Author Archives: NeoSmart Technologies

Forget about Popfly!

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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Microsoft promised Silverlight would be a cross-platform RIA framework. They said it would by a “Flash-Killer.” Some people believed them. We’d like to, but it seems we’re not being given the chance here.

Microsoft just launched Popfly. It’s the new Web 2.0 kid on the block, and it’s supposed to be really cool. Except unlike sites that are built off of Flash, AJAX, plain HTML, or even yucky old Java, it doesn’t run everywhere.

On Windows, our browser of choice is Opera. Microsoft doesn’t support Opera – only Internet Explorer and Firefox. But even worse, Popfly doesn’t support Linux. So here’s the deal: Unless Popfly gets Linux support, it won’t make the cut.

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Connecting to WPA2-Secured Wi-Fi with Windows XP x64

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A while back, we reported on how if you’re a Windows XP x64 user, Microsoft didn’t think you needed the additional Wi-Fi security offered by the WPA2 encryption protocol – which just happens to be one of the only two non-trivial Wi-Fi protection scheme available at the same time. Well, chin-up, because if you’re a Windows XP 64-bit Edition user, you can now up that security level on your router and enjoy WPA2-encrypted networking bliss.

That’s right, 64-bit users can now use WPA2 just like the rest of the world has been doing (including Linux x64 users, OS X users, Windows XP 32-bit, and just about every other operating system on the planet). It seems that Windows XP x64 SP2 includes the hotfix, which Microsoft still refuses to release separately, though the 32-bit version was released as a hotfix two years before XP x64 SP2 was made available.

Anyway, all you need to do to be able to connect to WPA2-encrypted networks is download and install Service Pack 2, then connect using your Wi-Fi connection tool of choice, including the Windows Zero-Configuration Wi-Fi module.

You can read the official release notes for Service Pack 2 – just skip down to the “Wireless Protected Access 2” section and read. Congratulations Windows x64 users, and welcome to the world of the secure. Say thank you to Microsoft for giving you their blessing to enter, but be careful, the party is almost over. So much for a 64-bit future – and Microsoft wants to make Vista the last 32-bit operating system. Scary.

Hat-Tip: Dan

Yahoo!: Online Gambling Portal

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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It would appear that Yahoo! [[YHOO]] is trying to do whatever it can to raise the end-game price, for whenever it is that they sell out to Google, Microsoft, or even someone else. Yahoo! has long been considered to be a more “family-oriented” internet hegemony, much more of a “portal” than its biggest competitors, namely Microsoft and Google. But today Yahoo! just unleashed revealed something that’s not exactly along the same line as the rest of their online suites: Yahoo! Casino.

The precise origins of poker aren’t known. Some say the origins are German from the game pochspiel which has an element of bluffing. Others suggest it comes from an eighteenth-century French game, poque. Still another theory is that it evolved from the Hindu word “pukka”.

In the United States of America and several other countries, online gambling for real-world cash is considered highly illegal – as such, Yahoo! claims that their online gamble-for-real-money outfit is technically not open to US users – though technical limitations probably aren’t extensive given the fact Yahoo! has opened up their gambling portal for just about every other country on the globe, and all the bank accounts that come with it. Yahoo! is hosting Yahoo! Gambling in the United Kingdom where online gambling is allowed.

It’s sad to see that this is what Yahoo! has become, but it’s quite clear that they’re just doing what they can to increase viewership and make themselves a more valuable acquisition subject – regardless of the cost to their image and family-friendly history.

Why Microsoft Won’t ID Patent Violations…

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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Earlier today, Microsoft announced it will begin actively seeking reparations for patent infringement by Linux and the Open Source Community in general. Larry Augustin posted his thoughts on the matter, expressing his opinion that it’s fear of having these IP-infringement claims debunked or challenged that’s keeping Microsoft from publishing these 235 alleged infringements to the public – and instead waiting until the OS community comes to the bargaining table. But let’s be realistic, shall we?

If Microsoft Corporation doesn’t have the biggest and baddest team of lawyers law firms, who does? It’s probably safe to assume that more than half of these patent infringements really are just that. Put aside the legitimacy of software patents in the first place and just look at the facts as they stand. Open source software gets its code from millions of developers and no amount of auditing or quadruple-checking will ensure clean-code. Despite Microsoft’s claims of “openly and knowingly” engaging in patent-violations, that’s most probably not the case.

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EasyBCD Box Art

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EasyBCD 1.6 hasn’t only just kicked off with more downloads than any previous version, but also with some stylish box art to boot!

Thanks to Sarge aXa, one of NeoSmart Technologies very first forum members, EasyBCD 1.6 has some box art. We’ve uploaded the images to the EasyBCD Image Gallery if you want to take a look at the rest.

In other news, EasyBCD 1.6 has just been awarded Softpedia’s 5/5 Editor’s Pick – how they tested it and updated their site so fast… quite impressive!

 

  That’s yet another badge to add our rather-extensive collection! 

EasyBCD 1.6 Released!

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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It’s been a while, though we haven’t really noticed. The EasyBCD 1.5x line has worked loyally and without complaint for the past 7 months, and it’s time to put it to rest. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 8 months now since EasyBCD 1.5 went gold in October of 2006 – and since then its popularity has just soared beyond all expectations.

Today we’re proud to announce the availability of EasyBCD 1.6 to the general public. It’s been a rough, long road developing the 1.6 line, but we hope you’ll find it worth the wait. With 1 million+ EasyBCD users strong, we’ve learned a thing or two about compatibility and standards – or rather shall we say the lack of them. What worked for 98% of EasyBCD users didn’t work for the remaining two percent, and NeoSmart Technologies doesn’t accept anything less than perfection – that’s why EasyBCD 1.6 goes the extra mile.

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A Debugger that Doesn’t Debug

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Despite all of InstallAware‘s claims of superiority, ease-of-use, and drop-dead simple compatibility and scripting capabilities compared to the competition in the market; it’s driving us crazy.

The biggest problem is the “debugger.” It’s in quotes for a reason. Take the world’s most powerful debugger, and try to debug an application that’s one big, huge “TRY” block – you’ll never get anywhere because you get a pretty error message instead. Except in our case, the message says “error,” and it leaves us to guess just where in the several hundred lines of badly-implemented scripting “MSIcode” the error is.

Even worse, if at all possible, are the breakpoints. By “break” they mean that the installer will “pause” right there – but you can’t really do anything with that pause – you can’t even access the IDE! It’s just like hitting the freeze-frame button on your Cable Box – it’s worthless.

InstallAware has a colorful history from stealing website designs to abusing the freeware communities – and you can always spot their CEO in the comments section claiming “that’s OK” because they have better products anyway. Well, it seems they don’t have even that…

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Ask: The Algorithm Sucks

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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Aks.com, the “new” (reborn) search engine poised to take over the world. Champions of personal privacy. Protectors data. Finders of answers, and the future of the web. Or at least, that’s what they’d have you believe. But don’t buy it, it’s all crap.

Ask.com always sucked. From when Jeeves the butler was still young and had a spring to his step, their results were never on-par with MSN, Yahoo, or fledgeling Google. They preyed on the new-comers to the web, giving them a corny man in a pinstriped suit and coattails bobbing on their screen, pointing them in the direction all the time. Ask claims their new algorithm is awesome – God only knows how much money went into the advertisement campaign alone.

We’re sorry to break it to you though: Ask.com’s search results are just as terrible – if not worse – than they ever were.

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“Spare Cycles” or Selfless Souls?

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Chris Anderson (Wired Magazine, The Long Tail) posted an interesting article yesterday, comparing bored humans to spare CPU cycles – and more importantly, just how much they can accomplish. But while the article – as a whole – was really interesting and scientific and is a topic that has been discussed in scientific forums, dozens of publications, and is the basis for a lot of research, there was one paragraph that stood out:

Who knew there was so much untapped energy all around us, just waiting for a catalyst to become productive? But of course there was. People are bored, and they’d rather not be. [……]

That sheriff is watching a movie because he has spare cycles. Spare cycles are the most powerful fuel on the planet.  It’s what Web 2.0 is made up of. User generated content? Spare cycles. Open source? Spare cycles.1 MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Second Life? Spare cycles. They’re the Soylent Green of the web.

While we’re sure that Chris probably didn’t mean anything by it and it was just a passing reference made without much thought, it does beg the question: do people actually believe that open source exists only because we [the developers, the contributors, the testers, the documenters, and just about everyone else involved in the process] are too bored and have nothing better to be doing?!

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  1. Emphasis added. ↩

EasyBCD 1.6 Completed!

Posted on by NeoSmart Technologies
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This just in from the up-all-night department: EasyBCD 1.6 has been completed!

EasyBCD is now 100% bug-free and all features have been wrapped-up and are more than ready to go. The 3 remaining bugs are in the installer, and that’s what the team is working on now. EasyBCD 1.6 is being shipped as we speak to the AAA review and distribution teams around the web – and EasyBCD 1.6 will be available to the general public sometime seen in the next few days. Stay tuned!