Still, the concept is sound. So why haven’t these light, thin, durable laptops captured the attention of the mass market? There are a few reasons for this. Thankfully, manufacturers can overcome most of them.

1. Price

Rich mentioned this in his original article, so there is no reason to belabor the point. With an entry level price of $600, ultrabooks do not come cheap. The loaded, business-standard models cost even more than that, usually over $1,000. At the same time, “normal” laptops continue to fall in price. You can get a standard laptop with the same features as an ultrabook for hundreds of dollars less. Faced with two products that are similar in nature, most consumers will pick the cheaper one if the difference is so steep.

Manufacturers might have good reason to justify these high prices. After all, ultrabooks do contain expensive parts such as solid state hard drives. But consumers aren’t quite understanding of these aspects. They care about the bottom line, so when they see similar products with a great price difference, there is little that will convince them to go with the more expensive model.

2. Marketing

To be clear, the term Ultrabook, as we’re employing it, refers to PCs typically running Windows software. Yet Apple beat ultrabooks to the market by a heavy margin when, all the way back in 2008, it released the MacBook Air. The Air did have many issues at first, but within a few years Apple had worked out the kinks. Despite the overall disappointment in ultrabook sales, the MacBook Air continues to sell well. The difference isn’t with the product performances, but of how the products are presented.

Apple has always run top notch marketing campaigns. They showed consumers how the MacBook Air fits their needs and fulfills their desires, and so people bought them. Companies like Dell, Lenovo, and Hewlett-Packard have yet to convince consumers of the same. They have a long road ahead of them — no one markets quite like Apple. But they certainly can take more care to properly market their products.

3. Traditional specs

If you go take a look at the specs Lenovo’s 14 inch Ultrabooks, you’ll something odd. The processors aren’t quite the speed you see from traditional laptops. They clock in at 1.5 to 1.8 GHz, while traditional laptops are well over 2 GHz. In fact, a MacBook I bought in 2009 has a 2.23GHz processor, far faster than these Ultrabooks. What gives? Doesn’t this mean that they’re slower than a three-year-old laptop?

Unfortunately, the mass market understands computer speed in terms of clock speed. When they see one devices with a 1.5GHz processor and another with a 2.2GHz, they automatically think that the 2.2GHz is faster. This is understandable; consumers can’t be expected to understand all aspects of computers. But this plays against ultrabooks. They often run more efficient processors that can run tasks faster, despite the lower processor speed. Combined with solid state drives, which run much faster than magnetic hard drives, ultrabooks can be faster than traditional laptops. But it’s tough to convey that to consumers.

4. The name itself

What, exactly, does the term ultrabook mean? As Rich noted, the term previously meant “top model of certain series of laptop.” But now it has come to mean something different. It means a new line of products entirely. Yet most consumers haven’t become privy to this recent change in terminology. Even worse, less computer savvy consumers might have never heard the term before. They have no idea what an ultrabook is. When you combine that with the poor marketing efforts, you have a tough sell.

Additionally — and this is just one man’s opinion — the term “ultrabook” isn’t the strongest name for this type of laptop. When people see an ultrabook, they think “laptop.” It looks like a laptop, is portable like a laptop, has a hinge like a laptop. To them, it is a laptop. The term ultrabook doesn’t provide any real imagery to help them discern the difference. In fact, when combined with the higher price, the name makes the product seem like a top of the line device that most consumers simply do not need.

5. Lack of touchscreen

While ultrabooks haven’t sold, tablets have sold in droves. People seemingly love them. There are many good reasons for this, but chief among them are portability and the touchscreen. Ultrabooks have the first aspect. They are far more portable than traditional laptops, since they are lighter and thinner. But most ultrabooks do not contain touchscreens. Consumers might be more willing to consider them if they are more of a hybrid between laptops and tablets, rather than just being smaller laptops.

There are, to be sure, good reasons why ultrabooks do not have touchscreens. Again, since they typically run Windows software, there are compatibility issues. Yet it behooves manufacturers to work to create a solution. Consumers clearly want touchscreen devices. They are intuitive, and they are fun. If manufacturers want to sell more ultrabooks, they will likely have to find way to make touchscreens work. On this point the market has spoken loudly and clearly.

The market is down on ultrabooks at the moment, but it doesn’t have to remain that way. Manufacturers of ultrabooks have many avenues to increase sales. They will take considerable effort, of course, but they’re within the realm of possibility. If we see improvements in any two of the five items listed above, we could yet see ultrabook sales improve.

Joe Pawlikowski has written about technology, mobile technology specifically, for the last five and a half years. He keeps a personal blog at JoePawl.com .

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5 Reasons People Aren’t Buying Ultrabooks

Drum Scanners

Drum scanning was the earliest type of scanning, and the technology is still used today to scan images that need to be of extremely high quality. Drum scanners use photomultiplier tubes, which are very expensive, but allow for high quality images. Photomultiplier tubes are tubes that use a vacuum in order to allow electrons in light to be multiplied, and so develop a higher quality reproduction of an image.

Hand-held Monochrome Scanners

Although more popular in the 1980s and 90s, hand held scanners are also still used today. Though their popularity has fallen in favor of flat-bed scanners (because hand-held scanners are often monochrome and produce a lower-quality image) and because they require a steady hand.

Flatbed Scanners

Flatbed scanners were developed after hand-held scanners and became popular because they allow for better image control. Instead of forcing the user to hold the scanner, they allow whatever is being scanned to be set down and remain stationary while scanned. Obviously flatbed scanners are not as portable or versatile as hand-held scanners, so the earlier technology remains popular for some uses.

Planetary Scanners

Planetary scanners are basically scanners that use a digital camera in order to scan an object from a distance and not damage it with direct contact – they are often used to scan rare or delicate objects such as old books.

3-D Scanners

3-D scanner technology seems similar to planetary scanning technology but is slightly different. A 3-D scanner will analyze an object, an analysis which is sometimes based on taking many different images from different sides of an object, and then reconstructing a 3-D computer image of the object. Where as Planetary scanners often take images from one perspective, 3-D scanners may use different methods (such as triangulation) and different perspectives in order to determine the shape of an object.

3-D scanning is becoming more and more important in the modern world. It is not only used for 3-D modeling, it is also used heavily in computer graphic design, as well as in engineering, where it is often used as a tool for reverse engineering. Besides those uses, 3-D scanning is an important part of 3-D printing, or additive engineering, which is a technology that is poised to take the world by storm.

Being able to turn an image into digital information is clearly a revolutionary technology that may take us far beyond simply scanning our personal photos. Because of technology like this and the inventors and scientists that developed it, the future is an exciting place.

As a writer and computer enthusiast, David Rocke was helping his friends program their computers and protect their documents for years before he became the resident blogger for Vanguard Archives of Chicago.

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Scanners — All Sizes and Shapes

Whether you want to use the environmentalist argument, or just the one about clutter – the reasons for going paperless are many. For me, it has more to do with the overhead and annoyance of storing paper files. Moreover, if you’ve ever experience the joy of finding a receipt or some other item out of your filing cabinet, you’ll love what I’m going to show you today.

I am currently making a transition to a paperless office. My two big tools for doing it are:

• Evernote
• Fujitsu Scansnap s1300 Scanner

If you don’t use Evernote, I highly invite you to check it out. To call this a “notes application” wouldn’t do it justice. Evernote is basically a big digital brain, where you can drop everything from notes, documents, audio notes, photos – everything. All of it is then archived, searchable, tagged, etc. It is synced with Evernote’s servers, so you have cloud access as well as local access. If you have multiple computers, you keep it all synced easily. You can even access your data from a mobile phone or the web.

Evernote is free, and that includes up to 40MB of upload transfer to their servers per month. 40MB might not sound like a lot, but in practice, it lasts most people a month quite easily. If you do need more bandwidth, a premium account goes for $45/year. I went ahead and upgraded my account, because it makes for PDF searching (very handy in making that paperless office), higher bandwidth, as well as SSL secure transfer of your documents.

The ScanSnap s1300 scanner is a great little scanner by Fujitsu. It is small and compact and designed to be portable. In fact, you can even power this little sucker off of your USB port (although it will be slower if you do that). But, it is a pretty good quality, full duplex document scanner. I power mine off of AC power because it works faster that way.

Making The Scanner Talk To Evernote

As part of setting up the scanner on your computer, you’ll install their ScanSnap software. This software runs all the time and is activated whenever you open the lid on the scanner to scan a document. So, here’s what you need to do to get it working with Evernote:

1. Go into the ScanSnap preferences and, first, turn off the “Use Quick Menu” option.
2. Next, go to the “Application” tab. You’ll see an application dropdown. If Evernote is not listed there, simply press the “Add or Remove” button, go find the Evernote application on your hard drive and add it to the list. Then, you’ll have Evernote selected there.
3. Go to the “Save” tab and choose a location on your hard drive where you want raw PDF scans of your documents archived. What this does, then, is archives your documents in one place while ALSO putting them in Evernote.

What many people do is set all scans to save to an external hard drive, while also being sent to Evernote. It is complete redundancy.

The Gorgeous Part of Going Paperless

In and of itself, going digital versus going paper isn’t really a matter of time-saving when it comes to the act of filing something. It takes me about as long to file something away as it does to scan it and file it into Evernote.

The REAL convenience is in search. With Evernote and the s1300, all your PDFs are searchable. Not only that, but you can tag and describe any document however you wish. If I need to search for a particular receipt, I don’t have to wade through a pile of receipts and scan them all until I find it. Instead, I just plug a search term into Evernote and a PDF scan of my receipt pops right up. What could sometimes take up several minutes now takes a few seconds.

Making The Transition

It takes some changes to the way we do things to go paperless.

First thing I did was log into all of my bank accounts and switched to paperless statements. So, I will no longer get bank statements in the mail, but instead get PDF documents. All I have to do, then, is print the PDF document directly into Evernote (or just drag and drop it). See, Evernote sets itself up so that, instead of printing to a printer, you can print a PDF directly into Evernote. So, now I get my statements piped right into my Evernote archive without me having to print anything, scan anything, or deal with any paper.

When I get a receipt or some other thing that should be filed, I’ll now use the scanner to put it into Evernote. Then, I can either throw it away or shred it (if the information is sensitive).

Some many wonder about the legal part of this… For example, if the IRS bothers you, will documents stored digitally satisfy the requirements of documentation? Yes, it will and the IRS has actually confirmed that.

Obviously, there are some documents I wouldn’t throw away (passports, for example). Some things require original paperwork, so you’d need to hang onto that. Most things, however, won’t have that requirements and you can just scan it and shred it.

Lastly, if you have a bunch of paper files already, you’ll have to decide how to handle that as you make the transition. You can either just make a clean break and go paperless from this time forward, or you can go on a scanning spree and start converting your old files to digital.

Definitely look into this, however. I find that most people who look down on this idea are just clinging to their old ideas. People who’ve always dealt in paper have a hard time changing. But, give this a shot. The convenience is awesome.

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Scanner + Evernote To Make The Paperless Office

[W]e are extremely excited today to let you know that Microsoft is making its Microsoft Security Essentials available to small businesses on up to 10 PCs for FREE, beginning in early October!  By providing Microsoft Security Essentials to small businesses free of charge, Microsoft extends its commitment to help these companies save money and grow their business by offering no-cost protection from viruses, spyware and other malicious threats.

This is great news for small businesses as now MSE is the only major player which has a free version of their product available for commercial use (to my knowledge).

While there is nothing really stopping you from installing it on as many machines as you want, it is especially important for commercial users to stay within the bounds of software licenses because the penalties can be hefty if violations are found. Making the switch from your existing anti-virus package to MSE could save several hundred per year. Every little bit helps.

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

Microsoft Security Essentials Is Now Free For Small Business Use

My personal favorite as far as US currency is concerned is the 1966 C-Note, as in the 100-dollar bill:

Compare to what we have now:

The old ’66 C-Note to my eyes has a much more distinctive look to it and as far as I’m concerned looks more valuable than the current note.

Something that completely blew me away when I saw it is an artist’s rendition of what future US currency could look like.

The images below are from this gallery where you can see higher-resolution versions.

For the example here I’ve chosen the ten-dollar bill (the gallery contains the 1 and 5-dollar denominations as well).

Front:

Back:

I’ve seen a few renditions of what US currency could look like in the future, but this one absolutely blows me away for two reasons.

First, this is the only artist’s rendition of US currency I’ve seen where the number denomination is very pronounced but does not look tacky. This is a very distinctive note, decidedly American, very modern/futuristic, very cool all around. I would love to have these in my wallet.

Second, I really like the idea of the back of the note being vertical in nature. Why? Because most of us count notes in the hand with them oriented vertically. The back of the note situated as it is makes it easier to handle for everyone.

What do you think? Would US cash look better this way?

Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.

A Potential Future US Currency Design

Well, he made some waves this week by publicly declaring he would no longer publish books in print format. In his upcoming interview with MediaBistro, he says:

I’ve decided not to publish any more books in the traditional way. 12 for 12 and I’m done. I like the people, but I can’t abide the long wait, the filters, the big push at launch, the nudging to get people to go to a store they don’t usually visit to buy something they don’t usually buy, to get them to pay for an idea in a form that’s hard to spread … I really don’t think the process is worth the effort that it now takes to make it work. I can reach 10 or 50 times as many people electronically. No, it’s not ‘better’, but it’s different. So while I’m not sure what format my writing will take, I’m not planning on it being the 1907 version of hardcover publishing any longer.

This sparked another debate about the future of the dead tree model of publishing. We now live in an age of the Kindle and the Ipad. Buy a book online (which is a lot cheaper than the print version, usually) and have it instantly downloaded to your device. That rocks.

However, many just can’t stomach it. They prefer print books. The feeling of the book in the hands. The ability to highlight it up. The ability to lend it to your friends. The feeling of seeing a big bunch of books on your bookshelf.

While there are still many people out there who prefer a physical book, the truth is that the industry is going to move toward digital whether we like it or not.

Just look at what happened with video stores. Companies like Netflix have completely demolished the old model of the video rental store. My old video store near my house just went out of business recently, and you’re seeing it happen everywhere. How can these old-school companies compete with unlimited, digital delivery? Netflix, for $9/month, gives you unlimited DVD rental (1 disc at a time) and unlimited streaming to any supporting device. That same $9 would get you maybe 2 movies at the video place, which you’d have to return in a couple days or else face fines. Ugh.

I think digital is much better when it comes to books. Here’s why:

• I no longer have to figure out what to do with the book after I’ve read it. Old books are a HUGE source of taken up space and usually just end up cluttering up closets and attics.
• In the space of one book, I can store literally hundreds or thousands of them.
• It saves trees.
• I’ve got a dictionary built right in, making it super easy to look up a word while reading.
• I can easily make notes to myself while reading, then view all my notes at once after I’m done with the book.
• I can highlight stuff in the book, and access it all in one place when I’m done. Makes for an easy way to review all your most important parts of the book.
• I can pipe my notes/highlights into another format, such as Evernote.
• I can see what parts of the book OTHER people view as most important.
• I don’t have to go to a bookstore if I don’t feel like it.
• I don’t have to pay $30 for a pile of paper. I can usually get the same book for a third that price.

Books might not be dead yet. But, give it another 5 years. I think you’re going to see traditional bookstores following their video counterparts into the dustbin of history. Today, we stream movies rather than buy them. We download music albums rather than buy CDs. The book will follow suit. Eventually. It is all but inevitable.

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Books Aren’t Dead, But They Will Be

Most tech companies do not change their logos often because it costs serious dollars to rebrand the entire product line. When they do change, it usually signifies a fundamental shift in the company’s overall vision, so to speak.

Apple

In their entire history since 1976, Apple has had three logos with the first being something so un-Apple it’s amazing it even existed.

Yes, this is an actual Apple logo. It was used for a very short period of time in ’76 and has such an old-timey look to it that you’d think it came out of the early 1900s.

This is the Apple logo people remember seeing for the first time. In fact there’s a quite a few Apple fans that say the company should go back to this logo.

Apple ditched the rainbow for a more monotone look and has carried it to this day.

Adobe

Adobe’s original logo was very techy in its look.

Adobe’s second logo is still immediately recognized by many to this day, and they still use it.

Adobe has also been known to use a typeface-only logo periodically:

…but this isn’t as recognizable as "The Big A".

Microsoft

Redmond got their disco funkalicious booty-shakin’ action goin’ on with this first logo in 1975:

In that same year they switched to something a tad less garish:

And then finally in 1994 they switched to this:

If you’re wondering what the deal is with the cut-out "O", this is a throwback to the original company name which was "Micro-Soft". The cut is meant to represent the dash.

Xerox

The Xerox company is very, very old, as in starting in 1906 as The Haloid Photographic Company old. The company to date has had several well-known logos. I won’t show them all, but here are a few of the better-known ones.

Above is the logo used from 1961 all the way to 2003. Personally, I feel this was the best logo they ever had because of the elongated "tails" on both X’s and the R. Very distinctive, very classy.

Above is the "Digital X" Xerox logo introduced in 1994. It’s a genius concept because the company can be recognized by a single letter, and the pixelated effect on the top right truly gives it distinction.

Above is what Xerox dumped the ’61 logo for in 2004; it only lasted a few years.

Above is the current logo introduced in 2008. It’s a radical redesign. Gone are the capital letters, and along with it came the introduction of the "X beach ball".

IBM

IBM gets the name "Big Blue" from the logo that they still use to this day, which you’ll see in a moment. The color blue is also a recurrent theme in many of the things IBM does. It can even be argued that IBM themselves defined the color blue to mean "business", but that’s up for debate.

International Business Machines given their tenure hasn’t changed logos very often, and that’s for the best because none of use would expect IBM to be any other way.

Here are some of the better-known logos:

The above logo, used from 1924-1946, was meant to signify a global presence, hence the globe-like shape.

This next logo was more or less the foundation of what IBM currently uses. The very-bold and very-stark letters are meant to signify a solid grounded presence – and it sure does.

Above is the logo IBM has used since 1972. It’s a symbol known the world over, and while I’m sure there have been many within the corporation who have tried to change it to something else, no one has ever succeeded in doing so – and that’s a good thing because absolutely nobody wants this logo to change.

IBM’s logo to this day commands such a powerful presence that whenever you see it, you pay extra attention.

What’s your favorite logo from all of the above?

Do you like the 70s logo or modern? Colored or black-and-white? Business or laid-back?

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Tech Company Logos Past and Present

Something to bear in mind is that advertising on the internet now has evolved quite a bit. In the past, ads were quite literally just thrown out on the internet in one-for-all style. There was no demographic targeting of any kind and it was next to impossible to specifically target regions, never mind getting local.

Today’s internet advertising is more focused, more intelligent and ultimately makes it better for businesspeople to use internet as a sound advertising medium.

How sound, you may ask? WSJ predicts it will out-do print in a few short years – and bear in mind WSJ is a print publication.

What does this mean to you, and why should you care?

I’m going to take a raw guess here and say you would rather be in business for yourself rather than working for someone else. I’m going to take another raw guess and say the reason you’re not in biz for yourself is because the advertising costs are simply too high.

Remember when placing ads in your local circular used to be cheap and moreover effective? I’m sure you do. It’s used to be that $30 used to go a long way in a local circular. Today for the same "mileage", so to speak, you’d have to spend $100 or more. On top of that, these days when you look in those local circulars all you see prominently are auto dealers, law firms and well-established companies. In other words, people with a lot more money than you have.

Internet eyeballs are growing in number. More people are getting connected every day, and using internet as a primary advertising medium truly does work. I’m not going to say it works for all businesses, because it doesn’t. However, if you’re starting or restarting a business, you should seriously consider internet ads.

Two places where you can shop around just to see what options you have:

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Online Ads To Exceed In Ad Revenue Over Print? Yes.

A snazzy new white uniform, complete with laser rifle:

Kid sizes also available:

Other membership perks include:

- Killing rebels

- Serving the Empire

- Opening and closing blast doors

- Spacious accommodations on the Death Star

- Free wi-fi from AT&T

- …and much more.

Watch our demo video of this program, and you’ll see that Dark Side membership is for you!

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PCMech Introduces New Dark Side Membership Program

VPNs are a common subject these days and they are being used both by home users and companies. From a company point of view, when we think of a Virtual Private Network we think of an intelligent tunnel that encrypts data at the IP level and send the information from one network to another over a public TCP/IP network.

Like any other service, VPN technology has been developed based on customers’ needs. Companies crave for network security and remote access and that’s why VPNs were implemented. But more then network security other advantages of VPN usage are cost saving and scalability.

• Remote access. Remote access is an important reason why companies are using VPNs. This is a great advantage for everyone who needs to access data or to share files remotely while they are traveling or while they are out of the office.
• Enhanced security. Referring to remote access, people might ask if this is not dangerous or sensitive for the network. If users can access the network remotely than the network might become an interest point for hackers and malware. Well, that’s not really true because VPN provides advanced data encryption. All the information sent from and to another source is secured and encrypted. Only the sender and the receiver know how to decrypt and read the information.
• Cost saving. If a large corporation, with offices all over the world, implements a VPN service, this could save their cost from 30% to 80%. Once the VPN is created, the maintenance costs are also very low and the service providers will take care of the network setups and functionality.
• Network scalability. Common networks require leased lines in order to connect to different location. This happens when the company has more offices. If there are new offices added there will be a request for increased leased lines, in order to create a dedicated line between these locations. But a VPN service accepts simultaneous sessions and more users can be added without making important changes to the system at no cost.

What is important to remember is that when a company implements VPN service, there must be done a detailed analysis and see which type of VPN better suits the company and which is the best provider that can offer you the service.

Elisabeta Ghidiu is an Internet marketer and advocate blogger, writing about productivity and technology on Cyclope-Series – Let’s talk about productivity – a manager-oriented blog.

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How Can VPNs Secure Companies?