Personal Computer World news Latest updates

Lenovo unveils ultra-slim ThinkPad T400s

Ian Williams — 2009-06-23T11:44:00.000Z

Ian Williams, V3.co.uk, Tuesday 23 June 2009 at 11:44:00

Thin and light notebook aimed at corporate users

Lenovo has unveiled the latest addition to its ThinkPad line, promising a full notebook experience in an ultra-slim chassis.

The T400s measures 0.83in at its thinnest point and weighs just under 1.8Kgs, making it significantly lighter than its 2.2Kg predecessor the T400.

"We have created products like our ThinkPad T400s laptop to bring thin and light computing to mainstream corporate users," said Peter Hortensius, senior vice president of ThinkPad at Lenovo.

The T400s is 50 per cent heavier than Lenovo's S10e netbook, but boasts a 14.1in screen, a six-cell battery promising up to six hours of life, and a carbon fibre chassis.

As well as all the usual notebook features, customers will have a choice of Intel Core2 Duo processors and graphics options, as well as a selection of 128GB or 250GB solid state storage and a DVD burner or Blu-ray player.

The T400s has an Express Card slot or 5-in-1 multimedia card reader, and optional support for WiMax, 3G data, Bluetooth or Ultra Wide Band.

Lenovo claimed that the keyboard and touchpad have been improved to make life easier for users, and several features have been added to make VoIP calling easier, including better speakers, a 2-megapixel webcam, dual digital microphones and dedicated speaker and mute buttons with LED indicators.

The T400s is available now starting at around £1,760 excluding VAT.

HP announces web-connected home printer

Daniel Robinson — 2009-06-23T09:00:00.000Z

Daniel Robinson, V3.co.uk, Tuesday 23 June 2009 at 09:00:00

New Photosmart links to photo sharing sites and lets users print custom news direct from the web

HP has unveiled a web-connected printer designed to let consumers access and print content directly from the web without the need to turn on their PC.

The HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web is claimed as the world's first web-connected home printer. The inkjet device features a 4.3in touch-screen display, through which users can connect to content available on the web.

According to HP, the device will allow consumers to print customised content from news sites, search for movies showing in their local area and book and print tickets in advance, as well as print photos directly from the web.

Inside the device is a new web-based printing platform using custom applications to access content. Buyers will receive some apps ready loaded on the printer, and will be able to download new ones published on an HP Apps Studio site.

"By giving people access to the content they want at the touch of a finger, the ability to customise their printing experience and create their own apps, and enabling easy 'one touch' wireless setup, we are driving a significant shift in how people will be printing in the future," said HP's vice president of imaging and printing, Vyomesh Joshi.

The initial partners providing content are mostly US-based, including Google (Google Maps), USA Today, Coupons Inc, Nickelodeon, Web Sudoku and Weathernews Inc.

HP said that users of its Snapfish photo sharing service will be able to print photos directly from their account, and also from the HP Creative Studio web site for custom greetings cards, calendars and stationary.

The HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web has print, fax, copy and scan capabilities, and wired and wireless connectivity options. Users can print directly from Wi-Fi-enabled PCs, Bluetooth-enabled devices and Apple's iPhone an d iPod touch, according to HP.

The device is expected to go on sale in the autumn in the US for about $399 (£244). UK availability and pricing was not available at the time of writing.

£99 box gives you online Windows

Clive Akass — 2009-06-17T15:43:00.000Z

Clive Akass, Personal Computer World, Wednesday 17 June 2009 at 15:43:00

Thn client offers direct access to rent-an-app site

Online Windows desktop site Nivio is launching a neat little box a little smaller than a paperback that access its services directly and appears to the user as a standard PC.

The £99 Nivio Companion can be bolted to the back of a VESA-standard monitor, but founder Sachin Duggal says: "Most people thinks it looks too good to hide away."

Nivio is offering a 15in LCD monitor for £50 extra. The company says it offers homes and businesses an alternative to purchasing software such as Microsoft Office and running a expensive PC. Users can instead use a Windows desktop and applications running on a remote server.

The basic service, which includes 10GB of storage, costs £4.66 a month and Microsoft Office (home edition) costs £2.50 a month. You can also rent other applications by the month – if you don't use them in a month you do not get charged.

Duggal says the advantages are that users, including those that buy the Companion, can access the service from any computer running Windows, MacOS, Linux or Unix. And they do not need to bother about extra costs such as virus protection and software upgrades.

The Companion is a thin client, with minimal local capability, though it can play audio files from a USB drive.

T-Mobile debuts myTouch 3G Android handset

Shaun Nichols in San Francisco — 2009-06-23T02:21:00.000Z

Shaun Nichols in San Francisco, V3.co.uk, Tuesday 23 June 2009 at 02:21:00

Operator touts 'boundless possibilities for personalisation'

T-Mobile has formally unveiled its second Android-powered handset. The myTouch 3G sports a 3.5in touch screen along with a 3.5-megapixel camera and a pre-installed 4GB microSD memory card.

Like the G1, the myTouch will use Google's Android mobile platform. The handset will also be equipped with a new preference tool called Sherpa which automatically suggests locations, sites and applications based on user interests.

The company hopes that the new handset will help it push into the consumer market by offering a device which can be more easily personalised.

"T-Mobile myTouch 3G puts you first, so you can create a mobile experience that is truly your own," said T-Mobile US chief marketing officer Denny Marie Post.

"There's no cookie-cutter approach to myTouch. Inside and out, there are boundless possibilities for personalisation so you can put your touch on the phone and make it uniquely yours."

The myTouch 3G is the latest product to be announced in what has been a busy summer for T-Mobile. Along with rolling out a major software update for the G1 handset, the company is said to be working on a number of new Android-based devices.

The news of T-Mobile's new device comes on the same day that Apple is celebrating a milestone for its latest iPhone model.

In announcing that the iPhone 3G S had sold one million units in its first three days, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs declared that "customers are voting and the iPhone is winning".

Mozilla unveils Firefox 3.5 release candidate

Ian Williams — 2009-06-22T10:56:00.000Z

Ian Williams, V3.co.uk, Monday 22 June 2009 at 10:56:00

Browser firm promises fastest internet experience ever

Mozilla has published the latest release candidate of Firefox 3.5, the new version of the popular open-source web browser.

Mike Shaver, vice president of engineering at Mozilla, said that, barring any critical bugs, this version will be the one that gets rolled out to users.

Firefox 3.5 is available in over 70 languages, and includes more than 5,000 enhancements to Firefox 3, ranging from simple text changes in a dialogue box, to major modifications to the JavaScript engine and support for HTML 5.

Shaver highlighted the huge performance improvements, quoting Sunspider benchmarks showing the new release to be more than twice as fast as Firefox 3 and 10 times faster than Firefox 2.

The developers had split the focus into five areas: speed; user experience; security and privacy; customisation; and developer tools.

Firefox 3.5 includes a private browsing mode, which prevents any information from that session being recorded, and Mozilla has introduced several features which can do the same thing retroactively. So, rather than having to delete the entire history, cache and cookies, users have the option of 'forgetting' a single site, or clearing all data from the past hour or several hours.

Other major features include location-aware browsing, better video embedding, improved session restoring, basic image enhancement from within the browser and greater customisation options.

There are more than 6,000 add-ons currently available for Firefox, and the company has improved the categorisation and search tools to help users find the applications they want.

Mozilla also announced the launch of 'Collections', which allows users to group certain add-ons together, and find associated applications with ease.

Full details of the new features and improvements can be found on the Mozilla developer blog.

Those already running the beta version of Firefox 3.5 should receive the update automatically, or can upgrade manually by checking for updates within the browser.

Firefox 3.5 RC is available for download from the Mozilla site but does warn that, although very nearly ready for general use, this is still a release candidate and is intended for developer testing and community feedback.

Kodak kills off iconic Kodachrome film

Paul Allen — 2009-06-22T14:48:00.000Z

Paul Allen, Computeractive, Monday 22 June 2009 at 14:48:00

Camera giant 'retires' iconic stock

Kodak released a statement today confirming that it is discontinuing Kodachrome, the first commercially successful colour film when it was first introduced in 1935.

"Sales of Kodachrome film have declined dramatically in recent years as photographers turned to other, newer Kodak films or to the digital imaging technologies that Kodak pioneered,' says the statement.

"Today, Kodachrome film represents just a fraction of one percent of Kodak’s total sales of still-picture films.

"Kodachrome is an iconic product and a testament to Kodak’s long and continuing leadership in imaging technology,' says Mary Jane Hellyar, president of Kodak’s Film, Photofinishing and Entertainment Group. 'It was certainly a difficult decision to retire it, given its rich history.

"However, the majority of today's photographers have voiced their preference to capture images with newer technology – both film and digital. Kodak remains committed to providing the highest-performing products – both film and digital – to meet those needs."

The statement adds: "For all of its magic, Kodachrome is a complex film to manufacture and an even more complex film to process. There is only one remaining photofinishing lab in the world – Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas – that processes Kodachrome film, precisely because of the difficulty of processing.

"This lack of widespread processing availability, as well as the features of newer films introduced by Kodak over the years, has accelerated the decline of demand for Kodachrome film."

Kodak estimates that current supplies of Kodachromewill last until early this autumn. Dwayne’s Photo has indicated it will continue to offer processing for the film through 2010.

"While Kodak now derives about 70 per cent of its revenues from commercial and consumer digital businesses, it is the global leader in the film business,' says the statement. 'Kodak has continued to bring innovative new film products to market, including seven new professional still films and several new Vision2 and Vision3 motion picture films in the last three years. These new still film products are among those that have become the dominant choice for those professional and advanced amateur photographers who use Kodak films."

Kodak says it is planning to celebrate the film's 74-year legacy with an online gallery, and by donating the last few rolls available to George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in the US. Magnum Photos shooter Steve McCurry will shoot one of those last rolls and the images will be donated to Eastman House.

The online gallery will feature further Steve McCurry images, including his iconic Afghan Girl.

This article on the end of Kodak Kodachrome film first appeared in Computeractive's sister title, The British Journal of Photography.

Ispa internet heroes and villains shortlist announced

Dinah Greek — 2009-06-19T15:58:00.000Z

Dinah Greek, Computeractive, Friday 19 June 2009 at 15:58:00

Brickbats and bouquets

Internet service provider's trade body Ispa has announced the shortlist for its Internet Villain and Internet Hero awards.

The Hero award is given to an organisation or individual who has made a significant contribution to the internet industry in the past year. The title of Villain recognises those that Ispa feels have had a negative impact upon the sector.

Shortlisted for the hero awards is the Featured Artists Coalition: “For recognising publicly that the focus of music companies should be the development of new business models for distributing content online rather than attempting to pass responsibility to ISPs to take action against users."

Also in line for the prize is the Community Broadband Network: "For their relentless pursuit and support for next generation access at grass roots level. "

Even the European Parliament gets a look in: "For adopting by a significant majority amendment 138/46 to the Telecom Package which states that internet users cannot be disconnected or restricted from the internet without a court order."

And while his broadband tax of £6 a year may not be too popular with consumers, Lord Carter has been shortlisted: “For his attempt to bring a holistic view to government policy across the communications spectrum."

And a name probably not that familiar with many in the UK is Thomas Gensemer: “For showcasing the enormous power of the internet in leading Barack Obama's online presidential campaign."

Four candidates who have not pleased Ispa this year have been put forward for the Internet Villain award and this year’s shortlist shows how truly global the internet is.

Step forward President Nicolas Sarkozy who has been nominated: “For his continued commitment to the Ha dopi law, which advocates a system of graduated response, despite repeated arguments suggesting the law is disproportionate from a number of important groups including the European Parliament."

Also included on the shortlist are Stephen Conroy and the Australian Government: “For continuing to promote network-level blocking despite significant national and international opposition."

The European Parliament appears again but this time cast as the villain: “For supporting amendment 84 to the Telecom Package demanding an opt-in for cookies which could yet bring the Internet to a standstill."

And our own home-grown Baroness Vadera makes an appearance: "For excluding a number of ISPs and Rights Holders in agreeing a Memorandum of Understanding that was exclusive and ineffective in progressing relations between the two industries."

Nicholas Lansman, Ispa secretary general, said: "The announcement of the Internet Hero and Internet Villain are always eagerly anticipated and give the awards night a great sense of occasion."

The winners will be selected from the finalists based on votes by members of the Ispa Council and announced, along with the winners of the 12 main awards, at a ceremony hosted at the London Marriott Hotel, London, on Thursday 9 July.

New malware threat targets Twitter users

Shaun Nichols in San Francisco — 2009-06-19T03:38:00.000Z

Shaun Nichols in San Francisco, vnunet.com, Friday 19 June 2009 at 03:38:00

Malicious email attachment masquerades as message notification

A new spammed malware attack is impersonating messages from micro-blogging site Twitter.

Researchers at Symantec said that the attack poses as an invitation to join Twitter with the message: 'Your friend has invited you to Twitter.' The message also contains images of the Twitter logo and front pages.

Rather than send the user to Twitter by way of a URL, however, the message asks the user to open an attachment under the name 'InvitationCard.zip'. On launching the attached file, the user is infected with a malicious worm that attempts to send out mass email messages.

Users are advised not to open the invitation attachments or any other unsolicited or suspicious email attachments.

"As Twitter continues to gain popularity among social networking users, people are regularly receiving invitations and email updates from fellow users, " wrote Symantec researcher Sammy Chu in a blog post.

"We expect that spammers will continue to use Twitter and other popular social networks as bait in their attacks."

The practice of disguising malware as email attachments and greeting cards is not new. Attacks such as the infamous Storm worm were routinely spread under the guise of greeting card attachments.

Attacks targeting Twitter have also become more common in recent months as the site has seen its popularity soar. Attacks have ranged from account-stealing hacking attempts to cross-site scripting attacks and malware distribution attacks.