Microsoft tablet and iPad to duke it out at large companies

Windows 8 Pro tablets will be attractive to large corporate customers. But it won't be easy competing with the iPad, which is gaining traction at large businesses.

Windows 8 Pro tablets have a shot at slowing iPad adoption at large companies, said Deutsche Bank -- though an analyst tempered the assessment with reservations.

Microsoft's Surface tablet running Windows 8 Pro can "leverage" the large existing base of Windows customers, giving it a better chance at checking the "penetration" of Apple's iPad at large business accounts, Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore wrote in a research note on Monday. 

Intel-based Windows 8 Pro Surface tablet.

(Credit: Microsoft)

"We see the x86-based Pro as a corporate [laptop] replacement. This offering has more potential because the OS is backward compatible, has more robust security, leverages the existing installed base, and offers full Office support (and consistent file management). We expect the Pro (and its forthcoming ilk) will compete directly with touch enabled ultrabooks / corporate [laptops]. The Pro tablet has the potential to slow the rate of iPad penetration into enterprise accounts."

But Whitmore quickly qualified this as a "best case scenario" because Microsoft is "swimming upstream against the consumerization of IT," referring to employees who bring their own iPads to work.

The Intel-based Pro version will likely be priced in the range of $900 to more than $1,000. "Or roughly in line with similarly configured ultrabooks," he wrote. 

That's roughly a 20 percent premium over the most expensive 64GB iPad with 4G, according to Whitmore. And Windows Pro Surface tablets must also contend with the iPad's superior battery life and the iPad's large number of third-party apps, he said.

RT tablets -- built around Windows RT and ARM silicon -- have even less chance against the iPad, Whitmore said.

"We see Windows RT struggling because the platform has: 1) limited 3rd party apps 2) no backward compatibility with existing PCs 3) a price point that will likely be higher than iPad 4) unclear 4G/carrier support and 5) uncertainty which version of Office will be supported (reports suggest it will not be enterprise ready). To put it bluntly, if the Surface is not priced below the iPad we see few compelling reasons for consumers to choose RT over iPad. The iPad is in its third generation, has broad and deep App support, iTunes/iOS/iCloud lock in (content, pictures etc) and high customer satisfaction."

Below is a Deutsche Bank breakdown of iPad and Surface tablet pricing and configurations.

(Credit: Deutsche Bank)

By courtesy of:  Brooke Crothers
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Google Fights to Save 3,054 Languages

Will you be any worse off the moment humans cease to speak in Aragonese? How about Navajo or Ojibwa? Or Koro, a language only just discovered in a tiny corner of northeast India?

No, you probably wouldn’t, not in that moment. But humanity would be. Science, art and culture would be. If, as the phrase goes, another language equals another soul, then some 3,054 souls — 50% of the world’s total languages — are set to die out by 2100.

If there is hope, it lies in the world’s centers of information — such as Google. The search giant’s philanthropic arm, Google.org, has launched the Endangered Language project, a website devoted to preserving those ancient tongues that are now only spoken by a few thousand of us.

The site, launched early Thursday, features videos and an interactive map. The curious can click on any one of the dots that hang over each country (including a suprising number in the US), each representing a whole language.

You can hear the heartbreaking, beautiful sound of Koro being sung, or read 18th century manuscripts written in a nearly-dead Native American tongue. “Documenting the 3,000+ languages that are on the verge of extinction is an important step in preserving cultural diversity,” write project managers Clara Rivera Rodriguez and Jason Rissman.

The idea is to unite a lot of smaller preservation efforts under the Google.org banner. “By bridging independent efforts from around the world we hope to make an important advancement in confronting language endangerment,” said Rodriguez and Rissman. “We hope you’ll join us.”

Check out the project’s video below, and let us know in the comments: how else can 21st century technology help save ancient language?


By courtesy of:  Chris Taylor 
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Social Media Destroying Real-World Relationships

There’s no doubt social media enables us to organize our real-world relationships, and even meet new people outside the digital realm — both of which can be great, life-enhancing things.

But could social networking have an adverse effect on our quality of life?

Consider this: 24% of respondents to one survey said they’ve missed out on enjoying special moments in person because — ironically enough — they were too busy trying to document their experiences for online sharing. Many of us have had to remind ourselves to “live in the now” — instead of worry about composing the perfect tweet or angling for just the right Instagram shot.

Worldwide, Facebook users spend 10.5 billion minutes each day surfing the site — and that doesn’t even include mobile use, according to the company’s IPO filing. Collectively, that’s nearly 20 years per day that people spend living online instead of offline.

Facebook users in India, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore all spend an average of more than 20 minutes on-site every day. In Singapore, the figure is a whopping 38 minutes.

A survey by the social site Badoo, meanwhile, found that 39% of Americans spend more time socializing online than in person. 20% actually prefer communicating online or via text message to face to face conversation, while a third said they’re more likely to approach someone new online than off.

The online education portal schools.com recently culled findings from a variety of media and research outlets to create the infographic below, which details the positive and negative ways social media impacts real world relationships. Check it out below for the fuller picture.

What are the positive and negative effects of social media in your own life? Share with us in the comments.

Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, LeoGrand

By courtesy of: Sam Laird
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