There’s a new ersion of Google Talk: the Labs edition, a desktop client that looks very similar to the Google Talk gadget and has most of its features.
The application doesn’t support voice chat or file transfer, but it has some new features: it lets you launch Google Calendar and Orkut, while including notifications for Google Calendar events and Orkut scraps.
The new Google Talk uses WebKit to render some parts of the interface. And now, Desktop notifications from the following services:
Gmail
Calendar (with a new snooze option!)
Orkut
Its not worth to switch from the full-featured client to the Labs edition : group chats, smilies, tabs while the missing features are more important. A better decisions would have been to integrate these new features in the desktop client, instead of releasing a separate application.
Btw, you can download The Google Talk Labs Edition at Here.
"Between now and 2015, we expect to see a series of big changes that will redefine what a notebook is and what it looks like," said Mike Trainor, Intel Corp.'s evangelist for mobile products.With crystal ball in hand, we talked to designers, engineers and marketers about how notebooks are likely to change over the next seven years.
Concepts for the future
First, let's take a look at some concept notebooks. Just as futuristic show cars give us insight into what we might be driving in the future, concept notebooks offer a sneak peek at how we'll be computing.
These concept notebooks typically are created by independent designers and firms retained by laptop vendors. This is highly secretive business -- the designers we spoke were willing to talk about some of their concepts but couldn't tell us who they were working for.
Rarely does a concept notebook make it to the real world as a whole unit, but certain aspects often make it into production. Early 1990s concept devices contained integrated pointing devices, speakers and webcams, all of which are now standard equipment. It's likely that at least some of the new ideas, components and features showcased below will be coming to a notebook near you.
For example, several concept laptops rely on touch-sensitive screens that act as the system's keyboard and mouse and go beyond today's multi-touch technology. Imagine being able to slide your finger across the screen to immediately shut off the display and keep what you're working on confidential, and you get an idea of its potential.
Compenion
The Compenion concept notebook from independent designer Felix Schmidberger in Stuttgart, Germany, borrows heavily from slider cell phones to move beyond the clamshell. Rather than lifting the lid open, just slide it up.
The pair of superbright organic LED panels slide into place next to each other, with the lower panel acting as keyboard or scribble pad. The whole thing is only three-quarters of an inch thick.
"It reduces thickness, but the slider was more about the feel of using the notebook," said Schmidberger. "The idea is to break free from traditional notebook hardware without having to adapt to new ways of using a computer."
Together, the 11-in. screens will yield about 16 inches of usable workspace, so the system has the dimensions and weight of a thin and light system but the screen of a larger one.
Canova
Dual-screen systems could well be the rage in seven years. The Canova from V12 Design, a Milan, Italy-based design firm, is closer to the tried and true clamshell layout, but with a twist.
Instead of a display and a mechanical keyboard, the device has two touch-sensitive displays: The upper screen is primarily for viewing applications, and the lower screen is for the mundane activities of typing, drawing and jotting notes. But the Canova can also lie flat for a large expanse of working space.
According to designer Valero Cometti, "the idea was to close the gap between man and machine." This notebook changes personality depending on how it's held. Opened all the way, it's a sketch pad. Fold it half open and rotate it 90 degrees, and it's an e-book. By emulating a musical keyboard on the lower half, when it's flat on a table, it can be a go-anywhere piano.
Siafu
Who needs a screen at all? Long Beach, Calif.-based independent designer Jonathan Lucas' eccentric Siafu concept can touch you, literally. That's because Siafu is for the blind and has no screen.
"The idea was to open a new realm of digital interface for the visually impaired by enhancing and even surpassing existing technologies that currently cater to this group," said Lucas.
Because the blind can't see what's on the screen, Siafu converts images into corresponding 3-D shapes that are created with Magneclay, an oil-based synthetic material that instantly forms shapes in response to electrical fields. In such hands-on computing, you interact with Siafu with your fingers to feel the bumps and protrusions that pop up. The Magneclay surface could be used for reading a Braille newspaper, feeling the shape of someone's face or going over a tactile representation of a blueprint.
"The concept offers several ways of working on the move or at a desk," explained U.K.-based independent designer Lopez.
Equal parts form, function and fashion, this concept replaces the traditional lid hinge with a shiny bar that -- as the name implies -- is a carrying handle. It also allows the lid to fold up for travel and can be converted into a an easel or sit on a car's steering wheel.
Not surprisingly, then, Cario comes into its own on the road. So the driver doesn't get cross-eyed or crook-necked by looking down at the screen when it's locked into the steering wheel, Cario has a microprojector that projects its images onto the vehicle's windshield. This heads-up display can show maps, videoconferences and find the closest gas station.
Changing materials
Some changes and new functionality in the laptops we'll use in 2015 will come about because of significant advances in the materials used to create the devices. Magneclay is just one example.
Another example is a change in the plastics used in the notebook case. In fact, by 2015, dropping a notebook might not be the catastrophe it can be today.
That's because a group at UCLA's Exotic Materials Institute led by Fred Wudl has come up with an epoxy that's strong, durable and can repair itself. Called Automend, small cracks can be sealed by just heating the surface with a hair dryer, making it a godsend for the clumsy among us.
Another example relates to peripherals used on the road. For instance, future mobile systems could easily include projectors, which will be reduced to about the size of a pack of cigarettes by 2015.
Because such projectors use a laser, "you can project images on a wall within a distance of several meters without having to adjust a lens," said Schmidberger. "It can even be bumpy or bent."
Powerful components
It doesn't take a very clear crystal ball to know that the next generation of notebooks will deliver much more computing power. And notebooks will also get smarter as components continue to shrink and more components get squeezed onto a sliver of silicon the size of a fingernail.
The result will be that notebooks will be able to perform tasks that we can only dream of today. Here's what our experts say those components will look like and what they'll be able to do.
Processors
It's a sure bet that we won't be using a mere single- or double-core processor by 2015. Most notebooks will have at least six computational cores, if not eight, according to the experts we contacted.
Such technology is available today, so it surely will be standard-issue on laptops of the future, the experts agreed. Having at least six computational cores at your disposal will not only make high-end simulations and data visualizations possible, but will also make for one heck of a game of Halo. Missing your bus
The CPU's front-side bus will likely disappear by 2015. The bus acts like a traffic cop, sending data to the different parts of the system at a slower speed than the computational core. In its place will be an integrated controller that makes this distribution of data much more efficient by operating faster.
As with multiple-core processors, this trend is already under way -- Intel, for instance, has announced that its Nehalem CPU microarchitecture, set to debut later this year, will feature an integrated memory controller, eliminating the need for a front-side bus. However, it will take a long time for this trend to reach CPUs used in notebook computers -- the 2015 time frame seems reasonable, the experts agreed.
Storage
With most notebooks having built-in wireless broadband connections, a new onslaught of data is expected. As a result, where we'll store our accumulated files will be transformed.
According to Intel's Trainor, we'll see ever-more storage capacity in smaller and smaller packages, along with solid-state memory that is lighter and faster, while being more rugged and using less power.
Currently, adding 64GB of solid state capacity to a notebook's hard drive runs an extra $1,000. By 2015, the typical mainstream notebook could be outfitted with a 2TB hard disk drive, which should be plenty of room for even the biggest data hog, the experts speculated. For smaller and lighter machines, look to having something like 250GB of flash memory at your disposal, but it will likely come at a small premium.
There will be a new type of storage as well that has can boost performance, said Intel's Trainor. Currently, with Windows Vista, a USB flash memory key can act as an intermediate data cache for the system's hard drive.
This makes the most-used data more quickly available for the processor, streamlining its operation. Called Turbo or Robson memory, this technique will go into overdrive when the flash memory is put on the motherboard for faster access, Trainor noted.
Displays
We'll look at our notebooks in a different light in 2015 as sequential red, green, blue LED backlighting replaces the cold cathode fluorescent lighting tubes found in today's LCD screens. This technology will not only offer brighter images, but will also use less power.
Ultimately, organic LEDs will take over, although they may not be ready in time for a 2015 system in the sizes and quantities required for mass production. Because they make their own light, OLEDs can be made thinner than today's screens.
These screens have been used on phones for several years, and Sony's XEL-1 is the first TV to have an OLED display. Its 11-in. OLED screen is just over a tenth of an inch thick.
"We're very excited about OLEDs," said Trainor. "They're capable of producing beautiful, rich colors and using less power. It adds another choice."
In a more speculative vein, in seven years, we just might have 3-D displays that show the world as it really is. This will not only be great for gamers, but it can aid in representing complex data and displaying computer-aided designs.
Such displays could also revamp the way we interact with our desktops. Imagine an on-screen desktop that, rather than a flat expanse, has depth and perspective so that you can hide your list of passwords behind the icon for opening your Web browser.
More, better power
Most experts agree that future notebooks will be just as limited by battery life as they are now. But that doesn't mean we won't see significant advances in mobile power supplies -- such advances will be necessary to keep up with all the extra power.
While fuel cells that turn methanol into power showed promise over the past few years, batteries will continue to dominate the power scene. However, there will be a move from lithium-ion cells that have to be made in cylinders to lithium polymer cells that can be formed in a variety of shapes and sizes.
"This allows notebook designers to fill small nooks and crannies of a notebook with extra batteries," explained Trainor.
Powering up could also change with inductive charging, which is key to both the Compenion and Cario concept notebooks. Rather than plugging a cord into the notebook to charge it, you just put the notebook on a special surface that has an inductive power pad, and juice is sent wirelessly to charge the battery.
The payoff is that there's no AC power adapter to carry, but this new method of charging devices will work only if enough charging pads are available. They'd need to be at cafes, hotels and even on airliner tray tables. This technology is ready today, although it is a long way from being adopted widely enough to be useful.
"Inductive charging," said Lopez, "would allow easy access and a secure way to charge."
An innovative mobile approach to power is taken by Nikola Knezevic, a Serbian designer who has turned the clamshell format on its head with solar panels. His concept design, called, not surprisingly, the Solar Laptop Concept, has an extra hinged lid covered with solar cells that can be adjusted to get the most out of the sun.
It'll add a few tenths of an inch to the system's thickness and won't be able to fully charge the system, but when you're done, just fold it up and go.
Still, Trainor, who avidly follows developments of technologies such as solar power, cautioned against becoming too optimistic that this type of technology will make it easier to keep laptops of the future charged.
We all know, its so difficult to choose correctly the good web hosting company that meet all of our web hosting needs and budgets. I think iys important to know about exactly what services that we need, which level of customer care we need, how much we want to pay and how much space we need put our web files.
Todays there are many web hosting server company acclaim and support all we want to have. It'll make us more hard to find the best we need. All of them said that they are number one. Ha ha ha, Yup! No customer they'll got if they say that they are number 2. We knew we can visit many sites that act as reviewer for web hosting company, and they even provide a list of best web hosting that be updated regularly.
They usually named its chart as Top 10 Hosting List, Best Web Hosting List or any names like that. Sometimes, they may be so right about their list as Kaushal Sheth posted about this issue. He spent so much times for hunting the perfect web hosting company until finally he found some. Btw, he shared us the list of those web hosting, so we can try his suggestion.
When Apple rolled-out their wonder phone, I was wondering why it couldn’t record videos. Nearly all smartphones with camera are capable of recording videos. Apple touted iPhone as a complete multimedia device, but the lack of video recording ability always kept bothering its users.
Thanks to the third party app developed drunknbass, which makes it possible to record videos on your iPhone. Currently, the application is in its crudest form and requires some polishing to reach the final version. It lets you record videos upto 5 seconds long at 15fps. The video will replay as soon as the recording is stopped, however, you can’t save the video to iPhone’s memory.
The final version should be able to record unlimited lengths (until it fits in iPhone’s memory) of video at 30fps. You can download the application by registering at the developer’s website here.
I’m still wondering why Apple is being so lethargic to build a video recording application. I hope they do it themselves and release it to the masses as a new firmware.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates says that people will see a sea change in the way they interact with computers in the coming five years.
According to him, more intuitive and natural technologies-particularly touch, vision and speech interfaces-will become increasingly important to the world of computers by that time.
"This whole idea of what I call natural user interface is really redefining the experience," the BBC quoted him as saying in an interview.
"We're adding the ability to touch and directly manipulate, we're adding vision so the computer can see what you're doing, we're adding the pen, we're adding speech," he added.
Gates unveiled the Microsoft Surface computer, a large table like machine with a multi-touch interface, during the interview.
"I'll be brave, in five years we'll have many tens of million of people sitting browsing their photos, browsing their music, organising their lives using this type of touch interface," he said. He also hailed Google for its revolutionary search engine, but said that he hoped that Microsoft would also perform as good as the former one day.
"Google has done a good job. We expect to surprise people that we can match and even do better there - people should wait and see," he said.
Windows Vista might have been the firm's often often-criticised operating system, but Gates said that he considered it to be a great creation.
"I'm very proud of Vista. Like all of the products we ship, we hear how we could do this differently or that differently," he said
He further said that the firm had received a lot of feedback from around that world, and that they were improving the software accordingly.
"We do downloads and improvements all of the time and of course there'll be a major new version coming along," he said.
Gates also revealed that he was keeping a number of PCs at home, but with clarification that none of them was his competitors' products.
"There are a lot of PCs in my house - over 10," he said. "There are no Macs in my house," he added.
Microsoft has released The Windows XP Service Pack 3 standalone release candidate for download. The 336 Megabyte download file contains all previously released updates for the operating system says Microsoft.
This update also includes a small number of new functionalities such as:
supports Bluetooth network equipment
Windows XP Network Diagnostics components (IE Tools menu) 6.1
includes Remote Desktop Connection client
contains network access protection client
includes Windows Imaging Component
contain Microsoft Management Console 3.0
includes Microsoft Core XML Services 6.0
includes Windows Installer 3.1 v2
contain Background Intelligent Transfer Services (BITS) 2.5
include peer name resolution protocol (PNRP) 2.1
includes Wi-Fi Protected Access 2
The final version of Windows XP SP3 is said to be targeted for release sometime in the first half of 2008. Be warned, since this is not the final release but a preview beta you cant go crying to Microsoft if something goes wrong with it. However you should expect to see some improvement with this Service Pack as it is said to have some enhancements.
You can download the self extracting file from here directly.
Let me state from the get go that this is not a Mac OS X vs. Linux vs. Windows Vista article. It will not provide a conclusion over the superiority of one operating system alone and will only be limited to a total of three reasons why Mac OS X and Linux won't succeed against Windows Vista.
Success in this context is equivalent to a scenario where either Mac OS X or Linux, or both, would negatively influence the adoption of Vista to such an extent that Microsoft's share on the operating system with Windows would suffer and become eroded. But in the end it is not about Vista, or a specific version of the three operating systems.
The bottom line is that between the end of 2001 and early 2007, or from XP to Vista, neither Mac OS X nor Linux managed to dislodge Windows. 1. Windows Saturation
Since both Linux and Mac OS X are valid alternative platforms to Windows, each with its own footprint on the operating system market, the concept of a Microsoft monopoly is not valid by any means. Near-monopoly would more accurately describe the Redmond company's dominant position with its operating system, or even a Windows saturation of the market. According to the latest estimates for the install base of each platform as of mid 2007, Windows is on top of the world. The initial vision of Microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates was to put a computer on every desktop in every home. Gates is currently transitioning out if his day-to-day role with the Redmond company and will complete the quasi-divorce from Microsoft as of mid 2008, in favor of Ray Ozzie - Chief Software Architect and Craig Mundie - Chief Research and Strategy Officer. And by 2008, Microsoft will have achieved a key milestone, a landmark fragment of Gates' vision.
Earlier this year, at the Financial Analyst Meeting 2007 on July 26, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer, delivered a perspective over the evolution of Windows in the company's 2008 fiscal year, or from July 1, 2007 until June 30, 2008.
"The install base of Windows computers this coming 12 months will reach 1 billion. If you stop and just think about that, parse that for a second, by the end of our fiscal year '08, there will be more PCs running Windows in the world than there are automobiles, which is at least to me kind of a mind-numbing concept. I think it talks about the way the value has been driven from the Windows PC, and all of the applications from Microsoft to third parties that go with it," Ballmer stated.
And this is only on the client side. But Microsoft has also a strong presence on the server side with its Windows operating system. Clearly client- and server-side are two completely different dimensions. And the fact of the matter is that Linux is regarded as a prominent server platform, while the client version has failed to surpass the single-digit desktop market share since the introduction. Analyst firms Gartner and IDC, in their latest quarterly server numbers, gave Microsoft 67.1% of the market with Windows, and Linux 22.8%. Apple also produces a server operating system, along with the client version, but Mac OS X Server is an insignificant presence, although the Cupertino-based company is pushing ahead and will deal its next move concomitantly with Leopard in October.
And what is even more relevant for Microsoft's dominance on the server-side is the fact fat the Redmond company is accepting the reality of Linux. The interoperability and intellectual property assurance agreement inked with open source distributer Novell in November 2006, is nothing more than Microsoft's way of evolving inside heterogeneous environments, running mixed solutions, as Linux is an established presence and not going anywhere for now.
"I would look at the server market. Windows Server has done well, but has not grown as quickly in recent years as Linux has," stated Brad Smith, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, Legal & Corporate Affairs, Microsoft, explaining the company's position in relation to the lost antitrust battle in Europe.
Statistics look a tad different on the client-side. OneStat gives Windows a global usage share of 96.72% in mid 2007, while Mac OS X is credited with 2.70% and Linux with just 0.36%. W3Counter has Windows at approximately 93% of the market with 3.75% for Mac OS X and 1.37% for Linux, barely more than the percentage of Windows 98. Market Share by Net Applications also gives Windows the lion's share with over 93%, followed by Mac OS X with 6% and Linux still under 1%. The numbers are important because they reflect the fact that there is no empty space to grow for either Linux or Mac OS X. Windows is hugging the market, leaving little elbow room for its rivals. Both Linux and Mac OS X need a consistent amount of momentum to go against Microsoft, but in the Windows saturated market there is no way for that momentum to be gained. Things are simpler for Windows Vista. Microsoft's latest operating system has a natural growth trajectory by replacing older version Windows, and especially Windows XP. By definition, Windows users will look to Microsoft to provide their next operating system.
2. Security
There is a generalized perception of Linux and Mac OS X superiority over Windows when it comes down to the level of security each operating system provides as a de facto standard. The status quo is a direct result of a cocktail mixed with various ingredients, starting from the "inherent" and arrogant superiority attributed to Mac OS X and Linux supporters, continuing with obscure market shares and inexistent threat environments for the UNIX based and the open source operating systems. For Windows users on the other hand, the success of the operating system has as a logical consequence, the downside of running on the most attacked platform on the market. The simple fact that Windows is a large and facile target, in terms of the volume of potential victims, focusing on the threat environment is synonymous with insecurity. Just look at the "Top ten web threats" from Sophos in September or from "Virus Top Twenty for August 2007" from Kaspersky. Not a single piece of Linux or Mac OS X malware.
This is why Microsoft has invested heavily in security and in delivering the perception of security to the public since the release of Windows XP SP2 in 2004. Vista is constantly applauded as the most secure operating system to date, as a direct result of the implementation of the Secure Development Lifecycle methodologies in the building process of the operating system. The SDL is meant to deliver a result as close to the perfection of secure as default perfection is possible, and to reduce the maximum severity rating of the flaws that do get into the final product. Users have to understand that there is no panacea solution to security and that the number of vulnerabilities in Windows, Linux and Mac OS X will never be zero.
Still, the first characteristic of both Linux and Mac OS X is the fact that both operating systems deliver the perception of security by default. And not only the perception. There are long time Linux and Mac OS X users that have never run an antivirus and never got infected with a piece of malware. This is security that Windows Vista is unable to deliver. But at the same time, Microsoft has poured a consistent amount of work into catching up to the rival platforms, because security was the one aspect where Windows was suffering a stigmata of inferiority compared to Mac OS X and Linux. Now the Redmond company is able to market not only a product designed to be secure via SDL, but also a mature security environment and industry built around the operating system, the latter giving it the edge on Linux and Mac OS X. This is how, with Vista, Microsoft is reducing the relevance of security as a decisive factor in choosing an operating system.
You can access both "Windows Vista 6-Month Vulnerability Report" put together by Jeff Jones, Security Strategy Director in Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing group, or the independent "Symantec Internet Security Threat Report - Trends for January–June 07", for a perspective on the vulnerabilities impacting Windows, the major distributions of Linux including Red Hat, Novell SUSE, and Ubuntu, and Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.
3. Evangelism
Evangelism is the zealous marketing of the operating system not to end users, but to software developers. Windows, as well as Linux and Mac OS X are platforms first of all. But the success of an operating system is relatively independent of its quality. However, it is directly dependent on the ecosystem of third-party solutions that are orbiting around it. An operating system will provide a center of gravity for additional software products from developers, partners, information technology professionals and end users. Microsoft, Apple and Linux distributors such as Red Hat, Novell or Canonical, the makers of Ubuntu, all offer support, tools, services and resources to developers building on top of their platforms. Evangelism is what keeps current partners happy and converts developers to one platform as opposite to another.
And make no mistake about it. Microsoft is dead-on focused on software developers. Back in 2001, the Redmond company gave birth to the Developer and Platform Evangelism Division. And Microsoft has been militating Windows with zeal. At this point in time the Redmond company can throw behind Windows not only household names such as Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Ray Ozzie or Craig Mundie, but also the immense mass of Microsoft employees. The company's workforce, approximately 80,000 strong are all Windows missionaries to a higher or a lesser degree.
Do you want an example of Microsoft evangelism at work? Just look at Windows Vista. The number of applications supported by the operating system has grown from 650 at launch to over 2,000 by mid 2007. Additionally, the number of compatible devices grew from 1.5 million to over 2.2 million with in excess of 11,000 items labeled with the Works or with Certified for Windows Vista logos. And this in just the first six months of availability of the operating system. Microsoft Evangelism, on top of the ubiquity of the company's operating system, is the reason why the best and latest games come first to Windows and the reason why top worldwide applications and programs along with software entertainment products, are centered on the platform and not ignoring it.
The same scenario is valid for Linux and Apple but to a smaller degree. And with the Cupertino-based company the evangelism strategy is quite different, and it involves mainly the persona of Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs. Apple however is doing not so much evangelism as pure marketing, because this is the trademark of Jobs. Gates is a monopolist turned philanthropist, the world's wealthiest man, and the one that will take Windows to an install base of 1 billion in 2008. Gates has "killed" competitors on the market and has gone head to head with the authorities in the Unites States and Europe, and Microsoft came out all right, more than ever regarded as an untouchable software monolith. Jobs instead can sell. He has the Mac Guy aura all over him, and he is able to sell every piece of hardware that Apple packages in a bubblegum white design, and every item of software produced in Cupertino. And first and foremost, Jobs is the living and breathing example that there can be a successful operating system outside of Microsoft's Windows.
In contrast, Linux has close to nothing. The Linux world, in fact the entire open source universe is an example of fragmentation. There is no center of gravity, no common criteria or ground and no balance. There is only a puzzle of disparate entities and interests, continually unsynchronized and in a perpetual motion. Linus Torvalds, the original developer of the Linux kernel is nothing more than a background figure. He is the all time good guy of operating system development and the embodiment of utopic open source principles and policy. But Torvalds and Linux evangelism are concepts that do not mix. Instead of being the driving force behind Linux adoption, Torvalds is just its passive father and nothing more. Fortunately for the Linux world, new figures emerge such as Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth. Now with Ubuntu, an operating system regarded as inferior to the products of Red Hat or Novell, Linux has got some comprehensive examples of evangelism, but it is too early to tell what the results will be. Still, for the first time since the availability of Linux, Ubuntu makes end users feel less alienated by the open source operating system.
A subject that can be easily correlated with evangelism is the support original equipment manufacturers and system builders are pouring in each of the three operating systems. Now obviously, this is not the case for Apple. The Cupertino company is a closed environment producing both the hardware and the operating system. This strategy has obviously hurt adoption, but with emulators, hypervisors and virtualization technology the Mac actually has a winning chance. For this Windows XP and Windows Vista had to be welcomed with open arms on Mac computers. With the introduction of Boot Camp, Apple is simply keeping up with the virtualization industry, offering an alternative. But either way Microsoft operating systems can run on a proprietary Apple platform, which gives users, and especially Windows users, the choice of either a PC or a Mac for their next new computer.
At the same time Microsoft has the support of all major original equipment manufacturers and system builders. Companies such as HP, Dell, Lenovo and Acer are all traditional Microsoft partners. According to estimates from Gartner, by the end of 2007, no less than 257.1 million personal computers will be sold worldwide, up from 231.5 units in 2006. The vast majority of these computers will come preinstalled with the Windows operating system. In order to get an idea of what this means you have to understand that in 2007, Apple will sell approximately 8 million Mac computers, but no more than 10 million. Now the fact of the matter is that PCs can easily run either Windows or Linux, and companies such as Dell with Ubuntu and HP with Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 are also offering the open source operating system but on the note of a pet project aimed at a niche of the market, an accessory to the Windows offerings rather than an actual business.
As of February 2008, Windows XP will no longer be available to the retail and original equipment manufacturer channels. From 2008 until Windows 7 (Seven) is scheduled in 2010, Microsoft and its OEM partners will be selling only Windows Vista. And the estimated 257.1 million PCs to be sold by the end of this year will only grow in 2008.
Microsoft has updated Windows Live Photo Gallery, the upgrade to the default Windows Photo gallery that ships by default integrated into Windows Vista. While Windows Live Photo Gallery is still in Beta at this stage the product has evolved with the addition of some new features and functionality. Following the consistent feedback from users, Microsoft has added Flickr photo uploading capabilities to Photo Gallery, no longer restricting the software to its own Live Spaces. Microsoft partnered with Yahoo for this move, and consequently, users of Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2 will be able to find a Publish on Flickr option right in Windows Live Photo Gallery, extending the photo publishing flexibility.
"To upload to Flickr, all I needed to do was choose the photos I wanted to upload and hit "Publish" in the toolbar. A drop-down list will appear that allows me to either choose Windows Live Spaces or Flickr as destinations I want to publish my photos to. I chose Flickr. A new window appeared letting me enter options for which set I want the photo to belong to, what size I want the photo to be uploaded at, and permissions of that photo. Windows Live Photo Gallery will notify you once your photo (or photos) have been uploaded and ask if you would like to view those uploaded photos. In choosing to view the uploaded photos, I was able to add a description and change the name of the photo," Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc described the process.
The Redmond company is referring to the new release of Windows Live Photo Gallery as Beta 2.2 refresh. As of yet, the Beta 2.2 is not available directly for downloading. Microsoft is instead serving the refresh via Windows Update. In this context, with Windows Live Photo Gallery Beta 2 installed on your machine search for additional updates and you should find Beta 2.2 refresh. If this should not be the case exercise a little patience as it will take Microsoft quite a while to make the update available to all users. Simply check back in a couple of days.
"Windows Live Photo Gallery no longer requires WDS (Windows Desktop Search) to be installed on XP! Again, we heard the grumblings loud and clear, and took action! Once you have installed the update via Microsoft Update and have build 1299.1010 install you can uninstall WDS if you’re not using it with any other programs. Being a beta, we’ve also fixed a ton of bugs reported by users so the product should be a lot more stable since the last beta release," Microsoft Program Manager Michael Palermiti stated.
Blinged-out USB flash drives are nothing new, really, since, for some strange reason, the number of people ready and willing to cough up huge amounts of cash in order to purchase something that acts more like a piece of jewelry than a technological device has seriously increased.
And this is also the reason why the Canadians at Bissol came up with their Luxury Memory Sticks, which provide 4 GB of storage space in a shiny and attractive package.
Obviously, the main selling point of the device is its external casing. Thus, the drive sports a machined solid brass body, available in 2 models: brass (gold color) and electroless nickel coated brass (silver color). Furthermore, the drive offers users 4 GB of storage capacity, which makes it a rather average (or mid-range, if you will) device, but, after all, it's quite clear that this particular drive will be used mostly for showing off, rather than actually carrying around the users' data. As all the other USB flash drives on the market, the device from Bissol connects to a host computer via an USB 2.0 interface, which means that it can attain data transfer rates of up to 480 Mbps, without requiring any external power sources. Furthermore, the drive supports the ReadyBoost feature from Windows Vista, which means that its 4 GB can be used as additional RAM memory, thus increasing a system's overall performance without the addition of expensive RAM modules.
As mentioned earlier, the manufacturer claims that its luxury memory stick is among the world's tiniest and it seems that this thing actually has the specs to prove it, as the device measures around 28.9mm × 12.4mm × 2.2mm, at an overall weight of just around 3.6 grams.
Quite obviously, a device that contains "world's tiniest" and "luxury" in its description can't come cheap and that's exactly the case with the drive from Bissol. Thus, the Bissol Luxury USB Memory Stick retails for around 260 US dollars, which is a huge price to pay for such an item since, for example, a normal 16 GB drive can be found at around 200 US dollars.
The new Windows Vista still has a significant bug or two
Early adopters of Windows Vista have experienced a rather bumpy ride. Facing public outcry, Microsoft agreed recently to let OEMs bundle XP with computers as opposed to Vista, a reversal of their previous policy, as reported at DailyTech.
Now a major error in Vista has been found that may affect a number of power users or anyone who, in the words of Microsoft, has "lots of files." Microsofts support pages for Windows Vista feature this jewel, featured on ZDNet. When you use Windows Vista's Windows Explorer to try to copy files to another Windows computer, the following message may greet you:
"Out of memory There is not enough memory to complete this operation."
According to Microsoft this can occur if "the files include extended attributes." Or, more humorously, if "you copy lots of files in a single operation."
Ironically users must specially request a hotfix in order to fix this problem which seems like it could frequently occur, as many users do copy "lots of files" between computers on a network. The problems are due to a memory leak in the Windows OLE component.
The fix was originally planned for inclusion with Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1). Unfortunately the beta version of SP1 does not contain the fix, so it appears to have been ditched from Vista SP1.
The magic number, it turns out is around 16,400 files. These do not have to all be copied at once. If a user copies this many or more files at any time between reboots, the user will frequently get errors.
"Black screens of death" (BSODs) have also been reported with the error. Ironically, early reports indicate that the file size does not necessarily matter in whether or not 16,400 files will cause the memory error.
The problem is apparently excaberated by Kapersky Antivirus, which somehow makes the crashes more likely to happen, according to reports.
Windows Vista also has issues with selecting more that 1,500 files. Doing so will cause dramatic memory spiking and slowdown. This was another issue that was supposed to be fixed in SP1, but is not currently included in the Beta, so also appears to have been scrapped.
Windows Vista users have many gripes, one of which is the high memory requirements of the system, and overall problems in memory useage and inefficiencies. Microsoft requires 1 GB of memory to run its OS, but users with less than 2 GB will experience less satisfactory performance.
As Microsoft struggles with its Vista woes, it can take solace that users will likely simply go back to its other product -- Windows XP.
This only occurs when you copy files from one computer to another. This is a typical scenario in a business or home network setting, so it is still significant to many users.
Again, this is not fixed in the Service Pack 1 beta, though a hot fix is available upon request. Note the crash does not occur during every copy, but does occur more frequently when running Kapersky, as noted. This article only intends to point out a current flaw in the Vista OS and not to discount Windows Vista or Microsoft's overall efforts to produce quality software products. Microsoft has indicated its intention to fix this error, and will likely include the hotfix in a future service pack, possible SP2, though this may be some time in the future.
At the time, Apple announced that it would delay the introduction of the long-awaited operating system due to needs of the iPhone program. The delay forced OS X v10.5 to an October ship date instead of June.
"We now plan to show our developers a near final version of Leopard at the conference, give them a beta copy to take home so they can do their final testing, and ship Leopard in October," said Apple in April. "We think it will be well worth the wait. Life often presents tradeoffs, and in this case we're sure we've made the right ones."
"We can't wait until customers get their hands (and fingers) on it and experience what a revolutionary and magical product it is," the company continued.
The wait is almost over and eager Apple fans will be happy to know that OS X v10.5 will ship on October 26. Apple says that the revised operating system contains over 300 new features and “installs easily, and works with the software and accessories you already have.”
Some of the highlighted features include a revamped desktop, a new Finder which includes Cover Flow technology, Quick Look which gives full-scale previews of documents before opening them and Time Machine which creates incremental backups of files.
Pricing for Apple's OS X v10.5 may make some Windows Vista users green with envy. A single-user license of OS X v10.5 costs just $129.00 direct from Apple. A five-user license will set you back just $199.00.
While the UMPC platform has sparked some interest from consumers, the high price of entry -- around $1,000 for entry-level models -- has stalled significant growth of the sector. Asustek hopes to change that with its new Eee PC. According to Reuters, the Eee PC will be priced from $199 for its bulk customers. Asustek's Eee PC will be available at brick-and-mortar stores like Best Buy and online retailers like Newegg within the next few weeks. The UMPC will later make an appearance in Europe.
"If we can sell a couple million [Eee PCs], we'll be confident," remarked Jonathan Tsang, Asustek's president of sales and marketing.
The Eee PC features a 7" display (800x480), 10/100 NIC, 56k modem, WiFi, 256MB to 1GB of DDR2 memory and solid-state memory for storage (2GB to 8GB). To keep prices low, the device runs a Linux-based operating system although it is compatible with Windows XP.
The range-topping Eee PC 8G features 1GB of memory and 8GB of storage space. It also features a 5200 mAh battery good for 3.5 hours of battery life (lesser models are stuck with a 4400 mAh battery good for 2.8 hours). Device weight is a trim 2 pounds.
A Russian review of the Eee PC revealed that the device is powered by an ULV 900MHz Intel Celeron processor which is backed up by an Intel 910GMLE Express chipset.
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