There is a story I read about a prototype shopping cart that will actually have the Microsoft Kinect on them.? A test concept shopping cart will have a Kinect sensor and is motorized which will follow the shopper around the store and be able to actually scan items as they are placed in the cart and will even check them out at the end of the shopping.? This prototype was showed off yesterday in Redmond Washington.? This project however has not been in the works for very long, as a matter a fact the reports are that this project is only a few weeks into it inception.??? This is just one of the great things you can do with the Microsoft Kinect.? Microsoft is even reporting that over 300 companies are working on commercial applications for the Kinect on the Windows platform.? I am very excited to see how this works out.? Above is a short video demoing it.
As we well know the marketplace is flooded with all different types of tablets. Well an analyst from DisplaySearch stated that there may be a Google branded tablet in the near future which will have a 1280×800 resolution and a 7-inch display and possible production starting in April and the initial production is supposedly slated from between 1.5-2 million units, reported by Richard Shim, an analyst from DisplaySearch. The closest tablet to these specs would be the Kindle Fire from Amazon which is also 7-inches but has only a 1024×600 display. So it is interesting to see that Google is not working on putting out hardware along with software for tablets. They are starting to follow suit with Apple and hopefully will make hardware that can best utilize the OS and updates. As previous blogs have stated that there have been problems with certain hardware to upgrade to certain operating systems on Android phones.
We’ve got a new website! It took us a little while to get it off the ground (our geeks were too busy helping customers to get the bugs ironed out!) but we’re happy to finally see the new design online.
So, what does our new site mean to you? For one, it means it’s never been easier to find a geek near you! Now you can find a Geek Choice location in your area just about anywhere in the US. We’re also making it easier to learn more about our specialty services, like iPad repair and remote service.
Of course, not everything’s changing. We’re still going to use this space to help keep you up to date on the latest news in computer security, because while we do get paid for cleaning viruses off your system, we’d rather you didn’t get infected in the first place. We welcome your questions and comments on any tech issues, so if there’s anything you’d like to see a post about, please let us know! Whatever problem you’re having or device you’re curious about, our techs have probably seen it all by now.
There are reports that Microsoft will be moving away from its traditional iPad, iPod, iPhone dock connector. An updated micro dock that they would add could be helpful in adding a 4G radio, bigger batters and other components that would work in everyone’s favor in this mobile world. This may not seem like the connector is big by any stretch of the imagination but is actually a big component which takes up a lot of space in a phone verses other phones but the 4GLTe radios so by making a smaller dock they could by all accounts actually make room for a better 4G radio. All accounts state that they will not go with a micro-USB connection which is what most phones are using these days, just because Apple has never been one to conform to trends especially when they feel that the hardware is outdated and has poor transfer speeds compared to what they might be able to create. So it will be really great to see what Apple will have in store for the docking port.
Nielsen has come out with some new data that shows that about 29% of smart phone owners turn to their phones for shopping. 71% of percent of app users said they would rather use their phone to pay at registers. In the third quarter of 2011 38% of smartphone users used their cell phone for price comparison and purchasing. 75% of iPhone owners have expressed interest in paying by iPhone and then 39% said they would be very interested in an for the purpose of making purchases at the register. A lot of these numbers favor companies like Google and PayPal which have been working on large opportunities to capitalize on consumers’ mobile payments desires. These numbers show that things are changing in this world, who knows maybe in the future you won’t need a physical credit card you will only need your phone.
It has been reported that Amazon has placed an order with the company Foxconn to build 10 inch versions of the Kindle Fire which by all accounts should be released this summer. DigiTimes had reported that Foxconn received orders for the new device from Amazon and that it could be shipped by the second quarter of this year. It would seem that Amazon has had some success with the Fire, seeing as though they are considering making an upgrade to the Fire so soon. The Apple iPad has sold more than 55 million since 2010 and Amazon hasn’t released any numbers but they did report that they had the best holiday ever for the Kindle devices, including the Fire which was launched in November. Although some estimates have the Kindle Fire selling around 6 million units in the fourth quarter which is quite an achievement since 15 million iPads were sold in the fourth quarter.
A few blogs ago I posted about Google being able to bypass privacy in the safari browser. Well now Microsoft is jumping into the game saying that Google is also manipulating IE’s default privacy restrictions in order to get by user preferences about cookies. Google did not take this news lightly as it has responded to this by stating that Microsoft’s P3P cookie technology is widely non-operational and that this has been around since 2002 and Google also cited a 2010 Carnegie Mellon research paper that states over 11,000 websites don’t use valid P3P policies. Google even brings Facebook and Amazon to the forefront as websites that use similar ways to bypass the P3P stating that Facebook’s policy is as follows “the P3P standard is now out of date and does not reflect technologies that are currently in use on the web.” With Microsoft trying to capitalize on what bad press Google may have gotten over the privacy issues it looks like Google is firing back stating that problem isn’t with Google but with Microsoft, a bold move that looks as if they have the stats to back it up which makes Microsoft’s boasting of IE9 a bit premature.
Geek Choice is proud to be a donator of another event. Hope on the Slopes, a Ski or Ride for a World Without Cancer which took place on February 12th, 2012 on an all day downhill ski and snowboard event where teams would get on the slopes to make a difference on Pats Peak’s open terrain. All the donations made went to help the American Cancer Society to support cancer research and cancer patients. We are proud to be part of this great event and we encourage all of you readers to do what you can to help causes that you believe in.
Nuance the company that has brought you Dragon Naturally Speaking has added support for Android 4.0 otherwise known as Ice Cream Sandwich. The Swype feature that many people are using these days now includes the Dragon Go! software that is a free app in the Android Marketplace. It adds what has been called a Siri-like voice search functionality. You can just tap and hold the Dragon Go! button on the screen and ask a question like you do with Siri. Based upon reports I have read the Dragon Go! addition is very accurate just like Siri. It does pull the answers for you questions from different places like Google search, Yelp, Fandango and many more.
Yesterday if you read my blog, you know that Google has found a way to circumvent the built-in privacy security measures in the Safari mobile browser to track the users. So why wouldn’t Microsoft jump into the game to tout its browser IE 9. Microsoft has gone on to say that these types of practices that Google has used in not new in trying to get by web browser security settings even though Google has stated that they have been mischaracterized by some of the reports, especially the one by the Wall Street Journal, stating that the cookies do not collect all private data. So with all this being said Microsoft is capitalizing on this bad press for Apple and Google to tell the world, use IE9 and you will be protected. Do you think that IE9 is the new choice to protect yourself against the big bad companies that want your data to market to you?
