Microsoft has postponed the planned April 29 release of Service Pack 3 for Windows XP because of a reported compatibility issue.

According to the Company, the issue stems from an incompatibility between the new Service Pack and Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System or RMS. The same compatibility issue is also reportedly present with Microsoft Vista Service Pack 1.

RMS is a retail chain management solution that is made available to small and medium-sized customers. What Microsoft has done is to put in place a filtering system that will prevent the update from being downloaded in machines that carry RMS.

Reportedly, a fix is already available and is being tested before deployment.

Apple has recently announced another update on its best selling iMac line of computers. The new models, if I may call it that, now sports an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a 6mb L2 cache and a 1066 Mhz front-side bus. It will also have a 2gb of memory as a standard specification. The most intriguing aspect of the new update are the graphics card, which will be a GeForce 8800 GS card.

The prices for the new iMacs will start from a pricepoint of $1,199. The monitor will be 24 inches, which seems to be the emerging new preferred size in monitors. It will also have built-in Airport Extreme that is compatible with the 802.11n spec.

I just know that this will create a new buzz — something that we have come to expect from new Apple products that are released in the market.

Laptop users who frequently travel to the US may have to contend with far stricter measures regarding the data in your laptops.

A US Appeals Court ruling this week declared that customs officials working at the Los Angeles International Airport did not violate a man’s rights when they decided to tamper his computer in searching for alleged child pornography files.

The exact statement of Judge Diarmuid o’Scannlain was “We are satisfied that reasonable suspicion is not needed for customs officials to search a laptop or other personal electronic storage devices at the border.”

The case began in 2005 when Michael Arnold, returned from a his trip to the Philippines. He was found to have been carrying a laptop, a separate hard drive, memory cards as well as six compact discs. Officials requested Arnold to open his laptop and turn it on and two icons identified as photos were seen on the desktop. When officials clicked on the folders they saw images of naked women. He was detained and questioned for several hours. A thorough search of his computer was made and allegedly what looks like child porn was discovered.

One of the things that I usually do with my profession is to constantly meet new people who I collaborate with on various projects. Yesterday, I met one of my new teammates and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that he is also an avid ASUS EEE user. In fact, “avid” is too light a word to describe him. A fanatic/enthusiast would be a better description, especially when I saw his EEE.

He proudly whipped out his lappie and showed me his EEE running a version of Apple OSX! My jaw dropped when I saw it. It was probably the most bad-ass mod I have seen in ages. He then proceeded to regale me with his story. He said that most of the components of the EEE is compatible with OSX except for a couple of components. I forgot one of the components but he said that the Wi-Fi module is incompatible. He said he removed these incompatible modules and replaced them with compatible ones.

From the way his OSX is behaving, the transition was quite seamless. There was nary a jitter on the OS except for a very perceptible lag in the video for video conferencing (which is more a limitation of the EEE’s processing power). This successful project proves that the ASUS EEE has the capability to become THE enthusiast’s preferred laptop.

Eco warriors and green activists can now bring their crusade to another level — eco-friendly laptop bags. The Targus Topload EcoSmart bag is an environment safe bag — it has no PVCs, all of the metal accoutrement does not have any nickel components and the plastic used is recyclable. You don’t need to worry about durability, too. The Targus Grove Topload EcoSmart bag is very sturdy and can take the weight and heft of your laptop (up to 15.4 inch lappies) along with other accessories and peripherals.

At a time when being conscious about how we treat the Earth is becoming more and more important this bag is great statement that you’re not only laptop geek, you care about the environment, too.