Showing posts with label Latest Tech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Latest Tech. Show all posts
NextPrev Editor's PickNews Article Mozilla launches Thimble, a new tool that makes creating a website simple
0 comments Posted by SEO Tutorials at 11:44 AM
In 1997, making a website seemed like the simplest thing in the world. Of course, it wasn't — there was all sorts of HTML code involved, and making a professional-looking site took almost as much work then as it does now. But there were tools available to make it seem easy — Tripod and Geocities had templates and tutorials, and Netscape Navigator had a decent WYSIWYG web creation tool built in.
Fast forward 15 years, and creating a website seems like an endeavor best left to the professionals. But Mozilla, carriers of the old Netscape crown, wants to change that perception with Thimble, a web-creation tool that promises to make the act of creating a website easier than ever.
Aside from a basic page creation tool, Thimble has a number of interesting tutorials built in to help teach you HTML, and by extension, how to create your own page. One of the tutorials, called Hack a Map, gets you started by showing you some pretty advanced code. But the tutorial isn't about learning the advanced code, it's about learning the basic errors that are causing the page at the left to show up incorrectly. Thimble will show you exactly where the website is broken — say, in showing you where a missing HTML tag should go. Even though you're doing light work, you're doing that work on a complicated page. The whole process feels far more enjoyable than your usual tutorial, as if you're learning by doing something important. Even if that something important is a map filled with a Minecraft pig, CatBread, and a triple rainbow.
If you're curious, you can check out Thimble over at the Mozilla website. And who knows, while playing around with pictures of cats, you might actually wind up learning something.
As Microsoft Corp(MSFT.O) prepares to show the world what its new Windows 8 can do on the next generation of high-powered tablets, initial reviews of the new operating system on existing hardware underscore the challenges the company faces with the radical redesign of its flagship product.
The world's largest software company says millions of people are already using a downloaded pre-release version of Windows 8 on PCs, laptops and touch-devices ahead of its full introduction this autumn. At a media event in Los Angeles on Monday, the company is expected to discuss its plans to take on Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) all-conquering iPad this holiday shopping season.
So far, most reviewers have praised the look and feel of the touch-friendly "Metro" style of Windows 8, which is based on colorful squares, or "tiles," that depict applications such as email, and update in real time. But they have also stressed how difficult it will be for users to move away from what they know and trust.
"It's a bit of a struggle for people who are deliberately oriented on a PC, that are used to a mouse feel," said former Microsoft strategist Al Hilwa.
Now an analyst at tech research firm IDC, Hilwa has been trying out the latest demo release for two weeks. "Without a touchscreen, I struggled with a mouse to do certain things," he said.
The new Metro interface only runs programs written for it, so users have to switch back to the traditional desktop to do certain tasks, like listening to music on Apple's iTunes.
"The thing that really infuriates me is that it seems like Metro apps, and apps running in the normal desktop don't have any knowledge of each other, " said Forrester Research analyst David Johnson. "There's no easy way to navigate between them, and I'm not quite sure why that is."
The latest test version is not yet finished software. And outside of a few industry testers, no one has tried out Windows 8 on a tablet powered by ultra-efficient ARM Holdings (ARM.L) chips, which is the closest Microsoft will come to challenging the iPad.
Microsoft is expected to say more about that on Monday, and there is talk that it might introduce a tablet under its own brand name. The company declined to comment on the reaction to the new system and its plans for the Monday event.
Nevertheless, Microsoft has not persuaded some of its most loyal users just yet.
"Right now, I'm not sold," said analyst Michael Cherry of Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm that focuses on the tech giant.
Cherry said he had persevered with Windows 8 for a few days, but had problems setting up email on his test machine. "I can't rely on it as a production tool," he said. "I can't switch over yet. At this point, I should be able to leave Windows 7 behind."
A former Microsoft program manager, Cherry worries that the initial complexity of the new system will prevent it from being an instant hit, like its predecessor, Windows 7.
"If a guy who has used Windows since Windows 1.0 can't figure it out, then I'm going to guess there are other people out there who aren't going to figure it out," he said. "We won't see line-ups at Best Buy (BBY.N) at midnight. I'd love to see that, but it's just not there."
JURY DOUBTFUL
Mainstream tech reviewers like the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg or the New York Times' David Pogue have not yet weighed in on the third and latest "preview" of Windows 8, which became publicly available online on May 31.
The smattering of reviews on tech-centric blogs have generally praised the new look of Windows 8, but almost every one has stressed how difficult users will find the switch.
"I've felt almost totally at sea - confused, paralyzed, angry, and ultimately resigned to the pain of having to alter the way I do most of my work," wrote Farhad Manjoo, technology columnist at online journal Slate, even as he acknowledged that there is a lot to love about Windows 8.
GeekWire -- Microsoft's hometown technology news website in Seattle -- was no kinder, featuring a video of one reader's father, completely stumped by how to get back to the Start menu. ( here )
"Bottom line, I've spent the past day feeling lost, and a little grumpy," wrote GeekWire's Todd Bishop, who has followed the software company as a reporter for more than a decade.
"Microsoft likes to use the words 'fast and fluid' to describe Windows 8, but two other words keep popping to my mind: 'New Coke,'" wrote Bishop, referring to Coca-Cola Co's (KO.N) short-lived attempt to reinvent its core product in the 1980s.
Gizmodo reviewer Mat Honan praised Windows 8's "subtle elegance" and said the Metro apps were better and easier to navigate than the last test version, but added there was nothing that "bowls you over."
ZDNet reviewer Ed Bott, a previous skeptic of Windows 8, liked the "rich and polished collection of Metro-style apps," and was the only high-profile reviewer with a wholly positive reaction.
CONFUSION
To be sure, any great change to a system used by more than 1 billion people every day is bound to meet with resistance.
Microsoft's Vista operating system got off to a terrible start in early 2007 due to its heavy memory demands and finicky security settings, but recovered somewhat in later updates. Almost three years later, its successor, Windows 7, became the company's fastest-selling system to date, and has now racked up more than 500 million sales.
But Apple's intuitive iOS mobile system has raised expectations, both for aesthetics and ease of use.
"I would not be able to give my mother - who is 76 - Windows 8 and expect her to be productive with it," said Forrester's Johnson. "But I'm also not sure that somebody in their 30s, or even 20s, wouldn't be confused initially by the Metro interface either."
Individual consumers and potential iPad buyers, rather than corporate customers, are the primary target for the Windows 8. Many big companies are still in the process of spending millions of dollars upgrading to Windows 7.
The success of the software will depend in part on the quality and price of machines running Windows 8, which is in the hands of PC makers such as Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N), Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), Lenovo Group (0992.HK) and Acer Inc.
But even if the machines are slick, Microsoft's online Windows Store is still no match for Apple's App Store, and will probably take several years to build momentum, which in turn removes incentives to buy tablets running the new Windows.
"I really want to use Windows 8," said Cherry of Directions on Microsoft. "But I'm not sure they've gotten to nirvana. It's a stake in the road that shows us where they want to get to - I'm not sure they are able to get there in one release."
According to a report by Business Insider,Facebook pays comparatively more than most other tech companies, so that young talented people that may not choose a more established company like Google. Software engineering interns, for example, earn $74,700 (Rs 41.1 lakh) a year, reports a newspaper.
The report also revealed that other staff members at Facebook get paid pretty well, with at least 10 roles commanding six figure salaries . According to the report, senior software engineers are commanding the most coin at Facebook, getting a salary of $132,503 (Rs 72.9 lakh).
Software engineers, also called coders, are the most valuable workers because they turn the ideas fired at them by Mark Zuckerberg and his executive team into reality.
Taylor revealed the move on his Facebook page less than a month after an initial public offering (IPO) of stock reported to have made millionaires of about a thousand of theCalifornia company's employees.
"I've really enjoyed working with Bret and getting to know him as a friend and teammate," Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.
"I'm grateful for all he has done for Facebook and I'm proud of what he and his teams have built."
Taylor cited accomplishments including the "open graph" that lets outside websites or applications synch with the social network and mobile products such as Facebook Camera and integration with Apple gadgets.
"I'm sad to be leaving, but I'm excited to be starting a company with my friend Kevin Gibbs," Taylor said, not indicating what the new enterprise would be.
"While a transition like this is never easy, I'm extremely confident in the teams and leadership we have in place."
He referred to Zuckerberg not only as his boss for three years, but as among his closest friends.
It is common for startup employees made rich by the initial public offering of stock to depart companies to pursue dreams or new endeavors, according to analysts who anticipated that might happen at Facebook.
By far the Internet's dominant social network, Facebook went public on May 18 in a $16 billion share sale, the second largest IPO in the United States ever.
The run-up to the sale was marked by bubbly enthusiasm reminiscent of the dot-com era, to the extent that lead underwriter Morgan Stanley agreed to raise the offering price and increase the number of shares issued.
But the shares barely held above the $38 introductory price on the opening day and have since fallen, delivering real and paper losses in the billions of dollars to the new investors.
Facebook shares rose six percent to close at $30.01 Friday.
According to ABI Research, global smartphoneshipments grew 41 percent year-over-year to 144.6 million in the first quarter of 2012.
The report said that Samsung and Apple accounted for 55 percent of smartphone shipments and over 90 percent of the market's profits, News24 reports.
The report revealed that Samsung and Apple delivered 43 million and 35 million units in the quarter respectively.
Nokia was third with 11.9 million and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) just behind with 11.1 million.
Of the top ten smartphone makers, only Samsung and Sony saw sequential growth from the fourth quarter, which is traditionally strong, the report said.
Smartphones seeing malware explosion: Security software cos
0 comments Posted by SEO Tutorials at 6:22 PM
"The major mobile platforms have finally become ubiquitous enough to garner the attention of attackers, and as such, Symantec expects attacks on these platforms to increase," Symantec Managing Director, Sales, India and SAARC, Anand Naik said.
Expressing similar views, McAfee Labs Product Manger Vinoo Thomas said, "With smartphones becoming more powerful and popular, we have seen a lot threat moving to them from PCs."
Although the risks to computers have not totally subsided, malicious software authors are now creating mobile- specific malware.
"The number of vulnerabilities in the mobile space are rising and malware authors not only reinventing existing malware for mobile devices, but creating mobile-specific malware geared to the unique mobile opportunities," Naik said.
Threats that mobile malware pose include, sending premium-rate SMSes, collecting device data, spying on the users, tracking location of the device, modifying the settings, sending spam, monitoring the device for banking transactions and so on.
As tablets and smartphones continue to outsell PCs, and workers bringing in their own devices into the corporate environment, attacks on these platforms will keep increasing at a very fast pace.
According to Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report XVII, attackers are exploring a shift in focus toward mobile devices and mobile vulnerabilities increased by 93 per cent last year.
Majority for these threats are targetted at Google's Android operating system.
"In our Global Threats Report for the first quarter of 2012, we saw a large increase in mobile malware. The jump was targeted almost solely at the Android platform.
"Hundreds of Android threats in the middle of 2011 have moved into the thousands this year. Android threats now reach almost 7,000, with more than 8,000 total mobile malware samples in our database," Thomas said.
Other major mobile operating platforms are Symbian, BlackBerry and iO
Android this week: Razr beats iPhone; Acer outs HD tablet; Intel phone shows promise
0 comments Posted by SEO Tutorials at 6:21 PM
This is the first week I can remember where a single Android phone is reportedly outselling Apple’s iPhone at one carrier. According to a research note from William Blair, that’s exactly what’s happening at Verizon stores. A check of inventory and sales indicated Motorola’s Droid Razr is topping the iPhone 4S, which is good news for Motorola and its new owner, Google.
It’s possible that Verizon’s LTE network is part of this surge for the Android-powered Razr: Without an LTE iPhone on any carrier, the Razr — and other Android phones — can deliver mobile broadband speeds topping 20 Mbps or more; as fast as wired broadband at home. The iPhone 4S holds its own against LTE on HSPA+ networks, but falls far shorter on Verizon and Sprint, where speeds generally average 1.5 Mbps with occasional 3 Mbps bursts. Razr sales could see their own burst as CNet noted this week that Android 4.0 was coming soon to the smartphone.
Android 4.0 is already included with Acer’s new slate:The company this week introduced its A700 tablet with the latest Google software. Pre-sales have begin in the U.S. and Canada at $449 for this 10.1-inch tablet boasting a 1900 x 1200 display with 178-degree viewing angles. I haven’t had the opportunity to try the A700 yet, but it looks good on paper.
Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 powers the A700 which also has one gigabyte of memory and 32 GB of storage, which can be expanded with the micro SD card slot. The slate is Wi-Fi only — no 3G/4G radio — but includes Bluetooth, an e-compass and GPS. Acer added Dolby Mobile 3 and 5.1-channel surround sound support and a battery life claim of 8 hours for web surfing or 10.5 hours of video watching; not bad if accurate.
This week I enjoyed reading a review of the Orange San Diego handset. Why? This device, available in Europe, is based on Intel’s smartphone reference design for Android. We’ve waited a long time for Intel to truly get in the smartphone game and the San Diego shows promise for Intel’s Medfield solution.
The Verge wrote the detailed review finding that Intel may not have surpassed ARM-based chips, but in many ways, has at least caught up. I’m not too surprised because the Medfield chip demos on Android devices I saw in Januaryimpressed me enough to say that Intel’s time may have arrived.
The San Diego shines in most performance scenarios and has good stand-by time, but software is the current downfall here; particularly in the camera application. Still, the San Diego is still worth a look as it provides a glimpse into future Android smartphones carrying the “Intel Inside” sticker.
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