Thursday, 23 June 2011

Apple confirms glitch in updating Leopard

Apple confirmed a glitch that prevents some users from updating their Mac OS X Leopard machines using the built-in software update mechanism.
Related Mac OS X Articles

* Apple confirms glitch in updating Leopard
* Temporarily disable laptop screen dimming
* Bugs & Fixes: The iPhone ‘dead strip’
* Excerpt: MobileMe and iLife
* Repairing corrupt Mail attachments

According to a tech note posted on Apple’s Support site, the update process may stop responding while "Configuring installation" is visible in the update window. The problem happens when software update attempts to install an update that has been partially downloaded.

To get around this problem Apple suggested users first go to /Library/Updates and move the contents of that folder to the trash. You can then use software update to re-download and install the update.

If you don’t want to try the automatic update again you can visit Apple’s Support site and download the update manually.

Samsung enters the Notebook PC &

With a surprise move Samsung India, a global technology leader announced its entry into the notebook PC market and also made a foray into the fast growing Netbook Segment with its N series.

The notebook includes notebooks in different categories – Premium, Thin and Light X series, Mobile Optimum-Q series and the All rounder , Mainstream– the R series.

So far, the Company which was only in the IT peripherals is now offering a complete PC solution to its customers. The X360 and X460 light notebooks are 13.3 inch and 14.1 inch premium thin. Both sports Samsung's latest 300 nits Super Bright LED backlit LCD display, Intel Centrino 2 processor technology with Intel Core2 Duo Processors and Intel New Wireless LAN.

Price availability: The X360 is priced at Rs. 115,014/- and the Samsung X460 notebook is priced at Rs. 80,614/-.


All Samsung Notebooks are designed according to the need of customers who are seeking the latest technologies integrated into highly mobile platforms. Notebooks feature the 1.3MP webcam, Bluetooth 2.0, HDMI output and Silver Nano keyboard.

Edimax Launches Wireless USB Adaptor EW-7711UAn

Edimax Technology announced the immediate availability of its Wireless USB Adaptor with 3 DBI Antenna EW-7711UAn. EW-7711UAn is a high-gain wireless USB adaptor which provides a simple and easy way to add or upgrade wireless connectivity to your desktop or notebook computer. This nLITE high-gain USB adaptor supports data rate up to incredible high-speed wireless network access and eliminates the use of repeters at home.

EW-7711UAn complies with wireless 802.11b/g standards. With built-in latest wireless technology, EW-7711UAN can increase the coverage 3 times more and reduce 'dead spots' within the wireless range. This wireless USB adaptor supports software WPS-compatible configuration and hardware WPS push button. It includes 16 languages EZmax setup wizard and friendly UI will walk you through configuring EW-7711UAn to your wireless network.

EW-7711UAn is currently the smallest wireless adaptor. Its rotatable 3dbi high gain antenna makes the wireless transmission more stable and reach farther. The compact design of EW-7711UAn is convenient to carry for all mobile users. This antenna size USB adaptor achieves the impressive performance when plugging in USB cradle included in the package.

Nokia to launch ‘live tools’ for farmers, students

Nokia India is set to shortly launch subscription-based mobile phone services ‘live tools’ for the farming community and students.

The Managing Director, Mobile Phones, Nokia India, D. Shiva Kumar, said that these services, to be launched later this month, will be offered with a monthly subscription fee of Rs 60 and 30 per user.

In the case of farmers, they can access information on agriculture, commodity prices and weather and related issues over their mobile phone. This service will be offered in partnership with Reuters, he told on the sidelines of a conference at the Indian School of Business.

Besides the innovative Agricultural information offered, the service provides users with Educational support in the form of English lessons. Students can now improve their English language, by taking quizzes on English words and phrases, exams, but they can also attend prep-exams lessons for higher education and career guidance tips. The fun part of the service is provided by some astrology services and ringtone downloads that can be accessed through the OnMobile portal.

RIM To Oppose Certicom's Applications

Research In Motion Limited ("RIM") announced today that it has been advised that Certicom Corp. ("Certicom") intends to apply to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Securities Commission for an injunction and cease trade order, respectively, preventing RIM from acquiring Certicom shares under RIM's offer, dated December 10, 2008, for all of Certicom's shares at a price of CDN$1.50 per share. While this course of conduct is consistent with Certicom's past conduct in rebuffing RIM's overtures to conclude a negotiated transaction with Certicom, RIM is disappointed that Certicom's directors are again attempting to keep the decision as to whether to accept RIM's offer out of Certicom shareholders' hands.

RIM understands that the basis of the injunction and cease trade applications is Certicom's allegation that RIM used confidential information contrary to the terms of agreements entered into between RIM and Certicom, and an alleged related failure by RIM to make proper disclosure in its offer to purchase and circular sent to Certicom's shareholders. RIM intends to vigorously oppose Certicom's allegations.

Certicom has an obligation under securities laws to publicly disclose all material information on a continuous basis. If the Certicom directors are of the view that there is any other material information that has not been disclosed to Certicom's shareholders, the Certicom directors should disclose such information in their directors' circular, which is to be mailed to Certicom shareholders by December 29, 2008.

Nokia's Mail on Ovi public beta

More than 110 million Nokia mobile phone users can now set up their own Ovi email account directly on their phones

Espoo, Finland - Mail on Ovi, the free email account from Nokia, is now 'live' and can be set up directly on Nokia phones without requiring a PC to get started. People who use Nokia Series 40 devices can create their own email address directly on their mobile phones. The Ovi email account gives a person all the features and functionalities of a typical PC-based email account. During the Beta period, consumers will be able to choose from 12 languages based on the settings of their device, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Hindi, Bengali, Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia.

"We're creating a mindset shift with mobile messaging. Mail on Ovi is the first-ever email service which allows people to create an account directly on their mobile phone, and start using it right away" said Senior Vice President Tom Furlong, who oversees Consumer Messaging initiatives within Nokia's Services & Software organization. "Rather than focusing purely on push email for the world's most advanced mobile users, we are mobilizing email across Nokia's mainstream device portfolio, while giving consumers in emerging markets their first email account, Mail on Ovi, as well as their very own internet identity. These people are the new 'mobile digital natives' who will exclusively use their mobile phones for email and internet, rather than a PC."

Mobile phone users from India, Malaysia and the Philippines have been able to use the Beta service since November, with extremely encouraging results, and the availablity is now being extended to the rest of the world.*

Sun launches new version of its VirtualBox 2.1.0

The free virtualization solution from Sun, has just passed version 2.1.0. VirtualBox memorandum is the result of the acquisition of German publisher Innotek by Sun, and allows the user to operate on the same computer or server operating systems: a "host" physically installed, and "Guests" in the form of virtual machines. VirtualBox runs Solaris OS, OpenSolaris, Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

On the menu this version 2.1.0, the main novelty will probably care, experimental, 64-bit systems virtualized guests on 32-bit systems, and management, is still experimental, the OpenGL 3D.


Sun also said support for hardware virtualization technologies integrated with Intel or AMD on the hosts with Mac OS X, a new engine NAT, and a network interface implementations for Windows and Linux rethought. Is also planned support for hard disk imaging formats WMDK (VMWare format) or HDV (Microsoft), so as to improve compatibility with VirtualBox virtualization solutions of these two competitors.

VirtualBox can be downloaded for free from Sun's site. An open source edition, distributed under GPL v2, but deprived of some advanced features, is also available. Finally, companies will be able to turn to the services provided by Sun for a support in a possible deployment in their park.

T-Mobile Introduces Nokia 6301 and Samsung SGH-t339

T-Mobile USA has announced the availability of Nokia 6301 and Samsung SGH-t339 that support T-Mobile HotSpot @Home service, which provides unlimited, nationwide calling over any accessible Wi-Fi connection.

The T-Mobile HotSpot @Home family wireless service was first introduced in 2007 with two handset options. Now T-Mobile customers can choose from eight HotSpot-enabled phones, including three smartphones and a variety of Nokia and Samsung phones.

T-Mobile HotSpot@Home also gets Nokia’s stainless steel 6301 which T-mobile are selling for $79.99, all specs and photos shown below. Out of the two mobile phones shown here it would have to be the Nokia 6301 as it looks better and the specs are better, Both new models are available right now.

Micron and Sun co-develop Flash Memory

Micron Technology has announced it has worked with Sun Microsystems to develop a new single-level cell (SLC) enterprise NAND technology that extends the lifespan of flash-based storage for enterprise applications. The result of the collaboration has yielded production devices capable of achieving one million write cycles.

Micron claims that its SLC NAND flash devices will sustain one million write cycles, ten times more compared to typical SLC NAND flash’s one hundred thousand write cycles. The number of write cycles for MLC NAND is unclear, but it may also go up ten times from 10 thousand times per bit.

Micron is now sampling its Enterprise NAND in densities up to 32Gb/s. Volume production is expected in the first quarter of 2009. Micron also plans to introduce both SLC and multi-level cell (MLC) enterprise versions on its industry-leading 34nm NAND process early next year.

Huawei Maintains No.1 Position

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., a leader in providing next-generation telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world, welcomed the release of a new report that has ranked Huawei first in the global DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) industry with a worldwide market share of more than 30 per cent.

The Q3 2008 market share report authored by respected telecoms market research firm ‘Broadbandtrends’ found Huawei delivered more than 6.6 million DSL lines in Q3 with a market share of 30.5%, retaining its global leadership in the DSL industry. The report confirmed Huawei’s leadership in the IP DSL and MSAP (Multi-Service Access Platform) segmented markets with 28.5% and 34.5% market share respectively.

Huawei’s copper access solutions now serve more than 180 million users worldwide and have been deployed in more than 90 countries on behalf of the industry’s top carriers including, among others, British Telecom, SingTel, Etisalat, Telecom Italia, Telmex, Telefónica, China Unicom and China Telecom.

"Despite the fierce competition of the global DSL market, Huawei consolidated its number one industry position with a very strong 30.5% market share,” said Teresa Mastrangelo, a Principal analyst for broadband infrastructure and services at Broadbandtrends. “This clearly indicates the extent to which Huawei's network access services have been widely adopted and trusted by operators across the globe."

Youtube ordered to remove the videos

The record company and the site for video sharing did not reach agreement on the remuneration of right for the dissemination of clips online

Warner Music did not go four ways. The major U.S. requires sharing website YouTube videos online withdrawal of all music videos from artists under contract with her. The decision, announced Saturday, comes as the two groups failed to reach agreement on the remuneration of right to disseminate their creations on the platform.

Hundreds of thousands of music videos are concerned. The measure applies not only to artists under contract with Warner Music but also songs that the record company owns the rights through its subsidiary Warner / Chappell.
Negotiations have stalled Saturday morning, the Warner calling for a higher share of profits from the huge attendance of the site. "We simply can not accept conditions that they do not adequately and fairly artists, composers, labels and publishers commensurate with what they bring, "Warner said in a statement.

SEGA Releases Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

Glu Mobile Inc., a leading global publisher of mobile games, today announced a partnership with SEGA® Europe Ltd. to publish Beijing 2008™ – The Official Mobile Phone Game of the Olympic Games and Sonic at the Olympic Games™ throughout EMEA, Australia and New Zealand.


Developed by SEGA, Beijing 2008™ will bring all the excitement of the Olympic Games to mobile audiences. Featuring four events, with an authentic look and feel, Beijing 2008™ will give mobile owners the chance to enjoy the “Olympic Spirit” for themselves, with control schemes accessible for novices and experienced gamers alike. This partnership between Glu and SEGA follows the success of previous SEGA titles developed and published by Glu for mobile phones.

Averatec All-In-One PC

The leading provider of innovative electronic products, Averatec has released its first fully functional, All-In-One desktop PC designed for quick installation, ease of use and leading-edge performance, offering a distinctive new look and performance in a single body PC.



“We know that our customers are looking for performance and style. The traditional workplace is evolving to Small Office, Home Office environments, not to mention increased acceptance of telecommuting. With that in mind, our new All-In-One platform is the solution to satisfy this growing need,” said Darren Lee, Director of Marketing at Averatec. “Our business partners and customers have given us great feedback. We are very excited to enter the market and confident that our All-In-One PC will have a positive impact for our brand. Our All-In-One PC is the perfect platform for those looking for style and performance in a svelte space savings design. From its small footprint to the integrated remote control caddy, our All-In-One PC is a hands down winner and marks another milestone for Averatec.”

Motorola Envisions Video Driving LTE, WiMAX

Spurred by the continued interest in broadband technologies to deliver rich media experiences in the home and beyond, Motorola, Inc. will carry groundbreaking Long Term Evolution (LTE) work and expanding WiMAX and Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) deployments into a projected expansion of broadband in 2009. The leading provider of wired and wireless broadband solutions wrapped up 2008 with historic demonstrations, including the industry’s first CDMA to LTE network handoff, and a steady drumbeat of WiMAX and FTTH deployments and products.

Despite the current economic landscape, the demand for media mobility points to myriad opportunities for Motorola products and services to help operators and service providers deliver rich media experiences to their customers.

"Motorola is committed to broadband and 4G development and made significant gains in 2008, particularly with LTE to address the mobility demands being driven by consumers looking for personalized media experiences," said Dan Moloney, president, Motorola’s Home and Networks Mobility business. "Our testing of LTE networks has demonstrated great forward movement for the cellular community into networks that are fast, agile and able to deliver content on consumers’ terms. We're looking forward to carrying this commitment into 2009 and leading the market in further development and deployment of LTE technologies."

Nokia signs agreement to sell security appliance

okia announced today that it has signed an agreement for Check Point Software Technologies to acquire Nokia's security appliance business. The two businesses have collaborated for over a decade to deliver industry-leading enterprise security solutions, and this agreement is the natural culmination of that long-standing collaboration.

"For over 10 years, the security appliance business within Nokia has held a leading position in the security appliance market. Our IP security platforms have developed a well-deserved reputation as the premier platform on which to deploy Check Point's leading security software," said Tom Furlong, Senior Vice President of Services & Software at Nokia. "This business fits naturally with Check Point, and the combination will provide a great path forward for the thousands of customers who depend on Nokia security solutions today."

"As a pioneer in security appliances, the Nokia security appliance business has been an important strategic partner for Check Point and has helped us achieve early leadership in the security appliance market," said Gil Shwed, Chairman and CEO at Check Point. "Adding Nokia's security appliance portfolio into Check Point's broad range of security solutions is the natural conclusion of our long collaboration, and will assure a smooth path forward for our mutual customers."

CoolIT Announces PC Gaming Performance

CoolIT Systems announces Domino Advanced Liquid Cooling (ALC) that offers the technological advantages employed by high-end liquid cooling solutions of superior performance, quiet protection and years of maintenance-free operation that cannot be achieved by similarly priced heat sink/fan combinations. The unprecedented integrated status display and controls provide users with the ability to easily switch between multiple operation modes satisfying the need for quiet or the desire for overclocking performance.

Domino’s Features and Benefits include…

o Simple Installation – Compact and light plug and play design with an innovative retention mechanism allows for quick installation into even the most crowded chassis supporting a 120mm fan. Domino ALC is universally compatible with Intel and AMD processors including Intel’s next generation Nehalem-based Core i7 processors.

o Advanced Control and Configuration– Configurable options range from whisper quiet operation to extreme cooling for overclocking…all at the touch of a button. The micro-controller auto-regulates the system in all modes of operation to ensure continuous protection.

o Intuitive LCD Display – Conveys system status and issues a visual/audio alert notifying the user should the system require attention

Nvidia inks 2K Games deal

Nividia has announced that it has concluded a deal with 2K Games that will see its PhysX technology make its way to a selection of the Take-Two publisher's titles.

Borderlands, from Gearbox Software, will be one of the first titles to utilise the real-time physics effects middleware which is compatible with the PC, Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms.

"We are very impressed with the quality of the PhysX engine and we licensed it so our studios can use this solution early in development," said Jacob Hawley, technology director for 2K in a statement. "Developing games with an interactive story and immersive gameplay remains our number one priority, and aligning with technology leaders like Nvidia allows our teams to concentrate on making great games."

And Ujesh Desai, vice president of GeForce desktop business at Nvidia, added: "Nvidia and 2K Games are dedicated to advancing technology that powers gaming. We look forward to working with the leaders in the industry to bring some amazing new games to market."

Intel launches 160 GB SSD 2.5 inches

Not content to become the leader in the microprocessor market, Intel intends to not stay down on the segment of the flash memory, and as such continues to increase standards for SSD (Solid State Disk) as evidenced by the announcement Monday, the arrival of a new model in its line of X-25M. With a capacity of 160 GB, this disc uses cell type MLC (Multi-Level Cell) and provide performance of about 250 MB / s sequential read, against 70 MB / s writing. It uses a SATA interface type II.



Intel also announced an average time of operation (MTBF) of 1.2 million hours, an access time of 0085 ms, and a consumption of 150 mW over. Beginning 2009, the smelter is expected to propose an equivalent capacity but in a 1.8 inch format, reference X-18M. No pricing information is disclosed at this time.
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Windows XP Drivers Released For Kohjinsha SC3 UMPC

For folks who own the Kohjinsha SC3 UMPC that is powered by Windows Vista but want to install Windows XP instead (there are plenty of you out there, we know it) due to the older OS' seemingly superior performance, then we bring good tidings. You can now install Windows XP as the drivers for the Kohjinsha SC3 UMPC are now available, complete with a quick and easy installation guide for the clueless. This is one of the rare moments where a downgrade is actually seen as an 'upgrade' for some. As always, make sure you perform a data backup before you go wiping the slate clean.

Psystar claims Apple has invalid

The series of winter continues. After unsuccessfully attempting to return the situation by continuing to turn Apple for violation of anti-competitive, Psystar claims now that he has not filed a valid copyright for Mac OS X, according to the English magazine InformationWeek.

Apple can not attack Psystar for violating one or more copyright of the complainant because he properly filed the copyright-known authorities "as required by law, said the assembly of the Open Computer, a Mac clone delivered in Mac OS X, new elements brought to the file. Apple acknowledge Psystar also use a system making Mac OS X 10.5 unusable on machines other than its own, which he said would be illegal.

Microsoft Windows XP resists to dealers request

Microsoft has decided to further facilitate the transition from Windows XP to Windows 7, by implementing a new "flexible inventory that allows dealers to request licenses for XP until 30 May 2009.

The Colossus of Redmond seems to have surrendered the truth: despite the campaign for the operating system Microsoft Windows Vista, most users and businesses continue to prefer the use of "old" Windows XP. The imminent arrival of Windows 7, scheduled for the end of 2009, also induce consumers to change refractory to wait for the new OS to skip to the bottom that are Vista, though Microsoft is about to release the second service pack for the current system operating, which will make it even more stable and efficient, the general view seems to have definitively rejected the successor to XP, is due to start the dissatisfaction that exists, and for the repeated attacks of competitors like Apple, which have invested a large amount of resources to discredit them.

In view of the fact that the vast growth of Google continues to undermine the image of Microsoft, the company has decided to meet once more to the needs of consumers, providing a new service for the management of licenses of Windows XP. The previous strategy, the total cessation of orders for the licensing of XP (other than the Home version for systems Netbook) for January 31 of 2009, distributors were prepared to make licensing within the limit set, stipend their stores.

Google employees get a G1 as their Christmas Bonus

Google is one of those companies in which the whole world would like to work. The good atmosphere of its offices and the proper treatment of their employees is almost legendary. One of the pillars of good treatment that were hitherto a generous pay extra for Christmas that could in some cases up to $ 20,000. However, even at Google are immune to the crisis and its employees this year will have to settle for something much more modest: HTC G1 of a special edition, with the logo of Android at the rear. I think that some employees of those with money have had to cancel a trip or major purchase. After the jump I leave with you the original letter received by the employees of Google.

Quote:
Googlers,

The holiday bonus is a Google tradition - it'sa great way to thank everyone for their hard work. In the past, we've done this in cash. This year, we've decided to give Googlers a different kind of present - a Dream phone (this is the same device T-Mobile markets as the G1). We're really excited about getting the phone to more Googlers in more countries, and also seeing all the cool new things you do with it.

Shipping these special edition phones in such a short time frame (they were designed especially for Googlers with a 'Droid' on the back) and making sure they would work anywhere in the world was no small feat. So a big thank you to the Android and Legal teams for making this happen. While these phones do not have SIM cards, they are unlocked so they can be used with the network provider of your choice. Plus - thanks to more fancy footwork from the Android team - they'll work immediately as WiFi devices!

Sadly, despite all our best efforts, there are some countries - India, China, Brazil, Korea, Israel, Russia, Argentina, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mexico, Turkey, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Egypt, Chile, and the Ukraine - where even our legal team could not work their magic. Googlers in these countries will receive the cash equivalent of the phone in their December paychecks, which is about $ 400 USD. Overall though almost 85% of Googlers globally will be able to receive the phone - including the United States, Western and Central Europe, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Japan.

World Bank bans Satyam for 8 years

The fourth-largest Indian IT company Satyam Computer Services has been banned by World Bank says a Fox News report. The report quotes
a senior World Bank official admitting that Satyam has been barred from all business at the bank for eight years.

The World Bank debarment has been meted out for "improper benefits to bank staff" and "lack of documentation on invoices," according to Fox News report.

World Bank information security chief Robert Van Pulley admitted to the ban during a recent meeting with the officials of Government Accountability Project (GAP), a whistleblower protection organisation in the US, as per the report. The bank has handed over the case to the US Justice Department and the Treasury Department.

“The World Bank had never complained or informed us... Satyam’s contract with the World Bank had come up for discussions in an earlier board meeting. We were told that as a matter of policy, the World Bank does not renew contracts with the same vendor for more than five years,” said TR Prasad, independent director on the Satyam Board. This was reconfirmed by another independent board member VS Raju. “Yes, we have banned Satyam from doing business with us,” the World Bank spokesperson, Sudip Mazumder, told ET from New Delhi.

Verismo Networks Brings YouTube

Watch the world on your television. Verismo Networks, the developer of the VuNow Internet TV platform, and YouTube™ have partnered to provide broadband subscribers the ability to watch millions of YouTube videos directly on the TV using the VuNow PoD. By pushing YouTube content from the computer to the television, Verismo Networks lets users experience the enjoyment of watching and sharing the latest videos on the big screen TV.

The VuNow Internet TV platform is the first solution that allows consumers to watch content from the web directly on their television, without having to connect a computer. The palm-sized VuNow Pod provides simple and seamless access to a broad choice of online video content -- from movies, global Live TV channels, to user-generated content and viral videos. Users simply connect the PoD to the TV like a DVD player and within minutes they can browse, search, and select Internet content with a click of their remote.

YouTube has rapidly grown into the world's leading online video community. Hundreds of millions of videos are viewed daily on YouTube, and hundreds of thousands are uploaded.

Linux Mint 6 (Felicia) Released with User-Friendly Bar

Linux Mint 6 offers a clean, user-friendly desktop environment with a good assortment of applications to meet the needs of most any typical user. Linux Mint 6 is based on Ubuntu 8.10 with a number of additional utilities added for extra polish. Setup and configuration is painless and takes less than 15 minutes on most any computer manufactured in the last few years.

The Universal Edition is a customized version of the Main Edition with the following differences:

It comes as a liveDVD instead of a liveCD
It comes with built-in support for English, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Indonesian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Swedish, Hindi, Urdu, Greek, Finnish, Danish, Japanese, Filipino, Chinese, Czech, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Romanian, Slovak, Ukrainian, Thai, Turkish, Arabic, Korean, Hebrew, Catalan, Croatian, Esperanto, Farsi and Serbian.
It comes with no codecs, no support for restricted formats and no proprietary components.
It features an extra item in the Sound & Video menu which launches the installation of all missing codecs via a built-in .mint file


MintMenu lets you configure your program launcher with shortcuts to your favorite applications. All you have to do is right click with the mouse on an application from the main menu and click on "Show in my favorites". You can also drag and drop an application icon on the "Favorites" button in the top right-hand corner of the menu to accomplish the same thing.

Microsoft SQL Server: A problem to be solved

"Microsoft indicates a problem of security for Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005"

The end of 2008 is registering many security problems in Microsoft products, after the extraordinary update for Microsoft Internet Explorer - came a few days of patch day of December - a bulletin of security indicates a problem against SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005.

Currently, it is not yet available a patch, but fortunately there are no malicious actions carried out by using this specific problem. In the notes of Microsoft argued are different considerations that lead to a cautious optimism: the problem detected allow code execution on a machine vulnerable working remotely, but fortunately does not seem to be so used by any of malware.

Also in the note circulated by Microsoft indicates that some products - including Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 Service Pack 4, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP3 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 - are immune from the problem. Microsoft is investigating the problem as a whole in order to create a patch that will be distributed on the next January 13, or in extraordinary ways.

For the time being in the Bulletin Microsoft Security Advisory 961040 available for some operations are useful to solve the problem temporarily.

Sony will announce a NETBOOK during CES 2009

Sony was left spinning on a page of the site of the new zealand a page (since disappeared), which promised a large ad in the Vaio range for 9 January. So the day after the opening of CES 2009, Sony appears ready to face, which could have confirmed a rumor that ran for several weeks and claimed that the manufacturer is currently preparing a NETBOOK. It will nevertheless still expect a big fortnight for more information. But no doubt, and several of our information, the ESC should be the mobility first.

Pandora Service Now Free for Sprint Users

Pandora announced that Pandora's personalized Internet radio service will now be available for free on more than 20 Sprint mobile phones. Sprint subscribers who are currently paying the $2.99 subscription to access Pandora on existing Sprint phones will no longer be charged for the Pandora service and the free Pandora application will be available to all Sprint customers who have compatible handsets and a Sprint data plan. Sprint was the first carrier to launch a mobile version of Pandora in May of 2007 and currently supports Pandora on many popular phones, including the Samsung Instinct.

"This is a very significant move for Sprint and for the mobile industry more broadly," said Tim Westergren, Founder of Pandora. "Internet radio is rapidly expanding off the desktop and we're thrilled that we can now offer Pandora for free to Sprint's customers".

In concert with this launch of Pandora for free on Sprint, the Pandora service is also now available on select Windows Mobile handsets with additional new handsets planned to roll out over time.

As with the ad-supported desktop version of Pandora, the mobile experience will include advertising, specifically audio advertising.

Listening to Pandora is simple: users enter a song or artist that they like, and within seconds, Pandora delivers a personalized radio station with a continuous stream of songs that fit the same sound and style. The songs are selected based on the Music Genome Project, Pandora's proprietary system that utilizes highly trained musicians to analyze songs one at a time. These musicians measure hundreds of different musical qualities for each recording, including every detail of melody, harmony, rhythm, instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics and vocals. As the songs play, Pandora users can further refine the playlist with a simple "thumbs up" or "thumbs down." They can also pause a station or skip a song that they don't want to hear.

Windows XP To Live Until May 2009

Windows XP goes more to die. Microsoft has granted a stay of its operating system, whose marketing with new PCs for businesses was stopped on 31 January 2009. Finally, the fateful date was postponed to May 30, 2009.
The publisher has informed its partners, resellers and integrators wholesalers by mail in early December. The delivery of Windows XP will continue so until the end of May, but customers will have to be ordered before 31 January 2009. This is according to Microsoft to offer more flexibility.

Thirteen years (loyal) services

The decision concerns the business market. The general public, he is entitled to a preferential since the emergence of the Netbook. These super machines will benefit from Windows XP Home until 30 June 2010.
The marketing of boxed operating system has however ceased since 30 June 2008. Support for Windows XP (updated by Windows update) will be provided until April 2014, almost thirteen years after the beginning of the marketing of the operating system. A record of longevity.

Amkette announces Flash Drive Customization

AMKETTE, manufacturer of USB flash drives and computer peripherals, has announced a new customization service aimed at the corporate gifting and promotions market in India. The company is offering to pre-load software on USB flash drives (also known as pen drives), as per the clients requirements. Once loaded the flash drives will automatically start each time it is connected to a computer. Even better the corporate logo of the promoting company is printed on the flash drive giving them a special look.The new 'autorun' feature on the flash drives makes any presentation, powerpoint, pop-up, or movie clip start up immediately when inserted into a USB port.

Amkette has estimated that the corporate gifts and promotions market is very large in India and there will be many takers for flash drives as promotional tools because it helps in increasing the strength of the message being given. Flash drives are very useful devices and people tend to keep them for long durations and when it is coupled with a brand promotion it helps deliver the message more power fully and permanently.

Any corporate who wants to promote a particular product can use a promotional Flash Drive instead of distributing brochures or CDs as done in the past. They can get their brand logo printed on the flash drive and their presentation stored on the memory so that it would appear every time the user inserts it into the computer. What is better is that the user will use the flash drive regularly, keeping the brand recall of the company high.

Sunday, 19 June 2011

Mobile phone market declined by almost

Mobile phone sales fell by 12.6 percent to 289 million units in the
fourth quarter of 2008 compared with the same quarter a year ago,
market research firm IDC said Wednesday.

For the full year, mobile phone vendors shipped a total of 1.18
billion units worldwide, IDC said, 3.5 percent more than the 1.14
billion units of 2007.

The company described the double-digit drop in mobile phone shipments
in the fourth quarter as an "unusual downturn," but said the first
half of 2009 would remain "very challenging."

"The fourth quarter was the perfect storm of factors to produce this
result," said Ramon Llamas, a senior research analyst with IDC.

"A combination of weak end-user demand, currency volatility, and
limited credit availability prevented the market from experiencing the
usual seasonal increase in shipments," he said.

Llamas said IDC expects the first half of 2009 to be "very challenging
as vendors and distributors grapple with clearing inventory.

Lanner introduces 36mm Fanless Industrial Control

Lanner Electronics, a leading designer and manufacturer of embedded
computing platforms, today announced the launch of a new 36mm height
fanless embedded system for industrial monitoring and control
applications. The Lanner LEC-2204 provides four COM ports for
industrial control along with two USB 2.0 ports, VGA out, audio,
CompactFlash socket and Gigabit LAN for network connectivity. The
system is built on a 1.0GHz Intel Celeron M CPU and Intel 910GMLE
chipset with 512MB DDR2 memory onboard.

"Our customers were looking for a low cost, small form factor, fanless
system with sufficient serial ports for industrial applications," said
Eric Chiu, Lanner Applied Communications Product Planner. "So we
designed the LEC-2204 specifically to meet that market demand. Its
small size and fanless design make it perfect for situations where
space is critical, and its wide temperature range allows for
deployment in harsh environments – from -20 to 50 degrees – with
industrial grade components," he said.

Google going mobile with Book Search

The search giant on Thursday launched a mobile version of its Google
Book Search, giving iPhone and Android users instant access to more
than 1.5 million public domain books. The works of authors such as
William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens were optimized
to be read on the small screen, a challenge the Google Book Search
team called "daunting" in a blog post announcing the launch:

There's an interesting backstory about the work involved to prepare so
many books for mobile devices. If you use Google Book Search, you'll
notice that our previews are composed of page images made by
digitizing physical copies of books. These page images work well when
viewed from a computer, but prove unwieldy when viewed on a phone's
small screen.

Our solution to make these books accessible is to extract the text
from the page images so it can flow on your mobile browser just like
any other web page. This extraction process is known as Optical
Character Recognition (or OCR for short).

However, as the team notes, there are frequently obstacles that keep
the printed word from being accurately extracted, such as smudges,
fancy fonts, old fonts, and torn pages. As an example of an "extreme
case," the team presented the this page image from Lewis Carroll's
Alice's Adventures Under Ground:

Corsair launches the Dominator GT family

Corsair, a worldwide leader in high-performance computer and flash
memory products, today announced the launch of the new Dominator GT
line of ultra high-performance DDR3 memory modules for Intel Core
i7-based systems.

Sporting a new racing red color scheme and the next-generation of
Corsair's patent-pending Dual-path Heat eXchange (DHX) technology, the
new Dominator GT comes in 3-up 6GB kit, running at 2000MHz with
latencies of 7-8-7.

"Corsair's Dominator line has long been the memory of choice for PC
enthusiasts and high-end gamers," said Jim Carlton, VP of Marketing at
Corsair. "The new Dominator GT family delivers even greater levels of
performance, as well as enhanced cooling options, making it the
perfect memory for anyone looking for the fastest possible performance
from their Intel Core i7-based system."

Garmin Finds a Friend in Asus for Smartphone

Hardware maker Asus and navigation system manufacturer Garmin
announced a "strategic alliance" Wednesday that will result in a line
of cobranded mobile phones. Each company will bring their specialty —
mobile telephony and navigation, respectively — to the table for the
line of location-centric Garmin-Asus Nuvifone models, several of which
are expected to hit store shelves in 2009.

Garmin originally announced plans for its so-called Nuvifone in 2008.
That device will be renamed the "G60" and will be available in the
first half of 2009.

Asus, perhaps best known in the U.S. for its line of ultra-small Eee
PC netbooks, is an up-and-comer in the mobile phone space. It makes
sense for a navigation company to team with a company that builds
phones, Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group.

A Multitasking Operating System - Android

Former Apple designer Mark Hamblin is tinkering with Google and
partners' Android so it can work in a slew of gadgets other than
wireless phones

When Google and its partners first unveiled plans for the Android
operating system, they billed it as software that would run mobile
phones. That mission was accomplished the following year with the late
2008 release of T-Mobile's G1 phone. More Android-enabled handsets are
on the way. But before long, you may be seeing Android in a lot of
other electronic devices.

Mark Hamblin (who helped design the original touchscreen for the Apple
iPhone) Now the CEO of Touch Revolution. Hamblin is tinkering with
Android so it can work in a slew of gadgets other than wireless
phones. Touch Revolution plans to introduce a remote control and a
touchscreen land-line home phone that will be powered by Android.

Nivio launched online storage backup facility

Nivio, the online computing utility, announced the launch of NivioLite
Free, a free online storage & backup facility created to ease data
security risks. With increasing threat of data loss, theft and
compromised user privacy, this new service from Nivio allows people to
greatly reduce these risks by providing safe, robust, online data
storage for critical information.

Anyone signing up for NivioLite Free receives 1GB of secure storage
(enough to store around 400 photos or 200 songs) absolutely free.
Users needing additional storage space can simply purchase extra
storage on a pay-per-use basis.

Alternatively, for a small fee of just Rs. 208.5 (£3)a month, users
can upgrade to Nivio Full Service which allows full access to Nivio's
virtual Windows Desktop where one can create and edit files. This
would include the nDrive, a user intuitive tool that facilitates an
easy and quick transfer of files between a local computer and the
Nivio online desktop.

The cloud-based nDrive will go head-to-head with Google's much
speculated GDrive storage service. The nDrive gives users a massive 5
GBs of storage with the ability to buy more on a pay-per-use basis.
nDrive's 'drag and drop' functions also means that transferring files
between a computer and Nivio is as simple as dragging them onto a
traditional USB stick, but without all the hassle of traditional
hardware. nDrive will be available to users as early as mid February.

With these newly launched services from Nivio, files can be accessed
anytime, anywhere - from any internet café or wherever there's an
internet-enabled computer. This makes it particularly useful for those
who don't have their own home computer or laptop, and for people who
work from different locations.

Nivio's CEO Sachin Duggal, one of the Technology Pioneers 2009 at the
World Economic Forum in Davos, explains "with the nDrive and NivioLite
offerings, there's no need for USB sticks or portable hard drives. All
your files, photos, music or any data from any computer can be
backed-up on Nivio. Making it safe from viruses and greatly reducing
the risk of data loss. With the nDrive and NivioLite, anything that's
backed-up is always online and ready to retrieve whenever it's
needed".

NEC Chip to Bring 12Mpixel Camera,

NEC Electronics Corp developed a system LSI that it claims will bring
a high picture quality comparable with that of digital still cameras
to camera-equipped mobile phones.
The company will start shipping samples under the product name of
"CE143" in March 2009.


The CE143 has basic image processing functions and, with a combination
of a CMOS image sensor, can add camera functionality to a mobile
phone. In addition, it integrates an image stabilizer, shading
correction and other functions, according to NEC Electronics.
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HP urges LaserJet users to patch printers

Hewlett-Packard has warned owners of some of its laser printers to
update their devices' firmware or risk having remote attackers access
previously-printed documents.

In an advisory published Wednesday, HP said that users of certain
LaserJet, Color LaserJet and Digital Sender models are affected, and
urged them to immediately download and install firmware upgrades.

The devices include 10 different LaserJet models -- ranging from the
2410 to the 9050 -- two Color LaserJet models and the 9200C Digital
Sender, a sheet-fed document scanner.

According to San Antonio, Texas-based Digital Defense, Inc., the
security company that reported the problem to HP last October,
attackers can exploit a bug in the printers' Web-based control
interface to "read arbitrary system configuration files, cached
documents, etc."

Exploiting the vulnerability, the Digital Defense researchers said, is
"trivial" with common Web server "directory traversal" tactics. A
directory transversal attack is an HTTP-based exploit that lets
attackers access restricted directories, and execute commands outside
of the server's root directory.

Adrien de Beaupre, an analyst with the SANS Institute 's Internet
Storm Center (ISC), added his voice to the call for patching printers.
"The impact might not seem severe, as in the attacker can view the
printer configuration; however, viewing cached versions of printed

Intel to launch Atom N280 GN40 match chipset

AMD processor Athlon Neo will match AMD 690E chipset invasion Netbook,
Nettop market, for the protection of this vital importance of military
strategists, Intel and NVIDIA ION platform did not adopt the
recommendations, decided in late February launched a new Atom N280
processor and GN40 match new chipset, a new GMA4000 graphics core, not
only significantly enhance the gaming performance, but also support HD
high-definition playback.


It is understood that, Intel plans to launch in late February a new
Atom N280 processor, still using 45-nanometer Diamondville core, but
the core clock up to 1.66GHz, the front-end convergence Pai was also
upgraded to 667MHz, the same built-in 512KB L2 Cache, Support
Hyper-Threading technology, capable of supporting two treatment
Threading.

Microsoft will eventually Revise the UAC

When the control system was integrated UAC in Vista to allow better
insulation of accounts, it was quickly unpopular. Regularly asking for
confirmation of actions considered trivial, it was largely abated with
Service Pack 1. In a move to further simplify the process, Microsoft
has made some choices for Windows 7 that have recently shown that
malware can change the level of control without being bored. However,
the situation has to change abruptly.

The UAC and its simplified
While UAC had been much decried, is a real hardening of which occurred
before the initial choice of Microsoft. This has caused the emergence
of two problems:

The setup level of the UAC (four notches) could be modified by a
malware without confirmation is requested
A third plug-in could use a software or component of Windows,
known as safe, to raise its rights to administrator level


After the discovery of these problems, many applications have been
made to Microsoft. Simplifying the use of Windows 7 was certainly a
willingness, but many have found that it should not come at the
expense of safety.

Return to confirmation by the user
Accordingly, Steve Sinofsky, in charge of Windows development, and Jon
Devanna, published a new blog post on the official Windows 7. We learn
that the Release Candidate of the system will be fitted with two
important changes:

Control of the UAC will become a process of high integrity

Gmail Gets Multiple Inbox Panes

Gmail has added an interesting feature you can opt-in to by choosing
Settings -> Labs -> Multiple Inboxes -> Enable -> Save Changes.

The latest labs product is Multiple Inboxes, which will create
separate panes for different filters or labels. So, you can see your
inbox, all messages containing the word 'pub', and all those half
finished drafts from one screen. You just need to go into 'settings',
enable the labs feature, and then check the box next to multiple
accounts.

I tried to create you a screen grab of my inbox, but eventually gave
up because I couldn't create one that wasn't incriminating in some way
or the another. I don't want you knowing that I'm subscribed to the
Lindsay Lohen fan list emails, after all. Also, when I tried it, it
looked like someone had thrown up emails all over my screen. The
creator (Vivi) has a much more attractive inbox.

Snow Leopard distributed to beta testers

While the development of Windows 7 advance to the Release Candidate,
which rumors have announced the arrival in April, Apple also continues
work on Snow Leopard. In spring, without real information, the new Mac
OS X must provide a breath of freshness in the foundations of the
system. The Cupertino company has just given to selected testers a new
beta version.

Stamped precisely 10A261, beta apparently does not change much
"visible". It should be recalled that Snow Leopard is not intended to
be clearly different. Apple focuses on the foundations of his system
and renovating part of the code, in addition to getting rid of the
legacy PowerPC and completely redo parts of the system, including
QuickTime.

The new beta is a priori more stable than previous versions. Apple
officially calls testers to focus on some particular areas, including
connectivity with Exchange servers, since it is implemented in Mail,
iCal and Address Book. The Italian site Macity indicates that some
changes emerge in the system settings.

Recall that two of the main news of Snow Leopard is Grand Central and
OpenCL. The latter, recently finalized, is a language allowing the
operating system or an application to calculate the graphics card
transactions in normal times would be managed by the central
processor. Grand Central is to allow applications to better take
advantage of multiple processor cores.

Acer vows to become the World's top

Acer, the world's third largest supplier of personal computers, said
at a press conference in Taiwan that it would work hard to become the
world's top vendor of mobile computers. Besides, the firm also
asserted that in 2009 it would at least sustain its market share and
revenue, but if all goes well, both would be up.

Acer is a company that has very favourable positions at the moment: it
owns well-known Acer and Packard Bell brands in Europe as well as
Gateway company in the U.S. Provided that Acer has a high-quality and
high-performance products, the firm will definitely be in position to
either secure or increase its market share or earnings, the reports
claim.

Acer shipped around five million netbook personal computers in 2008,
according to Mr. J.T. Wang, the president of the Acer conglomerate,
who projected the company to ship 12-15 million of the devices in
2009, which isl likely drive up the company`s total notebook PC
shipment by 25-30% from last year's volume.

Regardless of the global financial crisis, Mr. Wang asserted his
company`s market share and operating income for this year would surge
from last year. Acer originally planned to attain the goal of taking
the No.1 title in 2011, and Wang`s latest spot forecast suggests the
company will shorten the time. He said it is meaningful to make
Taiwan`s homegrown brand known globally if his company could
accomplish the goal earlier than originally planned.

Microsoft reveals 'My Phone' backup, sync

Microsoft has launched a website promoting its new 'My Phone' backup
and sync service. According to the information now posted to the site,
users of My Phone will be able to back up contacts, calendar
appointments, text messages, photos and other information online;
share those photos with others; update the information from a computer
using a Web-based interface; and use the stored data to restore a
phone transfer it to a new device.
Earlier, Engadget Mobile reported that the My Phone site was live at
the getskybox.com domain. Later, Microsoft acknowledged the screw-up.
"Today, Microsoft's My Phone Web site went live prior to its scheduled
debut," the company said, several sites reported. Currently,
getskybox.com -- a reference to the "SkyBox" code name of the service
-- shunted users to the My Phone site.

Microsoft said it would give each user 200MB of storage space, but
warned that only phones powered by Windows Mobile 6 or later would be
compatible with the service. In fact, it hedged: "Most phones that run
the Windows Mobile 6 operating system are compatible with My Phone
service," said the service's site.
Unlike MobileMe, My Phone looks to be a mobile-only service and only
affords 200 MB of remote storage. While that might be enough for
mobiles it probably wouldn't last 10 seconds on a PC. This begs the
question… Why? Why isn't Microsoft offering the whole enchilada? Maybe
we'll see a complete sync service offered under a different name but
Windows Mobile users hoping SkyBox would be Microsoft's answer to
complete sync / backup competitors are apparently going to be
disappointed.

Snow Leopard: multitouch management

We were talking of a new beta version of Snow Leopard, the next Mac OS
X from Apple. Thoroughly reviewed in its foundations and rid of the
old code dedicated to PowerPC processors, it should make little
visible features. As against, it has long been known that the
developers will have much more possibilities than with Leopard. And
potential increases with the integration of CoreLocation.

If the name is familiar to some of you is that this infrastructure is
already part of the SDK for iPhone. It allows software authors to use
geolocation, accessible from a Mac using a technology the company and
allows Skyhook positioning by triangulation when using a Wi-Fi
connection, of course, it will use just such a connection to use these
opportunities.

Another interesting possibility that there are now in Snow Leopard: a
real management infrastructure last multitouch trackpads found on the
MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. It was already possible for
developers to make their applications compatible with the trackpad,
but the presence of a dedicated infrastructure greatly facilitate
things.

Ericsson and Chunghwa Telecom for next-generation

Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) will deploy a metro aggregation network for
Taiwan's largest telecom operator, Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), ensuring
high-quality, high-capacity broadband services, such as IPTV and
e-health, for both fixed and mobile access.

According to Chunghwa's market forecast, there will be an eighty
percent coverage of 30Mbps broadband network in Taiwan by 2011.
Ericsson's Marconi Optical Multi-Service (OMS) solution will be a key
component assist Chunghwa to take a leading position in this market.

The OMS solution improves capacity and network efficiency, eliminating
bottlenecks and significantly improving the quality and reliability of
bandwidth-intensive services such as IPTV. Ericsson's technology gives
users greater flexibility in terms of access technology choice,
supporting any type of service from a common metro network.

The solution also plays an important role in lowering the transport
costs (per bit) by aggregating and grooming traffic in the metro
network, with support for both telephony (TDM: Time-Division
Multiplexing) and IP (Ethernet) traffic. It also provides a key link
between different parts of the network, such as the fixed and wireless
backbone network and CHT's all-IP fiber network.

Intel to update Core i7 processor product line

According to Taiwan's motherboard industry indicated that, Intel plans
to update the next quarter, Core i7 processor product line which
introduced two new models include the Core i7 975 and Core i7 950, to
replace the Core i7 965 and Core i7 940, the core clock will be
However, to further improve the price of the same than the current
price has improved significantly. In addition, the new Core i7
processor models will be transferred to the new D0 Stepping, according
to industry internal test data that the effect of overclocking than C0
Stepping has improved significantly.

Although the launch of Core i7 processors, only quarter, but by the
global economic downturn and rival AMD Phenom II processor performance
impact, there is no anticipated sales boom in order to upgrade the
Core i7 and X58 platform sales, Intel plans to update the next quarter
Core i7 processor product line, the introduction of a higher core
clock Core i7 975 and Core i7 950, while prices remain unchanged but
cost-effective compared to the listing, and aims at steady high-end
market to ensure the effectiveness of imperial throne.

Core i7 975 processor core clock to 3.33GHz, support 6.4GT / s QPI,
built-in 8MB L3 Cache, do not lock the multiplier so that players can
effectively play overclocking processor overclocking ability to
maintain a 130W TDP processor and D0 Stepping switch core, each of
1000 priced at 999 U.S. dollars, it will replace the Core i7 965
processor original location.

The deadly Australian bushfire tracked

Google Australia engineers have created a Flash map to keep track of
the deadly bushfires ravaging south-eastern Australia and help reduce
the traffic burden to official sites coordinating emergency services.

The fires, which have reportedly claimed more than 100 lives, are
being tracked in real-time with information provided by the State of
Victoria's Country Fire Authority via an RSS feed. The numbers on the
map markers indicate the number of fires at that location and the
colors represent the current containment status of that site (green
represents safe, yellow for controlled, orange for contained, and red
going).

Zigron Enters Into Mobile Development

Zigron announces its entry into Mobile Development Market, with focus
on iPhone Applications Development, along with J2ME, Symbian and
Blackberry. Zigron's entry into Mobile Development Market is aimed to
provide cutting edge solutions to small, medium and large businesses,
as Mobile Marketing is the future of businesses.

With the changing trends and growing demand of fastest communication,
Mobile Marketing is an emerging cost effective solution for small,
medium and large businesses. Currently variety of Mobile Marketing
methods are at their initial stages to fulfill business needs, i.e SMS
Marketing, Location Based Services, may be a free cell phone game, and
a business software for hand held devices etc. Mobile Marketing is
growing rapidly, with almost same rate in developing as well as
developed countries, reason being the huge number of mobile phone
subscribers which is a lot more than land line phones.

In order to make best use of Mobile Marketing, businesses need
innovative models and marketing products that attract the maximum
number of targeted customers, for instance Ingame advertising is
getting popular day by. Ingame advertising itself has a big world
inside that can explored only by joint efforts of innovation and
latest technology Zigron by having specialization in the area of
Product Innovation along with technology services gets an advantage
here, and can fulfill the mobile marketing requirements of almost all
range of corporate and startups.

Mozilla alliance in Brussels against

Mitchell Baker, president of the Mozilla Foundation, has publicly
announced through its blog that the Mozilla team would be held
alongside the European Commission to resolve the issue of monopoly of
Microsoft on the software market, especially , the browsers.

The outfit's chairwoman and former CEO Mitchell Baker posted a blog
late on Friday in which she backed last month's preliminary findings
by the European Commission, which stated the tying of IE to Windows
"harms competition between web browsers, undermines product innovation
and ultimately reduces consumer choice."

Mitchell Baker said that in 90 years the U.S. Department of Justice
had ruled promoting illegal Internet Explorer 4, which still allowed
the Redmond giant to earn 90% on the browser market in the
overwhelming supremacy of Netscape.

For its part, to gain some market share, Google announced last
November that its browser Chrome would soon be pre-installed on
certain versions of Windows in partnership with various manufacturers.

Mozilla has remained surprisingly quiet since news broke last month
that the European Union's executive body had given Microsoft eight
weeks to respond to its findings, which followed a year-long
investigation it launched after complaints from rival browser maker
Opera.

But now the non-profit organisation behind Firefox – the world's
second most popular browser – has stepped forward with an offer to
assist Brussels on "what an effective remedy would entail" in its
ongoing IE probe.

Windows 7: There Will Be No Ultimate Extras

When Vista was launched, Microsoft has proposed the Ultimate edition
It had two main characters: all the features of all editions and bonus
extras, which were intended for regular outings. It was a question for
Microsoft to reward those who decided to pay for the license of Vista
Ultimate by offering content that was only them and no other edition.

The Vista Ultimate Extras: a disappointment
It must be said that this famous Ultimate edition was still sold
almost 600 euros in its infancy. It is found for a while now at a rate
as official 319 euros TTC on own online store from Microsoft. In fact,
there have been a bonus, but it is far from the number promised by
Microsoft, whose speech was reminiscent of a pace of releases.
Wallpapers animated two games, and other sounds: nice additions, but
nothing more.

And Microsoft does not repeat the mistake. Does this mean that the
editor it will accelerate the rate of release for Windows 7? No, the
firm opted for the opposite solution: there is simply more Ultimate
Extras. Why choose radical? We can say that the firm no longer want to
be bored with such details because exactly a criticism on the
permanent rate of release of these small animals.


No Extras in Windows 7
Anyone who has tested the public beta of Windows 7 have noticed this
lack in Windows Update, where the famous ships Extras:


Ars Technica has collected about Microsoft on this issue: "Our new
approach in planning and construction of Windows did not have the
capacity to continue to issue features outside the regular cycle.
While our main development team is focused on the arrival of the next
version, our support team responsible for updating existing
functionality. Accordingly, we do not expect to create Ultimate
Extras. "

Demonstrated a reduced rate?
Everyone will go his opinion, but the reason Microsoft is
understandable if it does not, paradoxically, the complete abandonment
of the Ultimate Extras. The reason is that a number of elements of
Windows is removed to be placed in a different cycle, such as Windows
Mail client in Vista is Windows 7.

QLogic SANbox 5800V Stackable Switches

QLogic Corp. a leading supplier of high performance network
infrastructure solutions, today announced that QLogic SANbox 5800V
Series 8Gb Fibre Channel stackable switches are qualified by EMC as
E-Lab Tested for use with EMC CLARiiON and EMC Symmetrix networked
storage systems. With E-Lab qualification, EMC customers can use
QLogic and EMC solutions to deploy highly scalable, high performance
8Gb Fibre Channel networks. The highly comprehensive E-Lab
qualification process tests configurations that replicate real-world
environments to help ensure customer satisfaction. The SANbox 5800V
Series features 20Gb Fibre Channel inter-switch links (ISLs) and 100Gb
Virtual Lanes, a game-changing technology which automatically pools
multiple stack-interconnects to form a single virtual lane with up to
100Gb bandwidth between stackable switches. This feature allows QLogic
fabrics to adapt seamlessly to the changing demands of virtualized
environments and automatically optimize dataflow across single or
multiple physical connections.

"With the addition of the SANbox 5800V Series to the EMC Support
Matrix, QLogic provides end-to-end 8Gb qualified solutions, including
HBAs and switches, for EMC customers," said Jesse Parker, vice
president and general manager, QLogic Network Solutions Group. "The
stackable approach to Fibre Channel switches provides EMC customers
with scalability, ease of use, and high performance. With scalability
from eight 8Gb Fibre Channel ports to over a hundred ports plus 100Gb
stack interconnects, the SANbox 5800V Series is built from the ground
up for highly virtualized environments."

"The EMC E-Lab testing and qualification process allows our customers
to deploy comprehensive solutions with best-of-breed products from
multiple vendors," said Deirdre Wassell, manager of storage
networking, EMC. "Interoperability between EMC networked storage
systems and QLogic 5800V stackable Fibre Channel switches helps
provide businesses of all sizes with the ability to easily scale up
their storage networks as their needs dictate."

OLPC to release "Open Source Hardware

The XO laptops from One Laptop per Child non-profit organization has
not managed to become really popular on the market due to various
reasons, but the OLPC org wants to change that by allowing other
manufacturers of mobile computers to build and ship XO machines.

"We had to build the first laptop because no one else would do it. But
now, OLPC will release and open source hardware design and invite
others to copy it," said Nicholas Negroponte, the chief of OLPC, who
predicts that within 3 years there will be 5 to 6 million machines a
month built by companies around the world.

At present contract manufacturers of electronics make OLPC XO machines
at the order of the organization, who then sells its low-cost laptops
to customers around the world. Mr. Negroponte wants actual hardware
makers to deliver the laptops, which reduces expenses and speeds up
time-to-market of the XOs. But considering the fact that OLPC XO is
very inexpensive, for hardware manufacturers it may not be an
interesting product to sell.

According to Mr. Negroponte, approximately 500 thousand children
worldwide already own OLPC XO-1 laptops.

Current OLPC XO laptop features AMD Geode LX-700 processor with 433MHz
clock-speed and built-in graphics controller, 256MB of PC-2700 (DDR
333MHz) memory, 1GB NAND flash that substitutes hard disk drive, 7.5"
screen with 1200x900 resolution, wireless and wired network adapters
as well as integrated webcam, microphone, speakers and so on.

IBM Unveils Building Blocks for 2

IBM today announced new services and products to help clients build a
new, more dynamic infrastructure that will bring more intelligence,
automation, integration, and efficiencies to the digital and physical
worlds. As a result, it will enable businesses and governments to
better respond to and manage challenges presented by today's globally
integrated planet.

The new products and services enable clients to use powerful computing
systems to manage and gain insight from an increasing number of things
in their physical infrastructure that are being instrumented with
intelligent sensors. For example, a utility could build a smart grid
to eliminate wasted power, delivering power to where it is needed
most, in real time. A smart grid also helps a utilities' customers to
monitor their energy consumption in real time and view stresses in its
electrical grid instantly to schedule pre-emptive maintenance.

Key requirements for the new dynamic infrastructure are:

The integration of digital and physical infrastructure, providing
the ability to use information technology to manage business
processes, increasingly intelligent physical infrastructure and
assets, and drive new and improved services as a result.
The ability to manage, store, and analyze the 15 new petabytes of
information the world is now generating per day-- eight-times more
information than in all US libraries combined. This will enable
clients to address massive information management requirements
associated with today's governance, compliance, availability,
retention, risk, and security challenges.
A reduction of massive inefficiencies and greater resilience in
today's interconnected world. Data centers costs, for example -- for
energy, space, etc. -- have risen eight-times since 1996; and average
distributed server utilization is just 6-15%.

Red Hat Makes Real-Time Linux Real

Red Hat's MRG product is essentially a variant of the core Red Hat
Enterprise Linux stack. Instead of supporting bread and butter
functions for database and applications serving like Enterprise Linux,
MRG is sculpted to best carry out messaging, real-time and grid
computing workloads.

The new 1.1 version of Enterprise MRG, originally due to ship by
December 31, is intended to replace the standard generic Linux kernel
with a real-time kernel based on the config_preempt_rt patch. That
patch that was jointly created by industry heavyweights Red Hat,
Novell, IBM, Silicon Graphics along with several smaller companies.

Breaking down the constituent parts of MRG, Red Hat officials note
that the R is relevant mostly to financial services companies and
defense contractors. The M is for those products, such as IBM's
Websphere MQ, that tend to pass a lot of messages between applications
and servers.

The G in MRG, until release 1.1, has been the missing link. Red Hat
officials said it has been the case largely because its programmers
have been working overtime to integrate the Condor grid into the
Enterprise MRG product. They said that when MRG went into beta in late
2007, the Condor technology was yet to be stitched in because it had
yet to support JBoss Enterprise stack.

Nvidia Reportedly Develops x86 Central

Nvidia Corp is reportedly working on its own x86 central processing
unit, a rather unexpected move considering the fact that the company
does not have license on x86 instruction set, but also a fairly
logical one now that the company has switched its chief scientist.

A news-story by The Inquirer web-site claims that "Nvidia is
definitely working on an x86 chip and the firm is heavily recruiting
x86 engineers all over Silicon Valley". Back in 2006 the designer of
graphics processing units hired numerous specialists from Stexar
company, which also designed central processing units (CPUs) and
related technologies. Additionally, back in January '08 Nvidia
replaced its chief scientist David Kirk with William Dally, who is
known for his expertise in parallel computing technologies as well as
work on Cell/Larrabee-like chips.

Since Nvidia, unlike Advanced Micro Devices or Via Technologies, does
not own a license on x86 instruction set originally developed by Intel
Corp., it cannot formally launch x86-compatible processors. However,
Nvidia may license IBM's Power architecture or even code-morphing
software developed by Transmeta. In that case Nvidia's microprocessors
will hardly be really competitive performance- and support-wise.

Theoretically, Nvidia could launch an x86 CPU without getting a
license from Intel Corp., but a legal battle with the world's largest
chipmaker would hardly end in Nvidia's favour. Moreover, considering
the fact that Nvidia will have 0% of the market from the start as well
as no infrastructure in place, and that the legal dispute would last
for a couple of years only it is hardly possible that by the end of
the litigation the company will have substantial enough market share
to justify a law suit from Intel.

Nvidia badly needs its own microprocessors in order to promote its
core-logic sets as well as platforms. Since forthcoming x86 CPUs from
AMD and Intel will have graphics processors integrated, there is
hardly a lot of space on the market for Nvidia's chipsets, hence,
creating of system-on-chip products similar to Tegra, but aimed at
personal computers, may be an option for Nvidia.

Dell First Multi-Touch Capable Tablet

Latitude XT2 features better performance, enhanced security and
manageability than the previous generation
Ultra-portable, lightweight form factor that is thinner than competitors
More than 11 Hours of Battery Life1

Dell announced the Latitude XT2 convertible tablet building on the
industry's first tablet PC with multi-touch screen capabilities
designed to enhance security, increase performance and extend battery
life. The system starts at $2,399 and is available today at
www.dell.com/latitude.

Multi-touch capabilities on the Latitude XT2 allow users to use
natural gestures like a pinch or tap for scrolling, panning, rotating
and zooming that work with productivity applications they use every
day. Dell's integration of multi-touch screen technology allows
customers to use the full real estate of the display, as opposed to
just the touchpad.

"As part of our commitment to deliver the best mobility experience,
Dell revolutionized the tablet space with the first multi-touch
capable product that allows customers to use the entire screen," said
Brett McAnally, director, Dell Product Group. "Today, we're extending
that leadership with the Latitude XT2 to deliver more performance,
security and manageability."

Firefox 3.2: Ubiquity, Prism, and customization

According to the magazine PC Pro, version 3.2 of the Firefox browser
loaded a field for entering commands and the possibility of a specific
window for web applications.

Orders will be effected through a merger of direct extension Ubiquity,
issue of Mozilla Labs laboratory in August, directly in the address
bar. In addition to search engine by default, is truly hand navigation
which will be at the forefront in this next version of the browser.
Ubiquity allows you to perform several actions. Thus, one can imagine
that a command like "email Jean" will open a new tab, will connect to
your Gmail account, open the dialer, the fields will automatically
fill the subject with the title of the web page viewed as well as its
formatted link in the message body. Create an event on its online
calendar, add a bookmark to Delicious ... the possibilities are
numerous. Mike Connors, developer at Mozilla told PC Pro that as many
commands scheduled for Ubiquity as extensions for Firefox!

"We are trying to determine how it is possible to integrate the
functionality of Mozilla Labs [... ] Rather than optimize [the
browser] little by little, we are actually looking to be innovative.
Sometimes it takes trying to projects in advance without knowing if it
works, "says the developer.

In addition to a merger with Ubiquity, Firefox 3.2 is expected to take
an engine to completely customize the browser interface without having
to install a particular extension. Note that Prism, a Mozilla Labs
project, will also be incorporated into Firefox 3.2 with the
possibility of SSB (Site Specific Browser).

Asked about the Chrome browser that creates a specific process for
each tab opened, Mike Connors said: "When we look at consumption for
each tab, this makes a lot of memory [... ] Remains a unique process
more efficient. "

Microsoft Enterprise Search Goes Deep

Twenty years ago, enterprise search meant sifting through office
filing cabinets to try to find the desired document. Nowadays,
increased competition and a challenging economic climate require that
businesses be able to locate an electronic version of a document or
pinpoint a vital piece of business information in an instant.
Imperatives like these help explain why industry analysts forecast
continued strong demand for enterprise search solutions.

Since Microsoft completed its acquisition of enterprise search
developer FAST Search & Transfer last April, the Microsoft Office
SharePoint Server team has been working closely with colleagues at
FAST to bring together the companies' respective search technologies.
The result combines FAST's deep search expertise with the widely used
platform technology of SharePoint Server.

Today at FASTforward'09 in Las Vegas, Microsoft provided a glimpse
into the fruits of their efforts: FAST Search for SharePoint, a new
search server that will add the high-end search capabilities of FAST
ESP to SharePoint. FAST Search for SharePoint will be available with
the release of the next version of Microsoft Office. The solution will
equip businesses with high-end search capabilities that will enhance
their efficiency and boost productivity.

As a part of the road map disclosure at FASTforward'09, Microsoft also
announced ESP for SharePoint, a special offer available for SharePoint
Enterprise Client Access License customers. With ESP for SharePoint,
these customers can purchase FAST's high-end search capabilities today
with a defined licensing path to FAST Search for SharePoint when it's
released.

Sandisk Develops 32nm NAND Flash Technology

SANDISK DEVELOPS 32-NANOMETER NAND FLASH TECHNOLOGY—SMALLEST, MOST
ADVANCED FLASH MEMORY CHIP IN THE WORLD

Combination of X3 and 32 nanometer Represents Breakthroughs in Size
and Density; Significantly Reduces Manufacturing Cost While
Maintaining Performance

Will allow for higher capacity of microSD cards not possible with
existing technologies
Maintains performance levels of 43nm process technology due to
SanDisk's advanced All Bit-Line architecture and 32nm process
technology advancements


SanDisk Corporation and Toshiba Corporation today announced the
co-development of multi-level cell NAND flash memory using 32-nm
process technology to produce a 32-Gb X3 memory chip. The breakthrough
introduction is expected to quickly bring to market advanced
technologies that will enable greater capacities and reduce
manufacturing costs for products ranging from memory cards to Solid
State Drives.

"The development of our third-generation 3-bits-per-cell technology on
32nm within one and a half years after the introduction of the first
generation of 3-bits-per-cell on 56nm shows the incredibly fast pace
necessary to be a world-class producer in today's industry," said
Sanjay Mehrotra, co-founder and president, SanDisk. "This allows us to
offer higher capacities at compelling form factors while reducing
manufacturing costs – all helping to expand our various product lines.
This new development highlights SanDisk's deep level of technical
expertise and innovation that ultimately benefits consumers."

Wednesday, 15 June 2011

Microsoft testing new search service

Microsoft Corp is testing a new version of its online search service
internally under the name of Kumo.com, a spokesman for the software
company said on Monday.

The service is not yet available outside the company, but may
eventually form part of Microsoft's attempt to catch up with Internet
search leaders Google Inc and Yahoo Inc.

The new service was unveiled in an internal memo sent by the head of
research at the company's online services division on Monday. It did
not provide details about the new features.

"Kumo.com exists only inside the corporate network, and in order to
get enough feedback we will be redirecting internal live.com traffic
over to the test site in the coming days," said the memo from Satya
Nadella. "Kumo is the codename we have chosen for the internal test."

The memo was first made public on The Wall Street Journal's All Things
Digital blog.

Microsoft's Nadella reckons the company can put together a better
search engine than those currently available.

"We believe we can provide a better and more useful search experience
that helps you not just search but accomplish tasks," Nadella said in
the memo. "An explorer pane on the left side of results pages will
give you access to tools that help you with your tasks."

Microsoft Surface Expands Availability to 12 EMEA

Yesterday at CeBIT, Microsoft Corp. announced expanded commercial
availability of Microsoft Surface to 12 select markets in Europe,
Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and has broadened its developer partner
ecosystem to support those additional markets with local, relevant
content. Previously available for purchase by companies in the U.S.
and Canada, Microsoft Surface is now also available in Austria,
Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Spain,
Sweden, the United Arab Emirates and the U.K.

Microsoft Surface, the first commercially available surface computer
from Microsoft, is a revolutionary surface computing platform that
responds to natural hand gestures and to the placement of real-world
objects on the display. With a large, 360-degree, horizontal user
interface, Microsoft Surface creates a unique gathering place where
multiple users can collaboratively and simultaneously interact with
information, content and physical objects, communicating with each
other in a way that feels familiar, just like in the real world. In
addition, Microsoft Surface enables companies to attract and convert
new customers as well as cross-sell products and services, drive
customer loyalty, and achieve operating efficiencies.

"Since our initial launch of Microsoft Surface, we've received an
overwhelming response from companies worldwide that are looking for
innovative ways to engage with their customers and developers who want
to create applications that were not possible with other
technologies," said Panos Panay, general manager of Microsoft Surface.
"We're excited to be entering into these new markets with partners
that have already begun exploring many possibilities of Microsoft
Surface locally."


Growing Partner Ecosystem
Microsoft Surface is at the forefront of the evolution to the Natural
User Interface (NUI), a new and intuitive way to interact with
technology that uses touch and hand gestures. With Microsoft Surface,
users have an entirely new way to interact with digital content, while
businesses are able to gain operational efficiencies and have new ways
to connect with their customers. As content and applications provide
the real context of the Microsoft Surface experience, developers are a
critical component to enabling unique scenarios. In addition, a robust
partner ecosystem will provide businesses with a wide variety of new
Microsoft Surface applications and compelling solutions specific to
their needs.
__________________

Telefonica, other telcos to launch Linux phones

HELSINKI, the one of the largest mobile operators in the world,
Telefonica, joined wireless Linux foundation LiMo on Monday and
committed with five other major operators to sell phones using its
software this year.

Vodafone, Orange, Japan's NTT DoCoMo, Korea's SK Telecom, and the top
U.S. operator Verizon Wireless will also introduce phones using LiMo
software in 2009, the operators said in a joint statement ahead of
Mobile World Congress trade show next week in Barcelona.

"With a host of operators pledging to deliver handsets in 2009, we
expect LiMo to start making real tangible progress in 2010," said
Geoff Blaber, an analyst at research firm CCS Insight.

The market for software platforms on cellphones is led by Nokia's
Symbian operating system, but it has lost much ground over the last
year to Apple Inc and Research in Motion.

Computer operating system Linux has had little success in cellphones
thus far, but its role is increasing with the LiMo platform and Google
Inc using Linux to build its Android platform.

LiMo, a non-profit foundation, hopes to benefit from its focus on
giving greater say over software development to telecoms operators.

"Android is enjoying a huge amount of momentum at the moment in terms
of operator commitment and manufacturer support," said CCS' Blaber.
"However, LiMo remains a strong longer term bet for a host of
operators that seek an independent and service neutral platform."

Sagem buys broadband business of Gigaset

Sagem Communications has entered into an agreement to acquire the
Broadband and WiMAX business of Gigaset Communications GmbH, a
subsidiary of Arques Industries AG and Siemens AG.

This should be the first acquisition for Sagem Communications since
being acquired by The Gores Group, a US-based private equity firm, in
January 2008. The addition of the Broadband and WiMAX assets of
Gigaset should enable Sagem Communications, in accordance with its
strategy, to enhance its position as a leading global provider of
broadband products and to gain access to new technologies and
customers. Sagem Communications has 6,570 employees worldwide, and
posted sales of 1.3 billion euros in 2008.

Through the transaction, Gigaset Communications would strengthen its
core business as the European market leader for cordless DECT phones.

"This acquisition should reinforce Sagem Communications' objective to
become a world leader in broadband terminals, convergence and digital
home solutions" said Patrick Sevian, President of Sagem
Communications. "We firmly believe that the global customer footprint
and the excellent R&D capabilities of Gigaset will significantly
enhance our positioning and the value we provide to our customers".

"The voice business is our core competence and the foundation of our
market leadership. That is why we focus on our strengths as a well
established, modern and innovative manufacturer of telephones", says
Jose Costa e Silva, CEO of Gigaset Communications. "We are delighted
that with Sagem Communications we have found a proficient and well
positioned partner in the broadband business."

The transaction is subject to the prior consultation of Sagem
Communications' Workers Council and to the approval of the relevant
competition authorities.

ZOTAC Announces The GeForce GTS 250

ZOTAC International, an award-winning manufacturer of graphics cards
and motherboards, today kicks off CeBit 2009 with three new
performance graphics cards - the new ZOTAC GeForce GTS 250 512MB,
GeForce GTS 250 1GB and GeForce GTS 250 AMP! Edition. The new ZOTAC
GeForce GTS 250 series deliver a host of technologies to value-minded
gamers everywhere - including DirectX 10 and OpenGL 2.1 compatibility,
NVIDIA CUDA and PhysX technologies.

A unified architecture packs the ZOTAC GeForce GTS 250 series with 128
high-speed programmable stream processors that are configurable for
screaming-fast 3D gaming performance or high-performance general
purpose computing with CUDA. High-speed GDDR3 memory technology with a
wide 256-bit memory interface feeds the graphics processor with
high-resolution textures for vivid and realistic visuals.

"Gamers are always looking for the best performance for their money.
With the new ZOTAC GeForce GTS 250 series, we're delivering a graphics
card that offers breathtaking performance with loads of technology,"
said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.

The ZOTAC GeForce GTS 250 AMP! Edition takes performance to the next
level with its highly tuned and tweaked GeForce GTS 250 graphics
processor. Packed with insanely fast 0.8-nanosecond GDDR3 video
memory, the, the ZOTAC GeForce GTS 250 AMP! Edition gives gamers the
performance edge needed in the latest 3D titles and applications with
additional overclocking headroom.

Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch Now Available

today introduced "Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch," a new application
available for free from Apple's App Store that lets customers enjoy
over 240,000 books, including 104 of 112 New York Times Bestsellers,
on the iPhone and iPod touch using Apple's Multi-Touch user interface.
Amazon's new Whispersync technology saves and synchronizes a
customer's bookmark across their original Kindle, Kindle 2, iPhone and
iPod touch, so customers always have their reading with them and never
lose their place. Kindle customers can read a few pages on their
iPhone or iPod touch and pick up right where they left off on their
Kindle or Kindle 2.

"We are excited to bring the new Kindle application to Apple's App
Store and think customers are going to love how easy and fun it is to
read their Kindle books on the iPhone and iPod touch," said Ian Freed,
vice president, Amazon Kindle.

Nokia releases new Qt developer offerings to increase

Nokia today announced the availability of version 4.5 of the Qt
cross-platform application and UI framework. It also introduced Qt
Creator, a new lightweight cross-platform Integrated Development
Environment (IDE), Qt 4.5 and Qt Creator combined comprises the Qt
SDK, an easy to install package that will let developers create
applications quickly and easily.

"Qt 4.5 is setting the benchmark for application development," said
Benoit Schillings, Chief Technologist, Qt Software, Nokia. "With the
performance improvements in Qt, the introduction of Qt Creator, and
the release of the Qt SDK, developers looking for a native or a hybrid
native/web application framework now have the power and flexibility
they need."

The release of Qt 4.5 also marks an important milestone for the open
source community. For the first time Qt will include the LGPL
licensing option to go along with the Commercial License and GPL
licensing options currently available. By adding the LGPL license for
Qt, developers can now add their proprietary applications on top of Qt
without paying a licensing fee.

In addition to the new product releases and licensing changes, Qt
Software is also introducing a new flexible technical support package
for LGPL and GPL license users. Developers using these licenses will
now be able to purchase technical support from Qt Software.

Western digital announced WD ShareSpace 8 TB

Western Digital(WD)-the world's leader in external storage solutions,
today announced that WD ShareSpace network storage systems now offer 8
TB (terabytes) of capacity, up to 30 percent faster transfer speeds,
and DLNA1 media streaming capabilities. Combined with its ease-of-use
and small footprint, WD ShareSpace is now a more compelling solution
for small offices and digital media enthusiasts who want to store,
protect and share massive amounts of content.

Responding to small-business customers' needs for increased shared
storage, WD incorporated its industry-first 2 terabyte WD Caviar Green
drive into WD ShareSpace's flexible four-bay design, creating a
massive 8 TB's of storage in a small footprint.

The included WD Anywhere Backup software provides automatic and
continuous protection for the valuable data from every PC and Mac on
the network.

To speed up both backup and storage, WD improved WD ShareSpace's read
and write speeds up to 30 percent for large media files. Current WD
ShareSpace owners may download the new firmware update to experience
these performance improvements.

HP Strengthens Thin Client Software Features

HP today announced it has improved the user experience and simplified
management of its industry-leading HP thin client portfolio with
enhanced software choices included on every HP thin client.

HP Device Manager 4.0 delivers simple, yet sophisticated centralized
administration capabilities. HP TeemTalk terminal emulation software
provides easier basic mainframe connectivity and communications with
applications in the data center.

"Our technology leadership in thin client software and hardware has
made HP the customer's first choice in thin computing," said Jeff
Groudan, vice president, Desktop Solutions Organization, HP. "The
reliable performance, affordable security and simple manageability of
HP thin clients make them the ideal access devices to complete any
client virtualization solution."

Microsoft and Lenovo Announces Ultimate

Today, Microsoft Corp. and Lenovo announced the availability of the
Ultimate Academic Personal Computer promotion with high-powered,
highly functional, affordable laptop PCs designed specifically for
college and university students, faculty, and staff. As part of the
program, initially offered as a pilot by Microsoft, Lenovo will offer
four different ThinkPad laptops pre-loaded with Windows Vista Ultimate
and Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007.


The Ultimate Academic PC promotion offers four exclusive configurations:

ThinkPad T400. The 14-inch widescreen laptop gives users powerful
processing functionality, a host of wireless connectivity options and
multimedia features essential for college students. Lenovo also builds
in a roll cage to give the laptop extra durability to meet the rigors
of academic life.
ThinkPad R500. This laptop packs in the same functionality as the
ThinkPad T400 but gives users extra screen real estate with a 15-inch
display.
ThinkPad X200 Tablet. The Tablet offers note-takers the best of
both worlds with a Tablet PC and a laptop all in one. The 12-inch
screen swivels both directions for easy maneuvering in class, and has
low reflectivity and wide viewing angles; the Tablet also features a
full-size keyboard, and more than 10 hours of battery life for all-day
computing. (1)
ThinkPad X301. Lenovo's thinnest and lightest full-function PC,
the ThinkPad X301 comes with several leading technologies such as
solid state drive storage for greater reliability, an LED display for
a crisp viewing experience and two roll cages to make the laptop
extremely light yet sturdy.


Currently available in the U.S., the Ultimate Academic PCs give
students access to Microsoft software including Windows Vista
Ultimate, which offers students extensive options for music, images,
online entertainment, extended battery life, and the most advanced,
layered security protection of any Windows release yet.

By coupling this with Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007, students have
access to a comprehensive set of tools that can help them create
high-quality documents with Microsoft Office Word 2007, Microsoft
Office Excel 2007, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 and Microsoft
Office Publisher 2007; gather and consolidate lecture notes or
research with Microsoft Office OneNote 2007; stay organized with
Microsoft Office Outlook 2007; and easily collaborate with colleagues
and professors across geographical boundaries using Microsoft Office
Groove 2007.

"The Ultimate Academic PC is ideal for students because it gives them
everything they need to be successful as soon as they take it out of
the box," said Paul Lanning, president of the Foundation for
California Community Colleges, a nonprofit organization that operates
CollegeBuys, a purchasing program that saves California Community
Colleges, students and faculty money on offerings such as the Ultimate
Academic PC. "It is great that Microsoft and Lenovo are providing this
PC which answers a previously unmet need on behalf of college
students. This demonstrates the level to which both companies are
committed to the education market."

The Ultimate Academic PC was initiated by James Ptaszynski, Ph.D.,
senior director of Worldwide Higher Education Strategy of the
Worldwide Public Sector team at Microsoft while shopping for a
computer for his college-bound son. He wanted to select a PC that —
out of the box — provided access to the best Microsoft software
pre-loaded on durable and stylish hardware at a relatively low price.

Windows 7 Build 7048 Rumor

While Microsoft is currently working on finalizing the Release
Candidate of Windows 7, a new version of its forthcoming operating
system, reserved for a community of accredited testers, appeared on
the download BitTorrent networks. Stamped in 7048, this build,
according to the names of the files made available, was compiled on 19
February. For now, only the 64 bit versions of the system are shared,
but the user at the origin of the leak that he will soon line the 32
bit versions. Officially, users have instant access to that beta 1 of
the system, which corresponds to the build 7000.

Quite a few are new to the program of this new version, which did not
prevent more than 16,000 people already start the download. Among
other things, we can see a new animation in the Start menu, new icons
for applications like Paint or Calculator, an overhaul of the taskbar
to enable it to accommodate a larger number of applications, or mild
changes in Windows Media Player. The Release Candidate is expected to
make its appearance around the month of April.

Bluetooth 2.2

According to the analysts over at IMS Research, the Bluetooth Special
Interest Group (SIG) is planning to release an updated Bluetooth in
mid 2009 with a promise to deliver transfer rates at higher speeds
than previous versions.

The idea of the new High Speed Bluetooth specification is to work with
WLAN or USB for improved data rates, and will be known as Bluetooth
10x and Bluetooth 100x, respectively.

For this to work, a mobile phone will need to be equipped with WLAN or
UWB radio. Hence Bluetooth 10x will be used first, since many of the
newer handsets already have WiFi capabilities built-in.
According to the SIG, Bluetooth 2.2 will enable wireless video
streaming, printing and other Wi-Fi related tasks. It will also meant
that faster speeds than that under v1.1 can be achieved.

Since we don't have any news of devices that will use this new
Bluetooth specification, we can't tell if it delivers its promises.
But once we have some compatible devices on hand, we'll try it out and
let you know.

We will be able to know more about Bluetooth 2.2 in mid 2009 when its
get launched by Bluetooth Special Interest Group. It is expected that
Bluetooth 10x devices will be released first followed by Bluetooth
100x, which if used along with Ultra Wide Broadband radio, may be able
to give 480mbps of data transfer speed.

For this to work, a mobile phone will need to be equipped with WLAN or
UWB radio. Hence Bluetooth 10x will be used first, since many of the
newer handsets already have WiFi capabilities built-in.The way I see
it, smartphones should stand first in the line for any upgrades,
although some of the modern WiFi-enabled feature phones could also see
such an update.

Bluetooth 10x is expected to give better performance in Wi-Fi devices
and this will be pretty useful especially in portable media players.
The new iPod Touch 2G has a Bluetooth chip embedded in it but it has
not yet been activated. Once the final specifications are released, we
can expect Apple to release the update to enable Bluetooth 2.2
services.