Pc News

[Rasputin]

Where 2.0: New Sites Put Your Life on the Map

No Web site knows your favorite haunts as well as you do. But now there are five new online services looking to tap into that information. These new sites invite you to share your knowledge and memories of your most beloved locales with the rest of the world, whether those spots are in your hometown or on the other side of the planet.

The five, Wayfaring.com, Platial.com, 43places.com, Plazes.com, and Flagr.com, all had coming-out parties this week during at the Where 2.0 conference here, which is presented by O'Reilly Media.

Create Custom Pushpins
Despite their different appearance, all five sites let you add pushpins to online maps that link to your personal descriptions of the locations, and to peruse the contributions of others. Looking for the best street art in New York City? Or perhaps you prefer to follow in the virtual footsteps of Jack Bauer, the lead character in the television show 24. You'll find directions to both at Wayfaring.com.

As with the other four personal-mapping sites, Wayfaring.com allows anyone to view the maps created by other site visitors but, to make your own map notes, you need to register. Don't worry about having to crack out the credit card, though: All five sites are free, requiring only that you register with a valid e-mail address.

While the sites usually offer a light-hearted look at the locations they describe, there are some dark tales told at Platial.com, such as those showing the locations of recent shark-attack victims.

The site, which calls itself "The People's Atlas," recently added a feature that ties its maps to RSS feeds, which gives Platial.com a timeliness missing in the other services. This site also lets you add images and videos to your map annotations (several of the other mapping sites support image uploads along with your posts).


Travelers' Wish Lists
Anyone who has used Yahoo's popular Flickr photo-sharing service is familiar with the concept of tags, which assigns keywords to help sites categorize images. The same approach is taken by 43places.com, which--despite its name--describes thousands of locales around the world. But along with the usual place names, you'll find tags such as "Hogwarts" and "Pirates of the Caribbean," illustrating that travel is sometimes a state of mind.

The site goes so far as to assign a wanderlust rating to each mapped location, although it's difficult to find any spot with a rating under 80 percent, even in Cleveland.

A mapping site with a definite European slant is Plazes.com, which invites you to track your daily activities for your own use, or to share with others. After you download the service's Plazer software, it automatically locates you via a wired or wireless network. You can use the service without the downloaded app, in which case you enter the city you're in manually. However, since adding locations to the service's database requires the Plazer program, you can't make full use of the site without it.


A Question of Privacy
All of these sites have built-in privacy risks. While all of them let you decide who can view your contributions, you are posting personal information on a Web server--and once you do that, the genie is out of the bottle. As shown by the government's recent subpoenas of Web search data, you shouldn't post any data on these or any other site that you wouldn't feel comfortable writing on a postcard sent via U.S. mail.

The site that feels the least developed of the five is Flagr.com, which bills itself as "Sharewhere" and asks you to "Bookmark the Real World." Unfortunately, there are fewer locations highlighted on this service at present, and the descriptions lack detail. However, as with all social networks, the fate of this and the other personal-mapping sites depends on their ability to attract a critical mass of participants.

Only time will tell if any or all of these ambitious services will be the mapping equivalent of MySpace or YouTube, but if I were a betting man, my money would be on Platial, which seems to have more stickiness than its competitors.

[Rasputin]

Microsoft Antipiracy Tool Still Irks Users

Microsoft's program for testing whether a PC is running a genuine copy of Windows, Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), has drawn considerable fire from users since it was launched last July.


This week Microsoft gave users another reason to complain when the company confirmed the version of the program it is delivering as a "high priority" automatic update for Windows PCs is a test version. Usually, Microsoft distributes test versions of software separately from updates and users are given the opportunity to sign up for the software before test versions are downloaded.

Microsoft said users still can opt out of downloading the update, called WGA Notifications, and that its user license makes it clear it is pre-release software. However, many users don't read an entire license agreement, which can be lengthy, before they download software to their computers. And some download all Windows updates without looking too hard at the fine print.

Microsoft has mounted an aggressive program to eliminate counterfeit and pirated versions of Windows, and WGA is a part of that. The program was first distributed not as an automatic update but to users of Microsoft's download services who wanted to install add-on software, excluding security releases, for Windows. Since WGA's release, users have complained of bugs in the program.


Problems Persist
One of those problems, in which the software identifies a genuine copy of Windows as pirated or counterfeit, apparently persists, according to comments sent by e-mail to IDG News Service from one Windows user.

"I bought my PC with a legitimate XP license, which I have registered, and now my machine keeps telling me I have pirated software," said Windows XP user Doug Fleming. "I paid good money for legitimate software and now my PC locks up whenever I get a message telling me my software isn't genuine. To make matters worse, there is no contact information to get the problem rectified."

According to Microsoft, validation failure is "almost always caused by the use of a non-genuine Windows license." "In many cases, customers don't know they have received a counterfeit copy," the company said in an e-mail statement through its public relations firm Waggener Edstrom.

Another Windows user said in an e-mail that the WGA Notifications service, which has to send information about a user's PC over the Internet back to Microsoft, could pose a security risk. Microsoft last week defended itself against charges that this aspect of the program was acting like spyware, which is software that gathers users' information through their Internet connection without users' knowledge.

"The process seems to open a door for hackers to exploit," Windows user James Slotter said in an e-mail. "It might also open a door for another vendor to provide a more secure set of programs than Microsoft is willing to provide."

"We understand customers? concern about installing a program that could possibly impact their systems," Microsoft said in a statement through Waggener Edstrom. "WGA Notifications has gone through a thorough testing period. We are confident that the software can be installed and used safely."

WGA Notifications will be rolled out worldwide by the end of the year, Microsoft said.

[Rasputin]

Toshiba Announces First HD DVD Recorder

Toshiba announced today that it will ship the first HD DVD recorder, RD-A1, on July 14--but don't get too excited: The recorder will only be available in Japan at launch.



The announcement comes as a bit of a surprise--when last quizzed on recording for the home, the HD DVD Promotion Group indicated to me that recorders wouldn't likely hit until next year, and that may yet be the case for the U.S. market. I was also told that, after the postponements of the HD DVD player, an announcement about a recorder wouldn't come until closer to when something would ship--which is exactly what Toshiba did with its announcement earlier today.

The announcement does explain why, suddenly, media manufacturers, including Verbatim and RitekUSA, announced impending availability of recordable HD DVD-R media. And with this announcement, the precarious balance in the next-gen optical battle is rocked. Only slightly, though.

The timing of the announcement takes attention away from rival format Blu-ray, which this week launched its first titles from Sony; the first player, from Samsung, officially launches on Sunday. None of the manufacturers selling Blu-ray-based players have discussed recorder availability, and the Blu-ray Disc Association can't commit to a time frame for recorder availability--a spokesperson said that will be up to the individual companies involved in Blu-ray.

High-definition recording is not new: Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, and Samsung Electronics have offered Blu-ray-based recorders overseas. What is interesting to note about the Toshiba, though, is that it does support the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) copy controls.

Like those other recorders, the RD-A1 will be expensive: About $3600 in US dollars. For that admission price, you'll get a 1-terabyte hard disk, as well as support for recording to single-layer 15GB HD DVD-R and dual-layer 30GB HD DVD-R discs (for up to 115 and 230 minutes of video, respectively, and for recording to standard DVD-R/RW/RAM media. Other notable specs include: The recorder will output images at 1080p resolution; can upconvert DVDs to 1080p; is DLNA-compliant; and includes Internet connectiviy via Toshiba's Net de Navi software, for remotely programming recordings online.

The specs certainly make me salivate. I'm never home, and need to record my television for viewing later (sound familiar?). I've long resisted the lure of HD in part because I know it would be wasted on me: I'd never be able to watch TV recorded in it (yes, there are HD hard disk recorders now, and none of those would work for me--I'd have them full in no time). Not that I have a spare $3600 lying around (plus more for a high-def display to match), but this announcement makes the future of home recording suddenly seem a lot more real to me--even if I will probably still have to wait another year or two before the prices come out of the stratosphere, and into the realm of us mere mortals.

[Rasputin]

تاريخچهي موتورهاي جستوجو

با وجود آنكه ياهو و گوگل کمتر از يك دهه است که فعاليت اصليشان را بر روي موتورهاي جستوجو متمرکز کردهاند، اما سابقهي موتورهاي جستوجوگر به حدود 13 سال قبل باز ميگردد؛ کمي پس از آنکه استفادهي عمومي از اينترنت در آمريکا آغاز شد، اولين موتور جستوجوي اينترنتي با نام "وندکس" كارش را آغاز کرد؛ اما اولين موتور جستوجوي اينترنتي معروف را دانشگاه "کارنگي ملون" با عنوان ليکوس (Lycos) عرضه كرد که تا چندي پيش هم به عنوان يکي از مراجع اينترنتي مورد استفاده کاربران اينترنت قرار ميگرفت.

"آلتاويستا" دومين موتور جستوجوي محبوبي بود که پس از آن به کاربران اينترنت معرفي شد و همزمان با رشد سايتهاي اينترنتي، از ميان تنها چند سايت موجود در سال 1991، متعلق به کاخ سفيد و سازمان ملل و ميليونها سايت اينترنتي در پايان دههي نود، ياهو به عنوان محبوبترين موتور جستوجوي اينترنتي وارد بازار اطلاعات شد و در سال 2001 گوگل وارد اين بازار شد و در مدت كمتر از پنج سال توانست بخش مهمي از اين بازار را تصاحب کند.

* نحوهي عملكرد موتورهاي جستوجو

شيوهي کار موتور جستوجو اصولا بر مبناي رتبهبندي صفحات است؛ هر چقدر به صفحهاي بيشتر لينک داده شده باشد، موتور جستوجو نتيجه ميگيرد که آن صفحه از محبوبيت بيشتري برخوردار است و بنابراين آن را در صدر يافتههاي خود براي کاربران قرار ميدهد.

شيوهي يافتن صفحات اينترنتي با کليد واژهها توسط گوگل، مبتني بر جستوجوهاي دائمي صفحات وب توسط نرمافزاري به نام "اسپايدر" است که همچون برخي از کاربران اينترنت به وبگردي دائمي مشغول است؛ اسپايدر همچنين بهروز بودن سايتها و ذخيرهي آنها را نيز برعهده دارد، در مرحلهي بعدي، نرمافزار ديگري به نام "کراولر" دربارهي اينكه چه صفحاتي را در سايت موردنظر بايد قرار دهد، تصميم ميگيرد.

در مرحلهي سوم، صفحات بر مبناي اطلاعات جمعآوري، پردازش و بايگاني ميشوند و سپس اين اطلاعات فشرده و در پايگاه دادهها ذخيره ميشوند و آخرين مرحله مربوط به "سيستم رتبهبندي" است و همزمان با تقاضاي کاربر، تمام صفحات مرتبط را مشخص و براساس رتبهبندي تنظيم و در کمتر از يک ثانيه آن را ارائه ميدهد.

* انتقاد از موتورهاي جستوجو

با آنکه برخي از نظرسنجيها نشانگر آن است که با بهينهسازي عملكرد موتورهاي جستوجو طي چند سال گذشته، ميليونها کاربر اينترنتي در سراسر جهان توانستهاند به اطلاعات روزمرهي خود دست يابند، اما اغلب اين موتورهاي جستوجو از اين نظر که به سختي ميتوان اطلاعات علمي رايگان را به منظور استفاده پژوهشگران و دانشجويان در آنها قرار داد، مورد انتقاد قرار ميگيرند.

علت اين است که عملکرد آنها بر اساس سيستم رتبهبندي سبب ميشود تا سايتهاي بسياري براساس سليقهي عامهي کاربران فهرست شوند و نه براساس محتواي آنها؛ يکي ديگر از مشکلات موتورهاي جستوجو نتايج متفاوتي است که هر يک از آنها بر اساس ساختار پردازشي خود از کليد واژهها ارائه ميدهند.

انتقادات از موتورهاي جستوجو به دو دستهي اساسي قابل تقسيم است؛ انتقاد بر شيوهي کار موتورهاي جستوجوي اينترنتي در يک دههي اخير و انتقاداتي که بر عملکرد خود آنها وارد شدهاند؛ برخي از منتقدان به عملکرد اين شرکتها در مواجهه با فشارهاي سياسي براي دريافت اطلاعات كاربران و بازديدکنندگان و يا سانسور اينترنتي معترض هستند.

اما نفوذ موتورهاي جستوجو به حيطهي خصوصي کاربران و امکان بهرهوري از آن ديگر انتقادي است که توجه بسياري را برانگيخته است و اين نگراني همواره وجود داشته است كه از اطلاعات محرمانهي مشتريان سوءاستفاده شود.

از جملهي انتقادات ديگر مربوط به عملکرد موتورهاي جستوجو، تبليغات اينترنتي آنها در سايتها و وبلاگهاست که به گفتهي برخي، موجب ميشود تا آنها اين سايتها را در اولويت نتايج خود قرار دهند.

* آشنايي بيشتر با گوگل

شايد كمتر كسي باشد كه هرروزه با اينترنت سروكار داشته باشد، اما نام گوگل را نشنيده باشد؛ شرکتي که در سپتامبر 1998 توسط "اريک اشميت" و براساس پروژهي دو دانشجوي دکتري در دانشگاه استنفورد پايهگذاري شد، در سال 2000 خود را به عنوان يک موتور جستوجو معرفي کرد و طولي نكشيد كه اين موتور جستوجو با تکميل سيستمهاي پردازشي جستوجوي اطلاعات ظرف يک سال توانست توجه بسياري از مخاطبان را با افزودن بخشهاي ديگري به صفحهي اصلي خود از جمله اخبار، جستوجوي عکس و گروههاي اينترنتي جلب کند.

نام گوگل، برداشتي از "Googol" به معناي "يک و هزار صفر" است؛ اين موتور جستوجو به سرعت مفهومي به معناي گوگلي کردن، يعني جستوجوي اينترنتي را وارد زندگي بسياري از مردم کرد و به عبارت ديگر جستوجوي اينترنت براي بسياري از مردم مترادف با گوگل است.

گوگل را ميتوان با "کلينکس" که در سال 1914 توسط شرکت "کيمبرلي کلارک" به بازار آمد، مقايسه کرد؛ اين شرکت اولين شرکت توليدکنندهي دستمال کاغذي بود و چون در آن زمان رقيبي نداشت، استفاده از نام تجاري "کلينکس" توسط مصرفکنندگان معمول شد و از همين رو به محض آنکه از جستوجو در اينترنت سخن گفته ميشود، بسياري از مخاطبان به ياد مفهوم "گوگلي کردن" ميافتند، در حاليکه موتورهاي جستوجوي بسياري وجود دارند، ولي عموميت گوگل را پيدا نکردهاند.

كافي است نگاهي به نوآوريهايي كه گوگل از ابتداي سال 2006 ارايه كرده است، بياندازيد تا بيشتر به قدرت اين موتور جستوجو پي ببريد؛ راهاندازي سرويس پرداخت آنلاين، راهاندازي نسخهي عربزبان گوگل، ارايهي سرويس رايگان دسترسي به اينترنت وايرلس، راهاندازي سايت نقشههاي اكوتوريسمي، اعطاي اسكار اينترنتي به نقشهي گوگل (Google Maps) و (Google Earth) به خاطر بهترين طراحي ديداري - کارآيي و جايزهي اينترنت پرسرعت، راهاندازي سرويس تقويم، راهاندازي وبسايت Google Finance، كسب عنوان پرنفوذترين "برند" تجاري جهان در سال 2005.

* نسل تازهي موتورهاي جستوجو

با وجود آنكه حدود يک دهه از عموميت يافتن موتورهاي جستوجو ميگذرد، اما همچنان ايراداتي از سوي تحليلگران ارتباطات در خصوص آنها وجود دارد؛ يکي از مهمترين اين ايرادات، هوشمندي ناکافي در پردازش اطلاعات مورد درخواست کاربران است که اغلب در زمينههاي علمي به اين اطلاعات نياز دارند.

به عنوان نمونه ياهو قصد دارد علاوه بر فهرستبندي يافتهها، نظرات و پيشنهادات کاربران دربارهي موضوع را نيز ضميمه کند. برخي ديگر، استفاده از روشهاي موسوم به مرجع آزاد يا Open Source را پيشنهاد ميکنند و معتقدند به جاي انتشار مقالات علمي در نشريات تخصصي، بايد اين مقالات را بر روي اينترنت قرار دهند تا مخاطبان بيشتري بتوانند به آنها دسترسي يابند و به اين ترتيب شاهد رشد علمي گستردهتر در رشتههاي مختلف بود.

يکي از نمونه سايتهايي که مفهومي از وب نسل دوم را عرضه ميکند، سايت دانشنامهي اينترنتي "ويکي پديا" است که چندي پيش اعتبار اطلاعات عرضه شده در آن از سوي مجلهي "نيچر" همسان با دايرهالمعارف "بريتانيکا" ارزيابي شده بود.

[Rasputin]

First Look: HP's Notebook With AMD Dual-Core

HP's Compaq nx6325 is the first notebook we've tested to use the new Turion 64 X2 dual-core mobile CPU from AMD. Though AMD touts the processor's performance and its power-saving capabilities, the nx6325 didn't set any speed or battery-life records in our tests. However, the notebook should prove attractive to business users, who get several thoughtful features on top of the standard set.

The Turion 64 X2 line incorporates several platform improvements. It supports DDR2 memory, and also has a smaller socket and dynamic thermal management, which helps it fit into more compact laptops. Each core of the Turion 64 X2 gets its own Level 2 memory cache, unlike Intel Core Duo CPUs, which share a single L2 cache (Intel's chips typically carry about twice the total cache as AMD's, though).

The $1249 nx6325 we tested uses a 1.8-GHz Turion 64 X2 TL 56 CPU and 512MB of 667-MHz DDR2 memory. It earned a score of 76 on our WorldBench 5 tests, a mark 10 points beneath the average score of two comparably configured laptops with a 1.66-GHz Intel Core Duo T2300 chip. Nevertheless, it should ably handle any productivity task you throw at it.

And because of its dual-core CPU, you get much better performance when you're working with more than one application at once, or when you work with multithreaded applications that can take advantage of the two processor cores.

If you want top battery life, our tests seem to indicate that you will be better off with an Intel-based dual-core notebook. The nx6325 lasted just over 3 hours in our battery tests, while comparable Intel dual-core-based notebooks that we've evaluated have chugged along for up to 5 hours.

Aside from its midrange performance, the nx6325 is a solid business notebook. One nice touch is a presentation-settings hot-key located at the top of the keyboard that makes it easier for travelers to reconfigure the screen and system for meetings and demos. You also get one-touch access to HP's Info Center, where you can learn about the various security features, activate the built-in fingerprint reader, and register your print for log-ins. HP offers its own backup and restore software as well, and like many business notebooks this model includes a handy on/off button for the built-in wireless and Bluetooth capabilities.

The 1400-by-1050-pixel, 15-inch LCD, powered by ATI's Radeon Xpress 1150 graphics chip set and up to 128MB of RAM (shared system memory), looked fairly crisp, although colors were not quite as bright as on some other screens I've seen. Movie playback was smooth and sound was good, given that this system is meant primarily for business, not entertainment.

Along with the new Turion 64 X2 CPU, our tested system came with an 80GB hard drive plus a multiformat DVD burner that supports double-sided discs and has LightScribe technology, which lets you burn a label directly onto the disc. On the front is a convenient seven-in-one media card reader.

You get gigabit ethernet along with the other usual connectivity options, plus one FireWire port and three USB 2.0 ports--all positioned on the sides of the notebook, not the back, a design choice I like. The keyboard is full size and responsive; the touchpad has a scroll bar and worked well. The notebook won't kill your back if you're traveling, as it weighs 6.8 pounds with the AC adapter and cord, and 6 pounds without.

All in all, the nx6325 is a solid, well-priced laptop with a few nice extras for business users. Its new AMD dual-core CPU doesn't offer the processing muscle that some Intel dual-core based models provide, but its power should be sufficient for most business tasks.

[Rasputin]

Net Neutrality Debated

Should Congress enact a law that prevents telecommunications companies from charging more based on the kind of traffic they are distributing? What is at stake for enterprises that rely on the Internet? InfoWorld asked folks on either side of the debate.

Jon Taplin is a professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and an expert in international communication management and digital media.

Bill McCloskey is the Washington-based director of media relations at BellSouth and a former assistant managing editor at the Associated Press.


Possible Advantages to Tiered Net
InfoWorld: Net neutrality is widely portrayed as an assault on the core principles of the Internet. But could there be advantages to a tiered Internet model?

Bill McCloskey: A startup trying to compete with Google Video or Yahoo Video could pay a few pennies over their basic connection fee to turbocharge the connection to the viewer for the period of time that the video is being fed and have a competitive advantage over any video service that was satisfied to offer their customer today's "best effort" connection. We've all seen pixilated video feeds caused when it is "rush hour" on the Web. Many customers are not satisfied with that kind of service.

Jon Taplin: I'll start by agreeing totally with Bill that a customer is free to pick the speed that is needed and pay for what they need. I think there should be tiered pricing [at the consumer level]. ... Where the Net neutrality debate gets dicey is the idea that the sites themselves ... should pay an extra tax for "getting in the fast lane."

The best possible solution is for any of the dominant carriers to reserve at least 1.5 mbps of free, unfettered IP service that they promise not to filter, degrade, or otherwise impair. I don't think anyone would begrudge them the ability to segment their bandwidth for special operations as long as a small maker of documentaries still had a chance to sell films as a download directly to the consumer over an unfiltered IP network.

As a society, we have all benefited from the open standards and open networks of an Internet that was built with our taxpayer dollars. ... As we fall to 16th in the world in broadband diffusion, let's not fall further behind by corrupting the basic "end to end" architecture that the Internet pioneers so brilliantly crafted.

BM: BellSouth has already promised not to filter, degrade, or impair any service at any speed. If Jonathan the consumer wants to pay the few pennies for uninterrupted movie downloads--probably fewer pennies for a single song download--fine. We're agnostic on who purchases our service. But if Jonathan the musician wants to make his product more available for people to download and pays that "turbocharge" fee, then he is likely to get more customers, assuming he's selling his product.


Money for Nothing?
IW: Aren't businesses and consumers already paying a fee for premium Internet access? Wouldn't this be a new fee that you could collect in return for doing nothing?

BM: The service will be available for anyone who needs it, on demand. If the Net is not crowded at the hour you are proposing to watch a video, play a game, make a VoIP call--or who knows what they'll invent next--then you don't need to use it. What people are paying now is for access to the Internet as we have it today, not the newer, better, faster Internet that must be built--at significant expense--to handle the growing amount of traffic.

JT: As to telco ROI, it depends on adding value. We all know that there are thousands of miles of dark fiber crisscrossing our country. ... The major investment has already been made.

I don't think [neutrality] is that hard to achieve from a regulatory perspective. A little transparency on the part of the network providers as to what bit rate I am actually getting would be helpful. The benefit for the big business customer is that high-speed data connectivity is still a fairly vibrant marketplace where Verizon Business and AT&T and Qwest still compete in overlapping markets. Customer costs will continue to fall just because of the aforementioned glut of dark fiber from the late '90s.

[Rasputin]

EBay Bans Google Checkout

EBay customers won't be able to use the newly launched Google Checkout service to buy products, according to the auction Web site.

Google Checkout is now listed among other payment services such as Netpay.com, Qchex.com, ePassporte.com, and BillPay.ie that are not permitted on eBay.

The Google offering lets online shoppers store credit card and address information with Google so that they don't have to re-enter the same information each time they buy an item from a different Web site.

At the time of the service launch, in late June, Google took pains to insist that the offering would not compete with PayPal, the online buying service that is owned by eBay.

Attempt to Fend Off Competition?
EBay did not return calls requesting details about why it is banning Google Checkout but an analyst says that the potential competition to PayPal is likely to blame.

"I think there's only one answer here which is [eBay is] afraid for the competition," said Jaap Favier, a vice president at Forrester Research. "Google Checkout could be an enormous threat for PayPal."

Even if the current Google Checkout service doesn't exactly compete head on with PayPal, it could in the future. Favier expects Google to become increasingly active in e-commerce in the longer term and it would make sense for Google to boost the Checkout service to offer more capabilities that could make it similar to PayPal.

On the eBay Web page that describes its acceptable payment policy, it says that when new payment services arise, eBay will evaluate them to decide if they're appropriate. Some payment services may not be permitted on eBay although they may be appropriate services for consumers in other contexts, the page says.

The page also says that eBay considers a number of factors to determine which payment options will be accepted including enough financial, privacy, and fraud protection; the identity, background, and other business interests of the payment service provider; and the regulatory status of the provider.

[Rasputin]

Google has taken a major step towards challenging the dominance of Microsoft by signing a deal with Dell.

The agreement means millions of Dell computers will leave the factories with Google software already installed on them.

The software includes several personal computer applications, a Google toolbar and a co-branded homepage.

This could pose a serious challenge to the hold Microsoft has enjoyed on 90% of the world's computers.

The Seattle software giant has enjoyed a significant advantage over rivals, with computers automatically defaulting to Microsoft products.

In practice, most people stay with the default programs and search technology that comes with their machine.

Programs available

Microsoft is now moving towards building its search technology into the new version of Internet Explorer, steering users towards its own MSN search service.

This has worried Google, which complained to US anti-trust officials. But those concerns were rejected two weeks ago by the US Justice Department, which said that the Microsoft move was not anti-competitive.

It's a really big deal for both companies. It's very good for them and very good for us

Eric Schmidt, Google CEO
The deal with Dell gives Google a potent weapon in its fierce rivalry with Microsoft. In the past, the net search giant has mostly had to rely on people downloading its software.

As well as individual downloads, in January Google introduced a free service called Google Pack, bundling software from a range of companies in a single download.

Included are Google's desktop, instant messaging and Google Earth mapping programs as well as the Firefox browser, Adobe's PDF reader and Norton anti-virus software from Symantec.

Now, a range of Google programs will come as standard on Dell computers. These include its desktop search software and toolbar.

More significantly, the default search engine on Microsoft's Internet Explorer will be set to Google.

"It's a really big deal for both companies. It's very good for them and very good for us," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

Follow the money

Potentially, Google will gain exposure to millions of consumers who might otherwise have used Microsoft's search services.

Microsoft and Google have adopted different business models. Instead of selling software to make a profit, Google makes money by selling advertising to firms that want access to those who use its free products.

Microsoft has identified this sort of software as a key threat to its business, which relies on the healthy margins it earns from Windows and its Office productivity suite.

There are some limits on the deal. Dell will only install Google software on machines sold to small and medium-size businesses and to consumers.

Consumer sales only accounted for 14% of Dell's revenue in the last financial quarter.

Yahoo deal

The deal was announced on the same day as two other tech giants, Yahoo and eBay, joined forces.

Under the deal, Yahoo, the largest internet media firm, will be the exclusive provider of branded advertising on eBay's site.

In exchange, Yahoo will use eBay's payment system PayPal, to permit its customers to pay for Yahoo services.

Together Yahoo and eBay will reach more than 80% of the US internet audience, and the partnership could be the first step towards a global alliance.

[jsmith]

omidvaram ke gooogle ye dafe ba kalle az oon var nakhore zamin...

[Rasputin]

Microsoft Patches 'Critical' Excel, Office Bugs

Microsoft today released its monthly round of security patches, fixing a number of widely reported bugs in its Excel and Office products.

The July security updates include seven sets of patches. Four of the updates address bugs in the Windows operating system, while the other three fix problems in Office and Excel.

All of the Office and Excel fixes, as well as two of the Windows updates, are rated as critical by Microsoft, meaning that an attacker could theoretically take advantage of the flaws to run unauthorized code on a victim's PC.

The two critical Windows updates are for users of the Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 operating systems. They fix vulnerabilities in Windows' Server service and in its DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) Client service.

Security vendors warned that these Windows flaws, described in MS06-035 and MS06-036, could be used by hackers to create a self-replicating worm. Those are of particular concern to enterprises," said Jonathan Bitle, a product manager with Qualys. "They are both remote code execution vulnerabilities and, on top of that, they're both wormable vulnerabilities."

NCircle Network Security is particularly concerned with the bug in the Windows Server service, which is used in network tasks such as printing and file sharing. The Server service patch "addresses the first serious vulnerability in 2006 that has the potential to create a widespread worm," nCircle said in a statement.

Unpatched Windows 2000 systems may be vulnerable to such a worm, but it would be unlikely to affect Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 machines, because they turn off Windows Server services by default, said Christopher Budd, a security program manager with Microsoft's security response center. "The most likely thing that would happen would be a denial-of-service situation."

Furthermore, Windows Server is "based on the sever message block protocol," he added. "That's something that most enterprises will be blocking at the perimeter, as a best practice."


Excel Patches
The Excel patches, which are described in the MS06-037 bulletin are considered to be critical for users of Microsoft's Excel 2000 spreadsheet, and are rated "important" for other Excel users, Microsoft said.

The two Office updates are considered critical for Office 2000 and Project 2000 users.

Over the past month, Microsoft has investigated a number of issues related to Excel and Office, following reports that hackers had launched a targeted attack against an unnamed government contractor, taking advantage of a bug in its Excel spreadsheet software.

Microsoft has not patched all the bugs related to Excel. A bug in certain Asian-language versions of Excel, disclosed late last week, has not been fixed. More information on this bug can be found here.

A second vulnerability, which was demonstrated within an Excel spreadsheet last June, also remains unpatched. This vulnerability stems from a flaw in one of Microsoft's dynamic link libraries, which are used by applications such as Excel. More information on it can be found here..

"They came in too late in the engineering process for us to include and still make sure we didn't jeopardize the existing release addressing other issues," said Stephen Toulouse, a security program manager with Microsoft's security response center, writing in an e-mail message

The 7 patches will keep administrators busy, though not as busy as in June. Last month, Microsoft released 12 security updates.

[Rasputin]

Intel to Formally Launch Conroe Desktop Chip July 27

Intel will formally launch its next-generation "Conroe" chip for desktop PCs on July 27, marking the company's second step to recover from slumping sales with new products.

And the company is expected to lift an embargo tomorrow, allowing PC vendors to release the results of their benchmarking studies between Conroe and AMD's Athlon 64 FX-62. Here is the most recent performance update from Intel itself.

Intel also plans to launch its dual-core Itanium chip for high-end servers, code-named "Montecito" on July 18, and has already begun shipping them to computer vendors.

One Summer, Many Chips
The events mark the beginning of a busy summer for Intel.

"We plan to introduce multiple chips, more than 10, over the next 30 to 60 days," said company spokesman Bill ***cos. The chips will include a standard desktop version of Conroe--officially the Core 2 Duo--as well as an extreme edition for gamers and other combinations of features and prices.

The Conroe chip will be available to consumers almost immediately, since Intel has already begun shipping the processor to certain channels and manufacturers, ***cos said. Intel will reach full production within 30 days.

The timing is crucial for Intel because the company plans to sell Conroe in the looming back-to-school and holiday seasons, as well as for corporate upgrades planned by many IT departments for the end of the fourth quarter, he said.


VPro Platform for Businesses
Sales of Conroe will also mark the official launch of Intel's VPro platform, the bundle of features for business desktops announced in April.

Intel has found strong profits in selling bundles of hardware and software in platforms like Centrino for mobile desktops and Viiv for home entertainment. VPro will extend the idea to business desktops.

The Core 2 Duo chips enable those platforms by delivering a collection of features that Intel calls "Star T's."

"Those are leading technologies we've been rolling out in various chips already. But this new microarchitecture will include all of them; 64-bit computing, virtualization, active management, I/O, and hyperthreading to come later," ***cos said.


Intel Turnaround Program
Intel's first step to recuperate from sluggish sales came last month, when it unveiled the Woodcrest chip for servers--officially the Xeon 5100. The company also plans to launch its Merom chip for mobile notebooks in August. Conroe, Woodcrest and Merom are built with the company's new Core microarchitecture, the successor to the Netburst design that produced the Pentium line.

Intel accelerated the launch schedule of these three chips in the wake of a disappointing earnings report in April, when the company said it missed estimates for the quarter and would miss forecasts for annual revenue in 2006.

Intel is the world's biggest chip maker, but has been losing market share to Advanced Micro Devices(AMD). Intel hopes Conroe will help to arrest that slide, and early reports from PC vendors suggest that the new chip will make a difference.


PC Maker Interest in Conroe
"The high performance, raw processing power and low power consumption will deliver a lot of value for consumers," said Liem Nguyen, a spokesman for Dell.

"We've been working closely with Intel on testing and development, and we saw a 40 percent performance gain and almost the equivalent for improved power consumption," compared to the previous generation, he said.

Dell plans to sell the Conroe chip in its high-end XPS 700 gaming desktop first, with other products to come.

As it prepared to battle Intel in the marketplace, chip-making rival AMD insisted it would stick to its schedule for releasing new chips, and would not cut prices on current chips.

"We have been watching the competitive situation very closely, but it will not have an impact on our ability to deliver value to the market," said David Schwarzbach, division manager for the desktop group at AMD.

AMD launched its 4x4 platform for gamers in June, and plans to release its dual-core Athlon 64 X2 in the second half of 2006. In the longer term, the company will launch quad-core chips in 2007, and continue its support for multithreaded applications.

"The future is a multitasking and multithreaded world; we would even say a mega-tasking and mega-threaded world," Schwarzbach said.

[Rasputin]

چشمان شما خسته مي شوند. سرتان درد مي گيرد. نشسته ايد و به صفحه مانيتور كامپيوترتان خيره شده ايد. اگر شما يكي از كساني باشيد كه براي انجام كارهاي حرفه اي و شخصي عادت به استفاده روزانه از كامپيوتر دارند، ممكن است خستگي چشم را تجربه كنيد.



علائم و نشانه هاي رايج اينها هستند:



درد، خستگي، سوزش يا خارش چشم ها، خشكي چشم ها، تاري ديد يا دوبيني، سردرد و درد گردن، دشواري در تغيير تمركز از صفحه نمايشگر به صفحه كاغذ، رويت لبه هاي رنگي و تصاوير پس از روي گردانيدن از صفحه نمايشگر، افزايش حساسيت به نور.



به نظر نمي رسد كه خستگي چشم به دليل كار با كامپيوتر عواقب جدي يا طولاني مدت در پي داشته باشد اما ناخوشايند و مزاحم است.



اگرچه شايد شما نتوانيد ماهيت شغلتان را تغيير دهيد و يا تمامي عوامل موثر در ايجاد خستگي را از ميان ببريد، اما مي توانيد در جهت كاهش خستگي قدم هايي برداريد.



عادات جديد مي توانند كمك كننده باشند



چند تغيير ساده در نحوه كاربرد اينترنت مي تواند تا حد زيادي نياز چشمان شما را به استراحت برآورده سازد.



براي كاهش خستگي اين چند نكته را رعايت كنيد:



به چشمانتان استراحت دهيد: در طول روز چشمانتان را واداريد كه بر روي چيزي به جز صفحه نمايشگر متمركز شوند.



تمرين زير را انجام دهيد: انگشت تان را در فاصله چند سانتي متري صورت تان نگاه داشته و به آرامي آن را دور كرده و در همين حال به آن خيره شويد. سپس به يك شيء در دوردست خيره شده و سپس به انگشت تان بازگرديد. حالا انگشت تان را به آرامي به سوي صورت تان بازگردانيد.



در اين مرحله بر روي چيزي در فاصله دو و نيم متري چشمانتان متمركز شده و براي چند ثانيه در همين حال بمانيد. اين تمرين را روزي چندين مرتبه تكرار كنيد.



مكانتان را تغيير دهيد: تقريباً هر دو ساعت يك بار سعي كنيد بايستيد و به اطراف حركت كنيد. در صورت امكان ساعتي يك بار به عقب تكيه داده و چشمانتان را براي پنج دقيقه استراحت دهيد. طي اين مدت به يك كار غيركامپيوتري بپردازيد.



پلك و چشمك بزنيد: از آنجايي كه بسياري از مردم در زمان كار با كامپيوتر كمتر از ميزان لازم پلك مي زنند، در صورت طولاني شدن كار به خشكي چشم دچار مي گردند. پلك زدن سبب توليد اشك شده و مي تواند به نرم و مرطوب شدن چشم ها كمك كند.



سعي كنيد به صورت آگاهانه بيش از ميزان معمول پلك بزنيد و در صورتي كه اين كار كمك كننده نباشد، از اشك مصنوعي كه بدون نسخه پزشك به فروش مي رسد، استفاده كنيد.



چشمانتان را ماساژ مختصري بدهيد: روزانه چند بار چشمانتان را ماساژ دهيد. آرنج هايتان را بر روي ميز بگذاريد به طوري كه كف دست هايتان رو به بالا باشد.



وزن خود را به جلو و بر روي دستانتان رها كنيد. كف دست ها را بر روي چشمانتان قرار داده و در حالي كه انگشتانتان به سمت پيشاني باز شده اند، چشم ها را بسته و با بيني نفس عميقي بكشيد.



اين كار را براي چهار ثانيه ادامه داده و سپس نفس خود را خارج كنيد. اين تنفس عميق را براي ۱۵ الي ۳۰ ثانيه ادامه دهيد.



اشك خود را به ميزان كافي برسانيد: اگر از عينك و يا لنز تماسي استفاده مي كنيد، مطمئن شويد كه انتخاب عينك به درستي انجام شده و براي كار با كامپيوتر مناسب است.



بيشتر عدسي هاي تماسي براي خواندن نوشته هاي روي كاغذ مناسبند و ممكن است براي كار با كامپيوتر ساخته نشده باشند. عينك ها يا عدسي هاي تماسي كه به طور اختصاصي براي اين كار طراحي شده اند، ممكن است گران قيمت باشند.



محيط كارتان را مرتب كنيد: فضاي ميز تحريرتان را به شيوه اي مناسب براي چشمانتان مرتب كرده و بدين ترتيب از خستگي چشم هايتان بكاهيد.



مانيتور خود را تنظيم كنيد: صفحه مانيتور را در فاصله ۴۵ تا ۵۰ سانتي متري چشمانتان قرار دهيد. بسياري از افراد فاصله صفحه مانيتور را در حدود طول يك بازو از چشم هايشان تنظيم مي كنند. اگر مجبوريد براي خواندن متن هاي ريز بيش از حد به كامپيوتر نزديك شويد، بايد اندازه حروف را بزرگتر كنيد.



بالاي صفحه نمايشگر بايد پايين تر از چشم ها و يا هم سطح با آن باشد تا بتوانيد مستقيماً به كارتان نگاه كنيد. اگر صفحه زيادي بالا يا زيادي پايين باشد، مي تواند سبب كمردرد شود. اگر مانيتور را در بالاي كيس قرار مي دهيد، بايد كيس را بر روي زمين بگذاريد.



اگر از عينك دوكانوني و يا سه كانوني استفاده مي كنيد، به خاطر داشته باشيد كه ممكن است تمايل به خم كردن سر به عقب داشته باشيد تا بتوانيد از وراي بخش پاييني عينك تان به صفحه مانيتور نگاه كنيد.



براي تطابق با اين شرايط صفحه مانيتور را چند سانتي متر پايين تر آورده و يا از عينك هايي استفاده كنيد كه براي كار با كامپيوتر ساخته شده باشند.



صفحه كليد را در وضعيت مناسبي قرار دهيد: صفحه كليد را مستقيماً روبه روي صفحه مانيتور قرار دهيد. اگر آن را در يك گوشه قرار دهيد، چشمان شما ناچار هستند در فواصل متغيري نسبت به صفحه مانيتور متمركز شوند و اين كاري خسته كننده خواهد بود.



وسايل تان را در نزديكي خود قرار دهيد: چيزهاي خواندني و ابزارهاي لازم را در يك نگه دارنده در كنار مانيتور و در همان سطح، زاويه و فاصله از چشمانتان قرار دهيد كه مانيتور قرار دارد. بدين ترتيب چشمان شما ناچار نيستند مداوماً تطابق پيدا كنند.



نور را بررسي كرده و از درخشش زياد بپرهيزيد: نور خيره كننده مي تواند رويت اشيا را بر روي صفحه مانيتور با دشواري همراه كرده و چشم هاي شما را خسته كند. براي بررسي ميزان درخشندگي در حالي كه مانيتور خاموش است در جلوي كامپيوتر بنشينيد.



اين كار به شما امكان مي دهد كه نور انعكاس يافته و تصاويري را ببينيد كه در حالت عادي نمي بينيد. هرگونه درخشش شديد و خيره كننده را مورد توجه قرار دهيد. بيشترين مشكلات مربوط به منابع نوراني واقع در بالاي سر و يا پشت سر شما مثل نور فلوئورسنت و نور خورشيد است.



در صورت امكان مانيتور خود را به گونه اي تنظيم كنيد كه نورهاي شديد كناره ها تا زاويه نوددرجه اي نسبت به صفحه مانيتور خاموش شوند. توجه داشته باشيد كه همه نورهاي بالاي سر يا تمامي آنها را خاموش كنيد.

[Rasputin]

Microsoft: EU Fine Won't Hurt Vista Launch

European Commission fines levied against Microsoft won't affect the launch of Windows Vista, the head of the software maker's Japanese unit said today.

Yesterday, the European Commission fined Microsoft $357 million for failing to comply with the terms of a March 2004 antitrust judgment against it.

As part of the judgment the company was ordered to provide competitors with technical details of communication protocols used by its server products. The fine was imposed to punish Microsoft for failing to do so in a timely manner.

"What the EU wanted was not that specific until April. We agreed to a set of milestones and we're hitting those milestones but the last milestone is a week or so away," said Darren Huston, president and chief executive officer of Microsoft's Japanese unit, Microsoft.


Vista on Track?
The fine will not impact the launch schedule for Windows Vista, Huston said at a news conference Thursday.

The company's new operating system is scheduled to be available through volume licensing in November and through retail to consumers in early 2007.

The OS is already in beta testing. At this stage the biggest threat to the schedule would come from a beta tester finding a serious problem in the software that would require significant amounts of work, Huston said.

However, as the release date approaches the probability of finding such a flaw decreases because it would likely have been caught already, he said.

[Rasputin]

Firefox 2.0 Beta 1 Available for Download

Mozilla released Firefox 2.0 Beta 1 today. According to developer docs, all the new features for version 2.0 should be in this version. But it's by no means finished: Mozilla says you shouldn't expect your 1.x extensions and plugins to work properly, and there are certainly bugs. I had problems installing and running it on a computer with other beta software, for example.

In a nutshell, if you've spent time customizing Firefox like I have, and you value a relatively bug-free browsing experience, you probably don't want to install this just yet. Like I mentioned, I installed it on a separate test computer so as to preserve my lovingly customized 1.5 installation.

If you do decide to become a beta tester, this version will install separately from version 1.5. So you'll have both at once - but installing 2.0 will likely muck with extensions installed in previous versions. Here's Mozilla's download page.

On to the new features! Right away, I noticed that there really wasn't much to notice. For the user interface, at least: This version looks very much like version 1.5. Changes are mostly under-the-hood.

Those changes are welcome, though. One new thing is that tabs get their own close button on each tab. There's also a new option to re-open a closed tab. Both features are part of one of my favorite current extensions, Tab Mix Plus.



RSS feed support gets an upgrade, too. When you bring up a feed in the browser, there's now a "Choose a Feed Reader" button that lets you choose between adding the feed as a Live Bookmark; to the Bloglines, iGoogle, or My Yahoo Web readers; or to a standalone feed reader. Once you select a reader the button defaults to adding the feed to that reader. You can change your preference in the Options menu.

And like the new IE 7, version 2.0 has anti-phishing. Amazingly enough, I don't have a phishing e-mail in my inbox right now to give me a link to test, so I can't tell you what the feature looks like. But it sounds like a basic blacklist feature, where you have the option of choosing to compare sites you visit against a locally stored list of known phishing sites or against one maintained by Google. You'll get a privacy notification pop-up if you choose Google that says the option will mean telling Google about all the sites you visit.
Bloggers should welcome a new spell-checker for text boxes. Incorrectly spelled words get a red underline; you can then right-click and choose from suggested spellings. Also, extension and theme management are now combined into one window, with a new option to disable extensions instead of just uninstalling them.

Here's a full list of changes from Mozilla's site:

* Built in Phishing Protection.
* Search suggestions now appear with search history in the search box for Google, Yahoo! and Answers.com
* Changes to tabbed browsing behavior
* Ability to re-open accidentally closed tabs
* Better support for previewing and subscribing to web feeds
* Inline spell checking in text boxes
* Search plugin manager for removing and re-ordering search engines
* New microsummaries feature for bookmarks
* Automatic restoration of your browsing session if there is a crash
* New combined and improved Add-Ons manager for extensions and themes
* New Windows installer based on NullSoft Scriptable Install System
* Support for JavaScript 1.7
* Support for client-side session and persistent storage
* Extended search plugin format
* Updates to the extension system to provide enhanced security and to allow for easier localization of extensions
* Support for SVG text using svg:textPath



EDIT: Clarification for the oh-so-polite commenter below. Previous versions don't have a close button on each tab.

[aliamer3425]

پيچيده ترين نرم افزار جهان

پيچيده ترين نرم افزار جهان
استفاده از پيچيده ترين برنامه نرم افزاري جهان به نام "کيوباکس Qbox براي شبيه سازي هسته اي در قدرتمندترين ابررايانه جهان آغاز شد. پيچيده ترين نرم افزار محاسباتي نوشته شده تا به امروز، هم اکنون توسط وزارت انرژي امريکا در ابررايانه "بلوجين ال " به منظور شبيه سازي رفتار کوانتومي اتمها مورد استفاده قرار گرفته است.
وزارت انرژي امريکا قصد دارد با کمک اين نرم افزار ميزان قابل اطمينان بودن تسليحات هسته اي قديمي خود را که سالهاست انبار شده اند، بررسي کرده و امکان ادامه نگهداري آنها را بسنجد. "بلوجين ال"، قوي ترين ابررايانه جهان ، توسط شرکت آي بي ام ساخته شده و در آزمايشگاه ملي "لارنس ليورمور" در کاليفرنياي امريکا نصب و راه اندازي شده است.
اين ابررايانه داراي 131 هزار و 72 پردازنده مستقل بوده که به کمک فناوري هاي شبکه پيشرفته و فوق سريع به يکديگر متصل شده اند. "بلوجين ال" مي تواند در بهترين وضعيت خود در هرثانيه 360 تريليون محاسبه رايانه اي انجام دهد. نرم افزار کيوباکس قادر است پس از اجرا شدن در اين ابررايانه ، محاسبات کوانتومي بسيار پيچيده اي را براي شبيه سازي رفتار هزاران اتم به صورت سه بعدي انجام دهد. پيچيده ترين نرم افزارهاي به کار گرفته شده در ابررايانه "بلوجين" در گذشته تنها توانسته بودند از حداکثر 50 درصد توان محاسباتي اين ابررايانه استفاده کنند و اين در حالي است که نرم افزار کيوباکس براي اجرا شدن به سرعت محاسباتي 207 ترافلاپ نياز دارد که اين يک رکورد براي تمامي نرم افزارهاي نوشته شده در جهان محسوب مي شود. درحالي که قدرتمندترين نرم افزارهاي شبيه سازي کوانتومي اتمها در جهان پيش از اين تنها مي توانستند رفتار متقابل حداکثر50 اتم را شبيه سازي کنند، نرم افزار کيوباکس مي تواند رفتار متقابل يک هزار اتم در کنار يکديگر را به صورت سه بعدي شبيه سازي کند.