Category Archives: In the News

Tech news and opinions

Windows 7 Release Candidate now set for May according to Microsoft

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There is news spreading on the internet that a div at Microsoft has published (supposedly by mistake) on the Microsoft site that the Windows 7 release candidate was due in May 2009, which has blown some people’s ideas that the RC would be available in April.

Are we to suspect that Microsoft is falling behind schedule? It’s not like Microsoft has fallen behind before – remember what happened for Windows Vista. Remember how late that was?

We’ll have to see what happens to the release candidate. It begs the question will the final release be delayed. Microsoft has been constantly reminding us that they want Windows 7 out by January ’10 at the very latest, but we all know what they are like.

Oh and by the way, I would like to apologise for the slight lack of posts lately – I’ve been doing websites for a few people and GEEK! fell a little behind. Don’t worry, the websites are now finished and I can concentrate on GEEK! again 🙂

I’ve got a really nice budget ADSL2+ router coming in for review in the next couple of days, so stay tuned.

Internet Explorer 8 Final Version Released

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Microsoft has finally launched the final version of the new Internet Explorer 8. It’s available for download now – http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/worldwide-sites.aspx.

Personally I doubt it will be anything good to look forward to. Microsoft are making some claims that it is faster and easier to use than Google Chrome, but I really doubt it’s true. There’s nothing faster than Chrome (especially in start time) in my opinion.

In any matter, I’ll go and download it as it’ll probably be forced onto my computer with Windows Update in a few weeks time. Might as well get it over and done with :-).

Microsoft pulls in more features to Windows 7

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Microsoft has today mentioned on their MSDN blog a long list of new features (27 to be precise) that will be added into the Release Candidate of Windows 7 when it arrives.

To see what they’ve come up with, click here.

From a quick skim through, I can see they have made a few improvements to the Control Panel –  I like the ‘recently used’ idea as I regularly use the display options when I use different monitors. Also, they’ve added multi-touch zoom support for Windows Explorer which will be great if you have a touchscreen monitor. And apparently, according to the blog, turning off the logoff and shutdown sounds can speed up shutdowns by up to 400ms. In Microsoft’s words, “Every little bit counts”.

In addition, the ‘Safely Remove Hardware’ feature that has been in many older versions of Windows has now been renamed to simply ‘Eject’ and Microsoft have also said they have added support for some firewire cameras which wouldn’t work in Windows 7 Beta.

They have also managed to shrink the page file in Windows 7 RC which means you’ll have a little bit of extra hard drive space to play with. And of course, Microsoft finished by saying they have enhanced the driver support in Windows 7 a little further.

All things to look forward to. You’ll be updated here on GEEK! as soon as any more news arrises.

Firefox 3.1 beta 3 out, soon to be 3.5

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The Firefox 3.1 beta is now out and ready to be downloaded at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html for anyone who wants it. It’s supposedly the last beta before they change the version number to 3.5, as I mentioned in a previous blog post. 

I personally won’t be downloading it any time soon as I’m going to probably wait either for the 3.5 beta or the final 3.5 release. I think the next Firefox release is definitely something to look forward to with lots of new features, so the news will be here on GEEK! as soon as it comes.

iTunes 8.1 released

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Apple released iTunes 8.1 yesterday, with reported updates for performance and stability. Plus, the new iTunes version supports the latest iPod Shuffle.

According to Apple, new features include a new Genius sidebar that supposedly now does TV and move recommendations, speed improvements when importing large libraries, improves speed and handling of iTunes Plus songs and many accessibility improvements.

So it looks like this may be a worthwile updates and I suggest you go ahead and get it. If you already have iTunes on your computer, you can just get the new version over Software Update. If you don’t have it, head over to apple.com/itunes for the free software.