ForbesOnTech

Hybrid,Two-in One Portable Sales Rising

Top tier portable computer makers are responding to an uptick in the sales of hybrid,2 in one, notebooks by increasing the depth and breadth of their offerings in this category.

Lenovo, which has  four hybrid computer and more than 10 models is an example. lenovo’s Yoga 2-in-one hybrid . Since its introduction,Lenovo has bolstered this line by adding new models with more powerful processors, larger screens as well as more system and storage memory.

Lenovo is one of two companies aiming hybrid two-in one portables to corporate users. the second company is Hewlett Packard which currently offers three models of convertibles  with pricing ranging from about $580 for an entry=level system to almost $1,500 for a portable designed for corporate deployment.

Asus is another portable maker that’s surging  into the convertible PC race, with its Transformer line.

Lenovo Dell and HP all offer consumer facing two-in one portables. Recently Lenovo announced a new version of it yoga that appears to fit into its consume oriented IdeaPad family.

Two in One portables come in two configurations; those with a screen that, after opening ,can be twisted and folded over the system case, allowing access to a touch screen that can be used as a tablet computer; and those that have screens that can be physically detached from a system case or keyboard but which communicate with the keyboard wirelessly.

Analysts who track sales of hybrid two-in one portables note that detachable keyboard portables are more popular than hybrids with screens that fold over the system case. Appearance,weight and battery life all could be factors behind the popularity of portables with detachable keyboards. some analysts note.

In a few weeks, Microsoft is posed to begin briefing reviewers, editors and other professionals on a new

member of its Surface two-in one platform, reportedly to be called the Microsoft Surface Four.

In less than 18 months, the hybrid portable computer has gone from a technological demonstration platform to a news class of tools deployed by corporation to field sales and service professionals as well as emergency responders--Jim Forbes on September 21, 2015.

"Moby Duck" Best 2014 Summertime Book

It’s not often you find a book about geophysical sceinces that successfully combines humor, complex principles and a first rate tale of discovery.

Donovan Hohn’s Moby Duck; the story of how 28,800 plastic bathtub toys ended up thousands of miles from where a container broke free of freighter in North Pacific storm is my favorite Summer read of 2014.

Moby Duck details the author’s multiple voyages of scientific discovery as he tracked the path of yellow rubber duckies,  in the months and years following their liberation from an asian freighter off the northwest Pacific coast.

This book is as much about the author’s search for an explanation of oceanic gyres, currents and the vast pools of flotsam as it is about little rubber duckies.

I loved how Hohn interweaves the motivations of some of the characters who also recorded the bath toys’ journey and who provided information for the book. Through Hohn, i learned there’s a newsletter published in Seattle called “Beachcomber” and that although its founder does collect various items that wash ashore, he also seeks and records answers on where the items came from and what their likely course may have been.

It’s easy to imagine an author jetting around the world looking down at the ocean and coastal regions from an airliner’s Business class section.But that’s not Hohn’s style. Instead, it’s the story of how an English high school teacher, sought passage on working and scientific research vessels (as well as Alaskan Maritime Highway ferries in order to meet sources who had encountered members of the duck armada.

Hohn’s approach to telling the story of the castaway ducks reminds me of Susan Casey, whose book, “The Wave” also deals with oceanographic and geophysical sciences. What I admire about Hohn and Casey are their abilities to introduce complex scientific ideas and provide concise explanations of underlying principles.

At less than $10, Moby Duck is the perfect summertime book. It’s well written and at times funny. But who isn’t interested in how some of the 28,800 bathtub toys made their way from the North Pacific to New England’s shores?--Jim Forbes on June 22, 2014.

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Mark Bowden's The Finish the Killing of Osama Bin Laden--A must read

 

Mark Bowden’s book “TheFinish The Killing of Osama Bin Laden is an outstanding  look at the SEAL’s Raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan that resulted in the death of the world’s most wanted terrorist.

The Finish is very different from other Bowden works such as “Black Hawk Down” and “Killing Pablo” (Escobar) both of which focused on the tactical nature of warfare  or paramilitary police work. What sets Bowden’s latest work apart from other works on the bin Laden raid is that it look s at the strategy and the strategists who planned the raid.

I liked this book because its author clearly points out how members of the military, government agencies and the political leadership carefully winnowed thousands of leads before committing to raid OBL’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The Finish is loaded with the details and partially filled out decision matrixes that went into the raid’s planning. It is not based on sourcing from within SEAL Team Six or the Army’s Night Stalker aviation battalion. Despite this, Bowden is able to put readers right next to the executives and senior managers who planned and presented all sides of the proposed mission.

Mark Bowden’s portrait of the specialized Navy SEALs on this and other raiding parties is not the Hollywood image of buffed up “kill-em-all” frogmen but rather scholarly warriors who maintain mission focus despite frequent rotations in and out of combat operations to their homes in the Continental United States.

Bowden was given access to the president for his latest work. The biggest surprise in the author’s narrative was that the president made bringing Osama Bin Laden to justice a high priority early in his presidency.

Bowden uses comments from military officers and other high level sources to paint President Obama as a measured risk taker who encourages staff to present well-reasoned arguments for and against scenarios, not as someone who obviously shoots from the hip.

The Finish is a book I suspect I’ll loan out to friends who share my interest in world affairs. It deserves a place alongside Steven Coll’s “Ghost Wars” (which  details the US involvement in the war in Afghanistan) that includes a great deal of information on Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda.—Jim Forbes on 10/30/2012.

 

 

Cisco Readies Cius Tablet--Plus When Private Branding Makes Sense

Cisco Systems is the latest hardware maker to tap into the power of slate computing.
This week Cisco’s CEO, John Chambers, disclosed that the company was developing a small slate computer that it would begin testing late this year but not release until 2011.
Cisco’s move into small form factor tablet computing isn’t surprising. The form factor is well suited for process-intensive applications such as network or website monitoring and could easily be marketed to IT professionals and technicians who are engaged in such tasks.
According to Cisco, its Cius tablet will have a 7-inch screen, 32 GB of solid state memory, use an Intel Atom processor and run Google’s Android operating system. The networking company also said Cius will support 802.11 and 3G connectivity.
Although Cisco’s tablet will join a burgeoning market, private branded devices such as Cius—appear to be a good way for mechanism for rewarding and encouraging customer loyalty.
Tablets that have 3G connectivity seem to be ideally suited for critically important corporate process operations such as IT. Not only does cell data connectivity allow managers to monitor functionality away from limited range 802.11 connectivity, it also provides a mechanism—voice cell calls from a 3G connected tablet-- for making immediate personal contact to resolve issues in critical processes as they arise.
The ability of 3G and 4F capable tablet computers make such them truly multi-path communications capable devices, providing the underlying operating system is truly multi-processing capable. Although VOIP programs make this capable now, the ability to use a tablet as a cell phone, and have access to real-time, actionable, information is an important feature that can be used to market new tablets effectively.
Cisco’s tablet is ecpected to become available in 2011, at about the same time as many similar poducts, including numerous other private and consumer electronics products.—Jim Forbes 07/03/2010.

Getting Ready for My First Book Project-- Tchnology That Goes With Me Into the Field

My mind has been taken up recently by a book idea that’s been building since I first became a reporter more than four decades ago.

I’ve always questioned whether or not I could turn out a non-fiction book on this specific subject and without realizing it, I’ve come to the decision that it’s time to start in earnest. I’m not going to give the title away in my blog, but this topic is something most of my friends and family have watched me immerse myself in since childhood.

Sitting to my left are three mid-sized boxes of research material including a lot of quantitative data on the subject. Pouring over the data I’ve come to realize that the topic for this book may be as viable today as it was over 150 years ago. Making sense of the numbers behind this subject hasn’t been easy, but watching the totals accumulate reinforces my growing belief that there’s a good book in this topic.

Crunching numbers has never been one of my strengths, but now I’ve reached the point where it’s time  to connect faces and stories and tales of explorations succeeded and failed to the numbers. It’s this part of the project that’s exciting to me.  The next phase is field research and proof of my preparation for this phase sits in a corner of my garage.

 To wit: out in a corner of my garage sit several boxes loaded with an insulated sleeping bag, an inflatable mattress, portable battery operated air pump, a new Sherpa stove, several old blackened by years of camping pots and pans, a small tent,, tarps and collapsible table chairs and my aged Coleman lantern. In a much sturdier wooden box are a mini CD recorder, cameras, a portable printer, and sundry electronic paraphernalia needed to use my computers, cell phones and GPS systems for days on end away from an electrical outlet. Oh and in an old briefcase that’s part of my pile I have an annotated collection of quarter sectional maps for drainages and geographic features that feed the mineral rich districts of northern California.

I’m not packing for a six week hump through the wilds of California, but I recognize the need to be prepared for things that might pop up unexpectedly—such as the need to pull a couple of big trout from Fuller Lake or to punch holes in a tin can from 100 feet away or so with my ancient Ruger .22 or the even older Tokarev semi-automatic pistol I brought home from Vietnam as a war trophy. I also have four volumes of Kevin Starr’s California historical works to keep my engaged while I do my field research.

I have my route all laid out on a Auto Club map of California, and my notepads, pens  and pencils are packed in my briefcase with my annotated maps.

I’m using technology to reduce the amount of paper I need to take into the field. High on this list is ClickFree’s back up appliance, which contains much of my text-based research and contact info, then comes my beloved Lenovo X60 ultra-portable with its integrated Verizon data networking card. And just in case there’s I’ve forgotten a file, I’m using a second backup solution that I can access from anywhere I have an Internet connection. I’ve been using Seagate technology’s Free Agent USB-based Free Agent backup device for several months in addition to ClickFree’s device. I love them both but it’s the addition of the networkable FreeAgent DockStar networking adapter that’s let me focus more on research and forget worrying that I left something behind when I start my research up in the northern part of the state on both sides of highway 49/

There are two things that are foregone conclusions as I move my research away from academic and commercial sources and into the field: The first is that my needing to access something back on my home network is a given; Secondly, that piece of information invariably will be in  the one folder I didn’t copy to the backup device I take into the field. That’s where Seagate’s DockStar networking adapter saves my bacon.

I’m trying to keep the amount of stuff I haul up to Northern California on this trip manageable.

But what really excites me is meeting 21st Century Argonauts tramping California’s riverbeds, mountains and hills in search of presumed fortunes.

I’ve waited all my life to research and write this.  At last, the boy from Azusa now in the autumn of his years has come full circle but has the skills and material to put the story to paper.

And the story has been there in plain sight all these years, just waiting for me to begin tromping the Hills of Placerville, where the winds and the tales of hopeful fortunes waft free. At long last I’m almost ready to write my first book. Jim Forbes on 2/23/2010.

A Voyage Long and Strange On the Trail of the Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonies and Other Adventurers in Early America-- Recommended Ground Truth History

The best history books provide insight into events that shape our lives or understanding of past events that we now take for granted. And a book by Tony Horwitz called “A Voyage Long and Strange On the Trail of the Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonies and Other Adventurers in Early America” does this better than anything I I was forced to read for college history classes.

Horwitz blends his sense of history and with a reporter’s eye for detail as he charges through the lands made famous by Leif Ericson, Cabeza de Vaca,  Columbus, Coronado, De Soto, in his subcompact. What sets this book apart from other histories of the New World is Horwitz’s quest to find links between two eras: those of the early explorers and today’s land of tourist historically themed tourist spots. He does an incredible job, capturing the hardship of life on the trail and contrasting it with bemused humor that guarantees smiles throughout every chapter.

The author’s search for the trail of Cabeza de Vaca who wandered the gulf coast nude until he made his way back to Mexico is the first account I’ve read that establishes a route for one of the earliest  New World explorer.  And his ground truth reporting of DeSoto and Coronado has done more to paint a three-dimensional picture of those two parties than anything I’ve ever read about Old World adventures in the Americas.

Horwitz’s encounters with amateur historians and professional park rangers wryly documents the irony of what we’ve been taught in history classes versus what really happened.  In one encounter with an amateur Florida historian specializing in the bloody defeat of the French Huguenots by the Spanish, the amateur historian accurately describes early explorers by saying  “These guys were psychopathic nutballs. Celebrating them is like idolizing Charles Manson.”

I recommend this book highly. It’s well written and brings new meaning to legends taught as history. Serious and amateur historians alike will enjoy this addition to their libraries. Beside ““A Voyage Long and Strange On the Trail of the Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonies and Other Adventurers in Early America” Horwitz is also the author of another of my favorite books “Confederates in the Attic.”

Special thanks to former CMP Media colleague and good friend, Rich Castagna, for sending me this book. It’s too bad more history books didn’t include ground truth reporting by authors charging up old trails in their subcompacts and rented minivans.—Jim Forbes, 02/12/2010

Best Book Ever on the Donner Party: "The Indifferent Stars Above: the harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride"

For years I’ve waited for a book that delivers an in-depth information on a 19^th Century tragedy so great, its memory still dominates California’s pre-Gold Rush era  history.

That event was the winter stranding of the Reed Donner Party high in the Sierra Nevada, the year before Gold was discovered by millwright James Marshall on the South Fork of the American River in Columa, CA.

The book “the Indifferent Stars Above; the harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride”  provides the greatest insight I’ve yet to find on the Reed Donner tragedy. Its author is Californian Daniel James Brown, most recently the managing editor of Microsoft Books in Redmond, WA.

Brown describes his book on the Reed Donner Party as a “labor of love.” Throughout this book Brown has the uncanny ability to put you footsorely on the trail with the members of that pioneering band as they leave Illinois and make their way some 2,000 mile west to the Sierras Summit near Donner Lake.

Brown’s  Indifferent Stars repeatedly demonstrates that great reporting can bring new life to and a fresh perspective to controversial historical events. I was particularly impressed with Brown’s abilities to present his characters in their 19^th Century personas and then explain how their actions and behavior were shaped by their time and circumstances.

Brown also provides new insight into a long list of bad choices made by the Reed Donner Party that continued as members of the first major group to escape the icy maws of the Sierra reached the edges of civilization in Bear Valley.

How good is Dan Brown in presenting the issues the Reed and Donner families faced during their ordeal? At times you feel your right there in the cabins with the mothers of all the children, as they used every resource at their disposal to ensure that the youngest members of this wagon train, hung on to life.  And as the children passed from starvation, malnutrition and exposure, Brown makes you understand exactly how hard the adults worked to keep them alive.

This is the first book I’ve read that put enough meat on the bones of the Reed Donner Party to show them in the context of their time reacting as best they could to unbelievably adverse conditions. Daniel James Brown goes on my short list of authors whose forthcoming works will be added automatically to my library.—Jim Forbes on 01/26/2010.

Giving Memorable Product Demonstrations-- Recommended Reading on How to Nail a Demo

Learning how to pitch an idea or a company may be one of the most important things an entrepreneur can learn on the path to success. Sadly it’s not something that’s taught in business schools.

“Giving Memorable Product Demonstrations”,a new book penned by Nathan Gold and Claudio Sennhauser, provides the basics of how to quickly and effectively pitch any business or technology.

Open this book and you’ll find that it’s much more than a primer for young entrepreneurs.  It starts out with a simple idea:  inventory and critique your presentation skills using a video camera in one continuous take. From that point on, Gold and Sonnhauser show entrepreneurs and other presenters how to build and deliver effective live product demonstrations using basic and proven techniques

This book divides demonstrations into seven readily understood steps. I like the author’s approach to the concept of how to deliver compelling demonstrations because they don’t mask key points with marketing double speak.

This how-to manual is a must read for anyone that wants to deliver results-oriented presentations or demonstrations to a wide variety of audiences, including venture capital providers.  Furthermore, this book should be a must read for any corporate third-party marketing consultant involved in any demonstration setting.

The authors have decades of experience in developing presentations. Nathan Gold is one of the few people in the last nine years who have earned more than one DemoGod award at Demo new product launch events. Claudio Sennhauser, who with Mr. Gold is also a cofounder of The Demo Coach, is an experienced presentation coach with an extensive background working for European companies. “Giving Memorable Product Demonstrations” can be purchased for $19.95 direct here  . A hard bound version of the book will be available later this summer and can be purchased at Amazon.com or other book retailers.

This book is a valuable resource to anyone who needs to deliver an effective memorable presentation that can be used for numerous categories of audiences.—Jim Forbes 06/15/2009

Disclosure: As a producer of Demo events, I was among the group that gave Mr. Gold his first DemoGod award.