AMD should be releasing its desktop-oriented 6-core processors, codenamed Thuban, next month. The first release should see four chips, the Phenom II X6 1035T, 1055T (in 95W and 125W TDP versions), and the 1075T being released. The chips, manufactured on the 45nm technology, should be sporting 9MB of cache, not to mention an integrated DDR3 memory controller. While there isn’t any pricing information available just yet, thanks to leaked CPU support lists, we do know that the X6 1035T will sport 6-cores at 2.6GHz, while the X6 1055T will be clocked at 2.8GHz. Finally, the Phenom II X6 1075T will be clocked at 3.0GHz. Do you think that the chips will give Intel’s Core i7 a run for its money?

Permalink: Details On Upcoming AMD Processors Leaked from Ubergizmo | RSS Sponsor: Win a Fellowes Microshred Paper Shredder!

Jeffrey of ASPEX, a producer of scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) and microanalysis software says: Our company recently kicked off a "Send Us Your Sample" campaign, which allows anyone to mail us an object of their choosing and have it scanned for free under one of our powerful desktop SEMs. People can send us a piece of clothing, an old toothbrush, or even a dead insect...anything they want to see a picture of under a powerful microscope. It's pretty cool. Once we receive the samples, we'll notify senders of their results via email. You can view other reports we've done here. Above: a paper tear. SEM Image Gallery by ASPEX - Send Us Your Sample!...

If you somehow held off on buying a Core i7 rig as soon as they popped out last year, you're in luck -- and your poor Pentium II system is flat out of it. Just about everyone has updated their gaming desktop lines this week with an option to splurge on Intel's 3.33GHz (or more) Core i7-980X Extreme Edition processor, and iBuyPower is no different. Said PC builder is now offering the chip within four of its Paladin desktops, and given that the stock clock speed is far too sluggish for your own greedy self, the Paladin XLC V3 ships in an overclocked configuration that promises a 30 percent boost in performance over the stock silicon. The rigs also ship with 6GB or 12GB of DDR3 memory, the latest and greatest ATI / NVIDIA graphics cards, an optional Blu-ray burner and a fresh copy of Windows 7. The lowest-end rig gets going at $2,159, while the aforesaid XLC V3 will set you back $4,409; the whole gang is available to customize as we speak.

Gallery: iBuyPower crams Core i7-980X Extreme Edition into Paladin desktop line

iBuyPower crams Core i7-980X Extreme Edition into Paladin desktop line originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The first time you walk into an Apple Store and pick up an iPad, you’ll understand the hype: Apple has managed to create a beautiful, thoughtfully designed, compelling product in a space where mediocrity was, until now, status quo. But odds are you probably won’t buy one — at least not yet. And that’s OK.

For despite the high level of anticipation for and proclamations associated with the launch of the Apple device, the fact remains that outside of a few select vertical uses (like medicine), tablets are constrained by their own form factor, stuck in the nether realm between productivity and portability. Standing onstage during the device’s unveiling, Steve Jobs himself posed a question that acutely underscores the tablet dilemma: Is there room for a third category of product that sits between your two most essential devices, the laptop and phone? As much as I’m looking forward to the iPad, I’m still not sure there is.

To date, no one’s been able to scale tablets as a core personal computing product, though it’s certainly not for lack of effort. Just about every player in the electronics world has given tablets a go, from Nokia with its Maemo-based N-series Internet communicators to Dell with its Android-based mini-slates to all manner of Windows-based convertible and slate tablet PCs. But the problem with all of them — and the iPad may also be included — isn’t that they’ve been unable to offer fundamentally differentiated experiences from the devices we already own and carry.

Think back to the iPod — before it existed, there wasn’t such a thing as taking your entire music (and eventually, video) library with you wherever you went. But the concept proved to be so elemental that it transcended the iPod as a device, and became a staple in nearly every product Apple makes, from iTunes on the Mac to the iPhone. In his iPad launch presentation, Jobs seemed pretty clear about the fact that the iPad won’t replace your phone or laptop (at least not any time soon), and yet Apple has still been deficient in demonstrating more than scaled-up iPhone experiences (like browsing, light email, and gaming) or scaled-down desktop experiences (like iWork).

Of course, it would be a failure of imagination to assume there won’t eventually be something built on the iPad platform that simply couldn’t be hosted on a phone or laptop. But so far Apple hasn’t shown it to us, which may be why so many are still lukewarm on the device’s prospects. This also might be why iBooks was January’s dark horse announcement — it was the only app Apple showed off that seems to call out for the iPad by name. But long-form reading is still arguably better suited to devices like the Kindle and Nook, which benefit from E Ink displays, while shorter-form media (namely periodicals) went all but ignored by Apple, which punted to publication-specific apps like the New York Times reader. Had Apple attempted to create a new, ubiquitous, standard format for magazines and newspapers, and leveraged its sales infrastructure for subscription content, the iPad might have been hailed as the iPod of publishing.

There’s no question Apple has (re)defined the tablet dialog and raised the bar for the space moving forward. For browsing the web, the iPad experience is second to none; the product itself almost seems to melt away, leaving the user to feel as though they’re literally reaching in and touching the content. And by the time the iPad’s price drops in a year or two, Apple may be able to parlay a groundbreaking product into a market leadership position. But in the mean time, the countdown to launch has begun and Cupertino’s set its sights on building yet another market, we’ll have to see just how many people are ready to put their money where Apple’s tablet is.

Ryan Block is the co-founder of gdgt and the former editor in chief of Engadget. Disclosure: gdgt is backed by True Ventures, a venture capital firm that is an investor in the parent company of this blog, Giga Omni Media. Om Malik, founder of Giga Omni Media, is also a venture partner at True.

Filed under: Google, Beta, Browsers

Earlier today, Google pushed updates to both the Chrome beta and dev channels. The good news? Apart from other minor patches and fixes users of both testing versions on Windows 7 now see per-tab taskbar thumbnail previews.

If you haven't received the update yet, you can force a check by clicking the wrench menu and then "About Google Chrome." Downloads are also available from Google's early access channels page.

It's not without bugs, though. @keshav and I have both had a glitch which seems to occur when using win+d to show the desktop where tiny windows will appear along the top of your taskbar (pic after the jump). I've also experienced a problem similar to the one which plagued Firefox when support for this feature was first added: the spinning blue circle. It seems to occur mostly when (wait for it)...an uncooperative Flash embed appears on a web page.

Google Chrome Beta, Dev channels now support Windows 7 taskbar thumbnails originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Chrome - Windows 7 - Microsoft Windows - Google Chrome Beta - Taskbar

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Google Apps for business has a number of benefits over traditional business IT and desktop software. Using the full suite essentially places all of your data and entire workflow in the cloud, meaning you can access it all anywhere, any time, from any Internet connection.

At $50 per year per user, the fully integrated apps system is certainly cost-effective, and even adding the free versions of Gmail, Calendar, and Google Docs into your workflow can keep your employees coordinated.

For more casual users, or even those who might not be acquainted with Google Apps, here’s a guide to how the software can benefit your small business.

Gmail

The many advanced features of Gmail really make it a leap forward in the web-based e-mail space, and a lot of these are ideal for business.

If you’re not ready to take the full plunge into the paid Google Apps suite, you can still configure Gmail to function as your business e-mail client through your existing domain name by following the steps outlined in my post, “How to Set Up Gmail as Your Business E-mail Client.”

The first big advantage of Gmail, like all the apps discussed here, is that it functions in the cloud. You don’t have to worry about downloading messages to multiple locations or syncing various devices. Your inbox will look the same from any web or mobile connection. And with 25 gigs of e-mail storage per user (with a paid apps account), it’s unlikely you’ll ever have to clean your inbox or delete old messages.

Gmail works a bit differently than traditional desktop clients and webmail services in that conversations are “threaded.” This means that e-mails with the same or related subject lines are grouped together in a thread so you can see all the messages sent and received on a topic in one place. When a new message is received, the entire thread is bumped to the top of your inbox, making tracking complex and multi-party conversations easy.

Gmail also has a chat feature built right into the interface that lets you send a quick update or discuss a project with an employee if you’re not in the same office. Chats are also stored in Gmail so that you can search and refer to them later.

Google search, the asset that started it all for the company, is of course built right into Gmail, which makes finding information from e-mail conversations (even very old ones) extremely efficient.

Additionally, Gmail Labs offers some extra settings for your inbox that can be extremely valuable for business use:

• Signature Tweaks puts your e-mail signature before the quoted text in a reply the way that Outlook would.
• Default ‘Reply to All’ allows you to reply to group e-mails with one click, instead of from a drop-down menu.
• Forgotten Attachment Detector will notify you if you’ve mentioned an attachment in an e-mail, but forgotten to add one.
• Undo Send gives you a few seconds after sending a message to click “undo” in case you forgot something, or sent it to the wrong party by mistake.
• Title Tweaks is a great feature that puts your unread message count first in the title of the inbox web page. If you have many windows open while you’re working, you’ll still be able to see when new messages arrive.

Google Docs

Google Docs is a web-based suite for word processing, presentation building (similar to PowerPoint), spreadsheets, and web forms. All the work is done in a web browser, and all the data is saved in the cloud.

The software can be a bit quirky at times, which may frustrate users of more stable products like Microsoft Office, but the payoff in online storage, shareability, and collaboration options may be worth the adjustment for many small businesses.

Because the data is online, streamlined document sharing and collaboration are big perks with Google Docs. Any file you’re working on can be shared with individual team members, or the entire group within the apps system. You can also set permissions for specific users to view and edit documents. And, multiple users can simultaneously view and edit documents, which can be useful for real-time collaborative projects or presentations during conference calls. You can also grant permission for those outside your office network to view and edit documents, which can be especially useful for sharing information and presentations with clients or colleagues.

As you create and share documents, your Google Docs dashboard may start to get a little messy. Be sure to create folders to keep your work organized just as you would on your desktop. You can also share entire folders if you need to collaborate on multiple documents related to the same project.

Calendar

Google Calendar provides an efficient and intuitive way to keep appointments and events synced across your entire business. With calendar sharing and permissions (similar to those in Docs), you can add other employees’ calendars to your own, and vice versa, in order to see and manage the big picture of your team’s time.

For example, if an executive has an assistant, their calendars may be shared so that the assistant could manage his boss’s appointments remotely from his own account. It’s also a smart tool for coordinating meetings, calls, and shift staffing for multiple employees to avoid scheduling conflicts. Sharing multiple calendars with one “master calendar” creates a color-coded scheduling table for the coordinator that updates automatically when users make changes or additions.

The Calendar app can also be used to create events through Gmail. By adding your employees’ e-mail addresses to an event, they will receive an invitation to respond. Responding ‘yes’ automatically adds a shared event to your calendar that each invitee can view and add notes to. It’s a smart way to coordinate meetings and keep everyone in the loop.

Google Sites

Google Sites is a drag-and-drop web development tool that you can use within your business’s apps to create online information hubs for employees. The websites you create exist within your Google Apps domain, can be public or private, and permissions for employees to add, change, and contribute information can be set from the main account.

Beyond simply being a WYSIWYG web editor, Sites makes it easy to integrate data from other Google Apps into dynamic pages that team members can use to collaborate on projects. Integrating spreadsheets or data charts from Docs, a deadline schedule from Calendar, and team-specific messages from Gmail could essentially create a one-stop project dashboard full of dynamically updating information.

Sites here can be purely functional or informational, or with the aid of some built-in templates or a good designer, a full-fledged dynamic public website for your business that team members have easy access to.

Google Groups

Google Groups have long been public forums where users across the web gather to discuss specific interests or get technical support. Groups for business brings that same functionality into your private internal network.

E-mail can sometimes be cumbersome when coordinating a team. When you need a central space to collect ideas and share documents (but you’re not interested in building a web page in Sites), Groups offers a solution.

Employees can create discussion groups on their own and subscribe, either by e-mail or via a Groups dashboard, which lists new posts like a news reader.

Rather than e-mails going out to individual inboxes, a group thread remains visible to all of your subscribed team members, and users can go back to it for reference, to add more information, and even share docs and calendars.

Using Groups for business discussions and project management creates a communal and searchable database of information that employees can go back to whenever needed.

Google Apps Marketplace

Google’s recently launched Google Apps Marketplace allows developers of other business web apps to integrate their offerings with Google and sell software directly to Google Apps users. The marketplace currently has over 50 partners, including Intuit, Zoho, and Aviary. This additional space for third-party software means that Apps users will have even more options to tailor their suite for specific business purposes.

Smart Integration Across the Board

While each app has worthwhile features, perhaps one of the best advantages is the way that they all integrate with one another. Documents and appointments can be easily shared via e-mail, and your inbox can be used as a portal for productivity via embeddable widgets, chat, and other notifications.

If your small business is ready for a web-based, collaboration-minded IT solution, Google Apps is certainly a cost-effective way to go, and you can investigate the free versions simply by signing up for a Gmail account to determine if the suite is right for your workflow.

More business resources from Mashable:

- HOW TO: Choose a News Reader for Keeping Tabs on Your Industry
- 4 Elements of a Successful Business Web Presence
- HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy
- HOW TO: Measure Social Media ROI
- HOW TO: Use Social Media to Connect with Other Entrepreneurs

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, CostinT

Tags: business, gmail, Google, google apps, Google Calendar, google docs, google labs, List, Lists, productivity, small business

Secondary USB LCD displays have been around for some time already, and while they are nice to have on your desktop, they aren't an essential tooljust yet. The iMo Plus might yet change your mind, being a 10" USB LCD monitor at 1,024 x 576 resolution complete with resistive touchscreen capability. Features include a 200cd/m2 brightness level and a 400:1 contrast ratio which are nothing to shout about normally, but it fits such a small display just fine. We would have preferred to see a capacitive touchscreen thrown in instead though due to the lesser amount of finger pressure required. You can pick up the iMo Plus for $270, while a touchscreen-less version will cost $220.

Permalink: iMo Plus USB monitor back with larger display from Ubergizmo | RSS Sponsor: Win a Fellowes Microshred Paper Shredder!

NComputing shipped a SoC (system-on-chip) designed for thin clients that will provide multimedia-enabled remote access to Windows and Linux desktops, and optionally run Android 2.1 locally. The $20 Numo SoC is based on a dual-core ARM-based CPU, and is designed to work with the company's VSpace virtualization software....

Je suis rentré de Las Vegas hier soir tard après une correspondance via Londres et c’est l’esprit encore un peu embrumé par le manque de sommeil et le décalage horaire que je vais tenter de rédiger ce compte-rendu sur le Microsoft Mix 10 qui s’est tenu à Sin City de lundi à mercredi.

Le Mix de Microsoft se tient traditionnellement à Las Vegas chaque année et c’était ma première participation. Cette conférence réunit des développeurs venus du monde entier, soit près de 3500 personnes hautement expertes en programmation dans un environnement Windows. J’étais pour ma part invité par Microsoft France dans le pack « presse et média », petit privilège qui nous donnait accès à toutes les conférences et au silence feutré de la salle de presse, richement dotée en connexions web, muffins et café américain.

Côté impressions, ma première fut celle du gigantisme des lieux. Dans une ville ou le problème de l’espace ne se pose pas (encore) puisque plantée en plein désert du Nevada, l’unité de mesure de base semble être l’hectare (y compris pour les chambres suites d’hôtel), et le complexe hôtelier et loisirs dans lequel se déroulait le Mix en compte exactement vingt-quatre, d’hectares. L’autre impression est le paradoxe entre l’image corporate et assez peu fantaisiste de Microsoft et le choix du lieu, même si Las Vegas est devenue en quelques années une grande ville de congrès, ce qui en banalise fortement le côté joyeusement déluré (voire dépravé). La dernière sensation est celle procurée par l’ambiance de ce Mix, particulièrement cool et bon enfant, où rien n’est imposé, et où vous pouvez naviguer au gré de vos affinités et de vos centres d’intérêt pour picorer ici et là de l’information au fil des keynotes ou des sessions. Impression renforcée par la musique d’introduction ou d’attente entre les keynotes, à forte dominante rock (et du bon).

Les développeurs sont à la fête dans ce type de conférence, et nombre de sessions – trop techniques pour moi et sans grand intérêt pour la plupart d’entre vous – ont certainement fait le bonheur des programmeurs.

Côté annonces, même si aucun scoop fracassant ni aucune présentation ne fut de nature à provoquer un séisme dans le monde de l’informatique et du web, plusieurs nouveautés ont été présentées. Vous avez déjà certainement lu de nombreuses choses sur le sujet, aussi vous donnerais-je simplement mon point de vue sur ce que j’ai retenu :

Silverlight 4

Ce fut le premier sujet de la première keynote, mais aussi la première grosse surprise pour moi. A votre avis quel est le taux de pénétration mondiale du player Silverlight dans les ordinateurs, autrement dit, quel est le pourcentage d’ordinateurs équipés de Silverlight ? 5% ? 10% ? Vous n’y êtes pas du tout : près de 60% ! Rappelons pour ceux qui sont moins au fait que Silverlight est un environnement de développement et de lecture de fichiers multimédia dans le navigateur web directement concurrent de Flash (qui lui équipe 98% des ordinateurs). L’environnement Silverlight est composé d’un outil de développement, Expression Blend, lui-même intégré à Expression Studio et du player, un plugin à installer dans son navigateur web. Le taux d’équipement a connu une très forte croissance depuis que certains grands médias ont délaissé Flash pour signer un accord avec Microsoft en vue de la diffusion de leur contenu multimédia. Ce fut le cas notamment avec des chaînes de TV américaine, canadienne et norvégienne lors des derniers JO de Vancouver. Chez nous, c’est par exemple France TV qui propose notamment la vidéo à la demande dans un player Silverlight, comme ses journaux télévisés.

La keynote fut donc l’occasion d’annoncer la disponibilité immédiate de Silverlight 4 (applaudissements de l’assistance) en version développeur, la version définitive arrivant d’ici fin avril.

Pour l’internaute, quel est l’avantage d’installer le player Silverlight si l’on possède déjà Flash ? Ce n’est pas véritablement une question d’avantage mais de choix : si vous voulez accéder au contenu multimédia d’un site en Silverlight, vous devrez installer le plugin sinon vous aurez droit à une jolie page vide. Pour les avantages il faut voir du côté des éditeurs de site : la technologie Silverlight serait plus évoluée et plus flexible que Flash (smooth streaming HD, deep zoom… ) et consommerait moins de ressources. Côté versatilité des applications, Silverlight représente un avantage incontestable car il sera nativement intégré dans Windows Phone 7 Series : les applications du futur Windows Phone seront en Silverlight, et les sites proposant du contenu Silverlight seront normalement compatibles avec les Windows Phone de prochaine génération. Un exemple nous a été fourni avec Seesmic pour Twitter sur Windows Phone présenté par Loïc Le Meur.

Windows Phone 7 Series

J’ai déjà eu l’occasion de vous parler ici de Windows Phone 7, lors de sa présentation officielle au MWC de Barcelone le mois dernier. Nous avons pu cette fois prendre en main un prototype de mobile Windows Phone 7 et, pour un proto et un OS en version beta qui a encore un bon semestre de développement devant lui, la bonne impression de départ est confirmée. A ce sujet je voudrais en profiter pour tordre le cou à une affirmation un peu simpliste que je lis régulièrement : Windows Phone 7 Series n’est PAS une copie de l’OS de l’iPhone, et c’est même tout l’inverse. Microsoft, contrairement aux autres, a compris in extremis que s’il tentait de faire un énième iPhone killer (ou iPhone like) il allait droit dans le mur (un mur sans fenêtres cette fois, hahaha). Les équipes de Windows Phone, largement renouvelées par rapport à celles qui avaient conçu les versions précédentes, sont donc parties d’une feuille blanche et ont tenté de repenser complètement ce que devait être l’interface utilisateur d’un mobile. D’ailleurs le résultat n’a pas grand chose à voir avec l’iPhone puisqu’ici nous avons affaire à une logique de hubs (les grands thèmes, People, Music, etc…) et non plus à un choix par icônes. Je reviendrai dans un article séparé et complet sur la session à laquelle j’ai assistée sur la genèse du design de l’interface utilisateur de Windows Phone 7 (nommée « Metro »), un moment passionnant au cours duquel j’ai pu récupérer un document riche en informations dont je publierai quelques extraits scannés. Maintenant on ne pas nier que l’iPhone ait imposé un nouveau standard de fait dans le mobile. Un standard qui est devenu en un peu plus de deux ans l’ABC de l’interface mobile, comme les quatre roues et le volant pour l’automobile. Difficile dans ce cas de se démarquer complètement. Nous verrons si Microsoft va réussir en faisant de cette alternative un nouveau paradigme.

L’accueil de l’assistance et des grands éditeurs semble en tout cas très encourageant, et de nombreuses applications ont déjà été développées, et présentées au Mix, comme notamment une version très convaincante de FourSquare mais encore une application Shazam pour Windows Phone ou des jeux et même une fonction de télécommande pilotant un robot-canon qui catapulte des missiles en carton-pâte dans le public (applaudissements).

Les outils de développement pour Windows Phone 7 Series sont disponibles immédiatement et sont gratuits ici : http://developer.windowsphone.com/ (applaudissements).

Internet Explorer 9

Je vais être direct : pour moi Internet Explorer est mort depuis longtemps. Je n’utilise plus jamais ce navigateur sauf dans deux cas bien précis : pour tester une page web et quand j’y suis contraint et que je n’ai pas d’autre choix (PC d’entreprise sans navigateur alternatif principalement). Aujourd’hui je partage mon surf entre Firefox la plupart du temps et Google Chrome, sans oublier bien sûr Safari sur iPhone ou… Opera sur Windows Mobile [1].

Je ne suis évidemment pas un cas isolé puisque les parts de marché d’Internet Explorer, largement préservées par une forte présence d’origine dans Windows et en entreprises, se sont fortement dégradées au cours des cinq dernières années, passant de plus de 90% à moins de 60% (source).

Internet Explorer 9 va-t-il changer la donne et permettre à Microsoft de reconquérir une partie du terrain perdu ? En tout cas là aussi on sent le vent du renouveau, qui consiste surtout ici en une mise à niveau. En substance, la keynote sur IE9 a principalement consisté à démontrer que cette nouvelle version allait faire à peu près aussi bien qu’un Firefox, qu’un Chrome ou qu’un Safari, démonstration comparative à l’appui (applaudissements). Aussi bien, c’est tout ? Non : mieux. Microsoft, décidément en mode reconquête semble vouloir faire un peu mieux et a introduit dans Internet Explorer 9 un traitement GPU, soit une accélération matérielle via un traitement par la carte graphique des données rendues par le navigateur, ce qui promet normalement un affichage optimisé et plus fidèle mais surtout un temps de chargement des pages très fortement réduit.

Le reste de la démo a donc consisté à mettre en exergue la bonne intégration de SVG et de HTML5 et CSS3 dans Internet Explorer 9, à tel point que cette présentation ressemblait davantage à un inventaire des progrès et avantages de HTML5 plutôt qu’à une démo du futur navigateur de Microsoft. Pour vous faire une idée vous pouvez télécharger une version de preview ici : http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/. Attention, cette preview n’est pas compatible avec Windows XP ni avec Vista première version. Il vous faudra au moins Vista SP2 ou Windows 7 pour l’installer.

Tous ces arguments, qui montrent là aussi que Microsoft tente de se remettre en question, seront-ils suffisants pour inciter les internautes qui ont déserté Internet Explorer à le réutiliser ? L’avenir le dira. Pas gagné pour autant…

En vrac

D’autres annonces et démonsttations ont été faites lors de ce Mix 10, et je vous les livre en vrac car toutes ne justifient pas à mon sens un développement détaillé :

• le code source du player vidéo de Silverlight 4 va être prochainement publié en open source
• présentation de Pivot, un outil en Silverlight de gestion de de manipulation d’images (notamment pour les archives de presse) aux effets étonnants. Je vous conseille de regarder la démo ici : http://www.getpivot.com/
• présentation de Bing Maps qui propose un mode Street View à base de photos retraitées en 3D (possibilité de tourner autour d’un bâtiment) avec une technologie empruntée à Photosynth.
• démonstration d’un widget eBay « eBay Simple Lister » en Silverlight qui permet aux vendeurs de scanner par exemple directement le code-barre ISBN d’un bouquin pour le mettre en vente. Toutes les données ISBN seront alors incluses automatiquement dans son annonce avec notamment la couverture du livre.
• présentation des dernières avancées sur JQuery par son créateur, John Resig.
• hormis les applications Silverlight, Windows Phone 7 supportera les jeux multi-plateformes : vous pouvez commencer une session de jeu sur votre XBox360 chez vous et la continuer sur votre Windows Phone si vous devez partir en déplacement. Voir la démo dans cette vidéo.

Ce que je n’ai pas vu au Mix 10

Au rayon des petites déceptions, et contrairement à ce que certains, dont je faisais partie, envisageaient, nous n’avons pas vu trace ni du Slate de HP et encore moins du Courier, pour lequel le blackout d’information semble être total chez Microsoft. Sauf si j’ai raté quelque-chose, rien non plus sur Office 10 et sa version Online, mais nous en saurons certainement plus d’ici fin avril.

En conclusion

Le vent tourne et après des années de domination écrasante sur l’informatique mondiale, Microsoft apparaît dans une nouvelle posture de challenger dans des domaines ou le marché et les utilisateurs l’attendent au tournant, notamment le mobile, la navigation web et le respect des standards. Concernant le mobile, à une époque où l’on commence à assister à des querelles de chiffonniers entre Adobe, Google et Apple, notamment dans le débat autour de Flash, Microsoft se démarque et va proposer une solution avec un avantage concurrentiel incontestable : l’intégration de Silverlight dans Windows Phone. Un avantage énorme pour les développeurs mais aussi pour les consommateurs, qui risque de rendre très vite obsolètes les questions existentielles sur Flash et les applications mobiles riches.

Enfin je ne pourrai pas finir ce billet sans remercier l’équipe de Microsoft France pour son accueil, sa sympathie et sa bonne humeur tout au long de cet évènement, et notamment un super poke au camarade David Cohen, aux petits soins avec nous.

(applaudissements)

Pour en savoir plus (vidéos et autres compte-rendus) :

• chez Mixrosoft : http://live.visitmix.com/videos
• chez Fred Cavazza

[1] A quoi sert Internet Explorer ? A télécharger Firefox. A quoi sert Internet Explorer Mobile ? A télécharger Opera Mobile

Et maintenant les photos :

autres photos à venir, en cours de traitement…

Articles sur le même sujet :

• Seesmic lance Seesmic Desktop Platform et Seesmic for Windows Phone
• Las Vegas (re)Mix
• Bientôt une version mobile de Microsoft Silverlight

Article original écrit par Eric et publié sur Presse-Citron, le 19/03/2010. | Lien direct vers cet article | © Presse-citron.net - 2010 NOUVEAU : Téléchargez l'application gratuite iPhone Presse-citron et retrouvez Presse-citron sur votre iPhone.

The Last Amazing Grays [preview]
(GNOME Icon Theme)
Introducing The Last Amazing Grays iconset.

This is only a preview, hope it will be released soon.

This project aims to become a full iconset for Gnome Desktop Environments.
The Last Amazing Grays will be released into two different flavours, the dark one and the light one [as you can see in the preview], to fit all kinds of desktops.

It will come to life inspired by the wonderful brsev icons Token, and my previous works such as Hydroxygen and FFW.
I have also to give credits to switzak for his ACYL project.

I really don't know when the full iconset will be released.
All my energies are concentrated to develop it the best I can.
Thanks for everyone who'll like this.

changelog:
19.03.2010: almost 5600 icons to do... -_-"

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Karsa Fulltext Search Manager is a desktop application thanks to which you can increase efficiency, reduce errors, and work faster when creating fulltext search. The desktop manager serves for setting the search and subsequent generating of saved procedures on the MS SQL Server. You therefore do not need to register any dlls or input the .net code on the SQL Server, because the standard T-SQL script is run and the wide possibilities of the SQL Server iFTS are used every time.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Last year, OneRiot ventured into the advertising world with RiotWise, an ad format which places content in an emphasized position in their realtime feed. The search engine also launched a pilot program of RiotWise Trending Ads, a stream of ads that correspond to trending topics as they emerge across the social web, that has since been integrated into the search engine’s API. Today, the realtime search startup is improving upon its advertising product by offering Trending Ad unit that automatically updates in realtime corresponding to the the most popular trending topics at the time.

The ability to update in realtime allows OneRiot to show advertiser content that is relevant to trending topics as they emerge on networks like Twitter, Facebook and the web. The ads are available via standard-size IAB Ad Units and is enabled by OneRiot’s realtime search technology and PulseRank relevancy algorithm. And previously, OneRiot’s “Trending Ads” were available only via OneRiot’s API. This meant that developers had to integrate the raw feed into their applications, and create their own UI. The new ad unit allows any website currently monetizing with standard static ad units to display RiotWise Trending Ads.

In order to implement he new ad unit, publishers need to integrate Trending Ad Units in the same way they would call standard ad units. The ads will then link to realtime and relevant content from OneRiot’s network of media partners. One Riot claims that the realtime relevance of the ads leads to click through rates at four times the average rates.

Currently OneRiot’s trending ads have been used on Twitter apps (ÜberTwitter) and desktop clients (Digsby). OneRiot shares revenue with the application developer. As we’ve written in the past, OneRiot runs the risk of surfacing irrelevant or spammy content with realtime ads, especially is the ads are refreshing constantly to match trending topics. But as a realtime search engine, OneRiot has invested heavily in spam prevention and is constantly sorting through millions of pieces of content to determine what is relevant and what isn’t. Regardless, it seems like a viable monetization tool for developers.

The startup, which just raised $7 million in funding, has been steadily innovating its product and is gathering up partners quickly. The realtime stream ramped up this year with all the big players adding functionality to their search offerings and OneRiot was smart to get in the game early.

Auf der Suche nach ästhetischen Desktop-Hintergründen? Dann präsentieren wir Ihnen das exklusive Desktopography Wallpaper-Pack mit phänomenalen Wallpapern in HD-Auflösung.

GAdmin-Bind - An easy to use GTK+ frontend for ISC BIND.

About this version
Fixes specfile desktop entry.
Use correct sysinit stop command.

In its MIX10 presentation this week, Microsoft took a quirky approach to demonstrating the ease of coding for Windows Phone 7 Series. The company showed us a T-shirt-firing bot by the name of Betty, which wouldn't have raised many eyebrows but for the fact that its full set of controls -- steering, aiming and shooting -- were being handled by a WP7S app. The code monkeys behind the project are now back with a full breakdown of how things were achieved -- the bot was built on a standard battle-bot chassis, which was then modded with the cannons and an HP Envy laptop for control purposes. Just to drill in the point about how familiar development for the new mobile OS will be, the MS guys point out that outsider assistance on the project was recruited under the pretext that what was being built were "out of the browser" Silverlight apps for the desktop. Very crafty. We've got video of the cannon in action waiting after the break, along with an image of the Phone controls.

Continue reading Windows Phone 7 Series T-shirt cannon gets detailed, redefines 'mobile warfare'

Windows Phone 7 Series T-shirt cannon gets detailed, redefines 'mobile warfare' originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink tech autos  |  MSDN Blogs  | Email this | Comments

This year's MIX 2010 was led by Scott Guthrie, who has emerged from Microsoft's rank and file to own just about everything developer-related. Where last year's MIX and PDC conferences were spearheaded by Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie, Guthrie's keynote appearances focused on the progress Silverlight has made in driving the company's 3 Screens and the Cloud approach to the disruptions going on in mobile, television, and the Web OS desktop. I spoke with Scott after his opening day keynote in Las Vegas:

While working away on implementing WebGL support into the Chrome browser, Google has through about how to ensure that the open standard for hardware-accelerated online 3D graphics is available to as many people as possible.

After some brainstorming the internet titan has come up with Almost Native Graphics Layer Engine or ANGLE for short, an open initiative to take WebGL's subset of the OpenGL ES 2.0 API and 'translate' it into calls that are supported by the DirectX 9.0c API. The idea here is that, while Linux and Macs have OpenGL as their primary API, and thus will work easily with WebGL, Windows PC rely mostly on DirectX/Direct3D and because of that they may not have the required OpenGL drivers installed. Not having proper OpenGL support is a problem if you need/want to run WebGL and ANGLE aims to offer a solution for that situation.

Because ANGLE aims to implement most of the OpenGL ES 2.0 API, the project may also be useful for developers who are working on applications for mobile and embedded devices," said Henry Bridge, Product Manager at Google. "ANGLE should make it simpler to prototype these applications on Windows, and also gives developers new options for deploying production versions of their code to the desktop."

ANGLE is currently an early-stage project but pretty much everyone is welcomed to step up and help with its development. It's for the good of the webz.

Per la prima volta, Microsoft ha menzionato in via ufficiale il Service Pack 1 per Windows 7 e Windows Server 2008, svelandone due novita'. BigM ha poi aggiornato l'XP Mode e ha modificato le licenze relative alla virtualizzazione desktop

Photo Desktop 2.3.2

Photo Desktop allows you to put photos on your desktop, instead of having to choose one photo to use as your wallpaper, you can now add as many little pictures to your desktop as you want.

Photo Desktop 2 adds too much to the previous version to describe, below you'll find a summary of some of the more significant changes and additions.

Multiple photosets

• With Photo Desktop 2 you're no longer bound to a single composition, with an unlimited amount of photosets you can create different desktops for different moments.
• Use Smart photosets to let Photo Desktop create and update Photosets for you, based on a folder you point out or on the iPhoto album of your choice.
• Use the changer the automatically switch between different photosets. You can also use the changer to shuffle the Photosets, including Smart photosets, so your Desktop will never look the same.

iSight support

• Photo Desktop 2 now comes with built-in iSight support. Allow you to create photos in the PhotoChooser simply as one of the many photo collections you have.
• Use the snapshot feature to instantly create a photo using your iSight camera and add it to your desktop.
• Also new is the Photo Desktop Spy, the Spy can automatically create snapshots and add them to your current desktop or a designated other photoset.

Core Image Quality & Animation

• Photo Desktop 2 is built utilizing Apple's Core-Image technology. For Photo Desktop 2 this means that your resulting Desktop will have a far greater quality than before. Also this means that fun effects could be added to the Editor.
• With a new engine powering Photo Desktop 2, a screensaver has been added to complete the Photo Desktop package. The Photo Desktop Saver makes your desktop come to live by animating the photos off your current photoset.
• Utilizing your videocards power also enables the 'Live-updates' feature, when turned on your Desktop gets updated instantly without the delay you saw in Photo Desktop 1.

Much more customization

• Photo Desktop 2 add many other functions to further customize your photos. The photo info panel has been extended with frame-shape, shadow, effect and additional options.
• Existing functionality like the caption functionality has been further extended to allow for caption on the photo as well as using shadow or 3D effects.
• The Photo Desktop preferences have also been further extended to adjust the application to your wishes.

WHAT'S NEWVersion 2.3.2:

• Fixed issue where pd would sometimes draw on top of the icons in Snow Leopard
• Improved startup stability
• Improved license import (typing spaces)
• Improved cpu usage of the background application

REQUIREMENTS

• PowerPC G4+1.5 Ghz+
• Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later
• Core-Image capable videocard with 64MB memory.

PRICE$13.00
DEVELOPERAlwin Troost
DOWNLOADS40952
DOWNLOAD NOW (5.7 MB)
More information

Michael Hanson and a team at Mozilla Labs have been doing some really interesting work with Identity in the browser (and taking ownership back from services).

They just released an alpha add-on for Firefox that begins to integrate contacts from services (right now: “Gmail, Twitter, and, on MacOS-based machines, the local Address Book” but growing).

Imagine getting auto-complete across all of your forms… like this:

Here is a list of features:

• A browser-based Contacts database that stays in sync with your address books (so far, it supports GMail, Twitter and Mac OS Address book)
• A generic importer system for Contacts from desktop or web-based address books (so you can implement missing ones)
• An email autocompletion feature, which demonstrates how the browser can auto-complete email addresses on any website. The autocompletion is performed entirely in the browser, without sharing the your list of contacts with the website.
• A Javascript API that websites can use to access the Contacts database, with explicit user permission and filtering

Download it here.

This is very cool and you should also note the open technology being used:

• We’re indebted to our friends and colleagues at Mozilla Messaging, who have been working on address book integration in Thunderbird for years, and have the exciting new Raindrop messaging application in experimental development now. We are working on integrating the Raindrop project with the Contacts API!
• The Portable Contacts initiative is an important effort to define a common data definition for contact data. We use the Portable Contacts definition internally for Contacts.
• The W3C Contacts initiative is defining an industry-standard, cross-platform API for access to contact data in the browser. The spec is new and evolving, and now is the time to experiment and provide feedback!

Sure, the Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition is the latest and greatest in desktop multi-monitor solutions, but if you happen to be hexaphobic (or financially challenged, perhaps) you'll need something a wee bit smaller. To that end, PowerColor just introduced the Radeon HD 5770 Eyefinity 5. With a whole one less mini-DisplayPort than its heftier cousin, the Eyefinity 5 has all the mid-range muscle of a regular Radeon 5770 -- down to the megahertz, we checked -- but has five independent display controllers for that wrap-around HD monitor matrix you've always dreamed of. Whether the 5770 can actually run games across five monitors is another question, but we expect that reviews of just that functionality will surface (along with pricing, availability, dongles, and everything else that wasn't in the press release) well before you count to seven.

PowerColor jumps on the Eyefinity bandwagon, breaks off a wheel originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 05:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Akihabara News  |  PowerColor  | Email this | Comments

Today I had to set up a new Lenovo IBM ThinkPad T400. I replaced the hard drive by a Super Talent Ultradrive GX2 128GB and extented the memory to four gibibytes. The installation of Ubuntu 10.04 (lucid) took four minutes (time after answering questions and before rebooting to installed system). The notebook is fast with the SSD. After pressing the power button, the system needs nearly 20 seconds to reach GRUB. 7.35 seconds later the GNOME desktop is ready for usage.

Does your system boots faster?

Plymouth is nice, but it’s gone before it appears. The system boots too fast for plymouth. But why do I have to stare at plymouth quite a few seconds on shutdown? Shutdown shouldn’t take longer than boot.

Les derniers PC “Paladin” orientés gamers d’iBUYPOWER, les F890, F950, F970 et XLC V3 sont tous propulsés par le nouveau processeur d’Intel, le Core i7-980X Extreme Edition.

Les Paladin F950, F970 et XLC V3 proposent 12Go de mémoire DDR3, avec au moins 1To de disque dur, un lecteur Blu-Ray, tandis que le F890 est lui équipé de 6Go de DDR3, ainsi que de 1To d’espace de stockage. Les F970 et XLC V3 embarquent également 80 de SSD (Solid State Drive) et Windows 7 Ultimate. Pour le reste, iBUYPOWER laisse le choix entre une carte graphique ATI Radeon ou une Nvidia GeForce HD avec la prise en charge DirectX 11, et propose un système de refroidissement liquide.

Les prix commencent à 2159$.

Press Release

El Monte, CA – March 18, 2010 – iBUYPOWER, a leading innovator of gaming PCs, is excited to announce four new Paladin gaming systems all powered by the new Intel Core i7 980X Extreme Edition Processor. The new 6 core processors are extremely overclockable, deliver benchmark shattering performance and allow unmatched multitasking capability. Gamers need not be concerned with having multiple browsers open, team speak, or MP3s files playing while gaming due to the new processor’s revolutionary hyper-threading technology.

The four new configurations all feature the finest components available, including the newest ATI Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce high-definition video cards, which all support DirectX 11 graphics. The Paladin F950, F970 and XLC V3 all pack 12GB of DDR3 Memory, provide at least a 1 TB of storage space and a Blu-ray drive. The fully loaded F970 and XLC V3 also come standard with an 80GB solid state drive and have been upgraded to Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate. Additionally, like all iBUYPOWER desktop systems, the newest Paladin model all feature free liquid CPU cooling.

Gamers looking to get the most out of their new six core systems can take advantage of the iBUYPOWER Labs’ Power Drive Overclocking Service, which overclocks the CPU by as much as 30% and comes standard on the Paladin XLC V3. Other innovative iBUYPOWER exclusive products and services include the Harmony Sound Reduction System, the Internal USB Expansion System, and iBUYPOWER’s Specialized Advanced Packaging System with expanding foam inserts to prevent damage during shipping.

The new Paladin systems start at $2,159 and are available now at www.iBUYPOWER.com.

Customers with more specific gaming needs can configure a fully customizable system at www.iBUYPOWER.com. All iBUYPOWER systems also come standard with 1 year limited warranty and lifetime technical support.

Early February, Google launched its new Buzz service for mobile and desktop which is Google's way to start conversations about the things you find interesting. From the start, it was built right into Gmail as well as Google released new Google Maps Mobile clients with Buzz support. Google Buzz integrates photo, video and link-sharing and makes it easy to share it either publicly or privately. Now, Google has released a Buzz widget for Android phones that lets you post text and photos with a single tap, straight from the Android home screen. Like other mobile access points for Google Buzz, the widget lets you choose to tag your post with the location or place from which it was posted.

Related Links: [Permalink]
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Microsoft commence à parler du Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1), ainsi que Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. Bien que Microsoft n'ait pas annoncé officiellement un beta ou une date de lancement pour le service pack, selon la rumeur, le SP1 pourrait bien arriver ce mois-ci. Windows Server 2008 R2 inclura des fonctionnalités assez cool pour la virtualisation du bureau de Microsoft, c'est-à-dire Microsoft Dynamic Memory et Microsoft RemoteFX. Windows 7 aura aussi les hotfixes habituels, ainsi qu'un client Remote Desktop mis à jour, un client qui bénéficie du RemoteFX sur Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

Plus d'information sur l'annonce officielle de Microsoft.

Permalink: Microsoft prépare le Service Pack 1 pour Windows 7 et Windows Server 2008 R2 d'Ubergizmo FR. Aussi en Anglais

The Sunday SXSW 2pm keynote was from Valerie Casey, a consultant who works with entities as large as the government to up and coming Louisiana food startup Naked Pizza.

Valerie is part of a group called Designers Accord who has a mission to use the skills and talents of this team to give back to the community and ultimately Mother Earth.  Her profound opening statement was “When will we start thinking that less bad is good?”  The example shown was a Dell studio PC, a small desktop computer with an optional bamboo case that adheres to the highest levels of green standards for office computers.  Yet, it is still another computer, which has components inside which will ultimately end up in a landfill and be harmful to humans or the environment.  A heart-wrenching photo was shown of a child living an an area of China whose community cannot even drink their local water due to contaminants from the e-waste trade; where components are stripped from circuit boards over fire pits for their little precious metal content.

Continue reading SXSW 2010 Keynote: Systems Design and Inspiration

Tags: designers accord, sundaykeynote, sxsw, sxsw 2010, sxswi, sxswi 2010, systems design, valerie casey, valeriecasey,

SXSW 2010 Keynote: Systems Design and Inspiration originally appeared on Gear Live on Fri, March 19, 2010 - 10:02:42

After leaving the Rumorville gazettes to do their thing for a few months, Microsoft yesterday took the mic and started talking about Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

The main additions in SP1 that will interest Windows Server users are two new desktop virtualization features, called Microsoft RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory, while on the Windows 7 side there's the updated Remote Desktop client that's based on RemoteFX. Win7 users will also get all the updates released until SP1 goes RTM, so they won't have to worry about missing a fix for the operating system.

Microsoft hasn't said anything about SP1's release schedule but according to reports, the package is already in a beta state and is planned to be made available this autumn, about a year after Windows 7's debut.

iBUYPOWER’s latest 4 “Paladin” Gaming PCs, the F890, F950, F970 and XLC V3 are all powered by Intel’s i 7 980x Extreme Edition processor (6×3.33GHz).

Paladin F950, F970 and XLC V3 have 12 GB of DDR3 memory, at least 1TB of storage, have Blu-Ray Disc players whereas F890 has 6GB DDR3 memory and 1 TB of storage. The F970 and XLC V3 also come standard with an 80GB SSD drive and Windows 7 Ultimate. They all feature either ATI Radeon or Nvidia GeForce HD video card with DirectX 11 support and have iBUYPOWER’s free liquid CPU cooling.

Their price start at $2, 159.

Press Release

El Monte, CA – March 18, 2010 – iBUYPOWER, a leading innovator of gaming PCs, is excited to announce four new Paladin gaming systems all powered by the new Intel Core i7 980X Extreme Edition Processor. The new 6 core processors are extremely overclockable, deliver benchmark shattering performance and allow unmatched multitasking capability. Gamers need not be concerned with having multiple browsers open, team speak, or MP3s files playing while gaming due to the new processor’s revolutionary hyper-threading technology.

The four new configurations all feature the finest components available, including the newest ATI Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce high-definition video cards, which all support DirectX 11 graphics. The Paladin F950, F970 and XLC V3 all pack 12GB of DDR3 Memory, provide at least a 1 TB of storage space and a Blu-ray drive. The fully loaded F970 and XLC V3 also come standard with an 80GB solid state drive and have been upgraded to Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate. Additionally, like all iBUYPOWER desktop systems, the newest Paladin model all feature free liquid CPU cooling.

Gamers looking to get the most out of their new six core systems can take advantage of the iBUYPOWER Labs’ Power Drive Overclocking Service, which overclocks the CPU by as much as 30% and comes standard on the Paladin XLC V3. Other innovative iBUYPOWER exclusive products and services include the Harmony Sound Reduction System, the Internal USB Expansion System, and iBUYPOWER’s Specialized Advanced Packaging System with expanding foam inserts to prevent damage during shipping.

The new Paladin systems start at $2,159 and are available now at www.iBUYPOWER.com.

Customers with more specific gaming needs can configure a fully customizable system at www.iBUYPOWER.com. All iBUYPOWER systems also come standard with 1 year limited warranty and lifetime technical support.

Google may have hired Plaxo’s Chief Technology Officer Joseph Smarr late last year, but it’s Yahoo that’s finally adding the 8-year old idea of turning the address book model upside down and letting people subscribe to it rather than keep their own quickly outdated lists. They’ve launched a new feature called “Share my info” in Yahoo Contacts that is, like the old Plaxo product, a way to subscribe to contact information and have it automatically updated.

Instead of updating your friends’ contact information when it changes, your friends just do it for themselves and then everyone with permission to get that information automatically has their address book updated.

It saves a lot of hassle and it was brilliant when Plaxo launched it in 2002.

But it never really caught on with the masses and most people today are stuck with address books that are little better than they had a decade ago. Plaxo’s spamming problem probably didn’t help gain user trust, which was part of the problem. But Plaxo also lacked other features like email to make it a really useful place hold your address book.

Syncing products bring the promise of contacts Shangri La, but they never quite seem to work. I still maintain a desktop address book synced with Mobile Me as well as Google Contacts synced with my phone, and it’s a huge mess of duplicate contacts and outdated information.

There’s also a bunch of independent contact information for some of my friends over on Facebook. And in fact that’s often the most reliable data for older contacts because they keep it updated themselves. It’s very similar, in fact, to the Plaxo model. I’m “subscribed” to them via mutual friendship and it can be turned off at any time.

I hope Google starts doing this soon as well, simply because that’s the closest thing to a master contact list that I have in the cloud. And at some point someone has to solve the problem of syncing contact information and other data across company platforms. Yes, I know a ton of startups have tried this, but no one has quite gotten it dead simple and right.

CrunchBase InformationYahoo!PlaxoInformation provided by CrunchBase

Sales of AMD-based desktop PCs have accounted for more than 40% of the desktop segment in China, pushing first-tier motherboard makers Asustek Computer, Gigabyte Technology and Micro-Star International (MSI) to increase the proportions of AMD-based products in their shipments to China, according to industry sources.