By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Security worked in the Presidential election. Now it looks like this will be the selling point, or at least one of them, for Windows Vista.

“Safety and security is the overriding feature that most people will want to have Windows Vista for,” the co-president of Microsoft’s platform, products and services division (Jim Allchin) said in an interview with CNET News.com. “Even if they are not into home entertainment or in any of the specialty areas, they are just going to feel safer and more secure by using it.” Source: News.com

We Say: So, based on the number of vulnerabilities we usually see in Windows, plus the fact that Vista beta has already been patched for a security vulnerability, am I going to believe that Vista will be inherently safer than XP? I understand that the default mode will likely be “protected administrator”, but since you will require “full administrator” mode to install an app, I don’t see that setting staying that way for long. And I don’t think Vista will be a panacea for our security woes.

XP will continue to be supported, and it’s not like Microsoft will open its arms and say, “Come and infect our XP systems”, so I’m probably not going to upgrade and only get Vista with a new PC.

By Mark Evans
Contribuing Writer, RealTechNews

Chris Anderson has a thought-provoking story in Wired arguing the technology sector’s revival is a boom, not a bubble - citing the industry’s maturity, the lower cost of bandwidth and and computing, and lower capital requirements. It’s a reasonable argument but I would suggest no one in Silicon Valley should pat themselves on the back too heartily for being so pragmatic and/or rational this time around. While it may not be a bubble, there are plenty of signs a bubble be closer than many people think. A regular check with TechCrunch and SiliconBeat, for example, offers a steady stream of news about cool start-ups with questionable business plans (Does AdSense count as a business plan?) raising several million dollars. Sure, many of these start-ups are lean and mean operations that require little capital to develop a service and distribute it, but if the path to becoming a viable business is still very much work in progress. As a result, I would argue many VCs are speculating on these start-up investments even if these services have thousands of enthusiastic users. This sounds a lot what I heard during the dot-com boom. If more VCs jump into Web 2.0 with more enthusiasm and dollars, then the whole speculation argument begins to gain credibility. I do concede, however, that one thing that does make the current high-tech revival different from the dot-com boom is the absence of IPO fever. There just isn’t the enthusiasm for high-tech IPOs - look at the muted reception Traffic.com received recently and Vonage’s oh-so-slow IPO plans. This environment can only be viewed as an extremely encouraging check on the boom becoming a bubble. As long as this situation exists, you will keep unsophisticated investors and taxi drivers from catching a bad case of Web 2.0 fever. So what does it all mean? I would argue Anderson’s thesis is right for the time being but there are very few barriers (more VC activity, Nasdaq gaining strength, successful IPOs) between a boom and a bubble so let’s not get too carried away with the idea everyone learned so much during the last dot-com boom that there is no way it could happen again.

For more thoughts about Web 2.0 and other tech trends, check out my blog.

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Expecting longer battery life with your new Core Duo notebook? Don’t count on it yet. There appears to be a bug in a Microsoft driver that more than 25% off the battery life of a Napa-chipset-based notebook when a USB 2.0 device of any type is attached.

TG Daily has an interesting article today that goes into this issue in great detail; according to TG Daily:

“Our assessment and observations, coupled with extensive consultation with engineers familiar with Intel dual-core architecture, plus information we received today from Microsoft, have led us to conclude that an anomaly in the way the currently available version of the ICH7-M Southbridge communicates with Microsoft’s ACPI driver, is at the heart of the power drain issue.”

We Say: One of the selling points of the new CPUs is power consumption. According to the article, the issue has been known since at least 7/12/2005. Also according to the article, the fix “may be” as simple as a change to the registry. I’m not sure, quite honestly, why this issue is taking so long to fix, or why Intel has shipped with this problem. This will bear further watching.

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews

Today marks 20 years since the shuttle blew up. We don’t cover a lot of space-related info here, but in the spirit of learning and never forgetting the imporatance of space exploration, here’s some info from NASA on what really happens in space:

Our more delicate readers might want to consider some different reading because we’re going to get to the bottom (so to speak) of something I always wondered about: how does one go to the bathroom in space?
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By Alice Hill
RealTechNews

It’s been a hard week for robotics. Sony annouced it was killing off the AIBO robotic dog and the QRIO robotic human, to focus on its core business: kick-a$$ electronics and gaming. Can’t say we blame them now that Samsung and others are clearly eating their lunch, but it’s sad that we are steps further away now from having our robotic dog bring in the paper while our robotic servant mixes up a martini. Sigh…

Anyway, here’s a guy who has devoted himself to the very speciliaed world of steam powered robotics. Why? becasue he can.

Click to View Move Robots
Source: CrabFU Steam via memepool

ByAlice Hill
RealTechNews

We don’t usually cover our own internal news very often, but every six months or so on the weekend, I figure it’s OK to check in under the hood and see how we’re doing. The good news: traffic is growing, and more and more people are finding us online and coming back. After a very slow start this week, we have been on a nice roll, and that means a major thank you to our loyal and hard-working contributors and to all the readers who challenge us and make us work every day to make this the best tech blog ever.

Thanks to all! –Alice

More stats…. More

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews

Look what arrived in the mail today! I have to say I fell hard for this one - the new Nokia N70 smartphone. Last time Nokia sent me a phone, the much larger N90, it definitely drew oohs and ahs, but was just too bulky– with a twisty camera piece on top of the phone’s clamshell hinge. (For my complete hands-on review of the N90 click here.)

But the N70 is sleek where the N90 was bulky. Even the photo of it I posted is larger than the actual phone, but the display is bright and roomy, and the unit is as light as a feather. Other notable features: The camera lens (a very respectable 2 megapixel zoom lens) is housed behind a plastic slide down panel on the back of the phone that protects the lens and activates the camera mode when you slide the cover down. The unit boasts an FM tuner and does music and video and so on.

Torture Test

I’m calling this a preview because I have not yet had time to give it my Alice Hill RealTechNews torture test. For starters, I live in a neighborhood in San Francisco known for bad or virtually no cell phone coverage. The N90 in fact failed where my trusty Samsung P777 does not - my Samsung can do calls without trouble from my home location. I also took the N90 to Hong Kong and Manila (work-related trips) and it performed a major multi-country journey without a hitch. This Tuesday I leave for Amman Jordan, and the N70 is definitely coming along for the ride. I’ll post my complete review once I get to Jordan and have given this wonderful new phone the once over.

Alice Says: I fear for my Samsung - this one is a major contender. Meanwhile, here’s the lowdown from Nokia.

By Jimmy Daniels
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

The latest version of Microsoft’s anti-spyware program, Windows Defender, is preparing to go into the second round of beta testing in the next couple months, and some of the improvements sound promising. They are going to support more than just Windows XP, it will now run on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista with support of some of the other versions of Windows to be added at a later date. They will also add support for Outlook, it will have a new interface and it will add automated updates for the spyware definitions and scanning engine.

Among what’s new in Beta 2, said the developers, is integration with Outlook, Microsoft’s e-mail client, to scan incoming attachments (Beta 1 scans only files retrieved through the browser), a totally-redesigned interface, and automatic updates that include both spyware definition updates and upgrades to the scanning engine, allowing Microsoft to update the software without having to explicitly release a new version.

The Vista and non-Vista versions of Defender will be similar, though not identical, said Ron Franczyk, a founder of New York-based GIANT Company Software — the anti-spyware firm that Microsoft purchased in late 2004 — and now working as a Microsoft developer, in the online chat.

“They are very similar, with Vista’s version taking advantage of User Access Protection,” said Franczyk.

The long Beta 1 run of AntiSpyware, said another Microsoft developer, was necessary because of the company’s plans for the GIANT technology within Vista. “The priority for development has been integration with Vista,” said Jeff Williams. “Because Beta 1 was essentially a rebranding of GIANT’s very successful and useful product development, focus has been on inclusion with Vista and on the upcoming Beta 2 of Windows Defender.” Source: Informationweek.

We Say: Wow, that is a long beta 1, wonder how long beta 2 will run. The developers did say that Defender will remain free to everyone with a validated copy of Windows.