IDG Contributor Network: Lenovo vs. Asus vs. Apple iPad: Approaching the ideal Always Connected PC

[Disclosure: Microsoft and Lenovo are both clients of the author.]

I&m fascinated with the Always Connected PC concept largely because it tries to meet the need that the iPad initially identified, and Apple has largely failed to address.

Microsoft has been hovering around this idea for some time, with Windows RT being the first failed attempt, crippled by a unique version of Windows that just ran Office and a few other things reasonably well. Then they brought out Continuum, a fascinating modular concept with the Windows Phone at its heart. But sadly, the Windows Phone was failing in market and Microsoft and its partners couldn&t get to a viable offering in time to save their phone.

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iOS 12: 26 ways Apple is about to improve Maps

AppleMaps service is hugely important. Location and knowledge about different locations is a secret sauce that binds so many future IoT product development plans together, from news app to ride sharing and tomorrowroad transport. In a recent interview with TechCrunch, Applevice presidnet of services, Eddy Cue,promised the following improvements to Maps beginning in iOS 12.

Apple Maps in iOS 12: What to expect

&The best map app in the world&

Apple hopes to make Maps the &best& mapping app in the world, Cue promised.

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IDG Contributor Network: Should regulators approve T-Mobile and Sprint merger

Something interesting happened when T-Mobile and Sprint filed their intention to merge with the FCC. They said a merger would strengthen them and let them compete head to head with competitors like AT-T Mobility and Verizon Wireless. But wait. I thought they already were successfully competing. So, are they, or aren&t they

The truth is somewhere in the blurry middle. Over the last five years, both T-Mobile and Sprint have gone through major changes. Five years ago, both of them were smaller and insignificant competitors in the wireless industry.

CEO John Legere saved T-Mobile

Then John Legere was brought in as CEO of T-Mobile and things started to change. When he stepped in, the company was crashing and burning. It missed the changeover from 2G to 3G and they were suffering because of that judgement call.

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This large organization has two kinds of workstations, reports a pilot fish there: the regular ones, and high-security workstations that, if they go down, people can die.

"Our contractor rolled out a change, possibly two changes, that broke the ability to log in to the high-security ones," fish says. "Customers are screaming. To make matters worse, the help desk is so backed up on other failed upgrades that the average time to answer is measured in hours instead of minutes as required by the contract.

"When customers are in the help desk phone queue, after 30 minutes a recorded message tells them they can send an email instead of waiting. Now the email queue is over 30 days long.

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How AI will change enterprise mobility

Your smartphone is about to get smarter, thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). And that has huge implications for enterprise support for mobility.

(Insider Story)

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PlayStation Vue, welcome to the price hike party. Sonyover-the-top TV streaming service is the latest to raise the price of its subscription service, which will now cost $5 more per month across all four tiers. That means Vuecheapest plan will now cost $44.99 per month instead of $39.99 per month. The most expensive plan will climb to $79.99 per month.

Remember when we thought streaming TV was a cheaper way to watch No

Sonystreaming TV service PlayStation Vue raises its prices, too Above: PlayStation Vuecurrent prices, before the price increases

The pricing changes arrived on the same day that AT-T raised the cost of its streaming TV service, DirecTV Now, also by $5 per month.

And both changes follow similar moves by competitors, including the $5 per month increase announced by Sling TV only days ago, and the $5 per month increase announced by YouTube TV in March.That made Sling TVcore package $25 per month and YouTube TV $40 per month.

According to the PlayStation Vue blog post, the decision to raise prices was attributed to the need to &keep pace with rising business costs and enable us to continue offering a better way to watch the best in live sports, entertainment, and news,& it says.

In reality, itclear that the whole market is shifting to a slightly higher price point for streaming TV, especially as the services expand their channel lineups to offer more broadcast stations and networks. However, for consumers, it may make these services a tougher sell & many customers signed up to avoid being nickel-and-dimed by cable TV providers with fees and lineups including channels they didn&t watch, and this is starting to feel the same.

In addition, there is a world of content out there on services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Huluon-demand service thatfar more affordable & and without requiring users to record shows with a &cloud& DVR that sometimes doesn&t even let you fast-forward through the commercials. For those who don&t care about sports or tracking particular shows, the streaming TV services may look less compelling as they become more expensive.

In its announcement, Sony vowed to continue to improve its service with the planned addition of more broadcast stations, content, and other feature enhancements.

PlayStation Vue is one of the older services on the market, but is also one of the smallestwith an estimated 670,000 subscribers, far behind Sling TV2.21 million or DirecTV Now1.2 million. Likely, consumers believe & because of its name & a PlayStation is required to use it. But the service can be accessed from almost any device, including mobile phones and tablets, the web, Chromecast, Android TV, Apple TV, Fire TV and Roku.

It offers four different channel lineups, all of which include networks like AMC, CNBC, CNN, Discovery, Disney, ESPN, HGTV, Food Network FX, TLC, TNT, and others. In some areas, broadcasts stations including ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC are also available.

The pricing changes will go into effect starting on July 24, 2018, Sony says, and will impact both new and existing subscribers. Current subscribers will see the change reflected on their billing cycle after July 31, 2018. Vuestandalone channels and add-ons are not affected by the price increases.

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