I’m sure you’ve heard the news by now: computer sales have been plummeting and it’s forecast that sales of tablets will outpacePCs as soon as 2015. Is this the end of the PC as we know it? Far from it. In fact, for evidence, just ask today’s high school seniors.
This week, all three of my kids are graduating high school (no, they’re not triplets. But close. Two are twins. The other is only eleven months older). It’s a bittersweet and exciting time for our entire family. We’ll miss them when they all leave for their respective colleges in August. But then again we’ll be coming home to a clean house. So there is an upside. At least until Thanksgiving break.
As a graduation gift from a combined group of people in our family, each kid was given enough money to help subsidize the purchase of a college computer this summer. And so I asked each one of them: what will you buy: a MacBook or an iPad? The answer was unanimous. What do you think it was?
I know you’re very excited for the answer, but before I reveal that, I need to first make note of Apple AAPL -0.7%. All three of my kids, like most of their generation, have grown up on Apple products. In fact, two of them (the twins) were given free MacBooks to use for their entire four years of high school, a program initiated by our local school district. My older child, who attended a private school, bought his own.
This is the next generation. In just four years those completing high school this month will (hopefully) be entering the workforce or going to graduate school. This is a generation that will be demanding Apple products. They will expect their technology to be as user friendly, fast, and reliable as their MacBooks, iPads and iPhones are today. They will not be accustomed to Windows. They will not tolerate poor quality. Then again, by the time they hit their stride it may not matter much anyway as most of what they’ll be doing will be on the cloud. But companies must be prepared for this reality. If this trend continues and, subject to lots of other unforeseen factors, it appears obvious to me that Apple’s share in office technology is poised to significantly grow over the next decade if only to accommodate the expectations of the next generation of workers who are now and will soon be arriving.
So without question my kids all plan to use their graduation cash for an Apple product. Getting a Windows 8 computer never even entered into the conversation. In fact, they tell me that arriving at their new university with a Windows 8 device would raise eyebrows among their fellow incoming freshman. “Why would you buy that?” they would likely be asked, according to my daughter. Maybe she’s right. Maybe not. But the very fact that this would be a concern for an 18 year old should also be a concern for Microsoft MSFT -0.62%.
Enough about that. Let’s assume that, for a college student, it’s an Apple world. Which brings me back to the original question: assuming you could afford both, which one do you take with you to college? A MacBook? Or an iPad? It’s the same question that’s being asked now by millions of employers and employees around the world. Do I ditch the laptop? Do I get a tablet? The answer is important, particularly for those that manufacture these computers. And if you manufacture laptops, particularly MacBooks, you can breathe a sigh of relief.
All three of my kids, without fail, plan to purchase new MacBooks. They might not be able to afford the higher end MacBook Air. They’ll definitely take advantage of the discounts offered by their colleges. They may even consider something used. But they are buying MacBooks. Not iPads. And the reasons are obvious.
Laptops, like the MacBook, are work devices. They are used to do essays, write papers, surf the web, perform analysis and submit assignments. And it doesn’t matter what your specialty is. All three of my kids are taking history, math and science classes and I’m predicting that they all will wind up focusing on either business or science. Whatever the curriculum, they will need a computing device that’s a work device. Sure, they’ll want it to provide entertainment too, access to Facebook FB +4.5%, an option to send the occasional tweet, the ability to watch movies and stream music. But first and foremost they’ll need a computer.
And a tablet is not a computer. It’s a recreation device. It can be used to type out the odd email or quick status update. But take a look around you. People are using their iPads for reading books, perusing magazines, watching videos, surfing social media. Future employees, particularly those that need to be filling out forms like purchase requisitions, time sheets and workorders will be using their iPads and other tablets as data input devices. But those that will be writing reports, creating spreadsheets, responding to multiple emails and designing new products will need a work device, not a recreation device. And that will always be a laptop, not a tablet.
Laptops are faster and more powerful than tablets. Their screens are bigger. Their keyboards are better. They are becoming lighter and lighter. They hold more local data (and even in this cloud based world it’s still much faster to do work locally). They can run many productive programs that a student or employee needs to do their work and all at the same time. Many do (and will soon) offer both mouse and touch screen functionality. They are just better working tools. It seems like even a high school kid knows that.
So why the big fall in PC sales? That’s easy: up until only a few years ago a PC or laptop was our only choice. And lots of people had more than one because they needed something for when they were mobile. And that was primarily just to check email or some other non-intensive task. Tablets like the iPad can now serve that purpose for those types of users. But the student, the employee, the business owner, the professional, the tech person…they will always need a more full-functioning, productive device.
Which is why the bottom hasn’t fallen out of the PC market. It’s significantly declined as a result of other choices we now have available. But, like newspapers, books and terrestrial radio, PC sales won’t ever go away. There will always be a strong market for laptops. If you don’t believe me, just ask any kid going to college. You may think it’s all fun and games away from home. But when given the choice, they’ll take a work device over a fun device.
2013年6月10日星期一
Windows 8 touch-compatible accessories
Some of the biggest changes in Windows 8 have been around the touch interface. You can still use a traditional keyboard and mouse should you wish, but there are a host of compatible devices that make interacting with touch even easier. Naturally, if you have a laptop the touch screen will be the first port of call when you’re on the go. However, there are other accessories that help you make the most of the new features in Windows 8 when you’re in the office or back at home.
It might not seem obvious but a touch-compatible mouse will really help you make the most of Windows 8. There’s the convenience of having traditional features like left or right click at your fingertips and the added advantage of touch compatibility there too. By far the biggest advantage to these new touch-enabled devices is that they add gesture support. You’ll be able to pinch-to-zoom, call up the Windows 8 charms and more.
The TP713 from Dell is a simple slab that allows you to interact naturally with the Windows 8 interface using just your fingers. All the gesture controls you’re used to using on-screen are available in a more comfortable setup at your desk. The TP713 takes just two AAA batteries and is much more portable than a traditional mouse given that it’s a flat square. It’s wireless too, using a simple USB dongle to communicate, so there’s no unsightly wires cluttering up your desk.
One inevitable side effect of using a touch-screen PC of any type is that eventually the screen itself will be come smeared with fingerprints. To avoid this you should invest in a cleaning kit to make sure your monitor is always looking shiny and new. There are plenty to choose from, but make sure you go for one that specifically states it’s for an LCD touch screen device.
It might not seem obvious but a touch-compatible mouse will really help you make the most of Windows 8. There’s the convenience of having traditional features like left or right click at your fingertips and the added advantage of touch compatibility there too. By far the biggest advantage to these new touch-enabled devices is that they add gesture support. You’ll be able to pinch-to-zoom, call up the Windows 8 charms and more.
The TP713 from Dell is a simple slab that allows you to interact naturally with the Windows 8 interface using just your fingers. All the gesture controls you’re used to using on-screen are available in a more comfortable setup at your desk. The TP713 takes just two AAA batteries and is much more portable than a traditional mouse given that it’s a flat square. It’s wireless too, using a simple USB dongle to communicate, so there’s no unsightly wires cluttering up your desk.
One inevitable side effect of using a touch-screen PC of any type is that eventually the screen itself will be come smeared with fingerprints. To avoid this you should invest in a cleaning kit to make sure your monitor is always looking shiny and new. There are plenty to choose from, but make sure you go for one that specifically states it’s for an LCD touch screen device.
2013年5月30日星期四
Windows 8.1 unveiled: new apps, new features and the return of the Start button
How big of an upgrade is Windows 8.1? Put it this way: we just might need to review the OS all over again. Microsoft just unveiled the first major update to Windows 8, and it includes tweaks to nearly every aspect of the operating system: the lock screen, Start menu, Windows Store and onscreen keyboard. As we saw in some leaked screenshots, Microsoft also updated its native apps and added some new ones, including a stopwatch and fresh calculator. In some cases, the update even changes the way you interact with the OS. Yes, that means the Start button is back (sort of). You can now snap more than two windows into place, depending on your screen resolution, and also adjust the width of those columns so that it's not necessarily an 80 / 20 split. Additionally, Microsoft revamped the way built-in search works so that it's now more of a universal search engine, serving up apps, files, settings options and web suggestions.
As you might have guessed, some of these revisions are a response to feedback Microsoft has received in the past seven months. In other cases, like with the new settings menu, they were part of Microsoft's plan all along -- the engineering team just didn't get to them before it was time to ship the first version of Win 8. As we reported earlier, Windows 8.1 will be available as a free update (in preview) starting June 26th, the day Microsoft's Build developer conference kicks off. We'd still encourage you to follow our Build coverage, however, as Microsoft will be making additional announcements then, particularly with regard to its first-party apps. Also, Microsoft is only sharing a handful of screenshots today, so we'll have to wait until June 26th to give you the full visual tour. For now, though, join us after the break as we walk you through all the major (and not-so-major) changes.
Why bother burying the lede? Better to start off by answering the question everyone is most interested in: did Microsoft really bring back the Start button? Yes, but probably not in the way you expected. With this update, the Start button sits in the lower-left corner and is always visible, so you no longer need to hover with your mouse to make it appear. (To be clear, you can't disable the Start button.) In an interview, a Microsoft rep pointed out that this brings a little extra visual continuity, as the Start button has the same flag logo you'll find on your tablet, keyboard, etc. But Microsoft also admits this new setup will feel more familiar to users, many of whom have complained about the loss of the Start button. Still, if you were hoping for a return to fly-out menu trees, you're going to be disappointed.
Microsoft seems to understand, too, that some users have found it jarring to constantly switch between the traditional desktop and the modern Start Screen. To help make the whole experience feel more cohesive, the company is also allowing users to have the same background photo for both the desktop and Start Screen. So, when you hit the Start button, it doesn't feel like you're being whisked into a completely different part of the OS; instead, it looks more like the Live Tiles are popping up on top of the desktop. We know, we know: that's not technically what's happening, but you get what we mean: the transition feels seamless.
From the moment you boot up your PC, you'll notice something different about Windows. With this latest update, you can have a slideshow running in the background, so that you're not limited to just one photo. In particular, those photos can be locally stored, but they might also come from SkyDrive (and by extension, whatever Windows Phone handset you happen to be using). Also, Microsoft is able to create seasonal slideshows based on when your photos were taken, so if your spouse's birthday is in January, you might see photos from earlier birthdays come the first of the year.
Additionally, you can do quite a bit more now from the lock screen. For starters, you can accept Skype voice and video calls, similar to the way you can already answer your phone without having to punch in a password first. You can also take photos too, which will probably come in handiest on tablet-type devices. To do this, just swipe down to reveal the camera UI. And no, to answer the question you're about to ask, you can't use that as a backdoor way of getting into the photo library. Meaning, if you hand your tablet to a friend to take a shot, he won't be able to see all your previous pics; just the shot he took a few seconds before. Long story short: your selfies are safe.
This shouldn't come as much of a surprise -- the cat's already out of the bag -- but Microsoft updated the Start Screen with two additional tile sizes. You'll probably notice the supersized ones first; these take up about as much space as four regular ones, and are especially well-suited to email or weather updates -- things where there's a lot of information to see. Additionally, Microsoft added some extra-small tiles, which take up a quarter of the space of a standard tile. Maybe you want to use that option with apps you rarely access. In any case, when you're ready to customize your setup, just press and hold an app, then select the resize option.
What's especially nice about Windows 8.1, though, is that you can cut down on the tile clutter altogether. Now, when you download an app, it doesn't go straight to the Start Screen; instead, it lives in the app menu. That should come as a relief to anybody who impulsively downloaded a bunch of freebies from the Windows Store, only to let them sit there. Also, if you do have a big selection of apps, finding the one you want should be a little easier going forward. First off, Microsoft added a gesture wherein you can swipe upward on the Start Screen to reveal the app menu. (There will also be an onscreen arrow button you can click if you're using a mouse.) Once you're there, you can sort your apps not just alphabetically, but also by category, date installed and most used.
And say you do want an app to live on the Start Screen. From the app menu, you can press and hold an app and then follow the onscreen instructions to create a Live Tile. What's neat is that you can also make all these adjustments in batches: just press and hold as many apps as you like, and then give them all the same tile size, or move them into a group. It's a more convenient way of creating groups, for sure, but Microsoft is actually hoping the benefits will be two-fold: by interacting with the Live Tiles this way, you're unlikely to accidentally move apps around simply by swiping the Start Screen, which is something a lot of people have complained about, according to Microsoft.
Finally, the Start Screen is getting some new personalization options. Now, when you select a background, you get to choose from a sliding scale, so the options are much more nuanced than they were before. Also, Microsoft is introducing some moving backgrounds -- things like floating robots and a dragon with a wagging tail. All told, they're sort of like the live backgrounds on Android, just a bit more subtle.
Before we talk about what's new in search, it might help if we recap the way it works now. Currently, if you were to search for, say, Angry Birds, you'd see a list in the right-hand pane with links for relevant apps, files and settings. So, if you were looking to launch the game Angry Birds, you'd hit "apps." If you wanted to bring up a draft essay on the history of Angry Birds, you'd select "files." If there were an Angry Birds-related setting in the Control Panel, well, you get the idea.
That's how we search for things today. But come June 26th, Windows will serve up direct links to apps, files, settings and web suggestions. That means no more clicking "apps"; you can just get to the Angry Birds app with one less tap. Additionally, you can play music from search, and it'll bring up either songs you already have in your library, or tracks you've added to your collection in Xbox Music. So, for example, you can type "play Janis Joplin" in the search bar, and then you're one tap away from listening to Janis, so long as you have some of her music already or already added her to your list in Xbox Music.
But there's still a big piece of the story left, and it's more than just a revision of the way Windows displays search results. Say you search for something the way you would on Bing. Maybe you type in "Kate Upton" because you want to see her Sports Illustrated cover, or know how old she is. As ever, Windows will scan your files, apps, etc. for mentions of Kate. But it might also provide a link inviting you to learn more about Kate Upton. Click that and you'll get what's called a "Search Hero," which can only be described as a curated app with content related to whatever it is you just searched for (note: not all search queries will yield Search Heroes).
In terms of the layout, it actually looks very similar to the Bing News app, where you can already see a mix of stories, photos and videos. Except in this case, it's an app with just Kate Upton tidbits. As you click around, you may get tossed over to other programs; if you hit "read more about Kate Upton," for instance, Windows will open your Wikipedia application. It's a very rich experience, as you can see, and customizable, too: you can even sort photos by color. Want to see a photo of J. Lo that time she wore a dress with a neckline down to her belly button? Just filter for the color green and you should be set.
As we noticed even in those leaked screenshots, Windows 8.1 takes a looser approach to multitasking. For one thing, you can snap more than two windows in alongside each other, depending on your dpi and screen resolution. For instance, the Microsoft rep leading our demo was using a new Toshiba Kirabook with a 220-ppi, 2,560 x 1,440 screen, and that was enough to support four side-by-side programs. In addition to supporting more windows, though, the new OS also allows you to adjust the sizing of each windowpane so that you're not forced to put them in an 80 / 20 split. Now you can go 50 / 50 if you like, or maybe 60 / 40.
Really, though, Microsoft hopes you don't have to do that much fiddling with the window size: the company's engineers have coded the new OS so that it intelligently chooses the ratio for you, depending on what you're doing. For instance, if you open a photo from an email it'll open as a 60 / 40 split, with the photo getting more screen real estate. If you click on a link in a message, however, it'll be a 50 / 50 layout by default.
The Windows Store has also been overhauled, with larger tiles and more info under each app listing (for things like the rating, et cetera). It's a little easier to find the top paid / top free charts, which you can get to by swiping left. You can also swipe down from the top to see a list of all the categories, if that's how you'd rather search. To that end, Microsoft's introducing a new recommendation engine to make it easier to discover apps you haven't heard of yet. Based on a variety of factors (what apps you have, what's highly rated), the Windows Store will show related apps every time you're on a download page, considering whether or not to buy something. That's nice for consumers, of course, but it's good for developers too, who now have a better chance of their apps getting noticed. And we all know how Ballmer feels about developers.
Lastly, and this isn't really a design change so much as a behind-the-scenes one, apps will now automatically update in the background. So it's unlikely you'll ever fire up the Netflix app again only to realize you need to update it first.
As we hinted in the intro, the onscreen keyboard in Windows 8 has received a serious makeover. Starting with the most significant update (in our humble opinion), you can now long-press a key to get to certain secondary functions. In this layout, for instance, the "T" key doubles as the "5" button, so if it's that number you're after, you can long-press "T" and then tap a little pop-up with "5" on it. This works for entering punctuation symbols, too, as well as special characters like an umlaut. And by the way, you don't need a German keyboard to get an umlaut; regardless of what language you have set up, you can get at all sorts of special characters, even ones that aren't common in your native tongue. Speaking of which, these new keyboard features will be available for all of the 109 languages that Microsoft fully supports in Windows 8, though so-called language packs don't count.
As it turns out, once you get the hang of this new keyboard, you don't even need to do a long-press when you want to enter special characters. For instance, once you learn that the exclamation mark pop-up is due north of the question mark button, you can just swipe your finger up on the question mark key and the keyboard will understand you meant to add an exclamation mark. So far as we can tell, it works reliably: the Microsoft rep doing the demo never accidentally hit the Enter key while swiping up. Still, we'd prefer to reserve full judgment until we can test this ourselves -- it's not like the Microsoft team has had time practice or anything, right?
Additionally, the new keyboard has pop-up spelling suggestions -- three in total, every time. As a time-saver, you can hit the space key to cycle through suggestions so that you don't have to take your hands off the keyboard. Finally, Microsoft revised its algorithms so that accuracy is now rated at about 90 percent, up from around 60.
Windows 8 has always had a SkyDrive app, but with this latest update, Microsoft's cloud service is built much more deeply into the OS itself. Basically, until now the app has been just a mirror into what you had stored on SkyDrive.com. It didn't sync automatically; you had to manually upload files to the site before anything new showed up in the Windows app. Now, it's constantly syncing in the background, regardless of whether you have the app open or not. Specifically, what you'll see when you launch the application are so-called stubs -- previews just detailed enough to remind you what the file actually contains. Once you click on it, though, you'll need to wait for your computer to download the full document, which hopefully shouldn't take long. As time goes on, too, you can specify what kinds of content SkyDrive syncs in the background; if you don't want to automatically bring Word docs onto your PC, that's your call.
This is one of those things Microsoft just didn't get around to completing before the deadline for shipping Windows 8. In the current version, the Modern-styled settings menu only has a handful of options -- relatively few compared to what you'll find on the traditional Control Panel. Now, though, Microsoft's ported over all those advanced settings so that the PC settings menu mirrors the Control Panel. (Just with a prettier interface.) As a result, there's no longer a "Miscellaneous" category, since every setting now has a proper home.
IE
Internet Explorer generally looks the same, except for one big difference: the tabs now sit at the bottom of the page, just above the address bar. In addition, you can now open an unlimited number of tabs in the Modern version of IE, which gives it more parity with the desktop version of the browser.
Photos
For those of you who thought the built-in Photos app was a tad perfunctory, Microsoft's updating it with all sorts of editing tools, including auto fix, temperature, tint, saturation, color and "Basic Fixes," which is exactly what it sounds like. Also included: various effects and photo filters, similar to what you'd already expect on a typical phone or tablet. A partial list includes: retouching, redeye, crop, selective focus and vignetting.
Lastly, there's a neat Color Enhance tool that lets you adjust the color on one specific part of the picture (say, the blue of the ocean). We watched a Microsoft rep demo this, but didn't get to try it ourselves, so this is probably something we want to circle back on when we eventually publish our first hands-on piece.
Xbox Music
We suspect Microsoft is going to do a deeper dive on this at Build, but for now, here's a primer. All you need to know is that the Xbox Music app has gotten a big makeover so that the emphasis is more on your existing collection, rather than discovering new tracks. By default, your music is organized by artists, albums and songs, though you can, of course, still discover new content if you so choose. In particular, Microsoft said Xbox Music is getting a "Radio" feature, which is said to be like Smart DJ, only better. That's all we know for now -- and it's really not much -- which means Microsoft will almost certainly need to follow up at Build with more details.
Reading List
According to Microsoft, many users have been asking for a bookmarking feature -- a way to share things with themselves in addition to other people. Well, for those of you who can't live without services like Instapaper or Pocket, Microsoft is introducing Reading List, an app that saves all the interesting things you found online, but wanted to save for later. When you're ready to clip something, just hit the Share button in the Charms Bar and select the Reading List option. Oh, and your bookmarks will roam from one Windows 8 device to another. Eventually, Microsoft will add support for Windows Phone handsets too, just not at launch.
The app itself is styled in much the same way as Microsoft's other first-party apps, with large tiles you swipe through from left to right. When you open something in the application, the article will take up most of the screen, with Reading List snapped into place along the side, taking up about 20 percent of the screen. Of course, though, now that those side-by-side windows are resizable, you can rejigger the ratio any way you like.
Calculator
It's hard to believe Windows 8 didn't ship with a Modern-style Calculator app, but it's true: until now, we've only had the classic calculator on the desktop. Now, Microsoft is adding a calculator for the Modern UI, which we actually tried out back when an early build of Windows 8.1 got leaked. As we reported at the time, you can use it as either a numeric or scientific calculator. Also, perhaps best of all, it does unit conversions -- everything from length to weight to temperature.
Alarms
Here's another Windows app we sometimes forget we didn't already have. The new version of the OS will bring an alarms application that does triple duty as a stopwatch and countdown timer as well. Admittedly we didn't spend much time with this in our demo, but we can say that setting the time is both fun and easy: just spin your finger around the clock until you have it set to the time you want.
Bing Food & Drink
Now this is pretty cool. As the name suggests, Food & Drink is an app where, among other things, you can find recipes. What makes it noteworthy, though, is that Microsoft added a hands-free mode, allowing you to flip pages in a recipe without touching the screen. Just wave your hand in front of the webcam, and the app will move on to the next page, sparing you from having to touch the screen with your greasy, sauce-covered fingers. And because all you need is a camera, it should work on all sorts of legacy devices, even those without any sort of fancy gesture-control technology baked in.
As for those "other things" we alluded to, you can use the app to plan meals, create shopping lists and learn new skills, like sharpening knives.
Bing Health & Fitness
This, too, is mostly self-explanatory. With Health & Fitness, you can monitor your nutrition habits, exercise routine and even your overall health. Let's focus on that last bit, because it's what makes this unique from other fitness-tracking apps, like Fitbit, et cetera. Using the app, you can tap an onscreen diagram of a body to indicate what sorts of symptoms you're experiencing. From there, Dr. Microsoft attempts to diagnose you, using medical information pulled in from various online sources. In an interview, Microsoft assured us it's only bothering with "reputable" services, but we've yet to see a full list. Even then, common sense still applies: if you normally wouldn't let WebMD diagnose you with a sinus infection, you can take this app with a grain of salt too.
See what we mean when we say we might have to review Windows 8 all over again? The final word count here is longer than on most product reviews, and this is just a news announcement, not even a hands-on! We'll be back with more detailed coverage next month, when Windows 8.1 becomes available for download and when we get a chance to try it ourselves (as opposed to a guided demo). And be sure to follow our Build coverage, as Microsoft has already promised it will have more news to share, particularly around its various apps.
As you might have guessed, some of these revisions are a response to feedback Microsoft has received in the past seven months. In other cases, like with the new settings menu, they were part of Microsoft's plan all along -- the engineering team just didn't get to them before it was time to ship the first version of Win 8. As we reported earlier, Windows 8.1 will be available as a free update (in preview) starting June 26th, the day Microsoft's Build developer conference kicks off. We'd still encourage you to follow our Build coverage, however, as Microsoft will be making additional announcements then, particularly with regard to its first-party apps. Also, Microsoft is only sharing a handful of screenshots today, so we'll have to wait until June 26th to give you the full visual tour. For now, though, join us after the break as we walk you through all the major (and not-so-major) changes.
Why bother burying the lede? Better to start off by answering the question everyone is most interested in: did Microsoft really bring back the Start button? Yes, but probably not in the way you expected. With this update, the Start button sits in the lower-left corner and is always visible, so you no longer need to hover with your mouse to make it appear. (To be clear, you can't disable the Start button.) In an interview, a Microsoft rep pointed out that this brings a little extra visual continuity, as the Start button has the same flag logo you'll find on your tablet, keyboard, etc. But Microsoft also admits this new setup will feel more familiar to users, many of whom have complained about the loss of the Start button. Still, if you were hoping for a return to fly-out menu trees, you're going to be disappointed.
Microsoft seems to understand, too, that some users have found it jarring to constantly switch between the traditional desktop and the modern Start Screen. To help make the whole experience feel more cohesive, the company is also allowing users to have the same background photo for both the desktop and Start Screen. So, when you hit the Start button, it doesn't feel like you're being whisked into a completely different part of the OS; instead, it looks more like the Live Tiles are popping up on top of the desktop. We know, we know: that's not technically what's happening, but you get what we mean: the transition feels seamless.
From the moment you boot up your PC, you'll notice something different about Windows. With this latest update, you can have a slideshow running in the background, so that you're not limited to just one photo. In particular, those photos can be locally stored, but they might also come from SkyDrive (and by extension, whatever Windows Phone handset you happen to be using). Also, Microsoft is able to create seasonal slideshows based on when your photos were taken, so if your spouse's birthday is in January, you might see photos from earlier birthdays come the first of the year.
Additionally, you can do quite a bit more now from the lock screen. For starters, you can accept Skype voice and video calls, similar to the way you can already answer your phone without having to punch in a password first. You can also take photos too, which will probably come in handiest on tablet-type devices. To do this, just swipe down to reveal the camera UI. And no, to answer the question you're about to ask, you can't use that as a backdoor way of getting into the photo library. Meaning, if you hand your tablet to a friend to take a shot, he won't be able to see all your previous pics; just the shot he took a few seconds before. Long story short: your selfies are safe.
This shouldn't come as much of a surprise -- the cat's already out of the bag -- but Microsoft updated the Start Screen with two additional tile sizes. You'll probably notice the supersized ones first; these take up about as much space as four regular ones, and are especially well-suited to email or weather updates -- things where there's a lot of information to see. Additionally, Microsoft added some extra-small tiles, which take up a quarter of the space of a standard tile. Maybe you want to use that option with apps you rarely access. In any case, when you're ready to customize your setup, just press and hold an app, then select the resize option.
What's especially nice about Windows 8.1, though, is that you can cut down on the tile clutter altogether. Now, when you download an app, it doesn't go straight to the Start Screen; instead, it lives in the app menu. That should come as a relief to anybody who impulsively downloaded a bunch of freebies from the Windows Store, only to let them sit there. Also, if you do have a big selection of apps, finding the one you want should be a little easier going forward. First off, Microsoft added a gesture wherein you can swipe upward on the Start Screen to reveal the app menu. (There will also be an onscreen arrow button you can click if you're using a mouse.) Once you're there, you can sort your apps not just alphabetically, but also by category, date installed and most used.
And say you do want an app to live on the Start Screen. From the app menu, you can press and hold an app and then follow the onscreen instructions to create a Live Tile. What's neat is that you can also make all these adjustments in batches: just press and hold as many apps as you like, and then give them all the same tile size, or move them into a group. It's a more convenient way of creating groups, for sure, but Microsoft is actually hoping the benefits will be two-fold: by interacting with the Live Tiles this way, you're unlikely to accidentally move apps around simply by swiping the Start Screen, which is something a lot of people have complained about, according to Microsoft.
Finally, the Start Screen is getting some new personalization options. Now, when you select a background, you get to choose from a sliding scale, so the options are much more nuanced than they were before. Also, Microsoft is introducing some moving backgrounds -- things like floating robots and a dragon with a wagging tail. All told, they're sort of like the live backgrounds on Android, just a bit more subtle.
Before we talk about what's new in search, it might help if we recap the way it works now. Currently, if you were to search for, say, Angry Birds, you'd see a list in the right-hand pane with links for relevant apps, files and settings. So, if you were looking to launch the game Angry Birds, you'd hit "apps." If you wanted to bring up a draft essay on the history of Angry Birds, you'd select "files." If there were an Angry Birds-related setting in the Control Panel, well, you get the idea.
That's how we search for things today. But come June 26th, Windows will serve up direct links to apps, files, settings and web suggestions. That means no more clicking "apps"; you can just get to the Angry Birds app with one less tap. Additionally, you can play music from search, and it'll bring up either songs you already have in your library, or tracks you've added to your collection in Xbox Music. So, for example, you can type "play Janis Joplin" in the search bar, and then you're one tap away from listening to Janis, so long as you have some of her music already or already added her to your list in Xbox Music.
But there's still a big piece of the story left, and it's more than just a revision of the way Windows displays search results. Say you search for something the way you would on Bing. Maybe you type in "Kate Upton" because you want to see her Sports Illustrated cover, or know how old she is. As ever, Windows will scan your files, apps, etc. for mentions of Kate. But it might also provide a link inviting you to learn more about Kate Upton. Click that and you'll get what's called a "Search Hero," which can only be described as a curated app with content related to whatever it is you just searched for (note: not all search queries will yield Search Heroes).
In terms of the layout, it actually looks very similar to the Bing News app, where you can already see a mix of stories, photos and videos. Except in this case, it's an app with just Kate Upton tidbits. As you click around, you may get tossed over to other programs; if you hit "read more about Kate Upton," for instance, Windows will open your Wikipedia application. It's a very rich experience, as you can see, and customizable, too: you can even sort photos by color. Want to see a photo of J. Lo that time she wore a dress with a neckline down to her belly button? Just filter for the color green and you should be set.
As we noticed even in those leaked screenshots, Windows 8.1 takes a looser approach to multitasking. For one thing, you can snap more than two windows in alongside each other, depending on your dpi and screen resolution. For instance, the Microsoft rep leading our demo was using a new Toshiba Kirabook with a 220-ppi, 2,560 x 1,440 screen, and that was enough to support four side-by-side programs. In addition to supporting more windows, though, the new OS also allows you to adjust the sizing of each windowpane so that you're not forced to put them in an 80 / 20 split. Now you can go 50 / 50 if you like, or maybe 60 / 40.
Really, though, Microsoft hopes you don't have to do that much fiddling with the window size: the company's engineers have coded the new OS so that it intelligently chooses the ratio for you, depending on what you're doing. For instance, if you open a photo from an email it'll open as a 60 / 40 split, with the photo getting more screen real estate. If you click on a link in a message, however, it'll be a 50 / 50 layout by default.
The Windows Store has also been overhauled, with larger tiles and more info under each app listing (for things like the rating, et cetera). It's a little easier to find the top paid / top free charts, which you can get to by swiping left. You can also swipe down from the top to see a list of all the categories, if that's how you'd rather search. To that end, Microsoft's introducing a new recommendation engine to make it easier to discover apps you haven't heard of yet. Based on a variety of factors (what apps you have, what's highly rated), the Windows Store will show related apps every time you're on a download page, considering whether or not to buy something. That's nice for consumers, of course, but it's good for developers too, who now have a better chance of their apps getting noticed. And we all know how Ballmer feels about developers.
Lastly, and this isn't really a design change so much as a behind-the-scenes one, apps will now automatically update in the background. So it's unlikely you'll ever fire up the Netflix app again only to realize you need to update it first.
As we hinted in the intro, the onscreen keyboard in Windows 8 has received a serious makeover. Starting with the most significant update (in our humble opinion), you can now long-press a key to get to certain secondary functions. In this layout, for instance, the "T" key doubles as the "5" button, so if it's that number you're after, you can long-press "T" and then tap a little pop-up with "5" on it. This works for entering punctuation symbols, too, as well as special characters like an umlaut. And by the way, you don't need a German keyboard to get an umlaut; regardless of what language you have set up, you can get at all sorts of special characters, even ones that aren't common in your native tongue. Speaking of which, these new keyboard features will be available for all of the 109 languages that Microsoft fully supports in Windows 8, though so-called language packs don't count.
As it turns out, once you get the hang of this new keyboard, you don't even need to do a long-press when you want to enter special characters. For instance, once you learn that the exclamation mark pop-up is due north of the question mark button, you can just swipe your finger up on the question mark key and the keyboard will understand you meant to add an exclamation mark. So far as we can tell, it works reliably: the Microsoft rep doing the demo never accidentally hit the Enter key while swiping up. Still, we'd prefer to reserve full judgment until we can test this ourselves -- it's not like the Microsoft team has had time practice or anything, right?
Additionally, the new keyboard has pop-up spelling suggestions -- three in total, every time. As a time-saver, you can hit the space key to cycle through suggestions so that you don't have to take your hands off the keyboard. Finally, Microsoft revised its algorithms so that accuracy is now rated at about 90 percent, up from around 60.
Windows 8 has always had a SkyDrive app, but with this latest update, Microsoft's cloud service is built much more deeply into the OS itself. Basically, until now the app has been just a mirror into what you had stored on SkyDrive.com. It didn't sync automatically; you had to manually upload files to the site before anything new showed up in the Windows app. Now, it's constantly syncing in the background, regardless of whether you have the app open or not. Specifically, what you'll see when you launch the application are so-called stubs -- previews just detailed enough to remind you what the file actually contains. Once you click on it, though, you'll need to wait for your computer to download the full document, which hopefully shouldn't take long. As time goes on, too, you can specify what kinds of content SkyDrive syncs in the background; if you don't want to automatically bring Word docs onto your PC, that's your call.
This is one of those things Microsoft just didn't get around to completing before the deadline for shipping Windows 8. In the current version, the Modern-styled settings menu only has a handful of options -- relatively few compared to what you'll find on the traditional Control Panel. Now, though, Microsoft's ported over all those advanced settings so that the PC settings menu mirrors the Control Panel. (Just with a prettier interface.) As a result, there's no longer a "Miscellaneous" category, since every setting now has a proper home.
IE
Internet Explorer generally looks the same, except for one big difference: the tabs now sit at the bottom of the page, just above the address bar. In addition, you can now open an unlimited number of tabs in the Modern version of IE, which gives it more parity with the desktop version of the browser.
Photos
For those of you who thought the built-in Photos app was a tad perfunctory, Microsoft's updating it with all sorts of editing tools, including auto fix, temperature, tint, saturation, color and "Basic Fixes," which is exactly what it sounds like. Also included: various effects and photo filters, similar to what you'd already expect on a typical phone or tablet. A partial list includes: retouching, redeye, crop, selective focus and vignetting.
Lastly, there's a neat Color Enhance tool that lets you adjust the color on one specific part of the picture (say, the blue of the ocean). We watched a Microsoft rep demo this, but didn't get to try it ourselves, so this is probably something we want to circle back on when we eventually publish our first hands-on piece.
Xbox Music
We suspect Microsoft is going to do a deeper dive on this at Build, but for now, here's a primer. All you need to know is that the Xbox Music app has gotten a big makeover so that the emphasis is more on your existing collection, rather than discovering new tracks. By default, your music is organized by artists, albums and songs, though you can, of course, still discover new content if you so choose. In particular, Microsoft said Xbox Music is getting a "Radio" feature, which is said to be like Smart DJ, only better. That's all we know for now -- and it's really not much -- which means Microsoft will almost certainly need to follow up at Build with more details.
Reading List
According to Microsoft, many users have been asking for a bookmarking feature -- a way to share things with themselves in addition to other people. Well, for those of you who can't live without services like Instapaper or Pocket, Microsoft is introducing Reading List, an app that saves all the interesting things you found online, but wanted to save for later. When you're ready to clip something, just hit the Share button in the Charms Bar and select the Reading List option. Oh, and your bookmarks will roam from one Windows 8 device to another. Eventually, Microsoft will add support for Windows Phone handsets too, just not at launch.
The app itself is styled in much the same way as Microsoft's other first-party apps, with large tiles you swipe through from left to right. When you open something in the application, the article will take up most of the screen, with Reading List snapped into place along the side, taking up about 20 percent of the screen. Of course, though, now that those side-by-side windows are resizable, you can rejigger the ratio any way you like.
Calculator
It's hard to believe Windows 8 didn't ship with a Modern-style Calculator app, but it's true: until now, we've only had the classic calculator on the desktop. Now, Microsoft is adding a calculator for the Modern UI, which we actually tried out back when an early build of Windows 8.1 got leaked. As we reported at the time, you can use it as either a numeric or scientific calculator. Also, perhaps best of all, it does unit conversions -- everything from length to weight to temperature.
Alarms
Here's another Windows app we sometimes forget we didn't already have. The new version of the OS will bring an alarms application that does triple duty as a stopwatch and countdown timer as well. Admittedly we didn't spend much time with this in our demo, but we can say that setting the time is both fun and easy: just spin your finger around the clock until you have it set to the time you want.
Bing Food & Drink
Now this is pretty cool. As the name suggests, Food & Drink is an app where, among other things, you can find recipes. What makes it noteworthy, though, is that Microsoft added a hands-free mode, allowing you to flip pages in a recipe without touching the screen. Just wave your hand in front of the webcam, and the app will move on to the next page, sparing you from having to touch the screen with your greasy, sauce-covered fingers. And because all you need is a camera, it should work on all sorts of legacy devices, even those without any sort of fancy gesture-control technology baked in.
As for those "other things" we alluded to, you can use the app to plan meals, create shopping lists and learn new skills, like sharpening knives.
Bing Health & Fitness
This, too, is mostly self-explanatory. With Health & Fitness, you can monitor your nutrition habits, exercise routine and even your overall health. Let's focus on that last bit, because it's what makes this unique from other fitness-tracking apps, like Fitbit, et cetera. Using the app, you can tap an onscreen diagram of a body to indicate what sorts of symptoms you're experiencing. From there, Dr. Microsoft attempts to diagnose you, using medical information pulled in from various online sources. In an interview, Microsoft assured us it's only bothering with "reputable" services, but we've yet to see a full list. Even then, common sense still applies: if you normally wouldn't let WebMD diagnose you with a sinus infection, you can take this app with a grain of salt too.
See what we mean when we say we might have to review Windows 8 all over again? The final word count here is longer than on most product reviews, and this is just a news announcement, not even a hands-on! We'll be back with more detailed coverage next month, when Windows 8.1 becomes available for download and when we get a chance to try it ourselves (as opposed to a guided demo). And be sure to follow our Build coverage, as Microsoft has already promised it will have more news to share, particularly around its various apps.
Toshiba Offers a Business Laptop With Windows 8...or 7
While IT managers aren't exactly jumping at Windows 8, manufacturers are rising to the occasion to create new kinds of PCs that cater to the needs of enterprise. The Portégé Z10t is Toshiba's first take on a Windows 8 hybrid PC for business users.
Except it doesn't have to be a Windows 8 machine. Although the Z10t ships with Windows 8 Pro by default, customers can configure it to run 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows 7. This might help convince a few businesses to consider the Portégé, since recent research from Forrester Research points to enterprise customers basically skipping Windows 8.
Still, it's designed for touch: The Z10t is a hybrid, meaning it's a laptop until you detach the 11.6-inch screen from the keyboard dock and then it becomes a tablet. Similar to the Surface Pro, it ships with a pair of digitizing pens, and the screen has a fingerprint-resistant coating that makes it feel more like writing on paper. One pen is in the box; another slips into a hole on the device.
SEE ALSO: Toshiba Debuts a Windows 8 Laptop for the Filthy Rich
That coating also reduces glare, and the IPS (in-plane switching) LCD tech prevents brightness and color from dropping off too much if you view the screen from the side. From a brief hands-on with the new Portégé, I noticed that swiping was easier than on many gloss Windows 8 screens that are a little too "sticky."
The screen pops into the keyboard dock just by sliding down, but it won't come out again unless you slide the release button and lift. That way, users can still grab and carry the laptop by the screen when necessary. It weighs 3.1 pounds.
Customers can configure the Portégé Z10t with either an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and 128 or 256GB of storage. RAM is 4GB, but when Intel's Haswell chips arrive, Toshiba will offer an 8GB option. A fingerprint reader, which will be integrated on the top edge of the tablet, is optional.
In the few minutes I had to explore the Z10t, I found it to be an unremarkable hybrid PC, designed purely around function — exactly what you want in a workhorse machine. The matte screen makes the experience a little less "poppy" than you'd find on, say, a Surface Pro, but as an anti-glare feature, it works great.
The Portégé Z10t starts shipping today, starting at $1,499 (Core i5/128GB/4GB RAM), which includes a three-year warranty.
How do you like Toshiba's business hybrid? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Except it doesn't have to be a Windows 8 machine. Although the Z10t ships with Windows 8 Pro by default, customers can configure it to run 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows 7. This might help convince a few businesses to consider the Portégé, since recent research from Forrester Research points to enterprise customers basically skipping Windows 8.
Still, it's designed for touch: The Z10t is a hybrid, meaning it's a laptop until you detach the 11.6-inch screen from the keyboard dock and then it becomes a tablet. Similar to the Surface Pro, it ships with a pair of digitizing pens, and the screen has a fingerprint-resistant coating that makes it feel more like writing on paper. One pen is in the box; another slips into a hole on the device.
SEE ALSO: Toshiba Debuts a Windows 8 Laptop for the Filthy Rich
That coating also reduces glare, and the IPS (in-plane switching) LCD tech prevents brightness and color from dropping off too much if you view the screen from the side. From a brief hands-on with the new Portégé, I noticed that swiping was easier than on many gloss Windows 8 screens that are a little too "sticky."
The screen pops into the keyboard dock just by sliding down, but it won't come out again unless you slide the release button and lift. That way, users can still grab and carry the laptop by the screen when necessary. It weighs 3.1 pounds.
Customers can configure the Portégé Z10t with either an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor and 128 or 256GB of storage. RAM is 4GB, but when Intel's Haswell chips arrive, Toshiba will offer an 8GB option. A fingerprint reader, which will be integrated on the top edge of the tablet, is optional.
In the few minutes I had to explore the Z10t, I found it to be an unremarkable hybrid PC, designed purely around function — exactly what you want in a workhorse machine. The matte screen makes the experience a little less "poppy" than you'd find on, say, a Surface Pro, but as an anti-glare feature, it works great.
The Portégé Z10t starts shipping today, starting at $1,499 (Core i5/128GB/4GB RAM), which includes a three-year warranty.
How do you like Toshiba's business hybrid? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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