How to Build a Better Chromebook

Now that HP has finally unveiled its own Chromebook, I hope that HP and others will start offering a premium Chromebook with SSD drive having at least 64GB of local storage, at least 3 USB ports (current HP model has that), at least 4GB RAM (current HP model comes with 2GB but can be upgraded to 4GB), and a quality Intel processor in non-touch screen hardware, supporting a mouse (current HP does this). I  do understand that some buyers are shopping on price alone. But I (and others), need performance. More and more people, companies, schools, government agencies and other institutions, are recognizing that a Chromebook is preferable for most users over a desktop or notebook running the Microsoft disaster known as Windows 8. If you get a Chromebook, insist on 4 GB RAM, and be sure to utilize the Chrome extensions. And yes, the Chromebook works offline and you won't have to put up with any more BS from Microsoft! (be sure to read the comments about Win8 at the preceding link)

Otherwise, we are going to have to put up with this--

Wolverton: Chromebook better, but still doesn't beat PC - SiliconValley.com: "The (Samsung) Chromebook, by contrast, struggled to keep up with even half the tabs I typically have open. As I flipped from tab to tab, it frequently would have to reload the nominally open Web pages. That was frustrating when I flipped to pages of news articles, not only because I had to wait for the pages to reload, but also because I typically would lose my place on the page."

The above has nothing to do with the Chrome OS, but the cheap hardware components Samsung used in that particular model. Come on HP, Samsung, et al, you can do better! All that being said, if I had to buy a Chromebook today, I'd get the HP with 4GB RAM.

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Apple v Samsung - Who Really Won?

The paradoxes of "litigation" are becoming clear in the infamous Apple v. Samsung case--the winners? Lawyers ($$$) and Android:

Check, Please: Experts Say Apple, Samsung Face Sky-High Legal Fees - Law Blog - WSJ: "One group was always going to make out well in the titanic legal battle between Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.: the lawyers. . . ."

Why Apple Actually Lost to Samsung | John C. Dvorak | PCMag.com: "Several times throughout the case, the same point was driven home: the Android phone is identical to, and perhaps better than, the iPhone. This "revelation," which Android users have always known, will easily cost Apple more than a billion dollars in sales."

Where this leaves Apple long-term becomes troubling. Over time, android and its various manufacturers will continue to iterate and out-innovate Apple. Apple concedes it cannot compete on "price." Apple's market share will diminish and it will at some point be spending more in legal fees than it will be able to recoup in damages or by restraint of trade and competition through legal processes. Steve Jobs was a guy I admire--but he had character defects as we all do. One of those was an imagined sense of being a "victim" of "rip-off" of designs, etc. A classic example of this was the accusation he hurled at Bill Gates and Microsoft:

Microsoft News » Bill Gates Response To Steve Jobs On Windows Rip-Off Claim: "Their meeting was in Jobs’s conference room, where Gates found himself surrounded by ten Apple employees who were eager to watch their boss assail him. Jobs didn’t disappoint his troops. “You’re ripping us off!” he shouted. “I trusted you, and now you’re stealing from us!” Gates just sat there coolly, looking Steve in the eye, before hurling back, in his squeaky voice, what became a classic zinger. “Well, Steve, I think there’s more than one way of looking at it. I think it’s more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it.”"

Tim Cook is a competent manager but he's not a "product guy" nor does he strike me as being "litigation saavy." I wonder if he understands that lawyers will gladly ride Apple's decline all the way to bankruptcy and liquidation?

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Apple v Samsung - a broken legal system - a defective jury verdict

Almost everyone knows the American patent system (and legal system) is broken, but what a mess in San Francisco--

Groklaw - Jury in Apple v. Samsung Goofed, Damages Reduced -- Uh Oh. What's Wrong With this Picture?: "In two instances, results were crazily contradictory, and the judge had to have the jury go back and fix the goofs. As a result the damages award was reduced to $1,049,343,540, 1 down from $1,051,855,000. For just one example, the jury had said one device didn't infringe, but then they awarded Apple $2 million for inducement. In another they awarded a couple of hundred thousand for a device they'd ruled didn't infringe at all. "

How to fix this? The immediate fix: throw out the verdict, grant new trial. Long term fix: comprehensive reform of the U.S. patent and legal system.

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