Steve Ballmer Gets Candid at MIX08

Microsoft CEO -- IE 8 delays, Vista "painful" to customers, MacBook Air not up to snuff

At Microsoft's MIX08 conference in Las Vegas, an annual Microsoft conference for web developers and designers, many people were waiting in anticipation for Steve Ballmer to let loose. Ballmer's keynote was co-hosted by a surprising guest -- early Apple employee and venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki.

Kawasaki, instrumental in developing the original Mac computer, played the role of interviewing Ballmer and prodding him with tough questions. The audience also did its best to get Ballmer going and get him to open up. Ballmer did not fail to entertain, as well as inform.

Among the first questions fielded by Kawasaki were about the possible Yahoo-Microsoft merger. Ballmer emphasized that he sees the hostile takeover as critical to online advertising, a key field in Ballmer's mind. He said, "We have worked really hard to make it clear that we have real commitment, real aspiration and real tenacity about being a very serious player in the world of search and advertising. Advertising on the Internet is a big thing and will be the next super big thing. We've got a long way to go! And Yahoo seems to be a way to accelerate that because of the critical mass that's required to really compete."

Ballmer said that search was the "killer app" of the advertising industry. When Kawasaki questioned Ballmer about rival Google, Ballmer at first refused to say the rival's name, almost repeating a previous answer. After some ribbing from Kawasaki, Ballmer relented. "I can say 'Google'" he repeated.

On Apple Ballmer was less than praise-filled. At one point, when asked questions about Windows Vista, Ballmer distracted Kawasaki by grabbing his MacBook Air. He then held up the computer and pronounced, "You got Vista on that thing? This is heavier than my PC. It's true! That thing is heavier than the Toshiba that I carry. Where's your DVD drive? We'll get rid of this. We'll get you a real machine, and then you can e-mail me your feedback."

Kawasaki inquired about Ballmer's dislike for Apple, stating, "When you wake up in the morning, what do you think about Apple? Is it this little Chihuahua that you kick away every time?"

A very energetic Ballmer proceeded to bark and howl like a dog, before responding in a concilliatory tone, "Apple does a pretty good job, I'm not going to take away from anything that Apple does. We also do a pretty good job, and we're going to drive hard. Apple's taken away a little share."

On Windows Vista, Ballmer tried at first to avoid Kawasaki's question "What's the deal with Vista? Seriously", but eventually was compelled to respond. Ballmer replied, first praising Vistas adoption, but then acknowledging, "we did make the choice to kind of hurt compatibility, and our customers have let us know that has been very painful."

Ballmer also talked a bit about Internet Explorer, which is one of the major attractions at the show. Regarding the slow progress coming out with IE8, Ballmer stated, "Obviously, we can ship browsers separate from the operating system, but we were really thinking through that next-generation design." Ballmer then acknowledged that the delay had been "painfully long for customers".

A tidbit about possible XBox 360 Blu-Ray was dropped when Ballmer answered an audience question on the topic. He replied, "We've already been working on, for example, in Windows, device driver support for Blu-ray drives and the like, and I think the world moves on. Toshiba has moved on. We've moved on, and we'll support Blu-ray in ways that make sense."

Despite the interesting somewhat more serious opinions of Ballmer, the highlight for many occurred during the Q&A session. An audience member asked Ballmer to do a "web developers" dance to which Ballmer, obliged, as seen here. After screaming like a madman, Ballmer returned to his seat, pumped up, quipping to the audience member, "If you just gave the guy behind you a dollar, I want fifty cents."

One issue decidely absent in Ballmer's interview -- any sort of progress update on Windows Home Server, which after heavy marketing remains dead in the water, crippled by growing data loss problems.

A full video of the keynote is found here.

Apple Launches iPhone SDK, iPhone 2.0 Update Coming in June

Apple announces SDK for the iPhone, support for Microsoft Exchange and that "Spore" is coming to the iPhone

Apple has promised the software development kit (SDK) for the iPhone for months now. The SDK was delayed slightly, but Apple delivered today and it’s most definitely firing on all cylinders.
                                        

First off, Apple announced that is targeting enterprise customers with a wealth of new feature on the iPhone. The iPhone will now support push email/calendar/contacts, global address lists, Cisco IPsec VPN, Certificates and Identities, WPA2/802.11x and remote wipe. In addition, Apple is bringing the oft-requested support for Microsoft Exchange via Microsoft ActiveSync -- Apple licensed ActiveSync specifically for this purpose.

Apple also revealed on its Cupertino campus that the iPhone SDK is available today for third-party developers. Access will be provided to the iPhone's APIs including Cocoa Touch, Core Services, Media and Core OS. Developers can use Xcode to create and debug applications. Xcode includes a source editor, integrated documentation and a remote debugger -- naturally, it runs on Macs.

In addition, Apple rolled out the iPhone Simulator which will allow developers to test the software they have developed on a Mac and see exactly how it will look and respond on an iPhone. The mouse can then be used to make Multi-Touch gesture commands on the "Virtual iPhone" screen.

Apple announced today that EA Games' highly-anticipated "Spore" is coming to the iPhone in September and will be the first third-party game for the platform. The stripped-down version of “Spore” was made in a claimed two weeks using the SDK and includes 18 complete levels. Other new apps coming to the iPhone include AOL Instant Messenger and SEGA's "Super Monkey Ball".

In order to distribute these new third-party applications, Apple created the iTunes App Store. Unfortunately, this will be the only way that customers will be able to get new iPhone applications.

While developers can nab the SDK today for free, it will cost $99 to publish an application to the iTunes App Store. All hosting, processing fees are free if a developer makes his or her application freely available. If a developer chooses to charge for the application, Apple will take a 30% cut of the purchase price.

For companies that are just starting out, a $100M venture capital "iFund" will be provided by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers -- a figure ten times that of the Google Android fund -- to help make the development process easier.

"Developers are already bursting with ideas for the iPhone and iPod touch, and now they have the chance to turn those ideas into great companies with the help of world-class venture capitalists," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "We can't wait to start working with Kleiner Perkins and the companies they fund through this new initiative."

Developers can start making apps today, but customers will have to wait until the iPhone/iPod touch 2.0 firmware update to take advantage the previously mentioned goodies (iPod touch users will again have to pay for the update). Unfortunately, that update won't see the light of day -- for consumers -- until June of this year. Developers and enterprise customers can apply to beta test the update.

Microsoft Releases Internet Explorer 8 Beta

Microsoft throws out some fresh beta software for everyone to try.

The beta browser is available for a wide range of Windows operating systems including Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003 SP2. According to Microsoft, IE8 Beta 1 will not install on "prerelease versions of Windows Vista SP1" or "checked versions of Windows".

IE8 includes a number of new features including the "Activities" contextual data management service, a new Favorites Bar, an improved Phishing Filter, Automatic Crash Recovery and “Webslices”.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 start page.

Microsoft software architect Alexander Strauss goes on to explain Webslices, stating, “Webslices are simply portions of arbitrary websites to which a user can subscribe to. This enables a user to have updates of sites he regularly visits right at his fingertips without navigating to the respective sites. A webslice behaves just like an RSS Feed. The slice itself will be added to the Favorites bar of IE8 when a user subscribes to a webslice. In order to subscribe to a slice it must be discovered. The discovery is quite easy as IE8 will display a special symbol if a page offers a Webslice.”

IE8 will face some stiff competition from Mozilla later this year. Mozilla's Firefox 3.0 web browser is currently in the Beta 3 phase and has received generally favorable reviews around the web.

Thinking Small: New Intel Architecture Champions Sub 1 Watt x86

10 Watts, 4 Watts -- why stop there? Intel debuts 0.6 Watt x86 processor

A flurry of announcements and roadmaps from Intel this week shed light on the company's 5.5 Watt Penryn and the 4 Watt Diamondville processors. The company went one step further today, claiming it can get a fairly powerful x86 processor down to 0.6W for ultra mobile devices.
                                
Intel first brought us news of Intel's Silverthorne processor in April of last year. At the time, details were light on the processor and it was just known as a successor to the 90nm Stealey-based A100 and A110 that were introduced at the time.

As the months progressed, more details began to leak out regarding the Menlow platform and the Silverthorne processor. Today, Intel officially pulled the wraps off the Silverthorne processor and the Menlow platform.

Silverthorne, a two-issue processor designed from the ground up, is now known as the Intel Atom processor. Atom processors based on Silverthorne are aimed at Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs).

To confuse matters a bit, Intel’s Diamondville processors will also fall under the Intel Atom processor nomenclature. Diamondville-based Atom processors are derived from Silverthorne, feature SMT technology and will be available in both single core and dual core versions. Atom processors based on Diamondville will see duty in low-cost notebooks (known as "netbooks") and desktop computers (also called "nettops").
                                               

As previously reported by DailyTech, Diamondville-based Atom processor will fit within a 4W (single core) to 8W (dual core) TDP envelope. The single core, Diamondville-based Atom 230 will launch at 1.6GHz and will feature a 533MHz FSB and 512k of L2 cache. TDP for the Atom 230 is listed at 4W.

Silverthorne-based Atom processors heading for MIDs will have a TDP ranging from 0.6W to 2.5W and will top out at 1.8GHz. Sources inside Intel hint that the 0.6W version of the processor reaches just over 500 MHz.

Anand Lal Shimpi conjectures on the difference between the two cores. "Intel lists the 1.6GHz Diamondville TDP as 4W, a bit higher than what you'll see in MIDs but I'm guessing it'll run at a higher voltage and thus be a higher yielding part that's cheaper to produce, resulting in the higher TDP."

Intel confirms Diamondville will be the first Intel processor to support simultaneous multi-threading (SMT) since the Pentium 4. The entire Silverthorne architecture supports SMT, though Intel has only confirmed Diamondville processors as SMT-enabled at this time.

Intel says that a single Atom processor measures just 25mm2 and contains over 47 million transistors. According to Intel, 11 Atom processors would fit on a penny and it's built on Intel's high-k 45nm manufacturing process.

"This is our smallest processor built with the world's smallest transistors," said Intel's Executive Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Sean Maloney. "This small wonder is a fundamental new shift in design, small yet powerful enough to enable a big Internet experience on these new devices. We believe it will unleash new innovation across the industry."

The overall Menlow platform is now known as Intel Centrino Atom. The Intel Centrino Atom platform will include an Intel Atom processor, Intel 945GSE chipset and a wireless radio.

Although Intel expects the bulk of its Atom processors to see duty in MIDs, netbooks and nettops, the company also sees the huge potential for sales in consumer electronic devices, embedded applications and thin clients.

Consumers can expect to see the next generation Eee PC with an Intel Atom processor onboard -- HP may be wise to include an Intel Atom on its 2133 sub-notebook, but rumor has it that the company already decided on a VIA platform.

AMD Launches "Puma" Mobile Platform

AMD goes after Centrino with its "Puma" platform

AMD today paper launched its Puma platform in a press event streamed live over the web. Puma is AMD’s third-generation mobile platform based on AMD’s Griffin processor and RS780M chipset.

AMD first broke news of its Puma platform in April of last year. Information at that time was mainly about the platform’s CPU, Griffin, and the only details revealed about the CPU were rather conceptual in nature.

Puma is AMD’s first attempt at a “complete” mobile platform. Whereas AMD’s previous mobile platforms had a diluted set of requirements, Puma’s specifications are stronger than previous mobile AMD platforms.

In order to be branded as part of the Puma platform, notebooks must come with a Griffin CPU, RS780M chipset and WiFi adapter -- a discrete graphics card is optional. Since AMD believes in offering its partners “diversity”, it chooses not to follow the route paved by Intel’s Centrino, which requires a Core 2 processor, GM965/PM965 chipset and an Intel wireless adapter to be branded as a Centrino notebook.


Currently, AMD’s Griffin processor, which is officially named Turion Ultra, is only dual core. Although there is a possibility of a quad core Griffin processor, as of right now it is not on AMD’s roadmap.

Griffin chips currently feature 1MB L2 cache per core along with support for DDR2-667 and DDR2-800 SO-DIMM memory (up to 8GB). The two cores communicate with each other via an internal crossbar switch. In addition, the CPU runs on AMD’s updated HyperTransport 3.0 specification.
                              
In order to reduce power draw, AMD says that Griffin features three independent power planes. One power plane is given to each CPU while the third one is taken by the Northbridge. To further help promote power efficiency, AMD says each core can also run at independent frequencies. AMD claims that the cores can dynamically shift frequency levels while executing a thread.

The RS780M includes an integrated Direct X 10 graphics controller which AMD says is four to five times faster than Intel’s X3100 IGP, and brings support for HDMI and HDCP + Audio to Puma via AMD’s Universal Video Decoder. The chipset also features built-in support for two display controllers. Puma does support DisplayPort functionality; however, it is up to each individual board maker to implement in the feature.

To help save power when running off of battery power, AMD says its PowerXpress technology dynamically switches, without any reboot, from external graphics to integrated graphics. According to the company, the change happens instantly and unnoticeably when changing power sources, however, the option is provided to disable this feature. Likewise, Hybrid Crossfire technology will allow you to use a discrete graphics controller with the integrated graphics controller for increased gaming performance.

As AMD’s answer to Intel’s Santa Rosa, analysts predict that the launch of Puma is crucial to the company’s success and financial well being.

AMD says that Puma plays a pivotal role in the period leading up to the release of its Fusion chips. According to AMD, the tighter integration of the CPU and chipset in Puma serves as a milestone to Fusion.

AMD says that it has over 100 design wins with Puma and that systems will ship at the end of Q2. Puma-based notebooks will be included on notebooks ranging from $699 to $2,500 at launch.

Nokia Nanotech "morph" Concept Phone

Nokia and the University of Cambridge unveil the Morph 


Mobile phones are one of the most common pieces of technology used in our daily lives. Some reports put the number of cell phones sold in 2007 worldwide at 1.1 billion. With that number of cellular phones sold in 2007 alone, the market is very hot leading to expanded research and development of new handsets.                                                          
                                   

Nokia and the University of Cambridge have teamed up on a new concept phone called the Morph described as a nanotechnology concept device. The concept design was launched at the “Design and the Elastic Mind” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
                       
According to Nokia, the Morph is a concept intended to demonstrate how devices in the future could be stretchable and flexible allowing the user to change the shape of their device on a whim. The nanotechnology construction is capable of providing users with flexible materials, transparent electronics and self-cleaning surfaces.

Nokia Chief Technology Officer Dr. Bob Iannucci said in a statement, “Nokia Research Center is looking at ways to reinvent the form and function of mobile devices; the Morph concept shows what might be possible.”


Nokia claims that certain elements of the Morph could be integrated into high-end handheld devices in the next seven years. Nokia adds that nanotechnology could at some point lead to low cost manufacturing solutions providing complex devices at low prices.    
                                      

University of Cambridge Professor Mark Welland added, “Developing the Morph concept with Nokia has provided us with a focus that is both artistically inspirational but, more importantly, sets the technology agenda for our joint nanoscience research that will stimulate our future work together."

Nokia made headlines earlier this month when the German government demanded $60.5 million in a refund of subsidies it provided.

 

eBay Hit Hard by Boycott, Refuses to Change

Some sellers have had enough of eBay and call it quits in a massive boycott, others keep coming back to the same abusive system

eBay angered many sellers when it raised its fees and overhauled its feedback system in ways which many perceived to be very anti-seller. The changes particularly hurt sellers of small, low-priced items like CDs and video games, which were faced with sharp hikes in their fees upon successful sales.

These sellers had to decide to either put up with it, or take their business elsewhere. DailyTech's Shane McGlaun wrote in a blog an open letter to eBay, voicing his frustration and the frustration of many others. He cited that he was not alone -- CNN recently reported that five of eBay's top sellers called it quits after the changes.

Since the blog, the fallout against eBay continued. A group of angered users called for a complete boycott of buying and selling on eBay until the company makes amends. The boycott, which ends today, had a devastating effect on the already stagnant eBay.

The total auction listings at eBay.com dropped approximately 13% since the boycott commenced in full on February 18. This brought listings to a low of roughly 13 million items. The boycott was made particularly potent by a YouTube video, which was viewed over 143,000 times. The video helped raise the boycott above other, shorter boycotts, in terms of impact to eBay and helped it win coverage on many online and video media outlets.

The boycott was led by Valerie Lennert, who was flabbergasted by eBay's new bias against sellers. She remarked, "When I heard the changes, I thought it was April Fool's Day."

Lennart, who sells doll clothes on eBay, unhappily discovered that eBay was not fooling around. So she took her fight to YouTube and urged sellers to join her. eBay promptly banned her account. Throughout the course of Lennart's campaign and other protests, eBay tried to dull the impact by offering special deals on listings to boost sagging listing numbers. Meanwhile, Lennart continued onward, making many media appearances.

Jim Griffith, dean of eBay Education, refuted news reports that eBay's listings had declined stating the boycott "has had no impact on our listings." Griffith referenced internal metrics, which eBay refuses to release, and which run counter to the numbers run by major news outlets.

Meanwhile a member of the protest, Nancy Baughman, an eBay PowerSeller who deals in collectibles and antiques, hopes the listing drought worsens with future boycotts. She says, "If [eBay's listings total] falls below 12 million, we've made a pretty good impact."

According to Griffith, however, eBay will stand firm till the bitter end and will not change its new policies. Griffith says, "A lot of deliberation went into these decisions."

David Steiner, president of AuctionBytes.com, a publication for online merchants, says that this kind of attitude could be eBay's undoing. He remarked on the boycott's impact, adding, "The protestors made a loud statement."

eBay has faced fierce competition from Amazon, which charges no listing fees. Even before the policy changes, growth had stagnated. The company will also see a changing of the guard as Meg Whitman steps down to make room for John Donahoe as CEO of eBay in March.

eBay changed its policies in hopes of increasing revenue from listings and reviving sales by making the site more buyer-friendly. With Donahoe soon to assume control, some tough decisions are in store for eBay's executives which may decide the site's fate.

Meanwhile, until eBay changes its policy, more boycotts are surely in store, continuing to draw more attention and further punish eBay for its decisions.

Microsoft Says it Has Plenty of Jobs for Microsoft, Yahoo Employees

Microsoft says it has incentives ready to retain its employees and Yahoo employees if the takeover goes through


Microsoft and Yahoo have been rivals in Internet search for years. While Microsoft has grown and maintained its profitability, Yahoo has seen a drop in stock prices and a loss in market share.

DailyTech reported in February 2008 that Microsoft made an unsolicited offer of $44.6 billion to purchase Yahoo. The $44.6 billion offer placed a premium of 62% on Yahoo stock breaking down to about $31 per share.

Yahoo’s board rejected the Microsoft offer saying that it undervalued the company. After Yahoo rejected the offer, Microsoft moved ahead with plans of a hostile takeover of Yahoo. The takeover made some employees within both Microsoft and Yahoo fearful for their jobs since an overlap of positions would be expected if the merger happens.

Reuters is reporting that Microsoft president of platforms and services division, Kevin Johnson, sent an email to employees in his unit saying that Microsoft will dedicate “significant rewards and compensation” to retain both Microsoft and Yahoo employees. According to Johnson, “While some overlap is expected in any combination of this size, we should remember that Microsoft ... has hired over 20,000 people since 2005, and we would look to place talented employees throughout the company as a whole. We have no shortage of business and technical opportunities, and we need great people to focus on them."

Yahoo issued a statement earlier this week that it put generous severance packages in place for any employees that might lose their jobs if the company was sold. The chance of Yahoo being sold must be increasing considerably for Yahoo to admit that such severance packages were in place already.

Reuters also reports that two pension funds have independently sued Yahoo and its board of directors for refusing Microsoft’s offer. According to the suit, Yahoo is pursuing other possible deals that are not as beneficial to shareholders as the Microsoft offer.

Microsoft Makes Windows XP SP3 RC2 Publicly Available

Microsoft opens the floodgates for XP SP3 RC2


While Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) has received the bulk of the attention for the past few months, there's another service pack eagerly awaited for Windows users: Windows XP SP3.

Microsoft released SP3 to testers last week, but the general public can now download the service pack via Windows Update. Users have to first download a small registry file from Microsoft which gives them special access to Windows Update to download SP3.


"The script sets a registry key on your system. The registry key is required for Windows Update to recognize your machine as a valid target for Windows XP Service Pack 3 RC2," states Microsoft. "It is recommended that you apply the resulting update package to an activated, genuine copy of Windows XP, in a test environment."

Users are also asked to remove any previous beta or release candidate versions of SP3 before proceeding with the latest update.

Some of the new functionality included with SP3 include Black hole router detection, Network Access Protection, Credentials security service provider and the Microsoft Kernel Mode Cryptographic Module.

Microsoft says that the RTM version of Service Pack 3 will be available during the first half of 2008. If all goes well with RC2 testing, we should see the final code shortly.

Microsoft Calls Yahoo Rejection "Unfortunate," Pursues Hostile Takeover

Microsoft plans to take its bid for Yahoo directly to shareholders


In the world of mergers, there are numerous levels of "hostility" which characterize bids. There are unilateral talks, mutually agreed upon, which are typically labeled as more germane, even if one company ends up absorbing the other.

Then there are unsolicited bids, such as Microsoft's initial offer to Yahoo, which are often labeled as "partially hostile". On the far end of the spectrum are "fully hostile" bids, in which one company tries to bypass another company’s executive and board leadership by offering a buyout directly to shareholders. Among the famous examples of takeovers considered "hostile" was the HP and Compaq merger, which passed by a meager 51% margin in a shareholder vote.

Having been rejected by Yahoo's board, Microsoft commented that it was "unfair" that Yahoo did not embrace its "full and fair proposal to combine" the companies. Now, Microsoft indicates it is planning to bypass the board and take the issue directly to a shareholder vote. Microsoft states, "We are offering shareholders superior value and the opportunity to participate in the upside of the combined company. The combination also offers an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market."

Microsoft's statement continues, "The Yahoo! response does not change our belief in the strategic and financial merits of our proposal. As we have said previously, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!'s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal."

The decision by Microsoft to pursue a fully hostile takeover is truly a sign of the times at Yahoo. Yahoo despite promising big changes continues to lose ground to Google in search engine market share, which in turn leads to sinking advertising profits. The company dismissed 1,000 employees recently. Yahoo aggressively acquired companies throughout last year, but its investments left it with little to show for it.

The hostile bid by Microsoft may nix a future board-arranged merger with Yahoo, but at this point it may be a moot issue. If Microsoft has to, it can simply wait out the company until it falls further towards its demise, though it would prefer a quick merger while the company still has some vitality.

Yahoo has a lot to offer Microsoft. Despite its dropping search engine share, Yahoo still represents a significant portion of the market and a major market name. An alliance with Microsoft could establish a strong competitor to Google. Further, Yahoo has a wealth of intellectual property, domain names, and other assets that could come in handy to an ever-evolving Microsoft.

The board is left to ponder Microsoft's words, and their significant decision -- as it may be their last.