Saturday, April 18, 2009
Microsoft to launch Windows Mobile 6.5 on May 11
Earlier this year Microsoft announced the latest version of its mobile operating system, Windows Mobile 6.5, a relatively minor update focused on changes to the user interface and its touch-friendliness. But while the first Windows Mobile 6.5 devices are not expected to arrive until the second half of the year, it appears the company is ready to show off the interim operating system next month.According to a post on their corporate blog, Microsoft is going to deliver the kick off launch presentation of Windows Mobile 6.5 on May 11, at the start of TechEd 09. The session is targeted at both IT Professionals and Developers and will include “a cool demo and an outline of great stuff to come.” There are a handful of other WM 6.5 sessions on the agenda, including one on developing apps that use touch and gestures and another to help developers monetize their creations through the Windows Marketplace for Mobile.Apple may take iPhone from AT&T
Apple's iPhone could see wider distribution in the US next year as the company has not yet agreed to a request from AT&T to extend the telecom giant's exclusive rights to the hit smartphone, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The report said the exclusivity deal signed in 2007 is set to expire in 2010 and AT&T is asking Apple to extend it for two years.The cult status of the phone has helped AT&T nab millions of new customers. In the second half of last year alone it signed up 4.3 million new iPhone subscribers - 40 per cent of whom switched to AT&T from other carriers. In total Apple has sold an estimated 17 million iPhones worldwide.According to the Wall Street Journal, AT&T is heavily subsidizing the price of iPhones, shelling out 1.3 billion dollars to bring the price down to affordable levels. The company hopes to make up the cash with income from monthly data plans and by cross-selling other AT&T services such as landline phones, cable TV and internet access.Industry analysts say that selling the iPhone to other carriers could greatly increase its market penetration in the US and that ties between executivesGTA: Chinatown Wars - What went wrong?
It has been revealed that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on the Nintendo DSi only managed to sell 89,000 units during March in the US. The figures released have been a huge blow to Rockstar and Take-Two who had much higher estimates for the game.As reported from GI.Biz, investment company Cowan and Company previously predicted that the game would go on to sell 2 million copies in it’s first year on sale. But due to the 89,000 units stat, he company have now cut future forecasts to just 500,000.Doug Creutz explained: “Despite a strong critical reception, Take-Two’s GTA: Chinatown Wars sold a very disappointing 89,000 units in March, Well below our more recent 200-250,000 estimate and far below the 400-450,000 we thought the title might sell upon its release.”While the console versions of Grand Theft Auto IV have had no problem selling at all, Chinatown Wars seems to be having difficulty at the moment.
e think this could be due to a number of factors. Firstly, people are not just not that interested in the Nintendo DS brand. Secondly, all the recent negative media towards Rockstar and the Grand Theft Auto franchise are starting to affect sales.
Wii Video games sales fall 17%
OVERALL US video game sales fell 17 per cent in March to US$1.43 billion (S$2.14 billion), research group NPD said on Thursday, a revealing figure for an industry that had so far shown resilience in the economic downturn.Video game software sales dropped 17 per cent to US$792.8 million in the month, while hardware sales fell 18 per cent to US$455.6 million.Nintendo's blockbuster Wii was again the top-selling console in the US, selling 601,000 units. Microsoft's Xbox 360 was No. 2 with 330,000 units, while Sony's PlayStation 3 was third, with 218,000 units.Nintendo's DS was the top-selling handheld console, selling 563,000 units, ahead of Sony's PSP, which sold 168,000.Capcom's 'Resident Evil 5' was the best-selling video game in the month, selling 1.5 million units for the Xbox and PlayStation 3,Thursday, April 16, 2009
Microsoft ends mainstream support for Windows XP
This week Microsoft's 'mainstream support' comes to end for their most popular operating system, Windows XP.While XP has been given a few life span extensions in stores, the 8 year old operating system is gradually -- but certainly -- getting closer and closer the proverbial end of the road. Microsoft is in the slightly strange position of ending mainstream support for XP, when adoption rates of their newer operating system, Vista, were so low that there are roughly three computers running XP for every one running Vista. What is the 'mainstream support' that we are talking about? It basically means non-critical support. Here is a chart from MS showing the difference between mainstream support and XP's extended support, which ends in 08/04/2014.More Zune HD Details Emerge
After the leaked pictures of the Zune HD appeared on Saturday, more unconfirmed technical specifications of the device have now emerged. Microsoft's new portable media player is set to go neck-to-neck with Apple's iPod Touch, as the specifications of the Zune HD make it a viable contender.The Zune HD is set to feature a multitouch (capacitive) OLED screen in a 16:9 aspect ratio and will have a TV out port on the side (apparently HDMI). Coming in 16 and 32GB versions, the device will also support wireless syncing to your computer. Some even speculate the PMP will support 3D Xbox games, if the Zune HD will actually use Nvidia's Tegra chipset.The new details also mention a Web browser on the Zune HD, which in turn supports multitouch. No word on what kind of browser this will be, but let's hope it won't be anything similar to Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile. As previously reported, the Zune HD is set to launch this fall (probably September) with new details of international availability in Canada, the U.K, and France.How Amazonfail was born!!!!!
While millions of people tuned in to Doctor Who and Red Dwarf over the Easter weekend my holiday entertainment was provided by typing 'amazonfail' into the Twitter search engine and watching the stream of outraged posts about the company that used to be the world's favourite bookstore flow across my laptop screen.The PR nightmare started at some point on Sunday when an angry post on the LiveJournal blog site by author and publisher Mark Probst broke through into online consciousness. He had noticed that his book The Filly, though still listed on Amazon's US website, had lost its sales ranking data and was no longer appearing in relevant searches.An e-mail from an Amazon representative informed Probst that his book, a romance featuring gay characters, had been classed as 'adult' and removed from the ratings system so that the search pages would be more 'family-friendly.'Two other high profile gay romance books, Transgressions by Erastes and False Colors by Alex Beecroft, had also lost their sales ranking. This meant it was only possible to find them by looking specifically for the title and author, so people searching for similar books, or similar titles were unlikely to find or buy them.It emerged that thousands of other books had been similarly delisted, including such radical texts as The Well of Loneliness and John Barrowman's autobiography, while a little research by interested bloggers found Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds, the Parent's Guide to Homosexuality and Hitler's Mein Kampf were all still searchable and proudly displayed. Microsoft's online Office variant preps for business
You'll get a taste of what a web-based version of Microsoft's Office for Firefox, Safari, the iPhone and Internet Explorer can do later this year.Microsoft confirmed Wednesday that Office Web applications - announced last October - will be ready for testing along with the next edition of its Office suite, Office 2010, in the third-quarter. Release to manufacturing for Office 2010 is due in the first half of next year.It'll be the first time you get a hands-on experience of the eagerly anticipated suite and potential competitor to the desktop version of Office and Google Docs.Details have been sketchy on Office Web applications, but Microsoft has said in the past you'll need its Silverlight browser-based media player to go beyond basic editing of one document at a time. Silverlight will provide sharp images, integration with Office Live Workspace to upload multiple files, and also the ability to share and edit documents simultaneously in real time. Also, there may or may not be ads in Office Web applications.Office Web applications are scheduled to be available for Firefox and Safari in addition to Internet Explorer, and will be able to run on Apple's iPhone.The suite promises to be the most compelling aspect of the next version of the Office family that, outside Microsoft and its immediate circle of fans, is unlikely to excite interest.Microsoft's biggest problem when it comes to shipping new versions of Office is getting the existing install base to upgrade. There has been massive inertia since Office 97, with Office 2000 and Office XP seeing slow uptake. Office 2007 seemed to change this.Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Apple posts third iPhone OS 3.0 beta with minor API changes
Apple has released another beta of iPhone OS 3.0. This third beta has relatively few changes to the developer APIs, though Ars has learned that there has been a fairly important change to push notification types. While it appears to be relatively stable, Apple will have its work cut out to clear up the remaining issues in order to have it ready to launch with new hardware this summer.The major change in the UIKit API is that Apple has added separate types for the three notification methods: badge, text alert, and sound. Developers can register their apps for these different notification types individually for the needs of their users. Previously, apps registered to received remote notifications but controlled the type via settings. Developers we spoke to universally agreed that this was a welcome improvement.A change many developers will also welcome is an improvement to the XIB files created by Interface Builder 3.1. The format for these files has been updated to be "more diff friendly." The older format causes lots of issues when making changes and checking them in to a CVS, especially when more than one developer is working on the code.Also, Dashcode—the IDE for creating Dashboard widgets—has been updated to allow the creation of iPhone-optimized web applications. While open source projects like iUI help web developers create a native-like iPhone interface and web app frameworks like SproutCore and Cappuccino are adding iPhone-specifc views, Dashcode could be just the help some developers are looking for to make an iPhone-specific web app.iPhone OS 3.0 beta 3 still has a number of issues to patch up before the OS is ready for public consumption. Still, developers familiar with the betas concurred that 3.0 is faring far better than 2.0 so far, which wasn't particularly stable at launch and required a major point update to 2.1 before many users felt comfortable. Judging from the few API changes and the current stability, Apple should be on track to have the new OS ready in time for this summer's expected iPhone hardware update.AT&T looks to extend iPhone pact
AT&T has found the golden goose in its iPhone partnership with Apple and it wants to keep it alive.The original deal had AT&T as the exclusive carrier of the iPhone until 2008, at which time Apple would be allowed to start selling the wildly popular smartphone on other carriers. But the companies met last August and decided to extend that partnership through the end of this year.Now, AT&T wants to extend that deal a bit further--say another two years. AT&T Chief Executive is talking with Apple to keep that deal alive until 2011, according to a report Tuesday evening in The Wall Street Journal.But that shouldn't be a big surprise to anyone. Apple has sold more than 17 million iPhones since its debut less than two years ago, and the carrier added 4.3 million iPhone subscribers in the second half of 2008--40 percent of whom were new to AT&T.Certainly, Apple is making out pretty well with its AT&T partnership; the carrier reportedly offered Apple a $300 subsidy on each iPhone sold. But if AT&T was willing to go that far, Apple stands to clean up by negotiating contracts with other carriers.And it seemed the Apple-AT&T arrangement is showing signs of strain on both sides. Last month, AT&T announced plans to sell iPhone 3Gs without a two-year contract for $599 and $699, a move that Apple quickly duplicated at its own stores.Apple representatives did not immediately return calls for comment.Will this have a fairy tale ending for AT&T? Stay tuned. Samsung SlashGear Week in Review - Week 15 2009 Feature
We’ve been busy here at SlashGear getting reviews of some exciting new products for you, as well as covering all of the crazy Palm Pre, iPhone, Apple and BlackBerry rumors for you. If you missed anything last week, here’s your chance to catch up on the important stuff.I reviewed Samsung’s new Impression featuring an AMOLED display. Check out the article for my impressions (no pun intended), as well as a walk-through of the device’s overall quality.We unboxed the Hantech Siso Tablo, a handy device that turns your laptop into a tablet PC. At $99 MSRP, the Tablo offers some great features that will please many business-types and visual artists as well.HP MediaSmart Servers updated; stream media to iPod/iPhone and PSP
The HP MediaSmart servers (EX485/EX487 models) received a software update today from HP. The news software allows media to be streamed to wireless devices such as iPhone, iPod Touch and PlayStation Portables. The new software also adds the ability for the servers to convert videos (including unprotected DVD’s) into two separate formats: one high-resolution for playing on home devices, and a lower resolution for portable media players.Users of the iPod Touch and iPhone can download HP MediaSmart Server iStream application directly from the iTunes App Store for free so they can stream the video to their devices. This will enable users to watch video, look at pictures, and listen to their music streaming directly from the HP MediaSmart Server.The HP Media Servers work with both Windows and OS X machines, and provide for consolidated storage and access of a user’s media files. The update also adds some improvements for Mac user’s Time Machine backups. The software update is free for the servers. HP MediaSmart servers start at 750GB for $599, and offer 1.5TB at $799.
Monday, April 13, 2009
FOX Fast Forward: A First Look at Palm's New Pre Smartphone
Earlier this month, I finally got a chance to check out the most buzzed-about gadget of the year — the upcoming Palm Pre smartphone.I'm happy to report that all the hype from the gadget shows is true. Palm's got a winner on its hands and Apple's got a challenger for first place among smartphones.I'll have a full review once Palm lets me borrow one for longer than 10 minutes. But based on what I saw, I may have found my next smartphone.TechRepublic: Cracking open the Dell Adamo
Dell hopes to take a little air out of Apple’s sails with the Adamo. This upscale laptop packs a lot of tech into a stylish, ultrathin package. But, it’s going to cost you. Our $1,999 model includes a 1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2GB 800MHz DDR3 dual-channel memory, 128GB solid state drive, and 13.4-inch 16:9 WLED display.In partnership with iFixit, TechRepublic brings you a full photo gallery of the Adamo cracking open, with 78 images of the entire process. iFixit is a one-stop-shop for the parts, tools, and step-by-step guides needed to repair iPods, iPhones, Macs, and almost any Apple product. Follow along as iFixit engineers disassemble the Dell Adamo and expose the tech inside.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
MacProVideo offers video training app for iPhone
MacProVideo, a company that is dedicated to producing and distributing training videos for Mac, is to release an application via the iPhone App Store. The application will allow users to watch MacProVideo's Mac video tutorials on an iPhone or an iPod Touch.It also uploaded it's N.E.D. application for Mac OS X, adding a new "Devices" area to sync videos to your iPhone. The application will also remember your library state and playback position, searching has been tuned up a bit and there is the ability to ratings and notes to content.N.E.D. 3.1 can be download free from MacProVideo's website. The application for iPhone is not available just yet, as it is waiting for approval from the App Store.Microsoft Windows 7: Upgrade or just buy a pizza?
BusinessWeek is running a piece on Microsoft's latest attempts to fight back against Apple and Linux and its secret strategy to force unwitting Windows users to upgrade to various flavors of Windows 7. Because of the smaller size of Windows 7, three versions of the program will come loaded even on lower-end machines. If a consumer on a cheaper PC running the "Standard" version tries to use a high-definition monitor or run more than three software programs at once, he'll discover that neither is possible. Then he'll be prompted to upgrade to the pricier "Home Premium" or "Ultimate" version. Microsoft says the process will be simple. Customers enter their credit-card information, then a 25-character code, make a few keystrokes, then reboot. (Microsoft Corporate Vice President for Consumer-Product Marketing Brad Brooks) says pricing hasn't been determined, but upgrading "will cost less than a night out for four at a pizza restaurant."I can't decide if this strategy is profoundly stupid or just utterly moronic.Besides the fact that when you buy an Apple computer you aren't hoodwinked into upgrading the operating system, just think of all the simple things that can go wrong: * Consumer confusion (and subsequent anger) about what they are paying for in the first place* The upgrade not working or corrupting an existing installation
* Online credit card processing through an operating system known for being exploited by a vast range of criminals * An assumption that the hardware will be capable of running the new operating systemAs Microsoft continues to tout the Apple Tax, perhaps it should look inward a bit and realize that people are willing to pay for Apple products for the high-quality user experience, and not settle for a subpar experience on a product they use every day.The vast majority of Windows users will end up frustrated and annoyed if this ridiculous upgrade plan idea comes to fruition. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Apple users will continue to save their pizza money and opt for a better computing experience.
Yahoo and Microsoft back in talks over ad deal
Microsoft, who ended its hostile bid for Yahoo almost one year ago, has started up discussions again with the company, this time over a possible advertising pact.Yahoo's new CEO Carol Bartz has met with Microsoft CEO Stee Ballmer this week, says sources, with both sides still hesitant to set any agreement in stone. One possible deal would have Microsoft selling search ads for Yahoo while Yahoo sells display ads on all Microsoft properties in exchange.Microsoft has been very aggressive in expanding their search engine (Live.com) and is expected to introduce another major overhaul this summer.A large scale partnership would go a long way towards creating a strong competitor to Google in search, which currently has 81.39% market share, according to Net Applications.Saturday, April 11, 2009
Hotmail users suffer through outage
It's not easy running an online e-mail service with hundreds of millions of users.Later on the same day that Yahoo Mail wasn't available to a small fraction of its users, Hotmail had troubles with disappearing in-boxes. Here's the company statement:"On Thursday evening, there was a short-term service disruption which prevented Windows Live Hotmail customers worldwide from accessing their in-box for approximately two hours. Microsoft worked quickly to restore access. No data was lost during the outage. Microsoft apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused." The company didn't share details about how many people were affected.E-mail is central to the lives of a growing number of people, but nobody's perfect when it comes to offering the service. Comcast had an e-mail outage on Saturday, and Google's Gmail went down in February.Yahoo and Microsoft Said to Be Weighing Ad Pact
Yahoo and Microsoft, which held a marathon series of fruitless merger and partnership negotiations last year, have restarted discussions, this time over a possible advertising agreement, a person briefed on those discussions said Friday.Conversations between the two sides have been scant since Carol Bartz was named Yahoo’s chief executive in January. But they have started anew recently, and Ms. Bartz met with Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, last week, said the person briefed on the discussions, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because the talks were confidential.Yahoo and Microsoft declined to comment.The discussions are in early stages and may not lead to any agreement, the person said. They have centered on ways for the companies to pool their advertising efforts, including a possible partnership under which Microsoft would sell search ads for Yahoo, and Yahoo, in turn, would sell display ads on Microsoft properties, this person said.After merger and partnership talks collapsed last year, Microsoft continued to make sizable investments in its search business to better compete with Google. Those investments included the hiring of a string of top search executives and engineers, some of whom had previously worked at Yahoo, including Qi Lu, a well-regarded technologist who is now in charge of Microsoft’s overall online business, including search.Microsoft is expected to release the results of its latest research and development efforts in search technology this summer when it plans to introduce a major overhaul of its search engine.Microsoft executives are bullish about the capabilities of the new service. But they readily admit that it does not address one of the principal challenges the company faces in competing with Google: Microsoft’s audience and its base of advertisers are tiny compared with Google’s. That makes Microsoft’s search business, in which advertisers bid against one another in an auction, less lucrative than Google’s.A partnership that would pool Microsoft’s and Yahoo’s users or advertisers could go a long way toward addressing that problem, and could help create a more powerful No. 2 competitor to Google in search. Apple iPhone Apps: Nearly 1 Billion Served
Nearly 1 billion applications have been downloaded from Apple's App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch, according to a countdown page on Apple's Web site.Techweb's Weekly Comedy Show on Humanoid Robts, A Quarter Million Dollar Rocket Belt, China Going To The Moon and More Techweb's Weekly Comedy Show on E-mail bankruptcy, Catering to Virgins Who Run IT, TSA's Lost Employee Records and more Len Elmore, Former Basketball Star, Talks About The Affect of Technology On Today's Sports CoverageAs of publication time there were more than 930 million apps downloaded, which is a staggering figure considering that the App Store is less than a year old. The company also revealed the top 20 downloaded apps of all time, and this includes games Tap Tap Revenge, Super Monkey Ball, and Koi Pond, and a Facebook app.It doesn't appear that the momentum is stopping either, as the upcoming iPhone 3.0 software is expected to attract even more developers because it will offer peer-to-peer connections, in-app purchases, and hardware accessories. Additionally, if a new iPhone surfaces this summer, there likely will be many new potential app buyers.To celebrate the milestone, Apple is launching a promotion that will give away more than $13,000 worth of merchandise once the billionth app has been downloaded. The winner will get $10,000 in iTunes credit, a 17-inch MacBook Pro, a 32-GB iPod Touch, and a Time Capsule. Users who download apps are automatically entered for the prize, and non-iPhone users can enter here.Places like MobiHand and Handango have been selling mobile apps for years, but the market really came to the forefront with the success of the App Store. Apple's rivals have definitely taken notice, and soon every major player will have an over-the-air way to distribute mobile programs.Apple's competitors will be taking a few steps to differentiate their app stores, though. Google said its Android Market will be more open, Research In Motion (NSDQ: RIMM)'s App World is more enterprise-friendly, Nokia (NYSE: NOK)'s Ovi Store will integrate social networking and location, and Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s Windows Marketplace for Mobile will allow users to be billed through their carriers.
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