Gadget Buyer's Guide!

What is the best decision making engine? Correct! Its flow charts!

Here is a fun flow chart for deciding if you need that new piece of tech, a little late for Black Friday, but still helpful.

The Ultimate Gadget Decision Flowchart.

Intel Pays AMD 1.25 Billion Dollars.

Intel has been facing a lot of anti-trust lawsuits recently. This is nothing new for the boys in blue, they have been facing legal battles for quite some time.

Here is a brief history of Intel's legal woes from CNBC. (http://www.cnbc.com/id/33896864/for/cnbc/)

_ 1976: The companies sign their first cross-licensing agreement.

_ 1982: Intel wins a contract to supply IBM Corp. with microprocessors for its line of personal computers, and renews the cross-licensing deal with AMD to serve as an alternative supplier to IBM.

_ 1987: AMD accuses Intel of breaking the contract and files legal papers to begin arbitration. Years of legal disputes follow.

_ 1990: Intel files a copyright infringement lawsuit against AMD over technology in one of its chips.

_ 1991: AMD files antitrust lawsuit against Intel. Intel files separate copyright infringement lawsuit against AMD over another one of its chips.

_ 1992: AMD files "tortious interference" lawsuit against Intel over licensing practices.

_ 1993: Intel sues AMD over alleged copyright infringement in another AMD processor.

_ 1995: AMD and Intel settle all litigation between them. Intel gets $58 million, while AMD gets $18 million.

_ 1997: Intel sues AMD and another company alleging trademark infringement. The companies settle later that year.

_ 2000: AMD files a complaint with the European Commission accusing Intel of abusing its dominant market position.

_ 2005: Japan's Fair Trade Commission finds that Intel violated antitrust rules there, a ruling Intel eventually accepts without admitting wrongdoing. AMD files antitrust lawsuit against Intel in Delaware federal court.

_ 2008: Regulators in Korea fine Intel $18.6 million, a ruling Intel is appealing. U.S. Federal Trade Commission opens formal probe of Intel's behavior.

_ 2009: European regulators fine Intel a record $1.45 billion, a fine Intel pays but is appealing. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo files a federal lawsuit against Intel. Intel warns AMD that the spinoff of its manufacturing division violates the companies' cross-license agreement. The companies settle Thursday, with Intel agreeing to pay AMD $1.25 billion and the companies entering into new, five-year cross-licensing deal.


AMD has been taking drastic measures to stay solvent. The company recently spun off its chip-printing foundries, and has tried to restructure debt. This large windfall can be used to help set AMD on the right path.

This is a large pill to swallow for Intel, which has been paying huge fines all over the world as of late. But this is largely good news for consumers, because AMD represents one of the few threats left to Intel. AMD has pushed the technology envelope for years. Forcing Intel to play catch up.

Intel isn't a slouch but without competition a market stagnates. Intel has shown great business tactics, nearly forcing competition out of business (which is the goal of business, sadly what is good for business is usually bad for consumers). But AMD designing chips is good news. Hopefully we can see increased competition.

You just have to look at Google forcing Microsoft to rethink its online strategy to see that competition forces new ideas to market.

Google Debuts Its OS

So Google really means to attack Microsoft, and to a lesser extent Apple, on its home turf, operating systems. Google's new Chrome OS is a lightweight, intenet enhanced, operating system based on cloud computing.

And it looks amazing. I wouldn't consider Chrome OS as my one and only operating system but I could use this program on a small 13 inch laptop with a decent processor, discreet graphics, and a lot of peripheral ports for sub 500.

Here are some videos and indepth articles on the new OS.





Engadget on Chrome OS.

Gizmodo on Chrome OS.

Some Cool Stories.

Human genome mapping may solve a lot of your sicknesses.

Genome Mapping.

A digital tattoo? Thats what this touch screen implant promises. Oh and it is powered by blood. I think I would get one.

Touchscreen implant.

One of the interesting proposals for the London skyline is a cloud. I'm not sure how this structure would work, but it looks cool. The concept is eco-friendly and information centered.

London Cloud.

Google looks like Microsoft.

Google has a large lead in search market share, much like Microsoft has a large lead in operating system market share. Both have competitive advantages in their field. The biggest difference? Microsoft has been sued, and lost, for anti-trust violations. Now Google is under the microscope.

Google has a large influence on the way people find and use information on the Internet. This control over web portals isn't forcibly applied, people are free to use another search engine, but the competitive advantage is all too real. Google can arrange website results anyway it sees fit, and can charge advertisers what ever it deems fit. This power over Internet search can build and destroy businesses.

Author Ken Auletta posits that Google is different from Microsoft in that Google doesn't actively seek out and destroy competition the way Microsoft did. He believes Google innovates for the love of innovating. Creating new products and services because they would be interesting and helpful for people.

I disagree. Everything Google does is an attempt to drive revenue. Google does these things in rather round about ways but it always comes down to one thing, connecting to the web and specifically through Google's web portals. Google develops products to get consumers online and in front of advertisement. Simple as that. It will drive other companies out of the way. Look at the drop in Garmin's stock the day Google announced a free turn by turn navigation system on its Android phone operating system. Garmin was down nearly 18% in one day. This is the power Google has and Google knows it.



Garmin Drops

P.S. I'll be looking into the anti-trust suit filed by Andrew Cuomo against Intel soon.

To Complicated!

That is what the inventor of cell-phones believes his creation has become. To much stuff, texting, web surfing, picture, email, navigation, etc. all of that shouldn't be on your phone. This is proof that as we age, we get more and more stubborn that, "Things should be like the good old days!"

Martin Cooper, the lead engineer of the Motorola team that designed the first cell phone has said, "Whenever you create a universal device that does all things for all people, it does not do any things well. Our future, I think, is a number of specialist devices that focus on one thing that will improve our lives."

I wouldn't be too quick to jump the gun there Mr. Cooper. Cellphones that eliminate the need for multiple devices actually do improve our lives. And maybe they wont replace dedicated devices, such as cameras or computers, but they will allow us to do many of those devices' functions reasonably well. This eliminates the need to lug all those devices with us, thus improving our lives.

The older we get, the crankier we get.

Tablet Computers

Microsoft had a huge push for tablet computers in the early part of this decade. It even released a dedicated version of Windows XP for tablet computers. But the idea was a head of its time. Computer hardware was still to big and bulky but, most importantly, the Internet wasn't ready. Wi-Fi and high speed Internet access wasn't widely available. Now decent Internet access can be had over even telecom networks.

It is time for the tablet computer. A full featured, cloud based, computer that has a touch screen interface. Mobile phones are starting to become fully featured computers, but still lack the resources a tablet computer could provide.

Enter the Microsoft Courier. Only a rumor and one the CEO of Microsoft denies any knowledge of. But this should be the future of cheap easy to use computers.

Microsoft Courier.