As expected, Microsoft Corporation yesterday started shipping contact-less controller Kinect for Windows PC. As reported in company’s blog, Craig Eisler, general manager of the product, says that the PC version of Kinect is intended for developers who will now be able to create the commercial applications, controlled by voice and gestures.

Along with the hardware, Microsoft has also released the first version of software development kit (SDK). Some enthusiasts had already worked on Kinect for PC and created programs for it, but their commercial use was not allowed.

Improved depth sensor in the adapted PC Kinect would be able to “see” objects at a distance of 40 centimetres. For comparison, users of Kinect for Xbox 360 have to sit at a distance of at least a few meters (1.2–3.5 m) from the controller. Speech recognition system and method for tracking the human skeleton have also been significantly improved in the Windows-version of gadget.

Price for the PC version of Kinect is $ 250 (one hundred dollars more than Kinect for Xbox). For qualified educational institutions, Kinect would be cheaper by $ 100 i.e. $ 149.

Up to four sensors can be connected to one computer. Supported OS – Windows 7 and Windows 8 Developer Preview.

Steven Ballmer on January 9th during CES had announced the scheduled release date i.e. February 1 of Kinect for Windows PC. The company had also released a video demonstrating how to use the controller on desktop computers. The video showed how people played musical instrument by moving their hands in the air, a surgeon, going through x-rays, without touching the screen, and a combat engineer, deactivating the remote bomb.

Speaking at the event, Ballmer had also said that by the end of last year the company sold more than 66 million Xbox 360 consoles and 18 million Kinect controllers. In early 2011, Kinect was listed in Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest selling entertainment device. Now, it remains to be seen whether Kinect for Windows would also gain the same popularity.

Source:http://socialbarrel.com/microsoft-starts-shipping-kinect-for-windows-pc/31569/

As promised, Microsoft on Wednesday shipped version 1.0 of the Kinect for Windows SDK and runtime and said partners have started selling the Kinect hardware.

The Kinect motion and voice sensor was initially designed for use with Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console. But it soon became clear that developers wanted the chance to build new kinds of applications using the sensor. Microsoft has been letting people build Kinect apps for PCs, but only for non-commercial use. This release of the SDK (software development kit) means that developers can launch commercial products using the sensor.

The SDK and runtime include a few improvements over the most recent beta version, Craig Eisler, general manager of Kinect for Windows, wrote in a blog post. They enable support for up to four Kinect sensors plugged into the same computer, include improved skeletal tracking of users and have a “near mode” for tracking movement as close as 40 centimeters in front of the device.

They also have the latest Microsoft speech recognition technology and an installer that developers can use in their application set-up programs.

Eisler wrote that the company expects to release updates to the SDK and runtime two to three times a year.

He didn’t name who is selling the Kinect hardware but said the suggested price is US$249. Amazon.com is selling it for that price. Microsoft plans to soon offer a special academic price of $149 for qualified educational uses.

At CES in January, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that the company planned to release the Kinect SDK and hardware on Feb. 1.

Late last year Microsoft kicked off a program designed to give Kinect developers a leg up. The company is selecting 10 people or startups who will spend three months in Seattle working out of the Kinect offices. They’ll receive technical training and support and have access to investors and Microsoft executives. They also get $20,000.

Microsoft has highlighted a wide array of applications that might be possible or are already in development for the Kinect. In one video, Microsoft shows people using the Kinect to play instruments without the instrument, a doctor in an operating room flipping through X-ray images without having to touch them, and a teacher controlling a display of the night sky by waving his arms.

Source:http://www.pcworld.com/article/249151/microsoft_opens_door_to_kinect_for_windows_apps.html

Microsoft has followed Sony’s lead in declaring that it will show “nothing new” in terms of hardware at this year’s E3.

Yesterday Sony’s French CEO Phillippe Cardone was quoted as saying that “Sony is under less pressure than it’s rivals and will probably be the last to announce something”.

Now another French exec, the marketing director of Microsoft soft France, has made a similar claim about Xbox.

“We’re in an industry that talks a lot, that likes to tell stories,” Cedrick Delmas told Lepoint, as reported by VG247. “I am not convinced things will happen this year.

“Xbox 360′s cycle is not at all finished. The proof is that we don’t see the logic in cutting the price this year. E3 is still premature. What’s certain is that there’ll be nothing new in 2012.

“We’re not here to counter Nintendo and they’re not here to fight the other manufacturers. Nintendo has put itself in a different cycle, they’re advancing at their own pace.”

MCV reckons the platform holders should make sure they keep their French executives in the loop. As has been widely reported, we still maintain that both platform holders will debut their next-gen plans at E3 in June.

Source:http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/now-microsoft-denies-new-hardware-for-e3/090496

It looks like Microsoft Kinect, originally a device for video gaming, is incoming to all types of personal computers with Microsoft Windows onboard. The software giant is now looking forward integration of Kinect sensors into laptops.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in early January Microsoft disclosed plans to introduce a special Kinect add-on for desktop personal computers. Apparently, the company is now working on a reference design that would enable manufacturers of notebooks to integrate Kinect into mobile PCs as well. During the CES, the software giant reportedly demonstrated such designs behind closed doors.

The first prototype to integrate Kinect was as Asustek Computer laptop with cameras and sensors located on top side of the screen, according to The Daily web-site. Asus and Microsoft have not officially commented on the information, but a source within the software company did confirm the plan to build-in Kinect into portable systems unofficially.

Support of Kinect SDK will likely be a part of Windows 8 operating system therefore it is logical for Microsoft to give independent software maker maximum freedom in order to quickly make Kinect a default technology on PCs, something that will give the software giant a distinct advantage over Apple and its Mac OS X. What is unclear is how will Kinect’s natural user interface (NUI) will co-work with extremely simplistic and rather poor-looking Metro interface that Microsoft proposes to adopt for tablets as well as PCs.

Kinect for PC will be slightly different than the Kinect for Xbox 360 in terms of hardware and software. Details are vague, but Microsoft claims that it had optimized certain hardware components and made firmware adjustments which better enable PC-centric scenarios. Simple changes include shortening the USB cable to ensure reliability across a range of PCs and the inclusion of a small dongle to improve coexistence with other USB peripherals. Of particular interest to developers will be the new firmware which enables the depth camera to see objects as close as 50 centimeters in front of the device without losing accuracy or precision. “Near Mode” will enable a whole new class of “close up” applications, beyond the living room scenarios for Kinect for Xbox 360.

The Kinect sensor features an RGB camera, a depth sensor, audio sensors, and motion-sensing technology that tracks 48 points of movement on the human body. Kinect has the ability to recognize faces and voices. Kinect can perform full-motion tracking of the human body at 30 frames per second. The depth sensor of Kinect for Xbox 360 supports 640×480 resolution.

Source:http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20120130195529_Microsoft_Looking_Forward_Integration_of_Kinect_into_Notebooks.html

Microsoft is working with hardware manufacturers to bring its groundbreaking Kinect motion control technology, currently an Xbox exclusive, to PCs and laptops, according to reports that indicate Taiwanese computer maker Asus is one of the OEMs initially involved with the project.

Asus has developed a prototype Windows 8 notebook computer that has Kinect sensors incorporated into the top of the display where the Web cam would normally be, The Daily and other tech blogs reported. Microsoft and Asus have not confirmed the report, but Microsoft in the past has said publicly that it plans to port Kinect to Windows and has made a software kit publicly available to developers.

Microsoft sees applications for Kinect, which contains an array of sensors that translates users’ physical gestures and speech into onscreen actions, in vertical industries such as healthcare, education, and high-tech manufacturing.

A pilot program at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, U.K., shows how Kinect can potentially help individuals who have suffered strokes or other traumas that have left them with impaired mobility. Patients in the hospital’s neurological rehabilitation unit are using Kinect software that requires them to react to onscreen events and commands. The hospital says the exercises are helping them to regain mobility, coordination, and balance.

In another non-gaming application, healthcare tech specialist Tedesys, of Cantabria, Spain, is developing a Kinect-based platform that’s meant to allow physicians to operate on patients through remotely controlled instruments–an application that could save lives in disaster areas, battlefields, and other situations that may be physically inaccessible or where it would be too dangerous to send in doctors.

Some analysts believe Kinect could also play a role in day-to-day office computing, if Microsoft and its partners can establish standards at the API level for gestures to control the desktop. “People like Microsoft are going to have to lead,” said IDC analyst Al Hilwa. “There needs to be standards that say that if you swipe left, you get the Control Panel, or if you swipe right, you get the Task Bar, and so on.”

Hilwa is confident that gesture-based computing “is here to stay,” and warns that it could put further pressure on internal corporate software development organizations, many of which are already strained by the need to roll out mobile versions of enterprise apps. “At some point they are going to have to accommodate for this,” said Hilwa.

To drive commercial development, Microsoft has released a toolkit that helps developers build Kinect awareness into Windows applications. The Kinect for Windows SDK gives software developers the ability to create apps that leverage Kinect’s most advanced capabilities, including sound localization, depth and distance interpretation, skeletal tracking, and advanced audio processing.

Microsoft launched Kinect on Oct. 31, 2010 and sold 10 million units in the first six months–the fastest bolt from the gate of any tech gadget, according to Guinness World Records.

Source:http://informationweek.com/news/windows/microsoft_news/232500730

The next version of Microsoft’s Xbox gaming and media entertainment console could be up to seven times more powerful than the current edition, according to reports emerging this week.

Citing unnamed sources, several blogs that cover the computer hardware market claim the Xbox 720 will use next-generation processors and graphics chips from IBM and ATI. Specifically, reports suggest the console will use a new, 32-nanometer PowerPC chip called Oban, designed by IBM and produced by IBM and Global Foundries, and an ATI “Southern Islands” GPU.

Industry bloggers claim that the chips are now in production, but most believe they are for development purposes only and that the Xbox 720 will not be available at retail until 2013.

The Xbox 360 uses a triple-core IBM Xenon chip, and an ATI Xenos GPU. Reports indicate the 720 architecture could be seven times as fast. Other reports say the Xbox 720 will include a Blu-Ray disc player and updated version of the Kinect motion control system. Microsoft has not commented on the reports.

It’s also been reported that the Xbox 720 will use some form of copy-protection technology that will prevent users from playing used games, but those reports are also unconfirmed.

While it began life strictly as a gaming console, the Xbox platform has become increasingly strategic for Microsoft. The Xbox Live network serves up movies, music, and cloud services like social networking and messaging. Kinect, meanwhile, is making its way to Windows PCs–paving the way for hands-free scientific, medical, and industrial applications that go well beyond gaming.

Guinness Records recently ranked Kinect as the fastest-selling tech gadget of all time.

The investments are paying off. Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices unit, which houses Xbox products and services, has been one of the company’s strongest performing divisions over the past several quarters. In the most recent three-month period, ended December 31, Xbox platform revenues were up 9%, year-over-year, to about $3.9 billion, according to Microsoft.

The company shipped 8.2 million Xbox 360 consoles during the quarter, compared to 6.3 million last year.

Microsoft launched the first Xbox in late 2001. The Xbox 360 debuted in 2005, making it almost seven years old.

That fact alone is driving much of the speculation about the company’s plans for a successor. There were rumors that Microsoft would go so far as to announce Xbox 720 at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month in Las Vegas, but they turned out to be unfounded.

Source:http://informationweek.com/news/windows/microsoft_news/232500541

Microsoft recently released hardware requirements for tablet computer makers planning to apply Microsoft’s latest cross-platform operating system. The company provided design and hardware features that devices must have to receive Microsoft certification.

The company provided a PDF file that includes all details and other interesting requirements. For example, a Windows 8 tablet device must have “five control buttons” including rotation lock, power, Windows key, volume up and volume down keys.

The company also clarified the “convertible” form factor to convert the tablet computer to a laptop PC. “A convertible form factor is defined as a standalone device that combines the PC, display and rechargeable power source with a mechanically attached keyboard and pointing device in a single chassis,” reports Know Your Mobile.

Display requirements specify that the device must have minimum native resolution/color and its depth must be 1366×768 at a depth of 32bits. Also, its physical dimensions have to match the aspect ratio of the native resolution. Whereas, the display panel’s native resolution can be better than 1366 horizontally and 768 vertically.

The company has not left any aspect untouched and have covered almost everything that is important – and not so important. This list may be found on the Official Microsoft Dev Centre.

Source:http://www.itproportal.com/2012/01/18/microsoft-releases-microsoft-tablet-requirements/

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has launched a mouse trade-in program in Singapore.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Launching Hardware Trade-In Program

The U.S software giant, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), has announced its first-ever mouse trade-in program in Singapore.

Customers can bring their old computer mouse to participating retailers island-wide, and drop them in specially designed recycling boxes to receive a special discount off the Explorer Touch Mouse and Touch Mouse.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is also introducing the new Arc Touch ‘Year of the Dragon’ edition with custom packaging and a classic Chinese dragon etched into the silicone “tail” of the mouse.

The Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Arc Touch Mouse features BlueTrack Technology that tracks on more surfaces than conventional laser and optical mice.
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares were at 28.23 at the end of the last day’s trading. There’s been a 3.5% change in the stock price over the past 3 months.

Source:http://www.emoneydaily.com/microsoft-corporation-nasdaqmsft-launching-hardware-trade-in-program/69822665/

Microsoft has dominated the PC desktop and notebook markets for over two decades. Competitors have come, and competitors have gone and Microsoft is still on top. But the winds of change are approaching, and Microsoft is embarking on what I believe to be its biggest challenge yet … the end of the road for the x86 architecture.

Microsoft stitched up the PC market tight. It was in the right place at the right time and managed to get to a position of dominance that has lasted over 20 years. It’s been a good run. But Microsoft’s success was based on the PC, and we’ve now entered what is most definitely a ‘post-PC’ era. What is ‘post-PC’? If the PC era was symbolized by big beige desktops and knee-breaking notebooks, ‘post-PC’ is the exact opposite. Small, lightweight, low-power, more personal devices. Think smartphones. Think tablets. But these are just the beginning. Devices such at the Google Chromebook will bridge that gap between the traditional PC-style devices that we all know and love, and the ‘post-PC’ device.

One surefire indicator that we are now in a post PC era is what buyers look for in a device. Those old metrics such as GHz and GB (or even for some, the physical size of the system) have given way to new metrics such as weight and battery life. ‘Post-PC’ has in many ways made the personal computer even more personal.

And Microsoft is positioning itself ready for the ‘post-PC’ era. It’s seeing the 30-year-old reign of the x86 ‘Wintel’ architecture is coming to a close and it is preparing for this. One such step is in making Windows 8 run on the ARM architecture. It’s not the first time that Microsoft has ported its operating system to run on different platforms (remember MIPS, PowerPC and DEC Alpha). Microsoft has always had an eye on the future.

But this shift to ‘post-PC’ is dangerous for Microsoft. It’s dangerous because it’s a big transition. Windows is very much a PC product, and much of what makes Windows what it is simply won’t carry forward to ‘post-PC’ devices. Let me offer up two examples.

First, legacy. One of the things that keeps people using Windows is excellent legacy support. Windows offers unprecedented support for old hardware and software. It’s one of the things that Microsoft is good at doing. This comes at the cost of bloat and bigger install images, but increases in disk capacities and processing power have offset that. With the move to ARM, there is no such thing as legacy. The word will not apply. The slate will be wiped clean and it will be a fresh start.

Now that’s not such a bad thing in many ways. Look at how Apple wiped the slate clean with iOS. It was a completely new platform, and people loved it. But it worked because Apple didn’t call it Mac OS, but instead called it iPhone OS (the iOS name came later). There was no expectation of legacy support because it was clearly a completely new product. But Microsoft is still choosing to call its ARM OS offering ‘Windows’ and I believe that doing generates a certain level of user expectation that the platform won’t be able to deliver. It’s Windows, but mostly in name only.

Another problem is that Windows is primarily a desktop operating system. It’s on the desktop that the OS really shines. It also works pretty well on notebooks and not so well on devices that have a cramped screen space such as netbooks. On tablets, it’s a disaster. To help alleviate this Microsoft has developed a completely new user interface called Metro UI with the idea of making a one-size-fits-all interface that will work on a myriad of screen sizes and resolutions, from multi-monitor desktops to tablets. Now that’s a gamble on all fronts. First Microsoft is forcing those traditional Windows users (folks running desktops) to adopt a totally new way of working. There are millions of Windows users out there who are used to the existing Windows paradigm, and these people are going to have to change the way they work because Microsoft wants to offer the same experience across a range of screen sizes.

Now that’s a massive gamble. I know a lot of people who have considered making a switch from Windows, but one of the things that keeps them on the platform is that they know and are comfortable with the way the operation system works. Well, like it or not, these people are going to have to learn something new, and if they’re having to learn something new, why stick with Windows?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for progress, and I think that it is time that x86 platform start to fade away. But it feels to me that rather than making a controlled shift to a new platform, Microsoft is leaping into the unknown and taking every Windows user with them on some mystery ride. I don’t understand why Microsoft feels that integrating tablets and desktops under the same OS is needed at this stage. I could understand having an eye for integration down the line, but unification now seems like too much, too soon.

Source:http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/why-post-pc-is-a-far-bigger-threat-to-microsoft-than-mac-or-linux-ever-was/17766

The Alexandria area is among 10 Greater Minnesota communities that’s been selected to distribute 75 to 100 free computers to low-income families.

PCs for People, a non-profit corporation based in St. Paul, is leading a mobile computer refurbishing project funded by the Blandin Foundation and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The project seeks to reduce electronic waste while simultaneously helping bridge the “digital divide” in greater Minnesota.

In the coming weeks, PCs for People will be working with Alexandria businesses and other organizations to identify desktop and laptop computers they have or will soon be retiring from service and are ready to recycle.

After identifying the computers to refurbish, the organization’s mobile team will travel to Alexandria to work on the computers, wiping all data, making any necessary repairs and upgrades, and installing a fresh installation of Microsoft Windows XP or 7.

Computers will then be loaded with free software including educational games, OpenOffice, and security and antivirus software.

The organization will work with community organizations to identify low-income families and individuals who would benefit from personal computer ownership.

All computers come with a 90-day warranty and self-paced basic computer skills training.

“This is a win-win for businesses needing to manage their end-of-lifecycle digital assets in a cost-effective way, and for the community,” said Michael Graif, project lead for PCs for People. “Not only are businesses receiving valuable data wiping and hardware recycling services for free but it’s in a way that benefits their local community.”

Graif added that the goal of the project is to help empower Minnesotans by providing them with access to technology so they may enjoy the personal, economic and educational benefits of owning a personal computer that many people take for granted.

“What we need now to make this event successful is to find local businesses willing to donate their old computers,” Graif said.

Since PCs for People started in 1999, the organization has distributed thousands of computers to those in need.

PCs for People is a Microsoft registered refurbisher and a member of the Recycling Association of Minnesota and the National Association for Information Destruction.

Source:http://www.echopress.com/event/article/id/91268/group/News/

Over the last few days it has emerged that Windows 8 ARM computers, be it tablet, laptop, or possibly even desktop form factor, will be locked down and unable to run any other operating systems. This is in strong contrast to x86 Windows 8 PCs, which Microsoft has mandated must be able to run other operating systems.

If you haven’t been following this fracas since it first started to emerge last year, it’s all to do with UEFI — a long overdue replacement for BIOS — and a feature called Secure Boot. In essence, Secure Boot stops a computer from loading an operating system that hasn’t been signed by the publisher (in this case, Microsoft or an OEM), and its signature added to the computer’s firmware. On an x86 Windows 8 computer, you’ll be able to sign your own operating systems (custom builds for Linux, for example), or disable Secure Boot entirely. On Windows 8 ARM computers, neither of these options will be available: You’ll have official builds of Windows 8, and that’s it.

Now, as you can imagine, tech pundits and open source rabble-rousers alike have been raising hell over this little tidbit. How dare Microsoft lock down its devices! Hasn’t Redmond ever heard of consumer rights? Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net anti-trust lawsuit round two, ding ding! And so on.

Only… have these guys never heard of the iPad? The iPad, too, has a locked bootloader and will not load an unsigned operating system. Ditto the PlayBook, Nook, Kindle Fire, most Galaxy Tabs, and the recently-released Asus Transformer Prime. In all of these cases, the only way you can load a custom, unsigned operating system is by finding a flaw in the firmware.

Furthermore, it’s much the same story when you expand your focus to include other non-PC devices, like the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, or Nintendo DS; they only run signed code, too.
The $200 (Nokia) Windows 8 tabletBeating Apple at its own game

Why all the fuss, then? In my eyes, Microsoft is laying out two very different paths for x86 and ARM Windows 8. The x86 PC will continue to be the omnipresent, ubiquitous jack of all trades — while Windows 8 ARM will follow its Windows Phone 7 cousin (also ARM) into the realms of reliable, rugged, robust appliances. Appliances (like a kitchen, TV, or radio) aren’t particularly flexible, but they do a handful of things very, very well. In the case tablet appliances, they are basically app-executing machines. If the tablet sucks at running apps, has a poor selection of apps, or the general experience of finding, launching, and swiping through apps is unpleasant, the device fails — as we’ve seen with almost every non-iPad tablet.

In short, then, and especially when we factor in the walled garden Windows 8 Store, Microsoft seems to be preparing Windows 8 ARM using an iPad cookie cutter. Considering the iPad’s success, this really shouldn’t be a surprise. Heck, with Windows 8 Metro apps being fully cross-platform — the same apps will work on x86 and ARM machines — Microsoft might even be able to beat Apple at its own game.
On the flip side

I’ve only painted one side of the story, however; a side that depicts a positively pure and just Microsoft. Now it’s time to shade in the darker aspects of Windows 8 ARM’s Hardware Certification Requirements.

Hardware switch on a Cr-48, to disable Verified BootYou see, mandating Secure Boot is fine — but why does Microsoft then go on to add that Windows 8 ARM devices must not, under any circumstances, have the option of disabling Secure Boot? To put this into perspective, look at Google’s Nexus devices: They have a locked bootloader, but it can be unlocked with developer tools. The Cr-48 — a developer-oriented laptop running Google’s quietly-dying-in-the-corner Chrome OS — has a similar feature called Verified Boot, but it can be disabled using a hardware switch behind the battery (pictured right).

Microsoft could allow for either of these possibilities with Windows 8 ARM devices, but it hasn’t. I’m not entirely sure why, either. It could be a conscious effort to force a wedge between x86 and ARM — but that seems unlikely, given Microsoft’s pained insistence that every Windows 8 computer, irrespective of architecture, is a PC.

It could also be the result of Intel and PC OEMs leaning on Microsoft; locking tablets is just about permissible, but can you imagine the uproar if you couldn’t install Linux on a Windows 8 computer? Vice versa, maybe cellular carriers and OEMs asked Microsoft to force Secure Boot to reduce the number of bricked ARM devices.

Zooming out again, though, there’s a much more important question that remains unanswered: Will we be able to install Windows 8 on other ARM hardware? It’s important to note that these Hardware Certification Requirements are only if OEMs want to build computers with “Designed for Windows 8″ stickers on the front. Like Windows 7, you’ll be able to install Windows 8 on any x86 PC — but will I be able to buy or build a blank ARM tablet and install Windows 8 on it?

Source:http://www.extremetech.com/computing/114173-windows-8-secure-boot-calm-down-microsoft-is-simply-copying-apple

Microsoft and its vendor friends said that there’s no Windows 8 plot to lock other operating systems from Windows 8 devices, but now we know Microsoft was not telling the whole truth.

Journalist Glyn Moody dug around Microsoft’s Windows Hardware Certification Requirements for Windows 8 client and server systems and found on page 116 that will Windows 8 Secure Boot can be disabled: on Intel systems, “Disabling Secure [Boot] must not be possible on ARM systems.”

What does that mean? According to Aaron Williamson, a lawyer with the Software Freedom Law Center an organization that provides pro-bono legal services to developers of Free and open-source software, Microsoft has wasted no time in effectively banning most alternative operating systems on ARM-based devices that ship with Windows 8.

Microsoft will be doing this by using Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI), to block block all other operating systems from Windows 8 systems. UEFI is the 21st century’s replacement to PC and other devices’ BIOS. It’s used to set up your computer and make it ready to boot.

Williamson explains, “The Certification Requirements define … a ‘custom’ secure boot mode, in which a physically present user can add signatures for alternative operating systems to the system’s signature database, allowing the system to boot those operating systems. But for ARM devices, Custom Mode is prohibited: ‘On an ARM system, it is forbidden to enable Custom Mode. Only Standard Mode may be enable.” [sic] Nor will users have the choice to simply disable secure boot, as they will on non-ARM systems: “Disabling Secure [Boot] MUST NOT be possible on ARM systems.’ [sic] Between these two requirements, any ARM device that ships with Windows 8 will never run another operating system, unless it is signed with a preloaded key or a security exploit is found that enables users to circumvent secure boot.”

In short, Microsoft insists that any Windows 8 ARM-powered device can not be rebooted or rooted with the user’s choice of operating system. And you thought rooting some Android phones was troublesome!

Williamson went on to say that while “While UEFI secure boot is ostensibly about protecting user security, these non-standard restrictions have nothing to do with security. For non-ARM systems, Microsoft requires that Custom Mode be enabled-a perverse demand if Custom Mode is a security threat. But the ARM market is different for Microsoft in three important respects”

These are:

Microsoft’s hardware partners are different for ARM. ARM is of interest to Microsoft primarily for one reason: all of the handsets running the Windows Phone operating system are ARM-based. By contrast, Intel rules the PC world. There, Microsoft’s secure boot requirements-which allow users to add signatures in Custom Mode or disable secure boot entirely-track very closely to the recommendations of the UEFI Forum, of which Intel is a founding member.

Microsoft doesn’t need to support legacy Windows versions on ARM. If Microsoft locked unsigned operating systems out of new PCs, it would risk angering its own customers who prefer Windows XP or Windows 7 (or, hypothetically, Vista). With no legacy versions to support on ARM, Microsoft is eager to lock users out.

Microsoft doesn’t control sufficient market share on mobile devices to raise antitrust concerns. While Microsoft doesn’t command quite the monopoly on PCs that it did in 1998, when it was prosecuted for antitrust violations, it still controls around 90% of the PC operating system market-enough to be concerned that banning non-Windows operating systems from Windows 8 PCs will bring regulators knocking. Its tiny stake in the mobile market may not be a business strategy, but for now it may provide a buffer for its anticompetitive behavior there.

It doesn’t have to be this way. As Williamson points out UEFI’s secure boot isn’t meant to be used to block user’s choice. In addition, the Linux Foundation has explained in detail how UEFI secure boot could be implemented by Microsoft so that freedom of choice would be preserved.

Microsoft isn’t listening. The Linux Foundation made its proposal in October; Microsoft published its document in December. As Williamson said, “It is clear now that opportunism, not philosophy, is guiding Microsoft’s secure boot policy.”

Don’t think this is about smartphones and thus, given Microsoft’s tiny share of the smartphone market of no real importance. Williamson concluded, “Before this week, this policy might have concerned only Windows Phone customers. But just yesterday, Qualcomm announced plans to produce Windows 8 tablets and ultrabook-style laptops built around its ARM-based Snapdragon processors. Unless Microsoft changes its policy, these may be the first PCs ever produced that can never run anything but Windows, no matter how Qualcomm feels about limiting its customers’ choices. SFLC predicted in our comments to the Copyright Office that misuse of UEFI secure boot would bring such restrictions, already common on smartphones, to PCs. Between Microsoft’s new ARM secure boot policy and Qualcomm’s announcement, this worst-case scenario is beginning to look inevitable.”

That’s the one point I disagree with Williamson on. This isn’t the worse case. The worse case is that Microsoft decides, “What the heck” and introduces lock out style UEFI secure booting on Intel PCs. While flirting with fire from the anti-trust action, I wouldn’t put it pass them.

Source:http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/microsoft-to-lock-out-other-operating-systems-from-windows-8-arm-pcs-devices/10132

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced at the Consumer Electronics Show that on February 1st, the new Kinect sensor for Windows would become available for purchase. In addition to the new Kinect for Windows sensor hardware, Microsoft is releasing an official SDk or Software Development Kit. Having the SDK installed on a Windows operating system will be required in order to use Kinect software applications. Currently, there are no (Microsoft official) consumer applications using Kinect; however, official hardware and an official SDK will surely spur software development.

Microsoft is confident that the launch of the SDK and specially tuned hardware will spur development of software. According to MSNBC, the company is working with over 200 companies to develop software applications for Windows using Kinect. Microsoft’s partners include Toyota, Mattel, American Express, and United Health Group. These corporate partners seem to indicate that initial Kinect applications will be designed for consumers to use in a business setting, say on a sales floor of car dealerships, at hospitals, or point of sale devices (maybe American Express is planning a “card swipe” application where holding the card up to the Kinect can be used to purchase items. Software for consumers to use at home is also likely in the pipeline and users will see them in the future.

Due to the Microsoft Kinect for Windows sensor not being subsidized by Xbox 360 games and accessories, the PC version is $100 more than the Xbox 360 version, and will retail for $250 USD. Amazon currently has the device (for pre-order) here for a whole penny less at $249.99.

Source:http://www.pcper.com/news/General-Tech/Microsoft-Releasing-Kinect-Windows-And-SDK-February-1st-2012

The few bits of genuine news in Microsoft’s CES keynote on Monday all concerned Kinect, the company’s natural user interface sensor. CEO Steve Ballmer announced that 18 million devices had been sold since launch, either as standalone units or bundled with Xbox 360. There are a smattering of Xbox content deals with Fox and others, using Kinect as a selling point.

And finally, Kinect for Windows: a brand-new software development kit, developer program, and PC-optimized hardware device launching February 1, designed to decisively push Kinect beyond gaming and media, precisely when companies like Samsung are charging behind the Xbox with gesture recognition for TV sets.

Shining a light on Kinect and pairing it with Windows shows that even with PC sales slumping, Microsoft’s future is bigger than the PC, at least as it’s been narrowly construed. It’s a big bet on the idea that at least in some contexts, there’s a more powerful and natural way of interacting with computers than even touch or voice. It shows that Microsoft is working towards integration of its far-flung products at a level higher than a common set of orthogonal Metro tiles. And with Kinect and Windows Phone 7 drawing raves, Microsoft’s on the verge of regaining a reputation for innovation, not just domination.

But make no mistake: this was almost entirely an accident. The push to bring the Kinect to the PC and create a developer community for the device came almost entirely outside and in spite of Microsoft. And by wrapping its arms around Kinect development, Microsoft isn’t simply embracing it or even asserting its ownership; it’s also breaking that development community into pieces.

How Kinect for Windows works

Unveiling a new Kinect device specifically for Windows was a surprise. Developers have already been working with an official Microsoft beta SDK for Xbox Kinect units for noncommercial use on Windows machines since June, and unofficially using community-developed open-source drivers long before that.

The new Kinect for Windows devices cost more: $250 against the $100-150 retail for the current Xbox Kinect devices. Kinect for Windows general manager Craig Eisler says that the cost difference is mostly because on Xbox, Kinect is “subsidized by consumers buying a number of Kinect games, subscribing to Xbox Live, and making other transactions associated with the Xbox 360 ecosystem.” Hence the bump—although later this year, Microsoft says it will make Kinect for Windows available to students, educators, schools, libraries and museums for $150, the same price as Kinect for Xbox.

Besides just reading “KINECT” in lieu of “XBOX 360,” Kinect for Windows devices also have different firmware and other features from their Xbox cousins. While Kinect for Xbox was designed to recognize whole bodies from across a room, Kinect for Windows has something called “Near Mode,” allowing its camera “to see objects as close as 50 centimeters in front of the device without losing accuracy or precision, with graceful degradation down to 40 centimeters,” according to Microsoft.

The idea is that commercial developers—big companies you know, like Google, Adobe, Electronic Arts, Autodesk, as well as more obscure companies developing specialized applications for medicine or education—will build applications using voice or gesture recognition specifically for the desktop PC, portable laptops and tablets, or other Windows implementations besides the living room. Used in those contexts, near-range sensitivity matters much more than recognition at a distance.

Kinect then becomes a general-purpose NUI (natural user interface) interface for the PC, where “PC” is broadly construed for the post-Wintel era. Windows 8′s Metro interface is already optimized for touchscreens and touchpads; Kinect turbocharges Windows’ voice capture and adds full-motion gesture and facial recognition to the mix. (The only thing it’s missing—so far—is the ability to track eye movements.)

The Kinect for Windows unit also offers a modified USB connector and better protection against noise and interference. Both tweaks are designed to better incorporate the Kinect hardware to the PC environment—even if the basic hardware looks identical to the original.

At its limit, you could imagine Kinect sensors in other form factors: some designed for portable use, like a handheld souped-up Wiimote, others integrated into all-in-one PCs the way that webcams are now. Microsoft had nothing like this to announce, but SuperSite for Windows blogger Paul Thurrott wondered about it out loud during his keynote livechat with ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley.

Microsoft’s been talking about expanding the use of natural user interfaces in computing for years, even delivering innovative products like the giant multitouch-powered Surface and incorporating better touch and speech recognition into plain-vanilla Windows. Besides Kinect, though, it’s mostly been an R&D-driven future-of-computing hobby.

Even the phrase “natural user interface” still clings clumsily to Steve Ballmer’s tongue. He can’t communicate enthusiasm for the possibilities of NUIs like Bill Gates is able to—astonishing, considering that Ballmer can fire himself up into an almost-awkwardly over-the-top giddiness about almost anything else that Microsoft does.

Who thought we’d get to this point?

Ballmer never thought he’d be in this position—not only porting a gaming peripheral to his beloved Windows machines, or even opening it up for commercial development by other software companies, but owning it, taking control of it, and positioning it as a key component in the future of the company.

Considering that a little over a year ago, Microsoft was threatening to sue and/or prosecute anyone who wanted to develop for Kinect on a PC, it’s a remarkable turnaround.

It’s also remarkable that a company that became a giant by selling its software to consumers and hardware partners is now effectively giving its software away for free—and making its money back by selling its own branded hardware.

What does it mean that Microsoft closed its CES keynote—its final CES keynote—by talking about open development for Kinect?

This is what I spoke about with Adafruit’s Phillip Torrone and Limor Fried. (Phil did most of the talking; Limor was within earshot, but busy manning a laser. And it was Phil who first posed the question this way.)

“I don’t think the general tech press will fully get the significance of what this means,” Torrone said. “It’s not just the bit about the Kinect. Microsoft, the biggest software company in the world, leaves CES with the message, ‘we’re giving away the software and selling the hardware.’

“Really, it’s an open hardware model. That’s what we do at Adafruit,” which makes its money selling hardware kits and parts for DIY computing projects based on open-source software and plans.

It’s unlikely Microsoft will go quite that far, but building its business around hardware sales is still, well, very un-Microsoft. Again, even the Xbox 360 and original Kinect are subsidized by subscription and media purchases for and through the Xbox.

“What else could they apply that [hardware-first] model to?” Torrone wondered. “A phone? A computer? A media player?”

Adafruit helped kick off independent development for Kinect right after its release in November 2010 by offering a $1,000 bounty for open-source community-usable drivers for the device. Whoever reverse-engineered the device, got it up and running code, and posted their software and how-to to the community the fastest won the bounty. When Microsoft rattled its sabers at them, they doubled and then tripled the prize.

Long after the prize was awarded and proof-of-concept hacks were flourishing, it was revealed that Johnny Lee, a UI researcher who’d been working at Microsoft to help develop Kinect, had secretly funded Adafruit’s competition. Lee was both excited to see someone hack the Kinect the way he had hacked Nintendo’s Wiimote in 2008, and frustrated that people at Microsoft’s top levels didn’t see the broader potential of Kinect. Shortly after finishing work on Kinect, Lee left Microsoft to work at Google.

Open Kinect showed the potential of an open-hardware, community-driven approach to a commercial project. Even Microsoft had to accept and finally embrace developers’ work, in fields as wide-ranging as robotics, art, and medicine.

“This is showing us the future,” Lee said of the Open Kinect model. “This is happening today, and this is happening tomorrow.”

The commercial development kit and licenses Microsoft has put together to build Kinect for Windows doesn’t follow the Open Kinect model.

Instead, it offers something much more controlled. Developers can’t use open drivers or the cheaper Xbox Kinect for commercial projects. Plus, as the moniker “Kinect for Windows” suggests, they’re required to use it on machines running Windows 7 or 8. Finally, even noncommercial projects—still officially permitted on the Xbox Kinect devices—aren’t licensed to use software other than Microsoft’s official commercial SDK to write code for the Kinect for Windows hardware.

“They were smart to adopt what we were doing and turn it into a business for themselves,” Torrone said of Microsoft. They built the Kinect Accelerator to seed projects. They featured ones they liked on their website, rebranded the widespread adoption of the device “The Kinect Effect.”

“It got away from them for a moment, but they adapted themselves to it and took a leadership position. They had to.”

The genie is firmly back inside the bottle. At least for the moment.

As of Feb. 1, Microsoft will have two completely distinct development communities for Kinect: one using the commercial SDK on Kinect for Windows, and the other using open drivers or the beta SDK on Kinect for Xbox. It’s a schism that could only be bridged by two things: a liberal-minded clarification of Microsoft’s new licensing terms—or a brand-new set of open-source drivers, this time for the Kinect for Windows hardware. That means again testing just how hacker-friendly this new Microsoft really is, by flouting Microsoft’s licensing terms once more.

For their part, even though they say “it seems clear that Microsoft wants everyone off the open drivers,” Fried and Torrone are ready to try again. No more cash bounties, they say—even though on Monday, Fried wrote that someone would need to offer another one if the open-source drivers didn’t work on the new device. At this point, both Torrone think the community is sufficiently motivated to crack the code without a cash prize. Adafruit itself has a Kinect for Windows sensor on order, and the two are ready to use all their skills at USB protocol analysis to post the device’s USB data dump to Github.

“Microsoft’s consistently tried to rewrite history with the Kinect,” Torrone said. It was the hackers and gamers, the designers and artists, the doctors and scientists who opened up the device’s possibilities. That was the revolution. Microsoft only ratified it, to claim it as their own.

Source:http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2012/01/microsoft-bets-big-on-kinect-for-windows-but-splits-its-community.ars

ZzIt’s a fair question to ask, given today’s technological trends. But if you are in the market for only one device, make it the Iconia Tab W500, Acer’s stunning new tablet and laptop. (It’s not either; it’s both.)

As yet another demonstration of the company’s commitment to break the barrier between people and technology, the Acer Iconia Tab W500 is a revolutionary device with a hybrid design that combines the multi-touch experience and portability of tablet computers with the efficiency and reliability of laptops and PCs.

As a tablet, the 10.1-inch Iconia Tab W500 boasts of an LED-backlit 1280 x 800 resolution screen, multi-touchscreen technology, and HD multimedia playback capabilities, all made possible by a hardcore hardware set that includes an AMD C-Series dual-core processor, an AMD A50M Fusion Controller Hub chipset, 2 GB of DDR3 memory, 32 GB solid-state drive capacity, and AMD Radeon HD 6250 Graphics.

As a laptop computer, the Acer Iconia Tab W500 connects to a dockable full-sized chicklet keyboard, and runs on a touch-optimized version of Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, complete with the Microsoft Office 2010 suite, Adobe Flash Player and Reader, Microsoft Silverlight, and the intuitive touch control interface called Acer Ring.

Indeed, with the Acer Iconia Tab W500, one gets the best of both worlds — using a sleek, wafer-thin, smaller-than-a-magazine device that can be slipped easily into a briefcase or purse, then pulled out and set in motion with a finger swipe.

Connect to the Internet, manage e-mails, and keep up-to-date with both professional and social networks with the Acer Iconia Tab W500’s built-in Acer InviLink Nplify Wi-Fi connectivity.

Launch applications, tools, and utilities with a screen grab using Acer Ring, and manage all online content with the cloud-computing-based My Journal Web clipboard.

Impress colleagues and friends with presentations on the tablet’s high-brightness TFT LCD display, or with music and movies optimized by integrated ambient light sensors, Acer CrystalBrite anti-reflective LCD screen technology, Microsoft DirectX 11 support, and the Dolby Advanced Audio V2 audio enhancement suite.

Other apps and software products built into the familiar Windows environment of the tablet include Skype, TouchBrowser for Windows, Social Jogger (a visual Facebook/ Flickr/ YouTube content aggregator), Norton Online Backup, and Acer clear.fi, the cross-platform solution for wirelessly storing, sharing, and syncing content across a network of devices.

Meanwhile, if the situation calls for an instant efficiency boost, turn the Acer Iconia Tab W500 into a compact clamshell laptop simply by connecting the dockable keyboard. Its chicklet keys and gently curved edges are designed to enhance the tactile experience of typing.

To provide greater stability, Acer also furnished the 0.43-inch dock with quick-linking magnets and an Acer FineTrack pointing device, making it easier to breeze through reports, presentations, spreadsheets, to-do lists, and other urgent documents.

The dockable keyboard, however, is more than just for typing. It also serves as a multipurpose peripheral device with two handy USB 2.0 ports and a Fast Ethernet LAN port.

The Acer Iconia Tab W500 has a couple of USB 2.0 ports of its own, as well as a two-in-one card reader and a headphone and speaker jack. It also includes the Acer Crystal Eye: a set of two high-resolution cameras (one in front, one at the back) that work together to provide stunning snapshots, high-quality audio and video recordings, crisp and clear video calls, and fun self-portraits.

Source:http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=766114&publicationSubCategoryId=71

With the global economy still in the doldrums, beleaguered IT professionals and IT managers are struggling to do more with less. Part of their strategy for staying afloat revolves around sticking with legacy software that is still getting the job done, like the legion of IT departments that are opting to stay with Windows XP rather than upgrade to Windows 7. Computer hardware is also cheaper and more powerful than ever, a situation that leads many businesses to solider on with older equipment that is still getting the job done.

Yet not every IT department can afford to stay with legacy hardware and software systems, and sometimes — for the sake of ensuring critical business tasks or functions – new investments must be made in IT resources. Recognizing that businesses may need help in financing new software and hardware purchases, Microsoft has ramped up promotion of their Microsoft Financing arm that provides a number of financial services for Microsoft customers. To get the latest on what Microsoft Financing can offer customers, I recently spoke with Seth Eisner, general manager of Microsoft Financing.

Eisner mentioned that Microsoft Financing generally helps customers with three different financial scenarios. “We can help customers map their payments to deployments, or help them align financing around their budget cycles,” Eisner said. “We also help customers with periodic payments that work [more effectively] with their cash flow situation…our financing options allow us to help customers buy more, buy better, buy bigger, and buy more often.”

In a statement included in a news release as part of the renewed publicity push for Microsoft Financing, Microsoft partner Steria — a provider of IT business services in Europe — said that Microsoft Financing has helped them streamline their IT operations. “We’ve known about financing but not for software,” says Phillip Cournot, purchasing officer at Steria. “We’ve used other sources to procure our hardware, so when we learned about the Microsoft financing capabilities we were sold on the convenience. This is by far the best and most flexible financing solution we’ve used for purchasing our software and services.”

According to Cournot, Microsoft Financing helped Steria update their enterprise licensing agreement to allow for more flexible payments stretched over a three year period, a change that more closely matched the actual deployment of their software. “My core IT challenge is to deploy Microsoft Office and Windows across our enterprise and reduce IT costs,” says Christian Revelli, Group Chief Information Officer at Steria. “Microsoft Financing helped me in this task by splitting the cost of the rollout over three years.”

We’d love to hear from Windows IT Pro readers that have used Microsoft Financing in the past, or plan to do so in the future. So please add a comment to this blog post or start up a conversation on Twitter about it.

Source:http://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/business-technology-perspectives-blog-38/news2/microsoft-financing-cashstrapped-departments-141807

It’s the start of a new year, a time when many Canadians vow to make some positive changes about themselves.

There are common resolutions — lose weight, get fit, quit smoking or better manage your money, to name a few popular ones – but you also shouldn’t neglect your computer.

After all, if you add up how many hours a week you spend on your laptop or desktop – personally or professionally — you’ll see why you shouldn’t take your machine for granted.

The following are a few free suggestions on how to start improving your PC’s health for 2012.

Safeguard your files

Before you begin cleaning up your computer, be sure to back-up all your important files and store it in a safe place. Online storage is becoming popular, as it keeps your files away from local harm (such as theft, fire, virus or power surge) and you can access them from anywhere in the world. Another reason: some services are free, such as Microsoft’s Windows Live SkyDrive, which gives you up to 25GB of free password-protected storage per account. Recommended files to back up include your documents, irreplaceable photos and camcorder footage, important emails, address book and calendar, web bookmarks, and so forth.

Clean the clutter

After you back-up your important files, now it’s time to decide what programs you no longer need. This should be pretty simple if you’ve never used a DVD burning program that shipped with your computer or a 4 year-old game you forgot about. Don’t just delete the desktop icon, of course, but click Start, Control Panel and finally Uninstall a Program (or for older PCs, Add/Remove Programs). You should clear up a lot of hard drive space, and also clean up the icons on your desktop, so you can see your wallpaper again.

Repair the drive

“Degfragging” is another way to help your computer operate faster with more stability. Click on the Start button and type “defrag” in the search box (or go to All Programs>Accessories> System Tools). Run the program and while it might take a while, you should notice a marked performance improvement when it’s done. Because it’s not recommended to use your computer while you’re defragging, perhaps you’ll want to start the process before you go out for lunch or before you go to bed (but turn off your monitor to conserve electricity).

Update your software

The second-last step to whipping your PC into shape is to download the latest free software updates for your operating system (Start>All Programs>Windows Update) as these updates plug security holes and add functionality. Better yet, choose to enable automatic updates. Also be sure to download all the updates to your favourite programs – such as a web browser or media player – as they usually fix issues (like technical bugs) or add new features. There are often new updates for hardware accessories, too, such as a printer, monitor and webcam.

Use protection

Finally, it’s critical for PC users to have a good “anti-malware” solution which usually includes antivirus and antispyware tools that can detect and remove online threats in real time. As we’ve reported a few times in the past, there are many free security software options available from C|Net’s Download.com – check out the Top 5 downloads on the main page – and once you start using one be sure to regularly check for updates (if it doesn’t do it automatically) to ensure you’re protected from the latest online threats.

Source:http://www.moneyville.ca/blog/post/1110273–five-free-ways-to-take-care-of-your-pc-in-2012

If you consider the fact that more than 220,000 patents will have been granted by the end of the year and even more patents were filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office over the past 12 months, it is impossible to say which ones were the most significant patents of the year. Like every year, there were many patents that should neither have been granted nor filed in the first place. On the other hand, there were also those that were captivating, giving us an idea about how technology in the future will develop and affect every one of us. Among all of the patent applications and approvals in 2011, the following five were the most memorable ones of which you should be aware:

5. Microsoft Patent Application #20110109724: Body Scan

According to my count, at least 112 patents relating to the Kinect 3D sensor went through the USPTO in 2011. Most of them secure the basic technology behind Kinect as well as gestures, but this one may be referring to the next generation of Kinect, providing the first idea of what feature will define Kinect 2. It is safe to say that the new device will offer a far greater resolution, and this patent application could reveal what Microsoft will do with it:

From the patent application: “A depth image of a scene may be received, observed, or captured by a device. The depth image may then be analyzed to determine whether the depth image includes a human target. For example, the depth image may include one or more targets including a human target and non-human targets. Each of the targets may be flood filled and compared to a pattern to determine whether the target may be a human target. If one or more of the targets in the depth image includes a human target, the human target may be scanned. A skeletal model of the human target may then be generated based on the scan.”

This patent application hints that a future Kinect will eliminate the need for a user to create an avatar. Avatars may be replaced by surrogates in virtual worlds – surrogates that are automatically created based upon your body shape and your current (or customizable) clothing. In the future, Kinect may recreate you on the screen and integrate you even more deeply in game play and entertainment applications than you can experience today.

4. Apple Patent Application #20110194140: Walk-Up Printing without Drivers

Granted, installing drivers isn’t a big deal anymore. However, if you have been around long enough, you remember what a pain in the neck drivers could be. (It once required skill to make Windows drivers work.) My very first feature article was a 900-word fool-proof guideline about how to find and install drivers on Windows 95. A continuously functioning Internet, as well as more intelligent software and hardware interfaces, have made driver discovery and management much easier. We are already seeing that the next frontier – driver management for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets along with their different operating systems – is a difficult task. Apple has an elegant solution:

From the patent application: “During operation, the system uses a discovery protocol to identify printers that can be accessed by the computing device. Next, the system receives a selection of a printer that can be accessed by the computing device. The system then generates printer data for the print job. This can be accomplished in a number of ways. The system can use a driverless printing technique, which involves obtaining printer capability information from the selected printer and generating printer data for the selected printer based on the printer capability information. Alternatively, the system can use a printer-specific driver for the selected printer to generate the printer data. The system can also send the print job to a cloud, which includes one or more servers that provide a printing service, so that the cloud can generate the printer data. Finally, the system sends the generated printer data to the printer.”

Imagine a world in which you wouldn’t have to worry about drivers anymore; you can simply walk up to a printer and print a document. If Apple has its way, there will be three ways to access a printer in the future: via a conventional software driver, via a cloud service, and via a driverless access method that supports “universal” printing from any type of device.

3. IBM Patent Application #20110219208: Multi-Petascale Highly Efficient Parallel Supercomputer

Supercomputing may not directly impact our lives, but there is plenty of indirect contact ranging from climate or health research, to physical simulations, oil and gas exploitation and financial calculations. Supercomputers enable both academia and industry to tap into tremendous computing capability that lies beyond the imaginations of even the most sophisticated enthusiast user. If you are interested in computer technology, have had an opportunity to visit any significant computer installation and witnessed the massive effort to keep it running, you may have shared my fascination with it when a few years ago I had the pleasure to meet the people from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois. Planning, managing and taking advantage of the resources provided by a supercomputer is always at the cutting edge of computing and has my deepest respect.

We are currently experiencing an inflection point when economic superpowers are battling for dominance in this space, not only to attract scientific talent but to also lock in the prestige of being at the forefront of computer technology. In May 2008, we crossed the 1 Petaflop mark and crossed 10 Petaflops in November 2011 with Japan’s K Computer. IBM is mainly looked upon as the company to enable the U.S. to regain leadership in this space. A 649-page document filed in January provides an outlook on how the company will achieve 100 Petaflops, which translates to 100,000,000,000,000,000 (100 quadrillion) operations per second.

From the patent: “A Multi-Petascale Highly Efficient Parallel Supercomputer of 100 petaOPS-scale computing, at decreased cost, power and footprint, and that allows for a maximum packaging density of processing nodes from an interconnect point of view. The Supercomputer exploits technological advances in VLSI that enables a computing model where many processors can be integrated into a single Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). Each ASIC computing node comprises a system-on-chip ASIC utilizing four or more processors integrated into one die, with each having full access to all system resources and enabling adaptive partitioning of the processors to functions such as compute or messaging I/O on an application by application basis, and preferably, enable adaptive partitioning of functions in accordance with various algorithmic phases within an application, or if I/O or other processors are underutilized, then can participate in computation or communication nodes are interconnected by a five dimensional torus network with DMA that optimally maximize the throughput of packet communications between nodes and minimize latency.”

The system is based on the 20 Petaflop Sequoia system that uses IBM’s BlueGene/Q architecture. It will be deployed next year at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). IBM said that more than 100 Petaflops will be possible with 1,024 compute node ASICS in 512 racks, representing a total of 524,288 16-core PowerPC A2 CPUs, which will integrate 8,388,608 processing cores.

2. Microsoft Patent Application #20110197052: Fast Machine Booting Through Streaming Storage

Cloud computing remained one of the buzzwords this year. It’s among the worst-ever marketing terms in IT history. It is a fact, though, that much of our computing world will be based on services and cloud apps rather than local storage as we create networks comprised of PCs, notebooks, tablets and smartphones/superphones.

The upcoming Windows 8 carefully tests our willingness to accept cloud applications, while a future OS may be much more aggressive in adopting services. Microsoft’s streaming operating system patent application could be a key hint of the direction that Microsoft is taking.

From the patent: “Described is a technology by which a virtual hard disk is maintained between a far (e.g., remote) backing store and a near (e.g., local) backing store, which among other advantages facilitates fast booting of a machine coupled to the virtual hard disk. Read requests are serviced from the near backing store (e.g., a differencing layer) when the data is available thereon, or from the far backing store (e.g., a base layer) when not. The near backing store may be configured with a cache layer that corresponds to the base layer and a write differencing layer that stores writes, or a single differencing layer may be used for both caching read data and for storing write data. A background copy operation may be used to fill the cache until the far backing store data is no longer needed.”

Given Microsoft’s market share and ability to drive software changes for the masses, I consider this as one of the most significant computer software patents filed this year. Microsoft does not just target this technology at enterprises; it aims it at every conceivable computing device. There was some speculation that this patent application could refer to the experimental Barrelfish OS. It is worth noting that the inventor behind the patent is not a member of the Barrelfish team; a separate effort here is more than likely.

#1 Google Patent #8,078,349: Transitioning a Mixed-Mode Vehicle to Autonomous Mod

This is the only approved patent on my list. I should note that Google somehow succeeded in pushing this technology through the approval process much faster than the average patent. The original patent filing took place on May 11, 2011.

The patent received quite a bit of coverage as it is a key document securing a phase of autonomous driving. Specifically, the document describes the moment in which a hybrid-mode car switches from a human driver to autonomous drive.

From the Patent: “Disclosed are methods and devices for transitioning a mixed-mode autonomous vehicle from a human driven mode to an autonomously driven mode. Transitioning may include stopping a vehicle on a predefined landing strip and detecting a reference indicator. Based on the reference indicator, the vehicle may be able to know its exact position. Additionally, the vehicle may use the reference indictor to obtain an autonomous vehicle instruction via a URL. After the vehicle knows its precise location and has an autonomous vehicle instruction, it can operate in autonomous mode.”

We are seeing quite a number of patents that could hint at autonomous vehicles, but there was one element of this patent that struck me and gives this invention substantial credibility. Besides the fact that Google has autonomous vehicles on California roads already, its inventors are particularly noteworthy. Among the listed inventors are Christopher Urmson and Nathaniel Fairfield, both who joined Google from Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute. Urmson is especially interesting because he was the technical leader of the Tartan racing team, which won the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge for the university. Carnegie’s “Boss” vehicle, a heavily modified Chevy Tahoe SUV, completed a 55 mile urban course in 4 hours and 10 minutes and won the $2 million prize of the competition. If there was one person Google absolutely needed to have on its team to develop autonomous vehicles, it was Urmson. We should expect considerably more in 2012 from Google’s autonomous vehicle team, which is part of the mysterious Google X.

There were countless other significant inventions in 2011. These were my five favorites. Feel free to add yours in the comments section below. Don’t forget to add a link to the actual patent for all Tom’s readers.

Source:http://www.tomshardware.com/news/patent-application-uspto-microsoft-google-apple,14351.html

The lack of a physical keyboard on tablets is both inconvenient and can take a toll on our hands and wrists. To alleviate these issues, Microsoft announced a new mobile wireless keyboard, the Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 5000.

As the name suggests, this keyboard uses Bluetooth to connect with a mobile device instead of using a dongle or cable, which is a most welcome feature. The Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 5000 features a Comfort Curve design that should make typing a more comfortable and healthy experience when on the go, and it supports Windows, iOS, and Android devices.

This is a full-size keyboard, so it won’t exactly fit in your pocket, but at 13.9 x 6.54 inches (and just 0.62 inches thick), it will fit neatly into any laptop bag.

The Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 5000 is now available for $49.95.

Microsoft Hardware offers a more comfortable keyboard experience with the new Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 5000 — the perfect balance of portability and comfort for both tablet and laptop users. Featuring an ergonomist-approved Comfort Curve design, the Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 5000 promotes a more natural wrist posture whether you’re typing from your office cube, the couch or your favorite café. The keyboard’s comfort does not compromise its portability because its slim design makes it lightweight and convenient to carry — just throw it in your bag and you’re off!

Ditch the cords, docks and USB Nano transceivers and connect via Bluetooth to Windows-based tablets, iPads and Android devices with ease. Whether you’re searching for the latest music, taking notes in a meeting or just catching up on email, make sure you’re getting things done comfortably. The Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 5000 is available now in the U.S. for $49.95.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/Microsoft-Announces-Bluetooth-Mobile-Keyboard-5000-Carpal-Tunnel-Cases-Sure-To-Drop/

CyberpowerPC announced a laptop bundle that enables users to stream content to a large-screen TV via WiFi in full 1080p. It follows that users can browse the Internet with the same connection, using the TV as a monitor.

The bundle is comprised of a Netgear Push2TV 2.0 adapter and Intel’s WiDi technology and will ship with CyberpowerPC’s Xplorer X6-9100 ($825) and 9200 ($885) notebooks for a limited time.

There’s no need to crowd around a laptop screen to view and share content from your hard disk, home network or browser. CyberpowerPC, www.cyberpowerpc.com, a leading manufacturer of custom gaming desktop PCs, gaming notebooks, and performance workstations, today announced a pair of high-performance laptop computers that combine Netgear’s Push2TV 2.0 adapter and Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) technology, which allow you to enjoy personal and online content on a big screen TV with a simple wireless connection.

For a limited time CyberpowerPC is bundling its Xplorer X6-9100 and Xplorer X6-9200 series of gaming notebooks with a free Netgear PUSH2TV (Version 2.0) adapter for Intel WiDi 1080P, and a visibly smart 2nd generation Intel Core processor. The combination lets you kick back and experience your favorite movies, videos, photos, online shows and even game in full HD on your big screen TV with outstanding image clarity and sound.

Simply connect the wireless Netgear PUSH2TV adapter to your High-Def TV, follow a few simple steps, and you are ready to beam full HD 1080P straight to the big screen. Experiencing your videos and pictures in HD resolution up to 1080p on your TV is as easy as pushing a button. You can also surf the internet from your couch on your TV; watch TV shows and movies online, or go anywhere a web browser will take you.

The CyberpowerPC Xplorer X6-9100 features a 15.6″ 1920×1080 Full HD display; Intel Core i7-2670QM Processor; 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-1333 RAM; Intel HD3000 Integrated Graphics; Intel HM65 Chipset; 640GB 5400RPM SATA300 HDD; and 8X DVD Rewritable Drive. The MSRP is $825.

The CyberpowerPC Xplorer X6-9200 features the same specs as the X6-9100 series but includes a discrete NVIDIA GT540M 2GB GPU with NVIDIA optimus technology for improved battery efficiency. The MSRP is $885.

CyberpowerPC’s Xplorer gaming notebooks can be customized with a number of performance hardware and components such as Solid State Drives, Blu-Ray drives, memory, gaming gear, business and productivity software, and more at the company website, www.cyberpowerpc.com.

Additionally, CyberpowerPC loads every gaming notebook with Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Operating System for an enhanced gaming and multimedia experience. All CyberpowerPC Xplorer gaming laptops includes a 1-year limited warranty and free lifetime phone support.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/CyberpowerPC-Laptop-Bundle-Lets-You-Stream-HD-Content-To-Your-TV/