Mark your calendar -- Xbox One arrives November 22
Summer is over, the nights are getting cooler and thoughts turn to... holiday shopping season, of course. 2013 promises to be a big one, with Windows 8.1 devices on the market and a new round of console wars ready to heat up consumers in overcrowded retail outlets around the globe.
Sony plans to launch its competitor, the PS4, on November 15, and today we learn that Microsoft will follow its rival into the market, albeit one week later, on November 22. Both consoles will be awaiting shoppers on Black Friday -- providing there is any stock left by that point.
Why I love Windows 8.1
Eighth in a series. It feels weird admitting this. Akin to declaring a fondness for Piers Morgan, or dancing in public to One Direction, almost. But I like Windows 8.1. A lot.
I was never a fan of Windows 8. In fact I'd go so far as to say I detested the Modern UI which on my uber-fast desktop system simply got in the way when I was trying to work and slowed me down or tripped me up. Every time I wanted to do something simple like launch a program it insisted on throwing me out of the desktop and into a weird tiled nightmare I couldn't wait to wake up from.
Facebook 'proposes' changes to the way it handles your data
Just a couple of days ago Facebook was in the headlines after being ordered to pay out $20m for putting user data to work in advertising campaigns. Now the site is proposing a set of changes to the documents that govern the way user data is handled as well as determining who has access to it.
At least some of the suggested changes come as a direct result of the court ruling including re-writing the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. The new document includes a clearer explanation of the fact that in using Facebook users are granting permission for their name, profile picture and content to be used "in connection with ads or commercial content". It is good to see, however, that "when you limit your audience, we’ll respect that choice".
Microsoft, if you want apps for Windows 8.1, don’t piss off developers
Microsoft needs better Windows 8 apps, and in greater numbers, but, at times, it seems at a loss on how to get them. The company has introduced various initiatives, but then for reasons that are hard to fathom, does its best to hamper developers.
In a blog post yesterday, following the announcement of Windows 8.1 hitting the RTM milestone, the Windows Apps Team put out a call to developers to get their apps ready for the Windows 8.1 launch. It went down like a lead balloon with app makers asking exactly how they're supposed to do this without early access to Windows 8.1 RTM.
Tech festival -- a long weekend in the mud shows battery life needs to improve
For me, virtually any trip out of the house means loading up on various pieces of tech. I, obviously, cannot leave the house without my phone -- my trusty HTC Sensation has been with me for two years -- but there are usually other things to consider as well. While my phone is great for picking up my emails on the move and staying in touch with people via IM, Facebook etc, it’s far from ideal for doing any work.
Depending on where I’m going, and how strong I’m feeling, there are various other pieces of kit I can take with me to make things easier. My Sony Tablet S is easier to type on than my phone, thanks mainly to its larger screen, but it’s not something I like to use for extended periods of time. I could take my laptop with me, or the MacBook Pro, which are great to work on, but rather weighty to hump from place to place.
Microsoft, Ballmer, and the end of the PC era
So Steve Ballmer is leaving Microsoft a year from now: what kind of schedule is that? It’s one thing, I suppose, for a company to point out that it has a retirement policy or a succession plan, or even to just give the universe of potential Microsoft CEOs a heads-up that the job is coming open, but I don’t think that’s what this is about at all. It’s about the stock.
Like in baseball, when all else fails to get the team out of a slump, fire the manager. And sure enough, Microsoft shares are up eight percent as I write. Ballmer himself is $1 billion richer than he was yesterday. I wonder if he had cleaned out his desk this afternoon whether it would have been $2 billion?
If Microsoft is diseased, will cutting out Steve Ballmer like a cancer save the patient?
Emergency surgery is the appropriate analogy for the firing of the iconic CEO. Yes firing. Microsoft announced Steve Ballmer's departure today, quite unexpectedly, and in his own words "within the next 12 months, after a successor is chosen". Meaning: Soon as there is a replacement, he is gone. Vamoose. Adios. We'll send Christmas cards. Not!
Unless Ballmer is in ill-health, or something bad happened to someone he loves, he wouldn't just walk away whistling to the wind. The man is too passionate about Microsoft. There is but one interpretation: The board of directors gave Ballmer his pink slip.
Sony announces PS4 release date
At a press conference at Gamescon, Sony revealed the information that hundreds of thousands of gamers have been waiting to hear -- the official launch date of the PlayStation 4.
And there’s not all that long to wait. In just over three months, on November 15 to be precise, the eagerly anticipated console will be made available in the US and Canada.
Businesses must focus on optimizing IT costs Gartner warns
After years of cost cutting through the recession, businesses now have the challenge of continuously optimizing their IT costs. According to a survey of over 2,000 chief information officers worldwide, 65 percent see the main barrier to optimization as the mindset needed for all resources to work towards the same goal.
"Organizations don't often achieve the desired results from their optimization initiatives, and costs end up returning into the business," says Sanil Solanki, research director at Gartner. "CIOs should consider incorporating five key principles into their organization's cost optimization practices to form a basis for continual optimization. These principles are geared toward avoiding the danger of tactical cost initiatives, which may seem to generate savings in the short term, but can mean costs returning into the business in the long term".
Ashton Kutcher's Steve Jobs somehow misses the whole point
While Mary Alyce and the boys were in Theater 7 this weekend watching Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters ("Needs more monsters," says Fallon, age 7) I was in Theater 2 watching Jobs, the Ashton Kutcher film about Steve Jobs ("Has enough monsters," says Bob, age 60).
I know the Jobs story fairly well having, well, lived some of it, but people have been asking me about the film so I thought I should check it out. Critics have not been kind and Steve Wozniak said he wouldn't recommend it. I can see why.
More Windows Phone handsets get a coat of Fresh Paint
Microsoft may be continuing to celebrate with a "we're number three" chant, but the company also isn't resting on this minor victory over Blackberry. Instead it wishes to spread further and wider, and create its own apps when others fail to come through -- especially Google, which has been a major thorn in the side.
Fresh Paint, an art app that was only released last month, has a new update that is designed to support even more devices -- "Fresh Paint, Microsoft’s popular free art app first released on the phone last month, has just been updated to support Windows Phone 8 models with 512MB of RAM", says the company's Michael Stroh.
Google once again blocks YouTube app for Windows Phone
When I first got my Nokia Lumia 928, the YouTube app was already unavailable at the request of Google, so I never got a chance to try it. However, the Windows Phone community was quick to tell me how great it was. Sadly, it was replaced with a different "app" that only served as a shortcut to the mobile YouTube site.
Yesterday, the full version of the app returned to the Windows Phone Store so I excitedly downloaded it. However, the app never worked for me. Coincidentally, this was during the Outlook.com outage so I assumed it might be related. Today, I learn that they were not related -- Google has actually disabled the video sharing app!
Google+ rolls out new enterprise-friendly features
Google has announced new features in its Google+ app for Android aimed at making its social network a valuable workplace tool. On the company's enterprise blog, Joël Kalmanowicz, Product Manager, Google Apps Team says, "If you're a Google Apps for Business, Government or Education customer, today we're releasing a few new features designed to make it even easier for you to get things done with Google+".
The app now supports multiple accounts allowing you to sign in to both work and private profiles and easily switch between them. You can also create restricted posts that can't be shared outside your organization. There are new domain labels too, both in the app and on the web, allowing you to quickly identify your colleagues' profiles so you know that you're connecting and sharing with the right people.
Google Street View lets would-be companions step inside Doctor Who's TARDIS
Like many British people, I grew up with Doctor Who. Looking back, some of the episodes of my youth that had me hiding behind the settee in fear were laughable rather than scary, but back then we didn’t know any better. Doctor Who these days though is a much more polished affair, with better effects, more convincing aliens and improved storytelling.
If you’re a fan of the Doctor and have always dreamed of going on adventures in his TARDIS but have never been lucky enough to have the iconic blue police box materialise in front of you, now is your chance thanks to Google and a hidden Street View Easter egg.
Elon Musk unveils Hyperloop
Tony Stark is at it again. Oh wait, I mean Elon Musk, the man behind both Space X and electric sports car maker Tesla...oh, and co-founder of PayPal as well. The man needs a hobby. Fortunately he seems to have found one -- if you consider developing supersonic transit a hobby.
Today Musk unveils his initial plans for Hyperloop -- a brand new mode of transport which the entrepreneur describes as a "fifth mode after planes, trains, cars and boats". The project is a long way from being built, or even completely planned out, but it is fully underway in the initial stages.
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