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After years of rumors, speculation, and leaks, Apple today announced its long-await tablet, the iPad.
Chief executive Steve Jobs complemented the introduction of the new device with a new e-bookstore, called iBooks, together with partnerships with four major publishers, and showed off new versions of its iWork application and third-party applications.
Jobs kicked off the company's launch event in San Francisco on Wednesday by highlighting the history of the company's mobile products. "We're the largest mobile device company in the world," he told the audience, showcasing the iPhone and the company's line of MacBook products.
"There is room for something in the middle," he told the crowd. "If there's gonna be a third category, it has to be better at [Web browsing, e-mail, photos, video, music, games, and e-book reader]—otherwise it has no reason for being."
While netbooks have attempted to address the space, Jobs added, "netbooks aren't better than anything…They're just cheap laptops."
The key, he insisted is the tablet—a new device the company has christened the "iPad," one of several rumored names, including the "iSlate" and, simply, the "Apple Tablet." The iPad features a 9.7-inch, full capacitive multi-touch IPS display, weighs 1.5 pounds and measures 0.5 inches thick—"thinner and lighter than any netbook," according to Jobs.
Pricing for the iPad starts at $499 – far lower than the early $1,000 projections of many analysts. The 16-, 32-, and 64-GB devices run $499, $599, $699 – with an additional $130 for 3G capability. The device will begin shipping in March.
For the chipset, the company went in-house, designing a 1-GHz Apple A4, contrary to rumors that the device would be powered by an Intel or Samsung chip. The iPad comes in three capacities: 16-, 32, and 64GB. It features built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, an accelerometer, company, speaker, and microphone.
The iPad has a built-in iTunes store, for music playback. Itcan also do video, naturally, either via iTunes for movies and TV shows, or via third-party apps like YouTube and YouTube HD. The device syncs to Macs and PCs via USB, in much the same manner as the iPhone, so users can transfer content like movies and music from iTunes.
According to Jobs, the device gets 10 hours of battery life. "I can take a flight from San Francisco to Tokyo and watch video the whole time." It also features a month of standby time on a single charge, he said.
Apple is offering two 3G data plans for the device: $14.99 a month for 250-MB or $29.99 for unlimited data. "Data plans usually cost about $60 a month," Jobs told the crowd.
Contrary to early Verizon partnership rumors, the plan is available solely through AT&T. No contract is required. "International plans will be in place by June," Jobs added. Those uninterested in 3G data will be able to use the device with Wi-Fi, of course.
Jobs surrendered the stage to a number of content providers. First off, Mark Hickey from video game publisher Gameloft showcased a first person shooter for the device called Nova.
Travis Boatman from EA showcased a the upcoming title: "Need For Speed: Shift". "Building for the iPad is like holding an HD display up to your face," he told the crowd.
Martin Nisenholtz from The New York Times took the stage to show off "something special for the iPad." The paper's layout on the device mimics a standard newspaper. "We think we've captured the essence of reading the newspaper," he told the crowd. "A superior experience in a native application." The application also lets users play video, making newspaper reading a multi-media experience.
Developer Steve Sprang showcased an application called Brushes, which is already available as an iPhone app. In iPad form, the application takes advantage of the device's significantly increased real-estate, offering a deep artistic canvas experience. The app, according to Sprang, will be available when the iPad launches. Chad Evans from MLB.com also showcased a new app for the device featuring live video.
Jobs came back on stage to take a shot at Amazon's successful Kindle. "Amazon has done a great job of pioneering [e-readers]," Jobs told the crowd. "We're going to stand on their shoulders for this." The new e-book reader for the iPad is titled, fittingly enough, iBooks. Apple partnered with a slew of major publishers, including Penguin, Harper-Collings, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and the Hachette Book Group to provide content for the device's online book store called the iBookStore.
Unlike the Kindle, the iPad displays titles in full color. The screen's animation lets users flip quickly through the pages of the book. Users can even change the font of the books they're reading. The device utilizes the nearly universal ePub format for its titles.
For more business-minded users Apple has developed a special iPad version of iWork, making it possible to create and view spreadsheets on the device. The device can also view slides in Keynote and PDF files via Adobe Acrobat. iWork applications will run $9.99 a piece and will be compatible with Macs and projectors.
Apple is also offering a number of accessories for the device, including two docks. The first is a picture dock, which lets the device stand upright for video and image viewing. The other has a built-in keyboard, transforming the iPad into a more fully functioning netbook of sorts. Apple's case also lets the device stand upright.
Below will follow a tranbscript of iVirtua's traditional live coverage from our new subsidiary
The topic of a full Counter-Strike sequel has been cautiously broached by Valve during a series of interviews with GameTrailers TV.
"We will never abandon Counter-Strike," asserted Valve director ofmarketing Doug Lombardi, who went on to explain why the game hasn'treceived a major update since the release of Counter-Strike Source in2004.
"It's a little bit unfair to compare Counter-Strike, I think, to yourclassic game that's gonna have these sequels. It looks a little bitmore like an MMO where it's constantly [being updated]."
Of course, even the most successful MMOs get sequelseventually, and it appears that Valve is at least tentatively workingout the details of a Counter-Strike refresh.
"With Counter-Strike 2, there's a big question between, do we go startover from scratch and build this whole new game, do we do somethingthat looks more like Team Fortress 2 that is rooted in the old game buthas a ton of new stuff, or do we just sort of take everything that'snew that we've released and put that out in a new box," remarkedLombardi.
"I think we're leaning more towards the two more radical places than
just sort of rolling up the new box and reskinning the box and putting out all the new stuff."
But will the game truly go the way of Team Fortress and end up in the new "cartoon shooter" genre?
"Oh I doubt that," Lombardi said, laughing.
"I just don't think that [Counter-Strike 2] would be a good fit [withHalf-Life Episode 3]," added Valve co-founder Gabe Newell, noting thatthe potential game would be a stand-alone product in his eyes.
Newell closed with a dangerous challenge: "But if I get 15,000 emailsfrom customers in response to this interview telling me 'Of course itshould be in [the next Orange Box],' then of course we'll pay attentionto that."
These include some titles from larger publishers that should’ve knownbetter – and niche publishers that should’ve known better to boot.Special thanks to Chris Remo, Kris Graft, and Leigh Alexander forsuggestions:
Javaground’s UniWar is a hex-based strategy game for iPhone that didn’t get nearly enough play. While Hudson was providing inferior ports of Military Madness to XBLA (and a decent port to Android), UniWar took the tried-and-true formula to the next state, with simple tweaks and clever unit pairings.
This was one of my favorite iPhone games of the year – it wasn’tamazing, but it provided a solid tactics experience in a year wherethat was really difficult to find on a handheld. Unfortunately itdidn’t really get picked up by the masses.
With more swearing than an American porno, HotD: Overkillrubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Its over-the-top exploitationfilm love, married with the classic light gun gameplay was too much forsome people. But it was not too much for Gamasutra’s Kris Graft, wholoved this game to pieces and put this on our list.
I do welcome the return of the light gun genre, and Headstrong did anexcellent job of recognizing what was good about the genre from agameplay perspective. Shame the “hardcore” Wii userbase doesn’t reallyseem to dig the old lightgun thing.
This was one of my personal surprises of the year. With Raiden,you pretty much figure you know what you’re getting, and to some extentI did. But there was so much more there under the surface. Raiden Fighters Acesgot me to fall in love with scores again, through its perfectimplementation of arcade fun. Big explosions, chunky pixely graphics,and ridiculously responsive controls, it’s the best I could hope from ashooter, in this day and age, or any previous.
I found myself going back to attempt single credit playthroughs,because the game essentially teaches you itself. Far from thebullet-hell shooters of the current era, RFAwinds up being more accessible and more inclusive than even modernindie shooting games. Well worth a spin, especially given the valueprice in the West.
Chinese developer Meridian hit it out of the park with Alive4Ever, but it was understandably somewhat glossed over. It’s one of many twinstick Smash TV-styleshooting games on the iPhone, so is easily dismissed. But theresponsive controls, and more importantly the different missions - fromrescuing survivors, to defeating enemies in specific ways, toharvesting gold - kept the missions fresh.
The game is plain fun, and when you layer on a level system withvarious upgradable weapons, accessories, and attributes, you’ve got agame that really caters to the “just one more” voice in all of us.
This is another one that I totally understand people skipping over. Thefighting genre is niche to begin with, and SNK releases so many KOF variants and ports that nobody but the hardest of the hardcore can keep up. But KOF 98 UM is a rebalanced version of the most popular KOF ever, with new characters to boot.
The game feels more kinetic and more explosive than ever, and thebalances really help make the game work much better in versus mode. Butin the shadow of the arguably regressive KOF 12, 98 UM really didn’t get the chance to shine. If you like fighting games and have ever wondered what KOF was all about, this is the game to start with. It showcases almost everything that is good about the series.
The Silent Hill series has taken some serious knocks,after the third. Most recently development shifted to the West, and forbetter or for worse, it seems here to stay. Double Helix dropped the ball on Homecoming, and Climax’s Origins didn’t fare much better – but the latter developer got a second chance with Shattered Memories,a reimagining of the original, and it works quite well. Though itdoesn’t have the scares of the PSX game, it does have thoughtfulpuzzling and a very well developed UI.
I’ve argued about this with the developers in person, but the blue icedenvironments just don’t have the scare factor of the originalrust-colored chainlinked worlds of Silent Hill for PlayStation – but the newest entry is the best Silent Hill in years, and it seems most have written off the series entirely at this point.
Shattered Memories is worth a shot for fans of the adventuregenre more than the survival horror genre. Fans and critics alike willdiscount the game based on the downturn in the legacy - but if you canget past the arguable lack of horror, you’ll have a nice gameexperience on your hands.
Here’s a protip if you want to get on the overlooked list – release agood, but very niche handheld game for $40. That will assure almostnobody will play it in spite of its quality, as is the case with Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble,the third in Spike’s awesomely irreverent look at the world ofhighschool delinquents, released for $10 too much by Atlus in the U.S.(and not at all in Europe, so far).
This third person action game has you starring as an ambitious younggangster (bancho) who lacks street cred. As you progress, you use youreye beams to stare down other gangsters, (unfortunately staring atpeoples’ butts and crotches has been severely de-emphasized in this,the third entry in the series. It was rather hilarious.)
Crouch on the ground like a hooligan to regain your power, and engagein smack talking battles to raise in ranks and achieve dominancewithout fighting (of course, you do wind up fighting an awful lot). Theridiculous humor, fun action, and B-level nature of this game wouldhave you singing this game’s praises to your pals – if only it weren’tpriced out of most people’s “sure, I’ll try that” range.
There have been many theories as to why this game didn’t get thepopular reception it should have, in spite of overwhelming criticalapproval. Marvelous blames its own lack of brand appeal. Thedevelopment lead, producer Yoshiro Kimura worries that the game might appear too kiddy for more sophisticated audiences. But the fact is, this bizarre Pikmin-like game had way more to offer than most people realized.
It came from the mind of the creator of Chulip (Kimura), a game in which you must kiss people of all genders in order to make the world a happier place. In Little King’s Story,you play as an unintentional king who must unite the land, in anincreasingly bizarre adventure full of game and culture references,both obvious and obscure, which charmed the pants off of journalists,but they got it for free.
Those who had to pay kept their pants firmly affixed to their belts,and didn’t shell out for the title. Which is a shame, because if anythird party Wii game was trying to make something to fit the coreaudience while pleasing the casual, this was it.
It sure feels odd to put an EA game on the overlooked list, but here Igo. This is the final release from a whole Pandemic Studios, and in myopinion, their best game. I’ll admit to not being a huge fan of thestudio’s last work, but this one hits the right chords. It’s a GTA-likein which you throw Nazis to their doom (that’s fun), while liberatingParis (well, Paris is awesome), and driving sports cars and runningaround on rooftops (I’ll admit, I have a mild videogame rooftopfetish).
Like Infamous, Prototype, and Assassin’s Creed before it, The Saboteurfeatures parkour as a main method of getting around (it’s admittedlythe worst of the bunch at it – still fun though), and uses the player’sabilities to get into some interesting situations. One of my favoriteaspects is sneaking, in which you can sucker punch, garrote, orotherwise stealthily disable a Nazi and then steal their clothes toblend in and engage in subterfuge. Throwing a Nazi off a building,stealing his clothes, then blowing up his sniper roost has a certainkind of satisfaction associated with it.
The icing on the cake though, is the Will to Fight mechanic. The world of The Saboteuris black and white when controlled by the Nazi, and in color in areaswhere the French resistance is strong. This works surprisingly well –in the black and white areas, the main color you can see is the red ofNazi insignia – on armbands, on buildings, and on every Nazi target youcan blow up with dynamite (you do a lot of this).
This not only shows you an easy list of targets, it actually feelsoppressive. There are enemies everywhere, and in fact they’re the mostvisible thing in the environment. The environment changes back to colorin real time as you destroy more Nazi installations – it’s subtle, butfor me the mechanic really works.
If only the tone of the game had been more serious they could’ve reallyhad something there. But still, the game is good, I’m still playing at12 hours in, and it got neither the recognition nor the marketingbudget it deserved. It’s not perfect by any stretch, and it does havesome dastardly design choices at times, but it’s most definitelyoverlooked for its quality. And a fitting final effort from a studiothat exists now in name only.
1. Cryostasis (Action Forms Ltd./Aspyr/505 Games/Zoo Corp. – PC)
Ukrainian developer Action Forms Ltd. has released good games before - Chasm was well received, and the company’s other games have done rather alright. But Cryostasis,an FPS survival horror game, of a sort, is Action Forms' magnum opus. Ihave absolutely no doubt that if the game were released on homeconsoles, this would be one of the more talked-about games of the year,but the curious shape of game journalism means most of us tend toignore PC games in favor of the dedicated console experience. As itstands, this game hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves.
What’s so special about Cryostasis? A few things. First,it gets across the idea of cold (and for that matter warmth) incrediblywell. Cold is your enemy, and also very tied to your health. The gametakes place on a huge ship that’s been wrecked in the North Pole – andthe prior inhabitants have come back to life as horrific shadows oftheir former selves. You have to battle the cold, as well as the actualenemies, in order to stay alive.
In this game each encounter matters, in true oldschool survival horrorstyle, avoiding huge waves of enemies in favor of important dedicatedbattles. The main “gimmick” of this game is the ability to dive intothe memories of dead crew members you find, during which time you canattempt to avert the deaths of these characters. If you’re notconvinced, try on one of the more unusual brain dives for size. Mildspoilers included, but none that are really tied to the main story.
You come upon a meat locker. There, you have the ability to dive intothe memory of a slab of beef. You become a cow in a field – there’sreally not much you can do, other than die. But later, you have theability to play as the ship’s butcher. You can choose not to kill thecow – by not killing the cow, not only is that particular slab of beefno longer present in the meat locker, the butcher lives, because he wascrushed to death by that very beef slab.
Before you do this, you’ll have to first transfer the actual files to your new computer. You may choose to burn CDs, DVDs, or use a thumb drive; but using a FireWire cable is easiest for large libraries, unless you have a portable hard drive.
Video:
Export the source iTunes library as an XML file(File>Library>Export Library…). This will create a file thatholds information about the location, song filenames, and *song rating*!
Replace the file paths in your XML file with thepath that the songs from the source library will be in when you importthem. This path may point to your FireWire Drive, a DVD you haveburned, or a temporary folder on your hard drive that you have copiedyour music to. Just to be sure of the new path, copy one of the filesfrom this location to your library, export your destination library,and look at the file path to that song in the resulting XML file. Toactually replace the file paths, I did a Find/Change in TextWrangler but you can just use TextEdit (Edit>Find>Find…).
Set the preferences in iTunes in your source library to “Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library.” This is under “Advanced.”
Import your library (File>Library>Import Playlist…).
Delete redundant files. If you’re like me, youhave some duplicate songs in your multiple libraries. This is a tedioustask, but I plan to do it over time.
Of course, you can prevent all of this by being organized in thefirst place. I probably should have just had an iPod that I synchedwith my home computer and brought to work.
if you aren’t keen on messing with XML files – and play count isn’t important to you use this process, involving smart playlists, for retaining song ratings when you transfer your iTunes library.[\/LIST]iTunes does not transfer your “My Rating” field to a new computer.Yes it is in the XML, and you could probably edit this file, but Thefollowing is a non-technical process for transferring your music,playlists, and “My Rating” to a new computer that anyone can do in afew minutes. (this is windows, mac may be different). On the old computer: 1. Create 5 Smart Playlists for one for each of your star ratings (1-5 stars) 2. Create 5 (regular) Playlists for one for each of your star ratings (1-5 stars) 3. Go to each of the Smart Playlists and “Select All” (Ctrl+A) 4. Drag all songs from each of the Smart Playlists to their corresponding (regular) Playlist 5. Choose “Export Playlist” from the File menu. This will generate an XML file of all Playlists. On the new computer: 1. Move/load your music on the new computer 2. Import the XML file by selecting “Import” from the File menu 3. Select “Preferences” from the “Edit” menu 4. On the “Advanced” tab “Change” the “iTunes Music folder location” to the folder that contains the newly moved music files. 5. Make sure “Keep iTunes Music folder organized” is checked and select “OK” 6. From the Advanced menu select “Consolidate Library” and click “OK” to the dialog window. 7. You should now have your music without “My Rating” 8. Now go to each of the 5 (regular) Playlists and “Select All” (Ctrl+A) 9. Right mouse click, Select “My Rating” and choose the appropriate rating for the playlist 10. Once complete for each of your ratings you can delete the 5 (ratings) Playlists To remove the duplicate songs (on a Mac anyway), select your library andgoto View>Show Duplicates. It’s not perfect and only goes by title,but it makes removing them a bit easier. Also when you’re done you needto click “Show All” at the bottom, to see the rest of your files.
Here is a clever way to transfer while retaining playlists
I exported the entire iTunes library before the transfer. Then, toconstruct the new library, I imported all of the xml filescorresponding to each playlist first, then I imported the Library.xmlfile, to fill in the gaps. If a song is already in the new library, itdoes not create a duplicate. In this way, I believe I managed to moveevery file. Doing it the other way around (importing the entirelibrary, then the playlists) did not seem to work: if it was already inthe library, it did not get added to the playlist.
Transferring between macs? . make sure both versions are set as described above. 2. restart the old computer in Firewire mode. Copy the contents of the“iTunes Music” folder (all your music) to the corresponding folder inthe new computer and also copy the “iTunes Library” file that sits inthe “iTunes” folder, to the corresponding folder on the new computer. 3. launch iTunes on the new computer, it will update its libraryautomatically and all your music, metadata, playlists will show up. 4. done. Couple notes: * I would “deauthorize” your old iTunes before transferring the music,especially if you have purchased music in the iTunes Store. * I would rename any album name that has a “.” in it to get rid of thedot, as iTunes replaces the . by a “_” in its folder structure and thenew iTunes will think it has lost those songs that you will then haveto manually go and reassign one by one.
And finally.... Moving your iTunes music folder http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449?viewlocale=en_US
By now, you've seen the Windows 7 commercials and read the reviews. PCMag will have far more to say in the coming days and weeks about the quality and performance of Microsoft's Windows 7 OS, as well as how it stacks up against its primary competition, Apple's Snow Leopard. But have you ever wondered what it would be like if you could watch executives from both companies really have at it? Not with snarky commercials, but with an honest discussion of the technologies that drive these operating systems? It won't happen, of course, but this is pretty close.
A couple of weeks ago, I got a surprise offer: Apple wanted to go on record and talk about why Snow Leopard is better than Windows 7. Apple's Senior Director of Mac OS X Product Marketing Brian Croll gave me his side of the story. Then I interviewed Microsoft's Jay Paulus, Director, Product Management Windows Client, to let him make his case. Although the interviews were conducted separately, I've tried to blend the comments to make it something of an ex post facto debate. It seems fair enough, as each side knew I would be talking to the other. What I ended up with is a good-old-fashioned debate, in which I play the moderator—and occasional fact-checker. It may not settle the question of which OS is better, but goes into a lot more technical detail than the 30-second spots that will be all over TV this holiday season.
Editor's Note: To reiterate, the interviews with Mr. Croll and Mr. Paulus were conducted separately—at no time were all three parties speaking to each other at the same time, and while they did respond to these topics and questions, I have added some detail to my moderator sections in order to put Mr. Croll and Mr. Paulus' responses in the proper context.
The 64-Bit Question
Lance Ulanoff: Let's start with 64-bit. For perhaps the first time in operating system history, average consumers are aware of the 64-bit choice and thinking about whether or not they need or want to use it. Mr. Croll, what does Apple bring to the table here?
Brian Croll: We have one version of Snow Leopard. Contrast that to Windows, which has six versions and adds a lot of complexity. Their product matrix gets really complex very fast. Then multiply by two, because you have to know if you want 32- or 64-bit.
In 2003, we started adding 64-bit technology. Apple went from a 32-bit to 64-bit environment without any issues for customers. Now we can allow 64-bit apps to run entirely on a 64-bit Intel processor. The major system apps now run in 64 bits. We architected Snow Leopard to allow the whole system to run in 64-bit mode on a 64-bit chip, not partial. (Ed. Note: But the vast majority of Macs will still run the OS kernel in 32-bit mode.)
Application developers can package up applications to put both 32- and 64-bit binary in one package. We never wanted the consumer to have to decide, and app manufacturers do not have to offer two versions.
LU: Mr. Paulus, your rebuttal?
Jay Paulus: We do have two versions. When you buy media, it comes with both in the box. We recommend people with 3GB or more of memory install the 64-bit version. (Ed. Note: You cannot upgrade from a 32-bit version of Vista to a 64 bit version of Windows 7. You must do a clean install.)
I think the transition to 64-bit is hard. It takes work to transition to 64-bit. Apple knows 64-bit is hard. They wanted to take credit for the work they did. OS X 10 Snow Leopard doesn't boot into 64-bit by default. And switching between 32-bit and 64-bit causes a big performance hit. The only SKU that boots into 64-bit by default is OS X server. Tough position for them to take, as much as I like their 64-bit logo.
We've had 64-bit and drivers since 2003 on Windows XP. Pretty hard for them to claim a lead on that.
LU: What about Microsoft's two-version approach, as opposed to one binary?
JP: I think it's representative, a pretty good way to make transition. As the hardware and software catches up and people have more and more memory in the systems, 64-bit makes more sense. The fact that they can make a choice, is that a bad thing?
Programming for Multicore
LU: Modern computers now feature multicore CPUs. However, consumers aren't always sure if their operating systems or apps are taking full—or any—advantage of all those cores. What are you guys doing in the multicore space?
BC: We took a step back and rethought the problem. It's a big deal for developers to get the most out of multicore systems. Programmers usually have to write apps differently if there are two, four, or eight cores. Grand Central lets the operating system figure it out. We'll shield the developers from having to worry about it. It's a big breakthrough in software. For application developers to take advantage of it, they only need to add a couple of constructs to their code. It's minimally invasive to the current set of code.
The primary benefit is speed (how fast it goes on screen) and responsiveness, if I click on something on the screen how quickly it comes back.
JP: It's a tough computing problem, the multicore, multithreading, programming across GPU and CPU. These are tough problems, no doubt. Anyone who does this wants to take credit. I feel like Apple is playing catch-up in this realm. We've had threads and fiber since 2000. The Windows 7 kernel is the same kernel as Window Server 2008 [R2]. I would hold our granular scheduling and multicore scaling up to theirs any day of the week. They're providing a queuing mechanism. People will still have to design their apps to be multithreaded. I reject the fact that it's going to fundamentally alter the way people are building apps to be multithreading or multicore.
Programming for Multicore
LU: Modern computers now feature multicore CPUs. However, consumers aren't always sure if their operating systems or apps are taking full—or any—advantage of all those cores. What are you guys doing in the multicore space?
BC: We took a step back and rethought the problem. It's a big deal for developers to get the most out of multicore systems. Programmers usually have to write apps differently if there are two, four, or eight cores. Grand Central lets the operating system figure it out. We'll shield the developers from having to worry about it. It's a big breakthrough in software. For application developers to take advantage of it, they only need to add a couple of constructs to their code. It's minimally invasive to the current set of code.
The primary benefit is speed (how fast it goes on screen) and responsiveness, if I click on something on the screen how quickly it comes back.
JP: It's a tough computing problem, the multicore, multithreading, programming across GPU and CPU. These are tough problems, no doubt. Anyone who does this wants to take credit. I feel like Apple is playing catch-up in this realm. We've had threads and fiber since 2000. The Windows 7 kernel is the same kernel as Window Server 2008 [R2]. I would hold our granular scheduling and multicore scaling up to theirs any day of the week. They're providing a queuing mechanism. People will still have to design their apps to be multithreaded. I reject the fact that it's going to fundamentally alter the way people are building apps to be multithreading or multicore.
Backing Up
LU: Okay, let's talk about backup—something everybody needs, but no one really does. Windows Backup has been around for a long time, but isn't widely used. Apple's Time Machine arrived with Leopard and deep integration with the hardware. Where are we now with OS-based backup?
BC: Time Machine versus Windows Backup: We built it in with Time Machine. It's easy to use, easy to restore, easy to understand, easy to search. There's a huge qualitative difference between what you get on a Mac and what you get on Windows.
JP: There's been some work done to make Windows Backup easier to use. It does a good job of full-system backup. If you have pictures scattered around the disk, you can send them to Library view—Backup is smart about picking up files from wherever they are. Another feature that is key is Previous Versions. It was called Time Warp and we have had it since Server 2003. It manages previous versions of files and is running by default on disk—it's a file system feature. There's no separate disk. It doesn't protect you from disk failure, but lets you go back in time to previous versions of files.
Upgrade Paths
LU: Perhaps one of the most stressful things users face is the act of upgrading their OS. With Windows 7 coming out, people will be making choices and possibly upgrading their OS. Mr. Croll, what's Apple's perspective on what's happening with Windows 7?
BC: Over 60 percent of the people are out there running Windows XP. I will point out that Microsoft more or less left the XP users behind. So I'm not understanding the logic.
LU: Mr. Paulus, Brian has a point. There were a lot of netbooks sold over the last 12 to 18 months, and the vast majority of them shipped with Windows XP.
JP: The majority of people get their new OS with a new machine, so the notion that we're leaving behind a vast set of people, I'm not sure I accept that. The fact is that Windows XP shipped eight years ago and hardware and software has moved on. We made a tough choice and I hope in the end that it's the right choice. It's a bit disingenuous for Apple guys to talk about us leaving people behind. On positive side, Windows 7 will run really well on those netbooks.
Windows users aren't left behind to the degree that people who are running those old Macs are being left behind. If you didn't buy a Mac since the Intel transition three years ago, you are really getting left behind. (Ed. Note: Snow Leopard only runs on newer, Intel-based Macs.)
What's Inside
LU: After years of integrating utilities and even full-blown apps from competing products in the operating system, or as part of the OS package, Microsoft made an about face this year and is letting end users decide whether or not they want to download Mail, Messenger, Movie Maker and other apps. Why?
JP: Pulling things out allows us to update them on a more regular basis. There's more customer value, the apps are more directly integrated with the cloud offerings. I think that people will realize that that's the way they want it: software plus service. Those upgrades are free. Apple can say they include it in the OS, but they also charge you for the upgrade.
LU: Mr. Croll, how do you view the debundling of applications?
BC: We build everything in and put together a package that works beautifully out of box. Microsoft is going in a different direction, pulling out Mail, and other apps and having people download them. For example, we have Exchange support in Snow Leopard. You have to buy Microsoft Office to get Exchange support in Windows 7. We bundle that right out of box.
JP: The premier client for Exchange is Outlook. If you want the full-fidelity experience, you want Outlook. For those that don't want to buy Outlook, there's Outlook Web Exchange. It's a strong, high-fidelity client.
What's Different
LU: In the race to build the best operating system, where do each of you think you stand? What sets you apart? Mr. Croll?
BC: Mac OS X is much simpler than Windows. We're more advanced from a technological standpoint. Windows 7 still has DLL and the Registry, still has defragmenting, still needs activation. We don't make users enter in activation codes.
LU: It's a fair point, Mr. Paulus. Microsoft has done many things to Windows 7, but couldn't change some of the fundamentals like the DLL and Registry.
JP: So what? Yeah, we've got the Registry and DLL, so what? It's not something we talk about. We do a lot of work around reliability and performance. Getting into notions of replacing Registry and DLL, it just doesn't become relevant.
LU: What about Mr. Croll's activation and technology comments?
JP: Apple has a different model. They charge you a lot of money for the hardware and charge you again for the OS. We're selling you the OS. We use the activation to help ensure that you have genuine versions of Windows out there.
Pricing
LU: Let's talk about pricing. There are free operating systems out there, like Linux, but, as we can see from market share, free does not necessarily translate into mass-market adoption. How do the two of you see price and the OS?
BC: With Snow Leopard, the upgrade price is $29 for Leopard users or $49 for a family pack with five licenses. With Windows 7 Ultimate, the upgrade is $119 for Home Premium and $199 for Professional—that is really expensive software.
LU: Jay, I know Microsoft has one $30 plan for students. What else do you have to say about pricing?
JP: Snow Leopard is much more akin to a service pack and Apple is charging $29. We don't do that. Windows 7 demonstrates a lot of customer value and priced at a pretty attractive price point. Most users get their OS automatically when they buy a new system. With Apple, you're going to be paying an Apple Tax. You're going to have to buy their expensive hardware just to get in the game.
Making the Choice
LU: Okay, here's your opportunity to make your case for your OS. Mr. Paulus, why Windows?
JP: I would say it's all about value, choice, compatibility, and simplicity. Value we've talked about that lot. There is value in a Windows ecosystem with nearly a billion users and thousands of PCs manufactured. Having lots of apps and systems drives a lot of end-user value. Stack any PC up against a Mac, we'll win pretty comfortably.
Windows 7 was designed around simplicity. It offers innovative features that set it apart, including Jump Lists and HomeGroup. A whole bunch of things that we think will make Windows 7 land as a game changer. I think the game has changed.
LU: Mr. Croll? Why should people choose Snow Leopard?
BC: Over last ten years we've been adding a lot of features, and it all culminated with Leopard. It's the best-selling software product Apple has ever done. It added things like Cover Flow and Time Machine. For Snow Leopard—the goal was to make a better Leopard. Mac OS 10 was made up of 1,000 different projects. For Snow leopard we refined 90 percent of them. Mac OS 10 continues to be much simpler than Windows.
Orange has announced that it hascome to an arrangement with Apple to sell the iPhone in the UK, whereit will be the only network other than O2 to sell the iPhone 3G and 3GSin the UK. Orange announced the deal in a short statement, although details on pricing tariffs and availability are yet to be revealed.
"OrangeUK and Apple have reached an agreement to bring iPhone 3G and 3GS toOrange UK customers later this year. Orange globally now offers iPhonein 28 countries and territories," said the statement. "Orange,which has the largest 3G network covering more people in the UK thanany other operator, will sell iPhone in all Orange direct channelsincluding Orange shops, the Orange webshop and Orange telesaleschannels, as well as selected high street partners.
28th September 2009, 08.30am:Orange UK and Apple have reached an agreement to bring iPhone 3G and3GS to Orange UK customers later this year. Orange globally now offersiPhone in 28 countries and territories. Orange, which has the largest 3G network covering more people in theUK than any other operator, will sell iPhone in all Orange directchannels including Orange shops, the Orange webshop and Orangetelesales channels, as well as selected high street partners. Apre-registration site for customers to log their interest has alreadybeen launched at www.orange.co.uk/iPhone. More information on pricing, tariffs and availability dates will be released in due course.
O2 has responded to the news that Orange will be stocking the iPhone by confirming it will continue to stock the device. "We'reproud that we've been able to offer an exclusive iPhone deal to our 20million customers for the last two years. We always knew that iPhoneexclusivity was for a limited period of time, but our relationship withApple continues and will be an ongoing success," an O2 spokespersontold TechRadar. "We have over 1 million iPhone customers and they remain very important to us. "Weaim to offer our customers the best devices on the market, includingbecoming the home of Smartphones and we are really pleased to now addanother device in the Palm Pre. "We also offer award-winningcustomer service and benefits, which is why more people choose O2 thanany other network in the UK." Network blow O2 has recently been under fire for failures in its data provision,and this new announcement will be another blow to the network as it'sjoined by Orange in stocking both the iPhone 3G and the 3GS. Thespeculation regarding O2 losing exclusivity of its iPhone range hasbeen rife for months, although it was expected that only the iPhone 3Gwould be offered to other carriers, with O2 retaining its status as thesole stocker of the 3GS. O2 will still be the exclusive stockistof the new Palm Pre when it debuts in the UK next month, but given thisis over 10 months since the device was announced it's not going toattract interest in the same way the iPhone has over the years. We'restill awaiting news on whether Orange will drop the price of the iPhonecompared to O2, but we'll bring you news as and when we get it.
Orange recently revealed plans to merge its UK network with DeutscheTelekom's T-Mobile to create a business with 28.4 million customers. If given the go-ahead, it would be the UK's largest provider, overtaking Telefonica's O2, with about 37% of the mobile market. "Thatwould be good for Apple," said Mr McQueen. "Then, around three quartersof the UK market will then have access to the iPhone." O2 hasoffered the handset in the UK since its launch in 2007. In February, itsaid it had sold more than one million of the handsets. The launch of the latest iPhone 3GS in June significantly boosted sales, with many stores running out of stock. The phone has also allowed the firm to win subscribers from other networks, according to analysts. However,the rise of smartphones - which have the ability to surf the web andsend e-mail - has put a burden on the O2 network, according to MrMcQueen. "IPhone users to tend to use data quite extensively - perhaps more than anticipated," he said. "Orange has always a good data network and if the T-mobile deal goes through it would allow them to share the burden." O2 will continue to sell the handset in Britain, alongside iPhone rival the Palm Pre. The Palm phone, described by some as an "iPhone killer", will be available exclusively to O2 from 16 October. O2 said that it always knew that its exclusive deal was for "a limited period of time". Thenew agreement with Orange brings the UK into line with many othercountries around the world which have multiple operators that offer theiPhone. In countries where exclusive deals still persist, suchas the US, some customers choose to "unlock" their phones using thirdparty software so they work on an unlicensed network. However,Apple has warned that the practice can cause "irreparable" damage to ahandset and has engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse, releasing periodicsoftware updates which prevent unlocked phones from working correctly.
The Roberts solarDAB Radio is one of the best innovations I've seen in the DAB radio market for sometime. Whilst most radio makers try and compete with the iPod by offering you the ability to stream music from your computer Roberts has taken a step back and produced a radio that's proud to live up to it's DAB title with a little twist.
As I said this is a true DAB radio with one special feature, a solar panel. Whilst at first it may sound gimmicky it's actually quite useful. Once you get the radio you'll need to leave it to charge for 24 hours then your set to go. Leaving it in a sunny spot for a few hours won't use any of it's internal battery, just as long as you have enough solar 'juice'. A handy level indicator on the display shows the power level generated by the solar panel.
From a design standpoint the solarDAB is very functional and good looking. With five buttons and two giant rubberised knobs this would be a great gift to give to a family member who isn't much of a techie. Whilst it's been pointed out to me that the screen is a little small it does make up in clarity and brightness and you'll have no problem using this out in the garden without having to cover the screen to see what you're looking at.
The aerial is detachable which is great for people who travel and comes with a standard headphone jack and a line in socket for iPod playback.
The speaker is good for a small radio and like most Roberts radios the sound is rich and warm. The radio is best suited for people who leave radio 4 on all day.
Whilst the green ECO badge isn't officially accredited mark it's certainly a lot cheaper to run than any other DAB radio on the market today.
You can pick up the solarDAB radio in white, black, red, green and of course the obligatory pink. Amazon are currently selling the radio for £68.00 but you'll be able to get a better deal on the web if you do you do a bit of digging.
I'm really impressed with the solarDAB and whilst I have a few niggles I'll defiantly be recommending this radio to all and sundry. This is a clear step away from the norm for Roberts who are synonymous with making those 'old' looking DAB radios and this can only be a good thing for a company renowned for it's excellent sounding radios.
The Good
One of the best looking radio's I've seen in a long time.
Being able to charge the device whilst using it at the same time.
The retractable ariel, great for taking the device away on holiday.
The Bad
It's only DAB, no FM which isn't great if you plan on taking it abroad.
The small screen can be an issue for some people.
We live in Britain, so finding sufficient sunlight can be an issue.
Specifications
Does the solarDAB work? Yes it does. There's a little sliding scalethat appears on the display when the product is exposed to usablesunlight, with the number of bars displayed representing the amount ofpower being delivered by the unit’s solar panel. Roberts says if lessthan half the ten bars are showing, then there's enough power beingprovided to assist the unit’s rechargeable batteries, and the radiowill operate for longer than it would if just relying on therechargeable batteries alone. If more than half the bars are illuminated, then the photovoltaiccells can power the radio on its own and have some juice left over torecharge the batteries too. If all the little LED bars are lit, well,you're laughing. The radio can operate without the battery pack at all,but this doesn't produce very satisfactory results.
We found that the panel was pretty sensitive. We placed it behind aheavily frosted window on a moderately sunny day and there was stillaround half the bars showing. Indeed, a nice sunny windowsill is theradio's preferred spot. But it is outside that it really comes into itsown. Even moderate sunlight means the radio can keep going for reallylong periods of time, even at a decent volume. On its own, withoutassistance from the panel, the radio can manage around a quoted andbasically accurate 27 hours of playback. If the weather is really good,it can keep going as long as the sun shines, in theory at least. Links
1: Speed up Firefox
This hack requires a few steps. Search for pipelining in the filter and you should see:
network.http.pipelining: Change this to true.
network.http.proxy.pipelining: Change this to true.
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests: Change this to 8.
Now search for max-connections and you should see:
network.http.max-connections: Change this to 96.
network.http.max-connections-per-server: Change this to 32.
2: Disable antivirus scanning
This is only for the Windows version. If you’re downloading largefiles, this scanning can seriously slow things down. And since you willmost likely scan the downloaded file anyway, you’ll probably want todisable this. Of course, if you are uber paranoid (not a bad trait forcomputing), you might want to leave this entry alone.
To disable antivirus scanning, search for scanWhenDone and you should see:
browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone: Change this to false.
3: Open Javascript popups as tabs
If a popup window lacks the features of a browser window, Firefoxwill handle it like a popup. If you would prefer to open all windows,including popups, as new tabs, you need to tell Firefox inabout:config. Search for newwindow and you will see three entries. Of those three entries, you will want to modify:
browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction: Change this to 0.
4: Spell checking in all fields
By default, Firefox checks spelling only in multiple-line textboxes. You can set it to check spelling in all text boxes. Search for spellcheckdefault and you should see:
layout.spellcheckDefault: Change this to 2.
5: Open search bar results in new tab
When you use the search bar, the results display in the current tab.This can be a nuisance because you will navigate out of the page youare currently in. To make sure Firefox always opens search results in anew tab, search for openintab and you should see:
browser.search.openintab: Change this to true.
6: Auto export bookmarks
In Firefox 3, bookmarks are automatically saved and exported foryou. The only problem is that by default, they’re saved asplaces.sqlite instead of the more convenient bookmarks.html. To changethis setting so that they can be easily re-imported, search for autoExportHTML and you should see:
browser.bookmarks.autoExportHTML: Change this to true.
7: Disable extension install delay
One of the few gripes I have with Firefox is the silly countdown youmust endure every time you want to install an extension. Fortunately,this can be disabled. Search for enable_delay and you should see:
security.dialog_enable_delay: Change this to 0.
8: View source code in an external editor
When you need to view the source of a page, it opens up in browserpopup. Most developers would probably like to have that opened in theirfavorite editor instead of having to cut and paset. To do this, thereare two entries to modify. Search for view_source.editor and you will see:
view_source.editor.external: Change this to true.
view_source.editor.path: Change this to the explicit path to your editor of choice.
9: Get more add-on search results
When you do a search in the Add-on window, you’ll see just fiveresults. You might find it more efficient to increase this number.Search for getAddons and you should see:
extension.getAddons.maxResults: Change this to 10 (or higher, if you want to see even more).
10: Redefine the Backspace button
Did you know you can configure Firefox to use the backspace buttonto either go back a page or go up a page? This keeps power users fromhaving to go back and forth from the keyboard to the mouse. Search for backspace and you will see:
browser.backspace_action: Change this to 0 for previous page and 1 for page up.
Your turn
Do you have other favorite hacks you’ve discovered that make Firefox even more useful? If so, share them below.
The past few weeks have come with two major reveals for the weirdoswho follow online social networks. The first was big news. Twitter’sinternal documents leaked and the identity-crisis of earth’s most popular start-up is now public. The second was more under the radar but just as important. In a memo that went out to staff, the CEO of MySpace admitted that their users are caught between three competing notions of what MySpace is or should be.
Twitter and Myspace are different companies in different markets butthere is a lot of evidence to suggest that they share, and will alwaysshare, the exact same problem. MySpace and Twitter are hugely popular for uses neither company anticipated.The mission of each company is so vague that their products arestretched and molded into a variety of different uses. Instead oftargeting and building their business around one of these users they take their sudden popularity as a sign they have a killer product. They don’t.
Scale is Everything
When an industry is in transition or an idea like ‘social networking’ is still being fleshed out, getting explosively popular without knowing the nuances of why is a curse.Twitter is young but in my opinion, it’s already too late. It has growntoo big, too fast, for too many different purposes. It will take 2 orthree years but Twitter will be lapped by a variety of similar services with focus and actual business models; how Facebook developed in response to MySpace sheds light on what kind.
How MySpace Scaled
Since its inception MySpace has gone after users as if they werePokemon’. MySpace managers ran competitions on sign ups and theemployes used a slew of methods to capture. The result was a sprawlingnetwork of users but by 2005, it seemed to be working. If you looked at the stats, MySpace was an utter phenomena. It destroyed Friendster and after it was purchased by Murdoch it was getting all types of press and valuations. What the raw stats didn’t tell you is that user habits on the site looked something like this:
The problem with this way of scaling is simple. When a new cultural practice, like ’social networking’, is in the grass roots stages of development you can’t assume that people are going to your site because they like it.Your competition doesn’t really exist yet. What they might like are certain aspects of your productor they might be using parts of it in ways you never designed. The onlyway to address this is to study your users obsessively, focus on aparticular experience, then update your product accordingly.
Because MySpace grew in so many different markets at a single timeand gave users so much space to use the service how they liked, they’ve never been in a position to either watch or effectively control this experience. How do you update a product without knowing its target? You don’t. MySpace at its height and the current MySpace look remarkably similar, it lost control to its users. It has gone from being hailed as one of the best acquisitions ever made to a drain on News Corps portfolio. The results look like this:
How Facebook Scaled
When it comes down to it the mechanisms of MySpace and Facebook are not that different.Thepieces and concept are nearly the same. Both are constructed of userprofiles, avatars, walls, interest spaces, groups, photo capabilities,and a friend confirmation/listing process.
Facebook distinguished itself philosophically and pragmatically. Zuckerberg’s biggest insight into designing the site was that you are online who you are in real life. Facebook was one of the first social networks to emphasize genuine identityinsofar asthey required full names, university email addresses, and deleted accounts that used aliases. The second was pragmatic. Facebook launched in a single target market. In this case, of course, it was Harvard.
What this enabled was a less abstract more manageable mission.Instead of having to define what an ‘online social networking space’was supposed to be for everyone, Zuckerburg just had to answer forHarvard. As Facebook became popular on campus, he was able to see directly into how his peers interacted with the site and was able to update the product to help them use it more efficiently. Becausethey were all college students, the feedback he was getting was focusedand nuanced. Having less users also meant they could redesign theirentire product without pissing off disparate subsections. The resultwas an incremental evolution. The Facbeook that started at Harvard looks radically different than the one we use today. It worked.
How Twitter Scaled
Twitter grew much like MySpace. It ran competition for signing upusers, aliases were allowed, and it grew in multiple markets at theexact same time. Twitter started as a group SMS texting service then became popular for something wholly different. By restricting the length of a message the site inadvertently addressed one of the oldest problems in group communication. How do you hear many voices at a single time? Twitter’s answer is dead simple. 140.
This little restriction has produced a fascinating, highly-addictive product. If you look at the stats, Twitter seems to be working. It’s one of the most popular websites in the world and now has an excess of 44 million members.For those who invested or employees that had stock options, it must bean incredible feeling. I have grown to love Twitter but in my opinion we are rapidly approaching its peak.Its parallels toMySpace in 2006 are explicit. Twitterhas been bootstrapped for a vast number of uses and while its exciting to watch, its service is not containable . Like MySpace, Twitter is getting pulled in a variety of directions:
Why Twitter Will Dissolve and Turn into Detroit
The ability to hear and communicate messages with a group is what brought Twitter its initial wave of users but the real allure of Twitter, the reason it has caught the imagination of the press and millions of users, is something much more abstract. On Twitter, you can hear a public. Of course, there isn’t just one public, there is an infinite number.Whether it’s your country, your college, your city, or a shared nicheinterest like nyc media,everyone belongs to many publics and most everyone has a natural curiosity about what’s happening inside of them.
Twitter offers a way to manage how you see these publics. The problem is that its 140 character restriction is a blunt instrument. The site does not reflect the potential or nuance in which a public can speak to itself online.
Twitter as a network is an ungodly mess. From the onset, the site has allowed users to register aliases on custom URLs and because of it, usernames are inconsistent and confusing. It’s hard to find people who you know and its often even difficult to deduct wether that person is who they claim to be. Twitter is mobbed by impersonators,some of them hilarious, others manipulating. Twitter addresses thisissue recently by creating a ‘Verified Account’ stamp, its sloppy butmore importantly, perpetually incomplete.
There are a host of other problems related to reputation and maintaing users but the biggest issue concerns its identity, which is also where the leaked documentsgot interesting. Twitter employees are so clearly uncertain about whattheir product is even doing. Shots at it swayed from, “Twitter is fordiscovering and sharing what is happening right now,” to, “Twitter makes you smarter, faster, more efficient and more powerful.”
Twitter became popular before it had a mission. What this means is that its employees and investors will forever be trapped in boardrooms having these inane cyclical discussions about its identity. Twitter will either perpetually be simple insofar as its millions of users will have to hack the service to reflect their own values or it will roll the dice on a focus, put the site through chronic redesigns, and risk a mass user exodus.Either way its top talent will likely get frustrated and leave thecompany. Its top users will drift to something else then jump.
How Twitter will Resolve
The first thing to realize is that thereprobably isn’t going to be just one product to replace Twitter, therewill be several and they will battle it out or find niches. I see theirdesign following two trends with a potential for a hybrid.
The first trend is a service with the most minimal centralization possible. Both Dave Winer and Anil Dash have discussed plans for such a product. Winer calls his the RSSCloud and Dash describes the project more generally as the Push Button web. The RSSCloud grew from discussions with Jay Rosen over frustrations with Twitter and how its users have been bootstrapping. The line of thought is that your data belongs to you, not Twitter, and you should be able to use your data how you like with as little brand interference as possible. The proposal is to build RSSCloud, a loosely coupled service that will push your data to any website in real time.
The second is a product that is centralized but has an elegant way of organizingits content and attracting users. This is a product that would look andscale much like Facebook. It would start in a single target market anddevelop as a place for users to hear and communicate to thatpublic. Ideally it would begin in a cloistered network like auniversity where establishing members is as easy as checking their .eduemail address.
Addressing what’s wrong with Twitter isn’t going to come from thin air. It’s going to take a lot of time, development, and platform competition.
Many will soon be working on this, myself included. What will fill the blank is likely to define modern news production.
It happens to all of us eventually, theExtremeTech staff probably more than most. Whether due to failure orobsolescence—or after you've run out of alternative upgrade paths—itcomes time to pull a motherboard out of a working system and replace itwith something different.
That's a job. It requires you to pull all of your expansion cards,disconnect and work around all the cabling, wrest the big board fromsometimes-tight quarters within a case, prep the new board, wiggle itinto that possibly cramped quarter, and, when you think you're alldone, you still have to coax Windows through the trauma of waking upwith new hardware.
We find the process daunting but fun—but then again, we're almostdisgustingly techy. If it's less of a treat for you, we've got, well, atreat for you. In the following pages we share our very best hints onswapping out a motherboard, culled from years of experience and scoresof system builds and upgrades.
Now, remember—this is a series of tips, not a step by step how-to.Don't expect a full-on motherboard installation manual; instead, usethe manual that comes with your motherboard, and use our tips to makethe job even easier.
Also, we're assuming you're keeping your existing Windowsinstallation in place. In general, it's better to perform a freshoperating system install if you're replacing your motherboard, butpractical realities often prevent this. So we've got a number of tipsthat should help you prep your Windows installation for the switch,then bring it up properly.
Preparing Windows for the Inevitable Freak-out The first stepin motherboard replacement is to prepare the operating system, andsince most of the world runs on Windows, we'll concentrate on that.Before you even think about pulling the board out of the case:
Uninstall motherboard drivers. Anything you installed withthe disc that came with your previous motherboard (or anything youdownloaded specifically for that board) has to come out. You can dothis easily through Add/Remove Programs (XP) or Uninstall a Program(Vista) in Control Panel.
Don't forget, during your uninstallations, to remove drivers foronboard devices. If your motherboard contains, and you installeddrivers for, an audio codec, a graphics subsystem, a Wi-Fi networkinterface, a wired Ethernet interface, or what have you, uninstall thedrivers for them.
You may leave drivers for expansion cards in place, but you mayhave to reinstall them after the upgrade process. Graphics drivers areespecially touchy.
This is a good time for general maintenance: Clean up the harddrive. Empty the recycle bin, delete old files you don't need any more,uninstall unused programs, run a registry cleaner if you're into thatsort of thing, and generally tidy up. Then, defrag the hard drive.
Make a complete backup of your system. If you have the necessarysoftware, create an image (in other words, an exact snapshot saved to afile) of your entire hard drive(s). If not, use Windows' own backupsoftware to create a complete backup. At the very least, save off yourimportant data files to removable media. You must do this. Shouldsomething go awry and you lose the contents of the drive, you willregret it if you don't back everything up.
Remember Your Activations!
If you have applications that require activation, those may be tied tosome portion of your existing motherboard. The most obvious of these isWindows itself. However, a number of other applications, including somegames and Adobe applications, may also require activations.
The best thing to do is to deactivate and uninstallthese apps. This is particularly true for Adobe apps. You can thenreinstall and reactivate as needed after your motherboard upgrade isdone. Of course, you'll also want the correct CD key or serial numbersfor those apps. In the case of Windows, you may not be able to activateover the Internet, but will need to talk to a live human through theWindows activation phone line. We've never had a reactivation turneddown using this method.
Removing the Old Board
Now that you've tidied up, backed up, and generally prepared thesoftware, it's time to do battle with the hardware. The first step, ofcourse, is to remove the outgoing motherboard. Let's hope your computercase doesn't have any sharp edges. Tips ahoy:
Make sure you have plenty of room to operate. Clean off aworkbench and place the off, unplugged system upon it. Make absolutelysure there aren't any metal shavings or other metal detritus on thebench.
Be static-safe: Plant your feet and ground yourself before touching any electronics. If you move your feet, repeat the process.
Have some sort of repository ready for screws that would otherwiseroll or get scattered away. Old 35mm film canisters work well, as dopaint can tops, shot glasses, or (clean) ashtrays. As you pull screws, drop them in the container for easy access later when you're reassembling the system.
Pull as many wires as you can from the board before you pull it outof the case. It's easier to remove data and power cables with the boardscrewed tight into the enclosure.
Leave the CPU, cooler, and memory in place until the board is out.It's much easier to remove them (or just discard them if you'reupgrading everything) when they're out of the case.
Keep any expansion cards you remove from the PC in antistatic bags,especially if you plan to transfer them to the new system. Set them ina safe place until you're ready to place them into the newly remodeledcomputer.
Leave the cabling in place, but move it out of the way. Sure, youhave to pull cables from the motherboard, but you don't have to pullthe other ends. Leave the cables in your system's hard drive, opticaldrive, media card reader, and so on; simply pull them aside or cramthem in a handy crevice to make room for board swapping.
If your case has a removable drive mount rack, remove it to make more room for trading the motherboards.
Pull the motherboard up by the edges as much as possible. If youmust grab something else, grab a plastic expansion slot; don't move theboard by the CPU cooler, the installed memory, or the various north-and south-bridge heat sinks.
Place the board and any components you won't need in antistaticbags and keep them safe until you know you won't need them (say, incase the new board is a nonworking dud). You might even place the oldboard in the box your new motherboard came in, relabeling it with amarker.
Preparing and Installing the New Board
Now it's time to reverse the process and install the brand-newmotherboard, and any other new components, into the system currentlyunder the proverbial surgical knife. Here are the tips:
Unbox the motherboard and examine it. Familiarity will makelife easier, especially if it's significantly different from your oldone. Know where the SATA and, if necessary, IDE and floppy ports are.Check out the CPU socket if it's different from your old one (it'squite a culture shock to go from an AMD-style ZIF (zero insertionforce) socket to an Intel-style LGA (land grid array) socket).
Also examine the extra stuff that came with your new board. You'llprobably have SATA cables, an IDE cable, a floppy cable, some expansionbrackets for USB and/or IEEE 1394 ports with onboard headers, a bookand CD or DVD, and, depending on the price point of your board and thegenerosity of the manufacturer, other goodies. Decide whether you planto use any of it, and unwrap that which you will.
Check the layout of screw holes in the board and brass standoffs inthe case. Make sure they all match up, and move any brass standoffsthat do not match with motherboard screw holes.
Install the CPU, CPU cooler, and memory before you insert the boardinto the case. It's far easier to do that on a nice, flat surface thanit is when the board is deep within the confines of the enclosure.
Lay the board on the corner of the case and attach as muchcabling as you can. It's easier to attach cables with the board out ofthe case than with it buried within. Attach SATA, IDE, and floppy datacables to their ports; front-panel connectors to the front panelheaders; any expansion bracket ports you wish to use to the properheaders; and even the power supply cables.
Lower the board into the case by the edges. Again, if you have tomaneuver it by a component, avoid the RAM and cooling parts in favor ofexpansion slots.
Screw the case into place with every screw available. Secure itsolidly within the case. With electricity and fan action comesvibration: Using every available screw will cut down on vibration thatcan eventually cause premature failure of the board.
Finally, replace any straggling wires, add expansion cards and you're almost ready.
When you first start the system up, do it with the case open. Makesure the PC will POST before you even think of sealing it up. You mighteven launch Windows once before you close the case. There's some sortof law of nature that says if you close the case too early, somethingwill be loose or unplugged and you'll just have to open it again.<!-- start ziffarticle //-->
Resolving Windows' Contortions of Protest
A Windows computer doesn't relish the idea of getting new insides.Windows installs hoards of low-level subsystem drivers on installation,and when you change-up the low-level subsystems the OS gets fidgety.Here are some tips to make its reentry a bit smoother:
Begin by letting it do its thing. It will run its driverinstallation routine for what might seem like hours. Let it install allits low-level stuff; anything you install manually will supersedeWindows' built-in drivers.
As dialog boxes appear asking for discs or driver locations, click Cancel on them. You'll install any drivers Windows doesn't already have on your own.
Windows will probably want to reboot between two and fifty times(we're kidding!) before it lets you install drivers. Allow it to do so.
When the time comes that Windows finally stops installing its owndrivers, start installing your own. Do them in this order: Motherboardcore INF files; then any other motherboard drivers (SATA/RAID,Ethernet, audio, and so on); then graphics; then any other devices thataren't working.
If you're unsure about which devices need drivers, use DeviceManager. It's available in the System area of Control Panel andpresents a list of devices in the computer. Devices lacking driverswill appear with an alert icon near their entries.
When your drivers are all installed, you should be through with the process. Enjoy your new souped up computer!
Upgrading your motherboard doesn't have to be an adverse experience.Our tips should help you streamline your motherboard install, reducefrustration, and enable a smooth transition.
Of course people are researching things that are pointless.
-Or rather, they may simply seem pointless to you. But the thing with research, and science in general, is that oftentimes important discoveries are made completely accidentally, and that every bit of information helps make accurate conclusions.
It seems unlikely, but someday, this research may help a greater scientific conclusion, perhaps about our instinctual responses, and subconscious judgment of "aesthetics".
Any of the Need For Speeds, I especially got into Underground...I played it alot longer than any of the others. But of course the really old school ones are great too...
It's worth a try but I know that I've had some great games that kept my mind so occupied that I lost track for hours and hours. But of course, smoking is an addiction....
could a game get rid of smoking all together? It makes me wonder...
In case you missed the keynote, Palm took some special moments to let everyone know that they're not trying to compete with Apple -- which is of course exactly what they're doing with the Pre and webOS. Sure, there's plenty of room in the market for multiple operating systems and manufacturers, as both companies have pointed out, but we can't help but think that Palm took a long hard look at where Apple was at with its ultra-successful mobile OS and what they could improve upon, and we would like to assume that Apple is looking very carefully at webOS right now (and hopefully the Pre's physical keyboard, but we're dreamers) and comparing it with its current iPhone OS. So, if you'll indulge us, let's look at a few of the iPhone's existing shortcomings that Apple might try and shore up -- or perhaps already has fixes in the works for -- now that there's some very serious competition on the scene. Plus, with Steve on the sidelines, we can imagine there's some extra pressure on the company to prove that innovation at Apple is not just about one man.
They look very similar, do you think the design was stolen?
I think I would be getting the vista ultimate since it came with dell laptop that I am planning to buy this month, of course it depends on the laptop I get, if I buy a desktop computer instead, it would be vista starter.
