The Brave New World of Windows 10

Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled a slew of new features and capabilities coming in Windows 10: the convergence of the desktop and mobile; the advent of the killer universal app; more power and features for personal digital assistant Cortana, which will be on mobile as well as desktops and laptops; improvements to maps; a new browser"; a strong emphasis on gaming; and holographic computing. Windows 10 will be offered as a free upgrade to owners of devices running Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 for one year after it's released.



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Quinn's Crash Override Combats Cyberbullying

Crash Override made its official debut last week, promising a new way to support people who become the targets of online bullying and harassment. Cofounder Zoe Quinn, a video game developer, is one of the better-known people who have been on the receiving end of such abuse. For her, it started when an ex-boyfriend alleged in a blog post that Quinn had traded sex with a journalist for a video game news site in order to get favorable reviews. Readers piled on, many hurling obscene insults.



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Acer Designs Chromebooks for Students' Rough Handling

Acer on Wednesday announced two new ruggedized Chromebooks geared for classroom use. Both will go on sale in February. The Acer Chromebook C910 and C740 have a durable design built around reinforced covers and hinges. The new models support multiple user sign-ons and offline file access. Security features include a Kensington lock to secure the laptop to a wireless cart or lab station. A Web-based management console allows remote management of apps and policies across all Chromebooks in a school network.



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Could Microsoft's Foggy Windows 10 Plan Be Any Smarter?

The most important and daring move that Microsoft made Wednesday is far and away making the upgrade to Windows 10 free. Seems dirt-simple and intuitive on the surface, but it represents a startling and abrupt shift in both how users will relate to Microsoft and how Microsoft innovates with Windows going forward. As long-time readers know, I'm an unabashed Apple fan -- but I can appreciate a smart move when I see one, and no doubt about it, making Windows a free upgrade is a smart move. So what is Microsoft doing, exactly?



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Ubuntu Aims to Make the IoT Snappy

Canonical on Tuesday unveiled Snappy Ubuntu Core, a new rendition of Ubuntu targeting the Internet of Things. Snappy Ubuntu Core offers a minimal server image with the same libraries as "traditional" Ubuntu, if we can call it that, but Snappy apps and Ubuntu Core can be upgraded automatically and rolled back if necessary. This so-called transactional or image-based systems management approach is ideal for deployments that require predictability and reliability, according to Canonical.



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Microsoft Just Handed Us Our Holographic Future

Microsoft on Wednesday announced Windows Holographic, a feature in Windows 10 that will let users create their own holograms and print them out on 3D printers. Every Windows 10 device has holographic APIs enabled, Microsoft's Alex Kipman said. Windows 10 holograms are Windows Universal Apps. Users need the Microsoft HoloLens headset, which Kipman described as "the first fully untethered computer." It has advanced sensors to capture information, high-definition holographic lenses, and spatial sound so users can hear holograms behind them.



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Verizon Offers Connected-Car Service Even Beaters Can Use

Verizon last week unveiled a new connected-vehicle service at the Detroit auto show. Verizon Vehicle, which will go live this spring, will be compatible with nearly every vehicle made since 1996. It will be available directly to consumers regardless of their wireless carrier. Designed to enhance driver safety, Verizon Vehicle will provide diagnostic technology and live assistance with GPS accuracy in times of need. Moreover, it will connect drivers with live A.S.E.-certified mechanics who can diagnose potential problems and offer solutions.



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Businesses Waste Big Bucks Fighting Phantom Cyberattacks

Businesses spend an average of $1.27 million a year chasing cyberthreats that turn out to be dead ends. That is one of the findings in a report released last week on the cost of containing malware. In a typical week, an organization can receive nearly 17,000 malware alerts, although only 19 percent of them are considered reliable, the researchers found. Still, malware fighters have a difficult time keeping up with even the reliable alerts, since only 4 percent are investigated.



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From the Blogosphere With Love: A FOSSy Farewell

The past week has afforded plenty of fodder for conversation here in the Linux blogosphere: the MintBox Mini; the Steam for Linux file-deletion bug; and the latest in the Systemd saga, for example. However, this week seems like a good time to revisit some classic gems from days gone by. As chance would have it, several favorites focus on a theme that's particularly relevant round about this time of year. Can you guess? That's right -- it's the oh, so sweet spot that can be found at the intersection of Linux and Love.



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Sid Meier's Starships on the Horizon

2K Games and Firaxis have announced Sid Meier's Starships, an interstellar strategy game of exploration and conquest. It will arrive later this year for the PC, Mac and iPad. Assuming the role of a fleet commander, players will be tasked with leading their starships across the universe to save plants from eradication, build an empire, and bring peace and order to the galaxy. The game will feature dynamically generated missions and turn-based combat, and offer players the opportunity to create fully customizable starships.



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Keeping Score in the Google vs. Microsoft Zero-Day Games

Google's recent publication of Windows' vulnerabilities -- two within a week -- predictably raised Microsoft's ire. "Risk is significantly increased by publically announcing information that a cybercriminal could use to orchestrate an attack and assumes those that would take action are made aware of the issue," wrote Chris Betz, Microsoft's senior director of trustworthy computing, following the latest revelation earlier this month. Google revealed the information two days before Microsoft released a fix.



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Adobe Opens Lightroom's Door to Android

Adobe last week released an Android mobile app as a companion to its Lightroom desktop application and cloud service. Lightroom is a photo processor and image organizer developed by Adobe Systems for Windows and OS X. It is not available for the Linux desktop. Adobe released a mobile app for iOS last year. The new app will include all of the functionality of the iOS mobile app -- but refined to take advantage of the Android platform, according to Shared Mangalick, senior product manager for photography at Adobe.



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Warning Sony of Coming Storm Wasn't NSA's Department

The United States National Security Agency reportedly knew in advance that North Korea was about to hack into Sony's systems. The NSA apparently penetrated North Korea's network through several vectors, including Chinese networks used to connect with the rest of the world and hacker connections in Malaysia. The NSA was able to burrow in using the networks of South Korea and other allies. The evidence gathered by the NSA reportedly spurred President Obama's accusation that North Korea was behind last year's cyberattacks on Sony.



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Fuel Cells, EVs, Autonomous Driving Shape Auto Industry's Future

The North American International Auto Show, held in Detroit, last week held a preview for industry insiders and the media before opening its doors to the public on the weekend. Automakers from around the world showcased more than 500 cars, ranging from futuristic concepts to vehicles that soon will be hitting the roads. The show allowed automakers to tout the latest technological advances under the hood and on the dash. The first true auto show of the calendar year, it is arguably the biggest event for the American auto industry.



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What If IBM's Rommetty and Apple's Cook Were to Swing for the Fences?

IBM's z13 mainframe launch last week brought back a lot of memories, because I was at IBM when the era of the mainframe collapsed. I also happened to be covering Apple when the era of the Mac collapsed, and I have watched both companies recover -- largely by rediscovering what made them great in the first place. Strangely, even though these firms focus on vastly different customer bases, their core differentiating fundamentals of product control and customer experience are very similar and well differentiated from their competitors.



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Gadget Ogling: A New Galaxy, Awesome Audio, and One Ring That Doesn't Rule

Welcome to Gadget Dreams and Nightmares, the column that takes freshly announced gadgets out for a hypothetical test run, rendering judgement long before they hit the shelves. In the offing this week: Samsung's latest mid-range smartphone, a gesture-based ring, shiny headphones and much more. Samsung has another mid-range smartphone in the Galaxy A7. Sure, it's slimmer, faster, stronger and all the rest -- but that's just it. There's a voice-activated selfie tool, which I suppose is great if you're into selfies.



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Texas May Be Ground Zero for Musk's Hyperloop Dreams

Billionaire high-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has announced plans to build a test track, most likely in Texas, for his envisioned Hyperloop high-speed transportation system. The goal is to allow experimentation with Hyperloop pods, the equivalent of train carriages. "Entirely funded by Musk's companies and other interested private companies, [the test project is] seen as a giant step to support different teams and universities to help validate and keep the concept alive," said Frost & Sullivan's said Vishwas Shankar.



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Xiaomi Launches Galaxy Note Killers in China

Xiaomi on Wednesday announced two new flagship smartphones in Beijing, the Mi Note and the Mi Note Pro. The Mi Note has a metal frame and is protected on the front and back with 3D curved Gorilla Glass 3, which apparently makes it highly resistant to scratches and shattering. Xiaomi compared the Mi Note to the iPhone 6 Plus. However, "Xiaomi is not eating Apple's lunch -- they are eating Samsung's," said Nick Spencer, a senior practice director at ABI Research.



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3 Reasons Apple Won't Pull the Rug Out From Under GoPro

Despite having the most popular camera on the planet in the form of the iPhone, the odds of Apple pulling the rug out from under GoPro by building its own action sports camera system -- even with using its forthcoming Apple Watch as a controller -- are so low they stand in stark contrast to the hysterical selloff of GoPro stock this week. What happened? News surfaced that Apple had received a patent for a digital camera system that has a remote control that looks vaguely like an Apple Watch.



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Virtual Traffic Lights Could Revolutionize City Driving

The average American worker spends almost half an hour commuting each day, but virtual traffic lights could cut that almost in half. If traditional traffic lights were replaced with virtual ones, the results could include not only a reduction of up to 40 percent in urban workers' commute times, but also lower carbon emissions, less congestion and fewer accidents, a study from Carnegie Mellon University suggests. "These systems could be made even smarter and more efficient," said tech analyst Roger Kay.



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