It’s taken more than five years, but Microsoft has announced that it has released Windows Vista to manufacturing. Business customers and volume licensees will be able to set hands on Microsoft’s latest and greatest operating system November 30, while consumers will have to wait until Microsoft’s big marketing push and public unveiling January 30, 2007.
Vista first appeared in the public eye as “Longhorn” back in 2001, even before Windows XP hit the streets. Since then, Microsoft’s flagship operating system has fought major antitrust battles, endured a seemingly endless barrage of exploits and security vulnerabilities, and been forced to excise once-touted features from Vista in favor of work to enhance the product’s security, stability, and usability.
Windows Vista will sport a revamped 3D interface—dubbed Aero—for compatible video cards, improved search features, integrated backup technology, speech recognition, a sidebar and “gadgets” which puts mini-applications right on users’ desktops. And, of course, Microsoft is touting Windows Vista as a major step forward in security, with enhanced account control, better protection from malware, and an integrated firewall.
Microsoft Vista will be available in six editions, including one for developing markets, and the Redmond company will likely have to craft special releases for the EU and South Korean markets to satisfy antitrust authorities. Retail pricing for new licenses of Windows Vista in the United States will range from $199 for Windows Vista Home Basic to $399 for Windows Vista Ultimate.
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.