Items tagged with WS
There’s gold in them thar motherboards, or so the saying (sort of) goes. ASUS announced that its upcoming line of Intel Z87-based motherboards will sport a decidedly gold color scheme, from the heatsinks to the DIMM slots. The boards will also feature black PCBs and silver accents. For the record, we’re talking nearly the whole line, including ASUS’ TUF, and WS motherboards, so if you prefer the older blue scheme over the new gold one, you're out of luck unless you roll with an ROG board. ASUS Z87 WS ASUS says that the new “gold imbued” heatsinks actually do offer better cooling performance, with a larger surface area for better heat dissipation than its earlier...
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When pimping Windows Vista prior to its release, Microsoft called it "the most secure OS ever." Of course, software is just software, and there are bugs in anything. And on Friday, security firm Phion AG announced they had discovered a TCP/IP stack buffer overflow. As researcher Thomas Unterleitner indicated: Since this buffer overflow overwrites kernel memory, it could be possible that members of the Network Configuration Operator group exploit this and take control over the operating system without any restriction. This buffer overflow could be exploited to inject code, hence compromising client security. It's a new vulnerability, meaning it is not reproducible on Windows XP. Microsoft was...
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A blog post on the Microsoft-run Channel 10 site has verified that the upcoming Office Web product, which we wrote about earlier --- Office in the browser, in other words --- will work on Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer, on multiple platforms. As we previously wrote, this is finally a real answer by Microsoft to Google Docs, an application suite based in the cloud, though as Microsoft said, lighter versions of the apps. From the post's Q and A, by Sarah Perez: Q: Do the Office Web Applications require Internet Explorer? A: No! Office Web applications will work across multiple platforms and browsers including Safari and Firefox, too. Q: Will the Office Web Applications work on the iPhone?...
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In an attempt to gain a stronger foothold in internet "cloud", Microsoft has revamped their Windows Live services with new applications and third-party integration. By providing a hub for web access to e-mail, instant messaging, photos, and other web applications, Microsoft hopes to enhance the consumer experience by consolidating the digital content scattered throughout the PC. Not only is it a one-stop interface for users, but it also hopes to be the point of contact between friends. This service puts Microsoft into competition with social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. “Our customers have friends across the Web. They communicate through many unconnected...
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Although this is not a consumer qraphics platform, the coolness factor alone warrants a peek. Developed on the Quadro side of NVIDIA it is designed for high end CAD and 3D applications. The Quadro Plex 2200 D2 features two of NVIDIA's top of the line Quadro FX 5800 GPUs with a combined frame buffer (memory) capacity of 8 GB.Available in a menacing looking tower or 3U Rackmount form factors this "dedicated deskside visual computing system (VCS)" is sure to pack a polygon manipulating punch. Breakthrough Visual Computing Power:Professional users can dynamically scale graphics performance, get enhance image quality, and expand their display real estate with NVIDIA® SLI® multi-GPU...
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There's been talk recently over private browsing features in upcoming browsers such as Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3.1 (Safari already has this feature). Privacy, of course, is an important subject for many end users (despite the somewhat pejorative term "porn mode" frequently used for it). Well, a new browser has been recently released that --- rather than making this feature an afterthought, focuses directly on privacy as the base of its capabilities. Level 9 Technology, Inc. has launched the ArmorSurf Private Browser - a free web browser & downloader that lets users surf in complete privacy while keeping their files secure. In addition to privacy features, the software...
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When traveling, it can be a bit of a nuisance to boot one’s laptop and wait for it to load the OS and connect to the Internet, just to check a quick email or two before a flight. Soon, we may be able to have this same functionality, but without the wait: Phoenix Technologies and Opera Software have partnered to bring the Opera Browser to the HyperSpace platform as a way of delivering instant-on access to the Internet.Hyperspace is a compact Linux environment that runs independently beside a system's core OS. Like Asus' Express Gate, Hyperspace provides access to instant-on applications. Because it is independent, HyperSpace can run while the OS is booting, running, or shuts down.The result of...
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NVIDIA Announces 2009-2010 Fellowship Program SANTA CLARA, CA - NOVEMBER 3, 2008 - NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the world leader in visual computing technologies, announced it is accepting applications for the NVIDIA Fellowship Program for the 2009-2010 academic year.Dr. David Kirk, Chief Scientist at NVIDIA, stated: "The NVIDIA Fellowship Program is designed to stimulate and support excellence in visual and parallel computing research in universities worldwide, and to promote communication between NVIDIA's R&D team and outstanding students and professors. Since its inception in 2002, the Program has awarded over $1.6 million in funding to assist 65 Ph.D. students with their research."The...
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Though obviously Microsoft has taken a fair amount of heat regarding Windows Vista, there's probably a directly proportional level of hype on their next mainstream OS, Windows 7. Projected by some to be the OS that Vista should have been, and still by others to be nothing more than Vista on steroids (perhaps just a six-pack of Red Bull, depending on who you talk to); there's plenty of rumor, gossip, leaked and public information to go around to keep your mind off your troubled Vista installation that just crashed again for the eleventh time today. However, when it comes to unreleased OS information, we like to spend our bandwidth listening to trusted sources close to the development...
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Oh, well. It sounded so good, and it would have been, too: Gmail adding, through its Labs, the ability to send SMS messages through Gmail Chat and at the same time associate a permanent phone number with your account. Normally, a temporary ID is set, but this would have enabled you and your friends to SMS back and forth without worry. You would have been assigned a number in the 406 area code once you sent your first SMS message. However, Google found a bug, and had to pull back the feature. According to their blog post: Oh snap. Last night, we started rolling out a new feature to Gmail Labs that lets you send SMS text messages right from Gmail. It combines the best parts of IM and texting: you...
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It's been about two years since millions of Sony notebook batteries across many different OEM lines were recalled, due to overheating --- and fire problems. We assume you haven't forgotten about that, because here we are again. Here's hoping this isn't the beginning of another long list of recalls involving Sony batteries. At any rate, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission issued the recall on Thursday. According to the recall, There have been 19 reports of the batteries overheating, including 17 reports of flames/fire (10 resulting in minor property damage). Two consumers experienced minor burns.Check out the full list below. It's pretty long, bug only consists of about 35,000 batteries...
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Yesterday, at a posh New York hotel suite in Manhattan, Asus held a coming-out event that we decided to attend, mixing it up a little with the glitz-n-glamor set if you will. With a Jazz band droning in a Miles Davis sort of groove permeating the air, some Champagne, and a sprinkling of model-quality hotties tip-toeing about showing off the wares, Asus wanted to make a statement about their new Eee PC S101. Above all, this product is about quality and style. Asus' new Eee PC S101 is a 10" Eee PC variant that comes pre-loaded with Windows XP SP3 and nearly identical specs to the Eee PC 1000H, except for some rather healthy chassis design changes and a selection of higher...
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In an interview with Laptop, ASUS' CEO, Jerry Shen, confirmed that ASUS will introduce a new Eee PC sometime in the second half of 2009 that will have a touch screen and run Windows 7. Given that Microsoft has said it plans general availability of the new operating system around January 2010, there’s a bit of a discrepancy here. Promising more details in the first quarter of next year (we’re guessing CES), Shen also indicated that the company doesn’t plan on putting Vista on any of the Eee PCs.Other noteworthy snippets from the interview: The company has sold four million Eee PCs to date. Touch-enabled Eee PCs are coming in early 2009. ASUS is exploring a convertible mode and a regular laptop...
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Since the codename for the next release of Windows was announced, many of us have wondered what the actual name would be. Well, it turns out that the codename for the next version of Windows, Windows 7, is going to be the actual name for the product. And in what is somewhat of a passing of the torch, the announcement was made not on the Windows 7 blog, but on the Windows Vista blog. In a few weeks we are going to be talking about the details of this release at the PDC and at WinHEC. We will be sharing a pre-beta "developer only release" with attendees of both shows and giving them the first broad in-depth look at what we've been up to. I can't wait for them to see it. And, as you probably know,...
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We're not quite sure why anyone would want to do this, but a Norwegian programmer claims to have created an application that allows you to run the Windows Mobile operating system on your iPhone. The programmer, Erik Kristiansen, showed off his app in action at the recent myPhone2008 convention in Las Vegas. Kristiansen's application operates similar to Apple's Bootcamp in that it allows you to load either the iPhone OS or the Windows Mobile OS when the iPhone boots up. Running Windows Mobile, the iPhone appears to have full functionality as a Windows smartphone, including (of course) making phone calls. Kristiansen's program is currently in beta, but he says it should be available as an open...
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Earlier this month Steve Ballmer spoke about a cloud-based development environment, though he wouldn't go into detail, saving it for the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) at the end of this month. However, a look at the PDC sessions on Wednesday would have revealed a possible clue to the name of it: Windows Strata. There were eight sessions tagged with Windows Strata early on Wednesday. If you checked back later in the day, you would have seen that tag vanish from the list of PDC sessions, however. Ooops. The eight sessions originally tagged Strata were also tagged Cloud Computing, and that is where they sit now. Yes, yes, we know strata is a geological term, but our guess is it's a take-off...
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At a conference in London on Wednesday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told attendees that Microsoft later this month will show off its new development environment for Internet-based applications dubbed "Windows Cloud."Now, it was already expected that Microsoft would show its cloud-based developer platform at the Professional Developer's Conference (PDC) toward the end of the month. However, the terminology, "Windows Cloud," hadn't been used before. Windows Cloud is a separate project from Windows 7, and is an OS targeted at those developing for cloud computing. Ballmer was pretty close-mouthed about it, saying he didn't want to ruin the announcement. What he was clear on was that Microsoft doesn't...
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On Thursday Webkit, the open source browser engine that is notably used in both Safari and Chrome, announced that it is the first browser engine to fully pass the Web Standards Project (WaSP) Acid3 test. In late March Webkit announced it had achieved "most" of the Acid3 test, with the only missing issue the fact that part of the Acid3 test is that the animation during the test must be "smooth." That same month, another engine, Presto, achieved the 100/100 rendering below, but it still has not achieved "smooth" animation. As you can see in the results dialog which you receive by clicking on the “A” in Acid3, there is confirmation that Webkit indeed passed the smooth animation condition on a 2.4GHz...
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Spore is a critically-acclaimed game, but (at least by users) its DRM has been universally panned. Many of those who know anything about the SecuROM copy protection used in the game don't want it near their computers, unless they absolutely have to. And while Electronic Arts (EA) has "loosened things up" slightly, the DRM has spawned thousands of negative reviews at Amazon.com and protest creatures. And now, it has birthed a class action lawsuit (.PDF). The lawsuit was filed on Sept. 22nd by Melissa Thomas, represented by Alan Himmelfarb and Scott Kamber with KamberEdelson LLC. The lawsuit makes a number of statements, including: What purchasers are not told is that, included in the purchase,...
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Games for Windows Celebrates Two-Year Anniversary Like a Rockstar“Grand Theft Auto IV” ignites cocktail of hot PC titles coming exclusively to Games for Windows and Games for Windows – LIVE. REDMOND, Wash. - Sept. 22, 2008 - Microsoft Corp. celebrates its second anniversary of the Games for Windows initiative this month with the news that the year’s biggest blockbuster, “Grand Theft Auto IV” (Rockstar Games), will debut on the PC this November exclusively as a Games for Windows-branded title, joining a growing list of more than 85 top PC games from today’s hottest publishers. Liberty City comes to life through a revitalized Games for Windows – LIVE experience, including expanded online matches,...
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NVIDIA has been hit with a securities fraud class action lawsuit over the defective GPUs which it admitted to in July. The complaint was filed by New York-based law firm Shalov Stone Bonner & Rocco. It alleges that NVIDIA knew about the flawed GPUs as early as November 8th, 2007 though no public announcement was made until July 2, 2008. After the announcement, NVIDIA stock dropped 30%. Since then manufacturers have issued BIOS updates to "fix" the issue, but all these have done is increase use of the fan to prevent the GPUs from overheating. The class action lawsuit is detailed on Shalov Stone Bonner & Rocco's website. Paragraph 23 of the complaint (.PDF) says: According to multiple public...
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NVIDIA and Opera team to accelerate the full web on mobile devicesOpera 9.5 Browser Licensed and Optimized For Tegra Processors SANTA CLARA, CA -- September 9, 2008 -- Browsing the Internet on a mobile device will take a leap forward with today's announcement that NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA) and Opera Software (OSE: OPERA) are collaborating to bring the full desktop Web-browsing experience, including support for JavaScript, accelerated vector, and video content, to smartphones and mobile Internet devices. As a result, NVIDIA will offer an optimized Opera 9.5 browser in its suite of pre-integrated, in-house and third-party software for the NVIDIA Tegra family of computer-on-chip Windows...
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