Windows Washing: Microsoft Talks Up Tweaks Following Public Beta

Microsoft has detailed some of the changes it plans to make following its public beta of the Windows 7 OS. Meanwhile, remarks made by the president of a Taiwan laptop manufacturer suggested the final version of Windows 7 may arrive as soon as this fall. Vista, however, remains the company's flagship product, and as such it needs regular service. An SP2 release candidate has been made available to select parties.

With its big round of public beta testing out of the way, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is apparently moving quickly to the next milestone on the Windows 7 upgrade path. On Thursday, the company revealed some of the changes users can expect to see in the upcoming Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) -- possibly the penultimate stage prior to the release of a final product -- in its Engineering Windows 7 blog. Looking at feedback garnered during the first round of public beta testing, Microsoft has been working on incorporating some needed changes. "It should be no surprise, but the Release Candidate for Windows 7 will have quite a few changes, many under the hood, so to speak, but also many visible. The goal of having a fully functional Beta was to make sure we received reliable feedback and not a lot of 'hey this doesn't work at all' sorts of reports. This has allowed us to really focus on delivering a refined RC where the changes we made are all the reflection of feedback we have received," wrote Chaitanya Sareen, senior program manager at Microsoft.

A Dream Home for the True Blue Apple Fan

Way back in 1950, science fiction giant Ray Bradbury wrote a short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains," about a smart house that did just about everything for its resident family -- including cooking breakfast and keeping track of the bills. Unfortunately, all members of that family, along with all inhabitants of the town, were obliterated by a nuclear explosion. The house, though, kept right on going, complete with robotic mice cleaning the floor. Apocalyptic foreshadowing aside, who hasn't fantasized about a house that makes day-to-day life easier? Certainly the trendy guy on the Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) commercials looks more relaxed -- and like he's having a lot more fun -- than his frumpy, brown-suited, PC counterpart. Perhaps it's because Mac Dude's house is full of gadgets that streamline a busy urbanite's hectic schedule. Maybe he lives in a house something like this one ... Gather Round the Hearth As in many homes today, the centerpiece of Mac Dude's living room is a huge, wall-mounted, high-definition TV. The brand and technology (plasma, LCD) matter less than the size. Fifty inches is a minimum. Compared to this, the small, white Apple TV unit sitting on the shelf below barely is noticeable. Through that little box, though, stream movies, TV shows, and video podcasts to the big screen, all from iTunes. When the host and his guests don't care to watch the glowing screen, they still can listen to audio podcasts and, of course, music through the audio speakers scattered through the house and linked into the home theater system via WiFi . They control all this through the Remote app for iPhone, which also transmits over the house's wireless network. Who wants to carry two clickers around? Cranky Converts Apple TV is the best media convergence device for those who consume most of their media through the iTunes service, Adam Christianson, host of the popular podcast MacCast, told MacNewsWorld. However, some of Mac Dude's friends aren't quite on the all-Apple-all-the-time bandwagon. They love their Macs, but they also like to play by their own rules. One neighbor has manipulated her Apple TV box so she can play any non-DRM content using open source media center software Boxee. Her friends are jealous, because the open alpha phase of Boxee won't be open until Jan. 8. Another friend has a grudge against any type of pay TV. In anticipation of the February deadline for the national conversion to digital television, he got one of those federal government coupons for a converter. Then, he spent US$99 for Roku's Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) Player and linked it into his wireless network at home. For the price of less than two months of cable or satellite TV, he brags, he's set to go for movies and TV series. Another option for those who consume media from a variety of sources -- Hulu, Netflix, iTunes, etc. -- is to use a Mac mini as the hub of a home entertainment system, said Christianson. The Inner Sanctum Regardless of their television politics, though, everyone in Mac Dude's gang wants iPod-based media within an arm's reach at any time. In our hero's house, each room has some sort of speaker system, either standalone or with other functionality. It all begins with the iHome alarm clock system that wakes him; a similar model is available in many hotel rooms. The clock-radio-speaker combination continues as the top-selling iPod speaker device in the U.S., Evan Stein, vice president of marketing for SDI Technologies, makers of iHome products, told MacNewsWorld. Mac Dude usually lets the shuffle function on his iPod choose a wake-up tune for him, but he sets the radio tuner on the device to his local NPR station. Sometimes, though, he wants to listen to far-flung radio stations while folding laundry, so our Apple fan downloaded the Public Radio app for the iPod touch he usually keeps in the bedroom. Through this American Public Media program, he can listen to a live stream of any of hundreds of public radio channels whenever he's within range of WiFi. High-Fi Reycling Around the house, Mac Dude has a range of other speaker setups, from lower-end JBL sets to high-fidelity Altec Lansing units. All of them have adapters for the whole iPod family, from the classics up to the new chromatic nanos. Mac Dude has a trusty classic model that won't hold a charge, so he leaves that one seated in its speakers and uses it as a stationary music player. A couple of shuffles have met similar fates in other rooms. It's better to use them than either throw them out or try to hack a battery replacement, he figures. When lounging in the tub, Mac Dude sometimes likes to listen to audiobooks. He's had one too many experiences with valuables going for a dip in the bubbles to trust his iPod touch that close to water, though. He bought one of AquaPac's waterproof MP3 cases because it fits even his older generation iPod nano, and he doesn't like to fuss with sliding iPods in and out of their specialized casings.

As Intel ships 160GB SSD, pricing nags buyers

Intel is now shipping 160GB solid-state drives as it vies with Samsung and Toshiba to deliver high-capacity SSDs that rival hard-disk drives in capacity. Price, however, remains a big obstacle for many consumers. Intel said Monday that it will add 160GB versions of its X25-M and X18-M Serial ATA (SATA) solid-state drive. To date, Intel has limited shipments to its 80GB versions. Laptop-size 2.5-inch versions of the 160GB drive are shipping now; 1.8-inch models for ultraportable laptops will ship next month, Intel said. Larger-capacity drives from other SSD suppliers are also on the way. In November, Samsung said it had begun mass production of 256GB SSDs. And Toshiba recently said it would show a 512GB drive at the Consumer Electronics Show in January that would ship in the second quarter of 2009. Solid-state drives are generally faster at getting data than hard-disk drives (and in some cases, much faster) but pricing is a big hurdle for consumers. Toshiba indicated last week that sample quantities of its new solid-state will range in price from $220 for the 64GB drive to $1,652 for the 512GB drive. That kind of pricing--even if it's for pricey sample drives--is hard to swallow when a laptop-class 500GB hard-disk drive sells for well under $200. "Introductory" pricing for the Intel 160GB solid-state drives is $945 for less than 1,000 units, Intel said. Currently, adding an Intel 80GB solid-state drive option to an HP EliteBook 2530p ultraportable laptop adds $659 over the cost of a 5400RPM 1.8-inch 120GB hard disk drive. Adding a 128GB solid-state drive to an Apple MacBook Air ups the price by about $500.

iPhone Nano cases appear online

Has a rogue case manufacturer once again jumped the gun on an Apple iPhone announcement? XSKN has a section of its Web site that promises an "iPhone Nano" case alongside cases for the iPhone 3G and the first-generation iPhone, as noted by MacRumors. Earlier this month a Chinese Web site called iDealsChina reported that XSKN was working on a case for a purported iPhone Nano that is supposedly shorter and thicker than the iPhone 3G. It still seems a stretch that Apple would be gearing up to release such a device, given the screen size on an iPhone Nano would make typing a chore and could present problems for developers who designed applications with a different screen size in mind. These rumors are not new, however, and it has always seems evident that Apple planned to roll out a family of iPhones over time. An iPhone Nano certainly would give Macworld 2009 a bit of a boost. XSKN prematurely revealed its case designs for the iPhone 3G before that device made its debut in June, so they've at least got a track record of scooping Apple. At the moment, the link on their site for the iPhone Nano case is generating errors, and it may not be long before it disappears entirely.

Sony teases with mystery laptop

CES 2009 is fast approaching, and rumors of new laptops are everywhere. This week though, the focus is on Sony. Though enterprising news outlets have dug up hints at new products from the likes of Dell and Lenovo weeks before the big gadget exhibition, Sony is outing itself as having a new portable PC that will "change the way you think about laptops." A clock counting down the days and hours until January 9, when the new product is scheduled to appear, popped up on Sony's New Zealand site, as pointed out over the weekend by Engadget. Putting the teaser in context of the photo of the oddly-shaped Sony device that popped up on the FCC's Web site two weeks ago, it certainly seems likely that this will be a notebook unlike what others are offering. But the question is, will it be a Netbook? Sony has been conspicuously absent from the Netbook market among its Windows-wielding brethren. (Apple has held out too, but it's not price-matching with other PC makers.) Netbooks have taken off in the past 12 months, moving from a quirky offering from Asus to the form factor that's giving the PC industry a whiff of hope. All the major manufacturers are on board, and it's paying off now since the price tags are cheaper than standard notebooks. However, how it will hurt them in the long run (dragging down average prices of notebooks, cannibalizing lower-end laptop models) is still to be determined. The argument for Sony keeping out of the low-end fray is certainly there. Sony--like Apple--fancies itself a maker of luxury devices and is loath to get into price wars with the likes of Dell and HP. (Of course, it didn't want to wrestle with the lower-tier Vizio and Westinghouse in LCD TVs either, but the reality of the HDTV market forced Sony's hand.) The electronics giant has also objected to the Netbook concept several times publicly. In February, Sony's head of its Vaio group in the U.S. called the Netbook movement "a race to the bottom," though by July Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow refused to confirm or deny plans for such a product. Most recently, though, a Sony exec in the UK told ZDNet UK that Sony is "not in for the moment" when it comes to Netbooks, clearly not ruling it out completely. Netbooks, are they are now, "are not properly designed for consumer needs," Nicolas Barendson told ZDNet. Does that mean that they have an entirely new design that will meet the needs of people looking for a Netbook-like device? Perhaps. But the key will be the price, and low-cost laptops are not Sony's cup of tea. So if they do edge into Netbook-like territory, expect them to market it like something other than a laptop, and more like another kind of portable consumer device.

Microsoft grants Windows XP a reprieve

Some PC makers now have an extra four months to sell Windows XP. The BBC reported Monday that Microsoft has extended the deadline for smaller PC builders and resellers to obtain licenses for the discontinued operating system from the previous deadline of January 31, 2009 to May 30, 2009. "Microsoft is making accommodation through a flexible inventory program that will allow distributors to place their final orders by January 31, 2009; and take delivery against those orders through May 30, 2009," a Microsoft representative said in an e-mailed statement. "This is not an extension of sales." Even after May 30, however, it's still not the end of XP. The operating system will be available on ultra-low-cost PCs until June 30, 2010, and the low-end Windows XP Starter Edition will continue to be available in emerging markets until the same date. Plus, big PC makers plan to offer PCs with Vista Ultimate and Vista Business that have been factory downgraded at customers' request until July 30 next year.

iPhone users love their Wi-Fi

A new report from the mobile advertising company Admob says that 42 percent of iPhone Internet requests came from Wi-Fi hot spots rather than AT&T's 3G wireless network in November. This is quite a bit higher than most Wi-Fi capable phones, which typically average about 10 to 20 percent.

Several bloggers say they think iPhone users are gravitating toward Wi-Fi more because AT&T's 3G network is not up to snuff. Om Malik at GigaOm said AT&T's 3G service was as unpredictable as Lindsay Lohan's mood. But I don't really think that is the issue. Personally, I haven't had many problems accessing the data network from my iPhone in New York City. I have had dropped calls. But for the most part, whether I'm on Wi-Fi or AT&T's 3G network, downloading e-mail or accessing the Web from my phone works pretty well. I think there are two reasons why iPhone users are opting for Wi-Fi when it's available. And these reasons could provide some interesting lessons for phone manufacturers and wireless carriers. For one, accessing a Wi-Fi access point on the iPhone is easy. I have Wi-Fi access turned on on my phone. Whenever I fire up the browser or download e-mail, a list of available networks pops up. If I'm home or in a network I've already been on, most times the phone will automatically connect via Wi-Fi instead of the 3G network. I don't have to really think about it. It just happens. So most times, as a user, I'm not consciously deciding to use Wi-Fi or not. But whether I choose a Wi-Fi network or not, downloads from the Wi-Fi network are noticeably faster, which is why I have the Wi-Fi option turned on in the first place. So what does this really mean for wireless operators? I think it's pretty obvious. Wireless users want fast networks, especially when they're using a device like the iPhone, which is made for the Internet. They want to browse Web pages and download e-mails quickly. If Wi-Fi is the fastest network available, then people will use it. If AT&T is able to significantly increase the speeds on its network, which the company promises it will do soon, then people will use that network. I also think Admob's findings might serve as a cautionary signal to Verizon Wireless, which has opted not to support Wi-Fi on some of its hottest phones, such as the BlackBerry Storm. Verizon said the Storm, which is a touch screen smartphone that competes head-to-head with the iPhone, didn't include Wi-Fi support because it would eat up too much battery life and make the device too bulky. But I think the lack of Wi-Fi may prove to be a negative for the Strorm, as it could be one factor that pushes some consumers toward the iPhone, if they're considering both devices. The thing is I'm not really sure why Verizon is resisting Wi-Fi. It's true that a device with Wi-Fi capability may access free hot spots rather than the 3G cellular network, but since AT&T and Verizon Wireless require customers sign up for data plans when they purchase these devices, I don't see the carriers really losing any money if consumers use free Wi-Fi hot spots for data downloads. In fact, the carriers may actually benefit from their customers using Wi-Fi more, because it puts less strain on their wireless data networks. The real issue could be that Verizon is afraid of voice over IP services like Skype and Truphone, which allow users to bypass the carrier network to make free and low-cost phone calls.

Apple to ditch Macworld gathering

In a surprise move, Apple said it is to abandon its annual tech gathering Macworld after this January's event. Meanwhile news that the keynote address will not be given by CEO Steve Jobs has reignited speculation about his health following cancer four years ago. Concern was raised earlier in the year when Mr Jobs appeared at the firm's developer conference looking gaunt. Apple spokesman Steve Dowling refused to discuss the issue and said shows like Macworld were no longer relevant. "Apple is steadily scaling back on trade shows and in recent years is reaching more people in more ways than ever before," Mr Dowling told BBC News. "Every week 3.5 million people visit our retail stores. And like many companies, trade shows are a minor part of how Apple reaches its customers." Mr Dowling also said that as the company had scaled back on such shows, it had ramped up "stand-alone launch events like the September iPod launch seen by millions of people on the internet". IDG which runs the show put a brave face on things. "We are on track for a terrific show with strong attendance numbers and nearly 500 exhibitors showcasing their products," Paul Kent, general manager of Macworld Expo told the BBC. "The conference and expo has thrived for 25 years due to the strong support of tens of thousands of members of the Mac community worldwide. We are committed to serving their interests," he said. "Greatly exaggerated" Macworld is regarded as a highlight for Apple fans with new product launches fronted by Mr Jobs.

When Mr Jobs went on stage at Apple's world wide developer conference in June, his physical appearance shocked many. He appeared thin and emaciated and speculation became rife that he had suffered a setback after a bout of pancreatic cancer in 2004. Later in the year, he joked about it on stage in San Francisco when he launched the new range of iPods. At one point in his demonstration he appeared in front of a giant screen that displayed the words "the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated". This was in reference to an obituary that had been mistakenly published. But analysts are again pointing to the possibility that Mr Jobs's health is an issue. "I think Steve's health is a factor," analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray told MarketWatch. "I think it means there's a change of power at Apple... Steve Jobs is playing less of a role. And that is not up for debate. "Apple could have dismissed a lot of rumours by having him give the final keynote and they opted not to." The keynote will be presented by Phillip Schiller who is Apple's senior vice-president of worldwide product marketing.

Hackers 'aid' Amazon logging scam

Hackers have helped logging firms in Brazil evade limits on tree felling, says a Greenpeace report. The hi-tech criminals penetrated a computer system designed to monitor logging in the Brazilian state of Para. Once inside the system, hackers issued fake permits so loggers could cut down far more timber than environmental officials were prepared to allow. Greenpeace estimates that 1.7m cubic metres of illegal timber may have been removed with the aid of the hackers.

Yahoo throws down data gauntlet

Search engine Yahoo is to cut the time it stores personal data from 13 months to three. It is hoping its decision will provide a benchmark for industry. Currently Google stores data for nine months and Microsoft for six months. International data protection officials have been urging firms to do more to protect the data of users. Privacy advocates have welcomed the move and challenged rivals to go even further. "I would challenge industry to move to 30 days across the board. People should demand that their information is expunged as rapidly as possible," said Simon Davies, head of Privacy International. A recent rash of data leaks has left users concerned and organisations embarrassed, he said. "The less time data is online means less risk that rogue companies can establish dangerously comprehensive profiles on users," he added. Yahoo said its decision to cut the time it stores information gathered from web surfing came about following a "review of its data practices". "This policy represents Yahoo's assessment of the minimum amount of time we need to retain data to respond to the needs of our business while deepening our trusted relationship with users," said Anne Toth, Yahoo's head of privacy. As well as anonymising user log data, the policy will also apply to page views, page clicks and ad views and clicks. But the search giant has reserved the right to keep data for up to six months if fraud or system security are involved. Privacy campaigners have argued that firms are currently keeping data unnecessarily. Mr Davies is sceptical about what he described as "mixed messages" from industry. "Only last year, firms were saying that they couldn't go below 15 months but the logic of what Yahoo has done suggests there is no reason why they can't go even lower," he said.

Firefox update

The update is something of an unusual move for Microsoft and underscores the seriousness of the zero day flaw. The company rarely issues security fixes for its software outside of its regular monthly patch updates.

Meanwhile Mozilla has released a scheduled update for its open source Firefox web browsers for at least 10 different vulnerabilities. The bugs in the browser could have been "used to run attacker code and install software, requiring no user interaction beyond normal browsing," said Mozilla. It is also reissuing calls for users to upgrade from Firefox 2.0 to Firefox 3.0 as soon as possible and said it is "not planning any further security and stability updates for Firefox 2". This means Mozilla will no longer support the Firefox 2 browser against future online scams and attacks.

Microsoft issues patch to fix IE

Microsoft has issued a security patch to fix a critical vulnerability in its Internet Explorer browser it said has attacked over 2m Windows users. The flaw is believed to have already infected as many as 10,000 websites. The "zero day" exploit let criminals take over victims' computers by steering them to infected websites. Microsoft's Christopher Budd said the software giant "encourages all IE customers to test and deploy this update as soon as possible". He also said the threat lead Microsoft to mobilize security engineering teams worldwide to deliver a software cure "in the unprecedented time of eight days". The company's security response team said the patch consists of more than 300 distinct updates for more than half-a-dozen versions of IE in around 50 languages. "Even with that, the release Emergency Response process isn't over," said Security Response Alliance director Mike Reavey. "There is additional support to customers and additional refinement of our product development efforts." Microsoft stressed that the flaw was proven to exist only in IE 7 on all applicable versions of Windows, but that IE 6 and the "beta" release of IE 8 were "potentially vulnerable". Users who have automatic updates turned on will receive the patch over the next 24 hours while others can access it via a download. "Wildfire" The AZN Trojan has been making the rounds since the beginning of December but became public knowledge in the last week . Unlike other exploits, users only have to visit a malicious site with Trojans or other malware in order to become contaminated. Once an infected web page is opened, malicious downloaders are installed on the computer designed to record keystrokes and steal passwords, credit card details and other financial information. The sites affected are mostly Chinese and have been serving up programmes to steal passwords for computer games which can then be sold for cash on the black market. Internet Explorer is the world's most widely used web browser with nearly three quarters of the market share. Microsoft estimated that one in every 500 Windows users had been exposed to sites that try to exploit the flaw and the number of victims was increasing at a rate of 50% daily. Researchers at the software security firm Trend Micro said attacks were spreading "like wildfire". "This vulnerability is being actively exploited by cyber-criminals and getting worse every day," said the company's advanced threat researcher Paul Ferguson. Microsoft labelled the bug as "critical," the most serious threat ranking in its four-step scouring programme.

Serious security flaw found in Internet Explorer

Users of Microsoft's Internet Explorer are being urged by experts to switch to a rival until a serious security flaw has been fixed. The flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer could allow criminals to take control of people's computers and steal their passwords, internet experts say. Microsoft urged people to be vigilant while it investigated and prepared an emergency patch to resolve it. Internet Explorer is used by the vast majority of the world's computer users.

"Microsoft is continuing its investigation of public reports of attacks against a new vulnerability in Internet Explorer," said the firm in a security advisory alert about the flaw. Microsoft says it has detected attacks against IE 7.0 but said the "underlying vulnerability" was present in all versions of the browser. Other browsers, such as Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Safari, are not vulnerable to the flaw Microsoft has identified. Browser bait "In this case, hackers found the hole before Microsoft did," said Rick Ferguson, senior security advisor at Trend Micro. "This is never a good thing." As many as 10,000 websites have been compromised since the vulnerability was discovered, he said. "What we've seen from the exploit so far is it stealing game passwords, but it's inevitable that it will be adapted by criminals," he said. "It's just a question of modifying the payload the trojan installs."

Said Mr Ferguson: "If users can find an alternative browser, then that's good mitigation against the threat." But Microsoft counselled against taking such action. "I cannot recommend people switch due to this one flaw," said John Curran, head of Microsoft UK's Windows group. He added: "We're trying to get this resolved as soon as possible. "At present, this exploit only seems to affect 0.02% of internet sites," said Mr Curran. "In terms of vulnerability, it only seems to be affecting IE7 users at the moment, but could well encompass other versions in time." Richard Cox, chief information officer of anti-spam body The Spamhaus Project and an expert on privacy and cyber security, echoed Trend Micro's warning. "It won't be long before someone reverse engineers this exploit for more fraudulent purposes. Trend Mico's advice [of switching to an alternative web browser] is very sensible," he said.

NVIDIA Unveils World’s First Personal Supercomputer

The world’s first personal supercomputer, which is 250 times faster than the average PC, has been unveiled. The NVIDIA Tesla Personal Supercomputer is based on the revolutionary NVIDIA CUDA parallel computing architecture and powered by up to 960 parallel processing cores.

Until now, supercomputers were massive systems made up of thousands of machines taking up entire rooms, which cost millions of pounds to build and maintain. By contrast, Tesla personal supercomputers will cost between £4,000 and £8,000 and look much like an ordinary PC. David Kirk, chief scientist at NVIDIA, the American company which has designed the new technology, said: “Pretty much anything that you do on your PC that takes a lot of time can be accelerated with this.” “These supercomputers can improve the time it takes to process information by 1,000 times. “If you imagine it takes a week to get a result [from running an experiment], you can only do it 52 times a year. If it takes you minutes, you can do it constantly, and learn just as much in a day.” The new computers make innovative use of graphics processing units - a technological breakthrough, which the company claims could bring lightning speeds to the next generation of home computers. Scientists also believe that the supercomputers could help them discover cures for diseases, such as cancer and malaria, much more quickly than using traditional research methods. We have already seen supercomputers that can perform laser surgery and desktop prototypes that are capable of computing speeds 100 times faster than current desktops, the technology is based on parallel processing on a single chip. This new release makes the supercomputing power easily accessible for the medical and other technical purposes.

Apple branching out in 2009?

Familiar Apple rumors are making the rounds again this week as Macworld looms in the distance, one month away. Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research put out a research note Monday morning spotted by D: All Things Digital saying that Apple plans to release something from "a completely new device category" next year. He fails to explain exactly what such a product might encompass, but speculates that it will be based around a processor designed by the former P.A. Semi engineering team. As a result, the usual rumors (Mac tablet, iPhone Nano, iKindle) are under discussion within the Mac universe. Chowdhry believes that Apple patent filings will be released early in 2009 that will make everything clear, and also notes that P.A. Semi should have an iPhone chip out around that time that improves performance and battery life. Earlier this year CEO Steve Jobs implied Apple was watching small-device categories like tablets and Netbooks to see if they actually take off as a mega-trend, but in the meantime the company had other priorities. Mac tablet rumors stretch back for years, and in the past Jobs has quickly shot down talk of an Apple-produced competitor to Amazon's Kindle, which has been interpreted as a sign Apple was doing just that.

Google chat afflicted by spotty service

Google's instant-messaging service suffered intermittent outages Monday, behaving inconsistently for several hours. The issue began about 10:30 a.m. PST and affected a subset of users of both the Web page-based Gmail Chat and the installed Google Talk software, spokesman Andrew Kovacs said. Because of the problem, sometimes when people sent a message they'd get an error message it wasn't sent and the recipient didn't receive it, but often resending the message worked, he said. "This issue has been resolved for most users, and we expect a resolution for all users within the next couple of hours," Kovacs said about three hours after the problem began. Google's core business is in search and advertising, but it's trying to expand to be a fuller-featured Internet destination with Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs, which collectively are offered to paying customers as Google Apps subscriptions. Google offers a service level agreement to those customers.

Google gives Gmail users a to-do list

Google has added a to-do list to Gmail to help users be more productive. When the new Tasks feature is enabled, a box shows up on top of the Gmail window. In it, users can add, reorder, and delete tasks. It's also possible to assign a due date to each action and even convert e-mails into tasks. The feature--announced Monday on a company blog--will also run outside of the e-mail program. Adding items is as simple as clicking on a vacant part of the box and typing. This may sound like a rehash of the many Post-It Note-like programs popular in the mid-'90s, but because most of us have morphed into e-mail junkies, this list is constantly in our face, reminding of things we wanted to get done. Since e-mail is where and how many of us get things done, both in our personal and professional life, why not add a list of things that we may not be able to get done via e-mail, such as a reminder to make dinner reservations? To enable Tasks, go to Settings in the upper right of the Gmail window and click the Labs tab. Click Enable next to the Tasks selection, click Save Changes. After refreshing Gmail, a Tasks link will appear under the Contacts link. Just click that Tasks link and you are ready to be productive.

Second Firefox 3.1 beta brings significant changes

Usually not much happens to a software product from one point release to the next, much less one beta version to the next. But Mozilla has made quite a few changes with the second beta of Firefox 3.1, released Monday. In the new version are support for video and audio built into Web pages, a built-in service for telling Web sites a user's location if users permit it, private browsing, Web worker support for more powerful Web-based programs, and my favorite feature, the TraceMonkey engine for running the JavaScript programs used to build sophisticated Web sites. TraceMonkey was released before, but now it's switched on by default.

The official announcement has more details for users, and programmers can check the developer site.

The finished 3.1 version, code-named Shiretoko, is expected to arrive in early 2009 after a third beta, Mozilla has said. It arrives during a period of hot activity for browsers. Apple is promoting its Safari browser for Windows as well as Mac OS X. Microsoft, the leader of the market, plans to release Internet Explorer 8 in 2009. And of course the biggest change is the arrival of Google Chrome, an open-source project that, like Safari, uses uses a project called WebKit for interpreting and displaying the basic HTML code used to describe Web pages. (Updated 10:05 p.m. PST to clarify that Chrome, not Firefox, uses WebKit.) Mozilla Chairman Mitchell Baker is unfazed by the competition, though. Largely because of search-ad-related revenue from Google, the organization behind Firefox, the Mozilla Foundation, pulled in $75 million in 2007.

Mio Launch Its First 3.5G Windows Mobile Touchscreen Phone

Mio, maker of popular consumer GPS products, is reportedly developing its own 3.5G Windows Mobile touchscreen handset in the first quater of 2009, according to the company sources. Mio’s GPS handset will be powered by 3.5G chipsets from Qualcomm and will also come with Mitac self-developed touch user interface called the spirit.

Like some of its currently existing GPS handsets, Mio’s upcoming touchscreen model will come with a 3.5inches touch screen , 3.2-megapixel auto-focus camera, and possibly the latest version of Windows Mobile.

The launch of Mio’s 3.5G GPS handset will probably run ahead of the planned launch of the Nuvifone handset by rival vendor Garmin slated in the first half of next year, according to estimates of market sources.

Second Firefox 3.1 beta due 'very shortly'

The second beta version of Firefox 3.1 is "due out very shortly," Mozilla programmer Ben Turner said Thursday. One big change in the 3.1b2 is the addition of "Web workers," a feature that lets the browser process tasks in the background. That feature, part of the still-evolving HTML 5 specification, adds another level of sophistication for programmers writing Web applications and gives multicore computers a better way to use their processors' abilities. "We've been hard at work with folks from Google, Apple, and others to get this new spec nailed down," Turner said of the Web workers work. Google and Apple also build their own browsers, as does market-leading Microsoft and ever-scrappy Opera. With the browser wars back in full force, those organizations are racing to outdo each other on features and performance. He gave one illustration of Web workers in action running a JavaScript program that emulates a decades-old processor design, the 8080. One thread emulates the processor in the background while another handles user interaction such as checking for typing on the keyboard. In a post on the Mozilla Add-ons Blog, Paul Rouget said: "Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 will likely be released the first week of December." He added: "We have added a Beta 3 to our schedule."