$100 Laptop: One Laptop per Child , first orders

Uruguay buys first '$100 laptops' (from BBC news)

The laptop was designed to be used in developing countries.

The first official order for the so-called "$100 laptop" has been placed by the government of Uruguay. The South American country has bought 100,000 of the machines for schoolchildren aged six to 12. A further 300,000 may be purchased to provide a machine for every child in the country by 2009.

The order will be a boost for the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) organisation behind the project which has admitted difficulties getting concrete orders.

"I have to some degree underestimated the difference between shaking the hand of a head of state and having a cheque written," Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the organisation, recently told the New York Times.

(Interested in more about the program, read on).

Flash SSD Drives for Laptops!

This innovation I am ready for! The primary reason that machines fail (and people cry) over the life of a desktop or laptop is the hard drive. Let's see if this holds true for Flash SSD. See note from Popular Mechanics below:

The Top 10 Most Brilliant Gadgets of 2007
2007 Breakthrough Awards /// The Products
By The Editors Published in the November 2007 issue.

Samsung Solid State Drive
Hard-disk drives are the out-of-shape kids in computer gym class. While a PC’s other components (CPU, GPU and RAM) operate at lightning-fast speeds, the drive huffs and puffs and spins as fast as possible to try to keep up. Flash memory is far speedier and, because it has no moving parts, is resistant to mechanical failure. Samsung’s new Solid State Drives (the samples we received were oxymoronically labeled “solid state disks”) are essentially big bundles of flash memory—up to 64GB—that replace traditional hard drives. Laptops using SSDs are lighter, faster and quieter than those with conventional drives. As price comes down and capacities increase, all computers may give up spinning disks for SSDs.

Complete list of Top 10 Most Brilliant Gadgets of 2007, Breakaway Awards from Popular Mechanics

New Crop of Blackberry's

A Fresh Crop of BlackBerrys
10.05.07

Wi-Fi's the word with the latest RIM Handhelds.
by Sascha Segan PCMagazine.

Fall is the season for berry picking, so a few weeks ago, I took my daughter out looking for juicy, ripe blackberries. Coincidentally, a new crop of BlackBerry smartphones have also been popping up on my desk. But unlike the berries we picked down on the farm, these are even sweeter than last year's.

If you haven't considered a BlackBerry, I highly recommend doing so. That's because the latest models are generally very good phones and are terrific for both texting and e-mail. They also have pretty good music and video players, and there are an increasing number of games and third-party programs available for them. The one true missing link in the BlackBerry software ecosystem, a great Microsoft Office editing program, is coming soon from Dataviz, though it isn't quite out yet.

The new trend in BlackBerrys abilities is Wi-Fi. For example, the new Blackberry Curve 8320 for T-Mobile, lets you make calls over pretty much any Wi-Fi network. That's a huge deal. Subscribe to T-Mobile's $10/month Hotspot@Home package, and calls originated over Wi-Fi, whether it be at home, in your office or at Starbucks, don't cost anything extra. You can use your own Wi-Fi router, or one that T-Mobile is giving away free with a rebate.

The 8320 brings other Curvy goodness to T-Mobile as well. AT&T subscribers have been enjoying the Curve for a while, with its "real" headphone jack that takes true music-player headphones, support for playing music and videos from 4GB memory cards plus a 2-megapixel camera. It's no wonder, really, that young Hollywood actors I've spoken with have been throwing away their old Sidekicks and picking up the latest BlackBerrys.

AT&T has a Wi-Fi BlackBerry too, but it's less charming. The BlackBerry 8820 can't make calls over Wi-Fi, and doesn't have a camera; really, its Wi-Fi is just there so you can get e-mail in the bowels of a corporate campus where there's no AT&T service. Since it's priced the same as the previous 8800 model, though, it's like getting free Wi-Fi, and who's ever said no to free Wi-Fi?

Verizon and Sprint's crops seem to be blossoming late. They'll be getting their next round of BlackBerrys in November, rumors say, as a high-speed variant of the popular BlackBerry Pearl pops up on their networks.

Complete article from PCMagazine.

Microsoft: VoIP, Is the time right for businesses?

October 22nd, 2007

Will Microsoft Unified Communications kick enterprise VoIP, IM into high gear?

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 1:43 am

On our sister site TechRepublic, Jason Hiner offers his view that the just-released Microsoft Unified Communications Server may convince heretofore skittish enterprise users to embrace VoIP and instant messaging.

The reason, Jason strongly implies, is that these features and so much more are now included in a solution deemed worthy of trust.

As to VoIP, Jason writes:
Thousands of companies have been engaged in VoIP deployments over the past three years. One of the original motivators was cost savings, but there was also the promise of improved efficiency and collaboration. Unified communications is what can unlock the potential of VoIP’s efficiency and collaboration improvements. For the companies that have recently finished or will soon finish a big VoIP deployment, layering on a unified communications deployment could be an easy sell, especially for the many companies that already have Windows Server 2003, Exchange, and Microsoft Office in place.

Next, Jason applies some of the same thinking to Instant Messaging-a concept that some enterprise users are still skittish about:

IM continues to be one of the biggest pain points for IT in 2007. While IM has become widely used by business workers, only a small handful of companies actually have an IT-sponsored IM client. The rest of the workers are using consumer services such as Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and Skype. Using public IM clients obviously has major ramifications for privacy and security.

Read on...

Comcast Chided For Managing BitTorrent Network Traffic

aahh... gotta love those cable companies... they have always said they do not do this but...
------------------------------------
Comcast Chided For Managing BitTorrent Network Traffic

An AP investigation revealing the cable company's bandwidth management technology draws protests from net neutrality groups.

By K.C. Jones InformationWeek October 23, 2007 03:34 PM

Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) is denying a report that it is blocking certain types of content with its bandwidth management technology, but that has done little to soothe concerns of net neutrality supporters.

An investigation by The Associated Press over the weekend claimed that Comcast blocks file-sharing to rein in bandwidth use for file transfers on peer-to-peer networks such as BitTorrent. The AP found that Comcast sends messages to people sending and receiving files telling them to stop communicating with each other, but the messages, or reset packets, appear to come from the users' computers.

The cable company on Monday sent out e-mails to media outlets pointing out that it manages traffic on its networks, which may be delayed by its bandwidth management technology, but it does not to block any applications.

"Comcast does not block access to any Web sites or online applications, including peer-to-peer services like BitTorrent," the company said in a statement to Reuters and The New York Times.
On Tuesday, several net neutrality groups who want legislation and accountability for telecommunications companies, chimed in on the debate.

Ben Scott, director of Free Press, a group that advocates network neutrality, said the revelation should serve as a warning.

"Comcast's BitTorrent blocking is the canary in the coal mine for net neutrality -- a clear example of an Internet service provider stifling innovation and free speech online," he said in a prepared statement. "Cable and phone companies like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon should not be allowed to play gatekeeper over legal Internet content.

Complete article.

Google Adds IMAP Support To GMail

Google Adds IMAP Support To GMail

By Scott Gilbertson October 24, 2007

Eureka! GMail has gained IMAP support, one of the most requested features for Google's web-based e-mail service. More than storage space or other features, free web-based IMAP access pushes GMail over the top when compared to offerings from Yahoo, Microsoft and most other web-based e-mail services.

If you log into your GMail account and head to “settings,” the tab for “Forwarding and POP” should now read “Forwarding and POP/IMAP.” If it doesn’t, be patient, Google will be rolling out the new IMAP features across the service over the next few days.

If you’re not familiar with IMAP, it’s like POP access, but allows your changes to live on the server rather than just your e-mail client. For instance, if you move a message in Thunderbird via POP, the movement isn’t mirrored in GMail, but with IMAP it is.

With IMAP you can access your mail via your desktop client, read mail, make changes and have those changes mirrored by any other client accessing the account. If you access your mail from multiple machines, IMAP allows them all to stay in sync. If you don’t access your mail with a desktop client, then IMAP support won’t change the way you interact with GMail.

Entire posting.

Dell Outlet 15% OFF Latitude Notebook PCs (refurb) Coupon, Oct. 22 7 AM

Dell Outlet 15% OFF Latitude Notebook PCs (refurb) Coupon, Oct. 22 7 AM

Dell Outlet has 15% off any refurbished Latitude Notebook PC using Dell
Coupon Code: ??JXTW$RQW36FT Exp 10/24 or after 500 uses. Online only.

(from techbargains.com)

Apple Profits Soar 67% On iPhone, Mac Sales

Apple Profits Soar 67% On iPhone, Mac Sales

A "halo effect" caused by consumer love of the iPod and the iPhone contributed to 2.2 million Mac computers shipped over the last three months.

By Antone Gonsalves InformationWeek October 22, 2007 07:33 PM

(Keep in mind that PCs currently represent 90% of the market share).

Apple on Monday said profits for the fourth fiscal quarter soared 67%, as strong sales of the iPod and the iPhone apparently helped whet consumers' appetite for the Mac.

The computer maker in the quarter ended Sept. 30 shipped 2.2 million Mac computers, a 34% jump over a year ago and 400,000 more units than the company's previous quarterly record. Apple apparently benefited from the "halo effect" caused by consumer love of the iPod and the iPhone. More than 90% of customers would recommend either product to others, according to the company.

The company sold 10.2 million iPods in the quarter, a 17% increase over the same period a year ago. IPhone sales, meanwhile, reached 1.1 million, bringing total sales in fiscal 2007 to 1.4 million. The iPhone went on sale June 29.
The computer maker said net profit for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was $904 million, or $1.01 a share, compared with $542 million, or 62 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Revenues rose to $6.22 billion from $4.84 billion a year ago.

Complete article.

Outlook Developer? OutlookCode.com

I'm not much of a developer, actually very basic scripts are about it for me... but for those of you who are interested in a great site devoted to Outlook scripting... this is the one....

OutlookCode.com by Sue Mosher of Turtleflock, LLC. She's been around for a while and has written numerous books, websites, articles, etc. I highly reccommend this site as a resource.

4TB Desktop Hard drive, 2009 - Laptops to 1TB

From PC World:

Cram 4TB on Desktop Drives by 2009, Hitachi Says
New head-reading technology will quadruple capacity of standard hard drives.

Agam Shah, IDG News Service
Sunday, October 14, 2007 8:00 PM PDT

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies plans to announce Monday it has developed technology that will quadruple the storage capacity of desktop hard drives within the next two years.
The new reading-head technology will allow the company to cram more data on hard drives. Desktop computers could attain a capacity of 4TB of storage while laptop storage could reach 1TB, according to Hitachi.

Complete article.

Staples: 12% off almost anything for a few days

Staples coupon gets you 12% off just about anything. Must be in-store ONLY. Expires October 20, 2007.

Windows Update automatically changing user settings (again)

Did you notice a change in your Windows Update setting on your Vista or XP machine? This might explain things...

Windows Update automatically changing user settings (again)
October 12th, 2007
Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 8:13

After Patch Tuesday this week (October 9), some Windows Vista users noticed something strange: Windows Update had changed their Automatic Update settings and rebooted their machines automatically without their consent.

The new report comes on the heels of recent complaints regarding Windows Update performing stealth updates on users’ machines who had turned off Automatic Updates. (Microsoft officials subsequently explained that glitch by saying that Windows Update requires self-updating before it is able to recognize that new updates are available. Microsoft promised to be clearer, in the future, in communicating this requirement.)

Entire article.

Al Gore, Wins!

OK, I know, this doesn't have a lot to do with technology... but it is such great news! Al Gore awarded Nobel Peace Prize 2007 sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations network of scientists.

Gore Shares Peace Prize for Climate Change Work

By WALTER GIBBS and SARAH LYALL
Published: October 13, 2007

OSLO, Oct. 12 — Former Vice President Al Gore, who emerged from his loss in the muddled 2000 presidential election to devote himself to his passion as an environmental crusader, was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations network of scientists.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised both “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change.”

Full article from nytimes.com

Sprint's WiMax dilemma

Sprint's WiMax dilemma
Sprint Nextel's ousted CEO may not be the only casualty as unhappy investors pressure the company to dump plans for a next-generation network.

By Marguerite Reardon Staff Writer, CNET News.com -->
Published: October 10, 2007, 4:00 AM PDT

If Wall Street pundits get their way, Sprint Nextel's next CEO will put the brakes on plans for a new, high-speed wireless network.

But such a move, while no doubt cutting costs, could condemn the struggling company to also-ran status.

After months of declining subscriber numbers, Sprint Nextel announced Monday that CEO Gary Forsee had stepped down as chairman and chief executive officer. Forsee's departure had been a long time coming, as investors, upset over the company's poor performance, had been pressuring the company's board of directors to make a change at the top.

Among investors' biggest concerns is Sprint's plan to build a next-generation wireless network using a technology called WiMax. The company has committed itself to spending $5 billion in the next three years to build the network, with about $2 billion of that money earmarked to be spent in the next year to get WiMax coverage to about 100 million people by the end of 2008.

Complete article.

Great Price: Philips 32" HDTV $699

From Best Buy: $699
Philips 32" 720p Flat-Panel LCD HDTV
1366 x 768, 3200:1, 500cd/m2; 2-HDMI, built-in HD QAM tuner.
Model: 32PFL5332D/37




(Found on techbargains.com)

Apple Users Talking Class-Action Lawsuit Over iPhone Locking

Apple Users Talking Class-Action Lawsuit Over iPhone Locking
Posted by Alexander Wolfe, Sep 30, 2007 09:02 AM

You bought the iPhone, you paid for it, but now Apple is telling you how you have to use it, and if you don't do things they way they say, they're going to lock it. Turn it into a useless "brick." Is this any way to treat a customer? Apparently, it's the Steve Jobs way. But some iPhone users are mad as heck, and they're not going to take it anymore.

From Information Week, full article here.

(Key word in the title is "talking". Folks are simply posting about the idea of it... who knows what will come of it... likely nothing...)

Coming Soon - Office Live Small Business (MS Office Online)

Microsoft Office heads to the Web
Coming soon: Beta of Office Live Workspace, a free tool for viewing, sharing and storing--but not editing--Office documents online.

By Ina Fried Staff Writer, CNET News.com -->
Published: September 30, 2007, 9:00 PM PDT

SEATTLE--In another clear sign that Microsoft sees the threat posed by its traditional business moving online, the company is readying a rival to Google's Documents and Spreadsheets.

The software maker is announcing Office Live Workspace, a free online tool for viewing, sharing and storing--but not editing--Office documents online. (Its existing Office Live efforts will be rebranded as Office Live Small Business.) It's not quite ready--starting Monday customers will be able to put in their name to be part of a beta testing program expected to begin later this year.

Still, the effort is a recognition that competition is heating up in the productivity arena, an area that large rivals had basically ceded to Microsoft a few years ago. In addition to Google's effort, which as of earlier this month also includes presentation software, IBM announced its free Lotus Symphony productivity software, which prompted 100,000 downloads in its first week of availability.

Entire article.