Cutting the cable: Wireless charging becomes a reality

Imagine sitting down at work, plopping a mobile device on the desk and having it wirelessly charge itself while, at the same time, synchronizing new data to your PC. In that world, one could also wirelessly charge a phone set on a car's dashboard or armrest while it plays music through the speakers, and never have to search for the one open electrical outlet at the coffee shop or airport. That world may not be too far off for the masses of smartphone, tablet and other mobile device users. With the launch of the Windows Phone 8-based Lumia 920 smartphone last week, embedded wireless charging is hitting the U.S. mainstream. The built-in wireless charging capabilities offered in the Nokia 920 doesn't require that widgets be plugged into the USB port of a smartphone in order to charge it from a magnetic induction power pad. That's the typical wireless charging process today. The Lumia 920 only has to be laid on a power pad to be charged. Charging Pads William Stofega, an IDC mobile device analyst, said wireless charging pad business is currently dominated by Duracell's Powermat technology, which is based on magnetic induction technology, one of two forms of wireless charging. Duracell's Powermat wireless phone charger But that choice is likely to change soon, thanks in part to the Wireless Power Consortium's Qi (pronounced "chee") open wireless charging standard, Stofega said. Already, some products from 120 companies are certified as compliant with the Qi standard. The certified products run the gamut, from the LG Optimus LTE2 and Panasonic Eluga smartphones, to charging pads, gaming controllers, Blu-ray Disc recorders, smartphone docking speakers, automobile phone chargers, alarm clocks, battery packs and charging modules that can be installed in tabletops and furniture. Magnetic induction vs. resonance charging Analysts note, though, that there are some slight differences in the Qi-compliant wireless charging products being developed today.oracle java jdk 7 mac winrar macbook air iconpackager 5 1 full version quake usb adsl modem driver indir google earth for mac os x 10.5.8 free f talk setup winzip for win7 32 bit billiards go locker theme mobile9 style me girl para pc simlab skp md2 exporter for maya dozen games apartment escape 3 walkthrough

Google's Andy Rubin steps aside as Android gets new leader

Android head Andy Rubin is stepping aside, and that could mean big changes for Google's mobile platform and for its Chrome operating system. Google CEO Larry Page announced the move in a blog post on Wednesday, saying Rubin will remain with the company but will take on a new role. Rubin, who is Google's senior vice president for mobile and digital content, joined Google in 2005, when the search giant acquired Android, then a startup company that Rubin had co-founded. Sundar Pichai Andy Rubin "The pace of innovation has never been greater, and Android is the most used mobile operating system in the world," Page wrote. "Having exceeded even the crazy ambitious goals we dreamed of for Android, and with a really strong leadership team in place, Andy's decided it's time to hand over the reins and start a new chapter at Google." Page said Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president of Chrome and Apps, will take Rubin's place and will lead both the Chrome and Android divisions. "Sundar has a talent for creating products that are technically excellent yet easy to use -- and he loves a big bet," wrote Page. "So while Andy's a really hard act to follow, I know Sundar will do a tremendous job doubling down on Android as we work to push the ecosystem forward." Related: JR Raphael: What will Andy Rubin's departure mean for Android? Industry analysts said they were surprised by the news, and some wonder whether Rubin decided himself to move on or if he was asked to step aside. Regardless of why he's leaving, this is a big shift for Android. Rubin brought Android to prominence on the global mobile stage, creating a two-horse race with Apple's iOS. With more than 60 partners, Android has become the most popular smartphone operating system in the U.S. "[Rubin has been] working his tail off on Android, and he's made it extremely successful," said Jack Gold, an analyst at J.Gold Associates. "I don't think anyone can say he hasn't been pretty damn successful.... They have become a major mobile leader. Could he have done it faster, better, smoother? Sure... but I haven't seen any huge mistakes." Gold said he doubted Rubin was pushed out. He speculated that Rubin probably wants to try his hand at something new. "Every so often these guys have to take a breath and say, 'I've done a really good job, but where do I go from here?'" Gold said. "He's got a lot of creative juices. He may want to go do some new things and start something else. They said he'll stay at Google. I'd be surprised if he left. He's got a lot of freedom and opportunities there."hijab woman photo montage for ipod light rock music radio for android slices for twitter for ipod alchemy android game for pc halo waypoint for android free face in hole free for iphone5 rat on a snowboard for iphone women jumpers dress suit for ipad old telephone ringtones for ipad hong kong drama for android

OS X Mountain Lion: A big cat for business?

Apple surprised the tech world on Thursday by unveiling a developer preview of OS X Mountain Lion, the next generation of its desktop operating system set to ship this summer -- just a year after OS X 10.7 "Lion" arrived. Based on the information Apple has released so far, Mountain Lion will continue in the footsteps of its predecessor and bring more features from iOS to the desktop as well as strengthen ties to Apple's iCloud service. (iOS powers Apple's iPhone and iPad.) That makes Mountain Lion something of a mixed bag for enterprise environments: it has some features that are very useful for business users, while others -- like its near-total integration with Apple's personal cloud service -- will likely raise red flags in the minds of CIOs and IT professionals. Even so, the new OS offers some changes that will be particularly welcomed by mobile business users. Here's a look at some of what's new as well as a look at some of the concerns to keep in mind if you plan to update to Mountain Lion later this year. AirPlay Mirroring If you're someone who does presentations, you'll like AirPlay mirroring, a feature that Apple first introduced on the iPad 2 and included with the iPhone 4S. AirPlay Mirroring allows a Mountain Lion Mac to wirelessly broadcast whatever is on its screen to an HDTV using the Apple TV set-top box. No doubt, this feature will be great for home uses like gaming and watching web-based video on your TV with next to no effort (something unlikely to sit well with Hollywood execs or companies like Netflix and Hulu that have gone to great lengths to secure licensing deals for streaming to set-top box devices). What makes AirPlay mirroring for Macs valuable in the workplace is the ease of setup and the ubiquity of HDTVs (or projectors that can accept HDMI video). Pairing an Apple TV box with an Apple laptop creates a presentation system that can plug in virtually anywhere with just two cables (AC power and HDMI), no configuration needed. You don't even need to be on a Wi-Fi network, because a MacBook Air or Pro can create an ad hoc network the Apple TV can join. That's something that can easily be done in advance of a presentation. Files in iCloud The biggest business feature, however, has to be Apple's iCloud. In Mountain Lion, iCloud will put cloud storage front and center. Mountain Lion's open and save dialogs will include an iOS-like view of a user's iCloud storage space, including iOS-style "folders" for grouping documents. Any documents stored in this space immediately propagate changes to versions of the documents on all of a user's devices and Mountain Lion Macs. Updates take place in real time and you can even see the edits appear if you have a document open on two devices at the same time. You don't even need to remember to save changes.mobikids child taken for ipod data football manager handheld 2014 android bachelor party invitation for android stick stunt biker for ipod meme maker for android apk farewell party invitation for ipod nightbird trigger x for iphone cut the rope time travel ipa free bike or die 2 for ipod free retrica camera plus for android

Mountain Lion upgrades take from 13 to 57 minutes, says Apple reseller

Mountain Lion upgrades can take as little as 13 minutes and as long as almost an hour, a New York City Apple reseller said today. Tekserve, which bills itself as "New York's largest independent Apple store," timed the Mountain Lion upgrades it installed on various Mac desktops and notebooks, averaged the scores for each model, and posted the results on its blog Wednesday. 9to5Mac.com first reported on Tekserve's time trials. Earlier today, Apple launched OS X Mountain Lion from its e-mart, the Mac App Store. Mountain Lion costs $19.99, and can be installed on most recent Macs running either OS X Lion or Snow Leopard. "Unsurprisingly, the new [Retina] MacBook Pro was far and away the fastest to update, with the new MacBook Air models close behind," said Tekserve, which is located on West 23rd Street in Manhattan. "Their speed can be attributed to having solid state drives [SSD], which can access data much faster than a standard magnetic hard drive." The Retina MacBook Pro, the 15-in. notebook with a higher resolution screen that Apple unveiled last month, completed the Mountain Lion upgrade in just 13 minutes, while the 11-in. and 13-in. MacBook Airs needed 17 minutes. As Tekserve noted, those models rely on SSDs of various sizes to store data, applications and the operating system. Machines with traditional platter-based drives, including the newest 13-in. and 15-in. MacBook Pros, and the two iMac models, required much more time to process the upgrade, ranging from 40 minutes for the 21.5-in. iMac to 57 minutes for the non-Retina 15-in. MacBook Pro. Reviewers reported different upgrade times. Michael deAgonia, who examined Mountain Lion for Computerworld, said an upgrade to a SSD-equipped 15-in. MacBook Pro took approximately 35 minutes. Dan Frakes of Macworld -- like Computerworld, a site owned by IDG -- said his stopwatch recorded 15 to 25 minutes, depending on the Mac. TUAW.com, or The Unofficial Apple Weblog, reported even-longer times of 30 to 50 minutes. The Mountain Lion upgrade is a hands-off affair once the user has downloaded the 4GB installer from the Mac App Store, allowing Mac owners to step away from the machine and come back when the new OS is installed. As in such cases, mileage may vary: Tekserve, for example, was upgrading new systems that lacked the digital detritus that accumulates on well-used Macs.mogo the monkey in operation jungle bungle for ipads gmd gesture control for android santas christmas village for ipod blobs for iphone 4 6.1.3 galaxy on fire 2 ipa alien shooter 2 for android delicious official app for android the smurfs 2 3d live wallpaper for ipads xmas photo frames new for ipod asphalt 5 for android free

Macs at risk from 'super dangerous' Java zero-day

Hackers are exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Java 7, security experts said today. The unpatched bug can be exploited through any browser running on any operating system, from Windows and Linux to OS X, that has Java installed, said Tod Beardsley, the engineering manager for Metasploit, the open-source penetration testing framework used by both legitimate researchers and criminal hackers. David Maynor, CTO of Errata Security, confirmed that the Metasploit exploit -- which was published less than 24 hours after the bug was found -- is effective against Java 7 installed on OS X Mountain Lion. "This exploit works on OS X if you are running the 1.7 JRE [Java Runtime Environment]," said Maynor in an update to an earlier blog post. JRE 1.7 includes the most-current version of Java 7, dubbed "Update 6," that was released earlier this month. Maynor said he was able to trigger the vulnerability with the Metasploit code in both Firefox 14 and Safari 6 on OS X 10.8, better known as Mountain Lion. Although the exploits now circulating in the wild have been aimed only at Windows users, it's possible that Macs could also be targeted. "What is more worrisome is the potential for this to be used by other malware developers in the near future," said Intego, a Mac-specific antivirus vendor, in a post to its own blog Monday. "Java applets have been part of the installation process for almost every malware attack on OS X this year." The largest Mac malware campaign to date also involved Java. Flashback, which exploited a Java bug that at the time had not been patched by Apple, infected hundreds of thousands of Macs starting in early April 2012. Apple stopped bundling Java with OS X starting with last year's Lion, a practice it continued with Mountain Lion. Those users, however, may still have Java installed; when a browser encounters a Java applet, it asks the user for permission to download the Oracle software. People running the older Snow Leopard (2009) and Leopard (2007) are even more vulnerable to attacks, as Java came with those operating systems. Apple still maintains Java 6, but Oracle is responsible for patching Java 7. "The vulnerability is not in Java 6, it's in new functionality in Java 7," said Beardsley. Beardsley called the bug "super dangerous," noting that it was "totally a drive by," meaning that attackers could compromise a Mac, or other personal computers, simply by duping users into browsing to a malicious or previously-hacked website that hosts the attack code. Beardsley recommended that users disable Java until Oracle delivers a patch, advice seconded by virtually every security expert commenting on the new-found flaw. Mac owners can disable the Java plug-in from within their browsers, or remove Java 7 from their machines. To do the latter, select "Go to Folder" from the Finder's "Go" menu, enter "/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/" and drag the file "1.7.0.jdk" into the Trash.securecrt 64 bit full rtl 8187 driver patch for omnipeek hidden beauty danto the transfiguration of the commonplace dragon knight 4 3d blender nlite addons s polish kamus lengkap for mobile harman kardon computer speaker soundcard driver italian qsi dvd sdw 082 driver acer flatbed scanner driver 640bu skype for sony ericsson e15i

Wall Street Beat: It's business as usual for tech, but gov't crisis casts shadows

The tech sector appears to be going about business as usual in the face of the U.S. federal government shutdown, but some industry insiders are nervous about a long-term stoppage or, even worse, the possibility of a debt default if a political compromise on the budget is not reached. Conventional wisdom among economists holds that for every week the government remains shut due to the budget impasse over the U.S. health reform law, or "Obamacare," about 0.1 percent is shaved off economic growth for the quarter, according to Andrew Bartels, chief economist at Forrester Research. "That's about .4 or .5 percent off the economy in about a month, which translates into about 1 percent off tech spending in the U.S. for the quarter," Bartels noted. If Congress later this month fails to raise the debt limit to fully fund government spending, a full-scale global economic crisis, with repercussions for tech, could follow, Bartels said. Republican John Boehner of Ohio, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, declared Friday that he would work to prevent a debt default. But there are landmines along the path to a compromise, among which are a possible effort on the part of some Republicans to depose Boehner as speaker. "The failure to raise the debt ceiling could have serious consequences for the U.S. economy and have a ripple effect globally," Bartels said. The amount of money taken out of the U.S. economy and the potential of a rise in interest rates could cut gross domestic product by up to 5 percent to 6 percent, bringing it into decline, Bartels noted. That would mean a 10 percent decline in tech spending in the U.S. and likely an 8 percent drop in global tech spending. Tech sector leaders appear to be spooked. "It is unthinkable that the United States could default on its financial commitments, and it would be the height of irresponsibility for any public official to consider such a course," reads a statement issued by AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson. "In fact, even the discussion of default poses great risk to our economy and to our country." Government spending disruptions would stall what so far appears to be solid business as usual for tech. While there has been some turbulence in the stock market lately, shares on major exchanges, including tech company stock prices, edged up Friday on Boehner's comments. The Nasdaq Computer Index of more than 100 tech companies closed at 1814.15, up by 12.34 points, and is up by almost 17 percent for the year.pdf password cracker pro 3 2 crack game angry birds season 2 full version for pc skystar 2 dvb pci drivers v 4 4 teamspeak 3 server admin hack latest uc browser handler gom video converter serial xbox 360 controller emulator v3 0 for pc games using xinput instalar adobe flash player ultima version 2012 all2mp3 mac kostenlos canoscan fb620p xp driver

5 Ways to Rethink Software Projects

CIO - My coverage of the panel discussion on how to get beyond project estimates at Agile2013 Nashville garnered a great deal of positive feedback. There was one recurring question, though - Where do we start? - and another common refrain - "My boss would never go for that. This article will answer the question and provide at least a few hints for conquering the boss' lament. NoEstimates Means Estimates Aren't Bad, Just Not Essential Woody Zuill, a development manager at Hunter Industries, introduced the #NoEstimates Twitter hashtag and addressed the concept in blog posts such as Doing Scrum Without Estimates. Zuill is quick to point out that, while he has experienced some success with the ideas at Hunter, they represent his own opinion. That might be wise, considering the large public pushback on the idea. That pushback may be due to a misunderstanding. Zuill didn't claim that estimates are "bad" in all cases; rather, they're not always essential to the software development process. Alternative decision-making approaches are possible. In other words, while estimates solve a problem, what problem do they solve, exactly? What other ways are there to solve the problem? That's the discussion Zuill wanted to start. Instead of arguing can/cannot, let's define estimates and look at some examples of where #NoEstimates is working, in the field, right now. Woody Zuill made quite a splash with his introduction of #NoEstimates on Twitter. For the purpose of this article, an estimate is "a length of time it will take to develop software, determined by human judgment and based on experience." There are many ways to do this. You can break the work down into chunks and add it up, you can look at a variety of similar projects to compare, or you can stick your finger in the air and guess. All of those are estimation techniques. We'll define #NoEstimates as running a software project without any human estimation process. If customers asks, "How long will it take?" that's estimating. If they never have to ask, that's #NoEstimates. Notice that this means we can still estimate the budget for the department, or the rate of customer adoption to do financial projects. The term #NoEstimates is specifically tied to humans using their judgment to predict development effort for a solution that have not yet fully developed. Here are five ways to do just that. 1. Make Starting Amount of Money Small; Deliver Working Software Often J.B. Rainsberger, the author of jUnit Recipes, points out that his first solo software project was just like this. Rainsberger made no promises up front, offering instead to show working software every two weeks - and also allowing the client to fire him with as little as two weeks' notice. This technique may work best for outsourced projects. It also represents a significant amount of risk for the outsourced company, and minimizes risk for the customer. The team turns over working software - not designs, specifications or in-process code - that may have little or no value to the economic buyer. This is essentially what happened with Chrysler's Comprehensive Compensation System (C3). The car maker dropped the existing project, already in progress, in order to "reboot" it as a project that would deliver working software every two or three iterations, each of which was two weeks long. For Chrysler, in 1999, that was a fast deployment process. For internal projects with an existing team, a larger organization might want to look at another approach to #NoEstimates. 2. Fund a Pilot That Delivers Working Software; Then Use Modeling to Forecast Schedule Imagine a high-functioning software team pulling pieces of work from a queue. If the effort involved for each piece of work averages within some reasonable deviation, the team can count the pieces of work accomplished per week and predict, in a sense, when the project will be done. (Management can also change which pieces of work are "required" to change the date.) That may not be as easy as it sounds. To work, the amount of effort per feature needs to normalize, or approach a bell curve, and there can't be any "black swan" events lurking in the weeds. For example, bugs discovered late in the cycle may create extra work that's not modeled. The team also needs a fair amount of data to do this kind of modeling. This typically requires a funded pilot with no defined scope. It might, however, be possible to pull the data from previous projects that were delivered with estimates - by throwing away the estimates and assembling predictions from data. Troy Magennis, a former executive at Sabre Holdings and Travelocity, now with Focused Objective, has done some of the most prominent work in this space. Magennis has also developed predictive models that include complex elements like deviation, cycle time, defects/time for repair and so on. Modeling, Simulation & Data Mining: Answering Tough Executive Questions (Agile 2012) Magennis & Maccherone) from FocusedObjectiveTroy Magennis and Larry Macherone presented on predictive modeling at Agile2012; the algorithm is now a part of LeanKitKan's project management suite. Even without a complex model, most agile teams are capable of producing a burn-down chart that can answer the question, "Is this date and this scope possible?" Someone just has to ask. 3. Move From Contract Negotiation to Partnership The Dynamic Systems Development Method, or DSDM, predates the agile movement. It recognized that, on most projects, people, money and time remain fixed. Quality is something that probably should be fixed, too, as non-working software doesn't actually work. The one thing most flexible is actually scope. Most planning work is eliminated here in favor of developing high-level goals in collaboration with the customer. The team promises to deliver something on week 30, and the two groups meet every week or two to show progress and design the next step. If that sounds a bit like a fairy tale, I understand. At the same time, that's essentially the business model of Menlo Innovations. Based in Ann Arbor, Mich. and founded by Richard Sheridan, former VP of product development at Interface Systems, the Menlo team may establish scope at the outset of a project, but it lets the customer adjust and plan specifics each week. By the end of a budget period, the customer could steer to a place very different that the original goal. The customer gets what it needs in the moment - not what it thought it needed six months ago. In May 2003, Sheridan made the cover of Forbes for his successful gamble to found Menlo. In the 10 years since, the company has continued to grow. Sheridan's current project is a new book, Joy Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love. Menlo is doing something right.group sms scheduler apk fpse emulator for android free dv 1394 400 driver vivitar mini camera drivers the eye of minds james dashner pdf avg antivirus business edition 2011 price speedstream 4200 adsl modem driver iomega nas discovery software caterpillar construction tycoon free torent phan mem cardrecovery 3 60