Google's Eric Schmidt says competitors are 'responding with lawsuits' instead of innovation

Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt may have primarily been at Google's Mobile Revolution conference in Tokyo to talk about the company's ambitious goals for Asia, but it turns out he was also quite ready to discuss the myriad of patent lawsuits swirling around the mobile industry these days -- or "legal fun," as Schmidt put it. While not directly referring to any company by name, Schmidt said that because of Google's success with Android, "competitors are responding with lawsuits as they cannot respond through innovations," although he added that he's "not too worried about this." Schmidt did specifically comment on HTC's current situation, though, and said that "we will make sure they don't lose" in response to a question about whether Google would help foot HTC's legal bills if it lost its case before ITC.

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Google Quietly Rolls Out WDYL.com: A Range Of Google Product Results On One Page

This morning, we got tipped to check out wdyl.com. The tipster noted that it was apparently a new Google site attempting to “create a unified UI to search in multiple channels”. Sure enough, visiting the URL brought up a Google page — but it was a 404 page. Turns out it needs the “www” in order to work. Yes, wdyl.com is not quite ready for prime-time. But it is out there, live!
The new service, which Google apparently did launch this morning, is called What do you love? (hence, wdyl.com). While it seems to be more of a cute gimmick at this time, the idea is to return users a single page of relevant results across many of Google’s products for whatever query is typed into the wdyl search box. The “search” button is even a heart. Cute.
The best queries are for vague, broad terms like “love“, for example. On the results page you’ll find pictures of love, patents about love, love on Google Trends, videos about love, how to say love in different languages, books about love, etc. It can be interesting. But the results showcasing Gmail, Calendar, Chrome, and a few others again show that this is meant to be more of a promotional tool for Google products rather than anything hugely useful. A button at the bottom of each widget takes you directly to the Google product showcased.
The most striking thing about the new site is that it seems pretty well designed — not always a given with Google.
Update: According to a source, wdyl.com quietly rolled out several days ago and the formal launch was set for yesterday, but engineering issues have been holding it back. At least they’ve finally fixed the “www” issue.

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Intel says Cloverview platform will launch in time for Windows 8

Intel didn't provide much indication of a release timeframe when it first teased its tablet-minded Cloverview platform back in April, but it's now finally starting to dish a few more details (though still not many specifics, unfortunately). Speaking with This is my next, Intel's Director of Product and Technology Media Relations, Bill Kircos, said that the chipmaker is looking to deliver a "nice one-two chip-software punch," and roll out the Cloverview platform and accompanying Clover Trail processor around the same time as Windows 8 -- possibly before, but seemingly no later. Of course, exactly when Windows 8 itself will launch still remains a bit of a mystery, although ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley notes that the latest rumor of a release to manufacturing in April of next year is not so crazy, and that "April sounds better than July

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An Idea in Motion - Nokia W8 (Windows Mobile Phone 7)

Nokia and Microsoft today announced plans to form a broad strategic partnership that would use their complementary strengths and expertise to create a new global mobile ecosystem.

Nokia and Microsoft intend to jointly create market-leading mobile products and services designed to offer consumers, operators and developers unrivalled choice and opportunity. As each company would focus on its core competencies, the partnership would create the opportunity for rapid time to market execution. Additionally, Nokia and Microsoft plan to work together to integrate key assets and create completely new service offerings, while extending established products and services to new markets.

Under the proposed partnership:

•	Nokia would adopt Windows Phone as its principal smartphone strategy, innovating on top of the platform in areas such as imaging, where Nokia is a market leader.
•	Nokia would help drive the future of Windows Phone. Nokia would contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies.
•	Nokia and Microsoft would closely collaborate on joint marketing initiatives and a shared development roadmap to align on the future evolution of mobile products.
•	Bing would power Nokia’s search services across Nokia devices and services, giving customers access to Bing’s next generation search capabilities. Microsoft adCenter would provide search advertising services on Nokia’s line of devices and services.
•	Nokia Maps would be a core part of Microsoft’s mapping services. For example, Maps would be integrated with Microsoft’s Bing search engine and adCenter advertising platform to form a unique local search and advertising experience
•	Nokia’s extensive operator billing agreements would make it easier for consumers to purchase Nokia Windows Phone services in countries where credit-card use is low.
•	Microsoft development tools would be used to create applications to run on Nokia Windows Phones, allowing developers to easily leverage the ecosystem’s global reach.
•	Nokia’s content and application store would be integrated with Microsoft Marketplace for a more compelling consumer experience.

“Today, developers, operators and consumers want compelling mobile products, which include not only the device, but the software, services, applications and customer support that make a great experience,” Stephen Elop, Nokia President and CEO, said at a joint news conference in London. “Nokia and Microsoft will combine our strengths to deliver an ecosystem with unrivalled global reach and scale. It’s now a three-horse race.”

“I am excited about this partnership with Nokia,” said Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft CEO. “Ecosystems thrive when fueled by speed, innovation and scale.The partnership announced today provides incredible scale, vast expertise in hardware and software innovation and a proven ability to execute.”

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A New Beginning - Windows 8

With wild anticipation, let’s say that after the success of Windows 7, why would so many people expect more from Windows 8? why should Windows 8 come out so soon after Windows 7. After all, many companies, believe it or not, have not moved to Windows 7. They are either stuck on Vista, or on XP. It may come as a shock, but a lot of companies are not with the cutting edge of technology. They don’t have the money to upgrade the software and or hardware, or the money to upgrade the skills of their IT staff. So they are stuck behind an ancient Operating System, which makes do.
But we’ve been hearing rumors about Windows 8 coming out in 2012. Maybe, maybe not. But what do people want from such a new Operating system. Well, here is a Windows 8 wish list.

A New Beginning

New Welcome screen

A new User Interface similar to the Windows phone 7 has been seen in the latest builds of Windows 8; this would mark a distinct introduction to the computer’s use.

‘Modern’ Task Manager

A colleague wrote about this yesterday. So let me just add, with new screen features and statistics about usage, it should be a different utility vehicle.
Portable Workspaces
You may be able to put Windows 8 OS on a USB stick. This would be a portable development.
Aero auto-colorization
A new feature that reacts to the most prominent color of the Windows wallpaper.

Hybrid Booting

Core operating system files are ‘put to sleep’ which enables the startup time to be significantly reduced.

Simple system ‘reset’

When needed, you can reset the OS to it’s default settings.
Ribbons in Windows Explorer
Ribbons which are prominent in Office 2010, will change the interface look
ARM processor ‘tablet support’
ARM is a a low-power processor which allows devices to run longer on batteries and it will be available on Win8.

Genuine center
You will now be able to organize  your Windows licences with this center.

Cloud-based roaming profiles

With cloud operations becoming more frequent, it would only stand to reason that they would be available in the Windows 8.

Push notifications

This is similar to or is expected to be similar to the Windows Phone 7 push notification.
Improved disk cleanup
Cleaning your disk or Operating system by removing junk files will be easier and automatic.
‘Modern Reader’ PDF support
PDF files will have a new reader, and perhaps editor functionality.

Internet Explorer 10

Continue to enhance IE with a new version that competes easier with Chrome, and Firefox.

Internet Explorer ‘Immersive’

A slimmed down version of the browser will feel and look like the phone version.
SmartScreen file filter
SmartScreen filters out spam or bad links based on community responses.

Windows App Store

Get files, updates, and Apps from the Windows App Store.

History Vault

This will replace the Backup and Restore feature in Windows 7

Step-by-step install

The install wizard will be made easier to use for novices to work with.

ISO mounting

Users will be able to use ISO images and burn them as needed.

Native wake on LAN

Even if your PC is hibernating or turned off, a network push through will be able to turn it back on.

Webcam application

Users will be able to use their web cam with the new User Interface. They will be able start and stop videos, capture images immediately or after a short delay.
Summary
Windows 8 comes at a time when there is a lot of push for implementing many new technologies into an old system. Operating Systems still control the computer and interface with the CPU. But with the advent of apps, and how they changed the mobile technology, the impact is now felt on PC’s and OS’s to break from the past and enter a new era of PC and user interaction. One thing is for sure, the next generation of Operating Systems will not look like the last generation.

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