Archos 13 ultra-portable with dual-core Atom now available

  Archos is now readily welcoming orders via its online French store for its new Archos 13. Priced at €399.98 (~$480), the ultra-thin treads dangerously close to being cast aside as "yet another Atom-based netbook," but it doesn't come without a few perks. For starters, the 13.3-inch (1366x768) display is a bit larger than you'd expect from a netbook, and the system packs a dual-core Atom D510 processor, which is typically reserved for compact desktops.

Other specs include 1GB of system memory, a 160GB hard drive, a 1.3-megapixel camera, 10/100 Ethernet, an integrated modem, wireless b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, VGA output (no HDMI), three USB 2.0 ports, an MMC/SD/SDHC card reader, and audio jacks. Unfortunately, there's no HD-capable graphics, such as Nvidia's Ion or even a decoder chip from Broadcom. With a six-cell battery the machine weighs about 3.5lbs, measures just over an inch thick, and runs Windows 7 Starter.

Microsoft removes XP Mode hardware requirements

Microsoft removes XP Mode hardware requirements

Along with other virtualization announcements today, Microsoft has updated XP Mode to be less confusing when it comes to hardware compatibility. XP Mode is a free virtual machine package for business-class versions of Windows 7, intended to ease OS migration for enterprise customers. When it launched alongside Windows 7, the software required a processor with support for hardware virtualization, but many users found it difficult to determine whether their CPU had the feature.


Fortunately, Microsoft has removed that requirement, and anyone left confused or stranded with the original version of XP Mode should now be able to use it. "This change simplifies the experience by making virtualization more accessible to many more PCs for small and midsize businesses wanting to migrate to Windows 7 Professional or higher editions, while still running Windows XP-based productivity applications," Microsoft said today.

Users of Windows 7 Professional or higher can download XP Mode, or the latest update: 32-bit, 64-bit.

Display multiple inspector windows at once

Inspector windows are small windows that allow you to change settings for whatever happens to be the currently selected object. They are the ones that have a thinner title bar, they always hover above other windows and they disappear when you change to a different application.

In most applications they contain information and settings about whatever object is selected. As you select different things, the contents of the inspector window will change, so you can always go to the same place to change the properties of that object.

Now you don't want multiple inspectors popping up, containing settings for different objects, because they are designed to keep all the information and properties in one location, so you always know where to find it. However, you might want multiple inspectors that contain different sections of the settings. For example, you might want one inspector for text settings, and one for graphics settings.

inspector windows

In most Apple applications, there is a single inspector with tabs along the top that allow you to change between different groups of settings. If you find yourself constantly jumping between different tabs while you work, there is a simple way to separate each tab out into its own inspector. Simply hold the Option key while clicking on a tab, and another inspector window will appear with the contents of that tab.

Using this, you can arrange the different inspectors around your screen for easier access. For example, in Pages you might want to keep separate Graphic, Text and Table inspectors always open.

Windows 7 Is Making People Forget About Vista

It looks like Windows 7 is making consumers forget all about Windows Vista and its associated headaches.


According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)'s Q1 2010 report, released, Microsoft's customer satisfaction score rose nine percent in the past year due to the positive reception Windows 7 has enjoyed. Microsoft's overall customer satisfaction score now stands at an all-time high of 76 on the ACSI's 100-point scale.


According to David VanAmburg, Managing Director, ACSI, the opposite trend was seen in the wake of Vista's release in 2006. In the ACSI's 2007 report, Microsoft's customer satisfaction score dropped from 73 to 70, marking the first time a company's score was affected so negatively by a product release, VanAmburg said.


The ACSI's report measures customers' opinions of companies in a variety of industries, including phone service, healthcare, satellite and cable television. In Microsoft's case, the ACSI score doesn't pertain just to Windows, but to its full product portfolio, although Windows is by far Microsoft's dominant product.


Long after Vista's release, Microsoft crowed about it breaking existing Windows sales records, but the reality is that many consumers bought Vista PCs and used downgrade rights to switch over to XP. Many businesses opted to avoid Vista altogether to wait for whatever came next, and even volume licensing customers gave Vista a miss.


A lot of the issues with Vista were overblown, but from a customer satisfaction standpoint, Vista didn't offer people enough benefits to overcome the stuff that drove them crazy.

Nonetheless, Swank and other Microsoft solution providers agree with the ACSI's assessment of Windows 7. Larry Piland, President of Datel Systems, a US-based solution provider, says customers that skipped Vista are now switching from XP to Windows 7, and they're encountering few problems along the way.


Industry pundits that claimed Vista would leave an indelible mark on Microsoft's reputation perhaps didn't consider that in the software business, a company is only as good—or as bad—as its latest product release. Unloved software just doesn't provide an ever-present, tangible reminder of one's faulty buying decision.

Even people that still poke fun at Windows ME, probably Microsoft's worst product release prior to Vista, have pretty much forgotten how annoying it was.