And what's in the News today?
All the Tech Thats Fit to Print
New York Times: T-Mobile to sell HTC Android phone as early as October
From Engadget and Thomas Ricker
Here we go folks. The New York Times is reporting that T-Mobile will be the first carrier to offer Android. According to "people briefed on the company's plans," the HTC phone will go on sale in the US "before Christmas, perhaps as early as October." The NYT's sources also say that the 5-row QWERTY slider More
10 Worst Web glitches of 2008
From Cnet and Rafe Needleman
We have been reminded several times lately that Web 2.0 is in no way a synonym for "reliable." Major services have crashed. Big product launches have fizzled. Users have raised their collective fists in the air. What's going on? Is the Web crumbling? Well, no, it's not. But users' expectations are rising, and Web companies often get themselves into trouble by promising far more than they can deliver. More
Engineering Windows 7
From Ars Technica - Emil Protalinsk
Microsoft has thus far been very tight-lipped on Windows 7; everything that we know about Vista's successor—which is very, very little—has been carefully disclosed to us by Microsoft. The software giant has already been heavily criticized for not having any public channels of communication open. Even Microsoft's own partners have complained that the company isn't telling them much, and they're the ones that really have to know the details so they can align their products accordingly. Anyway, it seems that the stance over at Microsoft is changing, but very slowly: the Engineering Windows 7 blog (E7 for short) is now live. More
Apple Over Reaching?
This weeks, Mac Break Weekly, with Leo Laprote, Alex Lindsay, and the witty Merlin Mann, they spent quite a but of the podcast talking about whether Apple has overextended itself. Merlin, or Oscar as I like to call him, made an interesting point that he feels as Apple grows they need to keep up the same level of launch perfection they have in the past. Otherwise they're just another computer company. The discussion was prompted by an article by Jason Snell at MacWorld.
For my part, especially re Mobile Me, the real issue is not the poor quality of the launch but rather the inability of Apple to live up to an expectation of what Apple has in the delivered last 3 years. A product that work as soon as you turn it on. So when they don't hit out of the park on launch the I agree with Jason Snell and Merlin Mann, there is an issue.
Alex Lindsay makes a point about Windows users moving from PC to MAc. Like eating steak after eating gruel. While this may be true will we still be saying "its good enough" after its no longer steak but a burger from Mcdonalds?
DigiTimes: Google will definitely launch its own branded handset
Posted Sep 19th 2007 5:07AM by Thomas Ricker
Citing sources at "Taiwan handset makers," DigiTimes is reporting that "Google will definitely launch its own branded handset." However, the Googlephone's OS, hardware specs, production contractor and operating partners have still not been finalized. MORE
NBC who? FOX, CBS show iTunes support
NBC may have decided it can launch its new Fall seasons without the help of the iTunes store, but it appears the other networks are lining up for some free publicity. This week no fewer than 3 high-profile shows are offering their season premieres on iTunes for free. MORE
USB 3.0 coming, will increase transfer speeds tenfold
Right when you think you've got a cable standard down that works with most of your devices, some committee or commission of some sort goes and releases a new, better standard to upgrade to. It's pretty annoying, but it's one of the things you've got to deal with in technology. It moves pretty fast, after all. So first there was USB, then there was USB 2.0, and now, wouldn't you know it, we're about to get USB 3.0. MORE
Apple's fight against iPhone unlocks may result in expensive bricks
By Jacqui Cheng | Published: September 19, 2007 - 11:39AM CT
Apple will actively work against any SIM unlocks of the iPhone, says Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Jobs made the comments during a Q&A session that took place after yesterday's press event in London announcing availability details of the iPhone in the UK. When asked by a journalist whether unlocking was a concern for the company, Jobs said, "It's a constant cat and mouse game," according to ComputerWorld's account of the discussion. "We try to stay ahead. People will try to break in, and it's our job to stop them breaking in." MORE
Ooma now for sale: Is it worth it?
By Rafe Needleman – September 18, 2007
A few months ago, my co-worker Stephen Shankland took at look at a pre-production Ooma -- the pay-once-and-you're-done phone service that's going on sale for real today. His experience setting up the Ooma hardware wasn't the best. I just got one of these gizmos myself and checked it out here at the CNET office. I found it to be pretty straightforward to get running, although my setup was much simpler than his. My take: This is a very cool, and very well-priced product. It's also technologically fascinating. It's not just a VOIP box. MORE
IBM takes on Microsoft Office again with Lotus Symphony
Posted by Martin LaMonica
An emboldened IBM challenged Microsoft's desktop application dominance with the introduction on Tuesday of IBM Lotus Symphony, a suite of free desktop applications. Lotus Symphony is made up of three applications--word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation programs--which IBM already ships as part of Lotus 8.
The offering is in beta and is available as a free download with "community support" from IBM's Web site. IBM is considering other support options, according to a company executive. MORE
Internet-calling FAQ
By Ted Wallingford
Making calls over the Internet can shrink your home phone and cell phone bills. But voice over IP (VoIP) is more than just thrifty—it mixes traditional calling with new features that simply aren’t possible with a plain old telephone. Ready to jump on the bandwagon? Here are answers to some of the most common questions people have when they’re thinking about making the switch. MORE
Comcast Customers Limited To 90GB/Month
By Scott Gilbertson September 17, 2007
Comcast has revealed some details about its mysterious bandwidth limitations. Previously the company had only said that it would shut down customers who went over what the company considered average use. But given that the company doesn't seem to have a definition of average use, it's difficult to know whether you're in danger of being shutdown. MORE
Fear of Web 2.0
Written by Richard MacManus / September 17, 2007
Enterprises continue to adopt web technologies and 'web 2.0' trends, but there are two common threads to this adoption. One is that web technologies are step-by-step being adopted by enterprises, but they aren't yet ready to usurp many desktop software apps. The Google Apps vs Microsoft Office debate currently raging is proof of that. The second thread is that enterprises have a fear of web 2.0 tools being mis-used by their employees. I was recently in a TV news segment in my home country, answering the question: should Facebook be banned in the workplace? (for the record, my answer was no!). MORE
Google Docs Adds Presentations
Google finally rounds out their web-based office suite with the addition of a Presentations to Google Docs. Create a whole new slideshow in Presentations or upload an existing PowerPoint file to get started. Kick your web-based presentation into slideshow view mode and invite others to see it real time as you move through slides—with chat built right into the sidebar. MORE
TwitterNotes Organizes Your Notes
Webapp TwitterNotes separates notes to yourself from all the other chatter on Twitter. Simply log on to Twitter and type a note to yourself prefixed by the + sign, and check TwitterNotes to retrieve it later. MORE
Remote Control Your Computer with Your iPhone
FROM LIFEHACKER
t's a phone, it's an iPod, it surfs the web, and it finds the closest restaurant serving fried calamari. If you hack it, you can install killer third-party applications. But in addition to all of that, the iPhone is also a killer remote control. You could spend hundreds of dollars on a multimedia remote with a touchscreen interface, glorious album art, and all of the fixings, but if you've already got an iPhone, you really don't need to. Today I'll show you a number of ways you can use the iPhone to remote control everything from iTunes playback to your Windows or Mac desktops.
AMD adds triple-core Phenom processor to desktop roadmap
Posted Sep 18th 2007 8:21AM by Darren Murph
We'd heard rumblings about this newfangled three-core approach just two days ago, and now it looks like AMD has gone and gotten all official on us. According to the chip maker, the forthcoming Phenom is "expected to be the world's first PC processor to integrate three computational cores on a single die of silicon." MORE