Madobe Yuu and Ai put a cute twist on Japanese Windows 8

Promotion for new tech software in Japan isnt really that different from how it is done here. You present the softwares capabilities, show its potentials, and market to the people how they could use it efficiently. However you may want to know that once you hit Tokyos Akihabara district, the "otaku" center of Japan, promotion for almost anything takes on a slightly different, cuter level.

On October 12, 2012, Microsoft Japan announced that reservations can now be taken for Windows 8 orders. At least two weeks before the official worldwide release, tech shops around Japan have already begun accepting pre-orders and reservations of the announced Windows 8 product packages.

While there are no significant changes in standard distribution packages, Microsoft Japan has actually prepared a little nifty bonus for those who are into the "Akiba-kei" (Akihabara-style) culture. Extra Windows 8 DSP (fresh install) packages that feature two new "moe" mascots, Madobe Ai and Madobe Yuu, will be presented as an exclusive OS theme. The package will include various custom media and installation files, as well as other extra stuff, for those who are interested to have more than just an OS to their new PCs.

Using these "moe" mascots to generate higher amount of interest to a specific group of potential customers isnt new in Japan. In fact, Microsoft Japan has already done it at least 3 years ago with Madobe Nanami, the "moe" mascot for Windows 7. Special bonus packages for the Japanese version of Windows 7 also included exclusive media and installation files that would let the user have Madobe Nanami become a resident of their computer unit.

These special Windows 8 DSP packages will include a Microsoft Wedge Touch mouse, and will be available at around 18,000 to 20,000 yen (around 230 to 255 USD).

Source: GDM, Akiba-PC (JP)

Microsoft unveils Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface in Singapore

Marc Hopstein, director for APAC Mobile Communications Business at Microsoft Singapore. said that about 93% of their customers are very satisfied with the Windows Phone 7, and about 90% are recommending the phone to friends and families.

"We have been building on the concept of smartphone for easier communicating, education and Internet that are important for consumers looking for Windows Phone. And Mango is taking applications and Internet, how people interact with each other to the next level. Communication today is not just about phone calls, emails or a short message;its more of a proliferation of communications that go across social networks, blogging and other interactions with each other. Microsoft is summarizing the ways people interact with each other through people and groups of people, rather than going in and out of individual application. Communication has become people-centric," Hopstein said.

Microsoft showcased some of the new features of Windows Phone "Mango" which include Twitter, LinkedIn and Viadeo integration in the People Hub,and built-in barcode reader (above pic)that will showthe link to the website or content almost immediately. According to the software giant, Nokia will launch their Windows Phone 7 with Mango in the Mango official release time frame - Q4 this calendar year. Also look out forWindows Phone 7 from other manufacturers including Fujitsu, Acer, Toshiba and ZTE.

Somanna Palacanda, director for Microsoft Surface, also introduced the Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface which offers massive multi-touch, direct interaction, object recognition and supports multiple users. The SUR40 is the second-generation Microsoft Surface device and is scheduled to be official available in late September at US$8,600. It is a fully-embedded PC with a high definition display, targeting at various industries including retail, hospitality, auto-mobile, healthcare and financial.

Heres a short demo videoon what the Microsoft Surface can do:-

Lego launches 'official' Lego thumbdrive

LEGO-inspired devices are a dime a dozen in various online shopping sites, but the fact remains that most, if not all of the aforementioned devices do not have a license from the LEGO Group to make use of the likeness of its popular toy construction bricks. However, it seems that the LEGO Group has finally started to realize that there is a market for LEGO-branded products featuring its likeness, and has since moved to launch its own line of thumbdrives based off the Minifigure often found in its construction bricks.

According to the official LEGO online store, the Classic LEGO Minifigure USB thumbdrive sports a capacity of 2GB and comes preloaded with a copy of the LEGO Ninjago video clip for your viewing pleasure. Last but definitely not least, using the Classic LEGO Minifigure USB thumbdrive on your PC is also a snap; all you have to to is to yank its legs off, as shown in the image below.

If this thumbdrive has tickled your fancy, you might be interested to know that the LEGO-branded thumbdrive is available for sale at the online LEGO store for the handsome price of US$24.99. Well, that is the price one has to pay for official LEGO products, no?

Source: LEGO Shop via Technabob

Lenovo Unveiled ThinkPad X300 Notebook

SINGAPORE, February 27, 2008 – Lenovo today unveiled its highly-anticipatedThinkPad X300 notebook PC, designed for today's most demanding road warriors,and the thinnest and lightest full-function notebook in its class1. Theultra-thin, ultraportable ThinkPad X300 notebook measures less than 19millimetres at its thinnest point, and has a starting weight as low as 1.33kg2.

The ThinkPad X300 combines a number of leading technologies such as solid-statedrive (SSD) storage, a LED backlit display, ultralong battery life and enhancedwireless connectivity. Rated 'Gold' by the Electronic Product EnvironmentalAssessment Tool (EPEAT) for its superior environmental attributes, it alsofeatures a number of environmentally-conscious technologies, such as low-voltageprocessors.

“The ThinkPad X300 notebook marks a major milestone for the ThinkPad family,"said Ronnie Lee, Country Manager, Relationship Business, Lenovo Singapore.“ThinkPad has been pioneering notebook PC design for more than 15 years, raisingthe bar on innovation, and focusing on the core needs of ThinkPad users, namelyquality, reliability and functionality. Our customers told us that they wanted anotebook that was amazingly thin and light, but that they still wanted theirbattery options, their USB ports and of course, their DVD burner. Well, thewaiting is over, and it’s all there in the ThinkPad X300, our thinnest andlightest ThinkPad ever."

Designed for Maximum Mobility & Performance
The versatile ThinkPad X300 notebook PC offers models that can be configured forextreme portability starting at just 1.33kgs or maximum battery life of up to 10hours3 or a balance between the two with a convenient built-in DVD burner. Withits compact, thin and light design, the notebook packs a powerful punch,providing a full suite of innovative features to meet users’ mobile computingneeds.

Expanded Multimedia: The ThinkPad X300 notebook offers an optional built-in 7millimetres slim DVD burner for easy, flexible, on-the-go multimediacapabilities. It also includes stereo speakers, a digital microphone and anintegrated camera.

Extreme Durability: Constructed with advanced carbon and glass fiber, theThinkPad X300 notebook’s Next Generation ThinkPad Roll Cage helps protect thenotebook from falls and drops that can occur in mobile environments. These samematerials are used in building airplanes and Formula One race cars to helpreinforce their structure without adding additional weight.

Ultimate Wireless Connectivity: Users have a variety of connectivity optionsat their fingertips including models designed for WLAN4 and GB Ethernet.

Clearer, Crisper Viewing Experience: The notebook’s 33.8 cm LED backlight WXGA+high resolution display provides brighter and more energy-efficient performancethan LCD displays.

Enterprise-Level Security: Equipped standard with an integrated fingerprintreader, I/O port disablement and 32-byte password protection, the notebookoffers a layered security approach to help protect data and unauthorized access.

Enhanced Performance and Data Protection: The notebook comes equipped with a 4.6cm 64 GB SSD that provides more than twice the performance of a regular 6.4 cmhard drive.. With no moving parts, the technology offers more than four timesgreater shock resistance as well as greater energy efficiency than traditionalhard disk drives and contributes to the notebook’s thin and light design.5 Thenotebook also comes with the latest Intel® Centrino® with vPro™ technology, upto 4 GB memory and Lenovo’s ThinkVantage Technologies.

“The challenge we shared with Lenovo in its development of the ThinkPad X300 wasin making things small without losing key capabilities, such as performance andbattery life," said Mooly Eden, corporate vice president and general manager,Intel Mobile Platforms Group. "Intel's contribution included developingpackaging technology that enabled us to shrink the Intel Centrino platform bymore than 50 percent, yet retain its high performance and low energyconsumption."

In its first big test out the gate, the ThinkPad X300 notebook PC will supportteam members on the official aircraft of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay asit launches a demanding 137,000-kilometer, five-continent "marathon" next month.Often departing from torch relay cities late at night and arriving at the nextcity in the early hours of the morning, and with no margin for error, the torchteam will rely on ThinkPad technology to support nearly 22,000 torchbearers, inmore than 130 cities worldwide.

Designed for the Environment
Rated Gold by EPEAT, the ThinkPad X300 notebook stands out as one of the mostenvironmentally-responsible PCs in the industry. Lenovo designed the notebook toinclude environmentally-conscious technologies such as energy-efficient SSD andarsenic-free LCD glass and mercury-free LED displays. The energy-efficient LEDdisplay helps the ThinkPad X300 notebook achieve up to 35 percent lower powerconsumption than previous models. Lenovo also uses recyclable packaging.

Pricing and Availability
The ThinkPad X300 notebook starts at SGD 4,412. It is available immediatelythrough Lenovo business partners.

Intel New Mobile CPUs amp; Price Cut On Sept 2nd

Intel plans to lower the mobile processors pricing and introduce some newprocessors on Sept 2nd. On this date, 7 new processors will be launched and theyare X7900, T7800, T7250, L7700, U2200, U2100, 550.

Microsoft Fixes Windows XP SP2 Laptop Battery Drain Problem

The Core Duo battery drain saga that was originally reported by Tom's Hardware has resurfaced. Anand Shimpi later correctly proved that the battery drain bug had absolutely nothing to do with Core Duo, but was actually a problem with Windows XP SP2. Just yesterday, Microsoft got around to publishing a fix for the problem.

The problem apparently plagues Windows XP notebooks that cannot correctly enter into processor idle sleep states, or C-states. When the processor cannot enter these states, the processor idles, but at a higher state. The result is wasted battery life and a slightly warmer CPU.

There are many reasons why Windows XP SP2 does not let the CPU enter into the correct state, but the one reason seemed to revolve around notebooks that have USB controllers that do not turn off. The original ASUS Core Duo notebook, for example, had an integrated web camera that would leave a USB controller enabled at all times. Microsoft stresses that the patch does not fix notebooks with that particular problem -- it only repairs the ACPI driver that governs which C-state the processor should reside.

The patch only exists for x86 versions of Windows XP, Service Pack 2.

Lenovo to scrap Thinkpad X300 series

If you have been a fan of Lenovo's X-series notebooks, or more specifically, the X300 series, you might want to start getting one of them very soon, even if they command a huge price premium over the competition. Notbecause we at VR-Zone are getting any commisions from the sale of X300 notebooks, butbecause Lenovo is reportedly planning to let the entire X300 line go the way of the dodo rather soon.

According to a report by Xbit Labs, Lenovo is making the move in order to focus its efforts on the ultraportable X-series (which will be the X100 and X200) and the performance-oriented T-series, instead of competing in the ultraslim 13-inch segment, which is already crowded upwith various big names such as Apple, Dell and Acer.

Xbit Labs also quoted Wang Liping, marketing director for Lenovo, as saying that the company's 12-inch business notebooks make up 45% of global business notebook sales. While it should be noted that Lenovo is currently the only computer maker in the world to market 12-inch notebooks for business use, the fact notebooks of such size were able to capture a significant share of the business segment can only mean that busy professionals are more receptive to smaller notebooks instead of larger, more powerful machines.

In fact, Lenovo also believes that the market for 13-inch notebooks is set to shrink even further now that the performance gap between ultraportables and full-sized notebooks is starting to diminish, and its current X-series lineup is proof of that: the 11-inch X100e already packs in a respectable AMD Athlon Neo X2 processor clocked at 1.6GHz, while the X200 are already sporting Intel's i3, i5 and i7 processors, effectively nullifying the 'performance issues' usually associated with ultraportables.

According to Wang Liping, the X300 series'slow demise is set to take place in 'late 2010', with no specific date given. However, considering that it is already July (which is technically considered as the later half of the year), it might not be unreasonable to say that the phasing out of the X300 series is already underway.

Source: Xbit Labs

Logitech Unveils MK520 Wireless Desktop

Well known Swiss peripheral-device maker, Logitech, has announced the MK520 wireless desktop, adding on to its line-up of mice and keyboard combos. The keyboard features low-profile Logitech Incurve keys, one-touch mediabuttons, and boasts a three year battery life. The mouse features an“ambidextrous design”, soft rubber side grips, a high-performance lasersensor, two buttons, a scroll wheel, and a one year battery life. Theset, bundled with an ultra-compact 2.4 Ghz wireless Unifying receiver(range of up to 10 meters), can now be pre-ordered online from majore-tailers at a MSRP of USD $59.99.


"When you're using a laptop, the Logitech Wireless Combo can makeeverything you do on your computer more comfortable," said Anne-MarieGinn, Logitech. "The MK520 keyboard and mouse combo is designed to feelgood hour after hour."


News via [Logitech]

Japan to start selling Microsoft's new Touch Mouse next month

Approximately seven months ago, we ran a story describing what was essentially Microsofts answer to Apples multitouch-capable Magic Mouse, the Microsoft Touch Mouse, which first debuted at CES, and was touted to be capable of supporting gestures made by up to a maximum of three fingers. Unfortunately, Microsoft did not release any concrete details about the mouses release date at that point of time, preferring to simply claim that consumers could expect to see the device hit retail shelves starting from the second half of the year.

Fast forward to the present, and it seems that the long wait for Microsofts new Touch Mouse might soon be at an end, especially if this latest announcement made by the the Redmond giants Japan office is of any indication. Apparently, the Touch Mouse is expected to be made available for sale in Japan come September this year, and that it will reportedly be retailing at the price of 7980 yen, or approximately US$103.

The specifications of the mouse have remained mostly unchanged since its initial debut way back at CES this year; it makes use of Microsofts signature BlueTrack technology, which is reportedly capable of allowing users to utilize the Touch Mouse on virtually any surface, while a nano receiver serves as the link which connects the mouse to ones PC. In addition, the touch sensors on the Microsoft Touch Mouse are also said to be capable of recognizing different finger sizes, a trait which could potentially allows users to map various flicks and gestures to different fingers.

Last but definitely not least, ITmedia has claimed that the Microsoft Touch Mouse draws power from two AA batteries and is reportedly capable of providing up to three months of uptime on a fresh set of batteries. Oh, and it is available in any colour you want, as long as it is black.

Source: ITmedia

Microsoft offers cut-down Windows for old PCs

After officially cutting support for Windows 98 and Windows ME last week, Microsoft has unveiled a trimmed-down version of its flagship operating system dubbed Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs. Windows Fundamentals is based on the Service Pack 2 release of Windows XP Embedded, a spin-off of Windows XP Professional aimed at embedded devices. According to an older report by CNet, Windows Fundamentals—previously code-named Eiger—is essentially a thin client that can only run a few programs locally. Such programs include Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, and anti-virus software. However, the limited functionality allows the operating system to be squeezed onto much older systems than vanilla versions of Windows XP: CNet says Fundamentals can run on machines with original Pentium processors and just 64 MB of memory.

According to Microsoft, Windows Fundamentals is aimed at customers who have older computers, are unable to upgrade their hardware, but still need up-to-date security features. Since Microsoft will no longer be providing security patches for Windows 98 and ME, an upgrade to Windows Fundamentals may be a more viable option for some organizations than moving to Linux or coughing up the cash for new machines. Microsoft says Fundamentals is only available to its Software Assurance customers, though, and it doesn't reveal how much the operating system costs. Thanks to reader Shinare for the tip.

iOS 4.1 security flaw iPhone passcode lock can be bypassed

A forum member over at MacRumors recently discovered a security flaw in iOS 4.1: one can still make phone calls even when an iPhone has been secured with a passcode.

All you have to do is to randomly input something, like ###, make the call and then immediately press the Lock button. What happens next is the Phone app will magically appear, granting access to the dialer and that particular iPhone's contact list, call history, and voicemail.

You can get full access to the iPhone's photo albums by sharing a contact and then hitting on the camera icon. Voice Control is also accessible and you can call up songs that are stored in the phone too.

This flaw affects both non-jailbroken and jailbroken iPhones.

The discovery of this flaw means there is no way to prevent unauthorized people from using the iPhone if it has been misplaced or stolen.No official word fromApple yet, andwe are getting conflicting responses whether this issue was already known and whether it has been fixed in iOS 4.2from various sources.

Update: An Apple spokeswoman has emailed in response to CNET, that the security flaw will be fixed as part of the iOS 4.2 software update. iOS 4.2 is due in November.

References: MacRumors, Engadget

Intel to launch MeeGo tablets in June

MeeGo devices have been delayed for the longest time. And while details of the Nokia N9 smartphonehave beenleaked, it seems that we may not see it in stores anytime soon; Nokia may be dropping the N9 for MeeGo tablets indeed.

Withmore tablet devices flooding the market this year, Intel has revealed that it will be launching MeeGo tablets in June and we should see the final products in August.According to reports,the Intel’s App Up center for tablet should also be ready in Q3 2011.

Source: Fudzilla

Japan Plans to Criminalize Computer Virus Authoring

If you are planning to pack your bags and move to Japan for an extended period of time for various reasons (such as work commitments or simply migrating over), it might be a good practice to start maintaining your operating system and ensuring that the installed antivirus is up-to-date with the latest virus definitions.

Of course, you may be scratching your head, wondering why one must take so many precautions with a PC just to enter Japan. This is because Japan is starting to adopt a no-nonsense stance against malware: the Japan Ministry of Justice is reportedly planning on submitting a bill to the Diet which "criminalize the creation and distribution of all computer viruses".

This move was apparently made because Japanese law enforcement often found themselves powerless in attempting to bring malware authors to justice. According to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, the current legal system in Japan does not grant prosecutors the authority to directly charge such people for the damaged caused by their virus. As such, law enforcement agencies usually have to resort to various loopholes and workarounds in order to push charges against authors and distributors of such virus, which needlessly complicates the legal process.

The fact that the bill has also singled out "distributors" of computer viruses means that the normal user will be affected should it pass through the Diet. After all, the average users are generally unaware if their PCs have been hijacked as part of a botnet or not. And since these people are unknowing distributors of malware, it remains to be seen how the bill will addresssuch issues to ensure that users will not have to be wrongly accused by the law due to ignorance. But until then, the best way to safeguard oneself from being wrongfully charged by the law is to just simply be more mindful of computer security.

Source: Yomiuri Shinbun