Blackberry Tablet Parks Near Stadium But Doesn't Enter Ring--Yet

A recent video demonstrates strengths that Blackberry's new tab PC has over the iPad in web browsing: faster loading times and flash support (i.e. animated web pages, for example).


One article suggests that the Blackberry's double the horsepower in internal hardware simply outshines what the iPad has under the hood. However, it goes on to say, the iPad might have improved by the time the Blackberry tablet comes out, which is still a ways away.


What's still at stake, however, is the screen-size quandary: are customers looking for an amazing new handheld device more like a blown up cell phone or more like a mini-laptop? I'll admit that the size of the screen is tied for #1 on reasons why I might choose iPad. Reason #2 is the apps.


Now what I need to see is a competitor show me that the software on a 7" screen makes it all worth my while.


See the video here:

Choice Tech Headlines from Nov 7-13

1. Make your email end in @facebook.com

2. Graphics card company CEO: next round of Android tablets will be “magical”

3. Google gives $1k bonus and 10% raise to all employees; fires the one who leaked the news

4. Google steals engineer from Facebook at $3.5M

5. Blackberry coming with its own tablet PC

To Tweet or Not to Tweet: Hamlet's Blackberry

Did you know Hamlet had a Blackberry?


The Bard's greatest non-actor tackled an issue that confronts our society today: connectedness or nonconnectedness. Whereas he wrestled with whether to follow up on his ghost-father's plea for vengeance (connectedness) or go ahead and wash his hands of all that rotten mess in Denmark (nonconnectedness), author William Powers addresses our society's ability to use our new powers of constant digital connection to create real connections between people--or does this constant connection drive us further away?


You can read/listen to Powers' interview on NPR, where he talks about taking each weekend off from digital connectedness. A sort of "Internet Sabbath," the article says.

In his 2007 essay,  "Hamlet's Blackberry: Why Paper is Eternal," Powers explains that when Hamlet is overloaded with new and shocking information, he does the same thing we do in that situation: pulls out his smart phone and processes. For all we know, he may have been adding the ghost as a contact.



In fact, Powers describes a little tablet popularly carried around by people of the 16th century, and later by the likes of even Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin. Hamlet pulls out his tablet, which he calls a "table," and begins making notes. He can erase the notes with a sponge at any time to make room for new notes, which he says he will do upon hearing the ghost's chilling news.


Hamlet's tablet, like the modern Blackberry, came before the iPhone.

Interview with an Engineer

Intelligent, well spoken, and the father of a newborn baby, this engineer lets us know how technology has become a staple of his daily job--although from time to time it does let him down.


How do you use new technology at your job?
For my job, almost every piece of documentation can be found on a shared drive or "intranet" system. Also, equipment and power station manuals that would take up an entire wall of bookshelves can now fit on two DVDs and be accessed through Adobe pdf files. We also use internet/email/blackberries to communicate quickly and efficiently among industry and company peers. This helps us collaborate on issues while we may be working geographically far from one another.

Is there any new technology/website made in the last 5-7 years that you cannot live without?
Email is a must for my job. A lot of times the people within my work group are traveling to various power stations and some times even traveling over seas. Email is one way we can all colaborate quickly and efficiently on an issue. It alows us to have a record of our conversation as well as be able to share documents. 

Using BlackBerries helps us utilize email even more. I can take a photo of something while on a construction site, email it to a colleague and get a reply within minutes.

Videoscopes are a must for our job. A videoscope is a camera on the end of a long thin tube that you can "snake" into a machine. This allows us to check the condition of the unit during regularly scheduled maintenance or to check out potential problems without unnecessarily disassembling the machine. Unnecessary dissassembly can cost the company 100s of thousands of dollars.

Is there any new technology/website made in the last 5-7 years that seems useless to you?
Hmmm, good question. I am not that technologically savvy or up to date so I am not sure. I can think of things that never really took off like the "lazer video disc" or beta video tapes but besides that, no.

What do you wish you could do with technology that you can't do now?
Yes, I'd like good cell phone and mobile internet coverage EVERYWHERE! Right now I commute to rural [county name] everyday and it is almost impossible to make a phone call during the drive due to bad cell coverage.