Joseph Hinkle at MyITForum.com

The new BlackBerry 8820 from Research in Motion is the first to combine a phone and Wi-Fi in one device. Only recently approved by the FCC, the 8820 is a GSM/EDGE device that includes 802.11a/b/g radios for Wi-Fi hotspot connectivity. It is loaded with a UMA client and can access fixed-mobile convergence services such as T-Mobile's HotSpot @Home. Other additions to the spec list include built-in GPS, the newer media player applications such as those on the Curve, and support for the microSDHC standard up to 32 gigabytes. It also includes stereo Bluetooth.

via RIM Adds 8820 Wi-Fi-Enabled BlackBerry to Lineup (Phone Scoop).

Adobe installers still stink. I've been working on Creative Suite 3 for a little while. With CS2, I could do individual installations from the suite installation directory since each app had its separate MSI. In the new version, Adobe has gone to a custom engine that is common across the Mac and PC platforms, but doesn't provide the kind of control that I had previously. Not good.

On top of that, the Mac installer almost always refuses to work correctly for us. I've built all of the appropriate customization files and built a new DVD with the installation. It fails nine times out of ten, with either a generic error or a licensing error. After some fidgeting and running CS3clean to remove the broken installation, it works. Sometimes.

Is anyone having success automating the Mac installer or using the combined approach above for Windows installations?

Richard Smith, a Microsoft Consulting Services team member in the UK, posted a great article with the registry tweaks that he typically applies to a Vista deployment. The article is a nice resource for many things you will probably want to know how to change at some point.

Richard's blog has had a lot of good information about BDD over the past few months. It's definitely worth subscribing to.

As the two of you who pay attention to my blog have noticed, I've been AWOL for a while. As always, just when things seem to be picking up technically, something unexpected crops up. On the bright side, it's almost over.

This article gives the availability dates of various Windows Vista-compatible virtual private network (VPN) clients.Back to the top

via Windows Vista-compatible third-party virtual private network (VPN) client schedules.