Switched On: The next microplatform

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

DNP Switched On The next microplatform

The case for rich operating systems supporting a wide range of applications has been proven out among PCs, tablets and smartphones. But the jury is still out for other devices such as televisions. While Samsung pushes ahead on attracting apps to its Smart TVs using its own platform and LG, Sony and Vizio align with Google TV, there are still reasons to believe that the smart TV will fail to have tremendous impact as Switched On discussed last year. Blu-ray players, video game consoles and cheap boxes from Apple, Roku, Netgear and others allow consumers to expand their video options while integrated networking provides gateways to content from smartphones, tablets and PCs.

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Switched On: The next microplatform originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Nov 2012 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Switched On: The time is right for Xbox Surface

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

DNP Switched On The time is right for Xbox Surface

Rumors have swirled that Microsoft is developing a high-powered 7-inch gaming tablet dubbed Xbox Surface, the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup of Microsoft's homegrown hardware brands. Such a move would change the landscape of Microsoft's Xbox and portable game initiatives. It would mark a reversal for the company, which has stayed out of the increasingly challenging handheld space in favor of promoting Windows Phone as part of its ecosystem battle. However, it would be in keeping with Steve Ballmer's promise (or is it OEM warning?) to expect more hardware from Microsoft. As the tablet was partly Apple's answer to the netbook, it could also be Microsoft's answer to the PlayStation Vita.

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Switched On: The time is right for Xbox Surface originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 11 Nov 2012 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Switched On: Missed app-ortunity

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. This week marks Switched On's eighth anniversary.

DNP Switched On Missed apportunity

It's difficult to remember as jam-packed a week in terms of industry announcements from major OS providers as the recent seven-day stretch that included a bevy of hardware announcements from Apple, a new tablet and OS upgrade from Google, and two major operating system releases as well as an unprecedented hardware release from Microsoft. Of course, as would be expected from these dominant digital ecosystem stewards, all of the new products included elements of hardware, software and services, even if they were sometimes implicit. But each company could have done significantly more to highlight new third-party apps that were really taking advantage of that combination.

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Switched On: Missed app-ortunity originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 04 Nov 2012 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Switched On: Tablets and tradeoffs

DNP Switched On Tablets and tradeoffs

This week saw the debut of two ARM-powered tablets by old rivals. One eschews traditional desktop input methods; the other embraces them. One occupies the high end of pricing in its class; the other is competitive with the market leader. One had the engineering goal of fitting in one hand; the other comes with a kickstand for being set on a desk or table. But perhaps the biggest contrast between the iPad mini and the Surface RT approaches is how well they take advantage of the hardware and software momentum of their predecessors.

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Switched On: Tablets and tradeoffs originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Oct 2012 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Switched On: Sell the hardware, attract the apps

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

DNP Switched On Sell the hardware, attract the apps

Microsoft has finally revealed details on the pricing for the all-singing, all-dancing Surface RT. True to Steve Ballmer's word, the Windows RT device is priced competitively with the iPad. It is, in fact, the same price as the entry-level, now not-so "new iPad" and with double the flash memory, an advantage that may change by the time the Surface ships.

The commercial shows off the device's signature hardware features -- the kickstand and touch keyboard cover -- and plays up the "click" they make when they attach to the Surface, which is of course similar to the "click" made when an Apple Smart Cover connects to an iPad. And in a bit of irony for a product that is more focused on tapping than the mouse clicks of the desktop mouse, its campaign slogan is "click in." (It also raises the question as to why people would be constantly attaching the sold-separately touch keyboard when it doubles as a cover, but it is a commercial after all.) While expensive relative to the price of the device, Microsoft's keyboard covers represent an extension of one of Apple's best-conceived iPad accessories (the Smart Cover) and far exceed one of Apple's worst (the original iPad keyboard dock).

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Switched On: Sell the hardware, attract the apps originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Oct 2012 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Switched On: Android’s tablet troubles

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

DNP Switched On Android's Tablet Troubles

If Google had to pick a device category in which it wanted Android to dominate, it would certainly be mobile phones for many reasons. Indeed, the original band of Android backers was dubbed the Open Handset Alliance. However, a strong position in tablets would not only have helped to round out the Android ecosystem, it would also have created a beachhead from which to take on Microsoft prior to the launch of its tablet strategy.

Alas for Google, sales of Android tablets have been lackluster and several PC-centric licensees -- including Acer, Dell, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba and even Android standard-bearer Samsung -- are hoping to improve their standing in the tablet market with imminent products based on Windows.

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Switched On: Android's tablet troubles originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Oct 2012 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Switched On: iOS 6 gets back from the app

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

Switched On iOS 6 gets back from the app

Apple's App Store has more smartphone apps than those of its competitors. But the sheer size of the library is not the only source of consternation for Google or Microsoft, which would both readily concede that it's also important to obtain the kind of key apps, optimized apps and platform-first apps the iPhone enjoys. The iPhone's commanding marketplace lead is due to several factors. These include the huge number and historical affluence of its users and the ease of its App Store.

The iPhone, though, was not the first phone to have apps. In fact, in its early days, it didn't have apps at all as the company urged developers to create optimized web apps for the platform similar to what Mozilla is now advocating for its streamlined mobile operating system Boot2Gecko. Apple originally put its efforts into creating archetypical apps for tasks such as calling, browsing, email and mapping. Rather than open the iPhone to third-party developers at first, it handpicked partners for various features, such as Google for maps and Yahoo for weather and stocks.

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Switched On: iOS 6 gets back from the app originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Sep 2012 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Switched On: Rubber brands

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

Switched On Rubber brands

One sits far atop the Android smartphone heap while the other has recently stepped up its efforts to compete more aggressively by acquiring the stake of its decade-long joint venture partner. But at the recent IFA event, electronics giants Samsung and Sony both acknowledged the importance of their smartphone sub-brands by stretching them into new product categories. For Sony, its Xperia sub-brand hopped across to its tablet while Samsung brought the Galaxy brand to a connected camera. How these companies have stretched these brands reflects their relative position both in terms of where they've moved from and where they've moved to.

For Sony, the move of Xperia to another product category represents somewhat of a full circle (as does the return of the Sony brand to handsets itself). Part of the early playbook for Sony Ericsson was to bring established Sony Electronics brands -- notably Cyber-Shot and Walkman -- to phones focused on imaging and music in the heyday of the feature phone, which the joint venture clung to for too long. Xperia, in contrast, was the company's first "native" sub-brand meant to evoke "experience", of course. And while many in the line have been well-received, they never translated into a strong global market share for Sony Ericsson.

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Switched On: Rubber brands originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Sep 2012 17:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Switched On: Low flame

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

Switched On low flame

For many products -- TVs and the iPod, for example -- the leap to color displays represented an evolutionary change. But color was just part of the big leap that Amazon made with the Kindle Fire, moving from a reading appliance to a converged device. There was no couching it as "a reader's tablet", the positioning Barnes & Noble had sought with the Nook, even though Amazon now claims that it has the "best content ecosystem." Still, as discussed two weeks ago in Switched On, Amazon still managed to fly well under Apple's radar with an inexpensive, smaller tablet, one that broke a "magic" price point of $200.

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Switched On: Low flame originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 17:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Switched On: The Old Adventures of New 3D

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

DNP Switched On The Old Adventures of New 3D

In the unmarked office of 3-D Vision, Inc., you can see a television or PC display a videogame or movie with a convincing stereoscopic effect. That might not seem very unique. However, the television is a CRT from the 1990s, the video game is Super Mario for the Nintendo 64 and the movie is The Wizard of Oz, made in 1939.

Despite the growth in 3D television sales, the requirement to wear 3D glasses has loomed as one of the most significant barriers to adoption. 3-D Vision's technology still requires glasses, at least for now. However, with some caveats, it overcomes some of the other, oft-overlooked barriers to 3D adoption by creating 3D video from 2D content on 2D (or 3D) displays. On televisions, this is achieved via a small set-top box -- a prototype of which approaches the size and noise level of a mini-fridge -- that plugs into the video source and the TV and converts the video in real-time with virtually no latency. The box should be available early next year.

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Switched On: The Old Adventures of New 3D originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 Sep 2012 17:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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