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Microsoft unveils a radicall Windows 8
Windows 8 is coming soon — and it looks nothing like the Windows you’re used to.
Microsoft formally introduced Windows 8 on Tuesday to thousands of software developers gathered at the company’s annual Build conference in Anaheim, Calif. The software giant said it reimagined Windows for the “changing world of computing.”
Windows 8 has a completely new visual interface, optimized for touchscreens on mobile devices like tablets.
The result is a computer that operates as a kind of hybrid PC and media tablet, with all the functions of a standard PC operating system but the user experience of a tablet.
Windows 8 is designed to be “touch first, but equally at home with mouse and keyboard,” said Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft’s Windows division president.
The changes can’t come soon enough for Microsoft: Apple’s (AAPL, Fortune 500) iPad iscutting deeply into PC sales, setting off warning bells for companies like Microsoft that rely heavily on consumers buying new PCs. Windows 7, which has been on the market for two years, only recently eclipsed Microsoft’s decade-old Windows XP in its number of users.
Click to tour the new Windows 8
Windows 8 launched in “preview mode” on Tuesday for developers to toy around with. It didn’t work perfectly in Microsoft’s demonstration, but software in this early stage of development often is bug-ridden.
Still, the preview revealed a refined, simple, and in many ways elegant user interface that looks very similar to Microsoft’s mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7. The change will mark Windows’ biggest visual overhaul in decades.
Users begin with an opening screen that looks a bit like Microsoft’s Bing search engine home page. A large photo takes up the majority of the screen, with icons that show the user how many e-mails, messages and notifications are waiting for them.
After the user logs in, they reach a “start screen” featuring interactive tiles that launch with a tap of the finger or the click of a mouse. Unlike most tablets on the market today, Windows 8-powered devices will be able to launch applications side-by-side. That means users can multitask between, say, a movie and an instant messaging program.
Behind the user interface, which Microsoft dubs “Metro,” is a streamlined operating system that Microsoft says runs more efficiently than the current version of the OS, Windows 7.
“Everything that was great for Windows 7, we took that and made it better for Windows 8,” said Sinofsky.
To prove it, Sinofsky demonstrated Windows 8 operating on a three-year old, first-generation netbook. Using Windows Task Manager, he showed that Windows 8 actually used less memory than the netbook did while running Windows 7. He also demonstrated everyday PCs, laptops and tablets that booted in less than 10 seconds.
That efficiency is hugely important to customers, who roundly rejected Windows Vista for its chunkiness. A lightweight OS is even more important now as tablet computers grow in popularity.
That’s particularly crucial for Windows 8, because for the first time, Windows will work on power-sipping ARM-based chips made by Qualcomm (QCOM, Fortune 500), Samsung, and Texas Instruments (TXN,Fortune 500), among others.
“I promise you we did not lose sight of fundamentals,” Sinofsky said.
But make no mistake: Windows 8 is a PC operating system. It may be optimized for touch and mobile, but applications are largely bifurcated into “Metro-style” apps and desktop applications.
There are applications that just won’t work on a tablet user interface that are going to look and feel a whole lot like your old-fashioned point-and-click Windows-based software.
For example, one press of a Windows button switches back and forth between the Metro experience and the desktop experience. Windows 8, in a sense, has two interfaces.
In other words, Microsoft is betting that people want a full PC experience on the go and a tablet-like experience on their PCs. That’s very different from the approach by Apple or Google (GOOG, Fortune 500), which build two separate operating systems for PCs and mobile devices.
Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) began revealing some of Windows 8’s features as early as June. In a YouTube video, the company showed off some aspects of the new “Metro” user interface, and since then, the company has been giving weekly sneak peaks in a blog written by Sinofsky.
The company hasn’t yet set a launch date for Windows 8, but it has hinted that its new operating system will begin rolling out in 2012. 
Related articles
- Samsung’s Windows 8 Tablet Is Large (and That’s Good) (techland.time.com)
- Windows 8 on ARM chips: It was too good to be true (infoworld.com)
- Microsoft unveils its new Windows 8 operating system (availableworld.wordpress.com)
Apple CEO Steve Jobs resigns due to Health Issues
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Apple CEO Steve Jobs has resigned and will be replaced by former Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, the company said late Wednesday. Jobs will stay on as Apple’s chairman.
Apple made no mention of Jobs’ health in its statement about the change, but Jobs alluded to it in the letter of resignation he sent to Apple’s board on Wednesday and later released publicly.
“I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come,” wrote Jobs, who has been on medical leave since January. Cook has been filling in as the company’s leader. (For more on Tim Cook, see Fortune’s landmark profile: “Tim Cook: The genius behind Steve“)
Apple’s (AAPL, Fortune 500) board took pains to praise Jobs, who lead a historic turnaround for the once-ailing company. Apple shares were briefly halted in after-hours trading as Apple announced its leadership change. When trading resumed, shares dropped 5%.
“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” board member Art Levinson said. “In his new role as chairman of the board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”
Apple’s fans flocked to Twitter and other social-media sites to mark and mourn the CEO torch-passing. “The end of an era!” one Twitter user wrote, while another voiced the fears many share: “I pray it’s not bc [because] of his health.”
In January, Jobs said he would take another medical leave of absence, two years after a six-month sabbatical during which he received a liver transplant. Although it was his third medical leave of absence, he continued to make Apple’s major strategic decisions while Cook took over the day-to-day operations.
Cook has nearly 30 years of experience in the computer industry, serving in leadership roles at IBM (IBM, Fortune 500), Intelligent Electronics and Compaq before joining Apple in 1998.
Jobs made his last public appearance in June when he unveiled iCloud, a free wireless storage and syncing service, at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference. Jobs received a standing ovation when he took the stage.
Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 from his family’s garage with Steve Wozniak. Nine years later, Jobs parted ways with Apple after disagreements with management. He returned as a consultant in 1996 and became interim CEO a year later. In 2000, he took the job permanently.
In his second run as CEO, Jobs led a Phoenix-like resurrection that transformed Apple from a bumbling also-ran to the second-largest company in the world by market value. Billion-dollar products like the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and most recently the iPad have made Apple the envy of all tech competitors.
“I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role,” Jobs wrote in his resignation letter. “I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.”
Six years ago, Jobs delivered his only commencement speech — one that is often cited as the speech of his life. “Death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new,” he told the crowd at Stanford University. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”
It was a powerful talk, given the CEO’s history of illness. Jobs was diagnosed with a treatable form of pancreatic cancer in 2004. Since then, both his health and how the company would run without him have been topics of intense speculation.
Tim Cook, who will take Jobs’ spot, quickly gained the favor of the notoriously hard-to-please CEO. Cook was named COO in 2005 after having “been doing this job for over two years,” Jobs said at the time. Jobs even gave him an office near his in Apple’s Cupertino headquarters.
As COO, Cook has been responsible for Apple’s product sales and operations, overseeing the company’s manufacturing, distribution and inventories, as well as negotiating with wireless networks that carry the iPhone. He organized Apple’s successful retail store strategy, and he is in charge of ensuring that Apple’s new products launch without any setbacks or major glitches.
Design and marketing, however — which fell directly under Jobs’ purview — is not Cook’s forte.
Still, some analysts that follow Apple say they believe Steve Jobs built up a resilient culture over the past 14 years, cultivating strong teams that can continue to innovate without him. Many of those teams pulled off very ambitious projects while he was on leave, including the iPad 2, iOS 5 and the new MacBook lineup.
“One of the most important things that Steve Jobs did in Apple 2.0 is rebuilding the culture,” said Mike McGuire, analyst at Gartner. “But it’s not quite the ‘cult of Steve’ like many believe. He built incredible teams that didn’t quite have free reign, but had plenty of room to innovate. It’s going to be hard work, but Apple will be fine without him.”
Related articles
- Steve Jobs’ Resignation Letter (mashable.com)
- Steve Job RESIGNS AS CEO! What does this mean for the fate of Apple? (urbanindiebrownchick.wordpress.com)
- Steve Jobs Resigns: A History In Links (paidcontent.org)
Apple could surpass $1 trillion valuation
Apple briefly became the most valuable company in the U.S. when it surpassed Exxon Mobil on August 9, but Breakingviews Columnist Rob Cyran says the iPhone and iPad maker may be worth far more.
I, like many people in this country, am a devoted Apple computer consumer. I mean, Apple must be superior for the common computer user who does like shiny, sleek packaging and does not like punching binary commands into the keyboard or having random code on their screen. That said, I had a disturbing visit to the Apple store earlier this week.
Let me back up. This disturbing visit was rooted in my workout (or lack there-of) regimen. Like many people in this country I will diligently jog everyday for a few months, only to have it slowly fade from my routine until one day I realize I haven’t hit the pavement in many moons.
Thankfully for my workout-averse brethren and I, Apple and Nike conveniently joined forces to create a market for something that really wasn’t necessary to begin with: the Nike+ GPS thing-a-majig. Somehow I convinced myself (or Apple convinced me, or Nike convinced me) that I could remedy my irregular jogging schedule with technology. Look! It tracks my workouts online. Look! It plays my “pump-up” song when I need that last little boost. Wow! Instant feedback relayed to me via a sexy voice. Lance Armstrong congratulates me after my workout!
I convinced myself this thing would make me run more often, thus get me in better shape, thus give me more energy, thus become motivated and get a good job, thus marry that beautiful girl, thus have great sex, thus live 20 years longer and die a happy, fulfilled, fit man. All this for just $29.99!
Not so fast. You need to have the compatible Nike shoe for this machinery to work. No problem- I just have to wait until the day comes when I needed a new pair of running shoes. After months of not running keep my New Balances in surprisingly good condition, I accidentally leave them out in the rain one night. The next day I sink eighty bucks into a pair of Nikes, then wander next door to the conveniently placed Apple store.
The first overly cheery employee sees me walk in and makes a b-line.
“Hello sir. Anything I can help you with today?”
“Yeah” I reply, “I just bought these shoes and I want to get the Nike thing for my iPod.”
“Perfect.” The employee spins around and grabs the Nike+ package as if he was anticipating this sale from the moment he saw my bright orange Nike shoebox.
“Cool” I reply. “So I just plug this part into my iPod and this part into my shoe and I’m set to go?”
“Pretty Much. What generation iPod do you have?”
“Um, I really don’t know. It’s black. It has the spinny wheel.” I motion little circles with my index finger.
“Oh the iPod classic.” He says with the smallest hint of condescension. Apparently my eighteen-month-old iPod had already achieved classic status. “Yeah, Nike+ isn’t compatible with that iPod.”
“Why? I thought you just need an iPod.”
“Well you see, how can I explain this…” He chooses his words wisely now, assuming I’m an Apple product luddite. “That iPod has a spinning hard drive (He mimics my motion), so Apple doesn’t recommend you run with it.”
“But I run with this all the time and I’ve never had any problems. So does Apple recommend I don’t run with this or will it really—“
The Apple punk interrupts me as if he has to stand up for his company. “No, no. It really won’t work. There’s no point in making an Apple product that will damage another Apple product.”
The conversation reaches a stand still.
“Okay…”
“But, do you have an iPhone?” He cheerily inquires.
As I mentioned earlier, I do happen to own a lot of Apple products. I dig into my jeans pocket and slide out my iPhone.
He sees it and squints at the phone as if it were out of focus. The condescending tone returns. “Oh, Nike+ isn’t compatible with the first generation iPhone. Besides, who really wants to run with their iPhone?”
I wasn’t the one to suggest it, but okay… “So what are you telling me exactly?”
“I’m telling you if you only own those two “i” products you can’t use Nike+”
Serenity Now! I gather myself “Let me rephrase. What’s the least amount of money I will have to spend to use this technology.” I foolishly assume that maybe Apple makes a third-party attachment that an individual who doesn’t own any “i” products can buy and still get feedback while they run. I assume wrong.
With a sale on the horizon, the Apple employee reverts back to friendly mode. “That would be our new iPod nano!” He drags me over to the display and launches into the features of the iPod. “And, and, if it’s upside down you just go like this and the display—“
Now it’s my turn to do the interrupting. “And how much will this cost?
“$149.99” He says. “But then you still need to buy the Nike+ kit for an additional $29.99”
I mean, the thing does look cool. I look at the little MP3 player and start trying to rationalize the purchase, well it can play music and you can look at all of your photos. Then I realize: Wait, don’t I already own two Apple products that do that and more?
I walk out of the store, embarrassed that I was even considering adding another “i” product to my life. But therein lies Apple’s success. They create unnecessary products for markets that shouldn’t exist. “Oh you own an iMac?” Apple corporate says, “Well what if you need to check your email and stuff on-the-go? Surely you’ll need an iBook to do so. But what if you’re on-the-go and you don’t have wireless internet? Don’t worry! Just buy an iPhone and you can always have the internet, plus have all these cool, impractical apps that you’ll never actually use, but you’ll be able to show your friends how useful it would be in the hypothetical situation where you need to know where the nearest sexual predator is located.”
Here’s the real kicker, a product even Apple doesn’t know how to market: “The iPad! The coolest thing apple has ever released. It can, like, store all your pictures and music like your iMac but it’s smaller. For when you’re on-the-go and you need to check your email—er, wait iBook and iPhone do that. For when you want to relax and play with some apps—dammit, iPhone does that too.” Apple digs deep, “For when you’re like, um, on the couch, and your iBook is in the other room and your iPhone is charging and you really need to see who starred in Dunstin Checks In (Jason Alexander, right?) the iPad is going to be so convenient. You’ll never believe you lived without one.”
I write this as the girl sitting next to me on the plane rapidly switches between her laptop, her phone and her iPad. What a poor soul lost in a shopper driven, marketing heavy, capitalistic society, I think to myself. How lucky I am to be a rational consumer in this irrational world…
Wait. Is that Angry Birds HD?
Related articles
- Apple to hold special media event on September 7 (edibleapple.com)
- Apple Is Now the Largest US Publicly Traded Company (bilerico.com)
- iPod touch serves as “memory” for amnesiacs (tuaw.com)
- iPod – iPhone Bluelounge MiniDock (cosmonavigator.wordpress.com)
Apple now has more cash than the U.S. government
Maybe the cash-strapped U.S. government should start selling iPads.
According to the latest statement from the U.S. Treasury, the government had an operating cash balance Wednesday of $73.8 billion. That’s still a lot of money, but it’s less than what Steve Jobs has lying around.
Tech juggernaut Apple had a whopping $76.2 billion in cash and marketable securities at the end of June, according to its last earnings report. Unlike the U.S. government, which is scrambling to avoid defaulting on its debt, Apple takes in more money than it spends.
This symbolic feat — the world’s most highly valued tech company surpassing the fiscal strength of the world’s most powerful nation — is just the latest pinnacle for Apple, which has been on an unprecedented roll.
U.S. debt: How did we get here?
Its Macs, iPhones and iPads remain hot sellers, its stock has surged past $400 a share and Apple just became the world’s largest smartphone vendor by volume.
There’s been a lot of speculation about what Apple might buy with its piles of cash — Facebook and Sony being two of the more high-profile examples — but the company doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to make a move.
“We don’t let the cash burn a hole in the pocket or make stupid acquisitions,” CEO Jobs said last fall. “We’d like to continue to keep our powder dry because we think there are one or more strategic opportunities in the future.”
Offering Uncle Sam a short-term loan is probably not one of them.
Related articles
- U.S. Government Has Less Cash Than Apple (blogs.forbes.com)
Microsoft apologizes for 'crass' Amy Winehouse tweet
Microsoft received much Twitter flak after a small PR account for its Xbox system encouraged followers to remember recently deceased musician Amy Winehouse by purchasing her last album on the company’s entertainment marketplace, Zune.
After about an hour of retweets with comments like “classy,” “crass much?” and “Microsoft — failing at social media,” the accounttweeted a follow up.
“Apologies to everyone if our earlier Amy Winehouse ‘download’ tweet seemed purely commercially motivated,” it said. “Far from the case, we assure you.”
It then followed with a second tweet: “With Amy W’s passing, the world has lost a huge talent. Our thoughts are with Amy’s family and friends at this very sad time.”
Microsoft isn’t the only company that has seemingly attempted to capitalize on the star’s death.
Apple posted an image of Winehouse on the front of the iTunes store with the caption “remembering Amy Winehouse.”
Her breakout album, the Grammy-winning “Back to Black,” has subsequently become the No. 1 album in the store. Amazon also posted a brief obituary that linked to a page where shoppers can purchase the singer’s music.
Sales of “Back to Black” increased 37 times immediately after Winehouse’s death.
Related articles
- Microsoft Apologizes After Trying To Cash In On Amy Winehouse’s Death (businessinsider.com)
- Microsoft Apologises for Amy Winehouse Zune Tweet (REPORT) (chats-blog.com)
iPhone 4 survives fall from 13500 feet and it still works
Jarrod McKinney, a 37 year old skydiver, could not believe his iPhone 4 still works after fell from 13,500 feet height.
It happened when Jarrod was doing a double skydive attraction with his wife at Winsted, Minnesota.
Jarrod admitted he put his favorite gadget together with a cigarette lighter in his pocket. But when he landed, he realized his pocket was empty.
Jarrod never knew when it jumped out from his pocket. But, he still tried to look for the phone using gps trackingapp, then found it about half mile from the landing place.
“It’s the end of my fourth iPhone,” said Jarrod. The phone’s glass surface was shattered.
Jarrod had thought to throw away the iPhone 4. But Joe Johnson, his skydiving instructor, tried to dial the phone just for fun. They were surprised when the phone started to vibrate and ring.
“Hey! It’s still working,” said Jarrod happily.
iPhone5 may release mid-August
A job posting put on an employment website targeted towards job seekers in the United Kingdom, Reed, has stirred rumors that the iPhone 5 could be released earlier than the tech community had originally thought. The iPhone, which was expected to be released in September of this year, may actually come out a little bit earlier than expected, in mid-August.
The job posting that started this rumor is in search of “full-time iPhone Sales Staff for an exciting project to work 5 days a week (Tuesday-Saturday) for the period 16th August – 29th October within key retail stores“. The post, which was put out by Gekko Ltd a staffing firm in the UK, shows up several different sections of the site, with each one for a different area of Great Britain. Gekko has previously been employed to do retail hiring for Apple in the past, though it has mostly been in the Apple sections of larger stores and not in the actual Apple stores themselves.
The posting implies that Apple believes that they will have a need for more sales staff during this period, which some people have taken to mean that they have a big launch on tap for that week.
Of course, since this is all speculation and Apple is not big on giving out information about the release of products before the day of the launch only time will tell if the speculation is true or not and an August launch would be a welcome surprise for end users that have been salivating over the idea of a iPhone 5 for months.
Hawaii X News 