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Software RSS FeedsTalking about Microsoft Store - By Joe Wilcox, Betanews Last night, while walking around Fashion Valley Mall here in San Diego, I spent some time sizing up the Apple and Microsoft stores, which are just four shops apart. The Apple Store was busier, but I found the Microsoft Store to be more charming. More than any other time viewing the stores, I saw in Christmas shoppers dramatic differences in clientele.Microsoft Store attracted a crowd, inside and outside the glass windows, as two teens frenetically danced using Xbox and the hands-free Kinect controller. Everyone was having fun. It was raucous with some cheering, a gravity well pulling passersby; I among them.The Apple Store was frenetic, too, but with the charge of bu...Feed Source: feeds.betanews.com As NFC enters the mass market, so too should NFC security - By Tim Conneally, Betanews
All the stars are in line, and tech industry experts now expect an explosion in the close-range wireless communications technology known generally as Near Field Communicaitons (NFC.) But is it as secure a method of sharing as it could be? According to one company the answer is yes, but cost has been a prohibitive factor up to now. This week, market research firm iSuppli predicted that the market for NFC chips will grow by a factor of four over the next three years, and NFC chipmaker NXP Semiconductor recently made a prediction that 50 million NFC-enabled consumer devices will enter the market in 2011 alone.
... Please be our Ghost of Christmas Past or Future - By Joe Wilcox, Betanews
It's two days to Christmas, and I'm mulling Christmas Past and Christmas Future (You are familiar with the Charles Dickens' classic tale, yes?) I request your participation. Like most other journalists or bloggers, I will post year-end retrospectives and year-ahead prognostications next week. I ask you to contribute. Choose your ghost and your Scrooge. What do you think were the most important events affecting the technology industry in 2010 -- and why? They don't have to be industry shaking, but merely important to you. What would you like to see next year from the tech companies that matter most to you?I often crowdsource material for posts, but this request is different from others. Typically I ask readers to respond in comments and by e-mail (joewilcox at gmail dot com). The e-mail responses tend to be long and thoughtful, and I often feel guilty abo... FCC declares Comcast-NBCU joint venture to be broadly acceptable, issues order - By Tim Conneally, Betanews
Senior FCC officials Thursday morning said the commission has determined the transaction between Comcast and NBC Universal that will result in a new joint Venture handling the two companies' content to be acceptably within the public's interest, and an order about the transaction will be circulated later today. This is not outright approval of the deal, which was first announced in late 2009, and has been under intense scrutiny since. With a transaction o... Skype experiences global outage - By Tim Conneally, Betanews
Popular voice chat and IM client Skype has been down for a large portion of Wednesday morning, leaving users unable to connect to their peers.At about 1pm EST, Skype's official Twitter account said, "Our engineers and site operations team are working non-stop to get things back to normal -- thanks for your continued patience." Individual reports vary, with some users reporting the ability to connect to the service on their mobile devices, but with no buddies showing up on their contact lists, with still others reporting a total inability to launch the Skype client without it crashing. Users of Skype on all platforms are reporting trouble, and it looks to be affecting millions of users. The company has not given a projection for when it expects to have the problem remedied, but the issue does not affect all users of the popular service.... Earth to Microsoft: Two years to ARM is too late - By Joe Wilcox, Betanews
Machead John Gruber and I often don't agree on much. We've had some fairly public spats over the years, regarding Apple. But for once, we do agree on something. "This must be a mistake," he says about a report dated today from Wall Street Journal asserting that at next month's Consumer Electronics Show Microsoft will unveil a version of Windows for low-powered chips, "though it isn't expected to be available for two years." Two years? Two years is three years too late.The rumor, first reported by Bloom... Don't act so surprised, Microsoft has supported ARM for ages - By Tim Conneally, Betanews
A report by Bloomberg on Tuesday evening said Microsoft is working "for the first time" on a version of Windows that is not based on the x86 instruction set, but instead on the ARM instruction set popular in mobile devices.The report, which was followed by another similarly-sourced article in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, both say the operating system will be targeted at the consumer mobility market, with tablets specifically in mind, and that it won't come to market until 2013. Though the reports are quick to call the move an attempt to catch up to the latest tablet computing paradigm, they also overlook nearly all of Microsoft's historical activity with ARM: Windows Phone, Windows Mobile, and... Mozilla releases Firefox 4 beta 8 - By Tim Conneally, Betanews
Mozilla pushed out the eighth beta release of Firefox 4 on Tuesday, promising a significant number of bug fixes and some performance tweaks, but no new features.The main changes Mozilla cites in the Firefox 4 Beta 8 release notes are an improved Firefox Sync setup experience; an overall speed, compatibility and functionality improvement to WebGL, and some "additional polish" to the Firefox Add-ons Manager.The list of bug fixes, however, is considerably longer with more than 1400 entries. Download Mozilla Firefox 4.0 Beta 8 in File... For better or worse, here are the FCC's new Net Neutrality rules - By Tim Conneally, Betanews
Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission voted upon --and passed by a 3-2 margin-- the Open Internet Order, the revised net neutrality rules which seek to establish more formal codes of conduct for broadband network operators.
The order has caused a great deal of sturm and drang among consumer advocacy groups, who feared that there would be a shift in power for internet service providers based upon loopholes it opens. The order has raised a great deal of concern from both sides of the political spectrum: from those who believe the FCC oversteps its boundaries by trying to create rules for the Web, and from those who believe the FCC isn't going far enough to prevent fu... What's wrong with Google TV? - By Joe Wilcox, Betanews
By measure of sheer punditry, rumors and competitor jocking, Google TV is dead on arrival. Hardly. But rumors -- hey, published in the mother of business reporting, the Wall Street Journal -- claim that Google has yanked the software (and, therefore, third-party hardware) from next month's Consumer Electronics Show. Meanwhile, today, Apple gave Google a noggie by announcing Apple TV shipments would reach 1 million units this week. Perhaps worse, Chip Trick is reporting a tempting last-minute holiday deal -- the Roku XDS for a cool 80 bucks. The cheapest Google TV device costs $300. Yeah, Google TV isn't having a good week, and it's only Tuesday!G... SEC launches investigation into Hurd's exit from HP - By Ed Oswald, Betanews
The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun a far-reaching investigation into the circumstances surrounding former CEO and now Oracle executive Mark Hurd's departure from Hewlett Packard, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.The regulator is looking into claims that he may have passed insider information to a female contractor, who later became central to his resignation from HP. In addition, his use of corporate expense accounts will be studied: a matter which the HP board used in its efforts to get Hurd to step down.HP has said it is fully cooperating with the SEC's investigation. A spokesperson for Hurd told the WSJ that it was "understandable" that the agency was looking into the matter, but maintained he "acted properly in all respects."Both Oracle and the SEC declined to comment. It is unknown how far along the age... A week with Google's Chrome OS laptop, Day 7: Settling in for the long haul - By Joe Wilcox, Betanews
On December 13th, I received from Google the unbranded Cr-48 laptop running Chrome OS, which I've been using and writing about for the last seven days. Whew, it has been quite the journey and not one that's over. I will continue using the Cr-48 as my primary computer through the end of December and quite likely much longer. I say primary, because testing Mac OS and Windows apps will require some time on the other operating systems. I'll be front and center looking at the Mac App Store, for example, when it launches on Jan. 6, 2011.How much longer I can... Open Internet Order for Net Neutrality likely to pass at FCC hearing tomorrow - By Tim Conneally, Betanews
The net neutrality regulations known as the Open Internet Order are coming up for vote before the Federal Communications Commission tomorrow, and it is now believed the order will pass, based upon statements from FCC commissioner Michael Copps on Monday.Copps was formerly the "swing vote" for the Open Internet Order, Commissioners Baker and McDowell are expected to vote against the order, while commissioners Clyburn and Genachowski are expected to vote in favor of it. Until recently, Copps was in favor of reclassifying the Internet as a Title II telecommunications service, but that position was denigrated not only by Chairman Genachowski, but ... Motorola to show off mystery tablet at CES 2011 - By Tim Conneally, Betanews
Motorola will be showing off its mystery tablet product at CES 2011, according to a teaser video released by the company on Sunday.It is the first really enticing move from Motorola since co-CEO Sanjay Jha announced the company's intention to make a tablet back in September.The video, embedded below, goes through a series of tablets from history and lays out one positive aspect and one negative. While much of the content in the video is simply humor, there are a couple of important bits thrown in there to get the public interested.... To grow 4G coverage, AT&T spends $1.9B on FLO TV's wireless licenses - By Tim Conneally, Betanews
Qualcomm on Monday announced that it will be selling its valuable Lower 700 MHz D and E Block wireless spectrum licenses to national service operator AT&T for $1.925 billion. The precious wireless licenses were being utilized in Qualcomm's mobile television service FLO TV which will be shutting down in March 2011.Less than one year after FLO TV launched as a standalone service with its own HTC-made "Personal Televisions", Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs told investors that the company was ... A week with Google's Chrome OS laptop, Day 6: Adopting a new lifestyle - By Joe Wilcox, Betanews
Chrome OS demands computing differently, but not as radically as some people think, or so I have concluded six days into using Google's unbranded Cr-48 laptop. Persistent Net connection is required and storage is generally on the InterWeb rather than on the computer; these changes take some adjustment. I'm accustomed to running applications locally. I can't on Chrome OS.I'm used to having offline access to applications. I can't with Chrome OS.I'm used to managing files stored locally. I can't easily with Chrome OS.Google's cloud-connected philosophy and approach to Chrome OS security necessitate these usability compromises. The promise is something better... A week with Google's Chrome OS laptop, Day 5: My life in the cloud - By Joe Wilcox, Betanews
Settling into the cloud is taking longer than I expected, as I try to root out enough applications to make up for what I used locally on my last laptop -- the 11.6-inch MacBook Air. The simple reality: There aren't enough good applications yet, or perhaps I'm just too slow finding them. Strangely, if I were living in a different cloud -- from smartphone or tablet -- I could choose from plenty of apps and many of them would be better than those available on the PC (the difference, of course, being something running locally and connected versus something running in the browser that must be connected). I got a stronger-bitter sweet taste of the difference between the clouds on the eve... A week with Google's Chrome OS laptop, Day 4: Who is the cloud for? - By Joe Wilcox, Betanews
Few months ago, while walking around Apple Store, minutes after leaving Microsoft Store, I suddenly thought: "My next laptop will run Chrome OS." Well, almost. I ended up with 11.6-inch MacBook Air first. But four days into using the unbranded Google Cr-48 laptop running Chrome OS, I can see living in the cloud as a reasonable future -- not just for me but many other computer users. Problem: It's a residence not quite finished. There's a roof overhead and enclosed walls, but rooms are drafty, electricity works only in some places and the appliances are portable temporaries.Run... Justin Bieber's World Cup iPad: 2010 in keywords - By Tim Conneally, Betanews
The end of the calendar year is a time to reflect on our experiences of the last twelve months, and to look ahead to what the next twelve have in store. For many, this means getting together with the family, exchanging gifts and sharing stories of the year's adventures. For the technology and information industries, it doesn't mean sitting around the fireplace and getting nostalgic over a cup of hot cocoa, though. It means year-end statistics; and for the rest of us, this is far more exciting.Even though I'm a part of the rising tide of journalists who oppose top ten lists, I've been collecting all of the "Top 10 of 2010" lists from sites that have access to the most copious amounts of the Web's data and compiling the data into a round... Somasegar gets it, do you? - By Joe Wilcox, Betanews
The end-of-year retrospectives are popping up everywhere as Christmas and New Years approach. This morning, Soma Somasegar's walk down 2010 memory lane caught my attention. He posted "A Year of Excitement" late-day yesterday (Eastern Standard Time). Whether or not there is any Microsoft "excitement" is topic for discussion in comments. But the tone of his post and emphasis is something other Microsoft bloggers -- and employees from other tech companies -- should try to imitate as they look back on the year or even ahead to 2011.Somasegar writes: "I'm always impressed with the work we do here at Microsoft -- you can see how unbiased I am :) -- but this year I'm especially proud to see some of the work having a real impact in my house and with my fa... Copyright © 2012, Snapfinger Enterprises. All Rights Reserved. |