Sony Plannning for Netbook Debut

Not long ago, word in the industry had it that Sony was planning its entrance on the increasingly demanding market of netbooks. However, since the first rumors surfaced, no other details regarding a possible Vaio netbook have been made available, which, naturally makes us wonder if all those rumors were true to start with. Fortunately, just recently, more details regarding a possible Vaio netbook have surfaced – nevertheless, things are still rather sketchy.

By now, almost everybody knows how popular netbooks have become, which goes to explain the high number of system vendors that have already introduced their products. The initial rumors of Sony also joining the rapidly growing netbook market were somewhat to be expected, but, unfortunately, while vendors have already released theirs, Sony's rumored netbook has failed to make it mediated appearance.

That doesn't necessarily mean that the company has no plans of releasing such a product whatsoever. As proof of a possible Sony Vaio netbook, we have a quote from Laptopmag, which had a chance to ask Senior Vice President of Sony Information Technology Products Mike Abary if such a product was part of the company's roadmap.

“Stay tuned,” was Mr. Abary’s response, who, as you can see, refrained from either confirming or downright denying the existence of such a product. However, he also said that, “we are letting the pioneers in the market make the mistakes. Sony has to participate because consumers are our core competency. We have to participate.”

“Stay tuned,” was Mr. Abary’s response, who, as you can see, refrained from either confirming or downright denying the existence of such a product. However, he also said that, “we are letting the pioneers in the market make the mistakes. Sony has to participate because consumers are our core competency. We have to participate.”

Despite no official release date or specifications being available, the fact that Sony will also be joining the netbook market is almost a certainty at this point.

DTH monthly subscription at Rs.100 in India

In order to tempt the existing cable subscribers to shift to the direct-to-home (DTH) platform, the DTH operators have reduced the entry-level price of monthly subscriptions on DTH platform to Rs 100. This means that the average monthly subscription charges of watching the cable channels on DTH platform has come down to Rs 182-249, almost at par with the existing monthly cable charges paid by consumers to their local cable operators.

Earlier, the average monthly outgo for subscribing to the DTH services was Rs 280-300 (inclusive of price of a DTH settop box, hardware and monthly subscriptions).

Leading DTH operator Dish TV (3.75 million subscribers), an Essel Group venture, has now launched the largest offering of channels and services (125 channels) at Rs 100 per month just days after its rival Tata Sky (2.5 million subscribers) launched an entry-level subscription offer of Rs 99 per month (53 channels).

Both these DTH operators have dropped their monthly subscription prices significantly after Big TV from Reliance ADAG launched its services with one of the starting offers at Rs 100 (44 free-to-air channels) last month.

This means that any cable consumer can now shift to Dish TV's DTH connection by paying Rs 2,190 one time (an average of Rs 182 per month) for the Dish TV hardware, set-top box and receive 12 months of subscription of 125 channels that include entertainment channels, movie channels, sports channels and others.

Similarly, to get a Tata Sky connection, a consumer needs to pay Rs 2,999 (monthly average of Rs 249) and will also get an annual subscription of 53 channels including pay channels like Star Plus, Sony TV and active services.

The recently-launched Big TV is also offering the entry-level subscription at Rs 2,490 that includes the hardware, set- top box and various channel packages.

However, if a consumer only wants to watch free-to-air channels, that can be bought by paying a one-time fees for the hardware (Rs 1,490) and a monthly subscription of Rs 100 for 44 free-to-air channels including the Doordarshan.

"Our offer is in line with our overall target of acquiring five million DTH subscribers by March 31, 2009. At Rs 100 per month, we are offering the largest bouquet of channels — something for everyone in the house. This will help us speed up the subscriber acquisitions," Vinay Agarwal, chief executive, Dish TV, told Business Standard.

On its part, Tata Sky is aiming to enter more Hindi-speaking markets with its Rs 99 per month subscription offer. "Tata Sky stands for a premium DTH service. Perhaps, because of this impression, a number of potential subscribers were finding us a little expensive. Now the Rs 99 'super hit pack' will help us get these very subscribers," Vikram Mehra, chief marketing officer, Tata Sky, said.

Apple Re-Releases iTunes 8 for Windows

Apple Discussions has been a popular place for Windows users (that's right) who have downloaded and installed the new version of Apple's media player application, iTunes 8. According to many forum posters, plugging in an iPod or iPhone caused Vista to crash and then display the nightmarish "blue screen of death," in short – BSOD.

The critical error, best-known for its blue background, tagged an Apple-provided USB driver ("usbaapl.sys" in the 32-bit version of Vista, "usbaapl64.sys" in the 64-bit edition of the OS) as the culprit. Microsoft's OS identifies the respective driver as "Apple Mobile Device Support" in Vista's uninstaller.

Symptoms

After installing iTunes 8 for Windows, some users may see a blue screen error message when connecting iPhone or iPod to a Windows Vista computer. In some cases, the computer may immediately restart when connecting iPhone or iPod to the computer.

Resolution
Solution 1
1. Disconnect your iPhone or iPod from Windows Vista.
2. Uninstall iTunes and Apple Mobile Device Support
For Classic View

• Choose Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features.
• First select Apple Mobile Device Support, click Uninstall.
• Select iTunes, click Uninstall.

For Control Panel Home View

• Choose Start > Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a Program.
• First select Apple Mobile Device Support, click Uninstall.
• Select iTunes and click Uninstall.

2. Restart the computer.

3. Re-download and install the updated iTunes 8 installer from www.apple.com/itunes/download. Important: Do not use the iTunes8Setup or iTunes864Setup file you previously downloaded.