Responding to complaints from the PC enthusiast community, Microsoft has eased clauses in its license agreement for its forthcoming Windows Vista operating system to allow customers to transfer Vista between machines and re-install Vista as many times as they wish without requiring authorization from Microsoft’s customer support services.
Initially, Microsoft’s Windows Vista licensing terms enables users to re-assign their Windows Vista license one (and only one) time. If a user wanted to transfer their copy of Vista to a new PC more than once—or, in the case of modders and gamers, modified their system in a way which triggered Vista’s built-in Software Protection Platform—they would have had to obtain authorization from Microsoft technical support in each instance. The idea was to thwart simple forms of software piracy, but the PC enthusiast complained that the license terms were unduly restrictive for folks who routinely modify and/or upgrade their systems to keep up with the latest-and-greatest hardware.
Microsoft’s new license terms enable users to un-install and re-install Vista as often as they like, although users are not permitted to do so to “share” a license between two devices. Users can also transfer their Vista license to another user provided they uninstall the original copy and do not retain any materials from the original installation.
License terms for EOM versions of Windows Vista (which will be pre-installed on new computers) still forbid any form of transfer.
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.