rridgely

I don't know much about Balmer except he looks like a crazy person every time hes on stage at one of the tech announcements. http://imgur.com/r/w...eoplegifs/cnjTa (Chasing a cake) If even for just public perception he needs to go. They already threw out the guy responsible for Windows 8(Sinofsky) so at least they may fix windows. If Windows 8 SP1 doesn't fix Windows 8 I believe you will see a lot of people move to tablets/macs faster than they already are.

Sony has already said they aren't going to block used games. http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2013/02/21/dont-worry-ps4-will-play-used-games/ If you want to use digital downloads only then steam and their upcoming steam box may be for you. I just built a gaming pc in a small case that I use on my tv. I use an xbox 360 controller to play the games and it works really well. My only complaint is that steam's big picture mode is pretty good but its kind of clunky. It works 100% to play/download games but any kind of social stuff is a little messy. I'm still going to get a ps4 though. The specs look good, I already have a vita and that integration looks interesting, and I like a lot of Sony's exclusive games. I'm interested to see what xbox announces (rumored to be april) I prefer my xbox right now so I will still have to decide which one I'm going to get first.

The video on that site shows the designers saying they think google glass will solve the issue you guys are talking about. They want you to be talking with your friends and not looking at the cell phone(instead you would get little alerts on your glasses screen). Personally I think this thing is probably going to flop. I pay lots of money each year to wear contacts so I don't need glasses and now I'm supposed to wear these all day long? No thanks. I think this could have some good implementations though. Just not for me.

Pretty great article and video about Google Glass: http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/22/4013406/i-used-google-glass-its-the-future-with-monthly-updates

If you watched the PS4 announcement, what did you think? Personally I'm pretty excited. It looks like the PS4 will be a pretty big upgrade over the current consoles. None of the games they showed were all that exciting to me(not the games I play) but the graphics definitely looked good.

I think the real savior for linux could be gaming. I'm definitely interested to see what valve does with their upcoming steam box. I have recently began using a PC I built to play games on my tv. I use steam's "big picture mode" and an xbox controller to play the games. I would love if I could build a new gaming pc without paying for windows if all I want to use is steam. I've tried using linux a lot recently(mint, ubuntu, fedora, ect) and I just don't like it. If Microsoft doesn't release a regular OS next time I will buy a mac mini or build a hackentosh. I despise windows 8 and linux is just not good enough.

The problem with opera never was speed it was the fact that it didn't render pages the same as other browsers. I always thought certain pages didn't work right with opera(a lot of times had to due with drop down boxes on shopping sites, ect.)

Soon opera will begin using the same browser engine as chrome and safari. http://www.zdnet.com/opera-goes-webkit-its-all-about-performance-7000011266/

I don't think this will happen. Linux desktop usage is still very small and the type of people who use linux are probably also the type to say that libreoffice is good enough. I hope it happens though!

From my understanding these viruses don't actually do anything to android, its when you plug in to a windows box that they attack. This is the same reason many linux users still use AV software, to avoid infecting the windows machines they interact with. I don't understand how these viruses are being installed either. If you have an android phone then theoretically your getting all your software from the app store which should be safe. Now if these apps aren't safe then thats on google and they need to do something about it. I don't like the idea of running av software on my phone. (battery life) Yes you can install apps outside of the andorid market and if thats how these infections are happening then people need to quit doing it. I'm not sure why you would side load software rather than just click install from the app store.

Yeah I saw that hazel! I'm going to hold out and see if they really do release it for ipad. If not then I'm sticking with office 2007.

I can do most of my daily pc stuff on my ipad(with a keyboard). I would never not have a full on computer but I'm done with windows if it doesn't change after windows 8. I really tried to like Windows 8 but I just can't. The interface is just bad and its even worse on a machine without a touch screen. I was watching a video from the tech site The Verge yesterday and the editor of that site said it perfectly: http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/7/3964510/the-vergecast-february-7 Start listening about 48 minutes in. Hes absolutely right the surface pro and windows 8 are cool ideas but terrible execution. Tablets are tablets and laptops should stay laptops.

No it will not work. Surface RT doesn't run full windows 8 and as such wont run traditional applications. If your interested in using surface with traditional applications you would need a surface pro. Piriform could make a windows rt app later but there haven't been any announcements yet.

I have nothing against blackberry, I just think they have been outpaced by their competition. I will definitely go to an att or verizon store and play with their new phone once its out but I would never switch. I currently have a Samsung Galaxy S3(traded iphone 5... bad decision) and even though I dislike it I wouldn't go to blackberry. IOS and Android have a user base that is large enough to support a huge ecosystem and blackberry currently does not. I easily switched from IOS to Android because the apps I require were on both. I'm not convinced blackberry is going to be able to catch up to this. Windows phone is having the same issue. I know blackberry is doing some android virtualization. If they can make is completely seamless than it will definitely help but I'm skeptical. They tried the same thing with their tablet and that thing was dead on arrival.

I think windows 8 is a mess. I downgraded my desktop back to windows 7. I gave away my trusty old laptop a few months back(gift to someone who needed it) and have been looking for something to replace it with for a while. I tried a few chromebooks but while they are good they aren't full featured enough(yet). I went into bestbuy two days ago and saw the surface rt. All that really interested me about it was that it had MS Office. I played with it probably for an hour and decided it just wasn't for me.(slow, no useful applications except office, keyboard cover was useless) Instead I bought a 32gig ipad and an apple blue tooth keyboard(and its FANTASTIC). To be honest I don't think there is much I cant do on this that I could with a laptop. Office is rumored to be coming to ipad soon anyway.

I think Blackberry is pretty much dead. Too little too late. Only people I see holding on to blackberry phones are corporations and even many of those are moving to android/ios. I actually don't think I've seen a blackberry in public in over a year(maybe longer). I see tons of iphones and galaxy s3 everywhere daily.

New update to libreoffice today. http://www.libreoffice.org/ I'm most interested in the commenting feature. If this is compatible with MS word documents with comments than it will be huge for students. Many teachers will comment on essays/assignments and send it back for revision. Before only MS word could see those comments. I'm going to try it later today.

So I was browsing bestbuy today and they had the samsung chromebook in stock. This machine is $250 dollars and packs a dual core exynos processor(think tablet/phone processor) 2gigs, 12in screen and 16 gigs of flash storage. I have to say that this machine is much nicer than the acer I tried a few weeks ago. The keyboard is really nice compared to a lot of lower end laptops and the trackpad seems pretty nice as well(I use a wireless mouse). This machine is not a speed demon but it seems sufficient for a browsing/productivity machine. My favorite part is that its completely fanless so you don't have to worry about it overheating. It's super light and feels fairly well built. I compared it to a lot of 300-400 dollar laptops and it feels better built than most of the ones they had on the sales floor at bestbuy. I think its because its not as fat and the plastic doesn't flex due to empty space in the casing. I would mainly use this to browse, watch youtube, and do google docs/email and it works fine for that. I think I may actually keep this one unlike the acer model. It just feels a lot nicer to type on. My only dilemma is that its more expensive. At $250 your getting awfully close to cheap windows territory. Of course your going to get a heavy brick of a machine at about $300 and not this lightweight chromebook. But you would have a lot more options with a cheap windows machine.

My initial reaction was that Microsoft is crazy. However when I saw you could have it installed on 5 devices with mobile apps coming soon, that piqued my interest a little more. I'm not gonna subscribe for now but I haven't completely ruled it out yet. I'm also interested to see if Microsoft leaves the free Office applications in the Windows RT tablets.

How do you guys feel about the new office subscription model. You get to install it on 5 devices(rumored ipad and android apps coming soon) for either $10 a month or $100 per year. You also get 20 gigs of skydrive and 60 minutes of skype calling each month. How do you guys feel about this? On the one hand your paying monthly on the other you don't have a big up front cost and you get skydrive space and skype minutes each month. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/

I'm normally opposed to buying security software, especially after windows 7/8 shipped with it preinstalled. However this is a great deal over at newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832562002&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL011513P&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL011513P-_-EMC-011513-Index-_-SecurityUtilitiesSoftware-_-32562002-L021B Use promo code: EMCNJJE222 You will get it for $13.50

I think they are a neat idea, but I just boxed mine up and its going back tomorrow. The hardware on the C7 just isn't good. The keyboard is bad, the trackpad doesn't have a left click option(you have to use two fingers) and its also really finicky. I do like Chrome OS though. I think its the device for people who want a simple productivity machine. Google docs works awesome(something android still cant do very well right now), and the form factor is very portable. I'm interested to try the new $250 Samsung version. They are sold out everywhere but I'll definitely give it a try when they come back in stock.

I bought a acer c7 Chromebook from Bestbuy today. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it yet but I figured I would post about what I like and don't like. First off for a $200 computer its actually pretty nice. Its got a decent 11.6 inch screen (1366x768) and its relatively fast at browsing playing videos ect. Its light weight and very portable. The only real downside I can point out is that the keyboard stinks.(I don't like the feedback of the keys) I do like Chrome OS. Its extremely simple to use and you basically cant screw it up. I do 99% of my stuff within chrome now a days anyway and this computer runs every website and video I've played very well. I think this would be an excellent first computer for someone or a computer for someone who just wants to browse, send emails, ect. I think this is the perfect pc for those who use google docs, gmail, ect. I don't use gmail but google docs has started to grow on me.

I sold my touchpads for $200 a piece. Bought a nexus 7 and haven't looked back. Jellybean is an awesome OS. That said their is a team working on porting the new "open" web OS to the nexus 7. I may play with it some later: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/01/open-webos-ported-to-the-nexus-7/ I liked webOS. I only sold them because app development died and nothing was being ported to it. I use my tablet mostly for videos and games. It just didn't have the apps android does.

I think this ubuntu phone will probably be a failure but I admire them for trying. Android and iOS control this market and its proving to be very hard for a 3rd company to compete(just look at Microsofts failed efforts to gain traction). I'm also passed this idea of one device to do everything. None of them seem to work out(windows 8 fails in this regard in my opinion). I have an andorid tablet and its great. I have a windows desktop and its great. I have an apple phone and its great. I don't need one substandard device to take the place of all these devices. The future is the cloud. I can login to Skydrive and have all my docs, pictures, ect. I login to chrome and all of my bookmarks, tabs, and settings are there. I can use these services on all of my devices. I don't necessarily need one device "mega device" when all of my data is available everywhere.