PCWorld Sep-13

PCWORLD has been publishing digital editions of the magazine for about ten years, but none are packed with as many enhancements and features as the issue you’re reading now. Many of you are first-time readers of a PCWorld digital edition, so I’d like to walk you through some important improvements we’ve made to our digital magazines. Larger text, more stories Starting with this issue, PCWorld has been redesigned for easier navigation. Our new layout is cleaner and simpler, and it puts a greater emphasis on visuals. Our article text is larger too—a user convenience that we couldn’t have delivered in the print version without significantly reducing the amount of content. In fact, not only have we increased the size of our type, we’ve also increased the number and length of the articles.…

ONE MICROSOFT, ALL THE TIME. They’re just five words, but they hold a universe of importance to Microsoft. In July, they prompted a sweeping revamp of the company’s core organizational structure: Newly vertical divisions were carved out, executives were shuffled, and some senior-level people lost their jobs. One Microsoft, all the time. What could it mean for you? If everything goes according to chief executive Steve Ballmer’s grand plan, no less than a seamless computing experience across every device you own—a truly unified OS experience across your phone, tablet, notebook, desktop PC, and TV. This vision could—could—become reality in a few years. Islands in a rocky sea The first hints are already in place with Windows 8. The controversial modern UI spans desktop displays and tablet screens alike, shares a plethora of design elements…

IF THE WINDOWS PC market is in big trouble, someone forgot to tell Lenovo and Samsung. In June, within 24 hours of each other, the two Asian tech giants unveiled broad, new product lines. A critical mass of next-generation Windows 8 machines is coming down the pike. The new arrivals cover every shape and form of portable PC, with touchscreens galore, and even some daring dual-boot systems. Crawford del Prete, chief research officer at tech market research firm IDC, says the Lenovo and Samsung announcements show how fundamentals are coming together for the PC market. “Haswell should significantly improve battery performance,” del Prete says. Haswell, the code name for Intel’s fourth-generation Core processor, is finally starting to show up in new systems. Early tests of the Haswell-powered Macbook Air indicate that the chips…

NVIDIA WILL START licensing its graphics cores more widely in a bid to cash in on the need for powerful graphics in smartphones, tablets, and other devices. Nvidia will start by licensing graphics cores based on the Kepler architecture used in its latest graphics cards, the company says. Kepler cores will also be used in Nvidia’s Tegra 5 mobile chip, codenamed Logan, shipping next year. “The reality is that we’ve done this in the past,” says David Shannon, Nvidia’s executive vice president and general counsel, in a blog entry. But now, “the explosion of Android devices presents an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate this effort.” Nvidia is taking a path similar to that of Imagination Technologies, the main supplier of graphics cores to mobile chip makers. Imagination’s graphics cores are used in Apple’s iPad…

THE WI-FI ALLIANCE is finally kicking off a certification program for routers, adapters, and other wireless networking gear based on the IEEE 802.11ac draft standard. The organization has a strong track record when it comes to ensuring that networking products will be interoperable even when the standards they’re based on have yet to be finalized, so this is a positive development. As it did with the 802.11n wireless networking standard, the IEEE is taking its time to ratify the 802.11ac standard. In fact, the responsible working group isn’t expected to be done until November, and final ratification isn’t expected until February 2014. That lengthy timeline hasn’t stopped manufacturers from shipping 802.11ac gear, of course; products based on the draft standard have been on store shelves since August 2012. But buyers haven’t…

MICROSOFT IS PLANNING AN OVERHAUL of our Office documents, weaving live data into the once-static fabric of our Word files and Excel spreadsheets. It’s a bold experiment that could kill the very definition of an Office “document”—but it could also spell the rebirth of Microsoft’s productivity suite in the age of cloud-driven collaboration. Microsoft has been evangelizing tools that will enable app developers to automatically use Bing’s search capabilities in documents—for example, they might enhance a travel guide with live demographic information on Belize. And Microsoft’s new PowerBI tools can import data from both public and private sources to provide more up-to-date context in documents. Both developments reveal a sea change in the way we’ll interact with Microsoft Office in the future. Today, you create an Office document, save it, and then…