Technological Digest II

Another Sunday, another flight from SJC. This time I'm at terminal A, waiting for an AA flight to DFW. The good news is I can hang in the lounge and write this post. The bad, is that this is a full flight and the only seat I could get is a middle .

So many interesting things happened last week and over the weekend. I could probably dedicate a full post to each. Instead, I'll give you the skinny and a link for the rest:

1. When is a gigabyte not a gigabyte? - a lawsuit against Seagate, for misrepresenting the size 'gigabyte' was won last week. The company interpreted 1Gb as a 1000 ^ 3 byte, rather that 1024 ^ 3 byte (the difference seems negligent for Kb and Mb, but for Gb, 1,073,741,824 bytes are more than 7% deviation). According to the settlement agreement, anyone who purchased a Seagate HD (as a standalone - not as a part of a system), can return it and get a refund. Read more here. I've already written about the growing storage sizes. And I'm sure the deviation in size for 1Tb is bigger than 7% (just too lazy to check ).
   
   
2. Is DX 10 DOA? - This article seems to suggest that DirectX 10, the last excuse to switch to Windows Vista, is a dead technology. Several tests show DX 9, the current XP version, outperforming this gaming framework. So, what's the compelling excuse to switch to Vista now? Will Microsoft finally admit this OS was released waaaaay ahead of time and own up to it's mistake? (the way it did with Windows ME - if you remember that 1999 dud).
   
   
3. Your cash is no good here - Apple decided last week to limit iPhone purchases to 2 per customer and to not accept cash anymore, just credit cards (presumably to track the buyer and verify he's limited to 2 devices.
   
   The real reason? Apple admitted last week that about 250,000 iPhones purchased were never activated with AT&T. According to internal sources, the secret deal both companies have dictates that AT&T would pay Apple $18/month for every iPhone subscriber (on top of the $400 Apple already makes on the device itself). In return, AT&T will be able to sell the iPhone exclusively.
   It's easy to see Apple stands to lose a lot of $$$ if people hack their iPhone and use a different provider. A quick calculation will show that over 2 years (the minimum AT&T mobile contract) Apple stands to make $432 for each customer. Times 250,000 - we're talking about $108M - at least. Some what are some customer rights and privacy violations, if you stand to lose money? Is Apple is doing it's best to be the next Evil Empire?
   
   If there's a lawyer in the crowd, please comment on this: is it legal to force people to use credit cards to purchase a product? Is it legal to track their purchases countrywide (or worldwide)?
   
   
4. Oh well, here's an SDK - While on the subject of iPhone, Apple caved in and announced that it will allow 3rd party apps on the iPhone, via a new SDK to be released early next year. Talk about closing the barn door after all the animals are out. At least this time it'll be official and won't require a hack.
   
   
5. A true miniature PC - A while ago I wrote about the XO PC. I just saw a review of the ASUS Eee PC (not a typo). In one word - AMZING. I want one. And I want it now!
   Watch a review here and see the full specs and price here.
   For $400 I think I'll skip my plans to buy an iPod Touch this Christmas, add $100 and get this instead. Just imagine - I'll finally be able to use a computer in coach .

That's all for now. Next: the big 200.