We knew Microsoft was out of the Consumer Electronics Show in 2013 and going forward. The company decided that, like Apple, it could do better on its own. However, Steve Ballmer decided to make a cameo appearance tonight on the CES stage during Paul Jacobs’ keynote address.
It was a handoff from old technology to new, but with a bridge in between as the Microsoft CEO and Qualcomm chief showed off their respective Windows Phone handsets (both Nokia Lumia 920′s) in an effort to demonstrate how the two technologies meet.
The new Snapdragon chips are powering many of today’s mobile devices, including Windows Phone 8 handsets. Steve Ballmer spent about five minutes with Jacobs talking up the technology, but left as quickly as he appeared, marking what is likely the end of an era — Microsoft is now gone from the world’s biggest showcase and the torch has been passed to a new generation.
As an over-the-road truck driver, in the past couple of months I had to make the mandatory switch away from a paper logbook that had to be filled out each day to an electronic logging system, or so-called E-Logs. For some time now I knew the changeover was in the works, nonetheless I approached this change with trepidation.
One of the nicest features is that it automatically changes driving status. I can edit everything except driving time, even though the editing process itself is unbelievably quirky and literally screams poorly designed Windows application. The ability to edit varies from one trucking company to another. An additional feature I really like is that it breaks everything down into one-minute intervals, as opposed to the fifteen-minute intervals of the traditional paper logbook.
