Microsoft’s SideWinder X4: A Ghost-Busting Keyboard?

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Though die-hard typists will expound endlessly on the subject of whether this keyboard is better than that keyboard, gamers are a different breed—for the most part, they don’t really care how a keyboard types. Oh, they may need to send an occasional e-mail or IM, but it’s how the keys operate under fire, and what other sorts of features it has for keeping them out of harm’s way in the first place, that really matters most.

Microsoft’s new SideWinder X4 ($59.95 list) keyboard, which is currently available for presale and will be shipping early next month, types well enough, with a feel snugly between the squishy and clicky extremes that seem to polarize gamers and typists alike. Much more notable, however, is that the X4 aims to solve one of the problems that can lead to premature death or annoyance in games: the game not recognizing all the keys you hit, when you hit them. And, of course, the X4 also throws in a few dashes of the bling and bright lights that status-conscious gamers expect. Unfortunately, although Microsoft has made some impressive steps forward with the X4, it’s taken a few back as well.

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Is AT&T Enough for the iPhone?

As we approach the 3rd anniversary of the iPhone and AT&T marriage, iPhone users can agree on one thing and that is, AT&T is missing the mark. So why would iPhone users feel this way?

To begin with, about a quarter of AT&T’s 81 million wireless subscribers use iPhones as their mobile phone of choice. The iPhone allows users to runs Apps like Pandora, YouTube, and others that stream hundreds and thousands of megabytes of music and video over the airwaves. This of course presents a problem, unlike the data plan that is “unlimited,” AT&T’s capacity is not. AT&T contends that 3% of their smart-phone subscribers account for 40% of data traffic.

As a result of the huge bandwidth requirements of iPhone users in densely populated cities like New York and San Francisco (whose networks need updating), there have been an increased number of service interruptions and slow 3G performance which have iPhone users in those areas fuming. Ralph de la Vega, chief executive of AT&T confirmed this when he stated that their networks in Manhattan and San Francisco “…are performing at levels below their standards.” With admissions like this many wonder if AT&T bit more than it could chew when it started selling the iPhone with unlimited data plans.

But can all the blame be placed on the fact that 3% of smart phone subscribers account for 40% of the data traffic? Not really. AT&T should have been more proactive when they saw the amount of bandwidth that was being consumed by iPhone users. They could have done one of two things, either increase pricing on unlimited plans to bring more revenue for infrastructure improvements or introduce tiered/metered plans which would have slowed down the data consumption of the data hungry three percent. Neither of these two options are very popular because at that time companies like Sprint were offering unlimited everything for $99.99 and tiered data plans are simply out of the question, for now.

Knowing that there is a heavy concentration of iPhone users straining AT&T’s ability to deliver on quality service, why hasn’t Apple pulled from the “exclusivity” deal? How long will Apple allow AT&T’s lack of reliability tarnish the name? It looks as though it will continue, at least for now. Apple announced the iPad this Wednesday and AT&T will be the provider of choice, luckily for AT&T customers the iPad isn’t as portable as the iPhone. This will force many people to use them in Wi-Fi hotspots as opposed to burdening the 3G network. AT&T says that it’s recently poured $2 billion into its network and that users in connectivity-starved cities should see improvements in 2010. In addition , they’ve rolled out free Wi-Fi access on AT&T hotspots throughout the country for current subscribers. This may help alleviate the stress on their network, but with more and more consumers buying the iPhone and the addition of the iPad to the mix, the AT&T network will only get more crowded.

Some analysts contend that the same issues plaguing AT&T would be plaguing Verizon had it accepted the offer from Apple when it did. One has to wonder whether this would be in fact the case considering Verizon has dumped $5 billion more than AT&T in infrastructure improvements in the past five years. Verizon has listened to consumers and is now attacking AT&T’s 3G coverage on TV commercials, stores, and online.

However AT&T has fired back using Luke Wilson with a slew of Ads that show AT&T’s superior data network compared to Verizon…the one thing that stands out is that AT&T’s network does allow web surfing while talking, which Verizon currently does not support. The other item they point out is Smartphone selections with over 100,000 apps…iPhone…hint, hint. They also state that they have the fastest 3G network. What they don’t state is coverage and it looks like Verizon’s beat them there.

So is AT&T enough for the iPhone? Well, that depends on who you speak to, here in Miami I know three people including myself that have little or no problems with 3G coverage or dropped calls, in fact I have reception in places where I have confirmed Sprint (using Blackberry 8820 and Palm Pre) and T-Mobile (using the Dash and the Nexus One) do not work where AT&T does. I can’t speak for Verizon as I have never been a subscriber.

I do think that with net neutrality, capacity limitations, and the increased need for bandwidth and speed, these factors will drive carriers to tiered pricing which would mark the end of the free-for-all we’ve enjoyed these past years. The question is, will any carrier be robust enough to handle our increasing data needs?

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Cisco Supports Country Transformation Project in Ireland

Your Country, Your Call Initiative Designed to Help Prepare Ireland for the Future

Dublin, Ireland – February 17, 2010 – Cisco today announced that it is supporting “Your Country, Your Call”, a global initiative to encourage innovative proposals that can help foster economic renewal in Ireland.  Cisco donated collaborative technologies, including Web applications and Cisco WebExTM conferencing, to help the initiative gather ideas from around the world while limiting its environmental impact.

Your Country, Your Call aims to find two transformational proposals that will enable the Irish economy to grow, employment to be created and prosperity to flourish.  With a prize fund of €200,000 and Mary McAleese, the president of Ireland, as its patron, the initiative spans a broad range of categories from sports and arts to communications and technology.

Using Cisco collaboration technology, anyone in the world will be able to register for the initiative regardless of their location, entering online at www.yourcountryyourcall.com.  Collaborative technologies will allow competition finalists from the around the world to interact with and be interviewed online by the Your Country, Your Call judging panel.

Speaking about the announcement, Kim Majerus, managing director, Cisco Ireland, said: “Your Country, Your Call is a collaborative initiative designed to involve the Irish population and citizens around the world in Ireland’s future economic success.   Working with many diverse organisations and individuals, Cisco is helping enable Ireland to tap into ideas, expertise and people all over the world.  This is a great example of the way in which collaboration and communication can strengthen an organisation – or in this case, an entire economy.”

She added:  “We are working to make Your Country, Your Call as environmentally efficient as possible by eliminating the need for paper-based entry and allowing face-to-face interaction among the initiative finalists, without the need for carbon-intensive travel.”

The competition was launched on 17 February 2010 and is open to anyone with an idea for Irish development. Full entry details are available at www.yourcountryyourcall.com.

Links / URLs:

  • Your Country, Your Call: www.yourcountryyourcall.com

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, this year celebrates 25 years of technology innovation, operational excellence and corporate social responsibility. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com. Cisco equipment in Europe is supplied by Cisco Systems International BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc.

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Cisco, the Cisco logo, Cisco Systems and Cisco WebEx are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco Public Information.

Contact Information: Press Contact(s) Fiona Buckley Cisco Systems, Inc. +44 20 8824 1823 fibuckle@cisco.com

Lenovo’s New G-Series Laptops


Last week, Lenovo announced two new additions to its G-Series family of laptops. The budget laptops are powerful with a AMD Turion II Dual-Core processors integrated ATI Radeon HD graphics. Both the G455 and G555 have 16:9 widescreen HD displays, come with Windows 7, and support DirectX 10. They also feature a few favorite Lenovo applications, including OneKey Rescue System, VeriFace face recognition for security, Energy Management 5.0 software for efficiency, and a repair and recovery tool among others.

Both laptops will be available in the United States in March and will start around $449.


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