Hasta La Gadget!

This week on the Gadget Lab podcast, the gang talks about products from the big three: Microsoft, Apple and Google.

Staff writer Mike Isaac kicks the show off with some initial thoughts on the brand new Windows 8 Metro user interface for mobile devices and desktops, released in developer preview form earlier this week. It’s an entirely different look than what we’ve seen from Microsoft in the past. When launch time finally comes around, can the company release a true competitor to Android and iOS?

Next up staff writer Christina Bonnington stops in to talk about Turntable.fm’s new iOS app. It’s basically the same as the browser-based version of the group music listening service, but for your phone. Christina thinks it works well enough, but other than making it mobile, there really aren’t any improvements.

Finally, product reviews editor Michael Calore drops by with a first look at the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S2 Epic 4G Touch (what a mouthful). Our first thought: It’s awesome. Our second thought: Good lord, what a huge screen. We’ll have a full review of the device later in the week.

Like the show? You can also get the Gadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you don’t want to be distracted by our unholy on-camera talent, check out the Gadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Lab video or audio podcast feeds.

Or listen to the audio below:

Gadget Lab audio podcast #126

http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gadgetlabaudio/GadgetLabAudio0126.mp3

Microsoft gave out Samsung Windows 8 tablets at its 2011 BUILD Conference. Image: VentureBeat

The future of Flash looks dimmer and dimmer as another major player in the mobile space shuns support of the platform.

Microsoft’s brand new Windows 8 Metro user interface will not support Adobe Flash or other plug-ins, instead embracing the HTML5 set of web standards, according to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team leader Dean Hachamovitch. For users who access legacy ActiveX controls, they’ll have to jump out of the Metro UI and switch to the classic-styled desktop browser.

Hachamovitch explains that running IE without Flash or other plug-ins “improves battery life as well as security, reliability, and privacy for consumers.” These are pretty much the same reasons that Apple doesn’t support Flash on its devices.

“Providing compatibility with legacy plug-in technologies would detract from, rather than improve, the consumer experience of browsing in the Metro style UI,” Hachamovitch wrote in a blog post on Thursday.

Of course, Adobe immediately went on the defensive, shifting attention away from Microsoft’s mobile devices.

“We expect Windows desktop to continue to be extremely popular for years to come and that it will support Flash just fine, including rich web-based games and premium videos that require Flash,” Adobe told Wired.com in a statement.

Adobe’s Flash product has had a rough time as computing has shifted to a mobile environment. Apple has long banned Flash from its mobile devices, publicly announcing the reasons (which Adobe directly responded to). Recently, Apple stopped shipping Flash capability with products like the 2010 MacBook Air, which gave the 11-inch model a whopping two extra hours of battery life. Since Google released Android version 2.2 (Froyo), many Android-powered smartphones have supported Flash. But some say Android’s Flash-capabilities are wanting.

And Android isn’t the only OS running Flash poorly. The QNX-powered BlackBerry PlayBook operating system was hyped to boast the best Flash support before its release, but Wired.com found running Flash games and sites spotty at best on the PlayBook. Similarly, the Android-powered Motorola Xoom has struggled with Flash, debuting only with a beta version of Adobe’s product that was much maligned.

“I actually find Flash on Android to be quite cumbersome,” said Michael Novak, a developer for group messaging app GroupMe, in an interview. “I would like to see Android move away from Flash support and adopt more HTML5 video options. The large run-time required by Flash is disappointing.”

Novak feels it will be a hard battle to fight though, as much of the publishing interesting are very supportive of Adobe products.

HTML5 has come to be the de facto alternative for functions that previously required Adobe Flash. For instance with video, back-end system Brightcove now uses HTML5 to deliver streaming video to devices like the iPad. Many see the move of video services in particular toward HTML5 as the “kiss of death” for Flash. As of March, 63% of web video is now HTML 5 compatible, an indication of the growing shift away from Flash.

Although Flash is losing steam, Adobe is not, even with regards to its waning product. Adobe has outed its own Flash to HTML5 conversion tool, called Wallaby, which is a free AIR application¹. Adobe’s AIR platform allows developers to use Flash and other tools to develop standalone web apps for mobile devices.

Note 1. The original version of this story incorrectly stated that Edge was Adobe’s Flash to HTML5 conversion tool. Edge is an HTML5 web motion and interaction design tool. Updated 9/16/2011 at 11:59 AM PST.

Continue reading MSDN previews Windows 8 touch on Windows 7 hardware

MSDN previews Windows 8 touch on Windows 7 hardware originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This may not be the first the world’s seen of NVIDIA’s Kal-El reference tablet running Windows 8, but it does mark our first up-close and (sort of) personal run-in with the much ballyhooed quad-core ARM processor powering the equally anticipated OS. As we reported yesterday, NVIDIA’s just launched its Windows 8 developer program, in eager anticipation of the new operating system’s release. That eagerness carried over into our short sit down with the outfit’s spokesperson, who wasn’t giving us much in the way of details. However, he did give us a clue about future benchmarks: NVIDIA expects to see significant battery life gains on Kal-El notebooks — as in days, not hours. Unfortunately, the reference tablet on display was locked away in a plexiglass cell, but we did manage to grab a few shots of the now familiar device running Microsoft’s latest. Those, as you can see, are in the gallery below.

NVIDIA’s Kal-El reference tablet running Windows 8 at Build (eyes-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 17:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’ve already seen our in-depth hands-on with Samsung’s Series 7 Slate, boasting an Intel processor and running Windows 8, and now it’s time to give the other guys a little love. We got a chance to sit down with the folks at AMD, masters of the Fusion APU, before the Expo doors opened here at Build, and it would be an understatement to say that they’re excited about getting their x86 chipsets running on Windows 8 machines. As with Samsung’s Slate, AMD was showing off a pair of slates we’ve seen before, specifically the Acer Iconia Tab W500, running on the company’s C-50 APU, and MSI’s WinPad 110W, sporting the Z-01 APU. This is the first the company’s seen of the Metro UI running on its chipsets, and like them, we’re impressed with its performance. You’ll get the same speedy boot-up here, as well as fast and fluid touch navigation. Unfortunately, they aren’t giving up details on future devices, but we should see Brazos powering Windows 8 tablets, desktops , and notebooks in due time. For a look at AMD powering Windows 8, check out our video after break.

Continue reading AMD Fusion tablets running Windows 8 at Build 2011: hands-on with video

AMD Fusion tablets running Windows 8 at Build 2011: hands-on with video originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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