Saturday, January 31, 2009

Life on Mars? The red planet may not be a dead planet

New Delhi: Believe in aliens? Chances are you might soon. There could be life on Mars.

Scientists in NASA have found fresh evidence of methane on MARS, which according to Professor of Geological Science at Indiana University Lisa Pratt means, “Methane can be a waste product from microbes that are methane-generating, but methane can also be a food for microbes that are methane consumers, so, in either way, this is exciting because we have evidence that we need to think about in terms of the possibilities of life on Mars."

Presence of methane is the strongest evidence ever about life on Mars although there is no direct evidence yet.

Professor of Atmospheric and Space Science at University of Michigan Sushil Atreya said, “There are two possibilities again. Either it is geology, in which case it's the reaction between water and rock that's producing the methane, or it's biology, in which case the microbes are producing the methane."

A NASA video shows the exact region where methane was found on Mars and the red spots are the areas from where the gas seeped out the most.

Earlier in 2008, NASA had confirmed presence of water on Mars. Now with the presence of methane signs of life are getting even stronger.

HTC Touch HD

HTC’s Touch HD has taken mobile display to the next level. For the vidiots like me a display this large sporting the kind of resolution it does is a godsend. I have to admit I was anxiously awaiting its arrival to the Indian market place and was proactively trying to get a handset to test even before it got here. Though that didn’t work out and disappointment was an understatement, I got it! The big question I was asking when I un-boxed it was - does it manage to deliver on all fronts and actually make the high price tag of Rs. 43, 000 seem like money worth spending? That’s what I’m here to help you decide.
Form Factor
The only word that comes to mind is ‘Sexy’. The slim black design that houses this ‘powerhouse’ of features is all snugly fit into a 115 x 62.8 x 12 mm dimension casing. The large 3.8-inch TFT LCD touchscreen display sports a 480 x 800 pixel, 65K color resolution which is the highest to be found on a mobile handset on the market. This is also the first truly totally touchscreen mobile there is with touch sensitive controls for answering and ending calls and also returning to the Home page.

It’s a very simple and yet stylish design. The only external controls that are actual physical buttons are the volume controls on the side and the power/screen off button on the top. The HD also has a standard 3.5mm earphone socket on the top. The bundled handsfree is all you’ll need though, but it’s good to have the open option. The 5MP camera is located at the rear of course with a secondary camera placed above the display. The two disappointments in design are – No flash for the camera and the rear panel HAS to be opened for a memory card to be accessed. An odd shaped USB 2.0 port is located at the bottom, but it still manages to easily accommodate a standard miniUSB connector.

The drawback of having a screen this large is of course the space it takes up in your pocket as the handset, slim as it is, is still a bit big and weighty at 146g. But that’s expected of course, so we’ll just have to live with it. Like some of the other HTC handsets the HD tends to get unusually hot after charging and while on long calls. The HD also tends to get a little warm when applications that you may be unaware of are running in the background. It was on more than one occasion that I was quite worried why my thigh was freakishly warm on a cold night.
Features and Performance
While I was mesmerized by the large display, let me just begin by saying that what comes after this note is quite depressing, but I’d just like to add that I’m willing to concede that some of the issues could be singularly with this particular test handset I received, then again, like I always say, why would they give a reviewer a handset that’s not running at it’s optimum capacity? Forward at your own risk.
Interface
If you’ve used or seen the HTC Touch Diamond with its TouchFlo 3D interface, the HD has nothing different to offer except a better laid out view considering the display. I do like the TouchFLO interface as it gives quick and easy access to all relevant functions and features with simple finger control. It can also be customized to user requirements which is perfect. The down side is that the sensitivity couldn’t be adjusted and that could sometimes be a bit of an issue. Other than that the regular Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS and UI remain very standard.

What really ticked me off was the fact that the accelerometer is absolutely useless for screen rotation when it comes to any of the screens expect the browsers. I had to install a third party application to rotate the display. The QWERTY keyboard could not be used in landscape mode when trying to send messages or emails. While the handset offers multiple options for data entry including a regular WinMob QWERTY keyboard, Transcriber, Block and Letter recognizer, alphanumeric and half QWERTY, the large screen is not always very effective. Except for the Half QWERTY and alphanumeric keypad the others will take some getting used to more so than these.

How does our brain choose the right words?

Washington: A new study has identified parts of the human brain involved in the process of choosing the right words during speech.

The study could help scientists better understand the speech problems that stroke patients experience.

During speech, a person must select one word from a competing set. For example, if the speaker wants to mention a specific animal, he has to single out "dog" from "cat", "horse" and other possibilities.

If he wants to describe someone's temperament, he has to choose whether "happy", "sad", "ecstatic" or some other adjective is more appropriate.

Tatiana Schnur, assistant professor of psychology at Rice University, wanted to determine whether one particular part of the brain, the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG), is necessary for resolving the competition for choosing the correct word.

She and colleagues compared brain images from 16 healthy volunteers and 12 volunteers who suffer from aphasia, an acquired language disorder as a result of stroke.

The researchers found that while two parts of the brain, the LIFG and the left temporal cortex, respond to increased conflict among words competing for selection during speech, only the LIFG is necessary to resolve the competition for successful word production.

The LIFG includes Broca's area, named after the 19th-century French scientist Paul Pierre Broca. It is responsible for aspects of speech production, language processing and language comprehension, said a Rice release.

The study, published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, covered two experiments where people name a series of images and conflict between words increases as more images are named.

In the first experiment, healthy speakers' brain activations were measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The second experiment mapped performance deficits to lesion locations in participants with aphasia.

By looking at direct parallels between the healthy and aphasic volunteers, Schnur and colleagues coupled location in the brain with specific speech processes.

Friday, January 30, 2009

World of Warcraft is being Considered a Religion?

According to Dutch university graduate Theo Zijderveld, WoW could be considered a religion as it meets the four dimensions required to constitute one by French sociologist Danil Hervieu-Lger's: Community, ethics, culture and emotion.
There is certainly a healthy WoW community, the rules could be considered ethics, the Warcraft Mythos or Lore is the culture and the emotion is the feeling we get from playing WoW.
"You have to level up as a way of self-realization. It can be very spiritual," said Zijderveld. He concludes "In the Western world where the grand narrative has largely disappeared, virtual worlds can mediate the search for identity and spirituality. "
Read his full write-up in the subject here.

The PC of 2010 - The dramatic changes coming to PC hardware in the year ahead

Your gaming PC is a work-in-progress. Just when you’re happy with a quad-core, SLIed-up beast, Intel redo their entire CPU structure and enter the graphics card market. This year we’re going to see monitor prices plummet, a new version of Windows supporting a touch screen interface, and hard drive tech repurposed from USB drives. There’s a whole new world of hardware on its way. Here’s what you can expect from 2009.

Giganto-monitors
The cost of monitors continues to fall off a cliff. Given that you can buy a 32-inch TV for around $300 or £200, a 20-30 inch monitor is more affordable than you might think. Already, 20-inch widescreen models go for barely more than $150 (£100). Low-end 24-inchers can be had for around the $260 (£180) mark.

Two things to bear in mind. Firstly, the big screens generally run at a resolution of 1920x1200, and running games at a lower res will mean a blurry picture. So, make sure your graphics card has the grunt for it. Secondly, there’s a silent screen panel format war being waged, with each monitor falling into one of three general categories: TN, PVA or IPS. Each has a fatal enough flaw that the dream, all-purpose monitor doesn’t quite exist yet. TN is best for gaming due to faster response times, PVA for movies with its better contrast ratios and viewing angles, and IPS for desktop work because of its excellent colour reproduction.

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Samsung P3

A while back Samsung had launched their YP-P2 PMP with its touch screen capabilities and Bluetooth functionality. While it wasn’t much of a comparison to the iPod Touch, the additional features both players employed like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth was what made me a personal fan. Not particularly of either device, but of devices in general that offer something a little more than just video and music playback. Samsung’s latest, the P3 is also equipped with Bluetooth and tries to offer a more iTouch-like interface. Here’s how it fares as a standalone device though.
Form Factor
It’s an eye-catcher, no doubt. Its sleek and slender lines with a metallic finish also gives it a little bit of a classy feel. It’s light weight, so portability is one of the few things you won’t have to worry about. The 3-inch TFT touchscreen display has a 480 x 272 pixel resolution and also supports very intuitive haptics. A touch sensitive quick access bar to the currently playing music and skip keys is located just under the display.

A hold/power key along with volume control keys and a tiny speaker are located on the top of the device. Samsung’s proprietary connectivity port is located at the bottom near the 3.5mm earphone socket.

While I do like the overall design, the speaker is negligible. Some of the cheaper mobile handsets provide louder and better quality sound.
Features and Performance
Interface

The P3 comes loaded with features. First off is the display characteristic and touchscreen functionality. Like the P2 before it, Samsung hasn’t managed to fix the sometimes awkward touchscreen. It tends to be a little too responsive at times and sometimes annoyingly non-responsive. I do like the interface though. It's vibrant and colorful, depending on the theme you choose and can be spread across more than one screen, just like in the iTouch.

Trying to keep pace with Samsung’s Omnia and F480 mobile handsets, the P3 also has a Widgets section that can be accessed by simply pressing the screen at any place. The widgets themselves are very animated and serve a variety of purposes. Some are useful, like the dimmer for the display, clock, notes, access to the photo album and calendar. Some don’t seem to serve any purpose at all like the flower or the butterfly and some other odd animated characters. Other than some inane provision for entertainment in those moments of sheer boredom, they don’t do much else. You can also adjust the layout by moving the icons around just like you would in the... wait for it... iTouch.

Access Gmail Offline

The folks at Gmail Labs have been busy and they're now dishing out offline access to Gmail.

On enabling offline access, Gmail will load in your browser even if you don't have an Internet connection. You can read messages, star, label and archive them, compose new mail and messages ready to be sent will wait in your Outbox until you're online again.
It's built on the Gears platform, which has already been used to offline-enable Google Docs, Google Reader, and other third-party web applications.
To get started with offline Gmail -
- Sign in to Gmail and click 'Settings'.
- Click the 'Labs' tab and select 'Enable' next to 'Offline Gmail'.
- Click 'Save Changes.'
- In the upper righthand corner of your account, next to your username, there will be a new 'Offline' link. Click this link to start the offline synchronization process.
Standard Edition users can follow these instructions immediately, while Premier and Education Edition users will first need their domain admins to enable Gmail Labs from the Google Apps admin control panel.

Canon EOS 1000D

Though Canon does have a very strong foothold in the DSLR market in India, there has been a gap that Canon hadn't catered to yet — the ultra-budget DSLR segment.

But the EOS seems more than a cut-short budget camera. For one its build is just about the same as its big brother, the EOS 450D at 126 x 98 x 62 mm. With its weight of merely 502 g, it's definitely the lightest DSLR camera body we've tested till date. Lighter DSLRs may not be a big deal for hardcore enthusiasts, but for a beginner or a casual user who doesn't own a giant camera bag, it's a great asset.

Unfortunately the light weight comes at a slight cost. The camera's body is completely built of bland, mat-finished plastic, which gives it a pretty dull look. Moreover, even the handgrip lacks that high-friction rubber coating, which makes the camera easy to use for hours at a stretch. Now that too wouldn't be just a big issue if the grip had the right contours on it for easy finger placement or even a slightly bigger, more comfortable size. I may sound overtly harsh here, but being a camera user with particularly large hands, I do take my comfort over extended use seriously.

The button layout at the back is exactly the same as the EOS 450D, which would make a Canon user feel right at home. The 2.5-inch screen with 230,000 colors supports Live-view, which seems to have become a norm in DSLR cameras these days. Casual users, however may need to up their game to be able to use this feature as it works only in manual modes. Still I'm pleasantly surprised that Canon added this nifty feature in their lowest-end DSLR model.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

How Secure Is Google Chrome?

Google Chrome was built from the ground up to be a more secure Web browser, and Google and its Chromium developers should be applauded for the attention they have brought to browser security. Google deserves much credit for the wealth of security information posted on the Internet and on the Google Chrome blog, and for making Chrome's source code available for anyone to examine.

The security model Chrome follows is excellent. Chrome separates the main browser program, called the browser kernel, from the rendering processes, which are based upon the open source WebKit engine, also used by Apple's Safari. The browser kernel starts with all privileges removed, the null SID (a security identifier in Windows Vista that denotes the user as untrusted), and multiple "restrict" and "deny" SIDs enabled. On Windows Vista, Chrome runs as a medium-integrity process.

[Tomorrow: "How secure is Mozilla Firefox?" For more on browser security and protection against Web-borne threats, see Security Adviser and " Test Center: Browser security tools versus the evil Web." ]

Every Web site is given its own separate rendering process, memory space, global data structures, access token, tab, URL bar, desktop, and so forth. Currently, Chrome will open as many as 20 separate processes, one for each Web site, and start sharing processes between Web sites after that. Rendering processes are highly restricted as to what they can and can't do. On Windows Vista, Chrome's rendering processes run with low integrity, much like Internet Explorer in Protected Mode. But Chrome actually uses Vista's mandatory integrity controls more securely than Microsoft does. For one, Chrome attempts to prevent low-integrity browser processes from reading high-integrity resources, which is not normally prevented. (By default, Vista prevents lower to higher modifications, but not reads.)

Rest of the Article

Mozilla contributes $100,000 to fund Ogg development

Open Web standards have evolved considerably over the years and browser compatibility is better than ever, but one important area where standards are just starting to catch up is support for streaming video. Proprietary browser plugins are used extensively across the web to play video from popular sites. This creates serious lock-in risk and gives proprietary software vendors like Adobe a lot of control over the medium.

Although alternatives such as Microsoft's Silverlight are beginning to change the game and force Adobe to open up, there still isn't a viable, vendor-neutral, standards-based alternative that can shift the balance of power over to end-users and tear down some of the walls that limit how video content is experienced on the Web. Mozilla and the Wikimedia Foundation have launched an initiative to help improve the quality of open, standards-based video technology.

Mozilla has given the Wikimedia Foundation a $100,000 grant intended to fund development of the Ogg container format and the Theora and Vorbis media codecs. These open media codecs are thought to be unencumbered by software patents, which means that they can be freely implemented and used without having to pay royalties or licensing fees to patent holders. This differentiates Ogg Theora from many other formats that are widely used today.

 

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The Beautiful Linux

 

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How to make your own free iPhone dock

Apple didn't get rich by writing a lot of cheques, or by giving something away when it could charge for it later. Even when that something would mean your iPhone wasn't left kicking around on the computer desk, getting scratched up and knocked off.
All we get from Apple is a poxy little USB cable, while Steve Jobs and Tim Cook sit on a mountain of sweet-smelling cash, rubbing coins on their faces and smoking roll-ups made from £20 notes that they lit with a £5 note - all because we went out and bought a dock for our iPhone that should have had one included in the box!
Where was I? Oh yes - picking my iPhone up off the floor.
But no longer. I decided to learn by Apple's thrifty example and made my own iPhone stand from recycled cardboard.
That's right, Cook! How do you like them... Apples. Hmm, he probably likes them quite a lot. Not the best sting I've ever administered to The Man, but you get the point.
Apple's got enough of your money, dear punter, so Pocket Gamer's here to save you a few quid and show you how to make your own iPhone/iPod touch stand.
You're very welcome.

Here's a plan for your new stand. It's A4 landscape size, and gives you all the dimensions so you can measure out and draw the flattened iPhone stand on a piece of cardboard.

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Tuesday, January 27, 2009

HQ Dual Screen Wallpaper - Nature

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Limited edition GTA IV Microsoft Points card revealed

Play.com has revealed a special Microsoft Points card worth 1600 Microsoft Points will be released next month. The Points card, printed with a Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost & Damned design will be a limited edition, released on Friday 13th February 2009.


If it looked anything like the above, you'd be lost and damned!

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Grand Theft Auto to Wii? Is Nintendo changing its demographic?

Nintendo forums are alight at the moment with the possibility of the largest "grown-up" franchise in video gaming coming to a Wii near them. 
Nintendo of America's president, Reggie Fils-Aime has appeared recently on US television, discussing the possibility  "Nintendo has done all it can to persuadeTake-Two Interactive Software to bring the Grand Theft Auto franchise to Nintendo consoles, and it is now up to the third party publisher to decide whether Rockstar Games' immensely popular series will appear on Wii."
Despite commentators here on iTWire down playing the concept, it does start the imagination buzzing as to the possibilities of the Wii-mote in such a title.
Imagine being involved physically in a street brawl, or needing to actually get the ignition started on a recently "jacked" vehicle.  Immersion rules on the Wii and it will be titles like these that can exploit the concept further, especially for a more adult audience.
Still we will need to wait and see what eventuates - we will know more come 2007's first quarter.  In the meantime it is refreshing to note that publisher Take-two did indeed pledge support for the Wii back in June this year.
Lets hope that it is titles like GTA, and Bully (Canis Canem Edit In Australia and Europe) and the ilk that can expand the Nintendo Wii image from the toy profile it tends to hold now.  The future is looking bright with a strong software line up already available.

Source ITWire

SSD tests show Windows 7 beta beating Vista SP1

Windows 7 is supposed to be able to detect that a Solid State Drive (SSD) is being used, and make changes to some settings so that it can take advantage of the technology. TweakTown has run some tests with the Patriot Warp2 128GB SSD SATA drive for both RAID 0 and single drive setups, comparing Windows 7 beta and Windows Vista SP1. Based on the results found, the site has concluded that Windows 7 currently has a slight edge over Vista:

Based on our testing, we can see that obviously Microsoft have spent some time improving SSD performance under Windows 7, as it managed to beat out Vista in all but one test and that might have only been a slip up.

Of course, these tests don’t really represent how all SSDs will perform on Windows 7, though we can expect improvements as better drivers are written. Solid SSD performance will be key in Windows 7’s adoption in future netbooks, a laptop form factor that has really taken off recently, and is expected to keep doing well due to the current economy. Hopefully Microsoft will be able to keep these positive results up with the RC build (expected in April), as well as the RTM. You can check out all of the results at the link below.


Source: arstechnica

Microsoft Tweaks Hardware Ratings For Windows 7

Microsoft Relevant Products/Services says it has tweaked its Windows Experience Index (WEI) for Windows 7 to take into account new PC hardware Relevant Products/Services configurations. Introduced with Windows Vista, Microsoft’s PC rating system is compiled by measuring the relative capabilities and configuration of each machine’s components.

The goal of WEI is to help consumers buy hardware, programs and software matched to their computer’s score. The WEI does not measure the interactions of components under a software load, but rather characteristics of the hardware, noted Microsoft Senior Vice President Steven Sinofsky.

“As such it does not — nor cannot — measure how a system will perform under your own usage scenarios,” Sinofsky said. “Thus the WEI does not measure performance of a system, but merely the relative hardware capabilities when running Windows 7.”

WEI Scoring

For Vista and Windows 7, the five areas scored include processor, memory, general desktop graphics, gaming graphics, and primary hard disk.

“The overall Windows Experience Index is defined to be the lowest of the five top-level WEI subscores, where each subscore is computed using a set of rules and a suite of system assessment tests,” said Michael Fortin, an engineer in Microsoft’s Windows Core Operating Systems Division.

PC buyers will be able to follow some general guidelines to understand the experiences that a PC with a given score range can be expected to deliver. “These Vista-era general guidelines for systems in the 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0 ranges still apply to Windows 7,” Fortin said.

Though the scoring areas for Windows 7 are the same as Vista, the actual rules for scoring devices have changed “to reflect experience and feedback comparing closely rated devices with differing quality,” Fortin explained. This makes the WEI more indicative of actual use, he said.

New Levels

Moreover, scoring levels 6.0 and 7.0 have been added to Windows 7 — with 7.9 the maximum possible score. The two new levels were designed to capture the rather substantial improvements seen in key technologies as they enter the mainstream, including solid-state disks, multi-core processors, and higher-end graphics adapters, Fortin said. The amount of memory in a system is also a factor.

“Of course, adding new levels doesn’t explain why a Vista system or component that used to score 4.0 or higher is now obtaining a score of 2.9,” Fortin said. “In most cases, large score drops will be due to the addition of some new disk tests in Windows 7.”

For gaming users, Microsoft expects systems with gaming graphics scores in the 6.0 to 6.9 range to support DX10 graphics and deliver video at frame rates of 40 to 50 fps and a resolution of 1280×1024 pixels, Fortin said. “In the range of 7.0 to 7.9, we would expect higher frame rates at even higher screen resolutions,” he added.

Microsoft’s new WEI scores also are intended to help game developers decide how best to scale their experience on a given system.

“Graphics is an area where there is both the widest variety of scores readily available in hardware and also the widest breadth of expectations,” Fortin said. “The extremes at which CAD, HD video, photography and gamers push graphics compared to the average business user or a consumer — doing many of these same things as an avocation rather than vocation — is significant.”


Source: newsfactor

Windows 7’s Media Hype Having the Opposite Effect As Vista’s

Death Metal Maniac tips an Ars Technica piece suggesting that the media’s coverage of Vista’s flaws portrayed the operating system as worse than it was, and, if early reports on Windows 7 are any indication, positive hype will create the opposite reaction this time around. Quoting: “… the problem is exaggeration; … bloggers and journalists alike use their personal experiences to prove their point in their writing.

The blame doesn’t solely lie with us, as Vista was by no means perfect, but we did manage to amplify the problems beyond reason. And if the beta is anything to go by, Windows 7 is going to fly. This is, by far, the best beta operating system the software giant has ever released. The media has locked on to this, and is using exaggeration already, before Windows 7 is even ready for prime time.” Apparently a decent beta can succeed where $300 million and Jerry Seinfeld failed.


Source: slashdot

Monday, January 26, 2009

HQ Dual Screen Wallpaper – New York Time Square

HD Dual Screen Wallpaper- New York City

 

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Obama aims for oil independence

Outlining his energy priorities, he said the country would not be held "hostage to dwindling resources, hostile regimes, and a warming planet".

He called for greater fuel efficiency and an "energy economy" aimed at creating millions of jobs.

He also ordered a review of whether states can set car emission standards.

This challenges a Bush administration decision which favoured a national standard for vehicle pollution.

At his first White House news conference since becoming president, Mr Obama said he would reverse America's dependence on foreign oil while creating jobs, but warned there was no "quick fix".

 

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Microsoft delays Vista SP2, says report

Microsoft Corp. has delayed Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) by at least a month, and will now ship it to manufacturing sometime in May or June, according to a Web site that has accurately predicted Windows release dates in the past.

TechARP.com, a Malaysian Web site that correctly pegged the release dates for Vista SP1 and XP SP3 in 2008, said that Microsoft will deliver a release candidate — the final test version — of Vista SP2 in March, a month later than the site had predicted earlier. Also, Microsoft will send the service pack to OEMs and out for retail copy duplication at some point in the second quarter of 2009, not in April as originally thought.

Vista SP2 will be released for download from the Web at an undetermined date after Microsoft ships the service pack to OEMs. In the past, Microsoft has had both short and long lag times between the two dates.

Windows XP SP3, for example, was released to manufacturing April 21, 2008, and offered for download May 6, about two weeks later. With Vista SP1, however, it waited about six weeks after sending the update to manufacturing before it let the general public download the service pack.

Inserted into the Vista SP2 schedule, said TechARP, is something Microsoft’s calling a “release candidate escrow build.” According to the site, an escrow build is a version on which development has stopped, but is handed to developer and testers, who are asked to shake out the code one final time to make sure there are no show-stopping bugs.

Elsewhere, TechARP also said that computer makers will not be required to use Vista SP2 on new hardware, as is usually the case when the Microsoft wraps up a major update, such as a service pack. “OEMs will not be compelled to ship their systems with the new builds, which would have required extensive work [such as] tests, implementation and logistics,” said TechARP. “They are also not required to send their customers the Service Pack 2 upgrades.”

TechARP speculated that Microsoft will make Vista SP2 optional for OEMs because Windows 7, Vista’s successor, may be hard on its heels. “Many OEMs are probably hesitant about spending more money and [putting more] effort into qualifying the new builds with their products, especially in light of the current economic situation,” said the site. “So the onus will be on the consumer to update their Windows Vista via Windows Update.”

Microsoft issued the first public beta of Windows 7 on Jan. 10, but as of yet, has not set a timetable for the new operating system’s release, other than to say it will hit the street by early next year.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to questions about Vista SP2’s timetable.


Source: computerworld

Going Mobile: A Whole New World of Web

The mobile Internet is fast becoming mainstream. One reason is clearly the growing prevalence of high-end handsets that are less telephones than they are entertainment centers, fashion statements, and content-consumption vehicles. And every bit as important as the devices are the all-you-can-eat data plans that come with them. These two factors alone explain much of the growth in mobile content consumption; but let's not forget the other key dimension, which is the content itself.

 [More...]

Windows worm exploits Vista autoplay function

The Conficker virus, which had infected an estimated nine millions computers by Thursday is spreading at a rate of one million machines per day according to US software protection firm F-Secure.USB memory sticks infected with the virus trick users into installing the worm, according to researchers.

The “Autoplay” function, which searches for programs on removable drives and is part of Microsoft’s Windows Vista and early versions of Windows 7 platforms, is being exploited by the hackers.

The virus infiltrates this process and tricks users into believing it is a folder that can be opened. When a user clicks this bogus option, the worm installs and buries itself deep into the operating system.

Once there it attempts to contact a number of websites set up by the hackers. From there a further program could be downloaded that could takeover the infected machine.

Users are advised to install the latest security updates from Microsoft and have up-to-date anti-virus software installed.


Source: thenorthernecho

Microsoft To Cut 5,000 Jobs

Microsoft Corp.  said Thursday it will cut 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months in the software giant’s first-ever significant round of layoffs as the company reported a worse-than-expected 11% drop in fiscal second-quarter earnings and pulled its view for the year.News about the earnings - which came hours earlier than expected - and the job cuts sent shares of the Redmond, Wash., company near 11-year lows and rattled the technology stock sector.

Microsoft shares recently traded down $1.67, or 8.6%, to $17.71 on volume of 90.1 million compared with average …


Source: wsj

Internet Users Surpass 1 Billion

The number of Internet users globally has crossed one billion-visitor mark in December 2008, with the Asia-Pacific region accounting for the highest  - 41 percent - as per internet marketing research firm comScore.
Total global internet audience (aged 15 above from home and work computers) has surpassed one billion visitors in December 2008, comScore said in a statement quoting data from comScore World Metrix audience measurement service.
"Surpassing one billion global users is a significant landmark in the history of the Internet. It is a monument to the increasingly unified global community in which we live and reminds us that the world truly is becoming more flat," comScore, Inc President and Chief Executive Officer Magid Abraham said.
The second billion will be online before we know it, and the third billion will arrive even faster than that, until we have a truly global network of interconnected people and ideas that transcend borders and cultural boundaries, Abraham added.
The Asia-Pacific region accounted for the highest share of global internet users at 41 per cent, followed by Europe (28 percent share), North America (18 per cent share), Latin-America (7 per cent share) and the Middle East & Africa (5 per cent share), the comScore report revealed.
India boasts of the seventh highest number of internet users with as many as 32,099 visitors in December, 2008.
Meanwhile, China tops the charts in term of number of internet audience with 1,79,710 users last month constituting over 17 per cent of the global traffic.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Final Fantasy VII PS3 Set To Boost Japanese Sales Massively

Earlier this week it was announced that there would be a special edition Playstation 3 coming out in conjunction with Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete on Blu-ray. The package features a PS3, Advent Children Complete and the Final Fantasy XIII demo.
Since it went on sale on the Japanese Amazon, it's jumped up to #2 on the "Best Sellers" list, with Advent Children Complete holding the #1 spot. It's jumped straight in ahead of Dragon Quest IX, which is coming out in a couple of months for the Wii, so that should give an indication as tothe popularity of this item.
Due to the limited availability, Amazon are only going to allow customers to pre-order the item at specific times. It's unsure if they will inform people beforehand, or if consumers will just have to get lucky when looking at the page. For the moment though, it's not possible to pre-order the bundle from Amazon, and they have not announced the frequency of their sales windows, or how long the windows will stay open for.
One thing is for sure though, this could seriously shift a lot of systems for Sony. Looking at how successful the Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Dissidia: Final Fantasy special edition PSPs were can give some indication as to the potential effect this could have long-term for the PS3 as well. This, combined with the scheduled PS3 releases in Q1/Q2 could definitely kick-start the PS3 in Japan.

source

What scares me about Windows 7

In a nutshell, I think it's a great operating system that could become my favorite of all time with more updates and proper development.

But that doesn't mean I don't have reservations. There are still some lingering issues that Microsoft hasn't addressed.

Is Windows 7 designed to be just the next iteration in a long line of Microsoft operating systems or does Microsoft want it to be something different, something new? Answering that question isn't as easy as I once thought. The look and feel of Windows 7 is great. It reminds me more of a Mac than any previous version of Windows. I like that, but especially for Windows XP users who have never switched to any other operating system, that's not necessarily good.

Is it a Mac or is it Windows?

As a Mac user, I like the Dock, enjoy Mac OS X's user interface, and typically appreciate its design. After using Windows 7, I have the same feeling. Windows 7 is easily the most attractive OS Microsoft has ever released and its revamped Taskbar is a treat to use, thanks to snazzy thumbnail features that actually put Apple's Dock to shame.

But after using Windows 7 for a while, it quickly became apparent that in Microsoft's quest to make Windows "prettier," it sometimes makes it harder to perform basic functions. The same Windows you're familiar with is still there, it's just harder to find under all the makeup. Especially if you're an XP user who skipped Vista.

On more than one occasion, I clicked on an open application in the Taskbar expecting another window to open (after all, this is Windows). But just like the Mac, it didn't happen. Instead, Windows 7 highlighted that app and brought the window to the front. To open another window, I was forced to right-click the icon and click another option. For the veteran Mac user, that's expected. For the veteran Windows user, that's something new that will take some getting used to.

That's just one example of many that I found in Windows 7. A slight glare in the upper corner of an icon indicates a program is running. After a while, you'll get used to that. But for someone who has used every other version of Windows and isn't as tech-savvy as some, that will undoubtedly be confusing at first.

I'm afraid Microsoft has placed too much stock in Apple's design and not enough in usability. That's appealing for Mac users, but if I had never touched an Apple machine, I don't think I'd want my Windows box to be a Mac clone. I'd want it to be Windows. I'd get over it. It would just take some time.

Security

Windows 7 has the same basic security features as Vista, which does make it more secure than most previous iterations of Windows, and I'm definitely heartened by the operating system's "Action Center," which tries to make it easier for users to secure their computers. But security is still a major issue with the OS.

According to a report last year, the security company PC Tools found 639 unique threats over the first six months of 2008 for every 1,000 machines running Vista. That tally is actually better than XP, which was plagued with 1,021 issues. Ironically, Windows 2000 was safest, suffering 586 threats that penetrated the operating system's defenses.

But as CNET's Ina Fried reports, as far as Windows 7's security goes, "it appears to draw heavily from the investments the company made with Windows Vista."

"The most notable change," Fried writes, "is probably the fact that users now have the option to choose how often they are required to authorize changes to their system. One of the most frequent criticisms of Vista was the annoyance of the User Account Control dialog boxes that forced users to authenticate many types of changes to their systems."

In other words, Windows 7 is about as secure as Windows Vista, which was plagued by 639 threats over a six-month period. That's an improvement over previous iterations of the software, so sticking to XP probably isn't advised if security is a major concern, but let's face it--that track record isn't ideal.

Sony launches ‘purse-sized’ laptop

Tech-savvy girls won’t have to carry the load of laptop bags anymore, for Sony has launched an ultra-portable "netbook" computer that will fit in any aspiring career woman's purse.

The Vaio P boasts most features found on a laptop, from a webcam and GPS to a built-in 3G modem, allowing users to go online by inserting a mobile phone sim card.

The new netbook is aimed at people who want to surf the Internet, edit documents and check their emails on the go.

In fact, its designers have claimed that it is the lightest eight-inch netbook in the world.

They said it does everything that equivalent models of bigger sizes would do.

And the reviewers said that its keyboard, unlike many other small laptops, is easy to use.

While a basic model is available at 849 pounds, a faster-operating netbook with more memory will cost 1,370 pounds.

However, Joshua Topolsky from the technology website Engadget is not quite sure if many consumers will pay the asking price.

"It simply costs more than other options. A cost which Sony want users to ''aspire'' to pay. There are plenty of viable, less expensive options,” The Telegraph quoted him as saying.

Ten Things the Xbox 360 Should do in 2009

2008 was a phenomenal year for the Xbox 360, but I’m not here to get teary-eyed and nostalgic. Now that all the “Best of” and “Worst of” lists have been compiled, praised, scorned, and faded into darkness like New Year’s Eve, it’s time look ahead to what the future might bring. Or rather, what the self-righteous geek inside of me thinks Microsoft should do to please my every whim in 2009. Without turning this into a console argument let us know what you think the 360 needs to dominate the globe 2009 by heading over to our forums (click here) and discussing this article!

10) Pandora – For the uninitiated and internet-defunct, Pandora is a free, online service that tracks your favorite bands and streams music from other potential favorites with uncanny accuracy. Imagine having your own digital DJ while waiting for your downloads, kicking back with a few friends, or playing a few rounds in Call of Duty to the fret-blasting power of DragonForce. I won’t wait in breathless anticipation for this one, but it would be a nice addition to the multi-media future of NXE.

9) One System to Rule – Variety may be the spice of life, but only if you know what you’re supposed to be cooking. As a former retail-clerk, I can tell you with absolute certainty that the average consumer has no idea what gigabytes, Jasper chips, or HDMI have to do with gaming. I can also tell you that if you bought a system outside of the previous year, lending $300 to a crackhead might have been a better investment. Microsoft, don’t be like Sony. Make this the year for one reliable system with all the bells and whistles.

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Saturday, January 24, 2009

AOL Launches New Version of Web Mail

AOL has launched an enhanced version of AOL Web Mail that offers users one-click access to Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and a variety of third-party sites and destinations directly from the AOL Web Mail page,http://mail.aol.com.

Over the past year, AOL has added more than 30 new features and a variety of new functionality to Web Mail in an effort to make it more open to third-party content and to offer more monetization opportunities to advertisers. The new version is being released globally, making it available in more than 38 countries and locales around the world.
"Web Mail is an integral part of the AOL experience and at the heart of our product offerings," said Ted Cahall, President, AOL Products andTechnologies. "With this new release, we can showcase the important role AOL products continue to play in the company. Enhancing products that already attract a large, engaged audience is a key goal for our organization."
Key features of AOL's new Web Mail product include:
- Access to Third-Party E-mail Accounts: The third-party mail plug-ins allow users to preview Yahoo! Mail and Gmail within the AOL Web Mail experience, as well as take advantage of one-click access to Yahoo! Mail and Gmail.
- Faster performance: Using updated technologies, AOL has increased the speed and performance of its Web Mail experience, and enhanced the user interface to make it more intuitive.
- Themed Skins: More than 45 new "skins" or themes let users personalize their page, and offer advertisers the ability to work with AOL to create themes that will appeal to key audiences.
- Plug-in Gallery: Users can customize their Web Mail page by choosing from a variety of new plug-ins offering one-click access to favorite sites, content, Gmail and Yahoo! Mail. The Gallery also offers access to all of the AOL gadgets currently stored in the myAOL Gallery. In addition, AOL is inviting third-party developers to create new gadgets for Web Mail via http://dev.aol.com.
- AOL Sync: Users can make real-time updates to AOL Calendar and Address Book from their desktop or a variety of wireless devices, including the Blackberry and iPhone. In addition, users around the globe can enjoy a completely mobile AOL Mail experience from virtually any device.

New Trojan Targets Mac Pirates

SophosLabs is reporting that a new Trojan horse capable of infecting the Apple Mac OS X platform is doing the rounds.


The Trojan, being called "iWorkServices" or "iServices", has been distributed via BitTorrent inside a pirated version of Apple's new iWork '09 suite.
Hackers have used a pirated version of iWork '09 as a "host" for the malware, just as Apple has loosened up anti-piracy protection in the package.
While previous versions of Apple iWork required users to enter a serial number when installing from CD ROM, the new version allows users to install the software on as many computers as they like - without apparent repercussion.
Malware affecting Apple Macs is much less frequently encountered than it is by Windows-using counterparts.

Nokia, Securitas to Bring Security to Mobile Devices

Nokia and Securitas have announced a new cooperation regarding mobile services for personal security and every day safety.
By combining the main competencies of companies within security and mobility, Securitas and Nokia plan to cooperate by introducing attractive and affordable security services in Nokia mobile devices. GPS enabled mobile devices are soon to be as common as the camera making this a mass market service.
The service Securitas Safe-2-Go makes it possible to, for example, get help in an exposed situation, but also gives increased security through information regarding the location of friends and family.  
Securitas Safe-2-Go initially contains four services.
- Assist where you can - With the touch of a button, get connected to Securitas alarm central which has information about who is connecting, where this person is located and which people related to the person need to be contacted
- Find - where you can get the current position on where friends are located.
- Zone - where you receive an SMS if someone leaves or comes into a predefined area, like a school or a home.
- Friends - which gives an overview of where all friends are located.
Securitas Safe-2-Go will be launched commercially during the first half of 2009 in Sweden and be launched in other European countries later during 2009.
Securitas will now be offering services, which will work in all GPS enabled phones based on the S60 platform. This way it will possible to reach a large customer base of mobile users who can increase the personal security and create safety in everyday life in an easy and affordable way.

HTC Revamps Touch Cruise

HTC has announced its latest personal navigation handset with inbuilt GPS - The new HTC Touch Cruise. The handset is an update to 2008’s HTC GPS device of the same name. This one however, boasts a new, more compact design and a host of new capabilities.

The new HTC Touch Cruise is the first mobile phone to offer HTC Footprints, an application experience that enables people to permanently chronicle their special moments by capturing a digital postcard on their phone. Once captured, Footprints provides the ability to take notes and an audio clip of a favorite restaurant or special place while identifying its specific geographical location. In addition to identifying each postcard with its specific GPS co-ordinates, Footprints also auto-names each postcard with its general location or area. Geo-Tagging in a whole new way!
Flipping back through their photos, HTC Touch Cruise users will be able to retrace their steps to that exact location in just a few touches. Unlike other devices with geo-tagging functionality, HTC Footprints works effectively outdoors and indoors, offering a more accurate record of location for future reference and navigation.

"Just as we have seen GPS technology transform how people navigate to new places, we are now seeing location-based applications like HTC Footprints changing how we interact and carry our memories," said Peter Chou, President and CEO, HTC Corporation. The HTC Touch Cruise is also an advanced in-car navigation system. When placed into its accompanying car cradle, the HTC Touch Cruise automatically transforms its user interface into an easy-to-use, one-touch interface that provides seamless turn-by-turn directions.
The handset's features include -

  • Connectivity: WCDMA/HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
  • Operating system: Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
  • Qualcomm Chipset MSM7225, 528 MHz
  • 512 MB flash ROM, 256 MB RAM microSD memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
  • 2.8-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with QVGA resolution
  • 4-Way navigation wheel with Enter
  • 3.2 megapixel camera with fixed focus
  • Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
  • Wi-Fi
  • Mini-USB 2.0

The new HTC Touch Cruise will be available to customers across all major global markets in spring 2009. There’s no pricing mentioned yet.

Leaked Images of Nokia's E75 Surface

In September of 2008 we had informed you of two possible E-Series handsets the E75 and E72. The images that were out back then were not too great and the video soon disappeared as well. The latest scoop is in the form of leaked images of the handset.

The source of the images – Dailymobile.se somehow managed to get a hold of the device and has showered us with plenty of good angles. Take a look –

The handset features -

  • 2.8-inch QVGA TFT LCD
  • Symbian S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 (FP2) OS
  • Slide out QWERTY Keypad (not very unlike the E90’s)
  • 3G, Wi-Fi, EDGE/GPRS, Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity
  • 3.2 megapixel camera
  • USB 2.0
  • MicroSD card support

There’s no official word on when the handset will be out and no price tag either.

Friday, January 23, 2009

The View Beyond Vista

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Why use an operating system other organizations have rejected? That’s a question many enterprises will be asking themselves when considering moving some or all of their Windows desktops to Microsoft Vista. A small minority of organizations run Linux or Mac OS X on the desktop and have no interest in Vista for that reason. But most others will at least consider migrating. And these businesses are overwhelmingly rejecting Vista, according to a report called “Enterprise Trends: Vista Is Rejected; Mozilla and Apple Make Small Gains,” which Forrester Research published in late July.

“Eighteen months after the release of Windows Vista, enterprise adoption is still in the single digits, and the majority of that seems to have come from upgrades of legacy Windows versions, not XP,” the report says.

It’s not surprising that enterprises running Windows 98 or the despised Windows ME (surely they can’t have been running anything older) are upgrading to Vista. That’s because migrating to a new OS is a major change, so it makes no sense to move to anything but the most current one. The real revelation is that significant numbers of organizations are still running these legacy operating systems.

But of the vast numbers of enterprises using XP as their standard desktop OS, comparatively few see any need to move to Vista. Microsoft claims a total of 180 million licenses have been sold for the OS and that its adoption is in line with XP after 18 months. However, according to Forrester, fewer than 10 percent of businesses are using it. Even the release of Service Pack 1 — traditionally a signal for enterprises to start adopting an OS in earnest — hasn’t put the percentage of businesses using Vista into double figures.

This may be because even though the security features of Vista are an improvement over XP — UAC (define) excepted — application and hardware compatibility issues, as well as the general feeling that Vista is bloated, slow and just a bit too pretty to be taken seriously as an enterprise OS, seems to be a barrier to adoption.

So what is the best solution for the corporate desktop in an organization reluctant to move away from Windows? Ideally something that combines the security and other advanced features of Vista with the speed and leanness of XP. Perhaps the answer is Windows Workstation 2008, the enterprise desktop OS counterpart to Server 2008. It’s a lean, mean, fast and stable desktop OS without the DRM (define), eye-candy and other unnecessary cruft that makes Vista less than ideal in the enterprise. It’s also the OS of choice for many Microsoft employees.

If you’ve never heard of Workstation 2008 that’s because it’s not an official Microsoft product — it’s just Server 2008 with the unnecessary bits taken out and a few features you’d expect in a desktop OS added. Since Vista and Server 2008 now share the same codebase, it is straightforward to add the Aero interface and other Vista features, although it somewhat defeats the purpose of the exercise.

If you fancy giving it a try you can roll your own Workstation 2008, or take the easy option and head to http://www.win2008workstation.com/wordpress/ and use the automated Server 2008 to Workstation 2008 converter utility (which, admittedly, I have not yet tested). Deploying converted copies of Server 2008 on every desktop in an enterprise could be expensive, of course, but the license for the Data Center Edition allows for unlimited instances of Server 2008 running in virtual machines (define). These could be accessed using some thin clients and a VDI system.

Microsoft appears to have a much deeper long-term problem, though. It has a huge desktop OS business — both consumer and enterprise — but the likes of Google are intent on moving computing to the “cloud.” Microsoft has demonstrated that it understands this (with limited success) in the application space with initiatives such as its Live services. But what’s the future of the desktop OS beyond Windows 7 (and probably 8 and maybe even 9)?

At this stage it’s not clear, but Microsoft is certainly thinking about the problem, according to information about Windows’ successor that has been leaking out of Redmond in recent weeks. Apparently codenamed Midori (better known as a brand of melon flavored liquor), this new OS is designed to be “Internet-centric” and “predicated on the prevalence of connected systems,” according to a report by David Worthington in the Software Development Times. Worthington claims the report is based on internal Microsoft documents.

It’s pointless to speculate in too much detail what Midori might be like should it ever see the light of day, but one thing is for sure: Something will eventually emerge from Redmond to replace Windows. It will almost certainly be very different from the stand-alone Windows OSes that have made the company rich, and it will probably be designed to dovetail with Microsoft’s “software and services” plans.

There’s one other near certainty as well: The company will be hoping that when it is finally released, whatever Midori turns into will wow enterprises (and consumers) more than Vista has managed to do.


Source: internetnews

Is Windows Vista Really That Bad?

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As the release of Windows Vista approached, the reports about how neat it was quickly turned to reports about how messed up it was, or still is: dropped features, poor performance, compatibility problems, crashes, you name it. Most of that was overblown. Certainly the computers that ran the five-year-old Windows XP couldn’t all be expected to run Vista well (even the much-heralded Mac OS bumps-up system requirements significantly over that span of time).

But some of the noise was deserved, and Vista certainly had its share of growing pains. But it’s been a year and a half. The first service pack has been released, along with an absolute flood of other automatic updates and drivers and software patches and so on. Is Vista really all that bad? More to the point, is it even worth upgrading anymore?

The short answer, I think, is yes. If you buy a PC today and it has Vista installed on it, or build a new PC (even a low cost, sub-$1,000 box), you should be in fine shape.

The driver situation has really come along to the point where Vista is perhaps better supported on new-ish hardware than XP is, and the work Microsoft did in changing lots of driver models to stabilize the system is finally paying off—more drivers, and parts of drivers, run in User Space instead of Kernel Space now, so one messed up driver doesn’t hose your whole system the way XP would, and many driver problems are recoverable without a reboot. Performance is finally there, even on what you would consider a pretty cheap PC with integrated graphics. Vista sure appears to use more resources than XP, but appearances can be deceiving. Take RAM for instance. Empty RAM does nothing for you. You don’t want empty RAM, you want RAM filledup with pre-cached data so your applications and data files snap open without hammering the hard drive, with enough intelligence to free up that RAM if an app needs it. Vista does this pretty well. Hard drive space is a non-issue.

It really doesn’t matter if your OS takes up 3GB, or 8GB, or 12GB of your hard disk. It’s a small fraction of even most laptop hard drives these days. In fact, the percentage of the average hard drive used up by the Windows installation has declined with each major release, as the size of hard drives have increased faster than the size of the Windows installation. The truth is (as much as a person’s opinion can be “truth”), Vista “feels” as fast or faster than XP on any computer a year old or less, and even on some of the better machines that are older than that. And it’s got lots of nice features, if you can get yourself out of the “do everything exactly as in XP” mindset long enough to try them.

The “trail of breadcrumbs” at the top of an Explorer window is a great improvement. Popping open the Start menu and simply typing a few characters of what you’re looking for, then seeing the program and file list update in real time, is a very fast an easy way to get to that app, file, control panel, or utility you’re looking for.

There are actually Sidebar applets worth having now. Individual volume controls for all applications can be very useful. Vista-only features like DirectX 10 are finally starting to become meaningful.

You may have heard of Microsoft’s Mojave Experiment marketing campaign. The company took a whole mess of PC users who haven’t tried Vista yet, but hate it based on all the bad stuff they hear. You almost certainly know someone like this (or maybe you are one yourself). Then they showed these people what they said was the next version of Windows, named “Mojave.” Which everyone loved. Then the Microsoft group told everyone—surprise!— Mojave is actually Windows Vista. Sure, it’s just a goofy marketing trick and you could pull the Folgers Switch with a lot of things and get a similar reaction. But I think there’s some truth to it.

Vista got a bad rap, and perhaps not undeservedly so. The Vista experience today, however, doesn’t live up to that extraordinarily negative reputation. If you’re dead-set against it, maybe it’s time for another look.


Source: extremetech

Window to the future

MICROSOFT’S much maligned Windows Vista operating system is just weeks away from celebrating its second birthday. But its third anniversary, will, most likely, be its last.The American tech giant is already well into development of its next operating system, Windows 7 and, though details are universally scant, what we do know points to significant changes in the way the next version of the worlds most popular operating system will look, feel and act.What’s new?

Microsoft gave the world a fleeting glimpse of the features that may be included in its next generation operating system in May. But they have officially revealed just a single feature of Windows 7 publicly multi-touch navigation, which lets users manipulate objects such as resizing images or even playing the keys on a virtual piano using not just one finger, but multiple keys at the same time.

It is a surprising and bold addition, not unlike the functionality available on Apples iPhone.

Multi-touch moves users away from a conventional point-and-click mouse-based world, but will also necessitate hardware upgrades, since youll only be able to use the multi-touch features with a touch sensitive screen.

Windows 7 will also include a new version of Internet Explorer and though Microsoft wont commit to revealing more features, the company has said Windows 7 will be easier to use with improved search capabilities and improved security.

If the latest crop of screenshots that appeared online this week alleging to have been taken from a Windows 7 beta are to be believed, the new operating system will also feature an automated ability to patch PC-based games.

It will, likely, function much like the automatic update feature on Microsoft’s gaming console, the Xbox.

The screenshots quickly disappeared, but not before eagle-eyed Windows users spotted several things including revamped interfaces for Windows Paint and WordPad, as well as updated versions of Windows Media Player and even the ever-useful calculator application.

Though the screenshots have a distinctly Vista-like feel, the code is still very much in beta stages and there is still plenty of time to tweak the interface, which is unlikely to remain identical to the current Vista interface.

But other images, also purporting to be from a beta build of Windows 7, feature a vastly streamlined interface offering big changes akin to those seen when the vastly revamped version of Office for Vista was released.

Expect cluttered menus and toolbars to disappear in favour of a streamlined, interactive ribbon that offers new options depending on what tasks you are performing.

When will it be available?

There is no confirmation on when Windows 7 will be available but Microsoft has stated that its goal is to start selling Windows 7 about three years after the launch of Windows Vista. That translates, roughly to a January 2010 launch.

Also, though it is being referred to as Windows 7 (and codenamed Blackcomb, then Vienna before that), if the past is any indication, Microsoft will likely change the Windows 7 name shortly before the final operating system is release.

What’s missing?

Several programs that used to be bundled with Windows will no longer be available as automatic installs with Windows. Applications such as Windows Mail (formerly known as Outlook Express), photo editing and video editing will be detached from the Windows bundle and be offered separately, still for free, as part of Microsoft’s Live software suite. Its all part of Microsoft’s shift to cloud computing, a concept that involves moving non-core applications into the cloud that is the internet where, should a user want them, they are available for download on demand.

This notion of cloud computing also means that rather than having to set up your most used applications on every computer you visit, they’re available in the clouds, so no matter what machine you access, you will always have access to your core applications via the Net.

Aside from reducing the increasingly bloated install size of Windows, the absence of these applications means anyone who prefers to use another program, such as Thunderbird for email, can do so without installing the software twice.

Hardware

The minimum hardware specs required to use Windows rarely suffice. You always need more than stated on the box in order for the system to fly.

However, though its likely well need to upgrade our hardware to take advantage of Windows 7s previewed multi-touch technology, the fact is by the time it is released, 4GB RAM and quad-core processors will likely be the norm.

Will my old software work with Windows 7?

Early feedback suggests Windows 7 will be backwards compatible with past Windows software, including Vista via virtualisation which runs mini versions of past operating systems within the new environment.

Much more about the Windows 7 feature set will be revealed during developer conferences in October, but it wont be until the beta version is released, possibly in November, that users will get their first hands-on play with the new operating system.


Source: news

HQ Dual Screen wallpaper 1

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Thursday, January 22, 2009

What would happen if Mass Effect came to the PS3?

I have been hearing rumors lately that Mass Effect could be coming to the PS3. This rumor isn’t necessarily a new one, but it has been resurfacing as of late. I believe there is a good chance it could make its way on to a Blu Ray disc. Let’s say that Mass Effect was coming to the PS3 this year. What would happen in the month of its release?

EA would make money
Well that’s an easy one to foretell. Mass Effect sold over 2 million copies, which is very good for a new IP. In my opinion if Mass Effect was released on the PS3 it would either match that or sell more than 2 million. Want to know why? That’s because I’m sure there are PS3 fan boys that would swoop this game up in a heartbeat. I’m sure EA knows that they can introduce a fairly new IP to a new audience, and make money doing it. They should ship ME (Mass Effect) with the Bring Down the Sky DLC, patches and bug fixes, and some other new additions.  Don’t just port the game, utilize the Blu Ray and make it a bargain at $60.

 

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Red Hat Version 5.3 Released

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 became globally available on Wednesday, with the new enterprise OS featuring virtualization improvements, support for Intel's Core i7 architecture and inclusion of the Open Java Development Kit from Sun.

When interviewed in October 2008, Red Hat global chief executive Jim Whitehurst said virtualization was one of the company's key priorities. "Virtualization should be part of the operating system, not a separate layer," he said at the time.

Virtualization in RHEL 5.3 has been improved, including the ability to make larger virtualized machines — supporting up to 32 virtual CPUs and 80GB of RAM — in x86-64 environments. RHEL is currently used to run a number of large virtualization instances, including Amazon's elastic computing cloud, known as EC2.

RHEL 5.3 also includes support for Intel's latest chip architecture, Core i7, code-named Nehalem. Released in August last year, Core i7 is the successor to Intel's Core 2 Duo architecture.

Finally, RHEL 5.3 includes the Open Java Development Kit, an open-source implementation of Java SE 6 supported by Sun. This inclusion is intended to support Red Hat's Java application server, JBoss. (story Link)

How to Add All Regional Themes to Windows 7

Each version of Windows 7 will ship with its own regional themes depending on the default region of the operating system. So if you have an Australian copy of Windows 7, it will contain Australian regional themes. Each copy will only have themes specifically for their region. There are seven different packs in total: Australia, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, United States, and South Africa.Windows 7 Regionalized Themes

Fortunately, we have a little trick that will allow you to enjoy the beauty of all 7 theme packs. First, you need to download and extract this .rar file which contains all the theme packs. You can download the theme packs by clicking here.

Then you need to extract them to your MCT folder located at:
C:\windows\ Globalization\MCT

Once you’ve done that, download this registry file and double-click on it to add the following entry into your registry. This registry file automatically adds all your themes to the theme list under Personalization so you don’t have to manually add each theme pack.

If Windows 7 is not installed on a C Drive, make sure you open the registry file with notepad and change all the Cs to the appropriate drive.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft
\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\InstalledThemes\MCT]
“c:\\windows\\Globalization\\MCT\\MCT-AU\\Theme\\AU.theme”=”"
“c:\\windows\\Globalization\\MCT\\MCT-CA\\Theme\\CA.theme”=”"
“c:\\windows\\Globalization\\MCT\\MCT-DE\\Theme\\DE.theme”=”"
“c:\\windows\\Globalization\\MCT\\MCT-GB\\Theme\\GB.theme”=”"
“c:\\windows\\Globalization\\MCT\\MCT-JP\\Theme\\JP.theme”=”"
“c:\\windows\\Globalization\\MCT\\MCT-US\\Theme\\US.theme”=”"
“c:\\windows\\Globalization\\MCT\\MCT-ZA\\Theme\\ZA.theme”=”"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Wallpapers\ KnownFolders\0\Windows Wallpapers\MergeFolders]
“c:\\windows\\Globalization\\MCT\\MCT-AU\\Wallpaper”=”"
“c:\\windows\\Globalization\\MCT\\MCT-CA\\Wallpaper”=”"
“c:\\windows\\Globalization\\MCT\\MCT-DE\\Wallpaper”=”"
“c:\\windows\\Globalization\\MCT\\MCT-GB\\Wallpaper”=”"
“c:\\windows\\Globalization\\MCT\\MCT-JP\\Wallpaper”=”"
“c:\\windows\\Globalization\\MCT\\MCT-US\\Wallpaper”=”"
“c:\\windows\\Globalization\\MCT\\MCT-ZA\\Wallpaper”=”"

(story Link)

Intel’s Core i7 Gets Cold Reception

Intel’s channels are finding few takers for its newly launched Core i7 processors, due to reasons ranging from a slowdown in economy to prohibitive costs of building blocks used to build systems with Core i7.

Core i7, which was previously code named Nehalem, had won rave reviews across the globe. However, it has so far received luke warm response as the costs of building a fully fledged system based on Corei7 is approximately Rs 50,000. This is largely because the mainboards supporting Nehalem only support DDR3 memory, which though superior in performance to DDR2 memory modules, costs more than three times. Moreover, the cheapest available motherboard supporting Nehalem is currently the Intel BOXDX58SO which is priced at just over Rs 15,000 on the street. “Unfortunately, the current market situation does not help either, as the usual buyers of high-end technologies have tightened their purses,” informed Sunil Kumar, CEO of Bangalore-based Lampo Computers, an Intel Premier Provider.

Though vendors such as Transcend and Kingston have launched their DD3 memory modules, the prices are very steep. Street price of a 2 GB DDR2 memory is less than Rs 1,000 mid-January, but 2 GB DDR3-1333 is priced at about Rs 3,500.

Intel distributors are also said to be carrying limited stock of processors, as they are not finding many enthusiastic buyers. “The demand is low, and anyone who asks for the motherboard and processor, usually is discouraged after hearing the price,” informed a senior manager at an Intel distributor. 

“It’s a proverbial Catch 22 situation. Till demand drives up, you won't see volumes increasing and prices plummeting. It is very unlikely that the demand and volumes will increase till the price drops,” observed Kumar. (full Story)

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

What Firefox user missing in Chrome

Call me fickle, but I switched my default browser back to Firefox for the time being. In doing so, I discovered the features I really miss about Chrome.

Why did I switch back so soon after lavishing praise on Google's open-source Web browser? Well, when Google added the option to use a cutting-edge "developer preview" version, I signed up, and guess what--it's not as stable. Specifically, both 2.0.156.1 and the newer 2.0.157.2 that I now have installed inexplicably become unresponsive for long periods of time--at least 10 seconds, which is about 9.5 seconds longer than my tolerance limit.

But I like some of Chrome's new features, so I didn't want to downgrade to better-tested stable or beta versions. Instead, I thought perhaps I'd see what my second-favorite browser felt like again while waiting for the newer Chrome features to settle down.

I was a little surprised. What got me to switch to Chrome two months ago was performance, but what I missed most upon heading back to Firefox was Chrome's user interface.

More than once, I found that even after a few weeks of Chrome, my muscle memory had been reprogrammed to expect different behavior. Switching back to Firefox wasn't just different, though--I wanted the old features. Here's a list of what I didn't even know that I'd come to like.

The location of new tabs
When you open a link in a new tab with Chrome (I often middle-click to do so), the new page shows up in tab immediately to the right of the current tab. This naturally groups related tabs, and for me at least, eases the process of switching among many.

When you open a new tab in Firefox, it appears to the far right of the list, and it's harder to get to it. It takes just that little extra bit of time to locate and navigate to the tab.

Good news, though: Mozilla evangelist Chris Blizzard pointed me to a blog post by programmer Mike Beltzner, which says the same behavior is coming to Firefox:

• tabs that are opened from links will open to the immediate right of the current tab
• new tabs created by the New Tab button or keyboard shortcut will open at the end of the tab strip
• if multiple tabs are opened (in the background) from links, they will open sequentially to the right of each other; as soon as focus changes, this sequential opening behavior will stop, and tabs will go back to opening immediately to the right or at the end of the tab strip as per the above

After typing 'g' in Firefox, it takes two more keystrokes to load Gmail.Searching from the address bar
I think Firefox's awesome bar does a better job digging previously visited links out of my history, but searching directly from Google's Omnibox, which adds online search into the mix, is more useful. I search dozens of times a day, and now I have to remember either to visit a search page or head over to Firefox's special search box (to do the latter faster, I hit Ctrl-L, then Tab).

Some folks are concerned about sending lots of juicy personal data to Google's servers, which monitors what you type so it can supply suggested search results. But except for typing in Web sites, it's the same stuff I'd type into a search page anyway.

After typing 'g' in Chrome, hitting the Enter key will load Gmail.

One less keystroke
When typing addresses into the address bar, both Chrome and Firefox offer a list of suggestions in a drop-down box. But Chrome highlights its top pick, while Firefox puts it one entry below the box.

That means if the pick is right, I just have to hit Enter with Chrome, but the down arrow, then Enter with Firefox. It's a tiny thing, but I do this hundreds of times a day. (full Story)

MSI X320 Macbook Air Look-Alike

Talk about identical twins. The MSI X320, which launched at CES 2009, will be a perpetual reminder of the Apple Macbook Air. I don't want to call it a cheap knock-off, even though it is, as prices range from $800-$1,000; there's more to this exceptionally thin netbook than just a cheap price tag.

In fact, it's pleasantly surprising to see just how far MSI has come with the laptops that it plans to ship in the United States later this January.

The X320, like the Air, has an all-aluminum enclosure. Granted, it's not as sturdy nor as rigid, and the heft isn't quite there (with the Air, there's a heft that's equivalent to a Rolex watch). The rest of the design is almost identical: Its slim profile measures less than an inch thick, and it weighs 2.9 pounds; the Air is a smidge over 3 pounds. The X320 is a 13-inch laptop, meaning it houses a 13-inch widescreen. It uses the 16-by-9 form factor, as is common in HDTVs, and its monitor is rated at 1,366x768 resolution; the Air, meanwhile, is designed in a 16-by-10 form factor with a 1,280x800 resolution. The LED screen is bright and pleasant to look at, not much different than the Air's.

The keyboard appears to be full sized, with standard proportions, instead of the non-adjoining keys that the Air uses; I had very little trouble typing with it. Navigating is another story, though. For one, the touchpad is significantly smaller than the Air's, and it doesn't possess the gesture capabilities: pinching and enlarging with two fingers and the two and three finger swiping, for instance, don't work.

That's not to say that the X320 won't have touch capabilities, though. The company expects to add gestures to the widescreen itself, with the help of future models and Windows 7. The mouse buttons are loose and not very responsive, but I'll chalk that up to pre-production issues until I get an official review unit.

However, the X320's other features can actually put the Air to shame. For one, like many netbooks, it has more than one USB port – a total of three, to be exact. VGA and Ethernet ports are built in, and so are the SD slot and webcam. The hard drive is a 160-GB, 5,400 RPM model, expandable to 250 GB. There's no internal 3G wireless for the time being, but Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are present. (full Story)

Intel Pledges 80 Cores in Five Years

SAN FRANCISCO--Intel has built a prototype of a processor with 80 cores that can perform a trillion floating-point operations per second.

CEO Paul Otellini held up a silicon wafer with the prototype chips before several thousand attendees at the Intel Developer Forum here Tuesday. The chips are capable of exchanging data at a terabyte a second, Otellini said during a keynote speech. The company hopes to have these chips ready for commercial production within a five-year window.

Intel uses its twice-yearly conference to educate developers on its long- and short-term plans. Over three days, hardware developers and partners get a chance to interact with Intel employees and take classes on new technologies.

As expected, Intel announced plans to have quad-core processors ready for its customers in November. An extremely fast Core 2 Extreme processor with four cores will be released then, and the newly named Core 2 Quad processor for mainstream desktops will follow in the first quarter of next year, Otellini said.

The quad-core server processors are on a similar trajectory, with a faster Xeon 5300 processor scheduled for November and a low-power Xeon slated for the first quarter. Intel's first quad-core processors are actually two of its dual-core Core architecture chips combined into a multichip package.

"Performance matters again," Otellini said, disclosing that the quad-core desktop processor will deliver 70 percent faster integer performance than the Core 2 Duo, and the quad-core server processor will be 50 percent faster than the Xeon 5100 introduced in June.

One reason performance didn't matter to Intel during the last couple of years was because it was getting trounced on benchmarks at the hands of Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron and Athlon 64 server and desktop processors. That all changed with the introduction of the Core 2 Duo chips this year.

"With this new set of dual and quad-core processors, we've regained our leadership," Otellini told developers. The growing Internet video phenomenon, as evidenced by the spectacular rise of Web sites like YouTube, will keep these processors busy during intensive tasks like video editing, he said.

Road to Santa Rosa
Notebooks will get a face-lift next year with the Santa Rosa platform, which will provide notebooks with new technologies like 802.11n wireless and flash memory. Intel believes that it will be the first to add flash memory to a notebook motherboard, which will improve boot times and reduce power consumption, Otellini said. (full Story)

Microsoft Tweaks Deployment Tools For Windows 7

Microsoft officials have said relatively little about the features and functionality the company is building into Windows 7 for business (as opposed to home) users. But a new blog post on the Windows System Deployment blog previews some of the changes enterprises can expect around Windows 7 deployment tools.

Post author Patrick Azzarello, a Senior Program Manager on the Windows OS Deployment Team, notes that the deployment changes with 7 should be smaller and less onerous than those introduced with Vista:

“Don’t worry though – these are mostly enhancements (where in Windows Vista we pretty much changed all the tools and infrastructure used to build and deploy Windows).”

In his January 20 blog post, Azzarello said the deployment changes in Windows 7 fall primarily into three buckets: Windows set-up; servicing infrastructure and tools that are part of the Windows Automated Installation Kit (for corporate users) or OEM Pre-installation Kit for resellers); and network-based deployment.

In terms of set-up, Microsoft has moved the license key to the Windows Welcome page. It also is enabling “specific, licensed components,” as an alternative to re-imaging a system to make upgrading  from different Windows 7 versions (like Home Premium to Ultimate) easier, Azzarello blogged. (full Story)

Nokia E71 Review

It has been over 2 months since I wrote up my first impressions of the Nokia E71. At that time I was getting flooded with review and purchased devices such as the Palm Treo Pro, Samsung OMNIA, Touch Diamond, Treo 800w, MWg Zinc II, iPhone 3G and loads of applications with iPhone 2.0, Touch Diamond updates, and the iPAQ 910. Most of those devices are gone now, but the one that keeps earning the honor of carrying my AT&T SIM card is the Nokia E71. The fantastic hardware, valuable notifications on the standby screen, outstanding 3rd party application support, and form factor keep it in my pocket most of the time.

The device I took you on a tour around before was a European version and since that time I picked up the North American version that supports 3G on AT&T’s network. The hardware is the exact same as I detailed before, with the exception of the internal radio now supporting the U.S. bands so I won’t go over the hardware again. I will say what I keep on saying to everyone that I talk to about the device, the hardware ROCKS!

Looks and feel: The E71 is targeted to the enterprise user and as soon as you pull the device out of the box you realize this is one classy and professional device with the sleek stainless steel and dense body. The front facing QWERTY keyboard challenges the BlackBerry and the business user who have Exchange should be pleased with the device. The E71 is one of the first Eseries devices that no longer supports the BlackBerry Connect functionality, which some people may understandably miss. I use an Exchange service and have been using RoadSync because it provides an advanced Exchange experience compared to the free Nokia Mail For Exchange utility (for example, better folder support).

I did notice there is more light present between the display and keyboard than there was on the European version and haven’t seen folks mention this on the forums so I think this is just a slight device flaw that is not present across the line.

Keyboard: The keyboard is surprisingly very good and I actually like it better than my BlackBerry Curve for the most part because the keys feel more solid and smooth (the Curve buttons are hard and a bit loose) and I rarely enter text I didn’t intend to enter. I love that there is a button for the @ character, comma, period, and question mark that do not require any press of a FN button like they do on my Curve. Unfortunately, Nokia hasn’t fully embraced the keyboard into the device since there are very few shortcuts that you can perform on your device and most shortcuts are application specific. For example, did you see the TON of fantastic shortcuts I listed in my Nokia Email service post I would like to see Nokia integrate these types of shortcuts throughout the system and applications. (full Story)