It appears the current Asus Eee Laptop PC should be available with Windows XP within the next two weeks in the US. No date on UK availability yet though, although we’ll keep you informed once we hear something. Those wanting XP may be better to wait for the larger 8.9″ version though.

Skype have already updated their v2 Skype for Linux client. They have added uPNP support (allowing better connectivity options for those behind a NAT device), and fixed a couple of key bugs:

• Skype crashed when user upgraded from 1.3 and had autologin enabled
• Skype crashed when user with enabled auto-sending video was added to conference call

British Airways is planning to offer free WiFi in 25 Business Class Lounges across the UK, courtesy of BT OpenZone. 6 of these lounges are at the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow. This service starts on 1 April. Users will get directed to the BA website where they can activate their wireless devices and will then have access to BT OpenZone.

Story courtesy of StrategyEye [Via SMS Text News]

It appears the new 8.9″ Asus Eee PC may also be coming with a couple of additional goodies. Rumours are that it will come with a touchscreen. We mentioned the touchscreen before, and equally have discussed Asus’ statement saying they weren’t planning it. However, fresh rumours are saying it is likely, and the inclusion of GPS too is interesting. Whether any GPS / mapping software will also ship with the laptop is unknown, nor is it known if this new unit will also have Bluetooth, probably one of the other major hardware omissions so far in the range.

More news as and when we have it confirmed.

Goosync have added support for Tasks, on top of Contacts and the original Calendar functionality. In the same way as Contacts, the functionality is to sync from your SyncML device to the Goosync server only, as there is no API to allow them to directly sync your Tasks to the Google servers. However, it still allows Goosync to act as a Backup facility for your main data.

Y-Browser has been updated to v0.88.  Y-Browser is a well respected third part File Manager for Symbian S60 devices.  Even better, it is available already signed and ready for installation from the author’s website here.  The main updates are:

• Lots of layout change fixes
• Some bug fixes to improve stability (Especially with FP2 devices)
• File modified time changed from UTC to local time
• Added Command short cut accelerators to the menu items
• Edit-Mark, menu has now two additional options: Mark with wild card & inverse selection
• File association settings added
• Plug-in manager added
• Email folders shown now as well (with Mail folders plug-in)

3 have reduced the price of their PAYG USB Modems from £99.99 to £69.99. The data Addons price has stayed the same, but is already very competitive. Head over to 3’s website to order.

Earlier this year we mentioned that Google had released the Standby Screen Search capability for Symbian S60 devices. Now Google have announced the same facility for Windows Mobile devices. Similar to the S60 version, simply browse to mobile.google.com from your device to download the plugin.

In the last few weeks, there have been all sorts of agreements over various technologies on mobile devices, so we thought we would summarise them all…

• Adobe has announced it will be producing a Flash player for the iPhone, despite Steve Jobs not being happy with it (claiming Flash Lite was too light, and normal Flash was too “bloaty” for the iPhone)
• Nokia has announced the new Microsoft Silverlight technology will become available on Nokia Symbian S60 devices, traditional S40 devices, and their range of Internet Tablets.
• Microsoft has signed a deal with Adobe to bring Flash Lite to Windows Mobile devices, which will be used within the Internet Explorer Mobile browser. The deal also includes Adobe Reader LE for reading PDF documents.

It’s nice to see the main competitors supporting each other’s technology, and not limiting us users, and ensuring each technology has a future irrespective of your chosen mobile device.

Early this year we covered the first release of JoikuSoft, which allows your Symbian phone to act as a WiFi Access Point, allowing other devices to share the phone’s internet connection. Well, it’s been updated to v1.1 which includes a number of bug fixes, stability improvements, and the ability to change the name of the access point (although only in the format JoikuSpot_xxx).

However, within the next month or so, we should see a further update which adds WEP support into the software. Although WEP isn’t the latest greatest standard, it should be sufficient for a short term connection between your devices and your phone, and adds an important level of security to the current version.

Currently, HTTP and HTTPS should work (although HTTPS needs some configuring on the clients), but protocols like IMAP and FTP do not currently work, although the authors claim they will have a solution for those for the final release.

We’ll keep an eye on this software, and let you know how things progress.