HP TouchPad sales take off

The announcement that HP has abandoned tablets and that it is to stop making the TouchPad is sad news for everyone that likes these devices, and a lot of people do. One of the reasons, perhaps the main one, is that sales were poor and few people bought them.

Is it a bad product? No, it is actually quite good and both the hardware and operating system are quite attractive. So why didn't it sell?

The main reason is that it was against the iPad and Apple's tablet is very good indeed. In fact, all Apple's products - desktop computers, laptops, phones and iPods are very good. It is very difficult to compete head to head with an Apple product. If you're going to make a £400 tablet and grab a slice of the iPad's market you are going to have to make it better than the iPad and that is difficult.

The same is true of iMacs and MacBooks. If you want to sell laptop computers in the £1,000 to £1,500 price range then it's up against the MacBook Pro which is a great computer. The iMac is in the same price range and if you're looking for a desktop computer with this much cash to spend then it is a good buy. In the price ranges Apple sells in it does very well and it has a good market share.

The huge market share that Windows PCs and laptops have is mainly because they are cheap. Many people either can't afford £1,000+ computers or don't want to spend that much. They buy millions of cheap Windows PCs and are happy with their bargain.

The same is true of mobile phones and although the iPhone sells really well, it actually only has a small part of the overall market. That's because it has one expensive smartphone. It is outsold by millions of cheap alternatives and Android phones are set to dominate the market.

The tablet market doesn't have any cheap alternatives to the iPad. Tablet makers saw the great sales of iPads and though that there was a huge market for a premium priced products. There is, but Apple was in there first and continues to dominate it. To grab market share from Apple you'd have to create a better iPad.

This doesn't mean that there isn't a market for other tablets and since HPs announcement to stop the TouchPad the price has been dropped to a fraction of its original selling price. What happened is that sales shot through the roof and the last remaining stocks are selling out so fast it's hard to find one. The demand is huge.

This means that there was nothing wrong with the HP TouchPad and it was simply sold at the wrong price point. It shows that there is a big demand for cheap tablets and it just takes someone brave enough to create one.

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Chrome Web Store problems

One of the great features of Google's Chrome web browser is the way that it can be enhanced by adding extensions. One of the reasons why Firefox has grabbed such a large market share from Internet Explorer is because if the huge range of add-ons and extensions. Chrome is catching up fast, both in terms of extensions available and market share. Perhaps the two are related in some way, who knows?

Finding and installing extensions for Chrome is very easy and Google has built an online store. Just click the spanner icon in the top right corner and select Tools, Extensions. Then there's a link to go to the store. Well, store isn't quite the right word because most extensions are free. You just browse the categories, find one you like and click the button to install it. It's a piece of cake, or is it?

It is not hard to find people having problems accessing the Chrome Web Store though and some people have the curious problem of the images not displaying. The text is fine, but most or even all the images just appear as broken link icons. If you manage to browse the store and find something you want (even though you can't see it), clicking the install link fails to install it. You just get a message stating that the app is currently unreachable.

If you search the web for this error message you will find other people with the same problem. Many people offer solutions in forums and help pages, but they rarely work or they worked for one author and not
for anyone else.

I had this Chrome Web Store problem for weeks and tried some of the suggested fixes, but none of them helped. One thing that did work though, was to clear Chrome's cache, Click the spanner, Tools, Clear browsing data. Restarting Chrome and going straight to the store afterwards then enabled it to work, but only briefly. Just enough time to grab an extension. I installed Chrome in a virtual machine running Vista and the Chrome web store worked straight off. However, it soon stopped working. Perhaps it briefly worked because the cache was empty and when it was full it stopped. It's weird.

There are reports of people having this problem and they find it suddenly fixes itself. I had this. It wasn't working for weeks, then one day I tried it and it worked perfectly. It is still working. I didn't change any settings, install any software or do anything special. One day it just started working. I don't know what the problem is or how to fix it and no-one else seems to either. Just keep clearing the cache and trying it each day. One day it will work.

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Should I upgrade to OS X Lion?

Apple recently launched OS X Lion and it is very cheap and very easy to download from the Mac App Store, providing you have a fast internet connection that is. Does this mean that upgrading the the latest version of the OS is a no brainer? Should you upgrade? If not, why not?

Instead of asking yourself whether you should upgrade you should ask what you want to achieve. What do you want to do with your Mac? Can you do it with the current version of OS X? If you can't and whatever it is that you want to do can only be done with Lion then definitely upgrade. For example, if you are still running Tiger or Leopard and you want to be able to purchase software in the Mac App Store then you need to upgrade, at least to the latest version of Snow Leopard with all the patches and updates and preferably to Lion.

Each new version of the OS enables you to take advantage of new technologies and software. So if you're still running Tiger you won't have the Mac App Store, Time Machine and so on. Lion brings some new technologies and one of these is Auto Save, which automatically saves files without you having to click File, Save. It automatically stores previous versions in Time Machine fashion, but without needing Time Machine or an extra hard disk drive. It will sync with iCloud, an online storage service that will work across all Apple devices too. Is this a technology you need or can you live without it?

There are many more new features, such as extra support for trackpads on MacBooks and the Magic Trackpad, LaunchPad, Mission Control and so on. Do you need them or can you live without them? There is no doubt that they are nice to have, but are they really essential? Will the iOS-like full screen apps and menu system really increase your productivity?

If you can do everything you want with the current OS X then there is no advantage in upgrading and there are several disadvantages. As the operating system becomes more complex it grows in size and becomes more demanding of the hardware. It takes more disk space and it uses more memory. These are important factors if you have a Mac that is a few years old and you may find that it is struggling to run the latest OS.

Compatibility is an issue too and there is always a small risk that some hardware you have won't work after the upgrade. A scanner, printer or NAS (network attached storage) device may not be compatible. It's software may even conflict with Lion when you install it. Some people have found that NAS devices used for Time Machine no longer work after upgrading to Lion for example.

There is software compatibility to consider too and Rosetta, a technology that enabled modern Macs to run old software written for the PowerPC, is not supported. Do you have any old software that you rely on? It may not work if you upgrade. It's a risk you need to consider.

I have always found OS upgrades to be a case of two steps forward and one step back. Overall they are worth it and the all the advantages outweigh the few disadvantages.

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First thoughts on OS X Lion

Last week Apple released OS X Lion through the Mac App Store and apparently a million people downloaded it. It wouldn't be surprising actually because the price is so low it's a no brainer. An OS upgrade for just £20? That's cheap and it's probably to get as many people to upgrade as possible. Apple needs people to be running the latest version of OS X because it has key technologies like the Mac App Store, which doesn't work on Leopard or earlier versions of OS X. Will iCloud coming this autumn, only work on Lion or will it support Snow Leopard? Even if it does support Snow Leopard, it will work better with Lion.

Like many other people, I downloaded and installed Lion. My ageing MacBook isn't the ideal hardware and a newer model with a better trackpad is required for some features like the swipes, pinches and other gestures borrowed from iOS devices. However, I could always add a Magic Trackpad. At £59 it seems a bit overpriced for something that just enables me to swipe and pinch. Apart from this, Lion works fine on my 2007 MacBook with 2Gb RAM and 2.16Ghz Core 2 Duo processor. Ideally though, 4Gb of RAM is best and you'll be struggling to do some tasks with 2Gb RAM. Just running Chrome and iTunes uses up over 1Gb of memory.

There are some big changes in Lion, but also lots of little ones too. One change that MacBook owners will notice is that it automatically logs on to Wi-Fi hotspots. This is an idea borrowed from iOS devices and when you switch on the Wi-Fi on your iPhone and select a hotspot, it will connect and display the login page automatically. Now the MacBook does this and as soon as the desktop appears a window opens prompting me to login to the Starbucks Wi-Fi.

This would be useful if it remembered my username and password, but it appears not to. Previously I started Safari and by pressing one key it automatically entered my username and password - stored in my keychain. The auto-login feature does not, so I have to manually enter them. This makes the new feature less useful than it could be. What's worse is that the login window disappears and there's no way to log out either. Starbucks is free, but if you were using a Wi-Fi hotspot that charged by the hour then you would need to be able to log out to avoid usage charges when you're not actually using it. It's a bit like taking two steps forward, but slipping one step back.

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Anti virus for your iPhone and iPad

Intego, the security company specialising in Apple Mac security, has launched what must be the first anti virus app for iOS devices - the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. VirusBarrier iOS is available right now on the iTunes store (type VirusBarrier into the search box or try this link). Is it necessary? Is your iOS device in danger of being infected by a virus?

iOS devices are not in any danger right now because there aren't any iOS viruses and malware authors are not targeting it, although this may possibly change in the future. There simply aren't any viruses for the iPhone or iPad. So why would you want an anti virus app?

The reason is that you may receive emails and documents that contain malware like viruses, Trojans and spyware, and then unknowingly pass them on to someone else.

You can be a carrier who is not infected themselves, but passes on the malware and infects others.

If you receive email with attachments and access documents over the web, via Dropbox and other cloud storage services, you can scan them with VirusBassic iOS and make sure that they are safe before forwarding them to someone else, or even your own desktop or laptop computer.

It is a great idea and the app is cheap at £1.79, so there's no reason not to buy it. The price includes one year's subscription to virus definition updates.

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Prepare your Google profile

If you have a Google account, such as Mail, Blogger, Reader and so on, you can create a profile. This is basically an About Me page that contains information about you such as where you live, gender, job title, education and so on. In the past has been possible to create a profile, but to keep it private so that no-one could see it, but now apparently this will soon change. Any profile set to private will automatically be deleted and all profiles will be made public. There won't be a private option at all.

You don't have to have a profile and if you have one it can be deleted, but it can have its uses and you might want to reveal some information about you. For example, bloggers often have a profile because it's useful to know a bit about the person writing the blog. It's not the only reason for having a profile and it makes it easier for people to find you on the internet. Long lost friends, potential employers and so on.

If you choose to have a profile, and you can create one by logging into your Google account and selecting Edit Profile - try this link - then you need to remember that it is public. The profile editor prompts you to enter all sorts of information and it could potentially be used by someone gathering details about you for identity theft or other purposes. For example, it is possible to put your work and home telephone numbers in it, but do you really want the whole world to know them? It's probably a bad idea to do this.

Similarly, adding your email address might lead to increased junk messages in your inbox. Surely the last thing you want to do is to make your email address public? Unless, of course, you have a public email address. It's useful to have two email accounts, one you give to anyone that asks for it, and another that only your best friends, employer, bank and a few others know about.

Remember that your profile is public and only give out as much or as little information as you want. Go and check it now. See what will be made public. The minimum information is your name and gender, so it's possible to have a profile yet give little away. You can, of course, delete your profile too and then no-one will be able to see anything.

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iPhone 5 and iPad 3 for October launch?

Recently there have been reports that the iPhone 5 and the iPad 3 are to be launched in October. Apparently Apple's suppliers are gearing up for the new gadgets and you can read the details at Cnet, Digitimes and Apple Insider. Are they likely? Yes and no.

The speed of development of mobile phones is just as fast as it ever was and new models are being released all the time. They are getting better and better too. It has been over a year since the iPhone 4 was launched and while it still compares well against the competition it is unlikely to look so good as we progress into 2012. A new iPhone, even if it has only a few minor updates, is required before the end of this year. A lot of iPhone 4 owners are now ready for a new model and would willingly upgrade if they had the chance. A faster processor and higher resolution cameras are possible upgrades and there's the well-known aerial problem that plagues the iPhone 4. It hasn't damaged sales much, but a redesign to avoid the death grip issue would help.

So what about the iPad 3? I can't see that there would be any benefit in launching this for Apple. Sales of the iPad 2 are excellent and there is no need for a new version to boost flagging sales. They just aren't flagging. iPad 1 owners have an upgrade path and they can buy the iPad 2, which is significantly better. They don't need an iPad 3 to tempt them to upgrade. iPad 2 owners haven't had their device very long and may not have even paid off their credit card bill yet, so they would not want to upgrade to an iPad 3 so soon. An October launch of an iPad 3 would not do much for Apple's sales.

What might be good idea though is an iPad Mini - a 7in screen version. Steve Jobs once rubbished the idea and said it was too small, but I think a smaller and more portable iPad would be very popular. The iPad is great, but it isn't really that much more portable than a light laptop and I bet a lot of iPads have rarely left the home. Will we see an October launch of a 7in iPad Mini? Who knows, but it is certainly unlikely to be an iPad 3. I predict that we'll see an update to the iPad in spring 2012, a year after the current model was launched.

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