Windows 8 - Live ID Sign-In

As time goes on, we're discovering more and more interesting features of Windows 8, as Microsoft announces them. One of the latest innovations that they've released a video on is the ability to migrate user customized desktops using your Windows Live ID. You simply sign in with it, and it will migrate all of your settings, app data, etc. to the system you are using. Below is a video from Microsoft, demonstrating just this.

*All credit for this video goes to Microsoft, and the Windows 8 Team. 
Compsult Inc. had no part in the creation of this video.

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Windows 8: News

Microsoft has been hard at work, preparing their latest operating system, due to be released in 2012. They've recently released a number of updates and videos, showing the basics of what to expect. The new operating system is quite impressive, and incorporates an app system, along with a new design of Windows Explorer that makes navigation much easier.

Here is a demo video from Microsoft's official YouTube channel:

Another announced benefit of the new Windows 8, is an extremely fast boot time.
Below is a video from Microsoft demonstrating just that!

To make this possible, a new method, which was a sort of cross between shutting down and hibernation, has been developed. To read more from Microsoft on this new startup method, click here.

Windows 8 is releasing for any form of computer, whether it should be a laptop, Desktop PC, or Tablet. It definitely seems geared towards touch screen capabilities, but it will also work just fine with a keyboard and mouse.

Google Takeout: Support For Google Voice

Google Takeout, a service offered for Google's various web services, has added on support for Google Voice recently. What does this mean? Firstly, I'll explain this service for their services.

Google Takeout allows users of Google Buzz, Picasa, and other Google services to export their pictures, videos, documents, files, and other data to simple, easy to use file formats. The new addition of support for Google Voice to the service will allow Google Voice users to export voicemails, texts, and contacts with ease. The voicemails can now be saved as MP3 files, while the texts and contacts can be saved as documents.

Facebook, and some other sites have also developed a similar service, allowing you to export your personal info and other data. The Facebook service, however, exports to a .zip file, which some users have difficulty with. Google Takeout fouses on the ability to export the data to common file extensions, such as .mp3, .doc, .jpg, etc.

Here is the short, comedic video that Google used to announce the news.

Original article via (TechCrunch): http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/06/google-now-lets-you-export-google-voice-data/

Wifi News That Will Blow Your Mind!

Ever have trouble with your WiFi signal? Say you're sitting on one side of the house on your laptop, and the wireless router is on the other end of the house. You're trying to surf the net, or play an online game, and the internet is continuously giving you problems due to less signal on that side of the house. Well, believe it or not, in late 2011 there is a new wireless standard coming out that can cover up to 12,000 square miles with signal!

After cleaning the orange juice I had been drinking off my screen, I read on to discover the technology that is being utilized to make this possible is the very same as TV broadcasting. The signal will be broadcast over UHF, and VHF frequencies, which will allow it to cover an extremely large area. The new 802.22 standard will be using the "white spaces" in between regular TV channels, and vacant channels to broadcast at 22Mbps. The new technology is planned to be used with rural areas where service cannot be provided through most ISPs, and also in developing countries, and areas that need it. Even with the different standard, geotagging, and other location based technologies will still function normally as well.

We're not yet certain on an exact date when we will be seeing this technology used with the public, but it has been developed, and it is in the works.

Internet Censorship

Internet Censorship is becoming a big topic on the web over the last few years. More and more, governments are trying to gain control of the internet, and monitor or censor what their citizens can view, and do on the web. 

The Turkish government has blocked quite a few websites and blogs as of late, and a filtering system is in the making, that may possibly go live on the 22nd of August. This filtering system will make it possible for the government to keep logs of every individual user's activity. As to why or how the system is being put into place, no one really knows. This filter however is an invasion of privacy, as noted by a group of hackers known as "Anonymous". In protest to this recent announcement, they took down Turkey’s Telecommunications Communication Presidency (TIB) which [at the time of this article having been written] is still down.

"Anonymous" and many other hackers have taken to attacking government websites, and other acts of the sort to protest the censorship that is constantly rising in many countries, and they are gaining notice.

Recently, the Protect IP Act has been under the spotlight in the United States, as it passed the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously. If passed, this bill would give authorities the right to legitimately seize any domain name they deem to be facilitating copyright infringement. The bill, also however, states that if a domain is not registered or controlled by a U.S. company, the authorities can also order search engines to take it completely out of their search results, have ISPs block it, and order the ad-networks (that fund the sites operations in most cases) along with the payment processors for said sites to stop providing their services to the site being blocked.

This new bill is targeting mostly "pirates", and those who distribute copyrighted goods over torrent trackers. While this is all fine and dandy, there are more circumstances to be noted with this idea.

One of the more important notable problems that will arise is the fact that not all torrent trackers are used for illegal sharing. In fact, there are many torrents out on the web right now that are perfectly legal. Many webmasters, individuals, and even companies have taken to using the peer to peer technology that took off in the early 2000's to share their freeware programs, and many other free creations of their own, along with other non-copyrighted materials.

Another important consideration to be made is, if this bill does pass, and the government gets the right to being censoring these domains, that might make way for them to grow with their censorship. This bill is already walking a fine line on infringing rights in The First Amendment [despite it's main alleged intent being to combat piracy].

What is your opinion?

Feel free to share them in a comment below, or discuss it on the forums!

Walk Into A Business... On Your Web Browser!

So far, Google Maps and Google Earth have proven to be some of the most innovative tools out there for finding directions, searching a location, education, and general fun. When Google added "Street View" to those two services, it allowed the user to see first hand everything 360 degrees from a point on a road of their choosing, and jump from point to point, as if they were walking along the road.

Today, at the Social-Loco Conference in San Francisco, Marissa Mayer [Vice President of Google Maps & Location] announced a new feature that will allow users to see inside of local businesses and buildings from their browser as well, just like Street View! With the use of this technology, users will be able to look around inside of a local restaurant before going to eat there, or look around the inside of a business before a visit.

So, when can we expect this new feature?

It will be available in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada this coming week! It will be available in other countries in a month or so as well.