an review on crome books

Two new computers running Google's Chrome operating system are looking to lure people to a browser-based environment. Both target light-duty computer users who don't need the full range of capabilities that traditional Windows and Mac computers provide.

The first thing to know about these machines is they lack regular hard drives for storage. There's a small amount of flash memory available, the kind you'd find on a camera memory card, but Chrome OS machines are designed for the cloud. That means documents are stored over the Internet, and programs are run over the Internet through a Web browser.

However securely and discretely the Internet services you use claim to keep your data, your content is one step removed from your tight-fisted control. Cloud computing also limits what you can do during those times you may not have an Internet connection.

In addition, because the machines emphasize not just cloud storage but cloud services as well, you won't be able to install full-blown programs such as Microsoft's Office. You're limited to the selection of apps written for Chrome.

What you get instead is speed. The Chrome OS machines boot up quickly because they don't have to load a lot of software - all that is run over the Internet. The machines also don't need the most expensive and fastest parts because they aren't doing a whole lot.

If you're OK with that approach to personal computing, the Chromebook laptop and the Chromebox desktop computer hit the mark. Both are made by Samsung Electronics Co. and represent the second-generation of Chrome OS machines, following the models out last summer

Here's a closer look at the two

Chromebook

Officially called the Samsung Series 5 550, the $449 Chromebook laptop is an updated version of last year's debut Chromebook model.
As notebooks go, the Chromebook is sleek and simple by appearance. It sports a 12.1-inch display, weighs a tidy 3.3 lbs and has built-in Wi-Fi. The model I tested also came with a 3G cellular modem and two years of free online connection to Verizon's network. That model costs $549.
Under the hood is an Intel Celeron processor and four gigabytes of RAM, which is plenty for most Web-based activities. There's a paltry 16 gigabytes of flash storage, which can quickly get eaten up if you store a lot of songs or photos - forget about lengthy video. Again, the idea is for you to keep all that on the Internet instead.
Google's Chrome Web store has plenty of useful, free applications to run on the machine. These are the same apps that you can add to Chrome Web browsers running on Windows or Mac computers. The selection includes accounting software, Amazon.com wish list management and "Angry Birds" (Yes, they're still angry).
But if all of that can also be installed for Chrome on a Mac or Windows machine, why have a whole computer with the entire functionality dedicated to one browser? Isn't that severely limiting?
Some will find it is, but others will soon determine that the vast majority of their activities in front of a computer screen are Web-based anyway. There are Chrome apps for Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and other services that represent the bulk of the casual user's computer time.
The frustrations I had with Chromebook were related to its hardware. First, there is no caps lock key. I had to simultaneously press the shift key and a key with a magnifying glass right above it. That may seem like a small inconvenience, but Chrome just made it more cumbersome for me to yell at someone in ALL CAPS on Facebook.
Also, the touchpad's right-click sensitivity was poorly calibrated and dominated a good two-thirds of the surface. Hence, a right-click dropdown window of options kept popping up when I merely meant to left click on text fields and other objects. These are small things, of course, but they were annoying.

Chromebox
The $329 Chromebox Series 3 desktop computer, by comparison, a real gem.
The diminutive unit sports lots of crucial connections, including six USB 2.0 ports, a DVI output and two DisplayPort outputs for the transmission of high-resolution video to an external display. Like the Chromebook, it comes with 16 gigabytes of storage.
The first thing I noticed when powering up the Chromebox was, well, nothing. It was the quietest electrical device in my home office, thanks to a flash drive that doesn't need to spin, unlike magnetic hard drives found in most traditional computers. The unit generates very little heat and therefore doesn't need a roar of fans to move that heat away from the 1.9 GHz Intel processor.
The desktop experience is identical to the Chromebook, of course. They run the same OS and operate in the same fashion.
I was able to use the quietness to my advantage. The Chromebook is quiet, too, but the Chromebox is more inviting because you're more likely to leave it in one place. That makes it easier to use the device for entertainment, as I wouldn't need to reconnect wires to the TV each time.
It's much nicer to stream high-definition Netflix movies to the TV from the mouse-quiet Chrome device than from my PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 or a regular desktop PC, all of which get warm and loud.
And I'd get a proper browser and online apps on the television, instead of apps repurposed for the game console experience. For instance, the Twitter app for Xbox is cartoonish, whereas reading a few tweets from TweetDeck via Chrome (with a Bluetooth keyboard attached) is pretty nice.
That said, I see neither Chromebook nor the Chromebox as replacements for traditional computers, as cloud computing isn't fully robust yet. Instead, Chrome OS machines are likely to be additions, the way you might buy an iPad to supplement your main desktop or laptop.
If you're comfortable with cloud computing, the Chromebook and the Chromebox deliver a clean networked experience and give you a full keyboard than touch-screen tablets lack.
But the new Chrome OS machines, while improved over previous models, don't offer many advantages over traditional computers that can do much more. So if you're not comfortable yet with cloud storage, there's no reason to force yourself to embrace Chrome OS. You can get by with the Chrome browser on a regular machine.

windos 8 will accompany to Microsoft surface launch on 26 of oct

Looks like Steve Ballmer and his crew are going to have a busy October. In a matter of just 3 weeks, Microsoft will be all set to launch the latest version of its OS, Windows 8. But that's not the only reason you should mark your calendars. The software giant will also be launching its first Surface tablet, asconfirmed by the company back in July.

Microsoft started sending out fresh invites mentioning a special "Surface Reception" event on October 25, with Windows 8 being the main subject. The invitation uses Microsoft's new identity with the simplified Microsoft logo and flattened Windows logo amidst New York's greyish skyscrapers also donning colour hues in between. The event will kickstart at 10AM EST.

At the event, details regarding the pricing of the tablet are expected to be the key focus. We've seen rumours in the past suggesting a price tag of $600-$800. More recent reports stated that Surface for Windows RT could be priced at $199, directly competing with Google's Nexus 7 tablet.

Some reports even hinted at a Wi-Fi-only version of the tablet at launch and will perhaps get a 3G version later as it will require carrier partnerships and may not be contributing much to the sales.

The company recently announced that it would be opening doors to its pop-up stores in the United States and Canada on October 26 to showcase the technology giant's latest gadgets including the new Surface tablet computer.

The company had earlier begun seeking retail store managers and other personnel for its "Microsoft Holiday Stores," but mentioned no specifics on how long these shops would be operational or what they would sell. But now, they will open for the Surface launch at midnight, with other Microsoft Stores selling the tablet on October 26.

Microsoft unveiled its new line of Surface tablets at an event held at Milk Studios in Hollywood back in June. While one will feature Windows 8 Pro, the other will run on Windows RT with ARM-based processor.

For now Steve Ballmer has a lot up his sleeve already. While the first batch of Surface tablets set to debut in stores, we may soon hear more about the Surface 2 already in the making.

we miss you steve jobs

2012 has been a big year for Apple, whether it was the launch of the iPhone 5, or the epic Apple-Samsung patents trial where the iPhone-maker emerged as a winner.

It's also been Apple's first year in a post-Steve Jobs world. Friday marks the first death anniversary of the Apple co-founder who passed away at the age of 56, bringing an end to an era of innovation that some believe was no less than that of Elvis Presley or John Lennon.

Today we try and revisit one of his most memorable and classic speeches, one that he gave to a group of graduating young students from the University of Stanford beginning a new journey of their lives. This commencement speech garnered over 8 million views in a single day on YouTube, the day after Jobs' death. As we write this post, the speech now has over 15 million views.

What was so special about Steve Jobs' words that day which made a lasting impression on many? First, Jobs was rarely seen making any public appearances. Not just that, but he also shared some personal experiences of his life. It was straight from the man's heart. And secondly, there was much to reflect upon in terms of the embedded message encouraging youngsters even today to achieve their best.
In his three part speech, Jobs talked about how one's past can influence one's future, stumbling upon both love and loss and coming face-to-face with death. Jobs shared many personal moments from his life right from when he started as a college student till the day he discovered he had cancer. He also spoke about his family, which was surprising since he seemed extremely reluctant to discuss his family background in public. He was asked about it in the famous Playboy interview in 1985 and outrightly denied to reveal details.


Jobs narrated his experiences when he had dropped out of college and so didn't have a dorm room. He slept on the floor of friends' rooms, returned coke bottles for 5 cent deposits to buy food and walked 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. He wanted to convey that the past had an important role to play in his present.

Jobs continued to talk about how he was fired from Apple, which was the biggest turning point of his career. Being jobless for a few months, Jobs thought it was all over until his perspective changed and he began to see this as an opportunity. He went on to start NeXT and Pixar, and during this time Jobs also fell in love with Laurene, whom he eventually married. In turn of events, Apple bought NeXt and Jobs returned to Apple, a move he never thought would've been possible.
Stephen Wolfram recalled an incident when he first got to know of Laurene. He had once walked into NeXT's brand new offices in Redwood City and wanted to talk to Jobs regarding work. Jobs seemed rather distracted and said he had a date that evening with Laurene, who tied the knot with Jobs 18 months later.

Jobs considered work as his first love always and here's what he said in his speech, "You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

According to Jobs', his most difficult time came when he was inching closer to death. The man had discovered a year before that he had a rare form of pancreatic cancer that would claim his life within 3-6 months. Known to have a never give up spirit, Jobs battled cancer in 2004 by means of a surgery and prolonged his life for 7 years. During this period Apple, under his leadership, introduced many revolutionary products including the iPhone and the iPad.

Jobs urged the Stanford graduating class of 2005 to courageously follow their heart and intuition, just as he did. He encouraged them to give their inner voice a chance and not suppress it by giving in to others' opinions.

John Nauhghton, a columnist for The Guardian, UK recalls one of his favourite stories about Jobs. He said, "It is about the moment when the Apple design team presented him with the first version of the iPod. He looked at it for a while, turned it over and over, weighed it in his hand and then said: "It's too big." The engineers protested that it was a miracle of state-of-the-art miniaturisation - 1,000 songs packed into that tiny space. Jobs walked over to the fish tank in the corner of his office and dropped the prototype into the water. He then pointed to the bubbles that floated from it to the surface and said: "That means there's still some space in it. It's too big." End of conversation.

The conclusion of Jobs' speech was based on a powerful thought that inspired him as a young man. Quoting from a publication called The Whole Earth Catalog written by Stewart Brand, Jobs said, "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish".

This commencement speech by Jobs still continues to inspire many. "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" were more than just words for some. For Stewart Brand, the publisher, it was the moment of truth when the edition finally came out 5 years later and Steve Jobs personally came to him for an autographed copy. For him, Jobs was the only reader who stepped forward, but he also said, "There's only one Steve Jobs, you know."

Anna North mentions in her blog that Nicholas Casey, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, noticed how the commencement speech started becoming popular. One of his friends translated the speech and posted it with Spanish subtitles while another from Columbia was using "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" as a status update.

Anna isn't the only one who blogged about the speech. Stanford graduate Spencer Porter recounts his experience in a blog titled "What Steve Jobs taught me" where he mentions how he felt like a failure after being let go from Fox's television show Family Guy, for which he wrote two episodes. He found inspiration to start all over again, in other words to stay hungry and stay foolish.

Rashmi Bansal, an IIM graduate of 2005, was so inspired by Steve Jobs' speech that she wrote two best sellers titled Stay Hungry Stay Foolish and Connect the Dots. Stay Hungry Stay Foolish features 25 stories of MBA graduates who quit their jobs to become entrepreneurs. This book established a record for Indian publishing by selling 300,000 copies and has also been translated into 8 languages. Her second book Connect the Dots focuses on non-MBA entrepreneurs. It has also been a bestseller, selling over 100,000 copies.

John Blackstone caught two people inspired by Jobs' speech. Political science major Amy Halvorsen, Stanford Class of 2005, viewed the then Apple CEO's speech as not about his successes, but his failures. Halvorsen says, "His speech made me feel really comforted. He was like, 'You'll find your own path - you don't need to live someone else's life'."

Another graduate, Steve Myrick, drew inspiration from the lines, "You can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards."

Not many would know but Myrick was one of the Stanford student leaders who chose Jobs as speaker. He is currently working as a business consultant. "It's a reminder that you haven't figured everything out, and that's OK," Myrick says. "And just to keep relentlessly looking for things that are gonna make you happy."

In January 2011, Jobs took another leave of absence, a third since his health problems began and resigned in August. He became Apple's chairman and handed the reins of the company to his hand-picked successor, Tim Cook. Today Apple is the biggest company in the world, but one that still lives by Jobs' philosophy through which we see not just widely acclaimed products, but also the late Apple co-founder's visions come to life each year.