More GeForce GTX 285 Details Emerge

As we are approaching the now inevitable release of the 55nm GeForce GTX 285, more details regarding said card surface on the Internet. NVIDIA's new GeForce flagship graphics card is expected to come as an overclocked version of the company's current GeForce GTX 280.

Also, unlike the current card, the GPU of the upcoming GTX 285 takes advantage of a 55nm process technology, which basically allows for better performance and overclocking capability, while it should also provide a better power consumption level.

According to a recent post on the Chinese language Expreview, the upcoming single-core GTX 285 is expected to boast frequency levels a bit over those available for NVIDIA's current GeForce GTX 280. The core speed of the GTX 285 should settle at 648 MHz, compared with the 602 MHz available with the GeForce GTX280. The Shader and Memory frequencies have also been brought up to 1476MHz and 1242MHz, respectively.

Given that the 65nm-based GTX 280 has Shader and Memory clock speeds of 1296MHz and 1107MHz, the performance boost might not be all that impressive. Still, the performance of the GTX 285 is expected to surpass that of ATI's HD 4870 and to come close to what the HD 4870 X2 can now provide. We are yet to see a comparative review between any pair of aforementioned cards, but we should keep our peeled for one such piece as it would give us a general idea of what we should expect from NVIDIA's next-generation GeForce graphics card.

After the release of the GTX 280 and the dual-GPU GTX 295, the Sunnyvale, California-based AMD is also expected to unveil a new range of cards as well. The rumored Radeons are to compete directly with NVIDIA's upcoming 55nm range of products. What is yet unclear is whether said cards are to remain at 55nm, or whether AMD plans to jump straight to 40nm.

Source: http://akupunyasitus.blogspot.com

Broken Webpages IE8 Beta Add-On on Vista SP1 and XP SP3

While building Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft is joggling the evolution of IE and its commitment not to break the web, namely content that is tailored to IE6 and IE7. Internet Explorer 8 is not only capable of rendering websites developed with modern standards, but also content that was designed with the shortcomings of its precursors in mind. In addition to building three rendering modes into the browser and ensuring the evolution of Compatibility View, the software giant is also taking the necessary measures to identify the specific websites that fail to play nice with Internet Explorer 8. In this context, the Report a Webpage Problem Internet Explorer 8.0 Beta Add-On is now available for download.

“The Report a Webpage Problem Internet Explorer Add-on appears as a toolbar button and a 'Report a Webpage Problem...' item on the Tools menu,” an excerpt from the tool's description reads. “When the toolbar button is clicked or the menu item is chosen, the control takes a screenshot of the web page currently being viewed. A new tab is then opened containing a report submission form. A scaled down version of the screenshot will be visible at the bottom, and the user has a choice of whether or not to include the full-sized screenshot (choosing No to the 'Include Screenshot' question means no screenshot will be sent).”

The add-on is designed to catalyze feedback for Microsoft when it comes down to webpages with rendering problems, which could contain scripting errors or any additional issues. According to the Redmond company, the add-on is set up to integrate exclusively with the Beta versions of Internet Explorer 8, and will not be available for the final version of the browser. The software giant revealed that the add-on's availability would be discontinued in the Internet Explorer 8 pre-RTM timeframe. The Report a Webpage Problem Internet Explorer 8.0 Beta Add-On would work with copies of the browser run on top of Windows Vista SP1, Windows XP SP3, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008.

“On the report submission page, the user also has the option to select a category best representing their observed problem. This category selection will be part of the report information returned to Microsoft. A 1000 character limit comment field is provided, if the user chooses to include some description of the problem. Additional data included in the report: the protocol type (http, res, file, etc.) of the URL being reported; the complete URL; a numerical value representing the Document mode,” Microsoft adds.

The Report a Webpage Problem Internet Explorer 8.0 Beta Add-On is available for download here.

New MSNBot (msnbot/2.0b) from Live Search

Microsoft is getting ready to introduce its latest move against Google, an overhauled boot for its search engine. While the Redmond company is laboring to reportedly scrap the Live Search brand in favor of Kumo, with a transition of leadership as Qi Lu takes on the new role of president of the Online Services Group, the organic evolution of Live Search moves forward. In this regard, the latest product on the Live Search front is a new MSNBot.

“Live Search is committed to continuing to improve how we discover and crawl your content. In the coming weeks, we will be testing an update to MSNBot, which may show up as a new crawler name in your referrer logs. The new crawler user agent string will appear as: msnbot/2.0b (+http://search.msn.com/msnbot.htm). You’ll still see the current version msnbot/1.1 (+http://search.msn.com/msnbot.htm) as Live Search’s primary user agent,” Jeremiah Andrick, program manager, Live Search Webmaster Center, revealed.

Webmasters and web content owners will be the ones directly affected by Microsoft testing the new MSNBot. The new Live Search crawler will generate extra traffic as far as bots are concerned, but the software giant is promising that MSNBot/2.0b will tiptoe on websites and that it will not take a heavy tole on the resources available.

Qi Lu, the new president of the Online Services Group, indicated that one of the pitches that convinced him to join Microsoft was CEO Steve Ballmer's promise that the Redmond company had a strong focus on driving product quality.

“We intend to ensure that any robots exclusion protocol you are using is respected. As such, you don’t need to update your Robots.txt file. We plan on crawling at a slow speed during the tests with the updated version. When the new crawler replaces our current crawler, we will keep you up-to-date,” Andrick added.

Microsoft Is Cooking a Kumo Live Search Rebrand - Kumo.com now on Live Search servers

It remains to be seen whether rechristening Live Search will deliver a positive impact in terms of gathering and keeping fresh eyeballs, if it will just be a strategy with little repercussions in terms of market share, or if it will have just the opposite effect, and drive users away from Microsoft's search engine. However, the fact of the matter is that the software giant is indeed cooking a Live Search rebranding, with Kumo (Kumo.com) as one of the candidate brands.

The fact that Microsoft was considering a brand evolution for Live Search was initially reported by Mary Jo Foley. In this regard, LiveSide has indicated that Kumo is now under Microsoft's control, but accessible only to employees.

Meaning both “cloud” and “spider” in Japanese, Kumo is, without a doubt, intimately connected with Live Search, considering the domain servers the company is using, namely NS.USWEST.SEARCH.LIVE.COM; NS.USEAST.SEARCH.LIVE.COM and NS.ANYCAST.SEARCH.LIVE.COM. However, until this point in time, Microsoft has steered right clear of confirming any future plans related to a Live Search rebranding. As far as Kumo is concerned, mum's the word from Microsoft.

Still, one thing is clear, the Redmond company has nothing short of big plans for Kumo.com. The domain has been registered for no less than 10 years, and is scheduled for expiration on July 19, 2018. The registration of Live.com, the home of Live Search, is set to expire in 2017.

In the race with Google, Microsoft is not fighting just a search engine, but the technology behind it. Google is a brand that is now virtually synonymous with search, and the Redmond company has nothing to counter this aspect. Windows Live Search, Live Search, and Live.com simply do not have sufficient brand potential to go against Google, in the context in which users are no longer searching the web, they are googling it. The question is will anybody be kumoing it?

Microsoft: We're Here to Win Against Google

At the start of December Microsoft confirmed that the former executive vice president of Engineering for the Search and Advertising Technology Group at Yahoo had switched sides and was going to take the lead of its Online Services Group. Scheduled to take on his new position come January 5, 2009.

Dr. Qi Lu revealed that he was gearing up to hit the ground running, while Microsoft's target in term of online search could not be clearer. Lu admitted Google's superiority in the search space, and acknowledged the challenges that Microsoft would face in its attempt to catch up with the Mountain View-based search giant, stating that “we've got our work cut out for us.”

“We're here to win, and my view on this is that to win in the search space, fundamentally you build on the strengths of your product. And we know what it takes to build a compelling user experience and winning product, which is to have a powerful infrastructure, great talent, and put great processes in place so that we can out-develop, out-market, out-innovate our competitors,” Lu stated.

Dr. Qi Lu was recruited at Microsoft by none other than the Chief Executive Office Steve Ballmer. According to Lu, Ballmer promised that Microsoft had a strong commitment on continuing its investments in research and development, while at the same time focusing on delivering high-quality products in order to increase competitive chances on the market. In this context, Lu pointed out that there were a couple of major occasions for Microsoft to compete against Google.

“First, I think there is a genuine opportunity to take our search products to the next level. I see that Microsoft's search product quality is improving at a very, very fast rate, that there are great foundations there,” Lu added. “The second opportunity is to continue building a very powerful advertising platform. Microsoft has made a series of strategic acquisitions, and also built a bunch of internal technologies and products.”

Microsoft to Kill Windows XP 'Blue Edition' - In the fight against pirated software

Microsoft is attempting to kill the “Blue Edition” of Windows XP. In mid-2008 the Redmond company discontinued the availability of retail and OEM licenses of Windows XP, with the exception of copies of the operating system going onto ultra-low-cost laptops and desktops. However, XP “Blue Edition” is by no means a part of Microsoft's efforts to focus consumers and partners on Windows Vista and beyond. Killing XP “Blue Edition” is an illustrative example of the company's actions to stop the software counterfeiting phenomenon affecting its products.

According to Microsoft, “Blue Edition” is nothing more than a fabricated marketing program used to market and sell pirated copies of Windows XP. In this regard, the software giant informed that it had debuted legal actions against multiple online auctioneers worldwide, which were allegedly responsible for selling pirated copies of XP “Blue Edition” and not only via various global marketing schemes.

“Dishonest auctioneers are too often using these online auction sites to sell counterfeit and illegal copies of Microsoft software, taking advantage of unsuspecting customers around the world,” revealed David Finn, associate general counsel for Worldwide Anti-Piracy and Anti-Counterfeiting at Microsoft. “These dealers are peddling bogus products that can put customers and their personal information at serious risk.”

Microsoft has indicated that auctioneers in 12 countries around the world are now facing lawsuits for selling counterfeit software on online auction sites. A total of 63 legal actions involve lawsuits in the US (16), in Germany (12), in France (12), and in the UK (7). In addition, the software giant is also going after software counterfeiters in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico and New Zealand.

“By taking legal action against these and other alleged counterfeiters, Microsoft is helping ensure that consumers around the world are protected from those who sell counterfeit software over the Internet,” Finn added. “We are also continuing to arm our customers with the information they need to keep from falling victim to counterfeit software. Consumers should be aware that the so-called ‘Blue Edition’ software is nothing more than low-quality counterfeit software burned onto a CD.”
By: Marius Oiaga

Opera 10.0 Alpha 1 Available for Download - Get it here

Having released Opera 9.5 and Opera 9.6 in 2008, the Norwegian browser maker is now offering the first taste of Opera 10.0. While Microsoft and Mozilla are laboring to hit the Release Candidate stages of Internet Explorer 8 (now at Beta 2) and Firefox 3.1, respectively (now still at Beta 1, and on the verge of Beta 2), Opera is also cooking the next iteration of its browser. The first Alpha development milestone for Opera 10.0 is now available for download.

“It seems like yesterday we released Opera 9.6 and now you can all get your hands on Opera 10.0. Rather than ramble on, here's a quick list of what's new: Presto 2.2 Engine; performance boost; 100/100 and pixel-perfect on the Acid3 test; auto-update; inline spelling checker; Opera Mail improvements, including rich text composition and delete after X days; Widget Improvements on Linux,” revealed Adam Minchinton, Opera Mac developer.

Opera has tweaked and optimized the core of the browser, and has taken Presto up to version 2.2 from 2.1 in Kestrel. In this context, now Opera 10.0 Alpha 1 passes the Acid3 Test for web standard support to perfection, the browser maker claims. At the same time, the evolution of the engine has delivered a new level of performance, not only in terms of speed, but also in regard to how the broser handles CSS, XML printing, and RGBA and HSLA support.

“The long awaited auto-update functionality is here! That's right, Opera will now update itself as new versions are released. And for those of you who want every single snapshot release just enable the 'Download All Snapshots' setting (opera:config#AutoUpdate). Please be aware that if you do so, you will be upgrading to all snapshots - and, as you know: snapshots contain the latest changes, but may also have severe known issues, including crashes and data loss situations. In fact, they may not work at all,” Minchinton added.

Opera 10.0 Alpha 1 for Windows is available for download here (Link 1), here (Link 2), here (Link 3), here (Link 4), here (Link 5).

Opera 10.0 Alpha 1 for Linux is available for download here (Link 1), here (Link 2), here (Link 3), here (Link 4), here (Link 5), here (Link 6).

Opera 10.0 Alpha 1 for Mac OS X is available for download here (Link 1), here (Link 2), here (Link 3), here (Link 4), here (Link 5), here (Link 6).

MySQL Administrator for Windows 5.0 r10

MySQL Administrator is a powerful visual administration console that enables you to easily administer your MySQL environment and gain significantly better visibility into how your databases are operating.

MySQL Administrator now integrates database management and maintenance into a seamless, single environment, with an intuitive and clear graphical user interface.

By using MySQL Administrator you will be able to:
- Achieve higher database availability through improved management
- Reduce errors through visual database administration
- Lower database administration costs through improved productivity
- Deliver a more secure environment through easier privilege management

MySQL Administrator enables developers and DBAs to easily perform all the command line operations visually including configuring servers, administering users, and dynamically monitoring database health.

Other common administrative tasks such as monitoring replication status, backup and restore, and viewing logs can also be performed through the MySQL Administrator graphical console.

User Administration in Minutes
Administering users, granting privileges and viewing user privilege information has never been easier! Now you can leverage the full power of MySQL's user management and privilege capabilities to fully protect your MySQL server host using an integrated graphical user administration console.

For example, a form-based interface provides a simple method for adding users, assigning passwords and including user profile information. Plus, assigning and revoking global, database, and table/column privileges is as easy as adding and removing privilege items from an available list. Finally, an explorer interface provides a hierarchical view allowing you to easily view user privileges by privilege type.

Single View Dynamic Health Monitoring
Dynamic health monitoring gives you an immediate view into the key indicators of the health of your MySQL environment. Dynamic graphs enable you to easily view percentage of memory usage, connection usage, hit rates, as well as the number of SQL queries on an ongoing basis, as your system runs.

The Disk Health tab gives you an overview of the amount of hard disk space, tablespace, and log files being used. You can also use the visual health monitoring feature to get a hierarchical view into status and server variables such as the number of outstanding connections, number of bytes sent and received by clients, buffer allocations size and more.

Quickly Optimize MySQL
MySQL Administrator now allows you to easily view and setup key parameters so you can quickly optimize the performance of MySQL. Using a graphical forms-based environment, you quickly fine tune general and advanced parameters. For example you can set memory usage parameters and configure server start-up parameters related to the MyISAM and InnoDB table types.

Rapid Disaster Prevention and Recovery
Now you can rapidly create consistent backups and restore data by simply visually selecting the schemas and tables you want to back/restore from your hierarchical data directory. The graphical environment gives you additional visibility into Tabletype, Rows, Data Length, and Update time.

Server Information At-a-Glance
The server information section of MySQL Administrator allows you to quickly view basic information about the server and client. This view gives you immediate visibility into items such as server status, client and server version numbers and IP address, as well as connection information.

View Replication Status
Now you can quickly set up replication to increase the robustness and speed of your MySQL environment. The replication features within MySQL Administrator allow you to easily view the network topology of your replication master and slaves. Plus, the graphical environment provides additional visibility into IP addresses and logfiles.

View Server Logs from a Centralized Administration Environment
Now you can view all the MySQL log files including error logs, binary logs, and InnoDB logs from a single, centralized administration environment so you can diagnose server problems quicker and track database changes.

Service Control
Gain complete control of service creation and overcome the time consuming task of installing and setting up services. Plus, start and stop MySQL servers and view corresponding log messages.

Browse Catalog
Browse your catalog and view corresponding tables with columns, all indices and users with privileges to access selected databases. From here you can monitor and optimize tables.

Cross Platform
MySQL Administrator will initially be available for Microsoft Windows and Linux, and be compatible with MySQL version 4.0 or later.

MySQL Administrator for Windows 5.0 r10 is available for download here (Link 1)
MySQL Administrator for Windows 5.0 r10 is available for download here (Link 2)

The Windows 7 Troubleshooting Platform

The Windows 7 Troubleshooting Platform - Windows Vista could have used this level of advanced troubleshooting. Microsoft has kicked the troubleshooting capabilities of Windows to the next level with the introduction of Windows 7. And as early as Windows 7 pre-Beta Milestone 3 Build 6801, the Redmond company is offering a taste of the full capabilities of the operating system, capabilities that could have been life savers for Windows Vista users when the RTM build initially hit the shelves. According to the software giant, Windows 7 comes to the table with a comprehensive and extensible Troubleshooting Platform capable of identifying and resolving a wide array of problems on its own.

This mainly because the platform has a PowerShell-based mechanism at its core. Microsoft indicated that the platform was in fact a collection of components. The troubleshooting package, engine, and wizard all combine in order to deal with potential problems that the end users might come across.

"The troubleshooting pack is a collection of PowerShell scripts and relevant metadata. The troubleshooting engine launches a PowerShell runtime to execute a troubleshooting pack, and exposes a set of interfaces to control troubleshooting pack execution," Microsoft revealed. "The troubleshooting wizard provides a consistent experience across troubleshooting packs, communicating with the troubleshooting engine to troubleshoot and resolve problems that are specified in a troubleshooting pack."

As you can very well see from the image on the left, the Troubleshooting Platform is designed to deal with a range of issues spanning from the programs running on top of Windows 7 to those affecting devices, networking, printing, display, sound, performance and the Windows operating system itself.

"The Troubleshooting Platform seamlessly integrates with the Windows 7 PC Solution Center, enabling other applications to execute diagnostics in a similar manner as part of their PC management regimen. The Troubleshooting Platform is configurable by IT professionals through Group Policy for use within the enterprise, and a Windows Troubleshooting Toolkit that allows developers to author troubleshooting packs is also available," Microsoft added.
Source: http://akupunyasitus.blogspot.com/

Windows 7 Pre-Beta Build 6801 Leaked and Available for Download

Windows 7 Pre-Beta Build 6801 Leaked and Available for Download - Via torrent websites. The past week, Microsoft delivered the first consistent taste of Windows 7, offering the pre-beta bits of the operating system at the Professional Developers Conference. On October 28, developers attending the event got their hands on a 160 GB drive pre-loaded with various goodies including Windows 7 Build 6801 in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors. Subsequently, as it was the case with previous beta or final releases of Windows, the pre-beta bits for Windows 7 Build 6801 were leaked and made available for download via torrent websites.

Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, managed to keep Windows 7 under a translucent veil throughout the development process ahead of PDC2008. However, the conference focused on Windows 7 made the successor of Windows Vista as transparent as possible, as well as “free for all” users with a BitTorrent client. All major torrent hotspots are currently offering downloads of Windows 7 pre-beta build 6801, advertised as untouched.

The pair of Windows 7 pre-beta releases on the original 160 GB drive are: Windows 7 32-bit - 6801.0.080913-2030_Client_en-us_ULTIMATE-ULTIMATE_GB1CFRE_EN_DVD.iso and Windows 7 64-bit - 6801.0.080913-2030_Client_en-us_ULTIMATE-ULTIMATE_GB1CXFRE_EN_DVD.iso. With the pre-beta bits of the next iteration of Windows available outside of Redmond, the software giant promised that the fully fledged Beta of Windows 7 would be delivered early in 2009.

“Windows 7 will offer improved navigation, a new taskbar and a streamlined UI so that common tasks done in Windows are done easier and more quickly. You will be able to share data to all your PCs and devices in your home network or at work. With Windows 7 + Windows Live, you will be able to stay connected to the people that matter to you, and with Internet Explorer 8 you will get a faster, safer, more productive Web experience,” revealed Mike Nash, Corporate Vice President, Windows Product Management.
Source: http://akupunyasitus.blogspot.com/

Windows Home Server Build 6.0.1800.24 - November 2008 update

Starting on November 25, Microsoft made available an update to its home server operating system. The November 2008 refresh to Windows Home Server will be served automatically to all users via Windows Update. Microsoft is describing the release designed to take Windows Home Server to version 6.0.1800.24 as a minor update, delivering only a small evolution compared to Power Pack 1. The enhancements range from storage issues being fixed, to CPU consumption, to backup and even to remote access.

“This update improves the interaction between home computers running Windows Vista and a Windows Home Server-based system, when copying files or folders that are larger in size than the free space available on the first (or primary) hard drive to a Shared Folder.”

“Additionally, this update resolves certain issues, which can happen when restoring files and folders from Windows Home Server, such as the opening of a Home Computer Backup sometimes stalling at 79% complete. The update also improves the search functionality, when using remote access,” revealed Todd Headrick, the product planner for the Microsoft Windows Home Server.

In addition, the update is designed to resolve backup issues affecting Windows Home Server directly. Microsoft informed that restoring items from a Home Server Backup to an external hard disk would no longer replace the latest version of the Windows Home Server Connector software with older releases.

The new version of the home server platform can be accessed via the Windows Home Server Console - Settings - Resources page.

“After installing the Windows Home Server Connector software with Power Pack 1, you were given the choice to automatically install new updates of the Connector software from your home server to your home computers. The November 2008 update requires an update to the Connector software, but it is more or less automatic (assuming you took the option for 'automatic updates' during the initial installation of the Connector software),” Headrick added, informing that a restart would be required.
By: Marius Oiaga

Download Windows Home Server Toolkit 1.1 - A collection of diagnostic tools

Microsoft is streamlining the troubleshooting process of issues associated with the user of its home server operating system. In this context, the Redmond company has made available for download version 1.1 of the Windows Home Server Toolkit. Essentially a collection of tools, the toolkit is set up to troubleshoot problems not only on Windows Home Server, but also on the Windows PCs connected to the home server.

“The Windows Home Server team released version 1.1 of the Windows Home Server Toolkit, a collection of diagnostic tools that run on your home computers and home server.”

“This version provides a Windows Home Server Connector Troubleshooter that works on home computers running Windows XP and Windows Vista (32-bit) and Windows Vista (x64) operating systems,” revealed Todd Headrick, the product planner for the Microsoft Windows Home Server.

There are three main aspects of Windows Home Server Toolkit v1.1. First off, the toolkit is able to communicate with Microsoft. In this context, the company has automated the error reporting process, by permitting that users collect and send the log files from Windows Home Server via the toolkit.

In addition, the Windows Home Server Connector Troubleshooter ensures that Windows PCs are tested for eventual Connector software problems, and that users receive guidance in resolving them. Last but not least, the Windows Home Server Toolkit Add-in installed on the home server platform allows for the execution of troubleshooting tasks straight from the Windows Home Server Console Settings page.

“The Toolkit Add-in for Windows Home Server has been simplified to make it easier for people to access relevant information when troubleshooting any issues that they may encounter with their home servers. After installing the toolkit on a home computer, you can easily copy the Toolkit Add-in to your home server. Click Start, All Programs, Windows Home Server Toolkit, Publish Server Add-in, to copy the Toolkit Add-In file to your home server,” Headrick added, indicating that the toolkit would have to be installed via the Console.

In addition to the 32-bit and 64-bit flavors of Windows Home Server Toolkit version 1.1, Microsoft is also offering for download the Windows Home Server Toolkit User Manual v 1.1.

Home Server Toolkit User 1.1 is available for download here.
By: Marius Oiaga