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BetaNews.Com (13 non lus)

Apple Q2 2012 by the numbers: $39.2B revenue, net profit up 94%

Publié: avril 24, 2012, 10:45pm CEST par Joe Wilcox
Apple investors expressed their nervousness this week, following earnings reports from AT&T and Verizon. Carrier iPhones sales sagged from calendar fourth quarter -- and why should they not, considering the holidays and iPhone 4S launch. So the question for Apple today: How many iPhones sold during fiscal second quarter, and iPads, for that matter.

Apple shipped 5.2 million Macs, 11.8 million iPads and 35.1 million iPhones during the quarter. Analyst consensus was around 4 million, 11 million and 33.5 million, respectively. Number of iOS devices sold to date: 365 million.

For fiscal Q2, Apple reported $39.2 billion revenue and net profits of $11.06 billion, or $12.30 a share. A year earlier, the company reported revenue of $24.67 billion and $5.99 billion net quarterly profit, or $6.40 per share. Net profit rose by 94 percent.

Three months ago, Apple forecast $32.5 billion in revenue for fiscal 2012 second quarter, with earnings per share of $8.50. Analyst average estimates were higher than Apple guidance: $36.81 billion revenue and $10.06 earnings per share.

Gross margins rose a stunning 6 points year over year to 47.4 percent. International sales accounted for 64 percent of revenues.

Looking ahead to fiscal third quarter, Apple projects $34 billion revenue and $8.68 earnings per share.

Apple ended the quarter with $110.2 billion in cash, up from 97.6 billion three months earlier.

After closing down 2 percent today, Apple shares jumped more than 7 percent in after-hours trading.

Q2 2012 Revenue by Product
- Desktops: $1.56 billion, up 8 percent from $1.44 billion a year earlier.
- Portables: $3.5 billion, down 7 percent from $3.7 billion a year earlier.
- iPod: $1.2 billion, down 25 percent from $1.6 billion a year earlier.
- Music: $2.51 billion, up 32 percent from $1.6 billion a year earlier.
- iPhone: $22.7 billion, up 85 percent from $12.3 billion a year earlier.
- iPad: $6.6 billion, up 132 percent from $2.84 billion a year earlier.
- Peripherals: $643 million, up 11 percent from $580 million a year earlier.
- Software & Services: $832 million, up 12 percent from $743 million a year earlier.
iPhone. Apple shipped 35.1 million iPhones worldwide during fiscal second quarter, up from 18.65 million iPhones a year earlier. That's an 88 percent increase, year over year. Wall Street analyst average estimate was about 33.5 million units. Apple counts shipments into the channel, typically making them several million units higher than numbers released by Gartner, which measures actual sales.

During the quarter, iPhone 4S was available in 100 countries from 230 carriers. Apple ended the quarter with 8.6 million units in the channel, up 2.4 million sequently for 4 to 6 weeks of inventory.

Recent analyst data bodes well for iPhone. Earlier this month, Nielsen reported a huge surge in the number of new purchasers choosing iPhones compared to Android. For the three months ending in February, 48 percent of Americans who recently bought a smartphone, chose Android -- 43 percent iPhone, according to Nielsen. A year earlier, 27 percent of new acquirers chose Android versus 10 percent for iPhone.

comScore reports share for overall market, not new purchasers. During the three months ending in February, Android share was 50.1 percent among smartphone subscribers 13 and older -- that's up 3.2 points. iOS: 30.2 percent, up 5 points year over year and 1.5 points three months earlier. Those numbers are fairly consistent with Nielsen's: 48 percent for Android and 32 percent for iOS.

But Verizon caused some market panic following news it activated 3.2 million iPhones during first calendar quarter, a 1-millon sequential decrease. I don't see a problem in that but something else: Quarter on quarter, iPhone dropped from 58 percent to about half of Verizon smartphone sales, based on activations. Android is gaining, no doubt propelled by 4G LTE.

Q2 2012 Unit Shipments by Product
- Desktops: 1.2 million units, up 19 percent from 1 million units a year earlier.
- Portables: 2.82 million units, up 2 percent from 2.75 million units a year earlier.
- iPod: 7.7 million units, down 15 percent from 9.02 million units a year earlier.
- iPhone: 35.1 million units, up 88 percent from 18.65 million units a year earlier.
- iPad: 11.8 million units, up 151 percent from 4.7 million units a year earlier.
iPad. Apple shipped 11.8 million iPads globally during the quarter -- that's up from 4.7 million -- a 151 percent -- a year earlier.

Apple ended the quarter with 2 million iPads in the channel, that's down 300,000 units sequentially, for 4 to 6 weeks in inventory. About a month ago, my daughter said that San Diego School District would buy iPads for 2012-13. Today, during Apple's earnings conference call, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer says that the school district bought 10,000 iPads during fiscal Q2 and will get another 15,000 this quarter.

"The new iPad is on fire", Oppenheimer says, adding that Apple is selling as fast as it can make them. Supplies are constrained globally. New iPad is available in 40 countries.

Analysts repeatedly asked about the impact of $399 iPad 2 on overall sales. Apple CEO Tim Cook says that lower pricing definitely appeals to educational buyers and in some geographic markets. However, Apple isn't yet certain about the final sales mix between iPad 2 and new iPad.

iPad continues to dominate the tablet market, and it's an increasingly important category. In a report issued yesterday, Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillett proclaims: "Tablets will rule the future personal computing landscape". He predicts the global install base of tablets will be 760 million by 2016, with 375 million sold just in that year -- one third of them to businesses.

He predicts that "tablets will become our primary computing device".

Q2 2012 Revenue by Geography
- Americas: $13.2 billion, up 41 percent from $9.32 billion a year earlier.
- Europe: $8.81 billion, up 46 percent from $6.03 billion a year earlier.
- Japan: $2.65 billion, up 91 percent from $1.38 billion a year earlier.
- Asia Pacific: $10.15 billion, up 114 percent from $4.74 billion a year earlier.
- Retail: $4.4 billion, up 38 percent from $3.2 billion a year earlier.
Computers. Mac shipments rose significantly during fiscal second quarter. Apple sold -- what company executives really mean by shipped -- 4 million Macs during the quarter, up from 3.54 million units during fiscal Q2 2011; growth was 7 percent year over year. Wall Street consensus was about 4.5 million units worldwide.

Apple PC growth easily beats the market at large. Two weeks ago, Gartner and IDC reported dismal global shipments. IDC put year-over-year growth at 2.3 percent, but only 1.9 percent by Gartner's estimates. The hard drive shortage had nominal impact compared to fourth calendar quarter.

The Mac is big windfall benefactor of the PC shipment/sales crisis, because:
- Apple's brand is sizzling hot right now.
- Most people use Windows, which is old to them if upgrading, while the Mac is fresh.
- iPad cannibalizes Windows PC sales, as businesses and consumers buy the tablet as upgrade companion or even replacement.
- Apple is more insulated from the hard drive shortage, in part because of how it sources components compared to most other computer makers.
"The consumer segment continued to be a drag on market growth, as PC demand was low", Mikako Kitagawa, Gartner principal analyst, says. "Questions remain on whether low-end systems can attract consumers, as their attention has moved to other devices". Reiterating previous observations, Gartner again highlighted smartphones and tablets as leaders among those "other devices".

But those consumer sales problems are specific to the larger industry, and not Apple. In the United States, Apple ranks third. IDC puts market share at 10 percent and Gartner at 10.6 percent.

Q2 2012 Unit Shipments by Geography
- Americas: 1.21 million units, flat from 1.21 million units a year earlier.
- Europe: 1.05 million units, up 5 percent from 995,000 units a year earlier.
- Japan: 158,000 units, up 2 percent from 155,000 units a year earlier.
- Asia Pacific: 771,000 units, up 29 percent from 596,000 units a year earlier.
- Retail: 826,000 units, up 4 percent from 797,000 units a year earlier.
iPod. Apple shipped 7.7 million iPods during fiscal first quarter, down from 9.02 million a year earlier -- a 15 percent decline. iPod touch accounted for more than half of units sold. Apple ended the quarter with 4 to 6 weeks of inventory.

iTunes revenue: $1.9 billion, up 35 percent year over year.

Retail. Revenue was $4.4 billion up 38 percent year over year. Apple retail stores sold 826,000 Macs during the quarter. Apple opened two new stores for 363 worldwide. With average 361 stores open for the quarter, they generated $12.2 million each.

Photo Credit: Francesco Dazzi/Shutterstock
Google Drive: perfect for a 'Nexus Tablet' that takes on Kindle Fire

Publié: avril 24, 2012, 10:21pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Google on Tuesday finally rolled out the long-rumored Google Drive cloud storage platform to compete with the likes of Dropbox, Skydrive, Box, iCloud, and all the rest.

But let's put cloud storage competition aside for a moment. When Google Drive was announced, I was immediately reminded of a recent quote in the New York Times:

"We took out $150 in build materials, things like expensive memory..."

That statement came from Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang in an interview he gave the New York Times at the end of March. In the interview, the executive discussed upcoming Tegra-powered Android tablets and the possible Tegra-powered Chromebook.

Scott Johnston, the product manager for Google Drive has already said "deep integration" with Chrome OS is coming soon for Google Drive, so naturally, one begins to wonder about the fabled "Nexus Tablet."

The rumor is that Google will soon be launching its own low cost branded tablet to compete with the highly successful, but highly walled-off-from-Google's-services Kindle Fire.

The Kindle Fire comes with 8GB of internal storage, which is supported by 5GB of free Amazon cloud storage where users can store their books, movies, music, or apps. For an additional $20 per year, users get 20 GB of storage space plus an unlimited amount of space for mp3 files.

If storage is the type of "memory" Nvidia is skimping on, integration with Google Drive could certainly provide a nice boost.

Adding fuel to the tablet speculation, Google opened a new version of its Web-based store for selling Android hardware on Tuesday. This was the retail birthplace of the entire Nexus line of Android products that began in the first month of 2010, and was shut down five months later. Now, the shop has re-opened in Google Play with just a single device: the unlocked Galaxy Nexus, and a heading marked "Devices."
Google Drive arrives -- and what a shock, it's really an upgrade for Docs

Publié: avril 24, 2012, 8:42pm CEST par Mark Wilson

One of the most eagerly anticipated online storage services -- and one of the worst kept secrets in computing -- has finally seen the light of day. Google Drive has, at long last, been unveiled after years of rumors and speculation, working in much the same way as the likes of Dropbox and providing users with 5GB of cloud storage free of charge.

In many ways, the release of Google Drive can be seen as more of an update to Google Docs, and this is clear for Android users who will find that their Google Docs app will update and become Google Drive.

In terms of online use, working with Google Drive is virtually indistinguishable from Google Docs and any files you have already created in Docs will have been transferred across ready for you to use. All of the usual search and sorting options are available, and there are also a few cool extras such as OCR that can be used to convert your PDF files and images into a format that can be searched.

As you would expect, there are a couple of desktop app available, one for Mac and one for Windows, and there is also an Android app for free download in Google Play. There will be an iOS version of the app released at some point in the future, but there may be a delay in it hitting the App Store as it makes its way through Apple’s vetting process. The desktop app is a simple affair that enables you to synchronize your online files with your Mac or PC, while the mobile app enables you to access any of the files you have stored or synched online.

5GB is a reasonable amount of storage space to get started with, but if you feel like it’s not going to be enough, there are a number of upgrades for you to choose from. You can get 25GB for $2.49 a month, 100GB for $4.99 a month, or even 1TB for $49.99 a month, and these are prices that compare very well with the competition.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the app by paying a visit to the review pages – Google Drive for Mac and PC and Google Drive for Android.
Windows Server 2012 release candidate coming in June

Publié: avril 24, 2012, 8:34pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

This just in from Microsoft: Windows 8 release candidate won't be the only one coming your way in less than six weeks. Expect Windows Server 2012, too. "The Windows 8 Release Preview will be publicly available in the first week of June 2012", Microsoft's Jeffrey Snover says. "We plan to deliver a release candidate of Windows Server 2012 in the same timeframe".

Windows & Windows Live President Steven Sinofsky revealed the June RC for the desktop operating system earlier today in Tokyo. Concurrent Windows Server 2012 release candidate isn't surprising given the operating systems share common code and development has tracked closely all along.

Last week, Microsoft formally named Windows Server 2012, which is a cornerstone of the company's public and private -- really, hybrid -- cloud strategy. Both products are tracking for October launch, although urgency is less with Windows Server 2012. Microsoft's PC partners are counting on Windows 8 to boost holiday device sales. Business sales aren't seasonal.

Photo Credit: gualtiero boffi/Shutterstock
You can assemble IKEA's Uppleva HDTV [video]

Publié: avril 24, 2012, 7:37pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

My wife and I just about collapsed laughing while watching Conan last night. Episode's highlight: Two videos -- one for IKEA's Uppleva television. Team Coco isn't waiting for the official release and offers set-up instructions now.

The other segment, featuring a video, may not be SFW. Conan O`Brien accepts viewer responses, via YouTube, about mistakes he makes during the show. Last night, he went to great lengths to get around one. Keep liquids away from your computer before watching this one.
Minor update adds more languages to jAlbum 10.6

Publié: avril 24, 2012, 7:18pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Web album creator jAlbum has been updated to version 10.6 with a range of bug fixes and feature enhancements. Mac users can now take advantage of a native file chooser that can be used to add folders and images to an album, but there are also numerous tweaks and updates to the Windows and Linux versions of the app to take a look at.

One of the great things about jAlbum is that skins can used to create a completely unique look for your online albums, helping to avoid the risk of looking like everyone else's. This minor update includes an updated version of the Turtle skin, but most of the changes are under the hood. Translators have been hard at work providing updated text in Brazilian Portuguese, German, English, Swedish, French, Spanish, Finnish, Slovak, Polish, Slovenian, Romanian and Korean, and language information is now added to published albums.

Other changes include the ability to sign out of your account and leave your license active and a slightly modified way to activating a software license. While none of the changes and additions are particularly ground-breaking, these are merely polishing tweaks to an established and accomplished app that provides users with a powerful and flexible way to create galleries to show off their digital photographs.

As you would expect from any program update, there are also a range of bugs fixes including one that prevented certain PNG files from being processed. If you have experienced problems with the code generated by jAlbum, you should hopefully find that these issues have been addressed in the latest release as there have been a number of changes made to fix specific errors.

You can find out more and download a free trial of the app by paying a visit to the jAlbum 10.6 review page.

Photo Credit: marekuliasz/Shutterstock
Macs may not get PC viruses, but they sure can spread them

Publié: avril 24, 2012, 6:10pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

What do sexually transmitted diseases and Mac viruses share in common? Surprisingly lots, according to security software developer Sophos. People can spread both without exhibiting symptoms, and the infection rates for "Macs carrying malware and level of Chlamydia infection amongst young people" are about the same.

Say what? That's the question asked in BetaNews group chat this morning about the seemingly strange correlation. But it makes sense to me. My colleague Tim Conneally gets it, too. He observed (after doing a little research): "One in 4 people with Chlamydia have no symptoms. They're saying it's spreading but not affecting the host". That's exactly Sophos' point. The firm found a shocking number of Macs infected with PC viruses, in a 100,000 sampling. The Macs are immune but can infect Windows PCs.

Not long ago, Apple tweaked its OS X security page by removing something: "Mac OS X doesn't get PC viruses". That's absolutely true. Most viruses are designed for Windows and, therefore, don't infect Macs. But as the Sophos study shows, Macs sure can carry Windows viruses. Sophos finds that one in five Macs carry Windows malware, which can be spread by email and other means. One in 36 -- that's 2.7 percent -- are infected with Mac malware.

"Amazingly, some of the malware discovered by Sophos on the 100,000 Mac computers sampled dates back to 2007, and would have been easily detected if the users had run an anti-virus sooner", Graham Cluley, Sophos senior technology consultant, observes.

Like Windows, "malware can spread onto Macs via USB drives, email attachments, website download, or even a silent drive-by installation where the user doesn't realize their Mac's security has been subverted", Cluley explains. "Some Apple fans might feel relieved that they are seven times more likely to have Windows malware on their Macs than Mac OS X-specific threats, but they shouldn't be".

The recent Flashback Trojan, which infected 700,000 Macs and may still persistent on 500,000, is good example. That's not some asymptomatic Windows malware but something catchable by OS X.

"Sadly, cybercriminals view Macs as a soft target, because their owners are less likely to be running anti-virus software", Cluley warns. According to complimentary BetaNews polls, 74 percent of respondents do not have anti-malware installed on their primary Macs, while 92 percent of Windows users do.

"Bad guys may also believe that Mac users are likely to have a higher level of disposable income than the typical Windows user" Cluley speculates. "So, they might believe the potential for return is much higher". I've often wondered about that and am surprised attacks against Macs aren't greater because of it.

Linking Mac and Chlamydia infection-rates is brilliant. For one, it's a startling, memorable analogy. For another, the analogy links together pervasive behavior about taking unnecessary risks against viruses -- being unprotected. Finally, there is the youth angle, since the same demographic often seen using Macs also has high rates of STD infection.

Cluley makes the important point: "Just like malware on your computer, Chlamydia commonly shows no obvious symptoms. But left undetected Chlamydia can cause serious problems, such as infertility". He notes that some countries have created national screening programs to test people under 25, annually, for Chlamydia.

Maybe there should something like this for Macs. Once a year, Apple, working with security software developers, offers a free check up to scan and rid Macs of malware -- with special emphasis on clearing out the crap spread to Windows users.

Photo Credit: Vasilchenko Nikita/Shutterstock
Samsung details Android 4.0 upgrade plan for U.S. tablets and phones

Publié: avril 24, 2012, 6:05pm CEST par Tim Conneally

Though the newest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, has been available for a little more than six months, its availability has been extremely limited. Only 2.9% of Android users were running it first week of April, according to the Android Developer Dashboard.

Samsung on Tuesday released an updated list of the U.S. devices that will receive an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich, bringing its total number of devices with the operating system version up to thirteen.

AT&T: Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II Skyrocket, Galaxy Note, Captivate Glide, Nexus S, Galaxy Tab 8.9
Sprint: Nexus S 4G, Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch
Verizon: Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 7.7
Wi-Fi Only: Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, Galaxy Tab 8.9, Galaxy Tab 10.1

T-Mobile customers, as of right now, have no ICS upgrades to look forward to. However, Samsung says it is "in close communication with T-Mobile to ensure that eligible devices are upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in the coming months," and that it will provide updates as additional details arise.

Slowly but surely, the most popular smartphone and tablet manufacturers have each published lists of the devices that will receive the Android 4.0 upgrade, so it looks like a big shift to Ice Cream Sandwich will soon be under way.

HTC published its list at the end of 2011 which included eight devices that would get the upgrade at various times depending upon the regional carrier.

In February, Motorola published its comprehensive ICS upgrade roadmap, but currently only one device, the Xoom tablet has been upgraded.

In March, media player and tablet company Archos began rolling out its upgrades, and both Acer and Asus followed suit with their own rollouts.

Just two weeks ago, Sony published the list of Xperia smartphones that would upgrade to Android 4.0. Now, it's just a matter of time before these upgrades are rolled out to customers.
Suddenly I'm uneasy about Windows 8's release date

Publié: avril 24, 2012, 4:39pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

While I was sleeping -- and perhaps you, too -- Microsoft announced that one more public Windows 8 test build will come before the code is gold. Right now, Windows 8 Release Preview will be available the first week of June. What? Microsoft no longer calls these things release candidates? Timing is tight, unless Windows & Windows Live president Steven Sinofsky and his team exude absolute confidence they can finalize code in time for autumn launch.

It's a narrow path from early June release candidate to August release to manufacturing to October launch, unless there are no major changes from the Consumer Preview released in February or last-minute show-stopping bugs. You can read this as sign that Windows 8 is rock-solid ready and that Sinofsky and team are absolutely certain about the operating system's readiness or that they need to stretch out the time as long as possible. The Consumer Preview came at the last possible milestone for Microsoft to ship this year, and the next one follows similar tight track.

Measuring Windows 7 Milestones

As I wrote nearly three months ago you can expect Windows 8 in October, or not at all this year. To get there, RTM must come no later than end of August.

By measure of Windows 7, its successor trails considerably behind development track for October, which is the last month to launch so that new PCs fill the channel before holiday sales begin in earnest. Microsoft released Windows 7 Beta 1 on Jan. 9, 2009. By measure of that milestone in 2012, Windows 8 Consumer Preview came about seven weeks later. Typically, Microsoft would have offered a second Windows 7 beta but went right to release candidate, on April 30, 2009. Windows 8 needs similar accelerated track to be ready for the holidays. Instead, we have late-April announcement about June release candidate.

Windows 7 RTM: July 22, 2009, about six weeks from release candidate. Early June is even longer between public preview and RC for Windows 8. Windows 7 launched on Oct. 22, 2009 -- or three months after RTM. By that measure, Windows 8 gold code should come in late July to make October release.

OEMs need time to test new Windows versions, put together software images and ship PCs into the channel. Even in this era of real-time manufacturing, retail remains the primary sales channel. PC manufacturers still need a good six weeks from final Windows code's release to manufacturing to actual launch -- a little longer to get PCs in stores. Ideally, then, Windows 8 must RTM by end of August to make October launch, which is best timeframe assuring the channel is stocked for Black Friday.

Problem: Windows 8 brings dramatic changes compared to its predecessor, particularly because of the aforementioned user interface changes -- touch-oriented Metro and legacy desktop, which nixes the Start Button and Menu and adds the Office Ribbon throughout. Customers, developers and hardware partners will have to adapt to these changes. The more time the better, and they may not have it.

Last Chance to RTM

The good news: Windows 8's development will only trail its predecessor's by about 5 weeks if Microsoft meets the early June milestone. That's a refreshing sign for October release, but bodes ill for customers hoping for major changes, particularly around the Metro UI. Reaction among BetaNews readers is largely negative, for example. It's now unlikely that changes will come, with such a late release candidate. If you don't like Metro, stick with Windows 7 or get used to it.

I believe that Microsoft can ship Windows 8 in time for the holidays. But the less time the ecosystem has to prepare the less likely truly exciting hardware designs and Metro-supporting applications will be ready for the holidays.

Still, there's sense to what I hope is going on at Microsoft. In the writing business, there are deadlines. A story is ready when the deadline comes, regardless of what more the editor or writer might want to change. That's good analogy for software development. The Windows ecosystem needs the operating system ready for holiday PCs. Windows 8 is ready enough when the deadline to ship comes -- and that's whatever Microsoft and partners decide when its to be, not predecessor operating systems.

Something else: Microsoft's announcement timing is brilliant, and I hope by design. Apple announces first calendar quarter earnings today. Today's Windows 8 announcement should silence some of the ridiculous pre-Apple earnings blathering that floods the InterWebs. To Steven Sinofsky, I offer thanks for dulling the Apple noise -- even for just a few hours.
Opera 12 gets opt-in hardware acceleration

Publié: avril 24, 2012, 3:22pm CEST par Mark Wilson

It is only a week since Opera 12 added support for cameras, and since then two new builds have been released that push the development of the browser even further. Performance is of utmost importance for every computer user, and the latest builds of Opera Next have been improved with the implementation of hardware acceleration. Interestingly, hardware acceleration is an opt-in feature.

A new DirectX backend is available instead of OpenGL and the hardware acceleration is used to not only improve the rendering time for pages, but also boosts the speed of the user interface. In addition to the performance gains that come from the implementation of this new feature, overall performance of the browser has also been tweaked and stability problems arising from the use of plugins have been addressed.

Opera has supported right-to-left (RTL) web pages for quite some time now, and the latest snapshot bring the same support to the program interface. If you have your language set to Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew or Urdu the RTL UI will be loaded for you automatically, effectively creating a mirror image of what is usual displayed, with the order of menus and buttons reversed.

A somewhat more minor change to the browser is the new icon. The change is nothing major, amounting to little more than a bit of spit and polish, but it is another step along the road to completion.

You can find out more and download a copy of the latest version of the browser by paying a visit to theOpera Next 12.00 build 1385 review page. There’s also a 64-bit version of the browser available.
SkyDrive user? You're about to lose two-thirds of your storage space

Publié: avril 24, 2012, 1:27am CEST par Ed Oswald

Microsoft on Monday launched a new version of SkyDrive, bringing the cloud-file sharing service to the desktop. This move did not come without a cost -- new users will have far less space, and current users only have a "limited time" to keep the generous storage the Redmond, Wash. company provides. But more on that a bit later.

The enhancements address problems with SkyDrive's browser-based interface which irk critics and customers. With desktop integration, cloud storage becomes a drag-and drop-process.

Microsoft is also pushing management and sharing enhancements to its mobile apps for iOS and Android. The desktop functionality comes via an application that sits on the system tray of OS X or in the taskbar on Windows.

Early adopters will welcome the changes, but many will make sacrifices to get them. Every user is now limited to 7GB of space by default, versus the 25GB of space the service launched with. That is a cut of more than two-thirds. If you want additional space, you're going to pay: an extra 20GB of space is $10 yearly, 50GB is $25, and 100GB is $50 per year.

"Since the current base of customers using SkyDrive tilts towards enthusiasts, we are confident that, as we expand the range of people using SkyDrive, this 7GB free limit will prove to be more than enough for even more people", Windows chief Steve Sinofsky says.

Sinofsky claims that 99.94 percent of current users use less than 7GB of space in order to justify the decrease. Furthermore, an overwhelming majority use 2GB or less. Right, but if most people use so little, why take it away. Microsoft loses little offering 25GB, but gains much from positive perceptions. After all, that huge amount raises Microsoft's cloud storage well above most competitors.

Not happy with the change? Users will be able to upgrade their storage for free back to the 25GB limit for a limited time, but must do so manually. Sinofsky nor Microsoft gives any timeline as to the expiration of the offer, but after that more storage will cost you. And if you aren't a current SkyDrive user -- or perhaps a Windows Live Mesh tester -- 7GB is all you're getting. Sorry, no extra free space for you.

"One of the challenges in building personal cloud storage for billions of people is scaling capacity and managing costs, while also meeting the needs of both enthusiasts and mainstream users", Sinofsky argues, deflecting the criticism towards unlimited storage services "with lots of strings attached". Microsoft seems to think that the freedom of use, such as the capability to upload file sizes up to 2GB, is what sets the service apart from the competition.

How does SkyDrive compare? Dropbox only offers 2GB of storage for free: 50GB of space is available for $99 annually and 100GB for $199. Google's rumored cloud storage service Google Drive is believed to offer only 5GB of free space. Microsoft is definitely ahead of the curve.

Despite SkyDrive's advantages, it does seem somewhat disappointing that Microsoft has decided to make its SkyDrive product only marginally more attractive than competing options. Sinofsky's long-winded post announcing the changes to the product seem like a lot of extra words just to say our service will have much less storage.

The question is: Wouldn't 25GB of storage now be more useful considering desktop integration is a key new feature? I think it's a safe bet people are about to use a whole lot more space now that it is easier than ever to share files to the SkyDrive cloud.

Photo Credit: Ovchynnikov Oleksii/Shutterstock
What happens when your online game does too well?

Publié: avril 24, 2012, 1:03am CEST par Robert Levitan

Indeed, these are the kinds of problems we would love to have, but when they actually occur we need solutions nonetheless. So, how do you handle the issues that occur when audience demand overwhelms the infrastructure you have provisioned to serve your content?

A few years ago, my company was approached by Latin Interactive Network (LIN), a publisher of online games across Latin America, including countries like Peru, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. LIN handles several successful MMOs in these territories, including the Spanish-language version of Audition Online, a unique free-to-play dance battle game. Audition is a big favorite, and in Latin America alone, the game is now played by half a million players per month. This is welcome news for LIN, of course, but not always so welcome for Audition gamers who may be stuck using outdated and underpowered infrastructure...

Not long ago, I wrote about the difficulty of expanding the online games business into Latin America, and I cited sluggish Internet speeds and failing downloads as one of the biggest obstacles to distribution. Audition Online, for example, has an installer client that is 2.2 GB, and daily patches ranging from 60MB to 200MB. LIN had been using a traditional Content Delivery Network (CDN) to push this data to their users, and every time a new patch went live, their CDN usage would spike.

Speeds would slow to a crawl and file transfers would drop as hundreds of thousands of users all attempted to fight over FTP connections. With only so much bandwidth to go around on the already-taxed Telefonica network, the CDN could only serve so many users at once, which was leading to failed patch deliveries, frustrated players and decreased user retention.

I’ve written before that ease of delivery is crucial to success in the F2P market. If a user hasn’t paid into your game yet, there is no commitment to keep them from walking away if they feel frustrated when trying to download. For LIN, suddenly having a game be “too popular” was catastrophic: the upper limit for their audience was being defined by the capacity of their CDN.

Pando was able to solve LIN’s specific problem by adding client-side patching to assist the overtaxed CDN servers. By distributing the high data volume across the network, rather than trying to force it all through a single main artery, LIN saw download speeds increase tenfold and the patch completion rate jumped to 99 percent. This in turn led to a larger audience, more concurrent users, and an overall increase of in-game purchases.

Adding secure client-side delivery is not the solution to everybody’s network problems. The ultimate lesson here is to remain flexible and be prepared to explore outside of traditional protocols.

To many people today, clicking a download link on a web page seems as simple as turning on a light switch or a water faucet. In truth, there are many variables affecting online media delivery, including concurrent demand, network capacity, and the physical location of CDN servers (just to name a few).

As the Internet and wireless networks become even more popular media distribution platforms and as cloud services expand, data volumes will climb exponentially and network capacity issues will arise. The solution may come in the form of different protocols, better compression, or eventually higher capacity networks. No matter which methods we come to rely on, there will always be periods of peak demand -- new game patches, prime-time video streaming, and more. We need flexible networks with elastic capacity to handle those moments.

We all want to deliver the next big MMO title. But even a blockbuster like Audition can only go so far if we can’t get it in front of our players.

Robert Levitan is CEO Pando Networks. Prior to founding Pando, he cofounded iVillage, Flooz.com and YearLook Enterprises. In between starting companies from scratch and some adventures in world travel, Levitan serves on the board of the Executive Council of New York and New York Cares, a service organization that coordinates volunteers who work with children, the homeless and the elderly.
You can use the new link to Dropbox feature like Megaupload (kinda)

Publié: avril 24, 2012, 12:00am CEST par Tim Conneally

Popular file storage and sharing service Dropbox on Monday announced users can now share the contents of their Dropbox via a direct link that anyone can open, even if they're not a Dropbox user.

The feature is noteworthy because it deviates slightly from the traditional Dropbox sharing model. Instead of sharing files between Dropbox users, this feature simply links to content and makes it viewable.

From the Dropbox Web interface, desktop interface, or mobile application, users click "Get link," and they can then share their folders and files on a gallery-style webpage where other users can view, but not edit, the contents. Linked users can view pictures, powerpoint presentations, and videos without having to download and open them separately.

Naturally, the big application here is streaming music and video files, and when you link an .mp3 or .mov file with this new feature, it's embedded in a browser-based player. Many other single file formats, however, are still not supported by the in-browser player and can be downloaded (FLAC files, for instance) and also compressed file archives. So for former Megaupload users looking for a free way to share their files with a big audience, Dropbox can now serve as an option.

However, Dropbox will turn the contents of your private account over to the authorities if it has to, so if sharing files is your thing, make sure you only share what you own!

Dropbox had the following to add: “Dropbox explicitly prohibits copyright abuse. We’ve put in place a number of measures to ensure that our sharing feature is not misused. For example, there’s a copyright flag on every page allowing for easy reporting, we place bandwidth limits on downloads, and we prohibit users from creating links to files that have been subject to a DMCA notice. We want to offer an easy way for people to share their life’s work while respecting the rights of others.”