Tech News

This probably will make me sound like an old fogey, but I believe you can't fully appreciate the present until you understand the past. This is especially true in the realm of consumer electronics, where innovations move so fast, it's easy to forget where we've been.

I've owned many computers over the years, each more robust than the last. My latest is an absolute screamer, with heaps of RAM, a massive array of hard drives and a blazingly fast dual-core CPU. Quite frankly, it packs more power than I ever imagined was necessary. Yet in a few years, even this won't be enough. Like many people, I've gotten spoiled.

I got hooked on computers relatively late, in 1984, with Commodore 64, the world's best-selling home computer. The basic machine came with a whopping 64KB of RAM, built-in BASIC programming language, a ROM-based operating system, integrated keyboard, sprite graphics and a 3-voice sound chip.

Today, the average cell phone is more advanced than the old C-64, but at the time, it was nothing short of revolutionary. It connected to any TV set, or a 40-column monochrome monitor, if you could afford one. For storage, you were limited to the agonizingly slow Commodore Datassette tape drive, or the 1541 51/4-inch external floppy drive, which held only 170 KB of data per disk.

Despite their now-laughable specs, personal computers weren't exactly cheap back then. If I remember correctly, my C-64 and disk drive retailed for about $800, but that still beat the competition: An Apple IIe cost about $1,400, a Tandy TSR-80 III ran about $1,000 and the original IBM PC cost around $1,350. Yet none of them could touch the C-64 in computing power or fun factor.

I eventually graduated from the C-64 to the Commodore 128, which featured twice the power -- a 2 Mhz CPU,... Tags: mac, programming, software

Having banned from its App Store an application that turned an iPhone 3G into a wireless modem, is Apple ready to enable just such an application itself?

That's the rumor based on an e-mail response allegedly from Apple CEO Steve Jobs to an inquiring user. The questioner forwarded the response to the Gizmodo blog, which posted the question and Jobs' purported response.

The question: Why, since AT&T offers a plan by which users can pay an extra $30 to tether their laptops to their BlackBerry, don't Apple and AT&T offer a similar plan for iPhone 3G users?

The response: "We agree, and are discussing it with ATT." The message is signed "Steve" and includes the familiar tag, "Sent from my iPhone."

E-Mail Legit?

Gizmodo thinks the response is "legitimate-looking," but concedes "that 'Sent from my iPhone' kicker either makes this e-mail completely legitimate or illegitimate." On the other hand, Wired News engaged in a little grammatical sleuthing, noting that a message, purportedly from Jobs, posted on the MacRumors site contained a similar construction.

"We are working on some bugs which affect around two percent of the iPhones shipped, and hope to have a software update soon," the message read. Wired points out that both messages incorrectly use a comma before the "and." (A comma is appropriate to separate independent clauses; in both cases the phrases after the comma are dependent clauses.)

"I don't mean to draw a conclusion based on this nitpicky observation, but I just thought it'd be interesting to point out," Wired writer Brian Chen pointed out.

AT&T Terms of Service

Any tethering application would require a change to AT&T's terms of service. Those terms state: "Furthermore, plans (unless specifically designated for tethering usage) cannot be used for any applications that tether the device (through use of, including without limitation, connection kits, other phone/PDA-to-computer... Tags: blog, design, mac, software

Microsoft warned developers preparing to download the new Beta 2 release of Internet Explorer 8 that under certain conditions those who have already installed IE8 Beta 1 cannot revert to older iterations of the browser.

For Windows XP users with IE8 Beta 1 already installed, Windows XP Service Pack 3 and IE8 Beta 2 would become permanent, said Jane Maliouta, the deployment product manager for IE8 at Microsoft. "You will still be able to upgrade to later IE8 builds as they become available, but you won't be able to uninstall them," she said.

Incompatibility Issues

Developers will need to be careful because IE8 Beta 2 will not work with several key services, applications and add-on programs, including certain versions of the Google Toolbar, RealPlayer and Skype, and is even incompatible with Microsoft products and services, such as Visual Studio .NET and Windows Live Mail. IE8 Beta 2 users also are currently unable to view movies on demand from Netflix, though Microsoft said the two companies are working to resolve the compatibility issue as quickly as possible.

Maliouta strongly encouraged those who have already downloaded IE8 Beta 1 to follow several steps before installing the new Beta 2 version. First uninstall the Beta 1 version and SP3 for Windows XP, followed by reinstalling SP3, and only then install IE8 Beta 2.

"If you have IE8 Beta 1 installed, the IE8 installer will automatically uninstall any earlier versions and then install the latest version of IE8 Beta 2 for you," Maliouta said. "You will be prompted to reboot twice. The first reboot is to remove IE8 Beta 1 from your machine and the second one to complete the IE8 Beta 2 installation."

According to Microsoft, IE8 Beta 1 was only intended for use by developers. Consumers running Windows XP need not worry about downloading IE8... Tags: mac, microsoft