Intel is looking for a new CEO and its looks at internal candidates. The big problem: they are all kids of the PC revolution. What Intel needs is fresh thinking, much like Microsoft to get out of the crumbling PC ecosystem.…
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Rackspace readies OpenStack for prime time
The big hosting provider that, along with NASA, launched the open-source cloud infrastructure project two years ago, will start beta testing the software, running tens of thousands of computing instances as opposed to the hundreds under test now, said John Engates, Rackspace's CTO.…
Read MoreWhy Windows 8 is Microsoft’s most vital launch in years
Years have gone by since Microsoft launched a version of Windows that made the general public stand up and take notice. On Wednesday, the company will allow tech enthusiasts to start poking around Windows 8, a product that could help Microsoft get its groove back.…
Read MoreMicrosoft’s Hadoop play is shaping up, and it includes Excel
Microsoft, which looked as if it might be the odd man out on Hadoop, might actually play a big role in taking the platform into the mainstream. On Tuesday, it exposed its plans to make Hadoop data analyzable via both a JavaScript framework and Microsoft Excel.…
Read MoreOne-quarter of work devices are smartphones and tablets, Forrester finds
We know consumerization is eating away at the dominance of PCs, but Forrester Research has released fresh numbers on the phenomenon. The results are bad news for Microsoft, with Forrester finding one-third of work devices are non-Microsoft and a quarter mobile.…
Read MoreDon’t look now but Microsoft Azure is a kick-butt cloud
Microsoft's ambitious Windows Azure cloud is many things -- it's a full-fledged PaaS for developers. But beneath that, it is also a huge pool of foundational storage infrastructure for rent. And in that arena, it could be the only real competitor to Amazon.…
Read MoreWindows Phone 8 features leak, look like a sales booster
Alleged details of Windows Phone 8 emerged on Thursday in a leaked video intended for Microsoft's partners. Information from the video was written up by PocketNow and upon first glance, all the details seem feasible. More importantly, they're what Microsoft needs to improve sales.…
Read MoreBill Gates: Open source champ?
Was Bill Gates, chairman and co-founder of Microsoft, the power behind the proprietary Windows-and-Office juggernaut, really an open source champion? A new Wired article lays Microsoft's wider embrace of open source technologies -- including Node.js and Hadoop -- squarely at Gates' feet.…
Read MoreWhat would 1M Windows Phones sold mean for Micro-kia?
Nokia may have sold 1.3 million Lumia handsets running on Microsoft's Windows Phone platform, which would be a morale boost for both companies. Both have been in decline, facing competition from iOS and Android devices. Is this finally a smartphone turnaround point for Nokia and Microsoft?…
Read MorePolar Mobile bets on HTML5 with new $6M funding round
Toronto-based Polar Mobile, which provides a digital media distribution platform powering the apps of some of the biggest media companies in the world, including Conde Nast, Sports Illustrated and The Wall Street Journal, announced a new $6 million funding round on Monday.…
Read MoreGuardly app becomes an on-campus safety tool for students
Personal security app Guardly, which launched back in April 2011 on the iPhone and iPod touch, announced Thursday morning that it will now offer a special program for students at 67 universities and colleges across Canada, designed as an extension of on-campus security measures.…
Read MoreAndroid this week: Transformer Prime power; Android at CES; Google guidelines
This week had me running around the CES event, where Android 4.0 was everywhere. New tablets with multicore chips impressed me -- and could even be notebook replacements -- plus a few smartphones looked incredible. Apps may start looking better to due to a Google initiative.…
Read MoreMobile virtualization: Another nail in the PC coffin
There's a trend building, and it's not good for the PC industry. It's not tablet and smartphone growth -- although that's part of the trend -- but virtualization on mobile devices. This allows remote PC access from a tablet, for example, and could hurt already slowing PC sales.…
Read MoreHands on with OnLive Desktop: Windows works surprisingly well on the iPad
Sometimes Windows is just what the doctor ordered, and with OnLive's new Desktop app for iPad, I suspect it'll be the prescription I'm looking for much more often. Here's a look at what the fresh new Windows virtualization app for iPad offers.…
Read MoreCES Video: PC games on Transformer Prime with Tegra 3
I was playing the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim video game today at CES; a game I play often at home on my Xbox 360 and large-screened HDTV. But I wasn't playing on my Xbox. I was playing on an Nvidia Tegra 3 powered Android 4.0 tablet.…
Read MoreQualcomm at CES: Emerging markets by the numbers
Qualcomm CEO Dr. Paul Jacobs shared his mobile vision at CES Tuesday, with much of the focus on emerging markets. With half of all smartphones expected to be sold in emerging markets by 2015, it's no wonder the chipmaker is looking to innovate beyond traditional borders.…
Read MoreWhy Windows Phone is making waves at CES
Microsoft may have finally accomplished something it has failed to do at the last six Consumer Electronics Show events I've attended: It has people talking about its phones. Even with few product launches announced at CES, there's good reason for the Windows Phone buzz.…
Read MoreOnLive brings cloud-based Windows apps to the iPad
The new OnLive Desktop app making its debut at CES this week will let users stream their full-featured -- and resource-intensive -- Microsoft Office applications to their Apple iPads. The company runs virtualized versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint on its data centers in the cloud.…
Read MoreVizio making PCs? Not as dumb as you think
With the industry in uproar and a good reputation in TVs, Vizio has picked a great (perhaps the greatest?) time in recent PC industry history to try to make its mark on the industry by taking an entertainment-focused, Windows-based approach to laptops and desktops.…
Read MoreMobileTechRoundup podcast 257: CES preview; Nokia Lumia 710 impressions
On this week's audio podcast, Matt and Kevin share their expectations for next week's big Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The Nokia Lumia 710 is in hand, so both hosts share their thoughts on this very capable $50 Windows Phone device for T-Mobile's network.…
Read MoreRay Ozzie starts to emerge from stealth mode
It looks like development superstar Ray Ozzie is about to come out of stealth mode: The force behind Microsoft's Windows Azure Platform-as-a-Service project and Lotus Notes is starting to hire developers for his new "Cocomo" project.…
Read MoreMy 6 mobile productivity strategies for 2012
The last four years have shown remarkable growth in smartphone ownership, changing the mobile landscape as the phone becomes central to our lives. This year I'll be looking for cross-platform apps, centralized notification services and solutions that intelligently handle more mundane tasks around my smart home.…
Read MoreBetter browsing, even offline on mobiles: Evernote Clearly
Since I use multiple mobile devices on various platforms, it sometimes gets to be a chore trying to read saved web pages when offline. I've been bouncing back and forth between two great solutions: Instapaper and Read It Later. But both might be trumped by Evernote.…
Read MoreA look back at mobile predictions for 2011
As 2011 comes to a close, I'm thinking ahead to what mobile technology trends I expect to see in 2012. While I formulate those thoughts for a post later this week, now is a good time to see how I did with my 2011 predictions.…
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