Microsoft Shows Off the Latest in Gesture Interfaces

The future is here (well, sort of) with the latest in gesture technology from Microsoft. Not only could you soon be able to draw without ever touching the screen or a mouse, but the screen could follow your eyes to project a 3D image directly at you. Check out this video from Microsoft Research on YouTube as Microsoft's Applied Sciences director, Steven Batchiche, shows off the latest gesture tech.
The gesture control you see is a projector facing down at a retroreflective screen which grabs the shadow from your hands (or any other object in the path of the light) and sends it back to the projector and then to the computer. From here, any movements you make are rendered into a drawing both on the PC's monitor and the retroreflective screen (by the projector). This allows you to draw without using a mouse or touching the screen.
Bathiche also shows off some holographc technology that follows you whereever you go, a multiimage visual that gives different images for different people standing in different parts of the room, and re-rendering technology that changes based on where you stand with respect to the screen.
Clearly Microsoft has some really interesting gesture technologies that may soon enter our own bedrooms. But I think it'll be a while until they finally make holograms like in Star Wars; I'll be waiting...

Microsoft Tells the Foibles of its Windows Phone

Two days after the first Windows Phone 7 update become available, and problems began surfacing for some users, Microsoft has released some details about why.
Nine of 10 Windows Phone users who were notified that the firmware update was ready installed it with no problem, according to Microsoft. For half of those who did, the two most common culprits were a bad Internet connection or not enough backup space on their PC.

A "small number" of users were affected by a "technical issue with the Windows Phone update process" that for some reason affected some Samsung phones. Microsoft still has not explained why or how. In its first public assessment of its first firmware update, and the first since the update became available two days ago, the company says it is "working to correct the problem as quickly as possible." Until then, the update remains suspended for Samsung phones, but not for other brands, such as HTC and LG.
The details were revealed in a post late yesterday on the Windows Phone Blog by Michael Stroh, a technical writer now with the Windows Phone group. He joined Microsoft in 2007, after a decade of writing on science and technology for a range of publications, including Popular Science and The Los Angeles Times.
Stroh leads off with a narrative technique known as "in media res," Latin for "in the middle of things," creating the setting: "It's been roughly 48 hours since we hit the send button on our first Windows Phone software update. The rooms around me are buzzing with folks monitoring the rollout, sifting carefully through incoming phone health data (from customers who provide it) and pouring [sic] over the anecdotal update reports you've been posting around the web."
Stroh strikes an upbeat tone. "Contrary to some of the gloomy headlines out there, our preliminary internal data paint a very different picture about update progress...." Ninety-percent of those who received the 'update available' alert had no problems; and 50% of those that did either had a flakey Internet connection, or didn't have enough disk space on their PC. For updates through Microsoft's online Zune store, the Windows Phone handset is cabled to the PC, and then creates a backup on the PC's hard drive of all data on the phone.
He uses rhetorical questions to contrast the "gloomy headlines" with a dose of realism. "Has the update process gone perfectly? No - but few large-scale software updates ever do, and the engineering team here was prepared."
Stroh acknowledges the human pain of technical problems. "Of course, when it's your phone that's having a problem - or you're the one waiting - it's still aggravating."
He assures readers that "we're committed to learning from our first update and improving the process. We know we have work to do, and we won't be satisfied until you are."
Ironically, when Stroh announced the original update on the same blog on Monday, he explained that this "relatively small" update "is designed to improve the software update process itself."
Microsoft is still planning a feature-laden firmware update, adding capabilities like copy & paste, within a few weeks, perhaps starting in early March.
Microsoft has created a description for Windows Phone users on how to "Make room on my computer for phone updates."

Intel Leads Chip Sales Recovery

While 2010 as a whole was a year of growth for the global computer chip market, the fourth quarter took a bit of a hit.
Worldwide PC microprocessor shipments in the last quarter of 2010 slipped , compared with both the third quarter of 2010 and with the fourth quarter of 2009, a report out today from the industry analysis firm IDC noted. Computer chip shipments dropped .04% quarter over quarter, and .21% year over year.
However, 2010 in total showed a 17.1% growth in chip shipments, IDC said. Revenue increased 26.7%, to $36.3 billion.
"The fourth quarter was weak and out of synch with normal seasonal patterns in terms of unit shipments," said Shane Rau, a research director at IDC. "The first half of the year turned out to be the better half of the year."
Rau added that the market's move to mobile computing and high-end computers drove much of the increase in chip shipments last year.
"Looking back at the whole year 2010, it's clear that the ongoing shift to mobile processors, combined with a shift back towards high-performance mobile processors, as opposed to Atom processors for netbooks , drove a significant rise in overall processor average selling prices," he said.
To support that theory, IDC reported that mobile PC processor unit shipments grew 26.2% in 2010, while desktop chip shipments grew only 6.2%.
So who was shipping the most computer chips in the fourth quarter?
IDC said Intel was up and AMD was a bit down.
In the fourth quarter of 2010, Intel grabbed 80.8% of the worldwide market share, which is up 0.4%. And rival AMD was down 0.4%, grabbing 18.9% marketshare, IDC reported.
In the full year of 2010, Intel earned a 80.7% global market share, a gain of 1.1%, IDC also reported. In the same period, AMD earned 19%, a loss of 1.1%.


While 2010 as a whole was a year of growth for the global computer chip market, the fourth quarter took a bit of a hit.
Worldwide PC microprocessor shipments in the last quarter of 2010 slipped , compared with both the third quarter of 2010 and with the fourth quarter of 2009, a report out today from the industry analysis firm IDC noted. Computer chip shipments dropped .04% quarter over quarter, and .21% year over year.
However, 2010 in total showed a 17.1% growth in chip shipments, IDC said. Revenue increased 26.7%, to $36.3 billion.
"The fourth quarter was weak and out of synch with normal seasonal patterns in terms of unit shipments," said Shane Rau, a research director at IDC. "The first half of the year turned out to be the better half of the year."
Rau added that the market's move to mobile computing and high-end computers drove much of the increase in chip shipments last year.
"Looking back at the whole year 2010, it's clear that the ongoing shift to mobile processors, combined with a shift back towards high-performance mobile processors, as opposed to Atom processors for netbooks , drove a significant rise in overall processor average selling prices," he said.
To support that theory, IDC reported that mobile PC processor unit shipments grew 26.2% in 2010, while desktop chip shipments grew only 6.2%.
So who was shipping the most computer chips in the fourth quarter?
IDC said Intel was up and AMD was a bit down.
In the fourth quarter of 2010, Intel grabbed 80.8% of the worldwide market share, which is up 0.4%. And rival AMD was down 0.4%, grabbing 18.9% marketshare, IDC reported.
In the full year of 2010, Intel earned a 80.7% global market share, a gain of 1.1%, IDC also reported. In the same period, AMD earned 19%, a loss of 1.1%.

Adobe Endorses Apple, Google Subscription Models

Adobe forthcoming Digital Publishing Suite will support Apple's App Store subscription service and Google One Pass "in the very near future," the company has said.
Digital Publishing Suite will be commercially available in the second quarter of 2011 though is already being used by global publishers to create and distribute publications on tablet devices.
"The publishing industry has been eager to deliver subscription editions of their magazines and newspapers -- and our Digital Publishing Suite will support both Apple subscriptions and the Google One Pass service," said David Wadhwani, senior vice president, Creative and Interactive Solutions, Adobe.
"We think Google One Pass will open up the market for publishers and that healthy competition between technology providers will ensure a vibrant future for digital publications. Whatever device readers choose, they can now expect a lot of great digital editions heading their way," he continued.
Apple's subcription service has come under fire, largely from owners of digital music apps, who say that Apple's proposed 30 percent cut of subscription revenue makes their business model unviable.
There is also interest in the service from unwanted quarters -- namely antitrust regulators, both in the US and Europe. Even Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, has got involved in the controversy, despite officially being on a medical leave of absence.
Google's One Pass, announced by the technology giant just one day after Apple's system was announced, asks for only a 10 percent cut of subscription revenue.

HTC Desire Beats iPhone as UK's Top Smartphone

Apple's iPhone is no longer one of the top five most popular mobile phones in the U.K., according to uSwitch.
According to the comparison site's Mobile Tracker, which ranks the nation's favorite handsets based on live searches and sales, the HTC Desire is the UK's favorite smartphone, closely followed by the HTC Desire HD and the HTC Wildfire.
The Blackberry Curve 8520 is in fourth place, while Samsung's Galaxy S takes the final position in the UK's top five favorite handsets. Meanwhile, Apple's iPhone 4 languishes in sixth place, having fallen three places since January this year.
"Android phones have well and truly pipped Apple to the post. But, with just a couple of months until Apple is expected to give details of its next offering, it's almost a dead cert that they will soon lead the way again in the race for smartphone dominance," Ernest Doku, technology expert at uSwitch.com.
"With over 800,000 deals currently giving away a smartphone for free, it's easy to see how consumers are being lured away from the iPhone. Many have to account for every penny spent, but at the same time do not want to miss out on owning the latest gadget. A free handset is a much more attractive proposition than shelling out for one - especially at iPhone prices."