Digital Trends - Most Recent Talk Backs

The Archos 9: What Apple's iPad Should Be

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Archos makes the best multi-media players that no one knows about. I know a number of folks who own one of the predecessors to the Archos 9, and everyone loves them. But, unlike the iPod, few people outside of loyal users ever seem to hear about Archos. That being said, after looking at the Archos 9, it sets the bar for what the iPad needs to be when it comes out early next year. Be Productive, Be Connected, Be Entertained This is the tag line for the Archos 9, and it should be the tag line for this entire class of product that Intel has branded MID, or Mobile Internet Devices. This is really the first really interesting device of its type, although it is no iPhone or iPod Touch....

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Will the iPhone Kill Standalone GPS Navigators?

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 PDT

The iPhone comes as close as you can get to a universal, do-everything device. It's as much a personal media player, translator, Internet tablet, notepad, alarm clock and a dozen other things as it is a cell phone. But with the introduction of the very first turn-by-turn GPS apps from companies like TomTom and Navigon, I think we're finally seeing the miracle device stretched a little thin. I'm as much a believer in convergence as any died-in-the-wool nerd, and I take no particular pride in owning a box full of gadgets that do different things when one can fulfill them all. But as more and more functions get packed into the same little rectangle, the specialization that makes every individual device so good at...

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Microsoft Zune HD: Close But No Cigar

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 PDT

When Microsoft and Apple first started competing, Apple was differentiated by having a few products that did a comparatively few things very well. When Steve Jobs came back to Apple (which had clearly drifted from those roots in the 90s) he took the company back to having a few products that did fewer things but all of them very well and, particularly for the iPod, this made the market for them. But, if you look at the new Zune against the iPod line, it is almost the reverse of the typical Microsoft and Apple formula. Apple has a broad range of products that do a lot of things, while Microsoft has basically one design that does a few things better than Apple does. And, strangely enough, Microsoft is competing for around...

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Dell's 9.99 MacBook Air Killer Design Concept

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Apple’s flagship laptop, the MacBook Air, is a beauty. Very thin, very light, it is a piece of art. There have been three attempts so far to build a product that would outdo the Air: the HP Voodoo Envy, the Lenovo ThinkPad X300, and most recently, the Dell Adamo. Let’s talk about each, and end with the 9.99 design concept, the only product I’ve recently seen that could make us forget the MacBook Air. MacBook Air The target and standard for the class was presented by Steve Jobs personally when he pulled it out of an interoffice envelope and made the first row of th...

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Tales From IFA: The European CES

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:00:00 PDT

This week I’m at IFA, which is the European equivalent of CES. It is just getting off the ground as I’m writing this, and we’ve already had the first set of product announcements. Sony is making a rather large and impressive statement at this show, and it intends to lead again in TVs, eBooks, and even has a potential Macbook Air product coming. But I saw a number of other cool things at the Showstoppers event the first night, and at the press briefings, and we’ll talk about them this week. Sony: We’re Back and We’re Pissed Sony had one of the most impressive presentations I’ve seen them do in a long time. Leading with 3D, they showcased a number o...

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