Happy birthday to the Mac! 30 years and still going strong
Today is a day of celebration. Entering one's 30s is something of a milestone. It’s a time to look back at achievements, gather thoughts and see where the future is going to take you. 1984 was a big year. It's a year that will be permanently associated with George Orwell, the birth of my sister (happy birthday for today, by the way! Oh, and apologies for revealing your age!) and the first Mac. Three decades ago today, as my mum and dad were welcoming their daughter into the world, the technology world was welcoming the arrival of the Macintosh.
The Apple homepage has been taken over by a birthday message to the company's baby. Click through and there's a special mini-site that features a timeline of Mac evolution over the years. The intro page is both celebratory, forward-facing and a call to arms:
If Facebook is like a disease, I don't mind getting infected
Facebook has been in the news over the past few days after a report suggested that the social network is spreading in a similar way to a virus. Like all epidemics, the report suggests, the rate of infection will ultimately drop off, leading to the suggestion that by 2017 the social network will have shed 80 percent of its users. To which I -- and many others of reasonably sound mind -- cry "nonsense!" The catchily titled "Epidemiological modeling of online social network dynamics" paper published by, of all places, Princeton University puts forward the idea that Facebook users are set to abandon the social network in droves in the coming years.
Things don’t get off to a good start. In explaining the methodology, authors John Cannarella and Joshua A. Spechler say they will use "epidemiological models to explain user adoption and abandonment of OSNs [online social networks], where adoption is analogous to infection and abandonment is analogous to recovery". The abstract gets off on the wrong foot by suggesting that Facebook "is just beginning to show the onset of an abandonment phase" -- a wonderfully vapid term with no grounding in, well, anything really. It's easy to pick holes in papers that have slight flaws, but right from the start it is almost too easy here.
Microsoft Surface is a profit black hole, despite higher revenue
Yesterday, Microsoft released its earnings report for Q2 FY2014 (that is Q4 CY2013), revealing revenue of $24.52 billion and net income of $6.56 billion (78 cents per share). The Redmond, Wash.-based corporation has managed to beat the average analyst consensus of $23.68 billion and 68 cents per share respectively, as my colleague Joe Wilcox noted.
Aside from the strong overall results, there was another part of the earnings report which has caught our attention -- Surface sales. Revenue from Microsoft's Windows RT and Windows 8 tablets reached $893 million during the quarter. That is $493 million more than in the first fiscal quarter of the year. Good news, right? Surface is finally starting to take off, after all. Well, an SEC filling puts a damper on any enthusiasm, as Microsoft actually lost money on its tablets in Q2 FY2014.
Office 365 as an educational LMS? Microsoft video demos how it works
With as much time as I've spent in the education sector, as a student on one end and a high school IT specialist on the other, I know the landscape of educational learning management systems (LMS) decently well. And to be completely honest, it's a landscape rife with half-baked products delivering a fragmented me-too experience.
There's a lot to be desired from LMS environments, at least the one's I've played with in the last half decade. As a grad student at DePaul University (Chicago, IL USA) right now, I'm juggling between no less than three distinct platforms the school relies on.
Vine turns one today, happy birthday!
There are many social media networks nowadays. However, one of my favorites is Vine. If you aren't familiar, it is a video-sharing service with a twist -- the videos cannot be longer than six seconds. Not surprisingly, Vine is owned by Twitter -- another service that limits the duration of a user's communication. Both services teach us that limits breed creativity. In other words, forcing the user to make do with less creates unique solutions.
Vine takes this even further by introducing easy to use stop-motion. This allows the user to create things that appear magical, such as a person disappearing. While the video-service still feels fresh, surprisingly it is already a year old today!
Google will pay you up to $2.71828 million to hack Chromebooks
One of the most endearing things about Chrome OS is that it is very secure. Say what you want about it being nothing more than a browser. In reality, it is a Linux distribution where the user cannot install native software locally. The web-based nature of the OS makes it ideal for banking or accessing secure data. After all, without the possibility of installing software, the computer should be immune to malware.
I should watch my words because, the word "immune" simply makes the malware writers start salivating. After all, the belief that anything is 100-percent safe is the most dangerous thing of all. Not to mention, recently discovered rogue Chrome Extensions can be viewed as a form of malware. With that said, Google is challenging the world's best hackers to try and find holes in its Chromebooks. The carrot for which it dangles is a very healthy $2.71828 million!
Dell UltraSharp 32 UltraHD 4K Monitor [Review]
When standard definition TV was being replaced by HDTV, there were rumblings that it wasn't needed. After all, SDTV is "good enough". Good enough. Two words, that when combined, are extremely dangerous. For a company or industry to rest on its laurels can be disastrous. Anybody who declares something to be "good enough", is standing in the way of innovation and should probably step down if they are in a position of power. Today, it feels like almost every home in the USA has at least one HDTV. When these widescreen TVs were released, people complained that their precious I Love Lucy episodes would have black bars on the side -- god forbid. As time progressed, of course this new wide-screen high-definition format was embraced, Lucille Ball be damned.
Now, the 4K UltraHD revolution is afoot and the same rumblings of "good enough" are being regurgitated. While this new format is less dramatic than the jump from SDTV to HDTV, it makes 4K no less amazing. No, 1080p is not good enough -- we need to keep pushing the envelope. Luckily, Dell is on the forefront of these displays and delivers the amazing, yet expensive, UP3214Q. But is it worth the money?
IBM sells Intel server business, company is doomed
IBM today sold its Intel server business to Lenovo, yet another example of Big Blue eating its seed corn, effectively dooming the company for the sake of short-term earnings. It’s a good move for Lenovo and an act of desperation for IBM.
Wall Street analysts may see this as a good move but then Wall Street analysts typically aren’t that smart. They’ll characterize it as selling-off a low-margin server business (Intel-based servers) to concentrate on a higher-margin server business (Z-series and P-series big iron) but the truth is IBM has sold the future to invest in the past. Little servers are the future of big computing. IBM needs to be a major supplier and a major player in this emerging market.
Microsoft Q2 2014 by the numbers: Surface sales soar
Outgoing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer got a vote of confidence from customers today, if Surface's sales surge is any indication. In October 2012, he refocused the company on "devices and services", something reflected in the Windows 8.1 tablet and also Xbox One, which launched during fiscal second quarter 2014.
After the closing bell today, Microsoft released long-anticipated Surface sales with its quarterly earnings report. Wall Street analysts and investors also eagerly wondered about Windows 8.1, which revenues looked to be brutally beaten back by historic declines in PC shipments. Surface revenue reached $893 million, up from $400 million during fiscal first quarter. Meanwhile, Windows OEM license sales declined by 3 percent, year over year.
Who do you trust with your personal data -- and why?
Earlier today Mike Williams wrote about a cloud storage provider which is offering a whopping 1TB of space for free, plus a further gigabyte for every day you use the service. It’s a stunning offer and one that should have us all signing up immediately. But most of us are familiar with the saying, "if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is", and 1TB+ of space -- for free -- certainly fits that description.
There are reasons for alarm bells to sound. The company behind Yunio, Shanghai Kui Zhi Internet Technology Co., Ltd, is based in China, and its terms of service are currently all in Chinese, so unless you speak the language, or trust Google’s translation, you can’t immediately be sure of what it will, or won’t, do with your data. And, because you’ve likely never heard of the company, how sure can you be that your data is safe, and the firm won’t go out of business?
Obama wants to access your webcam without the NSA -- using Google+ Hangouts
When I think of road trips, I think of traveling with friends or family to far-out destinations. I usually do not associate it with sitting in my house, talking to the President of the United States over a webcam.
However, one thing is for sure, a chat with President Obama trumps a car trip to see the Grand Canyon with my family. Thanks to Google, a chat with the president may be a reality for some lucky people. You see, the search giant is making Obama available on Google+ Hangouts, for what it calls "the first-ever Presidential Hangout Road Trip".
Outleads seeks to optimize telephone marketing with improved analytics
In spite of the rise of internet advertising, telephone sales is still one of the most successful marketing techniques.
Marketing specialist Outleads is launching two new technologies to give businesses more accurate data about their telesales.
Top Gear’s The Stig takes on a Google Street View car
"All we know is, he’s called The Stig". And that is, quite literally, all we are supposed to know. The identity of the driver clad in the white racing suit is a closely guarded secret, though some leaks have taken place over the run of the popular British series.
Recently, the Top Gear test track even appeared on Google Street View, and as further proof the little Google car was really there, the show itself has posted a video shot during the mapping.
CCleaner update supports new apps, adds Pro-only scheduler tool
Piriform has updated its popular Windows cleaning tool with the release of CCleaner 4.10. Also available in portable form, version 4.10 continues the recent trend of concentrating development on the new paid-for Professional build.
Pro users now gain a new cleaning scheduler tool, allowing them to automatically run cleaning operations at set intervals. All other changes apply equally to both free and paid-for versions, however.
Chrome has a malware problem, and Google needs to fix it
Google Chrome extensions are designed to improve or modify functionality that the web browser offers. Some extensions in the official Chrome Web Store have millions of users who all rely on the functionality their add-ons provides them with.
While not as powerful as Firefox add-ons, Chrome extensions are easily powerful enough to manipulate websites that you visit, or communicate with a remote server. News about extension abuse reached the mainstream press recently.
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