The long-rumored HomeStation device never made it past the planning stages at Microsoft, but a follow-up to the company's Xbox game console is indeed in the works. Dubbed Freon because "it's the coolest secret project at Microsoft," the Xbox successor adds important consumer-oriented capabilities such as pausing live TV and hard-drive based video recording, or DVR (digital video recording). Of course, this sounds suspiciously like the plans for HomeStation--a combination Xbox and UltimateTV device. But what differentiates Freon from other efforts is that it has the backing of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, who is reportedly a "big fan."
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Its code name is "Freon," reflecting the notion that it is the coolest secret project at Microsoft Corp. these days, at least in the eyes of the Xbox video-game division, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported. What Freon stands for is a souped-up successor to the Xbox console -- capable of playing games but also offering television capabilities, such as pausing live TV and recording shows onto a computer hard drive, say people familiar with the effort. Though it is unclear whether such a product will ever be built, its core concept appears to have the backing of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, who wrote in an internal memorandum in January that he was a "big fan" of a machine that would combine video services with gaming.
As the Nov. 7 ship date for the Tablet PC version of Windows XP draws closer and more companies begin to show devices that support it, I wonder: How much will these cost, and who will be willing to pay for one during these difficult times? Having spent precious little time with a prototype, my sense is that the Tablet PC's main appeal will be to home enthusiasts with wireless networks and students with deep pockets. Tablet PC will primarily be packaged in two form factors: dedicated tablets (most of which can be connected to external keyboards, monitors, etc. for use as a normal PC), and notebook/tablet convertibles that open clamshell-style like other notebooks. With their LCD displays mounted on swivels, these convertibles can be used like a normal notebook when the clamshell is open, or like a tablet when the clamshell is closed. In the latter mode, one of Tablet PC's cool features is the ability to change the orientation of the display from horizontal to vertical. This way, when using its built-in journal application, the device looks and feels like a letter-sized white pad.
Microsoft has released a new programming tool aimed at attracting Java developers to its .Net software strategy. At its Tech Ed 2002 Europe developer conference Monday, Microsoft released the final version of Visual J#.Net, a tool that lets programmers use the Java language to build software that works only with Microsoft's .Net technology. The tool doesn't allow programmers to build standalone Java software. The .Net plan is a strategy for building software using Web services, an emerging trend that allows companies to interact and conduct business via the Internet. Competitors, including Sun Microsystems, IBM, Oracle and BEA Systems, support a rival method of building Web services that uses the Java standard.
A pair of Casio cameras have joined the ever-growing selection of ever-shrinking digicams, making their debut at PC Expo/TechXNY here this week. A first look at the 1.2-megapixel models, each about the size and thickness of a business card holder and weighing less than 4 ounces, finds them to be innovatively designed and full-featured. Both the $300 Exilim EX-S1 and the Exilim EX-M1, priced at $350, are scheduled to ship in mid-July. What makes the cameras so thin? Two factors: Casio integrated the lens and CCD (charge-coupled device) into a single component and developed a multichip module that contains the CPU, ASIC, SDRAM, and Flash memory. The circuit board in the two Exilims is 70 percent smaller than the board used in the company's current digital cameras, according to Casio.
Internal beta builds of Microsoft's forthcoming Service Pack 1 for Windows XP are finding their way onto the Internet thanks to some unscrupulous employees. Although public betas almost always leak to the Web, in the past Microsoft has been mostly successful at keeping private builds it issues to internal Redmond workers secure. But since SP1 build 1050 shipped to beta testers, unreleased builds 1060, 1063 and 1065 have cropped up on underground Windows sites. These private builds usually contain few updates from public releases and are generally less stable, but that hasn't stopped hordes of enthusiasts wanting to run the latest XP code. Weighing in at over 100 MB the service pack isn't light on bandwidth, either. Microsoft faced a similar problem two years ago when internal alpha builds of Windows XP, then code-named Whistler, leaked onto the Internet from Redmond labs. The breach prompted the company to change its policy of how Microsoft-only builds are distributed. Such leaks not only allow competitors to sneak a peek at what Microsoft has up its sleeve, but also give the general public a wrong impression of the final product, because internal releases are by nature incomplete and bug-laden.
Here are the highlights from this month's Bonus Pack... All you need is love, $50 billion and Windows; Windows XP Tablet PC Edition reviewed; Transmeta to power HP Tablet PC; Longhorn will be major Windows release; Internet Explorer 95.3, Mozilla 0.4; Microsoft "Corona" Demo Available; Microsoft boosts Wi-Fi security; Microsoft Portrait 1.4 released; Microsoft to reveal Palladium source code; Microsoft Working on Hybrid Xbox Project; So what happened to Linux? Got shafted!; Analysts: Oracle is not doing well; Oracle in shit up to its ears; Oracle full of broken products promises; AOL 8.0 runs on Microsoft's IE, not Mozilla; Lindows is not all that was cracked up to be; Flaw Found in Apache HTTP Server; OpenBSD, FreeBSD and Unix exposed, again; Intel's XScale, WiFi hit Toshiba handheld; IBM labs unveil super-dense storage.
Panasonic is trying to tackle one of the major obstacles that has slowed mainstream adoption of recordable DVD drives with a new drive that can read multiple formats. The electronics maker unveiled the DVDBurner II this week at the TechXNY technology conference in New York. The new drive meets the DVD Multi specification, meaning it is able to read and write recordable DVD formats recognized by the DVD Forum, an industry group with 230 member companies that support DVD-RAM, DVD-RW and DVD-R formats. Late last year, Hitachi unveiled its own drive, which, similar to Panasonic's DVDBurner II, supports the DVD Multi specification. The DVD industry has been split in two over the issue of standards and technology. DVD Forum members--including companies such as Apple Computer, Hitachi, NEC, Pioneer, Samsung and Sharp--advocate the DVD-RAM, DVD-R and DVD-RW formats. The DVD+RW Alliance, which includes companies such as Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard and Philips, has thrown its support behind the DVD+RW format, which also features support for DVD+R.
This article summarizes Microsoft's decades-long effort to evolve Windows from a single, one-size-fits-all desktop operating system for everyone into a robust family of server and desktop operating systems. On November 10, 1983, Microsoft announced Microsoft Windows, an extension of the MS-DOS operating system that would provide a graphical operating environment for PC users. Microsoft called Windows 1.0 a new software environment for developing and running applications that use bitmap displays and mouse pointing devices. With Windows, the graphical user interface (GUI) era at Microsoft had begun.
ViewSonic's new devices bring varied video and audio content to monitors. ViewSonic has unveiled at PC Expo/TechXNY here this week two external devices that are designed to turn virtually any computer CRT or LCD monitor into a television set with just a few simple connections. Both the NextVison 6 and NextVision 5 high definition video processors have RGB computer pass-through, which enables users to watch TV (including HDTV and DVD movies) with or without a PC, according to ViewSonic representatives. Both packages include a built-in 181-channel TV tuner and can be hooked up to a standard TV antenna or cable television line, DVD player, VCR, video camcorder, or high-resolution game console. Both also have S-video and composite video inputs.