Windows Live Messenger 8.1 Build 168 Public Beta

It's been so long since the last Windows Live Release, I tried the latest BETA and I was quite disappointed. A quick release of a 8.1 build lacking new features, and with bugs.

Finally a new build, much newer, build 168. I haven't tried it yet and I don't know what's new on it. I'll keep this updated.


Download.

Photoshop CS3 details unvelieved

Photoshop CS3's interface is said to closely resemble the look and feel of Adobe After Effects 7, with easy palette organization and brightness adjustment for the overall interface itself. Palettes can be moved, minimized, customized or collapsed down to a single icon with ease; even that familiar two-column toolbar can be converted into a narrower single column bar, if desired.

Another new feature substantially improving both workflow and raw performance is Live Filters, which effectively brings the dynamic editing features of Layer Styles to Filters. The pixel radius of a Gaussian Blur, for example, can be adjusted long after it has been applied with just a single mouse click. Sources report substantial performance improvements to the filters themselves, as well, and have speculated that Photoshop may now be tapping the GPU of the video card to help the CPU crunch filters.

With regard to non-destructive editing improvements, sources report that layers can now be saved as smart objects that the new editable filters can now be applied to.

With version CS3, Adobe seems to have improved on virtually every application Photoshop is employed to handle. Sources say that 3D objects can not only be imported now, but their textures can easily modified, as well. Video support has also been improved with Photoshop CS3, allowing a film strip to be imported and saved as a PSD file with markers that Adobe Premiere and After Effects can read. In addition, a new Analysis menu includes a number of measurement tools sure to please engineers and 3D artists, while the new built-in Device Library contains listings for virtually every phone and smart device in existence, allowing users to preview how their creations will appear on the screens of such products.

Substantial improvements to Photoshop's Save For Web functionality also appear in store, but are currently unfinished; support for Flash animation is expected to be incorporated.

Adobe has previously said it is targeting the release of Adobe Creative Suite 3 for the second-quarter of 2007. Sources recently corroborated that date, saying an announcement in March or April seems reasonable given the current status of development.

Continue reading.

Microsoft Office 2007 RTM too!

"Monday Microsoft will announce that the 2007 Microsoft Office system products have been released to manufacturing (RTM). This gold code milestone concludes the largest Office beta program to date, with more than 3.5 million people downloading Beta 2. RTM also marks a critical step toward worldwide business availability of the 2007 Office system, Windows Vista and Exchange Server 2007 on Nov. 30, 2006."

Windows Media Player 11 goes final

There is nothing new at first sight in this final version, but I guess it's now stable and has no bugs.

Go quickly and download it.

Windows Live Messenger 8.1 Beta public

After some time on private beta (which I tried to get in), Windows Live Messenger 8.1 is available as public beta.

Check what's new.

Download.

DirectX 10 Preview

At this time everything is around the new graphics card that are about to come out, compatible with DirectX 10, and everybody is wondering what the new DirectX version (only for Windows Vista, remember) will be able to do.

I found this great and complete article about it. Have a look at it, it's really worth it.

Link to article.

Firefox 2: 30 downloads per second

Firefox 2.0 has for sure been a great success, they had 30 downloads per second!

"What an amazing week it's been. In just the first 24 hours, there were more than 2 million people using the new Firefox 2 browser. We were seeing downloads as high as 30 per second. 30 per second!!! Wow."

But don't stop there. It's time to revisit all those friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family members and make sure they upgrade to Firefox 2. It's time to reach out to new people and show them the better Web experience that they can have with Firefox 2. It's time to reach out to your IT team, your school lab administrators, your department heads, your local businesses, your city or community libraries. It's time to take Firefox 2 to the next level."

Source: http://www.spreadfirefox.com/node/25623

Firefox 2.0 finally released

Even though the release date was scheduled for yesterday, and I gave you a download link the day before yesterday, I haven't seen the site updated until today:

http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/products/firefox/

Enjoy, and if you want to share your opinion about it, feel free to leave a comment.
You can check my previous review of it for further info.

Microsoft Windows Defender final

Windows Defender, the anti-spyware software from Microsoft has gone Gold.

You can download it from here.

"Windows Defender is a free program that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software. It features Real-Time Protection, a monitoring system that recommends actions against spyware when it's detected and minimizes interruptions and helps you stay productive."

XP to Vista backup tool

As you can remember, there was a tool in XP to backup the info and copy it from one XP to another.

Microsoft is releasing a similar tool to backup up your information, and thus transfer it to your Windows Vista installation.
The intention of this, is public to adopt Windows Vista much earlier.

The "Windows Easy Transfer Companion", as they called it, will let you transfer the info (applications, settings, emails, address books and more) from your XP installation to your Vista using a cable or a network.

IE7 final released

Internet Explorer latest version, IE7, was released last week.

I didn't post anything about it because I didn't realize. I actually haven't tried it, I have still installed an old Beta (don't know which).

I'm not planning on install it at least by now, if I happen to install it I'll make a review and will post some screenshots here, but since I'm mostly a Firefox user, I don't really like MS explorer (hey, don't think I'm one of those MS haters, I like many things of MS stuff!), I don't feel like installing it. Anyway, it must be pretty much the same as the latest betas, only a few bug fixes I guess.

Check the official site at MS for more info.

Firefox 2.0 to be released on October 24

My favorite browser, Mozilla Firefox, will launch the final release of its second version next week, on October 24.
This version has been in development since the beginning of this year. Although Firefox 2.0 looks the same as 1.5 at first sight, it includes a lot of cool brand new features, that without any doubt, makes web browsing easier and quicker. Right now I'm using Mozilla Firefox 2.0 RC2

Tabs. Tabs are the most important invention since I started using Internet about 8 years ago. I'm one of those that makes a search and opens hundreds of site results. I had to open a different window for each page before, now you only have one window, with all those sites in, and that's useful, because it's not a mess anymore. What's new with tabs in Firefox 2?
Have you ever opened 20 tabs, and while you were checking them, your computer suddenly shut down? or you clicked the wrong button and restarted your OS? You lost your opened tabs before. Now, when you open Firefox again, you have the option to show up the same tabs you had opened before. Even if you closed by accident a tab, you have a "recently closed tabs" menu so you can open it again.

Spell Checking. This is maybe the only totally new feature since it didn't exit in previous versions. In Firefox 2.0 you have the possibility to spell-check any text box and in any language (you can add different dictionaries). I have to say it works pretty well, and even though it only check orthographic mistakes, it's very useful to see typos. It works just like Word, underlining in red the words you have mistaken. Right click on them and you get the list of possible correct words (see image).

User Interface. The UI, or the appearance of the program, hasn't changed much, but has improved a little bit, showing a more modern and fashion style.

Click to enlarge

Searching. No doubt this is an important feature, over all when you need to find something, and you need to do it fast. You could also call it "googling" since it's the search engine it uses by default, and for me the best searching site ever. There is only one little addition here. When you type something in the search bar (check image) it automatically makes suggestions to you as to what you could be searching for.

Those are maybe the biggest new things in Firefox 2, but you will find more!
And the last but not least, I want to say that Firefox browser is used by 11.4 percent of Internet users (data from July this year). No wonder, this browser for me has a perfect mark! 10/10

Firefox to get brainstorming

The first Firefox version 1.0 was released in 2004, latest current version is 2.0 Beta 2, and the final release of FF2 will come by the end of this year.
Although, they have opened up a website to brainstorm features for Firefox 3.
Anyone can do it, you can see the list of already suggested features, and send your own ones here.

And do you want to have a look at how Firefox 3 is looking by now? Then download the latest build of the very first alphas made available lately.

More info here.

Microsoft Office for Linux

Within the next couple of years, a linux version of Microsoft Office will be released.
Stuart Cohen, chief executive for the Open Source Development Labs, said: "They did it once with Apple, they will do it again with Linux"

I'm a Linux & Windows fan at the same time (or rather a partial time fan lol), and in my opinion it's a great new for both parts.
For Windows, the Office software will be in one more market, and on the Linux side, Open Office will have to improve if they want their software to be still used.