Back in April, Redmond software giant Microsoft announced it would be taking on Adobe’s market-dominated Flash technology with Silverlight, a new interactive platform for delivering "rich media experiences" across browsers and platforms. Today, Microsoft released version 1.0 of its Silverlight browser plug-in , and has announced it will be working with Novell to offer support for Linux.
"Our expectations for compelling, immersive experiences on the Web are increasing daily," said Microsoft’s chief software architect Ray Ozzie, in a statement. "With today’s release of Silverlight 1.0, we’re making it possible for developers and designers to deliver to individuals the kind of high-def experiences they crave by integrating data and services in rich and unique ways."
Silverlight builds on technologies Microsoft developed for its streaming audio and video services,and is designed to let developers build interactive content using a variety of technologies available through Microsoft’s .NET platform, including C#, VB, Python, Ruby, and AJAX. To showcase Silverlight, Microsoft has (of course) evangelized the technology to major content and development partners, with the result that relatively high-profile brands like Home Shopping Network, Entertainment Tonight, and World Wrestling Entertainment are already "showcasing" new Silverlight driven online features. Microsoft says more than 35 companies have already signed on to support Silverlight, including major content delivery networks like Akamai, Level3, Limelight, and Internap, design agencies (lke the Microsoft-owned Avenue A/Razorfish).
Silverlight’s Linux support will be called Moonlight, and will be based on work already started at Novell’s mono-project.com. No availability estimates or requirements for the Linux version of Silverlight have been released, but it seems logical to assume the priority will be on supporting Novell’s SUSE Linux.
Microsoft’s Silverlight plug-in supports Firefox 1.5 and 2.0, along with Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Vista and XP, and Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003; Microsoft says it plans to extend Silverlight support back to Windows 2000 "soon" with Silverlight 1.1. On the Mac, Silverlight requires Mac OS X 10.4.8 or newer and operates in Firefox or Safari.
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.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.