Acer sales higher than 180 pc in Q2

Acer Romania, local representative of Acer Group,
one of the world’s largest notebook producers, sold some 38,400
portable computers in the first half of this year, over 180% more than
in H1 2007, the Business Standard informs on August 18.

The company ranks first in the Romanian market for
notebook sales in the first quarter, with an 18.8% market share, and
came third in Q2, with a 19%, after Dell and Toshiba that claimed over
40% of the market, together.

High-end products, especially targeting the
corporate sector, made up 30% of total Acer business on the Romanian
market. "I believe the area will be subject to minor growth compared to
the consumer segment. High-end notebooks are mostly intended for the
corporate area, where the client takes the money out of his pocket and
buys what and when he wants, without the need for budgets and
approvals. We have a high-end consumer segment as well, namely for home
entertainment, and in this niche we have major growth percentage-wise,
although in terms of total value, volume is low," the Business Standard
reads on citing Acer Romania Sales Manager Bogdan Iftemie, as saying.

Romanian notebook sales are expected to exceed
400,000 units this year. Major players are Dell, Toshiba, Acer, Fujitsu
Siemens, HP, Asus and Lenovo the newspaper concluded.

From: http://www.financiarul.ro/

Windows Mobile magazine ends, but iPhone Life launches on September 9th

While I get the majority of my news and content online, I still do
subscribe to a few magazines including MacWorld, Laptop, and Smartphone
& Pocket PC Magazine. I am very saddened by the news that there
will be one final issue of Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine.
As you can read in the press release they are working to make the final
issue a “keeper” with lots of Windows Mobile reviews, new tips and
how-tos, a guide to best accessories, software, and much more. The
final issue will be on newstands in November.

I started reading this magazine many years ago and looked forward to
reading each issue. I found the reviews to be very informative and the
magazine served as a great reference resource. They also ran the Best
Software Awards and I was honored to participate the last several years
as a member of the Board of Experts in judging software. Hal presents
the reasons for having to suspend the magazine and I wish him all the
best.

The good news is that Hal will be launching iPhone Life
on September 9th and it will be a whopping 100-page premier issue. Many
of the same folks who wrote for Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine
will be coming over too. You can subscribe now
for just US$25 to receive all issues through 2010 which includes the
premier issue and at least 4 issues in both 2009 and 2010, plus a
digital edition readable on the iPhone. I already subscribed and highly
encourage my readers to as well. I can’t wait to check out the first
issue and hope this magazine does as well as the iPhone. You will also
find it on newstands everywhere if you don’t want to subscribe.

From : http://blogs.zdnet.com/

Nokia fusion challenge Pakistan takes N78 to the next level

Karachi: Nokia Fusion Challenge is a unique
online competition that connects with the youth of Pakistan.
To win the Challenge, participants need to take a festive
picture of Pakistan, upload it with a music clip on www.nokiafusionchallenge.com
and the participant whose entry gets the highest number of
votes wins a Nokia N78. Nokia has set up kiosks in all shopping
malls across the city where brand ambassadors spread awareness,
provide assistance regarding the Challenge, as well as, educate
customers about the salient features of the phone. All kiosks
are equipped with laptops where visitors can upload their
entry on the Challenge’s website immediately, making
participation in the competition a hassle-free process.—RT

From : http://regionaltimes.com/

Rock Band 2 on Nintendo Wii

Harmonix have developed two of the biggest music video game
franchises to date (Rock Band and Guitar Hero), Rock Band 2 will be the
most ambitious and authentic music game yet with a track list that puts
others to shame.

In the Nintendo Wii version of Rock Band 2 you will be able to
master bass guitar, lead guitar, vocals and drums in a new polished
experience. The game will ship with the next-generation hardware; this
includes improved wireless Fender Stratocaster guitars, expansion port
to support cymbal pads and more durable wireless drums.

The track list in Rock Band 2 includes songs from The Who, Elvis
Costello, Journey, Cheap Trick, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters and
System of a Down.

From : http://www.product-reviews.net/

Intel: the future of robots revealed

A world where robots and human live side-by-side is just pure
science fiction, right? Not according to Intel's chief technology
officer Justin Rattner. We find out just how close we are to having
robots roam the earth.

A world where humans and robots live side-by-side could be possible as soon as 2050, says Intel's chief technology officer Justin Rattner.

Rattner's
prediction came during his speech at the recent Intel Developer Forum,
which took place in San Francisco. He also said that the chip maker's
research labs are working on human-machine interfaces and looking to
foster big changes in robotics and in the ability of computers to
interact with humans. He specifically pointed to work that Intel is
doing on wireless power and on developing tiny robots that can be
programmed to take on the shape of anything from a cell phone to a shoe
or even a human.

"The industry has taken much greater strides than anyone ever
imagined 40 years ago," Rattner said. "There is speculation that we may
be approaching an inflection point where the rate of technology
advancements is accelerating at an exponential rate, and machines could
even overtake humans in their ability to reason in the not-so-distant
future."

In a recent interview Rattner, who also is a senior fellow at Intel,
made similar comments, saying that perhaps as early as 2012, the lines
between human and machine intelligence will begin to blur . The
intelligence gap should become awfully narrow within the next 40 years,
he added, predicting that by 2050, computing will be less about
launching applications and more about using systems that are
inextricably woven into our daily activities.

In that same vein, Rattner talked about programmable matter during
his IDF speech. He explained that Intel researchers are working to
figure out how to harness millions of miniature robots, called catoms,
so they could function as shape-shifting swarms.

"What if
those machines had a small amount of intelligence, and they could
assemble themselves into various shapes and were capable of movement or
locomotion?" he said. "If you had enough of them, you could create
arbitrary shapes and have the assembly of machines that could take on
any form and move in arbitrary ways."

The basic idea is that the catoms, which one day should be about the
size of a grain of sand, could be manipulated with electromagnetic
forces to cling together in various 3D forms. Rattner said that Intel
has been expanding on research work done by Seth Goldstein, an
associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

"We're
actually doing it for real," Rattner said. He added that Intel started
"at the macro scale" with catoms that were "inches across". The robots
had microprocessors associated with them and could attract or repel one
another via electromagnetism or the use of electrostatic charges,
according to Rattner. "It's programmable matter," he said.

During his speech, Rattner showed off millimetre-scale 3D catoms and
said that electronics could be embedded inside the miniature robotic
spheres.

Credit : http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/

Microsoft: No more Windows Live Mail crashes with IE8 Beta 2

Microsoft Corp.
today said that it made a mistake when it tagged one of its own
programs as incompatible with Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2, the browser
preview it unveiled Wednesday.

In the release notes that accompanied IE8 Beta 2, Microsoft initially
listed Windows Live Mail as problematic on PCs running the new browser.
"If you install Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2, Windows Live Mail will
crash when you create or reply to an e-mail message," Microsoft warned
in the release notes.

Windows Live Mail, formerly Windows Live
Desktop, is the desktop mail client meant to replace Outlook Express
and Windows Mail. It is different from the similarly named Windows Live Hotmail, which is the nameplate for Microsoft's Web-based e-mail service.

"This was actually an inaccuracy on our end that has since been fixed,"
said a Microsoft spokeswoman today via e-mail. "Live Mail will work
just fine for IE8 Beta 2 users."

The release notes have since been modified to read: "Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 is compatible with Windows Live Mail."

Computerworld confirmed that Windows Live Mail did not crash when it runs on a Windows XP system equipped with IE8 Beta 2.

The other incompatibility warnings in the release notes are, however, correct, said the spokeswoman. Among the problems:

• Hotmail,
  Microsoft's online e-mail service. Apparently, IE8 Beta 2 will not
  always completely log off Hotmail after the user clicks the "Sign out"
  button, leaving the account active and making it possible for others
  using that computer to view the account's messages and use it to send
  mail. "To make sure that Internet Explorer logs off Hotmail, click the
  Hotmail Sign-In link after you log off Hotmail," Microsoft recommended
  in the release notes.
• Netflix, the DVD subscription mail service. Users with IE8 Beta 2 cannot view Netflix's "On Demand" movies.
• Skype,
  the popular voice-over-IP application. "IE8 Beta 2 displays a
  compatibility warning when certain versions of the Skype add-in are
  installed," said Microsoft. "When you disable this add-in, the main
  functionality of the Skype product is unaffected." Version 2.2.0.193
  and later of the Skype add-in are compatible.

Microsoft has also warned potential IE8 Beta 2 users running Windows XP Service Pack 3 that they won't be able to uninstall either the service pack or IE8 under some circumstances.

From : http://www.computerworld.com/