detroit ? scheduled for introduction at the 2008 north american international auto show, the hummer hx concept reflects the innovative minds of three new gm designers - david rojas, min young kang and robert jablonski - whose first ignt was to provide a vision for the future design of off-road vehicles.

section: computers, software / applications

microsoft has announced that it will let xp live on after demand for it surged following the popularity of umpc’s and -notebooks like the eeepc from asus. the os will now be licensed for nettops as well. nettops are ultra-low cost desktops mainly used for web surfing, email, and instant messaging. as interest in such devices has grown, both manufacturers and customers have shown a strong preference for windows xp as their os of choice.

?customers and partners have made it clear to us that they want windows on their netbooks and nettops,? said steven guggenheimer, corporate vice president of the original equipt manufacturer division at microsoft. ?we are committed to providing windows solutions for these devices, helping to ensure a high-quality experience for both our partners and customers.?

microsoft is currently working with over 20 oem manufacturers including acer inc, dell, lenovo, quanta, and asustek.

?we have seen much demand for windows on the eee pc,? said jerry sheen, ceo of asustek computer. ?it is great that microsoft is addressing this customer demand and providing a windows solution on these devices, which will provide a familiar computing experience.?

customer demand for xp has risen following the tepid response to vista. many users find it hard to use and are frustrated by its incompatility with many software applications and peripherals.

read [microsoft]

full story » | written by sue walsh for gadgetell. | comt on this article »

so yesterday you saw our iphone 2.0 wishlist, packed with things we'd love to see. but the new iphone has really had the intertubes throbng with rumors, as people desperate to get their hands on the new tech dig up info. or at least, desperately look for info in the strangest places, and invent wishful stories. check out the 10 rumors we think are most interesting. and remember, though you may want to believe, not all of this is going to be accurate.

?iphone 2 to be 22% thinner. thinness-wise it may not be cake-cutting macbook air slim, but the iphone's already fairly slender. you want more thinness, and more capality?
verdict: maybe, but only if you leave some good stuff out.

?better battery, more ram. who wouldn't want these features in a portable media player? it'd have to be a balance against the 22% thinner rumor. but technology does advance quickly...
verdict: a definite possility, at least on the ram front.

?gps function on board. more accurate than cell-tower positioning, and rumors based on fcc info even say broadcom is chip-provider. then again, wouldn't on-board gps require apple to develop turn-by-turn navigation software?
verdict: could be true. location-based services ftw.

?squarer shape. icons hidden in the iphone sdk hint at a squarer shape versus the shiny curved corners of the first version. true, or are the icons just placeholders?
verdict: who knows, but why mess with a winning design?

?front-facing camera, mole tv. a source in swisscom, switzerland's iphone supplier suggested these two. many a 3g phone can do video-calling, and mole tv seems like progression from the slightly unexpected youtube app.
verdict: camera and video calling is reasonably likely, uming 3g technology. mole tv? no way.

?us low-end iphone to cost $200. kevin rose set the rumor mill spinning when he suggested that the iphone 2 would launch at half the 8gb iphone price, and $100 less than the 8gb ipod touch.
verdict: sounds nice, but kevin's predictions have been off-target before...

?spain to get ?100 iphone 2, uk to get £100 version. local reports in spain suggested this price for people signing up to a 24-36 month contract and the times suggested similar deals in the uk.
verdict: our contacts say not this cheap in spain, but it's not like we've seen signed contracts or anything.

?iphone to ship first week of july. an insider with the uk's o2 apparently let slip to t3 that they'll be "very busy" in the first week july. and similarly on june 9th. 2+2=4.
verdict: a four-week news-to-launch timescale is reasonable, but disagrees with what we've learned from our sources.

?quanta using fedex to move huge numbers of iphones. forbes.com staked out apple contract manufacturer quanta, and saw frantic activity. could be iphone 2s, could be someone else's electronics: the boxes are just plain brown.
verdict: at this point in the timeline, anything's possible.

?iphone 2 games to cost upwards of $27. the ceo of spanish game developers lemonquest says that a new generation of iphone games are coming, and that they'll be sold in itunes for the equivalent of around $27.
verdict: understandable, given the capalities the new iphone would have and the already-revealed game-friendly sdk. however, developers are free to set their own prices on games, so don't expect every game to cost $27. when's the last time you saw a mole cellphone game cost that much?

so, there you have it. which'll prove accurate? the truth is out there... and we'll find out on monday.

there has been some confusion lately about the migration process to get access to ginger. some of you did receive their invitation code very quickly but had to wait several hours to be actually migrated.

we are really sorry about this but since a lot of you asked to be migrated we had to set up a queue in order to not overload the databases and the servers. at the mot the queue is decreasing and you should receive your access to ginger in less than 24 hours.

thank you again for your huge support and continue to have fun with ginger

thanks to this week's sponsors for the milk and (browser) cookies: chevy fuel solutions, glyde, jet blue, kicker, ms office small business, nokia, penny arcade, slingpage, symantec, toshiba, toyota, unscrew america, yahoo, and zune. you too can advertise on lifehacker.

german volkswagen group expects to sell more than 800,000 vehicles in china this year, encouraged by its strong sales in the first half.

the projection, made by volkswagen's china chief winfried vahland, is up from 711,298 units it moved in the world's fastest-growing major auto market in 2006. its january-to-june sales on the mainland and hong kong rose 24.6 percent year-on-year to record 431,369 units, including 379,705 volkswagen-brand cars, 49,267 audi vehicles and skoda 2,274 units.

the german company's record sales figure is likely to help it remain the top seller in china's penger car segt though its rivals, such as the general motors corp. and the toyota motor corp., have yet to disclose their first-half results in the territory. "this (record sales) indicates that our 'olympic program' has been yielding good results in china," vahland said in a recent interview in beijing.

volkswagen, the sole automotive partner of the beijing 2008 olympics, flagged off the program in 2005 to launch 12 to 14 new models by 2009 in china. the automaker also intends to cut costs by 40 percent by 2008 and to improve sales and service networks.

vahland predicted that china's entire penger car market would reach five million units this year, up from the company's previous forecast of 4.6 million units. in 2006, 4.2 million penger cars were sold in the country. "however, we will not slacken our efforts to cut costs and improve customer satisfaction, although we performed well in the first half," he said. he warned that interest rate rises and soaring oil prices in china are likely to have a negative impact on the car market.

the vw turn signal alerts the automaker to a greener pasture. the german automaker now runs a joint venture with first automotive works corp in the northeastern city of changchun. the venture is responsible for the production of bora, caddy, jetta, golf and sagitar, as well as the audi a6 and a4. additionally, the venture will launch a 1.8-liter turbo magotan sedan next week.

the mangotan also features fuel stratified injection in nearly every petrol version. it ranges from 1.6 to 3.2 l, but the multivalve 2.0 l tdi is the most sought out version in europe. in the united states, it features a 200 horsepower 2.0 l turbocharged i4 as the base engine, or a 280 horsepower 3.6 l vr6 engine as the upgrade and six-speed manual and automatic transmissions.

an tiecheng, the venture's general manager, said that it plans to roll out at least two new models under the volkswagen and audi marques annually in the next five years to lure increasingly sophisticated auto purchasers.

the vw mangotan, also called the pat, follows the latest design philosophy first introduced on the vw phaeton luxury car. the new styling is a dramatic departure from the styling of the b5.5 pat. although the new design using improved vw parts is somewhat controversial, sales have improved over the old model.

for the full year, vw, which operates car manufacturing ventures with leading chinese auto maker saic motor corp. and faw group, aims to increase its sales by roughly one-fifth and maintain its 17 percent share of the world's second-largest auto market, a senior company executive said.

the venture will have a "minimum" profit growth of 25 percent this year from 2006, said joachim wedler, its vice-president in charge of finance. but wedler did not reveal how much the firm, in which faw holds a 60 percent stake and volkswagen 40 percent, will earn this year.

the wolfsburg-based company is one of the world's ggest producers of penger cars and europe's largest automaker.

about the author

anthony fontanelle is a 35-year-old automotive.buff who grew up in the windy city. he does freelance work for an automotive magazine when he is not busy customizing cars in his shop.

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