The Week in Tech: Microsoft’s Surface makes impact while Facebook users reveal their biggest dislike
This week in the world of tech, we discovered what Facebook users hate the worst and pondered whether Microsoft’s Surface is an iPad killer or the next Zune.
Facebook users reveal their biggest dislike
We could list thousands of Facebook grumblings right now if you wish but the social network site’s users have been surveyed and those at MyVoucherCodes have found that the biggest gripe is over-sharing.
Whether it’s too many status updates, photos or “liking” too many pages on a daily basis, users find overly active Facebook friends to be an irritation like no other. It can become too much if you see the same person updating their status every time you log on,” said MyVoucherCodes chairman Mark Pearson. “It’s important to remember it’s not the be all and end all.”
Personally, pointless Instragrammed photos, endless boastful “checking in” and users that type “lyk dis” top the lot.
The jury is still out on Microsoft Surface
So how was Microsoft’s much-hyped unveiling of the Surface for you? Are we looking at the next iPad or does Microsoft have a costly Zune-sized failure on their hands? According to ZDNet’s Jason Purlow, Microsoft messed up by potentially cannibalising the Windows tablet market created by developer allies such as Lenovo.
“This does not reflect the actions of a company that tried so hard to shed long-held industry perceptions of being a monopolist,” wrote Purlow just hours after the unveiling of the nifty, albeit detail-light tablet.
The jury is still out for now but despite Microsoft’s Apple-imitating press conference, they decided not to announce any price point, battery life or apps for the Surface, while the tablet will not be available until the end of the year. Clearly, Microsoft still has much to learn.
Nintendo offering “insane incentives” for eShop developers
Nintendo’s early forays into the digital sphere have not exactly set the world alight but according to an unnamed developer, the Japanese giants are offering “insane incentives” for anyone wanting to offer their downloads on their 3DS eShop or upcoming Wii U service.
“They’re offering insane incentives for publishers to sell retail games as downloads on the console,” the developer said. “You’d be stupid not to take advantage of it and go retail box-only.”
Nintendo’s plan is obvious to us; offer all Wii U titles – that will likely be on the same systems as the Xbox 360 and PS3 – a much better price point or profit margin for developers and ultimately, consumers. However, we still don’t know what the hard drive storage of the Wii U is so until then, this is all purely speculation.
RIM hoping to shed jobs to the cost of $1 billion for 2013
Can we get any tired references to “RIM jobs” out of the way as soon as possible? The ailing Blackberry creators have revealed that they plan to save $1 billion in operating costs by 2013. Their method? Cutting around 2,000 jobs from the global workforce of 16,500.
Here’s their explanation: “RIM has reduced some positions as part of this programme and may continue to do so as the company methodically works through a review of the business,” the company said in a statement earlier this week.
Will it be enough to stop their floundering stock price amid recent financial losses? We’re not quite so sure though their BlackBerry 10 operating system – due later this year – could provide a much-needed boost.
