Tablets, Tablets & More Tablets: If anyone has any doubt that tablet computers are now a mainstream device an article in todays’ New York Times should put those doubts to rest! The article is titled As Tablet Race Heats Up, Apple May Try Smaller Device and it offers a succinct overview of the tablet market today which is indeed heating up. Apple’s 9.7” iPad has dominated the market; however, Microsoft has just announced its own entry into the market with its Surface (it offers a 10.6” screen; no list price announced yet), Google has just started shipping its first tablet – the 7” Nexus 7 ($199 list price; available now), Amazon is rumored to be readying a new and larger Kindle Fire tablet and Apple is rumored to be readying a new 7.85” mini iPad – so if you’re looking for a tablet to buy – there are many more options this summer than ever before!
Here’s a link to the New York Times article:
Always Being Connected: The Internet/High Tech Era offeres us more access to more information than ever before and the ability to contact others with others via email, Skype, Instant Message etc. at all times of the day and all hours of the night; and of course, not only is that a huge benefit but it can also be something of a burden. Because people can be connected to the Internet and/or have their cell phones on at all times; many people feel as if they have a responsibility to stay connected to the technology and keep checking for messages just in case something has cropped up in their business or personal lives that they should take care of A.S.A.P. And that just goes to show there are plusses and minuses for almost everything!
For my own part, I wouldn’t suggest we should all give up technology and go live on Walden’s Pond like Thoreau; but of course, being connected to the technology, and feeling as if you should be at all times, can be overdone. We’ve all seen it; the person in a restaurant who has to take that cell phone call and thus rudely ignores the people he’s sitting with for 20 minutes while he discusses business with a client; the woman at the coffee shop who is intently texting on her iPad or cell phone and makes the wait staff – wait – until she’s done texting, while a line of people wait behind her, before giving the wait staff her order etc. And so I’d say the ability to access the technology and communicate with others 24/7/365 is a great one – and I’d also suggest that sometimes we need to disconnect from the technology and take the time to smell the proverbial roses, focus on the people we are having dinner with and give that wait staff girl our order for a double mocha latte pronto! And leave the communicating for later so we can re-charge our own personal batteries and connect in an in-person way with other people.
And The New York Times features a cool article on just this subject day!
It is titled The Workplace Benefits of Being Out of Touch and here’s the link for it:
New Microsoft Office Suite: Microsoft has of course already announced that it is upgrading its OS to Windows 8 this fall. And today Microsoft announced it will also be rolling out a new version of its popular Office Suite (Office 2013) to complement the new Windows 8 software. This new version of Office will have a new Interface, touch screen capability, built in social media support and is much more streamlined as far as accessing options goes.
Here’s a link to a brief CNET article on the subject titled New Microsoft Office Gets More Social:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57473060-75/new-microsoft-office-gets-more-social/
And a link to a longer CNET review of the new Office Suite:
Linda R.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 