.::REALITYRECALL::.

You don’t need us to tell you what you already know in your gut to be true: Redmond is working hard on its tablet strategy. How embarrassing is it for Microsoft, the company that pioneered tablets and the 7-inch UMPC, to be completely absent from the conversation in 2010 and 2011? That could change in September. Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley recently shared the slide above which she believes to be 99.99 percent genuine. The timeline shows the major milestone dates for a Windows 8 (aka, “Windows Next“) release — an OS that M. JoFo believes to be focused on tablets (aka, “Lap PCs” in Microsoft parlance) with its purpose-built touch-centric design. According to the slide, we’re looking at an M2 milestone this month followed by M3 in July or August. Foley says that would put Microsoft on track for a Windows 8 beta release right around Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference (PDC) event in September followed by a second beta in 2012 before being released to manufacturing around the summer of 2012 — just like we heard early last year and just in time for Dell’s Hancock tablet. There are still many open questions including Microsoft’s ARM vs. Intel priorities and how the company plans to scale across the enterprise and the “workhorse PC” and “Family Hub PC” in the home. Hit the ZDNet link below for a deeper read or better yet, head on over to TechRepublic where Mary Jo Foley put together an excellent webcast outlining Microsoft’s tablet strategy in much more detail.

Windows 8 beta for tablets at September PDC? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 07:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  ZDNet, TechRepublic  | Email this | Comments

The official TouchPad launch date isn’t even a date per se, but a season: summer. So we’re surprised to see DigiTimes reporting that HP will take delivery of shipments in March with the TouchPad going on sale in April with plans to ship 4 – 5 million units from the TouchPad “series” in 2011. Based on what we know, both from using the software-incomplete pre-production tablet and from our detailed discussions with Jon Rubinstein, an April retail date would be extremely aggressive to say the least. And DigiTimes‘ accuracy with regard to rumors for companies located outside of its home country of Taiwan is spotty at best. Nevertheless, HP’s new CEO Leo Apotheker did say originally, that products announced at the February 9th event would be on sale just a few weeks later. Unfortunately, only the wee Veer handset got an early spring promise with the Pre 3 joining the TouchPad for a summer launch. Perhaps this will be a case of HP under promising and over delivering? We can’t say for sure. But with any luck, HP could bring some clarity to the matter on March 14th — a day Apotheker had promised a big reveal regarding a “secret answer” and “vision of what HP is capable of in the future… the starting point.” Why so mysterious, Leo?

HP TouchPad on sale in April? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 01:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  DigiTimes  | Email this | Comments

There is something to be said about a design of your webpage, a great design will encourage traffic and help maintain loyal followers, but a poor design can have devastating results. Gizmodo recently unveiled a new design which was immediately met with a lot of criticism.

When Digg upgraded their…

Microsoft to release Kinect for Windows SDK this spring originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Microsoft  | Email this | Comments

Programmer Dan Loewenherz has created a new app that could stimulate several Facebook groups, particularly lotharios, lovesick stalkers and appreciators of schadenfreude. According to Gawker, Loewenherz’s ‘Breakup Notifier‘ allows users to compile lists of their “taken” friends, so that “whenever those friends change their relationship statuses, the app will e-mail” the snooping stalker. Unfortunately, the app’s release is a little too late for the Valentine’s Day scavengers, but prime breakup season is right around the corner — so get stalking, Spring Breakers.

‘Breakup Notifier’ Facebook App Feeds the Obsession and Infatuation originally appeared on Switched on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Twenty-five years ago today, an ambitious title was released in Japan that would, in time, become one of the biggest and most important franchises in video game history. More »

Chrome designers are looking at four models for the browser’s future interface, though only two are intended for “active” development. One of them is a “Compact” look, which drops Chrome’s distinct Omnibox address/search bar entirely in favor of drop-down URL entry fields when new tabs are hovered over or clicked. Pretty soon, your browser may look like it’s running in full-screen mode all the time. [Conceivably Tech] More »

We’re almost there, almost to the release of the Native Client we first got wind of last May. It is, basically, a way to run native code within a browser — low-end stuff capable of delivering performance good enough for 3D games and the like. Christian Stefansen, a Google Product Manager, said that the stuff is getting closer to delivery, that the team behind it has reached an “important milestone,” that code will be “as portable and secure as JavaScript.” It was of course security, or the lack thereof, that derailed Microsoft‘s plans for this sort of functionality in Internet Explorer via ActiveX, a stigma that technology has still yet to escape from. Will Native Client do better? Will Crysis ever be available in the Chrome Web Store? Could a Cr-48 run it anyway? Questions questions…

Google’s Native Client almost ‘ready for takeoff,’ ready to make ActiveX look visionary originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Feb 2011 10:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch  |  The Chromium Blog  | Email this | Comments

Cellphone cameras are everywhere. Kids, adults—all armed to the teeth with capable cameras. With so many in so many hands, it's no surprise that a kayaker just captured the best photo ever of an infamous English sea monster using—you see where I'm going with this, yes?—his cellphone. More »

Philiana Ng
Things could be a lot worse.
read more

Full story at The Live Feed

Google’s been talking up its Social Search function for sometime, but up until now your friends’ tweets probably haven’t made it to the top of your search results — unless of course you’re besties with TMZ, and you’ve been searching the Miley Cyrus bong salvia rip again. Thankfully, it looks as if that could change with El Goog’s latest update to the socially minded search function, which now mixes updates from your contacts’ various online accounts, like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, in with the standard search fare — pulling them up from their previous position at the bottom of your results. Google’s also included a photo and annotation to show the origins of relevant links, and given you the ability to manage how you connect your accounts — either publicly through your profile or privately through your account. The new functions started rolling out yesterday, which means you could be seeing a whole lot more from those contacts you regretted friending in the first place. Isn’t social media a wonderful / disastrous thing?

Google Social Search update makes your friends more relevant, difficult to ignore originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 08:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Google  | Email this | Comments

Remember this? Still pretty crazy! But maybe a little less so after taking a look at David Goldman’s theory of how exactly this contraption was put together: More »

Put this awesome new Fringe wallpaper on your desktop, and remind yourself to watch the best science fiction show on television tonight. The show needs all the help it can get. Download the wallpaper here. More »

Cross posted on the Official Gmail blog

The Google Docs Viewer is used by millions of people every day to quickly view PDFs, Microsoft Word documents and PowerPoint presentations online. Not only is viewing files in your browser far more secure than downloading and opening them locally, but it also saves time and doesn’t clutter up your hard-drive with unwanted files.

Today we’re excited to launch support for 12 new file types:

• Microsoft Excel (.XLS and .XLSX)
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 / 2010 (.PPTX)
• Apple Pages (.PAGES)
• Adobe Illustrator (.AI)
• Adobe Photoshop (.PSD)
• Autodesk AutoCad (.DXF)
• Scalable Vector Graphics (.SVG)
• PostScript (.EPS, .PS)
• TrueType (.TTF)
• XML Paper Specification (.XPS)

Not only does this round out support for the major Microsoft Office file types (we now support DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS and XLSX), but it also adds quick viewing capabilities for many of the most popular and highly-requested document and image types.

In Gmail, these types of attachments will now show a “View” link, and clicking on this link will bring up the Google Docs Viewer.

You can also upload and share these files in Google Docs, so that anyone can view the content using their browser.

And as always, the Google Docs Viewer is available for use on any website, with both a full Chrome and embedded option. More information can be found here.

Posted by: Anil Sabharwal, Product Manager