Ars Technica

Microsoft began to talk about Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 today, though the company wasn’t yet ready to announce a beta or release timeline for the service pack. Rumors pegged SP1 beta for arrival this month. For Windows Server 2008 R2, the company revealed two new features that directly affect Microsoft’s desktop virtualization platform: Microsoft Dynamic Memory and Microsoft RemoteFX.

For Windows 7, SP1 includes only minor updates: mostly hotfixes already delivered Read More...

For a plan that puts “competition” as its number one goal, the National Broadband Plan is remarkably light on policies that will produce much of it in the wireline space. Talk of competition is everywhere, but all suggestions are remarkably general or terribly banal: “more data collection” and “future policy reviews” are everywhere. Suggestions about how such reviews should turn out is lacking.

But Read More...

Microsoft made a slew of virtualization announcements today, affecting both current and future products. Arguably the most important tidbit is that the company has removed the virtualization layer’s hardware requirements for the XP Mode available in Windows 7. Those already running XP Mode don’t need to bother updating since they already have it working, but users who were unsure of their PC hardware Read More...

Wrap Yoshi’s loving tongue around yourself before you go out. It will keep you warm.

Read More: OhGizmo

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The FCC has had it with ISPs. For more than a decade, the agency has relied on ISP reports to get a picture of broadband speeds and availability in the US, and the results have been uniformly terrible. The ISPs don’t want to report numbers detailed enough to be useful, so the feds finally dropped a pile of cash on the table last Read More...

Windows Mobile 6.x can multitask, and it can run applications written in native code. Windows Phone 7 Series can do neither of these things. The reasons are not philosophical, however: Microsoft has no problem with either concept per se. They’re practical.

The hardware is powerful enough. The underlying operating system, Windows CE 6, can multitask just fine. The built-in applications also have multitasking capabilities—mobile Read More...

Reports have been swirling that Apple plans to ban screen protectors from its brick and mortar retail stores, but for the time being, the items seem to be plentiful throughout many store locations. Several Apple Stores we contacted Thursday afternoon assured Ars that there were currently “plenty” of screen protectors in stock, and did not indicate that this would change anytime soon. (One sales associate went as far as listing off all the variations that Read More...

Regardless of the stigma, it seems that some “news” outlets are still charging for iPhone application reviews.

Read More: Wired

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Sales of digital downloads have not been enough to make up for the decline of CD sales since its peak in 2000. Universal Music Group plans to soften the fall of CD sales by dropping prices across the board, to a maximum of $10.

The company plans to test lower prices beginning next month and continuing throughout 2010. Nearly all of UMG’s CDs will priced between $6 and $10. UMG is hoping that increased volume will Read More...

Ars Technica Science Editor John Timmer appeared last night on CTV News in a segment about the war on cancer.

Read More: CTV, Ars Technica

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