Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

The Register seems to have started an interesting little rumor that despite all their recent ads and millions spent to lure users to Vista, Microsoft is actually extending the time OEMs have to sell PCs that come with Vista with the support to downgrade to XP.  The deadline had been January 31, 2009, and it has supposedly been extended by six months to July 31, 2009.

The whole extension hasn’t had any official confirmation by anyone in Microsoft or any OEM, just a “Reg reader” was sourced in the original article.  Guess we’ll see.  In a way, it would make sense if Microsoft is trying to keep XP available for companies until the release of Windows 7, expected to come out sometime in early 2010 or thereabouts.  I’m sure this move (if true), would make several who have been dragging their feet on the transition to Vista very happy.

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This is where we call out by names the actions and companies that seem odd, out of touch or just plain straight up smokin’ crack.  Technology is an odd realm where PR speak doesn’t hold a lot of water if the 1s and 0s don’t line up.  This week sees posturing, positioning and flat out insanity.  Here is what caught my eye this week:

Click more to witness the insanity.

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Yesterday’s stock tumble has hit tech businesses hard. Nasdaq, which is primarily tech businesses, fell nearly 200 points, and several big tech businesses saw similar drops.  Apple fell 18%, AMD nearly 17%, and Intel over 10%. Similarly, Google saw its stock fall over $50 to $381 a share. That’s nearly a 12% drop.

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This is where we call out by names the actions and companies that seem odd, out of touch or just plain straight up smokin crack.  Technology is an odd realm where PR speak doesn’t hold a lot of water if the 1s and 0s don’t line up.  This week sees posturing, positioning and flat out insanity.  Here is what caught my eye this week:

Hit the jump to see bonehead moves from Apple, Google, T-Mobile, SanDisk and Motorola…

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Clarion recently came out with a product that combines everyone’s on-the-go, PMP, GPS, and Internet, needs into one device.  Here comes the Clarion MiND (Mobile Internet Navigation Device).  Although it doesn’t come with cell phone support, so maybe not all your on-the-go-needs, but 3 out of the 4 isn’t bad.

When thinking of devices that incorporate all these essential features, only a few devices come to mind, such as the iPhone, UMPCs, and maybe NetBooks. However, each of those devices lack some features that the Clarion MiND has, except for iPhone which can make calls. 

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Seems folks like a bit of music with their mobile phone, who knew?  Sony Ericsson ("SE") announced they will join the growing list of manufacturers that offer some kind of music service with their phones.  Designed to compete with Nokia’s cleverly named “comes with music,” SE plans to begin the service in Sweden, then expand to Western Europe.

The service will be an all-you-can-eat unlimited music subscription and should roll out mid-way through 2009; Rome wasn’t build in a day.  Nokia’s service starts up next month in the UK.  Nokia’s plan is expected to cost 70 pounds extra, though there is some belief the cost will be rolled into a contract price.

Manufacturers chase customers

Hit more to see if this phenom is coming to the US

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With all the fun surrounding yesterday’s Android OS event and fondling combined with the lust still embodied by lines still at Apple stores for the iPhone, just how will Windows Mobile 7 compete?  Windows Mobile will not a have a new release for two-straight CESs according to C|NET whose sources say we’ll be waiting a full year before we see something that could possibly have been iPhone-inspired.

Microsoft spills the beans to manufacturers

Word is this delay has been announced to manufacturing partners.  After Microsoft is done with it, the OS has to go to manufacturers for their development and installation, a timely process for sure.  This lag has inspired new rumors that Microsoft may be thinking again about creating their own hardware.  Microsoft, with their proud admission that they “own” the business smartphone market thanks to Exchange integration, should have the cajones to create the ultimate business phone.  Instead, we get crippled, infuriatingly lacking phones that get email.

Click “MORE” to see how the new Android phone figures in to this.

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By now most of us are probably aware of the Intel Atom processor, the little chip inside nearly all of the netbooks out right now.  Intel has started shipping a desktop version of the processor with two cores.  Intel is saying that it is made specially for “nettops.” A nettop being to a desktop computer as a netbook is to a notebook computer.

These new chips will allow for small footprint desktops with little electricity usage to be released at low price points.  According to the eWeek article, Intel is hoping the Dual Core Atom will help sell PCs in China and India for families who don’t yet have computers in the homes.  It could also be used for cheap computer for North American and European families who are looking to add another computer to their home.  It would also make sense for public terminals, such as in a public library where the PCs are usually used only for word processing and Internet access anyway.

Can you get by with a machine using this chip?  Hit the jump to find out.

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Tomorrow, our Editor Iyaz will be on hand to witness T-Mobile’s debut of the first Android phone.  Android is the open source mobile phone OS from Google that we’ve been talking about for what seems like years.  Here on the eve of the preview, here is what we’ve collected on what we can expect.

Pretty?
With Google’s love for the iPhone, the UI will be good looking (surprisingly, not all UIs are—I’m looking at you, Windows Mobile).  From the image we’ve seen and what Google has shown, this is going to be a very appealing UI.  Google has their stuff together for their web properties; expect clean and simple from this phone as well.

What else can you expect?  Check out more after the break.

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Smartphones, the name given to devices that combine a phone and pda in once device capable of doing everything from editing spreadsheets to browsing the internet, were once the fastest growing segment of the mobile industry. The Blackberry, iPhone, and Palm Centro are all popular devices in this category.

Both RIM, makers of the Blackberry, and Palm saw a 7% decrease while Nokia and Apple saw their stocks fall 5 and 4% respectively.  The report from Gartner Inc showed sales growth of 16% which is a dramatic drop from the 55% growth the market enjoyed at this time last year. Not surprisingly, the dismal economy is to blame.

“The current economic environment continues to negatively impact the market, limiting consumer spending and replacement purchases in general,” wrote Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at Gartner

Worldwide sales of smartphones reached over 32 million, with 25% of that being North American sales. With the recent release of the new 3G iPhone, the much anticipated release of the HTC Touch Diamond coming soon, and the long overdue release of Palm’s new Linux based OS due in early 2009, I don’t think smartphone stockholders have too much to worry about.

Read [MarketWatch]