USB 3.0

USB 3.0 products are starting to hit the market. The new USB format, dubbed SuperSpeed, transfers data at about 250MB/s, (Theoretical maximum 600MB/s), or about 10 times faster than USB 2.0 in real-world applications and with full-duplex data transmission rather than half-duplex as with previous versions.

It also has the advantage of consuming less power during normal operation, but can, conversely, supply more power to configured devices that need it when necessary. There are a few incompatibilities between connectors, though, that might make it difficult to plug your memory stick into a USB3.0 equipped PC. 29 September 2009

iPhone Wars

Since its UK release, anyone looking to purchase an iPhone has been forced to sign a contract with O2, which has had an exclusive deal to sell the phone. Not any more though, as Orange has announced it will also begin selling the device soon.

Vodafone have also got in on the act, and consumers may be the beneficiaries as they go head to head.29 September 2009

Snow Leopard

Apple have now stated that Snow Leopard (Mac OS X v10.6) will definitely be released on Friday (28th August). It will be available as an upgrade from the Leopard OS for $29 (£17.59).25 August 2009

SPAM Folders

If anyone has a Virgin.net email address then you should go to http://www.virginmedia.com/ and click the email icon and check your mail account. In particular, check your SPAM folder. We have just discovered that something odd is happening and you may well find you have some missing emails stuck in there.

The same advice may well apply to other ISPs, too ... 2 August 2009

Windows 7 RTM

Microsoft has now released Windows 7 to manufacturers. Steve Ballmer signed the gold release DVDs at Microsoft's sales meeting in Atlanta yesterday. Hardware manufacturers will now sell laptops, PCs and netbooks with Windows 7 from October. 24 July 2009

Google Chrome OS

Google says it will release a Chrome branded operating system next year. It will initially be designed for use on netbooks, but the company is planning to make it available for desktops and standard laptops, as well. "Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android." says Google.

The OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is designed to get users online in just a few seconds from start-up. 10 July 2009

Mobile Phone Directory

The UK Directory of Mobile Phone numbers goes live next week. To remove your number go here. (You need your mobile phone with you to do this, they text you a code.)

When on the site, click "Home" then "Ex-directory" this will begin the process to remove your number from their database. You have to enter a rather long verification code and then they send a five digit code to your mobile as a text message. You have to enter that code, then you are done. 9 July 2009

Windows 7 Prices announced

A discounted version of Windows 7 upgrades will be available for pre-order starting in the UK from 15th July. The Home Premium version will cost £50 and the Professional Version £100. Pre-ordering will last until the end of the year, unless supplies run out, Microsoft said. As well, anyone buying a PC pre-loaded with Vista from tomorrow will receive a free version of Windows 7 on its release.

Once the discounted copies are sold out, the Home Premium version will cost £79, the Professional version will cost £189 and the Ultimate upgrade will cost £199. The full prices will be £149, £219, and £229 respectively. 27 June 2009

Microsoft Security Essentials

An open beta of Microsoft Security Essentials, a free anti-virus package for Windows, was released this week. The software replaces Window Live OneCare, and uses the same engine as the company's premium Forefront anti-malware software, but without the management utilities. The new offering, compatible with Windows XP, Vista and 7, is an attempt to improve the basic security of Windows PCs.

But ... this beta is available only to customers in the United States, Israel (English only), People's Republic of China (Simplified Chinese only) and Brazil (Brazilian Portuguese only). 24 June 2009

Ask Jeeves

Ask Jeeves is trying to re-establish itself as a major player in the search engine market. The company has unveiled a database of 300 million pairs of questions and answers, designed to give UK and US users more accurate search results in an attempt to claw back market share from its rivals. 23 June 2009

Free Windows 7

Well ... sort of. Microsoft will upgrade Windows Vista users for free if they meet the requirements. 5 June 2009

Opera 10

Opera 10 promises even faster web surfing, built in spell checker and HTML emails. The faster web browsing is thanks to a new rendering engine. It also claims to support web standards properly including the Acid3 test. 5 June 2009

Top 10 Malware Sites

Google name the most popular malware sites in the last two months. 5 June 2009

Virgin Mobile

Are you a Virgin Media customer or know someone who is. They have just announced a great new mobile phone deal with unlimited web access for an extra 30p a day, any day you use it. A great deal. 5 June 2009

BT 20Mbps

BT's broadband customers (well, some of them ...) will receive a speed upgrade to 20Mbits/sec, at no extra cost. BT Total Broadband home users can expect the upgrade sometime during early summer. 4 June 2009

Google Wave

Google Wave is a new tool for communication and collaboration on the web, coming later this year. Watch the demo video. 4 June 2009

Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha's long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. The aim is to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything. The goal is to build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries. Wow! That’s ambition. But is it any good? For a start, it doesn't work with IE6. Lots of folk are sticking with Google! Me included! 4 June 2009

Windows 7

We all know about the next version of Windows. The new Windows 7 operating system is due out 22 October. Microsoft have addressed the "bloatware" issue, it is 3 gigabytes smaller than Vista. 4 June 2009

Bing

Have you had a go with "Bing" yet? Try out the Beta - http://www.bing.com/. If you are curious about the name it is supposed to be a recursive acronym "Bing is not Google". 1 June 2009

Vista SP2

Microsoft has released Windows Vista Service Pack 2, the final major update for the outgoing operating system. 1 June 2009

Pay-off

Francois Barrault, the former head of BT’s IT services division who resigned after a dismal performance, was paid £2.85 million last year. If our new association fails, will we get a pay-off like that!! 1 June 2009