We take a hyperbole-free, zero-snark, and comprehensive look at why you might want to choose each of the big three operating systems. If you're considering a change, read this first.

By mid-2019, most people are fully entrenched with their favorite operating system choice. But, if you're upgrading from an old machine, you might want to re-evaluate your options. If you're choosing an operating system for your desktop or laptop computer, there are three main choices: Windows, MacOS, and Linux.

In this article, we're going to take a comprehensive look at the differences between these platforms for desktop use. Before we get started, let's establish a few ground rules and recognize a few realities.

We're looking at desktop and laptop use only. Choosing a server, IoT, or infrastructure operating system is a very different beast, something we don't have room to discuss in this article.

We are well aware of the nearly religious affinities for each of these platforms. We'll touch lightly on some of the fundamental features that drive these affinities, but we're not preaching. Each choice works for different people. We're not telling you what to do, we're just discussing some factors you might want to keep in mind when making a choice.

We will consider how these well-understood OSs differ in 2019. We've started each OS off with six key considerations, so if you want to just skim, you'll get a good feel for the pros and cons of each system merely by scanning the 18 considerations in our pro and con lists.

And, with that, let's take a deep dive into today's three leading desktop platforms.

Use and cost

Let's start with the key questions I ask when anyone comes to me for advice about computer purchasing:

• What do you want to do with it?
• How much do you want to spend?
• Which of those two (use versus spend) is more important?

Windows typically comes with new PCs. If you have an old PC, it almost certainly came with Windows. Pretty much the only time you're going to pay to buy Windows is if you're building one of your own, and we'll address that later. Macs always come with MacOS, so there's no cost there. And, of course, Linux is free. The much bigger cost for all these environments will be your ongoing maintenance expenses.

Choosing a computer is always about making trade-off decisions. If you've got a very limited budget, then your choice is often going to be Windows or even Linux. If you're going to do heavy graphics or video production, your choice might often be Mac. The point is, before you choose your desktop platform, it's important for you to identify your needs.

I find that the trade-off between use and spend is often the deciding factor. I recently bought a new main desktop machine. In my case, I didn't want to spend all that much, but my bigger priority was getting my job done.

Because of the amount of work I have to do, I'm always finding ways to save time. If my computer choice increases productivity at the expense of cost, well, then I'm probably going to be spending more money. I need those hours back.

You may have a hard-and-fast budget, or you may have a key need. As you work your way through your choices, keep these factors (and the balance between them) in mind.

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Understanding Windows




Let's talk Windows. Windows went through a rough period during its Windows 8 generation. Microsoft removed the Start menu, forcing users to rely on gestures to find features and launch applications. Microsoft also introduced a limited version of Windows called Windows RT, which only allowed Windows Store apps and didn't run on the Intel platform.

Three years later, in 2015, Microsoft introduced Windows 10, a substantially improved version of Windows that returned the Start menu. Microsoft improved the user interface, streamlined many of the settings, and eliminated the odd inconsistencies that had haunted Windows 8. Windows 10, which has had some substantial interim upgrades, is a truly strong Windows release.

By most accounts, Windows runs on roughly 90 percent of PCs worldwide, with desktop Linux usage accounting for a very low single digit percentage of usage and MacOS making up the rest. In developed markets like the US, the Mac percentage is considerably higher, at around 20 percent. But corporate usage, with the exception of some companies like IBM, is almost all Windows. For most people, Windows is the default choice.

WINDOWS MEANS CHOICE

In fact, choice is Windows' outstanding feature. No matter what kind of computer you want, what configuration, or what form-factor, there's a Windows machine for you. Microsoft has long embraced touch-screen computing with Windows, a feature not found in Macs anywhere. Windows machines are built by hundreds of manufacturers, and users have long built their own machines from easily-available components.

That means if you want a Windows computer that's really a tablet with a detachable keyboard, an all-in-one, a super-beefy tower machine with lots of blinking colored lights, or even a system on a USB thumb drive, along with so many more options, there's a Windows machine for you.

When it comes to customization, that choice increases exponentially. If you want to build a machine yourself, you can add nearly any configuration of cards and features you want. Do you want four beefy graphics cards working in tandem? Windows can do it. Do you want on-board instrumentation inputs? Windows can do it. Do you want to be able to run 10 drives internal to the machine? Well, of course, Windows can do it.

There are downsides to all this flexibility, of course. Getting all these independently produced components to work together can be challenging. Finding exactly the right mix of drivers that don't conflict with or break each other can often be a hair-pulling experience.

But if you're building something this custom, you've probably been down this road before. Most Windows users will buy pre-built laptops where all the drivers generally get along with each other and (again, generally) have been pre-tested at the factory before shipping.

VARIABLE QUALITY AND VARIABLE COST

Another big benefit of Windows is cost. While machines from mainstream manufacturers like Dell, Microsoft, and Lenovo have prices comparable to Apple products, it's also possible to buy a Windows laptop for under $200. It'll perform like a dog, but it will run. You can also build a $100,000 PC, if the urge strikes you.

Because of the vast number of Windows suppliers, product quality can be inconsistent. If you purchase a machine built for a business buyer from a top-tier vendor, you're almost sure to get excellent quality, better components, pre-shipment testing, and long-term support -- at a higher purchase price. But if you purchase a less expensive machine from a white box reseller or many of the lower-cost off-branded suppliers, component quality, support, and testing can range from unpredictable to downright unavailable.

As you might imagine, as the platform with the largest market share, Windows also offers the most applications. When you choose a machine, it's about the apps you need to run. This is a much bigger factor than the operating system or even the cost.

In my experience, the applications on Windows range from excellent to some that are, to be kind, are barely workable. This, of course, is not unique to just Windows, but because there are so many developers, you see a wider range of spotty apps along with a wider range of apps for almost any purpose.

To improve on Windows app quality, Microsoft has instituted the Windows Store. Developer participation is optional, so not all apps are distributed through the Store. That said, Microsoft has been diligent in keeping an eye on quality, eliminating apps that are unsafe for users as they find them.

But there's one Windows disadvantage. Because there are so many more Windows users, malware, spyware, and ransomware are far, far more prevalent on Windows than on MacOS or Linux. The vastly larger total number of potential targets provides a considerably larger return on investment for ransomware and similar attacks. Nearly all breaches, including the vast corporate breaches, are initiated through a phishing or malware attack that gains a foothold on an individual's Windows PC and then makes the jump into a corporate network.

ENTERPRISE AND GAMING

For corporate users, Windows-based authentication integrates "out of the box" with Active Directory-based corporate servers. You can accomplish the same thing with Mac and Linux machines, but you'll need to get extra add-on software to do so. With Windows, corporate networking is built in -- at least as long as you're running the Pro versions. Windows Home does not come with corporate connectivity. There will be an additional upgrade fee.

For home users, gaming is huge on Windows-based PCs. While there are never-ending debates over whether consoles have more gaming power than beefy gaming PCs, there's no doubt that gaming PCs offer a level of gaming involvement and customization that nothing can top. Not only can Windows PCs be equipped with incredible power, there's also an entire submarket in providing RGB lighting effects for everything from motherboards to memory sticks. If you're a gamer and you want to get your bling on, nothing beats PC gaming.

Getting to know MacOS




If you could reach back in time 35 years ago and gently pluck an original Macintosh user from 1984 and put her in front of a brand new 2019 Mac, she would be able to operate today's machine. The file system would look the same. The menu bar would look the same. Even the trash would look the same.

Sure, instead of just a few thousand black and white pixels, the screens would be in glorious high-resolution color, and the speed, breadth, and depth of the applications would be mind-boggling, but the fundamental interface would be understandable.

No OS other than MacOS has had that level of continuity. Macs have undergone fundamental processor changes, jumping from 68000-based devices to PowerPCs, migrating to Intel chips, and -- probably in the next few years -- migrating to Apple's own silicon. But to the users, every single change in how the Mac has evolved has had a level of internal consistency and predictability unrivaled by any other platform.

Interestingly, even though some aspects of the system remain effectively unchanged for more than three decades, that doesn't mean that MacOS feels particularly dated, although, as nearly every Mac user will admit, it does have its quirks.

Although Macs have historically suffered far fewer malware threats than Windows machines, there has been a small rise in malware variants targeting MacOS users -- mostly for the contents of cryptocurrency wallets. While it's not as existentially necessary to run an anti-malware program on a Mac, it's generally a good idea. Microsoft has recently starting bringing its Defender software to Macs, but right now, that's limited to enterprise use.

THE MACINTOSH ECOSYSTEM

We can't discuss MacOS without discussing Macintoshes. The two go together. While Windows can run on thousands of different machines from hundreds of different vendors, MacOS is distributed by Apple to run solely on Apple hardware. There is a small, intrepid group of Hackintosh builders who source Macintosh compatible hardware and build their own systems, but they're outliers, and the process of building a Hackintosh takes some work.

A common misconception about Macintosh hardware is that it's more expensive than equivalent PC hardware. In fact, that's not true. If you compare spec-for-spec Mac hardware against the equivalent premiere PC hardware like the Microsoft SurfaceBook or the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, you'll find that the pricing is similar. When I compared a highly equipped 2018 Mac mini against available PC parts, I was unable to source a PC with anywhere near the capability and size of the Mac mini.

Where PCs are cheaper is when you're not looking at brand-name or spec-for-spec comparisons. You can absolutely get cheaper laptops and desktops for Windows than Macs. Additionally, if you're willing to sacrifice Mac's legendary design and go for a traditional tower Windows PC, you can generally get more performance for the dollar.

Although the buy-in cost for Apple hardware is often more expensive, many have found that the overall cost of ownership over the lifetime of the system is less expensive with Macs. IBM did a study before the company decided to standardize on Macs, where they found that:

PCs drive twice the amount of support calls. They're also three times more expensive. That's right, depending on the model, IBM is saving anywhere from $273 to $543 per Mac compared to a PC, over a four-year lifespan.

Macs are also appealing because of their design and integration. MacOS is tightly integrated with iOS, to the point that you can even share clipboards between a Mac and an iPhone, or use an iPhone to take a picture that drops directly into a Mac application.

LEGENDARY EASE OF USE

Although some Windows users may dispute this, many Mac users believe that MacOS is easier to install and update, offers faster updates with less hassle, and allows applications to be installed and managed with greater ease than Windows.

Out of the box, MacOS also comes with a deep range of applications for free, including the music composition tool GarageBand, video editing application iMovie, and a complete productivity package consisting of Pages (word processing and layout), Numbers (spreadsheet), and Keynote (presentations). The MacOS Preview app provides a wide range of features, including editing PDFs.

While MacOS is often touted as an easy-to-use operating system, it also greatly appeals to design and development professionals. Under the hood, MacOS has a UNIX foundation, which means that the UNIX command line is a mere terminal window away. MacOS also has AppleScript, which can be used to automate complex workflows.

RUN MAC, WINDOWS, AND LINUX APPS

If you sufficiently equip your Mac (and by this, I mean an i7 processor or better, 16GB of RAM or better, and definitely SSD instead of hard drive), you can use Parallels or another virtualization application to provide multiple operating systems on the Mac. This is a big appeal for me. I use a well-equipped Mac with Parallels, and I'm able to run Windows and Linux side by side with MacOS applications, even dragging and dropping across operating systems. This level of flexibility is unmatched on any other OS.

It's important to note that most Macs can't be upgraded. When you spec out your CPU, memory and storage, that's what you'll have to live with. While the new, 2018 Mac mini does allow RAM upgrades, it is a complex, tedious, and delicate process. Other machines, like the insanely expensive iMac Pro, allow RAM to be upgraded, but it requires a highly skilled technician to remove the permanently glued display and case to get at the machine's innards, voiding the warranty in the process..

Finally, there are some applications that run solely on MacOS, like the high-end video production tool Final Cut Pro X. With a virtualized copy of Windows, a Mac can be used to run any application you might need (including Windows and Linux programs), where if you're running on a Windows machine, MacOS applications are not available.

Keep in mind, though, that you're limited to the hardware produced by Apple. If Apple chooses not to update a form factor or model for a few years (as has happened a lot in recent years), you're out of luck for that hardware unless you decide to build a Hackintosh. But with the advent of the T2 security chip last year, and the expected move to Apple-designed CPU chips, it may not be possible to home-build a Hackintosh for much longer.

Looking at Linux



I have three Raspberry Pis running the OctoPi distribution of Linux controlling my 3D printers. I have a Debian distribution running my home server. Out on the Internet, I have at least 10 CentOS distribution virtual machines running my websites. And in my various home devices, I have an uncountable number of Linux instances running, driving everything from my smart TVs to my Internet router.

Linux is renowned for its versatility, particularly in servers and embedded solutions. But in this article, we're talking about desktop Linux implementations, where you'd use Linux with a keyboard and mouse to, at the very least, check your email.

Unlike either Windows or MacOS, Linux is an open-source operating system, originally developed by Linus Torvalds back in 1991. Because it's open source, it can be modified and extended by anyone; a virtual army of loosely affiliated coders have been working on it for nearly 30 years.

OPEN SOURCE

Also because it's open source, different variants (called distributions) have been released, containing everything from different core functionality to a wide variation of settings and configuration options, to different user interfaces, and even different fundamental purposes. The OctoPi distribution running on my $30 Raspberry Pis was built entirely around managing 3D printers.

One reason many of the Linux faithful flock to the operating system is because it's not controlled by Microsoft or Apple. This can be something of political preference or it can be a practical one: The desire or need to customize an OS at a level not permitted by a corporate overlord.

MANY LINUX DISTROS

For our desktop comparison though, let's focus on the truly practical. What can it do for you today? Well, first, as we've established, there's no "it." This is no one true Linux. You'll need to choose a distro (shorthand for "distribution"). We'll make that easy for you. Our in-house Linux guru, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, recommends Linux Mint, calling it "The better-than-ever Linux desktop."

There was a time when the graphical user interface of Linux wasn't up to Windows or MacOS standards. Now, there are many different Linux GUIs, and the ones that come with Mint are every bit the equal of Windows' Explorer interface or the Mac's Finder.

Although Linux is considerably more secure than Windows and even somewhat more secure than MacOS, that doesn't mean Linux is without its security flaws. Linux doesn't have as many malware programs, security flaws, back doors, and exploits, but they are there. But they're a whole lot less than the virtual flood of malware that infects Windows users on a daily basis. Network administrators and developers like this more minimal security footprint, but it's likely that using MacOS would provide a similarly low-risk profile, with a lot more software compatibility.

With a few exceptions, mostly from Dell, you're not going to buy a PC that already runs Linux. The vast majority of users retrofit a former Windows PC with a Linux OS or build a PC from parts and load a Linux distro. This is not hard. Linux installers have also come a long way. My wife, who is technically inclined but had never used Linux, installed Linux Mint on an old laptop in just an hour or so, with no help.

A VERY HANDS-ON OPTION

That said, the usability of Linux isn't just the desktop. Much of the complexity results in trying to get corporate solutions to work in a Linux environment. For example, the webcast software we use requires true PowerPoint files. Even though there are Linux substitute solutions for slide preparations, making it all work on a workflow deadline can often be time-consuming.

There are compatibility solutions like WINE and Crossover, but once again, you're spending time fiddling for compatibility when you might otherwise be getting your job done. Another common approach is to use cloud-based software such as Google Docs or Office 365. Yes, Office 365 will run on Linux via Chrome (although the web version does sacrifice some functionality).

You also have an enormous range of devices that support Linux. For example, if you have an HDMI-equipped TV, an old USB keyboard and USB mouse, you can set up a moderately workable Linux desktop on a Raspberry Pi for less than $80.

Application selection is a bit of an issue for Linux users. Linux runs the Chrome browser (among others), so any web-based app is fully functional on Linux. But if you're a die-hard Microsoft Office or Adobe Creative Cloud user, you might have to find substitute solutions.

That's the key with Linux applications. There are substitute (usually free) solutions for nearly any MacOS or Windows app you might choose to use. They don't always work the same. Some are rougher around the edges, not having had the polishing effects of professional product management. While mostly file-format compatible, they're not identical.

That said, regardless of whether you want office apps, media production apps, or coding tools, there are Linux versions available -- usually without any fee or subscription.

While there has been some push for Linux gaming, the fact is that both MacOS and Linux lag behind Windows when it comes to gaming selection. If you're a hard-core gamer, you'll want to investigate carefully which games are available.

The Chromebook option

Chromebooks are basically the Chrome browser baked into the hardware of a notebook computer. Ranging from a few hundred bucks to over a thousand dollars, Chromebooks come in various power and sleekness levels, depending on your budget.

Chromebooks run on Chrome OS, which is a variant of the open source Chromium OS, which is based on Linux.

In general, when you're running a Chromebook, you're limited to apps that you can access from your browser. For many, that's enough. But for those who need to run native Linux apps, it's possible to run an integrated Linux environment in a VM, right within Chrome OS.

What makes Chromebooks particularly compelling is how easy they are to manage. It's a simple button tap to completely clear and reinstall, which makes Chromebooks a favorite among school IT managers who normally have to face complex installation and update processes and maintenance protocols.

Which OS is right for you?

If you were stuck on a deserted island with good Internet, and all you had was one of the above OSes, you'd be fine. You could generally get anything done that you'd want to get done with Windows, MacOS, or Linux. To some degree, that's why OS choice has become something of a minor "religious" war because instead of tangible differences, the OS choice becomes one of the preferences.

That said, there are some reasons you might want to choose one OS over another. Here are a few if-then decision recommendations that might help.

• If you have an old PC and you want to update it to a fully modern OS for free, go with Linux.
• If you want to be able to choose from any hardware configuration you want with zero restrictions, go with Windows.
• If you want to run MacOS, Windows, and Linux apps all on the same machine, run MacOS.
• If you want super-tight integration between iOS and your desktop OS, with carefully tuned hardware, go with MacOS.
• If you want to get a notebook computer for less than $1,000, get a Windows machine or a Chromebook, or retrofit Linux on an older laptop.
• If you want to play Triple-A PC games, get Windows.
• If you want to brag about how much better your machine is than everyone else's, get a Windows machine… or a Mac… or a Linux machine. There's a lot to brag about with each of these OSs.

What do you think? Which OS do you run and why did you make your choice? Comment below. And, hey, be nice. We all have different opinions. Let's be friendly and keep things practical and not ideological. No one needs more bile these days.



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IBM said its latest Q System One has double the Quantum Volume of its predecessor. If Quantum Volume doubles annually for nearly a decade quantum computing will become way more practical.

Foldable phones: Why they won't change the shape of the smartphone industry
IBM is outlining another milestone in quantum computing -- its highest Quantum Volume to date -- and projects that practical uses or so-called Quantum Advantage may be a decade away.

Big Blue, which will outline the scientific milestone at the American Physical Society March Meeting, made a bit of a splash at CES 2019 with a display of its Q System quantum computer and has been steadily showing progress on quantum computing.

In other words, that quantum computing buying guide for technology executives may take a while. Quantum Volume is a performance metric that indicates progress in the pursuit of Quantum Advantage. Quantum Advantage refers to the point where quantum applications deliver significant advantages to classical computers.

Quantum Volume is determined by the number of qubits, connectivity, and coherence time, plus accounting for gate and measurement errors, device cross talk, and circuit software compiler efficiency.

IBM said its Q System One, which has a 20-qubit processor, produced a Quantum Volume of 16, double the current IBM Q, which has a Quantum Volume of 8. IBM also said the Q System One has some of the lowest error rates IBM has measured.

That progress is notable, but practical broad use cases are still years away. IBM said Quantum Volume would need to double every year to reach Quantum Advantage within the next decade. Faster progress on Quantum Advantage would speed up that timeline. IBM has doubled the power of its quantum computers annually since 2017.

Once Quantum Advantage is hit, there would be new applications, more of an ecosystem and real business use cases. Consumption of quantum computing would still likely be delivered via cloud computing since the technology has some unique characteristics that make a traditional data center look easy. IBM made it's quantum computing technology available in 2016 via a cloud service and is working with partners to find business and science use cases. 

Here's how quantum computing and classic computing differs via our recent primer on the subject.

Every classical electronic computer exploits the natural behavior of electrons to produce results in accordance with Boolean logic (for any two specific input states, one certain output state). Here, the basic unit of transaction is the binary digit ("bit"), whose state is either 0 or 1. In a conventional semiconductor, these two states are represented by low and high voltage levels within transistors.

In a quantum computer, the structure is radically different. Its basic unit of registering state is the qubit, which at one level also stores a 0 or 1 state (actually 0 and/or 1). Instead of transistors, a quantum computing obtains its qubits by bombarding atoms with electrical fields at perpendicular angles to one another, the result is to line up the ions but also keep them conveniently and equivalently separated. When these ions are separated by just enough space, their orbiting electrons become the home addresses, if you will, for qubits.




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TVs and smartphones can benefit from flexible displays. But there's no sign yet of the tech bringing PCs to a new plateau of mobility.

Ever since curvatures started showing up on the screens of smartphones and televisions, the march toward displays that can fold or roll up has picked up steam. Unsurprisingly, the first marquee products have been shown from consumer tech brands with sister companies that are among the world's premiere display component producers -- Samsung and LG. The former showed off a prototype of a folding smartphone at its developer conference in late fall, while the latter debuted a TV that rolls into a low-profile stand at CES. It was one of the most impressive products to debut at the storied trade show, even if others left a better taste in your mouth.

Both devices stand to improve usage scenarios for their categories beyond the differentiation their merely curved predecessors offered. While I've written about some of the challenges posed by a folding phone as proposed by Samsung, the approach has its merits. The flexibility facilitates a one-handed grip when used for calls when closed while folding out to a display size closer to a small tablet when open. The LG TV would allow a big-screen TV experience in home locations, where the looming presence of a large black rectangle might detract from the decor. It also protects the display when it's not being used.

However, neither product does anything to change the fundamental logistics of using these devices. The rolled LG television still requires a large surface much as a large-screen TV's stand would today. And while the Samsung phone might net you an extra inch of screen real estate, it will still demand dedicating much of a pocket as any premium smartphone would today.

Samsung chose to have its folding phone fold inward to a smaller footprint. But there could be opportunity for an already-large phone that would fold or roll out into something approaching the screen area of a standard iPad versus an iPad mini. Such a device would still need to be used two-handed or stabilized on a desk or table. In many scenarios, however, it could change the game the terms of having to lug around a bag for a tablet or laptop.

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A render of a potential folding Microsoft Surface device

Of the current companies teasing foldable displays, only Royole has shown a device that folds out in this way. Its FlexPal relies on an accordion-like hinge that's visually similar to that of the Surface Book (and leaves a gap when folded like that product). Furthermore, the prototype, which obviously hasn't been optimized yet for final aesthetics, relies on Android, which yields diminishing returns when extended to full tablet size. Just ask Google, which opted instead to put Chrome OS on its latest slate device.

What about Windows then? Just as Google has promised to make changes to Android to optimize for folding phones, so would Microsoft want to upgrade Windows to capitalize better on the new technology. The company has already demonstrated that it understands this potential. About a decade ago, video of a prototype device concept called Courier envisioned a folding device that opened like a book, with two screens enabling an app-free creative project management approach. Despite ARM-stirred rumors, its unlikely that the Courier concept would be revived. However, other reports have spread about Microsoft pursuing a folding-screen Surface device code-named Andromeda.

Equipping a mobile Windows PC with a folding display would require addressing a few practical challenges as well. For example, while interesting experiments continue, to the extent that Microsoft and other Windows vendors have succeeded in the tablet market, it has been via 2-in-1s that have have rigid keyboards. That said, Microsoft and others have developed folding Bluetooth keyboards that would still offer an improvement over typing on the surface of a screen, however bendable it may be.



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Google's Soli sensors get approval to operate at higher power levels than currently allowed by US regulators.

Google has gained a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to operate its radar-based Soli sensors at higher power levels than currently allowed and to use them on airplanes.

Google's Soli 'field-disturbance sensors' promise a new way of interacting with devices by using fine finger gestures, allowing users to control virtual buttons, dials and sliders on their hands.

Google unveiled the technology at its 2015 IO conference. Soli was developed by Google's Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP).

Google says while the controls are virtual, the sensors can generate feedback by the haptic sensation of fingers touching each other. The chip can be embedded in wearables, phones, computers, cars, and IoT devices.

The FCC offered Google the waiver after finding the Soli sensors "pose minimal potential of causing harmful interference to other spectrum users and uses of the 57-64GHz frequency band". It also ruled that Soli will "serve the public interest by providing for innovative device control features using touchless hand-gesture technology".

Google sought the waiver to operate its Soli radar at 57-64GHz at power levels that are in line with a European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) standard, which is higher than the FCC's current rules.

Google argued that the FCC power limits are "too restrictive" for Soli, "resulting in user dissatisfaction due to missed motions and fewer effective interactions".

The FCC noted that ETSI has not seen adverse effects from short-range devices in this band at Google's requested power levels since first allowing it in 2014.

Facebook and some others raised concerns that Soli sensors could interfere with sensors in the Earth Exploration Satellite Service and 60GHz Wi-Fi.

As Reuters notes, Google and Facebook jointly told the FCC in September the Soli sensors could operate beyond currently permitted power levels, though at lower levels than Google originally proposed.

The FCC dismissed concerns that Soli chips could interfere with satellite sensors through windows when being used on an aircraft, noting that it is likely human bodies located near a Soli sensor would block the signals.




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The iPhone giant is to spend $1bn and add 5,000 new jobs in Texas, plus more jobs in Seattle, San Diego, and Culver City.

Apple has announced plans for a major expansion of its operations in Austin, including an investment of $1bn to build a new campus site.

The smartphone giant also said it is planning new sites in Seattle, San Diego, and Culver City and will expand its operations in Pittsburgh, New York and Boulder, Colorado over the next three years.

Apple said it added 6,000 jobs to its US workforce in 2018 and now employs 90,000 people, with plans to add 20,000 jobs in the US by 2023. Apple said that in 16 states, it employs over 1,000 people.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said: "Talent, creativity and tomorrow's breakthrough ideas aren't limited by region or zip code, and, with this new expansion, we're redoubling our commitment to cultivating the high-tech sector and workforce nationwide."

Apple's new Austin offices, located less than a mile from its existing facilities, will initially accommodate 5,000 additional employees, with the capacity to grow to 15,000 -- making Apple the largest private employer in Austin.

Jobs created at the new campus will include a broad range of functions, including engineering, R&D, operations, finance, sales, and customer support. Apple already has 6,200 people in Austin -- it has been operating there for 25 years -- making it the largest office outside of the Cupertino headquarters.

Apple's Reno data center is one marked for expansion.

Apple also said it plans to grow the number of employees it has in the US over the next three years, expanding to over 1,000 employees in each of Seattle, San Diego, and Culver City, and adding "hundreds" of new jobs in Pittsburgh, New York, Boulder, Boston and Portland, Oregon.

The company recently opened its newest office in Nashville, Tennessee and Apple's Miami office is projected to double in size.

Apple said it plans to invest $10bn in US data centers over the next five years, including $4.5bn this year and next. Apple's data centers in North Carolina, Arizona, and Nevada are currently being expanded. In Iowa, preparations are underway for the company's newest data center in Waukee.

The company also argues that it can take credit for creating and supporting more than 2 million jobs in all 50 states, including workers at 9,000 suppliers and manufacturers in the US. It said the app ecosystem is responsible for more than 1.5 million American jobs.

Apple is already the largest taxpayer in the US and earlier this year said it expects to invest over $30 billion in capital expenditures in the US over the next five years.

Apple has been under pressure from President Trump to bring iPhone manufacturing to the US. "Make your products in the United States instead of China. Start building new plants now," the President said in a tweet in November amidst concerns that tariffs introduced as a result of his trade war with China could push up the cost of iPhones.

While it seems unlikely that Apple will move iPhone manufacturing back to the US, the tech giant is also making clear that it does make a significant contribution to jobs in the US, especially in the form of high-value engineering and R&D jobs. It's also a reflection of Apple's optimism for the future, considering that the smartphone market appears to be struggling.

After a nearly four-year drought, in the last 12 months, Apple has finally produced products that allow extreme pros to get their work done. In this article, we discuss why that's important for all users, not just those living on the bleeding edge.

Although many columnists, myself included, have accused Apple of abandoning its pro users, that's not really true. In fact, it's fair to say that Apple has never abandoned its pro users. The company's laptop and tablet offerings have been more than suitable for many professionals who use technology as part of their jobs.

Heck, the entire smartphone revolution was born at Apple, and the ability for mobile professionals to get their work done solely on their iPhones has transformed much of society. We are now a mobile-first, cloud-first society, enabled primarily by smartphones and the mobile broadband infrastructure.

Each and every year, Apple has introduced more powerful iPhones, and nearly every year, they've updated their iPads and notebooks.

We can define "pro" as anyone who uses technology as a component of how they make a living. What Apple has been shipping these past four years has been ideal for a lot of folks who make their living using tech.

THE EXTREME PRO

You may recall I made the distinction between pro users and what I called "high-end" pro users back in June. After thinking about this user category for some months, I've come to believe that the term "extreme pro" better represents the demanding pro user than "high-end pro". It's not that the pro users I'm talking about want gear that's higher-end or fancier. It's that the extreme pro has far more challenging problems to solve, which usually means they need a lot more capability.

So what is an extreme pro user? A "extreme pro" is someone who requires ultra-powerful computing power plus flexibility to do their job. This usually means a lot of memory, a lot of ports, big displays, tons of storage, super-fast local networking, and often a wide variety of custom implementations and workflows.

While clearly a much smaller segment of the total Apple market, extreme users are still very strategically important to a platform vendor like Apple. Having very extreme products meets the needs of extreme users, who are often taste-makers and key influencers.

More importantly, having extreme products gives "headroom" to more mainstream users, providing an assurance that if their needs increase, the platform can scale with them. This is critical for enterprises, as well as for any pro or team working on projects and workflows that have long life and substantial growth potential.

It's unsafe to invest in a technology where there's a brick wall at the extreme. Serious pros need to know that they won't have to abandon all their work just as they start to grow and face new opportunities and challenges.

That's why Apple's decision making, when it comes to extreme Macs, has been such a concern for the past few years. It's indisputable that Apple has, until this year, pretty much abandoned its extreme pro users.

The trash can Mac Pro went years without an upgrade, only to get a minor spec bump in 2017. Apple still sells it in configurations ranging from three to seven thousand dollars. It's still based on the Ivy Bridge Xeon processor generation, which has subsequently been eclipsed by the Haswell, Broadwell, Skylake, and Kaby Lake processor generations. Its GPU is five years old, and it doesn't even support Thunderbolt 3.

Laptops were limited to 16GB of RAM. The incredibly versatile Mac mini went four years without an upgrade, stranding many of us who relied on it to 2012 processor technology or 2014's lower performing RAM spec.

SWITCHING COSTS

Many extreme pros have made huge investments in Apple hardware, both in terms of dollars paid to Apple and in business process workflows. It's fair to say that from about 2014 to about 2017, many of us faced the question of whether it was time to switch platforms and retool.

Switching is not nearly as easy for extreme pros as it is for other pro users. A writer can use Google Docs or Word from just about any platform. An illustrator can use Illustrator on a Mac or on a PC and it's identical.

But a TV news show using live streaming software like mimoLive has deep infrastructure, including templates, graphics, and switching patterns all baked into the fact that the application they used only ran on Macs. Retooling all that could take months.

The same is true for many extreme pros, who use specialized software only available on the Mac platform. Just look at how much support is available for Final Cut Pro X. Moving off of Final Cut would require not just moving very complex video files to Adobe Premiere Pro (which does not import Final Cut), but also finding replacements for plugins, LUTs, themes, and transitions -- or starting from scratch and crafting them out of nothing to work with Premiere.

By the way, if you want a fascinating insight into what the Final Cut community did when Apple hard-shifted from Final Cut 7 to Final Cut Pro X, as well as the importance of Final Cut Pro X to extreme pros in the video production industry, watch the documentary Off The Tracks. Right now, it's free to watch on Prime Video if you have a Prime membership.

NEW MACHINES FOR EXTREME PROS

In the last 12 months, however, Apple has shipped products that do meet the needs of extreme pros. These include new MacBook Pros that can be outfitted with up to 32GB RAM and Vega mobile video, the new Mac mini that can handle up to 64GB RAM and 10 gig Ethernet, and the wildly expensive but equally wildly powerful iMac Pro, which reached users a little less than 12 months ago, in mid-December 2017.

In addition to built-in power for the new Macs, each of these machines supports Thunderbolt 3, which allows for bus-level speeds in external devices and makes eGPUs both practical and justifiable.

On the iPad side, Apple in 2018 introduced a low-end iPad that supports the now old-style Pencil. It also introduced two almost insanely powerful iPad Pro models in both 11-inch and 12.9-inch form factors, along with a redesigned Pencil that now makes sense in terms of how it's stored and how it charges.

At the end of 2018, Apple now has powerful tablets and phones for iOS users. It has competently powerful laptops, a small headless desktop machine, all-in-one computers with decent power, and an extremely powerful and expensive extreme all-in-one.

What Apple still lacks is a tower desktop that can be expanded, modified, and grow over time. That's the Mac Pro that's been teased by the company, but not yet shipped. Even so, the current Apple line-up, as of the end of 2018, should have enough options to meet both pro and extreme pro buyers.

CAN EXTREME PROS COUNT ON APPLE?

We could end our 2018 story here, let Apple take a victory lap, and be done with this topic. But extreme pros often work on projects and classes of projects that span years. With that, there's one fundamental question remaining: Can extreme pros count on Apple to keep the extreme line up to date?

Remember, this is an Apple that let extreme pros languish for nearly four years. It's a company that still is perfectly willing to sell generations-old hardware at list price, and an inflated list price at that.

So the key question is whether 2018 is an anomaly, a one-time bone thrown to the whining pros -- or whether Apple is newly rededicated to meeting the needs of extreme pros now and into the future.3


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Raspberry Pi Foundation updates its budget single-board computer with the Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+

One of the key differences with the Model 3 B feature-wise is that the Pi 3 A lacks an Ethernet port and has only a single USB port.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced the Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+, offering several major improvements over the current compact version of the classic Raspberry Pi 1 Model A+.

The current Model A+ was getting long in the tooth, announced in November 2014 as the successor to the original Model A. The 2014 Model 1 A+ still employed the first Raspberry Pi's single-core chipset.

The new Pi 3 A+, available today, gains the same quad-core system on chip as the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ released earlier this year. The SoC is Broadcom's BCM2837B0, which is a 1.4GHz 64-bit quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 CPU.

Despite the upgraded specs, the Pi 3 A+ will still cost $25, or $10 less than Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+, which has double the memory.

One of the key differences with the Model B+ feature-wise is that the Pi 3 A+ lacks an Ethernet port and has only a single USB port.

Their absence permits the smaller form factor, which is more squarish compared with the Pi 3B+. Like the Pi Zero, the new Pi 3 A+ has 512MB of RAM, which is double the RAM of the 2014 model when it launched. The old A+ doubled its RAM in 2016.

To ensure continuity, the Pi 3 A+ shares the same mechanical footprint as the 2014 Model A+, measuring 65mm × 56.5mm (2.56in × 2.22in), with the same 40-pin GPIO header. Its size makes it more appealing for projects that need a smaller computer.


However, the Pi 3 A+ does feature dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz 802.11ac wireless LAN, and Bluetooth 4.2.

The HDMI 1.3 port supports 1,080p monitors and TVs, and there's a microUSB connector for power, as well as a four-pole stereo audio output and composite video jack.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation said the Raspberry Pi 3 A+ will remain in production until at least January 2023.

Raspberry Pi 3 A+ is available from approved resellers, such as RS Components and Farnell element14.



In the spec sheet, the Raspberry Pi Foundation says the Raspberry Pi 3 A will remain in production until at least January 2023.



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Microsoft has been staffing up its quantum computing project with a number of former Qualcomm engineers and managers.

Starting in June, Microsoft began hiring a number of former Qualcomm engineers and managers who are now working on Redmond's quantum-computing team. A number of these engineers were formerly working on Qualcomm's ARM-based server efforts, as first reported on October 8 by The Information.

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Credit: Microsoft

Over the past couple of years, Microsoft publicly has talked up its intentions to be a player in quantum computing, but officials say the company has been working on scalable quantum computing for nearly two decades. Microsoft officials say they plan to use a quantum computer as a co-processor, with developers deploying their quantum applications from within Microsoft Azure.

Quantum computers are designed to process in parallel, thus enabling new types of applications across a variety of workloads. They are designed to harness the physics of subatomic particles to provide a different way to store data and solve problems compared to conventional computers. The result is that quantum computers, built around custom quantum processors, are expected to be able to solve certain high-performance-computing problems more efficiently.

The Information cited names of several former Qualcomm employees who became Microsoft employees this summer. I found updated LinkedIn profiles for four of the people they cited:

• Muntaquim Chowdhury was Vice President of Tech at Qualcomm in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and worked as chief architect of Server CPU at Qualcomm from February 2016 to July 2018. (He was at Intel for 24 years before that.) He joined Microsoft (in Bellevue, Wash.) as a Partner Architect.
• Thomas Speier was a 15-year Qualcomm employee. He was Senior Director at Qualcomm and an architect for custom ARM cores. In June he became Principal Architect at Microsoft in Raleigh-Durham.
• Michael McIlvaine was Senior Director of Tech, and a principal CPU architect at Qualcomm, where he worked for almost 15 years, including a stint working on "nnext-genserver CPU." He is now a principal architect with Microsoft in Raleigh-Durham.
• Michael Underkoffler, who joined Microsoft in June, is a Partner Engineering Manager in Raleigh-Durham. His profile says he is "building a control system for quantum computing that is based on a classical computer architecture." Before that, he was a Senior Director of Engineering at Qualcomm in Raleigh Durham, where he worked for 14 years on ARM processor design, among other jobs.

In July 2018, Microsoft appointed former Microsoft Distinguished Engineer and researcher Doug Burger as the head of its Azure Hardware Engineering team. (Burger became a Microsoft Technical Fellow at the same time.) Burger's mission, I've heard, is to spearhead a number of different, non-consumer-focused hardware efforts across the company, including Microsoft's field-programmable gate-array work, its quantum computing efforts, new datacenter work like its "Project Natick" underwater datacenter and more.

Microsoft officials originally said they'd talk more about the company's progress on quantum computing at the recent Ignite IT pro conference,but ended up saying very little at that event about quantum. Maybe Microsoft moved its update on quantum to another of its events later this year (?)


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Samsung Electronics has launched Air Dresser, an internet-connected dresser that catalogs clothes and their cleaning history.

Living room audio has long been an afterthought -- marketed as a way to enhance the anemic output of flat screens. But the promise of voice agent control has attracted companies from diverse corners to engage in a war for the television.

Samsung Electronics will approach 8K TV with an inclusive mindset having been in talks with partners to form a standard-setting alliance that includes all industry stakeholders to promote the budging ecosystem, company officials said.

Catalan startup Earthday says its graphene battery charges 12 times faster than lithium-based tech.