iPads lead the revolution of the PC
The humble mouse and keyboard will no longer cut it with computer users raised on the touchscreen interfaces of the Apple iPad and its kin, according to an analyst's report.
Multitouch has become a mainstay for high-end mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones, and users will increasingly expect to be able to use this technology on their PCs, according to the report by analyst house Gartner.
"Thin and light mobile PCs with tablet-like features will become mainstream, pushing out some bulkier PC styles that have been the norm," Angela McIntyre, research director at Gartner, said in a statement. Read more...
London 2012: Why the Olympics CIO is preparing for the worst
When asked what nightmare scenarios keep him awake at night, Gerry Pennell, the man in charge of technology for the London 2012 Olympic Games, jokes: "At this stage we're all significantly tired that staying awake is not a problem".
With less than a year to go before the Olympics opening ceremony, Pennell, CIO for the organisers of the London Olympics, has a team of 600 people working "flat out" on testing and preparing the technology for the games.
"The pace of delivery has picked up big time. We have been running the test events for the last three to four months - so it's becoming very real," he told silicon.com at an event in London yesterday.
The games hit a milestone this week with the official unveiling of the Technology Operations Centre (TOC) - the London-based centre that will manage and monitor the Olympics systems that run the venues, record results and relay them to the rest of the world. The centre's 450 staff will work with the thousands of technical staff situated in the Olympic's 94 venues to make sure the technology works without a hitch. Read more...
Microsoft pops Hadoop into SQL Server and Azure
Microsoft has announced that it will integrate Hadoop into its forthcoming SQL Server 2012 release and Azure platforms, and has committed to full compatibility with the Apache code base.
The news was announced in the opening keynote of Redmond’s PASS Summit 2011 in Seattle on Wednesday. The first technology preview of the Hadoop distribution will be in Azure by Christmas, and a similar system will be in place on SQL Server by 2012.
“We are committing to compatibility with the Apache code base,” Doug Leland, general manager of product management for SQL Server, told The Register. “We’re also making a commitment to work closely with the Hadoop community on this; we want to make sure the code base of Apache stays compatible with what we will be offering as a service.” Read more...
Wannabe Obama replacement tried to hire Ballmer
Mitt Romney, one of the leading contenders for the US Republican Party’s presidential nomination, has revealed he once tried to hire Steve Ballmer.
Romney made a campaign stop on Thursday in Redmond to speak to Microsoft’s Political Action Committee about his plans for the government, should he make it to the White House. However, he was reminded by Steve Ballmer that he’d once tried to hire the Microsoft CEO in the 1980s when Romney was head of recruitment for Bain and Co.
“I met with Steve and he said he was considering our offer, but was thinking of going off with a couple of folks and forming a company called Microsoft,” Romney said, in video posted by GeekWire. “Had you joined us, you’d be worth a million or two by now.” Read more...
JavaFX on iOS: Dead on arrival?
Oracle's efforts to enable developers to run JavaFX software on Apple iOS devices could run afoul of Apple, if Apple's past rejections of Java on iOS are any guide. But a potential showdown could be a ways off, as it remains to be seen exactly how far Oracle goes with its plan and whether the arrangement will actually ruffle any feathers at Apple.
Oracle turned developers' heads last week, demonstrating a JavaFX-based game running on an IOS system at its JavaOne conference in San Francisco. The demonstration coincided with the release of JavaFX 2.0, an update of the Java-based multimedia application platform targeted at a variety of devices and form factors.
In the past, Apple has balked at allowing the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) -- the core technology enabling Java to run on various platforms -- on its devices. But Oracle believes it is being compliant in its efforts to back JavaFX on iOS.
"The way this works is by linking the JVM into the program," says Adam Messinger, vice president at Oracle. "We know of a lot of iOS programs that are built this way with other languages besides Objective-C already today [and that] are being pushed through the [Apple] App Store." Read more...
Battle between Samsung and Apple heats up
The legal battle between Apple and Samsung has reached fever pitch, with Apple getting an injunction to stop the sale of the Galaxy 10.1 tablet in Australia as Samsung launches new versions of its smartphones to keep them on sale in the Netherlands. Both companies are also preparing for a hearing in California scheduled for Thursday.
On Thursday, Apple won an interim Federal Court injunction to prevent the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Australia until the legal proceedings between the two companies have been resolved, Computerworld Australia reported.
Justice Annabelle Bennett said she had weighed the pros and cons of issuing the preliminary injunction. Apple would suffer significant damage. However, should the device launch in Australia be delayed, Samsung would also suffer the lack of profits made from the sale of the device. In the end, Bennett ruled in favor of Apple.
The patents at the heart of the case are not tablet-specific and would be diffcult to work around, according to patent expert Florian Mueller. Read more...
SOS Online launches cloud backup for mobile devices, Facebook
SOS Online Backup today announced a cloud-based backup service for mobile devices, desktop systems -- and Facebook.
The company said it expects to start backing up Twitter and Gmail data in December.
The new SOS Online Backup Home 5.0 product, which allows users to back up data on five or fewer personal computers under a single license, includes SOS Social Backup, a new Facebook app that stores social media data, such "friend" contact information, photo albums, and message threads.
"In case your account becomes corrupted, not to mention when you want to shut down your Facebook account and move to Google+ or LinkedIn, you can take all your contacts and photos with you," said SOS Online Backup CEO Ken Shaw. Read more...
Android ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ arrives Oct. 19 in Hong Kong
The big Google-Samsung event to launch Ice Cream Sandwich -- postponed at CTIA earlier this week -- will take place next Wednesday in Hong Kong, according to an invitation sent by the two companies.
It will be held Oct. 19 in Hong Kong at 10 a.m. local time, which translates to 10 p.m. ET on Tuesday in the U.S.
While Android 4.0 was always rumored to be the subject of the event, it now seems certain, since the invitation shows off an Ice Cream Sandwich in the shape of the familiar Android creature.
Also, recent reports pegged Verizon Wireless as the exclusive carrier for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which would run on 4G LTE and Android 4.0. (The Galaxy nexus is also known as the Nexus Prime.) Read more...
Apple’s iCloud launch woes evoke MobileMe’s ’08 debacle
The launch of Apple's new iCloud service has been reminiscent of the fiasco three years ago when the company debuted MobileMe, according to users' complaints that describe a sweeping range of problems.
iCloud, which Apple launched Wednesday, is the free replacement for MobileMe, the sync service that had major teething troubles in 2008. MobileMe stumbled badly then, dogged by problems ranging from slow synchronization to an 11-day email outage.
In June, Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs acknowledged MobileMe's troubles when he introduced iCloud at the company's annual developers conference.
"You might ask, 'Why should I believe them, they're the ones that brought me MobileMe?'" Jobs said to loud laughter from the crowd as he touted iCloud. "It wasn't our finest hour, just let me say that. But we learned a lot." Read more...
Dennis Ritchie, father of Unix and C programming language, dead at 70
Dennis Ritchie, the software developer who brought the world the C programming language and Unix operating system, has died at the age of 70.
Ritchie (known by the username "dmr") was part of a dynamic software development duo with Ken Thompson at Bell Labs, which they joined in 1967 and 1966, respectively. Ritchie created the C programming language, which replaced the B programming language Thompson invented.
The two later went on to create Unix, initially for minicomputers and written in assembly language, in 1969, and written in C in 1973. Unix went on to become key software for critical computing infrastructure around the world, though wasn't for everyone.
Ritchie once said: "UNIX is very simple, it just needs a genius to understand its simplicity." Unix , of course, became the inspiration for newer operating systems including Linux and Apple's iOS. Read more...