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BetaNews.Com (10 non lus)

Intel's 'year of transitions' begins next week

Publié: avril 18, 2012, 11:33pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Chipmaker Intel held steady in the first quarter of 2012, experiencing a dip in profits, but a very slight increase in revenue, beating the company's own expectations. Quarterly revenue was $12.9 billion, operating income was $3.8 billion, net income was $2.7 billion and earnings per share was $0.53.

"Q1 was a solid quarter and provides a great setup for year of important transitions based upon a foundation of growing process technology leadership," said Intel CEO Paul Otellini in the company's earnings call Tuesday evening.

These major transitions are quickly approaching, and they're squarely aimed at consumers. There are big things coming to the enterprise and server side in 2012 (specifically the Atom-based microserver "Centerton" SoC, which will launch in the second half,) but the big things next week will be for the consumer.

Ivy Bridge

After some delays early in the first quarter, Intel's flagship 22nm, the tri-gate 3D microprocessor family Ivy Bridge is expected to launch within the next week.

Once it launches, Ivy Bridge will become Intel's fastest ramping product yet. The company expects Ivy Bridge to comprise one-fourth of all its volume this quarter, and half of its shipments by the fourth quarter.

This is because Ivy Bridge is tied into the upcoming wave of hardware optimized for Windows 8. Otellini said the 2012 holiday season will play host to a series of new notebook/tablet hybrids and touch-enabled notebooks, which will give us all a lot to look forward to.

Joining the Android revolution

The first Intel-based smartphone is launching this week. We all know it, and Intel does not want us to forget it.

After Lenovo, Motorola, and a handful of network operators jumped on board Intel's maiden voyage into Android smartphones, the world got to see what Intel could do with Android.

So what's the difference anyway? What is a consumer going to know about the difference between an ARM-based smartphone, or one based on the x86 architecture? Judging by Intel's early demos, product positioning and the crowd to whom it has appealed, it looks like gaming is going to be the big differentiator for Intel smartphones.
Microsoft refreshes Windows Intune, debuts cross-platform mobile device management

Publié: avril 18, 2012, 8:41pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Tuesday at the Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas the topic was the private cloud and the public availability of System Center 2012. Microsoft switched gears on Wednesday and revealed details on the next version of Windows Intune, its public cloud offering.

Wednesday's Intune release is a beta version limited to 10 PCs. It will support all versions of Windows after XP Service Pack 3, but is currently incompatible with Windows 8, and "will not support Windows 8 until after it is generally available" according to the company.

Intune is targeted towards small and medium businesses, and offers hardware, software, and security monitoring in the cloud. In some ways, Intune is the browser-based version of System Center at a far cheaper price. IT administrators can deploy Intune for $11 per seat.

Microsoft wants to adapt Intune to the realities of today's workplace, where users bring their own devices into the workplace. "Whether corporate or user-owned, one of our goals with Windows Intune is to help manage and secure mobile devices without adding onerous cost and complexity", Intune marketing chief Eric Main says. As a result, the option to manage up to four mobile devices per seat is now included at no additional cost.

Integration with both Windows Server Active Directory and Microsoft Exchange Server is included in this release. This permits IT administrators to manage policies for devices even if they are not owned by the organization, and allow for security functionality such as remote wipe to be activated in the event a device is lost.

These features will work on any device that has Exchange ActiveSync support, meaning Intune will be able to manage both iOS and Android devices in addition to any Windows-powered devices in the organization. Microsoft says it will support Windows Phone 7, iOS 4.0 and later, and Android 2.1 and later for mobile device management.

The third refresh of Intune includes enhancements in user management. From the web-based console, administrators can now manage software for individual users through connectivity with Windows Azure's Active Directory. This will also keep user accounts and security groups synchronized with Intune for easier administration.

Azure Active Directory is described by Microsoft as a platform to "bring your applications to the cloud easily. You can enable single sign-on, security enhanced applications, and simple interoperability with existing Active Directory deployments using Access Control Service (ACS)".

Finally, Microsoft is enabling a self-service portal that permits users to download and use apps and tools authorized for use on the network. What apps the user has access to can be tailored based on the user group the account belongs to. "This enables IT to post apps that users might want to use, rather than push out to their PCs", Main explains.

"With Windows, our goal is to give end users the experiences they love and offer enterprise grade solutions that organizations need", Main says. "The next release of Windows Intune will do just that – it will help solve the consumerization challenge that businesses are facing today, and because Windows Intune is cloud-based, partners and customers get to take advantage of innovations as soon as they’re available".

Photo Credit: Digital Storm/Shutterstock
Track programs' progress with Tell When Done

Publié: avril 18, 2012, 8:05pm CEST par Mike Williams

When you’ve set up your PC to carry out some lengthy task -- transcode a host of videos, say -- it can be useful to know when it’s finished. But unfortunately not every program bothers to make this obvious, which means you might regularly find yourself manually monitoring progress windows in an effort to keep an eye on what’s going on.

Sounds familiar? Then you may like to try Tell When Done, a tiny portable tool which aims to provide the progress alert which some programs are missing.

To use the program, first set it running in the background (it only consumes around 5MB RAM, not bad at all). Next, set up the application you’d like to monitor: the video conversion tool, say. Once it’s running, press the Tell When Done hotkey (Windows key + T, although this can be changed). The program will now track the CPU usage of your application. And as soon as it seems to have finished, Tell When Done will display an audio alert and a pop-up dialog to let you know.

This worked just fine in our tests of simple applications. We set them working; they stopped; the pop-up alert appeared right away. This really could be very useful for programs which don’t have obvious “Finished!” alerts of their own.

We didn’t have the same success all the time, though, unfortunately. If the process you’re monitoring actually launches another helper process to do the real work, say, Tell Well Done doesn’t appear to be smart enough to detect this. It’ll not realise that it needs to watch the helper process as well, and display its “finished” dialog right away, even if the program has barely started.

Still, Tell When Done remains an interesting idea which can be effective sometimes. Just expect some trial and error before you find out precisely what the program can do for you.

Photo Credit: Sukharevskyy Dmytro (nevodka)/Shutterstock
I applaud Windows 8 versions because I remember pure XP

Publié: avril 18, 2012, 7:58pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

I certainly hadn't planned on responding to a story written in 2003 today. But, hey, the Internet's memory is better than an elephant's -- and I've been called to task for "forgetting". Most certainly I did not forget. Circumstances changed.

Yesterday, while waiting for my 90 year-old father-in-law at the optometrist, I got out my smartphone and started scanning Tumblr posts. One led to a Time magazine story about the "Hug Me Coke Machine", which I Tumblred hours late. While at Time's site, I spied something else: "Windows 8 Versions: The News Is Mostly Good" by Harry McCracken. He referred back to my old CNET story "Windows faces new competition: Itself", about fragmenting versions, and contrasted it against my more recent musings for BetaNews. Thanks for remembering, Harry.

XP Fragmented

Microsoft launched Windows XP with two versions: Home and Professional, but quickly added more: Embedded, Media Center, Tablet PC and 64-bit, among them. End users could easily buy 32-bit or 64-bit Home and Pro editions but not Embedded, Media Center or Tablet (and much later Starter), which shipped on new hardware -- like Windows RT will, presumably, later this year. I observed then that Microsoft confused customers by fragmenting Windows and attempted to artificially create competition in a monopoly market.

People want choice, and there was little of it and for many; the existing Windows installed on corporate and consumer PCs was good enough. Microsoft wanted to create competition that might spur upgrades. The strategy failed -- more on the significance later.

The XP fragmentation story posted in April 2003, within weeks of my leaving CNET and joining Jupiter Research as analyst responsible for the Microsoft practice. Two-and-half years later, I met Microsoft product managers to discuss Windows Vista. The company planned to greatly expand the number of Windows editions but, in the end, not as many as discussed during that meeting.

Whither Windows 8

Now fast forward to this week's announcement, where Microsoft modestly trimmed Windows 8 editions. For the majority of non-Chinese speaking users there are two: Windows 8 and Pro. This is the software that will ship on new PCs or you can buy to upgrade Windows 7 systems. These are largely comparable to Windows XP Home and Pro. Microsoft also will keep the Enterprise Edition introduced with Windows Vista that is available only through volume-licensing and release a Chinese-language Windows 8 version. Like Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, the new Windows RT, for devices running on ARM processors, will be available only on new hardware.

That brings me to McCracken's story. He writes:

People somtimes pine for the Windows XP era and talk about XP coming in just two well-defined editions: Home and Professional. (Here’s Joe Wilcox recently doing that -- even though he wrote that 2003 article about the excessive number of XP versions.) They seem to be forgetting that XP is where the concept of endless specialized versions of Windows began. You had your Tablet PC Edition, your Media Center Edition, your Starter Edition, forgotten variants such as Windows XP for subscription computers.

I agree that "XP is where the concept of endless specialized versions of Windows began". But Windows XP also started with only two versions, in October 2001, and that's my point in the stories McCracken references and the newest: "Three Windows 8 versions is just right". I don't drum on about the endless XP versions because they're no more. The hardware-only versions are way out of vogue, if you can find them for sale anywhere at all. The editions that matter -- the ones installed on hundreds of millions PCs are Home and Pro, sprinkled with a little Starter for good measure.

Remember This

I didn't forget; what happened to Windows XP editions between 2003 and 2007 isn't relevant to the current discussion or what's available in the market. But getting back to basics -- two versions for x86 processors that end users can buy and install -- is. Meaning: What Microsoft released in October 2001. As I've repeatedly expressed, one Windows would be even better -- going even more back to basics. Windows 95 was one version for businesses and consumers. That's the ideal product scenario: Windows 8 for x86 and Windows RT for ARM, and nothing more.

Windows XP Media Center and Media Center editions were market failures. They sold poorly. Microsoft tried to recoup them and artificially create choice by expanding the number of editions with Windows Vista. Ultimate replaced Tablet PC and Media Center. Today Microsoft sells six Windows 7 editions, three at retail (Home, Professional and Ultimate), which is tacit admission the number is too many. Basic and Starter come on new computers and Enterprise is volume-license only.

The big difference is something I predicted in February 2006, which sets apart the versioning strategy adopted with Windows Vista from that extended from two Windows XP editions: "The version strategy may also allow Microsoft to do something not done in more than a decade: Raise desktop operating system prices, a tact that can be difficult to take in a market where one product dominates and where monopoly and a contentious antitrust case cast long shadows". That's exactly what happened by introducing Ultimate and strong-arm licensing tactics for Enterprise (Microsoft demands enterprises use this edition, which also requires paying extra for Software Assurance).

I didn't forget. I made reference to what was Windows XP at launch and what it is today as widely-deployed software: Home and Pro. Then there is what Microsoft did with new editions later on: Effectively raise prices in a non-competitive market. Everyone would be wise to remember that and wonder, with increased competition from non-PC devices and Macs running other operating systems, what Microsoft will charge end users, OEMs and volume-license subscribers for Windows 8.
Verizon Wireless agrees to sell off wireless spectrum pending $3.6B cable deal

Publié: avril 18, 2012, 6:15pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Mobile network operator Verizon Wireless on Wednesday announced it will be auctioning off all of its 700 MHz A and B spectrum licenses if it can obtain the AWS licenses from SpectrumCo, a joint venture held by the United States' biggest multi-network operators: Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Cox, and Leap Wireless.

Last December, SpectrumCo announced it would be selling 122 licenses in the AWS spectrum to Verizon Wireless for $3.6 billion so the wireless carrier could further build out its 4G LTE network, which currently resides in the upper C band in the 700MHz block.

As a part of the spectrum sale, Verizon Wireless and SpectrumCo drafted several agreements in which the cable companies and Verizon Wireless would become agents to sell each other's products. Furthermore, the cable companies would gain wholesale access to Verizon Wireless' services.

This would all have to pass regulatory muster, of course, and this is the reason for the spectrum sale.

"Since wireless operators, large and small, have expressed concern about the availability of high-quality spectrum, we believe our 700 MHz licenses will be attractive to a wide range of buyers," said Molly Feldman, vice president of Business Development for Verizon Wireless in a statement on Wednesday. "Moreover, provided our acquisition of AWS spectrum is approved, our open sale process will ensure these A and B spectrum licenses are quickly and fairly made available for the benefit of other carriers and their customers."

The A block licenses constitute the major metropolitan areas of: New York, Philadelphia, Washington-Baltimore, Orlando, Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Denver, Los Angeles, Fresno, San Francisco and Sacramento.

The B block licenses constitute cellular market regions which tend to be the more suburban and rural areas, but include such areas as Chicago, Memphis, and Charlotte among the list of more than fifty zones.
Microsoft, Nokia, don't cheat Lumia owners of Windows Phone 8

Publié: avril 18, 2012, 5:01pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Children often suffer when parents make bad decisions. For the marriage of Microsoft and Nokia, there is trouble looming for the kids -- that's you, buyers of Lumia smartphones. The next version of Windows Phone codename Apollo may not be supported. That's the rumor shooting across the web today. Here's one bit of gossip every current Windows Phone owner should hope is wrong.

I've got no inside intelligence here, hearing nothing either way about Lumia upgrades. But I can see scenarios where Apollo might be a problem, particularly for older CPUs or GPUs. For example, all current Windows Phones are single-core. Surely double-core handsets are coming, but will the software support single-core CPUs? It's the first question to ask, with rumors a flying and Microsoft not denying.

Microsoft has long made backward compatibility a top design priority, and that's something I can only hope won't change for Windows Phone. So far, Microsoft has done right by end users, quickly dispatching Windows Phone software upgrades and supporting most existing hardware. Looking ahead, anything less would be a marketing disaster for flagship handsets.

AT&T started selling Lumia 900 here in the United States on April 8, in three colors. White model hits stores April 22. The smartphone is Nokia's flagship, for which Microsoft and its partners are spending beacoup bucks to market. Then what, a few months into subscribers' two-year contractual commitment, they discover their sizzling hot Windows Phone is obsolete? Say it ain't so, Microsoft and Nokia.

But if it's true, they can't say anything. It's a rock and a hard place. What Microsoft, Nokia or Windows Phone enthusiasts will buy now knowing they'll be cheated later? Silence is confirmation, if it persists. Speak up Nokia and Microsoft. Tell us you'll do the right thing by customers -- in the way we expect you to.

CNET's Lance Whitney asks my question: "No Windows Phone 8 upgrade for you?" The Verge has conflicting reports: "Sources: current Windows Phone devices will not get 'Apollo' upgrade" and "All Windows Phones to get upgrade to 'next major version,' according to Microsoft developer evangelist" both by Dieter Bohn. The "no upgrade" story is more recent and the one setting off lots of InterWeb chatter this morning.

The trouble I see is Lumia. Backward compatibility can only go so far. It's not reasonable to expect Microsoft to support the oldest Windows Phones. Lumia is different, however. The first handsets hit market late last year, and Lumia 900 is freshly baked. Lumia is the first offspring of the Microsoft-Nokia marriage. There are high expectations here, which Apollo could lay low.

Microsoft, Nokia, do the right thing. Don't cheat Lumia owners of Windows Phone 8.
Adapter 1.4 converts video for new iPad's retina display

Publié: avril 18, 2012, 3:56pm CEST par Nick Peers

If you’re a PC user looking for a free tool to both download and convert video between a large number of different formats, you’re well covered, with the likes of Freemake Video Converter offering all the tools you need. But what if you’re a Mac user?

Free video downloading and converting tools, such as MacTubes and Handbrake exist, but you end up mixing and matching to get the functionality you want. Not any more: now Mac users can get all these features in a single free tool, called Adapter 1.4.

Adapter, which is also available for Windows, allows you to convert to and from a wide variety of formats -- while Handbrake supports a large number of input formats, you can only output to MP4 or MKV. Adapter, by contrast, also supports AVI, MPG and even Flash video as output formats too.

As you’d expect with a tool like this, you can either manually tweak your output settings to perfection, or choose from a variety of presets covering a wide number of consoles and mobile devices -- version 1.4 added support for the new iPad’s retina display and Apple TV 2.

Adapter also features a video trimming tool, which allows you to shave the beginning and end of your video to remove unwanted extras. You can even extract the audio from a video track for listening to independently.

The program also comes with its own built-in web browser, which allows you to go hunting for Flash-based video such as that hosted on YouTube. It’ll automatically add video to a downloads panel, and from here you can download and convert for viewing on your computer or portable device when offline.

As we stated earlier, Adapter is also available for Windows users, although its development seems to have stalled (the current version is 1.0.30). Since that release, the Mac version has evolved a brand new interface, plus improved conversion filters and added support for a wider range of devices. One reason to download it sooner rather than later, however, is this line from the program’s FAQ: “How much does Adapter cost? Adapter is free for a limited time.”

With that in mind, you might want to hurry over to our download site now: Adapter is available as a freeware download for both Mac (version 1.4) and Windows (version 1.0.30).
Regain your online privacy with Spotflux

Publié: avril 18, 2012, 2:28pm CEST par Mike Williams

If you’re looking to maintain your privacy online then you could sign up for a VPN service. But which one? There’s a lot of choice, and if you’re a networking novice then figuring out which service is right for you can be a real challenge.

But that’s where Spotflux comes in. This interesting new VPN service comes packed with useful functionality --- encryption, ad-blocking, antivirus and more -- yet really couldn’t be any easier to configure.

We downloaded and launched the client, for example, which walked us through a simple setup process. And that was it, no need to reboot, everything was working right away.

Our connection was now encrypted, then. Our location was concealed (we had a new public-facing IP address). And as our traffic was redirected through the Spotflux servers, it also stripped out ads, tracking cookies, viruses, malware and more.

What was most remarkable, though, was the lack of any interface complexity at all. The main window only allows you to enable or disable Spotflux with a click. And even the settings dialog didn’t contain anything much: you can set the UI language, define how updates are to be installed and configure an optional proxy, but that’s about it.

If there’s a small problem it’s in a slight but noticeable delay when surfing via Spotflux. Overall the system still performs well for a free VPN, though, so if you’re looking to maintain your online privacy without any of the usual technical hassles then the program definitely merits a closer look.

Lakhesis/Shutterstock
So long Read It Later, Hello Pocket

Publié: avril 18, 2012, 1:15pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Do you find that you never have time to read the articles you discover online? In the past you may have turned to Read It Later to bookmark a site so that you can refer back to it later, but now there is a new analogy to work with. Read It Later has been re-launched as Pocket, so you can now ‘pocket’ those stories you don’t have time to read right now and save them to your online account ready for when you have more spare time.

The rebranding is more than just a change of name; there are also new features that you can take advantage of as well as a redesigned interface. Whether you are surfing the web in your preferred browser, or you discover an interesting link on Twitter or Facebook, Pocket enables you to quickly and effectively bookmark pages, images and videos so you can easily access them later. Content can be saved using a browser extension or using the dedicated iOS or Android apps.

Whichever method you use to save, your content is synched to your account so it can be accessed from any device with an Internet connection. Spend a little while working with the service and you’ll no doubt find that you very quickly build up a pretty extensive list of articles you have saved. To make it easier to root through them, you have the option of filtering content by type as well as using the search tool to home in on a particular article based on title or URL.

The redesigned interface has something of a familiar feel to it as it boasts a Metro-inspired tile based look. This is all very neat and distraction-free, and when you clip any article for reading later you can view just the content of the article itself without the unnecessary page furniture of the web site it came from. With support for a massive range of apps as well as various browser extensions, Pocket has improved upon the already impressive options available in Read It Later.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app for iOS and Android by paying a visit to the Pocket review page. There are also browser extensions available for Chrome and Firefox.
Smile for the camera, Opera Next is watching you

Publié: avril 18, 2012, 12:31pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Things continue to develop apace in the world of Opera, with the latest snapshot of Opera Next showcasing camera support. The latest addition to the browser means that developers will now be able to use JavaScript to access webcams, which opens up new levels of interactivity with web pages -- everything from using your webcam as a color picker to simplifying the process of uploading a picture of yourself.

There are obvious privacy concerns when web pages are allowed to access webcams, but Opera Next ensures that users are kept informed about what is going on and are given the chance to block or permit connection as they see fit. Whenever a page attempts to access your camera you are warned by the appearance of a popup that gives you the opportunity to block or allow the site on a permanent or one-off basis.

Websites are also able to make use of a site visitor’s location and changes have been made to Opera’s tabs to allow this information to be conveyed to the user. Whenever a site is making use of an attached camera or is using location information, badge icons are displayed in the relevant tab. Simple tab-based controls can then be used to make further changes to permission settings as and when required.

As this is a very early snapshot of a future release of Opera, it is only reasonable to expect that there are going to be a few problems here and there. That said, things are already looking good and there are a few demonstration web sites that can be used to test out the capabilities of the new camera support -- take a look at Photo Booth, Polaroid, Color Picker, Explode and Speedo for samples.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the Opera Next review page; there is also a 64-bit version of the program available.

Photo Credit: alterfalter/Shutterstock