Pages

Subscribe:

Ads 468x60px

Social Icons

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Six Clicks - Windows 8.1

Six clicks: Weird tricks that will actually make you happier with Windows 8.1


Add the Win+X power menu to your toolkit

Beginning with Windows 8.1, Microsoft restored the Start button to the left side of the taskbar. Click it and you go straight to the Start screen, not to a Start menu.

Ah, but right-clickthat Start button and you get a menu that will make a Windows geek's eyes well up with tears of joy. Virtually every common administrative tool is there, including an option to open a Command Prompt or PowerShell window using an administrator's credentials.

This menu is available on a touchscreen as well. Just tap and hold the Start button for a second or two, then release it to display this menu.

The end of Windows XP is also the end of everything we thought we knew about computing

The end of Windows XP is also the end of everything we thought we knew about computing

More than a dozen years after it first went on sale, the reign of Windows XP is finally coming to an end. XP was Microsoft's most popular operating system ever — it was only recently overtaken by Windows 7 as the most used OS in the world – and it's still running on somewhere around a quarter of all desktops.

As of next week however, XP is no longer supported by Microsoft: no more software updates or security patches will be forthcoming from the company.


XP's dozen-year lifespan is the equivalent of millennia in tech years, and so XP is a digital dinosaur still roaming the earth. Many will be mourning its passing, others will be grumbling as they scramble to update to a new operating system, and some will be cursing because they have to pay out for additional support after having left their migration too late.

But the death of XP is more than just a headache (and the cause of some heartache) for IT: it also part of some profound changes in the tech landscape.

As we lay XP is to rest, we're also saying goodbye to some of technology's old certainties: that the PC is the default hardware for the average user, that Windows is the standard operating system it will run. Both of those assumptions held true throughout the life of XP — but no longer.

The decline of the PC continues: it's already been overtaken by tablets and smartphones among consumers, and increasing in business. As well as the rise of new hardware form factors, new operating systems are grabbing market share too: in the case of tablets and smartphones, it's still pretty much a two horse race between Android cornering the mass market and iOS at the premium end.

Windows is still around of course, and still a strong presence (especially in business), but its dominance is being questioned: the upgrade from XP to Windows 8 is such a big leap that some may consider switching to an alternative platform altogether, such as iPads or Chromebooks.

All of this means we're entering a new era of fragmented computing, a jumble of devices, operating systems and competing ecosystems.

Neither Android nor iOS are monoliths: there are many versions of Android in use (less than 10 percent of devices are running KitKat, the latest iteration of the operating system), and the older versions of Apple's iPhone and iPad (only a few years old) cannot run the latest versions of iOS. Build it once, run anywhere is just as much of a dream as it ever was.

Competing ecosystems have lead to a profusion of app stores and operating systems flavours (just compare Amazon's Fire OS to Android) which can create strife for developers and users. Stifling walled gardens of content and apps are everywhere as tech companies seek to enforce the loyalty of their customers.

Windows, of course, was just another walled garden (ask the Linux enthusiasts or the Mac fans) but for most it was such a big enclosure that most couldn't see the walls.

None of this is bad, just different. It's unlikely that we'll see a platform as dominant as Windows again; Android is making a strong play but will probably never be the operating system of everything.

The downside of all of this is uncertainty and fragmentation, at least for now. But it's also a bigger, more complicated and more exciting world with better devices, wider options and more opportunity.

April Fools' 2014: The Best Tech Pranks of The Day

April Fools' 2014: The best tech pranks of the day


The Virtual Bay

The Pirate Bay, best known for torrent searches and copyright infringement lawsuits, decided to kick off the day a little early with their latest project: The Virtual Bay.

In a move touted as the "biggest step in our history," TPB said it was teaming up with neuroscientists from Russia, Israel, and Japan in order to create a virtual reality headset to store the entire torrent index in people's heads, allowing users to "live" their downloaded musics and games. In addition, as TPB will be stored within user minds, the website will soon become impossible to shut down.

BlackBerry's Future Rides on Supporting the Past

BlackBerry's future rides on supporting the past
BlackBerry's comeback plan depends on its ability to position its BlackBerry Enterprise Service as an enterprise mobility management tool, but the only way that effort will work is to support its installed base and operating systems the company had hoped would have handed off to its latest technology.

Enter BlackBerry Enterprise Server 12, an effort announced at Mobile World Congress and due in November (October if CEO John Chen gets his way).

Chen's comments last week on BlackBerry's fourth quarter earnings conference call--the company reported a better-than-expected loss, but revenue fell short of estimates--highlight just how much is riding on BES12 and the company's ability to convince existing customers to upgrade to it. BES10 had a lot of interest, but companies didn't want to support two BlackBerry operating systems and the infrastructure that went with it.

With BES12, BlackBerry will offer backward compatibility, all the way to BlackBerry OS 5. BES10 required companies to support only the new platform. For good measure, BES12 will manage iOS, Android, and Windows Phone devices.

The challenge for BlackBerry is converting interest into actual deployments. BlackBerry has an EZ Pass program that allows for a migration to BES10 and then a free upgrade to BES12.

Chen explained:

BES12 highlights will include the following: We have a new architecture offering customers the option of on-premise, cloud, or hybrid solutions. Backward compatibility allows the unifications of the BES10 and BES5 deployment into a single platform and console, supporting the BES10 and BBOS device. This is huge, and when I went and talked to -- have time to visit customers, the customer likes a lot of the BES10 features, but they were complaining about having two infrastructures that they have to manage, which is the old BBOS infrastructure, as well as the BB10 infrastructure.

This is the first attempt to merge that two into one, so the customer could move on to newer technology, and yet still protect the investment they already made at BlackBerry. So I know this is huge. We obviously also enhanced the platform support for the iOS devices, Androids, and Windows Phone 8.

How an enterprise company decided that customers would want to support two infrastructures is a bit stunning, but does highlight the state BlackBerry was in before Chen's arrival.

Chen noted that BlackBerry can't really sell BES into the base that uses the BlackBerry Bold until BES12 launches.

The larger issue is whether BlackBerry is too late. BlackBerry is seeing service revenue continue to fall and Chen's bet is that BES12 will slow down enterprise defections.

BlackBerry's game boils down like this:

  • Grow with BBM and QNX so the company has positives to talk about. 
  • Offer BlackBerry classic (BlackBerry 7) devices to keep the base. 
  • Sell that base BES12. 
  • And still launch new BlackBerry 10 devices with more efficient contract equipment vendors and hope to break even in fiscal 2015, which is now underway.

Chen talked a lot of about BlackBerry "loyalists" and the company's "base." He has to because BlackBerry hasn't cultivated new customers yet. In the fourth quarter, BlackBerry recognized revenue on 1.3 million devices, down from 1.9 million in the prior quarter. However, BlackBerry has cut its inventory levels substantially.

But rest assured, BlackBerry's future is all about it becoming an enterprise mobility management company. The problem is AirWatch, under VMware, and MobileIron are now aggressively pricing to gain share.

Here's the BlackBerry conundrum:


  1. Enterprises have moved on to Microsoft's ActiveSync technology or rivals such as Good Technology as well as a host of others.
  2. Even if BlackBerry gets enterprise customers to upgrade to BES10 or BES12, it will take a revenue hit. Wells Fargo analyst Maynard Um estimates that one legacy BES5 subscriber generates $96 a year in revenue including annual support. The best scenario under BES10 would include that user paying about $72 a year. BlackBerry revised its pricing on Monday.
  3. Customers -- assuming there is interest in BES at all -- will wait for November and BES12. That reality means BlackBerry will take a few more body blows through the end of calendar 2014.

Top Android tablets (April 2014 edition)

Top Android tablets (April 2014 edition)
Want a tablet but don't want to buy a svelte iPad Air or the petite iPad mini because you want to stay away from the Apple walled garden? Not a problem! Here are my top Android tablets for April 2014 – and this month we have a couple of new entries. 


Introduction

Tablets are everywhere, and while Apple's iPad — along with its little brother, the iPad mini — commands the most media attention, there's no shortage of excellent Android alternatives to choose from.

Here are my top Android tablets for April 2014, including a waterproof and dustproof tablet for those of you who need rugged dependability.

All of the tablets featured here are very capable, powerful workhorses, and are ideal not only for home users, but also for enterprise users or those looking for a BYOD tablet. Any one of these will give you an excellent Android experience, and, when combined with the right apps, will allow you to get a lot of work done when you're away from your desk.
 
Blogger Templates