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   VidBITS: Election Tech, Intel Chips, and Beating Glenn

   Adam C. Engst

   The U.S. presidential election has come and gone, and in this half-hour
   [1]TidBITS staff hangout, we discuss how we all watched the results
   roll in, and what changes we saw in how technology has changed election
   coverage. For a number of us, that meant watching Web sites with
   election maps updating in real time, while simultaneously comparing the
   results against the state-by-state predictions from Nate Silver's
   [2]FiveThirtyEight blog at the New York Times. Silver is a quant who
   has applied serious number crunching to the historical and polling data
   surrounding the election, and while the media was calling the election
   a 'tossup,' his numbers had long been pointing at an Obama win in the
   Electoral College. Silver isn't alone in this field, and while the
   Romney camp undoubtedly had analysts too, there's a [3]fascinating
   article at Time that looks at how President Obama's quants helped
   direct his campaign.

   [EMBED]

   Next, we talked through the latest news about [4]Apple potentially
   dropping Intel chips in Macs in favor of custom ARM-based chips along
   the lines of the A6X used in the fourth-generation iPad. The staff
   consensus is that it would be totally in character for Apple to switch
   to their own custom chips. We strongly suspect that Apple is compiling
   Mac OS X for ARM-based chips even now, much as the company did with
   Intel-based chips while shipping for PowerPC chips. It seems likely
   that Bob Mansfield, now heading up a new Technologies group at Apple
   that includes the semiconductor division, would be evaluating the
   feasibility of such a switch over the next few years. The big question
   in such a scenario is what would happen with virtualization.

   Lastly, here are the products we're looking into for reviews or other
   coverage:
     * The [5]Matias Quiet Pro keyboard doesn't have quite the feel of the
       Tactile Pro, but Adam has found that it's a whole lot quieter for
       those who don't want their typing to be a public event.
     * We aren't currently planning a full [6]iPad mini review, but Jeff
       is working on an article about how the iPad mini may be the best
       iPad yet for photographers.
     * As a self-described 'truly terrible cartoonist,' Michael has been
       playing with a [7]Bamboo stylus from Wacom along with the
       [8]Autodesk SketchBook Pro app for making really bad cartoons on
       his iPad.
     * In a confessional moment, Glenn admitted that while he enjoys the
       [9]Letterpress game for iOS, he has discovered that he's really bad
       at it. Challenge him to a game quick, before he deletes the app!
     * Spookily, Joe has discovered that he has inadvertently been
       following in the life footsteps of Mac developer Jeff Holland,
       whose backup app is called, wait for it'¦ [10]Déjà  Vu.

   Let us know how you liked this event, and if you have any suggestions
   as we continue to refine our approach.

References

   1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxH2T-gYY0w
   2. http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/
   3. http://swampland.time.com/2012/11/07/inside-the-secret-world-of-quants-and-data-crunchers-who-helped-obama-win/
   4. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57545525-37/will-apples-silicon-be-good-enough-for-a-mac/
   5. http://www.matias.ca/quietpro/mac/
   6. http://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/overview/
   7. http://www.wacom.com/en/products/stylus/bamboo-stylus
   8. http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=6848332&siteID=123112
   9. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id526619424?mt=8
  10. http://www.propagandaprod.com/

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