Weekly Tech Roundup

Windows 8 Release date

Microsoft have revealed that Windows 8 will be officially launched on October 26th. Existing Windows users will be able to upgrade (for a limited time) at a low cost which is rumoured to be around £25.00 here in the UK. In addition to this, users who have been testing the Release Preview Edition will also have the option of this low cost upgrade to the final edition.

No details on a release date for Microsofts Surface Tablet as yet - but expect this to be around the same time, along with a host of new Windows 8 tablet hardware from Microsofts OEM partners.

Office 2013 Preview

Whilst edging ever closer to the release of Windows 8, Microsoft also took the opportunity to introduce the latest version of Microsoft Office earlier this week. Unsurprisingly, the Office Suite of products gets a Windows 8 (metro style) makeover and there are some nice looking new features all optimized for touchscreen.

I will likely do a full review of Office 2013 once I have had the chance to work with the preview edition for a while, but one of the things that struck me as exciting is that they are making Excel a lot easier for everyone to use. Excel can be a very intimidating and confusing piece of software at times, but apparently even someone like me will be able to create a pivot table from now on!

iTunes in the cloud

When iOS 5 was announced by Steve Jobs at WWDC 2011 last June, one of the most exciting new features was the ability to download all of your purchased Music, TV shows and Films from the cloud. However, up until yesterday the ability to access your purchase history for Films was only available in the US. Finally Apple have given this to some other countries including the UK.

This means if you purchased a Film on iTunes, you will also be able to access it from the cloud on your Apple TV and iOS devices on demand and at no extra cost. It's about time too quite frankly!

iPad 7 inch rumours

More rumours this week that Apple will launch a 7 inch iPad sometime this year. The late Steve Jobs was apparently completely against this idea. However, Apples top brass have made a number of decisions that may not have sat well with their former visionary CEO since he resigned his position and sadly passed away.

I wonder if he would have approved of the iPhone 4S for example, and I seriously doubt he would have allowed the new iPad to be thicker, without an 8 megapixel camera, or Siri for that matter. I also question whether he would have named the voice assistant Siri either?

I'm by no means suggesting that Apple are getting everything wrong here though. The Retina MacBook is a truly stunning piece of kit, and iOS 6 looks like a step in the right direction too. As for a 7 inch iPad - my instinct tells me that we will indeed be seeing this soon!

Google Nexus 7 Tablet selling well

One of the reasons we may soon be seeing a 7 inch iPad is due to the popularity of the Amazon Kindle Fire, and the newly released Google Nexus 7. Googles new tablet is flying off the shelves and they have struggled to meet demand. My next door neighbour Simon has ordered one actually, and he seems absolutely consumed with excitement and anticipation at the arrival of this device.

It looks to be a really nice product actually and I hope to be able to check one out soon. I also hope Simons arrives today for him!!

And that's that for another week folks!

Take care!
Peter

Thursday Tech Roundup

Here's a few things that have caught my eye this week in tech world;

o2 Network Problems

As I write this, many o2 mobile customers have been experiencing network connectivity problems. There seems to be no particular pattern as to who is affected. Random users will lose their o2 signal for a time whilst others will be unaffected.

Authenticating to masts in certain areas seems to be the issue with many users finding that their signal was OK at home, but they lost it when they got to work. o2 have updated their network status advising that their 2G network is back up and running - and that affected users should turn off 3G on their handsets for the time being. This worked for me. They hope to have the issue completely resolved at some point today.

Windows 8 Release Date

Microsoft has revealed that Windows 8 will be released this October. Many of us have already been trying out Windows 8 in its Consumer and Release preview formats of course - but what this means is that the product will be released to manufacturer, and XP, Vista, and Windows 7 users will have the option (for a limited time) to upgrade to Windows 8 for a reduced price, which is believed to be $39.99 (so hopefully around £25.00 in the UK).

If you are tempted to upgrade however - I would advise caution. Check your hardware is going to be good enough to run Windows 8. In my own tests, I have been quite amazed at the variety of older hardware that is capable of running Windows 8 quite well, but I do suggest that you look into your options very carefully when the time comes.

A major part of the full Windows 8 launch will be the App Store. At this time, the limited amount of Apps available are completely free for users to try. This will change of course and Windows 8 App developers will be able to start charging to download their Apps.

No announcement as yet from Microsoft as to when their Surface Tablet will be released, but I would expect this to appear around the same time as it is designed specifically for the Windows 8 platform.

Samsung are also expected to announce their own Windows 8 Tablet device at some point, with the other OEMs such as Acer and ASUS very likely to follow, so there will be many hardware options to choose from when Windows 8 finally lands on the shelves!

Google+ for iPad

Google+ now has a full iPad App. Up until now, iPad users could install the Google+ iPhone App, or use the service through the iPads Safari Browser. This offered a limited user experience however, and the addition of this iPad friendly App will be welcome news to Google+ fans. Facebook users also had to wait a very long time for an iPad specific App - and to be honest it isn't that great. Time will tell whether Google have done better!

Is Apple cooler than Samsung?

Apple suffered another patent war defeat last week here in the UK with a high court judge ruling that Samsung did not copy Apples iPad design when they introduced the Galaxy Tab. Apple can claim something of a moral victory here however, with the judge going on to explain that he arrived at this decision due to fact that the Galaxy Tab is just simply not as "cool" as the iPad. I don't know who will be happier with this ruling, but no doubt it will be far from the end of these patent squabbles between the two parties.

Microsoft urges Windows Vista, 7 users to disable desktop gadgets

And finally, Microsoft has issued a "security advisory" this week urging all Windows Vista and Windows 7 users to download a tool that will disable any desktop gadgets they may have installed.

It seems that vulnerabilities in Gadgets have been identified that could allow remote code execution. You can view the advisory here

And that's about it for another Tech Thursday!
Peter

Scratching the Surface

Microsoft revealed their new Tablet Device yesterday at an event in Hollywood. CEO Steve Ballmer took to the stage and introduced us to "Surface".



It is not the tech giants first attempt at dipping their toes into the tablet market. Way before Apple put their stamp all over tablets, Microsoft had tinkered with their own products with pretty underwhelming results.

In fact, Microsofts entire history at producing their own consumer hardware products has not been very successful to say the least. The only exception to this of course would be the unbelievably popular XBOX.

So hopefully they will have learned from some past mistakes and this product will be the first genuine competitor to the amazing iPad. iPads dominance has yet to be seriously challenged. The Kindle Fire and Blackberry Playbook don't compare to the Apple device, nor do any of the Android tablets that have been released so far.

Microsoft have dared to be different here though, and their interface is the first one on a Tablet that doesn't seem to be trying to be an iOS clone.

Two versions were demonstrated at the event. One thinner tablet running Windows RT, the new version of Windows 8 that uses the new British "ARM" low power processors, and another thicker device running the full Windows 8 and using traditional Intel chips.

The devices come with a stand and a magnetic attachable keyboard which looks very nice indeed. So far, no release date or pricing structure have been announced but I would expect this to be sometime later this year so that sales can be made with Christmas in mind!

So what will consumers make of this product? Well, first and foremost Microsoft will have to make their pricing structure competitive with the iPad to tempt customers away from Apple.

Ease of use will also be a big factor. iOS is so easy to use, and although my initial tests of Windows 8 (on a Dell Inspiron Duo Touchscreen device) have left me impressed, I think it will take users a bit of time to feel comfortable and at home with the interface. There are a few new multi touch gestures to get the hang of, but once you get used to those it is pretty easy.

Microsofts secret weapon here may be the fact that both Windows 8 versions on this device give you the ability to do anything you can on a Microsoft PC or Laptop. You also get USB ports. The iPad is truly amazing, and if you put your mind to it you can make it do almost anything you need. However, there are still occasions where it won't do something you need and you have to power on your PC or laptop which is frustrating. The Microsoft Surface could change all that.

Time will tell how successful the Microsoft Surface will be. I for one think it has a place in the market, and will be keeping my eye on pricing when it is announced. My early prediction will be that iPad will still dominate as iOS is the nicer interface to use, but Microsoft will make an impact here due to the features it will offer that iPad won't.

State of the Mobile Nation

There is so much happening in the world of mobile technology right now that even a complete gadget geek such as myself finds it hard to keep up. So I hope you will find the following a handy review of the headlines that have made news so far in this sector in 2012, and what we can still expect to see as the year progresses;

1). Google buys Motorola

This is particularly interesting to me as it could ultimately turn out to be a big game changer. Historically, Google has not got involved with hardware. Its Android OS is Open Source and freely available to all developers and manufacturers. HTC and Samsung are the most notable tech giants who sing from the Android hymn sheet when it comes to their smartphone devices. Apple have iOS of course which is completely proprietary - meaning it can only be used on Apple Hardware. Could this purchase be an early indication of Google considering a similar path? It's hard to imagine Android being closed off in such a way - especially when Google and Samsung in particular seem to have such a strong partnership.

However, saying that - Google CEO Eric Schmidt used to be on the board of Apple, and was even present onstage at the launch of the original iPhone. Things can change very quickly though. The Apple/Google relationship went sour when Google created Android - with Steve Jobs claiming it was stolen software and vowing to go to "thermo nuclear war" with Google over it. The suits and counter-suits are continuing to this day!

Those in the know however, suggest that Googles primary motivation for this purchase was to improve their own weak patent base. Motorola seemingly held some very useful patents, and Google have no doubt seen the opportunity to acquire some very valuable intellectual property to strengthen their position in their ongoing war with Apple.

Time will tell how this one turns out - but if I were Samsung right now, I may be wishing that I had beaten Nokia to Microsofts door to get on board with the fast emerging Windows Phone platform. I have a sneaky feeling that Google and Samsung may not be such good buddies in a year or so down the line.

2). The New iPad arrives

Apple launched its 3rd generation tablet device in April and called it "The New iPad". For me, even as an Apple Fan - this model feels like it's been put out for the sake of it. The iPad2 was significantly better than the original iPad. It introduced a thinner form factor, front facing camera, and the A5 Processor to note a few features.

The new iPad on the other hand is thicker, has a 5mp camera as compared to the 8mp camera on the iPhone 4S. It doesn't have Siri, but it does have a new A5X chip, quad core graphics and a retina display (meaning that the human eye is unable to discern individual pixels on the touchscreen). The design is almost identical to the iPad2 (apart from being thicker as I said). The price remains the same and you can also still pick up a new iPad2 for $100 less in the US, and £70 less here in the UK.

Overall, a disappointing stop gap for me! Do I still want one at some point though I hear you ask - of course I do!!! I don't know why, I just need it!! And so do millions of other people it seems - as predictably the new iPad has been a major success. Unlike the smartphone market, Apple is still very much King of the Tablets. There is nothing to touch the iPad, and until Windows 8 Tablets start arriving on the market - nothing will.

3). Samsung Galaxy S3 is launched

In fact, the UK launch date for this device is today. The S3's predecessor (the Samsung Galaxy S2) has been an enormous success and has catapulted Samsung ahead of Apple as the worlds largest Smartphone Manufacturer. Samsung are getting such a fanbase for their phones that I hear that people have actually been queuing (Apple Store style) for them overnight as they simply cannot wait to get their hands on the latest "King of the Android Phones". I've not seen an S3 yet. Ironically, I only got to play with an S2 for the very first time yesterday - and I have to admit that I liked it. Early reports on the S3 suggest that it will continue to help Samsung dominate this market. The only reservation I have heard about it so far is that the plastic case makes the build feel a little cheap. I will certainly check one out when I get the chance though that's for sure.

4). The new iPhone is coming

Surely, it has to this year doesn't it? Last year, Apple disappointed millions when they failed to release the iPhone 5, and instead launched another iPhone 4 with an extra set of antennas, Siri, a better canera, and iOS5 - and called it the iPhone 4S. And like the mugs we are, we all got one and made it the best and fastest selling iPhone so far. I swear, Apple have built up such a unique brand loyalty over the past couple of years that they could release practically anything and we would buy it.

That being said, I don't think they can get away with such an obvious stop gap again this year. With the release of their S3 today, Samsung have basically sat back and said "over to you Apple - let's see what you've got", and I for one expect them to respond with something special. I predict that the next generation iPhone will launch in October this year with a completely new design and with iOS6. There have been rumours of a bigger screen which concern me slightly as I prefer the size of the iPhone screen I must admit. Apart from that, who knows what we can expect. I have heard the possibility of a liquid metal casing, and an edge to edge screen, no home button - the rumours just go on and on. Until you see Tim Cook and Phil Schiller on a stage with it though - don't believe anything!

5). Microsoft are doing a Madonna

Microsoft have been quiet the last couple of years I feel. Sure, they put out Windows 7 but there has been very little fuss about this, and most people these days seem to be talking about Apple, Google, Samsung, Smartphones, Ultrabooks and Tablets. Microsoft have seen their revenue from sales of PCs drop very drastically as a result of their rivals launching the "Post PC Era".

All the while though, they have been quietly reinventing themselves, and later this year - Windows 8 will arrive. If you have read any of my posts to date on Windows 8, then you know that I am very excited by it. The Windows 8 tablet version could very well emerge as the first serious competitor to the iPad. I love my iPad as you know, but there are still things that I cannot do on it - and when this happens, I have to power on a laptop and that is frustrating. I believe Windows 8 tablets will change this, and take the Post PC Era to a whole new level. You will have all the benefits of a touchscreen device - without some of the restrictions and obstacles that you face on the iPad. I for one will be keeping my eye on this. We were planning to change our home laptop at some point but now I think we will wait until we can replace it with a suitable Windows 8 tablet device. In fact, I don't want to buy a device with a physical keyboard ever again if I can help it.


6). Best of the rest

I've been impressed with the look of the Nokia Lumia - although I haven't had the chance to take a proper look at one as yet (I wish I was important enough for manufacturers to send me their phones so I could test them out)! I expect their partnership with Microsoft to flourish over the next couple of years however.

HTC remain pretty strong in the smartphone market too. The HTC One is their flagship phone at the minute and it looks pretty good, although maybe not as good as a Samsung. HTC have a mixture of Android and Windows Phone running on their devices which I find a little strange. They do seem to have their own dedicated fan base too though and I expect they will continue to do well.

The Sony Experia range also looks very good - but Sony don't seem to be making much impact in this or any other market these days to be honest. They are very much playing second fiddle to the smartphone giants of Apple, Samsung and HTC.

And that's about it. I hope you've enjoyed this little run through. If you can think of an event, or device that I've omitted that you think is important or will make a big impact this year - then please let me know!

Peter

Oracle Virtualbox

I have often found myself wanting to try out new and different operating systems, yet frustratingly I have no spare hardware on which to experiment.  That's why I was really pleased to discover Oracle Virtualbox.

As described on their own website (https://www.virtualbox.org) - "Virtualbox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2".

It's easy to download and setup, and if like me you have a laptop with a 500gb hard drive - it gives you the chance to test multiple platforms on the same laptop, without the inconvenience of overwriting your existing OS, or setting up messy dual boot configurations.

Here's what Virtualbox looks like when you start it up;

As you can see, I have already used Virtualbox to install and test multiple platforms - including Windows 8 Consumer Preview, Ubuntu (more to come on that in another post), Mac OS X Snow Leopard, and even Android Ice Cream Sandwich.  I have also been able to find an ISO image of Windows 3.1 (purely for nostalgia purposes).

Configuring specific settings for each platform can be a bit tweaky, but there is lots of advice available if you do a bit of Googling - and so far I have managed to get everything working that I have put my mind to.

So if like me, you come from Planet Geek, and you want to try out different platforms to see what they can do - give Virtualbox a try.

And that's Virtualbox.  Share and Enjoy!

Peter

Windows 8 is coming!

For the past few years - Microsoft haven't really done anything special.  Apple on the other hand have moved from the obscure into the mainstream.  iPhone and iPad are the 2 stand out Apple products for me.  These devices have propelled Apple to another level and Microsoft didn't seem to be responding.

To be fair, Apple are really focusing on the consumer - whereas business is really Microsofts bread and butter.  However, the tablet market has had a severe impact on consumer PC sales and Microsoft have to be increasingly aware of this.

So it's no surprise that a few months ago, Microsoft released Windows 8 Consumer preview (the beta version of their next Operating System).  I downloaded the preview and installed it on a PC and I must say that I have been on the whole very impressed.

In its current form, this OS is a bit of a hybrid.  They have designed it with tablets very much in mind - but it works equally well on a traditional PC with a keyboard and mouse.  Microsoft say that Windows 8 really comes to life on a tablet - but sadly, I currently have no suitable tablet hardware available to me to test this out, so for the time being I am stuck using it on a PC.

When you start up Windows 8, this is what you see;

The Start Screen contains tiles for what Microsoft are calling "Metro Style Apps".  You can immediately see that this is a touchscreen environment, and the style is pretty much identical to the Windows Phone OS that you will find on many HTC devices and the Nokia Lumia.  

So this is an early indication of Microsofts intention to standardize their entire range of products, in the same way that Apple has done with iOS.  Microsoft are clearly going to encourage you to have a Windows Phone, and a Windows 8 Tablet or PC/Laptop.  The benefits of this are that all your content will be highly available to you on all your devices and in a familiar way that is easy to access.

Apps

Windows 8 has some really nice native Apps such as the People Hub (which again is already available on Windows Phone).  In essense, this is an address book, but it's so much more than that.  It pulls together all of your contacts, and social feeds into one place giving you instant access to the information you need to keep you in touch.  

Then you have the Photos App.  Here you can quickly access all of the photos that you have on your device, or from your Facebook Account, your Skydrive, and from Flickr.  I like this one very much as it gives you quick and easy access to all of your pictures from all of your devices and social media in one convenient and easy to use Application, and I can only see it getting better in the final release of Windows 8.

In addition these native Apps, you can find many more that you can download from Microsofts new App Store.  Now this obviously has a long way to go until it catches up with Apples App Store and Android Marketplace - but it will get there.  There are already a few really good Apps available in here.  Popular games like Cut the Rope, News apps such as The Daily Telegraph, and when you download an app - it simply appears on your Start Screen as a Metro Tile.

Where is the Start Button though?

You will notice on the Start Screen that there is a tile called Desktop.  When you click this, it takes you into a more familiar Windows 7 style environment - and this will appeal greatly to those who like Windows 7 and aren't big on change.

However, one big change is the absence of the Start Button.  This has caused great waves already in the "tech community" and some developers have even found ways to "hack" the start button back onto the OS.  Whether it is present on the final release of Windows 8 remains to be seen - but for the time being, if you hover your mouse over where the Start button used to be, the Start Screen reappears and enables you to go back to the Metro Style Environment.

Charms

If you move you mouse the the right of the screen, the charms menu appears, giving you access to settings, devices and search features amongst other things.  In tablet format - the charms menu will be accessible via a touchscreen "gesture"

Whats Open

If you move your mouse to the top left of the screen, it shows you what apps you have running in the background and you can go back to them simply by selecting the one you need,

 Overall Thoughts

First impressions of Windows 8 are that it shows much promise.  I like the way it looks and feels like Windows Phone and I think this will help Microsoft to sell it's entire range of products.

I like the Start Screen and the Metro Style Apps.  I'd really like to see it on a tablet though, and it will be interesting to see what the final version is like once it's properly released.

As for that release date - well November this year has been rumoured, but for now, we'll just have to wait and see.  Whenever it is though - I predict Microsoft will be back with a bang!

And that's Windows 8!

Peter