Microsoft Corporation announced today that its forthcoming Windows Vista operating system will incorporate an expanded version of the company’s Windows Product Activation technology. After installation, Windows Vista users will have 30 days to “activate” Vista by providing a product key. If a user does not supply a valid product key, Vista will let users buy a product key online, obtain a product key using a telephone rather than the Internet, or step down to a “Reduced Functionality Mode” which permits only minimal use of Windows Vista until the product is activated.
Microsoft hasn’t revealed all the technical details of the activation system—although a white paper is available—but the company has repeatedly stated that failure to activate Windows Vista will not shut down user’s computers. However, several limitations will be imposed on non-activated Vista installations:
Windows Vista will also monitor the status of the user’s activation key even after Windows Vista has been successfully activated. If, for any reason, the system decides the installation is no longer valid, users will be granted another 30 days to verify their installation. However, if the user fails to re-activate Vista, the system will not be thrown into the “read-only” lockdown above; instead, Windows Genuine Advantage will disable Aero, ReadyBoost, and Windows Defender, and display a persistent onscreen notice that the installed version of Vista is not “genuine.” Circumstances which might cause an activation key to be deemed invalid might include attempts to activate Windows Vista functionality via Windows Anytime Upgrade which aren’t part of a user’s installation, or moving the Vista installation to new systems or networking hardware.
Microsoft’s restrictions on Windows Vista installations are intended to present a hurdle to both casual and organized software pirates and counterfeiters; although the company does not expect these new technologies to eliminate piracy, they hope to make pirating Windows increasingly less convenient than purchasing a legitimate copy. What remains to be seen is to what degree these technologies—and any new “gotchas” they introduce—might impact legitimate users.
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.