Microsoft says Windows 8 in the absence of codecs

After Microsoft announced a few days ago that in Windows 8 – unlike in most Windows 7 versions – to dispense with the native implementation of the codecs needed to play DVDs, the Redmond company now explain more precisely what is behind the decision stands.

Explained in a verbose FAQ in Microsoft’s Developer Blog Steven Sinofsky, have been settled so far as the licensing costs for different codecs. He focused on the DVD playback codecs usually mandatory for the MPEG-2 and Dolby Digital (AC-3). The license fee for the appropriate codecs have to be paid depending on the license manager by different companies. For example, the fees for the MPEG-2 codec to be paid by the OEM, which assembles the PC. The data required for Dolby Digital license fees have been in the case of Windows 7, however, paid for by Microsoft, the Redmond company since this abschlossen a special agreement with Dolby Laboratories. There were also additional license fees that had to be some manufacturers of DVD playback software or paid players with the included software. That has to mean that a PC has been repeatedly paid royalties for the same codecs – such as when the PC maker attaches an additional player software or the device is shipped with an external DVD drive with software.

The licensing costs were passed on it to the customer. Specifically, it called Sinofsky royalties for the MPEG-2 codec, which would have amounted to two dollars per unit shipped. Would be added costs for the Dolby Digital format, and if you are in Windows 8 might also want to implement, for additional codecs for Blu-ray discs. For the end user like the extra costs may be relatively inconsequential, but Microsoft expects them high on the entire product life cycle of a Windows version, and this reminds costs amounting to several hundred million U.S. dollars. The crux of view of Microsoft is that it is assumed that only very few devices were actually used to play DVDs and this trend will continue. The trend was developing towards tablets and ultra-mobile devices that would give some complete with an optical drive. Therefore, it would also impose on these customers no longer the unnecessary additional cost to them per se.

Something incomprehensible acts but continue the upgrade process by which Windows users can download the necessary DVD codecs from Microsoft. There will be no Windows version 8, which directly contains the necessary codecs. Although an upgrade brings a different version of Windows to Windows 8 Pro with the Media Center Pack, you can buy directly but Windows 8 Pro, this is not included and must be loaded individually. Microsoft also omitted to provide for the installation of the Media Center and Windows Media Player pack with the appropriate codecs. The DVD playback is possible with the right codecs only in Media Center. Of course it will still be able to distribute software through a third party also play DVDs.

Vodafone now also subsidize handsets to new customers

Nothing seems definitive. Since two months ago Movistar give the risky step of stop subsidizing phones, the user perception is that operators do not “give away” phones but the reality seems to indicate that the offers to attract new customers will also be maintained in a timely manner with grants to existing customers from day one have continued to exist.

The first to make an exception to continue giving away phones to new customers was Movistar launched a bid to attract customers of Orange and Vodafone now updates the conditions of its new business model.

Vodafone mobile offer from $ 0 to all if you are already customer with another line

This is a standing offer from today May 2 to capture lines of other operators on a new high portability and available to users with 12 or more months old on a Vodafone contract line whether voice, Internet Mobile, Vodafone at Home or ADSL.

A new way to encourage families to have all lines under a single operator and not only getting benefits if rates now also better able to change mobile if firms stay for 24 months fee. These conditions are limited to a maximum of 5 lines per customer and involves not being able to make a change in ownership within 12 months from service activation.

As an example we leave some of the prices available with the new Samsung Galaxy Advance as a new feature coming in May.

New SSDNow V+200 from Kingston

Kingston SSD hard drive features data transfer rates of 6GB/s, which will boost your computer’s performance. SSD drives use flash memory rather than traditional metal discs of a regular hard drive. Kingston drive comes with different storage capacities, from 60GB to 480GB.The 60GB drive retails at Rs 6,000. For more details, visit www.kingston.com/uk

Final Fantasy creators announces contest for indian gamers

Square Enix the Japanese developer and publisher of Final Fantasy, Hitman, Tomb Raider and Space Invaders announced the launch of their game development contest for India.

The contest is open to both professionals and amateurs in India, with an object to discover the next generation of gaming talent from India.

There is no entry fee for the competition and the winners and participants that show excellent potential would be given an opportunity to work as development partners with the Japanese gaming company.

Registrations have already begun on india.square-enix.com. The game can be from either smartphone, tablet or the Web browser platforms.

The grand prize is for Rs 10,00,000 with Rs 3,00,000 and Rs 1,50,000 for runner-ups.

The last date for submission is 30, September, 2012.

The winners will be announced of December 20, 2012 and the games will be made available for free to the general public on their respective platforms.

Give a Booster to your arm

Exo-Hand, a glove designed to double the gripping power of the human hand and it was a key attraction at the Hanover Trade Fair 2012. Once worn on the user’s hand, it provides enhanced dexterity in picking up difficult objects and provides power when needed too.

The engineers responsible for Exo-Hand worked with the objectives to “enhance the strength and endurance of the human hand” as well as to extend the hand’s scope of action.

All the joints and drive units are located outside the hand in the form of the exoskeleton. Fingers can be moved and strength amplified in this device also described as an active manual orthosis with sensitive fingers.

The operator’s hand movements are registered and transmitted to the robotic hand in realtime.

The Exo-Hand uses pneumatic actuators on each finger to simulate the range of human finger movement. The actuators move the fingers so that they can be opened and closed.

According to the German makers Festo, nonlinear control algorithms were implemented on a CoDeSys-compliant controller for precise orientation of individual finger joints.

A “CoDeSys controller” registers and processes the positional and force parameters. It regulates the pressures in cylinders to ensure the correct finger positions and forces.

Further commenting on the design, Heinrich Frontzek, spokesman for Festo, said that at the back of the glove is a power-booster built in; “That’s done with little air cylinders that give power to every single finger through pressurised air that’s blown into it. Through that, we can reach a doubling of the grip force.”

This orthosis can be fitted over the human hand and also over an artificial hand made of silicone. The company foresees Exo-Glove in remote-manipulation scenarios too, where handling items poses risks. In this instance, the user’s motions would be emulated by the robotic hand away at a safe distance.

As such, it would enable performance of tasks in hazardous areas – whether because of natural disasters, accidents, or within scientific labs.

However, the Exo-Hand is still only a proof of concept device. Looking into that future, the company draws on experience in industrial training and education programs, and it recognises an aging work population where retirement is taken in later years than before and where older workers in assembly line jobs could be helped through a device assisting them with tasks demanding endurance or strength or both.

The “power amplifier,” as it is also called, might assist any workers in repetitive tasks that easily lead to fatigue.

Rehabilitation for stroke patients has also been suggested as a possible application.

If connected to a brain-computer interface, it may help stroke patients suffering from paralysis to get a connection between hand and brain.

US Prez Campaign : Bin Laden an issue

Osama bin Laden is dead but his demise has been trotted out as a campaign issue by President Barack Obama, whose new ad questions whether his Republican rival would have ordered such a risky raid.

The video features ex-president Bill Clinton hailing Obama for a brave call to take out the al-Qaeda leader, but aides to White House challenger Mitt Romney rapped Democrats for politicising the raid in the run-up to its May 2 anniversary, saying it was “unbecoming” of Obama to reduce the historic moment to a campaign slogan.

Entitled “One Chance”, the ad uses footage of quotes from Romney during his 2008 failed presidential bid in which he appeared ambivalent about going after Osama.

While Clinton saluted Obama for greenlighting the raid despite knowing the consequences would be disastrous if it went wrong, the ad’s on-screen text asks: “Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?” and features a grab highlighting Romney’s doubts. “It’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person,” Romney had said four years ago.

Vice President Joe Biden seized on the same remarks Thursday. “If you’re looking to sum up how Obama handled what we inherited, it’s pretty simple: Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive,” Biden said.

Romney’s campaign, however, argued that while Romney congratulated the president last year, a “desperate” Obama was seizing on the achievement to distract voters “from the failures of his administration.”

Google Drive rollout begins – launch today?

The Internet company Google will close according to company sources say well have tonight launched the introduction of its online storage service. The Google Drive will offer called Dropbox and SkyDrive, Microsoft’s competitors do.

As the news agency ‘ Reuters ‘reported, citing a source close to Google, could drive already today to start Tuesday as the free and premium offerings. This is also suggested that the storage capacity is increased for users of Google Docs this morning from one to five gigabytes. To use this, there seems to be merely the language of Google Docs briefly in English and then changed again in German.

5 GB of disk space available on Google Docs

According to Reuters, Google will get cloud storage including a search function and allow the storage of images, notes and other documents and files on Google’s servers to any device with an Internet connection to access it.

As an introductory offer, Google intends to provide its customers with allegedly five gigabytes of storage for free. Charge applied to the capacity can be increased, while Reuters says up to 100 GB of storage, but even go out other sources of up to one terabyte.

Skype 1.0 for Windows Phone ready, works with the “mobile Tango

After a couple of months in beta , the application calls to your Windows Phone Marketplace in version 1.0. The reality is that there are no major developments with regard to the version that was already in circulation.

For those who walk lost, the service / communications application owned by Microsoft allows us to make VoIP calls, video calls, instant messaging, or group conversations. Skype 1.0 for Windows Phone works over 3G, 4G / LTE, and WiFi.

The problem we found with respect to the application is that initially does not work in “Terminal Tango”. We refer to this it is necessary that the computer has 512MB of RAM, which are the vast majority of phones on the market.

But Tango came less demanding hardware constraints, such as 256MB of RAM present in terminals such as Nokia Lumia 610 . Seems to be working on an update for them, an issue that many users will appreciate.

Blocks Rapidshare file searches since FilesTube

Come finjáis not, all you have ever used FilesTube. The service, with millions of hits a day from throughout the world, is able to find direct download links of all kinds of content. Today it has been known, however, has begun to block Mediafire searches from Filestube.

Tim Langridge, co-founder of Mediafire, has defended the move saying that the company does not want to see their content indexed by any means. And that includes, of course, all the tools you use indexing FilesTube:

MediaFire was never designed to be indexed, and therefore we do not have any indexes. [...] The labels of the files are intended for services not to index this data, which led us to block services such as Google or Bing.
We classify this step as Mediafire was another consequence of the Post-Megaupload, where many similar services confirming its jurisdiction are covering their backs (despite the rise in traffic ) in case the United States government decides to act in the same So the company of Kim Dot Com . To hide from Filestube will cause fewer people use the service to download content with intellectual property licenses, which the institutions are going to do with a good face. Although I do not know if that will stop circulating files “pirates” for those services.

Quick grills and wine to impress guest

• Experiment with the thumb rule- white meat-white wine, red meat-red wine
• Fish, shrimp and most vegetarian grills go well with a crisp, young, ripe white wine such as a Chardonnay or a chenin blanc
• Duck, beef and pork do well with a complex medium-bodied red wine that lingers on the back of the tongue, such as a Merlot or Chiraz.