Microsoft has reminded, cajoled, and pleaded with customers to move off of
Windows XP before support for its old OS expires next year. Now Microsoft warns
customers that they might be topic to “zero-day” threats for the rest of their
lives if they do not migrate.
“The incredibly initially month that Microsoft releases safety updates for
supported versions of Windows, attackers will reverse engineer those updates,
obtain the vulnerabilities, and test Windows XP to find out if it shares those
vulnerabilities,” he wrote. “If it does, attackers will attempt to develop
exploit code that could reap the benefits of these windows 7 home basic product key vulnerabilities on Windows
XP. Due to the fact a safety update will never ever turn out to be available for
Windows XP to address these vulnerabilities, Windows XP will primarily possess a
‘zero-day’ vulnerability forever.”
Zero-day vulnerabilities refer to the way in which hackers can attack an
operating method or other code just before a patch is released, fixing the
vulnerability. Considering that Microsoft will never patch Windows XP again
following April 2014, sooner or later some vulneability that affects XP might be
located.
Among July 2012 and July 2013, Windows XP was an affected item in 45
Microsoft security bulletins. Thirty of these also affected Windows 7 and
Windows 8, Rains wrote.
Rains acknowledges that some protections in XP will enable mitigate
attacks, and third-party antimalware application may supply some protection.
“The challenge here is that you’ll in no way know, with any confidence, in
the event the trusted computing base of the program can basically be trusted
because attackers are going to be armed with public know-how of zero day
exploits in Windows XP that could enable them to compromise the method and
possibly run the code of their decision,” Rains wrote.
That is the exact same argument that some have recently utilized, claiming
that hackers will “bank” their zero-day XP attacks until soon after subsequent
April, then unleash them around the unprotected herds of XP machines. As Rains
notes, the sophistication of malware has only enhanced, which means that your XP
machine is a lot more vulnerable, not significantly less. PCWorld’s Answer Line
columnist, Lincoln Spector, agrees.
The issue that some XP users have is that they’re so in appreciate with all
the way that Windows XP does things that they’re reluctant to migrate, in
particular to Windows eight. Well, Windows 7 machines do exist, that offer
functionality similar to XP: here’s the way to locate them.
The bottom line is this: although Microsoft stands to gain from arguing
that buyers need to upgrade, the truth is: they do. So if you're nonetheless on
Windows XP, begin thinking about a migration strategy.
http://www.windows7retailpack.com/microsoft-windows-7-professional-3264-bit-full-retail-pack-p-3527.html
Sunday, 18 August 2013
Friday, 2 August 2013
Car hacking code released at Defcon
You may hate parallel parking, but you're going to hate it even more when
somebody commandeers control of your car with you in it.
That was the scary scenario painted over the first two hours at the 21st annual Defcon hacker conference.
"Car hacking is definitely coming," said Zoz, of Cannytophic Design, who presented on how to hack autonomous cars.
Zoz's talk on vulnerabilities that autonomous autos will face followed a fast-paced explanation by well-known computer security experts Charlie Miller and Christopher Valasek of how they spent the past 10 months hacking the self-driving features of two popular cars. Miller, Valasek, and Zoz all spoke to standing-room only crowds of more than 1,000 people.
While car hacking made a big splash at Defcon in 2010 and 2011, those hacks were not publicly documented. "We want it to take two months for everybody to do this," Miller said to loud applause from the packed house.
Before going into their hacking explanation, Miller and Valasek admitted that they were not hardware hackers, and had little experience on hardware basics like splicing wires. But they only had one requirement for their test car: that it be able to drive itself.
From there, hilarity ensued. Instead of following Toyota's guide to removing the dash of their test 2010 Prius, they used a crowbar. Subsequent videos and photos showed them driving around with a laptop wired to the open dash of a car, much to the amusement of the crowd.
The pair also tested a 2010 Ford Escape.
Prerecorded video demos of the hacks showed Miller and Valasek disabling the car's brakes, jerking the steering wheel back and forth while the car was in motion, accelerating, taking full control of the steering wheel, yanking the seat belt tight, turning off the engine, turning interior and exterior lights on and off, honking the horn, and making the console show a full tank of gas when it wasn't.
Surprisingly, neither wore a helmet.
At one point, the car wouldn't start, and they had to get it taken to the Toyota dealer for repairs. It turns out, Valasek said, that they had blown up the inverter. "They said they couldn't fix the car because they'd never seen this problem before."
The two detailed much of the nitty-gritty of their hacking work, covering how they gained physical access to the car's computer and how they figured out how to program the car's computer.
The documentation that they will be releasing in the next few weeks sounds comprehensive, totaling 101 pages of code and data.
Zoz spent his talk in the next hour on the future of automation. Self-driving cars, he told, are essentially robots and will be particularly susceptible to the same kinds of hacks as less complicated robots.
Many of these vulnerabilities will be related to directly hacking or indirectly altering the sensors that allow a car to navigate the road without causing accidents. Automated vehicles of all sorts, from person-carrying cars to small drones, rely on a multitude of sensors such as GPS, LIDAR, cameras, millimeter wave radar, digital compasses, wheel encoders, inertial measurement units, and on-board maps.
There are two kinds of sensor attacks, Zoz said. Denial attacks prevent the sensor from recovering data, while spoofing causes the sensor to retrieve bad data.
Each of the sensors on a car or drone can be successfully attacked in several low-cost, low-effort ways. A GPS sensor, he said, can be compromised by purchasing or building a cheap GPS jammer.
Maps are particularly at risk. "You can't have your robot occasionally blowing through a red light," he said to much snickering from the audience.
Zoz, as well as Miller and Valasek, kept returning to a particular point during their separate hour-long presentations: the goal of hacking cars isn't to cause widespread havoc, but to make them safer.
"Now that we've released the data, you can think about how to stop these attacks," Miller said.
And echoing Miller, Zoz also highlighted safety concerns. "When I talk about exploits and countermeasures, I want you to think about counter-countermeasures," he said.
Ford and Toyota have both said that their focus is on preventing wireless hacks, but wireless technology is hardly a bastion of security. We may be approaching an era when the car itself could be to blame for crashes.
That was the scary scenario painted over the first two hours at the 21st annual Defcon hacker conference.
"Car hacking is definitely coming," said Zoz, of Cannytophic Design, who presented on how to hack autonomous cars.
Zoz's talk on vulnerabilities that autonomous autos will face followed a fast-paced explanation by well-known computer security experts Charlie Miller and Christopher Valasek of how they spent the past 10 months hacking the self-driving features of two popular cars. Miller, Valasek, and Zoz all spoke to standing-room only crowds of more than 1,000 people.
While car hacking made a big splash at Defcon in 2010 and 2011, those hacks were not publicly documented. "We want it to take two months for everybody to do this," Miller said to loud applause from the packed house.
Before going into their hacking explanation, Miller and Valasek admitted that they were not hardware hackers, and had little experience on hardware basics like splicing wires. But they only had one requirement for their test car: that it be able to drive itself.
From there, hilarity ensued. Instead of following Toyota's guide to removing the dash of their test 2010 Prius, they used a crowbar. Subsequent videos and photos showed them driving around with a laptop wired to the open dash of a car, much to the amusement of the crowd.
The pair also tested a 2010 Ford Escape.
Prerecorded video demos of the hacks showed Miller and Valasek disabling the car's brakes, jerking the steering wheel back and forth while the car was in motion, accelerating, taking full control of the steering wheel, yanking the seat belt tight, turning off the engine, turning interior and exterior lights on and off, honking the horn, and making the console show a full tank of gas when it wasn't.
Surprisingly, neither wore a helmet.
At one point, the car wouldn't start, and they had to get it taken to the Toyota dealer for repairs. It turns out, Valasek said, that they had blown up the inverter. "They said they couldn't fix the car because they'd never seen this problem before."
The two detailed much of the nitty-gritty of their hacking work, covering how they gained physical access to the car's computer and how they figured out how to program the car's computer.
The documentation that they will be releasing in the next few weeks sounds comprehensive, totaling 101 pages of code and data.
Zoz spent his talk in the next hour on the future of automation. Self-driving cars, he told, are essentially robots and will be particularly susceptible to the same kinds of hacks as less complicated robots.
Many of these vulnerabilities will be related to directly hacking or indirectly altering the sensors that allow a car to navigate the road without causing accidents. Automated vehicles of all sorts, from person-carrying cars to small drones, rely on a multitude of sensors such as GPS, LIDAR, cameras, millimeter wave radar, digital compasses, wheel encoders, inertial measurement units, and on-board maps.
There are two kinds of sensor attacks, Zoz said. Denial attacks prevent the sensor from recovering data, while spoofing causes the sensor to retrieve bad data.
Each of the sensors on a car or drone can be successfully attacked in several low-cost, low-effort ways. A GPS sensor, he said, can be compromised by purchasing or building a cheap GPS jammer.
Maps are particularly at risk. "You can't have your robot occasionally blowing through a red light," he said to much snickering from the audience.
Zoz, as well as Miller and Valasek, kept returning to a particular point during their separate hour-long presentations: the goal of hacking cars isn't to cause widespread havoc, but to make them safer.
"Now that we've released the data, you can think about how to stop these attacks," Miller said.
And echoing Miller, Zoz also highlighted safety concerns. "When I talk about exploits and countermeasures, I want you to think about counter-countermeasures," he said.
Ford and Toyota have both said that their focus is on preventing wireless hacks, but wireless technology is hardly a bastion of security. We may be approaching an era when the car itself could be to blame for crashes.
XP stay by far the most widely-used operating systems
Windows 8 keeps clawing its way up the marketplace share charts, but not at
the expense of Windows 7 or Windows XP.
According to Netmarketshare, Windows 8’s marketplace share now stands at 5.4 %, up 0.three % from a month ago when it ultimately surpassed Windows Vista. As soon as once again, Vista’s industry share declined final month, this time by about 0.38 %, to a total of 4.24 percent.
Meanwhile, Windows 7 and Windows XP are holding powerful. In truth, Windows 7’s market place share elevated final month by 0.12 %, and Windows XP saw a 0.02 % bump in industry share regardless of the looming end of XP help by Microsoft. Each Windows 7 and XP stay by far the most widely-used operating systems by far, with 44.49 % and 37.19 percent from the market place, respectively, in accordance with Netmarketshare.
In other words, any marketplace share that Windows eight gained final month appears to be in the expense of Windows Vista.
Though it is not surprising that customers are eager to upgrade in the widely-panned operating system, having people today to switch from XP or Windows 7 could be tougher for Microsoft, in particular amongst users who want to stick with a regular desktop interface.
Windows eight.1 will make some concessions for all those customers, together with the return on the Start out button, a boot-to-desktop option, quicker access to advanced desktop functions, along with a solution to stop modern-style menus from popping up through desktop use.
But ultimately, Microsoft and Computer makers ought to convince the masses that they will need to upgrade their hardware to touch-enabled laptops, hybrids, or desktops. More affordable touchscreen devices could assistance on that front, but it’ll likely be a while just before the marketplace share needle moves significantly for Windows XP and Windows 7.
According to Netmarketshare, Windows 8’s marketplace share now stands at 5.4 %, up 0.three % from a month ago when it ultimately surpassed Windows Vista. As soon as once again, Vista’s industry share declined final month, this time by about 0.38 %, to a total of 4.24 percent.
Meanwhile, Windows 7 and Windows XP are holding powerful. In truth, Windows 7’s market place share elevated final month by 0.12 %, and Windows XP saw a 0.02 % bump in industry share regardless of the looming end of XP help by Microsoft. Each Windows 7 and XP stay by far the most widely-used operating systems by far, with 44.49 % and 37.19 percent from the market place, respectively, in accordance with Netmarketshare.
In other words, any marketplace share that Windows eight gained final month appears to be in the expense of Windows Vista.
Though it is not surprising that customers are eager to upgrade in the widely-panned operating system, having people today to switch from XP or Windows 7 could be tougher for Microsoft, in particular amongst users who want to stick with a regular desktop interface.
Windows eight.1 will make some concessions for all those customers, together with the return on the Start out button, a boot-to-desktop option, quicker access to advanced desktop functions, along with a solution to stop modern-style menus from popping up through desktop use.
But ultimately, Microsoft and Computer makers ought to convince the masses that they will need to upgrade their hardware to touch-enabled laptops, hybrids, or desktops. More affordable touchscreen devices could assistance on that front, but it’ll likely be a while just before the marketplace share needle moves significantly for Windows XP and Windows 7.
Tuesday, 23 July 2013
iPhone sales soar but lackluster earnings put pressure on Apple
With Apple's (AAPL) announcement Tuesday of record iPhone sales but another
round of lackluster earnings, the pressure is turned on high.
Apple and CEO Tim Cook now face a nearly six-month trial by fire. After changing the world with the iPhone and iPad, the tech icon has seen its performance slow and its stock price plummet, in large part because of a glaring absence of new products. Investor and fan fervor is cooling, and some experts say time could be running out for Apple to prove it still has the mojo that co-founder Steve Jobs unleashed upon the world.
"Everyone is watching and everyone knows that this is either the earnings trough -- it better be the earnings trough -- or else Apple is in real trouble," said Laurence Balter, an analyst atOracle (ORCL) Investment Research. "It's important for management to communicate to shareholders that this is not the end for Apple, but rather the beginning of the next phase. And they really need to say that because shareholders have lost faith."
But while analyst Colin Gillis with BGC Financial conceded that "Apple's flagship product is doing just fine," he said that Cook, after having proved himself to be a "fantastic" chief operating officer, needs to prove himself as CEO.
Analysts agree that Apple must not only say the right things in coming months, but come up with another blockbuster, such as a new and improved Apple TV.
Balter said the next obvious chapter in the Apple story is the integration of the iPhone into the rest of our lives, such as our cars and kitchens and living rooms. Others think Apple could recapture the groove it found with the 2007 launch of the first iPhone by jiggering the shape and size of existing products.
"We will be looking for signs of new products such as the low-priced handset," Societe Generale analyst Andy Perkins wrote in a note to investors, "and possibly the iWatch."
What Apple pulls out of its hat in the next few months could be far more important than the comparatively tepid earnings it reported Tuesday. Its revenues were $35.3 billion, slightly above analysts' estimates of $35 billion and essentially flat with the same quarter last year.
It reported profit of $6.9 billion, or $7.47 a share, above analysts' estimates of $7.33 a share in a survey by FactSet but well below the $9.32 a share it reported a year ago.
In the most encouraging number in the otherwise lackluster earnings, the company said it had sold 31.2 million iPhones, setting a record for the June quarter and handily beating the 26.5 million analysts had expected it to sell.
Before the announcement, Apple shares had closed at $418.99, down $7.32, or nearly 2 percent. But the stock was up about 4 percent in after-hours trading.
Meanwhile, analysts are forecasting little or no revenue growth in Apple's current fourth quarter for the first time since the debut of the iPhone six years ago. They expect $35 billion in revenue again.
Clearly, Apple has lost the red-hot momentum it had going into the end of 2012, when it announced the iPhone 5 to great critical acclaim.
It's been an underwhelming year so far for Apple, prompting many to wonder if the tech icon has run adrift. Investor angst has hammered the company's stock price, at one point dragging it below $400 a share after it was hovering near $700 a year earlier. After years of exciting launches, including variations of the iPhone and iPad, there've been no new product announcements in 2013.
"This has been a very tough period for Apple and it's made worse by the fact that the company doesn't talk openly with people, so you don't know what's really going on inside," said analyst Roger Kay with Endpoint Technologies. "But it does seem as if there's been a dearth of announcements the entire year and the momentum Apple had before is almost entirely dissipated."
Kay said it's now showtime. Apple needs to prove it still has the goods, he said, and it needs to start talking about them "in the next few weeks."
Or as fellow analyst Van Baker with Gartner Research put it:
Apple and CEO Tim Cook now face a nearly six-month trial by fire. After changing the world with the iPhone and iPad, the tech icon has seen its performance slow and its stock price plummet, in large part because of a glaring absence of new products. Investor and fan fervor is cooling, and some experts say time could be running out for Apple to prove it still has the mojo that co-founder Steve Jobs unleashed upon the world.
"Everyone is watching and everyone knows that this is either the earnings trough -- it better be the earnings trough -- or else Apple is in real trouble," said Laurence Balter, an analyst atOracle (ORCL) Investment Research. "It's important for management to communicate to shareholders that this is not the end for Apple, but rather the beginning of the next phase. And they really need to say that because shareholders have lost faith."
But while analyst Colin Gillis with BGC Financial conceded that "Apple's flagship product is doing just fine," he said that Cook, after having proved himself to be a "fantastic" chief operating officer, needs to prove himself as CEO.
Analysts agree that Apple must not only say the right things in coming months, but come up with another blockbuster, such as a new and improved Apple TV.
Balter said the next obvious chapter in the Apple story is the integration of the iPhone into the rest of our lives, such as our cars and kitchens and living rooms. Others think Apple could recapture the groove it found with the 2007 launch of the first iPhone by jiggering the shape and size of existing products.
"We will be looking for signs of new products such as the low-priced handset," Societe Generale analyst Andy Perkins wrote in a note to investors, "and possibly the iWatch."
What Apple pulls out of its hat in the next few months could be far more important than the comparatively tepid earnings it reported Tuesday. Its revenues were $35.3 billion, slightly above analysts' estimates of $35 billion and essentially flat with the same quarter last year.
It reported profit of $6.9 billion, or $7.47 a share, above analysts' estimates of $7.33 a share in a survey by FactSet but well below the $9.32 a share it reported a year ago.
In the most encouraging number in the otherwise lackluster earnings, the company said it had sold 31.2 million iPhones, setting a record for the June quarter and handily beating the 26.5 million analysts had expected it to sell.
Before the announcement, Apple shares had closed at $418.99, down $7.32, or nearly 2 percent. But the stock was up about 4 percent in after-hours trading.
Meanwhile, analysts are forecasting little or no revenue growth in Apple's current fourth quarter for the first time since the debut of the iPhone six years ago. They expect $35 billion in revenue again.
Clearly, Apple has lost the red-hot momentum it had going into the end of 2012, when it announced the iPhone 5 to great critical acclaim.
It's been an underwhelming year so far for Apple, prompting many to wonder if the tech icon has run adrift. Investor angst has hammered the company's stock price, at one point dragging it below $400 a share after it was hovering near $700 a year earlier. After years of exciting launches, including variations of the iPhone and iPad, there've been no new product announcements in 2013.
"This has been a very tough period for Apple and it's made worse by the fact that the company doesn't talk openly with people, so you don't know what's really going on inside," said analyst Roger Kay with Endpoint Technologies. "But it does seem as if there's been a dearth of announcements the entire year and the momentum Apple had before is almost entirely dissipated."
Kay said it's now showtime. Apple needs to prove it still has the goods, he said, and it needs to start talking about them "in the next few weeks."
Or as fellow analyst Van Baker with Gartner Research put it:
Certain iOS can also be a telephone platform
The iPad garnered the reputation as a brand new form of device made for
doing entertaining items at household. People were promptly taken using the
reality that the iPad could do a great deal of exciting factors, endearing it
for the masses. Then developers started writing a huge number of apps for the
iPad that started to bridge entertaining stuff with activities generally done on
a Pc, even Windows PCs. Buyers noticed that the Windows Pc (desktop or laptop)
that they kept at dwelling was being made use of less and less. Ultimately they
had been only utilizing Windows at operate.
A familiar sight in public is somebody with an iPad in hand, or one being utilised using a keyboard case. Exactly where it made use of to be more frequent to find out individuals applying Windows laptops of varying sizes in public venues many of them have already been replaced with the buy windows 8 pro pack iPad. Far more drastically, iPad users aren't just performing enjoyable stuff that tablets are believed to be created for, they may be undertaking every thing they applied to do with all the forgotten Windows laptop back at property.
Microsoft saw this coming and radically changed the style of Windows to perform on tablets, desktops, and laptops. The people in Redmond saw the writing around the wall and knew they had to transform the OS into a tablet OS to help keep Windows within the residence. They already had the enterprise locked up so bringing Windows to the tablet was an work to help keep people employing the OS at household.
Make no error, the Surface RT was firmly aimed at receiving customers to visualize Windows on dwelling tablets, and that effort has failed. Those wanting to utilize a uncomplicated tablet at house have fairly a lot currently adopted the iPad. It sports a mobile type element that runs a straightforward OS developed especially for the tablet. Certain iOS can also be a telephone platform but Apple has adapted it to handle the iPad nicely. It was also capable to obtain app developers to adapt or produce iPad-specific versions of apps to operate nicely around the slate.
I like my ThinkPad Tablet two, a nice Windows tablet. It takes advantage of Windows eight, specially all of the tablet options Microsoft implemented for that objective. But when I show it (or any Windows tablet) to people I get quite a great deal precisely the same reaction.
The discussion proceeds with me explaining how you can run Windows apps and how new apps are getting written for the Windows eight app shop. This can be followed by a conversation that tends to make it clear the other celebration not just has no wish to run Windows and its apps on a tablet, they genuinely can not see why any individual would wish to do that. The iPad does all the things they want a tablet to accomplish and more so why would they would like to use a tablet with Windows?
For many buyers Windows represents operate. It really is on the computer system within the office and they "have" to work with it there. They keep in mind each of the times they had to obtain the IT people to come fix the Computer that stopped carrying out something. They assume of how they cannot go to each of the cool websites for the reason that they may be blocked at work, which they come to assume of as a Windows thing. They think of how trouble-free their property computing has come to be due to the fact they just naturally started carrying out it all around the iPad at dwelling.
A lot of the folks I interact with about Windows on tablets who like it, and are excited about Windows eight, are people who either make a living within the Windows ecosystem or possess a unique need to have for making use of Windows outside the scope of common residence computing. Possessing full Windows within a tablet type is just what they ought to do what they want each for perform and at residence.
Regrettably for Microsoft, there aren't sufficient of those enthusiasts to produce a difference, as verified by both the Surface RT debacle, and low Surface Pro sales (in comparison with the iPad). The vast majority have already been shown that their beloved iPad is all they want outside of operate. The iPad has entirely replaced Pc usage within the dwelling for a lot of owners and kicked Windows back towards the office.
A familiar sight in public is somebody with an iPad in hand, or one being utilised using a keyboard case. Exactly where it made use of to be more frequent to find out individuals applying Windows laptops of varying sizes in public venues many of them have already been replaced with the buy windows 8 pro pack iPad. Far more drastically, iPad users aren't just performing enjoyable stuff that tablets are believed to be created for, they may be undertaking every thing they applied to do with all the forgotten Windows laptop back at property.
Microsoft saw this coming and radically changed the style of Windows to perform on tablets, desktops, and laptops. The people in Redmond saw the writing around the wall and knew they had to transform the OS into a tablet OS to help keep Windows within the residence. They already had the enterprise locked up so bringing Windows to the tablet was an work to help keep people employing the OS at household.
Make no error, the Surface RT was firmly aimed at receiving customers to visualize Windows on dwelling tablets, and that effort has failed. Those wanting to utilize a uncomplicated tablet at house have fairly a lot currently adopted the iPad. It sports a mobile type element that runs a straightforward OS developed especially for the tablet. Certain iOS can also be a telephone platform but Apple has adapted it to handle the iPad nicely. It was also capable to obtain app developers to adapt or produce iPad-specific versions of apps to operate nicely around the slate.
I like my ThinkPad Tablet two, a nice Windows tablet. It takes advantage of Windows eight, specially all of the tablet options Microsoft implemented for that objective. But when I show it (or any Windows tablet) to people I get quite a great deal precisely the same reaction.
The discussion proceeds with me explaining how you can run Windows apps and how new apps are getting written for the Windows eight app shop. This can be followed by a conversation that tends to make it clear the other celebration not just has no wish to run Windows and its apps on a tablet, they genuinely can not see why any individual would wish to do that. The iPad does all the things they want a tablet to accomplish and more so why would they would like to use a tablet with Windows?
For many buyers Windows represents operate. It really is on the computer system within the office and they "have" to work with it there. They keep in mind each of the times they had to obtain the IT people to come fix the Computer that stopped carrying out something. They assume of how they cannot go to each of the cool websites for the reason that they may be blocked at work, which they come to assume of as a Windows thing. They think of how trouble-free their property computing has come to be due to the fact they just naturally started carrying out it all around the iPad at dwelling.
A lot of the folks I interact with about Windows on tablets who like it, and are excited about Windows eight, are people who either make a living within the Windows ecosystem or possess a unique need to have for making use of Windows outside the scope of common residence computing. Possessing full Windows within a tablet type is just what they ought to do what they want each for perform and at residence.
Regrettably for Microsoft, there aren't sufficient of those enthusiasts to produce a difference, as verified by both the Surface RT debacle, and low Surface Pro sales (in comparison with the iPad). The vast majority have already been shown that their beloved iPad is all they want outside of operate. The iPad has entirely replaced Pc usage within the dwelling for a lot of owners and kicked Windows back towards the office.
Sunday, 14 July 2013
Apple hires fresh talent for ‘iWatch’
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Apple has embarked on a hiring spree to tackle design problems with its “iWatch” wrist computer, bringing in fresh expertise amid concern that the launch of its first new product since the death of Steve Jobs could be at least a year away.
The company has begun hiring “aggressively” for the project in recent weeks, say people familiar with Apple’s plans for the wearable device, a move that shows it has stepped up development but which raises questions over the ability of its own engineers to develop wearable technology.
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As Apple moves from iPods, iPhones and iPads into an entirely new category of product, it is looking beyond its existing staff in Cupertino for the talent required to build it – an indication that the endeavour involves “hard engineering problems that they’ve not been able to solve”, according to one source.
Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, could still decide not to launch the product, just as past ideas have been scrapped, these people said. However, the iWatch – a brand for which Apple has made several applications to trademark – has now progressed from an exploratory phase to having several dozen employees dedicated to its development.
The timing of the hiring spree implied the iWatch would not be ready for launch until the latter part of next year, said people familiar with Apple’s thinking, a blow to some investors who have been eager to see evidence that Apple’s innovators still have the ability to create or redefine new product categories.
Apple declined to comment, but Mr Cook said in April’s earnings call: “Our teams are hard at work on some amazing new hardware, software and services that we can't wait to introduce this fall and throughout 2014.”
While that is expected to include a new lower-cost iPhone with colourful plastic casing later this year, Mr Cook has recently expressed enthusiasm for wearable technology. Speaking at an AllThingsD conference in June, he said it was an area “ripe for exploration” and “incredibly interesting”.
Earlier this month, Apple hired Paul Deneve, the outgoing chief executive of fashion house Yves Saint Laurent, to work on undefined “special projects”, reporting to Mr Cook. His experience in fashion and luxury goods has been seen as potentially useful in a move into watches, as well as branding.
Apple’s iWatch recruitment drive has included seeking out acquisitions of early-stage start-ups working on connected devices. Making so-called “acqui-hires” such as this has become common practice in Silicon Valley, where engineering talent carries a high premium, even for top companies such as Apple.
But with its stock price still far below its highs and facing growing interest in hardware and mobile software from neighbours such as Google and Facebook, retaining rank-and-file employees will be a challenge for Apple, say former employees and those recruiting at other firms.
One senior member of the iWatch team, who had been considering leaving the company, decided to stay after being awarded a substantial pay increase, according to one source.
Apple is not the only company looking to recruit talent for wearable technology in Silicon Valley. Almost all of Apple’s rivals, including Google and Samsung, as well as start-ups such as Pebble and even PC manufacturer Dell, are working on smart watches or similar devices.
Apple has embarked on a hiring spree to tackle design problems with its “iWatch” wrist computer, bringing in fresh expertise amid concern that the launch of its first new product since the death of Steve Jobs could be at least a year away.
The company has begun hiring “aggressively” for the project in recent weeks, say people familiar with Apple’s plans for the wearable device, a move that shows it has stepped up development but which raises questions over the ability of its own engineers to develop wearable technology.
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As Apple moves from iPods, iPhones and iPads into an entirely new category of product, it is looking beyond its existing staff in Cupertino for the talent required to build it – an indication that the endeavour involves “hard engineering problems that they’ve not been able to solve”, according to one source.
Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, could still decide not to launch the product, just as past ideas have been scrapped, these people said. However, the iWatch – a brand for which Apple has made several applications to trademark – has now progressed from an exploratory phase to having several dozen employees dedicated to its development.
The timing of the hiring spree implied the iWatch would not be ready for launch until the latter part of next year, said people familiar with Apple’s thinking, a blow to some investors who have been eager to see evidence that Apple’s innovators still have the ability to create or redefine new product categories.
Apple declined to comment, but Mr Cook said in April’s earnings call: “Our teams are hard at work on some amazing new hardware, software and services that we can't wait to introduce this fall and throughout 2014.”
While that is expected to include a new lower-cost iPhone with colourful plastic casing later this year, Mr Cook has recently expressed enthusiasm for wearable technology. Speaking at an AllThingsD conference in June, he said it was an area “ripe for exploration” and “incredibly interesting”.
Earlier this month, Apple hired Paul Deneve, the outgoing chief executive of fashion house Yves Saint Laurent, to work on undefined “special projects”, reporting to Mr Cook. His experience in fashion and luxury goods has been seen as potentially useful in a move into watches, as well as branding.
Apple’s iWatch recruitment drive has included seeking out acquisitions of early-stage start-ups working on connected devices. Making so-called “acqui-hires” such as this has become common practice in Silicon Valley, where engineering talent carries a high premium, even for top companies such as Apple.
But with its stock price still far below its highs and facing growing interest in hardware and mobile software from neighbours such as Google and Facebook, retaining rank-and-file employees will be a challenge for Apple, say former employees and those recruiting at other firms.
One senior member of the iWatch team, who had been considering leaving the company, decided to stay after being awarded a substantial pay increase, according to one source.
Apple is not the only company looking to recruit talent for wearable technology in Silicon Valley. Almost all of Apple’s rivals, including Google and Samsung, as well as start-ups such as Pebble and even PC manufacturer Dell, are working on smart watches or similar devices.
Recognized as Common Distribution Release 2
Microsoft published specifics of its upcoming Windows Phone 8 update on
Thursday, revealing the minor modifications which can be as a consequence of
roll out shortly. Recognized as Common Distribution Release 2 (GDR2), the update
contains fixes to Xbox Music to supply correct metadata, the restoration of the
FM radio function, a Information Sense app that's not exclusive to specific
carriers, and a new choice to set a Lens app as the default camera. You can find
some HTML5 updates in World-wide-web Explorer, enhanced Skype and Lync
stability, and Gmail CardDAV / CalDAV assistance, but general the alterations
are extremely minor for an update eight months just after the original Windows
Telephone 8 release.
In accordance with sources acquainted with Microsoft's Windows Telephone plans, the enterprise is inside a "shut up and ship" mode. We're told that the lack of significant adjustments is resulting from the focus on Windows Phone's "Blue" update. The future update, anticipated in early 2014, looks set to include a notification center, improved multitasking, and alterations to built-in apps. We realize that Microsoft is taking into consideration back porting a few of the "Blue" options, such as a rotation lock selection, to a GDR3 update due later this year. Any ported attributes are mentioned to support future hardware arriving later this year, and occasionally in the request of particular phone makers like Nokia. In comparison, Windows 8.1 consists of a complete host of adjustments and feature additions made for tablets and PCs that is anticipated to be delivered in late August ?a just ten months following the original Windows 8 release.
We've learned that Microsoft had planned to roll out a variety of Windows Telephone updates more frequently, but delays in testing new chipsets and bugs in some of the GDR updates have slowed down feature additions. A single unique bug with unbranded devices not sold by carriers is said to possess impacted the way a handset is identified on a network. We're told that Microsoft had a hard time fixing this distinct challenge, resulting in delays to other planned operate.
We're told that a lot of the concentrate for Windows Phone software improvements is related to hardware release and refreshes. The future GDR3 update will include things like support for 5- and 6-inch Windows Phones with 1080p resolutions, and quad-core chipsets. These devices will debut later this year, and Microsoft has been operating closely with OEMs to make sure Windows Telephone involves the hardware help needed. Microsoft revealed on Thursday that together with Nokia it "shared early builds of application and hardware" to ready the Lumia 1020. "I wrote greater than ten pages of feedback myself on the Nokia Pro Camera app because it was becoming developed," says Microsoft's Joe Belfiore.
The message from Microsoft on Windows Phone updates is mixed. Though the business promised a year ago that it was making an enthusiasts program to provide early access to updates, Microsoft has however to detail when it plans to deliver it. The system was said to "keep your phone fresher than ever prior to." For now though, all update signs point to early 2014. Microsoft confirmed it is arranging a "feature pack" update in the first half of subsequent year that could contain some enterprise improvements and VPN support. Regrettably, it is not sharing additional info about any other additions. It leaves Nokia and also other phone makers obtaining to depend on hardware selling points, realizing full well that the Windows Telephone software program and ecosystem nonetheless lags the competitors.
http://www.windows7retailbox.com/microsoft-windows-7-professional-3264-bit-full-retail-pack-p-3527.html
In accordance with sources acquainted with Microsoft's Windows Telephone plans, the enterprise is inside a "shut up and ship" mode. We're told that the lack of significant adjustments is resulting from the focus on Windows Phone's "Blue" update. The future update, anticipated in early 2014, looks set to include a notification center, improved multitasking, and alterations to built-in apps. We realize that Microsoft is taking into consideration back porting a few of the "Blue" options, such as a rotation lock selection, to a GDR3 update due later this year. Any ported attributes are mentioned to support future hardware arriving later this year, and occasionally in the request of particular phone makers like Nokia. In comparison, Windows 8.1 consists of a complete host of adjustments and feature additions made for tablets and PCs that is anticipated to be delivered in late August ?a just ten months following the original Windows 8 release.
We've learned that Microsoft had planned to roll out a variety of Windows Telephone updates more frequently, but delays in testing new chipsets and bugs in some of the GDR updates have slowed down feature additions. A single unique bug with unbranded devices not sold by carriers is said to possess impacted the way a handset is identified on a network. We're told that Microsoft had a hard time fixing this distinct challenge, resulting in delays to other planned operate.
We're told that a lot of the concentrate for Windows Phone software improvements is related to hardware release and refreshes. The future GDR3 update will include things like support for 5- and 6-inch Windows Phones with 1080p resolutions, and quad-core chipsets. These devices will debut later this year, and Microsoft has been operating closely with OEMs to make sure Windows Telephone involves the hardware help needed. Microsoft revealed on Thursday that together with Nokia it "shared early builds of application and hardware" to ready the Lumia 1020. "I wrote greater than ten pages of feedback myself on the Nokia Pro Camera app because it was becoming developed," says Microsoft's Joe Belfiore.
The message from Microsoft on Windows Phone updates is mixed. Though the business promised a year ago that it was making an enthusiasts program to provide early access to updates, Microsoft has however to detail when it plans to deliver it. The system was said to "keep your phone fresher than ever prior to." For now though, all update signs point to early 2014. Microsoft confirmed it is arranging a "feature pack" update in the first half of subsequent year that could contain some enterprise improvements and VPN support. Regrettably, it is not sharing additional info about any other additions. It leaves Nokia and also other phone makers obtaining to depend on hardware selling points, realizing full well that the Windows Telephone software program and ecosystem nonetheless lags the competitors.
http://www.windows7retailbox.com/microsoft-windows-7-professional-3264-bit-full-retail-pack-p-3527.html
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