Tag: Operating Systems

Google Asking For Help With Its Fuchsia OS

Google is opening the door to greater collaboration with the open source community on its latest operating system (OS) endeavorer, Fuchsia.

Google has been working on Fuchsia since at least 2016, when its existence was first publicly known. Much of Fuchsia’s development has been shrouded in mystery, and Google has been light on details. It appears to primarily be aimed at phone and tablets, although Google has hinted that it could be used on a wider array of devices.

The obvious point of reference is Android, with many believing Fuchsia represents a possible Android replacement. One big difference is the kernel, or core, of the OS. While Android is based on a Linux kernel, Fuchsia has a completely new kernel called Zircon. This may be in an effort to address the shortcomings Android has experienced.

For those interested in seeing what Fuchsia looks like, Ars Technica built a copy of the project and posted a gallery of screenshots.

In the meantime, however, Google is making it easier for the open source community to contribute to the project.

Starting today, we are expanding Fuchsia’s open source model to make it easier for the public to engage with the project. We have created new public mailing lists for project discussions, added a governance model to clarify how strategic decisions are made, and opened up the issue tracker for public contributors to see what’s being worked on. As an open source effort, we welcome high-quality, well-tested contributions from all. There is now a process to become a member to submit patches, or a committer with full write access.

In addition, we are also publishing a technical roadmap for Fuchsia to provide better insights for project direction and priorities. Some of the highlights of the roadmap are working on a driver framework for updating the kernel independently of the drivers, improving file systems for performance, and expanding the input pipeline for accessibility.

The fact that Google is opening the door to more collaboration may indicate an acceleration of this plans. It will be interesting to see where Fuchsia goes, and what devices Google uses it on.

Image Credit: Ars Technica

December 13, 2020
Facebook on BlackBerry Will Continue Via Web App

In what appeared to be a major blow to the already struggling BlackBerry, Facebook recently decided to discontinue WhatsApp and Facebook API support for BlackBerry. The company indicated it would end support for BlackBerry 10 and BBOS at the end of the year.

BlackBerry’s Lou Igazzola said the company was “extremely disappointed” in Facebook’s decision because many of its users use Facebook and WhatsApp. Of course they do. These are two of the most popular apps out there, and for many people, it’s hard to imagine using a phone that doesn’t support them in this day and age.

At the same time, it’s also understandable why Facebook would want to end support of such operating systems. Even BlackBerry itself has turned to Android.

BlackBerry clarified after the news made the rounds, however, that Facebook will continue to support BlackBerry 10 and BBOS with a web-based app.

Igazzola wrote, “For those just hearing about this news, we have an updated web-based Facebook app that replaces the native app for BlackBerry 10 and BBOS. The update is required because the native app will stop working on March 31. The new web-based Facebook app provides additional features not available on the native app…”

These include the ability to reply to and see replies to comments, the elimination of “News feed could not be retrieved” messages, and any features made available to Facebook web users.

No updates on WhatsApp support were announced.

Images via Facebook, BlackBerry

March 30, 2016
Chrome OS Isn’t Going Away, Says Google

Rumors of Chrome OS and Android merging into one operating system have seemingly been happening nearly as long as the two operating systems have existed alongside each other.

Sergey Brin even reportedly mentioned as far back as 2009 that the two would likely one day converge.

Late on Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google plans to fold Chrome OS into Android, citing people familiar with the matter, adding that Google engineers have been working for two years to combine the operating systems, having made new progress.

The report indicates that Google plans to unveil the new single operating system in 2017, while showing off an early version next year. It also says the new combined version of will give PC users access to the Google Play store. Technically, they already have access, so I’ll take this to mean they’ll be able to use Android apps on PCs. Chrome OS will remain as an open source OS that Google engineers will maintain, it says.

Google has responded to the report, downplaying any notion that Chrome OS is going away, but not exactly denying its accuracy.

Hiroshi Lockheimer, SVP Android, Chromecast, Chrome OS tweeted this:

There’s a ton of momentum for Chromebooks and we are very committed to Chrome OS. I just bought two for my kids for schoolwork!

— Hiroshi Lockheimer (@lockheimer) October 30, 2015

The future of the two operating systems as described by the Journal could still be seen as in line with that tweet. It does say Chrome OS will be maintained by Google even as it’s open source, and it does not say that Chromebooks are going away, which considering said momentum, would be ridiculous.

In August, NPD reported that Chromebooks were outselling Windows laptops.

Image via Google

October 30, 2015
Microsoft To Offer One Operating System For All Screens

At some point in the future, Microsoft will offer its users a single operating system experience across all screens, making things a lot easier on application developers. Rather than having to worry about developing apps for Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox all separately, they’ll just be able to develop apps for this singular platform.

That’s what we’re getting from CEO Satya Nadella’s words on the company’s earnings call on Tuesday. Here’s a look at the earnings report.

Nadella is quoted as saying, “This means one operating system that covers all screen sizes,” Nadella said to analysts on the quarterly conference call. “We will streamline the next version of Windows from three operating systems into one single converged operating system for screens of all sizes.”

As Business Insider notes, the company has been hinting at this strategy for months, having announced “Universal Windows Apps” developer tools at its conference in April.

“In the past we had multiple teams working on different versions of Windows,” Nadella said. “Now we have one team with a common architecture. This allows us to scale, create Universal Windows Apps.”

A couple weeks ago, Microsoft posted a huge internal email in which Nadella outlined the company’s overall strategy and “core” focus. The following week, he announced that Microsoft will be eliminating 18,000 jobs over the course of the next year (13,000 within six months).

With multiple Windows teams being consolidated into one, it’s likely that a number of those cuts will be made within that group.

You can find the transcript to the earnings call here.

Image via Microsoft

July 23, 2014
Linux 3.13 Kernel Officially Released

The latest Linux kernel was officially released this week, bringing several new features with the start of the new year. Linux 3.13 can now be compiled and installed freely.

Updates in 3.13 includes nftables, a packet filtering framework meant to take the place of iptables. While iptables can sometimes cause trouble during system updates, nftables is expected to do away with these problems. Nftables is also backwards compatible, meaning iptable users can implement it without much work.

Another significant update in 3.13 is Linux block layer scaling. This should help the OS better use the capabilities of newer hardware by allowing millions of IO requests per second. In particular this should help Linux better take advantage of the speed of SSD drives.

Optimization for AMD’s Radeon GPUs has also been added in 3.13. Power management for more Radeon devices is now supported and is now the default for some devices. Support for the Radeon R9 290X has also been added.

In addition to these larger updates, 3.13 contains many other features and improvements. Support for capping device power consumption, NFC payments, and Intel’s Many Integrated Core multiprocessor architecture has been added. Performance for multiprocessors using non-uniform memory access (NUMA) has been improved, as has the performance of the Squashfs filesystem. Hugepage workloads should now have improved page table access through page table access scaling. TCP Fast Open optimization is now enabled by default and network transport layer computation rates can now be capped.

January 22, 2014
Amazon Updates Fire OS To 3.1, Adds Goodreads Integration
Less than two months after Amazon unveiled Mojito – Fire OS 3.0 – the company has now launched 3.1.

It’s a free, over-the-air update available to Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HDX users, who should be getting it sometime within the next few weeks. If you want it immediately, you can go here and install the update.

“The response to our new family of Kindle Fire tablets has been fantastic, and we’re excited to add new features we think our customers will love,” said Peter Larsen, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “This free, over-the-air Fire OS update brings new features like Goodreads integration, Second Screen, Cloud Collections, enterprise support, wireless printing, and more.”

The update include deep Goodreads integration, as well as new second screen controls and enterprise BYOD support.

Users can capture and share quotes with Goodreads friends from inside books, and see what their friends are reading with the Goodreads updates feed. You can also rate and review books, and share that info with friends, as well as import all your Amazon-purchased books (including print) into your Goodreads account.

The OS lets users fling TV shows and movies from their tablet to the TV.

“Second Screen turns your TV into the primary screen and frees up your Fire HDX to provide playback controls, a customized display for X-Ray, or simply a place to email, browse the web, and more while you watch a movie,” Amazon says. “Second Screen is available for PlayStation 3 and Samsung TVs, and will be available starting later this year for PlayStation 4.”

“Fire OS 3.1 delivers the ability to connect to secure enterprise Wi-Fi networks and access corporate apps, documents and resources like SharePoint; native VPN client for instant access to corporate networks; and a native SCEP (Simple Certificate Exchange Protocol) client to retrieve digital certificates for secure resources,” the company adds. “Fire OS also now supports Kerberos authentication, which enables the ability to browse secure Intranet websites from the Silk browser. The new Kindle Fire tablets also include Kindle-specific device management APIs that integrate with existing mobile device management (MDM) systems to make it easy for IT departments to manage Kindle Fire.”

Amazon also lists the following features for Fire OS 3.1:

Cloud Collections helps you organize your books, newspapers, magazines, and apps in customized collections for easy reference, and Amazon’s Whispersync technology synchronizes the collections across your Kindle devices and reading apps so they’re available on all of your devices.

Voice dictation converts your speech to text—available in all languages when online; offline support available in US English.

1-Tap archive which frees up space on your Kindle Fire by identifying items that have not been recently used and provides a 1-tap option to store them in the Cloud for later retrieval.

Wireless printing of photos, PDF, e-mails, contacts, calendar and docs.

New accessibility enhancements that enable blind and visually impaired customers to save a separate accessibility profile for children in Kindle FreeTime, scroll lists automatically when swipe navigating, hear enhanced sound feedback and screen orientation changes announced, and have more control when editing text and navigating web content.

Dozens more new features, performance and battery life improvements, and bug fixes.

Amazon unveiled the Kindle Fire HDX and Kindle Fire HDX 8.9″ in September. Read more about the devices here.
November 18, 2013
Amazon’s Fire OS 3.0 ‘Mojito’ Comes With A Ton Of New Features, Major ‘Mayday’ Customer Support Feature
Amazon has unveiled version 3.0 of its Android-based Fire OS, named “Mojito.” The announcement comes with that of Amazon’s new Kindle Fire HD & Kindle Fire HDX tablets.

The OS starts with Android, but adds a number of its own features. It does include native Android app compatibility, so apps that work on Android should work on Fire OS with “little to no work”. It also supports HTML5 apps.

It includes GameCircle and Whispersync for Games so users can sync their game progress across devices. It also includes In-App Purchasing and Mobile Associates so users can buy digital and physical items using their Amazon accounts.

“Amazon Device Messaging gives customers a single messaging platform for all their apps built on Amazon Web Services, which developers can take advantage of to send notifications to Kindle Fire tablets,” Amazon says. “Amazon Coins offers every new Kindle Fire customer 500 coins ($5) of virtual currency to use for purchasing apps, games, or in-app items on Kindle Fire. Amazon Coins is an easy way for customers to spend money on developers’ apps and offers another opportunity to drive traffic and app downloads increasing monetization even further.”

The new OS includes some accessibility tools like Screen Reader, Explore by Touch and Screen Magnifier, which can be enabled across most of its features.

There are a number of cloud services and interface improvements that come with Mojito. The redesigned interface includes carousel and grid views, for example. Cloud Collections make apps, books, newspapers and magazines easier to find, according to Amazon. They’re automatically stored in the cloud, and Whispersync syncs them across devices and apps. There’s a 1-Tap Archive feature that identifies items that haven’t been used recently and lets you easily store them in the cloud to free up device space.

The Kindle FreeTime feature lets parents whitelist movies, books, apps and games that are appropriate for their Kids, and there’s a new “For Kids” suggestion feature.

There is OS-level sharing with Facebook and Twitter. Goodreads is built into the reading experience, and X-Ray for Movies and TV now shows the names of TV theme and movie soundtrack songs as they play. It also shows trivia and “goofs” while watching a movie or show (powered by IMDb). X-Ray has also expanded for music with synced lyrics. The Second Screen feature lets users “fling” content from their device to their TV.

“Quiet Time, directly accessed from the quick settings menu, lets you mute all incoming notifications or calendar reminders. In addition, Quiet Time can be tied to a particular activity such as reading,” Amazon says. “Quick Switch uses a global swipe gesture from anywhere in the system to go between multiple apps, and unlike standard Android, works with individual content items like different textbooks without navigating home.”

Amazon has made improvements to the download manager so that it adjusts the number of simultaneous downloads per devices to not impact performance. It also pauses downloads when you go to watch Amazon videos so it doesn’t affect video quality.

Amazon has replaced the standard Android graphics with its own Graphics Direct Texture system designed to load higher-res images quickly. As a result things like the Carousel and media libraries can quickly and smoothly load large, detailed images.

Mojito has also improved touch responsiveness, and Reading Mode has been optimized to give users 17 hours of battery life when reading.

Amazon is really looking to break further into the enterprise with Mojito and the new devices. Here’s the feature list the company is touting as making the new tablets enterprise-ready:
- Wi-Fi networks with WPA2 support for secure access to corporate apps, documents and resources like SharePoint.
- Email that makes it even easier for business customers to set up their accounts, group conversations by subject, sync their email and more.
- Print documents and emails directly from Kindle Fire to a wireless printer.
- Built-in OfficeSuite to read documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
- Native VPN client, for instant access to corporate networks while on the road or at home.
- Secure hardware data encryption on Kindle Fire HDX.
- Kerberos authentication for single sign-on and the ability to browse secure Intranet websites from the Silk browser on Kindle Fire.
- Native SCEP (Simple Certificate Exchange Protocol) client to retrieve digital certificates for secure resources.
- Kindle-specific device management APIs that integrate with existing mobile device management (MDM) systems to make it easy for IT departments to manage Kindle Fire. Kindle Fire supports a wide range of MDM solutions including Amazon’s Whispercast service as well as third-party vendors like AirWatch, Citrix, Fiberlink, Good Technology, and SOTI.
“Kindle Fire is already the second most popular tablet at work in the U.S.,” said Raghu Murthi, Vice President of Enterprise and Education at Amazon. “As employees increasingly bring their own devices to work, the new Kindle Fire tablets can be easily integrated into the workplace with the new enterprise features, including encryption, secure Wi-Fi, a native VPN client, integration with leading MDM solutions, and Kerberos support for Intranet access.”

There’s one feature of Mojito that Amazon is calling “revolutionary”. That would be the Mayday button. This provides user with free on-device 24×7 tech support. It’s built into the Quick Settings. It allows you to call upon an Amazon expert, who will appear on screen, and can help a user with any feature on the device, even by drawing on the screen.

If it’s as good as it sounds, this certainly takes customer service up a notch. Amazon says it has a response time “goal” of 15 seconds or less. You can see the advisor, but they can’t see you.

Fire OS 3.0 is available only on the new Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HDX tablets, though some features will make their way to other devices in an update in November.

Images: Amazon
September 25, 2013
iOS 7 Update Hits iPhones, iPads & iPods Today
Update: A lot of people are having trouble downloading the update.

The long-anticipated iOS 7 update comes to various iDevices today. The new operating system was first unveiled earlier this year at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, and the release date was made official at the iPhone 5s/5c unveiling earlier this month.

Starting today, the update will be available for free for iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini and iPod touch (fifth generation). US English, French and German will be immediately available with additional languages to be added over time.

“iOS 7 is completely redesigned with an entirely new user interface and over 200 new features, so it’s like getting a brand new device, but one that will still be instantly familiar to our users,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Next month we’ll be shipping our 700 millionth iOS device, and we’re excited about what our hundreds of thousands of iOS developers are doing to bring great new features to their apps.”

200 new features. That’s a lot to take in. You can learn about a bunch of them here, but here are the big ones Apple is highlighting:

Control Center, which gives you quick access to the controls you want in one convenient place with just one swipe from the bottom of your screen;

Notification Center, now available from the Lock screen so you can see all your notifications with a simple swipe, and the new Today feature gives you an at-a-glance view of your day with a summary of the important details such as weather, traffic, meetings and events;

improved Multitasking that gives users the ability to switch between their apps in a more visual and intuitive way, and iOS 7 pays attention to which apps you use most and automatically keeps your content up to date in the background;

AirDrop, an entirely new way to quickly and easily share content with people nearby;

new Camera app filters so you can add real-time photo effects, a square camera option, and you can quickly and easily switch between your four cameras—video, photo, square and panorama—with just a swipe;

a redesigned Photos app that introduces Moments, a new way to automatically organize your photos and videos based on time and location;

full-screen browsing with Safari’s new redesigned user interface, the new smart search field helps simplify searching, and there’s a new view for your bookmarks and your Safari tabs;
Siri with new male and female voices,* Twitter search integration, Wikipedia integration and Bing web searching within the app; and

iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service featuring over 200 stations and an incredible catalog of music from the iTunes Store®, combined with features only iTunes can deliver.

Note that not all features are supported on all devices. In the U.S., the release comes with iTunes Radio at launch.

Here’s what people are currently saying about iOS7:

Tweets about “ios7”

The iPhone 5s and 5c will become available on Friday.

Image: Apple
September 18, 2013
Samsung Reportedly Slowing Development on OS Tizen

Last year, Samsung teamed up with Intel and the Linux Foundation to develop Tizen, and open-source operating system for mobile devices. Tizen is one of a few new operating systems (including Firefox OS) to compete with Android for the non-iOS smartphone market. Now, it appears that Samsung may have softened on ditching Android in favor of Tizen.

DigiTimes today reported that Samsung has “slowed down” its development of Tizen. The report’s unnamed “industry sources” stated that Samsung is purposely delaying the development of Tizen, possibly due to competition in the Android market. Samsung’s abandonment of Android could, the report’s sources say, open up the Android market for Samsung competitors such as HTC, LG, and Sony. Android is, by far, the most popular mobile OS in the world. Samsung could see the failure of platforms such as WebOS and BlackBerry 10 as warnings against pioneering new operating systems.

Samsung earlier this month delayed the launch of its first Tizen smartphone. The delay was reportedly due to issues with the OS’s app store.

Samsung CEO JK Shin last week praised Tizen, saying that the OS will be in more than just mobile devices. Samsung envisions Tizen powering user interfaces for cars, bank machines, and point-of-sale devices.

(via DigiTimes)

August 12, 2013
Her, Spike Jonze’s Man Falls in Love with an OS Movie, Gets a Trailer

The first trailer for Her, director Spike Jonze’s new Joaquin-Phoenix-falls-in-love-with-an-operating-system movie, has just landed.

Her stars Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Amy Adams, Olivia Wilde, and Scarlett Johansson (as the OS voice). It’s slated to premiere on November 20th. Here’s the official synopsis:

In the not so distant future, Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix), a lonely writer purchases a newly developed operating system designed to meet the user’s every needs. To Theodore’s surprise, a romantic relationship develops between him and his operating system. This unconventional love story blends science fiction and romance in a sweet tale that explores the nature of love and the ways that technology isolates and connects us all.

Tantalizing. With anyone else at the helm, I might have written this one off. Call me skeptical. But I trust Spike Jonze for something like this (whatever this is), who is both writing and directing the film. Plus this trailer is rather promising.

August 7, 2013
Windows May Not Monopolize Mobile, But It Still Dominates Worldwide

It seems as if there is a rush to downgrade the Windows operating system, declaring its an institution that has seen its pinnacle and is now in decline. Often, PC shipment rates are used to bolster these claims, and while we are clearly becoming a mobile device kind of world, to boast Windows is no longer relevant or not a player seems to come with oversight, or willfully ignoring a couple of things. The latest publication to claim Windows time has past is BusinessInsider.com with an article titled, “In Case You Don’t Appreciate How Fast The ‘Windows Monopoly’ Is Getting Destroyed…”

To make its point, the article makes use of three charts, one showing shipments of connected devices, another that shows the computing platform market share, and one shows PC shipment rates. While the PC shipment rates continues to be concern in regards to the Windows market share, or monopoly, if you will. The question remains, are people buying home computers–be they Mac or Windows machines–like they were a few years ago, or has the mobile device revolution, as well as longer-lasting computers, reduced the exponential growth the home computer market enjoyed throughout the late 90s/early 2000s as consumers tripped over themselves to get an Internet-capable device into their homes?

To make their point, the BI article offers such insight:

Microsoft’s “Windows monopoly” hasn’t been so much destroyed as rendered irrelevant. Thanks to the explosion of Internet-based cloud computing and smartphones, tablets, and other mobile gadgets, the once all-powerful platform of the desktop operating system has now been reduced to little more than a device driver. As long as your gadget can connect to the Internet and run some apps, it doesn’t matter what operating system you use.

While all of this may, in fact, be accurate–Microsoft, even though Windows Phone users seem to love their devices, was late to the party, and it shows. However, before Microsoft’s demise is cemented in stone, a couple of things are important to consider.

Mainly, the worldwide operating system breakdown:

Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Operating System Market Share

According to these charts, between 77 and 81 percent of the world is running either Windows 7 or Windows XP, with another 5 percent going to unfortunate Windows 8 users. It should also be noted that all of the Mac OSX versions have less than an 8 percent share operating system-users, and that includes the combination of OS X 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8. And then there’s Microsoft’s incredible success with their Xbox division. It should be noted that, despite all of the negative press surrounding the infamous Xbox One/E3 showing, the presale consoles are sold out just about everywhere.

So yeah, perhaps that entire “it’s over for Windows/Microsoft” line of thinking needs a little adjustment.

July 18, 2013
Schmidt: Chrome And Android To Remain Separate (But With More Overlap)

Some of us have expected that Google’s Android and Chrome operating systems would eventually converge into one operaring system. That’s mostly because Google co-founder Sergey Brin once implied that this would be the case. Since then, Google has given off other signals that this could potentially happen.

For example, we’ve recently seen indications of Android’s Google Now functionality coming to Chrome. Even more recently, Android chief Andy Rubin has stepped away from leading the operating system, as Google now has Sundar Pichai leading both Android and Chrome.

Now, former CEO and current Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has come out and said that Android and Chrome will remain separate products, though we can expect more overlap between the two, according to a report from Reuters. He also said that rumors about him leaving Google were “completely false,” which is helpful to know.

It will be interesting to see just how much overlap does take place between Google’s dueling operating systems, particularly as it is now pushing notebooks with touchscreens (the Chromebook Pixel).

Eventually, it seems, it would make sense for the two to converge as the overlap increases, but even if it’s not going to happen in the near future, who is to say that it never will?

Android has already attained massive popularity, but Chromebook options and availability are really just starting to take off. This week, the company announced availability in six more countries.

March 21, 2013
Apple Launches iOS 6.1, Increases LTE Support

Apple announced today that it has updated iOS to version 6.1, adding LTE capabilities to 36 more iPhone carriers and 23 more iPad carriers around the world. Now, more iPhone 5, iPad Mini and iPad with Retina Display users can utilize faster wireless performance.

“iOS 6 is the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, and with nearly 300 million iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices on iOS 6 in just five months, it may be the most popular new version of an OS in history,” said Apple SVP Philip Schiller. “iOS 6.1 brings LTE support to more markets around the world, so even more users can enjoy ultrafast Safari browsing, FaceTime video calls, iCloud services, and iTunes and App Store downloads.”

According to Apple, iOS users have uploaded over nine billion photos to Photo Stream, sent over 450 billion iMessages and received over four trillion notifications to date.

iOS 6.1 is now available as a free software update, an dis compatible with the following devices: iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad (third and fourth generation), iPad mini, iPad 2 and iPod touch (fourth and fifth generation). Still, some features are not available for all products.

LTE, specifically, is available on iPhone 5, iPad mini and fourth generation iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular models through certain carriers.

January 28, 2013
Most Americans Haven’t Even Heard of Windows 8, Says Survey

If you watched any sort of TV this weekend, especially if it was online, then it’s almost certain you saw an advertisement for Windows 8. Microsoft has bet big with its new operating system, redesigning it to better integrate with smartphones, tablets, and the Xbox 360. The company is backing up that gamble with a huge advertising campaign. However, Microsoft’s ads, featuring lots of young people dancing, might not be sticking in the minds of consumers.

A new survey conducted last week leading up to Friday’s launch of Windows 8 shows that over half of U.S. adults haven’t even heard of Windows 8. The survey, conducted by the Associated Press and GfK and announced yesterday, phoned 1,200 U.S. adults and found that 52% of them hadn’t heard of the new OS.

Among those 48% who had heard of Windows 8, 61% of them had “little or no interest in buying a laptop or desktop computer running” Windows 8. Also, only 35% of those who have heard of the new OS believe it will be an improvement over Windows 7.

This sentiment is nothing new. Back in March, a YouTube video of an older gentleman frustrated by the new OS demonstrated exactly the types of difficulty users familiar with Windows XP and Windows 7 are likely to have. Just this month a follow-up video demonstrated that six months later Windows 8 is still baffling to non-geeks.

It’s understandable that Microsoft is attempting to reinvent itself as a company and a brand. With desktop and laptop PC sales slowing, Microsoft simply has to gain a foothold in the tablet and smartphone markets if it hopes to stay relevant. And Windows 8 actually looks pretty good on tablets such the new Surface. However, using (or abusing) its most well-known product to gain a tablet market foothold could backfire from customers used to using Windows for its productivity options or those who don’t recognize Windows 8 as a Windows OS.

(via BGR)

October 29, 2012
Windows 8 Still Baffling to Non-Geeks

Way back in March of this year, when the Windows 8 consumer preview was released, Chris Pirillo, aka LockerGnome, had his father sit down with the new Windows. What followed was an instructive four minutes in which the man struggled to understand the operating system and questioned where the Start menu had gone. His father actually said, “They tryin’ to drive me to Mac?”

Back then there was still hope that Microsoft would modify the OS slightly to help those who have been using Windows iterations since the 90s. Unfortunately, with its October 26 release day approaching and pre-orders on sale, Windows 8 remains pretty much the same it was in March.

To prove his point once again, Pirillo took to the streets to show off Windows 8 to non-geeks and see if they can accomplish tasks that were simple in previous versions. As with his father, the lack of a start menu and task bar really threw people, and several of them compared the interface to a smartphone UI. He then asked them to turn off the computer using Windows and the real confusion began to set in:

To be fair, I’m pretty sure it would have taken me a while to find the shutdown button too (In the Settings menu? Really?).

While the interface may work beautifully on a tablet or other touchscreen device, the business customers Microsoft relies on will not be happy having to purchase all-new equipment or spend the money and time to retrain all of their employees, as one woman in the video said she would need. It may be a bit too early to call Windows 8 a flop, but Microsoft will need a huge marketing push for consumers to even consider switching to a completely unfamiliar OS.

October 17, 2012
Windows 8 Viewed Negatively by Suppliers, Says Analyst

Though today’s commercial shows a fun and highly usable experience, much criticism has been hurled toward Microsoft’s upcoming operating system, Windows 8. As a tablet interface, the OS does look very well-designed. Add a mouse and keyboard, however, and the UI simply confuses people who have been using Windows for years.

Today, even more worries are being aired over the OS, this time from supply chain vendors in Asia. Business Insider quotes a Topeka Capital analyst as saying suppliers are beginning to worry about the near future of the PC market.

“The sentiment around Windows 8 was overwhelmingly negative during our trip as the supply chain experiencing little life ahead of the October 26 launch,” said the analyst, Brian White.

He goes on to say that he was warned of “idle facilities in December” and that a surge from Windows 8 is not expected until the second half of 2013. His prediction is that the PC market will have a “muted” December quarter and will not see the boost many were expecting from the plethora of new Windows 8 devices.

This could come as a disappointment for both Microsoft and its partners, who have begun to bank heavily on the multi-platform ecosystem the company is trying to establish with Windows 8. HP, Samsung, Dell, and other manufacturers have announced PCs, laptops, ultrabooks, tablets, and laptop/tablet hybrids that will launch alongside Windows 8 on October 26.

October 15, 2012
Microsoft Windows 8 Pre-Orders Now Available

Microsoft today announced that DVD copies of the Windows 8 Pro upgrade are now available for pre-order at select retailers. The operating system upgrade will cost customers $70, and customers running Windows XP Service Pack 3, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 will be able to upgrade.

Windows 8 is now available for pre-order at Amazon, Staples, Office Depot, Best Buy, and other retailers (though you might want to be wary of pre-ordering from Best Buy). However, customers who have the virtue of patience can wait until release day on October 26 to buy the upgrade through Windows.com using the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant. The downloaded version of Windows 8 Pro will only cost $40.

Microsoft, over on The Windows Blog was quick to point out the “fresh approach” the company was taking with the box art for the OS. Five different versions of the packaging are available, all with “vibrant” abstract illustrations. The company also bragged that it has changed its packaging to “paper based materials,” meaning the box is more environmentally-friendly and 41% lighter.

In addition to the operating system, Microsoft’s Windows 8 partners have been given the green light to put their own products up for pre-order. Tablets, hybrid computers, and laptops from HP, Samsung, and others have just poured into online stores.

Oddly enough, Microsoft’s own hybrid tablet, the Surface, is not yet available for pre-order. Rumors currently hold that Windows 8 smartphones will be available for pre-order starting October 21.

Click on the photos below to check out some of the new packaging designs for Windows 8:

October 12, 2012
OS X Mountain Lion, Like iOS 6, Adds Facebook Integration With New Update
Apple’s big iOS update, iOS 6, is hitting iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches today, but Mac OS X Mountain Lion is also getting an update with version 10.8.2.

New Facebook integration is a major component of iOS 6, and now Mac OS X is stepping up the integration as well.

Among the new features of the operating system are single sign on for Facebook, the addition of Facebook as an option when sharing links and photos, seeing Facebook friends’ contact info and profile pics in Contacts, and Facebook notifications in Notification Center.

In Game Center, you can now share scores to Facebook, Twitter, Mail, or Messages, Facebook friends are included in friend recommendations, Facebook “like” buttons have been added for games, and friends can be challenged to beat your scores and achievements.

Apple is really doing everything in its power to get people sharing on Facebook even more.

In addition to the Facebook and Game Center stuff, Apple has added the following features:
- Adds Power Nap support for MacBook Air (Late 2010)
- iMessages sent to your phone number now appear in Messages on your Mac*
- You can now add passes to Passbook (on your iPhone or iPod touch) from Safari and Mail on your Mac*
- FaceTime can now receive calls sent to your phone number*
- New shared Reminders lists
- New sort options allow you to sort notes by title, the date you edited them, and when you created them
- Dictation now supports additional languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Korean, Canadian English, Canadian French, and Italian
- Dictionary app now includes a French definition dictionary
- Sina Weibo profile photos can now be added to Contacts
* Requires iOS 6

The update also comes with some general fixes:
- Adds an option to discard the changes in the original document when choosing Save As
- Unsent drafts are now opened automatically when launching Mail
- Receive Twitter notifications for mentions and replies from anyone
- URLs are shortened when sending tweets from Notification Center
- Notifications are disabled when AirPlay Mirroring is being used
- Adds SSL support for Google searches from the Smart Search Field in Safari
- Adds a new preference to have Safari launch with previously open webpages
- Resolves an issue that may cause the “Enable Autodiscover” checkbox to always remain checked
- Enables access to the Mac App Store when Parental Controls are enabled
- Support for @icloud.com email addresses
- Resolves a video issue with some VGA projectors when connected to certain Mac notebooks
- Addresses an issue that may prevent Active Directory accounts from being locked out
- Resolves an issue that may cause the policy banner to re-appear prior to logging in
- Improvements to SMB
- Addresses an issue with NIS users when auto-login is enabled
- Addresses an issue in which the Keychain may not be accessible
- Ability to pre-authenticate a FileVault protected system
- Addresses an issue that may cause Xsan to not automatically start after migrating from Mac OS X Snow Leopard
September 19, 2012
Joaquin Phoenix Falls For an Operating System in Spike Jonze’s Next Film

Apparently, we’re about to get the Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with Siri film we’ve all been waiting for.

According to The Film Stage, Spike Jonze’s new film has just received an official title and an official plot summary. Set to release in 2013, the film is simply titled “Her.”

Here’s the synopsis, courtesy of Annapurna films:

In the not so distant future, Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix), a lonely writer purchases a newly developed operating system designed to meet the user’s every needs. To Theodore’s surprise, a romantic relationship develops between him and his operating system. This unconventional love story blends science fiction and romance in a sweet tale that explores the nature of love and the ways that technology isolates and connects us all.

It’s a Spike Jonze project through and through, as Being John Malkovich director is writing and directing the film. IMDB lists it as being in post-production.

Not only will it be Joaquin Phoenix’s second role since the whole “I quit acting to be a rapper” thing, but it also stars the A-list trio of Amy Adams, Olivia Wilde, and Rooney Mara. At first, it’s easy to laugh at the premise. But when you really start thinking about it, you realize the incredible potential of the project. I mean, just imagine the first time you heard the plot summaries for Being John Malkovich or Adaptation.

I’m excited. It’s about time that Hollywood recognized the romantic potential of a well-tuned operating system.

[Lead image courtesy Just Jared]

September 7, 2012
Chrome OS Gets Some User Interface Tweaks
Is it just me or is Chrome OS getting more and more WIndows-looking? Remember, when you just signed in, and you were in Chrome, and that was basically it?

Google has gradually added more of a traditional operating system-like interface to its OS, and that continues today with the latest stable update, which introduces a new redesigned app list (pictured above).

“Notably, we made the apps list much more compact, so you can access your apps without interrupting your browsing experience,” says Google software engineer Xiyuan Xia. “We also added a search box at the top of the apps list, which you can use like an omnibox to search the web, specific websites, or the apps on your computer.”

There’s also a new print UI, which has been available in the beta release for over a month. It integrates your printers in Google Cloud Print into the Chrome print dialog, so you can print to a cloud-ready printer, Google Drive, Chrome on your mobile device or to Fed Ex Offices.

Other new changes in the latest stable update include:
- You can select your own custom wallpaper
- New, offline-capable Google Docs app
- Update Adobe Flash to version 11.3.31.230
- Flash Access Support
- Seccomp Flash sandbox
- New Shill connection manager
- WiMax support in Shill
- LTE Support for modem manager
- Support Standard USB audio devices
- Support wireless (bluetooth and others) Gamepads
- Update GTalk Plug-In to version 3.3.3
- Update Netflix Plug-in to version 2.0.5
- Kernel rebased to 3.4
- Gestures: support 3-finger tap/click as middle button
- Resolved issues Samsung users were experiencing with Verizon Wireless activation
“The Stable channel has been updated to 21.0.1183.0 (Platform version: 2465.127.0) for Chromebooks (Acer AC700, Samsung Series 5 550, Samsung Series 5, and Cr-48) and Samsung Chromebox Series 3,” says Google’s Josafat Garcia.

The update will be rolling out to these devices over the course of the next several days.
August 21, 2012
Chitika Insights: June Market Share Reports [Infographic]

Yesterday, the Chitika Online Advertising Network released their June Insights Reports and there are a number of findings which may catch your attention.

While the reports are packed with great information on everything from who the top search engine provider is, to who the top cellphone manufacturers are, one thing stands out in all the reports. Not much has changed.

Each report features not only the company’s current market share, but also how much it has changed since last month. What you’ll find is that a company’s hold on a market is more than just a fleeting trend. Typically, significant events must occur for any of these players to either gain or lose any great momentum.

At the top of the list is Chitika’s graphic on the operating system market. No surprises here, Windows comes out on top by a very large margin. Also making the list are Mac and Linux.

Next, we have their graphic on the web browser market. There are quite a few competitors here, but again, no real surprises. Internet Explorer is at the top of the list as you would expect.

Next, they provide us with a great graphic on the search engine market. Guess who comes out on top here? That’s right, Google all the way.

Finally, we have the mobile manufacturing market. It’s pretty self-explanatory, it is an infographic after all.

So, there you have it. That’s how things are shaping up when you look at June 2012. I don’t know if we’ll see this changing anytime soon.

July 4, 2012