Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Brand New Internet Explorer

Who needs Internet Explorer 7 when you can just wait for Internet Explorer 8? According to ActiveWin, Microsoft has already been working diligently on Internet Explorer 7's successor, and there are no plans for the team to stop for a service pack. The Internet Explorer development team will supposedly have the next version ready to go out the door within the next two years.

One Microsoft official at CES has told ActiveWin.com that work has already begun for IE 8, the next version of Internet Explorer, and we can expect to see a final product within 18-24 months. In addition, there are reportedly no plans for an interim service pack, but rather focus completely on the next version, which will compete even more directly with Firefox.

ActiveWin's report is completely plausible, but we weren't able to verify the rumor. Instead, a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars that the company is not prepared to discuss future iterations of the browser.

Microsoft is committed to Internet Explorer and is actively working on the next version of the browser. We are excited about the positive reception Internet Explorer 7 has received and are currently looking at market feedback and customer needs as we work on future versions. However we are not commenting on future plans at this time.

How do you feel about Microsoft skipping out on service packs for Internet Explorer 7 and jumping straight into Internet Explorer 8? As long as the browser is kept as secure as possible, I can't see why that would be a problem. If Microsoft is listening, I'd like to see Internet Explorer 8 be a little more developer-friendly. I use Firefox because of all the wonderful Extensions, but I would consider switching back to Internet Explorer if Microsoft had something even close to comparable. I will say that Add-Ons are definitely a step in the right direction, though.

Read about browser’s ACID test here.

Audiophile: Sound Card

An obscenely large percentage of the world’s population shares the same passion - music. With the introduction of MP3 and file sharing programs most of us now have gigabytes of music collection. No one loves if the bass coming from sub woofer is not powerful enough or the mids are not clear. When it comes to good music a dedicated sound hardware is a must, and when it comes to PC hardware making a good choice becomes really feverish.

With basic PC hardware sound, the first thing we have to decide is a sound card. We get two options here, either we can go with the onboard sound or we can have a dedicated sound card. Onboard sound has improved a lot than what it used to be a few years back. All new generation motherboard comes equipped with at least 6 channel sound as a de facto standard. Latest onboard sound cards are capable of producing 8 channel audio. Intel’s new high definition audio has not only multi stream capabilities but it can also send two or more audio streams to different locations at the same time. This means we can play decent music while voice chatting on net. Another great feature is “jack retasking”, i.e. one jack can have more than once function. The card is smart enough to detect whenever a new device is plugged in. It can change its port functionality if the device is plugged into wrong one. ALC 880 and ALC 880D are also great onboard cards which provide good 7.1 sound. It provides four 24 bit, 2 channel DACs, with sound-to-noise ratio achieving up to 100 dB; making it suitable for high multimedia PCs.
Realtel ALC880
Audiophiles and music lovers often opt for dedicated sound cards. These cards have higher sound-to-noise ratio, higher bit rate and takes off load from CPU. In the area of PC sound card no one beats creative. Creative has a range of dedicated sound cards for music lovers to gamers to enthusiasts. At the low end of the hierarchy we can see “Sound Blaster Live Series”, for the mid section one can opt from the “Audigy” series of cards. For extremists and audiophiles creative has launched “X-Fi” series. The Sound Blaster Live supports up to 7.1 channel surround sound and Creative’s EAX Advanced HD Technology. Audigy series has various cards in its stack from audigy value and to Audigy 4 pro. Audigy value has a sound-to-noise ratio of 100 dB has audio quality of 24 bit/96 kHz .Audigy 2 value is a minor upgrade from the audigy value series. Audigy 2 ZS boasts Ceative’s advanced HD audio quality playback and has sound-to-noise ratio of 108 dB. It is capable of producing DVD Audio at 24 bit/ 192 kHz in stereo or 24 bit/ 96 kHz in 5.1 channel surround. The premium card of the series “Audigy 4 pro” has sound-to-noise ratio of 113 dB and supports recording up to six channels at 24 bit/ 96 kHz. The latest gem in the Creative’s bag is the X-Fi series of cards. In terms of processing power X-Fi series is supposed to have twenty four times more powerful than its predecessor. X-Fi audio processor delivers an "Active Modal Architecture" that allows, to switch between one of three modes (Gaming, Entertainment & Audio Creation) available. Various variants of card are: “X-Fi Xtreme Audio”, “X-Fi Xtreme Music”, “X-Fi platinum”, “X-Fi Fatal1ty”, and “X-Fi Elite Pro”. The Fatal1ty and Elite Pro series has an onboard X-Ram of 64 Mb. Platinum, Fatal1ty and Elite Pro connects to an external hub and comes bundled with a remote control.
Creative X-Fi Elite Pro
Whether it’s just for music or for meeting the requirements of the top end games, sound cards (both onboard and dedicated) deliver top performance whenever asked for.For more reading visit here
 
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