Vista News

Adobe Systems is shipping Wednesday its Adobe Flash Player 10 software, featuring built-in 3D capabilities as well as the ability for developers to add their own special effects. Concurrent with Flash Player 10, Adobe is shipping Adobe Creative Suite (CS) 4, featuring tools for building creative content, the company said. Tools like Photoshop and Illustrator are featured, offering such functionality as vector graphics. Download: Adobe Flash Player 10 FFS just how hard can 64bit support be :sarc:

Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 released Author: Gareth Halfacree Published: 16th October 2008 If you're a Firefox fan that just has to be on the cutting edge, you'll be pleased to hear that the Mozilla Foundation has released the first public beta for Firefox 3.1. According to Download.com the main change for 3.1 above the current Firefox 3.0 release is a different JavaScript engine with vastly improved performance, alongside a smartened user interface for switching between tabs, and improvements to the so-called 'Awesome Bar'. The new JavaScript engine, the most important change over existing Firefox builds, is included in the beta but deactivated by default. In order to make use of the improved engine – codenamed TraceMonkey – you'll...

Thermoelectric Compound Breakthrough Could Alter the Materials of the Future Written by Andy Salisbury 10/16/08 at 04:52:21 PM SOURCE: Thermoelectric Compound Breakthrough Could Alter the Materials of the Future | Maximum PC Thermoelectric materials are common, but they’re not used as often as one would expect. This is because these materials have either been inefficient, expensive, or both. Several groups of researchers have been looking to correct this, and solve the mysteries that have been surrounding these compounds with a goal of bringing them to the world. Mildred S. Dresselhaus is one of those looking to change the face of thermoelectric compounds. Working with her team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...

Hi there, Mike Nash here. For me, one of the most exciting times in the release of a new product is right before we show it to the world for the first time. And that time is right now. 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, since we began development of the next version of the Windows client operating system we have been referring to it by a codename, "Windows 7." But now is a good time to announce that we've decided to officially call the next version of...

Intel Core i7 (Nehalem): Architecture By AMD? Written by Fedy Abi-Chahla 2:40 AM - October 14, 2008 Introduction Two years ago, Intel pulled off a coup with the introduction of its Conroe architecture, which surfaced as the Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad. With this move, the company won back the performance crown after losing a bit of favor in the debacle that was its Pentium 4 "Prescott" design. At that time, Intel announced an ambitious plan to return to evolving its processor architectures at a rapid pace, as they had done in the mid-1990s. The first phase of the plan was the release of a “refresh” of the architecture 12 months after its introduction, to take advantage of progress in fabrication processes. That was done with...

The 8 most dangerous Windows vulnerabilities The bugs that caused the most serious damage Andrew Brandt Uncovering and exploiting Windows vulnerabilities has become as sport for many, and in a number of cases, even a career. We've rounded up a list of the worst Windows flaws we've endured since the introduction of Windows 98 Windows may be one of the world's most popular operating systems, but it's swamped with bugs that leave it open to exploits. No matter which version you choose; Vista, XP, 2000 or even 98, you're sure to find some area of the OS that has been compromised thanks to a bug. In fact, uncovering and exploiting Windows vulnerabilities has made sport for many and careers for many more. Entire industries have sprung...

How long will Microsoft support XP and Vista? | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com In the Talkback section to another post, a reader asks a question about when Microsoft plans to drop support for Windows Vista. I hear variations on this one all the time, so I figured it’s worth covering here: If MS is pushing up Win 7, what is going to happen to all the Vista users? Are they going to get screwed by a short term OS? It seems that MS is stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one. If Vista becomes a speed bump, then the Vista users will be angry. If they don’t then all the people who hate Vista will be angry. While in total numbers Vista users are small in number now it still is a large number of people. I might quibble...

Despite the negative attention it's been subjected to, Vista is a huge success in the eyes of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. "It doesn't mean that people aren't still picking on it, but we've sold 180 million copies, something like that, of Vista," he said. Consumer product marketing, however, needs some work, he added... Welcome to TechNewsWorld

I qutote: October 13, 2008 (Computerworld) Security software suites don't protect users from real-world exploits, a bug-tracking company charged today after launching 300 test attacks against a dozen programs, including popular software from McAfee Inc., Symantec Corp. and Trend Micro Inc. "The Internet security suites are marketing themselves as the one solution users need to be safe online," said Thomas Kristensen, chief technology officer at Secunia Inc., which ran the tests. "In our opinion, that's just not true." Secunia sicced hundreds of vulnerability exploits -- some proof-of-concept code that triggered a vulnerability, others that included payloads -- on 12 suites, including Symantec's Norton Internet Security 2009...

Hey Everyone! z3r010 aka John our Vistax64 Admin has started a new forum dedicated to Windows 7 :cool: www.sevenforums.com

Microsoft's Chairman Bill Gates has been supplanted as America's richest man, according to a revised Forbes Magazine ranking, using October 1 data. Gates now takes second place to Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett, whose wealth Forbes estimated at $58 billion. Gates had held the top richest spot for 15 years, but his wealth slipped from $57 billion in August to $55.5 billion in October, the magazine reported. Taking third place, at $25.4 billion, was Gates' ostensible nemesis, Larry Ellison, cofounder and CEO of Oracle Corp. Gates told CNN in an interview broadcast on Monday that despite the financial turmoil in the stock markets, no crisis of capitalism was happening. The markets have yet to show less turmoil...

Earlier this summer, we covered a report suggesting that the majority of corporate data loss comes from risky employee actions and systemic failures at the corporate level when it comes to implementing comprehensive IT security policies. Now, a new study from Compuware reports new information that supports Trend Micro's conclusions from back in July. The unsung heroes in the IT department, it turns out, may be doing a better job stopping outside hackers than they get credit for. According to a new study (PDF, info required) from Compuware, IT departments should take a bow—only 1 percent of corporate data losses this past year were due to hackers. Unfortunately, the good news mostly ends there. Negligent employees are far and away the...

Google's YouTube has begun testing a dramatic departure in content and advertising, adding 15 50-minute TV episodes from Star Trek, Beverly Hills 90210, and MacGyver and with prominent new ads. "We are starting to test full-length programming on YouTube, beginning with some fan favorites requested by you," Google said on its YouTube blog on Friday. It's an experiment in video display and advertising, too, with ads for Research in Motion's BlackBerry and Intel's Centrino chip technology showing prominently on the videos I watched. The TV shows are preceded by a 15-second pre-roll ad, and YouTube will show mid-roll and post-roll ads as well, according to the blog posting. "As we test this new format, we also want to ensure that our...

In a software-centric world where we already have many, many languages to program in, from scripting to bytecode compiled languages, to frameworks on top of languages and embedded languages, now Redmond wants to bring ANOTHER language to the table, titled ‘M’ (for Microsoft?). The new language is to be a part of Microsoft’s new Oslo development and service-oriented strategy, incorporating features from XAML while being textual and domain-specific. M is to be used directly with 2 other components to be released with M along with Visual Studio 2010: Quadrant, a tool for building models visually, and a repository for storing and viewing models in an SQL database. The Coffee Desk » » Microsoft’s new ‘M’ programming language

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New 'Clickjacking' Threat Could Compromise Your Webcam, Interrupt Striptease. NoScript to the Rescue? Written by Paul Lilly 10/10/08 at 10:46:57 AM Those kooky hackers, what will they think of next? The latest fad sweeping the underground community involves a new type of attack (new in how it's being used, anyway) dubbed 'clickjacking,' whereby surfers click on seemingly harmless websites only to end up unknowingly forfeiting control of their webcam and microphone. So far, clickjacking has been confirmed to affect Adobe's Flash player and for every major browser, such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, and yes, it affects Google's Chrome browser too. "It is a very serious problem," said Giorgio Maone, author of the...

For those who plan to upgrade their CPU, this article might be interesting regarding on upcoming New processor Corei7.:p:party: X-bit labs - Intel: Core i7 to Be Up to 52% Faster Compared to Core 2 Quad. Intel Predicts Massive Performance Improvements with New Chips [10/06/2008 07:52 PM] by Anton Shilov Intel Corp. expects its forthcoming Intel Core i7 processors to be much more powerful compared to existing central processing units, according to documents reportedly seen by the media. If the information turns to be precise enough, then Intel has all chances to keep processor performance crown even after smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices launches its new chips. Documents from Intel Corp. allegedly seen by Expreview...

Wal-Mart Decides To Maintain DRM Servers Written by Justin Kerr 10/11/08 at 07:34:08 PM UPDATE FROM NEWS POST: http://www.vistax64.com/vista-news/183837-walmart-pull-plug-drm-servers.html Intense customer backlash has forced the online music arm of Wal-Mart to reverse its position on its controversial plan to deactivate all DRM authentication servers on October 9th. The move would have left countless customers with music files that could never be re-authenticated should they wish to play them on a new PC. Deactivating DRM server’s isn’t a new trend, but the announcement differed from other vendors simply because of the sheer lack of notice customers were given to backup music. The first notice only went out on September 28th...

When Microsoft hired Ray Ozzie in 2005, Ozzie was one of three Chief Technology Officers at Microsoft. In 2006, Microsoft’s then-Chief-Software-Architect (CSA) — Bill Gates — passed the CSA torch to Ozzie. But Ozzie is not Gates’ sole replacement. Gates’ CSA role is split officially between Ozzie and Craig Mundie, Chief Research and Strategy Officer. In a new video interview posted to Microsoft’s Channel 9 Web site on June 23, Gates adds a third group of folks to the list of those who will be filling his shoes after he leaves Microsoft as a full-time employee this month. How many people does it take to fill Bill Gates’ shoes? | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com

In April, Microsoft extended the life of Windows XP Home by two years for budget laptops. In June, the software giant did the same for ULCPCs as its partners continued to report strong demand. Now Microsoft is making another extension, this one affecting a much less specific market; the software giant has decided to halt XP Professional media shipments to major computer makers (system builders are not included) not on January 31, 2009, but instead on July 31. An e-mail from a Microsoft spokesperson explains the reasoning for the change: "As more customers make the move to Windows Vista, we want to make sure that they are making that transition with confidence and that it is as smooth as possible. Providing downgrade media for a few...