these downsides are inherent in the product, while others have to do with the mismatch between the iPad's touch interface and the fact that Office for Windows was primarily designed for a physical keyboard and mouse.
OnLive Desktop's shortcomings include:
OnLive Desktop Works Best With A Real Keyboard - Creating or editing long documents on a tablet with a virtual on-screen keyboard is a chore, no matter what Office-type app you choose. So, although it isn't a requirement, I strongly recommend that users of OnLive Desktop employ one of the many add-on wireless keyboards for the iPad.
OnLive Desktop Is A Cloud-Based App - That means it doesn't actually install Office on your iPad. It acts as a gateway to a remote server where Windows 7, and the three Office apps, are actually running. You create an account, sign in, and Windows pops up on your iPad, with icons allowing you to launch Word, Excel or PowerPoint. (There are also a few other, minor Windows programs included, like Notepad, Calculator and Paint.)
OnLive Desktop won't work offline - This means it won't work at locations or on planes without Wi-Fi.
OnLive Desktop Needs A Fast Connection - OnlineLive Desktop can be finicky about network speeds. Best used with a faster WIFI or Broadband connection.
OnLive Desktop Free Version Has Some Limitations - You get just 2 gigabytes of file storage, there's no Web browser or email program like Outlook included, and you can't install additional software. If many users are trying to log onto the OnLive Desktop servers at once, you may have to wait your turn to use Office.
In my tests, the Office apps launched and worked smoothly and quickly, without any noticeable lag, despite the fact that they were operating remotely. Although this worked better for me on my fast home Internet connection, it also worked pretty well on a much slower hotel connection.
Like Office itself, the documents you create or modify don't live on the iPad. Instead, they go to a cloud-based repository, a sort of virtual hard disk. When you sign into OnLive Desktop, you see your documents in the standard Windows documents folder, which is actually on the remote server. The company says that this document storage won't be available until a few days after the app becomes available.
To get files into and out of OnLive Desktop, you log into a Web site on your PC or Mac, where you see all the documents you've saved to your cloud repository. You can use this Web site to upload and download files to your OnLive Desktop account. Any changes made will be automatically synced, the company says, though I wasn't able to test that capability in my pre-release version.
Because it's a cloud-based service, OnLive Desktop won't work offline, such as in planes without Wi-Fi. And it can be finicky about network speeds. It requires a wireless network with at least 1 megabit per second of download speed, and works best with at least 1.5 to 2.0 megabits. Many hotels have trouble delivering those speeds, and, in my tests, the app refused to start in a hotel twice, claiming insufficient network speed when the hotel Wi-Fi was overloaded.
Due to the limitations (see above list) of the free version of OnLive Desktop, the company plans to launch a Pro version, which will cost $10 a month. It will offer 50 GB of cloud document storage, "priority" access to the servers, a Web browser, and the ability to install some added programs. It will also allow you to collaborate on documents with other users, or even to chat with, and present material to, groups of other OnLive Desktop users.
The company also plans to offer OnLive Desktop on Android tablets, PCs and Macs, and iPhones.
In my tests, I was able to create documents on an iPad in each of the three cloud-based Office programs. I was able to download them to a computer, and alter them on both the iPad and computer. I was also able to upload files from the computer for use in OnLive Desktop.
OnLive Desktop can't use the iPad's built-in virtual keyboard, but it can use the virtual keyboard built into Windows 7 and Windows' limited touch features and handwriting recognition. As noted above, I recommend using a wireless physical keyboard. But even these aren't a perfect solution, because the ones that work with the iPad can't send common Windows keyboard commands to OnLive Desktop, so you wind up moving between the keyboard and the touch screen, which can be frustrating. And you can't use a mouse.
Another drawback is that OnLive Desktop is entirely isolated from the rest of the iPad. Unlike Office-compatible apps that install directly on the tablet, this cloud-based service can't, for instance, be used to open Office documents you receive via email on the iPad. And, at least at first, the only way you can get files into and out of OnLive Desktop is through its Web-accessible cloud-storage service. The free version has no email capability, and the app doesn't support common file-transfer services like Dropbox or SugarSync. The company says it hopes to add those.
OnLive Desktop competes not only with the iPad's Office clones, but with iPad apps that let you remotely access and control your own PCs and Macs, and thus use Office and other computer software on those.
But, in my tests, I have found those tricky to use. They require you to leave your computers running and either install special software or learn to use certain settings.
Overall, I found OnLive Desktop to be a notable technical achievement, but it has so many caveats that it's best for folks who absolutely, positively need to use the full, genuine versions of the three big Office productivity programs on their iPads. For everyone else, the locally installed Office clones are probably good enough, and simpler to use.
COMMENTARY: I have been saying this since the original iPad was introduced: The iPad is NOT a productivity device. The iPad was designed for surfing the web, reading eBooks and entertainment (games and viewing videos, films and TV programming) digital content.
From what I have read of Walt Mossberg's review of OnLive Desktop, running OnLive Desktop on an iPad requires jumping through too many hoops and there are just too many compromises. I read Mr. Mossberg's reviews and commentaries all the time, and he was just too forgiving, but I'm not. I call a spade a spade. Here's what I think: This is a great example of trying to adopt a mobile device to do something for which it was NOT physically designed to do.
If you are a regular Microsoft Office user, doing real work on the cloud-based OnLive Desktop on an iPad will be a pain in the ass. Best to use a laptop. It has real keyboard, a real hard disk for storing your Microsoft Office files and will run Microsoft Office much faster without the headaches. The folks at OnLive probably did a great job of writing the code for OnLive Desktop, but there are just too many issues, and a lot of it isn't there fault. Sorry, but no thumbs up for OnLive Desktop.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett plowed $10.7 billion into the shares of International Business Machines Corp., making a massive bet on a technology services company after years of eschewing technology stocks.
Mr. Buffett on Monday said his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has taken a 5.4% stake in IBM. The holding is valued at $12 billion at current prices, already reflecting a 12% gain from what Berkshire paid. The acquisition made the Omaha, Neb., conglomerate IBM's second-biggest shareholder at Sept. 30, after investment firm State Street Global Advisors.
How did Warren Buffett keep his $10.7 billion investment in IBM from the public? WSJ's Shira Ovide stops by Mean Street to explain. Photo: Stephanie Sinclair/ VII for The Wall Street Journal
Berkshire secretly had been accumulating the shares since March, twice receiving confidential treatment from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which otherwise mandates that big investors disclose their holdings quarterly. Berkshire made its purchases during a period when shares of the information-technology services provider hit new highs while the broader stock market convulsed.
IBM shares have surged 28% this year, outdoing a flat showing in the Standard & Poor's 500 broad-market index and making the company the fourth-biggest U.S. firm by market capitalization, after Exxon Mobil Corp., Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. IBM's shares closed Monday at $187.35, down three cents, on the New York Stock Exchange. Berkshire closed 1.3% lower at $113,921 a Class A share.
The investment represents the most Berkshire has ever paid for a minority stake in a publicly traded company. Berkshire has an ever-growing cash hoard that Mr. Buffett must deploy in stocks and businesses in order to meet his goal of increasing the value of his company faster than the S&P 500 index. The IBM investment, along with a purchase in the third quarter of shares in Intell Corp. by Berkshire investment manager Todd Combs, gives the conglomerate holdings in 11 of the 30 companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
By investing in IBM, the 81-year-old chairman and chief executive of Berkshire appears to be departing from a long-held aversion to technology stocks. He previously professed to not understand technology companies even though his close friend and Berkshire board member Bill Gates is chairman of Microsoft. Mr. Buffett's investment track record has been built on investments in insurers, financial companies and industrial businesses, including household names like Coca-Cola Co. and American Express Co.
Mr. Buffett said he invested in IBM after reading its most recent annual report and was struck by IBM's entrenched position providing technology services to businesses. That is a characteristic he has long sought in investments, which he calls a "moat" against competition.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday, Mr. Buffett said,
"IBM fits all my principles…it's something we expect to own indefinitely."
He said he has completed his purchases of IBM. The SEC issues about 60 confidentiality waivers per quarter to investors, allowing them to accumulate shares without disclosures that could drive up stock prices.
Mr. Buffett said the fact that IBM stock has been trading close to its all-time high didn't matter to him. He said.
"What matters is what the company does in the future."
Berkshire's investment in IBM was earlier reported by CNBC.
IBM declined to comment on Berkshire's holding.
IBM, founded a century ago, has evolved from what was largely a maker of personal computers into a global provider of software and technology services for big companies and governments. By 2015, IBM aims to double its per-share earnings from 2010, receive 30% of its total revenue from emerging markets and spend $20 billion on acquisitions.
Shares of the Armonk, N.Y., company have ridden this year's tech wave, which has pushed up stocks of many tech and Internet companies and sparked fears among some market watchers of another tech bubble.
IBM shares are trading at nearly 15 times IBM's 2010 earnings and 12.7 times its projected 2012 earnings, based on analysts' forecasts. That valuation is similar to Oracle Corp. but higher than Microsoft's forward price-to-earnings multiple of 8.5 times.
Mr. Buffett said the idea of purchasing shares in Microsoft is "off limits" to him because of his friendship with Mr. Gates.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffet on board Berkshire Hathaway's corporate jet
Even though Berkshire bought IBM shares during a period in which they often traded near their record high, Mr. Buffett has maintained he tries not to overpay for investments. Last Friday, in a meeting with about 200 business students from colleges around the country, he said that when he buys stocks, he looks for enduring competitive strengths "and something not too expensive."
Not everyone is as bullish on IBM shares as Mr. Buffett. ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall, who has a "neutral" rating on the stock, said shares are "priced for perfection" and likely won't see a significant boost until IBM starts growing revenue more quickly.
Mr. Buffett has long been familiar with IBM, having discussed the company's business with Mr. Gates in the early days of their friendship. Jeff Matthews, a private investor in Berkshire who has written a book about Mr. Buffett, said the billionaire's early view of tech stocks was shaped some 50 years ago when many technology firms were "untested or highly volatile companies that generally flamed out."
Mr. Matthews said.
"Mr. Buffett probably sees IBM as a company that is as hard to displace from the corporate world as Coke would be to displace from the consumer world."
On the change in how he viewed investing in IBM, Mr. Buffett said: "Sometimes business facts change and it's your job to attempt to understand them."
One change Mr. Buffett will have to keep a close eye on is IBM's management. In October, IBM announced that Virginia M. Rometty will succeed Sam Palmisano as chief executive on Jan. 1 after a nearly 10-year run at Big Blue.
Mr. Buffett said the management change didn't surprise him, as IBM has "retired people fairly young."
Mr. Palmisano has won credit for wrenching decisions, like dumping IBM's PC business in the middle of the last decade, and for using a string of acquisitions to boost the company's exposure to more profitable services and software businesses.
COMMENTARY: I normally would not have picked up on this story, because I have eschewed IBM or "Big Blue" for what seems forever. As you know, IBM was perceived as the evil "Big Brother" by Steve Jobs in his infamous Super Bowl commercial for the MacIntosh. To me, IBM has represented Big Corporations and dark forces of the Illuminati, CIA and NSA.
For me the future is mobile: smartphones that will become smarter (Apple's iPhone 4S with SIRI voice commands is a move in that direction), tablets (iPad versus Kindle Fire and B&N Nook Tablet), music players (iPods), mobile apps and the Cloud. I have found IBM boring, mysterious, and just plain, not very exciting. The only exception was Watson their talking super-computer which took on two human contestants on the TV game show Jeopardy. I covered Watson in a blog post dated
Since June 2010, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and wife Melinda, have been talking with some of the world's biggest billionaires to raise $600 billion for charity. Some of the billionaires they have spoken with include Larry Ellison (Oracle), Lord Sainsbury (U.K. supermarket chain) and Christopher Cooper-Hohn (U.K. hedge funds) and others. The goal is to have these billionaires give away most of their wealth to help solve some of the world's biggest problems like disease, hunger and poverty. Bill Gates has also invested in green technology and even nuclear reactors. Here's a copy of their "billionaire recruitment" letter sent to David Rockefeller:
Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have been long-time friends, a unique relationship because of generational differences, but they are both smart, made smart investments and the two are worth a combined $100 billion. That buys a lot of philanthropy. However, I didn't know just how chubby these two were until I did a search for pictures of the two of them together. These two are almost inseparable.
So why exactly is Warren Buffet so interested in IBM, and investing in the technology industry, something he has never done before? There are very few technology companies that have cast a worldwide shadow like IBM. IBM employs more than 425,000 employees (sometimes referred to as "IBMers") in over 200 countries, with occupations including scientists, engineers, consultants, and sales professionals. Here are a few more reasons:
IBM was ranked the 18th largest firm in the U.S., as well as the 7th most profitable by Fortune for 2011.
IBM was ranked the 31st largest firm by Forbes for 2011.
IBM was ranked the #1 company for leaders (Fortune) for 2011.
IBM was ranked the #2 best global brand (Interbrand).
IBM was ranked the #12 most admired company (Fortune).
IBM was ranked the #18 most innovative company (Fast Company).
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
IBM holds more patents than any other U.S.-based technology company and has nine research laboratories worldwide. Its employees have garnered five Nobel Prizes, four Turing Awards, nine National Medals of Technology, and five National Medals of Science. Famous inventions by IBM include the automated teller machine (ATM), the flopy disk, the hard disk drive, the magnetic stripe card, the relational database management system (RDBMS), the Universal Product Code (UPC), the financial swap, SABRE airline reservation system, DRAM, and Watson artificial intelligence.
CONSOLE GAMING SYSTEMS
Virtually all console gaming systems of the latest generation use microprocessors developed by IBM. The Microsoft Xbox 360 contains a PowerPC tri-core processor, which was designed and produced by IBM in less than 24 months. Sony's PlayStaton 3 features the Cell BE microprocessor designed jointly by IBM, Toshiba and Sony. IBM will provide the microprocessors that serve as the heart of Nintendo's new Wii U system, which will debut in 2012.The new Power Architecture-based microprocessor includes IBM's latest technology in an energy-saving silicon package. Nintendo's seventh generation console, Wii, features an IBM chip codenamed Broadway. The older Nintendo GameCube utilizes the Gekko processor, also designed by IBM.
MISSION CRITICAL SYSTEMS
IBM has a worldwide reputation for transforming industries and its advanced mission critical systems for the following industries:
Automating Rail Systems - Nearly all major U.S. railroads now used IBM technology to automate scheduling and accounting operations. In 2010, helped Russian Railways move 1.3 billion passengers and freight more efficiently.
Government Systems Infrastructure - IBM brings efficiency and modernization to the systems infrastructure for national and municipal governments to help them integrate real-time information and processes across many departments.
Automating Aviation Industry Operations - Created the SABRE airline reservation system-- a precursor of everything from the ATM to e-commerce.
Raising Healthcare Standards - Hospitals throughout the world now monitor temperature, blood and heart beat information using IBM health monitoring systems.
Smarter Energy and Water Systems - IBM helps governments and utilities analyze ways to increase power output of hydroelectric dams. In 2009, helped implement the world’s first nationwide smart grid for Malta’s energy and water systems
Reinventing Transportation - Many of the world's traffic signaling systems were developed by IBM. Helped speed development of GM’s Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle with sophisticated design and simulation software.
Upgrading The Retail Experience - IBM invented the UPC barcode system used by supermarkets and retailers everywhere throughout the world.
Developing Banking Infrastructure - IBM created the first global settlement system for currency exchange, averaging $4 trillion a day, with the CLS Group, an industry consortium. In 2008, introduced world’s first real-time securities settlement system for Mexico.
OPEN CLIENT OFFERING
In February 2007, IBM announced it launched its new software, called "Open Client Offering" which runs on Linux, Microsoft Windows and Apple's Mac OS X. This product allows businesses to offer employees a choice of using the same software on Windows and its alternatives. This means that "Open Client Offering" is to cut costs of managing whether to use Linux or Apple relative to Windows. There will be no necessity for companies to pay Microsoft for its licenses for operating systems since the operating systems will no longer rely on software which is Windows-based. One alternative to Microsoft's office document formats is the Open Document Format software, whose development IBM supports. It is going to be used for several tasks like: word processing, presentations, along with collaboration with Lotus Notes, instant messaging and blog tools as well as an Internet Explorer competitor – the Mozilla Firefox web browser. IBM plans to install Open Client on 5% of its desktop PCs. The Linux offering has been made available as the IBM Client for Smart Work product on the Ubuntu and Red Hat Enterprise Linux platforms.
GROWTH INITIATIVES
IBM has established long-term Road Map growth initiatives that they hope will result in incremental revenue growth of $20 billion by 2015. These long-term growth initiatives include:
Emerging Growth Markets - IBM's 2015 Road Map Objective includes a historic economic expansion in the fast growing emerging markets of the world, such as China, India, Russia and Brazil and the company is laying the foundation for a strong foothold in the continent of Africa. The emerging market GDP growth rate—expected to be 5 percent through 2015—is more than double that of major markets. Emerging growth markets revenue approaches 30 percent of IBM’s geographic revenue by 2015.
Cloud Computing - IBM has helped thousands of clients in areas as diverse as banking, healthcare and government build their own clouds or securely tap into IBM cloud-based business and infrastructure services. IBM manages millions of cloudbased transactions every day and provides cloud analytics services to its worldwide clients. Cloud computing is a new, highly efficient model for consuming and delivering on demand IT-based services. Cloud revenue is expected to be $7 billion by 2015, of which $3 billion is incremental.
Business Analytics - IBM helops enterprises manage and mine terabytes of potentially valuable data, and the key is advanced data analytics. IBM spotted this emerging need early, building the world’s leading analytics organization—with 7,800 expert consultants, the world’s premier nonacademic mathematics function and invested $14 billion to acquire 25 companies, broaden their capabilities. To date, IBM scientists have received more than 500 analytics patents. Global data volumes are predicted to increase by 29 times over the next 10 years to 35 zettabytes.* (A zettabyte is a 1 followed by 21 zeros.). Business analytics revenue is expected to be $16 billion by 2015.
Smarter Planet - In 2008 and 2009, IBM implemented a bold initiative to make the world smarter, and in 2010, it deployed significant resources to capture the opportunity in key, high-growth industries where they maintain competitive advantage. IBM also expanded its Smarter Cities initiative, targeting city infrastructure projects to integrate real-time information and processes across many city departments. Major city infrastructure projects are now underway in Rio de Janeiro, Ho Chi Minh City, Shanghai, Seoul, Sydney, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Smarter Planet revenue is expected to be $10 billion by 2015.
ACQUISITIONS
CEO Samuel Palmisano is determined to make IBM a dominant player in business software services. IBM made almost 50 software acquisitions since 2006 in areas including data analysis, e-commerce, supply chain management and computer security, said Mills. More than half of those have been in business-data analysis, where IBM says it has spent $14 billion. The company expects such business analytics products to yield $16 billion in sales by 2015. IBM had $99.9 billion in sales 2010. Software, which had gross margins of 86.9 percent in 2010, is key to IBM’s growth plans. Here's a quick summary of their major acquisitions and prices paid between 2008 and 2011:
Year 2011 - Completed 5 acquisitions to date, including Algorithmics Inc (risk management software) for $387 million, Platform Computing (clusters, grids and cloud management software).
Year 2010 - Completed 17 acquisitions totalling $6.5 billion, including Netezza (data warehousing and analytics software) for $1.7 billion, Clarity Systems (financial governance software) for $350 million, Unica Corporation (marketing planning software) for $480 million and Sterling Commerce (business software integration) for $1.4 million.
Year 2009 - Completed six acquisitions totalling $1.5 billion, including SPSS (predictive analytics software) for $1.2 billion.
Year 2008 - Completed 15 acquisitions totalling $6.8 billion, including Cognos, Inc. (business intelligence software) for $5 billion and Telelogic AB (Product and project management and UML modeling software) for $885 million.
REVENUES BY SEGMENT
IBM segments revenues into five divisions:
Global Technology Services - Provides outsourced IT infrastructure services and business process services, delivering business value through the company’s global scale, standardization and automation.
Global Business Services - Provides professional services and application management services, delivering business value and innovation to clients through solutions which leverage industry and business-process expertise while integrating the industry-leading portfolio of IBM and strategic partners, to define the upper end of client-valued services.
Software - Consists primarily of middleware and operating systems software. Middleware software enables clients to integrate systems, processes and applications across a standard software platform. IBM middleware is designed on open standards, making it easier to integrate disparate business applications, developed by different methods and implemented at different times. Operating systems are the software engines that run computers. Software capabilities includes: WebSphere software, information management software, Tivoli software, Lotus software, Rational software, business analytics (Cognos business intelligence software and SSPS predictive analytics software) software.
Systems and Technology (Hardware) - Provides clients with business solutions requiring advanced computing power and storage capabilities. Approximately half of Systems and Technology’s server and storage sales transactions are through the company’s business partners; with the balance direct to end-user clients. In addition, Systems and Technology provides leading semiconductor technology, products and packaging solutions to clients and for IBM’s own advanced technology needs.
Global Financing - Provides worldwide clients with financing to facilitate acquisition of IBM systems, software and services. Global Financing invests in financing assets, leverages with debt and manages the associated risks with the objective of generating consistently strong returns on equity.
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FINANCIALS YEARS ENDING DECEMBER 31, 2008, 2009 AND 2010
I am not very impressed with IBM's financial's. Here's why:
Current Ratio - IBM's current ratio (current assets to current liabilities) for the year ending December 31, 2011 is not impressive (about 1:1). Bankers normally would like to see a 1.5 to 2.00 current ratio.
Financing Contracts - IBM is generating phenomenal returns from its Financing segment, but short-term financing and long-term financing contracts now constitute $26.8 billion combined or 23.6% of total assets. IBM's financing contracts are net of reserves for bad debts. It's reserves for bad debts are very low, but is risky given the state of the world economies. Should IBM be in the banking business?
Borowed Debt - Short-term ($6.8 bil) and long-term debt ($21.8 bil) combined represent $28.6 billion or 31.7% of total liabilities, which is quite high. If you take out deferred income (long-term support contracts) of $11.5 billion, then the ratio baloons to 36.4%.
Debt-to-Equity - IBM's debt-to-equity ratio is 2.8. This drops to 2.44% if you take out deferred income. Most bankers would agree that 1.50 to 2.00 is an acceptable debt-to-equity ratio.
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QUARTERLY EARNINGS - Q3 2010 THROUGH Q3 2011
IBM has surpassed analysts earnings forecasts throughout most of 2011, and the market has rewarded the company by increasing the price of its stock by 28.61% since the beginning of the year.
STOCK PRICE
IBM has surpassed Hewlett-Packard is now the third most valuable technology company behind only #1 Apple Inc. ($361.4 billion) and #2 Microsoft ($224.9 billion) with a market capitalization of $222.46 billion as November 15, 2011. The the year-to-date ending November 15, 2011, IBM's stock price has increased by 28.61% since the start of the year. This exceeds the DJIA (+4.48%), NASDAQ (+1.26%) and the S&P (+0.01%). IBM (NYSE:IBM) stock ended at 188.75 (up +1.40 or 0.75%) for the end of day's trading.
Most stock analysts are not bullish on IBM stock, and many of them believe Mr. Buffet is acquiring IBM stock near its peak price, but Warren Buffet is not concerned with the stock price as he is future earnings potential. IBM's growth strategy includes increasing its share of software business services through acquisitions (see above) Software has much higher profit margins than hardware. IBM is also expanding its presence into fast growing emerging markets (China, Brazil, Russia, India and African continent) by capitalizing on its strengths in energy and power grid management solutions, government systems infrastructure, smarter energy and water systems, automated rail systems, traffic signaling systems, retail, ecommerce and banking software and hardware.
Warren evidently believes there is still room for IBM to grow revenues and earnings, and this will boost IBM's revenues, earnings and stock price even more. Warren Buffet has overlooked IBM's relatively weak balance sheet, but it makes you wonder if there is something he knows that the general investing public does not. Insider information, perhaps? Warren Buffet has a track record of investing in solid companies (see above), then he holds the stock for the long-term, and he believes IBM has a great upside for 3 to 5 years down the line.
This TED demonstration of SixSense, a new concept in augmented reality technology, Pattie Maes of the MIT Media Lab, spearheaded by graduate research assistant Pranav Mistry -- was the buzz of TED.
'SixthSense' is a wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world around us with digital information and lets us use natural hand gestures to interact with that information. By using a camera and a tiny projector mounted in a pendant like wearable device, 'SixthSense' sees what you see and visually augments any surfaces or objects we are interacting with. It projects information onto surfaces, walls, and physical objects around us, and lets us interact with the projected information through natural hand gestures, arm movements, or our interaction with the object itself. 'SixthSense' attempts to free information from its confines by seamlessly integrating it with reality, and thus making the entire world your computer.
COMMENTARY: Pattie Maes is an Associate Professor in MIT's Program in Media Arts and Sciences and Associate Head of the Program in Media Arts and Sciences. She founded and directs the Media Lab's Fluid Interfaces research group. Previously, she founded and ran the Software Agents group.
Prior to joining MIT's Media Lab, Maes was a visiting professor and a research scientist at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab. She holds bachelor's and PhD degrees in computer science from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium. Her areas of expertise are human-computer interaction, artificial life, artificial intelligence, collective intelligence, and intelligence augmentation.
Maes is the editor of three books, and is an editorial board member and reviewer for numerous professional journals and conferences. She has received several awards: Newsweek magazine named her one of the "100 Americans to watch for" in the year 2000; TIME Digital selected her as a member of the Cyber-Elite, the top 50 technological pioneers of the high-tech world; the World Economic Forum honored her with the title "Global Leader for Tomorrow"; Ars Electronica awarded her the 1995 World Wide Web category prize; and in 2000 she was recognized with the "Lifetime Achievement Award" by the Massachusetts Interactive Media Council.
Pranav Mistry is currently a Research Assistant and PhD candidate at the MIT Media Lab. Before joining MIT he worked as a UX Researcher with Microsoft. He received a Master in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT and Master of Design from IIT Bombay. Pranav completed his Bachelors degree in Computer Science and Engineering. Pranav is from Palanpur, a town situated in northern Gujarat in India. Pranav is a brilliant researcher and appeared in a TED presentation in India.
During his engineering work in computer science to his masters studies in design, Pranav has worked on a varied fields like interaction design, robotics, computer graphics, HCI, AI, information graphics, Embedded systems, social computing, and many others. He explored the fields with different projects and research papers. Here are some of the numerous projects he has been involved with include:
In this excerpt from The Orange Revolution: How One Great Team Can Transform an Entire Organization, authors Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton look at the team that created the iPod, and how the vision of a revolutionary music player motivated them to innovate.
Vinnie Chieco, a freelance copywriter, had been offered a new assignment. He was working with a client who had a reputation for superior results--and this client was about to reveal a new product to the market that would create an impact of massive proportion. Chieco was tasked with giving it a name. When he was sent a prototype, it didn't resemble anything on the market; it was like something from a sci-fi movie. Naming such a radical device would surely be difficult. He needed to communicate both simplicity and revolutionary technology in a single thought. The smooth edges, seemingly button-less device reminded Chieco of a famous line from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey where the character Dr. Dave Bowman says, "Open the pod bay door, HAL!" In the film, HAL is the computer that could control the ship. The "pod," in the movie is a spacecraft used for extravehicular activity. Somehow, the word "pod" resonated with Chieco. It seemed to be a perfect fit for Apple's out-of-this-world travel into the future of music.
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The release of the iPod has famously revolutionized the music business, and that was exactly what Apple CEO Steve Jobs and the iPod team set out to do; they are an ideal example of a team with a big dream. But it's interesting to note that their dream wasn't entirely original, which in some ways made it even more ambitious. MP3 players had already been on the market from other manufacturers. But Apple dreamed of making a player that would be transformative, that would be world class.
Much like the team assembled by Edison to create a better, long-burning, and safe light bulb, the iPod team was focused on reinvention--building something that would not only outperform all competing products, but would entirely own the market space. And this dream was explicit; during the unveiling, Steve Jobs clearly expressed the team's vision to the media: "It will go down in history as a turning point for the music industry," said Jobs at the time. ". . . landmark stuff."
Let's not get confused at the difference between a goal and a dream. A goal is something measurable, trackable, and is built on analytics. Goals have realistic timelines, are measured by weighing the data, the risks, and the current assets. They are essential to success, but they follow dreams. A dream is bigger--it has no boundaries, rules, or past history. It's focused on transforming business as we know it, and approaching from a direction never pursued--or at least never attained. In dreams, we seek the outstanding change--not just within the products we create but in the results those products inspire. For Apple, the dream was to change and dominate the music industry. And the product (in this case, the iPod) enabled that dream to become a reality--shaking the world with results. It wasn't just the contours of the device. It wasn't just the technology. It wasn't the simplicity of buttons. Apple's dream was so vast that it changed how music was heard, sold, purchased, and consumed. The iPod launched the platform of iTunes. And with such a massive public and music industry shift, the PC world shifted to accommodate as well. This was a dream that defined world-class results.
Obviously, the iPod team succeeded. On January 27, 2010, just nine years after its launch, Apple announced that the 250 millionth iPod had been sold--making it the fastest- selling music player in history.
Given its breakout success, it might seem obvious that the iPod was a great idea, but it really did take dreaming big in order to pull it off.
Consider this: The initiative was launched in 1997, on the heels of a year in which Apple lost$816 million. That alone leads to an interesting question for all of us: would your organization, on the heels of its worst year ever, take their best people and put them on a team to design a product so far outside your current business model? Oh, and there's more. Apple at the time didn't have a pipeline of new talent to back up these stars. The company's creative reputation was waning, as were profits, so industry insiders hardly considered working for Apple a desirable career move. Next there were equipment challenges. Apple wanted to offer consumers ten hours of continuous play before needing to recharge the device, but a spinning hard drive--the 1.8-inch hard-disk drive where the music is stored and was the iPod's key technology--requires a lot of battery power, and on top of that it was new in the MP3 space. From an engineering standpoint alone the iPod was a huge dream.
Obviously the iPod team needed to overcome a number of hurdles.
COMMENTARY: The Apple iPod sure has come a long way. I can remember the very first iPod. SONY must've cringed.
Courtesy of an article dated October 4, 2010 appearing in Fast Company
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