Last week Lenovo (certainly among others) announced to its customers that owners of "qualified systems" can, if they wish, downgrade their Vista O/S to Windows XP. The offer is valid till 31st of July 2008.

Now, Microsoft announces that Windows XP operating system will remain available for sales to OEM and retail till June 2008, which is five month more than previously announced. System builder partners will be able to offer Windows XP until end of January 2009.

Windows XP Starter Edition in emerging markets where it is currently available for the rapidly growing class of hardware-constrained ultra-low cost PCs until June 30, 2010.

Long waited Microsoft Vista SP1 has not been yet officially announced and its release is not expected before 2008.

Tags: 2007, 2008, api, art, blog, ces, customer, downgrade, ia, ibm, im, IT World, lan, microsoft, nomadcom.net, press, release, train, vista, windows, wp, www, XP

Myanmar is now nearly cute off from the Internet (at least for public access), as it seems clear that authorities want to crack down the outgoing flow of information regarding ongoing events.

How ever, Myanmar's Telecom officials blame a damaged submarine cable for the Internet breakdown.  

Any idea which culprit they will point out regarding numerous smashed  cellphone and cameras ?

Source: AFP 

Tags: 2007, access, blog, breakdown, cable, camera, cellphone, ces, disconnection, event, ia, im, internet, lan, myanmar, nomadcom.net, phone, public, sco, submarine, telecom, underwater, wp, www

The Gartner Group launched during the IT Security Summit, a book written by Richard Hunter (Gartner vice-president) entitled IT Risk: "Turning Business Threats into Competitive".

The Register published an article highlighting some of Hunter's statement. Extracts:

• IT systems have become so integral to businesses that their failure can have disastrous consequences for an organization.

• IT risk is too important to be left to IT departments
• IT risk is related to IT value. It would be short-sighted not to recognize either value or risk

The complete article in available on The Register site.

More interesting than the article itself are indeed the comments which clearly show how wide is the gap between the theory (or the analysis) and the reality.

Best of :

• So the Bean counters and all the people who have no clue about it should have control? BAD IDEA.
• …This is the reason why an I.T director needs to sit on the board. Not however just some one who did a MBA but barely knows how to turn on their PC.
• …much of the problem can be resolved with a bit of education and common sense – and some money of course
• Ignorance, from middle management to board level, of even simple issues relating to IT risks that can be seriously detrimental to the business as a whole.
• Management, up to board level, simply not listening to IT managers who DO know what they are talking about
• In my experience IT risk auditors are finance types who don't understand IT and thus cannot adequately assess the risk
• Yes, let's take away IT disaster management and network security from the people that have a clue.

All comments are here.

I recognize in most comments highly experienced, realistic and well grounded IT guys. About the, so called, IT Analysts… same consideration than for the Burton Group.

As expressed, common sense would be to have IT director on the board, and the management to wake up and become IT skilled.

What's your opinion ?

Tags: 2007, analysis, art, best of, blog, book, ces, ethernet, failure, fon, gap, gartner group, how to, im, IT risk, King, lan, launch, LED, light, list, Management, MIT, money, network, nomadcom.net, pet, press, risk, security, simple, the register, threat, uk, wp, www, XP

It is impressive to see the quantity of bad news that reached Microsoft's headquarters this week.

Motivation may not be at its highest level in Redmond.

• Only 60 millions licenses (sic!) of Windows Vista have been sold. It is rather low considering that includes OEM and Corporate agreements (companies getting Vista licenses as part of their contract, but with no short-term plan to deploy it).

• Yahoo announced the acquisition of Zimbra, an open source server and client software for messaging and collaboration (email, group calendaring, contacts, and web document management and authoring).
• Google welcomed "Presentation", a new addition to the Google Docs & Spreadsheets family which has now all elements to compete with MS Office.
• IBM released the beta version of Symphony, a web-based open source office suite, based on the open document format (ODF).
• International Standard Organization (ISO) rejected Microsoft Office 2007 file format, called Office Open XML (OOXML), to be recognized as an ISO standard. Critics said the format was flawed and laden with MS-specific features.
• SCO group, a Microsoft ally to seize parts of the Linux market, took step of filing for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Last but not least

Microsoft lost its appeal before the European Court of First Instance regarding 2004 European Commission act that found MS abusing of its near-monopoly position. Final  Microsoft's bill in fines (689 millon USD) and penalties could reach about 2.8 billions USD.

Don't worry Bill, on Monday starts another week!  

Tags: 2007, agreement, api, appeal, art, blog, europe, google, ia, ibm, im, International, iso, IT World, lan, language, law, LED, Management, microsoft, nomadcom.net, odf, pet, press, release, sco, space, symphony, term, vista, web, windows, windows vista, wp, www, yahoo

AirTalkr is another multiple IM client application immediately available in its beta version for Windows, Linux , Mac OSX as well as on Web-based version.

IM supported protocols are MSN, ICQ, GTalk, Yahoo and AIM but AirTalkr also connects you to your YouTube and Flickr accounts. In addition, AirTalkr creator Hu Shunjie comes with an interesting concept called "AirCards". AirCards are profiling cards where you can add of your buddies information such their Twitter and blog updates, their photos on Flickr as well as their profiles on MySpace and Friendster.

AirTalkr is a very light application but requires the installation of Abobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) which enables developers to use Flash, Flex, Ajax and HTML to create rich interface applications.

 

The AirTalkr version is still beta and some bugs have been reported but I personaly like this very smooth application and really looking to see what will come next (Skype, more social networking plateforms supported, etc..)

It definitively worth a try. Did I mention that AirTalkr is free and totally Ads-Free (Thanks Hu!). 

Download AirTalkr here and Abobe AIR here.

Tags: 2007, account, adobe, aim, air, airtalkr, Ajax, blog, card, flash, Flex, Flickr, free, GTalk, HP, Hu Shunjie, ia, icq, im, install, instant messenger, King, lan, LED, light, msn, network, nomadcom.net, pda, photo, skype, social, social networking, space, twit, Twitter, update, web, windows, wp, www, XP, yahoo, youtube

At 15h35 local time (08h35 GMT), flight OG/OX269 crashed during landing at Phuket Airport. Apparently landing took place under heavy rain and the Boeing MD-80 went out of the runway, crashing into the jungle near by breaking in tow parts before bursting into flames.

123 passengers (70 foreigners) and 5 aircrew were on board and according last official report, 87 of them have perished. Wounded have been transfered to Bangkok's Phuket Hospital. 

Bangkok Pundit is live blogging information about this crash as they are released from thai and international media.

One Two Go airlines has released additional phone numbers for enquiries regarding this accident 

085-155-4622
085-911-5092
085-918-3422
02-535-7662
02-504-3227
02-504-3641

Tags: 2007, air, airlines, airport, art, Bangkok, blog, Boeing, crash, flight, google, ia, im, International, King, lan, landing, light, live, md 82, nomadcom.net, OG OX269, one two go, OX269, passengers, phone, phuket, post, release, space, Thailand, uk, wp, www

Adobe has released its latest version of Lightroom with embedded version of Camera Raw 4.2.

Among others, following RAW formats are now supported:

• Canon EOS 40D
• Fuji FinePix IS-1
• Olympus EVOLT E-510
• Panasonic DMC-FZ18
• Pentax K100D Super
• Sony Alpha 700

For these using computer with non-English operating system or Regional Settings there is a simple trick to make sure that Lightroom appears in English:

1. Open your Lightroom installation folder (e.g C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.2) in Windows Explorer.
2. Create a folder named e.g "Disable languages"
3. Open the Resources folder and move all unused language folders (e.g "fr", "de", "jp") into your newly created "Disable Languages"
4. Et Voilà!

Tags: 2007, A700, adobe, blog, camera, camera raw, ces, computer, DSLR, howto, im, install, lan, language, light, lightroom, nomadcom.net, olympus, photo, Photography, processing, raw, release, simple, sony, space, tax, uk, update, windows, wp, www, XP

2 years after Sanyo launched its Eneloop batteries, Duracell announces the introduction, on US market, of nickel metal hydride (NiMH) Pre-Charged Rechargeable batteries.

Designed specifically for use in high-drain gadgets including digital cameras, portable gaming devices and MP3 players, Pre-Charged Rechargeable batteries eliminate the need to charge cells before using them for the first time. In addition, these new batteries retains power for up to 365 days while not in use.

Street price: 13 USD for a pack of 4 

Tags: 2007, ATT, batteries, blog, camera, ces, design, digital, duracell, eneloop, Gadgets, im, lan, launch, nickel metal hydride, nimh, nomadcom.net, portable, power, pre charged, rechargeable, sanyo, space, wp, www

Hewlett-Packard has presented its new iPAQ handheld devices. Among them the 600 series a two-in-one 3G phone and navigation device and the 900 series which comes with a full QWERTY keyboard.

Both models share the following specifications: 

• O/S : Windows Mobile 6 Professional
• CPU : Marvell PXA270 520 MHz
• Memory : 128 MB SDRAM and 256 MB ROM
• aGPS (assisted navigation)
• Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Tri Band HSPDA
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth 2.0
• USB 2.0 connector, MicroSD card slot
• 3 Megapixel camera

900 series model only (within brackets, specs of HTC C730)

• Size: 113 x 64 x 16mm (112.5 x 62.5 x 13.5)
• Weight: 146 gr. (120 gr)
• Battery: 1850 mAh (1050 mAh)
• Display: 2.46 in TFT with 65000 colors (2.4 TFT 65000)
• Price Tag: ~800 USD (~520 USD)

Will this model becomes a serious competitor to HTC Cavalier (C730, replacement of S620 Excalibur) which is a 3.5G phone, smaller, lighter and cheaper but does not come with GPS navigation and tactile screen?   

All info about new iPAQ on HP Mobility 2007
Availability: October 2007

Sources : Mobilitysite, Blog de Pierre

Tags: 2007, 802.11, 900 Series, 914, api, asia, ATT, availability, blog, Business Messenger, C720, C720w, C730, camera, card, Cavalier, ces, dopod, excalibur, gap, gsm, handheld, Hewlett Packard, HP, htc, ia, im, iPAQ, keyboard, lan, light, memory, messenger, mobile, Mobile Communications, mobility, models, nomadcom.net, pda, pet, phone, press, public, S620, screen, share, space, Telecommunications, usb, windows, windows mobile 6, WM6, wp, www

The Sony A700 DSLR microsite was briefly available on Sony UK website earlier this week. Yesterday, Sony officially announced the A-700 in a press release.

New A-700 specs are the following :  

• 12.4 megapixel CMOS sensor
• BIONZ image processor
• 11 point autofocus system
• ISO 6400
• 5fps (for 17 shots in RAW mode)
• 1/8000th shutter speed
• 3 inch LCD screen (with 921,000 pixels)
• Optional battery grip
• Wireless Flash support
• Both MemoryStick and CompactFlash cards supported
• Size: 142 x 105 x 80 mm
• Weight: 690g
• Price Tag: : 1400€ body only, 1500€ with lens 18-70mm, 2120€ with lens Zeiss 18-80 mm

3 new DT lenses will be available:

• 16-105mm F3.5-5.6
• 18-250mm F3.5-6.3
• 55-200mm f4-5.6

Availabilty : 16th of November in Japan

Sources : Photography Blog, Virus Photo.
Check the A-700 Hands-on preview on DPreview  

Additional pictures on Engadget site.
More information later this week with the official Sony launch.

Tags: 2007, A700, api, ATT, blog, camera, card, ces, CTU, digital, DSLR, DSLR A700, flash, fon, gap, HP, ia, ict, im, iso, japan, lan, launch, memory, new release, nomadcom.net, pda, photo, Photography, picture, press, project, raw, release, review, screen, sony, space, uk, update, web, website, wireless, wp, www