John Lister

Microsoft will ask all European users of Internet Explorer whether they want to try out a rival browser. It's an unexpected result in a long-running dispute with European Union officials. It came as no surprise when the firm announced today that it ... will include a "browser ballot" screen on all Windows PCs sold in Europe from January 2010, and on. The scheme, which Microsoft had proposed some months ago, will mean that during set-up users will see a list of leading browsers and have the option to install some or all of them, rather than simply getting Internet Explorer by default. Ball Screen ... (view more)

A range of security experts say the crusade by search engines to include "real-time" results from social networking sites will undoubtedly make life easier for hackers. Such word comes hot on the heels of a report suggesting sites like Facebook and ... Twitter now pose a risk to businesses. As we reported last week, Google is trying out a new feature which lists results for a search term in real time . That means that for popular topics there's no longer a lengthy waiting period while web pages are scanned and indexed: instead they are constantly monitored and appear in a special results section ... (view more)

Google will soon offer a range of new search options. The improvements include a constantly updated "real-time" search and some creative ways for using camera phones. One of the main drawbacks to any search engine has been that it takes time for ... pages to be scanned, analyzed and then added to the site's index so that they appear in searches. Today, that time has been greatly reduced, and it's common for news stories to appear on the first page of Google search results on the same day they are published. However, that's not enough for some users who want to search for the latest details on a ... (view more)

A government contest whereby participants were requested to spot ten weather balloons at once has been won by the Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT). But MIT took the prize thanks to the help of a network of ordinary Internet users ... recruited under an intricate cash reward system. The content was launched by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the same group which developed a network commonly acknowledged as the forerunner of the Internet. The idea of the contest was to see how people would use online networking to solve a problem too big for any one individual. ... (view more)

A Windows blogger has discovered that a feature supposedly removed from the starter edition of Windows 7 is in fact simply hidden. Thus, users of the new operating system (OS) can easily access the ability to run so-called ad-hoc networks. An ad-hoc ... network, also sometimes known as a computer-to-computer network, is a way of wirelessly connecting two computers directly rather than through a router. For example, you might use this when the main computer in a home is connected to the Internet through a cable modem rather than a router, with the ad-hoc network then allowing laptops to share data ... (view more)

As Microsoft and independent firms alike try to find out more about the " black screen of death " issue plaguing some users of Windows 7, the firm which first reported the problem has earned its fair share of criticism. However, that same firm ... maintains that despite getting the cause wrong, it still has the best solution. Fix for Some, Not All Cases Although it's now clear that Prevx misidentified Microsoft's update as being responsible for the problem, and grossly overestimated how many people could be affected, the firm has produced a fix which is reported to work in many, but not all, ... (view more)

What could have been the first mass-market Internet tablet-PC-based device has been abandoned in a copyright dispute. Michael Arrington, the man behind the CrunchPad, says the firm physically manufacturing the product wanted to go it alone, but the ... two sides are locked in an irresolvable dispute. The original concept of the CrunchPad was to produce a simple Linux-based tablet PC for easy web access, filling the gap between accessing the web on a smartphone and carrying around a full-blown portable computer such as a netbook or laptop. CrunchPad: a Blogger's Brainchild One of the most notable ... (view more)

A sketchy firm based out of Miami Florida which falsely claimed it could sell cloned Macintosh machines has already suffered the wrath of Apple in the courtroom. Now it's suffering embarrassment as the truth emerges about its poor sales record. ... Psystar has been in long-running legal battles with Apple after selling computers which were made with PC parts but ran the Mac "Leopard" operating system. As Apple doesn't license its software to other manufacturers -- and you'd think that would made for a clear-cut court ruling, but the process was somewhat extended by Psystar (unsuccessfully) ... (view more)

Thus far, sales of Windows 7 have been " fantastic ," and now there's also evidence it's boosting hardware sales -- which will undoubtedly increase this Black Friday with super holiday deals to be had. Manufacturers and retailers on both sides of ... the Atlantic are already crediting Windows 7 with helping move more computers this pre-holiday season. Manufacturer Acer says its recent sales are up 25 per cent on the same time last year -- all thanks to Microsoft's new operating system (OS). The firm, which is the second largest PC manufacturer in the world, says it predicted such an ... (view more)

According to a a recent study, Windows 7 is already being used on more computers than Mac OS. In fact, Windows 7's usage outperforms all versions of Apple's system put together. According to Net Applications, 5.14% of online users were running ... Windows 7 last Sunday, compared with Apple's average of 5% for the week as a whole. However, Windows 7 only averaged 4.15% for the week, which is a fairer comparison. Figures for Sunday alone aren't available for Mac OS yet. (Source: tomshardware.com ) It's possible Apple's figures for the Sunday will turn out to be higher than its weekly average as, ... (view more)