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News: Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta coming soon; new Windows Updates improvements available now

In case you hadn’t seen the posting on the Windows Vista Blog today, the team announced the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta as Nick writes…



“Now is the time and the time is now:  let’s talk about Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1). … we’re in the process of developing and deploying a Beta version of SP1. 


“The Windows Update online service is one new way to deliver many OS improvements.  For example, yesterday in advance of SP1 we released via Windows Update two separate improvements to Windows Vista’s reliability and performance.  We did this prior to SP1 in lieu of requiring customers to wait for these fixes to be rolled into a single service pack. 


“[Vista] SP1 will contain changes focused on addressing specific reliability and performance issues we’ve identified via customer feedback, supporting new types of hardware, and adding support for several emerging standards.  SP1 also makes additional improvements to the IT administration experience.  We didn’t design SP1 as a vehicle for releasing new features; however, some existing components do gain enhanced functionality in SP1. More information on what’s included in SP1 can be found in the detailed white paper.


“In the meantime, I’d encourage you to check out the Windows Vista SP1 white paper for more detail.” 


We should see the SP1 Beta released in the next couple of weeks to MSDN and TechNet subscribers as we expand beyond the current set of testers.


As noted in Keith Ward’s article today in Redmond Mag, customers will be able to obtain the service pack throughone of a couple of different methods, including…



  • “Express. Requires an Internet connection but minimizes the size of the download by sending only the changes needed for a specific computer (approximately 50 MB for x86-based operating systems).
  • Stand-alone. Recommended for computers with limited Internet connectivity and for applying the service pack to multiple computers. The download size is larger than the express package, but customers can apply a single package to any Windows Vista version and language combination (within a platform). Distribution tools like System Center Configuration Manager 2007 use stand-alone packages to deploy Windows Vista SP1.
  • Slipstream. The slipstream version of Windows Vista SP1 is media that already contains the service pack, which companies can use to deploy the operating system to new computers or to upgrade existing computers. Availability will be limited. Microsoft will update Windows Vista retail media with Windows Vista SP1 slipstream media in the future. Slipstream media will also be available to Volume Licensing customers.”

Tags: Windows Vista, Vista SP1, service pack 

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FYI: new scams featuring the IRS logo to get your PII

That e-mail from the IRS? It’s not from the IRS… so says local reporter Herb Weisbaum, an MSNBC contributor, on MSNBC (and the IRS warns taxpayers of the scams in a press release here)….

“The Internal Revenue Service is trying to be more customer-friendly, but it’s not going to pay you for your feedback. The latest phishing scam starts with an e-mail masquerading as a request from the IRS to take an online customer satisfaction survey.

“Like all phishing schemes, this one is designed to steal your personal information. In this case, the bad guys are after your credit card number.

“Click the link embedded in the e-mail and you’ll wind up at a bogus website that asks you to rate the IRS — on everything from courtesy and friendliness to speed of service — and supply your contact information.

“Hit the submit button and you’ll land on a page that asks for your credit card information. The $80 “reward” for taking the survey will supposedly be credited to your account within the next 3 business days.”

As they say, just because the logo looks right doesn’t mean the site is all it reports to be.

Protect yourself: there’s good information out there on how to recognize legitimate websites, particularly the site on the Microsoft Secutity Site page on Recognizing Spoofed Websites & Phishing Scams, with this tidbit on how to verify a site certificate…

Always verify the security certificate issued to a site before submitting any personal information. Before you submit any personal information, ensure that you are indeed on the website you intend to be on.

In Internet Explorer, you can do this by checking the yellow lock icon on the status bar.

This symbol signifies that the website uses encryption to help protect any sensitive personal information—credit card number, Social Security number, payment details—that you enter.

Screen shot of yellow lock icon in Internet Explorer

Secure site lock icon. If the lock is closed, then the site uses encryption. Double-click the lock icon to display the security certificate for the site. This certificate is proof of the identity for the site.

More info…

 

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Also available via http://bit.ly/yG6CfS

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Your questions: how does the AT&T 8525 PPC phone compare to the Apple iPhone?

A quick post as I run off to lunch… a question I received yesterday from a friend as I was doing mail on my 8525… 

“What’s the difference between the AT&T 8525 [aka HTC Wizard] and the new iPhone?”

Let’s point the wayback machine to June, 2007, and Tom Yager’s Infoworld blog posting, as AT&T positioned the 8525 Pocket PC phone at a low promo price and apparently as a alternative to the Apple iPhone…

“Mobile buyers brought to AT&T’s site by iPhone’s pre-launch excitement will be greeted with a number of iPhone alternatives, but AT&T has pushed one to the front of the pack. AT&T chopped $300 off the $599 list price of its newest top-end 3G device, the 8525 Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC, just in time for iPhone’s launch.

“I find AT&T’s re-pricing particularly interesting since the 8525 is the very handset I chose to pit against iPhone. The 8525 is a business handset with consumer features, while iPhone is a consumer handset with business features. They both converge, yet they end up in very different places.

“I’ve been carrying an 8525 for about a month in preparation for the shoot-out and as part of my real-life road warrior mobile device testing regimen. I’ll hold my opinions for the review, but I will say that the 8525 is dear at its $599 list price, appropriately priced at AT&T’s standard $449 2-year subsidized price, and is worth checking out in person at $299.

“The 8525’s killer feature will be its Windows Mobile 6 upgrade, which AT&T promises for the third quarter of this year. Expect it to be downloadable, but not necessarily free. If the 8525 had shown with Windows Mobile 6 in time for iPhone’s launch, the landscape might look quite different.”

Mr. Yager provides a side-by-side feature comparison of the two phones as “part of a work in progress for [his] InfoWorld Test Center shoot-out among iPhone, T-Mobile BlackBerry 8800 and the AT&T 8525.” 

As you may recall, at home we made the move to the then Cingular 8525 with Windows Mobile 5, when we found the price even lower than the pricing this summer…

“The clincher on this deal? Over the holiday shopping weekend last week, Cingular offered a “Buy One Get One Free” deal and the phones were essentially half price: not only was Cingular’s family plan comparable to what I had on T-Mobile, their pricing on devices was better. (The lowest tier of Internet access is a couple of dollars more a month than T-Mobile’s WAP access, but affordable.)”

Depending on the timing and your local AT&T dealer, your mileage may vary.

Also of interest: Russell Shaw’s blog post today on “So who is this $100,000 mystery buyer for iPhone unlocking software?”

Tags: AT&T, Apple iPhone, Windows Mobile, Cingular 8525.

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Old news: Free Retrofit for Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel

I missed this article last week.

We have an Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel, and one that has taken a back seat to the of Dance Dance Revolution pad.

I learned from Gregg Keizer at Computerworld (and various news sites) that the Wheel should have a free retrofit applied. There’s an announcement on Xbox.com that notes that “a component in the Wheel chassis may in rare cases overheat and release smoke when the AC-DC power supply is used to energize the Wheel.”

Jeepers.

“Owners of the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel should print out the retrofit form or call Microsoft at 1-800-4MY-XBOX to register to receive the retrofit and protect against the potential hazard described above. Instructions will be provided with the retrofit. We are notifying and will be coordinating our response activities with the relevant regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. This may impact delivery dates.”

Until you receive a retrofit for your Wheel, Xbox recommends that you run the wheel on batteries only.

Or just of Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero until it arrives.

Tags: Xbox 360, customer support.

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News: Acer to buy Gateway

Jason Dean reports in today’s today’s WSJournal that Acer is buying Gateway…

“Taiwan’s Acer Inc. said it had reached an agreement to acquire Gateway Inc. in a deal that values the U.S. company at about $710 million and pushes Acer past Lenovo Group Ltd. as the world’s No. 3 vendor of personal computers.

“The deal appeared to mark a double blow to Lenovo, which has been the world’s No. 3 PC vendor since buying the PC business of International Business Machines Corp. in 2005. Lenovo disclosed earlier this month that it is in talks to buy a stake in Packard Bell BV, a Netherlands-based PC maker. That deal was aimed at giving the Chinese company a leg up in the European consumer market, where Acer is especially strong.”

As noted in this blog posting on ZDnet by Larry Dignan, Acer has been doing well in securing a better retail presence, which has put Dell “at a disadvantage because the fastest-growing segments of the PC industry are consumer and emerging markets, which was demonstrated by Dell’s share losses to HP and Acer in the past year.”

A benefit to the merged companies: improve their combined customer service image. Good to note that Gateway has seen their customer satisfaction scores in the American Customer Satisfaction Index increase over the past three years, hitting 75, up more than two percent. 

Acer seems to be everywhere with a number of models in retail, and I’ve seen a number of Acer Ferrari notebooks around town–models that users say they like.  Acer should do well if they are able to continue to bring out more highly-rated computers like the Acer Aspire L310 and Travelmate 8204WLMi (one of PCMag’s Favorite Laptops). 

But I haven’t seen a similar rise in quality wen it comes to their monitors, especially when I looked at home desktops recently. Although the Aspire 310 received good marks, the Acer X221W LCD monitor paired with it at retail didn’t match up. Said John R. Delaney of PC Magazine in a recent review, “an attractive appearance and low price don’t compensate for the Acer X221W’s dismal image quality.”

Tags: Acer, Gateway, mergers, PC hardware, customer satisfaction.