Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Livestreaming makes music festivals free and hassle-free

  The summer music festival season is in full swing. In San Francisco, that means the three-day Outside Lands music festival, which this year featured the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nine Inch Nails, Vampire Weekend, and Paul McCartney.
  The festival packed in 65,000 people a day. But those who didn't want to shell out the $250 for a 3-day pass, wait in line at the Porta Potties, or spend hours staking out a spot of grass by the main stage could still see the big names acts -- and for free.
  Festival organizers partnered with live streaming platform Ustream to provide a free, live webcast that could be viewed worldwide on desktops, laptops and mobile devices.
  "We have a multi-stage webcast. People will be able to watch, just like they're here at the festival, be able to watch from home," explained festival organizer Rick Farman, co-founder of Superfly Presents. "It's a sold out event this year, so we're happy that a lot of people who just can't come out or buy tickets can be able to get some experience of the festival."
  The live Webcast from Ustream and Springboard Production involved feeds from cameras placed on the three largest stages, three video production trucks, hundreds of feet of cable, and a production team of more than 150 people.
  "Typically festivals would broadcast the same footage they would show to the left and right of the stage. In this situation, we're taking multiple camera feeds, multiple audio signals, mixing it all specifically for the web broadcast," Ustream senior sales engineer Gilad Gershoni said.
  Festival-goers could also tap into the live stream on their mobile devices if they could get a strong enough cell signal. In an effort to stem customer complaints about spotty cell coverage at big events, AT&T and Verizon put up mobile cell towers called COWs or Cell on Wheels, more than doubling what they provided last year. AT&T's setup included something called a mega-COW, which was the largest COW they ever deployed in Northern California and accounted for about 50 percent of the overall equipment AT&T deployed.
  Several times at the festival it took awhile to load the Ustream Outside Lands page and access the streams on my Verizon iPhone 5. However, I was able to easily pull up the livestream of the Phoenix performance on my phone while I was watching Nine Inch Nails on the main stage -- so it did pass that test.
  Expect to see more music festivals streamed live for free. With about 11 million people tuning into Ustream's broadcast of the Bonnaroo music festival, concert promoters see the live Webcasts as a way to give viewers at home a taste of that they're missing and hopefully inspires them to pay for tickets in the future.

Users will likely be capable to boot straight towards the desktop

  Though it looks like Microsoft is putting the finishing touches on Windows eight.1, a few reports say the release date continues to be a couple months away.
  Both ZDNet along with the Verge claim that Windows 8.1 will launch in October, not just for current Windows eight PCs, but for new computer systems operating the updated operating method. The duo were the initial to report on Windows 8.1's (then referred to as Windows Blue) existence, many months ago.
  Thoughts you, this isn't a delay, as Microsoft has never confirmed a release date for Windows 8.1. The firm has only said that it would release the computer software to Pc makers (a approach known as RTM) in August. Both reports say Microsoft continues to be on track.
  But as ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley explains, Microsoft may possibly be holding back the actual launch to get a couple of causes: Initially windows 7 home premium product key, Windows 8.1 is reportedly fairly buggy, even for any test build, so the extra time will permit Microsoft to clean points up via software program updates for new Pc purchasers. Second, releasing each the update and new Windows eight.1 devices simultaneously could make a larger splash, amounting to a “launch event” for the much more user-friendly version of Microsoft's operating program.
  Windows 8.1 contains a number of concessions for desktop users, also as new functions for the modern day interface. Users will likely be capable to boot straight towards the desktop, disable modern-style “hot corners” and access important desktop functions by right-clicking on the newly-restored Start out button. The modern interface includes key improvements to built-in apps, the ability to use 3 apps side-by-side, overhauled Bing search and much more. The net effect is that it's simpler to stay on the desktop if you need, but not unthinkable to switch towards the contemporary UI.
  If Microsoft manages to launch the update in October, it'll fall about the one-year anniversary of Windows 8. That is a major alter for Windows, which usually releases big updates once each handful of years, but it's a essential adjust as Microsoft tries to keep up with Apple and Google. No matter whether you adore or hate the operating system, there's no doubt that Microsoft's switch to a fast release cycle is unquestionably bearing fruit.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Apple Said to Buy HopStop, Pushing Deeper Into Maps

  Apple Inc. (AAPL) agreed to buy online transit-navigation service HopStop.com Inc., people with knowledge of the deal said, seeking to improve mapping tools after a rocky debut for its directions software last year.
  The people asked not to be identified because the deal isn’t public. AllThingsD reported yesterday that Cupertino, California-based Apple is purchasing Locationary Inc., a Toronto-based company focused on business-location maps.
  New mapping software Apple debuted in September with the iPhone 5 has been faulted for getting users lost and for its lack of public-transportation directions. HopStop shows users in more than 500 cities the fastest way to travel by foot, bike, subway and car; Locationary deploys real-time data from a variety of sources to help users find featured businesses.
  Apple, which touted the map features as a key software change in the iPhone 5, built its navigation application amid a growing battle with Google Inc. (GOOG), which had provided mapping data since the iPhone was introduced in 2007. Apple built the replacement app in part because it wanted to scale back its relationship with Google, not because of any product flaws, two people familiar with Apple’s mapping product said last year.
  Google unveiled its mapping application for the iPhone and iPad in December. Google Maps is the most popular free program in Apple’s App Store. HopStop ranks No. 7 among free navigation tools.
  HopStop, based in New York, provides directions for more than 140 major metropolitan areas in the U.S. and six other countries, according to its website.
  Maps Battle
  Google, seeking to seeking to keep rivals from eroding its lead in mobile-navigation, acquired Waze Inc. last month. The developer, whose mobile app solicits input from about 50 million users to improve directions and display traffic and road-hazard details.
  The acquisitions reflect a widening rift between the two companies as they court mobile users.
  After Apple introduced its mapping software and met with customer complaints, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook apologized for the “frustration” in September, vowing to improve the program and suggesting alternative apps.
  Google has been building out its online mapping software since 2005, using cars and satellites to accumulate data that helps improve its accuracy and reliability. To catch up, Apple can use location data collected from customers using its maps to improve the service. Apple’s map software includes a feedback feature for users to report inaccurate directions and other bugs.

The news for Microsoft is just not all terrible

  Inside the late 1990s, a single technologies corporation became so unfathomably rich and powerful?aand so hellbent on dominating not just its personal business but a massive and rapidly increasing new one?athat the U.S. government dragged the corporation into court and threatened to break it up more than anti-trust violations.

  The case was settled, plus the corporation, Microsoft, agreed to play nicer. However it turned out that the planet had absolutely nothing to worry about. As normally happens within the technology market, what has genuinely destroyed Microsoft's choke hold on the worldwide personal computing market over the past 15 years hasn't been a legal threat but a market shift.
  Just when it looked like Microsoft's vision of your Pc because the center on the tech world would bring about the creation from the world's very first trillion-dollar organization, the net came along. And it washed more than the Computer business like a tidal wave swallowing a pond.
  In terms of industry value, Microsoft's loss of energy has long been visible: The stock is still trading at about half the level it hit in the peak on the tech boom 13 years ago. The effects on the actual Pc business fundamentals have taken longer to develop, but they are also now crystal clear. Microsoft's ?°Windows monopoly?± hasn't been so much destroyed as rendered irrelevant. That for the reason that, thanks to the explosion of Internet-based cloud computing and smartphones, tablets, and also other mobile gadgets, the when all-powerful platform in the desktop operating technique has now been reduced to tiny greater than a device driver. So long as your gadget can connect for the World wide web and run some apps, it does not matter what operating method you use.
  Three charts seriously bring residence the challenges that Microsoft as well as other PC-powered giants like Intel, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard face in adapting to this new Internet-driven world. 1st, appear at global device shipments. For the two decades by means of 2005, the personal laptop or computer was the only game in town, promoting about 200 million units a year. But then smartphones and tablets came along. And now they dwarf the Computer marketplace.
  This shift in personal computing device adoption, meanwhile, has radically diminished the energy on the Windows operating technique platform. As recently as 3 years ago, Microsoft's Windows was nonetheless entirely dominant?athe platform ran 70% of individual computing devices. Now, thanks to the rise of Google's Android and Apple's iOS, Windows' worldwide share has been cut in half, to about 30 percent. A lot more remarkably, Android is now a bigger platform than Windows.
  Lastly, and most not too long ago, this chart from analyst Horace Dediu of Asymco illustrates that the Pc organization is no longer just acquiring dwarfed by the explosion of smartphone and tablet sales ... it has now essentially begun to shrink. Now that people have a decision of devices, it turns out that a full-blown personal laptop or computer is usually not by far the most cost-effective, practical, or simplest solution to do what a user desires to do. As an alternative to being the center of the private computing globe, in other words, the Pc is becoming a specialized office-productivity device.
  The news for Microsoft is just not all terrible. The enterprise has been fairly profitable at moving from a "unit-driven" sales model to a licensing model, in which companies pay a charge per user per year as opposed to getting a perpetual license with every single new computer. And Microsoft's Office franchise continues to be extraordinarily lucrative and dominant, in portion simply because Google, Apple, along with other a lot more Internet-centric firms have made so small investment in their competitive merchandise.
  But only 15 years following the government went after Microsoft for anti-trust violations, the concept that the firm ever had a "monopoly" on anything is difficult to even comprehend. And also the outlook for Windows, as well as the conventional Computer business in general, seems confident to get even worse going forward.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

A call by Patch to Highland Park Heritage Trust

  “The old windows had been falling apart and have been a hazard for the community,” said Hector Cruz, who has co-owned the three-story developing on 5577 N. Figueroa St. together with his mother considering that the previous five years.
  “They had been incredibly costly to replace,” Cruz stated, adding that he got a $12,000 estimate for the repairs and replacement of eight with the original windows that he ended up changing. “And that is not even giving us a cushion of what’s to come,” he stated.
  In installing a great deal cheaper windows, Cruz said he took a leaf in the historic windows that had been replaced with fixed-glass ones about a quarter-century ago at the former workplace of ex-Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg. Also located within the Mason Building, which has 19,000 square feet of floor space, Goldberg’s one-time workplace now houses the Good Girl Dinette Vietnamese fusion food restaurant.
  But for all that, said Cruz, he didn’t realize he had committed a blunder by getting rid of the old windows. Specifically per week soon after he put in the eight new panes on June 26, an inspector in the Los Angeles Department of Developing and Safety served him a “stop work” order, Cruz stated, adding that by then each of the work around the windows had currently been completed.
  The inspector told Cruz that since the Highland Park Masonic Creating is on the National Registry of Historic Locations, he's essential to obtain permission in the Los Angeles Historical Preservation Overlay Zone before carrying out any work that adjustments the building’s architectural integrity.
  “The last factor I anticipated is for the neighborhood to send an inspector as opposed to coming and telling me what are the initial actions I need to have taken to replace the windows,” Cruz stated, adding: “I’ve had Autry Museum meetings, Neighborhood Council meetings at the building-I’ve supported everybody.”
  Based on Cruz, it was Highland Park historian and Highland Park Heritage Trust member Charlie Fisher who allegedly reported him to the Division of Building and Safety. A call by Patch to Highland Park Heritage Trust requesting an interview with Fisher went unreturned.
  Cruz stated it is not that he isn’t concerned about conservation issues surrounding his building, which was declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1984. “We endeavor to balance safety and duty with our price range,” he said.
  His response to critics who accuse him of negligence is that “if you are so concerned concerning the windows, why don’t you get a grant or funding to replace them?” Cruz said, adding that house owners for instance him can “hardly make it by in these tough [economic] times.”
  The big question for Cruz, he said, was “do you maintain the windows because they appear nice or do you adjust them mainly because they’re falling apart and are a safety hazard?”
  The concern of the unapproved windows was taken up this previous Tuesday by the Highland Park-Garvanza Historical Preservation Overlay Zone at its bimonthly board meeting in Ramona Hall, Cruz said, adding that he was notified regarding the meeting but didn’t attend.
  The Mason Developing may have lost its original windows, but there’s still a window of chance to obtain them back.
  “We’ve saved each of the tiny pieces of glass,” mentioned Cruz. “So if anything significant would come about, I’d be most content to replace them.”

Friday, July 5, 2013

Zynga Lured CEO Mattrick With Compensation Topping $50 Million

  Don Mattrick, the game-industry veteran who was hired as chief executive officer of Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) this week, is receiving compensation totaling more than $50 million to turn around the struggling social-game developer.
  He will receive a $5 million signing bonus, $1 million salary, $25 million in restricted stock vesting over three years, and additional restricted shares and options valued at $15 million, the San Francisco-based company said in a filing yesterday. In 2014, Mattrick is eligible for a bonus of as much as $5 million and a performance-based equity grant valued at $7 million.
  Mattrick faces the challenge of turning around Zynga, which is suffering amid rising competition from upstarts such as King.com as well as a shift toward gaming on handheld devices. He’s taking over the CEO role from Mark Pincus, Zynga’s founder, who will remain chairman of the board and chief product officer.
  Zynga also said that Owen Van Natta has resigned as a director. He had served as executive vice president and chief business officer from August 2010, until November 2011, when he resigned from those duties.
  Pincus lowered his 2013 salary to $1 in April. His base pay was $300,000 in each of the two previous years, though his total compensation in 2011 reached $1.68 million after accounting for a $3,750 bonus and $1.37 million in life insurance premiums.
  Zynga lured Mattrick from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), where he was president of the interactive-entertainment business, leading the effort to introduce the next-generation Xbox One home-entertainment and gaming console.

Past 7 days Microsoft produced a preview version

  Microsoft has taken many grief over Home windows 8. The company set out to make software package that will get the job done equally nicely on traditional keyboard- and mouse-driven personal buy windows 8 pro pack personal computers and on tablets which might be primarily fitted to touch. But a lot of people believed this radical new functioning method was bewildering, if not borderline schizophrenic. Personal computers functioning Home windows 8 have not precisely been greeted with open up arms.

  Past 7 days Microsoft produced a preview version of Home windows 8.1, the main meaningful update to Windows eight and the company's first try to sleek factors about. The software program is offered now for anybody to test, but preserve in your mind that a preview is just that, a preview. In truth, Microsoft cautions there are threats to downloading eight.one at this stage. It's also untimely to do a formal evaluation of Windows eight.one, so look at this column a preview as well. What I am able to say following a couple of times with a Surface Professional loaner pill is always that Microsoft has included a number of satisfying touches. Irrespective of whether will probably be plenty of to entice the hesitant masses remains to get seen.
  Maybe the biggest improve you will recognize will be the return of a common Begin button, located in "Desktop" method in its customary site in the bottom remaining corner on the taskbar. Individuals who had lamented the lacking Commence button shouldn't go gaga ?a clicking or tapping around the new Start off button returns you to the default Windows eight Start out atmosphere, referred to as the modern UI. That is exactly where you can discover the vibrant rectangular and square tiles, some with live info (climate, stocks, e-mail, and so forth.) that have come to determine the fresher Windows interface on pcs and smartphones, and i am betting you may spend a lot of time in that atmosphere.
  Appears to me Microsoft isn't going to want you to discover the previous alternative, even so, simply because I had to talk to the company the place to uncover it. (Right-click within the taskbar in Desktop, decide on homes, then navigation tab, and choose "Go to your desktop alternatively of Start when i indication in.")
  You have got quite a few methods to customise the fashionable interface. It is possible to team icons for very similar applications and provides that cluster of applications a name. You may press and hold your finger in opposition to a tile to resize it or unpin it through the Begin display.
  Microsoft has also extra a Personalize possibility less than Options for choosing backgrounds and choosing hues ?a you are able to sample various hues by dragging slider controls. You obtain to Settings by swiping in with the appropriate, summoning what exactly are often known as "charms," controls for exploring, sharing plus much more.
  By signing in by using a Microsoft account, whichever configurations you determine on your own laptop can stick to you throughout other Home windows gadgets, which include phones and Xbox consoles. The things you save with a Windows eight.1 Pc ?a photos, documents along with other information ?a might be saved on Microsoft's cloud-based SkyDrive.
  Within Windows 8.1, it is possible to also display screen approximately 4 apps around the display at any one time and resize each individual open window. Which has a 2nd check, you can double the quantity of open up apps, but you can will need a significant enough high-resolution observe. On my exam Area I could see only two open up apps at the same time.
  Type in a very query this kind of as LA Dodger outfielder Yasiel Puig, and you may see a handsome research consequence, a format with pictures and films on the rookie sensation as well as a link to his Wikipedia entry. Swipe sideways to check out other articles about "Puigmania," which include thumbnail sights of the Web content from which these posts originate. Well accomplished.
  A no-less-attractive look for layout appeared when i typed Alicia Keys' name. As well as pics, her start date and a website link to her Wikipedia bio, I was capable to perform a few of her full-length prime tracks suitable to the place, streamed without cost through Xbox Audio. I could also participate in music video clips ideal then and there.
  Bing search will work nicely for vacation, as well ?a a normal lookup on Las Vegas brought up pretty photographs, climate, recent sights and easy one-way links to produce lodge reservations.
  Research isn't limited to your Net. You are able to simply search throughout Term files and other information to the Computer system or documents stored on SkyDrive (Microsoft gives you seven no cost gigabytes of SkyDrive storage).
  Two new Bing applications display up in 8.one. The foodie-oriented Bing Food stuff & Drink app is a repository for recipes. Bing Health & Fitness sports an exercise and diet tracker and includes a symptom checker for these factors that might ail you.
  Home windows Store. The Windows Store within eight.one gets a good-looking makeover, far too. Microsoft surfaces apps it thinks you can be interested in, centered on previous purchases or ratings. The joint is approaching 100,000 applications since the launch of Windows eight. Among people Microsoft announced at its recent Make conference are upcoming Home windows apps from Facebook, Flipboard and the NFL.
  Home windows 8.one also now pre-loads a Reading List app for saving a story you want to read later that you occur throughout within the World wide web by means of Internet Explorer. It only operates in the modern UI for now (not Desktop) and, in my view, requires a single click as well many to help you save an article you want to read later.
  Closer to its normal availability I'll do a a lot more comprehensive critique of Windows eight.one. For now I'll say that while it would not address every shortcoming of Windows 8, it pushes Microsoft in the right direction.