News outlets and private sources are reporting that Microsoft plans to delay the release of Windows Vista to computer manufacturers and systems integrators by at least a week while it chases down at least one serious, last-minute problem. At this time reports from sources vary, but Microsoft seems to be targeting Vista’s release to manufacturing for Wednesday, November 8, a week after its initial target date of November 1. Even with a week’s delay, Microsoft still has a chance to meet its end-of-November deadline for releasing Windows Vista to channel partners and bulk licensees.
Microsoft’s official stance, as iterated yesterday through Microsoft’s PR firm, is that Vista has not been delayed, and is still on track for a January, 2007 release to consumers.
According to one source (but separately corroborated by PC World’s Elizabeth Montalbano) the last-minute hitch involves a crashing bug in Vista build 5824 which could result in data loss and, in some circumstances, could require a complete re-installation of the Vista operating system. According to reports, the bug was identified roughly two weeks ago and fixed in build 5840 a week later; assuming the fix holds, regression testing and shakedown would presumably be the cause of any delay in shipping Vista to manufacturers.
Microsoft is currently planning two releases of Windows Vista, one to partners, enterprisers and bulk licensees by the end of November 2006, and finally making the operating system available to consumers in January, 2007. The initial release to partners and businesses is the most likely to be impacted by any last minute delays; Microsoft has not released any specific dates for its planned consumer release.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.