How to Use Windows

AMD really is kicking sand in their competitor’s face in the graphics business, but they dipped into their marketing bag for an old trick at the annual Game Developer Conference: developing a vague branding strategy, complete with logo. At a presentation where the company featured guest speakers from leading game companies, AMD discussed its commitment to developer relations. At the end, they rolled out a new brand: AMD Gaming Evolved. “AMD Gaming Evolved” is a catch-all brand that is “a reflection of our ongoing commitment to gamers.” It’s as if AMD’s eventual goal is to cover the entire surface of your PC with stickers with AMD logos. The 90-minute presentation wasn’t entirely bereft of content, however

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Despite a lingering recession, Microsoft isn’t holding back when it comes to spending. According to Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s chief operating officer, the Redmond giant will spend around $9.5 billion on research and development this year, which is about $3 billion more than the next closest tech company. “Especially in light of the tough difficult macroeconomic times that we’re coming out of, we chose to really lean in and double down on our innovation,” Turner said. Much of that investment will go towards the cloud, an area Turner sees his company becoming a leader in as it tries to “change and reinvent” itself. Turner also added that Microsoft will still maintain a significant on-premise software business, even as companies such as Google look to cloud-only software solutions

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Book publisher Random House is set to attempt to establish itself as a source for story content in games, creating a new division specifically for this purpose. The major publishing company’s new unit, “the IP Creation and Development Group,” has been set up specifically to develop storylines for games in development. Diversifying into videogames “After more than 80 years, Random House is now taking our storytelling expertise one step further,” said Gina Centrello, President and Publisher of The Random House Publishing Group. “We are providing a valuable service to other media companies in a competitive entertainment market, where success increasingly depends on the quality of your story.” The new Random House division’s first project is Stardock’s Elemental: War of Magic , with the launch of a novel written by executive producer Brad Wardell. “A good story doesn’t necessarily have to begin and end with a game; it can and should encompass as many creative mediums as possible in order to provide fans with the most complete rendering of a fictional place or time,” Wardell said, speaking of his spin-off book, Elemental: Destiny’s Embers .

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Life, it seems, is never fair for any developer. Just ask the gurus behind Valve’s Steam service. For the past many years, Steam has existed as the dominant digital-download platform of choice for gamers worldwide. While a few improvements have been built into the actual application one uses to access the Steam service, the program in question has remained relatively unchanged in its design for a good chunk of its recent existence.

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There comes a time in the development life cycle of electronic equipment where things get a bit, well, Terminator. Your electronics get ideas of their own and start ordering you about. For instance, Yamaha’s RX -V2065 receiver suggested, in no uncertain terms, that I leave the room while it sets itself up. Yikes

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Steve Ballmer announced Windows Phone 7 Series (Windows Mobile 7 to you and me) and promised some big changes – but has the overhaul worked? Ballmer apparently pushed the development of the platform back by some time in order to get it to the point he felt it could compete with the incumbent dominant platforms (such as the iPhone OS and Android). To that end, with Windows Phone 7 Series we get a radically overhauled UI, capacitive-only touchscreens with hi-res WVGA (800×48 pixel count) displays and multi-touch throughout. We got some hands on time with the new operating system, and we were pretty impressed with the platform despite it being in its infancy

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Microsoft has launched a special version of IE8 along with the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre that offers embedded advice, help and report services. Customised browsers are far from uncommon, but the laudable efforts of CEOP on the internet makes Microsoft’s latest effort worth consideration. The CEOP-customised IE8 browser has a ‘clear and direct’ route to CEOP with a special button and is available from www.clickceop.net/ie8 . Jim Gamble CEO of CEOP said: “Internet safety advice needs to be at your fingertips and not hidden away. Parents and children should not have to go searching through numerous web pages to find the help they need

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The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park will host the first-ever British vintage computing festival on 19-20 June this year. The event began 10 years ago in, where else, Silicon Valley in California, but this festival will be a celebration of the way the British have contributed to the development of computing. There will be demonstrations of old machines, performances of electronic music, a full lecture programme, exhibition stands featuring Amiga, Atari. Sinclair and more, and a bring-and-buy sale.

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Motorola has filed a complaint over RIM’s BlackBerry range, claiming they infringe a number of patents it holds. The case has been filed with the International Trade Commission in the US, and Moto is looking to block RIM from importing what it calls ‘infringing products’. The patents relate to Wi-Fi access, application and power management, and even the UI – which would be strange given Motorola’s clunky interface, but we assume there must be some good elements it believes RIM has nabbed. The litigation is ongoing, but Motorola believes there time has come to bring things out into the open, as it looks to be re-born through a slew of Android phones as well as protecting the valuable assets it created when it was involved in the development of the mobile phone. Protection needed Jonathan Meyer, Senior Vice President of Intellectual Property Law at Motorola, stated: “Through its early-stage development of the cellular industry and billions of dollars spent on research and development, Motorola has created an industry-leading intellectual property portfolio that is respected by the entire telecommunications industry.

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Getting into space requires more than just rockets. With both lives and huge amounts of money on the line, NASA has had to advance not only computer hardware but also the techniques and technologies required for working on the cutting edge. We take a look at the systems that have helped push mankind from the dawn of the space race to the edge of the unknown universe. The Gemini rocket’s control system was to be used as a test-bed for the Moon landings, so it had to do more than merely crunch numbers: it had to be error-proof, efficient and, above all else, small.

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