Intel Announces Core i5, Core i7 With vPro

Businesses now have special Westmere parts made just for them.

Businesses looking to upgrade to the latest 32nm Intel CPU technology will be pleased to know that Intel today rolled out its fourth generation of vPro-enabled Core i5 and Core i7 chips.

Key features of vPro include Intel Anti-Theft Technology, which frustrates thieves by locking access to a PC if a central server or built-in intelligence concludes it is lost or stolen. New Intel Anti-Theft Technology version 2.0 enables encryption solutions to disable access to cryptographic keys through hardware to completely block access to data, and also makes it simpler to reactivate a PC once in rightful hands. Also, a custom message can be displayed in a pre-OS screen of the disabled PC for anyone who tries to access the computer.

vPro also packs a new Intel Keyboard-Video-Mouse Remote Control (KVM Remote Control), features available with dual-core Intel Core i5 and i7 vPro processors work in conjunction with Intel integrated graphics, bringing a stop to IT administrators' frustration with having to ask users, "What do you see?" Instead, they will see users' displays just as the users do and have full control of the PC, even if the operating system is inoperative. Previously, KVM functionality required appliances that cost as much as $200 and more per PC.

"Businesses, particularly those that haven't purchased PCs for several years, face a computing environment that no longer handles the applications many workers and IT are adopting," said Rick Echevarria, vice president, Intel Architecture Group, and general manager, Business Client Platform Division. "The integration of intelligent performance along with smart security and cost-saving manageability features in the Intel Core vPro processor family provide IT and SMBs a no-compromise platform. We also are excited about how Intel vPro Technology gives IT the flexibility to look at client virtualization, consumerization and rich cloud applications."

Windows 7 Build 7700 Spotted (Early Windows 8?)

Windows 7 build 7600 is the RTM version that's on all the new PCs today. It's the version that was completed shipped by Microsoft last summer – but it appears as though the developers are still tinkering away at it.
Neowin reported that a Russian site Wzor, which has a history of Windows leaks, posted screenshots from a post-RTM Windows 7 build 7700.
While many of you will find the screenshot completely uneventful, given that there does not appear to be any visual changes aside from the version number, the real news here comes from the build strings that tell us the progress that Microsoft is making.
The latest leak is 7700.winmain.100122-1900, which tells us that it is build 7700 and it was compiled in the 'winmain' lab on January 22, 2010 at 1900 hours.
Build strings leading up to this latest one are:
7650.0.winmain.090917-18437651.0.winmain.090924-18027656.0.winmain.091015-08337658.0.winmain.091019-18507659.0.winmain.091020-18307660.0.winmain.091021-17367661.0.winmain.091022-17557662.0.winmain.091023-16457664.0.winmain.091027-18257691.0.winmain.100106-18257692.0.winmain.100107-17357693.0.winmain.100111-18207694.0.winmain.100113-17537695.0.winmain.100114-18557696.0.winmain.100115-1725Watching numbers count upwards is fairly uneventful, but it does prove that progress is being made on top of existing Windows Vista and Windows 7 code – perhaps en route to the release of Windows 8 slated for 2011.

Dell Unveils Slim New Laptop Latitude 13

Dell's business machines just got a little sexier.

Although business-centric laptops don't have to be particularly sexy, Dell's latest business offering shows that those who need to get some real work done can have some style too.

Dell today unveiled the Latitude 13, which takes many design cues from the Adamo luxury series. This isn't the first business machine from Dell in the form; the Vostro 13 offered nearly the same things late last year.

Dell is touting the Latitude 13 as "the world's thinnest 13-inch commercial client laptop" at 0.65-inches thick, but hasn't revealed what might be under the hood. We expect specs to be similar to the Vostro 13: choices of either a 1.2GHz Celeron, 1.3GHz Core 2 Duo or 1.4GHz Core 2 Solo with integrated X4500MHD graphics, the notebook packs a 13.3-inch screen. That aside, it's also got eSATA, USB, Ethernet and SD and ExpressCard slots.

Expect it to show up on Dell's website for order in a few weeks starting at around $500.

Coverage and Quality is Pivotal in Network Selection: Survey

Network Selection survey was conducted by ProPakistani from January 1^st, 2010 to January 31^st, 2010. Purpose of this survey was to identify the network selection preferences of mobile phone users of all cellular companies.

Key question asked was to “Tell the main reason for remaining with their current mobile operator”

We received 4164 responses from people of different ages, academic backgrounds and cities.

Survey result

Following results are purely based on the data collected through survey.

The survey included 95% male and 5% female participants.

The major age group that responded to the survey is

• 18-24 years i.e. 52% of the total participants.
• Next to this was from the age group of 25-34 years – 36% of the total sample.
• Below 18 years and above 35 years both comprise 6% of the total responses.

City wise composition of the participants of the survey was as follow:

• Karachi         26%
• Islamabad    17%
• Lahore          20%
• Faisalabad     6%
• Peshawar     4%
• Other cities   27%

Academics of Participants

Which Mobile Connection Do you Use? (In case of 2 or More SIMs, participants were asked to select their primary mobile connection)

Do you have 2 or more SIMs?

• Ufone         56% of participants using Ufone said they do have other Sims too
• Warid         61% of participants using Warid said they do have other Sims too
• Telenor     64% of participants using Telenor said they do have other Sims too
• Mobilink   62% of participants using Mobilink said they do have other Sims too
• Zong           63% of participants using Zong said they do have other Sims too

As the major motive of the survey was to determine the preferences of mobile phone users in network selection, survey included following reasons

• Low On-Net Rates?
• Low Off-Net Rates?
• Hourly Packages (Night)
• Hourly Packages (Day)
• SMS Packages?
• GPRS/EDGE Rates
• GPRS/EDGE Speed
• Better Coverage and Network Quality?
• Better Customer Support?

And responses were as following…!

• 37% of the users choose their mobile operator because of network quality and better coverage quality
• 23% choose their  mobile operator because of  sms packages
• 13% choose their mobile operator for low On-Net rates
• 10% users believe that the reason they choose their mobile operator because of Low off-net rates
• 6% choose their mobile operator because of better customer support
• 11% choose their mobile operator because of hourly packages  (day & night), GPRS/Edge speed & rates.

Why customers of different mobile operators remain with their mobile operator

Following graphs are true picture of strengths and weaknesses of mobile phone operators. These graphs can be used by cellular operators to better plan their investments. Also the potential customer, before subscribing the service, can find out the pros and cons of a mobile phone company by going through following 5 graphs.

Age-wise distribution of the reasons for selecting mobile operator

Good news for mobile operators is that not all subscribers for network quality and coverage.  Their primary needs include catchy SMS and call plans.Meaning that no-extra investment on network, all you need is to offer in-expensive call and SMS package.

But hold on, that’s not the whole picture, as a very interesting shift occurs as the age increases. 

I am sure segment guys would be pretty keen on following few diagrams.  

Conclusion

• Mobilink customers are pretty satisfied with its coverage and quality. To target more customers it should focus on SMS packages.
• The customers of Zong preferred it for good GPRS and voice call plans; they better focus on coverage quality to capture high ARPUed and mature market, as clearly mature people are more concerned about quality.
• All mobile operators need to work on customer retention and developing customer loyalty as 64% of the participants said they have more than one sim.
• All mobile operators need to focus on GPRS rates.

Google Paying Up to $1337 for Chrome Bugs

Are you l33t enough to score the $1337?

The Google Chrome browser has been a choice of PC users for some time, and as of recently it's become an option for Linux and Mac users. The related Chromium project, the open source side to Chrome, has opened up a bounty system similar to Mozilla's to interest security researchers to encourage bug squashing.

Here are some of the details from the Q&A in Google's blog post:

Q) What reward might I get?

A) As per Mozilla, our base reward for eligible bugs is $500. If the panel finds a particular bug particularly severe or particularly clever, we envisage rewards of $1337. The panel may also decide a single report actually constitutes multiple bugs. As a consumer of the Chromium open source project, Google will be sponsoring the rewards.

Q) What bugs are eligible?

A) Any security bug may be considered. We will typically focus on High and Critical impact bugs, but any clever vulnerability at any severity might get a reward. Obviously, your bug won't be eligible if you worked on the code or review in the area in question.

Q) What about bugs present in Google Chrome but not the Chromium open source project?

A) Bugs in either build may be eligible. In addition, bugs in plugins that are part of the Chromium project and shipped with Google Chrome by default (e.g. Google Gears) may be eligible. Bugs in third-party plugins and extensions are ineligible.