Microsoft’s next major release of its Windows operating system is one step nearer to its first beta release, according to site WinRumors.
WinRumors claims that Microsoft’s Windows 8 second Milestone build has been finalized, with Milestone 3 the next to be worked on. After that stage it’s only a matter of time before we see a beta of Windows 8 in testing, with WinRumors speculating that could come as early as this Summer.
Microsoft compiled 6.2.7947.0.winmain_win8m2_escrow.110218-1608 on Friday after pushing out a number of Windows 8 builds recently. Things are moving along nicely behind closed doors, and versions of the OS will soon be allowed out to Microsoft’s trusted partners for testing. Some of the recent Windows 8 builds which were compiled in the last couple of weeks were:

6.2.7925.0.winmain_win8m2.110207-1736
6.2.7926.0.winmain_win8m2.110209-1755
6.2.7927.0.winmain_win8m2.110210-1740
6.2.7928.0.winmain_win8m2.110214-1825
6.2.7929.0.winmain_win8m2.110215-1802
6.2.7930.0.winmain_win8m2.110217-1825

With Microsoft working on an ARM-compatible version of Windows, it is possible that this could be the version first to testing, with the full desktop experience coming later. With recent leaks pointing toward a version of Windows 8 being ready for future tablets in early 2012, it’s clear that there is no time to waste for the Redmond outfit, especially if they hope to take on Apple and Google in the rapidly expanding tablet market.
Little is really known about Windows 8, though a more cloud-centric OS is expected especially considering the focus on tablets and other machines with no conventional disk drive. Microsoft is keeping its cards close to its chest thus far, though it’s clear the company sees Windows 8 as a pivotal software release, heaping more pressure on an already creaking development team. Still stung from the Vista debacle, MS will be hoping Windows 8 can build on the good faith the 7th installment of the OS managed to return.

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Microsoft has just pushed download links for Release Candidate version of Internet Explorer 9. This new version of IE 9, according to Neowin includes:

much improved tab functionality, from the new square-ish visual elements, and moveable tab bar elements to increase customization. It also includes features that enable a user to refuse tracking from advertisers.

Internet Explorer 9 generally introduces tons of new features, including the new option to pin web apps on Windows 7 taskbar, full support for HTML5 standard, graphics rendering on the GPU level via Microsoft DirectX technology, completely revamped UI and more. More details on IE 9, along with screenshots can be found here.

Download links for Internet Explorer 9 RC:
Windows  7 (x86 version)
Windows 7 (x64 version)
Windows Vista (x86 version)
Windows Vista (x64 version)

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There has been a lot of discussion in the Windows Media Center community about the product's death. The theory is that Microsoft is throwing in the towel, focusing on the Xbox 360 and intends to let the best DVR software available become stale -- or worse, eliminate it from future versions of Windows altogether. After watching the Ballmer keynote at CES last week, it was hard not to get on this train as we all watched the 360, Windows Phone 7, and Windows highlighted on stage. But then something happened when the show floor opened: Windows embedded products were highlighted in private meetings and elsewhere. There was a buzz around Media Center embedded and even a price and ship date; meanwhile, home theater PCs got no love. So after years of trying, it appears that all hopes that HTPCs will ever emerge from their niche status are gone, but the same can not be said for Windows Media Center.


The demise of HTPCs is not for a lack of effort

We've had a fascination with home theater PCs since the first time we saw video running on a PC -- remember Intel MMX? There's something empowering about seeing video run on a PC, and there's been a PC connected to our TV ever since. In fact, we use an HTPC now and have enjoyed its benefits for what feels like forever. But all that being said, we wouldn't offer to set one up for a friend, and we wouldn't give our mother one, ever. The problem is that while a computer geek can make an HTPC do just about anything, a typical user has a hard enough time using a PC to surf the web. There are just too many things that can go wrong, and with the exception of some very high-end models, commercial HTPCs are non-existent. HP stopped making 'em four years ago. Dell never even bothered. Nope, no matter how hard PC manufactures and Microsoft try, HTPCs simply will never go mainstream.

Microsoft has tried as hard as anyone to make this geek dream come true, with multiple versions of Media Center and money dumped into R&D trying to entice programming providers in the US and the rest of the world to bring their programming to Windows. We'd bet that if stock holders had any idea how much money was spent compared to the return, someone would surely get fired. Right about now, there are some people screaming at their computer, complaining that Microsoft never marketed Media Center. Seriously? A company as successful as Microsoft knows a thing or two more than most about marking a product. No, the problem is there's no mainstream market for an HTPC, so realistically-speaking, another few billion dumped into marketing wouldn't have changed a thing (c.f. Kin). Consumer electronics have to be like an appliance, they just need to work. Even some top brass at Microsoft use a TiVo as a DVR instead of a HTPC because they just work. This all makes it easy to understand why Microsoft has re-purposed its software and lined up new partners for an embedded version of Windows 7 Media Center.




Why an embedded Media Center just makes sense

The one thing that every single mainstream DVR and smartphone have in common is that they are all embedded. It's a match between hardware and software that is designed to do a few specific things and do them very well. Microsoft has been making embedded software for a long time, and odds are you've used it at an ATM or stood right in front of someone who used a Windows embedded machine to ring you up at a department store. What's new is that Microsoft ported its Media Center software to the latest embedded version of Windows and is giving hardware partners the chance to build a DVR without spending all the big bucks on developing software. This means that some entrepreneurial electronics manufacturer can grab off the shelf parts, add in a little of Redmond's software and deliver a dependable DVR to mainstream America -- in theory. And a number of companies have already stepped forward with plans. We've been seeing demos at trade shows, and at CES one company even announced it'd ship a product in the 1st quarter for $499. Still a little steep for the mainstream, but far less than the thousands that off the shelf HTPCs cost today. And besides, the first products to market typical cost more.



The bad news is that embedded also means restrictions, and while some are sure to hack their way to more functionality, it won't be as easy. For those not willing to meddle and risk their investment, there'll likely be sacrifices that will have to be accepted. It is impossible to know what exactly until the products hit the market, but the inability to install your favorite codec isn't out of the realm of possibilities, and installing software to automatically skip commercials is almost certainly a no go.

There is some more good news though. Embedded devices make more than just mainstream consumers happy, they also appeal to content owners. Netflix, VUDU, Blockbuster, cable video-on-demand have all been available to embedded devices for some time. Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verzion and DirecTV weren't showing their programming on a HTPC at CES this year, but they were showing 'em on a variety of other embedded devices. Of course, the PC is completely capable of delivering all this content and more, but media giants aren't going to spend their time and money developing software for a niche whose only measurable result would be to open up a new attack vector to circumvent DRM. So embedded doesn't just mean stability and affordability, it can also mean content.



Extenders vs set-top-boxes

Now, this is where things get interesting. Microsoft tried a few times to proxy the PC into the living room via Extenders and suffice to say the attempts all failed pretty miserably -- same goes for embedded devices, by the way. Maybe the hardware wasn't ready, who knows, but what we do know is that two Media Center PCs don't play well together with DRM'd content and if more than one Media Center in the house has a tuner, things can messy real quick. There have been a few recent changes in the content world that could really impact success here though. The first is the recent change to the CableCARD specification that allows a tuner to be shared over a network. Basically, this means that you can install six CableCARD tuners into a Media Center in the house and watch live TV on any other Media Center (set-top box or PC) in the house that's connected to the same network. That opens up some options, but there are still the DRM problem. Currently, shows recorded from cable marked as Copy Once by the provider are locked to the device they're recorded on, which frankly sucks. But connecting a few dots paints a rosier future.



What does Microsoft, Comcast, Timer Warner Cable, CableLabs, and just about every major movie studio have in common? They are all a member of the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem and have vowed their support to UltraViolet. We know that joining a group and actually participating are two different things, but it isn't out of the question that UltraViolet's new DRM could be added to the CableLabs spec. This would mean that "each household will be able to create an account for up to six members who can access the household's UltraViolet Movies, TV... Consumers will also be able to register up to 12 devices." This new tech won't be ready until later this year, but it does offer hope that DRM might not always be this bad, some day.


Wrap-up

It's going to take more than Reycom, Acer / Gateway, and Haier to make this thing take off, but it isn't hard to let your imagination wonder on where this all could go. It would also be hard to argue that this isn't Microsoft's strongest position in the DVR market yet, and while anything could happen, we say long live Media Center with confidence. Who knows, if things go well, all the other previous promising developments for Media Center that never were, might find their way to market too. Then again, we've been wrong before.

It looks like Firefox is almost ready for the roll-out of Firefox 4. We can expect the release of browser before the end of the next month as the Firefox development should clear all existing hurdles by the beginning of February.
It was revealed in a post that there are about 160 hard blockers that can lead to rendering a product unshippable. All of them are left to fix. It was also noted that the number of remaining hard blockers led to two more beta releases before the browser moves to the candidate stage of release.
According to Sicore, the plug-in testing is very important for that reason one should not disable Flash, Silverlight as well as other plug-in platforms. A big attention is drawn towards issues that can raise hardware acceleration on Windows machines. Sicore finished his talk with the following words: “Firefox is going to kick ass.”
No doubts that Mozilla is going to offer Firefox 4 that will provide a boost to gain more browser market share. There were indications that the new release will come with “do not track” capabilities. Moreover, the new version of browser will be enabled with easy syncing of data across machines and browser. It will come with a feature, known as Panorama. Due to it working with multiple tabs will be much simpler. As for other new features, they will focus on ease of use.
Recently the company announced its first market share crown. It holds the second position across the world being behind the Internet Explorer of Microsoft. Firefox is followed by Google’s Chrome, Safari of Apple as well as Opera.
We do not know how figures can be changed after Firefox debuts. Only time will show us. According to the newest timetable, it seems like we do not have to wait too much.

At a special press conference held at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2011) in Vegas, Microsoft today showed off Windows 8 running on ARM processors.
President of Windows and Windows Live Division, Steven Sinofsky, demonstrated an early build of Windows 8 running on both System-on-a-chip (SoC) platforms from NVIDIA, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments on ARM, and as well as x86.

From the official Windows Team Blog:

Happy New Year everyone! At CES 2011 in Las Vegas, we hosted a press conference announcing that the next version of Windows will support System on a Chip architectures from Intel, AMD, and ARM. We announced that the next version of Windows will support System on a Chip (SoC) architectures including ARM-based systems from partners NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments.  On the x86 architecture, Intel and AMD continue their work on low-power SoC designs that fully support Windows, including support for x86 applications. SoC architectures will fuel significant innovation across the hardware spectrum when coupled with the depth and breadth of the Windows platform. We are making this announcement now so that our ecosystem can start working together to enable the widest possible range of devices, from tablets on up, to ship with the next version of Windows. More detail about this exciting news is available in our press release and this Q&A with Windows & Windows Live president Steven Sinofsky.

Full press release is as follows:

LAS VEGAS — Jan. 5, 2011 — Microsoft Corp. today announced at 2011 International CES that the next version of Windows will support System on a Chip (SoC) architectures, including ARM-based systems from partners NVIDIA Corp., Qualcomm Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. On the x86 architecture, Intel Corporation and AMD continue their work on low-power SoC designs that fully support Windows, including support for native x86 applications. SoC architectures will fuel significant innovation across the hardware spectrum when coupled with the depth and breadth of the Windows platform.
At today’s announcement, Microsoft demonstrated the next version of Windows running on new SoC platforms from Intel running on x86 architecture and from NVIDIA, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments on ARM architecture. The technology demonstration included Windows client support across a range of scenarios, such as hardware-accelerated graphics and media playback, hardware-accelerated Web browsing with the latest Microsoft Internet Explorer, USB device support, printing and other features customers have come to expect from their computing experience. Microsoft Office running natively on ARM also was shown as a demonstration of the full depth and breadth of Windows platform capabilities on ARM architecture.
Windows will continue its industry-leading support across the widest possible set of devices, delivering the breadth and choice that customers demand. Intel and AMD continue to evolve and improve the x86 platforms, including new low-power systems, and advance new designs such as the recently announced 2nd Generation Intel^® Core™ processor family and AMD’s Fusion accelerated processing units (APUs). NVIDIA, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments are joining Microsoft to provide ARM-based designs for the first time.
“With today’s announcement, we’re showing the flexibility and resiliency of Windows through the power of software and a commitment to world-class engineering. We continue to evolve Windows to deliver the functionality customers demand across the widest variety of hardware platforms and form factors,” said Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft.
SoC architectures consolidate the major components of a computing device onto a single package of silicon. This consolidation enables smaller, thinner devices while reducing the amount of power required for the device, increasing battery life and making possible always-on and always-connected functionality. With support of SoC in the next version of the Windows client, Microsoft is enabling industry partners to design and deliver the widest range of hardware ever.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Unfortunately though, all attendees at the press conference were strictly prohibited from taking cameras inside, therefore no video demos were tapped. Also, according to Mary Jo Foley, the new user interface of Windows 8 was not shown.

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So let us set this up for you: Skype has been telling everyone that it'll be making a "series of video-related announcements" at CES next month... and it's participating in a panel called "Video Calling Gets Ready for Primetime," so yeah, needless to say, we'd have to guess that Skype's finally getting ready to enter the mobile video calling game in a big way. Anyhow, the final piece in the puzzle filtered into our inbox this morning: a help document on Skype's site detailing making video calls using Skype for iPhone. We don't know whether there's a corresponding document out there for Android, Symbian, or other operating systems, but we're certainly hoping so -- because if these guys come to the table at once with versions for all the major phone platforms, we've got a feeling they'll be dominating the mobile-to-mobile and mobile-to-PC video calling market in no time.

Oh, and here's a little trivia fact for you: the Nokia N900 was actually the first device to get official video calling support from Skype, so this isn't a first for these guys -- but it'll certainly be the first time they've taken it to a mass market. Seems like they'll probably have the MeeGo build ready to go, at least.

Beta 8 renders JavaScript about 5% faster than predecessor
Mozilla Wednesday shipped Firefox 4 Beta 8, the last preview it will release this year before it makes a run toward a final version in 2011.
Originally slated to appear last month, then delayed until December, Beta 8 of the open-source browser first appeared today, a day later than planned, on Mozilla's official download site and as updates for existing preview users.
The newest beta includes simplified setup for Firefox Sync, Mozilla's bookmark, password and open tabs synchronization service; additional Windows and Mac graphics card support for WebGL, the under-development standard for 3-D graphics rendering; and a revamped extension manager that silently updates any installed add-ons.
According to Mozilla, Beta 8 also sports more than 1,400 bug fixes or changes from its predecessor, which launched six weeks ago.
Although Mozilla once said it would wrap up work on Firefox 4 this year, delays this fall forced the company to push the final release date into 2011. Currently, Mozilla plans to produce at least two more betas -- it won't finalize a timetable for Beta 9 until after Jan. 1 -- and then a series of "release candidates" before greenlighting the code.
Beta 8 also was slightly faster than Beta 7 in rendering JavaScript.
According to quick tests run by Computerworld using the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark suite, Firefox 4 Beta 8 is about 5% faster than its forerunner.
Mozilla had previously added other major features to Firefox 4, ranging from a new JavaScript JIT (Just In Time) compiler, dubbed "JagerMonkey," in Beta 7; hardware acceleration in Beta 5 last September; and a new tab manager, dubbed "Panorama," in Beta 4 a month earlier.
Alongside Beta 8 for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, Mozilla today also issued an updated beta of its mobile browser, which runs on Android-powered smartphones. Changes in the mobile edition of Firefox were more noticeable, and included revisions to the user interface, changes to the add-on discovery process, and like its desktop cousin, streamlined Firefox Sync setup.
Firefox 4 Beta 8 can be downloaded for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux from Mozilla's site.

It's all coming together, folks. It doesn't take much of a gander at the Chrome Web Store to notice a trend: some of the flashiest, most mature "apps" are actually just in-browser versions of iPad apps. And you know what else? Most of these "apps" actually run fine in Safari on the iPad. We're not sure how long Google gave developers to port their experiences over, but it seems like most of the best work had already been done in the form of HTML5 apps that were merely wrapped in app form for App Store delivery. Google's just taking things to the next logical step. Continue after the break as we expand this thesis paragraph into a number of supporting blocks of text, a few jazzy pictorial examples, and a stunning closer.

Interestingly, Google's move actually gives some teeth to statements from Apple about HTML5 being a fully supported "completely open, uncontrolled platform," a response to criticisms about the locked-down nature of the App Store. It also could end up vindicating RIM's "you don't need an app for the web" stance as well, although that theory leans on Flash a bit more heavily. Indeed, the fault line comes down to Flash once again: the main Chrome apps that don't work on the iPad are ones that use Flash or rely on a keyboard. This won't be a hurdle for the PlayBook, or a theoretical Chrome OS tablet or Android tablet,

Oh, and speaking of Android tablets: we tested out some of these more HTML5-intense Chrome web apps (like the finger-friendly New York Times viewer) on the Galaxy Tab and didn't have much luck. Google itself said it wasn't fully supporting all of this functionality in Android yet, or even on the Google TV's Chrome-lite browser, but hopefully that's only a temporary problem.

Here are a few examples of standout Chrome Web Apps and their stats:


Utilities


Amazon Windowshop
Underlying tech: Flash
Compatibility: Chrome, iPad (app), Galaxy Tab (web)
Offline: No

Flixster
Underlying tech: HTML5
Compatibility: Chrome, iPad (app, almost web), Galaxy Tab (phone app, almost web)
Offline: No
Notes: The iPad and Galaxy tab seemed to load Flixster's UI just fine, but none of the movies in the main content pain would show up when we selected them.

TweetDeck
Underlying tech: HTML5
Compatibility: Chrome, iPad (app), Galaxy Tab (phone app)
Offline: No


Music 


MOG
Underlying tech: HTML5, Flash
Compatibility: Chrome, iPad (phone app), Galaxy Tab (phone app)
Offline: No

Grooveshark
Underlying tech: HTML5, Flash
Compatibility: Chrome, Galaxy Tab (web)
Offline: No
Notes: It's super slow on the Tab, but it works.


News
Huffington Post
Underlying tech: HTML5
Compatibility: Chrome, iPad (different app, almost web), Galaxy Tab (phone app, almost web)
Offline: No
Notes: Similar to the Flixster problem, the page loads on the iPad and Galaxy Tab, but none of the content shows up.

Salon
Underlying tech: HTML5
Compatibility: Chrome, iPad (almost web)
Offline: Yes
Notes: Everything looks great on the iPad, but you can't scroll the articles, so it's essentially useless.

NY Times
Underlying tech: HTML5
Compatibility: Chrome, iPad (app, web), Galaxy Tab (phone app)
Offline: Yes

USA Today
Underlying tech: HTML5
Compatibility: Chrome, iPad (app, web), Galaxy Tab (phone app)
Offline: Yes

NPR
Underlying tech: HTML5, Flash
Compatibility: Chrome, iPad (app, almost web), Galaxy Tab (phone app, full web)
Offline: No
Notes: The site loads perfectly on the iPad, but the audio doesn't work because it's Flash-based.

Right now one of the biggest problems we see with these apps, as opposed to their boring non-HTML5 website counterparts and native application competition, is the somewhat sluggish performance we've witnessed on the iPad, including in their actual App Store "native" app incarnations, and on the underpowered Cr-48 hardware. Hopefully this is something that WebKit engineers are hard at work at improving, and we have to say that a touch of hardware acceleration wouldn't hurt. And, of course, this doesn't even touch on the fact that the functionality on display so far doesn't quite match the power of many native iOS and Android applications.

It's also worth remembering that Apple actually tried and failed miserably to rely on web apps when it launched the iPhone initially, and while we've come a long way in browser power, UI innovation, and mobile chipsets, it's possible that tech still isn't mature to make web apps a compelling alternative to native apps -- or at least not mature enough to be an OS's primary crutch.

Over time we'll be curious to see how closely applications adhere to strict HTML5 and iPad-compatible, touch-capable UIs, or if the freedom of Flash and power of the keyboard / mouse tag team will make this rash of early synergy merely a beautiful anomaly. Is HTML5 the undisputed "future of the web"? Can it be the future of apps as well?

  
I am personally a big fan of Windows 7 and find it impossible to even try and find faults with it. We are however gearing up for another release of a Microsoft Windows version, Windows 8 whose user interface is said to have been codenamed as “Wind”. Well atleast that’s what the reports are saying.

We are still digging in on the features of the next generation of Windows, of course anticipating it will be impressive by all means. But as of now following is what is rumored about the next Windows operating system:

• Windows 8 will be 32 / 64 bit and have two user interfaces.
• The main interface (codenamed Wind) will require a dedicated video card and 170 MB of video memory and will be meant for high-end desktop computers and notebooks only.
• Wind interface will only activate on 64 bit version of Windows 8 copies and will have complete 3D capability.

What we have to come to learn is that this next generation of Windows will have a dynamic user-interface which will adapt to users’ habits, adjusting icons, shortcuts as per your usage plus a much quicker hibernate function. It will auto save all your documents and will go on hibernate mode in less than 6 seconds.
This is of course a rumor, but there are hints that make this rumor believable by all means. A new kernel has been discovered within the driver that is assigned 6.2. For Windows 7, it was 6.1 and if Steve Ballmer and the team hasn’t done some restructuring with these references, Windows 8 is a game on.

Expect some beta releases in 2011 of the Windows 8, which Ballmer has described to be the riskiest release to date. I can definitely understand that given that Microsoft is heading over to a more cloud based approach in the upcoming release of the operating system. Lets see what awaits in the future and how the product does in the market upon its release. Hope it is earlier than 2012 as anticipated.
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The headline pretty much reveals the brunt of it, but indeed, it looks like next week Google is going to start talking about how its Chrome operating system is coming along. Multiple sources have told us that Google will be holding some sort of event on Tuesday, December 7th -- we're not sure if it'll be a live event, a webcast, or something else entirely -- and that the shindig will see the launch of that Google-branded Chrome OS netbook we've been hearing about. Again, we've heard that the Atom-powered laptop isn't going to be a mass market device -- there will only be around 65,000 units available to Google's closest "friends and family" -- and that the Cloud-based OS is still very much in a beta, non-consumer-friendly state. It's a bit odd that we still haven't received an invite to this planned event since it's purportedly days away, not to mention it conflicts with the All Things D: Dive Into Mobile Event, but at the time of publishing this post we had yet to hear back from Google's PR team with an official comment.

Of course, this all lines up with TechCrunch's report that Google will be launching its Chrome Web / App Store very soon, as well as yesterday's launch of Chrome 8, which supports those aforementioned Chrome apps. (Companies like TweetDeck have already started demoing their browser apps.) Don't forget that those apps are going to be a large part of the OS, so it would make sense for Google to talk about 'em in tandem. The pieces sure do seem to be fitting together quite well, and while we still have lots of unanswered questions, we're feeling confident that we'll be getting some official answers on all this Chrome-ness very soon.

Update: AllThingsD has also heard a similar December 7th launch date of the Chrome Web Store. The evidence seems to be mounting here...

Update 2: Well, there you have it, Google just sent out invites for its December 7th Chrome event! We will be there!

Image note: As we said last time, that picture above is just our own mockup of what a Chromebook may look like. We even added a Chrome key!

The first user-friendly Windows Phone 7 jailbreak has been released. Its called ChevronWP7 and it has been developed by well known and respected Microsoft community enthusiasts Rafael Rivera, Long Zheng and Chris Walsh.

From the official site:

Today we have an exciting breakthrough for the Windows Phone 7 homebrew community – the ability for anyone to unlock a WP7 device without a Marketplace developer account.
Unlocking allows the sideloading of experimental applications that would otherwise can’t be published to the Marketplace, such as those which access private or native APIs.

The following step by step guide will help you jailbreak (or unlock; that’s what the developers are calling it for WP7 phones) your device so that you can install apps without needing Windows Marketplace.
NOTE: Unlocking Windows Phone 7 with ChevronWP7 may void the warranty, disable phone functionality, interrupt access to Windows Phone 7 services or render the phone permanently unusable. Proceed at your own risk only.
Step 1: Download and install the latest version of Zune desktop software for Windows.
Step 2: Download and install the latest version of Windows Phone SDK, OR simply download this registry key and execute it on your Windows machine with administrative access. This registry key will add the following entry:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsPhone\ProxyPorts]
“DeviceReg”=dword:000069C5

Step 3: Now connect your Windows Phone 7 device (Samsung Omnia 7 in my case) with your PC via USB.

Step 4: Start Zune software and sync your device. Make sure your device has a “full sync” relationship, and NOT “guest” relationship with the Zune software as shown in the screenshot below.

Step 5: Download ChevronWP7 (Windows Phone 7 Unlocker app) and run it.
Step 6: Before unlocking, make sure your device is not locked with a PIN.
Step 7: Check “Ensure your phone isn’t PIN-locked” and “Install certificate on phone using Internet Explorer at http://chevronwp7.com/cert” options, and then click on the “Unlock” button.

Step 8: That’s it! your phone is now unlocked ! You can now install (sideload) any third-party WP7 app without requiring a Marketplace developer account.

The best thing about this “unlocker / jailbreak” is that it is completely reversible. If you connect your phone with PC again and run ChevronWP7 app, you will notice a “Relock” button which will allow you to relock your phone to its original state.
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Hot on the heels of the release of a utility for bypassing the Windows Marketplace and sideloading your own apps, Microsoft has released a brief statement on the state of the Windows Phone 7 hacking community... and we wouldn't exactly say they're too worked up about it:

"We anticipated that people would attempt to unlock the phones and explore the underlying operating system. We encourage people to use their Windows Phone as supplied by the manufacturer to ensure the best possible user experience. Attempting to unlock a device could void the warranty, disable phone functionality, interrupt access to Windows Phone 7 services or render the phone permanently unusable."

So yeah, we'd say this is more or less a boilerplate quote: "we figured you'd hack this thing, we'd prefer it if you didn't, and here's a laundry list of things that could (but probably won't) happen if you fail to heed our meek warning." Over the long term, we wouldn't be surprised if Redmond ended up playing an Apple-style cat-and-mouse game with these folks, breaking hacks with firmware updates only to have them re-hacked within a few days' time. Considering the lack of spitfire in the statement here, we don't see them coming down too hard unless legitimate, card-carrying, fee-paying developers throw a fit -- and granted, ChevronWP7 stands to make loading pirated apps a breeze, so that could very well happen.

Update:  How to Jailbreak / Unlock Windows Phone 7 (Omnia 7) with ChevronWP7 Unlocker [Guide]

It's almost time to eat turkey and then jet out to Best Buy to be trampled by mad shoppers. Oh yes, the holiday season is just about here, which according to a few posts we've written in the last year means that the Chrome OS netbooks should be as well. Well, it turns out that the Google OS-powered laptops aren't going to arrive this year, or at least not in the way we thought they would. That doesn't mean Chrome OS isn't going to see a bit of an unveil this year, but major manufacturers, including Acer and HP, won't have its own Chromebooks ready before 2011. How do we know? Acer's Jim Wong told us during the company's global press conference that Acer will be launching its netbook based on the browser operating system during the "consumer launch" of the OS next year, while Google has its own agenda and will be doing something "in December." We didn't get to ask if that Acer netbook is in fact the "ZGA" netbook we've seen popping up in bug reports, but our guess is that it will be something quite similar.

So, what does Google have brewing? You remember the Google-branded Chrome OS netbook that we heard about? Well, according to a few of our very own sources, that's exactly what's going to happen. We don't have exact timing details, but we have been told by a few that Google will launch its own Chrome-book a la the Nexus One for "friends and family." As the operating system is still in a beta or preview form, the netbook would be aimed at the development / early adopter community. Specs-wise we don't know all that much, but we've heard that it will be powered by an Intel Atom Pine Trail processor and, just as Digitimes reported, that 75,000 units are being manufactured by Taiwan ODM Inventec. We should mention that the aforementioned Acer "ZGA" was said to be used internally as a "dogfood device" at Google, but we believe this Google-branded device to be entirely different. Inventec, Intel, and Google wouldn't comment on the hardware rumor, but Google did tell us that it would "have more details to share later this year." By our count, that leaves 'em with just about 37 days to spill the beans!

Note: The picture above is just our creative interpretation of what a Chromebook may look like -- don't come crying to us when the actual device looks a lot prettier.

Hacking the Xbox 360 Kinect is all about baby steps on the way to what could ultimately amount to some pretty useful homebrew. Here's a good example cooked up by some kids at the MIT Media Lab Fluid Interfaces Group attempting to redefine the human-machine interactive experience. DepthJS is a system that makes Javascript talk to Microsoft's Kinect in order to navigate web pages, among other things. Remember, it's not that making wild, arm-waving gestures is the best way to navigate a web site, it's just a demonstration that you can. Let's hope that the hacking communinity picks up the work and evolves it into a multitouch remote control plugin for our home theater PCs. Boxee, maybe you can lend a hand?

Update: If you're willing to step outside of the developer-friendly borders of open-source software then you'll want to check out Evoluce's gesture solution based on the company's Multitouch Input Management (MIM) driver for Kinect. The most impressive part is its support for simultaneous multitouch and multiuser control of applications (including those using Flash and Java) running on a Windows 7 PC. Evoluce promises to release sofware "soon" to bridge Kinect and Windows 7. Until then be sure to check both of the impressive videos after the break.

A few weeks after third-party apps started filtering in, Google's launched its own for the iPhone, and it looks to have all the most important features: call and text support, push notifications, and voicemail access (including transcriptions). It's available right now -- US only at the moment -- on Google Voice appiPhones with iOS 3.1 or higher as long as you've got a valid Google Voice account set up... so get to it.

Note: For some reason, you need to search the App Store for "googlevoice," not "google voice." Weird, we know. 

Oh no, Facebook's hosting another event? But it's so soon after the last one, we've barely had time to recover from all that excitement. The invite to this new shindig is adorned with some pretty obvious visual hints at mail and messaging, which (along with a few well placed sources) has led TechCrunch to speculate that Zuckerberg and crew are about to unveil their Project Titan email client. Rumored to have been in the works since at least February, this "full-fledged" webmail service -- replete with @facebook.com personal addresses -- is reportedly referred to as a "Gmail killer" internally. We struggle to imagine anything dragging us away from Google's versatile mail offering, but competition's never a bad thing -- even if it comes from another company that has more information about us than it should.

 Apple has just released the final version of Mac OS X 10.6.5 Snow Leopard. It is a crucial update and it implements hundreds of fixes since the last few updates, 10.6.4 (June 2010), 10.6.3 (March 2010) and 10.6.2 (November 2009). You can get the update from Snow Leopard’s Software Update, or directly from the Software Downloads page here.

Full official change log is as follows:

The 10.6.5 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes that:
- improve reliability with Microsoft Exchange servers
- address performance of some image-processing operations in iPhoto and Aperture
- address stability and performance of graphics applications and games
- resolve a delay between print jobs
- address a printing issue for some HP printers connected to an AirPort Extreme
- resolve an issue when dragging contacts from Address Book to iCal
- address an issue where dragging an item from a stack causes the Dock to not automatically hide
- resolve an issue with Wikipedia information not displaying correctly in Dictionary
- improve performance of MainStage on certain Mac systems
- resolve spacing issues with OpenType fonts
- improve reliability with some Bluetooth braille displays
- resolve a VoiceOver issue when browsing some web sites with Safari 5

You can see the full details associated with the update here.
Download Mac OS X 10.6.5 Snow Leopard (Combo) !

As promised, the boys and girls at Opera have pushed out an Android-flavored beta version of their Opera Mobile 10.1 product today -- and considering the company's track record for making awesome replacement browsers, odds are good that you're going to want to check it out. Besides pinch-to-zoom and support for location services, you'll find fan favorites like desktop browser sync and Opera's Speed Dial, a touchable grid of bookmarks. What's more, the visual tab management is downright slick (then again, outdoing the tab management in-built to Android doesn't take much), so you might want to take it for a test drive today -- can we suggest engadget.com as a fine starting point? The app's available from the Android Market right now; follow the break for the press release and an official demo of pinch-to-zoom in action. Or, you know, just download it and do some pinch-to-zooming of your own. Your call.

Released just three days ago, Microsoft’s full-3D motion sensing doohickey – the Kinect – has been hacked!

It was just last week that New York based company Adafruit had announced that they would be offering $2000 for the group or individual who can come up with an open source driver for Kinect: i.e. base-level software for Kinect that would make it possible to use it for purposes other than dancing like a girl in front of your Xbox 360 + TV.
That bounty has, possibly, been answered today. In a video uploaded on YouTube, you can see its motor being controlled by a Windows 7 PC. The software is also shown to be reading data from Kinect’s accelerometer.
And Microsoft’s reply to all this hoopla, via CNET:

"Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products," a company spokesperson told CNET. "With Kinect, Microsoft built in numerous hardware and software safeguards designed to reduce the chances of product tampering. Microsoft will continue to make advances in these types of safeguards and work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant."

Adafruit has announced the “bounty” because they believe that Kinect’s hardware is amazing and shouldn’t be locked up just for the Xbox 360. There are near-limitless possibilities of how the Kinect could be used for other purposes!




UPDATE: Kinect Has Now Been Hacked To Run On Mac OS X ! UPDATE: Kinect Can Do Multitouch Too [VIDEO]

Microsoft today has announced retail availability of Office 2011 for Mac. It comes in two flavors:

• Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Student 2011 – Costs: $109 for a single license, $129 for 3
• Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Business 2011 – Costs: $174 for a single license, $239 for 3

Used on more than 1 billion Macs and PCs worldwide, Microsoft Office is the most-trusted productivity suite, and it helps you do even more with your Mac, your way.
An excerpt from the press release is as follows:

REDMOND, Wash. – Oct. 26, 2010 – Microsoft launches Office 2011 for Mac today, bringing Mac users the latest versions of the company’s productivity software. The release is the latest effort from the Office for Mac team, which has been delivering Microsoft software to the Mac for 13 years.

Now, you can download Microsoft Office 2010 ISO + KMS Activator Download here