Netizen: Windows

Showing posts with label Windows. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Data Security

Edward Snowden showed the government is dipping into data centers at will. That set off alarm bells. It's not just the government. There are many prying eyes.

The “Soft and Chewy Centers” That Put Your Data at Risk

More and more sensitive data is being entrusted to data centers connected to the Internet. ...... The interior of those complex networks is mostly unobserved or protected, meaning that attackers who manage to remotely access the computers can explore mostly as they please .... Servers inside modern data centers usually run multiple copies of Windows, or Linux-based operating systems at the same time. Illumio’s product works by attaching software “agents” to each of the operating systems inside every server. The data those agents send back to Illumio’s central control panel provide a global view of the data moving around inside a data center. Responses to suspicious activity can then be sent back to the software agents for enforcement—potentially shutting down hacking attacks as they happen. ..... “Overall, network security solutions haven’t evolved for the past 20-plus years”

Friday, September 12, 2014

NUI: Natural User Interface

English: The Microsoft Kinect peripheral for the Xbox 360. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The NUI will be a bigger departure than the GUI, Graphical User Interface, was. This is a big one. Microsoft has some advantages here. But it will not be any one company thing. This will be a tectonic shift.

Intel Says Laptops and Tablets with 3-D Vision Are Coming Soon

Laptops with 3-D sensors in place of conventional webcams will go on sale before the end of this year ...... Partners already working with Intel include Microsoft’s Skype unit, the movie and gaming studio Dreamworks, and the 3-D design company Autodesk ....... a startup called Volumental, lets you snap a 3-D photo of your foot to get an accurate shoe size measurement—something that could help with online shopping. ..... data from a tablet’s 3-D sensor can be used to build very accurate augmented reality games, where a virtual character viewed on a device’s screen integrates into the real environment. In one demo, a flying robot appeared on-screen and selected a landing spot on top of a box on a cluttered table. As the tablet showing the character was moved, it stayed perched on the tabletop, and even disappeared behind occluding objects. ...... the front-facing 3-D sensors can be used to recognize gestures to play games on a laptop, or take control of some features of Windows. ...... reminiscent of Microsoft’s Kinect sensor for its Xbox gaming console, which introduced gamers to depth sensing and gesture control in 2010. Microsoft launched a version of Kinect aimed at Windows PCs in 2012, and significantly upgraded its depth-sensing technology in 2013, but Kinect devices are too large to fit inside a laptop or tablet.

Monday, February 03, 2014

An Opening For Microsoft: Supercheap Smartphones

Image via CrunchBase

I think the biggest new opening for Microsoft to get back on the tech map is for it to cash on its Nokia acquisition and a CEO who grew up in India, a country that has more poor people than any other, and to offer the cheapest smartphones across the Global South. That steep price gradient is the only hope Microsoft might have to become a significant third force in the mobile space where Android is the new Windows. If it were to move fast enough I think there is a slim chance that Microsoft might end up with Apple like global market shares.

The large number of Android manufacturers are tough competition though. Android is free. And those hardware makers are doing their best to offer cheap phones. But I have a feeling Nokia knows a thing or two about cheap.

Gates Seen Taking Bigger Products Role at Microsoft

Sunday, September 08, 2013

Through Nokia Microsoft Should Go Down The Food Chain

Image via CrunchBase

With Google Loon attempting free internet access in the remotest corners, the other piece of the puzzle is the smartphone. How cheap can you make it? There Nokia has an edge.

There is argument that the Windows mobile platform does not have a million apps like the iOS and Android do. Most people I know use less than 10 apps, and all the hit apps do exist on Windows Mobile. Windows is decent in mobile. It is workable.

The only way it could become a contender is if it were to go down the food chain with ridiculously cheap smartphones in the emerging markets. That might be the top benefit Microsoft could hope for from the Nokia acquisition, I think.

How cheap is cheap? Under 50 dollars. So, a super cheap smartphone that most people can save up and buy, free internet access from the skies, a Skype phone number that works just fine over the internet, and you get 80% of the world connected. I can't imagine a better boon for democracy, gender justice, and microfinance.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Windows 8: Another Case For The Chromebook

Image representing Windows as depicted in Crun...

Image via CrunchBase

A most amazing thing about the Chromebook - and there are many - is you don't need anti-virus software on it. The plan seems to be that you stop paying your annual rent to Norton and with that saving you buy a Chromebook instead. The anti-virus software is so expensive, and the Chromebook is so cheap and getting cheaper.

Same Crap, Different OS: Windows 8

Crapware has long been a thorn in the sides of Windows users. Consumers and enterprise users buy PCs under the faulty impression that they’ll be getting a completely clean computer when they break open the box. Instead, they find a PC that’s been loaded up with junk that they typically don’t need. What’s worse, all of that software slows down boot times and performance, since the programs are usually set to load automatically and typically run in the background.