Privacy is dead as is shame, self awareness, and common sense....

Opinion A computer company with an insignificant share of the world market today announced it would be holding a press conference on September 9, throwing world stock markets into turmoil and causing journalists to reach for their hyperbole buttons.

Analyst Opinion - I’m traveling this week and noted that the guy traveling next to me, who owns his own company, is using an Acer netbook. It is his primary travel computer.  He purchased a 12-cell aftermarket battery for it and gets 10 to 12 hours of battery life and, according to him, this is all he needs. Most of the analysts I travel with have noted that the distinction between netbooks and notebooks has largely vanished. 

Opinion – Now that we all had a chance to play with Microsoft’s new Bing engine, are we ready to ditch Google? Are we binging instead of googling? I’d like you to chime in and let us know what you think of the search discover engine, but here is some food for thought and why I am pretty sure that Bing will be just another name in Microsoft’s odyssey for a search engine that can conquer the world. 

Analyst Opinion - Finally, search is cool again. The search engine space, long considered the exclusive domain of Google, is suddenly hot with innovation. Last week’s launch of the Wolfram|Alpha computational knowledge engine may not have repaved the search landscape, but it sends a strong message that the way we find stuff online is about to change. Wolfram|Alpha isn’t alone: Alternative services like Cuil, Hakia and Kosmix may not be popularly used verbs yet, but they all point toward an accelerating rate of change in search.

Analyst Opinion - We are on final countdown for the launch of the Palm Pre which was the device that easily took the entire buzz from CES this year much as the iPhone initially did a few years ago.  In addition, Microsoft has launched an in-your-face competitive ad using a financial argument to drive on Apple's inability to do a subscription music service.   This ad would have likely been vastly more powerful before the Slacker service was available on the iPod Touch and iPhone.  This ad campaign comes in advance of what is expected to be the killer Zune, a product that bridges the connected Xbox experience with a music player.

The IDC report that we covered earlier today said that digital content doubles every 18 months, but there's a problem with this, a big problem.

Analyst Opinion - When I wrote last week’s column suggesting Apple consider a move downmarket to expand its computer/OS market share and avoid being perpetually marooned in niche territory, I suspected it might touch off a bit of a kerfuffle. But like any debate involving Apple, small kerfuffles quickly become big ones. Few companies these days generate the level of passion that Apple does.

Analyst Opinion - We had a major reorganization at AMD last week that should not only make them more efficient. It may also make them the leading change agent in the server space as we move to a more cloud-based computing model.  However, that begs a change on the client as well and interestingly enough, I was at Intel this week for an update on their Digital Home initiative and think this is the best effort I have seen from them in over a decade.

Opinion – Yawn. Apple replied to Microsoft’s Laptop Hunters ads. Apple replied with Megan to Lauren and a PC Choice Chat to highlight the weaknesses of a PC. And yes, Apple forgot to mention its own weaknesses. And we wonder how dumb computer buyers really are why Apple’s creative team is convinced that these ads are still funny. We got it, Apple. Time to move on.

Analyst Opinion - Saying Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer is prone to hyperbole is like saying deep fried bacon strips do little to encourage a heart-healthy lifestyle. We all know it’s obvious, so we’re hardly surprised when we read the headlines.

Analyst Opinion - Making games differently – from production, to financing and distribution: Many have noted that the gaming industry seems to be recession-proof. Monthly sales figures continue to show growth in the market. Even though NPD’s figures for March are off 17% from the same period last year, NPD themselves noted that Easter generally provides a spike in sales, which fell in April this year and March last year. If you look at overall Q1 08 figures, there was 0% change from Q1 09, while software was down just slightly at 2% for the quarter, hardware and accessories were up 1% and 3% respectively.

Analyst Opinion - If someone tweets it, is it news? Should Twitter be our first stop when we want to know what’s going on? Do we even have a choice anymore?

Analyst Opinion - We have all seen the excellent work various web site and analysts like us have done over the years in comparing the latest graphics AIBs, and, more recently, the new graphics-enabled motherboards. Some have been more thorough than others, but all contain performance measurements from 3Dmark/Vantage and/or FPS in game play. And for the high-end game enthusiast where performance is everything, that’s enough. But is it enough for the rest of us?

Analyst Opinion - The Acer Revo comes at a time of conflict.  It targets buyers who want low cost products that use little energy, do not accept any limitations in using their PC and look cool at the same time. In addition, the best performance parts for a product for this mixed up market comes from Intel which has the Atom platform, and Nvidia, which has Ion. The problem is that Intel hates Ion and is at war with Nvidia. 

Analyst Opinion - AMD brought out Shanghai, their latest part in November, substantially ahead of when it was expected and it arrived in a market hungry for efficient performance but lacking in the cash needed to buy new systems.  This week Nehalem EP was released, which is arguably the biggest technology step that Intel has made this decade. Both parts are less about raw performance and are more focused on performance per watt. Right now, there is no other industry in which we care so much about what is inside the box. We only care about the benefits the solution provides. I am certain the computer industry is getting ready to take us back to that future.  

Analyst Opinion – Yesterday I was walked through how OpenCL, a relatively new programming approach that leverages the CPU and GPU, could not have happened without Apple and it reminded just how many trends the company sets. Last week I wrote about the Dell Adamo, which has its roots in an Apple idea. And, of course, it is not hard to see how the iPhone is clearly the cell phone every other cell phone vendor seems to be chasing these days. But others are catching up in many ways and I am wondering whether Apple is losing its edge.

Opinion - Technology is a beautiful thing, and I am one of the biggest advocates of free speech, open forums, blogging, social networking and the ability to utilize the Internet as a medium to deliver your work, your opinions and your views. Internet technology, however, is something that should be used carefully and treated with respect. At its best and worst it can bring individuals wealth, fame and popularity. Unfortunately it can also cause significant harm.

Analyst Opinion - When I was at a vendor event recently, the guys there were making a big deal about all of the power saving features their parts had achieved, indicating energy savings at the component level now exceed 70% over previous generations. These were desktop PC parts, and when I asked about the power savings at the wall I got the usual “we have no control over the inefficiencies of power supplies” answer, and then it struck me: With all those wonderful power saving parts at the component level, how many of them were completely eaten up by massively inefficient power supplies? The reality is this: People buying notebook and desktop PCs aren’t given anything but an occasional EnergyStar sticker (which doesn’t appear to mean much) to help them make energy smart choices. I believe it's well past time for something more.