Rumors of a Facebook phone have rattled around the tech world for quite a while. Today Facebook announced not a a phone, but software that can convert many Android phones into Facebook machines. Facebook is available in app form on most smart phones. But the new Facebook Home software will replace the Android home screen with a Facebook-centered home, making it possible for social networkers to keep Facebook at the center of their phone experiences. Will Android phone users click Like?
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/04/facebook-android-home-phone/?cid=6882274
Category: 4.3 System Software: The Hardware-Software Connection
Within the span of a few days, Microsoft and Apple demonstrated radically different successors to their current operating systems: Apple’s Lion (OS X 10.7), coming in July, and Microsoft’s Windows 8, due in 2012. Both are departures from traditional desktop OSs, borrowing concepts popularized on phones and tablets. This Wall Street Journal article discusses the different approach these two companies are taking.