February 4th, 2007
By GadgetManiac
We’re looking into this, but in Japan, Microsoft seems to have teamed up with a company called Frepar Networks to deliver what looks like a virtualized 3D communication system.
In the manner of Star Wars, the other party to the dialogue appears in miniature on your desktop, and seems to respond in an appropriate manner.
Seems to be part of something called the 2007 Office System. kewl.
Posted in General ~ 1 Comment
February 4th, 2007
By GadgetManiac
Hasselblad, that self-described maker of high-end camera systems, has a new model of digital SLR, model H3D-31, that delivers 31 Megapixels at a resolution of 4872 x 6496 for a price of $24,995. Lenses & stuff like that could run the total cost to over $40K. The H3D is Hassy’s new top of the line, having been preceded by the H2D - we made note of the H2D-39 back in Jan of 2006 & were impressed by it’s 39 Megapixels.
This 3rd generation H-family improves on the lowly H2D in a number of areas, such as ultra-fine focusing and better noise reduction via software. Some discussion re the merits of upgrading from the H2D to the newer H3D family can be found at Luminous Landscape. Hasselblad will upgrade an H2D to an H3D for a mere $1300 – a benefit of which would be to improve photos such as the following, taken with a mere H2D:
Hasselblad launches the H3D-31 - Hasselblad Press Release, Jan 28 2007
Posted in Cameras ~ No Comments
February 1st, 2007
By Stephen Nichols
Microsoft has released the first 20 templates for Windows SharePoint Hosting Services 3.0. These are more than the name implies, a better name would be “solutions” or “online applications”. To better understand how these work and how they can be used first I need to explain a little of how SharePoint works. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in mail2web.com ~ 1 Comment
February 1st, 2007
By GadgetManiac

Well Windows Vista, that new operating system from Microsoft, finally arrived a couple of days ago. Business-types got their appropriately-named Business ($299 .. same price as XP Professional) and Enterprise versions a month ago, and the now the rest of us can officially buy one of Home Basic ($199), Home Premium ($239) and Ultimate ($399 .. ouch).
A quick visit to Best Buy & other retailers shows that prices of new Vista computers to be roughly comparable to the XP-based machines that they replaced, with Ultimate hard to find.
Reviews of Windows Vista are mixed, and range from an enthusiastic 9 out of 10 from Trusted Reviews, through 7.4/10 for Home Premium by CNet Reviews, and go south from there. A good summary of the OS’s feature can be found in a 21-page review by AnandTech – they conclude on a positive note by saying that while Vista is not better than Mac OS X, it’s not lagging behind it either.
Posted in General ~ No Comments