saicrosoft Technical Blog

The Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) has announced the development (PDF) of a new standard that combines SATA software infrastructure with the PCI Express interface. Colloquially dubbed “SATA Express,” the new technology will allow manufacturers to create devices that can tap into the bandwidth of PCIe slots while remaining compatible with existing SATA applications.

The amalgamation will offer an affordable way to provide devices with interface speeds of 8Gb/s and 16Gb/s (one lane via PCIe 2.0 or two via PCIe 3.0) — a healthy increase over SATA 3.0’s single-channel throughput of 6Gb/s. Although that’s plenty of bandwidth for most drives, SATA-IO is concerned about certain high-end consumer and enterprise configurations that could saturate the existing 6Gb/s interface.

“We had two choices. Either increase the SATA speed or find another solution that can be available today and be cost and technology compatible with legacy SATA environments,” said SATA-IO president Mladen Luksic, speaking with Computerworld. Because such high-end configurations represent a small portion of the market, the organization thought SATA Express would be the least burdensome approach.

SATA Express devices are recognized by the host as plain old SATA hardware, and because virtually all modern desktops support PCIe and SATA, users won’t have to purchase upgrades to take advantage of the new spec. It’s also more scalable than traditional SATA because SATA-IO can simply tap into more PCIe lanes to boost speed and satisfy higher performance requirements when the time comes.

“The SATA Express specification provides SSD and hybrid drive manufacturers the advantages of performance and scalability enabled by PCIe 3.0 — which is available now — and the ubiquity of SATA” said Luksic. SATA-IO also announced “SATA µSSD,” a single-chip solution for ultra-thin form factors (i.e. tablets). SATA Express will be finalized by the end of 2011, but there’s no such date for SATA µSSD.

In a separate announcement, the USB 3.0 Promoter Group revealed its developing a new power delivery specification that will support the flow of more electricity. The updated spec permits up to 100W of power to be drawn, and would allow even more external devices to scrap their clunky external power supplies. The group will demonstrate the changes during the Intel Developer Forum which runs September 13-15.

This is the WIMM Wearable Platform (which I will be referring to strictly as “WIMM.”) It’s a tiny Android-powered module that will someday soon be used in watches, bike-mount computers, wearable interfaces, and anything else a clever company can come up with. It’s the product of WIMM Labs, an all-star Silicon Valley company that has partnered with iPhone manufacturer Foxconn to usher in the era of the “first screen” and “micro apps.”

The idea of the “first screen,” WIMM Labs CEO and former Rambus president Dave Mooring told Betanews last week, is a response to all the other four screens that we interact with on a daily basis (TV, PC, smartphone, and now tablet).

There is a clear relationship between the amount of time spent with a device and its screen size. We spend the most time engaged with a TV, but we typically only use them a couple of times a day. Then moving down the line comes PCs, then tablets, and finally phones, the device we look at the most, but often for the shortest amount of time. WIMM devices will fit in underneath the smartphone, with lots and lots of sessions per day, but they may only be a couple of seconds each.

Micro Apps are pretty much just as they sound, they are tiny single-purpose apps that will turn WIMM into, for example, a remote control for your camera, or a unique security bracelet, or a contactless payment dongle. Like a smartphone, WIMM can handle many many apps, and because it is designed to be interacted with frequently but for short periods of time, the apps should be appropriately “micro-sized.”

So what is it?

The modules I got to see were waterproof plastic or ceramic and had contact points for attaching to chargers, docks, bands, etc. The display is a 1″ x 1″ (160 x 160) touchscreen, wi-fi, bluetooth 2.1 EDR, GPS, accelerometer, magnetometer, vibrator, speaker, up to 32GB of microSD memory.

The screen is one of the major cool points for WIMM. It’s a transflective TFT (think touchscreen Pixel Qi) that switches to “passive” reflective mode when apps aren’t in use, so it becomes a regular watch with a long battery life. But when you want to run apps with its 667 MHz applications processor, the backlight kicks on, the screen switches to transmissive mode, and it becomes active.

“We didn’t want a screen that would go off and go dark like when people put the iPod Nano on their wrist,” SVP of product marketing Tim Twerdahl told us. “And we also knew that if we tried to keep the screen alive all the time, we’d have some serious battery issues…so we innovated on 2 fronts, one is the architecture on the board, and the other is the display technology that allows it to have those two modes.”

The device pairs with any Bluetooth smartphone, but the ideal companionship is with another Android device. WiMM Companion (shown above) is a conduit for anything you want to pass from the phone to the module…for example, you can pipe down RSS feeds or weather headlines, so when you click on something on WIMM, it launches on your phone.

So how is it different from Sony Ericsson LiveView, the 1.3″ wrist-mounted Android smartphone companion? You don’t necessarily have to link it to your phone.

“What Sony Ericsson did was very much a slave to an Android phone, to such an extent that I read reports that if you didn’t have it paired with a phone, you couldn’t even get the time on the thing!” Mooring told us. “The nice thing is that you could pair this with a phone via bluetooth, and there’s a great product opportunity there…but if you’re in the runner’s watch category, for example, you don’t want to force your users to run with their phone, so for cases like that, [WIMM can be a] standalone, autonomous GPS device that syncs up to your home network when you get back from your run.”

Like Chumby, WIMM comes with a full canon of Web-based services for desktop and mobile browsers. Users will be able to browse and buy apps, send them to their device, manage their settings, calendars, location, and apps from a user dashboard.

Here’s why this is awesome

WIMM Labs has white-labeled everything. It has created a standardized micro-sized Android platform, created all the user management and app distribution services, and has partnered with Foxconn to manufacture the finished product. All a brand would have to do is purchase the touchscreen module, or just the guts (an impressively compact board) to embed it into something new. Then when the brand has come up with a way to use it, Foxconn cranks it out, and WIMM labs creates the branded Web interface on its already existent backend.

“For brands that have to adopt technology and know they do, but can’t afford the R&D to get into the business, we provide the parts that are too costly,” Mooring said. “It’s sort of a shared R&D model.”

This means all the many potential uses of WIMM can be created, branded, and brought to market just that much faster. Mooring and Twerdahl showed me dozens of ideas for the platform, and said they’re already in talks with watchmakers, fashion companies, and sporting equipment makers to make them real.

The WIMM One Developer preview kit and SDK will be available in the third quarter of this year.

It appears that in addition do their Motion-Sensitive keyboard patent, Apple has sent out a patent application for a “Flat Keyless Keyboard for Desktops & More.” This application was signed for late last week and may be entirely flat or may include at least one input surface which may be constructed of glass, metal, plastic, or any other solid material Apple might end up wanting to use. In the case of glass, the keys could be painted on the surface or shown beneath the surface of the glass on a display, not unlike on-screen keyboards working on smartphones and tablets today.

There may be haptic feedback included in the ultimate product of this patent, that being force or vibration in response to each key tap, thusly helping the user work with the keyboard in a similar manner to how their classic keyboard reacts to their touch. Instead of using mechanical switches or buttons, this sort of design uses one or more sensors to detect where the user is tapping on the given area. One possibility here is that one or more piezo-electric sensors would be used to detect and record and acoustic pulse created when the user taps the keyboard in a given place.

In the case of combinations like capitalization of letters, Apple describes the combination of piezo-electric sensors and capacitive sensors. With this combination, it may be possible to distinguish between an accidental touch of the keyboard surface and a deliberate one. For lighting, proximity sensors may be positioned in the board to work with one or more photosensors located along the edge of the board. Corresponding infrared- LEDs will be oriented to make a grid on the keyboard in a way that the photosensors receive the light projected by the LEDs. Wild!

Can you see our current line of mechanical keyboards becoming a thing of the past in the next five or so years? We certainly can. Using an on-screen keyboard for an extended period will let you know – it can get quick!

SanDisk has launched a new range of solid-state drives, which the company is specifically marketing as a cost effective solution for users on a budget who would be better off upgrading their current machine than purchasing a new one. The SanDisk Ultra SSD family is available in 60GB, 120GB and 240GB sizes with MSRPs of $130, $220 and $450, respectively.

With those prices SanDisk isn’t really breaking any affordability records, but Newegg.com is already selling the 120GB variant some $40 cheaper than its suggested retail price, making it a more competitive alternative next to the likes of OCZ’s last-generation Vertex 2 and Agility 2. In terms of performance SanDisk promises 280MB/s reads coupled with 270MB/s write speeds over the SATA II (3Gbps) interface.

The Ultra SSD is based on multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory and has a mean time between failure (MTBF) rate of up to one million hours. SanDisk is also touting the drive’s low power consumption, though they didn’t share any specifics, nor do they mention which SSD controller is powering these devices.

In any case, although the Ultra SSD is certainly not the fastest solid-state drive out there and it doesn’t carry the latest SATA III (6Gbps) interface, it could be worthy contender in the budget segment if SanDisk can keep the prices down.

The social network scene became even more diversified a couple of weeks ago when Google launched their new Google+ service on an invite-only basis. Just three weeks later, digital marketing monitor comScore Inc. estimates that Google+ had more than 20 million unique visitors since it debuted on June 28.

Google has taken what they deem as the best qualities from multiple networking communities and rolled them into a single package. Aspects of blogging, Twitter, newsletters and e-mail are some of the key features found in Google+.

Some have criticized the program for being too difficult to learn, while others see the forward thinking layout as a breath of fresh air and an escape from the general Facebook population.

Google+ still has a long way to go in order to catch up with social networking giant Facebook, which has more than 750 million active users according to their own statistics. But if history tells us anything, Facebook isn’t entirely safe at the top of the mountain.

MySpace became the largest social networking website in 2006 and remained so until mid 2008 when it was dethroned by Facebook. The site’s storied fall from grace is proof that trends can shift rapidly in the social networking realm.

Google+ still remains an invite-only program which would seemingly hinder growth, but it appears that the limited access is only helping to fuel the fire and attract new users.

Have you signed up for Google+ yet and if so, what are your thoughts on how it compares with Facebook and Twitter?

Writing about technology for a living, you tend to develop a penchant for vaunting the Next Best Thing. It’s sort of in the job description, not verbatim, but holistically: Writing about technology is all about writing about new technology. And talking about how cool it is.

Which is why my first impulse with the latest version of OS X has been to applaud it. Surely by updating OSX Apple has made it better? Were this Snow Leopard, I’d say yes, but with Lion the answer may depend on how long you’ve been using OS X.

For Apple, Lion is apparently all about creating a convergence between OS X and iOS, making the former seem more and more like the latter. Ostensibly, this is done so that the novice user can approach OS X with the same neophytic finesse that they do with the iPad and iPhone. I have no qualms with this approach – at least on a basic level. But the more I look at Lion, the more it seems as if Apple and I have hit a philosophical impasse.

Consider, for example, Lion’s use of “natural” scrolling, wherein scrolling up on the touchpad makes pages move upwards (and vice versa). If that sounds familiar, it’s because thats exactly how scrolling works on the iPad and iPhone. Of course, Apple has graciously allowed users to change all of these settings back, a move that should – but somehow doesn’t – soothe the disquiet of Lion’s early detractors.

It’s not that the change isn’t jarring (it is), but rather that it flies in the face of the way people have interacted with their computers for years. I don’t get the sense that people are averse the change simply because it was made. Rather, I think OS X users have cottoned onto to the clear reality that the notebook and the tablet are not the same thing. The way we interact with the two devices is very different, a fact that natural scrolling doesn’t reflect.

And how about those new touch pad gestures?  Three fingers. A thumbed pinch. Apple wants things to be simple and intuitive, but sometimes learning how to be simple is a complex task in its own right. This probably explains much of the outcry over some of the larger changes. It’s not only that people are naturally resistant to change. They also resent it when those changes require behavioristic tweaks.

All of that, I think, is understandable. Why ruin a good thing? If one’s computer set up is tailored perfectly to one’s workflow, optimized so that the OS does its job and stays out of the way, what’s the point in upgrading? This, after all, is why Windows XP still remains so popular, even after the release of Vista and Windows 7. People go with what works.

None of that, of course, is in itself justification of any sort of knee-jerk luddite reaction to change. It’s about caution, about taking a look at a new technology (or feature) and determining to what degree a novel development actually improves one’s life or workflow. For me, Lion doesn’t do that – at least not yet.

Launchpad is a good example of why that’s the case. Lion’s fancy application launcher meant to simplify the process of finding and accessing installed apps. Considering that I already use Quicksilver to launch any and all applications I would need to launch, Launchpad is essentially worthless to me. Not that it’s a bad feature. It’s just not the greatest boon to my productivity. I understand this.

How about all the changes Lion makes to document saving? Meant to save users from document loss-induced heartache, Lion’s document handing is evidence that what the world really needs is system-level autosave. It’s a nice gesture, and certainly a helpful one. But do you know how many times I’ve lost progress on some article I was working on? Essentially none, thanks to ⌘S.

And then there is the inevitable issue over whether my most-used programs are compatible with Lion. This is probably the most important factor for anyone upgrading so soon after Lion’s release, and the one that should give potential upgraders the most pause. Why rush to upgrade if your favorite applications aren’t ready to join you?

Here’s what I know: I am perfectly fine and productive in my current Snow Leopard environment. The upgrade to Lion, while cheap and tempting, is non-compulsory, and so far, not even remotely essential. While it is likely that I’ll get around to upgrading at some point, that point isn’t now.

Seminole, Florida – A Bay area computer expert says a new super virus is hitting hundreds of computers in Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota and Hillsborough Counties and more around the world.

The super virus, which has several variations, is a form of computer malware called “scareware.”

“The purpose of it is to scare you into thinking there’s a problem with your computer so that you pay to get rid of it,” said Ryan Malize of Pinellas Computers.

The super virus starts with a pop-up window that warns of a fake virus and problems with startup failures and slowdowns if you don’t remove the virus completely.

As soon as you click a button that says “remove all threats now,” you’re on the hook and the virus has begun to infect your computer. It automatically routes you to a credit card processing site, which asks you to pay anywhere between $59 and $99 to remove the so-called virus.

“Over the past couple months, I’ve seen an outbreak,” Malize said. “In one day, I had an absurd amount of people coming in.”

He added that the super virus has tripled the number of people coming to get their computer fixed at his shop, which is located on Park Boulevard in Seminole. And they all have the same virus, which is highly unusual considering there are millions of viruses out there.

What’s causing it?

Malize isn’t sure, but he thinks it has something to do with Facebook and other social networking sites.

He says most of his clients’ computers were infected after they’d been to Facebook, and he thinks the likely culprit is all the random applications on the social networking site.

“Anyone can publish an app for Facebook or MySpace or one of those other sites,” Malize said.

The best advice: Don’t click on any Facebook apps.

Also, Malize suggests keeping your anti-virus protection current.  Even software that’s four hours out-of-date can leave your computer susceptible to this super virus, he says.

The best virus protection for at-home computers, Malize says, is AVG.  He also suggests Norton, but only for larger businesses, i.e. networks with servers.

Malize thinks the super virus originated in the Middle East. And because it has several variations which are constantly being updated, he says it’s become harder to fight.  Internet Security 2011, Internet Security 2012 and Windows 7  are just some of the names Malize has seen used for this virus.

Apple rolled out OS X Lion this morning as well as several new Mac Mini and MacBook Air models. And they have a very cool new system recovery option: You can reinstall OS X over the internet.

In other words, you don’t need a disc to install the operating system. That way if your hard drive fails or you install a new hard drive, you can use the new Internet Recovery option. It will download and install the operating system from Apple’s servers.

Even if you don’t need to do a complete reinstall, you can use lion Recovery to run a disk utility to check for hard drive errors or restore from a backup. From the recovery area you can also use the Safari web browser to go online and get support if you’re having problems getting OS X to boot.

To enter the new recovery mode you just have to hit Command-R while your computer is booting.

This is the sort of feature it would be nice to see other computer makers offer — but it’s a bit trickier when you don’t control both the hardware and software. There are an awful lot of different configuration options for most Windows or Linux computers, while Apple has a finite set of devices to support.

As we already know, Google’s Android operating system has dominated in the mobile operating system market share for nearly a year now. A new report indicates that Google’s Android mobile operating system is still number 1 with a 54% share. This beats out Apple’s iOS which is at 26% and Microsoft at 2%.

From what we see in the above screenshot courtesy of Millennial Media, Google’s Android operating system has a 54% share and continues to dominate in the mobile market.

Android now has a 54% market share. Apple’s iOS has a 26% share, while Microsoft continued its downward spiral with a 2% market share. RIM currently holds on to a market share of 15%.

Comparing Comscore’s data from February 2011 with this new data, lets see what has changed. Based on the data, we saw that Google’s Android operating system had a 33% market share. Apple’s iOS had a 25.2% market share and Microsoft had a 7.7% share. RIM had a 28.9% share back in February.

While Android may be the top mobile operating system based on market share, the Apple iPhone is still the number one smartphone. Apple continued to be the number 1 phone manufacturer with Samsung coming in at number 2.

Take a look at the screenshot below for the top 15 smartphones: ►   ►   ►   ►   ►   ►   ►

Did anyone see a Windows Phone device on that list? This is not good news for Microsoft as they have been working hard to increase their share. Microsoft is working hard to pull out all stops to ensure its Windows Phone division does not fail. CEO Steve Ballmer recently admitted that the platform was struggling to gain traction. “We know we’ve got a lot to do, but like the cloud, like NT many years back, we’re all in when it comes to mobile devices. And whether it’s phones, or slates, or PCs, or console devices, we’re certainly pushing extremely far, and extremely fast,” Ballmer argued.

If your interested in this you can download the full report here (PDF).