The word on the street (okay, the internet) this week is that Microsoft is working on a new operating system to take over from Windows. We take a look at this, as well as the next generation of phone games, an add on for Firefox, a new survey into life-changing gadgets, and Bebo's plans to annoy aliens.

Plus, with the Olympics under way, we examine the preparations that ensure the big opening day has blue skies and smiles.

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Hazel Butters
CEO
Prompt Communications

Close your Windows—it's time for Midori

By Duncan Heaney

Microsoft has started a research project to create an operating system to replace Windows. The BBC reports that the new software, named Midori, will be very different to the Windows we all know and tolerate.

Software Development Times has seen internal Microsoft documents that talk about the technology. Windows is a relic of the days when people used one machine to do their work, and as a result it has all kinds of dependencies that tie it to a particular PC. Midori will eliminate these problems by being completely designed around the internet.

Microsoft is, of course, being very coy about the project. In a statement to the BBC, it said: "Midori is one of many incubation projects underway at Microsoft. It's simply a matter of being too early in the incubation to talk about it."

Read more on our blog.

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Mozilla wings it with Snowl

By Dave Wilby

Mozilla has tentatively released an experimental bolt-on for its Firefox browser that intelligently aggregates and displays news and blog feeds. Snowl 0.1 acts as an in-browser universal viewer for diverse content streams via RSS, emerging social media platforms like Twitter, and personal messaging tools.

According to CNET, the first incarnation of Snowl, which looks and feels like a typical three-pane email client, simply presents two methods for blending news and nanoblog feeds into a browser. As yet there is no ability to reply to or share information received. It is early days, but the promise of a slick integrated version of Snowl in the near future is an enticing one for many fans of feeds.

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GPS mobile makers cache in on gamers

By Dave Wilby

Fancy shooting bad guys on the way to work, hiding from rival bounty hunters on the Tube platform, and then stealing their treasure as they're engrossed in their morning Metro? Games developers are vying to be first to exploit the next generation of pervasive gamers according to New Scientist, but first they need to come up with some enticing games and convince handset manufacturers to build GPS into their phones as standard.

Geocaching was the first GPS gaming activity to capture the public imagination—essentially treasure hunting played out over a nationwide or global playing field. The first generation of commercial GPS games will also be basic treasure hunts, with waypoints and virtual loot, but waiting in the wings are a detective game called Crash, the self-explanatory Stamp the Mole, and even a genuine RPG adventure in the shape of The Shroud, from Florida company Your World Games. The hardware side is also shaping up nicely. By 2013 Nokia expects half of its phones to be GPS capable, while the Apple iPhone is already tooled up.

Jon Dovey, a new media expert at Bristol University told New Scientist: "As soon as you get the link between texting, social networking and GPS-enabled devices, you are going to get something that takes off like wildfire among young people because their culture is already primed for it."

The level of immersion in this kind of gaming is a worry though. On one hand it's a great way to get sedentary gamers out and about exercising in the real world, but on the other hand, people could get hurt by very real perils like busy roads and falls. One thing's for sure though, its going to be fun seeing what the developers come up with next.

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Mobile Phone is the best gadget

By Ellie Turner

Consumer website Which.co.uk released the results from its latest consumer survey, this week. Which has compiled a top ten list of 'life-changing gadgets' and top of that list is the mobile phone. The Daily Mail reports that more than a quarter of 16-24 year-olds surveyed believe that mobile phones have had the greatest impact on their life.

Mobile phones have become more than just a way to make telephone calls—they're multi-purpose tools. Jess Ross, editor of Which.co.uk, said: "Forget games consoles and TVs, we've found that the mobile phone is the gadget that people say has changed their life. As the popularity of the iPhone has shown, the multi-functional mobile is worth queuing around the block for." There are now 3.3 billion mobile phones in the world, and Britain has a particularly high rate of ownership.

In second place on the list of life-changing gadgets was the laptop, closely followed by the MP3 player and the digital camera. The poll also revealed the gadgets that people think are a waste of time. This included the foot spa, electric toothbrush and electric carving knife.

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Bebo in space

By James Gerber

Unfortunately, Bebo is not actually sending any of its users into space. Instead, the popular social networking site is sending messages from its users into space. In a video on its site, it states that the goals of the 'A Message From Earth' program are to send a time capsule of user-submitted messages to an earth-like planet 120 trillion miles away. Users can submit photos, drawings or text messages. The messages will then be broadcast by the National Space Agency of Ukraine on October 9, via its giant radar telescope. Passing the moon in 1.7 seconds, they will reach the target planet, Gliese 581c, 20 lights years from earth, in 2029.

Surely, the inhabitants of an alien world will love being exposed to the thoughts of people on a tween social networking site. Viewing thousands of comments that are barely even comprehensible to humans, dirty pictures, and most importantly, hundreds of Rickrolls, the aliens will begin to understand what humans are all about. They will see that our mysterious leader Rick Astley motivated our people to stay on course with the space program through keytar and song. They will marvel at our cities, our knowledge of mathematics, our love for Hello Kitty, our cats that can talk out loud with poor grammar, and they will cherish for all time the battle for presidency of the US raging between John McCain and Paris Hilton. If aliens do get our message, I wouldn't blame them at all for not responding.

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Beijing Olympics: The Countdown to 8/8/08 and Better Air Quality?

By Maryellen Cronin

The Beijing Olympics commences in China today, Friday, August 8, 2008 at 8:08:08 p.m (local time), and the entire world will be watching. In a recent article in the Public Relations Society of America's Tactics, a former press officer for Olympic soccer during the 1996 Atlanta Games, now residing in Beijing, provides his insight on the preparations for the big event.

The Olympics are being hosted in one of the world's most polluted cities. To help improve the situation, officials have limited traffic and factories have either been re-located or shut down. A small army of meteorologists have launched silver iodide into the clouds, causing it to rain, clearing the air of dust and some particulates.