Has Microsoft Finally Killed Windows XP ?

Is the operating system that refuses to die... dead ?

By Preston Gralla, Computerworld

Microsoft's most successful operating system in its history, Windows XP, refuses to die, no matter how many stakes Microsoft drives through its heart. But now it appears that Microsoft's work is paying off: For the first time, Windows 7 market share has topped that of XP in the U.S.

Computerworld's Gregg Keizer reports that an Irish Web analytics company, StatCounter, says that Windows 7 average daily share of all U.S. usage bested that of XP for the first 10 days of April, 32.2% to 30.7%.

In January, Microsoft said that it had sold 300 million Windows 7 licenses.

For years, Microsoft has been trying to kill of Windows XP. Vista certainly couldn't do it. But now it looks as if Windows 7 may be the silver bullet that does it.

Why should Microsoft care whether XP dies? The obvious first reason is operating sytsem revenue. If people continue to hang onto XP, it means they're not buying newer versions of Windows.

But there's much more than just operating system revenue at stake for Microsoft. Microsoft designs new services, such as Windows Live services and cloud-based services, for the most advanced features of its newer operating systems. If people still use XP, that means they won't be able to use all of these new features, which in turn limits Microsoft's potential audience. That means less revenue from those services as well.

In addition, if Windows XP continues to have a sizable number of users, Microsoft needs to spend more money on XP support. It's hoping for the day when it can reduce the money it spends on XP support.

Even though Windows 7 has topped Windows XP use in the U.S. for the first time, XP still beats it worldwide. Keizer notes that one reason is China, in which a high percentage of people still use XP.

Still, Microsoft must be pleased to see that in the U.S., at least, Windows 7 has finally overtaken Windows XP.

XP isn't really dead yet, of course. It's still the most popular operating system in the world, and the second most popular in the U.S. But it's now clear that it's only a matter of time before it eventually fades away.

Canon Pixma MX360 Inkjet Multifunction: Fax, but Few Frills

By Jon L. Jacobi

Color inkjet multifunction printers don't get much more basic than the Canon Pixma MX360. Priced at just $80 (as of April 8, 2011), it offers small doses of print, copy, scan and fax capabilities, but it has no Wi-Fi or ethernet, no media-card slots, and slowish performance. A light-volume small or home office might not mind any of that--and perhaps not even the pricey inks--but the Epson WorkForce 520 provides better speed and economy for just a little more money.

The Pixma MX360 is easy to set up on both the PC and Mac. The control panel is logically laid out and includes scan-to-PC functionality. Unfortunately, while Canon does a nice job of organizing the icons on the color LCDs of its higher-end models, the same approach falters on the Pixma MX360's two-line monochrome display; the icons are too small and hard to decipher. The Canon Pixma MX420 has a somewhat snazzier design but is nearly identical otherwise.

Paper-handling features for the Pixma MX360 are minimal. To its credit, it does sport a 30-sheet automatic document feeder, as well as a letter/A4-size scanner bed. The ADF even pops open for easy clearing of any paper jams that might occur. The vertical rear paper feed holds 100 sheets of plain paper, an adequate amount. In a frustrating twist, however, although you can scan two-sided from either platform, two-sided printing is manual only, and completely unavailable on the Mac.

The Pixma MX360 is a below-average performer, though acceptable for home use. Text pages with a few simple, monochrome graphics printed at 5.6 pages per minute on both the PC and Mac. On the PC, a half-page photo printed at default settings on plain paper took about 26 seconds, or 2.3 ppm. The same photo printed at better settings on Canon's own glossy photo paper took 45 seconds (1.3 ppm). A high-resolution, full-page photo printed from the Mac limped out at the anemic rate of 0.3 ppm. Preview scans took about 6 seconds, and a full scan required about 50 seconds at 600 dpi.

For the most part, PCWorld conducts performance tests and output-quality judging using a printer's default settings. The Pixma MX360 speeds up quite a bit when you switch to its 'Fast' mode, or draft mode, which also saves on ink.

The Pixma MX360's output quality varies. Monochrome printing is the most appealing: Text is crisp and sharp, and grayscale is nicely rendered. Color graphics printed on plain paper look overexposed, with a warm color palette that tends toward pink. On Canon's own glossy paper, the effect isn't as noticeable, but details are still missing in the lighter areas of photos. You can adjust the colors somewhat using the settings under the Effects tab of the printer driver. Scans tended to appear a little dark, but monochrome and color copies looked nice.

Cheap to buy, the Pixma MX360 is not particularly cheap to operate. A single cartridge delivers all three colors (cyan, magenta, and yellow) and costs $21 for a 244-page standard-yield unit, and $27 for a 346-page high-yield unit. At 8.6 and 7.7 cents per page, that's decently priced color at either capacity. Unfortunately, prices of $16 for a standard-yield black cartridge that delivers only 220 pages, and $22 for a high-yield black cartridge, sour the deal. Those prices work out to 7.26 cents per page (very expensive) and 5.5 cents per page (still expensive), respectively.

For light use in a home office, the Canon Pixma MX360 could be a good buy. It delivers the basics for a low initial investment, with black ink costs only slowly eating into the deal over time.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc Review

By: Daniel Webster

Xperia: the brand synonymous with Sony Ericsson’s smartphones for the past few years now. In this review of the Xperia Arc we go through what makes this smartphone innovative, fast, fun, and the next must-have device for any photography or movie connoisseur. The Xperia Arc is the first Android cellphone to implement Sony’s Bravia and Exmor R technology from their popular television and digital camera lines. Read on for our review to find out if the Xperia Arc is the next smartphone you will be selecting. 

UNBOXING

 

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc comes bundled with all of the essential items to get started. The unlocked international version comes with a wall charger, a microUSB charging/sync cable, a Sony Ericsson-branded stereo headset, and an 8GB microSD card preinstalled. One item not included which would make the Arc experience even better would have been a microHDMI cable. There is minimal documentation to help keep everything eco-friendly. 

HARDWARE

 

Sony Ericsson has integrated some very innovative features usually only found in Sony’s high-end electronics. The newest advancements come from the Mobile Bravia Engine and Sony’s Exmor R CMOS camera sensor. Derived from the Sony television brand, the Mobile Bravia Engine delivers superior image quality while playing games or watching videos. The Exmor R CMOS sensor allows the 8.1-megapixel camera to capture phenomenal still photos and video in normal and low-light situations.

The Xperia Arc gets it name from the concave rear design. The weight and dimensions of the Xperia Arc are 63x125x8.7 millimeters (2.5x4.9x0.34 inches) and a mere 117 grams (4.1 ounces). The exterior of the Xperia Arc is constructed almost exclusively out of glossy metal-flake-textured plastic, with accents of chrome. 

While the Xperia Arc may not win any top awards for groundbreaking processing power, the smartphone is still capable of handling a vigorous load of applications and tasks. The computing muscle comes from a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 processor. This second generation processor also has the ability to render demanding graphics thanks to the Adreno 205 GPU. The Xperia Arc combines the processor with 512MB of ROM (~300MB accessible) and 512MB of RAM. The secondary memory comes from a 8GB microSD card, which is upgradable to 32GB.

The most impressive feature of the Xperia Arc is the 4.2-inch (106.7mm) glass capacitive multi-touch LCD. Being the first Mobile Bravia Engine smartphone, the Xperia Arc produces true-to-life colors and imagery on its FWVGA (480x854 pixels) resolution screen. The Xperia Arc is even able to playback high definition video files up to 720p (downscaling them, of course). 

The cellular radios keeping the Xperia Arc connected include quad-band GSM, along with dual-band UMTS 900/2100 (LT15i model). Other radios include Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR, an FM radio, and aGPS. The sensors involve the usual Android necessary digital compass, light sensor, proximity sensor, and accelerometer. The ports are comprised of a 3.5mm headphone jack (also used as the FM radio antenna), a microUSB, and a microHDMI. The camera is capable of capturing still photos at 8.1 megapixel and video at 720p HD resolution (a bit lower than other flagship handsets early this year, which feature full 1080p video capture). The battery is a 1500mAh lithium polymer.

SOFTWARE

Sony Ericsson has enriched the user experience of the Xperia Arc by blending Android 2.3 Gingerbread with its proprietary Xperia user interface.

Many default Android applications have been skinned to mimic the XPERIA UI. The included Timescape app makes it easy to view status updates and messages by just swiping a finger up or down on the panels. The Xperia Arc’s video playback is optimized with the assistance of the Mobile Bravia Engine that not only displays clear and crisp video but also allows the playback of 720p HD video files. Other software titles include Asphalt 5, Let’s Golf, LiveWare Manager, Media server, a lite version of OfficeSuite, the Sony Ericsson PlayNow app, Postcard, and TrackID. The unit we reviewed is the Chinese Xperia Arc and has a few other Chinese apps likely unfamiliar to many.

Seeing that there are some applications reminiscent of the Xperia Play, Sony Ericsson may incorporate the PlayStation Suite onto the Arc in the near future.

CAMERA

Having incorporated Sony’s Exmor R CMOS sensor, which is normally found in its digital cameras, the Xperia Arc captures phenomenal still photographs along with excellent 720p HD videos. 

The Exmor R CMOS sensor is larger than most smartphone cameras, thus more light is able to be absorbed producing higher quality photos, particularly in low-light situations. The Xperia Arc’s camera also has a single LED flash. 

PERFORMANCE

 The Xperia Arc is both robust at opening applications and managing tasks with little lag. Video playback is especially smooth even while playing rapid movement or screen transitions. The Xperia Arc scored higher than other comparable Android 2.3 smartphones. The benchmark results yielded average scores of; Quadrant Standard – 1658, Linpack for Android – 38.5 MFLOPS, and Smartbench 2011 – 1340.

BATTERY LIFE

Sony Ericsson must have taken a cue from the Energizer Bunny for Arc, as the battery just keeps going and going. On average the Arc was able to provide enough power for a couple of days with normal application, talk, email, message, and game use. The phone gets all this power from a capacious 1500mAh lithium polymer. Sony Ericsson claims that the battery should provide around 7 hours of talk and 400 hours of standby time. 

 CALL QUALITY/ NETWORK SPEED

Operating on AT&T’s network in the Seattle metropolitan area, the Xperia Arc provided excellent call quality and coverage, even in areas that sometimes drop calls on other smartphones. The noise cancellation technology worked so well that the individual on the other side of the call was oblivious to the highway sounds. Audio was clear and concise with the earphone speaker, speakerphone, and wired stereo headset. 

 

To test the network speed would be unfair because this particular Xperia Arc is the international unlocked version (LT15i), which is unable to utilize any North American 3G/4G bands.

PURCHASING AND AVAILABILITY

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc is available in the international unlocked version (LT15i) from Negri Electronics for $689.50. The North American variant, which will have 850/1900/2100 3G bands should be available in the coming months. Stay tuned for more information about release dates.

PROS

+ Screen Quality
+ Camera
+ Battery Life
+ Thin and Light
+ Noise Cancellation

CONS

- Mostly Made of Plastic
- No microHDMI Cable Included
- Some Apps Cannot Be Uninstalled
- MicroSD Card Position

CONCLUSION

As the first Sony Ericsson smartphone to employ Sony’s television and digital camera technologies, the Xperia Arc is rather charming. Anyone who places photography and video playback at the top of their must-have smartphone criteria will be delighted with the Xperia Arc. 

Although beauty is in the eye of the beholder, many would agree that the Arc is both attractive in appearance and performance. That being said, it would have been nice if Sony Ericsson had manufactured the Arc with a bit less plastic.

Intel, on The Outside, Takes Aim at Smartphones

By Laurie J. Flynn

 

With an “Intel Inside” sticker affixed to their PCs, computer buyers in the 1990s could hardly avoid knowing whose microchip was making their machines work. The campaign made Intel one of the most recognizable brands and cemented its position in the PC industry. 

As long as PCs were dominant, Intel was dominant. But it’s now a new world in which tiny hand-held computers, more commonly known as smartphones, are outselling personal computers. 

And usually, there is no Intel inside. 

Instead, the processors in smartphones and tablets these days are more likely to be made by companies that few consumers would recognize, like Qualcomm, Nvidia and Marvell. And those companies are fighting to gain market dominance in much the same way Intel did with chips for personal computers: by making what’s inside the phone matter to consumers. 

“It’s become an arms race, like the early days of the PC industry,” said Chris Jones, vice president and principal analyst at Canalys, a market research company. These chip companies are racing to improve the speed and performance of their processors so they can boast of having the fastest application processor on the market. With smartphones and tablets increasingly performing the tasks of full-size computers, they have an additional obsession: making energy-efficient chips that will prolong the battery life of a mobile device. 

So far, the obsession with speed and energy efficiency has paid off for everybody but Intel. The PC chip giant has been conspicuously late to the mobile market, having canceled plans to ship a smartphone version of its Atom processor after a demonstration of it running in an LG phone over a year ago. 

The difficulty for Intel, say analysts, has been to get its chips’ power consumption down to a level reasonable for a phone. Still, Paul Otellini, Intel’s chief executive, vowed recently that Intel-powered smartphones would be on the market before the year is out. With those phones, Intel hopes to rebuild credibility in a business some customers had thought it would never get right. 

But meanwhile, the company has just recently lost its mobile champion, Anand Chandrasekher, the 24-year Intel stalwart who has long headed up the company’s mobile processor development, including the wildly successful Centrino product that made Wi-Fi a household name. 

While industry analysts were divided on whether Mr. Chandrasekher had resigned or had been pushed out, they were in agreement on one thing: The company has a lot of catching up to do in the mobile market. “It’s clear that Intel’s mobile business is not going as well has they had hoped,” said Linley Gwennap, an industry analyst and head of the Linley Group in Mountain View, Calif. “But this is not an indication of a change of strategy, just of leadership.” 

Intel executives quickly assured the industry that the company remained committed to smartphones, despite the sudden departure of Mr. Chandrasekher. 

Competitors say they will be ready for Intel when it arrives. “I always assume they’ll show up,” said Michael Rayfield, general manager of Nvidia’s mobile group. “All I can do is innovate rapidly to stay ahead.” 

Intel’s competitors are also hoping that a recent decision by Nokia, the largest phone maker, to use Windows Phone 7 rather than the Symbian operating system, will help them fend off Intel, given that the Microsoft program is currently optimized for ARM-based cellphones. “Nokia used to be a nonopportunity for us,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, chief executive of Nvidia. “Our market opportunity just got 33 percent bigger.” 

Qualcomm has the same idea. Anything that expands the “Microsoft phone ecosystem,” said Steven M. Mollenkopf, executive vice president and group president at Qualcomm, based in San Diego, is a “positive thing for Qualcomm.” 

In contrast to the PC market, in which Intel and Advanced Micro Devices slugged it out through the 1980s and 1990s, the list of companies supplying chips for smartphones is long. Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Samsung lead the market with a combined market share of 87 percent — with the biggest share of that belonging to Qualcomm. Nvidia, Broadcom, Samsung, Marvell and others are vying for the remainder, according to the market researcher Strategy Analytics. 

Faster Turbo In Updated Opera

By Seth Rosenblatt

The version of Turbo that debuts in Opera 11.10 is up to four times faster than before, according to the company.

(Credit: Opera)

The latest stable version of Opera 11 debuts today with a faster Turbo, an expanded Speed Dial, and some plug-in tweaks. Opera 11.10 for Windows, Mac and Linux, also makes a handful of other changes to the browser, notably adding in more HTML5 support, mail client improvements, an updated rendering engine, and better battery management on laptops. 

The changes to Opera Turbo and Speed Dial are the most apparent changes in Opera 11.10. The Norwegian company says that Turbo is four times faster than before, and Opera spokesman Thomas Ford said that those speed improvements are likely to filter down to Opera's mobile versions since the improvements were made to Turbo's servers. The gains were achieved in part by adopting support for Google's WebP image format, which resulted in higher image quality in Turbo mode. This still allowed sites to render 35 percent smaller and 15 percent faster than in Opera 11, according to Opera's internal benchmarks. 

Speed Dial, the feature that Opera developed to show frequently visited site thumbnails in a grid format, can now be configured to show an unlimited number of dials. The layout is customizable, and a new slider helps users zoom to show more or fewer dials by default. 

Other changes include the improved plug-in support that now offers to download and install plug-ins like Adobe Flash if missing from your system, a feature long-present in other browsers; partial HTML5 File API support, which means that Opera ought to be added soon to the list of official browsers that support Gmail; Web Open Font Format support, for next-generation font rendering; and search hijacking protection. 

MAP has been improved in the built-in Opera Mail e-mail client, so that it better manages "special status" folders such as Trash, Spam, and Sent Items.

 

Speed Dial can now handle an infinite number of thumbnails, and can be zoomed in or out.

(Credit: Opera)

 

 

 

Vudu Streaming Comes To Web Browsers

By John P. Falcone

The Vudu video-on-demand streaming service has long been available on a wide variety of connected home entertainment products, including networked TVs, Blu-ray players, and even the PlayStation 3. But now subscribers will be able to watch Vudu movies through computer Web browsers, too. 

As with rivals Netflix and Amazon, the Vudu browser experience is pretty much the same as what you'll find on those other Vudu venues--the identical content library (albeit limited to standard-definition, thanks to studio restrictions) at the identical pricing. The video should work on any computer browser (Windows, Mac, Linux) that's compatible with the latest version of Flash. (In-browser Vudu streaming should be active at Vudu.com later today.) 

Watching premium video in a Web browser is hardly a unique offering--plenty of providers from Hulu to Facebook already deliver similar services. But for Wal-Mart Stores-owned Vudu, adding PC screens to the mix adds yet another way to access videos you rent or own. 

Where else might we see Vudu in the future? Vudu general manager Edward Lichty told CNET that "any device that can connect to the Internet is something we want to be on." When asked specifically about products like the iPad, he replied that he suspects you'll be seeing Vudu on tablets this year, but added "we have nothing specific to announce" at this time. 

Other interesting tidbits: Lichty said 80 percent of Vudu customers are also Netflix subscribers, but they use Vudu to watch new releases that aren't available on Netflix streaming. And--while Vudu is the only Internet-delivered video service that offers 3D content, Lichty indicated that 3D streaming on Vudu is "fairly modest" to date.

Control Your Phone With A Magnetic Ring

By newscientist.com

(Image: Nokia)

These days smartphones let you do practically anything, but you still have to reach in to your pocket to use them. Now, researchers at Nokia aim to solve that problem with a magnetic ring dubbed Nenya, after a ring found in The Lord of the Rings, that you can twist around your finger to control your phone.

The ring itself looks like a standard piece of jewellery, but is actually a strong magnet. Moving the ring causes changes in the surround magnetic field, which are picked up by a bracelet worn by the user that connects to their phone via Bluetooth. You rotate the ring to pick from a number of options, which could be memorised, played as audio through headphones, or displayed on a screen, then push the ring towards your fingertip to select. The options could include asking a caller to hold, or updating your location on a social network.

Users can turn the ring with either their other hand or the same hand, though the latter is more difficult. The researchers conducted two small trials and found that people could accurately position the ring in roughly 45 degree increments, suggesting that a ring-controlled menu could contain up to eight options. They will present their findings at the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Vancouver, Canada next month.

There are few problems to solve before you can start ringing your phone, however. The bracelet is currently a rather bulky and unattractive device, but the electronics inside could be incorporated into a watch or jewellery bracelet, and the system also detects the ring when users move about, which could execute unwanted commands. There's also the issue of walking around with a great big magnet on your finger, with the potential to attract nearby metallic objects and damage credit cards or hard drives.

Deja vu All Over Again : Adobe Reveals New Flash Zero Day

By Tony Bradley, PCWorld

Do not adjust your Web browser. This may look like an identical post to the one from four weeks ago announcing a zero-day vulnerability in Adobe Flash, but it's actually a new one.

Adobe released an updated version of Flash--as well as Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat which were also impacted--to address the flaw in only a week. Perhaps the rush to develop a patch quickly is coming back to bite Adobe, though, because it is that new version--not yet a month old--which is now being targeted with a new zero day, and virtually all aspects of the new threat appear identical to last month's zero-day.

If you put the Adobe PSIRT (Product Security Incident Response Team) blog post announcing this new Flash zero-day side by side with the one from March 14 announcing the previous Flash zero-day, the only differences between the two appear to be the version numbers of the affected products, and the fact that the current exploit in the wild for the new threat is using a malicious Flash (SWF) file embedded within a Microsoft Word doc (DOC) rather than a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (XLS).

As with the previous Flash zero-day, Adobe is not aware of any malicious PDF exploits in the wild targeting the flawed authplay.dll element used in Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat. Also as with the previous Flash zero-day, Adobe is diligently working on patching the affected products to address the flaw, but does not intend to update Adobe Reader X for Windows until the regularly scheduled quarterly update in June because the Protected Mode sandbox security should prevent any attack from executing.

Andrew Storms, Director of Security Operations at nCircle, points out that Adobe zero-days seem to be a dime a dozen these days. Storms stresses, "In light of recent suggestions that an Adobe Flash vulnerability was part of the RSA breach, all users should be paying close attention to all Adobe bugs."

Adobe did not make any predictions for when to expect patches for the affected products. Storms believes, though, that in light of the back to back zero-day exploits, and the fact that an Adobe Flash zero-day exploit led to the RSA breach, Adobe may need to reconsider delaying the patch for Adobe Reader X for Windows until June.

ViewSonic ViewPad 10 Pro Dual Boots OS Tablet

By Shohag, thetechjournal.com

ViewSonic has yet another Android device on the way, in the form of the ViewPad 10Pro. The company will also showcased newly tablet at the Mobile World Congress 2011 (February 14-17, Barcelona, Spain), the ViewSonic ViewPad 10Pro. Like so many other companies on the PC and consumer electronic markets, ViewSonic has entered the tablet market.

The new tablet is support Windows/Android dual-boot OS, which is Windows 7 Professional for office applications and business tools, while the Google Android 2.2 (Froyo) for entertainment and surfing internet.

The ViewSonic ViewPad 10Pro tablet is sports a 10-inch multitouch LED backlit display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 3G module.

It is based on Intel Oak Trail platform and up to 6 hours of battery life. The information about release date and price of ViewPad 10Pro is unavailable at moment.

Google Quietly Preparing Chrome OS for Tablets

By Ben Parr 

A series of changes to Google Chrome OS’s source code provide the clearest indication yet that the search giant is preparing its notebook OS for the tablet form factor.

Google has toyed with the idea of bringing Chrome OS to tablets; it even made mockups and concepts of a tablet running Chrome OS last year, and it’s had intentions to include touch for a while. Still, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt stated last year that Android was for touch and Chrome OS was for keyboards.

The line between Android and Chrome OS is about to be blurred though, according to CNET. It has uncovered several changes to the Chrome and Chrome OS source code that indicate work is being done on a tablet version. The changes include new references to a touch version of Chrome OS, references to tablet Chrome OS devices and a touch-optimized new tab page.

If Google really is preparing for the release of a tablet version of Chrome OS, what does that mean for its existing tablet OS, Android Honeycomb? The most prominent tablet running Honeycomb, the Motorola Xoom, has sold around 100,000 units, an OK start for a new device running a new OS but nothing compared with iPad 2 sales.

Is Google testing Chrome OS on tablets as an experiment, or does it plan to try a different strategy to compete with the iPad? One thing’s for sure: It won’t be long until we find out.

House Passes Bill Declaring Lithium Batteries Safe

By Tony Bradley, PC World

The House of Representatives has passed legislation that prevents the United States government from implementing more stringent rules classifying lithium batteries as a hazardous material. Does that mean the batteries are not hazardous? Not necessarily. The move is based on lobbying and financial interests, rather than environmental or safety concerns.

A Bloomberg report explains that the Department of Transportation (DoT), with the backing of pilot unions and congressional Democrats, proposed new restrictions on air shipments of lithium batteries based on concerns that the batteries could overheat and ignite. If implemented, the rule would result in an estimated $1.13 billion of additional costs for packaging, transportation, logistics, and training costs to ensure the proper handling of the hazardous materials.

Is there an actual concern that lithium batteries can overheat and ignite? Well, there was the 2006 recall of 1.3 million mobile phone batteries, or the 2007 recall of 46 million mobile phone batteries, or the recall of 208,000 notebook batteries by Lenovo, or the HP recall of more than 100,000 notebook batteries--all in response to reports that the batteries were dangerously hot and prone to spontaneous combustion. And, that is just scratching the surface. There is ample evidence that lithium batteries can be hazardous.

An eHow.com article describing how to properly dispose of a lithium battery explains, "Exposure to the elements in these batteries can lead to respiratory problems and, in some cases, skin rashes. In many states, it is illegal to throw away lithium ion batteries. This is because they enter the solid waste stream and contaminate soil and water. In addition, if this kind of battery is subjected to high temperatures, it may explode."

See? No worries. Nothing to be concerned about at all. The Department of Transportation and the pilot unions are probably just whining for no reason. Maybe it's a DoT and pilot conspiracy to introduce frivolous expenses for tech companies and drive up the cost of mobile devices.

This vote by the House of Representatives is indicative of the regulatory issues in the United States. We have agencies and departments mandated to safeguard the environment, protect consumer safety, ensure safe travel and transportation, and more. But, if the elected representatives side with big business and go against physical evidence and common sense because it will cost too much, the very existence of those regulatory agencies is a waste of time.

The House bill differs from its Senate counterpart, so there will be a joint session to negotiate the differences before the bill would actually be forwarded on to President Obama. We'll see if consumer and transportation safety prevail, or if $1.13 billion is a price that Congress feels comfortable risking lives over.

Microsoft Releases Bing For iPad app

By David Chartier

“Just Bing it” may have failed to catch on with the public’s search vernacular to date, but Microsoft’s most recent attempt to bring its search engine to the masses has culminated in the release Bing for iPad. 

Not to be confused with Bing—a separate app for iPhone and iPod touch—this new entry gives Microsoft’s “decision engine” a native app that can take advantage of the iPad’s more expansive screen real estate. The core Bing search services are all here in their iPad-centric glory, including Web, news, movie listings, and local businesses, and just like on the iPhone app, you can type or speak your queries. 

Bing for iPad can also help you stay on top of the weather, stock quotes, popular searches, and, of course, the service’s unique and often informative Homepage Image. Integration of Bing Maps covers location and navigation territory, but it sounds like the mass transit directions from bing.com/maps got left behind for this 1.0 release. Location-based check-in integration with Facebook and Foursquare, which the iPhone app enjoys, was also left out. 

Interestingly, Microsoft appears to have been influenced by the likes of Flipboard and TweetMag, as news and trending topics can be displayed in “rich magazine-inspired layouts.” You can take Bing for iPad for a spin as long as you’re running iOS 4.2 or later, and the free app won’t even cost you a dime.

Facebook Shares Design Of Energy-Saving Center

By Mike Swift, San Jose Mercury News

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Having designed and built a new energy-efficient data center in Oregon, Facebook is sharing the technology for the center and its customized servers with other Internet companies, hoping to cut the huge amounts of electricity consumed by the industry.

Facebook's new data center at Prineville in central Oregon is 38 percent more energy-efficient than industry standards, resulting in a 24 percent savings in cost, the company said at a media event at its Palo Alto headquarters Thursday.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and company executives and engineers said the social network is sharing the more efficient server technology and data center designs with anyone who is interested in using it, an effort Facebook is calling the Open Compute Project.

"We're really proud of our achievement today," said Amir Michael, manager of hardware design for Facebook.

"We did all this work, and I feel we didn't just do it for ourselves; we're opening it up for the community at large," Michael said.

Among the groups that said they were interested in adopting Facebook's technology were the federal government through the U.S. Department of Energy, and social-game maker Zynga.

Advanced Micro Devices, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Intel worked with Facebook to develop the technology.

Data centers are a large and fast-growing source of electrical consumption in the United States, making up about 1.5 percent of total U.S. electricity consumption at a cost of $4.5 billion annually, the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency said last year. That amount is expected to almost double over the next five years.

One innovation in Facebook's new data center: It relies exclusively on outside air to cool the rows of servers that generate large amounts of heat. "There is no air-conditioning equipment in the data center," said Jay Park, Facebook's director of data-center design.

While Oregon's cool weather will help with that, Facebook plans to use the same ambient-air technology with a data center it is building in North Carolina.

The servers are also specially designed for more efficient cooling. They are taller than traditional servers to allow more room for heat sinks, with much more energy-efficient fans developed in conjunction with partners like Intel.

Despite Facebook's pride at its achievement, the company drew criticism Thursday from the environmental group Greenpeace. While praising Facebook for its more efficient designs, Greenpeace said that meant little if the company continued to rely on coal and nuclear power for the electricity that powers the Oregon data center.

Amir Michael, hardware-design manager of Facebook, introduces Facebook's new energy-saving server.

"If Facebook wants to be a truly green company, it needs to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions," 

Greenpeace climate campaigner Casey Harrell said in a written statement.

But rather than focus on the source of the power, "from the beginning, we realized that the biggest impact we could have is focusing on efficiency, both for our own operations and the world. The Open Compute Project has the potential to save many times the energy that Facebook will ever use," said Barry Schnitt, its director of policy communications.

Data centers are the engine that support "the cloud" — the vast distributed computing networks that power everything from Google's search, voice-recognition and translations services to Amazon's retail empire. The explosive growth of social media and networking means that companies like Facebook and Zynga are rapidly building their own "cloud" infrastructure around the United States and the world.

The design and location of data centers are often closely guarded company secrets, however. In addition to the new technology, a key significance of the Open Compute Project is that the information is being shared with everybody.

Jason Waxman, an Intel general manager in its data-center group who worked on the project with Facebook, compared its significance to the launch of the Toyota Prius — as if Toyota had also shared the hybrid's plans with the rest of the world.

"Some of the biggest impact is going to be in emerging companies where they are just starting to decide how to build their data centers," Waxman said. "Now they have a blueprint."

Logitech Introduces Case With Built-In Keyboard For iPad 2

By logitech.com

FREMONT, Calif. — April 7, 2011 — Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) today unveiled the Logitech® Keyboard Case, delivering type-and-go convenience for your iPad® 2. Smart and sleek, Logitech’s first offering designed especially for tablets provides an extra measure of convenience and style, wherever you take your iPad 2.

The Logitech Keyboard Case is made of precision-cut aircraft-grade aluminum and features military-grade, high-density padding. The protective case wraps around the iPad 2 to cover the screen and sides. So you can go from Face Time® to e-mail in no time, the Logitech Keyboard Case offers a flexible, folding hinge, which makes it easy to place your iPad 2 in either portrait or landscape mode.

And for your convenience, the Logitech Keyboard Case uses Bluetooth® connectivity to pair the included wireless keyboard quickly and easily and the keyboard charges over USB, so you never need to worry about replacing batteries.

Offered in Collaboration with ZAGG
The Logitech Keyboard Case has been developed in partnership with ZAGG (NASDAQ: ZAGG), a market leader in providing innovative mobile device accessories. The two companies have entered into an agreement that provides Logitech with exclusive worldwide distribution rights to the ZAGGmate™ case design for the iPad2 and other tablets.

“The Logitech Keyboard Case combines style and function in one great package,” said Azmat Ali, Logitech senior director for tablet products. “This is the first of several products we plan to introduce this year designed specifically to enhance the way people create, consume and communicate using their tablet.”

Pricing and Availability
The Logitech Keyboard Case is expected to be available in the U.S. in April 2011 for a suggested retail price of $99.99 (U.S.).

HTC Thunderbolt Challenging iPhone at Verizon

By Ben Parr

The Verizon iPhone hasn’t even been available for two months, but it’s already being challenged for the title of Verizon’s most popular phone by the HTC Thunderbolt.

The Android smartphone is a beast of a device; not only is it one of the world’s first 4G LTE devices, but it boasts a 4.3-inch touchscreen, an 8-megapixel camera and 8 GB of flash memory. Because of its large screen and LTE technology though, it retails for $249.99 with a two-year contract, $50 more than the iPhone 4.

That hasn’t stopped people from snatching up the device, though. Analysts at BTIG Research polled 150 Verizon Wireless stores and asked the sales people whether they sold more iPhones or Thunderbolts during the previous weekend; 61% of stores reported that sales of both devices were nearly identical, while a full 28% said the Thunderbolt was outselling the iPhone. Some 11% of stores, mostly in the Southeast, claimed the iPhone 4 was still outselling HTC’s newest smartphone.

While BTIG Research’s data isn’t scientific, it matches what we’ve been hearing; the HTC Thunderbolt is a hit. The combination of large screen and hyper-fast 4G speeds has proven alluring to Verizon’s customers. Don’t think this means the Thunderbolt is actually outselling the Verizon iPhone yet; Apple’s device is also available in Apple Stores and at Best Buy, increasing its total sales figures.

Still, with the release of the iPhone 5 likely delayed, the Thunderbolt and other LTE Android phones like it will have plenty of time to firmly establish themselves in the market.

Seagate Launches Thin External Hard Drive

The GoFlex Slim holds 350 GBs of storage, is 38% thinner than the previous model, and weighs less than six ounces.

 

By Antone Gonsalves, InformationWeek  

Seagate has introduced its slimmest external hard drive, a 320-GB model that's roughly the width of a pencil and works with a Mac or Windows PC.

The GoFlex Slim, launched Tuesday, is 38% thinner than the previous GoFlex ultra-portable drive and weighs less than six ounces. The new product is about 5 inches high and 3 inches wide, making it easy to carry in a pocket or carrying bag. The Slim uses Seagate's 2.5-inch Momentus hard drive for thin notebooks and netbooks.

The Slim's black metal case includes a USB 3.0 port, which is compatible with USB 2.0, but can transfer data 10 times faster when connected to another USB 3.0 port. The internal hard drive is also quick at 7,200 revolutions per minute.

The Slim is formatted as a FAT32 file system, so files can be transferred from either a Mac or Windows PC.

The drive comes with backup software and the ability to encrypt files.

The Slim comes with an 18-inch USB 3.0 cable and a three-year warranty. The manufacturer's suggested retail price is $100.

Seagate is marketing the Slim as an accessory for thin notebooks or netbooks, which typically have less internal storage than mainstream mobile PCs or desktop replacements. The Slim is targeted at anyone with a need to carry video files, large graphics, or presentations.

Seagate is offering an HFS+ formatted version of the Slim for people who want to use the external drive with Apple's Time Machine backup software. The drive, which can also store files from a Windows PC, has a metallic finish meant to complement the aluminum casing of a MacBook. The GoFlex Slim for Mac has a MSRP of $99.

Demand for storage is rising, driving an increase in storage capacity of hard disk drives, as well as shipments of HDDs. IDC predicts that HDD shipments for enterprise applications will rise to 52.6 million units in 2014 from 40.5 million in 2009. At the same time, the price per gigabyte is expected to decline at a rate of 25% to 30% per year.

Seagate introduced last month a 3-TB desktop HDD called the Barracuda XT. The drive is targeted at professional works stations and high-end PCs.

Exploring 3D Photo With Video Recording Hardware From Apple

By Thomas

A new Apple obvious filing was unearthed divulgence which Apple is exploring opposite ways to jot down videos as well as constraint digital still images in 3D. While the intensity of Apple’s obvious can manifest in the destiny iOS–an iPhone 3D perhaps–device, it’s misleading if Apple will commercialize the efforts.

According to the obvious filing, Apple says which existent 3D photo as well as video capturing systems have been software-reliant, which leads to sub-par peculiarity of the prisoner design or video as there can be artifacts in the last combination as the software has to theory how to combine the apart shots prisoner with the twin rear-cameras upon inclination similar to the HTC EVO 3D, entrance this summer to Sprint in the U.S.

 

With Apple’s method, hardware, rsther than than software, will be concerned to tack the images together with the ”deterministic calculation for stereo inconsistency compensation.”

According to AppleInsider, “Apple would emanate hardware with mixed imaging systems, contracting apart luma, chroma as well as depth/distance sensors to constraint images which can be incited in to the single, three-dimensional picture.”

Users will need to perform the one-time setup as well as calibration of the device.

In further to 3D capturing, an iPhone 3D, if the single will be combined in the future, would additionally need to await the 3D-capable display. 3D inclination entrance to the marketplace have been relying upon glasses-free displays. The LG Optimus 3D is relying upon 3D arrangement technology from LG whilst the Nintendo 3DS as well as the stirring HTC EVO 3D for Sprint will be regulating displays from Sharp. In observation the Optimus 3D as well as the EVO 3D screens, the EVO 3D offers the improved 3D obser

Microsoft Internet Explorer 9′s Desire To Win The Browser Wars

By Feipel

The ultimate Internet Explorer headlines is both great as well as bad for Microsoft. First, the good: IE9, the newest chronicle of Redmond’s browser, seems to be gaining preference with Web users. A post yesterday upon Microsoft’s Windows Blog cites usage-tracker Net Applications’ ultimate browser statistics, which uncover IE9 with 3.56 percent of worldwide marketplace share for March. For the browser which strictly launched only over dual weeks ago–albeit the single that’s been accessible in beta form for months–that’s not as well shabby.

“It’s patently really early though you have been gratified with the reception,” writes Microsoft’s Ryan Gavin in the blog post. “The embracing the cause rate of IE9 is about 5 times aloft afterwards what you saw for Internet Explorer 8 in the same time frame.”

A big-picture perspective of Net Applications’ data, however, paints the reduction flushed design for IE. The firm’s over 60 percent for the same month the year ago.

Google Chrome, meanwhile, is gaining users during the breakneck pace. Praised for the speed as well as simplicity, Chrome had 11.57 percent of the worldwide marketplace final month, scarcely stand in the 6.13-percent share in Mar 2010.

In Apr 2009, Chrome had the little 1.79 percent share, whilst IE’s cut of the browser cake was somewhat next 68 percent, according to Net Applications.

How Are the Competitors Doing ?

And IE’s alternative competitors? In Mar 2011, Mozilla Firefox’s share was scarcely twenty-two percent, down from 24.52 percent in Mar 2010. Apple Safari was during 6.61 percent final month, up from 4.65 percent for the same duration the year ago.

IE9 is removing auspicious reviews as well as Microsoft appears to have silenced the critics, who knocked the indolent performance, diseased security, as well as miss of await for Web standards which tormented progressing versions of the browser. But does chronicle 9 have the right things to delayed IE’s long-term slide? The association suggests which users of competing browsers have been really interested, or during slightest curious, in IE9. “As you referred to upon Tuesday, all of the early downloads (through Mar 27) were user-initiated , with over 90% of the downloads entrance from non-IE9 RC or Beta users, together with over the entertain which came from Chrome as well as Firefox users,” Gavin writes.

If IE9 does assistance retreat Microsoft’s market-share slide, the stroke will expected be gradual by Redmond’s assertive debate to absolved the universe of Internet Explorer 6, the company’s notoriously insecure, 10-year-old browser which still had an 11.6 percent tellurian share in March. While reduction than 3 percent of Internet users in the U.S. run IE6, the browser stays renouned in Asia. In China, for instance, IE6 has the 33.8 percent share, according to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6 Countdown site.

“Friends do not let friends make use of Internet Explorer 6. And conjunction should acquaintances,” Microsoft states.

Facebook Reaching Out To Feature-Phone Users

By Amy Gahran, Special to CNN

 

(CNN) -- If you access Facebook via the Web browser on a "feature phone" -- a simpler, less powerful cousin to the smartphone -- your experience might improve significantly over the next few weeks.

 

On Friday, Facebook announced an upgrade to its "lean" mobile site m.facebook.com. This upgrade integrates the full range of features found in Facebook's mobile site for smartphones and other phones with touchscreen browsers: touch.facebook.com.

This update is being rolled out gradually to Facebook users. Facebook product designer Lee Byron explained: "With the new m.facebook.com, users with high-end touch devices will see a rich touch-friendly interface; for users with feature phones, the site will look and work great. ...There will no longer be a difference between m.facebook.com and touch.facebook.com, we'll automatically serve you the best version of the site for your device."

Here's why this is a smart move -- one that I wish more online sites and services would emulate.

Too often, as popular sites and services upgrade their mobile offerings, they cater primarily to smartphone users -- which means they end up leaving the vast majority of mobile users further behind. According to new numbers from ComScore, currently only 29% of handsets in use in the U.S. are smartphones.

A brief definition: While the lines between the two types of devices are becoming blurred, smartphones are defined as having operating systems capable of running "native" apps with a wide range of sophisticated functions, and fully featured web browsers (usually based on the Webkit browser). Feature phones tend to be cheaper, simpler, and more limited. Often feature phones lack touchscreens, and they usually run simple apps based on Java. 

While smartphones are getting more popular, and many feature phones are getting smarter -- well, at least getting better Web browsers -- most mobile users aren't yet willing to handle the costs and complexity associated with smartphones. Consequently, feature phones will likely continue to be a huge part of the mobile market for at least a few more years.

MSNBC reports that Facebook currently has about 600 million users worldwide, and about 250 million of them already access Facebook from their cell phones.

With an enhanced experience for simpler cell phones, I'd expect that Facebook might quickly grow its mobile user base -- and probably also pick up a lot of new website users. 

That's the point: Facebook's business model hinges on getting as many people as possible engaged as much as possible. This means finding a way to efficiently serve the mobile devices they're using today -- not just targeting the mobile devices they might be using a few years from now.

The move to upgrade and unify Facebook's mobile Web experience also will streamline Web development for Facebook. As if it isn't complicated enough to maintain native apps for each major smartphone operating system (iOS, Android, BlackBerry, etc.), maintaining multiple mobile website versions consumes considerable time and resources.

"Every time we launched a new feature, we had to build it multiple times across different code bases," wrote Byron. "Once for facebook.com, then again for m.facebook.com, touch.facebook.com, and in native applications as well. Honestly, we weren't very good at doing this, so certain features were missing on different devices."

Coupled with Facebook's recent acquisition of Snaptu -- a popular platform for Java-based apps that runs on most feature phones -- this consolidation of the company's mobile Web efforts indicates an unusually inclusive mobile strategy.

Facebook is clearly taking a hard look at the mobile market that actually exists, rather than the one that most developers and wireless carriers seem to believe, or wish, exists. 

If Facebook can move fast to serve feature phone users well, while other social media services -- except Twitter, of course -- tend to treat feature phones as an afterthought, it's more likely to maintain loyal users for the long term.

Windows 8 To Replace Your Toolbar With A Ribbon

By David Daw, PC World

Just hours after an early build of Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system leaked we're starting to get a good idea of how the latest version of Windows is shaping up.

Intrepid users have already begun mining the build and a major departure besides the OS's new welcome screen is already evident. Microsoft seems to have replaced the toolbar in the explorer window with the Ribbon user interface currently used Microsoft Office programs, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Once you've logged in, the most noticeable change to Windows is the new Ribbon interface on every Explorer window. At this stage, the Ribbon UI is in a pretty confused state and doesn't seem to have some of its functionality, so it's hard to tell exactly how successful this switch will be. Within Windows even suggests some disagreement may exist within Microsoft about using the new interface at all.

Also unclear is whether this change is permanent for all devices. The current build of Windows 8 has a toggle to return the toolbar and menus we've all grown accustomed to, but it's not clear whether this will make it to the final version of Windows 8 or if it's just a temporary measure while the design of the Ribbon gets ironed out.

This is a very early build, so many features, such as specialized tablet support, haven't yet made their way in. Still, even this early on, we can say with some certainty that Windows 8 will bring some dramatic changes to the OS.