Archive for: September 25, 2007

FlashGet formerly JetCar is specifically designed to address two of the biggest problems when downloading files Speed and management of downloaded files If you 39 ve ever waited forever for your files to download from a slow connection or been cut off mid way through a download or just can 39 t keep track of your ever growing downloads FlashGet is for you FlashGet can split downloaded files into sections downloading each section simultaneously for an increase in downloading speed from 100 to 500 This coupled with FlashGet 39 s powerful and easy to use management features helps you take control of your downloads like never before
FlashGet displays download progress in ranks of glittering dots but its acceleration is not as pronounced as most Its inability to start a download without confirmation makes for slow starts We ran into difficulty locating configuration settings a problem aggravated by a help system that apparently belongs to an earlier version Nonetheless the software managed and categorized our sample downloads efficiently FlashGet supports over 30 languages
Changes in FlashGet Version 1 9 6 2007 09 25
Add quot FlashGet Recommends quot
Optimized the BT module
Fixed the messy code in quot new download quot window
Other improvements nbsp

DVDFab Express is simply the easiest way to copy a DVD movie Just insert the movie and a blank DVD then press Start Your entire movie including menus trailers and special features is copied to a single DVD with just one click and everything happens automatically

DVDFab HD Decrypter comes with same functionality as DVDFab Decrypter but with full HD DVD and Blu Ray support Removes AACS

I reported earlier today that Excel Can't Multiply. Specifically, Excel 2007 gives the wrong answer when multiplying many pairs of numbers whose product should be 65,535. Microsoft is now aware of the problem, and had this to say about it:

"Microsoft recently learned of the flaw in Microsoft Office Excel 2007 that affects some calculations where the product should equal 65,535. We are currently in the process of developing and testing a fix for the flaw. Microsoft places a high priority on quickly responding to customer feedback and we are committed to finding ways to provide a better software experience. "

I'll keep you posted as more information becomes available.

Microsoft on Tuesday released the final code for one of two remaining add-ons to its Windows Vista operating system.

Users will now have full access to DreamScene, which allows them to select videos as Windows desktop backgrounds. Vista operators can choose from more than 200 3D animated DreamScene desktops, which were created with Stardock. Users can also create their own DreamScenes at dream.wincustomize.com.

When Microsoft released Vista in January, company executives touted a series of "Ultimate Extras" add-ons that would eventually be included in the Windows Vista Ultimate Edition. By July, the software giant had released four of those add-ons, but DreamScene and 20 language packs had yet to see the light of day.

Microsoft on Feb. 14 released a preview version of DreamScene through Windows Update and said it was then in the "final testing phase" for the product. A month later, the company issued a content pack that included four video backgrounds for those who had installed the preview version.

Microsoft issued a mea culpa for continued delays on July 2. "We want to let our Windows Vista Ultimate customers know that we are actively working to deliver the remaining extras that we identified in January," Barry Goffe, director of Windows Vista Ultimate, wrote in a blog post.

Microsoft said on Tuesday that the remaining language packs continue to be delayed "due to a set-up bug that has been discovered with the existing language packs. The Ultimate Extras team is hopeful that the remaining Packs will be ready by the end of October."

Add-ons that were previously released include: a poker game known as Windows Hold'Em; the secure online key backup, which stores a backup ...

Our man in the field, Michael J. Miller, is out in San Diego, for Demofall 07. Miller already has a few posts about the conference over at his Forward Thinking blog, and he promises to be posting frequently for the duration of the show. For now, be sure to check out his posts DemoFall 07: A Parade of New Products and Video Products Kick Off Demo.

Also, Demo Demo Demo Demo Demo Demo. Sorry, just had to get that out of my system.

Demo.

The unholy alliance that was recently forged between Apple and Starbucks has just taken its next step. Starting October 4th, that caffeine addiction might also be able to score you some free music. Between then and November 7th, Starbucks will be giving away 50 million downloads, in honor of their new "Now Playing" service, which beams the name of the song currently playing in the store to your iPhone or iPod Touch.

"Now Playing" will launch in 600 stores in Seattle and New York on Oct 5th, adding 500 more stores on November 7th, 300 more in February, eventually branching out into more markets, later next year. The cards, however, will be available to customers outside of those two cities.

Process Monitor is an advanced monitoring tool for Windows that shows real time file system Registry and process thread activity It combines the features of two legacy Sysinternals utilities Filemon and Regmon and adds an extensive list of enhancements including rich and non destructive filtering comprehensive event properties such session IDs and user names reliable process information full thread stacks with integrated symbol support for each operation simultaneous logging to a file and much more Its uniquely powerful features will make Process Monitor a core utility in your system troubleshooting and malware hunting toolkit
Process Monitor runs on Windows 2000 SP4 with Update Rollup 1 Windows XP SP2 Windows Server 2003 SP1 and Windows Vista as well as x64 versions of Windows XP Windows Server 2003 SP1 and Windows Vista

Microsoft on Tuesday released the first update for Windows Home Server (WHS), a thin version of Windows Server.

The updates are fairly standard, though they did prompt Hewlett-Packard to delay the launch of its MediaSmart server last month in order to incorporate the changes.

Specifically, the update:

* Warns users not to reboot while WHS updates are being downloaded or applied
* Tells users to ignore a file system driver installation note that calls for a computer reboot
* Identifies and troubleshoots possible software failures that have been occurring due to home computer firewall software
* Includes enhanced remote access configuration steps and help files for easier troubleshooting
* Includes additional guidance on creating user accounts and passwords
* Helps customers backup a home computer if a network interruption occurs
* Eliminates the need for OEM hardware partners to enter a software product key

Microsoft released WHS to manufacturers and OEM partners on July 16. It has not yet revealed an exact date that consumers will get their hands on the device, though Internet retailer Newegg said last month that consumers will likely see it quite soon.

"We are working closely with Microsoft and our distributors to have [the] product available to our customers by the beginning of September," said Rod Lynch, director of product management for Newegg.

Meanwhile, the WHS team on Wednesday will select the winners of the WHS Code2Fame challenge at Microsoft's Redmond campus. Contestants were asked to create software add-ins that could improve WHS usability.

...

Like just about every other retail establishment on the Web, Amazon has clearly been aching to get their fingers in the music store pie that has long been dominated by Apple. Today the company launched an early version of its own store, complete with those magical music store words, "DRM free."

The simply named Amazon MP3 will be offering most tracks for either $.89 or $.99--a pretty fair deal, considering the premium one has to pay for the honor of downloading an un-copy protected track on iTunes.

The new store, which has already struck deals with Universal and EMI, will boast an impressive selection 2 million tracks.

The three-day DEMO 2007 conference - a showcase for new and emerging technologies -- kicked off in San Diego Monday night. The show will feature over 70 new applications intended to protect you online, organize your Internet musings, help you stalk your neighbors or predict whether you're headed for a nervous breakdown.

On the heels of Google's Street View comes Berkeley, California-based earthmine. The subscription mapping service captures street-level photos with the assistance of camera-equipped trucks and claims it will feature "every street, alley and freeway in a municipality with 3D accuracy." The service will launch in beta by year's end and be available to the general public in early 2008. Screen shots of earthmine appear to show greater detail than Google Street View, though earthmine says that identifying information like people's faces and license plate numbers, which has prompted privacy concerns for Google, will be blurred when users actually zoom in closer.

Video quality is the focus for MotionDSP's, Flash-based fixmymovie.com, which will clean up the grainy videos uploaded from users' cell phones and digital cameras. Enhanced videos can then be downloaded, embedded on blogs and Web sites or uploaded to an iPod or AppleTV.

On the security front, the ZoneAlarm ForceField from Checkpoint promises to erase a user's personal information after they browse a certain Web site or make an online purchase so that they will not fall victim to identity thieves. ZoneAlarm's public beta launched Monday and will be generally available during the first quarter of 2008. Similarly, the EncryptaKey is a USB device that overrides a computer's built-in operating system, connects the VPN to ...

A "new online, social entertainment revolution" or yet another Facebook plug-in? Well, if San Diego-based Ncursion has anything say about it, MyGladiator.com, which is launching at this the DEMO fall show, is going to be a, "Facebook and gaming phenomenon." And who, afterall, can argue with an app that, "promises to introduce gritty reality into the virtual profiles of Facebook users, while also bringing an innovative revenue model simultaneously to the exploding gaming category and to Facebook?"

While the prospect of growing my slave in a head-chopping gladiator is certainly an appealing one, the game's revenue model strike me as a bit unfortunate for a game that expects to grow a massive following as a Facebook plug-in--which is to say that the thing actually, you know, has a revenue model at all. Given the number of free plug-ins available on the platform (zombies, anyone?), you're game has to truly excel, if you plan to charge a fee--especially if said fee is, "the price of a pizza and a few beers."

If you want to advance from the slave level, it's going to cost you--$20. "Unlike several other online offerings, our revenue model reinforces aspects of the game itself," says Ncursion's found, Michael Witz, "helping players to achieve greater heights and enjoy enhanced entertainment value the more they play and the more they purchase for individual gladiators."

Well, no one said freedom was cheap. And these days, neither is pizza.

We all learned how to multiply with pencil and paper, even great big numbers and decimals. But when it comes to something important like a blueprint or a scientific formula we reach for a calculator - or a spreadsheet. That's much more reliable, right? Well, not if the spreadsheet is Excel 2007. Over the weekend a member of the microsoft.public.excel newsgroup revealed that Excel 2007 thinks that 850*77.1 is 100,000. What's the correct answer? Anybody? Anybody? Bueller? Anybody? Right, it should be 65,535. Other members verified that the error carries over into some (but not all) calculations based on the incorrect result. Microsoft has been informed of the bug, but hasn't yet formulated a response.

UPDATE: Microsoft recognizes the problem and assures us that Excel Will Learn to Multiply.

GOOD NEWS: The Excel team has dissected the problem in detail and is working feverishly to swat this Excel bug.

If it were just 850*77.1 that gave a wrong answer, we could probably work around that. But there are tons of other problem numbers, as I discovered for myself. I set up a spreadsheet to divide 65,535 by every number from 1 to 65,535 itself, then multiply the number by that result. So, for example, it divided 65,535 by 26 to get 2,520.577. Then it multiplied 26 by 2,520.577 to get... 100,000?! Over ten thousand of these simple calculations gave the wrong answer.

We won't know just why the problem comes up until Microsoft speaks out, but there is one thing about 65535 - it's the very largest 16-bit number. In binary it's a string of 16 ...