15 years of SMS
July 27, 2007
In July 1992, Nokia succeeded sending the first text message from one mobile phone to another. The first commercial text message was sent in December 1992, using the Vodafone network in Great Britain.
Going by the name of SMSC, the first software of it`s kind could transmit 10 text messages in a single second.
SMS (Short Message Service) soon became a fast,relaiable and easy-to-use mode of communication, bringing a lor of joy in the mobile-communication companies wich get aproximately 66% of their data-sending services income from the use of SMS ( according to CanalPDA ).
The success is proved also by the number of text messages wrote all around the world is just 24 hours - 7 BILLION !
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GET QUOTEHard blow given to software piracy
July 24, 2007
As a result of the collaboration between the United States and China 500 million dollars worth of pirated software was confiscated; the forgered goods include Microsoft and Symatec products. The Operation began in early 2006 and has lead, until now, to the arrest of 25 implicated persons in a small or large measure in the soft piracy illegal business.
The forgery of various goods, from a multitude of industries was the main reason why China had altercations with potential business partners, from Europe and United States. The number per units that has been confiscated rises up to 290 million CDs and authenticity certificates and there have been 6 factories closed and unpacking points for the counterfeit software. The value of 500 million dollars rises up to just 10 percent of the annual losses registered in China as a result of piracy, as stated by Business Software Alliance.
Read full entry »Mozilla has over 30% of the user market in Europe
July 17, 2007
Europe proves to be a bastion the internet browser Mozilla Firefox, the Internet Explorer alternative from Microsoft Corp. In Europe the Firefox users are 27.8 % of the total internet users, while in the USA the numbers are a lot lower: 19%.
The highest use of Firefox, in a country, has been estimated to be in Slovenia, Finland and Slovakia, where a rate of over 40 % has been encountered. Germany, Ireland and Poland don’t fall to back behind and are beginning to use the open-source browser more and more.
DirectX 9 vs DirectX 10: Nothing special till now
July 8, 2007
When its characteristics were drown, DirectX 10 was extremely promising, in a degree that it would, again, change the way software developers aboard real time 3D programming. Not only would the graphic cards be given the possibility to directly calculate the shaders per pixel, the developers would have had the possibility to relieve the processor of useless calculus, that could have been taken over, with the help of DirectX 10 of course, by the GPU, fact that would have led us to new horizons in terms of graphics. ( the complexity and possibilities of a GPU have reached and i some cases surpassed the possibilities of a classic PC microprocessor ).
For example, with the help of adequate video card, many of the details simulated through software could be “worked” more directly by the video card, leading to a greater productivity and efficiency of the system.
There could be a lot of great stuff that could be accomplished and processed by the ability of the GPU, through complex geometrical operations. We could see particle systems, fine detailed models, i.e. grass or animal fur, that could change their position according to external factors, i.e. wind, sun, storm etc , basically procedural geometry for dynamic applications. These features could be available sooner or later, being influenced and limited by the hardware’s capabilities , when it comes to the issues of implementing these features promised by DirectX 10.
Alas! Concrete improvements already exist right in this moment, brought by the latest Microsoft Corporation API. It has been managed, in a certain degree, the reduction of the processors loadspeed, fact that can be sensed in the systems performances, detail that can lead to a broader and complex scene or environment in graphic applications.
All-in-All DirectX 10 offers programmers the possibility to concentrate on more punctual objectives, when it comes to hardware, but at this hour developers are limited by the shaders length and are affected by the rest of hardware equipment. There will exist a bloom of the DirectX 10 applications, once the rest of the hardware components develop as well (memory, motherboard etc).
For the moment many of the features present in DirectX 10 could have been easily implemented in the previous version, DirectX 9 and the new features don’t really bring anything spectacular from we could have gotten from the previous version of AP .
In present, the reality is the games that will be released in the future years will come with a full compatibility for DirectX9, the chance for DirectX 10 to make a name for themselfs, would be to have certain applications that run only on it, for example the latest/future generation of games. O the other hand, the launching in this moment of a game fully compatible with DirectX 10, alongside the insistences on the effects and advantages that it proposes could mean the suicide for any game producer ( except possibly Microsoft ). The main reasons is that, in this moment, as it will be in the near future, the majority of users still use DirectX 9 platforms, and another reason would be that most users hesitate to use a DirectX 10 platform which isn’t fully matured and that doen’t have that certain “stickiness” to the public.
As a particular and exclusive development of DirectX 10 applications is out of the question, it seems that the porting of games from DirectX 9 to DirextX 10 isn’t possible, for the simple fact the producers don’t wish to spend money/time on it,as the users don’t require it. As soon as the users request it, conversions will start.
For now, at high resolutions, of over 2560×1600 even the most powerfull video cards on the market ( like NV 8800 Ultra, GTX , ATI HD 2900XT) are completely outdone ( a resolution that would be absolutely necessary for a 30″ display i.e. ) so we can’t even take in consideration thinking of DirectX 10 entry-level or mid-level cards that would be compatible with it and unfortunately these are the only products available at a reasonable price 150 USD ( ATI HD 2400, NV 8600GT) or 250 USD (ATI HD 2600, NV 8800GTS).
To sum it up, the high priced and performant video card addicts are to few in numbers to be taken in consideration by the leading gaming producers. (source : Anandtech )
Read full entry »Lynux with better security options
June 16, 2007
After it announced a collaboration with Sybase last month, Red Hat now seeks to establish connections with Symatec.
The 2 companies have created a pair of services that will allow the Linux users an easier access to high security options. They can chose from packages that include Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Red Hat Application Stack, together with Symantec Critical System Protection. The packages are targeted at small and medium sized companies.
The Symatec product covers broad array of problems, like protection from the risk of day zero and memory based attacks. As Symantec Critical System Protection covers server and application protection, the two companies will sell their products as Secure Server Host and Secure Server Host for Applications.
Read full entry »Apple`s SAFARI now for windows too
June 12, 2007
Apple.com made a big anouncement a couple of days ago. They launched Safari 3 Public Beta (MAC OS`s default browser) for Windows. They`r advertisment on the website is “The world`s best browser.Now on Windows, too”.
On it`s download section, apple.com has a special column called ” Why you`ll love Safari”. There you can find the following statements :
* BLAZING PERFORMANCE - Safari is the fastest web browser on any platform.
* ELEGANT USER INTERFACE - Safari’s clean look lets you focus on the web — not your browser.
* EASY BOOKMARKS - Organize your bookmarks just like you organize music in iTunes.
* BUILT-IN RSS - RSS tells you when new content is added to your favorite sites.
… and many others ( about 12 of them )
On the first page of apple.com/safari they say this browser is up to 2 times faster than Internet Explorer.
I personally tested this browser and it`s true ..it`s a lot faster that IE but not so much than Firefox . The thing that upset me is that it uses a lot of memory, aproximatly 3 times more than Firefox.
You can download a demo movie of the program here !
Thunderbird v2.0 online
April 22, 2007
A few days ago, the Mozilla Foundation launched an updated version of the world acclaimed open source e-mail client, Thunderbird. Thunderbird 2 offers, according to Mozilla officials, a higher security level and a better spam filtration system.
The new system gives the common user the ability to mark an existing message with tags, offered in standard by the program or custom made by the user. Equally as important is the ability to get back to a previous message through a click, just like in a browser.
