Wozjob Apple 1 sells for Nearly a Quarter of a Million USD

Wiki Photo: The Hand built Apple-1

The Apple-1 computer was hand build in Steve Wozniak's parents garage. Steve Job's came up with the idea of selling it. The Apple-1 was first demonstrated in April 1976 at the HomeBrew Computer Club in Palo Alto.

Originally, the Apple 1 sold for $500 when it was sold to a reseller 1976. It was made out of wood and was billed as the first "personal computer." The retailer marked up the Apple-1 by 33% giving it a price of $666.66.

An Apple I reportedly sold for $50,000 USD at auction in 1999, with another apparently selling in 2009 for $17,500.

Fast forward to November 2010. This same Apple I (with serial number 82) sold for $178,000 ($213,600 including the 'buyer's premium') at Christie's auction house in London , making it by far the highest price paid for this model to date, at £133,250 ($210,000).

The high value of this particular example is likely due to the rare documents and packaging offered in the sale rather than the computer itself; namely (and amongst others) the original packaging (with the return label showing Steve Jobs' parents address, the original Apple Computer Inc 'headquarters' being their garage), a personally typed and signed letter from Jobs (answering technical questions about the computer) and the original invoice showing 'Steven' as the salesman.

Story Sources: EpochTimes, Wiki, Gather

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Record Profits For Dell Due to Increase in Demands

On Thursday, November 18th, Dell reported their third quarter earnings to be record breaking due to the increased demand for PCs and computer services. Despite this report from Dell, consumer revenue for the company only showed a 4 percent increase for the third quarter and is predicted to have little to no increase for the fourth quarter and holiday season.

Dell’s reports were pretty incredible, despite what consumer revenue says. They reported a net income of $822 million, which is a 144 percent increase from the same period a year ago, and $15.39 billion in revenues, which is up 19 percent from the same period a year ago.

“Our strong results demonstrate that we are listening to customers and delivering what they want,” stated Michael Dell, chief executive of Dell. “It validates that our strategy to offer choice and efficiency at every level of the IT enterprise computing stack is taking hold, and we are more focused than ever to being a true partner – not merely a provider – to our customers. Dell is growing in the right areas, and I'm very excited about our momentum."

Dell executives have said that the company has been focusing on “profit share” instead of market share when it comes to units sold. Chief financial officer Brian Gladden said, “I believe that the third quarter results demonstrate the strategy we have described to you over the past year is the correct one,” in a conference call with analysts on Thursday.

Dell’s Large Enterprise revenue came in at $4.3 billion, which is a 27 percent increase from last year, with an operating income of about $400 million (or 9.2 percent of revenue). Their Small and Medium Business revenue came in at $3.7 billion, which is a 24 percent increase, with an operating income of $391 million. Their consumer revenue came in at $3 billion, which was only a 4 percent increase, as was mentioned above. Dell said that for operating income the consumer segment improved to breaking even for the quarter, despite the “muted” consumer demand.

On Thursday Dell also announced that its new Inspiron Duo laptop was just made available for pre-order. All of these announcements come a day after the announcement that Dell communication chief Ron Garriques was leaving the company. This has caused some speculations about what will happen to Dell’s plan of creating a line of cell phones.

In the conference call though, Garriques resignation from the company was barely even addressed. The questions were focused more towards the “management changes” at Dell and the impact that the tablet industry will have on the company. Executives responded by saying that Dell’s 2011 tablet release will address “all the opportunities we see for tablets.”

Michael Dell went on to say, “We are very much in the mobile space, working very much with both Android and Windows Mobile 7 and encouraged with the development of both of those and see them as a great opportunity for us.”

Steve Felice, the president of consumer small and medium business for Dell, made an apparent reference to tablets and the general mobile space by saying, “We want to mainstream the supply chain, the sales capability, and the marketing capability. All of this is aimed to bring this more to scale in faster fashion than we normally envisioned.”

In the conference call Dell did not present any target revenues for the fourth quarter. Instead the company said, “Fourth quarter revenue is expected to track in-line to slightly up from the third quarter as commercial demand remains stable while consumer demand remains more muted.”

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HP Will Be Paying Out $16.25 M in Settlement

HP is a very well-known technological name, but the company is really not having the best of years so far in 2010. It’s not their sales numbers or their products; it’s something very different that they had complete control over. On Wednesday, the Department of Justice announced that HP will be paying out $16.25 million in order to settle e-rate fraud charges.

The Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission say that contractors for HP “wined and dined” certain Dallas public school officials so that they would be able to obtain insider information that would assist them in winning competitive e-rate contracts from the school system. These contracts are a government program that work to fund Internet connections in public schools and libraries.

Now, HP’s contractors did more than just take workers from the Dallas Independent School District and the Houston Independent School District out to dinner or something like that. These contractors bought the school officials lavish gifts that included things like yacht trips and tickets to the 2004 Super Bowl. All of these gifts helped HP to secure the contracts that they wanted. These contracts included more than $17 million worth of HP equipment. The government was tipped off about HP’s dealings with the school districts. This prompted the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission’s investigation of the allegations.

As a result of HP’s dealings and of the Federal Communication Commission’s investigations, they will be paying out $16.25 million. The FCC says that most of the money will be returned to the e-rate program. They have also said that in the future they will make sure that HP follows all of the e-rate requirements so that this does not happen again.

"The FCC's compliance agreement with HP ensures that HP will train its employees thoroughly on the FCC's gift and other e-rate rules and provides for audits of HP's e-rate business," said the general counsel of the FCC, Austin Schlick. "If HP fails to monitor its e-rate activities closely and abide by e-rate program requirements, it will face substantial penalties."

HP said that they have now dismissed all of the contractors that broke the rules concerning the e-rate contract. “HP requires that all employees and partners adhere to lawful and ethical business practices," stated the company. "The activities at the center of this investigation occurred more than five years ago, the partner relationships have been terminated, and the employees involved are no longer with the company." They also added, “HP fully cooperated with the authorities, and the matter is now resolved.”

The chairman of the FCC, Julius Genachowski, said, “Broadband is key to our children's 21st century education. That's why one of the FCC's top priorities is making sure e-rate works to benefit students and libraries. Today's settlement shows the extensive efforts of the FCC and DOJ to protect the e-rate program from waste, fraud, and abuse, and to deter misconduct in the future."

The FCC edited the e-rate program slightly in September so that there would be no misunderstandings or abuses concerning the rules about soliciting or receiving gifts within the program. They also added a few rules to make sure that the bidding process was completely fair for everyone that is involved.

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New Wireless Solar Keyboard from Logitech

Logitech is a Swiss peripheral device manufacturer that makes PC accessories including keyboards, mice, microphones, game controllers, and webcams. They also produce home and computer speakers, headphones, wireless audio devices, and audio devices for MP3 players and mobile phones. The newest innovation in their computer peripheral department is the Wireless Solar Keyboard K750.

This keyboard brings together all of the latest technology. It features integrated solar panels on the top of the keyboard that collect the power for the K750 so that you can use it without batteries or power cords inside or outside of the office. Logitech has made the incredible claim that when the keyboard is fully charged it can last for up to three months in a pitch black room.

The keyboard has a very sleek design. It is mostly black, except for the slim white frame, and is about one-third of an inch thick. The keys were designed in the chiclet style and have an extremely comfortable feel. The keyboard features an on/off switch that allows you to conserve power when you aren’t utilizing the K750. There also is an indicator light that lets you know when the charge of the keyboard is getting low.

Logitech includes their Unifying Receiver with the Wireless Solar Keyboard K750. It is a thumbnail USB device that gives you the ability to use your keyboard wirelessly. The receiver also features the special ability to sync up to six Logitech peripherals with the one USB device. Another great feature is the solar power app that will allow K750 users to install a lux meter that will measure ambient light levels and the battery life of the keyboard. This app will be available to download on November 15th.

The Wireless Solar Keyboard from Logitech is not shipping yet, but it is available for pre-order. The keyboard will be shipping a little later this month and will cost $79.99. I think that this keyboard is awesome. It’s incredible that when charged the keyboard can last up to three months. Also, wireless really means more convenient to me, which is important. I think that this solar keyboard will definitely be a hit. This is a great keyboard from a great company.

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The Playbook

With the release of the iPad other companies are scrambling to release their own tablet PCs. On the horizon is Dell's Slate and also revealed is Research in Motion's (RIM's) Playbook. RIM is most well known for its Blackberry phones and with the popularity of the Blackberry staying consistent throughout the years hope is high that the Playbook can live up to expectations.

While the Blackberry line of phones is known for their business-savvy software, RIM wants consumers of all backgrounds to be comfortable with the Playbook. RIM has tried for a long time to break away from their business-only niche, and the Playbook might be just the device to do it. If RIM wants their new tablet to be fun, they have made a step in the right direction with the Playbook's dual cameras. The forward camera is 3 mega pixels and the rear camera is 5 mega pixels. The presence of the forward facing camera indicates that there will be video calling on the tablet, and everything is shown in brilliant 1080p HD video. The screen will be a 7" LCD.

With all of these positives the Playbook sounds like it could be a real contender for the iPad, but like every device, it has its potential downfalls. One thing that sticks out very clearly is the lack of built in 3G. RIM has already stated that 3G will not be built into the Playbook in the first generation, and that is almost unheard of for the tablets being released. The screen, while beautiful, is also smaller than the iPad's. Lastly, the Playbook is not due for release till early 2011, and at that time it will have to compete with the next generation of iPads.

There is definitely hope for the Playbook in the tablet market. The first generation may not do so well, but hopefully once RIM gets its feet wet in the tablet industry, it will be able to produce a quality product for Blackberry lovers and the general public alike.

Below are the specs and features for the Blackberry Playbook:

7" LCD display, 1024 x 600 screen resolution
5.1" x 7.6" x 0.4" (130mm x 194mm x 10mm)
0.9 lbs (400g)
Built-in microUSB connector
Multi-touch capacitive screen
Wi-Fi® 802.11 a/b/g/n

3 MP high definition forward-facing camera
5 MP high definition rear-facing camera
Codec support for superior media playback, creation and video calling
1080p HD video; H.264, MPEG4, WMV HDMI video output
Micro USB and Micro HDMI

1 GHz dual-core processor
1GB RAM
Symmetrical dual-core processing

Rapid development environment
Reliable BlackBerry Tablet OS, powered by QNX technology
Supports POSIX OS, SMP, Open GL, BlackBerry® 6, WebKit, Adobe® Flash®, Java® and Adobe Mobile AIR

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Pay-As-You-Go 4G From Clearwire

Last Monday internet provider Clearwire announced that it would begin offering a pay-as-you-go 4G service for its customers. With the demand for faster and faster internet rising, and the amount of contractual services lowering, this is exactly what the new tech-savvy generation needs.

The new 4G service will be called Rover and will be available in all of Clearwire's networks. Clearwire, being partially owned by Sprint-Nextel, is used to power the 4G WiMax network, and it is this network Rover will run off of.

Lately Clearwire has been in slump profit wise, losing millions of dollars this year alone. This new pay-as-you-go network will hopefully rekindle some profits for the flagging company, as well as making internet accessible for those who don't want to get tangled up in a contract.

Price wise Rover seems to be decent. It will connect to Clearwire's network using either a "Stick" or a "Puck". The Stick will connect directly to the computer and provide access and as its name suggests, is a USB modem. The Stick will retail for $100. The Puck provides access for up to eight mobile devices and costs $150 dollars, which is an incredible deal for fifty dollars more, and also allows multiple laptops or other mobile devices to be online simultaneously. Users can choose to pay by the day, by the week, or by the month. Prices will be $5 for a day, $20 dollars for a week, or $50 dollars for a month.

With a reasonable price for their new 4G network Clearwire can hope to recoup its recent losses. More good news for the company is that it is currently the only service provider offering 4G. Other internet heavyweights will soon enter into the game, but Clearwire may be able to retain popularity with its contract-free Rover.

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Broadband made a legal right for Finnish citizens

Broadband made a legal right for Finnish citizens.
Let us be honest, how many of us are reading this article from our neighbors wifi? I, for one, am not, but that may or may not be because I’m the only one with internet in the building. The ethical argument for using another person’s wireless internet is akin to the argument about virtual property. Have we reached an age where a person can not only own the rights to something tangible, but something completely invisible as well? It is almost considered ignorant to go without internet anymore, but with bills for electric, cable, water, gas, and everything else piling up, it is becoming more and more difficult to add another forty dollars or so to our monthly spending. With social networking becoming more popular than postal mail, maybe the US should take a hint from Finland, and their new policy that internet should be a legal right to each and every person.
In October 2009 promises were being made by Finland's communication officials that by 2010 everyone would have broadband internet of at least 1Mbit/s, and by 2015 amping it up to 100Mbit/s. Finland makes this possible using ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line). As of July 2010 this promise came to fruition, and all of Finland had the option to be connected to the web. Even before this breakthrough in communication, certain cities in Finland, such as Oulu, were already offering city-wide internet access. Finland’s willingness to offer such a commodity for no cost to its general public may seem startling, but when one looks at the benefits to free internet, it is understandable why this step was taken.
According to Reuters, four out of five people believe that internet access is a fundamental right. For the older population this might seem hard to believe, since the internet has only become extremely popular in the last decade. Internet access has become such a crucial part of our everyday lives that it would be impossible for some businesses to function without it. In fact, some businesses are completely internet based, with nary a cubicle in sight. More and more people would benefit from open access internet, even to the point where it would open up jobs for people unable to leave their homes.
America's attempts to jump start its economy are everywhere. New highways being built, new government-run jobs opening up, the evidence is obvious that drastic steps are being taken to put money back into the pockets of American citizens in hopes that said citizens will spend the money. By offering nationwide broadband access, online shopping would be available to every single citizen, not just the technically savvy. The factory worker that gets off work at 3:00am with a hole in his steel toed boots could jump on his computer, as basic as it might be, and order a new pair for delivery. No more worrying about waking up five hours early to get to the shoe store. The full time Mom could order all of her Christmas presents from home without having to dress and wash her numerous offspring. The possibilities are endless. For wireless intenet on the go consider an AirCard rental from Rentacomputer.com.

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