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Microsoft Partners: MinWin Could Soothe Vista Headaches
2007-12-04 12:54:00
In the year that has passed since Microsoft released Windows Vista to business users, the operating system has gained a reputation in the channel as a bloated memory hog that many companies are avoiding like a trip to the dentist. But Microsoft partners have a more positive opinion of Windows 7, the next generation of Windows that Microsoft expects to ship in the 2010 timeframe. That's because Windows 7 will be based on MinWin, a scaled down version of the Windows core that will also serve as the framework for Windows Server and Windows Media Center.MinWin's source code base takes up about 25 megabytes on disk, compared to about 4 gigabytes for Vista. Solution providers see this as a sign that Microsoft has learned its lesson from trying to cram too much into the Windows OS, and some feel that Windows 7 will be a roaring success in the market. "There has definitely been a huge amount of resistance in the market to Vista, but I think Microsoft has learned a lot from the experience,...
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Microsoft to beef up anti-piracy checks in Vista SP1
2007-12-04 12:53:00
Microsoft will change the user experience of its automatic anti-piracy checks in Windows Vista and also make it harder for hackers to bypass the system in the first service pack for the OS due out early next year. Once Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) is installed on a PC, that computer will no longer go into limited functionality mode if a user or administrator fails to activate Vista on that system in 30 days, or if the system fails Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) validation, which checks to see if a version of Vista is pirated or counterfeit. In Vista, WGA is called the Software Protection Program feature.In limited functionality mode, a computer will shut down after 60 minutes and then allow only browser use. Now, instead of going into that mode, a version of Vista that has not been activated in 30 days will start up with a black screen and a dialogue box that gives users the choice of activating Vista now or later, said Alex Kochis, a group product manager at Mic...
More About: Microsoft , Piracy , Beef , Anti

Microsoft: Public Build of Windows Vista SP1 RC Soon
2007-12-04 12:49:00
Microsoft is currently cooking the first public build of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate. Since the initial introduction of the first testing bits for the first service pack for Windows Vista in mid July, Microsoft has been fending off and dodging in every way possible all references to the public availability of the refresh. In terms of the final release, the company has pointed out the first quarter of 2008. And as far as a public version ahead of fully fledged service pack is concerned, Microsoft has failed breathing a single word. When it comes down to the development milestones of Vista SP1, all things are quiet over at Microsoft.But, the fact of the matter is that a development milestone for Vista SP1 will be made public in the immediate future. Sooner than you might think in fact, and it will involve the Release Candidate build of the service pack. "We'll broaden the testing pool of SP1 RC bits soon (very soon), so you'll be able to put Windows Vista SP1 RC t...
More About: Microsoft , Public

Windows XP SP3 RC goes to MSDN, TechNet testers
2007-12-04 12:48:00
Microsoft made available on December 3 for download the near-final Release Candidate (RC) of Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 3. The RC is available to all Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) and TechNet subscribers. This isn?t yet a generally available, ?public? RC of XP SP3; that is still coming at some future date that Microsoft hasn?t disclosed. Microsoft provided an RC ?preview? of XP SP3 to 15,000 testers in mid-November.Microsoft is still on track to ship the final XP SP3 in the first half of calendar 2008. XP SP3 is a rollup of all previously released XP updates, according to Microsoft, ?including security updates, out-of-band releases, and hotfixes.?Lately, Microsoft has been releasing XP SP3 and Vista SP1 builds in lockstep. (The same 15,000 testers that got XP SP3 RC preview also got the Vista SP1 RC preview.) Given that Microsoft told its own employees to expect the company to make the RC of Vista SP1 more broadly available some time this week, it seems logical that the Vista...
More About: Windows Xp

Sellers price up 8GB Eee PC
2007-12-04 12:40:00
Even though the 4GB version of Asus' elfin Eee PC isn't exactly easy to get hold of, some system sellers have started taking advance orders for the as-yet-unreleased 8GB model.Set be available in both white and black versions, the 8GB solid-state disk Eee PC comes with 1GB of DDR 2 memory - double that installed in the 4GB model. Like that machine, the 8GB incarnation has 802.11b/g Wi-Fi; three USB ports; a 10/100Mb/s Ethernet port; a 7in, 800 x 480 display; and a 900MHz Intel Celeron M ULV processor underclocked to 630MHz.Source: The Reg
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Samsung to produce faster graphics memory next year
2007-12-04 12:38:00
Samsung Electronics next year plans to begin mass production of a new type of graphics memory that both consumes less power and is significantly faster than existing chips.Called GDDR (Graphics Double Data Rate) 5, the new chips can transfer data at speeds up to 6Gbps, compared to transfer speeds of 3.2Gbps offered by GDDR 4 chips, currently the fastest graphics memory available. The difference is even greater when compared to GDDR 3, which is the most commonly used graphics memory and offers transfer speeds of 1.6Gbps.Source: InfoWorld
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Websites sell secret bank data and PINs
2007-12-03 14:13:00
Security breaches that are allowing the financial details of tens of thousands of Britons to be sold on the internet are to be investigated by the country?s information watchdog.Without paying a single penny, The Times downloaded banking information belonging to 32 people, including a High Court deputy judge and a managing director. The private account numbers, PINs and security codes were offered as tasters by illegal hacking sites in the hope that purchases would follow.Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, will begin an investigation into the security breach today and Scotland Yard is also investigating. Experts said that the findings suggested that more personal data than ever before was going astray. The Times found: More than 100 websites trafficking British bank details A fraudster offering to sell 30,000 British credit card numbers for less than £1 each A British ?e-passport? for sale, although the Government insists that they are unhackable.Source: The Times Online
More About: Data , Websites , Secret , Pins , Sell

Happy birthday SMS: 15 today
2007-12-03 14:09:00
Today marks the 15th anniversary since the first commercial short message service (SMS) text was sent. That first message, which read "Merry Christmas," was sent by Neil Papworth, an engineer at Airwide Solutions, via the Vodafone network to a colleague at the mobile operator who was enjoying the festivities of a staff Christmas party. Papworth sent the text on 3 December using a PC terminal and traditional keyboard, while the recipient, Vodafone's Richard Jarvis, received the message using an Orbitel 901 handset. That first message sent back in 1992 was just the tip of the iceberg. It wasn't until the following year that phone-to-phone texting was born, thanks to an engineering student at Nokia being the first to type an SMS on a GSM phone. Initially, users were restricted to sending same network texts, but since changing the rules of the game in 1999, SMS has exploded. Indeed, today, more than one billion text messages are sent each week, according to the Mobile Data Associatio...
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The First Year of IE7
2007-12-03 14:07:00
According to internal Microsoft research based on data from Visual Sciences Corporation, there are over 300 million users are experiencing the web with IE7. This makes IE7 the second most popular browser after IE6. IE7 is already #1 in the US and UK, and we expect IE7 to surpass IE6 worldwide shortly. Perhaps more important than the overall numbers is the positive impact IE7 has made for our users. As you know, we focused a lot on improving security in IE7. We believe IE 7 is the safest Microsoft browser released to date. According to a vulnerability report published today, IE7 has fewer vulnerabilities than previous versions of IE over the same time period. What?s more, the report showed that IE7 had both fewer fixed and unfixed vulnerabilities in the first year than the other browsers we compared. Source: IE Team Blog
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Global cell phone use at 50 percent
2007-12-03 14:03:00
Worldwide mobile telephone subscriptions reached 3.3 billion -- equivalent to half the global population -- on Thursday, 26 years after the first cellular network was launched, research firm Informa said.Since the first Nordic Mobile Telephony (NMT) networks were switched on in 1981 in Saudi Arabia, Sweden and Norway, mobile phones have become the consumer electronics sector with the largest volume of sales in the world."The mobile industry has constantly outperformed even the most optimistic forecasts for subscriber growth," Mark Newman, head of research at Informa said in a statement."For children growing up today the issue is not whether they will get a mobile phone, it's a question of when," Newman said. In recent years the industry has seen surging growth in outskirts of China and India, helped by constantly falling phone and call prices, with cellphone vendors already eyeing inroads into Africa's countryside to keep up the growth.Source: Reuters
More About: Phone , Cell Phone , Cell , Global , Cell-phone

Microsoft: Less Vulnerabilites in IE7 compared to Firefox
2007-11-30 21:06:00
Microsoft today published a report that evaluates the security performance of Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox through a detailed comparative look at vulnerabilities. The ?Web Browser... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
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Google Confirms Bid for Wireless Spectrum
2007-11-30 21:05:00
Google confirmed Friday that it will bid on wireless spectrum, the first step toward the establishment of the company's long-rumored wireless network. Google will file a bid with the FCC on Monday... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
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South Park: All Online, All for Free
2007-11-30 21:01:00
MTV Networks plans to make every clip from every episode of hit animated comedy "South Park " available for free online next year as part of a strategy to reach consumers everywhere. The decision from... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
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Mozilla scrambles to patch Firefox for second time this week
2007-11-30 21:00:00
Mozilla Corp. will probably release a Firefox update tomorrow to patch a bug in the just-released 2.0.0.10 version, according to the company's bug database. If so, it would mark the first time that... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
More About: Time , Mozilla , Week , Patch

Millions of computers roped into criminal 'robot networks'
2007-11-30 20:56:00
More than 1 million computers in the last five months have become part of robot networks, or "botnets," in which hackers take over computers without their owners' knowledge and use them in criminal... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
More About: Computers , Robot , Networks , Millions , Criminal

Grand Theft Auto 4 Box Art Released
2007-11-30 12:27:00
Rockstar Games has today released a preview of the box art for the highly anticipated upcoming game, Grand Theft Auto IV (aka GTA 4). It features a few unique New York landmarks as well as some other... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
More About: Released , Grand Theft Auto

Samsung rolls out coolest 1TB drive
2007-11-30 12:24:00
Samsung has begun shipping its F1 series 1TB hard drive promising the world's highest recording density using only three disks. The Serial ATA 3.5in F1 Series run at 7,200rpm and provide a higher... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
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Latests QuickTime Exploit targets both Macs and PCs
2007-11-30 12:20:00
A US-based security researcher has published a single piece of code that can remotely compromise both PCs and Macs as long as they are running Apple's QuickTime media player. The exploit is at least... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
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AMD triple-core CPUs to launch in February 2008
2007-11-30 12:18:00
AMD recently notified its partners that it plans to launch two triple-core CPUs (Toliman) in February next year while two dual-core CPUs (Kuma) will appear by the end of the second quarter, according... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
More About: Core , Launch , Triple , February 2008

Intel upgrades tools for Apple Leopard developers
2007-11-30 12:17:00
ntel upgraded its software development tools for Apple 's Mac OS X Leopard operating system, keeping a promise to Apple and pushing Mac applications to its brand new Penryn chips. Intel announced on... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
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Windows Vulnerability Could Compromise Millions Of PCs
2007-11-30 12:10:00
A serious security flaw affecting every version of Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) Windows operating systems, including Vista, could enable cyber criminals to take control of an untold number of machines... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
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Yahoo brings advertising to PDFs
2007-11-30 12:07:00
Adobe and Yahoo are teaming up to trial putting advertisements inside PDF documents. Ads for Adobe PDF Powered by Yahoo, as the new service is known, presents publishers with an alternative to... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
More About: Advertising , Yahoo! , Vert

Man killed after phone explosion
2007-11-30 12:01:00
An exploding mobile phone battery apparently killed a South Korean man in the first such known case in this gadget-obsessed country, police say. The man, identified only by his family name Suh, was... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
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Google service uses cell towers to locate users
2007-11-30 11:52:00
The new Google Maps with MyLocation service allows users without GPS-enabled phones to figure out their location by using nearby cell-phone towers Google Maps with My Location,... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
More About: Cell , Service , Users , Locate

Vista SP1 Release Candidate expected next week
2007-11-28 23:43:00
Microsoft is looking to release the Release Candidate (RC) test build of Windows Vista Service Pack (SP) 1 to selected testers the week of December 1, according to sources close to the... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
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O2 and Nokia to trial mobile phone Oyster
2007-11-28 23:42:00
O2 has teamed up with Nokia to embed the Oyster swipe card used by London commuters into a mobile phone with a trial set to start next year. The mobile phones will include a built-in RFID chip that... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
More About: Mobile , Phone , Mobile Phone , Trial

Experts warn of hacking 'cold war'
2007-11-28 23:39:00
Government groups around the world are becoming increasingly involved in efforts to launch and defend against web-based attacks, security experts warn. A new report from McAfee, conducted in... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
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Microsoft on the hunt for 'serious' Windows flaw
2007-11-28 23:37:00
Microsoft bug squashers are investigating reports of a serious security vulnerability in Windows operating systems that could allow attackers to take control of vast numbers of machines, particularly... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
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Apple Looking Into MacBook Hard Drive Issues
2007-11-28 23:35:00
Although it doesn't appear to be a widespread problem, Apple said it has "received a few reports that some MacBook consumer notebooks may have hard drive issues, and we're looking into it." Apple... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
More About: Drive , Issues , Hard , Hard Drive

Microsoft Loses Patent Appeal
2007-11-28 08:54:00
A federal appeals court has just ruled that Microsoft must pay more than $140 million for infringing on software patents owned by a Michigan-based technology company, z4 Technologies. The company had... View my site for full content and more... (Click on subject title of paste this into your browser address bar: http://knowhitech.blogspot.com/ )
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