Tired of Windows? The next generation of laptops may let you jump from one operating system to another to play movies, surf the Web or read e-mail.
Phoenix Technologies Ltd., a leading maker of the software that controls Windows computers most basic workings, announced it will offer a feature it calls HyperSpace to laptop manufacturers.
Woody Hobbs, the company’s chief executive, said the first application of the technology probably will show up next summer in the shape of laptops that can play DVDs outside Windows.
User will be able to boot in a few seconds straight into the DVD player, skipping the longer Windows startup, or switch to the DVD player from Windows. If Windows is running at the same time, it can be put in sleep mode, prolonging battery life.
Laptops with a media player separate from Windows already exist, but the players don’t run parallel to Windows (you have to boot into the player, then shut it down and boot into Windows to switch tasks).
UW tests voice-controlled mouse: A mouse that can move accurately in response to sounds could mean the difference between dependence and independence for someone with motor impairments.
A University of Washington researcher with a specialty in speech recognition is putting his skills to use teaching computers to do just that.
Jeff Bilmes, the associate professor of engineering leading a team creating the Vocal Joystick with a grant from the National Science Foundation, said most existing controllers are far from ideal.
Some are controlled by the breath or the tongue, but then users can’t talk while operating their PC, and if the device falls out, someone else has to put it back in.
Merger talks end for next-generation Internet: The on-again, off-again talks to merge two ultra-fast nonprofit Internet networks have ended again — for good this time, it appears.
Internet2 and National LambdaRail serve many of the nation’s universities and research institutions by offering fast Internet connections that physicists, astronomers and other researchers need to exchange large amounts of data.
The two next-generation networks began with separate missions, but their technologies and services converged over the years. And Jeff Lehman, chairman of Internet2’s board, said their clients backed the merger because the organizations largely served the same community.
Talks resumed this year, and a committee with top leaders from each network worked out a compromise in August.
From Herald news services
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