Category: Computers, Science & Technology

How cool is that?!

Symantec disses Vista, says corporations ‘not comfortable’

“Microsoft seems to be fighting a losing public relations battle for Vista, as companies continue to criticize the latest Windows operating system. In an interview with InformationWeek, Symantec’s chief operating officer Enrique Salem said his customers in the enterprise sector are sticking with the older operating system. This apparently is resulting in lost sales for the company and other third-party providers, he laments. While the first service pack for Vista was intended to drum up interest in the OS, Salem has seen no evidence of an increase in adoption. He added that the company is looking towards Windows 7 and is already working on applications for that operating system, due out in 2010.”

Dewd! I am ready! Download it and check it out!

Firefox 3.0 Release Candidate 1 available on Mozilla servers

“Moving right along according to plan, the first release candidate of Firefox 3.0 appeared this morning among Mozilla’s beta and candidate downloads. BetaNews has obtained the link, and RC1 is downloadable now. On previous occasions during this testing cycle, what appeared to be public betas of Firefox 3 showed up in just the right place on Mozilla’s servers, at just the right time, but ended up being internal builds of the product. BetaNews is testing this RC1 download now, and will have more news about it later this afternoon. As best as we can tell, it’s the genuine article. As expected, most of the plug-ins recently upgraded for usability with Beta 5 were operable in this version, though our plug-in to switch rendering engines with Internet Explorer at will, is functional. The ‘About’ screen clearly registered the product as ‘Firefox 3.0’ instead of ‘Firefox 3.0b5.’ And after installation, the browser attempted to load a ‘What’s new in 3.0’ page that does not yet exist. In the early going, we notice one obvious new addition: A link marked ‘Most Visited’ appears next to the ‘Smart Bookmarks’ button in the Links toolbar, which itself was an addition that cropped up, we believe, in Beta 3. Clicking on this button brings up a list of URLs that appear to be the top 10 members of the current History buffer. The default skin looks ever-so-slightly tweaked, with more space between the new ‘Back’ and ‘Forward’ rocker-switch-looking contraption and the ‘Reload current page’ button. Some pixels appear to have been cropped from the Address bar to make room.”

It will rival Google’s “Android” system… but Verizon wants its own Linux-based Phone OS.

Verizon Wireless Backs Linux Operating System For Handsets

“Verizon Wireless said on Wednesday that it was putting its weight behind a Linux-based operating system that rivals Google Inc.’s ( GOOG) own Android offering. Wireless carriers are increasingly looking to open standard software for their phones because they reduce manufacturing costs and make it easier for the development community to independently create new services and programs. Verizon Wireless said it will use a standard called LiMo, and expects it to eventually be the preferred operating system for its phones. The carrier – jointly owned by Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) – plans to have phones using the LiMo operating system by 2009, according to Kyle Malady, vice president of networks. While LiMo has gotten less press than Android, it is further along the development process, with 18 handsets from eight different companies in the market. The wide number of development partners in the LiMo Foundation and the more open nature of the group attracted Verizon Wireless, Malady said.”

Gotta love it… a fairly cheap ($99.99) “camcorder” for videoing any weirdness you may see and then want to post on YouTube. Now, THIS is useful!

Creative launches its Vado pocket ‘camcorder’

“Offering a device for individuals to keep handy just in case a ‘must record’ moment happens (‘Don’t Taze Me, Bro’ moments), Creative has unveiled its VF0570-P Vado Pocket Video Camcorder. With 2 GB of memory, and 640 x 480 VGA MPEG4 videos recording at 30 fps, Creative’s Vado has specs conspicuously similar to PureVideo’s 2 GB Flip Video. The main difference between the two is the price. The 2 GB flip carries with it an MSRP of $149.99, while the Vado shaves the price down to $99.99. Complete with two AA batteries, the unit only weighs 84 grams and claims to be able to record for 2 hours in an even further reduced quality. Like the Flip, there is a built in USB connector, a 2″ LCD screen, and an A/V out port. Though Creative and Pure both bill their devices as ‘camcorders,’ the quality offered is only marginally better than the capture quality on better mobile phones. Furthermore, a developing trend among point and shoot still cameras is the addition of HD video capture. Panasonic, Samsung, Kodak, and Canon all offer far superior video capture quality in a comparably-sized unit for only a fraction more money.”

Our favorite free office suite is moving on up to version 3.0! Check out the new features!

OpenOffice.org 3.0 beta is ready for testing

“The OpenOffice.org Community is pleased to announce that the public beta release of OpenOffice.org 3.0 is now available. This beta release is made available to allow a broad user base to test and evaluate the next major version of OpenOffice.org, but is not recommended for production use at this stage. If you are a regular user of OpenOffice.org, here’s a great opportunity to help us make the next release the best ever.

What’s new in OpenOffice.org 3.0?

The most immediately visible change to OpenOffice.org 3.0 is the new ‘Start Centre’, new fresh-looking icons, and a new zoom control in the status bar. A closer look shows that 3.0 has a myriad of new features. Notable Calc improvements include a new solver component; support for spreadsheet collaboration through workbook sharing; and an increase to 1024 columns per sheet. Writer has an improved notes feature and displays of multiple pages while editing. There are numerous Chart enhancements, and an improved crop feature in Draw and Impress. Behind the scenes, OpenOffice.org 3.0 will support the upcoming OpenDocument Format (ODF) 1.2 standard, and is capable of opening files created with MS-Office 2007 or MS-Office 2008 for Mac OS X (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx, etc.). This is in addition to read and write support for the MS-Office binary file formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt, etc.). OpenOffice.org 3.0 will be the first version to run on Mac OS X without X11, with the look and feel of any other Aqua application. It introduces partial VBA support to this platform. In addition, OpenOffice.org 3.0 integrates well with the Mac OS X accessibility APIs, and thus offers better accessibility support than many other Mac OS X applications.”

A more detailed feature guide is here:

OpenOffice.org 3.0 Feature Guide

Star Trek lives! At least science is catching up with Star Trek. Now, there is a Tricorder-like device to help determine what’s wrong with a patient. Dr. McCoy would be so proud!

Real Trekkie Tricorder Invented

“New handheld medical scanners coupled with regular cell phones resemble “Star Trek” tricorders and could see what ails you with a push of a button. The invention, using off-the-shelf cell phone technology, would allow medical scanners could boldly go where none have gone before — to the aid of the roughly three-quarters of the world’s population currently without access to ultrasounds, X-rays and other imagers used for everything from detecting tumors to monitoring fetuses. In addition to offering medical scans in developing nations, the devices ‘could find their way in ambulances, or rural clinics,’ said Boris Rubinsky, a professor of bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley.”

XML may seem like Greek to you… but you may understand it better after reviewing the article at the link below:

The W3C’s “XML in 10 points”

Neat stuff… check it out!

I have seen the trailers… and already, I love this movie! Ironman! I am a sucker for superheroes and scifi anyway, but this movie is gonna rock! AWESOME! You can bet that me, my wife, Belinda, and the GameMaster will be heading out to see this over the weekend… save us good seats, and pass the popcorn!

You may say… “What does this have to do with tech?” Are you kidding? SEE THIS MOVIE! If you are a techno-geek… you will flip over it!

The WB Network went off the air in favor of “The CW”… now, The WB is being revived… on-line!

The Frog lives: Warner resurrects The WB online in beta form

“Today, Warner has announced that it will be bringing back The WB as a free, ad-supported online video network to showcase original Studio 2.0 content as well as offer hit WB shows from that networks’ — and others’ — past. Launching in beta at the beginning of May, TheWB.com will offer free full-length episodes of The OC, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, and Everwood, as well as the current CW show Smallville — considered by many TV analysts The CW’s only actual ‘hit,’ in very relative terms. In addition, The WB will present shows that never actually appeared on the former ‘Frog’ network, but were produced by Warner Bros. Television, including UPN’s All of Us and Veronica Mars, and NBC’s one-time #1 Thursday night blockbuster Friends.”

I was installing AVG on a new system I was setting up for a client. So, AVG 8.0 is out… and, weirdly enough, AVG Anti-Spyware Free has been discontinued. And so soon after I said it was really cool and improved. Sigh. Oh well… Version 8.0 is very cool. So, get it… and stay safe out there!

Free AVG Anti-Virus