By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Foundation’s “Give One, Get One” Program (G1G1), which enabled end users to get an XO-1 for themselves, while at the same time donating an XO-1, was originally scheduled to run from Nov. 12 - Nov. 26. The program has proven so popular, and the public has been asking for more time to participate, so it was been extended until the end of the year.

To be clear, $200 of the $400 for a G1G1 purchase is tax-deductible. Donors get access to one year of complimentary T-Mobile HotSpot Wi-Fi access. Finally, according to the OLPC foundation, the program has been averaging $2 million in sales daily since it began.

If you’re interested, please visit http://www.laptopgiving.org.

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

Last week I wrote that testers reported that Windows Vista SP1, at least in Release Candidate (RC) form, is still somewhat of a slowpoke. Devil Mountain Software, the testers, have run their same tests on Windows XP SP3’s RC, and in this case, they’ve seen a 10% speedup from XP SP2 to SP3.

The test computer was a Dell XPS M1710 with 2GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 1GB of RAM and nVidia GeForce Go 7900GS video. Tests were run using their OfficeBench Microsoft Office-based test script, the same as in the Vista test.

“Since SP3 was supposed to be mostly a bug-fix/patch consolidation release, the unexpected speed boost comes as a nice bonus,” Craig Barth, Devil Mountain’s CTO said. “In fact, XP SP3 is shaping up to be a ‘must-have’ update for the majority of users who are still running Redmond’s not-so-latest and greatest desktop OS.” Source: exo-blog

We Say: Is Windows Vista turning out to be more like Windows Me, one of Microsoft’s greatest OS failures, than anything else? The only real attraction for me has been DirectX 10. Aside from that, everything else appears incremental in appearance. Nice to have, but nothing I must have.

Since Forrester Research has noted that XP remains Vista’s biggest rival, what must Microsoft be thinking now?

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

Remember how the U.K. government lost the data of 40% of their population? How could it get worse? It’s worse, though only by showing a pattern, as the new loss of data isn’t critical.

HM Revenue and Customs has confirmed that a further six data discs have gone missing in transit between its offices in Preston and London.

The discs, which were reported missing on 30 October, contained recorded conversations between a member of staff and a customer making a complaint.

Police are still searching for two computer discs containing the details of 25m Child Benefit claimants. Source: BBC News

We Say: While, of course, conversations between a staffer and a customer may only affect those two, it does show a pattern. I think they need to stop using inter-office mail, don’t you?

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

If a company can fire a worker via text message, then why can’t a worker “call in sick” via text message?

Apparently he can, an Edinburgh employment tribunal has ruled. Or at least, if an excuse via text message has been accepted once, it has to be accepted again, unless notice to the employee about the change in procedure is given.

Mark Morrison worked as a sales adviser for tile shop Tile It All. When his brother passed away last December, he sent a text message to his manager, Robert Selley, to inform him, and later sent another text message indicating he would be on sick leave until after the funeral.

Upon returning, Morrison heard nothing adverse about his method of informing his employer. Four days later, he again stayed home, telling his manager via text message (over five consecutive days) that he was depressed and not coming to work.

This time when he returned he was dismissed for “failure to follow company procedures.” Policy indicated that he should notifty for reporting absences. The policy stated that absences should be notified by phone calls.

However, the tribunal said that since Tile It All had accepted his notification one week, and hadn’t informed him of any problem, they could not dismiss him for using the same method the next week.

Morrison was awarded damages in the sum of £6,977.

We Say: Let’s not forget that most high-tech companies accept “calling in sick” via email nowadays, so what’s the big deal over texting? I will admit, one thing about email or SMS: if you want to “fake it” you no longer have to simulate a “sick voice” any longer.

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

In a study that produced a result that some would say “Duh!” to, China’s Internet users are much more dependent on the Web than U.S. users. However, it’s about more than just gaming.

A survey of more than 2,100 Internet users aged 16 to 25 years old in both countries showed that about 42 percent of users in China said they at times felt “addicted” to their Web use compared with 18 percent of U.S. users.

Nearly 25 percent of Chinese users said they would not be able to spend more than a day without the Internet compared with 12 percent of U.S. participants.

Less than a third of Americans said the Internet contributes to their social life, but 77 percent of Chinese users said the Web helped them make friends. Source: Reuters

We Say: Chinese users said they were free to do and say things online that they would not do in the real world. Based on the censorship issues, that’s surprising. On the other hand, based on their society, and most likely a comparative between real world and online experiences, it still might feel that way.

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

Amazon.com unveiled the Kindle on Monday, and despite understandable skepticism, it’s already sold out.

The Kindle is Amazon’s e-book reader, which uses cellular (specifically, EVDO) to download the books to the device. You can also subscribe and get automatic delivery of newspapers and magazines.

It’s 7.5″ x 5.3″ x 0.7″, smaller than a folded-up newspaper. Understandably, however, with the lack of success of prior e-book readers, such as Sony’s Reader, there’s been a lot of doubt about its potential for success.

Still, if you go to its sales page today, you’ll see it’s sold out, with a (at the time of this writing) availability date of Dec. 5. Strangely, it’s fluctuated a few times today, with the date being Dec. 7th and Dec. 3rd earlier today.

We Say: One final tidbit: it’s impossible to know how many Kindle’s have sold, so we really don’t know if it’s really been that successful.

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

Remember when George Lucas digitally remastered the original Star Wars trilogy? He said it was to “finish the film the way it was meant to be.” Most of the changes were cosmetic, enhancing the films with special effects that were not available when the films were first made. In a sense, we now have a similar version of Star Trek: The Original Series (ST: TOS).

ST: TOS is without a doubt the first — and definitely not the finest — member of the Trek franchise, but a collection isn’t complete without it. Tuesday a hybrid HD-DVD / DVD version of the first season was released. It has 10 discs, and it isn’t cheap: $195 retail. But the touches, relatively minor they may be, bring the series into the 21st century.

The episodes have been digitally remastered as well as having additional effects added. For example, in the episode Arena (loosely based on the far superior short story by Fredric Brown, BTW), the Gorn now blinks.

You can also see how they modified the phaser effects (above, click to enlarge). Left is old (obviously), right is new. Pretty nice, eh? If you watched the old series, you’ll recall on some episodes the phasers were red, and on others they were blue. In the episode Balance of Terror they were even more like bolts” than “rays.” In the new version they are standardized as blue.

We Say: Still, the basic elements of Star Trek remain. In other words, it’s just as corny. The storylines are just as silly, the music overly dramatic, and the acting, just as Shatner-ish. But isn’t that part of the charm of the old show? Come on, admit it.

Oh, and one more reason to get the set? Buy any Toshiba HD-DVD player and the set and get a Star Trek Phaser remote control by mail.

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

The Child Benefit is a payment made British families with children under 16. It’s sort of like a tax rebate. Unfortunately for anyone receiving the Child Benefit, the government has managed to lose the data for all families receiving it, putting their addresses, personal info, and banking info at risk. Calling it a data breach does not do it justice.

The information was included on two discs and was only password protected and not encrypted, meaning it could be fairly easy to get at. The data includes names, dates of birth, bank account, and address details. The discs went missing from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) office.

HMRC Board member Dave Hartnett wrote an apology to all affected on the agency’s Web site. “I would like to offer my personal apologies for any worry or concern this data loss may cause you. And I can assure you that all efforts are being made to ensure that such a loss can never happen again,” he said. Source: BetaNews

We Say: The CDs were actually lost in inter-office mail, if you can believe that. 7.5 million families and 25 million people would be approximately 40% of the entire U.K. population. Heads should roll.