Tutorials

While China employs thousands of censors to keep a close eye on social media such as Sina Weibo, the Russian government is trying a different approach: Creating its own social network for Russians to share content and speak online.

Russia is attempting to create its own Facebook-style network built upon a website for complaining about civil servants launched earlier this year, according to The Guardian.

The newly announced network may be a response to the increased use of social media by anti-government protestors. A number of uprisings have been organized since President Vladimir Putin announced he would run for another term late last year, many of which were planned online. Some Russian protesters have gained notority as leaders of the anti-Putin movement through their social media accounts and blogs.

Facebook, Twitter, and Russia-based VK (formerly VKontakte) and Odnoklassniki have been the favored networks of Russian protestors.

Russian Internet users already have a much more free experience than their Chinese counterparts. If the Russian government could attract users away from already-existing platforms, it could potentially censor content it deems unsavory and steer the digital conversation away from politically sensitive topics.

The Kremlin’s proposed network will face strong competition from those already-popular networks for two major reasons: First, they don’t have nearly the same Big Brother feel that users of a government-owned platform would surely experience. Second, those social networks already have a great deal of users: VK has about 118 million, Odnoklassniki claims 45 million, Twitter has about five million and Facebook’s Russian user base is growing at a rate of almost 375%.

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.

 Microsoft Corp's new tablet computers are no threat to Apple Inc's iPad, given the lack of enthusiasm among developers to create applications that run on the new Windows operating system, analysts said.

Microsoft introduced its own "Surface" line of tablets on Monday, taking on Apple as well as its own hardware partners including Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Hewlett-Packard Co.

"Though pricing details are unclear ... Microsoft will need to significantly undercut the iPad to be competitive," Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said.

The Surface tablet will come in two versions, one running Windows RT, based on the same chip designs that power most tablets, and a higher-performance version running Windows 8 Pro.

"The most important factor in the success of a tablet is its ecosystem. Based on our discussions with developers, we find the lack of enthusiasm concerning," Misek said.

Misek said he expects Windows 8 tablets to struggle to compete with the iPad, which offers over 225,000 apps, and to a lesser extent with Google Inc's Android-based tablets, such as the Galaxy Tab.

Microsoft's lighter, thinner version of the Surface tablet would compete directly with the iPad, while the second, heavier tablet, aimed at the new generation of lightweight laptops, would compete with larger PC makers.

But selling two versions of the tablet in the same retail channels will confuse consumers, said analysts at Jefferies, Forrester Research and ThinkEquity.

"Choice is a key tenet of Windows, but too much choice is overwhelming for consumers," Forrester Research said. "Apple gets this, and limits iPad options to connectivity, storage, and black ... or white."

However, a keyboard that doubles up as the tablet cover and aggressive pricing could help Microsoft gain market share, some analysts said.

"The keyboard, a simple accessory, is what makes the device most compelling, as it preserves traditional interface that we believe many users appreciate (and will demand) with the subtlety of a cover, something most users will want anyway," said Citi analyst Walter Pritchard.

Morgan Stanley's Adam Holt said the cover keyboard, compatibility with Microsoft Office, integrated USB ports and features optimized for Skype would help Microsoft differentiate itself from other tablet makers.

Microsoft shares edged up 19 cents to $30.03 on Tuesday before the bell. They closed at $29.84 on Monday on the Nasdaq.

If you're reading this right now, you probably already know plenty about Wikipedia — it's an inescapable feature of our connected world. What you probably didn't know is that some people take Wikipedia searching so seriously that they've turned it into an actual competitive sport.

Here's how the game goes down: Two players on separate computers begin the game on the same Wikipedia page. When a timer ticks to zero, both players must navigate to another Wikipedia entry using only the inline links embedded into each topic page. The game tests your intelligence and quick fingers, but also requires an encyclopedic knowledge of how each Wikipedia page relates to every other entry on the site.

We're not sure we'll ever see WikiWars in the olympics, but it seems like a seriously intense sport nonetheless. If you have a friend with similar Wikipedia search kung-fu, go ahead and give it a go. Just make sure you have a speedy internet connection and a judge to make sure your opposition keeps his cursor off the search bar.

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."