InformationWeek Stories by Gina Smith

InformationWeek Stories by Gina Smithhttp://www.informationweek.comInformationWeeken-usCopyright 2012, UBM LLC.2011-09-20T04:09:00ZWindows 8: BYTE Special Report RadioBYTE Special Reporthttp://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231601712?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors In this BYTE Special Report, BYTE tech pros Todd Ogasawara, Chris Spera and Larry Press examine Windows 8 in-depth and debate its ultimate worth to businesses and end-users. They also discuss Microsoft Windows 8 Developer Preview that was released on Sept. 12, 2011 at the Microsoft BUILD Conference in Anaheim. <script type="text/javascript" src="http://player.wizzard.tv/player/o/j/x/131629174029/config/k-f86f7b00a54c8ac4/uuid/root/height/325/width/325/episode/k-81f7dfd20b27a402.m4v"></script> Subscribe to BYTE Wireless Radio on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/byte-wireless-radio/id442124104">iTunes</a>.  2011-09-20T03:00:00ZMicrosoft: Could It Lose the Enterprise to Google?Will Microsoft lose it to Google?http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231601711?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors The report arrived in my IT-issued Microsoft Outlook box via BYTE's private teamBYTE Google Group today. It's ironic. Just a day after <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/galleries/personal-tech/desktop-os/231601680"> BYTE's deep dive into Windows 8</a>, BYTE's technologist and consumerization of IT specialist <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/authors/7041">Dino Londis</a> sent around a a two-part report from analyst firm Gartner Inc. It said Google now is emerging as a significant threat to Microsoft in the enterprise. The implications here for the old guard in software and, especially, for IT tech pros are profound. In many respects, Microsoft is backed into the same corner as IT, which is facing a sea change driven by a new generation of tech-savvy workers. These are workers for whom work is no longer "a place, but an activity," as one Google exec detailing Google Enterprise plans explained it to an Australian Google global roadshow audience. <iframe width="452" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1Xv87Wo6Oog" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> The following Google Apps roadmap smells like the future. Can IT pros deal? Is Microsoft capable of matching such a vision? <iframe width="452" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/M_TzCpYGpzw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> The second report Dino pointed at was even more telling. Google's Gmail for Enterprise now is a real alternative to Microsoft Exchange Online and other services, it said. "The road to its enterprise has been long and bumpy, but Gmail…now…is a mainstream cloud email supplier," said Garter analyst Matthew Cain <a href="http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1793914"> in the report</a>. Gmail owns only about 1% of enterprise email marketshare overall, but Gartner reports say Gmail now comprises nearly half of cloud-based enterprise email overall. Sure, cloud email is still a fledgling IT phenomenon--only about 4%t of enterprises embrace it--but in five years it will reach 20% of the overall enterprise email market, the report said. On the heels of <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/galleries/personal-tech/desktop-os/231601680"> Microsoft Windows 8 unveiling</a> this kind of report serves as a wake up call not just to Microsoft -- but to anyone fruitlessly hanging on to some old school legacy mentality. The consumerization of IT--or what analysts at IDC call the "consumer-powered IT" trend"--is no longer a theory or prediction. It's here. So-called iWorkers, according to an IDC analysis I read today, "are investing their own resources to buy, learn, and use a broad range of popular consumer technologies and applications tools to get things done in the workplace…bringing down the…old barriers around the workplace." So true. From smartphones to tablets to Twitter, Facebook, and Google+, iWorkers aren't storming IT demanding change. They're driving it regardless of whether IT likes it, wants it or allows it. I should know. At BYTE, we don't just talk personal tech in business, <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/commentary/231001933">we live it</a>. We've been using shared Google documents, Dropbox, Gmail and a host of other services outside the corporate firewall since February, months before our July launch gave us the resources we needed to access internal servers and systems. Microsoft appears serious in its effort to get with the program and offer a tablet-to-desktop ready version of Windows 8. But it needs to offer serious tools to help IT grab the reins and protect corporate data. Microsoft made a strong showing with its Windows 8 unveiling last week at its BUILD developer conference and talked a lot about enterprise features. But does it truly understand what IT faces in terms of the personal tech explosion in business. It had better. <iframe width="452" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1Hq95vtoS28" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> With personal tech and cloud services invading the workplace, data is of course at risk. Without adequate planning, tools and services, IT risks employees just walking away with personal devices and the proprietary data on them. According to Gartner, iWorkers don't really understand the security risks forcing in personal tech entails. I'm not sure they care. We all just want to get our work done in an always-on environment. Enterprise needs to find a way to manage consumer tech, secure data, defend against viruses and "handle the expected four-fold increase in transaction load that these new interactive experiences (via personal tech) will impose on IT," one IDC analyst wrote. The success of Windows 8 and associated services will largely depend upon whether Microsoft's technology helps IT ride and roll with COIT, a revolution in computing by all accounts VirtualWorks Group, headed by Citrix cofounder Ed Iacobucci, told me he is trying to work with Microsoft and other enterprise vendors to do just that: help IT secure data as a result of its consumerization and put an end to data sprawl. <iframe class="tw-sp" type="text/html" width="336" height="280" src="http://thewallstreetwiki.com/sp/?p=iw&v=971229709001" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="tw_971229709001" scrolling="no"></iframe> The firm is working with Microsoft and other enterprise vendors on a standards-based system for this. That's a development worth following. Now, with Windows 8 <a href="http://wdp.dlws.microsoft.com/WDPDL/9B8DFDFF736C5B1DBF956B89D8A9D4FD925DACD2/WindowsDeveloperPreview-64bit-English-Developer.iso"> freely available as a pre-beta</a>, Microsoft has an opportunity over the next few months to help IT find its way. Or Microsoft could choose to do things legacy-style. The latter is a losing proposition. Call it the consumerization of IT or, as IDC does, "consumer-powered IT." Call it whatever you want. But it's here. Business and personal boundaries are blurring with social networks, cloud services and personal device use. It's happening. Microsoft and IT shops need to take a cue from Google and get with the changes. More than three million companies have taken up Google Enterprise, say Google execs in the first video I embedded above. And that's just one example from just one company. The revolution is just beginning. Expect huge changes and upsets in coming months. Hang on. Resistance is futile. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zbnJo88kuP8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Based in San Francisco, Gina Smith is launch editor of BYTE. Follow her @ginasmith888 or email her at Gina@BYTE.com 2011-09-19T06:00:00ZNetflix: Kills DVD Delivery, Apologizes, Goes Streaming OnlyNetflix quits streaming and announces Quiksterhttp://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231601639?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors In the wake of increasing customer protest and even defections from its recently re-priced digital entertainment service, Netflix Sunday night announced it is discontinuing its DVD delivery service -- for good. Netflix in a few weeks will split its DVD delivery entertainment service into a "completely separate" service, execs said, called Quikster. The two will not be integrated in pricing, sign up or any other way. You either sign up for one or the other -- but there is no deal for customers who want both. <iframe width="452" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/c8Tn8n5CIPk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> CEO Reed Hastings, in a long apology over the public company's "lack of humility" and poor communication since the controversial new pricing, said he would miss the red envelope, too. The DVD shipment red-colored envelope is emblematic of the company's once high-flying service to many. That's the good news. He wrote: <blockquote> I messed up. I owe everyone an explanation. It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming, and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. I’ll try to explain how this happened. For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn't make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us) because they are afraid to hurt their initial business. Eventually these companies realize their error of not focusing enough on the new thing, and then the company fights desperately and hopelessly to recover. Companies rarely die from moving too fast, and they frequently die from moving too slowly. When Netflix is evolving rapidly, however, I need to be extra-communicative. This is the key thing I got wrong. In hindsight, I slid into arrogance based upon past success. We have done very well for a long time by steadily improving our service, without doing much CEO communication. Inside Netflix I say, "Actions speak louder than words," and we should just keep improving our service. But now I see that given the huge changes we have been recently making, I should have personally given a full justification to our members of why we are separating DVD and streaming, and charging for both. It wouldn't have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do. </blockquote> Scroll below to read the rest of his post, Or stop and watch this Hastings interview of two months ago, where he deeply explains why Netflix is betting on streaming. The company's rationale for the move is obvious here. <iframe width="452" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Pk6F1oj5gxM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Hastings' post continues. <blockquote> So here is what we are doing and why: Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD, plus lots of TV series. We want to advertise the breadth of our incredible DVD offering so that as many people as possible know it still exists, and it is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection on DVD. DVD by mail may not last forever, but we want it to last as long as possible. I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We feel we need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolve, without having to maintain compatibility with our DVD by mail service. So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are becoming two quite different businesses, with very different cost structures, different benefits that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently. It's hard for me to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary and best: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to Qwikster. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name Netflix for streaming. Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, and now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. (BYTE: emphasis added) Other improvements will follow. Another advantage of separate websites is simplicity for our members. Each website will be focused on just one thing (DVDs or streaming) and will be even easier to use. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated. So if you subscribe to both services, and if you need to change your credit card or email address, you would need to do it in two places. Similarly, if you rate or review a movie on Qwikster, it doesn’t show up on Netflix, and vice-versa. There are no pricing changes (we're done with that!). Members who subscribe to both services will have two entries on their credit card statements, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as the current charges. Andy Rendich, who has been working on our DVD service for 12 years, and leading it for the last 4 years, will be the CEO of Qwikster. Andy and I made a short welcome video. (You’ll probably say we should avoid going into movie making after watching it.) We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready. It is merely a renamed version of the Netflix DVD website, but with the addition of video games. You won’t have to do anything special if you subscribe to our DVD by mail service. For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that distinctive red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be the same for many of you. We’ll also return to marketing our DVD by mail service, with its amazing selection, now with the Qwikster brand. Some members will likely feel that we shouldn't split the businesses, and that we shouldn’t rename our DVD by mail service. Our view is with this split of the businesses, we will be better at streaming, and we will be better at DVD by mail. It is possible we are moving too fast – it is hard to say. But going forward, Qwikster will continue to run the best DVD by mail service ever, throughout the United States. Netflix will offer the best streaming service for TV shows and movies, hopefully on a global basis. The additional streaming content we have coming in the next few months is substantial, and we are always working to improve our service further. I want to acknowledge and thank our many members that stuck with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly. Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions. Respectfully yours, -Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix</blockquote> Despite the contrite note, respondents to the post on the Netflix blog were generally hostile, especially around some users' comments that they'd noticed Netflix had already removed some DVDs from view, calling them "expired." Hastings is going out of his way to smooth the outcome of what could well be a rocky day for the company tomorrow, as customers and Wall Street react. BYTE will be following this developing story. I'd love to know, if you're a BYTE tech pro reader with a Netflix accounts, what you think of this breaking news. Based in San Francisco, Gina Smith is launch editor of BYTE. Email her at Gina@BYTE.com and follow her @ginasmith888 2011-09-18T04:03:00ZAT&T Today Debuts 4G LTE Service, Primed for Apple iPad 3 ReleaseAT&T 4G LTE connectivity is debuts in five cities today. Here's where it's going.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231601632?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors BREAKING: AT&T says it is today rolling out its 4G LTE network in five US cities, with 15 major markets to come by year's end. That's just in time for the arrival of the Apple iPad 3 and the iPhone 5, reportedly due next month. If you're an AT&T customer who lives in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston or San Antonio, Texas, you're first in line for the new service. Who's next? AT&T says odds are good that, if you live in a major city, you'll be among the 70 million customers able to connect by the end of the year -- but with a caveat. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/technologists_screens/ronwhite/rotaryphone.png"> According to reports, just a few devices will support the device at today's launch. Those include the AT&T powered Jetstream tablet from HTC and two other 4G products, a modem and a mobile hot spot 4G product. If you own a Lucky Goldstar (LG) USBConnect Adrenaline device, it will be upgradable to LTE via a software update, said AT&T. AT&T also suggested its upcoming LTE smartphone, the upcoming HTC Holiday, will make use of it, too. That device will reportedly include a 1.2 GHz dual-core Snapdragon SoC processor, a 540x960 display, runs Android 2.3.4 and will feature HTC's Sense 3.0 user interface as the cherry on top, execs said. So far, prices for LTE service sound, well, kind of pricey. AT&T announced 5GB of data will cost $50. Ouch. It's all about bang for the buck, though, and tech pros will pay if performance improvements match expectations. AT&T obviously is hoping to catch up with Verizon here. Verizon launched nearly a year ago with its 4G LTE service in 38 cities. As of last Thursday, that service was available in more than 140 markets at 150 plus million access points. Will AT&T catch up? Can it? AT&T exec John Donovan has an edgy response to that question on his<a href="http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB115951&cv=820#fbid=wd9fgZL2Ikz"> blog here </a>. He emphasizes that LTE stands for Long Term Evolution -- not rush to market evolution. An excerpt from Donovan's blog, below. <blockquote> In their haste to build LTE networks, some wireless service providers are stinging from their decisions not to update their current networks. They have just one way to spell speed, and it’s "LTE." (Competitors to AT&T will tell you that data is the primary mode of mobile communication today, and speed matters.) We agree. They’ll tell you that LTE is the path to data speed. We’d agree again, but with some important details that they tend to leave out .. we .. know that the best mobile broadband experience is based on consistent speed. We’ve delivered five mobile broadband speed upgrades in recent years, including our HSPA+ deployment. Our HSPA+ network and upgraded backhaul is expected to deliver speed performance similar to initial LTE deployments. That matters because when we begin commercial deployment of LTE, customers on our LTE network will be able to fall back to HSPA+. \As they do, they’ll receive a more consistent mobile broadband experience that supports simultaneous voice and data connections and higher speeds than the others can provide outside their LTE footprint.</blockquote> If you're in one of the cities AT&T rolls out LTE tech in on Sunday, I'd love to hear your experience with it. Share it in comments below. So how will AT&T's speed compare to Verizon's LTE 4G service. We'll see in a few hours. Stay tuned to BYTE as we review, test and analyze. Based in San Francisco, Gina Smith is the editor-in-chief of BYTE and the best-selling co-author of Steve Wozniak's biography iWOZ: How I Invented the Personal Computer and Had Fun Doing It from WW Norton. She also co-authored the just-released The Mountain Within: Leadership Lessons for Your Climb to the Top from McGraw Hill. Follow her @ginasmith888 or email her at Gina@BYTE.com. 2011-09-11T20:00:00ZSid Meier's Civilization: Pre-Holiday Game Steals and MoreRight now is the time to find some amazing deals on games. Here's where to get them.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231601178?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors In post Labor Day sales news,<a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/45424-weekend-game-deals-75-off-civ-v-50-off-dungeon-siege-3.html">Techspot</a> reports a slew of weekend gaming deals. Such online gaming services as Steam slashed game prices by 50 to 75 percent over the weekend. At this writing, there are just a few hours left to pick up games like Civilization V, R.U.S.E. and Company of Heroes. Here's <a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/45424-weekend-game-deals-75-off-civ-v-50-off-dungeon-siege-3.html">a list</a> of deals. It's holiday clearance time. Thanks for the tip, Techspot. Enjoy. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/Newsbites/civ.png"> Based in San Francisco, Gina Smith is editor-in-chief of BYTE. Follow her @ginasmith888 and email her at gina@BYTE.com2011-09-11T19:58:00ZMicrosoft Samsung Partnership and BUILD Clues: BYTE Newsbriefsmicrosoft samsung intel motorola gina smith bytehttp://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231601175?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors Several sites marked the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks on the United States. <a href="http://www.yahoo.com">Yahoo</a> blacked out for a minute at 8:46 a.m. ET. That's the moment terrorists careened its first hijacked commercial jet into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City 10 years ago. On <a href="http//:www.youtube.com">YouTube</a>, Google created a 9/11 themed channel for the tragedy. Also <a href="http://www.facebook.com">Facebook</a> noted the date by allowing users to dedicate 9/11 related photos and status posts. Google's search page displayed a black ribbon. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/Newsbites/google911.png"> In other news, this week Microsoft will hold its BUILD conference for developers in Anaheim. They likely will see a lot more than just Windows 8. According to <a href="http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/09/08/2011090801114.html">a Korean news report</a>, attending developers will find Samsung Electronics touting Windows 8 on one of its tablets. Is Samsung switching teams? Unlikely. Samsung tablet tech is deep into Android. Yet Samsung is under attack in Europe due to Apple lawsuits alleging IP infringement for its use of Android. A Windows 8 tablet is a possible answer there. Microsoft would not confirm details to BYTE, but Samsung could go both ways, reports from Korea said. This week's showing may be the beginning of something much more interesting, too. As BYTE has reported since July, sources at Intel, Motorola and Microsoft have repeatedly and independently suggested to BYTE that Microsoft has a plan -- and potentially a standards-based consortium in the works -- to make Windows appear less irrelevant and, even, essential, in the so-called post PC era. "Microsoft and Intel know they need a solution for businesses and homes, something that resonates," said one source who spoke to BYTE on condition of anonymity. "If tablets really do begin to replace PCs, Microsoft and Intel need to move quickly and give customers a way to keep a Wintel PC-like experience and still own a tablet, maybe just a tablet," said another highly placed executive, also speaking not for attribution. Rather, he said, the two companies are looking at a third option. "In (Microsoft's) eyes, your docking station will be your next PC," he added. Microsoft is working, he said, with such Android-based tablet vendors as Motorola and Samsung to create a kind of souped-up docking station. Such a device, much like Motorola’s $300 laptop dock for the Atrix and Bionic smartphone, lets mobile users pop in their devices and get a more PC-like experience, complete with big screen, full sized keyboard, lots of storage, memory and, especially, the ability to automatically switch between the light Android OS and the heavier Windows 7 or 8 when a user plugs it in. Whether Samsung opens the kimono beyond just showing Windows 8 running on a Samsung tablet is all about timing. Microsoft spokesperson Pam Edstrom told BYTE a dual Android/Windows 8 tablet sounded interesting indeed. However, she would not confirm or deny any other details sources reported regarding BUILD or speculation around unannounced Microsoft products. Windows 8 incorporates a lot of mobile UI elements, including better OS integration with virtual drives and native support for touch use. Check out Ballmer's demo below -- BYTE was there as he showed Windows 8 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Sounds a lot like what Apple's doing with its own UI unification between its iOS 5 and Apple OS X Lion 10.7.1, doesn't it? <iframe width="450" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/p1gkBH0aF5g" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> In other Microsoft news, the company now is emphasizing speedier boot times for the new Windows release. Slow booting is a real sticking point for Windows users. Microsoft now is claiming to address boot time issues directly with Windows 8. Below, Microsoft's director of program management for Windows, Gabe Aul, explains exactly how Microsoft engineers are accomplishing faster boot times with Windows 8. The following is an excerpt from his <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/09/08/delivering-fast-boot-times-in-windows-8.aspx">blog post</a> published September 8. The main difference essentially lies in system kernel hibernation. He wrote: <blockquote>Now here's the key difference for Windows 8: as in Windows 7, we close the user sessions, but instead of closing the kernel session, we can hibernate it. Compared to a full hibernate, which includes a lot of memory pages in use by apps, session 0 hibernation data is much smaller, which takes substantially less time to write to disk. If you're not familiar with hibernation, we're effectively saving the system state and memory content to a file on (hiberfil.sys) and then reading that back on resume and restoring contents back to memory. Using this technique with boot gives us a significant advantage for boot times (because) reading the hiberfile in and reinitializing drivers is much faster on most systems (30 to 70 percent faster on most systems we've tested).</blockquote> Microsoft provided the graphic below to show performance improvements. BYTE's reviews team will be looking at Windows 8 in depth on its release to verify and measure improved boot speed and other promised Windows 8 features. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/Newsbites/22.png">Credit: Microsoft</a> Updated: Sept. 11, 2011 10:34 p.m. PT Carol Bartz, fired from her CEO post at Yahoo last week, has resigned from her seat on its board also. The New York Times is reporting the resignation occurred Sept. 9, the same day she told Fortune she retained her board seat and called the other board members "doofuses." Click <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/commentary/personal-tech/science-tech/231600945">here</a> for more on her explosive comments, a video round-up and analysis on what her exit from Yahoo means to tech pros. Viewer discretion is advised. Based in San Francisco, Gina Smith is editor-in-chief at BYTE. Follow her @ginasmith888 and email her with comments and tips at Gina@BYTE.com. 2011-09-09T23:00:00ZApple iPhone 5: Will Sprint's Unlimited Data Plan Last?Sprint to launch with Apple iPhone 5 as third carrier option.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231601174?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors In the news today, the question lingers. Will Sprint really be able to offer Apple iPhone 5 users unlimited data? Probably. How long will it last? Not forever. Given numerous reports online and last week's leak of a <a href="http://www.bgr.com/2011/09/04/best-buy-anticipating-iphone-5-for-sprint-preorders-starting-next-month/">Best Buy document that lists Sprint</a> as a carrier for the iPhone 5 October arrival, it's clear now that the Sprint iPhone 5 is almost upon us. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/Newsbites/celltower.png"> Around the Web today, speculation mounted about Sprint's plans to push back a planned 4G smartphone and a RIM Blackberry Curve 9350 3G phone. It's all to get ready for the expected iPhone 5 launch. Makes sense. Verizon saw great results when it became the iPhone's second carrier. AT&T iPhones were notorious for poor reception and dropped calls, especially in tech-heavy, hilly San Francisco and surrounds. As my colleague Charles Babcock quips, having an AT&T iPhone means never having to say goodbye. Sprint's offer of an unlimited data plan isn't at all outragous. Already, it offers other smartphones users unlimited data contracts for a flat $99.99-a-month fee. But the iPhone 5 is a different beast entirely. How much money is Sprint willing to lose and for how long -- that' s my question. I don't doubt Sprint will offer an unlimited plan; certainly AT&T and Verizon offered unlimited plans on their iPhone contracts -- but they later nixed them. Only early subscribers got to keep those plans. If you're thinking about the iPhone 5, as so many are, you might want to get in on a Sprint unlimited plan early and hope you get grandfathered in. Nothing lasts forever. Based in San Francisco, Gina Smith is editor-in-chief of BYTE. Follow her @ginasmith888 and email her comments, suggestions and story tips at Gina@BYTE.com.2011-09-08T19:14:00ZMotorola Droid Bionic, Google Buys Zagat, RIM Rips a Page from HP's "Playbook" BYTE Newsbriefsnewsbriefs for september 8 2011http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231601060?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors Today in the news -- and at long last -- Motorola said its $300 Motorola Droid Bionic is available. Announced at CES in January, the long-awaited smartphone originally was due this spring. The Droid Bionic is an Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread) based phone -- and targets enterprise and consumers alike. For IT, the Bionic includes a data usage monitor, Citrix Receive and other enterprise-friendly utilities. At CES in January, Consumer Reports produced this early look at the Bionic. Check this out. <iframe width="452" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xdNQpU5lx_A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Though the proof will be in the reviewing, the specs on the Bionic Motorola began shipping today in fact are notable: Motorola's first LTE 4GS phone, the Bionic includes a dual-core Texas Instruments 1GHz CPU, an 8-megapixel camera and 1GB of RAM. It also includes 1080p HD video capture capability. Watch for a teardown and full review in BYTE soon. My colleague at InformationWeek provides a deep look <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/231600932">here</a> and now. Like the Motorola Atrix, the Bionic plugs into a dock-like system that adds more memory, an 11.5-inch display, a full keyboard, USB and other capabilities above and beyond what the tablet or smartphone alone offer. The so-called lap-dock system will set up you back $300, though, and other docs are available from Motorola, too. It's interesting. BYTE has been following a story for weeks now based on reports inside Intel and Motorola that Microsoft is also working on such a docking station device. As BYTE reported, this is a joint Microsoft, Motorola and Intel effort to allow Android tablet users to pop in their devices and switch to a heavier OS, such as Windows 7 or 8, and faster, more home PC-style experience. Also in the news today, Google is buying 31-year-old dining/hotel guide Zagat. Watch out Yelp and Open Table. It's easy to imagine how, as Google continues to integrate all its services with the Google+ network, Zagat will play heavily location-wise, search-wise and community-wise into the ever-expanding Google ecosystem. In a <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/google-just-got-zagat-rated.html">Google blog post</a>, a Google VP explains why Google is going local. More Google news: Execs say its green initiative is finally bearing fruit, what with recent green company investments and its oft-repeated assertions that cloud services are inherently cleaner. In this <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/gmail-its-cooler-in-cloud.html">blog post from Google today</a> execs get in more detail on why this should matter to techpros. Didn't know Google was into green and how the cloud plays into it? Check out this video, where Google's Jolanka Nickerman explains its carbon offset plans. <iframe width="452" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/znw7t9aqrf4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Google, it turns out, even has a so-called green czar, who claimed in January that Google's invested more than $40M since 2007 in research and various investments. Google now claims Gmail is 80 times more efficient than site-bound email, citing its <a href="http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en/us/green/pdfs/google-green-computing.pdf">own study</a> and that of other experts. Find the full story <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/cloud-computing/software/231600934">here</a>. And finally, there's mobile news fromResearch in Motion. It's now trying new tactics to get people buying, including issuing $100 gift cards to US and Canadian residents who purchase its tablet, the Playbook. Limit: Three a customer. Will it work? Listen to BYTE Wireless Radio for our take on that soon. It sure looks RIM is ripping a page from the HP, ahem, playbook. In August, HP saw jaw-dropping and enthusiastic response after it began selling its discontinued TouchPad tablet for $99 to get rid of inventory. Of course, RIM can't just give away money -- nor can HP. The deadline for this deal is September 23, according to reps. In setting the deadline, though, RIM looks to be using an age-old sales tactic designed to promote an urgent feeling among buyers. Time is running out, so it goes. Will IT care? Will you? Let me know. For more on the new RIM deal, my colleague has an excellent piece <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/handheld/231601041"<right here></a> Finally, and no surprise here, RIM is trying to attract more developers. And it's heading for Android. According to the company, it's setting up more than 50 events to lure Android developers to the platform. If you're an Android developer with an interest, BYTE would love hear from you. Based in San Francisco, Gina Smith is editor-in-chief of BYTE. Follow her @ginasmith888 and email her with comments, suggestions and story tips at Gina@BYTE.com. 2011-09-07T15:45:00ZIf Bartz Can't Turn Yahoo Around, Who Can?Ousted Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, say analysts, missed a key ingredient: Social.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231600945?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors I know Carol Bartz and consider her a mentor of sorts. Ed: Article updated 2:39 PM PT Sept. 11, 2011 When I was a cub reporter in the early 1990s at PC Week, I grew to know her as the fabulously successful chairman and CEO of Autodesk, then a phenomenal turnaround story. That company then was one of the biggest software companies in the world. I found Bartz incisive. Well-spoken. Quick. Witty. Cool. I immediately saw why Yahoo tapped her in January 2009 to replace then-Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang. She's a turnaround artist, plain and simple. Everyone knows it. And she's shown it. But her magic didn't work at Yahoo. Or so it seems. As the dust settles, we'll talk to Carol and execs at Yahoo. Our team at BYTE will frame for you the circumstances surrounding her ouster and what it means to tech pros, IT and serious users in business. She wrote the following note to Yahoo's 14,000 plus employees after the markets closed, the evening of her Sept. 8, 2011 firing. <blockquote>To all, I am very sad to tell you that I've just been fired over the phone by Yahoo's Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward. Carol</blockquote> In an edgy and, at times, profane interview with Forbes on the day of the firing, excerpted below and available <a href="http://postcards.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2011/09/08/carol-bartz-fired-yahoo/">here</a>, she called her fellow board members "doofuses" and tells journalist Patricia Sellers she was "f$%$%$% over." Excerpt: <blockquote>What does Bartz think of her successor, Tim Morse? "He's a great guy," she says. Morse was chief financial officer under Bartz, and now he is interim chief of a company whose stock has risen (six percent) since he replaced her. Asked whom she thinks the board might appoint long-term, she replies, "They should bring me in. I knew what to do." Sometimes it's difficult to know when Bartz is being serious. As I prod her to tell me what she might do next, I mention her age, 63 -- "&^%& you, yeah," she replies. And when I ask her if she's on any other public company boards besides Cisco (CSCO), where she is lead independent director, she says, "I'm on Yahoo's board." She tells me that she plans to remain a Yahoo director—which might be unlikely since she has now called her fellow directors "doofuses."</blockquote> Wall Street appeared to greet the ouster with gusto after hours Tuesday. And analysts I spoke to Wednesday wondered if Bartz needed more time -- or whether she just couldn't execute toward making Yahoo social. A new CEO will only prolong a turnaround -- the site gets about 500 million unique visitors a month, 200 million fewer visitors than Facebook. "She did a great job in terms of operational basics, but in the second act, she didn't deliver," said Karsten Weide, an analyst at IDC. "She needed to think about 'how do we get out of this mess in terms of growing the business again?' Facebook attracts a lot of brand advertiser budgets that otherwise would've gone to Yahoo." Social is a big part of where Yahoo struck out. "It should've been Yahoo Plus, not Google+," said Weide. "What Yahoo needs is a mixture of a visionary and a media partner." Yahoo, he said, was in such a rush to get Bartz out, it didn't even hire a recruitment firm until the next day. Watch BYTE in coming days for an interview with Bartz and more on her take and interviews with Yahoo boardmembers. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/informationweek/byte/news/Sept_2011/Carol_Bartz.jpg"> Now, I have a bit of experience running companies and I can tell you for certain that public companies usually have a more solid plan for replacing a CEO than putting in its CFO (in this case, Tim Morse) as interim CEO and surrounding him with a pack of execs to help. So why the fire drill? Wall Street analysts have continually been tough on Yahoo as its fortunes decline while Google's rise. But what else is new? There's no question that Bartz' fortunes have been steadily declining over the last year. Hired in 2008 with a $42 million-plus salary, according to public docs BYTE obtained, this April saw that decline take her down to $11 million. It’s better than lunch money, but that’s still a 75 percent pay cut. The video below shows Bartz giving a long answer to a short question: What is Yahoo? <iframe width="450" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/S6JJyxde600" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> The board might be right that Bartz can't save Yahoo. But the board who threw her under the bus better have a four-star replacement. And soon. Because turnaround artist that she is--and I've seen Bartz nail a turnaround like nobody's business--I am wondering who else has the Yahoo voodoo. Yahoo obviously doesn't know yet. Meanwhile, Google looms. Viewer discretion advised for the Carol Bartz video below. She tells off a former Silicon Valley journalist, saying it takes time to turn around a company. For the record, I agree. <iframe width="450" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zq4A1uCQ1w0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Watch BYTE in coming days for more on goings-on at Yahoo and how it plays into consumer tech in business. I'd love to hear your opinions. Gina Smith is editor-in-chief of BYTE. Based in San Francisco, follow her @ginasmith888 or email her at Gina@BYTE.com.2011-09-06T08:00:00ZThree Free Must-Have Utilities To Speed Your WorkIs your toolkit in order? Here are three free utilities no tech pro should be without.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231600767?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors Everyone has a go-to kit for emergencies, or just plain handy utilities that make work go faster. These are my three top time-savers. Check them out! My favorite is <a href="http://www.voidtools.com/">Everything</a>, from voidtools. I use it constantly. It indexes every folder and file on your disk, letting you rapidly find anything--just by typing in a couple of characters. It blazes. A tool like Everything is ideal if, like me, you don't keep your files and folders in pristine order. Or maybe you support users with the same bad habits. Either way, Everything is all you need for home or business. It supports Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista and 7. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/Gina_B1/452everything.png"> Next up, <a href="http://www.dban.org/download">Darik's Boot and Nuke</a>, better known as DBAN. This program writes over all the contents of your PC's hard disk--effectively blasting any PC white bone clean. You need that if you're selling a PC. And you definitely want that if you're doing a fresh OS install or reinstall for any reason. Bulk emergency data destruction is what DBAN is all about and it does what it promises. DBAN claims its utility "totally cleans a Microsoft Windows installation of viruses and spyware (and) thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis." Hey, you never know. A good set of instructions for using DBAN is inside the BYTE how-to gallery on how to do a <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/howto/personal-tech/desktop-os/231000415">clean install of Windows 7</a>. DBAN is for Windows 2000 and later. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/Gina_B1/452dban.png"> Finally, no must-have utility list would be complete without <a href="http://www.videolan.org/vlc/">VLC</a>, an open-source media player originally developed by some Parisian students. If you haven't used it, absolutely do take a look. VLC plays and streams media in virtually any format you can think of--and on every conceivable platform. That includes the PC, Mac, and most flavors of Linux. No more time-consuming searches for media translator software. I haven't seen any other player this good. To me, VLC is beyond compare. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/Gina_B1/452vlc.png"> At BYTE, we're always reviewing or recommending freeware utilities that'll free up some of your time at work. Hope you enjoy these! Gina Smith is editor-in-chief of BYTE. Follow her @ginasmith888 or gina@BYTE.com2011-09-01T16:41:00ZHP WebOS Patents: Are Samsung, Nokia and Microsoft Bidding?Investigative report into why Samsung has the most to gain as an potential acquirer of the WebOS portfolio of patents from HPhttp://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231600600?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors HP is quietly opening for license its HP WebOS patent portfolio. After a two-week investigation into the portfolio and discussions with patent experts, it’s clear who’s likely to buy or license it. That company is Samsung. I expect Samsung to make a formal bid for at least an exclusive license of the valuable HP webOS patent portfolio within weeks. My investigation shows the portfolio to be that broad and that deep. Its long-held and fundamental claims reach far into the guts of most mobile tech in use today or on the horizon. Samsung has the most to gain by grabbing it -- and the most to lose if someone else does. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/news/August_2011/patent2.png"> Palm, remember, was among the first to market with mobile tech. As early as the mid 1990s, Palm cofounder Jeff Hawkins began filing patents along with other inventors. Over the years, their claims grew to include such basic and broad mobile tech bedrock as mobile multitasking, distributed networking, cloud computing, mobile user interface controls, telephony, visual search, 4G, touchtech and more. In prior art citations – one measure of the power and monetary value of a patent – the HP-owned Palm webOs patent portfolio is especially meaty. Samsung patent filings cite webOS innovations 192 times. By comparison, Nokia and Microsoft cite the webOS patents 166 and 104, respectively. Just take one patent -- a basic one covering multitasking on a mobile phone, issued to Palm in 2003. Mobile makers have cited it as prior art 50 times and counting. That's "10 times what the average patent does and it shows real value," said Peter Conley, senior managing director at MDB Capital, a research firm that values IP based on a complex set of matrices. MDB calculates patent value based on its PatentVest metric, detailed <a href="http://www.mdb.com/patentvest-metrics.html">here</a>. In April 2010, Conley valued the webOS patent collection at $1.4B. It is worth a bit more now, he estimated to BYTE. Now that the webOS patents are up for grabs, Samsung needs to grab them up now -- even if it has to pay a bit more than the rock bottom rates Samsung typically negotiates with licensors. The WebOS portfolio provides Samsung or a competing bidder” with a unique competitive advantage,” Conley added. Of all companies who cite the webOS patents most, "Samsung would be the most logical buyer. This would give them the answer to Apple’s aggressive claims against Samsung" and other Google Android-based mobile tech makers, Conley said. Apple cites all webOS patents a total of just 45 times. Still, it's worth noting HP is the only mobile tech maker Apple has not sued. And in the depiction of the patent wars below, HP is missing altogether. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/news/August_2011/patentsuits.png"> "You don't sue HP and you don't sue IBM, those are the two rules," Conley joked. But you see where he's coming from. HP is second only to IBM as the largest tech patent holder in the United States, records show. It holds 23,959 patents. Any tech company would be loathe to pick a company with intellectual property rights that deep. HP stopped inventing and innovating a long time ago. On its most recent financial call, execs said a thoughtful execution of a true patent licensing move is in the works. When HP bought then-struggling Palm for $1.2B a year ago, Palm's patent portfolio was immediately rendered unattackable. The patents in the webOS portfolio, alone, stand to be a tidy profit center. While their patents don't necessarily provide HP with a "silver bullet," Conley said, Samsung will find value in them. At HP "there are serious discussions about licensing ... (HP execs) know that if they can license some of this into the tablet and smartpone market in a meaninful way, that's worth a lot of money. "And that's driven by nothing more than the size of the install base and the number of competitors," he said. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/BLOGS/jimcollison/6.png"> So what's in the patents? This is first of a series of pieces I'll do that take you under the hook. Here are the first two patents I'll highlight. One is a 2003 multitasking patent, filed by Hawkins in 1998, cited more than 48 times by mobile tech companies over the last decade. Multitasking on a web-enabled mobile phone is growing ubiquitous, and the HP Web OS portfolio has claims on that. Here’s a Palm video from last year explaining the multitasking inventions it employs in its Pre and other phones. <iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/c20uhGxSxWo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Another patent, issued to Hawkins and co-inventor Robert Yuji Haitani in 2009, is even broader. Filed in 2005, it describes “integration of the handheld computer and telephony” allowing users to switch between telephone mode and computer mode on a mobile phone “in a way that makes them logically separable” and no attached keyboard is required. This should sound awfully familiar to Apple. Microsoft will recognize it, too. It cited this particular patent 38 times, several times the average number an average patent gets. That’s indicative of its value, especially to Microsoft, which is offering or planning phones sporting much of the Palm technology as described. According to that Palm patent (2005, US 7,555,727), one description holds: <blockquote> “One disclosed embodiment includes a corresponding user interface for an integrated handheld computer, computing and telephone system … in one embodiment, a user is presented with an option of a predetermined number of interface views and yet another user interface .. that is available when there is an active telephone call. These views are displayed on a digitized pad, for example, a “touch” sensitive display .. and can be interactive with through the display itself .. an embodiment (includes) a dial pad view that is similar to a common touch tone dial pad (and) a speed-dial view (and) a call history view (that) displays a list of previous incoming, outgoing or missed calls and may be filtered as desired. As with the previous two views, the system may automatically switch from the call history video another user interface views as necessary. A fourth interface view includes a contacts view …” </blockquote> In 2005, when Hawkins filed this idea of multiple phone interfaces, the iPhone wasn't even a glimmer inf Steve Jobs' eye. This presents a typical patent in the webOS collection -- an early claim on a mobile tech in wide use now. For Samsung this is pure ammunition and in many ways it completes its IP collection. This is first in a series of what BYTE found in the HP WebOS patent portfolio and how it directly relates to the future of Android, the patent wars and next gen technologies coming from 3D smartphones, video-streaming tablets and other technology on the horizon. Stay tuned. Check out HP Palm chief ticking off the advancements webOS brings the HP TouchPad. His words match markedly with a rundown of other IP detailed in the webOS patents, on the block now at HP. <iframe width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4qI2gM45fEg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> For more discussion check out this week's BYTE Wireless Radio or subscribe <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/byte-wireless-radio/id442124104">via iTunes</a>. <script type="text/javascript" src="http://player.wizzard.tv/player/o/j/x/131490815333/config/k-f86f7b00a54c8ac4/uuid/root.m4v/height/325/width/450"></script> Based in San Francisco, Gina Smith is editor-in-chief of BYTE. Email her with ideas and comments at gina@BYTE.com and follow her @ginasmith888. And follow @BYTE while you’re at it. 2011-08-28T10:20:00ZApple CEO Tim Cook: The TruthThings to know about Tim Cook.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231600303?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors Apple Chief Tim Cook begins his first official day at Apple this week. And the industry, Wall Street and the world's largest enterprise shops will be watching Cook with eagle eyes. They want to know the real Tim Cook. What drives him. They want to know whether he'll carry along or, try something way out there. What to expect of Tim Cook? Naturally, speculation runs rampant. Often described as inscrutable, quiet, serious and conservative, an operations guy taking over Apple does seem a stretch at first. But recall he's served as interim CEO a few times now over the last few years. For all intents and purposes, he has been the No. 2 guy at Apple for years now. And Steve Jobs tapped him, right? If he marches with Jobs -- in terms of aesthetic, value, innovation, signature style Apple touches -- certainly that should satisfy the fanbase. But here's the truth. We don't know. I don't know. I've read 100 pages of public documents on him. I could tell you his net worth probably down to the dollar and what dorm he lived in at Auburn, but I don't know him. Jobs chose an insider to follow him. And we're waiting for that insider to come forth. I know BYTE readers want to know all they can about the new Apple chief -- you don't want to wait until I nab the interview. So in brief, here are some things we are fairly certain about Tim Cooks going in. For one thing, we've met Steve Jobs and he is no Steve Jobs, to quote a senator. This isn't your master of ceremonies type CEO. He's all business. Don't expect him to assume rockstar proportions, as Jobs he has done in the video, below. <iframe width="450" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gh0VNUwhSLM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> That was Jobs. This is Cook. An interrogator. A collector of data. A fierce negotiator. Jobs sent him out in 1998 to downward-negotiate all the parts vendors. Those who know him describe his gaze as seering. In stark contrast to Jobs, Cook never raises his voice. Cook came along at just the right time. Jobs on his return to Apple needed someone to trim inventory fat -- and 12-year IBM veteran Cook trimmed and then slashed some, too. The mission was to dump all flailing inventory. Cook utterly impressed Jobs, Jobs has said in interviews. Cutting aggressive deals with Asian factories and mercilessly slashing Apple lines and inventory, the clean up worked. That set Apple up financially and steadied it -- giving Jobs the platform he needed to hit home runs with iTunes, the iPod, iPhone and iPad. Jobs for years has pointed to Cook as being his go-to guy, the main operations guy who keeps the works greased up. As COO, according to freely available government filing docs, Cook was the highest paid executive at Apple when he was promoted last week. All the documents I reviewed are publicly available. Cook, a true Southerner, says please and thank you. He is polite to the point of seeming distant, one Apple employee who works with him at Apple told BYTE. Maybe so, but he has no trouble talking on his feet. You get a real flavor for him in the video, below. <iframe width="450" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xEAXuHvzjao" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> But as Southerners like me know, you can hide a lot behind a smile and Southern charm. Ex-employees speaking on and off the record, say Cook is often aggressive, demanding and hard on his direct reports. Relentless was the adjective I heard most in my reporting. Jobs and Cook are by all accounts more alike than they appear. And they love their Dylan. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told me he and Jobs were huge Bob Dylan fans and that it bonded them. Cook is a fan, too. Here is talking about Bob Dylan at a 1984 Apple shareholders meeting. <iframe width="450" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iPYTTao8QI8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> So far, Cook is insisting to Apple that things will not change under his watch. After all he is still reporting to Apple Chair Steve Jobs -- a CEO reports to the Board, the Chairman of the Board, in particular. I agree with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak that Apple won't change much in the short to medium term no matter who is at the helm. Apple is a humming machine. Then again, there's always <a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-apple-ceo-tim-cook-im-thinking-printers,21207/">the printer business</a>. BYTE will sit down with Tim Cook, soon. Stay tuned. Below is the note Cook sent out to all employees at Apple. Nothing will change, he says. But isn't Apple all about change? Time will tell -- follow BYTE for our continuing coverage. From Tim Cook: <blockquote> Team: I am looking forward to the amazing opportunity of serving as CEO of the most innovative company in the world. Joining Apple was the best decision I’ve ever made and it’s been the privilege of a lifetime to work for Apple and Steve for over 13 years. I share Steve’s optimism for Apple’s bright future. Steve has been an incredible leader and mentor to me, as well as to the entire executive team and our amazing employees. We are really looking forward to Steve’s ongoing guidance and inspiration as our Chairman. I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change. I cherish and celebrate Apple's unique principles and values. Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that—it is in our DNA. We are going to continue to make the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do. I love Apple and I am looking forward to diving into my new role. All of the incredible support from the Board, the executive team and many of you has been inspiring. I am confident our best years lie ahead of us and that together we will continue to make Apple the magical place that it is. Tim</blockquote> I smell a disconnect. Or maybe it's just me. Change must continue at Apple for it to survive as we know it, anyway. Do you agree? Email me. Based in San Francisco, Gina Smith is editor in chief of BYTE. Email her at Gina@BYTE.com or follow her @ginasmith8882011-08-24T18:00:00ZSteve Jobs Resigns As Apple's CEO, Names COO Tim Cook His SuccessorApple CEO Steve Jobs resigns, Tim Cook COO takes his place.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231600122?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors Steve Jobs today resigned as CEO of Apple. Jobs will continue on a Chairman of the Board, Apple reps confirmed to BYTE. Jobs, 56, cofounded Apple in 1975 with childhood friend and then aspiring inventor, Steve Wozniak. Jobs left Apple in 1984 after profound disagreements with its directors. Apple cycled through a series of blue chip CEOs, but the company's fortunes declined to dangerously low levels over time. By the late 1990s, many onlookers expected Apple to sell itself or go out of business. But in 1997, encouraged by friend, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, Jobs returned to the company. Entering as a temporary CEO, he stayed in place -- and presided over one of the most extraordinary company turnarounds in business history. Apple reps shared this resignation letter from Jobs. He wrote: <blockquote> I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come. I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee. As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple. I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role. I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.</blockquote> Click below to watch Jobs' 2005 commencement speech at Stanford. <iframe width="450" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/D1R-jKKp3NA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> [Added 6:00 PM PT] Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak told BYTE the news made him happy for Jobs. "He really has had to sacrifice a lot to run Apple," Wozniak told me a few minutes after Jobs announced his departure today. " I mean, just your time, everybody wants you day and night, that's what I mean by sacrifices. It takes so much out of anyone to be under just contant pressure and demands like that. "Steve needs now to just have some 'Steve time,' Wozniak added. "He deserves it." Disclosure: This writer is co-author, with Wozniak, of the commercial book, iWoz: How I Invented the Personal Computer and Had Fun Along the Way</a> (W. W. Norton, 2007, Smith, G. & Wozniak, S.) In Wozniak's opinion, will Jobs' departure adversely affect Apple culture, its aesthetic or the intense customer loyalty it enjoys? Wozniak doesn't think so. "You've got to remember. He was surrounded by great, great people at Apple ... and those people are still there," Wozniak told me. "I don't think the core Apple culture will change because of (Jobs') leaving, not for a long time. Apple is set up. It just needs to stay financially responsible." Wozniak recalled one of Jobs' first moves on returning to Apple was to find all the product lines that were "junk" lines -- leading to unsellable waste Apple had to pay for and destroy. Jobs got rid of them all, Wozniak said. Wozniak said he was proud of Jobs for turning Apple around -- and for expertly delivering huge success with iTunes, and the iPod, iPhone and iPad music players, smartphones and tablets. Speaking on behalf of the Cupertino company's Board of Directors, Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech and Apple board member in a statement said, "Steve has made countless contributions to Apple's success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple's immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration." <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/StockPhoto/Steve_Jobs-Steve_Woz.png"> Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak at a 2005 Macworld event. Photo courtesy: Alan Luckow "The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO," said Levinson. "Tim's 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does." Cook, a native of Alabama, is a veteran of IBM and Compaq. He has served as interim CEO during at least three medical leaves Jobs took at Apple. Here's Cook delivering the commencement address at Auburn University, where he received his BA in 1982. He won his MBA at Duke University. CNN Money profiled Cook as the "genius behind Steve"<a href="http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/09/technology/cook_apple.fortune/index.htm"> in this piece.</a> Oft described as a conservative, well-mannered Southerner, Cook shows his roots in the video below, where he addresses Auburn's graduating class of 2010. <iframe width="450" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xEAXuHvzjao" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Return to BYTE and refresh this story as our staffers add commentary and perspective. Here is Steve Jobs on why "we just can't ship junk. There are thresholds we can't cross because of who we are." I love this video. <iframe width="450" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/upzKj-1HaKw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Steve Job jokes with Bill Gates. He is riffing off former Apple CEO Gill Amelio's comments in a 1996 interview with me. <iframe width="450" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Qv1pvRDFFqs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak with US President Ronald Reagan and officials in 1985. Mr. Reagan awarded Apple's two Steves the prestigious US Technology Medal. <img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/byte/StockPhoto/IMG00693-20110824-1840.jpg"> Photograph courtesy: The White House Gina Smith is editor-in-chief at BYTE. Follow her @ginasmith888 or email her at Gina@BYTE.com. BYTE senior editor David Street, editor Serdar Yegulalp and exec ed Brian Burgess contributed to this piece.2011-08-23T23:00:00ZNew Facebook Privacy Controls, Sprint for iPhone 5, Sony NEX-5N and RIM's Curves: BYTE Newsbriefs In the news today, Facebook announced new privacy controls and the WSJ reports Sprint will work with iPhone 5, due in October.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231600005?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors In a move affecting its wide membership, Facebook today announced new privacy controls. At first glance, the privacy policy at Facebook is at least headed in the right direction. Facebook folk will see the changes later this week, according Chris Cox, vice-president of product at Facebook, in a <a href="https://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=10150251867797131">Facebook post</a>. "Today we're announcing a bunch of improvements that make it easier to share posts, photos, tags and other content with exactly the people you want. You have told us that "who can see this?" could be clearer across Facebook," Cox wrote, "so we have made changes to make this more visual and straightforward." <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/news/fbprivacy/chriscox.png"> "The main change is moving most of your controls from a settings page to being inline, right next to the posts, photos and tags they affect," Cox said. "Plus there are several other updates here that will make it easier to understand who can see your stuff ... in any context. Here's what's coming up, organized around two areas: what shows up on your profile, and what happens when you share something new. My colleague, Robert Strohmeyer at The Brainyard, summed up the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/news/social_networking_consumer/231500597/5-key-facts-on-facebook-privacy-revamp">top privacy changes you should know about</a>. Major changes include the ability to block tagging and posting of photos of members on their Facebook Wall, changeable privacy settings for photos and posts and the elimination of the hard-to-find privacy settings page Facebook members use now. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/news/fbprivacy/fbprivacy2.png"> Facebook execs said the new privacy controls aren't in response to privacy techniques in Google+, a competing system that offers markedly similar controls to those Facebook announced today. Certainly improved privacy settings in Facebook will appeal to its business users. Whether these changes will satisfy privacy watchdogs in Europe and the US is another matter. In early June, EU privacy advocates opened an investigation into Facebook and its use of facial recognition to automate photo tagging. Two days later, a US privacy consortium led by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC) filed a formal request for investigation with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Find the entire complaint <a href="https://epic.org/privacy/facebook/EPIC_FB_FR_FTC_Complaint_06_10_11.pdf">here</a>. Out of its seven complaints against Facebook, EPIC outlined seven allegations that amount to In February, EPIC filed an FTC complaint against Google and its Google Buzz network for allegedly violating user privacy and federal wiretap laws. At press time, Facebook and Google were unavailable for comment. Also in the news and around the web today, The Wall Street Journal reported <a href=:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903327904576526690675657466.html">Sprint will join Verizon and AT&T</a> as carriers for Apple's upcoming iPhone 5. In other smartphone news, <a href="http://us.blackberry.com/">Research in Motion (RIM)</a> announced its new BlackBerry Curve models 9350, 9360 and 9370 will be available next month, with a global rollout to follow. Each supports NFC and sports an 800MHz processor and a 5-megapixel camera, reps said. Pricing is as yet unavailable. Watch BYTE and listen to <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/byte-wireless-radio/id442124104">BYTE Wireless Radio</a> for in-depth coverage on these and other developing stories. Based in San Francisco, CA, Gina Smith is editor-in-chief at BYTE. Follow her @ginasmith888 or email her at Gina@BYTE.com.2011-08-22T23:00:00ZWebOS and HP TouchPad Find Suitors, Skype Buys GroupMe and Linux is 20: BYTE BriefsBYTE news today includes Skype buying GroupMe, Android developers eyeing HPTouchPad, Microsoft woos webOS developers and a happy birthday to Linux.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231500472?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors Within hours of Hewlett-Packard's massacre of its webOS-based HP TouchPad tablet and smartphones Pre and Veer, webOS and the HP TouchPad weren't as orphaned as they seemed. As bloggers issued weepy obituaries for the once high-flying OS, Microsoft Windows Phone exec Brandon Watson wasted no time. He quickly tweeted this: <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/news/August_2011/mstweet.png"> Did they bite? You bet. Many webOS developers have told me they've been miserable since HP bought Palm's web-OS based systems and patents for 1.2B last year. At first fearful HP wasn't innovative enough to adequately support the Palm Pre or webOS, they later said the HPTouchPad wasn't an ideal platform, either. Watson and his Windows Phone group have scored hundreds of quality developer contacts, some of whom might fit right into the Windows Phone team, confirmed Microsoft rep Pam Edstrom. "It's all true." The truth got stranger today when another rescue group appeared in the news -- this time in the form of an Android developer team called Rootzwiki. On its site, the group announced it had begun Project Touchdroid, an effort to port Android versions 2.3 (Gingerbread) and higher to the newly abandoned tablet. <img src=http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/StockPhoto/google_gs/452bots.png> See <a href="http://rootzwiki.com/showthread.php?t=3327"> its website</a> for more details on how the group intends to pull this off. On the site, one developer writes: <blockquote>"First (we're) going to build with Gingerbread and be (Android Open Source Project) based. After we are able to successfully boot Android, we are going to move to a (CyanogenMod 7 for Android ROM) base. Once we reach what we deem a stable beta, we will continue to provide bug fixes for (the) Gingerbread build, but also begin working on a full Honeycomb port. If (Android 4.0 or ice cream sandwich) is released before or during our development of the Honeycomb port, we will stop and begin work on ICS.</blockquote> In non tablet-related news today, Skype announced it's buying GroupMe, a group-texting app for the iPhone, Windows Phone 7, RIM BlackBerry and Android. This brings private chatroom capabilities over SMS to Skype and eventually Windows Phone 7, but only after or if Microsoft's $8.5B acquisition of Skype goes through. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/news/August_2011/groupme.png"> In all likelihood, Windows Phone 7 needs some defining characteristics. How might Groupme work with Skype and Windows Phone 7? For one thing, you might be able to launch a group instance of Skype from within a mobile or desktop MS Office doc. Skype officials will integrate GroupMe into Skype, which would automatically get the startup more than 175 million sets of Skype user eyeballs. Also, this coming Friday is the 20th anniversary of Linux, brought to you by then 21-year-old Linus Torvalds of Helsinki, Finland. Developed first as a terminal emulator, Torvalds announced his open platform on a Usenet group on August 25, 1991. Microsoft has long been at odds with Linux, but came around late last week with this birthday greeting for Linus and Linux on YouTube. <iframe width="450" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZA2kqAIOoZM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Happy Birthday, Linux!2011-08-21T21:15:00ZHP TouchPad Firesale Spreads, HP WebOS Patents Hang in the Balancepalm, webOS, HP, TouchPad, firesale, fire sale, $99 TouchPad, Best Buy, AT&T pricing, new Bold touchscreen phone, Android virushttp://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231500424?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors The global firesale of Hewlett-Packard's just-killed HP TouchPad continues in full force. Even retailer Best Buy, which forcefully asked HP to relieve it of dead stock just a few days ago, started selling HP TouchPads at rock-bottom prices on Sunday. In doing so, Best Buy joins dozens of retailers and sites that early Saturday began selling HP TouchPads at $99 and $149 for its 16GB and 32GB versions, respectively, touching off a weekend tablet-buying frenzy. Best Buy is charging $100 and up for the devices, limiting customers to one Wifi-only TouchPad per person and says it isn't offering refunds or accepting returns. It's tough love but a great bargain for people who just want a dirt-cheap tablet to play with -- and one that's based on webOS. Support for the now-discontinued HP TouchPad will continue via HP's one-year warranty plan. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/StockPhoto/touchpad.jpg"> I'm watching to see what prices HP's Palm Pre and Veer phones will go for in future firesales. And I wonder what services, if any, will support them. I'd love to see someone purchase these phones and, with webOS, turn this whole mess into a thriving, open platform ecosystem that will draw developers. A lot of folks still love webOS, which HP inherited when it bought Palm last year for $1.2B. Speaking of webOS, HP holds an extensive 2,000-plus patent portfolio it might easily sell or license. Filed over the years by such webOS pioneering inventors as Shervin Pishevar, many of these patents appear deep and broad on BYTE's initial investigation. One filed by Pishevar and partners, held now by HP, for example covers mobile web operating systems' ability to work with servers in a client/server distributed computing relationship. Watch BYTE for perspective from IP experts as more details emerge. Here's our interview with IP specialist Florian Mueller on the latest episode of BYTE Wireless Radio, our short-format podcast that digs deep into weekly news. Fritz Nelson, Craig Johnston and I host. <script type="text/javascript" src="http://player.wizzard.tv/player/o/j/x/131384250556/config/k-f86f7b00a54c8ac4/uuid/root.m4v/height/325/width/325"></script> Patent wars are bad news for customers -- legal fees get passed along to buyers, plus legal issues delay innovation and might even kill certain platform designs entirely. Just check out the image below. That's how bad the patent wars have become. Maybe the webOS patent portfolio, if purchased by a big player, could force a stalemate and stop the madness. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/news/August_2011/patentsuits.png">Source: Reuters An aside: Robert Scoble on Sunday did the math and figures HP could recoup its Palm acquisition costs with just the <a href="http://scobleizer.com/2011/08/21/hps-2000-webos-patents-and-how-they-could-reshape-everything">sale of its webOS patents alone</a>. I agree. Watch BYTE this week for our analysis on what HP is holding and how the patents, if purchased, should play into your product buying decisions in the weeks and months to come. Also in today's news, AT&T's new mobile texting plan is officially in effect. Unless you're grandfathered in -- meaning you signed up for the old, $10 per 1,000 deal before today -- you now have two choices: pay 20 cents per text or $20 per 1,000 texts. Android malware continues to make news around the Web. As we reported, a recent <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/commentary/personal-tech/smart-phones/231500417">customer survey from Retrevo</a> shows Android users aren't prepared. Compared to other mobile users, they don't sufficiently protect their Android smartphones and tablets, the survey shows. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/technologists_screens/burgess/452prev.png"> That's alarming considering the spread of Android malware like GingerMaster, which apparently uses the root exploit for Android's Gingerbread OS powering many an Android-based phone. The malware lets attackers take control of your phone. Brian Burgess has more on this. Speaking of smarphones, RIM began shipping various new smartphones this weekend. There's an upgrade to the popular BlackBerry Torch 9800, the Torch 9810. It costs $50 with a new two-year AT&T contract, AT&T officials said. The phone is running the latest BlackBerry OS release, OS 7. Finally, have you noticed the Google+ hangouts option on YouTube yet? Google now has officially rolled that out, as promised by Google-owned YouTube a few weeks ago. There's now an icon under most YouTube videos inviting you to start a Google+ streaming Hangout to share with friends. Google+ YouTube video sharing is bound to be a big differentiator for the social network, and it's just the beginning. Live video event-sharing via hangouts is the direction Google + execs say they're heading. That plays just as well for members wanting to watch a live concert or family wedding with select Google+ members as it does for Google+ for Business. If Google implements this securely and to standards, imagine the implications. For sure, Google + continues to polish up the business version of its service in coming weeks and months. Regarding the new YouTube video Google+ Hangout feature, Google's Brian Glick posted this on his Google+ page a few days ago. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/news/August_2011/brianglick.png"> Have a great week! Email me at Gina@BYTE.com if you have breaking news stories or insider tips. Based in San Francisco, Gina Smith is the editor-in-chief of BYTE. Follow her at @ginasmith888. 2011-08-21T00:50:00ZCheap $99 HP TouchPads Sell Out, Apple iOS 5, iPad 3 and Hertzfeld on Google+ BYTE NewsbriefsWe have news on Apple, Google, Amazon and lots on new iPad developments this weekend, including HP firesale pricing and sell out of its HP TouchPad.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231500421?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors In BYTE news now, Hewlett-Packard tops our coverage by selling out its now-dead HP TouchPad tablet at firesale prices. This just two days after it killed the embryonic tablet and its webOS based Pre and Veer phones. Those $99 and $149 prices (for the 16GB and the 32GB versions, respectively) suddenly make the webOS based TouchPad look like a pretty neat deal. This weekend, the blogosphere is filled with folks who all of a sudden want one. If you're one, don't procrastinate. I checked. Looks to me like these are going fast. At normal-pricing, HP couldn't make a dent into Apple iPad's marketshare. And it had some serious ad muscle behind it. But who can stop a speeding train? Analysts I interviewed all agreed that of all possible competitors now and in the future, only <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/commentary/231400023"> Amazon's upcoming tablets, priced as loss-leaders, will have a fighting chance against the iPad</a>. We'll see. Apple reports it sold almost 10,000 iPads last quarter. Catching up looks like a pipedream now, but tech morphs. BYTE is keeping close tabs on Amazon's plans for its so-called Hollywood tablet, based on Android 3.1, featuring a dual screen for reading and touch color use, and a quad-core nVidia Tegra3 processor powering it all. That tablet will stream movies. Yet an army of iPads looks at the ready. Reports of a new iPad 3 surfaced in the Wall Street Journal today. The unit, its sources say, would feature an improved 2048x1536 display -- a nice improvement over the iPad 2's current 1024x868 display. Will this really be the full-fledged iPad 3? The WSJ suggests yes. I'm not so sure. I'm betting the unit the WSJ is reporting on is more than likely the rumored iPad Pro, which one tipster told BYTE will be basically an iPad2 with improved resolution and some IT bundles. It could arrive as soon as Q4. Makes sense to me. Apple realizes the profound effect the iPad is having on the enterprise. It knows that, over the long term, addressing enterprise with enterprise-ready tablets is a necessity. Consumer feeds enterprise, but enterprise feeds revenue. Who buys the hardware? Who influences those who buy the hardware? That's where Apple will reach, in my view. In other Apple news, developers playing with the new release of iOS 5 Beta 6 are supplying BYTE with lots of interesting initial impressions. Beta 6 is looking solid -- close to release. And from the looks of it, Apple is looking to phase out optical support for its various developer downloads. No big surprise there. We know Apple is backing away from optical drives over time -- starting with entry level systems. Also now new from Apple in preview mode to developers: Xcode 4.2 Preview 6, iTunes 10.5 Beta 6 and Apple TV Beta 4, iCloud for OS X Lion Beta 8, Safari 5.1.1 Update 2 for OS X Lion. This all comes on the heels of OS X 10.7.1, an upgrade available now for current Lion users, and the pre-release 10.7.2 Lion that developers now have in hand. We watch early software to let you know what to expect from these services. We watch the Google + Beta closely, too. This weekend, some new features could hit your account. The floating black Google+ toolbar is rolling out now. Check out Google's Andy Hertzfeld (the legendary Apple Mac UI innovator) talking about and demoing the floating Google bar. <iframe width="452" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AviQ05CwXZA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Also on Sunday, AT&T begins shipping the first devices for its 4G LTE network. The carrier's new products include the $120 Mobile Hotspot Elevate 4G, additional data fees apply. This coming week, we'll take a look at that in more detail. Have a great weekend. Based in San Francisco, Gina Smith is editor-in-chief of BYTE. Follow here on Twitter @ginasmith888 or email her at Gina@BYTE.com. BYTE technologists Brian Burgess, Eric Mack and David W. Martin contributed to this piece.2011-08-20T14:02:00ZHP TouchPad $99 and $149 Firesale Pricing EnticesHP is Killing off WebOS devices. Gina Smith, Fritz Nelson, and Craig Johnston discuss the news and $99 and $149 firesale TouchPad pricing in this weeks BYTE Wireless Radio.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231500419?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors Retailers on Saturday popped off the last HP TouchPads -- firesale prices now are $99 for the 16GB and $149 for the 32GB TouchPad. Online and at retail, customers are snapping up bargains on the tablet HP killed on Thursday. At least now we know what it takes for tablet to rip a little attention away from the iPad. However briefly. When will HP similarly slash prices for its Pre and Veer webOS smartphones? Hang on for that. Who knew firesales could be so fun? Killed on Thursday, HP's webOS-based HP TouchPad tablet and Pre and Veer smartphones are history. And HP's PC business is on the block. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/StockPhoto/crowd99touchpad.png"> That means webOS patents likely are, too. Together, it's a nice package for a potential buyer like Samsung, Google or even Apple -- watch BYTE in coming days for our look into the HP Web OS patent portfolio. We'll show you what HP's got. In the meantime, BYTE Radio has you covered. In the latest episode of BYTE Wireless Radio, hosts Fritz Nelson, Craig Johnston and Gina Smith look at the future for webOS, the TouchPad and HP in general. Episode 022: E tu, HP: HP kills off webOS based HP TouchPad tablet, Pre and Veer phones, plans to spin off PC division. Subscribe to BYTE Wireless Radio on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/byte-wireless-radio/id442124104">iTunes</a>. <script type="text/javascript" src="http://player.wizzard.tv/player/o/j/x/131384250556/config/k-f86f7b00a54c8ac4/uuid/root.m4v/height/325/width/450"></script> BYTE Wireless Radio is a weekly short-format tech analysis podcast covering all things mobile. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/StockPhoto/touchpad.jpg"> 2011-08-19T14:43:00ZHP Killing WebOS Devices -- BYTE Wireless Radio Episode 022BYTE Wireless Radiohttp://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231500590?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors In the latest episode of BYTE Wireless Radio, hosts Fritz Nelson, Craig Johnston and Gina Smith look at the future for webOS, the killed-off HP TouchPad and HP in general. Episode 022: E tu, HP: HP kills off webOS based HP TouchPad tablet, Pre and Veer phones, plans to spin off PC division. Subscribe to BYTE Wireless Radio on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/byte-wireless-radio/id442124104">iTunes</a>. <object height="270" width="480"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="movie" value="http://player.wizzard.tv/player/o/i/x/131740960111/config/k-f86f7b00a54c8ac4/uuid/null/episode/k-0075df2dc564d976"/><embed src="http://player.wizzard.tv/player/o/i/x/131740960111/config/k-f86f7b00a54c8ac4/uuid/null/episode/k-0075df2dc564d976" name="movie" menu="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" AllowScriptAccess="always" AllowFullScreen="true" width="480" height="270"/></object> 2011-08-18T15:18:00ZHP Kills TouchPad, AT&T Hikes Fees and Brainy IBM Chips: BYTE Newsbriefsnews hp ibm apple samsunghttp://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231500307?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors In a sharp tactical reversal, Hewlett-Packard today killed its WebOS-based HP TouchPad tablet and smartphones. Earlier this year, HP unveiled its Palm-designed WebOS family of phones, tablets and PCs with great fanfare. Find coverage <a href=" http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/info_management/231500295">here</a>. The HP TouchPad, released in June, was yet another competitor struggling in vain against the Apple iPad. Recently, HP slashed prices on the tablet. And another one bites the dust. <iframe width="452" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2aPog4WOfgw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> In a preliminary financial report today, HP said growth is slow at just 1 percent. Today HP said it is renewing focus on business tools and cloud services. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/StockPhoto/touchpad.jpg"> Also in today’s news, Apple went after Samsung. In the Netherlands, Apple legal reps demanded Samsung immediately cease sale of Samsung Galaxy Tab products in Europe. We talk about this in depth on today’s episode of BYTE Wireless Radio with BYTE’s Craig Johnston, Fritz Nelson and me. And … bad news for heavy AT&T texters today. AT&T issued a statement saying it’s getting rid of its lowest cost texting plan of $10 a month for 1,000 text messages. On Sunday, a new plan doubles the cost. The deal now will be $20 a month for 1,000 texts. Or opt to pay per message – to the tune of 20 cents a pop. Read the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/business/231500304">full story here</a>. Watch <a href="http://www.byte.com" target="_blank">BYTE</a> for Windows 8 coverage as we prepare to attend Microsoft’s BUILD developer conference next month in Southern California. Here’s a nice <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/231500265">Windows 8 piece</a>. Did you catch IBM's announcement of new chips today? My colleagues at InformationWeek report how these chips use neural synaptic-like <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/processors/231500276">technology</a>. BYTE's Mike Rothman is keeping tabs on Evernote. The firm today announced its acquisition of Skitch, the popular iOS graphic enhancing tool. With Skitch, Rothman reports, users can add arrows, annotations, text and graphics to photos using a touch interface. The app cost $19.99 but, with the acquisition, Skitch now is free from Evernote. It'll be out on Android soon, reps added. Have a great day! Based in San Francisco, BYTE senior editor Mike Rothman contributed to this story.2011-08-17T17:30:00ZmDisc Review: A Thousand Years of StorageMilleniata, LG and Hitachi launch consumer-priced DVDs with a stone substrate -- allowing data on discs to last decades longer. Write-once Read-only. Hitachi and LG supply affordable burners.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231500076?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors Diamonds are forever. DVDs die. Call it data rot. DVDs last 10 years at the outside. Enterprise knows and has to regularly back up its DVD archives. Home users often discover that too late -- when an old stored DVD no longer runs a favorite song or photo collection. DVDs truly are rotten long-term storage media. They're fragile. Heat, light and humidity degrade discs and data over time. Enter Millenniata. Its new mDisc technology is impressive. At 4.77GB, mDiscs look and act like regular write-once read-many optical discs. But a new data layer keeps disc data safe for generations -- for as long as 1,000 years, execs claimed. Millenniata CEO Scott Shumway explains. <object id="flashObj" width="420" height="236" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="@videoPlayer=1111848488001&playerID=991561270001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXneipa9bRIkZsgcIk-7WR-zx_&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="@videoPlayer=1111848488001&playerID=991561270001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXneipa9bRIkZsgcIk-7WR-zx_&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="420" height="236" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object> Backwards-compatible with current DVD readers, mDiscs use inorganic (read: rocks and minerals) composite at the DVD data layer.This replaces the organic (polycarbonate) die substrate where standard DVDs store digital material. Organic materials, like all things living, are at the mercy of the elements. Extreme temperatures, moisture and light degrade the average DVD's polycarbonate data layer quickly. Soon, the laser heds can't read data pits at all. Millenniata's rock-like composite allows for more durable and long-lasting laser etching of data on disc. A hotter laser is required -- all mDiscs need a proprietary mWrite drive for recording. Its partners Hitachi-LG Data Storage are already taking orders for such drives, consumer-priced at under $200 and targeting fall release. Discs cost $2.99 each and $26.99 for a 12-pack. Check out how mDiscs and standard DVDs compare at the data layer and see laser specs below. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/reviews/MDisc/MDisc-illo.gif"> Illustration: Tim Downs This Millenniata-produced video shows how the mDisc lasers and composite material work together. <iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GBRsCj6Zwd0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> The opportunity for super long term archival disc storage is huge -- just in governments, hospitals and the military alone. Millenniata commissioned the Navy to stress-test its mDisc technology. The Navy complied. The US Department of Defense Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) in China Lake, CA put the mDisc up against six leading archival DVD makers in three series of demanding stress tests. Some 125 DVDs from makers Mitsubishi, Verbatim, Taiyo Yuden, Delkin, MAM-A and Millenniata faced extreme light, temperatures and moisture in a battery of tests -- check out the UV testing racks and balast boxes. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/reviews/MDisc/discexposurerack.png"> Courtesy: US Department of Defense Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/reviews/MDisc/ballastbox.png"> Courtesy: US Department of Defense Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division. According to the NAVAIR report, of all discs tested, only the mDiscs survived. "Every other brand tested showed increases in data errors after the stress period. many of the discs were so damaged they could not be recognized as DVDs by the disc analyzer," the reports said. Not a single mDisc in the study suffered any data degration at all. The bargraph below shows the comparative number of dead discs from each manufacture after stress testing. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/reviews/MDisc/results.png">US Department of Defense Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division Report: Number of Discs Dead after Stress Cycle This tech bears long-term examination. I dug through Millenniata's patent filings -- claims on metallic and rock nanosubstrate mixes, UV protection and laser read methodology abound. The patents cover a variety of possible recipes for composite inorganic material -- for the metal and metal oxide layer comprising its dark metal layer structure and more. Millenniata cofounders and inventors Barry Lunt and Matt Linford filed most of these now issued patents -- they also are professors and researchers at Brigham Young University. Execs said the exact materials comprising its composite are trade secret, but patent docs show a range of elements potentially mixed to create the rocky substrate, predominantly Chromium and Chromium oxide. Nanoparticles of gold, chromium, lead, magnesium are other potential materials for possible substrate mixes. In these patents, the inventors are covering a range of inventions around using inorganic and metallic materials for optic use. They point to an industrial, light-absorbent technology I refer to above -- called dark layering metal technology -- this constitutes the dark layer into which the laser etches the data. This enables high contrast for data reading. In use now in some LCD units and often thermal solar collectors, common dark layering mixes rely on chromium and chromium oxide, among many other nanoparticles. Applying dark layering in combination with the inorganic data layer composite for optical storage appears novel and I reviewed several issued patents. As he notes in his video below, high contrast is key to mDisc design.Keep an eye on BYTE for more on this new technology. Inventor Lunt describes his inspiration for the technology -- high contrast petroglyphs in the mountains of Utah. See what dark technology and ancient petroglyphs have in common, below. <iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eFHYsGUf1Aw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> I'll be reviewing mDisc technology -- using the Hitachi/LG burner and some discs Milleniata provided -- over the next few weeks. So far, I've found mDiscs work in every DVD reader I've tried. And the write process -- expectedly slow for long-term storage data burnings -- is so far uneventful. At this point, the extra price and nominal cost of a burner seem a great trade-off for practically permanent storage. The cloud is fine for routine storage, but over the long term, many businesses and users will continue to seek physical archives for important data. For such use cases, this technology looks especially promising. Governments and large organizations with digital libraries, such as the LDS Church, are already examining mDisc for archival reasons and it's easy to see why. According to execs and publicly available patent filings, mDisc technology in the future will evolve toward the 25GB Blu-ray standard and beyond, to wider-diamater discs of 200GB or more. Larger and hardier mDiscs are most certainly on the horizon. Based in San Francisco, Gina Smith is Chief Editor at BYTE. Follow her @ginasmith888 and email her at Gina@BYTE.com.2011-08-12T10:00:00ZBYTE Wireless Radio: Talking Hollywood Tablet on Episode 021BWR digs deep into confirmed reports of upcoming Amazon color tablets -- and one has a dual-glass screen.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231400116?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_AuthorsThis week, hosts Craig Johnston, Fritz Nelson and I talk pretty deeply about Windows Phone 7 and how it weighs in. And we dig deeply into confirmed reports of two new Amazon color tablets, code-named Coyote and Hollywood, due this year. How will the higher-end quad-core Tegra3-based "Hollywood" streaming movie system work? How does Cloud Drive play in? What does it mean for enterprise? Tune in and hear our analysis. <center> <object height="270" width="480"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="movie" value="http://player.wizzard.tv/player/o/i/x/131317463209/config/k-f86f7b00a54c8ac4/uuid/null/episode/k-ffcfa928feb41eb5"/><embed src="http://player.wizzard.tv/player/o/i/x/131317463209/config/k-f86f7b00a54c8ac4/uuid/null/episode/k-ffcfa928feb41eb5" name="movie" menu="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" AllowScriptAccess="always" AllowFullScreen="true" width="480" height="270"/></object> </center> You can also subscribe to BYTE Wireless Radio via <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/byte-wireless-radio/id442124104">iTunes</a>. 2011-08-12T01:53:00ZThe IBM Personal Computer Turns 30BYTE recognizes the 30-year anniversary of the IBM PC and pays tribute to the small team of engineers who gave birth to an industry that continues to this day.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231002983?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors Thirty years ago -- on August 12, 1981 -- IBM released its first PC -- the IBM Personal Computer Model 5150. It was a $1,265 beige box without a monitor, serial or parallel ports or even a hard disk. The IBM PC arrived years after revolutionary microcomputers like the Apple II (1977), the Commodore Pet (1977) or the Atari 800 (1979) hit hobbyists and small business. Despite the great leaps before it, no one can deny the IBM PC changed everything. Created by a 12-engineer team in Boca Raton, FL – and developed under the radar of a then-crippling IBM bureaucracy -- IBM’s original PC Model 5150 was a top-secret rush project code-named “Project Chess.” IBM conceived it, IBM PC original team member Dave Bradley told me, in response to growing business use of the Apple II and other systems. See <a href=" http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/pc/byteoc81.pdf">BYTE's first review, by Phil Lemmons, of the original PC in the BYTE Oct. 1981 issue right here</a>. Also find here links around BYTE to our coverage on the PC and its anniversary. I'm updating it up here thoughout the day. Click here for technologist <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/commentary/personal-tech/desktop-pc/231400166">Todd Townsend's commentary on the PC anniversary </a> and how well it's aged in our post PC era we're entering now. Click here for another original IBM engineer's take on today's world. Mark Dean, now an IBM CTO in Dubai, says it's a post-PC era. <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/personal-tech/tablets/231400171">He says even he uses a tablet as his primary device these days </a>. Now IBM never envisioned its explosive success, nor the resulting aftershock of PC-compatible hardware and software that followed. The heavy marketing featuring a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LR1Xvvch18">Charlie Chaplin campaign</a> certainly helped as IBM entered the AT era. But it was the PC's open architecture and use of third-party hardware and software enabled an industry of PC hardware and software makers to grow up around it. <iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1LR1Xvvch18" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> The original PC was a truly open system. It sported a 4.77MHz Intel 8088 processor, up to 256K RAM and an open 8-bit ISA-slot architecture for expansion. Reverse engineering from BIOS makers spawned an entire industry of PC-compatible systems, which quickly dominated the market and even outstripped IBM’s marketshare by the late 1980s. IBM eventually sold off its PC division to Lenovo. <object id="flashObj" width="420" height="236" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="@videoPlayer=1088696595001&playerID=991561270001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXneipa9bRIkZsgcIk-7WR-zx_&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="@videoPlayer=1088696595001&playerID=991561270001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXneipa9bRIkZsgcIk-7WR-zx_&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="420" height="236" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object> <a href="http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2011/08/ibm-leads-the-way-in-the-post-pc-era.html">In this blog post</a> IBM Middle East CTO Mark Dean reflects on why selling off IBM's business was so prescient -- and why he believes the PC will soon go the way of vinyl. Dean, another member of the original IBM PC design team, says he uses a tablet now as his main system. None of this would be possible without the explosion of the computer industry from the late 1970s and leading up to the 1981 release of the IBM PC. It's fascinating to trace how and why the IBM PC and the industry it created exploded with such ferocity. According to Bradley, a key element was that the Project Chess team was agile, small and able to do what no other IBMers could: Forget IBM signoff policies and use third-party components and software as it needed. Those included Intel’s 8088 CPU – and a version of Seattle Computer Products’ Quick and Dirty Operating System (QDOS), which Microsoft licensed, eventually purchased and relicensed to the IBM team as PC-DOS. IBM allowed software developers to write applications for PC-DOS and, before long, a rash of business applications from word-processors to spreadsheets was available to PC users. A business standard was born.. Here's a user disassembling it, so you can see what's inside. <iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3Kl4zqhZFZM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Love them or hate them, the Wintel combo still dominates today. Even Apple’s Macs include Intel-made CPUs and they support and run Microsoft Windows (albeit in virtual machines). Bradley told me the project was “a dream come true” for an IBM engineer constrained by the corporation. The PC development project was prescient in terms of the consumerization of IT. Like with the consumerization of IT, PCs in business were really an outgrowth of a consumer hobbyist movement in the 1970s. Also similar to the consumerization of IT where employees are making IT decisions, sometimes without regards for policy or existing systems, the Project Chess team at IBM Entry Systems Division in Boca was able to move rapidly and without legacy constraints. Bradley, by the way, is the guy responsible for the three-fingered salute: the [CTRL][ALT][DEL] key combo, which he developed so engineers could easily reboot the PC. “I may have invented it, but I think Bill (Gates) made it famous,” he joked to Bill Gates at a computer event. Note Gates’ expression in <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zADyh0JQh8”>the video</a>. It’s priceless. <object id="flashObj" width="420" height="236" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="@videoPlayer=1088714459001&playerID=991561270001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXneipa9bRIkZsgcIk-7WR-zx_&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="@videoPlayer=1088714459001&playerID=991561270001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXneipa9bRIkZsgcIk-7WR-zx_&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="420" height="236" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object> Today, BYTE covers consumer tech in business and watches closely as the Apple iPad and other non-Wintel devices revolutionize tech use. But today, as we approach the official IBM PC’s 30th Anniversary on August 12, we do so with a nod to the groundbreaking work of Estridge, Bradley and the rest of the Project Chess team that brought us the first open PC. Without it, widespread consumer use of personal technology in business just would not be possible. Dave Bradley, by the way, now spends a lot of time giving great speeches and presentations summing of the evolution of technology, from the Altair on up to the future. Worth a watch. Thanks for this, Dave! <object id="flashObj" width="420" height="236" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.ca b#version=9,0,47,0"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="@videoPlayer=1105506221001&playerID=991561270001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAA F14eAc~,GZC-YoxXneipa9bRIkZsgcIk-7WR-zx_&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="@videoPlayer=1105506221001&playerID=991561270001&playerKey=AQ~~,A AAAAF14eAc~,GZC-YoxXneipa9bRIkZsgcIk-7WR-zx_&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=t rue" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="420" height="236" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_ Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object> Additional Coverage BYTE Technologist Dino Londis shares how the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/commentary/personal-tech/science-tech/231300419">PC Made Him Do IT</a>. David Bradley shares this almost-unkown tip on <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/byte/tips/personal-tech/desktop-os/231400193">using [Shift] To Disable NumLock During Data Entry</a>. ED: BYTE doesn't typically publish poetry. But our resident poet, senior editor Don Rose, submitted this. We'll let it close BYTE's 30th original IBM PC anniversary coverage in August 2011. It's been fun! Happy anniversary, IBM. And thanks for bringing us the word -- BYTE. I bet most people don't know IBM came up with that word, BYTE, to signify a group of 8 digital bits. We wouldn't have a great name without you! gs <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/StockPhoto/ginaphotos/flowers2.png">Photo Courtesy: Gina Smith <blockquote> <center>Ode to the IBM PC</center> <center>by</center> <center>Don Rose</center> <center>It came from 12 guys at ibm this PC with a floppy and crt and an os named dos from a company run by this kid bill g. the first killer app was visiCalc that spreadsheet blew the mind update and crunch in real time PC patterns mortal minds could never find. time man of the year? that was you, PC some said only humans should get that award cynics called it a joke. sure there were times I hated PC wanted to toss it right out on the street to scream till I was blue as the blue screen of death there's always control alt delete. so here's to you you're still lookin good you thrived you survived even ms bob you came in nineteen eighty one when all computers weighed a ton you came and look you still run some things don't die PC we do not have to weep see I know what you stand for and that is Pretty Cheap. </blockquote> Don Rose, based in LA, a senior editor at BYTE. Email him at Don.Rose@BYTE.com. Gina Smith is editor-in-chief of BYTE. Follow her on Twitter at @ginasmith888 or on Google+ as Gina+ Email her at <a href="mailto:Gina@BYTE.com">Gina@BYTE.com</a>. 2011-08-11T17:12:00ZHappy Birthday, Steve Wozniak!Happy Birthday Steve Wozniak Apple I Apple IIhttp://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231400091?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors On behalf of BYTE, Happy Birthday, Steve Wozniak! Steve turns 61 August 11. Hope you have a great onel, Uncle Steve. It's hard to imagine a personal computer industry without Steve Wozniak as its first true game-changing inventor. As original co-founder with Steve Jobs of Apple, Wozniak single-handledly invented the Apple I and Apple II. Those clean, elegant and ingenious designs inspired generations of engineers to come. (If you've one, leave a message for him below. I know he'd love to hear from you). Steve is great. Brilliant, but not presumptious. A funny, nicer, more honest and humble guy you will never find. On that note, thanks for everything and, again, happy 61st birthday, from BYTE! BYTE Disclosure: The book I wrote with Steve Wozniak, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/iWoz-Computer-Invented-Personal-Co-Founded/dp/0393330435/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313091397&sr=8-1">iWoz</a> is available -- in stores and online. I do profit from sales.. Wow. Love this video. Listen to what legendary Apple Mac UI designer Andy Hertzfeld says about Woz in his intro recounting Steve Wozniak's s effect on Hertzfeld's design philosophy. <iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ctGch5ejjT4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Check out this 1984 video of Wozniak. It just captures him at a great time in Apple's history. <iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7RZrv55B6Js" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Steve's friend, Dan Sokol, took this next pic of Steve one day at a BBQ pit in Los Gatos, CA, during one of our countless, smoky interviews there. Thanks, Dan. Dan was a huge help on the book. And he provided lots of the old pics! <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/technologists_screens/gina_smith/woz2006.png"> Here's a pic of Steve and me, taken the year iWOZ came out and became a New York Times bestseller. You don't have to read it the book. But do say Happy Birthday, Steve. Enjoy your moments in the sun. You deserve them. Photocredit: Carter Dow. <img src="http://i.techweb.com/infoweek/byte/technologists_screens/gina_smith/woz3.png "> So few humans have contributed so much -- and are nice guys doing it : ) -- We love ya! Have a great one, Steve and family. Based in San Francisco, Gina Smith is editor-in-chief of BYTE. With Steve Wozniak, she cowrote the NYT best-seller iWOZ. Follow her @ginasmith888 or email her Gina@ BYTE.com 2011-08-10T19:01:00ZWill Amazon Color Tablets Target Apple This Year?Apple Vs. Amazon Round One. BYTE Wireless Radio takes a look.http://www.informationweek.com/byte/news/231400023?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_Authors Amazon is entering the tablet market -- starting the tablet wars for real later this year -- with at least two of a line of color tablets targeted directly at Apple’s iPad, several sources independently confirmed to BYTE this week. Amazon declined comment. The two tablets, 7.1 and 10.1 inches, are reportedly code-named Coyote and Hollywood. The smaller tablet will cost less than $250, sources close to the company said, and will have a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra2 processor inside. But it’s the higher-end tablet – originally planned for early 2012 but now purportedly pushed up for release this year -- that really is the attention-grabber. Several sources independently confirmed that the Hollywood tablet, to be priced under $400, will use NVIDIA's Tegra3 quadcore technology. It will be Android 3.1-based and feature glass-on-glass dual screen technology, they said. The 10.1 inch Hollywood tablet will allow users to switch between e-reading mode, which uses the e-ink technology popularized in Kindle e-readers now, and a back-lit color touch display. It will be optimized for video streaming, several sources added. The tablets all will of course inextricably link to Amazon’s abundant cloud services and purchasing mechanisms. Click below to hear about they might work and for more details. We talk all about it in this week's episode of BYTE Wireless Radio. <script type="text/javascript" src="http://player.wizzard.tv/player/o/j/x/131302321541/config/k-f86f7b00a54c8ac4/uuid/root.m4v/height/325/width/325"></script> “I believe Amazon will come out with one or more tablets by the end of the year and Amazon is particularly well positioned to challenge Apple,” said analyst Tom Mainelli, research director at IDC. Amazon’s long list of cloud-based services, the Kindle ebook store, the ability to stream and buy music and the ability to stream video (via Amazon Prime and deals with major movie makers) on a variety of devices make it a unique challenger for Apple. “Add to that its one-click purchase feature," Mainelli noted, "and you’ve got a ecosystem – anyone who’s ever bought anything from Amazon will easily buy things through these.” But how well will Amazon's new tablets work? They must operate seamlessly and easily with Amazon's various offerings. All the analysts I spoke to agreed it’s not just about specs. It's the experience. “It all comes down to user experience and media – will people even like the combination of a Kindle/color screen?” pondered Frank Gillett, VP and principal analyst at Forrester Research. “I find it interesting – this notion to use content to subsidize the price of the device. Only Amazon and Apple can afford that kind of a deal,” he added. “People are going to stop thinking about individual gadgets and more about relationships – Amazon is one of the strongest here – it can link services, content and hardware together, even take it all the way to contacts, calendar, email. It isn’t about the gadget anymore,” Gillett said, “it’s about the personal cloud service market.” If Amazon enters at a sub $399 price point, Gillett added, Forrester believes Amazon could ship between two and five million tablets in the fourth quarter of 2011 alone. So Amazon’s new tablets sound enticing. But how well will they play in the enterprise? The fact that millions of customers take or force their iPads into work isn’t lost on Apple. And it sure won’t be lost on Amazon, analysts told me. “I think any company that intends to make a serious play in media tablets must first win over consumers, but any company that expects long-term success has to pay attention to enterprise,” Mainelli said. “Consumers are bringing their media tablets into the enterprise, but these are such personal devices to them. Long term, a growing number of enterprises will look to offer tablets for business users ... even enterprise-specific tablets. Amazon won’t be able to ignore this market.” Nor can Apple, which one tipster told BYTE is also getting a new tablet ready – not the iPad 3, but a business-ready, higher-res iPad Pro by the holidays. Got any information on that? I’d love to hear from you. Email Gina@BYTE.com. Based in San Francisco, Gina Smith is the editor of BYTE. Follow her @ginasmith888.