The end of Windows XP next Monday

Software giant Microsoft will stop selling its ubiquitous XP operating system on Monday. But that doesn’t mean the seven-year-old software won’t continue contributing to the company’s financial performance for years to come. Terminating XP was expected. It comes just 18 months after Redmond, Wash.- based Microsoft introduced a new, more advanced operating system called Vista. While the new system is powerful, upgrading means spending lots of time and money to rework applications designed to run XP specifically. As a result, some companies, including Microsoft partner Intel Corp, have balked at adopting Vista, preferring instead to continue using XP.

Though Monday will be the last day Microsoft sells XP or provides free support for the “hundreds of thousands” of computers that are estimated to run on it, the company has come up with a novel way to wring money from the aging operating system: It is killing XP but isn’t letting it die. One way Microsoft will still make money from XP is by charging to provide support. Because the software continues to be popular, Microsoft’s “extended” support program is sure to generate lots more revenue. Microsoft will offer the program at least through 2014. That will likely attract lots of big corporate customers. Meanwhile, Microsoft will make more money by supplying XP to computer makers Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc. and others. Because Vista has had trouble making headway in the corporate market, computer makers have asked for “downgrade rights” - the right to continue offering XP on their notebook and desktop computers after.

Source: CNN

Bill Gates to retire from Microsoft on Friday

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates was set Friday for his last day of full-time work at Microsoft - the company he founded 33 years ago on a hunch that personal computers would become an integral part of everyday life. The world’s largest software company said that it was not planning any public events to observe the transition, though the change would be marked by internal events. Gates, 52, will continue to hold the title of non-executive chairman and work about one day a week at Microsoft. He intends to devote the rest of his time to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the wealthiest charity in the world, which is aimed at improving healthcare around the world and reducing extreme poverty. Founded with the vast fortune he made as Microsoft prospered, the foundation has an endowment of some 38.7 billion dollars with billions more expected to roll in as Gates transfers his massive personal wealth. Legendary investor Warren Buffet, currently the world’s richest man, has also pledged to transfer the vast majority of his wealth to the foundation.

Gates handed over his role as Microsoft chief executive to his long-time partner Steve Ballmer in 2000, when Gates became the company’s chief software architect. Under a carefully planned succession programme, Gate’s duties will be taken over by two top Microsoft executives. Ray Ozzie will be in charge of day-to-day management issues, while Craig Mundie will be in charge of long-term planning. The company, whose Windows operating system powers some 90 per cent of the world’s personal computers, has a market capitalization of about 260 billion dollars and employs more than 78,000 people in 103 countries. But even as its cash cow products of Windows and the Office productivity suite look set to continue their stellar earnings, Microsoft faces tough competition as Google’s online dominance threatens to cut into Microsoft’s core businesses.

Source: M&C

Omnia, competition for iPhone from Samsung

Samsung Electronics South Korea released on early Monday preview details on the company’s new smartphone, before the mania of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference begins in California. The Samsung Omnia (SGH-i900) is similar in looks and function to the Samsung Instinct (SPH-M800), but with a few more bells and whistles. For starters, it sounds like it has a very promising camera. With five megapixels and anti-shake technology, this may be the first camera on a phone that produces pictures you would actual think of printing, not just posting to Facebook. This is an improvement over the 2-megapixel cameras on both the first-generation iPhone and on the Samsung Instinct.

The touch-screen smartphone, which runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 and features Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Opera 9.5 as its Web browser, will also have Wi-Fi. That’s something the Instinct also lacks. Like the Instinct, the Omnia has visual voice mail, 3G capability, Bluetooth, an FM radio, and GPS functionality. The smartphone, of course, also doubles as a music player and, with 16GB, will be able to hold up to 4,000 songs or 100 minutes of video, according to Samsung. More details on the smartphone’s specs will follow when the Omnia (SGH-i900) is officially unveiled on June 17 at Communicasia, the 2008 Singapore Expo. The Omnia (SGH-i900) will become available in Southeast Asia first and then be launched to other markets over the second half of 2008, according to Samsung.

Source: Crave

The Dell Mini Notebook

Dell CEO Michael Dell was showing off a cherry-red mini notebook at the D6: All Things Digital conference this week. This will be Dell's first entry into the now-hot market for subnotebooks, which has taken off in the last 6 months with the unexpected success of the Asus EeePC.

After eagle-eyed Gizmodo editor Brian Lam spotted the notebook, Mr. Dell gave him an exclusive closeup look at the thing, and a little later Dell officially confirmed the subnotebook's existence. No details on specs yet, though the company is saying the product is a response to a call they made to the user community to help the company design a mini laptop.

But if you go by the initial impression of the blog community, the unnamed mini-Dell might be one generation behind.

Why? The screen seems a bit-too small (it looks like 7- 7 ½ inches), and looks a bit chunky compared to the newest Eee PC.

There's a Windows key on the released picture, and Dell has a long history with Microsoft, but it wouldn’t surprise us if they also offered a Linux option.

I looks like the laptop includes a web cam, average-sized keys (edging all the way towards the end of the case) and as Lam pointed out, three USB ports, a card reader, a VGA port and an Ethernet port.

Samsung plans 256GB SSD drive this year

Samsung Electronics plans to launch within this year a flash memory-based solid-state disk that boasts a 256GB capacity and high-speed interface, it said Monday. The drive, which was unveiled in prototype form at a Samsung event in Taipei, has the same form factor as a 9.5-millimeter high 2.5-inch hard-disk drive for which it is designed to be a drop-in replacement. Solid-state disks (SSDs) are an emerging type of storage device that use flash memory chips in place of the spinning magnetic disks used in hard-disk drives.

The memory chips mean the drives are more sturdy and typically have a higher performance but the per-byte storage cost is also much higher, so they are generally more expensive. That has largely restricted them to niche applications but as flash prices come down they are expected to become more widely used. The prototype drive announced today by the company has a read speed of 200M bytes per second (Bps) and a sequential write speed of 160M Bps, said Samsung. Samples of the drive will be available to customers from September with mass production due by the end of the year. A version with a similar form factor to a 1.8-inch drive is also expected to be available in the fourth quarter of the year, the company said.

Source: PC World

Tiny USB Digital Camera

Check out this fun concept camera from designer Sungwoo Park called "Eazzzy". Eazzzy is an 'Easy digital camera' that requires no additional connector for transferring data to other devices. It has no viewfinder, no LCD screen and only one button. Its just a prototype for now and I don’t think it has a good picture quality. The concept is pretty awesome anyway.

A Golden iPod for David Beckham's!!!

To celebrate David Beckham’s 100th contribution to the English national football team, his colleagues got him a 32Gb iPod Touch that’s been personalised just for him in gold. As you can see it is not just your standard Apple product but rather a golden 32-gigabyte personalised version to mark the occasion. Congratulation Becks!


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Samsung SGH E490 : Sleek, Stylish, Sexy

Couldn't help posting a review on the Samsung SGH E490, since I've been using it for the last 10 months and have fallen in love with it...

Personally I'm not a big fan of the 'open and answer' flip or clamshell phone design. To each his own right. But I have to say, quite a few manufacturers have taken it to whole new level, with sleek and stylish designs and dual screens. Let's not leave out the colors. Well, not all of them may be as appealing as the next but most manage to pull it off without a hitch. A good example of fashion and elegance in a flip phone is the Samsung SGH – E490.

Like I said before, the design of the E490 is quite elegant with a smooth metallic color finish and the cool style is only accentuated with the silver linings. It's also rather slim and lightweight for a flip with dimensions like - 94 x 49 x 15.5 mm and it weighs 83g. On the front you'll see a monochrome screen (128 x 32 pixel resolution) that’s just 32 x 8 mm wide, but has a choice of 7 colors in case you'd like to go with one that matches the replaceable panels you may have chosen. Yes the panels are changeable too. Just above the screen is the 1.3 megapixel camera.

On the right hand side is the Hot-Swap microSD slot for external memory and the dedicated camera key is just underneath that. On the other side are the propriety USB/Charger/Earphone socket. Why oh why couldn't they just have another socket for the earphones? Anyways, moving along, underneath that are the volume keys that also double as the zoom keys. Flip her open and you have the clear 176 x 220 pixel, TFT screen with 65K colors. Just beneath the screen are 2 speakers that aren't great but they aren't so bad in speaker-phone mode. I have to admit, I thought the keypad would pose a bit of a problem but thanks to the large keys and the 5 way nav-pad I had absolutely no issues. There are also 3 dedicated keys for the MP3 player, messaging and the browser. Ain't tat sexy... :) My Samsung SGH E490...

Detailed Specifications
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Fly Launches The 'Hummer'

Fly, the flagship brand of Meridian Mobile, today launched its most awaited phone, the Hummer. For this purpose, French handset maker ModeLabs has carried over GM's (General Motors) Hummer license to the mobile phone. This design has been styled after the Hummer car and comes in three colors — Yellow, Military camouflage and Black.


Also present for the occasion was Malaika Arora Khan, who is the brand ambassador of Fly Phones. "When I came to know about the phone first, my first impression was that the phone is obviously for the males. Having used it, however, I feel quite differently now," she said.


The Hummer comes with a 262K color LCD with touch screen, a 2MP camera, 256MB MicroSD card bundled, FM radio and MP3 player. The phone is just one amongst 15 more to be launched in the next quarter itself, as informed by CEO, Rajiv Khanna. "We have plans to get really aggressive in the market, but as of now the strategy calls for streamlining the business channels before we can start work on branding," he said.

The phone will cost Rs. 10,000 in the market and is customized with Hummer paint color.

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Third-gen Zune to hit in 2009, make it to Europe

Seeing how long it took the Zune to make it over the northern border and into Canada, it shouldn't be any surprise that it's going to take even longer to get to Europe -- not until late next year, according to the director of Microsoft France. The wait should be worth it, though: that's when the third generation of Zunes will be released, as well as a Europe-friendly version of the Zune Marketplace. There are also some sketchy rumors that Windows Mobile 7 devices will be able to take advantage of Zune content and services, but it doesn't look like Microsoft has anything to say about that yet -- but if that goes down you know a Zune phone is right around the corner.