New Arc Mouse

Microsoft has revealed the next stage in the development of its Arc Mouse, the Arc Touch. As the name implies, the company has incorporated some touch sensitivity into its upper surface and also designed it to flatten out at the touch of a finger, for convenient transport while not in use. Its wireless USB transceiver also fits snuggly in the peripheral's underside to help ensure that everything you need is in one place when you're on the road.

 

Like an increasing number of people, my main computer is a laptop. It's perhaps a little more comfortable to use than some in that it has a full-size keyboard and nice big screen. Of course there's a trackpad, which I must admit to only using when out and about. If I find myself sitting at a desk I use a mouse - why? Comfort and precision. Call me old fashioned but I find a separate mouse easier to use and more comfortable than the built-in trackpad. And it would appear that I might be just the kind of portable computer user that Microsoft was thinking of when its new Arc Touch Mouse was being developed.

At first look, you could be forgiven for thinking that Microsoft is just trying to catch up with Apple's multi-touch Magic Mouse. But whereas the whole of the upper surface of Apple's peripheral is given over to numerous sweeps and gestures, the touch part of the Arc's design is the restricted to the bit where you would normally find the scroll wheel, in between the left and right click buttons.

The touch strip uses capacitive sensor technology to determine the position and velocity of a user's tactile action. Microsoft says that this results in "accurate, controlled scrolling no matter how fast or slow the movement." If pages and pages of a document spin uncontrollably on the screen in front of you, a simple tap of the scroll strip is said to bring it all to an abrupt halt.

Haptic vibration technology has been incorporated in the Arc Touch to simulate the subtle bumps users experience when using a scroll wheel on a standard mouse. Additionally, the front area of the strip can be used for Page Up functionality, the middle is a programmable click area and the rest is for Page Down.

Aside from the touch sensitive interaction, the Arc Touch is very different from the Magic Mouse. Microsoft's wireless mouse has been designed to flatten "with just the touch of a finger" while being transported. Whilst flat, the mouse is turned off to preserve its pair of AAA-sized batteries, which are said to offer up to six months usage. The 2.28 x 5.14-inch (58 x 130.6mm) device is activated by curving it again until it clicks into place and the power light comes on.

 

Underneath, Microsoft has made the Arc Touch surface-friendly by including BlueTrack technology, which helps with accurate tracking on most surfaces (with the notable exception of clear glass or mirrors). The Arc Touch is accompanied by a tiny 2.4 GHz USB transceiver which snaps into a special slot on the mouse's underside to help make sure that when you want to use the peripheral, you have everything you need in one place. The transceiver has a usable range of 30 feet, with "virtually no interference."

 

The Arc Touch Mouse has been given an estimated retail price of US 28.54 and is available now for pre-order, shipping is expected to begin in early December.

  Microsoft Arc Mouse (Red) Microsoft Arc Mouse (Black)

Reducing your power bill with Microsoft's Hohm

For a lot of people, the electricity bill is an unwanted piece of paper printed with angular graphs and big dollar signs, but with the rising cost of power in today's energy-conscious society it's becoming more important to understand exactly what all those lines and numbers mean. Microsoft's Hohm website aims to make sense of the jargon by providing personalized data on consumers' home energy consumption, and offering recommendations on how to save energy and reduce those bills.

Microsoft Hohm (a tidy amalgamation of the words “home” and “ohm” – the measurement unit for energy) has taken a three-prong approach:

• 1. A free personalized energy report based on your home usage
• 2. An overall Hohm score allowing you to compare yourself against the state/zip average or your neighbors
• 3. A monitor to track your live usage minute-by-minute, helping you to understand the effect of appliances and habits in real-time.

The site also offers tips for reducing energy usage, a FAQ, a forum and a blog about other eco-conscious ideas.

According to the site, the average US home energy cost is US$2,718 per year, and the average Hohm score is 61 (Hohm scoring is 1–100 – the higher the better). This writer doesn't have a US address to test Microsoft Hohm, so perhaps predictably I tapped in the White House address, and here's how Obama's energy bill stacks up: the White House has a Hohm score of 63, which is lower than the national average but higher than other homes in the District of Columbia, that have a respectable average Hohm score of 68.

The cost of powering the White House is US$4,119, roughly 0.5 times the national average, but only $600 more than the DC average of $3,404 – not bad, considering the round-the-clock work that gets done there. Furthermore, the site has a breakdown for what percentage of power is used for what (heating, cooling, appliances etc), the cost of each, and suggestions for how to reduce those figures. I'm sure Obama will be pleased to know he could save $1,513 per year by sealing cracks and heating ducts, and buying an energy-efficient water pump.

In fact, Hohm cannot provide the exact cost and score for a house without specific details provided by the owner. Hohm bases the calculations instead on the location of a home, which determines numerous averages including what year a house was built, the type of heating system, and general appliance data. It is up to the individual consumer to fill in more specific details, and Microsoft Hohm says it uses advanced analytics licensed from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Department of Energy to create ideas for energy-saving based on specific household circumstances.

 Once details have been input regarding home attributes such as size, systems and specific appliances, and an accurate Hohm score has been calculated, consumers can then "spy" on their neighbors and look up other addresses with which to compare their score. One hopes this will help to drive a downward turn in energy use as neighbors compete to “keep up”, or in this case “keep down with the Joneses," though there is a choice to opt out of information sharing.

Finally, Microsoft Hohm has also teamed up with Blue Line Innovations to create the Powercost Monitor and Powercost Monitor WiFi, which will send live information to a PC or laptop showing real-time energy consumption of both electricity and natural gas.

The software also shows charts, breakdowns and statements to help the consumer keep track of the information over time, which will help their understanding of how appliances, infrastructure and habits are impacting the power bill. This takes the legwork out of manually entering the data from energy bills. Plus, they claim it can reduce power use by up to 18 percent, and both products can be bought from retailers in the US and Canada.

 The Powercost Monitor goes into competition with a number of other products on the market (handily reviewed by us for you) though the Hohm website itself it is currently in a beta phase and will no doubt become more accurate as users input more details, and more refined with feedback and suggestions. There are no dates yet for when it will be available in other countries, but Microsoft hopes to expand it in due time.

Windows Phone 7

On the Windows Phone blog today, Microsoft announced that it is done with the Technical Preview of the Windows Phone 7 OS and that it now has a release to manufacturing (RTM) version, which means that it is now in the hands of phone makers to integrate the OS into their handsets.

Microsoft claims that, “Windows Phone 7 is the most thoroughly tested mobile platform Microsoft has ever released,” and the post announcing the RTM version backed that up with an array of stats from the testers:

• Nearly 10,000 devices running automated tests daily
• 500,000 hours of active self-hosting use
• 3.5 million hours of stress test passes,
• 8.5 million hours of fully automated test passes
• Thousands of independent software vendors and early adopters testing our software and giving feedback

During the last release, Microsoft said that one of the parts of the OS that it upgraded was its Facebook integration, saying:

“For example, folks loved the Facebook integration in the People Hub, but they also wanted ways to filter their contacts so only the Facebook friends they really know will show up in their contact list  – we’ve added support for that.  We’ve also made it easy to “like” a post right from the People Hub, or quickly post a message to someone’s Facebook wall directly.”

Microsoft acquires patent for OS shutdown

At some point, somebody should stop the madness. In a move that’s almost akin to patenting the wheel these days, Microsoft has just been granted the patent for an operating system shutdown procedure. The patent, apparently, was filed back in Windows XP days, a few months before Vista came into the picture.

What is interesting about this, however, is that the patent doesn’t apply only to Windows systems. Rather it covers all operating systems on personal computers. Here’s a look at the patent diagram, courtesy of ConceivablyTech:

What are your thoughts? Is Microsoft beating a dead horse, or does it truly have some sort of unique edge over existing systems?

Source:ConceivablyTech:

Microsoft Co-Founder Sues Apple

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen on Friday filed a patent infringement suit against nearly a dozen top technology firms, including Apple, Facebook, Google, and Yahoo.

Allen filed the suit in Seattle federal court on behalf of Interval Licensing LLC, which is part of Interval Research, the now defunct company founded in 1992 by Allen and David Liddle. The patents in question are "fundamental to the ways that leading e-commerce and search companies operate today," David Postman, a spokesman for Allen, said in a statement.
The patents cover technologies developed at Interval Research in the 1990s, which the company said are now being infringed by major e-commerce and Web search companies. Those companies include AOL, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, Yahoo, and YouTube.

Interval has nearly 300 patents in its portfolio; Friday's case involves four.
The first patent covers a "browser for use in navigating a body of information." The patent application describes a device that could "quickly review a body of information," like news stories, and locate items about a particular topic.

The companies sued for breaching this patent include AOL, Apple, eBay, Google, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, Yahoo, and YouTube.

The second and third patents cover an "attention manager for occupying the peripheral attention of a person in the vicinity of a display device." The patent application essentially describes a screensaver or computer wallpaper that could be used to display helpful information; not just the Microsoft logo or a photo of your child.

AOL, Apple, Google, and Yahoo violated these patents, according to the suit.
The fourth patent, meanwhile, covers a technology that could alert "users to items of current interest." It seems quite broad, which is probably why all 11 companies are accused of violating that particular patent.

"Interval Research was an early, ground-breaking contributor to the development of the internet economy," Postman said. "Interval has worked hard to bring its technologies to market through spinning off new companies, technology transfer arrangements, and sales of its patented technology."
"This lawsuit is necessary to protect our investment in innovation," Postman continued. "We are not asserting patents that other companies have filed, nor are we buying patents originally assigned to someone else. These are patents developed by and for Interval."
Allen is seeking unspecified damages.

Allen currently heads Vulcan Inc. in Seattle. He is the founder and chairman of the board for the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, and he announced last month that a majority of his estate will be left to philanthropy.
D-Link DIR-412 Mobile Wireless Router 3G, 11n-based, 150Mbps
Sonic Wave CD-2800 Ultrasonic Jewelry & Eyeglass Cleaner (White/Gray)(package may vary)
Garmin nüvi 255W 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator
Amazon.com $50 Gift Card (0109)
FURminator Large Yellow deShedding Tool with 4-Inch Edge
16-Piece Deluxe Watch Repair Tool Kit WRK001
Kindle Leather Cover, Black (Fits 6" Display, Latest Generation Kindle)
Kindle Lighted Leather Cover, Black (Fits 6" Display, Latest Generation Kindle)
HDMI Cable 2M (6 Feet)
Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G, 9.7" Display, Graphite, 3G Works Globally – Latest Generation
Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G, 6" Display, White - 2nd Generation