I haven’t been in the mood for writing while the weather’s been reasonably nice, I’m still in the summer mood, football season has started but I haven’t taken interest yet, still too warm, football’s for winter, infact I’ve upgraded my sports package with Sky and have been enjoying the baseball every night on ESPN. I believe the season has nearly finished, that’ll be the sign to start watching football again, but hopefully not for a few weeks yet.

Anyway enough of my rantings, here’s a quick overview of updates and exciting new things….

Adobe Reader has been updated to 9.3.4, open up the program and you should be automatically prompted to download the update.
If you’re a regular PDF user and rely on Adobe Reader then maybe a change will pleasantly surprise you, update to Foxit Reader for super fast opening of PDF’s, no splash screens, and the rather handy tabbed reading for multiple documents.

Java, updated to release 21, head to Java.com and download the latest update.

Avast anti virus is now updated to version 5 with a new orange coloured logo, if you’re still running version 4.8 with the blue logo please update now at Avast.com
If you’re in the market for a new Internet Security Product I currently have stock of BitDefender 2010 with free download of the 2011 version, I also have great pricing on Avast’s Pro & New Internet Security package and Norton 2010. Current Norton users login to the account page and use the free update checker, if you’re using 2009 or prior, or 360 version 3 or prior you’ll be prompted to download the latest versions free of charge!

I was recently asked to record a radio program from the BBC iPlayer, after lots of searching and trying many shareware programs I stumbled upon a fantastic free program to do just the job, and aptly named Radio Downloader. The program outputs to MP3 format and you can subscribe to frequent shows.

You may have seen from the homepage or from the PC World television adverts that Microsoft has released the 2010 version of Office, building upon the ribbon interface which launched with the 2007 version. This time there’s no upgrade pricing structure and to simplify further there’s only three packages to choose from:
1. Home & Student
2. Home & Business
3. Professional

As always I have great pricing available, please see the upgrades page.
If you purchased Office 2007 recently you will be entitled to a free upgrade by download or supplied on a disc with a nominal charge, for more info go to: http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/tech-guarantee/

I have now moved over to a pre built Windows Home Server, reducing the cost, size, and time to deliver. The Acer easystore comes with Lights Out energy efficiency software pre installed along with an itunes server and 6 months of McAfee Home Server security, available in 3 storage sizes, 2x640gb, 2x1tb and 3x1tb, the units have a total of 4 drive bays for further expansion. For more details view the Home Server page.

PCTools has released a BETA version of Spyware Doctor version 8, currently only available with the antivirus plugin, I’m awaiting news of a standalone BETA version and will bring you more news on that later in the year. Meanwhile PCtools has updated and released its Simple Backup program at just £25, if you’re looking for a budget backup system here’s a great starting point http://www.pctools.com/simple-backup/

I recently upgraded my mobile phone and chose the HTC Desire with Google Android operating system, last weekend the handset offered me the upgrade from Android 2.1 to 2.2 which although has been around for a good few months now, HTC integrate their own home screen interface and apps into the OS accounting for the delay. But as the saying goes “all good things come to he who waits”, maybe in political correct world we live in that should read “he/she who waits”?? Anyway there’s a few button changes and tweaks here and there but the performance is the biggest boost and the handset feels faster than ever, I also like the Google voice search now integrated into the default browser rather than a separate app.

New apps for Android I’d like to give a mention to include: LogMeIn (I can now provide remote PC assistance direct from my mobile!), PayPal (official app finally launched, fully featured and very polished), Sky+ (another official app finally launched and very nice too!) Photoshop Express, Cineworld (unofficial), WordPress and amazon Kindle being my favourites. Natwest please hurry up and launch an Android app, iPhone’s had it for a long time, banking on the go is a must these days and Android is now just as big as iPhone, chop chop (rant over)

I’ve finally managed to get my mitts on the iPad camera connection kit, over 6 weeks waiting time from the Apple online store, but I managed to pick one up from my local PC World store, yes that’s right, you heard correctly, I ventured into the abyss, luckily I only had to walk in a meagre 10 feet before I was pounced upon, my question of “iPad camera kit” was quickly replied with “yes, 10 in today, follow me”, to the till, purchased and out, 3 minutes, not bad! Obviously they do have some uses???

Which moves me on to Photo apps on the iPad, after wading through nearly all of the 544, not quite making it to the end purely due to boredom I managed to purchase a selection to aid my photographic needs: Pow – a comic strip creation tool, Retouch HD – a simple yet powerful app for removing unwanted items from photographs with ease, the description stated “your ugly partner” quite harsh! ColourSplash – turns photos to black & white then re adds colour to your chosen areas, Photoshop Express – free app worth every penny… And I’m still undecided on Photo FX Ultra & Photogenie? Any thoughts on either please let me know.

Other notable apps I’ve downloaded recently include: Yell, BBC News, Sky Sports News, LogMeIn, TV Guide (now with Sky+ integration), UK Cinema Times Ad Free, Dragon Dictation, and the one I haven’t got working yet but haven’t had the time to play with is HP iPrint.

I hoped you’ve enjoyed the update, lots more to follow…..

The following info is taken direct from the amazon.co.uk website. Pre orders are currently being taken although the first batch has now sold out. The launch date is August 27th which co-incides with the launch of amazon’s UK Kindle book store.

Kindle is Amazon.com’s #1 bestselling item for two years running. It’s the most-wished-for, most-gifted, and has the most 5-star reviews of any product on Amazon.com. Now it’s even better.
All-New, High-Contrast E-Ink Screen – 50% better contrast than any other e-reader
Read in Bright Sunlight – No glare
New and Improved Fonts – New crisper, darker fonts
New Sleek Design – 21% smaller body while keeping the same 6″ size reading area
17% Lighter – Only 241 grams, weighs less than a paperback
Battery Life of One Month – A single charge lasts up to one month with wireless off
Double the Storage – Up to 3,500 books
Built-In Wi-Fi – Connect at home or on the road
Books in 60 Seconds – Download books anytime, anywhere
20% Faster Page Turns – Seamless reading
Enhanced PDF Reader – With dictionary lookup, notes, and highlights
New WebKit-Based Browser – Browse the web over Wi-Fi (experimental)

Kindle at a Glance
New, High-Contrast E-Ink Screen
50% better contrast than any other e-reader. The clearest text and sharpest images.

Read in Bright Sunlight
Unlike LCD screens, Kindle’s screen reads like real paper, with no glare. Read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room.

Lighter than a Paperback
At only 241 grams and 8.5 mm thin, Kindle is lighter than a paperback and thinner than a magazine.

Holds 3,500 Books
We doubled Kindle’s storage so you can carry up to 3,500 books.

Battery Life of Up to One Month
A single charge lasts up to one month with wireless off. Keep wireless always on and go for up to three weeks without recharging.

Built-In Wi-Fi
Kindle now has built-in Wi-Fi support. Connect to Wi-Fi hotspots at home or on the road.

Quieter Page Turn Buttons
Quieter page turning means you won’t disturb your partner when you want to read all night.

Simple to Use
Kindle is ready to use right out of the box – no setup, no software to install, no computer required. Books in 60 Seconds
With fast, free wireless delivery, you can start reading books in less than 60 seconds. No computer required.

Massive Selection
A new store designed for the UK is coming on August 27. With the biggest selection of any e-bookstore in the UK, you can shop more than 400,000 books, including bestsellers and new releases. UK and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs, plus more than 1 million free books, will also be available.

Lowest Book Prices
We check hundreds of prices every day to make sure our prices are the lowest of any e-bookstore in the UK. Compare our e-book prices – you’ll like what you find.

Worry-Free Archive
Books you purchase from the Kindle Store are automatically backed up online in your Kindle library on Amazon.co.uk. Re-download books wirelessly for free, anytime.

Read-to-Me
With Text-to-Speech, Kindle can read English-language content out loud to you.

Improved PDF Reader
Now with new dictionary lookup, notes and highlights, and support for password protected PDFs. Easily carry all of your documents on the go.

Share Meaningful Passages
Share meaningful passages with friends and family with built-in Twitter and Facebook integration.
Pricing £109.00 (wi-fi only) £149.00 (wi-fi & 3G).

Features

All-New Design

Lighter & Thinner – Only 241 Grams
When reading for long periods of time, we know that weight matters. That’s why we worked hard to make our newest Kindle lighter than ever – only 241 grams – so you can read comfortably for hours with just one hand. Kindle is lighter than a typical paperback, and thinner than a magazine. Just 8.5mm in profile, Kindle fits perfectly in your hands.

Ergonomic Design
Kindle is easy to hold and read. We designed it with long-form reading in mind. When reading for long periods of time, people naturally shift positions and often like to read with one hand. Kindle’s page-turning buttons are located on both sides, allowing you to read and turn pages from any position. The new soft-touch, textured back is comfortable to hold and never gets hot in your hands.

Never Gets Hot
Unlike a laptop or tablet, Kindle never gets hot so you can read comfortably as long as you like.

Simple to Use, No Computer Required
Unlike most electronic devices, we wanted to keep Kindle simple. Kindle is wireless and ready to use right out of the box – no setup, no software to install, no computer required.

Long Battery Life – Up to a Month

Battery Life of Up to One Month
A single charge lasts up to one month with wireless off. Keep wireless always on and it lasts for up to three weeks. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as shopping the Kindle Store and downloading content.

Charge Via USB
Kindle is delivered with a UK power adapter and a micro-USB cable for charging your Kindle from a computer USB port. The UK power adapter supports voltages 100V-240V.

Books in 60 Seconds with Built-In Wi-Fi

Get Books in as Little as 60 Seconds
Whispernet utilises Amazon’s optimised technology plus Wi-Fi networks to enable you to wirelessly search, discover, and download content on the go. Your books and periodicals are delivered over Wi-Fi via Whispernet in less than 60 seconds. Wireless download times can vary based on file size.

New, Built-In Wi-Fi
Kindle automatically detects nearby Wi-Fi networks at school, home, or your favourite café. At a hotel or café that requires a password? Simply enter the password and connect to the network. Once you have added a Wi-Fi network, Kindle will automatically connect to that network the next time you’re near the hotspot. Kindle does not currently connect to enterprise or peer-to-peer networks.

Carry Your Library in 241 Grams

Holds Over 3,500 Books
The ultimate travel companion, Kindle weighs 241 grams and holds up to 3,500 books. No longer pick and choose which books to fit in your luggage. You can always have your entire Kindle library with you.

Worry-Free Archive
Delete with abandon. We automatically keep an archival copy of your Kindle books—re-download for free, anytime. We even back up your last page read and annotations, so when you re-download to the device you can pick up where you left off with all of your notes still in place. Please see more information about your library content.

Collections
Organise your Kindle library into collections, or categories, to easily access any book you are looking for. You can add an item to multiple collections to make organising and finding titles even easier. For example, you can add the same book to your “History” and “My Favourite Authors” collections.

Reading, Revolutionised

Lose Yourself in Your Reading
The most elegant feature of a physical book is that it disappears while you’re reading. Immersed in the author’s world and ideas, you don’t notice a book’s glue, the stitching, or ink. Our top design objective is to make Kindle disappear — just like a physical book — so you can get lost in your reading, not the technology.

Paper-Like Screen with 50% Improved Contrast
Our latest Kindle uses Amazon’s all new, high-contrast E-Ink screen with 50% better contrast than previous generation Kindles and any other e-reader on the market, for the clearest text and sharpest images. With our new display, text “pops” from the page, creating a reading experience most similar to reading on printed paper. Sharp and natural with no glare or backlight, reading on Kindle is nothing like reading from a computer screen. Those who see it for the first time always do a double-take.

New Proprietary Screen Technology – Faster Page Turns, New and Improved Fonts
Kindle’s new, high-contrast display is further optimised with Amazon’s proprietary waveform and font technology to make pages turn faster and fonts sharper. Waveform is a series of electronic pulses that move black and white electronic ink particles to achieve a final grey level for an image or text. We have tuned Kindle’s waveform and controller mechanism to make page turning 20% faster. This waveform tuning, combined with new hand-built, custom fonts and font-hinting, make words and letters more crisp, clear, and natural-looking. Font hints are instructions, written as code, that control points on a font character’s line and improve legibility at small font sizes where few pixels are available. Hinting is a mix of aesthetic judgments and complicated technical strategies. We’ve designed our proprietary font-hinting to optimise specifically for the special characteristics of electronic ink.

Read in Sunlight with No Glare
Kindle’s screen reflects light like ordinary paper and uses no backlighting, eliminating the glare associated with other electronic displays. As a result, Kindle can be read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room.

Adjustable Text Size
Kindle has eight adjustable font sizes to suit your reading preference. You can increase the text size of your favourite book or periodical with the push of a button. If your eyes tire, simply increase the font size and continue reading comfortably. Now every book in your library can be large print.

New Font Choices
Kindle now has three font styles to choose from – our standard Caecilia font, a condensed version of Caecilia, and a sans serif option – so you can change your font style along with the font size.

Screen Rotation
Manually rotate the display from portrait to landscape to view maps, graphs, tables and Web pages.

Newspaper Reading
Using Kindle’s 5-way controller, you can quickly flip between articles, making it faster and easier to browse and read the morning paper. Want to remember the newspaper or magazine article you just read? Clip and save entire articles for later reading with a single click. Newspapers are auto-delivered wirelessly to Kindle before they hit the news agent.

Sharp Display of Images and Photos
Kindle’s high-resolution screen boasts 16 shades of gray and 50% improved contrast, for the sharpest text and images.

Support for New Characters
Kindle can now display Cyrillic (such as Russian), Japanese, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), and Korean characters in addition to Latin and Greek scripts.

Full Image Zoom
Images and photos display crisply on Kindle and can be zoomed to the full size of the screen.

Precise 5-Way Controller
Kindle has an easy-to-use 5-way controller, enabling precise on-screen navigation for selecting text to highlight or looking up words. No on-screen fingerprints.

Search, Annotations, Dictionary, and Wikipedia

Search
Kindle’s keyboard makes it easy to search within a book, across your library, in the Kindle Store, or even the Web. To use the Search feature, simply type in a word or phrase you’re looking for, and Kindle finds every instance in your book or across your Kindle library. Looking for the first reference of a character in your book? Simply type in the name and search. You can extend your search to the Kindle Store to find related titles you may be interested in. Explore even further by searching Wikipedia and the Web.

Bookmarks and Annotations
By using the QWERTY keyboard, you can add annotations to text, just like you might write in the margins of a book. And because it is digital, you can edit, delete, and export your notes. You can highlight and clip key passages and bookmark pages for future use. You’ll never need to bookmark your last place in the book, because Kindle remembers for you and always opens to the last page you read.

Share Meaningful Passages
Share your passion for books and reading with friends, family, and other readers around the world by posting meaningful passages to social networks like Facebook and Twitter directly from Kindle, without leaving the page. Want to post or tweet about a great new book or newspaper article? When you highlight or create a note in your book or periodical, you can easily share it with your social network. Help your network of family and friends discover new authors and books.

Popular Highlights
See what our community of millions of Kindle readers think are the most interesting passages in your books. If several other readers have highlighted a particular passage, then that passage will be highlighted in your book along with the total number of people who have highlighted it. Now it’s easier to review, remember, and learn more from the books you read. Learn More

Built-In Dictionary with Instant Lookup
Never get caught without a dictionary. Kindle includes The Oxford Dictionary of English with over 250,000 entries and definitions, so you can seamlessly look up the definitions of English words without interrupting your reading. Come across a word you don’t know? Simply move the cursor to it and the definition will automatically display at the bottom of the screen. Never fear a sesquipedalian word again – simply look it up and keep reading.

Wireless Access to Wikipedia
Kindle also includes free built-in access to the world’s most exhaustive and up-to-date encyclopaedia, Wikipedia.org. With Kindle in hand, looking up people, places, events, and more has never been easier. It gives whole new meaning to the phrase walking encyclopaedia.

Carry and Read Your Personal Documents

Improved, Built-In PDF Reader
Native PDF support allows you to carry and read all of your personal and professional documents on the go. With Amazon’s Whispernet service, you can send your documents directly to your Kindle and read them anytime, anywhere. Now you can add notes and highlights, use the dictionary look-up, and read password-protected PDFs. You can also magnify PDFs by viewing them in landscape mode, and zoom into any area of a PDF up to 300% and pan around to more easily view small print and detailed tables and graphics. You also have the option to have your PDF document converted to the Kindle format so that it reflows. Learn More

Personal Document Service Via Whispernet
Kindle makes it easy to take your personal documents with you, eliminating the need to print. Each Kindle has a unique and customisable e-mail address. This allows you and your approved contacts to send Word, PDF documents, and pictures to your Kindle via Whispernet—see details. Kindle supports wireless delivery of unprotected Microsoft Word (DOC, DOCX), PDF, HTML, TXT, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, PRC and MOBI files. Some complex PDF and DOCX files might not format correctly on your Kindle.

You can transfer personal documents to your Kindle via USB or using a Wi-Fi connection for free at any time. Learn more.

Password Protection
With new password protection functionality, you can choose to lock your Kindle automatically when you’re not using it.

New UK Kindle Store – Coming August 27

You can search and shop the Kindle Store wirelessly straight from your Kindle, allowing you to click, buy, and start reading your purchases in 60 seconds. The Kindle Store offers the same great Amazon.co.uk customer experience you’re used to, including customer reviews, personalised recommendations, and low prices. We auto-deliver your selections wirelessly, so the next time you hear about a great book, just search, buy, and read.

Over 400,000 Books
A new store designed for the UK is coming on August 27. With the biggest selection of any e-bookstore in the UK, you can shop more than 400,000 books, including bestsellers and new releases. UK and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs, plus more than 1 million free books, will also be available.

Lowest Book Prices
We check hundreds of prices every day to make sure our prices are the lowest of any e-bookstore in the UK. Compare our e-book prices – you’ll like what you find.

Read First Chapters for Free
No need to judge a book by its cover. Kindle lets you download and read the beginning of books for free. Sample a new author or book–if you like what you read, simply buy and download the whole book with 1-Click, straight from your Kindle, and continue reading. Sample length will vary by book.

Buy Once, Read Everywhere
Our Whispersync technology synchronises your Kindle library and last page read across your devices, so you can read a few pages on your mobile phone or computer and pick up right where you left off when you return to your Kindle.

Experimental Features

The experimental category represents features we are still working on to enhance the Kindle experience even further. Try them out and let us know what you think.

Read-to-Me
With the Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle can read English newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud to you, unless the book’s rights holder made the feature unavailable. You can switch back and forth between reading and listening, and your spot is automatically saved. Pages automatically turn while the content is being read, so you can listen hands-free. You can choose from both male and female voices which can be sped up or slowed down to suit your preference. In the middle of a great book or article but have to jump in the car? Simply turn on Text-to-Speech and listen on the go.

Voice Guide
New text-to-speech enabled menus allow customers to navigate Kindle without having to read menu options. In addition to listening to books aloud, users now have the option of listening to content listings on the home screen, item descriptions, and all menu options.

New WebKit-Based Browser
Kindle’s new web browser is based on WebKit to provide a better web browsing experience. Now it’s easier than ever to find the information you’re looking for right from your Kindle. Experimental web browsing is free to use over Wi-Fi.

Listen to Music & Podcasts
Transfer MP3 files to Kindle to play as background music while you read. You can quickly and easily transfer MP3 files via USB by connecting Kindle to your computer.

Read on All Your Devices with Whispersync

Our Whispersync technology synchronises your Kindle library and last page read across your devices, so you can read a few pages on your phone or computer and pick up right where you left off when you return to your Kindle.

Technical Details

Included in the box
Kindle wireless reader
UK power adapter
(supports 100V-240V)
USB 2.0 cable
(for connection to the Kindle power adapter or to connect to a computer.)
Display Amazon’s 6″ diagonal electronic paper display, optimised with proprietary waveform and font technology, 600 x 800 pixel resolution at 167 ppi, 16-level grey scale.
Size 190 mm x 123 mm x 8.5 mm
Weight 241 grams
System Requirements None, because it’s wireless and doesn’t require a computer.
Storage 4GB internal (approximately 3GB available for user content).
Battery Life A single charge lasts for up to a month with wireless off. Keep wireless always on and it lasts for up to three weeks. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as shopping the Kindle Store and downloading content.
Charge Time Fully charges in approximately 4.5 hours via the included UK power adapter. Also supports charging from your computer via the included USB 2.0 cable.
Wi-Fi Connectivity Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.11b or 802.11g standard; does not connect to enterprise or peer-to-peer Wi-Fi networks.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the Amazon Kindle app for iPad. A portal to the half a million or so books in electronic form. A quick tap on the Buy Now button and the book is swiftly downloaded to the device ready for you to read. It’s good to see the thought process from Amazon hasn’t been limited to pushing their own Kindle device and they recognise the potential for the new breed of tablet device.

So much so that I had another surprise yesterday when I spotted the release of the Google Android Kindle app. For those of you who read that with confusion, Android is an operating system for mobile phones and tablet devices, it has an app market, similar to the iPhone & iPad which opens up your device to make it truly yours, to make it a business tool, gaming tablet, multimedia player, or all three, the choices are endless!

So in the excitement I headed over to the app market and downloaded the app on my new HTC Desire Android phone and downloaded the books I’d already purchased using the app on my iPad, so whether I was on the move or at home I have access to my books…

If you have an iPad or Android device get the Kindle app now!  

Dell has updated its premium Studio XPS range with the new 7100 featuring the latest AMD 6 core processors! Starting at £579 for the base pack and reaching £1079 with further customisations available. Its not just a fantastic performing machine, it’s a bit of a good looking one too. Take a look at the picture gallery:

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/superview.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&pageoverride=gallery_view1&s=dhs&xdb=Z2xvYmFsOnByb2R1Y3RzOmRlc2t0b3Atc3R1ZGlvLXhwczpmbGFzaDpzdHVkaW8teHBzLTcxMDAjcmVnaW9u

Then let Simple PC configure your perfect Studio XPS!

The BBC takes a close look at the Apple iPad and it’s closest rivals including the new Dell Streak in a 4 minute video documentary, take a look here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_10180000/newsid_10180000/10180016.stm

A few weeks ago I downloaded the remote record app from Sky for my Windows mobile phone. At the time it didn’t seem to function correctly and a search online brought up mixed results, more non working than working. Of course the flavour of the moment is the iPhone and of course there’s an iPhone app for remote record, no complaints about that one! (or non that I’ve come across?)

Well, this weekend I thought I’d give my app a workout as it hadn’t seen screen light in a few months. I was amazed at how quickly the app started and navigated through the menu’s, within 30 seconds I’d sent my request to record a film that evening. In truth I just couldn’t be bothered to turn the TV on just to set the record and turn it all off again, and with mobile in hand it was worth the little effort I had to put in!

Equally I was amazed at the new online remote record function on the Sky website, the move to a flash based planner with full drag functionality to scroll around the times and channels was a huge improvement to the previous “click next, click next, click next” page navigation, not too far dissimilar to the TV planner structure.

If you’re a TV buff or just regularly miss your favourite program then remote record is the missing gem in your life. Full instructions can be found on the Sky remote record website here: http://www.sky.com/portal/site/skycom/skyproducts/remoterecord

You’ll have to register your Sky+ box for remote record, then download the app for your mobile phone, check the list first as only certain handsets are compatible, enter your login details in to the app and away you go! There’s no excuse to miss your favourite shows ever again!

And don’t forget if you haven’t got your mobile you can still remote record through the internet at Sky.com, just login to your account and head for remote record and that new easy navigate planner.

Look out for a new Simple PC – Sky+ service coming soon!

I received an email this morning regarding my recent purchase of Saving Private Ryan on Blu Ray disc.

A manufacturing error is causing the audio to fall out of sync by 1/5 of a second during a chapter crossover in the middle of the film. This has affected all the discs currently released in to the market. If you have purchased a copy then you can email or telephone the following freephone number, you’ll then be sent a freepost envelope to return the disc and receive a new corrected disc.

Freephone: 08000 852 613

or

Email: savingprivateryan.recall@technicolor.com

Amazon have at this moment withdrawn the disc from sale.

Microsoft is preparing to launch its latest weapon in its ongoing battle with Google.
The software giant will launch its flagship product Office 2010 to businesses on 12 May.
The latest version of the software has a free online component – called Office Web Apps
Analysts believe the web offering is a response to Google, which has been encroaching on Microsoft’s core business with its free online tools.
Crucially, Microsoft will also offer its online office suite to all users of one of the world’s most popular social networking sites, Facebook.
“There’s no question – Microsoft is responding to Google’s threat,” said Whit Andrews, analyst at research firm Gartner ’Microsoft world’
Google and Microsoft have increasingly begun to stray into each other’s traditional markets.
Microsoft has thrown its full weight behind its search engine Bing, whilst Google is about to launch its own operating system, known as Chrome OS.
The battle for the Office software market started in 2006 when the search giant launched the first elements of its Google Docs.
“Until Google emerged with a credible suite of networked applications, Microsoft was not compelled to do anything.”
Google Docs now offers word-processing, spreadsheet software and a presentation tool, amongst others. Businesses can pay for premium versions.
It currently has a small (4%) but growing share of the market.
By contrast, Microsoft dominates the Office software space, with a market share of more than 94%, according to Gartner. The vast majority of sales are to businesses.
Business “is still overwhelmingly a Microsoft world”, said Sheri McLeish, analyst at Forrester Research.

Google Chrome OS will be released in the second half of 2010
Microsoft retains its dominant position despite the free offerings from Google and other alternatives such as Zoho or the free office suite OpenOffice.org.
However, Mr Andrews warned that these offerings – and particularly those that were web based – were likely to appeal to younger people, who have not necessarily grown up using Microsoft products.
“If all your content is generated in the Google apps system and it lives there, you would need to have a really good reason to move,” he told BBC News.
Office Web Apps offers a free version of programs such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
The service allows people to access and edit documents from within a web browser, as well as share and collaborate on files. It lacks the entire gamut of features found in the desktop versions.
Microsoft has said that the suite will be offered free to its 400 million Windows Live users.
“It is critical that Microsoft capture users who are not tethered to the same desktop PC every day,” said Mr Andrews.
“They need to be able to serve the growing netbook community and people using their phones.”
The firm has also integrated the social web into its software in a bid to attract new customers and keep the desktop software relevant in an increasingly online world.
Its Social Connector service allows people to suck in information from social networks such as LinkedIn and MySpace into the Office Outlook e-mail program.
The firm has also released a trial version of its online apps that integrates with Facebook.”With the changes that have happened with social networking and web applications, Microsoft is bringing [Office] up to the present day,” said Ms McLeish.
The software for PCs and phones will be launched at an event in New York on 12 May. Business customers will be able to use it straight away, whilst home users will have to wait until June to buy the full version.

It’s not a well known fact that Dell have an outlet store. Look hard enough on their website and you’ll find it! Offering returns or cancellations, fully tested, packaged to factory standard and with a full warranty at largely discounted prices. Both laptops and desktop PC’s are on offer, sometimes there’s lots to choose from and at other times there’s very little but if you’re patient and keep checking back you’ll find the perfect PC for you.

My current pick is the Dell mini 10 (netbook), looking today there’s 91 available with lots featuring the new Windows 7 starter edition operating system, prices starting at £128!

Another great outlet store to check out is Apple, with many refurbished iPods and Macbooks also at highly discounted rates.

Websites here:

Dell: http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/default.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=dfo&
Apple: http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/specialdeals?mco=MTM3NDc5OTc

We’ve been building and selling home servers since the launch of Windows Home Server back in November of 2007. We’ve reduced the size of the unit to a small cube and will some launch our budget range of home servers (look out for news of that coming soon). With a home server running constantly we’ve also reduced power consumption with energy efficient Atom processors and low noise low power PSU’s (Power Supply Unit).

I recently purchased a software plugin for the Windows Home Server platform called Lights Out, the software uses a calendar function to hibernate the server and wake it when needed with a small application on the PC to wake the server if required out of the calendar schedule. With a lot of reading the manual and tweeking I’mextremely happy with the plugin and will be adding it as a standard feature on all new Home Server builds. This makes at least a 60% energy saving which is good for your pocket and the environment.

If you already own a Simple Cube Home Server and would like to try Lights Out then please contact me for more info.

You can find out more about lights out from: http://www.wegotserved.com/2008/12/28/add-in-review-lights-out/