The large companies have an additional resource: engineers from their key hardware and software vendors.
But when technical problems occur with a key hardware or software component all business can indeed grind to a halt.
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The company admitted it had been forced to make "an unacceptable number of repairs" to the consoles after key hardware failed.
While we're missing key hardware specs at the moment, at least potential buyers can start pondering whether they'll be down for the design revisions or not.
For a consumer device, the BlackBerry Z10 reaches the baseline, and while it takes a little getting used to, a week or so with the smartphone and the main gestures that replace a hardware key for navigation become intuitive and easily remembered.
The key maker works at a hardware store across the street from the gym.
Also, while hardware improvements were a key focus of past console upgrades, Sony is more focused this time on the changes in how users interact with the machine, these people said.
Misek notes in a new report that there are three key areas where patents are concentrated: hardware, software and wireless technology.
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Jelly Bean finally puts Android on a par with Apple's iOS operating system, which drives the iPhone and iPad, in two key respects: responsiveness (when the hardware is potent enough) and elimination of the constant need to resort to menus, which plagued most prior versions of Android.
It gives Google a hardware platform and patent protection for key aspects of its Android operating system.
This second ID could be a small piece of hardware, such as an electronic key fob, or a biometric (see the next paragraph).
For instance, requiring encryption software and hardware makers to hold a decoding key in "key escrow" is the equivalent of asking a bank to hold an extra set of safe-deposit-box keys.
Some couldn't keep pace with others, forcing Microsoft to sometimes delay key releases so partners could absorb them and create the hardware needed for them.
With no new Resistance currently planned, according to Insomniac Games founder Ted Price, Killzone will be a key killer app to entice gamers to invest in the new PS4 hardware.
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Thankfully, most of the key functions (cue, volume, fade, loops etc) have hardware controls too.
Hardware architecture, or the lack of it, has played a key role in the rise and fall of many companies.
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The key to innovation in the set-top box space is giving consumers a choice of hardware and software.
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And as Huberman contends, the key to the NAS market is in the software that you layer on top of the hardware.
Savvy mobile users will not be satisfied with slow performance or short battery life, and innovations such as hardware-accelerated multimedia engines, more efficient power management techniques and multi-core architectures will all be key to ensuring that devices are able to fully take advantage of the newly broadened data pipe.
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