Dispatches from the Reviews Editor
Charles has been in tech publishing since the late 1980s, starting with Reed's Practical Computing, then moving to Ziff-Davis to help launch the UK version of PC Magazine in 1992. ZDNet came looking for a Reviews Editor in 2000, and he's been here ever since.
Health and safety is important, of course — it's tricky enough to remain fit and healthy without the added risk of driving without a seat belt, or inhaling your colleagues' cigarette smoke at work all day. However, it can be said to have "gone mad", or at least a little screwy, when a significant piece of the country's scientific heritage comes under threat of destruction.
There has been a fair amount of recent 'buzz' around a pair of Ordissimo notebooks from a French company called Substantiel SAS. In fact, Linux-based Ordissimo computers — whose key selling point is ease of use — have been available in Europe since 2005, but the current generation of 15in.
Lenovo is now the number-two PC vendor worldwide and has just posted record results for the 2011/12 financial year ending 31 March. Little wonder, then, that Dilip Bhatia, vice president and general manager of the company's ThinkPad Business Unit, was in bullish mood when I met him this morning in London (not even a two-hour cab ride from Heathrow managed to dent his enthusiasm).
"Video is the next voice", according to Deutsche Telecom, which has recently introduced a cloud-based 'video communication' service called VideoMeet — hence the interest in promoting how easy to use and cost-effective videoconferencing (or rather, communication) is becoming. VideoMeet is a repackaged version of a service introduced last year by California-based startup Blue Jeans Network (BJN), with a few added extras.
Logitech is best known for its high-quality consumer-grade peripherals, but recently formed a business group, Logitech for Business, to market the more business-oriented products in its portfolio to SMEs and larger enterprises. There will also be new products under the 'for business' banner, among the first of which, announced today, is the BCC950 ConferenceCam.
Chinese handset maker ZTE has launched its first Windows Phone, the Tania. Running Windows Phone 7.
"Two screens good, one screen bad", as Eric Blair might have written: but how do you get two screens on a notebook? Normally you'd have to attach a desktop monitor, which obviously limits your flexibility, or shell out serious money on a specialist system like the recently released dual-17in.
These days, Wi-Fi connectivity — preferably free — is expected as a matter of course in a wide variety of environments. However, the traditional approach to widespread Wi-Fi coverage, employing multiple access points (APs) and WLAN controllers, requires an equally large number of cable runs and Ethernet ports — all of which adds to the cost and complexity of an installation.
We recently ran a review of Lenovo's ThinkPad Tablet, a 10.1in.
Earlier this week I met with Tony Jephcott, CEO of data capture specialist Blackroc Technology, and Jonathan Brayshaw from Psion, on whose modular Workabout Pro 3 handheld Blackroc's new Procyon device is based. The Procyon's claim to fame is that it's the first handheld GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) device that, when suitably configured, can deliver 'pinpoint' (1-2cm) accuracy.