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Google to expose connection-throttling ISPs

RichieUK — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 05:14:03 GMT

[quote]Google is working on a set of network-analysis tools that will allow broadband users to see when their ISP is throttling their connection.

Broadband throttling - or "traffic shaping" as the ISPs prefer to call it - has become a hot issue on both sides of the Atlantic, with ISPs now routinely choking bandwidth at peak hours. Some ISPs block access to bandwidth-intensive applications such as BitTorrent, while others reduce a customer's speed if they pass a download threshold within peak hours.[/quote]
[url]http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/205752/google-to-expose-connectionthrottling-isps.html[/url]

Intel releases USB 3 interface spec

RichieUK — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:56:22 GMT

[quote]Intel has released a draft specification for the next iteration of the USB eXtensible Host Controller Interface.

Delivering on a pledge it first made at the Intel Developer Conference last September, the chip maker has published the new USB 3 architecture standard in an effort to encourage development of the interface, which is capable of data transfer speeds ten times faster than USB 2.[/quote]
[URL=http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/218886/intel-releases-usb-3-interface-spec.html][COLOR="BLUE"]PcPro.co.uk[/COLOR][/URL]

Vint Cerf blasts broadband caps

RichieUK — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:29:58 GMT

[quote]"Father of the internet" Vint Cerf has attacked ISPs that apply data caps to their broadband packages.[/quote]
[url]http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/216768/vint-cerf-blasts-broadband-caps.html[/url]

Dell refreshes and expands Ubuntu range

RichieUK — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:54:19 GMT

[quote]Dell has refreshed its Ubuntu Linux line-up with version 8.04 of the operating system - and is expanding the range of PCs that come pre-loaded with the OS.

Ubuntu 8.04 - otherwise known as Hardy Heron - can now be found on the company's Inspiron 1525 and XPS M1330 laptops, as well as the Inspiron 530 desktop.

Hardy Heron was released back in April on Ubuntu's six-monthly release schedule, but Dell claims it's been hard at work increasing support for the Linux distro. [/quote]
[url]http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/213609/dell-refreshes-and-expands-ubuntu-range.html[/url]

Dell offers "Vista bonus" discs

RichieUK — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:53:34 GMT

[quote]Dell has issued a subtle dig at Windows Vista, describing the operating system as a "bonus" that comes with Windows XP.

The PC manufacturer is urging customers to take advantage of a "loophole" in the Vista licensing agreement that allows the company to continue selling systems pre-installed with Windows XP even after yesterday's cut-off date. [/quote]
[url]http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/209697/dell-offers-vista-bonus-discs.html[/url]

Microsoft reconfirms XP deadline day

RichieUK — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:51:37 GMT

[quote]Microsoft has sent out a letter to customers reconfirming its commitment to the 30 June XP deadline, at it attempts to wipe away accusations of dithering over the operating system's fate. [/quote]
[url]http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/208242/microsoft-reconfirms-xp-deadline-day.html[/url]

Microsoft hits 21 U.S. resellers with piracy lawsuits

RichieUK — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:18:33 GMT

[quote]Microsoft has filed 21 lawsuits in 14 U.S. states against resellers in which it alleges they engaged in the sale of pirated software, it said Tuesday.

Some of the cases were caught thanks to Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage or Office Genuine Advantage programs in which the copy of the Windows operating system or Office suite on a user's computer is electronically authenticated online. Microsoft began rolling out Windows Genuine Advantage in April 2006. [/quote]
[url=http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=security&articleId=9096238&taxonomyId=17&intsrc=kc_top][color="blue"]Computerworld.com[/color][/url]

Europe rejects plan to criminalise file-sharing

RichieUK — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 04:23:02 GMT

[quote][b]MEPs vote against banning copyright abusers[/b]

The European Parliament rejected attempts to criminalise the sharing of files by private individuals, and threw out the idea of banning copyright abusers from the internet, in a plenary vote on Thursday.[/quote]

[url]http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=12700[/url]

Japan launched internet satellite

Anwar — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:33:55 GMT

This Japanese internet satellite (codenamed:Kizuna) is a hi-speed internet provider giving Japan and some Asian countries the blazing speed of 1.2 Gbps:Wow:.

When disasters occurs in Asian countries, the satellite can be used to communicate with them as well.

The total costs for this Kizuna project is 550 billion-yen approximately 500 million US dollars. My conclusion? It is awesome, great because it allows people in Asia to get high speeds with less costs. I remember,back in those days where I pay 60 US dollars every month, it was unlimited bandwidth but um the ISP gives me internet after 8PM til 6AM and my speed was 64kbps (12kilobytes for downloading).

Read more here: [url]http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/PCWorld/story?id=4339373][/url]

P.S : I didn't have internet in Malaysia but I had internet in another part of Asia where I payed 60 dollars and got bad service.

Microsoft bids $44bn for Yahoo

RichieUK — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 06:40:31 GMT

[quote][b]Huge IT acquisition in the offing[/b]

Microsoft has launched a $44.6bn bid to buy Yahoo, a potential deal seen as the latest sign that the software giant is desperate to increase its online capabilities to tackle Google's growing presence.

"We have great respect for Yahoo, and together we can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.[/quote]

[url]http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=12012[/url]

Online Vs. Traditional Games

linda07 — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:00:49 GMT

Online gaming is estimated to be $6.8 billion business by 2011, care to know why? It goes without saying that the competitive and mentally stimulating nature of a game is the main reason. But so are the traditional games, competitive and challenging. So what makes the online games score over them? Let’s see how:

Play online any time…at home

No need to stumble around in search of partners and gaming jaunts. Just boot up, jump on and sign in. With internet find as many partners you want, pit your skills against him/her from the comfort of your own bedroom.

Low or no cost

No outrageous membership fee involved. Just pay a low subscription cost and get start playing to your heart’s content. Moreover there are plenty of [url=http://www.play-online-games-free.com/]online games[/url] available for free playing, such as tetris, ping pong, mario bros, super mario games, and many other flash based games can be played for free. Not just that, free online versions of the games offer users the chance to experience the game online before making the decision to purchase and download.

Compete with the Best

So you are beating your friends again and again and want more challenges. You’re only an Internet connection away from pitting your wits against high quality players. It may take some time to cultivate relationships, but they are out there. And online gaming is really the only true way to find them quickly.

Making New Friends

Games with advanced interacting features helps you make some cool international connections, which widens and enriches your friend list. You will meet people from different cultures, having different personalities, but with one common denominator - you all like [url=http://www.play-online-games-free.com/]play games online[/url].

:):):)

Microsoft offers downgrades from Vista to XP

RichieUK — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 09:53:01 GMT

[quote]Microsoft has started to offer a 'downgrade' option to PC manufacturers, allowing customers to switch back to Windows XP on some new Vista machines. Because of training and hardware upgrade costs, many business purchasers have been reluctant to make the upgrade to Vista, and this move will enable them to purchase new machines and still run XP.

The option is only available on Business and Ultimate versions of Vista, but several manufacturers have already started to offer XP Restore discs. Fujitsu and HP have already begun offering the discs with selected business machines, although it's too early to gauge how popular the option has been for either manufacturer.

Other manufacturers are offering the discs to purchase, and some are even setting up websites with advice for those wishing to downgrade.

Customers have always had the right to downgrade from Vista to XP, according to the licensing agreement under which it's purchased, but the addition of these restore discs makes changing the OS a far easier procedure.

There has been a steady demand for new copies of Windows XP since Microsoft launched Vista, causing some to speculate that they will move their January 31st 2008 deadline for resellers to stop offering the OS as a pre-installed option.

Most notably, customer pressure forced Dell to offer its machines with XP as well as Vista earlier this year.[/quote]

[url]http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/126131/microsoft-offers-downgrades-from-vista-to-xp.html[/url]

First pirated HD DVD movie hits BitTorrent

RichieUK — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 17:05:15 GMT

[quote][b]First pirated HD DVD movie hits BitTorrent[/b]

The pirates of the world have fired another salvo in their ongoing war with copy protection schemes with the first release of the first full-resolution rip of an HD DVD movie on BitTorrent. The movie, Serenity, was made available as a .EVO file and is playable on most DVD playback software packages such as PowerDVD. The file was encoded in MPEG-4 VC-1 and the resulting file size was a hefty 19.6 GB.

This release follows the announcement, less than a month ago, that the copy protection on HD DVD had been bypassed by an anonymous programmer known only as Muslix64. The open-source program to implement this was called BackupHDDVD and was released in a manner designed to put the onus of cracking on the user, not the software. To extract an unencrypted copy of the HD DVD source material required obtaining that disc's volume or title key separately, which the software did not do. However, a key was later released on the Internet, and a method for extracting further keys is allegedly available as well.

Now that the genie is out of the lamp, so to speak, what will the reaction be from the content industry? CyberLink, the makers of PowerDVD playback software, have already stated that the title keys were not obtained through their software, although this has yet to be conclusively proven. As for the content providers themselves, they have already said that they reserve the right to invalidate known pirated keys in the future. But to be of any use, they'll first need to determine which software application is responsible for giving up the volume keys. If it is something like PowerDVD, future titles can require that the user upgrade their software in order to play discs—this can be made to happen automatically when new discs are first inserted.

Muslix64 and others involved in BackupHDDVD are deliberately not exposing the actual method by which the keys have been obtained. This is partly to protect themselves from legal repercussions, but also to ensure that whatever "hole" that is being exploited remains unpatched. In the ongoing war between the pirates and the content providers, the pirates appear to be winning, but who knows who will get caught in the crossfire?[/quote]

[url]http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070115-8622.html[/url]

Microsoft: Vista follow-up likely in 2009

RichieUK — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 15:51:51 GMT

[quote]With Vista just out the door, Microsoft is now drawing up plans to deliver its follow-up client operating system by the end of 2009, according to the executive in charge of building the product's core components.

That would be a much faster turn-around than Vista, which shipped more than five years after Windows XP, but Vista was exceptional, said Ben Fathi, corporate vice president of development with Microsoft's Windows Core Operating System Division this week at the RSA Conference in San Francisco.

Microsoft originally planned for its XP follow-up to include a number of radical changes to Windows, including a new file system and a reinvented user interface, but after the company's products were hit by widespread worm outbreaks in 2003, Microsoft redirected almost its entire engineering effort to locking down Windows with the XP Service Pack 2 release.

"We put Longhorn on the back burner for awhile," Fathi said. "Then when we came back to it, we realized that there were incremental things that we wanted to do, and significant improvements that we wanted to make in Vista that we couldn't deliver in one release."

Vista shipped about two-and-a-half years after XP SP 2, and Vista's follow-up is expected to take about the same amount of time, according to Fathi. "You can think roughly two, two-and-a-half years is a reasonable time frame that our partners can depend on and can work with," he said. "That's a good timeframe for refresh."

That time line would put Microsoft's next client operating system out by the end of 2009.

Last year, Microsoft said that the code name for this Vista follow-up is Vienna, but Fathi said he could not disclose the current name. "We've been told not to use it publicly," he said.

So what will be the coolest new feature in Vienna?

According to Fathi, that's still being worked out. "We're going to look at a fundamental piece of enabling technology. Maybe its hypervisors, I don't know what it is," he said. "Maybe it's a new user interface paradigm for consumers."

"It's too early for me to talk about it," he added. "But over the next few months I think you're going to start hearing more and more." [/quote]

[url]http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/09/HNvistafollowup_1.html[/url]

40Gbps home internet connection

mrogi — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 22:05:25 GMT

Peter Löthberg, the Yoda of networking technology, has just demonstrated the world's fastest internet connection. By figuring out how to eliminate transponders and directly link routers up to 1242 miles apart. he was able to hook his mom up with a 40Gbps connection in her home! Lothberg's revolutionary innovation has rendered current broadband technology obsolete.

[url]http://www.thelocal.se/7869/20070712[/url]