Since Catherine is off having fun without me at the London Expo, I'd thought I'd share a couple of videos I came across on YouTube this week. And my favourite: Rough translation: I brought a MacBook [Air], it crashes often, But at least its thin and fits in an envelope. I don't have an iPhone, But I have a plug for an iPhone. $2500 with the extra drive and software,...
I've recommended AVG Free anti-virus for years (update: I now recommend Security Essentials), I used to run it back when I was using Windows XP. I've still not, after using Windows Vista for two years, got around to actually installing any anti-virus on my main machines. But when my sister got her new laptop, as she had administrative rights I made sure to install some before handing it over. There are other free anti-virus software out there, such as Avast which like AVG Free is licensed just for personal usage....
In a move which caught a lot of people off guard Microsoft announced that they'll be providing support for the Open Document Format in Office 2007 Service Pack 2 (due for 1H 2009). I'm not surprised following Microsoft's interoperability pledge a couple of months ago, this makes perfect sense. It sends a clear message to the EU to get off their backs as they're no longer supporting just one ISO standard but two....
So this is what I've been waiting years for. A device the same size as my XDA Mini S, that has a VGA screen. I was meaning to blog about this on Tuesday when HTC made the announcement, but things got in the way. My Mini S is feeling pretty dated now, over two years old now, I upgraded it to Windows Mobile 6.1 a couple of months ago, been over-clocking it to try and keep it fresh, but I've been itching to update it, the XDA Stellar caught my eye, but it still has a QVGA screen as have all the 2....
I saw a post on Slashdot titled "Coding Around UAC's Security Limitations", which pointed towards this. The whole angle of the post on Slashdot is trying to make it seem that UAC doesn't do anything and is worthless, the iReboot developers certainly have that angle too, in what I'm sure some would call a childish tirade. iReboot is an application that sits in the tray, and allows you to select an OS you want to reboot into....
Out in the technical communities I still see a lot of people telling people to use msconfig (Microsoft System Configuration Utility) to stop applications running on startup with Windows. Now this was a fine tool - back in the old days (it first shipped with Windows 98), but it hasn't changed much since then and is geared towards technical users. Windows Defender is often overlooked as being a simple anti-spyware application....
Although I was meaning to post something back when the Office Open XML format was approved by the ISO despite lobbying by the likes of Sun and IBM, I never got around to it but it looks like the issue is back in the news. I was some what amused to read that the Linux/Open Source aka anti-Microsoft crowd have been protesting, yes actually protesting outside the ISO committee meeting in Norway recently....
Oh jeez, so over on ZDNet, Robin Harris threw up what apparently he thinks is a news story about how Microsoft have been forced to retreat to Windows XP on ultra-low-cost PCs, like Asus' Eee PC. He calls it further evidence of the Vista fiasco. What do I think? I call it evidence that Windows Vista won't run on these low powered machines, and as Microsoft is a company that wants to sell Asus something to put on these machines they'll sell em what they've got....
I can't say I'm honestly surprised judging on how crappy Apple's record is at patching vulnerabilities over the last few years. Windows Vista has consistently out performed all other major operating systems in this regard and Microsoft have spent a considerable sum on improving their development process in regard to security. So anyway at the PWN to OWN contest held over the last three days crackers have been competing for a $10,000, and $5,000 prize....
So Apple announced 'The world's thinnest laptop' a couple of months ago now. After a few minutes on Google however it looks like it isn't. The Sony Vaio X505 released back in 2004 comes pretty close at 20.8mm which a lot of people used in comparisons with the Macbook Air, which comes in at 19.4mm. However both of those are beaten out by the ten year old Pedion, built by Mitsiubishi and Hewlett-Packard which is only 18....