Microsoft's First Ever Tablet To Be Revealed Today

Microsoft can no longer wait watching iPad eating up the entire PC marketand challenging its software, which runs on millions of systems worldwide. That may be why for the first time after 37-years, the company is going to offer a computer of its own creation.



The device is aimed to kill Apple’s iPad and is expected to be launched in Microsoft’s big party today. According to people familiar with the subject, the tablet is expected to run a new version of Windows and will have access to an e-books store using the Barnes & Noble’s technology. Microsoft on April had announced a strategic partnership with B&N, with an investment of $300 million into the business named “Newco.”

 
Microsoft’s decision to enter into the market is likely to be the outcome of tablet explosion lead by iPads. Tablets are causing a huge threat to the PC market. It has already reached eight percentages in size of PC market and is expected to grow to 40 percent by 2016.

 
With the introduction of device, Microsoft is also following its rival Apple, who was successful in integrating its own hardware and software. "If Microsoft wants to control the entire user experience and the entire quality of their products, they have to build their own hardware," said Michael Cherry, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, a Redmond-based market research firm.

 
But according to many, Microsoft has a big risk of capturing the tablet market due to the existence of many competes including manufacturers who use Microsoft’s software. There are also new anticipated players into the space including Google, which is redy with its tablet.

 
“If it’s true that Microsoft is going to produce its own tablet, it’s a major turning point for the company and shows just how breathtakingly the landscape has changed in a just a few years,” said Brad Silverberg, a venture capitalist in Seattle and former Microsoft executive.

 
Microsoft’s had earlier failed with Zune, a music player introduced to compete with iPod.

The New MacBook Pro: Unfixable, Unhackable, Untenable

iFixit removes the logic board from the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display during their teardown. Photo: iFixit

 

This week, Apple delivered the highly anticipated MacBook Pro with Retina Display — and the tech world is buzzing. I took one apart yesterday because I run iFixit, a team responsible for high-resolution teardowns of new products and DIY repair guides. We disassemble and analyze new electronic gizmos so you don’t have to — kind of like an internet version of Consumer Reports.

Kyle Wiens

The Retina MacBook is the least repairable laptop we’ve ever taken apart: Unlike the previous model, the display is fused to the glass, which means replacing the LCD requires buying an expensive display assembly. The RAM is now soldered to the logic board — making future memory upgrades impossible. And the battery is glued to the case, requiring customers to mail their laptop to Apple every so often for a $200 replacement. The design may well be comprised of “highly recyclable aluminum and glass” — but my friends in the electronics recycling industry tell me they have no way of recycling aluminum that has glass glued to it like Apple did with both this machine and the recent iPad.

The design pattern has serious consequences not only for consumers and the environment, but also for the tech industry as a whole.

The Retina MacBook is the least repairable laptop we’ve ever taken apart.

Four years ago, Apple performed a market experiment. They released the super thin, but non-upgradeable, MacBook Air in addition to their two existing, easily upgradeable notebooks: the MacBook and the MacBook Pro. Apple’s laptops had evolved over two decades of experience into impressively robust, rugged, and long-lasting computers. Apple learned a lot from the failings of the past: the exploding batteries of the PowerBook 5300, the flaky hinges of the PowerBook G4 Titanium, the difficult-to-access hard drive in the iBook.

Apple’s portable lineup was a triumph — for consumers and for Apple itself. IT professionals the world over love working on the MacBook. I’ve disassembled a few of them myself, and I can attest that they are almost as easy to repair as they are to use.

The 2008 Air went in a new direction entirely: It sacrificed performance and upgradeability in exchange for a thinner design. Its RAM is soldered to the logic board (as in the Retina MacBook Pro), so upgrading it means replacing the entire expensive logic board. And like all laptops, the Air has a built-in consumable. The MacBook Air’s battery was rated to last just 300 charges when it was introduced. But unlike laptops before it, replacing the Air’s battery required specialized tools and removing some 19 screws.

When Apple dropped the MacBook Air to $999 in 2010 to match the price point of the MacBook, they gave users a clear choice: the thin, light, and un-upgradeable MacBook Air or the heavier, longer lasting, more rugged, and more powerful MacBook. Same price, two very different products. At the time, I wasn’t very happy with the non-upgradeable RAM on the MacBook Air, but I respected that Apple had given their users a choice. It was up to us: Did we want a machine that would be stuck with 2GB of RAM forever? Would we support laptops that required replacement every year or two as applications required more memory and batteries atrophied?

Apple has presented the market with a choice. They have two professional laptops: one that is serviceable and upgradeable, and one that is not.

Consumers overwhelmingly voted yes, and the Air grew to take 40 percent of Apple’s notebook sales by the end of 2010.

The success of the non-upgradeable Air empowered Apple to release the even-less-serviceable iPad two years later: The battery was glued into the case. And again, we voted with our wallets and purchased the device despite its built-in death clock. In the next iteration of the iPad, the glass was fused to the frame.

Once again, with another product announcement, Apple has presented the market with a choice. They have two professional laptops: one that is serviceable and upgradeable, and one that is not. They’re not exactly equivalent products — one is less expensive and supports expandable storage, and the other has a cutting-edge display, fixed storage capacity, and a premium price tag — but they don’t have the same name just to cause confusion. Rather, Apple is asking users to define the future of the MacBook Pro.

Apple isn’t fundamentally against upgradeability and accessibility. The current Mac Mini has compelling finger slots that practically beg people to open it. When Steve Jobs released the “open-minded” Power Mac G3 with a door that opened from the side, the audience oohed and aahed. Apple products have historically retained their value quite well, in part due to third-party repair manuals, but also due to a number of very modular, very upgradeable designs.

Even the MacBook Pro was originally touted as an accessible, repairable machine — at Macworld in 2009, Steve Jobs said, “Our pro customers want accessibility: [...] to add memory, to add cards, to add drives.” That’s part of what I love about my MacBook Pro. I’ve upgraded my RAM, and I even replaced my optical drive with an 80GB SSD.

We have consistently voted for hardware that’s thinner rather than upgradeable. But we have to draw a line in the sand somewhere.

On the other hand, Apple has consistently introduced thinner, lighter products. They learn from experience. They react to their customers. They’re very adept at presenting us with what we want. And they give us options from time to time and allow product sales to determine their future designs.

We have consistently voted for hardware that’s thinner rather than upgradeable. But we have to draw a line in the sand somewhere. Our purchasing decisions are telling Apple that we’re happy to buy computers and watch them die on schedule. When we choose a short-lived laptop over a more robust model that’s a quarter of an inch thicker, what does that say about our values?

Every time we buy a locked down product containing a non-replaceable battery with a finite cycle count, we’re voicing our opinion on how long our things should last. But is it an informed decision? When you buy something, how often do you really step back and ask how long it should last? If we want long-lasting products that retain their value, we have to support products that do so.

Today, we choose. If we choose the Retina display over the existing MacBook Pro, the next generation of Mac laptops will likely be less repairable still. When that happens, we won’t be able to blame Apple. We’ll have to blame ourselves.

6 Secrets Of Facebook-Apple Relationship

The two have shared an on and off relationship for the last few years. Apple’s latest announcement about deep Facebook integration in all its platforms confirms their deep bond. Together they will take the world by a storm. We bring you their rocky love story from when they met in 2006 to when they made it public in 2012.
1. Apple And Facebook Meet:

The year was 2006 and Facebook was facing stiff competition from MySpace. The social network was nowhere as big as it is today. It had 8.3 million users and was the 7^th most visited website in the US. Facebook made friends with Apple by signing a deal with Apple to give away 10 million free iTunes samplers to Facebook users.

This was the first time Facebook and Apple had an association. Apple had also launched the Apple Student group on Facebook. It was a runaway success with 450,000 people joining the group in a short time.

2. iOS4 Designed With Facebook Integration But…

The setting changed and it was 2010. Facebook had become the biggest social networking site and was a force to reckon with. Apple was just about to launch its iPhone 4 and iTunes10. Media reports were ripe with reports of Apple and Facebook working together.

According to an Apple employee, “Apple had fully integrated Facebook into the iPhone and iPad’s operating system, and was ready to launch...…” Apple had also come up with Ping which was a social media for iTune users. That was supposed to have Facebook integration as well.
The video demonstrated by Apple for iPhone4 also showed Facebook integration. Then something terrible happened.

3. Ping Causes Rift Between Apple And Facebook

Apple was all set to launch its iPhone4 and iTunes 10 with Facebook integration but the deal just fell through. Apparently Facebook and Apple could not reach an agreement on certain terms. According to Jobs the terms offered by Mark were ‘onerous’.

Apple anyways tried to launch its new products with Facebook integration without the social network’s consent. When Facebook got to know this they sealed their API.

4. Facebook App For iPad Causes More Problems:
In 2010, Jobs visited Mark to discuss about Facebook iPad application. Zuckerberg had promised to create their first tablet app with iPad.
An apple employee says, “Roughly three months ago, Steve Jobs — then the Apple CEO — paid a visit to Facebook to discuss a Facebook for iPad application with CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg promised Jobs that the social network would release its first ever tablet application for iPad.”.

Jobs later got to know that Facebook had already developed an app for HP’s TouchPad, Apple’s rival. Needless to say Jobs was furious. Mark then tried to pacify the situation by asking Jon Rubinstein at HP to remove the FB app. HP refused to comply and Mark ended up freezing HP’s access to FB’s API.

5. Facebook Apple Kiss And Makeup:

After the HP debacle Facebook and Apple became friends again. In fact both the companies were working closely.

“Not only are the pair finally aligned on the Facebook for iPad application, but they’ve been working together closely on Facebook’s HTML 5 mobile app platform. This is the closest Apple and Facebook have been to creating something meaningful together, one source says. They’re partnering because they share a common enemy: Google.” reveals a close aid of the company.

6. Facebook And Apple Change Relationship Status To Committed:
After all these years and several talks about working together, their union became a reality in June2012. On Monday, Apple unveiled their latest version of iOS and its new Mountain Lion for Macs. The relationship seems to have been strengthened because of a common enemy Google.
Apple announced that the latest version of iOS will have deep Facebook integration. This will include a ‘like’ function for Apple’s App and iTunes store and integration with Siri will also be seen. Apple will also have a public API for third party app developers to be able to better integrate the feature into their app. Apple also announced Facebook integration into Mountain Lion for Macs.
Users around the world must be rejoicing because of this union. The world’s two most admired and loved companies have come together. Finally!

How Windows 8 Throws Computer Users Under the Bus

Whatever you think of Windows 8’s Metro interface on smartphones and tablets, Microsoft’s decision to force computer users to deal with Metro will needlessly alienate and confuse many of the company's most loyal customers. It’s as if Apple suddenly required Mac users to rely on iOS instead of OS X.

The Metro interface fills the screen with “active” tiles designed to give users quick access to a device’s various applications and functions. On small smartphone screens, it’s an effective and attractive visual metaphor, making better use of scarce real estate than the icon-based alternatives in Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

It also still holds up pretty well on small-ish tablet touchscreens where the relatively large tiles make it easy to select what you want. (It's not a surprise that almost all of the screenshots you see of Metro are of a few tiles filling a small tablet screen.)



So far, so good.

Metro Fails the Big-Screen Test

But as many reviewers have noted, when you stick Metro on a full-sized computer screen, it becomes a bit ridiculous. A sea of tiles swimming on a 27-inch monitor doesn’t make any sense - and how does it look on two big-screen displays?

Despite features that let you organize the tiles, the bigger the screen, the more that Metro turns into a jumbled, confusing mess.



Of course, you don’t have to actually do your work in Metro - and most people won’t. It’s easy enough to move through Metro to get to a more traditional Windows-style desktop. But Microsoft has made the curious decision not to let PC-based users choose to avoid the Metro screen altogether. Unless you come up with some hack or third-party add-on (which most computer users will never do), you’ll still have to navigate through Metro every time you turn on your computer.

That simply doesn’t make any sense from an end-user perspective. Microsoft seems so infatuated with the tablets and smartphones that it’s throwing those boring old computer users under the bus. Sure, Windows 8 includes plenty of cool new features for PC users, but that’s not the point. The company is clearly betting the farm on trying to catch up in the mobile space.

Apple Knows that Size Matters

Apple, meanwhile, is treading much more carefully in this regard. While the latest versions of the Mac’s OS X continue to incorporate features and interfaces from the iOS used on iPhones and iPads, the two operating systems remain clearly distinct, with interfaces optimized for their particular platforms. Perhaps because it makes its own hardware, Apple has a better understanding of the different interface challenges of a 3.5-inch iPhone screen and a 27-inch iMac monitor.

Microsoft is risking a huge backlash here. And it doesn’t have to. All it would take to solve this problem is a simple switch to let PC users avoid Metro if they choose. C'mon, Mr. Ballmer - you want to keep PC users happy, don’t you? So why are you making them pretend they’re using a tablet?

Samsung unveils Windows 8-based tablets, notebooks

South Korea's Samsung Electronicsunveiled notebook and tablet computers running on Windows 8, the latest firm to showcase products that use Microsoft's eagerly-awaited new operating system.

On the opening day of Asia's leading IT fair inTaipei, Samsung showcased the products, including the Series 5 Hybrid which has features of both a laptop and a tablet, in a low-key display.

"Visitors should be able to see the tight partnership between Samsung and Microsoft and Intel," said Lorraine Tsao, a spokeswoman for Samsung in Taiwan.

It came a day after Taiwanese rivals Acer and Asus unveiled products running on Windows 8, which is the focus of the annual Computex fair, in its 32nd year.

A new survey meanwhile showed that Samsung overtook Amazon in the first three months of the year to take second spot in the global market for tablet sales, but still lagged far behind Apple with its ever-popular iPad.

Windows 8 is touted as Microsoft's long-awaited riposte to the rise of Apple and mobile devices powered by Google's Android operating system. There is no official release date but reports have predicted an October launch.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer says that Windows 8 will support a wider range of devices including touch- and stylus-based smartphones and tablet PCs, as well as desktops and laptops.

The ABI Research survey, out Monday, showed that the iPad extended its lead in the global market for tablets in the first three months of the year, holding 65 per cent of the market with 11.8 million shipments of the device.

Samsung grabbed the number two spot with 1.1 million shipments, or six percent of the market, overtaking Amazon, which saw an 80 per cent quarter-over-quarter drop in sales of the Kindle Fire, according to ABI.

Computex features more than 1,800 exhibitors registering 5,400 booths, up two per cent from a year ago.

The organisers estimate that the IT fair will draw 36,000 foreign buyers who may place bulk orders worth up to $28 billion.

Samsung to build $1.9 bln logic chip line

Samsung Electronics Co(005930.KS), the world's No.2 chipmaker, said it will spend $1.9 billion to build a new logic chip line to make processors for mobile devices as demand grows for smartphones and tablets.

Samsung, which makes application processors for Apple's (AAPL.O) iPhone and iPad - which rival its own Galaxy and Note devices - said the new line will use 300 mm wafers and 20 nanometer and 14 nanometer processing technology.

The South Korean firm is aggressively pumping up production of logic chips, as growth in the mobile device market outpaces weak computer sales. Demand for system chips used in smartphones and tablets is set to more than double to $59 billion in 2016 from $23 billion last year, according to research firm Gartner.

In a statement, Samsung said the new line - which it hopes to complete by the end of next year - would help meet growing demand for "smart mobile solutions".

The investment plan follows Samsung's recent decision to build its first chip manufacturing plant in China to make NAND type flash memory chips, which analysts estimate will cost some 4-5 trillion won.

Ahead of the announcement, shares in Asia's biggest technology firm closed up 5.2 percent in a broad market rally that sent the benchmark KOSPI index up 2.6 percent.

Hardware details of the next iPhone (N41AP / iPhone5,1) and more on the new Maps app

We have already laid out a lot about the next iPhone. Its 1,136-by-640 display. Its totally redesigned back plate and unibody construction. But what will it have under the hood? 9to5Mac delved deep into a beta version of iOS 6 to find out…

 

The iPhone running iOS 6 boasts Darwin Kernel Version 13.0.0. We can also see that the processor is an ARM S5L8950X.Interestingly, that is a full release above the most current developer version of MAC OS 10.8 Mountain Lion. The XNU build is also higher (21XX vs 2050.5.8):

The Samsung 5L8950X ARM processor is most likely manufactured at the same fab in Austin where Apple’s other Ax processors are built. The S5L8950X is a step up from the S5L8940X on the previous iPhone and the S5L8945X on the ‘new’ iPad but we’re not sure what that means in terms of cores, processor speed or fab size. We’d place our money on a low power dual core processor similar to the new iPad 2 on Samsung’s 32nm fab.

The processor is known internally at Apple as the “A5-***” (the last three characters were removed to protect our source). This will most likely not be the final name. However, it seems probable that the processor will continue carrying the “A5″ name and will not step up to the “A6″ nomenclature—but that is far from certain.

As for GPU, the new iPhone also features something entirely new. The GPU chip, which will continue to be part of the SoC, is called “SGX543RC*” (the asterisk is another sensitive number that could identify people working on the device). This GPU technically does not exist yet and we don’t have specs.

The next iPhone will now have 1GB of RAM, which seems to do well for the new iPad.

This unit runs 6.0 seed 10A33X with iBoot version iBoot-153x.x (iOS 5.* has an iBoot version of iBoot-12xx.x.x, depending on the device and version).

It is also interesting that some prototypes of this device use the older Qualcomm Baseband chips. This unit uses the same type of Qualcomm baseband found in the cellular-enabled ‘new’ iPad 4G units. Our source indicated this might be because he/she does not need access to any new baseband that they might use. Moreover, the battery life is not a concern, because this unit must always stay plugged-in. We expect the final N41AP / iPhone5,1 to carry the latest Gobi chips. These chips should allow low-power voice/data on a variety of mobile networks, including China Mobile’s TD-LTE.

We are told Apple is far along in its iOS 6 development, so an October new iPhone deadline should be relatively easy—barring any unforeseen chip, part shortages/labor outages, etc. So ‘easy’, in fact, that an earlier release is possible.

Finally, there is more clarification on the new iOS Maps app that is abandoning Google for Apple’s own tiles. We have an early/redacted screenshot that will likely undergo many changes (fonts, etc.) before it gets real:

You will note that contrary to the previous report, the GPS/Compass icon on the iPhone is not connected to a 3D icon. We were told that in the iPhone version of Maps, the 3D button is now under the bottom right scroll/menu to avoid accidentally hitting the wrong button. With that said, 3D maps are something used more on the iPad than an iPhone, which is often used for directions. Also, the buttons are bigger on the iPad making it easier not to accidentally hit the wrong button.

We have a lot more information that will come over the next two weeks including an entirely new iOS app from Apple. So, stay tuned!

Rumor: Apple working on standalone iSight camera?

The New iPad Buyers’ Guide published by iLounge this week included a piece that speculated Apple might be working on a standalone camera product. While the story discussed the possibility of Apple working on a point-and-shoot iSight camera, iLounge clearly labeled it as speculation and simultaneously noted it received a tip claiming Apple is working on the project.

Take special note of pages 152 and 153—“Making the case for a standalone iSight Camera.” I’ll share more on this topic shortly, but for now, I’ll say that this two-page spread very nearly had a different title. We were tipped that this project is actually happening at Apple right now, but we didn’t feel confident enough in our source to call it a certainty; it’s therefore billed as speculation. Still, there’s enough smoke to make us think there’s a fire.

It did not feel strongly enough in the source to run the story, but Jeremy Horwitz of iLounge sent out a tweet today noting once again that Apple is working on a standalone camera

Steve Jobs’ intention to reinvent the camera/photography business circulated in reports on several occassions after the release of Walter Isaacson’s official “Steve Jobs“ biography. In an interview, Isaacson said Jobs had “three things that he wanted to reinvent: the television, textbooks and photography.” In January, we reported Jobs apparently met with the CEO of photography company Lytro, Ren Ng, to discuss the business in his final months. According to Adam Lashinsky’s “Inside Apple“:

The company’s CEO, Ren Ng, a brilliant computer scientist with a PhD from Stanford, immediately called Jobs, who picked up the phone and quickly said, “if you’re free this afternoon maybe we would could get together.” Ng, who is thirty-two, hurried to Palo Alto, showed Jobs a demo of Lytro’s technology, discussed cameras and product design with him, and, at Jobs’s request, agreed to send him an email outlining three things he’d like Lytro to do with Apple.

There is no solid evidence that Apple is working on a standalone camera project, but Horwitz is the source of accurate reports from the past.

Clipboard: A Slick New Way to Save and Share the Web

It’s tempting to compare Clipboard, a new service that’s launching today, to Pinterest. Actually, it’s irresistible: Clipboard, like Pinterest, lets you collect interesting tidbits from all over the web, then share them in “boards” which piece together all the tidbits on one page. And Clipboard, unlike Pinterest, lets you share web content of all sorts: images, videos, text and more, preserving the original layout and formatting.

But Clipboard isn’t just a Pinterest variant. It’s also a way to save parts of the web for later reference without ever sharing them with anyone else — something I’ve been doing lately with Evernote — and therefore a useful research tool as much as an exercise in social networking.

You save stuff to Clipboard by using a special bookmark (or a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox) which lets you hover your mouse on any web page and highlight either the entire page or part of it, such as an image, a snippet of text, a video, or a combination thereof. Once the elements you want are highlighted, you click. Clipboard then saves them to your Clipboard, allowing you to tag it and either keep it private, share it with other members or publish it so it’s completely public.

When you clip text and images, Clipboard makes a copy, so they’re preserved even if the original web page changes or vanishes. For content such as videos and Flash elements, it embeds the original version rather than trying to clone it.

(How will publishers feel about Clipboard copying their articles and photos onto its own servers, sans any original advertising? Well…I’m not sure. But the company’s founder, Gary Flake, told me that it, like YouTube, will remove items when copyright holders request a takedown. It’s also working on a Clipboard button which publishers will be able to add to their pages, giving them the ability to help visitors clip specific elements, such as a movie listing.)

You can comment on publicly clipped items, like them, reclip them onto your own Clipboard and share them to Facebook and Twitter. You can also search for tags and text within clips, and can follow other users. If the service takes off, it could become a pretty engaging way to learn, share and generally be social around any topic. Here, for instance, is a public Clipboard that’s all about The Avengers, and here’s one about the president of the United States.

Clipboard’s core technology — the ability to grab chunks of any web page, detach them from the original site and preserve them in their original form — is so ambitious that it’s a wonder that it works at all. And truth to tell, I found that it worked well most of the time, but not all of the time. When I tried to save a Google Map, I got aCAPTCHA instead, and an NYTimes.com story lost its first paragraph. With any luck,  the service will be able to reduce the number of glitchy clips over time; in other respects, it’s already polished, inviting and full of potential.

The Clipboard folks are finishing up work on a mobile-friendly version of the service. (I found that browsing Clipboards on my iPad worked okay, but there’s no way to save new items from Safari.) I’m going to try using it to preserve web articles I’ll need later — and as long as I’m at it, I’m going to share them with the world.

If you give Clipboard a test drive, let us know what you think.