Sunday, February 3, 2013

How to activate Windows Defender in Windows 8


Like every new Windows release, Windows 8 is more secure than the operating systems that came before it. That's due in large part to three major enhancements: An increased emphasis on UEFI Secure Boot optimizations, the extension of the SmartScreen Filter across the operating system, and the default inclusion of a more robust version of Windows Defender, which now protects against all kinds of malware—not just spyware.
Windows Defender's increased scope doesn't sit well with computer manufacturers, however. OEMs make beaucoup bucks by installing those trial versions of McAfee, Norton and other security suites you'll find bundled on boxed PCs. Windows Defender's default installation threatens that gravy train.
Microsoft tossed its partners a bone by allowing OEMs to deactivate Windows Defender in order to ship boxed PCs with alternative security solutions installed. That's all well and good from a "variety is the spice of life" perspective, but one side-effect that isn't so hot is what happens when you fail to register that third-party security software: Windows 8 doesn't automatically reactivate Windows Defender by default. In other words, your pretty new prepackaged PC is wide open and vulnerable to all the nasties of the 'Net.
Fortunately, activating Windows Defender is a snap. Here's how to do it.

Activate Windows Defender in Windows 8

Windows Defender isn't subtle about being deactivated.
First, head to the modern-style Start screen and type "Windows Defender" to have Windows search for the program, then click on the Windows Defender icon when it appears in the results. A Windows Defender window will appear on the classic desktop. If Microsoft's security software is disabled, you'll seen a lot of scary red tones alongside an "At risk" warning and an image of a computer screen with a big X on it. Subtle, eh?
Next, click on the Settings tab at the top of the window. Make sure "Real-time protection" is selected in the left pane, then check the box next to "Turn on real-time protection (recommended)." Finally, click Save Changes at the bottom of the Window.
How you want your Settings tab to look!
You'll know it worked when the terrifying red "At risk" bar at the top of the Windows turns a much more soothing shade of green and switches to "PC Status: Protected."

Check for leaks

You're not quite done yet. Now it's time to make sure your PC is actually malware-free! Click the Update tab, then click on the big Update button in the middle of the Window to download the latest malware definitions Microsoft has on file.
Next, open the Home tab and select the "Full" radio button in the Scan Options list. All you have to do now is click Scan Now, then sit back and wait while Windows Defender checks the nooks and crannies of your PC for any hidden baddies. Grab a cup of coffee; it may take some time. While you're waiting, we recommend checking out your Windows 8 antivirus options.
Ah, that's what you want to see.

Use Any Phone on Any Wireless Network


When is it coming? Open access is partially here: You can use almost any unlocked GSM handset on AT&T or T-Mobile today, and Verizon Wireless began certifying third-party devices for its network in July (though to date the company has approved only two products). But the future isn't quite so rosy, as Verizon is dragging its feet a bit on the legal requirement that it keep its newly acquired 700-MHz network open to other devices, a mandate that the FCC agreed to after substantial lobbying by Google. Some experts have argued that the FCC provisions aren't wholly enforceable. However, we won't really know how "open" is defined until the new network begins rolling out, a debut slated for 2010.
Your Fingers Do Even More Walking
Last year Microsoft introduced Surface, a table with a built-in monitor and touch screen; many industry watchers have seen it as a bellwether for touch-sensitive computing embedded into every device imaginable. Surface is a neat trick, but the reality of touch devices may be driven by something entirely different and more accessible: the Apple iPhone.
What is it? With the iPhone, "multitouch" technology (which lets you use more than one finger to perform specific actions) reinvented what we knew about the humble touchpad. Tracing a single finger on most touchpads looks positively simian next to some of the tricks you can do with two or more digits. Since the iPhone's launch, multitouch has found its way into numerous mainstream devices, including the Asus Eee PC 900 and a Dell Latitude tablet PC. Now all eyes are turned back to Apple, to see how it will further adapt multitouch (which it has already brought to its laptops' touchpads). Patents that Apple has filed for a multitouch tablet PC have many people expecting the company to dive into this neglected market, finally bringing tablets into the mainstream and possibly sparking explosive growth in the category.
When is it coming? It's not a question of when Multitouch will arrive, but how quickly the trend will grow. Fewer than 200,000 touch-screen devices were shipped in 2006. iSuppli analysts have estimated that a whopping 833 million will be sold in 2013. The real guessing game is figuring out when the old "single-touch" pads become obsolete, possibly taking physical keyboards along with them in many devices.
Cell Phones Are the New Paper
Next Year, you can drop paper boarding passes and event tickets and just flash your phone at the gate.
Next Year, you can drop paper boarding passes and event tickets and just flash your phone at the gate.
Log in to your airline's Web site. Check in. Print out your boarding pass. Hope you don't lose it. Hand the crumpled pass to a TSA security agent and pray you don't get pulled aside for a pat-down search. When you're ready to fly home, wait in line at the airport because you lacked access to a printer in your hotel room. Can't we come up with a better way?
What is it? The idea of the paperless office has been with us since Bill Gates was in short pants, but no matter how sophisticated your OS or your use of digital files in lieu of printouts might be, they're of no help once you leave your desk. People need printouts of maps, receipts, and instructions when a computer just isn't convenient. PDAs failed to fill that need, so coming to the rescue are their replacements: cell phones.
Applications to eliminate the need for a printout in nearly any situation are flooding the market. Cellfire offers mobile coupons you can pull up on your phone and show to a clerk; Tickets.com now makes digital concert passes available via cell phone through its Tickets@Phone service. The final frontier, though, remains the airline boarding pass, which has resisted this next paperless step since the advent of Web-based check-in.
When is it coming? Some cell-phone apps that replace paper are here now (just look at the ones for the iPhone), and even paperless boarding passes are creeping forward.Continental has been experimenting with a cell-phone check-in system that lets you show an encrypted, 2D bar code on your phone to a TSA agent in lieu of a paper boarding pass. The agent scans the bar code with an ordinary scanner, and you're on your way. Introduced at the Houston Intercontinental Airport, the pilot project became permanent earlier this year, and Continental rolled it out in three other airports in 2008. The company promises more airports to come. (Quantas will be doing something similar early next year.)
Where You At? Ask Your Phone, Not Your Friend
Right Now, only a handful of devices sport GPS service. In the near future, it will be the norm.
Right Now, only a handful of devices sport GPS service. In the near future, it will be the norm.
GPS is taking off, as phone makers, carriers, and service providers have realized that consumers generally have no idea where they are, ever. A location-based service (LBS) takes raw GPS data that pinpoints your location and enhances this information with additional services, from suggesting nearby restaurants to specifying the whereabouts of your friends.
What is it? LBS was originally envisioned as simply using old-school cell-phone signal triangulation to locate users' whereabouts, but as the chips become more common and more sophisticated, GPS is proving to be not only handy and accurate but also the basis for new services. Many startups have formed around location-based services. Want a date? Never mind who's compatible; who's nearby? MeetMoi can find them. Need to get a dozen people all in one place? Both Whrrl and uLocate's Buddy Beacon tell you where your friends are in real time.
Of course, not everyone is thrilled about LBS: Worries about surreptitious tracking or stalking are commonplace, as is the possibility of a flood of spam messages being delivered to your phone.
When is it coming? LBS is growing fast. The only thing holding it back is the slow uptake of GPS-enabled phones (and carriers' steep fees to activate the function). But with iPhones selling like Ben & Jerry's in July, that's not much of a hurdle to overcome. Expect to see massive adoption of these technologies in 2009 and 2010.

How to display Blogger posts side by side (create a newspaper style layout!)


In recent weeks, one of the most requested tutorials has been how to display posts side-by-side. An example of how this is used is the classic (and much loved) Hemingway template, in which posts are displayed beside each other:

The Hemingway template does not include a sidebar in the layout. Instead, widgets are contained in the footer section (beneath the posts) which effectively puts most focus on the blog posts and less on the widget contents.

You can download the Hemingway template for Blogger from BlogCrowds in both the black and white variations of design.

Many bloggers prefer a three column template in which two of the columns are dedicated to blog posts (and with only one sidebar). An example of this layout can be seen in the popular Drudge Report blog:


In this tutorial, I'll explain how you can create a three column Blogger template in which two columns are dedicated to posts, while the third may be used as a regular sidebar. On item pages, the post will take up the full width of two columns to ensure there is no unsightly gap between this and the sidebar. 


We're going to base this tutorial on the Minima template, though the same principles can be applied to most Blogger templates. Here is an example of what we will achieve:

Overview (Read this first!)


In this tutorial, I'll explain how to transform the default Minima template so that posts appear in (narrower) columns, side-by side on home, archive and search pages, with a sidebar of the same width appearing on the right hand side of the posts. 

To transform the basic Minima template into a three column, newspaper style layout is fairly straightforward and includes two basic steps:
  1. Increase the width of the overall template to accomodate the extra column
  2. Add some conditional CSS to make the posts appear beside each other on non-item pages
However, once we have done these two steps, there will be a few other code and CSS issues which we need to resolve in order that the template will appear as it should. I will take you through all steps nescessary to ensure the layout appears as it should, with explanations and visual examples at each stage.

An issue which you should consider when using this tutorial is that the width of each posts column (on non-item pages) will be decreased to 290px. This means you should ensure images in posts are no wider than 290px (including any padding or borders) otherwise the posts columns will be pushed beneath each other, rather than be displayed side-by-side.

If you usually display large images and wish to do so on item pages, we can add some extra CSS to the template to restrict the width of images on non-item pages, as I will explain later in this tutorial.

Most of the techniques described in this tutorial may also be applied to different templates. If you would like to transform your own (non-Minima) template in this manner, my advice would be to follow each step of this tutorial in a test blog first, then see how this could apply to the different CSS classes and identifiers in your own template. It's much better to have some experience of this technique beforehand than to jump in feet first! 

Step 1: Create a test blog


While it is not essential to create a test blog to make changes to your blog layout, I'm sure many of you will find this useful! This way you can make changes without affecting your main blog, and if you happen to make a mistake you can start all over again ;)

I have written a comprehensive tutorial about creating a test blog which you can read here. If you'd like to jump straight in, here are the basic steps covered in the test blog tutorial:
  1. Create a new blog (choose the Minima template for the purpose of this tutorial)
  2. Fill it with some posts (at least 2, though more would be preferable)
  3. Make it private, and prevent your blog being indexed by search engines
If you're looking for a quick and easy way to add "dummy content" to your blog, check out LoremIpsumDolarSitAmet.com which generated paragraphs of dummy text automatically (including my favorite filler text: Jabberwocky!).

Once you have created your test blog, we can begin changing aspects of the layout.

Step 2: Alter the dimensions of the layout


Now I am assuming you are using the Minima template (it doesn't matter which color), and that the sidebar is on the right-hand side of your layout.

At the moment, the layout is too narrow to accomodate a third column. So we need to alter the dimensions of the layout in order to create more space.

Increase the width of the #outer-wrapper

The #outer-wrapper is the container which holds all of the content in this template, including the header, main posts section and sidebar.

At present, your outer-wrapper will be 660px wide. We will increase this to 940px which will allow us to have three columns of 290px, 290px (the posts) and 300px (for the sidebar), plus margins between to allow for eye-pleasing white-space.

To achieve this, find the following section in the b:skin section of your layout:

#outer-wrapper {
  width: 660px;
  margin:0 auto;
  padding:10px;
  text-align:$startSide;
  font: $bodyfont;
  }

Change the 660px (highlighted in red) to say 940px instead.

Increase the width of the #main-wrapper

The #main-wrapper is the section which contains your blog posts, blog pager (newer/older posts) and any messages which appear when you perform a search or filter posts by label.

We need to increase this from 410px to 620px, which will allow enough room for posts to display side-by-side in two narrower columns.

To do this, find the following section of code:

#main-wrapper {
  width: 410px;
  float: $startSide;
  word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */
  overflow: hidden;     /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */
  }

And replace 410px with 620px instead.

Make the sidebar wider

Personally, I find a three column newspaper style template to be more pleasing when all three columns are approximately the same width. So we will increase the width of the sidebar from 220px to 300px, which will equal the width of the post columns and their white-space.

So find the following section of code:

#sidebar-wrapper {
  width: 220px;
  float: $endSide;
  word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */
  overflow: hidden;      /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */
}

And replace 220px with 300px instead.

Fix the header and footer widths


If you take a look at your template now, you will notice that the header and footer sections are narrower than the overall width of the blog.

This is because the Minima template uses specific widths for the #header-wrapper and #footer sections of the layout.

To widen these two sections (which complements the new wider design) we need to remove the width statements in the b:skin section of the template. This will then allow the header and footer to stretch to the width of the outer-wrapper and appear harmonious to the design.

Firstly, find the following section in your blog template:

#header-wrapper {
  width:660px;
  margin:0 auto 10px;
  border:1px solid $bordercolor;
  }

And remove the line highlighted in red.

Then locate this section of code:
#footer {
  width:660px;
  clear:both;
  margin:0 auto;
  padding-top:15px;
  line-height: 1.6em;
  text-transform:uppercase;
  letter-spacing:.1em;
  text-align: center;
}

And again, delete the line in red.

Now preview your template: you should notice that the header and footer sections now stretch to the overall width of the blog. 

The blog description may look a little lop-sided with this new setting, like this:



To align the description centrally beneath the blog title, simply find this section of code:

#header .description {
  margin:0 5px 5px;
  padding:0 20px 15px;
  max-width:700px;
  text-transform:uppercase;
  letter-spacing:.2em;
  line-height: 1.4em;
  font: $descriptionfont;
  color: $descriptioncolor;
 }

Then delete the line in red. Since the description uses margins and padding, we can do away with the "max-width" property, which ensures this section is properly aligned to the heading above it.

Ensure the #blog-pager spans the width of the main posts section

When displaying posts side-by-side, it is ideal to have an even number of posts displayed. However, it is not always possible to do so. For example, on archive pages there may be an uneven number of posts for any given time period, or a blog search could produce 3, 5 or another uneven number of results.

For this reason, we must ensure the blog pager (which displays links to the home page, newer and older posts) has a fixed width. Otherwise it may appear at the top right of the posts, which is not harmonious to the design.

To apply a fixed width to the blog-pager, locate the following line of code in your template:

#blog-pager { 

And immediately after it, add the lines in red:

#blog-pager { 
  width: 600px;
  clear: both;

  text-align: center;
 }

This will ensure the pager always spans the width of both post columns on non-item pages.

Save your modifications!

At this point, we have made some heavy modifications to the Minima template. So if you have not already done so, save your template now.

Step 3: Ensure the "date-header" appears in the right place!


In the Minima template, the section of code which produces the "date heading" for each post is outside the main "includable" for the blog posts. Since we are making two columns of posts appear on the home page of this template, we need to alter the placement of the date-header code, otherwise the date-headings will appear out of place!

This step is probably the most complicated of the whole tutorial, so take your time and do this carefully :)

For this, we will need to delve into the widget template for the posts section. You need to ensure you have checked the "Expand widget templates" box on the Edit HTML page:


Now search for the following section of code:

<data:adStart/>
<b:loop values='data:posts' var='post'>
<b:if cond='data:post.dateHeader'>
<h2 class='date-header'><data:post.dateHeader/></h2>
</b:if>
<b:include data='post' name='post'/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<b:include data='post' name='comments'/>
</b:if>
<b:if cond='data:post.includeAd'>
<data:adEnd/>
<data:adCode/>
<data:adStart/>
</b:if>
</b:loop>
<data:adEnd/>

This section brings together all elements of your blog posts to display in your active blog pages. The lines I have highlighted in red generate the date-heading for each post. These are the lines which need to be moved to a different place in the template code.

Highlight these three lines in your template, and key CTRL+X (or CMD+X) to temporarily "cut" them from the template. These will be copied to your clipboard so you can paste them in the new location.

Once you have "cut" these three lines, locate this line of code in your template:

<a expr:name='data:post.id'/>

And paste the three "cut" lines immediately after it.

Now preview your blog to ensure the date-headings are visible above each post. If all looks well, you can proceed to save your template.


Step 4: Add conditional CSS to make posts appear side-by-side on non-item pages


We have modified many aspects of our Minima template in preparation for the new posts column on non-item pages. Now we can add some conditional CSS which will make posts appear side-by-side!

This is actually quite easy! All you need to do is copy the following section of code to your clipboard:

<b:if cond="data:blog.pageType != "item"">
<style>
.post {width: 290px; margin-right: 20px; float: left;overflow: hidden;}
</style>
</b:if>

And paste this immediately after the closing </b:skin> tag in your template code. You can then preview your template, and will be able to see the results right away!

Save your template at this point, and view your demonstration blog in your browser. Have a play around with the pages, viewing archives, performing searches and the like. You will see that on non-item pages, the posts appear in narrow columns side-by-side, whereas on item pages, the post will span the width of both columns!

Taking care of images in your newspaper-style template


Your new post columns are slightly narrower than the width for "large" images which you may upload to your posts. This means that large sized images will be "cut off" when displayed on non-item pages.

There are two ways you can work around this:
  1. Only ever post small/medium sized images to your posts
  2. Specify the width of post images on non-item pages.
If you choose the second option, you will need to add a little more CSS to the conditional style we added, just after the closing tag, like this:



<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != "item"'>
<style>
.post {width: 290px; margin-right: 20px; float: left;overflow: hidden;}.post-body img {width: 280px;}
</style>
</b:if>

This would reduce the width of large images to only 280px on non-item pages, whereas on individual posts, the images will display at full width.

However, any images which would usually be smaller than 280px in width would be stretched to this width.

You could of course choose for images to be even narrower (eg: 100px or 150px) if you plan on serving smaller sized images as well as large ones. Simply change width: 280px to your chosen specification.

Summary

If you would like to apply this technique to a different template, or would simply prefer a summarized version of this template, here is a quick summary of the steps required to make posts appear side-by-side in a Blogger layout:

  1. Prepare your existing template
    • Widen the outer-wrapper
    • Widen the main posts column
    • Ensure the header and footer sections are widened accordingly
    • Don't forget to adjust the width of the blog-pager section!
  2. Ensure the date-header code snippet is above the code for the post title, and not seperately coded within the posts loop
  3. Add conditional CSS outside the <b:skin> section of your template, which ensures the posts appear side-by-side only on non-item pages. You may need to experiment with different widths and margins to find the ideal dimensions for your own layout.
  4. Be aware of how images may appear in your new layout and make changes accordingly
I hope this tutorial has explained how to create a newspaper style template in Blogger in which posts appear side-by-side. The methods used here have been tried and tested for modifying the Minima template, though for other Blogger templates you may need to make more adjustments and possibly change background images to accomodate the new dimensions of your three-column layout.

If you have any useful tips to accompany this tutorial, or would simply like to leave a comment, please feel free to leave your message below.

Author: Amanda Kennedy

Amanda is a professional blogger and web designer living in Sheffield, United Kingdom.
In addition to curating Blogger Buster, you can find Amanda on Twitter, Facebook or add her to your circle on Google+.

WordPress Website Hourly Work


WordPress Website Hourly Work

If you require work on your WordPress website whether it be to tidy up some code, add some styling, add a page, upload a video, configure plugins, lock down the site against potential malicious threats, pretty much anything WordPress you can purchase a block of time and request the work to be completed.
You can purchase a block of time ahead of when you need it and take advantage of the lower rate for a larger block. Then simply let us know what needs to be done when you are ready.
$160.00
Your Price
1 to 5=$160.00 per unit
6 to 10=$120.00 per unit
11 or more=$80.00 per unit

How to: Display the Posts of a Single Category on a WordPress Page (With Pagination)


As with many themes out there (including this one) the main navigation will include all the WordPress pages you’ve created by default: About me, Contact, Downloads, etc. To most people, WordPress pages act as a blank canvas for their content, namely text and images, but what if you wanted your WordPress pages to do more than just display content? What if you wanted a page to display all the posts of a single category on your blog? The ‘Design’ link in the navigation at the top of this site does just that – it displays all my posts under the ‘Design’ category.
First things first, you need to understand what a page template is (Click this link to learn more). Or you can just skip the reading and try to understand the last bit of code in this post yourself ;) .

With that out of the way, we can move onto the code that pulls in X number of posts from a single category:

[php]<?php $recent = new WP_Query("cat=15&showposts=10"); while($recent->have_posts()) : $recent->the_post();?>
<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark">
<?php the_title(); ?>
</a>
<?php the_excerpt(); ?>
<?php endwhile; ?>[/php]
This bit of code shows our recent posts from a specific category.
  • Cat=15 is the category ID number
  • Showposts=10 is the number of recent posts you want to display on the page
Not too difficult right?

What if you wanted to display all the posts from your single category with pagination on each page?

[php] <?php $paged = get_query_var(‘paged’) ? get_query_var(‘paged’) : 1;
query_posts(‘cat=14&paged=’.$paged.’&post_per_page=9′.get_option(‘posts_per_page’)); ?>[/php]
This is the code that makes the magic happen. Again, you change the “cat=14″ ID number to the category you want to feature and the “post_per_page=9″ part should be pretty self explanatory.

So how do you implement this code into your page (template)?

I’m not going to explain to you what each part of code in the page template does (you should already know that). But it should be clear (just by looking at the code below) where you should add the function that pulls in all your posts from your specific category and adds pagination. I’ll give you a clue: It’s above the legendary line: “< ?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>”
[php]<?php
/*
Template Name: Page that Displays all posts in the Design Category
*/
?>
<?php get_header(); ?>
<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
<?php $paged = get_query_var(‘paged’) ? get_query_var(‘paged’) : 1;
query_posts(‘cat=14&paged=’.$paged.’&post_per_page=9′.get_option(‘posts_per_page’)); ?>
<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<div id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" class="post_container">
<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark">
<?php the_title(); ?>
</a>
<?php the_content_limit(get_theme_mod(‘limit_char’)); ?>
</div><!–end of post_container–>
<?php endwhile; ?>
<div class="pagination">
<?php if (function_exists(‘wp_pagenavi’)) wp_pagenavi(); else { ?>
<?php previous_posts_link(__(‘Newer Entries’)) ?>
<?php next_posts_link(__(‘Older Entries’)) ?>
<?php } ?>
</div> <!–end .pagination–>
<?php else : ?>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php get_sidebar(); ?>
<?php get_footer(); ?>[/php]
And there you have it folks – No plugins involved, just pure, hard code :)

Gesture-Based Remote Control


Gesture-Based Remote Control

Soon you'll be able to simply point at your television and control it with hand gestures.
Soon you'll be able to simply point at your television and control it with hand gestures.
We love our mice, really we do. Sometimes, however, such as when we're sitting on the couch watching a DVD on a laptop, or when we're working across the room from an MP3-playing PC, it just isn't convenient to drag a hockey puck and click on what we want. Attempts to replace the venerable mouse--whether with voice recognition or brain-wave scanners--have invariably failed. But an alternative is emerging.
What is it? Compared with the intricacies of voice recognition, gesture recognition is a fairly simple idea that is only now making its way into consumer electronics. The idea is to employ a camera (such as a laptop's Webcam) to watch the user and react to the person's hand signals. Holding your palm out flat would indicate "stop," for example, if you're playing a movie or a song. And waving a fist around in the air could double as a pointing system: You would just move your fist to the right to move the pointer right, and so on.
When is it coming? Gesture recognition systems are creeping onto the market now. Toshiba, a pioneer in this market, has at least one product out that supports an early version of the technology: the Qosmio G55 laptop, which can recognize gestures to control multimedia playback. The company is also experimenting with a TV version of the technology, which would watch for hand signals via a small camera atop the set. Based on my tests, though, the accuracy of these systems still needs a lot of work.
Gesture recognition is a neat way to pause the DVD on your laptop, but it probably remains a way off from being sophisticated enough for broad adoption. All the same, its successful development would excite tons of interest from the "can't find the remote" crowd. Expect to see gesture recognition technology make some great strides over the next few years, with inroads into mainstream markets by 2012.
Radical Simplification Hits the TV Business
The back of most audiovisual centers looks like a tangle of snakes that even Medusa would turn away from. Similarly, the bowl of remote controls on your coffee table appeals to no one. The Tru2way platform may simplify things once and for all.
What is it? Who can forget CableCard, a technology that was supposed to streamline home A/V installations but that ultimately went nowhere despite immense coverage and hype? CableCard just didn't do enough--and what it managed to do, it didn't do very well. Enter Tru2way.
Tru2way is a set of services and standards designed to pick up the pieces of CableCard's failure by upgrading what that earlier standard could do (including support for two-way communications features like programming guides and pay-per-view, which CableCard TVs couldn't handle), and by offering better compatibility, improved stability, and support for dual-tuner applications right out of the box. So if you have a Tru2way-capable TV, you should need only to plug in a wire to be up and running with a full suite of interactive cable services (including local search features, news feeds, online shopping, and games)--all sans additional boxes, extra remotes, or even a visit from cable-company technicians.
When is it coming? Tru2way sets have been demonstrated all year, and Chicago and Denver will be the first markets with the live technology. Does Tru2way have a real shot? Most of the major cable companies have signed up to implement it, as have numerous TV makers, including LG, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony. Panasonic began shipping two Tru2way TVs in late October, and Samsung may have sets that use the technology available in early to mid-2009.
Curtains for DRM
RealDVD's DRM-free format makes taking flicks on the road easier. This is the future of entertainment.
RealDVD's DRM-free format makes taking flicks on the road easier. This is the future of entertainment.
Petrified of piracy, Hollywood has long relied on technical means to keep copies of its output from making the rounds on peer-to-peer networks. It hasn't worked: Tools to bypass DRM on just about any kind of media are readily available, and feature films often hit BitTorrent even before they appear in theaters. Unfortunately for law-abiding citizens, DRM is less a deterrent to piracy than a nuisance that gets in the way of enjoying legally obtained content on more than one device.
What is it? It's not what it is, it's what it isn't--axing DRM means no more schemes to prevent you from moving audio or video from one form of media to another. The most ardent DRM critics dream of a day when you'll be able to take a DVD, pop it in a computer, and end up with a compressed video file that will play on any device in your arsenal. Better yet, you won't need that DVD at all: You'll be able to pay a few bucks for an unprotected, downloadable version of the movie that you can redownload any time you wish.
When is it coming? Technologically speaking, nothing is stopping companies from scrapping DRM tomorrow. But legally and politically, resistance persists. Music has largely made the transition already--Amazon and iTunes both sell DRM-free MP3s that you can play on as many devices as you want.
Video is taking baby steps in the same direction, albeit slowly so far. One recent example: RealNetworks' RealDVD software (which is now embroiled in litigation) lets you rip DVDs to your computer with one click, but they're still protected by a DRM system. Meanwhile, studios are experimenting with bundling legally rippable digital copies of their films with packaged DVDs, while online services are tiptoeing into letting downloaders burn a copy of a digital movie to disc.
That's progress, but ending all DRM as we know it is still years off. Keep your fingers crossed--for 2020.

15 Hot New Technologies That Will Change Everything


The Future of Your PC's Software

64-Bit Computing Allows for More RAM
In 1986, Intel introduced its first 32-bit CPU. It wasn't until 1993 that the first fully 32-bit Windows OS--Windows NT 3.1--followed, officially ending the 16-bit era. Now 64-bit processors have become the norm in desktops and notebooks, though Microsoft still won't commit to an all-64-bit Windows. But it can't live in the 32-bit world forever.
What is it? 64-bit versions of Windows have been around since Windows XP, and 64-bit CPUs have been with us even longer. In fact, virtually every computer sold today has a 64-bit processor under the hood. At some point Microsoft will have to jettison 32-bit altogether, as it did with 16-bit when it launched Windows NT, if it wants to induce consumers (and third-party hardware and software developers) to upgrade. That isn't likely with Windows 7: The upcoming OS is already being demoed in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. But limitations in 32-bit's addressing structure will eventually force everyone's hand; it's already a problem for 32-bit Vista users, who have found that the OS won't access more than about 3GB of RAM because it simply doesn't have the bits to access additional memory.
When is it coming? Expect to see the shift toward 64-bit accelerate with Windows 7; Microsoft will likely switch over to 64-bit exclusively with Windows 8. That'll be 2013 at the earliest. Meanwhile, Mac OS X Leopard is already 64-bit, and some hardware manufacturers are currently trying to transition customers to 64-bit versions of Windows (Samsung says it will push its entire PC line to 64-bit in early 2009). And what about 128-bit computing, which would represent the next big jump? Let's tackle one sea change at a time--and prepare for that move around 2025.
Windows 7: It's Inevitable
Will Windows 7 finally push PC software into the 64-bit world for good? We can only hope.
Will Windows 7 finally push PC software into the 64-bit world for good? We can only hope.
Whether you love Vista or hate it, the current Windows will soon go to that great digital graveyard in the sky. After the tepid reception Vista received, Microsoft is putting a rush on Vista's follow-up, known currently as Windows 7.
What is it? At this point Windows 7 seems to be the OS that Microsoft wanted to release as Vista, but lacked the time or resources to complete. Besides continuing refinements to the security system of the OS and to its look and feel, Windows 7 may finally bring to fruition the long-rumored database-like WinFS file system. Performance and compatibility improvements over Vista are also expected.
But the main thrust of Windows 7 is likely to be enhanced online integration and more cloud computing features--look for Microsoft to tie its growing Windows Live services into the OS more strongly than ever. Before his retirement as Microsoft's chairman, Bill Gates suggested that a so-called pervasive desktop would be a focus of Windows 7, giving users a way to take all their data, desktop settings, bookmarks, and the like from one computer to another--presumably as long as all those computers were running Windows 7.
When is it coming? Microsoft has set a target date of January 2010 for the release of Windows 7, and the official date hasn't slipped yet. However, rumor has the first official beta coming out before the end of this year.
Google's Desktop OS
The independently created gOS Linux is built around Google Web apps. Is this a model for a future Google PC OS?
The independently created gOS Linux is built around Google Web apps. Is this a model for a future Google PC OS?
In case you haven't noticed, Google now has its well-funded mitts on just about every aspect of computing. From Web browsers tocell phones, soon you'll be able to spend all day in the Googleverse and never have to leave. Will Google make the jump to building its own PC operating system next?
What is it? It's everything, or so it seems. Google Checkout provides an alternative to PayPal. Street View is well on its way to taking a picture of every house on every street in the United States. And the fun is just starting: Google's early-beta Chrome browser earned a 1 percent market share in the first 24 hours of its existence. Android, Google's cell phone operating system, is hitting handsets as you read this, becoming the first credible challenger to the iPhone among sophisticated customers.
When is it coming? Though Google seems to have covered everything, many observers believe that logically it will next attempt to attack one very big part of the software market: the operating system.
The Chrome browser is the first toe Google has dipped into these waters. While a browser is how users interact with most of Google's products, making the underlying operating system somewhat irrelevant, Chrome nevertheless needs an OS to operate.
To make Microsoft irrelevant, though, Google would have to work its way through a minefield of device drivers, and even then the result wouldn't be a good solution for people who have specialized application needs, particularly most business users. But a simple Google OS--perhaps one that's basically a customized Linux distribution--combined with cheap hardware could be something that changes the PC landscape in ways that smaller players who have toyed with open-source OSs so far haven't been quite able to do.
Check back in 2011, and take a look at the not-affiliated-with-Google gOS, thinkgos in the meantime.