Microsoft: It's time to put Windows XP to bed

Microsoft is urging Windows XP users to jump ship as the ancient operating system nears the end of its days - in terms of extended support at least.

Speaking via the Windows Team blog, Microsoft's Stephen Rose said it was time that XP became a relic of the past, and stated that users should take the Windows 7 plunge. After all the company has sold over 400 million Windows 7 licences globally.

"Wouldn't it be great if the glory days lasted forever?" he asked ."But reality is trophies get dusty, records are broken, and what it took to be the best ten years ago, just isn't enough for today's standards. Things get better, faster. And eventually, it's time to move from good enough to something much better.

"Windows XP had an amazing run and millions of PC users are grateful for it. But it's time to move on. Two reasons: 1) Extended support for Windows XP is running out in less than 1000 days, and 2) there's an OS out there that's much better than Windows XP.

Windows XP was released almost 10 years ago. Yet still (as of May 2011, at least) it is still the most widely used operating system in the world with a 40 per cent share - mainly due to the large business community that still employs the platform. Windows 7 comes in 2nd with just under 30 per cent, Vista in 3rd with around 13 per cent and Mac OS X 4th with around 7 per cent.

Rose urged those businesses in particular to upgrade soon though. "Act quickly because time is limited, and organisations that have not started deployment or in the early phases of the project need to accelerate," he said.

"According to a recent Garter report more than 50 per cent of organisations that do not start deploying Windows 7 by early 2012 will not complete their deployments before Windows XP support ends, and will incur increased support costs."

Buy an iPhone 5 in 2011, or a 'Revamped' iPhone 6 in 2012?

After carpet bombing the Internet on Wednesday with reports of an iPhone 5 launching this September, the Wall Street Journal has updated its story with news that Apple will completely revamp the iPhone for its next-next-generation iPhone ("iPhone 6"?!) due in 2012.

Citing unnamed people briefed on Apple's plans, the WSJ says the revamp will include features like a "new way of charging the phone."

This nugget builds upon upon what Joshua Topolsky of This Is My Next reported back in April about Apple's fifth-generation iPhone: "some form of inductive or touch charging."

Inductive charging is a wireless charging method whereby a device has all the charging electronics built into the device, with no point of electrical contact. You simply put the phone on a charging dock, like those used in electric toothbrushes and 2009's Palm Pre.

The WSJ's source also re-iterated earlier rumors that Apple was developing a cheaper iPhone for developing countries.

On Wednesday, the WSJ reported that Apple was expecting to sell 25 million fifth-generation iPhones by the end of 2011. Dubbed by its unnamed sources as the "iPhone 5," the device sounds like a minor upgrade from the iPhone 4, with a thinner, lighter chassis and an eight-megapixel camera. Furthermore it would use wireless baseband chips from Qualcomm, rather than chips from Infineon Technologies as discovered in iPhone 4 teardowns.

Most reports point to Apple announcing the next iPhone in the late summer, with a September launch.

For a run-down of the most prevalent rumors surrounding the iPhone 5, check out "8 Likely iPhone 5 Rumors, and 2 Wild Ones" .

Power Connector

Replacing or re-soldering the DC power jack is not an easy job too. It usually takes two to three hours depending on the damage and the model of the laptop. To reach the power jack, the laptop has to be completely disassembled and the motherboard taken out. Then if the board around the dislodged pin is badly burned, the power jack has to be un-soldered and the board has to be patched. After that a different power jack has to be installed, attached to the case of the laptop and connected with wires to the motherboard, as the patched board wouldn’t be strong enough to support the original type of power jack that was soldered directly to the board.

On most laptops the DC power jack is soldered directly to the motherboard and there are only three or four small pins holding it in place. Unfortunately that makes the power jack quite weak. Any sideways pulling of the DC power cord while attached to the laptop will usually dislodge at least one of these pins, breaking the solder around it. Modern laptops use quite a lot of power, from about 70W to 120W or even more. The bad electrical connection from the dislodged pin will cause sparks and heating that will eventually burn a hole through the motherboard and can even be a fire hazard. The usual signs of that are:

A common weak spot on most laptops is the DC power jack. If someone trips on the wire while you have the power adaptor plugged into your laptop, chances are that the power jack will get damaged.

• The battery is not charging properly or stays at half charge despite that you have been using the power adaptor.
• The screen flickers (the brightness is changing) while the power cord is plugged in. This is caused by the laptop switching between DC power (screen is brighter) and battery power (screen is dimmer).
• The DC plug gets hot after a few minutes of use and may even smell of burning.
• There are “scratching” sounds coming from the DC jack.

All of these symptoms are caused by poor contact between the DC power jack and the motherboard.
There are several models of laptops that are resistant to this problem. All older Dell laptops that use the three pin DC power jack are usually not affected, probably because the power cord pops out easier. Also some older Sony Vaio models, and 1-2 Toshiba models where the DC jack is attached to the case away from the motherboard and all new Apple laptops, where the DC power cord is magnetically attached to prevent any damage to the laptop if someone trips on it.
To test for broken power jack:

1. Remove the battery
2. Plug in the power cord
3. Start the laptop
4. Gently wiggle the DC power plug on the back of the laptop

If your laptop shuts down abruptly (looses power), find a repair shop that can resolder or change the DC power jack as soon as possible, as the motherboard has already started to burn around the dislodged pins. Some repair shops will offer to replace the whole motherboard, however the price of a new motherboard together with the labour charge for installing it will usually be greater than the current value of your laptop and can go well over a thousand dollars.