IT-Code-News: IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 09/09/2011

Windows 8 confirmed to have Hyper-V virtualization
While many have anticipated its presence in Windows 8 through several reports for a while now, Microsoft has just confirmed that the virtualization technology popular on Windows Server, "Hyper-V" will in fact be a part of its next-gen consumer level OS. This is not a feature the majority of folks using Windows 8 will be singing sweet melodies about, but for some it will no doubt be a true god send. If you're not even sure what it means or does, but are quick to sit forward in your seat and learn more, you can head over to this link for a detailed rundown.

Another interesting addition to Windows 8 talked about via the source is that of MinWin, which is essentially just the core kernel and operating system components of Windows, making it the most stripped down version of Windows possible. While it has showed up in Windows 7 and started when Vista came out, apparently for Windows 8 its role will be much more significant and purposeful, especially when combined with the powerful virtualization features of Hyper-V.

Now, with the two together, greatly expanded and powerful virtualization with Hyper-V and access to MinWin, Windows 8 (at least some of its builds, probably the enterprise editions) would have the ability to create a host of virtualized instances of Windows, allowing individual applications to have their own instance.

While Microsoft is yet to really make mention of MinWin in Windows 8 to the public, the most recent rumours from supposed sources in the know seem to be pretty assured it's all a part of the plan and could make Windows 8 particularly appealing to certain enterprise clients, too.

Facebook app released in advance of 9/11 to dedicate your status
With those haunting memories going back to 9/11 almost 10 years ago, a time when those memories are most particularly vivid is just around the corner once again, marking a full decade since the horrific event in New York unfolded.

As such, in collaborating with The National September 11 Memorial & Museum, Facebook will be asking members to acknowledge this time by updating their profile photos or dedicating their statuses in remembrance of all the victims who lost their lives.

To make the process easier, a specific application has been developed for FB dubbed the 9/11 Memorial application, released just yesterday, a few days ahead of the anniversary. Facebook app maker Involver said "The goal of the application is to honor and remember victims of this devastating attack on America, 10 years later".

The way the app works is once the user has donated his or her status, the application will select one of the 3,000 victims of the World Trade Center bombing, the attack on the Pentagon, the passengers of Flight 93 and the February 1993 World Trade Center bombing and will dedicate the user's status to that particular victim.

Download of the Day: FastPictureViewer 1.6 Build 212
Our Download of the Day today is FastPictureViewer 1.6 Build 212.

FastPictureViewer, an image viewer designed for photographers. Now with powerful workflow tools helping to automate file management duties like copy, move, delete, save-for-web and more.

- Fastest RAW viewer ever. Period.
- Instant zooming to 100% view, for quick sharpness checks. Best in industry!
- RGB histogram, EXIF shooting data and Adobe XMP Rating/Label/Urgency instant display.
- Instantaneous display of the next image in line (when computer resources allows).
- Instant industry-standard Adobe XMP compatible rating and tagging.
- Fast tethered shooting through MTP/PTP. Tether a Nikon D3S or D3X in 64 bit, today!
- Supports most common image formats, including Adobe DNG, plus specialists formats such as OpenEXR, DDS, PNM and more, through separately installable image codecs.

The latest version includes the following changes:

Changes in Version 1.6 Build 212

- New photographer feature: realtime "zoom" window, with RGB eyedropper and lost highlights/shadows indicators.
- Small bug fixes.

Download Now - TweakTown Download of the Day

Deal of the Day: Diamond MP800 Media Wonder 720p HD Media Media Player for $9.99 after Rebate with FREE Shipping
Our Deal of the Day today is the Newegg - Diamond MP800 Media Wonder 720p HD Media Media Player for $9.99 after Rebate with FREE Shipping!.

Offer: Get this Diamond MP800 media player that handles RM, RMVB, AVI, MPEG1(VCD), MPEG2(DVD), and MP4 with USB 2.0 input and HDMI (plus Component & Composite) video outputs, and stereo, S/PDIF, Coaxial audio out, plus a remote. It's just $24.99 - $15 mail in rebate = $9.99 with FREE shipping!

DIAMOND MP800 MEDIA WONDER 720P PLAYER DEAL

Battlefield 3 to be sub-HD on consoles, will run at 1280x704
When the Xbox 360 and PS3 games launched, we were told it would usher in a new era of "1080p gaming", that has really never taken off. Apart from a few games, most AAA titles run at sub-HD or HD (720p) resolutions. Battlefield 3 will be no exception. DICE's rendering architect has tweeted that the game will run at 1280x704 as it saves good performance and memory for the game. While this is not surprising, I don't see how console owners can get angry at this. The consoles are 5 - 6 years old now, hardware of that day could never run games at 1920x1080 at 30fps consistently with constantly upgrading game engines and graphical details.

The tweet says "BF3 is 1280×704 on both PS3 and 360. Removing a few lines from 720p saves good performance and memory for us." It can also be seen in the picture below:

This is why it pays to have a PC that can be upgraded over time. New consoles have never needed a better excuse to be launched - come on Microsoft and Sony, do it now.

Is Nike about to drop Back to the Future's Auto-Lacing Air Mags on the market?
I've always wanted a pair of Marty McFly's auto-lacing shows from Back to the Future II, and it appears now I might get the chance. Nike has sent out invitations to an event being held in Los Angeles tomorrow hinting at the existence of, you guessed it, the Air Mags. The invitation included a pair of Doc's aluminum shades and a bundle of Back to the Future merchandise. Nike did patent the Mags' power laces last year, so it could be an actual release this time.

Apple iPad 3 to have upgraded battery, will make the iPad 3 more expensive
Apple's next-gen iPad 3 is set to have a "massively upgraded" battery, but will cost Apple anywhere between 20 and 30% more per unit according to Cens.com. The new battery is reported to go into production early next year and has been designed to be both thinner and lighter with a longer service life than the current iPad 2. With the iPad 3 rumored to have a higher resolution screen, this would impact battery life. Apple would be smart to combat this with an upgraded battery.

The news site says:

Therefore, iPad 3 battery module will call for advanced technologies, selling for a higher price to benefit Simplo and Dynapack for sure, especially when the two companies have had their battery packs pass the IEEE 1625 test as the only two battery makers in Taiwan for the moment.

Riding on increasing sales of iPad 2, institutional investors noted, both Simplo and Dynapack will see their sales revenues for the third quarter of this year surge 10-15% from a quarter earlier. With iPad 3 battery packs said to be delivered starting in the fourth quarter, the two companies are likely to record new highs in revenues for the quarter.

Tablets sure are heating up and I'm excited to see what Apple can pull from their magic hat with the iPad 3.

Hard Reset demo is out, PC-exclusive, old school fun
The Hard Reset demo is now available for you to download and enjoy, the PC-exclusive "old school" shooter has been getting a fair amount of press lately in the sea of console ports and console-centric game development, this is a great change to see. The demo is available through Steam, if you'd like to check it out.

AMD ships first "Bulldozer" processors
AMD have today announced revenue shipments of the world's first 16-core x86 processor, Bulldozer (codenamed "Interlagos"). Production of Interlagos began last month with shipments beginning to go to customers underway. The new Bulldozer chip is compatible with AMD Opteron 6100 Series platforms and infrastructure, Interlagos is expected to make a Q4 2011 appearance.

AMD say that many of the initial shipments are targeted for large custom supercomputer installations that are currently underway. Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager of AMD Products Group says:

This is a monumental moment for the industry as this first 'Bulldozer' core represents the beginning of unprecedented performance scaling for x86 CPUs. The flexible new 'Bulldozer' architecture will give Web and datacenter customers the scalability they need to handle emerging cloud and virtualization workloads.

App of the Day: Facebook 3.5 (iOS)
Our App of the Day today is Facebook 3.5 for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad with iOS 3.0 or later.

Facebook pushed out a pretty major update to its iPhone app yesterday (yes, we know - still no native iPad app... boo!). The update was pushed out just after an update for Google+ was released. Strange timing or is it Facebook fighting back?

The new update is a good one with many changes such as the ability to tag friends and places in posts, the ability to share external links from a web view and much improved group and profile wall designs.

Facebook for iPhone makes it easy to stay connected and share information with friends. Use your iPhone to start a conversation with Facebook Chat, check your friends' latest photos and status updates, look up a phone number, or upload your own mobile photos to Facebook while on the go.

The latest version of the app includes the following changes:

What's New in Version 3.5

Made it easier to share with who you want
- Added the ability to tag friends and places in posts
- Added the ability to share external links from a web view
- Added new design for Profile and Group Walls
- Improved the sharing tool to add privacy controls on posts and match your settings on the web site

Improvements and bug fixes:
- Improved Notifications speed
- Fixed a number of Chat bugs
- Made it easier to select filters in News Feed
- Fixed a bug with the Notifications bar disappearing
- Fixed a number of Photos bugs
- Improved performance and stability overall

Areca ARC-1882i and Corsair Force GT 7 Drive SATA III RAID 0 Setup
Introduction

We love SSDs here at TweakTown; not just as a site, but all of our writers love what SSD technology brings to the table. Most of us here actually run SSD setups including the boss who late last year moved to a 4x 256GB SATA III Crucial setup.. One of the biggest requirements for myself when upgrading my testbeds recently was the introduction of larger SSD drives. The 128GB Kingston drives I'd been using for a while now had served me very well, but as we expand our game testing and games themselves become so much bigger, we needed to make the move to the next size up.

Since the move to the next size up was happening, it made sense to make use of the latest SATA III technology. The 120GB Force GT from Corsair has already lit up our test system, but today I thought we'd take the 240GB version which are being used in my new testbeds for a spin. Of course, this isn't a hard drive review or anything like that, Instead, because a total of seven drives arrived for my new testbed line-up and a smart cookie on our facebook page commented we should throw them into RAID 0 for a bit of fun, we figured why the hell not!

So, with the help of Corsair and the good folks over at Areca, we'll today be checking out our seven Corsair Force GT 240GB drives in RAID 0 before they have to be separated and lead separate lives with other testbeds.

There's no real formula to the whole process today, so what we'll do is quickly just have a look at the parts and talk about the costs associated with each of them on the next page before we just look at our testbed and get stuck into the benchmark side of things.

To be honest, I've got a feeling most people haven't gotten this far into the introduction, so I may as well wrap it all up now and just get into the hardware side of things to see what's going on.
... Read the rest in your browser!

Available Tags:Windows 8 , Windows , Facebook , Download , iPad 3 , Apple , iPad , iPad , AMD , SATA II , SATA ,

Friday, September 9, 2011

IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 09/09/2011

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