Sun 'terrible' place to work

David Axmark, co-founder of MySQL, has quit Sun allegedly because the place is too big.

In his resignation letter, Axmark said he quit Sun Microsystems because he hates all the rules and hates having to break them to come up with anything interesting.

"I have thought about my role at Sun and decided that I am better off in smaller organisations," he wrote.

The letter ended up in Sun watcher Kaj Arnö's blog. Axmark added it would be far better for him to ‘retire’ from employment and work with MySQL and Sun on a less formal basis.

Axmark found himself behind a desk at Sun when the outfit bought MySQL in January for US$1bn.

The other founder of MySQL, Monty Widenius, who was the primary architect of the original database, has also said he wants to walk.

Longtime head of MySQL's Japan business, Larry Stefonic, cleaned out his desk after five years with the outfit.

All up it looks like Sun is about to lose shedloads of MySQL experience because it does not want its workers to use colours that are not on the official list and allow creative people to draw outside the lines.

Taken from www.itnews.com.au

[...]

System upgrade caused Blackberry blackout

A disruption of BlackBerry cellphones in North America for several hours Monday was caused by the failure of one of its recently upgraded systems, Research in Motion said Tuesday.

The Canadian maker of the hugely popular mobile devices that combine telephone, email and Internet capabilities said its preliminary analysis "points to a problem with an internal data routing system within the BlackBerry service infrastructure that had been recently upgraded."
The upgrade was part of RIM's routine and ongoing efforts to increase overall capacity to meet long-term growth in demand, the company said in a statement, noting similar upgrades in the past were problem-free.

"RIM apologizes to its customers for any inconvenience," the company said, adding that no messages were lost during the outage and the system was back up and running normally Monday evening.

Disruption of BlackBerry service is a major bane for business and government employees who rely on the devices to get work done while on the move.

Reliance on BlackBerry "smart phones" is so fierce that they have been jokingly dubbed "CrackBerries" in a reference to a tendency for their owners to compulsively check email as if it were an addiction.

(From Taken www.tech.yahoo.com)

[...]

XO Laptops Go Next to Haiti

The One Laptop Per Child Foundation (OLPC) has teamed up with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to launch a pilot project in Haiti, the first time the group will be able to comprehensively evaluate the idea of giving laptops directly to students as a learning tool.

OLPC, which makes the US$188 XO laptop aimed at kids in developing nations, will contribute $2 million to the project, while IDB will provide a $3 million grant. The project aims to distribute XO laptops to 13,200 students and 500 teachers in 60 Haitian primary schools, the groups said in a statement.

The organizations are financing the project to test whether the use of laptops in schools on a one-to-one basis can improve teaching and learning in Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world.

"We have studies about the impact of computer labs and shared computers in the classroom, but there's never been a comprehensive evaluation of the learning model based on giving each child a laptop," said Emma Näslund-Hadley, the IDB's project team leader. "This is crucial to determine the effectiveness of this model under conditions of extreme poverty and as a tool for accelerating learning."

Education Aim
One aim of the project is to determine how the laptops can be used to help solve problems such as a shortage of qualified teachers, as well as educating children of different ages and grades in the same classroom. The Haitian government hopes the laptops can help speed up the learning process for students who enter school late or have to repeat grades, according to the release.
Teachers and students will be trained how to use the laptops and carry out basic maintenance and trouble shooting. Some students will receive vocational training to handle more complex laptop repairs.

The project will be evaluated by UNESCO's Regional Office on Education in Latin America and the Caribbean, which will conduct standardized math and language tests before and after the pilot project to determine performance improvements. Observers will also gauge whether the laptops affect attitudes and behaviors regarding school management, the value families place on education, the use of laptops at home, and the perceived educational progress of the students.
Low-Cost Laptops Planned

The OLPC project started as an attempt to build a US$100 laptop and work with governments to pass them out to kids in poor nations, but the XO, will likely end up costing nearly double that amount at first. The organizers of the effort, led by academics and researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), hope high-volume sales of the device will drive down costs.

The goal of OLPC is to make sure nobody misses out on the benefits of computing. The fear is that the price of a PC is keeping too many people in developing countries from learning how software, the Internet and communications via computing can improve their economies, job prospects and lives, or that poor countries will fall further behind the modern world due to their inability to access computers.

(Taken From www.tech.yahoo.com)

[...]

Lost Laptop Exposes Nashville Voters to Identity Theft

The theft of a laptop containing Social Security numbers of Nashville, Tennessee, area voters is expected to cost local officials about US$1 million as they roll out identity-theft protection to those affected.

County officials say that thieves broke into Davidson County Election Commission offices on the weekend before Christmas, smashing a window with a rock and then making off with a $3,000 router, a digital camera and a pair of Dell Latitude laptops containing names and Social Security numbers of all 337,000 registered voters in the county.

County election officials began notifying residents of the breach on Jan. 2, and the local government is offering victims one year of free identity theft protection from Debix Identity Protection Network.

Debix says that 25 percent to 35 percent of victims of this type of breach typically request this service. With the city paying Debix just under $10 per account, the price tag for the laptop theft is expected to be in the $1 million range.

Since state data breach disclosure laws went into effect a few years ago, the theft of an unencrypted laptop computer can become a major problem for any organization that stores sensitive data.

"It is a very bad information-handling practice to keep sensitive information about individuals including their Social Security numbers on an unencrypted laptop or any other device that is removable," said Paul Stephens director of policy and advocacy with Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a privacy advocacy group that has tracked the exposure of 217 million records in the U.S. over the past three years.

Laptop thefts have been the source of privacy breaches at AT&T, The Gap, and the Chicago Public School system recently.

The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County's IT services department is now working with the Commission to make changes to protect residents from this type of incident and has already come up with 19 recommendations, said Janel Lacy, a spokeswoman for Nashville Mayor Karl Dean.

(Taken from www.tech.yahoo.com)

[...]

Macworld ranks swell as Apple's 'cool factor' spreads

They come sporting mohawks, full-body tattoos, multiple piercings, and hair in brilliant colors -- the ever-growing congregation of the "Mac-faithful" -- basking in hip technology and declaring love for their iPods, iPhones and everything else from Apple on show at the annual MacWorld Expo.

This year a record more than 50,000 veteran fans and new converts are expected to jam into San Francisco's Moscone Center, on pilgrimages to check out the newest products from Apple Inc.

MacWorld this year is again delivering on Apple's "cool factor," its ability to merge geeky gadgets with youth culture. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs unveiled the company's new iTunes movie rental service and the market's thinnest notebook computer.

And all around the show, which continues through Friday, are the paraphernalia of the Mac cult, books, software and hardware add-ons to take advantage of the dedication of the legions of Apple acolytes.

Their numbers are growing fast: sales of Macintosh computers have outpaced the market due to what analysts refer to as a "halo effect" from Apple's iPod MP3 players and iPhones that combine telephone, Internet, music and video.

"It is pretty much impossible to quantify the halo effect, but we are seeing Apple continue to grow faster than the market, so they are taking market share," NPD analyst Stephen Baker told AFP.

"Clearly, more people are buying Macs and more people are using Macs," he said, noting that people are creating "mixed home environments": running both Windows-based personal computers and Macintosh machines.

On the Macworld floor, Mark Lawrence bought an autographed copy of the book "Switching to a Mac" for his wife to coax her into using her Macintosh instead of her Windows-based personal computer at home.

Lawrence, chief engineer at the Stanford University radio station, is shifting his team to Macintosh computers as well.

"I think the iPod is what got it into people's consciousness that Macs are cool," said Lawrence, a Macintosh devotee for 20 years.

"Apple is doing a great job marketing the cool factor. For me, it has been that they are easy to use and stable."

"I have a friend who got a Mac recently and he actually used the word 'love'," said Philip Goward, founder of the firm Smile On My Mac.

"That's the first time I ever heard someone use that word concerning a computer. I think suddenly we've become cool."

Macworld offerings range from stylishly frivolous to technologically serious.

El Gato hawks an EyeTV device for watching television shows on Macintosh computers, while another company offers its Supacam for streaming video onto the Internet.

Gelaskins offers art print covers for laptops and iPhones, while Otterbox has shock and waterproof containers for iPhones and iPods.

Smithmicro sells a "Poser" program for Macintosh users to make 3-D animated proxies for online virtual worlds, as well as software to create one's own manga or anime characters.

"We look for things that appeal to the Mac market," said Linda Petrucci, head of e-commerce at Smithmicro.

"They are loyal, they stick with us. PC users tend to want something free or at very low cost and then go away."

At Macworld Vestalife launched its Ladybug iPod stereo docking system, designed in collaboration with Element Skateboards, for "teens and 'tweens," children 11 to adult.

"We want to reach a slightly edgy, hip crowd and that fit with Apple," said Vestalife co-founder Wayne Ludlum.

There are even product lines for the Mac-cool hopefuls still nervous about leaving their Microsoft Windows products behind.

VMware is showcasing a Fusion program that enables machines to seamlessly run programs regardless of which operating system they are written for, according to group manager Pat Lee.

"Fusion is a security blanket for those people worried that they will switch to Mac and need that one Windows application they left behind," Lee told AFP. "We are seeing good adoption."

Even Microsoft is at Macworld, the arch-rival launching a Macintosh version of its Office program.

"We blend the best of both worlds: Microsoft technology with Apple's look and feel," said Microsoft's Han-Yi Shaw.

"You get an efficient but esthetically pleasing result we are proud of. We are working very closely with Apple. We succeed together."

(Taken from www.tech.yahoo.com)

[...]

IBM to add software for Apple devices

E-mail software from IBM Corp. will be available on Apple Inc. iPhones and iPod Touch devices under a new partnership that brings together two big rivals of Microsoft Corp.

IBM plans a formal announcement of the Lotus Notes e-mail package for Apple's portable devices at its Lotusphere conference in Orlando, Fla., next week. The software, which requires use of IBM's Domino e-mail server program, will be free for users who already have a Lotus Web-access license and start at $39 per year for new users.

IBM also plans to release Lotus Notes and the free Lotus Symphony "productivity" package — which includes documents, spreadsheets and other Microsoft Office-like software — for Apple's Macintosh computers.

With these moves, IBM is trying to find more avenues for its software and take advantage of Apple's natural affinity for Microsoft alternatives.

The iPhone already can connect users to Web-based e-mail services and to corporate e-mail sent over Microsoft's Exchange e-mail platform, though businesses rarely enable the setting that makes it possible.

If IBM, which counts 135 million Lotus users worldwide, can get companies to let their employees check Lotus e-mail on iPhones, the partnership could make Apple's gadget more competitive with Research in Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry and other business-targeted smart phones.

IBM and Apple, competitors in the early years of the PC market, traditionally have not worked closely together in software, though Apple used IBM chips in some Macs for several years until ditching them in favor of Intel Corp. processors in 2005. But now the sides appreciate that "we have a lot in common," IBM spokesman Mike Azzi said. "We're going to cross-pollinate."

One reason for the distance between the two companies is the small overlap between Mac users and the big corporate customers that commonly buy products from IBM.

Now, Apple hardware has become a broader platform with the popularity of the iPhone and Web-enabled iPod Touch devices. However, Apple has delayed fully opening the devices to third-party applications; a "software developers' kit" to enable that isn't due until next month. Apple and IBM have been working together on their own.

(Taken from www.tech.yahoo.com)

[...]

Toshiba slashes HD DVD prices after setback

More than a week after being dealt a potentially mortal blow by the defection of Warner Home Video to the Blu-ray Disc camp, HD DVD developer Toshiba is striking back.

The company, left with just two major studios supporting its vision of next-generation technology, said Monday that it is stepping up its marketing campaign to boost the HD DVD format.

But with the centerpiece of this campaign consisting of across-the-board player price cuts -- prices for the two cheapest players are being halved, to $150 and $200 -- observers wonder if Toshiba isn't merely engaging in a fire sale, blowing out its HD DVD machines and pitching them to consumers as a way to get their existing DVD libraries to look better.

Furthering these sentiments are Toshiba's stated goal to spotlight not just the superior benefits of HD DVD but also "the benefits HD DVD brings to a consumer's current DVD library by upconverting standard DVDs via the HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) output to near-high-definition picture quality."

"It seems like a smart strategy to note that there's value in an HD DVD player even though there is a reduced amount of content available for it," said analyst Tom Adams, president of Adams Media Research. "That's smart both for existing buyers, with whom they have a potential problem, and for purposes of continuing to sell players, where for $150 it's a heck of a DVD player."

Toshiba is slashing the suggested retail price of its entry-level HD-A3 player from $299.99 to $149.99. (This is the same player that was widely available at Wal-Mart and other discount chains just before the holidays for less than $100.)

The midrange HD-A30, with true HD (1080p) output, now retails for $199.99, down from $399.99. And the high-end HD-A35 goes from $499.99 to $299.99.

Yoshi Uchiyama, group vp at Toshiba's digital A/V group, said the company is aiming for the mass market, which he feels is put off by the higher prices for Blu-ray Disc machines ($300 and up).

"While price is one of the consideration elements for the early adopter, it is a deal-breaker for the mainstream consumer," Uchiyama said. "Consumer sales this holiday season have proven that consumer awareness of the HD DVD format has been elevated, and pricing is the most critical determinant in consumer purchase decisions of the next-generation HD DVD technology."

Toshiba also plans an extended advertising campaign involving television, print and online media channels. Also in the works are joint marketing and promotional initiatives with retailers and studios. One such initiative already in play is "The Perfect HD Offer," in which consumers who buy any Toshiba HD DVD player get five free HD DVD movies from a selection of 15.

(Taken from www.tech.yahoo.com)

[...]

Softbank eyes free mobile-IP phone calls: sources

Japan's Softbank Corp (9984.T) is considering offering free calls between its mobile phone and Web-based fixed line phone users to boost its subscriber base, sources close to the matter said on Tuesday.

Softbank has already been offering a similar service on a trial basis in three prefectures in Japan including the northern island of Hokkaido, but nothing has been decided on making it a nationwide service, a company spokesman said.

Softbank is Japan's third-largest cellphone operator behind NTT DoCoMo Inc (9437.T) and KDDI Corp (9433.T). It also offers Internet Protocol (IP) phones as part of its high-speed Internet access service.

The Nikkei business daily said in its Tuesday morning edition the free cellphone-IP phone calls may lower Softbank's per-user revenue, but that the company aims to boost total sales by attracting more customers.

Softbank, which bought Vodafone's (VOD.L) Japan unit in 2006, has outpaced its competitors in netting new users with low-cost price plans and a marketing blitz.

Shares in Softbank were unchanged at 2,070 yen by midday, underperforming the Nikkei average (.N225), which rose 0.5 percent.

(Taken From www.tech.yahoo.com)

[...]

Sprint shows off WiMax devices

With just a few months to go before the launch of its next-generation wireless network, Sprint Nextel Corp. has a distinctly modest lineup of compatible devices.

At the International Consumer Electronics Show here this week, Sprint showed only two computer modems that will definitely be available in April, when its WiMax network becomes available outside current trials in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington.

One of the promises of WiMax, a service Sprint will be providing under the Xohm brand, is that receivers for it can be built into a variety of devices like cameras and Web tablets that usually don't have a built-in Internet connection or rely on Wi-Fi, a short-range technology.

"We fully expect an explosion of consumer devices," said Antone Porter, a product manager at Sprint.

The relative dearth of early WiMax gadgets isn't necessarily a sign of trouble for Sprint. Gemma Tedesco, an analyst at In-Stat, said the coverage area will be relatively small this year anyway, and Sprint's main task will be to build out the network.

"Unlike Wi-Fi, users' satisfaction will be dependent on the network coverage, and so Sprint really needs to have their metro areas well covered, to get users motivated; even this may take time, going into 2009 and beyond," she said.

Unlike Wi-Fi, WiMax signals reach for miles, and unlike cellular broadband, it's designed from the ground up for data. That could make WiMax cheaper than current cellular broadband, or 3G, which often costs around $60 a month for laptops.

Sprint hasn't disclosed pricing plans, but Atish Gude, senior vice president of mobile broadband operations at the company, said he suspects "it will be more affordable than 3G."

At launch, the two devices that will be able to connect to the network are a modem for homes or small-offices from ZyXEL Communications Corp. and a laptop modem from ZTE Corp.

The home modem resembles a huge coffee mug, with two antennas that look like handles. It's intended to make WiMax an alternative to wired broadband provided by phone and cable companies. In addition to providing Internet connectivity, it will have jacks for phone service to be provided over WiMax.

The first gadget to come with built-in WiMax capability may be a new model of the EeePC, a diminutive laptop from ASUSTek Computer. The Taiwanese company started selling a version of the cheap computer without WiMax in the fourth quarter of last year and has sold 350,000 globally, Chief Executive Jonney Shih said.

An Eee with built-in WiMax will be available in the second quarter, Shih said. A price has not been decided. The current Eee uses Linux, a free operating system, but it will be possible to use Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP on future models, Shih said.

ASUS is also planning to build WiMax into full-size laptops, to be available in the second half of the year, with prices starting at $999.

San Francisco-based OQO Inc. demonstrated at the show a WiMax-equipped prototype of its small handheld Windows computer with slide-out keyboard. But the company did not say when or even if it would be commercially available. OQO already has models compatible with competing cellular broadband networks.

Finland's Nokia Corp., which is supplying Sprint with WiMax network equipment, has said it will build Intel Corp.'s WiMax chips into a Web tablet model in 2008 but hasn't said when.

The backing of Intel means several big-name laptop makers, like Toshiba Corp. and Lenovo, have committed to making WiMax-equipped models, but no details have emerged.

"A lot of times the first year of a technology's rollout is kind of experimental and bumpy — even with the various flavors of Wi-Fi this has happened, and WiMax is much more complicated," said Tedesco, the In-Stat analyst.

Tedesco said the fact that ZyXEL, a "high-volume, low-end networking equipment vendor," is entering the market will push other companies like D-Link, Belkin and Netgear to also make WiMax gear.

(Taken from www.tech.yahoo.com)

[...]

Economic worries mar tech show's glitz

The world's major technology companies are trying to convince consumers they need an expensive, digitally connected home with the latest high-tech gadgets.

But there's a problem: an increasing number of consumers are having trouble just paying for the roof over the heads, much less a 150-inch television.

Few company executives at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week can avoid questions about the state of the economy, and the combination of a surge in the U.S. jobless rate, oil around $100 and a worsening credit and housing crisis has many on edge.

"The fourth quarter is full of strange, unanswerable situations related to unemployment, related to GDP, related to everything else," Sony Corp (6758.T) Chief Executive Howard Stringer said on Monday after a briefing at the show. "So it's too soon for us to be pessimistic, but I read the papers."

Electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc (CC.N) on Monday became the latest company to undermine the view of some analysts going into the holiday season that U.S. consumers would keep spending on computers, TVs, digital cameras and music players even as the value of their homes declined and foreclosures mounted.

Circuit City, hurt by a costly restructuring, said December sales at stores open at least a year fell more than 11 percent, and it expects to post a fourth-quarter loss.

More critical may be the report of December sales coming Friday from Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N), the leading U.S. electronics retailer. It is expected to have done significantly better than its rival.

Executives at the show and analysts watching the industry's largest U.S. gathering said they feel confident about the current state of the industry. But they're uncertain about the rest of the year, when some economists expect the United States to slip into recession as the housing crisis worsens.

"We watch very carefully these kinds of general economy issues, and we do feel more and more concerned about the subprime issue and the impact on consumer spending and corporate spending," Jonney Shih, chief executive of Taiwan's Asustek Computer Inc (2357.TW), the largest maker of personal computer motherboards, said in an interview.

"Consumers are under intense pressure," added David Daoud, a personal-computer analyst at market researcher IDC.

"With the price of energy continuing to increase and a lot of people seeing the value of their houses dwindle, it will certainly lead to an amount of tension among consumers," he said. "The question now is, are manufacturers responding to that?"

SLOWING SALES GROWTH

An estimated 140,000 people are expected to descend on Las Vegas this week to check out the latest in consumer electronics. These include wireless Internet devices, a 150-inch plasma TV said to be the world's largest, leather-bound laptop computers and even a robot that cleans gutters.

Before the holidays, technology had been viewed as a safe haven for investors fleeing housing, banking and consumer-discretionary stocks. The Standard & Poor's information-technology index has added 5.6 percent in the past 12 months, beating the S&P 500's 0.5 percent decline and the Dow Jones Industrial's 2.6 percent gain.

But investor sentiment has changed in the past week, after British retailer DSG International Plc (DSGI.L) sent European retail stocks diving when it warned that full-year pretax profit would miss analysts' estimates because of falling desktop computer sales and weaker-than-expected laptop PC demand.

"The market dynamics will definitely change," Oh Dong-jin, president of South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS), told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

A series of recent analyst downgrades of technology stocks including No. 1 semiconductor maker Intel Corp (INTC.O) contributed to declining confidence in the sector.

The S&P technology index is down 7.7 percent in the past five trading days, making it the S&P's worst performing sector.

While many products at the Las Vegas show may never reach store shelves, collectively they serve to generate consumer enthusiasm for an industry that the show's organizer, the Consumer Electronics Association, expects will generate $171 billion in sales this year.

The amount is a 6.1 percent increase from 2007's total but less than last year's 8.2 percent surge, the group said on Monday.

Besides the technology, "the other overriding issue of focus is the state of the global economy, as CES serves as a crossroads for large companies from multiple geographies," Bear Stearns analyst Andrew Neff wrote in a note to investors. "Visibility remains limited."

Fears of a deteriorating U.S. economy and falling DVD sales helped drive Warner Bros' decision on Friday to exclusively back Sony Corp's (6758.T) Blu-ray next-generation DVD format, in a blow to Toshiba Corp's(6502.T) rival HD DVD format, a top studio executive told Reuters on Monday.

"We've typically been recession-proof," Warner Bros Entertainment Group President Kevin Tsujihara said at the Las Vegas show. "But the thing we saw in the fourth quarter ... was gas prices beginning to affect sales. And since we're considered an impulse purchase, it's beginning to impact us."

(Taken from www.tech.yahoo.com)

[...]

Intel banks on another wireless gadget

Intel Corp. is betting on a big expansion of "ultra-mobile" computing, an idea that could hinge on how many gadgets people are willing to tote around.

In an interview Monday at the International Consumer Electronics Show, Intel CEO Paul Otellini said energy-efficient, Web-connected computers with full keyboards and screens in the 4-inch neighborhood can give people more of what they want from the Internet than cell phones can.

To help stimulate the technology, Intel plans in the next few months to begin shipping processors and associated "chipsets" that demand relatively little power and are smaller than standard PC processors, allowing them to be crammed into tinier devices, which would be built by other companies.

Eyeing a similar market, wireless chip maker Qualcomm Inc. also has built prototypes of little Web devices. Its chief operating officer, Sanjay Jha, said he expects manufacturers to take up the blueprints and begin selling what he calls "pocketable computers" by the end of this year.

So far, so-called ultra-mobile computers, smaller than average laptops but bigger and more fully featured than most cell phones, have gotten a tepid response.

With the devices' prices often beyond $1,000, many potential buyers have found little reason to scale down from their notebook computers or up from cell phones that have been improving their Web browsing experience.

"How do you make people realize that this is something advantageous to them and different from the notebook experience?" said Richard Shim, an analyst with IDC, a market research firm. "That's the trick. Nobody's been very good at that yet. ... It's not as widely compelling as it needs to be if they want it to compete on the level of a phone or a PC."

But Otellini said such distinctions will cease to matter, especially since small Web devices can incorporate cell phone functions. And he said Apple Inc.'s iPhone showed that combination devices can be elegant.

"You're projecting an end stage on an early technology," he said. "That's a risky thing to do."

To be sure, even with cell phones in nearly every pocket or purse, another gadget could be appealing if it does something particularly compelling. For example, more and more cell phones play music, but plenty of people also carry MP3 players that do the job better.

In a keynote speech Monday at CES, Otellini tried to show that ultra-mobile PCs — he prefers the name "mobile Internet devices" to better distinguish them from laptops — offer a new kind of information-on-the-go bliss.

He demonstrated how an American traveler to Beijing might use a pocket computer to get real-time navigation tips and instant translations of signs, menus and conversation from Chinese.

Otellini acknowledged that this vision for ultra-mobile computing might not be fully realized for a few years.

For one thing, little PCs need longer battery lives so people can tote them around and use them all day.

Intel also expects that wireless broadband networks based on the WiMax standard will develop much further to enable connectivity on the devices. But Otellini said the computers could also make use of cellular networks.

That is the connectivity route favored by Qualcomm, which is a major supplier to the wireless industry. Jha, the Qualcomm executive, said wireless carriers first will need to come up with more enticing data pricing plans.

Proof that wireless carriers will be crucial is in the weak reception for Sony Corp.'s Mylo handheld messaging device. Though it has a full keyboard and sells for around $300, it can go online only in Wi-Fi hot spots, which have limited range.

This is far from the first time Intel has ranged beyond its specialty in PC and server chips in an attempt to diversify — and take the edge off the up-and-down cycles common in the chip business. Past forays that hit dead ends include chips for music players, TVs and cell phones. Intel once even tried selling toy microscopes.

These days, some analysts fear Intel's inventory for PC chips is backing up because of slowing orders from the industry. Intel's shares fell 15 percent last week, vaporizing about $24 billion in shareholder wealth.

Intel also is eyeing home entertainment devices. Otellini introduced a computing-and-graphics-microprocessor combo that can run TVs and set-top boxes.

The company's goal with that product, called Canmore and due out late this year, is to make it easier for people to move Internet content to high-definition TVs.

Otellini said neither that nor the mobile Internet device venture is a mere side project.

"We don't make small bets on anything," he said.

(Taken from www.tech.yahoo.com)

[...]

Toshiba says HD DVD "has not lost" despite Warner move (Reuters)

Toshiba Corp insisted on Sunday that its HD DVD high-definition video format is far from dead despite being dealt a major setback by Warner Bros studio's decision to exclusively back Sony Corp's rival Blu-ray technology.

Akiyo Ozaka, president of Toshiba America Consumer Products, told a briefing at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that HD DVD "has not lost."

But Ozaka was at a loss to say what Toshiba planned to do next after the decision by Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros, one of the world's largest film studios, to embrace Blu-ray, an optical disk format for storing high-definition video that is backed by Toshiba rival Sony.

Toshiba's defiant remarks were the latest salvo in a long-running battle over which format will dominate the next generation of technology for delivering high-definition movies to consumers.
The winner is expected to inherit a multibillion-dollar industry, although consumers so far have been confused by the standards war. Some analysts say that they have also failed to see the attraction of high-definition.

The rivalry has been compared to the video-cassette-recorder format war of the late 1970s and early 1980s which ultimately Sony's Betamax lost and JVC's VHS won.

Toshiba, the main backer of the HD DVD format, defended the technology on Sunday after the HD DVD consortium, a group of companies of which it is a part, canceled plans to hold its own press conference at the Las Vegas trade show, the industry's largest U.S. gathering.

"We were very disappointed with Warner Brothers' announcement," Ozaka said. "Sales of HD DVD were very good last year, especially in October to December."

Ozaka said Toshiba sold about 1 million HD DVD players in North America in the last year as more consumers downloaded high-definition video onto personal computers equipped with the technology.

The technology debuted broadly in the United States in 2006 but has not become a big hit with consumers yet.

Ozaka declined to comment on Toshiba's next steps, which he said Toshiba's HD DVD partners would have to discuss.

Toshiba marketing executive Jodi Sally told the audience that HD DVD remained the best technology, but acknowledged that the Warner Bros announcement on Friday took her by surprise.

"It's difficult for me to believe when all the pundits declare that HD DVD is dead," Sally said. "Clearly, the events of the last few days have led many of you to that conclusion. We have been declared dead before. The reality is we ended 2007 with a majority of the year-to-date market share."

(Taken from www.tech.yahoo.com)

[...]

Samsung TVs to have built-in games

Samsung Electronics Co. will introduce high-definition TV sets with computer-like features, letting users read news from USA Today, play games or look up recipes, the company said Sunday.

A button on the remote of Samsung's new Series 6 and Series 7 LCD and plasma HDTVs displays news, weather, sports and stocks information supplied by USA Today as a picture within the picture. The TV set needs to be connected to the home Internet connection through an Ethernet port for this feature.

Furthermore, some LCD flat-panel sets will come with content preloaded into flash memory, Samsung said. The content will range from artwork that can be displayed as a screensaver, to fitness programs, food recipes and simple games like Sudoku, said Tim Baxter, executive vice president of sales and marketing for the consumer electronics division of Samsung Electronics America.

"If you think about the TV experience, it has historically been a lean-back experience," Baxter said, contrasting it to the more active "lean-forward experience" of using a personal computer.
"We think there are opportunities to bring very relevant parts of that experience into the living room," Baxter said.

Users will be able to update the preloaded content by downloading artwork or games onto flash drives, which can be plugged into the sets.

Samsung plans to launch the interactive sets this spring. Prices were not immediately available

(Taken from www.tech.yahoo.com)

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3.2Gbps FireWire to Challenge USB Again

Previously I've discussed the development of USB 3.0, a 4.8Gbps technology in the works for 2009. Naturally, competition is also in the works: FireWire, the oft-maligned and seldom-used connector, will offer its third incarnation, called S3200, a roughly 3.2Gbps system.

Unless you're a Mac owner, you may not even realize that a second version of FireWire exists. Standard FireWire, or FireWire 400 (which uses that arch-shaped connector on almost every desktop and an M-shaped mini-plug on virtually every laptop), was just the first round of this technology, running at 400Mbps, comparable to USB 2.0. An 800Mbps version of FireWire, called FireWire 800, followed shortly after, but adoption was minimal at best. To date, very few computers or peripherals offer FireWire 800 connections, in large part because the connector is completely different than FireWire 400. (It looks something like a fat USB connector; see the above photo for a picture.)

FireWire S3200 could be approved as early as February of next year, giving it a big jump on USB 3.0... but will people install add-in cards to handle the incompatible connectors? Historically, uptake on products requiring new connectors has been slow, waiting until computer manufacturers began putting the connectors right on the motherboard to pick up steam.

Also expect the "which is better?" debate to rear up once again. USB and FireWire enthusiasts have long argued over how meaningful those theoretical transfer rates are, and sure enough, 480Mbps USB generally underperforms vs. 400Mbps FireWire in the real world, due to architectural overhead. Will 4.8Gbps USB be faster than 3.2Gbps FireWire? We'll have to see, when both are represented by finished, shipping products.

(Taken from www.tech.yahoo.com)

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Cheap PCs: Number of $400 Notebook PCs Is Rising

Can you trust a PC that costs less than $400? Yes, you can, provided you understand what you're getting and what you're not. It's becoming clear that 2008 will bring a flood of new notebook PCs that cost less than $300. (Amazing to think you can buy a PC or a nice dinner for two in NYC.)

Let's look at a few that are available now:

Everex and Zonbu

Everex, a maker of PCs, and Zonbu, creator of open source applications, partnered to create a low-cost ($279) notebook that runs GOS, a version of Ubuntu Linux.

Last summer I used the Zonbu applications on a stand-alone Zonbu Linux box that the company sells. I loved the software applications, but the Zonbu overheated and crashed quite often. The Everex notebook combined with the Zonbu apps makes more sense.

The notebook is energy efficient and has reasonable storage and memory: 512MB of RAM and an 80GB hard drive. It's got an energy-efficient processor, Wi-Fi, and a CD/DVD player. I got to play with the notebook a few weeks ago and found it to be a mixture of impressive and not-so-impressive. It looks old and clunky, a generation behind the new sleek designs. But the same great applications—everything from document processing to photo management—were all very usable, and the word processor can now work offline as well. The Zonbu service, which includes storage of your documents on their servers, is an additional $14.95 per month, so factor that in to the equation.

One of Zonbu's competitors is the Asus Eee ($399) that's included in The Last Gadget Standing roundup at CES. It's another Linux-based PC; Dory Devlin highlights the features in a recent post. Chris Null loves the 7-inch screen (if you can work in that small an area), and commends the 4GB flash and 802.11 connectivity as wise choices. The machine ships with OpenOffice.org 2.0's work apps, including documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. All can be saved on a USB drive and worked with on a Windows PC. There's also a file-manager utility, a PDF reader, a Notes app, and a Thunderbird email client.

The Intel Classmate is a PC designed to deliver computer power to kids in developing countries. In that vein, the case is ruggedized, but lightweight. It relies on an Intel processor and has a 7-inch LCD screen, like the Asus, but small in the hands of children seems more appropriate. It comes with 1GB of RAM if you're running Linux or with 2GB if you opt to run Windows XP. Cost is $200.

Finally, there's the OLPC, the laptop created for kids in developing countries who desperately need access to the information age. When last I looked, the OLPC was being offered in a two-for-one configuration at a cost of $399. It uses an interesting double technology that lets you set the display for black and white (good in bright sunlight) or in full color mode. The 802.11 connectivity offers an added pinch of social networking for OLPC users. OLPC also runs a selection of Linux applications.

What do these four machines have in common? They all cost under $400 (with $400, you can buy two OLPCs). They all use free and open source software. The cost of open source software is minimal, and using Linux instead of relying on an expensive Windows license lowers the price, too. They all use flash memory, which is now affordable.

Finally, OLPC may not have been the perfect computer, but it was the perfect price. Just knowing it could be done spawned this movement.

I would not count on these machines as my only PC. Even kids will find limitations, as you can't play Windows video games or listen to your iPod on most of them. If you do simple word processing, web surfing, and even multimedia viewing, you're in the right space.

If anyone has experience with any of these and wants to share, we're all ears.

(Taken from www.tech.yahoo.com)

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Rivalry over wireless high-def TVs (AP)

Flat-panel TVs look lovely on a wall — the cords hanging from them, less so. After a few years of false starts, the industry finally seems close to tackling that problem. At least three dueling wireless technologies for high-definition TVs will be on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which starts Monday. Manufacturers promise that sets incorporating these technologies will be in stores before the next holiday season.

The heavyweight entry in the field is WirelessHD, a consortium that includes the biggest Asian names in electronics, including Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp.

It's an unusual group, in that the home entertainment industry hasn't generally been a leader in wireless technologies — most of them have been pioneered by makers of cell phones or computer networking gear.

But the consortium is set to announce Thursday that Intel Corp. is joining the group, which could broaden the reach of the technology from home entertainment applications to computers. Intel has been a champion of wireless technologies including Wi-Fi, and more recently, WiMax, a longer-range cousin.

The WirelessHD group is also announcing that it has completed the blueprints for chips that can beam HD audio and video from set-top boxes, DVD players and digital cameras to TV sets. The chips can be made small, and the intention is to have them built into devices, rather than be supplied in add-on adapters.

The technology uses a virgin band of the radio spectrum, around 60 gigahertz. That lets it avoid interference from other wireless networking gear and allows for extremely high data transfer rates, according to John Marshall, chairman of WirelessHD. Unlike other wireless TV solutions, WirelessHD won't need to compress the signal, which can result in a loss of quality.

To satisfy concerns by the Motion Picture Association of America, the organization of Hollywood studios, WirelessHD has intentionally limited the range of the technology.

"What WirelessHD has done is that we've made sure that the technology can cover a whole room — even a large room, up to 10 meters (30 feet) — but we've used techniques that make sure that it can't leak into the apartment next door," Marshall said.

That also means the signal won't reach from the living room into other rooms in the same home.

Jim Williams, chief technology officer of the MPAA, said in a statement that the group was "encouraged by WirelessHD's commitment to foster content protection in the wireless, digital age."

The chipmaker that is best positioned to take advantage of the specification and supply transmitting and receiving chips is SiBEAM Inc., a privately held Sunnyvale, Calif. startup that has been part of the WirelessHD group since its founding in 2006.

The other big electronics companies in the group are Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (known for its Panasonic brand), NEC Corp., LG Electronics Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

Wireless streaming of HD video has been talked about for years, and several companies have announced products that have failed to show up, sunk by technical problems. At last year's show, Philips Electronics NV revealed a kit consisting of two antennas for streaming video, saying it would be on sale in 2007. It hasn't been heard of since.

Chip designer Pulse-Link Inc. is another past victim of optimism: it said in 2004 that it would be shipping chips that send HD signals wirelessly in 2005.

"It's just not that easy. And it took us a whole lot longer than we thought it would," Pulse-Link's president and chief operating officer, said Wednesday.

This year, Pulse-Link is ready. At CES, Westinghouse Digital Electronics will be showing an LCD TV with a built-in Pulse-Link receiver chip.

The 47-inch LCD flat panel won't be aimed at the home market, but at retail and public displays. It will go on sale in the second quarter and will come with a transmitter box that takes a standard HDMI, or High-Definition Multimedia Interface, signal and beams it up to 40 feet.

The price has not been set, but John Araki, a vice president at Westinghouse Digital, said each end of the wireless link adds about $100 to the cost. Consumer models could show up later this year if all goes well.

Pulse-Link's wireless technology is so-called ultra-wideband, or UWB. It allows for fast transfer speeds at short ranges, but not as fast as the 60 GHz WirelessHD technology, so some compression of images is necessary, but Watkins said it won't be noticeable.

Other companies, like Tzero Technologies Inc., are also creating chips that send video signals over UWB.

Lastly, LG Electronics of Korea will be at CES demonstrating LCD and plasma sets that will use run-of-the-mill Wi-Fi as the wireless link. Wi-Fi is a tried and true technology for data networking, but is less than ideal for streaming video. It's the slowest of the three wireless alternatives, and requires the most compression when used for HD video.

Hewlett-Packard Co. already makes two models of Wi-Fi enabled HDTVs, but the wireless link only connects them to home PCs, not with set-top boxes or the rest of the entertainment center.

Starting early this year, LG will be selling two Wi-Fi enabled LCD models, at 47 inches and 52 inches, and two plasma models, at 50 inches and 60 inches. The LCD models will include a wireless transmitter with a 50-foot range. The transmitter will be optional for the plasma models.

Prices have not been announced.

Of course, none of these technologies will let an HDTV go completely wireless: there's still the power cord. People are working on wireless power as well, but we'll have to wait much longer for that.

(Taken from www.tech.yahoo.com)

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Hitachi to debut 500GB drive for laptops (AP)

Notebook computers can be as powerful as desktops these days, especially as hard-disk makers like Hitachi Ltd. grab industry bragging rights by unveiling a 500-gigabyte drive for laptops.

The 500 GB drive is the beefiest one yet for laptops — enough to hold up to 500 hours of digital video, 178 standard-definition, feature-length movies, 250 games or 125,000 four-minute songs, Hitachi said. Currently, the largest laptop drive on the market is a 320 GB model by Western Digital Corp.

Hitachi said Thursday that its 500 GB drive would be available to computer manufacturers in February. Asustek Computer, based in Taiwan, said it would use two of the drives to create the world's first laptops with a monster capacity of 1 terabyte.

It was just last year when desktop PCs or external storage devices began to feature 1 TB drives.

The Asus M50 and M70 laptops will be available in February and March, respectively. Prices were not immediately available.

(Taken from www.tech.yahoo.com)

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