Kudos to reader Jeremy Gilbert for writing in to let us know that Microsoft recently released version 2.0 of its free Security Essentials antivirus program. It was actually made available last week, but slipped beneath our radar since Microsoft dropped it on the down-low.
We included MSE in last year's security software roundup, awarding the program an 8 verdict for its lean footprint and capable scan engine. According to How To Geek, version 2.0 includes a revamped heuristic scan engine, network traffic inspection to protect against network-based exploits, and tighter integration with Internet Explorer.
How well do the upgrades work? We haven't played around with MSE 2.0 yet, but you can bet we'll address the new features when we do.
The Nexus S may represent the latest and greatest pure Google experience, but as usual the folks over at iFixit aren’t happy until they’ve torn through the warranty sticker in the name of science. So if you’re like me and have an insatiable curiosity for mobile hardware, feel free to check out the linked gallery for a full breakdown of all the components.
The teardown confirms that the shipping models have stuck with a 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 Hummingbird processor, 16 GB of flash memory, and 512 MB of ram as specified in the press release, but you’ll have to take a look for yourself to see how they were able to fit it all into such a small package. Overall the unit scored a 7 out of 10 for ease of repair, which compares pretty favorably to the iPhone 4 which took almost twice as many steps to detail the disassembly alone.
Google’s new Chrome OS doesn’t have much going for it if you’re a power user, but an innovative new YouTube ad campaign might just make you think twice about the benefits of cloud computing.
The video itself is only about 5 minutes long, but the notebook death toll hits a whopping 25 machines which all face horrendous slow motion demises. I could try and describe each one to you, but let’s just summarize by saying Google wants to remind you that Laptop hell is a real place, and at the moment it’s filled with CR-48’s.
I somehow doubt anyone has really lost a laptop this way, but if you have the stomach for it, you can find the full clip after the jump.
The picture above might look like a Photoshop masterpiece from your worst nightmare, but let me assure you this is no joke. It came from a marketing webinar put on by two companies that service Verizon and AT&T showcasing a new system that helps providers figure out where your traffic is going so they can charge accordingly. In a nutshell this is everything the EFF warned us about, and is pretty much the doomsday scenario from the net neutrality bible.
It’s hard to imagine the carriers getting away with this type of behavior in the current market, but it does point out that not only does the technology exist, but several companies are on the market trying to hock the concept as we speak. Either way it sounds like the cell carriers have all but determined they need to increase revenues, and this could very well be the future we face. Below is a direct quote from the webinar that Wired managed to lift from a trusted source.
“[We use] a number of different methods to accurately identify the application -- methods like heuristic analysis, behavioral and historical analysis, deep packet inspection, and a number of other techniques. What's key is that we have the best application identification available on the market, which means that even applications that are encrypted or use other methods to evade detection will be correctly identified and classified... We essentially feed this real-time information about traffic and application usage into the policy and charging system. Each subscriber has a particular service plan that they sign up for, and they're as generic or as personalized as the operator wants.”
Cats and Dogs living together? Mass hysteria? Let us know after the jump.
Yet another Friday arrives, which means it's time for Photo Awesome--this time with more 3D-tastic awesomeness! We’ve been buried in a metric ton of gadgets and gizmos for our latest edition of Maximum Tech, many of which require the use of 3D glasses.
Ugly, hideous 3D glasses. It’s puzzled us since we started receiving 3D products: Why do the glasses always have to look so incredibly wonky? Anyhow, in lieu of a much longer post, like the one from last week, we’ve decided to ask you, our valued readers, which member of your hard working, online team looks stupidest in 3D specs? Among the three of us (Alex, Amber and myself), we reached the consensus that I, indeed, am wearing the ugliest set of 3D glasses (the nose piece is ridiculous). What do you think?
Hit the jump for individual photos of some of the ugliest shades you've ever seen!
A team led by Sandia National Laboratories researcher Jianyu Huang have developed a battery that, if dropped, you're never going to find it. It's the world's smallest battery with an anode one seven-thousandth the thickness of a human hair, which was formed inside a transmission electron microscope (TEM) at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT).
"This experiment enables us to study the charging and discharging of a battery in real time and at atomic scale resolution, thus enlarging our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms by which batteries work," Huang explains. "What motivated our work is that lithium ion batteries have important applications, but the low energy and power densities of current LIBs cannot meet the demand. To improve performance, we wanted to understand LIBs from the bottom up."
The battery consists of a single tin oxide nanowire anode 100 nanometers in diameter and 10 micrometers long, a bulk lithium cobalt oxide cathode three millimeters long, and an ionic liquid electrolyte. What this does is allow the research team to observe changes in atomic structure during the charging and discharging phase.
"Our observations — which initially surprised us — tell battery researchers how these dislocations are generated, how they evolve during charging, and offer guidance in how to mitigate them," Huang said. "This is the closest view to what’s happening during charging of a battery that researchers have achieved so far."
Gateway’s FHX2402L is one of several super-slim monitors that we’ve received over the past few weeks, but it distinguished itself immediately by being the one that made us sit up in our seats and say, “Wow… that looks really good.” On paper, the 24-inch, 60Hz monitor sounds pretty standard: TFT active-matrix TN display, 1920x1080 resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio, and matte-finish screen. But seeing is indeed believing, and the FHX2402L impressed with its crisp detail and clean lines.
While its range of movement isn’t noteworthy—you can tilt the display but there is no elevation adjustment or swiveling to the left or right—the FHX2402L comes with DVI, VGA, and HDMI cables. We also liked the fingerprint-resistant mesh pattern on the back.
If you're wondering which is the faster videocard, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 580 or AMD's Radeon HD 6970, don't take this as the end-all-be-all. But for what it's worth, Nvidia's crown jewel came out ahead of AMD's upcoming Cayman part in the newly released 3DMark 11 benchmark during Fudzilla's limited round of tests.
Fudzilla said the HD 6970 scored lower than 8,000 at entry settings while the GTX 580 posted 8700 in the same test. The GTX 570 scored just above 8,000.
At the performance level, AMD's Cayman card posted a score around 5,300, while the GTX 580 scored a little below 6,000 and the GTX 570 managed 5,250. Things leveled out a little bit at the Extreme settings, with the HD 6970 posting 1,800, while the GTX 580 scored 1,950.
The Spike Video Game Awards have attracted a fair bit of controversy over the years, but like it or not it sure does bring out the big announcements.
New trailers and information was released for The Elder Scrolls Skyrim, Mass Effect 3 was unveiled, and exclusive trailers were shown for Portal 2 and Arkham City.
Hit the jump to check out all the PC noteworthy trailers and announcements from the show.
The last few Patch Tuesday’s have been a bit heavier than usual, but December is poised to break the record again with 17 Bulletins being issued addressing 40 separate vulnerabilities. Before you panic however you should know that only two of the vulnerabilities are rated as “critical”, with all but one of the remaining flaws falling into the “important” category. A critical flaw is anything that allows for remote code execution so even one is bad enough, but at least we won’t have to wait too much longer for a fix.
The vulnerabilities are addressing every version of Windows from XP all the way to 7 (including server), as well as all supported versions of Office. A full list of the bulletins can be found on Microsoft TechNet, along with details of a webcast scheduled for Wednesday to address any questions.
Long story short this isn’t a patch Tuesday you would want to skip.
