Hasta La Gadget!

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Last week’s Switched On discussed Nokia’s quest to help Microsoft create a third mobile ecosystem alongside those of Apple and Google. That word – ecosystem – has clearly passed into the pantheon of buzzwords, leveraging many synergies from purpose-built paradigms. And yet, building and maintaining ecosystems is something few companies really understand. True technology ecosystems are more than just successful platforms or throwing many products together simply because they are owned by the same company. They are characterized by strategically implemented nurturing.

One concept that Apple seems to have adapted from natural ecosystems is the concept of the water cycle you probably learned about in grade school. Apple turns up the heat on the life-sustaining water of innovation that passes between the well-grounded Mac market and the soaring growth of the iOS market. Apple alluded to this cycle in its Back to the Mac event. After inheriting many technologies from Mac OS X, iOS began offering Mac OS X launch screens, full-screen apps, app resuming, and document autosaving. This week’s announcements, though, show that the cycle may soon be heading again in the other direction as Apple showed off two Mac technologies that may well wind up strengthening the iOS ecosystem.

Continue reading Switched On: Back from the Mac

Switched On: Back from the Mac originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Feb 2011 22:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

This week saw significant and contrasting twists for the legacies of two operating systems that had their roots in the heyday of the PDA. HP revealed that it is killing off the Palm brand, and Nokia announced that — while it would continue to “harvest” less capable versions of the Symbian operating system on its basic handsets — it would shift away from the operating system in its smartphones in favor of Windows Phone 7. In some ways, the demise of the Palm brand and the loss of Symbian’s last major supporter at Microsoft’s hands represent the end of an era.

Continue reading Switched On: Iconic trends meet ironic ends

Switched On: Iconic trends meet ironic ends originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Feb 2011 20:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

It’s that special time of year between the post-holiday sales and the pre-CES hype that presents an opportunity to consider some of the most innovative devices of the year. Switched On is proud to present the Saluting Wares Improving Technology’s Contribution to Humanity awards, also known as The Switchies. This year marks the fifth annual Switchies, which are decided based on a rigorous examination of the opinion of me, and do not reflect the opinion of Engadget or its editors. For that latter honor, nominees will need to win an Engadget Award. Let’s roll out the red carpet then.

Continue reading Switched On: The 2010 Switchies

Switched On: The 2010 Switchies originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 Jan 2011 19:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

When Acer announced a slate of new devices at a New York press conference last week, the overarching message was simple — keyboards are as done as a Thanksgiving turkey. The company introduced an array of tablets, most of which were running Android, with sizes ranging from five- to ten-inches each. That’s almost as broad a lineup as Archos, which has dipped down to what most would consider digital audio player turf with a three-inch tablet (tablette?) and a precursor to what is sure to be a merciless barrage of tablets on the slate for CES. The single manifestation of a physical QWERTY text entry device was a keyboard dock designed for a 10-inch tablet running Windows.

But as much as Acer’s tablet lineup seems poised to flounder in the coming sea of similarity, its Iconia laptop stood out, eschewing a keyboard for a second 14-inch touchscreen to match the main display. Unlike the dual 14-inch hinged Kno device discussed in columns prior, this one is clearly designed to be used in a landscape orientation, and unlike the 7-inch Toshiba Libretto, the Iconia is not being positioned as some kind of limited-edition experiment. If anything, Acer signaled that it would be the first in a series of products that would unfold over the next several years.

Continue reading Switched On: Acer’s Iconic Keyboard

Switched On: Acer’s Iconic Keyboard originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Oh, e-readers are e-readers. And tablets are tablets. And surely the twain shall meet. Indeed, they already have, with the iPad hosting not only its own integrated bookstore, but client software from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and others. Barnes & Noble, in turn, describes its new Nook Color as a “readers’ tablet.” But these devices and their affiliated digital bookstores are all chasing the same avid readers of bestsellers. These readers read mostly for leisure or self-directed enrichment as they can fit it in to their schedules.

But those who sell e-readers and tablets would really like to tap into a market of people who have to read versus want to read — not just the low-stakes novellas of Amazon singles, but hefty, cumbersome, expensive, perpetually obsolete tomes that are assigned to 19 million full-time college students annually. The National Association of College Stores estimates that the average full-time college student spends nearly $700 per year on course materials. For the 2008-2009 school year, the average new textbook price was $64. And the mean gross margin on course materials for a college bookstore is 27 percent.

That is a prize worth pursuing. But can a device dedicated to the way students study survive amidst an onslaught of tablets from every corner of the PC, consumer electronics and cell phone industries? Kno thinks the answer is yes.

Continue reading Switched On: Getting from Kno to yes, part 1

Switched On: Getting from Kno to yes, part 1 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Nov 2010 19:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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