Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Google Takes Aim at iTunes but Only Hits the Haters

I've been following Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Music with a bit of interest, starting with the beta. I must admit, though, that my interest is pretty much just academic, on the off chance that Google might actually announce a new service that's not only easy to use and ubiquitous, but also so compelling that I had to jump on board.

The Google Music shown Wednesday is not it.

That's not to say that Google Music won't shake out to be a good service, just that it's so very far away from pushing me off my iTunes and iOS perch that I can effectively ignore it.


Compare and Contrast

Harsh? Perhaps. But as I see it, anyone who is happy with their iPhone, iPod touch or iPad can also ignore Google Music. The same goes for anyone who uses iTunes and doesn't outright hate Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL).

Google Music lets you upload your music and stream it from the cloud to Web browsers and Android-based devices. Nice. With iTunes Match, Apple lets you do the essentially the same thing, with potentially less effort for uploading. Of course, iTunes Match will cost you 25 clams for the privilege, but it seems that the US$25 was the cost of playing ball with the major record labels.

Either way, it's $25. If you want an easy streaming/downloading/syncing service with your iOS world, there it is. I'm not ditching everything I know about my music collection for Google just to save $25 a year, and I would be surprised to see many iTunes and iOS-packing fans bother either.

Google did manage to snag three of the top four major record labels, missing out only on Warner Music Group, at least for now. Google also has smaller independent record labels on board, too. As for Apple, all four of the majors let Apple sell their songs. This, of course, only matters if you want to buy new music from Warner artists -- I believe that Google Music will still let you upload existing tracks to your Google Music storage locker in the sky.

There are similarities and minor differences between the two. With Apple's iTunes Match, if one of your songs happens to be one of the 20 million or so that Apple offers and is matched, you can re-download the song as a 256-kbps, DRM-free AAC file. And for $25, Apple iTunes Match lets you manage up to 25,000 songs.

Google Music, on the other hand, offers songs encoded at 320 Kbps as MP3 files. My ears are not audiophile quality, but I'm pretty sure that 99 percent of all consumers won't be able to tell a difference in quality between the two formats and bit rates, particularly when played through computer speakers or cheap headphones from mobile devices. Oh, and the number of songs Google will store for you in the cloud? 20,000.

But Google Shines for Android Users

On the other hand, Google Music has got to be an awesomely welcome service for Android-packing smartphone users (and those who have Android tablets, too). If I packed an Android phone, I'd be ecstatic.

So what Google Music really comes down to -- again -- is the overall battle for the ecosystem of consumers. Google wants consumers to buy into the Android-focused world, and if at all possible, do business through Google. Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), on the other hand, also plays well with Android, but Amazon wants consumers to use its Amazon MP3 music store, Amazon Cloud Player, Amazon Cloud Drive, Appstore for Android ... and now use it all with its proprietary Android blend in its Kindle Fire tablet.

Google may want to topple iTunes, but I think the real choices for non-iTunes consumers will be between Google and Amazon, and if I were to pick, I'd throw my money toward Amazon. Why? Amazon is about consumer-oriented transactions, keeping its customers happy. Google seems to be more about something else with consumers -- ads, traffic, information. As much as I like Google, I trust Amazon with my personal dollars far more.

Meanwhile, Google Offers a Pair of Interesting Features

While Google wants to create its own walled-garden ecosystem, it has managed to come up with a pair of undeniably cool features, and it's not the promise of a free song every day or even special exclusive tracks from some artists. No, the first cool feature is the ability to share your purchased music with your friends via the Google+ social networking platform. So your buddies can listen to the songs you love, in full, one time, for free. That's nice. And influential. A buddy tells me to listen to a new artist and I pay attention, even if I don't end up sharing the passion.

In addition to this nice music promotion and discovery feature, Google is letting artists build their own artist pages or mini-sites and letting them upload their own music to offer to the masses. In iTunes, big-name musicians and groups get cool sites, but I always thought this was just Apple creating the pages. With Google, artists will gain a lot of control in how they present themselves and reach out to fans. That's awesome. Of course, a lot of the great established artists are too busy to bother or don't care, but it's still another avenue artists can use to find and nurture an audience without needing big marketing dollars from a record label to do it.

Props to Google for that, of course.

All in all, it seems as if we're heading toward a digital world where most media is available to be consumed and shared digitally on all platforms, one way or another -- with some pesky choices for consumers. The choice: Which operating systems, hardware devices, and ecosystems do you want to spend the most time with? To learn? To invest in?

As long as Apple produces enviable hardware that's consistently desirable (iPhone, iPad, MacBook Airs), it will take a long time to crumble the iTunes tower.

The Technology Scandals of 2012

Next year is an election year, and there is no doubt we will have plenty of examples of politicians who should have had their hormones either surgically removed or had someone wiser make their decisions for them.

On the other hand, the technology market has certainly had its fill of scandals over the last 12 months, many of which centered on HP (NYSE: HPQ) and its revolving CEO door. It's stabilized for the moment, and it is likely someone else's turn to make the rounds, so what follows is my list of likely candidates and what their scandals will probably be.

We'll close with my product of the week, the latest TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO) called the "Premier Elite" (kind of redundant), which has 4 tuners and has become my new love.


The Scandals of 2012

Oracle: Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) has a number of things going for it that have me placing it at the top of my list for 2012. It has an aging CEO who tends to write to The New York Times and reportedly likes to date subordinates. At the time at which its financial situation should have been showing more stress from the Sun acquisition, it fired and didn't replace its CFO, suggesting potential miss-reporting problems. Finally, the letter that got Mark Hurd fired from HP (which would burn your eyes out) is likely to be released next year. Mark Hurd works for Oracle now.
Any one of these could become front page news over the next 12 months. My early bet is on that letter, because there continues to be pressure to make it public.

Google: Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) continues as a litigation magnet, and as we discovered with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) several times last decade, discovery that includes email can locate and make public some unfortunate memos.
Given there have been financial representations of how well Android is doing and that Android is a copy, my best guess is the revelation of a smoking gun on intentionally copying Apple or Microsoft, or one that supports the idea that Google is leveraging its monopoly power to take over another market.

A number of folks are working on models that show that Google would have made more money (largely off of Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) use of Google search) had it not done Android, suggesting at the very least it may be covering up its own stupidity.

One other area is its chairman is actively engaging in politics, and it is believed that's being done to influence the ITC decisions on Google's battle with Apple. Since Obama is the target, this could become political fodder in an election year.

AOL: AOL appears to the outside world to be largely dysfunctional at the moment, with internal battles between executives commonly vented in external forums. In short, a lot of folks who write and have large followings appear to be really pissed off at its executive team, and some are leaving. A combination of voice and anger can often result in people saying things in public that otherwise might have remained private, and whether or not there is actually any wrongdoing, allegations can sting.
Until AOL turns the corner -- and it is clearly going in the wrong direction at the moment -- there's a high likelihood that someone will go public with a very loud and damaging recounting of events surrounding some executive staffing, acquisition, compensation or other decision. In this instance, there may actually not be a scandal, but perception remains 100 percent of reality. Or the public discourse may, in and of itself, represent that scandal.

Facebook: We exit this year with Facebook under rules that are in flux in regard to privacy, as well as one of the biggest attacks using pornography on record.
In an election year, the changing rules alone could result in a privacy gaff of epic proportions, or a discussion made public that reflects very badly on how internal security decisions are made, likely from a disgruntled ex-employee or someone looking for a political advantage. Granted, this could also happen with another social network, but Facebook is the biggest, and that puts it most squarely in the crosshairs for anyone wanting, or needing, to make a major splash.

Recall how HP's pretexting scandal was used in an election year? Next year, Facebook and social networking would appear to be the low-hanging fruit.

Apple: I think that Apple, like Facebook, will be a victim of circumstances. Steve Jobs maintained tight control over PR (the organization that's tasked with keeping bad news contained) and as a result, reports are that it is largely rudderless at the moment.
High volume consumer products have problems. In the past, largely contained problems, including flaming batteries, bad antenna placement decisions, overly fragile screens, secret payments to silence upset customers (hardly unique), and the use of child labor were eventually contained.

However, Jobs had a hand in all of these, and without him it likely will take some time for this organization to fully adjust to this decision gap. I'm hearing that there are large groups of folks at Apple who are rudderless at the moment, which is not uncommon when a micromanager departs.

The combination of high volume and an inability to contain problems quickly is likely to result in things getting blown out of proportion and into scandal territory.

Scandal Valley?

This year, I began to think that Silicon Valley should change its name to Scandal Valley, but then I doubt it will ever really hold a candle to Washington, D.C. These things often come down to someone who should know better doing something stupid and getting caught doing it. With every smartphone user a potential Internet reporter, regardless of where the scandal actually is, technology will likely be at the center of it.

My personal choice is that the tech market becomes more about capturing than creating scandals going forward, but given history, I doubt my choice will come to be.

One thing is sure: In an election year, the likelihood there will be a scandal is very high. The only question is, who will get credit for capturing that next embarrassing moment?

The Fretful Future of Flash

What's the future for Flash devs now that Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) has turned its back on Flash Player for mobile devices and has shifted focus to HTML 5?

Will Flash for the desktop survive or will it die out too?

Adobe has pledged to enable Flash devs to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major mobile app stores, but it won't develop Flash Player for new mobile device technology after version 11.1 for Android and the BlackBerry PlayBook is released.

However, source code licensees will be able to work on and release their own implementations, raising the specter of fragmentation.

Will Flash devs be able to leverage their hard-earned skill sets or will they be left out in the cold?



Tools to Segue From Flash to HTML 5

Adobe offers the Wallaby Flash-to-HTML 5 conversion tool to devs.

Wallaby is an experimental technology that converts the artwork and animation in Adobe Flash Professional (FLA) files into HTML. They can then be edited with an HTML editing tool such as Adobe Dreamweaver, or by hand.

In addition, Adobe offers Edge, a tool that lets designers use HTML 5, JavaScript and CSS3 to create animated content for websites.

"We want to make the transition easier," Adobe's Mike Chambers told TechNewsWorld. "Edge uses a lot of the same metaphors as Flash Pro."

However, Edge may not be an adequate tool, Steve Fulton, the founder of 8bit Rocket and author of two books on Flash and Adobe's Canvas, told TechNewsWorld.

"Unless Adobe seriously targets the bitmapped HTML 5 Canvas, Edge cannot compete," Fulton stated. He expects Adobe will provide "hardcore support for Canvas very soon, possibly with Edge and also as an export from the Flash IDE."

Adobe's Take on Things

Flash Pro is a tool that is optimized for the Flash Player/AIR runtime environment, and Edge is a tool that natively targets HTML, Mark Anders from Adobe's Edge team said in response to a query on a blog post by Adobe's Mike Chambers.

Adobe is not building a single tool that targets both environments, Anders stated.

The company is looking at ways to have "great workflows" between these tools, Anders said. Further, it's looking into ways to take Flash output and convert it to HTML 5 as well.

However, the great advantage of Flash -- letting devs write once and deploy everywhere reliably -- will be gone, Anders admitted.

Output on Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8 will be degraded, Anders said.

The Fragmentation of Adobe Flash for Mobile

Adobe plans to let mobile device manufacturers implement their own versions of the mobile Flash Player, which is likely to fragment the platform.

"We will not prevent OEMs from pre-loading and shipping Flash Player on devices, and we expect some of our OEM partners to continue working on and releasing their own implementation of the Flash Player," Danny Winokur, VP and GM of interactive development at Adobe, told TechNewsWorld.

Asked whether fragmentation would be an issue, Winokur responded that Adobe's recommending mobile OEMs discontinue preloading new devices with Flash Player.

"Fragmentation will absolutely an issue, but Adobe probably had few options here given the fact that they had stood firmly behind Flash and promised their partners that they'd remain committed to it going forward," Mike Ricci, VP of mobile at Webtrends, told TechNewsWorld.

However, Adobe's decision to switch to HTML 5 will have partners "looking long and hard at [its] commitment and thinking carefully about whether it remains wise to continue embracing Flash on a go-forward basis," Ricci added.

Hope for Flash Devs

However, there may be opportunities yet for devs who don't want to see their training in Flash wasted.

On the desktop, at least, the need for a Flash Player browser plugin will continue, Al Hilwa, a research program director at IDC, told TechNewsWorld.

"Flash survives intact in the AIR runtime and the Adobe tool chain, which already supports the broader Web ecosystem including HTML 5," Hilwa stated. "Overall, developers will continue to be served."

IDC doesn't expect 90 percent of desktop browsers to be capable of HTML until 2015, so Adobe will continue to invest in Flash because of the differentiation it provides in high-end graphics and video protection, Hilwa said.

Flash Devs' Pain Points

Flash devs will be eased out of websites geared toward mobile devices with rich Internet application functionality because these will begin replacing Flash with HTML 5 and the HTML 5 Canvas, 8bit Rocket's Fulton said.

However, apps that are installed on mobile devices from app stores will not be affected right away, Fulton contended.

"If Adobe concentrates on making the Air exporter efficient and feature-rich, it can leverage its millions of Flash developers into the near future," Fulton suggested.

The Flash Player Haters

Discontent with Flash Player has already erupted into the open.

An as-yet-unidentified person or group of people has set up the Occupy Flash movement and published a manifesto. This essentially encourages people to disable Flash Player in their browsers.

The manifesto states, among other things, that Flash Player is dead, it's buggy, it crashes a lot and it requires constant security updates.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Interview in INFOSIS--FUNNY &FACT

Interviewer : Tell me about yourself.
Candidate: I am Rameshwar Kulkarni. I did my Tele Communication engineering from BabanRao Dhole-Patil Inst it ute of Technology.

Interviewer : BabanRao Dhole-Patil Inst it ute of Technology? I had never heard of this college before!
Candidate : Great! Even I had not heard of it before getting an admission into it ..
What happened is – due to cricket world cup I scored badly! in 12th.I was getting a paid seat in a good college. But my father said (I prefer to call him ‘baap’) – “I can not invest so much of money”.(The baap actually said – “I will never waste so much of money on you”). So I had to join this college. Frankly speaking this name – BabanRao Dhole-Patil, can at the most be related to a Shetakari Mahavidyalaya

Interviewer: ok, ok. It seems you have taken 6 years to complete your engineering.
Candidate : Actually I tried my best to finish it in 4 years. But you know, these cricket matches and football world cup, and tennis tournaments. It is difficult to concentrate. So I flunked in 2nd and 3rd year. So in all I took 4 + 2 = 7 years.

Interviewer: But 4+2 is 6.
Candidate: Oh, is it ? You know I always had KT in maths. But I will try to keep this in mind. 4+2 is 6, good, thanks. These cricket matches really affect exams a lot.. I think they should ban it .

Interviewer : Good to know that you want cricket matches to be banned.
Candidate : No, no… I am talking about Exams!!

Interviewer: Ok, What is your biggest achievement in life?
Candidate : Obviously, completing my Engineering. My mom never thought I would complete it . In fact, when I flunked in 3rd year, she was looking for a job for me in BEST (Bus
corporation in Maharashtra ) through some relative.

Interviewer : Do you have any plans of higher study?
Candidate: he he he.. Are you kidding? Completing ‘lower’ education it self was so much of pain!!

Interviewer : Let’s talk about technical stuff. On which platforms have you worked?
Candidate : Well, I work at SEEPZ, so you can say Andheri is my current platforms. Earlier I was at Vashi center. So Vashi was my platform then. As you can see I have experience of different platforms! (Vashi and Andheri are the places in Mumbai)

Interviewer : And which languages have you used?
Candidate : Marathi, Hindi, English. By the way, I can keep quiet in German, French, Russian and many other languages.

Interviewer: Why VC is better than VB?
Candidate : It is a common sense – C comes after B. So VC is a higher version than VB. I heard very soon they are coming up w it h a new language VD!

Interviewer: Do you know anything about Assembly Language?
Candidate: Well, I have not heard of it . But I guess, this is the language our ministers and MPs use in assembly.

Interviewer : What is your general project experience?
Candidate : My general experience about projects is – most of the times they are in pipeline!

Interviewer: Can you tell me about your current job?
Candidate: Sure, Currently I am working for Bata Info Tech ltd. Since joining BIL, I am on Bench. Before joining BIL, I used to think that Bench was another software like Windows.

Interviewer : Do you have any project management experience?
Candidate: No, but I guess it shouldn’t be difficult. I know Word and Excel. I can talk a lot. I know how to dial for International phone call and use speaker facility. And very important – I know few words like – ‘Showstoppers ‘ , ‘hot fixes’, ‘SEI-CMM’, ‘quality’, ‘version control’, ‘deadlines’ , ‘Customer Satisfaction’ etc. Also I can blame others for my mistakes!

Interviewer: What are your expectations from our company?
Candidate : Not much.
1. I should at least get 40,000 in hand..
2. I would like to work on a live EJB project. But it should not have deadlines. I personally feel that pressure affects natural talent.
3. I believe in flexi-timings.
4. Dress Code is against basic freedom, so I would like to wear t-shirt and jeans.
5. We must have sat-sun off. I will suggest Wednesday off also, so as to avoid breakdown due to overwork.
6. I would like to go abroad 3 times a year on short term preferably 1-2 months) assignments. Personally I prefer US, Australia and Europe. But considering the fact that there are Olympics coming up in China in the current year, I don’t mind going there in that period. As you can see I am modest and don’t have many expectations. So can I assume my selection?

Interviewer : he he he ha ha ha. Thanks for your interest in our
organization. In fact I was never entertained so much before. Welcome to INFOSYS.

The fellow was appointed in a newly created section ‘Stress Management’ in the HRD of Infosys.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Nokia 500 Price in India

Nokia 500 Price in India is expected near to Rs. 11000/-. The Nokia 500 is launched by the Nokia that is available in three different eye catchy color casing. It comes with a 3.2-inch LCD touch screen display that supports 16M colors with a 640×360 pixels resolution. The dimension of the phone is 111.3 x 53.8 x 14.1mm and weight only 93 grams. The phone has Wi-Fi, 3G networking services that are easily connected with your friends and relatives. The phone also has a great 5 mega-pixel camera that will enable you to capture amazing real-life photos and video recording.

The Nokia 500 phone has working on Symbian Anna Operating system and with the capacity of 2 GB internal memory and also expandable up to 32 GB microSD card. For connectivity the phone provides you Bluetooth and USB options. The multimedia options that comes packed in the phone includes multi format music player, FM radio and games. The phone has long battery backup that providing a talk time up to approx 7 hours, stands by 450 hours and 35 hours on music playback.

Nokia 500 Review, Feature and Specifications

Network Band: Quad band GSM, Dual band UMTS
Processor: 1GHz
Operating System: Symbian Anna
Screen Size: 3.2 inches touch screen
Display Type: capacitive touch screen
Display resolution: 640 × 360 pixels
Camera Size: 5.0 Mega Pixels
Camera Feature: Video recording
Internet Connectivity: 3G HSDPA/HSUPA (up to 5.8Mbps), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
Data Transfer Connectivity: Bluetooth
Stereo FM Radio
Music Player
Video Player
Internal memory: 2GB
Expandable memory: Supports up to 32GB
Battery Model: Standard Battery to deliver the talk time up to 7 hours with Standby time up to 450 hours and Music playback time up to 35 hours
Dimensions: 111.3 x 53.8 x 14.1mm
Weight: 93 grams
Nokia 500 Price in India is yet now declared. Please check your current market trends for latest cost price.

Nokia X2-01 launched in India, Nokia X2-01 Music Phone Price

Nokia X2-01

Nokia has launched a new affordable music phone, Nokia X2-01 in India. Nokia X2-01 runs on Symbian S40 OS and features a full QWERTY Keypad.

Nokia X2-01 features a 2.4 inch QVGA display, VGA camera, music player, FM Radio and 3.5 mm audio jack. Nokia X2-01 also features GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth connectivity and up to 8GB of expandable memory.

Nokia X2-01 in an affordable music phone comes with 1-click access to music , OVI Music, Built-in handsfree speaker, 1-click access to email and chat via Nokia Messaging, and social networking applications.

Nokia X2-01 Price

Nokia X2-01 is priced at Rs. 3990.

Motorola Defy+ Rugged Android smartphone now available in India

Motorola Defy+ rugged Android smartphone is now available in India for the price of Rs. 17,990. The Defy plus is the successor of Motorola Defy. The Defy+ is powered by 1GHz processor and Android 2.3 OS.

Motorola Defy Plus features a 3.7 inch Gorilla Glass display with resolution of 480×854 pixel, 5.0 MP camera, 512MB RAM, 1GB ROM and internal memory of 2GB of internal storage and upto 32GB of expandable memory. The Rugged Android smartphone also features 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth connectivity, 3.5 mm audio jack, DLNA and multi format audio video player. Motorola Defy+ is powered by 1700 mAh battery.

Motorola Defy+ is now available for Rs. 17,990.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

The inside story of how Microsoft killed its Courier tablet

One group, led by Xbox godfather J Allard, was pushing for a sleek, two-screen tablet called the Courier that users controlled with their finger or a pen. But it had a problem: It was running a modified version of Windows.
That ran headlong into the vision of tablet computing laid out by Steven Sinofsky, the head of Microsoft's Windows division. Sinofsky was wary of any product--let alone one from inside Microsoft's walls--that threatened the foundation of Microsoft's flagship operating system. But Sinofsky's tablet-friendly version of Windows was more than two years away.
For Ballmer, it wasn't an easy call. Allard and Sinofsky were key executives at Microsoft, both tabbed as the next-generation brain trust. So Ballmer sought advice from the one tech visionary he's trusted more than any other over the decades--Bill Gates. Ballmer arranged for Microsoft's chairman and co-founder to meet for a few hours with Allard; his boss, Entertainment and Devices division President Robbie Bach; and two other Courier team members.

Concept photo of Microsoft's Courier tablet
(Credit: Gizmodo)
At one point during that meeting in early 2010 at Gates' waterfront offices in Kirkland, Wash., Gates asked Allard how users get e-mail. Allard, Microsoft's executive hipster charged with keeping tabs on computing trends, told Gates his team wasn't trying to build another e-mail experience. He reasoned that everyone who had a Courier would also have a smartphone for quick e-mail writing and retrieval and a PC for more detailed exchanges. Courier users could get e-mail from the Web, Allard said, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
But the device wasn't intended to be a computer replacement; it was meant to complement PCs. Courier users wouldn't want or need a feature-rich e-mail application such as Microsoft's Outlook that lets them switch to conversation views in their inbox or support offline e-mail reading and writing. The key to Courier, Allard's team argued, was its focus on content creation. Courier was for the creative set, a gadget on which architects might begin to sketch building plans, or writers might begin to draft documents.
"This is where Bill had an allergic reaction," said one Courier worker who talked with an attendee of the meeting. As is his style in product reviews, Gates pressed Allard, challenging the logic of the approach.
It's not hard to understand Gates' response. Microsoft makes billions of dollars every year on its Exchange e-mail server software and its Outlook e-mail application. While heated debates are common in Microsoft's development process, Gates' concerns didn't bode well for Courier. He conveyed his opinions to Ballmer, who was gathering data from others at the company as well.

Part 2: Betting on Windows 8
Two rising Microsoft executives differed on the company's vision for tablet computing. More...
Within a few weeks, Courier was cancelled because the product didn't clearly align with the company's Windows and Office franchises, according to sources. A few months after that, both Allard and Bach announced plans to leave Microsoft, though both executives have said their decisions to move on were unrelated to the Courier cancellation.
The story of Microsoft's Courier has only been told in pieces. And nothing has been disclosed publicly about the infighting that led to the innovative device's death. This article was pieced together through interviews with 18 current and former Microsoft executives, as well as contractors and partners who worked on the project. None of the Microsoft employees, both current and former, would talk for attribution because they worried about potential repercussions. Microsoft's top spokesman, Frank Shaw, offered only a brief comment for this story and otherwise declined to make Microsoft's senior executives available.
"At any given time, we're looking at new ideas, investigating, testing, incubating them," Shaw said in a statement when word leaked in April 2010 that Courier had been cancelled. "It's in our DNA to develop new form factors and natural user interfaces to foster productivity and creativity. The Courier project is an example of this type of effort. It will be evaluated for use in future offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time."
While the internal fight over Courier occurred about 18 months ago, the implications of the decision to kill the incubation project reverberate today. Rather than creating a touch computing device that might well have launched within a few months of Apple's iPad, which debuted in April 2010, Microsoft management chose a strategy that's forcing it to come from behind. The company cancelled Courier within a few weeks of the iPad's launch. Now it plans to rely on Windows 8, the operating system that will likely debut at the end of next year, to run tablets.
Courier's death also offers a detailed look into Microsoft's Darwinian approach to product development and the balancing act between protecting its old product franchises and creating new ones. The company, with 90,000 employees, has plenty of brilliant minds that can come up with revolutionary approaches to computing. But sometimes, their creativity is stalled by process, subsumed in other products, or even sacrificed to protect the company's Windows and Office empires.
'Not a whim'
Courier was much more than a clever vision. The team, which had more than 130 Microsoft employees contributing to it, had created several prototypes that gave a clear sense about the type of experience users would get. There were still tough hardware and software issues to resolve when Microsoft pulled the plug. But an employee who worked on Courier said the project was far enough along that the remaining work could have been completed in months if the company had added more people to the team. Microsoft's Shaw disputes that.
"There was extensive work done on the business, the technology and the experience," said a member of the Courier team. "It was very complete, not a whim."

Kino: An Easy-Does-It but Incomplete Video Editor

Video editing in any operating system is a wide-open experience. Unlike word processing and audio editing tools, video editing apps present a wider range of options. The Kino Video Editor is a very capable video editing solution that will appeal to novices and moderate users alike.

It lacks the full range of sophisticated features that seasoned video pros require. Still, it is a very impressive editing tool that is easy to use and performs well. It is a very good choice for handling many basic video editing functions.

In terms of familiarity and usefulness, Kino ranks very comfortably with such well-known video apps as Cinellera, OpenShot, Lives, Kdenlive and Pitivi. In comparing their tool sets, Kino lacks the rigorous track-mixing features that some of these other packages boast.

Still, Kino does an admirable job of handling most typical video editing tasks. It is a GTK+-based non-linear digital video editor. It is very adept at importing raw AVI and DV files, as well as capturing frames from digital camcorders using the raw1394 and dv1394 libraries. It exports to camcorders using the ieee1394 or video1394 libraries. It handles exports in many usable formats with ease.


Snappy Setup

Kino is readily available from leading distro repositories. This makes getting it and installing it a one- or two-click process. It also means that you will not run into missing library dependencies.

Kino does not need much in the way of setup. It has a very basic preferences as well. For instance, the defaults panel allows modifications to Normalization, Audio and Aspect Ratio for new projects. But the program is smart enough to override them for existing projects.

You can easily set the capture location and the file options along with the attached device selected. It is just as simple to select from a variety of display options using checklists and drop-down lists in the Display Panel. Separate panels make it quick and easy to define Audio, Jog/Shuttle and Misc choices in their own panels.

Format Friendly

Perhaps the key reason that more experienced videographers shy away from Kino is its targeted use. It is a non-linear digital video editor. That said, Kino supports DV-based (libdv and ffmpeg DV) codecs, PAL or NTSC, AVI (type1 or type2) or Raw DV files as well as Quicktime DV format.

While the import list is limited, Kino exports in a number of formats. These include DV over IEEE 1394, Raw DV, DV AVI, still frames, WAV, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4. It also handles Quicktime DV format.

Kino is flexible in this area thanks to its gdk-pixbuf structure. This gives it support for a number of essential file formats such as BMG, GIF, JPEG, PNG, PPM, SVG, Targa, TIFF and XPM. Other popular formats such as MP3, Ogg Vorbis, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, ffmpeg and MPEG-4 require additional libraries. These are readily available and are often included in the installation package of key distros.

Focal Point

Kino's range of formats makes it a nearly ideal solution for video cam users. It attempts to convert imported files to DV format. This conversion step is not always successful.

This imposes a sometimes unworkable burden. You might have to manually convert the footage taken from other video devices into Kino using a third-party application. But if your domain is in DV sources, then Kino gives you a hefty supply of editing tools with little or no importing hassles

For instance, you can edit, split, trim and add filters. You can also publish your video to some online video sites such as the Bliptv video sharing site using an extensible scripting interface. Kino works well with capturing video from a Firewire-connected DV device.

Kino's strength is its ability to load multiple video clips to cut and paste portions of video/audio to a new composition. Saving the new file automatically presents you with a list of format choices.

Another nice feature is Kino's ease of use in recording back to the camera. It is a seamless process to capture video to disk in Raw DV and AVI format, in either type-1 DV or type-2 DV.

Feature Folly

Another Kino strength is the transitions tool kit. Think of this as the ability to easily do with your video what you do with your digital photo collections.

For example, Kino makes it easy to add scene video transitions between scenes. The long list includes Fade to/from color, Dissolve, Push Wipe, Barn Door Wipe, Color Differences (and Similarities), wipes and Blue or green chroma key. Also included is compositing with key frames and transformations.

The filters for audio affects are not nearly as extensive. But audio gives you less to edit. Kino lets you Silence, Fade In/Out, add a Gain envelope, Dub from a file and Mix from a file.

Color Me Filtered

I keenly like Kino's color-altering palette filters for video affects. These include Black/White, Sepia, Reverse (such as inverse or negative), Mirror, Kaleidescope, Swap (flip), Fade From Black, Fade to Black, Blur (triangle), Soft Focus, Color Hold, Titler, Superimpose, Charcoal Drawing, Jerkiness, Brightness, Contrast, Gamma, Hue, Saturation, White Balance (color temperature) and Pan and Zoom.

Kino even has tools for other neat visual affects. The background generator lets you create solid color, gradient, color ranges, noise and image import capabilities.

An effects preview option eliminates the need to view the results in a full playback. An effects plugin API lets you update and expand Kino's potential.

Using It

A vertical clip strip on the left edge of the app window keeps track of captured scenes. Manipulating them is an easy task. Just grab and move them.

The interface is easy to use. Just click on the function you want to perform. Select the portions of the captured footage and select the desired action, such as trim, cut, insert, etc. Do the same thing to apply the audio and video effects. When finished with the editing task, click the rendering button to activate the results.

Unlike other video editing apps, Kino applies the effects you add immediately. So you do not have to wait until your are finished to view the results. This lets you work in sections and see the results for each one.

Kino builds in lots of neat user short cuts. For example, you can type titles in the editing window and edit the text as you want it displayed in the frame. You do this much like you would in a word processor. You can center text, modify its shape and size, etc.

A benefit of this approach is that the rendering is done as you work. So saving the finished product is much faster than doing a huge data dump from scratch, as happens in other video editing apps.

Bottom Line

Kino falls short as a professional-level video editing tool. But for beginner-to-moderate user needs, it is a fast and simple video editor. It is particularly handy to capture videos and compile them into a new display file. It is also handy to do trim and editing quickly from a video cam.

The biggest drawback with Kino is its inability to handle tracks. This makes it impossible to use it for editing tasks like synchronizing audio. But if you want to spend minimum time on video editing tasks, Kino is the app to do it

Hackers Wreak Havoc on Palestinian Internet Services

Hackers reportedly shut down Internet service in Palestine Tuesday.

Service was apparently completely shut down in Gaza and partially shut down in the West Bank after hackers unleashed malware on the main ISP in Palestine, Paltel.

The Palestinians have alleged that a nation-state could be behind the attacks. They have apparently tied the hacks to their admission on Monday as a member to UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Palestine reportedly alleged that the attacks originated from IP servers in Germany, Slovenia and China, although it stated that this doesn't mean those nation-states are behind the attacks.

Palestinian officials did not respond to emailed requests for comment by press time, possibly due to the service outages.



ISPs in the Middle East

The hack was a focused, organized attack that was put together by a nation-state, Palestinian Telecommunications Minister Mashour Abu Daqqa told reporters.

In addition to disrupting Internet communications, the attack prevented Palestinians from accessing foreign websites, Abu Daqqa added.

Palestinian authorities reportedly said they'll seek the help of the governments of countries from which the attacks were actually launched.

American organizations involved in trying to bring peace to the Middle East were apparently unaware of the attacks.

Nation-State Hate

UNESCO's decision on Monday to admit Palestine to full membership was met with criticism from the United States and Israel.

The U.S. announced it won't pay the $60 million that's its due for this year and added that it will suspend all future funding.

That will cost UNESCO one fifth of its funding.

White House spokesperson Jay Carney reportedly called UNESCO's decision premature and announced that it undermines the international community's efforts toward a comprehensive Middle East peace plan.

Israel has condemned UNESCO's action and is reportedly expediting the construction of about 2,000 houses in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It's also reportedly temporarily shutting off the transfer of millions of dollars in tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian government.

We the People

Despite the Palestinian government's allegations, it's possible that the attacks on that nation's Internet communications may have been launched by independent cybervigilantes rather than a nation-state.

"Typically, hacker groups want to make a statement, and they're much more likely to attack Web pages, go after infrastructure, and do things that are very visible," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld.

"Governments don't like to be identified as doing things like this as, for one, it can quickly escalate and two, not every politician may agree, and you'll quickly find out who's in power when that happens," Enderle continued.

The Punishers Online

The idea of cyber-vigilantes attacking the object of their anger en masse is not new. The hacker communities Anonymous and LulzSec, for example, have vented their collective spleen on Sony (NYSE: SNE), the FBI, police forces and the defense industry at various times, penetrating their networks, stealing information and publishing it online.

That led to the rise of a counter-group, Web Ninjas, which focuses on exposing members of Anonymous and LulzSec.

However, the emergence of Web Ninjas has security expert Charles Dodd worried.

"You don't want to start cyberwars over critical infrastructure because people will begin testing their testosterone online and that could be deadly," Dodd told TechNewsWorld in a previous interview