And a longer version:
Tag Archives: YouTube
So Windows 8 is nearly finished…
…And what a journey it’s been. The Windows 8 ‘journey’ began in CES 2011, I think, when Microsoft announced it would let the next version of Windows run on ARM chips. They showed it off, but on the Windows 7 interface (which is not suitable for touch) and it was clear there would be several interface changes.
Later in 2011 – June – Microsoft revealed to the world an early peek at the new, metro interface, and their vision that 1 user experience could be on tablets, hybrids, touch screens and traditional desktops/laptops, which is different to the traditional (as in Apple/Google) one tablet/phone OS, one desktop OS. Microsoft took the different approach of having one phone OS and one OS for everything else. Not that much was actually explained though, leaving a lot of questions unanswered.
A lot of those questions were answered, though, in September 2011 at the Build conference. Microsoft did many demos, and released the first publicly available preview to download, called the Developer Preview. It was buggy and incomplete, but it gave the world the first real taste of what’s to come.
Microsoft released the beta of Windows 8 – called the Consumer Preview - at MWC in February 2012. This was a significantly improved version of Windows 8 and intended, in case you hadn’t guessed, at the consumer market more than just developers (the idea with the DP was really just for devs to start building apps). Along with this release came the opening of the Windows Store, a place for consumers to easily buy/download metro-style apps for their PCs.
Before the next preview release – more on that in the next paragraph – came some important information about Windows 8 versions and naming. Surprisingly, the name “Windows 8″ was still officially a codename up to this point. And the ARM version was called “Windows on ARM” before this point. But the blog post announced that Windows 8 was the official name, and WOA was actually called Windows RT for some reason. There were 2 editions for the non-ARM version announced, different from the many, many versions of Windows 7 – Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro. Availability was not announced at this time.
On 31 May 2012, Microsoft released the final preview release of Windows 8 – called the Release Preview. Some called it the release candidate, but technically it was not. An RC is typically feature complete and with a few bugs. The RP was not feature complete, and I’ve actually found it to be a little more buggy than the CP occasionally. But it was still a pretty accurate look at the final version of Windows 8.
Availability and special offers was announced next – RTM is the first week of August, TechNet/MSDN subscribers get it in August sometime and General Availability is on 26th October 2012 - this is when you will be able to buy Windows upgrades, and buy new PCs with Windows 8 installed. Microsoft also announced a $15 Windows 8 Pro upgrade offer for people who’ve bought new PCs recently, and a limited-time $40 Windows 8 Pro upgrade offer for people who’ve got a valid Windows XP/Vista/7 license.
So that’s the Windows 8 journey – quite a long one, as with most Windows operating systems. I’ve personally used Windows 8 since the Consumer Preview in late February as my full-time OS, and I’ve loved using it (it really doesn’t require a touch screen). My only regret is not trying the Developer Preview! But now the question is how will people respond to it? You may have seen the videos on YouTube showing how hard the Consumer Preview could be to use for the first name – it’s improved slightly in the Release Preview, but Microsoft really needs to have put some good tutorials in the final release. If they do that, and people ignore all the rubbish about it ‘needing’ a touch screen (it doesn’t), then I think it will work well with consumers. As for businesses… well, that’s a completely different story…
Merlin Series 4 – the two-part series finale – Review
When I saw the trailer for The Sword in the Stone – Part 1 I wanted it to be next Saturday (aka. 17 December 2011) straightaway. It was amazing, and the episode lived up to it. You can view the trailer below:
And the exact same for part 2:
I’ll stop talking about the trailers now, though, and talk about the actual episodes, which were by far the best in Merlin Series 4. Maybe in all of Merlin – they were that good.
If you’ve read my other Merlin Series 4 reviews, you’ll might know the basic plot – Morgana tries (and suceeds) attacking Camelot. But it’s more than that. Just reading that description would make me think it was a repeat of last year’s finale. It wasn’t, though.
These 2 episodes pack everything that’s good about Merlin into, well, 2 episodes. There’s funny moments, great acting, an amazing plot and an interesting kind-of cliffhanger. I’ll give you an example of ‘funny moments’ – Arthur is made dumb by a spell cast on him by Merlin, and it’s really funny watching him, for example, hug trees and wear simple clothes. Great acting… well, everyone does great acting in Merlin, but Katie McGrath is really good as Morgana. And as for the cliffhanger…
Morgana’s just been stabbed (it seems fatally), and she’s staggering around in a forest. Then the dragon that Merlin saved earlier in the series comes and appears to breathe life back into her…
And then episode ended with the simple words: Merlin Will Return. I can’t wait! Does this mean the dragon will become evil? Will Morgana return? So many questions!
Ice Age 4 Continental Drift Teaser
Recently, an official teaser for Ice Age 4 was released. It contains the lovable Scrat character, and I just had to share it:
As you have seen, he moves around the world’s continents accidently while trying to get/eat a nut. Poor thing. For those of you who have seen the other Ice Age movies, Scrat usually has a problem getting nuts. The movie, according to the trailer from YouTube, is due to be released in 3D in 2012. Which, at the time of writing, in next year.
Another of Scrat’s troubles is below. This time he has a love interest…
PS: Keep an eye on the new coming soon page. It will keep you updated on what is coming soon to All of time and space.
Doctor Who news – Who is playing Hitler in “Let’s Kill Hitler” (inc. a very funny video)
The title of this post promised some Doctor Who news (specifically, who’s playing the character Adolf Hitler in the episode Let’s Kill Hitler, due Autumn 2011), and a very funny video. Well, the two fit into one:
What do you think? Are you looking forward to the second half of Series 6 (sorry, I mean 32) and Series 7?
Google Chrome OS – my thoughts
A while back Google announced an operating system called Chrome OS. It looks really good (even though I’m a Bing fan). You can access the website here and view the guided tour below.
It will be interesting to see how popular web only computers are. Here are some of the obvious (to me) points about Chrome OS:
- If you’re not in a Wi-Fi/3G zone, you’re doomed. No offline access at all.
- It’s all Google. What if you need to use Microsoft Word instead of Google Docs?
- You need a Google account.
- It seems secure, but one clever hacker could destroy your computer life.
- Only Google Chrome. What about if there’s a website best viewed in Internet Explorer?
- There is a store, but there will be a lot of apps not on Chrome OS.
- Music? There’s no iTunes or Spotify!
What do you think? Will it fail?
When a post is ready to be published
My video source 
How do you decide when a post is ready to publish? The Daily Post is mad. We have to write about how we write. I’ll do my best…
I think the best way to answer the question is to show you the steps I do to write a post:
- Choose what the post is going to be about
- Figure out where to put it in the publish timetable – I ask myself whether it is time sensitive (does it talk about a particular date, like new year resolutions, or is it something that can be published anytime?), and whether it will get more readers sooner or later.
- I write the post. I rarely go through more than a few revisions.
- I find an image – usually using Bing Images or Wikipedia. Sometimes a video from YouTube.
- I spell check.
- I add tags and categories.
- Finally, it is ready to either publish or schedule.
Once those 7 steps have been completed, a post is ready to be put on the internet. If I follow those steps, a post is fine.
For all those bloggers out there: how do you decide when a post is ready to be published?
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