Short Bits Of IT News

white_hat · 05-01-08, 08:28

Simple: Short bits of interesting IT News

- Feel free to share any technology related news you find interesting
- Please provide link for further reading about the subject
- No Off-Topic

Have Fun

white_hat · 05-01-08, 08:58

5 Things You'll Love About Firefox 3

1. Easier downloads - While the older Download Manager was quite serviceable, Mozilla has made some nice tweaks in the new version. It now lists not only the file name, but the URL it was downloaded from, and includes an icon that leads to information about when and where you downloaded it.

2. An enhanced address bar - Mozilla has also made improvements in the autocomplete function of its address bar (which Mozilla calls a "location bar").

3. A workable bookmark organizer - Speaking of bookmarks, the separate history/bookmarks sidebars and managers have been replaced -- or, rather, augmented -- by a single Places Organizer, which uses Windows Explorer's familiar tree-on-the-left/list-on-the-right format. It offers a simple, quick way to read and manage your history and bookmarks -- including the ability to immediately edit a bookmark's name, location and tags rather than having to go into the Properties box.

4. Easier bookmarking - There are, in fact, quite a few new features involving bookmarking, some of which are small but highly useful. For example, you can now quickly create a bookmark by double-clicking on a star that appears in the right side of the address bar. You can also add tags to your bookmarks, which could work nicely as an organizational tool.

5. Better memory management - It now looks like that may have finally been taken care of. Mozilla has announced that the new version handles memory usage better.

Source: ComputerWorld

white_hat · 05-01-08, 23:42

Super Cool 3D Technology From Japan

collarian · 06-01-08, 00:48

Japanese conglomerate Hitachi is set to show off a new 50-inch plasma television at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas that measures just 1.5-inches thick. That is less than one third of the average 5-inch or more thickness of plasma televisions. According to Bill Whalen, director of product development at Hitachi, this TV will come to the market in 2009 and will probably weigh about 90 pounds.

"It could be a new category in plasma," Whalen said. The television sets shown off at CES never fail to amaze the tech world, with a constant competition running for who can make the biggest TV. Last year, Sharp inherited the crown by showing off a 108-inch LCD TV, while this year Panasonic is expected to stun the attendees with a 150-inch plasma TV.

Along with offering the biggest TV sets, the TV makers also try to slim them down as much as possible. For example, JVC claims a 42-inch LCD TV that is just 22mm thick, while Sharp has a 52-inch set that is 20mm thick.

white_hat · 06-01-08, 07:22

DVD Laser Labeling System

white_hat · 07-01-08, 09:08

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates wowed a full house Sunday in his 12th and last Consumer Electronics Show keynote as a full-time employee with the company he founded more than three decades ago.

"It will be the first time since I was 17 that I won't have my full-time Microsoft job," said Gates, who has said he wants to devote his energies to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's world health and education projects.

Video Parody Retrospective

white_hat · 07-01-08, 16:07

"Alienware has debuted its new DLP OLED curved gaming display at CES. The horizontal resolution is 2880, which is double that of 19" wide displays, while the vertical is 900. Response time is said to be under 0.2 miliseconds.

The really big deal is the curve, which, along with the 32:10 aspect ratio, should provide gamers with a huge field of view compared to traditional screens. FPS and driving sim lovers will appreciate this concept, but keep your pants on: this is just a prototype and we still don't know the price.

The new screen should be available in the second half of 2008."

collarian · 07-01-08, 18:28

Measuring 11 feet wide, the Panasonic Life Screen is the size of nine 50-inch plasma screens, said Toshihiro Sakamoto, president of Panasonic AVC Networks Co., during a Monday keynote at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

It displays images at a resolution of 2160 by 4096 pixels, four times the resolution of Panasonic's current high-definition plasma screens, which display images at a 1080-by-1920 pixel resolution, Sakamoto said.

The 150-inch panel is designed for digital cinema and promotional installations. Sakamoto did not say when the screen would be delivered. In developing the product, Panasonic was encouraged by the sales of 3,000 units of 103-inch plasma TVs, more than the company expected, Sakamoto said.

collarian · 08-01-08, 00:19

The Consumer Electronics Show is well known for showing off innovative and creative new gadget that eager consumers can get their hands on, and this year is proving to be no different. New York based Hauppauge, well known for TV tuner cards for PCs has introduced what appears to be a very handy device. The world's first USB TV tuner, the WinTV-HVR-950Q.

The new USB tuner stick can be used as a portable TV tuner and can be used to watch and record clear QAM digital cable TV on a laptop or desktop PC. Not only that, it can also be used to watch and record NTSC analog cable TV and over-the-air ATSC high definition digital TV.

Bundled with the USB stick is a credit card sized remote control so you dont have to fumble with keystrokes or mouse clicks to switch channels on your television stream. If the size of the remote is a problem, there is an optional full size remote control as well.

The new WinTV-HVR-950Q supports Hauppauge’s SoftPVR and SoftMCE software MPEG-2 encoders. SoftPVR and SoftMCE are software based MPEG-2 encoders which allow the recording of analog NTSC cable TV onto a PCs hard disk in a compressed format without needing a expensive hardware MPEG encoder. These encoders enable WinTV-HVR-950 to be compatible with Windows XP, Vista Home Basic plus Vista Media Center.

MSRP looks to be in the ballpark of $99 and the stick with remote bundle should be available later this month.

WinTV-HVR-950

white_hat · 08-01-08, 11:49

Top 5 Played Games On Xbox Live

Halo 3

Gears Of War

Call Of Duty 4

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas

Call Of Duty 3