Although the news originally leaked last week, Microsoft Corporation has confirmed that it plans to offer six core editions of its forthcoming Windows Vista operating systems, plus two editions for the European Union stripped of the Windows Media Player software. The number of editions matches the total count of version of Windows XP the company currently offers, but instead of targeting different sorts of hardware with different editions (64 bit computing, tablet PCs, etc.), the different editions of Windows Vista will focus on what users want to do with their computer.
According to Microsoft, the six core Windows Vista Editions will be:
Business and Home editions of Windows Vista without Windows Media Player software will also be developed for the European Union to comply with an EU antirust mandate. With these editions, the total number of Windows Vista releases will total eight.
Microsoft hasn’t announced an official ship date for Windows Vista, but the operating system is expected to be released in the second half of 2006.
In 1950, Alan Turing asked whether machines can think. Rather than argue over definitions, he turned the question into a party game, where an interrogator trades typed messages with hidden players and tries to work out who is who. Since then, chatbots have gotten so good that they have already fooled humans in modern versions of the test.
So, four researchers from Paris Cité University asked the obvious follow-up question in a new study published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports: can AI at least catch its own kind?
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.