ASUS Eee PC desktop finally revealed?

We've all been waiting to see what ASUS's Eee PC desktop would turn out to look like, and HotHardware is claiming these shots are the real deal. Yeah, we know, it's a bit reminiscent of a certain motion-sensing game console, but besides these kind of grainy photos we've still got almost nothing to go by. Yet!

O'Reilly releases guide to iPhone hacking

If you were wondering whether the iPhone software development kit would end the unofficial third-party development craze, stop wondering.
O'Reilly, one of the most well-known publishers of technology primers for professionals, has released a book on developing applications for a jailbroken iPhone. iPhone Open Application Development, written by Jonathan Zdziarski, was spotted by dozens of iPhone aficionados Tuesday. Chapter 1? "Breaking Into and Setting Up the iPhone."

That's not a Tiger or a Leopard, but it will show the way to unofficial iPhone applications.(Credit: O'Reilly)
Zdziarski was among the first hackers to take aim at the iPhone last year in light of Apple's Web-only application policy, and his book is essentially a how-to guide for using the "unofficial" iPhone SDK to create applications. Apple, of course, has started to outline its own vision of how applications should be created for the iPhone, giving developers two options for their projects.
There's a group of developers, of an uncertain size, who feel that Apple's SDK restricts their freedom to develop creative applications for the iPhone. Those folks will likely be all over this book. The book itself appears to be a summation of a lot of the iPhone jailbreaking and development techniques that are easy to find online, but condensed into one handy reference guide.
Once the official SDK is released in June, it will be interesting to watch how unofficial iPhone development progresses. Apple's restrictions have some carrots attached, such as a powerful distribution vehicle in iTunes and the App Store, which will definitely attract those trying to make a living off the iPhone.
But those who are trying to circumvent Apple's restrictions by developing unlocking software, music players, or applications unlikely to sit well with Apple, will need a handbook.

Windows XP vs. Vista: An Explosion of Opinion

When I posted a little survey concerning the news that Microsoft plans to discontinue most sales of Windows XP on June 30th, I expected lots of people to take it, and for the sentiment to be overwhelmingly pro-XP. They did, and it was. (More than 3500 people completed the survey, and 83 percent of them are unhappy with Microsoft's move.)
I was startled by how many people took the time to not only participate in the survey but share their thoughts at length--and by how diverse their opinions were. Some folks were raving fans of XP; others just grudgingly tolerated it. Some reported nightmares with Windows Vista; others said they were happy Vista campers. More than a few said that the prospect of an XP-less world was prompting them to consider dumping Microsoft operating systems altogether in favor of Linux or Mac OS X.Over the next few pages, you'll find a sampling of the 1000+ comments the survey prompted. If they inspire you to share your own thoughts, we're still listening--just leave a comment on this article.
XP Plaudits
"Windows XP has mature to where is the best OS in the market. It's better then Leopard or Tiger from Apple. It's more convinient than Linux and it has gone to a point that I feel it is very secure. Of course nothing is 100% secure, but Windows XP comes very close. The performance is much better than Vista and right now there are more compartible programs to XP than Vista. What would had me jump into Vista, a new file system and a faster seach engine, it's not being deliver. So why switch? Vista is a XP with a fancy look, nothing more. XP has become as secure as Vista, without the slowdown."
"Microsoft seems to want to force us to change to Vista and thus pay an exorbitant price for an OS that is only marginally more advanced (if at all) than XP. I like XP, it's stable, and it works with all of my hardware and software -- why should I switch?"
"XP to date is Microsoft's finest OS. They should have improved on it and called it Vista. I use both OS...and XP is still less tempermental. I can run any hardware on XP. Vista is still problematic. Granted...it's like Beauty and the Beast. Vista is all beauty...while XP works hard and keeps things in pretty good shape."
"XP is a great and efficient operating system - and extremely streamlined able to handle all the tasks I ever need to use such as multimedia, internet, document and administration. Even the performance of new PC's (quad core etc) being introduced on the market run poorly when using Vista operating system (most laptops even with a minimum of 2Gig memory run slow), and this is just unacceptable. In this day and age, a PC which is watch while you wait groaning under the strain of Vista is pathetic. On the other hand, 2Gig with XP results in a very fast and responsive operating system. Until 64bit PCs become mainstream, then perhaps it might be about time to think about a new operating system such as Vista. In the meantime, XP should definitely stay. Microsoft have miscalculated the views of many in the industry as well as end-users just for the sake of boosting their bottom line."
"Windows XP is, in my opinion, the best OS Microsoft has developed. It's fast (being able to run decent on 128MB of RAM, and runs wonderfully on 512MB), and it's very user friendly. Vista is a resource hog (anyone remember Windows 95? Yeah...), needing at least 1GB of RAM to run smoothly. 512MB runs fine, but does run as a slow XP would, and that's terrible. I myself, love XP, and hate Vista. I will continue to use XP as my primary OS as long as possible. I think Microsoft should continue the sales, and support of XP to give the people choice, which is what people really do want."
"I've downgraded numerous times ( from Vista to XP)... actually, let's call it Upgraded. XP has all the features most people need and is very reliable. Vista has been difficult and does not offer anything new I need."
"XP -- solid, reliable, customizeable, yet still retaining a lot of backward-compatibility with older hardware/software. Vista -- makes the simple tasks done in XP (i.e. copying data files directly to CD) difficult and cumbersome. UAC? An insult to everyone's intelligence (and not customizeable -- it's either full "on" or full "off"). Much like Apple's iTunes inability to sort playlists by track number AND year, Microsoft has adopted the approach that THEIR way is better, and we'll tell you how the programs will work, what they can do, what they won't do. I hope XP thrives for many years to come, until Microsoft gets it right (XP is pretty close)."
"XP! IT WORKS! I DON'T LOVE IT - BUT IT WORKS! Please leave it alone. Note to Bill, if you must continue to develop, develop a perfect XP. Or a perfect ME or 2000 or 98 or 3.1! That would be quite a vista."
Harry McCracken

Buffalo 320GB MiniStation TurboUSB (HD-PS320U2)

The Buffalo 320GB MiniStation TurboUSB portable hard drive (HD-PS320U2) ($190 street) is a decent bit of technology. It tries to solve some of the hassles of a portable drive while also using technology that speeds up data transfer rates. The MiniStation drive is worth considering if you're in the market for a large-capacity, pocket-size hard drive, but a couple of nits keep it from scoring higher.
The MiniStation TurboUSB 320GB is compact, at 0.8 by 3.3 by 5 inches (HWD). Even though it fits in a coat pocket, the drive has a cushioning system surrounding the internal mechanism (air inside the case also helps cradle the hard drive mechanism). Hopefully, these will keep the drive safe when it's jostled around in your laptop bag on a business trip, or on your long train commute home. Buffalo claims that the (nonoperating) drive can survive a 5-foot drop. I didn't test this scientifically with a drop table, but it did survive a drop from about that height onto the carpet in my office.
pc_magazine512:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2277051,00.asp
The drive comes with an innovative USB cable that wraps around the drive's perimeter and clips into a slot on the back of the plug. This way, you can keep the cable neatly attached and never lose it (the cable is detachable and easily replaced if it frays or is otherwise damaged). I'm not so sure of the durability of the mini USB plug if the MiniStation is tossed around in a carrying case, but the wraparound cable arrangement is excellent if you keep the drive in a desk drawer or in a pouch or compartment in your laptop bag where it fits snugly. The drive also comes with an auxiliary USB power cable for USB 1.1 and low-powered USB situations. I use an Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Core 2 Duo) to check drives for low-power problems, and the MiniStation powered up fine without having to use the auxiliary cable. The MiniStation also came with an encryption utility with AES-level encryption.
Unfortunately, Buffalo's one-year warranty is a nit for me. Although a one-year warranty is fairly standard for the external hard drive industry, I'd like to see three- or even five-year warranties, as hard drive makers like Maxtor and Western Digital offer, since you're going to be traveling with a drive this small.
Buffalo includes a Mac- and Windows-compatible utility to activate the drive's TurboUSB feature, which the company claims can increase the drive's transfer rate to as much as 64 percent faster than that of a 4,200-rpm USB 2.0 drive. While some of this gain in speed is no doubt due to the MiniStation's 5,400-rpm drive mechanism, I did see a little improvement during tests on our Windows test bed when I turned Turbo USB feature on instead of leaving it off (it's off by default). The drive's PCMark05 performance score increased by about 3 percent, from 3,132 to 3,236 with the TurboUSB feature turned on. (Recent pocket USB hard drives we've reviewed scored from 2,662 to 3,236.)
Backing up our 1.2GB test folder using the included Memeo backup software was a wash (1 minute 39 seconds with TurboUSB off and 1:37 with it on). Empirically, the Buffalo with TurboUSB is the speediest drive for USB 2.0 transfers I've seen since we recently started using PCMark05 for testing. I did see a little improvement when I copied the same test folder using Windows Explorer. It took 57 seconds with TurboUSB off, 44 with TurboUSB on. What's the verdict? TurboUSB is not a dramatic improvement, but every little bit helps, especially if you transfer a lot of data or have a situation where you need continual or speedy backups.
The Memeo backup software that's included with the drive isn't bad; it gets the job done. Memeo is more of a "document safety" backup software package than a full-blown disaster-recovery program, though. As such, it saves multiple copies of your documents (Word docs, audio files, and the like) rather than keeping a snapshot or image of your entire drive to use in restoring your system if the C: drive fails. That's not too bad if you have an IT-supported laptop or desktop, but it may not be adequate if you're personally responsible for your PC or Mac.
Compared with other 320GB pocket drives such as the Toshiba HDDR320E03X, the Buffalo 320GB MiniStation TurboUSB excels at data transfer, so it's a good choice for the user who needs speed. With the TurboUSB utility installed, the Buffalo drive garnered the fastest scores in a comparison of USB 2.0 pocket drives. Though the warranty is relatively short, this drive's capacity means that you can hold years' worth of data and countless backups. The Buffalo drive should be on your short list if you're looking for a pocket-size drive to back up your data.

CBS to bloggers: Install our widgets, and we'll split the profits

CBS Television Stations has launched a new program to get its local news headlines onto blogs and social-media sites, the CBS division said Monday.
Called the CBS Local Ad Network, it's a way for participating region-focused blogs to pull in extra cash by embedding CBS news widgets on their sites and splitting the revenue of accompanying ads with CBS.
On Monday, the program was launched in a selection of the TV network's regional markets: Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Francisco, Denver, and Chicago. Within the next few weeks, CBS has said, the CBS Local Ad Network will come to New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Miami, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore.
Some of the blogs currently participating in the new program are San Francisco's SFBayStyle and Boston's Red Sox Nation. Approved sites will be able to choose the content of the CBS headlines displayed (breaking news, sports, politics), as well as select from a number of options to determine, for example, whether they want video content in the widget.
Bloggers can't just embed a widget and hope for profits, CBS Television Stations Digital Media Group president Jonathan Leess told CNET News.com. "There's a screening process, obviously," he said. "We have to figure out or get some visibility into what the content is on that site, and then we screen, but we have a third party (Syndigo Networks) that administers all this for us."
CBS declined to share exact breakdowns of the revenue-distribution process. "All of it's based on certain traffic estimates from each of the sites, and (ad) placement," Leess said.
Inaugural advertisers in the program (depending on the region) include AT&T and Liberty Mutual Insurance.

Motorola Q9c

Since its inception, the Motorola Q has been successful. Versions of the popular slim handheld—originally billed as the "RAZR smartphone" at just 0.4 inches thick—can now be found on three carriers, with the device available in both CDMA and GSM versions. When Motorola revamped the Q, Verizon saw the new model first and branded it the Q9m. AT&T followed with its upgraded version, the Q9h, which bested the Verizon model with its excellent software bundle. Now Sprint finally has a new Q, and I'm pleased to report that the Q9c is a highly capable, inexpensive ($99.99 with a two-year contract, after a $100 mail-in rebate) smartphone, even if a few flaws hold it back from true greatness.

The Motorola Q9c looks a lot like its siblings except for one key difference--its battery pack. For some reason, Sprint trashed the RAZR-thin thing and decided to package all Q9cs with the extended battery. Now, my test unit scored a stellar 6 hours 56 minutes on a talk-time rundown test; that's easily the best figure I've seen on a CDMA handset. But the extended battery looks seriously bizarre. It sticks out sideways and adds both thickness (0.7 inches) and weight (5.2 ounces) to the Q's otherwise slender design. For those who want the original "standard" battery, it can be purchased for $44.99 from Sprint. But it crosses the line to make that the default option and mess with the handheld's slim profile.
pc_magazine512:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2276305,00.asp
Buzz up!on Yahoo!
Other design aspects fare better. The new keyboard is a nice improvement over the original; the Q9c's keys are larger and have just the right amount of quiet resistance for comfortable typing. The bright, 320-by-240-pixel display now includes an ambient light sensor. The thumbwheel on the right-hand side is a little stiffer and more recessed than on the original Q, but it's still usable. There's also a (nonstandard) 2.5mm headphone jack, a Back button, and a control area with six membrane buttons surrounding a responsive five-way control pad. Unfortunately, the Q9c still has the Backspace key above the regular keyboard.
As a voice phone, the Q9c excels. Test calls were clear and punchy, with plenty of volume. In one case, on a blustery day, the caller on the other end picked up a little wind noise but still heard me perfectly well. Another call had a slight buzz in the background. Overall, the handset sounded fine, particularly on my end, with a warm, full-bodied tone in the earpiece. When paired with a Plantronics Explorer 370 headset, the Q9c was clear if slightly computerized-sounding on the other end, but normal on my side.
The Q9c hits the Internet with EV-DO Rev 0 data; sadly, there's still no Rev A support. The handset uses the same Marvell 312-MHz processor as that of the Verizon Q9m and the original Q. It felt reasonably speedy in basic use but bogged down when switching between programs. Part of the problem is memory: There's just 50MB of internal storage and 25MB of RAM available for running programs, so keep an eye on the Task Manager.
The Q9c now supports Sprint TV, which offers dozens of channels. Live TV looked good, with smooth animation in full-screen mode; I averaged about 10 to 15 frames per second. Sprint's latest control panel for changing channels is simple to navigate and responds quickly. Sprint TV audio was distorted, however—the result of too much compression on Sprint's end. Another quibble: The volume control in Sprint TV works left to right, whereas in Windows Media Player it's up and down. I never got that straight throughout the review period.
The instant-messaging client is a welcome addition. It supports AIM, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger accounts, but not Google Talk or ICQ. On my tests, the app was responsive and even logged in and out quickly. I also liked its collapsible buddy lists, and the ability to sign off from individual accounts as well as a one-button "sign off all and exit" option.
The built-in Internet Explorer displayed Web pages at a decent clip, although it's no Opera Mobile (which comes standard on the Q9h). The Q9c includes the excellent DataViz Documents To Go, which views, creates, and edits Microsoft Office documents and also handles ZIP archives and PDFs. There's also a GPS radio, and the device works with Google Maps and Sprint Navigation. E-mail support is robust as usual, since this is a Windows Mobile 6 phone; it works with POP, IMAP, and Microsoft Exchange accounts, as well as Direct Push e-mail.
The Q9c sounded surprisingly detailed when playing music on a set of paired stereo Bluetooth Etymotic Ety8 earphones. Stereo music sounded tinny but clear over the built-in speakers (the distorted audio issue occurs only with Sprint TV). The Q9c accepts media cards up to 32GB; my Kingston 4GB miniSDHC card worked perfectly. Video was another story—none of the Qs perform particularly well on our CorePlayer video benchmark tests, and we couldn't get acceptable frame rates on 320-by-240 video, only on 176-by-144 3GP-format files.
The Q9c disappoints in the camera department and is essentially unchanged from the original Q. It sports a 1.3-megapixel CCD and an LED flash, but no autofocus. The camera takes decent pictures, all things considered, with no glaring flaws aside from muted color; the flash doesn't do much, unfortunately. The phone also records the usual, near-useless 176-by-144 thumbnail-size videos at 10 frames per second.
Overall, the Q9c has the best balance of price and performance on Sprint. The Palm Centro is cute and costs the same, but it's not nearly as capable, and it's uncomfortable to type on. The BlackBerry 8830, our Editors' Choice, is a speedy, stable e-mail handler, but it's more expensive, and the Q9c beats it on document editing, instant messaging, and battery life.
The MOTO Q9c by Motorola is one of the least-expensive ways to get a cutting-edge smartphone on Sprint. At just $100 together with Sprint's data plans, which undercut Verizon's by an average of $25 per month, the MOTO Q9c offers plenty of value, power, and flexibility—not to mention good voice quality. With that bulky battery, just don't look at it sideways.

Dell US hints at bringing Penryn to M1530 -- what's the holdup?

Well, would you look at that? Oh wait, you can't -- because Dell just removed a teaser tagline from its USA webstore that totally gave away the impending release of a Penryn-based M1530. Earlier today, the "Select My Processor" page seen while building an M1530 showcased the following message: "Intel Core 2 Duo T7250, T7700, and T7800 require a selection of 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS as your video card. Intel Core 2 Duo T9300, T9500, and T8300 require a selection of 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT as your video card." Of course, said message has since vanished, but we'd wager that it's only a matter of days (hours?) before Dell finally gets with the program and gives its 15-incher the same treatment the M1330 and M1730 already received (not to mention the M1530 in other corners of the globe).

Adobe Media Player (beta)

A media player is about entertainment—and it's not entertainment if it's not fun. Adobe's new media player is just not fun enough to offer any real reason to use it—yet. The company's Flash technology—both the player and the servers—powers most of the video that's watched on the Web. Now the company wants in on the content side, too, with this conduit between the media companies and your desktop. Adobe Media Player (AMP) takes the company into territory occupied by iTunes, RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, and others, offering standalone Adobe-branded video player software for the first time.
Getting going with AMP requires downloading and installing three pieces of software: AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime), Flash Player 9 (chances are good you already have this one, however), and the AMP software itself. The standard, simple AIR app installation ensues. For those not familiar with AIR, it's Adobe's platform software for turning Web applications into desktop applications that keep their ability to access the Internet. AIR programs have full access to your system as well as to the Internet, so be sure you trust the source for any AIR app you install. At any rate, Flash Player 9 is also a good update to have on your system, as it supports the H.264 encoding used by HD video.
When you first run AMP, you're presented with a simple black window with just four sections: My Favorites (empty to start with), Catalog (which highlights partner content, like new videos from Geffen), Personal Videos, and Options. The top of the window offers Home and Back buttons. Clicking on an entry in Catalog brings up a list of videos you can play along the left, with the player window in the center. H.264 and HE-AAC support mean that the player is capable of excellent image quality, but most of the content I found was not high-def. The player can zoom your show out to full screen, so it's ready for higher-def content.
The AMP interface, however, is somehow just not as inviting as most other ways to get video on your PC. It's hard to know how to get into it, where to start. "Catalog" somehow doesn't grab me, but that's where you'll generally start getting content. The fonts in the interface are very small, with no way to resize them. There isn't the kind of hierarchical organization you see in iTunes or Windows Media Player that lets you easily find media types and genres. What's the difference between Home and Dashboard? How come so often there's a link or button for where you already are?
When I clicked on Catalog, then Featured, there were still three links for Catalog on the page, but none of them took me back to the first Catalog page that showed all content, not just Featured. I had to hit Back, and then choose Catalog again to get there. The only way to browse content is via video thumbnails—a text list browser like that in iTunes or Windows Media Player might sometimes be a faster way to get to the media you want. I could add my own Flash videos to AMP's Personal Videos section, but not Windows Media or Apple .MV4 videos.
The Catalog section includes content from AnswerTV, Better.tv, blip.tv, concierge.com, Motionbox, PBS, and Universal Music Group, but missing are some big Web video content sources—in particular, the one that dwarfs the rest: YouTube, which uses the same FLV Flash Video file format. Also missing are network shows, which would make sense for AMP to have. NBC Shopping is in the Catalog section, but not NBC programs. Favorites—really RSS subscriptions to shows—are another touted feature of the service and take their place at the top of the program's window. It would be nice to see which videos were most popular and most favorited, but alas, that's not in this version of AMP.
When I tried to add the Mindflo channel to my Favorites (I had just watched an episode from the channel), the left panel read "This show does not contain any episodes," but it actually was added, with all 20 episodes showing. I got "buffering" delays periodically while watching a KQED video about smart mobs. And sometimes the application was very slow to load thumbnails of content during navigation. Animated thumbnails slide across the screen to the left when you pick a video to watch, so there are some slick interface tricks up AMP's sleeves. Another video from concierge.com just stopped advancing halfway through, though the background music continued.
AMP content is restricted to videos for now, not standalone music. Music videos are a big chunk of the content it targets. Despite this, sound quality was awful for the top highlighted video, Emmy Rossum's charming Slow Me Down, even for streaming audio—and I'm not usually very demanding that bit rates be over 64–kilobits per second—audiophiles take note. Further taking away from playback pleasure was that doing anything else with the Internet while watching the video made the video stutter.
A lot of the tech behind AMP is aimed at giving large media publishers a way to "monetize" their content, with strong DRM, backgrounds, banners, in-rolls, overlays, and logos they can add around the content display. Ad display capabilities are particularly emphasized, with technology that prevents the video from being viewed without the accompanying advertisements. And AMP allows content owners to collect anonymous usage data.
On a more personal level, social features are absent at this point. I'd love to be able to vote thumbs-up or -down on videos, or rate them as you can in RealPlayer or YouTube: I'd show those media companies what's good! This way, too, I'd see what other people liked, and maybe subscribe to users whose choices were similar to mine. It's surprising that even at this early stage in the product's life, there is no "most watched" video section. And if music videos are the mainstay of the service, how about some music genre choices? The genre choices in the program are all TV show related.
The AMP interface needs some serious work before anyone's going to ditch iTunes or Windows Media Player in favor of it. It just doesn't feel fully baked, and the content selection is not enticing. Fair enough: This is a beta, after all. Still, there's a lot of work to be done here. With no ability to sync to portable viewing devices or to larger TV screens, and no content or interface advantages over simply going to the video Web sites, I find no compelling reason to make AMP part of my daily entertainment or information consumption—yet. All this could easily change as the product and its content evolve. And it's likely that Adobe will attract more content providers with all the DRM and advertising features incorporated into the software.