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Windows XP To Be Phased Out Despite Customer Demand
By early 2008, Microsoft’s contracts with computer makers will require companies to only sell Vista-loaded machines. “The OEM version of XP Professional goes next January,” said Frank Luburic, senior ThinkPad product manager for Lenovo. “At that point, they’ll have no choice.”
It’s not mentioned whether or not this will effect retail copies of the OS, but its doubtful. This is a bad move regardless, because Vista as it stands is unreliable. Of course, a lot can happen between now and years end, but it would be a small miracle to see all these finicky issues simply “fixed”.
Source: APC Mag
Samsung Announces 24-inch LED-backlit LCD Panel
The new displays boast the highest contrast ratio for LCDs available today at greater than 1000:1 ratio. Not only this, color saturation will be top-notch as well. Samsung’s specifications indicated that the new panels will deliver color levels at 111% of the NTSC standard while traditional LCDs can only muster out 72%.
There is no mention of retail price, but if reasonable, these could prove to be one hot product.
Source: Daily Tech
OLPC Sugar Interface Tour Gallery
The live CD is of extremely limited utility, but if you want to check out the fruits of Negroponte’s ultimate pet project — and see what millions of kids the world over will be using any semester now — we’ve got the goods. Check out the gallery, we covered some decent ground with some of the basic apps bundled with the distro.
Sugar is even more simple than I had imagined! Of course it’s catered to a certain audience, so it should be easy to use. The final build might be quite a bit different than this, but the initial screenshots let us know what to expect.
Source: Engadget
PS3 20GB Is Dead
If you own one, don’t worry, it will continue to be 100 percent supported with software and services, according to SCEA’s spokesman David Karraker. The decision, he said, was one made based on what consumers wanted.
It’s about time really. The 20GB version made as much sense as the Xbox 360s Core system. Now we have one PS3 version and three Xbox 360 versions to choose from.
Source: Kotaku
New Cement Conducts Electricity Like Metal
A team of researchers led by professor Hideo Hono of the Tokyo Institute of Technology has developed a new type of alumina cement that conducts electricity like metal by altering the crystal structure at the nano level.
Pretty snazzy. The cement could be used in certain products where rare metals are generally used, such as Plasma and LCD TVs. It’s also healthier to the environment.
Source: Pink Tentacle
Turbo Tax Online Follies
Many people use Turbo Tax to help them file their taxes, but one woman discovered an error in the program that could cost users thousands of dollars and their identities. The woman discovered a key to the backdoor of some tax returns filed online through Turbo Tax. “I knew immediately how big this was,” she said. “This is very, very bad.”
It makes you wonder why we put faith in these companies when a non “hacker” type finds all this info while filing her taxes as usual.
Source: NBC 4
Xerox Wants Your Browser To Tell Your Story
Ever given false information when prompted for personal details by a website? Don’t worry, the US copying and computing company Xerox hopes to eliminate that kind of questioning because it believes it can get the information without even asking.
It’s no surprise that our privacy is becoming less of a concern to companies with each day that passes, and Xerox is on that bandwagon. They want web browsers to send information about you to companies, simply based on your web habits.
Over a period of time, it might determine that you are in a certain age group, sex and also how much money you might make. Of course, this is nothing to be excited over. You can read the large patent application to see a wide selection of scenarios.
Source: New Scientist Tech
Palm OS to be Linux Based?
Palm announced on Tuesday that they will unveil a platform before the end of 2007 that runs the Palm OS on top of a Linux kernel. This will allow the company to improve the performance and stability of its handhelds and smartphones, according to CPI.
It makes sense to a large degree. It’s noted that this would be to directly combat any success that the iPhone will have. Competition will be interesting.
Source: Loop Rumors
Maybe You Should Back Up Your Own Email
This past week there have been stories of both AOL and Yahoo losing a ton of email (thousands of emails for AOL, millions for Yahoo Japan). This comes just a few months after Google had some problems with mass email deletions in Gmail. While the convenience these services provide is fantastic, all of these stories of lost emails should act as a reminder that you probably shouldn’t trust any of these providers alone to care for your email.
The sad thing is that these providers do -not- make it easy to back up your e-mail at all. In fact, I am not even sure it’s possible with some of them. Their goal is to obviously keep you, by making it inconvenient to leave. If that’s the case, they should work towards making sure you never have to deal with lost e-mail.
Source: Tech Dirt
Rahul Sood Speaks on the Future of Voodoo
Six months after HP’s acquisition of Voodoo, the company still has not shipped an official HP-Voodoo collaborated PC yet. HP continues to build Voodoo’s boutique PCs, mid-range PCs under the Hewlett-Packard brand and entry level products under the Compaq brand. The company still lacks a direct competitor to Dell’s XPS line.
It seems like the ideas are flowing freely over at HP, so maybe the acquisition wasn’t such a bad idea after all. I’d like to see some of these new ideas hit the market though. Even more interesting would be a high-end HP PC…
Source: Daily Tech
Tux Racer… Literally
Well Linux Users…it’s time for a bit of “product insertion” of our own. That’s right. As of now, The Linux Community is going to attempt to make history. LINUX IS GOING TO THE INDIANAPOLIS 500!
Gentlemen, mount your engines! I admit, this is an idea that took me by surprise. It certainly would be a great accomplishment. Let’s see it happen!
Source: Tux 500
The Scoop On Mozilla Coop
The Coop is designed to integrate support for social networking features directly into the Firefox browser interface. At the present time, the available prototype is extremely limited and simplistic, but it provides insight into the potential of The Coop.
This is a very early look at the new Mozilla developed plugin, but it shows its potential. If done right, it might appeal to social networking enthusiasts the world over. Well, at least those who use Firefox.
Source: Ars Technica
Internet Radio May Stream North to Canada
With U.S. copyright royalties threatening to kill Internet radio in the U.S., Michael Geist explains why webcasters considering a move to Canada will find that the legal framework for Internet radio trades costs for complexity. There are two main areas of concern from a Canadian perspective — broadcast regulation and copyright fees.
Canada seems like a good place, but there are likely to be other Countries out there that are even more lenient with their laws. Canadas laws seem to be getting worse overall, not better. It won’t be too long before people will move their stations overseas.
Source: Slashdot
Electronic Arts Plays Catch-Up After Shrug-Off of Wii
The reason for the long hours: Earl’s employer, Electronic Arts Inc., like some of its competitors, underestimated demand for the Wii, whose motion-activated wand lets players wield a virtual sword, mimic real golf swings or strangle a victim. Instead, game makers put most of their resources into Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3, which was released two days earlier in November with a more conventional hand controller.
This is great news for Wii owners… hopefully. If all these titles are coming out of nowhere, we can bet quite a few will not be worth a glance.
Source: Bloomberg
Dumping ISP May Cost Customers $150
The practice is well known among cell phone providers – early termination fees in that industry run from $150 to $240 per line, according to the group. The goals of the fees are largely the same – to cut down on “churn,” the process of customers dumping one service provider to pursue greener pastures with another.
This is a tough and ridiculous choice for consumers. Sometimes moving to another ISP is not going to save you immediate cash if there is a huge fee like that slapped on. Nice blackmail.
Source: IB Times
FTC Threatens Spyware Distributors With Prison
Federal Trade Commissioner William Kovacic said most wrongdoers in the spyware arena ‘can only be described as vicious organized criminals. Many of most serious wrongdoers we observed in this area, I believe, are only going to be deterred if their freedom is withdrawn,’ so it’s important for the FTC to collaborate on its cases with criminal law enforcement authorities, Kovacic said.
There’s a way to handle ’em! If something like this was put into place, I’d still be hard pressed to see it slow down the progress of spyware.
Source: Slashdot
Novell Joins The Green Grid
WALTHAM, Mass. – April 10, 2007 – Novell today announced that it has joined The Green Grid, a consortium of information technology companies and professionals committed to improving energy efficiency in the data centre. As a contributing member, Novell is working with other members of The Green Grid, such as AMD, Dell, HP, IBM and Microsoft, to develop technology which aims to reduce data centre energy usage globally.
Source: Novell Press Release
Halo 3 Beta Multiplayer to Launch May 16
Bungie’s “Rule of Three†marketing blitz has already determined who will be able to enjoy the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta. In December, Bungie opened up beta registration for those wanting to participate. Bungie offered a second chance to gamers who played at least three hours of Halo 2 multiplayer and then registered at the official Halo 3 website. Finally, those who purchased specially marked copies of Crackdown will also be able to join in on the fun.
There you have it, Halo fans! The sad thing is that it’s not open to everyone, but rather the people in the groups mentioned above. Bungie seems to be taking a unique twist on this beta. They are actually using it to find bugs!
Source: Daily Tech
Top 10 Firefox Extensions To Avoid
We’ve helped you get started on your journey to browser perfection with our list of 20 must-have Firefox extensions. But the ability to tweak your browser is a double-edged sword. There are extensions best avoided, including some of the most popular.
Included? FasterFox, NoScript, VideoDownloader, Greasemonkey and more. I don’t agree with all of their choices, but you might.
Source: Computer World
Hummers and Muscle Cars Go Green
Jonathan Goodwin has built a car that can run on ethanol, hydrogen, biodiesel or natural gas–all fairly clean fuels. It gets the equivalent of 40 miles a gallon. And it’s a Hummer. Goodwin, a biodiesel conversion specialist and founder of alternative energy start-up SAE Energy, is an emerging name in an unlikely niche in the clean tech market: making muscle cars green.
The goal is to have a “green” car that doesn’t lose it’s fun-factor or power, and Jonathan seems to accomplish that goal well. The only drawback is that it’s expensive to convert your Hummer over and even with savings on gas, it would take a while to break even. Of course, most people who go “green” are not doing it to only save money.
Source: ZD Net
SanDisk Partners With Yahoo Music
SanDisk today announced that its new wireless music player, the Sansa Connect, will be paired with Yahoo Music. The partnership will allow Sansa Connect owners to wirelessly connect and listen to LAUNCHcast Internet radio. Sansa users will also be able to browse photos on Flickr and see what Yahoo Messenger buddies are listening to.
Though I think the Sansa Connect is visually unappealing, it’s feature set gives hope to those who refuse to buy an iPod. I’ve never dealt with Yahoo! Music either, but streaming radio is a plus.
Source: Daily Tech
High-End AMD X2 Processor Prices Cut Almost in Half
AMD’s restructuring is being accompanied by dramatic drops in the prices of its microprocessors, according to new official information released Monday. In an update to its microprocessor pricing page, AMD announced high-end price cuts on the AMD Athlon 64 FX and Athlon 64 X2 microprocessors. The fastest Athlon 64 X2 processor, the 3.0-GHz 6000+, is now priced at $241, slightly more expensive than Intel’s midrange E6400, a 2.13-GHz chip that sells for $224.
Even with Intels Core at the forefront, $224 for a 3.0GHz AMD chip is a steal! For overclockers, that means that you could accomplish DDR2-1200 while retaining stock speed. Great stuff, but I’ll still hold out for Barcelona.
Source: Extreme Tech
Sun More Active Now Than Ever
Scientists based at the Institute for Astronomy in Zurich used ice cores from Greenland to construct a picture of our star’s activity in the past. They say that over the last century the number of sunspots rose at the same time that the Earth’s climate became steadily warmer. This trend is being amplified by gases from fossil fuel burning, they argue.
Who can enjoy our Sun now? It’s full of blemishes! To see the sunspots yourself, you can take a picture of the sun with a camera (though not pointing the it -directly- at the sun) and viewing the image afterwards. If it’s not too bright, the spots should be fairly visible.
Source: BBC
OCZ Announces High-Speed, Large Capacity SDHC Memory Cards
Sunnyvale, CA—April 9, 2007—As digital cameras and video recorders produce higher and higher resolution images, the need for more memory has reached a new high. OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today introduced a new line of SDHC flash memory cards to their high performance Secure Digital(TM) family. OCZ SD High Capacity (SDHC(TM)) cards comply with the new SDA 2.00 specification to support capacities over 2GB. Available in 4GB and 8GB configurations, OCZ SDHC cards are ideal for the latest digital cameras and electronics.
Source: OCZ Press Release
AMD Updates First Quarter Outlook
SUNNYVALE, Calif. – April 9, 2007 -AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced it expects to report revenue of approximately $1.225 billion in the quarter ending March 31, 2007. Revenues declined sharply quarter-over-quarter for the Computing Solutions segment, primarily due to lower overall average selling prices and significantly lower unit sales, especially in the resale channel.
Source: AMD Press Release