Microsoft has sent a letter to customers saying that it will extend critical support for Windows XP until 2014, three years longer than is usual.

The company also pledged that its next operating system, Windows 7, will be available by 2010.

In the meantime OEMs will be able to supply systems with Windows XP preloaded as a ‘downgrade’ until 31 January 2009.

Given that Microsoft usually supports operating systems for only 10 years after their launch, the move can be seen as an admission that it is expecting some businesses not to bother upgrading to Vista.

“Windows Vista is a very significant step forward, but our customers have made it clear that they want broader support for devices and applications in order to enjoy the overall experience,” says the letter from Bill Veghte, senior vice president of the Microsoft Windows Business Group.

“During the last year, we have worked diligently with our hardware and software partners to improve compatibility to remove the barriers that prevent users from taking advantage of the important advancements Windows Vista delivers. It has been a year of exciting and critical progress.”

The letter also promises that Windows 7 will be released “approximately three years after the January 2007″ release date for Vista.

Veghte acknowledges that there have been compatibility problems between Vista and peripherals manufacturers, and promised that lessons have been learned.

“You’ve also let us know you don’t want to face the kinds of incompatibility challenges with the next version of Windows you might have experienced early with Windows Vista,” he wrote.

“As a result, our approach with Windows 7 is to build off the same core architecture as Vista so the investments you and our partners have made in Vista will continue to pay off with Windows 7.

“Our goal is to ensure that the migration process from Vista to Windows 7 is straightforward.”

The tiniest Bluetooth adapter we’ve seen

The Mogo Dapter is one of the smallest peripherals we’ve ever reviewed – it’s a tiny device, no bigger than the end of a thumb, with a USB plug at one end. Once plugged in it gives your computer full Bluetooth capabilities.

It’s true that most notebooks now come with Bluetooth, and if you’re using a desktop, saving space isn’t such a big issue. But for those with Bluetooth-less notebooks, the Dapter is an excellent idea. Since it hardly sticks out, it won’t get yanked out easily, and can be left in when the notebook is stored or carried.

It comes with the required software on a CD, which includes a nifty graphical display of nearby Bluetooth devices, and it will work with Mac computers as well as PCs running Windows XP and Windows Vista. At £15 it’s certainly good value. If your notebook didn’t come with Bluetooth, this is about the best way to add it.

The Nintendo Wii is a next generation gaming console, which has appealed to many people across the world, as it makes you more involved with the game as you have to move your body to work with the game. On release it was outselling all of the other consoles and was out of stock due to customer demand.

The Wii is a small white box; with a RRP of around 179.00 GBP This is one of the cheapest next generation consoles. But you can get one for free It is small, but it still gives that brilliant gaming excitement that will keep you busy for many hours to come.

It has many fully interactive games, including sports and carnival games. These games get you to move your body as though you are actually at the current area. You would move your body as though you would hit a ball, and the game will detect that and will show that on screen.

The Wii’s specifications are not the best but it still produces the gaming experiences required to make it a hit. One of the best features is the Wii’s web browser which allows a player to browse the Internet whilst playing his or hers favorite game. The Wii connects to the Internet via a Wifi connection (wireless internet connection) this is good as it cuts down on cables, but it still limits a percentage of the population, which do not have an Ethernet cable, but you can get an Ethernet to USB adapter so you can still connect to the Internet.

Shuttle used to be known for making what are known as barebones computers – the company would supply the case and the most basic innards, and the buyer would pick up their own cheap processor, memory and hard disk to put in it.

While it still does that, the company is now producing more and more computers with full sets of components inside.

For instance, the XPC G5 6801M includes a Blu-ray writer and an ATI Radeon HD3450 graphics card with 256MB of its own memory, among other things.

The one we looked at included an AMD Athlon X2 6000+ processor running at 3GHz, with 2GB of memory and a 500GB hard disk. That lot is immensely capable for general web browsing and for music and video playback, although some of the more recent games might run slowly if you push up the quality levels. There is also a Freeview TV tuner and wired and wireless networking, along with more expansion ports than you can shake a stick at.

One thing to note is that although it includes a Media Center remote for controlling your viewing from the sofa, it doesn’t come with a keyboard, mouse or screen. The latter isn’t too big a deal – most people buying a Blu-ray computer will already have a flat-screen with a PC input to which they can connect it, but you may need to factor a keyboard and mouse into your price calculations.

The model we reviewed comes in at around £830 (once you convert from Euros) – to examine or buy, go to the Shuttle configuration website and follow through to the 6801M’s page. From there you’ll be able to fill in your details and one of the company’s UK resellers will get back to you with a quote. Slightly odd purchase method aside, the 6801M is a capable entertainment computer, albeit one that places a price premium on its Blu-ray capabilities.

Magellan’s new range of satellite-navigation products is being sold on the line that they’re the slimmest such devices around. We can believe that – the 4200 looks great, with unspoiled lines and a slimline design – but looks aren’t everything.

The Maestro 4200 is otherwise relatively basic: it includes navigation, of course, with full postcode searching, and information on speed cameras. That’s pretty much it, though. There’s a ‘Marco Polo’ travel guide, but this only extends to major sights in capital cities – you need to pay to unlock the rest of it.

The unit can work in any region of Europe (but no more than one): at the beginning the user must select one (the UK and Ireland for us) and it’s then locked in permanently, so get that wrong and you’re in trouble.

Navigation was simple, and the touch-sensitive screen was responsive and fast. It was also pretty quick to calculate directions and to pick a new route when we had deviated.

Although there’s no Bluetooth connection for your phone, or traffic updates, there are speed camera warnings and the ability to set a route plan. The Magellan Maestro 4200 is certainly portable, and it does its job well, but some of its competitors include more features for a similar price.

Vista compatibility: Yes

The Dinovo Mini is aimed at the media PC and Playstation 3 market

Logitech made quite a fuss over its release last year of the Dinovo Edge keyboard, saying it was the most advanced keyboard in the world. It was admittedly an impressive keyboard, so how does the new Dinovo Mini fare in comparison?

The Mini is a small keyboard that’s compatible with Bluetooth 2 devices, so it would be suitable for use with modern phones and handheld computers, although Logitech appears to be aiming it more at users of media PCs and the Playstation 3.

Also included with the keyboard is a replaceable battery and the USB adapter (handily, this can be stored inside the battery compartment when it’s not in use). If you use the dongle provided, setup is simply a case of pressing the connect buttons on the keyboard and the adapter and waiting for the green all-systems-go light to appear.

The supplied Setpoint software can adjust the sensitivity of the trackpad and configure the operation of the various shortcut keys, so it’s worth spending a bit of time here to get it behaving as you would like.

As well as the usual typing, you can switch the Dinovo Mini to a media-remote mode for music and video, lighting up the dedicated media keys to make them easier to find at a glance. There shouldn’t be much of a problem here anyway, since an ambient light sensor, which measures light levels in the room, will fire up the backlight automatically when it gets dark.

Of course keyboards, particularly mini-keyboards, are all about usability, and this is where the Dinovo Mini falls down. The keys are quite firm and require a fair amount of pressure, but the fact that they’re so close together reduces potential typing speeds considerably, at least if you don’t want to spend half your time correcting mistakes. The touch-sensitive pad is also rather small and doesn’t really offer enough space to comfortably move the pointer around.

The Dinovo Mini is easy to set up, and certainly looks stylish, but taking into account the price and its flaws as a keyboard it is more like a luxury purchase for music and video fans.

Vista compatibility: Yes

THE ALL NEW CALIFORNIA

The Airport Express is not one of Apple’s best-known products but it’s a handy little gadget.

It looks like a fat mains plug and it goes directly into a mains power socket. Inside that little white plastic case is a wireless access point – the new version is updated to use the latest high-speed 802.11n wireless technology.

However, the Airport Express isn’t meant to be used for setting up a wireless network. Unlike a wireless router/modem, the Airport Express does not include a broadband modem for the internet connection, so it’s not for those who need to set up an entirely new wireless network at home or in an office – a combined modem/router would be much better for that.

In fact, the Airport Express is primarily designed to be a wireless music system to be used in conjunction with an existing network.

The key feature of the Airport Express is the audio connector on the base of the unit that allows users to connect it to a speaker or hi-fi system so that you can stream music wirelessly from the computer to the Airport Express in any room in your house (though you’ll need Apple’s iTunes software running on the computer for this – it won’t work with the Windows Media Player).

You can buy multiple Airport Express units and pipe your music around the entire home if you want. They might sound expensive, at £65 each, but it’s a lot cheaper than rival multi-room music systems such as the Sonos Zoneplayer or Logitech’s Squeezebox. One other use for the Airport Express is as a portable wireless network device.

Its compact design means that you could easily take it on a trip and set up a little wireless network in the hotel room – perhaps using it to tap out a few emails while you lounge on the bed with your notebook. It can also be used to share a printer across the house.

As a wireless router the Airport Express is fairly limited, and there are many better options available. However, it works very well as a simple and affordable wireless music system that can be used to pipe music to any room in your house.

While the drums are certainly a fun instrument to play, a conventional kit takes up a lot of space and is too loud for discreet practice.

The Ion iED05, then, is a digital drum kit that plugs directly into a computer, which is used for playing the sounds. Add headphones and you have the perfect practice instrument.

Assembly can take a little while and the instructions are only supplied as a PDF on the CD.

There are pads and pedals for a basic kit of hi-hat, snare, three toms, a bass drum and a crash cymbal with choke button. Pads are no substitute for real drumskins but the ones supplied are fairly good with a decent level of touch sensitivity.

The included tuition is limited to three videos covering some of the basics. It is a rather brief introduction, and includes some things that aren’t strictly necessary; we would have thought that learning how to twirl the sticks wasn’t something a beginner needs to know. Complete novices will find that they will need to invest in some other form of teaching in addition to what is supplied.

Since the computer plays the sound, it can change depending on your preference: there are 17 presets covering plenty of kits from Latin to rock. A drumming game will be familiar to anyone who has ever played Guitar Hero and uses the coloured stickers on the drums to tell you which to hit. The mix of songs is curious, including some classical music as well as Jingle Bells and Happy Birthday. There are three difficulty levels, so it is not too challenging for beginners.

The biggest disadvantage is that the drum kit is not a Midi controller; instead, Windows recognises it as a game controller. This has no bearing on the setup process or the bundled software but it means it cannot be used with any other audio software. This is a disappointment because it removes the most useful part of using an electronic instrument, which is to edit tracks to remove mistakes. If you want to go beyond playing and start recording it would be worth spending the extra money for the next model up, the IED06, which does work as a MIDI controller.

For anyone who wants to learn the drums without waking the neighbours, though, this is a great starter kit.

Vista compatibility: Yes

Apple’s Macbook notebook computers have sold like hotcakes over the past year and the iMac – formerly the flagship of Apple’s home range – has taken a back seat.

However the company recently updated its entire iMac range and one of the main beneficiaries is this new entry-level model priced at £799, which is cheap by Apple standards.

Like all iMac models the iMac has a compact, all-in-one design with the monitor, speakers and main unit housed within a single slimline design that measures barely an inch and a half in thickness, roughly similar to a standard flat-screen TV.

The display on this model is 20in and tucked inside the silvery grey case is an Intel 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 1GB of memory and a 250GB hard disk. That provides a good level of basic performance that is more than adequate for surfing the internet, running the Mac version of Microsoft Office or handling a bit of video editing.

It would have been nice if Apple had included 2GB of memory, as is standard on most new Windows PCs, but the Mac operating system Leopard needs less memory than Vista. A PC running Vista really needs 2GB but this iMac gets by with half that.

The graphics card could be more powerful: the Radeon HD 2400 XT used here doesn’t provide particularly good performance for running games with demanding 3D graphics. But there aren’t many games available for the Mac and it’s true that keen games fans are better off buying a PC or games console instead.

But though games are a weakness, the iMac does well as a versatile multimedia machine. There’s a webcam and microphone built into the unit, along with the stereo speakers.

It has the latest wired and high-speed wireless (802.11n) technology for networking and Bluetooth for connecting to devices such as mobile phones (so you can synchronise calendar and contact information between phone and computer). There’s also a good set of software supplied with the iMac.

As well as the ubiquitous iTunes music software, Apple’s iLife software collection also includes programs for organising your digital photos, video editing and DVD burning, music composition, and designing a website. This means that you’ve got everything you need to create, organise and share all your digital music, photos and video in a single – rather elegantly designed – box.

There are cheaper Windows PCs available but they rarely have the same range of hardware features and added software that you get with the iMac. That makes the iMac a good choice for anyone who wants a versatile and compact multimedia computer.

Go Messenger is a new software add-on for Sony’s Playstation Portable (PSP) games console that allows users to communicate with each other in various ways: via video, voice and text chat or messaging.

The software itself is free, but a number of crucial elements need to be in place before you can make full use of what Go Messenger has to offer, namely a PSP, access to a wireless internet connection and – if you want to use the video and voice functions – Sony’s Go Cam PSP camera accessory with built-in microphone (sold separately for about £35).

You’ll also need to find some similarly equipped friends for PSP-to-PSP communication, though it is also possible to chat with users of BT’s PC-based Softfone VoIP software. Setup is somewhat fiddly. We had to update our PSP and download new software before we could even register. Even then we experienced some inexplicable network problems during the initial logon.

Once it’s up and running, though, Go Messenger works pretty well. The main interface is quick, logical and easy to use. It’s unlikely to be of much interest to anyone over 15, particularly the texting element, which is a drag on the Playstation’s software keyboard.

Apple to announce 3G iPhone on 9 June

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs will take the wraps off the much-hyped 3G iPhone during his keynote speech at the Worldwide Developers Conference on 9 June, according to Citi analysts.

The Apple conference, scheduled to take place in San Francisco June from 9 to 13 June, will witness the “first of an impressive wave of new products”, said Citi analysts Richard Gardner and Yeechang Lee.

Meanwhile in the UK, O2 and Carphone Warehouse have sold out of 8GB iPhones following recent price cuts.

Messages on the O2 and Carphone Warehouse websites reported ‘out of stock’ and ‘no longer available’ after last week’s £100 reductions.

The price cutting move is widely seen as an attempt to unload stock ahead of an announcement surrounding the next-generation iPhone.

While the iPhone is perhaps Apple’s highest profile device, it accounts for a relatively small proportion of the company’s revenues.

Apple shipped 1.7 million iPhones in the second quarter, bringing in $378m. Total revenues reached $7.51bn.

The company claimed that it is on track to sell 10 million iPhones this year.