Nokia looking to drive Lumia interest with 'new' app dev deals

 

Nokia is attempting to lure more app developers to its new Lumia smartphone platform, by locking them into semi-'exclusive' Windows Phone deals.

The company has been in a partnership with Microsoft, who develops the Windows Phone operating system, to attempt to reduce Google Android and Apple's iOS devices' dominance over the smartphone market.

While users of Windows Phone compatible devices have access to 80,000 apps through Windows Live Marketplace, Nokia is looking to pull some exclusive deals to tie some higher profile apps to its Nokia devices only.

The Lumia series will now have these exclusives (note: amongst Windows Phone users only; not Android or Apple users - whom already have access to these titles):

- The PGA Tour app - exclusive to Nokia Lumia for 12 months from launch
- ESPN - exclusive to Nokia Lumia until May 2013
- Groupon - Exclusive to Nokia Lumia for 6 months from launch
- AOL Entertainment Hub - exclusive to Nokia Lumia for 6 months
- Tripdots - Exclusive to Windows Phone customers for 3 months from launch
- Angry Birds Space - Rovio has also promised to release all future titles on Nokia 'as soon as possible'.

Nokia also announced (non-exclusive) support for EA and EA Sports' series of sports games, Paypal, and a promise from Rovio that, after its Windows Phone release of Angry Birds Space, all future games will be ported ASAP. Time and Newsweek will also be creating news apps for the platform, as will Box. All of these apps are available on competing platforms. 

The problem is, these apps are mostly bringing Windows Phone 7/Nokia's devices up to speed with the competition - they aren't game changers or 

 

"Nokia has achieved much in a short space of time when it comes to key brands and partners creating apps for Nokia Lumia customers. We believe developers are now moving away from simply porting, to create new innovative and high-design apps that fully leverage the Windows Phone Metro UI and features such as live tiles. With new and exclusive apps launching on a regular basis, and Nokia Lumia rapidly expanding into new markets, Nokia and Microsoft are demonstrating meaningful differentiation for consumers, developers, operators and retailers," said Crawford Del Prete, EVP, Chief Research Officer, IDC.

It is worth noting that these apps are not necessarily available on Nokia's Symbian operating system, which the company continues to support - potentially confusing customers. It has just announced a gimmicky 41MP cameraphone, the Pureview 808, which runs the Belle OS.

Google agrees with Mozilla's Windows RT browser concerns

Mozilla says only a crippled version of Firefox could run on Windows for ARM chips, effectively restricting user choice to IE10, and now the maker of Chrome says it's worried, too.

Google has joined Mozilla in its attempt to push Microsoft to permit full-fledged browsers other than Internet Explorer on Windows RT, its operating system geared for devices running ARM processors

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Mozilla objects to Microsoft decisions that, it says, prevent it from bringing a competitive version ofFirefox to Windows RT. Other browsers don't get access to the same operating system abilities that IE10 gets, recalling browser battles from earlier years that ultimately triggered government antitrust actions in the United States and Europe

We share the concerns Mozilla has raised regarding the Windows 8 environment restricting user choice and innovation. We've always welcomed innovation in the browser space across all platforms and strongly believe that having great competitors makes us all work harder. In the end, consumers and developers benefit the most from robust competition.

Mozilla spokesman Asa Dotzler puts it this way:

First, Microsoft has a browser that runs in Classic mode on Windows ARM. They are not allowing us that same access to run our browser on Classic. Second, Microsoft has a browser that runs in Metro mode on Windows ARM that has access to rich APIs that they are denying to third-party Metro browsers on Windows ARM. So, we are denied the ability to deliver any browser on Classic, and we are denied the ability to build a competitive browser on Metro.

"They're trying to make a new version of their operating system which denies their users choice, competition, and innovation," Anderson told CNET. "Making IE the only browser on that platform is a complete return to the digital dark ages when there was only one browser on the Windows platform."

Google permits other browsers on Android, and Mozilla Firefox and Opera Mobile are among the browsers available. Opera Mini is available on iOS devices, too, but it lacks its own browser engine. Instead, it relies on Opera's servers to render Web pages then transmit a boiled-down version to a person's phone.

Intel Launches Long Awaited Ivy Bridge CPUs Today

The NDA lifted on Intel's new line of Ivy Bridge processors and with that came a flood of reviews. I've taken a look at some of them and have come away with this take-home message:

·         Official reviews confirm many of the previews and leaks

·         It's an evolutionary upgrade, not revolutionary - it's a "tick" processor. It doesn't make your Sandy Bridge system obsolete overnight and there's no pressing reason to upgrade unless you do video encoding and can use the new Quick Sync feature

·         Overclocks to about the same as SB, or actually a bit less for "standard" overclocking

·         Better for extreme LN2-style overclocking. This is of course only of interest to a tiny handful of enthusiasts who are shooting for overclocking records

·         Up to 10% single threaded improvement, 40% IGP improvement, in round figures

·         Same gaming performance as SB - save your money

·         Worthwhile new features such as: PCI-E 3.0, native USB 3.0, Quick Sync, SRT, solid efficiency, decent 24/7 overclocks

·         Same price as equivalent SB part that it replaces and more future proof, as far as that goes. Buy IB in preference to SB if starting from scratch or an old system

·         Sweet spot enthusiast CPUs are i5-3570K (replaces i5-2500K) and i7-3770K (replaces i7-2700K)

·         When buying your next laptop go IB, no question. The power use and GPU improvements make a serious difference here

·         Haswell, the next architecture from IB, should deliver significant CPU performance improvements and is worth waiting for if you have an SB system

·         The performance lead over AMD's best is now huge, making Intel the only way to go for high performance processors. Sad, but true

·         I have an i7-2700K, but I still want one 

4G Technology

Fourth Generation (4G) mobiles

4G also called as Fourth-Generation Communications System, is a term used to describe the next step in wireless communications. A 4G system can provide a comprehensive IP solution where voice, data and streamed multimedia can be provided to users on an "Anytime, Anywhere" basis. The data transfer rates are also much higher than previous generations.

The main objectives of 4G are:

1)4G will be a fully IP-based integrated system.

2)This will be capable of providing 100 Mbit/s and 1 Gbit/s speeds both indoors and outdoors.

3)It can provide premium quality and high security.

4)4G offer all types of services at an affordable cost.

4G is developed to provide high quality of service (QoS) and rate requirements set by forthcoming applications such as wireless broadband access, Multimedia Messaging, Video Chat, Mobile TV, High definition TV content, DVB, minimal service like voice and data, and other streaming services.

4G technology allow high-quality smooth video transmission. It will enable fast downloading of full-length songs or music pieces in real time.

Data Rates For 4G:

The downloading speed for mobile Internet connections is from 9.6 kbit/s for 2G cellular at present. However, in actual use the data rates are usually slower, especially in crowded areas, or when there is congestion in network.

4G mobile data transmission rates are planned to be up to 20 megabits per second which means that it will be about 10-20 times faster than standard ASDL services.

In terms of connection seeds, 4G will be about 200 times faster than present 2G mobile data rates, and about 10 times faster than 3G broadband mobile. 3G data rates are currently 2Mbit/sec, which is very fast compared to 2G's 9.6Kbit/sec.

Forget Windows: Midori is coming

WINDOWS is a name that has ruled the whole computer world since its first launch in November 1985. Since then it is like a trademark ofMicrosoft Corporation.

With many advanced versions of Windows available today such as Windows XP, Windows Vista, it is the most used operating system in the world. In 2010, Microsoft is going to launch WINDOWS 2007, but now here is time to experience a yet another technology of operating systems.

Yes, MICROSOFT is working on a new generation of operating systems called Cloud-Based Operating System and rumors are there that MIDORI will be their first such operating system, which will replace Windows fully from computer map.

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE 

MIDORI is an offshoot of Microsoft Research's Singularity operating system. In this the tools and libraries are completely managed code. MIDORI is designed to run directly on native hardware (x86, x64 and ARM), will be hosted on the Windows Hyper-V hypervisor, or even be hosted by a Windows process.

MIDORI can be also seen as MICROSOFT'S answer those competitors who are applying "Virtualization" as a mean to solving issues within contemporary computing.

The main idea behind MIDORI is to develop a lightweight portable OS which can be mated easily to lots of various applications.

IMPORTANCE OF MIDORI

For knowing the importance of MIDORI you have to think about, how an operating system is loaded on a computer. Actually operating system is loaded onto a hard disk physically located on that machine. In this way, the operating system is tied very tightly to that hardware. As Windows is dependent on hardware, it might face opposition from contemporary ways of working because people are extremely mobile in using different devices in order get diverse information.

Due to this trend installing different applications on a single computer may led to different compatibility issues whenever the machine require updating. The new operating system will solve these problems by the concept of Virtualizing. This will solve problems such as widespread security vulnerabilities, unexpected interactions among different applications, failures caused by errant extensions, plug-ins, and drivers and many more.

ERIC RUDDER, Senior Vice President, Technical Strategy

The importance of this project for MICROSOFT can be understood by the fact that company choose Eric Rudder , former head of Microsoft's server and tools business and a key member of Chairman Bill Gates' faction of the company, 

                                                                                 Thank You

Adobe Launches Creative Suite 6

Adobe Systems has launched Adobe Creative Suite 6 product line for design, Web and video professionals in India. The new releases include 14 CS6 applications and four Creative Suites, namely, CS 6 Design & Web Premium, CS 6 Design Standard, CS 6 Production Premium and CS 6 Master Collection.

In addition, Adobe announced support for 10 Indian languages in InDesign CS6, the launch of an online store and an increased focus on the video and broadcast industry. In the latest release, InDesign CS6 software offers support for Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Punjabi, Bengali, Telugu, Oriya, Malayalam, and Kannada.

“With CS6 we are also introducing new products, new mobile workflows and advanced publishing capabilities that shows our focus on ensuring design, Web and video professionals have everything they need for the delivery of high-impact content and apps,” said David Wadhwani, Senior Vice President, Digital Media, Adobe.

India’s media and entertainment industry is expected to register a CAGR of 15 percent to reach Rs 1,457 billion by 2016, according to a recent FICCI-KPMG report.

Oracle upgrades standard Java, JavaFX

 

Java garbage collection, which helps with memory management by reclaiming programming objects, is being improved in JDK. "The Java SE 7 Update 4 JDK includes the next-generation garbage collection algorithm, Garbage First (G1), which has been eagerly anticipated by the Java developer community. G1 provides predictable garbage collection even for very large applications

JavaFX 2.1 introduces playback support for digital media stored in the MPEG-4 multimedia format containing J.264/AVC video and Advanced Audio Coding (AVC) audio. WebView support for JavaScript to Java method calls allow a user to render HTML/JavaScript. Also, users can allow JavaScript in WebView to make calls to Java APIs to offload specific operations to Java. Version 2.1 adds enhanced font rendering for modern LCDs with Windows-style LCD subpixel rendering. User interface enhancements in version 2.1 include controls for combo box, stacked chart, and applicationwide menu bar.

Oracle also is announcing a public early access for JavaFX Scene Builder, a visual layout tool that enables designing of UI screens by dragging and positioning UI components from a palette onto a scene. JavaFX is available for Windows and Mac OS X, while a developer preview for Linux also is being offered

 Oracle on Thursday is releasing updates to the standard edition ofJava and the JavaFX rich client application platform, including the first delivery of the Java Development Kit and JavaFX Software Development Kit for Mac OS X. The latest enhancements for Java garbage collection and the Java Virtual Machine are featured as well.

The company is making available Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE) 7 Update 4 and JavaFX 2.1. Java developers, Oracle said, can download Oracle's JDK, which includes the JavaFX SDK for MacOS X from the Oracle Technology Network. Java SE 7 Update 4 and JavaFX 2.1 run on Windows, too. The company plans to release a consumer version of Java SE 7, complete with the Java Runtime Environment, for Mac OS X later this…….

The OpenJDK Community, Oracle said, hosts development of Java SE 7 on Mac OS X and JDK 8, which is the prototype reference implementation of Java SE 8. Oracle has started the OpenJFX project as part of its plan to open-source the JavaFX platform.