Posts Tagged ‘Microsoft’

Top microsoft game employee jumps to amazon

September 8th, 2010

Feeding speculation that Amazon.com is planning a gaming push, the company has snagged Microsoft’s director of game platform strategy.Andre Vrignaud announced his departure Friday on his personal blog. “Can’t really talk about details at this point, but it’ll become pretty evident soon enough…and you all know where my passions lie,” he said in the blog.

He added that he is “excited about where Microsoft is going in the next few years” but is “very intrigued about what Amazon is looking to do.Vrignaud’s departure from Microsoft is potentially a major blow to the company. Vrignaud, who has worked in the game industry for more than 20 years, had been at Microsoft since 2002 and helped oversee the game platform strategy for Xbox, Xbox Live, and Windows. During that period, Microsoft has gone from a hopeful contender to a major player in gaming.

Earlier this year, Engadget found that Amazon had posted a job opening for a “stealth project” in its digital video game business. Currently, Amazon lists several game job openings, including a senior product manager posting that mentions the “launch of a new initiative in our digital video games business.” So far, Amazon has been tight-lipped about any such plans. But those job openings and Vrignaud’s arrival seem to indicate that Amazon has something planned.

Source:-http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20015677-17.html

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Microsoft’s launches arc touch mouse that pops up with the flick of your finger

September 7th, 2010

To keep with the fast-evolving computing landscape, Microsoft (News – Alert) Corp. has come up with its latest offering- the Arc Touch Mouse. According to Microsoft, its new mouse is designed to flatten for portability and pop up for comfort.

Microsoft’s Arc Touch Mouse features Microsoft’s first touch scroll strip for easy navigation. The users simply need to move a finger slowly for controlled scrolling or flick for hyperfast scrolling.

With Arc torch, the Windows-based PC users will no longer find it difficult to carry a mouse inside their laptop bags. By getting flattened with just the touch of a finger, the Arc Torch fits into the bag without the added bump of traditional mouse. Contrary to industry buzz that the mouse’s days are numbered, with the launch of its Arc Torch, Microsoft proves that mice are not only very much alive, they are going great guns.

Whether using touch screen or touch pad, people basically want ease of use and precision while using a computer and according to Microsoft, only a mouse can provide that.

“This is not the first time that the mouse has been threatened — look at 10 years ago when people started buying laptops that had integrated pointers and touch pads. Still, the mouse category continued to grow and grow. The reasons people need external mice will not change: comfort and precision. The Arc Touch Mouse just demonstrates again how committed Microsoft is to continuing to bring great new mice to consumers,” Brett Ostrum, general manager for the Hardware Group at Microsoft, said.

According to Microsoft, Arc Torch is designed for the mobile lifestyle.

At less than 15 millimeters thick at its widest point, the Arc Touch Mouse was designed to deliver ultimate portability to easily slip into a bag, purse or pocket. It also goes from curved to flat with one simple movement, so working on the go is easier than ever — just collapse the Arc Touch Mouse to turn it off, and pop it up to turn on. It’s also extremely durable, tested to ensure years of performance.

Another interesting point about Arc torch is: it allows the users to take control with touch scrolling. With the Arc Touch Mouse’s touch strip, consumers can take control of their scrolling with a flick of a finger. Using a capacitive sensing technique and sensor pads, the strip corresponds to each position and velocity change to give users accurate, controlled scrolling no matter how fast or slow the movement. Move a finger slowly on the strip for controlled scrolling, or flick a finger for hyperfast scrolling that can be stopped with just a simple tap. The strip also has three tap “buttons” for added functionality: page up, page down and the middle click area, which is reprogrammable for whatever mouse function the user needs most. Switching from a scroll wheel to a touch strip is made easier with haptics, a vibration technology that simulates the bumps users would feel while using a traditional scroll wheel.

The Arc Touch Mouse comes complete with BlueTrack Technology, which allows consumers track on virtually any surface, and a tiny magnetic snap-in Nano transceiver stores conveniently on the bottom of the mouse. Two AAA batteries give the Arc Touch Mouse more than six months of battery life, and the two-color battery life indicators let people know when the power is running low.

Regarding the pricing and availability of this product, Microsoft announced that Arc Touch Mouse will be available for the estimated retail price of $69.95. Currently it is available now for presale on Amazon.com (News – Alert), BestBuy.com and Buy.com, and it will ship in early December in time for the U.S. holiday season. It will be broadly available online and in stores in January 2011. Microsoft backs this mouse with a worldwide three-year limited hardware warranty.

Source:http://it.tmcnet.com/topics/it/articles/100156-microsofts-launches-arc-touch-mouse-that-pops-up.htm

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Download Linux MultiMedia Studio 0.4.6 Free For Linux

September 7th, 2010

Linux Multimedia Studio is a powerful and easy-to-use software digital audio workstation, being available for Linux, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows operating systems. The application was specially created to be a free alternative to more popular programs like FruityLoops, Cubase and Logic, giving users the ability to produce music with your computer by creating / synthesizing sounds, arranging samples, playing live with keyboard and much more.

Our team had tested this application and we can tell you that it works great and without any kind of interruptions. In addition it’s filled with a lot of great and useful features such as tracker / sequencer tool (pattern-/channel-/ sample-/song-/effect-management) and those of powerful synthesizers and samplers in a intuitive and user-friendly graphical interface. The great news is that you can use thisapplication to produce electronic music by just using your computer, not by buying expensive hardware for having great sounds and making great music.

Linux Multimedia Studio is a free software available for the Linux, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows that supports LADSPA and VST plugins. The application can produce music by synthesizing sounds, arranging samples, and playing on a MIDI keyboard by combining the features of trackers, sequencers and synthesizers.

Source:http://www.softsailor.com/downloads/40852-download-linux-multimedia-studio-0-4-6-free-for-linux.html

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Good and simple protection against computer viruses

September 4th, 2010

Many computer users live in fear of computer viruses.

It is true that computer viruses can do a lot of damage that most likely could have been easily prevented – that is if they had a working up to date virus program.

First of all be reassured. Even if your computer is “wiped clean” or “wiped out” you may not be in the doghouse so to speak.

If you use the computer mainly for browsing on the internet, then it is only a matter of a reinstall of windows to get you on the web again. Your computer is only a device to access the internet.

It is as if you get a new phone to plug into the wall or a new TV to watch the channels that were there that were and are still there.

Your email most likely is safe as well. If you use a web based mail program like hotmail or yahoo to access your email – then your email is most likely still sitting on that company’s server in California, Bombay India or somewhere else in the world.

If Microsoft goes bust, your lost email will be the least of your problems in today’s world.

If you use a mail reader client like Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, then at the worst your new email is sitting safely at that computer mail server computer.

Next it can be can be said that we have gotten off easy with computer viruses. Well at least up the present.

Computer viruses can be written by its developer to do anything the developer wishes.

For the most part computer viruses have been relatively innocuous.

The majority of the computer viruses that you will encounter, at present, in your career as computer user, are of the “Trojan” variety and are not that mean or destructive to your computer. .

Trojan antivirus are computer viruses that patiently sit in wait for a signal from a control computer, somewhere in the world, to be part of a large scale computer attack on some remote computer to overwhelm that service and disrupt its function on the internet..

You may have heard such tales in regards to C.N.N. or Amazon having their internet service being knocked out of service maliciously.

Believe it or not it is estimated that up to 50 – 60 % of most computers have these Trojan viruses sitting quietly and patiently in their computers and do not know and most likely will never know that they are infected.

The first rules of computer security is that if the computer is used at for storing delicate, sensitive or important data – then that computer should not be attached to the internet or have an internet connection. It’s as simple as that.

If you don’t talk then you can never be accused of blabbing.

As an example there was a firm that was allowed access to very confidential government data as part of its business plan. .

It was made very clear, by the government agency involved as a sponsor, that this data was most confidential.

I f this information was somehow leaked or placed on the internet then dire consequences would occur.

What could be a simpler message? And yet in this case, all for the convenience of the owner of the firm, the computer was directly attached to a fax computer.

Even of that computer was only connected to the fax max machine computer for a split second that is all it would take for the wrong information to “get out”.

Politicians follow the rule of deniability. Why shouldn’t you. ? Make your life trouble free.

If the computer is nowhere near the internet in any way shape or form you can never be blamed. Simple as that.

The most important factor in computer antivirus protection is not so much the product used or installed – and there is no shortage of very reasonable computer antivirus products.

The most important factor for computer antivirus security protection is that updates for the antivirus be done on a regular basis.

When you purchase a new antivirus product or complete a renewal product that is in essence what you are doing.

It as if you are buoying a magazine subscription for the year.

By purchasing the subscription you are now entitled to antivirus updates for the coming year.

New computer viruses are coming out “all the time”. It does you little good to be protected from last years plague.

You need to be protected from the current viruses that are causing the havoc now.

Make sure that you either have a copy of an antivirus installed that has current virus definitions or if you purchased a commercial product that you have a valid subscription that allows you access to the current up to date virus lists.

Next be sure that you run regular full comprehensive antivirus scans to detect and quarantine new and perhaps dangerous computer viruses. More featured commercial antivirus programs may do this automatically.

In the end most of life comes down to preparation and attention to detail.

A major role of fire departments is not only to fight fires but fire prevention. Your computer antivirus protections scheme and program should be likewise

Source:http://outlookexpressmailrecovery.com/outlook-express/good-and-simple-protection-against-computer-viruses/

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Microsoft officially announce the arc touch mouse

September 4th, 2010

After the overt teasing, leaking, and then more leaking, Microsoft’s finally ready to spit out the details on its Arc Touch Mouse, which at the end of the day is really just… a mouse.

As we’ve seen, the peripheral has an incredibly unique design — the flat device arches its back to click into a mountain shape, which actually ends up powering the little rodent up.

So, where does the whole “touch” factor come into play?

Well, very similarly to the Mad Catz Eclipse mouse, the Arc Touch has a capacitive touch strip with sensor pads between the mouse buttons that can be used for scrolling and customizable shortcuts.”

Engadget have the news that this funky mouse by Microsoft will be out in December, probably in time for the Christmas shopping season I suspect.

They have also posted the above video showing how it works, and how it gets its name of the Arc Touch Mouse.

It’s definitely a novel design, I just hope that switching it on and off doesn’t break it over time.

Source:http://www.digitalhomethoughts.com/news/show/99968/microsoft-officially-announce-the-arc-touch-mouse.html

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Viewsonic debuts viewpad 100 tablet: dual-boot android and windows 7

September 3rd, 2010

The first major tablet wave hit at Computex, shortly after the iPad took the world (and sales numbers) by storm.

It seems like Berlin’s IFA trade show is where the second wave is coming.

ViewSonic, a company you may not expect to be first on the scene with new tablets, is surprising us for sure with a second unit that’s arriving shortly after the ViewPad 7.

The new ViewPad 100 is a real unique product, hailed as the world’s first dual-boot Android and Windows 10″ tablet.

In other words, this tablet won’t make you choose between Google’s mobile OS and Microsoft’s full destop OS, Windows 7.

Both come loaded on. Windows 7 Home Premium and Android 1.6 will be installed, though we really wish Android 2.2 were there in place of the dated v1.6.

Still, having two operating systems to choose from is a huge win in the tablet sector; that’s practically impossible to find on any other slate PC.

As for specifications, it will feature a 16GB SSD, Intel’s 1.66GHz Atom N455 processor, 1GB of DDR3 memory, a 1024×600 resolution display, built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a G-sensor, microSD slot, A-GPS, two USB 2.0 ports and a 1.3MP webcam.

ViewSonic is not disclosing pricing information yet, nor a release date, but it wouldn’t surprise us if more and more tablets arrive with an OS choice.

Why would you buy just an Android tablet or just a Windows tablet when one purchase would get you both?

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/ViewSonic-Debuts-ViewPad-100-Tablet-DualBoot-Android-and-Windows-7/

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Nvidia announces new geforce 400m gpus, geared for next-gen optimus, 3dvision laptops

September 3rd, 2010

NVIDIA today introduced the NVIDIA GeForce 400M series of graphics processing units (GPUs) — the building blocks for the next-generation of NVIDIA Optimus and NVIDIA 3D Vision notebooks that are coming onto the market from leading vendors, including Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung and Toshiba, with others set to announce soon.

A critical component of the GeForce 400M Series is support for NVIDIA Optimus technology, which enables extra-long battery life by automatically switching on and off the GPU so that it runs only when needed.

It has been described by reviewers as among the most important notebook technologies to come to market in recent years.

The new series of NVIDIA GeForce 400M GPUs includes:

* For enthusiast users: GeForce GTX 470M and GTX 460M.

* For performance users: GeForce GT 445M, GT 435M, GT 425M, GT 420M and GT 415M.

The NVIDIA GeForce 400M series are the first notebook processors designed with NVIDIA’s Fermi architecture and built from the ground-up for Microsoft DirectX 11.

They power notebooks with great battery life, and deliver the best high-definition (HD) experience, extensive Web browsing, immersive 3D and awesome gaming.

With up to 5X faster HD video uploads to Facebook and up to 10X the game performance on the year’s top title StarCraft II, GeForce 400M GPUs are the ultimate notebook upgrade.

The GeForce 400M series is also able to deliver breathtaking stereoscopic 3D images for gamers, movie-lovers and photo enthusiasts when configured with NVIDIA 3D Vision glasses and a 3D display.

3D Vision supports the richest array of 3D content available, including over 425 games, Blu-ray 3D movies, photos and streaming Web video.

Notebook models featuring the GeForce 400M series and NVIDIA 3D Vision glasses will be available soon after launch, including the Acer Aspire 5745DG with GeForce GT 425M and the Asus G53Jw with GeForce GTX 460M.

In addition, by including support for NVIDIA 3DTV Play, consumers can attach their notebook to a brand new 3D TV and enjoy all the latest 3D content including the hottest games in the comfort of their living room.

Only NVIDIA GeForce GPUs offer “Graphics Plus” features such as:

* NVIDIA 3D Vision support, for eye-popping immersive 3D environments

* PhysX support, for experiencing games with realistic physics effects

* CUDA support, for GPU computing applications

* NVIDIA Verde notebook drivers, for system stability and optimal performance

* Support for NVIDIA 3DTV Play software, for connecting 3D Vision-based notebooks and desktops to a 3D TV.

Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, and Toshiba all announced today support for 400 Series GPUs, with more OEMs announcing soon.

Source:http://www.techpowerup.com/130185/NVIDIA_Announces_New_GeForce_400M_GPUs_Geared_for_Next-Gen_Optimus_3DVision_Laptops.html

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