Originally slated to be released in January at the International Consumer Electronics Show, the beta of the newest version of Windows, Windows 7, has somehow found its way into BitTorrent trackers. Whether it was a disgruntled programmer or the one in charge of distributing the software itself, we’ll never know. Of course, none of us are complaining either.
For Windows 7, Microsoft has decided to build upon its previous operating system, Windows Vista. Instead of introducing a whole new slew of features, they’ve decided to make smaller, but yet necessary, improvements to Windows Vista. For example, they’ve completely revamped the taskbar, introducing features like consolidating Windows that belong to the same program in a single icon in the taskbar. They’ve also make changes to “traditional” Windows programs. For example, they’ve added real-world usage to the calculator like allowing you to calculate the number of days in between two dates, or even calculate your mortgage and lease payments.
However, they’ve also chosen to remove some of their old programs. For example, Windows Movie Maker is no longer bundled with Windows, and the previously built in photo gallery is gone as well. Furthermore, the long hated Windows sidebar is no longer present, instead Microsoft has chosen to implement gadgets in a very similar way to how Mac OSX does it (Dashboard). The difference being that Window’s gadgets reside on the desktop itself rather than on an extra “layer”, which is how Mac OSX does it.
All in all, improvements to Windows 7 are welcome definitely, but only time will tell if Microsoft can deliver a polished product on day one. It took both Windows XP as well as Windows Vista before they became the stable operating systems that they now are. However, even almost 2 years after Vista’s original release, there are still many (myself included) that prefer Vista over Windows XP. Maybe Windows 7 will finally be the OS that convinces such people to upgrade to the latest iteration of Windows.
I’ve never really seen the need to upgrade to Windows Vista. Thus far, Windows XP has usually done everything I need it to do for me. Even seven years after its initial release, Windows XP is still a pretty usable OS. With innumerable third-party applications available, everything that Windows XP can’t do, I just search for software that can. Not to mention Windows Vista is a real system hog, for most software and games, it requires twice the amount of RAM to run it smoothly on Vista as compared to XP.
Personally, I’m dying to try out the beta version of Windows 7. Unfortunately, the only spare computer with a partition I can spare is an iMac in Windows 7 supposedly doesn’t work very well in boot camp on Macs yet. I guess I’m going to have to wait for either better support, or a new computer.
Since it was first created in 2001, Wikipedia has become one of the Internet’s most popular website, receiving over 750 million views a month. Wikipedia has quickly become one of the most popular destinations for people to go to in all the research for information about practically any subject in the world. It’s easily the world’s most popular encyclopaedia, and with good reason: any single person in the world can edit any single article or entry within Wikipedia. What results is what is probably the world’s most up-to-date encyclopaedia.
As the season to be giving approaches and as everyone rushes to stores to buy presents for loved ones, we tend to forget that there are others that deserve our gifts as much as everyone else. Especially if it’s someone who you probably go to time and time again for help, whom millions of other people turn to, and yet he never asks for anything in return.
Ever since the Rubik’s cube was invented and first sold decades ago, it has spread worldwide like wildfire, till the stage where it’s now even considered an icon of pop culture. No matter if you know how to solve it or not, every single person instantly recognises this unassuming little cube.
Seriously, first Tom Cruise, now Will Smith. Is the cult of Scientology spreading through Hollywood like wildfire or something? Or do celebrities think is “hip” and “cool” to join a cult or something. Why do so many people still fall for the lie that is Scientology, despite tons of warnings on the internet. It’s been proven that Scientology is the cause of the deaths of several of its “worshippers”, but somehow the organisation still manages to slip through the arms of the law. Despite several movements by people in an attempt to warn others about the harm Scientology brings about, including the famous Annonymous, it seems like there are still people getting sucked into it.
In a shocking turn of events, Apple has suddenly announced that it will no longer be present at Macworld Expos after 2009. Next month’s keynote will be Apple’s last at one of these events, which is a major letdown in my opinion.
The moment anyone talks about animated films, one studio obviously comes to mind: Pixar. They’re hands down the best animated film studio out there. They’ve created gems that will be remembered decades from now, from Monstors Inc. (2001), to Finding Nemo (2003), to Ratatouille (2007). These charming movies have captured the hearts of young and old alike.
Keeping in mind this is a children’s film, emotion is a really key aspect as well, and this film completely nails it. It has plenty of emotional scenes, even some that might seem “optional” which are still present, and they really serve to add to the emotional value of the film as a whole. They also really make the audience care for the characters and feel for them, and even manages to make the somewhat mediocre storyline (which is to be expected in a children’s film) seem like an epic story. In fact, during the screening of the movie which I was watching, there was a small boy who was wailing out loud multiple times throughout the film during the emotional scenes. The film has really managed to convey every single bit of emotion the characters are feeling. For example, when Bolt first learns how thrilling it is to stick his head out of a window and his tongue out of his mouth at the same time, the look of glee of his face is reflected in every member of the audience.
First introduced to much fanfare in January 2006, the iPhone has swept through the smartphone market, grabbing 30% of the US smartphone market share thus far. With the release of the 3G iPhone in even more countries in July 2008, it now has around 16% of the global smartphone market. Not bad for a phone that was released less than 2 years ago. Then again, it does have that symbolic “i” prefix that captures so many people’s attention. The iPod Touch was released not too long after the first iPhone and has already received an overhaul for a second generation iPod Touch. However, little is usually heard about it, since it’s usually subsumed under the “iPhone” category.