Meg Whitman battles to convince world that HP isn't in terminal decline
HP Discover is the company's yearly opportunity to showcase its product lineup for enterprise customers. This year's event takes on a different tone, as some people are concerned about the company's future direction and whether or not HP's best days are behind it.
HP CEO Meg Whitman took over the company last September, following mixed messages on the fate of its consumer-facing businesses and a failed mobile operating system strategy in WebOS.
Nintendo says Wii U will revolutionize the living room, we hope so
The stage is set at the Nokia theater. The large screen in the middle of the stage flickers with the logo of Nintendo before the familiar face of Shigeru Miyamoto, the father of Mario and Zelda, shows up with his pixie-like smile and innocent glee. Nintendo's opening act for today's E3 Expo press conference -- the Wii U update of the Gamecube classic Pikmin in Pikmin 3, setting the tone for the entire presentation.
This conference is about the games first, hardware accessories are a far second thought. The features of the Wii U hardware are only mentioned by Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, by saying "The Wii U will have YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Video, but you can find out more about the console later, let's do a rundown of the new GamePad and get back to what's important, the games!"
Zune -- It's really dead this time
Stop me if you heard this one before: the Zune is dead. Buried within Microsoft's slate of announcements at E3 was a change in branding, which effectively kills off the Zune altogether. A new music service is in the cards, called Xbox Music, which will be its replacement.
The Xbox branding is more appropriate considering the service will be available across Microsoft's disparate platforms -- Windows 8 computers and devices, Windows Phones, and the Xbox 360. Removing the Zune branding also gives the service a fresh start, free from the negative connotations the Zune name may have among many consumers.
Google warns you when you're under cyber attack from the state
With the recent talk of state-sanctioned malware like Stuxnet and Flame, Google on Tuesday announced it has taken measures to alert its users when it believes they are the target of state-sponsored cyber attacks.
Google Vice President of Security Engineering Eric Grosse said on Tuesday that targeted users will receive an alert like the one pictured above. This alert warns when Google's internal analytics have sniffed out patterns that look like their email is the target of phishing or malware.
iPhone market share heavily depends on carrier subsidies
First in a series. Recently, there have been some articles stating that carrier subsidies may pose a risk to Apple. But before we accept or reject this assertion at face value, it would be prudent to find out just how much of an impact they have. We can do this by delving into a statistical analysis to isolate the key drivers of the iPhone's country-wise market share. So let's dive right in.
To start off with the analysis, we need to create a shortlist of a few key drivers that could have a major impact on the iPhone's market share. If these inputs do not have much of an impact, then the analysis would show us as much, so this initial shortlist doesn't have any bearing on the actual outcome of the analysis. My shortlist:
Netflix will build content delivery network of its own
Netflix is building its own content delivery network, a sign that the company wants to be able to deliver its content on its own terms. The move signals trouble for current content delivery partners, many of which get a large portion of their revenues through contracts with Netflix.
The company is not immediately tearing up these contracts: rather Netflix will continue to use these commercial networks for the "next few years". Eventually, however, most Netflix content will be delivered through its own pipes, called the "Open Connect Network".
Google acquires Quickoffice, massively changes the mobile productivity scene
Google issued a succinct announcement on Tuesday, stating it had acquired cross-platform mobile productivity app makers Quickoffice, and that Quickoffice will soon be integrated into the Google Apps product suite.
"When we embarked on our mission to become the world leader in office productivity, we knew we were taking on a huge challenge. We worked very hard to build Quickoffice as a user friendly, seamless and yet powerful way to view, edit, sync and share documents anywhere, anytime. It's been a very humbling experience to see this vision embraced by our users," said Allen Masarek, Co-founder and CEO of Quickoffice in a statement on Tuesday. "Now, we are ushering in a new chapter with Google. By combining the magic of Google's intuitive solutions with Quickoffice's powerful products, our shared vision for anytime, anywhere productivity can only grow."
Toshiba teases two Windows RT devices, but has nothing to show
Toshiba USA on Tuesday announced a small selection of next-generation Windows machines, including a new ultrabook in the Satellite family, a convertible Windows 8 notebook designed in conjunction with Intel, and pair of mobile devices running Windows RT.
Unlike Asus, who yesterday presented mostly finished preproduction prototypes of its first Windows RT device, Toshiba did not show off much in the way of RT hardware. Instead, the company presented a loose roadmap for device availability.
The two devices Toshiba announced on Tuesday are being designed in conjunction with Texas Instruments, and will be powered by multi-core TI OMAP systems on a chip. One will be a touchscreen clamshell PC, and one will be a mobile tablet with keyboard dock similar to the Asus Tablet 600.
The SmartGlass is more than half full for Microsoft Xbox
Ahead of the E3 Expo's first full day, Microsoft unveiled "Xbox SmartGlass", which is an app not a piece of glass. The agnostic application runs on Android, iOS, Windows Phone and Windows 8 -- and its synergy with the latter matters most to Microsoft.
In a platform that I can only say out-Wii's the Wii, SmartGlass will bring a large dynamic to games and to media playback. Some of the features look similar to Apple's Airplay by allowing users to send video and audio to the TV with a flick of a finger. But there's more -- particularly the content synchronization and integration SmartGlass brings among devices.
Would US consumers choose iPad mini over Kindle Fire?
Rarely does a ChangeWave consumer buying survey offer so many intriguing topic possibilities. Interest in Kindle Fire has collapsed, only 7 percent of respondents plan to purchase a new tablet within 90 days, those buying overwhelmingly choose iPad, but interest in a smaller Apple tablet is fairly modest.
Buying intention surveys are often misleading. What people would like to do often isn't what they will when time comes to pay up. With that caveat, the survey -- 2,893 consumers last month -- bodes ill for Kindle Fire or prospective iPad mini. In November, 22 percent of respondents said they would buy Kindle Fire, but only 8 percent in May. Meanwhile a mere 3 percent of respondents would very likely buy iPad mini.
Automate short-cut combos with HotKeyMan
When you’re looking to speed up your PC’s operations then learning any available keyboard shortcuts can often help, by minimizing the time and effort required to perform common system tasks.
If you’ve already mastered the standard shortcuts, though, it may be time to consider creating your own -- and HotKeyMan is a very simple way to help you get started.
Free track listens exceed all song sales by 10 times [infographic]
Music software developer Freemake dropped an intriguing infographic in my inbox this morning, claiming most people won't pay for music next year. Heck, who does today, I ask.
My daughter has a music library with more than 7,000 songs, but she now just streams Pandora on her iPhone to connected speakers. She hasn't listened to anything from her own library for months. She pays zero. I'm a big fan of Vevo. I don't often have time to watch music videos, but I can listen to them streaming in the background.
AlternateStreamView reveals additional NTFS data
How can you find the size of a file on an NTFS drive? Sounds easy enough -- just right-click and select Properties -- but that will only provide the size of the file’s main data stream. Under NTFS, files may also have additional streams, which can be of any size (even larger than the main data stream), yet they’re not mentioned at all in the Explorer properties dialog.
While this may sound odd, it can be useful, and there are plenty of legitimate uses for alternate data streams (ADS). Create a favorite in Internet Explorer and the browser will store the site’s icon (if available) in the resulting shortcut, for instance. And IE also uses ADS to tag files as having been downloaded from the internet, which can be very valuable information in some circumstances.
Meebo merger will create ad space for Google+
Do you use Meebo? Will you switch to Google+? Think hard before you answer, because Google is buying Meebo, the companies disclosed late today. The Meebo team, and presumably technology, will move to Google+, just as the social network's year anniversary approaches. (Whoa, has it been that long already?)
I remember Meebo, which launched in 2005, for its socially-oriented messaging client, which didn't stick to my online habits. More recently the company is better known for the Meebo Bar, which adorns tens of thousands of websites. I signed up two years ago and quickly gave it up. Meebo isn't alone producing this kind of website shtick, and I can only hope Google doesn't make Plus negative by adopting any similar menu bar motif.
Shut up and take my money: The first Windows RT device for consumers
Late last year, I got pretty excited about the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Android tablet. The tablet/notebook form factor spoke to me, the specs were impressive, and the overall package looked just right for an individual looking to do more working than playing.
Asus has revisited the appealling form factor of the Transformer Prime and applied it to Windows RT, the version of Windows 8 specifically for devices running on ARM-based processors.
© 1998-2024 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.