512 Pixels

The New York Times hit the nail on the head:

When designing Windows Vista, Microsoft put a lot of effort into taking advantage of sophisticated computer hardware, with fancy graphics on the surface and lots of new processing tricks inside. Microsoft says this positioned the operating system for the future, despite the complaining of many users who grumble that Vista has bogged down their computers with unneeded frills and incompatibilities.

While there is some more high-powered glitz coming in Windows 7, the real challenge for Microsoft isn’t the latest multi-core superchip, but making the operating system work well, and affordably, on stripped-down PCs, netbooks and other small devices.

Google isn’t taking the latest estimates over it’s power consumption lightly. Today, Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President of Operations at Google posted this on the company’s blog:

In terms of greenhouse gases, one Google search is equivalent to about 0.2 grams of CO2. The current EU standard for tailpipe emissions calls for 140 grams of CO2 per kilometer driven, but most cars don’t reach that level yet. Thus, the average car driven for one kilometer (0.6 miles for those in the U.S.) produces as many greenhouse gases as a thousand Google searches.

Engadget is good at it: “iPhone nano now rumored for June, Unicorn delayed again until September.”

Microsoft has announced Songsmith, a Windows app that creates music based on what you sing into a microphone. Honestly, it sounds pretty cool, and it’s not something Apple’s Garageband can do (that I know of), but the implementation is down right sad. The interface makes my eyes bleed, but the ad is even worse:

Wired, on what sets the Palm Pre apart:

The iPhone’s apps are great and a big part of the phone’s appeal. But have you ever tried to listen to Pandora while you’re checking Gmail? Can’t do it. The iPhone’s limitation on running multiple apps is a serious drawback. The HTC G1 improves on that with the notifications drawer, but it’s an insufficient solution because it’s still too hard to see what’s currently running. The Palm Pre solves that problem. It treats applications as “cards” and makes it easy to flip through the deck of cards, view them at once and shuffle them. The apps are live even when minimized, and you don’t lose your place even if you move to a different one or move to a new one.

The Times Online:

Performing two Google searches from a desktop computer can generate about the same amount of carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle for a cup of tea, according to new research.

While millions of people tap into Google without considering the environment, a typical search generates about 7g of CO2 Boiling a kettle generates about 15g. “Google operates huge data centres around the world that consume a great deal of power,” said Alex Wissner-Gross, a Harvard University physicist whose research on the environmental impact of computing is due out soon. “A Google search has a definite environmental impact.”

The New York Times:

The notion of a strong Linux-based competitor to Windows and, to a lesser extent, Apple’s Mac OS X has been an enduring dream of advocates of open-source software. They champion the idea that software that can be freely altered by the masses can prove cheaper and better than proprietary code produced by stodgy corporations. Try as they might, however, Linux zealots have failed in their quest to make Linux mainstream on desktop and notebook computers. The often quirky software remains in the realm of geeks, not grandmothers.

With Ubuntu, the devotees believe, things might finally be different.

The three page article discusses the goal of Ubuntu: making Linux easy for everyday users, not just the geek users. In fact, the Times estimates Ubuntu is used by 10 million people and organizations - including Google, the Macedonian education department, and schools in Spain and France’s military - not to mention the estimated 11% of American businesses running the open-source operating system.

Wired:

Craigslist has been accused of single-handedly killing the newspaper industry by conditioning people to pay as little as zero for classified ads. Craig Newmark famously knows he is leaving perhaps 10s of millions of dollars on the table, and famously could not care less. Meanwhile, the traditional lifeblood for newspapers for your used car is being drained dry by this international classified ad network and by slightly-more-expensive-and-more-complicated auction services like eBay. You can’t blame Craiglist for innovating – despite their business model, they clean up, thank you very much – just like you can’t blame Google. You’d have to blame the entire internet.

Hicksdesign:

As you can see, the Linotype L logo was common theme to all ideas, some more subtle than others.

Really beautiful stuff, from start to finish.

Cult of Mac:

Apple is ditching MacWorld to instead exhibit at CES next year instead, according to one source.

No. No. No.

At Macworld, Apple was the big dog. At CES, they would have to compete with every other electronics company on the planet for press time. Not to mention the reasons Apple left Macworld - 1,000s of Apple Store visitors each week means far more customer exposure, January is a horrible time to release products, trade shows are expensive as hell - would also apply to CES. From now on, when an Apple executive takes a stage to show off something new, it will be at an Apple-crafted event, not a trade show. Not even the granddaddy of them all, CES.

David Pogue of the New York Times:

What the media wants to see is the annual Steve Jobs keynote speech, where Apple’s latest products are often unveiled. So: no press throngs next year. The software companies in those hundreds of booths want to be near the mother ship, to bask in its glory and be seen by its admirers. So: fewer booths next year. And the regular Apple fans want to see that keynote, try out those Apple products and explore those booths. So: fewer attendees.

It’s going to be interesting to watch what happens next year, especially with CES going on at the same time.

Palm announced their new phone, the Pré, today. Engadget has posted some videos of the OS in action, and frankly, it is stunning. Palm’s “WebOS”  is beautiful and chock-full of silky transitions. It makes my iPhone feel clunky.