TechVirtuoso

Surprising, yet not… no line to get your Verizon iPhone at the Mall of America

February 10th, 2011 at 10:57 AM  1 Comment

The Apple store at the Mall of America was… uh, not very busy today. Surprising, since today was the first day you could get your Verizon iPhone without being an existing Verizon customer.

Verizon set a new record for first day sales of a new product in 2 hours last week, when they sold the device to existing customers. It seems that the predicted flood of AT&T customers isn’t happening quite yet.

Maybe AT&T in Minneapolis (and the rest of the United States) isn’t as bad as everyone in San Fransisco and New York seem to make it out to be? Kinda like I said last month?

No, that couldn’t be it.

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Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 coming February 22nd

February 10th, 2011 at 10:45 AM  2 Comments

Microsoft has officially announced that Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 will be released to the general public on February 22, 2011.

Volume License customers, TechNet and MSDN subscribers will get access to the download on February 16. OEM and other Microsoft partners got access to the bits yesterday.

For server admins, one of the more interesting features of Service Pack 1 is Dynamic Memory. From the Windows Server Blog:

Our first new feature, Dynamic Memory, takes Windows Server’s Hyper-V feature to a whole new level. Dynamic Memory lets you increase virtual machine density with the resources you already have—without sacrificing performance or scalability. In our lab testing, with Windows 7 SP1 as the guest operating system in a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) scenario, we have seen a 40% increase in density from Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM to SP1. We achieved this increase simply by enabling Dynamic Memory.

For desktop users, RemoteFX will be a boost for users who frequently RDP into their clients, or are running desktops in virtual machines.

RemoteFX is an exciting technology that lets you virtualize the Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) on the server side and deliver next-generation rich media and 3D user experiences for VDI.

Internet Explorer 9 RC available for download

February 10th, 2011 at 8:54 AM  2 Comments

Microsoft has posted the bits for the Windows Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate, and thanks to our pal Tom Warren at WinRumors, we have the web installer downloads for you.

We’re downloading and installing this now, to let you know what has changed from the last beta and from Internet Explorer 8. Just a note, there are links posted for Windows 7 and Windows Vista, but not XP. Why? Because there will be no Internet Explorer 9 for Windows XP. All good things must end.

Download and consume at your own risk.

One of these tablets is not like the other, one you can buy right now

February 9th, 2011 at 8:06 PM  4 Comments

Today was an interesting day in the tablet world. We learned that what was left of Palm has now officially been smashed into HP, and that HP is serious about really building on the momentum that Palm had started to build with webOS. HP announced a plethora of new things today (which you can read more about over at Engadget, who I stole/borrowed the wonderful chart above from) but the most interesting today was their new tablet, the HP TouchPad.

I have been getting a lot of crap from people for talking a lot about Apple on this site recently. If you’re bothered by this, feel free to stop reading now, or write your own articles. Fact of the matter is, they’re key to a lot of the technology I’m interested in right now and they execute it better than anyone else.

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Apple would really like you to stop opening your hardware

January 20th, 2011 at 9:39 AM  1 Comment

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULSUuWlo9Lw

Apple makes some beautifully engineered hardware, both on the outside and the inside. But Steve would really prefer you admire the exterior only, and Apple has started putting a special kind of security screw on your phone to keep all the amateurs out.

Not content with using your normal torx security screw, Apple has chosen a design that prohibits nearly every single readily available screw bit from being able to turn it. Say hello to the “pentalobe” bit.

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Sprint may not have any magical devices, but they’re going to have a magic show

January 19th, 2011 at 5:32 PM  5 Comments

Sprint may not have any ‘magical’ devices (like anything made by Apple) but that’s not going to stop them from having a real magic show. The company announced today that magician/illusionist David Blane will join CEO Dan Hesse in New York on February 7, to unveil “yet another industry first” and “will show you that the impossible is possible.”

What, like managing to remain in business when your two biggest competors have the iPhone and you don’t?

via The Kansas City Business Journal

Cisco unveils new Linksys E4200 high performance home router

January 19th, 2011 at 11:03 AM  2 Comments

Cisco has unveiled their high performance home network router, the Linksys E4200. Not only is this thing feature packed, it comes in a pretty nice looking case for something that will be tucked away and never touched. Maybe Cisco intends to change that and wants you to put this bad boy on your desk for the world to see?

For $179.99, this thing packs a pretty hefty list of features:

  • Simultaneous dual-band (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) wireless-N
  • 4x Gigabit Ethernet ports
  • USB Storage Port with built-in UPnP AV media server
  • WPA/WPA2 encryption and SPI firewall
  • QoS traffic prioritization
  • 6 internal antennas, 3×3 MIMO

The USB Storage Port lets you add an external USB drive to your network and share files at home or over the Internet. The built-in UPnP AV Media Server allows for streaming of your video and media files to an Xbox 360, PS3, or other UPnP compatible device.

Cisco also has plans to turn the USB port into a Virtual USB port with a future firmware upgrade, this will also enable printers to easily connect to the network so all users in the home can print wirelessly.

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Windows 7 SP1 coming Tuesday

January 14th, 2011 at 9:44 AM  4 Comments

Get ready to start patching systems, according to Tom Warren at Winrumors, Windows 7 Service Pack 1 will be released on Tuesday and is being pushed out for last minute testing to OEMs today. Tom explains:

In a blog posting on Thursday, Microsoft’s Russian Windows Virtualization team confirmed that the final build of Windows 7 SP1 is 7601.17514.win7sp1_rtm.101119-1850. The Russian site also explains that the Service Pack will be available publicly today. Microsoft generally releases Service Packs on a Tuesday so it’s not clear whether the Russian technet post is referring to a public release to select partners or a full web release. WinRumors understand the software giant will ship the release to its OEM partners today but that a web release is expected at a later date.

Along with Windows 7, Microsoft will likely release Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2008 R2 at the same time, as the code base is the same and testing for that update has been inline with the client version.

Apple seeds first beta of iOS 4.3, what you need to know

January 12th, 2011 at 6:06 PM  5 Comments

Apple has released the first beta of iOS 4.3 to developers, hot on the heels of the Verizon iPhone announcement. While it’s probably too late in the game to expect 4.3 to come on the Verizon iPhone, chances are it’ll reach the general public sometime after that. All of the demo phones that the tech press got to play with are running iOS 4.2.5, which is probably going to be a VZW only version, coming all back into sync with the release of 4.3.

If Apple could get away without releasing betas of their operating systems, they’d probably do it, because it’s the first chance many of us outside of their private layer get to have to look at what’s coming down the pipe.

What you should know:

  • Apple has not seeded an update for the second generation iPhone (3G) or iPod touch. Only the iPhone 3GS and 4, iPad and Apple TV. This could mean one of two things —
  1. It’s just not out yet. Apple is either lazy or they’re going to hold off until the next beta release.
  2. There will never be a version released. In which case 4.2.1 will be the end of the line for those devices.
  • The Personal Hotspot feature of the Verizon iPhone 4 is integrated into 4.3 for all models including those on AT&T, however it’s going to cost you extra on your plan.
  • FaceTime has it’s own icon.
  • iPad users can now get a choice between the physical side switch being a mute switch or an orientation lock. In iOS 3.2, which was iPad only, the switch functioned as an orientation lock. When the code tree was unified under iOS 4.2, it was changed to a mute switch. Users complained (rightfully so) and now Apple is giving people an option. Frankly I prefer it as an orientation lock on the iPad and a mute switch on the iPhone.
  • On the iPhone, when in silent mode a text message will generate three quick vibrations and an email will generate one. This allows you to quickly distinguish the difference when it’s in your pocket. Personally, I turn email notifications off completely because I get too many.
  • There are some new font choices as well as some new multi-touch gestures on the iPad. The gestures seem to enable a lot of functionality that would negate the need for a home button. Perhaps a clue to the future of the iPad 2?
  • AirPlay for video in applications is a welcomed addition for AppleTV users. Soon you’ll be able to stream just more than the built in videos application. This will open the door for VLC (if it returns to the App Store) and others to enable this functionality.
  • There have been reports on Twitter about applications not being allowed to update with the beta installed. While I’ve not confirmed this myself use caution before trying out the beta on your primary device.

Really, if you’re not a developer, or a bleeding edge kind of person, stay away. Honestly, if you’re not a developer or testing things for a developer you shouldn’t have access to this anyway (why people risk installing operating systems from public torrents is beyond me) — also, if you’re someone who exercises their ability to jailbreak or unlock the phone, don’t update, because there is no telling if you’ll ever be able to go back to 4.2.1, or if an exploit for 4.3 will even be released.

Google stripping support for H.264 video out of Chrome

January 11th, 2011 at 6:31 PM  4 Comments

In a surprise announcement on the Chromium Blog today, Google announced that they would be phasing out H.264 support from the Google Chrome web browser, in favor of the open sourced WebM standard. The announcement further muddies the waters of HTML5 video support.

To that end, we are changing Chrome’s HTML5 <video> support to make it consistent with the codecs already supported by the open Chromium project. Specifically, we are supporting the WebM (VP8) and Theora video codecs, and will consider adding support for other high-quality open codecs in the future. Though H.264 plays an important role in video, as our goal is to enable open innovation, support for the codec will be removed and our resources directed towards completely open codec technologies.

What is unclear is how Google can on one hand say that their goal is to enable open innovation, and yet still justify bundling the proprietary Adobe Flash plugin with Chrome.

The biggest supporter of H.264 in HTML5 video comes from Apple, which uses it in Safari, specifically on the iPhone, iPad and other iOS platform devices. Because Steve Jobs doesn’t like to run Flash unless he’s had a few drinks first, and even then only with protection, there is no Flash support on any iOS device. If WebM were to take off, Apple would need to act to incorporate support or leave millions of iOS users unable to load most web video sites.

However, the chances of a clear winner emerging from all of this is unlikely.

Prior to this announcement, Chrome had the unique distinction of being the only major browser to support both technologies. Firefox has never supported H.264 and will not in the next version, but Internet Explorer 9 which will be released sometime in 2011, does. Currently the only other mainstream browser that supports WebM is Opera, but Firefox 4 will enable support for that technology after it is released. Safari provides no support for WebM, nor does any current or future version of Internet Explorer.

Factor in Ogg Theora, and you have a codec that is almost universally supported by Firefox, Chrome and Opera… just not Internet Explorer or Safari.

Confused? Yeah, us too.

The reasoning for all of this comes down to licensing, something most end users don’t care about. We’re generally just happy when technology works as advertised. But Google doesn’t want to pay anyone for anything they don’t have to, and supporting WebM means not paying as much money or being bound to a restrictive license agreement.

Chrome used to be the browser that would play any of the three major HTML 5 video formats. Going forward from today, it has voluntarily neutered itself.

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