Reinventing itself.

Since the first rumors back in June/11 the expectations for the new Microsoft’s operational system were pretty high. This high expectation can be explained by the new Microsoft mobile operational system, the Windows Phone, which was responsible for introducing the new Metro Interface to the world. This interface made a good first impression and everyone was wondering: “What if Microsoft creates interfacing experience such as its mobile phone operational system version?”

Numbers

of rumors and previews where published on blogs like gizmodo.com, but nobody could afford such previews until September/11.

On the BUILD convention, the interfacing system for desktop operational systems were revealed. The expectation took place in the technology specialized blogs around the world.

Not only was the s interface new, but also the whole Windows was better and, for the surprise of many enthusiasts, it was working properly!

Some of the Windows 8’s key points are:

New Microsoft Internet Explorer 10: Microsoft promises total integration with HTML5 and a faster navigation through the Internet.

Windows App Store: just like Apple’s iOS and Mac, Google’s Android Market and Linux’s Ubuntu 11.10 AppWorld, Microsoft is introducing for the first time in its history a Windows App Store. The main concept of an app store, first introduced by Apple, remained the same and now you pay less than you used to when you’re to buy your software.

But, as everything in life, it has its weaknesses…

The Metro apps: since it is still a Beta version of Windows 8, people usually don’t expect much about the apps, but they are really, really simple. Exemplifying: on the Messaging app (Windows 8 MSN Messenger) it’s not possible to find the list of online friends to chat with! Yes, you have access to it and talk to people, but you can only do that if they start the conversation with you, otherwise, you just stay online and don’t know who is online too!

Excessive right-clicking: every user knows that when you right-click something an option box pops up and you have some options for editing, copying and pasting (this depends on where you click and which application you’re using). When using the new Windows 8 the number of right-clicks increases a lot. As we can see below, the app has a minimalist interface and no options   menu with basic commands like editing, copying, pasting and undoing is displayed and you need to right-click the application so as to have the option box opened. This excessive right-clicking ruin the experience of the user since you have to right-click everything and move your mouse pointer to a specific place every time you want to see the options. Exemplifying:

With right-click to open the application’s options

Without right-click

Conclusions: Windows 8 may be awesome if you’re using a table or tablet. But when it comes to desktops the operational system is not strong or reliable enough to replace our Windows 7 environment. Yes, it’s still a Beta version but Microsoft has a lot to work on if they want to provide a killer desktop experience for the desktop users.

On March 10^th BandTec received a very special visit. Bob Lamm, writer and teacher at NYU (New York University) took some time off from sightseeing and got to know our students and BandTec modern facilities. BandTec students had the opportunity to practice their English (which they learn as a part of the IT courses) by attending Bob’s lecture and asking him questions about life in New York and his impressions of São Paulo and Brazil.

At NYU, Bob teaches classes on “The Joy of Improv,” “Novels With a Social Conscience,” and “Plays With a Social Conscience”. Bob has published several articles on newspapers and magazines such as the New York Times, the Village Voice and others. On his second visit to Brazil, Bob talked to the students about the main current political issues in United States, as well as the life and people in New York City. We learned about how the city has changed with the different waves of immigration, and how each of these immigrant people has made a contribution to the local culture.

Students and teachers at BandTec were enthusiastic about the opportunity. We are looking for Bob Lamm’s next visit!

Read Bob Lamm’s article on the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/13/nyregion/first-person-saying-goodbye.html

Read Bob Lamm’s article published on Ms Magazine:

http://www.msmagazine.com/fall2004/liberatingmarywollstonecraft.asp

4thSemester – System Analysis and Development

If you are a gmail user you have probably noticed that since the beginning of this year they have been notifying the users about changes on privacy policy. But is this any of my business? Does it really affect me?

Well, yes and yes. This is our business and this affects us. This affects the way we surf the web. Actually, it affects privacy. Our data privacy, our information.

This article is about privacy policies on the web. Web is changing, and changing fast. Every day, there are more users with different interests. More and more websites providing a huge number of services, as Google does. They provide several services, such as email account, the useful maps and of course the search engine, just to point a few services. With their new policy they are going to consolidate data from their different services.   So, all their services will collect and put together information about the users, such as the sites they visit, what kind of words they use and so on. That data collection, they claim, will help them to provide better services.

If we think about services on the web, it’s obviously that some of them need to collect and keep some data. For example, let’s imagine I am thinking about buying a book. Amazon, Livraria Cultura, Saraiva and so on must know my name, my address, my credit card number- if I want to pay them that way… Otherwise they can’t deliver the product; they can’t provide me with the service.

I may also think about the cookies. They are used by several websites because if you visit those sites very often they can be loaded faster. This technical tool was conceived to improve website performance. But they also can be used to track where the visitors of a certain website are.. It’s the kind of information you don’t provide voluntarily. It’s just something they can collect and use later. Some websites keep records of  what you click on, what kind of books you see. Like that, they can build up a profile and offer you customized services.

Social media might request some data for a number of reasons. It allows other users to find you. And this is good, I think. The more information you provide, the easier is for your kindergarten classmate to finally find you.  Here we have two situations:  one in which you provide the information you want the way you want. Situation two; they just pick up the information you leave behind  and you don’t  even know about it. That’s when the privacy policies are important. They rule how and what information the companies can retain.  And it doesn’t matter whether you provided them voluntarily or not. The rules can be checked at any moment on those privacy policy statements we see here and there. These statements also establish what kind of data they can – yes – redistribute. Some people consider the data very important. They can be used to launch a new product, or to decide the best site to reach a certain public.

But the point is: what are they going to do with that? Is it important? Well, that’s where the debates start. Do I need privacy? Well, if I am buying a technical book about things I work with, it’s nice that they have my profile and email me with the latest book on that area. On the other hand if I am looking for something that I don’t want to people to know about it, I might not like the fact that my data is kept.

What is public and what is private? What information about me is my property? What must be public? Can someone use it against me? These are the questions we all should think about. Thus, we may find the best balance between the public and the private on the web.

If you would like to know more about privacy policies have a look at these sites. The first two sites are articles about Google’s changes. The last one is about Facebook.

http://www.itnews.com/privacy/42888/google-launches-privacy-plan-amid-protests

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9223852/In_letter_to_Congress_Google_defends_privacy_changes_

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebooks_zuckerberg_says_the_age_of_privacy_is_ov.php

E o Angry Birds continua a crescer! Agora com a sua versão no Facebook. Ele possui várias caracteristicas que distingue o jogo das versões mobile. Angry Birds para Facebook leva em consideração um ponto muito legal que é a rivalidade entre os amigos. E também foram inclusos powerups, que aumentam a eficiência dos pássaros durante as fases, para um score cada vez mais alto!

Minecraft, um dos jogos mais populares atualmente com mais de 5 milhões de usuário ativos, conquistou a empresa Dinamarquesa Lego. Em meados de julho você já vai poder comprar o seu kit Lego Minecraft por aproximadamente $35. Minecraft é um jogo de aventura, na qual você é o explorador de um mundo feito de blocos, e ele conta com versões online e offline. PS: A versão em lego do Creeper não explode

Teve aquela idéia brilhante, mas não sabe o que fazer para fazer essa idéia se tornar realidade ? O Kickstarter é a solução.

São milhares de projetos dos mais variados tipos, desde música até acessórios para iGadgets. Ele funciona por um processo de funding, que seria uma colaboração. Os criadores do projeto estimam um valor, como por exemplo $25.000, e geralmente colocam vídeos e fotos sobre o produto/projeto que eles querem que se torne realidade,  é ai que tudo começa a ficar legal.

Se você gostar do projeto, você pode fazer um pledge, que seria a sua colaboração. Vamos tomar como exemplo o Recoil Winders – kck.st/wzEdDa — Com uma contribuição de apenas $8 você já recebe o produto, e quanto mais você contribuir, mais você ganha.

O Kickstarter é uma forma genial de fazer o seu produto tornar-se realidade. Quem sabe nós não teremos mais projetos brasileiros por lá ?

O CEO da Zynga (Sim, a produtora de FarmVille e CityVille), Mark Pincus, anunciou que a empresa tem mais de 15 milhões de usuários diários para os jogos mobile, tais como Words With Friends.

É com a força de desses jogos que a Zynga pretende aumentar a quantidade de jogadores, somando aos 240 milhões de usuários ativos no Facebook mensalmente. Mark considera o mobile uma grande oportunidade para a Zynga, pois a demanda para games mobile só aumentará com o tempo. Pelas próprias palavras do CEO:

“The world is embracing play — Social gaming and, more broadly, play is becoming the new TV.”

“O mundo está aderindo a ideia de jogar — Jogar com os amigos, e de uma forma mais abrangente os jogos, estão se tornando a nova Televisão.”

Várias fontes estão apontando para a mesma data. No dia 7 de março (segundo os rumores) a terceira geração do iPad será revelada. Os rumores especulam a chegada do tão famoso Retina Display para o iPad, o qual o levaria à incrível resolução de 1536×2048 pixels. Alguns desses rumores vão mais longe ainda, como o possivel suporte à redes 4G, e um processador quad-core.

Agora é só esperar a confirmação de Cupertino.

O Google vai passar a permitir que os usuários se identifiquem por meio de apelidos e de pseudônimos dentro de sua rede social Google+. A nova regra já vale desde ontem, para alguns usuários, e para todos, nas próximas semanas.

Alguns meses atrás, o Google chegou a excluir algumas contas que não seguiam as regras de nomeação da plataforma.

Em agosto do ano passado, o conselheiro Eric Schmidt afirmou que o Google+ era uma rede social concebida para ser uma plataforma de identificação e que eles não aceitariam nomes falsos.  “Estamos preocupados com a segurança do usuário. Se você não quer usar seu nome verdadeiro, não precisa usar a Plus”, afirmou ele na ocasião.

Via InfoExame