Gregarius » BetaNews.Com » août 14, 2013

BetaNews.Com (13 non lus)

Google Maps unifies exploration, and you don't need to leave home

Publié: août 14, 2013, 9:40pm CEST par Alan Buckingham

Google Maps has become adventurous -- what began as mapping, turned into street view of roads around the world and then morphed to bigger things, like underwater dives and hikes down amazing trails. All of this could be found, though it needed to be searched, but now the company wishes to unify all of this data in one location.

From the oceans to the lowest depths of the Grand Canyon, the search giant's team has traversed many of the coolest and most remote locations around the globe. And, a new website, appropriately named "Views" collates this data into a single location, including such far-flung locals as the Great Barrier Reef and Mount Everest.

Also included is the Burj Kalifa -- though I do not think the team climbed it Tom Cruise-style. The search giant even lays out a bit of what to expect in the future with a "coming soon" that includes Venice and the Galapogos Islands, made famous by Charles Darwin.

"Our first two multimedia adventures enable you to experience the Canadian Arctic in Iqaluit, Canada, and the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE. We also invite you enjoy photos and videos from our past journeys to the Grand Canyon, the base camp of Mount Everest, the Amazon Basin, the Great Barrier Reef and the NASA Kennedy Space Center -- minus the extreme temperatures and long plane rides! If you're on the Views page for those specific collections, just click on the "About this place" button on the upper right hand corner", says Deanna Yick, Street View Program Manager at Google.

The team is nothing if not ambitious, but that certainly proves a good thing for armchair travelers. We can all experience locations that most will never see, and the more that are added the better it is for everyone.
Outlook.com is down -- Microsoft working on it [update]

Publié: août 14, 2013, 7:23pm CEST par Brian Fagioli

There are many things that make an email provider good -- features, spam blocking and of course, reliability. The latter is currently an issue, as the Outlook.com service is down.

As of 12:50pm EST, the web-based email service displays the following message: "We're having a problem accessing email. You might not be able to see all your email messages". It further states that, "We're working on the problem and will provide an update by August 14 2:00 PM. Thank you for your patience". This seems to be very widespread based on chatter around the Internet.

Microsoft is promising an update by 2pm (however, it does not specify a time zone) -- this implies that the service could be down longer than that. It may be extremely troubling for businesses that take advantage of Microsoft's services. Only yesterday, New York State announced it was moving to Office 365. Confidence in Microsoft could be impacted by this unfortunate event the longer it goes on.

Strangely, when attempting to log in, I was prompted to enter a security code that would be sent to me via text message. This was alarming to me and made me worry that my account may have been compromised. Unfortunately, that security code has not yet arrived...I am waiting Microsoft. When coupled with the down-time, my anxiety over my account safety is very high.

Are you experiencing this issue? Tell us in the comments.

Update: It seems to be working again for the moment, but the status page still says there are problems.

Update 2: Back down for writers here at BetaNews, including those in the US and Romania.

Update 3: Microsoft says the outage might be affecting mobile devices. Windows Phone is unable to sync with the attached Microsoft account, an issue which extends to the company's YouTube Windows Phone app as well.

Update 4: Outlook.com is back online for writers here at BetaNews (Brian Fagioli and Mihaita Bamburic).

Photo Credit: Lightspring/Shutterstock
Where do iPhones come from? The facts of Apple life

Publié: août 14, 2013, 4:26pm CEST par Ian Barker

With the upcoming release of the Jobs biopic Apple is set to be in the spotlight in coming weeks. It's timely then that the Finances Online website has released an interesting report tracing the iPhone’s supply chain.

It makes for fascinating reading. The rare earth minerals used in many of the phone’s components are 90 percent sourced in China and Inner Mongolia. Move up to the component level and the LCD panels, chipset, memory and batteries are all made in Korea. The iPhone 5's innovative display -- which eliminates a layer of glass -- is made by LG for example. The gyroscope that works out which way you’re holding the phone comes from STMicroelectronics, a French/Italian company.

You probably already knew that most iPhones are assembled in China (85 percent) by Foxconn among others. The reason for this is that China can respond much faster when it comes to hiring engineers and setting up new production lines to bring products to market fast.

In terms of jobs, Apple employs some 43,000 people in the US with a further 20,000 US employees based abroad. That pales into insignificance though against the 700,000 jobs involved in making Apple products around the world.

Does it matter where technology products are made? Would you be more likely to buy a smartphone that was manufactured locally? Let us know in the comments.
Microsoft unveils new Sculpt Desktop

Publié: août 14, 2013, 4:18pm CEST par Alan Buckingham

Microsoft may generally be thought of, and referred to, as a software maker, but the company continues to produce hardware -- keyboards and mice have been a staple of the line for nearly two decades, and were followed by the Xbox and tablets. Hardware has become a growing market for the company.

Now Microsoft unveils the latest in its line of desktop peripherals -- "The Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop is the latest evolution of Microsoft’s Natural line of ergonomic products which was first launched nearly 20 years ago in 1994", says Brandon Leblanc.

The Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop looks straight out of a science-fiction film, given the rather strange appearance of the keyboard -- there is a gap in the middle. The palm rest is cushioned, and the keyboard has a bit of a rise in the center. The keyboard is optimized for Windows and has hotkeys along the top for easy access to the charms menu in Windows 8, as well as media playback and snap controls.

Also included is a separate number pad and a dome-shaped mouse, a design Microsoft claims is to "reduce the contact between desktop surface and the underside of your hand, which helps minimize carpal tunnel pressure".

All of this will be available starting this month for $129. For those only interested in the mouse, it can be purchased separately for $59. There was no mention if the keyboard would also be sold individually. It's a pricey set, but may be worth it for those who require this for health reasons.
Ready your hard drives -- Windows 8.1 gets an official release date

Publié: août 14, 2013, 4:01pm CEST par Mark Wilson

A couple of days ago my colleague Wayne Williams looked at the new features in the latest leaked build of Windows 8.1 and now, hot on the heels of that, comes the announcement of the official release date for the OS refresh.

Set your alarm for 4am Pacific Time October 17 as this is when the much-anticipated update to Windows 8 will be unleashed on an eager public.

The announcement comes from Brandon LeBlanc on the Windows blog where he explains that the update will be made available free of charge to existing Windows 8 users through the Windows Store. The post also reveals that Windows 8.1 will be available preinstalled on new machines from October 18.

The final build number is not yet known, but we have already reached build 9471, showing there have been several version jumps from the official available preview (build 9431), and with just two months until the official release, it is unlikely that we'll see any noteworthy changes -- it's really just a case of ironing out the creases and adding a little spit and polish at this stage.

So, add the date to your calendar and set aside a couple of hours on the big day. Don’t forget that if you're already using the preview release of Windows 8.1 you're going to need to reinstall all of your apps afterwards.

Will the release of a finalized version of Windows 8.1 compel you to upgrade if you've been putting it off so far, or are you happy sticking with Windows 7 or XP?
Tracking tablet advertising reveals some interesting insights

Publié: août 14, 2013, 3:14pm CEST par Wayne Williams

The PC as we know it is dying, and tablets are unquestionably where the sales are right now. As a result, vendors and retailers are clamoring to pull in the consumers by ramping up their advertising spend and exposure.

In Q2 2013, according to data gathered by analyst firm gap intelligence, vendors and retailers placed a total of 771 tablet ads in print media in the US, up 266 from the same quarter last year, and while 83 percent of the adverts were for Android tablets, Windows devices made a big splash, accounting for 12 percent of all ads. When new products launch, or sales aren't great -- both true in this case -- it's quite typical to see an increase in ad spending in order to reach as many consumers as possible.

Gap intelligence tracks and captures Sunday retail ads in newspapers, free standing inserts and ROP (right off press) for the major retail chains and its findings show that while Walmart took the decision to place less adverts in the quarter -- just 12, down from 16 in Q2 2012 -- most retailers significantly increased their exposure.

Big-box store hhgregg topped the list of tablet ads by retailer with a whopping 162 adverts in Q2 2013, up from just 12 ads in Q2 2012. Staples placed 140 ads, 89 more than this time last year, and Fry’s Electronics placed 136 ads, up from 61.

While retailers place the advertisements, vendors such as Apple and Samsung pay them to include their brands in the ads each month.

In Q2 Samsung took the lead with a total of 228 ads, up 516 percent compared to last year. Amazon followed with 134 ads. Google, Microsoft and HP combined contributed 110 ads.

Apple, which usually avoids print media, placed 41 ads during the quarter, up from 13 in Q1 -- likely in an effort to balance the inevitable sales drop off caused by not introducing any new iPads this spring/summer.

Gap intelligence also recorded tablet print ads by size. 7 inch and smaller tablets accounted for 362 ads, while 10 inch and above featured in 294 ads. There were 115 ads for 8 and 9 inch tablets, the class which saw the largest growth (a 539 percent increase). This is consistent with Samsung and Amazon being the ad-spending leaders, as both firms make models in these sizes -- Note 8 and Fire HD 8.9.

Graphics credit: Gurpreet Kaur, industry analyst for gap intelligence
Ashampoo Home Designer improves startup wizard, adds new design tools

Publié: août 14, 2013, 3:10pm CEST par Nick Peers

Ashampoo has released Home Designer 2.0, a brand new version of its 3D home planning tool. The new release comes with a number of new features, from support for variable ceiling heights to customizable roof styles to help users plan, design and decorate their dream home both inside and out.

The program’s extended project wizard -- which aims to simplify the process of using the tool -- comes with a number of new steps in version 2.0, including the ability to enter project data such as location, planner and building contractor.

The wizard also supports editing the number of floors, each with their own adjustable height. Users can now also select the roof from pre-defined shapes or customize each roof side individually.

Home Designer’s catalogue gains a number of number 2D symbols to allow more detail to be added to two-dimensional views, and adds support for 2D angle dimensioning.

Also added are angle measurements, measurements through polygons and extended support for solar photovoltaic panels, with new grid input and additional 3D modules.

Solar support is also improved by the addition of shadow simulation tools, making it possible to specify the building’s location and orientation, then pick start/end times to track shadow distributions across a fixed timespan.

The new build also gains automatic area and length calculation for a number of elements, including roofs, eaves, gorges, ridges and verges, plus adds support for calculating area and volumes.

Ashampoo Home Designer 2.0 is available now as a free trial download for PCs with 1.2Ghz CPUs running Windows XP SP3 or later. The full version can be purchased for $29.99.
Hypervisor turns the public cloud into an enterprise test platform

Publié: août 14, 2013, 3:01pm CEST par Ian Barker

California-based Ravello Systems has released its Cloud Application Hypervisor. It may have a name straight out of sci-fi, but this product allows enterprises to use public cloud platforms to test their in-house applications.

Differences in storage, networking and virtualization techniques have previously prevented the use of the cloud as a practical test platform. Ravello's software makes any public cloud look and feel exactly like the enterprise data center from an application's perspective.

It uses software defined networking and storage, and an application framework. This means enterprises can easily create replicas of their in-house, multi-tier VMware or KVM based applications in any public cloud without the need to make any changes. Using Amazon Web Services, RackSpace or HP Cloud they can create multiple instances of an application for testing.

Navin R Thadani, SVP of products, Ravello Systems says, "For bursty workloads like development and test it does not make economic sense for enterprises to build internal data center capacity for peak usage, since on average, resource utilization may be as low as one percent. The public cloud sounds promising but is too different an environment, and still does not solve the infrastructure automation problem. Consequently testing is still mostly on-premise. It is rarely as frequent or as efficient as it needs to be. Hence, development cycles are far too slow".

The Ravello software has been in public beta since February and more than 2,000 enterprise users have replicated over 30,000 applications in leading public clouds representing more than 1 million CPU hours deployed.

Ravello's usage-based pricing model starts from $0.14 per hour for a 2 CPU, 4GB memory virtual system. This includes the cost of the underlying public cloud making it a cost-effective solution for providing extra test capacity.

Photo Credit: Andreas Weitzmann/Shutterstock
Microsoft's YouTube Windows Phone 8 app arrives back in Store, gets video upload

Publié: août 14, 2013, 1:20pm CEST par Mihaita Bamburic

Shortly after Microsoft released its native YouTube Windows Phone 8 app in early-May, Google sent the software giant a cease and desist letter, demanding the app's removal from Store. The reasons, according to the document, centered on three main features that Microsoft baked-in, namely content download, an ad-free user experience and forgoing playback restrictions. The app was pulled from Windows Phone Store in late-May, and replaced with the older iteration.

Good news! Late-yesterday, following a collaboration with Google, Microsoft quietly launched a compliant YouTube Windows Phone 8 app. "We've released an updated YouTube app for Windows Phone that provides the great experience our consumers expect while addressing the concerns Google expressed in May, including the addition of ads", says Microsoft in a statement issued to me. "We appreciate Google's support in ensuring that Windows Phones customers have a quality YouTube experience and look forward to continuing the collaboration".

And, just as I suspected, the latest offering brings a couple of noteworthy new features, among which the ability to upload content. Unsurprisingly, users will see in-app ads.

Videos can be shared on YouTube as public or private content, depending on the set privacy setting. Users have to agree to posting original content, and have the smartphone charging and connected to a Wi-Fi network, in order for the process to complete.

I have tested this feature by uploading a short clip, which I recorded using my Nokia Lumia 920. Users can choose the video category straight from the app, but will have to perform tweaks from the YouTube website control panel.

Microsoft also baked-in live video streaming, a feature which was previously unavailable in prior iterations and in other major third-party YouTube clients. The app also comes with search keyword suggestions and extends language support.

It is worth nothing that the ability to upload YouTube videos is not currently available in major third-party clients from Store, like Metrotube. Windows Phone content creators will have to install Microsoft's latest offering, for easy video uploads (without sending them through the provided email address).

YouTube is available to download from Windows Phone Store.

Microsoft claims third place in the smartphone race as BlackBerry hits reverse

Publié: août 14, 2013, 1:00pm CEST par Wayne Williams

Worldwide mobile phone sales totaled 435 million units in the second quarter of 2013, according to Gartner, notching up a moderate 3.6 percent increase over the 420 million units sold in the same period last year.

The big news however, is smartphone sales finally exceeded those of feature phones, with the former selling 225 million units, up 46.5 percent from the 153 million sold in the second quarter of 2012, and the latter managing just 210 million units for a 21 percent drop year-over-year.

Asia/Pacific, Latin America and Eastern Europe experienced the highest smartphone growth, while Samsung maintained the No. 1 position in the smartphone market, increasing its dominance with global sales of 71.381 million units, for a 31.7 percent market share, up 2 percent from this time last year.

Apple remains in second place with sales of 31.89 million units. Despite selling some three million more phones in the quarter compared to Q2 2012, its market share slid 4.6 percent to 14.2 percent.

LG takes the third vendor slot with 5.1 percent market share, ahead of Lenovo with 4.7 percent and ZTE with 4.3 percent.

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 2Q13 (Thousands of Units)

Company	2Q13 Units	2Q13 Market Share (%)	2Q12 Units	2Q12 Market Share (%)
Samsung	71,380.9	31.7	45,603.8	29.7
Apple	31,899.7	14.2	28,935.0	18.8
LG Electronics	11,473.0	5.1	5,827.8	3.8
Lenovo	10,671.4	4.7	4,370.9	2.8
ZTE	9,687.6	4.3	6,331.4	4.1
Others	90,213.6	40.0	62,704.0	40.8
Total	225,326.2	100.0	153,772.9	100.0

Source: Gartner (August 2013)

Microsoft hasn’t enjoyed much good news recently, but it has something to celebrate today as Gartner shows Windows Phone claiming third place in the smartphone operating system race with a 3.3 percent market share. However, Windows Phone didn’t so much overtake BlackBerry as roll slightly forward while the Canadian OS reversed past at speed. BlackBerry dropped 2.5 percent to take 2.7 percent this quarter.

"While Microsoft has managed to increase share and volume in the quarter, [it] should continue to focus on growing interest from app developers to help grow its appeal among users", Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner says.

Third place remains a very long way off the leaders though. iOS has 14.2 percent market share, while Android now totally dominates with an unassailable 79 percent, up a whopping 14.8 percent compared with this time last year.

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 2Q13 (Thousands of Units)

Operating System	2Q13 Units	2Q13 Market Share (%)	2Q12 Units	2Q12 Market Share (%)
Android	177,898.2	79.0	98,664.0	64.2
iOS	31,899.7	14.2	28,935.0	18.8
Microsoft	7,407.6	3.3	4,039.1	2.6
BlackBerry	6,180.0	2.7	7,991.2	5.2
Bada	838.2	0.4	4,208.8	2.7
Symbian	630.8	0.3	9,071.5	5.9
Others	471.7	0.2	863.3	0.6
Total	225,326.2	100.0	153,772.9	100.0

Source: Gartner (August 2013)

Combining all mobile phone sales, Nokia remains the second most successful vendor after Samsung. However, slowing demand for feature phones caused the Finnish firm to lose nearly 6 percent of its total worldwide market share compared with this time last year. However, it is enjoying success with its Lumia line. According to Gartner, sales of those devices grew 112.7 percent in the second quarter of 2013 thanks to an expanded portfolio. "With the recent announcement of the Lumia 1020, Nokia has built a wide portfolio of devices at multiple price points, which should boost Lumia sales in the second half of 2013", Mr. Gupta says, before sounding a word of caution. "However, Nokia is facing tough competition from Android devices, especially from regional and Chinese manufacturers which are more aggressive in terms of price points".

Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 2Q13 (Thousands of Units)

Company	2Q13 Units	2Q13 Market Share (%)	2Q12 Units	2Q12 Market Share (%)
Samsung	107,526.0	24.7	90,432.1	21.5
Nokia	60,953.7	14.0	83,420.1	19.9
Apple	31,899.7	7.3	28,935.0	6.9
LG Electronics	17,016.4	3.9	14,345.4	3.4
ZTE	15,280.7	3.5	17,198.2	4.1
Huawei	11,275.1	2.6	10,894.2	2.6
Lenovo	10,954.8	2.5	6,821.7	1.6
TCL Communication	10,134.3	2.3	9,355.7	2.2
Sony Mobile Communications	9,504.7	2.2	7,346.8	1.7
Yulong	7,911.5	1.8	4,016.2	1.0
Others	152,701.5	35.1	147,354.60	35.1
Total	435,158.4	100.0	420,120.0	100.0

Source: Gartner (August 2013)

Gartner’s latest report "Market Share Analysis: Mobile Phones, Worldwide, 2Q13" is available on the firm’s website.

Photo Credit: Rashevskyi Viacheslav/Shutterstock

Received a badly formatted email on your mobile? 75 percent of you will delete it

Publié: août 14, 2013, 11:30am CEST par Mark Wilson

A survey by Constant Contact shows that mobile devices are more important than ever, particularly to those under the age of 30. The study reveals that 80 percent of smartphone owners say it is "extremely important to be able to read emails" on their mobile devices. But marketers take note -- if an email doesn’t display correctly, it's highly likely it will just get deleted.

High mobile email usage is hardly a revelation in itself, but the way the figures break down is interesting. Predictably it is the 18-30 age bracket that has the highest mobile usage, with 88 percent of users turning to their mobile for emails.

Move up through age ranges and the number starts to drop, but not as much as you might think; 85 percent of 30-39 year olds, 74 percent of 40-49 year olds and, perhaps most shocking of all, 71 percent of those aged between 50 and 59, and 66 percent of those over 60.

There are very few people, it seems, who have not used their mobile device for reading emails. In the youngest age range, more than half (52 percent) use a mobile device as their primary source for email -- move up an age bracket and this only drops slightly to 48 percent.

There are slight variations between platforms. iPhone owners are more likely to open emails on their mobile (82 percent), compared to users of other mobile brands (72 percent).

But what is interesting about the research is the way in which it demonstrates how emails need to take mobile viewing into account. We all complain about the amount of spam we receive, but marketing emails play an important role in the economy -- cast a wide net and a few new customers are sure to be picked up at virtually no cost.

Sadly for advertisers, a massive 75 percent of those surveyed said that they are highly likely to delete emails they are unable to read on their smartphone. The viewing of emails on smaller screens is something marketers need to take into account. I've stopped counting how many press releases, product announcements and other emails I've received that are just not suited for easy reading on the screen of my Android phone.

I'll persist though. It's very rare that an email actually cannot be viewed on my mobile, although it may be awkward. If things are too difficult to make out, or require too much zooming and scrolling, I'll save the message for later and look at it on my computer. It looks as though I'm in a minority however.

With almost half of respondents (49 percent) saying they are likely to click on links contained in emails sent to them by businesses, maybe it's time for high mobile usage to be looked at differently. It's not just a way for developers to sell apps, or for consumers to be able to access the web on the move. Mobile users have changed a lot over the years; perhaps it's time for advertisers to try to keep pace.

Photo Credit: bloomua/Shutterstock
New York State picks up Microsoft's Office 365

Publié: août 14, 2013, 4:14am CEST par Brian Fagioli
I'm a proud New Yorker -- I love my state. However, it has been a bit embarrassing lately with the scandalous Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer dominating the local and national news. Today, Governor Cuomo and Microsoft announce some much needed positive news -- New York State has selected Office 365 for its 120,000 employees. This is good news, as it will reportedly save New Yorkers $3 million per year!

"Our agreement with Microsoft [...] will make collaboration among state agencies easier and increase productivity, in addition to saving approximately $3 million annually for taxpayers. This agreement shows the progress we are making in our efforts to make state government more resourceful while delivering results for New Yorkers", says Governor Cuomo.

According to Microsoft COO Kevin Turner, "New York and Microsoft share the same goals -- to make state employees more productive, to ensure continuity of service and operations in times of emergency or natural disasters, and to save taxpayer dollars through a move to efficient and secure cloud technologies".

Office 365 will provide the state with the following benefits:
- A standardized platform for email, document creation, calendaring, contacts, and improved collaboration along with the ability to share files more efficiently across state executive agencies.
- Increased mailbox size of 25 gigabytes. (The current email capacity to these state agencies is 500 megabytes.)
- Secure access to email and files virtually anywhere, anytime, from multiple devices including laptops, smartphones, and tablets. This will help mobile workers and remote employees to provide valuable services to the state’s residents.
- Always up to date Office applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and Publisher, available from multiple devices, rather than restricted solely to a desktop computer.
The move to Office 365 is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2013 -- a lofty goal, to say the least, for transitioning an entire state. One thing is for sure; there will soon be 120,000 potential new users of the Microsoft Office app for iPhone and Android phones, so Microsoft benefits in yet another way.

Image Credit: JCElv / Shutterstock
Microsoft wants you to help save the environment

Publié: août 14, 2013, 2:38am CEST par Alan Buckingham

Despite a pocket of stubborn deniers, the environment has a problem, and many of today's devices do not help this issue. No I am not going to preach Al Gore to you, but its a real-world issue that needs solving and Microsoft, a company built on modern technology is at least looking at ways of helping.

The company announces a new initiative designed at helping the cause. "Today Microsoft officially launched a new challenge and website that helps customers – companies and consumers alike – make environmentally conscious decisions when purchasing a new PC. The website features a short challenge and a five-minute video that helps people better understand the environmental impacts associated with buying, using and disposing of a PC", the software maker stated in an email today. The new site is designed to help with buying, using and disposing of technology, and full details were announced on Microsoft's Green Blog by Josh Henretig.

"The site has both video and text about environmentally friendly PCs, their use, and their disposal. It has links to green IT standards, including EPEAT, e-Stewards, WEEELabex, Energy Star, and R2 Solutions", Henretig points out. "We have policies in place on buying greener PCs, configuring them to use the power-saving features in the Windows operating system and disposing of old machines properly so they don't end up in landfills".

While some may poke fun at the company -- as one of the bigger power consumers in the world -- at touting environmental friendliness, Microsoft has been moving in this direction for some time, though it is far from a perfect solution.

It's a start, however much more needs to be done soon, before we cross the point of no return. Microsoft, Apple and Google are all at least showing some effort.

Image Credit: WDG Photo/Shutterstock