PDC 2008: Windows 7 will add a 'volume knob' to UAC
Will users feel better about Windows 7 when they have the option of turning off one of Vista's least understood features? Or will they instead make the attempt to understand it? That's the problem which Microsoft's Mike Nash is now facing.
LOS ANGELES - Since the original RTM version of Windows Vista, a Registry-based switch has existed for changing the running state of User Account Control -- the feature that stops processes from performing tasks that haven't been launched by human users. So even today, it's feasible, albeit not easy, to turn up the volume and have UAC prompt for passwords (as was originally planned in the early betas), or turn it off.
Glitch reports mount for e-voting machines
It's six days until the American elections. Do you know whether your electronic voting machines are behaving?
The overwhelming majority of voters on Tuesday will encounter machines from Premier Election Systems, Hart InterCivic, Sequoia Voting Systems, or Election Systems and Software (ES&S). For your consideration, we present a roundup of problems currently known to be manifesting or to have recently manifested in testing and early voting, sorted by vendor.
PDC 2008: Mike Nash answers your questions about Windows 7
Yesterday we asked you to tell us what you wanted to know about Windows 7. We posed many of these questions to Mike Nash, corporate vice president of Windows Product Management. Read on for the answers.
Note: Not all of the questions were answered, so we will post a follow-up later this week with more details on icons, SSD drives, security, file copy speed, Aero and more.
Eee maker Asus rumored to be planning Android phone for 2009
Although much better known in the US for its Eee MID device and its motherboards, Asus also builds phones, including the first dedicated Skype device. Now the Taiwanese manufacturer reportedly plans to follow the footsteps of G1-maker HTC.
Asus plans to launch its Android phone during the first half of next year, possibly selling it under its own brand in the Taiwan first before rolling out custom editions for overseas customers, says an account today in the English-language Taiwan industry publication DigiTimes, which cites unnamed sources at Asus.
PDC 2008: More details on the new Windows 7 Taskbar
At PDC 2008, Microsoft took the wraps off Windows 7 and showcased its new dock-like Taskbar. But the revamped Taskbar isn't in the pre-beta build distributed to attendees, so we went hunting for more details on Windows 7's most prominent new feature.
First up, Quick Launch is officially dead. Microsoft will be leaving the Quick Launch folder in Windows 7 for backwards compatibility, but any shortcuts stored there will never show up. Deskbands (like an address bar in the Taskbar) still exist in Windows 7, but must also support rendering on the transparent Glass UI.
Shipping delay moves G1's Wal-Mart premiere to next week
A discount-priced G1 phone, slated for availability today in Wal-Mart stores, has now been pushed back to about November 3 by a shipping delay, BetaNews has learned.
Wal-Mart does plan to sell T-Mobile's Android-enabled G1 at a discounted price -- but starting on about November 3, instead of October 29, as originally expected, a spokesperson for the retailer told BetaNews today.
Scareware worm stretches out to Picasa, Google Reader
A Facebook worm wending its way through the address books of unwary users is gaining trust by pointing to two equally trusted sites, researchers warned on Wednesday.
The worm aims to trick the unwary into installing malware on their own systems. That malware is disguised as a new ActiveX video codec.
Sony's PS3 soars in sales, but to little financial benefit
After winning the HD "format war" and enjoying brisk sales of the Blu-ray-enabled PlayStation 3, Sony this week saw its profits for the past few months effectively canceled out by a surge in the relative strength of the Japanese yen.
Sony sold 2.43 million PS3 consoles from July to September of this year, an increase of 85 percent over the same time frame in 2007, according to quarterly results announced today. The company also racked up particularly strong sales in the categories of flat panel TVs and Vaio PCs.
High-definition Netflix streaming coming to Xbox 360
A highly-anticipated aspect of the "New Xbox Experience" dashboard upgrade for Microsoft's Xbox 360 is the addition of streaming Netflix content. Today, it has been revealed that the content will include some 300 high-definition titles as well.
Though Xbox Live Primetime has been delayed until next spring, the November 19 upgrade to the Xbox 360 dashboard includes a beau geste from Netflix: exclusive access to the service's streaming HD content.
Google moves to address OpenID confusion among users
Acting on concerns that OpenID's a great idea but a miserable user experience, Google on Wednesday announced an API based on usability research for OpenID identity providers.
OpenID-accepting sites (aka "relying parties") using the new API can allow visitors to log in using only their Google account, with no need to figure out a new username and password. In the example given on Google Code Blog, if a visitor to an OpenID-accepting has a gmail.com address, they'd be temporarily taken back to Google and asked if she or he wished to sign into the new site using that address.
Linkedin gets app platform, sticks to productivity
Linkedin, the social network for professionals, has taken a cue from Facebook and MySpace and has included its own applications platform. In keeping with the site's ethic, the launch applications are largely productivity-based.
Unlike the other popular social networks with applications platforms, Linkedin's do not include time-wasters and other such frivolities. Amazon, Google, Tripit, WordPress, Box.net, SixApart, and Huddle.net all have provided apps for Linkedin that help move the Site from personal data and resume sharing into a more project-oriented collaboration tool.
Verizon adds 458,000 FiOS subscribers in three months
Driven by its FiOS HDTV and Internet broadband services and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture with Vodane, Verizon's business boomed big time from July through September, even as the economy began to slow.
With the world economy starting to unravel, Verizon Communications added 233,000 FiOS TV subcribers and 225,000 FiOS Internet subscribers from July to September of this year, while its Verizon Wireless joint venture added 1.5 million new subscribers, according to third-quarter financial results released this week.
PDC 2008: Live blog of the Microsoft Research keynote
Day three of PDC 2008 kicks off with a morning keynote from Rick Rashid, Senior Vice President for Microsoft Research. The company's robotics efforts are expected to be a prime topic of discussion for developers here.
We will be live-blogging the keynote as it takes place. Refresh this page for updates.
Phoenix gets embedded DVD player for HyperSpace
California's Phoenix Technologies, the company most famous for its BIOS, has announced an upgrade to its HyperSpace virtual Linux environment that will allow a system's DVD player to be accessed independently from the core OS.
Phoenix's HyperSpace is essentially an embedded Linux OS that accompanies the system firmware or BIOS that acts as an instant-on platform upon which applications can run, no matter what the status of the main operating system may be.
PDC 2008: The hard job of moving on after Vista
Remember the good old days when it seemed that a PC on everyone's desktop was a modern miracle? After recent experiences with Vista, the course Ray Ozzie may set for Windows 7 appears intended to recapture some of that magic.
Windows Vista has been described with a wide variety of adjectives, ranging from an ongoing success to, in the words of my friend and colleague at Microsoft Watch, Joe Wilcox, a "flop." The very fact that such a variety of monikers exists is all the indicator one needs that something went wrong during the lifecycle of this product.
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