Entries by Bob Appleby (1525)

Monday
Mar122012

Press Release: Another Interesting Stylus…

If you lean more on the artistic side and you use your iPad for creating your next piece of art you may want to add the Ten One Design ‘Blue Tiger’ stylus to you gadget mix. This is the same company behind the Pogo Sketch products but now they are talking about releasing a Bluetooth pen that is being introduced primarily for the iPad 3. Along with their software it will allow you to use the pen by interfacing through the Bluetooth connection without the problems associated with palm interaction.

The stylus, codenamed "Project Blue Tiger," is pressure-sensitive, and pairs with the iPad over Bluetooth 4.0. As you can see in the video below, the pen is meant to be used inside a drawing app Ten One's whipped up, though the outfit's made the SDK available to developers today. Per the press release, all you curious code monkeys out there can email info@tenonedesign.com for more details, though the SDK is ready for download at the source link below.

libT1Store

Download the SDK (beta 1)

Make integration easy with code examples you can copy/paste (see T1PogoManager.h)
[SDK] [Demo Project]

From Ten One Design’s Declassify page:

Blue Tiger is a top secret project we've been working on for several months. We're declassifying it now to give you a sneak peek, and to jump-start your imagination.
You may have been hearing good things about Bluetooth 4.0. It's a fast wireless connection, and is fully supported by the CoreBluetooth framework in iOS5.
Bluetooth 4.0 devices don't need to pair with your iPhone or iPad, they just connect and work. Also, the battery life is dramatically better - think months or a year on a single coin battery. We've developed the first pressure-sensitive stylus for iPad that uses Bluetooth 4.0.
Sample hardware is available today. If you'd like to have support for this device in your app, email info@tenonedesign.com, and we'll schedule a shipment for you.
Note: Images shown are unfinished pre-production samples. We'll unveil the final design soon!

Pen features

  • Fast, simple bluetooth 4.0 technology does away with pairing.
  • Any application can take advantage of the features, but developers should use our free code to help them integrate.
  • Full pressure sensitivity.
  • Palm rejection capability.
  • Lights, buttons, music (ok, maybe not music).
  • Full details, name, pricing, etc coming soon.
  • Product will ship after FCC approval. If you're a developer, the time to start testing is now.
Monday
Mar122012

New Release of the Pogo Sketch+

2012-03-12_1527Boasting a new smoother operating tip the Pogo Sketch+ is still made from brightly colored anodized aluminum body that provides scratch protection to the barrel. It comes with a spring steel pocket clip that makes it easy to place in your pocket or on your case to have instant to it.

As much as Apple poo-poo’s using a stylus there are times that you need the accuracy and feel of a pen. Useful in signing documents, markup and just plain writing you will find it a very useful addition to you arsenal of gadgets.

The Sketch and Stylus differ in length, tip technology and loss-prevention mechanism (the Stylus comes with a clip to attach directly to the iPhone or iPod touch; the Sketch itself has a built-in pen clip). The Pogo Stylus comes with our soft durable classic tip, while the Pogo Sketch+ borrows tip technology from the most recent addition to our stylus line-up, Pogo Sketch Pro.

Priced at $14.95 they are a great product addition to you device list.

Monday
Mar122012

Chit Chat for Facebook

2012-03-12_1327One of the things that I look at when I test out a new software is how well it is suited for its purpose and how easy it is to use. Ease of use entails two things for me, first, how intuitive is the interface and second, how clean the GUI is for the user. I have found that an uncluttered interface helps the end-user to easily see the information the program is presenting and allows you to use more efficiently.

For those of you that are active in Facebook and use the chat feature a good bit you may want to opt for a UK product called Chit Chat for Facebook. If you have a Mac computer you are currently out of luck but if you are Windows PC user, iPhone or Blackberry smart phone user you can download the app on these system. You can use it on your iPad as well but it has not been optimized for that device. If you have an Android device you are also currently out of luck.

This product has a simple streamlined interface and provides a smaller more specific screen footprint to allow you to continue working on your PC while trying to keep in touch with your Facebook IM. If this is something that you find you are doing a lot of, then this might be just the product for you.

Press Release

A few screen prints have been provided here: 
http://images.chitchat.org.uk/fbwebmessenger_screenprint3.png
http://images.chitchat.org.uk/fbwebmessenger_screenprint1.png
http://images.chitchat.org.uk/fbwebmessenger_screenprint2.png

Thursday
Mar082012

Intel AppUp Small Business Service Video

Intel AppUp Small Business Service Video
Grow your business with the Intel Hybrid Cloud Services

Thursday
Mar082012

Intel AppUp SmallBusiness Service-Top10 Reasons

Intel AppUp SmallBusiness Service-Top10 Reasons to jump on board

Thursday
Mar082012

Flip the Switch Sales Video

Intel provided video describing how you can leverage the Intel Hybrid Cloud service and the Intel AppUp Small Business Service subscription model.

Thursday
Mar082012

Intel Hybrid Cloud Technology–A new way to do networking in your business…

2012-03-08_1226

Cost has always been an issue when trying to implement the right technology into your business. Intel has developed a solution that will help you keep your equipment and software up to date as well as affordable. This solution will allow us as a Technology Support Company to provide you, our clients, with reliable equipment that is easy to maintain and support both on a hardware basis as well as the applications that let you run your business well.

This new equipment is a support tech’s dream with built-in management features that allow us to perform quick reliable remote assistance on your equipment. As your needs change, or as you add new users and equipment the licensing is simple and straight forward. This solution provides a 3 year refresh cycle that helps us provide you with up to date hardware and software and the right tools on a monthly subscription basis. You will have less worries about having the most current tools to allow you to be competitive in your business marketplace.

Intel is working with many of the leading software manufacturers to provide applications that fit in with the pay-as-you-go subscription model. This small business solution scales with your business growth so you only pay for the services that you use. You won’t have a high up front cost to purchase the software and if the usefulness of the application comes to an end all we have to do is turn it off and you will no longer be billed for it.

Intel describes the benefits of the AppUp Small Business Service as follows:

  • Cloud-like flexibility. Customers consume IT software on a monthly basis without a high upfront fee. Cost scales with number of users, offering a predictable, manageable way to pay for software. You can adjust your monthly software costs as business conditions and the number of users change.
  • Remotely manageable. With an MSP managing the server, you get focus on managing your business rather your customers’ servers.
  • Data control. With an on-premises server, you can keep data on-site and within your control.
  • Lower solutions cost. Run multiple applications and add new applications while paying only for what you use.

Application Categories include:

  • Business Applications (intuit, Tally
  • Healthcare Applications (gloStream
  • Server O/S (Microsoft, SUSE Linux, Clear Center, Pragma Systems)
  • Email/Collaboration/Instant Messaging (Workspace)
  • Database (Apani)
  • Firewall/Unified Threat Management (UTM) (Astaro, Asigra, GFI, SIOS)
  • Back-up (StorageCraft, kineticROBOBAK, Vembu)
  • Remote Management (Level Platforms, Lumension)
  • Disaster Recovery
  • VOIP-PBX (Fonality)

With all of the products and more becoming available weekly we are very excited about the affordability of this approach. Be sure to keep an eye on this blog to see more as we begin implementing this exciting new business solution!

Brochure

Wednesday
Feb292012

Adobe Photoshop Touch for the iPad Released

photo

Adobe finally comes though for your iPad devices to provide a Photoshop app designed specifically for tablets. Combine images, apply professional effects, share results with friends and family through sites like Facebook, and more – all from the convenience of your iPad.

  • Use popular Photoshop features designed for the tablet such as layers, selection tools, adjustments, and filters to create mind-blowing images.
  • Use your iPad camera to fill an area on a layer with the unique camera fill feature.
  • Select part of an image to extract by scribbling with the Scribble Selection tool. With Refine Edge, use your fingertip to capture even hard-to-select image elements, like hair, with ease.
  • Search and acquire images with the integrated Google Image Search.
  • Share images on Facebook and view comments right within the app.
  • Browse an inspirational gallery for the styles and results you'd like to achieve. Then follow step-by-step tutorials to easily learn techniques the pros use for great-looking results.
  • Use AirPrint for wireless printing of Photoshop Touch projects.
  • Upload projects to Adobe Creative Cloud* and open layered files from Adobe Photoshop Touch in Photoshop CS5.
  • Maximum image resolution: 1600 x 1600 pixels

This is Adobe’s first iteration of this app on the iPad and hopefully new enhancements will be coming quickly to allow for larger file sizes (images) and more features. It will be interesting to see where this goes.

Photoshop Touch is actually part of a family of six tablet apps. So along with Photoshop Touch, there's Collage, Debut, Ideas, Kuler and Proto. As Adobe describes it, Photoshop Touch will let users combine photos, edit photos, apply filters and other effects and poke with layers. Collage is where you drop images, drawings, text into a 'mood board', Debut shows off your pshop files, Ideas is a vector based tool for drawing, Kuler generates color themes and Proto is made for developers.

Wednesday
Feb292012

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 2 vs. Galaxy Note 10.2

2012-02-29_1823Samsung seems to be introducing a new tablet almost every week. Samsung has made a new designation for their tablet line with the Note series with the primary distinction being that the Note series will be coming with an S-Pen. What is the S-Pen and what is its capabilities? Version 1.0 lets you add a basic canvas, a pop-up for pen settings (opacity, line color and so on) as well as erase and un/redo. Sure, ICS might natively support stylus input, but as Samsung is keen to point out -- with its capacitive tip and configurable button -- a simple stylus this is not.

See these engadget articles for more information:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/27/samsung-galaxy-note-10.1/

http://gizmodo.com/5888347/samsungs-galaxy-tab-2-now-comes-in-an-exciting-101+inch-flavour-but-is-fatter-and-heavier-than-the-original/gallery/1

Wednesday
Feb292012

Microsoft Office University 2010 FAQ

Come March 1st the boxed version of Microsoft Office Academic Pro will no longer be available. Microsoft is replacing it with a new package called Microsoft Office University 2010. This new package is meant only for higher-education students and higher-education faculty. It is not available for K-12 Teachers as the last version was. This version contains the same components which were: the 2010 versions of: Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access.

Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010 is the recommended product for parents and families with K-12 students. The full list of eligible individuals for Office University 2010 is: Full and part time, enrolled university student and faculty in accredited institutions; including junior college, college, university, vocational school, scientific or technical school. Alumni of these institutions are ineligible.

Office University 2010 does not come with a product key. Your eligibility will be verified online before completing purchase. This product will not work without successful verification as you will not have a product key.

You will be required to verify your eligibility online to use this software.

  1. Go to www.office.com/verify.
  2. Sign in with your Windows Live ID or create one using any email address.
  3. Provide your school email address, sign-in ID, or international student identity card (ISIC).

Once you pass verification, the online site displays the product key.

Thursday
Feb232012

News Release: CVS Caremark's MinuteClinic to Deploy Allscripts EHR Nationally

Posted by Allscripts News Center on Feb 21, 2012 11:04:54 AM

Allscripts to be core operating system for nation's largest retail health clinic network

CHICAGO and WOONSOCKET, R.I., Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CVS Caremark's MinuteClinic, the leading retail health clinic in the United States, will transition from its existing, proprietary Electronic Medical Record system to the AllscriptsMyWay Electronic Health Record. This transition will assist MinuteClinic in its mission of delivering high quality accessible medical care in hundreds of retail clinics across the United States.

"MinuteClinic is partnering with Allscripts to assure that we are utilizing the most advanced electronic health record platform in the market," said Andrew Sussman, M.D., president, MinuteClinic and senior vice president/associate chief medical officer, CVS Caremark. "This will help support our nurse practitioners and physician assistants in continuing to meet and exceed the high standards we have set for quality and adherence to practice guidelines."

With Allscripts Electronic Health Record, MinuteClinic becomes part of one of the largest networks of healthcare providers using Electronic Health Records. In addition, Allscripts' current clients include some of the prominent health care systems with which MinuteClinic has affiliated, positioning MinuteClinic well for future growth and clinical collaboration.

"As part of an expanding partnership, we're dedicated to helping MinuteClinic continue its high patient satisfaction rating by enabling seamless, private and reliable access to patient information where and when it's needed and also provide the opportunity to share their treatments electronically with the patient's primary care physician," said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts.

Get Connected with Allscripts at HIMSS

Visit It Takes A Community: The Allscripts Blog to discuss the conference or stop by the Allscripts booth #3016. Follow us on Twitter: @Allscripts or #HIMSS12.

About MinuteClinic

MinuteClinic is a division of CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS), the largest pharmacy health care provider in the United States. MinuteClinic launched the first retail walk-in clinics in the United States in 2000 and is the largest provider of walk-in clinics with more than 600 locations in 25 states and the District of Columbia. By creating a health care delivery model that responds to patient demand, MinuteClinic makes access to high quality medical treatment easier for more Americans. Nationally, the company has generated more than 11 million patient visits, with a 95% customer satisfaction rating. MinuteClinic is the first retail health care provider to receive accreditation (2006) reaccreditation (2009) from The Joint Commission, the national evaluation and certifying agency for nearly 15,000 healthcare organizations and programs in the United States. For more information, visit www.MinuteClinic.com.

About Allscripts

Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX) delivers the insights that healthcare providers require to generate world-class outcomes. The company's Electronic Health Record, practice management and other clinical, revenue cycle, connectivity and information solutions create a Connected Community of Health™ for physicians, hospitals and post-acute organizations. To learn more about Allscripts, please visit www.allscripts.com, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Allscripts MyWay with integrated practice management is designed specifically to help providers in independent and small-group practices overcome cost and IT complexity barriers. Available as both an on-premise and cloud-based solution, the EHR enables providers to choose the delivery method that works best for them, and offers robust capabilities for electronic health, practice management and claims management.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Statements regarding future events or developments, our future performance, as well as management's expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans, estimates or projections relating to the future are forward-looking statements with the meaning of these laws. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, some of which are outlined below. As a result, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what impact they will have on our results of operations or financial condition. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among other things: the possibility that the expected synergies, efficiencies and cost savings of the merger with Eclipsys Corporation ("Eclipsys") will not be realized, or will not be realized within the expected time period; potential difficulties or delays in achieving platform and product integration and the connection and movement of data among hospitals, physicians, patients and others; the risk that the Allscripts and Eclipsys businesses will not be integrated successfully; competition within the industries in which we operate; failure to achieve certification under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act could result in increased development costs, a breach of some customer obligations and could put us at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace; the volume and timing of systems sales and installations, the length of sales cycles and the installation process and the possibility that our products will not achieve or sustain market acceptance; the timing, cost and success or failure of new product and service introductions, development and product upgrade releases; competitive pressures including product offerings, pricing and promotional activities; our ability to establish and maintain strategic relationships; undetected errors or similar problems in our software products; the outcome of any legal proceeding that has been or may be instituted against us; compliance with existing laws, regulations and industry initiatives and future changes in laws or regulations in the healthcare industry, including possible regulation of our software by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; the possibility of product-related liabilities; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; the implementation and speed of acceptance of the electronic record provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; maintaining our intellectual property rights and litigation involving intellectual property rights; risks related to third-party suppliers and our ability to obtain, use or successfully integrate third-party licensed technology; and breach of our security by third parties. See our Annual Report on Form 10-KT for the seven months ended December 31, 2010 and other public filings with the SEC for a further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties applicable to our business. The statements herein speak only as of their date and we undertake no duty to update any forward-looking statement whether as a result of new information, future events or changes in expectations.

Thursday
Feb162012

New TechSmith iPad app provides Camtasia Studio Training–and it is FREE!

iPad Screenshot 1

View In iTunes

  • Free

  • Category: Education
  • Released: Feb 01, 2012
  • Version: 1.0.0
  • Size: 200 MB
  • Language: English
  • Seller: TechSmith Corporation
  • © 2012 TechSmith Corporation

TechSmith FastTrack makes learning Camtasia Studio easy so you can create eye-catching training, presentation and demo videos. There are 16 tutorial videos that will walk you through Camtasia from start to finish. Learn how to record your screen, apply polished effects, remove background noise and more.

FastTrack lets you get helpful Camtasia Studio tips wherever you are. You can watch on your iPad while travelling, or right at your desk following along with Camtasia Studio open on your desktop.
Within FastTrack, you can:
• Watch tutorial videos, even when offline
• Search for keywords
iPad Screenshot 3• Read the video transcripts
• Provide feedback
• Open a web browser to view online tutorials
FastTrack highlights 16 tutorial videos, including:
Getting Started with Screen Recording
• Record Full Screen
• Editing Dimensions and Save Project
• Overview of Camtasia Studio Interface
• Apply SmartFocus to Zoom and Pan
• Cut Unwanted Video and Audio on the Timeline
• Add a Title Clip
• Add a Transition
• Share Your Video on Screencast.com
Recording PowerPoint Presentation
• PowerPoint Add-in Toolbar
• Record a PowerPoint Presentation
• Editing Dimensions and Save Project
• Cut and Split Clips Using Markers on the Timeline
• Use Markers to Create a Table of Contents
• Audio Enhancements – Noise Removal
• Custom Production Settings
• Share on the Web with Link to HTML File

Tuesday
Feb142012

Setting up a PowerPoint Slide Show to run Standalone and Continuously…

I had a discussion with one of our customers about an inexpensive setup for sign management using an All-In-One PC mounted to a wall in their employee information area and then running some type of automated image slide deck on the screen to provide information updates and calendar info for their employees.

I decided to do this using PowerPoint and setting it up to create a self executing file that once it is started will run continuously on the system. Here is a quick video clip on setting this up using PowerPoint 2010.

Monday
Feb132012

ECO-Friendly Battery-Free BlueEye Mouse

Experience the most ECO-friendly wireless mouse from Genius BlueEye family DX-ECO. Battery free design let you contribute your very own effort in environment protection. Featuring battery free design, it has built-in a gold capacitor to expand recharge life up to 100,000 times; just a quick charge for 3 minutes and ready to use. The Genius BlueEye technology let you work virtually anywhere. Its bi-directional 2.4GHz let your work up to 15 meters and anti-interference ensures perfect working smoothness. Also available of four hot key to access to Previous/Next Page, Flying Scroll and dpi adjust between 800 and 1600 dpi. Plus it’s super mini receiver is easy for storage and prevent breakage. For a high C/P value and ECO-friendly mouse, there is nothing better than DX-ECO, so why wait? Start protecting the environment from DX-ECO now.

2012-02-10_1829How does it work?  It uses a gold capacitor, also known as an electric double layered capacitor (or super capacitor). Rather than the chemical reaction found in standard batteries, gold capacitors rely on a storage cell that utilizes the absorption and release of ions. It was theorized a few years ago that this technology could power a mouse, but historically it has been used to provide backup sources of power (though the test mouse was also able to charge inductively, so it was completely cord-free). Apparently, the mouse can go a "full day" on one charge, but can be recharged in a mere three minutes — so while you likely won't see the longevity you get from traditional batteries, charging the mouse up should be a minimal inconvenience. You accomplish the recharging by plugging in the mouse using a micro-USB connection on the mouse.

Package Contents:

  • DX-ECO wireless mouse
  • USB pico receiver
  • CD driver
  • Micro USB rechargeable cable
  • Multi-language user's manual
Highlights and Price:
  • Battery free wireless mouse 168a.jpg
  • Fully recharged within three minutes while using
  • Works on virtually every surface including dusted glass and marble
  • Fully Plug and Play
  • Comfortable ergonomic design
  • Adjustable dpi – 800/1600 dpi
  • Travel friendly with storable 2.4GHz USB Pico receiver
  • MSRP: US$39.99

Download Spec Sheet

Sunday
Feb122012

Not Happy with iMovie on the iPad try Avid Studio

2012-02-10_1741One of the reasons that I got and iPad 2 when I did was because I wanted to try my hand with video editing on it. Have I done much with it? Not really but the was my reasoning. Another product has just launched from Avid called Avid Studio for iPad. This is probably the first real competitor to Apple’s iMovie video editing app.

What makes this so interesting is that Avid was king of digital video editing in Hollywood for a long time, and then Apple came out with the far more affordable Final Cut Pro/ Final Cut Studio, and enticed a few big name directors to give their new software a try.

So how do they compare? Both products can do the basics that you would expect for any video editor. You can insert videos, photos, and music, trim clips, add titles, and export to YouTube. But this is where iMovie begins to fail.

Audio Management – in iMovie when you insert a music track it becomes the background for the entire movie. You can’t insert clips and manipulate transitions. You are stuck with playing the whole song. In Avid Studio, you can trim your sound clips and insert them anywhere in your movie and layer up to 3 clips at a time.

Inserting Photo and Videos as PIP - One of the cool features Avid Studio provides is the ability to insert photos or video over the main movie in the timeline. Meaning, if you want to have a photo or video play in the middle of a movie clip, you can do so while still having the audio and elapsed time from the main movie playing in the background. This is one the features I most like about Avid Studio. The only thing you can do in iMovie is split up the clip and put a photo or movie clip into the middle. Avid’s way — which Apple does support on the desktop version of iMovie — is more useful.

Video Management – iMovie doesn’t allow you to access imported video that was done with iTunes. The only videos accessible with iMovie are the ones in your camera roll or in albums. Avid does allow access to imported videos.

Titles and Montages – iMovie forces you to use their themes to insert titles in your movie. This means that all text inserted in iMovie must be overlaid with part of your movie. Avid Studio comes with fun montages as well as allowing you to use plain black slides with text to create your titles. The montages can be made up of anywhere between 1 and 4 photos and may be static images or mini video clips.

Conclusion – Avid Studio wins hands down. Both products are priced the same at $4.99 but there is so much more flexibility available in Avid Studio.

Here is a quick overview video of this product produced by MattsMacintosh published to YouTube.

One step further, here is a 20 minute tutorial from MeadorsMusings posted to Youtube.

Click on this link to view even more helpful YouTube Videos on this subject.

Sunday
Feb122012

The Zen Table allows you to produce real-time art!

We all love to watch videos of interesting products and this Kickstarter project is really interesting. The Zen Table creates intricate sand drawings using a specially designed sculpting head. Starting at $500 for the DIY kit is a little pricey but watch the video and you will start to think about letting go of a little of that green stuff!

For more information Take a look at the kickstarter site.

Saturday
Feb112012

Lenovo confirms ICS for ThinkPad Tablet coming this Spring

ThinkPad TabletLenovo has said that it is future proofing its devices and it looks like they are holding true to their word. The Lenovo ThinkPad Tablets are an interesting family of Android Tablet devices that I think will fit in well with the Corporate world. The update to ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) should be available in May and will be coming automatically over the air.

These 10.1 inch tablets run from $499 – $699 and have the NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. They are available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models and you can add optional 3G to complete the experience. They sport a large 1280 x 800 display.

Optimized for business.

From the makers of the revolutionary ThinkPad line of laptops comes the anything, anywhere, anytime DO business machine. This powerful Android™ 3.1 tablet delivers a professional multimedia and unbeatable entertainment experience.

  • NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 Dual-Core 1GHz processor
  • 10.1” WXGA (1280x800) 16:10 IPS panel with Corning® Gorilla® Glass
  • Multitouch display with digitizer input
  • Starts at 1.65 lbs, with up to 8 hours of battery life (with WiFi enabled) and 32GB storage
  • Corporate email and security features like network passwords for safe communication inside and outside your network
  • Protect all of your confidential data with robust security features, including full device and SD card encryption, lost device disablement and anti-theft software
  • HD display and HDMI output for crisp and defined presentations on large monitors
  • Fully supports Adobe® Flash® for online media
  • Native USB 2.0 and micro-USB ports
  • Integrated cloud sharing and storage to easily move large files between team members and offices

Related resources

Tech specs

ThinkPad Tablet Tech Specs (31.86KB

Saturday
Feb112012

How Competitive can a Intel/Win8 Tablet be?

2012-02-11_1225Can Tablet Manufacturers get below the $600 price barrier to successfully compete against Apple’s iPad line? Unless Intel and Microsoft lower their pricing on Clover Trail and Windows 8 probably not. So will the manufacturers opt for the less expensive ARM technologies and suffer the incompatibility of windows programs and ARM processors. This week we have been getting some tidbits from Microsoft talking about what Microsoft Programs will be available for their ARM based Windows 8 but unless other software manufacturers port their programs to this chipset they will not be compatible and thus will work on an Arm based Windows 8 Tablet. Will Microsoft Office be enough for user’s or not?

Ever since Steve Ballmer made that surprise announcement at CES 2011, there has been a lot of speculation about just how Microsoft would be bringing Windows to the ARM architecture. Would it be a whole separate line? Would it be compatible with old applications? Would it be cheaper? Many of these questions have been answered in a long and technical post on the Building Windows 8 blog today, as Steven Sinofsky explains how they developed (re-developed, really) Windows On ARM, or WOA, and why they made the choices they made. Some major points, for those unwilling to read: WOA will be totally incompatible with x86/x64-based applications; it will include a desktop only for Office apps and file management; it will be focused on portability, battery life, and "integrated quality."

Sinofsky describes WOA as “a new member of the Windows family, much like Windows Server, Windows Embedded, or Windows Phone.” It’s not meant to play games installed on operating systems from a quarter of a century ago. It’s meant to be a point of access for the current, and only the current, Windows ecosystem. It is similar to the “full” version of Windows 8 only in those parts that have been developed specifically for Windows 8.

Think of it this way. Windows 8 for x86/x64, in a way, includes Windows 7, Vista, XP, 98, 95, and so on. It is built with compatibility in mind, as part of a venerable line of operating systems. Windows On ARM includes only Windows 8. It’s as if the last ten versions of the OS never happened — though there are echoes.

This breaks the OS for some people — me, for example — but it could be a breath of fresh air for many. This OS is at once bare-bones and all-inclusive: it comes with a familiar version of Office, it will almost certainly be cheap and easy to deploy by the hundred or thousand, and it’s absolutely a known quantity.

Apps for WOA will all come from the Windows Store, and will all be Metro — except for Office (and a few other trusted programs), which will be able to run in the traditional desktop environment for productivity purposes. It’s a bit puzzling, this admission that the traditional desktop is superior for productivity, but it’s also the truth: an all-Metro productivity suite would be unfamiliar to Microsoft’s base. They’ll make it optional for now, and drop the other shoe later.

The focus on tablets is made plain: “you don’t turn off a WOA PC.” You don’t have sleep and hibernate modes. Like a phone or tablet, you just hit the button and it goes into a newly-developed low-power mode in which the battery will reportedly last weeks. These tablets, while they won’t run the “real” Windows 8, will be totally functional (it runs “super well”) access points to the Windows ecosystem. And with the increasing focus on cloud storage, web-based apps, and mobility, that limited access may start looking less like a bug and more like feature as time goes on.

It’s still early and this discussion seems to be changing daily right now. It will interesting to see what kind of price this type of tablet will be able to be launched at and how well it will be accepted by consumers.

Saturday
Feb112012

Intel’s Thunderbolt initiative coming soon on a PC near you

2012-02-11_1139Acer, Asustek, Lenovo expected to begin adopting Thunderbolt this spring and are expected to initially have this connector on their proposed ultrabook devices. All three PC makers are expected to introduce new Ultrabooks incorporating Intel's Ivy Bridge platform with support for Thunderbolt.

Intel's next Ivy Bridge chip platform, the successor to Sandy Bridge, includes native support for USB 3.0, but does not support Thunderbolt across the board. Support for Thunderbolt increases the cost of PCs by more than $20.

As a result, Thunderbolt is only expected to be adopted among high-end notebooks or desktops in 2012. The new Intel-driven standard for PCI Express data paired with DisplayPort video is however expected to be fully standardized by 2013.

Apple aggressively rolled out support for Thunderbolt last year, adding it to all of its Mac product lines apart from the Mac Pro, which already has PCI Express slots. Thunderbolt hard drives and other devices have started to trickle into the market behind Apple's own Thunderbolt Display, with docks and external PCIe slot enclosures being shown at CES last month.

HP states that it doesn’t see the value proposition of the Thunderbolt Technology and intends to exclusively support USB 3.0.

DigiTimes reported Tuesday that Thunderbolt and its 10Gbps data connection speed could "greatly affect" adoption of the competing USB 3.0 port in the future. It said that in addition to Apple, which added Thunderbolt to its latest line of MacBook Pros, Sony is also said to be considering adopting the technology into its high-end notebooks.

Last Spring, Intel publicly said it planned to support USB 3.0 alongside Thunderbolt. But sources reportedly said that Intel is simply hedging its bets by adding USB 3.0 support to its next-generation chips, code-named "Ivy Bridge."
"Sources believe Intel's strategy of adopting both technologies into its next generation products is to minimize the risks of placing all the eggs into one basket," the report said.

People in the PC industry reportedly believe that USB 3.0 is a "transitional product" with legacy support for older USB devices. Thunderbolt, on the other hand, is viewed as the true next-generation successor.

Formerly code-named "Light Peak," Thunderbolt has data transfer speeds that are 20 times faster than the current market standard, USB 2.0. Thunderbolt's 10Gbps speeds are also twice as fast as the USB 3.0 specification.
For comparison, a FireWire 800 port is 800Mbps, while an Express Card slot has bandwidth of 2.5Gbps.

Thunderbolt's speeds are accomplished with copper wire, though previous versions of Light Peak were demonstrated with fiber optic strands allowing speeds of up to 100Gbps. Thunderbolt was co-developed by Intel and Apple.

Friday
Feb102012

Targus has introduced a USB 3.0 Dual Display Adapter

Targus Dual-head USB 3.0 Video Card Goes Beyond HDPeripherals major Targus introduced the ACA039US, a USB display adapter that takes advantage of the USB 3.0 SuperSpeed interface, and provides two display outputs, supporting two displays. Based on DisplayLink DL-3900 chipset, the ACA039US relies on USB 3.0 for both host connectivity and power. It gives out two display outputs: DVI-I (single link) and HDMI 1.3. Each connector supports display heads at resolutions up to 2048 x 1152 pixels, even though the DL-3900 chipset supports 2560 x 1600 (over dual-link DVI). The HDMI 1.3 connection gives out 5.1-channel audio, and is HDCP 2.0-compliant. The ACA039US from Targus will be released to market soon, at a price of US $99.99.