Microsoft Corporation has announced it plans to stick to its timetable to stop selling Windwos XP to computer makers in January, 2008—meaning any Windows PC offered for sale after that date is going to have Windows Vista installed, like it or not. The decision applies to all versions of Windows XP, including tablet through media center editions, and means computer makers like HP, Dell, Toshiba, Gateway, and others will no longer be able to offer new systems with versions of Windows XP as pre-installed options.
The confirmation comes as customer surveys show an overall lukewarm response to Windows Vista, with a Harris Interactive survey finding only 10 percent of respondents were planning to upgrade their systems to Windows Vista in the near future.
The move may also rankle even Windows enthusiasts: although Microsoft is likely to introduce a service pack upgrade for Windows Vista before the licensing cutoff for Windows XP, the operating system is beset with lingering driver issues and many Windows users have balked at Vista’s higher system requirements (especially for much-touted features like the Aero interface), meaning they may only move to Vista when they junk their current PC.
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.