News Bits: Ego-Lifestyle Notebooks Enter U.S., Notebook Sales to Increase 23% in 2007, Vista Antivirus News

Worldwide notebook shipments to increase 23% in 2007

According to Taiwan's Market Intelligence Center (MIC), worldwide notebook shipments will increase 23% from this year to 88.74 million units total in 2007. Desktop shipments will only increase 5.7% to 144.98 million units total. Overall PC shipments in 2007 will grow 11.7% to 233.72 million units.

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Ego-Lifestyle introduces "Tulip Ego" Luxury Laptop to U.S.

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Ego Lifestyle is introducing their latest European-designed luxury laptop, the Tulip Ego, at Barneys New York. The laptop features fashion-forward interchangeable "skins", which are available in a wide variety of designer fabrics and finishes.

The Tulip Ego has an elegant design with round shapes and interchangeable skins, which can be changed anytime and anywhere. It features AMD Turion 64 Mobile Technology, an integrated webcam, a keyboard with 15 dedicated keys, and a state-of-the-art audio system with two microphones.

Retail price of the system starts at $5,000 USD (ouch). More information on the Tulip Ego can be found at www.egolifestyle-us.com.

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See our coverage of Tulip Laptops at CeBIT 2006

Asus R1 gets WHQL Vista Certification and Asus W3J Core 2 Duo Reviewed

Asus this week announced they have received WHQL certification from Microsoft for their R1 convertible Tablet PC / notebook device. Asus is the first notebook manufacturer to receive this accreditation on a notebook. The R1 notebook series will receive the Vista x86 Premium logo.

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If you're interested in reading up on the Asus W3J 14.1" notebook with Core 2 Duo then check out a review posted in the NBR forums by user Nrbelex.

Windows Vista may not need antivirus

Microsoft co-president Jim Allchin is confident enough in the security of their new operating system, Windows Vista, that he says it may not even require antivirus in certain situations. Vista features many new security features, including an improved firewall, an all-in-one security suite (Windows Defender), and other features such as Kernel PatchGuard.

Allchin talked about two new security components which give parents control over what their children can and cannot do on the OS. Parental Controls allows parents to monitor/manage their child's privileges, which include web restrictions, time limits, blocking games, blocking specific programs, and activity reports.

The second feature is Address Space [Layout] Randomization. It helps to fend off malicious attacks by rendering system kernel object code in memory.

Allchin says he is happy with the current security level of Vista. He said: "Windows Vista is something that will have issues in security, because the bar is being raised over time. But in my opinion, it is the most secure system that's available, and it's certainly the most secure system that we've shipped."

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Dell to develop 150 mobile computing labs at Oklahoma City Public Schools

Dell is currently working with Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS), The City of Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area Public Schools (MAPS) Trust to install two mobile computing labs in each of the district's 79 schools, which will give educators the necessary flexibility to balance computing resources during a comprehensive building improvement project.

The $690 million sales tax and school bond initiative, MAPS for Kids, will allow every OKCPS student to attend a rennovated school by 2012. Dell is providing OKCPS with a $3.5 million package, which includes 1,920 Dell Latitude D620 notebook computers which will be integrated with mobile carts. Each cart holds 12 notebook computers and a wireless access point.

OKCPS has already begun participating in the Dell TechKnow program, which is a 40-hour after school program that provides underserved middle school students with an opportunity to learn technological skills and earn a home computer.

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Microsoft to release 6 new security patches next week

6 new security patches will be released by Microsoft for Windows next week; all 6 of them are critical. There are few details available on the patches, but it is known that one of them will address the exploit currently found in Microsoft's XML Core Services.

Microsoft will also be updating its Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. Two other non-security high priority updates will also be available on Microsoft Update and Windows Server Update Services.

The critical patches should be available on Tuesday.

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