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Microsoft uncovers, fixes 1,800 bugs in Office 2010

2010-04-06T07:03:00.001-07:00

Microsoft uncovered more than 1,800 bugs in Office 2010 by tapping into the unused computing horsepower of idling PCs, a company security engineer said today. Office developers found the bugs by running millions of "fuzzing" tests, said Tom Gallagher, senior security test lead with Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing group.

Fuzzing, a practice employed by both software developers and security researchers, searches for flaws by inserting data into file format parsers to see where programs fail by crashing. Because some crash bugs can be further exploited to successfully hack software, allowing an attacker to insert malicious code, fuzzing is of great interest to both legitimate and criminal researchers looking for security vulnerabilities.

"We found and fixed about 1,800 bugs in Office 2010's code," said Gallagher, who last week co-hosted a presentation on Microsoft's fuzzing efforts at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. "While a large number, it's important to note that that doesn't mean we found 1,800 security issues. We also want to fix things that are not security concerns."

Microsoft seen unveiling mobile phones

2010-04-06T06:57:00.001-07:00

Microsoft Corp. is expected to unveil a pair of mobile phones geared for younger users at a public event scheduled for next Monday, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Microsoft phones are expected to feature touch screens and keyboards, and will represent an evolution of the "Sidekick" devices offered by Danger Inc. -- a company that Microsoft acquired in 2008.

Messaging and social-networking applications will be featured prominently on the phones. According to media reports, they will be available for use on the Verizon Wireless network. A Microsoft representative did not respond to a request for comment. Microsoft has long been expected to start releasing tailored mobile devices that feature the company's software and services, in order to keep pace with similar undertakings by rivals including Google Inc. and Apple Inc.)

Lenovo ThinkPad T410i Core i3-equipped laptop starts selling

2010-04-06T06:52:00.001-07:00

Lenovo has went under the radar and introduced its cheapest 14-inch ThinkPad model, the T410i powered by the 2.13 GHz Core i3-330M CPU. Starting at $829, the portable PC has a 14.1-inch (1280x800/1440x900) LCD screen, Intel integrated graphics, and can be configured with 2/3/4GB of RAM, a 250/320/500GB HDD or 128GB SSD, a DVD writer, a 2 megapixel webcam, and a 4-, 6- or 9-cell battery.

New HP Slate promo: Camera and iTunes and ports

2010-04-05T23:24:00.001-07:00

HP's rolled out another promotional video for their Slate, again—not surprisingly—highlighting its advantages over the iPad. Like a camera! A built-in USB port and SD slot! And... iTunes. Well, we'll call that last one a wash. The previous HP promo video hit hard on its Flash capability, and this one does an equally nice job of showing off some very basic attributes that people might notice missing from their iPads.

Google gets Quake II running with HTML 5, WebGL

2010-04-05T22:37:00.001-07:00

Khronos' WebGL working group has now been around for a little over a year, and we're getting to see the fruits of their labor. To be specific, Google staffers have updated the official Google Web Toolkit Blog with news of an HTML 5- and WebGL-enabled port of id Software's Quake II that runs right in your browser. Check it out:

This isn't the first Quake game to run in a browser, of course—id's own Quake Live has been publicly accessible since February 2009. However, that game relies on a custom browser plug-in that only ran on Windows at first, perhaps because it contained some pre-compiled game code. Google's browser port of Quake II, meanwhile, uses open libraries and already runs in the latest Chrome development builds for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

iPad jailbroken just hours after launch

2010-04-05T01:43:00.001-07:00

As was the case for the iPhone, we all knew it would be just a matter of time before Apple's iPad would get the jailbreak treatment; but maybe not this quickly!

It's been accomplished in a matter of hours beyond the launch by a bunch of cluey folk' from the iPhone Dev Team which gives the ability to bring Cyndia onto the device; an unofficial app distribution system that allows for the installation of titles that Apple won't approve for the App Store.

Intel holding off new ultra-thin notebook CPUs

2010-04-03T22:44:00.001-07:00

Intel has recently decided to hold off the launch of new ultra-thin notebook processors until the third quarter as Acer has halted the production of its ultra-thin notebooks and has turned to work on its new Calpella-based TimelineX ultra-thin notebooks, according to sources from notebook players.

However, whether Intel will launch its new ultra-thin notebook processors will still depend on market demand in the third quarter, the sources noted. Since most notebook players saw their ultra-thin notebooks account for only 10-15% of their total shipments in 2009, lower than original predictions of 20-30%, the players are reducing their orders to digest existing inventories.

Asustek Computer vice president Tony Chen pointed out that ultra-thin notebook demand from Taiwan and China is strong and the line currently accounts for about 40% of Taiwan's notebook shipments. However, worldwide, Asustek's ultra-thin notebooks only account for about 15% of total shipments.

Microsoft to launch Office 2010 in New York on May 12

2010-04-02T02:39:00.001-07:00

Microsoft officials said a few weeks back that May 12 would be a big day for Office 2010. But Microsoft also is planning to hold an actual business launch event for its next-generation productivity suite in New York City on that date to complement its worldwide virtual launch events. Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop will be keynoting the event, which kicks off at 11 a.m. ET, company officials said.

Microsoft is expected to release to manufacturing both Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 some time in the coming month. Business users will be able to get their hands on those products on May 12. Consumers will have to wait until June to buy the product online and at retail, Microsoft officials said a few weeks ago. At the end of May, Microsoft is holding another event — its replacement for the former Windows Hardware Engineering Conference event — known as Windows Summit 2010.

Acer TimelineX laptops to become available next month

2010-04-02T02:34:00.001-07:00

Interested in getting one of Acer's hot, new Calpella-based TimelineX laptops? No problem, just take a seat in the waiting room and we'll call you back sometime in May as that's when the portable PCs will go on sale, at least in Europe.

According to Acer, the first models to ship are the 13.3-inch 3820T, 14-inch 4820T and 15.6-inch 5820T which feature a Core i5 or i7 processor, up to 4GB of RAM, a HDD of up to 640GB, integrated Intel graphics or Mobility Radeon HD 5650/HD 5470 (switchable) graphics, a Crystal Eye webcam, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, plus, optionally, Bluetooth 2.1 and 3G. These laptops come with Windows 7 Home Basic or Home Premium pre-installed, have a battery life of up to 12 hours, and will bear a starting price tag of £599.99 / $914.4.

HP and Dell to reduce investment for 10-inch netbook, say sources

2010-04-01T18:36:00.001-07:00

Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Dell have both significantly reduced their investments in the 10-inch netbook segment, with HP reportedly even considering quitting the 10-inch netbook market and turning its focus to AMD-based 11.6-inch notebooks because profits from Intel Pine Trail-based netbooks have been lower than expected, according to sources from notebook makers.

Most of the second-tier and white-box netbook vendors have already quit the market after first-tier players started cutting their netbook prices in the second half of 2009 to compete for market share.

But Acer, Asustek Computer and Samsung Electronics remain active in the netbook market, with netbooks accounting for large portions of their overall notebook shipments, the sources said.

Windows 7 blows past 10% usage share for March

2010-04-01T18:29:00.001-07:00

Five months after its retail release, Windows 7 is slowly but surely winning hearts and minds—or at least, grabbing additional market share. According to Net Application's latest round of numbers, Windows 7 broke 10% usage share in March, settling in at about 10.23%.

At the same time, Windows Vista garnered a 16.01% usage share, while Windows XP still reigned supreme with 64.46% in total. Windows 7 looks to have made some nice gains since February, when the same three operating systems had usage shares of 8.92%, 16.51%, and 65.49%, respectively. The new Windows OS's usage share growth seems to have happened at the expense of Windows XP more than Windows Vista, too. That suggests Windows 7 is seducing folks who stuck with XP through the Vista years—good news for Microsoft, surely.

Next-gen Ion netbook accelerates IE9 graphics

2010-04-01T04:54:00.001-07:00

Nvidia rarely misses a chance to show its graphics products giving their Intel rivals a good whupping. Just yesterday on the official nTersect blog, Nvidia posted a video of the Internet Explorer 9 platform preview running on both a regular netbook and an upcoming Asus netbook with a next-generation Ion GPU.

The demo includes three activities from Microsoft's IE9 Platform Demos page: zooming in and out in Bing Maps, rendering flying 3D images, and playing an HTML 5 Asteroids clone with SVG graphics. And, of course, the IE9 platform preview has GPU acceleration. You can guess how the two machines fared...

Enchanting folding-out laptop with utopian specs

2010-03-31T02:02:00.001-07:00

No matter how advanced, progressive, sleek and lightweight our laptops get, the one thing that we sorely miss is an elaborate keyboard. I know of someone who uses his Macbook but in conjunction with a wireless keyboard. Many hybrids and self-built versions are out there being used by folks, so the question really is, are we happy with what the industry is dishing out to us? Or do we have to lust after Utopian concepts like the iWEB 2.0…with really drool-worthy features!

Designer: Yang Yongchang

Acer announces Acer Aspire Ethos T5943G and 8943G multimedia notebooks

2010-03-30T03:55:00.001-07:00

Acer has announced two new models entertainment notebooks; Acer Aspire Ethos T5943G and Acer Aspire Ethos 8943G. These entertainment focused notebooks are equipped with large 18″ and 15.6″ displays and a will be equipped with powerful Intel Core i5 or i7 processors as well as ATI Mobility Radeon HD5000 series graphics cards.

Additionally, these notebooks will be equipped with true 5.1 Dolby Home theater surround support (including subwoofer), fingerprint reader, webcam, USB ports, Firewire, eSATA port, Storage up to 1.28 TB (combining 2 640 GB hard disk) and an optional Blu-ray optical drive upgrade.

The Acer Aspire T5943G will support a Full 1080p HD (1920 x 1080) resolution and the Acer Aspire 8943G will support a (1366 x 768) HD resolution. Both of these models also come with Acer’s own unique software; Acer Arcade Deluxe which provides a single place to organize your multimedia files.

Acer Arcade Photo: This application will let you organize photos in slideshows and albums as well as do basic photo editing.
Arcade Music & Arcade Video: This software will let you organize and play music and video on the go. Arcade Video will also let you to convert home made movies to many formats.

Acer has not announced pricing or a firm release date on these models but it’s expected soon.

Microsoft to release “out of band” patch to fix zero-day IE vulnerability

2010-03-30T03:51:00.001-07:00

In what will be Microsoft’s second ‘out of band’ patch this year, the company will Tuesday release a security update – MS10-018 - to fix the zero day vulnerability that has, of late, been affecting Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7, and has been used in targeted attacks over the last few weeks.

The flaw is a consequence of an invalid pointer reference within Internet Explorer (IE); and is accessible after an object is deleted – thereby allowing the hackers to carry out remote code execution attacks. Microsoft had cautioned the users against the attacks in its Security Advisory 981374 – the company’s official March ‘Patch Tuesday’ release.

According to a Monday statement on Microsoft’s official blog, the update will fix as many as nine vulnerabilities, some of which also affect the IE 8. Microsoft also added that the nine vulnerabilities “were responsibly disclosed;” and added that the company is unaware of any active attacks that are targeting these vulnerabilities.

Gmail Chat getting file transfers soon

2010-03-30T02:56:00.001-07:00

Over at the Google Blog today they've announced new file transfer capabilities in iGoogle and orkut. That's fun! But what I'm most excited about is their promise of file transfer in Gmail Chat.

For now, file transfer works directly in the browser for iGoogle and orkut, allowing you to send files without saving them as attachments in email. It's also compatible with Google Talk software, so you can share with desktop users as well. It seems easy enough to use: once you've started a chat, just click on "Send a file..." in the "Actions" menu. The person on the other end of the line can then either accept or decline, depending on how they feel about you and the types of files you're inclined to send.

Japan considers end to cellphone “SIM lock”

2010-03-30T02:48:00.001-07:00

It's a beautiful dream: buy whatever phone you want and then use it with whatever service you want. And it looks like that's a dream that will come true in Japan.

The Japanese government has launched a review of the SIM lock system that doesn't allow people to simply swap their SIM cards out to talk on different carriers, something all three major Japanese carriers prohibit. It's especially annoying to Japanese travelers who want to travel overseas with their standard phone; swapping in a SIM from an American carrier, for example, won't work.

Brightcove likes HTML5

2010-03-29T23:34:00.001-07:00

As commercial availability of the Apple iPad draws near, we have been getting a lot of inquiries from customers looking for guidance on what they need to do to deliver great video experiences on these devices that exclusively support the HTML5 approach to video. These customers are excited about the possibilities of the iPad, but they also have concerns about what it will take to deliver great video experiences in this environment. They want to know what the tradeoffs and gotchas are, and what we're doing to help them navigate this new landscape.

Customers have been thrilled and somewhat surprised to learn that Brightcove has supported HTML5 in basic form since 2008, which is when we began to support the H.264 video format and released our open Media APIs for accessing content stored in the Brightcove online video platform. Since that time, it has been possible for customers to create HTML5 experiences on devices such as the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch and deliver video that renders beautifully. We have had several early adopter customers use our platform in this way.

As interest in HTML5 has continued to grow, it has become clear to us that we need to more crisply describe the HTML5 capabilities of our platform and our long-term roadmap for broadly supporting HTML 5 in our platform. So, today we are announcing the Brightcove Experience for HTML5, a new solution that captures what are doing with HMTL5 today and describes our vision for the future of HTML5 video experiences.

iPad App Store video tease offers brief glimpse into the near future

2010-03-28T19:54:00.001-07:00

Curious about the iPad App Store process and unable to wait until launch day? Take a peak at this video and be satiated. For now.

iPhone Hacker Thinks He’s Cracked the iPad, Too

2010-03-28T05:30:00.001-07:00

George Hotz, famously known as the first hacker to unlock the iPhone, says he’s done it again. The whiz kid on Thursday evening said he had cooked up a new hack for all iPhone OS devices, and he’s betting it will work on the iPad, too.

When the hack is released (Hotz won’t disclose a release date), it should be as simple to use as Blackra1n, Hotz’s one-click solution to jailbreak current iPhones, he said.

“It is completely untethered, works on all current tethered models (ipt2, 3gs, ipt3), and will probably work on iPad too,” Hotz said in his blog post.

It’s plausible to believe that an iPhone OS jailbreak will also work for the iPad. While the iPad will support apps that are exclusive to the device, its OS shares the same DNA as the iPhone’s.

Nvidia’s DirectX 11-ready GTX 470 and GTX 480 cards are here

2010-03-27T03:46:00.001-07:00

After many months of waiting, attributed further by the fact that the launch date has been pushed back multiple times, FERMI makes its debut today, finally.

In recent weeks we've learnt a lot about what to expect from this very significant release, bar what we want to know the most, performance numbers. Today the cat's right out of the bag for all to see.

I'd be surprised if anyone reading this doesn't already know that the two cards launched today are the GTX 470 and GTX 480; NVIDIA's first generation of DirectX 11 graphics cards. Our VGA specialist Shane Baxtor has been glued to his desk all week gathering up all that there is to know about the cards and shares his findings with all of us in this article that's just gone up in a timely fashion with the NDA lift.

ASUS lets loose details on Calpella powered notebooks

2010-03-26T05:52:00.001-07:00

ASUS has let loose a stack of info about its first two multimedia laptops that are based on the Calpella platform and use Core i5-520M 2.4GHz processors.

The N82JV-VX020V is a 14-inch model whilst the N61JA-JX008V uses a 16-inch; both of which are LED-backlit displays that run a native res of 1366x768.

Other specs that remain consistent between the two models is 4GB of RAM, 500GB HDD, 8-in-1 card reader, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, HDMI output, USB 3.0 support (via one connector + 2 x USB 2.0 connectors), Bluetooth and a 6-cell battery.

Apart from the screen sizes, the only other notable difference between the two is that the N61JA uses a Mobility Radeon HD 5730 1GB for graphics, whilst the N82JV runs a GeForce GT 335M 1GB setup (together with Optimus tech).

Both notebooks are said to hit EUrope in mid-April at a price of 1049 Euro each.

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HP EliteBook 8740w tips up

2010-03-24T16:46:00.001-07:00

HP is feeling the need for new and so today it has announced a number of updates to its workstation offer, including the new EliteBook 8740w. Measuring 397.5 x 285.5 x 36.5 mm, the 8740w mobile workstation has a gunmetal anodized-aluminium finish for a sexier look, and features a 17-inch (30-bit) WXGA+ or WUXGA LED backlit display, a Core i5 or i7 processor, up to 16GB of RAM, a SATA HDD of up to 500GB or an SSD with a maximum capacity of 256GB, a DVD or Blu-ray drive, and a professional graphics card (ATI FirePro M7820 1GB, Nvidia Quadro FX 2800M/FX 3800M 1GB ).

German government to users: Stop using Firefox!

2010-03-23T23:40:00.001-07:00

The German government has issued a stern warning to web surfers telling them not to use Firefox because the browser contains a critical security vulnerability.

BürgerCERT, part of the German Federal Office for Security in Information Technology, is advising users to stop using Firefox until Mozilla can push a patch out to users to fix the vulnerability that it contains which could be exploited by hackers to run malicious code on users’ computers.

Seattle man sets Guinness World Record for fastest text message sent on a touchscreen device

2010-03-23T05:52:00.001-07:00

Page celebrates after setting the Guinness World Record for text messaging.

A 24-year-old Seattle resident has set the Guinness World Record for the fastest text message sent on a touchscreen device. Franklin Page set the record by composing the sentence -- “The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious" -- in 35.54 seconds. (I gave it a shot myself a few moments ago, clocking in at 59.9 seconds with no mistakes. Give it a shot and let us know how you fare.)

However, the world record is a bit of a PR stunt. (As most world records are). Page was recently hired at Swype, the Seattle startup whose technology allows mobile phone users to input text on touchscreens with the "swype" of a finger. Samsung, which has incorporated Swype into some of its phones, used the stunt in a new TV ad campaign.

Bing's Market Share at All-Time High

2010-03-21T17:09:00.001-07:00

According to Nielsen, Bing's market share was at an all-time high in February, when it reached 12.5% of search engine providers worldwide. What is so remarkable is that this number was a 15% increase from Bing's market share in January of this year. This increase coincides nicely with the February 18th announcement that Yahoo! and Microsoft were granted regulatory approval to make their Search Alliance a reality (see Titan SEO's Search Alliance article). Although Microsoft has seen consistent growth since April 2009, when its market share was 9.9% (well before the launch of Bing), this jump from 10.9% in January to 12.5% in February is its biggest yet.

Yahoo!, on the other hand, has seen a slow but steady decline in market share since last year, when Nielsen claimed the search engine had control of 16.3%; as of February 2010, Yahoo! only controlled 14.1%. The obvious conclusion we draw here is Yahoo! and Bing combined have not gained much ground over the past several months, and have not presented much of a threat to Google as a unified front. This is evident in Google's statistics, as their market share has hovered around the range of 64%-67% during the past year; it currently holds 65.2% as of February.

Is Windows 7 RTM so good that SP1 needs no real improvements?

2010-03-21T05:26:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, Microsoft started the announcements about Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. The one thing that struck me was the fact that Windows 7 will only get some minor updates and bug fixes from the Service Pack. Even though Windows 7 is sweet and looks very good from the beginning, I think there still are a few rough edges in the OS to work on. I was really hoping that Microsoft did some work to add some more sweetness to Windows 7. But I'm afraid that we have to wait a little bit longer. Here is my shortlist of issues to be fixed or better said features to be finished and enhanced in an upcoming update of the OS.

1. Libraries

Libraries in Windows 7 are a wonderful thing as long as your data is on the local system or made available offline with the offline files option. The problem is that this is exactly where the story ends. Many people have been plagued with the dreadful "this location cannot be added because it is not indexed" message when they try to add a network shared folder to their libraries. The current solutions are:

Make the added location available offline
Index the data on the server (therefore it must be a Windows Service)
Complete disable the search feature for all libraries in Group Policy and lose file search in the start menu at the same time.
Use an unsupported method by fooling the OS into thinking the data is local while it isn't.

Steve Jobs: "I Almost Died"

2010-03-21T05:17:00.001-07:00

During an event to introduce the first living organ donor registry in the country today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs told a crowd he "almost died" waiting for his own transplant in 2009. According to The Mercury News, Steve told California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that 21,000 Californians are waiting for organ transplants.

"I was fortunate," he said. "Last year, 400 other Californians died waiting. I could have died."

"I was almost one of the ones who died waiting for a liver."

AMD working on another Phenom II X6

2010-03-21T05:05:00.001-07:00

According to a roadmap snatched by the guys over at ati-forum.de, AMD is preparing yet another Thuban Phenom II X6 CPU that should come sometime in Q3. In addition to the Phenom II X6 1035, 1055 and 1075, working at 2.6GHz, 2.8GHz and 3.0GHz, AMD's roadmap shows an unnamed Phenom II X6 10xx that might have a higher clock speed.

If you follow AMD's logic, the new one could end up to be named as the Phenom II X6 1095 and could have a 3.2GHz clock, but considering that this is purely speculative information, you should take it with a grain of salt. In any case, AMD is working on another Phenom II X6 CPU and this one will come in Q3 according to current AMD plans.

Silverlight now on 60% of all internet connected devices

2010-03-20T06:01:00.001-07:00

The future looks bright

In the fall of 2007, Microsoft was introducing a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in designed to be the source of new, rich online user experiences. Fast-forward a little over two years and Silverlight is at the top of its game with uptake stronger than ever. During his keynote address at MIX10 this year, Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president, .NET Developer Platform, revealed that the vast majority of computers and devices capable of connecting to the Internet were running Silverlight at the moment.

“At the PDC last November, we announced that Silverlight was installed on 45 percent of all Internet-connected devices in the world. Today, that number is now approaching 60 percent and accelerating rapidly,” Guthrie stated.

Microsoft is currently hard at work wrapping up the final development milestone of Silverlight 4. A Release Candidate of Silverlight 4 is already available for Windows and Mac OS X users, with the final version promised for April 2010. Linux users have Moonlight 2 available for download, and a Preview of Moonlight 3 has already also been offered, bringing to the table features beyond version 3 of Silverlight for Windows and Mac OS X.

Leaked details on NVIDIA GTX 480 and GTX 470 emerge

2010-03-20T05:41:00.001-07:00

The launch of NVIDIA's DirectX 11 capable GeForce GTX 400 series is drawing every closer, so it was perhaps inevitable that we'd see some leaked presentation slides floating around sooner or later. That time has now come, courtesy of Turkish web site Donanimhaber, supposedly laying bare the specifications of the GeForce GTX 480 for all to see

The slides don't provide as much details as we'd like, but they do give us the first image of NVIDIA's reference design - complete with protruding heatpipes.
The brief spec sheet confirms that 1,536MB of GDDR5 memory will be on board, connected via a 384-bit interface, and that the card will consume anything up to 300W of power.
Measuring around 267mm in length, the card sports both six-pin and eight-pin power connectors, and will feature dual-link DVI and mini-HDMI outputs.

HEXUS has posted up the slides in question. Meanwhile, VR-Zone also claims to have a scoop on specifications for both the GeForce GTX 470 and 480, along with recommended pricing details:

GeForce GTX 480 : 480 SP, 700/1401/1848MHz core/shader/mem, 384-bit, 1536MB, 295W TDP, US$499
GeForce GTX 470 : 448 SP, 607/1215/1674MHz core/shader/mem, 320-bit, 1280MB, 225W TDP, US$349

Intel will launch its own USB 3.0 controller later this year

2010-03-19T09:21:00.001-07:00

Won't find its way into chipsets for now

According to NEC, we're some six months down the line from the launch of its USB 3.0 controller and we've yet to see a single competitor, but we’re now hearing that Intel is getting ready to enter the market with its own device. It won't be part of Intel's chipsets for now and it seems like there are several reasons for this.

Today it costs a motherboard manufacturer about $9 to implement USB 3.0 on a motherboard, including all the connectors and so forth. This is a fairly high percentage of the cost of a motherboard and this is why we’re not seeing USB 3.0 implemented on more basic models, as it would make the motherboards far too expensive to remain competitive.

With that in mind, it also makes financial sense for Intel to produce a USB 3.0 controller, as prices will remain fairly high at least for the rest of this year, despite NEC’s imminent production ramp, although we’re hearing it might take a little bit longer than the company announced the other day. Even if the USB 3.0 controllers are priced at $5 each, there should be a fairly good profit to be had from manufacturing them.

On top of this it seems like USB 3.0 hasn’t reached the stage where it’s cost effective enough to implement in a chipset. Judging by the size of the NEC solution, it might just take up too much die space for Intel to want to implement it, but then again, why put something in a chipset when you can charge a hefty extra for it?

HP refreshes Pavilion dv3

2010-03-19T07:52:00.001-07:00

The latest HP Pavilion dv3 entertainment notebook PC features quad core computing in a small form factor durable aluminum chassis, weighing approximately 2kg. It comes with a spacious, island-style keyboard, large Clickpad that supports multi-gestures and HP TrueVision Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone.

You can choose Intel Pentium or Core i3/15/i7 processors (Quad and Duo Core), Intel HD Graphics and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5450 graphics card on the machine. With up to 8GB system memory, Dolby Advanced Audio, Altec Lansing Internal Speakers and Blu-ray optical drive, the 13.3-inch laptop claims to provide superb multimedia experience.

The dv3 also claims up to 5.5 hours of battery life, and offers integrated WiFi, Bluetooth, VGA, HDMI, USB, e-SATA, and 5-in-1 media card reader. Optional accessories complete the package,including an optional 9 cell battery and modular USB media docking station with a port replicator dock, stand and speaker. The HP Pavilion dv3 Entertainment Notebook PC will be available in Asia Pacific from end March 2010 onwards with a starting price of approximately US$699.

Copy/Paste will come to Windows Phone 7 series some time after launch

2010-03-19T07:29:00.001-07:00

Microsoft may be turning its back on copy and paste right now, but istartedsomething.com says that there just wasn't enough time to have it in place for launch

Microsoft's decision not include true multitasking or copy/paste on shipping version of Windows Phone 7 Series have sparked quite a bit of discussion around the internet in the past few days. The copy/paste drama has been an especially thorny topic. On the one side, you have people saying that it's a travesty considering that Apple, Palm, RIM, and Google support the feature. On the other side, you have people saying that it isn't a big deal and that copy/paste should be relegated to the desktop/notebook realm.

In fact, previous reports suggest that Microsoft agrees with the latter group. Microsoft's Todd Brix says that copy/paste just isn't a big deal to the general consumer. Brix said that the the lack of copy/paste is a "conscious decision" and that “smart linking” (clickable web address, phone numbers, email address, etc.) is all that is needed for the majority of smartphone users. Brix even says that copy/paste on a smartphone platform isn't even needed for mobile Office applications.

Hardware Virtualization is no longer a must-have to run XP Mode in Windows 7

2010-03-19T05:50:00.001-07:00

XP-mode is a very nice and help feature in Windows 7 that helps to address the incompatibility issue. But it’s long been criticized for the fact that in order to run it the computer must have a processor that has either Intel’s VT or AMD’s AMD-V feature built-in.

To address this concern as well as to compete other competitive products like VMware or Virtual Box, which don’t have this cumbersome requirement at all, Microsoft just released an update (KB977206) that Enables Windows XP Mode for PCs without Hardware Assisted Virtualization Technology. Another words, this update removes the prerequisites required to run Windows Virtual PC and XP mode in windows 7.

For those who already have XP-mode running, you can simple ignore this update.

But for those who wanted but wasn’t able to do it, that’s a good news for you. Simply go to Windows Virtual PC download page, and download XP Mode image, Virtual PC program, and the updates, and install them in order.

Video: Steve Ballmer's dancing avatar

2010-03-18T06:50:00.001-07:00

Scott Guthrie of Microsoft showed a Windows Phone 7 app that turned Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer into a dancing marionette at the company's MIX conference. The audio for the demo was recorded by Steve himself, adapting his trademark "developers, developers, developers" rallying cry for the mobile phone.

Here is another clip of the dancing virtual Ballmer.

Intel notebook CPUs in tight supply, says sources

2010-03-18T06:39:00.001-07:00

Intel's latest Core i7/i5/i3 series notebook processors are currently facing tight supply, as Acer, optimistic about the upcoming demand for the related notebooks, has placed large volume of orders for the processors, according to sources from the notebook sector.

Intel is giving priority to major clients, and second-tier and smaller notebook players have to wait much longer before receiving supply of the CPUs, the sources noted.

Facebook becomes bigger hit than Google

2010-03-17T11:12:00.001-07:00

Social networking website Facebook has capped a year of phenomenal growth by overtaking Google’s popularity among US internet users, with industry data showing it has scored more visits on its home page than the search engine. In a sign that the web is becoming more sociable than searchable, research firm Hitwise said that the two sites accounted for 14 per cent of all US internet visits last week. Facebook’s home page recorded 7.07 per cent of traffic and Google’s 7.03 per cent.

It is the first time that Facebook.com has enjoyed a weekly lead over Google.com. The lead may be slim, but it has become inevitable as Facebook’s popularity has grown rapidly from just over 2 per cent of visits a year ago. Heather Dougherty of Hitwise said that Facebook had “reached an important milestone” with the weekly figures.

Intel's Larrabee to do a Lazarus

2010-03-17T11:05:00.001-07:00

Will rise again from the undead

Don't write off Intel's Larrabee completely, because the project will come back with a vengeance when you least expect it, according to an industry insider close to the project.

Our source, who had been a key member of the Larrabee engineering team said the announcement of Larrabee's apparent demise a few months ago had been seriously mishandled by Intel, leading people to believe the project had been completely shelved and would never see the light of day. "That is just not the case," our source told us adding "Intel is not a one-shot company."

Admitting that information about Larrabee had leaked out "like information leaking out of a leaky sieve," our source also said he'd never bet against Intel and that had Larrabee emerged on time, "it would have been industry changing.

Core i5-powered Aspire Timeline laptops on the way

2010-03-17T10:57:00.001-07:00

Acer will unveil its Calpella Timeline series notebooks equipped with Intel Core i3 and Core i5 processors for the global market on March 22, according to industry sources in Taiwan. The series will have display sizes ranging from 13- to 15-inch with a running time of eight hours, the same as the company's Timeline ultra-thin models.

Although Acer's Calpella Timeline notebooks will be as thick as the Timeline models, they will be slightly heavier due to the cooling modules. The Calpella Timeline series will feature a 9-cell battery instead of the Timeline's 6-cell battery to enable an eight-hour battery life, the sources noted.

The Calpella Timeline will have three different display sizes: the 13-inch model is made by Wistron, while the 14- and 15-inch models are produced by Quanta Computer.

Video hands-on with a Windows Phone 7 device at MIX 2010

2010-03-17T07:00:00.001-07:00

Benjamin Rubenstein from Neowin was in Las Vegas for the Microsoft MIX10 conference and was able to go hands-on with one Windows Phone 7 device. Well, actually, Neowin didn’t go hands-on, but the friendly chap from Microsoft gave them a nice look at the phone and what it can do in its present state.

Senior Game Platform Strategist for the Xbox team, Andre Vrignaud spoke about Windows Phone 7.

Test Drive Internet Explorer 9

2010-03-16T10:51:00.001-07:00

The Platform Preview is an early look at the Internet Explorer 9 platform so some features are incomplete, some may change, and some may be added. This is the lists of features available in the latest Platform Preview and known issues with those features. To view the latest known issues, see the list on Microsoft Connect.

Warning from one blog: You can actually try it now, though some of the features—most conspiciously HTML5 video—aren't yet there, and the interface is still pretty barebones. (There's no proper address bar, for example, but just a "go to" popup window. This is a developers' test tool, really.)

There is no Information Bar (aka Gold Bar) in Platform Preview. As a result, downloads initiated by script will not function. Files can be downloaded using the “Save Target As…” in the right-click context menu, by clicking on hyperlinks to files, and by typing a download URL in the Open dialog (Ctrl+O).

Features Available

CSS3
- Selectors (entire module and ::selection)
- Namespaces (all except attribute selectors)
- Backgrounds & Borders (border-radius)
- Color (rgba(), opacity)
DOM Core Namespaces
DOM Range
DOM L2 Events
- Event registration and dispatch APIs (addEventListener, removeEventListener, createEvent, dispatchEvent)
- Event capture, bubble and target phases
- New event objects (Event, UIEvent, MouseEvent, etc.)
DOM L3 Events
- CustomEvent, KeyboardEvent, DragEvent interfaces
HTML5 Selection
XHTML Documents
SVG
- The SVG in IE is based upon the SVG 1.1 2nd Edition Full (targeted at desktop browsers)
- Most document structure, scripting (eventing) and styling (inline and through CSS) is functional
- Many presentation elements and their corresponding attributes and DOM are available including paths, shapes, colors, and transforms
ICC v2 and v3 color profiles are supported on images

Features Partially Implemented

DOM Style
- See Known Issue Below
DOM L3 Events
- WheelEvent, TextEvent, CompositionEvent, MutationEvent, MutationNameEvent interfaces (and related events) are not currently supported

Download Here

Fujitsu’s ProGreen Laptop has Purported 18hr Battery Life

2010-03-16T10:12:00.001-07:00

Two Lifebook notebooks, the Lifebook E780 and Lifebook S710 represent Fujitsu’s new ProGreen selection for mobile users. Customers can choose between two different display sizes: 14-inch and 15.6-inch. Also certified for Energy Star 5.0, the notebooks are up to 25 percent more energy-efficient compared to previous models, quite a feat considering that notebooks are already highly-energy efficient. Additional energy savings are achieved by an AC adapter with 87 percent efficiency, an energy-saving LED backlight, and Fujitsu’s EcoButton that switches off non-essential components in eco mode, extending battery runtime by up to an hour. Such increased efficiency enables tremendous battery runtime, up to 18 hours for the LIFEBOOK E780 with two batteries. And for added mobile security the models feature Fujitsu’s Advanced Theft Protection (ATP) module.

The Lifebook E780 can possibly reach an 18-hour battery life because of the two batteries it runs on, and while the rest of the series' specs hasn't yet been revealed by Fujitsu, this is definitely something to keep an ear out for.

MSI launches 17-inch Gaming Notebook

2010-03-15T07:00:00.001-07:00

Micro-Star International (MSI) has launched its latest 17-inch gaming notebook - the GE700 - equipped with Intel's latest core i5 processor, ATI Radeon HD 5730 discrete graphics card with 1GB DDR3 VRAM, two cinema-class speakers, a subwoofer, a HD webcam, and support for two hard drives.

The GE700 utilizes Intel Turbo Boost Technology for dynamic enhanced processing efficiency, and boasts MSI's exclusive ECO Engine Power Saving technology to extend battery running time.

Shuttle enters Laptop Business

2010-03-13T14:42:00.001-08:00

For medium and smaller OEMs

Although Shuttle didn’t lack in new products on this year’s Cebit, the company had a few other nuggets of info showing that the company is serious with any business model they take up.

This time around, we’re talking about notebook production for OEMs, which means that the notebooks will not actually come under Shuttle brand. The idea behind the move is to help smaller and medium brands/companies break into the notebook market, which promises some nice competition to the big dogs, especially knowing that Shuttle is the one orchestrating it.

So, the company will be offering notebooks with standardized components and different mainboards, chipsets and GPUs for 10’’ and 17.3’’ devices. Customers will be able to purchase notebooks carefully designed and tailored after their needs as long as the order exceeds 500 units.

Dell introduces Precision M4500

2010-03-13T00:20:00.001-08:00

Dell has announced the new 15.6" high-end Precision M4500, loaded with the best in latest-gen hardware.

The Precision M4500 will be powered by either Core i5 or Core i7 CPUs (including Core i7-920M Quad Core Extreme), and will sport a 15.6" HD 1920x1080 display. NVidia Quadro FX 1800M/880M are the options for graphics, and other goodies such as a 3MP integrated webcam, backlit keyboard, multitouch trackpad and Precision ON are available, in addition to others.

Battery life is estimated at over 7.5 hours with the 9-cell options, and if you really need more juice there is a 12-cell battery slice option available. Weight is 6lbs, and pricing is expected to begin around $1,700 when it becomes available in a few weeks.

Windows Browser Ballot, What really happens

2010-03-12T03:29:00.001-08:00

So the rollout has begun and every PC user in Europe running XP, Vista or Windows 7 will shortly see the new browser ballot screen, if they’ve not seen it already. Last night I got my update and along with it, a few surprises.

The first surprise was the apparent optionality of the update. In Windows update Microsoft Browser Choice Screen Update for EEA Users of Windows was unticked. Presumably this would only remain so for a short period of time before it becomes mandatory.

Google is everywhere — and by everywhere I mean EVERYWHERE

2010-03-09T16:47:00.001-08:00

”Here’s a few of the things Google wants to own: your phone, your email, your computer, and your entire digital life.” It doesn’t stop there. The video has compiled a near three minute list of Google’s constantly growing empire. There’s a treat at the end so be sure to stay put! Pretty crazy stuff, huh?

MSI unveils X360 X-Slim ultra portable

2010-03-09T14:50:00.001-08:00

MSI has been peddling its thin and svelte X-Slim line of notebooks for a while now and they are all nice looking machines. MSI has added a new ultraportable to the X-Slim line today called the X360.

The new machine has a 13-inch screen with a resolution of 1366 x 768 and Intel HD graphics. The operating system is Windows 7 Home Premium and the machine can have up to 4GB of RAM. Storage is to a 2.5-inch HDD up to 500GB and a memory card reader is integrated.

Other features include HDMI out, D-sub, dual USB 2.0 ports, RJ45 and more. A 1.3MP webcam is also built-in. The thin notebook runs an Intel Core i5-520UM processor. Pricing and availability are unknown.

Read More

DailyTech reports Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight vie for dominance amid HTML5 threat

2010-03-09T09:34:00.001-08:00

Microsoft's Director of Developer Platform Marketing, Brian Goldfarb, and Adobe's Director of Technology Strategy, Anup Murarka, recently participated in an interview together about their competing rich web formats and what the future holds. Currently, Microsoft's Silverlight and Adobe's Flash both are well entrenched, with a legion of developers sitting on each side of the fence. However, Microsoft and Adobe are both warily eyeing HTML5, an open standard that could unravel support for their proprietary platforms.

In terms of PC user base, Microsoft's latest figures show it to have 45 percent market penetration for Silverlight worldwide and 60 percent in Europe and Asia. Meanwhile Adobe, benefiting from 10-plus years on the market, is in 98 percent of computers worldwide. Reportedly, it was able to bump 95 percent of users worldwide to Flash 10 within a year of its release.

Adobe has a large developer base, but it isn't releasing exact figures. Microsoft openly claims a developer base of 500,000 developers. Its recent high profile content victories have included using Silverlight for coverage of the Winter Olympics, the upcoming March Madness (college basketball's annual championship tournament), Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, and the Netflix Watch Instantly service. Adobe, meanwhile, continues to control the rich content backend for some of the web's biggest sites like YouTube and Hulu.

Acer's Aspire One 532G Is First Netbook With NVIDIA's Ion 2 Graphics

2010-02-15T08:08:00.001-08:00

Acer's keen on racking up lots of firsts for its netbook arm, with this Aspire One 532G having the claim of being the world's first to use NVIDIA's Ion 2 graphics technology for 1080p playback.

The 10.1-inch LED-backlit screen will playback videos at 1080p with 7.1-channel audio output. It'll also be suitable for 3D gaming, Acer claims, though why you'd want to do that on a little netbook is beyond me. A 10-hour battery life, Wi-Fi and the choice of embedded 3G all figure, along with an Intel N450 Pine Trail chip and HDMI video output. On sale in just a month or two, it'll be available in several colors—blue, red, and silver. The Aspire One 532G will start shipping at the end of Q1 2010.

Acer developing true MacBook Air rival?

2010-02-14T14:24:00.001-08:00

Acer is reportedly readying an ultraportable that it hopes could take on Apple and HP in one fell swoop, the company reportedly said today. While it has had a relative amount of success with its Timeline lightweight notebooks, the Taiwan firm is believed to be developing an "ace in the hole" system that would use ULV Core i5 or i7 processors and measure just 0.75 inches thick, slightly thinner than the MacBook Air and much thinner than HP's current lineup.

The system would consequently be sleeker than the existing Timeline series but offer speed closer to a full-size notebook. Although the low-energy Core i5 and i7 have at most a 1.2GHz regular clock speed, they can ramp up to 1.86GHz and 2.26GHz in Turbo Boost mode and support Hyperthreading to occasionally perform more like quad-core processors.

Acer recently overtook Dell for the second place spot in world PC shipments but has set the ambitious goal of unseating HP for the top spot as soon as this year. Much of this has been accomplished simply by shipping inexpensive PCs but also by dominance of the netbook space, where the Aspire One actually has more traction than netbook pioneer ASUS' Eee PCs. HP has a large presence in netbooks but hasn't caught on in popularity; most of its sales are of low end, full size notebooks.

Laptop Makers not using Intel’s i5 are in the slow lane

2010-02-14T07:18:00.001-08:00

As performance laptops powered by the Intel I5 family of processors begin to appear in stores in quantity, it is clear that laptop makers not using them, including Apple, are behind the performance curve.

More and more laptop manufacturers are releasing models powered by Intel’s mobile i5 chipset, which by far outperforms the now lower-end Core i3 model processors. To get an idea of the performance improvements, one just need look at the reviews of the newer chips. AnandTech says that the i5 chips represent “the single largest performance improvement we’ve seen from a new mobile processor in years.” Tom’s Hardware said that the i5 “boasts the best balance between desktop-class speed and true mobile usability we’ve ever seen.” Other reviews of the new Intel chip are equally glowing.

The new Intel Core i5 is built using on Intel’s cutting-edge 32-nanometer manufacturing process. It is positioned between the Core 3 line, which it outperforms significantly, and the Intel i7 family of processors, Intel’s highest performance chipsets, along with their Xeon processors. The i5 processors were released in January 2010 and laptops using the chipsets began to appear shortly after, according to a CNET story. Manufacturers that have released notebooks based on the i5 include Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Sony, and Toshiba, among others.

One manufacturer noticeably missing from that list is Apple computer, usually at the forefront of the performance wars with its MacBook Pro line of computers. Savvy laptop shoppers know that the i5-powered portables are quite a lot faster than the previous-generation i3s and those looking for performance (who isn’t?) and those willing to pay for it (most of those who want it) have been waiting for the new Windows machines to come out. No doubt Apple MacBook users are also biding their time, which could hurt Mac notebook sales until they update the MacBook pro lineup. That being the case, it is fairly easy to predict that we will see a series of Macbook Pro upgrades coming from Apple sooner rather than later.

Google's 1Gbps Experimental Fiber Network

2010-02-10T22:34:00.001-08:00

Check out Google’s plan to build an experimental ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States to make the Internet better and faster.

Video of Google Buzz: Google’s New Social Networking Tool

2010-02-09T14:29:00.001-08:00

Check out video of Google's new Buzz social networking tool in action.

Google announced their new social networking tool Google Buzz today. Buzz is built right into Gmail so users already have an existing set of contacts and friends and won’t have to start from scratch. One feature that sets buzz apart from services like facebook is it’s mobile location-based integration. This feature allows users with mobile phones to leave comments tagged with geographical information which provides an extra dimension of context.

Intel loves Nvidia for Optimus

2010-02-09T07:52:00.001-08:00

Power saving technology

Nvidia will soon launch its Optimus technology and we've learned that Intel really likes what Nvidia did this time. The technology is basically Hybrid SLI done right, but it works really well this time around.

Nvidia will soon launch it, but the key point is that Optimus needs Intel’s IGP and lives in symbiosis with the GPU. Once Nvidia launches this technology, it won’t go against Intel’s IGP and will stop preaching that Intel’s HD IGP is bad.

Since many Arrandale equipped notebooks are on the way, and Arrandale has an IGP inside the CPU socket, this was a logical decision for them to make. Jensen is a feisty player but he also knows when it is good to stop and simply make money.
Intel’s advantage will be that Optimus only works with Intel IGPs and that Intel can defeat AMD even in GPU power, of course with the help of Nvidia GPUs and Optimus.

AMD reveals Fusion CPU+GPU, to challege Intel in Laptops

2010-02-09T07:46:00.001-08:00

The "Llano" processor that AMD described today in an ISSCC session is not a CPU, and it's not a GPU—instead, it's a hybrid design that the chipmaker is calling an "application processor unit," or APU. Whatever you call it, it could well give Intel a run for its money in the laptop market, by combining a full DX11-compatible GPU with four out-of-order CPU cores on a single, 32nm processor die.

Details on the highly parallel vector hardware—the "GPU" part of the device—have yet to be disclosed, but AMD is focusing today's revelations on the CPU part of the design. In a nutshell, AMD has taken the "STARS" core that's used in their current 45nm offerings, shrunk it to a new 32nm SOI high-K process, and added new power gating and dynamic power optimization capabilities to it. Each out-of-order core has a bit under 35 million transistors, and a 1MB L2 cache that's not included in that number. AMD is targeting sub-3GHz operation, and a power consumption range of 2.5 to 25 watts.

The chipmaker will put down four such cores, shown in the micrograph below, along with enough vector hardware to power a DX11 GPU. Overall, most of the work on the x86 side of Llano was done on dynamic power optimization and on fitting the design to the 32nm process. In this respect, Llano differs from the upcoming "Bobcat" mobile part in that the latter is more portable across a range of processes and configurations, and features less custom work.

iPad Developer Explains Why It's 'So Revolutionary'

2010-02-07T06:59:00.001-08:00

Since Apple unveiled its new iPad tablet, reactions from the developer community have been pouring in. While some seem genuinely excited, there are many others in the industry who essentially let out a collective "meh" upon seeing the iPad. The most common complaint appears to be that iPad is basically just a big iPhone or iPod Touch. Nintendo's Satoru Iwata was particularly dismissive of it.

Developer Joe Hewitt, however, is a big fan and he explained for TheStreet.com why the iPad is "so revolutionary."

"iPad is exactly the product I've been wishing for ever since I wrapped my mind around the iPhone and its constraints. Although the rumor mill was churning with all kinds of crazy possibilities for the Apple tablet, I mostly rolled my eyes, because I felt strongly that all Apple needed to do to revolutionize computing was simply to make an iPhone with a large screen," he began. "Anyone who feels underwhelmed by that doesn't understand how much of the iPhone's operating system's potential is still untapped."

Hewitt continued, "Of all the platforms I've developed on in my career, from the desktop to the Web, iPhone's OS gave me the greatest sense of empowerment, and had the highest ceiling for raising the art of user-interface design. Except there was one thing keeping me from reaching that ceiling: The screen was too small. ... The bottom line is that many apps which were cute toys on iPhone can become full-featured power tools on the iPad, making you forget about their desktop/laptop predecessors. We just have to invent them."

What really excites Hewitt is that the iPhone OS leverages the Internet and will continue to be improved for iPad. "What people are overlooking is that the Internet is an integral part of the iPhone OS, and it is the part of the OS you can tinker with to your heart's delight," he said. "So, in the end, what it comes down to is that iPad offers new metaphors that will let users engage with their computers with dramatically less friction. That gives me, as a developer, a sense of power and potency and creativity like no other. It makes the software market feel wide open again, like no one's hegemony is safe. How anyone can feel underwhelmed by that is beyond me."

Sony interested in challenging Apple's iPad

2010-02-05T01:04:00.001-08:00

Sony hinted on Thursday that it's preparing a challenger to Apple's upcoming iPad.

"That is a market we are also very interested in. We are confident we have the skills to create a product," said Nobuyuki Oneda, Sony's CFO, who was speaking at a Tokyo news conference held to announce the company's quarterly financial results.

Oneda didn't provide any details of any planned products but did say Sony is eyeing a similar market to the upcoming Apple gadget.

"Time-wise we are a little behind the iPad but it's a space we would like to be an active player in," said Oneda.

Sony said in October that it plans to launch a number of new mobile products that are built around network-based services.

The devices will connect into Sony's new online service, an Internet-based store that will bring music, movies, games and electronic books to a range of Sony products including Bravia TVs, Vaio PCs, Walkman music players and Reader e-book readers.

The launch of the iPad, due in March, isn't expected to impact the e-book reader market, which Oneda said is growing "exponentially."

"The [Sony Reader] Daily Edition with 3G network connectivity has received great acclaim and we plan to expand sales going forward," he said.

Microsoft 'no longer brings us the future,' says Former Exec

2010-02-04T18:17:00.001-08:00

Windows 7 may have pushed Microsoft's revenue to record levels last quarter, but a former executive still has a dim outlook on the company's future. The root of the problem? The company's alleged inability to innovate.

Writing in the New York Times' op-ed section, former Microsoft VP Dick Brass ponders why Microsoft "no longer brings us the future." As he points out, many new and innovative products from the past decade or so—the iPad, Amazon's Kindle, the BlackBerry, the iPhone, the iPod, Google, iTunes, Facebook, and Twitter—all originated at other companies. Microsoft, meanwhile, continues to get the lion's share of its profits from Windows and Office, products deeply rooted in the past. Brass believes the firm "can't count on these venerable products to sustain it forever."

The former executive goes on to call Microsoft a "clumsy, uncompetitive innovator," saying its grip on high-end laptops, smart phones, and web browsers is slipping, while the Xbox 360 is failing to outshine other consoles. Part of the problem, he asserts, is that Microsoft "never developed a true system for innovation." Quite the opposite:

Internal competition is common at great companies. It can be wisely encouraged to force ideas to compete. The problem comes when the competition becomes uncontrolled and destructive. At Microsoft, it has created a dysfunctional corporate culture in which the big established groups are allowed to prey upon emerging teams, belittle their efforts, compete unfairly against them for resources, and over time hector them out of existence. It’s not an accident that almost all the executives in charge of Microsoft’s music, e-books, phone, online, search and tablet efforts over the past decade have left.

Free E-Book : Complete List of Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts

2010-02-03T17:07:00.001-08:00

The WindowsClub.com has just released The Complete Windows 7 Shortcuts eBook. Windows 7 includes a lot of new keyboard shortcuts that are unknown to a new user. This eBook comprises of more than 200 keyboard shortcuts containing almost all the keyboard shortcuts that are available in Windows 7 and its default programs like Paint, WordPad, MS Office, Calculator, Help, Media Player, Media Center, Windows Journal, Internet Explorer, etc.

The eBook is pretty exhaustive and the topics covered include:

- What is Keyboard & how to use it?
- How keys are organized on a standard Keyboard
- Typing & editing the text using Keyboard
- Using Keyboard Shortcuts
- Find program shortcuts
- Choose menus, commands, and options
- Some useful shortcuts
- Using the keyboard extras
- Using navigation keys
- Using the numeric keypad
- Three odd keys
- Use your keyboard safely
- Create keyboard shortcuts to open programs
- Make the keyboard easier to use
- Type without using the keyboard (On-Screen Keyboard)
- Set On-Screen Keyboard to use for various handy tasks

Download Here

Google Shows Off its Tablet Concept

2010-02-02T20:13:00.001-08:00

Google shows us a first peek on its official Chromium site what a Chrome OS tablet might look like.

Notice also in the demo the prescence of multi-tasking.

Keep in mind that these only show what a Chrome OS might look like in a tablet and not necessarily on a Google tablet. But who knows, Google might also be cooking up a surprise for Apple’s iPad.

You can see the latest tablet pictures below and more from the Chromium site here.

Enjoy!

Internet Explorer 8 Officially Becomes World’s Most-Used Browser, Windows 7 Rising

2010-02-02T14:52:00.001-08:00

Net Applications had just released their January browser market share report. The report shows that Internet Explorer 8 is not only the most popular browser on Windows (for Windows PCs alone) with 27.9% usage share, but that it now has 22.37% of market share across all OS’s on a worldwide-weighted usage share basis (data provided by Net Applications). Launched just less than a year ago, it must be both humbling and thrilling for MIcrosoft to see so many people choose their product so quickly – making it the most popular browser of choice worldwide.

Meanwhile, Microsoft wasn’t lying about Windows 7 being the fastest selling OS ever. January data showed that Windows 7 continues its rise with almost 8% market share from just 5.17% last month.

Microsoft Chases Windows 7 Battery Drain Problems

2010-02-02T08:56:00.001-08:00

Microsoft officials confirmed Friday that they are looking into reports of radically shortened battery life on some laptops after installing Windows 7.

Although a few users reported similar problems during Windows 7's beta test cycle last summer, particularly with some netbooks, wide availability of Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) new OS following its October consumer release seems to have triggered significantly more cases.

"I upgraded my laptop from XP to Win 7 and my battery life went from about 2 hours to 30 minutes. The system shuts down (hibernates) without any warning. The powercfg-energy report shows the battery stored less than 40% of the Designed Capacity the last time the battery was fully charged," one frustrated user, going by the screen name "dabruton," said in a post on Microsoft's TechNet user forums on Jan. 1.

"The battery life dropped to almost nothing after doing a clean install of windows 7 (it was fine before that, about 1.5-2 hours)," echoed another poster with the screen name "jw98029."

How big the problem has become is unclear at this time. The TechNet forum dedicated to Windows client issues had 100 posts during January alone. Many received a Windows 7 error that said, "consider replacing your battery."

Quite a few complained that their laptop batteries were permanently damaged by the drainage problems after upgrading to Windows 7.

"Good job Microsoft, you just cost me (and almost all windows 7 laptop owners) their battery!! Now what are you going to do!!?" asked one annoyed user with the screen name "DanLee81."

Unboxing of Microsoft LifeCam VX-700 I recently won on Microsoft Phils. IE8 Trivia Mania! Contest

2010-02-02T08:53:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I stopped by Microsoft’s office at the 6750 Bldg. along Ayala Ave. to get my prize LifeCam which I won last January 23. Further details of the webcam can be found here. But now I’ll proceed to the unboxing photos. Thanks Microsoft!

Cool office by the way and staff members including Mr. Ralph Sarmiento were very nice!

Office 2010 Generally Available in June 2010 - Microsoft

2010-02-01T00:45:00.001-08:00

The next iteration of the Office System is now approximately five months away Microsoft confirmed to Softpedia. At the start of this week, you were able to read a report on a remark from Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer, in which the CEO indicated that Office 2010 would be out in only a couple of months. I contacted the Redmond company on the matter and I’ve got a clarification on this topic.

Free E-book: Windows 7 Resource Kit

2010-01-29T00:25:00.001-08:00

Mitch Tulloch, a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional and lead author of the just-published (and hot-selling) Windows 7 Resource Kit (Microsoft Press, 2010; ISBN: 9780735627000; 1760 pages), has created a short e-book called “What You Can Do Before You Call Tech Support.” Here are the opening paragraphs:

Your sound card has stopped working, your computer seems sluggish, the network is down, your hard drive is clicking, you can’t view a website, your monitor is hard to read, your new webcam isn’t working, your favorite program won’t run, and a funny burning smell is coming from your computer. What can you do on your own to try to troubleshoot the issue before you pick up the phone to call tech support?
If you’re running Windows 7, quite a lot. Microsoft has included a lot of self-support tools in Windows 7 that you can try using before you seek the help of others, and we’ll examine these in a moment....

Download XPS Format Here or

Download PDF Format Here

Intel's Smoke Engine Demo: Comparing the Windows 7 Kernel with Windows Vista

2010-01-27T07:57:00.001-08:00

See what a difference the new Windows 7 kernel makes compared to Windows Vista. The windows 7 kernel is optimized for use with Intel core microarchitecture not only does it perform faster it also allows you to put a few cores to sleep while maintaining peak performance.

Introducing the Windows Experience Pack

2010-01-26T08:57:00.001-08:00

Microsoft had just introduced the Windows Experience Pack available starting today for people with PCs running Windows 7 and/or Windows Live Essentials.

With the Windows Experience Pack, you are able create an alter-ego of yourself in a specific destination – a beach, mountain, safari, or city. When you create your alter-ego, you create a fully customized avatar for that destination that becomes a part of a Windows Live Messenger and Windows 7 theme for your PC. You’ll also be able to download a .jpg image of your avatar to share, print, or use as your icon on social networks.

For Windows 7, you are given the choice between 3 desktop backgrounds for your destination and a screensaver featuring multiple photos from your destination.

Enjoy!

Windows Experience Pack

The Man Behind Windows 7’s Fast Start

2010-01-26T08:30:00.001-08:00

REDMOND, Wash. – Jan. 25, 2010 – Months before Windows 7 launched, Aaron Dietrich's boss forwarded him an early product review from CNET, an online technology news site. Until then, Dietrich hadn't heard an outsider's take on the new operating system. When he read the article, he found a prominent—and glowing—mention of lightning-fast start-up times.

“I always viewed myself as just one piece of the whole Windows puzzle,” Dietrich says. “It's really when we brought it all together that we got such a great product.”

"It gave me a really good feeling," Dietrich says. "I thought, 'Wow, it's not just that we're on the right path, but we're really making a change in perception for reviewers and the general public here.'"

As senior development lead on the Windows Client Performance team, Dietrich had toiled to make sure Windows 7-based PCs would fire up like rockets. But he was surprised again and again when praise for the faster start-up performance popped up repeatedly in the press and in the blogosphere.

"It's not a fancy new UI feature," he said. "It's not that thing in your face all the time like a desktop feature or window switcher or something like that." Still, he took pride in the kudos that Windows 7 was receiving.

Dietrich, who came to Microsoft nine years ago after completing graduate studies at Rochester Institute of Technology, worked with Windows 7 features teams to keep the operating system lean enough to clock significantly faster start-up times. He said it really did take a village to build Windows 7.

"I always viewed myself as just one piece of the whole Windows puzzle," he said. "It's really when we brought it all together that we got such a great product."

The Microsoft News Center talked recently with Dietrich about his work on Windows 7.

The News Center: What was your role working on Windows 7?

Dietrich: For Windows 7, I was on the Windows Client Performance team. Rather than owning a specific feature, we kind of work as a liaison with many different teams within Windows to help them analyze and resolve performance issues with the operating system.

Dietrich was pleasantly surprised when he read an early review of Windows 7 that praised startup performance. “I thought, ‘Wow, it's not just that we’re on the right path, but we're really making a change in perception for reviewers and the general public here,'” he says.

The News Center: How did you increase start-up performance in Windows 7?

Dietrich: There were a couple of key features that allowed us to get better boot times. The first was we introduced what we call the fast boot feature, which allows some parts of boot to happen in the background while Windows is discovering and initializing devices. That helped us gain up to 25 percent of our boot time over Windows Vista, depending on the hardware.

The other big one was that we significantly reduced the size of the operating system required to be read from disk in order to boot. Whereas Windows Vista required somewhere on the order of 220 to 240 megabytes of operating system code to boot, Windows 7 requires anywhere from 140 to 180 megabytes, depending on the configuration of the system.

The News Center: What was a typical day like working on Windows 7?

Dietrich: As I said, we worked with other teams to try and help them design the right features and do analysis to make sure they were performing the way they expected them to. As the teams built their features, occasionally regressions in performance would come in. Bugs do happen. We have a lot of checks in place called "perf gates" that run on every build produced daily in Windows. That monitors everything from boot times to shutdown time and a bunch of other metrics. If any of them ever regressed, we jumped on that, did some analysis, and tried to help teams resolve the issue.

It's very sinusoidal. You go through these relative periods of calm where you've got all your ducks in a row. And then you always have those periods leading up to milestones, where everyone is crunching through things, and it gets a little bit hectic.

Windows 7 Growing Faster than Vista, overtakes Mac OS X

2010-01-22T01:19:00.001-08:00

Windows 7 sold well during the 2009 holiday season, and the results are showing up, not only in sheer revenue, but in the OS market share numbers as well. Nevertheless, in December 2009, Linux was the only operating system to show positive percentage growth in market share.

Between November and December 2009, Windows market share dropped 0.31 percentage points (from 92.52 percent to 92.21 percent), Mac OS dipped 0.01 percentage points (from 5.12 percent to 5.11 percent), and Linux edged forward 0.02 percentage points (from 1.00 percent to 1.02 percent).

Strong sales from Windows 7 and Snow Leopard were not enough to stop both Windows overall and Mac OS overall from dropping. When putting this into perspective across the whole year, though, we see that Windows was actually sliding steadily throughout 2009 (93.66 percent in January 2009), while both Mac OS (4.71 percent in January 2009) and Linux (0.90 percent in January 2009) have been gaining.

CES 2010 Recap

2010-01-19T03:08:00.001-08:00

Kicking off the new year with a bang, our Partners announced and showcased all kinds of awesome new products for Windows 7 at the 2010 International CES. I spent some time over the week compiling many of those announcements which include PCs, hardware and apps. This list is in no particular order. And just to warn, this is a pretty lengthy blog post!

HP: HP announced several new PCs this week at CES including the HP TouchSmart tm2, and additions to their Mini line. The HP Mini 5102 brings multitouch!

Dell : Dell has announced new Alienware PCs, Inspiron and Studio laptops and a new Studio XPS desktop PC and many of these PCs will be shipping with Intel’s i3, i5 and i7 processors (desktop and mobile versions) processors. For more on what Dell showed off at CES, read this post from Lionel over on Direct2Dell.

Windows 7 the Fastest Selling Operating System in History Says Microsoft

2010-01-07T04:29:00.001-08:00

At CES 2010, Ballmer revealed that Windows 7 was the fastest selling operating system in history, by far. According to the company’s CEO, the latest iteration of Windows also helped boost computer sales, as the number of PCs sold in the week of Windows 7’s launch exploded by 50%.

Microsoft is indicating that Windows 7 is nothing short of a smashing commercial success. And yet, while the Redmond company is indeed sharing a few statistics with the public, it isn’t really sharing those that count more, namely the actual number of Windows 7 licenses sold to customers, or at least those shipped into the channel. At the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft Chief Executive Office Steve Ballmer noted that it was a combination of the work done by over 3,000 Microsoft engineers along with feedback from more than 8 million Beta testers that helped make Windows 7 what it was. In 2009, the software giant noted that Windows 7 had out-sold Windows Vista by 234%, comparing sales figures after launch.

Microsoft Prepares Windows 7 for External SP1 Testing

2010-01-02T21:16:00.001-08:00

Similar to previous external beta service pack rollouts, Microsoft has enabled – via updates you already installed – a beta ‘candidacy check’ within its Windows Update software. Just like Windows Vista, a registry key and value pair need to be added prior to being authorized to download the new software.

I’m A Windows 7 PC Theme

2010-01-01T20:13:00.001-08:00

Looking to advocate that you’re an avid Windows 7 user? Then this theme is just for you. The I’m A Windows 7 PC theme lets you show off to all your friends that you are the proud user of a PC running a copy of Windows 7. The theme is a combination of 4 wallpapers, inbuilt sound scheme Festival. All four wallpapers have different Windows flag color with tag line ‘I’M Windows 7 PC’ and mark of ‘7’.

Download Here

Microsoft Security Essentials Ranks as Best-Performing Free Antivirus

2009-12-27T22:14:00.001-08:00

Anti-malware testing group AV-Comparatives.org not only gave Microsoft Security Essentials a top rating for malware removal, but now they've given it their best ranking in their performance test as well. AV-Comparatives.org ran a series of real-world tests running through common scenarios like downloading, extracting, copying, and encoding files, installing and launching applications, and they also ran through an automated testing suite as well. Once the dust had settled, it became clear that not only is MSE one of only three products that both blocks and removes malware well, but it's also very light on system resources.

Out of all the products tested, Microsoft Security Essentials was the best-performing free antivirus solution, and one of only two that received "very fast" on each of the real-world tests, earning it their top award: an "advanced+" ranking. We've been telling you for a while that you don't need to pay for Windows security, and now with MSE ranked alongside the top paid apps in both malware removal and performance, you might want to consider making the switch.
Hit the AV-Comparatives link for the full report in PDF form, or check out the PC Mag story for the overview—if you can deal with some irritating in-text ads.

Full Story

10 Things You Must Do With Your New Windows 7 PC

2009-12-27T06:44:00.001-08:00

If you got a new Windows 7 laptop for Christmas, you are truly in luck. But here are 10 things you need to get the most out of it.

1. Take a Spin Around the New Interface: Still glassy, glossy and damn near glittery, the Windows 7 interface is actually a major progression for Microsoft: It's not just easy to use, it's a whole new paradigm with the revamped taskbar and Aero Peek making multitasking with multiple windows more natural than ever.

Is Internet Explorer Doomed?

2009-12-26T15:23:00.001-08:00

Almost two years to the week after AOL announced it would end support for Netscape's pioneering Netscape Navigator browser, which Microsoft destroyed when it created its rival Internet Explorer (IE), new data suggests that IE is still losing market share, primarily to the open-source Firefox browser.

StatCounter, an analytics firm, says that Firefox's share of the browser market now stands at 32.06%, up almost seven percentage points from last November. Internet Explorer's share fell more than 12 percentage points over the same period.

Windows 7 Product Guide

2009-12-25T02:21:00.001-08:00

As many of you have noticed, there is a lot of information out there about Windows 7 now that it is available for everyone. You can find information on everything from the Action Center to Windows XP.

Mode on various blogs and web pages all over the Internet. You might want a concise guide of what Windows 7 has to offer and how it can help you and your business. With this in mind we created the Windows 7 Product Guide. This easy to read guide gives you a clear overview of the features in Windows 7 without a lot of technical jargon that you might find in other content. The guide was designed to educate and inform readers about benefits you get from adopting Windows 7.
The Windows 7 Product Guide is has three major sections:

Introduction - Describes how Microsoft designed Windows 7, what editions of Windows 7 are available and what is new.
Windows 7 for You - Goes over features in Windows 7 that, simplify everyday tasks, works the way you want, and makes new things possible.
Windows 7 for IT Professionals - Explains how Windows 7 can make people productive anywhere, manage risk though enhanced security and control, and reduce costs by streamlining PC management. This section also has an overview of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack to help you learn about how this set of applications can help you get to a more managed and optimized desktop.

If you are looking for a good reference guide about Windows 7, I recommend that you download a copy of the Windows 7 Product Guide here (XPS and PDF versions available).

10 things Microsoft did Right in 2009

2009-12-24T08:05:00.001-08:00

The year 2009 was pretty good to Microsoft, even as the weak economy ravaged sales. Microsoft actually did a few things right. The did-wrong list will come later today (not tomorrow as previously posted). For now, I present the list of 10 things Microsoft did right in 2009 -- in no order of importance. They're all important. Microsoft:

1. Flawlessly launched Windows 7. There's a metaphor somehow in Microsoft launching Windows 7 during the 40th anniversary year of the Apollo moon landing. Microsoft's precision reminds of NASA sending man to the moon. While the human risk wasn't as great and many of the engineering challenges were far less than Apollo 11, Windows 7 needed perfect launch and delivery, from testing to release candidate to voluming licensing availability and retail release. Microsoft pulled it off.

Windows 7 RTM and 1 Terabyte (TB) SATA Hard Disk Don’t Play Nice Together

2009-12-24T05:25:00.001-08:00

As more and more users deploy the latest iteration of the Windows client on their computers, additional issues affecting the platform come to light. After all, even with an 8 million strong Beta testing pool, Microsoft could not replicate all real life usage scenarios that would cause Windows 7 glitches. The latest issue made public by the Redmond company involves the Windows Vista’s successor not playing that nice with large SATA hard disks.

The software giant informs that end users can come across various Stop error messages when they try to resume a computer equipped with a large SATA HDD and running either Windows 7 or Windows 8.
“Consider the following scenario: you have a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. The computer has a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) hard disk. The size of the SATA hard disk is large. For example, the size of the SATA hard disk is 1 terabyte (TB). You put the computer into the Sleep state or into the Hibernate state. You try to resume the computer,” the company noted.

Court: Microsoft Violated Patent; Can't Sell Word

2009-12-22T16:55:00.001-08:00

WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a $290 million judgment against Microsoft Corp. and issued an injunction that will prevent the sale of its popular Word software.

The court injunction is set to go into effect Jan. 11. Microsoft has said such a bar would prohibit the sale of all currently available versions of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office.

Download Microsoft Tinker Game For Windows 7, Vista & XP

2009-12-22T03:43:00.001-08:00

If you are missing the Windows Vista Ultimate edition extras in Windows 7, here is good news for you. Microsoft has released Tinker game for Windows 7, Vista & XP, and is ready to download now.

Tinker is an isometric two-dimensional puzzle available for free. Tinker features a tutorial level to get you started. Featuring captivating visuals, an original music score, and 60 levels that range from the facile to the extremely challenging.

Download Here or

Download Here

Windows 7 Will Kill XP - Slowly, but Surely

2009-12-21T14:28:00.001-08:00

A recent study from Gartner predicts that no less than 75% of corporate PCs will be running a 64-bit version of Windows by 2014 (via DailyTech). Such a scenario automatically implies that enterprises are now ready, and increasingly so, to discard Windows XP and 32-bit machines, for Windows 7 running on new 64-bit architectures which can take advantage of in excess of 4 GB of RAM.

It will be Windows 7 to do the job Windows Vista failed at, namely to kill Windows XP. However, killing XP is a process rather than a single moment in time. Windows 7 will first erode XP’s market share and convert its audience. As XP’s usage rate will drop, less and less hardware manufacturers and software developers will offer support and compatibility of the latest versions of their products for the operating system Microsoft released in 2001. It will be Microsoft to hammer down the last nail in the XP coffin in 2014, when it will cut extended support for the platform entirely. At that time, users still running XP will be left to fend for themselves with no more updates, no more security patches, no more support.

Engineering Windows 7 - Disk Space

2009-12-21T07:02:00.001-08:00

This post is about disk space and the disk space “consumed” by Windows 7. Disk space is the sort of thing where everyone wants to use less, but the cost of using a bit more relative to the benefits has generally been a positive tradeoff. Things have changed recently with the availability of solid-state drives in capacities significantly smaller than the trend in spinning drives. Traditionally most all software, including Windows, would not hesitate to consume a 100MB on a specific (justified) need when looking at a 60GB (or 1,500GB) drive; with desirable machines shipping with 16GB of solid-state storage, we are looking carefully at the disk space used by Windows—both at setup time and also as a PC “ages”. We also had a specific session at WinHEC on solid-state drives that might be interesting to folks. This post is authored by Michael Beck, a program manager in the core OS deployment feature team. –Steven

Microsoft's 4 Challenges in 2010

2009-12-20T04:46:00.001-08:00

When you're a technology mongrel like Microsoft, challenges are constant -- and 2009 was chock full of them. It was a tumultuous year that saw the software giant's first widespread layoffs and its worst quarterly revenue earnings ever.

Yet there were some rays of sunlight flickering through the clouds. Windows 7 survived its many pre-launch milestones and launched successfully in October; search engine Bing debuted with aggressive marketing and innovative features; the launch of Windows Azure pulled Microsoft's cloud computing strategy together; Office, Exchange, and Sharepoint software continue to own the enterprise; and Microsoft's public presence on television improved with the Laptop Hunters, Windows 7 and Bing ad campaigns.

Office 2010: Visuals and Branding

2009-12-14T08:33:00.001-08:00

Hello, I’m Keri Vandeberghe and I work in Microsoft’s Office Design Group (ODG) as a User Experience Designer. I would like to share the story behind the visual approach and brand integration for Office 2010. I’ll give you a behind the scenes look at the philosophy that led us to the current design direction.

Microsoft makes Windows 7 installation from USB drive easy

2009-12-11T03:52:00.001-08:00

Microsoft is now catering to netbook users without an optical drive who wish to install Windows 7. They've released an open source Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool which makes a bootable Windows 7 USB Drive with ease.

Download Here

Windows 7 Complaints Begin

2009-12-09T15:45:00.001-08:00

Users of the new operating system say the upgrading process is buggy. But once the kinks are worked out, customers are liking Windows 7 a lot more than Vista.

Microsoft launched Windows 7 in late October to much fanfare. But, just like with previous Windows upgrades, complaints about bugs have already started rolling in.

Top 5 Security Features of Windows 7

2009-12-07T06:40:00.001-08:00

Microsoft has been busy promoting Windows 7 for quite some time. Redmond has talked a lot about performance, usability and manageability, but has said less about security. This isn't surprising. By improving security with Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and in Windows Vista, Microsoft significantly enhanced Windows' reputation. There are still lots of new security features in Windows 7, however. Here are my top five.

Office 2010 Beta Hits a Milestone!

2009-12-04T14:15:00.001-08:00

You may have already heard, but we have some exciting news from the Office team -- earlier this week we reached the 1 millionth download of Office 2010! This means that more than 1 million people across the world are now experiencing and testing the next version of Office. You’ll recall we launched the public beta just two weeks ago at the Professional Developer’s Conference and in reaching the 1 millionth download milestone, Office 2010 has had more people download it in the first two weeks than any other version of Office including Office 2007! It’s super gratifying to see so many people interested in experiencing the next version of Office and help us deliver the best product possible.

10 Reasons to Love Windows 7

2009-12-02T04:43:00.001-08:00

Unless you've been stuck on a desert island for the last six months, you know that the big buzz is the impending release of Windows 7 and its partner, Windows Server 2008 R2. Now, I'm a guy who hates change in the desktop. I always turn on the classic view and still run Windows XP on my laptop. I don't like having to re-learn where things are and how to do common tasks. But with Windows 7, it was love at first byte. I've been running Windows 7 since March, and I can't wait for the official release next month. Of course, there are a few drawbacks to the new operating system, and I even have my doubts about some its most touted features. So, here are my top 10 reasons why you should move to Windows 7 -- and a few notes of caution.

Windows 7's First 100 Days: So How Were Yours?

2009-11-20T21:01:00.001-08:00

It has been 100 days since the release-to-manufacturing copy of Windows 7 was available for download on MSDN and TechNet. I’ll put this very simply: I have never used an operating system which works so well, is as stable as it is, is aesthetically pleasing, and is a pleasure to use still even after three and a bit months. There is nothing within Windows 7 which is particularly aimed at students or me specifically. The whole kit and kaboodle focuses on making it an all-inclusive “experience”, but after using it for so long now the experience fades into the background, like a sickly cough in a lecture theatre. At the end of the day, all you want to do is check your emails or whop out a quick essay. You don’t particularly care about the experience and most of the time you don’t notice the surroundings. Even with Windows 7, this hasn’t changed.

A Big Saving to be Made on Windows 7 by Going OEM

2009-09-30T03:30:00.001-07:00

Newegg has just made it clear what you can expect to save when picking up an OEM copy of Windows 7 and its quite a healthy saving indeed. A full version of Home Premium will set you back just $99.99 after a $10 discount, $100 less than the retail version, whilst the Professional and Ultimate versions will set you back $134.99 and $174.99 respectively. Just remember, if you go OEM you lose the ability to transfer your licence between PCs and also cannot use it as an upgrade option, but this shouldn't be an issue for most.

Windows 7 PCs to Go on Sale Early

2009-09-28T05:25:00.001-07:00

If you've been putting off buying a new PC because you're waiting for Windows 7 to ship, you're in luck. At least one manufacturer plans to make Windows 7 PCs available to customers early, nine days to be exact, and Redmond isn't going to get in its way. In fact, Microsoft is perfectly fine with the idea. "October 12 is the date that Microsoft enables our Authorized Replicators to begin shipping Windows 7 to Microsoft OEM Authorized Distributors," a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed with Ars.

Avast! Antivirus Earns the Windows 7 Logo

2009-09-19T23:58:00.001-07:00

avast! antivirus software has earned the “Compatible with Windows 7” logo after successfully completing Microsoft Corp.s’ testing regime to prove it can be readily installed and run reliably on Windows 7.

“It’s important that our users know avast! is fully compatible with Windows 7 from the very beginning,” said Ondrej Vlcek, Chief Technology Officer at ALWIL Software, makers of avast!.

Microsoft’s “Compatible with Windows 7” logo can now be used with Avast! version 4.8 software. The logo will help Windows 7 users easily identify software and other products that have passed Microsoft tests for compatibility and reliability with Windows 7.

“We’re excited about Windows 7 and hope it will be adopted soon,” said Vlcek. “It’s not only nice for the users but it also brings a number of improvements and fixes for software developers.”

To complete compatibility testing and ensure that avast! worked with Windows 7, ALWIL Software sent specialists to the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington. “We had two teams working in parallel on this,” said Vlcek. The teams tested avast! with a basket of lower-level applications during their Redmond visit.

AWIL Software is preparing avast! version 5, the newest version of its antivirus program, for full compatibility with Windows 7 ahead of its launch this autumn. “”We’ve done the initial tests and are making sure that the new features such as persistent caching, process virtualization and the firewall all work great under Windows 7,” said Vlcek.

Will Games for Windows Finally Take Off In Windows 7?

2009-09-19T23:42:00.001-07:00

A recent blog post by Brandon LeBlanc over at the Microsoft Windows Experience Blog details the improvements to the Games for Windows platform. Games for Windows is not exclusive for Windows 7 but will take advantage of features of the new operating system. The system has been revamped by Microsoft including new “technical guidelines, self-certification options and a set of 22 technical requirements which are designed to:”

Create an easier game installation experience.
Support both 32-bit and 64-bit Platforms.
Support Ratings and Parental Controls in Windows 7.
Game titles populated in the Game Explorer.
Enhanced game update notifications for game titles.
Stability, security and compatibility against commonly known issues.

The main question on the other hand is if this will be enough to convince game companies and publishers to make their games compatible with the Games for Windows platform. We all know that only a handful of games were released so far that made use of it. The number of games certainly picked up in the last twelve months but it was still only a minority of games that supported the platform.
The main reason why many developer’s have not joined the program yet is the money, time and additional work that is involved in the process.
While the Games for Windows platform certainly offers benefits to Windows users (like better manageability thanks to the Game Explorer) it lacks support by many popular game developers and causes concern by some gamers who fear that Microsoft is planning a subscription based model similar to the one offered on their Xbox gaming system once a critical mass of supported games has been reached.
What’s your opinion on the issue? Will Games for Windows take off in Windows 7? Do you share the concern of some users or think that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages?

Windows 7 to Use DirectX 10.1

2009-09-18T01:49:00.001-07:00

Our colleagues here managed to get a nice photo of a Windows 7 presentation where the big giant talked about GPU usage in Windows 7.
One of the most interesting things was the official confirmation that Windows 7 will use DirectX 10.1 API, something that works well in ATI's advantage. It doesn’t look that DirectX 11 will be ready to launch together with Windows 7 and it will probably come later even though there might be some DirectX 11 hardware to launch in 2009.
DirectX 10.1 will help Windows 7 to scale better from low end to high-end hardware and put it in good use especially when it comes to user interface. Shaders will be used for the Glass and Windows 7 memory consumption is cut by 50 percent per window, something that memory manufacturers and GPU guys might not really appreciate.
Windows 7 will also have richer thumbnail animations and at the same time it comes with Media Center user interface, Video playback and Desktop Window Manager (DWM), all borrowed from Vista. We are not aware of any improvements in these area compared to Vista.
We are sure that these features will also work on DirectX 10.0 hardware but Microsoft has decided to promote DirectX 10.1 support this time.

Source: Windows 7 to use DirectX 10.1

Microsoft Permitted to continue Word Sales for Now

2009-09-05T00:16:00.001-07:00

Microsoft Word fans across the world can rejoice and breathe a sigh of relief today as Microsoft has won a temporary stay, allowing Word sales to continue.

Source: Microsoft Permitted to Continue Word Sales for Now

Microsoft is Planning a Windows 7 Launch Party on October 22

2009-08-31T02:29:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has been extremely secretive about the launch details but according to Foley company, officials have begun sending out invites to bloggers and the media: "We also wanted to let you know that you will be receiving an invitation to a Microsoft event in NYC on October 22nd to celebrate the availability and launch of Windows 7. With Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer speaking and exciting new hardware from our partners, we're looking forward to sharing Windows 7 with the world."

Source: Microsoft is Planning a Windows 7 Launch Party on October 22