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Microsoft on Monday launched an expanded push into technical computing that it says is needed to solve ever more complex scientific challenges.

“Recent world events clearly demonstrated our inability to process vast amounts of information and variables that would have helped to more accurately predict the behavior of global financial markets or the occurrence and impact of a volcano eruption in Iceland,” Bob Muglia, president of Microsoft’s Server and Tools unit, said in a statement.

The software maker said a new team will focus on a number of key technical computing challenges such as shifting high-end computing to the cloud, making it easier to write parallel code, and developing the new tools and software needed for data-intensive modeling tasks.
Beyond solving the world’s problems, the new unit is also trying to create a new market for Windows Azure–Microsoft’s operating system in the clouds.

“We really believe technical computing is going to be the killer app for the cloud,” Microsoft general manager Bill Hilf said in a telephone interview. Of the requisite high-end computers, Hilf said, “they gobble up compute power. They need huge amounts of data.”

The effort, which has been quietly coming together over the past 18 months, includes a team of about 500 dedicated staff along with several hundred more from other product teams at the company. The unit will be jointly run by two Microsoft general managers–Hilf and Kyril Faenov–and will be responsible for the high-performance computing version of Windows as well as the new efforts.

For several years now, Microsoft has had a cluster-computing version of Windows Server known these days as Windows HPC Server.

The deeper push into high-end computing was announced in a post on Microsoft’s Web site. One of the key efforts will be to develop new kinds of software for scientists, engineers and data analysts. “Our development efforts will yield new, easy-to-use tools and applications that automate data acquisition, modeling, simulation, visualization, workflow and collaboration,” Muglia said. “This will allow them to spend more time on their work and less time wrestling with complicated technology.”

Another key challenge across the computer industry, but particularly at the high end, has been shifting the way software is written so that tasks can be carried out in parallel by multiple PCs, servers, and processor cores simultaneously.

“Today, computers are shipping with more processing power than ever, including multiple cores, but most modern software only uses a small amount of the available processing power,” Muglia said. “Parallel programs are extremely difficult to write, test and trouble shoot.”

The new effort also aims to see how much high-end work can be shifted to cloud-based set-ups such as Windows Azure. “Existing high-performance computing users will benefit from the ability to augment their on-premises systems with cloud resources that enable ‘just-in-time’ processing,” Muglia said.

Over the last 18 months, the new technical computing unit has worked on both HPC server and adding parallel computing capabilities to Visual Studio. Going forward, the group is looking more broadly. In the coming fiscal year, Hilf said, the company will have demos and beta versions of products that allow developers to write models that can be run in various setups–on a desktop, on a cluster, or in the cloud.

Hilf said that Microsoft is looking at providing both developer tools as well as the broad, horizontal tools that scientists across industries will need.

“We won’t be, of course, doing vertical-specific software,” Hilf said, noting that Microsoft might do a version of Excel that works with Azure, or build an add-on or even an all new program, but it won’t be doing something as specific as, say, a program for the oil and gas industry. “The Schlumbergers of the world will continue to be great partners. Our role with them will be to provide a platform for them.”

he launch of Apple’s iPad brought concerns that the device might cannibalize sales of the Mac computer–but a look at the first month of the June quarter shows that it’s the iPod, not the Mac, that may be taking the iPad hit.

In the U.S., Mac sales for the month of April were up 39 percent, ahead of the 19 percent projection that Wall Street has estimated for the full quarter, according to newly released data from the NPD Group. At the same time, iPods were down 17 percent for the month, compared to April of last year. Wall Street is forecasting a 9 percent decline for the full quarter.

Like all parents, Microsoft likes to tout the accomplishments of its offspring. Any conversation about Hotmail is likely to start with the fact that, at least globally, the free Web mail service has more active accounts than any of its rivals.

Pressed, though, company officials also see Hotmail’s shortcomings. In recent years, rivals Google and Yahoo have been ahead of the game when it comes to adding things like conversation views, mobile synchronization and other features. And Yahoo has more U.S. accounts, while Google has been growing faster than Hotmail. Beyond any one feature, though, Hotmail has come to be perceived as a technology laggard, rather than a leader.
“We’re not where we want to be,” Microsoft Corporate Vice President Chris Jones said on Monday at a briefing in San Francisco.

In attempting to turn things around, Microsoft is falling back on an important parenting lesson–teaching its child to be better at sharing.

A key feature in the coming update to Windows Live Hotmail is an improved ability to share photos and Office documents using a combination of Web-based editing tools and cloud file storage. The new version, which will begin being offered to most users in July or August, aims to offer a better alternative to the standard attachment. Instead, Hotmail will offer the option of uploading a file or photo to Microsoft’s SkyDrive service and e-mailing a link, as opposed to the file itself. The approach has several advantages, including avoiding issues related to file size limits that often make it hard to share videos, presentations, or large collections of photos. Recipients can then either download the files, or, in the case of photos, view an online slideshow.

The new version also allows users to view photos or videos from third-party services, such as Flickr, SmugMug, Hulu, and YouTube, all without having to leave Hotmail. The revamped Hotmail also adds a new “sweep” option that lets users easily divert mail from a particular sender into either a new folder or into the trash.

“This update I think is the most significant one we’ve ever done,” Jones said. At a minimum, it’s at least the biggest move for Microsoft since it completely revamped Hotmail four years ago.

On the mobile side, Microsoft will start using Exchange ActiveSync to allow Windows Live e-mail, calendar, and contacts to be pushed onto cell phones. To use both Hotmail and a corporate Exchange account, users will need a phone that supports dual ActiveSync connections. Today, the Palm Pre is one of the few devices that does so, but Jones said that Windows Phone 7 supports the feature, as does iPhone OS 4.

Microsoft general manager Brian Hall had suggested that many of these features are coming in a recent CNET interview.

In addition to letting users create their own e-mail filters, the new Hotmail also creates some views of its own, such as creating a separate view for shipping notifications and another for social-network updates, which now make up a significant number of all e-mail messages.

The software maker will also add the option for users to send their e-mail using an encrypted HTTPS connection. In January, Google made a secure Net connection the default following a cyberattack on its mail service.

Two features that won’t be part of the summer upgrade, but are also on the horizon, are the ability to have multiple e-mail aliases in a single account as well as an option to update a mail account with a new name. That latter feature is particularly useful if a user is hoping to move from, say “DaveDrinks21″ to “Davethefuturegovernor,” without having to start over with a new account, e-mail history, and contact list.

In a letter to users, MySpace’s co-president Mike Jones on Monday outlined the company’s stance on privacy and its place within social networking, as well as detailing what he calls a “simplified” version of the social network’s privacy settings that will roll out to users in the next few weeks.

The announcement comes just three weeks after Facebook’s F8 conference, where Facebook introduced, and immediately implemented new privacy settings that have drawn user and media ire for making profile information too public. Facebook’s new system has also drawn criticism for being overly complex.

Jones said the new system will continue to give users the same three tiers of privacy for each aspect of their profiles that they have right now (public, friends only, and public to users over the age of 18). The key difference from Facebook’s approach, however, is that the toggle to change all the settings will be contained in one switch. Jones also said that users who are currently using the “friends only” option will keep their settings without having to opt in or out of anything.

“While MySpace at its core is about discovery, self expression and sharing, we understand people might want the option of limiting the sharing of their information to a select group of friends,” Jones said. “We respect our users’ desires to balance sharing and privacy, and never push our users to an uncomfortable privacy position.”

According to the computers internet blog in this month, Apple is preparing something sublime. The company leased space in the heart of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco for a few days in late January. Probably, 26 numbers will be announced a product. YBCA has used Apple in September, when Steve Jobs (Steve Jobs) was first brought before the public after the treatment period and demonstrated the new iPod.

system diary technology news blog, computers internet blog, computer hardware reviews

Speculations and rumors of imminent withdrawal tablet computer Apple continues all year, and it seems the period of speculation will end soon. Analyst at investment firm Piper Jaffray Gene Munster (Gene Munster) called the event imminent: “We believe 75% of holding the event in January and 50% that it’s scheduled for presentation to Apple Tablet. If this is true, deliveries will start in March . Until now, product characteristics remain the subject of speculation, but most observers expect something like a large iPhone with additional functionality. The company has updated the line of computers, iPhone and iPod, which can act as an additional evidence in favor of the announcement of a completely new device.

According to other sources, will be presented in two models: 7 “and 10″. And in January, will be 7 “version of the tablet. The question of cost also remains open. Analysts lay in market forecasts and financial performance, the average cost Apple $ 600, assessment and reach $ 2000. The computer will be running the new version of iPhone OS. According to Munster, the PC will compete with the netbooks, but this category and does not apply.

Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) has never been a favorite company among Linux fans, and that feeling was not improved by the Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) ExpertZone training scandal that erupted last September. A whole new crop of reasons to hurl insults at the chain came up in recent weeks, however, following news of one blogger’s experience.

“My four month-old netbook’s touchpad and power adapter all stopped working,” began the anonymous reader on the Consumerist blog. “I took the machine into Best Buy for service under the Geek Squad’s Black Tie Protection Plan on Saturday, and demonstrated its problems.”

Ready for the kicker?

“The manager of the Geek Squad informed me that installing Ubuntu Linux on my machine voided my warranty, and that I could only have it serviced if the original Windows installation was restored,” the reader wrote. “Furthermore, he insisted that the touchpad and power adapter had been broken because I installed Linux.”
‘Why Do People Still Buy From Best Buy?’

Heard enough? Wait, there’s more!

Upon reinstalling Windows so as to return the device, the user was later told by the store’s Geek Squad manager that Linux had “permanently voided” his warranty, as well as causing the computer’s hardware problems.

The Geek Squad staff then physically ejected the user from the store.

Is it even possible to wrap one’s head around a story like this? Bloggers tended to think not.

“After all these stories — why do people still buy computers from Best Buy and deal with the Geek Squad?” asked Dirtylicious in the Consumerist comments, for example. “Yes, we can all say that Best Buy should be abiding by their own rules … but we all know they don’t … they continue not to, and probably never will. Thus it begs the question, why buy ‘high end’ electronics from them given their continuing shoddy customer service issues?”
‘I Might Have Just Clocked the Guy’

Similarly: “Real IT people don’t work at Geek Squad,” agreed all4jcvette. “We don’t want that stain on our resumes, or our name associated with wanna-be IT people.”

And again: “I feel for you man, linux does not cause hardware problems. but maybe best buy does,” sympathized atomoverride. “If it was me I might have just clocked the guy.”

Similar sentiments could be heard from one end of the blogosphere to the other — including the lively crowd on Digg, who chimed in with more than 1,700 Diggs and 300 comments of their own — so Linux Girl knew the topic deserved a closer look.
‘It Makes Me Sick’

“Oh boy, that is a nasty case,” Slashdot blogger Jeremy Visser told LinuxInsider. “It makes me sick just thinking about it.”

The Best Buy manager’s claim that the store could refuse service for any reason “is a completely bogus claim, because he is bound by warranty laws,” Visser asserted. “Best Buy could have a warranty that says, ‘We don’t honor any warranties whatsoever’ and they would still be obliged to perform a warranty service if the customer is eligible, because the law takes precedence.”

It is for cases just like this one, in fact, that warranty laws exist, Visser pointed out — “to stop companies from screwing over customers like this. Imagine if we didn’t have any warranty laws at all — *every* visit back to the store with a malfunctioning item would be met with the same response.”

In any case, “I think the customer will have an easy victory in court, were he to pursue it further,” Visser predicted.
‘A Clear Violation’ of the Law

“I’m no lawyer, but this seems like a clear violation of the Magnuson-Moss Act, which states that you may not deny warranty protection for the use of a compatible product,” agreed Slashdot blogger drinkypoo.

“I can see them refusing to work on it with Linux on it; although that is a bit pathetic, you can’t expect them to support Linux,” drinkypoo told LinuxInsider.

“You CAN, however, expect them to know that nothing Linux will do can damage your power supply or your trackpad,” he added.
‘Completely Out of Line’

Once he realized there was a problem, the user “should have immediately restored the computer’s configuration to factory default,” Montreal consultant and Slashdot blogger Gerhard Mack asserted. “I do this even on Windows installs when I know the hardware will need replacing, especially since the factory repair center will probably do that anyway. ”

Having said that, however, “the manager was completely out of line for refusing to help,” Mack told LinuxInsider.

“You would think by now that people would know better than to buy computer equipment at Best Buy,” he added. “At best, Geek Squad should *only* be used for home entertainment systems.”
‘Deserved with a Capital D’

Indeed, the user’s first mistake was “having anything to do with Geek Squad,” agreed Barbara Hudson, a blogger on Slashdot who goes by “Tom” on the site.

Slashdot blogger hairyfeet went even further.

“The moron deserved with a capital D to lose his warranty” because “if he is smart enough to install Linux, he should be smart enough to avoid Worst Buy,” hairyfeet told LinuxInsider.
‘A Recipe for Disaster’

“As someone who has been doing PC repair since the days of Win3.x, I can tell you horror stories about that place,” hairyfeet asserted. “Guys bringing in PCs and finding out their expensive graphics card had been stolen and a cheapo one put in its place; missing RAM sticks (one even ripped the stick out so hard they broke the clips off the mobo); hardware put in wrong, etc. It is about the worst possible place to buy a PC, which is WHY we call it Worst Buy!”

There are plenty of sites — like System76 — “that actually sell and support Linux laptops,” hairyfeet went on. “Buying a Worst Buy ‘Windows special’ and then putting Linux on it is a recipe for disaster.”

The user “should file a $5k claim in small claims court, but ultimately it was his own stupidity,” hairyfeet concluded. “Sorry, but this guy got what he deserved.”
‘Install a Second Hard Disk Just for Linux’

Ultimately, buyers of cheap netbooks get what they pay for, Hudson told LinuxInsider: “You can pay less and complain all the time, or pay more and only complain once.”

Then there’s “the reality of Linux,” she added.

“If you’re going to install Linux, you’re in the same position as someone who buys any other product and modifies it in an unusual way,” she explained. “The safest way to add Linux to a laptop and not have warranty problems if something goes wrong is to install a second hard disk just for Linux — and for that, you’re looking at a 16- or 17-inch laptop, not a netbook.

“Otherwise, just get a big USB stick, install Linux on it, and use the netbook’s storage for your files, at least until the device’s warranty period is over,” she advised.
‘Take Time to Write Letters’

Of course, for true Linux advocates, “it is better to tell the retailer/OEM that you will not buy their product without GNU /Linux on it,” blogger Robert Pogson told LinuxInsider. “Take the time to write the letters. They will count eventually, because there are tens of millions of people who prefer GNU/Linux.

“2009 was the last year anyone should have been forced to buy that other OS,” Pogson added. “There are lots of choices — seek them out. If there is no choice locally, write local letters and indicate the mail-order source you chose instead.”

The stunning change in Google’s policy toward doing business in China–which was always a complicated dance–came after Google discovered that it and other businesses were the victims of “a highly sophisticated and targeted attack” aimed at gathering information about human rights activists. It is not clear whether the Chinese government was behind the attacks, which Google said in a blog post were also directed against other U.S. companies.

Adobe Systems later confirmed its involvement in the attacks with a statement:

Adobe became aware on January 2, 2010, of a computer security incident involving a sophisticated, coordinated attack against corporate network systems managed by Adobe and other companies. We are currently in contact with other companies and are investigating the incident. At this time, we have no evidence to indicate that any sensitive information–including customer, financial, employee or any other sensitive data–has been compromised.

Google released a lengthy blog post Tuesday afternoon authored by David Drummond, senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer, discussing the decision to review its policy toward China:

These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the Web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks, we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn and potentially our offices in China.

Google entered China in 2006 with the launch of Google.cn. It knew at the time that it would be forced to censor search results in accordance with the policies of the Chinese government. But it figured that it could live up to its famous “don’t be evil” pledge without passing up the business opportunity in the fast-growing Chinese market by simply notifying Web searchers that their results had been censored due to local laws.

However, in practice, there has been a tricky balance between Google’s desire to spread information around the world and the Chinese government’s desire to limit the amount of information available on sensitive topics, such as the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. The Chinese government is believed to issue very vague guidelines as to what type of content is permitted and what is prohibited. The end result is that many Internet companies in China censor far more than the government might actually deem offensive.
“We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn and potentially our offices in China.”
–David Drummond, Google chief legal officer

Google did not say which human rights activists were targeted by the attack, nor would it comment on whether it believed the Chinese government was behind the attacks. The attackers were unable to obtain the contents of Gmail messages written by two human rights activists in China, but they were able to access account information and the subject lines of an unspecified number of e-mails.

In addition, Google said it determined that someone was able to gain access to the accounts of several Gmail users who were human rights activists, which the company said was due to phishing schemes rather than a security breach at Google.

An industry source familiar with Google’s investigation described the incidents over the past several months as “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” as far as Google’s presence in China is concerned. Google is expected to meet with Chinese government officials over the next several weeks to discuss whether it will be permitted to offer an uncensored Chinese search engine.

A cash machine in other parts of the world, Google has struggled to replicate that success in China. The Baidu search engine is as dominant in China as Google is in the rest of the world, and Google trails it in China by a significant margin. According to ComScore, Baidu led the Chinese search market, with 63 percent of searches, in September 2009.

Representatives of Microsoft and Yahoo did not immediately respond to inquiries as to whether their policies regarding search in China would change as the result of Google’s decision, though a Microsoft representative said the company had “no indication that any of our mail properties has been compromised.” A U.S. representative for Baidu also did not return a call seeking comment on Google’s intention to offer an uncensored search engine in China.

Spring Design’s Alex e-reader gets February 22 release date, $399 price originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apparently, today’s the day to release affordable mainstream laptops and Toshiba is joining the flood with seven new Satellites. Yes, Tosh’s got seven new models with every screen size from 13 inches on up to 18.4. We’re pretty interested in the higher end 16-inch Satellite A505 which will have choices of Intel Core i3-330M, Core i5-430M, Core i7-720QM as well as AMD Turion Ultra M620 processors. The starting at $749 rig will also be offered with Blu-ray and discrete graphics options. On the lower end, the 13.3 inch Satellite U505, isn’t as thin or light as the Toshiba T135, but the Core i3-330M and Core i5-430M powered system can be configured with a mulittouch display and WiMAX. The 14-inch E205, 15.6 inch L505, 17.3-inch L555, and 18.4 inch P505 all have Intel Core i3 and i5 options, but hit the break for the detailed specs.

Continue reading Toshiba unleashes seven Satellites with Core i3 and i5 processors

Toshiba unleashes seven Satellites with Core i3 and i5 processors originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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