The Unofficial Windows Blog

86% of Windows PC’s Maxing Out on Memory

2010-02-19T08:00:00.001-05:00

Citing data from Devil Mountain Software’s community-based XPnet, Craig Barth, the company’s chief technology officer, said that new metrics reveal an unsettling trend. On average, 86% of PC’s running Windows 7 are using 90-95% of their ram, as a result there is bottlenecks and decreased performance as systems are forced to turn to disk-based virtual memory to handle tasks.

While Vista was known for using a lot of RAM while it was idle, Windows 7 hasn’t been plagued with the same issues. However according to the pool of XPnet computers, the number of Windows 7 PCs using 90-95% of RAM is double that of the number of XP computers that run at memory “saturation” point. XPnet have more than 23,000 PCs in their pool and a recent snapshot shows that only a mere 40% of XP machines were using high amounts of RAM.

The vast majority of Windows 7 machines over the last several months are very heavily-memory saturated,” “From a performance standpoint, that has an immediate impact on the machine.”

said Barth today. What is also more worrying is that Windows 7 PCs generally have more RAM than XP Machines. The average Windows 7 Machine sports 3.3GB while Windows XP machines have approx 1.7GB on average.

“Windows 7 machines have almost twice as much memory to work with, but the numbers show just how much larger and more complex Windows 7 is than XP.”

However, there is another side to this data collected by XPnet.

Barth acknowledged that XPnet’s data couldn’t determine whether the memory usage was by the operating system itself, or an increased number ofapplications, but said that Devil Mountain would start working on finding which is the dominant factor in increased memory use.

It may just be that the Windows 7 machines running at the time were using more RAM because of the number of applications they were running etc…. Also if your machine has 1GB or 20GB of ram, I think you will find that there is a good chunk of it being used. No it’s not because the Operating System is a resource hog, it’s just being sensible.

You see RAM is “Random Access Memory” which means it’s used for “Random” tasks. Your computer doesn’t know that you are about to open up your browser or that you want to open up a photo editing program. So instead it stores information in the RAM which can be quickly accessed once you call for that program. Allowing your PC to load up a application quicker than it would straight from a hard drive.

So basically just because your system happens to be using a lot of RAM doesn’t mean it your PC is a resource hog, it’s just being sensible, any unused RAM is just going to waste. It’s when your RAM is maxed out that you get system bottlenecks and crashes, which has never happened to me to date on my laptop. I’m running Windows 7 64 bit with 4GB ram, and I do plenty of multitasking. Right now I have a browser with 10 tabs open, iTunes, Messanger, Microsoft Word and a Photo Editing program and my RAM is just at 50%.

I rarely notice any slowdown with my system since upgrading to Windows 7, and I when my system is idle I generally use about 35% of my RAM. Only on rare occasions like when playing Call Of Duty do I see it spike up to about 75-80%.

So to wrap it up, I wouldn’t be worried in the slightest if your PC is using anything up to 70% of your RAM, Windows will automatically reallocate RAM to where it’s need as you approach 100% and it’s only on systems with very low amounts of RAM that you will get system crashesand freezing if it fails to do this.

I would take this data from XPnet with a pinch of salt, unless I hear different from you guys. What is your current RAM usage at and how much available memory do you have installed? What is it at Idle and do you ever max it out?

Let us know in the comments

New York Times To Change Online Access Fees, One Week Before Possible Apple Tablet Announcement

2010-01-17T17:06:00.001-05:00

The New York Magazine is reporting that the New York Times will soon be changing the way they charge readers for online content. Incase you have been living in cave for the past two months, the New York Times has leaked a number of details about the Apple Tablet (or iSlate), which is rumored to be announced on January 27th. This is interesting because it means that A) the New York Times is preparing for a possible tablet announcement from Apple on the 27th or B) that Apple has cut a deal with The New York Times to publish content on the tablet. We are pretty sure that Apple has talked with content providers (including the New York Times) about publishing content on the Apple Tablet, so it is a big possibility. Could we soon be reading the New York Times on our iSlate’s. We will just have to wait and see.

Germany Recommends it’s Citizens Flush Internet Explorer Down the Toilet

2010-01-17T16:31:00.001-05:00

Due to the recent attacks on Google.cn, which exploited flaws in Internet Explorer, Germany has recommended all of its citizens abandon Internet Explorer for any other browser. The German government specifically cited Internet Explorer 8,7 and 6, but that does not mean you should start using IE 5. Perhaps Germany should go a step

further and ban Internet Explorer completely.

Sun Gets Caught Eating A Comet:

2010-01-03T19:51:00.001-05:00

Earlier today the SOHO observatory caught the sun murdering then eating a comet. You can watch this senseless act of violence occur in the video below. Our prayers are with the Comet family.

What’s The Best Website To Find Free Electronics

2009-11-01T15:40:00.001-05:00

There are several websites that claim to be the best place to get free products; but which one is really the best. After a few weeks of careful consideration, I believe the best service is Lockerz. And yes that is the correct spelling.

It’s really easy to get free products like laptops and gaming consoles on Lockerz. What's better is that you can get these relatively fast without any referrals. For example, a Lockerz user can get a PSP 3000 or an iPod Nano absolutely free in about 26 days if they visit the website each day.

So, you are most likely wondering how this works. To get your free product you need to collect PTZ. The good news is that PTZ can be collected in 3 ways.

The first way to collect PTZ is simply by logging in each day. Each time you log in you will get 2 PTZ. If you are on the Z-list you will get 4 PTZ. So, if you want to get your free product quickly, I suggest you log in each day.

The second way to collect PTZ is by answering dailies. Dailies are basically survey questions. These questions are not at all personal. They are mostly something like “What is you favorite color”. As you can tell by the name, there is one of these survey questions every day. Each time you answer one you’ll get another 2 PTZ. If you are on the Z-list you will get 4 PTZ.

The final way to collect PTZ is a one time deal. Just after you sign up, you’ll get an opportunity to play a game, which is sort of like Pong. The objective is to hit as many coins as you can with your mouse. In this game you can get anywhere from 1 to 1,000 PTZ, depending on how good you are. The bad news about this game is that you can only play once, so you must do your best.

How do I sign up?

The bad news is that Lockerz is invitation only. The good news is that I’ll send you an invitation if you follow my following instructions.

1. Point your browser to YouTube.

2. If you don’t have an YouTube account create one. If you do have an account skip this step.

3. Click the mail icon in the upper right hand corner of the webpage.

4. Click “compose”, which is located on the left side of the webpage.

5. In the To box address the message to “vistarox”, without the quotes.

6. In the subject box type in Lockerz

7. In the message box type in your email address.

8. Click send message.

As soon as I get the message I’ll email you a Lockerz invitation. Please give me at least two days to send the invitation.

Free Anti-Virus Software For Windows 7 Vista and XP

2009-10-26T20:13:00.001-04:00

There are plenty of paid antivirus software like Norton out there for Windows, but what if you want a free anti-virus. The good news is that there is plenty of free Anti Virus software that are out there.

Below I’ve listed the best of the free security software that is compatible with Windows 7, Vista and XP.

Microsoft Security Essentials

Many reviews say that Microsoft Security Essentials is the best free antivirus out there. MSE is very lightweight and effective, but it does have some issues when detecting false positives. If you want to use MSE you can download here.

Panda Cloud Antivirus

Panda Cloud Antivirus is security software in that works in the internet. The software is very lightweight, but it takes a very long tome to scan for infections. You can download here.

COMDO

COMDO has been really popular for a long time now. Like the other two options I mentioned it performs well and has OK detection. Click here to download COMDO. COMDO has different options for 32 Bit and 64 Bit PC’s so choose correctly.

AVG 9

Of all the software I’ve mentioned AVG is the most popular, but it does not mean its the best. Over the years AVG has went from performing excellently to just being plain awful. If you feel confident enough to try AVG you can download it here.

Avira

Avira is a very popular free Antivirus app. It has excellent detection and the scan speeds are the best you’ll find out of all the free apps.

The one big downside is the annoying nag screen asking to upgrade. If your willing to put up with nag screens you can download it here.

Avast! 4.8

Avast is one of the favorite security apps of experts. Its lightweight, fast and it includes a DOS-based boot time scan, which is abnormal for free Antivirus software. You can download Avast here.

Looking at screenshots and deciding which antivirus has the good looks and which is ugly is easy. The hard part is choosing the one with the highest detection. Luckley PC world has orginised a chart with the detection rates. Here they are:

Panda: 99.4%

Avira: 98.9%

Avast: 98.2%

MSE: 97.8%

AVG: 95.8%

Comodo: 74.6%

What ever software you choose I recommend you download Both AVG's LinkScanner and Comodo Firewall as add-ons.

Remember to voice your opinion in the comments section.

Save $80 When Buying Windows 7 With a Few Hacks

2009-10-25T15:00:00.001-04:00

The trusted Windows expert, Paul Thurott have figured out how to use a Windows 7 Upgrade disk to do a clean install of Windows 7. This is really great because the Windows 7 Upgrade costs a whole $80 less then the regular version.

Here are the installation instructions:

1. When installing Windows 7 do a clean install. You should have no problems doing this.

2. Make sure there are no Windows Updates pending -- if there's an orange shield icon next to the Shutdown button in the Start Menu, that means you need to reboot before attempting the next steps.

3. Open the Windows Registry Editor.This can be done by clicking start and type “regedit” (without quotes).

4. In the Registry Editor navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/

5. Change MediaBootInstall from '1' to '0'

6. Open Command Prompt. This can be done by clicking start and searching for “CMD”.

7. Type slmgr /rearm -- and press enter.

Your PC will restart and run the Activate Windows utility. Then like magic, everything works and you’ve got another $80 in your pocket.

The Today Show Helps to Launch Windows 7 by Showing in on a Macbook

2009-10-23T21:22:00.002-04:00

Thank the lord the Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer did not turn around when he was launching Windows 7 on the today show, or he would have had a heart attack. Someone at the today show must really like Macbook’s or was pulling a funny prank because, as you can see in the above image, Windows 7 is shown on a Macbook.

We also have to consider that Ballmer may have noticed and just did not care. He may have just thought that it just promotes Windows 7 because it shows the wide verity of systems the Windows 7 can run on. Anyways you can watch the video above.

Overpriced Gadget of the Week: $101,353 Dell Laptop

2009-10-23T20:56:00.001-04:00

It may be another mistake by Dell or, a joke, or a complete rip off. Either way Dell is selling a Intel Core i7 Laptop for $101,353.

The Studio XPS 16 with a 1.6 GHZ i7 chip costs $101,353, but if you want to upgrade to a 1.73 GHZ chip you only have to pay about another $350. The good news is that they are taking $100 off faster memory, but frankly Dell I don't think that helps.

The Journey to Windows 7

2009-10-22T20:09:00.001-04:00

In the development of Windows 7, several things have been speculated and screenshots were leaked. I could not think of a better day than today, the launch of Windows 7, to look back at the development. Below is a series of screenshots which have been collected over the past two years.

Windows 7 Milestone One

When Windows 7 Milestone One was leaked, the blogosphere went wild with rumors and reports. Something as little as an out of place button caused crazy speculation. When bloggers, including myself, look back and read this speculation it makes me stop and wonder what we was thinking.

Windows 7 M1 was a very small step forward from Windows Vista. At that point the two OS’ were almost identical except for a few minor changes. Of course, Redmond has lots of things up their sleeve. You can see more screenshots here.

Windows 7 Milestone 2

There is not much to say about Milestone 2 other than it improved the stability and speed of Windows.

Windows 7 Milestone 3

Windows 7 Milestone 3 was without doubt, the biggest leap in the operating system’s development. Not only did it feature a radically different interface than Windows 7 M2, it had plenty of enhancements under the hood. It also gave us our first look at features like Homegroups and Library's. Windows 7 Milestone 3 was also the first version of the OS that Microsoft released to the public.

Windows 7 Beta

Compared to Windows 7 M3, the Beta provided more under the hood enhancements than anything. There were a few visible changes, nothing too major. Windows 7 Beta did set in stone what the Windows 7 UI would be like, setting to rest any wild rumors.

Windows 7 RC

The release of the Windows 7 RC came as a shock to most people because, abnormally, there was no Beta 2 or 3. That just went to show how confident Microsoft was in reliability of their product.

The RC debuted a a feature called Windows XP mode which will greatly change how compatibility worked. In previous versions of Windows, if you wished to use a program designed to work in a old operating system in a new one, you had to run it in a virtual PC. With Windows XP mode people no longer have to do that. If you want to read more about Windows XP mode you can do so here.

Windows 7 RTM

The RTM marked the end of Windows 7’s development. The RTM was not very different than the RC, but it is without doubt the most important stage in an operating systems development. When the RTM is completed it means the the operating system is finalized, and that computer’s are beginning to be shipped with Windows 7. Remarkably the development of one of the best OS’s only took 2 years.

Watch The Windows 7 Launch Live on TUWB

2009-10-22T11:43:00.001-04:00

Yes, its here. Windows 7 is really here. If you want to watch the launch of the worlds best Operating System you can watch it on this link.

Apple Releases Sales Figures: Mac Sales Grow 17%

2009-10-19T20:56:00.001-04:00

I would not trust anyone who said there is no such thing a recession proof company because, Apple just released their sales figures and its much better than expected. Last quarter, Apple sold more iPhones & iMacs then ever before: 3.05 million Macs and 7.4 million iPhones. But, this quarter was not a perfect one for apple. The failing iPod continued the falling sales trend. This is most likely because smart phones, particularly the iPhone, provide all the things the doomed iPod have to offer.

If you are wondering how much profit Apple has made the quarter here it is: $9.87 billion. That is the second largest revenue Apple has made, next to last Christmas season.

Mac sales grew over 17% which is a huge leap considering the mere 2% of growth the industry totaled overall. Laptops were 74% of all Macs sold. Please take not that the the 17% growth is not market share. Apple still holds only about 9% of the desktop market share. Half of the Macs sold are still sold to first time Mac buyers.

Here are the somewhat disappointing iPod sale figures. 10.2 million iPods were sold which is down from the 11 million units sold last year (down 8%). Here is the crazy thing; iPod touch sales grew 100%! Surprisingly 50% of iPod bought were going to first time buyers. The iPod still has 70% of the market share. Sorry Zune HD.

Most Profitable Quarter Ever; Record Mac and iPhone Sales

CUPERTINO, Calif. Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2009 fourth quarter ended September 26, 2009. The Company posted revenue of $9.87 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.67 billion, or $1.82 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $7.9 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.14 billion, or $1.26 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 36.6 percent, up from 34.7 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 46 percent of the quarter's revenue.

In accordance with the subscription accounting treatment required by GAAP, the Company recognizes revenue and cost of goods sold for iPhone™ and Apple TV® over their estimated economic lives. Adjusting GAAP sales and product costs to eliminate the impact of subscription accounting, the corresponding non-GAAP measures* for the quarter are $12.25 billion of "Adjusted Sales" and $2.85 billion of "Adjusted Net Income."

Apple sold 3.05 million Macintosh® computers during the quarter, representing a 17 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 10.2 million iPods during the quarter, representing an eight percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 7.4 million iPhones in the quarter, representing seven percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter.

"We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We've got a very strong lineup for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010."

"We are delighted with our September quarter and fiscal 2009 results," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "For the full year, we grew revenue by 12 percent and net income by 18 percent in extraordinarily challenging times. Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue in the range of about $11.3 billion to $11.6 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $1.70 to $1.78."

Apple will provide live streaming of its Q4 2009 financial results conference call utilizing QuickTime®, Apple's standards-based technology for live and on-demand audio and video streaming. The live webcast will begin at 2:00 p.m. PDT on October 19, 2009 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq409/ and will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.

Overpriced iPhone App of the Week: Wolfram Alpha

2009-10-18T18:32:00.001-04:00

The Wolfram Alpha iPhone App is so overpriced, its not even funny. It costs a whopping $50. I don’t even think the biggest Wolfram Alpha fans are willing to give up that kind of money, to get a “computational engine” that you can use for free by simply pointing Safari to their website.

The people at Wolfram Alpha are selling this as as a half-priced graphic calculator, with the added benefit that it uses the existing Wolfram Alpha “computational engine”. But even with that wonderful selling point I cant get over the fact that you can get the same thing free by going to their website. Really Wolfram, do you think that the public is so stupid that they will give up their had earned $50, so that they can use a service that they can get for free at the Wolfram website.

Wolfram Alpha rep Josh Dilworth had this to say in an email to Gizmodo:

"How many people will buy it? We're not sure, but looking at the other apps that are $50+, we think that we're of at least comparable in utility and functionality, if not more. And, part of what the company is also doing is making a statement about the non-trivial nature of WolframAlpha's capabilities, and how much the system has matured since launch."

Mr. Dilworth, I'm sure that the Wolfram Alpha app is as good as any $50+ app in the app store, but who is going to buy this app when they can get the exactly same thing in their browser.

Your free to go ahead and pay $50 for this app, but personally I’ll just go to their website.

How to Win Free Stuff By Simply Searching the Internet

2009-10-18T18:06:00.001-04:00

If you are like most people you are probably looking to save a few bucks. Good thing that there are several websites that just gives away things with no strings attached. I scanned the web looking for the best freebie website and I think I found it. Its called Swagbucks. On Swagbucks you can get thousands of items absolutely free ranging from pencils, to laptops, just by searching the internet.

You’re probably wondering how this works. To get free items you need to collect Swagbucks; there are two ways to earn them.

One method of getting Swagbucks is by searching the internet. When searching the internet using Swagbucks search, people will randomly be selected to receive free Swagbucks. Generally people will receive 5 Swagbucks a day just from searching using Swagbucks search. I highly recommend that you use this method. You do not need to be concerned of the quality of the results because Swagbucks Search is powered by Google.

The other method is Swagcodes. Every day a new Swagcode is released which is worth some Swagbucks. All you need to do is find those codes and enter them in the website. You can find daily Swagcodes here.

If you want to sign up for Swagbucks, so you can start collecting your free prizes, click this link.

Rumor: ATI to Provide Graphics For Next Xbox

2009-10-15T09:07:00.001-04:00

A source at Fudzilla suggests that Microsoft was so impressed with the graphics that ATI provided for the Xbox, that they will continue to use their graphics chips in their next console. Chances are this chip will have 28-nanometer technology.

Most Sidekick Data Recovered by Microsoft

2009-10-15T08:56:00.001-04:00

It looks like all of your precious Sidekick data was not lost after all. On the T-Mobile sidekick forums a Microsoft employee confirmed that "most, if not all, customer data" will be returned as soon as possible. You can expect your most important data such as your contact’s contact list to be returned first.

The data loss was caused by a system failure which deleted all data including the backup data.

You can read the full letter below:

Dear T-Mobile Sidekick customers,
On behalf of Microsoft, I want to apologize for the recent problems with the Sidekick service and give you an update on the steps we have taken to resolve these problems.

We are pleased to report that we have recovered most, if not all, customer data for those Sidekick customers whose data was affected by the recent outage. We plan to begin restoring users' personal data as soon as possible, starting with personal contacts, after we have validated the data and our restoration plan. We will then continue to work around the clock to restore data to all affected users, including calendar, notes, tasks, photographs and high scores, as quickly as possible.

We now believe that data loss affected a minority of Sidekick users. If your Sidekick account was among those affected, please continue to log into these forums for the latest updates about when data restoration will begin, and any steps you may need to take. We will work with T-Mobile to post the next update on data restoration timing no later than Saturday.

We have determined that the outage was caused by a system failure that created data loss in the core database and the back-up. We rebuilt the system component by component, recovering data along the way. This careful process has taken a significant amount of time, but was necessary to preserve the integrity of the data.

We will continue working closely with T-Mobile to restore user data as quickly as possible. We are eager to deliver the level of reliable service that our incredibly loyal customers have become accustomed to, and we are taking immediate steps to help ensure this does not happen again. Specifically, we have made changes to improve the overall stability of the Sidekick Service and initiated a more resilient backup process to ensure that the integrity of our database backups is maintained.

Once again, we apologize for this situation and the inconvenience that it has created. Please know that we are working all-out to resolve this situation and restore the reliability of the service.

Sincerely,
Roz Ho
Corporate Vice President
Premium Mobile Experiences, Microsoft Corporation

PS3 May Get Cross Game Audio Chat

2009-10-14T22:42:00.001-04:00

Some major news just came out of the PlayStation official forums. An employee of Sony has just made a huge mistake and confirmed that cross game audio chat may be coming to the PS3 when the next firmware is released. The posting was abruptly removed by Sony.

Cross game text chat has been around for a while now but the console is yet to get audio chat support. It is quite possible that the next firmware update will bring cross game audio chat to the system, but I would not count on it considering the bad track record’s of forum posts.

Acer Overtakes Dell as Number 2 PC Maker

2009-10-14T21:00:00.001-04:00

Remember how earlier on today Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci, said that the company would overtake Dell as the number 2 worldwide PC maker. Well it appears that Mr.Lanci is some sort of physic because according to Big Pie Chart™ that is what just happened. As you can see in the chart above HP is in the number 1 spot 19.9% market share, Acer is in the number 2 spot with 15.4% market share and Dell is third with only 12.8% of market share. Acer may not have beat Dell in worldwide like Mr.Lanci said but its a start.

Vaio L Series Announced

2009-10-13T20:47:00.001-04:00

Along with the VAIO CW and VAIO X, Sony has decided to release a touch-screen, all-in-one desktop called the VAIO L. Like the CW and the X, it runs Windows 7 which should integrate nicely with the VAIO L’s 24-inch touch-screen. Apparently, Sony is actually billing it as part HDTV and part PC because it can play Blu-Ray discs and has a built-in TV tuner. The VAIO L will cost $1300 when released. Not bad

US to Bomb Moon – It’s Official The Nation is Crazy

2009-10-08T19:46:00.001-04:00

I admit, the title is a little misleading. NASA is not really going to bomb the moon, rather they are just going to smash a billion dollar spacecraft into it.

On Friday, October 9, at 7:31AM Eastern/4:31AM Pacific, NASA is going to launch an Atlas 5 rocket headed to the moon which will blast Centaur (the upper stage of the Atlas 5 rocket) towards the Cabeus crater at 5,600 MPH. Surprisingly all of this drama will only create a crater the size of a football field. Not exactly like in the movies.

Like most people, you are most likely wondering, why does NASA want to smash an expensive spacecraft into the moon to create a little crater. Well, when they smash the spacecraft into the moon it will create a plume projected to be thirty miles high which will be visible from from another spacecraft travelling through the debris field. NASA will then measure the proportion of water—ice to dust ratio—in lunar regolith. This is all to see how much water is on the Moon. NASA choose the Cabeus crater because it is most likely to show definitive proof of water on the Moon.

If you want to watch NASA bomb the moon there are three ways to do it:

Attend one of the many public events organized by observatories throughout the country. You can see a list of events here.

• Watch NASA TV, which will broadcast the event.

• Use Slooh, the site that lets you control telescopes around the world.

Lets just hope that this does not obliterate the moon.

Apple Tablet Arriving Q1 Next Year?

2009-10-07T11:47:00.001-04:00

If the Apple Tablet really exists it is believed that it will be manufactured by Foxconn. Now DigiTimes is reporting that 400,000 tablets will be ready by the 1 quarter of next year.

Also of note, is that Foxconn has its own Innolux Display subsidiary which might be used instead of Wintek.

I would not take these rumors too seriously though because we don't even know if the Apple Tablet even exists.

Google Experimenting With a New Homepage

2009-10-06T18:09:00.001-04:00

Google is apparently experimenting with a new homepage to simplify the design of the the popular search engine.

The new design hides all content except to Google logo and the search, the other content only will appear when the user places their mouse over the webpage. Surprisingly the experimental design completely removes the Google Search and the I’m Feeling Lucky Buttons, which can be an issue for users who don’t know they can press the enter key to search.

Check out the demo below, and voice your opinion!

Flash Coming to All Smartphone's Except iPhone

2009-10-05T19:24:00.002-04:00

Adobe has promised that Flash will be on most Smartphone's including Windows Mobile, Palm Pre, Android, Symbian, Blackberry and NVIDIA powered netbooks by years end. One smart phone notably missing from this list is the popular iPhone.

Adobe said that Flash is not coming to the iPhone because the iPhone and Apple in general is a “closed device”. Despite pressure from developers to make the iPhone more open, Apple still believes that a closed device is better than an open one.

A very interesting think about Flash 10.1 is that it will support graphics chip acceleration on NVIDIA netbooks which means that you can view content on a netbook without slowing your netbook down to a snails pace. Adobe AIR will also see improvements with Flash 10.1. Lets just hope that Adobe can deliver on its promises.

Windows 7 Arrives at Stores

2009-10-04T18:21:00.001-04:00

No, its not a dream. Windows 7’s launch is a little over 3 weeks away. The launch is so close that the Windows 7 retail packaging is arriving at a retail stores. It’s now time to say goodbye to Visa (or XP) because more happy is coming October 22nd.

Run Windows XP Apps in Windows 7 With Windows XP Mode

2009-10-03T17:27:00.001-04:00

Windows XP Mode allows users to seamlessly run Windows XP applications in the Windows 7 environment. This means that all of your old software that runs on Windows XP will work in Windows 7. Before you get started take a look at the system requirements which I listed below:

Operating System(s): Windows XP and Windows 7 Ultimate Professional or Enterprise.
Processor: Processor capable of hardware virtualization, with AMD-V™ or Intel® VT turned on in the BIOS.
Ram / Memory: At least 2 GB
Hard Drive: At least 20 GB for Windows XP

If you need to check if your processor supports hardware virtualization, refer to your manual, call your computer manufacturer or download SecurAble, to determine if your processor supports XP mode.

You will now need to download some software.

You will need to download and install both Windows Virtual PC RC and Windows XP mode RC which you can find here.

Once you’ve completed the install click Virtual Windows XP in the start menu and choose a username and password. Make sure to remember these credentials, or XP mode wont work.

Once you’ve done that you should see a window, which will set up Windows XP for use. This can take a while so, go get a cup of coffee read the news paper and wait until it’s complete. If you receive a message that hardware virtualization is not enabled, reboot your computer and check that the BIOS option is enabled, usually found under the advanced settings page. Call your hardware maker for more information.

If your computer chooses not to misbehave you should see a window with the regular Windows XP desktop in it.

You will now need to install all of your Windows XP applications in the Virtual Windows XP Window. Make sure to select install for all users when you install programs, or XP mode just wont work.

If you can't install for everybody, you can simply choose "Open All Users" on the start menu, and copy a shortcut to the application into the start menu's programs folder.

Once you install all of your programs they will be listed in the Windows 7 start menu under the Windows Virtual PC -> Virtual Windows XP Applications folder.

Depending on what the situation is, when clicking a XP mode application in Windows 7 you’ll be prompted to do different things. No matter what the window says XP mode should work.

The whole process of setting up XP mode should now be complete. When launching applications in Windows XP mode you’ll find that they look like they did in Windows XP except they are in Windows 7. Enjoy!

Here We Go Again – Palm Web OS Available, Fixes Media Sync

2009-10-03T16:44:00.001-04:00

Here we go again. Palm has just announced the availability of Web OS 1.2.1 for the Palm Pre. This fixes some Microsoft Exchange issues and media sync with iTunes 9.0.1, which Apple broke. Yes, this does mean that you can upgrade to the awful looking iTunes 9.0.1 without having to give up your Pre’s syncing ability. We know what Apple’s going to do next so enjoy it while it lasts.

iPhone OS 3.1 for 3GS Now Jailbroken

2009-10-02T20:55:00.001-04:00

The iPhone OS 3.1 has finally been jailbroken, and freed from the evil grips of Apple. The problem is that you need to have already Pwnd it at 3.0 or 3.0.1—you can't jailbreak 3.1 directly, but its a start.

Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7

2009-10-02T20:40:00.002-04:00

You’d think that upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 would be easy considering that 60% of PC’s worldwide run it. Unfortunately upgrading form Windows XP to Windows 7 is not as easy as simply pressing the upgrade button, because Microsoft did not add upgrade support. But don't feel sad because your not out of luck, there is a somewhat easy way to upgrade.

What you'll need are:

A USB flash drive or another form of external media
A copy of Windows 7
A computer running Windows XP (that is Windows 7 compatible)

For a strange reason some people recommend that you upgrade to Windows Vista first then upgrade to Windows 7. I don’t recommend that method at all because it is a waste of your money. The other method (which Microsoft and I recommend) is a clean install which would obliterate Windows XP and replace it with Windows 7.

If you've been using Windows XP for the past 8 years chances are you have quite a bit of important data on the computer so its a good idea to back it up.

To back up or data insert the Windows 7 disk into the computer. If auto run opens click don’t run. Now, browse the DVD for a file named migsetup.exe, which is the Windows Easy Transfer tool. Windows Easy Transfer is designed to help easily move all of your documents and settings to a new operating system. Easy Transfer will not transfer or applications so remember to keep all of the product keys for your paid programs, and the download link for the free ones.

When the Windows Easy Transfer welcome screen opens you will be prompted to select three options for where you want to save the data to. I personally prefer the external hard drive or USB flash drive option because it’s easiest, but you can click whichever you prefer.

When the next window pop up just click “This is my old computer”

The Easy Transfer Tool will scan for user accounts settings and documents. This can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours so be patient.

You will then be prompted to type in a password so you can archive. This is used to prevent people from getting access to your data just incase you loose the USB flash drive. When you’ve installed Windows 7 you will need to type in that password so you can get access to the data.

Its now time to install Windows 7 so, reinsert the install disk and click install now. Because your upgrading from Windows XP you will need to click the custom install option.

You can now install Windows 7 as you normally would. You can see screenshots of the process here. Ignore the first 6 setup screenshots.

Once Windows 7 is installed and running on your machine, attach the external hard disc that you used to take the backup, to the machine, browse over to it and double click on the backup file that you’d created earlier.

The Windows Easy Transfer utility will then start, ask for the password that you’d set earlier and migrate all your XP settings and data to Windows 7.

Dell Reviles “Future Proof” Desktop

2009-10-01T19:51:00.001-04:00

We all know that the future is great, and that technology is advancing exponentially. The issue is that a product you buy now will most likely be outdated a year from now. Dell has decided that they are not going to be bullied around by constantly advancing technology, and has developed a “future proof” Vostro 430 desktop PC. This innocent looking box is fully configurable with the most advanced tech out there which includes, your choice of Core i5 or Core i7 processors and ATI or NVIDIA discrete graphics, along with up to 16GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, an optional Blu-ray drive, a 19-in-1 memory card reader, a couple of PS/2 and serial ports to support your older devices and, of course, plenty of room for further expansion (including no less than 10 USB ports). Surprisingly this powerful box starts at $699. You can get the high end options for under $1,000, Lets just hope all that tech does not end up like the rest of them; Outdated!

Sony Announces Vaio Ultraportable Netbooks

2009-09-02T13:05:00.001-04:00

A few moments ago Sony announced the Vaio X at IFA 2009. This netbook is a half inch thick, an 11.1 inch display and a battery life that "will set the new standard for stamina." The computer just weighs 1 and a half pounds, and is made out of carbon fibre. We have no word on the specs of the machine, but I’ll keep digging.

Update: I have just found the first photos of the Vaio X, which are below:

Update 2: We now know why this netbook has such a long battery life, it has a weak Atom processor. I would not take these specs too seriously, considering that Sony still has to confirm them.

Sony Reviles Waterproof Universal Remote Control for Mythical Mermaids

2009-08-31T18:55:00.001-04:00

If you are one of the millions of super clumsy people, or a mythical mermaid, Sony has the thing that you need. The Rimotokomanda RM-PZ3SD comes in a variety of colors, works on several TV’s (including those by Panasonic / National, Toshiba, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Victor / JVC, Sanyo, Aiwa, Sharp, Funai / PRECIOUS, NEC, Fujitsu, Pioneer, Philips, and, of course, Sony) and offers hours of entertainment while watching your underwater TV. This product will be released in Japan soon (whenever that is) for ¥2,468, which is around $26.

10 Most Essential Firefox Add-Ons

2009-08-31T18:43:00.002-04:00

Flagfox

Flagfox displays the location of the current website you are on. It also will display the sites IP address when you hover over the flag. Useful for many things.

Foof

Are you tired of annoying ads on websites. Well Foof will get rid of them for you. Despite its silly name, Foof will get rid of about 95% of all ads on websites.

Before:

After:

FoxTab

If your like me, you’ve probably been in a situation where you have just too many tabs to easily manage. Well FoxTab can help. It arranges all of you tabs into a Flip-3D type of stack. In addition to the stacks view there are Page Flow, Wall Grid, Row and Carousel view modes. FoxTab also has several theme and 3D view options.

Tab Scope

Speaking of tab management, here is another great way to easily manage your tabs. Its called tab scope. When hovering over a tab, it provides a live preview of the site. This helps allot when you have several similar named tabs open at once, because you can visually pick which one you want to open. In addition to the live preview Tab Scope has simple site navigation tools, so you can go back a page, or stop a page from loading without opening that tab

ImTranslator

It’s becoming more common for people to stumble upon websites written in a language they do not understand. This is where ImTranslator can help. When coming across a website in a foreign language, simply select the text you want to translate, right click and select ImTranslator. You are then given several language options, select the one of your choice and enjoy.

McAfee Site Advisor

There’s no denying it, there are several dangerous websites on the internet. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could simply have something tell you when your about to stumble onto a bad site. Well, Site Advisor does that. It adds a green, yellow or red symbol beside search results to tell you if the site your about to go to is dangerous. It also adds the same symbols to the bottom of the browser.

RamBack

What I’m about to say is going to upset some Firefox users. Firefox is a ram hog! There have even been some reports of Firefox using up to half a gigabyte of ram at any time. Wouldn’t it be nice to get some of that ram back. Well as the name implies that is exactley what RamBack does. This add on runs innocently in the background, with no hint that it even exists. RamBack works by causing Firefox to issue an internal notification to free up memory that is otherwise held for performance purposes.

TwitterBar

This is for all you Twitter addicts. You know who I’m talking about. TwitterBar will allow you to write any tweet (106 character or less) in the address bar, and to post it with a single click. Its that simple.

SmarterFox

Save time - get faster downloads, save Web videos, infinite pages, quicker searches, shortcuts for favorites, auto copy & paste, SmarterFox does this all in a single package for you. SmarterFox has several features built in.

SmarterFox adds a "related articles" sidebar to the left side of Wikipedia.

Popup bubble

The popup bubble appears when you select (or "highlight") some text on a web page. Clicking on it will take you to the Wikipedia article for that term or if no such article exists, a Google search for that term. You also have the option of using the right-click context menu.

Tip

You can disable any aspect of SmarterFox by going to Tools -> SmarterFox

Enhanced Awesomebar

SmarterFox extends the Awesomebar (also called the URL bar) so that Google search results automatically appear as you type. This way you do not have to click though to Google in order to search.

qlauncher

The qLauncher allows you quickly visit your favorite webpages. To invoke the qLauncher press Ctrl-Space. If you are using a Mac or Ubiquity, you might need to change the shortcut since Ctrl-Space might already be in use. (Do so by going to Tools -> SmarterFox). After the qLauncher panel is open simply press another key to open the corresponding site. qLauncher's settings integrate right into Firefox's bookmark system so it will be backed up alongside your other bookmarks if you use something like Xmarks. The bookmarks for qLauncher are included in the folder named "qLauncher" on your bookmarks menu. To add a bookmark to qLauncher simply click on the + button on the qLauncher itself or copy it into the folder. To assign a shortcut key, tag the bookmark with "qlauncher:k" where k is the key you want to use. You do not have to do this however: qLauncher can pick one for you automatically. If you find the bookmark folder obtrusive you can disable the qLauncher and delete it.

SmarterFox can also convert text urls into clickable links and automatically copy on select or paste on right click (NOT enabled by default).

The Tenth Add-On

The tenth add-on will be the one that YOU the reader recommends. Yes I’m looking at you. Post a comment about your favourite add on and it may be added to the list.

Bill Would Give President Obama the Power to “Turn Off The Internet” During a Cyber Emergency

2009-08-29T18:53:00.001-04:00

A revised version of a bill first introduced this spring would give the president the power to disconnect private sector computers (or servers) if there is a “Cyber Emergency” This basically means if the bill is passed the president can shut down any website based in the United States.

The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.

Section 201 of this bill also suggests that government will have the power to regulate critical private networks.

Probably the most controversial language begins in Section 201, which permits the president to "direct the national response to the cyber threat" if necessary for "the national defence and security." The White House is supposed to engage in "periodic mapping" of private networks deemed to be critical, and those companies "shall share" requested information with the federal government.

There has been lots of debate over this bill. Some are calling the bill “vague” and others say it is essential to protecting the nations digital infrastructure. What do you think of this bill? Post you comments below.

Pamphlet Discloses That HD Movies are Coming to the Zune Marketplace

2009-08-29T15:23:00.001-04:00

BostonPocketPC has uploaded a photo claiming that the above image is a pamphlet given to viewers at a Best Buy Zune HD demonstration. If this is true,this confirms that Microsoft will be selling HD movies on the Zune marketplace. Microsoft has already sold TV shows, music video, and video podcasts on the Zune marketplace so it was only a matter of time.

Win Windows 7 Ultimate From TUWB

2009-08-28T16:18:00.001-04:00

Windows 7 is without doubt the best operating system Microsoft has released since XP. It has several feature to make using your computer easier such as, homegroups, aero peek, aero shake, Libraries, XP mode and much more. Usually to get Windows 7 you would need to give up $400 to get this wonderful operating system, but now you can get it absolutely free. Just comment below and you’ll be entered. If you win you’ll receive Windows 7 Ultimate in the mail once it is released on October 22nd. Commenting twice will get you disqualified. Contest closes on September 1st 2009.

Snow Leopard Malware Blocker Only Blocks two Trojans

2009-08-28T14:58:00.001-04:00

Earlier this week Apple announced that Mac OSX Snow Leopard would come with a malware blocker, which prompted overwhelming excitement. Lets just say that the malware blocker was less than underwhelming. It only blocks two Trojans.

The two Trojans it protects your Mac from are OSX.RSPlug and OSX.Iservice. Even worse, it only scans for the Trojans in a few applications. Intego (an OSX security company) found that the malware blocker is half baked in several ways:

Apple's anti-malware function only scans files downloaded with a handful of applications (Safari, Mail, iChat, Firefox, Entourage, and a few other web browsers) — therefore the disturbingly modest signatures base would be undermined if the user were to download the malware from a BitTorrent application

Apple's anti-malware function currently only scans for two Trojan horses, as of the initial release of Snow Leopard — relying on such a modest set of signatures for malware variants of known OS X families, clearly indicates the premature release of the feature

Apple's anti-malware function receives occasional updates via Apple's Software Update — in respect to malware, even Mac OS X malware, every modified variant of a known malware family enjoys a decent life cycle until it gets detected through malware signatures. In its current form the reliance on occasional Apple Software Updates compared to regular/scheduled independent signatures update, clearly increases the life cycle of a known piece of malware.

I personally believe that the anti malware feature provides a false sense of security. Apple may make it better in the future, but that seems unlikely. Windows Defender was better than this.

Twitter and Facebook For XBOX Free for Gold Members

2009-08-28T14:41:00.001-04:00

No surprise here; anyone wanting to fuel their addiction to Facebook and Twitter on XBOX Live will need to pay extra for a gold subscription. Silver subscribers will be given a trial, but we don't know if that means if they will be able to upgrade their membership.

Amazon Confirms Zune HD Pricing

2009-08-11T18:49:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, a Bust Buy employee leaked the Zune HD pricing and it looks like he was not fibbing. Amazon’s pre order page is confirming the price as 220 (16GB) and $290 (32GB).

Twitter Crashes, Again!

2009-08-11T16:12:00.001-04:00

Yet again Twitter’s servers crashed, this time at around 11:45 am PDT. Twitter members reported server time outs and 3^rd party applications were not able to access the service.

On Twitters blog, employees said that the service had some issues for around 10 minutes.

"Responding to site downtime. We're working to recover from a site outage and will update as we learn more."

Twitter was back up and running again, approximately 36 minutes later.

In the past, outages were a common thing, because Twitters small servers could not keep up with the massive traffic, but the outages became less common as Twitter became more popular. This outage is particularly interesting because Twitter is still recovering from a denial-of-service attack last week. The attack was aimed at a Georgian activist blogger, but ended up crashing Twitters servers for several hours. There are rumors that the attack came from the Russian government.

Flash Zune’s Disappear From the Microsoft Store

2009-08-11T15:45:00.001-04:00

It looks like all of the hype over the Zune HD has killed the Flash Zune’s. The official Microsoft Zune Store no longer lists any flash players at all, leaving the only the Zune 80 and Zune 120 available for purchase. Amazon and other retailers still have the flash Zune’s in stock, so hurry if you want one because they may not be around for long.

First Photo of Microsoft Store Construction

2009-08-07T18:09:00.001-04:00

The first photo of a Microsoft Retail Store under construction basically confirms the the leaked store planes. These photos come to us from Microsoft’s official twitter account. The first stores will open in Arizona and Mission Viejo, California this fall.

Bing Gains Market Share in July

2009-08-03T21:32:00.001-04:00

The web analyst firm, StatCounter, released its analyst today, and it shows Microsoft’s Bing gaining slightly in market share.

Last week, Microsoft and Yahoo reached a deal to redirect all Yahoo Search traffic to Bing, which essentially means that Yahoo’s and Bing’s market share are combined. Combined, Bing/Yahoo increased market share 1.09%, up from 19.27% in July. Google’s market share shrunk slightly in July from 78.48% to 77.45%.

StatCounter’s number are based on an analysis of 1 billion search engine referring clicks.

Student Fined $675,000 For Sharing 30 Songs

2009-08-01T21:33:00.001-04:00

Teenager, Joel Tenenbaum, admitted to sharing 30 songs illegally and was originally fined $150,000 per song. He managed to negotiate the price down to $22,500 per song but he still has to pay $675,000 in total.

Unlike other unfortunate people, Tenenbaum has not said he will refuse to pay the $675,000 fine so it looks like a victory for the RIAA.

The RIAA pointed out that the money will go towards more lawsuits and not artists.

Remember, DONT PIRATE SONGS OR THE RIAA WILL BE AT YOUR DOORSTEP.

Snow Leopard Now Available For Pre-Order on Amazon

2009-08-01T21:17:00.001-04:00

Amazon is now accepting pre-orders for Mac OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard, for an incredible price of $29. The five user family pack costs $49 and the server edition is $49. You can bundle iLife and iWork with Snow Leopard for an additional $169 and $229. Unlike Windows 7, most people do not see the operating system being in short supply come launch time, but if your worried here.

FCC Investigating Apple for Rejection of Google Voice App

2009-08-01T13:05:00.001-04:00

The Federal Communication Commission is looking into Apple’s rejection of Google Voice, asking whether AT&T was involved, and why it was rejected.

The request is part of a broader-ranging inquiry by the commission on exclusive deals between cell phone carriers and handset manufacturers for hot phones. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Thursday that the FCC wants to look into rural areas where customers can't buy the latest fancy phones because of such exclusive deals.

Unfortunately, Google Voice still may not be included in the iTunes App store, but it may pressure Apple into including more Apps.

PlayStation 3 Slim Appears on Amazon Listings

2009-08-01T13:00:00.001-04:00

Amazon’s German website has added a listing for "PlayStation 3 Konsole slim” (Translation: PlayStation 3 console slim) from Sony. The PlayStation 3 Console Slim is listed as Platform Independent and has its own ASIN. Unfortunately Amazon does has not posted any photos or launch date.

iPhone Update Fixes Security Issues

2009-07-31T16:10:00.001-04:00

Today, Apple released the iPhone update 3.0.1 which addresses some serious security issues. Apple said this in a statement:

We appreciate the information provided to us about SMS vulnerabilities which affect several mobile phone platforms. This morning, less than 24 hours after a demonstration of this exploit, we've issued a free software update that eliminates the vulnerability from the iPhone. Contrary to what's been reported, no one has been able to take control of the iPhone to gain access to personal information using this exploit.

iPhone Patch Will Hit iTunes Saturday, Says O2

2009-07-31T15:50:00.001-04:00

According to UK carrier O2 Apple will release a patch on Saturday to fix an iPhone SMS security hole, that was revealed by Charlie Miller. O2 spokespersons said the update will be available for download on iTunes. Apple is yet to comment, and it is unclear if the update will be available worldwide.

PS3 Now 70% Cheaper to Make, Could Mean Future Price Cuts

2009-07-31T12:57:00.001-04:00

During a conference call, Sony CEO Nobuyuki Oneda announced that the PlayStation 3 is 70% cheaper to manufacture, then it was at launch. That means that the manufacturing cost went from about $800 to $240.

If what Oneda says is correct, it means Sony can significantly reduce the price of the console and remain profitable. Dropping the price would be a good move, if Sony which's to bean Microsoft and Nintendo.

Win The Sims 3 Collectors Edition From TUWB

2009-07-29T21:54:00.001-04:00

The Unofficial Windows Blog is giving you a chance to win the worlds favourite game, The Sims 3 Collectors Edition (A $69.95 value). All you need to do is comment below, the winners will be selected in a random draw. Commenting twice WILL NOT increase your chances of winning. Contest Closes 08/01/09 12:00 AM.

Sims 3 Collector’s Edition includes:

2 GB THE SIMS PLUMBOB™ USB DRIVE
EUROPEAN STYLED SPORTS CAR DOWNLOAD
NEW THEME MUSIC FROM THE SIMS 3
AN EXCLUSIVE PRIMA TIPS & HINTS GUIDE

Windows 7 RTM Installation Screenshots

2009-07-25T17:31:00.001-04:00

Ready to manufacturers (RTM) is the final stage in Windows 7 development. PC manufacturers are given the final code for installation on new computers, DVDs are pressed, boxed and packaged up, and stores can begin to prepare to offer machines with the new OS installed. In other words, Windows 7 is completed.

Below I’ve embedded a slideshow showing the installation process of Windows 7. Its basically the same as Windows 7 Beta’s installation, except for the slightly quicker installation.

Microsoft Retail Store Plans Leaked

2009-07-24T20:06:00.001-04:00

Ever since Microsoft announced they would be opening a chain of Microsoft stores we’ve been wondering how bad the stores are going to be. Well, according to a PowerPoint presentation which was leaked to Gizmodo, its not too bad. In fact it makes the Apple store seem boring.

The presentation is by Lippicott, a "design and brand strategy" consultant firm with extensive retail experience that it appears Microsoft has hired to help develop the store's concept, principles, and design. The presentation seems legitimate; and if its fake I congratulate the creator.

Microsoft will be taking the best things from the Apple store the Sony store and other retail outlets and bringing them all together in the Microsoft store. The main focuses are going to be Windows 7, Xbox, PCTV (Windows Media Center) Surface and Windows Mobile.

Here are some highlights of the slideshow:

•There's going to be a Digital Media Wall--a massive screen--that wraps around the entire store, which you can see in some of the slides
• Lots of Surface demos
• Stage areas for Windows 7, Windows Media Center (PCTV), Windows Mobile and netbooks
• Their take on the Genius Bar is the Answers Bar (or Guru Bar, depending on which slide you look at, showing it's slightly up in the air, though we prefer Answers Bar since its sounds like slightly less of a Genius Bar ripoff)
• They're already planning out huge demos and events around Project Natal and their secret mobile project Pink
• A fancy Microsoft shopping bag
• You can pay to have your birthday party at the Microsoft Store.

You can check out the slides below:

Palm Fixes Pre iTunes Sync!

2009-07-23T20:28:00.001-04:00

Last week Apple tried to prevent the Palm Pre from syncing with iTunes, but it was not enough. Palm came out with an update that un-broke iTunes syncing and added many great features.

Palm had this to say on their blog:

"That's right — you once again can have seamless access to your music, photos and videos from the current version of iTunes (8.2.1)."

But there are a bunch of other sweet new features, especially "person reminders," which let you set individual reminders for each person in your contact list (imagine a buddy calls, and a message pops up, reminding you to, say, congratulate him—or, if you're like me, to ask him to pay you back the money he owes you). So cool. Below is the full list of updates.

Version information

* Version: webOS 1.1.0
* Release date: 23 July 2009
* Configuration: Sprint 1.7

New applications
NFL Mobile Live from Sprint

* Watch or listen to live NFL games right on your phone.

Feature changes to existing applications
Calendar

* For Calendar accounts you create on your phone, the default reminder intervals are 15 minutes for timed events and one day for all-day events. A few notes:
o This change applies only if software version 1.1 was on your phone when you bought it, or if you did a partial or full erase on your phone and signed in to your Palm profile again after updating to version 1.1. If you simply update your phone to software version 1.1, the default reminder intervals in Calendar do not change.
o This change applies only to Calendar events you create on your phone, not to events that are synchronized to your phone from an online account.

Camera

* The Photos application opens more quickly when launched from the camera.

Clock

* Enhanced support for time zones in Clock.
* When you set an alarm in Clock, an alarm icon appears in the notification area at the bottom of the screen. Tap the icon to display alarm details. Alarm details include the following:
o If the alarm is set for the current day, the alarm time appears.
o If the alarm is set for tomorrow, the alarm time and "Tomorrow" appear.
o If the alarm is set for any day other than today or tomorrow, the day of the alarm appears.

Contacts

* Friends added and deleted in Facebook on the web are now correctly added and deleted in the Facebook account in Contacts on the phone.
* As soon as you create or makes changes to a Google contact on the phone, the phone begins a sync to reflect those changes in Google on the web.

Email

* When you set up an Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) email account, you can enter the mail server name as an IP address.
* Support for self-signed certificates with multiple common names has been added.
* When you reply to an email in HTML format using an EAS account, the formatting of the sender's original message is now retained in the reply.
* Palm's EAS implementation now supports several Exchange ActiveSync Policies, including the following:
o PIN/Password Required. IT administrators can ensure a password is assigned to the phone. Administrators can also specify the minimum length of the password.
o Inactivity timeout. IT administrators can ensure that an inactive phone goes into a locked state after a certain time period. You cannot set a higher timeout interval for your phone, but you can set a shorter interval.
o Remote Wipe. IT Administrators can remotely erase all data on a phone from their Exchange console. IT administrators can also have the device wipe itself if an incorrect password is entered more than a specified number of times.

Messaging

* You can enter emoticons in new text, multimedia, and instant messages. Emoticons also display in incoming messages.
* If you set the phone to use a 24-hour time format, the message times shown in a conversation appear in 24-hour time.
* If you go into an IM account's preferences, all the options are available even if you are signed in to the account. You can tap Remove Account to delete the account, enter a new password to update the password, or tap Sign In to sign in with your updated password. Previously, you needed to sign out of the account before you could use these preferences.
* When you delete an IM account, a message now appears asking you to confirm that you want to delete the account.

Phone

* When multiple missed call notifications are displayed on the dashboard, the time of the most recent missed call is shown.
* When you slide the ringer switch off, a bell icon with a slash is displayed. Previously, the icon was a speaker with a slash.
* In Phone Preferences, the Show Contact Matches preference is now turned on by default. When typing on the keyboard in the phone app, the phone automatically displays both the numbers being entered and any contact matches for the characters entered.

System

* Improved functionality of person reminders. A person reminder is a notification that you create in a contact entry. The notification appears when you have a call or exchange an email, text, multimedia, or IM message with a contact.
* Resolves an issue preventing media sync from working with latest version of iTunes (8.2.1).
* When you enter a search term in Card view or the Launcher to perform a universal search, if you select the Wikipedia web search option, results are shown in the Wikipedia Mobile site instead of the Desktop site.

Web

* You can now use symbols from the symbols table (Sym Sym key icon + key) when you enter text into a web page dialog box.
* If you have a page open at a certain zoom level, leave the page, and use the onscreen Back Web Back button button or the back gesture to return to the page, the zoom level is restored right away.
* A new gesture is now available that works the same as the onscreen Forward Web Forward button button. To move forward through open web pages, make a short swipe left to right in the gesture area.
* When using the Wikipedia drop-down search feature in the address bar, results are shown in the Wikipedia Mobile site instead of the Desktop site.
* When you tap a link, the link appears highlighted to indicate it has been activated, even if it takes a moment for the linked page to open.

YouTube

* After you enter search text, you can tap the Search Search icon icon to perform a search. You still have the option of pressing Enter Enter key to perform the search.

Toshiba Admits Defeat and Will Launch Blu-Ray Player

2009-07-18T19:37:00.001-04:00

Toshiba, the creator Blu-Ray’s failed nemesis, the HD-DVD, has admitted defeat in the best way they can: They are going to launch a Blu-Ray player.

Toshiba's first Blu-Ray player should be launched sometime around Christmas "sources" say it'll be called the BD-18. We don't yet know anything else about the player.

Apple Demands Microsoft Stops Laptop Hunter Ads

2009-07-18T17:22:00.001-04:00

Microsoft's Chief Operating Office, Kevin Turner told audience members during his Worldwide Partner Conference keynote told his employees about how Apple's lawyers wanted Microsoft to take down their Laptop Hunter ads. Here's the story he told.

And so we've been running these PC value ads. Just giving people saying, hey, what are you looking to spend? "Oh, I'm looking to spend less than $1,000." Well we'll give you $1,000. Go in and look and see what you can buy. And they come out and they just show them. Those are completely unscripted commercials.

And you know why I know they're working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey -- this is a true story -- saying, "Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices." They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I've ever taken in business. (Applause.)

I did cartwheels down the hallway. At first I said, "Is this a joke? Who are you?" Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we're just going to keep running them and running them and running them.

The whole keynote is available on Microsoft Presspass.

The most recent Laptop features Matt and Olivia, who were looking for a $700 laptop that they can use to share photos. It needs to have a large screen and great battery life, and of course they find their dream machine:

Xbox Live update rolling out, includes Games on Demand support, Netflix Movie Parties, game ratings

2009-07-16T21:07:00.001-04:00

Microsoft just announced the details of the next Xbox Live dashboard update, which should start rolling out in waves later this summer. Highlight features include support for Games on Demand (coming in August), a slew of Netflix updates including the ability to browse the library and manage your queue, the long-awaited Movie Party system that allows Gold members to share a flick in a virtual theater, and a ton of other little tweaks like user ratings, avatar enhancements, friends list sorting, and a streamlined Party invite system. Yeah, we think we'll take it.

Google Adding Physical Markers to Famous People’s Favourite Locations

2009-07-15T20:46:00.001-04:00

You may soon see a real, physical Google map markers everywhere around the world. Google has asked famous people to share their favourite spots with them, Google will then place a marker at the location.

These markers will have an icon and plaque to identify them. If I was famous enough to have the opportunity to place a marker somewhere, it would be the CN Tower to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I love that tower.

iTunes 8.2.1 Update Breaks Pre’s Music Syncing Capebility

2009-07-15T20:33:00.001-04:00

Palm warned Pre users that the iTunes syncing feature could be broken at a moments notice by Apple. It’s no surprise that Apple broke the feature. I'm able to confirm that iTunes version 8.2.1 will break the Pre’s iTunes syncing ability, meaning you’ll have to copy your music the old fashion way. Palm may find a way to make iTunes syncing work again, but of course Apple would just break it again. This could end up being a very fun game of cat and mouse, but will leave consumers stuck in the middle.

Bill Gates Expresses His Thoughts About Chrome OS

2009-07-15T19:06:00.001-04:00

Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, has already expressed his negative thoughts towards Google’s Chrome OS and now Bill Gates has taken a shot at the upcoming operating system. In an interview with CNET Gates described Chrome OS as just another Linux distribution.

"there's many, many forms of Linux operating systems out there and packaged in different ways and booted in different ways," adding that, "in some ways I am surprised people are acting like there's something new. I mean, you've got Android running on Netbooks. It's got a browser in it."

Gates went on to take another shot at Google by saying that “the more vague they are, the more interesting it is," before getting a little philosophical by asking: "What's a browser? What's not a browser?" His answer? "In large part, it's more an abuse of terminology than a real change."

Microsoft Opening Retail Stores Beside Apple Stores

2009-07-15T18:48:00.001-04:00

Microsoft has acknowledged that Apples retail stores is a huge threat to Microsoft's business. Microsoft COO Kevin Turner announced that this fall, Microsoft will launch a chain of retail stores, which will be located right next door Apple stores.

And stay tuned, because we're going to have some retail stores opened up that are opened up right next door to Apple stores this fall. Stay tuned, just stay tuned. – Microsoft COO Kevin Turner

There are no details about the actual strategy except that it will start happening this fall. I can't wait. I love this kind of war.

Office 2010 Technical Preview Screenshots

2009-07-14T12:28:00.001-04:00

Microsoft Office 2010 Build 14.0.4302.1000 has just leaked onto the internet, so it looks like there's more happening today than just build 7600 of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Office 2010 will be available both in 32 Bit and 64 Bit versions.

In January the first screenshots of an alpha build of Office 2010 leaked onto the internet. In May a Technical Preview of Office 2010 in 32-Bit and 64-Bit was leaked.

This build of Office 2010 includes Access 2010, Excel 2010, InfoPath 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, PowerPoint 2010, Project 2010, Publisher 2010, SharePoint Designer 2010, SharePoint Workspace 2010, Visio 2010, and Word 2010.

Below are the latest screenshots:

Microsoft Confirms Windows 7 Upgrade Rules

2009-07-14T11:45:00.001-04:00

As October 22 quickly approaches, Microsoft is releasing starting to release more details about Windows 7. The latest tidbit about Windows 7 is about upgrades. A company spokesman confirmed that users of the Windows 7 Release Candidate will not have to "reinstall an older version of Windows before using a Windows 7 upgrade disk.” Unfortunately, people who choose to do this will have all of their files put into the folder “windows.old” when they upgrade. Interestingly, if you need to do a clean install of Windows 7 using your upgrade disk, you'll need to install and activate Windows Vista.

Windows 95 Running on iPhone is a Disgrace to Tech

2009-07-13T17:51:00.001-04:00

I don’t know why, but the iSoft team has decided to run Windows 95 on an iPhone 3G. The horrible background music and unfocused camera makes my stomach turn.

The hack uses the normal Windows 95 image and runs on the Bochs emulator. As everyone would expect, the speed is awful They are currently working on getting Windows XP to run on the iPhone, which will be even slower. This is a huge disgrace to tech.

Alleged Chrome OS Screenshots Leaked

2009-07-13T14:26:00.001-04:00

Another set of unverified screenshots of Chrome OS has been leaked to the internet. An Engadget tipster says most applications run on the internet. Picasa runs locally for photo and movie viewing, and the "System" tab displays the contents of SD cards and digital cameras. Though this image is probably fake, it is interesting. The screenshots are below, tell us what you think by commenting below.

New Office 2010 Technical Build Leaked

2009-07-13T09:13:00.001-04:00

In January the first screenshots of an alpha build of Office 2010 leaked onto the internet. In May a Technical Preview of Office 2010 in 32-Bit and 64-Bit was leaked.

Below are the latest screenshots:

“Mondo” is "Microsoft Office Limestone Test Application". Its not a new name for Office 2010.

InfoPath Editor 2010 has been renamed to InfoPath Filer 2010. There are also Microsoft Office 2010 Developer Resources (why Visio 2007 and not Visio 2010?), which were not in the previous leaked build.

Above is the previously leaked build and below is the latest. The big difference is that the Office logo has been replaced with File F. The difference in title bar is due to the Operating System.

When actually clicking on the menu, the biggest change is the fact that you have access to all the other tabs, a small but positive improvement. In the New submenu, it's obvious that some icons have been updated (like Blank Document, Recent Templates, and Sample Templates).

I recommend agenst using leaked builds of Office 2010, your better off waiting until the Official Beta comes out next summer.

Teenager Falls Into Manhole While Texting

2009-07-12T22:21:00.001-04:00

If parents need more evidence that texting teens is becoming increasingly dangerous, 15 year old Alexa Longueira from Staten Island walked into an open manhole while texting. Alexa is fine but she did loose a shoe and scraped her back.

Alexa fell about 5 feet into the manhole. Her mother noted that she was also mentally injured, as the sewer was "putrid" and one of her shoes remains there. Apparently, DEP workers were looking for cones to mark the open manhole.

The family said they will sue, but it is unclear who. Alexa really should have been watching where she was walking.

Image of Zune HD Marketplace Surfaces

2009-07-12T20:33:00.001-04:00

An XBOX 360 program manager "Fitret” has posted on Twitter a photo of the Zune HD showing the Zune Marketplace selection, specifically an artist sub-menu for The Hold Steady. It does not show much but it does look nice. We just hope there is an app store.

Video of PlayStation 3 Slim Surfaces, Probably Fake

2009-07-12T20:26:00.001-04:00

I’m just going to assume this video of a PlayStation 3 Slim, which was purportedly "stolen” at a Philippine street market is fake, but given the piling up evidence and the continuing leaks it just might be real. The video is blurry video of a plastic box with a new rounded logo. We’ll just have to wait and see if any legitimate sources have anything to say about this video.

New Windows Head Chosen to Make Sure Windows 7 Launch is Successful

2009-07-11T15:55:00.001-04:00

Microsoft has chosen Steven Sinofsky as the new head of Windows division, making him responsible for Windows Live, Windows OS, and Internet Explorer. Steve previously was responsible for developing Windows 7 and his success with delivering Windows 7 on time has led to the promotion. Not only is Windows 7 ready for launch, it is full of new and useful features.

Sinofsky has an excellent record of delivering huge products before product deadlines. The next step is to insure that Windows 7’s launch wont be an embarrassment, like Windows Vista’s. Windows 7 will be launched on October 22, just in time for the holiday season.

Office 2010 Movie Trailer is Unbelievably Unrealistic

2009-07-10T20:36:00.001-04:00

The Office 2010 Movie Trailer makes the life of a geek seem, filled with action, danger and beautiful women. Reality is a little more boring. Fourteen hour days spent in pyjamas, cereal for breakfast and dinner (we don't get lunch breaks), and families who constantly struggle with the question, "do you even have a job"? But most geeks are still mourning the loss of Clippy.

Google CEO Captures Memories With Blackberry

2009-07-10T20:24:00.001-04:00

Google CEO Eric Schmidt was caught snapping a photo from a Blackberry. Yes, Google makes apps for the blackberry, but Google makes its own phone too. It feels like Scgmidt is cheating on Google. We guess the big, ratty Google sticker adds back a sliver of street cred, but it's not like this thing's packing some furiously awesome camera that a Magic, Dream, or Hero doesn't. Lets just hope he is not using Bing or Yahoo as well.

China Gets iPhones Early, But Wi-Fi is Disabled

2009-07-10T20:17:00.001-04:00

China Unicom will likely be selling an iPhone sooner than expected, but it will not have Wi-Fi capabilities.

The Government of China, which controls the 3 major cell phone networks in China said in the past that it objected to Wi-Fi in phones, perhaps because it's harder to sniff local packets than ones drifting through a wide-area network.

According to unconfirmed reports, China Unicom plans to sell a GSM based iPhone, but its licence is for something where Wi-Fi is blocked. As TradingMarkets.com puts it: "Apple has to cancel the Wi-Fi function without changing other components."

The good news is that, China has been waiting for the iPhone for a long time and they are finally getting it now. I just wonder how adept the Chinese jailbreakers will be at reactivating that Wi-Fi.

Laptop Thief Steals Laptop Right Out Of Someone's Lap

2009-07-10T19:48:00.001-04:00

According to a police report a 19 year old Jessie Phoutthaphaphone was using a browsing MySpace beside a cracked window when a thief came in a stole his laptop right off his lap.

"I was typing and all of the sudden just woosh! I was like oh, what the hell?" Phoutthaphaphone said.

"This is clearly a real desperate act, I mean he (the suspect) stole the computer out of his hands while he's in his house," Minneapolis Police Sgt. Jesse Garcia explained.

"He was probably just creeping right here, I was typing, and then all of the sudden he just yanked it," the victim remarked. He only saw the suspect's hands; then saw his back as he ran around the corner of his home.

Jessie chased the suspect until he cornered him at a garage. A homeowner saw the commotion and pinned down the suspect, until the authorities arrived. Naturally, he incident described as both "bold and bizarre" has left authorities baffled.

Jessie’s last name was not available due to police restrictions.

Google Releases Chrome OS Partners, Dell Sony and Toshiba are not Included.

2009-07-09T12:02:00.001-04:00

Google has released a partial list of Chrome OS partners and it includes most of the big manufacturers you would expect, from all sectors of the computing world, from full-featured PCs to netbooks to handhelds, plus Adobe for some Flash support.

The full list is: Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments. Google made sure to note that this is a partial list, but we can see a range from primarily small-form computer makers like ASUS to bigger PCs like HP and Lenovo, and the addition of Qualcomm and TI means they've got low-powered chipset makers on board. Adobe is an interesting pull—can we expect heavy use of Flash in the OS's core?

The biggest company that is missing is Dell, although smaller PC makers like Sony and Toshiba are not included either. We are not to sure why Dell did not want to become a partner They make pretty popular netbooks and Chrome OS could be as big a boon for them as anyone else. Perhaps they will stick to Windows 7.

Modder adds IRC/Twitter/email LED’s to Eee PC

2009-07-08T19:39:00.001-04:00

Its a shame that there are so many lights on laptops but most of them never go to use. One modder, who shared this philosophy, added a multicolor LED to an Asus Eee 901 to track incoming messages from IRC, Twitter and email.

Combined with an extra microprocessor and some custom scripts, the RGB LED illuminates with a different color depending on whether it's email, an IM or a new tweet awaiting one's perusal. With all of the useless software that are bundled with laptops these days, you’d think that Dell or HP would do something similar.

Stream Zune Songs to your iPhone

2009-07-08T11:55:00.001-04:00

Gear Live has found a clever way to stream Zune Pass songs to your iPhone. Why would you do that. Zune Pass gives you an unlimited amount of songs for about $15/month. The issue is that they don't play natively on the iPhone.

You first need to set up Orb on a Windows based computer to transcode, on the fly, your already downloaded Zune songs. Then you can listen to all of your songs (not just 16GB or 32GB of them) wherever you have internet access. It works well on 3G and Wi-Fi but EDGE is too slow for full quality music. For a full guide on how to do it click here.

Thanko Silent Keyboard is so Scilent its Scary

2009-07-08T10:23:00.001-04:00

If you bought a Silent EX Mouse and you want to pair it up with a silent keyboard, you don't have to wait anymore. Thanko and has now updated its venerable Silent Keyboard with the EX moniker and an extra shot of quiet.The value of cutting 16.5 dB from the sound of a keyboard tap is somewhat lost on us. This silent keyboard retails at $52.79. You have the choice of bundling it with the mouse for $77.

PSP2 to be More Powerful than Xbox

2009-07-07T21:14:00.001-04:00

Sony’s PSP Go was a god attempt to smother PSP2 rumours but it failed miserable. A new rumour is out saying that the PSP2 will have the PowerVR GPU, which is just as powerful as iPhone 3GS GPU. The SGX543MP cited has four cores, and generates 113 Polygons per second on the low end potable 200 megahertz model. What's interesting is that GamesIndustry.biz calls the PSP2 just a "ballpark match" for the original Xbox. They also point out that Imagination Technologies calls the chip a GP-GPU, capable of handling computing tasks in addition to graphics, and potentially giving the PSP2 the power savings of not needing a separate CPU to operate.

Windows 7 ISO Verifier

2009-07-07T09:57:00.001-04:00

One huge problem people face when downloading a Windows 7 ISO from sketchy services is that they have to verify that it was not tampered with. In other words, they need to verify that the Windows 7 they asked for is the Windows 7 they got.

The Windows 7 ISO Verifier has been created by Long Zheng and Sven Groot, and allows users to test to see if the ISO of Windows 7 they have has not been tampered with. ISO images can simply be dropped onto the exe after download.

The program calculates the hash of the local ISO and compare it with an online database, which is constantly updated. The process is very fast. It can obviously happen that a hash is not listed in the online database either because the release is to new, human error or because it has been tampered with (say another language was added).

Synology Debuts 4 Bay Compact NAS

2009-07-06T22:18:00.000-04:00

Synology's just-announced DS409Slim NAS which is nice simple and very compact. Despite its puny size you can fit four 2.5 inch hard drives, along with some standard issue NAS specs like a 1.2GHz Marvell processor, 128MB of RAM, a pair of USB ports, and a single eSATA port. It can handle up to 2 TB of space. Look for this later this month at a price of $400.

Critical Security Hole Found in Windows XP and Server 2003

2009-07-06T20:36:00.001-04:00

Microsoft is warning users of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 of a security hole in Internet Explorer that allows hackers to remotely install malicious software on computers.

The hole, which is caused by Internet Explorer and ActiveX, has been used for about a week to install viruses on users who click certain links in spam emails. Microsoft’s solution is available here is used to disable the video software. Microsoft is working hard to fix the problem.

Harvard Business Review Says Steve Jobs is a Horrible Manager

2009-07-06T19:51:00.001-04:00

Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) pushes his employees to make some pretty impressive—and market-changing—products. Apple employees also say he is a horrible person to work for. Now, the Harvard Business Review confirms the latter.

Jobs, for all of his virtues, clings to the Great Man Theory of Leadership - a CEO-centric model of executive power that is outmoded, unsustainable, and, for most of us mere mortals, ineffective in a world of non-stop change. A Wired magazine cover story from last year made the point well. The article begins with a memorable anecdote - the CEO, in search of a space in the company's crowded parking lot, regularly leaves his Mercedes in a handicapped space, sometimes taking up two spaces. The pattern became so noticeable that employees, according to the article, put notes on his windshield that read, Park Different.

"Jobs' fabled attitude toward parking", writer Leander Kahney says, "reflects his approach to business: For him, the regular rules do not apply." That means shrouding his company in secrecy; treating his employees to tyrannical outbursts; and refusing basic accommodations that would make beautifully designed products more customer-friendly. (As one wise-guy blogger commented, in decidedly bad taste: "I can't believe Steve Jobs's liver is replaceable but the battery in my iPhone is not.")

Microsoft Confirms Windows 7 RTM Coming July 13

2009-07-06T18:33:00.001-04:00

Neowin.net has reported that July 13, 2009 will be the day that Windows 7 reaches RTM (release to manufacturing). This is great news for people who are anxiously awaiting the launch of Windows 7, on October 22. This means that the code will be finalized and manufacturing will begin.

July 13 will be a huge milestone for Windows 7. There will be no more testing, leaks, by-hourly testing, or shutdowns. The RTM will be the real Windows 7. The only thing that should delay the RTM is major bugs, but that is unlikely to happen.

We are still on track for general availability (GA) on October 22, 2009. That is the day when you can walk into a store and take Windows 7 right off the self and buy it. That is when we will finally know if the average person likes it.

In the next few months there will be a huge surge in Windows 7, as Microsoft makes more announcements and releasing ads. Its the beginning of the end!

Sprint Offers First 99 Cent Netbook

2009-07-06T18:11:00.001-04:00

We knew that we would see very cheap netbooks in the near future, and here it is: Sprint and Best Buy are providing a 99 cent Compaq-branded HP Mini 110c when you sign up for a two year data agreement. This offer looks great, especially because AT&T sells the same netbook for $199.99, but looks are deceiving. You’ll be dishing out $60 a month which adds up to approximately $1,440 for two years of pain with that 1.6GHz Atom, 1GB of RAM and three-cell battery. You are much better off getting a 3G USB stick you can use with any computer you wish. It will cost the same, $60 a month, but remember, you can use it on millions of computers. But that is just my opinion.

Carbon Ring Storage Provides 1,000 Times Higher Memory Density

2009-07-06T09:36:00.001-04:00

There is terrifying news. We've almost maxed out the density limits of magnetic memory, as it becomes increasingly harder to shrink the necessary grains in the process. In simple terms, we’ve maxed out on the amount of memory a computer can have. Don’t start fretting about this, because there may be a solution. A team of German scientists, have been doing more than just standing around and watching this happen. Colbalt (an element responsible for keeping you’re data safe) usually needs around 50,000 atom fleet for each grain, but boffins from Dresden have found a way to shrink that to 50 (that's good). Without the geeky technological details, attaching carbon rings to the cobalt reproduces the requisite hexagonal close packed structure, which leads to reduced space requirements. If this is viable, we can expect another race which hard drive makers try to make the competitions capacity look measly. The details are here.

Microsoft Makes Windows 7 Packaging Easier to Open

2009-07-02T14:34:00.001-04:00

Microsoft has attempted to make everything in Windows 7 easier to use, including the packaging.

One of Windows Vista’s biggest criticisms was its insanely hard to open packaging. In an effort to prevent theft and piracy, Microsoft created boxes that required their own set of instructions to open.

In a blog post Microsoft said Windows 7’s packaging would be similar to Vista’s packaging, except that it would open like a standard DVD case.

The case will be recyclable and will contain only the Windows 7 DVD and starting guide. Microsoft said that overall it reduced the packaging weight by 37 percent.

Windows is scheduled to be launched on October 22 although pre-sales of the product as well as a free upgrade program for new PC buyers have started.

New iPhone SMS Vulnerability Found

2009-07-02T14:03:00.001-04:00

I am quite surprised that over the years there have not been many holes discovered on the iPhone. In fact the last exploit that was patched happened over two years ago and now, thanks to OS X security expert Charlie Miller -- we're seeing yet another come to light. At the SysScan conference in Syngapore, Miller talked about a vulnerability, which would allow hackers to "run software code on the phone that is sent by SMS over a mobile operator's network in order to monitor the location of the phone using GPS, turn on the phone's microphone to eavesdrop on conversations, or make the phone join a distributed denial of service attack or a botnet." Miller is planning to further discuss the vulnerability at the Black Hat conference. Apple is hoping to have the hole patched by the end of the month.

Microsoft Picks Zune’s AD Agency to Promote the Zune Phone (a.k.a. Pink)

2009-07-02T13:45:00.001-04:00

Advertising firm McCann Erickson has won advertising contract with Microsoft.

The Office shft follows a pitch for a new Microsoft mobile offering won by McCann's T.A.G. unit, said sources. JWT, McCann and fellow roster shop Crispin, Porter + Bogusky competed for that assignment, for which the client used the code-name Pink. – AdWeek

This is basically a confirmation that Microsoft was shopping the project around, and that's about the end of the new information.But a quick trip to the McCann T.A.G. site reveals a portfolio that contains three videos for the Zune, including two ads and a trade reel. Zune? Pink? Zunephone! Pinkphone! Pink Zune! Pink Zune phone! And so on.

Now, these ads are nestled among a fair number of Xbox promotional materials, so it's clear that this is one of Microsoft's go-to teams for advertising in general. But hell, since we still haven't seen any kind of confirmation that the Pink phone's alleged specs and Windows Mobile 7 rumors are real, that Pink is a hardware device, or that the project even still exists, we'll take what we can get. [Adweek via Slashgear]

From: Gizmodo

Web Slices now on The Unofficial Windows Blog

2009-07-01T21:33:00.001-04:00

Web Slices is one of Internet Explorer 8’s best features. It allows you to take a slice of web and view it with one click. This capability is now available here, on The Unofficial Windows Blog. Now when you want to read our latest post all you need to do is click one button. We have made it really easy to set up. Here is how to do it:

1. Navigate to: www.theunofficialwindowsblog.blogspot.com

2. Click the Web Slice button in the Internet Explorer Toolbar

3. Click “Add to favourites”

4. To read the latest posts click the blogger icon:

Official Windows 7 Video Tours Released

2009-07-01T18:22:00.001-04:00

Microsoft has published video tours of Windows 7 which provides a great view of the new features in Windows 7. There are four videos in total which are embedded below.

So far I am very impressed with the PR campaign for Windows 7. Microsoft has not yet spent a huge amount of money on Windows 7, and have instead let Windows 7 sell itself. The Windows 7 Pre-Orders have been a huge success, making it Amazon’s most sold item on Monday.

Windows 7 Build 7264 Leaked – But It’s not the RTM

2009-07-01T16:45:00.001-04:00

Build 7264 has been leaked earlier today, and is available on several 2P2 networks. Both 64 and 32 Bit versions are available. You should know that this is not the RTM. The build string tells us that this build was compiled on June 22. There have already been confirmations that build 7265 has been created two days later. We do not yet know if build 7265 is the RTM.

Here are the information about both versions of build 7264:

File Name: 7264.0.090622-1900_x86fre_client_en-us_Retail_Ultimate-GRMCULXFRER_EN_DVD
Size: 2,444,688 KB
CRC: 0B916606
MD5: 44F04E9E5762714C3D75A3C9C88DE251
SHA1: 59BA011913B00A820A1E002B9BEDEF139AE15B07

64-bit Windows 7 Build 7264 (x64) ISO File Details

File Name: 7264.0.090622-1900_x64fre_client_en-us_Retail_Ultimate-GRMCULXFRER_EN_DVD
Size: 3,150,518 KB
CRC: 05F87B79
MD5: 670818DB149170C652414E1F75E9390C
SHA1: C6FE386E97944511820291F515A8CBB3DDA329A6

iPhone 3GS’ Copy & Paste is not Really Incredible

2009-07-01T13:44:00.001-04:00

Apple seems to think that the iPhone 3GS’ Copy & Paste feature is incredible. I’ll admit that it is intuitive but lets face it, this feature has come too late. About two full software revisions late we'd say. And listing the feature as an incredible feature is ridiculous, considering my Motorola phone from 1999 could do that.

Costco Has the Lowest Price on Windows 7 Upgrades

2009-06-29T22:14:00.001-04:00

It’s a small saving of only $5, but if you shop at Costco they look like they have the lowest price on Windows 7 upgrades.

As we reported on Thursday Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade at $50 with the Windows 7 Professional upgrade costing $100. Costco will give you $5 savings on each, putting Home Premium at $45 and Pro at $95. That's a 10% savings on Home Premium and a 5% savings on Pro...or about enough to take a healthy bite out of sales tax.

Dell working on iPod touch-esque Device

2009-06-29T22:09:00.001-04:00

The Wall Street Journal is reasserting a previous claim that Dell is currently working on a MID powered by Google’s Mobile OS. Sources have described it as a slightly larger iPod touch, while one went so far as to suggest a very tentative second half 2009 target release window, assuming the project doesn't get 187'd before then. Despite Dell’s history with Intel and the chipmaker's penchant for MIDs, the report pegs ARM as the processor of choice. The article repeatedly calls it a MID -- meaning a phone might still be in the cards, but given past whispers, it kind of makes you wonder.

Windows 7 Pre-Orders tops Amazon Sales Charts

2009-06-29T13:11:00.001-04:00

Amazon most likely had one of their busiest weeks ever. Not only were Michael Jackson albums out of stock, people where rushing to pre-order Windows 7.

Since Friday, residents of Canada, the United States and Japan have been able to pre-order Windows 7. Europeans have to wait to July. Interested users from the three countries can currently purchase Windows 7 Home Premium for $49.99 instead of $119.99 and Windows 7 Professional for $99.99 instead of $199.99.

Microsoft has made the decision to not offer a pre-ordering discount for Windows 7 Ultimate which is something that caused some concern with users who would like to purchase this edition of the upcoming operating system.

If you are interested in ore-ordering Windows 7 here are some links. Microsoft said the offer will end soon so order soon!

United States
- Pre-Order Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade
- Pre-Order Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Upgrade

Canada
- Pre-Order Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade
- Pre-Order Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Upgrade

Japan
- Pre-order Windows7 Home Premium
- Pre-Order Windows 7 Professional

Is Windows Installing Updates Without Your Permission?

2009-06-27T15:57:00.001-04:00

Several reports say that Windows XP and Windows Vista are installing updates, at system shutdown, when the user configured the computer to ask to install updates first.

This Windows Secrets article explains it all. The problem comes up when Windows is configured to use Automatic Updates either to (Vista terminology here) "Download updates but let me choose whether to install them" or "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them".

Now every tech know-it-all you talk to will tell you that you should have automatic updates set to “Install updates automatically”. There have been times when Automatic Updates shut down internet access to Zone Alarm users, but that is rear and the risks outweigh the benefits. People in the aggregate are better off installing updates automatically.

Scott Spanbauer in Windows Secrets explains what might have happened. The June 9th update was a rather large update. which addressed 10 updates and 31 vulnerabilities. Microsoft Knowledge Base explains how some problems can occur when a traffic is heavy on the update server.

Spanbauer puts forward one possible avenue for users who really want to avoid this problem:

If you consider it important to research patches before they're installed, one possible workaround involves selecting AU's option 2 or 3. Then, run Microsoft Update (a superset of Windows Update, both of which require IE) and specify every patch to be installed or not installed -- every time you plan to shut down or reboot. Running Microsoft's updater should eliminate any queued downloads that might install unexpectedly.

This doesn't seem quite right to me in a few ways. First, neither Windows nor Microsoft Update on Vista use IE, but they do on XP. Second, I have at least one system where running Microsoft Update does not eliminate queued downloads, and in fact Microsoft Update fails in that case; I have to let Automatic Updates proceed. Third, this sounds like a major pain.

Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade Package is a HUGE Waist of Trees

2009-06-27T12:58:00.001-04:00

Most companies sell software in ridiculously large boxes now of days, but now Microsoft is selling Windows 7 anytime upgrade in a huge box. The only thing that is in the box is a piece of paper with a product key in it.

If you are not familiar with anytime upgrade, it allows users to upgrade to a more powerful version of Windows by just typing in a product key. The key is just random numbers and letters, on a piece of paper.

Microsoft is not the only company who does this. Apple’s Mobile Me also comes in a huge box, which is just filled with air. Shame on them.

The Blue Screen of Death Over the Years

2009-06-26T21:15:00.001-04:00

The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) is an error message that appears when Windows experiences a fatal error. The error message can show up at any time, but it is still quite rear. I’ve compiled the BSOD of all the versions of the Windows, and they are shown below.

Windows XP, Vista and 7

The Windows XP Vista and 7 BSOD

Vista’s Unique Blue Screen of Death

A unique Blue Screen of Death with only one line of error code as seen in Windows Vista, which is an ACPI-related error.

Windows NT

In Windows NT-based operating systems, the blue screen of death (displayed in 80x50 text mode as opposed to 9x/Me's 80x25) occurs when the kernel or a driver running in kernel mode encounters an error from which it cannot recover. This is usually caused by an illegal operation being performed. The only safe action the operating system can take in this situation is to restart the computer. As a result, data may be lost, as users are not given an opportunity to save data that has not yet been saved to the hard drive.

The text on the error screen contains the code of the error along with four error-dependent values in parentheses that are there to help software engineers fix the problem that occurred. Depending on the error code, it may display the address where the problem occurred, along with the driver which is loaded at that address. Under Windows NT and 2000, the second and third sections of the screen may contain information on all loaded drivers and a stack dump, respectively. The driver information is in three columns; the first lists the base address of the driver, the second lists the driver's creation date (as a Unix timestamp), and the third lists the name of the driver.^[1]

Windows 2000

BSOD from Windows 2000. The red portion highlights the error that crashed the computer.

Windows 98/95/ME

Perhaps the most famous instance of a Windows 9x BSoD occurred during a presentation of a Windows 98 beta by Bill Gates at COMDEX on April 20, 1998. The demo PC crashed with a BSoD when his assistant (Chris Capossela, who is still working for Microsoft as Corporate VP in the Information Working business unit) connected a scanner to the PC, trying to demonstrate Windows 98's support for Plug and Play devices. This event brought thunderous applause from the crowd and Gates replied after a nervous pause: "That must be why we're not shipping Windows 98 yet."^[3]

Windows CE

The simplest version of the blue screen occurs in Windows CE except the versions for Pocket PC, which appears similar to the ones found in Windows 9x/Me.

Windows 1.0

The very first Blue Screen of Death happens in Windows 1.0 if a computer fails to boot up properly, it will show random letters and symbols ^[4] If Windows 1.0 encounters any (MS-DOS related) critical system errors, it will instead show a Black Screen of Death.

Windows 2.0's BSOD is the very same thing.

Microsoft May Sell Windows 7 on Flash Drives for Netbooks

2009-06-26T10:08:00.001-04:00

Sources have told CNET, Microsoft is planning to consider selling Windows 7 on flash drives, which would save netbook users lots of headaches. Windows 7 was designed to be a netbook friendly operating system. There are no further details at this time.

Windows 7 is Microsoft's Most Affordable Version of Windows Yet

2009-06-25T19:00:00.001-04:00

Windows 7 is Microsoft's least expensive version of Windows yet and is a bargain compared to Windows Vista.

When comparing prices to previous versions of Windows most editions cost approximately $200, with exception to the Vista price spike. When you adjust for inflation you can see that pricing has become a downward cascade (with the exception of Windows Vista Home Premium).

The Pro versions of Windows have also has a decrease in price.