I've noticed other issues on some machines I've updated- including previously stable machines dropping wireless connections, and any previous installed clients for managing connections (such as the MSI manager) being disabled in favour of allowing Windows manage connections. I've had to reinstall drivers and apps on 3 different systems thus far. I'm far from happy.......

Personally I'd be happy if they just fixed the XPeria X1.

How long is it going to take them to roll out a patch from WM 6.1 to 6.5?

I like Sony Ericsson, their hardware is remarkable- their software and their implementations of it are sadly deficient though.........

Have a look at the website now- the byline has gone.......

From my experiences at Curry's with a defective laptop- it certainly is the last place I'd willingly go in future.........

The obvious interim solutions is to buy wifi capable handsets and use VOIP when on your home network......

I can VOIP anywhere in the world via my mobile from home- for less than the best local rate package my mobile phone service supplier can offer me.......

Why the hell should I pay EUR100 for a femtocell, and then pay to use it too, twice????? I mean- its a unique business model- if you allow me to give you money, I'll pay someone else to enable me to give you money.........

Why is Norway worried about reader's history etc being warehoused in the US rather than the EU.....? Last time I checked Norways wasn't a member of the EU........?

Whats to stop you flogging these femtocells to expats- who will programme them as UK or Irish femtocells- and proceed to use their UK/Irish mobiles in Portugal/Spain/Cyprus (where-ever) to make calls home using a local UK/Irish tariff?

How easy is it to upgrade- a few words about ease of changing the wireless card and how easy it is to remove the cooling fan and upgrade the processor, would be nice. If you plonked a T9800 and an Intel 5300 wireless card in this- it would go like a bullet. Admittedly- thats another £200- but it would be well worth it.........?

So- the naughty Santa got sent home- not the geographically confused penguins?

Microsoft is kidding itself if it thinks its going to persuade enterprise users to shell out for yet more licences- particularly in the current economic climate.

I work in a large public organisation- we're still running Windows 2000 across over 90% of our desktops (several thousand), and are beginning to 'trial' Win XP....... When you're using all sorts of development environments- and need to make sure you don't break either your apps, or your development tools- you are sort of stuck. Locking down to a stable environment- even if its 10 years old, is not a bad idea. Win XP is pretty zippy on modern hardware :)

S.

Why would I pay their ridiculous price- when I can pick up a Revo for half as much?

The fact that they're plumming for the U3500 processor (5 watts under full tilt), means this is aimed at those who need battery power- yet, it doesn't compare favourably (other than with its enhanced graphics) with the likes of the £600 Acer 5810T (almost identical or even better specs).

The Asus UX50V is a nice machine- its just about £400 too expensive, or should have the U9400 in lieu of the U3500 (and even then, I'd want another lump shaved off the price).

Me- I bought the Acer 5810T, and got a U9400 engineering sample for £70 on ebay. The only laptop out there with similar specs is a Sony @ £2600, versus my £670 upgrade.

Then again- who upgrades laptops?

Its not a temporary mechanism. The reason for the vast numbers of pre-orders for Windows 7 Ultimate- is purely to get hold of XP mode (assuming that the purchasers have also checked out their processors support VTx- and that its not hobbled in the BIOS like some manufacturers seem to routinely do).

I've placed a number of Pre-orders for W7U, and will be using XP mode from day one. I've no plans to purchase new apps down the road- as long as my current library of apps work- I've paid good money for licences, I've no intention of going out and replacing the whole lot (yet again). I'm far from unique.

At the moment I dual boot most machines with XP and Vista (and even triple boot a few with Ubuntu)- W7U is a far tidier solution- and is not a temporary solution in my eyes.

You shouldn't need an MCP/MCSE to run your home computer.

Nice one!

I think I'll be sticking with my x9100 for a while longer though :-)

Wonder are there ESs out in the wild that us poor folk might be able to get our hands on yet?

Power!!! :-)

S.

If they really only allow certain markets a family licence- it will be give Ubuntu such a boost. People have put up with Vista crap for far too long- Windows 7 is simply what Vista *should* have been. Now we have a bewildering variety of Windows 7- with a bewildering variety of licence proposals for end users. Even Mac OS has only 3 options (and two of them are server varients). It really is a case of divide and conquer...... I got my pre-orders in, hope everyone else did too!

As a dual tuner PVR with DVB-T, its definitely of interest. The remote is actually attractive- I nearly got tossed out of a Sony shop at the weekend when I went around counting the number of buttons on their latest remote (46)....... Why companies imagine their remote controls have to resemble a prop from the original 60s series of Star trek is beyond me!!!

Its a bit rough and ready- a little bit of software tweaking would go a long way.

If I didn't already have the Western Digital Media Player- I'd be saving my hard earned cash for one of these- unfortunately the price tag is a bit too rich for my blood as is.......

Surely the title should read- 3 year old twins orphaned- and the story read as to a lesson on why its not a good idea to actively try to conceive in later life. Personally I think the mother was selfish in the extreme to have kids at that age- and I feel incredibly sorry for the poor kids.

And what are we going to do when we don't get our caffeine fix first thing in the morning, as our PCs boot?

In all fairness- having played around with Asus' and Acers latest Linux ROM boots- while its impressive that it gets you into a limited working environment so quickly- its simply too limited. I don't know anyone who would willingly limit themselves to the proposed apps- its simply unworkable.......

Now- wheres that coffee?

Hackers? More likely disgruntled customers pissed off at their appalling service managed to find some way of venting their anger at Eircom for once.

The Eircom statement on the affair is a laugh. "No customer records were exposed"- it was a DDOS attack guys- why would anyone imagine data was exposed?

Unfortunately its yet another manifestation of the ineptitude of Eircom and their broadband services. I left years ago- thank god there are alternates.......

A tenner for a 19" LCD panel..... Nice one if you need a new panel- I can't see there being a ready market for anyone hoping to make a quick buck reselling them thought...... 19" LCD panels are pretty much obsolete? If it was 22" or 24" widescreen panels- that would be a different story......

I do think its a bit much trying to browbeat Dell into honoring a genuine pricing error though- there is no consumer enforcement agency in Europe or the States who would dream of this. It does smack of opportunism on the part of the Taiwanese........

Acer have confirmed that the 8Gb SSD Linux model is due to be updated almost immediately- the initial launch is solely to use up stocks of the 8Gb SSDs. It is reported that the Linux model will be updated to a 160Gb HDD model. The other big plus- the Linux is Ubuntu 9.04! I'm going to wait a bit- and try to get a 160Gb Linux one in a few weeks time.

Asus- did not shoot themselves in the foot with their 'Its better with Windows' campaign- they shot themselves in the foot when they introduced Linux to the mass market as that Linpus crap on the original 701s. Many people who were willing to view Linux with a reasonably open mind- were exposed to one of the worst distros out there- when they could have spent a couple of weeks knocking together something that would have given Mac OS a run for its money. Thats where Asus shot themselves in the foot. The really bad problems particularly with wireless configuration in Linpus- meant the return rate on the original 701s were startlingly high in comparison to industry norms- and gave Asus a bad taste of what it considered consumer's preference to be........

FYI- I triple boot with Vista Ultimate 64 bit, XP 64bit, and Ubuntu 64 bit. I have no probs with any hardware in any of the operating systems (other than realtec codec probs in Vista- but thats a known problem). I even use Steam on Ubuntu for some limited gaming- because it saves having to kill a load of background applications. I've found the update feature of Ubuntu very helpful- and a lot more intuitive than Windows Update (my last update of device drivers for the aforementioned soundcard necessitated a restore to LKGC).

Its not black and white. If Linux machines are sold at a discount to Windows Machines- a la the way the Acer Revo have priced its range- there is a very good sustainable market for each operating system. Shovelling an operating system out the door- without thought to the underlying hardware and what consumers really want (or need), is fatal.

Who is going to pay £450 for a touch screen netbook, with a really awful processor and very low onboard storage? Perhaps the same question was asked of the 701- when it debuted- but at least it had price in its favour. At £450- I can get a very reasonable laptop- just why would I spend that sort of money on this plaything?

I was going to make a comment about how he was doing his citizens a favour by banning the stuff- but seems I've been beaten to it...... Anyhow- if you need a caffeine kick- get yourself a decent cup of delicious Venezuelan coffee- it really is good stuff........ If you don't need a caffeine kick- drink water (or beer, or whatever).....?

And the million dollar question- just when can consumers this side of the water- get their hands on sexy Ion gear?

My wife used play a lot of SIMs- I'm going to download the unfinished copy- and if we like- we will be top of the queue to buy it. Its total bullshit that every download equates to a lost sale- I'd wager that a significant number of downloads translate into sales that might not otherwise have occurred...... Personally- I'd not buy it without trying it- my console of choice is the PS3- my wife the Wii.......

@ Andy- I had a similar (though much smaller) incident in Bank of Ireland 20 years ago (1999). I asked for small denomination French Franc bills- 10,000 in total. The cashier fed a wad of notes into the bill counter and put the bills in an envelope. It was only 2 weeks later in Le Havre that I discovered that only the first few bills were 50 Franc notes.......

When I got home there was a letter waiting from me from the bank- advising me they had taken disciplinary action against the staff member, and would be grateful if I would return the money- or else it was coming out of her salary.

Them were the days...... I gave the money back. The staff member gave me a bottle of whiskey as a thankyou. That was the nicest bottle of whiskey I ever got (and the most expensive........ even if it was only a 12 year old bottle of Jameson)

You wrote: 3 Like Home offered a simple way to reduce the cost of using data abroad, so obviously it had to go. This is cynical in the extreme. The single fact of the matter is when roaming off its 'home' network- while you can modify handset settings to connect to networks in order of choice (incl. the various 3 international networks), in most cases you cannot specifically exclude a handset from connecting to a much stronger signal from a different network.

The GSM Network Information broadcast by cells, complies with GSM standards- which specify a territorial code. Its not the case that '3' could broadcast the equivalence of multiple identical international SSIDs- locking a handset to its SSID, and implementing a defacto 'international ban' on roaming on other than its own network. Perhaps its a path they may explore in future- but as it stands its simply not open to them.......

Having been stung by accidentally wandering onto the wrong network- I'm a big fan of upfront fees when abroad- irrespective of what network one might happen to be on.

Perhaps its time to revisit the GSM specs?

At the risk of sounding cynical- perhaps they'll have more time to spend on their studies than frivolous hotmail and other pursuits?

I've the 8930G- Acer seem to be putting 4Gb of PC1066 in all their laptops at the moment. Nice! I have to agree with you about the HDMI port- I've tried plugging my phone into it several times already- its annoying as hell.

The phantom processor is something I've come across previously- as per here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055557139

Vista will not automatically identify the new processor (at all) other than in 'About this Computer' which is strange as hell......

Looks nice- the battery life will really give the Samsung NC10 a run for its money......

Any chance of MS getting the XP emulation environment ready for Vista that they are harping on about for Windows 7?

Re the wifi connection problem- do what everyone else does and disable the MS configurator and use the Intel one (or MSI or whatever wireless card you happen to be using) to manage your connections. I ended up dismantling over 20 laptops and numerous desktops- just to put Intel cards in them, for ease of usage.....

S.

Really- who is surprised about either Tigerdirect, or Dell? You get precisely what you pay for. Dell are the Ryanair of the computer industry- Tigerdirect, well less said the better. When it works- great- you got yourself a deal- when it doesn't- my god, its torture trying to get satisfaction.........

Its simply not worth comparing the upfront price with the overall cost of ownership- and by god, will it cost you in the long run.

The custom made OEM parts (especially power supplies) in Dell PCs, drive me batty- don't even get me started on the cut down BIOSes and the general crap components. Whacking in a really good processor is a false economy- if you don't back it up with good memory, the best chipset going, and a decent graphics card.

You get what you pay for- if you're only looking at the headline price- there is always going to be a sting in the tail.......

Over 200 of the machines were in fact used in the 2002 elections- its not true to say a vote was never cast on the machines. Its also disengenuous to suggest that the curent financial situation Ireland finds itself in is the reason for scrapping the machines. The simple fact is that the machines have been in storage for almost 8 years, and are wholly obsolete at this stage. Public perception is that the machines are not to be trusted- and in the absence of public trust in its electoral system- they are damn right to dump the bloody things as fast as possible. The only shame is the 24m shelled out on storage costs for the machines over the past 8 years. If this was the extent of government waste in Ireland- the Irish taxpayer would be thrilled, unfortunately, its not.

Have to agree with Peter Stern on this one- all it heralds is adverts for prostitution migrating elsewhere- or as is the case on other Craigslists sites- being rephrased so it appears the ladies in question are offering indeterminate services other than sex.

Perhaps its time to look at prostitution from a different perspective. In Ireland (believe it or not) prostitution isn't illegal- however soliciting is. The good sheriff might be better serving his community by getting a log of the IP addresses of those seeking the aforementioned ladies, and chasing them instead? He could even geographically limit his search to the limits of his own jurisdiction very easily- instead of imposing his will on members of other states?

Obviously the oldest profession in the world is catering to a non-diminished demand. Its deluded to imagine that chasing it from the public consciousness is in any manner diminishing its occurrence.........

S.

Remember Dell's brief dalliance with Ubuntu?

You know you still had to shell out for an OEM copy of Windows- to satisfy Dell's contract with MS.......

And what about all those licences that those of us in our 30s or 40s have gotten with every single computer we've bought over the last 15-20 years? I must have at least 30- and I actually have to this day 32 OEM Windows books on my bookcase along with certificates of authenticity.

MS is a monopoly player and does abuse its market position- period.

Any word on the specs? Looks sexy- and I don't mean missy on the beach towel.......

Intel did not in fact invent the 4004 processor. A Japanese company called Busicom who were once upon a time makers of typewriters, made a design for a calculator and approached Intel to build it for them. One of Intel's engineers- Ted Hoff, modified their design- which had 8 seperate components, into a single component based on 2108 mini-transistors and a number of virtual gates- and persuaded Busicom that his modification was a better match to their requirements for building (a desk calculator). The first chip was built to Hoff's specifications by Intel in 1969, and the design was later sold to Intel, by Busicom, for what was considered a princely sum for $60,000 in 1970. Busicom went bankrupt in 1971. Sounds very like how Microsoft got themselves off the ground.......

S.

If this is the extent of people's tolerance of a few tits, I think I'll give Scotland a miss for a while..... Her tits aren't anything to write home about......