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Microsoft Reimagined: Ballmers Windows 8 Cloud Talk

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Microsoft is “reimagining” cloud and Windows 8 is in on the act. So said CEO Steve Ballmer at the Windows developer conference taking place this week, showcasing the new 8 beta version in front of software developers, hoping to lure a new wave of app builders on to its fledgling OS.


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“All the changes pivot around Windows 8” he declared, referring the new platform designed for tabs, the PC category  Microsoft has badly neglected until now.

He also said ‘8’ was indicative of massive changes over at Microsoft, where connectivity, cloud and platforms form part of its new Apple/Android offensive strategy. 

“If Windows 8 is Windows re-imagined, then it is a first step in the process of re-imagining Microsoft,” and both Intel and ARM are also crucial to the new platform play, the head honcho declared.

Synchronicity will also be another crucial part of new ‘reimagined’ Microsoft where the new platform will fit with Windows Server 8 and Windows Azure cloud services allowing new capabilities and benefits to developers.

“Each Microsoft product group is moving to the cloud as a fundamental business platform.”

The surprise cloud talk given by Ballmer comes as the PC software ace ship is fast sinking as Apple’s iPad and other tabs overtake demand for traditional PC and notebooks.

However, there is still a “long way still to go” he admitted.

Read Why Windows Tablets Could Be The Next Big Thing Here

And he’s not wrong. “542 million people use Windows Live, but Microsoft now needs to find a way to derive some serious revenue from these users, and the best way to accomplish this is through apps,” warns analysts Ovum.

With everyone from Dell to HP talking cloud Microsoft clearly feel the need to jump on the bandwagon quick smart but if the Seattle giant can walk the walk is another matter, and will be answered when the beta version is released soon.

“With over 450 million copies of Windows 7 sold to date, Microsoft must now transition its desktop operating system to the world of tablets and slates. More than two thirds of PCs today are mobile devices (laptops, netbooks, notebooks, tablets and slates), and so it comes as no surprise to see that Microsoft has gone ‘all-in’ with a complete redesign of the Windows interface to cater for touch screens.” Richard Edwards, Ovum analyst says.

 

But despite the rife competition from established players Apple iOS and Android Honeycomb for tabs, Ballmer appears quite confident of the road ahead and predicts 350 million plus sales of Windows this year alone.

“This year there will be 350 million plus Windows devices sold. No platform other than Windows ships on that many devices.”

Tiny Tab: Toshiba Size Zero 10.1 Inch

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0.3-inch thick, weighing 558g, Android 3.2 Honeycomb – its a tab slimmer’s dream. But now Toshiba are looking to make it real, unveiling the size zero 10.1″ AT200 tablet at IFA Berlin.


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Image credit: Giiks

The thinnest ever 10.1″ LCD tablet (7.7mm) – slimmer than iPad 2 or Samsung Galaxy 10.1″ Tab – boasts a 25.7cm 280_800 display (LED backlight), 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4430 CPU, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, 5 MP rear-facing camera, 2 MP (front). 

As well, there’s more connectivity on the AT200 than you can shake a stick at – micro-USB, microSD (for expanded memory), and micro-HDMI ports (for multi-media, TV streaming), Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. 
Adobe FlashPlayer 10.3 (yipee), decent sound credentials with 2 X 1.5W stereo speakers with ‘sound masking equalizer’ and a handy docking port also come as standard, and Toshiba Media Player, bien sur. 
Toshiba’s follow up to AT100 (known as Thrive outside Australia) promises a very impressive 8 hour playback even when using video playback. 
One reviewer at the IFA event called it “a serious competitor to Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1” and “a world away from the super chunky Thrive.”
“The new ultra-thin 25.7cm (10.1″) tablet Toshiba AT200, featuring Android 3.2, Honeycomb, is the latest in a long line of Toshiba products that are masterfully engineered”, said Marco Perino, General Manager, Toshiba DS Digital Products Division. 
 “With a thickness of only 7.7mm and a weight of just 558g, the elegant Toshiba AT200 is highly mobile yet extremely smart and powerful.” 
 

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The Toshiba AT200 will be available in the fourth quarter of 2011 in Europe first off, no word yet when it will hit Oz, but its safe to say early 2012, at the earliest.

Tosh lovers can also upgrade Honeycomb 3.2 and get their teeth into Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich OS – fusing smartphones, tablets and PC software – once available. 
Read Look, No Glasses: Toshiba Unveil 55″ Naked 3D TV Here

Toshiba Tab Killers Go Uber Thin

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Tosh Thrives on with super skinny tabs. The new 10″ WXGA resolution Thrive, set to be announced at IFA in September, is said to super slim machine with a bundle of ports: a microUSB, a microHDMI and a microSD memory card reader.


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Image credit: Notebook Italia.

Running on Honeycomb, the new tab will have massive storage capacity coming in 8-32GB models and have been branded ‘killer’ models by Notebook Italia, who uncovered the details, putting them on par with ‘thinner, lighter’ iPad 2 and other Android size zero rivals. 

 The 10″ Thrive will also come in a matrix of colours, a brushed-metal finish on the cover and “completely surrounded by a chrome frame crossed by a central groove.” 
 And Toshiba doubters should take note: the Thrive maker was the real originator of the tablet and the first to launch an AMD tab (pre iPad), with JournE touch unveiled at IFA in September 2009. 
 The Japanese maker recently announced Android 3.0 Toshiba Tablet (AT100), ditching the ‘Thrive’ name for Down Under, powered by NVIDIA Tegra, retailing for $579.
It would thus follow suit the soon-to-be unveiled new Thrive may not carry that name here. 
 

 

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Toshiba AT 100 Tablet
 
All will be revealed at IFA electronics show, taking place in Berlin from September 2-7.

Mass Riots Outbreak iPhone 5 Plant

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Riots have broken out in an Apple factory in China, forcing a temporary closure of the plant.


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The plant owned by Foxconn involved 2000 workers at a site in Northern China at Taiyuan, Shanxi, reports Dow Jones newswire.

40 workers were injured in the brawl late Sunday and an astonishing 5,000 police were called to the scene to bring it under control, according to Reuters.

The new iPhone 5 is being produced at the plant, the report states. 

The fight involved two different employee groups in a dormitory over a personal issue, which then spread into the factory, forcing the plant to close for the day.

It took several hours for police to get control of the situation and a number of arrests were made at the plant, which employs almost 80,000 workers.

“The cause of this dispute is under investigation by local authorities and we are working closely with them in this process, but it appears not to have been work-related,” a Foxxconn rep said.

There are still a number of police believed to be at the scene.

It was recently reported Foxconn workers were forced to work huge hours overtime in order to fill mass orders of Apple’s new smartphone, which went on sale on Friday.

 

Foxconn, Apple’s largest contract manufacturer, is no stranger to controversy following accusations of flouting labour laws, poor working conditions, low pay and a spate of suicides by workers at various factory locations in China.

It is not known what other devices are made at the Taiyuan based plant.

This is the latest setback for Apple’s iPhone 5 after its new in-house maps system was panned and Facebook integration with iOS 6 said to be woeful.

Bullish Bernie: ‘I Predict A Web Boom’

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Treble sales, classifications ads, SKUs galore: the sky is the limit for Myer.com, says boss Bernie Brooks.


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Bullish Brookes is predicting online sales to treble exponentially to 10-15% of total sales – up from 1% – in 3-5 years, he told Alan Kohler’s  Inside Business programme on the ABC yesterday.

Myer’s boss is predicting explosive growth in its ‘omni’ or multi channel future, as he paints a changing picture of the future environment for the retail giant.

“Oh, I think what we’ll see is an omni channel environment. So what we’ll see is a combination of bricks and mortar and clicks. If it moves more to clicks, we’ll be there. If it stays more in bricks and mortar, we’re there as well,” Myer CEO said.

And not to be left behind the pack, Myer is “having a bet each way and we’re playing in both spaces and starting to play more competently than we have before.”

Brookes has big plans for Myer.com and even conceded the site, which has enjoyed 14 million unique visits, saying the retailer “might well” take on the guise of a media company and take online classification ads from traditional outlets like Fairfax, as web players Carsales and Seek have done.

Last week, Myer announced a disappointing 14% slump in net profit for FY12 to $139.3 million.

Sales growth was still in negative territory for the most part, with slight growth in Q4, however, the green shoot was online sales more than doubled over the financial year, with Myer telling shareholders the web was “a significant opportunity”.

“So, the scenario is that we’re into that game in a big way,” Brookes added.

However, he also admitted he was playing “a little bit of catch up” compared to some retailers who have had their fingers in the online pulse for several years now.

“I think most retailers in Australia were caught a little bit by the speed at which the internet took off” Brookes admitted, blaming the Aussie dollar, in part.

But Myer is fast making up for lost time, he told Alan Kohler, referring to the near two fold increase in the number of SKUs or unique products identifiers online, which will soon jump to 50,000 from current 30,000 products available online.

Myer recently revamped its online site, launched some weeks ago to the public, with key improvements including a new homepage, improved search functionality, one-page check out and enhanced conversion tactics.

 

“That’s seen a significant step up in everything from ratings, 50,000 SKUs over the next few months, we got 30,000-odd today, starting to get more fair dinkum into the game.”

“We’ve doubled the sales over the last 12 months and it’s growing at an exponential rate. We’ll be into this space in a big way and we’ll still maintain a competitive advantage over those pure players because you can buy it in store, pick it up in store, try it on in store. You’ve got the range that’s exclusive to us and we’ve got both a combination of bricks and mortar and clicks, which does give us a competitive advantage.”

However, web sales still account for less than 1 per cent of Myer’s total trading at the moment, just slightly less than retailer JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, but Brookes says his e-store will catch up to his counterparts in the UK and US as more consumers hit the Internet.

But as online rises, bricks and mortar will decline indicating “maybe” even four “non-performing” stores will be shut down in the next five years, but eight or nine will open in new locations.

ni hao Tim! Apple Woos Chinese Govt, Invasion Continues

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Apple invasion continues as Chief Cook hits one of its most lucrative markets to entice governments, telcos to see things the ‘i way’.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was spotted in Beijing this week and rumour has it he has some potentially enormous deals with Chinese telcos on his agenda.

He also met with officials from the Chinese government to discuss Apple’s ambitious expansion plans, which may include partnership deals with China Telecom – the local answer to Telstra, according to reports.

Apple confirmed “Tim is in China meeting with government officials,” a spokesperson told Reuters. “China is very important to us and we look forward to even greater investment and growth there.”

“Captain Cook” as he is fondly known, previously branded China one of its most important markets outside the States with demand for the iPhone “staggering” and was spotted in Apple Store in Beijing this week wooing the locals.

And it looks like Cupertino is looking to spread the Apple revolution further with rumoured meetings with current telco partners in the region China Unicom and China Telecom to discuss the next iPhone.

Cook was also spotted at the office of the country’s biggest telco China Mobile which has yet to carry the iPhone, according to Wall Street Journal.

But there’s also a darker side to Apple’s China invasion, given its appalling track record on local workers employed by Cupertino’s third party suppliers including Foxconn where labour camp style conditions are commonplace as were worker suicides in 2010.

 

However, Cook has since pledged to clean up Apple’s act.

Apple’s row with local firm Proview over ownership of the name ‘iPad’ may also be on Cook’s “to do” list although a lawyer for Proview denied it was meeting with Cook during his stay.

iPhone 5 A “Sell Out” ..Or Ploy?

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Apple have flogged 2 million, Telstra are sold out, and Optus may not be far behind. But is the iPhone 5 “sell out” a stunt?

And is Australia (and maybe the world) facing an iPhone 5 supply shortage?

Apple announced its hyped-up iPhone 5, announced last week, had sold over 2 million on global pre-sale in 24 hours, it has been confirmed.

“iPhone 5 pre-orders have shattered the previous record held by iPhone 4S and the customer response to iPhone 5 has been phenomenal,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior VP of Worldwide Marketing.

“iPhone 5 is the best iPhone yet, the most beautiful product we’ve ever made, and we hope customers love it as much as we do.”

Demand for i5 kitted out with 4″ screen, 4G modem and 8MP camera, was more than double the previous 1 million sales record held by the iPhone 4S, despite the fact it has received a watery reaction from reviewers and consumers alike who say it lacks the wow factor and is playing catch-up to a slew of Samsung and HTC Androids already on the market.

Some are even saying the iPhone 5 sell out claim may be an elaborate stunt by Apple to drive demand for the device with a cult following.

“By doing the allocations this way, Apple gets two stories – ‘pre-orders sell out’ and ‘queues around the block on launch day’,” Apple expert Matthew Powell told SMH. “If it isn’t deliberate, it’s awfully fortuitous.”

The massive demand will delay pre-order deliveries until October, Apple confirmed today, meaning consumers who thought they were getting ahead of the posse by pre-ordering may be left disappointed:

“Demand for iPhone 5 exceeds the initial supply and while the majority of pre-orders will be delivered to customers on 21 September, many are scheduled to be delivered in October” Apple said.

Telstra confirmed to us yesterday they had indeed sold out of i5 stock within around 18 hours of pre-sales opening on its website and is looking at how to meet mass demand.

However, Telstra is no stranger to iPhone shortages, having sold out of 4S models just days after it went on sale, last October.

A spokesperson told SmartHouse it was currently examining what its next step will be.

Optus also confirmed to SmartHouse it has indeed suffered iPhone 5 shortages after it sold out of 32GB and 64GB models due to massive demand on pre-sale, but said “we don’t have a timeframe we can confirm just yet” for when stock will be replenished.

 

Telco No.3 Vodafone also confirmed demand for the new Apple was “strong” and have sold out of certain models already, while Virgin has also sold out of pre-order stock.

However, Voda aren’t in the midst of a supply crisis just yet, as have an allocated amount of pre-order and instore stock, which should be sufficient to meet retail demand on Friday, a spokesperson confirmed, although admitted it can be “hard to tell ..as the appetite for i5 certaintly appears to be there.”

Voda aren’t holding a midnight launch for iPhone 5 either and will start selling the device at 8am Friday morning, nationwide, as are the other telcos.

Analysts expect the iPhone 5 to sell millions, especially in Q4 prior to the Christmas rush and Gene Munster from US analyst Piper Jaffray is predicting 8 million will be sold when the i5 hits stores on September 21, or at worst, 6 million.

“While we continue to believe an 8 million launch weekend figure is achievable, we believe that the 2 million preorders suggest that the worst case weekend sales figure is likely to be 6 million,” the bullish analyst  told CNet.

The iPhone 5 will be available at Apple retail stores and the telcos at 8 a.m.Friday, 21 September.

And to sweeten the deal and ensure overnight vigils prior to September 21, Apple is luring fans to its retail emporium by offering free Personal Setup service for every iPhone 5 sold.

Is This Moto X-Rated Phone?

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Pics have leaked of a supposed ‘render” Motorola X Phone, tipped a killer device.
The images revealed by GSM arena from a “a person close to the team.”

Tipped as Google-owned Motorola’s next superphone, which “allegedly” has 4.7″ 1280 x 768 display, a potent Snapdragon 800 quad-core chipset and long-life 4000 mAh battery.

The version seen by GSM has Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with  “very few customizations job by Motorola” but may not even be the real deal, according to the report.

Image credit: GSM Arena

Is is believed ‘X’ phone, 100% masterminded by the Android creator, may be unveiled at Google I/O conference in May.

Earlier this year, a Telstra exec told us the new Moto was a “game changer that will put pressure on Samsung and Apple”.

“It has software features and capabilities that are not available on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone or Apple iPhone. The software is really powerful and it pulls together Google services like no other manufacturer has done in the past,” a source told SmartHouse.

This is exactly what HTC and LG recently said at the launch of thier ONE and Optimus G phones in Australia, as the mobile companies looks to capture the hearts and minds of phone users, looking to gain the edge over the ‘duopoly’ Samsung Galaxy and iPhone.

Moto’s X factor phone is set to be sold from July.

EXPOSED: Apple OZ ‘$100 Credit’ Scam

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Scammers target Aussies with bogus $100 Apple store credit
However, the catch is they must buy a $9 ‘discount card’ first and complete a form which ask personal users details (including name, credit card details and credit limit) before customers can avail of the “offer.”

The bogus deal offers loyal Apple fans 100 AU$ credit to spend at any Australian Apple Store or online.

The bogus offer sent by cybercriminals to “loyal Apple customers” in spam email sent from ‘offers@apple.com’, complete with Apple’s logo.

Image: Sophos Labs

The spam mails were identified by Sophos Labs dated Sunday September 30. 

However, it must be noted the fake deal has no association with Apple or its Store whatsoever.

“Users should never hand over such information. Just because an email is nicely formated and attractively presented with a friendly corporate logo and a too-good-to-be-true offer doesn’t mean that it should be trusted” warns security guru Graham Cluley, Sophos Labs.

It is not known how many Apple users in OZ were affected by the scam.

 

Here is the full text of the spam mail:

“Dear Apple Customer,Apple is rewarding its long-term customers.

Your loyalty for our products made you eligible for buying an Apple Discount Card.

With this only 9 AU$ Discount Card you will have 100 AU$ credit at any Australian Apple Store or on http://www.apple.com/au/ .

To acquire your Apple Discount Card please download and complete the attached form.100 AU$ Credit Bonus

(You will receive your Apple Discount Card via e-mail in the following 24 hours after your payment has been made.)”

Hack Attack! Telstra Hit AGAIN 35000 Affected

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35000 affected by latest hack on Telstra.


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BigPond Games Arena, one of the hacked sites.

Telstra Bigpond GameArena and Games Shop sites has suffered a “hacking attack,” it revealed today.

The telco has reset the passwords of its GameArena and Games Shop users, after both sites operated by a third party company, were victims of hacking.

This marks the second data breach in less than a year.

But, it appears, Telstra aren’t sure exactly what information the hackers may or may not have lifted in the ‘attack’ but said
customer’s details that “might have been obtained” were limited to BigPond Games usernames, the email and encrypted GameArena and Games Shop passwords of up to 35,000 users.

No financial or credit card details were kept on the sites, Telstra confirmed, saying it will “contact affected customers, with their new password, as soon as possible.”

When asked by SmartHouse if it knew who was behind the attack, the telco said they are “still investigating”.

BigPond Broadband password details, used for games service access, have not been affected.

“While the passwords were encrypted, as a precaution Telstra encourages games service account holders to change their password at any other sites where it may have been used,” it said in a statement.

 

There has been advice posted to GameArena and Games Shop homepage sites, informing users of the password reset.

Telstra suffered a similar information breach in December last, when a BigPond database was freely accessible by outsiders online, affecting almost one million customers.

The Data Commissioner is still investigating the incident.