Thursday, May 31, 2012

Microsoft unveils free preview version of Windows 8 OS

Published May 31, 2012

The Wall Street Journal

SkyDrive and an Internet connection give you access to practically everything on your PC. (Microsoft Corp.)

Microsoft on Thursday rolled out a near-complete version of its new operating system Windows 8 for consumers to try out, another key step in the company's effort to reboot its flagship software for a computing era dominated by mobile gadgets such as Apple's iPhone.

Microsoft in recent months has launched early test editions of Windows 8 for software developers and for consumers, but the introduction of the so-called Release Preview Thursday is a sign the Redmond, Wash., company has locked in the form and features of its software. That's a crucial step for the company and for the slew of PC makers and independent software developers in Microsoft's orbit.

'We’re thrilled to be at this milestone with the Windows 8 Release Preview.'

- Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows division at Microsoft

"We're thrilled to be at this milestone with the Windows 8 Release Preview," said Steven Sinofsky, president of Microsoft's Windows division.

Analysts say the timing of the release preview indicates the broad launch of Windows 8 should be in September or October. The release preview can be downloaded on Microsoft's site.

With Microsoft now nearly finished with its next-generation operating system, attention will turn to Microsoft's hardware partners such as Dell, Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard to prepare new PCs that show off the Microsoft software.

At next week's Computex trade show in Taiwan, many PC makers for the first time will be showing off touch-screen laptops and other new devices slated for the launch of Microsoft's new operating system.

Read more on Microsoft's new version of Windows at The Wall Street Journal.

Monday, May 28, 2012

A Facebook smartphone in 2013?

The Facebook logo, photographed in Washington, D.C. (AFP / Getty Images / May 28, 2012)

By Deborah Netburn

May 28, 2012, 11:42 a.m.

Can a Facebook smartphone solve Facebook's mobile problem?

Just one week after Facebook's less than stellar IPO comes news that the social network is beefing up its engineering staff in the hopes of releasing a Facebook smartphone by 2013.

Rumors and reports that Facebook has been working on building its own cellphone go back to 2010 when Tech Crunch reported that two high-level Facebook staffers had been tasked with developing a Facebook phone in secret.

The rumor resurfaced in 2011 when All Things D reported that the company was working with the Taiwanese cellphone maker HTC to create a cellphone, code-named "Buffy," that has the social network integrated into "the core of its being."

While Facebook refused to comment on Buffy specifically, the company did send All Things D the following statement: "We’re working across the entire mobile industry; with operators, hardware manufacturers, OS providers, and application developers to bring powerful social experiences to more people around the world.”

Not exactly a denial.

Now, it seems Facebook is dedicating more resources to its phone project. The New York Timesreports that the company has hired more than half a dozen former Apple software and hardware engineers and is actively recruiting others.

One engineer, who asked to remain anonymous, told the paper that Mark Zuckerberg had asked him about the inner workings of cellphones--wanting to know all the nitty-gritty details like what type of chips they use.

The paper also cites numerous sources as saying the company hopes to have a phone on the market by next year.

Bloggers are skeptical about Facebook's ability to build a successful smartphone--the company has little experience in building hardware. But Facebook may not have a choice.

The social networking giant's ad business is not keeping up with the shift to mobile devices, so the company needs to seek other revenue streams to please its brand new investors.

ALSO:

Facebook stock slides as investor scrutiny continues

Is Facebook going to buy Opera, make it's own browser?

Facebook warns that shift to mobile devices could harm business

Rumor: Google, Asus Prepping 7-Inch Tablet for June Release

By Angela Moscaritolo
May 25, 2012 11:18am EST
5 Comments

New Rumors have surfaced that Google and Asus are getting ready to jointly release a 7-inch tablet this summer.

Digitimes, citing sources from the "upstream supply chain," claimed on Thursday that shipments of the device will begin in June in preparation for a July launch. Google had originally planned to release its "entry-level" 7-inch tablet in May, but design and costs issues caused the project to be delayed until July for "minor adjustments," according to thenews outlet.

Initial shipments of the tablet are expected to reach around 600,000 units, with shipments for the year totaling between 2-2.5 million units, Digitimes reported. The Taiwanese site back in January first reported that Google is prepping a 7-inch tablet that will compete not with the market-dominating iPad, but ratherthe number-two Amazon Kindle Fire tablet.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from PCMag on Friday. However, executive director Eric Schmidt late last year reportedly said his company would release "a tablet of the highest quality" within six months.

A separate report today from TechnoBuffalo corroborates Digitimes' information about the timing of the launch. Citing a "trusted source," the site reported that Google will unveil the Asus-built Nexus tablet during its Google I/O conference, which begins on June 27 in San Francisco.

Google is reportedly planning to give a unit to each of the developers attending the conference. There are conflicting reports, however, as to whether the developer device will come pre-loaded with the next version of Android, dubbed Jelly Bean, according to the publication.

The rumored Google Nexus tablet will apparently include Nvidia's quad-core Tegra-3 processor, and could be priced at around $200, according to TechnoBuffalo.

As for the likelihood of this coming to pass, Time columnist Harry McCracken recently fact-checked 25 of Digitimes' tech stories. "By my count, 16 of these 25 stories turned out to be mostly or completely off-base. Five are largely or entirely correct. And four involve predictions that might yet come true," McCracken said.

Meanwhile, the 7-inch tablet market appears to be heating up. Apple is rumored to be readying a 7-inch version of the iPad for release in October for around $200 to $250.

For more from Angela, follow her on Twitter @amoscaritolo.

For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Chronic Dev Team Releases 'Absinthe' Jailbreak for iOS 5.1.1

By David Murphy
May 26, 2012 06:14pm EST
5 Comments

Ready to jailbreak your iOS device? Great! You're in luck – a brand-new update to a popular jailbreaking tool was just released yesterday and, with it, you'll be able to perform the most elegant of the jailbreaking techniques: The fabled "untethered" jailbreak.

Gibberish? Gotcha. We'll start from the beginning. The Chronic Dev Team, prolific iOS exploiters that they are, released their updated Absinthe 2.0 tool yesterday. The software couldn't make it any easier for owners of a wide list of iOS devices (detailed on the official Green Pois0n website) to jailbreak them, so long as they're running the latest 5.1.1 update for Apple's iOS.

What does jailbreaking allow you to do? First off, you can tap into third-party app stores (like Cydia) to grab apps and games that you wouldn't otherwise be able to find on Apple's App Store. Additionally, a number of these apps allow you to use your device in ways Apple wouldn't allow: For example, IntelliScreenX jacks up your Notifications Center with all kinds of crazy new options, whereas Gridlock allows you to set exactly where you want your icons to go on your home screen (no automatic alignment!)

Convinced yet? Here's one downside to jailbreaking your device: Installing new updates from Apple can be a pain in the butt, as they might very well jack up your device or revert it back to its normal, unjailbroken state. Tread carefully. Also, any problems you have with your iPhone or iPad that might be taken care of by Apple's Genius Bar could be yours to deal with exclusively – jailbreaking does void your Apple warranty, for what it's worth.

On the plus side, the Absinthe tool simplifies jailbreaking down to a (nearly) one-click process. To start, you'll want to connect your device to iTunes and back everything up – a step that's not to be overlooked, trust us. Because once you've done that, you're going to want to wipe your device back down to its factory defaults using the "Erase all Content and Settings" option found within your device's Settings menu.

After that, make sure your device is still connected to your computer via its USB cable and run Absinthe. Click on the big "Jailbreak" button. Make a sandwich… and don't disconnect your device until Absinthe is done.

Once finished, go back to your device in iTunes and restore all of the content you previously backed up. Ta-da! Your iOS device is now jailbroken, your information has been placed back onto your device, and you're free to fiddle around with the grand new (jailbroken) world you've opened up.

For more tech tidbits from David Murphy, follow him on Facebook or Twitter (@thedavidmurphy).

For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Capture of Falcon - Video

Happenings in Hawthorne Hometown

Elon Musk: Is the head of SpaceX, Tesla the real-life Tony Stark?

By TIFFANY HSU

Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES – Tony Stark, alias Iron Man, is suave, brilliant, mega-rich and dripping with beautiful women. Sounds an awful lot like Elon Musk, the South African entrepreneurial wunderkind who spent his Tuesday shooting a rocket into space and making a major advance in electric vehicles.

The 40-year-old served as an inspiration for the fictional genius billionaire in the “Iron Man” movies, according to director Jon Favreau. Musk even makes a cameo in one of the films.

But the comparisons are really getting some traction now, with the comic book character playing a pivotal role in the blockbuster “The Avengers” at the same time that Musk kicks two of his grandest ventures into high gear.

“Elon Musk is obviously Tony Stark from another universe,” said Twitter user Dromeda.

On Tuesday, Musk’s Tesla Motors Inc. said it would begin delivering its Model S high-end electric car to customers in late June, ahead of schedule.

There are more than 10,000 orders already for the battery-powered car, according to the Palo Alto-based company, which Musk co-founded in 2003.

But Musk was already occupied Tuesday, watching his Falcon 9 rocket launch with an unmanned Dragon capsule on a mission to the International Space Station. The project, developed by Musk’s Hawthorne-based SpaceX, marks the first time a private company has sent a spacecraft to the space station.

He helped cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive come up with the idea for their soon-to-be public SolarCity solar panel company, which he serves as chairman. Oh, by the way, Musk also founded PayPal, which he sold to eBay for $1.5 billion.

The parallels to American industrialist-engineer Stark – whose expertise in mathematics, chemistry, computer science, alternative energyand more helps him design a technologically advanced suit that aids in his crime-fighting efforts – have been irresistible to fans.

“Phenomenal,” said Twitter user Archit Gupta. “Elon Musk is like real-life Tony Stark. Boys, go big or go home.”

“Yeah!! He needs a Musk tower ... and somebody armor,” wrote Twitter user MorgothG.

“We need more comic book style billionaires,” tweeted Zachary Cohn of Seattle.

But lest we spend all our time fawning over Musk’s accomplishments, we should also point out that his glamorous life has had its pitfalls.

Just like his fictional quasi-counterpart, he’s been accused of narcissism and overreaching ambition.

He recently split with his actress wife, Talulah Riley. His first wife, author Justine Musk, publicly detailed her role as Musk’s “starter wife.” Their contentious divorce revealed the fact that, in 2010, Musk completely ran out of cash and had to depend on loans from friends.

Each of his companies has met with intense investor skepticism. He has said in the past that several of his companies were on the brink of failure during the recession.

For now, though, Musk is basking in glory. And if President Obama can get his own comic book, seems like Musk and his larger-than-life history deserve one too.