News & Analysis
Ten technologies that will shake the CE world
EET staff
1/24/2012 10:50 AM EST
The ARMing of Win8
Designed with touchscreens in mind and capable of supporting mouse, keyboard or stylus input, Windows 8 is the first version of Microsoft’s popular operating system to support ARM as well as X86 processors.
The OS sports an interface based on Microsoft’s typography-based design language, Metro, created for use in Windows Phone 7. The user interface consists of a ribbon of updating tiles—offering apps from e-mail to social networking, calendars to contact lists—and requires a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 or higher.
Metro’s look and feel has also been applied to Internet Explorer 10, the HTML5 browser to go with Microsoft’s new OS. Those who prefer a more traditional Windows feel, however, can disable the Metro UI via Windows Registry settings.
Win8 offers such features as new picture-based authentication; native USB 3.0 support; a built-in Windows app store; and support for multiple monitors, able to display different background images and customized taskbars, for a true multi-PC experience. The OS includes a packaged application model called AppX, based on Silverlight, as well as Open Packaging Conventions. It can be run directly off of a USB-connected drive in a Windows To Go format, targeted at enterprise apps.
To cater further to the cloud crowd, Microsoft has enabled a local-PC experience across different computers using Windows Live ID, which saves user account settings and applies them wherever a person signs in.
The operating system’s Hybrid Boot capability brings faster startup and shutdown functionality, though the feature does not mean devices running ARM versions of Win8 will be able to run other OSes, such as Android.
Intel, Nvidia, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments have all said they will offer devices running Windows 8, but so far demos of the OS on ARM processors have been tightly controlled by Microsoft. — Sylvie Barak
Next: Touch-free HMIs
Designed with touchscreens in mind and capable of supporting mouse, keyboard or stylus input, Windows 8 is the first version of Microsoft’s popular operating system to support ARM as well as X86 processors.
The OS sports an interface based on Microsoft’s typography-based design language, Metro, created for use in Windows Phone 7. The user interface consists of a ribbon of updating tiles—offering apps from e-mail to social networking, calendars to contact lists—and requires a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 or higher.
Metro’s look and feel has also been applied to Internet Explorer 10, the HTML5 browser to go with Microsoft’s new OS. Those who prefer a more traditional Windows feel, however, can disable the Metro UI via Windows Registry settings.
Win8 offers such features as new picture-based authentication; native USB 3.0 support; a built-in Windows app store; and support for multiple monitors, able to display different background images and customized taskbars, for a true multi-PC experience. The OS includes a packaged application model called AppX, based on Silverlight, as well as Open Packaging Conventions. It can be run directly off of a USB-connected drive in a Windows To Go format, targeted at enterprise apps.
To cater further to the cloud crowd, Microsoft has enabled a local-PC experience across different computers using Windows Live ID, which saves user account settings and applies them wherever a person signs in.
The operating system’s Hybrid Boot capability brings faster startup and shutdown functionality, though the feature does not mean devices running ARM versions of Win8 will be able to run other OSes, such as Android.
Intel, Nvidia, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments have all said they will offer devices running Windows 8, but so far demos of the OS on ARM processors have been tightly controlled by Microsoft. — Sylvie Barak
Next: Touch-free HMIs
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chanj
1/24/2012 2:40 PM EST
Spielberg's vision in Minority Report is becoming reality. What's the world is going to be like?
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agk
1/25/2012 7:31 AM EST
MEM's doing many wonders. I think soon these sensors will be woven into our fabrics and this will monitor our sitting position in front of the PC's enable to improve our performance and health.
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NSK
1/25/2012 2:07 PM EST
First you say that Google's Android will dominate, then you say how Apple's Siri will change everything. I see a bit of a conflict here.
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docdivakar
1/25/2012 2:33 PM EST
@NSK: I feel tempted to say neither one! Both aren't open systems -we know iOS isn't but Android isn't either, contrary to the claims! Google controls it but allows the source to be downloaded.
What is truly open is the up & coming Boot-2-Gecko (B2G) from Mozilla. When I met its CEO Gary Kovacs last year, one question I posed to him was-what is the future of browsers in the world of ubiquitous computing? Do they become irrelevant? Each mobile device has its own browser...
His answer was -well, wait and see. I saw a presentation yesterday, at the Stanford Faculty club where some B2G developers showed what it can do.
I hope B2G enjoys the same success as FireFox.
MP Divakar
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junko.yoshida
1/25/2012 11:43 PM EST
That is really fascinating. We all want to know more about it!!!
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docdivakar
1/30/2012 12:04 AM EST
Junko, I will keep you posted. Had a nice chat with the CTO of Mozilla and also have some presentation materials on B2G.
I understand how Mozilla monetizes FireFox but I am still in the dark about B2G's monetization mnodel.
MP Divakar
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junko.yoshida
1/25/2012 11:45 PM EST
we are not saying one is better than others...the idea of Siri-like services will surely spread everywhere over time...
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docdivakar
1/25/2012 2:41 PM EST
I generally like the list, at least for technology sake... but I think many are solutions looking for problems. One thing is sure, we are networking the heck out of anything and everything! And losing privacy fast!
MP Divakar
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pixies
1/25/2012 8:31 PM EST
And once you expand the connectivity beyond a critical scale intelligence will arise and eventually render humans obsolete.:)
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docdivakar
1/30/2012 12:12 AM EST
@pixies: scary(!) thoughts on extrapolation of networking to higher orders. I have read some what on evolutionary and self-organizing networks but I still consider them dependent on human intervention at least at several phases, for now.
Human beings are already being rendered useless on several fronts with the advances in technology. We are supposed to advance in intellectual thought and their application to work life so we can justify the need for human interaction with processes & tools (in short, work!) but that line of argument seems to be struggling for validation, in some sectors. More automation is rendering human interaction with machines & tools unwanted. I honestly don't know where this stops!
MP Divakar
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GREAT-Terry
1/25/2012 9:54 PM EST
The advance of MEMS technology is so amazing!
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t.alex
1/26/2012 10:15 AM EST
For the ARMing of Windows, i wonder if Microsoft has any way to help developers port their apps to ARM conveniently?
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tina_jeffrey
1/27/2012 10:08 AM EST
Just wanted to draw attention to CogniVue's - also founding member of EVA - latest Smart Back-Up Camera Application dewarping, object detection & distance estimation running on a single CV2201 processor - 9x9mm2 incl sys mem dissipating ~250mW. How's that for 'powerful, low-cost, energy efficient processors as key enablers of this technology'. Check it out on http://www.youtube.com/user/cognivue/videos
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Attoman
10/31/2012 12:10 PM EDT
All in the eyes.
For some of us in Berkeley it has been a twenty year wait for the perception that MEMS is emergent.
This insures that the actual core inventors get neither credit nor monetary reward.
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