Pc News

[Rasputin]

IBM Sues Amazon Over Web Patents

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp. said on Monday it had filed two lawsuits accusing Amazon.com Inc. of violating patents on features used in its online shopping network.

The suits say Amazon violates IBM patents covering such features as allowing users to order items from an electronic catalog, displaying advertising in an interactive service and storing data in an interactive network.

"We believe that Amazon's entire business model is built upon these patents and that damages could be substantial," said IBM spokesman Scott Brooks.

Brooks said IBM was interested in striking a licensing deal with Amazon, which is the world's biggest online retailer and had $2.14 billion in revenue for its second quarter.

"Many companies that do e-commerce have worked with us on license agreements, and frequently these are cross-license agreements," Brooks said. "It gives both companies greater freedom of action."

IBM, which files more U.S. patents than any other company, said it had first notified Amazon of the infringement more than four years ago, but that the Seattle-based company had "shown no willingness to have meaningful discussions".

Amazon was not immediately available for comment.

Amazon sued Barnesandnoble.com, the online unit of the Barnes & Noble book chain, in 1999 for allegedly infringing its "1-Click" patent that lets shoppers order an item with a single mouse-click. The companies settled in 2002.

Other services IBM maintains are covered by its patents deal with presenting applications in an interactive service and adjusting Web links with weighted user goals and activities, which IBM said would apply to Amazon's popular feature that recommends products to users.

The suits were filed in two separate U.S. District Courts for the Eastern District of Texas, known in technology and legal circles for the large number of patent cases it hears.

"We filed this case for a very simple reason. IBM's property is being knowingly and unfairly exploited," John Kelly, IBM's senior vice president of technology, said in a statement.

Amazon shares rose 13 cents to $32.7 in morning trade on Nasdaq. IBM gained 1.2 percent to $91.6 on the New York Stock Exchange.

[Rasputin]

Microsoft Offers Discount Coupons for Upgrade to Windows Vista OS

In an effort to mollify hardware vendors worried that delays in the Windows Vista launch will dampen holiday PC sales, Microsoft is offering a discount to consumers and small businesses that want to upgrade from Windows XP to the Vista operating system.

Microsoft will offer the upgrade coupon to shoppers who buy a Vista-capable PC between this Thursday, October 26, and March 15, 2007, allowing them to redeem the coupons for a free or discounted upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista and from Office 2003 to Office 2007.

The timing indicates that Vista will be delivered at the end of March unless Microsoft again delays its shipment.

The exact cost of the upgrade will vary among PC vendors. For instance, HP will offer its new North American customers a free upgrade from Windows XP Home to Windows Vista Home Basic, XP Media Center Edition 2005 to Vista Home Premium, or XP Professional to Vista Business. The offer applies to those who buy an HP Pavilion or Compaq Presario desktop or notebook PC or an HP Digital Entertainment Center, if it includes a qualified XP system, is Vista-capable, and is purchased within the coupon dates.

Other vendors may charge "a nominal fee" to upgrade from Windows XP Professional, XP Tablet PC Edition, or XP Professional x64 Edition to Windows Vista Business or Vista Business 64, Microsoft says. Read more about Microsoft's upgrade program, called Express Upgrade. PC World took a hard look at the program and found there are costs, both in time and money, that you should consider before buying a new PC in 2006.

Who Is Affected?
The program is a moot point for users under Microsoft's volume licensing program, who are expected to get access to Vista at the end of November.

But consumers, small businesses and companies buying desktop PCs labeled "Windows Vista capable" will be eligible for the Vista upgrade coupons.

Microsoft hopes the coupon program will help drive holiday PC sales. In March, Microsoft again delayed the shipment of Vista moving it from Dec. 2006 to the first quarter of 2007. The move appeared to leave PC manufacturers out in the holiday cold.

The Importance of Holiday PC Sales
Vista offers features like translucent desktop windows, improved performance of digital music and photography, and data backup for business users. But those features come at the cost of greatly increased demands on hardware performance. A Vista-ready PC must have at least 512MB of memory and an advanced processor and graphics card.

PC vendors and component manufacturers stand to profit from the boost in demand for those parts, but they have grown increasingly nervous about missing the holiday sales season as they watched Microsoft bypass several earlier deadlines for shipping the new OS, analysts say.

"I definitely see it as a move by Microsoft to appease PC vendors and key component manufacturers such as Intel. Microsoft has very little goodwill left with the vendors, having disappointed them several times with Windows Vista delays," Martin Kariithi, a hardware analyst with Technology Business Research, says.

In fact, he adds, this is a smart way to achieve that goal, since Microsoft will probably incur only a small charge to maintain the coupon program and should not lose much potential profit compared with the full Vista sales price.

Also, Microsoft will share the costs of the upgrade program with vendors like Hewlett-Packard, which has an interest in giving consumers enough confidence to buy PCs now instead of later.

"We do believe that the Vista Express Upgrade program will help early adopter customers who prefer to upgrade to Windows Vista, but [who] would also like to take advantage of the myriad promotions and discounts typically offered during the holiday period," HP spokesperson Tiffany Smith said in an e-mail.

Coupons Also for Microsoft Office 2007
A parallel program called Microsoft Office Technology Guarantee Programs will provide similar upgrades to those that purchase editions of Microsoft Office 2003. The PCs and Office software must be purchased from a certified Microsoft OEM or "smaller computer makers, known as system builders," according to Microsoft.

In addition, those who buy stand-alone versions of Office 2003 between Oct. 26 and Feb. 28, 2007 also will be eligible for the Office upgrade plan.

Users under either program will receive discounted offers on Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system, which is now the center of Microsoft's real-time collaboration strategy.

The upgrade program is expected to include free and low-cost upgrades based on the version of the operating system or Office software purchased.

According to the Vista team blog, users will be charged a "nominal fee" when upgrading from Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 to Windows Vista Home Premium; Windows XP Professional to Windows Vista Business; Windows XP Tablet PC Edition to Windows Vista Business; and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition to Windows Vista Business 64.

Upgrades from Windows XP Home Edition to Windows Vista Home Basic or Windows Vista Home Premium will be available at a "50% discount from the boxed product upgrade price, plus shipping and handling."

[Rasputin]

No Service Pack 3 Update for Windows XP?

SAN FRANCISCO -- With Microsoft now saying that its next major service pack for Windows XP will not ship until 2008, some Windows users are wondering whether the software upgrade will ever be released.

"The fear is Service Pack 3 will just get killed off," says Jeff Centimano, an IT consultant with Levi, Ray & Shoup, based in Kansas City, Missouri, who says that he's heard concerns from administrators since late last week, when Microsoft announced "preliminary" plans to ship SP3 in the first half of 2008, later than previously expected.

That puts the update within months of the early 2009 cutoff date for mainstream support for the XP operating system, and users like Centimano are now worried that Microsoft may not feel a Service Pack 3 is worth the effort.

"That's exactly how it worked out for Windows 2000," Centimano notes.

In late 2004, Microsoft scrapped a planned Service Pack 5 for Windows 2000 Server, electing instead to release an "update rollup" of security-related patches for the operating system.

Windows Administrators Unhappy
Windows XP administrators say that dropping Service Pack 3 would make their lives harder. "A service pack has been quality assurance-tested with all of the hot fixes together as one installation package," says Ethan Allen, a quality assurance official with a Seattle-based technology company. "If you were to take 500 hot fixes and install them one by one, eventually you might run into problems because they weren't all QA'd [quality assurance tested] as one package."

Microsoft bills its rollup releases as easier to install, but they don't include as many features as a full service pack, users say.

Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, agrees that Microsoft may very well decide to drop XP Service Pack 3. "It absolutely could happen. Microsoft is under no obligation to produce any service packs, ever," he explains. "They feel that because these fixes are available through the auto-update that there's less need to create a service pack."

Cherry believes, however, that now that Microsoft has mastered the art of releasing its security patches in a predictable, monthly cycle, it should consider releasing service packs on a regular basis--once a year, perhaps.

"The thing that I don't understand," he says, "is, on one hand, Microsoft seems to promote the concept that customers want predictable release cycles for operating systems, yet Microsoft also seems to say that customers don't care how random the release of a service pack is."

Through its public relations agency, Microsoft declined to allow its executives to be interviewed for this story.

Just Move On to Vista?
Others see a financial motive behind the delay. "They're going to let users kind of sit there without anything new on XP for a while, because they want you to move to Vista," says Allen, who also maintains the Hotfix.net Web site. Although the arrival of Windows Vista has been pushed into 2007, Microsoft today announced a Vista coupon upgrade program for those who buy XP-based systems between October 26 and March 15, 2007.

Allen, who published an early release of Service Pack 3 on his Web site last year, believes that Microsoft will ultimately release the software. But he says that the planned four-year gap between XP SP2 and SP3 is too long.

"Microsoft is trying to focus more on trying to make a bunch of money than on providing users with fixes for their systems," he says.

[Rasputin]

Final Version of Windows Defender Now Available

Microsoft released the final version of its Windows Defender antispyware tool today, while security rivals squabbled about whether the company has given them sufficient access to Windows Vista to build competing products.

The release of the final version suggests that Microsoft thinks Windows Defender is sufficiently stable and bug-free for mainstream use. The final release fixes about 400 bugs in beta 2 of the product, which was released in February. Beta versions of the program were downloaded 34 million times, a Microsoft spokeswoman said.

Along with the bug fixes, customers using Windows XP and Windows 2003 get two free support calls for Windows Defender. The product is no longer supported for Windows 2000 users, since support for that OS ended in June, Microsoft said.

The software is available free of charge. It's in English now, with German, Japanese and other languages to follow shortly. It competes with free tools from Lavasoft, Spybot (Safer Networking), and others.

Windows Defender is also included with Microsoft's new antivirus product, Windows OneCare, which went on sale in June for $50 per year.

Some Security Vendors Upset
Security vendors have been riled by Microsoft's entry into their market. McAfee and Symantec say they are being locked out of the 64-bit version of Vista by a kernel-level security feature in the OS called PatchGuard. Microsoft has dragged its feet in providing access to the kernel, they complain, which could prevent them from fully protecting their customers.

Security vendor Sophos used the dispute to take a shot at its rivals. It said it has all the information about Vista that it needs, and accused Symantec and McAfee of not having designed their products with 64-bit Vista in mind.

"We've taken a different approach, by focusing on catching bad behavior before it has a chance to occur," Sophos said in a statement. "Additionally, we are building our technology by making use of supported Microsoft interfaces rather than by trying to subvert them. That's why we're ready for 64-bit Vista, and others aren't."

Others Aren't Sympathetic
Sandi Hardmeier, a Microsoft security expert who runs Spyware Sucks, was sympathetic with Sophos' position.

"I've got to agree with this; if McAfee and Symantec did a little more coding and a little less bitching, they might get somewhere," she says.

Hardmeier has argued that McAfee and Symantec should change the way they code their products instead of relying on access to the Vista kernel. Only by coming up with a new design for antivirus software will any security vendor be able to fully protect its customers, she says.

McAfee shot back today. If Sophos doesn't need access to Microsoft's kernel then it's because it offers a less sophisticated range of products, it said.

"Single-product vendors, like Sophos, may well not have an issue with Microsoft. However, for an innovative security risk management vendor like McAfee, that offers its customers comprehensive security protection, full and unfettered access to the kernel is vital if we are to protect users," McAfee said.

Sophos responded that McAfee is out of touch with its products.

Microsoft's Response
Microsoft, needless to say, seemed to enjoy the bickering.

"Okay, we all recognize this as a marketing move. But, hey, it's a marketing move I can smile about," Jeff Jones, a strategy director with Microsoft's Security Technology Unit, wrote in his blog.

He went on to argue that Sophos may indeed have an innovative approach to host improvement prevention systems.

[Rasputin]

Sony Explains Battery Problems

TOKYO --Sony has provided greater detail about a battery manufacturing problem that is expected to see the replacement of up to 9.6 million laptop computer battery packs.

What Went Wrong?
The problem was first acknowledged in August when Dell issued a recall for 4.1 million batteries and until now had been explained as metallic particles that got into the battery during the manufacturing progress. Today Sony expanded on this and said the particles, believed to be nickel, likely got into the battery during two stages in production: when a groove was created in the battery case and when the electrolyte was poured into the cell.

But that alone wouldn't be enough to cause the fires that have been reported by laptop owners. For that to happen Sony believes that the particles would have to fall into a small triangular gap in the cell body right at the point where the cathode ends between two layers of spacer material. Then, depending on system configuration, the conditions could be right for a fire to start in the battery.

"The probability of this occurrence very much depends on system configuration," said Takashi Enami, senior general manager of the energy business group at Sony. He said size and shape of the battery pack and the charging configuration could all increase the risk but he wouldn't offer any specific information citing confidentiality agreements between Sony and its customers.

Replacement Program Details
As a result of the problems 6.1 million batteries have been recalled by Dell and Apple Computer. An additional 3.5 million batteries are covered by a Sony-led replacement program that offers new batteries to laptop users who are worried about the safety of their system. Last week Sony said it anticipates costs of $429 million as a result of the battery problems.

The replacement program covers two types of cells used in battery packs, a 2.4Ah (ampere hour) and 2.6Ah model, and information on the affected battery packs and laptop PC models sold in the U.S. can be obtained from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Sony considered the battery replacement after a Lenovo-made laptop caught fire at Los Angeles International Airport, said Yutaka Nakagawa, executive deputy president of Sony and head of its semiconductor and component group. That incident is still under investigation and as only two of the six cells inside the battery pack remain it's difficult to pinpoint the exact cause, he said.

"In preparing for the program we have been in discussion with the CPSC and the PC manufacturers, which required time, and that is why the announcement is being made today," said Nakagawa.

Sony Will Outsource Some Replacements
The replacement batteries won't all come from Sony because it doesn't have the manufacturing capacity to produce them all in the time required, said Nakagawa. As a result Sony will source some cells from rival companies. Nakagawa said as a result there is a general possibility that Sony might not win back all the business it had before the battery problems occurred. Its success or failure in keeping business very much depends on how well Sony does to persuade customers that the problems are behind it, he said.

Additionally Sony also increased the number of its own battery packs eligible for the replacement program. Last week it said 60,000 batteries used in PCs in Japan and China would be replaced and today increased this to 250,000 batteries worldwide.

[Rasputin]

Final Version of Mozilla Firefox 2 Available Today

Not to be outdone by Microsoft's recent release of Internet Explorer 7, Mozilla will release the second major version of its rival Firefox browser on October 24.

According to Mozilla Vice President of Products Christopher Beard, Firefox 2.0, which should be available on Tuesday if all goes according to schedule, includes key new usability features missing in the new IE 7.

(Read PC World's comparative review of IE 7 and Firefox 2.) And you may download the latest version of Firefox here.

Updated Mozilla Features
Mozilla has also enhanced the popular tabbed browsing feature in 2.0 that Firefox introduced when it emerged two years ago as the first significant rival to IE in years, Beard adds. Tabs allow users to navigate more easily between multiple Web pages when browsing the Internet, and Microsoft added tabs to IE 7 after Firefox's success with the feature.

In Firefox 2.0, Mozilla has added a "close" button on its tabs, as well as new visual features to make the tabs appear more obvious to the user, Beard says.

New usability features in Firefox 2.0 that differentiate it from IE 7 include one that will restore the browser to pages where the user was working if a sudden OS restart is required. "If your browser needs a restart or the OS asks you to reboot, losing all of those Web pages and content is pretty disruptive," Beard notes.

Firefox 2.0 is offering two options for enabling this feature. One way is that, by default, the browser will give the user an option to restore his or her browser sessions if there is an unexpected shutdown; the other is an advanced option to set the browser so that it always restores the last five pages visited before a sudden reboot.

Antiphishing Filters in Both Browsers
Like IE 7, Firefox 2.0 also has an antiphishing filter that will help protect users from divulging personal information to fraudulent Web sites. But Mozilla has taken a different approach to its antiphishing filter than Microsoft has, Beard says.

Instead of checking individual Web pages users visit against lists of known phishing sites, thus sending information from the site to third parties that keep lists of such sites, Firefox updates its blacklist of known fraudulent Web sites automatically every half-hour to an hour. Beard said this better protects users' privacy because no information from the sites they've visited is sent to any third parties.

Mozilla also has added spell-checking features to the browser similar to those found in word-processing applications. Whenever a user is typing text in the browser--as when typing the name of a Web site, a blog entry, or an e-mail--Firefox's spell checker will underline in red words that appear misspelled. Right-clicking on the word will give a user options for a corrected spelling.

In addition, Firefox 2.0 has a new feature in its integrated search box that will suggest a list of search terms after a user types a few letters of a word, depending on the search engine being used. Firefox 2.0 uses Google, Yahoo, and Ask.com search engines as options for the search box, and each uses a different algorithm to suggest search terms, Beard explains. To ensure that this feature is not disruptive to the user experience, the suggested search terms will appear in a separate pane below the search box, he adds.

Market Share
Though recent figures by Web analytics company OneStat.com show Firefox market share declining 1.44 percent since July--from 12.93 percent to 11.4 percent--Beard says Mozilla partners and users are reporting that the browser is more popular than ever.

"We're not seeing a decline at all," he says. "All of our partners and friends are reporting very strong growth recently." Beard adds he expects that growth to continue with the introduction of Firefox 2.0. Firefox currently has 70 million to 80 million users, he estimates.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Microsoft Decries Vista PatchGuard Hack

Microsoft officials say they are unhappy that security software maker Authentium has decided to bypass the controversial PatchGuard kernel protection feature in its next-generation Vista operating system, and said that the tactic could lead to eventual problems for users of the company's software.

Responding to Authentium's move to circumvent PatchGuard in its products, company officials said that the decision to hack the feature could prove unwise for the security vendor as Microsoft will work to close off any flaws that allow unauthorized kernel interaction, making technologies dependent on such access obsolete.

As a result, users of applications that circumvent PatchGuard could find themselves unprotected from attack, or dealing with other problems driven by a lack of authorized integration between Vista and those products.

"Microsoft is aware of public reports of ways to subvert the kernel in Windows Vista and has addressed them in current builds; however, we have not received any other reports of ways to subvert the kernel in existing builds of Vista," said Adrien Robinson, director of Microsoft's Security Technology Unit.


"If a vulnerability is discovered in Kernel Patch Protection, Microsoft will issue a security update as part of the standard Microsoft Security Response Center process."

[Rasputin]

If You Dislike Microsoft's Windows Antipiracy Checks, Look Out

If you don't like the mandatory antipiracy checks that Microsoft now enforces for Windows, brace yourself. The Microsoft Office productivity and collaboration suite is about to get a similar program.

The company's Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) program will require mandatory validation of Office software starting October 27, the software vendor quietly disclosed today. After that date, any Office Online templates downloaded from within the Office 2007 Microsoft Office System applications will require validation of legitimacy.

Similarly, starting in January, users of Office Update will have to validate the legitimacy of their Office software before they can use the service, Microsoft added.

Users absolutely hated the first iteration of the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program, and their protests pressured the company into revising it about a year after it launched in July 2005.

'Quick and Simple'
Microsoft said in a press statement that the validation process will be "quick and simple" for users. The OGA program, currently in the testing phase, is now available in 26 languages worldwide.

OGA is a sibling program to WGA; both automatically check a user's version of Microsoft software to ensure it is not counterfeit or pirated.

Microsoft has integrated this check directly into the next version of its OS, Windows Vista, as part of what it is calling a "Software Protection Platform." Through that automatic validation system, a Vista user must activate his or her copy of the software with a valid activation key within 30 days after purchase of the software, or see the OS enter a reduced functionality mode. In that mode, users can browse the Web for an hour but then the system will log them out, and they will have to log in again if they want to browse more.

Microsoft has increased its efforts in recent years to fight software piracy and counterfeiting of its software products. But these efforts have met with some resistance from users, especially when early bugs in the WGA checks were tagging legitimate software as counterfeit or pirated.

Microsoft also was forced to turn off a notification feature in WGA that sent information to the company from users' PCs when some users complained that the feature was acting like spyware.

[Rasputin]

New Chip-Cooling Technology

LONDON--IBM researchers have found a way to draw twice as much heat off of hard-working computer chips, clearing the way for server farms and data centers to use denser, faster processors.

The researchers discovered a better way to squeeze thermally conductive paste between hot chips and their heat sinks, the company announced Thursday at the BroadGroup Power and Cooling Summit in London.

New Cooling Technologies Needed
Inspired by the natural branching patterns of tree roots and human veins, the IBM group discovered they could move a large volume of paste with very little energy, avoiding the danger of damaging or cracking chips as they expand at high temperatures.

This advance will allow engineers to design more powerful chips and continue to follow the Moore's Law trend of shrinking transistors to ever-smaller sizes, said Bruno Michel, manager of the advanced thermal packaging research group at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory.

As chips become more dense, they are increasingly constrained by their own heat, with modern processors using up to 100 watts per square centimeter. That is already pushing the upper limit of current cooling technology, which relies on fans to blow air over heat sinks. Some large server farms need so many fans that IT managers spend as much money to cool the chips as they do to run them.

Because of that budget paradox, many computer vendors have found that cooling systems have changed from mere technical detail into great marketing pitch.

Speed and Cooling Equally Important
When it launched a range of blade and rack servers in August, IBM gave equal billing to their fast chips and their new cooling technique. The "Cool Blue" feature sucks heat out of racked servers by running liquid through the enclosure doors.

Likewise, Dell founder Michael Dell boasted at a trade show on Monday that his company's latest desktops and servers would use less electricity--and produce less heat--thanks to more efficient processors. Chip manufacturers claiming to make those more efficient, cooler processors include Advanced Micro Devices with its "Rev F" Opteron, Intel with its "Woodcrest" Xeon 5100 and future "Clovertown" quad-core Xeon and Sun Microsystems with its UltraSparc T1.

But future chips will get even hotter, so the IBM researchers have already begun testing an even better approach, cooling chips by spraying them with water instead of air. This "direct jet impingement" method uses an array of 50,000 tiny nozzles circulating water in a closed loop, protecting the delicate chips circuits from getting wet. In early results, the system has absorbed the power of 370 watts per square centimeter, about four to six times better than current air cooling methods.

[Rasputin]

Minor Bug in New Firefox

Bug trackers have had a couple false starts with the release of Firefox 2.0, a top Mozilla engineer said today.

Of the two vulnerabilities reported since the browser's release on Tuesday, the first was patched in a previous version and the second alleged problem couldn't be replicated during testing, said Mike Schroepfer, vice president of engineering.

The first problem caused the browser to crash in some cases when text was displayed. The second problem was described as a cross-scripting attack, and sample attack code was posted on the Internet, Schroepfer said.

"The snippet [of code] didn't actually do what was claimed," he said. "We don't have enough information to understand if there is an issue or not."

Real Bug Isn't Security Risk
However, one bug does affect Firefox 2.0, but is not exploitable, Schroepfer said. The problem is caused when a very large document is loaded into an iframe--an HTML element--using Javascript, which eventually causes Firefox to hang or crash, he said.

The problem is tricky to fix, but engineers are looking at it, Schroepfer said.

Schroepfer said the Mozilla community takes security problems seriously, and any problems with the new browser will be posted to its bug list at the Mozilla Security Center.

Firefox 2.0 debuted just a few days after Microsoft unveiled Internet Explorer 7, reignited a long-standing debate over which is the better browser.

"It's a really solid release overall," Schroepfer said of the new Firefox.

[Rasputin]

Sony's in the Red, Despite Strong Sales

TOKYO--The global recall and replacement of millions of laptop batteries, and start-up costs for the PlayStation 3 console, pushed Sony's operations into the red for the July to September quarter, despite a jump in sales.

The company reported an operating loss of $174.5 million against an operating profit of $628.6 million in the same period last year. The loss includes the estimated $432.4 million that Sony will lose as a result of the laptop battery recall currently under way.

Electronics Strong
Sony's net income, which includes profit and loss from its core operations and subsidiaries, and other extraordinary items, dropped 94.1 percent to 14.3 million.

However, sales and operating revenue rose 8.3 percent to $15.6 billion. The digital still camera business enjoyed a particularly strong quarter, with the DSC-T10 proving popular with consumers. Sony's mobile phone joint venture with Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, also enjoyed record sales thanks in part to the popularity of its Walkman and Cybershot phones. In the motion picture sector the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby helped Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony said.

Sony's core electronics business saw a 12.1 percent increase in sales but operating profit dropped more than 70 percent, largely due to the battery replacement costs and a one-time pension fund gain the year earlier. Sony's LCD TV business saw a healthy rise in sales but the business still lost money in the quarter.

Operating Profits Fall
"Excluding these items operating profit in electronics would have increased slightly," said Nobuyuki Oneda, Sony chief financial officer, at a Tokyo news conference. The largest contributors to profit were digital video cameras, digital still cameras, and broadcast and professional equipment, he said.

The games business dropped into the red as a result of start-up costs for the PlayStation 3. Sales also fell due to lackluster demand for the PlayStation Portable. For the full year Sony cut its shipment estimate for the PSP from 12 million units to 9 million units.

The company's restructuring plan remains on track and has already achieved several of its goals, said Oneda. By the end of September the company had succeeded in achieving cost savings of $1 billion against its goal of $1.7 billion by the end of March 2008. Two manufacturing sites remain to be closed and it still needs to discontinue some products, but Sony has already laid off 10,100 staff, which is above its target of 10,000 staff.

[Rasputin]

Vista Delivery Date to PC Manufacturers Slips

PC manufacturers that expected to get their hands on the final version of Microsoft's Windows Vista OS on Nov. 1 may have to wait several weeks for the OS, according to sources familiar with the company's plans.

Microsoft originally targeted next Wednesday for Vista's release to manufacturing, but a last-minute bug that "took most of the Vista team by surprise," caused an unexpected delay, said Ethan Allen, a quality assurance lead at a Seattle high-tech company that tests its products for Vista. Allen also oversees the Web site TheHotfix.net.

Allen said that the Vista team discovered the bug, which "would totally crash the system, requiring a complete reinstall," in Vista Build 5824 on Friday, October 13. The team fixed the bug a week later in Vista Build 5840, he said, but work on the correction has delayed delivery of the operating system to PC makers.

New Target: November 8
The team now pegs Wednesday, November 8, as the date for Vista's release to manufacturing, Allen said. He also said that the business release of Vista, which Microsoft recently said is on track for release next month, "will barely make the end of November deadline."

A story in today's DigiTimes was first to report the delayed release of this version of Vista to manufacturers, citing Taiwanese PC makers.

Microsoft Responds
Microsoft's public relations firm said on Wednesday that the business release of Vista has not been delayed, and that the OS is still expected to be generally available in January 2007.

This version of Vista isn't the only Microsoft product that people are waiting for. Consumers concerned about the change in Windows client licensing that will allow them to transfer a Vista license only once are still wondering what will happen when they switch out the motherboard and other components of computers. Some power users, who like to build their own computers from scratch and who rebuild PCs frequently, have wondered whether they will have to purchase a new Vista license every time they do this.

Microsoft is in no hurry to give them an answer. Today, a week after users first raised the issue, Microsoft declined to comment on the issue, according to a representative from its public relations firm.

[Rasputin]

New HDTVs Bring Higher Def, Better Color

Falling prices aren't the only positive news for HDTV shoppers: New and upcoming sets boast higher resolution and improved image and sound quality. Here's what to look for.

1080p TVs
Photograph: Robert CardinLCD televisions that can display images in 1080 progressive resolution (or 1080p, as opposed to the 720p capability of most HDTVs in our roundup) are increasingly common; and the format is getting support in such peripherals as Blu-ray drives, HD DVD drives (like Toshiba's HD-XA2), Sony's PlayStation 3, and Microsoft's Xbox 360 (via an accessory HD DVD drive). Also at hand is a growing collection of 1080p content on Blu-ray and HD DVD discs.

Plasma has been slow to reach 1080p because cramming lots of tiny pixels into a plasma panel is a manufacturing challenge. Big-screen 1080p plasmas are finally appearing, but they don't come cheap. Pioneer's 50-inch Pro-FHD1 retails for $8000, and Panasonic's 65-inch TH-65PX600U goes for an even heftier $10,000.

HDMI 1.3
The Playstation 3 and Toshiba HD-XA2 are also the first two devices to deliver 1080p content through the new HDMI 1.3 interface, which enables "Deep Color," meaning up to 48-bit color depth (the current high is 24 bits). "More colors allow for better gradation and color shading," says Eric Haruki, research director for TV markets and technologies with IDC. HDMI 1.3 also supports new 7.1-channel audio formats, including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD.

To experience HDMI 1.3's benefits, however, all your components--including the TV--must support the standard. "You don't need it to do 1080p, but it's still a good thing," says Scott Ramirez, vice president of marketing for Toshiba. LG Electronics, Mitsubishi, Samsung, Sharp, and others have promised HDMI 1.3 sets next year.