Paul Thurrott (via MG Siegler):

Sales of Windows 8 PCs are well below Microsoft’s internal projections and have been described inside the company as disappointing. But here’s the catch: The software giant blames the slow start on lackluster PC maker designs and availability, further justifying its new Surface strategy.

Well, isn’t that convenient. So, if the designs of Microsoft’s partners are so lousy, why do they sell them in their stores?

Microsoft has clearly decided where they hope to get their growth in the future, and it’s not from attracting new customers. I’m sure they hope that happens but it’s not their main strategy. Their main strategy is from eating their partners’ lunch. Their partners, recognizing this, have attacked the Surface and now Microsoft is firing back. Popcorn, etc.

But this is just petty. Does anyone really think that PC designs today are any worse than they’ve ever been? With the possible exception of the Dell XPS, I mean? It should be amusing if Microsoft continues to follow this line that they just woke up and noticed how crappy Windows hardware is.

The Street:

After reports earlier in the week that the South Korean technology giant was raising application processor (AP) prices on Apple by as much as 20%, a Samsung Electronics official denied the reports to The Hankyoreh, a Seoul-based newspaper.

Again, if Samsung could do it, I don’t know why they wouldn’t. But if they could, why haven’t they done it before?

(via 9to5Mac)

MG Siegler:

Sinofsky was the driving force behind the “no compromise” approach to Windows 8. I believe that approach is at the heart of the ultimate problem with the OS. As two separate halves,

Siegler is also not impressed with the modestly-selling Surface, which is probably not that surprising.

Ina Fried at AllThingsD:

Sinfosky, who took the reins of Windows in 2006, after a long career in the Office unit, helped restore order and discipline to the operating system following the boondoggle of Windows Vista.

This makes perfect sense because Windows 7 was the first usable release in 8 years and Windows 8 is my favorite version of Windows ever. Order is restored.

Todd Dybas, the University of Washington football and basketball beat reporter for the Tacoma News Tribune (disclosure: my wife worked there for years), was reprimanded by the university (more disclosure: I have a master’s from the UW — the whole Pacific Northwest is one big incestuous mess, frankly) for tweeting too much about a recent Huskies game.

Dybas notes that for credentialed members of the media:

The “recommended” total is “20 total in-game updates for basketball, 45 total in-game updates for football”.

I guess the thought is that reading someone tweeting about the game is just like being there? Not sure I follow the logic here. Also not sure why football gets more than twice as many tweets as basketball. Is that just because basketball is more boring?

Personally, I’d prefer it if my alma mater could work on the problem of people watching football games at home tweeting about them too much in my timeline.

Is good for the parts supplier that’s part of a giant conglomerate that has its hands in everything from phones to toaster phones to, I don’t know, uranium? They probably mine uranium.

“Samsung Electronics recently asked Apple for a significant price raise in the mobile processor known as application processor,” the person was quoted as saying in the report. “Apple first disapproved it, but finding no replacement supplier, it accepted the increase.”

Jim Dalrymple calls this “Samsung’s dick move” but if Samsung can negotiate a better deal for themselves, they should. We’ve lauded Apple’s ability to manage its suppliers for years. It’s up to them to keep up the magic.

I wondered about this when I played with the Touch Cover at the Microsoft Store. The plastic seemed quite stiff but I thought the iPad Smart Cover is plastic, too, so it’ll probably be OK.

The thing I didn’t thinks about is that the plastic on a Smart Cover doesn’t hide any components like on the Touch Cover and it’s also never bent completely over during normal use. You can bend segments over completely but when  you roll it up the most acute angle it forms is about 40 degrees. The magnetic metal hinge does all the real work. Also, the Smart Cover is only plastic on one side.

The Smart Cover for the iPad Mini does have a plastic hinge but, again, the plastic doesn’t hold components and seems softer and more flexible than that on the Touch Cover.

If this were Apple someone would be saying they need to be recalled. But nobody expects a quality Windows PC product so it’s cool. (I am not, at this point, advocating such a recall, just being a jerk as is my wont. Please recommend my jerk skills on LinkedIn.)

If this is an endemic problem, it’s kind of a big deal since Microsoft is so heavily pushing the Touch Cover from a use perspective and, more importantly, a design perspective. People love the “click!”, the tearing not so much.

Also, I love how many comments on the Guardian’s piece about this have been moderated.

Owen Williams:

Despite the fact that I’ve been using Windows 8 for the past three weeks, I somehow managed to overlook a rather stark feature in the OS: ads.

Uh… what?