PC & Mac Sales; Smart Speaker Market Booming, Wireless Earbuds-‘Assistive Hearing’ Coming

Posted: January 15, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s easy, especially when covering tech, to be all over the latest mobile devices, and lose track of what’s happening with the venerable PC…which most of us still have and use. Bgr.com has the numbers as tracked by IDC, and here’s where computer brands stood in 2017: #1 was H-P with 22.7% of the market. Lenovo came in 2nd with 21.1%. In third place was Dell with 16.1% market share, and 4th was Apple at 7.6%. Acer was in 5th place with 6.8%, and ASUS grabbed 6th with 6.6%, hot on their trail. The other 19.1% of computer sales was ‘everybody else.’ Of all of them, Apple had the most growth in the 4th quarter covering the holidays.

While Apple fanboys and fangirls breathlessly await the Apple HomePod, the smart speaker market is absolutely booming. According to 9to5mac.com, it’s up 128% since a year ago. Research from Edison Research and NPR indicates one in 6 Americans own a smart speaker of one type or another. 65% of owners say they would never want to go back to not having one! Of the 16% of us that have smart speakers, 11% are Amazon Alexa powered, while 4% use Google Home.

Since Congress passed a law allowing some hearing aid tech without prescription, wireless earbud makers are looking to that as a new market. Engadget.com reports that wireless earbud pioneer Bragi announced at CES that they would be diving into personalized hearing enhancement for their Dash earbuds. On top of that, they are working to develop personalized fitting for hearing loss using the so-called ‘Earprint’ test….pointing out that correcting for hearing loss needs to be as personalized as fitting for glasses. Another company called Nuheara showed off their updated product called IQBuds Boost.

HP Freshens ProBook 400 Laptops; Samsung’s ‘Explody’ Phones Were Effort to Beat iPhone 7 to Market

Posted: September 19, 2016 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

We tend to report pretty much ‘all mobile, all the time,’ as people don’t replace their PCs or laptops quite so often anymore. Now, zdnet.com reports that H-P has rolled out updates to its ProBook line of business laptops. There are 5 in all, with the lightest-the ProBook 430 G4…weighing in at 3.3 lbs. They are decked out in a new Astroid Silver case, and have all passed the MIL-STD 810G tests for drops, shocks, dust, and extreme temperature. The line starts out at $499.

In a report from Bloomberg picked up by 9to5mac.com, Samsung’s exploding and burning Galaxy Note 7’s were due to an effort by the company to beat what they thought would be a ‘dull’ iPhone 7 to market. In the effort to push the phone out quickly, with a more powerful, faster charging battery, testing was incomplete…and thus, the fires and explosions, and the recall of 2.5 million handsets The batteries were from one of Samsung’s own subsidiaries…another battery supplier’s batteries that are in some of the phones work fine. Still..the Note 7 has been reviewed as the best Android ever by a number of tech writers. You might wait a month or so, and see how much they have to drop the price on the corrected ones, and get a relative bargain on a great Android phablet.

LG Smartphone Sales Are Up Dramatically

Posted: October 29, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sales are flat for Samsung, but LG shipped 16.8 million smartphones in the third quarter. Techcrunch.com says that’s up 39% from a year ago. The flagship G3 did well, but was helped by sales of mid price models.

The former head of Google Wallet has launched Poynt, a so-called ‘future proof’ point of sale machine for stores. The verge.com reports it will read magnetic strip cards, chip & pin cards, NFC like Apple Pay, QR codes, and even Bluetooth Beacons.

HP has revealed more about its new 3D printing tech. Engadget.com says it uses a 4 step process to print 3D parts similarly to how an inkjet printer prints documents. HP claims products like gears could be made 10 times faster than with conventional methods.