Displaying items by tag: Consumer

Microsoft has a new CEO in the form of (former) executive VP of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group. The announcement today comes after months of speculation about the replacement for Steve Ballmer. As you might remember Steve Ballmer made an abrupt decision to retire after Windows 8 and 8.1 failed to take off as expected. It was (and still is rumored) that his retirement was not voluntary, but was a response to a number of bumps in Microsoft’s progress since Ballmer took over from Bill Gates. At the time of the decision there was a general hope that Microsoft would turn away from their cloud push and retreat from the devices and services company they so wanted to become. Sadly with the appointment of Nadella it looks like Microsoft’s attempt to become just like Apple will continue.

“We were attracted to each other at the party, that was obvious! You're on your own for the night, that's also obvious... we're two adults.”Alex Forrest, “Fatal Attraction,” Paramount, 1987

The other evening I left the office, got about a half block and had to pull a U-turn to go back for my smartphone. I’ve left my billfold at the office a few times but never bothered to retrieve it … just drove a little more carefully the next morning. Sure, I have a tablet and ultrabook at home that I could have used; but jeezz, it’s my smartphone! It’s not like I’m addicted to it. It’s not like I sleep with it … silly house rules!
It’s no wonder the smartphone has taken off so rapidly around the globe. From almost anywhere, it enables you to be in touch with everyone, virtually anytime.
While the devices are subsidized by carriers in the Americas (O.K., there’s a “service contract” attached, but still…) few other countries started down that dark path by letting you buy your device anywhere and giving you contract breaks on the volume of usage. The device price limited some users’ choices; but for a growing number of folks, it was a justifiable investment.

Microsoft has announced that they are going to make “key” changes to their Windows 8 operating system. I think deep down we all knew this day was coming as the consumer response was not what Microsoft and many of their partners had hoped for. There are many contributing factors to this, but one of the biggest ones was Microsoft’s drastic shift from the PC being about what the user wants to users taking what Microsoft put in front of them.

Dust around the hated always-on DRM can not seem to settle. After the internet rumors that Microsoft's new gaming console could require a constant connection to the Internet, the head of Ubisoft Montreal, said that the market is ready for such an outcome. When given a question were users ready for this move Yannis Mallat said „Well, that's a question you should put to Microsoft and Sony! I would say that a lot of people are already always online through other devices – I would suspect that the audience is ready "

Microsoft's new operating system for personal computers posted a small increase in February compared to January, but is still only fourth in popularity behind Windows 7, XP, and Vista. Overall in February, 2.67% of the total global Internet traffic recorded by the company NetApplications was related to Windows 8.

Popular Science, a famous magazine and portal dedicated to the popularization of science wants to know which invention, in the opinion of fans of science and technology marked the last 25 years. This survey will not affect the award of Nobel Prize, but its goal is to find out how ordinary people look to technological inventions and products that are most frequently cited in the media. This means that some of these suggestions may not be in line with what scientists and engineers considered the greatest achievements of science and technology.

Ubisoft has responded to the claims that its UPlay DRM software is a rootkit that enabled them (and anyone else) to install arbitrary code on systems that it was installed on. The original claim was from developer Travis Ormandy who posted the issue on pastebin and also showed the vulnerability working with a website specially crafted to take advantage of the exploit he found. Ormandy likened the issue to Sony’s famous screw up with their BMG DRM that was in actuality a rootkit and caused the recall of quite a bit of Sony games.

Ok, so I have this truck that I designed it is about 20 feet long and a little over 10 feet tall. The truck weighs 4 tons and comes only in black. I want to sue you because you built a sub-compact car that has four tires. This is the equivalent of what the “High” court in Germany has done by banning the Galaxy Tab 7.7 claiming that it resembles the iPad. The court’s reasons? Well they seem to think that the Tab 7.7 has sides and a back that looks like the iPad which makes it an infringing product and warrants a complete ban on the product throughout the European Union. Makes sense right?

There could be good news for gamers as EA (formerly known as Electronic Arts) has agreed to a settlement in the Anti-Trust case over their exclusive deal with the NFL, NCAA, and AFL. Although all of the details are not known what we do know is that EA is agreeing to end their exclusive deal with the AFL and allow their agreement with the NCAA to expire in 2014. On top of these EA will pay $27 Million in compensation to consumers that bought any of these titles and will not seek another exclusive deal for five years. What is missing here is any mention of their exclusive deal with the NFL. Why this critical piece of the puzzle is being left out we are not sure.

Remember the “exploding” Samsung Galaxy S III? Well it turns out that the phone did not do that all by itself. Samsung (unlike a few other companies) asked an independent company to investigate the report. The investigation company was Fire Investigations UK. They took a look at the phone and other S III phones in an attempt to determine what the cause of the damage was.