Touch: after the table, Microsoft made the wall

Microsoft bought a very large tactile surfaces specialist, to propose to touch walls.

A few days ago, Microsoft announced its takeover of Perceptive Pixel. A specialist of very large touch screens, which the plateau of the American channel CNN's "magic wall". The idea to Microsoft is clear: offer a very comprehensive catalogue of touch solutions, and take advantage of the release of Windows 8 (and its Metro interface thinking to the touch at the base) to push these products. Thus, tactile walls will be proposed in addition to PixelSense, the new name given to the Microsoft Surface touch table. And for cause, Surface is the brand that Microsoft chose to reuse to its shelves.

It is not known how much money Microsoft has put on the table to Perceptive Pixel, but we know that it is the division Office of the giant who will manage this acquisition, touch walls being clearly solutions oriented professionals. Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, it is a very intelligent redemption and he promised that the first objective will be to ensure to reduce the price of these impressive solutions. Most importantly, Microsoft weapon new touch recognition technology. Touchscreen is taking a considerable importance in the high-tech market.

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After Intel Medfield, it will be Merrifield and 6331

The roadmap of Intel on the processors for smartphones and tablets gives us info on the fineness of engraving and the radio of these new chips part.

Our colleagues from SemiAccurate have laid their hands on the roadmap Intel processors coming to smartphones. We already know this generation with the Intel Medfield and its three references Z2460 and Z2580 or the Z2000, all three engraved in 32 nm.

SemiAccurate has obtained the names of the next two processors dedicated to tablets and smart mobile, Merrifield and 6331. The menu, the 22 nm for these two chips with a Merrifield coupled part radio of the skier, the Intel XMM 7260 that supports all transmission technologies current radio from GSM to the LTE.

For the 6331, also from the Intel R & D's radio part would be just as well off since it would be the Intel XMM 7160 that handles also the 2 G, 3 G up to 42 Mb/s and the LTE up to 100 Mb / s. The difference would be on the Bluetooth 4.0 support or energy management.

Intel is preparing already for the third generation of mobile processors under 14 nm lithography that will also be Haswell processors. Intel must now prove its solution compete with microarray under ARM in terms of performance and management of energy while offering attractive for manufacturers prices and of course his catch on the applications catalog, or an ARM emulator / x 86 worthy of the name to see the native x 86 applications flowered in the shops of apps of mobile operating systems.

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After the Ultrabook, Intel tackles the Nettops with the NUC

A minicomputer to set on the back of a TV or screen, the vu? Intel is trying to democratize this type of computers, as it already did for the Ultrabooks.

At the Intel Platinum Summit 2012 held in London, the founder of Santa Clara has presented its NUC, or Next Unit of Computing. A the rikiki dimensions of 10 cm x 10 cm enclosure that houses a processor Intel Core i3, without more details. On interfaces offered by the NUC, Intel offers a USB port, a HDMI, a Thunderbolt port port and even the Bluetooth. This seems us still low compared to other manufacturers or to Raspberry Pi.

                                                      

The SweClockers Swedish were able to get their hands on it and we indicate that the NUC has a VESA 75 standard setting to be put in the back of a television or screen supporting this standard. As is the case for most of the nettops. Because that is what it is, if Intel seeks to reappropriate the market of the ultraportable with his concept of ultrabook, he may be trying to surgery similar marketing with its NUC on the market of the nettops...

For the moment, it is a simple concept and Intel said nothing about a possible marketing. Is probably the skier actively working with manufacturers to develop a standard, a specification and find partners. Follow .

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Free Mobile, the rate for valid Freebox subscribers even after termination

Free Mobile packages dedicated to the Freebox subscribers reduced tariff is valid even after termination.

Free confirmed information concerning which the preferential tariff applied to subscribers Freebox on its mobile packages, namely €0 or €15.99, is valid even after termination.

Thus any subscriber offer ADSL for Free which is tempted to see in another mobile operator if the grass is greener and later decides to resume package with Free Mobile will always be the reduced rate. Until then the termination and renewal to a Free Mobile offer wavered on the normal tariff to €2 or €19.99 for a Freebox non-abonné.

Offering Free Mobile enhances therefore with time even if it was known and knows still some defects of youth which should quickly narrowed to meet the current and future subscribers.

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Blackberry: after the breakdown, the breakdown!

Une seconde panne mondiale a touché les possesseurs de BlackBerry dans la foulée de la première. La grogne monte...

Hier, nous vous informions d'une panne à l'échelle mondiale (sur la zone EMEA) pour les services BlackBerry. Quelques heures plus tard, le canadien RIM annonçait que tout était revenu dans l'ordre. Ouf ! Sauf que que le calme n'aura été que de courte durée, puisqu'une nouvelle panne s'est manifestée hier après-midi, touchant l'Europe, le Moyen-Orient, l'Afrique, mais aussi cette fois-ci le Brésil, l'Inde, le Chili et l'Argentine. Certains utilisateurs américains ayant également rencontré des problèmes.

Même symptômes : e-mails inaccessibles, Web non fonctionnel et BlackBerry Messenger hors-service. Dur à encaisser pour les clients professionnels, qui font justement confiance à BlackBerry pour la qualité de son infrastructure.

RIM a expliqué que le fautif, responsable de ces pannes, est un commutateur de coeur du réseau. Et si un commutateur de secours existe bel et bien, la redirection du trafic ne s'est pas faite comme prévue a indiqué RIM dans une dépêche de l'AFP. Du coup, les données ont créé des embouteillages sur le réseau, jusqu'à le faire tomber. RIM en profitait pour rassurer les utilisateurs en expliquant que ses ingénieurs sont sur le coup pour désengorger le système et le faire repartir dans les plus brefs délais.

Et s'il ne fait aucun doute que tout rentrera dans l'ordre de manière durable sous peu, c'est de la mauvaise publicité pour les BlackBerry qui ont perdu 7% de parts de marché en un an sur le segment des smartphones. Ce qui n'est pas sans agacer les actionnaires, qui sont de plus en plus nombreux à militer pour un changement de direction, voire même une revente de l'entreprise...

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Lion: some iMac block after a video

Since a few days, many users complain about a bug causing blocking of the system for their iMac under Lion after playback of a video. A difficult problem to reproduce because it would not bug related to a specific video format. For example, several users evoke this incident as well after viewing a video on YouTube only after a video watched from the hard disk via QuickTime or iTunes.

The mouse can always be controlled once after the bug, but no action may be initiated. There are more than the hard reset (long support on the Power button) to restart the machine. An Apple update should intervene soon to Mac OS X Lion 10.7, published last week.

Mac OS X Lion: one million downloads

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The HTC Android could be banned after the victory of Apple

Last Friday, the U.S. international trade commission found that the HTC smartphones violated two patents for Apple on multimedia content processing and treatment of information from an email. Florian Mueller, an analyst for the FOSS Patents blog believes that these two technologies take root in the operating system of Google and not from HTC codes, which could be very damaging to the editor. Manufacturer of course appealed this decision and a special commission will decide on December 6, 2011. If the Taiwanese is guilty, it could prohibit the export of its terminals in the U.S. market.It is a decision that surprised, because Apple was given loser since that one of the Councillors of the ITC gave an unfavourable opinion from the firm Apple (cf. "A symbolic victory for Nokia against Apple"). Case Friday dealt the ten patent infringement which has been the subject of a complaint lodged in March 2010.The answer of HTC did not do wait. "Will vigorously fight the two remaining patents in appealing to the ITC Commissioners who will take their final decision." The manufacturer then attempted to downplay the importance of this decision by stating that it is "to one step among many others in the legal procedure".

However, the stakes of this case are huge, because it is sufficient that HTC is recognized guilty of violating one of the two patents to prohibit the sale of its terminals to the United States. The ramifications of such a decision would be equally important. Apple would have strong arguments to file a complaint against other manufacturers and in other countries.

Indeed, as suggested by several analysts, including Mr. Mueller is cited by the LA Times, the technology would be specific to Google. This means that Apple could prohibit all smartphones Android using the codes in question and that the solution is to rewrite the software considered illegal is not a simple matter because the editor will have to design a parade and deploy it to all relevant terminal before that sales can resume.The two patents that give winning Apple were filed in 1994 and 1996, i.e. well before the commercialization of smartphones, which explains their fundamental and speculation as to their scope. They have been designed for computers, but are broad enough to be applied to mobile terminals.

Reminder, manufacturers of smartphones are entangled in complex legal battles are mark industry. Apple accused Samsung of the copy, which would have pushed him to abandon the Korean for the manufacture of its processors ARM (see "TSMC would produce processors Apple A6"). In addition, Cupertino has paid an unknown amount to Nokia in exchange for the abandonment of judicial proceedings and an exchange of patents.

Microsoft has convinced HTC to pay $ 5 for each smartphone Android sold in exchange for not not the trainer in the courts. There is doubt, however, the company Apple wishes to negotiate a settlement agreement for the time being. Indeed, Redmond is now completely overtaken by the new world of mobile operating systems. It has for the moment no popular system for Tablet and Steve Ballmer admitted that sales of Windows Phone 7, who arrived later were disappointing (see "400 million Windows 7 licenses in nature"). It thus has interest to make a profit on Android. iOS is however in a position of strength and Android is a serious rival. Cupertino may prefer see terminals Android banned the market rather than receive a commission on their sales. A settlement agreement is not impossible, but it remains unlikely. Whatever happens, the disputes between the Apple and HTC are not completed. The father of iOS, laid new complaints last week against HTC believing that the firm violated five new patents on information scrolling, zooming and rotation of the screen.

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