Dell Windows 8 Tablet: Tempting To Schools?

Dell this week introduced a reconfigured version of its Latitude 10 tablet for businesses and schools, based on the notion that Windows 8 can unify touch-based and keyboard-based interaction without sacrificing the management needs of IT administrators.
The Latitude 10 essentials configuration ($499 for 32 GB, $579 for 64 GB) is a slightly more affordable version of the Latitude 10 standard configuration ($579+, 64 GB). As its name suggests, it features a 10.1 inch display. The various Latitude models each include a 1.8-GHz Intel Atom Z2760 processor.


"This is really about helping teachers and students and administrators address the issues around total management in a tech-driven environment," Jon Phillips, managing director of global education for Dell, said in an interview.
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Phillips said that while students and teachers want the benefits of multitouch device interaction, they also want to produce content, something still best done with traditional productivity tools like Microsoft Office.
"Tablets are solid consumption tools, but one of the unique things that the Windows 8 tablet environment does is allow you to do more than consume," said Phillips.
Whereas Apple's iPad and Microsoft's Surface RT both run tablet-specific operating systems, Dell's Latitude 10 relies Windows 8 Pro, giving users access to the same applications as a desktop user.
Dell sees the Latitude as a hybrid device, one that's both a tablet and a laptop -- if you revise the definition of "laptop" so that an attached keyboard isn't necessary.
Phillips describes the Latitude 10 as the "best of both worlds," in that it allows students and teachers to move between multitouch and docked desktop modes, while keeping everything under familiar Windows management mechanisms.
David Fritz, end user computing strategist at Dell, said the company has some education customers testing Latitude 10 tablets but would not provide further information about the trials because they're just getting underway. Nonetheless, he insisted that there has been a lot of interest in the productivity dock, which can be used to turn the tablet into a conventional desktop screen in conjunction with connected peripherals.
While the Latitude 10 with Windows 8 can't boast the number of apps (35,000+) that competing tablets like Apple's iPad can (700,000+), Phillips argues app store inventory doesn't matter. "It's not about having 100,000 or more applications," he said. "It's what are the 10 or 15 quality applications that can really ignite education and create personalized experiences between students and teachers."

Windows Messenger closes in March

2013 will mark the end of an era for social media fans as Microsoft finally kills off Windows Messenger, its popular but outdated instant messaging tool.
After announcing in November that it planned to close the service, Microsoft this week emailed Messenger users to confirm it would be switched off on 15 March, from when Messenger logins will no longer work. Windows Live IDs are unaffected.
Instead, Microsoft is diverting users to Skype, which offers instant messaging as well as audio and video chat.

"On 15th March 2013, we are retiring the existing Messenger service globally (except for mainland China where Messenger will continue to be available) and bringing the great features of Messenger and Skype together," said Microsoft's official email.
Following Microsoft's acquisition of Skype in May 2011 for £5.2bn, analysts had speculated that Microsoft would move to bring Messenger and Skype's competing services closer together.
Pre-Facebook and Twitter, instant chat applications such as Messenger, AIM and ICQ were hugely popular. Windows Live Messenger began life as MSN Messenger in 1999 and had more than 100 million users in 2010.
Messenger will continue to operate in China where it is run under licence

Sony’s Hirai Aims to Get ‘Mojo Back’ as TVs Talk With Cameras

Sony Corp. (6758) is enabling its Bravia TVs, Handycam camcorders and Xperia phones to communicate with each other as Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai tries to end four years of losses.

Higher-definition televisions, water-resistant phones and wireless speakers were among devices released by Sony yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The Tokyo-based company expects the addition of Near Field Communication technology to its gadgets to entice buyers from products made by Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. (005930)
“It’s one product at a time to have people understand, ‘Wow! Sony is really starting to get its mojo back,’” said Hirai, who took over as president and CEO from Howard Stringer in April.
Sony also announced its intention to offer Ultra-High Definition content from Sony Pictures for downloading on Sony TVs, a move aimed at leveraging the company’s own movie studio. The service will offer 10 movies when it debuts this summer and will be exclusive to Sony sets, Hirai said.
Hirai vowed to “surprise and delight” consumers with products including a TV that offers Ultra-High Definition resolution using organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, technology that is thinner and more energy-efficient than conventional sets. His demonstration of a prototype failed, as the model showed only a blue screen with white text.
Samsung (005390), the world’s largest maker of TVs, also showed off Ultra-High Definition models at the electronics exhibition.

Walkmans, CDs

Hirai said making higher-quality products featuring more- powerful technology will persuade customers to return to the brand that invented Walkmans and introduced CD players. The company is targeting a 20 billion-yen profit this fiscal year after posting four straight full-year net losses and eight straight annual losses from TVs.
When he was promoted, Hirai identified mobile devices as a key priority, and the company released two new models in Las Vegas. The company plans to boost smartphone sales 51 percent to 34 million units in the year ending March 31.
Sony also introduced a more-powerful digital camera that Hirai described as “a Ferrari in a Mini Cooper body.”
The 52-year-old said he’s approved at least four “wacky” projects for development, or unusual engineering ideas that may yield new products or technologies. He didn’t provide details.

There are good reasons to purchase Windows 7 computer systems

A quick take a look at our newest laptop or computer Scores shows a unique history: Regardless of the release of the new House windows Eight OS, many House windows 6 pcs remain offered by various merchants, as well as some top each of our Rankings. In case you are shopping for a new personal computer at this time, there are several why you should opt for House windows Seven.

Is really a look at the pros and cons of the brand new operating system, and a few reasons why you might like to get old-fashioned.

When it isn't pennyless. Home windows Seven generally obtained favorable reviews if this was published. A few years after its Last year kick off, right now there even now are not a lot of issues. If you have been very pleased with Glass windows 6 and in many cases Windows 7 up until now, there is not any engaging explanation to exchange to Windows 7.

You are not buying a touchscreen. Windows 8 is all about effect. Once you launch it, the outlet monitor is a touch software. Yes, you can use it with a mouse button or perhaps touch pad, but it is built to make you naturally desire to touch on the computer display, and even swipe this. Without a touchscreen display screen, factors behind upgrading a well used method or even getting a personal computer using Home windows 7 diminish powerful.

That you do not similar to modify. House windows 8-10 doesn't always have the particular familiar Begin switch regarding launching packages and also closing the device down. Needless to say, it isn't challenging to kick off your software in the first place display screen when the windows are 7 floor tile program. Although, additionally it is totally different from hitting your own Commence option to see a listing of plans. When you choose to previous approach, choose Home windows 6.Individuals still upgrading. Some Glass windows 7 designs are still certainly not undertaking as well as predicted, along with Windows 6 computer systems topped new kinds. The requirement for vendors to be able to update his or her House windows Eight owners may make clear your less-than-optimal overall performance (the Vizio CT15-A4 described earlier mentioned ended up being an exception, using exceptional functionality).

You might be undecided. There's a chance you're more satisfied receiving a Home windows Seven laptop or computer for the present time, looking forward to the actual airborne debris to settle, along with upgrading to be able to Windows Eight later on. Despite the fact that we've not nevertheless seen prices losing upon older Windows 6 designs but, you may still find a few Very best Tends to buy within our Ratings (including the Acer Desire TimelineU M5-481TG-6814, proven towards the top of this text). If you choose to upgrade within the next month or two, it will cost you simply $15 to do this, furnished you get your brand-new pc by the end of Present cards as well as signup to be able to update through February 28, 2013.

However , . . . There are good reasons to purchase Windows 7 computer systems, but they're probably a matter of personal preference. If you're obtaining a touchscreen display along with like the thought utilizing your personal machine somewhat which can be such as a product, Windows 8 may be for you. If you want the idea involving "live" tiles that alter because new e-mails or even social-network changes come in, you'll understand the porcelain tile program about Home windows 8. We have an individual included, using more than endless weeks of frustration suggested Home windows Eight notebooks and 4 desktops.

Apple’s App Store has delivered 40 billion downloads, including nearly 20 billion in 2012

Yes, people really do love mobile apps. Apple (AAPL) on Monday announced that its App Store has delivered a total of 40 billion iOS app downloads since its launch in 2008. What’s more, the company served up nearly 20 billion downloads in 2012 alone, meaning that the company has roughly doubled its total App Store downloads over the past year alone. Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, said that 2012 was “an incredible year for the iOS developer community” and said that “developers have made over $7 billion on the App Store.”

Windows 8 sales woes: are netbooks to blame?

The latest numbers indicate that Windows 8 isn't boosting the weak PC notebook market, causing some manufacturers to blame Microsoft for poor sales. But Paul Thurrott, longtime Microsoft enthusiast and founder of SuperSite for Windows, argues that Windows 8 isn't dragging down manufacturers — it's the other way around. "Many of [Microsoft's] 20 million Windows 7 licenses each month," Thurrott writes, "went to machines that are basically throwaway, plastic crap." Blaming netbooks particularly, he says that cheap notebook sales conditioned customers to "expect to pay next to nothing" for Windows machines, a strategy that backfired when Microsoft started optimizing Windows 8 for more expensive touch-based displays. His sentiment echoes that of NPD, which concluded in a private report that netbooks did "an incalculable amount of damage" to the PC market.
We've written before about the potential of touch displays, as well as the problems they pose for current-gen hardware. Thurrott's suggestions for solving the touchscreen conundrum are largely cost-based: prices, he says, need to come down enough to occupy a place between cheap Android tablets and higher-priced iPads. For that to happen, though, manufacturers would have to shave several hundred dollars off the prices of touch-enabled machines, shifting focus from high-specced ultrabooks to cheaper notebooks and ARM devices. And considering the problems both netbooks and the ARM-based Surface have seen, that introduces a whole new set of issues.