How to Use Windows

Blame the recession if you wish, but sales of DVDs are down – and Blu-ray isn’t necessarily making up the shortfall. Last November Screen Digest published its annual guide to the worldwide home video market and it made for slightly depressing reading. Rentals and sales of home video fell by 2.8 per cent in 2008 and Blu-ray didn’t make up the shortfall, accounting for just 2 per cent of global video shipments .

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

In a report issued earlier this week, market research firm IDC said it expects worldwide IT spending to grow by 3 percent in 2010, fueled in large part by emerging markets like China and India. “Despite pent-up demand for upgrades and new applications following the deep spending cuts of the past year, economic uncertainty will combine with capital and credit constraints to inhibit spending in mature economies,” IDC analyst Stephen Minton said. IDC predicts global IT spending will hit $1.48 trillion by the end of the year, which is a good chunk less than what Gartner is expecting. According to Gartner, spending will grow by 4.6 percent, to $3.4 trillion. Image Credit: thevoiceforschoolchoice.files.wordpress.com

For the full story, go to Maximum PC

Don’t believe all the gloom and doom scenarios you might be hearing about the PC market. According to market research firm IDC, global PC processor shipments in the fourth quarter of 2009 hit an all-time high , rising 31.3 percent. And just in time too, as full year growth for PC processors was a bit more modest, jumping 2.5 percent while revenues dropped 7.1 percent to $28.6 billion, IDC says. “Compared to the third quarter of 2009, the modest rise in shipments in the fourth quarter of 2009 indicates that the market is returning to normal seasonal patterns,” said Shane Rau, director of Semiconductors: Personal Computing research at IDC.

For the full story, go to Maximum PC

It looks like Intel really killed it in the fourth quarter of 2009 , with revenue up about 28% year over year to $10.6 billion. These numbers are after the $1.25 billion settlement paid to rival AMD. Sales were so good, in fact, that Intel is proclaiming the return of consumer demand. ” We have seen a return of consumer demand and replenishment to normal inventory levels after the precipitous demand drop at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009,” said Intel CFO Stacy Smith. Intel is predicting continued momentum going into 2010

For the full story, go to Maximum PC

We suppose when your bread and butter is $35 optical drives, a faltering economy doesn’t hit you as hard. Or so it would seem, based on Lite-On’s performance in 2009. The optical drive maker reported consolidated revenues up 2 percent sequentially and 32 percent on year to $303.1 million in December 2009. Ending the year on a high note, that was a best month for Lite-On in ‘09

For the full story, go to Maximum PC

As we approach the end of the year we’re taking a look back to reveal the stories that had you clicking. Unsurprisingly, Windows 7 garnered huge interest, with our pre-release coverage helping you decide whether it was worth buying, and the clicks to our Windows 7 tips and troubleshooting articles suggesting that lots of you did go on to buy the new operating system. Sky on Xbox also proved popular as did our top 10 round-ups of phones, graphics cards and LCD TVs. Read on for TechRadar’s 10 most-read stories of 2009: 18 cool things Windows 7 does that Vista doesn’t From Windows 3.1 to Windows Vista, the Windows operating system has taken many giant leaps. And while Vista received a lukewarm reception from some users, Windows 7 is likely to be remembered for addressing those criticisms

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

Despite a spattering of optimistic sales reports, chip makers aren’t out of the woods just yet. According to market research firm Gartner, worldwide chip revenues are on pace to post a 11.4 percent decline in 2009 , which would mark the first time the semiconductor industry has ever seen a decline in two consecutive years, and the just the sixth time posting a decline in the last 25 years. The struggles in the memory sector have been well documented this past year, but surprisingly, memory revenues declined significantly less than the entire semiconductor industry, Gartner says.

For the full story, go to Maximum PC

This week Vodafone and HTC spoke out over the removal of the HD2, while rumours surrounding the launch of the Google Nexus heated up. The BBC came under fire for the quality of its HD service and Nintendo trademarked ‘Zii’ – could this be the name of the Wii’s successor? TechRadar also brought you a plain-talking guide to Google Wave and in the windows world we fixed Windows 7 – and Windows 8.

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

Global shipments of PCs are on the up, according to the latest results from research firm IDC. It is a hopeful sign that the end of the recession is in sight for the computing and IT industry, with the back-to-school boost earlier in the autumn prefiguring a longer-term and more sustainable growth in the PC market. Netbooks drive growth Global PC shipments were up 2.3 percent after falling for three consecutive quarters, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker.

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

The future looks bright for the wireless LAN industry, which is on pace to reach record revenue by the end of the third quarter, says market research firm Dell’Oro Group. The WLAN market wasn’t hit as hard as other businesses in the recession, which took a particular toll in September, but was still affected enough to see lower sales in the first and second quarter of 2009. Before the economic downturn, revenue climbed to record levels in the fourth quarter of last year, and it appears the WLAN industry is finally picking up where it left off. Worldwide revenue for WLAN equipment recovered to $1.1 billion in the third quarter of this year, up about 12 percent from the second quarter, and came close to matching the $1.14 billion of the previous year’s third quarter.

For the full story, go to Maximum PC