Nicholas Kolakowski

Microsoft released its Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 earlier this week. The HPC (high-performance computing) server is designed to help businesses, government and academia leverage capabilities for powerful analysis. Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 is interoperable with other Microsoft technologies such as SharePoint, Microsoft System Center, Microsoft Office and Active Directory. HPC Services for Excel […]

Analysts sometimes refer to Microsoft as the archetypical “fast follower,” a company whose skill rests in recognizing an emerging trend and then adjusting strategy to embrace or crush it. Case in point: Internet Explorer, the company’s Web browser originally introduced in August 1995, which quickly overran Netscape on its way to dominating the then-emerging browser […]

Microsofts IE 9 Beta Offers Speed, Windows 7 Integration by Nicholas Kolakowski Stripped-Down UI IE 9 offers a stripped-down user interface reminiscent of competing browsers. Microsoft claims it designed the browser to put the Web itself front-and-center, as opposed to the browser and its various buttons. ‘New Tab’ Icon Clicking the small “New Tab” icon […]

HP Omni, TouchSmart 310, TouchSmart tm2 Unveiled by Nicholas Kolakowski HP Omni 100 The HP Omni 100 all-in-one includes a 20-inch HD display and up to1TB of storage. MediaSmart Software HP installed its MediaSmart software on the Omni 100, a platformfor managing photos, video and music. HP TouchSmart 310 The HP TouchSmart 310 has a […]

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 beta was downloaded 2 million times during its first two days of release, according to the company. That falls in line with the company’s other recent beta releases, which have attracted multimillion-user audiences. Those users’ data is then used to fine-tune the final version of the software. “In the first two […]

Customers are generally happier than ever with the quality of their PCs, according to the newest yearly update of the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The Index relies on customer interviews, with the resulting data inputted into a model originally developed by the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. The Index evaluates customer satisfaction with […]

Apple will release the iPhone 4 in Chinese retail stores starting Sept. 25. The release will coincide with the openings of Apple Store Hong Kong Plaza in Shanghai and Apple Store Xidan Joy City in Beijing. The unlocked 16GB iPhone 4 will retail for the equivalent of $743, and the 32GB model for the equivalent […]

The worldwide market for enterprise software will increase over the next year, as businesses begin to refresh their hardware and software in the wake of the massive global recession. That prediction, in a Sept. 20 research note from Gartner, also suggests that enterprise-software spending in North America will lose momentum in the second half of […]

Reports of the Apple iPad cannibalizing the market for low-end notebooks have been greatly exaggerated, according to a new blog posting from an NPD Group analyst. That follows a weekend ruckus over comments attributed to Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn, which suggested the tablet was indeed eating into laptop sales. “No one expected netbook sales […]

Microsoft unveiled two major products this week: the beta version of Internet Explorer 9, which the company hopes will allow it to maintain its market-share lead against Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, and the final release of its Windows Phone Developer Tools, which developers will presumably use to create applications for the upcoming Windows Phone […]

Samsung, BlackBerry, Sony, Nikon Show Off Mobility for Fall by Nicholas Kolakowski RIM BlackBerry Curve 3G Research In Motion’s latest update to its BlackBerry Curve 3G runs the BlackBerry 5 OS, but the company promises that the device is “ready” for the new BlackBerry 6 OS. Presumably, that means the device will receive an update […]

Apple’s iPad is likely cannibalizing notebook sales, says a Morgan Stanley analyst. That would dovetail with statements by other analysts, who have blamed a drop in sales of lower-cost notebooks on the bestselling tablet PC. “We expect tablets to continue to pressure PCs as more vendors launch products (e.g., Dell Streak and Samsung Tab) and […]