Screen News

Once upon a time Microsoft came up with a product called Microsoft Plus! that offered a handful of games and extra features that probably should have been included with Windows in the first place. There were Plus! packs released for every version of Windows from Windows 95 all the way up to XP. Plus! packs included everything from the first version of Internet Explorer to desktop themes and utilities for managing media files.

But when Microsoft launched Windows Vista, we thought they had killed off the Plus! pack in favor of Windows Ultimate Extras. But now it looks like Microsoft is bringing back the Plus! Pack.

Some folks in the WinBeta forums noticed a listing for a Windows Vista Plus! Pack at Canada’s Future Shop. It looks like the new version of Vista Plus! Pack will include a few games but no Windows enhancements. The product description isn’t very useful, since it appears to display just a few features of Windows Vista, not the Plus! Pack itself.

The Future Shop lists the product as available for shipping on February 15th for $40 Canadian, which these days is about the same as $40 US.

Source | Downloadsquad.com

PS2 backwards compatibility is going the way of the dodo bird as Sony announced today that both the 20GB and 60GB PlayStation 3 models are discontinued in Japan.

The final shipment of the 20GB and 60GB machines will be hit Japanese retailers throughout January. Sony stated in its press release, “Upon termination of the shipment, the sales of both models will be limited to stock in the market.”

Taking the place of the two original models, which were available Japan since the console’s launch on November 11, 2006, is the 40GB (CECHH00 Series) model introduced in November 2007.

Like the 40GB model that appears in other markets, the CECHH00 Series machine does without any PS2 backwards compatibility hardware, though PSone titles are still supported via full software emulation. What the 40GB model loses in PS2 ability, it gains in fashion. Available in Asia is a Ceramic White PlayStation 3 console with a matching white DualShock 3 controller.

Gamers outside Japan have been living without the original launch SKUs for at least several months. The original entry level 20GB model was first discontinued in the U.S. following a sharp decline in availability.

Following the launch of an 80GB PS3 model, Sony ceased to produce new 60GB units allowing inventory to deplete to the point of the model’s extinction.

Source | Dailytech.com

NVIDIA’s yet-to-be released GeForce 9800 GX2 in the “flesh.” We reveal some of the specs and what should be expected.

The best way to think of the GeForce 9800 GX2 card is as an 8800 GPU that has been die shrunk to 65nm and placed in an SLI configuration in a “single” card. The 9800 GX2 is very reminiscent of 7950 GX2 of days past. (And we loved the 7950 GX2 at launch, but terrible support and diminishing returns soon painted it as one of NVIDIA’s biggest failures since the 5800 series.)

The GeForce 9800 GX2 will launch in late February or early March as it now stands and will replace the 8800 Ultra (single GPU) card in NVIDIA’s high-end product line up. The 9800 GX2 is said to be at least 30% faster than a 8800 Ultra. While it is not clear from the pictures below, we are told it will support “Quad SLI.”

GeForce 9800 GX2:

• 1GB Frame Buffer
• 2 PCBs
• 2 65nm GPUs Total
• 256 Stream Processors Total

All of the information here comes from sources overseas that we consider trustworthy. Obviously there are some specifications that could be a bit more clear, especially on the memory bus. We would expect to see two 768MB frame buffers per GPU here, but that is not what is spelled out. We are guessing 512MB per GPU currently. Should we learn of any changes and/or corrections we will certainly update this page and inform our readers on our daily news page.

Source | Hardocp.com

The latest service pack for Microsoft Office 2003 has made a range of older files inaccessible, including Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations, it emerged this week.

Office 2003 Service Pack 3, which was made available in September, blocks a lengthy list of word-processing file formats, including Word 6.0 and Word 97 for Windows, and Word 2004 for Macintosh. It also blocks older versions of Excel, PowerPoint, Lotus Notes, Corel Quattro spreadsheet, and Corel Draw graphics package.

On releasing the service pack, Microsoft said one of its main benefits was that it would make it easier to interoperate with Microsoft’s latest operating system, Vista, and its latest productivity suite, Office 2007. The older file formats that are now blocked are in decreasing day-to-day use, but the blocking of them will make retrieval of archived material more difficult.

The changes were revealed in a Microsoft support document, which was uploaded to its site in December. Users were given no warning of the effects when they downloaded SP3.

Read the rest of this entry »

Not that 32GB flash drives are revolutionary or anything, but they’re pretty far from being old hat. Thankfully, Corsair is readying a new pair to be unveiled at CES, both of which will boast USB 2.0 connectivity and fairly reasonable price tags considering the capaciousness. Both the Flash Voyager and the über-rugged Flash Survivor will be bumped to 32GB, and both should be able to withstand the desert heat with ease. The pain? $229.99 and $249.99, respectively, and both units should be making their way out as we speak.

Source | Engadget.com

Software giant Microsoft has decided to relax its highly popular Windows Genuine Advantage feature on its flagship operating system Windows XP.

When the Vole releases SP3 later this year, the refreshed versions of Windows XP will give users 30-days before they’re required to enter a product activation key. This is the same as the system that is offered on Microsoft’s Vista operating system, which is currently as popular as a George Bush impersonator in a Baghdad coffee shop.

According to a Volish policy statement, which ended up in the paws of ComputerWorld this is a relaxing of Windows XP because users currently have to enter the activation key while the blighter is installing.

If they don’t, then the whole installation goes belly up faster than a drunken whale who has failed to outrun a Japanese scientific fleet.

Read the rest of this entry »

May this New Year bring newly found prosperity, love, happiness and delight in your life!

The second beta of Firefox 3 is now ready for download and testing. The new version has some more new features (including those of beta 1) like:

• Anti-virus protection for download manager
• Better password management
• Add to favorites with just a click
• Easier add-ons install
• Page Render improved even more and
• The resumable downloading feature in Download manager

Download | Mozilla.com

Download | Portableapps.com (this installation will not affect your current Firefox installation)

For those of you that want to get safe and quick access to your alternative file systems, you can use the new freeware DiskInternals Linux Reader. This easy-to-use tool runs under Windows and allows you to browse Ext2/Ext3 Linux file systems and extract files from there. Ext2 and Ext3 are the most common file systems in Linux distribution so it will work with your distribution.

Note: You can’t edit the files, but just open them as read-only or preview them.

Screenshot:

Download | Diskinternals.com

Microsoft plans to release the first beta of the next version of Internet Explorer in the first half of 2008 and said Wednesday that IE 8 has passed a key Web standards test that ensures the browser won’t “break” the Web.

IE8 has passed the “Acid2 Browser Test” from the Web Standards Project, which shows whether a browser renders a Web site in a certain way. If the browser renders the site correctly, it means the browser supports certain accepted Web standards.

Microsoft posted a video about the browser passing the test on its Channel 9 Web site.

Source | Activewin.com