Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Meg Whitman: webOS decision within 2 weeks.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.


According to allthingsd  Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman just gave an interview to Le Figaro, a French newspaper, saying that a decision on what to do with HP’s webOS software will come within the next two weeks.


Here’s the key quote, courtesy of Google Translate:


What will you do with your operating system webOS?
We should announce our decision in the next two weeks. This is not an easy decision, because we have a team of 600 people which is in limbo. We need to have another operating system.


We have read several comments by Meg Whitman since she is HP CEO about webOS.


Maybe a webos 2.0 tablet could come.


If we keep webOS we go with a multiyear project.



What   will really happen with webOS?

A webOS buy out.?
A new webOS tablet.?
WebOS on the cloud?
WebOS  just for printers?
A Joint Venture company.?



Related post: 

A week of expectation for webOS future. Decision between bidders interested or a new 2.0 tablet.



Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Rumor: Microsoft Office coming to iPad in 2012.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Microsoft already has numerous popular — and some not so popular — apps available for the iPad. They include Bing, MSN Onit and MSN OnPoint. There are even more available for iPhone, including Microsoft Tag, Windows Live Messenger and Wonderwall.

Now according to the daily Microsoft is planning a version of its Office business app for the iPad. 

If Microsoft ends up earning significant money from Office on the iPad, it would present yet another case in which the company profits from a competitor walloping it in other areas.

The publication cites unnamed sources for the information, and adds that a new edition of Office for Mac OS X Lion is also in development for a release date in 2012. Despite competing in a number of areas, including mobile-device software, Microsoft and Apple have maintained a longstanding and largely positive relationship when it comes to Office on the Mac. An extension to iOS seems natural and—considering the sheer size of the iPad user base—potentially very profitable for Microsoft.

The full versions of Office for Mac and Windows 8 are expected to launch near the end of 2012, though the iPad version could come well ahead of that date.

Source: TheDaily

WebOS app development chief Michael Rizkalla flees to Xobni.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.



It’s clear the uncertainty is not a way to retain talent. 

The latest sign is the departure of Michael Rizkalla, the former senior director of webOS application development at HP, who just started at Xobni, where he will be its senior director of mobile applications, according to his LinkedIn profile. Xobni tries to make inboxes and addresses books smarter on Outlook and BlackBerry through its software and recently introduced apps for Gmail and Android. Rizkalla exit follows the retirement of Chief Strategy and Technology Officer Shane Robinson and the departure of Richard Kerris, vice president, Worldwide Developer Relations for webOS. 

At Palm and HP, Rizkalla was responsible for shipping some of the core apps on webOS and previously led the development of webOS 2.0. Now, it looks like he’ll be heading up engineering for Xobni’s mobile products. 

How many other talented people leave the webOS team before any decision to keep it or discard it becomes moot?

Source: gigaom

White Samsung Galaxy II in the coming weeks.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Samsung’s gearing up to launch a white Galaxy S II  teaming up with T-Mobile for a carrier exclusive. No word on when it will be available. According to both Samsung and T-Mobile it will be arriving “in the coming weeks”, apparently in time for the holidays.

This marks another point of expansion for Samsung’s Galaxy devices, which seem to take on every variation possible for the manufacturer’s flagship smartphone.

Apart from that the phone will remain the same, meaning we can expect a 4.52” Super AMOLED Plus 480×800 display, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, microSD card support, a 8MP/2MP rear/front-facing camera on board with Android’s Gingerbread 2.3 ,  a dual-core processor and is among the slimmest smartphones on the market, coming in at 8.49mm at its thinnest point.

Source: ubergizmo

CES 2012: HP to announce new windows 8 tablet. HP´s tablet strategy would be announced briefly. webOS ?

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.




HP’s managing director in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) has toldCloud Pro there will be more tablet devices coming from the company, with the first just a few months away.
Yves De Talhouet, who used to run HP’s French division, was coy about whether WebOS would be involved, but did reveal a Microsoft tablet running Windows 8 would be launched at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to be held in Las Vegas in January.
Although he was reluctant to give any more details, De Talhouet said HP’s tablet strategy was “being worked on and would be announced briefly.”
Source. CouldPro


Monday, November 28, 2011

Rumor: Sony and Hitachi shipping 4 inch LCD displays for Apple´s iPhone 5.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

Sony and Hitachi  are shipping 4 inch LCD displays for the next gen iOS Apple device. Despite the news that comes from the macotakara blog from Japan and referes to an 4 inch iPad3, is not likely a 4 inch iPad3 Apple will provide, but an iPhone (5).

The blog site also refers to a 3 inch display, which is confusing , unless Apple is still thinking in a smaller iPhone product?.

Source: macotakara

1Q2012: Acer, Lenovo to launch quad-core tablet PCs

WorldWiode Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

It did not take too long to see the reaction  to the ASUS Eee Pad Tramsformer Prime worlds first quad-core tablet, by Acer and Lenovo, who are going to launch Android 4.0 Tegra3 quad-core tablets, in the 1Q2012 as well. HTC have been reported to focus in quad.core tablets and smartphones in 2012.

We will see a wide range of quad-core tablets and smartphones brands in 2012.

Here the report from Digitimes:


Acer and Lenovo are set to launch quad-core tablet PCs featuring Google's Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and Nvidia's Tegra 3 in the first quarter to compete against Asustek Computer, which has already launched its latest Eee Pad Transformer Prime with Tegra 3 and Samsung Electronics, according to sources from notebook players.

The sources pointed out that the competition over the quad-core tablet PCs will be difficult as these quad-core devices will only see improvements over their performance and design, but will still feature the same concept as their dual-core predecessors.

Therefore, these players may need to battle it out before being able to enter competition against players such as Amazon or Apple.

The sources noted that although these players' performance in the dual-core tablet PC competition were not as good as expected, they will continue to advance and launch new quad-core devices to defend their brands.
 
The new quad-core tablet PCs from Acer and Lenovo are expected to be priced between US$459-599.

Since non-Apple players' machines have no advantage to compete against Amazon or Apple's tablet PC devices, the sources believe non-Apple players will together account for only 10-15% of the total tablet PC market. 

Video hands on: ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime. The most advanced tablet.., today.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.


 ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime. The most advanced  tablet, today. Video first look hands on.








Related post:

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime quad core tablet to launch in Dec 2011. 32GB $499.- 64GB $599.-

Toyota unveils high-tech concept car

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.





TOKYO (AP) — Toyota's president unveiled a futuristic concept car resembling a giant smartphone to demonstrate how Japan's top automaker is trying to take the lead in technology at the upcoming Tokyo auto show.

Toyota Motor Corp. will also be showing an electric vehicle, set for launch next year, and a tiny version of the hit Prius gas-electric hybrid at the Tokyo Motor Show, which opens to the public this weekend.

But the automaker's president, Akio Toyoda, chose to focus on the experimental Fun-Vii, which he called "a smartphone on four wheels" at Monday's preview of what Toyota is displaying at the show.

The car works like a personal computer and allows drivers to connect with dealers and others with a tap of a touch-panel door.

"A car must appeal to our emotions," Toyoda said, using the Japanese term "waku waku doki doki," referring to a heart aflutter with anticipation.

Toyota's booth will be a major attraction at the biannual Tokyo exhibition for the auto industry. Toyota said the Fun Vii was an example of what might be in the works in "20XX," giving no dates.

The Tokyo show has been scaled back in recent years as U.S. and European automakers increasingly look to China and other places where growth potential is greater. U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co. isn't even taking part in the show.

Toyota's electric vehicle FT-EV III, still a concept or test model, doesn't have a price yet, but is designed for short trips such as grocery shopping and work commutes, running 105 kilometers (65 miles) on one full charge.

The new small hybrid will be named Aqua in Japan, where it goes on sale next month. Overseas dates are undecided. Outside Japan it will be sold as a Prius.

Japan's automakers, already battered by years of sales stagnation at home, took another hit from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which damaged part suppliers in northeastern Japan, and forced the car makers to cut back production.

The forecast of demand for new passenger cars in Japan this year has been cut to 3.58 million vehicles from an earlier 3.78 million by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.

Toru Hatano, auto analyst for IHS Automotive in Tokyo, believes fuel efficient hybrid models will be popular with Japanese consumers, and Toyota has an edge.

"The biggest obstacle has to do with costs, and you need to boost vehicle numbers if you hope to bring down costs" he said. "Toyota has more hybrids on the market than do rivals, and that gives Toyota an advantage."

Toyota has sold more than 3.4 million hybrids worldwide so far. Honda Motor Co., which has also been aggressive with hybrid technology, has sold 770,000 hybrids worldwide.

Toyota is also premiering a fuel-cell concept vehicle, FCV-R, at the show.

Zero-emission fuel cell vehicles, which run on hydrogen, have been viewed as impractical because of costs. Toyota said the FCV-R is a "practical" fuel-cell, planned for 2015, but didn't give its price.

"I felt as though my heart was going to break," Toyoda said of the turmoil after the March disaster. "It is precisely because we are in such times we must move forward with our dreams."






NASA Video: Mars Science Laboratory Launch

WorldWide Tech & SCience. Francisco De Jesús.


NASA began a historic voyage to Mars with the Nov. 26 launch of the Mars Science Laboratory, which carries a car-sized rover named Curiosity. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard an Atlas V rocket occurred at 10:02 a.m. EST (7:02 a.m. PST).


The Curiosity rover has 10 science instruments to search for evidence about whether Mars had environments favorable for microbial life, including the chemical ingredients for life. The rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release their gasses so its spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. The latest online information on the Mars Science Laboratory mission is at: http://www.nasa.gov/msl . JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA.
  


 "We are very excited about sending the world's most advanced scientific laboratory to Mars," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "MSL will tell us critical things we need to know about Mars, and while it advances science, we'll be working on the capabilities for a human mission to the Red Planet and to other destinations where we've never been."

The mission will pioneer precision landing technology and a sky-crane touchdown to place Curiosity near the foot of a mountain inside Gale Crater on Aug. 6, 2012. During a nearly two-year prime mission after landing, the rover will investigate whether the region has ever offered conditions favorable for microbial life, including the chemical ingredients for life.

"The launch vehicle has given us a great injection into our trajectory, and we're on our way to Mars," said Mars Science Laboratory Project Manager Peter Theisinger of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The spacecraft is in communication, thermally stable and power positive."

The Atlas V initially lofted the spacecraft into Earth orbit and then, with a second burst from the vehicle's upper stage, pushed it out of Earth orbit into a 352-million-mile (567-million-kilometer) journey to Mars.

"Our first trajectory correction maneuver will be in about two weeks," Theisinger said. "We'll do instrument checkouts in the next several weeks and continue with thorough preparations for the landing on Mars and operations on the surface."

Curiosity's ambitious science goals are among the mission's many differences from earlier Mars rovers. It will use a drill and scoop at the end of its robotic arm to gather soil and powdered samples of rock interiors, then sieve and parcel out these samples into analytical laboratory instruments inside the rover. Curiosity carries 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as large as the science-instrument payloads on the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Some of the tools are the first of their kind on Mars, such as a laser-firing instrument for checking the elemental composition of rocks from a distance, and an X-ray diffraction instrument for definitive identification of minerals in powdered samples.

To haul and wield its science payload, Curiosity is twice as long and five times as heavy as Spirit or Opportunity. Because of its one-ton mass, Curiosity is too heavy to employ airbags to cushion its landing as previous Mars rovers could. Part of the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft is a rocket-powered descent stage that will lower the rover on tethers as the rocket engines control the speed of descent.

The mission's landing site offers Curiosity access for driving to layers of the mountain inside Gale Crater. Observations from orbit have identified clay and sulfate minerals in the lower layers, indicating a wet history.

Precision landing maneuvers as the spacecraft flies through the Martian atmosphere before opening its parachute make Gale a safe target for the first time. This innovation shrinks the target area to less than one-fourth the size of earlier Mars landing targets. Without it, rough terrain at the edges of Curiosity's target would make the site unacceptably hazardous.

The innovations for landing a heavier spacecraft with greater precision are steps in technology development for human Mars missions. In addition, Curiosity carries an instrument for monitoring the natural radiation environment on Mars, important information for designing human Mars missions that protect astronauts' health.

The mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The rover was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida managed the launch. NASA's Space Network provided space communication services for the launch vehicle. NASA's Deep Space Network will provide spacecraft acquisition and mission communication.  

Source: NASA

Video: The Quietly Brilliant Story of HTC

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.




A short film about how the smartphone evolved - from some of the early pioneering handhelds to today's most innovative smartphones.



Macao Super Car Show 2011

WorldWide Tech & SCience. Francisco De Jesús.

Photos taken on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, during a super car show in Macau. China's superrich want supercars. That's what the makers of world's most exotic and expensive sports cars are hoping as they gather in Macau this week for the first Asian edition of Monaco's annual Top Marques show that began eight years ago.




 a model poses in front of a Bugatti super car 

a Pagani Huayra 

a GTA Spano

The Marussia

A young Chinese student builds a "home made" iPad like, for his girlfriend. Cost $ 125

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.



A young Chinese student builds a "home made"  iPad like, for  his girlfriend. Cost $ 125 
A second-hand laptop cost 500 yuan (about $ 80, or 60 euros) and  the manual ability were enough to Xinlong Wei, a college student in northern China, who built a home iPad like as a gift for his girlfriend, tells today Asian country's press.



According to the official newspaper "China Daily", which shows images of the iPad crafts man with the happy couple, Wei spent 800 yuan and ten days in building this replica, which can display text, movies, or download files through commands entered from the touch screen, like all "tablet computer" as of now.

Wei did not forget to decorate the iPad (not as thin as the original, without the stylish finish it on their edges) with the signature block from Steve Jobs.

The boy and his girlfriend, Sun Shasha, study at Northeastern University in Changchun City, near the border with North Korea, and both belong to humble farm families.

Wei acknowledged that he had enough money to buy his girlfriend a computer, so he documented from the internet with videos that showed how to get one, and decided to implement them.

"It's the best gift I ever had, I will keep forever,"  said his girlfriend Sun, who has also contributed with his personal touch to the home  made iPad , decorating it with fake gemstones jewelry


.


1 Chinese yuan = 0.156735 U.S. dollars

Source: CHINA DAILY

A week of expectation for webOS future. Decision between bidders interested or a new 2.0 tablet.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.



A week of expectation for webOS future. Decision between  bidders interested or a new 2.0 tablet.

According to the several sources who have brought  speculation about what might be HP decision about the future of webOS, we have summarized all  the possibilities of them, on this post.

TouchPad 2.0 tablet.Meg Whitman:
"The question now before us is what do we do with webOS software and do we come back to market with webOS devices," Whitman said. "It obviously will not be the same device but it will be version 2.0."

Update: Amazon,RIM, IBM, Oracle and Intel eyeing webOS. Meg Whitman: a Touchpad 2.0 could come.


Meg Whitman and Todd Bradley said:
Meg Whitman indicated, for instance, that webOS, which H.P. was incorporating into servers as well as tablets, will continue to play a role. “We’re still working through webOS, still haven’t gotten to ground,” Ms. Whitman said. “It is part of our cloud strategy. Stay tuned.”

Todd Bradley, the head of the PC unit, did not say whether H.P. would re-enter the tablet market with webOS. The company currently sells a tablet that uses Microsoft software. He said the “effective price” for the tablet is $300, adding that “the challenge is building that out.”

NYT: HP CEO: WebOS is part of our cloud strategy. Todd Bradley: The effective price for the tablet is $300.


"If HP decides to do this [to keep webOS], we're going to do it in a very significant way over a multi year period," she said.

if "there's another way to create that ecosystem." 

We posted a suggestion on that

Building a Joint Ventured ecosystem with Amazon,Samsung and HP webOS. Intel in talks and Qualcomm is back for webOS.


Whitman focused primarily on tablets and said that "things get more complicated if you add in phones."

Live Blog: Whitman IF HP decides to keep webOS we´re going significant in a multi year period.


Latest Bidders and webOS use possibilities:

Intel and Qualcomm may have similarities on their webOS interest:

Intel may have an ace up its sleeve to use webOS.


Before supposed bidders: Amazon,RIM,IBM, Oracle.

Update: Amazon,RIM, IBM, Oracle and Intel eyeing webOS. Meg Whitman: a Touchpad 2.0 could come.


Finally this week expectation. What  of  the above will really happen?

A webOS buy out.?
A new webOS tablet.?
WebOS on the cloud?
WebOS  just for printers?
A Joint Venture company.?


Meanwhile, a source within HP has noted to AppleInsider that the company is rumored to finally make a definitive comment on the future of webOS either on November 28 or December 1, although, the source notes, "I don't think anyone  expects anything good."


What do you expect from HP for webOS future?