John Lister

Microsoft representatives have promised that the forthcoming Windows 7 Phone system will be based around the way customers use their phones in their everyday lives. But when Microsoft speaks to the marketing world, it tells a different story. Kostas ... Mallios, who oversees Microsoft's Strategy and Business Development unit, recently spoke at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. He spoke about the way in which Windows Phone 7 is designed to be a seamless experience for the user such that everything from social networking to multimedia is linked together smoothly. However, he also ... (view more)

An analyst is forecasting that problems with a new technology could cause significant shortages with Apple's new iPhone version 4. The new phone is due for release this week, with demand expected to be high. One of the main selling points of the ... iPhone 4 is that it has four times as many pixels in the same size screen, providing a resolution of 326 pixels per inch. That's more than many printed publications. According to Apple "the Retina display's pixel density is so high, your eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels." iPhone 4 Screen Made of High Tech Materials The glass for the ... (view more)

After multiple delays , the first handsets running the next Windows mobile operating system are said to emerge next month. But they won't be on sale: instead, they'll go to software developers to make it easier for them to produce high-quality apps. ... App Developers to get Real Deal So far developers have had to rely on emulators to try out their new apps for Windows Phone 7. That does the job, but doesn't really recreate how an app looks and feels when it is on a phone in your hand. It is theoretically possible for developers to run beta editions of Windows Phone 7 on existing handsets through ... (view more)

Connecticut's top law official says he may be joined by others in investigating Google's alleged WiFi privacy breaches . It follows similar action in both Europe and Australia. The dispute came about when it emerged that, while taking photographs ... for its Street View mapping service, Google used its vehicles to scan for local wireless networks, a move it says was designed to allow it to show the locations of free public hotspots on its maps. However, in this process it "inadvertently" collected snippets from emails and data from websites which were being transmitted wirelessly, with ... (view more)

Microsoft has recently released a new, slimmed down version of the Xbox 360. The new gaming console resembles the re-launched Sony Playstation 3 (PS3), coupled with motion control technology following in the footsteps of the Nintendo Wii. The new ... edition of the Xbox 360 remains at the same $299 price, but doubles the hard drive capacity to 250 GB. The device is physically smaller than the original Xbox 360 and also adds built-in wireless (Wifi) network access. Other changes are more mechanical: it's suggested that the main processor and the graphics hardware have been integrated on the same ... (view more)

Microsoft is running a special offer allowing students to upgrade to Windows 7 for just $29.99. They can also buy a special academic edition of Office 2010 for $79.95 outright. The upgrade offer is for the Professional edition of Windows 7. That's ... effectively the midway point between Home Premium (the edition most home users will be running) and Ultimate (the most feature-filled and expensive edition for individuals). Compared with Home Premium, the Professional edition offers some extra features which might not appeal to students, such as easier company network connections, but one which ... (view more)

Google's forthcoming Chrome operating system (OS) will be able to run applications from other operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows. The procedure is a relatively simple technical solution, though one which has practical limitations. The ... Chrome operating system, which has been released in a form developers can experiment with works in a different way than most web browsers. It's designed to run when the computer is online and is, to a major extent, a souped-up version of Google's Chrome web browser. Chrome OS Goes Easy on Old PCs Instead of standalone applications on the computer, most ... (view more)

Microsoft has identified a potential security risk in the Help function of Windows XP. But there is some controversy over the way the issue has come to light. This bug involves XP's Help and Support Center, and specifically a style of link which ... routes a browser to a help page built into Windows rather than a web page. Such links begin hcp:// rather than the more familiar http:// and are a way of making it easier to give online help and advice by allowing writers to include smooth links to Windows' own help pages. Whitelist Help Pages Spoofed Tavis Ormandy, an information security engineer ... (view more)

Microsoft has released security updates for 34 different problems, a monthly total that has only been matched once. Three sets of problems are ranked as critical, and several are so-called zero-day bugs. A zero-day bug is one in which the problem is ... not discovered by the software developer itself. This creates the risk that hackers will be able to get a head-start on finding a way to exploit the bug before the developer is able to produce a fix. The critical issues affect both Internet Explorer and Windows itself. Of the 10 security bulletins, these are the priority for installation and ... (view more)

Microsoft has confirmed that the first official version of Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 will be released next month (July, 2010). It doesn't appear the pack will bring any major updates, but it could still drive up business sales. A service pack is ... a collection of all updates released for the software since its original launch. At one stage service packs were a way to get updates (via disc) to people on dial-up modems who didn't want to use the automatic update download service; today they are used more among people who prefer to carry out major updates in a single batch. Another benefit of ... (view more)