Tablet shipments fall for the third consecutive quarter

I think its safe to say that things are really not going well in the tablet market right now. In fact, you might even go so far as to say that they are in free fall. This development is fairly new, having only started at the end of 2014, but it's hard to say its very surprising.

For third straight quarter in a row, the worldwide tablet market has declined year-to-year, falling 7% from the second quarter of 2014, according to a report out from market research firm IDC on Wednesday.

Things are going in the absolute wrong direction for the tablet market, as shipments have now fallen by a higher rate in each consecutive quarter: there was a decline of 5.9% in the first quarter of 2015, and a 3.2% decline in the fourth quarter of 2014. 

In all, shipments totaled 44.7 million in Q2, down from 49.3 million in the same quarter in 2014. At that time shipments had grown 11% year-to-year. What a difference a year makes. 

There was also a marked decline quarter-to-quarter, with shipments falling 3.9% in Q2, compared to the first quarter of 2015.

Of course, the two vendors that were hit the hardest were the two biggest ones: Apple and Samsung. Apple shipped 10.9 million units, down from 13.3 last year, a decline of 17.9%. Samsung shipped 7.6 million, down from 8.6 million, a decline of 12%. They are still, by far, the two largest vendors, accounting for 45% of the market and with their closest rival, Lenovo, coming in third with only 2.5 million units shipped. Being on top, however, also means they have the farthest to fall.

There was growth among the smaller vendors, including Lenovo, LG and Huawei, indicating that "the vendor landscape is indeed evolving," Jean Philippe Bouchard, IDC Research Director for Tablets, said in a statement.

Growth among these smaller vendors, though, is not enough to offset the declines the market is seeing. So what exactly is happening here to cause the tablet market to see such a huge drop so quickly? One obvious reason could simply be market penetration has been reached, but IDC points to a few other problems that could be responsible.

One is that tablets have a longer lifecycle than a cellphone, which means that people can upload new operating systems on them. Think about how often you get a new laptop as opposed to a new phone. Some people get a new iPhone every year, I typically get a new one every two years. I only buy a new computer every four or five years though.

Another issue may be that Apple, with the release of the larger iPhone 6, may have begun to compete against itself. The issue most people have always had with the iPhone is the size of the screen, as opposed to the iPad. Of course, the bigger iPhone is still nowhere near as big as a tablet, but it may still be big enough for some users to feel like they don't need to shell out extra cash for another device.

"Longer life cycles, increased competition from other categories such as larger smartphones, combined with the fact that end users can install the latest operating systems on their older tablets has stifled the initial enthusiasm for these devices in the consumer market," Jitesh Ubrani, Senior Research Analyst, Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers, said in a statement.

All is not lost, though, as he believes that "newer form factors like 2-in-1s, and added productivity-enabling features like those highlighted in iOS9," might mean that vendors will be "able to bring new vitality to a market that has lost its momentum."

(Image source: bgr.com)

Source: Tablet shipments fall for the third consecutive quarter

Should I buy a thumb PC, mini-desktop or tablet to replace my old PC?

Can a thumb PC or mini-desktop replace my seven-year-old Windows XP PC? Or, as desktops are on the way out, could I get away with using an iPad and iPhone? Basically, I do email, social media, web-surfing and photos. Suman Nayyar

At this early stage, I wouldn't recommend a "USB PC" such as the Intel Compute Stick as a desktop replacement: a mini-desktop such as the Acer Revo One is more capable and much better value. The larger question is whether you can replace a PC with a tablet.

The first answer is that it depends what you want to do. Some people need a PC (or Mac or whatever), while others are perfectly happy using a tablet, phablet or smartphone. The second answer is that you can have both. Today, you can buy tablets that run Microsoft Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, and there are lots of convertibles that work as laptops and as tablets.

In sticking with Windows XP, you may have missed 14 years of progress. PCs no longer take from 30 seconds to three minutes to start up; you can switch them on and off just like tablets. Thanks to the UEFI system and chip-based drives, a good Windows 8.1 laptop can now boot in 10 seconds, and wake up in about two seconds.

Tablets used to be handier than PCs, but they're not much different now.

Desktop v laptop

One advantage of a desktop PC is that you will generally get a full-sized keyboard and screen, typically 22in or 24in. This is better for your productivity, and your health. (Hunching over a laptop or tablet is bad for your spine.) Desktops are also easier to expand and repair, and most have DVD or Blu-ray drives built in.

However, mini-desktops and all-in-one PCs have the same problem as laptops (packing hot chips into confined spaces) and therefore tend to have similar specifications. The one area where you usually win is storage space. For example, the £199.99 Acer Revo One has a terabyte drive where a £200 laptop might have a 32GB eMMC flash memory chip.

The main drawback with desktops is that they take up space. Laptops are, obviously, mobile, and can be stowed away when not in use.

But in principle, desktops and laptops can run the same software, including sophisticated programs such as Adobe PhotoShop and Lightroom. Cheap laptops will be less powerful but should be fine for your purposes (email, social media, web-surfing and photos). For some suggestions, see a recent Ask Jack column, Can you help me choose a cheap laptop?

Laptops, tablets and convertibles

In general, laptops and desktops are used for productive and creative work while tablets and phablets are used for media consumption and casual gaming. Yes, this is an oversimplification, and there's a big overlap. None the less, PCs really are better for tasks where you need a keyboard and the ability to move files around – which may include photo editing and batch processing.

This is where convertibles come in. These are (mostly) Windows PCs where you can detach the screen and use it as a standalone tablet, or rotate the screen to form a thick "tablet" with the keyboard underneath. This gives you a bit of the best of both worlds. For example, you can use a convertible as a laptop for sorting and editing photos in programs like Lightroom, and for batch processing and uploading them to Flickr etc. Then you can switch to a tablet app to view them, using your fingers to flick between images.

Windows Store tablet apps are just as easy to install, update and remove as the ones in the Apple and Google stores. The drawbacks? There aren't as many Windows apps, and the Apple iOS apps tend to be much higher quality. However, if there isn't a Windows app for something, you can always run a full-spec browser and hit the web.

So, think about what you do on Windows XP and you do on your Apple iPhone. Could you do the XP-type things on a smartphone if it had a 10in screen? If not, would you be give up some of the PC's power and convenience in exchange for access to the wealth of iOS or Android tablet apps? Your money, your choice.

Cost and convenience

As you already use an iPhone, I assume you will end up choosing between an iPad and a Windows 8.1 convertible, which you can upgrade to Windows 10.

The iPad option is, as you know, relatively expensive, though iPads do retain some resale value. Prices range from £239 for an iPad Mini 2 with a 7.9in screen and 16GB of storage to £599 for a much faster iPad Air 2 with a 9.7in screen and 128GB of memory. All the screens have the same resolution. In the long term, I don't think 16GB is enough storage, but you could get, say, a 64GB Mini 3 for £399 or a 64GB iPad Air 2 for £479.

You may also need some accessories, such as a USB connector (£15), Camera Connection Kit (£25), iPad Smart Case (£39) and an Apple Wireless Keyboard (£59) – all these are from the Apple Store. You can find cheaper alternatives on Amazon etc, but you could still end up spending £50 to £100 on top of the cost of the iPad.

You will not be shocked to hear that you can get Windows tablets and convertibles for far less, with 8in tablets starting at under £100 and 10.1in 2-in-1s with keyboards at under £200. In addition to the ones I suggested before, you could also consider the Lenovo Miix 3 (£179.99), Asus Transformer Book T100TAF (£199.95) and the better-made T100 Chi (£349.99). Storage is not a problem if you can slot in a cheap Samsung 32GB or 64GB SD card (roughly £10 to £20).

All these machines have keyboards and USB ports, so you don't need any extra accessories: you get one convenient package.

But if I were you, I'd spend £200 to £250 on an Acer Revo One or similar drop-in replacement, see how you get on with Windows 10, and leave the tablet decision for later. iPad sales are in decline, and the Apple blogs are speculating about the launch of an iPad Mini 4, an iPad Air 3, and perhaps a 12in iPad Pro in the next three or four months. If you end up using an iPad and iPhone, the Revo One will still be a great media server.

Have you got a question? Email it to Ask.Jack@theguardian.com

Source: Should I buy a thumb PC, mini-desktop or tablet to replace my old PC?

Why you should or should not upgrade to Windows 10?

By Anick Jesdanun

It took me just a weekend to get comfortable with Microsoft's new Windows 10 operating system, something I never did with its predecessor, Windows 8, even after nearly three years.

With Wednesday's update, Windows no longer feels jarring, as though I'm using two different computers at once.

Best part: This update is free.Windows 8 was Microsoft's way of modernizing personal computers, as smartphones and tablets grew more popular. But it came across as trying to shove a square peg into a round hole. It steered people toward tablet-like touch commands, even on desktops and laptops that had keyboards and mouse controls. Apps that weren't designed for touch _ including Microsoft's Office _ got shoved into the basement, known as desktop mode. Desktop mode and tablet/touch mode were like feuding siblings, each seeking to dominate in a high-stakes tug of war.

With Windows 10, everyone gets along. There are still separate desktop and tablet modes, but you largely stick with one or the other depending on whether you have a keyboard. (Microsoft skipped Windows 9, by the way, as though to distance itself from Windows 8 and its criticisms.)

Although there are a few reasons to hold off upgrading, which I'll explain below, Windows 10 is better than Windows 8 in many ways:

Windows Apps open as windowsApps for Windows 8 were designed to take up the full screen, just like tablets. Although you could split the screen, apps could be placed only side by side, not top to bottom, as you'd probably want when having email and streaming video open at once.

With Mac computers and previous versions of Windows, you can resize windows however you like. With Windows 8, that was limited to apps that hadn't been adapted for touch _ the ones kept in the basement, segregated from the newer apps. Windows 10 restores resizing for all apps, touch or not. It sounds cosmetic, but it makes a big difference in fitting in with your workflow.

Screen start screenWith Windows 8, the corner start button in desktop mode got you to a full-screen, graphical start page in tablet mode. You had to return to the desktop mode to run an older app, even though you were sent to tablet mode to launch it.

With Windows 10, the start button functions the way it did with Windows 7 and earlier. The graphical start page from Windows 8 is embedded in that start button, so that it feels modern without making you chuck old habits. You can still get a full-screen start page, but it's not forced on you.

Single BrowserInternet Explorer is gone, replaced by Edge. You get some functional improvements, such as a virtual marker to draw arrows or circle an entry on a Web page to share over email, Facebook and other means.

Even better, you no longer have separate browsers for desktop and tablet modes. With Windows 8, when you opened a website in desktop mode, it didn't show up in tablet mode. You had to open it again. With Windows 10, it's a unified browser, so you pick up where you leave off if you switch modes.

Some websites, including those from Google, aren't as smooth on Edge as they are on other browsers, but the problem might be limited to Microsoft's Surface tablets. The sites work better on an HP laptop upgraded to Windows 10. You can still get Windows 10 on Surface and install a different browser, such as Google's Chrome.

Borrowing from PhonesWhile Windows 8 tried too hard to adopt features from mobile devices, Windows 10 brings two features that make sense.

An Action Center offers quick access to settings such as Wi-Fi, brightness and "quiet hours" _ a way to suspend notifications and sounds if, say, you're giving a presentation.

Cortana, the voice assistant akin to Google Now and Apple's Siri, comes to Windows PCs. Because you might feel awkward talking to your computer, you have the option of typing in commands, such as "Remind me to get milk."

Cortana is integrated with the Edge browser, too. Right-click to ask Cortana to define a word or provide a restaurant's hours of operation. A Cortana window temporarily slides over with that nugget of information so you don't clutter your browser with opened tabs.

Laptops work on the goAs Microsoft shifts its focus to online services, it has been steering users to store files on its OneDrive online storage service. As with Dropbox and Google Drive, OneDrive typically keeps copies of all your files on your computer so you have them while offline. Any changes you make sync with the service once you're back online.

That changed with Windows 8. Copies were grabbed from the Internet only when you needed them, which meant files weren't always available when using laptops on the go, away from Wi-Fi. Windows 10 restores the approach of keeping copies of everything, unless you limit that because you're low on storage.

Should you upgrade?I've been using a pre-release version of Windows 10 for a month without major problems. As with any upgrades, make sure your favorite apps and accessories will work, as it might take time for outside developers and manufacturers to catch up. Microsoft's Get Windows 10 app will check for known problems. Back up your PC first.

If you're using a low-end "Home" version of Windows, Microsoft will turn on future updates automatically once you get Windows 10. That is normally a good thing, especially as Microsoft plans to add features regularly, rather than wait for the next major release. But automatic updates might surprise you with incompatible apps and accessories.

You might want to wait a few months to see whether these automatic updates cause any meltdowns for others. In addition, Windows 7 users who use Windows Media Center or have DVD players might need to find replacement software first. The free Windows 10 offer is good for a year, so there's no rush.

The case is easier for those using Windows 8, including the Home version. The experience is much better, making any potential upgrade hassles worth it.

Source: Why you should or should not upgrade to Windows 10?

Tablets in schools not magic, says expert

Tablets are not the miracle for education. (Duncan Alfreds, Fin24)

Cape Town - New tablet technology will not automatically result in better education and policy should dictate a robust technology approach in schools, says a local expert.

"It is a mistake to think that the novelty of technology will automatically translate into better learning. In fact, it may be a distraction, unless teachers acquire sufficient skills to use technology as a teaching and learning tool," Kobus Van Wyk, head of e-Learning at Mustek, told Fin24.

Van Wyk was responding to reports of a massive roll-out of tablets by the Gauteng Education department, which has tasked EduSolutions with delivering technology worth R200m to schools in the province.

The programme forms part of Gauteng MEC for education Panyaza Lesufi's R17bn project to make schools paperless by introducing tablets and other technology to boost education.

"Many (most) teachers do not know how to adapt their teaching and classroom management practices when technology is thrust upon them. So, the physical distribution is not a problem (although it appears to be a challenge for some suppliers) but the use of the devices for its supposedly intended purposes," said Van Wyk.

Rule of thumb

He was responsible for the Khanya Project which was tasked with equipping schools in the Western Cape with computer technologies.

In the decade that the project ran, he spent a budget of R1bn and trained 27 000 teachers to use technology in the classroom.

His rule of thumb for technology deployment is that half of the budget should be set aside for teacher training and ongoing support to ensure that the institutions and government derive value from the technology.

Tablets in schools cannot be expected to deliver miracles in education. (Duncan Alfreds, Fin24)

Tablets are consumer devices that are difficult to upgrade or repair cost effectively, said Van Wyk.

"In any case, there are not many things in a tablet you can replace ... the battery and screen being exceptions.  So, many suppliers simply replace faulty units under warranty with new ones, rather than trying to 'fix' them," he said.

It is unclear whether the deal between the Gauteng department and EduSolutions includes ongoing hardware support and the responsibility for the cost of replacements that may become non-functional.

"This implies that the supplier should hold sufficient spare devices of a particular model in stock in order to honour warranty arrangements, or be willing and able to replace a faulty unit with a later model," said Van Wyk.

Watch this News24 Live video on how much training teachers need to roll out digital education:

'Free' software

A number of educational tablet providers offer schools deals where the institution leases software. However, international experience has shown that sometimes the school is locked into paying for software that doesn't add value to the curriculum.

"Educational institutions should always be responsible for content, particularly the selection of the content. This could by textbooks. If you think about it, with paper based books it has always been the responsibility of education to select and prescribe these books, and with e-books it should be no different," Van Wyk said.

However, he cautioned against companies bundling free software on devices, often in effort to win supply tenders.

"Education must beware of suppliers who claim to 'bundle' free software with tablets ... invariably this content is of little (or no) value."

- Follow Duncan on Twitter

Source: Tablets in schools not magic, says expert

Meth a homemade, volatile, growing problem

St. Clair County Drug Task Force and Port Huron Police go through items from a suspected meth lab on Friday, July 24, 2015, on Varney in Port Huron.(Photo: Mark R. Rummel, Port Huron Times Herald)

Catherine Silver-Martin watched sternly as officers dressed in hazmat suits carried plastic bottles, aluminum foil, and chemicals from her neighbor's Varney Street home Friday.

"I suspected it," the Port Huron woman said as she watched Port Huron police and St. Clair County Drug Task Force across the street. "But I didn't realize the magnitude of what he was doing.

"I'm glad they're here. I'm glad they're taking out these meth labs."

From January through mid-June, the St. Clair County Drug Task Force made 17 raids involving methamphetamine and seized about 165 grams of the drug.

That's nearly as many meth raids as the task force totals for each of the last three years.

"That is the popular drug right now and it happens to be the most dangerous," said St. Clair County Sheriff Lt. Kevin Manns, who leads the task force.

"Meth is not only dangerous to the user, but the people around them as well."

View Drug Raid Map in a full screen map

DETROIT FREE PRESS

Michigan's meth incidents surge to all-time high

Danger is one thing. Time is another.

The increase in methamphetamine labs, busts and fires has been consuming the time and efforts of the St. Clair County Drug Task Force and other law enforcement officers, Manns said.

Heroin and cocaine continue to be a challenge for law enforcement, Manns said. But meth — a highly addictive stimulant — can create fumes and fires during and after production that threaten more than just the user.

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The volatile waste requires special training, careful handling and monitoring until it can be disposed of by the Michigan State Police.

"It's a waste of a lot of resources," Manns said. "Not only do you have police departments tied up, you also have fire and rescue. Sometimes they're there a whole day."

And St. Clair County isn't the only area encountering problems. The state as a whole has seen a rise in the drug.

Michigan State Police cataloged 645 meth incidents statewide in 2013, 861 in 2014, and 330 so far in 2015.

An increasing burden

In 2012, the St. Clair County Drug Task Force made seven raids involving methamphetamine. In 2013, 13. In 2014, 24.

With 17 meth busts in the first half of the year, 2015 is on track to beat any prior numbers.

Manns said the drug's homegrown appeal and easily accessible directions online have increased its popularity.

What once took a chemist to make can now be produced in a 2-liter pop bottle with items bought at Meijer or Walmart. It can be made in a car, in a home, in a shed and it typically doesn't travel far.

"The stuff that they're making they're generally making for themselves or for local sale," Manns said.

That's different from other drugs, such as heroin or cocaine, which are usually funneled in from outside the area.

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The only meth ingredient semi-controlled through pharmacies is pseudoephedrine tablets. But meth producers have found ways to sidestep restrictions by hiring people to buy the tablets in exchange for some of the finished product — a practice referred to as "smurfing."

St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon said further restrictions on pseudoephedrine would allow officers to get a handle on the growing problem.

"You have to have more control over the components of it," Donnellon said.

"There's no shortage of people who do this. You have to make it harder for them."

A drain on resources

The production leaves a trail of dump sites with empty camping fluid canisters, batteries with the lithium strip peeled out, pseudoephedrine blister packs and boxes and 2-liter plastic bottles with a powdery residue inside.

The St. Clair County Special Response Team is trained to contain and raid a meth lab, Manns said. The Drug Task Force then is equipped to bring the evidence out and process it.

But to dispose of the meth lab waste — whether it's found during a raid or at a dump site — a special team form the Michigan State Police is needed for transport.

He said state police have been so busy with disposal that they now only respond during business hours.

If the Drug Task Force raids a meth lab at the end of the day Friday, deputies would have to wait until Monday morning for the state police to respond.

Both the St. Clair County Sheriff Department and the Port Huron Police Department have plans this year to train some officers and deputies in transport and disposal to speed up the process.

"It's been a real burden for us financially," Donnellon said. He added that meth raids, processing and disposal pose added risks to law enforcement.

"Stuff gets dumped, covered with snow and then discovered when the snow melts," Donnellon said. "We had one that sat under snow all winter and ignited when they tried to move it."

Homes, cars, hotels and garages also are at risk, not only for fires after or during meth lab production, but also for long-term contamination.

Cleaners specially trained in meth decontamination are forced to dispose of most fabrics and items in the home as the lingering fumes from production can be harmful to people living in the home.

Port Huron Public Safety Director Michael Reaves said a few city fires have been attributed to meth activity in the first half of 2015, including house fires on Court and Wall streets, and a car fire at Harker and Stone streets.

"We've had multiple fires related to the cooking and processing of methamphetamine," Reaves said. "It's a risk that branches out into other areas and it affects the whole neighborhood."

Reaves said the city recognizes that the issue is more prevalent in Port Huron, but it's not unique to the area either.

Of the 17 meth raids the Drug Task Force conducted in the first half of 2015, five were in Port Huron.

The rest were spread out among Fort Gratiot, Port Huron Township, Algonac, Kimball Township, Marysville, Clyde Township and St. Clair Township.

There also were several meth raids and busts initiated by Port Huron police, and not included in the Drug Task Force numbers.

"We've stopped people walking with it in a backpack. People on bicycles. People in cars," Reaves said.

"It's extremely time consuming. It sucks resources that we candidly don't have."

The Varney Street raid Friday by the Port Huron police was the second of two suspected meth labs found in fewer than 24 hours.

The raids were part of the grant-funded Operation Neighborhood Take-Back.

Other influences

While the use and production of meth continues to drain law enforcement resources, authorities also continue to address a growing opiate-based prescription pill and heroin addiction.

And problems with cocaine, once the dominant threat in St. Clair County, have never gone away.

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$20K in crystal meth, guns seized from Port Huron home

The Drug Task Force has seized 105 grams of heroin and 401 grams of cocaine in the first half of the year.

The unit seized a total of 428 doses of Xanax, Hydrocodone and Oxycodone, and hundreds of tablets of other prescription pills.

Authorities also seized 3,102 grams of marijuana and 187 plants.

The number of overdose deaths involving heroin rose from 15 in 2011 to 34 in 2014, according to the St. Clair County Medical Examiner's office. Twenty-one of the deaths in 2014 were due to a heroin-fentanyl mixture.

Donnellon said drug-related overdoses, usage and busts have increased dramatically over the past 10 years.

"We didn't have a fraction of the issues we have now," Donnellon said. "It's a crisis."

The Drug Task Force has arrested 143 people in the first half of 2015, and filed 173 felony charges and 135 misdemeanor charges.

Fifty-three of those arrested claimed Port Huron residency and 32 of the Drug Task Force's 61 raids occurred in Port Huron.

Nine of those arrested claimed Detroit residency. Donnellon said it's likely several of the other 134 people arrested are from Wayne County, but claimed St. Clair County residency after living here for a short time period.

The Drug Task Force is a multi-agency unit made up St. Clair County Sheriff deputies, and members of the Port Huron Police Department, St. Clair County Prosecutor's Office, U.S. Border Patrol, and U.S. Air and Marine.

It is funded through a .2803-mill tax that is up for renewal in 2016.

Contact Port Huron Times Herald reporter Beth LeBlanc at 810-989-6259 or eleblanc@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @THBethLeBlanc.

Effects of Methamphetamine Usage

•Methamphetamine is a highly addictive central nervous system stimulant.

•In small doses, meth creates euphoria, paranoia, hyperthermia, decreased appetite and increased physical activity.

•In larger doses, meth can lead to an increased heart rate, hypertension, convulsions chest pain, stroke, renal failure, tremors and irreversible damage to the blood vessels in the brain.

•Long-term usage could lead to paranoia, insomnia, hallucinations, severe dental problems, delusions of parasites or insects on the skin, violent tendencies.

Source: Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (formerly Michigan Department of Community Health)

Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/1MQ2fwC

Source: Meth a homemade, volatile, growing problem

Users Complain Following Android 5.1 Lollipop Update For NVIDIA Tegra Note 7 Tablets

NVIDIA has released an Android 5.1 Lollipop update for the Tegra Note 7. However, the update has caused several issues with the tablet.(Photo : NVIDIA)

Users are complaining after installing an update to take the operating system of the Tegra Note 7, launched by NVIDIA before the Shield gaming tablet, to Android 5.1 Lollipop.

The Tegra Note 7, launched back in 2013, is a 7-inch Android-powered tablet that packs the NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor powered by 1GB of RAM. The screen of the Tegra Note 7 has a 1280 x 800 pixel display with storage space of 16GB.

The Tegra Note 7 received the Android 5.1 Lollipop update along with the Shield Portable, a handheld game console of NVIDIA. NVIDIA teamed up with third-party manufacturer to produce the tablet, with the company only providing the designs.

The software update for Tegra Note 7, in addition to bringing the aged tablet to Android 5.1 Lollipop, also added improvements to the DirectStylus digital pen of the tablet, address certain issues with the compatibility of apps and made fixes to certain problems in the display, audio and network components of the tablet.

However, users have posted complaints on the Google+ page of the Tegra Note 7 regarding the Android 5.1 Lollipop update to their tablets, as the update has led to a wide range of issues to the devices.

According to Sandip Gupta, certain video files in the .mkv format are not playing on the Tegra Note 7 after installing the Android 5.1 Lollipop update using the MX Player, whereas the video files used to play with no problem at all before the update. Gupta also said that the volume of the Tegra Note 7's speakers have been "completely ruined" by the update.

Another user by the name of Captain Cookster reported that his Tegra Note 7 has been mothballed and is no longer usable with the Android 5.1 Lollipop update, posting a long list of issues that includes overheating, battery depletion, random rebooting and lagging keyboard and GUI, for an overall slower performance of the tablet.

Amid the many complaints, user Touko Sakura recommended users to do a clean install by first doing a factory reset on the device and then installing the Android 5.1 Lollipop over the air.

It is nice to see that NVIDIA is still supporting its older devices, despite its focus on its newer models such as the Shield Tablet. However, the company should definitely address the problems that Tegra Note 7 users are experiencing with the upgrade to Android 5.1 Lollipop.

© 2015 Tech Times, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

Source: Users Complain Following Android 5.1 Lollipop Update For NVIDIA Tegra Note 7 Tablets

Heart problems and heroin: Welcome to the world of slimming pills

When I started to investigate the trade in slimming pills, I knew I would encounter a sprawling international and unregulated marketplace - but I did not expect to be offered heroin.

It was just one of the shocks waiting in the alarming world of banned drugs and potentially lethal side effects.

With millions thinking about how they'll look on the beach, diet pills can look like an attractive shortcut.

What we have discovered should make anybody think again.

Watch the full report of what we found here:

The criminal dealer even sent me a photo of the heroin he was offering.

The email we got says: " I sell only pure heroin and hash online I am looking for fresh new good clients".

This is clear evidence of diet pill websites being used as a front for the sale of hard drugs.

Other pills showed how global this dangerous trade is.

The Sibutramine marked "Slimex " was made in India, sent to us from Hong Kong and disguised along the way as "plastic beads".

Neal Patel from The Royal Pharmaceutical Society, which helped throughout our investigation, said: "These results show that buying drugs for weight loss on the internet is like playing Russian Roulette with your health.

"You don't know what you are buying and the products can be very dangerous, even lethal.

"Research is ongoing into medicines for weight loss but there's no legal, safe, breakthrough tablet. Talk to a health professional like a pharmacist or doctor to get proper advice about how to lose weight safely."

Ahead of its general release, ITV News has been given advance access to a new official video designed to warn people about the dangers of DNP.

Source: Heart problems and heroin: Welcome to the world of slimming pills

Their view was I was the cause of all the problems in our family’

Reading was an escape from a terrible childhood for Auckland City Missioner Diane Robertson.

She was incredibly resilient, she was quite happy being completely individual, and quite visible" – Diane Robertson speaks with enthusiasm, approval and even affection of Lisbeth Salander, the central character in Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Salander endures terrible cruelty and violence before getting her revenge; Robertson's childhood was also characterised by violence and cruelty. In her adult life she exemplifies the expression that living well is the best revenge, including being made a Dame in the Queen's Birthday Honours. Robertson is Auckland ...

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Source: Their view was I was the cause of all the problems in our family'

Cost savings and operational efficiency through tablets at South Tyneside College – by Gerald Haigh

The following is a guest post from Gerald Haigh, and looks at the operational and educational impacts of replacing laptops with tablets at South Tyneside College.

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In November 2012, we published a blog post based on the work being done at South Tyneside College on virtualisation with Hyper-V. At the end, the post mentions some of the future plans which Head of ICT Services Craig Scott had told me about. These included moving mail accounts from Google, to Office 365, and using the cloud for disaster recovery. Craig said at the time,

'We've got some funding from the Association of Colleges to look into cloud based disaster recovery solutions, and will evaluate Azure as a possible option.'

This July, then I decided to catch up with Craig and see how these plans had developed and I found that, sure enough, all staff and student email accounts are now working well on Office 365 and also, says Craig,

'We're using Azure to provide offsite disaster recovery facilities for our critical systems; we've just refreshed that recently but the original implementation was just after we talked in 2012.'

One thing that we didn't talk about then, though that's not to say Craig wasn't thinking about it, was the extensive move from desktop PCs to Windows tablets, which will be rolled out in September 2015.

Behind that decision was a problem common to many further and higher education institutions, which is how to give each of their many and diverse members of staff on-demand access to a PC both in their workplace (classroom, workshop, laboratory) and in a staffroom for private preparation, assessment and administration. Some places use a hot desking system, which, as Craig points out, can still lead to bottlenecks, and to irritations where one user changes preferences which confuse the next person to come along. The solution at South Tyneside was to provide enough PCs for everyone, which led to the College having a total of 500 available to staff, with all that's implied in terms of maintenance, management, licensing, and budgeting for replacement.

The better answer, clearly, was to give each staff member a portable device, but until viable and affordable tablets came along that was easier said than done, as Craig explains

'We tried laptops. That was fine as a concept, but there were practical problems – battery life was limited for example, and they were heavy to carry around.'

The advent of inexpensive Windows tablets – in this case the Linx range – now appears to be the total solution.

'They're lightweight, with seven or eight hours of battery life, and they're ready within seconds of pressing the power button. It gets round all the issues.'

A number of staff members have been trying out Linx ten-inch tablets this academic year, he says.

'They're quite happy using them. They do pretty much everything that they need – Microsoft Office, including PowerPoint, and a couple of bits of our admin software. It's all well within the device's capabilities. Just 15 or so specialist staff will be given laptops because they want rather more functions – multimedia, video editing and so on.'

Each of the staffrooms will have docking stations for the Linx devices, so now, where staff had to look for a PC, dividing time and work between devices in different places, they will now have a tablet that stays with them, ready for use, fully capable. The savings in efficiency, time and quality of working life are going to be considerable. Importantly, too, there's a significant cost saving. Craig estimates that whereas the cost of replacing the current PCs over the next three years will be about £202,000, he expects the outlay on the tablets, cases and items for the docking stations, and the small number of laptops for specialist users, to add up to less than £66,000.

South Tyneside College, then, by using Windows devices and Microsoft technologies, will, in this coming academic year, take a significant step forward in efficiency while, at the same time, saving a very useful £136,000.

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Source: Cost savings and operational efficiency through tablets at South Tyneside College – by Gerald Haigh

The future of tablets is iPad-shaped

© Provided by The Verge

In the hyper-competitive world of technology, victories are usually fleeting. Asus once led the world with its Eee PC netbook, BlackBerry once held the messaging crown with BBM, and Nokia was once the name of a mobile empire. Nothing lasts forever and leaders are always toppled, but there is one exception to this rule, and that's Apple's iPad. The iPad grabbed the title of best tablet device when it launched in 2010, and it's held onto it ever since. This past year has seen an exhibition of iPad clones emerging, culminating in Samsung's perfect pair of Galaxy Tab S2 copycats: they're the same size as Apple's iPads, use a similar metal frame, and even have the same 4:3 aspect ratio. This isn't competition. It's capitulation.

A Photoshop of Samsung's Galaxy Tab S2 versus Apple's iPad Air 2. The hand is Samsung's, no one copied that.

Before the iPad, we really had no idea what a tablet should look like

Recall, if you will, how many unanswered questions there were around tablets when the iPad was introduced. Filling the gap between laptops and phones meant making a choice between a desktop or a mobile operating system. HP and Microsoft opted for the supposedly more capable desktop choice, Apple went for upscaling its iPhone OS. The iPad won that battle. Then there was the question of size, with some prototype tablets stretching all the way to 15 inches (acting as essentially keyboard-less laptops), but Apple set the standard at just under 10 inches. And finally, most under-appreciated of all, perhaps, is the issue of the aspect ratio: Apple chose the squarer 4:3 format while almost everyone else went for the widescreen 16:9 or 16:10, which would better match the dimensions of a movie. Well, now we can conclusively say that the iPad's won that battle as well.

Samsung's move to 4:3 this year is simply a reaction to what experience has taught us: humans prefer squarer tablets, whether they're Apple-branded or not. Microsoft's Surface 3 and Surface Pro 3 — both using a 3:2 aspect ratio that sits somewhere between the widescreen 16:9 and the iPad's shape — both earned commendations in our reviews for their improved ergonomics. The Nexus 9 has its flaws, but it's still one of our favorite Android tablets, and a big reason for that is the comfort of using its 4:3 screen. Even the absurdly large HP Slate Pro 12 has adopted this aspect ratio, and it's no coincidence that it's surprisingly easy to handle for its size.

© Provided by The Verge nexus 9 png

The inherent problem of widescreen tablets is that they're too narrowly (pun intended) focused on movie playback. Sure, watching a film without any black bars on the screen makes for a neater viewing experience, but what happens when you want to look up some details about that movie's cast or production online? You get an uncomfortable web browser that is either too wide (in landscape mode) or too narrow (in portrait). The same is true of reading ebooks and comics or browsing through your photos: all are a better match to the iPad's 4:3 than the widescreen options that have been on offer from Android tablets up until now. Copying Apple's choice of screen size just makes sense.

Apple follows as often as it leads: there's no shame in it

The original iPad's prediction of what tablets of the future, which is now our present, would look like is impressively accurate even by Apple's high standards. As much of a benchmark device as the iPhone may be, it's often shown Apple in the role of a late follower: it grew beyond a 4-inch screen later than its Android competitors, and it embraced the 16:9 aspect ratio that is now a universal standard later than most others. The iPad, by contrast, basically set its core premise of mobile apps and software combined with a photo-friendly screen size; everything that's come since then has been just refinement of that original formula.

© Provided by The Verge nokia n1

Every time a truly intriguing iPad competitor has emerged, it's featured the 4:3 aspect ratio. HP's ill-fated TouchPads failed because of immature software, not because of their shape or size, which were widely appreciated. There's the aforementioned Nexus 9, plus the incoming Nokia N1 and Jolla Tablet, and who can forget the shameless iPad mini clone that was the Mi Pad?

Now that Samsung has given up trying to be different from the iPad — not that it was ever such a massive effort — it may seem like we're doomed to inhabit a homogenous tablet world of just iPads and iPad derivatives. That's the exact nightmare scenario envisioned by Motorola's Xoom advert that aired during the Super Bowl in 2011, but if Moto wanted to prevent it from happening, it should have offered something better than the iPad. It didn't, and no one else has either. The iPad keeps winning, at least in part, because everyone around it keeps getting lost in the chase for diversification. Maybe it's better to let that go and focus on simply being better, and on beating the iPad on its own terms. Samsung's new Galaxy Tabs may not be original, but they now have most of what makes Apple's tablet appealing, including its dimensions and extras like fingerprint security.

Only question is what took Samsung this long

Apple and Samsung are now aligned on the same development path, but that need not preclude innovation from others. Amazon's Kindle Fire tablets haven't yet fallen in the 4:3 line, and it's possible that they never will, while Microsoft's Surface devices continue evolving an intriguing hybrid category where the keyboard and stylus are still held up as important inputs to a fully featured tablet experience. Holdouts of this kind will keep consumer choice in tablets varied for the foreseeable future, though it will surely be narrower — mostly because consumers have already made the choice, again and again, for the squarer, friendlier shape of the iPad.

Source: The future of tablets is iPad-shaped

A tribute to Windows 8: If it hadn't been so bad, Windows 10 wouldn't be so good

Windows 8's pioneering features finally get to shine in Windows 10, and only because Microsoft had to try again.

I didn't know what to do.

In November 2012, I flew to Dubai to cover the overseas launch of Windows 8. I was a freelancer then, relatively new on the beat, and a handful of reporters mingled among sheikhs and other Middle-Eastern bigwigs in the bowels of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. A freelance reporter that I had just met asked me to give him a tour of Windows 8.

"Windows 8 isn't for everyone. If you're mostly a desktop PC user comfortable with Windows 7, upgrading to Windows 8 is probably not worthwhile."—Loyd Case, from PCWorld's review of Windows 8

I was new to the whole swiping concept, but knew enough to tap on a tile to launch an app. But whoever had set up the laptops hasn't connected them to any Wi-Fi, so there was little to see. And for a few moments I forgot what "Desktop" referred to, even as I tried to find the shortcut that took you to the "Windows screen."

My earliest memories of Windows 8 were therefore of helpless frustration—a common experience, for most, I imagine. But was Windows 8 really bad? What I think we can all agree on is that it was certainly, fatally, misunderstood. 

For many, Start finished Windows 8

One of the subtleties built into the Windows Insider program is that changes made to the operating system are introduced over time, so that Microsoft's fans and guinea pigs have a chance to understand and evangelize such changes before Microsoft releases them. The Start screen, with its crazy-quilt of live tiles, dropped like a bomb on an unsuspecting public. Few knew that you could type the application name to launch Word, for example, or swipe up from the bottom of the screen to see a list of apps. And once on the Desktop, nobody wanted to leave.

One Windows 8 strategy was to keep as many shortcuts and pinned apps on the desktop as possible.

For many, Start embodied Windows 8's failure. According to NetApplications, Windows 8's highest penetration came in Sept. 2013, when it reached 8.02 percent. Windows 7, by contrast, has a 46.39 percent share of all PCs, and it has steadily increased since then, to what appears to be an all-time high of 60.98 percent in June. 

Give credit where credit is due, though: Managed correctly, Live Tiles work well on both Windows Phone and Windows 10 PCs, resurfacing photos, for example, in the Photos tab. News showcases the headline of the day. 

I think one of the fatal flaws of Windows 8, however, was that Microsoft failed to recognize that Live Tiles work best as signposts, not shortcuts. The Start screen should be a dashboard, informing you of upcoming appointments, not requiring you to navigate a maze of flashing lights to find the application you're looking for.

Our goal was a no compromise design.—Steven Sinofsky, Aug. 2011

Every subsequent revision of Windows 8 has been spent walking back the Start page's erroneous premise: first a Start button, then a direct boot to the desktop in Windows 8.1. I'd say Microsoft still hasn't quite fixed the Start menu in Windows 10, either; Windows 10 will "pin" the most commonly-used apps in the left-hand list of applications, but a feature to allow you to customize those appears to have disappeared from recent preview builds.

Windows 8 brought touch to the desktop

Windows 8 also launched touch computing into the mainstream space, a feature that had previously been confined to the smartphone. In that, it somewhat succeeded.

Touch still isn't the primary means of interacting with a notebook. Apple has ignored this space, but an increasing number of Chromebooks have touchscreens, and touch and stylus input now form the foundation of the Surface and Surface Pro, a significant component of OneNote, and an important means of interacting with Windows.

Windows 8's Metro apps were certainly touch friendly. But that's about all.

You could also argue that one of the more reviled features about Windows 8, the derivative Windows RT operating system, was in fact a decent answer to the demands of mobile tablets. The problem with Windows RT apps wasn't their appearance, but their functionality: They failed to keep up with their desktop counterparts, and there weren't enough of them, either. Microsoft's Universal apps attempt a hybrid approach, presenting in a desktop-friendly format, then filling or shrinking themselves when undocked—part of Microsoft's Continuum approach.

More than being just another update, Windows 8.1 is a lesson in true compromise—for Microsoft, and for us.—Brad Chacos, PCWorld's Windows 8.1 review

I never thought I'd say this, but one of the things I'll miss about Windows 8 will be the Charms menu, which slid out from the sides of the screen. I never used Charms like search, but the quick access to the Settings menu was invaluable—though it was a shame that Windows 8 also bifurcated Settings into two locations, one of which was holed up in the Control Panel. Windows 10 keeps some of that legacy—you can slide in from the right-hand side of the screen to access the Notifications pane, which hides a Settings shortcut at the bottom of the screen—but lacks the elegance of its predecessor.

All your data belongs to us

In 2014, after months of searching, Satya Nadella was named Microsoft's third chief executive. He set a mantra of "cloud-first, mobile first," but the foundations for that approach had been laid long ago.

Windows 10 actually encompasses multiple devices, from Windows PCs to tablets to phones, all the way to the new HoloLens. But with Windows 8, Microsoft began tying the phone to the PC, to create an ecosystem (at the time, imperfect) of devices tied together by Microsoft's cloud services. Your key to the kingdom was your Microsoft account.

Aesthetically, Xbox Music actually looks better than the app in the Windows 10 previews. But it took years for Microsoft to allow users to upload their own music.

Windows 8's OneDrive app was a hideous mess. Logging into your Exchange-hosted email on anything but a Windows device required IT to watch over your shoulder. Microsoft was just beginning to realize it needed to support Android and iOS. Today, however, OneDrive has been refined and more deeply integrated into the operating system. Email is everywhere. And restoring a corrupted Windows installation or migrating to a new PC, is, by and large, a snap—data can be stored in the cloud, and applications are automatically re-downloaded and reinstalled.

That's never more true than in the apps and services that surround Windows 10. Photos, for example, searches your OneDrive folder. The Sway app, as part of Office, doesn't even save a local copy of the file to your hard drive. More and more, Microsoft pushes you to live your life online.

The last Windows?

Microsoft has said previously that it will continue to iterate Windows, so that new builds and features and major revisions may blur into one another. Microsoft wants you to think of Windows as a service, that you will keep using year after year after year. 

Mark Hachman

Windows 10: the future.

That is where the sharpest break between Windows 8 and its successors occurs. Windows 10 may be the last Windows, but Windows 8 may have been the last Windows version you could call a product. It wouldn't surprise me to be writing about Windows in 2022 and looking back ten years, marveling that we ever bought a standalone Windows, on a 2D screen, where we worried about keeping a copy of our photos on a local hard drive.

But we can't talk about Windows 8 without mentioning the last, most important change it engendered: a cultural change. Windows 8 flopped. The PC market tanked. Teens looked at PCs the way we view 8-track tapes. And Microsoft responded, with surprising humility. Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 incorporated user feedback that Microsoft almost begged for, and Windows 10, of course, was developed almost hand-in hand with its users.

So here's your question: Would you want to live in a world where Windows 8 succeeded, or this one, with a more responsive Microsoft? Considering everything that transpired following Windows 8's flop, I think we're better off.

Source: A tribute to Windows 8: If it hadn't been so bad, Windows 10 wouldn't be so good

The Case for Unlimited Tablet Time for Toddlers

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This sounds extreme, but first let me ask: how many parents do you think actually keep track of their kids' screen time? If the TV is on but one of the children wanders out of the room, does that count? What if they're following along to a yoga video? What if the kid borrows Mom's phone at dinner to ask Google what snails eat?

Guidelines abound that encourage limiting "screen time." The American Academy of Pediatrics, for example, recommends two hours or less per day, and says screens "should be avoided" for kids under 2. While I hate to see kids vegging out in front of the TV, I think these limits are based more on knee-jerk reactions (kids these days and their screens!) than on anything that's actually meaningful to kids' development.

Most of the research on screen time comes from studies of kids who watch TV compared to kids who don't, as Emily Oster explains at Fivethirtyeight—and the effects typically disappear when demographic differences like income, race, and education are taken into account.

Television probably isn't inherently bad for kids, and other tablet activities like video games shouldn't be lumped in with TV viewing anyway. I surveyed the research on this when I wrote about tablet time for Lifehacker. To summarize the important differences:

Television is passive: stuff happens, and you get to watch. The stuff that happens isn't personalized to you, either: somebody's grandma might be on TV, but it's not your grandma.

One of the pediatricians who authored the AAP's recommendations wrote in JAMA Pediatrics (careful to note that he was speaking for himself and not the AAP) that play on an iPad is far more similar to playing with blocks, or reading a book with a caregiver, than it is to passive TV watching.

The evidence-based recommendations from nonprofit Zero to Three focus on finding appropriate content rather than setting blanket limitations on time, although their evidence for the importance of "appropriate" content is weak in places.

Maybe it just sounds better to say kids should be playing educational video games with Dad instead of flinging birds at asteroids over and over again. But I don't know about that. My toddler has no problem with his letters and numbers, having figured them out through some combination of real life and, ok, maybe TV—but he understands orbital mechanics better from Angry Birds Space than I ever did from high school physics class.

(When I mentioned Angry Birds in my Lifehacker piece, I got commenters insisting that I was mistaken and my toddler couldn't possibly be doing more than aimless swiping. Here's news: if you don't think a one-year-old can clear levels on Angry Birds, then you haven't spent much time with one-year-olds lately.)

My kids each have a tablet (a Nook HD+, bought on a very good sale, and rooted to run cyanogenmod's version of Android), and they decide their own age-appropriate uses for it. The five-year-old uses his to build elaborate things in Minecraft (a sort of lego-block world) and to research whatever is on his mind ("OK Google, show me pictures of narwhal skeletons.") The two-year-old explores the physics of Angry Birds and Monument Valley. Both children play problem-solving games like Cut the Rope and Bad Piggies, sometimes for hours. And, to be fair, they also watch a lot of Youtube.

Imagine, for the moment, that you wanted a kid to spend hours on a tablet. What problems do you foresee? They'd get bored with it. They'd find new and different things to do with it than whatever you proposed. They'd leave it at the bottom of the toybox for days if some newer, more interesting toy came into their life. Guess what? That's exactly what happens when you allow unlimited screen time and the novelty wears off.

I don't think a forbidden fruit policy is the best. If my kids only got an hour of screen time a day, I promise you they would only use it to watch cartoons. But sometimes they send texts to their dad or their grandparents, or they sit down with me to puzzle out an adventure game, or the older boy will teach his little brother how to install and play something new.

Today, Google and touchscreens and online communication are just part of the background of everyday life. My kids know how to skip ads on videos and how to navigate a website even if they can't read the words on it. They know what information you can get from a phone, and will pipe up to recommend I text Daddy or ask Google or punch something into the GPS. Keeping kids away from screens is as nonsensical as if parents of the past kept their kids away from the radio, or the telephone, or pencils and paper.

For the Lifehacker piece, I asked Clare Smith, a language development researcher who has written about screen time, whether she agrees with my view on this. Here's what she said:

We now live in a world where this technology opens up opportunities for extended social engagement, learning, work and leisure. In fact, it is becoming the norm, and our children will be expected to be proficient in this technology. It is just another form of media that can and should be used in whichever way an individual chooses. Choosing devices and apps is just the same as choosing toys or books, and each choice should be made on its own merits. My own children are embracing social networking and gaming and we are trying our best to guide them through the associated risks and benefits. Just as a conscientious parent teaches a child road safety, stranger danger, eating a healthy balanced diet and a disciplined approach to learning, so this may extend to learning about modern technology and the online world.

Screen time isn't something to protect kids from; it's just part of our world. Let's stop pretending that it's some kind of tragedy to hand a toddler an iPad.

Source: The Case for Unlimited Tablet Time for Toddlers

BNI completes acquisition; Mylan recalls capecitabine tablets

BNI completes acquisition; Mylan recalls capecitabine tablets July 18, 2015 12:00 AM

FerrariFerrari recall

Share with others: Tweet From staff and wire reports

Wexford insurance agency completes VGS acquisition

Benefits Network Inc., a Wexford insurance and consulting agency, finalized a deal this week to acquire VCS Group Inc. in Somerset, Pa., BNI owner David Straight said. He said the consolidated employee benefits firm and insurance broker will employ about 30 people and carry the Benefits Network name. Mr. Straight would not disclose terms of the transaction but said he plans no job cuts. VCS founder Glenn E. Miller Jr. plans to retire in the next several months.

Roughly 1,100 bottle of tablets recalled by Mylan over results

Mylan is recalling one lot, or roughly 1,100 bottles, of capecitabine tablets because of low out-of-specification results, according to a Food and Drug Administration enforcement report. The nationwide recall was initiated June 30. Capecitabine is a chemotherapy agent used to treat breast and other cancers.

Online photo service may have been hacked, CVS says

CVS is warning customers its online photo service may have suffered a data breach. The nation's second-largest drugstore chain says the site is being switched off as a precaution. Payment information on the site is collected by an outside vendor, and it's kept separate from its main CVS.com website and the computer system used in its pharmacies. Payments made through CVS.com and in CVS stores are not affected.

Samsung narrowly defeats Elliott in victory for Korean dynasties

Samsung Group narrowly defeated billionaire activist investor Paul Elliott Singer in a proxy fight that challenged the power of South Korea's corporate dynasties. Samsung C&T Corp. investors accepted an all-stock buyout offer from the group's de facto holding company Cheil Industries Inc. Mr. Singer's Elliott Associates LP opposed the deal on grounds that the offer was too low. The results extend Korea's track record of repelling foreign corporate raiders.

Ferrari recalls 814 cars in U.S. to fix Takata air bag problem

Ferrari is recalling 814 sports cars in the U.S. to fix problems with driver's air bags made by Japanese parts supplier Takata Corp. The Italian automaker says that due to an assembly problem, air bags may inflate with the wrong orientation, increasing the risk of injury in a crash. The problem appears unrelated to Takata air bags that can inflate with too much force and hurl shrapnel. 

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Source: BNI completes acquisition; Mylan recalls capecitabine tablets

Smart Phones, Tablets, Computers Causing Sight Problems

Posted Friday, July 17th 2015 @ 5am  by iHeartMedia's Dale Forbis

In just 30 years, American optometrists are reporting a 30 percent increase in near-sightedness. Since the personal computer was first mass marketed in the 1980s, the connection is obvious.

Dr. Albert Pang says our young people are spending too much time looking at small screens, and not enough time outside, playing. What's causing the problem?

"If you're looking at just genetic changes, it doesn't happen so fast," the doctor says, referring to the 30 percent increase in near-sightedness. "It has to be because of environmental change."

That's where the small screens come in. Pang says we need to seek a balance in how we use our eyes.

"We're talking about going outside to play," he says. "When you do close-up work for four hours, you go outside for four hours. So, it's a good balance."

Source: Smart Phones, Tablets, Computers Causing Sight Problems

ASUS Tablet Shipments Expected to Fall 30% in 2015

ASUS is a company that has enjoyed a long and fairly prosperous history when it comes to tablets. They hit the market hard with the launch of the original Eee Pad Transformer back in the days of Android 3.0 Honeycomb and of course, they were responsible for both generations of the incredibly good value-for-money Nexus 7. More recently however, ASUS has focused on the lower-end of the Android tablet market, which is where the money apparently lies in such a competitive market. Not too long ago, the company debuted a new line of Android tablets, the ZenPad line, and while ASUS is hoping these will boost tablet sales for the company, analysts aren't so sure.

According to a report from DigiTimes, analysts are expecting ASUS to ship 6 – 7 Million tablets in 2015, down 30% or so from the 9.4 Million tablets shipped in 2014. Tablets not doing so well is certainly not a unique problem on ASUS' part, and in fact the whole industry is scratching their heads when it comes to tablet sales. Shipments for 2015 have practically stood still compared to 2014, regardless of the manufacturer and while tablets like the recently launched Xperia Z4 Tablet from Sony are pushing a replacement for your laptop, consumers aren't biting. It's more than likely that as tablets seem to last longer for consumers, there isn't as much of a rush to upgrade each year as they can be with smartphones.

As with previous tablet models, ASUS is pushing the ZenPad models with a focus on the overall experience, rather than just specs alone. Hopefully, the company will be able to better market their tablets this year, as for $200 you can get the ZenPad S8 with performance and features similar to ASUS' excellent ZenFone 2 that launched earlier this year. Whether or not tablets will turn around in 2016 seems to rest in Google's hands, as companies like ASUS, Samsung and Sony can ship some of the best hardware available, but if the software doesn't offer anything compelling enough for phablet users, then ultimately the manufacturer will have a hard time shipping such devices.

Source: ASUS Tablet Shipments Expected to Fall 30% in 2015

iPad Plus Pro: Will Apple’s Giant-Sized Tablet Stop Lackluster Sales?

Apple appears set to give the world its biggest tablet yet in the form of the iPad Plus Pro.

Rumors have been swirling that the Apple iPad Pro is set to be launched in November as the company's answer to Microsoft's Surface tablets.

But despite its bravado, the orders Apple placed on its alleged flagship device seems to be quite low.

The website Digitimes claims the Cupertino-based company's "upstream supply chain" will start sending components for the Apple iPad Pro in September as the device is being pushed to hit the market by mid-November.

"However, Apple is rather cautious about placing related orders and the initial shipment volume is much lower than most market watchers' expectations," the site wrote.

It's understandable that Apple would want to err on the side of caution as iPad sales are currently experiencing a slump. A report shows that while Apple had a strong quarter, it was mostly due to robust iPhone sales while iPad sales fell 23 percent year-over-year.

But this isn't solely an Apple problem. "Business Insider Intelligence" recently came out with a report that showed tablet sales have plateaued, with shipments of tablets declining by 6 percent.

Apple is hoping the iPad Pro and its 12.9-inch screen will do the trick and be the one to stop the decline. The plan is that coming up with a tablet with a screen size that's almost equal to the 13-inch Macbook will make it easier for people to use it for various purposes, maybe even in lieu of a laptop.

It also puts the iPad Pro on an even keel with the 12.2-inch Samsung Galaxy Note Pro.

To that end, the company is making sure that the Apple iPad Pro has the appropriate features. It has even updated its software so that it's geared towards multitasking.

An insider says that Apple is set to include an NFC radio with the iPad Pro so it can also be used for Apple Pay as a payment receiving terminal and allow it to be paired with accessories, like a new stylus that's rumored to be in the design stage.

The humongous Apple iPad Pro is also rumored to have a new, more sensitive touchscreen, a 2K resolution and a 7mm thin profile. It's also to be packing an 11,000 mAh battery.

The trend of bigger smartphones with bigger screens have certainly had a hand in the seeming redundancy of tablets, as the reasons why people used them for before – like watching videos or reading – can now be done via smartphones.

One study has even shown that people who have upgraded to an iPhone 6 Plus now use their tablets much lesser than before.

Hopefully, the Apple iPad Pro will be able to recapture the market and emphasize the flexibility and importance of the tablet in multitasking.

[Image via YouTube]

Source: iPad Plus Pro: Will Apple's Giant-Sized Tablet Stop Lackluster Sales?

My ADL Problem

I'm conservative by most measures, and I've long known that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is markedly progressive on most policy issues. But I wasn't looking for a brawl. I was simply searching for friendship. Relatively new to the Detroit metropolitan area, I was hoping to become more involved in the Jewish community and perhaps as well to partake in interesting discussions about domestic and international topics. That's why I accepted an invitation from the Glass Leadership Institute, the ADL's 10-month, nationwide program "designed for a select group of young professionals as an up-close and personal opportunity to expand their knowledge about the nation's premier human relations organization."

The thought of publishing something about the ADL didn't cross my mind until I attended the ADL's National Leadership Summit in May, about seven months after beginning the program. And even once the thought had crossed my mind, I hesitated in putting pen to paper. I wanted to give the ADL the benefit of the doubt. Maybe I had been too critical—or just too thin-skinned. I decided, however, that I needed to share.

First, I hope this essay persuades the ADL, which is heavily invested in antibullying (e.g., "No Place For Hate" campaign), to consider that it itself has become a bully to conservatives who remain in its ranks. Shutting out right-leaning individuals through crowd intimidation and derision weakens coalitions, which are vital in advocacy work. This behavior also diminishes the organization's values, which will turn stale and trite when left unchallenged.

Secondly, I want the ADL to revisit and clarify its mission. "The nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency," asserts that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry"; not just "all forms of bigotry," but "anti-Semitism" and then "all forms of bigotry." Yet as murderous anti-Semitism around the globe has surged in recent years, the ADL has dedicated itself more and more to matters of social justice in America (e.g., immigration, women's reproductive health, economic "privilege") that are already being pursued by a plethora of lobbying outlets and activist foundations. This wouldn't be problematic—or rather, duplicitous—per se. But the ADL loudly and incessantly bemoans the fact that Jews are living in an increasingly dangerous world. "Thirty or forty years ago," I heard over and over again at the National Leadership Summit, "I couldn't have imagined that Jews would be getting shot dead in the streets of Europe."

Well, resources are limited. Is combatting anti-Semitism a "priority" for the ADL? If so, then the organization should put its money where its mouth is. Alas, this outcome seems ever more unlikely as it seeks to enforce group conformity and advance political agendas that have nothing to do with defending the Jewish people.

***

Unlike the ADL leadership, or those members of the leadership with whom I've had contact, I genuinely believe in diversity of opinion and its ability to generate and nurture progress. Having spent a chunk of the past decade in the Ivory Tower, I have witnessed the stultifying effects of ideological uniformity upon scholarship and society. The most rewarding conversations I had during that period were with individuals on the Far Left. (For instance, I learned a lot about the strengths and weakness of philosophies on both ends of the political spectrum from the Cambridge Marxist Discussion Group.) They forced me to revisit and, occasionally, refine some of my principal notions. As a result, not infrequently, my rivals and I discovered common ground.

Part of my frustration with the ADL stems from its blatant intellectual dishonesty, which may arise from the organization's fundraising ambitions. It's difficult to convey just how intellectually insulting, how patronizing it was to be repetitively told by winking staff members that their organization is "nonpartisan." If the ADL, which possesses 501(c)(3) designation, touts a legislative agenda that mirrors that of the Obama Administration, then what organization is partisan? True, the ADL does not participate in Democratic political campaigns and, therefore, keeps its tax-exempt status. But is it really in the spirit of the law/IRS code for the ADL to laud liberalism and disparage conservatism? And how does this conduct aid Jews in Europe and elsewhere who are literally under fire?

To be sure, the ADL's National Leadership Summit, held among the swanky Beaux-Arts halls of the Mayflower in Washington, D.C., was almost as much a soapbox for the ADL's advocacy work as it was a bully pulpit to champion the left and rebuke the right. Indeed, even the staunchest progressive attendees could not avoid blushing due to the number of times that staff members had to take to the microphone to remind everyone present of the ADL's 501(c)(3) designation. The ADL's Washington Counsel felt bound to chime in with a disclaimer after a panelist at a breakout session, "Unfinished Business: Voting Rights, Reproductive Rights, LGBT Rights," encouraged pro-choice exponents to pursue elected office. Similarly, at the plenary luncheon, "Sports in Society: Examining Issues of Diversity & Inclusion," the ADL's Leadership Chair was compelled to remind the moderator, Maria Cardona, to be nonpartisan. Cardona, who served as a senior adviser and spokesperson to Hillary Clinton's primary campaign in 2008, had gleefully welcomed another "historic presidency" in 2016 after that of Barack Obama. Angela Maria Kelley, vice president for campaigns and advocacy with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, confessed at the closing luncheon that House Republicans are not her "favorite group of mainly white men."

Naturally, the standard progressive paradoxes were also on display. Julie Fernandes, a senior policy analyst at the Open Society Foundations—who served as a panelist on voting rights, no less—garnered emphatic applause for excoriating Big Money in politics after having admitted to receiving her salary from billionaire George Soros. Later, a path to citizenship for America's 11 million undocumented immigrants was celebrated while attendees commended Roger Cukierman, president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions, for his stark warnings about the impact of Muslim arrivals on French society.

Candidly, I would have overlooked all of these lapses if the ADL had not also abused my good will. Aware from the outset that I would be in the minority—politically speaking—I maintained a respectful tone throughout the year. Unfortunately, the civility that I proffered was not reciprocated. My opinions and questions were regularly jeered. I couldn't help but feel that the ADL, by essentially goading young leaders to suffocate dissent, was contributing to the exceedingly partisan atmosphere in America that it fervently laments.

In December, Heidi Budaj, ADL's Michigan Regional Director, posted an op-ed I had penned for The Detroit News on the ADL Michigan Facebook wall. An ADL Michigan board member (who shall remain anonymous because his email was passed along without his knowledge) fired a riposte to Budaj, complaining that the views I had expressed were not "representative of ADL positions." What's more, the board member spurned an amicable invitation to chat. (By the way, I had to extend the invitation through an ADL Michigan staff member because this individual refused to communicate directly.) "There's absolutely no chance in the universe that he and I are going to agree on anything," the board member fumed in an email. "Frankly I find his opinions offensive and boil down to use of intellectual sophistry to justify mean-spirited positions. He isn't going to like me either so why bother." Is this the temperament the ADL is aspiring to inculcate in its next generation of leaders?

For your edification, my op-ed has since vanished from the ADL Michigan Facebook wall.

It became a Glass ritual for my questions to send fellow members and monthly ADL presenters howling as if I demanded the dissolution of Starbucks. A few examples will suffice. At the fourth session, "Responding to the Call: America's Terrorist Recruits," I asked whether the ADL's support for multiculturalism undermines the organization's labors to counter Islamic extremism. At the sixth session, "Translating ADL Policy into Action: Building on 100 Years of Advocacy," I inquired whether the ADL's plan for immigrant naturalization would, by exerting downward pressure on wages, hurt the organization's aim of reducing income inequality. At the eighth session, "Domestic Terrorism: Hate Groups and Hate Activity in our Backyard," I questioned why the ADL's recent comprehensive report, "Rage Grows in America," associates "mainstream political attacks" with "anti-government extremists."

I was not asking anyone to agree with my questions, which were simply questions. But the wrath that I encountered, time and time again, was stunning. Are upper-middle-class, highly educated American Jews so isolated from nonliberal thoughts that even the slightest contestation of their most firmly held beliefs is enough to trigger landslides of emotional chaos? And does Glass typify the "safe" environment that the ADL wishes to create by snuffing out all forms of "prejudice" and "discrimination"? An environment saturated with stilted and pointless dialogue between people who are obliged to hold the exact same positions on everything?

***

Lo and behold, the ADL suddenly grew very serious once I floated the idea of interviewing Jonathan Greenblatt, its incoming national director, who is currently serving in the Obama Administration. After several unanswered phone calls and emails to ADL HQ in New York City, I received the following message from an anonymous ADL spokesperson, passed on through Heidi Budaj:

Dear Jonathan,ADL prefers that GLI participants not blog publicly regarding their GLI experiences. Although there is nothing in writing asking our GLI participants to sign regarding this, we do have a policy that journalists are not eligible to participate in the program as much of what is divulged to this insider group is off the record.

The purpose of the GLI program is for participants to learn and internalize the issues that ADL deals with and the ideals and mission of the League. For the summit in particular, ADL expects that published articles will be written by the media that were invited to certain events at the summit, not that actual participants will share their views via the media.

That being said, if you have 3 or 4 questions that you would like to have answered, I am happy to submit those questions on your behalf.

I hope you understand that ADL's policy is that the information shared with GLI is meant to be kept confidential and that it is offered in the vein of an insider briefing.

A policy that exists solely in the minds of ADL staff and is disclosed to participants retroactively? Was it not Abraham H. Foxman, ADL's national director for the past 27 years, who wrote, "[W]e see the protection of free speech under the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights as a core value of a thriving democracy"? Yet the cherry on top of this particular insincerity sundae is that the ADL helped a member of last year's Michigan Glass Leadership Institute place an article about his National Leadership Summit experiences in The Detroit Jewish News. Apparently, only praise is permitted in Abe Foxman's Hermit Kingdom. While Jonathan Greenblatt may place less emphasis on his own person than Foxman, the fact that he is a White House political appointee—a special assistant to the president and director of the Domestic Policy Council's Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, to be specific—inspires little confidence that the ADL will veer away from the pol emical course it's treading.

In case you're wondering, I did pass along four questions for Greenblatt. Almost two months have passed without word.

Eventually, I started to ask ADL leaders about what their organization offers its patrons on the right. Practically all fixated on the ADL's "hawkish" posture on Islamic extremism, its "unwavering" support for Israel, and its "intimate relationship" with law enforcement. Yet the connection between foreign policy and the philosophy of conservatism—and the philosophy of liberalism—is not nearly that direct. There's a notable divide within the GOP over the size of the security state and the desirability of overseas intervention. As for the ADL's implication that "Jewish conservatism" can be abridged to "support for Israel," that's just demeaning.

The ADL was founded by the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, a Jewish service organization, in response to Eastern European pogroms. Today, the ADL is rapidly substituting its fight against global anti-Semitism—at the very moment that global anti-Semitism is intensifying—with a dizzyingly multifaceted crusade for social justice. In addition to the virtual absence of Torah and Jewish custom, an anecdote captures the way this shift has manifested.

During a Q&A at the National Leadership Summit, a lesbian participant avowed that the opening dinner had unduly stressed Israel and anti-Semitism. She further petitioned that next year's opening dinner focus on gay rights. Her objection and entreaty produced an enthusiastic applause from the several dozen packed into the Mayflower's Senate Room. Clearly, it wasn't nearly enough that Mara Keisling, a transwoman and executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, was a featured speaker at the summit's introductory plenary.

My year with the ADL has led me to conclude that the organization has become yet another victim of a regrettable and perennial Jewish trend wherein a universalistic obsession with sensitivity eclipses a particularistic reverence for tradition. While "assisting" Jews in need, it's spending terribly precious time denouncing Michael Oren, Pamela Geller, and Shmuley Boteach alongside the Nation of Islam, the Ku Klux Klan, and the New Black Panther Party.

Simply put, the ADL is repeating a tragic error long committed by Jews craving acceptance. The error is having blind faith that if Jews self-abnegate (i.e., acculturate), ranking the interests of all others before their own, then all others will see the Jews as "enlightened" and reward them with love. Could the ADL have avoided this trap? Unlikely, because once pledged to the potent precept of "tolerance," the act of making a group concern a "priority" becomes untenable. For in the shadow of inclusivity, who's to say that protecting Jews from harm is more imperative than addressing the pressing matters facing, for example, "residents without legal immigration status"?

So the ADL, a Jewish-ish advocacy body, is left attempting to convince us that it can confront global anti-Semitism as successfully as it ever has while concurrently expending its resources to tackle "all forms of bigotry." Given that we as individuals do have priorities, why donate a dime to the ADL? Why should someone who cares first and foremost about gay rights not give their money instead to the Human Rights Campaign? Why should someone who cares first and foremost about a pathway to citizenship not give their money instead to the National Council of La Raza?

Regardless of what direction the ADL chooses, it ought to, for the sake of its own viability and credibility, allow "outsiders" to partake in conversations about the future and strive to ensure that these conversations are cordial, transparent, and authentic.

***

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Jonathan Bronitsky is the founder and managing director of Gradis Group, LLC, a communications firm. He holds a doctorate in History from the University of Cambridge. His Twitter feed is @jbronitsky.

Source: My ADL Problem

Graphene-Based Film May Pave Way For Smartphones, Tablets, Other Electronics That Do Not Overheat

A new study conducted by Chalmers University of Technology suggests that the multi-purpose material known as graphene can also be utilized to efficiently cool electronic devices.(Photo : Blake Patterson | Flickr)

The development of graphene as a vital component in electronics has resulted in technological advancements such as ultrafiltration, energy storage, optical electronics and even biological engineering.

A new study, conducted by scientists from Chalmers University of Technology, suggests that this multi-faceted material can also be utilized for the efficient cooling of electronic devices.

While earlier research has shown that graphene—a material constructed from a single-atom layer of carbon—has the ability to cool down electronic systems based on silicon, its effect was only observed at a limited extent.

Researchers tried to resolve this problem by stacking additional layers of graphene to augment its effect, but it ended up revealing another issue. As extra layers are added, it significantly lessens the ability of graphene to remain adhered to the electronic device.

Johan Liu, a researcher from Chalmers and co-author of the study, explained that they were able to solve the issue on adhesive by creating strong covalent bonds between the film of graphene and its surface.

The researchers discovered the new technology by exposing graphene to molecules of a substance known as (3-Aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES). They then subjected the resulting material to hydrolysis and heating to produce highly adhesive silane bonds between the electronic device and the graphene film.

Liu pointed out that the increase in heating capacity could potentially lead to the development of other uses for graphene.

He said that an example of this would be in the integration of graphene films into microelectronic systems and devices, including Light Emitting Diodes (LED), lasers and even with components used for radio frequency for cooling purposes.

Liu added that films based on graphene could also be used to create high power electronic devices that are sustainable, smaller, faster and more efficient in their energy use.

Other studies have also explored several other uses for graphene such as the development of optical electronics, ultrafiltration and bioengineered technologies.

Graphene-based components are being used in the production of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), touchscreens and liquid crystal displays (LCD). Graphene's transparent features as well as its ability to optically transmit up to 98 percent of light make it an ideal material for optoelectronic applications.

Graphene is also used as an effective ultrafiltration medium in separating two substances because of its imperviousness to liquids and gases, such as minute molecules of helium.

Scientists have begun studying properties of graphene for bioengineering purposes. Its relatively wide surface area, strength, thinness and high electrical conductivity make it an ideal component for fast and efficient bioelectric sensory devices. These technologies can be used to monitor cholesterol, hemoglobin levels, glucose levels and DNA sequencing.

The Chalmers University of Technology study is published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

Photo: Blake Patterson | Flickr 

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Source: Graphene-Based Film May Pave Way For Smartphones, Tablets, Other Electronics That Do Not Overheat