Image From: ABT

Tablets vs PC: At a Glance

It may be hard to fathom, but personal computers were once an exclusive luxury that few could afford. They were a discontinuous innovation in which a completely new set of skills was required for use. But slowly, with each passing year, PCs began to dominate the consumer market to the point that it was odd if your household did not have one.

And now, after decades of tireless innovation, we’ve arrived at yet another one of these pivotal moments. All hail the rise of the tablet, because seriously, who wants to point and click on a pixelated screen anymore when there is a handy device with a crystal clear screen that responds to the touch of your fingertips? Even though we still see a majority of PC traditionalists, their number is dwindling.

Swipe, pinch, tap. These three simple actions serve as the foundation of a certain digital interactiveness that we’ve never seen before. And here at Onswipe, we’ve decided to take things to entirely new level and bring this unprecedented sort of interactiveness to the valuable content you read everyday.

The Numbers 

Last year, the number of tablets shipped exceeded half the number of PCs shipped. 52.5 million tablets were sold in the first quarter of 2012, compared to 89.5 million PCs.

Why the change? Should we embrace it? The tablet vs PC showdown has in inevitable winner.

Clearly, yes. Tablets are affordable. They’re engaging and fun to use. They have a cool factor astronomically greater than that of a PC. Their displays are typically brighter and clearer than any PC will ever be. They are easy to carry. As companies adopt mobile and tablet versions of their websites, and as more apps usurp the roles of traditional computing, the transition will be indisputably noticeable.

Superbowl + Tablets

According to a study conducted by Google, people use at least one other device while watching television 77% of the time. How will these statistics play into Superbowl Sunday, just days away? In 2012, the game had 111 million viewers, and we have every reason to believe that these individuals will shift their attention to their mobile devices more than ever before. Whether it’s reading published content on the game or tweeting about the impossibly awesome touchdown that just occurred, we can safely say that multitasking is inevitable.

So, tell us: how will you incorporate your mobile device into the game? Internet browsing? Apps? Social networks?

Let us know on Facebook and Twitter!

About Onswipe

Onswipe makes it insanely easy for publishers of all sizes to make their content and advertising a beautiful experience on touch web browsers.

Onswipe’s first HTML5 hackathon concluded sunday with winners in Design, Data, Best Application of Touch and Best Overall project.

The winner for best design was Bi-Line: Using simple brushstrokes, bi-line is a real-time collaborative drawing application. Major dependencies include Paper.js and Socket.io. The application is deployed on Nodejitsu at: http://janewang.biline.jit.su

The winner for best data was Scroogify.js: Making responsive images suck slightly less. http://ezyz.github.com/scroogify/

The winner for best Touch Application was AndSwipe: A responsive swipeable mobile interface that allows users to browse and vote for photos. Photos and vote information can be accessed in the REST API. andswipe.herokuapp.com

And the best overall winner was BlahBlahLearning:

Hailing from Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, via Utah and Connecticut, the  team of BlahBlahLearning won Onswipe’s first HTML5 Hackathon in New York City.

BlahBlahLearning is a platform helps people practice or learn a new language with real people with one-on-one real-time video.

Some of the team members moved to US, solely to learn and practice english. “The members of our team speak more than 2 languages at home, and we’ve had the desire to continue practicing and learning new languages. However, it was hard to find French and Italian speakers.” Explained Eliecer Andres Trillos, one of the blahblah founders.

In less than 48 hours the BlahBlah team was able to build a solution for their own problem.

“The opportunity to be able to build something new with people amazing engineers and with mentorship from the Onswipe team is what brought me to the hackathon” said Ezequiel Gomez, BlahBlah team member

The team was composed by

- Daniel Niquet. 15 years experience Programmer Engineer with a master’s degree on IT Management. NodeJS fan. @danielniquet
- Ezequiel Gomez Serna. 10 years experience Web designer and front end developer. actually working for a Mexico IT company in US, definitely enjoys colaborate building web apps. @cheketere
- Eliecer Andres Trillos. Co-founder of Activatize.com @eliecertrillos

Onswipe Software Engineer LD Libra served as engineering mentor for the team.

From real-time drawing to language learning and international education platform, the html5 hackathon teams are putting last minute touches to their submissions after a weekend fueled by energy drinks, beer, pizza and javascript. The winners will be chosen in the next couple of hours to receive tickets to EmpireJS and iPads. In the meantime, check out the participants:

Bi-line:  Using simple brushstrokes, bi-line is a real-time collaborative drawing application. Major dependencies include Paper.js and Socket.io. The application is deployed on Nodejitsu at: http://janewang.biline.jit.su

OneLove edYOUcation: An educational ecosystem where a teacher from Turkey to a teacher in Thailand can create content and share with anybody(students). The system supports 44 diff languages. We are using MongoDB as our back-end, HTML5 for file uploads, gestures like swipe etc.

BlahBlahLearning: A language-learning platform that connects learners via video chat. A pair of speakers who are each learning the other’s native tongue are given 5 minutes to speak in one language, then 5 minutes to speak in the other. The native speaker of the language being spoken assumes the teacher role, with the learner taking the student role. Since the learning session only last 10 minutes, users will speak with many different native speakers of their desired language over time. http://blahblahlearning.herokuapp.com

Who’s That President: A game where you see a picture of a US President for 3 seconds and then need to guess who it is. http://whosthatpresident.herokuapp.com/

AndSwipe: AndSwipe is a responsive swipeable mobile interface that allows users to browse and vote for photos. Photos and vote information can be accessed in the REST API. andswipe.herokuapp.com

Scroogify.js Making responsive images suck slightly less. http://ezyz.github.com/scroogify/

Dialed in and hacking away the developers at the #swipeathon are locked in creating a multitude of broad ranging apps from mood based photo filter applications to webcam activated computer games. Breaks were taken, designs created and destroyed along with the stealing of team members.

Updates from some of the teams

Team: One Love : Vinil, Ashley, Vanvana

Idea: mobile educational ecosystem for making and taking assessment online

Update: Vinil: It’s not my first hackathon but this is definitely a different the music and atmosphere is very inviting.

Team: Blahblah Ezikeil, Andres, Daniel, LD

Idea: language learning application via videochat between two users

Update: LD: It’s my first hackathon and I must say the food is great, people are great and we’re going to win.”

Team: Team Stingy Yifei, Camillio

Idea: simple implementation of responsive images

Update: Yifei: “This place has a pretty wild vibe I’d would definitely come back again.”

Follow the hashtag #swipeathon on twitter to stay updated all weekend long.

Live from the Onswipe headquarters in NYC, the first company hackathon is well underway. The Developers and designers are pouring in fast in preparation for a weekend of stampeding keyboards and dual screen setups. Spectators are taking their fair share of beer and food as they prepare for a weekend of hacking. If you’re in the NYC area stop by the loft above west 14th and join the team for some brews, designing and hanging out. Programmers and non programmers alike are welcome to the festivities at 39 West 14th street.

We’re only about a week and a half from the Windows 8 launch, and the clouds seem to be gathering for a showdown between Windows 8 and iOS, and all the major players are involved. Today, take a look into Samsung’s launch of Windows 8 devices the FBI’s warning against mobile viruses.

Caught Between Apple and Microsoft: Samsung Reveals Windows 8 Devices, “Smart PCs”
Samsung revealed its Windows 8 lineup Monday night, including the new “Smart PC” tablet family. ” “The Smart PC is a new category driven by innovation and U.I., with Windows 8 as the lynch pin,” Samsung America consumer electronics head Tim Baxter said. Prices for the two Smart PC tablets ranges from $650 for the ATIV Smart PC 500T ($750/with keyboard) to $1,200 for the ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T.

For Samsung, this particular launch has multiple plot lines: It and Apple are locked in battle as the two largest players in the tech industry, and despite successfully challenging Apple for the smartphone market with its Galaxy Nexus phones, Samsung hasn’t been able to make much of a mark in a tablet market still overwhelmingly controlled by Apple’s iPad. Samsung, like Microsoft, is gambling that Windows 8 will expand the tablet market to include hybrid laptop/tablet hybrids like Samsung’s Smart PC series.

But on the other hand, Samsung will also be competing against Microsoft’s in-house Surface tablet, which will launch with Windows 8 on October 26th. In a decidedly Apple-like move, Microsoft undercut its own OEMs, like Samsung, to design and produce its own hybrid tablet, and there is a good chance that Microsoft can and will price these devices low enough to directly compete with the iPad, while still competing with Samsung and other OEMs to over the high end of the market. If Windows 8 does succeed in the way that Microsoft hopes/dreams, the potential market share appears to be heavily tilted in its own direction.

Oh, and let’s not forget that we’re watching the multibillion dollar chip partnership between Apple and Samsung crumble away as both companies position themselves to more directly compete with each other.

Basically, Samsung is caught in a bizarre Mexican standoff, where participants are both friend and enemy, and where everybody has a lawyer. (Venture Beat, The Verge)

FBI Fingers Android As Susceptible to Mobile Malware
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a task force that includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) has issued a mobile malware warning late last week, outlining a number of steps that smartphone users can take to protect their devices from infection. The Next Web’s Emil Protalinski criticized the report for focusing only on Android software to the exclusion of iOS and other mobile OS’s that suffered from the same malware. (TheNextWeb)

Photo Credit: Have Gun, Will Travel by Randy Pertiet, on Flickr

The whole world watched Felix Baumgartner leap from the sky, 24 miles up, breaking the sound barrier and our minds in the process. If you haven’t seen it yet, then fix that right now. After, though, come back and check out the best tech news of the day.

Long-Time Chip Partnership Between Apple and Samsung Crumbling
To say that the relationship between Apple and Samsung has been ‘strained’ as of alte would be the understatement of the year. With a billion-dollar patent lawsuit still being fought over, the Korea Times is reporting that “Apple…has made it clear it will no longer use its rival’s technology, according to a senior Samsung official.” It appears that Apple will move future chip production to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). (CNET)

Microsoft Kicks Off Billion-Dollar Ad Campaign, Surface a No-Show
Sunday was pretty dang awesome for football fans across the country, but while they were watching the Seahawks shock the Patriots, they also got the first taste of Microsoft’s massive ad campaign. The ads showed a number of different Windows 8 devices from OEMs like ACER, Samsung, Lenovo and Sony. But what football fans weren’t shown was Microsoft’s own Windows 8 tablet, the Surface, which is set to launch on October 26, the same day as Windows 8. (WSJ)

EU Demands Google Change Privacy Policy
The monolithic powerhouse that is Google has been taking its share of licks lately. Last week, Reuters reported that the FTC is moving ever-closer to bringing an antitrust case against the company, and today the European Union’s data protection authorities said they have issues with Google’s newest privacy policy, and requested in a letter that Google clarify its actions when pulling data from across its many services. “Combining personal data on such a large scale creates high risks to the privacy of users,” says the letter, signed by 24 of EU’s 27 data regulators plus those of Croatia and Liechtenstein. (Reuters)

Is it True? iPad Mini Pricing, Models Appears to Leak
German mobile site MobileGeeks seems to have got its hands a pic of an inventory system describing the pricing and models of Apple’s upcoming iPad Mini, with the pricing coming betwee around $300 and $800. While it should go without saying that even if the source of the leak is legitimate, these prices could still change. But what is interesting is that it lists various models of tablet that have cellular capability, which contradicts a previous report by The Guardian that said the iPad Mini would be Wi-Fi only, a measure which would allow Apple to bypass the drawn-out process of getting FTC approval for 3G or 4G LTE connectivity. (ZDNET)

Photo Credit: Fighting Hartebeest by malczyk, on Flickr

Happy weekend everybody! The iPhone 5 is making some serious gains against Samsung, Microsoft is putting over a billion dollars into marketing, and…Google may get thrown an FTC antitrust lawsuit? Wha? All that and more right here.

Chitika: iPhone 5 Needed Only 3 Weeks To Overtake Galaxy SIII In Web Usage
In a stunning reminder of just how powerful the iPhone 5 user base is, Chitika Insights is reporting that Apple’s new smartphone has beat out Samsung’s Galaxy SIII in web usage after just three weeks on the market. Analyzing millions of mobile ad impressions between October 3rd through October 9th, the market research firm found that the iPhone 5 accounts accounted for 56 percent of mobile web volume. The Galaxy SIII has been on the market for four months now and even topping the iPhone 4S in domestic sales during August; however, Apple reported selling five-million iPhones during the first launch weekend. (Chitika)

How Bad Does Microsoft Want Windows 8 to Succeed? Enough to Spend Over $1 Billion on Marketing
Microsoft ins’t playing around with its Windows 8 launch. First reported by Forbes, the company is planning on a marketing blitz worth between $1.5 billion and $1.8 billion, triple the amount spent on the Windows Phone 7 launch two years ago. The campaign is set to kick off this weekend, with the actual launch of the OS happening on October 26th. (The Verge)

For First Time Ever, Desktop Search Declines As Mobile Surges
Analysts at the Macquarie Group have reported that for the first time since they began recording search metrics in 2006, desktop web search declined in September. ComScore data supports the finding, as it reported that, for September, its data showed that searches declined 4 percent year over year. Mobile search seems to be the most logical culprit for the decline, and more and more people use their smartphones to search on-the-go for directions, movie showtimes, restaurant reviews, etc. Macquarie analysts predict that almost a third of Internet search traffic will come from smartphones and tablets by the end of the year. (CNET)

FTC Targeting in Google Antitrust Case, Microsoft Probably Snickering Right Now
After a year of investigation, it appears that the higher-ups the FTC are convinced that “Google illegally used its dominance of the search market to hurt its rivals,” according to Reuters. During a congressional hearing in September 2011, Google CEO Eric Schmidt denied that the company manipulated its search results. “May I simply say that I can assure you we’ve not cooked anything,” he said at the time. (Reuters)

Photo Credit: Chitika

Darwin would be proud of the tablet industry. The dominant predator, Apple, is starting to feel its prey start to really fight back. And while Amazon, Google, Samsung, (and even Microsoft) are evolving to flourish in the tablet ecosystem, others like HTC are feeling extinction nipping at their heels. Check out what Eric Schmidt thinks of the tech ecosystem, and how you can win two tickets to Empire.js by being the most badass HTML5 coder in the land.

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt: Apple v. Amazon “Defining Fight” In Tech Industry
There may be an argument that the massive patent battle between Apple and Samsung will shape the future of the tech industry, but Google Chairman Eric Schmidt sees the platform fight between Apple and Amazon as the real show-stopper. “The Android-Apple platform fight is the defining fight in the industry today, Schmidt said during an interview with All Things D’s Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. Schmidt declined to weight in on the the subject of the patent issues, saying that he was not an expert on those issues and, seemingly more importunely, that the entire conflict was depressing. “These patent wars are death,” he said. (AllThingsD)

HTC Not Interested in “Me Too” Tablet, Stepping Away from Android Tablet Market
HTC has decided to take a break from the tablet market. TC’s global online communications manager Jeff Gordon said he was “pleased with the results” of HTC’s tablet lineup (HTC Flyer, Evo View 4G, and HTC Jetstream) but has decided to back out of the saturated Android tablet market. HTC is already having trouble keeping up in the smartphone market, and the tablet market is already dominated by Apple, Google, Amazon and others. (CNET)

FCC Grants Amazon Approval for 4G Kindle Fire Tablets
While Amazon’s high-end line of Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablets were released last month, the company has finally gotten the OK from the FCC to release the 4G devices. The issue was that the devices’ 4G capability requires approval from the FCC to make sure that wireless communication devices don’t interfere with government or emergency frequencies used, for example, by the military, airports, or emergency services. According to Reuters, while analysts and attorneys didn’t expect the FCC to reject the Kindle Fire, it was an unusual move for Amazon to launch such a major device without first getting the approval. (Reuters)

You Pumped, Bro? Onswipe’s Epic HTML5 Hackaton Happening October 19th!
Onswipe is reaching out the amazing coding talent of New York, and is hosting a two-day HTML5 hackathon on October 19th. Participants will have the run of our awesome office and staff, plus piles of every conceivable type of tablet/smartphone to develop on. The details are right here on the blog, but we must stress two points above all else: 1) We’re giving away two tickets to Empire.js. 2) There Will Be Beer.

Photo Credit: Charles Darwin by shehal, on Flickr

Do you dream of HTML5 greatness? Do you have JavaScript hacking skills? Do you want to meet other awesome hackers like yourself? We thought so.

On October 19th, Onswipe is holding a two-day uber hackathon for all the dreamers out there like us. There will be food, there will be WiFi, and yes: there will be beer. We want you to come hack with us and show the world what is possible on the web. This is what you can do about it:

1. Register for Onswipe’s two-day hackathon
2. Show up on October 19th
3. ???
4. Achieve greatness

And there’s a bonus: Onswipe will be giving away four iPads, one each to the top projects in design, gaming, data, and best overall. We’ll also be giving away two tickets to Empire.js for the best overall project and best designed project.

We’ve picked HTML5 as the theme for the hackathon. We know that covers a broad range of web apps, libraries, and general hackeries. That’s the point! We’re looking forward to creating cool HTML5 stuff with you, whatever it is you can think of.

Keep in mind you’ll have Onswipe’s arsenal of 30+ touch devices available for you to develop on, if you want. We have everything from iPads, to Galaxies, to Kindle Fires. In general you’ll have the whole Onswipe office at your disposal, plus a bunch of Onswipe’s best hackers.

Even better, we’ll be wrapping up on Sunday the 21st, right before the Empire.js pre-party! Think how it will feel to pre-game with some JavaScript and some beers for two days straight. Epic, that’s how it will feel.

Go register now for the Onswipe HTML5 hackathon. All participants must fit in our office, so there is limited space available. Don’t miss your chance! And remember: beer. Beer good.