KEY POINTS:
Speculation is building on the web that Apple will use next month's
Mac World conference to unveil a new type of laptop, possibly one that utilises the iPod and iPhone's touch-sensitive screen technology.
Computerworld clues that apple will release a mac touch suggest Apple is working on a device not dissimilar to the Windows-centric tablet PC while Boy Genius is adamant a new Mac laptop will go on sale "a week after MacWorld".
I really like the idea of an ulta-portable Mac with the touch-screen interaction of the iPhone and a swivel screen you can reverse and fold over the keyboard to use as a tablet. More details will likely leak out in the run up to the conference in mid January.
Back home reports are filtering in of problems experienced by Vodafone customers in Australia for the holidays and roaming on the Vodafone network over there.
"VFNZ users in Australia for Christmas have 'select network' on their screens, VFAU is blaming overloading, very few texts are getting back and forth across the ditch and it's not even New Years!", writes one Herald reader in an email to me.
"The trans-trasman inter-telco signalling link to Vodafone NZ is experiencing 2.5 times capacity hits over the Christmas season, affecting all users roaming to Australia from NZ or vice-versa. Lower priority data traffic users have been completely dis-connected since Christmas eve, with unknown affect on roaming voice-call users," writes another reader who seems to be in the know.
"Vodafone has indicated problem will not be fixed until after new year. Congestion problems are likely to get worse towards New Years."
Geekzone's forums are running hot with discussion on the issue. Have you been having trouble calling or texting from Australia or getting in touch with friends and family roaming over there? Vodafone's PR people were unaware of the issue when I pointed it out to them and haven't responded with an official comment. I'll keep you posted.
Finally, the people at Pingdom who monitor major internet outages have published their list of the 13 most serious outages of 2007.
Topping the list is the major Skype outage that hit the free internet telephony provider in August. Other's hit with outages through the year include Google's Blogger and Google Analytics services, the micro-blogging website Twitter and T-Mobile and Cisco. Check out the complete list here.
