What a day. My daughter texts from class this morning: “My computer decided to self destruct. It just reset everything!!! This is a sad day. I think I just lost everything on my computer”.
Sadly, she predicted rightly. In her dorm room, the Epson Stylus is on top of a mini-fridge, where she set the laptop to print out schoolwork. The computer slipped and crashed to the floor, right before she left for the day.
A warning from Google News: Credibility and trust are longstanding journalistic values, and ones which we all regard as crucial attributes of a great news site…If a site mixes news content with affiliate, promotional, advertorial, […]
Fourteen days using Google’s first computer, my decision is made: I would buy one and will someday (income taxes are brutal, so my options are limited short-term). I firmly believe that most buyers willing to spend $1,299 (32GB WiFi) or $1,449 (64GB 4G LTE) will be satisfied with Chromebook Pixel. That’s because I presume they wouldn’t dole out that much without really examining how the computer would fit their lifestyle; also, Google seeks the same people coming from Windows who might buy MacBook Pro 13-inch.
Seven days ago, in my hands-on review, I looked at the overall experience and price benefits from the perspective of hardware. Here, I start to answer larger question: Can Pixel be your main and only machine? For most people, the answer is an unequivocal “No”. But “most people” isn’t Google’s target market.
Chromebook Pixel is an enigma. A misfit. Some critics call it a miscalculation—that Google created a pretty kit that offers too little value for the high price. For sure, $1,299, or $1,449 for the model with LTE, is more than most people pay. According to NPD, the average selling price of laptops at U.S. retail was $640 in January.
But some people do pay more. Apple laptops start at $999 and, according to NPD, the ASP was $1,419 last month. Unquestionably, I see Chromebook Pixel as priced against Macs, and after using Google’s laptop see it targeted at the same professionals who value Apple notebooks. The question any potential buyer should ask: Is Pixel worth spending as much as Google asks? I will answer that question in several parts—this initial review is first.
Kuma sits with me in our courtyard, autumn 2011, back when I still used Windows and before we lost him. I’m not sure what’s up with his expression, which is unbecoming. But I like the […]
A year ago when everyone dumped GoDaddy I transferred all my domains to Network Solutions—for each, $6.99 plus $6 private registration. At the time, I confirmed that, like GoDaddy, I could batch renew and get a big discount.
Something strange happened in the last 48 hours; there are unexpected charges, from Netsol, on two credit cards: $37.99 and $107.99, and I can make no sense of them from Domain Manager.
Four months ago, I put aside (and later sold) MacBook Air for the Samsung Series 5 550 second-generation Chromebook and never looked back. They say three times is a charm, and that proves true with my third foray using a laptop running Chrome OS. The first two proved life-changing, as I adopted a partial cloud computing lifestyle. Now I live a vigorous, charmed cloud life, which includes Android embrace.
Chromebook isn’t easy, because it demands a thinking reset. I had to put aside concepts about everyday computing, fear of losing Internet connection and perceptions about hardware configurations and what’s good enough performance value. Something else: When I started this journey, in December 2010, Chrome OS wasn’t good enough, because there weren’t enough supporting cloud apps. That has changed dramatically, because of Chrome Web Store and how much desktop-like utility Google now brings to cloud services like G+ or YouTube.
Our kitty Kuma is still missing—more than 5 days now. Our neighbor’s cat behaves strangely. She frequently comes into our apartment now, looking for Kuma, I guess. I was surprised to find her on the […]
I enjoy the camera on the Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone so much, my Fujifilm FinePix X100 is on Craigslist. I just don’t have time to dedicate to photography, and the camera I have with […]
I was out looking for my daughter’s cat and saw a huge spider in a web. Believe it or not, I snapped this with the Nexus S smartphone.
I am mortified by lazy reporting this morning. I’ve been looking over stories about Verizon requesting a California judge reject Apple’s request to bar numerous Galaxy-branded smartphones or tablets from selling in the United States. I have yet to find one story that cites the original source—Verizon’s filing. They all instead refer to a FOSS Patents blog post. According to the court calendar, a motion hearing is scheduled for October 13 (I looked).
FOSS Patents is not credible-enough source, because its story on this topic, as with others, is generally one person’s perspective. More importantly, in this case, original source material should be available through the court’s PACER system, which is where I assume FOSS got the Verizon filing (I don’t know).
On Aug. 1, 2011, I sold my 11.6-inch MacBook Air to a friend. I let him pay in Amazon bucks (e.g., gift certificate), which I used to buy my daughter a LensBaby fisheye lens and […]