The Geography of Apple v. Samsung

I'm writing my post from my "13-inch Late 2007 MacBook" while I follow updates regarding Tropical Storm Isaac on my iPad 2. I have my iPhone 3GS within arm's reach as my iPhone is the only phone I own. While appreciate Apple's devices, I am not an Apple fanboy. I cut my proverbial teeth on MS-DOS and PC-DOS, have experience in Sun Microsystem's Solaris (both Unix and x86 flavors), in IBM's AIX (another Unix flavor), and have used a variety of Linux versions. However, due in part to wide-spread adoption of Microsoft programing and operating system environments, I have some experience with every MS OS since Windows 3.

Apple's victory over Samsung will have some interesting ramifications for the technology industry, some good, some not so good, and some bad.

Of some note is the disparity in international legal decisions with respect to Apple's legal claims as pertains to their patents. Most Americans may not be aware Apple has sued Samsung not only in the United States, but in Germany, in Italy, in the UK, in South Korea, in France, in the Netherlands, and in Australia.

Apple won an injunction in Germany against Samsung and the Galaxy Tab 10.1. However, Apple itself is being sued by Motorola over push-notification technology in Germany. Motorola developed a push-notification technology for pagers upon which current push-notification technology is based. Sort of.

In Europe, and in South Korea, Apple has not made much headway in patent battles. The reason behind their inability to find favor abroad seems to be related to courts abroad being immune to notions that rounded corners should be a patentable feature.

Abroad, patenting environments are considerably different than in the United States. In the United States, an idea sketched on a napkin has the potential of being patented. A square or rectangle with arrows denoting various features has the potential of being enough to capture a patent license. Writing a bit of software code has the potential of being patented.

The idea behind patenting is to protect a real and useful "concrete" technology from being stolen by others and to provide the developer time enough to recover costs and make a little money. The idea must be able to be engineered and  implemented. The idea must represent a new and unique advancement of the natural sciences. In other words, mathematical formulas, business processes, the presentation of information, and software cannot be patented. Yet, another way, you cannot hold a formula or process in your hand; you can hold the tangible outcome of the utilization of a process in your hand, but not the process itself.

Are consumers really so dumb as to think the Samsung is literally a generic iPhone?

Can a shape be patentable? Should a shape be patentable? Should a gesture be patentable?

My response to the above is, no, shapes and gestures are "open source." In other words, they are not unique and represent no form of technological enhancement or contribution. In fact, language is "open source," too.

If language were not "open source" imagine the complexity of paying people who license every word imaginable and also licensed every permutation of every possible letter combination which might result in a new word. Every author would become instantly bankrupt.

Yet, in the United States, that seems to be where we are heading. The US Patent Office allows companies to patent their software code. Allowing patenting of software code is much like allowing Stephen King to patent all the words in his books so no one else could use those books. What S King does is copy-protect his stories, and to some extent he is offered protection from other writers deriving verbatim his works. Musicians cannot copyright the notes they use, but they can copyright the composition and lyrics.

In Europe and abroad, computer languages are seen much like spoken or written languages. Companies are limited as to what they can protect with software patents. Code which accesses a DVD drive, or a software port, or a mouse, or calculates the volume of a sphere - I'm sure there are better examples cannot be patented simply because of the finite number of ways such events can occur. To sue someone because of button placement, button appearance, or button behavior is simply asinine in most European countries because these do not meet the criteria of being new and unique advancements.

In the United States, though, we seem to be heading down the path where even small snippets of code are patentable.

Take the Oracle v. Google lawsuit related to Java. Google was able to eke out a winning decision v. Oracle. In Europe, a similar lawsuit would doubtfully succeeded, as well. The judge did say the judgment did not apply to all APIs, however. The European High Court ruled against the US company SAS, stating "a computer language or the functionality of a computer program cannot be copyrighted."

The theme behind my comments reflects the changes the US patent system must implement to ensure and promote innovation and squelch those who simply want to be paid for property which is falsely labeled as "intellectual." Rounding edges, pinching screens, and vague descriptions of techniques for communicating using copper wire or via wireless communication networks need to be filtered before entering the patent system.

"Oh, a smoothed rectangle works well in pockets, briefcases, and backpacks. Now, let's build a brilliant phone"

One comment I read this morning hinted the decision might be a good one for the industry. The judgment against Samsung will foster MORE innovation, not less, the contributor argued, because people will have to be more creative to avoid Apple's design elements. Companies need to stop jumping on the bandwagon, for sure. Samsung is a global telecommunications company and has been a dominant player in the smartphone market. True, Samsung made some very bad choices which essentially gave the jury no choice but to find in Apple's favor. However, if Samsung had simply said, "Oh, a smoothed rectangle works well in pockets, briefcases, and backpacks. Now, let's build a brilliant phone" they probably would have been OK. Instead, they opted to nearly reverse engineer an iPhone, which is really dumb, and now Samsung's own stupidity has brought a queasiness sense of dread to an entire technology sector, putting everyone on edge. Hopefully, though, the verdict will act as a cold splash of Reality in the faces of technology design teams around the world. "Oh, shit, we've been mesmerized by Apple. Duh. OK, everyone lets get creative."

As a direct result of the decision, lawyers will undoubtedly play an even bigger role in technology design simply to prevent further patent legal issues. Is this really good for innovation, to have more legalese involved simply to make sure Technology A does not "steal" from Technology B? Do we really want lawyers designing our technology?

"No, the radius of the curve is 0.57. The i6 has a curve radius of 0.54. That is only an 8% difference; that will never hold up in court. Your going to have to use a chamfered corner, instead.

No, you cannot use rounded icons. Let me consult the list of open source shapes, and those shape which have yet to be patented. Hmm, well, octogons are out. The octogon shape has been patented by the UFC. Uhm, no pentagons, either. Homeland Security doesn't want terrorists to be constantly reminded of what the Department of Defense building looks like. No triangles, either; GLBT have patented all triangle variants and most shades of pink and purple. Well, I'm going to have to get back to you on this."

All of this might seem silly, yet in light of swimmer Ryan Lochte wanting to patent the word "Jeah!" my comments seem pretty realistic.

Patents, in a sense, create a monopoly for the owner. In a corporate sense, hegemony, which is worse. Hegemony means complete ownership and domination. An examination of Apple's suits worldwide, as I discussed earlier, almost argues Apple is looking not simply for protection of intellectual property but complete hegemony over the global telecommunications markets, using local, regional, national, and international court systems.

I realize the jury made their judgment based on current US legal doctrine. The judgment might be "lawful" but was their judgment "prudent?" Recently, the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Brievik was sentenced to 21 years in prison for his crimes, the maximum legal judgement in Norway. In the United States, with 100% surety Breivik would have spent his remaining days in prison, or been executed. In Norway, Breivik's sentence was "lawful" in that he was punished to the maximum Norwegian courts allow, but was his punishment in proportion to the deaths of 77 people, most of them schoolchildren? That is my point. Sometimes, what is lawful is not necessarily proportional to the crime nor prudent.

Sidenote: Breivik will probably never again see the light of day. After commenting in court he didn't kill enough people, the judges will most likely extend his sentence. In Norway, while the maximum sentence is 21 years, options exist for extending prison terms by 5-year increments.

Patents were designed to be granted for tangible objects which represent new and unique technologies developed from knowledge of the natural sciences. A CD, or DVD, or Blu-Ray, or SD card reflect patentable materials. However, patent laws in effect today have not changed much to account for technology, innovation, or rapidly changing global economies. Pharmaceuticals are in the same IP/Patent boat which affects the prices we pay for medication, potentially keeping them artificially higher than they should be.

The patent process needs to be fully examined to ensure fair and equitable standards are implemented which work to the benefit of designers, developers, and consumers.

The Monkeys of Typewriter Island

I write because I think. My thoughts need a form. I give them a form through the laborious machinations of word selection, ordering, and penning them on some hard- or soft copy media, following generations old rules.

My favorite author of all-time is Ray Bradbury. His prose is poetry. The meter, tone, tenor and lyrical nature of his writing captivated me early in my life. Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke are my other literary gods; Bradbury will always remain the pinnacle of the trinity for me.

Reading is a passion of mine. As a youth, I would hide under my covers with a flashlight so as to prevent any light from spilling out under my door, giving away my late night foray into adventure. Another decent trick was to take clothes from my dresser and push them against the bottom of my door. I would read into the wee hours, through Royals baseball, and into the radio show which dealt mostly about UFOs, Bigfoot, and government conspiracies.

My father asks, "Why do you buy so many books? Why don't you just use the library?"

The library was my home away from home, growing up. Located beneath a grocery store in a shopping center three blocks from home, I would spend hours every day during summer vacation reading and wandering among the shelves. Little stickers on the binding would give goers a hint about the book; a magnifying glass was "mystery," a rocket ship meant "science fiction." Other stickers might have existed, those were the two I cared about. I would read my books, write the titles on a pre-lined form, and upon reaching 25 titles, I would turn the list in to the librarian and I would receive a free book from a selection of brand-new books arranged on a table near the check-out counter.

But, for me, the library also had a downside. I had to give the books back. Spending a day, or three, or a week, developing a relationship with the characters, and indirectly the author, and then having to give the book back felt appalling. Would you play with a puppy for two or three days, then return the puppy to the shelter? Some would, I imagine. Not me. Characters, themes, scenes, story arcs, and the energy the author placed into developing his or her fictional world was a relationship to me, albeit a very one-sided relationship.

For some, sure, reading is purely entertainment, nothing more and nothing less. I am no different. However, I also consider the time, effort, energy which a book has been imbued by the author. A book is not merely a pulp-based product containing letters and words arranged in clever ways. Well, actually some books are not much more than a collection of words which at first blush appear to be intelligently arranged yet upon further inspection lend credibility to the existence of The Monkeys of Typewriter Island. I think Typewriter Island might be part of the Self-Publishing Archipelago; being a geographer one might think my geography skills should be more attuned.

For some, those who don't read and their counterparts, those who don't write, writing is seen not simply as drudgery but as a form of torture. I'm pretty sure water-boarding of most Americans would be unnecessary:

"You have a choice: write a 3-pg essay on the Man vs. Nature elements of The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, or water-boarding."

I'm pretty sure most college students would elect water-boarding.

In my college-level geography classes I pose the following essay question:

You are a technology entrepreneur and have been working out of your garage for the last 18 months developing a new technology. You wife and family have had enough, and thankfully, you now have some financial backing, i.e. venture capital, to relocate to more substantive environs. Given the nature of your efforts is technology, locate three cities in North America which could make a good home for your new technology company. Then, narrow your selection to one city. Explain your selection process using the 7 Traits of a Technology Hub as discussed in class."

Sometimes, the responses (which I have captured, errors and all, below) border on literary bankruptcy:

"I would either go to California or Texas or Florida. California would be a nice place to continue a business it has a high yeild to gain economic profit and so does Texas. Californica and Florida are located on the ocean so they would have easier shipping access for products. All three states for the most part have a high level of population. All three have about the same amount of rail way routes but since Florida is a smaller state it seems they would have more travel consumptions to other states. Florida and Taxas are smoother flatter states as to California has the rocky mountains making vehicle travel harder but if i had to place to continue the business i would settle in Miami Florida because it has the best of the most the features i mentioned."

"The three cities I choose were Atlanta, Philidelphia, and Dallas. Each of these cities are driving more than every and are continuously growning...One reason is beacuse the city offers tax incetives for new jobs created. Another reason is because there are colleges there. Which intern means, newly educated people looking for employment."

Frequently, I boggle at the presumed importance of barge traffic, river systems, and the need for unskilled labor in response to questions about technology-based businesses. While the importance of UPS and the USPS is without question highly important in the delivery of books to my doorstep, and the delivery of consumer electronics to Best Buy, Target, and Wal-mart is also highly desirable, I fail to see how Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, or Twitter might even remotely find barge traffic part of their business plan.

After reading about globalization, non-governmental organizations, broad issues of immigration, and the growing interconnectedness of our global societies, I pose another writing assignment.

After having read about the nature of Globalization, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and a number of societal issues and concerns, I want you to communicate your own personal geography. You drive through your town, the countryside, on your way to work, school, church, and now, with a little bit of training, you are hopefully more aware of the life going on the other side of your windshield. Describe your Personal Geography."

Think about your personal geography. Let your mind ferment some thoughts as you read these responses.

"I see geography at work all the time, especially what I was younger and we went on road trips. On those road trips we would drive through the mountains and they were so beautiful. There was so much definition it makes you wonder how they got to be that way. I have also been through the dessert. Even though there is really nothing out there to see but the sunset and how everything grows...It is amazing to realize that all this goes on and how it affects us in our everyday lives but also wiht geography...We can always count on our surroundings and our environment to always be there for us."

"In this section of studying its made known that peoples geography is much different than other peoples geography...someone who lives in the United States has total different geography than someone who lives in the Country of Asia, Australia, or Germany."

"In my everyday life i use geography in more of a younger way. For me being a Freshman college student I use geography for simple things. Like mapping out how to get to ____ from louisville, How to get around a mall without back tracking, and also how to use development to pick where i want to go to school at. Geography is not that big thing in my everyday life sense i am so young."

"The area around us is very unique, we have two large rivers that combine to make a larger area that formed into a larger lake because of a dam. Also to the east of us we have the appilation mountains that forms a location of intrest if your into high altitudes hiking or into snow sports. The demograhics have a major influces in the how you live to because the different age ranges of people means you cant just talk to people about local gossip if thier 80 years old and doesnt no about that."

These are actual responses from college students. College students, meaning these individuals have been passed along through our U.S. educational system, from kindergarten beyond high school. These people either graduated from high school or worked to earn a GED.

Reading and writing is fundamental to education. Reading provides us with examples of how are written language should appear, the form and function our language should assume. Reading helps our brain create imagery, trains our brains to transform symbols into meaning and then into images. I'm describing communication and I feel stupid doing so. Everyone should have basic fluency in reading and writing skills. U.S. citizens proclaim, "ya gotta speak English if ya want to live in this here country!" Yeah, well, apparently reading English and writing English isn't all that necessary, even for natural-born citizens.

Reading truly provides us with brain "food" for thought. Writing, on the other hand, helps us sow more brain "food," by helping us not only train our brains for thought but also aids us in communicating those ideas and notions to other people. Writing, to continue my agrarian-themed analogy, is pollen, seeds of thoughts, notions, ideas, and images which take root in and yield potentially yield luscious fruit. Or, fall lifeless in the desert of Dogma, awaiting for the literary equivalent of Climate Change, er, "Idea Warming," as in, "I'm warming to your idea of selling cupcakes door-to-door."

Meanwhile, China, India, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, and an entire host of other countries cannot learn English fast enough. Many of my international students struggle with American English. Rightly so; American English is the 4th hardest language to learn, behind Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic. I would throw in Korean, too.

Our American Education System cannot continue to dilute the importance of reading, math, and science. As a society, we will ultimately fail. Social fragmentation along income and educational lines will occur, and these ruptures could potentially fall along regional boundaries. The New England states do very well in school-aged spending, median family incomes, ACT scores, and overall academic achievement. The Southwest states of Arizona, New Mexico, along with Oklahoma do not fair well, and neither does Tennessee, Mississippi, or Louisiana.

I provide writing samples simply to illustrate efforts by recently enrolled students in Higher Education. These students have been passed along through Primary and Secondary Education, and now find themselves in Higher Education. As new adults, students often do not recognize they are now responsible for their own effort, not Mommy or Daddy, and they now have to engage their brains and use what they should have been taught in high school. So often, I am told, Standardized Testing rules the classroom, with little room for creativity. Additionally, with "blended" classrooms containing Special Education students through gifted, teachers are often forced to "teach to the middle" abandoning either end, or focusing on the time-consuming needs of the learning disabled to the detriment of other students. In the end, the students lose, and the loss permeates our society creating fractures in our economic and social systems about which I have previous posted.

I hold students accountable for their efforts. One cannot simply say, "that's what I was taught," or "I was't taught that." As an adult in Higher Education, a student has to bring an effort to the classroom and not simply be a respirator of oxygen anchoring a chair. However, I also want to say to administrators and drafters of previous education reform efforts, "thanks for making my life difficult and creating class after graduating class of adults who are barely literate and are unable to abide the rigors of college. Furthermore, you should be ashamed of what you have wrought upon these people, in molding them into people unprepared for Life outside of high school, and setting them up for failure. Only by their own graces will these students be able to correct the damage your policies have inflicted upon them."

Education is a fundamental right, not a privilege.

Add Another Apple Fan to the American Pie

Only yesterday I became the proud owner of a 5-year old Macbook 3. For years, the mere thought of owning anything Apple was anathema to me. I did not want to belong to any snooty Apple clique, change my wardrobe to include turtleneck shirts nor thick high-collared sweaters seen adorning male models in an L.L. Bean catalog.

If Microsoft is English, then Apple is French, and UNIX is Sanskrit, and like hell I was not learning French. I have dabbled in Sanskrit, metaphorically, being a Systems Administrator in a 100% UNIX environment. IBM's AIX and Sun Microsystems Solaris operating systems provided me days of amusement.

My near life-long abhorrence of anything Apple, (or at least as long as Apple's life, anyway} I honestly find barely explicable. The first computer I learned to program on was an Apple IIe. My dad offered to buy me an Apple IIe like the one from my computer bootcamp, but I opted for an Atari 800 (which I still have and as far as I know, still works.) In high school, we had Radio Shack TRS-80s. At the time, these grey boxes seemed very cool, with their giant 5-1/2" floppy slot. 

Back in the day, the 1980s to those who are not familiar with the era "day" refers to, I followed the exploits of Apple and Microsoft, Jobs and Gates, and IBM, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, and any other jumpstart who thought about developing a personal computer and/or operating system. My dad enjoyed finances, which is to say, he enjoyed pouring over the stock charts at the end of the Kansas City Star. He showed me how to read the charts, the His, Los, Sell, Open, Close statistics. In those days of the early 1980s, probably around 1984, Apple sold for about $16 a share. My advice to dad was prescient, if I say so myself: "You need to buy Apple. You'll be rich someday." He offered a sage reply which I often use to this day: "Don't buy what you don't understand, and I don't understand that stuff."

Had my dad bought Apple at $16 and weathered the storms, the figurative hurricanes which assaulted Apple throughout the decades, yes, he would be well-off today.

Hindsight is 20/20.

I favored Apple even back in the 1980s, aware of innovation at work in this new technological upstart. I could never bring myself to ever own one. My world was a Windows World. Windows computers were less expensive and over time became the de facto standard computing platform. I missed the era where Apple achieved a significant presence the classroom; otherwise I might have adopted a Mac earlier. More software seemed available for the Windows platform, and the entire milieu of Intel/Windows was easier to grasp.

Especially in geography, my chosen field, Apple never really found widespread adoption. Mapping software was available for the Apple. ESRI and MapInfo both offered GIS software solutions. ESRI dropped Apple support in the mid-1990s pushing Apple out of my discipline, except in those rare places  adopting software from bit players in the GIS field. ESRI was then and still is the dominant software purveyor globally; when the market leader dumps support for an OS following suite is sometimes not an option. Apple found great success in the graphics design and publishing realm, though, outside my discipline and field.

Apple is now THE world-leading technology company. No other company can make such boast. While being such should stoke my fuel for continuing reticence in becoming an Apple user, indubitably Apple designs great products, much of the world now enjoys Apple products, Apple is now a main-stream technology, not relegated to the magazine editors, publishing houses, and graphic artists. Everyone now has the potential of authoring iPad & iPhone apps, which brings Apple from the niche to the front aisle at the grocer.

I enjoy my iPhone, donated by a friend of mine. I enjoy the iTunes store and the numerous free podcasts available, including Freakonomics radio, and the Amateur Traveler. Brilliant stuff. And the ubiquity of Apple products creates an augmented market for people knowledgable in Apple technology. If only Apple would ease up on restrictions on 3rd party service, allowing people to train and allow repairs of broken screens. Apple could inspire a decent cottage industry for high school or college kids to earn some extra cash repairing cell phone screens.

I author this post using my "new" used Macbook. Previously, I used a 10-year old Toshiba Portege 3500. My little Toshiba Portege with the swivel screen served me admirably, especially after doubling my ram (512mb to 1gb.) When I wrote at coffeeshops, libraries, etc., people were amazed at my little Toshiba, and still are today, despite the onslaught on tablets. Toshiba did a remarkable job with the Portege 3500.   In my picture above, my Portege 3500 can be seen in the background, gazing longing out the window, wondering what its future portends.

Technology Review: HP Slate 500

 

Last month, my boss inquired what we might buy with the little bit of money remaining from the current fiscal year. Usually, I have ideas. On this day, not so much. My Sphere of Influence (SoI) was pretty tight, and no particular goodies were needed. I stood there stumped.

Like any good boss, he had ideas. “How about we get an iPad, and an HP Slate? Let’s see if one or both will work for us.”

Cool, I said. That’s the kind of thinking I like. I’ll handle the purchasing, and maybe we can get some interesting toys by the end of the month. I ordered, and we received a new iPad and a new HP Slate 500.

I’ve already reviewed the iPad in a previous blog entry. A good device for individual use; not very good for an enterprise or corporate environment.

We’ve had the HP Slate 500 for a week or so longer than the iPad. My university is somewhat impressed with the Slate. For good reasons, too.

The HP Slate 500 is about the same dimensions as the iPad, though thicker. Thicker because the Slate has a USB and HDMI port, plus a connector for a small docking/charging station. Innate support for USB and HDMI built-in, no additional cost peripherals. You might miss the DVD drive. The iPad doesn’t have one either, nor does any other competing device. Plug an external DVD drive to the USB port, though, or perform software installs over the ether (Wifi.) Or, use the secure digital (SD) slot, or network cable, since the Slate 500 has a traditional network port.

The HP Slate starts right-up. The Slate uses a 64GB solid state drive (SSD); therefore no moving parts. With a touchscreen and stylus for writing notes, the Slate is ready for use within a second or two. The Intel Atom 1.86 processor with 2GB of RAM appeared very capable of running our productivity apps and browsing the internet.

For Enterprise/Corporate environments, perhaps the nicest advantage is the OS, Windows 7 Professional. Organizations interested in user-level security now have a familiar environment for pinning down user accounts, domain accounts, domain membership – all of the security tools available via Windows 7 products. Checking out tablets, or locking down apps or user files, can be performed by IT with the same regard as checking out a laptop.

Since one is running Windows 7 Professional, all of your applications should run well. We loaded Microsoft Office 2010 for our office suite. Excel and Word ran without a hitch. Nice being able to work in a native Windows environment without having to find suitable apps, or sacrifice certain abilities. Seems like a no-brainer for people that want to be productive on the road. Use Remote Desktop to connect to your remote site, for example, without having to purchase a separate app.

With Windows comes Flash and Java support. The frustration of finding a cool web site only to be limited due to a lack of Flash or Java support is absent. Showing Flash-powered weather web sites to people concerned about severe weather was a distinct advantage.

As a development environment, being a Windows-based OS means work can begin immediately. The contrast I want to make vis-à-vis Apple is that the Apple Dev Program requires learning Objective-C and enrolling into their Dev Program for the SDK. No need for that with Microsoft.

Some reviewers have noted the small size of the Slate, too small, they say. The keyboard is too small, the viewing area is too small. The unit itself is too small. Yes, the unit could be a little larger, true. I was not particularly upset by the size. I have medium-sized hands and I was able to type emails and documents on the screen, with the mistakes being due to my own typing skills. When I think of sitting beside some jackass with a large laptop, mouse and papers sliding all over the place on an flight from Nashville to San Diego, the Slate seems pretty nice.

At about 1-1/2lbs, the Slate easily fits in a backpack or briefcase. Show up to a meeting with a fully-functional Windows 7-powered HP Slate, plug in the data projector using the HDMI port, and launch your Powerpoint presentation and affiliated web site and impress the group. Blam!

At about $100 more than the iPad, the HP Slate comes ready to do so much right out of the box. Wifi and Bluetooth-ready, moving from hotspot to hotspot can keep you in touch with school, work, or home. I don’t see where the Slate is 3G-capable. Might not matter; you could tether the Slate to an existing iPad or Droid if Wifi is not available. The only other drawback might be the somewhat short 5-hr battery life. Remember that the Slate is doing a lot, and capable of doing a lot, so expecting 8-10hrs is not particularly reasonable.

I don’t see how the HP Slate is not a winner for HP. I’ve never been a big fan of mass-consumer HP products. I have to admit that the Slate is changing my mind. The Slate is really the future of computing, regardless of the sleek sexy iPad. The Slate represents full-function computing, not a pared-down, incomplete experience based on mostly compatible apps or non-support of standard Internet technology. Furthermore, HP has positioned the Slate to be compliant for upcoming standards, like HTML 5.

Like I said earlier, I can see people being amused and amazed by the iPad. Its not that I don’t like the Apple iPad; I used it for nearly a month. For personal use, the iPad might be fine. However the limitations of use from lack of Flash and Java support, the need to buy Office-compatibility apps, and the lack of user security are serious drawbacks.

Before investing in wide-spread adoption of the iPad for Enterprise or Corporate environments, check out the HP Slate 500.

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Companies Can Make A Difference

Change the manufacturing culture - that is what Apple, Inc. has opted to do with its foreign contractors. Force these manufacturing facilities to police themselves better, or risk losing Apple's business.

Pay the local wage. Improve the ventilation systems. Make sure underage workers are in school. Reduce or eliminate worker abuse.

The Apple team was confronted with a bribery attempt, and ran across episodes of managers coaching workers prior to the arrival of the Apple Team.

Apple, when they toured the manufacturing facilities, brought suicide prevent teams, counselors, along. This action to address concerns, particularly at Foxconn, where suicides have been problematic.

Apple took this action of its own accord, with great attention to detail. Apple then published a list of its findings and methods taken to correct behaviors.

Other companies could do the same thing, and hold foreign factories accountable. Most U.S. corporation do not own the means of production abroad, but we can opt to take our business elsewhere. Thus, we can influence others to make good choices.