Hasta La Gadget!

In each issue of Distro, Editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news.

There are times when you need to stay strong, ignore the criticism and do what you know is right. Then, there are some times when the masses are right and listening is the smart thing. With Windows 8, Microsoft made many radical changes, not the least of which being the deletion of the fabled Start button. This week we got our first taste of that operating system’s first major update, Windows 8.1, and it includes a number of notable upgrades and improvements. Perhaps the most notable? The return of a Start button. Well, sort of.

It’s now called a “Start Tip” as it isn’t a proper button, but you can click on it and bring up the tiled Start Screen interface. So, the Start button is back, but not the Start menu. That’s fine by me, as I don’t think hidden, contextual elements make much sense in a keyboard-and-mouse environment. And the other tweaks are nice, including a far more comprehensive Settings section, a functional lock screen and, finally, the ability to adjust the size of applications that you’ve snapped to either side of your screen. Maybe in Windows 8.2 we’ll get fully resizable windows!

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc

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Afer being asked by AllThingsD‘s Walt Mossberg whether Google SVP Sundar Pichai saw the need for more privacy, Pichai said that he wants to bring several of the security and privacy options that users already see on Chrome across to its mobile platform. “When we did Chrome, we invested in incognito mode. Now you can do that on the phone [through the Chrome app].”

“You’re completely not signed-in, and we don’t know anything about you… We do want more things like that, though. From a security, child safety, etc. standpoint. Chrome OS lets you be a guest user. We’re working on things like that on Android.” Unfortunately he didn’t elaborate on any timeframe or anything more detailed, but it looks like Google is taking those privacy concerns on board. Who knows, perhaps we’ll see something incognito-ready on the next big Android update.

Filed under: Software, Google

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Sundar Pichai has taken on quite the role expansion since he sat in the famed red chair during last year’s D10 conference here in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. Back in March, he took over the Android duties from Andy Rubin, and led a significant portion of the keynote during this year’s Google I/O conference. Today, he’ll sit down with hosts Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg in order to discuss the future of Chrome, Android, apps and perhaps the universe as we know it. Join us after the break as we cover every… last… word.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Google

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Elon Musk is a busy man. He’s also a man who isn’t afraid to speak his mind, as we found out during his SXSW keynote earlier this year. This evening, he’s capping off a day of interviews at D11 with one of his own. As CEO of both Tesla Motors and SpaceX, he knows a thing or two about transportation — both within this atmosphere and beyond. Grab a cup of cocoa and join us after the break as we cover it live, won’t you?

Filed under: Transportation

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Outside of possible FCC filings, Motorola has largely been coy about just what its next major smartphone will be — until now. The firm’s Dennis Woodside just revealed at D11 that the new flagship will be called Moto X (previously rumored as the X Phone), and that it will be built in a Fort Worth, Texas factory that was once used to make Nokia phones. Woodside isn’t giving away many details at this stage, although he teases that the smartphone will “know what you want to do before you do.” Oh, and he has a Moto X in his pocket… not that he’s about to show us anything just yet, of course. If you’re curious about Woodside’s actual quote, it’s below:

“It’ll be the first Motorola smartphone built in the United States. It’ll be built in Texas — we’ll employ around 2,000 people. It’s right outside of Fort Worth in a 500,000 square foot facility that was previously used to build Nokia phones.”

Update: Woodside had two extra nuggets while on stage — he mentioned that the Moto X will be “broadly distributed” across numerous carriers, a rarity for Motorola smartphones in recent years. Specifically, he noted: “The Moto X is going to be broadly distributed — that’s a first for Motorola in a number of years. The support of the carriers has been fantastic.” In other words, this won’t be a Nexus device, and you can count on some amount of skinning and bloatware to muddle things up. On the issue of battery life, Woodside said: “I’ll save the details for later, but [the industry issue of] battery life is a huge problem. Motorola has some of the world’s best engineers and systems designers who spend their lives on that problem. There are two processors in the device that creates a system that allows you to do such a thing.” Two processors, you say? Fascinating!

Update 2: The Moto X should arrive in late summer. Also, a reminder: Motorola mentioned a shift toward stock Android coming later this year. While there isn’t any guarantee that the Moto X will embrace that philosophy, it would be a fitting poster child.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google

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