Hasta La Gadget!

iPhones. iPads. Android. Windows Phone. We’ve updated all of our essential apps lists to include a few forgotten favorites, some long awaited arrivals and, as always, even more amazing apps. Check them out! More »

When Microsoft has a new product they want to make perfect before release – all of their products, that is – they work with a testing model they call dogfooding. With dogfooding, they feed themselves the product, the product here being Windows 8, before they send it out as a final iteration. An update from Patrick O’Rourke of Microsoft IT revealed this week how they deployed Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10 to their staff well before they did to the general public to test the builds in real world situation on the regular.

With this update we learn that Microsoft is confident enough in their products to test them on their own staff – that’s something that not just Microsoft does, but it does instill a sense of confidence and trust no matter who says it. They noted that they also used a forum called “//pointers” for early adopters which thrived due to users who not only wanted to get help working with Windows 8, but wanted to help others in the online community as well. With a release like this based even in part on a community that’s willing to help itself, Microsoft has a winner on its hands.

It was reiterated that some of the most important points that were tested again and again nearly endlessly were Security, User Experience, and Support. The support element appeared to never have been a problem as not just Microsoft was able to work easily with early adopters, but early adopters were able to easily help one another as the software was tested. The user experience was pushed from the installation process to the assurance of software compliance to data migration – and that’s all right at the start of the experience.

Microsoft has been clear that they mean business in security with Windows 8 with Trusted Boot – made in an effort to protect the boot process specifically from malware. DirectAccess has been updated with validation of virtual smart cards using Trusted Platform Module chips – complicated stuff – and Measured Boot for the testing of the health of any Windows 8 machine at startup. BitLocker is also at the center of the security world in Windows 8, with a new feature called Network Key Protector Unlock able to unlock a drive when the machine you’re suing is plugged into your corporate network.

Business owners should here be confident that their adoption of Windows 8 across their network will have a massive amount of support both inside the software and from Microsoft itself right from the start. This news bit was made more to assure IT users that they’ve tasted the food first before they send it to the restaurant, so to speak, and that it’s more than safe – it’s tasty.

[via Microsoft]

Windows 8 promises it’s been tested on its makers first is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It feels like it was only yesterday that we were praising Google for giving us access to a plethora of handy, everyday tools — oh wait, it was yesterday. At any rate, today the folks from Mountain View are back with more travel-friendly software for you to enjoy, announcing that its useful Flight Search service is now fully-optimized for use with, as Google points out, tablets such as its own Nexus 7 and, naturally, Cupertino’s iPad. Jet-setters can see the changes now by simply hitting the Flights link below, and with the dearest holidays just around the corner, now is probably a good time to make use of that “lowest fare” tool.

Filed under: Tablets, Transportation, Software, Google

Google optimizes Flight Search for tablets, makes booking trips easier originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Android Police  |  Google, Google Flights  | Email this | Comments

If a company won’t use its own products, how can it expect others to? Many customers, especially on the enterprise side of the equation, are understandably a little wary of the drastic change that awaits them when upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8. So, Microsoft decided to share what it has learned from its own experience dogfooding the new OS around the Redmond campus (and likely beyond). While the company is a little light on specifics of the low-volume rollout, it does highlight some of the features available to IT departments that should make transitioning easier. It even offers a few pointers along the way. Sure, there’s plenty of back-patting involved, but tips like using IT Easy Installer to automate deployments and trim install times by half shouldn’t be dismissed. There’s also some information about its support system for early adopters which included a knowledge base called Pointers that helped highlight the most important issues needing to be addressed. For more details hit up the source link and get ready to embrace your inner IT nerd.

Filed under: Software, Microsoft

Microsoft details its own Windows 8 rollout, lessons learned from ‘dogfooding’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  MSDN  | Email this | Comments

The Naval Warfare Surface Center in Crane, Indiana today revealed a smartphone app that puts the capability of modern smartphones to observe areas in sharp relief and shows the power of malware to tap into those capabilities. The app, PlaceRaider, is capable of running in the background of any smartphone running Android 2.3. While running in the background, it takes photos at random while recording the orientation and location of the phone. Those photos get sent back to a central server, where they can be used to reconstruct a pretty good idea of where the phone has physically been.

(more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: FTC declines to fine companies who sold 10000s of laptops with spyware preinstalled, Navy planning to equip three of its ships with 4G LTE,