In a sign that proves just how much the general public dislikes Windows Vista, Dell has announced that they have postponed their kill date for Windows XP from today until June 26th. Interested consumers can still purchase an XP-laden Dell system until 7 AM Eastern time on the 26th, after which point Vista will be your only Microsoft OS option. The extension only applies to three versions of Dell’s Inspiron 530, as well as the XPS 630. If you’ve been thinking about a grabbing a Dell, and hate Windows Vista, we suggest you head on over to the company’s site quickly, as time is most certainly running out.

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Considering all that Mozilla has done for us - displaced Internet Explorer by giving us what is arguably the best and most versatile web browsing experience, for free - the least we can do is help them out when they ask us for help. What is it they want us to do? Download the latest version of the Firefox browser. Yup, that’s it! Mozilla is trying to set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloads in a 24-hour period. The official release of Firefox 3 will become available for public download at 10:00 am PST / 1:00pm EST and judging by the tremendous loyalty that Firefox users typically display and the crazy amount of buzz, the record should be theirs. We’ve been using version 3 for a while now and we have to say, it’s good stuff. Mozilla claims that Firefox 3 brings with it over 15,000 improvements; no small upgrade! Most notably in our eyes, the latest release candidate is worlds faster than Firefox 2 and gobbles much less resources. It will take about a week for the Guinness World Record judges to review Mozilla’s download logs so we should find out whether or not Mozilla successfully broke the record around this time next week. As of the time this post was written, just under 1,690,000 have pledged that they will download Firefox 3 today.

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Dell’s upcoming Mini Inspiron is a nod to the relevance of the Eee space as Dell has apparently realized that they need be playing in kiddie pool. Its first entry, a sub-$500 UMPC, is presumably Windows-powered and looks to be a solid entry into the space, barring the candy coated shell. Specs are a bit scarce at the moment but we can all recognize Dell knows how to build a computer so this will likely be workable. For the time being, all we can tell you is what’s on the outside. Three USB ports, an ethernet port, VGA out and a card reader. Exact size is unknown as well but Dell press shots show that it’s just a bit wider than a standard pencil. Translation: that’s one tiny keyboard! For the teeny PC market this will surely make a splash however, and it’ll match your lip stick.

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Hate it or love it, Samsung has been relatively successful with their Q1 line of ultra mobile PCs. Currently in its second revision, the computer has a loyal cadre of devoted followers. The form factor isn’t our favorite, but as firm believers in the UMPC model, any success is good success. Hoping to build on the existing platform, Samsung is preparing to revamp the Q1. While specifics are notably absent, the company has promised to improve specs and performance, while investing a further evolution of the current form factor. Samsung hopes to deliver the 3rd version of the Q1 by the beginning of next year. Let’s just hope that they’ll “evolve” the form factor into something a bit more practical. You know, with like usable keyboards and things.

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The greatest thing to happen to Microsoft Outlook since - well, since ever, has just been made available to the public. We’ve mentioned Xobni’s Outlook plug-in a few times here on BGR but if you missed it for whatever reason, Insight is essentially a plug-in that adds lightning-fast searches, social functionality and a variety of other features to Outlook. Rejoice! Xobni just announced that its Insight plug-in is now available to the public. The public beta was announced yesterday and media buzz is already swimming in full force, including a great feature in the New York Times. Oh Microsoft, you’ve missed the boat yet again it would seem. Microsoft has been trying to acquire Xobni for quite some time and as has become commonplace for the software giant, it couldn’t seal the deal. All hopes of snagging Xobni on the cheap are pretty much out the window now. If Microsoft does decide to continue pursuing Xobni, it’ll have to offer quite a premium at this point. We don’t see Xobni slowing down any time soon.

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Steve Ballmer is full of quotables these days. Never one to shy away from saying something he might regret later, the Microsoft CEO went on record this morning, saying that Microsoft would be open to keeping the operating system on sale past the planned June kill date. If Microsoft truly listened to customer demand, the company would have stopped selling Vista months ago, and re-elevated XP to flagship status. Then again, a little concession isn’t bad. No word on just what qualifies as "sufficient" customer demand. In Vista’s defense, Ballmer goes on to say that "most people who buy PCs today buy them with Vista. That’s the statistical truth," Sure, but when was the last time you walked into your local Big Box retailer to find XP as an option? Yeah, we thought so.

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Wilcom has been touting these miniature handhelds for quite some time now, but the D4 has yet to get a Stateside release date…until now. The diminutive UMPC sports a full version of Windows Vista, running atop a 1.33 Ghz Intel Centrino processor, 40GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, Bluetooth, 802.11 b/g, and a 5 inch WSVGA touch screen. Pretty appealing stuff, but running Vista on a 1.33 Ghz Celeron processor with only 1 GB of RAM? Sounds like a potential train wreck to us. Regardless, if this is something you’re after, you’ll be able grab one from GeekStuff4U on June 20th. Sadly, the $1,526 excludes any sort of wireless broadband connectivity, but small is still appealing in its own right, we suppose.

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Asus has just released their new M70 laptop, and this thing has a quite the beast under the hood. The M70 is designed to be a desktop replacement in every sense of the word, sporting a 1920×1200 17" screen, a 2.5 Ghz Core 2 Duo chip,  up to 4GB of RAM, Blu-ray drive with DVD burning capabilities, HD audio out, 1.3 megapixel webcam, HDMI output, and much more. One of the most impressive specs, however, is the hard drive capacity, which is rated at 1 terabyte. Whoa. An Eee PC this is not, and we can’t imagine this thing is going to win any awards for portability, but if extreme power is your thing, this is a great look. No word on availability or price point, but we’re guessing "not cheap" is a decent bet.

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There is no question that the Pegasus 210 by Rock is a sweet-looking laptop. With a slim case, magnesium alloy chassis and a weight just over two pounds, the P210 is a clear entry into the micro-notebook market. It’s also no slouch in terms of specs, packing a heck of a punch into the tiny 11.7" x 8.2" x 0.6"-1.2" case.

• Intel® A110 Processor 800MHz, 512KB Cache, 400MHz
• 12" WXGA X-Glass Screen (1280 x 800)
• 1GB DDR2 667MHz
• 80GB 4200rpm ATA Hard Drive
• Windows XP Professional or Vista Business Edition
• 802.11a/g/n and Euro-spec 3G / HSDPA
• 3 USB ports
• 6 hour battery life

It also enters the marketplace at $1800, directly in line with the lesser of two MacBook Air models. Provided you’re running XP (yikes, Vista with an 800 MHz processor and 1 GB of RAM?) many would say that this puppy is a clear Air killer. Granted, Rock doesn’t have a presence in the US so don’t expect to see much of the P210 over here. If it packed US 3G though, we’d be all over this thing like white on rice.

[Via Electric Pig]

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That is, of course, if Bill Gates is to be believed. The founder and former CEO of the software giant indicated today that we should see a version of Windows 7 by June, 2009. The news was revealed as part of Gates’ presentation to Microsoft investors today, where he said that Windows XP would be phased out in June 2010, "or one year after the general availability of Windows 7". This might be as close as we get to Microsoft admitting that Vista isn’t quite so…impressive, but the 2009 Windows 7 timetable is pretty significant for a company that usually takes its sweet time with product revisions.

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I’m going to keep this pretty short just because the unit is like, uh, almost identical to the GSM one we tore apart and reviewed a little while back. The HTC Shift is coming stateside, as you all know by now. It’s going to be available starting today, and is a Sprint unit. So besides the CDMA chip in place of the GSM one, what exactly is different? For starters, since it’s a US unit, you’ll get a US keyboard instead of the atrocious UK keyboard (sorry, fellas, but it really is bad). You also get better build-quality, at least in our view. The HTC software on the device seems to be pretty solid compared to our other Shift, and it makes a world of difference. For a little back story, I took the original GSM Shift with me on my vacation (because Sprint’s coverage isn’t the best) and the HTC Communications Manager failed on me big time. Crashed at start up, no chance of using the 3G modem that’s built in, and definitely no SnapVue. It rendered the whole device useless and this is a frequent problem with the GSM model for me. Additionally, the slider mechanism sort of broke despite my attempts to "baby" the unit. On the flip side now, the Sprint Shift we’ve been putting through the paces is a rock-solid trooper. No software crashes, amazing build-quality, and just a better overall feel to it. Something a little strange, though, is that the leather case that comes with the GSM model, is actually "built-in" to the CDMA unit. You can take it off by removing the T6 screws that hold it in place, but you’re left with the screw posts and it’s a little awkward. Having the case is nice, don’t get me wrong, it’s just weird and a little uncalled for if you ask me. Sprint’s Ev-DO service works well when you have full coverage, but personally there’s no comparing it to the 1700kbps + speeds I got with AT&T’s HSDPA. It will be interesting to see how this unit is priced on a carrier here in the US as the $1,500+ price tag is a lot to swallow for this first generation product that’s slightly underpowered and has some kinks to work out. Well, now you’ve got a choice, people. CDMA or GSM? If they fix the software issues and build quality with the GSM units, I don’t think there should be a question which to choose from. That is, of course, if you’re not a Sprint subscriber. But then again, who is?

Click on over to our HTC Shift CDMA Sprint gallery, and get your shift on!

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Our trials and tribulations with the HTC shift over here at BGR world headquarters have been well documented. For all our frustration, however, we still think it’s one hell of an entry into the UMPC marketplace. While the GSM/HSDPA version of the machine has been floating around for quite some time, the CDMA version has been kept under wraps…until now. Amazon has posted a pre-order for the HTC Shift CDMA, which is available for early-order now at the low, low price of $1,499. There’s nothing to differentiate this from the GSM version, but at the end of the day, if CDMA/EV-DO is your flavor of choice, we would certainly recommend this bad boy. No word on exactly when this will ship, but given the limited quantities during the GSM launch, we’d certainly encourage you to move over there as fast as you can. We’ve had our hands on a Sprint-equipped version of this CDMA Shift for the past 2 weeks. A full review is forthcoming, but in the mean time, rest assured that the EV-DO radio on this baby is nothing to scoff at.

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Besides the long list of people that waited and waited for the HTC Shift to finally be released, any BGR reader will know our own personal fascination with it. Considering how much we’ve craved, wished, hoped, and wanted, we’re going to take you into a full review of the HTC Shift. Everything possible will be broken down for you. The screen, keyboard, connectivity, battery life, software, problems — it’s all fair game on this side of town! If you’ve got any specific questions we’ll be glad to answer them for you. Just drop a comment below. And now, of course, the review…after the jump!

Design

You’d be hard-pressed to find a UMPC that is as cleanly designed as the HTC Shift. Taking into account the mechanics with the tilt + slide mechanism, they did a wonderful job. There’s not a huge amount of ports or buttons or switches on it, and that’s a good thing. On the right side, you have the HTC Communications Manager button, the screen resolution adjustment button, the trackpad, right speaker, and finally fingerprint reader. Moving to the left side, you have the right and left mouse click buttons, left speaker, and below that is the SnapVue/Vista button to switch between the two operating systems.

As we travel around the unit, we see the Power/Hold switch, USB port, and charging port. On the back, you’ll only find the VGA out port which is perfectly placed. All we have on the left side is the 3.5mm headset jack and nothing on the front side of the unit.

Keyboard

The keyboard is a tricky subject for any hardcore user. And the point of a portable device is that it should be able to function for all your needs when you’re not at the office or at home on your main computer. After all, if you can’t even manage to enter a web address, you can forget about answering those emails in Outlook, and editing those Word documents. I’m happy to report that the HTC Shift’s keyboard is the most usable out of any of the ultra portable devices I own or have ever used. This includes the Sony UX490, the OQO 02, and most definitely the Samsung Q1 Ultra. It’s a different keyboard though, so comparisons to the UX and OQO are not completely fair. Those keyboard are typed BlackBerry or Sidekick-style with two thumbs. The Shift keyboard is to be used in more of a traditional setup using your fingers to type. Unless you’re Yao Ming, there’s a good chance you won’t be holding it with two hands and using your thumbs to type. The keys are smaller than your average keyboard, but travel well when they’re pressed and have a good feel to them. The setup is a little weird, though. The numbers on the top row of the keyboard are not completely aligned. So the "1" key is over the "W" key instead of the "Q" key. This throws you off a little bit when you’re trying to type as if you were on a normal computer, but you get used to it after a while and it’s manageable. There is no F11 key (F1-F10) so you might need to remap it to another key if you use a program that needs it. Here is my big issue: the damn keyboard is not back-lit! This is a huge issue. The problem is even more obvious in low-light conditions, the screen is not angled over the keyboard (obviously), it’s tilted back. So the screen doesn’t give off enough light to be able to see the keyboard, and this makes it nearly impossible to type in low or no light conditions. That’s a real problem when you’re on a plane, on a train, or just laying in bed at night trying to get some work done.

Screen

The screen is good. It’s not great. The default resolution of 800×480 is fine for most applications and you have the option of changing to 1024×600 which will help with those cutoff windows. Running the brightness all the way to the top was too bright, and that’s a good thing. You’ll have to adjust the brightness if you’re outside, but we’re happy to report the screen is perfectly viewable even in direct sunlight. The screen is also, of course, a touchscreen. It’s a passive touch screen, so you’re free to use your fingers to tap and select items. The included stylus works fine for navigating, handwriting or anything else you’d like to do with it. We just had a bitch of a time getting the stylus out from the unit.

Performance

To give you the hard specs: 800MHz A110 Intel CPU, 1GB RAM, 40GB 4200rpm hard drive. That’s probably the bare minimum in terms of today’s advanced specifications for a mobile computer, but we’re happy to report that the HTC Shift doesn’t act like an under-powered machine. Yes, even in Vista. After almost a week of usage and putting it through the paces (we left the SSD MacBook Air at home), we were pleasantly surprised with no lock-ups, slow downs, or any kind of issues related to the speed of the device. As long as you don’t try to edit feature-length films on here, you should be alright. Office 2007 ran perfectly, Internet Explorer gave us no troubles, and AIM worked well, too. Playing videos and music also didn’t cause the computer to hiccup. We’re really pleased with how usable it is even with below-standard hardware.

Power / Battery

This could be be one of the biggest hurdles the HTC Shift has to face. To be fair, the specs are exactly as HTC specified: 2 hours of battery life in Windows Vista. You might be able to squeeze out a couple extra minutes, but don’t fool yourself — you’re not watching a whole Lord of the Rings movie on here anytime soon. On the upside, SnapVue lasts for a hell of a long time, even with the 3G connection on. HTC states around 2 days with push email enabled, and we agree. This is awesome for anyone on the go. A great move on HTC’s part is the power adapter. The charging brick is tiny and the charging cable itself is super lengthy. They get points for that one. We’d love to see a high-capacity battery soon, though. Some people have resorted to an external power station, but that’s a little extreme for our taste. Sure, you could strap on enough juice to power the city the of Los Angeles, but the point of an ultra-portable is to be portable, not weighed down by the extra batteries and power supply boxes attached to it.

Connectivity

How could we say something negative in this department? The HTC Shift is a powerful man-beast of connectivity options. We have Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi, quad-band GSM/EDGE, and tri-band UMTS/HSDPA (850MHz/1900MHz/2100MHz). It’s all managed by the HTC Communication Manager and usually works flawlessly. You can have your 3G connection on at the same time as your Wi-Fi connection so in Vista you’ll browse over Wi-Fi and in SnapVue you’ll use 3G. There is a little quirk, though. Wi-Fi can’t be used in SnapVue, but 3G can be used in Vista. So you won’t be able to take advantage of anything on the SnapVue side unless you have a valid SIM card with data access in the Shift. That brings us to…

SnapVue

SnapVue is basically the Windows Mobile side of things, if you will. It’s not full Windows Mobile (though the people we love all over the world are working on "fixing" this), so there are some problems. On the SnapVue homescreen, you get a nice Today plugin. It shows the time, date, weather, emails, contacts, SMSs, calendar and settings. The issue is that since HTC has not provided us with the full Windows Mobile experience, you are limited in what you can do.

Let’s take the email program, for instance. You have your Exchange server all set up, your emails are being pushed to the device, and everything is all well and good in Shift land. Then you get an email with an important attachment. No problem, just click the attachment and it will download. Sure, it downloads, but try opening it. You can’t open any attachment in an email in SnapVue. PowerPoint, Word, Excel, PDF, image, movie, sound, MP3 — nothing! You’re forced to switch over to Vista and handle your business. I don’t think most people are asking for document editing, though that would be nice, but we should at least have the ability to open simple rudimentary attachments in SnapVue. That brings us to another snafu…phone calling.

HTC has not included the ability to make phone calls from the device. Not in Snapvue, not in Vista. From what I heard internally, this caused a bit of concern corporately in HTC as their customers were pretty ticked off about the possibility of a dedicated SIM card to a data device and not having the possibility of using it as a phone. We’re not saying you should walk around holding this up to your head (although we wouldn’t put it past some people), but you should have the option of using a Bluetooth headset. After all, with 3G, you could be talking while browsing the web. That’s a real must for a lot of people. So, no phone calls, but texting is included. Say what? Yeah, you can send text messages in SnapVue using the traditional Outlook program we’re all used to. To be clear, the actual applications are not stripped down at all.

The email application, calendar, contacts and all that are the full programs you’d find on a normal Windows Mobile device, it’s just the whole attachment and phone thing. In terms of applications you don’t get, well then, that’s another story. Besides the couple we mentioned, there isn’t anything else. No Pocket IE, no file browser, or anything of the sort. And that’s alright for most people including me personally. You really need to get something done, flip that switch to Vista and get on with your business. Attachment support should 100% be included in SnapVue for emails, so we’re going to have to see if HTC fixes this in a later firmware/software upgrade.

Sound

Stereo speakers, people! They sound really good. They’re loud and clear, but lacking a little bass. That’s alright. It will get you by anything you have to do in the audio world like watching videos or listening to music. The stereo speakers really are a pleasant surprise, though. We didn’t expect that. The only thing that could take on the Shift in the speaker department is the Samsung Q1 or Q1 Ultra. Those are probably the upper-echelon of UMPC speakers.

User Interface

The design and usability of the add-ons including SnapVue and other HTC bits of software like the Communication Manager are very straight forward. Big buttons and good descriptions. The only feature we’d like to see, as minor as it is, is the ability to hold a button down in the Comm Manager. I don’t want to click Volume Up 100 times, I want to hold it and let it do its magic. Besides that small annoyance, they’re off to a good start designing and making applications for Vista.

Problems

Now, every device isn’t perfect, though some will be more polished than others. We have had a ton of issues with HTC’s Communication Manager. This has crashed a bunch of times, and while it’s not the biggest deal if you can’t access that bit of software, it is. That controls all wireless connectivity options, so you can forget about using Wi-Fi or 3G when that bugger crashes and doesn’t perform. You can also forget about SnapVue as that has to be on in order for the Windows Mobile side of things to start up. Thankfully it’s a software issue, and we’re more than positive this will resolved quickly. Right, HTCizzle? Besides Comm Manager, all is well in HTC Shift world. Though that’s a funny statement considering the device is a glorified PDA with that bit of software not working. Oh yeah! XP drivers, please! Come on guys, give us the option to install XP and get our world-traveler on. Please?

Price

This is one of the most important factors in determining if the HTC Shift is right for you. Early pricing around the globe is in the $1600-$1800 price range, though that is guaranteed to come down shortly after supply increases. That’s a lot to pay for something which can’t replace your main computer and is just a conduit of information while you’re away. It’s hard to replace your main travel laptop if you do more than answer emails and browse the web, but we’re happy to report than if you’re in the market to get an ultra-portable anyway, the Shift is worth a long, hard look. It’s pretty much the only game in town with a real keyboard and 3G connectivity. As long as HTC supports the device with software updates and little fixes, we’d be totally comfortable recommending this to anyone who would listen.

We’ve tried to take you through the HTC Shift as best as we could. There’s a whole lot of information, so below we’ll break down the most important points that we found after using the device for a little under a week.

Pros:

• The speakers are very, very good.
• The GSM/3G reception is probably a little better than HTC’s Windows Mobile devices. It’s really strong and HSDPA on AT&T flies! We’re seeing around 1800kbps
• The screen is pretty good but not perfect. It looks good and is very responsive when using it as a touch screen or tablet
• While the specs might look pretty poor on paper, that shouldn’t be an automatic turn off. Try it before you buy it. More than likely you’ll be impressed.
• The keyboard itself is really good and fun to use. See below for back-lighting problems, though.
• The fingerprint reader works well. The included software called VitaKey serves it purpose but we prefer the one Sony included and uses on their UX-series.
• The design and button layout is super friendly and clean. You can’t get confused even if it’s the first time you’ve picked one up, and there is a nice tactile feel to them.

Cons:

• There’s no back-light on the keyboard. While this might not be a huge issue for some people, it really is incredibly difficult to see the keyboard in low-light conditions
• On the SnapVue (Windows Mobile-ish) side, email works great. But, you can’t open any attachments! Nothing! No Word, PowerPoint, MP3s, pictures, etc.
• Our HTC Control Center utility has crashed repeatedly and rendered our whole device useless at times. If this crashes, you can not use the 3G connection or Wi-Fi, and SnapVue will not work. We have had to remove the battery for a couple minutes and sometimes that solved the issue.
• Random quirks…for instance, all of sudden, they’ll be a pop-up in Vista saying that you just plugged something into the audio jack. Uh, OK?
• Battery life is fair. But at least it is exactly what HTC stated. 2 hours. No more, no less in Vista.
• Where are my Windows XP drivers?
• The touch pointer mouse square thingy works alright but is a little awkward to use when the keyboard is out.

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Thanks for the heads up on this one, Microsoft. The company has just released a public beta version of their new web browser, Internet Explorer 8. The supposedly-standards compliant browser showed up out of nowhere this afternoon on the company’s site. Available immediately, you should be able to install the software on any machine running Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Windows 2003 Server edition. We haven’t had much time to put it through the motions here, but given the "beta" tag, we’re not expecting anything terribly polished. Let us know if you take the plunge and discover any new features of note. Oh, and Microsoft: You might want to consider releasing a product like this with a bit more fanfare. Just a thought.

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Yeah dudes, we actually have the HTC Shift in hand! We haven’t had a chance to put it through our normal tests yet, but believe we’ll have that soon. The Shift isn’t as big as you’d think even though it has a 7" screen, and the while the slide mechanism is not spring-assisted like the AT&T Tilt, it’s pretty smooth and solid. The low processor freaks us out a little bit, but again, we haven’t really used it yet. Hit the jump for the full unboxing gallery, and we’ll have our full review up soon! Oh yeah…we’re in the "giving" mood. You know what that means!

Click on over to our HTC Shift unboxing gallery!

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HTC, you’re really messing with our emotions right now! Anyways, they’ve just announced that Telefonica in Spain will begin to sell the HTC Shift today, with Orange UK also in the mix. There’s a new low-cost Windows Mobile Professonal handset called the P3470. It features GPS, a 2 megapixel camera, and quad-band EDGE. That seems to be all for the P3470. Last but not least is an updated HTC Advantage. The new updated model will rock "more memory, a new keyboard, and a mega 2100 mAh battery." That beast of a device should be out in March. Now we have to wait and see if the HTC Shift is actually available today or just available to order from Telefonica and Orange UK. If it’s out, please believe we be jumping on the G5 and heading to Europe. If not, well, let’s just say we won’t be happy. Couple shots after the jump. Peace!

"The HTC Shift is available for the first time today through Telefonica in Spain, Orange in the UK and will soon be available through TIM in Italy and in specialized retailers across Europe for EUR1199"

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Microsoft’s monumental OS bungle better known as Windows Vista may be well on it’s way to the chopping block a lot sooner than the software giant would have liked. According to reports, Windows 7 (previously codenamed Blackcomb Vienna) might being making an appearance as early as the second half of 2009. That may sound a bit scary, especially considering how long Microsoft spent in the lab concocting the putrid brew that is Vista. Perhaps Gates’ blunder lit a fire under them and the realization that Vista needs to be forgotten ASAP is just the accelerant that the MS code monkeys needed. In fact, it is even rumored that an extremely early "Milestone 1" (M1) version of Windows 7 has already shipped to key Microsoft partners. An M2 version is reportedly slated for April or May of 2008 and M3 will quickly follow in Q3. Additional roadmap details are unknown at this time. Of course none of this has been confirmed but if we were in Gates’ Bruno Maglis, we wouldn’t be able to can Vista fast enough.

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We’ve already seen a number of large corporations and American governmental agencies put the brakes on any sort of large-scale Vista upgrade rollout. Following suit, it seems that the British public school system is equally wary of Microsoft’s newest operating system. The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency has advised its IT department and employees not to upgrade their current machines to Microsoft Windows Vista. Beyond that, employees are being asked not to install Office 2007 either. According to the agency, "We have not had sight of any evidence to support the argument that the costs of upgrading to Vista in educational establishments would be offset by appropriate benefit," Truer words have never been spoken. While Microsoft certainly made a good faith effort to sell their new OS as a significant upgrade over XP, early bugs, quirks, and general saltiness have cast a shadow over the traditional upgrade path. Sorry, Microsoft. Sorry.

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Here’s a crazy hybrid device from the folks over at Sony. The Sony VAIO LT HDTV/PC (product name VGC-LT29U) is a device with a bit of an identity crisis. At heart, it’s an all-in-one personal computer, with clean lines and a classic Sony design. The computer sports 1TB of on-board storage, on-board Blu-ray player / writer, and an Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 CPU. It is, however, much more than that. Sony is positioning this as a modified HDTV. It’s wall-mountable, and also sports an on-board CableCard TV tuner that allows you to capture and view HD content. We like the design, and we could definitely see this thing resting comfortably on the wall in a small living room or entertainment center. Heck, are these in stores yet? You all know the drill by now. Hit the gallery for the action shots!

Click on over to our Sony VAIO LT HDTV/PC gallery!

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Ah, the glory of the rumor mill, though as crazy as this one sounds we’ve got some hard evidence to back up the claims. It seems that some clever soul has uncovered a brand new Software Developers Kit on the Windows Sideshow Team blog. The new SDK adds support for the following new features:

• Portrait QVGA UI designed for remote controls
• New Universal driver for Windows SideShow that supports USB and Bluetooth communication
• New Bluetooth menu commands

Sounds like Microsoft has plans for mobile support to us! Sideshow, for those that don’t know, is a bit of software that allows for specific bits of information, such as new emails, media player status, and more, to be displayed on a given device’s secondary screen. This means, for example, that you can check your email without opening your laptop. SideShow, thus far, has been limited to full-size computers running Windows Vista. Just how the technology might be incorporated into a Windows Mobile environment is unclear, but we’re sure it won’t take long before someone answers that question for us

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This isn’t shocking given the relative success of Apple’s newest operating system, but it’s still pretty amazing given the mass consumption of Microsoft’s OS. It seems that Leopard has out sold Windows in the Japanese market over the month of October. This is, of course, due in large part to Leopard’s recent release. That said, Windows has traditionally enjoyed a large margin of success over its Apple-manufactured brethren. Last month, however, Leopard grabbed a 60% market share, while Windows pulled in less than 30% of the market. Yikes! The usual breakdown favors Windows over OS X by a margin of 3:1. That’s a pretty incredible jump. Could it have anything to do with Window’s Japanese retail cost of $276, versus Leopard’s downright affordable $134? Maybe, right? The important thing is obviously will Leopard continue to outsell Vista, and our guess would be no.

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Sony is getting ready to release a brand new upgrade to their UX line of Ultra Mobile PCs. This new model, the UX490, will physically resemble the current line of UX models, (doesn’t every UX?) but should sport a slew of new features and upgrades. The handheld computer will ship with a copy of Windows Vista Business, and sport a 1.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Solo processor. The UX490 will have a 48 GB solid state flash drive and should have two batteries shipped in the box. Sony is also bundling the unit with a Bluetooth GPS receiver at no extra cost. Could this be the mobile navigator we’ve all been looking for? Maybe, but it’s still a bit too large to be a handheld solution, and with Cingular AT&T EDGE, we’re a little disappointed. We so would have jumped on this if they had a UMTS/HSDPA model. That said, we’re certainly a fan of Sony’s slide out keyboard form factor, and we all can expect to pay $2,499 starting next week.

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Poor Steve Ballmer. This guy just can’t stop putting his giant foot in his mouth. The brash Microsoft executive got taken to school by an angry mother during a question and answer session at the Gartner ITxpo conference. The woman, speaking on behalf of her 13 year old daughter, started shouting at Ballmer, claiming that she was forced to uninstall Vista and downgrade back to XP just two days after her daughter installed the new OS due to bugs and system issues. To his credit, Ballmer managed to fire back by saying "Your daughter saw a lot of value." To the mom’s credit, she responded by saying "She’s 13." Steve-O continued un-phased, stating that Vista is "bigger" than XP, and isn’t going to get any "smaller" with the upcoming SP 1 revision. The mom got the last word, however, shouting "Good, I’ll let you come over and install it for me" before triumphantly leaving her soapbox for calmer waters. Nice try, Steve, but we think the mom won this round.

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It’s the 1st of October, and we all know what that means…HTC press release time. This morning the company announced their Q4 lineup. They announced 3 new phones to be available between October and November of this year. First up is the HTC Shift, which is a well covered bit of machinery. Originally scheduled for a Summer ‘07 launch, this UMPC offers a remarkable array of features packed into an equally remarkable compact shell. How well its adopted remains to be seen, but we’ve got a hunch that this thing might give the OQO 2 a run for its money. Next on the block is the HTC S730, which is essentially an enhanced GSM variant of the HTC S710/Vox. This phone, also known as "The Wings" sports HSDPA/UMTS connectivity, a 400 MHz processor, and much more, all running atop Windows Mobile 6 Standard. Finally, we’ve got the HTC P6500, which up until know was known as the HTC Sirius. This handset features a 3 megapixel camera, on board GPS, HSDPA, and two external SD slots. Wow! HTC is also marketing a new line of accessories, including the M200 Bluetooth headset, the HS U110 3.5 millimeter audio adapter and headset, and the HS S200, which is an improved version of their OEM stereo headset. The Shift and P6500 should hit Europe sometime in November, with the S730 landing sometime later this month. 

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Ready for one of the most savage gaming-oriented laptops around? Voodoo, long recognized as one of the biggest, and best gaming computer manufacturers, is bringing the pain with their latest mobile offering. The Voodoo Envy MW:152 is on display here at Digital Life, and we’re quite impressed with its power and capabilities. The Voodoo guys have these portable machines powering 42" displays, hooked up to a demo version of an un-identified racing game complete with full racing seat and steering wheel. The impressive thing here is that not only are these laptops powering the massive displays with ease, but the game’s frame-rate andgame playy are completelyseamlesss. Bottom line is that these laptops are providing a user experience almost identical to a traditional arcade console. Crazy! The computers themselves are powered by Intel’s new x7800 Extreme CPU, and clock in at under 7lbs with battery attached. A 15.4" screen is provided when you’re away from your 42" plasma, and they things come in a dizzying array of more than 22 custom colors. Oh, and they’re quiet as heck, too. Anyone in the market for a solid gaming laptop should certainly take a look at these bad boys. Hit the jump for more shots!

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Everyone knows what the Microsoft "Blue Screen of Death" means, but how about the Vista "Black Screen of Darkness?" In an email titled:  "Pirated Vista — A darkness descends!", Microsoft makes it quite clear to resellers what can be expected when people install pirated versions of their Vista operating system. After one hour of browsing, the screen will go black, no start menu, and no toolbar. Along with the email came a new ad campaign for Microsoft resellers advocating "Don’t let this happen to your customers," informing them that non genuine copies of Windows Vista will lose access to key features, have limited access to updates, and thus risk attack from viruses, malware and spyware. For those of you who may be using a "pirated" version of Vista, beware, this is a feature that has only recently been activated. Although, tomorrow, I’m sure we will be hearing of ways to get around this.

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OQO has just announced that they are updating their entire model 02 lineup. Let’s start with the hard drive upgrades; a 120GB HD option is now available, the base 30GB hard drive has turned into a 40GB hard drive, the 60GB hard drive is now 80GB, and the most exciting part? An addition of a 32GB SSD HD! Another addition is a 1.6GHz processor which is a first for a mobile device. Last, but definitely not least, OQO has added a EV-DO Rev. A modem for Verizon Wireless and Sprint! While not the UMTS/HSDPA hotness we’ve craved, we’re pretty sure a lot of people are going to be happy. They even have an upgrade option if you’re trying to Rev. A it, and it runs $249 for the upgrade. This does involve sending your unit in to them. These new units will also start at a lower point of $1,299 which is down $200 from $1,499 and all units are available for immediate order on OQO’s site. Full press release after the jump!

OQO Updates Award-Winning model 02 Product Line

– OQO Inc., creator of the model 02, the world’s smallest PC running Windows Vista® and the first ultra mobile PC (UMPC) with embedded 3G mobile broadband, today announced new model 02 products with high performance features that deliver increased Anytime/Anywhere Productivity™ and extend OQO’s lead in the category. To accelerate consumer and enterprise adoption of the model 02, OQO is aggressively pricing its upgraded UMPCs starting at $1,299.

$1,299. Retail locations where the model 02 can be purchased are listed at www.oqo.com/about/retail_locations.html. The OQO enterprise sales team can be reached at www.oqo.com/about/oqo_corporate_sales.html.

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10 GB doesn’t sound like much in this day and age, but when you’re talking about the hard drive capacity of a UMPC, things start to get a bit more interesting. The official spec sheet for the HTC Shift has hit the ground running, and there’s a bit of a surprise in the fine print. The general specs are pretty much on par with what we’ve been expecting. HTC’s uber-device will still sport a dual processor, a Windows Vista / Windows Mobile 6 set up, 1GB of built in RAM, a slide out QWERTY keyboard, HSDPA/UMTS, and much much more. The news, you might be asking? Well, the base model has received a bump from 30GB to 40GB of internal storage. Expect this baby to drop very soon, delighting UMPC-loving HTC fans everywhere.

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Lord…that was quick. No sooner does the venerable HTC Advantage show up for sale in the US, HTC’s next tour de force emerges for the drooling public. One of the first review copies of HTC’s entry into the UMPC market, the Shift, has found its way into the hands of a man named Hugo, and boy is he impressed. The HTC Shift is an incredibly powerful machine, sporting a dual-boot system that allows for both Windows Vista Business and Windows Mobile to be run on the same machine…sort of like Apple’s Boot Camp for UMPCs. The device appears to be about as small as the other UMPC contenders, like the Samsung Q1. Unlike the other two, however, the Shift sports a nearly full-sized finger keyboard. Nice! Other specs include 1GB RAM, a built-in HSDPA radio, and both an Intel Santa Rosa a110 processor for the Vista side, and a 400MHz processor for the Windows Mobile functions. Hit the link for Hugo’s lengthy video review, and prepare to to be dazzled. Yes. dazzled.

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