Wireless Blog

Sybase iAnywhere today announced immediate support for the new iPhone 3G model to extend wireless email from Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange email systems.

The rumored new Samsung i8510 that tows in an 8-megapixel camera and a 16GB internal storage becomes official.

C2 THE CANADIAN PRESS The just completed $4.25 billion auction of wireless spectrum has changed the industry "forever" in Canada by ushering in a new era of increased competition that will mean lower prices for ...

Apple has been boosting sales of Macs with its Mac OS X operating system -- seemingly at Microsoft's expense, as more PC users turn up their noses at Microsoft's Windows Vista. Apple also has had great success with its iPhone, but now that Apple is taking flak because of problems with its MobileMe service, an admiring Microsoft appears ready to go after some of Apple's revenue.

In a memo distributed to Microsoft employees Wednesday, CEO Steve Balmer said Apple is good at "providing an experience that is narrow but complete, while our commitment to choice often comes with some compromises to the end-to-end experience." As a result, he wrote, Microsoft will work with hardware vendors to make sure there are "absolutely no compromises."

Amid reports that Microsoft is planning a rival to the iPhone, Ballmer wrote that he wants Microsoft to emulate Apple by controlling all aspects of a product's design. Reportedly, Microsoft's iPhone challenger would be built around its struggling Zune media player using Windows Mobile 7.

In the memo, Ballmer acknowledged that changing the public's perception of Vista is a priority. He said the company will soon mount a campaign to "tell our story."

Meantime, Walt Mossberg, a well-known technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, criticized Apple's MobileMe subscription service in a rare swipe at Apple products. Many longtime users of the renamed .Mac service are upset because they haven't been able to access their e-mail. The $99-a-year service is meant to seamlessly synchronize (or push) data between iPhones, PCs and Macs.

MobileMe, Mossberg wrote, is both sluggish and buggy with Web pages loading slowly. In his tests, syncs between the PCs and Macs he used took 15 minutes. Apple says it's working on a fix.

He also found problems synchronizing with Microsoft's Outlook e-mail application. And he said that for changes to...

Intel has unveiled eight new Integrated Processor chips that the company claims will yield new levels of performance and energy efficiency versus traditional system-on-chip (SoC) designs.

Beyond targeting the company's traditional computing businesses, Intel intends to customize members of its new product line to fit specialty applications in the Mobile Internet Device (MID), consumer electronics and embedded markets, noted Doug Davis, vice president of Intel's digital enterprise group.

"As the number of Internet-connected devices reaches into the billions, performance expectations rise and device sizes shrink," Davis explained. "These products enable our customers to rethink their own innovation and system design."

A Shared Layer of Capabilities

Based on Intel's Pentium M processor, each "smart" SoC device joins an integrated memory controller hub with a variety of communications and embedded I/O controllers. And four of the new chips will feature Intel's QuickAssist Technology, which simplifies the use and deployment of security and packet accelerators in Intel-based PCs.

Additionally, several of Intel's new chip designs are based on the same blueprint, called Intel Architecture (IA), that the company has used as the basis for developing the processors that run the bulk of the Internet today.

"By designing more complex systems onto smaller chips, Intel will scale the performance, functionality and software compatibility of IA while controlling the overall power, cost and size requirements to better meet respective market needs," said Gadi Singer, vice president of Intel's Mobility Group. This will enable Intel to deliver "more highly integrated products ranging from industrial robotics and in-car infotainment systems to set-top boxes, MIDs and other devices."

In response to the growing need for complex integrated systems, Davis said Intel has created a shared layer of capabilities that integrates Atom cores, fabrics and interconnecting IP blocks. Having this additional layer riding on top of Intel's technology means that highly efficient --...

The Enterprise Mobility business of Motorola, Inc. announced its 802.11n planning tools featuring predictive networking capabilities -- Motorola's 11n LANPlanner.

Keeping your PC cool during the hot summer months should be the top priority for any conscientious computer owner. Heat and humidity are component killers, so it's important to take steps to keep your equipment safe from sweltering conditions.

If the temperature in your home is too hot for you, imagine what it's like inside a closed box filled with high-voltage electronics. Despite new energy-efficient components, there's a lot of heat generated by increased RAM, high-end video cards, speedy dual- and quad-core processors, high-wattage power supplies, internal storage devices and CD/DVD drives. Running together, in close quarters, the insides of your PC case can easily become an oven. Left unchecked, component failure is just a matter of time.

Home air conditioning does more than just keep users comfortable. Besides cooling the air, AC also helps to cut down on humidity, which can be even worse on electronics than heat alone. Condensation anywhere near your PC is a sign of trouble. Air that's too dry, as in the winter months, can also cause problems, in the form of static electricity. The trick is achieving the right balance.

Because your computer components are sealed inside a metal box, proper air flow is essential. Fans inside the case help pull cool air in and push hot air out. Make sure you have enough and that they are working properly. Fans are inexpensive, so if yours are old and tired, replace them. The bigger, the better and the more, the merrier.

Personally, I have a total of nine fans running inside my computer case. Three intake fans -- one in front, two on the side -- pull fresh air into the case, passing over my hard drives and motherboard. Two other fans direct heat away from the CPU, RAM and video card. The power supply contains two...

SanDisk, a maker of Solid State Drives (SSD), said on Monday that Vista is not optimized for those kinds of drives, and suitable SSDs won't be available until late this year or next year. The SanDisk CEO admitted that his company didn't understand the limitations of Vista.

SSDs are currently available as options for the Apple MacBook Air and Toshiba Portege R500.

SandDisk's CEO, Eli Harari, spoke to the issue at their second quarter conference call and said that the design of Vista presents a challenge. "As soon as you get into Vista applications in notebook and desktop, you start running into very demanding applications because Vista is not optimized for flash memory solid-state disk," he said.

This is due to Vista's design. "The next generation controllers need to basically compensate for Vista shortfalls," Mr. Harari continued. "Unfortunately, performance in the Vista environment falls short of what the market really needs and that is why we need to develop the next generation, which we'll start sampling end of this year, early next year."

Mr. Harari placed some of the blame on his own company and said: "... I'd say that we are now behind because we did not fully understand, frankly, the limitations in the Vista environment."

Yesterday, in a story that has a tie-in, Peter Burrows with BusinessWeek surmised that analysts have misinterpreted Apple's strategy announced during the July 21 Q3 earnings report. "It's a well-timed move, and a time-honored tactic by market leaders in tough times. If your competitors can't afford to match you on price, why not accept a lower margin for a time and load up on market share (or force them to incur losses)?" Mr. Burrows asked.

Some analysts believe that Apple was referring to a MacBook related product that would use more expensive components and trade market share and low...

The iPhone 2.0 software update released earlier this month offers some dramatic improvements from earlier versions in security management for corporate users.

At first glance, the [Asus] Eee PC and the MacBook Air do not seem to have much in common. But on closer inspection, both portable computers use solid-state drives (SSD) or one that has no moving parts and significant advantages over traditional drives.

Solid-state drives are becoming common in personal computers. While the Eee PC uses an SSD as its standard hard drive, the Apple offers users an SSD option to upgrade traditional drives.

The Eee PC from Asus is a stripped down notebook selling for $635 (399 euros). Its SSD has a 12GB capacity, enough for e-mails, some music and loads of photos.

Meanwhile, the MacBook Air is a mobile, but fully-fledged, computer. Customers pay [about $2,665 or] 1,699 euros for a standard model with an ordinary 80GB hard drive. But some customers are tempted to pay [about $1,067 or] 680 euros more to have a smaller 64GB SSD instead. Apple says customers are attracted by the fact that the SSD drive has no moving parts, which makes it silent and more durable.

Case in point: Dropping a memory card packed with photos is no longer detrimental as it has no moving parts. The same applies to SSDs. A computer with an SSD drive is much more resistant to bumps. Traditional hard drives require special metal plates, written upon and read using special magnetized heads. A good jolt can sometimes lead to a complete loss of data.

"Additionally, under normal conditions, SSDs can access data faster than a standard hard drive," says Philippe Schaeffer of the Secure IT division of TUEV Rheinland, a technical services provider based in Cologne. Traditional hard drives often have linked data stored in smaller packages all over the disc. Searching for the individual pieces of data slows things down. SSDs don't have that problem, meaning all data can be...