Apple boosts iBook speed, adds wireless

Apple has made a number of alterations to its iBook range of tablets, reports MacNewsWorld.

The company has added wireless access cards as standard to all its iBook models, indicating that wireless networking is becoming more viable with the creation of WiFi hotspots around the globe.

Originally it was only the14-inch iBook with 60GB hard drive that featured AirPort Extreme as standard equipment.

All three models in the range now also feature increased processor speeds, with the entry-level model offering 1.2GHz performance, up from 1GHz. Apple has also reduced the price for this specific model to $1 000 (R6 300).

The midrange model now features a 60GB hard drive, up from 40GB. All three new iBook models are available immediately from retailers, catalogue houses and various online vendors, says the company.

Microsoft has developed software that further links desktop PCs and telephones to create an on-screen communications hub.

According to SeattlePI, the software - code-named Istanbul - creates a central place for instant messaging, file transfers, audio and video communication, computer-based conferencing and advanced "presence" technology that indicates whether others on the system are available to meet or talk.

Users will also be able to control standard telephones using their computers, by routing calls to a mobile phone when away from the desk, using a PC to initiate teleconferences and placing calls by clicking a person`s number on the screen.

Microsoft is aiming it at medium-size companies. A beta release is expected in the coming weeks, with a final version due in the first half of next year.

Robbie Williams has become the first performer to release an entire album and video content on a memory card that slots into a mobile phone.

According to p2pnet, EMI Music UK is releasing the Williams album on The Carphone Warehouse cards to be sold through 600 UK outlets starting next month.

Sound quality will be comparable to that of a CD, says Carphone`s Kevin Gillan. "2004 has undeniably seen a massive, and very mainstream, shift towards digital music. We see pre-loaded music memory cards as the next step and part of a general consumer hunger for more mobile content."

The company says it is in talks with EMI about more pre-loaded memory cards for Christmas.

A US inventor has developed a key-chain remote that will allow users to switch on or off almost any TV, anywhere in the world.

TVB-Gone costs around $15 (R95), and works like a universal remote control, but one that only switches TVs on or off. At the push of a button, the device runs through approximately 200 different infrared codes that control the power of about 1 000 TV models, AP reports.

The device works anywhere from bars to airports, and demand has been exceedingly high, says inventor Mitch Altman. The majority of TVs should react within 17 seconds, but he adds that it takes slightly more than a minute for the device to emit all the trigger codes.