Microsoft said on Tuesday that it is delaying the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 because of a newly uncovered glitch.

The software maker said there is a "compatibility issue" between the final XP service pack and Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS), a retail chain management program for small and medium-sized businesses.

Microsoft finalised the code for Windows XP Service Pack (SP3) last week and had planned to make it broadly available as of Tuesday.

"In order to make sure customers have the best possible experience, we have decided to delay releasing Windows XP SP3 to Windows Update and Microsoft Download Center," the company said in a statement.

The glitch also exists between Microsoft Dynamics RMS and Windows Vista SP1, though that product has already been broadly released. Microsoft started pushing out Vista SP1 last week via Automatic Updates.

"To help protect our customers, we plan to put filtering in place shortly to prevent Windows Update from offering both service packs to systems running Microsoft Dynamics RMS," Microsoft said. "Once filtering is in place, we expect to release Windows XP SP3 to Windows Update and Download Center."

Microsoft advised those running Microsoft Dynamics RMS not to install either service pack. The company said a "fix is currently in testing and will be available as soon as that process is complete".

Credit: XP update delayed over glitch from CNET News.com

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Supercomputer steps up the pace

BlueGene/L will be succeeded by the new supercomputers The world's fastest commercial supercomputer has been launched by computer giant IBM. Blue Gene/P is three times more potent than the current fastest machine, BlueGene/L, also built by IBM. The latest number cruncher is capable of operating at so called "petaflop" speeds - the equivalent of 1,000 trillion calculations per second. Approximately 100,000 times more powerful than a PC, the first machine has been bought by the US government. It will be installed at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois later this year. Two further machines are planned for US laboratories and a fourth has been bought by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council for its Daresbury Laboratory Cheshire. The ultra powerful machines will be used for complex simulations to study everything from particle physics to nanotechnology. Expansion pack Currently the most powerful machine is Blue Gene/L, housed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. TOP FIVE SUPERCOMPUTERS Blue Gene/L, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California. (280.6 teraflops; 131,072 processors) Jaguar, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee (101.7 teraflops; 11,706 processors) Red Storm, Sandia National Laboratories, USA (101.4 teraflops; 26,544 processors) BGW Blue Gene, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, New York (91.29 teraflops; 40,960 processors) New York Blue, Stony Brook/BNL, New York Center for Computational Sciences, New York (82.161 teraflops; 36,864 processors) Source: Top 500 Supercomputers Used to ensure that the US nuclear weapons stockpile remains safe and reliable, it has achieved 280.6 teraflops or trillions of calculations per second. The machine packs 131,072 processors and is theoretically capable of reaching 367 teraflops. By comparison the standard one petaflop Blue Gene/P comes with 294,912-processors connected by a high-speed, optical network. However, it can be expanded to pack 884,736 processors, a configuration that would allow the machine to compute 3,000 trillion calculations per second (three petaflops). "Blue Gene/P marks the evolution of the most powerful supercomputing platform the world has ever known," said Dave Turek, vice president of deep computing, IBM. Cell division The new Blue Gene computers form just a part of IBM's supercomputing portfolio. The cell processor was originally designed for Sony's PlayStation 3 The world's biggest computer-services company has built almost half of the 500 fastest supercomputers. It is also currently building a bespoke supercomputer for the DOE's Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. Codenamed Roadrunner, it will be able to crunch through 1.6 thousand trillion calculations per second. The computer will contain 16,000 standard processors working alongside 16,000 "cell" processors, designed for the PlayStation 3 (PS3). Each cell chip consists of eight processors controlled by a master unit that can assign tasks to each member of the processing team. Each cell is capable of 256 billion calculations per second. The power of the cell chip means Roadrunner needs far fewer processors than its predecessors. Another contender for top supercomputer has been unveiled by Sun. Its Constellation machine will be able to run at a maximum speed of 1.7 petaflops. The first Constellation machine, called Ranger, is being put together for the University of Texas at Austin and will run at a modest 500 teraflops.

Source: BBC News

Comparing Windows Vista editions

Which one's right for you?

Over the past year or so of working with Windows Vista, I've gotten all kinds of questions from clients, friends, and family. What are the cool new features? Is it really more secure? Will I have to upgrade my computer hardware?

As Windows Vista went gold and information about the various editions was released, I started hearing a new question. Which edition will I need? With six editions of Windows Vista available, the choice can seem daunting. By the end of this article, I hope you'll see that the choice really just boils down to two or three editions and isn't difficult at all.

The editions

Six editions of Windows Vista are available:

Windows Media Center, included with Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate, allows computers with a TV tuner to record and play TV shows

Narrowing the field

Whether you are a home or business user, you really need concern yourself with only a few editions, so let's start by narrowing the field a bit.

You can eliminate both Windows Vista Starter and Windows Vista Enterprise from consideration right away. Windows Vista Starter is sold only with new PCs in emerging markets and is not available at all to countries and regions with more developed technology markets, such as the United States, Canada, the European Union, Japan, and Australia. Windows Vista Enterprise is sold through volume licensing, so if your company licenses it, you'll be using it. Not much choice there.

This leaves four main editions for consideration:

It's tempting to consider the first three of these editions (Home Basic, Home Premium, and Business) as roughly analogous to Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Media Center Edition, and Windows XP Professional. However, the disparity of features between Windows Vista Home Basic and Home Premium is greater than that between Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Media Center Edition. Home Basic does not include the Windows Aero user experience, Windows Mobility Center (a single place to adjust common mobile PC settings), or Tablet PC capabilities. Home Basic also does not include other media features like Windows Movie Maker or Windows DVD Maker.

Windows Vista DVD Maker, available in Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate, enables you to create DVDs of your home movies and photos

For me (and I suspect for most people), this pretty much eliminates Windows Vista Home Basic from the competition. I don't recommend it to anyone who asks, because Home Premium provides so many more features for a relatively small price difference. That isn't to say that Home Basic doesn't have its place. On low-end computers used primarily for e‑mail and Internet access, it might be an ideal choice. But if you're the type of person who likes a richer set of features, Home Basic is probably not for you.

Choosing the right edition

And then there were three. For most people, the choice of Windows Vista editions will come down to the following:

With Windows Anytime Upgrade, you're covered anyway

Windows Anytime Upgrade gives people who purchase Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, or Business the ability to upgrade to a more powerful edition at any time, online, for a price that should be equal to or less than what the upgrade edition would cost.

In other words, if you decide on Windows Vista Home Premium or Business now, and then later decide that you need the extras that Windows Vista Ultimate provides, you can simply buy a new product key online, unlock the new edition, and you're good to go.

-Note this Post is © 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Computers 'can raise attainment'

Only a minority of schools have embraced ICT wholeheartedly High levels of computer technology in schools can improve attainment to an extent, a four-year study has found. The £34m ICT Test Bed project by computer agency Becta in three deprived areas of England showed gains in some GCSE and primary school test scores. Ofsted inspectors tended to disregard ICT, and computer use was inhibited by assessment methods, the study found. But Ofsted denied the report findings, saying its inspections highlighted the effectiveness of ICT. The study involved 23 primary schools, five secondaries and three further education colleges. These were in Barking and Dagenham, Sandwell and Durham - all areas of relative though different social and economic disadvantage. Varied results They drew up their own plans and were given money - totalling £34m - to spend on "high levels" of hardware, software and training. Results of the Test Bed schools were compared with similar institutions elsewhere and with national averages, in a study evaluated by Manchester Metropolitan and Nottingham Trent universities: at Key Stage 1 (aged seven): "no significant differences" in Key Stage 2 tests (aged 11), the rate of improvement was higher for Test Bed schools and some even passed the national average for English at Key Stage 3 (14-year-olds): no significant differences at GCSE (aged 16): no difference in overall pass rate, but Test Bed pupils did better than those in comparator schools in getting five good grades including English and maths post-16: little change - Test Bed students scored same points per exam but took fewer A-levels than comparators. The report says one of the reasons for the greater gains in primary schools may be that there was more scope for flexibility in the curriculum. The research also investigated teachers' concerns about Ofsted inspections. "There was a pattern of inspectors disregarding the use of ICT as an integral part of learning across the curriculum and, in some cases, not accepting evidence presented through ICT," the report said. If Becta is concerned about the 11 schools their report refers to, we would welcome them sharing their concerns with Ofsted Ofsted spokeswoman "Clearly, in ICT-rich schools ICT is no longer 'merely' a curriculum subject but a vehicle for learning across the whole curriculum and this needs to be built into inspection criteria." Ofsted denied its inspectors disregarded the use of computer technology, and gave examples of school inspection reports that had highlighted the effective use of ICT to raise achievement. A spokeswoman said: "If Becta is concerned about the 11 schools their report refers to, we would welcome them sharing their concerns with Ofsted." Becta also said testing needed to change. This was illustrated by the significant gains that boys made in writing skills - a key weakness nationally - when they worked on computers. "Assessment practices, particularly the requirement to complete all examinations in handwriting, are not aligned with schools' increasing use of ICT for students' writing," the report said. Schools struggled to improve links with pupils' homes and to cater for those without computers or the internet. Schools had found it "hugely time-consuming", prohibitively costly in software and "fraught with problems". 'Positive' Over the past decade the government has spent almost a quarter of a million pounds per school on ICT - more than £5bn in all. An independent evaluation Becta published in January said teachers and pupils had found the introduction of ICT positive and motivating. "There has been a shift in the views of teachers, in particular, with initial scepticism and apprehension being gradually replaced by optimism and confidence." But it said: "At present the evidence on attainment is somewhat inconsistent, although it does appear that, in some contexts, with some pupils, in some disciplines, attainment has been enhanced." Schools Minister Jim Knight said: "The Test Bed project demonstrates just how ICT has the power to transform young people's learning - both at school and beyond the school gate." He added: "We will be looking to capitalise on this project and replicate it across the country."

Source: BBC News

The Lexmark X3550 is a budget-priced all-in-one inkjet printer for home users who want an inexpensive multifunction on hand for occasional tasks.

Print - Copy - Photos - USB - Card Reader - Wireless (Option)

The X3550 comes standard as a USB multifunction printer, but you can also upgrade with optional wireless network card for wireless printing across your home's Wi-Fi network.
If a high print volume isn't high up on your priority list, this multifunction will meet your various printing, scanning, and copying needs.
This printer can also operate stand-alone with its built in multi-card reader.

Source: CNET

YouTube reaches out to global audience

By Richard Waters in San Francisco and Maija Palmer in Paris

Some of the most successful members of the “Web 2.0” generation of consumer internet companies are racing to go global, in a wave of international expansion that echoes the outsized ambitions of the first wave of dotcoms from the US.

YouTube on Tuesday took the wraps off its first nine international sites, the first step in what company executives say is a strategy is intended eventually to make it a local mainstay in dozens of countries around the world and fend off local copy-cats that have sprung up in recent months.

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The news comes days after Flickr, the second most popular online photo sharing site in the US, took steps to live up to its claim of being “the eyes of the world” by launching in seven new languages.

Others that acted faster claim to be showing early success in attracting global attention. Since starting out with an international strategy a year ago, the share of MySpace’s audience that comes from outside the US has risen from around 15 to 40 per cent, said Travis Katz, head of international operations.

The overseas push comes as some of the US companies that pioneered new ideas in what has become known as “social media” are already facing entrenched local competition in many countries from local rivals that in many cases have copied their ideas. The boom in social networking, user-generated video sites, blogging and photo-sharing has attracted a global wave of entrepreneurs, much as the earlier rise of dotcoms like Amazon, eBay and Yahoo drew copy-cats around the world.

YouTube, for instance, is facing fierce local language competition in some of the biggest markets in Europe. In France, video upload site Dailymotion drew a slightly bigger audience than YouTube in May, while Germany’s MyVideo nearly equaled YouTube’s audience in that country, according to comScore.

YouTube executives said the company would use its global reach as one of the main weapons in its international expansion. “What we bring to the table is a true global audience,” said Chad Hurley, one of YouTube’s co-founders, and all material uploaded to any of the company’s sites around the world will be available to all viewers. “We’re not filtering out any content,” he added.

The promise to create a single global database could cause legal and cultural tensions as YouTube becomes a bigger local media player in new markets overseas. It has already run into headwinds in recent months in Thailand and Turkey, where videos posted on its site have been accused of breaking local laws. In both cases YouTube removed the offending items to prevent its service being blocked.

Hitachi: Move the train with your brain 

By HIROKO TABUCHI, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jun 22, 8:24 AM ET
 

HATOYAMA, Japan - Forget the clicker: A new technology in Japan could let you control electronic devices without lifting a finger simply by reading brain activity.

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The "brain-machine interface" developed by Hitachi Inc. analyzes slight changes in the brain's blood flow and translates brain motion into electric signals.

A cap connects by optical fibers to a mapping device, which links, in turn, to a toy train set via a control computer and motor during one recent demonstration at Hitachi's Advanced Research Laboratory in Hatoyama, just outside Tokyo.

"Take a deep breath and relax," said Kei Utsugi, a researcher, while demonstrating the device on Wednesday.

At his prompting, a reporter did simple calculations in her head, and the train sprang forward — apparently indicating activity in the brain's frontal cortex, which handles problem solving.

Activating that region of the brain — by doing sums or singing a song — is what makes the train run, according to Utsugi. When one stops the calculations, the train stops, too.

Underlying Hitachi's brain-machine interface is a technology called optical topography, which sends a small amount of infrared light through the brain's surface to map out changes in blood flow.

Although brain-machine interface technology has traditionally focused on medical uses, makers like Hitachi and Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. have been racing to refine the technology for commercial application.

Hitachi's scientists are set to develop a brain TV remote controller letting users turn a TV on and off or switch channels by only thinking.

Honda, whose interface monitors the brain with an MRI machine like those used in hospitals, is keen to apply the interface to intelligent, next-generation automobiles.

The technology could one day replace remote controls and keyboards and perhaps help disabled people operate electric wheelchairs, beds or artificial limbs.

Initial uses would be helping people with paralyzing diseases communicate even after they have lost all control of their muscles.

Since 2005, Hitachi has sold a device based on optical topography that monitors brain activity in paralyzed patients so they can answer simple questions — for example, by doing mental calculations to indicate "yes" or thinking of nothing in particular to indicate "no."

"We are thinking of various kinds of applications," project leader Hideaki Koizumi said. "Locked-in patients can speak to other people by using this kind of brain machine interface."

A key advantage to Hitachi's technology is that sensors don't have to physically enter the brain. Earlier technologies developed by U.S. companies like Neural Signals Inc. required implanting a chip under the skull.

Still, major stumbling blocks remain.

Size is one issue, though Hitachi has developed a prototype compact headband and mapping machine that together weigh only about two pounds.

Another would be to tweak the interface to more accurately pick up on the correct signals while ignoring background brain activity.

Any brain-machine interface device for widespread use would be "a little further down the road," Koizumi said.

He added, however, that the technology is entertaining in itself and could easily be applied to toys.

"It's really fun to move a model train just by thinking," he said.

Cyber attack on Pentagon e-mail

A hacker has managed to penetrate one of the Pentagon's e-mail systems, leading officials to take up to 1,500 accounts offline.

The e-mail system did not contain classified information relating to military operations, a spokesman said.

The Pentagon says it rebuffs hundreds of attempted attacks on its computer systems each day.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said that a "variety of precautionary measures" were being taken.

"Elements of the... unclassified email system were taken offline yesterday afternoon due to a detected penetration," Mr Gates said.

He said it was expected that the system would be online again very soon.

Few details were available about the exact nature of the attack.

A Pentagon spokesman said attacks could come from a variety of sources including: "recreational hackers, self-styled cyber-vigilantes, various groups with nationalistic and ideological agendas, trans-national actors and nation-states."

Officials would not say whether the hacker was able to read e-mails sent on the system.

Asked if his own e-mail account was affected, Mr Gates said: "I don't do e-mail. I'm a low-tech person."

Source: BBC News