David Pogue reviews the Surface Pro over at The NYT — this is the full-blown Windows 8 version of Microsoft’s tablet. (Yes, that one.) Things start to look a bit dubious when “TileWorld” (the Metro UI) is brought up:

(Since Microsoft refuses to give this environment a name, let’s go with TileWorld.)

TileWorld has been jarringly stapled to the regular Windows desktop underneath it. You wind up with two Web browsers, two control panels, two Mail programs, two completely different looks.

That doesn’t sound particularly user-friendly. Battery doesn’t fare much better — emphasis mine:

Microsoft says the Pro will get about half the battery life of the non-Pro Surface, which would mean about 4.5 hours. I say, you’ll get 4.5 if you’re lucky; I barely got 3.5 hours from a charge.

Ouch.

Guess that’s why there aren’t many other two-pound, half-inch-thick laptops with Intel i5 processors.

I guess so.

Some powerful words from ex-Westboro Baptist Church member, Megan Phelps-Roper. She’s left the WBC and is trying to work out what to do:

Up until now, our names have been synonymous with “God Hates Fags.” Any twelve-year-old with a cell phone could find out what we did.

I wonder how she’ll change her life for the better from now on. The first step — leaving the WBC — was undoubtedly one of the most difficult things possible for a Church member of her status.

I wish her well.

Here’s some beautiful early-week inspiration From Aral Balkan:

Objects have value not because of what they are but because of what they enable us to do.

Stephen Hackett lays out the case that maybe we’re further away from a Retina iPad Mini than we hoped.

Daniel Eran Dilger, Apple Insider:

The fact that iOS is more than twice as popular on the web as all Android devices combined calls into question market statistics by research firms such as IDC, which recently stated that Apple's share of the tablet market had fallen to 43.6% of worldwide tablet sales. That report was presented by Adrian Covert of CNNMoney to state that "Android is the new king of tablet market share."

How does Android, with its reported huge sales and massive install base, make up for less than half the web browsing usage of iOS?

To see this and eight other ‘believe it or not’ energy numbers from 2012, check out this article by Mark Halper over at SmartPlanet. Fascinating (and slightly worrying) stuff.

Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia co-founder, was recently trying to buy some “soothing cough drops” from a pharmacy in London, but was instead offered a homeopathic remedy called “Oscillococcinum”. The chemist went on to describe the remedy — here’s what Jimmy has to say:

But he went on to give some "scientific" details - if I took Oscillococcinum it would disrupt the DNA of the virus before it could make me ill.

Well, that kind of lie is what makes me ill.

Not bad:

For the latter quarter of 2012, sales of its iPhone accounted for 34 percent of all mobile phone sales in the US—including feature phones—according to the latest data from Strategy Analytics.

Kyle Orland writes a piece for Ars which I think has a few flaws, but is interesting to think about: Apple, the living room and gaming.

Kyle states:

Apple has now sold more than 10 million Apple TVs, but the 5-year-old streaming box has often been referred to as a "hobby" inside Cupertino.

I am reminded of this recent Tim Cook quote:

“When I go into my living room and turn on the TV, I feel like I have gone backwards in time by 20 to 30 years,” Cook told Williams. “It’s an area of intense interest. I can’t say more than that.”

So the Apple TV has *recently gone from a “hobby” to an “area of intense interest”. Things are warming up.

Back to Kyle:

There are some things you can always seem to count on in the video game industry. Activision is always working on a new Call of Duty game. Ubisoft's Beyond Good and Evil sequel is always "just around the corner." The PlayStation 3 is constantly hitting its stride. And Apple is perpetually on the verge of releasing a living room video game console that will revolutionize everything.

I don’t think Apple is going to enter the console market in the same way Sony and Microsoft did. Apple is more of a general computing company: people can work and play games on their Macs, iPads and iPhones. Why would Apple restrict a living room product to just gaming? If the Apple TV sees an update soon (which seems likely), I see apps as the future.

I think what Gabe Newell, CEO of Valve, is trying to get at with the quote included in Kyle’s piece, is exactly that: imagine the effects apps had on the smartphone business happening to the living room. It would be huge.

Here’s Gabe’s exact quote:

“The threat right now is that Apple has gained a huge amount of market share and has a relatively obvious pathway towards entering the living room with their platform. I think that there's a scenario where we see sort of a dumbed-down living room platform emerging—I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily. The question is can we make enough progress in the PC space to establish ourselves there and also figure out better ways of addressing mobile before Apple takes over the living room?”

I think Valve has a chance to do well in the living room, but Gabe is just concerned Apple will take all the pie.

Damn.

Some interesting information about Microsoft’s involvement in Dell’s plans to go private have surfaced (pardon the pun). Peter Bright at Ars has the story:

According to one of the people involved, "under one scenario being discussed, Dell would agree to use Microsoft's Windows software to power the vast majority of its devices."

Given that this is how Dell already operates, it appears that Microsoft may be trying to prevent any radical reorganization or departure from the PC market. A desire to substantially alter the way the company does business, including breaking its dependency on PC sales, is believed to underpin Dell's desire to go private in the first place.

Looks like the rumours were partly accurate.

Speaking of gaming’s future, it’s starting to look dubious whether Nintendo’s hardware division will be a part of it. Some tough numbers were announced recently:

Nintendo sold 3.06 million Wii U units worldwide from its November launch through the end of 2012. That's nearly as much as the 3.19 million units of the original Wii Nintendo sold back in the 2006 holiday season.

Less Wii U units sold, but six years later. So much for growth.