December 31, 2011

The Future of Your PC's Hardware (1) : Memristor: A Groundbreaking New Circuit


What is it? As its name implies, the memristor can "remember" how much current has passed through it. And by alternating the amount of current that passes through it, a memristor can also become a one-element circuit component with unique properties. Most notably, it can save its electronic state even when the current is turned off, making it a great candidate to replace today's flash memory.
Memristors will theoretically be cheaper and far faster than flash memory, and allow far greater memory densities. They could also replace RAM chips as we know them, so that, after you turn off your computer, it will remember exactly what it was doing when you turn it back on, and return to work instantly. This lowering of cost and consolidating of components may lead to affordable, solid-state computers that fit in your pocket and run many times faster than today's PCs.
Someday the memristor could spawn a whole new type of computer, thanks to its ability to remember a range of electrical states rather than the simplistic "on" and "off" states that today's digital processors recognize. By working with a dynamic range of data states in an analog mode, memristor-based computers could be capable of far more complex tasks than just shuttling ones and zeroes around.
When is it coming? Researchers say that no real barrier prevents implementing the memristor in circuitry immediately. But it's up to the business side to push products through to commercial reality. Memristors made to replace flash memory (at a lower cost and lower power consumption) will likely appear first; HP's goal is to offer them by 2012. Beyond that, memristors will likely replace both DRAM and hard disks in the 2014-to-2016 time frame. As for memristor-based analog computers, that step may take 20-plus years.

source: www.pcworld.com

December 24, 2011

What is svchost.exe


You are no doubt reading this article because you are wondering why on earth there are nearly a dozen processes running with the name svchost.exe. You can’t kill them, and you don’t remember starting them… so what are they?
This article is part of our series explaining various processes found in Task Manager, including: jusched.exedwm.exectfmon.exewmpnetwk.exewmpnscfg.exe,mDNSResponder.execonhost.exerundll32.exeDpupdchk.exe, and Adobe_Updater.exe.
Do you know what those services are? Better start reading!
So What Is It?
According to Microsoft: “svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries”. Could we have that in english please?
Some time ago, Microsoft started moving all of the functionality from internal Windows services into .dll files instead of .exe files. From a programming perspective this makes more sense for reusability… but the problem is that you can’t launch a .dll file directly from Windows, it has to be loaded up from a running executable (.exe). Thus the svchost.exe process was born.
Why Are There So Many svchost.exes Running?
If you’ve ever taken a look at the Services section in control panel you might notice that there are a Lot of services required by Windows. If every single service ran under a single svchost.exe instance, a failure in one might bring down all of Windows… so they are separated out.
Those services are organized into logical groups, and then a single svchost.exe instance is created for each group. For instance, one svchost.exe instance runs the 3 services related to the firewall. Another svchost.exe instance might run all the services related to the user interface, and so on.
So What Can I Do About It?
You can trim down unneeded services by disabling or stopping the services that don’t absolutely need to be running. Additionally, if you are noticing very heavy CPU usage on a single svchost.exe instance you can restart the services running under that instance.
The biggest problem is identifying what services are being run on a particular svchost.exe instance… we’ll cover that below.
If you are curious what we’re talking about, just open up Task Manager and check the “Show processes from all users” box:
Checking From the Command Line (Vista or XP Pro)
If you want to see what services are being hosted by a particular svchost.exe instance, you can use the tasklist command from the command prompt in order to see the list of services.
tasklist /SVC


The problem with using the command line method is that you don’t necessarily know what these cryptic names refer to.
Checking in Task Manager in Vista
You can right-click on a particular svchost.exe process, and then choose the “Go to Service” option.
This will flip over to the Services tab, where the services running under that svchost.exe process will be selected:


The great thing about doing it this way is that you can see the real name under the Description column, so you can choose to disable the service if you don’t want it running.
Using Process Explorer in Vista or XP
You can use the excellent Process Explorer  utility from Microsoft/Sysinternals to see what services are running as a part of a svchost.exe process.
Hovering your mouse over one of the processes will show you a popup list of all the services:
Or you can double-click on a svchost.exe instance and select the Services tab, where you can choose to stop one of the services if you choose.


Disabling Services
Open up Services from the administrative tools section of Control Panel, or typeservices.msc into the start menu search or run box.
Find the service in the list that you’d like to disable, and either double-click on it or right-click and choose Properties.
Change the Startup Type to Disabled, and then click the Stop button to immediately stop it.


You could also use the command prompt to disable the service if you choose. In this command “trkwks” is the Service name from the above dialog, but if you go back to the tasklist command at the beginning of this article you’ll notice you can find it there as well.

sc config trkwks start= disabled
Hopefully this helps somebody!
Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/what-is-svchostexe-and-why-is-it-running/

December 5, 2011

The Future of Your PC's Hardware (6) : 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.

source:www.pcworld.com

November 24, 2011

Virtual Screen before your eyes

Wondering how to view the screen virtually? View your mails, status updates in social networking without even looking into mobile, pc, smartphone, etc.? Yes here is the solution that you expect.


Technology has got another flash. Now wear a lens that is similar to the contact lens which you were for replacing specs (or fashion even!) which has a built-in LED lights and an Antenna is named as SUPER-LENS. Lets see how it works:

These Super-lenses are with wi-fi connection to a mobile phone is worn on to your eyes as the normal contact lenses. Then Newsfeed on the mobile phone is transmitted to lens and the data is displayed using a small LED light which recreates the signals to words. Thats it..! Now the story flashes in front of your eyes like a VIRTUAL SCREEN.

It is a creation of Professor Babak Parviz who is specialised in creating parts that is thousand times smaller than your hair. Imagine his works. He himself wore a contact lens. So far the lens is tried in Rabbit's retina and its not a miles away to reach you.

September 24, 2011

Inside Ur PC (8) : MotherBoard


Inside Your Motherboard:


This motherboard parts introduction explains the main goal of your motherboard in your computer. The most important parts are explained with only a brief introduction to the technologies behind them not to bore the newcomer who may be confused.
For those who are seeking more advanced information you will find links throughout the content and at the bottom as how to install a motherboard.

The Main Goal of Motherboard :

The main goal is to connect all the hardware together like hard drives, memory modules, CPU, etc...
A computer mother board is made of several parts, and each one has a hardware that can be connected to it. On the right, the image is showing a modern motherboard with all its parts.
If you click on the link under the image, you will find a larger image with the motherboard parts name.
Learning about your motherboard parts help to understand how upgrade able it is.

The Processor Socket :

Sockets are the home for your Central Processor Unit (CPU). Several types of socket exist, but only 2 of them are really used, and both of them are used by Intel and AMD. The Pin Grid Array (PGA) and the Land Grid Array (LGA).
Motherboard socket
CPU Socket
With the type PGA, the CPU will have pins to fit in the socket holes, but with the type LGA, the CPU will not have such pins and will just sit on the socket.
I am discussing this subject in more details in the CPU socket type guide.
To know the form of CPU your motherboard can use and the range of powers and FSBs, look in your motherboard's book. The book that comes with your motherboard has a chart about it in the socket or CPU chapter. That information will give you an idea to how far you can upgrade your CPU.


Slots and Connectors :


Memory Slots :

Memory slots also call memory banks are for Random Access Memory modules (RAM). Each memory bank can receives a RAM module designed for a specific pc mother board. Ranging from 2 to 4 banks, you will encounter single and dual-channel technologies.
Memory RAM slots in pair
Memory Banks
With single-channel, you can use 1, 2 or 3 Ram modules, and it should work perfectly. On the other hand, with dual-channel technology, if you fill only 1 bank, you will lose some strength from your module.
To get the most of it, you need to fill 2 banks with the same module types, from the same manufacturer with exactly the same memory amounts.
If you want 1GB of memory, you need to use 2 512MB modules from the same manufacturer with the same technology type. This way, motherboards use the modules strength to its full capacity. Otherwise it may not work at all.
Like the socket, to find out the type, the manufacturer and the total MB or GB quantity you can use, take a look in your motherboard's book. You should be able to find everything you need.

Main Power Connector And The 4 Pins Connector :

The main power connector is uses to get the electric energy from the power supply which the motherboard require to function properly.
24 pins main power connector
24 Pins Main Power Connector
There are 2 main power connector types for those motherboard parts. The 20 pins + 4 pins (2 separate connectors on the same motherboard), and the 24 pins.
Not all power supplies have the 2 types, but it is possible to work around the problem if you run into an incompatibility situation. Which will be discussed in a future power supply guide about how to install it and where to plug the connectors.

IDE, ATA And S-ATA Interface Connectors :

Many interface standards have been created throughout the years, maybe too many for discussing about all of them. I will then talk about the ATA and the S-ATA only as the IDE is the same thing as the ATA, only the name has changed. Also I will be brief because it is more a hard drive topic than anything else.
IDE/ATA and S-ATA connectors
IDE/ATA And SATA Interface
The Advance Technology Attachment (ATA) interface is used to connect hard drives and optic drives. You can attach 2 drives on the same ribbon, 1 master and the other slave, and it supports almost all modern hard drives storage capacities.
Modern computer mother boards have the new interface called Serial Advance Technology Attachment (S-ATA). It is faster than the ATA and only 1 device can be attached to it. The wire is thinner than his predecessor and surely help at the cooling process inside the computer case.
I cover the topic in more details in the What Is SATA Interface guide.

Floppy Drive Connector :

3.5' floppy drive connector (FDD)
Floppy Drive Connector
Plug your "3.5" floppy drive there. Not really used now, they are going to disappear completely very soon.

32 bit PCI Slots, AGP And PCIe :

32 bit slots Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) are used to install sound cards, graphic cards, Ethernet cards and modems.
PCI and PCI-Epress slots
PCI, AGP or PCIe Ports
The motherboard parts Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) and PCI Epress (PCIe) focus on graphic cards only. AGP standards use x2, x4 or x8 technologies. AGP 8 being the best, it is highly boosting your graphics and video performances. In Comparison with his old brother PCI, it is day and night.
PCIe standard is even better than AGP standard, and mostly the only one used right now. Some like to say, PCIe is a AGP standard at x16 and it is the #1 choice for gaming machines right now.
More motherboard content will be written on it, especially for graphic cards.

Back Panel Connectors :

Back panel connectors
Back Panel Connectors
When the computer is mounted, those motherboard parts show up at the computer case back panel. They are used to plug the mouse, keyboard, monitor, printer, sound system and any other peripherals you may have.



More about Connectors and Chips :


1 - Firewire header
Firewire is also known as IEEE 1394. It is basically a high performance serial bus for digital and audio equipment to exchange data. The technology preceded USB but yet is faster than any current USB port. Often used for transferring digital video to the PC straight from a digital camera. The FireWire header onboard means you can install a FireWire port on your machine. Again these cables are often supplied as an optional extra which you will need to check with the retailer to see if they are supplied with your board.

2 - PCI Express 16x slots
Now the most common slot for Graphics cards, the PCI Express 16x slots provides 16 separate lanes or data transfer. PCI express 1.0 slots offer a data transfer rate of 250MB/s the second generation of PCI express (PCI Express 2.0) offers twice the data rate at 500MB/s. Currently in development is PCI Express 3.0 which offers 1GB/s of data transfer. PCI Express 16x slots are also the basis for both SLI and Crossfire multi graphics card setups. With the increasing demands graphics cards are putting on systems, no less than a 16 lane slot will be good enough for any modern graphics card.

3 - PCI Express 1x Slot
Like the PCI Express 16x above the 1x slot uses exactly the same system but only has a single lane of serial data transfer. These slots are used for expansion cards that do no require the same amount of data transfer that a graphics card requires. You will usually find components such as tv tuners, network cards and sound cards make use of the PCI Express 1x slot. You will also notice the difference in size between the 1x and the 16x slots. The PCI Express 1x slot is noticeably smaller and easy to spot.

4 - Chipset - North Bridge (with heatsink)
The Motherboards chipset can be described as what sets it apart from other boards in its category. Different chipsets contain different features and components. A chipset is a number of integrated circuits built onto the board to provide specific functions e.g. one part of the chipset may be an onboard component such as a modem or sound chip. Other parts may be used to control the CPU functions. Most chipsets are designed to work with only one "class" of CPU although now many older chipsets support more than one type of CPU such as socket 7 which supports the Pentium, Cyrix 686, Cyrix MII, AMD K6 and K6-2. There are certain restrictions though to what type of processor a chipset can handle because of the logic that the CPU uses to access the memory and its cache etc. Since these chips are working harder with each generation, motherboard manufacturers have started to put heatsinks and active coolers (fans) on the main parts of the chipset to disperse some of the heat. For more information on chipsets see our What does a chipset doarticle.

5 and 8 - ATX Power connector
The standard ATX power connector, the cable for this will be coming from the PSU, a clip is normally provided to make sure you get them in the correct order. As a tip, don't try to push too hard if its stuck, check to see that it is in the correct way, I have seen plenty of power connectors where the pins have pushed out some of the connectors, these can be difficult to get back into place, so its best to be careful.

6 - CPU (Central Processing Unit) socket
All the CPU "sockets look very similar, however they are different in the way they have different amount of pins and in different layouts. There are currently two major CPU socket types PGA and LGA. PGA or Pin Grad Array uses a system of pins on the CPU and holes on the socket to line up and hold a CPU in place. The introduction of the ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket for PGA types allowed the CPU's to be lined up without any pressure on the CPU until a level is pulled down. LGA or Land Grid Array uses a system of gold plated copper pads that make contact with the motherboard. It is very important to read your motherboard manual to discover what types of CPU's you motherboard supports as most motherboards are aimed at a specific type of CPU.

7 - DIMM (Double Inline Memory Module) slots
DIMM's are by far and away the most used memory types in today's computers. They vary in speeds and standards however and they need to match up to what your motherboard has been designed to take. The four standards of DIMM's being used at the moment are SDR (Single Data Rate), DDR (Double Data Rate), DDR2 and DDR3. The speeds of memory can vary between 66Mhz to 1600Mhz.

9 - Motherboard controls
Not available on all motherboards, but some allow direct control of the motherboard via simple buttons. Power switch, error checking, CMOS clearing, passwords and more features can be accessed directly on the motherboard on some models.

10 - Chipset - South Bridge
When we talk about chipsets you mainly only ever hear about the North bridge. Even those into PC technology have a hard time naming the south bridges without looking them up. Names like Nforce 2 and KT600 are North bridges. The South Bridge does an important job as well. It handles things like the PCI bus, onboard Network and sound chips as well as the IDE and S-ATA buses.

11 - Serial ATA Connector
Serial ATA or more commonly seen as S-ATA is a new way of connecting your Hard Drives to your PC. S-ATA drives have the capability of being faster than the IDE counterparts and also have smaller thinner cables which help with the airflow of the system. S-ATA hard disks are fast becoming the norm for hard drive technology. Current motherboards feature both IDE and S-ATA connectors to facilitate all types of storage hardware.

12 - USB 2.0 header
As well as having USB ports on the rear of the motherboard, motherboard manufacturers often add a couple of USB headers so you can connect optional cables for extra USB ports. These cables are often supplied and you only need to add them on if you need the extra connectivity. USB 2.0 replaced USB 1.1 as a much faster solution. It is backwards compatible meaning all USB 1.1 devices will work in these new USB 2.0 ports.

13 - Motherboard Battery
The battery gives the board a small amount of power in order to store some vital data on your machine when the power is off. Data stored is that like the time and date so you don't have to reset them every time you boot the machine up. Motherboard batteries are usually long lasting Lithium batteries. Removing this can reset all the data on your machine including the BIOS settings, however not replacing this correctly can lead to irreparable damage to the motherboard. Only remove the battery if it is dead or if you can't have access any other way to resetting the data on your machine by use of the clear CMOS jumper or something similar.

14 - PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) slot 
The PCI bus (not PCI express) is now an older technology and although the PCI slots are still available, they have decreased in number and are being replaced by the PCI Express 1x slots. Its unlikely that you will get a motherboard without a PCI slot at the moment due to the fact that a lot of components still use the standard PCI slot. It would be awkward to upgrade to a system without PCI slots as it may mean upgrading more components than you would like to,

15 - Floppy Drive Connector 
More simple than the IDE connector you only have to remember to get the red line to pin 1 of the connector and the red line to pin 1 on the floppy drive, This port is only to be used with floppy drives. You may not have a floppy controller on your motherboard as its slowly being phased out as more people are using writable CD's and DVDs to transfer data, to store data and to use as boot up discs.

16 - IDE connector Not on Diagram
The connector to which you will insert an IDE cable (supplied with motherboard) IDE cables connect devices such as hard disks, CD Drives and DVD Drives. The current 4 standards of IDE devices are ATA 33/66/100 and 133. the numbers specify the amount of data in Mb/s in a max burst situation. In reality there is not much chance of getting a sustain data rate of this magnitude. Both the connectors and devices are backwards compatible with each other, however they will only run at the slowest rated speed between them. All IDE cables will come with a red line down one side, this red line is to show which way it should be plugged in. The red line should always connect to pin one of the IDE port. Checking your motherboard documentation should show you which end is pin one. In some cases it will be written on the board itself.
In the case of ATA 66/100/133 there is a certain order that you plug devices in, the cable is colour coded to help you get them in the correct order.
  • The Blue connector should be connected to the system board
  • The Black connector should be connected to the master device
  • The Grey Connector should be connected to the slave device

17 - BIOS (Basic Input Output System) Chip - Not on Diagram
The BIOS holds the most important data for your machine, if configured incorrectly it could cause your computer not to boot correctly or not at all. The BIOS also informs the PC what the motherboard supports in terms off CPU etc. This is why when a new CPU is introduced that physically fits into a slot or socket you may need a BIOS update to support it. The main reason for this is that different CPU's use different logics and methods and so the BIOS has to understand certain instructions from the CPU to recognise it.

September 8, 2011

Windows 8 Features




It finally happened! On Wednesday, we finally got a glimpse at what Microsoft has in store for its next version of Windows and how it plans to compete in the tablet market. Yes, after months of some leaked screenshots and rumors, Redmond finally showed an early preview of what’s now codenamedWindows 8 — or what is perhaps better thought of as a mashup of Windows 7 and Windows Phone 7. While we expected to just get a brief glimpse of the OS, Vice President of Windows Steven Sinofsky demoed quite a bit of the interface at D9, and VP of Windows Planning Mike Angiulo showed off even more of the UI and some early hardware later on at Computex. We’ve taken a hard look at all the information that’s been released and come up with a primer on what we know so far about Redmond’s forthcoming operating system, so hit the break for a deeper look at what’s coming.

One OS



Let’s talk for a second about this new version of Windows and what kind of devices it’s meant for. At the most basic level, the new OS consists of a homescreen with large Windows Phone 7-like live tiles, and underneath that you’ve got classic Windows — what more or less looks like Windows 7.
We’re going to get into the specifics of that new “layer” or “shell” below, but Sinofsky and Angiulo stressed that while Windows 8 has been optimized for touch and tablets,  it’s also meant for “hundreds of millions of computers.” According to Microsoft, Windows 8 will work well with touch-only tablets as well as traditional mouse / keyboard PCs. Angiulo said it loud and clear: “There are no different versions of Windows. There’s just one Windows. Windows runs everywhere.” That means there won’t be a distinct tablet version of Windows 8, like we thought early on.
It’s a bit confusing since much of the new UI is meant for finger input, but Angiulo showed a brief demo of it working on some regular laptops and how you’d use a mouse and some keyboard shortcuts to navigate the touch interface. How do you switch between the regular Win 7 desktop and the new homescreen? It seems you’ll just select a tile with the desktop and then hit the circular Start button to return to the new UI. It seems rather clunky, but remember this was just a very early preview and things will likely change.
Now that we’ve covered some of those basics, let’s dig into that new user interface!

Lock screen



It all starts with a lock screen that’s very similar to Windows Phone 7. You will be able to change the background, and alongside the date and time you’ll get some basic alerts — including messages, emails, and your next calendar event.  Swiping up will take you to the new homescreen, although you can see in all the videos that there’s a brief user account screen between the two. It seems a bit off that the account user screen pops up after the unlock, but again this isn’t even beta software yet.

Start screen



Microsoft’s President of Windows Experience Julie Larson-Green made it crystal clear during her demo at D that the new tiled mosaic homescreen is a replacement for a blank desktop. Obviously, it’s all Metro UI and looks a lot like what we’ve seen on the Zune and Windows Phone 7. However, these are larger live tiles that have been designed to display more information on larger screens. She also mentioned that all your apps would eventually show up here, but we don’t know yet if there’s another app list or program management tool. Interestingly, the UI was only demoed in landscape mode, so there are questions about how this would work with in portrait mode. Actually, everything we’ve seen from the interface so far seems to indicate that this is an OS built for landscape view — we’ll say it’s more akin to Honeycomb than to iOS in that sense right now.

Apps



So, what sorts of apps will be going on that homescreen? The OS will support two types of apps — legacy Windows programs and new app written in HTML5, and Javascript. Obviously, it’s too early to talk about what third-party apps there will be, but we are fairly confident there will be an app store since there’s an icon for it right on the homescreen.
Apps are meant to run fullscreen, and Microsoft showed off a few examples, including weather, news, Twitter, photos, and stocks. We’re not going to dive too hard into these since we’re thinking they may change before the launch, but the gallery below gives you a feel for how these apps use their own tiles and stretch the screen.
In terms of legacy apps, we assume those will work just like they always have. Microsoft has said they are using “fuzzy hit targeting” to assist in making older Windows apps more optimized for finger input, but we still wouldn’t want to put a finger near an Excel spreadsheet. In fact, that raises one of the biggest questions about Windows 8: if the new touch-layer apps are written in HTML5 and Javascript, how do traditional apps like Office take advantage of the new UI? Will Microsoft provide the new UI tools and elements to traditional apps as well? It’s an open question, and one that’s made even more complicated by the dual architecture support under the hood — but we’ll get to that.

Internet Explorer 10



The OS will come with IE10, which like IE9 is hardware accelerated, but been completely redesigned for touch. The browser defaults to fullscreen mode and looks extremely similar to what’s now on WP. There are tabs along the top and navigation controls on the address bar, which lines the bottom of the screen. For what it’s worth, the early scrolling demos looked very smooth. We’ll note here that IE10 is, of course, a “real” Windows app and not a new HTML5 / Javascript app, so there’s hope that other traditional Windows apps will be able to run in the new touch layer, but we don’t know for sure yet.

Keyboard(s)



Naturally, the touch-centric OS has a revamped soft keyboard — although interestingly it supports multiple layouts. Microsoft has already shown off two of the included layouts: one is just a standard keyboard, though it has Ctrl and arrow keys, and the other is split for thumb typing. It looks pretty cool, but we’re interested in seeing how things like copy and paste works.

Navigation / gestures



The video below offers a brief look as some of the touch gestures Microsoft’s building into Windows 8, and Redmond’s come up with some clever ways to get around. Swiping from the right brings up a menu bar with shortcuts to the Start screen, Search, Share, Connect, and Settings, and swiping from the left lets you scroll through your open apps. The coolest part, however, is something Microsoft calls “Snap.” When swiping in one of those apps from the left you can hold one of the apps mid-swipe, and snap it into place alongside another app so you get a dual-pane view on the screen. You can adjust the size of the apps by sliding a bar. And yes, you can snap legacy apps next to new apps, although that might create a UI nightmare.
Apps seem to have their controls on the top and bottom of the screen. For instance, in the News Reader app you can add feeds by swiping up for a toolbar and in the browser you get the address bar along the bottom edge.

Hardware

So, what kind of hardware will Windows 8 run on? As we said at the start, Microsoft says this OS is for desktops, laptops, and tablets, and Sinofsky said that it requires less horsepower than Windows 7. While the demos at D9 were done on Intel-powered laptops and test machines, the demo at Computex included an array of hardware, including an NVIDIA quad-core Kal-El-powered laptop and a smattering of ARM tablets. And that’s the biggest change in Windows 8, really: Microsoft will support both ARM and x86 processors. Both Qualcomm and TI announced processor support and ODMs like Foxconn, Wistron, and Quanta have already taken to building development systems. Obviously, on the x86 side, Intel and AMD are on board, but the Computex presentation made it look like we should expect lots of ultrathin, long-lasting laptops based on ARM.


On top of that, Microsoft showed a partner slide which listed almost every computer manufacturer you could imagine. Yes, everyone from Dell to HP to Lenovo is on board to build Windows 8 systems. Not surprising, but it’s still good to see momentum building. A few slides detailing hardware requirements were also shown, including a target of 16:9 displays with a minimum of 1366 x 768 resolution. Microsoft is also suggesting bezel sizes and that manufactures use edge-to-edge capacitive glass for tablets. Angiulo stressed that there’s going to be a much closer partnership between software and hardware integration with Windows 8, but we don’t know if we’re dealing with Windows Phone 7-like hardware restrictions yet — although we’ve heard some rumblings from companies like Acer thatMicrosoft is indeed being strict when it comes to tablets.
Sure, we are going to see lots of new hardware when Windows 8 launches, but the OS will also be an upgrade for current PCs. How it will work on regular laptops is a major question (it’s been on Microsoft maven Mary-Jo Foley’s mind too). Although, they did show that Page Up and Page Down buttons allow you scroll from right to left on the Start screen, so not all is lost.

Timing

Here’s where we don’t know much. When asked about when Windows 8 would hit prime time, Sinofsky dodged the question and said “we release a major update to Windows every two to three years.” Microsoft did say that it would reveal much more about Win 8 at the BUILD conference in September. According to our sources, actual Win 8 systems probably won’t hit until mid-2012.

Outlook

It’s actually pretty amazing how much we ended up learning about the next version of Windows this week. On the surface, Microsoft looks like it’s finally understanding that computing is changing and that tablets require an entirely new sort of user interface. It seems to be making a number of interesting tweaks to the Metro UI and thinking hard about new applications. In particular, Snap seems like a truly innovative way of multitasking with a tablet. However, how exactly will Microsoft take this interface across all computers? Is there going to be a large app ecosystem? Will legacy apps run on ARM systems? Will this model of one OS for all computers and form factors work? When will we see the first Windows 8 systems and tablets? Those answers just can’t come soon enough — hopefully we’ll get them at BUILD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=p92QfWOw88I
<Have a luk at it...>

source : http://thisismynext.com/2011/06/03/windows-8/

September 7, 2011

Inside Ur PC (7) : GRAPHICS CARD

What is a Graphics Card?



A Graphics card (also video card) is a piece of hardware installed in a computer that is responsible for rendering the image on the computer’s monitor or display screen. Graphicscards come in many varieties with varying features that allow for a price range that extends from about $20 US Dollars (USD) to $2,400 USD or more.
The first consideration when buying a graphics card is to be sure it is capable of displaying the best resolution the monitor can support. For Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) monitors this means supporting the native resolution. Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors do not have a native resolution. In this case, ensure the graphics card is capable of supporting the highest resolution, even if the CRT monitor will be frequently used at lower resolutions.
The second consideration is on-board memory. A graphics card must work very hard to render images to the screen. Unlike text files, graphics images are much larger files consisting of great amounts of data that must be processed by the graphics or video card. A faster graphicscard has its own resident memory chips to perform this function so as not to impinge upon the system’s random access memory (RAM). Less robust graphics cards have less resident memory and require sharing system RAM to process images.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that a graphics card with shared memory will be unsatisfactory, but much depends on the primary purpose of the computer and on the amount of system RAM present. More system RAM is better if it will be shared, but for gaming and multimedia enthusiasts, a graphics card with resident memory is a better choice. This is also true for those wishing to watch, work with or edit movies.
The graphics processing unit (GPU) is a chip akin to the computer processing unit (CPU). The GPU on the graphics card processes data in parallel lines called “pipelines.” The more pipelines a graphics card has, the faster it can process data. Some cards feature dual GPUs for additional performance. Other factors that play into performance include bus speed and the type of on-board memory the graphics card supports.
Because graphics cards work hard they generate heat. For this reason most high-performance video cards utilize built-in fans. Fans can be quiet or noisy, depending on the card model. High-performance fanless video cards are also available. These cards use heat syncs to pull heat away from the GPU. The advantage of a fanless graphics card is lack of noise; disadvantages include expense and a wider footprint that can take up two slots inside the computer.
Installing a graphics card is very easy. The card features an interface that plugs into a port or slot inside the computer on the motherboard. Older motherboards offer an Advanced GraphicsPort (AGP) interface, while newer boards have the faster Peripheral Computer Interface Express (PCIe) interface. A PCIe graphics card cannot be installed into an AGP slot, and visa-versa, so be sure to get a card that is compatible with your system.
External ports on the graphics card can allow an additional monitor to be plugged in for gaming or for advanced graphics displays that can be spread across two monitors. A graphics cardmight also have an “S-Video Out” port for sending the signal to a television, or a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) port. Advanced ports that extend functionality add to the cost of the card.
While prices vary widely, the average gaming enthusiast is likely to be happy with a graphicscard in the $150 - $300 USD range. For someone who uses a computer for more general purposes, a graphics card closer to $65 USD will likely do the job. Watch for rebates and sales to get a good deal, and read customer reviews for information about issues like fan noise and performance.
source : http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-graphics-card.htm