The most exciting release of Community developed Ubuntu is going to be released today. This version boasts quicker boot times, better looks and cloud integrations.
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
The Alt+Tab key is one of the most frequently used Windows shortcuts. Particularly high usage ensues in Windows due to it’s lack of Spaces (ala Mac OS X) and Workspaces like Linux (Ubuntu) where you can categorize your windows into different desktop workspaces. And if you are like me and you have many windows open at the same time this process could get cumbersome. Though Windows Vista added the Win+Tab key which shows your windows like a tab-cycler, the actual difficulty still remains.
“Eric has been an excellent Board member for Apple, investing his valuable time, talent, passion and wisdom to help make Apple successful,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s Board.” said Apple in a press release a short while earlier.
This move was widely expected and this comes as no surprise as Eric Schmidt was already recusing himself out of board meetings concerning the Apple iPhone because of Google’s own Android platform competing in the smartphone arena. Now that Google is also into Chrome OS, this comes as no surprise.
It seems like just yesterday we upgraded to Firefox 3.5.1 and the guys from Mozilla are at it again with design mockups for their future iterations. They are asking the community to contribute and evaluate their options and here are the mockups for Firefox 3.7 followed by Firefox 4.0.
Vote your choices for Firefox 3.7 here
Vote your choices for Firefox 4.0 here
Bharti Airtel has announced that it will now offer broadband at 1 Mbps speed for Rs. 1699 and 512 Kbps speed for Rs. 1099 as well as additional free VAS bundles worth upto Rs. 500 every month.
The free VAS bundle includes services like unlimited gaming on Games on Demand, Anti-Virus software PC Secure, Airtel Speed on Demand and Online Desktop. Customers currently experiencing 512 Kbps can double their broadband speed to 1 Mbps by paying an additional Rs. 100 only.
K Srinivas, Joint President-Telemedia Services, Bharti Airtel said, “It is with pride that we introduce another first in the industry – offering more customers access to a true and rich broadband experience at an affordable price. Today, customers want a reliable broadband experience that meets their unique individual needs – and Airtel’s broadband plans deliver that. With this latest announcement, Airtel also adds to its rich broadband service portfolio that now includes high-speed and reliable wired broadband at 16 Mbps and cutting-edge products like the low-cost online computer – Net PC.”
I read those 1979 stories all last week, and it put me in a nostalgic mood, so wanted to offer my own memory to add to the collection.
In 1979, Microsoft had 13 employees, most of whom appear in that famous picture that provides indisputable proof that your average computer geek from the late 1970s was not exactly on the cutting edge of fashion. We started the year by moving from Albuquerque back to Bellevue, just across the lake from Seattle. By the end of the year we’d doubled in size to 28 employees. Even though we were doing pretty well, I was still kind of terrified by the rapid pace of hiring and worried that the bottom could fall out at any time.
What made me feel a little more confident was that 1979 was the year we began to sense that BASIC was right on the verge of becoming the standard language for microcomputers. We knew this could be the catalyst that would unlock the potential of the PC to democratize computing and create the right conditions for an explosion in programs and applications that would lead to really rapid growth of the PC market.
By the middle of 1979, BASIC was running on more than 200,000 Z-80 and 8080 machines and we were just releasing a new version for the 8086 16-bit microprocessor. As the numbers grew, we were starting to think beyond programming languages, too, and about the possibility of creating applications that would have real mass appeal to consumers. That led to the creation of the Consumer Products Division in 1979. One of our first consumer products was called Microsoft Adventure, which was a home version of the first mainframe adventure game. It didn’t have all the bells and whistles of, say, Halo, but it was pretty interesting for its time.
Back in the 1970s, there was a publication called the International Computer Programs Directory that handed out what was known as the ICP Million Dollar Award for applications that had more than $1 million in annual sales. In the late 1970s the list included more than 100 different products, but they were all for mainframes. In April, the 8080 version of BASIC became the first software product built to run on microprocessors to win an ICP Million Dollar Award. That was a pretty good sign that a significant shift was underway.
Today, I would be surprised if the number of million-dollar applications isn’t in the millions itself, and they range from apps and games created by a single developer working at home that you can download to your cell phone to massive solutions built by huge development teams that run the operations of huge corporations.
More important, of course, is the fact that more than a billion people around the world use computers and digital technology as an integral part of their day-to-day lives. That’s something that really started to take shape in 1979.
Thanks for the memories, Bill—please keep us posted on that new beer keg of yours!
Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, is expected to announce the availability of Windows 7 Beta 1 to pre-approved testers in his Consumer Electronics Show keynote address on January 7.
As reported on the technology site, techarp.com, Microsoft has issued a draft of the Windows 7 Technical Guarantee Program to their OEM partners on December 10. Also per the report, the Redmond-based software major has given its OEM partners exactly one month to provide their feedback before Microsoft finalizes the program details. Techarp has managed to obtain a copy of the draft, which tentatively refers to the program as the Windows 7 Upgrade Program. Continue reading…
According to a report in ars technica, Microsoft has plans to offer POP3 access to all users of Windows Live Hotmail. As of September 2008, Windows Live Hotmail Plus — subscribers pay $19.95 a year — users have had the option of using POP3 (pop3.live.com on port 995) from any device with an e-mail application. This has certainly led to a lot of outcry from hardcore Hotmail users, who do not have access to this feature, more so because other e-mail services offer it.
But we must mention that it was not an official nod from the software giant. The report was published based on an answer to a question in windowslivehelp.com, where the answerer states that "there is a plan on releasing POP3 to free Hotmail account users. However, he went ahead to say that they do not have a "definite date on when this will happen."
Chairman B. Ramalinga Raju’s admission that Satyam Computer Services Ltd’s (India and also listed in the NASDAQ) Balance Sheet was completely fabricated got the stock crashing down by 66.5 per cent to Rs 60 from Wednesday’s high of Rs 188.70. We feel this is the start of some serious regulations being brought in by the SEBI. The Indian companies don’t regulate themselves as strictly as their western counterparts and I think Raju has done the public a favor in this regard. Continue reading…