Windows 7 is borrowing a Mac look and feel - Microsoft group manager

Before yesterday, lots of people didn't have a clue as to who Simon Aldous is. Mr. Aldous, a group manager at Microsoft, and he recently had a sit down with PCR to do a Q&A. He stirred the pot (to the point of it slopping over the sides). He had been asked one particular Question that was pointed directly at the shiny new OS. When asked if Windows 7 was "really a much more agile operating system," Simon made a deliberate decision to say the following:

One of the things that people say an awful lot about the Apple Mac is that the OS is fantastic, that it's very graphical and easy to use. What we've tried to do with Windows 7 – whether it's traditional format or in a touch format – is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics.

Then he trainwrecked the statement by stating that "We’ve significantly improved the graphical user interface, but it’s built on that very stable core Vista technology, which is far more stable than the current Mac platform, for instance." Microsoft was none to happy.

Microsoft's Response after the break!

Windows 7 Worse than XP in netbook battery life tests

Brandon Davenport Nov 12, 2009 Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Us Gadgets, Microsoft, News

Everyone is all giddy about the new Windows 7 OS from Microsoft, but sometimes you can't have it all. As it turns out, on average netbooks get 47 minutes less battery life with the upgraded software. In the case of the ASUS 1008HA, that deficit was a meaty 57 minutes, or 16.7%.

On the other hand, what comes very closely after Software advancements? Hardware advancements. And so it leaves open doors for new netbooks, optimized for the new, feature-rich Windows 7. Of course XP would be better in battery life, its 8 years old! The hardware required to run a state-of-the-art OS in 2001 was very minimal, then you put it up against current netbooks, which overpower even the more powerful desktop PC's of 2001. The hardware doesn't need to work as hard, thus more battery life.

Read - Stick with XP? Windows 7 Battery Life Worse on Netbooks
Read - Windows 7 + netbooks = lower battery life?
Read - Netbook Battery Tests: Windows XP vs Windows 7

Snow Leopard 10.6.2 Fixes

OS X 10.6.2 is out, and finally fixes the infamous guest account problem that wiped out hard drives of many users. In this update, Apple has taken away the Intel Atom support. Some people have huge problems with this but oh well I guess can't really have a Hackintosh Netbook anymore.

Anyway here is a huge list of fixes and updates within 10.6.2 which most notably fixes the guest account problem, Expose, and more small system stuff.

What's included?

Rumor: Another gaming device getting Facebook? Yep, PS3

Ricardo Trejo Nov 11, 2009 Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Us Gaming

Looks like Sony wants to play a bit of catch up - by entering into the social networking and adding Facebook to its "Does Everything" console ... or so the rumors fly. Apparently, a couple of images of Facebook running on the PS3 were taken from the UK Playstation site, but were then rapidly taken down after the blogosphere caught wind of it.

Apparently, Sony didn't get the message about gaming devices sticking to just gaming. I mean all they needed to do was listen to Xbox's Major Nelson podcast last week, and hear his Co-Host "E" (Eric Neudstadter) bash the DSi XL's extra-curricular features:

"I find the in-game uses, OK, may be interesting, the out-of-game, hey, it's a camera, use it to connect to Facebook or whatever - I don't find that at all interesting. Don't we all have phones that do that? Why do we need our gaming device to do that?"

[Scrawlfx via Joystiq]

Facebook iPhone Dev Quit's - Apple's approval proccess to blame

Nick Mahar Nov 11, 2009 Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Me Follow Us Apple, Applications, Gadgets, How to, Internet, Mobile, Movies, News, Okay Geek, Personal, Pictures, Websites, breaking, iPhone

My decision to stop iPhone development has had everything to do with Apple’s policies.” – Joe Hewitt

Joe Hewitt is the man behind one of the most popular apps on the iTunes store, the Facebook app. Sadly, he just tweeted that he is done and no longer working on the app.

"Time for me to try something new. I’ve handed the Facebook iPhone app off to another engineer, and I’m onto a new project.”

On Joe's website he says:

"My decision to stop iPhone development has had everything to do with Apple’s policies. I respect their right to manage their platform however they want, however I am philosophically opposed to the existence of their review process. I am very concerned that they are setting a horrible precedent for other software platforms, and soon gatekeepers will start infesting the lives of every software developer.

The web is still unrestricted and free, and so I am returning to my roots as a web developer. In the long term, I would like to be able to say that I helped to make the web the best mobile platform available, rather than being part of the transition to a world where every developer must go through a middleman to get their software in the hands of users.”

This is a big deal because Joe is basically the one-man show behind the Facebook app. Hewitt has been very vocal over the years about Apple's ridiculous App Store approval policies, even posting about it on his site last August. Hewitt claims Apple's review system should be eliminated completely.

Though he no longer works on the app, he is still with Facebook and will continue to work with Apple because they continuously offer the best product out there.

[Via TechCrunch]

-NM

"Ink" film thanks its Success to Torrents & Piracy

When movie makers think of pirating and torrents I'm sure the first thing that comes to mind are dollar signs floating away. But to Director and Writer of the Independent film Ink, Jamin Winans, piracy has a whole new meaning... and that's success.

Ink is about an 8 year old little girl named Emma, who falls into coma after being kidnapped by a monster. Ink, as the monster is called, takes her away into a dreamworld where she is used to battle the forces of light and dark.

In an open letter to just about everyone, Jamin writes about what bit torrent clients did to his movie after being released, and how a snowball effect of pirate proportions made it a must see film of the year.

Google Wave Review | Dislike stuff on Facebook - Ep 21

In this episode we are doing things a little differently -- First off we can see our Hosts faces on their camera using a neat little Web App called Adobe Connect Now which is free, and allows people to join in on a meeting complete with a whiteboard, webcams, and chat, also our audio is alot better. This week we talk about how to Dislike stuff on Facebook using a FireFox plugin, the iPhone coming to Verizon (Price Drops?) and Google Wave for virgins.

All the links to the storys after the break!