Windows 8 Preview coming in 1st week of June and SkyDrive apps now

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Stephen Pate

Microsoft President Steven Sinofsky drops news of Windows 8 Preview at Japan’s Windows 8 Dev Days along with new SkyDrive apps

Microsoft President Steven Sinofsky announces June Windows 8 Preview

The Windows 8 Operating System just got another page written when Microsoft President Steven Sinofsky dropped the shoe in Japan at Windows 8 Dev Days.

The new and hotly anticipated operating system will get another preview in the first week of June 2012.

There was not press release, no blog entry – just this photo posted on Twitter and the usual short Twitter message “Announce…Windows 8 Release Preview first week of June. Here’s the announce from Japan’s Windows 8 Dev Days.” Continue reading →

Windows 8 It’s All In The Touch

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Stephen Pate

This video helps you learn the simple tricks that make Windows 8 navigation a breeze

Once you get used to the few new navigation tricks in Windows 8 Consumer Preview it seems like second nature.

Watch the video and we’ll cover the basics after the story break.
Continue reading →

Windows 8 is faster than Windows 7 and Vista

Posted on March 10, 2012 by Stephen Pate

Microsoft promised a more efficient operating system and they delivered with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Windows 8 is faster for booting and restart

By Stephen Pate – With Microsoft aiming Windows 8 at mobile and desktop computers, the operating system had to get smaller and more efficient. They succeeded with fast boot and restart times even on older computers.

For desktops, a few seconds saved won’t add any productivity to an 8 hour day. Laptops and other lower powered computers should benefit from Win8CP. Of course, Windows 8 has to run efficiently on smart phones and tablets. Continue reading →

PC sales headed for 400 million in 2013

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Stephen Pate

Apple’s Post-PC Era claim is more marketing hubris than fact with PC shipments 6 times higher than iPad

Unit sales 2012 - (Chart - Aquilium Group)

By Stephen Pate, Aquilium Group – At the new iPad announcement, Apple CEO Tim Cook called this the “Post-PC era.”

In terms of real market size, Apple’s claim of the demise of the PC doesn’t hold up. Continue reading →

Apple developing new audio file format to offer adaptive streaming

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Stephen Pate

Format will provide high- or low-quality files to iCloud users

Neil Young, who has claimed that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs wanted to develop high-resolution audio options (photo Neil Young LeNoise)

Guardian.co.uk – Apple is working on a new audio file format that will offer “adaptive streaming” to provide high- or low-quality files to users of its iCloud service.

The new format could mean that users can get “high-definition” audio by downloading to an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Alternatively, it could offer a streaming service – like that of Lala.com, the music streaming and online storage company, which Apple acquired late in 2009.
Continue reading →

Skype for Windows Phone Ships Beta

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Stephen Pate

Free video calls over smartphones and it looks like Windows 8 Metro

Skype for Windows Phone beta

Skype, acquired last year by Microsoft, has released the beta of its Windows Phone version and it looks like Windows 8 which will ship in beta on Wednesday.

The beta allows free video and voice calls over 3G, 4G or WiFi networks. Apple’s Face Time video calling only works between Apple phones of WiFi.

Download the Consumer Preview of Windows 8

Windows Phone users can download the beta from the Windows Phone application site.
Continue reading →

Microsoft, Google, Apple, Amazon and RIM sign privacy accord

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Stephen Pate

In step with President Obama, the California Attorney General reaches signed agreement on consumer privacy

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris signs accord with major IT companies (photo Government of California)

Aquilium Group – Within hours of President Obama’s announcement of the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, the State Attorney General of California, Kamala D. Harris, announced an accord to protect consumers’ privacy. (Related: Internet Privacy Gets White House Attention)

Signing on the accord negotiated with the Federal Department of Justice were Microsoft, Google, Apple, Amazon, RIM and HP. The agreement also includes major mobile service providers and is global in scope.

“Attorney General Harris forged the agreement with six companies whose platforms comprise the majority of the mobile apps market: Amazon, Apple, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Research In Motion,” said the press release from Harris’ office. “These platforms have agreed to privacy principles designed to bring the industry in line with a California law requiring mobile apps that collect personal information to have a privacy policy. The majority of mobile apps sold today do not contain a privacy policy.” Continue reading →

Internet Privacy Gets White House Attention

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Stephen Pate

President Obama to announce new regulations to control online use of personal privacy

President Barack Obama (White House photo)

Aquilium Group – The White House will announce today new sweeping regulations and seek Congressional approval of statutory authorities over the online privacy of consumers.
A paper was issued today signaling the President’s intentions entitled Consumer Data Privacy in a Networked World: A Framework for Protecting Privacy and Promoting Innovation in a Global Digital Economy. Continue reading →

Apple Will Lose Tablet Market in 2012

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Stephen Pate

Android and Blackberry have already made deep in roads in the iPad’s presumed invincibility

Blackberry Playbook (image RIM)

Last May, the media was calling Apple’s iPad the unbeatable market leader. In less than a year Apple has lost major market share to Android and RIM.

RIM quietly gained 15% of the tablet market in Canada by dropping the entry-level price to $199 and aggressively selling through its own channel. Top corporate and government accounts could purchase Blackberry Playbooks at Christmas for as little as $99. Continue reading →

iStrobosoft guitar tuner app review

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Stephen Pate

Peterson iPhone and iPad apps are accurate and low cost strobe instrument tuners

iStrobosoft iPhone app

Peterson has two apps for the iPhone and iPad that give the musician strobe tuning accuracy for about $10. The iPad app is being discounted to $9.99 until January 31st, 2012.

I wanted to see just how accurate the iPhone Peterson would be. I was not disappointed, although the under $20 Snark SN-1 clip on tuner was almost as accurate.

Last night I was practicing guitar while the news was on. It was handy to refresh my tuning without looking for a tuner. I’m not sure if musicians will risk damaging their iPhones in a studio or stage environment to use the iStrobosoft app. The practicality of the iStrobosoft tuner for those uses is up to each person to decide.

Peterson Strobe Tuners have been the pinnacle of stringed instrument tuners for decades and known for accuracy and high cost. Continue reading →

The iPhone Revolution is manned by slave labor

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Stephen Pate

Has Apple Computer become a corporation that lives off the blood, sweat and tears of Chinese slave labor similar to George Orwell’s novel 1984?

In the 1984 Superbowl commercial Apple Computer likened itself to the savior of a mankind enslaved to big government and big corporations. The Apple Macintosh would smash the dystopian, conformist world.

In the New York Times story How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work, the author’s describe slave labor camps that build Apple iPhone’s where people work 6 days a week, 12 hours a day for $17 a day. Apple saves $15 per iPhone by using Chinese labor. Continue reading →