InaFried
Latest
Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky: Windows 8 PCs are better value than Apple
AllThingsD's Ina Fried was on hand for Microsoft's full day of Windows 8 fun yesterday, and she reports that Microsoft exec Steven Sinofsky enjoyed pointing out how the new Windows 8 PCs deliver better value than Apple's products. Sinofsky said that there are "full-featured Windows 8 laptops that sell for $279. These are fantastic machines. At that price, you can get a computer good enough to last a student through college." Microsoft is betting its future on Windows 8, an OS designed from the ground up to run both on desktop and laptop machines as well as tablets. Windows 8 now features a built-in software store, something that Mac users have had since January 6, 2011. Sinofsky told the assembled press that there were "tons of thin, light, touchscreen Ultrabooks that sell for hundreds less than a MacBook Air," noting that it was "engineering work that drives the cost down." Apparently low price isn't a factor for consumers, who were responsible for FY 2012 sales of Apple's Mac line being 1 percent higher than last year's sales, while the PC market in general saw a drop in sales of 8 percent. During yesterday's Apple earnings call, Apple's Tim Cook managed a good retort at Microsoft's Surface tablet. In pointing out that the device makes compromises by trying to be both a PC and a tablet, he said "You could design a car that flies and floats, but I don't think it would do either of those things very well."
Siri, Google Translate act as travel companions for AllThingsD blogger
AllThingsD's Ina Fried was in Taipei over the weekend, and she took along both an iPhone 4S and an Android device with Google Translate onboard. What she found is that both of the devices and their accompanying software were very good travel companions. Google Translate (free) is also available for iOS devices, and it's an amazing piece of software. As Fried notes, she was able to ask an electronics dealer what the difference was between two models of Fuji cameras by speaking to the HTC Salsa running Google Translate. The response from the salesperson was a bit confusing -- "Outside" -- but Fried quickly noticed that he was referring to the fact that the cameras were identical except for the external case. Fried ran into one of the unfortunate issues of Siri right now, however, which is the inability to do local searches outside of the U.S. She was able to use the iPhone 4S as her primary camera on the trip and ask Siri to set an alarm for the next morning. After Siri set the alarm, Fried thanked Siri, "feeling like it was the right thing to do." Siri's response? "I live to serve."
