Microsoft have announced an update to Windows XP Mode today that will make it a more accessible to PCs in small and midsize businesses who want to migrate to Windows 7 Professional but have applications that still require Windows XP. Windows XP Mode will no longer require hardware virtualization technology to run. This change makes it extremely easy for businesses to use Windows XP Mode to address any application incompatibility roadblocks they might have in migrating to Windows 7. Windows XP Mode will of course continue to use hardware virtualization technology such as Intel VT (Intel Virtualization Technology) or AMD-V if available. You can find more information and download the update which will go live later today here.
Documentation obtained by Joystiq – and subsequently confirmed with two separate sources – reveals that "USB Mass Storage Device Support on Xbox 360" will soon be a reality. The document, authored by a senior software development engineer at Microsoft, states that due to "increased market penetration of high-capacity, high throughput USB mass storage devices, a 2010 Xbox 360 system update" will allow consumers to save and load game data from USB devices. The update is purportedly coming in Spring 2010.
Once the update occurs, Xbox 360 owners will be able to download Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Live Indie games, Games on Demand, DLC and Title Updates to the storage device. "USB storage devices may, however, have far greater memory capacity than MUs (at the date of writing, the largest MU is 512 MB), and may therefore support previously infeasible operations-such as installation of a full disc-based title." That's right, you can also store disc-based games to the USB device; however, it will require the disc to be in the tray for authentication, identical to the current functionality.
According to the document, the USB mass storage device must be at least 1GB and the system will do a compatibility check. "The system partition occupies 512 MB of space, and by default the consumer partition occupies the remainder of the device capacity, or 16 GB, whichever is smaller." Upon inserting a blank USB storage device, "consumers are offered two choices: 'Configure now' or 'Customize'." The... [Read More]
The Internet Explorer 9 "test drive" (developer platform preview) is available at ietestdrive.com. The preview build will not include the UI elements of Internet Explorer 9 but will allow developers to test the new JavaScript engine and HTML5/CSS3 support.
IE 9 will take advantage of the power of the GPU for all page rendering and developers can exploit this using CSS, DHTML and javascript. A new JS engine (codenamed Chakra) will also be built into Internet Explorer 9 with greater interoperability and standards support all round. Features such as rounded corner CSS support will be built in.
Here is how various browsers peformed on the Flying Images test included with the IE9 developer preview.
IE9: 46fps Firefox: 17fps Chrome: 1fps IE8: 1fps
That quick test was run on a Dual Core Intel Atom @ 2ghz with the Nvidia Ion (Basically a Geforce 9400) so chances are the results will be a lot better on high end hardware.
It does show that hardware acceleration appears to make a huge difference on lower end hardware.
It would appear Ubi.com has been hacked because of the extreme DRM included with there latest games. Assassin's Creed 2 and Silent Hunter 5 require the player to have an internet connection and be connected to Ubi's servers to play the game, if you loose connection to the Ubi servers you carnt play the game until a connection is re established. Sounds like a great idea huh?
A message was posted on the Piratebay encouraging people to denial of service (DoS) atack Ubi.com
The message stated:
Quote:
The network was a massive protest against the DRM protection from UbiSoft.
This new method of digital rights management, which requires a complete game for #the availability of a permanent Internet connection.
DRM does no longer start the game and record the checkpoint passage in case of absence or break the Internet connection.
Games that already have this mechanism: Assassin's Creed 2 and Silent Hunter 5.
Join the protest!
Remember Only Moscow Time! 15:00, 18:00, 20:00, 22:00, 00:00 <<<Today 13 Th Of March! Change Local Time To Moscow...
The Ubi.com website currently displays this message:
It would appear angry gamers have spoken, thinking back to what happend with EA's Spore could Assassin's Creed 2 and Silent Hunter 5 be... [Read More]
Signup for the Blur beta and get a free 48 hour Xbox LIVE trial.
Blur is the ultimate Powered-up racing experience, dropping you into electrified action with a mass of cars targeting the finish line and battling each other as they trade paint. Travel the globe from L.A. and San Francisco to Spain, the UK and more to take on the best the streets have to offer. FilePlanet has secured a limited amount of keys for users world-wide!
Don't want to sign up? No problem, check back March 8th for this beta here at Digiex.
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