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Posts Tagged ‘Would Make Sense’

Leaked Xbox 360 ‘Valhalla’ motherboard analyzed by Ben Heck

Sure, you might’ve seen the purported Xbox 360 Valhalla motherboard leaked yesterday… but have you ever really seen it? There’s a subtle difference, one that requires you gaze through the ocular receptors of our dearest old friend (he hates when we call him that) Ben Heck. Joystiq sat down with him to deconstruct the pictures and get his take on all the hardware nuances. First and foremost, there appears to be no connectors that “look remotely like a Xbox 360 memory card reader,” which lends credence to the thought process they might be going the way of the dinosaur. WiFi is still missing in action, and as for Project Natal integration, Heck’s highly doubtful that’s in the cards, though he shares our mindset that a bundle would make sense. The big question is size reduction, and to that our game console laptop guru suggests that, given the constraints due to a DVD drive, the best we can expect is a one-inch drop in height (standing console), 0.5 inches in depth, and just “slightly thinner.” Sorry folks, looks like even in your wildest dreams, it’ll still tower over the Nintendo Wii. A great read, don your thinking cap, give yourself 15 minutes, and hit up the source.

Leaked Xbox 360 ‘Valhalla’ motherboard analyzed by Ben Heck originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows Mobile 7 is Microsoft’s last chance to challenge iPhone

Apple has gained incredible market share in phones in the past couple of years. It is so stunning to think that the iPhone might be unstoppable. Google is giving it a good try with Android.

But Microsoft has been sitting this one out. On Monday, the company will try again with Windows Mobile 7, a new version of the company’s operating system for cell phones, according to Bloomberg News. Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer plans to show off the software in Barcelona. The new software has a revised user interface that looks like Microsoft’s Zune HD music player, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Microsoft is also working on its own mobile phone design — unlikely to be introduced next week — aimed at teens and code-named Pink. That device is the offspring of Danger, the maker of the T-Mobile Sidekick, which Microsoft acquired two years ago. Pink is being manufactured by Sharp and could be sold by Verizon Wireless and Vodaphone Group, the Journal said. The problem at Microsoft is that there have been too many competing agendas and too many shake-ups when it comes to figuring out a new internal strategy.

Windows Mobile 7 is different in that Microsoft is specifying more details of the hardware that goes with the operating system. It is specifying what kind of device can use the phone so that it will be easier to present a single, united software platform for independent developers to target. Back in December, there were rumors that Microsoft would integrate Xbox Live and Windows Mobile. That would make sense, since Xbox Live is a strong service with lots of loyal gamers. But there is no new word on that rumor. Microsoft has one advantage over Apple; it has no problem integrated Adobe’s Flash software into Windows Mobile. That allows it to run animations, games, and lots of web sites.

It better be good. Windows Mobile 7 is Microsoft’s last chance to stop its rivals from taking over the cell phone space and leaving it in the dust. It’s ironic because Microsoft had such a long legacy in making cell phone software. Six years ago, Windows Mobile was on 25 percent of mobile phones. Now it is down to about 10.5 percent, according to International Data Corp. Apple had nothing in 2006 and is now 13.7 percent of the global cell hone market.

The company launched Windows Mobile 6.5 in October. It got mixed reviews, with the worst criticism being that the design was bland and the phone was slow. Microsoft had the beginnings of an AppStore, but it had nowhere near the depth of Apple’s, which has 140,000 apps that have been downloaded more than 3 billion times. The Windows Mobile 7 devices are expected to ship later this year. Microsoft will license it to all comers, even as it works on its own device. Google has pursued the same strategy, licensing Android widely while coming up with its own Google-designed Nexus One phone. Everyone is chasing Apple, which has integrated hardware and software that it can ship in a unified device.

It’s a classic battle in technology, with a horizontal alliance of many companies trying to take on a vertically integrated company. At this point, Microsoft and its allies are clearly the underdogs. I’m not expecting to be wowed by Windows Mobile 7. Microsoft has so much history here that it has to overcome.

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Could Apple be moving to a spectrum of operating systems?

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, OS, Odds and ends, Snow Leopard

I was eating a late post-Christmas breakfast this morning and perusing my email when I came upon a note from my friend and fellow Apple Consultants Network member Michael Kimble. Mike’s been involved with Apple products since before the Mac arrived, so he has seen product trends come and go for decades. In his email, he mused that:

“I’ve been wondering if Apple, on their Jan. 26th product announcement, won’t start to differentiate OS X to include OS X Mobile, OS X Touch, OS X Desktop & OS X Server. But rather than discreet versions of the OS, it is a spectrum where features of one version can slide up and down the scale depending on the functionality of the hardware platform it’s running on. It seems to be moving in that direction whether a formal acknowledgment is made or not.”

It’s not that far a stretch to see Apple adding another variety of OS X to the family tree. As a result of yesterday’s post about the as-yet-unannounced Apple tablet, TUAW reader Dillon made a similar observation to Mike’s:

“Just a thought, but if the new Apple tablet ran straight iPhone OS, then it would probably be released in June with annual iPhone update… meaning that the Mac tablet will probably run a cross between Mac OSX 10.6 and iPhone OS or just Mac OSX 10.6.

Apple really won’t release something unless it is speedy enough. They don’t even let you run a background app or multitask on the iPhone due to speed issues. If they wanted to make a speedier tablet it would make sense that they would [deliver] a hybrid of the two operating systems, allowing better speed, battery, and more functionality than the iPhone, yet something not as relatively bulky as Snow Leopard.”

Three of the four operating systems already exist (and there’s always the family member they keep locked in the closet — the Apple TV — with its odd edition of Mac OS 10.4 Tiger). All it would take is for Apple to add a new version of the OS that would, as Dillon points out, allow background processing and true multi-tasking, yet pull out a lot of the more weighty components of OS X.

What do you think? Is a new, formal acknowledgment of a new Apple OS on the way, or will the tablet run a beefier version of the iPhone OS? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Illustration from Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tigerpixel/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

TUAWCould Apple be moving to a spectrum of operating systems? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vodafone Continues Its Move Beyond The Mobile Market With New, Cloud-Based Service

Vodafone is launching a cloud-based service designed for business people and consumers who are looking for a way to back up the data on their desktops, laptops and netbooks. The move is significant as Vodafone is making another move move beyond the mobile market and is using cloud-based services to get there.

Vodafone’s service is built upon Decho’s Mozy platform, the popular backup service, which consistently receives ringing endorsements. Mozy has been on a tear as of late, closing deals with China Telecomm and McAfee.

Sponsor

Vodafone will initially offer the service to its European customers. But considering that Vofafone does own 45 percent of Verizon, it would make sense that the service could roll out to the US market. The company has a presence in 70 countries.

The service is designed primarily for small businesses though it is being used currently by large companies like General Electric, said Charles Fitzgerald, VP of Product Management for Decho.

“We have two offerings today, one aimed at consumers (MozyHome) and one aimed at small businesses (MozyPro),” Fitzegeral said. “The business customers for Mozy today range from mom and pop shops to multinationals like GE, but the sweet spot is definitely small business.”

Businesses will have administrative control capabilities in order to manage multiple users.

With the service, Vodafone is finding its way into the lucrative market that is coming with the massive wave of media that people are producing and storing on their computers. Netbooks have grown tremendously in popularity but have limited storage capability. People are connected to any number of devices. They face threats from malware and viruses. Vodafone is banking that combination of factors will give it an edge with the business customer who is looking for a one-stop shop to access, organize, protect and share their media.

The announcement comes on the heels 1 million Sidekick customers losing their personal data. Fitzgerald says the Mozy service allows customers with one more backup.

The Sidekick fiasco underscores how critical backup is and the importance of protecting your own data,” Fittzgerald said “Vodafone PC backup (and any online backup) gives user another, redundant way to protect their data. Unlike the SideKick model, where there is only one copy of the data, there is redundancy across the primary PC and the online service and we encourage customers to also have a local backup.”

Discuss

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If the concern over gay marriage is the idea that it will threaten marriage or the family, it would make sense to outlaw the biggest threat there is to families and marriage: divorce. If we outlaw divorce, it should show people how sacred marriage is don’t you think?

MySpace Music Appears To Be A Hit, Increases Traffic Tenfold Year-Over-Year

MySpace may not be the hottest thing in social networking any longer, with visitor numbers and page views decreasing at an alarming rate, but apparently its free music streaming service MySpace Music is still something of a hit.

According to Nielsen data (PDF) for June 2009, traffic to MySpace’s music subdomain has grown 190% since its launch in September 2008 and year-over-year traffic to the URL has increased a staggering 1,017%. This traffic includes at least one visit by our own MG Siegler, who was happy to learn Pearl Jam’s new single premiered exclusively on the service.

New MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta may be convinced users are not sure if the service is a destination for music or not, but if these numbers are correct it would make sense for him and the recently announced executive team for MySpace Music (which is a joint-venture with some major music labels and thus an independent entity) to dedicate a good deal of attention to it. Not that they’re haven’t been doing that up until now – in fact we mentioned earlier that the service has much improved since its unveiling and according to a recent Telegraph article the service is slated for a September launch in the UK.

Going back to the Nielsen report, the estimated 190 percent increase in traffic since the service’s debut translates to growth from 4.2 million unique visitors to 12.1 million in June 2009, with traffic to the subdomain having increased 1,017 percent year-over-year. When comparing unique visitors for MySpace Music to other sites within the music category, it ranked third only behind AOL Music and Yahoo! Music but ahead of other popular music sites like MTV Networks Music, MSN Music and Pandora.

According to Nielsen, people between the ages of 12 and 17 were 2.4 times more likely than the average active Internet user to visit MySpace Music on the subdomain. Visitors between 18 and 24 were 2.2 more likely than the average Internet user to visit the site in June.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

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