Dispatch from the future:
FROM: Carter Kohl, 34 inches, 30 pounds, 17 months.
TO: Friends and family.
MESSAGE: Feel free to contact me. Even though I cannot read just yet, you can still send me e-mail. My parents will read it to me and will help me respond to all your messages. In advance, thanks for getting in touch. I’ll be reading and replying back to you before you know it!

Young Carter may not know it, but along with a galloping number of tiny citizens, he is already wired. Despite his limited lexicon, featuring the words fish and light (pronounced “ish” and “ite”), Carter possesses his own e-mail address and an inbox filling up with messages from family and fans.
Read More »

In the UK, a poll by Developing Patient Partnerships showed more than a third of men and a quarter of women drink a lot to cope with the stress of crashing PC’s and help desks. Also, a lot of them start smoking, or smoke a lot, during their work on PC’s. Though it’s not clear whether it’s asked in the survay, a lot of people said the really needed a drink during this problematic PC times.

Source: BBC and The Inquirer

Mozilla Thunderbird is a redesign of the Mozilla mail component. The goal is to produce a cross platform stand alone mail application using the XUL user interface language. The intended customer is someone who uses Mozilla Firefox (or another stand alone browser) as their primary browser and wants a mail client based on mozilla that “plays nice” with the browser. Mozilla Thunderbird has the following other editions available: Mozilla Thunderbird for Linux and Mozilla Thunderbird for Mac OS X.

Download: Mozilla Thunderbird v1.5 (Freeware)
View: Release Notes
Homepage: Mozilla

Symantec has released an update to its popular Norton SystemWorks to fix a security problem that could be abused by cybercriminals to hide malicious software. In the PC-tuning application, a feature called the Norton Protected Recycle Bin creates a hidden directory on Windows systems. The feature is meant to help people restore modified or deleted files, but the hidden folder might not be scanned during scheduled or manual virus scans, Symantec said in an advisory released on Tuesday.

“This could potentially provide a location for an attacker to hide a malicious file on a computer,” Symantec said. The Cupertino, California-based security provider is not aware of any attempts by hackers to conceal malicious code in the folder. “This update is provided proactively to eliminate the possibility of that type of activity,” it said.

View: Full Story
Source: ZDNet via MSFN

Thanks to Softland

novaPDF Pro is a pdf creator for Windows that allows you to easily create high-quality searchable PDF files.
Using novaPDF, everyone from novice users to professionals can instantly create high-quality PDF files, by simply selecting the “Print” command from virtually any application.

Main changes in version 2.5:

- Added optimization of image sequences” in Printer driver
- Added NoInstallIfExists parameter to silent installer (SDK)
- Other bug-fixes in Printer driver and SDK

Download: novaPDF 2.5
Screenshot: Main Window
View: novaPDF Website

Seagate Technology today announced the availability of its latest NL35 Series SATA disc drives to the worldwide distribution channel. With a half-terabyte (500GBs) of capacity, the latest NL35 Series SATA disc drive provides the bulk storage necessary for cost-effective nearline RAID storage in the enterprise. The NL35 Series SATA drives are optimized for tasks such as data management, backup/recovery and fixed content storage.

View: Full Story
Source: Seagate via Flexbeta

Sony has developped a new phone… or mouse… They have developped a mouse, that can be used as a phone for programs like Skype. The idea sounds interesting, though, how would you accept a call with your mouse, if you’re calling? Or how can you make a call while you’re mousing?

View: Full Story
Source: Akihabara News via Flexbeta

Microsoft plans to market several versions of Vista but will distribute all of the OS bits with every product shipped so users can easily unlock and step up to more full-featured versions using electronic keys, sources said. “No matter which edition you buy you get all the bits and a key to unlock it. Everyone will have all the bits,” said one source familiar with Microsoft’s plans. “Right now we maintain master images for each version of Windows XP and it’s a lot of work. Now there’s just one master image.”

Having a master Windows Vista operating system means customers that buy PCs preloaded with one Vista SKU, Home Basic, for example, will be able to punch their credit card into a Microsoft Web site to unlock Vista Home Premium and more speedily deploy media center features without an on-site visit or requiring a wipe and reload of the system. The impact on the channel will be “huge” since partners will no longer have to support multiple Windows images for each customer or do reloads, sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans said this week. It will also make up-selling much easier and vastly expand channel opportunities, the sources said.

View: Full Story
Source: CRN via MSFN

Google Pack is a free collection of essential software from Google. Enjoy safe, useful software for your computer. You can download and install everything (choose only the software you want) in just a few clicks.

The package includes software from Google: Google Earth, Picasa, Google Desktop, Google Toolbar for IE, Google Talk, Google Video Player and a Google Screensaver. It also includes other software: Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar, Ad Aware SE Personal, Norton Antivirus 2005 Special Edition, Adobe Reader 7, RealPlayer, GalleryPlayer HD Images, and Trillian.

Download: Google Pack Beta

“We were indeed very shocked when we managed to see and feel the beta of Explorer 7.0.”

The key thing is tab browsing that looks and feels like you are using Firefox. Even the search button at the left hand side looks and fells like this free browser. Just as in Firefox you can ad search engines.

There are some extra features as its easier to block the nasty sites and the RSS button is more accusable. Of course you can bookmark tabs as well.

Those who likes Firefox will like the new Explorer no doubt about it but so far I haven’t seen anything really revolutionary. If you don’t have one you can download Firefox today and practise for Explorer 7.0.

Source: The Inquirer via Flexbeta