Microsoft plans celebratory debut of Windows 10

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft on Monday announced plans for a celebratory debut this month of Windows 10 operating software designed to spread the US software titan’s offerings across a broad range of devices.

Word that Windows 10 would be welcomed in grand style came less than a week after Microsoft said it will cut 7,800 jobs and write down the value of its struggling mobile phone division acquired last year from Nokia by some $7.6 billion.

The announcement represented the second major round of layoffs in a year for the US tech giant, which cut some 18,000 jobs a year ago as part of its effort to integrate the Finnish-based phone group.

Microsoft said in a statement that it would “restructure the company’s phone hardware business to better focus and align resources.”

Microsoft will make the latest version of its Windows operating system will available July 29 for computer and tablet users.

Insider events

Special events are planned in 13 cities around the world in tribute to those who took part in a Windows software test period, Microsoft executive Yusuf Mehdi said in a blog post.

“We will celebrate the unprecedented role our biggest fans – more than five million Windows Insiders,” Mehdi said.

“These celebrations will offer hands-on opportunities, experiential demos, entertainment and opportunities to meet the Windows team.”

The list of cities where Windows 10 launch events will take place includes Beijing, Sydney, Tokyo, London, New Delhi, Sao Paolo, and New York.

The new Windows 10 software will come as a free upgrade to people who already use Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 and will be available in 190 countries.

Windows 10 will come pre-installed on Microsoft-compatible computers and tablets from July 29 and will be available for purchase later in the year.

The move marks a major launch for Microsoft, after the relative failure of Windows 8, which was rolled out in 2013.

High hopes

Microsoft has high hopes for Windows 10, which it wants to see installed in a billion devices around the world by 2018.

Windows 10 boasts a common base on which developers will be able to build apps that work on smartphones, tablets, PCs and desktops, and even Xbox.

As part of the launch celebration, Microsoft will invest $10 million to support missions of nonprofit groups including Malala Fund, CARE, Code.org, Special Olympics, and The Nature Conservancy.

While it still dominates the market for personal computers, Microsoft has struggled in the market for mobile devices, the majority of which are powered by the Google Android system or Apple’s iOS.

Satya Nadella, who became CEO in 2014, is seeking to reinvigorate a company that had been the world’s largest but which has lagged in recent years as Google and Apple have taken leadership of the tech sector.

source: interaksyon.com

Windows 10 coming in 190 countries, 111 languages

WASHINGTON — Microsoft says its new Windows 10 operating system will be coming “this summer” in 190 countries and 111 languages.

In a blog post late Tuesday, Microsoft executive vice president Terry Myerson said the operating system designed for multiple devices would also have a “small footprint” for connected devices.

“We continue to make great development progress and shared today that Windows 10 will be available this summer in 190 countries and 111 languages,” he said.

Microsoft has yet to provide a precise date for the launch of the operating system, which is aimed at powering PCs,smartphones and also connected devices such as bank machines and medical equipment.

“For the first time, a new version of Windows for small footprint IoT (Internet of Things) devices will be available — for free — when Windows 10 launches,” Myerson said.

“Windows 10 will offer versions of Windows for a diverse set of IoT devices, ranging from powerful devices like ATMs and ultrasound machines, to resource constrained devices like gateways.”

Microsoft is also working with fast-growing Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi to test Windows 10 on its devices.

The US tech giant also announced partnerships with Chinese-based Tencent and Lenovo to help customers in China upgrade to Windows 10.

The company also said Tuesday that Windows 10 will allow users to sign in to a device without a password by using biometrics, including facial recognition.

source: interaksyon.com

Flaws could expose users of privacy-protecting software, researchers say

SAN FRANCISCO — Researchers have found a flaw that could expose the identities of people using a privacy-oriented operating system touted by Edward Snowden, just two days after widely used anonymity service Tor acknowledged a similar problem.

The most recent finding concerns a complex, heavily encrypted networking program called the Invisible Internet Project, or I2P. Used to send messages and run websites anonymously, I2P ships along with the specialized operating system “Tails,” which former U.S. spy contractor Snowden used to communicate with journalists in secret.

Though a core purpose of I2P is to obscure the Internet Protocol addresses of its roughly 30,000 users, anyone who visits a booby-trapped website could have their true address revealed, making it likely that their name could be exposed as well, according to researchers at Exodus Intelligence.

“People shouldn’t trust something wholeheartedly just because Snowden says,” Exodus Vice President Aaron Portnoy told Reuters. “Generally, we assume the things we can find, others can find.”

Tails launches from a DVD or USB stick and is designed to maintain privacy even when a computer or network has been hacked.

Much more than I2P, Tails relies on Tor, the better-known anonymity system that it uses for all software connections to the Internet. But leaks in the past year have shown that Tor is also a major target for the U.S. National Security Agency and others, and researchers at Carnegie Mellon University said they could have identified hundreds of thousands of Tor users.

Those researchers planned to detail their technique next month at the security conference Black Hat. After Tor developers complained to Carnegie Mellon, the university told Black Hat to cancel the talk.

Tor programmer Roger Dingledine conceded that the researchers had found a flaw, and he said his team was now working to fix it before any public disclosure exposes dissidents and other types of users on Tor to greater risk of attack.

The I2P flaw will likewise be fixed, in what a spokesman for the I2P project called the “near future.” In the meantime, he said, users should disable the programming language JavaScript.

Tails did not respond to an email seeking comment. It was not clear how many Tails users would be vulnerable, since the I2P application does not launch automatically when the operating system is opened. The I2P spokesman said a user would have to have chosen to run I2P to be vulnerable.

Exodus is one of a dozen or more companies known to sell secret security flaws to intelligence agencies, law enforcement and other customers in a controversial marketplace.

No system is failsafe

But in this case, Exodus alerted I2P and Tails to the problem and said it would not divulge the details to customers until the problem has been fixed. Portnoy declined to say what the company would do if a government client asked him to find a similar flaw in the future.

The Tails and Tor episodes show that no anonymity system is failsafe, Portnoy said, and those in jeopardy should focus on compartmentalizing their efforts so that a single breach would not expose everything about them.

“Tor works for most purposes, but a determined adversary will always find a way,” he said.

In one such high-stakes case, the FBI used a flaw in a Firefox Web browser that came bundled with Tor to identify a man suspected of hosting child pornography, according to Irish media reports.

Leaked NSA documents show that the NSA logged the IP addresses of many Tor users and may have scanned emails for users living outside of the United States and its four closest intelligence allies, German media reported this month.

source: interaksyon.com

Apple offers free OS upgrades for life

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc on Tuesday offered free upgrades for life on its operating system and business software, and unveiled thinner iPads and faster Mac computers ahead of a competitive holiday shopping season.

The debut of the one-pound iPad Air and MacBook Pro with sharper ‘retina’ display repeats a pattern of recent launches with improvements in existing lines rather than totally new products, and Apple shares fell 0.3 percent for the day.







Apple said upgrades to its Mac operating system and iWork software suite, which compete with Microsoft Corp’s Excel, Word and other applications, will now be offered for all MacBooks and Mac computers.

That brings Apple’s model of free system software upgrades on phones and tablets to the computer market, where Apple is still the underdog to Microsoft’s Windows.

Apple may be trying to safeguard its grip on mobile software as Microsoft revs up its Windows-powered Surface Pro, which runs applications, such as Word or Excel, that are the standard for business customers, analysts said.

“We are turning the industry on its ear, but this is not why we’re doing it,” Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook told media and technology executives at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center.

“We want our customers to have our latest software.”

The market is awash in inexpensive tablets running Google Inc’s Android software, but the company may be focused on fending off a threat from the high end.

“In the tablet PC market, they do think Microsoft is a bigger threat than Android,” said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi. “The iPad Air will compete with Surface Pro, not some rinky-dink Android tablet.”

Gartner estimates that Apple’s share of the global tablet market will slip to 47.2 percent in 2014, with Android-based tablets just overtaking Apple’s this year. The IT research outfit expects Microsoft tablets to grab 3.4 percent of the market this year, double the 1.7 percent forecast for 2013.



Pressure

Microsoft gets 65 percent of its Windows revenue, which totaled $19.2 billion last fiscal year, from PC manufacturers which put the system on its machines, and 35 percent from other sources, chiefly people and businesses buying its software separately to install themselves.

The latest version of Windows, when bought separately to install on an old computer, starts at $120 for a home version and goes up to $200 for the full ‘Pro’ version. The latest Windows 8.1 upgrade was free for customers running Windows 8.

Apple’s product launches on Tuesday were evolutionary, with the new iPads equipped with faster processors and better screens. Cook, at an industry conference in May, had hinted at “several more game changers” from Apple which could include wearable computers, but had not given a time frame.

“As always with Apple, expectations on systematic breakthrough hardware innovations are irrational,” said Forrester analyst Thomas Husson said. “Apple is good at inventing new products and at maximizing profitability of its product range over time through software innovations and clever marketing.”

Apple’s new iPad Air – its full-size tablet – is about 20 percent thinner than the previous generation of tablets, weighs one pound and starts at $499. It will go on sale on November 1.

The iPad mini now has a “retina” high-resolution screen and starts at $399, compared with $329 for the previous mini model. The two new tablets would face stiff competition, with Microsoft, Nokia and Amazon.com Inc all plugging rival devices in coming months.

Apple also showed off a new Mac Pro, a premium and high-powered cylindrical desktop computer that will be assembled in United States. It had shown the computer at a previously event.

For the first, Apple will launch the new iPads simultaneously in the United States and China, its biggest market, which is also a key growth region.

Apple, which jumpstarted the tablet computing market in 2010 with the first iPad, has already come under increasing pressure from cheaper devices ranging from Amazon’s Kindle Fire to Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s Note.

But while Apple is ceding market share to rivals, its superior library of apps and content should safeguard its lead for years to come, analysts say.

Longer term however, investors hope to see real device innovation from a company that has not unveiled a new breakthrough product in years.

Cook on Tuesday dismissed the competition as directionless.

“Our competition is different: they’re confused,” he said. “Now they’re trying to make PCs into tablets and tablets into PCs. Who knows what they’ll do next?”

“We have a very clear direction and a very ambitious goal. We still believe deeply in this category and we’re not slowing down on our innovation.”

source: interaksyon.com

Android mobile main target for malware — US security agencies

SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc’s Android, the dominant mobile operating system, is by far the primary target for malware attacks, mostly because many users are still using older versions of the software, according to a study by the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Android was a target for 79 percent of all malware threats to mobile operating systems in 2012 with text messages representing about half of the malicious applications, according to the study from the government agencies, which was published by Public Intelligence website.

Google did not respond to a request for comment. DHS declined to comment.

By comparison, about 19 percent of malware attacks were targeted at Nokia’s Symbian system and less than 1 percent each at Apple Inc’s iOS software, Microsoft Corp’s Windows and BlackBerry Ltd.

Android continues to be a “primary target for malware attacks due to its market share and open source architecture,” said the study, which was addressed to police, fire, emergency medical and security personnel.

source: interaksyon.com

New Windows operating system sent to computer makers

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft on Tuesday began sending a revamped version of Windows to makers of computers, smartphones or tablets powered by the software.

“We’ve hit an important milestone for Microsoft,” Windows team executive Antoine Leblond said in a blog post.

“In many ways, this marks a new day for Microsoft, reflecting a number of rapid-release firsts.”

Developers of applications tailored to run on Windows devices were irked, however, to find out that they will not get their hands on the finished version of Windows 8.1 until it hits the market in October.


In the past, developers had early access to new versions of Windows to allow time to make sure their applications work with the software.

“Seriously, has Microsoft fallen off its rocker?” a developer asked rhetorically in a chat forum below Leblond’s blog post.

“This decision is yet another that leaves me questioning the judgment of Microsoft’s current management.”

Microsoft in June provided developers with a preview version of the “re-blended” Windows 8 operating system released late last year.

Windows 8.1 incorporated feedback from users and developers, and came with the promise that the US software giant was speeding up its release cycle to adapt to the dizzying pace of innovation in consumer technology.

“Windows 8.1 is a significant update,” Leblond said.

“As we consider the code we just handed off, and the new intuitive and fluid computing experience it provides — anytime, anywhere, across all devices — we’re confident we made the right bet.”

Windows 8.1 remains true to the vision of an operating system tuned for touch-screen controls and multi-gadget lifestyles increasingly revolving around tablets and smartphones, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft is under pressure to adapt to a huge shift in how people engage with computers.

Smartphones and tablets have vanquished the days when people devoted the bulk of computer time to Windows-powered desktop or laptop machines.

The overhauled Windows 8 operating system released in November was designed to power the array Internet-linked devices.

Better adapting to the shifting Internet landscape is believed to be among the reasons behind the unexpected announcement last week that Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer will retire within 12 months.

“There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time,” Ballmer said Friday in a written release.

“My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our company’s transformation to a devices and services company. We need a CEO who will be here longer term for this new direction.”

Ballmer took over as CEO in 2000 from co-founder Bill Gates, a classmate and friend from their days at Harvard University in the 1970s.

While its Windows software is used on the vast majority of personal computers, Microsoft has had little impact in the fast-growing segments of tablets and smartphones.

source: interaksyon.com

BlackBerry plans security feature for Android, iPhone

TORONTO — BlackBerry will offer technology to separate and make secure both work and personal data on mobile devices powered by Google Inc’s Android platform and by Apple Inc’s iOS operating system, the company said on Thursday.

The new feature could help BlackBerry sell high-margin services to enterprise clients even if many, or all, of their workers are using smartphones made by BlackBerry’s competitors. That may be crucial for the company as it has lost a vast amount of market share to the iPhone and to Android devices, such as Samsung Electronics Co’s Galaxy line.

Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said he expects BlackBerry’s device management software to gain traction this year, and boost revenue next year.

“Supporting devices with the best, most secure, and easiest-to-use mobile solution should enable RIM to transform into what we believe is an attractive model,” he said in a note to clients.

The offering could help BlackBerry shore up its profitable services business. BlackBerry’s shares plunged in December after it said it would change the way it charges for services, cutting fees for customers that do not need advanced security and other enhanced features.

The new Secure Work Space feature will be available before the end of June, and will be managed through BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, the platform that allows BlackBerry’s corporate and government clients to handle devices using different operating systems on their networks.

BlackBerry said the feature fences off corporate email, calendar, contacts, tasks, memos, web browsing and document editing from personal apps and content, which could be less secure.

Balancing act

In a bid to regain market share and return to profit, BlackBerry introduced a new line of smartphones powered by its BlackBerry 10 operating system earlier this year.

The touch screen version, dubbed the Z10, is on sale in more than 20 countries, while a device called the Q10, with a physical keyboard, will be available in April.

The new devices have a feature called Balance, which keeps corporate and personal data separate. It allows information technology departments to manage the corporate content on a device, while ensuring privacy for users, who can store and use personal apps and content on the same phone without corporate oversight.

With Secure Work Space, “we’re extending as many of these (Balance) features as possible to other platforms,” David Smith, BlackBerry’s head of mobile enterprise computing, said in a statement.

BlackBerry’s move comes as Samsung, whose Galaxy devices have gained great popularity, attempts to make itself a more viable option for business customers with security features such as Samsung Knox and SAFE, or Samsung for Enterprise.

BlackBerry said Secure Work Space means clients would not need to configure and manage expensive virtual private network (VPN) infrastructure in order to give workers’ devices access to data and applications that reside behind corporate firewalls.

“Secure Work Space also offers the same end-to-end encryption for data in transit as we have offered on BlackBerry for many years, so there is no need for a VPN,” Peter Devenyi, head of enterprise software, said in an interview.

Selling service

The new feature could also help stem declines in BlackBerry’s service revenue. That business has long been a cash cow for BlackBerry because of the large clients that pay to use its extensive network and security offerings.

However, the company has been under pressure to reduce its infrastructure access fees, and opted to do so during the transition to BlackBerry 10. Due to the changes, BlackBerry’s service revenue is expected to decline over the course of this year.

Giving its large array of corporate clients the ability to manage BlackBerry devices, along with Android smartphones and iPhones on their networks might encourage both corporate and government clients to continue to pay for and use BlackBerry’s device management services.

BlackBerry plans to report quarterly results on March 28.

Last week, Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said sales of the Z10 had surpassed BlackBerry’s expectations in emerging markets such as India, where cheaper entry-level phones are typically popular.

On Wednesday, the company said it had received an order for 1 million BlackBerry 10 smartphones – the largest order it has ever had from a single customer – and its shares jumped.

source: interaksyon.com

HP sells webOS operating system to LG Electronics

SAN FRANCISCO – Hewlett-Packard Co said on Monday it will sell the webOS operating system to South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, unloading the smartphone software it acquired through a $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm in 2010.

LG will use the operating software, used in now-defunct Palm smartphones years ago, for its “smart” or Internet-connected TVs. The Asian electronics company had worked with HP on WebOS before offering to buy it outright.

Under the terms of their agreement, LG acquires the operating software’s source code, associated documentation, engineering talent, various associated websites, and licenses under HP’s intellectual property including patents covering fundamental operating system and user interface technology.

HP will retain the patents and all the technology relating to the cloud service of webOS, HP Chief Operating Officer Bill Veghte said in an interview.

“As we looked at it, we saw a very compelling IP that was very unique in the marketplace,” he said, adding that HP has already had a partnership with LG on webOS before the deal was announced.

“As a result of this collaboration, LG offered to acquire the webOS operating system technology,” Veghte said.

Skott Ahn, President and CTO, LG Electronics, said the company will incorporate the operating system in the Smart TV line-up first “and then hopefully all the other devices in the future.”

Both companies declined to reveal the terms of the deal.

LG will keep the WebOS team in Silicon Valley and, for now, will continue to be based out of HP offices, Ahn said.

HP opened its webOS mobile operating system to developers and companies in 2012 after trying to figure out how to recoup its investment in Palm, one of the pioneers of the smartphone industry.

The company had tried to build products based on webOS with the now-defunct TouchPad tablet its flagship product.

HP launched and discontinued the TouchPad in 2010, a little over a month after it hit store shelves with costly fanfare after it saw poor demand for a tablet priced on par with Apple’s dominant iPad.

WebOS is widely viewed as a strong mobile platform, but has been assailed for its paucity of applications, an important consideration while choosing a mobile device.

source: interaksyon.com

Samsung to ship 19 million Windows 8 computers this year: executive

NEW DELHI — Samsung Electronics Co Ltd will ship 19 million laptop computers and tablets operating on Microsoft Corp’s new Windows 8 operating system this year, said Jin Park, vice president of the IT solutions business at Samsung.

Microsoft, the world’s largest software company, launched its new-look, touch-friendly Windows 8 earlier this year to grip customers’ imagination, as it looks to regain ground lost to Apple Inc and Google Inc in mobile computing and shake up the moribund PC market.

source: interaksyon.com

Microsoft pushes new Windows to developers

SEATTLE — Days after launching Windows 8, Microsoft Corp is mounting a strong campaign to win over the software developers it needs to kick-start its new operating system.

A lack of apps is Microsoft’s Achilles heel as it attempts to catch Apple Inc and Google Inc in the rush toward mobile computing.

Windows 8, the new Surface tablet and a range of Windows-based phones – all unveiled in the past week – are designed to close that gap, but the world’s largest software company still needs to convince developers to recreate the thriving ‘ecosystem’ that made PCs so successful.

“Please go out and write lots of applications,” Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer pleaded with 2,000 developers on Tuesday, kicking off an annual, four-day meeting at its campus near Seattle.

The event, called ‘Build,’ is the equivalent of Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference and Google’s I/O event.

Microsoft gave each paying attendee one of its Surface tablets and 100 gigabytes of free space on its SkyDrive online storage service. On top of that, handset partner Nokia threw in a free Lumia 920 smartphone running Windows Phone 8.

The unprecedentedly generous give-away signals the intent of what Microsoft openly calls “evangelism.” Most developers at the meeting, who paid up to $2,000 to attend, are already converted to the Windows religion. But this year there is a feeling that Microsoft can re-establish itself as a relevant platform for developers.

“The sessions are overflowing. Everybody wants to learn,” said Greg Lutz, product manager at development tools company ComponentOne, who is attending the conference.

“The Surface is really exciting. It’s been interesting to see people that would normally be critics of Microsoft surprised to see how good it is,” said Lutz, whose company makes features that developers can use in apps, such as calendars or charts.

Microsoft recognizes it needs apps to flesh out its new online Windows Store and make Windows 8 machines more attractive to users, said Russ Whitman, chief strategy officer at Ratio Interactive, a design agency that helps companies create apps.

“The catalog (of apps) is where they are weak, there’s no doubt,” he said. “But if Microsoft stays focused on quality not quantity, they can win.”

Developer doubts

When Windows 8 launched on Friday, some major content providers had prominent apps in the Windows store, such as Netflix Inc, the New York Times and Rovio’s Angry Birds Space. But big names such as Facebook and Twitter were missing.

Twitter moved to rectify that on Tuesday, announcing that a native Windows app would be rolled out “in the months ahead.” Dropbox, a fast-growing cloud storage service, also announced it would soon have a Windows app, as did online payment firm PayPal and sports network ESPN.

But Facebook, which now has more than 1 billion users, has not yet made public any plans for a Windows app, despite the fact Microsoft is a minor shareholder.

And Microsoft still has to overcome indifference from many developers who do not see demand from users or simply do not have the resources to build Windows apps alongside iOS and Android.

“Windows 8 is getting good reviews and the tile user interface is a great fit with our geo-visual content,” said Jason Karas, CEO at website Trover, where users can share photos of interesting discoveries. “It’s on the roadmap for Trover, but we are still a very lean team, so we’re hesitant to support a third platform until we have all the innovations we want to see in iPhone and Android in place.”

Microsoft has yet to persuade other influential online services, for example car-rental firm Zipcar or real estate information firm Zillow, to develop for Windows 8.

To get more developers on board, Microsoft is spending this week demonstrating how it is making it easier to develop apps for Windows and get them into the real world.

A key part of that is a new set of tools tying in its Azure cloud service, which allows Windows apps to easily harness data stored in remote servers.

“Some of the new changes are pretty incredible and are going to make developing, especially some of the mobile apps, much easier,” said Mike Cousins, a software developer following the conference by webcast from Calgary, Canada.

“It just makes it super-easy to integrate mobile clients into your application,” said Cousins, who is developing Shuttr, a site for photographers to display and sell their work. “It’s been reduced from probably a week’s work to minutes.”

400 million new machines

Microsoft’s best argument to developers is the sheer size of the Windows user base.

Microsoft sold 4 million upgrades to Windows 8 in its first four days, a mere fraction of the 670 million or so machines running Windows 7. Ballmer said there would be 400 million new devices running Windows next year, including PCs, tablets and phones, and the company would be marketing heavily to consumers.

That is an attractive audience for developers, and Whitman at Ratio Interactive said he saw many new faces at Microsoft’s event this week who previously were more interested in web-based apps and other platforms.

“There’s a new generation of developers that can build on Windows 8 that have been building using JavaScript and HTML,” he said. “Seeing some of those developers show up and talk about building apps using other languages is pretty cool. It’s a whole different group than Microsoft has traditionally been able to court.”

One Wall Street analyst said developers may even be tempted to switch back to Microsoft after working with Apple’s iOS platform.

“There does seem to be some excitement about the new operating system and many of the new devices that are coming to market,” said Jason Maynard, an analyst at Wells Fargo Securities. “We have heard some developers talk about ‘re-Microsofting’ and moving from their Macs for app development.”

Cousins said that once developers see the user base for Windows 8 grow, the momentum will start to have an effect.

“All the new PCs people buy will be Windows 8, and people will start demanding Windows 8 apps from companies, and then they will start making them,” he said. “I think we’ll see a wave of apps coming out pretty soon.”

source: interaksyon.com

Microsoft profit slips as PCs fizzle; Windows 8 awaited

SEATTLE — Microsoft Corp’s quarterly profit fell a greater-than-expected 22 percent, as sales of computers running its Windows operating system dipped and some revenue was deferred ahead of upcoming releases of its core Windows and Office products.

The sharp decline surprised investors, who had underestimated the effect of weak personal computer sales, sending Microsoft’s shares down 1.3 percent in after-hours trading.

“To us it seems like the macro conditions certainly deteriorated and no tech company will be immune to it,” said Trip Chowdhry, analyst at Global Equities Research.

Earlier on Thursday Google Inc reported sharply lower profit amid slowing advertising, following downbeat reports from Intel Corp and International Business Machines Corp this week.

Sales of PCs are expected to fall this year for the first time since 2001, according to research firm IHS, due to the weak economy and inability of the latest crop of lightweight laptops to compete with Apple Inc’s iPad.

Microsoft is betting the release of touch-friendly Windows 8 will rev up sales of PCs, laptops and Windows-compatible tablets as soon as it launches next week, and break Microsoft’s heavy reliance on PC sales for profit.

“I don’t control the macro-environment, but there’s a huge opportunity in the explosion of devices,” Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein said in an interview. “There’s demand for compelling devices and a connected set of cloud experiences. That’s what Windows 8 is all about.”

Steep dip

Microsoft, the world’s largest software company, said fiscal first quarter profit fell to $4.47 billion, or 53 cents per share, from $5.74 billion, or 68 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Wall Street had expected earnings of 56 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales fell 8 percent to $16.01 billion, largely caused by the dip in demand for personal computers running Windows, as consumers held off new purchases in the tight economy or opted to buy tablet devices instead.

The revenue decline was exaggerated by Microsoft’s deferral of some $1.36 billion in revenue, chiefly from its Windows unit, which it will regain next quarter after Windows 8 is launched.

Analysts, anticipating the dip in PC sales and accounting for the deferred revenue, had called for sales of $16.4 billion.

On the positive side for Microsoft, its fast-growing server and tools business – whose datacenter ‘cloud’ services are in high demand – posted a 12 percent jump in operating profit to $1.75 billion. Its perennially money-losing online services unit – containing the Bing search engine and MSN portal – narrowed its quarterly operating loss by 29 percent to $364 million, as it increased its share of the search advertising market and cut costs.

“Investors were not expecting a home run. All expectations are on the launch of Windows 8 and the entrance into the tablet market,” said Daniel Ives, analyst at FBR Capital Markets. “In light of the environment, the macro and PC situation, these are respectable numbers.”

source: interaksyon.com

Nikon's latest camera runs Android

(CNN) -- The gulf between smartphones and cameras is getting smaller, thanks to a new point-and-shoot camera from Nikon that's powered by the Android operating system.

The 16-megapixel Coolpix S800c camera, announced Wednesday, will be the first camera running Android on the market when it hits shelves in September.

The addition of Android brings a few much-needed features to the point-and-shoot. Users can download mobile apps from the Google Play store and share images over cellular networks by tethering to a nearby smartphone or tablet.

When phone makers first started adding tiny, low-resolution cameras to their devices, the camera industry was not terribly threatened. They had glorious digital SLR cameras with interchangeable lenses, sleek pocket cameras with large sensors and manual controls, and features like high-ISO for low-light shooting, megazoom, and rugged bodies for the outdoors.

Anyone who loved photos would certainly prefer the high-quality shots captured on "real" cameras, right?

But the camera companies underestimated just how important convenience was to consumers, and the public's appetite for sharing photos of moments right when they happened. The resulting cellphone images were low-quality, but nothing a little sepia-filter couldn't fix.

The iPhone was not the first phone to have a camera, but it made sharing images online, over its cellular connection, a snap. In 2011, more than a quarter of photos and videos were captured using a smartphone, according to a study from research company NPD Group. That number is only getting larger.

The $350 Coolpix S800c is bringing some of what has made those smartphones so popular to a camera. It doesn't have a cellular connection, but it does have Wi-Fi. Wireless connections have been around for a while on cameras, but the addition of Android means the camera can tether to a smartphone or tablet running Android when there's no Wi-Fi network handy.

The 3.5-inch touchscreen display gives users access to the Google Play store, where photogs can go to download more apps for their camera, including editing tools and social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook and, of course, Instagram. The camera can also run all the regular smartphone apps, allowing users to send e-mail, browse the Internet, listen to music and play games.

Like Apple's iPod Touch, it draws the line at making phone calls, however.

The camera has 10X zoom, can shoot 1080p video, and includes GPS and maps for tagging images with locations. There are no manual controls. The S800c is running Android 2.3, known as Gingerbread, which is not the most recent version of the operating system.

That Nikon is the first to bring an Android camera to market is a surprise, since competitors Sony and Samsung already make Android devices and were in a better position to combine the two products. Polaroid showed off a demo camera running Android at the Consumer Electronics show in January, the SC1630, but it isn't yet available.

Nikon's Android camera may be a first in the camera industry, but it's still playing catch-up to the real competitors: smartphones with increasingly higher-quality cameras.

source: CNN

Apple releases ‘Mountain Lion’ Mac software

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc released the latest version of the operating software for its MacIntosh computers on Wednesday, touting new features such as better integration with the “iCloud” Internet storage service and gaming.

The “Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion” was released a day after Apple reported disappointing results that hammered its shares.

Mountain Lion, first unveiled in June during Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, is available as an upgrade from the previous two operating systems — Lion and Snow Leopard — for $19.99. Macs purchased on or after June 11 will receive a free upgrade, the company said.

The update includes more than 200 new features, including integration with iCloud, desktop versions of Messages and Game Center, a new Notification Center, according to a press release.

A future update for the new operating system will bring Facebook directly onto the Mac, the company said.

source: interaksyon.com

Microsoft sees 'rebirth' with new Windows 8 system

SEOUL — Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8 series—featuring an upgraded cloud computing service—marks a “rebirth” of its operating systems, chief executive Steve Ballmer said on Tuesday.

Ballmer described Windows 8 as the “deepest, broadest and most impactful” Windows software ever created by the US tech giant, after the current Windows 7 sold at unprecedented rates to businesses.

“It’s really, in some senses, a dawning of the rebirth of MS Windows… It’s certainly the most important piece of work we’ve done,” he said in a speech to the Seoul Digital Forum.

Windows 8, whose preview version will be released in June, allows users readily to store and share personal data among various devices under the “SkyDrive” cloud computing service. Rival Apple already offers such a service.

The new Microsoft system will support a wider range of devices, including touch- and stylus-based smartphones and tablet PCs as well as desktop and laptop machines, Ballmer said.

The software giant has been trying to expand its presence in the booming software market for smartphones and tablets, which is currently dominated by Apple and Google.

Ballmer predicted that the cloud computing market would become dominated by a few big players.

“The number of core (cloud) platforms, around which software developers will do their innovation, is not ever-broadening,” he said.

“It’s really a quite smaller and focused number—Windows, various forms of Linux, the Apple ecosystem.”

In three to five years from now, “there will be just a few ecosystems that really can get the critical mass”, he said.

Ballmer estimated up to 500 million users will have Windows 8 next year, promising the “best economic opportunity” for device makers and app developers who adopt the new system.

Microsoft will also soon introduce Skype powered by Windows 8, Ballmer said. His company last year bought the leading Internet video and voice-calling service for $8.5 billion.

source: japantoday.com