Technology catch-all thread

[chw42]

I store mine on box.net. Where do you? It gives people plenty of choice. Choice enough for most.

 

And the endpoint of cable is a device. THE most locked down device there is. But that's a huge tangent.

 

Read his post a few pages back where he talks about a DJ app that couldn't pull files off Dropbox.

 

Edit:

Just a little background... I discovered this the hard way. I know, my fault. A new app came on the market for dj'ing. It's called Traktor DJ. This app is advertised as being sync'd to Dropbox. To play a song on a club system, it will sound awful if its not at least a 320k mp3. So, people take gigs and gigs of files. So, everyone buys the app and finds out you can't load from Dropbox or a Wi Drive. The file has to be on the drive itself. You also can't transfer the file onto the iPad via Dropbox or Wi Drive because the app doesn't register from either. People go to the developer for an explanation. The developer says this comes straight from Apple. They wouldn't allow the developer to write the software so that its compatible. Dropbox can only be used to sync Metadata. They did this to force consumers to buy iPads with more storage.

Edited March 21, 2013 by chw42

[RockRaines]

Read his post a few pages back where he talks about a DJ app that couldn't pull files off Dropbox.

 

Edit:

Don't 99 percent of DJs use laptops?

 

But like I said. Freedom enough for most.

[bigruss]

Read his post a few pages back where he talks about a DJ app that couldn't pull files off Dropbox.

 

Edit:

So sounds like the developer screwed everyone by claiming that it would be compatible with Dropbox when he clearly knew it wouldn't.

 

Would figure this would pop up in the reviews pretty quickly and common sense would be to avoid this app.

[TaylorStSox]

So sounds like the developer screwed everyone by claiming that it would be compatible with Dropbox when he clearly knew it wouldn't.

 

Would figure this would pop up in the reviews pretty quickly and common sense would be to avoid this app.

The developer planned on having Dropbox/Wi Drive integration until Apple nixed it themselves. That's why I brought up the VLC app. Apple was fine with it until they found out that users had the audacity to play videos other than mp4. Nonetheless, it's a fantastic app with tremendous value. You can still use Dropbox, but only to sync metadata between tablet and laptop.

 

As far as DJs using laptops, we are entering an era where tablets simply aren't browsers and media machines. People will be able to use them for productivity as well. This is where Windows really gets it IMO by allowing a real OS to run on a tablet, hence the Surface and Yoga. Hybrids are the future.

[bmags]

And windows has been rewarded with a windfall!

[chw42]

The developer planned on having Dropbox/Wi Drive integration until Apple nixed it themselves. That's why I brought up the VLC app. Apple was fine with it until they found out that users had the audacity to play videos other than mp4. Nonetheless, it's a fantastic app with tremendous value. You can still use Dropbox, but only to sync metadata between tablet and laptop.

 

As far as DJs using laptops, we are entering an era where tablets simply aren't browsers and media machines. People will be able to use them for productivity as well. This is where Windows really gets it IMO by allowing a real OS to run on a tablet, hence the Surface and Yoga. Hybrids are the future.

 

What's the benefit of only being able to sync metadata?

 

And Microsoft didn't get all of it, Windows RT tablets are yuck.

Edited March 21, 2013 by chw42

[TaylorStSox]

What's the benefit of only being able to sync metadata?

 

And Microsoft didn't get all of it, Windows RT tablets are yuck.

The RT's do look awful and the Pro is overpriced. The Lenova and Dell hybrid's look great. The Surface might flop, but the concept is what matters. Microsoft is banking on the hybrid while Apple is sticking with the Air and iPad combination. It might be too late for Microsoft to convince people to buy their hardware, but the idea is more practical and innovative than Apple's.

 

You can use Metadata to "prep" a track. You can grid the beats, analyze the bpm and set cue points. You sync that info to Dropbox, then open Traktor on your main computer and the info syncs to it. The app isn't ready to replace the full fledged version of the program, but that's where it's headed. Why lug a laptop around when you can use a tablet?

[RockRaines]

The developer planned on having Dropbox/Wi Drive integration until Apple nixed it themselves. That's why I brought up the VLC app. Apple was fine with it until they found out that users had the audacity to play videos other than mp4. Nonetheless, it's a fantastic app with tremendous value. You can still use Dropbox, but only to sync metadata between tablet and laptop.

 

As far as DJs using laptops, we are entering an era where tablets simply aren't browsers and media machines. People will be able to use them for productivity as well. This is where Windows really gets it IMO by allowing a real OS to run on a tablet, hence the Surface and Yoga. Hybrids are the future.

Hybrids are the future for what? For your use case, sure. But for most of the tablet-population, I disagree. They are mostly application centric users that are browsing and watching videos. Even corporations are moving away from "robust" OS's into application-heavy deployments hosted elsewhere.

 

Bloated operating systems make a subset of the population happy.

[chw42]

Hybrids are the future for what? For your use case, sure. But for most of the tablet-population, I disagree. They are mostly application centric users that are browsing and watching videos. Even corporations are moving away from "robust" OS's into application-heavy deployments hosted elsewhere.

 

Bloated operating systems make a subset of the population happy.

 

Maybe people don't want a laptop and a tablet? Maybe they want one?

 

I know I don't like carrying my laptop and tablet around everywhere.

[RockRaines]

Maybe people don't want a laptop and a tablet? Maybe they want one?

 

I know I don't like carrying my laptop and tablet around everywhere.

I travel every day and I carry my ipad. All of my company's applications are SaaS-based so I log onto my cloud desktop and work from there.

 

However if I am typing up a contract, support doc, doing development or a presentation I am using my macbook air or imac.

 

My architects would never be able to get rid of their laptops and even servers or VM's like alot of sales people can.

 

From a personal standpoint, I have 3 26in+ LCD's at home and over 5TB of storage. I could never package that onto a tablet regardless of operating system.

 

I can see a usecase for the "hybrid" where you can unplug a lightweight version of your desktop and take it places, however I dont think it will take off because every hardware manufacturer will try to make it proprietary which will kill the market. I also think they will then begin to price themselves too far from the tablets to make it worth people's while.

Edited March 21, 2013 by RockRaines

[chw42]

I travel every day and I carry my ipad. All of my company's applications are SaaS-based so I log onto my cloud desktop and work from there.

 

However if I am typing up a contract, support doc, doing development or a presentation I am using my macbook air or imac.

 

My architects would never be able to get rid of their laptops and even servers or VM's like alot of sales people can.

 

From a personal standpoint, I have 3 26in+ LCD's at home and over 5TB of storage. I could never package that onto a tablet regardless of operating system.

 

I can see a usecase for the "hybrid" where you can unplug a lightweight version of your desktop and take it places, however I dont think it will take off because every hardware manufacturer will try to make it proprietary which will kill the market. I also think they will then begin to price themselves too far from the tablets to make it worth people's while.

 

How will hardware manufacturers make it proprietary? It'll be running Windows 8 or later iterations of Windows.

 

The problem with Windows 8 sales is that building an x86-based computer with a touchscreen is expensive, far more expensive than building an ARM-based tablet. Once the price settles, the difference won't be as great and there will be a larger market for hybrid computers.

 

And when I mean hybrid, I mean laptops that can transform into tablets, not just laptops without touchscreens.

Edited March 21, 2013 by chw42

[RockRaines]

How will hardware manufacturers make it proprietary? It'll be running Windows 8 or later iterations of Windows.

 

The problem with Windows 8 sales is that building an x86-based computer with a touchscreen is expensive, far more expensive than building an ARM-based tablet. Once the price settles, the difference won't be as great and there will be a larger market for hybrid computers.

 

And when I mean hybrid, I mean laptops that can transform into tablets, not just laptops without touchscreens.

I meant the "plug and play" capability. Lets say they have docking stations or something of the like. Dell will want all the components to be Dell, same with Lenovo, and others like Apple.

 

They've tried the laptop converted to a tablet before and those were some of the obstacles. Personally I think there will always be two classes of users and not a whole lot of blending in the middle. I've helped Pharma companies deploy thousands of ipads to end users so they can securely access information and applications, but surprisingly there was still a HUGE need for laptops and PC's or enabling them to use they applications on a personal computer.

 

IMO, data and computing power will move more to applications and the "cloud" then on the actual device. The need for an internet connection is the only downside of that model which i think will go away in the next 5 years. I believe you will be able to get wireless anywhere. Smartphones will become the identity store for most people as well as vendors, cars, etc begin to have the ability to read your identity off of the device. I've seen this in action and its incredible. With that technology I honestly believe that you will be able to walk up to a kiosk of sorts ANYWHERE in the world and it will authenticate you to your "desktop" and you can work just like you were at home or on the road.

 

So the example that I've seen is in a german auto manufacturer. Essentially you open the door of any 2014 (example) and beyond model car of theirs and it knows exactly who you are and what you want. It adjusts the seats, temp, radio, pandora, email, texts, transmission mirrors etc. I think that will be adopted by PC's or computers in the near future. Even at stores where they know who you are, what you order and will take payment without you doing much of anything.

Edited March 21, 2013 by RockRaines

[chw42]

I meant the "plug and play" capability. Lets say they have docking stations or something of the like. Dell will want all the components to be Dell, same with Lenovo, and others like Apple.

 

They've tried the laptop converted to a tablet before and those were some of the obstacles. Personally I think there will always be two classes of users and not a whole lot of blending in the middle. I've helped Pharma companies deploy thousands of ipads to end users so they can securely access information and applications, but surprisingly there was still a HUGE need for laptops and PC's or enabling them to use they applications on a personal computer.

 

IMO, data and computing power will move more to applications and the "cloud" then on the actual device. The need for an internet connection is the only downside of that model which i think will go away in the next 5 years. I believe you will be able to get wireless anywhere. Smartphones will become the identity store for most people as well as vendors, cars, etc begin to have the ability to read your identity off of the device. I've seen this in action and its incredible. With that technology I honestly believe that you will be able to walk up to a kiosk of sorts ANYWHERE in the world and it will authenticate you to your "desktop" and you can work just like you were at home or on the road.

 

Why would docking stations even be a big issue though? Proprietary charging and docking ports shouldn't be that big of an issue. Apple uses them. Lenovo uses them. Samsung uses them. If a company keeps to one brand of devices that wouldn't be an issue at all.

 

What you just said in your example is exactly why a hybrid can work. You have one centralized application on the device that can allow for touch/pen input as well as input through mouse and keyboard. Why buy a tablet + desktop/laptop when you can have one device? Why setup several devices when you can just setup one?

 

And that last point you made sound an awful lot like NFC or technologies like it. I just recently bought some NFC tags and they're actually pretty damn useful. I have a tag by my door that sets a profile when I head out the door. I also have one on my desk that sets a profile when I'm back home. I have a keychain with a tag that toggles WiFi when I'm around campus (too many wireless spots = lots of connecting/disconnecting) and it can also toggle airplane mode when I find out I'm in a area without any signal (having your phone search for signal wastes a lot of battery). Plus, you can pay with your phone using Google Wallet, which is also kinda cool.

Edited March 21, 2013 by chw42

[RockRaines]

Why would docking stations even be a big issue though? Proprietary charging and docking ports shouldn't be that big of an issue. Apple uses them. Lenovo uses them. Samsung uses them. If a company keeps to one brand of devices that wouldn't be an issue at all.

 

What you just said in your example is exactly why a hybrid can work. You have one centralized application on the device that can allow for touch/pen input as well as input through mouse and keyboard. Why buy a tablet + desktop/laptop when you can have one device? Why setup several devices when you can just setup one?

 

And that last point you made sound an awful lot like NFC or technologies like it. I just recently bought some NFC tags and they're actually pretty damn useful. I have a tag by my door that sets a profile when I head out the door. I also have one on my desk that sets a profile when I'm back home. Plus, you can pay with your phone using Google Wallet, which is also kinda cool.

I added to my post with an example. We enabled this company to do that with encrypted tokens that can be revoked immediately upon loss of the device.

[chw42]

I added to my post with an example. We enabled this company to do that with encrypted tokens that can be revoked immediately upon loss of the device.

 

But you have to communicate with the car somehow, what did you guys do for that?

[RockRaines]

But you have to communicate with the car somehow, what did you guys do for that?

They enabled it to read OAuth tokens which is a pretty standard protocol for mobile apps these days. Theirs is a little ahead of the curve so its a bit rudimentary in the back end but its essentially a mobile app that stores your preferences as attributes and then relays them back to an identity store for replication.

[chw42]

They enabled it to read OAuth tokens which is a pretty standard protocol for mobile apps these days. Theirs is a little ahead of the curve so its a bit rudimentary in the back end but its essentially a mobile app that stores your preferences as attributes and then relays them back to an identity store for replication.

 

I see, so it'll require internet access.

[TaylorStSox]

I meant the "plug and play" capability. Lets say they have docking stations or something of the like. Dell will want all the components to be Dell, same with Lenovo, and others like Apple.

 

They've tried the laptop converted to a tablet before and those were some of the obstacles. Personally I think there will always be two classes of users and not a whole lot of blending in the middle. I've helped Pharma companies deploy thousands of ipads to end users so they can securely access information and applications, but surprisingly there was still a HUGE need for laptops and PC's or enabling them to use they applications on a personal computer.

 

IMO, data and computing power will move more to applications and the "cloud" then on the actual device. The need for an internet connection is the only downside of that model which i think will go away in the next 5 years. I believe you will be able to get wireless anywhere. Smartphones will become the identity store for most people as well as vendors, cars, etc begin to have the ability to read your identity off of the device. I've seen this in action and its incredible. With that technology I honestly believe that you will be able to walk up to a kiosk of sorts ANYWHERE in the world and it will authenticate you to your "desktop" and you can work just like you were at home or on the road.

 

So the example that I've seen is in a german auto manufacturer. Essentially you open the door of any 2014 (example) and beyond model car of theirs and it knows exactly who you are and what you want. It adjusts the seats, temp, radio, pandora, email, texts, transmission mirrors etc. I think that will be adopted by PC's or computers in the near future. Even at stores where they know who you are, what you order and will take payment without you doing much of anything.

You just made a great argument for a hybrid.

 

Docking stations wouldn't need to be proprietary. That's coming from an Apple perspective.

 

The majority of people are app-centric, but the idea with Windows 8 is that it should offer the best of both worlds in one unit. Both tablet and desktop style apps in one unit. The top of of the line Yoga is capable of handling anything you can throw at it, while being small enough to be mobile, and the ability to plug in to a monitor or sound card or whatever. The only reason to carry an iPad and MBP is that Apple wants you to.

[RockRaines]

I see, so it'll require internet access.

That one right now can cache the profile info for a certain period of time but updates over the air since its a phone. Their "every car" strategy requires you "check out" a car on the mobile app which authenticates you to have access to open the door and start the car. It essentially takes the "smart key" that we have today and makes it smarter.

 

An American auto manufacturer in detroit is rolling out phase 1 of something like this in 2014. It will just have registration, unlock and remote start at first.

[RockRaines]

You just made a great argument for a hybrid.

 

Docking stations wouldn't need to be proprietary. That's coming from an Apple perspective.

 

The majority of people are app-centric, but the idea with Windows 8 is that it should offer the best of both worlds in one unit. Both tablet and desktop style apps in one unit. The top of of the line Yoga is capable of handling anything you can throw at it, while being small enough to be mobile, and the ability to plug in to a monitor or sound card or whatever. The only reason to carry an iPad and MBP is that Apple wants you to.

Not really. You are thinking too much Apple vs everyone else. Many of my architects run VM farms on their machines for development and testing. I dont think you will ever see a tablet or even hybrid be able to do that locally. At least not anytime soon.

 

For me personally I need several machines for my work. And I connect all the data over the internet so I have access to data even if I am stepping down in form factor or computing power.

Edited March 21, 2013 by RockRaines

[TaylorStSox]

Not really. You are thinking too much Apple vs everyone else. Many of my architects run VM farms on their machines for development and testing. I dont think you will ever see a tablet or even hybrid be able to do that locally. At least not anytime soon.

 

For me personally I need several machines for my work. And I connect all the data over the internet so I have access to data even if I am stepping down in form factor or computing power.

Hybrids are underpowered to handle the software?

[chw42]

Hybrids are underpowered to handle the software?

 

I don't think any laptop can run a VM farm effectively.

 

But the hospital thing he was talking about can definitely work better with hybrids.

[TaylorStSox]

I don't think any laptop can run a VM farm effectively.

 

But the hospital thing he was talking about can definitely work better with hybrids.

I see. I'm speaking from a consumer, or even creative perspective. There isn't much you can't do with an i7/8GB computer, which a hybrid can be.

[bigruss]

I travel every day and I carry my ipad. All of my company's applications are SaaS-based so I log onto my cloud desktop and work from there.

 

However if I am typing up a contract, support doc, doing development or a presentation I am using my macbook air or imac.

 

My architects would never be able to get rid of their laptops and even servers or VM's like alot of sales people can.

 

From a personal standpoint, I have 3 26in+ LCD's at home and over 5TB of storage. I could never package that onto a tablet regardless of operating system.

 

I can see a usecase for the "hybrid" where you can unplug a lightweight version of your desktop and take it places, however I dont think it will take off because every hardware manufacturer will try to make it proprietary which will kill the market. I also think they will then begin to price themselves too far from the tablets to make it worth people's while.

Who do you guys use for Federation? We're currently looking at 2 vendors for it.

[RockRaines]

Who do you guys use for Federation? We're currently looking at 2 vendors for it.

I work for the most popular federation company on the market. I'll pm you. We have more customers than every other competitor combined. We are also very standards based which people especially techies love.