Microsoft’s Next OS To Be Called “Windows 7″. Seriously.

Microsoft has announced that the latest version of Windows, due in the next couple of years, will be called - drumroll please - Windows 7. It’s about time Microsoft adopted a naming system that might actually make some sense to users, but I can’t wait for hordes of customers to start asking if they somehow missed Windows 1 through 6.

Windows has had one of the most ridiculous naming schemes in the history of software. First there were logical (but ugly) version numbers, like the once commonplace “Windows 3.1″. Then with the release of the overhauled Windows 95 the company adopted a naming system based on the year of release, which it continued until Windows 98.

Windows Me (perhaps the worst operating system I’ve ever used), sacrificed the scheme for a chance to be clever (it stood for “me” and the millennium at the same time!) Next up we hit Windows XP, which has served most of us reasonably well since 2001. It sounds sort of cool, it’s catchy, and we have no idea what it means. Fine.

Finally we had Windows Vista, which seemed to stick with the naming convention of “something that sounds sort of cool but didn’t really mean anything”. It had been more than five years since the release of XP, so there was little chance of confusion.

Microsoft is now in a hurry to push out its next operating system after the generally dismal response to Vista. And so we’ve come to Windows 7, which is apparently tied to the build numbers and not the actual releases. The new naming scheme lends itself well to faster, more incremental releases similar to what we’ve seen from Apple (about once every 18 months), but it’s probably going to confuse everyone and couldn’t be more bland.

You can read more at the company’s blog post here.

Source : techcrunch.com

Technorati Tags: windows 7,microsoft,system

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Yahoo! Web Analytics is born!

From the acquisition of IndexTools, Yahoo! Web Analytics is born!

Yahoo! Web Analytics is an enterprise site analytics tool that provides real-time insight into visitor behavior on your website. With powerful and flexible tools and dashboards, Yahoo! Web Analytics helps online marketers and website designers enhance the visitor experience, increase sales and reduce marketing costs.

Yahoo! Web Analytics is a powerful, enterprise-class analytics solution that can serve the most complex and high traffic websites, by adding a simple tracking code to your web pages. Included are a host of standard reports and capabilities for creating custom-designed reports; each report is a departure point that lets you drill down for details, to look at trends, visitor paths, and individual visits and transactions.

Source : http://web.analytics.yahoo.com/

Technorati Tags: yahoo,web,analytics,internet

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Forget Windows 7 pre-Beta, Windows Strata Is Coming

At the start of October 2008, during a presentation at CIGREF – Club Informatique des Grandes Entreprises Françaises in Paris – Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer stressed the need for a new operating system beyond the Windows server and client platforms.

Following the retirement of Bill Gates, with Ray Ozzie as chief software officer, Microsoft has adopted a new Software plus Services business strategy designed to bridge the desktop and the cloud. Windows Cloud is an integral part of this strategy, namely a new Windows operating system built for the Internet. Details published inadvertently on the Professional Developers Conference 2008 website indicate that Microsoft is readying to detail a product previously unmentioned, labeled Windows Strata.

We said inadvertently because the information unveiled by GeeksWithBlogs has been removed completely from the session area of the PDC2008 website since October 8. At the same time, Microsoft is not offering any details related to the new product name, and in this context there is no official confirmation that Windows Strata is actually the Windows Cloud that Ballmer mentioned. However, in less than a month, Microsoft is bound to unveil the first Beta for Windows Cloud as Ballmer promised, along with the pre-Beta bits for Windows 7.

At PDC2008, Microsoft will deliver, in two parts, the session "A Lap Around Cloud Services" with the following synopsis: "Hear about key problems that cloud computing is solving and how these services fit into the Microsoft cloud computing initiatives. Learn about the pillars of the platform, its service lifecycle, and see how they fit with both Microsoft and non-Microsoft technologies. Also, hear about the services roadmap over the next few years. [And] Learn about the cloud services that enable developers to easily create or extend their applications and services. From consumer-targeted applications and social networking web sites to enterprise class applications and services, these services make it easy for you to give your applications and services the most compelling experiences and features."

Of course that there are additional mentions of the Microsoft Cloud platform, but none referencing Windows Cloud or Windows Strata directly. In addition to promising a Beta for Windows Cloud, Ballmer also revealed that Microsoft would have a trademark label for the platform by PDC2008.

source: news.softpedia.com

Technorati Tags: windows 7,microsoft,strata

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World first for sending data using quantum cryptography

For the first time the transmission of data secured by quantum cryptography is demonstrated within a commercial telecommunications network. 41 partners from 12 European countries, including academics from the University of Bristol, have worked on realising this quantum cryptographic network since April 2004.

Today [Wednesday 8 October] the first commercial communication network using unbreakable encryption based on quantum cryptography is demonstrated in Vienna, Austria. In particular the encryption utilises keys that are generated and distributed by means of quantum cryptographic technologies. Potential users of this network, such as government agencies, financial institutions or companies with distributed subsidiaries, can encrypt their confidential communication with the highest level of security using the quantum cryptographically generated keys.

The network consists of six nodes and eight intermediary links with distances between 6km and 82km (seven links utilising commercial standard telecommunication optical fibres and one “free-space”-link along a line of sight between two telescopes). The links employ altogether six different quantum cryptographic technologies for key generation which are integrated into the network over standardised interfaces.

The network is installed in a standard optical fibre communication ring provided by SECOQC partners, Siemens AG Österreich in Vienna. Five subsidiaries of Siemens are connected to the network. The operation of the quantum cryptographic network will be visualised on a screen at the Siemens Forum in Vienna and streamed live over the Internet. The network-wide key generation and distribution will be demonstrated, the different functionalities of the network itself will be presented as well as utilisation of the keys for standard communication applications. A voice-over-iptelephone-application will be secured by the information-theoretically secure "one-time-pad-encryption“ while videoconferencing will be protected by symmetrical AES-encryption with frequent key changes. A low-cost key distributor, with the potential of extending the quantum cryptographic network to the consumer, will also be shown.

Academics at Bristol University led by John Rarity, Professor of Optical Communication Systems in the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, working on the project have developed a low cost free-space quantum cryptography system, complete with purpose-built software that can operate in daylight conditions.

The system is designed to eventually work in applications where a consumer can regularly ‘top up’ a store of secrets for use in a variety of one-time-pad (OTP) and authentication protocols. This system could allow online consumer transactions to be PIN protected for instance. The user would use secret bits shared with the bank to encode his PIN.

In the framework of the project intensive development of existing and novel quantum cryptographic technologies has allowed the production of high performance, stable and mobile quantum cryptographic devices packed into standard 19-inch boxes. Theses devices interoperate seamlessly over standardized interfaces. The technical descriptions of the different quantum cryptographic technologies used in the network can be found on the projects website at: http://www.secoqc.net/html/technology/enablingtechnology.html

Advantages of Quantum Cryptography
Confidential communication needs encryption in order to ensure that no unauthorised party could misuse the content. Quantum cryptography provides long-term security and thus conforms to the requirements of a number of recent legal regulations for protecting information. Quantum cryptographic technologies provide information-theoretically secure keys for encryption.

The basic approach includes sending streams of specially prepared particles of light (photons), their measurement by the legitimate parties and the subsequent post-processing of the measurement data. The output is the cryptographic key consisting of identical random bit strings.

A potential eavesdropper cannot gain any information on this key irrespectively of his resources. This property which has no classical counterpart is due to the fundamental laws of quantum physics which ensure that any measurement leaves indelible traces behind. These traces manifest themselves in an error-rate that can be identified by the legitimate users.

There exists a quantitative relationship between the error-rate and rate of key generation: In case the error is below a certain upper bound, and therefore the eavesdroppers invention was sufficiently weak, the process of generating the cryptographic key is still possible with the same security standard but at a accordingly reduced rate. The latter gets equal to zero if the error-rate exceeds the bound.

Source : physorg.com

Technorati Tags: Security,Cryptography

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Touchscreen Eee PCs are on the way

The real problem with netbooks is that they are improving so rapidly in terms of speed and features on offer that it is never a good time to buy one, because next month there will be something notably better on the shelf for the same price.

The Asus Eee PC is a perfect case in point. Not only does Asus release the S101 this month – quite possibly the most beautiful bit of kit TechRadar has seen all year – the latest internet Eee rumours are that the company plans to release a touchscreen Eee PC in 2009.

"There is no official announcement on this right now," our Asus rep told us today, though we expect to hear something straight from the horse's mouth pretty soon.

Digital Etch-A-Sketch

BoingBoing sums it all up rather nicely, noting that "a cheap netbook tablet could be marketed as an affordable, digital Etch-A-Sketch, useful not just for idle MS Painting, but also email and web browsing."

Dual core Atoms are also coming soon, apparently.

Damn it! Why did we go and buy the Eee PC 901 last month!

By Adam Hartley

Source : techradar.com

Technorati Tags: asus,Eee PC

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Mozilla Geode 1.5

Always know where you are.

You’ve arrived in a new city, a new continent, a new coffee shop. You don’t really know where you are, and are looking for a good place to eat.

 

You pull out your laptop, fire up Firefox, and go to your favorite review site. It automatically deduces your location, and serves up some delicious suggestions a couple blocks away and plots directions there.

In order for this to be a possibility, your browser needs to know where you are.

To do this, future versions of Firefox plan on supporting the new W3C Geolocation Specification, which adds the native ability for Web sites to request, and you to optionally grant access to, your location.  We’re still working out the specifics, but we’re hoping that location will be provided by one or more user selectable service providers and methods, e.g. GPS-based, WiFi-based, manual entry, etc. You’ll be able to play with this in the upcoming beta releases of Firefox 3.1, as well as alpha releases of Fennec.

We realized, though, that some of our Firefox 3 users might also want to get a head start playing with gelocation Today.

Introducing Geode, an experimental add-on to explore geolocation in Firefox 3 ahead of the implementation of geolocation in a future product release. Geode provides an early implementation of the W3C Geolocation specification so that developers can begin experimenting with enabling location-aware experiences using Firefox 3 today, and users can tell us what they think of the experience it provides. It includes a single experimental geolocation service provider so that any computer with WiFi can get accurate positioning data.

The potential here is for more than just resturant lookups. For example, imagine an RSS reader that knows the difference between home and work and automatically changes it’s behavior appropriately. Or a news site whose local section is, in fact, actually local. Or Web site authentication that only allows you to login from certain physical locations, like your house.

What else will location make possible? Even if you can’t code, you can share your thoughts by commenting on this post or via the Concept Series, a forum for surfacing, sharing, and collaborating on new ideas and concepts.

How It Works & Privacy Implications

With Geode when a web site requests your location a notification bar will ask how much information you want to give that site: your exact location, your neighborhood, your city, or nothing at all.

We’re using Skyhook’s Loki technology to map the Wifi signals in your area to your location. Unlike normal GPS-based methods which can take upwards of 45 seconds for a lock, Geode works both inside and outside with an accuracy of between 10 to 20 meters, normally within a second.

Please note that in this early implementation, both location and IP information is sent to the current provider, Skyhook, everytime a website is granted access to your location. Skyhook’s privacy policy is that they do not store or use any personal identifying information, and they promise to only keep data in anonymized agregate. The ultimate plan for Firefox is that service providers and geolocation methods will be pluggable and user selectable — to provide users with as many choices and privacy options as possible.

As an experiment, Geode is also the beginning of a conversation about location-based privacy and integrating services that share personal data into Web browsers.

Download & Try It Out

You can download Geode here.

Source : labs.mozilla.com

Technorati Tags: mozilla,geode,download,plugin

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Intel: Core i7 to Be Up to 52% Faster Compared to Core 2 Quad.

Intel Corp. expects its forthcoming Intel Core i7 processors to be much more powerful compared to existing central processing units, according to documents reportedly seen by the media.

If the information turns to be precise enough, then Intel has all chances to keep processor performance crown even after smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices launches its new chips.

Documents from Intel Corp. allegedly seen by Expreview web-site reportedly mention that Intel Core i7 processor delivers 52% speed improvement in 3D games, 41% higher performance in media encoding and editing applications as well as 38% greater 3D rendering speed when compared to Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770.

Intel Core i7 965 is a premium class Nehalem-micro-architecture microprocessor for desktops that operates at 3.20GHz. The Core 2 Extreme QX9770 is Intel’s top-of-the-range CPU at the moment at that also works at 3.20GHz. If the information regarding performance improvements is correct, then it means that the new micro-architecture in its first implementation provides roughly 52% more performance at the same clock-speed compared to currently used Core 2 micro-architecture.

Advanced Micro Devices recently said that its forthcoming quad-core processors powered by improved K10 micro-architecture will be roughly 35% more powerful than its existing chips at the same clock-speed.

Intel did not comment on the news-story.

Source : xbitlabs.com

Technorati Tags: intel,core i7,core 2 quad

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