Apple has just announced the availability of its iPod Shuffle music player in five different colors. As pictured above, the small trendy clip player will be available in colors of green, pink, orange, blue and silver. The Shuffle has a storage capacity of 1GB and costs $79.

Sony’s latest PS3 firmware update (1.5 already? Oh how the time flies!) really has its heart in the right place. None of this magnanimous 720p Blu-ray playback nonsense, or any other help for the True HD impaired. No, this time around Sony is concentrating on what really matters: raking in the cash. See, the update lets you hook up a fancy little PaSoRi reader, which can pull contactless payments from your Edy money card or Felica phone to fill up your Network Wallet with relevant monies. It’s all Japan-only, of course, but perhaps one day we can be cool like our island friends. Other minor enhancements include the addition of WEP128 and WPA-PSK (TKIP/AES) for wireless security, and a few other smaller fixes. The firmware should be headed to Japanese PS3s tomorrow.

World’s first Single-chip Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and FM Radio solution for mobile devices announced by Broadcom

Broadcom, renowned semiconductor manufacturer, introduced the Broadcom BCM4325 single-chip connectivity chipset, which combines Bluetooth, an FM transceiver and Wi-Fi all on to a single silicon die.

The Broadcom BCM4325 chipset features radio capabilities in a new ultra-low power 65 nanometer CMOS system-on-a-chip (SoC). This makes it possible to address the growing demand for a single product that powers devices with multiple applications such as Web-browsing, instant messaging (IM), e-mail, VoIP phone calls and photo sharing, by eliminating the need to use multiple chips, since these were needed to prevent “same band” interference.

The Broadcom BCM4325 single-chip system enables integration for mobile or handheld wireless systems that feature IEEE 802.11 a/b/g (MAC, baseband and radio), support for Bluetooth 2.0 plus enhanced data rate (EDR).
Mobile handsets, media players and handheld wireless systems have made recent leaps in sophistication, enabling service providers to offer compelling applications such as web browsing, instant messaging, e-mail, advanced multimedia, VoIP phone calls, photo sharing, as well as innovative connected services like weather and personal navigation. Critical to the success of these advanced handheld devices (which are now appearing in the market) are ultra-low power solutions for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other radio technologies that enable an array of connectivity options. Adding multiple additional chips to mobile devices, however, impedes the trend toward increasing compact, low-power products. Until now, integrating these technologies in a single product was challenging since multiple radios in the same band can lead to self-interference. Broadcom has solved these issues with today’s product introduction.

“Mobile handsets are rapidly evolving into the central point of personal communications, entertainment and information for large numbers of consumers,” commented Broadcom Wireless Connectivity Group’s senior vice president and general manager Robert A. Rango. “Our new Bluetooth, WiFi and FM transceiver will help to drive this evolution and enhance devices like digital music players by dramatically reducing the cost and complexity of these key wireless technologies in innovative mobile devices.”

The product is currently available for sampling to early access customers.

Microsoft Windows Vista Mumbai launch: Exclusive Video Coverage

For months on end, everyone eagerly awaited the launch of Microsoft’s much talked about next-generation operating system, Windows Vista. On January 30, 2007, the day finally came, and Microsoft organized official launches of its latest operating system all over the world.

India was not left out on this big day, and Microsoft did not fail to launch Windows Vista with great pomp. Also launched on the same day, was Microsoft’s 2007 Office System. The launch took place at Taj President in Mumbai, India.

Do check out the video of the Microsoft Windows Vista launch in Mumbai, India which captures one of the most anticipated product launches in the history of technology product launches.

Microsoft has quietly flipped the switch on a new feature in Internet Explorer 7 meant to combat phishing scams.

The software giant in early January made a change on its computer systems that allowed Web sites fitted with a new type of security certificate to display a green-filled address bar in IE 7, Markellos Diorinos, a product manager for Windows at Microsoft, said in an interview.

"We have rolled out many of the parts that are required to get it working. We're coming close to the point where all the moving parts are in place," Diorinos said. Microsoft plans to promote the green bar at next week's RSA Conference in San Francisco, an annual security confab kicked off by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.

The colored address bar is meant as a sign that a site can be trusted, giving Web surfers the green light to carry out transactions there. It is a new weapon in the fight against phishing scams. The green bar already appears on the secured sites of Overstock.com and VeriSign.

VeriSign has about 300 customers, including online retailer Overstock.com, who signed up for the green bar certification process, said Spiros Theodossiou, a senior product manager at VeriSign. The company plans to unveil the names of more participating Web sites at the RSA Conference, he said.

Phishing is a prevalent online scam that uses faked Web sites to trick people into giving up personal information. The scams cost businesses millions of dollars and hurt consumer trust in the Net. Nearly $2 billion in U.S. e-commerce sales are estimated to be lost in 2006 due to security concerns, according to a recent Gartner survey.

"We are including support for EV certificates in Firefox 3, but we are still investigating how we will communicate the additional information to the user," said Window Snyder, security chief at Mozilla, which coordinates development of Firefox, the most-used Web browser after IE. Firefox 3 is due in the second half of the year, Snyder said.

Representatives for Opera have said that they are waiting to see how Microsoft fares with the green bar in IE7, which last month reached over 100 million users, before adding such functionality to its browser.

Adoption of EV SSL certificates is expected to ramp up as more people become aware of the feature. "We think the adoption rate can take about six to twelve months until you hit a sweet spot where most of the high profile Web sites will have it," Cybertrust's Sys said.

Microsoft plans to make promotional material available for Web site owners to explain what the green bar means Diorinos said. "I will pop the champagne when we see widespread adoption of EV and when we start seeing users be more secure online," he said.

Microsoft Great Plains Upgrade - Version 8.0 Overview for IT Director/Controller

If you have Microsoft Great Plains as main accounting and ERP system you need to know some technical details on Great Plains version upgrade and what is going on behind the scenes, which options do you have in case of Dexterity, VBA, SQL customizations, ctree/Pervasive migration to MS SQL/MSDE. As of right now it is reasonable to upgrade to Microsoft Great Plains 8.0

Is upgrade required? Not actually, but you have to consider these factors
? Technical Support discontinuation - the old version may not be supported - currently if you are on version 6.0 - support is already discontinued. You can not have Microsoft Business Solutions help you, but obviously you have MBS partners who can still help you. If you are on Ctree or Pervasive SQL, then your support expires December, 31 2004.
? Tax Updates/Magnetic media expiration - if you have US Payroll module and depend on it with W2 and other forms - you must stay with the version, which is supported and has tax updates. If you are on Ctree or Pervasive SQL - then you will not have tax updates for these platforms at the end of 2004 and your W2s maybe inaccurate. If you have a lot of employees - you may have issues with government.
? Following the Technology and Microsoft rules - Microsoft wants you to be on the newest platform and provides you the best support when you follow this rule
? If you do have heavy customization - we recommend you to skip one version, for example if you are on version 7.5 - do not upgrade to 8.0 and wait for the next version

What is upgrade in the language of technology? Upgrade has server and client sides.
? Server side - upgrade converts tables from old format to the new one. In general words - Microsoft Business Solutions developers may change table structure, append additional fields to add new functionality, things like that. Upgrade copies the table with changes to temporary table, then drops original table, recreates it with new structure and copies all the data from temp table to the newly created one.
? Workstation side - workstation is written in Great Plains Dexterity and has Dynamics.exe - engine and DYNAMICS.DIC - dictionary. These two plus all the additional files will be replaced with the new ones. Other dictionaries, such us REPORTS.DIC and FORMS.DIC should be also upgraded and upgrade will try to deal with them automatically. In some cases modified reports (in REPORTS.DIC) could not be upgraded and need to be recreated in the new version.
What is customization upgrade? You should consider different types of customizations: Dexterity, VBA/Modifier, SQL, ReportWriter, Crystal Reports
? Dexterity Customization - being very short - Dexterity may have so called Custom Forms - these do not need upgrade - they should work as is. Then Dexterity may alter existing Great Plains forms (so-called Alternate Great Plains forms) - in this case Dexterity customization should be redone for these forms/screens. Plus additional consideration should be given to Dexterity triggers, shadow tables, etc.
? VBA/Modifier customization - Modifier allows you to modify existing Great Plains windows - it creates so called modified Great Plains windows, stored in FORMS.DIC. Usually modification is placing new buttons or fields, which in turn will be given VBA scripts (stored in DYNAMICS.VBA). VBA scripts may call something nice, like Crystal Report, or have some data access logic. Usually the old version of DYNAMICS.VBA workds with the new version. You may need to rearrange buttons on the modified form.
? SQL - you may have some stored procs for data integration, EDI or the like - if the addressed tables will be changed in the new version then you need to analyze your SQL code. The good news is - Microsoft Business Solution doesn't make a lot of changes since version 7.0, because Microsoft is now trying to merge the products it owns: Great Plains, Solomon, Navision and Axapta - and so has different priorities
? ReportWriter - MBS doesn't change tables, but it keeps changing Dexterity formulas used in ReportWriter original reports - this is the problem in so-called Modified Reports upgrade - usually you have these reports modified: SOP Blank Invoice form, SOP Blank Picking ticket, etc. If report can not be upgraded - it should be redone in the new version with some exceptions.
? Crystal Reports - the nice thing about Crystal Report - id doesn't need to be upgraded (if the fields in the tables exist in the new version - which is usually true statement)
What is upgrade for third-party modules? Your Great Plains may have so-called third party modules: Mekorma, Kampdata, Horyzon, Wennsoft, Avalara, Truepay, Trinity, Intellisol to name a few
Third party modules may have their own utility for upgrade. You just need to know that your third-party is ready for the new Great Plains version - if not - you just wait and stay on the old version.

What is migration from Ctree/Pervasive.SQL 2000 to MS SQL/MSDE? MBS has migration tool. You need first to install Great Plains on SQL Server with exactly the same account/segments structure and then install migration tool (it is Dexterity chunk) on your ctree/Pervasive workstation - then, when you integrate the chunk - you will map it to target SQL-based Great Plains Company, select all system and company tables, click the button and it will move all your tables one-by-one. In the case when your Great Plains ctree/Pervasive has third parties - you need to check if the vendor has migration tool - otherwise you have to do manual move, use SQL Linked server to your legacy data

Do I need consultant? It is probably good idea to have consultant to do the upgrade. We strongly recommend you to use consultant in the following cases
? You have Dexterity customization
? You are doing migration from Pervasive/Ctree to Microsoft SQL Server/MSDE, especially when you have third-parties without migration tools
? You have a lot or ReportWriter Modified Great Plains Reports
? You have old version of Great Plains: Dynamics or eEnterprise 6.0 or prior - in this case you can not appeal to Microsoft Technical Support - it is discontinued
? Your Great Plains has more than 20 users and you have to have upgrade done over the weekend - if it fails - you have business problems
? You don't have support - in this case you have to select your Microsoft Business Solutions Partner and pay for the annual support/enhancement plan - you will get new registration key and will be ready for the upgrade

Good luck with upgrade and if you have issues or concerns - we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies - USA nationwide Microsoft CRM, Microsoft Great Plains customization company, based in Chicago, California, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Texas, New York, Washington, Georgia and Florida and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.

Windows Vista and Office 2007 Box Shots released

Microsoft has just put up some box shots of its soon to be released Windows Vista and Office 2007, which are slated to hot store next year. Both the box and style have been designed to attract the eye.

“The packaging has been completely revised and, we hope, foreshadows the great experience that awaits you once you open it,” said Vista product manager Nick White. “Designed to be user-friendly, the new packaging is a small, hard, plastic container that’s designed to protect the software inside for life-long use.”

The boxes of windows Vista are grand enough to get anyone worked up about the highly-anticipated operating system. The Windows Vista Ultimate surely looks like it could be the ‘ultimate’ operating system

Then there’s Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Home Basic and Windows Vista Business.

There are box shots of Microsoft Office Professional 2007 and Office Home and Student 2007.

Welcome to FunTechz

Hey all...
This is Rahul AKA DesiDevil..
First of all welcome to FunTechz..
Here you can find all Latest news of Technology...
You can learn about tech. as like fun games...
So lets start guyz....