Developages - Development and Technology Blog

It used to be that every three years, workers would get brand new computers from their businesses’ tech departments. But for many those days are over.

Many workers haven′t been issued a new computer in years. 

The reason: Delaying computer upgrades is one of the easiest ways for a tech department to cut its budget. How about you working with a four-year-old ThinkPad with its maddeningly slow response times and out-of-date software …

Now that the economy has taken a pronounced turn for the worse, more businesses are deciding to delay their regularly scheduled PC buying. In fact, 46% of businesses have either already or plan to postpone purchasing new computers, according to a survey of information-technology execs by CIO Magazine.

That’s part of the reason that U.S. PC shipments will drop 1% in the fourth quarter compared to the year-ago quarter, according to research company IDC.

Now all of this bad corporate new has a shiny silver lining for us out here in consumer land –  PC makers are slashing prices, 20% to 30% in some cases, in an effort to boost demand.

Readers, how old is your work PC? Are outdated programs and hardware slowing you down?

Thanks to the Wall Street Journal (again).

Tags: cio magazine, idc, thinkpad

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Copyright VoIP & Gadgets Blog

Original post by nafiz

Filed under: Laptops

It looks like Splashtop — the instant-on, quickboot Linux OS that’s been cropping up on a smattering of motherboards and PCs lately — is headed onto a smaller platform. The company announced today that it’s going to be loading up Lenovo’s IdeaPad S10e netbook with a healthy dose of the software — dubbed “Quick Start” — allowing you to get to that all-important YouTube video faster than previously thought possible. This marks the first time Splashtop is making its way to a netbook, and we expect it will be shipping on all new models, though the company hasn’t been explicit about that. We’ll keep our fingers crossed, and let you know if we hear otherwise.

Splashtop ‘Quick Start’ comes to the Lenovo IdeaPad S10e originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Transportation

In March of last year, we heard that Toyota had a mind to create its very own in-car operating system to “boost efficiency and speed up development.” Now, it’s bruited that BMW is asking any automaker who will listen to join hands in order to jointly develop an open source in-vehicle platform. The company has stated that it plans on having an open source system in a vehicle that sells 200,000 or more units within the next five to seven years, and while employees from rivals were on hand when the proclamation was made, no one was rushing to call dibs on first. Still, it sounds as if BMW will be forging ahead with or without any assistance, though bigwig Gunter Reichart did assert that BMW was “inviting other OEMs to join it [and] to exchange with it.” In an apparent attempt at providing comic relief, Jim Buczkowski (Ford′s director of global electrical and electronics systems engineering) stated that through its partnership with Microsoft, it already had 280,000 vehicles on the road with an open system. Hmm, clearly our definitions of “open” are somewhat incongruent.

[Via Motor Authority, thanks Laminaatplaat]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Leave it to Access to completely underplay the debut of one of the most anticipated mobile operating systems of the decade — anticipation that’s certainly waned, but we’re sure somebody’s at least a little excited. ALP 3.0 and ALP mini are about ready for mass consumption, with ALP mini available to licensees immediately, though no word yet on when ALP 3.0 will hit. From the sound of it, ALP 3.0 concentrates on a fancy, transition-filled smartphone OS, while ALP mini is more stripped-down and ready for featurephone use. Both operating systems are Linux-based, with some strange amalgam of Palm OS-ness, though ALP mini drops Garnet compatibility and can′t run native Linux apps like big brother 3.0, which is LiMo compatible. NTT DoCoMo is planning ALP phones in the second half of 2009, that Edelweiss ALP phone for Russia has been outed, and we’re still struggling to care.

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Laptops

Just last week, we heard that Apricot Computers would be offering its PicoBook Pro with Linux or Windows XP, but evidently its marketing department caught wind of the same trend that MSI picked up on earlier this month. If you′ll recall, MSI found that Linux-infused netbooks get returned four times as often as units with Windows XP, and while the official word is that Apricot “made this decision to ensure customers had a smooth installation of their operating system,” our bets are that it’s just sidestepping the potential headaches associated with selling something outside of the status quo. As of today, the Windows XP version (or only version, as it were) is going for £299 ($483) — a full £20 ($32) more than the previously cheapest edition.

[Via Yahoo!]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

While any announcement of a new game console is rightly going to be greeting with a hefty amount of skepticism, it looks like this new Evo “Smart Console” from upstart Envizions Computer Entertainment could be a bit of a unique case and, as Pandora has shown, sometimes these things do actually pan out. Working in the Evo’s favor is the fact that it’s really nothing more than a Linux-based computer that relies entirely on off the shelf parts like an overclocked Athlon 64×2 5600 processor and ATI Radeon 3200 graphics. The more ambitious, and potentially vaporware bit, is Envizions’ hopes for the system as a game development platform and a cloud computing device of sorts. Apparently, it’s betting on developers tailoring games specifically for the system and selling ‘em through its proposed Evo Network, which Envizions CEO Derrick Samuels says would “give Linux game developers a chance to make some money.” The company also says that a subsidized rebate plan will eventually bring the price of the console down to $250, but it’ll run a full $600 out of the gate, and Envizions will gladly take a $100 deposit right now from anyone willing to reserve one of the first few consoles that’ll supposedly start shipping on November 20th.

[Via thegadgetsite]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Registration to the upcoming Digium|Asterisk World conference is now open, according to an announcement today from Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) and Digium, the open source Asterisk Company. So you early bird types can now register and add it to your Calendar now, lest you forget. TMC and Digium also announced the launch of the new event Web site at www.digiumasteriskworld.com.
 
Digium|Asterisk World is collocated with TMC′s INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO East 2009 and is a 3-day event commencing on February 2, 2009 in Miami, Florida.
 
According to TMCnet reporter Michelle Robart: Entering its third year, Digium|Asterisk World is the conference that educates business users, resellers and executive decision-makers on “Everything Asterisk.”

Michelle also gives more interesting details about Digium|Asterisk World:
 

The conference will feature booth exhibition space and a Presentation Theatre on the EXPO floor where attendees can learn more about Digium’s open source communications solutions. In addition, TMC and Digium will join forces to create the conference track agenda, which will be revealed in the upcoming weeks.
 
ITEXPO East 2009 is the world’s largest and most significant communications technology event. It features more than 200 companies exhibiting on the EXPO floor and hundreds of sessions led by the industry’s most well-known thought leaders. The show provides a forum for assessing the latest products and services and offers numerous opportunities for face-to-face networking that service providers, carriers, resellers, distributors, equipment manufacturers and IT executives from enterprise and SMB companies need to create new business relationships.

Tags: asterisk, digium, Digium|Asterisk World, open source, tmc, voip

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Copyright VoIP & Gadgets Blog

Original post by nafiz

Sprint’s new XOHM WiMAX network has taken some hits for being a non-neutral network - having a clause in their user agreement where they say they’ll throttle the speeds of people who use too much data, too fast.

At the official XOHM launch event today in Baltimore, execs worked hard to try to backpedal on the net-neutrality issue, without getting rid of their “we can throttle you whenever” clause.

First, XOHM president Barry West said, “In the event that we end up with a congested spot on the network, we have to manage that congestion in the fairest way. This happens in every mobile network … [throttling] is not the way we’re behaving, it’s certainly not our intention, but you have to put in the language to have legal cover.”

Later, XOHM senior vice president Atish Gude elaborated. The big fear in the techie community, of course, is that XOHM will choose to cut off services like voice-over-IP and peer-to-peer file transfers. He flatly said they won’t cut anyone off, and won’t judge people by the kind of traffic they′re running, only about their effect on other users’ bandwidth.

“In a period of no congestion, we are not going to take any actions against anybody, any time. The few users who have the ability to be road hogs will have to be adjusted; it’s just throttling in such a way that everybody has enough highway lanes. It’s not targeted at all; it’s not targeted at any application, at any protocol, or at any group of users.”

Original post by Sascha Segan

Sprint’s new XOHM WiMAX network has taken some hits for being a non-neutral network - having a clause in their user agreement where they say they’ll throttle the speeds of people who use too much data, too fast.

At the official XOHM launch event today in Baltimore, execs worked hard to try to backpedal on the net-neutrality issue, without getting rid of their “we can throttle you whenever” clause.

First, XOHM president Barry West said, “In the event that we end up with a congested spot on the network, we have to manage that congestion in the fairest way. This happens in every mobile network … [throttling] is not the way we’re behaving, it’s certainly not our intention, but you have to put in the language to have legal cover.”

Later, XOHM senior vice president Atish Gude elaborated. The big fear in the techie community, of course, is that XOHM will choose to cut off services like voice-over-IP and peer-to-peer file transfers. He flatly said they won’t cut anyone off, and won’t judge people by the kind of traffic they’re running, only about their effect on other users’ bandwidth.

“In a period of no congestion, we are not going to take any actions against anybody, any time. The few users who have the ability to be road hogs will have to be adjusted; it’s just throttling in such a way that everybody has enough highway lanes. It’s not targeted at all; it’s not targeted at any application, at any protocol, or at any group of users.”

Original post by Sascha Segan

Sprint’s new XOHM WiMAX network has taken some hits for being a non-neutral network - having a clause in their user agreement where they say they’ll throttle the speeds of people who use too much data, too fast.

At the official XOHM launch event today in Baltimore, execs worked hard to try to backpedal on the net-neutrality issue, without getting rid of their “we can throttle you whenever” clause.

First, XOHM president Barry West said, “In the event that we end up with a congested spot on the network, we have to manage that congestion in the fairest way. This happens in every mobile network … [throttling] is not the way we′re behaving, it’s certainly not our intention, but you have to put in the language to have legal cover.”

Later, XOHM senior vice president Atish Gude elaborated. The big fear in the techie community, of course, is that XOHM will choose to cut off services like voice-over-IP and peer-to-peer file transfers. He flatly said they won’t cut anyone off, and won’t judge people by the kind of traffic they′re running, only about their effect on other users’ bandwidth.

“In a period of no congestion, we are not going to take any actions against anybody, any time. The few users who have the ability to be road hogs will have to be adjusted it’s just throttling in such a way that everybody has enough highway lanes. It’s not targeted at all; it’s not targeted at any application, at any protocol, or at any group of users.”

Original post by Sascha Segan

Sprint’s new XOHM WiMAX network has taken some hits for being a non-neutral network - having a clause in their user agreement where they say they’ll throttle the speeds of people who use too much data, too fast.

At the official XOHM launch event today in Baltimore, execs worked hard to try to backpedal on the net-neutrality issue, without getting rid of their “we can throttle you whenever” clause.

First, XOHM president Barry West said, “In the event that we end up with a congested spot on the network, we have to manage that congestion in the fairest way. This happens in every mobile network … [throttling] is not the way we’re behaving, it’s certainly not our intention, but you have to put in the language to have legal cover.”

Later, XOHM senior vice president Atish Gude elaborated. The big fear in the techie community, of course, is that XOHM will choose to cut off services like voice-over-IP and peer-to-peer file transfers. He flatly said they won’t cut anyone off, and won’t judge people by the kind of traffic they’re running, only about their effect on other users′ bandwidth.

“In a period of no congestion, we are not going to take any actions against anybody, any time. The few users who have the ability to be road hogs will have to be adjusted it’s just throttling in such a way that everybody has enough highway lanes. It’s not targeted at all; it’s not targeted at any application, at any protocol, or at any group of users.”

Original post by Sascha Segan

Sprint’s new XOHM WiMAX network has taken some hits for being a non-neutral network - having a clause in their user agreement where they say they′ll throttle the speeds of people who use too much data, too fast.

At the official XOHM launch event today in Baltimore, execs worked hard to try to backpedal on the net-neutrality issue, without getting rid of their “we can throttle you whenever” clause.

First, XOHM president Barry West said, “In the event that we end up with a congested spot on the network, we have to manage that congestion in the fairest way. This happens in every mobile network … [throttling] is not the way we′re behaving, it’s certainly not our intention, but you have to put in the language to have legal cover.”

Later, XOHM senior vice president Atish Gude elaborated. The big fear in the techie community, of course, is that XOHM will choose to cut off services like voice-over-IP and peer-to-peer file transfers. He flatly said they won’t cut anyone off, and won’t judge people by the kind of traffic they′re running, only about their effect on other users’ bandwidth.

“In a period of no congestion, we are not going to take any actions against anybody, any time. The few users who have the ability to be road hogs will have to be adjusted; it’s just throttling in such a way that everybody has enough highway lanes. It’s not targeted at all; it’s not targeted at any application, at any protocol, or at any group of users.”

Original post by Sascha Segan

Sprint’s new XOHM WiMAX network has taken some hits for being a non-neutral network - having a clause in their user agreement where they say they’ll throttle the speeds of people who use too much data, too fast.

At the official XOHM launch event today in Baltimore, execs worked hard to try to backpedal on the net-neutrality issue, without getting rid of their “we can throttle you whenever” clause.

First, XOHM president Barry West said, “In the event that we end up with a congested spot on the network, we have to manage that congestion in the fairest way. This happens in every mobile network … [throttling] is not the way we’re behaving, it’s certainly not our intention, but you have to put in the language to have legal cover.”

Later, XOHM senior vice president Atish Gude elaborated. The big fear in the techie community, of course, is that XOHM will choose to cut off services like voice-over-IP and peer-to-peer file transfers. He flatly said they won’t cut anyone off, and won’t judge people by the kind of traffic they’re running, only about their effect on other users′ bandwidth.

“In a period of no congestion, we are not going to take any actions against anybody, any time. The few users who have the ability to be road hogs will have to be adjusted; it’s just throttling in such a way that everybody has enough highway lanes. It’s not targeted at all; it’s not targeted at any application, at any protocol, or at any group of users.”

Original post by Sascha Segan

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Just like gasoline-powered automobiles, the Li-ion-powered DAP is a fading gem. Okay, so maybe that’s grossly inaccurate, but at least it gives us a warm fuzzy feeling to think that Trevor Baylis’ Eco Media Player Revolution has a sizable budding fan base. The follow-up to the smashing Ecodigital wind-up PMP takes on a glossy black motif and features 4GB of built-in storage space, an SD card slot for capacity expansion, an FM tuner and support for a whole litany of audio / video formats. Best of all, you can connect your dead mobile to this thing, give it a few cranks, and boom — your cellie now has enough juice to make one very urgent call for more lunch money. Sure justifies the £129.99 ($241) asking price, huh?

[Via SmartPlanet]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

NVIDIA has already slashed the price of its GeForce GTX 260 and GTX 280 graphics cards in order to better compete with AMD’s bang-for-the-buck-beating ATI Radeon HD 4850 and 4870 cards, and it’s now taken things one step further by introducing a new, slightly improved model. While it likely won’t cause anyone to ditch their existing GTX 260, NVIDIA is betting that the 216 stream processors of its new GTX 260 Core 216 (up from 192 before) will be enough to win over at least a few new performance-happy gamers. Apart from that upgrade, it seems the only other real improvement you can expect is a boost to 72 texture filtering units (up from 64), but HotHardware found that those tweaks were just enough to deliver some fairly substantial performance gains, with the GTX 260 Core 216 outpacing the Radeon HD 4870 in the “vast majority” of its tests. Best of all, the Core 216 will also apparently work just fine in an SLI configuration with an original GTX 260 and, at an MSRP of $279, it doesn’t demand too much of a premium either.

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Original post by Donald Melanson