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:

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

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How do you get the new Treo Pro free?  Two easy steps:  1. Move to the UK.  2. Sign up for Vodaphone.  In a move that is sure to have Treo fans jealous, Vodaphone is offering the new sexy black Treo Pro to its customers with different plans ranging from free to 340 pounds.

My hands on

Last week, we got to play with the Treo Pro.  To see what Gadgetell thought of it, click more.

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Finally, someone found the paddles, charged to 350 and zapped some life back into Moto.  These images of the Moto Q11, captured by a website I’ve never heard of, show a phone that looks rather modern.  There certainly is no mistaking this phone for anything else but a Motorola.

Haptic changeable buttons?

The businesses-y Moto Q9 was launched on AT&T back in November.  This update does not bring the haptic changeable keypad I was hoping for, opting for actual hard buttons.  The keypad’s shape looks to take up less real estate of the Q11 vs the Q9.  This phone is still the phone equivalent of an oar blade: flat and wide.  Whatever, at least it is something new.

The rumored specs and keypad image are just a click away, hit more to follow.

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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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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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Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld are back with their second ad in Microsoft’s new campaign.  The first one was kind of lackluster in my opinion, not just because it had nothing to do with Windows and Microsoft products, but because it really wasn’t even all that funny.

The second spot in the series, which involves Jerry and Bill moving in with “real” people in order to connect with them is at least funnier, but it’s still “all about nothing” and doesn’t do anything to convince me that Vista or anything else that Microsoft makes is any good.

If Microsoft really want’s to compete with Apple’s Mac guy and PC guy ads, they’re going to have to realize that their ads can’t just be funny--they have to also give people reasons to use their products, whether that’s through pointing out features that the Mac doesn’t have or talking about Windows Media Center.  I realize that Seinfeld built his career on a show that was “all about nothing”, but that’s not going to work for an advertising campaign.

Check out the combined two-part ad below…

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So, we’ve all been seeing the hoopla the past few days surrounding Google’s Chrome browser. First it was how exciting! Google has a new browser! Then that excitement lessened somewhat as time went on. It went from performance benchmarks being less than stellar to the fact that it was discovered that their snazzy new browser was susceptible to a carpet-bombing vulnerability that could expose Windows to malicious hacker attacks.  And now, we’re taking note of Google’s fine print in their end-user license agreement. To put it lightly, it does not look friendly in the least to the user.

Taken from their agreement terms:

“By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any content which you submit, post or display on or through, the services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the services and may be revoked for certain services as defined in the additional terms of those services.”

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Seems as though the folks over there at Microsoft have really been busy as of late. Their Office Labs recently released the the Speed Launch Program , and now Microsoft ‘s Live Labs just released their Photosynth program for consumers.

What was once just a “oh isn’t that so pretty” tech demo, the program is now something that just about anyone can actually go on and use now. While before, the process took weeks of stitching photos together on specially configured server arrays; it is now able to be done by taking groups of photos that you’ve taken with your digital camera or even your mobile phone, and the program then stitches them into a faux 3D environment converted right onto your computer. 

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Long annoyed with Apple’s barbs and those “Get a Mac” ads, Microsoft has called in the help of comedian Jerry Seinfield for their latest ad campaign. Along with retired Bill Gates, Seinfield will be helping to promote their new “Windows not walls” tagline.

Their newest ad campaign is running them $300 million, which makes it one of their biggest ever; and $10 million of that is going straight to “key celebrity pitchman” Jerry Seinfield for his assistance. Not a shabby paycheck there Jerry, especially since you usually displayed Macs in your apartment on your show. 

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