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Apple tops ACSI personal computer list for 11th straight year
This shouldn't come as surprising news to anyone who has watched Apple's sales figures over the past decade or so, but the company has just ended up at the top of the American Customer Satisfaction Index list for personal computers, laptops and tablets. This marks the eleventh year in a row that Apple has topped the list, but there was a slightly ominous tone to the numbers as the score dropped from 87 in 2013 to 84 this year. Dell is the second single company on the list with a score of 76, dropping from a 2013 score of 79. HP is now at the bottom of the list of major manufacturers, falling from 80 to 74 in just one year. Oddly enough, smaller PC and tablet manufacturers including Samsung, Lenovo and Asus are close behind Apple. Those companies make up a group called "all others" and saw a sizable increase in their ACSI score from 76 last year to 82 in 2014. Overall, customer satisfaction with the personal computer category dropped 1.3 percent. ACSI noted that "as the early enthusiasm with tablets wears off, customer satisfaction dips" with desktop computers leading the satisfaction numbers. The ACSI report is available for free (registration required) here.
Notion Ink quietly releases Cain, a 10.1-inch Windows 8 tablet
The Notion Ink Adam was a tablet with big dreams, but it hit the market with a loud flop. It's successor, the Adam II, whooshed by with almost no public notice at all. Now the company is back, but it's not trying to redesign the Android tablet anymore. No, this time the company is building a Windows 8 tablet: the Notion Ink Cain. The Cain is a 10.1-inch, 1.8GHz Intel Atom-powered tablet with 2GB of RAM, 32GB of expandable storage and a detachable magnetic keyboard. Despite a sleek design and a rather snazzy folding keyboard case, however, the Cain appears to be a fairly straightforward implementation of Windows 8: no custom apps, or skinned interface included. Less bold than the company's other ventures, but less risky too. There's no mention of the new tablet on Notion Ink's website, but it's currently available for order at Snapdeal, one of India's most popular online marketplaces. Interested? The slate can be had for 19,990 Indian Rupees, or about $327. Check out the full product page at the source link below.
Intel's building a reference tablet for Android developers
Looking for a new, stable and regularly updated slate to develop on? Intel has your back. The company says it's been working with Google to create the "Intel Reference Design for Android," a developer tablet designed to help device manufactures and developers get their products to market as fast as possible. "What we've done with Google is defined a list of components," Intel's Doug Fisher explained. "And then Intel builds a complete operating environment, a complete stack on top of that device." The partnership and pre-approved components allows Intel to promise that its reference tablets will pass Google Media Services standards, making it easy for OEMs using the device as a base to do the same.
Acer's trio of new tablets includes a $150 Windows slate
Acer's taken more than a passing fancy to Chrome OS of late, but at this year's IFA, the company's showing a rekindled love for its affordable tablet range. Its first new slates since the beginning of the year come in two sizes, with the more portable 8-inch form factor also offering a choice of platform. The Iconia One Tab 8 runs Android 4.4 KitKat on a quad-core Intel Atom processor (the Z3735G, if you're interested), with an 8-inch, 1,280 x 800 IPS display up front. Otherwise, it's got most of the standard features you'd expect on a tablet, like a pair of cameras and microSD slot for storage expansion. Now picture essentially the same hardware configuration, but instead running Windows 8.1 with Bing, and you've got the Iconia Tab 8 W. Successor to the Iconia W4, the Tab 8 W also boasts up to eight hours of battery life and one free year of Office 365. Whether you prefer Google's or Microsoft's OS, both 8-inch slates will launch next month in Europe for €150, and in the US in November for $150.
Report: More Dragon Quest mobile ports on the way
Square Enix's mobile ports of Dragon Quest 4 and Dragon Quest 8 must not have strained the publisher's budget too terribly, as Game Informer reports the RPG nostalgia train will keep running on mobile devices. According to the report, a mobile port of the first DQ is due within the next few weeks, though it's to be based on a 2004 remake that was for Japanese mobile devices. The report also claims that versions of DQ2 and DQ3 will follow in the coming months. It's fair to assume Square Enix will exhaust the numerical DQ lineup until they catch up to DQ8, but there could be an interesting exception: according to the report, DQ mobile producer Noriyoshi Fujimoto has said that DQ7 is "technically impossible" to port at this time due to its volumes of text. The report also states that the DQ games that do arrive on phones and tablets will be tweaked to be more accommodating, with frequent saves, tweaked encounter rates and boosted experience payouts among the adjustments. Unfortunately, we're still without word on whether the briefly-popular Dargon Quest spinoff series will ever see a successor. [Image: Square Enix]
iOS users are the biggest porn hounds
Which smartphone users partake in mobile pornography the most? According to Pornhub's data, the majority of the site's smartphone traffic comes from Android users, who make up just over 48%. iOS, trails behind with a little over 40%, while the remainder is made up of Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and other platforms. But while Android has the biggest slice of the porn pie, it doesn't tell the whole story. If you take into account smartphone market share -- where Android thoroughly dominates iOS thanks to countless budget handsets a plethora of manufacturers -- Android users actually don't watch all that much porn. On the other hand, while iOS makes up less than 12% of worldwide smartphone market share, it accounts for 40% of Pornhub's traffic. iOS users are indeed the most porn-hungry. This trend is further amplified when tablets are analyzed, as the iPad's domination of the market results in over 77% of Pornhub's tablet traffic coming from an Apple device. Android makes up just 21%, and Windows tablets account for less than half of a percent. In short, you're a bunch of filthy, filthy individuals. I'm proud of you.
Juniper says tablet gaming revenue to triple by 2019, top $13 billion
Want to see an industry triple its sales in just five years? Keep an eye on tablet gaming, because that's what Juniper Research is predicting will happen by 2019. The typically well-regarded research firm claims that this year's revenue figure for tablet gaming -- a healthy $3.6 billion -- will hit $13.3 billion in just five years' time. Juniper points to increasingly powerful tablets, higher storage capacities, and improved internet speeds across the globe as contributing factors to the booming growth of tablet gaming. At the same time, the firm suggests that PC and console gaming revenues will actually shrink by several billion dollars, though at over $40 billion across the industry, it will still far outperform tablets. I also have to imagine that the strong drive of free-to-play games plays into the rapid growth as well, with casual gamers throwing huge amounts of cash at games like Kim Kardashian's Hollywood. Without consumers willing to pay into the same game repeatedly over the course of weeks or months, it might be a very different story. [via GamesIndustry]
Los Angeles freezes its iPad program for schools
Los Angeles' grand dreams of putting iPads in schools came into question a month ago, and they've now come to a screeching halt. Superintendent John Deasy has suspended a contract with Apple to both "take advantage of an ever-changing marketplace" (read: diversify hardware) and, crucially, to investigate recently raised ethical concerns. Allegedly, both Deasy and a top deputy have close links to executives at both Apple and curriculum provider Pearson, calling the whole iPad program into question; it suggests that officials were doing personal favors rather than taking kids' needs into account. Deasy is quick to claim that his team was only working closely with Apple and Pearson on the pilot, not the contract, and offered a deal to another major vendor. Whether or not that's true, the suspension suggests that the vision of an iPad in every LA classroom may never come to pass -- it's more likely that the broader device selection is here to stay. [Image credit: Schooltechnology.org/Lexie Flickinger, Flickr]
Modbook will let you convert your Retina MacBook Pro to a tablet for $1,999
Modbook, the company behind those aftermarket Apple tablets, just launched a Kickstarter campaign for its latest product, the Modbook Pro X. After paying a pre-order price of $1,999 today, backers will be able to convert their own Retina MacBook Pros into a tablet beginning early next year. The conversion incorporates the laptop's original hardware, with components shifted from the lower half of the computer to just behind the 15.4-inch 2,880 x 1,800-pixel LCD.
Co-op's trolley-mounted tablets want answers
Tablets are everywhere these days -- so much so that bolting one to a shopping trolley isn't even a novel idea. Sainsbury's previously used slates to keep shoppers entertained while ambling the aisles, and now a new trial at a handful of Co-operative Food stores wants customers to get more interactive with trolley-mounted tablets. Unfortunately, they don't sound like they'll spice up your weekly shopping routine much, given the tablets will ask for your feedback on store layout and product selection, as well as solicit your opinions on "a series of societal issues" like sustainable food. Basically, it fires market research questions at you. Beyond the novelty factor, we doubt many shoppers will be interested in completing a survey while they're struggling to find a ripe avocado, but at least it's something to keep the kids distracted.
Engadget Daily: OS X Yosemite, the top 12 tablets available and more!
Today, we take OS X Yosemite public beta for a test-run, learn about robots in the American workforce, look at the top 12 tablets available and mull an interesting YouTube copyright infringement lawsuit. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
PC giant Lenovo halts US sales of small Windows tablets (update: they'll be back)
Lenovo has pulled all of its smaller Windows tablets from US shelves, citing a lack of demand. The world's largest Windows computer maker had two models on the market: the 8-inch, stylus-equipped Miix 2 and the ThinkPad 8. A spokesman told PC World that it'll shuttle remaining stock of both of those models over to developing countries where "demand has been much stronger." Lenovo will continue to sell all its other Windows-based tablets stateside, like the 10-inch Miix 2 convertible and ThinkPad 10, saying those models are selling well stateside. It's fair to say consumers won't miss the ThinkPad 8 anyway, as the model was saddled with terrible battery life and other issues. Ironically, Microsoft recently made Windows free for devices 9-inches in size or smaller -- but clearly the price was just one issue consumers had with small Windows tablets. Update: Or maybe not. In a new statement posted to its website, Lenovo says "we are not getting out of the small-screen Windows tablet business as was reported by the media." Apparently it is no longer selling the ThinkPad 8 in the US, and the Miix 8-inch is sold out, but the plan is to still have 8- and 10-inch tablets this holiday, in the US and elsewhere.
Entropia Universe comes to smartphones with pet battle system
If you couldn't get enough of Entropia Universe's RMT-based virtual world gameplay on your PC, the devs have announced today that the game will soon be coming to several additional platforms, including smartphones and tablets. Through the new Competitive Pet (ComPet) system, players can battle their pets through various "maturity and price levels available to fit players of all types, including a free-to-play version." Before the ComPet system is launched, 200,000 ComPet deeds will be sold at 100 Project Entropia Dollars (10 USD) each and players will earn 30% of all deeded pet revenue. ComPet is set to be available in Q1 of 2015.
LA school officials shift from free iPads to laptops and hybrids
An iPad for every student was the plan. Then, some students were too smart for their own good, quickly enabling their for-learnin' iPads to access to anything on the web, including Twitter, Facebook and all that other fun stuff. LA's school district now plans to differentiate what it offers its students, authorizing purchases for one of six different devices, including laptops and hybrids such as Chromebooks, Microsoft's Surface Pro 2 and Lenovo's Yoga Touch. This fall, teachers and students will test these laptops to see if they fit. "The benefit of the new approach is clear," said Los Angeles school board member Monica Ratliff, talking to the LA Times. "Why would we treat all our students - whether they are a first-grader or a high school freshman - as if they all had the same technology needs? They don't."
A new Trapper Keeper is coming this September, and it's built for tablets
For some, each new school year brought a about a specific kind of dilemma. No, we aren't talking about picking out what to wear on the first day, we mean choosing a new Trapper Keeper. To stoke those flames of indecision and nostalgia, the folks at Kensington have teamed up with Mead, the team behind the original Trapper, and Pee Chee to bring you a line of cases that likely fit whatever 7-inch, 8-inch and 10-inch tablet you may have. The cases come in a handful of designs straight from the '80s, and they're sure induce flashbacks of scratching the name of last week's crush off the front of your catch-all binder. Perhaps even better, they're priced between $25 and $30 and start shipping this September. Fingers are crossed that these take off and we get a sweet Lisa Frank collection next -- with Velcro flaps!
Engadget Daily: LG G3 review, Xbox One performance and more!
Today, we review LG's latest handset, gain insight into how significantly the Kinect affects the Xbox One's performance, go hands-on with Google's secretive 3D-mapping tablet and learned about the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Use a screen guard: iOS used to watch more adult content than Android
Apple has gone to great lengths to keep adult content out of the iOS store, from censoring comic books to banning apps that cross their guidelines. Steve Jobs even famously said "folks who want porn can buy an Android phone," but where there is a will there is a way, and thanks to the proliferation of streaming adult content there are a lot of ways. According to data released by the online smut peddlers at Pornhub, Safari for iOS is used more than any other mobile phone browser for viewing the site. Safari for iOS accounts for 38% of mobile phone browser traffic, which is a big number but still within range of the 29.4% of traffic that Android browser makes up. Chrome meanwhile makes up 18%. On tablets however, it's a not even remotely close. Safari for iOS makes up a staggering 73% of all tablet traffic to the adult website. Android's browser only makes up 7.8%, with Chrome taking 13.6%. The moral of the story seems to be there's no way to truly stop the desires of the users of your technology. Jobs might have wanted iOS to be a pure space, but ultimately policing the app store can only achieve so much. Regardless, Steve Jobs would probably be disappointed with iPad users right about now. If you'd like to read the report yourself, you can find it here. Please keep in mind that even if the blog itself is just data, the site itself is still very Not Safe For Work.
HP's 7 Plus is a $100 Jelly Bean tablet
Cheap Android tablets are a dime a dozen these days, but HP's targeting the budget market with its own $100 slate. The 7 Plus, a low-end 7-inch tablet, isn't going to blow you away with performance, but it should be perfectly sufficient for email, web browsing and basic apps. There's a quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8 gigs of internal storage and expandability via a microSD slot. You also get a 1024 x 600 IPS display, low-res front and rear-facing cameras, WiFi and 25 gigs of lifetime cloud storage, courtesy of Box. It's available in the US now for $99.99, with free shipping to boot.
Engadget Daily: Microsoft Surface Pro 3, Voice over LTE and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours – all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
OnLive cuts price of CloudLift subscription fee nearly in half
OnLive launched CloudLift last month, a service that lets users stream its selection of games from capable machines to devices that wouldn't normally be able to play them - think tablets and underpowered computers. CloudLift used to cost $14.99 a month, but that subscription fee has been slashed to $7.95, presumably because price drops are awesome. Saints Row 4, Batman: Arkham Origins and The LEGO Movie Videogame serve as highlights among Cloudlift's offerings, all of which can be streamed from Steam if you own copies of the games there. Given that your interest in Cloudlift likely depends on whether the service stands up to your expectations, you can try a free 7-day trial by finding CloudLift in the OnLive application's Market. [Image: OnLive]
