Google still polishing Chrome OS, postpones debut - TMCnet

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — It's taking longer than Google Inc. anticipated to deliver a new operating system designed to make computers run faster.

After more than a year building a much–anticipated system around its Chrome Web browser, Google announced Tuesday that the first laptops powered by the new software won't hit the stores until the middle of next year. The revised timetable is about six months behind Google's goal of having the Chrome OS completed in time for it to debut during the current holiday season.

Google's engineers decided they needed more time to fix bugs and fine tune the Chrome OS before the company launches its ambitious challenge to computers running on long–established operating systems made by larger rivals, Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc.

While Google polishes the Chrome OS, it will collect user feedback through a pilot program allowing a relatively small number of consumers and businesses to test unbranded devices running the software. Consumers will be invited to receive the test laptops through the Chrome Web browser and Google's YouTube video site. The companies getting the Chrome OS machines include AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, Kraft Foods Inc. Logitech (News - Alert) International, and Virgin Airlines.

Acer Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. will make the first Chrome OS laptops available in stores next year. The prices of the machines will be determined by the manufacturers next year.

The postponement threatens to intensify the competitive challenges facing the Chrome OS machines. More people already are snapping up sleek, touch–screen tablets such as Apple Inc.'s iPad to surf the Web and run a variety of applications customized for the devices. Apple sold about 7.5 million iPads in the first six months after its April debut and the tablet is expected to be among the top–selling gadgets this holiday season.

The rising popularity of the iPad and an array of copycats has started to undercut sales of lightweight laptops, or "netbooks," according to industry analysts. Even the next version of Google's Android operating system for touch–screen devices is supposed to include more features tailored for tablets.

The Chrome OS computers will have a 12.1 inch display screen and standard–sized keyboard, but no hard drive. That means the Chrome OS computers will need online access to run more programs. Google is teaming up with Verizon Communications to sell Internet access over Verizon's wireless network when there is no other way to connect to the Web. Online consumption of up to 100 megabytes per month will be offered for free during the first two years of computer ownership. Larger data plans will cost as little as $9.99 per month with no long–term commitment required.

Google decided to build its own computer operating system primarily because its views the hundreds of millions of machines powered by Microsoft's dominant Windows software as plodding, cumbersome relics unable to provide speedy Web surfing. The Chrome OS machines are being designed so they're ready to navigate the Internet within a few seconds after hitting the power button, almost as quickly as a television set is ready for channel surfing .

Developing a Web–based alternative to Windows also realizes a long–held goal of Google CEO Eric Schmidt (News - Alert), who had previously clashed with Microsoft as an executive at Sun Microsystems and Novell Inc. during the 1990s. Google's development of the Chrome OS contributed to Schmidt's resignation from Apple's board in 2009. Schmidt stepped down because he increasingly was steering Google into the same markets as Apple, raising potential conflicts of interest.

By making it easier and more appealing for people to spend time online, Google hopes to attract more traffic to its dominant Internet search engine and boost its revenue by selling more of the ads that generate most of its income.

The push for a speedier Web experience, prompted Google to introduce the Chrome browser more than two years ago. Although it still lags behind Microsoft's Internet Explorer and the Mozilla (News - Alert) Foundation's Firefox, Chrome has steadily been winning converts. Google says Chrome now has 120 million active users worldwide today, up from about 30 million at the beginning of the year.

Chrome will soon get even faster by pulling up websites as people type in an address, in the same manner that Google's search engine displays different results with each keystroke. For example, typing "e:" in Chrome's navigation bar display ESPN's site in the browser, if that is a destination that the user frequently visits.

To help whet consumers' appetite for the new Chrome OS machines, Google unveiled a new store that will distribute Web applications that offer more features and better graphics than the content found on standard Web pages. The Web apps store opened Monday with about 500 free and for–fee applications, meeting the end–of–the–year deadline Google established when it announced the idea in May. More than 40,000 applications already have been developed specifically for the iPad.

The New York Times Co., Time Warner (News - Alert) Inc.'s Sports Illustrated magazine and video game maker Electronic Arts Inc. are among the major companies already offering applications in the Chrome store. Internet retailer Amazon.com (News - Alert) Inc. also previewed an application that for the first time will allow other merchants to sell electronic books for its Kindle reader. The app enables Kindle books to be read through a Web browser.

Like programs designed for the iPad and mobile phones, the Chrome applications store could help publishers bring in more revenue from subscriptions and advertising.

View the original article here

$125 Mil 'Harry Potter' Wins Weekend With Franchise's Biggest Debut Ever - Hollywood Reporter

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 made history this week, winning the weekend box office with $125 million for the best three-day opening weekend in the franchise's history, besting 2005's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which earned $102.7 million.

Coming in second on the weekend was Megamind with another $16.2 million, followed by the Denzel Washington-Chris Pine train thriller, Unstoppable, which took in $13.1 million over the weekend.

Due Date took in $6.8 million for fourth place, with the Russell Crowe vehicle The Next Three Days rounding out the weekend's top five films with $6.8 million.

View the original article here

Better Than Perfect? No-Hitter in Playoff Debut - New York Times

The Philadelphia Phillies must have thought that was the greatest game he could pitch; after all, Halladay did not allow a base runner. But considering the setting Wednesday, he found a way to top himself.

Halladay threw the second no-hitter in postseason history and the first since Don Larsen’s perfect game for the Yankees in the 1956 World Series. He thwarted the Cincinnati Reds, the top-scoring team in the National League this season, in a 4-0 victory in Game 1 of their division playoff series.

Halladay allowed one base runner, on a walk to Jay Bruce with two out in the fifth inning, and few hard-hit balls. He struck out eight, with exceptional command of his two-seam fastball, cutter, curveball and changeup.

“It’s hard to explain, but pitching a game like that, being able to win the game comes first,” Halladay said. “That’s kind of your only focus until after it’s over with. I think once it ends, it’s a little bit surreal.”

The game was bound to be memorable for Halladay, a decorated right-hander who had labored for 12 years with the also-ran Toronto Blue Jays until a trade to the Phillies last December. His 320 career starts were the most of any active pitcher who had never appeared in the postseason.

As Halladay walked across the outfield to the bullpen before Wednesday’s game, his pitching coach, Rich Dubee, gave him a simple instruction.

“Go out there and try to be good,” Dubee said he told Halladay. “If you go out there and try to be good, you’ve got a chance to be great.”

Halladay, whose perfect game came on the road against the Florida Marlins on May 29, made the most of that chance. He is the fifth pitcher in major league history to throw two no-hitters in the same season, joining Johnny Vander Meer of the 1938 Cincinnati Reds, Allie Reynolds of the 1951 Yankees, Virgil Trucks of the 1952 Detroit Tigers and Nolan Ryan of the 1973 California Angels.

It also continued a trend in the majors this season. Halladay’s gem was the sixth no-hitter since opening day, one shy of the single-season major league record. Another potential no-hitter — a perfect game, in fact, by Detroit’s Armando Galarraga — was ruined by an umpire’s blown call with two out in the ninth inning.

Halladay, 33, went 21-10 this season, leading the league in innings and complete games, and he is likely to win his second Cy Young Award. He has been everything the Phillies hoped for when they traded three prospects to Toronto to get him, then signed him to a contract extension that could be worth $80 million over four years.

It was something of a gamble for the Phillies, who simultaneously traded their best 2009 starter, Cliff Lee, to Seattle. Lee had beaten the Yankees twice last fall for the Phillies’ only World Series victories, but he was not signed to a long-term contract.

Lee has remained an ace — now with Texas, he beat Tampa Bay in his playoff start Wednesday — but Halladay lent a sense of desperation to the Phillies’ two-time reigning N.L. champions. If there was ever a danger of their growing complacent, his presence erased it.

“He has a lot of hunger,” Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel said on Tuesday. “I think he’s starving, all right. He’s intense and he wants it.”

Halladay ran alone on the warning track in a downpour before the Phillies’ workout on Tuesday, then played catch in the outfield with his fellow starter Cole Hamels. His work ethic and mental sharpness are revered around baseball, as is his wide repertory of weapons.

“He’s got probably four of the best pitches in baseball,” another Phillies starter, Roy Oswalt, said on Wednesday afternoon. “All four of his pitches he can throw at any time. When you can do that in the big leagues, you’re going to create a lot of havoc for the opposing hitter.”

Even, as Halladay showed, when facing the team that led the league in average, runs, hits and homers. The Reds battered him for 13 hits on June 30, but even that day there were signs that Halladay could dominate them. He struck out 10 without a walk, and tossed nine shutout innings against the Reds two starts later.

“Anytime you’re facing a good team, I think the more aggressive you can be early in the count — get yourself in pitcher’s counts — the more the numbers play into your favor,” said Halladay, who threw first-pitch strikes to 25 of his 28 hitters. “So that was definitely a priority.”

The Reds remain hitless in the postseason since Eddie Taubensee’s eighth-inning single in Game 4 of the 1995 N.L. Championship Series, when they were swept by the Atlanta Braves. It was a dispiriting way to return to the playoffs.

“You’ve got to put that one behind us, figure we got beat by a great performance tonight,” Reds Manager Dusty Baker said. “The thing about it is, I don’t think he threw anything down the heart of the plate. Everything was on the corners and moving.”

The Reds’ hardest hit might have been a lineout to right by pitcher Travis Wood in the third inning. The final out came on a dribbler in front of the plate by Brandon Phillips, who raced to first as the ball nicked his bat in the dirt. Catcher Carlos Ruiz dropped to his knees to field it, threading a throw over Phillips’s left shoulder.

The out secured, Ruiz embraced a beaming Halladay as teammates mobbed them. The Phillies and Halladay hope it was only the first celebration of an already magical postseason.

View the original article here