As Apple fans queue up in long lines to get their hands on the iPad 2, the contrast with the last big PC-related release – Windows 7 – couldn’t be more stark.

PCs and new operating systems just don’t create a lot of excitement anymore.

You could chalk this up as a fad, or you could argue that scarcity is driving up demand. You could even point out that the PC market is a mature one and not likely to spawn the excitement that gets triggered by novelty. All are reasonable points, but a closer look at the underlying numbers indicates that a serious computing shift is well underway.

Analysts expect Apple to ship 30 million iPads in 2011, double what it shipped in 2010. Android, meanwhile, has been taking the smartphone market by storm. The latest feather in its cap is in Europe, with Android’s market share surging from 4 percent to over 30 percent in less than a year.

Even Microsoft, which stands to lose the most in this computing shift, is banking heavily on cloud computing. As Microsoft touts Windows 7’s cloud functionality in a slew of commercial and product-placement deals, it’s also tacitly admitting that a device’s form factor will soon be far less important than the services it taps into.

How do PCs fit into the cloud computing landscape?
To put it bluntly: they don’t. Okay, that’s probably an overstatement; however, the gains in efficiency, agility and cost that organizations now seek through virtual and cloud-based infrastructures can be undermined by large deployments of PCs.

“In a typical enterprise, as much as 80 percent of IT’s budget is spent on maintenance, which makes it very hard for any IT organization to add value to the business,” said Jeff McNaught, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer for Wyse, a provider of cloud client computing solutions.

“Even in cloud-enabled organizations, the maintenance problem does not disappear, since PCs are far more difficult to manage than servers. Data loss, intellectual property theft, viruses, targeted phishing attacks and more plague the PC, which is why end points must evolve in order to unlock the cloud’s true potential.”

Tablets and smartphones are getting all the hype, but many business users are more excited about thin or cloud clients. Unlike PCs, cloud clients can be configured so that they have little or no onboard storage or processing, virtually eliminating client-side attacks.
Moreover, since maintenance, management, patches and updates are all centralized, IT overhead is vastly reduced.

A case in point is Amerisure Mutual Insurance Company. As is common with enterprises of all sizes in all industries, Amerisure had a regular PC replacement cycle. Every three years, the company would write a $2 million check for updated equipment. The $2 million price tag was just the tip of the iceberg cost-wise, however. Productivity was disrupted with each upgrade, and, of course, management and maintenance were ongoing cost centers.

In 2009, Amerisure decided to go in a different direction. Instead of dropping $2 million on new PCs, the company ditched them in favor of a virtualized infrastructure and cloud clients.

Even though the dollar signs are eye catching, the switch wasn’t primarily about money. Rather, it was a strategic business decision. Amerisure sought an agile infrastructure that would deliver ubiquitous access to systems and data from anywhere, at any time and on any device.

The solution Amerisure chose was a Citrix XenApp infrastructure with Wyse cloud client end points. Amerisure estimates that its total savings over five years will be more than $8.5 million.

“Our virtualization implementation was critical for us to lower costs while improving service,” said Jack Wilson, Enterprise Architect at Amerisure. “Amerisure IT now runs like a utility, particularly in the way that our computing infrastructure is now part of the business fabric, like heat or electricity.”

What does the enterprise really want?
The enterprise as a whole hasn’t made up its mind. It’s growing weary of PCs, but is not ready to crown a successor.

Most enterprises are still wary of smartphones, due to IT’s inability to control and secure them. Cloud clients are catching on, offering improved security and lower IT overhead, but most of those clients are still tethered to the desktop.

Tablets represent the middle ground, delivering mobility combined with a scaled-down operating environment. Security, management and maintenance are still question marks, but the enterprise seems to be nearly as excited about tablets as consumers are, which is unusual this early in an adoption cycle.

According to a recent Frost & Sullivan report, tablets had the highest growth rate of all IT hardware sectors worldwide in 2010. Only 5 percent of the 18.3 million tablets shipped last year went to businesses, but the research firm predicts that businesses will snatch up 30 percent of those shipped by 2015.

Continuing on, Toshiba has several new LED HDTVs to unload, some with 3D support and one touted as the “world’s first” personal TV with face recognition.

The UL863 series (pictured above) is really the most intriguing of the TVs introduced today. These devices can identify up to four users using built-in face recognition. Why would that even be necessary? Well, it would automatically adjust the personal settings put in place by the individual user such as volume and favorite channel list. One could argue we’ve reached a whole new level of laziness here and it’s unlikely most consumers would spend extra money simply for that capability, but perhaps it could be useful for someone.

This series is also the only one mentioned here that includes an integrated WLAN interface for Wi-Fi connections. All of these Toshiba TV collections include Smart TV models with DLNA support for connecting and sharing over the same home network. However, both the SL833 (pictured below) and VL863 (pictured right) have to connect using an optional WLAN dongle.

Both the SL833 and UL863 models are available in 32-, 37-, 42- and 46-inch display sizes, host a quartet of HDMI ports along with dual USB 2.0 slots and are Windows 7 certified. The VL863 only ships in 42- and 47-inches wide. Furthermore, all of these full HD LCD panels sport edge LED backlighting and a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Note that pricing hasn’t been announced for any of these panels just yet. Both the UL863 series and VL863 series will roll out in Europe during the second quarter. The VL863 is slated for a May release in Europe.

Forget chatting with friends and browsing Google Maps. These 10 innovative, sometimes off-the-wall uses for the iPad turn into everything from a sketchbook to an in-car navigator, restaurant kiosk and doctor’s sidekick.

And you thought Apple made the iPad just so you can play Angry Birds on a bigger screen. These innovative apps and alternative uses for the 10-inch tablet push a few boundaries – ordering drinks? reviewing an X-Ray? – but show how tablets are making computing mobile and immediate.
Interactive training at a trade show

We’ve taken the iPad at trade shows before, especially CES. However,  Schott, a company that makes a ceramic-glass material for use in  fireplaces, took the concept a step further. At the Hearth, Patio and  Barbeque Expo in Salt Lake City, Utah, the company mounted iPads around  their booth and let people play around with an app that shows how the  technology works.
Check an X-Ray

This one is probably the most innovative use of the iPad we’ve seen.  At the Children’s Hospital of Central California, the staff use an app  called VMware View to treat patients. Essentially, they can tap into a  desktop remotely to view x-rays, check on patient tests, and look at  health records. The technology, called “follow me desktop” is more  streamlined than traditional remote access apps, which just show you  another computer screen, and tap into the data stored on your computer.
Sketch out a drawing

Artists took to the iPad right away – it has an accurate touch screen, it’s viewable from a side angle, and it has a big enough screen to create a real work of art. The Interactive Sketchbook app is one of the best artist tools around. You can pull up a photo on one side of the screen and sketch out your image on the right panel. Some artists swear by the Pogo stylus as well, which gives you a bit more accuracy – though a stylus is not required. Some of the artwork produced with the app is outstanding.
Place your order at a restaurant

There’s an iPad on every table at the Thr3e Wise Men Brewing Company  restaurant in Indianapolis, encased in a metal shroud. There are no  regular menus, so you can browse through the dinner selections and order  drinks, check on the status of an order, and even watch videos showing  how they make the food (and the beer). You can also update your Facebook  status.
Go surfing

That’s right, you can go surfing with the iPad. Well, that might be a stretch, but the G-Form outdoor case for the iPad uses a technology called reactive protection which uses a flexible exoskeleton to make sure the iPad doesn’t break. (The company has demonstrated dropping a bowling ball onto the case with an iPad inside playing a movie.) Molecules actually form together when the pad senses impact.
Order a drink at a bar

At the Lunar nightclub in Cincinnati, servers carry around iPads (and iPhones) and can order drinks and menu items using a custom app. (“Runners” bring the food out, so the server never has to go back to the kitchen.) The club also manages the guest list, which is helpful since it hosts parties for as many as 800 people. Managers can communicate about guest check-ins in real-time with the doormen.
DJ at a party

Djay is one of the best apps for iPad because it shows how the tablet can be used for so many different purposes. The app, which allows you to create scratches on the fly and mix to songs together, actually works better than the expensive physical equipment. You can load up countless songs, use the touch interface to make some memorable mixes, cue up tracks for a party, and even use a feature that analyzes your song library to see which songs would be best for a playlist.
Universal remote control

Another universal remote replacement, the Apptwee works with 200  brands and 845 models of home entertainment equipment. There’s an IR  (infrared) dongle that connects to the headphone jack that you use to  communicate with your gear – the dongle costs just $20 and the app is  free to download. What’s cool about the app is that it does more than  just let you control volume. You can change the source, adjust audio  properties, and even control subtitles using the full-screen touch  interface.
Control Verizon FiOS TV

The iPhone and iPad have made those proprietary remote controls with    4,000 buttons and a tiny screen look like a bad joke. One of the most    powerful iPad apps for controlling television is for the Verizon FiOS    TV. You can browse the program guide, set recordings, view which shows    have been recorded recently, and of course switch channels and  control   basic DVR functions.
Mount one in your car

The RAM Mount POD (www.ram-mount.com) clamps to the seat rail on the passenger side of your car so you can run apps, use an app like Navigon for navigation, or even watch a movie (but not while you drive). The mount costs about $73 and includes a roller that holds the tablet in place. RAM Mount also makes iPad mounts for boats and even airplanes, walls in your home, and for desktop use.


Trackback URL: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/ten-innovative-unusual-and-just-plain-cool-uses-for-the-ipad/trackback/

It's official: The iPad 2 handily beats its rivals in nearly every category, according to Consumer Reports' testing.

Apple’s iPad 2 has beat out a flurry of increasingly difficult competition in the tablet market to earn top marks from Consumer Reports, the product testing and review publication announced today. Motorola’s Xoom tablet, which tied in the rankings with the original iPad, “revealed itself as the iPad 2′s chief rival,” says Consumer Reports, and even beats Apple’s latest creation on a variety of points.

“So far, Apple is leading the tablet market in both quality and price, which is unusual for a company whose products are usually premium priced,” said Paul Reynolds, Electronics Editor at Consumer Reports. “However, it’s likely we’ll see more competitive pricing in tablets as other models begin to hit the market.”

All tablets tested (10 in total) were judged on 17 different criteria, which included the responsiveness of the device’s touchscreen, versatility, portability, screen glare, battery life and overall ease of use. The tablets tested included devices from Archos, Dell, Motorola, Samsung, and ViewSonic, as well as Apple’s 32GB WiFi-only iPad 2, 32GB WiFi + 3G iPad 2 and the original iPad.

The $730 iPad 2 with WiFi and 3G connectivity earned an “Excellent” rating in nearly every category. In terms of “versatility,” which Consumer Reports defines as “the presence of useful features,” the iPad 2 scored the second highest rating of “Very Good.” This is primarily due to the iPad 2′s lack of a built-in memory card reader and the lack of Flash support — both of which the Motorola Xoom includes.

According to Consumer Reports, the most wide-ranging factor between the top 10 tablets on the market is battery life. While the iPad 2 boasts the longest battery life — 12.2 hours — the Archos 70 Internet Tablet could only stay alive for a mere 3.8 hours. Considering the entry level iPad 2, (16GB WiFi-only) costs $499 compared to the Archos 70′s price of $270, the iPad 2 seems like a bargain, even if battery life were the only factory taken into consideration. Of course, the iPad 2 wins on a variety of other levels as well.

Linux can now be thought of as a mainstream operating system. It’s used everywhere, from home and enterprise systems to powerful supercomputers. Many companies have adopted Linux systems, generally citing cost savings, system stability, better security and access to the source code.

It was back in 2006 when Microsoft realised that it could do absolutely nothing to stem the tide and entered into partnership with Novell, the first time that the company had collaborated directly with a Linux and open-source vendor. Microsoft and Novell stated in a joint open letter that Linux was an important part of IT’s future, and that Microsoft would not assert its patents against individual or non-commercial developers.

The partnership made it much easier for companies to have a ‘dual strategy’. The letter said: “Why is Microsoft doing this? Because they recognise that customers today are deploying mixed source solutions - Windows and Linux - and they want these solutions to work well together.”

The open-source community initially viewed the deal with suspicion, but the partnership has been going for nearly five years and has seen some degree of success.

“The relationship has substantially benefited Microsoft’s Linux integration story, and has driven Linux revenue for Novell,” said Jay Lyman, a 451 Group analyst.

Sean McCarry, Novell’s UK and Ireland country manager, quoted recent IDC figures suggesting that around 67 per cent of the enterprise market is looking at a Windows/Linux strategy in the datacentre. He also revealed that Novell saw 80 per cent growth in its Linux revenues last year in the UK alone.

“It’s very topical, because the only two operating systems growing at the moment worldwide are Windows and Linux,” McCarry said.

Novell uses SUSE Enterprise Linux, a distribution that allows for mixed Linux and Windows computing. Aimed very much at the business market, it is targeted at servers, workstations and mainframes, and can also be installed on desktop computers.

“Either SUSE can be the guest on Windows, or Windows can be the guest on SUSE. It makes sense that customers want that interoperability,” said McCarry.

Microsoft pushes its customers in this direction if they want to go Linux, and McCarry said that the growth Novell has seen is “very much Microsoft pushing SUSE Linux to some of their large customers”.

Major organisations like Deutsche Bank, HM Revenue & Customs and BAA have moved to SUSE Enterprise Linux, and companies are also moving from Novell’s enterprise Linux competitor Red Hat to Novell, partly owing to the Microsoft connection, claimed McCarry.

“One of the biggest wins we had last year was with Experian. It migrated from Red Hat to Novell because of the Microsoft relationship, for cost implications and the technical performance issues, though Red Hat will say one thing and we would say another,” he said.

Another example was in 2007, when Microsoft provided HSBC with support subscriptions to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. HSBC said that it reduced the cost of Linux ownership and improved interoperability with its existing Windows infrastructure.

Matthew O’Neill, group head of distributed systems for HSBC global IT operations, said at the time that the Microsoft-Novell agreement “is a great catalyst to helping us reduce the complexity of our Linux environment as we standardise our Linux infrastructure with SUSE Linux Enterprise and continue to extend the use of Microsoft Active Directory”

"A pirated version of an Android app is actually a Trojan that shames someone who installs it by sending an SMS message to all his/her contacts telling them of his/her piracy. The original app is called Walk and Text, and costs $2.10 in the Android Market. The app uses the camera on the back of a smartphone to show a user a visual of his upcoming surroundings, which will supposedly prevent the user from running into the street or across a set of train tracks. The pirated version is available from unofficial Android app markets, and once installed redirects the pirate to the legitimate app in the Android Market, while also sending the SMS message to the phone's entire contact list."

Would-be 4G wholesale provider LightSquared says it's still on track to launch initial Long Term Evolution (LTE) markets in the U.S. by the end of 2011 despite renewed interest from some government bodies about the potential for interference to GPS receivers from the new network.

The Harbinger Capital Partners LP -backed venture has previously said it wants to launch its first LTE markets in the third quarter of 2011, with up to nine markets expected to be active by the end of the year. (See LightSquared Confident in Q3 Launch Schedule.)

"Our launch is still on track. We're looking for a launch by the end of the year certainly," Jeff Carlisle, executive vice president for regulatory affairs and public policy at LightSquared, told Light Reading Mobile during a call Thursday.

LightSquared's goal is ambitious, as it plans to build out the first wide-scale hybrid LTE terrestrial and satellite network using L-Band spectrum. In return for the use of 59MHz of the 1.6GHz spectrum, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mandated that the operator must cover 100 million Americans by the end of 2012, 145 million by the end of 2013, and 250 million by the end of 2015. (See Harbinger Hatches LTE Challenger in US.)

The 1.6GHz L-Band, however, sits adjacent to frequencies used by global positioning satellites (GPS) to broadcast triangulated location data to earth-bound receivers. That data is used by the U.S. military, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and emergency services as well as many mobile mapping applications.

The worry is that the GPS receivers will pick up interference from the L-Band network, since signals from a terrestrial LTE cell site -- particularly in a dense urban environment with multiple radios -- will be much stronger than the signals the receiver is tuned to grab from satellites. That interference could disrupt GPS services.

The FCC has already mandated that LightSquared works with the United States Global Positioning System Industry Council (USGIC) to form a technical working group to report back on any interference issues discovered and fixes required. The initial report has been filed, with another due on April 15. The FCC wants the final report by June 15. (See LightSquared Files First Report to FCC.)

The speed of this process clearly has some in Washington worried. On Wednesday it emerged that the Deputy Defense Department Secretary William J. Lynn and Transportation Department Deputy Secretary John Porcari sent a joint letter to the FCC on March 25 calling for a "comprehensive review" of the GPS issue. (See Pentagon Calls Interference on LightSquared.)

If LightSquared's Carlisle is worried by the additional government interest, however, it doesn't show. He tells LR Mobile that the technical group looking at the potential issue now has representatives from the DoD, the FAA and NASA onboard.

"All have had valuable input," Carlisle says.

Nonetheless, although Carlisle says the group is "making good progress," he admits "there's a lot of work left to be done." Namely, the group has to figure out which categories of "legacy receivers" are affected by the LightSquared network, if any, and establish how these receivers are being used.

"We really won't know what kind what kind of mitigation is necessary without a datasheet," Carlisle says. The group has selected independent testing firms and is "close to starting testing," according to the LightSquared representative.

At least one testing firm tells us that interference could be an issue, particularly in cities like New York where GPS systems can already struggle to triangulate location data because skyscrapers block the signals. In this situation, stronger RF signals from multi-radio L-Band cell-sites in the adjacent band could be an issue for receivers looking for weaker communications from satellites in orbit around the earth.

"Theoretically, that possibility definitely exists," Nigel Wright, vice president of wireless for Spirent Communications plc (NYSE: SPM; London: SPT) told LR Mobile recently. "GPS signals are weakest in the areas where you're most likely to have the greatest concentration of base stations."

Spirent is working on test equipment that could prove the interference issue one way or the other. For the moment, Wright says he'd be "foolish" to predict what the results of any tests may be before seeing any hard data.

Others, however, are much more vocal about what they perceive as the threat to critical GPS infrastructure. The coalition to Save Our GPS was launched on March 11 and claims representatives from a range of industries, including aviation, agriculture, transportation and GPS equipment makers and service providers. The group worries that the 40,000 base stations that LightSquared plans to eventually deploy will mean the equivalent number of "dead spots" in GPS services.

LightSquared's Carlisle says the fledgling operator is "cognizant" of opposition to its plans, but doesn't believe the deployment of the earthbound LTE network will be slowed while it waits for the results of the GPS testing.

"There are any number of things that can be done in the meantime," Carlisle explains. LightSquared has been developing tower agreements "for many months" while working on zoning agreements, he says.

Meanwhile, the operator has been co-operating with its network equipment vendor Nokia Siemens Networks on completing development of the L-Band-suitable base station it will use in the rollout. Decisions are also being made on what kind of backhaul it will need for the network. (See NSN: We're Still in at LightSquared.)

The FCC mandate means that LightSquared has to keep the pace up whatever happens, Carlisle reminds us: "We've still got to have 100 million covered by [the end of] 2012."