Editorials - SlashGear

Posts Tagged ‘editorials’

Segment Saturation: Where next for Netbooks?

By Chris Davies on Friday, Oct 3rd 2008 No Comments

Read SlashGear – or any tech website – even semi-regularly and you’ll see new netbooks appearing pretty much every day. The niche that started off with the Eee PC 700 as an unusual budget ultraportable has flourished to the point where most major notebook manufacturers have at least one on sale or in the pipeline. Just as common, however, as the new models is the phrase “another 1.6GHz Intel Atom”; the netbook market may not have reached saturation point, but has our interest in the same old hardware?

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The Let’s Rock Event and the Hype Letdown: Has Apple Lost ‘It’?

By Brenda Stokes on Tuesday, Sep 9th 2008 2 Comments

Apple’s Let’s Rock event in San Francisco went off without a hitch this morning and we at SlashGear loyally covered every little information tidbit as soon as Steve Jobs uttered the words and showed the images in his massive slideshow. But now that the dust has settled and I’ve had some time to reflect, I’m a little disappointed. Sure, Apple did everything they said they would do and the iPod nano looks awesome, but that was it. There felt like there was something missing.

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Chrome is coming – why should we care?

By Chris Davies on Tuesday, Sep 2nd 2008 1 Comment

Google have already admitted that they pulled the trigger a little early on the Chrome announcement yesterday; it was meant to hit the headlines today, in fact. As of writing, the www.google.com/chrome site still isn’t live, which means all we have to go on is the Chrome comic and some background understanding of Google’s webapp offerings.

Chrome is Google’s next step toward making webapps behave – or users treat them – more like traditional desktop apps. Address bar and window-free apps are just the surface gloss; what’s key to Chrome’s likely success is its native inclusion of Google Gears and the custom JavaScript app, V8, that the company has had a special team working on.

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Android, Google & the G1 HTC Dream: why T-Mobile makes sense

By Vincent Nguyen and Chris Davies on Friday, Aug 15th 2008 6 Comments

HTC Dream leaked video Word is out that T-Mobile looks likely to be the only network on which you’ll be able to buy an Android-based handset in 2008. The HTC Dream, understood to be called the T-Mobile G1, will likely be the first of many ‘G’-type smartphones running Android. Even before the initial platform announcement, Google was being asked to confirm the existence of their “gPhone”; all they would say was that there would be many such handsets.

Branding the handsets gPhone would leave Google (or T-Mobile) open to criticism that they were merely copying Apple’s style of nomenclature. However, by releasing a range of ‘G’ handsets they leave the public to make their own connection and adopt “gPhone”. MarkMonitor – an “enterprise brand protection” company” has bought up MobileG1.com, T-MobileG2.com, T-MobileG3.com, T-MobileG4.com and T-MobileG5.com; a potential conclusion could be that, for the next 6-12 months even, if a customer wants an Android handset they’ll have to turn to T-Mobile.

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Next-Gen Gaming Consoles the Home Entertainment Gateway

By Brenda Stokes on Monday, Aug 11th 2008 No Comments

People interested in technology and home entertainment like to get their hands on the latest, greatest products. Before, it was all about having the top of the line DVD player, receiver and speaker system. And though those things still hold serious importance, there’s one product type that seems destined to swoop in on the home entertainment market. I’m talking about next-gen gaming consoles, the XBox 360 and PS3, in particular.

xbox 360 and sony ps3 price cuts playstation 3 no1 on amazon

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He Said, She Said: Fashionable Netbook or second-hand Laptop?

By Chris Davies and Brenda Stokes on Saturday, Aug 9th 2008 3 Comments

Last week’s “He Said, She Said” editorial pitted Brenda and I against each other discussing what sort of touchscreen device Apple might have on their cards. This week, it’s something equally as topical here on the frontpage of SlashGear: netbooks, or budget ultraportables. They’re the niche of the moment, certainly, but are consumers really getting the best value for their hard-earned dollar?

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Curse of the Bluetooth Headset

By Brenda Stokes on Friday, Aug 8th 2008 6 Comments

Since recent California legislation went into effect that bans talking on cell phones while driving, the sale of Bluetooth headsets has significantly increased. And while it’s reassuring that motorists are actually abiding by the law, I’m not sure that Bluetooth will alleviate the problem that is cell phone-yacking drivers swerving all over the road.

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An Open Letter: The Geeks that Give Us a Bad Name

By Brenda Stokes on Thursday, Aug 7th 2008 6 Comments

fragments home editor letter image1

Dear Geeks Who Shall Not Be Named,

I’ve talked about the geek trend here on SlashGear before. In fact, I’ve been primarily acting in defense of nerds in general, being that I am one. But there’s one thing I can’t stand: the geek that gives the rest of us a bad name.

You know what I’m talking about before I even describe them, don’t you? These are the nerds that take it all a little too seriously. The ones that have no sense of humor. The ones that devote hours upon hours to playing D&D. No wait, I take that back. There’s nothing wrong with D&D. But if you dress up in costume and adopt a British accent while play sword fighting, well, I have a problem with that.

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Bio-Degradable Flash Drives for A Green Future?

By Brenda Stokes on Thursday, Aug 7th 2008 2 Comments

I read something interesting yesterday that got me thinking about technology and its effect on the environment, again. I saw a post over at Gizmodo about bio-degradable flash drives and how they are a positive step toward reducing e-waste. And while this is certainly a step in the right direction, isn’t it a bit misleading?

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Niche Overload: who chooses choice?

By Chris Davies on Wednesday, Aug 6th 2008 No Comments

ASUS Eee stacked ASUS have graced the front page of SlashGear quite a lot over the past few months, and while as a company they have a broad range of different products it’s usually the Eee PC that gets them noticed. With the count being 23 models in total (both currently available and planned), many commentators are beginning to lambaste ASUS for “yet another Eee”. When it comes to model choice, it’s tough to think of a user not satisfied by what’s on offer.

Contrast that, say, with another topical toy: the iPhone 3G. It’s certainly not news-shy (in fact we have a whole separate blog, iPhone Buzz, dedicated to the handset), but Apple’s coveted cellphone is distinct partly because there’s relatively little choice. Capacity is one half of it – 8GB or 16GB – and color is the other – white or black – but aside from those basic decisions it’s “one size fits all”.

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