Microsoft Preps Surface 2 Tablets For Sept. 23 Unveiling In NYC

Better performance and battery life will help, but the best thing Microsoft could do to spark Surface 2 sales would be to let more partners sell it, Todd Swank, senior director of product marketing for Equus, a Minnetonka, Minn.-based Microsoft partner, told CRN. 

"I'm guessing the Surface margins wouldn't be great, but as long as the channel could make a bit of money on services and add-on sales, it would fit into Microsoft's existing distribution model pretty well," Swank said in an interview.

Read the full article here:
http://www.crn.com/news/mobility/240161025/microsoft-preps-surface-2-tablets-for-sept-23-unveiling-in-nyc.htm

Western Digital To Buy Virident, May Mess Up Seagate's Virident Relationship

Todd Swank, senior director of product marketing at Equus Computer Systems, a Minneapolis-based system builder, said Western Digital's planned acquisition of Virident shows the continuing consolidation of the SSD market, a move he said he welcomes. 

"Companies like SanDisk (NSDQ:SNDK), Micron, Intel (NSDQ:INTC) and Seagate are adding to their SSD tech portfolio," Swank said. "Western Digital has to keep up." 

 It will get increasingly harder for SSD and flash storage vendors to compete as the larger vendors continue to increase in size, Swank said. 

"There are a lot of companies out there, but it's tough for them to compete," he said. "They need to consolidate." 

That makes it important for Western Digital to acquire a company like Virident, Swank said. "What does Western Digital offer today that companies like SanDisk, Micron, Intel, Seagate or Samsung don't?" he said. "This opens the door for Western Digital to compete. Consolidation is a good thing. It makes the companies stronger."

Read Full Article Here:
http://www.crn.com/news/storage/240160969/western-digital-to-buy-virident-may-mess-up-seagates-virident-relationship.htm

Nice Email of the Week for September 8, 2013

Wow, I am impressed brother...you have been to more events in this nation than anyone I have ever known and believe you, me, I know a lot! Great job man, love the pictures, keep 'em coming and keep running with the ball Todd, incredible. -Jake

2013 Minnesota State Fair

2013 Minnesota State Fair

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for September 7, 2013

On Labor Day, a fair was in the air, so we went to check it out.

There was also a bunch of fish.

There was also a pumpkin   A really, really big pumpkin.  881 pounds to be exact and it was grown by a guy by the name of Bill Foss from Buffalo, Minnesota.  We have the impression that Mr.  Foss leads a pretty rock and roll lifestyle.

Snakes.  Why does it always have to be snakes?

Greyhounds.  Why does it always have to be greyhounds?

Some people really like the fair.  Everywhere you go, you see people jumping for joy.

Some people jump bikes for joy as well.

The kid from the University of Minnesota seemed pretty excited to show off the solar race car they've been building.  Looks pretty cool.  I wish I would have asked to see if I could borrow it to drive around some night.

The Fair is still engaging in the horrible practice of removing young ladies heads and encasing them in butter.  I don't know how this is even remotely legal.

This lady had her own booth selling her incredible artistic creations.  She takes different colored clays and turns them into a face like this, then she squeezes it very small and starts slicing off little clay faces to build her other creations.  I was fascinated and inspired by what she does.  Although I didn't buy anything from her, so she probably thought I was a jerk.

I did buy from this young lady, though.  She had some really good cookies!

All in all, the Swank Family had a pretty good day at the fair.

On Friday night, we had a great time joining our old friends at Nor-Tech to wish Chrissy Belcher well wishes in her retirement.  She said she was going to just kick back for a year or so while her and her husband figure out what they want to do with the rest of their lives.  That sounds pretty cool to me!  Where do I sign up?

There was a bunch of fun people there:

Labor Day Weekend on the St. Croix River

Labor Day Weekend on the St. Croix River

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for September 1, 2013

The boys started school a week early this year which was probably a good thing since it's their first year in high school!  I'm so excited that my boys are freshmen!  To help prepare them for school, I dunked each of their heads in the toilet for about 2 minutes and then yanked their underwear up in the back.  Hopefully that helps get them in the zone.

Miss Sheri's college friends came to town and spent a couple of days with her.  I tried to bring back memories of college for them by staging a classic "Panty Raid" on each of their rooms as they slept.  They didn't think it was very funny to have to go without underwear for the rest of the week, but I'm sure over time they'll appreciate the nostalgia of the moment.

On Saturday, we drove to Hudson, Wisconsin to join the Zitzewitz Family on the St. Croix River for some Labor Day festivities.

I always find it interesting riding the elevator down to the river.  I think it would be so fun if the cable broke and we'd roller coaster all the way down to the bottom and be launched into the water.  I gotta get Karl to let me try doing that some time.

It was a nice, sunny day and we were all geared up to spend it with a bunch of nice, sunny people.

All right.  Not everyone was nice and sunny.  Some of the boys seemed downright surly.  Maybe they just got sick of me asking them to pose for pictures.

Troy and Rhonda Brown didn't seem to mind posing when I asked them.  So I had that going for me which made for a pretty darn good day.

Eventually the ladies went in the water to have a drink.  At least, I hope that's all they were doing.

I told Karl that it was a dream of mine to ride around on a jet ski with my back pressed up against his.  He was nice enough to accommodate.

The Great Big Mable Tube gave the kids another great time all afternoon.  Unfortunately, none of those pictures turned out very well so I snuck in this picture from Wednesday night when they did the same thing on Prior Lake.  One thing you can always say about Mable, she sure does get rode a lot!