Новости за 05.02.2016

Dick Tracy used a two-way wristwatch to communicate; smartwatches have been available to the masses for years now. Star Trek replicators were used to create both objects and food on demand, a role that 3D printers are now starting to fill.

In a follow-up to a December announcement that it would halt development of Firefox OS, Mozilla yesterday spelled out when it plans to shut down the mobile operating system.

In just a few days, the annual data-fest that is commonly known as Super Bowl 50 will begin when the Carolina Panthers take on the Denver Broncos here in San Francisco. Far be it for me to pick a winner (if I must, the Panthers), but this year’s game will feature some exciting wearable technology for the first time.

If you want to build a powerful $40 Linux or Android PC with 4K video support, consider Hardkernel's Odroid-C2 computer.

Samsung this week officially launched its first prototype of a semi-trailer truck with a large, high-definition display on the back so vehicles behind can see the road ahead, even at night.

Not everyone drives a Lexus. Lots of people drive less luxurious cars such as a Kia Sportage and are very happy to do so. Along the same lines, not everyone wants/needs/can afford the iPhone 6S Plus or the HTC One M9. Something less expensive that handles the basics will do just fine. And if it does a little more than that? Well, even better.

What do people even use their smartphones for these days?

There’s the obvious -- making calls, texting, finding an Uber, and thumbing through Facebook feeds. After those activities, we almost always turn to search functions. Rather laboriously, we tap a movie theater name and city or we try to look up gas prices. It’s a portal to what is around us in the moment, but it’s cumbersome because we have to type so much text.

Just this week, Microsoft made a valiant attempt to improve how... Читать дальше...

I like Windows 10, but I prefer Windows 7. Is that a sin?

Microsoft thinks so.

Microsoft Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela recently said that if you choose to keep using Windows 7, you do so “at your own risk, at your own peril.”

Why? Because “We worry, when people are running an operating system that’s 10 years old, that the next printer they buy isn’t going to work well, or they buy a new game, they buy Fallout 4, a very popular game, and it doesn’t work on a bunch of older machines,” Capossela stated. Читать дальше...

While browsing analyst reports this week, new research from Accenture caught my attention. It chastised retailers for “failing to meet consumer demand for increased convenience while shopping with mobile devices.”

Mozilla Firefox OS has expired: Bereft of life, it rests in peas—we think that’s how Mozilla Corp’s “Global Marketing Director” for Firefox OS sees it it. John Bernard (Marketer of the Year, 2013) and sidekick George Roter tell us about their “substantial decisions,” which includes giving up on beating iOS and Android.

It finally happened. The power grid went down, affecting hundreds of thousands of people, and the cause was at least in part computer malware. Some people had been warning about this for years.

Users tricked by spam messages to open malicious Word documents that distribute the Dridex online banking Trojan might have a pleasant surprise: They'll get a free anitivirus program instead.

Apple has even bigger plans for Android, Apple CEO, Tim Cook, hinted in a Town Hall meeting with employees last night, so what services might it bring to Android in future? Here’s a few suggestions:

Seth was weary of the calls from bogus Windows support technicians, and decided to, if not get even, at least give them a taste of their own medicine.

Let me be upfront for those who think this analysis may be biased (and who think about sending me hate mail). I am not anti-Microsoft. But I have to call things as I see them. And let's be honest -- Microsoft's effort in the phone space is a disaster (although it is doing good things in the Surface product lines).