Reptiles Energy Ready Mammals

Ubuntu 4.11 "Natty Narwhal" Alpha 3: The desktop is beautiful

The release of Alpha 3 marks another important step closer to what will be the release of Ubuntu 4.11. Get the historic Rhythmbox was finally abandoned in favor of Banshee, OpenOffice has been replaced by LibreOffice, Firefox has been updated to version 4.0 RC. Unity begins to be sufficiently stable and begins to show its potential. We see everything in detail.

The August 17, 2010, straight from the pages of your blog , the guru of Canonical announced that Ubuntu 11.04 will be called "Natty Narwhal", or "Elegant narwhal."

Between saying and doing ...

Mark Shuttleworth's intention, with the release NN, is to make Ubuntu beautiful and elegant just like the narwhal, an animal that lives in the Arctic, a whale that, thanks to its long front horn seems to come out a book of mythology.
The dream of the father of Ubuntu, therefore, blends myth and reality: to make this new release "perfect" and "the most beautiful ever" among those released to date .

roadmap

The lineup of new release of Ubuntu is as follows (source Ubuntu Wiki ):

• 03/03/2011 - Alpha 3
• 31/03/2011 - 21/04/2011
• Beta - Release Candidate
• 28/04/2011 - 11:04

Ubuntu after installing the Alpha 3 is now recommended that all proposed updates, in order to benefit of all the latest fixes and improvements taken.

All ' Ubuntu Developer Summit, Shuttleworth has surprised all those present with his statements: the new version of Ubuntu will see the adoption of Unity interface as the default desktop instead of GNOME.

Shuttleworth explained its choice in regard to the new interface on the grounds that, in his words, " users want Unity as the main desktop. In an interview after his presentation, the same added that Dell is ready to support the initiative, and that there are agreements to this effect with other large companies PC manufacturers like Lenovo and Acer.

Furthermore, it seems that the decision to make this change by the next release, was dictated by the increasingly divergent views between the GNOME developers and the team at Canonical on how it should be and how it should operate desktop interface.
Shuttleworth was however promised that, despite their differences, users of desktop editions of Ubuntu should have few problems with the new interface: many elements of GNOME and Unity will continue to be used should allow the execution of all GNOME applications without changing them.
Operation Unity, is also based on OpenGL. This could initially create problems for users with PCs equipped with scarce resources hardware, which must wait for the next planned development with the release of Ubuntu 11.10 for a 2D version, certainly more light .

Operation Unity Unity is already available as a default desktop manager by Alpha 1, but in this release have been made many changes. The system is remarkably stable and incredibly responsive and powerful, a sign that the programmers at Canonical are doing an excellent job.
The desktop is based on two fundamental components that characterize the look deeply and usability: the classic top bar is flanked by a launch bar on the left side of the screen.

The top bar on the right of this bar are the classic icons of the recent versions of Ubuntu, including wireless network, volume, time and the off button. But do not be fooled, the new features are notable: the bar, In fact, acquires the properties of the active window by showing its menu, just like on Mac OS X

clicking on the Ubuntu logo in the upper left hand, now there is a large window with shortcuts .

up you will find a search bar intelligent typed text can, for example, to search for installed applications and not on our PC. For example, typing gimp we can find and start the program, or install it using the Ubuntu Software Center that will open automatically. Unfortunately, at least in my case, the 'application crashed.

the bottom right of that window there is also a button to expand it to all the available screen.

The new launch bar

The launch bar on the left has anything of interest. In it there is already some pitchers default, allowing you to launch applications with the click of a mouse, for example, the file manager and Firefox.
Its operation is very similar to the bottom bar of Windows 7: opening a program is loading and displaying the icon, which can be maintained clicking above with the right mouse and selecting Keep in Launcher.

open programs are identified by a small arrow icon on the left, the arrows will turn 2, a left and a right, if the active program window open.

Clicking the right mouse button on some pitchers will open a context menu with more shortcuts as in the case of files and folders .

Pitchers may finally be dragged to the bar and moved in any order.

Window Management

Another feature borrowed from Windows 7 is automatic resizing of windows open: a dragging to the right side of the screen, this will occupy exactly half of the desktop by dragging it to the left will be exactly the same thing Furthermore, by hiding the launch bar, dragging the window up, finally, this will be maximized and will occupy the entire desktop.

When a window, then, occupies the space for launch bar, this can be invoked by moving the cursor over the Ubuntu logo at the top left.

This Ubuntu release brings more news, I hope, will change the habits of users. We see the most significant.

A new default audio player

Banshee will be the new default audio player. Version 2.0 of this program should be released on April 6, 2011 , just in time to be included in the final distribution. In this we still find the Alpha 3 version 1.9.5 .

The program integrates seamlessly with the desktop and beyond to serve as audio and video player, you can handle podcasts and sync the iPod and devices using Android. To learn more read
Banshee is the next-generation multimedia player for Ubuntu .

Farewell to the X.org X server

The current server graph of Ubuntu, X.org known, will be replaced by Wayland as stated by Shuttleworth. The new display system based on OpenGL, " will be able to manage a newly developed graphics than the heaviest X.org and dated, with an image generating much smoother, flicker-free and with even more advanced effects " . The proposal
Shuttleworth's, unfortunately, it seems that NVIDIA has responded to have no intention of making drivers that support Wayland. The same house is also the only one not having released the hardware specifications open to create a driver that supports 3D. Users must then satisfy the Nouveau driver , which are realized through the technique of reverse engineering , and to date only support 2D.

Firefox is already updated

Another new feature included in this release Alpha 3 refers to the Firefox browser, which is to be updated to version 4.0 RC .

vs OpenOffice. LibreOffice

The recent differences between OpenOffice programmers and Oracle, the new owners found that Sun Microsystems, have in fact led to the birth of the new project LibreOffice . Canonical is not married and had to wait in full because of the new suite, replacing it with OpenOffice already starting from this version of Ubuntu.

Impressions of use and conclusions

The boot is so fairly quickly, in line with the last two previous versions of Ubuntu and, overall, the system operating proves to be very responsive when opening programs and folders.
effects graphs are automatically activated. Clicking on the workspace selector to the left or by pressing the key combination [WIN + E] , in fact, it is possible to preview all 4 desktops available, typical of Compiz.

This release of Ubuntu 4.11, I was impressed. The potential offered by Unity slowly starting to be appreciated, even if the window manager may leave some 'crippled.
In fact when a window is maximized or when more than one window is open in the same area I found work in unnatural to have to go in search of the Ubuntu logo to bring up the launch bar that, in fact, is the focal point of the system and desktop management.
point out that, however, you can use the classic desktop mode, selecting from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the login window, after clicking on our user.
remember, finally, that this version Alpha 3 is a highly unstable and therefore not suitable installation for everyday use.
The appointment is for next 31/03/2011 with the release of version Beta.

source: Megalab

Best Inputs For Non Hdmi Receiver

Internet Explorer 9 presents the final hardware acceleration and HTML5

Microsoft has released the final version of its browser, which brings numerous improvements, most notably the significant step forward in performance, improved compatibility with Web standards recent and innovative features hardware acceleration via GPU. A side dish to a series of small new features that promise to further enhance the browsing experience. As with prior versions, users of Windows XP are excluded.

keeping with what announced a few days ago, via a statement published on the official blog of the development team, on the evening of Monday (exactly one year after the submission of the first preview version) Microsoft has made available the final release of Internet Explorer 9 .
This version of the browser will have the daunting task of rehabilitating the eyes of people the name "Internet Explorer", now increasingly linked to the image of the program slow and insecure, and put a stop to steep fall in the number of users increasingly attracted to alternative browsers such as Firefox , Chrome, Opera and Safari.

Internet Explorer 9 RTW (Release To Web , progressive 9.0.8112.16421 ) arrives after a beta version a RC well eight Platform Preview and capitalizes on these compilations as they did prior to shine last year.
Let us see in detail what new features and improvements in this new iteration of the greatest navigator Microsoft brings.

renewed graphical interface and better integration with Windows 7

The first innovation is you notice the new look of the browser , characterized by a very simple and clean style rather similar to that of the more recent incarnations of Chrome, Opera and Firefox.

In particular, we note that, to increase the area devoted to display content, controls displayed by default have been minimized by pooling non-essential within three menus.

In this regard, during the release of the Beta, I complained a few flaws in the implementation proposed by Microsoft, particularly as the choice to place the tabs to the right of the address bar.
The company seems to have heeded these criticisms (perarltro shared by many others), it is now possible to move tabs below the address bar, using a special option.

Other improvements include the possibility of pinnate bookmarks on SuperBar Windows 7, so you can quickly access and manage them better.
For example, sites can customize the items to be displayed in the jump list, to allow deeper integration with the operating system.

To proceed to the addition of a specific site, simply drag the icon to the left of the address bar directly on the superb (the same operation is possible by dragging a tab).

The management of the cards has been improved. In particular worth mentioning the possibility of "off" a tab from one window to insert it into another.

Another improved feature is the page "New Tab", completely revised and now inspired similar features of Chrome and Opera . Although the idea
is certainly good, I think the page is too basic and not very configurable than presented by the competitors.

Improvements second floor also affect the following components:

• Address Bar (renamed One Box), which now also allows you to search through a search engine. Default is to use the 'engine Microsoft, Bing , but you can change this setting from the configuration panel.

• Managing notifications now much less intrusive and more carefully in terms of graphics. The new system will show a greater degree the most important notifications and hide after a few seconds and minor. With these (and other) small improvements the notification system is overall more manageable and effective . Nevertheless advise you to wake to the sounds related to notifications , so be sure not to miss any.

• Management Download now entrusted to a download manager simple but quite effective . This component is also integrated with a renewed SmartScreen filter, which checks the downloaded files do not contain malware and the like (We will return to this subject in next page). Among the novel features introduced by this component, we can pause a download and resume it later, and the control of any interruptions, as well as numerous minor improvements.

Even security and stability, already a great improvement in previous version, have undergone further development, although the amount is less than that seen in other areas.

More security filter SmartScreen new techniques and improved anti-exploit

As for the hot section "security", the ninth iteration of the browser Microsoft has all the features included in previous releases and some innovative pretty interesting. So here we find
safe mode, InPrivate Browsing and Domain Highlighting supported by a SmartScreen filter from enhanced functionality and a small number of new features that help to increase the level of security against certain specific types of attack. The filter
SmartScreen , introduced for the first time in Internet Explorer 7 as a tool against phishing, is the component that has undergone major changes.
The version included in Internet Explorer 9 not only to analyze the sites you visit and check whether the downloaded files contain malware known, but it also includes a feature analysis based on the reputation downloaded files.
This feature allows the browser to Microsoft not see safety warnings for known file safe (because many users downloaded and / or have a valid digital signature) and to advise in more eye-catching opening files that are potentially hazardous because they are not known or malware.

This could represent a significant step forward than the approach used so far by all browsers, as displays security alerts only when really necessary , thus reducing the disruption to novice users .
functionality in question, off the Beta, is now fully operational and, based on the early test, seems to behave quite well.
For those who want to experiment without risk, Microsoft has developed a microsite to download a file drawn up to take control of SmartScreen filter.

In closing the chapter we find some security safeguards designed to avoid or mitigate the effects of numerous kinds of attacks, including those known as cross-site scripting , and a novel feature to block the loading of ActiveX components potentially dangerous.

a look of respect to privacy

Internet Explorer 9 also introduces a revised version of InPrivate Filtering , now called Tracking protection, which is more user customizable and enriched with pre-populated lists and auto-updated site providers potentially unwanted content.

In this way, Microsoft promises to be able to decrease your chances of being traced online by the services of advertising.

Stability: Checking

Add Concerning reliability and stability, the only significant innovation is the monitoring of performance add-ins. In fact, if a plug-in may significantly slow down browser startup and execution of the proposal it is automatically deactivated.

In this area we find new innovations from the previous release, such as multi-process architecture , automatic recovery in case of crash and isolation of additional components and boards.

Faster with Chakra , Direct2D, DirectWrite and DirectX

One of the points on which the previous editions of Internet Explorer have often been overtaken by competitors is speed of loading pages and running JavaScript.
The ninth version of the browser Microsoft promises to greatly improve in this area by introducing a number of interesting innovations.

Javascript

These surely occupy a prominent place on the new Javascript interpreter, code-named Chakra, has (like the various V8, Carakan , TraceMonkey and Nitro ) of compiler features and the ability to fully exploit the powerful multi-core processors by parallel loading of HTML and JavaScript. This last feature is currently exclusive to Microsoft's browser and should lead to significant improvements rather than fund performance.
To give an idea of \u200b\u200bhow this tool improves the performance program, Microsoft itself has done to compare the most popular browsers using the SunSpider benchmark , one of the most popular test in this area, and publication of results on a site created ad hoc , where there are also many tests for the new features of the browser.

The results of this test are quite interesting. According to Microsoft, Internet Explorer 9 place it in the first position, even before the 11 samples of Opera and Chrome speed 10, and with a fair degree of advantage over the next 4 Mozilla Firefox.
The improvement over the Beta, who finish in third place behind Chrome, and Opera, can be attributed, according to Microsoft, the long process of refinement that has been done in recent months by analyzing the most popular Web sites and optimizing the engine for manage the most frequent instructions.

acceleration hardware and minor enhancements

Another important new chapter in respect of the performance is the introduction of full support GPU hardware acceleration, which is now used for all rendering operations, relieving the central processor by a significant amount of calculations.
This is achieved through support to a broad set of technologies, which include Direct3D, and Direct2D DirectWrite .
One scenario where this approach has major advantages is playback of high definition video , an operation that, thanks to this feature, it should be possible even on netbook and more generally on older computers.
But we must stress that this is not a novelty , since the most recent versions of alternative browsers have started to pursue this path for some time. In this regard Microsoft
said that at the time, the only browser capable of offering full hardware acceleration is your Internet Explorer 9.
At the final release, Microsoft has further work on the operation of hardware acceleration with low-end video cards, they should now ensure better performance.
For the more environmentally conscious is to be noted as Microsoft's browser is now able to automatically reduce energy consumption (and, of course, performance) in case the computer is a notebook unrelated Grid (configurable option from the Control Panel).
close the chapter a long list of performance optimizations included children in various parts of the code, which should further improve the behavior of the browser in several areas.

Impressions on performance

To test the actual skills velocistiche IE 9 I proceeded to run some tests on my production machine, equipped with a Celeron D 2.66 GHz, 1.25 GB of RAM, ATI X1650Pro video card with 512 MB of memory dedicated Windows 7 Ultimate Service Pack 1. In particular
were verified the time needed to load some of the most popular sites and run the benchmark Peacekeeper , Focused on the graphics performance of the browser.
The results were then compared to the arguments of Opera 11 at the time credited as one of the fastest browser on the square.
The response, although the computer is not very recent and only has a single-core processor , was pretty good. In fact, while the difference between IE and Opera 8 was fairly large, the new browser from Microsoft's heels near the Norwegian fast opponent and is even able to overcome the loading of some sites. As for the benchmark
Peacekeeper, detailing the results obtained by the two browsers is below.

In this test the difference between the two browsers, Opera is increases considerably more than two times faster than Internet Explorer .

Despite this result, the browsing experience provided by Microsoft's browser is still in ordinary use nice and smooth, sometimes even better than that offered by Opera and Firefox.

Better standards support

Another area in which Microsoft is focusing is the latest web standards support , like HTML 5, CSS 3 and DOM L2 and L3.
The result of the work of Redmond can summed up the score to Internet Explorer 9 in Acid3 test , severe test for compatibility with standard web browser.
In this test the browser Microsoft reaches the encouraging results 95/100 that, although not yet at the level of the best competitors is a huge step forward compared to 20/100 the previous version and still a clear demonstration of Microsoft to make a browser that meets the standards promoted by the W3C consortium .

In addition to the above said business card for Internet Explorer Web standards now also includes support for many new features of the emerging HTML5 language, including video tag ( natively only with H.264 and, by installing a compatible decoder , with WebMate ) and audio, Web font, graphics and advanced Canvas and SVG Geolocation.

Coordinates and download information

Setup of Internet Explorer 9, available in Italian , can be downloaded from this page or download tab on . Microsoft will also distribute the update via Windows Update, though still not known the timing for the start of the deployment .
As the preliminary versions, including the final release is only compatible with Windows Vista Service Pack 2, Windows 7 and its counterpart Server.
supports both 32-bit platforms, and 64-bit. In particular, the 64-bit package conveys both editions of the browser, so you must also install the 32-bit.
A further confirmation of the growing state of abandonment of this operating system, Windows XP users are excluded from this update. The older operating system Microsoft will continue to receive security updates for the previous version 8 to April 2014.
The installation process overwrites the version of Internet Explorer on your computer that you can still recover from the Control Panel .
Users of the Beta and RC will be pleased to know that you can upgrade to the final without having to uninstall the prerelease version: the installer provides to do this in a completely automatic. The updated package will also be distributed via Windows Update also in the coming days.
The Redmond company has made available a good number of tests and demo to test the quality of new browser. If most of these are already familiar to users of prior versions, some more have been added for the occasion.
Excellent resources for further study on Internet Explorer 9 are represented by guide PDF / XPS beautyoftheweb.com published on the website and the material published by MegaLab.it tagged with Internet Explorer 9.

opinion

After thoroughly tested Internet Explorer 9, I can safely say that Microsoft has managed the difficult task of appealing again make a product that seemed destined to be replaced by competition.
Although Internet Explorer 9 is probably the "best" browser, is certainly a viable alternative to the various more Firefox, Opera and Chrome, which is worth trying .

source: Megalab

Tv Program Proposal Example

Nokia delays the arrival of its first terminal WP7

"After the agreement with Microsoft earlier last month and the resulting announcement of the probable arrival of the first Windows phone terminal 7 by the end of 2011, Nokia now seems to want to wait and postpone the release of Mango as the arrival of their solutions "

I believe most fans of the Finnish mobile giant Nokia may have to wait longer than expected to see the market the first terminals equipped with Windows 7 Phone Scandinavian products from the house. An expectation that should, according to the latest rumors , aggirarasi around 10/12 months.
After the announcement of the agreement with Microsoft, signed early last month, Nokia had announced the vertices of that the first solutions could have been seen already in recent months this 2011. However, from an interview during the last hours of the managing director of Nokia India, D. Shivakumar, we learn that it is very likely that the Finnish manufacturer want to wait for the release of the second major update before announcing the arrival on the market for their terminals.

Everything turns in favor of this thesis. An announcement reported in recent days had hinted it 's impossible for Microsoft to meet the deadline (October 2011) set for the distribution of Mango, with a consequent return to the same beginning of 2012. After multiple postponements of the first update Knot as yet not available, it is easy to think that the rumors are absolutely true and we should then, indeed, prolong the wait at the beginning of 2012.
Nevertheless, the public does not seem to suffer too much the influence of these "problems" and continue to grow the holders of terminals with the new OS from Microsoft. According to reported today, in fact, counting the number of new entrants to ' of Facebook application for Windows 7 Phone in February alone, the number of users who have a terminal WP7 should be increased by approximately 877,000 units. Nearly one million new users in a month and then, a great achievement for a system operating in the first four months of life had collected about 2 million consensus.