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Inevitably the past few weeks have been a lot about Windows 7. We have contributed our fair share of information and resources in the process, from nifty tips and tricks for those of you coming as far back as the first public beta, to a complete round-up of information to get you up to speed if you are upgrading to Windows 7 just now.

But what makes Windows 7 different from previous releases? First of all, Windows 7 has proved in a relatively short time span that it’s no dog, and no Vista for that matter. Vista suffered all the incompatibilities and supposedly necessary transition needed to open the path for a next generation OS. In the process, the average PC also became much faster.

Furthermore, consider this… over 90% of PCs worldwide rely on Windows. A big chunk of those computers are still running XP or even older versions. A majority of businesses didn’t go for Vista and are now showing more willingness to move to 7 eventually, which will also require more modern hardware. Finally, in the consumer end, a majority of the PCs currently running Vista came with the OS pre-installed, and that hardware is more than capable to handle 7, one less obstacle that is showing in preliminary sales statistics for retail boxed versions of the new OS.


In this edition of our weekend open forum we ask you: Have you upgraded to Windows 7 yet? If yes, what’s your favorite feature so far? If not, what’s keeping you from doing so?

Note: This is the last news story that applies for our current Acer Aspire One giveaway. The winner will be announced this Sunday.

Nvidia has reported a 74% rise in profit for the third quarter of fiscal 2010, which ended October 25. During the recently closed quarter, Nvidia posted revenue of $903.2 million, a 16% increase on quarter and up slightly from a year ago. Net income for the third quarter was $107.6 million ($.19 per diluted share), which compares to last year's net income of $61.7 million ($.11 per diluted share).

Nvidia president and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said the company "continued to make progress in the third quarter with healthy market demand across the board," and noted that enthusiasm has grown for Nvidia's Tesla platform in the server and cloud-computing markets. In the fourth quarter, Nvidia expects revenue to increase by 2% from the third quarter, with a gross margin of 40 to 42% and operating expenses around $305 million.

Catch a full list of Nvidia's fiscal third quarter highlights after the jump.

According to a post on its support forum, Intel has managed to reproduce the nasty bug that's been bricking SSDs. Intel replicated the issue on Windows 7 X64 with version 1.3 of the firmware upgrade tool and a 34nm X25-M SSD. The company has placed the bug as a high priority and will deliver a fix as soon as possible.

Last month, Intel pulled the TRIM firmware update (02HA) and associated SSD Toolbox for its 34nm SSDs after users reported problems with the new software. The bug left many X25-M owners with disk read errors and an otherwise inoperable drive. In the meantime, Intel is recommending that users hold off on updating to 02HA if they have not already. The company notes that if you have successfully applied the update, you are in the clear.

Intel is currently seeking direct feedback from members on the bug, and has accepted many of the busted drives for analysis.

Samsung announced that it has produced the world's thinnest multi-chip memory package for smartphones, portable media players, and other devices. The package measures a mere .6mm in height and contains 32GB of storage. Samsung's new product is 40% thinner and lighter than currently available memory packages.

The .6mm-package contains eight 30nm, 32Gb NAND flash chips, each measuring only 15um (.015mm) thick. This super thin multi-die memory package overcomes the conventional technology limits of a chip's resistance to external pressure when under 30um in height, and will allow for double the density of previous multi-chip packages, according to Samsung. The company has not publicly named any customers for the new product, but I imagine they'll find a home in various gadgets soon enough.

Research from iSuppli suggests that demand for memory cards of 2GB densities and higher will grow from 310 million units in 2009 to 7.7 billion units by 2012. The outfit also estimates demand for memory cards 16GB and higher to be 35 million units this year, and 530 million by 2012 -- a 15-fold growth.

DFI has announced the world's first P55-based mini-ITX motherboard, the MI P55-T36. The company's new system board will allow users to cram the power of Intel's Lynnfield processors into a tiny package, and is aimed at overclockers and DIY enthusiasts. Unfortunately, no price or availability have been disclosed.

DFI's MI P55-T36 measures 170 x 170mm, and specifications include a PCIe 2.0 16x slot, two DIMM slots for dual channel DDR3 RAM, three SATA II ports with RAID, six USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA/USB port, Gigabit Ethernet, Coaxial/Optical SPDIF, Realtek ALC 885 7.1 audio, six-phase PWM with Japanese-crafted solid capacitors, high-frequency multi-layered inductors, a dump-proof CMOS reset button, an LED POST code display, and ABS II.


Being that there is no onboard graphics chip, you'll have little choice but to occupy that PCIe 2.0 16x slot with a video card, and with support for Intel's LGA 1156 Core i5 and i7 processors, DFI's MI P55-T36 should provide the foundation for a well-geared HTPC.

Nvidia's Tegra has gained a decent amount of popularity in recent months. It currently forms the brains of Microsoft’s Zune HD and is poised to capitalize on smartphones too. With the company hoping its system-on-a-chip product to account for as much as 50% of their revenue in the next few years, it comes as no real surprise to learn a successor is already on the works.

According to Fudzilla's “high ranking industry sources,” Tegra 2 is expected to drop in 2010 with basically twice the computational and graphics power of its predecessor. The updated chip will reportedly feature a dual-core ARM9 CPU, whereas the existing Tegra uses the ARM11 platform, and GeForce 9 based dual GPUs for a superior graphic performance and perhaps mobile PhysX.

As expected, the main target for this new chip will be the smartphone market, but Nvidia also hopes to draw interest from the automotive industry, media-player segment and other portable electronic manufacturers.

Looking to alleviate growing concerns from privacy advocates around the globe, Google has launched a new service that's designed to show its users how much the search giant knows about their individual online activities. Dubbed Dashboard, the service provides information about the several Google products the account-holder might use, from which YouTube videos have been viewed to details of their Gmail conversations.

The search history tab, for example, shows the last several queries performed from that Google account. Users can simply peruse the information, adjust their privacy settings or delete some of their stored data. Google hopes that by consolidating information relative to their services in a single place people will also rediscover accounts that they had forgotten about -- I for one just closed an Orkut account that was never used.

The new service should provide users with greater transparency and control over their data. However, while much of the concern about Google's data storage practices revolves around how and what exactly the company does to analyze and profit from user information, Dashboard offers little insight into that. More details on Google Dashboard can be found in a blog entry here.

Dell has finally fully disclosed the specifications of its newly crafted ultra-thin notebook, the Adamo XPS. The laptop is only .4" (just over a centimeter) thick and weighs just over 3lbs.

Specs include a 13.4" LED-backlit 720p display, 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo ultra-low voltage CPU, GS45 integrated graphics, 4GB of DDR3-800 RAM, a 128GB SSD, 802.11a/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, DisplayPort, two USB 2.0 ports, a 20WHr (about 2.5 hours of life) or 40WHr (a bit over 5 hours of life) Li-Ion battery, and Windows 7 Home Premium X64.


The system ships with Ethernet, VGA and HDMI dongles, as well as an optional DVD burner, Blu-ray drive, and a 250GB or 500GB external HDD. Other noteworthy features include built-in location awareness, an unconventional hinge placement (which angles the laptop), capacitive touch-sensitive latching mechanism, and a full-sized keyboard with aluminum capped chiclet-style keys.

The Dell Adamo XPS' design appears to be very Mac-inspired -- and that includes its asking price. The notebook starts at $1,799 and will reportedly ship in time for the holidays.

Steam is hosting yet another fantastic weekend sale with a 50%-off, $10 copy of Mass Effect. Originally released for PC in May 2008, Mass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare (Demiurge Studios handled the PC port).

The game takes place in the year 2183, and puts the player in the shoes of Commander Shepard, an elite human solider who has set out to explore the Galaxy. The title received wide critical acclaim, with an average GameRankings score of 89.78% on PC 90.71% on the Xbox 360. A sequel (Mass Effect 2) is slated for debut on January 26, 2010.

Steam's listed system requirements include Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista, a 2.4GHz Intel Pentium 4 or 2GHz AMD processor (or faster), at least 1GB of RAM on XP or 2GB on Vista, an ATI X1300 XT/Nvidia GeForce 6800 or better, and 12GB of free storage space.

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) expects its own-brand motherboard sales to remain flat at 7 to 8 million units during 2009, but foresees significant growth next year, according to VP of ECS' channel business, David Chien. The company will expand its mid-range and high-end product lines, and plans for a growth of 20%, with a total of 8.4 to 9.6 million shipments.

With OEM motherboards included, ECS plans to move 17.5 million units in 2009, down 17% from 21 million in 2008. The loss is mostly attributed to stiff competition from rival motherboard makers like Foxconn and ASRock. The company noted that about 80% of the motherboards sold this year were Intel-based, while the remaining 20% were for AMD platforms.

Earlier this year, ECS set a goal to ship four million notebooks in 2009, but with sales for the first three quarters totaling less than 2.5 million units, the company may not meet its target.

Microsoft has detailed next week's Patch Tuesday in a post at the Microsoft Security Response Center. This time around, Redmond will issue six security bulletins -- far less than last month's record breaking 13 bulletins. Three of the six bulletins listed are rated critical -- the highest severity -- while the other three are marked as important. Five of the bulletins are said to allow remote code execution, and at least four will require a restart.

Affected software includes Windows 2000, as well as 32 and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Server 2003, Vista, and Server 2008. Windows 7 isn't named, but one of the updates applies to Windows Server 2008 R2. Microsoft Office XP, 2003, 2007, Office 2004 and 2008, as well as Open XML File Format Converter for Mac, Office Excel Viewer 2003, Office Word Viewer 2003, and the Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats are also affected.

In addition to the mentioned security patches, Microsoft will also release one or more non-security, high-priority updates, on Windows Update and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), along with a new version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. The company will host a webcast to address customer questions about the coming fixes on November 10 at 11AM PST.

It would seem that several PC vendors are feeling the effect of AMD's limited graphics card supply. The company's 40nm Radeon HD 5000 series and 55nm Radeon HD 4000 series video cards are both tight in supply at the moment. The former is said to be the result of low yields on TSMC's 40nm process, and the latter is reportedly due to AMD's conservative stance toward the sales of its 55nm graphics cards after the launch of its 40nm products.

The dry stock of GPUs is forcing PC makers to delay their mass shipment schedules by about two months, to the first quarter of 2010. AMD isn't escaping unscathed, either. Sources of DigiTimes say that the shortage has also caused a delay in the company's mass shipment of Mobility Radeon HD 5000 (Manhattan) series GPUs. AMD has moved the shipment date of its new notebook graphics chips from the fourth quarter of 2009 to the first quarter of 2010.

Last month, Netflix announced that they'd be adding a new piece of hardware to the growing list of gadgets that support Netflix streaming. That device was none other than the PlayStation 3, a suitable choice for growth given that Netflix is already supported on the Xbox 360. The only really surprising aspect of the whole affair was the timeline Netflix put forth, and as of tomorrow many PS3 owners who are also Netflix subscribers will be receiving the installation disc to make this all possible.

If you're a Netflix subscriber and asked for a disc, Netflix has already mailed them out, and will get into most people's hands by tomorrow. The PS3 will then join the Xbox 360, the Roku, TiVo DVRs, some standalone Blu-ray players and of course the PC as devices which can access streaming video through Netflix.

Netflix claimed recently that nearly half of their subscribers have used the streaming service within the past three months. That's a substantial amount, which is good news for those that pay for the service -- it means that Netflix will no doubt have a keen interest in expanding it.

Though the online movie market is still arguably in its infancy, Netflix clearly has a huge advantage over existing and potential competitors, such as Amazon and Hulu.

By now, nearly everyone can agree that Windows 7 is at the very least a marginal improvement over Windows Vista, so its success comes as no surprise. According to research by NPD Group, Microsoft sold 234% more boxed versions of Windows 7 than it did Vista during the first couple days of sales. The research firm's data covers sales from October 18 to 24 and includes Windows 7 presales.

Windows 7 has also pulled in more cash thus far, with 82% greater revenue than Vista. NPD notes that a combination of early discounts on presales and a lack of promotional activity for Windows 7 Ultimate caused the lopsided revenue. Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade was the top selling SKU, with an average selling price of $76. Windows 7 Pro Upgrade followed in sales, with an average price of $147, and the $149 Windows 7 Home Premium Family Pack came in third place.

Microsoft's new operating system experienced a 40% boost in market share, and has noticeably increased PC hardware sales.

5 new technologies that will change everything @ MSNBC
12 common Windows 7 problems solved @ TechRadar
Epic Launches Free Unreal Development Kit @ ShackNews
Mods: 26 Sexy Steampunk Gadgets & Hi-Tech Hacks @ WebUrbanist
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