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Microsoft

Microsoft Releases Final IE9 Platform Preview->

Submitted by CSHARP123
CSHARP123 writes "MS releases final IE9 preview and if the 8 week schedule is kept we can expect beta in September. With this release, IE 9 Preview gets 95 in Acid 3 tests and is surpassing Safari 5 in Webkit Sunspider microbenchmark. The latest preview version also integrates its Chakra Javascript engine natively inside the browser. Chrome and Opera are the only two browsers ahead of IE 9 preview in JavaScript Benchmarks. IE blog also recommends developers to send the same standards-based markup your site sends other browsers. Here is ZDNet version of the article."
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Ars Technica: IE9 Platform Preview 2: more of the same, but a bit faster->

From feed by feedfeeder

The Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was updated today. The update brings improved performance and standards compliance, and in tandem with the new release, Microsoft is providing new demos and standard conformance tests.

Microsoft's particular emphasis with the new release is the "same markup." Microsoft wants developers to use the same markup for every browser, putting an end to the browser-specific workarounds that continue to be a headache for Web developers. This manifests in a few different ways.

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Graphics

DirectX 11 Coming To Browser Games 200

Posted by Soulskill
from the see-the-stubble-on-your-stick-figure's-chin dept.
arcticstoat writes "Forget Farmville, Flash puzzlers and 8-bit home computer emulators. The next generation of browser games will be able to take advantage of DirectX 11 effects, not to mention multi-core processing and both Havok and PhysX physics effects. A new browser plug-in called WebVision will be available for Trinergy's new game engine, Vision Engine 8. This will enable game developers to port all the advanced effects from the game engine over to all the common browsers. Of course, any budding 3D-browser-game dev will face the problem that not every PC has a decent graphics card that can handle advanced graphics effects. Not only that, but limited bandwidth will also limit what effects a developer can realistically implement into a browser game. Nevertheless, this is an interesting development that could result in some tight 3D programming, as well as some much more interesting browser games."
Microsoft

Bing Delivers Credibility to Microsoft ->

Submitted by gollum123
gollum123 writes "Bing has earned Microsoft something the company's search efforts have lacked: respect. ( http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/technology/companies/14bing.html?hpw ) As a result, analysts say, the once-dubious prospect that Microsoft could shake up the dynamics of the search business, which is worth $12 billion in the United States alone, has become just a bit more likely. The new service received favorable write-ups from influential reviewers and technology bloggers for the quality of its results, as well as its features and design. Studies showed that many people preferred its look and feel to Google's. And marketing experts said the Bing brand was a good choice that resonated with users. Reports from more than half a dozen companies that measure search and search advertising all point to upticks in Microsoft's business since the release of Bing. Microsoft said on Monday that its internal numbers showed its search traffic growing 8 percent in June. (ComScore, whose reports are closely watched, is expected to release figures for June on Tuesday.) Still, Bing remains a distant third in the search race. It would have to triple its audience to catch Yahoo — and grow eightfold to tie Google, which accounts for 65 percent of searches in the United States. Sustaining Bing's early momentum will be harder for Microsoft after the intense marketing campaign fades. But analysts say that Bing's solid start gives Microsoft a chance to finally sharpen its assault on the search business. No one suggests that Google faces any immediate threat. With many people using more than one search engine, however, some believe that Bing has a shot at dislodging Yahoo as the logical alternative to Google."
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Microsoft

IE 8 Passes Acid2 Test

Submitted by notamicrosoftlover
notamicrosoftlover writes "From Channel9: '...on Wednesday, December 12, Internet Explorer correctly rendered the Acid2 page in IE8 standards mode. While supporting the features tested in Acid2 is important for many reasons, it is just one of several milestones for the interoperability, standards compliance, and backwards compatibility that we're committed to for this release...' You can read the whole blog entry here. There's also a video interview regarding IE8 development on Channel9."
The Internet

How to stop commerial use of copyleft material?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "The Guild Wiki, an extremely popular fan-made wiki for documenting Guild Wars, was originally supported by donations, then later advertisements — supposedly just enough to break even. Just the past week, the owner of the domain name surprised this wiki community by revealing that he had sold the domain name and his services dumping the database to Wikia, a commercial entity that intends to profit from Guild Wiki's content.

The problem is much of Guild Wiki's content falls under Creative Commons by-nc-sa license, which denies the commercial use of licensed material. Arena.net created their own community run wiki to serve as the in-game help system, because they didn't think they could use the material on Guild Wiki commercially.

If Wikia continues to serves ads over Guild Wiki's content, how can the thousands of contributors to the site stop them without going to the expense/trouble of hiring attorneys (or the crude path of mass vandalism)? If it turns out the site owner has been making a profit all along from ads, what's the remedy?"

Science Daily: Aspartame Deemed Safe By Expert Panel->

From feed by sdfeed
A sweeping review of research studies of aspartame says there is no evidence that the non-nutritive sweetener causes cancer, neurological damage or other health problems in humans. Looking at more than 500 reports, including toxicological, clinical and epidemiological studies dating from 1970's pre-clinical work to the latest studies on the high-intensity sweetener, along with use levels and regulations data, an international expert panel from 10 universities and medical schools evaluated the safety of aspartame for people of all ages and with a variety of health conditions.
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Science Daily: Hubble Captures Stars Going Out In Style->

From feed by sdfeed
The colorful, intricate shapes in these NASA Hubble Space Telescope images reveal how the glowing gas ejected by dying Sun-like stars evolves dramatically over time. These gaseous clouds, called planetary nebulae, are created when stars in the last stages of life cast off their outer layers of material into space. Ultraviolet light from the remnant star makes the material glow. Planetary nebulae last for only 10,000 years, a fleeting episode in the 10-billion-year lifespan of Sun-like stars.
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Books

Core Computer Books for a Library

Submitted by Techie Librarian
Techie Librarian writes "I am putting together a collection for the opening day of a new library. What are the core books in your computer library? What books or series do you recommend to your friends and relatives who know little to nothing about computers? If you were in my position, what computer books would buy for a library?"
Space

Voyager 2 30 years->

Submitted by
Mick Ohrberg
Mick Ohrberg writes "The Voyager 2 spacecraft (part of the ongoing Voyager Mission) today celebrates 30 years of faithful service, by far surpassing the 4 years that was its inteded lifespan. Voyager 2 is today 7.8 billion miles from the sun, placing it almost as far out as the heliopause. At the speed of light that's about 12 hours away, and it's clocking about 1 million miles per day. Voyager 1, launched a couple of weeks after Voyager 2, is at 9.7 billion miles from the sun the farthest man-made object. So when are we going to get around to sending up Voyager 6?"
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Biotech

Artificial Life Likely in 3 to 10 Years->

Submitted by valdean
valdean writes "Microscopic artificial protocells, made from the basic chemicals in DNA, could be developed within the next decade. Once the protocell is made, 'if scientists add nucleotides in the right proportions, then Darwinian evolution could simply take over' — potentially creating entirely new organisms. Scientists even imagine expanding the four DNA bases (A,C,G,T) to twelve. But don't welcome our artificial cell overlords just yet. According to one scientist, 'When these things are created, they're going to be so weak, it'll be a huge achievement if you can keep them alive for an hour in the lab. But them getting out and taking over, never in our imagination could this happen.'"
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PC Games (Games)

Blizzard hints at new StarCraft by 2008

Submitted by
jtorry
jtorry writes "Blizzard fans were out in force in London tonight, celebrating the launch of the much anticipated World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade expansion, but another Blizzard game might have stolen the limelight. Itzik Ben Bassat, Vice President Business Development and International for Blizzard Entertainment, took the stage at HMV, Oxford Street, London, and said some rather revealing words.

"I'm a StarCraft player myself and I hope it's not a decade, and we launched StarCraft in 1998, before I'm standing here again, celebrating the next game in the series," stated Bassat while on stage.

So, while not an official date for the next game in the StarCraft series, a new game by 2008 looks very likely. We'll keep our ear to the ground for more info.

http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/15-01-2007-4502.html"
Businesses

Sunset of the Automobile Industry in the USA

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "According to a sobering report by the Associated Press, "Toyota Motor Corp. continued to gobble up market share in 2006, passing DaimlerChrysler AG as the No. 3 U.S. auto seller for the first time during a full calendar year." Next year, Toyota is expected to oust Ford as the #2 seller of automobiles. What happened to American automobile engineering?"

In Hollywood, if you don't have happiness, you send out for it. -- Rex Reed