Technology Spot

Due to appear in the Windows 8 beta that will debut next month, the refresh option makes good on Microsoft's earlier promise that it would give users an easy way to restore Windows in the event of a problem.

As described in yesterday's Building Windows 8 blog by Desmond Lee, a program manager on Microsoft Fundamentals team, the new OS will actually offer two ways to bring Windows back to factory condition:

• The refresh option will keep all personal data, important settings, and Metro style apps, and then reinstall Windows.

• The reset option will securely remove all data, settings, and applications, and then reinstall Windows.

Refreshing Windows would typically be the first option to try if the OS isn't behaving properly. And it's one that Microsoft promises will be completely automated, meaning there's no need to back up your files or settings beforehand.

To accomplish this, your PC boots up into Windows RE (Recovery Environment), saves your data and settings, installs a fresh copy of Windows 8, restores your data and other content, and then restarts into the fresh new OS. Most key settings are preserved with the exception of file type associations, display settings, and Windows Firewall settings.

Of course, there is one another gotcha. The refresh option will preserve your Metro apps, but not your standard desktop apps. According to Lee, Microsoft nixed the idea of restoring desktop applications for a few reasons.

A single desktop app could be the cause of the initial problem. Certain desktop apps leave no trace of how they were installed, making it difficult to restore them. And unlike Metro apps, Windows has no direct knowledge of the many different installer technologies often used by third-party applications.

As a workaround, Microsoft will offer a manual way to create an image of your existing Windows environment, desktop apps included. But this is something you'd have to run on a regular basis to ensure that all newly installed desktop applications are part of the image.

The gist of it seems to be that Microsoft's GPS--which will reportedly be inserted into Windows Phones in the future--will use input from more varied and up-to-date sources in order to create suggested routes.

Among these sources are crime statistics. Which has led some to the thought that this will somehow be an insult to poor neighborhoods.

What is unclear, at least from my reading of the patent--which isn't written by anything resembling a human hand or mind--is what kind of crime statistics the GPS might choose to use.

It's one thing to avoid areas where there might have occurred physical assaults and gunfire. It's another to avoid, say, places where burglaries are popular, as one suspects quite a few allegedly nice areas are subject to burglars' desires.

With some areas, past performance isn't a guarantee of future results. What if someone using a route from this system does get mugged, shot, assaulted, or robbed? Would they feel entitled to sue Microsoft because the route was supposed to be "ghetto-free"?

The patent talks about the quality of the information. But quality is a subjective notion, so one wonders just whose assessment of quality will be deemed significant.

The patent also holds within it some other little gems. It seeks to help the pedestrian avoid "harsh temperatures." Some people like harsh temperatures, but this system will also store people's pedestrian information to offer, one assumes, a more personalized heat-level for the route.

How personalized should it be, though? My eyes perform slightly odd twitches when I read this sentence from the patent: "Various features can integrate with route presentment, such as integrating an advertisement targeted to a pedestrian with a direction set."

Is this suggesting that Windows Phones will give pedestrians a route that will take them past specific ads? What a curious and slightly mind-altering thought.

One wonders whether those who use the system might also be offered an "avoid ads" option

That's according to DigiTimes, which reported today that sources in Google's upstream supply chain believe the tablet could be positioned to challenge Amazon's 7-inch Kindle Fire. The sources expect the Androidtablet to arrive in the spring at a price below $299 to compete with Amazon.

The report comes a few weeks after Google Chairman Eric Schmidt allegedly told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that the company plans to "market a tablet of the highest quality" in the next six months. It's possible that the newspaper misunderstood or misquoted Schmidt, but Google has refused to clarify his comments.

However, this rumor should be taken with a grain of salt as the Taiwan news site already has a shaky reputation for accuracy; sources have told it three different tablet suspicions in as many weeks.

The tech blog reported in mid December that Apple would "likely" launch a 7.85-inch tablet in the fourth quarter of 2012 to compete with Amazon's Android-based tablet. The site then reported last week that Apple would unveil two 9.7-inch versions later this month at the Macworld|iWorld conference--a report that was largely rebuffed by the many tech observers.