Tag: functionality
1. DirectX 10. Without a doubt, Vista’s support for DirectX 10 is the primary reason why gaming in the Windows environment will transcend gamers’ wildest dreams and far exceed the visual quality of even the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. “When DX10 games come out, the end result will be a significant increase in visual fidelity,” said Microsoft’s Donahue.
This means a marked increase in the number of objects and/or characters on the screen at a time, as well as dramatic impact on the level of background detail trees, water, stars in outdoor and indoor environments. It also means, for example, that characters’ clothing and fur will flap in the wind. Based on the early gameplay screenshots released for DX10 games such as Crysis, the impact of this new version of DirectX is quite clear even at a glance. (See the comparative scenes from Age of Conan: The Hyborian Adventures below.)
This increase in graphical quality is the result of a number of enhancements in DirectX 10 code, operations and resulting capabilities. As an example, a brand-new shader model (Version 4.0) in DX10 allows for more detailed and nuanced 3-D graphics. Read More»
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Snowl is designed to extend the functionality of Firefox beyond the default tasks associated with the process of navigating web content. In fact, this is the premise of Snowl, that the open source browser is capable of dealing with content in addition to what it was originally designed for. Snowl, a project from Mozilla Labs, is described as nothing more than an “experiment with messaging in the browser”.
“The initial prototype supports two sources of messages: RSS/Atom feeds and Twitter. And it exposes
two interfaces for reading them. First, a traditional three-pane ‘list’ view, targeted to active reading of important messages. Second, a ‘river of news’ view, based on the concept popularized by Dave Winer, designed for casual browsing,” revealed Mozilla’s Myk Melez.
The first version of Snowl is set up to mash together feeds but not much else. However, the project does have potential. Mozilla Labs is currently considering extending support in order to accommodate various sources of messages, but especially instant messaging services such as AIM or Google Talk. Read More»
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Microsoft plans to debut serving Windows Search 4.0 automatically to Windows Vista Service Pack 1 by the end of July. With the final version up for grabs through the Download Center since the beginning of June 2008, the Redmond company is now wrapping up Windows Search 4.0 for delivery through Windows Update. However, only users with Windows Vista with Automatic Update enabled will receive the update by default; Windows XP users running either Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3 will have to perform a manual upgrade.
“Windows XP users will see Windows Search 4.0 available as an Optional update, which means you must visit the Windows Update Web site to install it. Windows Vista users with SP1 installed will see the update as a Recommended update. This means that, if a Windows Vista user has set their machine to automatically install updates, Windows Search 4.0 will automatically install on PCs running Windows Vista SP1. The release of Windows Search 4.0 to Windows Update will be gradual for these users,” revealed a member of the Microsoft Update team. Read More»
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Unfortunately for Microsoft, one of the aspects of its proprietary operating system that has grown to become associated by default with the Windows brand is the Blue Screen of Death. BSOD, for short, is the result of a critical system error that will stop the operating system dead in its tracks and lead to a reboot.
In the NT corner of the universe, blue is by no means a welcomed color, and the BSOD even managed to span a cousin after the launch of Windows Vista. The Black Screen of Death was used to refer to systems thrown into Reduced Functionality Mode, scenarios far less severe than a critical system crash, of course depending on perspective. Read More»
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One big improvement with Firefox 3 compared to previous versions, is with selecting multiple areas of text on a web page. In previous versions, if you wanted to select multiple text areas, you needed to find an add-on or deal with the limited built in functionality.
Now with Firefox 3, you can easily select multiple discontinuous areas at once, select an entire paragraph, or select multiple words.
Selecting Multiple Areas Of Text
With this new option you can make an initial selection as usual and keep adding text chunks by pressing the CTRL key (Command key on Macs) while making additional selections.
Just highlight an area, then move your mouse to another area of text that you want to select, press the CTRL key and drag the mouse over the area of text.
After selecting the text areas, right click on an area and select copy (or press CTRL+C) and the text will be copied to the clip board where you can paste it in a text file, document, etc… Read More»
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Microsoft made no secret out of having, for some time now, been cooking the next iteration of Windows, a translucent development process with very little transparent areas including details such as multi-touch, support for 32-bit and 64-bit architectures, and the evolution of the Windows Vista kernel, graphics and audio subsystems. Pieces of the Windows 7 puzzle are indeed starting to come together, and a more consistent perspective will be delivered at the company’s 2008 Professional Developers Conference, that will take place between October 27 and 30 in Los Angeles.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and with Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, have made it clear that Windows 7 will be the evolution of Windows Vista. With the current operating system acting as the foundation for the next, there have already been mentions of Windows Vista SP2 or even Windows Vista R2, but since actual details are gagged, all speculations about Windows 7 are fair game. In this context, Gates has also mentioned that Windows 7 will be a product of Microsoft’s philosophy that states “do things better.” The Redmond company’s Co-Founder indicated that Vista has given ample opportunity for improvements with Windows 7.
The intimate connection between Windows 7 and Windows Vista manages to raise questions as to just how much of the current Windows client is going to survive into the next version, and just what sins it will pass along. Hopefully, Microsoft has learned relevant lessons from Vista, and will not repeat the Wow mistakes. There are of course a few things that the Redmond company can do to ensure this. Read More»
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Nowadays everyone needs to have a little eye-candy on their desktop and, although most of the people that use the Mac Terminal can easily be considered as being a little bit on the geek side and will always prefer functionality over good looks, I’m pretty sure that none of them will refuse having a really nice looking and always ready Terminal at their disposal, just a key shortcut away.
And, by saying it will be just a key shortcut away, I don’t mean that you’ll be able to launch a Terminal windows each time you’ll push the magic button combination. No! The Terminal will just slide down over your Mac’s desktop and will hide again under the menubar when you will not need to use it anymore. Just like the Quake-like console I mentioned in the title.
SIMBL and Visor
How can this be achieved, you ask? Well, it couldn’t be any simpler! All you will have to do is to install SIMBL, download a plug-in and place it in the right location on your Mac’s hard-drive. Read More»
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Updates and service packs do not serve as exclusive methods of adding functionality to Microsoft’s operating system. In this regard, feature packs are designed to enhance a Windows platform with various components and features on top of the standard releases that are part of a product’s lifecycle. Case in point: Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless made available as of April 16. This is Microsoft’s way of delivering added functionality to Windows Vista on top of the recently released Service Pack 1.
“This software update includes the following components or features that improve wireless support in Windows Vista: Bluetooth version 2.1 support, Unified Pairing user interface, Windows Connect Now updates. Some of these features may work with existing hardware. However, you must have new hardware to take advantage of the new functionality,” Microsoft revealed. Read More»
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Windows Vista, in the evolution from Windows XP, delivered an overhauling of the activation infrastructure, and in this context introduced Volume Activation 2.0. Microsoft explained the necessity of such a move as an attempt to cut down the primary source of activation workarounds for pirated copies of Windows: leaked volume license product keys. Volume Activation 2.0 is available not only in Windows Vista, but also for the company’s latest server operating system, Windows Server 2008. And following the release of both Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008, Microsoft has also made available the Volume Activation Management Tool 1.1 (x86). VAMT is set up to enable the automation and central handling of the volume activation process via a Multiple Activation Key (MAK). Read More»
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As it promised, Microsoft Corp. yesterday started sending Windows Vista users an update that identifies illegal copies of the operating system installed with cracks that the company will disable when it distributes Service Pack 1 (SP1) in two weeks. Last Thursday, Microsoft announced the update, which detects two common cracks used to activate pirated copies of Vista, and said it would hit Windows Update (WU) within a week. Users who have left Vista’s recommended WU settings alone will receive the update automatically. Others, said Microsoft, must enable Automatic Update within Vista or manually call up WU from the Start menu.
A document posted to the company’s support site spelled out the details. Among other things, it promised that the 3MB update “does not affect the functionality of your operating system.” Read More»
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