Microsoft Officially Announces Windows 8 for October

Windows 8 will officially arrive in October, as expected. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired

Microsoft will ship its Windows 8 “Release to Manufacturer” (or RTM) build to OEM partners the first week of August, and the operating itself will officially launch to the public by the end of October. Windows Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Financial Officer Tami Reller made these announcements at Microsoft’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference in Toronto on Monday.

The news comes as no surprise, as Microsoft had previously stated it would make Windows 8 available in time for the holidays and many speculated that this meant an October release. But this is the first official release date the company has given since announcing Windows 8.

Once Windows RTM launches in August, Microsoft will turn on the commerce platform for apps in the Windows Store, allowing developers to make money off of their apps. (Currently, all apps are free in Windows 8 Release Preview.) Come October, users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8, as well as purchase new Windows 8 and Windows RT PCs, notebooks and tablets.

Reller also announced that more than 630 million licenses of Windows 7 have been sold. Microsoft is hedging its future on Windows 8, so it wants to convince its current users to make the switch. The company is pricing its Windows 8 upgrade accordingly, making it as cheap and easy as possible for current users to upgrade — a digital download will cost only $40, while a boxed DVD version will go for $70.

The move from a desktop-focused OS to the Metro UI is a huge bet and shift for the company. And with Windows RT and the Surface tablet, the company is making its first forays into the tablet market to compete with the iPad. For more on what it’s like to actually use Windows 8, read our hands-on with the Windows 8 Release Preview.

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12 Weird, Bizarre, Unlikely Gadgets You Strap to Your Back

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Court Clears Samsung Galaxy Nexus For Sale But Patent Battle Continues

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

The Galaxy Nexus is at the center of a patent dispute between Apple and Samsung and, after a week of being banned from sale, is now cleared to be sold again. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

Winning a minor victory in its patent battle with Apple, Samsung entered the weekend with its Galaxy Nexus cleared for sale — at least temporarily.

Last week, a U.S. federal court handed down a preliminary sales ban on Samsung’s flagship Android phone. In a San Jose court, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh granted Apple the preliminary injunction after deciding that the Nexus smartphone may violate a patent Apple owns regarding “unified search,” a feature in which Apple’s Siri voice assistant searches both the web and the contents of a mobile device.

On Friday, however, a U.S. appeals court overturned Koh’s ruling, which would have barred the Galaxy Nexus from being sold until July 30, the date on which a patent trial concerning the dispute is set to begin.

The Galaxy Nexus is now back on sale in the Google Play storefront, but the reinstatement remains tenuous. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in a document that it is lifting the sales ban, but could decide to put it back in place after hearing arguments from Apple. The appeals court gave Apple until July 12 to respond, according to a report from Foss Patents.

Officials at Samsung were unavailable for comment by press time on Saturday. While not named in the patent suit, Google has said it is readying an imminent software update for Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) that will allow Samsung to sell the Galaxy Nexus without facing any patent conflicts. On Saturday, the Nexus’ listing in the Google Play store was updated, stating that the phone “ships soon” and when it does, will be running the latest version of Android, 4.1 Jelly Bean, which also includes the software changes.

In the same patent fight, Apple has also won a temporary sales injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, which Apple argues looks and feels illegally close to the iPad. The appeals court has not overturned that sales ban.

Via The Verge.

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Shanghai Company Targets Apple’s Siri for Patent Infringement

A Chinese company is suing Apple over alleged Siri patent infringement. Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired

A Shanghai-based company thinks Siri is a little too similar to their own voice-recognition software and is now suing Apple for alleged patent infringement over the technology.

Zhi Zhen Internet Technology developed a piece of software called “Xiao i Robot” that shares some similarities with Siri: It communicates through voice recognition, can answer questions, and can hold short conversations with the user. It’s currently available for iOS, Android and Windows Live Messenger, and can also be found on products from Chinese telecom firms like China Mobile and China Telecom.

“We have a 100 million users in China, and many companies are using our product,” company head Yuan Hui told IDG News in an interview.

Zhi Zhen was granted a patent for their personal assistant software in 2006. It first contacted Apple over the issue in May, and filed suit in Shanghai, China in June.

Just this week Apple settled a trademark dispute with another overseas company, Taiwanese PC and display maker Proview, over the iPad name in China. Apple ended up paying out $60 million to the cash-strapped electronics company to secure the name in the country.

Apple is also currently being sued for $80,000 by another Chinese company over the Snow Leopard name, which the company claims it owns the rights to in Chinese. Funnily enough, the company isn’t even in the tech space — Jiangsu Snow Leopard Daily Chemical Co. is a household chemical company that makes products like toothpaste and laundry detergent. And Apple does not even use the Chinese characters Jiangsu is suing over in its marketing of Snow Leopard OS in China.

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Review: Teva Fuse-Ion Water Shoe

These new Tevas repel both water and hacky sacks. Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired

While it may be effective in the field, most technical footwear makes you look like a tool the second you step indoors. Nobody wants to see you rocking a pair of waders at the brew pub.

Thus, one of the most welcome trends in the outdoor goods market is the emergence of technical gear that also looks good when you head back to civilization. Footwear company Teva has a new offering in this category, the Fuse-Ion shoe. It attempts to blend innovative outdoor performance with a good amount of style points, and it succeeds.

Designed as a “casual” water shoe, the Fuse-Ions are tailor-made for the wet stuff. They have plenty of traction on wet and moss-covered rocks, and thanks to a special coating that repels water on a molecular level, they dry quickly. They’re perfect for a hike to a waterfall or for staying comfortable during and after a downpour. Best of all, they still look good when you’re walking around town.

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