HP TouchPad Available in July

On Thursday, June 9 HP announced that it will be releasing its TouchPad tablet in The United States on Friday, July 1. The TouchPad was first revealed to the public back in February. The 9/7-inch device will come complete with a 1,024 x 768 capacitive screen, a 1.2-GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1.3 megapixel webcam, Beats Audio technology, stereo speakers, and video calling support. The device weighs 1.6 pounds and is 13.77mm thick. It will also include Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and fun features like a gyroscope, accelerometer and compass. Basically, it’s got plenty of things to keep you occupied for quite some time!

HP feels that the webOS operating system that is found in the TouchPad will set this device apart from its competitors like the Apple iPad 2, the Motorola Xoom and the RIM BlackBerry PlayBook.

"What makes HP TouchPad a compelling alternative to competing products is webOS,” said Jon Rubinstein, senior vice president and general manager, Palm Global Business Unit, HP. “The platform’s unmatched features and flexibility will continue to differentiate HP products from the rest of the market for both personal and professional use. This is only the beginning of what HP’s scale can do with webOS.”

According to HP, retailers will be stocking the Wi-Fi version of the device. Customers will have the option of the 16GB tablet for $499.99 or the 32GB tablet for $599.99. If you don’t want a Wi-Fi version of the TouchPad, HP has said that AT&T will offer a 3G version of the tablet a little later in the summer, so you could wait for that.

HP said that they will begin taking preorders for the U.S. and Europe starting Sunday, June 19, and the TouchPad will be arrive in the U.K., France, Ireland and Germany just a few days after it hits the U.S. It will also go to Canada in mid-July and Italy, Spain, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore sometime later this year.

There are a variety of stores that are expected to stock the HP tablet in the U.S. including: Best Buy, Staples, Office Depot, Walmart, Sam’s Club, OfficeMax, Amazon.com, Fry’s, Microcenter and HP’s online store.

"The iPad, which has single-handedly dominated the tablet business since its introduction last year, will account for the bulk of the DRAM demand in the market in 2011 and the following years," IHS principal DRAM and memory analyst Mike Howard noted in an email. "However, competition to the iPad is seeping into the market, driving further DRAM demand."

It will be very interesting to see how the TouchPad does when it hits the shelves. The tablet market is the place to be right now, so hopefully HP will hit a homerun with this new device.

Find out what is going on in the Tech Army World.



What are the Top 10 Money Making Missions?

What other companies have joined and what do they do?

How do I join the
Tech Army Organization ?

The Foxconn Explosion Wasn’t an Accident

Although the Chinese government had previously said that the explosion at the Foxconn factory was an accident, a Hong Kong workers advocacy group is claiming otherwise. The group alleged on Monday, May 23 that the blast was the result of Foxconn management disregarding work safety at the plant.

"The explosion is not accidental," Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) wrote in a blog post. The blog went on to condemn the conditions at Foxconn’s facilities in mainland China. It also alleged a total lack of inaction on the part of the contract computer and electronic manufacturers including Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Dell.

The explosion at Foxconn’s Chengdu facilities in southwestern China killed three people and left more than a dozen workers injured. The explosion occurred in the factory’s “polishing plant” where the aluminum cases for Apple’s iPad 2 are polished. Reports now seem to be linking the blast to combustible “ultra-light” aluminum dust.

"SACOM pinpointed the problem of the aluminum dust in the polishing department in our report in early May," the advocacy group stated. They are referring to a report that the group released on May 6, 2011. The report condemned the alleged failure of Foxconn and its partners to improve the conditions for the workers at the plant in lieu of the string of worker suicides that took place.

"Regrettably, Foxconn turns a deaf ear to SACOM's findings. After the spate of suicides, the blast also affirms Foxconn puts productivity of [the] iPad before workers' lives," the blog continued.

Apple is the most prominent customer of the factories. Foxconn, which is a subsidiary of Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry, assembles iPads, iPhones and iPods for the company; however, they also provide products for Amazon (the Kindle e-reader), Acer, Asus, Intel, Cisco, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Nintendo, Nokia, Sony and Vizio, among a variety of other clients.

In recent years, Hon Hai Precision Industry and its many high-profile customers have been under scrutiny and sparked many controversies with the worker suicide and leaked product design incidents. It was the suicides that really drew attention to the working conditions at the plants, especially its Shenzen plant, which houses more than 420,000 workers inside of the facilities.

After the suicides, Foxconn announced that they would have a series of pay raises that included a 30 percent across-the-board pay hike and a 66-percent performance-based raise for those employees who received good marks following a three-month evaluation. Some of the partners, including Apple, HP and Dell, pledged that they would monitor the pay rate changes at Foxconn to make sure that employees new pay rates, safety and overtime compensation were taken care of.

However, SACOM reported in their May 6 report that these pledges by the partners and the company have not been kept.

SACOM said that when they last visited the Foxconn facilities, there were “anti-suicide nets” in the workers' living spaces, but working conditions and promised compensation allegedly remained completely unaltered.

SACOM also said that Foxconn promised that it would provide adequate personal protective equipment for workers, but the workers do not have this protection and “are not well-informed about the chemical in use.”

SACOM called out Apple in the report that they released May 6 and the blog post that they posted May 23. They alleged that “while Apple commends the measures taken by Foxconn to improve working conditions, SACOM finds [the] predicaments of workers remain.”

"Workers always have excessive and forced overtime in order to gain a higher wage. Workers are exposed to dust from construction site[s] and shop floor[s] without adequate protection. Even worse, they are threatened by [the] potential harm of occupational diseases in various departments. Additionally, a military-styled management is still in practice, characterized by 'military training' for new workers."

According to the International Business Times, Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou said that the explosion will not cause any production delays for the iPad 2.

Close to 30 percent of Apple’s iPad 2 tablets are produced at the Chengdu plant where the explosion occurred; however, the managing director of Ticonderoga Securities said that the production of the iPad 2 will simply move to the Foxconn facility in Shenzhen. This will prevent any supply issues for Apple.

A Tech Travel Agent can get a laptop rental to you within 24 business hours in over 1000 cities worldwide. Call 800-736-8772


We have 3987 Installers, Technicians and Engineers stationed in nearly 1000 locations worldwide to serve you.XXX

Apple Predictions After Foxconn Explosion

Recently, there were predictions of Apple iPad shortages due to a lack of parts and manpower at the company’s Foxconn plant in China, but now there will most definitely be a shortage following the deadly explosions at the plant on Friday, May 20.

Analysts have predicted that iPad production could drop as much as 36 percent in the third quarter. Mike Abramsky, analyst at RBC Capital, wrote that iPad production could drop by 22-36 percent or 1.8-2.8 million devices. Citing CNN, Abramsky said that this could impact Apple’s third quarter revenue by $1.1-1.7 billion.

There have been some reports that the Foxconn plant in Chengdu will only be down for about a month. In this scenario Abramsky said that iPad supplies in the third quarter would most likely only be decreased by somewhere around 1.3 million units. This, unfortunately for Apple, is the bright side of things.

The Foxconn factory reportedly had 52 iPad production lines and had the capability to spit out more than 40 million devices a year. That will not be occurring this year though. On Friday an explosion in the facilities “polishing plant” at about 7 p.m. killed two people and injured 16. According to the Wall Street Journal, the government has ruled out the possibility of foul play as the cause of the explosion.

Foxconn has had a wide range of trouble affecting its factories. The incidents range from factory workers that committed suicide in 2010 to charges against three different employees that allegedly leaked the design of the iPad 2 to third-party accessory suppliers. Just in May, the Taiwan-based newspaper DigiTimes reported that there could be shipment delays of the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4 due to labor and part shortages.

Ever since the launch of the iPad 2, Apple has simply not been able to keep up with the demands for the device. In the first quarter earnings call, Apple was forced to report that there was a sharp decline in iPad sales, going from 7.33 million units sold in the previous quarter to 4.69 million. The chief operating officer Tim Cook was calling the iPad 2 issues “the mother of all backlogs.”

A Copier Rental is a quick way to mass produce important documents for potential customers at an event or conference. Renting office equipment is simple and easy and it can also save you loads of time and money. Rentacomputer.com has been offering copier rentals to more than 1000 cities worldwide for over 20 years.

iPad and iPhone Shortages Could Cause Shipment Delays

There could be some definite delays in the shipping of Apple products including the iPad and the iPhone. One of Apple’s key manufacturers, Foxconn, whose factory is in Chengdu, China, is reported to be dealing with a shortage of parts as well as labor.

Digitimes is saying that the alleged shortage could, and most likely will, cause a stall in the shipment of Apple products, particularly the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2. Digitimes also reported that so far Foxconn has not directly commented on the possible issue. The only thing that they have said is that "the company's capacity is being arranged fully at the request of its clients." They refused to comment on whether or not the shortages would delay the shipment of Apple products. The company also went on to say that "it has experience arranging manpower to assist its clients in reaching their goals."

Although Foxconn isn’t speaking up about the problem, recent Apple iPad news seems to indicate that the shipping delay rumors could definitely be true. In Apple’s most recent earning report, they conveyed a decrease in iPad sales. In the first quarter sales slipped from the 7.33 million units that the company sold in the fourth quarter to 4.69 million units. According to Apple’s Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, the company faced “the mother of all backlogs” with the iPad 2.

Cook even said in the earnings calls, "I wish that we could have made a lot more iPad 2s because there were a lot of people waiting for them."

The Foxconn factory that is struggling with the shortage issues reportedly has 52 different iPad production lines, and it supposedly can produce more than 40 million units a year, but obviously, things are not working out as planned.

One of the reported reasons that there have been iPad 2 supply problems is a leaky touch screen, but this issue has supposedly been fixed. Besides the comments that Cook made during Apple’s earnings report, the company has not commented on anything surrounding the issue.

Hopefully, Foxconn and Apple will figure out all of the shipping issues, and there won’t be big delays on their products; or if there are going to be major delays, I hope that the companies will be upfront and discuss the issues with the public. We’ll just have to wait to see how everything turns out.

Rack-Mount Server rentals are ideal if your company needs an extra storage unit for company information while you are testing various types of storage solutions.

Whether you need a short-term rental or a long-term lease, we have the right kind of server for your needs.

iPad Sales Slipping

Surprisingly and certainly unexpectedly, Apple’s iPad sales are slipping. They’re slipping enough that iSuppli has gone ahead and readjusted the predicted numbers of iPads that it believed Apple would sell in 2011. That’s a pretty quick decision. Is it really that bad?

At an earnings call on Wednesday, April 20 Apple reported that it had sold 4.69 million iPads in the first quarter. That seems like a ton, doesn’t it? Well, in the fourth quarter of 2010, Apple sold more than 7.33 million iPads, although you have to consider that this number includes the holiday sales.

Originally, iSuppli was predicting that Apple would sell 43.7 million iPad units in 2011, but due to the decline, AppleInsider is saying that they have dropped that forecast to 39.7 million. Before the earnings call, there were a variety of different iPad sale predictions ranging from 45 to 60 million, but I think that those numbers will be dropping very soon.

So why is it that the sales aren't meeting the expectations? One of the biggest issues seems to be that Apple simply cannot keep up with the incredible demand for the device. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer, said that Apple is dealing with “the mother of all backlogs.”

"I wish that we could have made a lot more iPad 2s because there were a lot of people waiting for them," Cook added.

The new and improved version of the device was released on March 11 in the United States, and it has been incredibly popular. It was reported that Apple sold almost a half a million iPad 2s during the first week that it was in stores, although there was a five week wait period for the device. Reports also stated that they sold out overseas just as quickly.

iSuppli said that some of the slowdown surrounding the iPad 2 was due to the quality of the touch screen LCD panels and the production shortages of the advanced speakers that went into the device. It simply was more difficult to crank out these higher quality parts. There are also rumors that Apple ran into a few manufacturing glitches that slowed down the process as well.

“When we looked at the manufacturing numbers, they must have run into some manufacturing issues, some quality issues in terms of turning those products around, because we didn't see the volume manufactured that we expected to see in the first quarter," said Rhoda Alexander, the director of monitor research at iSuppli.

Some might question whether or not the 8.9-magnitude earthquake that devastated Japan could have caused some production delays as well, but Apple claims that this had no effect on the manufacturing of the device. It was rumored that Apple was being forced to pay extra to ensure smooth shipping of the iPad 2 parts that they received from their Japanese suppliers, but Cook claimed that the disastrous event did not have any kind of impact on supply or cost for Apple.

Although iSuppli has decreased its prediction of sales in 2011, the 2012 predictions have gone up. Previously, it was forecasting that 61.6 million units would be sold in 2012, but they have now increased that number to 62.6 million.

It’s interesting that although there has been a decline in iPad sales, Apple is reporting record earnings. They recently reported profits of $5.99 billion, which is a 95 percent increase over the same time period last year.

It doesn't matter if iPad sales do continue to slip; I think that it is safe to say that Apple will somehow make it through.

Put your eye on the problem with Camera Security Now, installing security cameras since 1999. We install in the US and we can help you do it yourself.

Call us toll free 877-422-1907 between 8am EST and 5pm PST M-F. Talk to an expert about your serious security camera needs.

Is the iPad a Necessary Business Tool?

What do you think? Is the iPad a bad business tool? According to Dell and HP, it is. This week, both of these technology giants criticized Apple’s enterprise strategy. "Apple is great if you've got a lot of money and live on an island. It's not so great if you have to exist in a diverse, open, connected enterprise; simple things become quite complex," said Dell’s global marketing chief Andy Lark. In an interview with CRN Stephen DeWitt, senior vice president of HP Americas Solution Partners Organization, said "Apple's relationship with partners is transactional, completely. Apple doesn't have an inclusive philosophy of partner capabilities, and that's just absurd."

On Thursday, March 31 there was a sort of rebuttal against these criticisms when SmithBucklin, a global company that deals with managing anything from the basic logistics to event promotion of trade shows, took on the role as the first company to place an entire order for iPad 2s. So, why did SmithBucklin choose the iPad 2?

They say that one of the main reasons for choosing the iPad 2 over a tablet like the Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom, etc. was because they wanted to boost the use of social media among their employees. "We wanted to make sure our employees were actually walking the walk and not just talking the talk," Mike Nikolich, SmithBucklin's chief marketing officer, said. "We advise our clients all the time on managing blogs, commenting, updating Facebook pages, etc.” "Ultimately we see the iPad 2 as a productivity tool. It's a lot easier to bring the tablet on the train or out of town for work, and lots of people here already use them during meetings."

Nikolich went on to say that most of the 600 employees at SmithBucklin will receive an iPad 2. He also said that almost half of the office already owns an original iPad, but when given the opportunity to have the new iPad 2, 95 percent of the employees chose the upgraded tablet. "It's so new, there's still the 'wow' factor," he said. He also said that his company’s interaction with Apple was minimal because there was very little integration work needed. "Honestly, direct contact with Apple did not have an impact in our decision."

So again I pose the question…what do you think? Do you feel that the iPad 2 is a useful business tool? It’s a very expensive tool. I know that for sure. I think that it can definitely be useful tool, but there are many other things that can do the same job. Yes, it’s convenient access to social media outlets, but can’t laptops and computers and even smartphones do the same thing? If your business has plenty of money to spend on things like iPads, then by all means, go for it, but I don’t think that the average corporation is going to be sending Apple orders for iPads for all of their employees. Maybe someday in the future, when iPads are cheaper, this could be a possibility, but for now, I think most companies will be waiting.

Projector Rentals Are Great for Business Meetings

Most business class projectors will do a good job displaying your PowerPoint presentation. If you have a small presentation group, a 2000 lumen LCD projector will be able to produce a nice and clear picture. For larger audiences you should consider a 5000 lumen LCD projector.

Thinking of Trading in Your Original iPad?

Are you thinking about getting the new iPad 2 and don’t know what to do with your original iPad? Well, now there is an option. Best Buy and Target are both offering an iPad buyback program that allows iPad owners to trade in their original iPads for in-store credit or a check.

Target is only offering an in-store credit for trade-ins. Owners will receive the maximum amount of credit for fully functional iPads that are turned in with their original boxes. You can either go to Target’s Mobile Stand (there are currently 850 in 1,490 Target stores nationwide) or Target’s trade-in e-store if you want to trade in your old iPad.

Target also mentioned that their REDCard 5 percent discount program will apply to the iPad 2.

Listed below are the maximum values that Target is offering as an in-store credit which you can receive when you trade in your old iPad:

iPad WiFi 16GB (original price: $499) – $194
iPad WiFi 32GB ($599) -- $229
iPad WiFi 64GB ($629) -- $257
iPad WiFi + 3G 16GB ($699) -- 229
iPad WiFi + 3G 32GB ($729) -- $264
iPad WiFi + 3G 64GB ($829) -- $303

Best Buy's longstanding trade-in program offers the choice of either an in-store credit or a mailed check. Listed below are the maximum values that Best Buy is offering for your iPad without the box:

iPad WiFi 16GB -- gift card: $230; check: $150
iPad WiFi 32GB -- gift card: $275; check: $179
iPad WiFi 64GB -- gift card: $311; check: $202
iPad WiFi + 3G 16GB -- gift card: $275; check: $179
iPad WiFi + 3G 32GB -- gift card: $320; check:$ 208
iPad WiFi + 3G 64GB -- gift card: $370; check: $240

Put your eye on the problem with Camera Security Now, installing security cameras since 1999. We install in the US and we can help you do it yourself.

Call us toll free 877-422-1907 between 8am EST and 5pm PST M-F. Talk to an expert about your serious security camera needs.

$100 Refund for Recent Purchases of the Original iPad

So you did it. You have had enough of working on the go and lugging your laptop around with you, so you broke down and finally bought an iPad. The bad news? The iPad 2 was literally just released and the original iPad got a pretty price cut. I bet in your mind you are spouting some pretty obscene curse words but alas, I have some very very good news for you. If you recently purchased a first generation iPad, then you may qualify for a $100 refund.

That's right, Apple is offering a $100 refund to customers who purchased the iPad at its former price according to a customer service representative from Apple. The refund, which will be applied directly to your credit card, applies to each and every single version of the first generation iPad.

But like most good news in the world, there is a catch. According to the customer service representative, who recently spoke with CNET, Apple is only offering the $100 refund to anybody who purchased a first generation iPad within 14 days of the March 2nd announcement of the iPad 2. There was no official date given by the customer service representative but if you do your math right, that cut-off date would seemingly be February 16th.

The iPad 2, which comes with some serious updates including two cameras, a dual-core processor and either a black or white finish, is scheduled to hit store shelves on March 11th for a base price of $499. Apple also released a statement yesterday that it has started selling first generation iPad models for $100 less than their previous price tags, which is where the $100 refund comes in.

If you purchased your iPad online, then you need to call Apple customer service to process the refund according to the customer service representative. Customers who purchased iPads from a store must bring their receipt with them to the store they purchased it from in order to receive their refunds.

Source: cnet News - Apple giving $100 refund on recent iPad purchases

SMBnow.com is news of, for and by SMBs!
SMBnow.com... The Small & Medium Business Magazine!