Windows 7 Family Pack; Firefox 3.5; Laptops under $750 [ZDNET WEEK IN REVIEW]

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Must-Read News Stories Do you need more than Windows 7 Home Premium? Ed Bott: One of the most frequent questions I get these days comes from people who've been running the Windows 7 beta and RC and are planning to upgrade to the final version when it's available on October 22. "Which edition of Windows 7 do I need?" The answer might surprise you. READ FULL STORY Windows 7 versus Snow Leopard: How much do upgrades really cost? Sponsored Work smarter and increase efficiency with Enterprise 2.0 Are you often bogged down by information overload and handicapped by lack access to updated information? Learn how you can work efficiently with a smarter solution. IT salaries and benefits drop, IT job market over-saturated Jason Hiner: Both salaries for IT professionals and overall IT job openings are down in the past 18 months, according to new data. There's also some other residual bad news for IT pros, although there are some bright spots. READ FULL STORY U.S. sheds another 35K IT jobs in May, but market may be stabilizing This Week's Highlights Build it! Best PC components now available Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: My Hardware 2.0 "Very Best Kit List" -- updated and revamped for July/August -- includes the best high-end, mid-range and budget components currently available. If you're thinking of buying, building or even upgrading a PC, this list is a must-read. READ FULL STORY Put together a solid barebones system for $350 Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: When (and why) do you buy a new PC? Building a "High Performance" Windows 7 PC Extreme PCs and homebrew systems: Dead or alive? Monster PC upgrades - Without the monster price tag Sponsored How much do IT professionals earn? Find out in the 2009 activeTechPros IT salary & skills report. Be a member and get free access. * * * * * * * * * * * * How much do business professionals earn? Take our salary survey and find out once the salary benchmark wizard is completed. Microsoft to offer Family Pack for Windows 7 Ed Bott: Apple's defenders point to the OS X Family Pack as one of the biggest differentiators between their favorite OS and Windows. That difference is likely to go away when Windows 7 is released. The Proof: Text of a near-final license agreement for Windows 7 Home Premium. READ FULL STORY Some users fume as rose-colored discounts fade Windows 7 versus Snow Leopard: How much do upgrades really cost? Do you need more than Windows 7 Home Premium? Robin Harris: Why Windows 7 should be free Survey: 45% of IT departments will move to Windows 7, eventually ZDNet Special Report: Windows 7 nearing the finish line Benchmarking Firefox 3.5 Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: How does the latest release of Mozilla's browser compare to the rest? Firefox 3.5 is fast, all right, but not fast enough to beat Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari. READ FULL STORY Gallery: Firefox 3.5 slideshow Firefox 3.5: Well positioned as mid-sized browser gorilla Can Firefox 3.5 wean universities off their IE addiction? Firefox 3.5: More than 1.1M downloads already Testing Firefox 3.5...mind your add-ons! Microsoft to push IE 8 to more business users in August Toybox Ten: 10 full-featured laptops for less than $750 Andrew Nusca: Prices for notebooks are lower than ever before, yet a dizzying amount of options -- netbooks notwithstanding -- are available for your next machine. Which laptop will give you enough bang-for-your-buck? Here are 10 fully-featured systems under $750. READ FULL STORY Gateway NV series offers dual-core, 320GB HDD, 4GB RAM; $499 Toshiba debuts six new Satellite L Series budget laptops; start at $549 New Acer Aspire laptops start at $480 HP's new 13" ProBook 4310s offers Core 2 Duo, discrete GPU; starts $799 How to take better vacation photos Janice Chen: Image stabilization, automated scene modes, and face detection can only take you so far. To get the best photos, you need to know when and how to use all those fancy features of your digital camera. Here are a few tips to help make your summer photos -- even July 4th fireworks -- look a little better. READ FULL STORY Tips for photographing fireworks Top five digital cameras for Dads Affordable digital camera accessories (as low as $18.99) Top 5 digital cameras for Grads Desktops aren't dead (yet) John Morris: Laptops have long since overtaken their desk- bound brethren in terms of revenues, and more recently unit sales. But desktops still represented 47 percent of all PC sales worldwide. They're still big business. READ FULL STORY Netbook or notebook? Confusion reigns at 12 inches How much do desktops matter? Building high-performance, luxury computers in a recession Why Google betas won't work for smartphones or enterprises Jason Hiner: Google's "continuous beta" software approach won't satisfy customers of two markets that the search giant wants to win: smartphones and enterprise IT. Google ought to take a lesson from Microsoft's "good enough" playbook. Here's why. READ FULL STORY Google: Enterprise business profitable; Says email migration 'proof points' building Review: Google Ion (HTC Magic) Five big issues with ARM and Android netbooks Google I/O: Bigger push into Android and Web apps?? Google: Programming for the Web is the way to go Web 2.0: Reinvent your business for the downturn Photo Gallery ZDNet's 10 most popular galleries so far, 2009 We've published hundreds of galleries so far this year -- images of the products, people and events that matter most to business. Here are images from the 10 most popular. VIEW THE GALLERY Doom Resurrection on iPhone Arches and canyons and buttes, oh my! More ZDNet Photo Galleries Failing with online backup Michael Krigsman: Seeking to back up 350GB in safe, reliable, off-site storage, I tried Carbonite and Mozy, two of the most respected names in the offline backup market. Both products failed miserably to achieve my goals, each one in a perversely different way. READ FULL STORY HP SimpleSave external hard drive backs your files up with ease Your Thoughts: How mature are cloud computing services? 10 things you still have to worry about until cloud computing becomes reality Sam Diaz: The time is now for Mozy and cloud backup services Why one CIO is migrating all Treos to iPhones Jason Hiner: A longtime friend recently admitted to me that his IT department is converting the entire organization over to iPhones. If CIOs like him are doing this, then it's a pretty good indicator that the iPhone is becoming a very viable and tempting option for a lot of companies out there. READ FULL STORY Business intelligence comes to Kindle. Will companies care? RIM: Is the BlackBerry OS the weak link? Five tips for conserving iPhone battery life Turn your iPhone into a mobile office productivity tool Featured TalkBack Are economic conditions changing how you manage server turnover? Scott Lowe: Between cloud computing, virtualization and economic conditions, the data center has certainly changed form over the past ten years. What, if anything, are you doing differently now than you were before with regard to your server and data center infrastructure? READ FULL BLOG What do you think? Post Your Thoughts in TalkBack Reader TalkBacks Steve Jobs nearly died and lied about it "If you are a consumer then Steve Jobs death should mean little to you for your choices remain the same." -- James Quinn Average insecure program per PC rate remains high "Get updates for all programs through 1 interface. For that reason, I believe Linux is the only one that would do relatively well were it ever to get 90% marketshare." -- NonZealot Exclusive: Proof that Green Dam ripped off Solid Oak in 2006 Richard Koman: I previously pointed out that China's Green Dam Youth Escort software purloins a 2006 version of Solid Oak's CyberSitter net-nanny software and that the developer, Jinhui, was involved in drafting specifications for "parental control software," also in 2006. Here's proof that the Solid Oak software was lifted by the Chinese. READ FULL STORY Who is attacking Solid Oak, whose code was stolen for Green Dam? China's porn obsession not just a coverup for political repression China throttles Google, U.S. ratchets up trade war over Green Dam ZDNet Reviews Walkman turns 30, introduces OLED X Series: Can it compete with the iPod? Jennifer Bergen: This week marks the 30-year anniversary of the Sony Walkman. To celebrate, the company is releasing its Walkman X series, with an OLED screen. And it looks to be quite the iPod competitor. READ THE REVIEW Lenovo IdeaPad Y450 HTC Touch Pro2 More ZDNet Reviews Sign up for ZDNet's Product Watch Newsletter for the latest product reviews, news, and expert analysis	In The Blogs U.S. CIO Kundra answers questions about new federal IT dashboard -- Larry Dignan 60% of Americans would give up alcohol for their mobile phones -- Andrew Nusca NetSuite vs. SAP: How Newton would see this contest -- Brian Sommer Microsoft to push IE 8 to more business users in August -- Mary Jo Foley Visionary 2009: Judy Estrin says innovation is in trouble -- Tom Foremski Twitter adds better friend management -- Andrew Mager PwC: rotten to the core or just plain stupid? -- Dennis Howlett Supreme Court rebuffs Hollywood's attempt to block remote DVR services -- Sean Portnoy Six ways to make SOA services more reusable -- Joe McKendrick Ground breaking surgery "eliminates" neuro-illnesses -- Zack Whittaker The case of the missing Sun refugees -- Paul Murphy SmartPlanet: Making Web meetings work-- Vince Thompson SmartPlanet: The generation gap is widening. Are you ready to manage it?-- Heather Clancy SmartPlanet: Let the cubicle emancipation begin-- John Dodge Now Introducing... Technology, perspective & insights shaping the world. SmartPlanet is the premier destination for savvy advice, thought-provoking analysis and expert discussion on the intersection of technology, business and life. Visit SmartPlanet.com today! Most Rated Posts ZDNet Readers' Choice: Top 25 free, lightweight apps Netbook or notebook? Confusion reigns at 12 inches Sony to cut PS3 price by $100 in August? Windows 7 versus Snow Leopard: How much do upgrades really cost? Microsoft unveils 'screaming deals' for Windows 7   New Technologies Sponsored White papers Work smarter and increase efficiency with Enterprise 2.0 Are you often bogged down by information overload and handicapped by lack access to updated information? Learn how you can work efficiently with a smarter solution. How much do IT professionals earn? Find out in the 2009 activeTechPros IT salary & skills report. Be a member and get free access. * * * * * * * * * * * * How much do business professionals earn? Take our salary survey and find out once the salary benchmark wizard is completed. Free eBook: Complete Guide to Information Management Best Practices Help your company thrive in today's economy by learning how to leverage its most valuable asset: information. Read more in this eye-opening eBook. Live Webinar: Speed ROI with Intel vPro Technology and Symantec Altiris Realize significant ROI savings-and recoup your investment in as little as 10 months-by activating your PCs with these proven technology solutions. CRM your salespeople will love Learn about a customer relationship management (CRM) offering that boasts documented successes and fosters high user adoption rates. (Oracle) More white papers: Most popular papers Recently added papers Most popular papers by industry More Popular Resources Top 10 Windows Vista annoyances 10 ways to monitor what your users are doing with company computers 10 customization tricks to save you time in Windows XP How to fully degunk a PC to get rid of crapware 10 seriously annoying default configurations Videos and Podcasts Dell: Selling a new backbone for SMBs ZDNet Senior Editor Sam Diaz talks about the company's effort to sell its products to the SMB market. He says Dell executives are hoping to gain ground on the competition by retooling offerings to be more customizable. PLAY VIDEO Is AT&T slowly dethroning the almighty iPhone? ZDNet Senior Editor Sam Diaz shares his views on the release of Apple's new iPhone 3G S. Diaz says there is a dark shadow being cast over the new device because of its exclusive relationship with carrier AT&T, while users complain about two-year contracts and lack of support for MMS messaging. PLAY VIDEO Capital flowing into green At Greentech Media's Green Building Summit in Menlo Park, Calif., Cascadia Capital CEO Michael Butler discusses three subsectors of the green-building industry that recently began receiving the most capital from the stimulus plan and private sectors. PLAY VIDEO Who will manage the smart grid? At Greentech Media's Green Building Summit at SRI International in Menlo Park, Calif., tech executives discuss the future management of smart-grid technology and whether the balance of power will go toward utility companies, government regulatory agencies or building owners. PLAY VIDEO Speeding up construction on 'green' homes At Greentech Media???s Green Building Summit at SRI International in Menlo Park, Calif., Serious Material Chairman Marc Porat discusses the challenges associated with building green residential homes. He believes it's important for the green industry to persuade governments to mandate environmentally sustainable buildings in order to speed up construction. PLAY VIDEO Play more video and audio Hot Sponsored Downloads ZC Video to iPod Converter Hotspot Shield - Freeware Registry Booster AVS Audio Editor Opera - Freeware Most Popular Downloads  Postbox Postbox is an e-mail client and attachment aggregator that helps you manage the media in your inbox, free. License: Free OS: Windows Also available for Mac  TubeMaster Plus TubeMaster Plus can download multimedia files (such as FLV, MP3, MP4) from YouTube and similar Web sites and can save them on your computer. 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