Why Windows 8 is Microsoft’s most vital launch in years

Microsoft Windows was a fact of life for an entire generation raised on the PC. But we live in a different world now, and perhaps nothing underscores how much that world has changed more than the fact that the version of Windows that Microsoft is getting ready to launch this year is its most important product launch in decades.

It has been 17 years since the general public was genuinely excited by a new version of Windows: people actually lined up to buy Windows 95 like it was the iPhone or something. Years of meandering followed: Windows ME was a joke, Windows XP was an updated but essentially similar experience to Windows 95, Windows Vista was an attempt to correct XP’s security issues but turned into a joke of its own, and Windows 7 was what Vista should have been yet failed to inspire. In the meantime, Apple and Google captured the attention of software developers and the public with mobile computers built around iOS and Android.

But Windows 8 is going to be different. Tomorrow morning in Barcelona (at a telecom industry conference, of all things) Microsoft is going to unveil the Consumer Preview Edition of Windows 8, and if it arrives on schedule and without incident later this year, it could accelerate the world’s transition toward a mobile-first vision of general purpose computing.

Windows 8 is a huge development for Microsoft in several ways:

• The Windows user experience has been radically overhauled with the Metro user interface, which has been a critically acclaimed (if not revenue-generating) part of the Windows Phone design. Metro will be unfamiliar to the millions raised on the concept of the “Start” button (now the Windows logo button on Windows 7) in the lower left-hand corner of the screen, but it allows Microsoft to embrace a new era of computing that is more and more about the touch screen.
• Microsoft developed a version of Windows 8 for ARM processors, a chip brand unfamiliar to most average computer users but which is at the heart of nearly every single smartphone and tablet sold over the last several years. Even though Intel seems to have finally gotten its act together in the power-sensitive mobile space, ARM is an industry standard for mobile processing and will allow PC companies like HP to build power-efficient tablets in hopes of competing with the iPad.
• Microsoft has always had a big problem: introducing radical new changes in Windows breaks a lot of business applications that were built for previous versions, which has led the company to move slowly through transitional periods. Windows 8 represents one of the biggest leaps forward for mainstream Windows developers in what seems like forever, but Microsoft had no choice but to include a “Desktop” user interface version of Windows 8 that will run old applications. The transition between Metro and Desktop could be jarring, and conservative support for Metro may not expose as many Windows 8 users as possible to the best parts of Windows 8.
• Applications written for the Metro user interface will be sold through the Windows Store, as opposed to the more traditional shrink-wrapped or downloadable software sold for Windows. Sharing revenue with Microsoft will be a new experience for the Windows development community, although it’s established practice for iOS developers and Microsoft will actually take a smaller cut than Apple once an app’s revenue passes $25,000.

The traditional PC isn’t going anywhere just yet, but just ask HP and Dell: nor is it in good shape. Wednesday could be the first day when we realize whether or not Windows 8 can be a product that allows the traditional PC industry to refocus itself around both traditional PCs in lighter forms as well as iPad competitors.

The stakes for Microsoft are enormous. The company largely subsists on two cash cows: Windows and Office, and Windows sales are under pressure with the slow decline of the PC market.

But there’s also an existential crisis at hand for Microsoft. It defined personal computing in the years after Apple lost its way in the 1980s, and now that Apple is very much back in that role Microsoft desperately wants to remind the world that it is capable of setting a new bar for personal computing.

After getting a few glimpses of Windows 8, the tech industry started wondering if Microsoft has finally come up with something unique. Come Wednesday, when enthusiasts can begin to put the software through the paces, we’ll start to get a better idea of whether Microsoft is ready for a new era.

Adobe Brings Photoshop Touch to the iPad Adobe Brings Photoshop Touch to the iPad

BARCELONA: Adobe Photoshop Express is a great, free and highly usable iOS app for quickly fixing up your digital photos, but it pales in comparison to the desktop version of Photoshop. Last year Adobe introduced a solution: Photoshop Touch, but chose to bring it to the Android Tablet market first. Now, as promised, Adobe is finally bringing that powerful image editing capability to Apple‘s iPad 2. The company will announce the new app today in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress.

Editor’s note: This story was intended to be confidential until 9 p.m. Pacific Time on Sunday night, but 9 to 5 Mac broke that embargo, so that’s why we’re publishing this story early.

For $9.99, iPad 2 owners (sorry, there’s currently no iPad 1 support) get the ability to work in layers, use “sophisticated” selection tools and “scribble” over images to remove unwanted portions. Users will also be able to touch up photos, paint over them and create new layouts. The new app is part of Adobe’s upcoming suite of iPad “Touch” Apps. “Inspired by Adobe’s Creative Suite,” the apps include:

Adobe Collage; Adobe Debut presentation software; Adobe Ideas, which will be similar to the Illustrator vector-based desktop drawing software; Adobe Kuler color theme manager; and website- prototyping and wireframe tool Adobe Proto. Adobe said these remaining apps will launch for iOS later this year and will all work with Adobe’s Creative Cloud services.

Other features in Adobe Touch for iPad include the ability to share to Facebook directly from the app, search, using Google, from within the app, apply sophisticated image effects, and even use your tablet’s built-in camera to fill in portions of your image project.

“Photoshop Touch combines the magic of Photoshop and its core features with the convenience of a tablet, bringing image-editing power to the fingertips of millions of people,” said David Wadhwani, Adobe’s Digital Media Business Unit senior vice president and general manager.

Adobe’s Photoshop Touch requires iOS 5 and will be available in the App Store on Monday, February 27. Although9 to 5 Mac reported it was available now in New Zealand and Australia, the app has since been removed from the App Store, set to become available worldwide on Monday. The 9 to 5 Mac site also reported some of its readers saying the iPad 2 version “works better than the Android version.”

Will you pay nearly $10 for this tablet-based image editing app, or are instant effects-generators and editors like Instagram and Adobe Express sufficient for your image-editing needs? Let us know in the comments.

आता बीएसएनएलचे ३ टॅब्लेट्स!

- नेटिझन्ससाठी खूशखबर.. स्वस्त टॅब्लेट्सची स्पर्धा जोरात..

नवी दिल्ली। दि. २५ (वृत्तसंस्था)

जगातील सर्वांत स्वस्त टॅब्लेट असा मान मिळविणार्‍या ‘आकाश’ या भारतीय आयपॅडच्या स्पर्धेत आता बीएसएनएलने ३ टॅब्लेट्स आणली आहेत. त्यांची किंमत ३२५0 रुपयांपासून राहणार आहे. ही टॅब्लेट्स मार्केटमध्ये दाखल होताच, या क्षेत्रातील स्पर्धा अधिक तीव्र होणार आहे. 

‘टी पॅड आयएस ७0१ आर’, ‘टी पॅड डब्ल्यूएस ७0४ सी’ आणि ‘टी पॅड डब्ल्यूएस ८0२ सी’अशी भारत संचार निगम लिमिटेड (बीएसएनएल)च्या तीन टॅब्लेट्सची नावे आहेत. ती अँड्रिड्युड २.३ ऑपरेटिंग सिस्टीमवर चालणार आहेत. यातील पहिल्या दोन टॅब्लेट्सची स्क्रीन ७ इंच तर तिसर्‍याची स्क्रीन ८ इंच आहे. त्यांची क्षमता २ जीबी ते ३२ जीबीपर्यंत आहे तसेच त्यातील एक थेट टीव्हीलाही जोडता येणार आहे, अशी माहिती बीएसएनएलच्या सूत्रांनी दिली. नोएडास्थित पॅन्टेल या कंपनीमार्फत याची निर्मिती करण्यात येणार आहे. बीएसएनएलच्या डाटा प्लॅनसोबत ती स्वस्तात उपलब्ध होतील, असेही या सूत्रांनी सांगितले. 

असे आहेत टॅब्लेट्स..

- टी पॅड आयएस ७0१ आर : १ गेगा हर्ट्झ प्रोसेसर, २५६ एमबी रॅम, वायफाय, इनबिल्ट २ जीबी मेमरी, ३२ जीबीपर्यंत वाढविता येणार. किंमत ३,२५0 रुपये

- टी पॅड डब्ल्यूएस ७0४ सी : ५१२ एमबी डीडीआर ३ रॅम, टीव्हीला जोडण्याची सुविधा, किंमत १0.९९९ रुपये

- टी पॅड डब्ल्यूएस ८0२ सी : ५१२ एमबी डीडीआर ३ रॅम, १.२ जीएचझेड प्रोसेसर, ग्लोबल पोजिशन सिस्टीम. किंमत १३,५00.

Boost Your WiFi Signal Using Only a Beer Can

Images Courtesy of The Chive

I love a good hack, especially one that requires me to throw back a cold one before hand (or during). Thissimple wifi boost has actually been shown to increase signal strength by at least 2 to 4 bars. And, well, I will drink to that.

These instructions came to us via WikiHow and we think they are most definitely worth checking out. But here is the most important question: what kind of beer will you use?

For this project you are going to need scissors, a utility knife, some adhesive putty and an empty beer can. More than one empty beer can is acceptable but don’t kid yourself, the router only needs the one.

The first step is to wash out your empty beer can, unless of course said beer is a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon. If it is PBR, promptly go drink a better beer. You really should be ashamed of yourself.

Once the can has dried, you will want to remove it’s pull tab.

Only perform this next step if you have not been drinking. Using the utility knife, saw off the bottom of the can. Chances are your can will not have a red dotted line. If you see one, put down the knife…you’ve had too much beer.

You’ll notice in the above step that the can’s pull tab has returned. Clearly, there are only two possible reasons for this. One, you are really drunk and you never removed the tab in the first place. Or–the more likely answer–beer cans can regenerate themselves.

It’s the home stretch! You just need to attach your modded beer can to the wifi router. Hopefully no other parts of the can have actually grown back. You now have beer-fi!

So, what kind of beer did you use?

Samsung Announces 10.1-Inch Galaxy Tab 2

BARCELONA: Samsung is expanding its Galaxy Tab tablet line with the brand new Galaxy Tab 2 lineup: a 7.0-inch variant and a 10.1-inch variant.

While the smaller tablet was announced a week ago, its big brother, the 10.1 is entirely new. It sports an 1280×800 resolution screen (the 7-inch model has a 1024×600 pixel screen), and the rest of the specs between the two tablets are nearly identical: a 1 GHz dual-core CPU, 1 GB of RAM, a 3-megapixel camera on the back and a VGA one on the front.

The tablets are available as 3G models (meaning HSPA) or as WiFi-only, and they’re both equipped with the latest flavor of Android – 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich.

The devices should hit the global market in March, starting with the UK, at a yet-unspecified price.

Samsung is also announcing a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. It’s a big tablet with a stylus.

Samsung Galaxy Beam Is Both a Smartphone and Projector

BARCELONA: The Mobile World Congress hasn’t even officially kicked off yet, and Samsung is already on fire, announcing devices left and right. After the 10.1-inchSamsung Galaxy Tab 2, next in line is a smartphone/mobile projector combo called Samsung Galaxy Beam.

The device’s dual-core 1 GHz CPU, 4-inch, 800×480 screen, 5-megapixel rear camera (with an additional VGA one on the front) and Android 2.3 don’t do much to differentiate it from the other mid-to-high-range Androids out there.

What makes it different from most other smartphones on the market is its ultra-bright, 15-lumen projector, which lets you project a 50-inch wide image on a wall – really handy for presentations or those moments when you want to share your holiday photos with your family and friends.

Interestingly enough, Samsung says the device has 6 GB of RAM memory, but we’re seriously doubting that, and will update the article when we learn more.

Update: apparently, what Samsung really meant was 768 MB of RAM memory, while the “6″ figure was referring to the memory speed – in gigabits. So, if you were hoping to have a smartphone that has more memory than most PCs, we have to disappoint you: the Galaxy Beam is not it.

13 ‘Pinteresting’ Facts About Pinterest Users [INFOGRAPHIC]

It’s no secret that the Internet loves Pinterest. Now, most users are even spending more time, on average, pinning than they are on hanging out on Facebook. Here’s what you need to know about Pinterest user demographics.

With an average of 1.36 million users daily, the social photo pinboard has taken the web by storm, and top online retailers are following suit. Who are these feverish pinners? According to full service agency Modea, the majority are female mothers — 28 percent have a household income of $100k+.

Using stats from comScore and a few other analyses, full service agency Modea has put a few interesting facts about Pinterest into visual form with this infographic.

Google to Test Driverless Cars on Nevada Roadways

The roads in Nevada are ready for driverless robot cars. Earlier this month, Nevada’s Legislative Commission approved testing of autonomous vehicles on the state’s roadways. The cars will be identifiable by a red license plate.

In fact, any company can test its driverless system in Nevada; Google just happened to be the first to jump on the opportunity. Google’s system can be installed on any make of vehicle. The company has been working on their driverless car system for a while and received a patent late last year.

“Self-driving cars have the potential to significantly increase driving safety,” a Google spokesperson toldMashable. “We applaud Nevada for building a thoughtful framework to enable safe, ongoing testing of the technology and to anticipate the needs and best interests of Nevada citizens who may own vehicles with self-driving capabilities one day.”

Even though the cars are driverless, they cannot be tested without two operators inside. Once the vehicles are shown to be safely operated with just one driver, the cars will receive green license plates.

Tom Jacobs, chief public information officer at the Nevada DMV, said this driverless system is “like cruise control on steroids.” Jacobs said he did a radio interview recently in which he was asked if other drivers will ever feel the need to flip-off these cars. His response: no need.

“It had no bad habits,” he said of the system.

Jacobs said he rode in one of the driverless cars. When the road is not mapped ahead, the car may give control to the driver after a female voice says, “please drive.” If the driver does not take control, the car simply pulls over. There is also a display in front of the passenger seat that shows exactly what the car is seeing outside. This feature is for testing purposes only. Jacobs said the ride was so smooth, he couldn’t tell when the driver or car was operating the vehicle besides hearing the automated female voice.

“There will never be any crashes,” Jacobs said.

In the future, it’s possible automakers will offer this system already installed in vehicles. Drivers without the system built-in may be able to have their cars retrofitted. Jacobs envisioned a world where one day you can press a button on your cell phone, have a car pull up to your house, put your dog in it and send it to the veterinarian.

Jacobs said Google is also testing its driverless cars “quasi-legally” in California, since there is no written rule specifically allowing or forbidding driverless cars. However, Jacobs clearly has a stake in ensuring Nevada is a hub of testing this budding technology.

Regarding the California testing, Google says, “We have received several opinions from outside counsels who are experts in transportation law. All indicated that the testing in California is 100% legal as the safety driver is in control of the car at all times and is responsible for the operation of the vehicle. The testing involves having two people in the car at all times.”

“Nevada is the first state to embrace what is surely the future of automobiles,” Department of Motor Vehicles Director Bruce Breslow said in a statement posted on the state’s DMV website on Feb. 15. “These regulations establish requirements companies must meet to test their vehicles on Nevada’s public roadways as well as requirements for residents to legally operate them in the future.”

There are several other states that have pending legislation that would allow driverless cars on public roadways.

How Google’s +1 Button Affects SEO

Since the days of Google Buzz, the +1 button has been a mystery to users and content producers alike. It’s different from Facebook’s “Like” button, in that it doesn’t directly share content to a user’s social stream. But the cultivation of a social graph has long been the goal of Google, and its connection to search was likely inevitable.

Google defines the +1 as a feature to help people discover and share relevant content from the people they already know and trust. Users can +1 different types of content, including Google search results, websites, and advertisements. Once users +1 a piece of content, it can be seen on the +1 tab in their Google+ profile, in Google search results, and on websites with a +1 button.

The plot thickened last month when Google launched Search plus Your World. Jack Menzel, director of product management for Google Search, explained that now Google+ users would be able to “search across information that is private and only shared to you, not just the public web.” According to Ian Lurie from the blogConversation Marketing, in Search plus Your World, search results that received a lot of +1s tend to show up higher in results.

Google has come out and described the purpose of a +1, but hasn’t necessarily explained the direct effect a +1 has on search ranking. Here’s a breakdown of what we currently know.

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Does a +1 Affect my Site’s Performance in Social Search?

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The +1 has an indirect effect on your site’s search rank. This does not mean the more +1’s a link has, the higher rank it achieves in traditional search results. Take this scenario:

When a Google+ user +1’s a piece of content, he gives it his “stamp of approval.” Then, say one of his connections from Google+ searches for the same or related topic. Because of Search plus Your World, his friend is more likely to click on the same link the original user +1’d (when a signed-in user searches, his Google results may include snippets annotated with the names of connections who have +1′d the content). This is because content recommended by friends and acquaintances is often more relevant than content from strangers, according to Google.

This is also true for users who are not signed in to their Google account when they search. When a user searches for the same phrase, the results might display the total number of +1’s a link has received, which is another validation that it’s a relevant link.

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How Does This Relate to SEO?

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Since the +1′d link has a chance at a higher Click-Through-Rate (CTR), there is a greater potential the link will be shared, whether it be on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or any social network. An experiment by Rand Fishkin, CEO and co-founder of SEOmoz, tested the relationship between Twitter and Facebook shares and search results in Google. He found a positive correlation between the number of retweets and shares a link received and its search ranking. This means, the more the link was passed around on Twitter and Facebook, the higher the search rank of the page. This in turn led to better SEO.

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What’s the Take-Away?

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A Google +1 can indirectly lead to a better page rank. A greater number of +1’s increases a link’s potential for a high CTR, which could lead to increased social sharing, and in turn can increase its Google search rank. What’s important to note here is the correlation, not causation, between +1′s, other social shares, and search rank.

The bottom line is, the SEO effects of a +1 are very indirect, which means traditional SEO practices should not be ignored. SEO methods such as link building, relevant keywords, and URL structure have a more significant impact on page ranking.

The Google +1 feature is still in its infancy of course, and more data needs to be gathered to draw a statistical correlation to search. As Google said, “For +1′s, as with any new ranking signal, we are starting carefully and learning how those signals affect search quality.”

SEO experts, such as Erin Everhart from 352 Media Group, have a positive outlook on the future of social search. She says, “I don’t think we live in a world, nor will we ever live in a world, where any social cue doesn’t have influence over SEO.”

Are you seeing the effects of Google +1 on your SEO? Will the +1 eventually have a direct effect on search rank? Share your experiences in the comments.

SAP HANA Moves into the Ecosystem

Oversight Systems is among the first SAP partners to start developing on the SAP HANA platform. Oversight CEO Patrick Taylor discusses the experience.

In a perfect world, businesses would always pay the lowest prices for goods and supplies, employees would never fudge their expense reports, and ERP systems and processes would be infallible. Unfortunately, that is not the world we live in. Employees sometimes commit internal fraud and business processes don’t always reflect the regulatory policies in place. Some people might say this is simply a cost of doing business. Oversight Systems is not one of them.

Oversight Systems provides continuous analysis (CA) software, a technology that allows companies to identify policy violations and detect fraud through real-time analysis of all transactions across any ERPor financial transaction system. Patrick Taylor, CEO of Oversight Systems, explains: “If a sales representative is offering unauthorized discounts to customers, for example, or if an employee is consistently claiming abnormally high expenses, the CA software will catch it.”

With Oversight, companies are able to monitor activities in the areas of procure-to-pay, card spend, travel and expense, accounting and reporting, HR and payroll, and order-to-cash.

Perfect partners

SAP and Oversight established a partnership several years ago to ensure that customers’ backend SAP systems integrate seamlessly with Oversight’s CA solution, which is today the only SAP Endorsed Business Solution for continuous analysis. This means that it has undergone an assurance cycle similar to SAP’s own solutions. Thanks to the partnership, SAP customers are able to complement and extend their SAP ERP and SAP BusinessObjects Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) applications with Oversight’s CA solution.

And now, Oversight Systems is among the first SAP partners to develop on SAP’s in-memory platform. Oversight is currently working to bring the benefits of SAP HANA to its CA solution. So, in the near future, customers stand to gain even more from the two companies’ ongoing collaboration, namely real real-time analytics for improved detection of fraud and policy violations.

According to Taylor, continuous analysis is ideally suited to the SAP HANA platform: “We run very complex, multi-dimensional analytics that push databases really hard. So there is a demonstrable advantage to be had from using HANA.” That’s because in the error and fraud detection business, knowing sooner – of a policy violation or fraudulent activity – is always better. And SAP HANA makes that possible.

Knowledge is power

Oversight’s CA solution used to run analytics on a daily or hourly basis, and in some cases, every few minutes. However, the more frequently analyses were conducted, the simpler they had to be. With SAP HANA, that is no longer the case. “In a broad sense, HANA lets you run faster than every few minutes and with a more complex set of analytics than you could before,” says Taylor.

This capability is best demonstrated in the area of spend monitoring, a part of the CA solution that examines every line item of every purchase order as it’s submitted for approval. The solution evaluates prior purchasing history and vendor contracts to determine if the company should negotiate a lower price or go to a particular vendor to get the best deal.

Previously, an employee would submit the purchase order and an analysis would be run after the fact. On SAP HANA, the analysis occurs as the employee inputs the data, and if the system determines that a better price is available, a notification will pop up on the employee’s monitor. The employee can act upon this information right away. “The difference with SAP HANA is that it empowers employees to make smart decisions for the business,” says Taylor. “It makes you more efficient.”

A new approach

On the one hand, SAP HANA supercharges existing analytic applications so that they’re able to analyze more data at a much faster pace. On the other hand, it provides businesses with an entirely new breed of analytics that weren’t even possible before.

This can be seen in the financial sector, which deals with particularly large volumes of data. In the past, most financial companies were only able to run pre-calculated analytics, and they had to do so overnight.SAP COPA Accelerator software, one of the first applications developed on the SAP HANA platform, introduced real-time reporting and analytics to the financial sector.

For Taylor, the changes that SAP HANA has brought to the financial sector and to continuous analysis reflect a larger shift in the way companies now approach analytics: “The whole big-data space is now saying that there are really compelling insights to be found if we start looking at specific instances and searching for the interesting anomalies. We’re going to move from measuring our world in averages, to measuring our world in discrete events.”

This is the belief that lies at the heart of SAP HANA: that more information leads to greater insight. That knowing sooner is always better.