Microsoft Unveils Windows on ARM, Surface 2 at CES

Hours before Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took the stage for his Jan. 5 keynote here at the Consumer Electronics Show, his company held a press conference to spoil at least a part of his big surprises.

The reason seems fairly straightforward: CES takes place in Vegas, and Ballmer's keynote--scheduled for 6:30 p.m. PST--takes place after all but the most die-hard news junkies have signed off their RSS feeds. By holding a press conference for 1 p.m. Vegas time, Microsoft could occupy at least part of a news cycle with the announcement that the next version of Windows will support System on a Chip (SoC) architecture, in particular ARM-based systems from partners such as Qualcomm, Nvidia and Texas Instruments.

What does this mean for you? The potential for a broader variety of Windows-based devices in the future, notably tablets. Windows currently dominates the x86 platform used by traditional PCs, but the rise of powerful mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets--powered largely by ARM chip designs--has effectively created a whole new market for the operating system, provided Microsoft can work out the inevitable engineering issues.

"Under the hood there's a ton of differences that need to be worked through," Steven Sinofsky, president of Windows and Windows Live Division, told the audience at the press conference. "Windows has proven remarkably flexible at this under-the-hood sort of stuff. We work on storage from Flash all the way up to terabytes of storage" and "Windows kernel on alternate architectures."

Microsoft used the press conference to show off ARM running various Windows applications, including Internet Explorer and PowerPoint. It all seemed very smooth in the demonstration, but much work evidently needs to be done before ARM-based Windows becomes a reality you can purchase at your local Best Buy--Sinofsky seemed reluctant to offer any sort of firm release date.

Microsoft executives also demonstrated some interesting new devices in the pipeline, including a Samsung laptop whose keyboard slides to make the device a tablet, and an Acer laptop with two touch-screens. (Whether you pay hundreds of dollars for the latter, of course, seems dependent on your tolerance for virtual keyboards.) Also on display: Surface 2, the next generation of the company's table-sized touch-screen tablet. This new version runs Windows 7, and its Gorilla Glass front apparently means it can resist a bottle dropped from 18 inches or less--evidently, restaurants are among the commercial enterprises intended as potential customers for the device.

These little demonstrations, of course, make me wonder what the company's holding in reserve for Ballmer's presentation. We'll see in a few hours.

nintendo

Facebook enables one-click identity theft option for rogue application developers

In a rather odd and haphazard move, Facebook has now made it possible for apps to read your home address and mobile telephone number.

In the "Request for Permission" window -- the one you have to accept before using an app on the Facebook platform -- look out for "Access my contact information", with the subtitle "Current Address and Mobile Phone Number" (see image above). You'd think that such important details would deserve a bolder warning, instead of the usual faded gray -- but obviously not.

As Sophos' Naked Security blog points out, making such details available in a landscape that is already packed full of rogue spam and scam applications puts Facebook users at even greater risk. With your full name and home address, identity theft basically becomes a no-brainer -- and can you imagine the SMS spam that awaits the unlucky Facebooker that gives his phone number to the wrong app developer?

Still, even if you're not bothered by this (and you can always remove your home address or mobile number from Facebook), you have wonder what Facebook will do next. Facebook is quickly becoming The One True Internet Hub, and the wealth of data it knows about us is terrifying. If access to incredibly sensitive data can be reduced to a small-font subtitle in a cluttered permission box, it's only a matter of time until you accidentally press "Allow" and fritter away your entire life story to a random rogue developer.

Facebook enables one-click identity theft option for rogue application developers originally appeared on Download Squad on Sun, 16 Jan 2011 12:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

microsoft microsemi

Mitsubishi Unfurls a 92-inch 3D TV

New monster set may be the largest 3DTV on the market.

methode electronics mentor graphics

CrunchGear Week in Review: CES Memories Edition

Here are some stories from CrunchGear’s week at CES. Hands-on With the Orbitix Sphero Samson Meteor Mic: Meteor-y Sanyo Shipped 150 Million Eneloop Batteries Onkyo Looks To The ?80s For The Future Post-CES Palate Cleanser: Ocarina Of Tetris

earthlink dst systems

InformationWeek's RSS Feed is brought to you by

hewlett-packard high tech computer

Blekko Finally Gets Cool As Ashton Kutcher Invests $200k

Blekko, a search engine, isn't exactly a flashy new startup. There's the name for starters - it was something they came up with as a placeholder while they were stealth and decided that was a good long term name, too. And then there was the whole Cuil fiasco. Which would make any new search startup blanch. So Blekko hasn't turned on the hype machine at all. They're just quietly doing their thing, and growing nicely. Now, though, they've gone Hollywood. Ashton Kutcher (image is from TechCrunch50 2008), whose movie is currently no. 1 in box offices, is making a somewhat more geeky splash today. He's invested $200,000 in Blekko, as an extension to the company's most recent round of funding.

nintendo nokia

ATandT Beefs Up 3G Net to Get Ready for new iPhone

AT T is said to be making software enhancements to its 3G network to get a bit more juice from it before a planned migration to 4G and before millions of new Apple iPhone users come on board....

sonus networks sonic automotive