Well, it’s official
at any rate. Contrary to what
you’ve heard, Windows
Vista will not be shipping
with any of the original
technologies, features,
capabilities, or subsystems
originally promised. First it
was the real Aero –
complete visual control over
one’s system. Amazing
graphics, sidebars that were a
part of the Windows Core, Aero
Diamond. Then it was NGSCB and
its amazing security features
– not DRM, but total
privacy control; your privacy.
Monad. Last we heard, it was
WinFS, the king-pin feature
that was promised to change
the way you think of
data… And now the last
one is gone: Microsoft Max is
dead.
neowin.net -
02.11.2006Autodesk now owns Maya and 3D
Studio
Autodesk, the makers
of 3D Studio Max has acquired
Alias, the makers of Maya for
$182 million in cash. For
those of you who thought that
3D Studio Max was made by
Discreet, well, Autodesk now
owns Discreet so in effect,
the 3D modeling software
market is under control by
Autodesk.
Most 3D modeling that you see
in movies, TV, and games is
done using either Maya or 3D
Studio Max. This
concentration of market power
by a single company in such a
key market has many designers
and artists quite
nervous.
"What
about the cost of both
products?" said Scott
Tykoski, a 3D graphics
designer at Stardock. "These
are expensive products today
when there's competition,
what about in the future? Are
we going to be paying $12,000
base cost for these programs
in a
year?"
According
to Autodesk, the product
release schedule for both
products will continue into
the foreseeable future without
modification. The two
companies will continue to
exist and market and sell both
Maya and 3D Studio Max for the
near future.
What
the actual effect on
development of both products
now that competition between
the two is gone remains to be
seen.
winbeta.org -
05.10.2005Intel 'Turbo Memory' tries to speed up Windows
Intel's newest version of Turbo Memory is trying to do what Windows doesn't do: transparently optimize Windows for flash memory storage.
At the Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara, Calif. Intel will be demonstrating its
latest version of Turbo Memory based on flash memory to accelerate
application performance in Windows.
winbeta.org -
14.08.2008Vvikoo 8800GT Max 1GB Review
While it's always exciting to receive review samples from the big boys in the hardware world, it's also nice to take a look at something a
little different and this almost always comes from the little guys. Now, Vvikoo are manufacturers of some top end nVidia and ATI based GPU solutions,
so using the word "little" is probably a little harsh, but they are definitely the new kid on the block and have a lot to prove. What I have with me
today is an 8800GT, but not just any GT... oh no. This one has 1gb of DDR3, a huge aftermarket Zalman cooler, and it's purple.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
27.01.2008Inside the Improved Firefox 3 Memory Manager
Mozilla software engineer Stuart Parmenter explains the new and improved inner workings of the Firefox 3 memory manager and what was involved in the
quest of decreasing the browser's memory load. Not simply all about fixing memory leaks, it involved solving memory fragmentation issues as well,
as Windows and most other operating system allocates memory in blocks and may not "see" small enough fragments of memory as usable in practice.
neowin.net -
12.03.2008Reclaim Memory by Mastering Windows' Task Manager
The best way to speed up your PC is to give it more available memorybut freeing up as much of the memory you already have is cheaper and easier than
cracking open your case to
install a
new stick of RAM. It takes a lot of memory to get a modern Windows system up and ... well, not doing anything in particular, really. Between
cryptic system processes, confusing "helper" applications, and background utilities, a whole lot of who-knows-what gobbles up memory and slows down
your work. While a lot of programs claim to optimize memory use and pare down processes, Windows' built-in Task Manager can do the job just fine,
given the right tools and know-how. Today you'll extend and empower Windows' Task Manager to speed up your system by cutting out unnecessary memory
hogs.
winbeta.org -
15.02.2008Hotmail's maximum storage size increases to 500 GB
As part of its Wave 3 update announced back in 2008, Windows Live Hotmail was to have "ever increasing storage", and now as reported by LiveSide,
the current maximum mailbox size for Hotmail is 500 GB, and this includes e-mail accounts as part of Windows Live Admin Center, Office Live, and MSN
Premium. The new maximum size is shown in the two screenshots below courtesy of PicturePan2 from LiveSino: Screenshot from MSN Explorer where you
check your inbox folder sizes. It shows the max size being 512000 MB (Note: 512000 MB translates to 500 GB). Screenshot from Office Outlook
Connector, where it shows you the size of your Hotmail mailbox. It too shows the max size being 500 GB.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
21.07.2009Memory Usage of Chrome, Firefox 3.5, et al.
This experiment graphs the
memory usage of Chrome and Firefox 3.5 (along with Safari and Opera)
over a series of 150 Web page loads using an automated script. Firefox 3.5 shows the lowest memory usage in all categories, including average memory
usage, maximum memory usage, and final memory usage. Chrome uses over 1 GB of memory due to its process architecture. Safari 4 and Opera show memory
usage degradation over time, while Chrome and Firefox 3.5 are more reliable in freeing memory to the OS.
winbeta.org -
21.06.2009Windows Vista Memory Tweak Guide
With every release of a new operating system come new demands and Windows Vista is by large no exception to this rule.
There are several
relevant components to the Windows memory subsystem. In this guide we will put special emphasis on the hard drive, processor and RAM, taking you
through a variety of settings to optimally configure these and hopefully end up with an overall smoother running system.
neowin.net -
23.10.2007Autodesk announces Maya 2008, 3ds Max 2008
Autodesk
today announced new versions
of its modeling and animation
packages Maya and 3ds Max.
According to the
manufacturer, Maya 2008
provides more workflow
efficiency for artists in the
film, television, game
development, design and
manufacturing industries.
Also, the software offers
improved polygon modeling,
performance increases through
new algorithms as well as
multi-threading to take
advantage of multi-core
processors, new tools such as
HLSL shaders and a hardware
shader API to enhance the look
of games on third-generation
game consoles , as well as
more flexibility for character
setup and animation.
Maya 2008 is
expected to be available in
September with upgrade pricing
starting at $899 for the
"Complete" version and $1249
for the "Ultimate" package.
Standalone prices are $1999
and $6999, respectively.
Artists and
designers get an update for
3ds Max, which mainly
addresses the need to overcome
challenges associated with
large and complex 3D scenes,
Autodesk said. The software
includes a new viewport
technology, a new scene
explorer, new rendering
options, a new review toolset,
as well as new workflow tools.
Autodesk said that 3ds Max
2008 will be available in
October, with the upgrade
carrying a price tag of $795.
The full version is priced at
$3495.
winbeta.org -
07.08.2007Lexar to put Wi-Fi on a memory card
The memory chip manufacturer will use technology from Eye-Fi to add network connectivity for users of its own memory cards...
betanews.com -
11.01.2008Tracing the memory leak: Is it Firefox 3?
Yesterday, we mentioned that we've been noticing recent versions of Firefox, including 3.0.5, have exhibited the memory leak problems that used to
plague Firefox 2. We are noticing this on both Windows XP SP3 and Vista SP1.
We'd also noticed that systems where the add-on Tab Mix Plus
was installed, did not appear to exhibit the same memory leak. Today, we uninstalled Tab Mix Plus (reluctantly, because we like it) from one system.
On that system, the memory use pattern has
changed, perhaps moderated, though we're not sure the leak has gone away. It now appears to be
slower than in our tests yesterday, and from time to time, something in Firefox does clean up parts of memory from time to time. In one test,
we had two Firefox windows open with seven tabs open in one of them, a dozen in the other -- a pretty full slate. Task Manager is showing us that
Firefox grabs memory in one-megabyte chunks per second, for about a minute at a time, and then leveling back out to about 300,000 KB.
So if
it's not a leak right now, at least it's a
fight, and we'll let you know what else we find...
betanews.com -
20.01.2009Identifying 32-bit Kernel Memory Issues
Clint Huffman: I'm a Premier Field Engineer (PFE) and I go onsite with customers on a regular basis to conduct Health Checks. This is my first blog
posting on TechNet, but I figured it would be on something important versus "Hello World". ;-)
More and more I am seeing
customers who are not aware of kernel memory issues on the 32-bit Windows architecture. If you are running 32-bit Windows 2000 or 32-bit Windows 2003,
then check the kernel memory. Lack of kernel memory can lead to system-wide hangs which seem unexplainable, so this is a serious issue. Always
generally use and/or recommend 64-bit or Windows Server 2008 server to avoid these issues (Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista have automatically
adjusting kernel memory pool sizes). This issue and other performance issues are addressed in the Vital Signs workshop (written by Shane Creamer),
which can be delivered by my team, Premier Field Engineering (PFE) - just contact your Technical Account Manager (TAM) if you are interested in this
course.
Here is a kernel memory chart for Windows 2003 Server...
winbeta.org -
02.10.2007Sam & Max Season 1 pricing revealed
October 4, 2006 - Digital
entertainment pioneer Telltale
Inc. and GameTap, the first-of
its-kind broadband
entertainment network from
Turner Broadcasting System,
Inc., today announced a
comprehensive pricing plan for
Sam & Max: Season 1 that
offers customers excellent
value, flexibility, and
choice.
Customers' payment
options
are:
- Downloa
d individual Sam & Max
episodes for Ű.95 each
from
Telltale.
- B
uy the entire season for
า.95 from
Telltale.
- S
ubscribe to GameTap for
ű.95/month to get
exclusive early access to Sam
& Max episodes, along with
over 600 other
games.
"W
e want customers to be able to
get Sam & Max the way they
want it, when they want it,"
says Telltale CEO Dan Connors.
"One of the biggest benefits
of the episodic model is the
flexibility it provides.
We've listened carefully to
what this audience wants from
an episodic game, and as a
result, Sam & Max: Season
1 is the first series with
episodes released so
frequently and
affordably."
Sam
& Max aren't your average
crime-fighting duo. One's a
six-foot tall canine shamus
with a love of justice. The
other's a hyperkinetic
rabbity-thing with a taste for
violence. Together, Sam &
Max are the Freelance Police,
ridding the streets of
bottom-feeding sludge one
dastardly miscreant at a time.
Over the last two decades, Sam
& Max have appeared in a
number of formats, including
independent comics, a graphic
adventure game, and a Saturday
morning cartoon. Sam &
Max: Season 1 marks the duo's
triumphant return into the
limelight.
Sam
& Max: Season 1 is
scheduled to kick off in the
coming weeks and run through
April. The pilot episode,
Culture Shock, will debut
October 17, 2006 on GameTap,
and will become available
worldwide on Telltale's
website November 1. Episodes
2-6 will follow the same
pattern, with each episode
debuting on GameTap 15 days
before its worldwide release.
Beginning with episode 2 in
December, the games will be
released monthly. Stand-alone
machinima "shorts" will be
released weekly to bridge the
gap between episodes,
beginning in
December.
neowin.net -
05.10.2006
Microsoft Codename Max