8 struggling technologies: Which ones will survive?

Hi there.

I'd disagree with TWO entries in the list which should be REMOVED :

NOOK -- since Ms has taken it over it's a good e-reader -- people can use Calibre to convert books to any format -- however if Nook changed to use EPUB as their basic standard or made a firmware change that allowed owners to read epub format without having to do the conversions then sales will improve. This type of device shows the folly of obscure proprietary formats and the wretchedness of DRM. - Remember Sony's ATRAC music format -- good but so riddled with DRM nobody wanted it either on SONY's own devices or others.

ULTRABOOKS -- a lot are NOW selling better than the article describes. The new HASWELL chip which reduces power consumption and is cheaper should bring the cost of these down and they will improve -- there is quite a large market for people who want powerful laptops rather than tablets but want them to be very portable and have decent battery life. These things can also be hooked up to very large external monitors with excellent video too remember.

A Few devices that should have been ADDED to the list.

DAB RADIO -- "Dead And Buried" -- old fashioned FM often offers better quality (less compression too) while the Internet provides for 1000,000's of FREE radio stations at quite a reasonable quality of every possible genre. There are a few decent dedicated Stand alone Internet Radio receivers as well (the Logitech one comes to mind - I've one of these and it's Brilliant).

IPODS - redundant now that almost every phone has a music player in it and with micro sd cards storing 32GB of music on a phone is not a problem anymore.

APPLE TV -- total waste of time -- too late to the party -- Smart TV's can stream loads of stuff from the Internet already. We don't need even MORE set top boxes.

IPAD MINI (or small 7 inch / smaller Tablets) and PHABLET devices -- Not really an improvement over a smart phone with a decent size screen and too small to be useful for CREATING any content -- and as youngsters tend to use even techno gadgets as "fashion accessories" these things look totally ridiculous and decidedly "uncool" when you see people trying to use them as phones or holding them at stupid angles as people try and take photos with them -- this causes any serious photographer to split their sides laughing.

(There's only one thing that looks even more ridiculous - when you see some people walking around with a "piece of funny shaped plastic" clipped to an ear -- obviously the person is tethered to some type of Phone and Boss -- 21st century slavery -- obviously shows that you aren't in control of YOUR OWN life but beholden to the whim of somebody else being able to intrude on you at THEIR will rather than YOURS).

Cheers
jimbo

Jimbo, I haven't seen that many ultrabooks selling for under $700. I just bought my wife an Ultrabook for Mothers Day and we were are the $999 pricepoint.

Hi there
Currently you are correct -- hoping though the Haswell chip brings a cheaper mix into the market -- The 999 USD price point is just too high at the present time. Prices look certain to drop a bit slightly later on in the year (Q3 and Q4 2013 and into 2014).

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

Hi there.

NOOK -- since Ms has taken it over it's a good e-reader -- people can use Calibre to convert books to any format -- however if Nook changed to use EPUB as their basic standard or made a firmware change that allowed owners to read epub format without having to do the conversions then sales will improve. This type of device shows the folly of obscure proprietary formats and the wretchedness of DRM. - Remember Sony's ATRAC music format -- good but so riddled with DRM nobody wanted it either on SONY's own devices or others.

Click to expand...

Jimbo,

I know this is from an old post but I'm just now reading it.

I'm not 100% certain that I understand you correctly but, if I do, you are mistaken on this point. Barnes and Noble has always used epub as the standard ebook format for their Nook ereaders and tablets. Amazon's Kindle is the main reader that continues to use an obscure proprietary format.

- Byron Followell

I've never used a nook, but I do have the Kindle "Paperwhite" and I freakin' love it...

I like the Windows phones. Not sure why adoption is so low. Much better user experience than all Androids I've used.