CharlotteTheHarlot

More news from the competition ... BlackBerry confirmed to go private in deal valued at $4.7 billion ( TechSpot 2013-09-23 ) BlackBerry agrees to sell to Fairfax for $4.7 billion ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 ) A whole lot of doomsaying in these articles but Blackberry/RIM going private could be a good thing. They should easily be able to become a high-end boutique phone-maker possibly even seeing big success in corporate and government circles. They will no longer need to meet the "Street" expectations and will be flexible enough to meet the exact demands of their customers instead. They could still fail, sure, but I'll bet they are much better off after this. Verizon CEO says unlimited data plans simply aren't feasible ( TechSpot 2013-09-24 ) Yeah, that's for sure! Verizon is the worst of the lot with layers of extra charges. It really is pathetic because after they broke up AT&T almost all of the babies merged again anyway. And besides, it's not like they were really competing with each other anyway, they just became regional monopolies. This particular baby bell needs to smashed into grandbabies.

News from the competition ... Who Wants SteamOS? ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-23 ) Yep, that sounds like a logical plan to me. A near bare metal game OS open to all developers. If things do go smoothly wouldn't it be ironic if Gabe Newell does more good for Linux than Shuttleworth and all the other pretenders combined? The pros and cons of SteamOS ( PC Gamer 2013-09-24 ) Quick and dirty rundown of the pluses and minuses with the announced SteamOS. Naturally since little is known there is much lively speculation in the comments which are definitely worth a read to see what everyone thinks at this early date. Leaving aside the expected SteamBox units which will also be produced, the SteamOS itself isn't tied to hardware so it can presumably be used on almost any PC. I think the best ideas so far from a PC perspective involves simply multibooting a separate SteamOS partition or separate HDD with SteamOS installed. This will likely be close to a bare metal gaming system as we have seen, possibly even better than consoles because of their DRM overhead and housekeeping. This could get very interesting. I can't wait to see how OpenGL and DirectX gets sorted out. I mean, Gabe could really tick off Microsoft by including an emulator that allows DirectX only games to also run ( I doubt he will but one can dream ). Even if it is only OpenGL it can still be very fruitful to the community and tick off Microsoft who have only ever offered halfhearted support for it. SteamOS Uses Nvidia's Streaming Tech; Ref Design on Weds ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-24 ) Note that these are all unofficial rumors so far. But one interesting thing in the article concerns Intel who supposedly is NOT involved here at all because they allegedly asked for money in addition to the free advertising, consequently nVidia and AMD are the core partners, GPU and CPU respectively. If this is true then Intel has got to get rid of that CEO before it is too late. Both Intel and Canonical are apparently run by executives that are sleeping on the job and missing a huge opportunity while Microsoft voluntarily buries itself and gives them an opening wide enough to drive a truck through. Wake up!

Some SkyDrive users currently experiencing access issues ( NeoWin 2013-09-24 ) Oopsie. Another cloudy day for SpyDrive. And this story is now over 7 hours old with no update. So just imagine that you were dumb enough to trust your files to the cloud and you cannot touch them. I'd be pretty pss'd off. Microsoft silent on its reasons for discontinuing original Surface Pro ( NeoWin 2013-09-24 ) Yes, that statement does not really offer a specific reason why the Surface Pro is no longer being sold. We were told that's the only comment that Microsoft will give officially on this subject. Now let me try ... Maybe because nobody wants them? Flashback to Post #3770 ... Once again, 300,000 versus 14.6 million. And that is just iPads, not Android tablets. For this they destroyed Windows. The board should have fired everybody, and then fired themselves. EDITORIAL: Surface 2 sends mixed messages about Microsoft's long-term Windows strategy ( NeoWin 2013-09-24 ) Okay then, here's my guess ... It's another cynical and contemptuous kick in the teeth of their customers. They did it with the "Start Button" tying it to Metro. in one of the most blatant examples of user abuse yet seen. So now they have this rotting corpse called Windows ReTard Edition and rather than bury it they rename it! How close am I Steve and Julie? EDIT: fixed quote and spacing from insane IPB editor

Don't forget that DejaNews was the big thing for web access of USENET before Google came along, and Google famously acquired them. From Wikipedia ... It's possible that if your stuff made it to USENET then it just might have bounced around Google hard drives and is still available. I've seen some text from discussions I was in from the mid-80's thanks to the great forward-thinking Henry Spencer. I can't remember if any attachments or files from those days made it though. You really should try corresponding with someone from the Google Groups organization. Good luck!

Yes he is Ironically it actually may do some good because it is likely that some suits at Microsoft might find the time to pry themselves away from their caviar and champagne to read a few comments ( of course they would learn much more by reading this thread here at MSFN ). Here is another good one ... : I see that Paul finally crawled out from under the rock he was hiding and added a comment, just one out of all 96 ( normally he is all over his threads ) and that one is currently the last comment. It's kind of snarky and enigmatic and if I read it right I think he is doubling down on stoopid.

Big news from the Competition ... iPhone sales top 9 million in launch weekend, iOS 7 overtakes iOS 6 ( TechSpot 2013-09-23 ) Apple sold 9 million iPhones over the weekend ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 ) Wow. That's quite possibly more sales in one weekend than all Windows Phone 8 handsets sold to date. Note that I actually can't find the real WP8 total sales number anywhere even though it should be simple to determine since Nokia did the lion's share, but even if it is only half of all the WP8 units sold to date it is still crushing all the Microsoft fanboys hopes and dreams. To Steve Ballmer: for this you destroyed Windows? This was the teaser for today's big announcement from Valve ... Valve to make three Steam Box announcements next week ( NeoWin 2013-09-20 ) Valve Revealing First Part of Linux Invasion on Monday ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-21 ) And from today comes the 1st of 3 big announcements and Steam has hit it out of the park ... Valve's SteamOS promises to bring PC gaming to the living room ( TechSpot 2013-09-23 ) SteamOS announced by Valve, a free operating system available soon for living room PCs ( PC Gamer 2013-09-23 ) Valve Introduces SteamOS.Valve Software has developed its own operating system. ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-23 ) SteamOS is the First of Valve's Three Big Reveals. Valve takes another step away from Windows ( Maximum PC 2013-09-23 ) Valve announces Linux-based Steam OS ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 ) Wow, I can't wait to see what Wednesday and Friday brings. Plenty of comments already at those threads, especially at NeoWin where the MetroKids are worried. Sorry fanboys, only Microsoft could have made this happen. They always joked about the 'Year of Linux' but thanks to their actions have given an opening to Android, Chrome, Firefox, and Steam OS's with others in the pipeline and even breathed new life into older distros like Ubuntu. Great job guys.

More Security related ... Is iPhone Fingerprint Security Secure At All? (Op-Ed) ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-20 ) Good article basically asking why should any security conveniences should ever be trusted. There are a few whining commenters who miss the point, AppleTards no doubt who mistakenly take this a an attack on their precious baby, but one of them does offer some interesting details about how the iPhone works ... I was with him until that last sentence which is pretty much the point of this article and most others - it really doesn't matter how well it is thought out or engineered now does it? There truly is no way to be certain of anything these days, and that is the sad truth. And some more about the fingerprint cracking mentioned by Jorge and others ... iPhone Fingerprint Reader May Already Be Hacked ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-23 ) Apple's Touch ID fingerprint scanner has been hacked, group claims ( TechSpot 2013-09-23 ) Hacker group claims to have used fake fingerprints to defeat iPhone 5s Touch ID ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 ) Read the article at Tom's Hardware for a more detailed roundup of all the candidates for defeating the fingerprint scanner and links to the videos. It's not settled yet and will take some hours or days to determine what is real. Like I said a few times already, just wait until this makes it to 3D printing. The entire concept of fingerprint identification may then be made moot, well if not, it should be.

Security related ... NSA-engineered cybersecurity hole prompts RSA to drop network encryption standard ( TechSpot 2013-09-20 ) Don't Use NSA-Influenced Code in Our Products, Security Company Warns ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-20 ) Here's some more on that story about the 'RSA Security' company, founded by very famous names in the crypto community, who now have some people wondering why they ever used that spook compromised algorithm in the first place ... The only thing they left out was that this backdoor was still inserted into Vista and later anyway, and so far I have seen nothing to contradict this fact nor any word from Microsoft about it's removal. IMHO, this is why Microsoft is on a Jihad to destroy Windows XP and older, it is the last popular pre-9/11 operating system still in use. I suspect but cannot prove that this compromised random number generator in Vista+ would make NTFS encryption less secure than on XP and older. Chew on that fanboys. Brazilian hacker brings down NASA homepage, mistakes it for NSA's ( TechSpot 2013-09-22 ) Mistaken "NASA" for the other one? Well maybe. But that isn't what I found interesting. The article ends with ... Personally I hope and pray that this is really true and that folks are seriously accepting that the "Internet" has now been co-opted and is becoming almost useless. I've said many times that 'We're gonna need a new Internet' somewhat in jest, but less so today. Yes, the hardware infrastructure is still a risk as it has been physically compromised at so many points but that wouldn't stop the non-governmental development of new end-user protocols with endpoint encryption to facilitate secure p2p communication. It will require a new paradigm in practical security with regards to privacy and keys. But then again, maybe we can just apply the DMCA against them by citing the provisions making "circumventing" protection of copyrighted material illegal. This might require a Constitutional Amendment that declares that all laws apply to everyone equally, including government and Hollywood, no exceptions. Just think of the fun we could have with that. NSA-themed ransomware leverages public concern over privacy ( TechSpot 2013-09-21 ) Ah, another Moneypak malware. This will no doubt breeze its way into Windows computers through MSIE from facsimile dialog boxes getting the sheeple to click. Job security for all of us.

Check out these two contrasting stories ... (1) Microsoft Xbox One engineers talk about ESRAM, CPU speed and more ( NeoWin 2013-09-22 ) Ignore the Xbox subject and note their logic here feigning concern for power waste in explaining why they decided to use plain DDR instead of GDDR ... Also, don't forget all of the other countless things that have been sacrificed in Windows 8 and related with power consumption. It is a boilerplate rationalization for crippling the end-user experience right? Okay, got it? Now let's take a look at Bing where they suddenly and conveniently stop worrying about power consumption and waste ... (2) Microsoft offers more info on Page Zero feature in Bing ( NeoWin 2013-09-22 ) Okay see the dichotomy? Bing is using up all the saved wasted power from Microsoft's other crap products to anticipate what you might be searching for. If that wasn't your intent, oh well, wasted local CPU and GPU processing and wasted remote search engine queries and wasted pulls of data and images from even more remote servers ( I expect that somehow Bing gets multiple hits credited in the process though ). This is not to say this feature is a bad thing because unlike Microsoft I am no hypocrite. Besides, it is simply an slight improvement on the predictive algorithm they all already use. The point is the blatant and convenient hypocrisy that Microsoft utilizes at every turn, and that is putting it kindly. I'll just say it outright, Sinofsky and Julie and Jensen and of course Ballmer are fraudulent liars. Aero Glass was not removed to save power, but to facilitate the devolution of Windows from a workstation OS for competent human beings down to Playskool level Microsoft Tiles sheeple bait. They care no more about power waste than they do about their users in general, which is to say they don't give a crap about it. And we're not even considering the trend in Bing to also use the alleged discredited GUI desktop components like wallpaper and little icon-like flyovers. Hypocrisy is what is really in style at Microsoft. And yet another Xbone blunder! ... PSA: Microsoft Designed the Xbox One Console to Lay Flat. Go vertical at your own risk ( Maximum PC 2013-09-20 ) Microsoft doesn't condone vertical orientation for Xbox One ( TechSpot 2013-09-20 ) Xbox One Can't Stand Vertically Due to Disc Drive ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-20 ) Microsoft: 'We don't support vertical orientation' for Xbox One ( NeoWin 2013-09-20 ) Wait what?! Did somebody order tray loader opticals instead of a slot loaders? Notice the odd choice of words: "we just didn't design the drive for vertical". You didn't "design" the drive at all, but selected one that is thoroughly insufficient for the type of people that use consoles, like kids for example. Anyhoo, research, telemetry, what's the difference. One thing is for sure, for several years now Microsoft has proved it is now concerned only with the sheeple, everyone else be d@mned. They are designing down to the lowest common denominator with everything from Metro on Windows 8 to Xbone. Excellence is NOT an option. Microsoft is truly over.

As just mentioned above by Jaclaz ... Microsoft takes another stab at hardware with new Surface 2 tablets ( TechSpot 2013-09-23 ) Microsoft Announces Two New Surface 2 Tablets ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-23 ) Microsoft Announces New Touch Covers, Power Cover and Dock ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-23 ) Microsoft announces Surface 2 ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 ) Microsoft kills the Surface RT branding for new Surface ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 ) <--- SIGNIFICANT! Microsoft announces Surface Docking Station ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )Surface Power cover is official, extra battery for your Surface ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )Microsoft reveals Surface Music Cover, refined Touch and Type covers ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )Hands On: Surface Pro 2 ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )Hands On: Surface 2 ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )Hands on with the new Surface covers and docking station ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )EDITORIAL: Why isn't Microsoft selling an Xbox branded Type cover? ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )( Leave it to NeoWin to already post about 10 articles, and there may already be more! ) Anywhoo, big deal, Haswell CPUs, spare battery in the keyboard and 1920x1080 a full year later. And yet they've still learned nothing in that entire year ... Certainly the big story has to be the death of Windows ReTard Edition at least in name. Yep, they've conceded a huge error without admitting anything it seems. However, contrary to all the NeoKids praising this decision they still cannot see the two massive errors of using Windows for ARM versions and also for Metro itself. In the former case it is a different CPU so the traditional x86 universe of software is simply not invited to the party and in that universe "Windows" is a software platform that means x86 software. In the latter case "Windows" is a GUI concept describing multiple programs living in separate windows which has been sentenced to death by the MetroTard fanatics. So this rather significant reversal by Microsoft's standards is no real reversal at all. It is merely a continuation of their decent into madness, and they intend to drag us all down this swirling toilet bowl with them.

Steve Ballmer Believes Google Has Reached Monopoly Status ( Maximum PC 2013-09-20 ) Ballmer: Microsoft has discussed Google's practices with 'competition authorities' ( TechSpot 2013-09-20 ) Steve Ballmer Says It's Weird Going to Work; Trashes Google ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-21 ) This is more proof of what I believed in the late 1990's to 2000 that the aspect of the DoJ case about MSIE was totally incorrect. Going after them for including a free web browser was counter-productive and set a horrific precedent that can now be used again. The part of the case concerning backroom OEM deals and strong-arm licensing tactics however was the 800 pound gorilla that got away. Great job guys! Naturally old fathead is blurring the facts to his advantage, in effect rationalizing Microsoft's crimes to a dumbed-down public full of sheeple. Is Google strong-arming OEMs to use Android instead of something else? And once they have achieved their alleged monopoly ( 70-ish percent versus 90+ percent for Windows ) are they then leveraging that penetration? Moreover, unlike the expensive operating system called Windows Google's Android is free. So Ballmer should really be saying "Hey, this free thing is more popular than our expensive thing". Boo hoo. Ironically Android isn't really free at all because of Microsoft's nefarious cut over some mysterious intellectual property they claim to own. Astoundingly we still don't know the truth of this because what Microsoft actually does is show up at the Android device producing OEM and demand payment under threat of legal action and then not only take their Sopranos skim, they get the manufacturer to sign an NDA to not reveal what they were extorted for! Microsoft: Windows tablets are better than Android devices for schools and government ( NeoWin 2013-09-21 ) All I can hear is the ka ching sound of my school tax bill continuing its skyward trajectory. You want to donate to schools, fine ( let's see these companies get into a competition over who donates the most! ). You want to charge them money, which is to say charge me money for devices I will never use or even see, then screw you. And this applies to all of them including Apple and Google. I would support a law that prohibits any taxpayer funded institution from purchasing computers making it a felony to even attempt to extort money from the taxpayers. Microsoft working on unified app platform across its operating systems ( NeoWin 2013-09-20 ) All I can hear is bah ah ah ah ah ah ... ( original photo )

I know the feeling my friend. It is exceedingly difficult to check back now that these threads have just 25 comments per page rather than the 150 ( that I ) used previously. It was simple to CTRL-F search a much longer time period. [emphasis in original] So it's no longer enough to cease providing customers a measure of privacy, you have to actively collaborate with the official Peeping Toms, or else... Without stating a political opinion it is fair to say that our government, regardless of party, is running the world's largest organized crime ring down in DC. A Constitutional Convention with a new set of Amendments that cripples the federal government is the peoples' only real hope. Did I say "people"? Sorry, I meant Sheeple.

More Security and Privacy issues ... Wickr, Secure Self-Destructing Message App, Arrives on Android ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-17 ) Sounds interesting but one comment raises a good question: "They said no to the FBI, good on em, wonder what they said to the NSA?". Hmmmm. Google's proprietary AdID may replace third-party tracking cookies ( TechSpot 2013-09-18 ) Google rumored to replace cookies with anonymous identifier for ad tracking ( NeoWin 2013-09-18 ) Out of the frying pan and straight into the fire. Sorry, I'll pass. Thieves won't be able to sever your finger to unlock the iPhone 5S ( TechSpot 2013-09-17 ) Well I still don't like it. Your fingerprint will probably be stored somewhere ( well unless they just store a hash and recalculate it each time you press it, but I gotta think this will be high CPU cost ). It is surely inevitable that if they are stored they will be copied. And there will be no need to cut off a finger if you can just 3D print a small mockup that is good enough to wear like a glove. I predict that this will become a boon to criminals in the near future when they get to wear other people's fingerprints for day-to-day activities and even crime. Actually we don't even have to worry about the biometrics in iPhones at all. All they need to do is collect any of the millions of already existing fingerprint photos all over the world, many are already online, and write some software that will convert them to 3D printer source files and voilà! Long-dead people will be resurrected and be committing crimes all over the world. Perhaps the entire concept of fingerprints is about to be removed from all possible use of unique identification. The so-called benefit-of-the-doubt will need to be considered. Money, alcohol and a dirty sex book offered for iPhone 5s fingerprint sensor hack ( NeoWin 2013-09-19 ) And it's already begun.

Security and Privacy issues ... Virgin Mobile uses your webcam to change YouTube ads every time you blink ( TechSpot 2013-09-17 ) So here they are trying their best to out-Kinect Kinect and that creepy patent that Microsoft holds. Amazingly the commenters appear to be impressed! And to think that decades ago the FCC brought down the hammer on some commercials that used subliminal messaging because they rightly expected it to snowball into much worse things. Well this may not quite be subliminal, but it is just as bad, if not worse. Google knows every single Android user's WiFi password ( TechSpot 2013-09-16 ) Backing Up Android Means Giving Google Passwords ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-16 ) I thought everybody already knew about this but I guess that thanks to the spy leaks everyone is re-evaluating everything. Good. I never use this type of setting, it's pure convenience only, saving having to type in a password just one time on those stupid little on screen keyboards with several pages for alphanumeric chars and special chars. How lazy does someone have to be to place a Wi-Fi password into the cloud to save typing it once! Why You Need to Use Encrypted Email ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-16 ) Beat the FBI: How to Send Anonymous Email Without Getting Caught ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-16 ) Another pair of security articles from Tom's Hardware. Moderate skill level. Pass them on to friends and family and get the word out. People need to educate themselves before it is too late. Former NSA head says Gmail is number one ... with terrorists ( NeoWin 2013-09-17 ) Sounds like a preemptive strike justifying whatever they are planning on doing next. This is exactly the kind of loaded propaganda that the intellectual under-achievers in Congress need to hear to green light anything and everything. Wonderful.

And from the Competition ... Tim Cook: Microsoft is copying Apple's strategy, Nokia died due to lack of innovation ( TechSpot 2013-09-19 ) Apple goes on the offensive, blasts Nokia and Android fragmentation ( NeoWin 2013-09-19 ) Apple CEO Tim Cook Trash Talks Android ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-19 ) Naturally the NeoWin thread is a classic circle jerk of anti-Apple trolls offended that Tim Cook has correctly identified Microsoft as a cynical copycat, which is ironic since they pile on Apple each day at the drop of a hat. Truly there has never been anything like this hypocisy. The MicroZealots and MetroTards are everything the alleged snooty Apple drones were stereotypically described as, and more. I've said it before and here it is once again. I have long worked with people wedded to Macs because they made up a majority of the creative arts in the 1980's and 1990's. Musicians, Producers, Artists, Photographers, Publishing, practically everything up and down the line was done on Macs except pure business, low-taxing processing by cubicle monkeys. I cannot recall actually meeting any of those alleged arrogant anti-Microsoft MacTards though. This is not to say they didn't exist, just that I never had a problem and I was a charter PC member. But here we are, with countless MetroTards and MicroZealots that put that stereotype to shame by viciously smearing Apple with their every breath. It is frickin unbelievable and IMHO all can be traced to the Vista era when Microsoft poisoned the well of the user space by inexplicably trying to ram Vista down everybody's throats and then declaring a Jihad on the PC itself when things didn't go their way. This is reason enough to root for Microsoft's complete destruction now. They need to be beaten bloody before they manage to undo everything we all worked for for over three decades. Apple now offers last compatible versions of apps for older iOS devices ( TechSpot 2013-09-17 ) Now there's a thought that never crossed the minds of the decision makers at Microsoft. Goldgenie is selling the iPhone 5s with real gold cases for as much as $4,144.63 ( NeoWin 2013-09-18 ) . ( Originals: 1, 2 ) Now that's what "gold" really looks like, not that creamy vomit color that Jony Ive selected. Apple launches iOS 7, along with new interface for iCloud ( NeoWin 2013-09-19 ) ( Originals: 1, 2 ) That 2nd image is supplied by NeoWin owner NeoBond and really highlights why I believe Jony Ive might be losing his eyesight. Normally a blurry background enhances the 3D appearance of the foreground, but only when foreground objects have some visual depth like 3D characteristics such as lighting, bevels and drop shadows. What Jony Ive has done is remove them just like the MicroDummies did, but he still added a fuzzy background anyway. Consequently the background is almost a distraction rather than an enhancement. Compounding this error in these theme they chose white text ( just like Nokia did ) on a light background! Man, I feel like I woke up in CrazyVille! Of course I am strictly talking about the visuals here, NOT the under-the-hood enhancements. The visuals are what you actually have to face day-in and day-out and neither Microsoft nor Apple has a clue anymore. And as your eyes get older, the 'Tards will understand this.

Bad news for Microsoft! Jessica Alba spotted with an iPhone after her deal to endorse Windows phone expired ( UK DailyMail 2013-09-13 ) Jessica Alba Caught Using an iPhone ( Thurrott 2013-09-13 ) Hehe Check out the DailyMail article which really hits it out of the park with slam dunk photos and comparative shots against her Microsoft commercials and even one with Ballmer. I think this is simply hysterical because looking at her posing she really couldn't care less! Thurrott is all worked up about it ... That Windows Phone just ain't cutting it for her. ( Source: UK DailyMail ) The Death of the Windows Desktop. It's dead, Jim ( Thurrott 2013-09-17 ) It's dead Jim? No it's not. Only your credibility is dead Paul. Thurrott has completely reverted to form once again. Before reading his unreal freefall into shillville, be sure to read his original disaster. This is when we dubbed him Paul "The Desktop Must Die" Thurrott because of using those exact words. He seesaws almost weekly on many things but we do know what is truly in his heart. He is an AppleTard and he just never knew it until Microsoft started building their own walled-garden. For all his slamming and jealousy of Apple and Google, all along there was a tiny little 'Tard locked up deep inside him just itching to get out. Thanks to Microsoft and their Playskool interface, Paul "The Desktop Must Die" Thurrott is free at last!

StatCounter: Windows XP is the most used OS in eight countries, including China ( NeoWin 2013-09-16 ) Lots of FUD of course. Lots of borderline racism too with this stuff about Asians pirating everything. Even if it is true and I doubt it, especially that crazy 90% garbage, maybe the lesson the 'Tards should take away is that maybe they really want Windows XP and not the training wheels versions of Vista and 7, and especially the kiddie Playskool Microsoft Tiles for Retards. Dot MetroTard makes an appearance naturally in his capacity as unpaid evangelist for NuMicrosoft. Germans Give Out Linux to Windows XP Die-Hards ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-17 ) Hehehe. They still manage to inject a bunch of FUD into the article though ... Oooh, I'm so scared I'm shaking. Microsoft: Windows XP market share at 21 percent; goal of 13 percent by April 8 ( NeoWin 2013-09-19 ) 21%? Wait, what? One commenter calls them out ... Yes, sounds about right to me. Microsoft could almost be staffed by a bunch of dirtbag politicians. Naturally that NeoWin thread reeks of FUD, just one example ... Yeah sure fanboy. The truth of the matter is that once you really do switch from Windows XP or older to a newer Vista+ OS, then you have made an Indiana Jones leap of faith from a pre-9/11 to a post-9/11 operating system and you will have one that was built with government cooperation in mind during the design stage. That is the unquestionable truth. So, to quote a famous song ... Who Do You Trust?

Microsoft: $40 billion stock buyback, dividend increase ( NeoWin 2013-09-17 ) I remember suggesting this as one possibility, and it may be perhaps their smartest move now. I doubt they can afford to go private again, what with all the countless company takeovers. After the Nokia purchase and whatever other companies they pick up during Ballmer's final spending spree this buyback will reduce their bank account to about 1/3 or 1/4 or even less of that $70 billion they once had ( and once again, just imagine if fathead had managed to close that Yahoo deal for $45 billion, they would be in serious jeopardy today ). Anyhoo, MSFT is finally looking like a buy recommendation because they might possibly climb out of the high 20's to low 30's and into $50 and above, maybe even triple digits eventually. At this writing they are still hovering around $32 though. Seems like something is really holding them back. I wonder what that might be Stephen Elop to get $25.5 million from Nokia when Microsoft deal closes ( NeoWin 2013-09-19 ) And now they announce this! It will probably unravel the goodwill of the buyback announcement because people are getting tired of these sweetheart golden parachutes. And just how do you explain this one exactly? He's parachuting into the company that buys him? Elop has to be one of the luckiest schmucks out there. He was at Microsoft for 5 minutes and then goes to Nokia for 7 minutes and now back to Redmond. That somehow qualifies him as the front-runner for CEO at Microsoft according to the fanboys who believe it mirrors Steve Jobs somehow. It's crazy time. Well at least some of the commenters at NeoWin aren't fooled. Microsoft rushes out security patch for Internet Explorer ( NeoWin 2013-09-17 ) Microsoft Fast Tracks Urgent Internet Explorer Update to Fix Zero Day Vulnerability ( Maximum PC 2013-09-18 ) Zero-Day Browser Exploit Prompts Urgent Microsoft Fix-It ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-18 ) Say it ain't so! Another MSIE exploit with potential drive-by exposure! Meanwhile our friendly neighborhood NeoTards keep insisting that MSIE is the best thing since sliced bread. Security 101 for well over a decade now has been very simple ... stop using MSIE ... and also change the default to something else .... psssst, and don't change it to Chrome. Microsoft reveals pricing and packaging for Windows 8.1 ( NeoWin 2013-09-17 ) Windows 8.1 Prices Revealed: Upgrades are Full Versions ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-17 ) Windows 8.1 retail pricing & packaging revealed, full versions return ( TechSpot 2013-09-18 ) Microsoft to Offer Windows 8.1 in Full Version Form Starting at $120 ( Maximum PC 2013-09-18 ) Well I'll say this for them, they are insistent on holding that course. Kinda like the Titanic captain plowing ahead at full-speed through the cold North-Atlantic at night. What could possibly go wrong. It's so obvious now that this Windows 8.1 Blew thing is nothing more than a re-release party one year later! A second bite at the Apple ( pardon the pun ). A do-over. A mulligan. Microsoft Tiles Mojave project. Don't be fooled again.

Oh, they can do what they want, it's just that Chrome is a huge letdown IMHO. See below Chromium is the actual "engine" on which also Chrome is based. http://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/ChromiumBrowserVsGoogleChrome OK, thanks. But what's the issue with basing this Epic browser on Chromium? I think it's just Charlotte having some form of allergy to it. Yeah, pretty much. I noticed them going South around 10, 15 versions back ( not sure what version they have now ). They started Tarding down the available options and then even the GUI to near Metro dumbness. I also have seen the installer place Chrome's user profile, a deep nesting of subfolders underneath Windows\System32\Config, a folder structure formerly reserved for the registry and supposedly sacred. On Vista/7 the same version went to an even deeper cobweb under \Users. I haven't installed it myself in a while but I am getting PC's with malware from owners who only used Chrome and were likely tricked by Google's over-eager propensity to blur the lines between ads and content. I have nothing concrete yet, too busy, no screenshots etc, I'm just cleaning the things and giving them back and telling them to use Opera or Firefox at the moment. I just see a bit of a conflict of interest for Google having a web browser and also curating ads. It's almost as bad as Microsoft in this arena really. My disdain for them only grew when Opera turned traitor and adopted it's codebase, so you can mark me down as ambivalent, to be kind. It's entirely possible though that some of these other Chromium browsers might do it right. I just doubt that I will ever use one.

Not really hidden info: http://www.epicbrowser.com/FAQ.html I stopped reading at Chrome ...

Yep, not surprising except to MetroTards. There are way more things occurring per second in the OS as you move from XP > Vista/7 > 8. Just running ProcMon will demonstrate that. And that is true no matter how many services and tasks and autoruns that you remove. The core OS is doing more talking. This is not to say that some of the updates are not any good, obviously some are. But there is simply less core OS housekeeping happening in the older operating systems and consequently there is more CPU available to be used by running programs.

Perfectly quiet? Liquid cooling. If it is a fan-based cooler make sure you get one with 120 mm fans and not 92mm or 80mm. In general the larger the fan the more air it moves but at lower RPM.

Note that I mean shutdown and then open it up! The toothpick ( or plastic ) holds the fans from turning when blasted with air and allows you to aim the little canned air hose into the blades of the CPU heatsink and get all the junk out. You want somethink wood or non-conductive when poking around the motherboard and other electronics. It shouldn't be sharp though. A Popsicle stick is fine. It's almost definitely heat if you have no power settings set.

Heat is the first problem I would expect. Open 'er up, clean out all the dust with canned air ( use a toothpick to hold each fan from spinning, especially the CPU, so that you can clean the heatsink underneath ).

Microsoft: Loading JPG images with IE11 on Windows 8.1 is 45 percent faster ( NeoWin 2013-09-14 ) Sounds good right? GPU acceleration making JPG images "load" faster right? First of all they are talking milliseconds which itself can be lost to random access of files due to differences from one HDD to another. Secondly, as some commenters point out there is a deception to this claim. Given the same exact online bandwidth throughput, this advancement is meaningless because it only kicks in once the file has already been downloaded to your computer - then MSIE loads it. So if MSIE were running on a local network or Intranet this might be noticeable ( again, assuming HDD random access ms is not high ). In normal use online it is just another normal client side feature operating beyond the narrow clogged end of the pipe. Epic Privacy Browser Makes Surfing Ultra-Discreet ( Maximum PC 2013-09-15 ) I haven't had time to read up on this but here we have a new browser that appears strong on privacy and anonymity. Does anyone else know anything about it? Is it yet another Chrome spawn? Also see the EpicBrowser.com website. Microsoft May Be Launching Siri Competitor in 2014 ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-15 ) What could possibly be wrong with a pretty girl from a video game being your personal clippy? Considering all the spying revelations that have come to light since then this speech was given by Ballmer, well, all those details sure sound creepy now.