Latest Technology News 
August 23, 2010
Technology's Biggest Myths.
Vista Is Slower Than Windows 7: While Windows 7 did seem to speed things up somewhat, a few tests actually showed some slowdown. Applications launched more slowly across the board (the most dramatic change was a 2.7-second Photoshop CS4 launch in Vista turning into a 9.6-second launch in Windows 7), and the Gateway laptop saw a slight increase in startup time (39.6 seconds in Vista; 43.6 seconds in Windows 7).
As it turns out, the "snappy" feeling Windows 7 engenders has to do with Registry tweaks and minor changes to the window manager that make the OS feel more responsive, even though it isn't that different.
The verdict: Windows 7 is faster, but not by as much as you may think. Read More Here
All Smartphones Suffer Signal Loss From a 'Grip of Death': We tested that claim with five different smartphones. We looked at RF signal strength, data speed rates, and call quality in areas with weak and strong signals.
While every phone we tested was affected by a "grip of death," none went so far as to drop calls, as the iPhone 4 did. Bottom line: If you don't have an iPhone 4, you don't need to worry too much about this antenna issue. Read More Here
High-Priced HDMI Cables Make Your HDTV Look Better: After testing different kinds of high-def video clips (including clips of football broadcasts and selections from The Dark Knight on Blu-ray), we ended up with all four cables in a dead heat: Blue Jeans Cable, Monoprice, and Monster all saw an average rating of 3.5 out of 5, with AudioQuest trailing ever so slightly at 3.4--close enough to practically be a rounding error. So save your money and stick to the cheaper cables unless you need the cables to cover a long distance. Read More Here
More Bars on Your Cell Phone Means Better Service: When we tested 3G service in 2009, we found that signal bars were poor indicators of service quality in 12 of the 13 cities in which we tested. In San Francisco, for one, signal bars correlated with service quality in only 13 percent of test results. Additionally, if you use an iPhone, you might just be seeing inaccurate readings. Apple recently announced (in connection with the iPhone 4 antenna issue) that the formula it had been using in all iPhones to display signal strength was "totally wrong" and often reported the signal as two bars higher than it should have. Oops. Read More Here
These are just a couple of myths and half truths discussed in this article. Take a few minutes and read the whole thing. It may just answer a question or two you may have been wondering about. Read More Here
July 13, 2010
Outlook gets social with Facebook.
Microsoft's Outlook Social Connector has just gotten a bit more social courtesy of a new update that has added Facebook and Windows Live Messenger integration to its mix.
Unveiled Tuesday, the latest version lets Microsoft Outlook users view status updates, wall posts, and photos of their Facebook friends without leaving their e-mail. People will also be able to add more friends to Facebook and Windows Live directly from Outlook's People pane.
Facebook and Windows Live join LinkedIn and MySpace, which Microsoft integrated into the Outlook Social Connector last winter. Making its debut last year as part of the beta of Office 2010, the Social Connector went through a major upgrade in February. The service now integrates the latest three editions of Outlook, namely 2003, 2007, and 2010.
Outlook 2010 users can grab the latest version of the Social Connector through Microsoft's Update service, while Outlook 2003 and 2007 users will find it at the Microsoft Download Center. The Facebook and Windows Live Messenger components are also available as separate downloads. Read More Here
July 09, 2010
Congress pushes for new Internet sales taxes.
The halcyon days of tax-free Internet shopping will, if Rep. Bill Delahunt gets his way, soon be coming to an abrupt end.
Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat, introduced a bill on Thursday that would rewrite the ground rules for Internet and mail order sales by eliminating the option for many Americans to shop over the Internet without paying state sales taxes.
At the moment, Americans who shop over the Internet from out-of-state vendors usually aren't required to pay sales taxes. Californians buying books from Amazon.com or cameras from Manhattan's B&H Photo, for example, won't be required to cough up the sales taxes that they would if shopping at a local mall.
This is hardly a new debate: pro-tax officials and state governments have been pressing Congress to require taxes to be collected for a decade or so. They argue that reduced sales tax revenue threatens budgets for schools and police, and say that, as a matter of fairness, online retailers should be forced to collect the same taxes that brick-and-mortar retailers do.
But with states scrambling for new sources of revenue during what may be a double-dip recession, pro-tax lobbyists are hoping that they'll have better luck this year. The National Conference of State Legislatures applauded Delahunt's legislation, saying he should be commended for allowing states to collect as much as $23 billion in new taxes.
So did the Retail Industry Leaders Association, whose tax committee members include Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Costco, AutoZone, Target, and IKEA. Read More Here.
May 25, 2010
Facebook users warned.
A British-based computer security company Sophos on Tuesday warned Facebook users to be on guard against any posting entitled "Distracting Beach Babes" or "Sexiest Video Ever", which contains a movie thumbnail of a bikini-clad woman or a woman wearing a short skirt on an exercise bike and is actually a trap designed to infect users computers.
Sophos warned Facebook clients against clicking on the thumbnail, which does not play the video but takes users to a page telling them they do not have the correct software installed.
It then tricks users into installing adware, a software package that automatically plays, displays or downloads advertisements to their computer.
