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Only Apple and Google are skating to where the puck is going

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Re: Only Apple and Google are skating to where the puck is going

#41

Post by adrianmsmith »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #4

>Sony, Asus, and Lenovo all have notebooks at similar prices, but none have a high density display and none have only solid state storage. Huh what? A lot of ultrabooks have only SSDs, has the author been in coma for the last year? Sony has a Vaio Duo 11" with a 1080p display. Lenovo and Asus also have or are about to have high density displays. All in all, an empty uninsightful fluff piece. Also, please get some con…

"The new Metro side of Windows 8 scales well with Retina displays, but the old Windows desktop has never supported high DPI displays, and I don't think it's about to."

Also not true. Perhaps it doesn't work perfectly, but it's there, to say it "..has never supported high DPI displays.." is just completely wrong.

http://www.kynosarges.org/WindowsDpi.html

Re: Only Apple and Google are skating to where the puck is going

#42

Post by recoiledsnake »

cek wrote: post #27

Shockingly short-sighted post. Apple does not make it's profits from feeds & speeds (e.g. Retina display). It makes its profits, and delights its customers through its vertical integration; its excellence at every point of the customer experience from design, to supply chain management, to manufacturing, to distribution, to marketing, to advertising, to retail, to sales, to post-sales, to support, to software, to ser…

You're expecting too much from someone who thinks the Windows OEMs don't make laptops with SSDs exclusively.

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/pc/computing/toshiba-launch...

There, a laptop with only SSD in 2007, which is over 5 years ago. Who was skating where now?

Re: Only Apple and Google are skating to where the puck is going

#44

Post by johncoltrane »

kevinconroy wrote: post #3

Some context for non-hockey fans: "A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be." - Wayne Gretzky

Not strictly a Hockey thing. Try playing Space Invaders "where the invader is"…

Re: Only Apple and Google are skating to where the puck is going

#45

Post by TheAnimus »

>but the old Windows desktop has never supported high DPI displays, and I don't think it's about to.

Except it has. I've been using it like that for 7 years on my lounge TV which is scaled to 175%. On my old Z series for 3 years which had a high PPI screen before anyone else was pushing that way (colour rendition suffered a bit I felt).

The problem is lots of software doesn't play well, they use dodgy code, assume its always 96 dpi screen. Even VB devs given twips managed to mess it up with hardcoded assumptions all over the place.

However, all the main apps I use support it, if one doesn't well you can set that apps option indevidually.

Re: Only Apple and Google are skating to where the puck is going

#46

Post by marklabedz »

mpyne wrote: post #7
InclinedPlane wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's continue this digression. Fun fact I learned recently about guided missiles (I have diverse interests), modern ones don't adjust to aim directly at the target, they adjust to keep the target at the same relative angle (the same position on the imager). This has the effect of leading the target and flying an intercept course instead of a following course, which is more efficient and effective.

Interestingly, the fun fact is something any mariner could have told a missile designer. We call it CBDR; Constant [relative] Bearing, Decreasing Range. Stay in CBDR for long enough and you're pretty much guaranteed a collision.

Dogs catching frisbees employ a similar methodology: http://digitalunion.osu.edu/r2/summer06/maynor/journal_artic...

Re: Only Apple and Google are skating to where the puck is going

#47

Post by jsnell »

cooldeal wrote: post #40
jsnell wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that in this particular case: - Google is vertically integerated, at least to as high a degree as Apple is with Macs - Google is trying to sell a physical product at high margins - Google is heavily rumored to be setting up its own retail presence Honestly, you'd think that at least when we're discussing a $1300 laptop, the lame "you're the product" cliche could be avoided.

>Google is trying to sell a physical product at high margins Reference? The Chromebook Pixel is still heavily geared towards Google's services, be it Docs or Storage. 1TB of Google Drive storage currently runs $600/yr if you get it by itself which comes to a $1800 subsidy for a $1300 laptop! That either means their Drive storage is horribly overpriced, or that they're heavily subsidizing the Pixel.

Somebody buying 1TB of Drive space presumably intends to use it, and Google won't make a huge margin on that. (Don't know their cost structure, and wouldn't reveal it if I knew). But most people getting "free" Drive space with a laptop is not going to use most it.

Additionally it's unlikely to amount to $1800 subsidy. Storage costs decrease exponentially, so the value of 1TB in 3 years is much lower than 1TB now.

Re: Only Apple and Google are skating to where the puck is going

#48

Post by dubya »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #6
kevinconroy wrote: post #3

Some context for non-hockey fans: "A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be." - Wayne Gretzky

Let's continue this digression. Fun fact I learned recently about guided missiles (I have diverse interests), modern ones don't adjust to aim directly at the target, they adjust to keep the target at the same relative angle (the same position on the imager). This has the effect of leading the target and flying an intercept course instead of a following course, which is more efficient and effective.

To get back to sports, this is also how outfielders (in baseball) catch fly balls: http://psychology.clas.asu.edu/files/2002_JEP-HPP%28Uncatcha...

Re: Only Apple and Google are skating to where the puck is going

#49

Post by Gravityloss »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #6
kevinconroy wrote: post #3

Some context for non-hockey fans: "A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be." - Wayne Gretzky

Let's continue this digression. Fun fact I learned recently about guided missiles (I have diverse interests), modern ones don't adjust to aim directly at the target, they adjust to keep the target at the same relative angle (the same position on the imager). This has the effect of leading the target and flying an intercept course instead of a following course, which is more efficient and effective.

Umm, "modern ones"? Meaning practically the first one, Sidewinder: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-9_Sidewinder#History

"The Sidewinder also included a dramatically improved guidance algorithm. The Enzian attempted to fly directly at its target, feeding the direction of the telescope into the control system as it if were a joystick. This meant the missile always flew directly at its target, and under most conditions would end up behind it, "chasing" it down. This meant that the missile had to have enough of a speed advantage over its target that it did not run out of fuel during the interception.

The Sidewinder is not guided on the actual position recorded by the detector, but on the change in position since the last sighting. "

Re: Only Apple and Google are skating to where the puck is going

#50

Post by chucknelson »

netcan wrote: post #16

Sony, Asus, and Lenovo are a particular type of company. They make the computers that they think consumers will buy in the next 12 months. If that's low end netbooks, mid range ultrabooks, desktop replacements, whatever. That's not a high margin business model. But it is a valid one. It's also the model which supplies computers to most of the population. Its the model which has brought down the price of computers yea…

This is a great comment and I agree completely. If the business model doesn't work, things will work themselves out and companies will perish, change, or survive in whatever way they know how.
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