Dell Profits Slump 79% As Buyers Opt for Tablets and Smartphones

May 19th, 2013Curious Stuff, Electronics Industry Chatter, Tech News No Comments

The laptop is by no means dead. We buy laptops and plenty of other personal computer staples that prove folks are still looking to have a personal computer that does the heavy stuff. Who wants to sit around trying to use Photoshop on a Microsoft Surface tablet? Bottom line, sometimes nothing beats a laptop or a PC.

Try telling Dell that.

The former no.1 of the personal computer industry recently reported a 79% drop in profits in three months – February to May –  to £85 million on revenue of £14 billion (down 2%) The hardware giant blames people making the switch from PCs and laptops to smartphones and tablets.

Personal computing means something different to everyone. To our Money4Machines order processing teams it means whatever hardware does to the job quickly and efficiently, but to our CEO and the folks who run about a lot it means something portable, light, efficient and practical. And this is where Dell is falling short. Folks who once had no other option than the smallest laptop they could find now have access to hundreds of smart devices that fit the bill a lot better.

Dell is currently going through an in-house tangle between shareholders and Dell founder, Michael Dell, over whether to take the company private. Mr Dell says he can save the company’s PC division, which is performing poorly in contrast with the 12% rise in profits from the new technologies and software arm of Dell. Some shareholders insist new management is all that’s needed to make a difference.

Want to sell laptop hardware using our sell for cash service? Dell laptops are well-made, numerous and still a big brand name, so we try to keep great rates an option for folks looking to make a bit of cash on their old laptop.

What Comes After the Yottabyte?

December 21st, 2012Tech News No Comments

And you thought your mp3 collection was impressive. It’s generally agreed that the world’s data is growing quickly, perhaps even exponentially. But as we grow technologically as a species, we need to develop new ways of quantifying our evolution, e.g. what comes after the yottabyte?

1 Yottabyte = 1 quadrillion gigabytes

Below it we have the zettabyte, exabyte, petabyte, terabyte, gigabyte, megabyte and kilobyte.

According to our good old pals over at Wikipedia, to date no storage network has exceed 1/1000th of a yottabye. Websites like Facebook currently work in petabytes at the most. In 2009, it was estimated the internet contained 500 exabytes. So it looks like we’re pretty safe, for now. But what comes next?

UK gadget website, Money4Machines, say an ongoing campaign to name the next big thing (in numbers) after the slang word for ‘many’ – ‘hella’ – would sit well with scientists and internet fans alike.

“Our customers aren’t dealing in hypothetical hellabytes when they visit us to sell iPad tablets or get cash for games consoles, but it’s not difficult for the layman to understand that quantifying data is a huge part of internet development. We recently read a few suggestions made online by supporters of the ‘hellabyte’, our favourite being the ‘lolabyte’!”

New measurement terminology can only be approved by the International Committee for Weights and Measures.

Pinterest Launches Secret Boards Feature

November 23rd, 2012Tech News No Comments

 

It’s been the social media success of the year, and Pinterest is clearly looking to expand its base further with the introduction of its new “Secret Boards” option.

Just a few months ago, Pinterest lifted the lid on a signing up process that required new users to either be formally invited by a current Pinterest user or vetted and approved by Pinterest. The process was defended as keeping spammers and fake account creators at bay, but the clear commercial value  and power of Pinterest has led to the creative giant opening its doors to all.

It’s though the new secret board feature could be aimed at making a dent in the wary male population, which currently accounts for less than 30% of users. Secret boards allow users to maintain up to three boards with private content.

UK gadget company, Money4Machines, maintains a Pinterest account relating to everything from cat-friendly offices to the latest in mobile technology.

“Pinterest allows us to engage with customers on a very visual level. We can manage board about what we buy, unusual gadgets, the latest apps – everything!

Secret boards are a great idea because it lets you collate something privately or amongst a small circle of users. We help people sell laptop, smartphone and tablet devices up and down the UK, which means our teams aren’t always together all the time.

Secret boards are a great way to let our employees know everything from what’s hot in the sell for cash gadget market to what makes a decent Secret Santa present for under £5.”

To access the new feature on mobile devices, users must download the latest version of the relevant Pinterest app.

iPad Mini 2 Could Have Retina Display

November 20th, 2012Tech News No Comments

It seems to be the latest trends in hardware – release a new device, and then release an upgraded model with retina display. The iPad 4 is a prime example of developers only letting a hair’s width of time lapse between the release of a much-anticipated device and it’s follow-up.

Ac cording to CNET, the rumours have already started concerning a retina display iPad Mini.  Their digging revealed information from Apple’s Chinese supply chain about the possibility of a retina display iPad Mini in the not to distant future. Chinese iPad Mini maker, AOU, is said to be working on a 2048×1536 resolution display for the iPad Mini, which would match the retina display on the iPad 4.

UK gadget company, Money4Machines, said this is the kind of rumour Apple fans may have to take with a pinch of salt.

“Packing the same number of pixels into a 9.7inch screen as into the full size iPad will mean a pixel density of more than 300ppi. The iPad 4 has 264 ppi. Apple may have brought out the iPad 3 and 4 in fairly quick succession, but it’s doubtful that will happen with the iPad Mini.

Apple designed the iPad Mini to cannibalise the iPad 2 market, so we don’t think anyone should rush out to sell iPad Mini 1st generations ready for an upgrade just yet.

So, before heading off to scour the “sell my iPad Mini” listings online, it’s worth remembering that Apple have so far – predictably – declined any comment on the subject of an iPad Mini with retina display. Then again, CNET reported that the grainy display of the iPad Mini is considered one of the devices greatest failings.

Samsung S3 Outsells iPhone in Third Quarter – But the iPhone 5 Was Only On Sale for Just Over a Week!

November 19th, 2012Tech News No Comments

 

A research firm announced glibly last week that South Korean company, Samsung, could rest easy on their laurels for the Q3 period. They had done it – the Samsung S3 outsold the iPhone in the third quarter, 18 million to 16.2 million.

Samsung may have reported record profits in 2012, but some tech analysts say the lull in Apple sales was due to the launch of the iPhone 5 near the end of the quarter. UK gadget company, Money4Machines, said it’s worth taking the figures with a pinch of salt.

“People started visiting our website to sell iPhone devices way before the iPhone 5 was released. They wanted to get the best sell for cash rates to fund their upgrade, but they didn’t want an iPhone 4S, they wanted to wait for the iPhone 5. The same trend across the market could easily skew the figures in Samsung’s favour. The number of people looking to sell Samsung devices was still high, again, looking to upgrade to the S3 or Galaxy Note 2.

The problem with the figures reported concerning Samsung S3 versus iPhone 5 sales is that the iPhone 5 was only available for NINE DAYS before the end of the Q3. Macworld wrote a very insightful article on the subject which covered global smartphone sales figures and some more specific date information.”

Apple is expected to retake the crown when figures for Q4 are reported.

Skype in the Workplace – Less Fun, More Effective

November 16th, 2012Curious Stuff No Comments

 

Microsoft recently announced the intention to retire Windows Live Messenger (WLM) everywhere except China by March 2013. For many businesses, this is going to mean finding a different IM platform for employees to communicate. But what if they could access more than just instant messaging?

WLM has been a mainstay of the office environment, particularly for small businesses, since the early days of the internet. Microsoft say they intend for the recently purchased Skype platform to cannibalise WLM users, but isn’t Skype a bit fun – to many bells and whistles – for the average business user?

Microsoft certainly thinks so. Six months in beta being tested by 500 companies and it’s now finally time to meet SITW – Skype In The Workplace. The platform has been designed specifically for SME (small and medium sized enterprise) clients to communicate and promote their services globally and locally.

Users sign in via their usual Skype account (Microsoft are also providing software to migrate all WLM contacts and information to Skype) and follow the options to connect to the Skype business hub – SITW.

SITW allows users to connect with business partners, consultants, experts, existing customers and potential clients. The service is designed to be 100% business focussed, something Skype desperately needed to show.

Money4Machines, a UK gadget company, said it’s great to see this kind of tailored service in the wake of the WLM announcement.

“If you want to sell iPhone models or old Xbox 360s etc, we’re here to offer great sell for cash rates. But we’re a small business and quick, reliable communication is the beginning and end of our success. WLM has been a standard platform for us, and it’ll be sad to see it go, but we’re definitely excited about SITW.

SITW is free to use. For more information visit Skype’s official SITW website.

EE Fixes Connectivity Issues for 4G Users

November 14th, 2012Tech News No Comments

It was one of the most anticipated new services to arrive on UK shores since 3G. And understandably, consumers couldn’t wait to see what 4G was capable of. But the UK’s only 4G service provider, Everything Everywhere (EE) has been plagued with customer complaints since the super-fast broadband network went live on 30th October.

The main problems reported by users include inability to connect to specific sites like Twitter, total inability to connect to the 4G network and issues getting hold of the correct SIM card. Numerous bloggers documented their attempts to access the 4G network, sometimes having to wait more than an hour to finally connect, if at all.

UK gadget website, Money4Machines, said folks have been looking to sell iPhone 4S devices to upgrade to the iPhone 5 and access 4G for weeks.

“People visit our site to sell mobile phones and tablets, usually to upgrade to the latest handset, laptop etc. We’ve had loads of folks looking to sell Samsung, HTC, Nokia and Apple devices specifically because they wanted a 4G capable device before 30th October.

Amid the 4G connectivity issues we’ve seen over the past week or so, it was clear EE needed to give their back-end systems a bit of attention, which they say they’ve now done. If they’ve really sorted everything out, they can certainly be forgiven for a few initial glitches!”

A statement released by EE on 6th November read,

“In a small number of instances in week one, a gap in a process on SIM distribution has delayed customers in accessing the EE network. We have now identified the teething problem in this process and a dedicated team has resolved all issues it created on a customer-by-customer basis.’

Should We Introduce Smartphone voting in the UK?

November 13th, 2012Curious Stuff No Comments

 

President Obama’s recent win at the polls did not include a service for voters to submit their choices by smart device. All voters found their devices were actually banned in polling stations and they therefore couldn’t even consult apps designed to help voters remember which candidates they’d chosen. Paper notes were allowed though, and in most cases election supervisors stepped in and allowed people extra time to write paper notes to take into voting booths.

But it was voting by smartphone that really hit the headlines. Many tech fans and voters felt that if their smartphone can book a taxi on the other side of the world three weeks in advance, why can’t they use it to vote?

The general consensus seems to be that if a nation’s candidates could find a way to make voting from a smart device completely secure, it could make voting easier for people who can’t leave home or even folks who can’t drag themselves away from Halo 4!

But regardless of how many Americans would like to vote via their Xbox 360, their iPod or iPhone 5, a poll reported in The Guardian found only 30% of Brits questioned, felt that smartphone voting would be beneficial to the voting process.

UK gadget company, Money4Machines, said security is a huge concern for Brit voters.

“Smart device users are always being warned about security risks concerning everything from their Facebook account to clearing data when they sell mobile phones. A huge issue is also anonymity. Voting should be nameless, and it would be almost impossible for voters using a smartphone to remain 100% anonymous.”

 

Smart Devices Add 1.2 Hours to Your Work Day

November 12th, 2012Tech News No Comments

 

 

There are rarely enough hours in the day, particularly if you’re on the commute for what seems like long enough to actually witness new grey hairs grow in. But hey, it’s okay, you’ve got your smartphone or tablet to entertain you on the way! Oh wait, there’s an email from the boss, and some client brief to look over, and some more emails…

According to research carried out by Pixmania, smart devices may be great for checking our emails, finding the nearest Italian restaurant and keeping in touch with each other, but they’re also terrible for eating into our free time an average of 1.2 hours every day (460 hours per year).

And it’s not just the workaholics and tech fans who are glued to their smart devices. The Pixmania study found smartphone and tablet users are considered fair game during their free time when it comes to work commitments, meaning you probably spend about 1.2 hours each day outside working hours checking work-related emails, solving work problems and researching professional issues on your own time.

UK gadget website, Money4Machines, say it’s important make an effort to separate work hours from free time.

“People want to sell laptop computers and smart devices to us 24/7, and we make it part of our working ethos to be available 7 days a week. But we also know our employees need free time. Smartphones make is too easy to be professionally on-call 24/7. We buy used handsets from business customers, and often the ones with the best managed lives have one device for personal use and one for business use.”

Pixmania also found we check emails on smart devices around 20 times per day and check work emails on holiday every day.

More Businesses Leave BlackBerry

November 9th, 2012Tech News 3 Comments

 

 

RIM is not having a good 2012. Alongside announcing it’s withdrawal from the entertainment smartphone market, RIM was hit with a 94% share devaluation from its highest point in 2008. RIM CEO, Thorsten Heins, announced the company’s intention to focus on the business market, taking BlackBerry handsets and tablets back to what made them so successful – business-orientated users.

But it seems BlackBerry’s base could be shakier than RIM expected. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) is the latest organisation to drop BlackBerry handsets in favour of another device. In this case, the iPhone. The agency reported in late October it would be buying iPhones for 17,600 employees at a cost of $2.1 million (£1.3 million)

Despite Samsung and Apple remaining at loggerheads, it’s not likely to be Samsung picking up the slack in the market. According to ComputerWorld UK, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is currently not secure enough for business use. Analysts with Context Information Security pitted the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the iPad 2 and BlackBerry Playbook against one another, and it was the Samsung device that fell far, far behind in terms of security.

UK gadget company, Money4Macines, say plenty of business customers sell Samsung and BlackBerry devices to fund an upgrade to Apple.

“Apple have really been pushing the business angle in recent years with apps like Keynote, Pages and Numbers, and services like Dropbox.

When business customers sell mobiles and tablets through our site, upgrading to an Apple device is often the reason. Regular customers want to sell Nokia, HTC, Samsung etc to fund upgrades that are typically brand loyal. It’s business customers wanting to sell mobile phones and tablets who seem to be making the switch most often.”

The release of the iPad Mini could be another nail in the coffin for RIM. Poor sales of the Playbook and the incredible popularity of the iPad Mini could indicate RIM’s foundation business customers have finally been tempted by the Apple.

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