TechJuice4u-Technology Blogging...

The 23/6 mobile pc responds to this fact by accommodating our needs for always on wireless connectivity, information access, processing power, entertainment, flexibility and mobility.

The 23/6 concept is a ultra compact Windows PC, with a footprint slightly bigger than a CD case. Not meant as a workhorse mobile device, such as traditional laptop, it nevertheless handles standard professional applications comfortably.

This is a next generation concept developed for a PDA with integrated wireless communication capabilities. It has a sleek design which gives the user a genuine executive look.

The Surf Chair will give those surfers easy and relax in surfing. The Surf Chairs has pillows at different sections and this gives the user relax and work for more time. The designer Kenneth Lylover gives the user a luxurious way to work

This is a slim and an ergonomic Bluetooth keyboard which will give the user a stable connection to the host via Bluetooth. The keyboard consists of 104keys and additionally it has 18hot keys which are spread around for an entire PC navigation

The interactive digital cooking aid will enables those users who lacks in cooking ability or giving the user confidence to prepare healthy meals.

The phones design is an innovative in which the user has the geometric form language to make sure a clutter-free environment for screening content. The San Francisco based studio One & Co collaborated with HTC Taiwan Design team to create Diamond HTC smartphone.

Each and everything cannot be captured in cameras openly in that time these kinds of spy cameras will be more useful. Spy cameras are placed on the arms of the glasses which filming peripheral vision. It takes a simple button push to switch the view to record on fully featured wireless receiver.

Plantronics Versa Future Concept is visioning an eye of the future and next generation wireless headsets . In the modern era each and every product is looking to suit today’s trend.

The Earth Trek a HongKong Based Company introduces the World’s Smallest Handy 90-805R mini projector . The smallest device features built-in lithium battery, speaker, Mp4 Player

The mobile phones has evolved well in the recent past years, as a change the phones are coming in numerous design to suit the convenience of the user. These Packet Concept Phones are designed stylishly and able to fold like a small piece of paper.

Today’s technology is fasting in a great pace; nowadays PC’s become handier for the user. The Cup PC concept uses a high-tech holographic touch with infrared communication and designed like a cup. The concept has capability of pour, display and collect information as the PC does.

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) has entered into an agreement with Microsoft governing the installation of Windows XP on the nonprofit organization's low-cost XO laptops for use by impoverished children around the world.

The partners, which are scheduled to begin conducting pilot programs in emerging markets next month, expect the Windows-powered XO laptop to be ready for full-scale deployment in August or September, said James Utzschneider, manager of Microsoft's developing-markets unit.

"Initially it will only be available in emerging-market countries where governments or NGOs are subsidizing the purchase of a large number of PCs for students," Utzschneider said. "But there is the possibility of making this available for other customers through a broader set of channels at a later point in time."

Opening the Door

Microsoft announced last month that it would extend the life of Windows XP through the development of an abbreviated version to meet the needs of an emerging new class of mobile -computing devices known as ultra-low-cost PCs (ULCPC), which typically have smaller screen sizes and lower-powered processors than more expensive laptops. The XO laptop, in particular, posed a number of technical constraints that took a year for Microsoft to overcome.

"Windows was too big to fit on the 1GB non-flash module on the motherboard, so we are using a 2GB SD memory card," explained Bohdan Raciborski, group program manager for Microsoft. "So we had to first create a BIOS, because at that time there were no PC BIOSs that supported SD cards."

In a 2GB volume, Raciborski noted, it becomes possible have a complete Windows and Office experience running on the XO laptop. Moreover, it takes about 50 seconds for Windows XP to boot up on the XO, he said.

"We haven't modified Windows or Office in any way -- we haven't removed any components to have them run on this hardware," Raciborski said. "You can do almost anything that a student or teacher would want to do."

When ASUSTeK released their first Eee PC, the portable computer market had never seen such a product. Aimed to provide users with a product that was both affordable and equipped with a decent number of
features, the Eee PC has had some considerable success. Other manufacturers have taken Asus' product as a
model and then released their own version of the Eee PC. One such company is Hong Kong-based Bestlink, which has recently released its Alpha 400 notebook.

This notebook has been featured with a price tag of $250, which also includes shipping. The rather small price tag will provide users with an ultra portable that features a 7-inch LCD screen, most probably the product's most significant feature. The Asian company had to make a few compromises in order to get to lower the price so much. In the end, all those compromises can be seen in the technical specifications of the computer.

Acquiring an Alpha 400 notebook will mean users will get a portable computer that features an Ingenic Semiconductors 32-bit XBurst CPU. This central processing unit has been designed to work at a frequency rate of 400MHz, which appears to be enough to satisfy both the unnamed Linux OS and Windows CE. You will also get 128MB of RAM memory and a maximum storage space of 2 GB on a flash-based internal storage solution. The technical specs clearly separate this product from all the other Windows XP capable portable computers.

Alpha 400 has USB support, which you can use to extend your overall storage capacity. When it comes to connectivity too, Bestlink was also forced to make serious compromises. The notebook doesn't provide WiFi support, but an Ethernet port is available. There are two USB ports and you will be able to connect a headphone or a Mic device through the provided Audio ports.

The Asian-made notebook measures 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches, has a total weight of 1.5 pounds and is apparently available in six colors.

Asus, one of the biggest manufacturers of computer hardware products, plans to enter the gaming market
with a new portable computer. According to hkepc, an Asian website, the company intends to release a new
notebook as part of their Republic of Gamers (ROG), which will deliver the performance needed to run the latest games. The above mentioned website has also got its hands on some pictures of the product.

The notebook, which will be dubbed G70S Gamer NB, is expected to be built on Intel's Centrino Santa Rosa platform, which will offer support for the 45nm multi core processors. At a first glance, the gaming notebook looks rather bulky and, considering its estimated weight of 4.7kg, it will likely not be carried around by gaming users. It is expected that the G70S will be equipped with an aluminum alloy case, which would justify its total weight.

The technical specs, according to the hkepc website, include a Core 2 Duo T9500 processor, which is built using the 45nm technology and offers a performance speed of 2.6 GHz and a L2 cache of 6 MB. Being a gaming notebook, it will be featured with one of the best mobile GPUs available on the market. Two NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT GPUs connected through SLI will provide the G70S users with no less than 1 GB of graphic memory.

From the pictures also made available, it seems that the notebook will feature a full-sized keyboard with additional keys placed on the left side. It also appears that it will come with a unique mouse pad with media functions. It will provide a 2.0 M camera and a considerable number of connectivity options, making the notebook ideal for gaming users.

Asus will equip its ROG notebook with a 17-inch display, which should provide a reliable platform for any of the latest games.

Logitech, the company that has made heads turn with the release of its G15 keyboard and the MX Air mouse,
has just released a new product. Meant to offer an alternative solution to notebook users, the V450 Nano
Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks is now available for purchase in the US and is expected to arrive in Europe in early July.

If you are a Logitech fan, you probably know that the company is famous for releasing some of the highest performance products available on the market. The company's mouse lineup includes the famous MX Revolution, MX Air and the gaming ready G9 Laser mouse. With the introduction of the V450 Nano cordless laser mouse, Logitech plans to grab hold of a better market share among notebook users. The mouse, which was announced on the May 21, employs an advanced 2.4 GHz wireless technology to provide users with a high performance product. The 2.4 GHz standard is used for all of Logitech's Nano lineup.

The mouse can be connected to any notebook computer that has a USB port, but it can also be used for a PC or Mac system. The small receiver, which is also dubbed Plug-and-Forget Nano, enables the Nano mouse to be available for instant action. The advanced laser sensor is said to deliver smoother tracking and better precision for any surface, making the product more reliable. With two AA batteries, users will not need to worry about the mouse leaving them stranded, as the batteries are said to last an entire year with a single charge.

The mouse can be purchased online, by visiting Logitech's webpage, for a price tag of almost $50. At this point, the V450 Nano Cordless Laser Mouse is the company's second highest priced notebook-ready mouse, the VX Revolution being featured with price tag of $70.

Samsung, one of the largest manufacturers of consumer electronics, has unveiled the prototype of what
looks like the company's first notebook. A picture showing the new product and some details regarding its
technical specifications have been made public through the Korean Samsung official web page. At a first glance, the notebook appears to be using an OLED technology.

Unlike Sony, which is the company's biggest competitor on the LCD market, Samsung has not a powerful portable computer in its offer. Still, people can enjoy the benefits of a portable computer through Samsung's Q1 Ultra device, which is an Ultra Mobile PC. The release of what appears to be a 12.1-inch notebook will bring the Korean company to a whole new market, where it will be competing against names like Dell, Lenovo, Sony and others.

According to the translated web page, the company will built this notebook using the AMOLED (active matrix organic light-emitting diode) technology. AMOLED is said to increase the visual experience of people using the 12.1-inch yet-to-be-released notebook. Also, Samsung plans to use the same technology to release 15.5-inch displays somewhere in the next year.

At this point, details are scarce but what we can make from the picture is that it looks like the notebook is going to be really slim and will offer a stylish design. The keyboard appears to be using a touch sensitive interface, which raises some questions towards its capability to provide an error-free typing experience. There is also no place for a mouse, which makes one assume the notebook will feature a wireless connectivity option for that.

The new technology and news about the future portable computer were made available at this year's Los Angeles Display gathering. The Korean company had also presented other major products, which it plans to roll out by the end of this year or in the beginning of 2009.

How many of you have wanted to acquire a keyboard that you can just keep in your back pocket? I'm talking
about a full-sized keyboard which you can roll up and take with you wherever you go. One such keyboard is
now available for purchase at Brando and, for only $40 a pop, you too can have one.

The black keyboard, made of silicone and dubbed simply the "USB Internet Phone Flexible Keyboard", is said to be waterproof, silent and indestructible. Although it hasn't been built with a separate numeric pad, it provides a considerable number of features that users can find useful both at home and away from home. The ultra-slim form factor makes it lightweight too, weighing only 242 grams, which makes it easier to be carried around. There is also a separate non-flexible side, which has been designed to provide support to Skype users.

This keyboard's Skype capability includes a built-in Dial Pad, Microphone and Speaker. You can easily connect it to the PC through a USB, which will also provide you access to its USB hub, featuring two separate USB ports that support USB 1.1 devices. The keyboard is compatible with the latest Microsoft operating systems, namely Windows XP and Vista, thus being a device accessible to a wide range of users.

Besides it foldable feature, the USB Internet Phone Flexible Keyboard also has strong selling point in its Skype capability. Offering a MIC and a built-in speaker, this keyboard provides its users with the right tools for a fully-fledged VoIP "handset". The flat design will allow users to type more easily, while also preventing stress to the wrists.

The downside of this $40 foldable keyboard is that it doesn't provide support to Linux or Mac users. However, other than that, it looks like a nice enough product.

Intel, the leading manufacturer of microprocessors, has just unveiled details about its upcoming products. Codenamed Dunningtons, the new microprocessors will be released by the end of this year and they are
expected to go with a bang. Intel's 6-cored processors, which are expected somewhere in Q3 of this year,
have just received prices and core speeds.

The Dunningtons have been talked about ever since the end of 2007, which goes to show how highly expected Intel's next-generation processors are. The Dunnington platform is said to be based on Intel's Core microarchitecture and will be built using the 45nm manufacturing process. The processors are designed for server systems and are expected to be available to server builders before the Nehalem platform is released. The Dunningtons are said to be built with six Intel Core microarchitecture cores made up of three dual-core Penryn dies, sharing a 16MB L3 cache.

According to the Vr-Zone website, the Dunningtons will be shipped in seven flavors ranging from four to six cores and frequencies between 2.13 and 2.66 GHz. The model names are L7445, L7455, E7420, E7430, E7440, E7459, X7470. The high-end X7470 will have an estimated price tag of $2729 and the technical specs include a 6-core CPU running at 2.66 GHz on a 1066 MHz FSB and with 16MB of L3 cache. The low-end E7420 will have a price tag of $1177 and will provide users with a 4 core CPU running at 2.13 GHz and with a cache level lower than on any other Dunnington CPU.

At this point, Intel leads the market in the consumer area with its 45nm multi core Penryn platform, which was released in early 2008. AMD still falls short in offering the highest performance consumer-oriented CPUs but has a strong market share in the server area.

If you are wondering what AMD is prepping for its new R700 graphic cards, here's a piece of information you
might find interesting. Qimonda, the memory manufacturer, has announced that it started shipping GDDR5
memory to AMD. The memory is supposed to be for the company's next generation graphic processors, meaning that the release of the new Radeon graphic cards is just around the corner.

Qimonda also declared that it has already started mass producing and shipping GDDR5 512Mbit memory modules to AMD. These chips are rated at 4.0Gbps per pin, which should give you an insight on their level of performance. Robert Feurle, Vice President Business Unit Specialty DRAM of Qimonda declared in a press release issued today that "We are very proud to supply AMD with GDDR5 volume shipments only six months after first product samples have been delivered." He also added, "This is a further milestone in our successful GDDR5 roadmap and underlines our predominant position as innovator and leader in the graphics DRAM market."

The RV770 chip is said to be the first to support the GDDR5 memory, but two graphic cards featuring this chip will be launched with GDDR5 support. The second series of RV770-based graphic cards, known as RV770PRO internally, will only use GDDR3 memory. Both RV770 and RV770PRO are expected to feature 480 stream processors, much like on the current RV670 chips. The two products are also expected to support 256-bit memory interface.

Currently, AMD has lost its leadership for both high performance graphics and central processing units but the company can still provide a good price/quality ratio. The new cards appear to be using the 3870 X2 platform and improve on that, but the way AMD is going to do this is not certain yet. There's no official release date or price for the new AMD graphic cards.

Details about the $100 laptop, the product that looks like a laptop but is not a fully-fledged one, has a price tag under $100, and is created by the OLPC project, have surfaced on the Internet. The new device looks like
an eBook reader which also provides some of the features of a laptop. It is believed that it will be shipped to
children in 2010 under the name of XO2.

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) founder, Nicholas Negroponte, offered the media a glimpse at the project's future product. He talked about the "book-like" device during an unveiling event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while also stating that he had high hopes the design would used by other manufacturers as well.

According the OLPC founder, the new product has been designed from a whole new different perspective compared to the project's current offer. It won't feature the green rubbery keyboard but rather a single square display hinged in its center. The display will come with touch capabilities, thus offering keyboard support for inputing data. This technology will also allow the XO2 device to be used as a normal book, offering children book-like learning experience.

The new concept will bring together the functionalities of several products into a single unit. XO2 will be used by many children because it combines the functions of a laptop, electronic book and electronic board. XO2 is said to be more energy efficient, about 50% better than the first generation of low-cost educational laptops. Nicholas Negroponte promised the XO2 product would also be lighter than its current version.

Up until now, OLPC's product has fallen short of expectations, which is why the release of its future version is seen as an effort to revitalize the project. Negroponte explained this by saying that the machines weren't popular because of their incapacity of running Microsoft's Windows operating system.

After details on AMD's next generation graphic cards were officially announced, it looks like rumors of
NVIDIA's upcoming GPUs have also been leaked. According to DailyTech, the leading manufacturer of graphic cards is planning to establish an embargo on its upcoming graphics core codenamed D10U. This GPU is expected to be released in two flavors, which are currently listed under the names of GeForce GTX 280 (D10U-30) and GeForce GTX 260 (D10U-20).

The GeForce GTX 280 is expected to feature the full power of the D10U graphic processor, while its smaller counterpart, the GTX 260, will have less graphic power. The GTX 280 will have all of its 240 unified stream processes, which are designed into the processor, featured at their full graphic potential. It seems that, with the release of the new D10U GPU, NVIDIA will yet again raise the performance bar by 50 percent, compared to their recently released D9 cards. The strategy is rather strange, as until now NVIDIA released their next generation graphic card with a considerable time gap between them.

The difference between the two graphic cards, which will originate from the same GPU, consists in their number of shaders and memory bus width. It seems that NVIDIA will disable 48 stream processors on its GTX 260 graphic card. The GTX 280 is expected to ship with 1 GB of GDDR3 memory, capable of running on a 512-bit memory bus, while the GTX 260 version will only be featured with a 448-bit bus with support for 896MB.

All the other features found on these graphic cards are pretty much the same as the ones on GeForce 9800GTX with a PCIe 2.0 interface, OpenGL 2.1, SLI and PureVideoHD support. It seems that, unlike AMD, NVIDIA will not feature their upcoming graphic cards with DirectX support above 10.0. The cards are expected to support 3-way SLI graphic configurations.

These next generation graphic cards are NVIDIA’s first attempt to incorporate PhysX. Up to this moment, NVIDIA hasn't delivered on their promise to have all CUDA-enabled processors with support for PhysX. However, the new D10U processor is expected to support CUDA, thus will also be PhysX-enabled

If you recently happened to visit Alienware's website, you might have noticed the American vendor's recent
offer. However, if you haven’t done this yet, here's a little insight into what they are now offering to extreme
users. Their high-end desktop computer system, Area-51 ALX has just received a new performance upgrade. Alienware users will be happy to know that they can acquire their favorite extreme rig with an Intel Core 2 Extreme processor, pre-overclocked at 4 GHz.

The company is renown for their high performance gaming-ready computer which can satisfy the needs of both desktop and notebook users. Their recent relaunch of the Area-51 ALX desktop system is just another example of the company's goal of providing the biggest and meanest gaming rig available on the market. The little Martian systems can be recognized by the company's logo, embedded in their chassis. These systems are also known for using the latest technology in computer hardware, in order to provide users with the best gaming experience.

The starting price tag, for an Alienware Area-51 ALX desktop system is set at $4,600, which will not provide you with the pre-overclocked Intel Core 2 Extreme processor. Customizing your system to provide you with the high computing power of the overclocked processor will raise the price tag bag by almost another $1,000. The system, which is built on a nForce 790i SLI-enabled motherboard, is clearly not meant for your everyday office applications. With this high price tag, the Area-51 ALX desktop provides a reliable high performance computer solution to enthusiasts and gaming users.

The system is obviously water cooled and will provide its user with the best Area-51 ALX desktop ever. That is, if you plan to spent way over the starting price tag.

We have recently brought you news about a product that was meant to capitalize on Father's Day, namely the
ESPN's Ultimate Remote. It appears that there's yet another similar product that aims at providing media
enthusiasts with a new remote control experience. This time around, the manufacturer is famous for its DVD and Blu-Ray product lineup, namely AMEX Digital.

The new remote, which goes by the name of RM-mp1, looks rather simple but is advertised to provide users with a number of significant features designed to improve the quality of their media experience. The remote can't be used for your regular TV set, but it provides all the media functions you will need, with support for computer systems. This is because RM-mp1 has been designed with a Wireless USB technology, rather than IR or a proprietary RF link. This technology allows the AMEX product to work as a media remote, a presentation controller and for general PC control.

The product's PC capability includes a built-in touchpad and mouse buttons, offering probably the same experience as any other notebook computer. The remote also provides a dedicated slideshow button, which can be used with presentations and photo galleries. At the bottom, the remote features a large Media Center/Start menu shortcut button. This will probably make movie watching on a PC, a lot more fun.

Other technical specifications include a single 3.7V battery, which can be charged via USB. AMEX Digital throws in even a Wireless USB dongle to link the remote with the computer, if the technology isn't available. The product is quite slim and at this point there's no word on price or availability. What is certain is that RM-mp1 will only work on Windows-enabled computers and will be available in black and white versions.

Nokia has said it is "working on a solution" to allow people to transfer N-Gage games between handsets.
The announcement was made following anger by gamers who found out that titles bought for a handset were locked to the device forever.

Nokia said it had made the decision to lock down the system to prevent piracy and guarantee revenue for games makers.

The mobile phone maker said it was now working on an intermediate solution until a final one could be deployed.

"We acknowledge our customers' concerns and have been working on a solution that would allow people to transfer purchased N-Gage games to a new Nokia device," it said.

Hidden catch

Currently, if a gamer changes or upgrades to a different Nokia handset they have to purchase any N-Gage games again if they want to continue playing.

The issue was uncovered by website All About N-Gage.

"They haven't given any indication as to when we can start transferring games, but at least they've now admitted this is a problem and admitted they must come up with a solution," the site said.

"This is a complete turnaround when compared to their previous statements earlier in the week, which all defended the idea of not allowing transfers."

Nokia relaunched its N-Gage mobile gaming platform last month.

About 30 games are available on a limited range of Nokia handsets, which are bought and downloaded direct to the phone.

It is the company's second attempt at making mobile gaming a success. In 2003 it released a dedicated handset for gaming, but the device never took off.

Ahead of the latest launch, Jaakko Kaidesoja from Nokia's Play New Experience division, told BBC News: "One of the best things we learned from the original N-Gage is that you can create a community and people appreciate the connectivity."

Yahoo nominated 9 of its 10 existing directors for re-election to the company’s board on Thursday, setting the stage for a showdown with dissident shareholders at its annual shareholder meeting.
Yahoo also postponed its annual meeting from July 3 and said it now expected to hold it at the end of July.

The Internet media company also disclosed in a regulatory filing that shareholders other than the investor Carl C. Icahn planned to nominate candidates to its board. Yahoo said it did not believe these shareholders had complied with its company bylaws.

Mr. Icahn, who recently amassed 10 million Yahoo shares and options to buy an additional 49 million, started a proxy campaign last week to replace Yahoo’s board with directors who would reopen merger talks with Microsoft.

Microsoft walked away from its sweetened $47.5 billion offer for Yahoo this month.

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft said Friday that it was ending a project to scan millions of books and scholarly articles and make them available on the Web, a sign that it is retrenching in some areas of Internet search in the face of competition from Google, the industry leader.
The announcement, made on a company blog, comes two days after Microsoft said it would focus its Internet search efforts on certain areas where it sees an opportunity to compete against Google. On Wednesday, Microsoft unveiled a program offering rebates to users who buy items that they find using the company’s search engine.

Some search experts said Microsoft’s decision to end its book-scanning effort suggested that the company, whose search engine has lagged far behind those of Google and Yahoo, was giving up on efforts to be comprehensive.

“It makes you wonder what else is likely to go,” said Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of the blog Search Engine Land. “One of the reasons people turn to Google is that it tries to be a search player in all aspects of search.”

Mr. Sullivan said that the number of people using book search services from Microsoft and Google was relatively small, but it included librarians, researchers and other so-called early adopters who often influence others. These users are now likely to turn to Google with increasing frequency, he said.

Both Microsoft and Google have been scanning older books that have fallen into the public domain, as well as copyright-protected books under agreements with some publishers. Google also scans copyrighted works without permission so it can show short excerpts to searchers, an approach that has drawn fire from publishers.

Microsoft’s decision also leaves the Internet Archive, the nonprofit digital archive that was paid by Microsoft to scan books, looking for new sources of support. Several major libraries said that they had chosen to work with the Internet Archive rather than with Google, because of restrictions Google placed on the use of the new digital files.

“We’re disappointed,” said Brewster Kahle, chairman of the Internet Archive. Mr. Kahle said, however, that his organization recognized that the project, which has been scanning about 1,000 books each day, would not receive corporate support indefinitely. Mr. Kahle said that Microsoft was reducing its support slowly and that the Internet Archive had enough money to keep the project “going for a while.”

“Eventually funding will come from the public sphere,” Mr. Kahle said.

Some libraries that work with the Internet Archive and Microsoft also said they planned to continue their book-scanning projects.

“We certainly expect to go on with this,” said Carole Moore, chief librarian at the University of Toronto. “Corporate sponsors are interested in whatever works for their commercial interests and their shareholders. Long-term preservation is not something you can look to the commercial sector to provide. It is what research libraries have always done.”

Microsoft acknowledged on its blog that commercial considerations played a part in its decision to end the program.

“Given the evolution of the Web and our strategy, we believe the next generation of search is about the development of an underlying, sustainable business model for the search engine, consumer and content partner,” Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s senior vice president for search, portal and advertising, wrote on the blog.

Microsoft said it had digitized 750,000 books and indexed 80 million journal articles.

Google, which works with libraries like the New York Public Library and those at Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan and Oxford, said it had scanned more than a million books. It plans to scan 15 million in the next decade. Google makes the books it scans freely available through its search engine but does not allow other search engines to use its database.

“We are extremely committed to Google Book Search, Google Scholar and other initiatives to bring more content online,” said Adam Smith, product management director at Google.

**Page sees slivers of unused wireless spectrum filling a role similar to Wi-Fi -- free and available widely across the United States.**
Google co-founder Larry Page intensified the campaign to make "white spaces" spectrum available for use by mobile phones and other wireless devices in a visit to Washington lawmakers this week.

Page toured the Federal Communications Commission and Congress during the week, meeting with FCC officials and members of Congress, including John Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Underlying issues are whether the slivers of unused spectrum will cause interference with other spectrum and whether white spaces could be auctioned.
"A big question is, will the FCC approve use of the white spaces for free?" asked spectrum expert Joe Nordgaard. "The government just auctioned off the 700-MHz spectrum for $19 billion, so it may not be so easy to ask for free spectrum."

Page sees the white spaces filling a role similar to Wi-Fi -- free and available widely across the United States. "Wi-Fi on steroids" is how he envisions white spaces.

Battle lines for and against white spaces usage are already in place, with Google and other powerhouse providers like Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Microsoft lining up against broadcasters and some mobile phone service providers.

Another problem is that there are still no available devices that can take advantage of the white spaces, which fill in spaces alongside TV channels. Nordgaard, who is managing director of wireless consultancy Spectral Advantage, said it "shouldn't be too difficult" to develop "data devices that can sniff out the holes in spectrum." One challenge for device manufacturers will be to develop a universal device that can operate in different markets across the country, he added.

To date, manufacturers have failed to produce a working device that could take advantage of the white spaces spectrum. The National Association of Broadcasters has argued that improper use of the white spaces spectrum would cause interference of other spectrum. The group has summed up its opposition to the devices in ads stating: "If the devices fail in pristine lab conditions, can you really trust them in the real world?"

Google has said its Android handset program should produce some devices capable of using the white spaces spectrum by the end of 2009. Another vigorous proponent of white spaces usage has been Microsoft, whose Danger handset unit is believed to be working on white spaces devices.

Earlier this month, Motorola asked the FCC to examine a device with sensors that it believes can avoid interference connected with white spaces spectrum.

In his Washington meetings, Page was frank about the benefit white spaces usage would have to Google. He was quoted in media reports as saying: "If we have 10% better connectivity in the U.S., we get 10% more revenue in the U.S., and those are big numbers for us."

Microsoft's Live Search Team is ending its book search efforts, according to a blog post Friday. Its Live Search Books and Live Search Academic sites will be discontinued next week, and books and academic publishings will show up in regular search results rather than separate sites.

"We recognize that this decision comes as disappointing news to our partners, the publishing and academic communities, and Live Search users," read the blog post by Satya Nadella, senior vice president of search, portal, and advertising.

Prior to its swift end, Microsoft's book digitization project had indexed the contents of 750,000 books and 80 million scholarly journal articles. Microsoft has said that it will provide publishers with digital copies of books that were already scanned. "Based on our experience, we foresee that the best way for a search engine to make book content available will be by crawling content repositories created by book publishers and libraries," Nadella wrote.

"With our investments, the technology to create these repositories is now available at lower costs for those with the commercial interest or public mandate to digitize book content. We will continue to track the evolution of the industry and evaluate future opportunities."

Book digitization, which Google has championed through its Google Books project, has been a tough hurdle for the tech industry. Traditional publishers haven't been supportive, for the most part.

For the first quarter of the year, online retail spending reached $32.8 billion, including auction fees and autos, but excluding event tickets, ComScore said.
Online retail spending in the United States slowed in April, as consumers tightened their purse strings in the face of rising food and oil prices.

E-commerce rose 15% last month from the same period a year ago, when year-to-year spending rose 18%, ComScore reported on Friday. April 2008, however, was a rebound from March, when spending increased 9%.
"While the e-commerce growth rates in 2008 are softer than what we saw last year, it's encouraging that April's growth rate represented an increase from what was obviously a soft March for online consumer spending," ComScore chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a statement. "One hopes that April will emerge as the beginning of a turnaround in the consumer economy and that spending will continue to accelerate as we move through the year and as the impact of the government's economic stimulus tax rebate program begins to be felt."

For the first quarter of the year, online retail spending reached $32.8 billion, including auction fees and autos, but excluding event tickets, ComScore said. The U.S. Department of Commerce pegged spending for the quarter at $32.4 billion.

While online spending has hit a bump, Web marketing to lure consumers is speeding along. The U.S. advertising market is predicted to reach $50.3 billion in revenue by 2011, more than double the amount of last year.

Driving the growth over the next few years will be the increasing size of the audience, the development of new types of advertising, and the creation of new publisher business models that will help sell interactive ads, according to the Yankee Group.

Releasing 8.6 million lines of source code and expecting open-source programmers to join Google in its development is a technological challenge.

But when Google does make its Android mobile phone software an open-source project later this year, it looks likely it will take a page from the Linux playbook and use a tool called Git to manage that part of the work.

Linux leader Linus Torvalds originally developed the Git source-code management software in 2005. He didn't like available open-source tools for the chore, but encountered resistance in using a proprietary tool, BitMover's BitKeeper.

Torvalds liked the distributed approach enabled by BitKeeper and Git, in which individuals could maintain their own "trees," variations of a project that branch off a main trunk. Git also can be used to track and manage software patches sent "upstream" by contributors working on code branches to the programmers responsible for maintaining various open-source projects.

Google currently uses a source-code management tool called Perforce to manage Android, but the company is moving to another code repository technology in preparation for moving Android into an open-source project, said Android leader Andy Rubin.

"We need an open-source repository. Currently we're on Perforce. That has to be moved to Git," and there's an effort now to make the transition, Rubin told me in an interview about Android.

That sounded to me like Android had settled on Git, but Rubin wasn't willing to go that far. "We have no announcements at this time," he said.



Maybe we'll hear more at the Google I/O conference next week for programmers interested in Google's work. One theme of the conference is Android.

Benjamin Lynn of Google's developer programs group offered a basic guide to Git on a Google open-source blog posting this week. And Google uses Git elsewhere, for example, to help Linux kernel programmers with support for Qualcomm mobile phone processors.

Junio C. Hamano currently maintains Git.

One choice Google won't pick for source code management is the centralized Subversion software.

"Subversion we don't think is enough of a repository to handle 11 million lines of code. If this is adopted, and there are 10,000 people checking out, it'll die," Rubin said. (Android today consists of about 8 million lines of Linux code plus 11 million lines of higher-level code; of the latter, about 8.6 million will become open-source software.)

Dual core is simply a generic term referring to any processor package with two physical CPUs in one. The Pentium D, Core Duo, Core 2 Duo and Athlon X2 are all current CPUs that have dual cores in one package.

The Pentium D is simply two Pentium 4 Prescott cpus inefficiently paired together and ran as dual core.

The Core Duo is Intel's first generation dual core processor based upon the Pentium M (a Pentium III-4 hybrid) made mostly for laptops (though a few motherboard manufacturers have released desktop boards supporting the Core Duo CPU), and is much more efficiently than Pentium D.

The Core 2 Duo is Intel's second generation (hence, Core 2) processor made for desktops and laptops designed from the ground up to be fast while not consuming nearly as much power as previous CPUs.


Note - Intel has dropped the Pentium name in favor of the Core architecture as Intel is restructuring and refocusing it's efforts to become number one again (and are doing a fine job, might I add).

The AMD Athlon X2 CPUs have two revisions, the first one is essentially very similiar to the Pentium Ds in that they are simply two Athlon 64 chips fused together, making power requirements quite steep (around 89 watts). The second revision is made more efficiently, like the Core Duos, with much less power consumption (around 65 watts).