Technology

Since most of us are currently cooped up and stressed out over that lovely little pandemic of ours (maybe you've read a thing or two about it?), I thought it might be a nice distraction to focus on making the most of the gadgets we've got shuttered up alongside us.

After all, whether you're actively trying to get work done or just trying to take your mind off other matters, having a laptop that's efficient, enjoyable to use, and primed for productivity is always a positive. And I don't know about you, but uncovering interesting advanced options within my favorite devices always brings at least a little bit of brightness into my day.

Well, if you've got a Chromebook you're using for work and/or more casual around-the-house computing, Google's Chrome OS software has plenty of worthwhile surprises just waiting to be discovered. Chrome OS is developed and updated at a breakneck pace, and the operating system is overflowing with time-saving touches that are all too easy to miss if you aren't paying careful attention (and sometimes, even if you are!).

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Microsoft today claimed that Windows 10 powered a billion devices, a milestone the company originally said it would meet between one and a half and two and a half years ago.

"Over one billion people have chosen Windows 10 across 200 countries resulting in more than one billion active Windows 10 devices," asserted Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president, in a March 16 post to a company blog.

The bulk of those devices were undoubtedly desktop and notebook PCs, although Microsoft also tallied Xbox game consoles, which run a version of Windows 10, as well as extremely niche devices, like the Surface Hub.

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Life continues during the crisis that grips the planet. It now looks more likely than ever that Apple plans to introduce new iPad Pro models. These new machines promise a lot, particularly in the run-up to WWDC 2020 (online).

The March event that wasn&t

Thereno doubt that Apple has scrapped any plans to hold a big launch event in March, meaning any announcements it had intended to make will be dribbled out using press releases.

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(Disclaimer: Microsoft is a client of the author and says Bill Gates saved his job as a first-year analyst. But he also says Gates never gave him a promised tour of his house.)

Bill Gates resigned from Microsoftboard of directors last week, pretty much ending his official ties to the company he co-founded. He says hestill available as a technology adviser to CEO Satya Nadella and other Microsoft leaders, but otherwise hedevoting himself completely to his other pursuits, like philanthropy.

Gates and the company he started very nearly 45 years ago with Paul Allen transformed the computing landscape. Throughout the period of Microsoftearly growth and maturation, Gates was at the helm as CEO, demonstrating business leadership and competitiveness that, even more than technology, were keys to the companysuccess.

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Fishteam gets a new boss who rubs them the wrong way on Day 1 by saying he knows &everything about computers.& So they figure a little prank should be harmless enough. They put a tiny wireless mouse receiver in the back of his computer, and then wiggle it from time to time while heworking, causing his cursor to jump around the screen.

Boss tears his PC apart a few times looking for the source of the movement. Time goes on, and the team goes through three different office moves, where computers had to be completely disconnected and set up again, which the boss does himself for his own PC.

And one day he does indeed find that little USB dongle. It took him about two years.

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Apple late last week joined its operating system rivals when it announced that its annual developers conference would not take place in a physical you-are-there format.

The Cupertino, Calif. company said that the "current health situation" — it did not use "COVID-19" or "coronavirus" in its statement — "required that we create" a venue-less get-together.

"We [will] create a new WWDC 2020 format that delivers a full program with an online keynote and sessions, offering a great learning experience for our entire developer community," wrote Phil Schiller, Apple's senior marketing executive, in the statement.

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