inThirty 142 – Oh Windows

Today we have Kelly Guimont joining us from #hirekelly to talk about the Microsoft announcement. Our main goal was to talk about what the Surface Pro 3 is and what it isn’t. We decide to include how Microsoft is doing since Satya Nadella took power a few short months ago

Attack of the Tablets

We wish everyone recovering from Hurricane Sandy well, and episode 65 of inThirty goes out to the team at PSE&G for getting power back to Chaim, Harry, and Justin in time to talk about tablets. Google didn’t fair as well and their scheduled Android event was moved from IRL to online. Chaim managed to collect all of the sweet details about the dot 2 update to Jelly Bean and the hardware that’ll accompany it before he was knocked off the grid but Harry is not impressed. We pit the new Android tablets and the Kindle Fire against the recently announced iPad Mini and discuss price point, features, design, and determine along the way that this holiday season Amazon, Google, and Apple will duke it out in in the less than ten inch category. Chaim and Justin were introduced to a new contender in the ring, the Microsoft Surface, at Microtropolis (go on, Google it), while Harry went undercover at a Microsoft Store to try it. Harry likes its kickstand, Chaim says it’s revolutionary, Justin says it’s mutant disaster of a device. Take some aspirin (that’s a really subtle tablet pun), put on your headphones, and listen up.
Episode 65 Hangout: http://youtu.be/Ik1g2gbYPXg

Coming to the Surface

We’ve all played a little Xbox, but how many of you ever got your hands on a Zune, or a Kin? Microsoft’s getting back into the hardware game with the Surface tablet and on episode 63 of inThirty we get into, about, and under the soon to be released device. We talk pricing, features, make predictions on future market share, and add to the overall confusion about the two different versions of Windows, RT and 8, that’ll run on this new entrant to the tablet market.

Episode 63 Hangout: http://youtu.be/6pxvOYZyAJg?t=5m22s

Show Notes
Microsoft Surface Pricing Goes Toe-to-Toe with Apple iPad | Slashdot
Surface with Windows RT | Microsoft
Surface RT: Pricing details, spec updates...” | PCWorld
Microsoft fails to explain Windows 8 vs. Windows RT…” | The Verge
On the Recent Microsoft Surface Announcements | Curious Rat

Under the Surface: Microsoft Tablet Announcement

So someone at Microsoft HQ finally read Walter Isaacson’s biography on Steve Jobs and the Surface was born! On episode 46 of inThirty we take you through the keynote that marks Microsoft’s entrance into the pantheon of PC manufacturers and the device that’ll do it. We compare, only as appropriate, Microsoft’s methodology to Apple’s: Chaim comes out with high hopes for the platform, Justin is ambivalent but thinks the touch keyboard cover thing is cool, and the Surface definitely gets under Harry’s skin.

Show Notes
Live from Microsoft’s ‘major announcement’ event | The Verge
Compare the Surface to Other Tablets | GDGT