Windows 8 on ARM: Not so vaporous after all?

A Cnet report claims ARM-based Windows 8 devices will be ready when the Intel versions are, but not all the facts agree

Last week, I suggested that the lack of even demo units of Windows 8-based ARM tablets meant that we may not see any ARM tablets, at least not when Windows 8 debuts later this year. A statement to the Reuters news agency by ARM’s CEO that he would rather wait six to 12 months to get it right before releasing such a creature gave such speculation some credibility.

Today, Cnet’s respected Blog Network author Brooke Crothers reports — citing unnamed sources — that two ARM implementations of Windows 8 are “stable” and that they’ll be provided to developers in February. One of the sources told Crothers that he “had some hands-on time with a high-profile device” from a similarly unnamed major PC manufacturer.

Microsoft has been working on porting Windows to ARM architecture tablets for years. At the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft demoed the Windows 7 interface on three ARM processors — one each from Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and Nvidia. The TI machine ran Word and printed a Word document on an Epson printer. The Nvidia machine ran PowerPoint. At this year’s CES, TI and Qualcomm both showed demo machines.

One of Cnet’s unidentified sources claims that the Metro interface-only ARM version of Windows 8 should be ready at the same time as the Intel version. “There’s no reason to believe that the release of Windows 8 on ARM and Intel platforms should be staggered,” that source said, using wording that didn’t commit to simultaneous release, either. Which is why I remain skeptical that the ARM version of Windows 8 will be ready when the Intel version is. The Intel-compatible version of the Windows 8 developer preview has at least a five-month head start on the ARM version. And with the public beta version of Windows 8 for Intel systems due out in late February, it’s very hard to imagine the ARM version could catch up that fast.

There’s another hard-to-believe claim in that Cnet report: One of the anonymous sources says that Office “is fine” on ARM. If that means the desktop version of Office, that’s big news, as Microsoft has said that “legacy” Windows 7 apps would not run on the Metro-only version of Windows 8 for ARM. Maybe Microsoft now believes it can deliver such backward compatibility. Maybe Microsoft is porting the forthcoming Office 15 version to ARM. Maybe “Office” in this context means the very light version of Office already available for Windows Phone smartphones, not the “real ” Office. Or maybe the source is wrong.

In this rumor-loving industry, we’ll only know when the product ships. Until then, all eyes will be on the public beta next month.

At Davos George Soros says he wants Romney to be the Republican Candidate because there isn’t much difference between Romney and Obama.

The above shows you how liberals work … Cute pictures and all.

Concerned that too many “deniers” are in the meteorology business, global warming activists this month launched a campaign to recruit local weathermen to hop aboard the alarmism bandwagon and expose those who are not fully convinced that the world is facing man-made doom.

The Forecast the Facts campaign — led by 350.org, the League of Conservation Voters and the Citizen Engagement Lab — is pushing for more of a focus on global warming in weather forecasts, and is highlighting the many meteorologists who do not share their beliefs.

“Our goal is nothing short of changing how the entire profession of meteorology tackles the issue of climate change,” the group explains on their website. “We’ll empower everyday people to make sure meteorologists understand that their viewers are counting on them to get this story right, and that those who continue to shirk their professional responsibility will be held accountable.”

According to the Washington Post, the reason for the campaign can be found in a 2010 George Mason University surveys, which found that 63% of television weathermen think that global warming is a product of natural causes, while 31% believe it is from human activity.

The investors include John Doerr’s venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Daniel Weiss’ Angeleno Group LLC and Steve Westly’s eponymous Westly Group, according to Amonix’s website.

These three investors have also invested heavily in Obama and other Democrats — and the president’s aides are now trying to minimize the political damage.

According to a database maintained by the Center for Responsive Politics, Doerr has donated $171,900 since 2008. Weiss has donated $26,480 and Westly has donated $181,250. Nearly all of those contributions went to Democrats.

Together, the three have also bundled at least $700,000 for Obama.

Obama publicly lauded Amonix in 2010 as an example of a company deserving federal support and private-sector investment.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and other GOP figures are portraying these mutual favors as “crony capitalism,” and the charges are adding up to a real political headache for the administration.

The supposed ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years.

The figures suggest that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on London’s Thames in the 17th Century.

Based on readings from more than 30,000 measuring stations, the data was issued last week without fanfare by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit. It confirms that the rising trend in world temperatures ended in 1997.

The sun did it after all … Could anybody tell me how you could expect a trace gas with minisclue changes to cause the atmosphere to heat up and warm our planet?

Meanwhile, leading climate scientists yesterday told The Mail on Sunday that, after emitting unusually high levels of energy throughout the 20th Century, the sun is now heading towards a ‘grand minimum’ in its output, threatening cold summers, bitter winters and a shortening of the season available for growing food.

Solar output goes through 11-year cycles, with high numbers of sunspots seen at their peak.

We are now at what should be the peak of what scientists call ‘Cycle 24’ – which is why last week’s solar storm resulted in sightings of the aurora borealis further south than usual. But sunspot numbers are running at less than half those seen during cycle peaks in the 20th Century.

Analysis by experts at NASA and the University of Arizona – derived from magnetic-field measurements 120,000 miles beneath the sun’s surface – suggest that Cycle 25, whose peak is due in 2022, will be a great deal weaker still.

myfox

PHOENIX – Despite much criticism and a U.S. Justice Department probe accusing the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office of discrimination — Sheriff Joe Arpaio is having no trouble raising money for his re-election campaign.

In fact — he’s raised more funds than ever.

In its latest finance report, Arpaio’s campaign says it raised nearly $6 million since 2009.

But more than 80 percent of the donors don’t just live outside of Maricopa County — they live outside of Arizona.

For his 2008 campaign, Apraio raised slightly more than $600,000.

Meanwhile — Arpaio says he expected charges to be filed against the Tennessee man who posted an Internet death threat against him and his family

Friday night document dump shows Holder was informed of Brian Terry’s murder on day Fast & Furious weapons killed border agent …

When Eric Holder testified about his knowledge of Operation Fast and Furious on May 3, 2011, he told the House Judiciary Committee that he had only been informed of the operation “a few weeks ago.”  Later, Holder amended that to say that it would have been more accurate to call the time period “a couple of months.”

Does five months qualify as “a couple” or “a few weeks”?

Attorney General Eric Holder’s Department of Justice dumped documents related to Operation Fast and Furious on congressional officials late Friday night. Central to this document dump is a series of emails showing Holder was informed of slain Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s murder on the day it happened – December 15, 2010 – and that he was informed the weapons used to kill Terry were from Fast and Furious on the same day.

An email from one official, whose name has been redacted from the document, to now-former Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke reads: “On December 14, 2010, a BORTAC agent working in the Nogales, AZ AOR was shot. The agent was conducting Border Patrol operations 18 miles north of the international boundary when he encountered [redacted word] unidentified subjects. Shots were exchanged resulting in the agent being shot. At this time, the agent is being transported to an area where he can be air lifted to an emergency medical center.”

That email was sent at 2:31 a.m. on the day Terry was shot. One hour later, a follow-up email read: “Our agent has passed away.”

Burke forwarded those two emails to Holder’s then-deputy chief of staff Monty Wilkinson later that morning, adding that the incident was “not good” because it happened “18 miles w/in” the border.

Wilkinson responded to Burke shortly thereafter and said the incident was “tragic.” “I’ve alerted the AG [Holder], the Acting DAG, Lisa, etc.”

So far, it just sounds like a normal notification of an agent death — until one reads an e-mail from later in the same day:

Then, later that day, Burke followed up with Wilkinson after Burke discovered from officials whose names are redacted that the guns used to kill Terry were from Fast and Furious. “The guns found in the desert near the murder BP officer connect back to the investigation we were going to talk about – they were AK-47s purchased at a Phoenix gun store,” Burke wrote to Wilkinson.

“I’ll call tomorrow,” Wilkinson responded.

It’s amazing what one can find in Friday night document dumps, isn’t it?  Small wonder that the DoJ didn’t want this released during the week, when the newspapers and media could draw more eyes to it.  This e-mail utterly negates the notion that Holder had no idea about Fast and Furious when Terry was murdered with weapons sent over the border by the ATF.

Agent Provocateur is a store that sells serious lingerie — “the most erotic lingerie in the world.”

Michelle Obama apparently went shopping there.

So now we have a headline inclined to tempt a click:

But a couple of things aren’t clear to me.

The least which — can you really spend $50,000 on lingerie?

My main question is — how does The Telegraph know this?

The headline and the article seem to be a little out of sync.  In the headline, the $50k and the 12% sales jump are tied to the First Lady alone.

But take a look at the article:

The First Lady – better known for shopping at more modestly-priced High Street stores – along with the Queen of Qatar, Sheikha Mozah, closed off part of Madison Avenue to spend time in the luxury lingerie shop. Their purchases contributed to a market-spanking 12.5pc lift in sales.

Agent Provocateur, which is styled on vintage Hollywood glamour, sells handmade Calais lace corsets that sell for up to £900, which could ruffle the feathers of more than just President Barack Obama in an election year.

Gary Hogarth, Agent Provocateur’s chief executive, refused to be drawn on the store’s closely kept “secret client list”. But he admitted the brand had attracted a high number of “unexpected famous names” – especially in the US, where sales have overtaken the UK.

So…the article adds a new figure.  The Queen of Qatar.

bts-fl-interstate-pile-up.cnn

After the crashes stopped, Steven Camps said all he could hear was the sound of crying as the air, heavy with smoke, shone red from vehicle fires.

He pulled his friend from their car, which wound up wedged between two semi trucks. The two were lying in the grassy median of Interstate 75, he said, praying that a car would not leave the roadway and hit them.

The vehicle Camps was riding in was among those involved in a series of overnight accidents in northern Florida, blamed on poor visibility from smoke from a nearby brush fire, authorities said. Ten people were killed in the crashes, which the Florida Highway Patrol said involved at least 12 passenger cars and about seven semi trucks.

Most of the collisions were on Interstate 75, said Alachua County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Todd Kelly. Crashes also occurred on U.S. Highway 441.

The interstate’s northbound lanes reopened but southbound lanes remained closed Sunday evening, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Traffic was being detoured.