Tech Industry

It’s no secret that Apple is morphing AppleTV into something bigger...with games. If and when Apple enters home gaming market, that product’s competition will come from Microsoft’s XBox. Microsoft wowed the audience at today’s E3 with their idea of the XBox of the future.  Keep in mind, this is only a concept at this point, much like Microsoft’s Surface was two years ago (and where are we now?).

Natal is particularly impressive given Microsoft’s recent past in home entertainment.

Notice that laptop is a Mac? That sticker leaves the Apple leaf uncovered.

Lots going on in the industry today with AllThingsD on the East Coast and Google I/O on the West Coast.  At Google I/O, Sergey Brin gave the state of Chome on a Mac.  Spoiler: no broad release soon, he uses Safari/Firefox on Mac…but uses it on Linux.  You can get the latest build here.

Seriously weird commercial from Adobe to send you soaring into the weekend…

While we all wait and see what Apple plans to do with those 10-inch touch screens, others are taking a more proactive approach. Enter the Sony VAIO UX390 UMPC Hackintosh.  If nothing else, it proves that OSX runs pretty darn well on UMPC hardware.  It might even run better than Windows. via Crunchgear

A new Mac clone maker, this time in Russia, has opened up shop.  RussianMac (translated) has started selling Mac Clones in six varieties online.  The machines look like standard PC Clones much like PearPC in Germany, Psystar in Miami or OpeniMac in Argentina.

Perhaps most interestingly, they offer a "MiniBook" that bears a striking resemblance to an EeePC (below).

OSNews notes:

The situation in Russia could prove to be even more difficult for Apple. Russia has become increasingly more protective over its own market and companies, and a big American firm suing a small Russian company might not go down well with the courts in Russia. RussianMac does use several Apple product names though, so that could certainly be a problem for them.

As time progresses, it becomes more and more unlikely that Apple will be able to put a stop to this. The Psystar case is by no means a sure win for Apple, despite America’s fairly strict laws on the matter, and possible cases in Europe and Russia will only be tougher cases to crack for the Cupertino company.

Apple will have to individually sue each clone maker to put a stop to the practice, and with every country having different laws on copyright, IP, and consumer protection, this sure looks like "dweilen met de kraan open" voor Apple (‘mopping the floor while the tap’s still running’).

That is an awesome little saying. We need to learn how to pronounce that.

Microsoft is giving up on Windows Vista:

"If you’re just starting your testing of Vista, with the [Windows 7] Release Candidate and the quality of that offering, I would switch over and do your testing on the [Windows 7] Release Candidate, and use that going forward," Bill Veghte, Microsoft’s senior vice president for Windows business, said in a keynote speech earlier this week.

But was this week’s advice by Microsoft’s Veghte a red-letter day, the implicit admission that Vista was a failure in the enterprise? "Oh, I think they admitted that a while ago," Silver said, pointing to comments by CEO Steve Ballmer last October during a Gartner symposium refereed by Silver and fellow analyst Neil MacDonald.

"If people want to wait [for Windows 7], they certainly can," Ballmer said then. Earlier in a question-and-answer, Ballmer had said Windows 7 was simply "Vista, a lot better."

"They’ve been coming to terms with Vista’s [failure] long before this," Silver said today.

In the history of software, has anything ever bombed this badly?

We’re not sure how long it will be airing but the New York Times website is currently running an amusing Apple ad that uses yet another advertising pane. Before/After hair guys chime in on the Mac/PC debate.

Apple and Microsoft seem to be propping up the advertising industry pretty well these days, no?

Ivan Krsti? , the former security architect for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project is now working for Apple according to a post on his blog today. 

…I have — at long last — found my new adventure. After a great deal of deliberation, I moved to California and joined the local fruit vendor. Today was my first day on the job, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Krsti? is known for his work on Bitfrost, an application that sequesters every program on the computer in a separate virtual operating system, preventing any program from damaging the computer, stealing files, or spying on the user.  He’s coming off of a year of work at MIT and other research projects.

I spent much of the last year devoted to my own research. I spun down various commitments, and took up a few others: I joined the advisory board for the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization, became a member of the technical working group for Harvard Berkman’s StopBadware, and joined the Security Response Team for Python, my programming language of choice.

His role at Apple is, as of yet, uncertain.  However, it isn’t hard to see him working in a possible netbook group, in OSX security or even with education and emerging markets sales.  He’s also looking to buy a vowel for his last name.

Update: He’s working in Core Security according to the about me page (thanks commenter).

"I work on core security for a California fruit vendor."

If you don’t mind a few bugs, lack of Flash and a lot of speed, you may want to give the new Google Chrome (Chromium) builds a try.  The repository is being updated almost hourly.

First impressions:

• It doesn’t come with Flash but Flash can be installed and will be in future versions
• It is really fast.  Even with several tabs going, it is Safari 4 type fast.
• Each tab is a seperate process (see below).  Each one takes 1GB of Virtual Memory but less than 100MB of real RAM.
• It doesn’t run 64-Bit in Snow Leopard yet, only 32-Bit.  It also doesn’t run on PowerPC, the first Mac browser not to do so.
• Ironically, it tripped up on GMail (with several Labs features enabled) which Firefox and Safari handle just fine
• I’m doing this post in Chromium…and spel chek doesn’t work.  Neither do file uploads

Google is ramping up the publicity of the browser by airing several TV spots which it hopes will spread awareness of the browser.  

The Chrome browser is based on the same Webkit platform that Safari, Symbian’s browser and Adobe’s Air are based on.  Firefox has responded to Chrome by making tabs their own processes in upcoming builds.  Many people think that Safari 4’s tab layout is inspired by Chrome as well.

The browser wars certainly seem to be back on.

According to the New York Times, Amazon is going to release a bigger version of the Kindle soon, possibly as early as this week.  The device will be aimed at newspapers and large format magazines who have been hit extremely hard by ad spending downturns.  Although the current Kindle has a 6" screen, users and companies are said to have been left wanting for more screen real estate…for content and ads.  The WSJ also reported on this earlier.

Also, keep in mind that Apple’s rumored netbook/tablet touch screen is 10 inches.  The Times expects there to be some overlap.

Update: It looks like Wednesday at Pace University in lower Manhattan.

But it is Amazon, maker of the Kindle, that appears to be first in line to try throwing an electronic life preserver to old-media companies. As early as this week, according to people briefed on the online retailer’s plans, Amazon will introduce a larger version of its Kindle wireless device tailored for displaying newspapers, magazines and perhaps textbooks.

An Amazon spokesman would not comment, but some news organizations, including The New York Times, are expected to be involved in the introduction of the device, according to people briefed on the plans. A spokeswoman for The Times, Catherine J. Mathis, said she could not comment on the company’s relationship with Amazon.

Normal sized Kindles retail for $359 at Amazon. It isn’t certain which price point the new larger models will come in at.

This is getting a bit old.  Slower RAM, worse resolution screen, and that’s before she even buys the apps to allow her to "Cut video"".  4GB RAM upgrade? $60

It’d be nice to do a follow-up with her when she gets back to film class…

These are some of the best designs we’ve seen (if not technically feasible).  Designer Tommaso Gecchelin has put together his ideas for the rumored "MacBook Touch".  We know these aren’t going to happen soon but we like!  Much more below.

See as one full sized-  image here

Bad economy, or Vista really sucks? Maybe both.

Microsoft today reported a 6% drop in year-over-year revenue for the quarter ending March 30, 2009. Microsoft’s drop in net income was larger, falling 32% to $2.98 billion. Microsoft said that the Client, Microsoft Business Division, and Server & Tools divisions were "negatively impacted by weakness in the global PC and Server markets." In other words, PC sales are down. Microsoft expects "the weakness to continue through at least the next quarter."

One note of good news, for the economy at least: Microsoft says revenue from enterprise customers "remained stable".

Oh, and one other point of interest.  Microsoft’s COO, Kevin Turner, said:

…Windows 7 operating system, which remains on track for a fiscal year 2010 launch… (July 1, 2009-June 30, 2010).

In the recent past, they’ve been talking about a late 2009 release, this statement indicates that Microsoft is leaving the door open to a release in the first half of 2010.

You know that weird greeting sign that the Mac and PC make in the Time Traveller – Get a Mac ad?  According to a Tweet by John Hodgman, Justin Long invented it. 

Yes, it is a slow news day.

CNBC’s Jim Goldman, who is a fanboy amongst journalists if there ever was one, breaks down the intangibles of the PC vs. Mac debate.

http://plus.cnbc.com/rssvideosearch/action/player/id/1096873496/code/cnbcplayershare

We didn’t get Photoshop free with our Mac purchase though.  He probably meant iPhoto, right?

For those of you Twitterers who use Tweetie on iPhone, you know that atebits makes a solid product.  We’ve been beta testing their Tweetie Mac desktop client for a week and we can confirm that it is a simple, solid product.  It does what it is supposed to do then gets out of the way.  We’ve been using Twitteriffic until now which has some other great features but are inclined to make the switch to Tweetie.

Tweetie for Mac Desktop is available now for $15 but they offer a free, ad supported version that is almost as nice.  Download here. 

You can follow 9to5mac on twitter here.  We’re throwing in some extra bits now an again that we aren’t going to put "in print".  By the way, if you are looking for a very far out Twtter experience, try the new 3D Twitter experience called Twitt3D.

 Tell Oprah we said hi!

The Wall St. Journal had this one today:

Microsoft Corp. is taking an unusual approach with its new Windows 7 operating system: Customers buying many of the least-expensive laptops[netbooks] with the software are likely to be limited to running three applications at a time and miss out on other key features, or pay for an upgrade.

Holy Fail-Whale Batman!  Netbooks are the hottest item today in the Windows world, accounting for any and all growth in the PC sector.  By and large, they run Windows XP (which is actually not bad after using Vista for a few minutes).  According to the WSJ, Microsoft is only making $15 off of each copy of XP being put on those Netbooks.  This is largely because very capable, free Linux distributions are "good enough" and consumers are only willing to pay a few extra bucks for the Windows they are used to.  Windows only commands a $15 premium over free software on low end PCs.

Netbooks — compact laptops that can cost less than $300 — pose problems for Microsoft because it can’t charge computer makers as much for software used on the low-end systems as for standard desktops and laptops. The financial effects were felt in the quarter ended in December, when it contributed to an 8% decline in Windows revenue. Investors will be searching Microsoft’s quarterly financial results this Thursday for further signs of netbooks’ impact.

So, Microsoft will be screwed when they try to release Windows 7 on Netbooks.  If they charge anything more than $20, huge swaths of customers migrate to Linux.  If they charge less, they lose all kinds of revenue.  What can they do?  They are going to try to entice their customers to upgrade?

Microsoft is only letting its customers use three applications at a time and is using its patented "crippled by design" features to limit other areas of the operating system?  This isn’t going to fly well in our collective opinions.  Hell, we’ll take the seven year old Windows XP and be happy.

Here’s the scenario: You are working on three applications (Say Outlook, Word and Internet Explorer), but you want to edit something in Excel.  You try to open it and that paper clip thing comes up to tell you that you need to purchase an upgrade to unlock Windows for this functionality.  You proceed to throw the computer out the window?

What if you just want to open the calculator?!  Or an image viewer?  RSS reader?  Or an IM Client?  Or your Skype is ringing? 

Even if you do only need three applications most of the time, the mental anguish when trying to open that fourth in an emergancy or just even knowing in the back of your head that three is the limit is going to be painful for the Microsoft camp.  This isn’t going to be good.

In a bad week for pirates of all sorts, the Pirate Bay’s four founders were found guilty of helping consumers illegally download online music and films, handing the entertainment industry a victory in the battle to protect copyrighted material in Sweden.  The penalty?  One year in (Swedish) jail and $3.5 million in fines.  While they probably make the money in a month of ad revenue, the year in jail is a big signal to torrent sites out there, that there are consequences to their actions.

We’re not exactly sure why they got in trouble from a legal perspective because they didn’t host the files that were illegal, they just pointed to them.  Sites like Google, Microsoft Live Search and Yahoo do this as well. 

Chalk one up for the movie studios.

The Pirate Bay website is still up and serving torrents at last look.

Today Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg disputed a few beliefs about Apple’s past dealings with Verizon as well as ruling out any dealings with the company until LTE technology is rolled out in 2010. 

It was popular belief that Apple had originally gone to Verizon to launch its iPhone. According to Seiderberg,

Apple never seriously considered making a CDMA version of the iPhone because it didn’t have as wide a distribution opportunity.

USA Today and many others reported in 2007:

They also sparred over the iPhone. As previously reported by USA TODAY, Verizon passed on the opportunity to become the exclusive U.S. distributor, balking at Apple’s demand for control over distribution, pricing, marketing and more. That left an opening for AT&T — then called Cingular — to cement a deal. (AT&T on Monday officially dumped the Cingular name and store signs now are being switched. The move came slightly ahead of schedule.)

Denny Strigl, Verizon’s chief operating officer, decided to pass on the iPhone deal and says he has no regrets: "Time will tell" if he made the right call, he says.

Obviously there are some pretty serious contradictions there.  Perhaps Mr. Seidenberg’s history is of the revisionist sort.

He also seemed to dismiss the iPhone as a possible choice in the near future:

Mr. Seidenberg also addressed the notion of Apple Inc.’s iPhone ever coming to the Verizon Wireless network, saying it is more likely that Apple would be willing to work with the carrier under the fourth-generation, or 4G, network, which follows the same technology standard as AT&T Inc.’s 4G plans.

This is some pretty bleak news for those of us who wanted to see some carrier competition for the iPhone market.

Wait.  This isn’t real? 

via

Collins America is pushing a vaguely familiar display design in their new Mini DisplayPort-equipped, Macintosh-friendly LCDs.  While they do have Mini DisplayPort technology and a combined USB/Video cable, they look painfully knock-offy.  Hopefully other DisplayPort options open up….soon.

Unsurprisingly, they are cheap at:

$299 1440 x 900 19-inch
$399 1650 x 1050 20-inch
$499 1920 x 1080 24-inch displays

Where I work, I’d get fired for even showing this to a designer.  Closing window now.

via Slashgear