Software giant Microsoft announced today that Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 has entered testing with the companies customers, developers, and partners, and is expanding their Vista Preview program so more customers can get their hands on early editions of Windows Vista and get acclimatized to its new features and requirements. At same time, Microsoft finally caught up with Amazon.com and confirmed estimated U.S. retail pricing for the various editions of Windows Vista.
Microsoft initially released Vista RC1 to selected technical partners on September 1, and plans to release the system to current Windows Vista Customer Preview Program (CPP) participants this week. However, Microsoft will also re-open the doors to the CPP, enabling businesses and customers who are not members of Microsoft’s other technical seeding programs (as well as Windows enthusiasts) to get their hands on early version of Windows Vista and check out its features and capabilities. Vista RC1 will be available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers for download, and various publishers around the world will be making RC1 DVDs available via a variety of technical publications. Overall, Microsoft expects more than 5 million users will field test Windows Vista RC1.
“Now that we’re expanding the Windows Vista Customer Preview Program, an even broader audience will get to experience just how much Windows Vista has to offer,” said Mike Sievert, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for Windows Client Marketing, in a statement. “The expansion of the CPP program really sends a strong message to the industry and our customers: the time to prepare for Windows Vista has arrived.”
Microsoft also officially released suggested U.S. retail pricing information on Windows Vista, after Internet retailer Amazon.com put various editions up for pre-order on its Web site. The breakdown is as follows, and contains no surprises:
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.