The End of Support for XP SP1
Service Pack 1 users need to upgrade now or lose support, says Microsoft. Microsoft will end support for Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) and SP 1a on 10 October, leaving users no option but to upgrade to SP2 if they wish to continue to receive support for crucial components, including security software. The move to drop support for SP1 is in line with Microsoft's stated strategy for support. According to its guidelines, Microsoft guarantees to provide "mainstream support" for a full product for five years, but will only guarantee to support a Service Pack for 12 months after the launch of the next version of that pack. Windows XP SP2 was released more than two years ago, on 17 September, 2004. SP1 itself shipped on 9 September 2002. There's little reason for anyone to still be running SP1, as SP2 contained a range of improvements to XP's security. Users can check which version they are running by right-clicking on the My Computer desktop icon and then selecting Properties. The ending of support for SP1 will help Microsoft to clear the decks for the arrival of Vista, which is expected to be released to business customers next month, and to consumers in January 2007. In July, Microsoft ended support for Windows 98, 98, SE and ME.

MSN Goes after Wireless
MSN unit has signed a deal with Ingenio to place so-called pay-per-call advertisements on MSN's search service for mobile devices. This marks the latest move by an Internet portal to try to turn cellphones into a revenue source. Ingenio will place one ad above the standard search results obtained using MSN's free Windows Live Search service in the U.S. People using mobile browsers to perform Web searches using MSN's service who look for a local business, such as a restaurant in New York City, might first see an ad from an Ingenio advertiser in the area. They would be able to click on a link in the ad displaying the telephone number and immediately call the business. Ingenio, San Francisco, charges advertisers for each of these calls at a price that is set in an online auction. It chooses which ad will appear on the devices based on who will pay the most among advertisers with relevant ads for that geographic area.

Blinkx.tv's New Deal With Microsoft
For searching video on the Web, Blinkx.tv is emerging as the way consumers on a range of Web sites and media properties find what is available. Blinkx is noe working with Microsoft, which has agreed to use Blinkx technology to power the video search on some parts of its MSN Internet sites and Live.com. Blinkx already powers video search on sites ranging from AOL to ITN, Lycos and Times Online. It also indexes video from the likes of BCC, Fox, MTV, Sky News, Reuters and YouTube and makes and makes videos on those sites searchable on Blinkx or partner sites. To date, the company has indexed more than six million hours of audio, video and TV programming to make it searchable. Instead of a cut of advertising revenue, Microsoft has agreed to pay Blinkx an outright licensing fee based on how much use visitors to Microsoft Web sites make of the Blinkx search system. The San Francisco-based company uses voice recognition, image and contextual analysis, which helps computers calculate whether an image may be a human face, a nature setting or some other scene. Using Blinkx, a consumer can search for videos based on keywords or phrases. The results reflect not just a search of titles or text information attached to the video but also uses speech recognition to find matching words in audio tracks

The Final Beta of Vista Ready for Download

Microsoft quietly made Windows Vista Release Candidate 2 available for download late on Friday to technical beta testers and MSDN/TechNet subscribers. The new build of Windows Vista offers a higher level of performance and stability as well as fixing many of the bugs in RC1. There are thousands of improvements in RC2. You'll probably notice improvements in performance, application compatibility, as well as fit and finish work." The new test build (5744) has a number of improvements and updates on previous builds, and has been through daily testing processes to refine quality and performance. The company warned that this build may not have the same level of support or servicing via Windows Update as RC1, and that users may not be able to upgrade from this build to the final version of Windows Vista. The RC2 release will be available for a limited time only from Microsoft's Windows Vista Download site.

Best tool for today - Pando
Pando Networks uses small bits of software that get loaded, for free, onto the PCs and Macs of both the senders and the recipients. The software lets users select files up to 1 gigabyte in length and upload them to servers maintained by Pando over cable or DSL high-speed Internet connections. Then the Pando program sends e-mail messages to whomever the user wants to send the files, telling them they can download the video--or other huge file--by using another copy of the Pando software. My tests of the system usually yielded delightful results, letting me share video files with running times as long as 2 hours with other folks. It was something I had never been able to do before using e-mail. Until Pando, it was unthinkable for ordinary computer users to share their digital movies as e-mail attachments because they require files so huge they exceed size limits imposed by nearly every Internet service provider and nearly every free e-mail service.

Is Ken Liking His Nokia N93?
I got my Nokia N93 two weeks ago and I was skeptical, it was bulky and seemed over priced. I found the N93 undoubtedly capable of shooting high-quality stills and truly outstanding video - as well it should, being built like a brick house. First-rate calling and messaging capabilities are also on the slate along with a boatload of additional features, but unless you're willing to sacrifice portability for the ultimate in imaging there are better balanced options to be had. It shoots 3.2-Megapixel stills, records hi-def video, views either on TVs and a whole lot more.

Today's Site To Peek At:
SlideShare is a new service that lets users upload PowerPoint or Open Office presentationi files and share them online through a You Tube-like interface. Power Point documents (or any office documents) stored on the web with a permanent URL are a valuable resource. No need to email the file to recipients, or carry a copy around on a USB drive.The presentation can easily be shared (and with permission controls, kept relatively secure). The potential uses of online Power Point documents are numerous - from making sales pitches, lectures and conference presentations much easier, to having a permanent record of these and other presentations available on the Internet for easy access and reference. Online Power Point/Presentation solutions are also tackling this problem, from a different direction. They provide basic tools for creating presentations (and sometimes allow uploading of Power Point files). They also place a permanent URL on the file and allow archiving and sharing.

Andy's Wine Pick of the Week


Every Monday Andy Gives his wine pick for the week... Today's pick is: 2004 Telegramme Chateauneuf du Pape. A Lean, rather reticent on the nose, from a bottle only just opened. But there is some good citrus and mineral style present. Quite full on the palate, soft, with a little fatness, and with mineral-chalky flavour. A little short on character at present, but there is good structure and balance



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