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Microsoft Will Sell 'Windows 7.' One Day, Maybe, 'Windows X'?
Tweet Share on Facebook October 14, 2008 Comment (8)Maybe Microsoft is learning something. The company has finally decided, none too soon, to try simplicity with the name for its next version of Windows. A company blog post says it will be called "Windows 7."
That's after getting too cute with Windows XP (for "experience") and Vista, which was anything but a good view. Before that, there were the even less smart Windows 98 and 95. Those seemed painfully dated just months after their release.
We have to go all the way back to Windows 3.1 for a time when the company made sense with naming its most important product. Unlike Apple, which has smartly stuck with numbers for its Mac operating systems.
That leaves us to wonder. When it comes to the big version 10 in a few years, doesn't it have to be "Windows X"?
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Apple Notebooks Coming Next Week; Some Can't Wait
Tweet Share on Facebook October 10, 2008 CommentThis is what it comes to when Apple rumors reach fever pitch. The company sent out invitations to a press event next week, saying "the spotlight turns to notebooks." Rob Beschizza at BoingBoing felt compelled to analyze the murky photo that accompanied the invitation to divine what's coming.
...the Apple logo is about 1.5 inches wide on my MacBook Pro. From that, this machine would appear to be under 13 inches wide, which would suggest a 13.3" diagonal. The edges, however don't look at all like the MacBook Air.
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Analyst: Mobile TV at Least 5 Years Away
Tweet Share on Facebook October 10, 2008 Comment (1)New mobile TV services won't take off in this country, or around the world, for years to come, says a new research report.
The gloomy forecast comes despite two Korean companies having stopped battling over standards for the new broadcasts. Too many other standards remain around the world for the industry to get rolling, the report from Strategy Eye says.
"Despite the hype, mobile TV will remain a digital media pipe dream for at least five years," analyst Thomas Warren says.
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BlackBerry Storm's Clickable Twist Tries to Beat the iPhone
Tweet Share on Facebook October 8, 2008 Comment (3)BlackBerry maker Research in Motion has finally launched its first touch-screen phone. The BlackBerry Storm's large screen firmly pits it against the iPhone, with keyboard twists that hark back to the BlackBerry's strength.
RIM has worked hard to elevate the touch-screen keyboard from purely virtual, trying to better the software version that can frustrate avid messengers on the iPhone. The Storm's software keys respond with a hardware "click" that the company says feels like a hardware keyboard.
The thumb-typing keyboard, after all, helped make the BlackBerry an immense success. And it was hard keys that drew many customers back to their BlackBerry after a brief affair with the iPhone and other touch-screen phones.
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NBC Dropping Its 24-Hour Weather Channel
Tweet Share on Facebook October 8, 2008 Comment (2)Yet another digital channel is going dark. NBC Universal is dropping the 24-hour weather channel that it broadcast for free on a digital "subchannel."
Local TV stations gained the ability to transmit added channels with the expanded bandwidth that comes with the conversion to digital broadcast TV. But nobody has figured out how to make money with the channels. Several ventures, including The Tube, have foundered before they found enough viewers.
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IPhone’s Mishaps Force BlackBerry to be Cautious, Not Bold
Tweet Share on Facebook October 7, 2008 Comment (7)The maker of the BlackBerry phone is suffering these weeks as the market gets impatient waiting for the new Bold handset. As FierceWireless reports, analysts are starting to fret that Research in Motion will fumble the holiday selling season.
RIM is smart to be cautious. With its hold over corporate sales, the BlackBerry can’t take the same chances that the iPhone did in coming to market despite problems connecting on its AT&T network. Let’s face it, the iPhone is more about fun. The connection problem caused a backlash, but iPhone users generally were forgiving about dropped calls and data downloads.
The BlackBerry is more about getting things done. Less room for error.
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Here’s Hoping AMD Can Rise Again to Challenge Intel
Tweet Share on Facebook October 7, 2008 CommentSome are debating which investors benefit with AMD's decision to spin off its chip-making plants. I'm just glad to see the chip company doing something to pull itself from what's been a steady slide against Intel.
AMD has proved the good that competition can do for the consumer. For a while, the underdog designed chips that outperformed Intel's. AMD was producing chips that won on raw computing power, power consumption, and/or features.
But that was a few years ago. Intel responded with investments in new designs and factories that eventually overwhelmed AMD's ability to keep up.
It's fair to question if AMD can ever wholly divorce itself from chip making. Design is closely tied to successful microprocessor production, which is helped with control over factories. But the company had to do something.
While long expected, AMD at least made the move smartly, says Roger Kay, an industry analyst. "It wanted to enter into not just any partnership but the right partnership."
I hope he's right and it keeps AMD in the game.
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RealDVD Suspends Sales, May Reappear Overnight
Tweet Share on Facebook October 6, 2008 Comment (4)Get your mice and checkbooks ready. RealNetworks has temporarily suspended sales of its useful DVD-ripping software, RealDVD. But the suspension may get lifted overnight, and if so, nobody knows for how long.
The company suspended sales at the request of a judge who is studying a suit filed by movie studios, says a Real spokesman. The judge wanted a day to study studio demands that Real stop sales pending a final judgment.
If RealDVD goes up for sale again, it may be for only days or even hours. Real is trying to break new legal ground, and it's up against high-dollar lawyers from Hollywood.
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A Bit of Cash Is Helping Microsoft Get New Customers
Tweet Share on Facebook October 6, 2008 Comment (2)Hitwise reports that Microsoft's cash payments are working. The software giant has at least held its ground against Google since launching rebates to shoppers who find and buy something through its product search engine.
ARS Technica notes that Microsoft's success may go beyond its Cashback program. Other data show Microsoft's Live Search gaining worldwide against Yahoo, if not Google. That would suggest it's benefiting from more than just kickbacks:
In recent months, Microsoft has been working particularly hard at tweaking, improving, and adding features to Live Search, so it is quite possible that this increase is simply due to Live Search improving and getting increased news coverage, resulting in more users giving the service a shot.
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Starz Will Continue to Push Movie Streaming
Tweet Share on Facebook October 3, 2008 CommentStarz is just getting started with its broadband business. The deal this week with Netflix, and an earlier one with Verizon, are only examples of how the cable channel might make its programs available to consumers over the Internet, says Eric Becker, a Starz spokesman.
I spoke with Becker after he sent a note explaining that Starz doesn't set the pricing on its deals with what he calls "affiliates." So don't blame Starz for what I called an "odd" option of getting Starz-only titles for $8 a month. It seems strange because $1 more gets access to six times as many Netflix streaming titles, plus a mailed DVD each month.
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