After two years of declining computer sales worldwide, things have finally flattened out. That may mean the industry is in for a turnaround, but it may not.

I figured computer sales would slump because many people are switching to tablets. For the typical human, a tablet (or phablet or phone) can do the work they otherwise did on a PC. Computer sales had to go down as those folks made the switch.

Also, you have to consider that today’s PC is much better made and more reliable than systems of the 1990s, when the industry experienced insane, year-over-year growth. Back then, I’d buy a new system every two or three years. Now I average about 5 years for a PC, sometimes longer.

One item that may be playing into the increased sales in a tangential way is Microsoft’s drop of support for Windows XP. That decision motivated a lot of business owners to buy new systems — or refurbish their existing models. They would get a new motherboard, solid state drive (SSD), and Windows 7. That’s technically not a new computer, but it’s a sale!

Gartner

A joke was making the rounds several years ago: Some politician was using Google Maps and wanted to know why he couldn’t see his car parked in front of the building.

The truth is, Google Maps uses satellite imagery that often months if not years out of date. That’s fine for getting around or becoming familiar with an area, but not useful if you want to see where your car is parked.

Enter Skybox. Their goal is to have very fresh satellite images available, maybe three times a day. They can do it with only a small number of satellites. It’s fascinating stuff, and it will affect how you use Google Maps in just a few short years.

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Coming soon to a public library near you: A 3D printer. Pretty cool, and apparently you can print illegal stuff too.

Now I have to figure out what illegal 3D printing is.

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I ranted about it before (see rant link below), but now apparently my admonitions are ringing true: Samsung is shuttering its Video and Media Hub. And good riddance!

Way back when, I subscribed to the Media Hub. I paid about $30 to “buy” two movies, and I watched them. Then Samsung upgraded the Media Hub and “lost” my password, my account, and my movies.

No refunds are coming for the media you have in the Video and Media Hub; Samsung is urging users to move the material to some movie hosting site. Yeah, like I have any faith in that.

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My Samsung rant from earlier this year.

I’m starting to believe that Facebook will one day join AOL on the “Oh? You still use that?” heap of technology history.

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