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Google debuts Chrome for Mac, Linux

Google released Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux Thursday--but only in rough developer preview versions that the company warns are works in progress.
"In order to get more feedback from developers, we have early developer channel versions of Google Chrome for Mac OS X and Linux, but whatever you do, please DON'T DOWNLOAD THEM," Google product managers Mike Smith and Karen Grunberg said in a blog post, evidently trying to employ a little reverse psychology. "Unless of course you are a developer or take great pleasure in incomplete, unpredictable, and potentially crashing software."
Until now, Google's open-source browser has been a Windows-only product, and some Mac and Linux users have been clamoring for their own version. Google coders have been working to rebuild some Chrome components, such as its graphical interface and its sandbox that isolates different processes from each other, to move beyond just Windows.



Google offers three versions of Chrome: stable, beta, and developer preview. The Mac OS X and Linux versions fall into this last, category, the most buggy and least tested and complete.
The Flash plug-in won't work, for example, so forget watching YouTube videos. Printing or bookmark management aren't implemented yet. And privacy controls aren't fully baked. Google said there are more than 400 bugs that need to be stomped.
Even though only released for the experimental crowd, the new versions are a big step forward for the browser. First, the versions will plug into Google's auto-update service that automatically downloads new versions. Second, the products bear the Google Chrome brand, not just the Chromium label of the only incarnations available until now. And third, a much larger audience will be helping Google debug the code through automated crash reports of the new versions.


Not everyone can try the Mac and Linux


versions, though. Google spokesman Eitan Bencuya said the Linux version is supported only the Debian and Ubuntu incarnations of Linux, and the Mac OS X version only works on Intel-based Macs.
Google isn't saying when the new versions will make it to beta status, much less stable. "It's unclear. This is a first step," Bencuya said.

After years of near-dormancy when Microsoft's Internet Explorer ruled the roost, the browser world again is on fire, fueled by competition and a new generation of more interactive Web applications. Mozilla is on the cusp of releasing Firefox 3.5, as is Apple with Safari 4 for both


Windows and Mac OS X. Opera 10 is in beta, and even battleship Microsoft is slowly starting to speed up with in the weeks-old Internet Explorer 8.
According to Net Applications statistics, Internet Explorer remains the king of the heap, with 65.5 percent market share in May 2009. Firefox has 22.5 percent, Safari 8.4, and Chrome has edged up to 1.8 percent since its launch in September.
All this variety means Web developers have to test their sites to make sure they work with more versions. Because Chrome uses the WebKit engine for interpreting and displaying Web page coding, the same engine Safari uses, Google argues that Chrome should be similar. But Chrome uses a different engine for JavaScript called V8, and Web-based JavaScript instructions are at the heart of much of the present proliferation of elaborate Web pages and applications.
The browser challengers argue that having multiple browsers on the market means that Web programmers will aim more for supporting standards such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and JavaScript. And indeed, Microsoft made a standards mode the default for IE 8. However, varying interpretations of standard and varying degrees of support complicate the matter, and a large number of people haven't upgraded from IE 6, much less IE 7.

Hazarat Umar Razi Allah Tallahanhoo

IDC: Recession Driving Down Storage Spending

Hard times are driving large enterprises to patch holes in their storage architectures with systems designed for small and medium-sized businesses, one reason enterprise disk storage revenue fell 18.2 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to research company IDC.
The drop in revenue from last year's first quarter came with what may be an even more sobering statistic: Demand for storage capacity grew just 14.8 percent in the quarter, the slowest rate since late 2002, according to IDC analyst Liz Conner. Enterprises still need more storage, but they aren't willing to pay for it, Conner said. There were 2,146 petabytes of storage shipped in the quarter. A petabyte is about 1 million gigabytes.
IDC expects the doldrums to remain through another quarter, with a recovery possible late this year or early in 2010, Conner said.
Revenue for all external disk storage, including direct-attached storage, NAS (network-attached storage) and SANs (storage-area networks), fell at a slightly lower rate of 13.6 percent. Total enterprise disk storage brought in US$5.6 billion in revenue in the quarter, of which external storage took up $4.2 billion. Neither category includes disks in PCs or other client systems.
Two of the seemingly bright spots in the quarterly report actually reveal gloomy trends. Sales revenue from entry-level storage systems, priced below $15,000 per system, grew 9.9 percent. Much of this came from large enterprises buying these systems to meet immediate capacity needs rather than investing in the larger platforms they will eventually need, Conner said. There was also 14.5 percent growth in the price range of $300,000 to $499,999. However, many of the systems that sold in that price range were supposed to cost much more and were sold at a significant discount, Conner said.
One product category that made genuine gains in the quarter was iSCSI (Internet Small Computer System Interface) SANs, which saw 40.5 percent revenue growth from a year earlier. Enterprises are finding that iSCSI SANs deliver much of the capability of traditional Fibre Channel networks for less money, according to Conner. Some are actually investing in storage gear that can use both iSCSI and Fibre Channel, so they can upgrade later. Dell led the iSCSI market in the quarter with more than 36 percent of revenue, followed by EMC with just under 16 percent, IDC said.
Neither buying lower-end systems nor temporarily using iSCSI should cause enterprises any great management headaches, especially if they stay with one vendor, Conner said. Certain pairs of vendors also have good compatibility between their systems, though others don't, she said.
The dramatic slowing in the storage market didn't shake up the rankings of the major vendors, IDC said. In the external disk storage market, EMC remained the top seller with market share of 20.7 percent. Hewlett-Packard and IBM were in a statistical tie for second place with 11.5 percent and 11.3 percent, respectively. Dell and Hitachi were tied for fourth place.
EMC also continued to lead the network disk storage market, made up of NAS and Open SAN. It had 26 percent of market revenue, followed by NetApp with 12 percent, IDC said.
IDC's report counts revenue by the brand of the product and doesn't count OEM (original equipment manufacturer) revenue to vendors whose products are sold under a different brand.

Palm Pre Roundup: The Critics Have Spoken

It's T-minus two days until the Palm Pre will hit the stores nationwide (with the adequate shortages) and the highly anticipated device already found its way onto a sleeve of reviewer's hands, including our own Ginny Mies.

Everybody is comparing the Palm Pre with Apple's iPhone. Well, the Pre was actually designed to go head-to-head with Apple's phone, no room for doubt here. And the Pre brings a few extra perks, such as a physical keyboard, a better camera and a removable battery.

Palm also introduces a brand new operating system with the Pre, WebOS, something the company has been working on for a while now. Based on Linux and designed from grounds-up for a complete touchscreen experience (ahem, Nokia), WebOS is set to bring a user interface on par with iPhone's (at least), including something Apple's phone users don't enjoy yet - multitasking.

So, does the Palm Pre live up to the hype? Read on for the latest reviews:

Ginny Mies - PC World [read review]

Pros:
- good pocketable size
- overall good call quality (on Sprint's 3G network)
- iTunes music library synchronization
- web browser renders pages beautifully
- "fair" battery life (5 hours, 17 minutes)

Cons:
- keyboard slightly cramped
- bezel lip on the sides and bottom can interfere with typing
- social networking synergy feature only a good idea on the surface
- lacks removable memory (8GB built-in)
- slow, unresponsive photo album application

Walt Mossberg - Wall Street Journal [read review]

Pros:
- vibrant, readable screen
- pleasant user interface with card metaphor
- over-the-air sync with Google Calendar and Microsoft Exchange
- wireless backup service
- MMS, copy&paste, universal search

Cons:
- weak battery life
- no keyboard shortcuts
- poor App Catalog (application store)
- clumsy power button
- poorly implemented auto-correct system

David Pogue - New York Times [read review]

Pros:
- good, comfortable size (overall)
- call audio quality above average
- great multi-tasking implementation
- full iTunes sync (except DRM'd items)
- contact and calendar syncing and synergy

Cons:
- very quiet ringer
- battery life a "heartbreaker"
- very few apps in App Catalog
- sometimes slow when opening apps
- no expandable memory

If you're planning to go and grab a Palm Pre this weekend, you should keep in mind the $100 mail-in rebate at Sprint stores, which you can get instantly when buying from BestBuy. However, if you're not convinced yet, on Monday (June 8) Apple is set to unveil the 3.0 iPhone software update and hopefully a new iPhone.

Nokia N97 Gets Launch Date, Decent Facebook App

The Nokia N97, one of the hottest phones coming out this summer, is set to touch down worldwide this month. After months of waiting and speculation, Nokia is finally ready to start shipping its flagship model, dubbed as a "multimedia computer".
The N97 will ease your pockets of $699 before subsidies (simfree) but Nokia did not confirm an official launch date for the U.S.. However, in the U.K. the phone will be available on June 19 at the company's flagship stores, so it is safe to assume that the New York and Chicago Nokia stores will carry the phone around the same time.
On June 26 the Nokia N97 is expected to hit the wireless carriers (at least in the U.K.), but in the U.S. it has not been confirmed which operators will offer the phone. Meanwhile, you can pre-order an N97 as of today from Nokia's website, in either black or white.
Nokia's latest flagship device features a 5-megapixel camera, 32GB of on-board storage (expandable with up to 16GB via microSD), GPS, and a full QWERTY keyboard. The N97 is set to battle-it-out this summer with the Palm Pre (coming on June 6) and Apple's new iPhone (to be announced June 8). To see a head-to-head feature comparison of this summer's hottest phones, check out the latest Smartphone Smackdown.
In preparation for the launch of the N97, an official Facebook app is out now, which is also compatible with the company's 5800 touchscreen phone. By now, Nokia touchscreen devices users had to use the less-capable Facebook mobile web interface to sort their social networking dealings.
The Nokia Facebook app (now downloadable from the Ovi Store) looks very similar to its iPhone counterpart, but lacks the chat feature. On the good side, the app takes advantage of the phone's accelerometer and can be used in landscape mode as well. However, early reports say that the app can get quite slow and unresponsive at times.

Windows 7 Release: What Happens Between Now & Oct. 22

Microsoft will release Windows 7 on October 22, the company has confirmed. The date will put Windows 7 on store shelves a full three months earlier than originally planned. It follows Microsoft's recent announcement that Windows 7 would ship "in time for the holidays" and matches rumors of a fall release spread around the Web in April.
Of course, there are still plenty of things that'll take place between now and October. Here's the breakdown of some key events and revelations leading up to the Windows 7 release.
Windows 7 Upgrade Option
Microsoft is expected to unveil an upgrade program for the Windows 7 release. The program will likely let you get Windows 7 for free or with a discount if you've recently bought a Vista-based PC that meets certain conditions.
So what are those conditions? That's not yet clear. Microsoft has confirmed the program will be called "Windows Upgrade Option." Early speculation suggests it may mirror the Vista Express Upgrade program, which provided free or discounted upgrades for users who'd bought XP-based systems in the months leading up to Vista's release. That program didn't exactly run smoothly, though: PC World expressed concern over hidden costs associated with the upgrade, and many consumers complained of delays and other issues in getting their upgrade requests processed.
Microsoft Corporate Vice President Steve Guggenheimer is set to deliver a keynote address at the Computex 2009 conference in Taipei on Wednesday. The address, entitled "Windows Makes Life Simpler," should provide additional details on how the Windows 7 upgrade program will operate.
Windows 7 Release-to-Manufacturing
Another step in the Windows 7 release process will be the transition into the release-to-manufacturing (RTM) phase of development. That's the final phase before the software becomes available to consumers, and -- as its name suggests -- entails Microsoft sending the Windows 7 code to PC manufacturers so they can start preparing new systems for the October 22 release.
Windows 7's RTM phase is expected to begin in late July or early August.
Windows 7 Compatibility Center
Microsoft's official Windows 7 Compatibility Center will launch in conjunction with the software itself, according to a FAQ posted on the site. The Compatibility Center will allow you to make sure your devices and applications will work with Windows 7 before making the upgrade.
Vista's Compatibility Center launched with a very different timeline: The service went online in July of 2008, a full year-and-a-half after Vista's release. In an ironic twist, the Vista Compatibility Center also seemed to have some compatibility issues of its own -- the site was completely inaccessible to users during its first days online.
Microsoft, no doubt, is hoping Windows 7's release and reception will be a far less bumpy experience. If early coverage is any indication, that wish just may come true.
Don't take our word for it, though -- try Windows 7 out for yourself. The Windows 7 Release Candidate is still available for download as of now. Microsoft has said the functionality and features will remain relatively constant from that version to the final release.

Sony Ericsson Satio another 12.1MP Phone

Sony Ericsson has announced another 12.1 megapixel phone, the Sony Ericsson Satio. It is a full 640 x 350 3.5-inch touchscreen phone comes with 12.1 megapixel camera, dual-band HSPA, microSD expansion (forget about the expensive memory stick), xenon flash and will be available in three colors black, silver and Bordeaux. Will be out in October. More pictures after the break.

Sony Ericsson Satio specs:
• 12.1 megapixel camera, video light, xenon flash, auto focus, face detection, bestpic, geotagging, image stabilizer.
• red-eye reduction, smile detection, touch focus
• Bluetooth stereo (A2DP)• WebKit web browser
• On-screen QWERTY keyboard
• Auto rotate• Gesture control
• S60 5th edition Symbian OS
• HD and 3D games
• FM radio with RDS
• Java• TV out
• In-built WiFi
• A-GPS
• Size: 112 x 55 x 13.3 mm
• Weight: 126 grams
• Main screen: 16,777,216 colour nHD TFT
• 16:9 widescreen
• Resolution: 640 x 360 pixels
• Size: 3.5 inches
• Phone memory: 128 MB
• Memory Card Support: SanDisk microSD

'Best Video' scam on Twitter dropped malware

Twitter users were hit with another attack over the weekend featuring tweets reading "Best Video" and a link to a Web site that downloads malware, a security firm said on Monday.
The Web site, with a .ru (Russia) domain, purports to show an embedded YouTube video. Instead, the page downloads a malicious PDF that contains a "flurry of exploits" and if successful downloads fraudware that displays a fake security warning to try to get people to pay money, according to Kaspersky's Viruslist.com blog.
Contrary to earlier reports that the attack was a worm, the Kaspersky blog post speculates that the attackers were using accounts stolen in a phishing attack about a week ago.
Thousands of Twitter users were affected by what looked like a worm-like phishing attack last week, but was instead a site designed to help Twitters increase their number of followers quickly. The TwitterCut site looked like a Twitter log-in page and prompted people to type in their user names and passwords. Site administrators denied the phishing allegations and said they were shutting it down, according to the TrendLabs Malware Blog.
"This attack is very significant," the Kaspersky post says of the latest attack. "It would seem that at least one criminal group is now exploring the distribution of for-profit on Twitter. If the trends we've seen on other social platforms are any indicator for Twitter, then we can only expect an increase in attacks."
Twitter said on Saturday that it was aware of the problem and working on it. Another message from Twitter on its status page said some legitimate accounts affected by the attack were suspended but would be restored and that no personal information had been compromised.

Intel launches chips for low-cost, thin laptops

Intel is launching its line of processors for thin, inexpensive laptops at the Computex tech conference in Taipei. Intel marketing chief Sean Maloney talked about this in a phone interview.

"It's clear that people like devices to be thin and light," said Maloney, who was speaking from the Computex conference in Taipei where he will be giving a keynote on Tuesday.
"We've really taken that to heart and come out with a complete top-to-bottom range of microprocessors that enable radically longer battery life and much smaller designs," said Maloney, referring to Intel's new lineup of consumer ultra-low-voltage (CULV) processors.
Maloney continued. "There are a lot of computers being announced here (Computex) that look like conventional notebooks in terms of how wide the screens are, but they're super-thin, the performance is very good, and they get up to nine hours battery life without a big, fat battery at the back," he said.

"It's a big change for industry. It means the technology weaves its way into your life more because you're going to have all-day notebooks," Maloney said.
The new processors will encompass the Core 2, Pentium, and Celeron processor architectures, according to Maloney.
Prices for these new laptops will start at $399 and range up to $2,000 in some cases, Maloney said.
And will laptops based on these chips impact the sales of Netbooks? "I don't think so," Maloney said, but added: "It's a loser mentality to not develop one segment because you're worried about the other."
Maloney continued. "The demographics (for Netbooks) that's completely untouched is kids between the ages of 7 and 12. So, the Netbook market is still at a very early stage," he said.
In addition, Intel unveiled the Mobile Intel GS40 Express Chipset for the new ULV-based laptops. This "value" chipset enables ULV-based laptops to support HD (high-definition) playback, Windows Vista Premium support and native support for integrated HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface).
Wireles options will include embedded WiMAX or Intel "My Wi-Fi" technology. My Wi-Fi transforms a laptop into a WiFi personal area network, connecting directly with up to eight Wi-Fi-certified devices, according to Intel.
Though a crush of new thin laptops are expected, the MSI X340 is one of the first. The X340 has a 13.4-inch screen, weighs 2.86 pounds, and measures .78 inches thick.

AMD Challenges Intel With Dual-core Neo Chip

Advanced Micro Devices on Monday said it had started shipping the dual-core Athlon Neo processor for thin and light laptops, upping the ante in its battle with rival Intel, which offers processors for similar laptops.
The new Neo chip will be an upgrade over the single-core Neo processor launched by AMD in January. Laptops with the dual-core processor will offer faster processing and graphics performance, said David Schwarzbach, senior manager for platform marketing at AMD.
Neo chips are designed for thin and light laptops that can deliver full functionality at affordable prices, AMD says. AMD fits Neo chips into a category of consumer PCs it calls "ultrathin" laptops, which falls between netbooks and expensive ultraportable laptops like Apple's MacBook Air. AMD contends that netbooks, though cheap, provide limited functionality, while ultraportables are too expensive, with prices above US$1,500.
Some ultrathin laptops in the market today come with screen sizes between 12.1 inches and 14 inches, and weigh between 3 pounds (1.36 kilograms) and 4 pounds. AMD said dual-core Neo will be in laptops priced between $750 and $999. The chip operates at a clock speed of around 1.6GHz and draws up to 18 watts of power. Pricing for the chip wasn't immediately available.
Laptops with the new Neo chips are being shown at the Computex trade show in Taiwan. Hewlett-Packard -- which already ships the Pavilion DV2 laptop with a single-core Neo -- will refresh the laptop with the new chip, Schwarzbach said. HP's laptop will become available on Monday, while other Neo-based laptops will become available in September.
Ultrathin laptops are as portable as netbooks and provide adequate performance to run most applications, like high-definition multimedia, casual gaming and productivity applications, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64. If ultrathin laptops become hot, the losers could be PC makers like Sony, Toshiba and Apple, who have been overcharging consumers for expensive ultraportables, Brookwood said.
AMD's Neo could potentially face competition from Intel's low-power processors for ultrathin laptops -- also called CULV (consumer ultra-low voltage) processors -- that may be introduced at Computex. Laptops with Intel's CULV chips -- like Lenovo's IdeaPad U350 and MSI's X-Slim laptops -- have already been announced.
The updated Neo chip will be part of AMD's upcoming Congo platform for ultrathin laptops. The platform will include integrated graphics based on the Radeon 3200 graphics core, a major upgrade from the earlier Radeon 1200 integrated graphics. That should enable faster decoding of high-definition content and provide a better multimedia experience, Schwarzbach said.
Most netbooks offer limited graphics capabilities, which could draw users to ultrathin laptops, Insight 64's Brookwood said. On a platform level, AMD holds an advantage over Intel on graphics capabilities, Brookwood said.
"When it comes to integrated graphics, it's hardly a contest between Intel and AMD. AMD wins hands down," Brookwood said.
By contrast, Intel's chips offer better performance-per-watt than Neo chips, Brookwood said. Intel's chips are manufactured using the 45-nanometer process, which brings more energy efficiency to laptops than the older 65-nm process used by AMD for Neo chips. But the dual-core Neo could help laptop users do more tasks simultaneously than Intel's single-core CULV chips.
But processor speed won't be a major factor in driving adoption of ultrathin laptops, Brookwood said. The thin and light size will appeal more to consumers, and the battle could be around pricing and style.
"Nobody will buy these products to edit movies or to do a lot of Photoshop-like work," Brookwood said.
AMD on Monday also announced dual-core desktop chips that are manufactured using the 45-nm process. The Phenom II X2 550 runs at a clock speed of 3.1GHz and includes 7MB of cache. It is priced at $102. The dual-core Athlon II X2 250 processor operates at a speed of 3.0GHz and includes 2MB of L2 cache. It is priced at $87. Both processors will come as part of a chip package that supports faster DDR3 memory.