Microsoft Windows 10 Hidden Features | Julius Zanoni

The world’s largest software company Microsoft has launched its much awaited Microsoft Windows 10 operating system.  The company placed every feature in front of everyone. There are several features in Windows 10, will get you remember of Windows XP and Windows 8.1 or better graphic interface will experience.

As iPhone sales lag, Apple Touts apps And Services

SAN FRANCISCO -- You can expect to hear a lot more from Apple about the virtues of mobile apps and online services in coming months. And for good reason: They're just about the only part of Apple's business that's growing right now.

Apps and services have always been key to the appeal of Apple products. But with iPhone sales down for the second quarter in a row — and speculation that a major redesign won't arrive until late next year — Apple is talking up its online business, promoting it with new kinds of ads and even sponsoring an upcoming reality TV show called "Planet of the Apps."

The giant tech company sold 40.4 million iPhones in the last quarter — 15 per cent fewer than a year ago, according to its earnings report Tuesday. Analysts say consumers just aren't as excited about the newest iPhone models. As a result, Apple's overall revenue fell 15 per cent to $42.4 billion for the three months ending June 30.

Apple also sold fewer iPad units, Mac computers and Apple Watches in the last quarter, although iPad revenue increased, thanks to the introduction of higher-priced iPad Pro models. And a modestly better forecast for the current quarter sent Apple shares up nearly 7 per cent in late trading, after closing at $96.63.
But the biggest bright spot in the company's report was a 19 per cent sales jump for the segment that includes iTunes, Apple Music, the App Store and services like Apple Pay and iCloud storage. That segment produced nearly $6 billion in sales — more than Apple pulled in from quarterly sales of either iPads or Macs.

FOR SERVICES RENDERED

Apple makes money from online services by taking a percentage whenever users pay to download a song from iTunes, buy an app from the App Store or subscribe to a streaming service like Apple Music. It keeps 30 cents of every dollar spent in the App Store , for example, and passes 70 cents to the app developer. Apple also collects fees from people who buy extra iCloud storage and from banks when customers use their credit cards with Apple Pay.

Since growth is what Wall Street likes to see, Apple executives are increasingly touting the purchasing power of the company's massive customer base — nearly 600 million owners of Apple devices who spend an average of $68 a year on apps, music and other services, according to estimates by Credit Suisse.
"We expect this business will continue to grow" even if Apple sells fewer devices in a particular quarter, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri told The Associated Press. "It's becoming a very meaningful portion of what we do."

Apple's still optimistic about the iPhone, CEO Tim Cook assured analysts on a conference call. But he also boasted that Apple's online services will produce as much revenue as a Fortune 100 company by next year.

 REALITY OR BUST

 That's where shows like "Planet of the Apps" come in. Apple is partnering on the project with a team of veteran Hollywood producers and musician/entrepreneur will.i.am.

Though it's expected to be something like a "Shark Tank" competition for app developers, Apple has kept a tight lid on details such as who will host or when it will air. But it will undoubtedly promote the App Store. It also demonstrates Apple's desire to create original programming as a way of drawing more people to purchase music and videos on iTunes and Apple TV.

Apple also announced Tuesday that it's sponsoring another unscripted video series based on the popular "Carpool Karaoke" segments hosted by talk-show host James Corden.

Separately, Apple has been tweaking the App Store itself. In one change, Apple is reducing its commission on apps that are sold on a subscription basis. That could lower its revenue in the short term, but experts say Apple benefits in the long run if more developers adopt a sales model that requires consumers to renew every year — since Apple gets a slice of every renewal fee.

In another change, Apple has begun selling App Store ads to developers, so iPhone owners who search for new apps will now see a paid listing along with other results. The ads should increase Apple's revenue, according to Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha. He estimated Apple's annual take from apps and services could more than double in a few years, reaching $54 billion by 2020.

THE NOT-SO-SHINY SIDE

Some of Apple's online ventures are facing challenges, however. Music sales in the iTunes store are being undercut by the growing popularity of streaming apps like Spotify. Apple's own streaming music service is growing, Maestri said, but it still lags Spotify in paying subscribers. Apple's iCloud storage service, meanwhile, has a host of online competitors.

"It remains to be seen how long it takes Apple to build a service layer meaningful enough to offset potential future declines in smartphone revenue," said analyst Colin Gillis at BGC Financial in a recent note.

Most experts predict iPhone sales will pick up this fall, when Apple is expected to release new models. But some analysts are warning of tepid sales even then, citing industry rumors that Apple may wait until 2017, the tenth anniversary of the iPhone's release, before making dramatic improvements to its signature smartphone.
Apple is also confronting a slump in demand for its newest gadget, a smartwatch introduced to great fanfare last year. While it doesn't break out sales figures for the Apple Watch, the company said revenue in its "Other Products" segment, which includes the watch, fell 16 per cent in the quarter.

Maestri confirmed Apple sold fewer watches, but he said a recent report by research firm IDC, which estimated Apple Watch shipments fell 55 per cent, was "not in the ballpark."

Jupiter, meet Juno: NASA's ultimately doomed solar-powered spacecraft | Julius Zanoni

PASADENA, Calif. -- Soaring over Jupiter's poles, a NASA spacecraft arrived at the solar system's largest planet on a mission to peek behind the cloud tops.

• Full Jupiter coverage from Discovery.ca

The final leg of the five-year voyage ended Monday when the solar-powered Juno spacecraft fired its main rocket engine and gracefully slipped into orbit around Jupiter. Mission controllers celebrated when Juno sent back radio signals confirming it reached its destination.

"We're there. We're in orbit. We conquered Jupiter," Juno chief scientist Scott Bolton said during a post-mission briefing.

In the weeks leading up to the encounter, Juno snapped pictures of the giant planet and its four inner moons dancing around it. Scientists were surprised to see Jupiter's second-largest moon, Callisto, appearing dimmer than expected.

The spacecraft's camera and other instruments were switched off for arrival, so there weren't any pictures at that key moment. Scientists have promised close-up views of the planet when Juno skims the cloud tops during the 20-month, $1.1 billion mission managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The fifth rock from the sun and the heftiest planet in the solar system, Jupiter is what's known as a gas giant -- a ball of hydrogen and helium -- unlike rocky Earth and Mars.

With its billowy clouds and colorful stripes, Jupiter is an extreme world that likely formed first, shortly after the sun. Unlocking its history may hold clues to understanding how Earth and the rest of the solar system developed.

Named after Jupiter's cloud-piercing wife in Roman mythology, Juno is only the second mission designed to spend time at Jupiter.

Galileo, launched in 1989, circled Jupiter for nearly a decade, beaming back splendid views of the planet and its numerous moons. It uncovered signs of an ocean beneath the icy surface of the moon Europa, considered a top target in the search for life outside Earth.

Juno's mission: To peer through Jupiter's cloud-socked atmosphere and map the interior from a unique vantage point above the poles. Among the lingering questions: How much water exists? Is there a solid core? Why are Jupiter's southern and northern lights the brightest in the solar system?
"What Juno's about is looking beneath that surface," said Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in Texas. "We've got to go down and look at what's inside, see how it's built, how deep these features go, learn about its real secrets."

There's also the mystery of its Great Red Spot. Recent observations by the Hubble Space Telescope revealed the centuries-old monster storm in Jupiter's atmosphere is shrinking.

The trek to Jupiter, spanning nearly five years and 1.8 billion miles (2.8 billion kilometres), took Juno on a tour of the inner solar system followed by a swing past Earth that catapulted it beyond the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Along the way, Juno became the first spacecraft to cruise that far out powered by the sun, beating Europe's comet-chasing Rosetta spacecraft. A trio of massive solar wings sticks out from Juno like blades from a windmill, generating 500 watts of power to run its nine instruments.

In the coming days, Juno will turn its instruments back on, but the real work won't begin until late August when the spacecraft swings in closer. Plans called for Juno to swoop within 5,000 kilometres of Jupiter's clouds -- closer than previous missions -- to map the planet's gravity and magnetic fields in order to learn about the interior makeup.

Juno braved a hostile radiation environment to reach Jupiter. Engineers prepared by housing the spacecraft's computer and electronics in a titanium vault. Even so, Juno is expected to get blasted with radiation equal to more than 100 million dental X-rays during the mission.

Like Galileo before it, Juno meets its demise in 2018 when it deliberately dives into Jupiter's atmosphere and disintegrates -- a necessary sacrifice to prevent any chance of accidentally crashing into the planet's potentially habitable moons.

Associated Press writers Christopher Weber and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report