Intel: We're Not Ditching The Atom Brand

Intel has officially nuked rumors about plans to re-brand its Atom chips.

Recent reports indicate that Intel plans to re-brand its Cedar Trail processors slated for 2012 because demand for Atom-based netbooks, nettops, handheld devices, consumer electronics products and embedded devices have dropped significantly. The reason behind the decline, according to industry sources, is due to the "poor brand image" of Atom CPUs.

According to Intel's roadmap, Cedar Trail CPUs will be launched in November 2011, and will include the Atom N2800 and N2700 for netbooks, and the Atom D2700 and D2500 for nettops. Industry sources claim that the re-branding will cover Intel's N/D/Z/E lineups.

But Friday a spokesperson from Intel squashed the reports. "There are no plans to change the Atom brand. We are on track to launch new Atom processors during the fourth quarter, with more new Atom processors during the first half of 2012."

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Microsoft CEO hints at 'Metro-ization' of Office

Desktop suite will continue, but Microsoft needs a touch-based edition for tablets, says expert

Computerworld - Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Wednesday strongly hinted that the company will craft a Metro-style version of the next Office suite.

"You ought to expect that we are rethinking and working hard on what it would mean to do Office Metro style," said Ballmer, when asked by a Wall Street analyst whether Microsoft is working on a version of Office for Windows 8's Metro touch-based interface.

Metro is the name Microsoft has given the tile- and touch-based interface borrowed from Windows Phone 7, the smartphone operating system, and before that, Zune, the company's portable music player. The interface is the first thing users see when they launch Windows 8, and apps must be specially-coded to run in Metro.

A Metro style look-and-feel would be a massive change for Office, one that would dwarf the "ribbonization" that set off a firestorm of complaints about Office 2007's new look. The criticism died down, and Microsoft later extended the ribbon in Office 2010 and Windows 7. It will ribbonize other components of Windows 8, notably the OS's file manager.

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How To Use HP New Support Page

I was surprised and impressed to see new HP Support page.

The new page is very user friendly and easy to navigate. Below are simple steps to download needed drivers or software for you HP product.

1. Go to http://www8.hp.com/us/en/support-drivers.html

2. Enter you product name or number in the space provided. You may also allow the site to automatically detect your HP product if you do not know the specific name or number of your item. Auto detection may be a good option however I think it is slower as it has to check the system first.

 3. Select your Operating System. Click your Operating System from the list. Happy for Windows user. HP has good support to you but Linux will also be happy to see that HP is now supporting them.

4. Drivers and Software for your selected OS will open available for download. You may use the “Quick jump” option to jump to specific category.

5. Click Download button to start downloading the file.

HP Client Management Solutions - HP System Software Manager
The HP System Software Manager (SSM) is a utility that automatically detects and updates BIOS, device drivers, and management agent versions on your networked PCs.

This is also impressive, especially if you do not mind having another application for this purpose.

New and simple steps above is impressive but I not yet finished giving you easier and more convenient way to update your drivers. I use this third party HP Drivers tool to do all the monitoring, downloading and installing of driver to my computer. What I like about this is its compatibility, other hardware vendors are support by this tool.