Facebook Poke Crime

Curious?

Yes, apparently to Poke someone on Facebook can be a crime after all, a virtual violation of private space it seems. In this case, the said person is supposed to keep their distance by court order, and we guess this includes virtual space as well! Will wonders never cease? Amazing!

Source : www.tennessean.com/article/20091008/MICRO060301/91008066/

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Windows 7 on Windows XP via Sun Virtual Box 3

A few months back we posted how you can run and try Windows 7 on your Windows XP desktop so you can decide if you want to switch to Windows 7 when it comes out a few days from now. You can read our previous entry here.

Now we continue by showing you how to actually go about doing this. We'll need to use a virtualisation software to emulate a virtual machine so it can run on top of your existing machine. Interested?

We're assuming you're running Windows XP, which is the most popular operating system (OS), and the likely candidate to migrate to Windows 7 - if you chose to do so. Of course, you can run virtualisation software on any other OS as well - as long the virtualisation software supports it.

We'll be using Sun's Virtual Box 3, since it's free, and unlike Microsoft's Virtual PC 6 Service Pack 1 (2007), which is also free, Sun's version offers a bit more. Of course there's popular VMware, but that's not free.

Keep in mind Microsoft's Virtual PC 7 only works on Windows 7 as XP Mode. We'll talk about that later on how to use XP software on Windows 7. Right now let's focus on Windows 7 on XP.

First you'll need to download Virtual Box, which can be found here (70MB). If you want to see the other options of Virtual Box, visit the site here. To get a primer about Virtual Box, go here.

Next, you'll need a copy of Windows 7 installation DVD, which you can get the free 3-months Enterprise edition here (x86 32-bit or x64 64-bit around 3GB). However, before you download the x64 version of Enterprise and find out you can't use it on your machine, first download and run this SecureAble tool (site here) to find out if your processor supports hardware x64 virtualisation. If your processor supports virtual x64, you'll get this:

If it doesn't, you'll get this:

So download the right Enterprise! The Enterprise edition is similiar to Windows 7 Ultimate (compare here), so you can try everything that Windows 7 has to offer.

Once you've used the Enterprise edition to evaluate Windows 7, you can then buy the full RTM edition when it goes on sale in the next few days. Okay, got your downloaded trial Enterprise edition burned into a DVD? It's time to start.

First, install the downloaded Virtual Box on your XP desktop. It will cut you off from the Internet while it installs its virtual networking hardware, so make sure you're not downloading anything! Once it's done, run the installed Virtual Box.

Now create a new virtual machine. Click the New button in Virtual Box and follow the wizard guide. Type a name for your virtual Windows 7 Enterprise (maybe Fake NCC1701? Okay, inside Trek joke - ignore!).

Select the type of OS you want to install on this virtual machine from the list - in this case, it'll be Windows. Then select the version of Windows - which is Windows 7. Next, select how much of your machine's memory you want to devote to this virtual Windows 7 - you can leave it as the default or increase it if you have more memory to spare.

If you're doing this on Windows XP, chances are it's the x86 (32-bit) version, so you'll be limited to 4GB of memory (if you have that much installed). This means you can't put more than 2GB for this virtual Windows 7 since that will leave your running Windows XP with less than 2GB of memory to run all else.

Next, you need to create a virtual hard drive to run this virtual Windows 7. This will lead you to the drive wizard. You can stick to the dynamically-expanding storage, this will grow the file space as needed based on your need for it. Next you'll need to also name this virtual drive. Again, you can stick to the initial size given or give your own size (and it will expand accordingly if you chose dynamic earlier).

Once all these are done you'll get a new entry in your list of virtual machines in the Virtual Box. It will be in a powered-off state. Now you'll have to power it on to install your Enterprise DVD.

Click on the Start button in Virtual Box and a new window will open as the virtual machine comes to life. Since it's your first time running this new virtual machine, another wizard will ask you for the source to install an OS to this new virtual machine. Just select your DVD drive. If you don't have the downloaded-and-burned Windows 7 Enterprise trial DVD in your drive, you'll get this:

If you do have the DVD in your drive, you'll get the the Windows 7 installation screen:

If you were so 'smart' to download and burn the x64 (64-bit) version of Enterprise but your processor can't run virtual x64 OS, then you'll get this:

Going back to the installation, so assuming all goes well, proceed with the user-friendly Windows 7 installation as if you were installing on an actual computer - even if you're doing it virtually. Remember that its installing on the virtual drive you configured earlier - so don't worry about it formatting your existing running Windows XP!

As the installation is running in its own virtual machine window, feel free to do something else on your Windows XP desktop while waiting for the installation to complete. When it's done, it'll automatically restart the virtual machine like it were a real computer.

That's all there is to it! Now you've got a virtual Windows 7 running on your existing Windows XP desktop! Feel free to run it anytime. You can do the same with the RTM Windows 7 when it's out a few days from now. Keep in mind this virtual Windows 7 is running off a virtual hardware, which means you can't install software drivers for the hardware that's on your real machine. You probably won't have to anyway - Windows 7 will automatically detect the virtual hardware.

Next, we'll show you how to share files between this virtual Windows 7 machine and your real Windows XP desktop.

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.NET Games for Windows - LIVE version 3

This is a cross-post between BrickTech and BrickGamers to help gamers out who may be having problems with modern games which rely on Games for Windows - LIVE online service from Microsoft.

This online software service is integrated into games like Halo 2, Gears of War, Grand Theft Auto IV, Fallout 3, Warhammer 40,000 - Dawn of War II, Street Fighter IV, Batman - Arkham Asylum, Resident Evil 5, and so on. You can see the full list of Games for Windows - LIVE here. But did you know this is different from Games for Windows?


Games for Windows is a different set of games, which you can see the list here, but is categorised alphabetically. To see it as a whole page, go here.

To see an even bigger list, including upcoming games, and BOTH Games for Windows AND Games for Windows - LIVE games, check out this full list here.

So there's 2 types of Windows games? Sorta. You see, Microsoft, in order to "Get into the Game" so to speak, has ventured on a branding exercise to promote games which are designed for Windows with the "Games for Windows" moniker. The Games for Windows - LIVE is an enhancement which requires an online service component called Games for Windows - LIVE to be installed - even if you don't play that game online.

What this LIVE component does is enable linkage with you and other gamers who have the same such game installed - be it on the PC or Microsoft Xbox or Xbox 360 gaming console. Of course, if that said game doesn't support multi-player, then you can't play with others, but you can still link with them to see their scores, chat, etc.


The whole idea is to integrate Windows gamers with Xbox gamers, since in many places in the world, like Malaysia, Microsoft doesn't launch the Xbox here. This is due to rampant piracy and slow broadband, making Xbox LIVE online gaming service being not condusive for Microsoft. Their ultimate aim is to link up all users of Microsoft products to LIVE Anywhere. And please, no jokes about how if you reverse the word LIVE above it becomes EVIL :)


This Games for Windows - LIVE also ties up with their Windows LIVE online services, which the most popular being Windows LIVE Messenger, followed by Windows LIVE Mail. So what's this got to do with gamers?


Some Windows XP gamers are unaware the latest Games for Windows - LIVE, version 3 (30MB), requires Microsoft's .NET Framework software to be installed, with the latest being version 3.5 Service Pack 1 (200MB). Games for Windows - LIVE, version 2 (20MB), does not require .NET to be present. You can see what's new with version 3 here.

If you're having problems installing the MSI (Microsoft Installer) installation file of Games for Windows - LIVE version 2, your MSI might be outdated. You can get the latest version 4.5 here.

Going back to XP Games, so if you're having problems playing some of the new games on XP which need Games for Windows - LIVE, you can either install Games for Windows - LIVE version 2, or go for version 3 but you'll need .NET as well. Some of you may already have .NET for games like Sims 3 which need it. Of course, if you have Windows Vista or Windows 7, it comes with .NET already.

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AMD ATI Radeon HD5000 Series Windows 7 Direct X 11 graphic cards

If you don't already know by now, the next standard in gaming graphics is DirectX 11. This is found in Microsoft's upcoming Windows operating system, Windows 6.1, or more popularly known as Windows 7 (not because 6+1=7 or because Windows Vista was Windows 6.0, but because Microsoft says this is the seventh release of Windows).

DX11 adds some new features and one of them is Direct Compute, using the new Compute Shader element, which adds to the previous Geometry Shader which was introduced in DirectX 10 (Unified Shader Model 4) on Vista, and the Pixel and Vertex Shaders, which were introduced in DirectX 9 (Shader Model 3) prior to that in Windows XP.

Direct Compute is an implementation of GPGPU technology. Basically it uses your graphic card for processing instead of just your processor, thereby giving you extra performance. This can also be used for 3D Ray-Tracing and Video Transcoding. But did you know DX11 can work with DX10?

Unlike DX10 which required either AMD's ATI Radeon HD2000/3000/4000 series, or NVIDIA GeForce 8/9/200 series of DX10 gaming cards, DX11 can function on DX10 gaming cards as well, albeit not as fully as on DX11 gaming cards, which is the ATI Radeon HD5000 series, or NVIDIA GeForce 300 series (which isn't out yet).

As expected, this means DX11 can also work on Vista, and it can, when Microsoft releases the Vista Platform Update, but like the above DX11 and DX10 compatibility, you won't get the full features as compared to a pure DX11 platform, which is Windows 7 with DX11 gaming card, and in this case, only ATI's HD5000 is out. With this, coupled with Windows 7, you'll get the full DX11 deal. See here for a list of upcoming DX11 games.

Of course, with DX11 you can also play DX10 games, and you can see a list of DX10 games here - but remember to update your DX files! If you haven't done so, you can get it for free from Microsoft's site here (100MB). Even if you're using Windows XP with DirectX 9, it will update your files to the latest DX9. This might help if you're having problems running some games.

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Windows Live Messenger 9 (2009) 14

Unless you're using Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger 8.5 (2008), you would have recently been prompted to upgrade to the latest version of WLM 9 (2009), or also known as version 14 to tie with the rest of Microsoft's Windows Live Services. This is because Microsoft wants to streamline all their Messengers to the latest version, which means any version prior to 8.5 (like 8.1, 8.0) will have to upgrade to version 9 (2009 or 14) before you can log into your Messenger.

However, come next month, even users of 8.5 will be forced to do the same so everyone will have to use at least version 14.0.8089.726. Meaning even if you're running version 14.x you'll still have to upgrade to this version (at least) in October. Want to know more?

This recent force (and next month for the rest of 8.5 and 14.x users) have resulted in some users switching over to Yahoo Messenger (which coincidentally, also only supports version 9.0, with 8.0 users being locked out). As both WLM and YM support both Yahoo and Microsoft accounts, both can use either contacts so you don't need to run both Instant Messengers (IM) at the same time.

However, with Microsoft's recent force (and next month as well), you might see a case of people jumping over to Yahoo instead, as some people have had problems once upgrading WLM. You can read more Microsoft's statement (as well as some people's problems) here.

You can get the latest version of WLM here, which will download the required WLM files, as well as other Windows Live Services, IF you want them. Keep in mind you don't have to install ALL Windows Live Services to use WLM.

To read more about WLM, you can read about our previous post here.

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Leadtek Quadro FX 1800 Review (Part 2)

Quadro FX 1800 - a professional workstation video card

Slightly over a week ago we showed you Part 1 of the Leadtek Quadro FX 1800 video card review here, now we'll continue with Part 2. If you haven't read Part 1, we suggest you do, and if you have no idea what Quadro is (compared the the more popular GeForce), then we suggest you read the primer which is mentioned in Part 1, and where to look for it. Now let's continue!

Energy

It's a small world after all...

Energy is a big issue in today's world. From global warming to climate change and fossil fuels and green alternatives, energy efficiency is a important element for our current state of survival if we're to go further without screwing up the planet even more - conspiracy theories aside about how the greenhouse effect is just a phase of the Earth. So it comes no surprise that today's electronic devices focus heavily on their power consumption and the Quadro is no different.

Unlike the GeForce, which is designed for 3D games and thus won't be taxed at it's full potential for hours (unless perhaps inside a cyber-cafe!), the Quadro might be used for hours on an end, especially since it's designed for work while the GeForce is for play. Think about it - what do you spend more time on? Working or playing? Well if you're a professional gamer it's out of the question!

Look! No power ports!

So it becomes obvious that the Quadro needs to factor in electricity savings as well and boy does it! At first glance you'll notice the Leadtek Quadro FX 1800 does not have any PCI Express pin power requirement at all! On the other hand, the GeForce GTX 285 needs a whopping dual 6-pin PCIe power plugs from your PSU (Power Supply Unit)! Keep in mind only high-end PSUs above 600-Watts or so MAY have dual PCIe power connectors so you may also have to buy a new PSU if you're using the GeForce 285!

You'll need DUAL 6-pin PCI Express power plugs from your PSU!

So how much power DOES the 285 consume as compared to the energy-efficient Leadtek Quadro FX 1800? To measure this, we'll need to use what's called a Plug-In Power Monitor, which basically shows how much electricity (measured in Watts) is being drawn from the electrical socket to be used by the computer which is having the respective card installed in it.

The Leadtek Quadro FX 1800 on our Intel Core i7 (Nehalem) Platform

The GeForce GTX 285 on our same Intel Core i7 (Nehalem) Platform

37Watts more while running - and that's only idle! So you can imagine what happens during intense full usage like being taxed by 3D processing! Now multiply that by the minutes, hours, days, weeks and months you'll be using a 285 as compared to this Leadtek Quadro FX 1800 and you'll soon be running up a huge bill that you could save were you running the Quadro instead!

Here's the YouTube videos from BrickGamers Channel where you can see the power difference when the Leadtek FX 1800 and 285 powers up. Both are running on the same platform, so the differences you see in Watts being consumed shows directly how much is used:

Leadtek Quadro FX 1800 @ Nehalem Platform


GeForce GTX 285 @ Nehalem Platform

Thermals

The side-effect of energy is heat and once again this can be seen in the Leadtek Quadro FX 1800 as compared to the 285. Notice how much cooler the 1800 runs compared to the 285:

Extra power consumption aside, all these extra heat also spells cooling, which means you need to spend more power to not only cool the card, but also the insides of your computer casing, to prevent other components from heating up and overall slowing down your whole machine. So what you have here is both extra power consumption in terms of running the 285 as well as cooling it. This is yet another aspect where the Quadro shines in and is worth that extra cost.

Part 3 we'll look at the gaming aspects of the Quadro FX 1800. While it's not a gaming card, it's good to see just how much it can do so you do get to also play some games on it after working!

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Intel Core i5

As mentioned previously, Intel will be coming out with their new processor (CPU), the Core i5. It is now out, designed to work on desktop boards powered by the equally-new Intel P55 chipset (board controller). These new boards will also work with the new Core i7. But wait, this new Core i7 is not the same as the older Core i7! Confused? Read on.

This new Core i7 differs from the previous Core i7 in a two ways:

• Old i7 is a LGA1366 socket CPU, supports triple-channel DDR3 memory, on desktop boards powered by Intel X58 chipset
• New i7 is a LGA1156 socket CPU, supports dual-channel DDR3 memory, on desktop boards powered by Intel P55 chipset
  

As you can see, the new i7 is the same as the i5, whereas the old i7 works by itself. As also mentioned previously, Intel did this so owners of existing dual-channel DDR3 memory (RAM) on desktop boards powered by the Intel 4-Series chipset (like the P45) wouldn't have to waste their RAM.

The new Intel Core i5 processor. The new Core i7 processor looks just the same too!

Plus, now that you have two CPU types to select from, you have even more choices depending on your needs. But what's the difference between the new i7 and the new i5 then? Hyper-Threading. The new i7 has HT, while the new i5 doesn't have HT. The old i7 has HT too, by the way. As you can see, this makes the CPUs available from high-end (old i7), middle-range (new i7), and mainstream (new i5). But what is HT?

The new Intel Core i5 processor in its new LGA 1156 socket on a new Intel P55 board

HT is basically a feature where a single CPU core can function as a quasi dual-core, albeit not as fully-functional as a full-fledged dual-core. So the old i7 and new i7, both being quad-cores with HT, you effectively have quasi octo-cores, while the new i5, being quad-core without HT, is just a quad-core. Again, just to remember, the difference between the old i7 and new i7 is the number of RAM module sticks it supports.

(left to right) Old i7, i5 (as well as new i7), old Intel Core 2-class

So there you have it. Decide on how much power you need, and then you can go get the right type of CPU to meet your needs. The new i5 with 4 cores and dual RAM, the new i7 with 8 'cores' and dual RAM, or the old i7 with 8 'cores' and triple RAM. New i5 and new i7 need P55 boards, old i7 needs X58 boards.

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Crash, Boom, Bang?

If you haven't heard by now, Microsoft has re-named its Web search engine from Live Search to Bing, in an attempt to make it more "user-friendly". However, this "new" search engine got into a little trouble recently when it was found to be selective of the type of results to show depending on the search being queried. Want to know more?

In particular, it was sensitive towards searches that would highlight the "bad" side of Microsoft. This came to be known via here, and a screen capture here proved the point, especially since it has now been changed to reflect no "censorship", as seen from here. Just to be fair, Google was put to the test as well, as seen here. Well, it's good to see Microsoft redeem itself than to deny!

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