new camera battery

On Monday Apple released the MacBook Air SMC Firmware Update 1.2, available now for compatible models via Mac OS X’s Software Update mechanism.

According to Apple’s documentation, “This SMC firmware update adds compatibility for the latest service replacement batteries…. After this update has successfully completed, your SMC Version will be: 1.23f20 [for original MacBook Air models, or] 1.34f8 [for more recent models].”

In general, SMC Firmware Updates update the System Management Controller on Intel-based Macs. The SMC controls power and thermal management features, including the battery and fans. In this case, new replacement batteries from Apple are apparently different enough that they require the use of this updated version of the SMC firmware.

QuickerTek has introduced the Quicky Jr. II, a device purported to triple the wireless networking range of any Mac laptop equipped with USB. It costs $90.

The Quicky Jr. II looks and acts as an antenna. You plug it in to an available USB port on your Mac laptop and install a USB driver. It supports 64 and 128 bit WEP and WPA encryption, and works with 802.11b, g and n networking standards, so it’s fully compatible with the AirPort Extreme Base Station, other Apple networking hardware, and hardware made by other manufacturers.

System requirements call for Mac OS X 10.4 or later.

Intel is hoping that a deal with cell phone maker Nokia that will create a new stable of mobile products with “Intel Inside.” Intel is expected to announce a partnership in a press conference slated for 8:30 a.m. PDT Tuesday. The possibilities for both companies here are huge. Intel will be able to sell hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of new CPUs into a new mobile market, while Nokia gains access to technologies such as the Atom processor, which can spawn a new generation of devices.
The trick here is for both companies to make sure that this marriage delivers something new and unique. The world doesn’t need another Nokia netbook with Intel inside. The world doesn’t need another iPhone clone. But, what else can these companies shoot for? The biggest opportunity comes from reinventing mobile devices, not just rehashing what’s already out on the market.
A new type of netbook does make some sense, something that is more than a netbook in capabilities, yet less in weight and size. The market may be hungry for a next generation netbook, at least according to NPD research. NPD recently found that 60 percent of netbook users are unhappy with their netbooks, citing slow performance and limited functionality as the culprit.
Perhaps Intel/Nokia could use that information to develop a netbook that performs better, offers more connectivity options and even offer Google’s Android as the operating system.
This should be a no-brainer for Intel and Nokia; after all, the foundation is already in place to make that happen. Wireless carriers are already selling 3G enabled netbooks and Nokia is already in tight with the wireless carriers.
Another avenue for Intel/Nokia to explore is a device that merges hot technologies into a new form factor. For example, how about a mobile device that offers what Amazon’s Kindle can do, while incorporating some iPhone features and running Windows Mobile, giving users access to thousands of Windows applications? Give that device a touch screen with handwriting recognition and access to wireless technologies, perhaps creating a replacement for a multitude of other devices! Sell that unit via wireless carriers and target the consumer and education markets and shake up the cell phone, Kindle, iPhone, and netbook markets all at once.
It all comes down to simple common sense. Intel and Nokia need to apply that common sense to create the devices that users need, not just rehash what is out on the market already. Both companies have the intellectual property and engineering know-how to change the portable device market, but are both brave enough to take the risk to create something new? Only time will tell if the pairing of Intel and Nokia will be just another business announcement that fades into oblivion or if it marks a new portable device era.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009 12:00 AM PDT
China’s deadline for the installation of Web filtering software on new PCs hasn’t changed, it said Tuesday, despite growing protests from the U.S. government and Chinese Internet users.

Foreign and domestic PC makers are still required to ship the filter program with all PCs sold in China beginning July 1, the state-run China Daily said, citing an unnamed source in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

China first issued the mandate last month and has said the software is meant to protect children from pornographic and other “harmful” content online. But the program, called Green Dam Youth Escort, also blocks political content including Web sites that mention Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned as a cult in China.

The mandate could escalate into a serious trade dispute if China actually bars foreign PC makers from selling computers without the software, said Simon Ye, a Gartner analyst. State media last week cited an unnamed official saying foreign PC makers like Dell might not be able to meet the deadline.

Some kind of compromise is much more likely before the deadline, said Ye. Barring sales by a company like Dell would disrupt China’s PC market and could trigger protectionist responses by the U.S., he said.

Hewlett-Packard and Dell were the second- and third-largest PC vendors in China in the final quarter last year, claiming over one-fifth of PC shipments in the country, according to IDC statistics.

Dell is still reviewing the government mandate, a company spokeswoman said, declining to comment further.

Resistance to China’s mandate has grown in the few weeks since it became public. Representatives from multiple U.S. government offices met with Chinese officials last Friday to express concerns about the requirement to ship the software, said Susan Stevenson, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Embassy officials representing the State Department, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Commerce Department met with officials at China’s MIIT and commerce ministry, she said.

The U.S. has asked China for a dialogue about the potential impact of the mandate on trade, effects on the free flow of information and “serious technical issues” raised by use of the software, Stevenson said.

Chinese Internet users have also mounted resistance to the mandate. Ai Weiwei, a well-known artist and dissident, was using Twitter messages on Tuesday to call for an Internet boycott the day of the government deadline. Ai urged Internet users not to go online on July 1 for work, email, news or other purposes.

“Do not give any explanation of your actions,” Ai wrote in his Twitter feed. “Make July 1 a day of commemoration for the Internet.”

Calls to China’s MIIT went unanswered Tuesday morning.

China said its deadline for Web filtering software to be distributed with PCs had not changed on Tuesday, despite growing protests from the U.S. government and Chinese Internet users.

Foreign and domestic PC makers are still required to ship the filter program with all PCs sold in China beginning July 1, the state-run China Daily said, citing an unnamed source in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

China first issued the mandate last month and has said the software is meant to protect children from pornographic and other “harmful” content online. But the program, called Green Dam Youth Escort, also blocks political content including Web sites that mention Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned as a cult in China.

The mandate could escalate into a serious trade dispute if China actually bars foreign PC makers from selling computers without the software, said Simon Ye, a Gartner analyst. State media last week cited an unnamed official saying foreign PC makers like Dell might not be able to meet the deadline.

Some kind of compromise is much more likely before the deadline, said Ye. Barring sales by a company like Dell would disrupt China’s PC market and could trigger protectionist responses by the U.S., he said.

Hewlett-Packard and Dell were the second- and third-largest PC vendors in China in the final quarter last year, claiming over one-fifth of PC shipments in the country, according to IDC statistics.

Dell is still reviewing the government mandate, a company spokeswoman said, declining to comment further.

Resistance to China’s mandate has grown in the weeks since it became public. Representatives from multiple U.S. government offices met with Chinese officials last Friday to express concerns about the requirement to ship the software, said Susan Stevenson, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Embassy officials representing the State Department, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Commerce Department met with officials at China’s MIIT and commerce ministry, she said.

The U.S. has asked China for a dialogue about the potential impact of the mandate on trade, effects on the free flow of information and “serious technical issues” raised by use of the software, Stevenson said.

Chinese Internet users have also mounted resistance to the mandate. Ai Weiwei, a well-known artist and dissident, was using Twitter messages on Tuesday to call for an Internet boycott the day of the government deadline. Ai urged Internet users not to go online on July 1 for work, email, news or other purposes.

“Do not give any explanation of your actions,” Ai wrote in his Twitter feed. “Make July 1 a day of commemoration for the Internet.”

Calls to China’s MIIT went unanswered Tuesday morning.

A development center built through a partnership between the Taiwan government and chip maker Intel plans to make the Moblin Linux operating system popular in small devices by creating applications as well as incubating a developer base on the island and in China.

The Moblin Enabling Center (MEC) in Taipei plans to increase its staff to 30 engineers, from 20 currently, by the end of this year as it seeks to dramatically increase the number of applications available for the Moblin operating system, according to Phoenix Lee, a section manager at the Moblin Enabling Center, which is run by Taiwan’s publicly funded Institute for Information Industry.

The group also plans to start reaching out to university students to build Moblin application development groups, she said. Initially, the MEC will work with National Taiwan University, considered the best school on the island, but it will expand to other schools in Taiwan and then to China. The MEC hopes to attract student software developers to Moblin through contests and the potential to make money through a Moblin application store similar to Google’s Android Market, which includes both free and for-pay downloads.

The MEC opened last December to promote Moblin among Taiwanese device manufacturers and create new applications. The operating system was optimized to work with Intel Atom microprocessors, low-power chips made for small devices. Taiwan contributed money, the lab and engineers to the MEC project, while Intel added technical expertise, a few full time engineers and marketing support.

Taiwanese product makers such as Acer and Asustek Computer will be able to test Moblin in their devices at the MEC, once the compliance testing center opens there later this year. A test kit will be available for Moblin v2.0 around August, followed by the release of the final version of the OS and then the opening of the testing center.

But test support is only part of the mission. Expanding the popularity and developer base are just as important.

“That’s (testing) not enough, we need lots and lots of applications to be successful,” said Lee.

A number of Linux software makers have already jumped on board with Moblin. Around 15 companies showed off their own versions of Moblin early this month at the Computex Taipei 2009 computer show, including Novell with its SUSE Moblin, as well as Red Flag, Xandros, Linpus and Wind River Systems, which has agreed to be bought by Intel.

One reason Taiwan is so keen on Moblin is because of a long history working with x86 chips such as Atom in computers. Taiwanese companies have been part of the PC industry for years, and x86 chips are a PC mainstay. Taiwan hopes to see Intel succeed in taking x86 chips into smartphones because government officials believe the island will have an advantage over rivals due to years of experience with the chips.

“Moblin is the OS optimized for the Intel Atom processor,” said Lee. “When Intel gets into smartphones on the x86 platform, we will be right there.”

Taiwanese companies are already leading the charge for Intel in small handheld devices similar to smartphones. Several companies have launched handheld computers Intel calls mobile Internet devices (MIDs), with slightly larger screens than most smartphones. Taiwanese manufacturer BenQ, for example, made the S6, which has already been launched by Italian mobile carrier TIM, while Gigabyte Technology created the M528, which is being sold by Chunghwa Telecom in Taiwan.

After a decade or so of talking about it, we’re finally approaching a world where your applications and data are no longer tethered to the personal hardware you use. Today this is mainly confined to Web e-mail and a couple of other browser-based apps (and maybe remote access to your desktop PC at work via VPN). But I’m convinced that desktop virtualization is on the cusp of becoming the next big craze, and if the client hardware is more or less immaterial, why not use a cheap netbook?

The argument for desktop virtualization is basically this: What you spend on back-end servers to maintain end-user desktops is made up for by a lower total cost of ownership, 24/7 employee access to desktop work environments, and low desktop horsepower requirements. Not to mention that all user data stays in the datacenter where it can be secured. There are still hurdles — applying desktop management to the server side is a new and evolving area, for example — but I have little doubt that they will be overcome.

[ Check out Business netbooks: IT revolution or contradiction in terms? for a review of four netbooks by InfoWorld contributor Randall Kennedy. ]

So why netbooks? Well, not only are they the cheapest, lowest-power-consuming PCs you can buy, but they’re also the smallest devices with which you can get heads-down productive work done on the road. Back at your desk you can plug one into a $150 LCD and a full-size keyboard. These days it’s hard to find Linux netbooks anymore — but who cares if all you can get is XP Home or Vista preinstalled? Go ahead, use Home as your terminal OS. Remember, the client OS is completely isolated from the virtual desktop.

To me, netbooks are just coincidentally good candidates for thin clients, in part because they’re selling better than any other personal computer in this crummy economy. Worried about what happens when a $300 piece of “plastic junk” breaks? No problem: Hand the user another netbook and work resumes without disruption. Ultimately, the greatest cost savings may be that you escape the hardware upgrade treadmill. New OS versions and fatter desktop apps may require a server upgrade, but the requirements for clients remain constant.

Client hardware aside, those who doubt the economies of scale offered by desktop virtualization should take note of the announcement IBM made last week. This year, IBM will offer a new Smart Business Desktop Cloud service, where IBM will maintain virtual desktop images accessible by customers via thin client. And yes, we’re talking about Windows and Office desktops (although you can opt for Lotus stuff if you want).

If investing in desktop virtualization still seems prohibitive, consider this: Some companies, including Google and BP, have explored the idea of enabling users to choose and maintain their own PCs. With desktop virtualization in place, employees could actually own (or co-own) their own netbooks in the same way people own mobile devices that access company e-mail.

The ramp-up to widespread desktop virtualization will take a few years, by which time netbooks may no longer be hot. But by then, who knows? Maybe you’ll be able to buy smartphones with little video and keyboard ports.
For more IT analysis and commentary on emerging technologies, visit InfoWorld.com. Story copyright © 2007 InfoWorld Media Group. All rights reserved.

Macs are often criticized for the high price of their hardware. This so-called Apple tax is the premium that Apple computers usually cost over comparably equipped PCs. But since the company dropped prices on its laptop line yesterday, that difference is now smaller than ever.

Of course, Mac enthusiasts might even say the Apple tax never existed, since no MacBook Pro competitor has the aluminum unibody construction or multi-touch track pad that the MacBook Pro does.

In any case, I’ve been playing with the numbers, and I’ve noticed something interesting: When the newest 13-inch MacBook Pro is configured with similar features and put head to head with a Dell XPS 1330 (arguably Dell’s most similar computer), the two come within spitting distance in price.

The base price for the 13-inch MacBook Pro is $1199 while the Dell XPS M1330 starts at $749. Using each company’s online configuration tool, I created systems with the following attributes: 13.3-inch LED backlit screen, 4GB RAM, 320GB Hard disk, Nvidia GE Force 9400M Graphics Card, 802.11n networking, integrated webcam, backlit keyboard and Bluetooth. The MacBook comes with a 2.26 GHz Intel processor with a 1066 MHz frontside bus, versus 2.4 GHz and 800 MHz, respectively, for the Dell.

The Dell was configured with a 9-cell battery, which should at least approach the 7 hours Apple advertises for its integrated battery. Dell’s computer weighs in at just under 4 pounds with a 6-cell battery and with the 9-cell is likely to be pretty close to the MBP’s 4.5 pounds. Both included a one-year warranty. Including Windows Vista Home Premium, the Dell came out to $1304 as compared to $1399 for the Apple. Apple tax: $95.

For those willing to put a premium on the featherweight computing experience, the new $1499 base price of the MacBook Air should give you a reason to take a fresh look. Also, it should cause Dell to break a sweat as the competing Adamo now starts at a full $500 more. In its $1799 configuration, the Air matches the 128GB Solid Stage Drive of the Adamo and bests its 1.2 GHz processor with one that clocks in at 2.13 GHz. Both come with 2GB of RAM and no optical drive. The Air weighs one full pound less than the Adamo at 3 lbs.

If you’ve been attracted to OS X and the Apple computer experience, but have been put off by high prices, Apple just extended an olive branch to you.

Michael Scalisi is an IT manager based in Alameda, California.

Google’s Android mobile phone software worked well on mini-laptops at the Computex Taipei 2009 electronics show and, backed by the strong Google brand, may be headed for prime time, two Gartner analysts said Monday.

The researchers noted that PC manufacturers believe Android is not quite ready for netbooks or similar devices yet, but that it will inevitably get there. The mobile operating system was developed for smartphones, but a number of initiatives have put the operating system in devices such as mini-laptops, netbooks and smartbooks.

Netbooks and smartbooks are two kinds of mini-laptops with screens 10-inches or smaller and full keyboards, but differ in that netbooks are designed to work on PC microchips such as Intel’s Atom microprocessors, while smartbooks run on mobile phone chips with processing cores from Arm Holdings.

“When Android did work, we found that the user interface was very snappy on relatively low-performance ARM processors, more so than Windows 7 on Atom,” Christian Heidarson and Ben Lee wrote in Gartner’s Semiconductor DQ Monday Report.

Android has put momentum behind the move to use ARM processors in the PC industry, including with support from critical software vendors, the researchers said.

Microsoft has said it will not port Windows 7 to ARM nor modify Windows Mobile to work on smartbooks because the devices are untested in the market. That leaves the field open for Google, which has so far remained mum on its plans to support Android outside mobile phones.

Computex served as a coming out party for Android in devices beyond smartphones and in gadgets running on two other kinds of processor technologies, the PC industry’s x86 processors and MIPs processors.

Several Android-based smartbooks were on display at Computex, including a version of Asustek Computer’s Eee PC based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor, which contain ARM processing cores. Asustek pioneered netbooks and has used other Linux OSes in past netbooks, but prior to Computex it had almost completely migrated to Microsoft Windows XP, which is the most popular OS for netbooks.

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) showed off an Android smartbook powered by ARM-based chips from Texas Instruments at Computex, while chip maker Freescale Semiconductor displayed Android smartbooks from Pegatron, the contract manufacturing subsidiary of Asustek, and Wistron, Acer’s former contract manufacturing arm.

The Android Eee PC was thinner and lighter than current members of Asustek’s Eee PC netbook lineup due to the 1GHz ARM processing core. The chips use less electricity and give off less heat than Intel Atom chips, so the mini-laptops they’re in do not require cooling systems such as heat sinks or fans. The smartbooks on display at Computex looked a lot like netbooks, with 10-inch screens and full keyboards, but they can run for eight hours on a three-cell battery, compared to two or three hours for a netbook with a three-cell battery.

Acer, the world’s third-largest PC vendor, unveiled an Android Aspire One netbook, unique because it runs Android on an Intel Atom processor, not an ARM-based chip. Acer worked with a Taiwanese Linux distributor to port Android over to x86 processors, a first for the OS. The device is due out in the third quarter, the company said.

Not to be left out, MIPS Technologies worked with software developer Embedded Alley to port Android to the MIPS chip architecture, which the companies also showed on devices at Computex.

Several other companies displayed their first-ever Android-based gadgets, including Inventec Appliances, which showed a smartphone and handheld computer, and Kinpo, which displayed a handheld computer. Other vendors such as BenQ, Micro-Star International (MSI) and Garmin-Asus vowed to catch up with Android-based products of their own

The maker of a Web filter backed by the Chinese government plans legal action against U.S. researchers who say its program may have been copied from foreign software, according to state media.

The Chinese program, called Green Dam Youth Escort, appears to use blacklists taken from a filter product made by U.S.-based Solid Oak Software, according to the report by researchers at the University of Michigan. China has ordered copies of the program to be distributed with all PCs sold in China after July 1.

“I think the negative comments and attacks on Green Dam are intentional,” the China Daily quoted Bryan Zhang, general manager of the company that designed Green Dam, as saying on Monday.

“It is not responsible to crack somebody’s software and publish the details, which are commercial secrets,” Zhang was quoted as saying.

Zhang denied any theft of programming code from CyberSitter, the U.S. program, but said the two programs might have similar blacklists since both mainly filter pornography, according to the paper.

No details of the legal action planned by Zhang’s company, Jinhui Computer System Engineering, appeared in the report. Zhang says his program, like CyberSitter, is aimed at parents.

China has said Green Dam is meant only to filter Internet porn, but the program also blocks Web sites that mention political terms like Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned as a cult in China.

Green Dam includes a configuration file that links to lists of banned content from the CyberSitter Web site, according to the U.S. report. The program also includes an encrypted CyberSitter news bulletin from 2004 and a setup file that references the CyberSitter blacklists, the report says.

Calls to Zhang and his company, Jinhui Computer System Engineering, went unanswered Monday evening.