Tag: laptops

Nimans gets into laptops

File_5906_JPEG-WebNimans, which is normally associated with comms distribution thinks that now is the time to get into selling laptops.

While many are trying to get out flogging hardware Nimans the time was apparently right to provide its resellers with access to a hardware range that provides both a tablet and a laptop in one package.

The outfit works with Venturer and thinks it can offer products that should appeal because of the decent prices and the Windows 10 compatibility.

At the heart of the cunning plan is the idea is this concept of “convergence” between coms and traditional IT data. Concrete examples proved thin on the ground.

Nimans gets Venturer’s “reseller base” which should be a foot in the door. If the laptop market stabilises this year, as predicted, it might actually be in the right place at the right time. More enterprises start to migrate away from older versions of the Windows OS this year.

Technology causes increasing isolation

Dell logoDell and Intel have interviewed over 5,000 people with jobs to find out what they think about technology.

It is stating the obvious to say both Intel and Dell want small, medium and large organisations in the 12 countries they surveyed to buy more tech, rather than less.

What’s completely clear is that the days of X86 dominance are well and truly over.  Tablet use is growing, and 81 percent of employees want their devices to perform well. Low powered Celeron, i3 and i5 chips  don’t really cut the mustard here.

Although 97 percent of people spend some time in their employer’s office, 35 percent work in public places for at least two hours a week.

Offices are a problem and 48 percent of the employees are continually distracted with one in five people wearing headphones to cut out the white noise.

A staggering 51 percent of people in their offices don’t talk to their physical neighbours but send them instant messages or emails instead.

A lot of people who work from home benefit from the lack of distraction, with 30 percent sleeping more, and 46 percent being less stressed.  But even this is no paradise as their time is taken up by nuisances such as spouses, children, parents and pets.

Here’s good news for Intel and Dell. Some feel poor technology holds them back and stops them pursuing their careers.

An astonishing 92 percent believe voice recognition will be used instead of keyboards, 87 percent think tablets will supplant laptops, 87 percent think all computers will use hand gestures and 88 percent think keyboards and mice will be obsolete pretty soon.

Flat battery? You don’t fly

pressieThe self-feeding paranoia of US airport security checks has just reached a new level as Homeland Security has become worried about computers which do not switch on.

According to Gizmodo, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson woke up in a cold sweat worried about all those people who get onto planes with flat batteries on their electronic devices.
Johnson said devices that won’t turn on will be confiscated, and passengers may be diverted for “additional questioning”.

The fear is that a terrorist will be on a plane with smartphone or laptop with a flat battery and this will mean… well we are not quite sure. The whole point of checking electronic gear was to make sure that it could not be used as part of a terrorist attack, however if it does not work then it can’t be.

However Johnson thinks that people who don’t charge their gear before they get on a flight must be terrorists and should not be allowed to board a plane.  Our next bet is that he will wake up in the morning with a fear that those who don’t wash their hands before they get on board a plane are terrorists.

Practically this means that if you are dumb enough to bring any electronics on a plane on US soil you should have it fully charged beforehand.   It is much safer to stick your electronics inside your suitcase, where if it is a bomb it is not going to be probed by TSA officials.

AP mentions that American intelligence officials have been worried about terrorists finding new ways to bring explosives onto airplanes undetected and apparently they have vivid imaginations.  Already we have that dumb rule about water bottles, and toiletries, you can’t wear a belt, or high heels.  The process of getting on the plane is now longer than the flight.

UK turns into throwaway society

kettleA survey shows that 65 percent of Brits believe that it’s better to plump for new products rather than make do or upgrade existing ones.

Crucial, which has an axe to grind because it supplies memory upgrades, said it surveyed 2,000 people in the UK.

People want to replace old lamps for new whether they’re mobile phones, kettles, computers, microwaves, televisions and toasters.

One in five folk said they were expecting to spend between £100 and £300 replacing existing items in the next month.

A third – actually 34 percent – said if stuff broke down they’d rather replace them than try and fix them.

Roddy Mclean, from Crucial, said that people replaced products at the slightest sign of them slowing down. And here’s the axe grinding: “Lots of people are mssing a trick, as products such as home computers and laptops can easily be upgraded by their owners.”

Apparently one in five people surveyed are likely to trade in their computers for a new lamp rather than upgrading them. Over 90 percent of the people said their computer runs slowly or has difficulty booting.

Windows?  The survey didn’t ask that question.