Windows 8 new features

Windows 8 is revolutionizing the PC industry with an interface that diverges greatly from something we’ve all grown quite accustomed to. For better or worse, Microsoft is forcing its users toward the mobile way of viewing things. While this has given way to much criticism, there are countless benefits that can be seen from this mobile push, interface notwithstanding. Here are several important features of the new Windows 8 operating system.

UEFI Replaces BIOS

For those of you who know what BIOS is, this will be a much-needed change. Microsoft has created a new boot solution called Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI), which will significantly improve the boot process and user experience, replacing the older archaic Basic Input Output System (BIOS) that we’ve been stuck with for decades.

With Windows 8 has come faster boot times of around eight second between pushing the power button and windows opening. This, along with the need for fewer system reboots, will help increase productivity in the office.

UEFI is not only more user-friendly, but comes equipped with several new and handy features. Secure boot prevents unauthorized operating systems from loading, and Early Launch Anti-Malware (ELAM) protects against boot loader attacks. It is also quite IT-friendly and allows administrators to perform remote diagnostics and computer repairs via the network.

Full Windows Experience on Tablets

Most tablets don’t have the processing capacity to run a full PC-based operating system. Windows 8 seeks to change that by allowing x86-based tablets the opportunity to retain much of the productivity allowed by Windows 8. Rather than using an environment that is toned down and more restricted, you can use the full Windows environment. This means you can still use the same Windows applications from Microsoft Office 2013 to countless more desktop-based applications.

This benefit only applies to x86-based tablets that are loaded with Windows 8 Pro. Tablets with ARM processors that run Windows Run Time (RT) will unfortunately only support the Metro-style apps and won’t offer the full Windows experience.

Windows To Go

This is a feature we’ve all been wanting for countless years (some of us anyway). The Windows To Go feature in Windows 8 Enterprise allows users to put a clean install of Windows 8 onto a 32GB or higher USB thumb or portable drive and boot it from other computers. This is especially helpful for individuals who are telecommuters or temporary contractors as you can fit an entire PC operating system loaded with all the needed applications, settings and files onto a device small enough to fit in your pocket.

You can also use this feature to create a backup operating system in the event that your computer becomes infected or corrupted. To protect against theft, you can encrypt your device with BitLocker.

New Recovery Options

We all dread that moment when the “blue screen of death” appears and we’re forced to recover or reinstall Windows. Windows 8 offers two new options, Refresh and Reset, which will help save you countless hours in reconstructing the PC’s environment. You can initiate these options through the Metro-style Settings app within Windows or via the new boot Windows Recovery Environment.

Refresh keeps all of your personal data, apps and settings, but reinstalls Windows. This entire process can take less than 10 minutes regardless of how much personal data needs to be backed up. Reset removes all data on the computer and reinstalls Windows to the same condition it was in the first time it started. This can take between 10 and 25 minutes, a far cry from the several hours that older Windows environments took to install.

By: thecodewhiz On 8:45 PM

Continue Reading

Top technology trends 2013

    Another day, another top 10 list from Gartner, which this week is playing host to 10,000 IT pro at the Gartner Symposium IT Expo in Orlando.

• Mobile device battles: Mobile experiences eclipse the desktop experience. Consumerization drives tablets into the enterprise. Cloud and mobile are mutually reinforcing trends. Bring your own device trend accelerates. In 2013, mobile devices will pass PCs to be most common Web access tools. By 2015, over 80% of handsets in mature markets will be smart phones. 20% of those will be Windows phones. By 2015, tablet shipments will be 50% of laptop shipments, with Windows 8 in third place behindApple and Android. Microsoft‘s share of overall client platform will fall to 60%, and could drop below 50%. In smartphones, Windows could pass RIM to be #3 player, and could be same size as Apple in units by 2015. Windows 8 will be “relatively niche,” with mostly appealing to enterprise buyers.
• Mobile applications & HTML 5: Through 2014, JavaScript performance will push HTML5 and the browser as a mainstream application developer environment. There will be long shift to HTML5 from native apps as HTML5 becomes more capable. But native apps won’t disappear, and will always offer best experiences.
• Personal Cloud: Cloud will be center of digital lives, for apps, content and preferences. Sync across devices. Services become more important; devices become less important.
• Internet of Things: Internet of things is already here. Over 50% of Internet connections are things. In 2011,  over 15 billion things on the Web, with 50 billion+ intermittent connections. By 2020, over 30 billion connected things, with over 200 billion with intermittent connections. Key technologies here include embedded sensors, image recognition and NFC. By 2015, in more than 70% of enterprises, a single exec will oversee all Internet connected things. Becomes the Internet of Everything.
• Hybrid IT and Cloud Computing: Changes role of IT.  IT departments must play more roles in coordinating IT related activities.
• Strategic Big Data: Organizations need to focus on non-traditional data types and externa data sources. Hadoop and NoSQL gain momentum. Big data will meet social. Five richest big data sources on the Web include social graph, intent graph, consumption graph, interest graph and mobile graph. Concept of single corporate data warehouse is dead. Multiple systems need to be tied together.
• Actionable Analytics: Cloud, packaged analytics and big data accelerates in 2013, 2014. Can now perform analytics and simulation on every action taken in business. Mobile devices will have access to the data, supporting business decision making.
• Mainstream In-Memory Computing: Changes expectations, designs and architectures. Can boost performance and response times. Enables real-time self service business intelligence. SAP and others will accelerate delivery of applications in 2012/2013 to leverage in memory capability.
• Integrated Ecosystems: More packaging of software and services to address infrastructure or application workload. There will be more shipment of “appliances,” with software delivered as hardware. New trend: virtual appliances, which Gartner sees gaining in popularity over the next five years.
• Enterprise App Stores: By 2014, there will be more than 70 billion mobile app downloads from app stores every year. Also by 2014, most organizations will deliver mobile apps to workers via private application stores....S0urce forbes

By: thecodewhiz On 3:48 AM

Continue Reading

Facebook Employees Now Billions Richer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- It's the day some Facebook employees have waited years for: Their paper wealth now has an official cash value, to the tune of $5.2 billion.
Before this week, those employees were rich only on paper. That's because Facebook used a special form of equity compensation called "restricted stock units" that become actual, tradeable stock only after a liquidity event -- in this case, Facebook's May 18 IPO.
Facebook's current and past employees hold about 225 million of those so-called RSUs. They will officially be converted into stock on Thursday, using Wednesday's closing price of $23.23.
The shares will remain locked up for a few days. On Monday, October 29, their owners can cash in by selling them on the stock market. Adding together the RSUs and other stocks and options that are also being unlocked, a total of 234 million shares will be newly eligible for sale that day.
The employees' RSUs are worth around $5.2 billion, based on Wednesday's closing price.
It's less than they might have expected earlier in the year, because Facebook shares have plummeted since May.
Facebook's stock rose more than 19% on Wednesday after the company's earnings report the night before. That was the biggest single-day gain since Facebook's May IPO. Wall Street responded well to Facebook's growing ad sales and efforts to monetize its growing pool of mobile users.
Facebook's employees won't take home every penny of their stock haul. They have to pay Uncle Sam first.
Unlike stock options, which traditionally carry a "strike" price at which recipients can purchase shares, restricted stock units are granted outright at zero cost to employees. The IRS taxes RSUs as ordinary income on their full market value as of the day they vest.
Employers are required to withhold taxes when they settle RSUs. For many at Facebook -- whose windfalls can easily reach into the millions -- that will mean paying taxes at the top income tax rate. That's 35% this year for federal taxes. California, where most Facebook employees live, levies an additional 10.3% tax on individual income over $1 million.
Facebook says the tax rates will average around 45%, so it plans to withhold 101 million of its employees' 225 million shares to cover the bill. Instead of selling those shares on the open market, Facebook will hang on to them and dip into its own cash stash to pay the estimated tax bill of nearly $2.3 billion. The maneuver essentially functions like a stock buyback and reduces Facebook's outstanding share count.
For Facebook's rank-and-file employees, Monday will be the first chance most have had to sell off some of their stock holdings and turn their paper wealth into actual cash. If a large number of them decide to sell immediately, the stock could suffer a drop.
That's what happened in August. Shares fell 6% on the day that some of Facebook's investors and earliest executives first had the chance to sell off their shares.

By: thecodewhiz On 3:16 AM

Continue Reading