“You don’t need to invent anything, you just have to do traditional research where you look at history and then compliment that with scientific research where you’re trying to do something new. That can lead to a lot in the business and technology sectors these days” – Bill Buxton
A chat with Microsoft Principal Researcher Bill Buxton, Part I
9to5Mac reports that Apple has been working on a home media server to access your iTunes and other files anywhere you have internet access. The site compares it to HP’s just updated Media Smart Server which offers a centralized location for backup, storage and file delivery to your computers locally as well as remotely:
Your music, photos, videos and other media are part of your life — but they’re scattered over multiple computers, disk drives, CDs, DVDs, and MP3 players…. Macs and iPods too. The HP MediaSmart Server centralizes all your files, from all your home computers, in one place so you can grab them anywhere you have an internet connection and share how you want.
Apple’s take on the system would reportedly expand out Time Capsule’s functionality from being a single drive backup system into a more robust multi-drive backup server. In addition, tie ins would be made to Apple’s MobileMe services to deliver access to your files and media from anywhere on the internet.
9to5mac suggests that media could also be shared to your iPhone and iPod touch, providing full access to your media while mobile. The device could also serve media files to other computers at home as well as to your Apple TV.
Source: Macrumors.com
Tags: Apple, Media Server, Home Media Server, MobileMe, MediaSmart, HP, iPhone, iPod
We know Apple is planning to call the next version of OS X Snow Leopard, but we hadn’t realized that it appears pretty much close to finished and ready for release.
The confirmation comes in the form of screenshots from a German website that show the new 10.6 Mac OS in what looks like finished form.
Future proofing
The one-point update from the current Leopard OS X addresses issues that aren’t going to make many headlines, but which should shore up the operating system and ensure a longer shelf life.
Those include better power management, more stability and faster operating times. The most significant change will likely be a reduction in the OS X footprint to cut the amount of space it consumes on users’ hard drives.
Massive memory
Oh, and Snow Leopard will be able to support up to 16TB (yes, terabytes) of RAM. We have no idea why, though.
Source: Techradar.com
Apparently you won’t even have to wait until January to get your hands on the Windows 7 Beta release. That’s right, there’s already been an ISO file leaked to several torrent trackers.
The ISO appears to contain the Windows 7 M1 build (7000) highlighted by Paul Thurrott on SuperSite. So far the new build seems to perform slightly better than 6801, and memory usage has been improved. A number of previously hidden features – like the iconized task bar – are also now active.
Before comments start asking why there’s no link to the file, it’s because this is something that we’re not supposed to have yet. If you want to get your hands on it, check your favorite torrent search site. Also keep in mind that this is a leak, and there’s always the possibility that the ISO has been tampered with.
Source: Downloadsquad.com
Tags: Windows7 beta, Microsoft, Windows 7, Win 7
Ever since the New Xbox Experience was released a couple weeks ago people all around me want to know what my opinion on the Netflix HD video service is and how it compares to Sony’s flagship HD media option, Blu-ray. It’s hard to compare the two considering one is a download service and the other is a physical product. For argument’s sake let’s look at them this way: they both offer HD content to a general public that knows very little about high-definition media and what it has to do with entertainment. The statistics are overwhelming in favor of low-resolution DVDs and non-digital television leaving one to think that neither Netflix HD nor Sony Blu-ray really matter all that much to anyone other than gamers and computer nerds.
Personally I think there is not an assumption in the world that is more wrong. HD content is the future of movie and television entertainment, it’s only a matter of time before the FCC follows through and removes non-digital cable and more companies jump on the high-definition bandwagon. For that reason alone this battle between Blu-ray and the Netflix HD service on the Xbox 360 is important to everyone who cares about this form of entertainment. I will look at the positives and negatives of each service and at the end choose a sole winner, based only on these points and my personal interaction with the service (which has ramped up over the past month for purposes of this article). This is only a comparison of the actual Xbox 360 Netflix service, as that is what most of our readers would want to know about.
Blu-Ray: It’s well-known that the major reason Blu-ray was able to conquer HD-DVD in the format war was the release of the Playstation 3, which had a built in Blu-ray player and was offered at a much lower price than anything the competition could sell. Once the format war was over and Blu-ray won it’s right to be the lone-provider of disc-based HD content to consumers most thought this was the end; it was Blu-ray or nothing (see below why this is not the case). Blu-ray has a ton of positive things going for it: 1) the resolution is unbeatable, 2) it is easier to sell movies in a physical form, for now, 3) thanks to the PS3 it has a huge user-base, and 4) many studios exclusively support Blu-Ray for their HD content. The negatives for me are a bit more serious: 1) expensive (around $20 per movie), 2) expansive but not complete catalog of available films, 3) physical nature of Blu-rays can be destroyed/lost/damaged, and 4) inconvenience of going to brick-and-mortar store to pick-up/purchase a Blu-ray (or delivery time from internet).
Netflix HD: It was a big day when Microsoft announced that it’s New Xbox Experience (NXE) would include the option to use Netflix’s service right from the comfort of your own home via the Xbox 360 console. At first I was a bit skeptical but after some time with the service it has become a daily thing in our family’s home. If there is some down-time me and my wife pull up the Netflix webpage, put some movies in our queue and sit down to decide what to watch. The process is so simple that I have taught my brothers, sister, and parents how to do it (they all now use Netflix instead of their Blockbuster subscriptions). For me the positives of the integrated Netflix HD service are overwhelming: 1) ease of use, 2) availability of HD movies, documentaries, and television shows (lots of unknown content), 3) instant access (no wait for store trip or delivery time), and 4) decent HD quality of content. The few negatives are: 1) not as large of a selection as Blu-ray and 2) depending on internet issues watching movies can be a hassle.
And the winner is . . . Netflix HD, by a small margin. This could change over time and feel free to bash and/or disagree with my opinion. The future of entertainment is heading in a downloadable direction, personally I have been getting a lot more use out of the Netflix service than my growing Blu-ray collection. People want instant access to things, and Netflix HD is currently the best option for that. Only time will tell if the service continues to be supported and the movie selection continues to grow. Sound off in our forums by clicking the link here or in the comments section below.
Source: PlanetXBOX360
Tags: NetFlixHD, Xbox 360, Blu-Ray, Sony HD movies, nxe, Xbox Live
The Windows 7 beta looks likely to be making an appearance soon – with Microsoft updating its official Windows 7 site with a download link.
Although the download link currently goes to a ‘page not found’ page – it seems likely that the changes to the site herald the long-awaited beta version of Vista’s successor.
Windows 7 is a massive event for Microsoft – which is finding itself put under increasing pressure to deliver a knock-out OS.
Windows Vista and its bad press in particular have prompted some to question whether the traditional OS is the future for computing, and even Microsoft is beginning to focus more heavily on the ‘cloud’.
Good drivers?
However, Windows 7 could wrest back some control for Microsoft if it can avoid Vista’s early driver difficulties, work better on low-memory systems and still provide the enhanced security of its predecessor. The pre-beta version of Windows 7, which was distributed at Microsoft’s recent Professional Developers Conference, suggests that these areas have been successfully addressed.
The arrival of Windows 7 is not expected until late 2009, with the majority of pundits betting on an early 2010 arrival.
However, the software has been shown off over the past few months, and the arrival of a public beta will spark massive interest from across the globe.
Source: Techradar.com
Tags: Windows7, Microsoft, Windows Vista
Hot on the heals of the recent PSP 3000 launch, Sony plans to refresh the PlayStation Portable yet again in 2009 with the planned release of (yep, you guessed it) the PSP-4000 model.
The news comes courtesy of unnamed games publishing sources talking to Eurogamer.net, who suggest that Sony will follow the PSP-3000 next year with another ‘iterative approach’.
If so, this means that the recently rumoured PSP mark 2 might not be seen by gamers until 2010 at the very earliest.
Source: Techradar.com
Tags: Sony, PSP, PSP-4000, playstation
OTTAWA – The federal government is changing a key immigration rule it says will help Canadian companies more easily find skilled foreign labour.
Ottawa is to announce Monday that such skilled professionals as engineers, accountants or professors from the U.S. or Mexico will be able to get three-year long work permits instead of one-year-long permits.
“We are trying to get all the skilled people we can to Canada quickly,” Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said in a telephone interview from Vancouver. “The last thing we want is to strangle a Canadian company that’s ready to grow because of a shortage of labour.”
Canada grants about 5,150 such permits every year. Most, about 5,000, are for Americans coming to work in Canada and the rest are for Mexicans coming to work here.
“I talk to employers all the time who do not get even one job application when they put a help wanted ad in the newspaper,” Kenney said. “Even though we are going into a period of economic difficulty, we continue to have a number of skilled labour shortages in certain areas of the economy.”
Kenney said granting work permits in three-year increments will help Canadian companies because employers will be able to count on a skilled import to complete a project. The government says this makes Canadian companies more competitive and can help lower costs.
“This is about less paperwork, less red tape and less waiting time,” Kenney said.
The Canadian rule change follows a similar one made in October by U.S. authorities that allow Canadian engineers, computer scientists and other professionals to obtain three-year work permits in America. Mexico is considering such a change.
Canada, the U.S. and Mexico agreed on labour mobility standards for 63 different professional occupations when NAFTA was negotiated in 1993, allowing professionals from those occupations to work in another NAFTA country without having to re-qualify under local certification standards. In all cases, a professional must have a firm job offer before going to work in the other country.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said on several occasions that he believes a shortage of skilled labour is the biggest single long-term challenge for Canadian policy-makers. After a survey of its member companies earlier this year, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, a trade organization, also says finding enough skilled labour should be one of Canada’s top priorities.
Kenney said the Conservatives’ goal is to align immigration policy more closely with labour market shortages.
Government experts and private sector economists say that, between 2011 and 2015, all net labour market growth in Canada is going to come from immigration.
Source: Canada.com
If you are planning to study here in Canada, one of the most important decisions you will have to make is pick the right institution. Because of this, I came across with this “super” list of Canadian Universities published by the University of Waterloo.
Playstation Home
SCEE’s confirmed that Home will launch tomorrow “evening,” although a specific launch time isn’t available as yet, a rep said this morning.
Sony announced this morning that Home’s open beta will be available for all PS3 owners ads a free download as of tomorrow, December 11.
Source: VG247
Tags: SonyHome, Home, PS3, playstation
Not that we were too impressed with gOS when we first saw Rocket almost a year ago, but Cloud — the small footprint, quick boot Linux variant that Good OS introduced today at the Netbook World Summit in Paris — looks like an altogether different beast. Arriving pre-installed alongside Windows on the new Gigabyte touchscreen netbooks (perhaps some variant of the M912V), the new SplashTop-esque OS uses a web browser as its main interface, with an integrated dock providing such Web 2.0 mainstays as Skype, YouTube and the Google family of apps — and if this smattering of tools doesn’t meet all of your computing needs, you can always boot into your main OS from there. Cloud can be installed as a dual-boot partition on your hard drive or SSD as well as onto a flash chip hardwired onto a motherboard. That’s all we have for now, but you can bet we’ll be on hand to check it out at CES in January.
For more information, here is the direct link: http://www.thinkgos.com/
Source: Engadget.com
