Director: Rich Moore
Starring: John C. Reilly, Jack McBrayer and Jane Lynch
Release: 2 November 2012 (USA)
Early look at Windows 8 baffles consumers
By PETER SVENSSON | Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — The release of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system is a week away, and consumers are in for a shock. Windows, used in one form or another for a generation, is getting a completely different look that will force users to learn new ways to get things done.
Microsoft is making a radical break with the past to stay relevant in a world where smartphones and tablets have eroded the three-decade dominance of the personal computer. Windows 8 is supposed to tie together Microsoft’s PC, tablet and phone software with one look. But judging by the reactions of some people who have tried the PC version, it’s a move that risks confusing and alienating customers.
Tony Roos, an American missionary in Paris, installed a free preview version of Windows 8 on his aging laptop to see if Microsoft’s new operating system would make the PC faster and more responsive. It didn’t, he said, and he quickly learned that working with the new software requires tossing out a lot of what he knows about Windows.
Billboard Hot 100 Singles – Week of Oct 20, 2012
1. Maroon 5, “One More Night”
2. PSY, “Gangnam Style”
3. One Direction, “Live While We’re Young”
4. fun., “Some Nights”
5. Taylor Swift, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
6. Taylor Swift, “Red”
7. Justin Bieber f/ Big Sean, “As Long As You Love Me”
8. Adele, “Skyfall”
9. P!nk, “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)”
10. Alex Clare, “Too Close”
US Weekend Boxoffice top 10 (Oct 5 – 7, 2012)
Microsoft Makes New Push Into Music
By NICK WINGFIELD
SEATTLE — Music fans have often viewed Microsoft as something like a bad cover band, one that pumped out uninviting facsimiles of Apple’s iPod and iTunes with its Zune music players and service.
Now that the Zune brand is dead, Microsoft is once again in search of a hit in digital music. But this time, to improve its odds of success, it is marshaling some of its most powerful brands as never before: Windows and the Xbox.
On Monday, the company plans to announce a service called Xbox Music that will offer access to a global catalog of about 30 million songs. The service will let consumers listen free to any song on computers and tablets running the latest version of its Windows software, as well as on the Xbox console. Microsoft will not initially limit how much music can be streamed, though that could change over time.
Source >>
Windows 8 Tablets: The most successful tablets ever.
Summary: Are you going to buy a Windows 8 tablet or smart phone? It will be interesting to see who bites first on the coming wave, you or your employer.
By Ken Hess for Consumerization: BYOD
Soon, you and users around the world will be able to purchase your very own Windows 8 Tablet computers. Though I haven’t been lucky enough to review one yet, I feel as if they’ll take the market by storm for one single reason alone: Windows 8. Tablets have been around for years. Windows has been around for years. Windows tablets have been around for years. So, what’s so special about Windows tablets now? The answer is simply, Windows 8.
But, that’s only the answer to the first part of the question. The answer to the second part of the question is, support.
Apple’s iPad Mini Brackets Microsoft’s Surface In The Tablet Media War
Ewan Spence
So now we know the date of Apple’s next launch, Tuesday October 23rd, and everything is pointing towards the announcement of the iPad Mini. Of course many in the Cupertino-watching industry were expecting an announcement last week. Why go for a date later in the month?
First of all, the Occam’s Razor approach is simply that earlier in October wasn’t right for Apple and they needed another week or two to be ready. That could simply be a logistics issue, an area of the software or production that needed a few more days testing to sign off, or perhaps this the plan all along – to gain extra publicity from the earlier date and feed this into the increasing hype around the iPad Mini.
Microsoft wants to be more like Apple, plans to launch more own-brand devices
By Dan Graziano
Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer on Tuesday published his annual letter to shareholders and revealed a new direction for the world’s largest software company. In addition to the Xbox and upcoming Surface tablet, Ballmer hinted that Microsoft may build more own-brand devices in the future. “There will be times when we build specific devices for specific purposes, as we have chosen to do with Xbox and the recently announced Microsoft Surface,” he wrote. BGR exclusively reported earlier this month that the Redmond, Washington-based company plans to release its own Windows Phone 8 smartphone in the coming months.
Microsoft is interested in tightly integrating its high-quality software with its own high-quality devices, similar to what Apple (AAPL) has done for years. The CEO noted that the company doesn’t plan to abandon its partners anytime soon, however.
Chip Design Luminary Leaves Samsung for Apple
By Don Clark
Samsung recently raised eyebrows by beefing up its team of Texas-based chip designers, including those whose backgrounds pointed to an interest in chips for server systems. Now one of the most prominent of those recruits has left the South Korean company for Apple .
The gadget maker has hired Jim Mergard, a 16-year veteran of Advanced Micro Devices who was a vice president and chief engineer there before he left for Samsung. He is known for playing a leading role in the development of a high-profile AMD chip that carried the code name Brazos and was designed for low-end portable computers.
–Ian Sherr contributed to this item.
PC sales to decline in 2012 for the first time in 11 years
Brittany Hillen
For the first time since the dot-com bust 11 years ago, PC shipments are expected to decline 1.2% from last year, with an anticipated drop from 2011′s 352.8 million units to 348.7 million units. PC sales have been lagging all year, with a recent study showing that out of the top four vendors, only Lenovo experienced an increase in sales. While disconcerting, the hope that back-to-school sales would boost the numbers, as is usually the case, kept everyone optimistic.
Earlier in 2012, as Intel showed off a variety of ultrabooks and the first glimpses of Windows 8 emerged at CES, the industry was hopeful that sales would increase as the year went on. Analysts believed that the innovation displayed would go on to drag lagging PC sales back up, and that all would be well. When the Q1 data came in and showed poor sales, nervousness arose, but optimism was still prevalent.