Starred Reviews

Microsoft has filed 52 lawsuits against businesses and individuals around the world for using illegitimate versions of its Windows, Office, and other products. This is part of its effort to crackdown on the use of illegally copied software,

Microsoft estimates that counterfeiting costs the software industry about $40 billion per year worldwide.
The lawsuits filed Monday by Microsoft included actions in several other countries including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Italy, Ireland.

The company also referred 22 additional cases to local law enforcement authorities in foreign countries, Microsoft said Monday.

15 Of the lawsuits filed, involved software that’s been traced to a Chinese businesses and individuals that Microsoft said is the world’s largest ring of piratess. The gang was busted earlier this year through a joint effort involving Chinese authorities, the FBI and Microsoft.

Microsoft said most fake software gets sold online. these softwares are sold often to unsuspecting buyers. As a result, the company said it’s begun work with eBay to help educate the Web auctioneer’s customers about the risks of counterfeit software and how to spot fakes.

Microsoft has posted a “Buying Guide” on eBay’s Reviews and Guides section. Microsoft also participates in eBay’s “verified rights” program, through which legitimate merchants can report counterfeits to eBay and have them removed from its site.

The software counterfeiting problem isn’t confined to shadowy groups operating in far off countries. Several software vendors — including Adobe filed a lawsuit against the prestigious Philadelphia law firm of Fox Rothschild for allegedly ripping off the commercial software it uses in-house.

number of view: 4

Desktop Reviews laptop notebook

It has been learnt that Apple has started shipping out the latest Core i5-equipped versions iMac. This includes 27 inch LCD. This makes it Apples’ first quad-core equipped consumer level desktop. The i5 equipped iMACs has been listed in Electronista as “prepared for shipment”. It could not be conformed when was the date of shipment . From what it appears the placement orders have been made.

The complete system’s specification is similar to that of the Core 2 Duo Model. Both have a gigantic 2560×1440 resolution display, a huge 1TB hard drive and 4GB of DDR RAM. They however, need different mmotherboards. This is becausu the i5 and i7 have built in memory controllers and their pin out is different The newer version uses more advanced graphics using Radeon HD 4850 graphics chipset.

The new orders for 27-inch Core 2 Duo models are can be delayed by two weeks. The quad cores are in great demand, causing shipment delays.

number of view: 2

Desktop Reviews Apple

KwikByte has introducd a AT91SAM9260, an Atmel ARM9 based Single Board computer that will cost $80 in volume of 1K. The board can be used for embedded server, embedded controls and any general purpose computing.

The KB9260 is a low powered device, low enough so that it can be powered by PoE (power-over-Ethernet). An external harddrive can be added to it using the USB Port. The board is being supplied in two options

Basic Option

This option includes a KB9260 board with boot loader, recent Linux kernel (currently 2.6.24), and Buildroot/uClibc installed. RAM and NAND flash sizes are configurable options.

Debian Development Kit Option

This option includes a KB9260 board with boot loader, recent Linux kernel (currently 2.6.24), and Debian base system installed. The board is configured with 64 MB RAM and 1 GB NAND flash. Schematics and USB-serial debug cable are also included.

Open Source is used in both the options

The following are the specs listed for the KB9260:

* Processor — AT91SAM9260 200MHz; ARM926EJ-S with Java acceleration and DSP instruction extensions;
* Independent 16KB instruction and 16KB data caches
* Memory — 32/64MB SDRAM; 8MB boot flash; 256MB to 2GB NAND flash
* Networking — 1 x 10/100 Ethernet
* 256 MB - 2 GB NAND Flash
* USB — 1 x USB 2.0 host port
* Serial — 3 x channels including debug serial
* I/O — 35 x GPIO, max; 4 x analog input ADC channels
* Other features — 4 x programmable clocks; 3 x timer/counter/PWM channels
* Power — Power over Ethernet (PoE), on-board voltage regulator, or external power supply; RoHS compliant
* Dimensions — 3.1 x 3.1 inches (case 3.1 x 3.1 x 0.9 inches - they will be available soon)

The details directly from KwikByte - KwinByte KB9260

number of view: 22

Desktop Reviews notebook

WIth the introduction of HP Touchsmart tx2z at $1299 we see a new era of multi-touch tablet PCs aimed at common consumers. The multitouch touch screen works based upon the capacitive touch screen. The capacitive touchscreen enables multiples touches to be senses simultaneously. This allows many exotic fearues, for example picture rotation with touch of two fingers.

In looks HP Tx2z is similar to Pavilion tx2500 tablet.

Display and Touchscreen

The HP tx2z has 12 inch screen with 1280×800 resolution. As far as the display is concerned it looks pretty similar to the tx2500. However, what keeps it a class above is the touch screen. You can simply point and touch to the Windows button and the internet explorer and your internet gets started.

You can use the touch screen to do some editing of pictures including picture rotation, zoom etc. You will have to play with it to get used to it. It certainly enhances productivity and it is a cool feature. We do expect that integration of the capacitive touchscreen will become a more common feature in future tablet PCs and even in the small notebooks.

Pen

You can use the stylus to write quick notes on the touch screen. As soon as you hit the screen with the pen it recognises the Pen and stops the finger sensing. This prevents the simultaneous detection of the pen and the palm touch. The pen can be used for small graphics works too, Let us take a look at some broad specification of this notebook

Specifications

* AMD Turion X2 Dual-Core Mobile Processor RM-72 (2.1GHz)
* 3GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
* 250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
* Windows Vista Home Premium
* 12.1 inch display * Capacitive Touch screen and Pen

Fro the specification, this notebook looks great. The Core 2 Duo at 2.8 GHz is good enough for almost any task. The Blue-ray ROM is good for multimedia enthisiasts

Processor and performance

The tx2z has AMD X2 Dual core Mobile Processor RM-72 at 2.1 GHZ. The tablet boots up fast and it has pretty good performance for almost all the daily work.

Battery Life

We are investigating the battery life and will report later. Preliminarily thge battery life does not look at great as we would have expected.

number of view: 2

Desktop Reviews lapto, notebook

A review of Lenovo IdeaPad Y530 Review Notebook

Lenovo Y530 notebook is intended for people who want a decent multimedia experience. It has good a very good sound system with subwoofers and surround speakers. It is studded with HDMI connector and is a wonderful notebook if you watch a lot video on notebooks.

Let us take a look at some broad specification of this notebook

Specifications

* OS - Vista Home Premium
* Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo processor P7350 (2GHz, 3MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
* Display - 15.4″ WXGA Widescreen (1280 x 800)
* Memory - 2GB DDR2 System Memory (supports up to 4GB)
* NVIDIA GeForce 9300M with 256MB VRAM
* 250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
* Dual Layer CD/DVD Recordable
* 1.3 megapixel integrated camera
* Sound: 4 speakers and 1 sub-woofer (Dolby Home Theater)
* Modem, 10/100 Ethernet, Intel 5100AGN
* Weight: 6.65 lb. including battery
* Dimensions: 14.2″ x 10.3″ x 1.2″-1.4″ (360mm x262mm x 29-36mm)
* Warranty: 1 year system and 1 year battery
* 6-cell 5200mAh 57Wh battery
* Price : $999

Processor

The Ideapad Y530 has a the Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GHz processor P7350. At this speed, it is good enough for most of the normal works. If you are a programmer who need to compile a lot of software code, you would like to see processor with better performance, otherwise it is good for most normal uses

Memory

The base Ideapad Y530 comes with 2 GBytes of DDR2 memory. It can be extented to 4 G Bytes. The 2 GB memory is just good enough. However, if you keep many programs open simulataneously, you may need to upgrade it to at least 3 GByte.

Battery Life

Under normal surfing conditions, this notebook will last a over 3 hours and 15 minutes with screen brightness set to 60%. This is impresive with notebooks in this category using 6-cell Li Ion batteries.

Screen

Lenovo Y530 has a widescreen display. Widescreen display are targetted for the movie viewers where the effective area utilization is increaes to 100% while watching the movies. The 1280 x 800 native resolution is nice for most work, although it is short of the native 1080p resolution.

Audio and Speakers

The Ideapad Y530 notebook has front and rear speakers. It also has a subeoofer. The sound quality is reasonably good and you do not feel like having an amplifier and speaker system always. Speaker and sound system can be one of the compelling reasons to buy this notebook.

Ports

Lenovo Y530 has three USB ports, VGA, HDMI, LAN, Firewire, modem, headphone/mic, ExpressCard/54, and a 6-in-1 card reade. This is more than enough for most purposes. it does have a inbuit wireless and a wireless on off button on the front.

number of view: 3

Desktop Reviews laptop, notebook