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Microsoft states the obvious about Kinect for Windows

Posted: November 22nd, 2011, 5:27pm MST by Joe Wilcox

There's going to be a controller. Enough people inquired about the obvious that Craig Eisler, Kinect for Windows general manager, felt obliged to answer.

"We’ve been asked whether there will also be new Kinect hardware especially for Windows", he blogs today. "The answer is yes; building on the existing Kinect for Xbox 360 device, we have optimized certain hardware components and made firmware adjustments which better enable PC-centric scenarios".

Like, why wouldn't there be Kinect hardware for Windows?

"Simple changes include shortening the USB cable to ensure reliability across a broad range of computers and the inclusion of a small dongle to improve coexistence with other USB peripherals", he writes. Wow. I'm simply quaking at the keyboard.

"Of particular interest to developers will be the new firmware which enables the depth camera to see objects as close as 50 centimeters in front of the device without losing accuracy or precision, with graceful degradation down to 40 centimeters", he continues. Oh? Do tell more.

"'Near Mode' will enable a whole new class of 'close up' applications, beyond the living room scenarios for Kinect for Xbox 360", Eisler explains. "This is one of the most requested features from the many developers and companies participating in our Kinect for Windows pilot program and folks commenting on our forums, and we’re pleased to deliver this, and more, at launch".

Microsoft released the Kinect SDK for Windows beta in June. Commercial availability is expected in early 2012. Shall we guess Consumer Electronics Show in January? That's what I expect. Timing and venue are appropriate.

Meanwhile Eisler will be busy with another project: "The Kinect Accelerator". According to Microsoft:

Through this program, Microsoft is supporting entrepreneurs, engineers and innovators like you to bring to life a wide range of business ideas that leverage the limitless possibilities Kinect enables. Following a competitive screening process, ten finalists will be chosen for this unique three month incubation program running from March to May, 2012 in Seattle, WA.

Accelerator resonates with Microsoft's recently debuted "Kinect Affect" marketing campaign promoting the natural user interface technology outside of gaming, particularly for business purposes.

It's preparation for the big Kinect for Windows push that could dramatically change how businesses and individuals interact with their computers. No one should underestimate just how Kinect could revitalize the Windows PC's importance -- transforming it from that box people take for granted into something quite wondrous. You don't believe me? Watch some of the Kinect Effect videos and see how the technology is already changing lives -- all without the new hardware or final SDK.
FCC: AT&T/T-Mobile merger would cause massive US job losses

Posted: November 22nd, 2011, 3:59pm MST by Tim Conneally

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Julius Genachowski on Tuesday put forth an order for a hearing to re-examine the proposed merger between national wireless carriers AT&T and T-Mobile. If approved, the hearing would have to take place after the Justice Department submits the merger to an antitrust trial, and could delay the merger by a few more years.

"The FCC’s action today is disappointing. It is yet another example of a government agency acting to prevent billions in new investment and the creation of many thousands of new jobs at a time when the US economy desperately needs both," said Larry Solomon, senior vice president of Corporate Communications of AT&T. "At this time, we are reviewing all options."

An anonymous statement from a senior FCC official on Tuesday evening echoed the belief held by many in the telecommunications industry: "The record clearly shows that -- in no uncertain terms -- this merger would result in a massive loss of US jobs and investment."

Though Genachowski today proposed a hearing which will definitely slow the merger process between AT&T and T-Mobile, and could potentially shut it down completely, it wasn't all bad news for AT&T. Genachowski did give a green light to AT&T's $1.9 billion acquisition of Qualcomm's FLO TV wireless spectrum in the 700MHz band, that AT&T can use as a supplemental downlink to increase 4G LTE network capacity in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Photo Credit: iQoncept/Shutterstock
Can 'Buffy' slay Facebook Phone rumors?

Posted: November 22nd, 2011, 3:33pm MST by Ed Oswald

Rumors persist over the mythical "Facebook Phone". This time it's Ina Fried and Liz Gannes of All Things Digital, claiming sources say the social network is working with HTC on an Android powered device -- codenamed "Buffy" -- to launch in about 12 to 18 months. It deeply integrates Facebook services into the experience, and relies on HTML5 as a platform for applications.

But Fried's and Gannes' report may not be accurate. In a "He Said, She Said" response, Inside Facebook followed up saying its own sources call Buffy a "trainwreck". Reporter Kim-Mai Cutler says that the phone would have a host of issues, including always being one step behind the latest version of Android due to the deep customization that Buffy would require.

Mobile is key to Facebook's business: data shows that increasing numbers of social networking users access there accounts while mobile. A recent study from comScore shows that in August of this year some 72 million users accessed social networking sites or blogs on their phones, an increase of 37 percent year over year.

"This behavior is even more prevalent among smartphone owners with three in five accessing social media each month, highlighting the importance of apps and the enhanced functionality of smartphones to social media usage on mobile devices", comScore senior vice president for mobile Mark Donovan said at the time.

The AllThingsD bloggers claim HTC won out over Samsung, which was also considered as a possible partner, to build Buffy. HTC as manufacturer isn't surprising. The Taiwanese smartphone maker announced the Status back in June, one of the first devices to come with a dedicated Facebook button and integrated functionality. AT&T offers the phone free with a two-year service contract.

Cutler debunks this scenario, observing that 12 to 18 months would put the Facebook phone two-and-a-half years behind laggard Windows Phone 7. The only reason Facebook has stayed on the project is because "they don’t know what to do", claims one of Inside Facebook's sources. More: "Buffy 'was an interesting story six months ago', says the source. 'But it isn’t anymore'".

Other jounralists are sniping at Fried's and Gannes' reporting. MG Seigler took issue with the fact that the story made no reference to a piece by TechCrunch posted a year earlier, and a post he wrote in September on Facebook's continuing denials that the device exists.

"Facebook [is] playing a bullshit game of semantics. And I’m sure that will continue right up until the day they release the phone, at which point it won’t matter anymore", he writes to his personal blog. "So no, there’s no Facebook Phone. Until a year from now when there is one. Consider it fait accompli".
Some Black Friday deals are duds

Posted: November 22nd, 2011, 2:03pm MST by Andrew Eisner

Editor: Earlier today Retrevo offered a list of Black Friday deals. But we think many BetaNews readers will be just as interested in the duds and perhaps benefit more. You want to take this holiday, not get taken, right? Please add your own Black Friday duds in comments.

Mixed in with some great bargains this year are some questionable ones like a $38 Toshiba Blu-ray player that requires a $49 adapter to make its Wi-Fi work. We offer this selection of deals we think you might be better off avoiding.

LG 47-inch LCD TV and 42-inch Panasonic at Sears

Although a nice LED backlit LCD TV, the 47LV4400 is listed on Sears’ Black Friday deals for $679.99 but is available on Amazon for just $9 more. Similarly the TC-L42E3 listed for $599.99 at Sears is selling for that same price now at B&H Photo.

Panasonic TC-P50S30 50-inch Plasma for $699

We hate to pick on Sears but it looks Best Buy is selling this set for $100 less on Black Friday.

Is Toshiba Blu-ray Player’s Price Too Good?

We’ve seen the Toshiba BDX2150 "connected" Blu-ray player listed for as low as $39, which looks like an irresistible deal if you don’t mind hooking up an Ethernet cable. If you want to use its Wi-Fi "ready" capability you’ll need to buy a $49 adaptor. We think you might be better off spending more for a Sony connected Blu-ray player seen from $79 - $109.

Magnavox Blu-ray Player Makes Annual Appearance

This Blu-ray player gets trotted out every year on Black Friday. Not that it’s a terrible player for $79, we just think there are some better players to consider.

Not All Core i3 Laptops Are Equal

Intel didn’t make it easy for consumers to spot the new Sandy Bridge versions of the Core i3, i5, or i7 chips. The easy way to tell is that new versions have four numbers in the model (e.g. Core i3 21xx), while older versions have three. For example, the HP laptop offered by Office Max for $389 touts a Core i3 but the -370M suffix gives it away. At least this version has the graphics engine built in.

BlackBerry Playbook is No Bargain at $199

Yes, the Playbook is a well designed, good looking 7-inch tablet that is selling for a lot less than originally intended but it runs RIMs own OS not Android and so you won’t have that huge library of apps available to download.

Why Buy a Non-HD Camcorder?

The Sony DCR-SX85 camcorder normally sells for around $250 and Best Buy will offer it at $149 on Black Friday. It has 16GB of Flash memory and offers a long 60x optical zoom but it doesn’t shoot HD video. Why bother?

Photo Credit: Kenishirotie/Shutterstock

Andrew Eisner is Retrevo's resident gadget enthusiast. The former PC World executive producer helped establish Ziff Davis' premiere test lab, where he led a team testing the latest high-tech gear.
The Cloud isn't elastic enough

Posted: November 22nd, 2011, 1:25pm MST by Robert Levitan

By now, we all can see that the Internet will become the dominant media distribution platform.
We can easily imagine (and expect) that all content will be digitized and distributed online. Every song, every movie, every video game, every software program, every live television event, every business document and more will be instantly searchable and retrievable via a range of connected devices. It will all be magically available to stream or download on-demand through "the Cloud".

This was the dream when I started my first Internet business in 1995. Now, people think it is the reality. And, while we are making great progress towards such a future, unfortunately, we are not there yet. The demand for online media consumption is simply too great and is growing even faster than we can deploy cloud services to meet it.

Because "the Cloud" is on-demand infrastructure that enables many businesses to scale without having to provision hardware, many people believe the Cloud is infinitely elastic. The cloud concept has become so familiar so quickly that it is commonplace to now hear "Just upload it to the Cloud" or "Just download it from the Cloud", as if it’s truly ubiquitous or that easy-to-use.

The Cloud may be elastic enough to meet certain needs, but it’s far from being ready to meet consumer media demand. Some examples during the month of November illustrate this point, such as last week’s stream of the Republican candidates’ debate on CBSNews.com, during which people were denied online access to the second half of the debate because of bandwidth limitations. The free-to-play release of DC Universe Online by Sony Online Entertainment is another example; that release overwhelmed the game servers, and the release of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 caused the Activision gamer social network, Call of Duty Elite, to crash. The common theme of all of these situations is summed up by an Activision executive: "We knew there would be a tremendous amount of traffic. It was a lot more than we anticipated".

Media and game companies have not been the only ones bumping up against online distribution limitations. In July of this year, Apple planned to release the Lion operating system with only digital download distribution, but broadband limitations led to Apple offering two other methods: in-store digital downloads and an install via a USB flash drive. In January 2009, Microsoft had to delay the Windows 7 beta release because the anticipated download demand exceeded the capacity of the MS servers.

All of these events experienced outages or degraded delivery. And this is not just a problem for one-time special events. Have you ever tried to stream Netflix in primetime? Can you imagine what will happen when millions of gamers download new releases and patches of popular MMOG game titles (some up to 16GBs in size) as the video game industry takes full advantage of digital distribution and embraces the free-to-play business model?

We speak of the cloud as being infinitely elastic but it is not. There are physical limitations. Surely, capacity will continue to improve, but many different solutions will be needed to help scale the cloud. More data centers filled with more hardware and using more bandwidth is not the only answer and certainly not the most efficient or green solution. Some solutions might include faster broadband networks, better compression technology, redesigned browsers optimized for media delivery, more efficient operating systems, smarter media players and client-side software that can make the cloud more elastic and allow capacity to scale up or down to match demand.

As more and more devices connect to the Internet, the demand for media delivery will continue to rise at an accelerated pace. I believe online media consumption will surpass industry projections, which were made to date in a certain context that actually is rapidly changing. We may look back at the early decades of the Internet and find there is, in fact, a Moore’s Law for the volume of online data delivered.

Robert Levitan is CEO Pando Networks. Prior to founding Pando, he cofounded iVillage, Flooz.com and YearLook Enterprises. In between starting companies from scratch and some adventures in world travel, Levitan serves on the board of the Executive Council of New York and New York Cares, a service organization that coordinates volunteers who work with children, the homeless and the elderly.

Photo Credit: file404/Shutterstock
Arbitrators tell Western Digital to pay Seagate $525 million in trade secret spat

Posted: November 22nd, 2011, 11:46am MST by Ed Oswald

Western Digital is liable for $525 million in damages to Seagate following an arbitration decision regarding the misappropriation of trade secrets. The ruling stems from a court case brought by Seagate in 2006 against Western Digital and one of its former employees who had taken a job with its competitor.

That employee is accused of sharing information with his new employer, although court proceedings were stayed while the two sides entered arbitration in 2007. The arbitrator sided with Seagate in the matter.

"We do not believe there is any basis in law or fact for the damage award of the arbitrator", president and CEO John Coyne says in a statement. "We believe the company acted properly at all times and we will vigorously challenge the award". Coyne claims the judgement will not affect Western Digital's business operations or its planned acquisition of Hitachi's hard drive business announced in March.

Seagate also announced an acquisition of its own in the space -- Samsung's hard drive division in April. The mergers put the two companies in control of a large portion of the hard drive market, with third-place Toshiba fighting for what's left.

If Western Digital is forced to pay Seagate, it should have no problem doing so: at the end of last quarter it had nearly $3.7 billion in cash on hand.

That said, many hard drive makers, including Western Digital, are recovering from devastating floods that struck their Thailand plants during the summer. That alone could cost the hard drive company hundreds of millions to recover from, exacerbating the financial hit of the arbitrator's ruling.
AT&T discloses 'organized and systemic' hack to steal customer information

Posted: November 22nd, 2011, 11:00am MST by Ed Oswald

AT&T is alerting affected customers to an "organized and systematic" attack on its website that attempted to steal their data. The nation's second-biggest carrier says in a letter to those customers that it "[does] not believe that the perpetrators of this attack obtained access to your online account or any of the information contained in that account", but decided to warn users "out of an abundance of caution".

Less than one percent of the carrier's 100.7 million customers are affected, but that still puts nearly one million at risk due to AT&T's size. Hackers employed an automated script to see if cellular numbers were linked to AT&T accounts, which the script tried to pair with logins. All attempts appear to be unsuccessful.

"No accounts were breached and our investigation is ongoing to determine the source or intent of the attempt to gather this information", AT&T spokesperson Mark Seigel says.

AT&T advises customers to remain vigilant and do not respond to suspicious text messages or e-mails seeking personal information. Seigel declined to elaborate on any possible attack vector.

This is not the first time AT&T has found itself the target of online attacks. Two men were charged in connection with a hack that exposed the email addresses of 114,000 iPad users in June 2010. One has since pled guilty, and the other has been granted additional time in order to make a plea deal with prosecutors.

Monday's hacking disclosure also follows news of another serious hack involving a small water utility in Illinois. The attack -- believed to have originated from Russia -- caused a water pump to fail by rapidly turning it on and off. While no serious damage was done to the plant, it highlights the increasing threat IT departments face as hacking attempts escalate.

Photo Credit: Mikael Damkier/Shutterstock
Nvidia shows off Asus Transformer Prime tablet running Android ICS on Tegra 3

Posted: November 22nd, 2011, 10:29am MST by Tim Conneally

Using the upcoming Asus Transformer Prime which was rumored to be the first Tegra 3 tablet graphics company Nvidia on Tuesday officially showed off what Tegra 3 and Android 4.0, "Ice Cream Sandwich" can do.

This early demonstration quickly shows off the 1080p video playback, and an all-too short demo of Android game Tegra 3-optimized racing game Riptide GP from games studio Vector Unit.

"Tegra 3 players get extra-high-detailed normal-mapped waves, realistic water splashes on the camera, and a dramatic motion blur effect when boosting. Riptide GP looks even better thanks to the power of Tegra 3," Vector Unit said of the game.

Nvidia says this demonstration was recorded on November 16th, just two days after the Ice Cream Sandwich code dropped, so there is still a potentially long wait before this powerful Android tablet is released.
Non-iPad buyers 'Think Different'

Posted: November 22nd, 2011, 10:14am MST by Joe Wilcox
"Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo."

That's some of the text from Apple's famous "Think Different" marketing campaign from 1997 to 2002. The promotional likened Apple and Mac users to legendary individuals who stepped outside the mainstream, who expressed their independence and defied convention. Today, iPad is the status quo for tablets. What irony. Buyers of 1.2 million non-iPad tablets, sold at US retail, are the individualists -- the rebels who dared buy something else.

"Seventy-six percent of consumers who purchased a non-Apple tablet didn’t even consider the iPad, an indication that a large group of consumers are looking for alternatives, and an opportunity for the rest of the market to grow their business", Stephen Baker, NPD's vice president of industry analysis, says.

Today, NPD released non-iPad sales figures for January through October. Retailers -- brick and mortar and online -- sold 1.2 million tablets, generating $415 million in revenue. It's a puny amount compared to iPad. NPD didn't release iPad sales figures, but they're easy enough to figure. Globally, during third calendar quarter, Apple sold in about 10 days as many iPads as all other tablets combined at US retail for the first 10 months of the year.

"I think the biggest takeaway is how weak the non-iPad tablet market really is" , Baker told me today. "The HP Touchpad was on the market for what 6 weeks and was still the best-selling tablet for the whole year, even with the crazy pricing. That is still a pretty damning statement".

Yes, HP is non-iPad market share leader, bolstered by summer's $99 TouchPad fire sale. The PC maker discontinued the tablet after just six weeks of sales. Non-iPad market share leaders:
- HP -- 17 percent
- Samsung -- 16 percent
- ASUS -- 10 percent
- Motorola -- 9 percent
- Acer -- 9 percent
Non-iPad sales doubled from second to third quarter and tripled from first to second quarter. HP's fire sale, in late August, lifted the category during first half of the year.

Light the Kindle Fire

Looking ahead, "of course the sales of the non-iPad tablets are likely to be considerably higher for the holiday", Baker told me. I asked about Kindle Fire, which went on sale last week.

"Don't forget the Fire is benefiting not just from price but holiday timing -- at $199 it is a good gift and with a huge percent of iPads sold as gifts last year I suspect the same will be true about the Fire and the rest of the tablet market".

My wife received Kindle Fire last week as an early Christmas present. For days I've repeatedly heard: "Wow". "Amazing". "This is amazing". I asked for her quick review and she responded: "Kindle Fire is to the Kindle [reader] I got for last Christmas what the abacus is to the calculator". She had no interest in iPad 2, by the way; she's among NPD's 76 percent.

In late September, Baker and I discussed a looming tablet price war for the holidays. But there's no clear sign yet that will happen. Tablet is the "one category I am not seeing any evidence of that yet", he told me. "Not sure why except that no one wants to upset the apple cart and they aren't comfortable with the demand that they can generate by being extra low prices".

Much may depend on how well $199 Kindle Fire does as holiday sales pick up following Black Friday. Then there is iPad. I asked Baker: "And Apple has demand such it doesn't need to lower prices?" He answered: "Nope. There's no reason for them to do anything".

By the way, NPD does with tablets what yesterday I said Canalys should do: Categorize tablets by form factor. Canalys considers tablets as PCs. Gartner and IDC break out media tablets from those running Windows, which count as PCs. NPD does it right, by counting all slate form factors, even those running Windows, as tablets. That said, Windows tablets sales are negligible, according to NPD.

Circling back to where I started. Who are some of these individualists who "Think Different" about tablets. Betanews reader Jack Mabry is "enjoying my Acer Iconia A500. It has the entertainment side covered, and I've found it very useful in meetings for taking notes".

Reader shy_one "bought an Asus Transformer...it's nice -- does almost all that I want it to and my cousin's 4-year and 7-year olds love to play with it when I come over, and the keyboard/extra battery pack makes sure I have enough power to go a couple days between charges".

Do you own a tablet, and it's not iPad? I'd love your story, either here in comments or by email (joe at betanews dot com). What you bought, why and why not iPad?

Photo Credit: Pixel 4 Images/Shutterstock
Microsoft acquires VideoSurf to make Kinect do what Google TV can't

Posted: November 22nd, 2011, 9:46am MST by Tim Conneally

Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it had acquired video search company VideoSurf, which in September launched its technology for identifying video content based upon images captured with a mobile phone camera. Microsoft says it will add this technology into the Xbox 360 ecosystem, improving the search and discovery of entertainment content on Xbox Live.

To bring live television to Xbox Live, Microsoft has partnered with more than 40 different content providers in over 20 countries, including television networks and multi-service operators. Microsoft on Tuesday said the acquisition of VideoSurf will help these companies integrate their content into Kinect voice search.

"VideoSurf's content analytics technology will enhance the search and discovery of entertainment content across our platform," said Alex Garden, director of Xbox LIVE for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. "This holiday we will launch voice search across our entertainment partners on Xbox LIVE. Over time, as we integrate VideoSurf's technology into our system, we are excited about the potential to have content tagged in real time to increase the speed and relevance of the search results."

Microsoft first debuted Kinect Voice search at BUILD in September, which showed how Microsoft planned to add Bing-driven voice search to Xbox 360.

Like Google has attempted (and largely failed) to do with Google TV, Microsoft is attempting to add rich web-like search capabilities to television, but instead of utilizing a keyboard, remote control, or huge video game-like controller, it is harnessing the power of the natural user interface with Kinect.
Mimo's 10.1" touchscreen monitor doubles as a 'tethered tablet'

Posted: November 22nd, 2011, 8:51am MST by Tim Conneally

Mimo Monitors, the company that specializes in USB-powered mini-displays, launched its first two monitors that use capacitive touchscreens just like those used by smartphones and tablets.

Like Mimo's other products, both the Mimo Magic Touch and Magic Touch deluxe are powered by a single USB connection and are meant to give your PC additional screen real estate and an additional interface that doesn't take up much room. Unlike Mimo's other monitors, however, the Magic Touch line is styled to be more like 10.1" mobile tablets that can be used in a dock or as a hand held device.

You see, you can use your iPad or Android tablet as an additional monitor for your PC with software like Maxivista or iDisplay, but those applications are high latency and low power. So Mimo looks to be offering the general touch tablet experience but with the refresh rate of a monitor.

Mimo's Magic Touch monitors are 10.1" in size with a 1024 x 600 resolution, and they measure one inch in thickness and weigh less than one pound. Both models come with a dock/stand and VESA 75 mounting bracket. The standard Mimo Magic Touch model offers a single USB 2.0 connection for connectivity and power; and the Mimo Magic Touch Deluxe has a base with two additional USB ports and AC power in.

Priced at $299 and $329, Mimo Magic Touch monitors are available for sale today, with shipping expected on December 20.