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Posted: January 17, 2018 |
We feel strongly that customers are not really looking for a converged Mac and iPad. Because what that would wind up doing, or what we're worried would happen, is that neither experience would be as good as the customer wants, Cook was quoted as saying.So we want to make the best tablet in the world and the best Mac in the world. And putting those two together would not achieve either.Instead, Apple would much rather you buy both a tablet and laptop. And an iPhone and Apple Watch, while you're at it.The approach from Cook is a stark contrast to rival Microsoft, who has been making every effort possible to merge desktops, tablets, and mobile devices under the banner of Windows 10 and the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book models.Apple, meanwhile, has tossed its own entry into the enterprise tablet market with its iPad Pro. The 12.9-inch iOS slab went on sale last week and online orders are currently listing anywhere from one day to 5-7 days shipping wait.The iPad line, in general, hasn't seen the success that other Apple products have enjoyed in recent quarters. In Apple's most recent quarter, both shipments and revenues for the iPad line were down 20 per cent from the previous year. Cook, meanwhile, has been over to Europe speaking at Trinity College Dublin and sitting down with the press to preach the virtues of various Apple devices.Teacher laptop purchase schemes in several states are under question, after a Federal Court ruling that a Victorian programme is illegal.Victorian teachers were expected to provide their own laptops, and were required to lease the machines from the Department of Education, at rates between AU$4 and $17 per fortnight, paid by automatic salary deduction.Two years after launching action in 2013, the Australian Education Union had its win in the Federal Court on Friday, reports the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.As we reported in 2011, the state's standard four-year lease also meant teachers were paying to lug around obsolete hardware, and the state also seemed to impose an “Apple tax” of its very own. At that time, a $799 Lenovo (presumably complete with vendor spyware) was leased at $4 a fortnight, but if a teacher wanted an $899 MacBook they'd pay nearly triple the lease ($11.50).The scam scheme was protected by a Department of Education policy that forbade teachers from bringing their own machines. Federal Court Justice Mordecai Bromberg found that practically everything about the scheme was illegal under the Fair Work Act 2009: teachers had no choice whether or not to take part in the programme, costs were excessive, and teachers didn't get fair value for their money.The decision also found that use of the equipment was for the benefit not of teachers, but of the department.If the decision stands, the Victorian Department of Education will have to repay as much as $20 million to its teachers, but the decision reaches beyond that state, since New South Wales and Western Australia operate similar programmes. A Google engineer says some discount USB Type-C converter cables are substandard and could cause damage by drawing too much juice.One of the big advantages of the USB Type-C design is never again having to guess which way up the plug has to be to fit in its hole; the other advantage is power transmission.A Type-C 1.1 laptop, phone or other device can draw up to 3A, although it should lower this to between 0.5A and 1.5A when connected to an older power source, such as a USB 2.0 Type-A charger.Googler Benson Leung has been doing some testing and the results are alarming: some cheaper converter cables and adapters are allowing too much current to flow through them.
I have started reviewing USB cables on Amazon because I have gotten fed up with the early cables from third-party vendors that so blatantly flaunt the specification, and I want to hold them to task, he wrote on Google+.You may not just get weird behavior from your devices with these bad cables ... What some of these vendors are doing is downright dangerous.The problems stem from manufacturers not complying with the interface's specifications, specifically the use of resistors: a 56kΩ pull-up resistor should be connected to the Vbus pin to signal that one end of the cable or converter is a legacy USB device that can't handle a 3A current draw.Some converters do not feature this pull-up. So, for example, a Type-C gadget could attempt to draw 3A from a USB 2.0 host or charger via one of these dodgy cables, and cause damage to the wiring and electronics.Leung has taken to publishing reviews on Amazon for USB Type-C cables using the name LaughingMan, and the results have been no laughing matter. Of the 13 cables tested so far, only three were up to spec on power – but even then, some of the highly rated cables weren't fully compatible with USB Type-C when it came to data rates, due to the use of USB 2.0 cabling. Understandably, Leung used his new Google Chrome Pixel laptop and Nexus smartphone for the tests. He has published Linux commands that can be used to test the efficacy of cables, along with the results needed to know that the hardware will perform as expected.Cabling is a contentious issue in the industry, in part because unscrupulous vendors have tried, and succeeded, to skin consumers for massively expensive HDMI cables. Now the same trick appears to be in play for USB Type-C, so buyer beware. Hewlett Packard Inc is turning to partners to help drive business among the enterprise and small and mid-markets in the UK and Ireland.HP Inc Wednesday announced it would convert 300 of the region's largest, direct business accounts into indirect relationships to woo partners.The newly independent computer and printer-maker told The Reg it wants to grow its business alongside that of partners in “key” growth areas.Those areas are managed services, mobility and core PC.HP won’t remove itself entirely from the relationship with customers, rather fulfilment will now be in the hands of partners eager to sign up.Neil Sawyer, UKI channel director, told The Reg: “A lot of those companies have a rich history and heritage with the partners they work with.”
Also, HP will work with groups of partners serving small and mid-market companies in one of six verticals that changes every 60 days.Sawyer said that every 60 days HP would look at new vertical markets to deliver new opportunities.Verticals will include legal, financial services, transport and logistics.“We see huge growth in the small business and mid-market segments,” Sawyer said. “We want to work with those partners and to collaborate.”Changes will be rolled out over the next three weeks, and with HP looking for partners “who show and interest in working with us [HP Inc] pro-actively.”HP has made much of “pockets of growth”, which it translates as core PC and laptop business, printing services and laser imaging, and mobility.Within the PC core, it is targeting the PC; what it calls hybrid PCs; and immersive technology, such as 3D printing and also 3D workstations for designer.“We remain committed to the core PC and laptop business,” Sawyer said.All well and good, HP Inc might well need partners, but why should partners work with HP?The split from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) has left it a vastly reduced operation – approximately 60,000 head count versus more than 200,000 for HPE.And while the PC maker is smaller, it’s facing an unchanged dynamic – the problems, challengers and challenges that landed HP in the predicament that led to split, have not gone away. If anything they will seem even larger to HP Inc by virtue of the fact that HP the PC-maker has shrunk in size. HP is trading on past reputation and status as world and UKI number-one in PC sales. Also, it remains a Fortune 100 firm with $50bn revenue.Managing director UKI George Brasher said: “We are going to be able to be a more nimble company and come up with more innovative programmes.”Sawyer echoed that: “We have to keep re-inventing how we go to market and work with partners, with new processes and improved processes that makes us more nimble and dynamic as a business.” ICGS The last few years haven't been good for the PC market as the old upgrade cycle died and buyers piled into tablets and smartphones. But Intel is convinced the PC will rise again, thanks to new hardware and form factors.I honestly feel this is a once in a decade moment, enthused Kirk Skaugen, GM of Intel's client computing group during his keynote at the Intel Capital Global Summit this week.Today there are more than a billion PCs that are more than three years old and a third of a billion that are over five years old. People are swinging back to the PC and are refreshing their systems.It used to be the case that people upgraded their PCs every two years or so, but in the last five years silicon has got so powerful that no one saw the need. They still don't, but Skaugen is betting that new form factors, particularly the two-in-one detachable-screen systems, will be a major growth driver.
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