MS unveils Windows 7 netbook specs

Microsoft may have restored some goodwill with its Windows 7 Starter edition changes yesterday, but netbook fans are not likely to be thrilled by this latest development, says TrustedReviews.

The Redmond giant has formally announced the new maximum specifications for netbooks shipping with Windows 7 and they represent little improvement on the hardware currently enforced upon those with XP.

The most notable restriction is the surprising decision to once again limit netbooks to just 1GB RAM, a remarkable choice considering how much better machines with 2GB run and just how cheaply this upgrade can be made.

Google has long been the king of search, dominating rivals including Yahoo and Microsoft. But it increasingly sees social networks, such as Facebook, as challengers to its search engine, a company official said yesterday, says The Associated Press.

As people search out advice online for everyday, personal decisions, the standard list of links served up by Google is not seen as intimate or trustworthy. For decisions, such as choosing a restaurant or a day-care provider, social networking sites or known review sites have an advantage, said Google Group product manager Ken Tokusei.

Such sites offer information from friends or acquaintances, and Tokusei said users tend to trust that information more. This puts Google's results at a disadvantage.

The NPD Group is well known for putting up two charts every month showing how video game consoles and software releases perform in the US market, according to Softpedia.

But the group also does other researches related to the industry, and its newest study is saying that more Americans are playing video games than are going to the movies. The study is named “Entertainment Trends In America” and it shows that 63% of participants played at least one game in the last six months, while just 53% of them chose to go out for a movie during the same period.

The study does not account for those who watched movies on a home theatre system, or those who saw a flick on their TV as part of regular programming.

AT&T has been noticeably silent about its plans to ship smartphones running Google's Android platform. However, leaked documents and industry reports have the carrier getting ready to launch its first Android device - the HTC Lancaster - in August, with a Motorola device (the Heron, also known as Iron Man) lined up for the end-of-year holiday buying season.

Digitaltrends.com reports that, although neither AT&T nor HTC have confirmed the reports, the HTC Lancaster will feature a slide-out qwerty keypad, with a form factor that resembles the HTC Touch Pro when opened, and an HTC Magic when closed.

The Lancaster features a 3MP camera, 850/1 900MHz dual-band HSPA and tri-band EDGE connectivity, assisted GPS, Bluetooth 2.0, microSD storage, and a 2.8-inch 320 by 240 pixel display.