michaelwyres.com » Gadgets

The Only Way Forward for BlackBerry?

Michael Wyres — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 09:27:51 +0000

Ever since Research in Motion (RIM) pushed aside its two co-CEOs in favour of Thorsten Heins earlier this year, many analysts have been pondering how the maker of the once-popular BlackBerry smartphone family might bring itself back from the brink of extinction.

Certainly, the traction gained in the smartphone market by Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, and even Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 (WP7), has had a crushing effect on the position of RIM in that market.

The steady, yet rapid fall of mobile phone operating systems such as the BlackBerry OS, Palm/WebOS, and even to a lesser extent Nokia’s ageing Symbian offering, has shown that the current market simply isn’t prepared to support a fourth major mobile operating system.

So what exactly can Thorsten Heins do to bring RIM back from the edge of the abyss, if the market doesn’t care for another mobile OS?

In a nutshell, if you can’t beat them – (and RIM won’t) – join them!

What RIM should really be doing is developing applications to run on iOS, Android, and WP7 to deliver the popular Blackberry functionality on those platforms.

People use iOS, Android and WP7 because they like them, and really want to use them, so new handsets from RIM aren’t likely to be the answer.

The answer is to bring the unique features of the BlackBerry – the features that made them popular – to the popular handsets.

Find just the right price point for those applications, and a new chapter for RIM might be just around the corner.

But they don’t have long – or people will forget about them completely.

When Your Music Really Blows!

Michael Wyres — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:36:39 +0000

I was wandering around Bunnings this afternoon, after finding a price on a new mixer tap to replace a seriously stuffed tap in our kitchen, when I happened upon this little gem of tackiness:

A tower fan. With an “MP3 Input” – more likely, just a 3.5mm audio input jack.

And speakers. And a clock. Probably has alarms too!

Who would buy such a thing?

Too. Damn. Funny.

Yes, The Solar Panels Work

Michael Wyres — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:32:22 +0000

We’ve just received our first power bill since the installation of our solar panels.

I think they are working.

It’s better than half of the same quarter last year, and not covering a full quarterly period.

Looking forward to the next power bill!

Zap! I Think This Powerboard is Broken!

Michael Wyres — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 01:54:16 +0000

Amidst some recent project work for a major Melbourne hospital network, I stumbled across this powerboard in the engineering department of one of the hospital campuses.

Given I found it in the engineering department, I’m sure it was there due to the “degraded” state it was in – (ie: taken out of service) – but given this particular campus specialised in aged care, I started wondering what caused the “degradedness” of the unit.

Gladys stuck her fork in it? Alfred tried to water it?

However it was done, not a bad effort.

Optus: ICS for Original Galaxy Tab “Soon”

Michael Wyres — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 23:41:03 +0000

Good news for owners Optus-branded versions of the original Samsung Galaxy Tab – (myself included) – with news that the latest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) coming to the device “soon”.

I commented on Twitter over the weekend that my device had finally updated from Froyo to Gingerbread, but lamented that it wasn’t taken all the way up to the latest ICS.

Then comes this tweet back this morning from Optus:

Sweet.

iOS5 Over The Air Updating

Michael Wyres — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:02:15 +0000

Well, we’ve had Apple release the first delta update to iOS5, so we can now see “over the air” updating for the first time – and I was impressed.

Only 44.2mb, downloaded, verified, and installed in 13 minutes on an iPhone 4 – (not a 4S) – and all is well.

Certainly beats plugging it in and downloading 650Mb all the time! Nice one Apple.

Heap Big Wind Turbine

Michael Wyres — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:54:23 +0000

In the last couple of days, the strangest looking wind turbine has been erected in North Geelong.

Or is that a sub-space transmitter?

Holy Levitation Batman!

Michael Wyres — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 22:03:30 +0000

I was just pointed towards this really cool video about quantum levitation.

The possibilities for transportation systems alone are mind boggling.

Awesomesauce.