The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is still several months away, but there’s already buzz now that the next-gen operating system dubbed Windows 8 will be at the core of Microsoft’s CES 2012 keynote. According to company insiders, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will be taking the stage at 6:30PM on Monday January 9, 2012 in The Venetian.
Microsoft has had their keynotes at CES over the last several years to kick off major new announcements. They used the same venue to introduce the original Xbox and Avatar Kinect and they also released the first public beta of Windows 7 back at CES 2009. Hence, its believed that Microsoft will also be releasing a public beta of Windows 8 at CES 2012.
However, the very first Windows 8 beta is rumored for a release in September this year at the BUILD developer conference. This should give Microsoft enough time to have a second beta copy of Windows 8 ready for the public by CES 2012. It’s believed that Ballmer will be at the keynote to demo both the ARM and Intel-based Windows 8 tablets slated for release later in 2012.
Looks like some of the Skype crew might’ve had a sleepless night to please owners of the Nexus S 4G. If you’ll recall, June 30th saw a major update to its Android app enabling video chat on four devices; although the Nexus S was part of the club, its door was locked for Sprint’s 4G variant. That’s quickly changed, however, as the team’s set loose a hotfix to grant it access — this despite initially stating we’d have to wait for a “future release.” You can grab the app from the Android Market if you haven’t yet, and be sure to let us know how it goes in comments. Oh, and for those anxious Thunderbolt owners? We’d recommend not holding your breath until after the 4th of July holiday.
What can we say, Kin Studio? Of all the ideas introduced by Microsoft’s ill-fated Kin, you certainly weren’t the worst. In fact, we kind of hope to see you again some day.
Popular first-person shooter game, Call of Duty: Black Ops, has released its first downloadable content–a map pack with five all new locales spanning the globe available on Xbox Live. Proving its popularity the Xbox Live status page is warning users that its servers are buckling under the massive demand and the service is in alert. “Users may be unable to purchase the following DLC for Call of Duty: Black Ops: First Strike: Pack 1 when using the Xbox console. This content is available in the COD Black Ops in game store and from Xbox.com”
Microsoft is telling gamers to either purchase the First Strike DLC straight from the Call of Duty: Black Ops in-game store or the Xbox.com web portal in lieu of using Xbox Live Marketplace. It’s not surprising gamers are having problems purchasing the map pack since it comes in at 646.37 MB.
The five new maps include four original multiplayer maps and one new of zombie level that Call of Duty is famous for:
-Berlin Wall: Action takes place at Checkpoint Charlie and players are thrown into the Cold War Berlin
-Stadium: Close-quarters fighting inside a pro hockey rink
-Kowloon: Taken from the single-player campaign. Players will traverse the iconic rooftops of Kowloon City, Hong Kong.
-Discovery: An abandoned Nazi outpost abandoned on the coast of Antarctica
-Ascension: Zombie map where gamers will fight Soviet zombies, zombie monkeys in Cold War Soviet launch facility
“The team has given it their all, as we crafted maps in First Strike while taking into account our community to make sure that this content delivers compelling unique experiences that will appeal to all different play styles,” said Mark Lamia, studio head of Treyarch.
Call of Duty: Black Ops First Strike DLC map pack is available now for 1,200 MS points of $15.
Google has accused Microsoft of copying its search results in Bing, having set a “honeypot” trap in December 2010 that spotted mirrored results on both networks for meaningless search terms. According to Search Engine Land, Microsoft has been using tracking tools to identify Google search results according to user queries, then tweak its own Bing results accordingly.
“It’s cheating to me because we work incredibly hard and have done so for years but they just get there based on our hard work. I don’t know how else to call it but plain and simple cheating. Another analogy is that it’s like running a marathon and carrying someone else on your back, who jumps off just before the finish line” Amit Singhal,Google
Google first noticed overlap when its spelling correction results seemed to be replicated in Bing searches, and then again when the similarities between the top ten results from both engines overlapped even more. To test more conclusively, Google set up 100 synthetic searches with staged results, and found that 7-9 subsequently turned up as Bing’s top results as well.
Both the Bing toolbar and the Suggested Searches feature in Internet Explorer have been highlighted as potential sources of tracking information, and it’s worth noting that both give users the choice to not send usage information back to Microsoft. For its part, Microsoft denies any wrongdoing, suggesting instead that it’s normal practice to use opt-in programs to better educate its systems.
“As you might imagine, we use multiple signals and approaches when we think about ranking, but like the rest of the players in this industry, we’re not going to go deep and detailed in how we do it. Clearly, the overarching goal is to do a better job determining the intent of the search, so we can guess at the best and most relevant answer to a given query.
Opt-in programs like the [Bing] toolbar help us with clickstream data, one of many input signals we and other search engines use to help rank sites. This “Google experiment” seems like a hack to confuse and manipulate some of these signals.” Stefan Weitz, director of search, Microsoft
Microsoft may be playing a Samsung game when it comes to Windows Phone 7 sales and shipments, but just having handsets in stores should make a big difference to market penetration. According to TmoNews, T-Mobile USA is about to announce availability of the HTC 7 Mozart, joining the HTC HD7 and doubling the options for magenta-loving would-be WP7 shoppers.
The Mozart won our approval by virtue of its excellent build quality and above-average camera, offering 8-megapixels, autofocus and a proper Xenon flash. That’s unique among Windows Phone 7 devices and relatively unique among smartphones in general. No word on exact availability or pricing, but rumor has it T-Mobile will be offering both 8GB and 16GB versions.
Phones, phones, phones, phones, PHONES! There are some good ones this week. The Sidekick makes a blurry return to reality, the real-but-not-too-real Sony Ericsson Xperia Playstation phone struts its stuff on The Engadget Show, and a small suite of BlackBerrys leak their way into the blogosphere. It’s a mini-avalanche of news on the Engadget Mobile Podcast, guest starring Professor Vlad Savov — come join us, won’t you?
Subscribe to the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes
[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically
[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator
[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace
Microsoft has blamed Yahoo! Mail and an “inefficiency” with the Windows Phone 7 email client for the phantom data use some users have reported. The confirmation, sent to WindowsPhoneSecrets, follows Microsoft’s previous statement that an unnamed third-party service was the cause of the issue, which saw Windows Phone 7 devices using large quantities of 3G data without apparent reason.
According to Microsoft’s statement, below, the issue will be addressed in a “near-term end user update” by the company. Until then, WP7 users with Yahoo! Mail accounts should tweak the download settings to reduce the frequency of server pings and the period from which email is downloaded.
We have determined that an inefficiency exists in the synchronization of email between the Windows Phone Mail client and Yahoo! Mail.
This inefficiency can result in larger than expected data usage for a very small percentage of users.
Microsoft and Yahoo! have worked together to identify a fix, which will be rolled out in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, customers can mitigate this issue by following these steps:
On the Start screen of Windows Phone 7, click on the arrow at the top right
Choose “Settings” from the app list
Choose “email & accounts”
Choose “Yahoo! Mail”
Click on the setting under “Download new content”
Select a less frequent setting. If you are using the default setting (every 2 hours), change this setting to ‘manually’
Click on the setting under “Download email from”
Select a shorter time range. If you are using the default setting (the last 2 weeks), change this setting to ‘the last 7 days’
Microsoft has also identified an issue with our Exchange ActiveSync [EAS] email synchronization protocol that may affect a very small percentage of users
This issue can be caused by email that exceeds the mail server email size setting or is sent to an invalid email address
This issue can potentially affect email services that utilize the EAS protocol – Outlook and Gmail for example
The immediate mitigation is for users to delete mail that appears “stuck” in the outbox
This is currently scheduled to be fixed in a near-term end user update from Microsoft
J’accuse… ! Remember the unnamed third party that Microsoft had found to be abusing 3G data on Windows Phone 7? Secret’s out, and the culprit is none other than Yahoo Mail. According to a statement obtained by Microsoft guru Paul Thurrott, a fix is expected in the “coming weeks,” but in the interim, you can mitigate the pain by going into settings and choosing less taxing options for “Download new content” and “Download email from” — say, for example, “manually” and “the last 7 days,” respectively. At least now you know exactly at whom you should wag your finger.
Netgear‘s CEO and global chairman has heavily criticized Apple for its closed ecosystem, blaming Steve Jobs’ ego for certain aspects of company strategy, and suggesting that once the iconic CEO steps down permanently Apple will struggle against Android becoming the de facto standard in consumer electronics. Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, CEO Patrick Lo claimed that Steve Jobs’ departure is “probably not far away” and that Apple’s closed system is leaving content partners “wary” of the company’s control.
“Once Steve Jobs goes away, which is probably not far away, then Apple will have to make a strategic decision on whether to open up the platform. Ultimately a closed system just can’t go that far … If they continue to close it and let Android continue to creep up then it’s pretty difficult as I see it.” Patrick Lo, CEO, Netgear
As for Jobs’ ego, Lo criticized the Apple exec for what he believes to be a personally-motivated attack on Adobe’s Flash technology. “What’s the reason for him to trash Flash?” Lo questions, referring to Jobs’ well-publicized open letter to Adobe. ”There’s no reason other than ego.”
While Lo’s comments are extreme, it doesn’t look like they’ll have much impact on Apple’s attitude towards Netgear; according to the exec himself, “Steve Jobs doesn’t give me a minute!” Still, Cupertino can take some enjoyment from the fact that Lo is similarly dismissive about Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform, suggesting that “Microsoft is over – game over – from my point of view.”
