How are we doing?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, Kirkland’s Blog has been up for four months now, and we have had a respectable hit count on the website.  So, now is the time I ask, what do you want to see on the blog?  What interests you, and what areas of technology are we not meeting to your satisfaction?  Contact us however you’d like (email, message, twitter, facebook) and let us know!

I’m feeling very grateful towards a seemingly new HP

I just felt that it was necessary for me to thank Hewlett-Packard for listening.  Not that I’m trying to take credit for anything necessarily happening at HP, but they have been following my product, service, and marketing advice to a “T” for almost 6 months now.  If they did see my post, and I had absolutely anything to do with the change, that’s great too.  I’m just glad to see a company like HP getting back on their feet.  I’m also very pleased when Meg Whitman came out to say (back when she was being handed the CEO’s torch) that HP will start to go after IBM, and work to surpass them in terms of innovation.  I simply can not express to you how estatic I have become recently to see HP’s changes, and hope they continue to soldier on.   In conclusion, Let me just say congratulations for new products and good luck to HP (NYSE:HPQ) on their 2nd quarter 2011 earnings.  They have been following the plan placed out on my blog astoundingly carefully, and I hope that they continue to climb out of the whole the previous CEO dug them.  BTW, this is in response to a 27" Touchsmart All-in-one that is spec for spec is exactly what I’ve been telling them to do.  I don’t know if for sure if they are listening, but if they are, thank you HP.

We’re on Twitter!

Hello!  I have been amazed by the traffic that this blog has gotten, and I love using my blog to express my ideas and opinions, especially on technology!  But, a lot of the time I am too busy to post on the blog, but I definatley have time for some very frequent Tweets!  So, follow @kirklandsblog on Twitter to get all of the quick snippets that come across my mind.  It will also be a great way to keep up-to-date on all aspects of the technology industry!  Go ahead, follow us!

UPDATE: Hey, we’re on Facebook now too!  Like us so you get all of the techno goodness right in your feed! Kirkland on Facebook

How Microsoft can beat Siri and Google using Bing and…IBM Watson? Just an idea…

Siri has no doubt changed everything that people think of when it comes to voice recognition.  Though so far as down-to-earth functionality, it really doesn’t do too much that other phones have been doing since the beginning.  All the innovation is located in how you can say whatever you want to Siri in any form that you want, and it will complete the task.  Now if others (Google and Microsoft) intend to compete with Siri, I recommend that they take the next step above what Apple has started at.

This I believe begins with Microsoft creating a server farm that is basically a “Cloud Watson”.  And given that IBM and Microsoft have a historically cooperative past, I believe this can be accomplished.  For those of you who don’t know, IBM’s Watson was a computer program running on IBM Power 750 servers that competed against, and very well I might add, humans on a episode of Jeopardy!.  As a mater of fact, it competed so well, it won the match.  But it was able to do so in such a personal and intuitive way, that it was almost like talking to Google.  See the YouTube video bellow from Engadget’s channel to get a better understanding.

 

There is no doubt that Watson is a huge leap in multiple fields to include voice recognition, Artificial Intelligence, and text to speech.  Now imagine if Microsoft could give users the power of Watson in things like Windows Phone, Xbox, Bing, and the upcoming Windows 8.  I have no doubt that if users were given the option to use a Watson-like service over Google search and Siri, they would quickly become the king of the internet search, and voice recognition markets.  Imagine being able to ask your phone “How many touchdowns has Aaron Rodgers had in his entire career?”, and in stead of getting “How’s about a web search for…” you would just get the answer?  And how’s about voice recognition for the the browser version of Bing?  Written in HTML5 so that all browsers can use it unlike Google keeping theirs exclusively for Chrome.

Yes, it would take time and money to accomplish this, but it would be a sure-fire winner for sure.  But what do you think?  Post in the comments section with any ideas that you might have, I would love to hear it!

 

Sources:

Engadget’s Channel (Video of IBM Watson)
Bing (Logo Art)
Thopp (Siri Logo Art)

Company’s Stocks:

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)
IBM (NYSE:IBM)
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

The Windows 8 App Store. What should it be?

The day that people buy music pretty much exclusively from the internet has come.  I mean, how many people do you know now-a-days that don’t use software like iTunes, Zune, Rhapsody, etc.?  Maybe your grandparents? Maybe?  Companies have been trying to push this method into other forms of entertainment and software as well.  The most recently note-worthy attempt would be App Stores and Marketplaces.  Contrary to popular belief, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was the first to do this in Windows Vista in 2004. The iOS App Store did not launch until 2008. It was called the Digital Locker as was a webpage that you would log onto with you Windows LIVE ID. Once software was downloaded, you could log in on other Windows PC’s and download it again if the license of the download allowed.  It was intended to be a extremely cost effective way for developers to distribute software onto the Windows platform.  But, the Digital Locker program was a failure, and in 2008, Microsoft announced that it would be drastically cutting back in this area by 2009.  Now, in 2011, Ubuntu (Canonical) and Apple OS X (NASDAQ:AAPL) both having considerably good success with their “App Stores”, leaving Microsoft in their dust.  So now, what should Microsoft do with Windows to try and get a piece of this success?  Well, it begins by getting a solution out quickly so that we don’t get stuck playing market catch-up like the Windows Phone Marketplace is doing.

First off, the name.  With Xbox LIVE and Windows Phone entries into the “app store” business being called “Marketplace”, I’d say it should be called Marketplace to ensure consistency amongst all of the products in Microsoft’s range.  It should be a light-weight program that would be included into the Start menu.  It should be as simple, uncluttered, and as easy to use as possible.  Much like the way the Windows Phone  App Marketplace is organized in the Zune software, but much snappier.  Users would still have to log into their Windows LIVE ID, much like they have to log into their Apple ID in the Mac App Store.  Included in this store will be more than just Apps.  Users would also be able to make themes (shout out to deviantART) for sale, along with widgets, log on screens, etc., etc.  And finally, the first page that opens up as well as when you click on a category that would be on the left should open up with things like “Most viewed”, “Most purchased”, “Most downloaded”, etc., etc.  to ensure app discovery.  And when users download a app from the Marketplace, make it install while it is downloading in much the safe fashion that games downloaded in Steam (VALVE) are downloaded.  Well, now the end user side of things is situated, let’s appease the developers.

First off is software, or app, developers.  Developers just want to get the most of the time and effort that they put into their apps.  Some of them develop professionally.  Others are free lance developers that know how to code and do so for fun.  Some even, learn to program out of completely nowhere for whatever reason they have. Never the less, Microsoft will have to appeal to all developers if the new Windows Marketplace is to be a success.  First off, it irritates me that Microsoft has been recently restricting most of it’s SDK’s to Visual C#.  How about a little developer freedom?  Some people are addicted to Visual Basic, and others prefer higher level language programming such as C++.  Then, I’m sure there are a few that like C#.  But why limit our developers eager to improve our new app store by submitting their apps?  So, let’s allow developers to use any of the Microsoft supported (through some iteration of Visual Studio/Express) that they wish.  This will allow anyone who wants to develop a Windows 8 Marketplace app to do so.  Then, make it easier to submit this app by putting a “Publish to Windows App Store” button in Visual Studio.  Developers should be charged competitively to developers that submit apps to Apple’s app stores.  Maybe even do something like YouTube does for it’s producers?  Allow developers to submit apps to be approved for free, but charge if they wanted the apps to be promoted in the Marketplace?  Check out sponsored channels in YouTube if you don’t understand where I’m coming from.  But this would allow the Windows Marketplace to even compete better with the free Ubuntu Software store.

Now, I had mentioned previously about people from websites like deviantART being able to sell and distribute their amazing looking themes in the Windows Marketplace.  But first, I believe Microsoft needs to make a new version of Visual Studio, just for them.  Make it so that they can modify the look and feel of Windows as much as possible, while still being reasonable. things like custom start orbs, frames, icons, custom themed widgets, log on screens, boot screens, all the things that are typically modified in one of these types of themes.  This could also potentially improve security for Windows, as you would probably drastically cut the amount of people trying to hack Windows system files just so they can change the look and feel of Windows, not to mention offer digital artists a way to monetize on their amazing abilities. I know I’d pay for the theme picture above. And I’d pay for it in the Windows Marketplace because of the quality and simplicity of the installation it would offer. By the way, props to ~S-u-P-R-e-M-e (Alex) from deviantART for his amazing work in the form of the PURE Windows 7 theme pictured above. You should really check out his page.  I won’t lie.  There is one huge thing I miss greatly about Windows 98 SE.  Something that has been overlooked by almost everyone version since that time.  Windows themes.  First off, Windows 98 came with multitudes of more themes right out of the box than all other versions of Windows after that, and it was practically a copy and paste evolution to add new ones.  I remember how cool I felt as a nine-ish year old kid with the Windows NT/Windows 98 based machine my father had built me, replacing my logo.sys and logos.sys files so I could have custom boot and shutdown screens.  In many ways, thinking back at it, I think that might have been what spooled my passion for technology.  I think it might have been the first thing I had done something with a computer that was more impressive than just turning it on.  At that moment I figured if I could change something like that, that easily, what else can I do with this mysterious beige box?

The only last thing that I want to mention is Windows Update.  It should remain its own separate application, but should work with the Marketplace.  Everything downloaded from the Marketplace should be push updated through Windows Update. To be honest, I don’t really feel like much has to be done to Windows Update.  Just ensure that is stays that way, Microsoft.  Remember to check out the source links on the bottom, and comment if you have anything you would like to see in a Windows 8 Marketplace.

 

Sources:

MobileKnots (Windows Phone Marketplace picture)
~S-u-P-R-e-M-e (Alex) from deviantART (Windows Theming SKILLZ)
IntoMobile (Windows Flag picture)

What to do to HP’s Consumer Division?

It goes without saying, Hewlett Packard’s (NYSE:HPQ) consumer division is in chaos.  First, the failed billion dollar purchase of Palm, and now the sale of their PC division.  Then, we hear the same old re-structuring jargon “…looking to be more of a innovator in business”.  Look, HP does not need to sell their PC division, and they do not need to discontinue HPalms products.  They just need a new direction.  They need re-ignited passion for what they are doing.  They aren’t just throwing some hardware into a metal box, their engineering something that will be relied on by at least thousands of people.  And they are currently letting those thousands down.  So, here is what I would do if I was in charge of HP’s consumer division.

Palm

Bought by HP in April of 2010 for $1.2 billion USD, it was a failing company at the time.  The acquisition by HP offered enthusiasm, skepticism, but most importantly, interest in the future of Palm and in HP’s plans.  Against better judgment, they had decided to stick with the already failed WebOS.  They debuted interesting, but still mediocre hardware and said that it would be out “in the near future”.  That near future turned out to be over a year after the fact.  After Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) first wave of Android tablets had been released, and after the iPad 2.  They were officially way behind the curve. So, what should they do now that HPalm has taken just a drastic downturn?

First off, they need a complete software re-think.  Starting with the adoption of Android.  Android has proven it is capable of beating Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the cell phone market.  According to Nielsen, a respected marketing research company, Android held 39% smartphone market share and Apple’s iOS devices only held 28%.  Not to mention it’s ability to be easily modified.  Bringing me to point number two, bring the things consumers like about WebOS to Android enabled Palm devices though a HP exclusive user interface.  All but two devices (Google/HTC [TPE:2498] Nexus One, Google/Samsung [SEO:5930] Nexus Two) with Android have proprietary UI’s.  Think Samsung TouchWiz, HTC Sense, and Motorola (NYSE:MMI) Motoblur.  So, let’s take Android, turn WebOS into a feature-filled UI for it called (drum roll) WebOS, and put it on the Touchpad.  We would have the iOS market share fighting capabilities of Android, mixed with the ingenuity of WebOS.

So, what specifically should remain in the Android re-imagined OS for HP’s Palm devices?  Let’s start with the multi-tasking.  One of the number one flaws of Android is it’s inability to manage open apps.  WebOS did this beautifully.  One button in the dock, press it, all for your open applications show up on the screen in a playing-card like view.  You can swipe the card up to close the app, or you can organize them into stacks.  This is amazing, and would be nothing but astonishing on Android.  So, there’s feature number one.  Feature two, make the “Just Type…” feature that almost every tech review website mentioned they loved about WebOS a widget!  Consumers would love it.  It searches the web, yes, which Google would love, but it also searches inside apps.  You could type something into it, get a few Google results on top, then if it found something on your Facebook or Twitter feed though their respective apps on your phone, it would display that as well.  Then, remember to keep the app browser that WebOS uses.  It offers organization in a way that no other mobile operating system does.  Also, there was a feature that would allow a WebOS enabled phone to by swiped across the Touchpad and share pre-selected information.  It would transfer open apps, browser tabs, favorites, etc., etc.  And how’s about the awesome text forwarding feature that WebOS had?  You could send and receive texts, through your phone, onto your touchpad.  They could also make a light-weight application that did the same between your phone and HP PC.  I know that would be a huge selling point for me.  There are so many more features that I liked about WebOS that would be amazing in Android, but that would turn this article from a blog post to a book.  So, let’s move on.

Now, what with the hardware?  Well, first off, it costs HP a estimated $318 USD per unit to produce the Touchpad.  They have currently been sold out since HP has decided to discontinue the Palm lineup.  In stead of ceasing production, let’s put it on hold until we can finished the afore mentioned Android version.  Once we have completed it, we can put a over the air update for all currently sold Touchpads in peoples hands.  Let it build up momentum and demand, let all the news agencies know, then once again begin production of the Touchpad.  Sell them for $400 USD.  Allow time for consumers to begin buying them again and start bringing in revenue.  While this is going on, be looking into the never-released Pre3, as well as a tablet-like smartphone.  Without changing the over look or design too much, be looking into dual-core processors from people like NVidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), and Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN).  Ensure a minimum of 512MB of ram, but preferably 1GB. Now, better cameras and screen.  After all that, release it at the peak of the Touchpad’s success with the Android OS and WebOS UI.

The Android thing should have been done immediately after HP bought Palm, but it wasn’t for whatever reason un-seeable to me.  But hey, this way HP should at least get their moneys worth out of their $1.2 billion USD purchase, right?

PC’s

Let me being by saying that HP’s laptops are relatively on the right track.  I own a HP Pavilion dv7t laptop and love almost everything about it. But, there are a few minor complaints which go along with almost all of HP’s consumer PC products.  First, the build quality.  Build quality goes far beyond just making something out of metal.  I have noticed in several spots on my laptop where there are gaps in the base.  That is a huge no-go.  Laptops cases should be made with as few pieces as possible to ensure durability and quality.  This is something that Alienware (NASDAQ:DELL) started, and several other companies, including Apple have adopted.  So why hasn’t HP?  Also, with all but the Envy line of computer, there remains a bezel around the screen.  Once again, Alienware, then Dell, have moved to putting a single sheet of glass over the entire screen, with anti-glare options available.  This makes it look so much better, and takes the place of almost 3 parts and replaces them with one!  Then to software.  Everyone knows about and despises bloat ware on PC’s.  HP is probably second in the industry only to Sony (TYO:6758) when it comes to having minimal bloat ware, though that is a pretty distant second.  Windows is not the culprit when it comes to bloat ware.  It doesn’t even come with a mail application now-a-days.  It is all the PC manufacturers fault.  So, how to remedy this? how’s about doing the following.

Install Windows 7 of the customers chosen flavor on the computer.  And just Windows at that.  Now, we have a amazingly fast, easy to use, misunderstood (thanks to most PC manufacturers, not Microsoft [NASDAQ:MSFT]) operating system on the computer.  Next, lets make it so when the user first starts her/his new computer, there is a friendly wizard there to greet them and get everything set up just the way they want.  The first screen should welcome them to their new experience, thank them for their business, and ensure them that HP strives to offer the best end-user experience a piece of technology can offer.  Maybe even give the user a choice to either click next, or watch a video of the engineers that designed and built the device they have just purchased that would express their passion for delivering the best in technology to them.  The next screen should ask them what anti-virus program they want to use, instead of forcing them to use a pre-installed one.  It would recommend the free and proven software by Microsoft called Microsoft Security Essentials.  It is incredibly light-weight, efficient, and precise.  The second option for them should be to insert a anti-virus program CD that they have bought already.  The third option would take them to a clutter less page of anti-virus programs that they can purchase and download.  The fourth and last option will be for them to not install anything, using the terminology “I will install one later”.  The next menu will ask if they would like to install the Windows LIVE suite.  This is Microsoft’s main competitor to Apple’s iLife, and includes things like Writer, Mail, SkyDrive, Photo Gallery, and more.  Next screen will ask about Microsoft Office with the options buy and download, insert CD and install, and skip.  That’s it!  The last screen will once again thank them for their purchase, mention the new life time warranty on their new computer, and explain that any questions can be directed to the easy-to-use HP support via the HP website.  No more software will be on this machine after this.  No more HP proprietary software, no more special wireless manager because Windows’ works fine, no more pre installed links or anything.

There is one thing that I want to mention about the operating system though.  All updates for the hardware should be distributed though Windows Update.  No more special HP update software.  For now on, all hardware, operating system, Office, and Windows LIVE updates will be handled through Windows Update.  I have more requests for changes to Windows Update, but will make them in a future post regarding Microsoft’s “Made for Windows” program.

Now, back to Hardware.  The monitors are fine, don’t touch ‘em.  Now that one was easy.  Laptops should have smoother multi-touch track pads, the ones now are pretty glitchy.  We should do market research to determine if people actually use/want fingerprint readers. Next, switch completely to slot-loading disc drives.  Now one big thing we need to talk about is laptop batteries.  The most annoying thing about laptops are the size of the batteries.  HP solved this with the Envy by using battery “blades” instead of the cells, but it hasn’t drizzled down from the envy into other products like it should have.  I think consumers would like 12 hours of batter life, and slimmer laptops, don’t you?  Also, if we can fit a 720p and 1080p camera into a cell phone, why not a laptop screen?  That would probably we a welcomed feature by video bloggers and people that use Skype allot.  Follow that up with some USB 3.0 support, unibody construction like Alienware started, integrated GSM/CDMA support for Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.,  backlit keyboards and HP should have it made in the laptop department.  And once HP’s tower PCs get the slot loading drives, they should be fine for now as well.  All-in-ones however, that is a bit of a different story.

AIO’s have taken off ever since Apple started to get some success in the Mac side of the house.  A ridiculous technology that PC manufacturers have been pushing is touch-screen technology for their AIO’s.  Why?  Look at one of these computers at a store and how people interact with them.  Everyone almost immediately dismisses them as a gimmick and nothing more, if they even realize it’s their.  Who truly uses this technology on a AIO at all?  Seriously?  Who even came up with this idea? It’s terrible!  Now, off to what a AIO should be.  We should be going right after the heart of Mac sales here, the iMac.  It should have a easy to remember name, and be available in 21”, 24”, and 28” models with 1920×1200 resolutions and AMOLED screens.  Internal offerings should be the whole Intel vPro range (Core i3, i5, and i7).  Ram should be DDR3 @ 1600 MHz (iMac is 1066 and 1333 MHz), and more serious graphics solutions from ATI should be offered to appeal to gamers and graphics designers better than the iMac. Hard drives will all be at least 7200 RPM, with 750 GB, 1 TB, 1.5 TB, and 2.0 TB options. Now, what will it look like?  Something like the picture to the right, but with a much different base;

Now, what about the HP Slimline?  Nice in concept, but not really much to it.  We should replace it with a direct competitor to the Mac mini.  The design philosophy would be this; “How small can we make a decently powerful computer”.

Conclusion

As you can probably tell, I have have both put much significant thought into this.  I would only hope that HP’s engineers stumble upon this article and listen.  Either that, or someone give me the $40 billion USD asking price for HP’s consumer product’s division. Either way, I love HP products and hope they would continue making them and wish them the best of luck in their future.  I do not own any of these images, they are from the websites in the sources part on the bottom of the post that you should check out. Please leave a comment if you have any ideas that you think would help HP, or if you have any constructive criticism on my ideas.

Article Sources:

Engadget (Pictures): Link 1, Link 2
HP (Pictures): Link
Huffington Post (Pictures): Link

Nielsen (Market Share Numbers Android/Apple): Link