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BetaNews.Com (11 non lus)

Yahoo: After years of struggling, IPTV is becoming a reality

Publié: janvier 8, 2010, 11:03pm CET par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

For five years, Yahoo has been eying the TV screen as a potential platform. Now, after securing partnerships with all of the top TV makers and IP-based content providers, Yahoo has made its Widget Developer Kit publicly available.
The app store gold rush can now be extended to the TV, and fully IP-based television doesn't look that far away.
Anyone can download Yahoo's Widget development kit and make tools for their connected TVs that fetch content from the Internet, and these devices can simply be made to enhance your own television experience, shared with friends, or marketed to the world at large through Yahoo's Widget Gallery.
With the Widget Gallery functionality built into 2010-model TVs from Samsung, LG, Vizio, and HiSense, users will find a whole library of Internet content already in front of them. With widgets from Netflix, Blockbuster, Showtime, Pandora, Amazon On Demand, Roxio CinemaNow, Vudu, CBS, CNBC, NBC.com, and Sky News, an appealing degree of customization will be right at the consumers' fingertips.
A TV fully stocked with Yahoo-powered widgets has so much on-demand content available, it's starting to rival anything the cable or satellite company could offer.
"Personally, I've been working in interactive television services for over twenty years now, and this is it, it's happening!" Yahoo Connected TV's senior director and chief architect Ronald Jacoby told Betanews this morning.
Thanks to the widespread familiarity of app stores, Yahoo finally stands before a public that understands the value of software customization on our most commonly used devices.
"CBS, NBC, and such are on the platform, they're not doing a lot of video today because they're still trying to figure out what all of this means in their head," Jacoby said. "But the video we're using is MPEG4, it's not like we're inventing something new in terms of video format that requires a new codec or anything like that. We're just using h.264 which is the direction all this streaming stuff is going."
It's still a few years away, but It looks the age of fully IP-based TV will be ushered in with the help of Widgets.
The Yahoo Connected TV Widget Developer kit is available now on connectedtv.yahoo.com.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
The hurdles facing Intel's 'AppUp' app store for Moblin and Windows netbooks

Publié: janvier 8, 2010, 10:31pm CET par Sharon Fisher
By Sharon Fisher, Betanews

The phrase, "There's an app for that," has helped the Apple iPhone become one of the most popular smart phones in the world by making it easier for consumers to download applications, widgets, and gadgets. "The number of apps users can download, free or for a fee, has become a major selling point for mobile devices," said The Wall Street Journal. "Companies that lack an app marketplace, such as Palm Inc., have suffered for it."
"The opening of Apple Inc.'s App Store in 2007 was the catalyst that had the greatest effect on smartphone sales," said Money Morning. "Instead of just a phone with a few widgets like a Web browser and a music player, phones became remote controls, compasses, newspapers and cookbooks."
Apple now has more than 100,000 apps, and some developers have made up to $1 million per month selling apps in the App Store. Not surprisingly, the Apple App Store has been followed by a number of imitators, including Samsung, Google, and Research In Motion. Users on the average download from 35 to 40 apps each, for totals of up to 40 million in five months for Android, which has an estimated 20,000 apps.
And, as Apple announced this week, it has hit 3 billion downloads for the iPhone, in less than 18 months -- which is doubled since mid-July, when it hit the 1.5 billion mark.
Intel demonstrated a Dell Moblin-based netbook on an Atom platform running its own themed version of the AppUp app store, during CEO Paul Otellini's keynote speech to CES Thursday night.
Consequently, it's not surprising that Intel has announced an app store for its Atom-powered netbooks made by Acer, Dell, and others, after announcing its intention to do so in September. The first program for netbooks, it follows other similar programs by specifying a 70/30 revenue split with developers.
The every-seven-days dilemma
However, there's a number of questions that remain:
- How likely are developers to work on yet another set of platforms? Intel said "thousands" of developers have downloaded its starter kit, and more than 350 apps have been submitted for validation or review. But 350 is a long way from 100,000. "Its success really depends on the quality of the apps," agreed Jay Chou, a research analyst for IDC. But there's a big market: almost 33 million netbooks were sold last year, with 38 million expected for this year, he said. Intel is also making it easier for developers, such as by waiving the $99 annual fee, he said.
- How complicated will it be for Intel, its OEMs, and consumers to manage multiple platforms -- at first just Windows and Moblin, but later other operating systems, including browser-based OSes, as Intel has promised for the future? Hard to say, but at least at first it's unlikely to be a problem because the vast majority of netbooks -- more than 90% -- are running Windows, Chou said.
- How complicated is it going to be for developers to get their apps into the Intel store? Apple has come under significant industry criticism, and even an investigation by the US Federal Communications Commission regarding its stringent review process for the App Store. Developers have quit in frustration. On the other hand, without such review, apps that are offensive can slip out there. How will Intel balance this?
- And finally, how will users react to the requirement that they log in every seven days in order for their applications to continue working? If you had the idea in your head of taking your Intel netbook to Maine for three weeks while you went camping, you're going to have to scout out a Starbucks every week, or zap! "Purchased applications must run with an active internet connection every 7 days to allow off-line operation," noted Intel in its FAQ. "I don't know why they would do that," Chou said. "I suppose they want you to connect every week in order to use it offline in case there are updates."
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Three post-CES goals for Microsoft

Publié: janvier 8, 2010, 9:24pm CET par Joe Wilcox
By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

This weekend, following the Consumer Electronics Show 2010, is when Microsoft executives should reassess the company's New Year's resolutions and reevaluate marketing and product development strategies. CES hasn't been particularly great for Microsoft, although it wasn't terrible either. Windows 7 Mobile was, once again, largely a no show. CEO Steve Ballmer's keynote failed to dazzle with exciting new products. Still, Bill Buxton, Principal Researcher for Microsoft Research, offered real vision discussing natural user interfaces. NUI is a great marketing concept, too.
I suggest three goals Microsoft should set for the next six months, until the end of fiscal 2010 on June 30 (I originally planned five but decided the post would be too long). They are presented in no order of importance.
1. Set shorter marketing and product development goals. Microsoft isn't keeping pace with Internet time. Meanwhile, Google sets a rapid pace -- in little more than a year going from nowhere to somewhere with Android (21 percent of U.S. consumers plan to buy an Android phone within three months, according to ChangeWave) and Chrome (three Windows versions released in about a year and v4 in beta). Both products launched in autumn 2008.
A longstanding Microsoft strength is executing on long-term plans, whereas many public company competitors set quarterly goals that change too often. The Microsoft that released three versions of Internet Explorer in about 18 months during the late 1990s executed tactically while keeping long-term plans in place.
What Microsoft really needs to gain from short-term goals is increasing mindshare -- that the company truly is innovating. Innovation sells, imitation smells. The company should seek to field from its various "labs" or Microsoft Research one truly aspirational product each quarter. Work-in-progress is OK, as long it generates chatter. Nokia Labs is a good model to follow. However, any buzz that stops at Channel 9 is a failure. Microsoft must reach more mainstream users.
But mindshare gains are only a starting point. Microsoft has to keep pace, or partners will leave it behind. Ballmer showed off the HP Slate prototype during his Wednesday keynote, but, whoops, there will be an Android model, too. Yesterday, long-time Microsoft partner Intel made a strong pitch for smaller, faster devices -- and not necessarily running Windows. Today, Scott Fulton writes: "If you're a 2.0 GHz quad-core notebook PC running Windows 7, the place you do not want to be showing yourself right now is the Consumer Electronics Show."
Two Decembers ago, I publicly encouraged Microsoft to launch an applications store, something I had privately encouraged the company to do years earlier when working as a JupiterResearch analyst. Intel isn't waiting around for Microsoft, and its new app store is case in point. Microsoft must pick up the pace, or partners will leave it behind.
2. Keep asserting that Google can do evil. Yesterday, Bloomberg reported Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices division, as saying it would be "very, very difficult" for Google to sell a phone that competes with partners. "Over time you have to decide whether your approach is with the partners or more like an Apple approach that is more about Apple. Google's is an interesting step. We'll see how people react."
Bach raises a very good point, at least from a creating FUD -- fear, uncertainty and doubt -- perspective. Android has enough momentum that Nexus One probably won't turn off too many hardware manufacturers. But the FUD is great countermarketing, particularly with Android stealing partners and customers from Windows Mobile/Phone, which is stuck in the mud. Anything bad about Google's phone strategy is good for Microsoft while it struggles to get Windows Mobile/Phone back on the road.
The FUD isn't without merit. Two days ago, I went looking for a phone case at the local T-Mobile store. The sales associate recognized the Nexus One right away. I asked if T-Mobile would be selling the Nexus One. No. Nor will T-Mobile be able to support the device, even though it runs on the carrier's network. The sales associate seemed concerned about customer service, which Google will provide.
Google competition with partners is inevitable, as the company grows -- as it was for Microsoft in the 1980s and 1990s. For today's Register, in post "Google to mobile industry: 'F*ck you very much!' -- Winners and losers from the great Nexus shafting" Andrew Orlowski writes:
If networks are surprised that Google can turn around and shaft them ??"- then they can't have been paying close attention to company strategy in recent times...The evidence was already abundant that Google envisaged a value chain without operators or ISPs. In Google's vision of the future, there are no $80bn-a-year turnover giants like Vodafone. Instead, masts are merely a dumb transmission network, most likely operated by a monopoly incumbent (such as Arquiva for UK TV and radio), which must be regulated (out of necessity) by an equally dumb transmission network regulator.
I've been beating this partner competition drum for some time. In September 2008 post "Google Eats Its Young," I asked: "Who says Google can't do evil? Chrome is it." Suddenly, the company would compete with developers like Apple and Mozilla, which default search had benefitted Google so much. In November 2009, I asked: "How would you write Google's '10 Things' -- with "You can make money without doing evil" perhaps being most well known.
No company partners like Microsoft. Timing is right for Microsoft to remind everyone how well it partners and how much Google increasingly competes with its partner.
3. Hold smaller, more-intimate product events. Other than perhaps Lady Gaga's appointment as Polaroid creative director, this week's most interesting news came outside CES. For starters, there are the persistent rumors about Apple's rumored tablet, which may or may not be announced during a January 27 event. Today, The Loop's Jim Dalrymple predicts there will not one but two Apple tablets. Speculation about the rumored product stole much buzz from CES announcements.
Then there was Google, which preempted CES with launch of the Nexus One handset -- the so-called Superphone. But Google didn't stop the CES buzz killing there. Yesterday's "Near me now" announcement supercharges local search. The feature makes Google's U.S. mobile search page location aware on smartphones running Android 2.0.1 or later or iPhone OS 3.x. Google's John Eric Hoffman and Jussi Myllymaki explain in a blog post:
For example, you may want to know what other customers think about a restaurant before you go inside...or what they have been raving about on the menu before you order. By selecting the 'Explore right here' option, you can find out more about a place 'right here' with just a few clicks... Imagine that you emerge from the subway station and you want to grab a coffee, but you don't see a coffee shop around you. You can simply search for all nearby coffee shops by using 'Near me now.'
Microsoft should learn from Apple and Google about maximizing buzz without investing in big events. Sure, Microsoft makes ongoing product announcements outside of tradeshows, but most of the events it participates in or holds are big. Microsoft should hold more intimate events for bloggers, customers, enthusiasts, news media or partners. I'm not talking about the ongoing marketing and sales roadshows Microsoft already does, but invitation-only gatherings. They will generate buzz, particularly if the target audience doesn't officially include bloggers or journalists (but they can get in with a little prodding).
Intimacy is hugely important to any relationship. It's easy for anyone with a keyboard to write bad things about an amorphous, distant corporation. It's something else when those same people meet and interact with real executives and product managers. Personal contact changes everything. Walmart is a good example. Those greeters at the door aren't just there to be friendly. Walmart has learned that people who identify the store with a real person, the greeter, are less likely to steal.
Before some commenter balks that Microsoft does hold some intimate blogger meetings, I'll acknowledge knowing that. Microsoft should hold more intimate gatherings of at least two kinds:
- What Apple does for some new product announcements -- there the goal being to generate buzz and even excitement.
- Invitation-only events with evangelism through more intimate relationship with executives or products being the primary objective.
Microsoft's January 2009 Retail Experience Center launch or annual look inside its Research labs are examples of good smaller events. But they would be better shrouded in more mystery. The quest for pageviews has every tech blog or news site reporting on every conceivable rumor. Let them chatter by saying less.
Microsoft should make being more mysterious and more intimate among its top marketing goals for the decade.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
CES 2010 The Story So Far: 'I'm a PC' is in jeopardy

Publié: janvier 8, 2010, 7:08pm CET par Scott M. Fulton, III

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

If you're a 2.0 GHz quad-core notebook PC running Windows 7, the place you do not want to be showing yourself right now is the Consumer Electronics Show. Like any other year, CES is about platform evolution, sometimes revolution. Where the most concepts evolve is where the action revolves, and this year it's around the growing confidence that manufacturers have finally found a small form factor they can invest in and make money on. Netbooks, throughout their brief history, have been cheap, rubber-stamp PCs. That won't be the case for very long, as both Intel and Qualcomm now have argued strong cases in favor of multicore connectivity devices with limited, though functional, computing power for the consumer. There will be strong competition in this field, with Intel's Atom head-to-head in the consumer space against Qualcomm's Snapdragon, and with OEMs everywhere testing both brands and favoring neither over the other at this early stage.
What makes these platforms lucrative is that OEMs can keep their handle on them after the devices are sold. This will especially be the case for netbooks running Google's Android and Intel's Moblin flavors of Linux. During his evening keynote yesterday, Intel's Paul Otellini demonstrated the developmental state of Moblin by way of its app store, which Intel is calling "AppUp." OEMs will be able to put their own flavor on these stores, however; so Dell, for instance, will have a different storefront from HP, even though many of the same apps will be available both places.
Dell's flavor of AppUp storefront, part of Intel's beta program for Moblin apps shown during the Thursday evening Intel keynote.
Intel's "fusion" (shamelessly borrowing the metaphor from AMD) of its integrated graphics chip onto the same die as its CPU, for consumer-grade Core i3, i5, and i7 models, is that company's effort to further cement its consumer processors into a cohesive platform. But by driving costs down, and thereby prices, Intel kicks value-priced PCs more into the netbook space, effectively making an i3-powered system a "premium" or "best" alternative to an OEM's Atom-based "midrange" or "better" version. That means Core may play with Atom in the Moblin space as well.
Despite the fact that Windows XP is the most installed operating system on netbooks today, with Windows 7 catching up fast, this week's news from CES is very, very bad for Microsoft. During the heady days of the 1990s and early 2000s, when it appeared Windows could be leveraged onto every device with a CPU as far as the eye could see, Microsoft relied on its relationships with Intel and AMD to cement itself as the operating system provider for the x86 platform. But that's when there was something called "the x86 platform," and that's not the situation today.
Yesterday, Intel presented its vision of the x86 platform in the consumer space, and it was not running Windows. The AppUp app store is not for Windows; and for the devices you use to play movies in your car, get directions to the meeting place, find the best prices for shoes, and set the thermostat for your house, Intel wants customers to go through AppUp. There is no equivalent for Windows, not yet; and even if Microsoft comes up with a similar environment for Windows Mobile 7 next month, it won't (immediately) extend to Windows 7 for PCs.
The best that Ballmer could come up with: a ten-second peek at an HTC phone that already exists, the HD2 running Windows Mobile 6.5.
Perhaps more importantly than all that: "Apps" as a term is taking on a definition that is separate from "applications." On new, smaller, more flexible, and more portable platforms, an app is representative of an everyday life transaction: finding that pair of shoes, getting a stock quote, checking out the fishing at area lakes. Yes, the Apple iPhone started that trend, but the number of followers is increasing rapidly. Windows does not appear to be among them; it's still the platform of "applications," of Word and Excel, of getting business done. And it may still be that platform for many years to come, but that's a whole lot of no fun. It keeps Microsoft bottled up in the realm of enterprise licensing and servers, which is still profitable but not enough for a company that has invested as much as it has in recent years on developing a consumer-oriented brand.
Ironically, it was Microsoft's Ray Ozzie who pronounced last November at PDC that platforms will come to be defined in consumers' minds more by apps than by operating system brands (a statement that was widely misquoted elsewhere), and that consumers will choose an OS based on what apps it runs. Without a viable retail model for making everyday apps visible, as opposed to conventional applications, Microsoft is exposing a widening cavity in its product portfolio -- a vacancy that includes Windows Mobile 7, but which now extends into its core competencies.
Which makes the absence of WM7 news at CES this year an indicator of a much broader problem for that company, but also a serious shift in the axis around which all technology revolves. The last time I remember Microsoft being so widely discussed as an also-ran needing to catch up to Apple's lead, we were running VisiCalc on an Apple II. Maybe most importantly of all, however, with consumers likely to enjoy huge benefits in the coming months, perhaps the only folks who see this as a problem will work for Microsoft.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Qualcomm's multicore Snapdragon will battle Intel's Atom using AMD's factory

Publié: janvier 8, 2010, 6:11pm CET par Scott M. Fulton, III

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

It may be the biggest partnership win outside of AMD that Global Foundries -- the new company managing AMD's former fabrication facilities -- may ever have, or need to have, and it will be the talk of CES in just a few hours: Qualcomm has signed an agreement to be Global Foundries next big customer, with plans to produce smartphone and smartbook components at Fab 1 in Dresden, Germany this year.
Fab 1 is AMD's former Fab 36 -- the main production facility for AMD's 45 nm quad-core CPUs, which Global Foundries produces for AMD today. It's one of the crown jewel facilities for fabricating multicore chips anywhere in the world, now being fitted for the high-k-plus-metal-gate process developed with IBM. With Global Foundries producing Snapdragon chips for Qualcomm -- as its CEO, Dr. Paul Jacobs, will likely make official during a CES keynote later this afternoon -- Qualcomm may not just go toe-to-toe against Intel's Atom both qualitatively and quantitatively, but may even have a leg up.
Snapdragon is the chip platform behind Google's and HTC's Nexus One phone, announced Tuesday; and Acer's A1 Liquid, which runs Android 1.6 "Donut" today, but which many see as capable of Android 2.1 "Eclair" before very long. Today, it's a single-core 1 GHz processor produced by ARM, the leading producer of embedded processors and the champion of the "smartbook" concept.
In an interview yesterday at CES with UK-based tech site Hexus.net, Qualcomm Senior Vice President Luis Pineda said a 1.3 GHz 45 nm version of Snapdragon would be available in products by the end of this year, and that a dual-core 1.5 GHz edition would be in production by the end of the year. But Pineda did not reveal the obvious detail: With whom does Qualcomm produce a dual-core processor at that speed? Now we know.
Today's news could very well make Snapdragon the big story of CES. Already, in the wake of Microsoft's failure to unveil any details on Windows Mobile 7, one of the highlights from that keynote -- the HP "slate" PC -- has only managed to fuel the fire for a story that isn't good at all for either Microsoft or Intel: HP is showing off a multitouch Snapdragon-based tablet with a similar design to the "Slate," probably for a cheaper price point and a carrier subsidy. It's running Android now, and PC Perspective has the first video.
Such a product might end up being seen as "cooler," at the very least, than a high-end tablet PC running Windows 7 selling well into the $1,500 price points. But a premium version of an Android-based, always-on mini-slate, just small enough to fit into attachés or purses, running with a dual-core processor made in AMD's old factory, could be huge.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
CES 2010: The 'chicken or egg' question of mobile user interfaces

Publié: janvier 8, 2010, 3:49pm CET par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

With the growing popularity of Android, we're seeing a rapid increase in the emphasis that major mobile device makers put on their own branded user interfaces. Two years ago, Samsung showed the big effect a really polished UI can have with the introduction of its TouchWiz UI on Windows Mobile 6.1. Last year, companies such as LG, HTC, Sony Ericsson, and Samsung all unveiled new UIs that appeared on dozens of new devices.
Now, in the first weeks of calendar 2010, LG's S-Class UI can be found on most of its major smartphones. LG's S-Class UI appears on a majority of its smartphones, HTC is developing its Sense atop three mobile platforms, Sony Ericsson continues to make waves with "Rachael," and Motorola has introduced its second MotoBLUR device in what is expected to be a long line of them.
I asked Motorola the "chicken or egg" question of user interfaces yesterday: Do you design the hardware first, and then optimize the UI to fit into it, or do you design the UI first, and then optimize the hardware to appropriately utilize the UI?
"We're very much taking it project-by-project. Different phones have different briefs for them. So, as you're aware, the Droid doesn't have MotoBLUR. We thought about the hardware, we had discussions with our carrier partners, with Google, we thought about the individual market needs. So we developed Droid and Milestone without MotoBlur. But then, working on the Cliq product, we felt we needed something special over and above the regular Android, so we developed MotoBlur on that."
So how will the UI experience differ between the MotoBLUR experience on Cliq from something like the Backflip, or one of the many other products the company expects to release this year?
"All of the BLUR experiences in the two products are the same, it's an identical release. Really, it's the design of the phone that's uniquely different this time around. With something like the back trackpad, this would have been something that required a whole team of software engineers trying to then exploit that, now we're going to release the APIs, and say to the developers, 'Have at it, guys!' When developers get a hold of the Backtrack, we'll see it in games and it's going to be really cool."
According to this, it's pretty clear that MotoBLUR is an "egg." The Cliq hardware came first, and then MotoBLUR came in to make it shine, and then the same experience was ported over to the Backflip, and when the APIs for its unique features are released, the user experience will be tailored to fit it. Hardware first, user experience second.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
CES 2010: Femtocell gadgets on their way to wireless households

Publié: janvier 8, 2010, 3:39am CET par Jacqueline Emigh

By Jacqueline Emigh, Betanews

Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile USA have all announced femtocell services, and so have Vodafone in the UK and China Telecom, according to a panel of experts in the femtocell space.
In fact, although femtos aren't yet seeing widespread use in the US, by January of last year, Sprint had already introduced a home femto device called the Airave, while Verizon had unveiled the Network Extender and AT&T had rolled out the 3G Microcell.
At this year's CES show, femto advocates are making a big push around quicker adoption of the home cellular technology.
Essentially, femtocell gizmos are designed to act as miniature cell phone towers when they're hooked up to home broadband networks. When you and your cell phone enter your femto-enabled home, calls will be "seamlessly transferred" from femto-supporting carrier networks to your personal mini cell phone tower, said Tom Hussey, business development manager for the Americas at Ubiquisys, speaking at the CES 2010 press event.
But why would a consumer want a femotcell, anyway? The first slate of services from carriers are aimed at improving the quality of cell phone calling, the panelists said.
"It is unrealistic to say that [right now] cellular networks are beautiful, and that everyone is getting great coverage," acknowledged Rupert Barnes, VP of marketing for picoChip.
While calls made and received from inside buildings will show the greatest benefits, the quality of outdoor cellular calls should improve, too, since femtocells will "offload some of the burden" from mobile carriers' networks, according to Dr. Andy Tiller, VP of marketing at IP Access.
In a future set of femto services, mobile providers will probably start adding bells and whistles such as single-number calling for your cellular and landline phones, automatic synchronization of podcasts with cell phones, and ads and promo offers aimed at people living in specific geographic areas.
Who will pay for femtocells, and how much? Revenue models are still emerging. But Vodafone already offers its UK customers two options. For instance, if you live in the UK, you can pay Vodafone £160 to purchase your very own femtocell gadget. Alternately, you can ink an 18-month contract with Vodafone, and you'll get a free femto device, along with a free, carrier-subsidized (and femtocell-compatible) cell phone, Baines said.
For femto compatibility, you'll need a GSM phone no matter where you live. In the wide expanse of turf that constitutes the US, femto-compatible phones will also be enabled with GPS, to let your cellular network know the location of your house.
You'll be able to take your femto with you when you travel. But it probably won't work if you rove outside of the state where you reside, said David I. Swift, senior manager for product marketing at Alcatel-Lucent, one of the manufacturers of home femtocell devices.
Carriers are tending to offer "pretty high-end phones from companies like HTC and Nokia" as part of their femto packages, according to Swift. One mobile carrier is planning to provide a subsidized iPhone, he added.
Prof. Simon Saunders, chairman of the Femtoforum, predicted that pricing on femtocell gadgets will drop to the tune of around 30% per year, much like pricing on Wi-Fi routers before them.
But David Nowicki, VP of marketing and product management for Airvana, said that mobile carriers might start instituting plans that charge extra fees for value-added services, or for smartphone users who make a lot of use of data services.
Panelists also foresaw the day when "femto" will get integrated into Wi-Fi routers, so you won't even need to own a separate femto box.
Mobile carriers will also offer bigger femtos to hotels and other businesses, Swift contended. Hotels might offer greater 3G and 2G reception to guests as a perq, much as hotels now use Wi-Fi services in hopes of gaining a competitive edge.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Windows Mobile 7 damage report: Mixed assessments on the CES no-show

Publié: janvier 8, 2010, 2:59am CET par Sharon Fisher

By Sharon Fisher, Betanews

So what did you think of the Windows Mobile 7 sneak preview that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer slipped into his CES keynote last night?
Oh. That's right. There wasn't one.
In fact, in front of the biggest batch of consumer electronics geeks known to man, Ballmer barely mentioned Windows Mobile at all, other than to say that Microsoft would have a lot more to say next month at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. (Previously, Microsoft had said Windows Mobile 7 was likely to be announced during the MIX conference in mid-March.
"It was never expected at this time," said Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney (though Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, had said Microsoft might reveal details at CES). "With devices not expected until the end of 2010, it wouldn't have been good for them to announce now." Furthermore, they wouldn't have wanted to time their resurgence when there is so much competition from other announcements, he said.
The problem with waiting until March is that, unless the software is available immediately (and, if so, why not do a teaser at CES?), it may be fall before Windows Mobile 7 is actually in users' hands.
The question is whether Windows Mobile can stand the wait. A number of industry studies and surveys have shown that Windows Mobile 7 is steadily losing market share. Gartner said Microsoft's Windows Mobile fell from an 11 percent share in Q3 2008 to a dismal 7.9 percent share a year later. Canalys said in November that Windows Mobile continued to lose market share, holding 8.8 percent in the third quarter. In December, ComScore revealed numbers showing Microsoft Mobile stagnant, with about 7 million users, between February, May, July, and October, while other major vendors showed a steady increase. And a ChangeWave Research survey released just this week showed that when people were asked in December what mobile operating system they would prefer on the smart phone they planned to buy, 6 percent said Windows Mobile, compared with 9 percent in September.
And moves such as Microsoft's announcement earlier this year that it was bringing applications to Nokia's Symbian platform didn't help. "Despite loud protestations that Microsoft is deeply committed to WinMo, they wouldn't have needed this alliance with Nokia if WinMo were the leading smartphone operating system," wrote Gartner analyst Nick Jones in his blog. "But it's only in fourth place, which isn't good enough given all those years of investment. I see this as a tacit admission from Microsoft that WinMo hasn't made the grade. Imagine you're Steve Ballmer, and in two years' time WinMo was still fourth in smartphone market share. How much longer would you keep throwing money at it?" Microsoft has also lost high-profile partners such as Palm and Motorola.
On the other hand, not everyone is gloomy. iSuppli Corp. has predicted that the usage of Windows Mobile will nearly triple from 2009 to 2013, allowing it to reclaim the number 2 position in the global market.
"In 2013, 67.9 million smart phones will use the Windows Mobile operating system, up from 27.7 million in 2009," the firm reported. "This will give Windows Mobile a 15.3 percent share of the global market in 2013, second only to the Symbian operating system, which will control 47.6 percent." iSuppli made this conclusion based on Windows Mobile's 14 OEM licensees -- the largest number of all the smartphone vendors -- and its more complete set of services for clients. And though Microsoft lost two licensees, it picked up new ones in September.
Expected in Windows Mobile 7 is Silverlight support, a finger touch option, and a new digital audio and video player that is an improvement over Windows Media Player, as well as new games, new search, and "enhanced reality mapping" features.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Among the fuss about hyperconnected TVs, a look at the hyperconnected remote

Publié: janvier 8, 2010, 2:33am CET par Tim Conneally

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

To paraphrase the old aphorism: "If you want to make money in a gold rush, invest in shovels."
I frequently cite this saying when looking at the consumer electronics industry, because that's often how you find the next ten million-selling device, or the next hot company that could be your boss.
In the CES central hall this year, one of the trends you can't walk ten feet without encountering is the hyperconnected 3DTV. The biggest CE companies all have gigantic booths dedicated to them, and they're the cutting-edge entertainment technology on everyone's lips.
These companies are about to seriously start pushing the "movie theater at home" experience to consumers.
So where do I look?
Remote controls.
To suit the IP-connected, App-serving 3D television, one has to consider an equally connected remote control. SilverPAC is about to start selling its Evolution 5500 home automation system to suit that market. It's a remote control appropriate for a home full of wireless devices.
Though it looks huge and unwieldy to a person used to dealing with smartphones, the Evolution 5500 is quite a logical size for what it does.
What exactly does it do?
The 4.3" resistive touchscreen controls your home entertainment devices (TV, Stereo, Game System, Set-top boxes), connected home automation systems including air conditioning, lighting, and curtains, and connects with --and accesses content from-- your mobile PC or desktop computer through Windows Media Center. The remote has enough power behind it (400MHz ARM processor, 256MB SDRAM, 1GB of flash memory, and Windows Embedded CE) to let you stream content from your Media Center PC while you still have all the automation controls at your disposal.
It has a built-in microphone and speaker for VOIP telephony, includes a 3-axis motion sensor, and when in its charging dock, it becomes a wireless photo frame with content from your synced Windows Live account.
The kicker is the price.
This is, without a doubt, a luxury item. When it goes on sale next month, it will retail for $1,299.
However, with all the interest surrounding the Boxee remote by D-link, the new generation of 3D-capable displays coming to the high-end consumer, and the nascent smart metering and home automation market, innovative remote controls are a category with mass market growth potential several years down the road.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
CES 2010 Intel CEO Otellini: Intel to enter apps market on netbooks with 'AppUp"

Publié: janvier 8, 2010, 1:18am CET par Scott M. Fulton, III

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

Today, Intel CEO Paul Otellini is absolutely not expected to come to the keynote stage at CES 2010 empty-handed. Already this morning, the company launched its GPU-on-a-die "Westmere" architecture 32 nm CPUs, with graphics processors sandwiched right in. Windows 7 computers from Toshiba and others with Westmere processors went on sale nationwide this morning.
And we're also likely to hear a lot about Intel's next generation Atom processor and platform, and see some of the small computers and devices that utilize it. Atom's greatest competition in recent days comes not from AMD but from Qualcomm, whose Snapdragon platform powers Lenovo's newest Linux-based "smartbook," the Skylight.
5:38pm PT: End of keynote, as "Magic Mirror" shouts back at folks as they get up to leave.
5:37pm PT: "Our goal is to have our architecture provide the brains for anything with a power source. Our job is to invent the future."
5:37pm PT: Otellini: "What you saw today wasn't science fiction; it's science." Video of a robot that can plug itself into an electrical socket. It has to find a socket first, and it's slow. "Okay...Moore's Law isn't there yet," Otellini admits.
5:35pm PT: "Magic Mirror" from Shrek makes a guest appearance on stage.
Mirror tells Otellini the truth: That the future doesn't exist, but that our heroes were really playing around Intel Labs, where the future does exist.
5:32pm PT: Demo of digital retail signage using bright LCD screens, content draws in users from afar. On the left, holographic glass touch-screen display with interactive view of the entire store. On Core i7 processors.
5:27pm PT: In future 2075 in Canada, curling brooms are connected to all other known devices, including communications.
5:24pm PT: New LG Moblin-based, Moorestown-platform smartphone, available in 2H 2010, can play 720p HD video -- such as movie trailers, running simultaneously with other apps.
5:21pm PT: Now shifting topics to smartphones, Intel's Moorestown platform based on Atom. First 4G platform is WiMAX, now Vegas is "lit up" citywide with Clear network.
5:18pm PT: Demo of Dell's version of AppUp Center on Moblin. App that comes up is "Frame," a combo IM and VoIP app.
Stores are not identical on all platforms; vendors can customize their storefronts to suit their purposes and tastes.
5:16pm PT: Otellini: Atom launched 18 months ago. Went on to spawn a new PC category, the netbook. 40 million netbooks shipped in the last 18 months. (Notable that Intel has no trouble calling it "netbook" now, downgrading its old MID concept.)
Next generation Atom has 20% lower power than previous generation. Thinner netbooks with integrated graphics, networking capability, on the chip. New wave of software applications.
Atom Developers' Program -- a way for developers to adapt old applications to take advantage of the netbook explosion. Consumers will be given beta to first storefront of AppUp Center, one-stop shop for users to find netbook apps for Windows and Linux.
5:14pm PT: In the future, according to Intel's staff members (circa 2050), clothes will be able to scout the Internet for future data on anything you happen to be looking at...including your date.
5:11pm PT: Now showing a wall-based app platform for the digital home, kind of a bulletin board system with apps for the home. Leave messages for kids, check on energy usage, plan to change temperature after leaving, double-check energy consumption.
5:07pm PT: Otellini wishing he could see the bowl game (the BCS championship has just started).
5:06pm PT: Demo service is made by UK carrier Orange. Can bring up already seen bowl games. "Talk about a box that's so smart, it actually time-travels -- kinda nice."
5:05pm PT: IPTV STB using Intel "Sodaville" components shows live stream previews while the main video is still up. Several other channels are shown in miniature and demi-3D.
5:04pm PT: Now demo-ing a "Futuristic Intel Digital Crib" home of the future...hopefully without the bacon.
5:03pm PT: "I believe the world of entertainment will be driven by Moore's Law."
Security, personal finance, conferencing, health -- all these [apps] are changing the way we live.
Technology has the potential not only to save money but save the environment. Demand for power will grow 19% in the next decade, while capacity will only grow 6%. Technology could reduce costs by 31%.
5:02pm PT: New Core i3, i5, and i7 processors announced this morning. Core i5 and Core i7 contain "Turbo Boost," for as-needed overclocking. Independent overclocker ran a new i7 at 7 GHz. (Don't know whether it melted down.)
Integrated graphics can run World of Warcraft without the need for a discrete graphics card. Technology that was in studios a few short years ago, is now in notebooks.
But this technology is moving into TVs -- TVs are becoming "smart TVs." Show content from any source at any time. For navigation, there will be advanced search and gesture recognition. Will bring on a new class of applications that will complement and enhance the TV experience. "But at the end of the day, we have to keep it simple." Develop new UIs, more processing power to handle all that content. Intel SoCs being built around Atom cores for smart TVs, with circuitry that video industry needs for encoding and display.
4:59pm PT: "We see Wi-Fi moving into everything -- cameras, TVs, appliances."
Wi-Di concept will stream devices to Core i5 laptops, and directly to HDTVs, with Intel wireless display technology built in.
4:58pm PT: Otellini: "Content is only part of the equation. Increasingly, we'll need new ways to share and use that content."
SuperSpeed USB, or USB 3.0, is 10x the performance of USB 2.0. Also working on even faster technology, Light Peak. Capable of 10 Gbps transfer rate, or the complete download of a Blu-ray movie in 30 seconds. Could replace all video cables, Sony and Nokia have already announced support. PCs will have this technology in 2010.
4:56pm PT: The crowd's now watching a sneak peek of DreamWorks' "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3D.
Otellini begins by remarking about Intel being a company based on Moore's Law, where a company doubles the number of processors in a chip every 24 months. (Note it's no longer 18 months.) As part of the company's gag video, Otellini asked two members of his staff to don time-machine suits and travel to the future, see what everyday folks are using, and report back home.
In one of their reports home, the duo report from the year 2025, where they've arrived at the "Booker" home, a place made more livable through the miracle of robotics. There, whatever a person happens to be thinking of, the robot goes and does. As an example, a staff member "thinks" of something (very, very deeply), and suddenly, the robot emerges with a plate of bacon.
"I'm glad to learn that bacon is a part of our future," Otellini told the crowd, quite deadpan.
Presently the crowd is donning 3D glasses, and watched a video from DreamWorks Animation (content was blacked out on the live stream). With glasses still donned, Intel staff are now showing how an everyday person can produce a 3D video using an Alienware computer.
4:36pm PT: "Paul was talking with me about, this is the time to invest in the future," and get good people in your company. Compared against other companies that succumbed to some extent to 2009's recession.
4:35pm PT: Keynote begins as always with opening remarks by CEA Pres./CEO Gary Shapiro. "The kind of innovation that makes our lives more exciting and more fulfilling, and spans every sector of our lives," is how Shapiro defines Intel's role. Reminds us Otellini serves on the board of directors of Google.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Palm opens up its webOS developer platform to catch up with Android

Publié: janvier 8, 2010, 1:09am CET par Scott M. Fulton, III

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

Palm's webOS was introduced at CES last year at this time, and it literally stole the show; in fact, this year, no other single product has yet generated the buzz of the Pre and webOS. But Android caught up extremely fast, and only very recently, with a surge in development activity during the latter part of 2009 coinciding with the release of Android 2.0-capable smartphones.
Now with webOS phones coming to the Verizon Wireless network with the "Plus" moniker tacked on ("Plus" meaning for some folks, "not Sprint"), Palm is acting as fast as it can to bring back developer momentum. Today at CES, in an announcement timed to coincide with the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus releases, Palm announced it's changing the terms of its webOS developer program. Starting now, developers who intend to distribute their apps on the Palm webOS Catalog using an open source license will have their $99 registration fees waived. One developers' page called this a "limited time" offer.
That's a mostly symbolic act, certainly, but one that could resonate with new developers exploring the merits of these fast-evolving platforms. Presently, developers who wish to make their wares available through Android Market must pay a $25 registration fee.
From there, the fees for selling apps through the two platforms' respective app stores are almost, but not quite, even. Palm charges $50 for each listing of an application in its catalog, whereas Android charges $25 for each vendor, according to terms posted today by Palm and Google, respectively. However, both services now take a 30% cut of each sales transaction, except for developers who enroll in Palm's program as members of the "community" -- defined as representatives of employees of a registered developer.
Palm is working to make the act of developing for webOS not only easier but more intriguing, by deploying its entire IDE as a Web app. Though still in beta, the idea is to enable apps under development to run on a virtual Pre or Pixi, hosted by Firefox, Safari, or Chrome.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010