Intel will be updating its budget chip line with a dual-core Celeron E1200. This will be the first dual core processor for Celeron line-up. The processor will run at 1.6GHz and will have 512KB of L2 cache that is ¼ the size of cache in the lowest end Core 2 Duo processor. The bus speed will be 800MHz and the processor will cost $53 only. Intel will also update its Penryn based processor line-up. The Core 2 Extreme will get a speed boast and will clock at 3.2GHz, it will sell for $1399. The Core 2 Quad chips will also get speed boast and clock at 2.83GHz, 2.66GHz and 2.5GHz. Intel will also have two Core 2 Duo chips clocked at 2.66GHz and 3.16GHz. The price will range from $163 for 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo to $530 for 2.83 Core 2 Quad chips.

Matthew Key the incoming CEO of O2 said, three out of every four buyers of the iPhone in Britain will be people switching to O2. Both Key and Erskine (outgoing CEO) are refusing to say exactly how many iPhones have been sold since the product’s UK debut, except that the number is within expectations. According to analyst as many as 70,000 handsets were sold on first weekend of its release and around 400,000 iPhones will be sold before end of 2007. If the above numbers are true then the iPhone had a great launch in all three European countries. We will get the exact details when Apple announces its first quarter financial result in January 2008.

Yesterday JetBlue announced that it would provide free in-flight WiFi access for Yahoo IM and email. The first thing that came to my mind was I want full Internet access not just Yahoo. Well that dream of mine came true with in 24 hours, American Airlines will start providing free WiFi Internet access via Aircell on its transcontinental 767-200s from next year. The service won’t be crippled and will provide full Internet access. The only thing bothering me now is the person sitting next to me on flight and talking on VoIP.  American Airlines WiFi service is a pilot program but if successful, it would be implemented in all AA planes.

CNBC's Jim Goldman is reporting that, based on accounts of "Asian manufacturers partnering with Apple Inc.," a new 3G iPhone is due in June 2008 and that Apple has begun production of a new sub-portable (50% thinner) Macbook Pro featuring flash memory instead of a hard drive. Goldman also reports that, due to heavy demand, Apple has increased iPod touch production to 5.1 million units for the current quarter.
CNBC Video

The biggest hurdle in development of processors with hundreds of cores is data transfer speed and efficiency. It looks like IBM researchers have found a solution to this problem they have developed a technology called silicon nanophotonics, which replaces some of the wires on a chip with pulses of light on optical fibers for quicker and more power-efficient data transfer. The technology, which can transfer data up to a distance of few centimeters, is about 100 times faster that wires and consumes one-tenth as much power. The improved bandwidth and power efficiency of silicon nanophotonics will make it possible to have hundreds or thousands of cores on a chip bringing supercomputer power to the desk. Though this technology is still in research phase and any implementation would at least take 10-12 years, just imagine the power you will have on your lap or desk in 10 years.

iPhone is showing continues demand in Europe and leading its rivals says RBC analyst. T-mobile sold 10,000 iPhone on first day and is selling 10,000 to 12,000 per week since then in Germany. In UK O2 sold 30,000 to 40,000 iPhone on its first weekend. Orange in France sold 30,000 iPhone in first five days and Orange plans to sell 100,000 by end of this year. Only thing stopping the iPhone from going on an all out assault in Europe is its lack of 3G. Every analyst has been talking about iPhone’s limitations but what they don’t understand is the reason iPhone is selling like a hot cake is its implementation of features it has.
[Via Appleinsider]

JetBlue will become the first airline in US to provide in-flight WiFi service. Passengers carrying WiFi-equipped devices on the new BetaBlue Airbus A320 will be able to access Yahoo’s IM and email. The WiFi service gets activated once the plane reaches 10,000 feet. You will need a flash enabled browser to view specialized versions of either Yahoo IM or email. If all goes well in beta testing the service will be rolled out in all JetBlue planes. JetBlue and RIM have entered an agreement and Blackberry handset like 8820 and Curve 8320 will work with this service. JetBlue will keep adding new feature to the BetaBlue service but don’t expect full Internet access anytime soon.

MovieBeam is informing its customers that the HD movie service is ceasing operations as of December 15th. MovieBeam never got on its own feet since Disney pulled its plug. There were series of investments and acquisitions but none of the owners were able to really make the business model work. The reasons behind demise of all the online movie rental or purchase services have been limited selection, very high DRM restrictions and video quality. The movie industry has to understand that the customers don’t want to rip the movie industry off. High DRM restrictions only make it difficult for the customers to enjoy their purchased movie contents. The other problem is limited selection, most consumers would like to get their entire movie selection from one website (online store). Imagine you have to go to Walmart for movie released by Paramount and if you want a movie released my Universal you will only get it in Best Buy. Most people just know the name of the movie and not the studio that released it.

According to CNET France Apple is preparing a significant update for the iPhone as early as this weekend. The 1.1.3 update will add disk mode for storing data and voice recording mode for capturing lectures or voice memo. It is likely that the update will break modified iPhone that run third party code or are unlocked to work on other carriers. If the news is true Apple will be adding two of the most requested feature to the iPhone.

Dell is planning to launch Latitude XT tablet PC on 11th of this month. Engadget is reporting that their sources have conformed this plan. The tablet will use dual-core ULV CPU, integrated graphics, LED backlit LCD (1280 x 800), pen and touch support, WiFi, Optional Bluetooth and 3G, Express card slot, Smart card slot and Finger-print reader. There is no word on how much the tablet will cost, we will come to know about cost on 11th for sure.

Adobe has announced that PDF 1.7 has been approved by the ISO and will become the ISO 32000 standard. Although previous subsets of PDF have been considered by the ISO, the approval of the entire document format as a new standard will impact its development in the future. From this point forward, the ISO and not Adobe is in charge of the PDF specification and any changes that are incorporated into it. Though Adobe won’t accept but its push for ISO certification has largely been seen as a response to Microsoft’s XPS standard. Adobe obviously hopes that PDF’s new standing, as an ISO standard will defend the standard against Microsoft’s attempt at the competing document format.

Its Apple Day at Google as Google announced the release of a new iPhone application and Mac Developer Playground.  The iPhone application integrates Google applications like Search, Gmail, Calendar, Reader and more. Google accomplish this by using technologies like AJAX and iPhone’s Safari browser that delivers an excellent mobile Internet experience. To use the application just browse to www.google.com on your iPhone. Google also unveiled the Google Mac Developer Playground, a website where the Mac community can look for new and interesting open source projects and demos from Google’s Mac team. The website has projects like Cover Story, MacFUSE and the GData. Google’s Engineering Manager Amit Singh said, “ One new demo we want to highlight today is Statz. Dave MacLachlan, one of the engineers working on Google Desktop Mac, created it in his spare time. Statz lets you coordinate your status messages across various IM clients. If you have more then one IM client, we think this will come in handy.” Statz is a god send application for people using multiple IM clients on Mac.

France telecom Orange announced that they’ve sold 30,000 iPhone in just 5 days. 48% of iPhone were sold to new subscription and 80% of customers signed up for a dedicated “Orange for iPhone” plan. Louis-Pierre Wenes Executive Director of Orange’s France operations said, “This is a very good score, especially as one in two iPhone purchases is accompanied by a new Orange line subscription. This confirms that the iPhone will make an active contribution to the acquisition of new customers.”

Sprint’s VP of Product Management and Partnership Development said today that Sprint Nextel would soft launch its XOHM WiMax network in the next few days in Chicago, Washington DC and Baltimore. There was no information available about what devices will be available at the launch but it is believed later in the year a number of special purpose devices will launch, as will dual mode CDMA/WiMax handsets. Sprint is aiming for an officially launch of XOHM service in second quarter of 2008. There has been lot of talk about WiMax potential for last two years at last some one is launching a WiMax network.

Dailytech is reporting that Intel will launch their latest generation of ‘Penryn’ mobile processor on January 6, 2008. The Penryn processors are based on 45nm production technology and will have four Core 2 Duo processors and one Core 2 Extreme dual core processor. All the Core 2 Duo processors will have 35W TDP same as previous generation of mobile processors. The Core 2 Extreme model (X9000) will have 2.8GHz processor speed, 6MB L2 cache, 44W TDP and will cost $851. The Core 2 Duo T9500 will have 2.6Ghz processor speed, 6MB L2 cache and will cost $530. The T9300 will have 2.5GHz processor speed, 6MB L2 cache and will be priced at $316. The lower end model T8300 and T8100 will both come with 3MB L2 Cache. The first one will have 2.4GHz processor speed and cost $241 whereas the second one will have 2.1Ghz processor speed and cost  $209. Intel will be releasing the Montevina Processor refresh in second half of 2008, these processors will have 25W TDP and will be based on same Penryn Mobile Processors. In Q3 2008 Intel will again refresh their mobile processor line by adding 1066 MHz FSB and DDR3 support. It is also believed that Intel will also launch first quad-core processor for notebooks in first half of 2008. Notebook based on the new processors will be show at CES 2008 and Macworld 2008, which will be held in January.

The supply of Opterons server Chips and Phenom desktop chips have be very limited and the reason behind the problem according to Techreport is related to the translation lookaside buffer (TLB) in the processor’s L3 cache. The problem is present in all AMD quad-core processors up to the current B2 revision. AMD has said a revision B3 is in works for Q1 2008. The TLB problem can be corrected by BIOS based workaround but the fix involves 10-20% performance loss. This is bad new for AMD, which is/was already struggling to keep up with last generation Intel’s Core 2 Quad chips.

BusinessWeek has posted today that Verizon wireless plans to support Google’s new software platform for mobile phones. Verizon Wireless’s Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam said “We’re planning on using Android, Android is an enabler of what we do.” Verizon Wireless had been one of the large cellular carriers withholding support from the Android platform. Last week Verizon announced that it would embrace an open-access model, which would allow use of broader range of devices on Verizon network. Why a sudden change of heart Verizon?
[Via BusinessWeek]

In Windows Vista if Windows Genuine Advantage believes that the copy of Vista is unauthorized it can “lock” Vista from further use. The problem with Genuine Advantage was that it disabled many legal copies of Vista also. Microsoft today said that it would withdraw the anti-piracy tool ‘the kill switch’ from Windows Vista SP1, following customer complaints. Microsoft said “Users whose systems are identified as counterfeit will be presented with clear and recurring notices about the status of their system and how to get genuine copies. They won't lose access to functionality or features, but it will be very clear to them that their copy of Window Vista is not genuine and they need to take action." But Microsoft also said “ All copies of Windows Vista still require activation and the system will continue to validate from time to time to verify that systems are activated properly”. At last Microsoft is doing one thing right with Vista, definitely that won’t make me down-grade to Vista from XP.

Google’s VP of Search and Users Experience Marissa Mayer revealed the “ fastest rising U.S. search terms” on the Today Show.  Last year Google described how they came up with the list. “We looked for those searches that were very popular in 2006 but were not as popular in 2005 — the explosive queries, the topics that everyone obsessed over. To come up with this list, we looked at several thousand of 2006’s most popular searches, and ranked them based on how much their popularity increased compared to 2005.” iPhone toped the list followed by Webkinz. The only entry in the top ten list that surprised me was no.10 Anna Nicole Smith, people are still searching her name. The top 10 fastest rising U.S. search terms are:
1.    iPhone
2.    Webkinz
3.    Tmz
4.    Transformers
5.    YouTube
6.    Club penguin
7.    My space
8.    Heroes
9.    Facebook
10.    Anna Nicole Smith

DigiTimes reported today that Kenmos Technology and Taiwan Nano Electro-Optical Technology have both started supplying LED backlight LCD Units to Apple and Dell. Nano Electro-Optical is shipping 12.1” LCD (LED backlight) to Dell whereas Apple has validated 13.3” LCD for its notebook. Apple has ordered around 90,000 units for December. According to Appleinsider Apple will design it ultra-portable around 13.3” display even though most ultra-portables have 10” to 12” displays. DigiTimes notes that the component shipments to both Dell and Apple are for high-end models, which rules out the use of these displays for the present 13” Macbook models. Apple will most likely introduce the new notebook at the Macworld on 15th January.

Adobe announced the availability of Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 3, which includes H.264 video support the same standard used in Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, QuickTime and iTunes video. The new player will support High Efficiency AAC (HE-AAC) audio capabilities. The update also features hardware accelerated, multi-core enhanced, full-screen video playback for high-resolution viewing across major operating systems and browsers. Two out of three major online video distributing and playing software now supports H.264 video. The one left is Windows Media player and we know Microsoft won’t leave WMV video format even though H.264 is better. You can download the new flash update here.