- Thoughts on Netbooks as PM Tools | Project Management Tips || Project Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management Blog
Back in April I wrote about the concept of netbooks as tools for on the go project managers. You know netbooks – those undersized Windows-based machines that started out hugely popular (albeit mostly for curiosity and price) and now seemed to be definitely waning in popularity.
- BT Offers Cheap UK Business Broadband and Phone Bundle − ISPreview UK
Customers taking the online-only BT Business eSaver package, which bundles a phone line and 20Mbps broadband connection, will now pay just £19.99 +vat per month for the service.
- UK Mobile Broadband Users Afflicted by Poor Connectivity and Slow Speeds − ISPreview UK
YouGov, a research firm dedicated to measuring public opinion and consumer behaviour, has revealed that 84% of the UK Mobile Broadband customers it surveyed had experienced problems with their connection. Slow speeds dominated (67%) the top areas of concern, while coverage (49%) and connection stability (40%) were also prevalent.
Monthly Archives: June 2010
Today’s Echo June 29, 2010
- Asus Eee Pad 12 inch tablet gets the video treatment… in Poland
The Asus Eee Pad EP121 is one of two tablet-style computers Asus introduced at Computex earlier this month. The computer has a 12.1 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel touchscreen display and an Intel Core 2 Duo CULV processor. It runs Windows 7 Home Premium, and Asus says it can run for up to 10 hours on a battery charge.
Today’s Echo June 28, 2010
- Video overview: Toshiba AC100 Android-powered netbook
The Toshiba AC100 probably won’t be available in the US for a few more months, but Toshiba Germany has posted a promotional video for this mini-laptop running Google’s Android operating system.
- MSI U250 Now In The Wild | Eee PC – Blog
A few months after being leaked, MSI has finally released the Wind 12 250 notebook. It is notable in the fact that it is probably the only one in MSI’s stable of products using an AMD processor, namely the AMD Athlon II Neo (1.3GHz) processor. The fact that it’s more powerful and more power-consuming than the usual Intel Atom processor pretty much cuts down runtime to five hours. However, the processing power packed inside more than makes up for it.
- How’s iOS 4 ActiveSync (Exchange/Google Sync) working for you? | TiPb
So how’s iOS 4 Active Sync working for you? iOS 4 allows multiple ActiveSync accounts, meaning iPhone users can finally have their work Exchange setup alongside Google Sync, for example.
- Samsung launches updated N230, N220, NB30 netbooks
Hot on the heels of the recently launched Samsung N150 Plus netbook, Samsung is sprucing up a few more models, including the Samsung N220, N230, and NB30.
- Slashdot Your Rights Online Story | FBI Failed To Break Encryption of Hard Drives
benoliver writes to let us know that the FBI has failed to decrypt files of a Brazilian banker accused of financial crimes by Brazilian law enforcement, after a year of attempts.
- First Impressions: Viliv N5 Ultra Mini Mobile PC
Viliv is at it again. This time around the Korean manufacturer is going after the clamshell market with the N5. The self-described Ultra Mini Mobile PC is really just that — a truly mobile PC. This form factor isn’t exactly new as I just looked at the main competitor, the UMID mbook bz, just a few months back so I’m actually curious if the N5 brings anything novel to the niche market.
- IP TV Times: Travels With My iPad
Embarrassingly, I have to admit that I didn't queue for six months to get a slightly better screen and dodgy reception from the shiny new iPhone 4G. On the streets of Hoxton last week, people were visible curling up their upper lip as I brought out my ancient iPhones 3GS. So here I am in Apple purgatory with just my iPad for company.
- You Don’t Need A Website! | Shelly Palmer – helping you live and work in a digital world
I got a call from a prospective client today. They wanted me to assist them in building a website for their new online business. It was quite a conference call. There were all kinds of really smart people involved. The demo screen shots they created were stunning. Pretty pictures, awesome usability, excellent site architecture … I was impressed. As the presentation continued they showed me all of the features the site was going to have: social web stuff, news feeds, interfaces to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, data pulled in from all kinds of interesting places, you name it, it was on the list.
Only one problem … they didn’t need to build a website — they needed to build a database!
Today’s Echo June 27, 2010
- louisgray.com: The Art of Being Pragmatic In a World of Fanboys
For just about any topic or choice, there comes pressure to take a side, to align yourself with a group who can reinforce that your choice was the right one, and any alternative choice is somehow wrong or inferior.
- Acer Aspire One 521 unboxed on video | Eee PC – Blog
The recently released netbook from Acer, the Aspire One 521 is available from Amazon for $349.99 and Balazs over at nDevil has already got his hands on it. Upon receiving it, he’s unboxed the Acer netbook and recorded it on video for us all to see, which you can view after the jump.
- Rumor: Apple releasing iOS 4.0.1 next week? | TiPb
Apple Insider is reporting that, before being removed, a thread in the Apple Discussion Forums confirmed iOS 4.0.1 was being readied for release next week to address bugs — including the dreaded antenna “hold different” issue (or “death-grip” if you prefer).
- Employees Leading iPhone’s Charge Into The Enterprise | paidContent
No doubt the iPhone has been a hit with consumers, but judging from RIM’s earnings yesterday, it’s also making inroads into the enterprise, supplanting BlackBerry devices, once standard issue. Despite selling a record number of devices, RIM’s device sales in the quarter ending May 31, were at the low end of expectations—11.2 million instead of 11.8.
- iPhone 4 vs iPhone 3GS in Pictures | TiPb
You didn’t really think we’d let you get through a day without setting the iPhone 4 down next to the iPhone 3GS, did you?
Today’s Echo June 25, 2010
- When the Latest Isn’t the Greatest
Are you the kind of person who has to have the latest versions of hardware and software? Do you stand in line to buy a new gadget as soon as it’s released? If so, don’t bother to read on; for the rest of us, it’s worth considering if and when to move to a new version.
- Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 Facts and Figures – SuperSite Blog
As part of the marketing push for the new ("wave 4") Windows Live Essentials, Microsoft has provided some interesting facts and figures that justify, I suppose, the feature push here
Today’s Echo June 24, 2010
- louisgray.com: Mobile Employees, Consultants Need Mobile WiFi Hotspots
One of the quirks of being a full-time consultant is scheduling one's day with multiple clients in multiple locations, with multiple technology environments.
- MSI X-Slim X350 Reviewed: Great Keyboard, Long Battery Life, Sexy Deck
Last year, we reviewed MSI’s original X-Slim notebook, the X340, and though we loved its slim sense of style, we were disappointed in its weak performance and lackluster keyboard.
- Hands on: iOS 4 review | News | TechRadar UK
Is the release of iOS 4 really a major milestone? With just a few days to wait for the new high-def iPhone 4, Apple has teased the installed base of iPhone 3 and iPhone 3GS users with the new iOS 4.
- Toshiba launches Android-based MID – the AC100 | News | TechRadar UK
Toshiba has this week announced the launch of its latest mobile internet device – the AC100.
- Kensington Smart Travel Tips & Accessories for Summer | Gear Diary
The summer crazy travel season is upon us, and if your family is anything like mine, you need all the help you can get to prevent you from going crazy. Well, Kensington is here to help. They are offering six “affordable, grab and go tech accessories and smart tips for summer travel.” Gadgets and tips for summer travel; isn’t that exactly what you need to keep summer travel from making you nuts? Maybe it’s time to surf on over to the Kensington site and check ‘em out, then.
Today’s Echo June 23, 2010
- jkkmobile: Toshiba Libretto W100 dual screen tablet on video
Hmm..
2 x 7 inch 1024 x 600 touch screens 1.2GHz Intel Pentium U5400 with 2GB RAM and 64GB SSD..
- Windows Live for iPhone launched
Finally, iPhone users can rush over to the apps store and download the Windows Live Messenger iPhone App that has just been released by Microsoft.
- The Hermes Project: BT offers unlimited WiFi for fixed line customers
BT have announced that their 'Total Broadband' (i.e. fixed line broadband) customers will get unlimited (in practice, 10,000 minutes a month – after which their access will be suspended until the next month, although that's still almost a week's continuous usage) free WiFi hotspot access via their Openzone and FON networks when away from home as they seek to capitalise on the popularity of smartphones and tablet devices such as the iPad.
- Unlimited wi-fi comes to BT Broadband customers
BT has announced that its broadband user base will be granted unlimited access to the company’s many wi-fi hot-spots up and down the country.
- UK Consumers Lose Interest in Mobile Broadband Services − ISPreview UK
The Mobile Broadband boom appears to be slowing down rapidly as more and more UK consumers realise that the service often fails to match the hype. New data from Experian Hitwise reveals that the amount of internet searches for the service have decline by 50%. Comparison site Broadband Expert also reported a similar decline in sales.
- The Hermes Project: Gmail friendly Thunderbird released
A new release of the Thunderbird e-mail client software from Mozilla will be keeping users that manage their Gmail account with it happy after a bug in the previous release (3.0) made it almost unusable.
Today’s Echo June 21, 2010
- Hands-on: Dual-Screen libretto W100 Tablet Does Windows 7, Costs Over a Grand
Just in time to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the company’s first modern laptop, Toshiba has unveiled a new version of its once-forgotten libretto notebook line, the W100. Formerly comprised of small ultraportable “subnotebooks” that touted full versions of the Windows operating systems, the libretto brand is back with the W100. In fact, this will be the first clamshell tablet with two 7-inch multitouch screens made available to consumers.
- Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows: Apple iOS 4
Apple's fourth generation mobile operating system, renamed just before launch from iPhone OS 4 to iOS 4, is the standard by which all other mobile systems must be judged. And it's a high bar: The iOS has matured from an amazing but deeply flawed platform to one that is both easy to use and achingly powerful. It's so good, in fact, that's it's taken the rest of the mobile device industry years to catch up. (Only Google's Android seems to have surpassed iOS in any meaningful way so far.)
- Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows: Windows 7 Feature Focus: Hardware Support
One of the primary complaints about Windows Vista when it first arrived was that it lacked compatibility with some of the legacy hardware devices that were then on the market. Though these compatibility issues were overblown, Microsoft improved Vista's compatibility dramatically over time, via various driver releases that were collected into both of that OS's service packs and delivered seamlessly to customers. And when it came time to deliver Windows 7, Microsoft decided that it would retain the same compatibility model as Windows Vista plus service pack 2. The result was an OS that offered excellent hardware compatibility right out of the box. Windows 7 has always been broadly compatible with the hardware people are using and buying.
- Sony’s VAIO Z And Y Notebooks Can Become WiFi Hotspots | Eee PC – Blog
The problem with traveling with a lot of gadgets is sometimes it’s hard to assure connectivity for all of them. It’s also sometimes a bit of a hassle to depend on public WiFi spots for your connection needs. Well, Sony’s trying to solve that problem.
- Eee PC 1201PN now shipping in the US | Eee PC – Blog
The Asus Eee PC 1201PN netbook is now available to order in the US. The netbook can be ordered through Amazon, with both the black and red model available for immediate shipping.
- Evernote Updated For iOS- Key New Features Make A Great App Even Better | Gear Diary
As more and more apps get updated for iOS 4.0 the question of what it all means becomes increasingly important. We already know that Apple’s idea of “multitasking” and “backgrounding” is not the same as what we experience on a desktop. (ie, all the applications you are using continue to run even when they have been moved to the background or the dock.) No, Apple’s idea of multitasking involves allowing key FUNCTIONS to continue running in the background but not the apps themselves. If you want that you’ll have to jailbreak and get Backgrounder.
- Has Windows 7 killed Linux on the desktop? | News | TechRadar UK
People don't just like Windows 7, it's the anti-Vista: loved for as many often spurious reasons as Vista was hated.
Today’s Echo June 20, 2010
- Top 10 Windows Applications that Should Be on Macs
Macs are their own little universe of hardware, design, and software. It's an incomplete universe, like any other, but a nerd can dream. These are 10 applications we wish made the jump from Windows to Mac to make it a better place.
- The Hermes Project: O2 suffers data outage
O2 customers were raging on social media sites on Thursday as their 3G phone network – which also powers their handset based and mobile broadband services – suffered a 3.5 hour outage as the result of planned engineering works.
Flying Complaints
One thing I have noticed moving to a larger (but still lightweight 13inch) laptop is that my ability to use it has been seriously curtailed on trains and more specifically aircraft. Essentially I cannot open the screen up more than purely vertical which makes it impossible to see what is on screen. Certainly not a comfortable position to do any work in.
This is an area that I have heard people are starting to use the iPad for, but I have an alternative answer (driven because I like physical keyboards) – this is where I dig out an old netbook (an EeePC 900) for ‘in flight’ use, because its small and dinky little 9 inch screen works in the confined space of the basic Economy seat. The lightness and size of the old netbook is also very helpful because now I have to carry two machines, but luckily my workflow using Dropbox and Live Mesh makes this a breeze to ensure I have my data everywhere I need it. Dropbox is a necessity because that old EeePC is running Ubuntu Netbook edition – a very capable little OS that has everything for text and info generation, and the ability to read tech docs. It will take a cold day in hell for Microsoft to provide a fully functioning Live Mesh implementation on Linux… after all they are ceasing to do so on Windows XP now!
The good thing is that the combined weight of the EeePC and the UL30 is still less than the laptops I ran around with just three years ago! The bad thing is that I have to dig two machines out of my bag to go through airport security.