Skeuomorphism: bringing Microsoft Bob back from the dead

Graphics 47 Comments
Tobias Bjerrome Ahlin, an interface designer at Spotify, is a big believer in skeuomorphism. Whereas Apple is a strong advocate of this design concept, Microsoft is clearly moving in the exact opposite direction, while Android is in the process of moving away from skeuomorphism entirely, to a more digital experience. As a passionate hater of skeuomorphism in UIs, I found Ahlin's examples to be a bit weak.
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Top-five tips to animate your comics

Multimedia, AV 23 Comments
I recently delved into the world of hand-drawn comics-style animation, after a lifetime of just sketching on paper. While I have a long experience with video editing, I had no experience with video animation of that kind. When I first got the idea to do the video it felt like a mountain to me, excessively complex. But the steep learning curve got easier with time. This is my top-5 cheat list to get you up and running.
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Lib-Ray video standard: using Google/On2’s VP8 video codec

  Submitted by fsmag Multimedia, AV 30 Comments
"When I started working on a no-DRM, open-standards-based solution for distributing high-definition video on fixed media ('Lib-Ray'), I naturally thought of Theora, because it was developed as a free software project. Several people have suggested, though, that the VP8 codec would be a better fit for my application. This month, I've finally gotten the necessary vpxtools and mkvtoolnix packages installed on my Debian system, and so I'm having a first-look at VP8. The results are very promising, though the tools are somewhat finicky."
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Intel’s first smartphone arrives… In India

  Submitted by amoldan Intel 19 Comments
"Intel announced that Lava International, a cell phone company in India, has launched the XOLO X900. The device will launch on April 23 in India and will be sold through Croma, a big retail chain in India. XOLO X900 features a 1.6GHz Atom Z2460 (a.k.a. Medfield) with Intel Hyper Threading Technology, 400 MHz graphics, a 4-inch 1024x600 display, full 1080p HD video encoding and playback, a 1-megapixel camera up front, an 8-megapixel camera in the back, and support for HSPA+ 3G connectivity. The phone will ship with Android Gingerbread but Intel is already promising an OTA update to Ice Cream Sandwich. The phone is priced around INR 22000 (around USD 425)."
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Microsoft beats Street profit view, shares up

Microsoft 3 Comments
"Microsoft beat Wall Street's profit forecast as personal computer sales held up better than expected, lifting its shares 2.5 percent after hours. The results buoyed optimism around the world's largest software maker, which is lining up a new tablet-friendly version of Windows for later this year and is looking to make a dent into Apple and Google's domination of the mobile market this holiday shopping season." Are Wall Street forecasts ever right?
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Oracle and Florian Mueller got hitched

In the News 6 Comments
"Florian Mueller has confessed - in the interests of being 'transparent', he says - that Oracle has hired him, for his analysis of FRAND issues. I know. You are shocked, shocked. Who'd have ever guessed? We did. Groklaw did. We get suspicious when someone's 'analysis' is uniformly that Google is doomed. It's my Spidey sense. And it's usually on the money, as they say." We've had a no-link policy in place for Mueller from back when everybody else was still citing him as a trustworthy, independent analyst. My own senses told me otherwise, and I was right. Paint me red, girl scout, etc. etc.
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Seattle Rex vs. Apple: the verdict is in

Apple 45 Comments
Dude buys $4000 MacBook Pro. GPU make/model in this laptop is proven to be defective. Apple launches repair program that covers the machine. Apple refuses to fix or replace the dude's $4000 laptop. Dude tries several different ways of getting Apple to admit fault. Apple doesn't budge. Case goes to court, in front of a judge. Apple sends two (2) (twee) (deux) (zwei) (dos) (dva) (dau) lawyers to handle the case. Dude takes care of his own defense, obliterates Apple. Judge summons Apple to pay for the laptop and court costs. During the court case, the Apple lawyers admit openly that replacing the logic board would have cost Apple nothing, since Nvidia foots the bill. Apple paid for two, most likely quite expensive lawyers, to prevent having to pay nothing to replace a laptop. This is pure insanity.
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The agony and the ecstasy of ecosystems: an in-depth comparison

In the News 6 Comments
"The pitch is as simple as it is universal: you only need one account (with us!) and you'll have all your digital needs taken care of. That's the goal Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Sony - to varying degrees and using strikingly divergent strategies - are all trying to accomplish. As a group, they're just a selection of the vast hordes of service providers looking to expand their ecosystems and monopolize your time (see the efforts of Evernote, Spotify, and Zynga), but they're also the only ones big and influential enough to actually fulfill that aspiration. My aim today will be to compare, in terms of features and approach, the 'access-everything' accounts on offer from those six biggest companies. Does Google+ let you do more than Facebook? Can the Sony Entertainment Network match wits with Microsoft's Live services? Let's find out."
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Current Windows Phone devices not upgradeable to Apollo?

Windows 87 Comments
If you ever needed any proof it's anything but roses ans sunshine over at Microsoft's Windows Phone division, it's this. The next version of Windows Phone, WP8, will run on the NT kernel, which marks a pretty substantial departure from the current release. This raises the question: will current handsets be upgradeable to WP8? First, Microsoft indicated no. Then they said yes (interview retracted). And now, they're saying no again.
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Windows Server 2012 to land this year

Windows 4 Comments
"At the Microsoft Management Summit today in Las Vegas, Microsoft officially announced that the next version of Windows Server will officially be named Windows Server 2012 - and will be released this calendar year. Microsoft Corporate Vice President Brad Anderson told the audience that 'nothing Microsoft has ever done has ever been as ambitious' as the features being incorporated into Windows Server 2012. Microsoft Principal Product Manager Jeff Woolsey walked through a few of those features, including Server 2012's storage pooling and the boosted capabilities of the Hyper-V virtual machine hypervisor."
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Ellison: Oracle pondered buying RIM, Palm

Oracle and SUN 17 Comments
"Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said the software maker had considered building its own smartphone to compete with Apple and Google but decided it was a 'bad idea' after a weeks-long cost and market analysis. As part of that exhaustive internal analysis, he said, Oracle had pondered at one point buying Blackberry-maker RIM and Palm." So, Larry (likely after consulting with his best friend Jobs) decided to try to extort money from Google instead - which isn't working out either. Did you analyse that, too, Larry?
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