Posted 10/05/09 at 04:31:40 PM by Mark Edward Soper

ArsTechnica passes along a rumor that the next release of Microsoft's Windows Live, Wave 4, may reach beta status this week. Details are scarce, but Softpedia points out that Windows Live Hotmail Wave 4 Milestone 1, which offers a number of new features, has been live since mid-September.

When will Windows Live Wave 4 Beta shed the beta tag? ArsTechnica has run a Japanese blog entry about Wave 4 through a couple of online translators, with the rather fractured results pointing to a spring to summer 2010 target. Stay clicked to MaximumPC.com for more information.

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Posted 09/29/09 at 04:34:18 PM by Mark Edward Soper

With Windows 7 coming down the pike in less than a month, it's time for Microsoft to update its Windows Home Server product to support new features in Windows 7, such as Libraries and image-based backup. Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 (announced in July and now available in beta via Microsoft Connect) provides the Windows 7 support Windows Home Server needs, but that's not all that's new.

Windows 7 and Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 are designed to play nicely together, thanks to updates that support Windows 7 libraries and WHS backup that's Action Center aware (so Action Center will no longer nag a Windows 7 user that backups aren't happening when WHS does its backup thing). To find out what else is new in Windows Home Server, and for the latest on when "beta" comes off the title, join us after the break.

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Posted 11/14/08 at 10:28:41 AM by Paul Lilly

Mail-in-rebates are a gamble no matter how you approach the situation. You can push the odds of getting a check in your favor by both following directions exactly as they're laid out and keeping a record of the entire process with photocopies of everything you send in, but no matter how careful you are, the promised check might never be in the mail. Depending on the amount, it could be worthwhile to stay persistent.

Now it appears that standard precautions may not be enough. According to HardOCP, Continental Promotions Group (CPG), one of the largest and oldest rebate entities in the business, is finding itself in dire straits and potentially unable to pay its obligations. When a manufacturer puts a rebate on a product, it anticipates a set of amount will be turned in. To cover the costs, said manufacturer will cut a check to CPG to cover the payouts, but according to HardOCP, those funds have gone inexplicably missing.

"We have it from good sources currently that CPG owes consumers somewhere in the neighborhood of $9M to $12M worth of rebates," HardOCP writes. "The problem here is that CPG currently only has about $3M in cash to cover that $9M-$12M in rebates owed to the consumer. Where that money has gone to is anyone’s guess and we will leave speculation up the law enforcement authorities and the courts."

HardOCP says CPG has been contacting its customers asking them to deposit more money into CPG accounts to cover the rebates or else it might not be able to honor consumer rebate checks. That can't sit well with manufacturers who already funded the rebates, nor will it sit well with consumers if they end up being the ones to get screwed.

What's your experience with mail-in-rebates been like? Hit the jump and let us know, good or bad.

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Posted 08/27/08 at 09:32:10 AM by Chris Moody

Nothing is worse than when the government decides to levy another tax someplace. Newegg customers of New York were irked on June 1, 2008 when they found out that Newegg was being required to collect sales tax to orders sent to New York, even though Newegg doesn’t have a store there.

However, Newegg has backed away from that stance, sending out an email from Newegg Company Spokesperson and Vice President of Merchandising, Bernard Luthi, saying that it reversed it’s decision based on feedback from it’s customers.

“This decision was driven by your direct and candid feedback and our continued commitment to you as our valued customers.” He went on to thank customers for their patience as they worked things out.

Of course, New York residents are still responsible for paying their sales tax.

Newegg should be applauded for taking a stand. Collecting taxes for different states, counties, and localities would be a terrible mess for any online retailer to wade through. It would only serve to drive up prices for consumers and stifle internet commerce.

How do you feel about taxes on items purchased over the web?

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Posted 07/22/08 at 02:51:37 PM by Chris Moody

The guys at CruchGear want to design a web tablet that would cost $200 and they want your help to do it. I’ve always liked the idea of a tablet for doing little things like surfing from the sofa. With netbooks catching on, can a net-tablet be far behind?

They pitch this basic idea; make it as thin as possible, run low end hardware, headphone jack, a built in camera for video, low end speakers, microphone, wifi, USB port, a built in battery, 512 RAM, and a 4Gb solid state hard drive. No keyboard, input is via a touch screen. It will run on some flavor of Linux or BSD.

The extra twist is they want to build a few and then open source the specs so anyone can create and improve on them. I like the idea! You can read about the mock up here, and the article that started it here. 

I see it as handy item for browsing the web and reading email, but with it's only interface is a touch screen, don't expect to write a book the size of War and Peace on it.

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Posted 12/06/07 at 05:57:45 PM by Gordon Mah Ung

There are tons of great deals out there for holiday shoppers, but the road to gift-giving bliss is fraught with peril. Gordon Mah Ung shows you how to protect your purchases

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Posted 10/21/07 at 01:20:11 PM by Erin Simon

After flatly denying throttling its subscribers' Bittorrent traffic, Comcast gets busted doing exactly that.

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Posted 10/14/07 at 10:34:24 PM by Erin Simon

Consumer backlash goes litigious as two class actions are filed against Apple for disabling unlocked iPhones.

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