10 Simple Ways To Speed Up Your Windows XP

One of the factors that slow the performance of the computer is disk fragmentation. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. To speed up the response time, you should monthly run Disk Defragmenter, a Windows utility that defrags and consolidates fragmented files for quicker computer response.

• Follow Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter
• Click the drives you want to defrag and click Analyze
• Click Defragment

2. Detect and Repair Disk Errors

Over time, your hard disk develops bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing difficult or even impossible. To detect and repair disk errors, Windows has a built-in tool called the Error Checking utility. It’ll search the hard disk for bad sectors and system errors and repair them for faster performance.

• Follow Start > My Computer
• In My Computer right-click the hard disk you want to scan and click Properties
• Click the Tools tab
• Click Check Now
• Select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box
• Click Start

3. Disable Indexing Services

Indexing Services is a little application that uses a lot of CPU. By indexing and updating lists of all the files on the computer, it helps you to do a search for something faster as it scans the index list. But if you know where your files are, you can disable this system service. It won’t do any harm to you machine, whether you search often or not very often.

• Go to Start
• Click Settings
• Click Control Panel
• Double-click Add/Remove Programs
• Click the Add/Remove Window Components
• Uncheck the Indexing services
• Click Next

4. Optimize Display Settings

Windows XP is a looker. But it costs you system resources that are used to display all the visual items and effects. Windows looks fine if you disable most of the settings and leave the following:

• Show shadows under menus
• Show shadows under mouse pointer
• Show translucent selection rectangle
• Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
• Use visual styles on windows and buttons

5. Speedup Folder Browsing

You may have noticed that everytime you open My Computer to browse folders that there is a little delay. This is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers everytime you open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing speed, you can disable the “Automatically search for network folders and printers” option.

6. Disable Performance Counters

Windows XP has a performance monitor utility which monitors several areas of your PC’s performance. These utilities take up system resources so disabling is a good idea.

• Download and install the Extensible Performance Counter List
• Then select each counter in turn in the ‘Extensible performance counters’ window and clear the ‘performance counters enabled’ checkbox at the bottom button below

7. Optimize Your Pagefile

You can optimize your pagefile. Setting a fixed size to your pagefile saves the operating system from the need to resize the pagefile.

• Right click on My Computer and select Properties
• Select the Advanced tab
• Under Performance choose the Settings button
• Select the Advanced tab again and under Virtual Memory select Change
• Highlight the drive containing your page file and make the initial Size of the file the same as the Maximum Size of the file.

Windows XP sizes the page file to about 1.5X the amount of actual physical memory by default. While this is good for systems with smaller amounts of memory (under 512MB) it is unlikely that a typical XP desktop system will ever need 1.5 X 512MB or more of virtual memory. If you have less than 512MB of memory, leave the page file at its default size. If you have 512MB or more, change the ratio to 1:1 page file size to physical memory size.

8. Remove Fonts for Speed

Fonts, especially TrueType fonts, use quite a bit of system resources. For optimal performance, trim your fonts down to just those that you need to use on a daily basis and fonts that applications may require.

• Open Control Panel
• Open Fonts folder
• Move fonts you don’t need to a temporary directory (e.g. C:\FONTBKUP?) just in case you need or want to bring a few of them back. The more fonts you uninstall, the more system resources you will gain.

9. Use a Flash Memory to Boost Performance

To improve performance, you need to install additional RAM memory. It’ll let you boot your OS much quicker and run many applications and access data quicker. There is no easiest and more technically elegant way to do it than use eBoostr.

eBoostr is a little program that lets you improve a performance of any computer, powered by Windows XP in much the same way as Vista’s ReadyBoost. With eBoostr, if you have a flash drive, such as a USB flash thumb drive or an SD card, you can use it to make your computer run better. Simply plug in a flash drive through a USB socket and Windows XP will use eBoostr to utilize the flash memory to improve performance.

The product shows the best results for frequently used applications and data, which becomes a great feature for people who are using office programs, graphics applications or developer tools. It’ll surely attract a special attention of laptop owners as laptop upgrade is usually more complicated and laptop hard drives are by definition slower than those of desktops.

10. Perform a Boot Defragment

There's a simple way to speed up XP startup: make your system do a boot defragment, which will put all the boot files next to one another on your hard disk. When boot files are in close proximity to one another, your system will start faster.

On most systems, boot defragment should be enabled by default, but it might not be on yours, or it might have been changed inadvertently. To make sure that boot defragment is enabled:

• Run the Registry Editor
• Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction
• Set the Enable string value to Y if it is not already set to Y.
• Exit the Registry
• Reboot

Hope you find these 10 tips useful. Have a nice day! 


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Netbook Review: Acer Aspire One D255

Is there still a place for netbooks in what's starting to seem like a tablet-mad world? Acer thinks so. At a time when the Apple iPad is at the top of so many shopping lists and product after product is being evaluated as a potential "iPad-killer," Acer is betting on enough prospective buyers still looking for the more notebook-like experience, but with the smaller size and price tag, that a netbook offers. And so it's kept right on refreshing its netbook line, with a recent example being the unit we're looking at today: the Aspire One D255.

With the D255, Acer has upped the ante by going with the Intel Atom N550, a dual-core processor that is clocked at 1.5GHz. And with a price tag of $329, it's still priced around where units sporting single-core processors had recently been. But do more cores translate into more performance and better value? Let's take a look and find out.

Perhaps the hardest part for those of us used to desktop and laptop PCs is getting used to the Acer's 93-percent-full-sized keyboard -- the A through apostrophe keys that span eight inches on a desktop cover 7.5 inches on the D255. Obviously, however, it's an easier adjustment than typing on a phone, tablet or other diminutive device.

As mentioned above, the D255 is powered by the 1.5GHz Intel Atom N550, a dual-core processor that comes with 1MB of L2 cache. A rarity among 10.1-inch netbooks, this would seem to offer a distinct advantage over competing models. But while the D255's CPU does indeed perform admirably in comparison to single-core Atoms, the difference isn't enough to knock anyone's socks off. In PCMark Vantage, the D255 posted a score of 1,603, while in Cinebench 11.5's CPU test, it was able to render the sample scene in 14 minutes and 23 seconds.

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Yahoo's Risky Antispam Gambit

It's bypassing the Internet's standards body and implementing its own tech solution, a unilateral move that many experts criticize

On Jan. 16 some of the e-mail business' biggest brains will gather on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus at Spam Conference 2004. The one-day powwow will mark the event's second year and will feature 18 presentations from a wide variety of spam fighters.

The conference is quickly becoming a hot ticket. Top-level technology executives from the Big Four Internet service providers that handle the majority of e-mail traffic in the country -- Microsoft's MSN (MSFT ), Yahoo! (YHOO ), America Online (TWX ), and Earthlink (ELNK ) -- will probably attend. So will a host of academics and company officials from the plethora of antispam software, hardware, and services outfits that have sprung up over the past two years. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the body that oversees the adoption and application of new tech standards to the Internet, will be represented by none other than Eric Raymond, the open-source guru and Linux legend.

Yahoo faces a delicate task. Push too hard, and it'll upset everyone else, including the other three big ISPs. Push too gently, and antispam technology standards may not develop quickly enough to alleviate the acute pain big ISPs are feeling from spam's rising costs. It's a high wire to walk, and Yahoo's grand plan for fighting junk messages could either make it a hero or cause a fall from grace. It's one story definitely worth watching.

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Microsoft chucks bigger salaries and cash bonuses at staff

Cash is the new king in Microsoft's battle to recruit and retain talent against the twin gravitational forces of Google and Facebook.

The world's largest software company told employees on Thursday that it's giving them pay raises and changing the way it awards bonuses beginning this September. Bonuses are getting bigger and will involve more cash compared to Microsoft stock, although stock allocations are also increasing.

The goal is to keep Microsoft competitive in hiring, according to a memo from Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer sent to staff and seen by The Reg. Ballmer said:

Through our history, we have been THE place people came when they wanted to make a difference in the world through software, hardware and services. This is as true today as it has been at any time in our history, and the changes we're rolling out today will help ensure Microsoft continues to be the place that top talent comes to change the world.

According to Ballmer a portion of stock award targets are being moved into employees' base salary, meaning more cash up front.

Funding for Microsoft's bonus and stock awards is increasing to deliver: "100 per cent or more of target bonus and stock awards to 80 per cent of our eligible employees." Ballmer said: "This is up from about 50% in prior years. The additional funding ensures our approach continues to support higher payouts to top performers."

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Kindle beats Apple's closed book on choice

Open...and Shut Despite the fact that our gadgets increasingly multi-task as cameras, phones, email devices, and more, we continue to accumulate different devices to serve different functions.

Perhaps because of this multi-device reality, those digital goods vendors who persist in seeing the world as one big Apple iOS party are likely to lose in their chosen markets.

Like Apple in ebooks, for example.
There's no question that Apple has been phenomenally successful in selling phones, tablets, and laptops. But in ebooks? Not so much.

At least, not compared to Kindle books. Apple continues to have far fewer titles and far fewer sales. This, despite a relatively strong start from iBook sales and some evidence that iBook sales are growing the overall ebook market. And despite a hugely successful iPad 2 launch (and long-term success with iPad 1).

The problem? IBooks are only available on Apple devices, whereas Kindle ebooks are available everywhere - or nearly so. Kindle ebook sales dominate iBooks even on Apple devices.

So much so that author J.A. Konrath reports a 60:1 Kindle:iBook sales ratio.
This makes sense in the multi-device world in which we live. As much as we may want to be all-Apple, all of the time, the reality is that at some point we're going to use a non-Apple device, and that moment is the when Amazon's Kindle model makes so much more sense. Kindle ebooks follow the reader everywhere she happens to go. On their Android device. On their iOS device.

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Adobe Updates Acrobat, Reader to Guard against Flash Zero-Day

Adobe is once again releasing software updates to address a zero-day vulnerability in Adobe Flash. Adobe already unleashed an updated version of Adobe Flash itself, but today it is also releasing updated versions of Acrobat and Reader which both rely on a vulnerable component of Flash.

The updates arrived sooner than expected, perhaps in response to new exploits in the wild. The Adobe security advisory explains, "There are reports that this vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild against both Adobe Flash Player, and Adobe Reader and Acrobat, as well as via a Flash (.swf) file embedded in a Microsoft Word (.doc) or Microsoft Excel (.xls) file delivered as an email attachment targeting the Windows platform."

Qualys CTO Wolfgang Kandek describes the current threat in a recent blog post. Kandek says that the malicious Word document file attachment typically has a legitimate sounding name to lure users into opening it. But, as soon as the victim opens the attachment, the Flash zero-day vulnerability is exploited to install a remote control agent, and then a second Word document is opened which contains the real content. The insidious part is that it all happens in the blink of an eye--much faster than most users would even notice.

I have pointed out that the similarities of the back to back zero-day flaws in Flash seems to indicate they are related, and suggest that perhaps Adobe rushed the patch so much the first time around that it missed some key element of the vulnerability. But, an Adobe spokesperson stressed that the two Flash vulnerabilities are completely unrelates, explaining, "The two vulnerabilities existed in entirely different parts of the code and different ActionScript Virtual Machines (AVMs)."

The affected software includes Adobe Reader X (10.0.1) and earlier versions for Windows, Adobe Reader X (10.0.2) and earlier versions for Macintosh, and Adobe Acrobat X (10.0.2) and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh. Users of these products are strongly encouraged to download and install the updated software as soon as possible.

Adobe is still holding out for the regular quarterly update cycle in June to patch the Windows version of Adobe Reader X. Adobe states that the Protected Mode sandbox security in Reader X for Windows will prevent any exploit from executing, so it does not consider it a priority for developing an out-of-band update.

Best Laptops for Gamers

If you're into games, your laptop has to meet special requirements: great graphics and CPU performance, plenty of RAM, and a good display. These are the best laptops we've reviewed for gamers.

Sony's VPCZ137GX balances portability, ergonomics, and performance in a way that's hard to beat. It's not quite as light or as small as the average ultraportable, but it offers a 13.1-inch, 1600-by-900-pixel display, great ergonomics, and an onboard DVD burner. On the other hand, it's smaller and lighter than a typical all-purpose 14- or 15-inch laptop. And finally, it looks great and performs superbly.

The downside is price: The VPCZ137GX costs a whopping $2300.

One reason for the high sticker price is a 256GB solid-state drive. This expensive component gives the installed 64-bit Windows 7 operating system a snappy feel that a standard rotating hard disk can't match, even when aided by a CPU faster than the VPCZ137GX's highly competent 2.53GHz Intel Core i5 460M. Sony also provides 4GB of 1066MHz DDR3 system memory and a discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 330M GPU with 1GB of video memory.

On our WorldBench 6 test suite, the ultraportable earned an excellent mark of 118, as well as fantastic frame rates in our reference games. 1080p HD video played smoothly on the gorgeous display and the audio was surprisingly clear and spacious sounding. Bass was lacking, but that's common in laptops.

Better yet, battery life hardly suffers at all from the great performance. The VPCZ137GX lasted 6 hours, 20 minutes in our rundown test.

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PlayBook's first-day sales outdo Galaxy Tab and Xoom, analyst says

BlackBerry PlayBook sales hit 50,000 for the first day of sales on April 19, including pre-sales, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets estimated. Overall, Research in Motion (RIM) is on track to sell 500,000 PlayBooks in its first fiscal quarter ending in May, analyst Mike Abramsky wrote in a note to his clients that was reported in the Montreal Gazette.

Abramsky's staff checked 70 retails stores and found 11% of the locations that stocked the device had sold out. "The launch appears to have been stronger than the launch of Motorola's Xoom or the Samsung Galaxy Tab, although it's too early to judge sustainability," Abramsky wrote.

In suburban Boston, one Best Buy outlet had only one 16GB PlayBook on sale for $499.99 the first day; it was also being used as a demonstration model. A nearby Radio Shack sold all three PlayBooks it had on the first day, a clerk said.

Several analysts said that RIM was probably relying on pre-sales of the device to business customers, although business sales were said to be direct from RIM to customers and not through retailers.

The PlayBook has been criticized for not including a native email client, forcing users to rely on a Web-based email account. Users can also tether to a BlackBerry smartphone for access to corporate mail through BlackBerry Bridge software on the PlayBook and its connection through the phone to a BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

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SanDisk, Toshiba one up Intel, introduce 19nm flash memory

SanDisk and its partner Toshiba announced this week a 64Gbit NAND flash memory chip using 19-nanometer (nm) technology, a process one size smaller than the memory chip Intel and Micron announced last week.

SanDisk made marketing hay with the announcement by trumping Intel and Micron's 20nm chip, which was announced by their joint venture last week. SanDisk called its chip "the most advanced memory process technology node in the world."

"We are excited to introduce the world's smallest and lowest-cost NAND flash chips based on industry-leading 19nm process technology in our ongoing collaboration with our manufacturing partner Toshiba," Yoram Cedar, chief technology officer of SanDisk, said in a statement.

SanDisk and Toshiba will be changing over from the 24nm chip that they currently manufacture at their four fabrication facilities in Asia. In an earnings call this week, SanDisk CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said he didn't anticipate that the recent earthquakes and tsunami in Japan would cause any "meaningful changes" the conversion at the plants.

The new memory chip will be used for data storage in mobile phones, tablet computers and other mobile devices, SanDisk said.

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Mac OS X: Make Snow Leopard (and other cats) roar like Lion

With a second preview version now in the hands of app developers, Apple's next generation of Mac OS X, called Lion (Version 10.7), appears to be on track for its planned release to the public this summer. The company has announced several new features for the upcoming Macintosh operating system (some of which are lifted straight from iOS, Apple's mobile platform) including the following:

• A feature called Launchpad for organizing and launching apps, similar to the iOS home screen.
• A new Mission Control feature that combines the existing Mac OS X Dashboard, Exposé and Spaces features, as well as full-screen apps.
• The ability for apps to auto-save and auto-resume as in iOS, and a feature called Versions that saves multiple copies of files over time so you can easily revert to a previous iteration after you've made changes.
• Easier, more secure file sharing among Macs, with a feature called AirDrop.
• More advanced use of multitouch gestures (in the OS itself and available to app developers).
• An updated interface and improved search capabilities in Mail, Mac OS X's built-in email client.
• The ability for more apps to run in full-screen mode for a distraction-free experience, as Apple's iPhoto and iMovie do now.
• A curated Mac App Store that offers one-click app installation.

Although Lion is still months away, Mac users don't need to wait to get advances similar to the ones planned for the new operating system. In fact, several third-party applications and services already exist to meet the same challenges that Apple is aiming to address with Lion. 

Most of the apps work with Snow Leopard and Leopard (Version 10.5); some are available for Tiger (Version 10.4) as well. I've also included a section on app store alternatives for Leopard and Tiger users, who don't have access to the Mac App Store.

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IE10 Won't Run on Windows Vista

Microsoft released the first preview of Internet Explorer 10 this week, but immediately drew some criticism that it won't be backwards compatible with Windows Vista.

Microsoft confirmed this week that the next major version of its browser will not work with Windows Vista, but at least one analyst wonders if that's a problem.

Even though Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) just shipped IE9 a month ago, it continues to try to pick up the pace of browser development in order to try to regain some of the market initiative that it has lost in recent years -- largely by not moving fast enough to keep IE current with competitors offerings.

In fact, the company released the first platform preview for Internet Explorer 10 (IE10) earlier in the week at its annual MIX Web developers and designers conference in Las Vegas.

However, the IE10 platform preview requires Windows 7 and will not support Vista, a discovery that has led to a controversy similar to complaints that IE9 will not run on Windows XP, although it does run on Vista.

"With IE9, we made the decision to help unlock the best web experience possible, which means taking advantage of everything around the browser -- including Windows 7 and modern PC hardware," a Microsoft spokesperson said in an email to InternetNews.com.

"Windows Vista customers have a great browsing experience with IE9, but in building IE10 we are focused on continuing to drive the kind of innovation that only happens when you take advantage of the ongoing improvements in modern operating systems and modern hardware," the spokesperson added.

It doesn't take Bing translation to read the meaning -- Microsoft is not going to be looking back when it comes to new versions of IE.

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Dell Launches New SMB Server and NAS Options

As part of its ongoing focus on providing enterprise-class technologies to small and medium-sized businesses (SMB), Dell Thursday rolled out two servers as well as a pair of storage solutions meant to meet rigorous customer demands.

In addition, Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) is also emphasizing two new, energy-efficient PowerConnect switch families that the company says are appropriate for SMB use.

The move is part of a continuing strategy by the Round Rock, Texas computer products maker to make its enterprise-class products more competitive among SMBs.

"The emphasis on the server, storage, and networking as an [integrated offering] makes sense," Justin Jaffe, senior analyst at researcher IDC, told InternetNews.com.

For one thing, it helps keep Dell in the running with HP (NYSE: HPQ).

"I think the unified approach is a good one that's going to be appealing to SMBs," Jaffe added.

On Dell's list of SMB-oriented products are an entry-level server dubbed the PowerEdge T110 II and a mid-level offering, the PowerEdge R210 II, the company said in a statement.

Cost- and energy-conscious companies have the option to out fit the two PowerEdge servers with Intel's new, energy efficient Xeon E3-1200 CPUs, which are optimized for use in SMB servers, as well as with Intel Core i3-2100 CPUs, or with Intel Pentium processors.

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GNOME 3 finally released

GNOME 3 -- officially released today is a similar kind of 'big break' for the GNOME project, but it's not in my opinion the same nightmare the KDE 4 unleashed on its users.

The big ticked item that should define GNOME 3 is the GNOME Shell interface.

"The new GNOME Shell is an entire new user experience that was designed from the ground up to improve the usability of the desktop and giving both designers and developers a quick way to improve the desktop and adapt the user interface to new needs," Miguel de Icaza, one of GNOME's founders said in a statement. "By tightly integrating Javascript with the GNOME platform, designers were able to create and quickly iterate on creating an interface that is both pleasant and exciting to use. I could not be happier with the results."

Ubuntu doesn't use GNOME Shell, though Red Hat, Novell and likely every other Linux distro that include GNOME likely will. Personally, I like GNOME Shell and am looking forward to seeing it as the default in the upcoming Fedora 15 release.

Backwards compatibility is also a key hallmark of GNOME 3 (holy cow did I have compatibility issues with KDE 4), which is a big deal too.

 

 This is a release, five plus years in the making and it really shows. The way we all use our desktops and access information is now a bit different and the need to streamline menus and user interface is necessary.

The only issue I have is that this took a long time to accomplish, but hey, I'm also a fan of technology being done -- when it's done.

I'm not so naive as to think that there won't be a vocal group of GNOME users that hate GNOME 3 and now decide to move to KDE, but considering how long that GNOME 3 has been baking, there are few surprises.

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Google Chrome 11 debuts web navigation API

Google Chrome 11 is now in Beta and with it is coming two new interesting experimental APIs.

The Web Navigation and Proxy Extension APIs are both for extension developers and could help to enable a new generation of capabilities for extension developers on Chrome.

"The Web Navigation Extension API allows extension developers to observe browser navigation events," Google Software Engineers Dominic Battre and Jochen Eisinger wrote in a blog post."These events fire both for top-level navigation and in-page navigation."

That's a neat feature that goes beyond the basic capabilities that an HTTP header might provide to an extension developer. Personally I can see this being used for some kind of guided navigation (customer service) type of technology. Google sees use for the Web Navigation API as a way to get statistical or benchmarking data.

Going a level deeper the API adds some new listeners for devs to take advantage of including:

• onBeforeNavigate which kicks in when a navigation is about to occur
• onBeforeRetarget, which activates when a new window, or a new tab in an existing window, is about to be created to host a navigation.

The Proxy Extension API is all about enabling extensions to be able to configure proxy settings for Chrome. The obvious use-case here if for private incognito sessions.

According to Google," proxies can be configured for the entire browser or independently for regular and incognito windows."

Neither of these new APIs are enabled by default in Chrome 11 beta, users will have to activate them with the about:flags options for Experimental Extension APIs. I personally expect to see the final version of Chrome 11 by the end of April.

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Intel Advances Solid State Storage

Intel Monday announced availability of its latest line of solid-state drives (SSD), which replaces the company's earlier X25-M SATA (Serial ATA) SSDs.

The new SSDs -- dubbed the Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) SSD 320 Series -- take advantage of 25 nm NAND flash technology. They also add new features such as increased security, including 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard support, as well as upgraded power management capabilities, such as redundant storage in case of power failure.

Available now, the SSD 370 Series come in 40, 80, 120, and 160 GB sizes as well as 300 and 600 GBs, the company said in a statement.

Intel's pitching the new, third-generation SSD line as delivering greater space with higher access speeds for less money.

"Our third-generation SSDs have larger capacities and performance improvements while providing better reliability and data protection, along with a 30 percent price drop," an Intel spokesperson told InternetNews.com.

Intel first delivered the X25-M SDD drives during the summer of 2008.

The first generation SSDs were built in a joint venture with Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU), using then-new 34 nm technology. After a slightly bumpy start, however, they have done very well, according to the company. The new line is targeted at everyone from consumers to PC enthusiasts to IT organizations.

The SSD 320 Series is designed for both desktop and laptop PCs and, because they are solid state, are more rugged than hard disk drives (HDD).

"An upgrade from an HDD to an Intel SSD can give users one of the single-best performance boosts, providing an up to 66 percent gain in overall system responsiveness," the Intel statement said.

The SSD 320 Series uses a 3 gbps SATA II to interface with what the company claims is more than a billion SATA II PCs worldwide. The drives can handle 39,500 input/output operations per second (IOPS) on random reads and 23,000 IOPS for random writes, the company said.

Overall, the SSDs deliver sequential write speeds as high as 220 MB per second (MBps), and read speeds as high as 270 MBps.

As for price, the 40 GB SSD costs $89 in thousand-unit lots, while 80 GB drives run $159. Additionally, the 120 GB SSDs are $209 and 160 GB cost $$289. At the high end, 300 GB drives cost $529, while the 600 GB drives run $1,069.

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Oracle Q3 Earnings Build On Sun

Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) is continuing to grow its business, with strong revenues for its third fiscal quarter. Growth is coming from all sectors, including hardware from its Sun Microsystem acquisition.

"We saw strength across all regions, industries and product segments," Oracle President, Mark Hurd, said during the company's earnings call. "Engineered systems have fundamentally changed the game. The systems actually changed the entire value proposition of both hardware and software."

Oracle reported third quarter 2011 revenues of $8.8 billion, a 37 percent year-over-year increase. Net Income was reported at $2.2 billion, representing a 78 percent year-over-year gain. Earnings per share were up by 75 percent to $0.42 per share for the quarter. Moving forward, Oracle provided fourth quarter revenue guidance for total revenue growth on a GAAP basis to range from 10 percent to 14 percent at current exchange rates.

While growth came across a number of segments, one particular area highlighted by Oracle during its earnings call was a 29 percent growth in their software license revenue stream.

"You can really see our momentum in our Apps business as we continue to take share from SAP," Oracle President, Safra Catz said during the call. "So over the last couple of years, our new license revenue for applications has grown 53 percent in constant currency or about more than 10x faster than SAP over the same period."

Growth is also coming from improved execution on the hardware side of Oracle's business. A key part of that business is the technology that Oracle acquired as part of the acquisition of Sun Microsystems.

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Java Founder Gosling going to Google

Google's Java credibility is about to get a major boost.

James Gosling, the creator of Java is now a Google employee.

Gosling was among the many former Sun employees that were not happy with the new Oracle ownership. Gosling left Oracle in April of 2010 and has been looking for a home ever since.

One of the major things that has changed over the course of the last year is the fact Oracle is now suing Google over Java. How that will now play out with Gosling at Google will likely keep journalists like me very busy over the coming months and likely years to come.

"One of the toughest things about life is making choices," Gosling wrote in a blog post." I had a hard time saying "no" to a bunch of other excellent possibilities. I find it odd that this time I'm taking the road more travelled by, but it looks like interesting fun with huge leverage. I don't know what I'll be working on. I expect it'll be a bit of everything, seasoned with a large dose of grumpy curmudgeon."

Will Gosling help drive Google's efforts on the JCP (Java Community Process) for Java 8 and beyond? I sure hope so.

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Microsoft Adjusts Pricing for Client Access Licenses

With the recent revisions of some of its business software offerings, Microsoft announced new pricing for the so-called "client access licenses" (CAL) that users must have in order to access those products.

However, the changes in configuration and costs won't take effect until August.

The changes may not be difficult to spot, however, especially when it comes to price.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has two types of CALs -- a Core CAL and an Enterprise CAL (ECAL) Step Up edition. That is, a customer who needs more than the Core CAL provides antes up to upgrade to the ECAL option.

In the current version, the Core CAL provides licenses for basic server products such as Windows Server, Systems Center Configuration Manager, SharePoint Standard edition, and Exchange Standard edition, according to a Microsoft FAQ (as PDF) online.

By comparison, the ECAL Step Up option currently adds CALs for Active Directory Rights Management Service (RMS), Forefront Unified Access Gateway, and Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP) Suite. It also includes CALs for Systems Center Client Management Suite, besides SharePoint and Exchange ECALs.

Right now, the ECAL Step Up bundle provides both Standard and Enterprise CALs for Microsoft Lync 2010.

Released in November, Lync is Microsoft's latest shot at a unified communications package, "unifying enterprise voice, instant messaging and Web, audio and video conferencing -- all within the same user experience and back-end infrastructure," the company said last fall. Lync replaces Microsoft's Office Communications Server.

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Panasonic HDC-SD60K (black)

Panasonic's quartet of entry-level HD camcorders the HDC-HS60, TM60, TM55, and SD60 delivers a good performance, as well as solid video quality for their class. The SD60 is a great value, and avoid paying the unnecessary price premium for the hard drive in the HS60.

Is it just me, or are four nearly identical versions of the same product a wee bit much? Panasonic seems to be taking a carpet bomb approach to the entry-level HD camcorder market, with those four models in the slim range between $500 and $700. The HDC-SD60, TM55, and TM60 are all identical save the amount of built-in memory: none, 8GB, and 16GB respectively; the TM60 is an exclusive to Best Buy. The HS60 includes a 120GB hard disk, and because of that has a slightly different design. Reviews of all four products are based on testing of the SD60 and HS60.

Overall, the camcorders have a comfortable-to-grip design and feel well built. If your hands are large or you simply don't like the tubular design of the flash-memory models, the HS60's hard disk sticks up on the right side, giving you a little extra edge to grip. None of them have an accessory shoe, so the top of the camcorder simply has a zoom switch and shutter button for still photos. Unusual for the price class, the series includes an LED video light for shooting in dim environments. Though it's a nice touch, don't shine it directly at people--it's quite blinding.

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Flip UltraHD (2009, black)

This is the 2009 version of the Flip UltraHD. While it's still available through some retailers, note that the updated 2010 Flip UltraHD is now available.

Every six months or so, Flip Video--slated to be absorbed by Cisco by the end of the year--puts out a new model or two of its popular YouTube-friendly point-and-shoot mini camcorders. Late last year it was the MinoHD. Now, for spring 2009, the company brings us two updated versions of the Ultra: a higher-end model, the UltraHD, which shoots 720p (1,280x720) high-definition video, and a less expensive Ultra, which shoots 640x480 VGA video.

For starters, the transflective LCD on the back is bigger, measuring 2 inches, compared with 1.5 inches. The buttons are also bigger and the UltraHD, which comes in black or white, has a sort of rubberized, matte finish that allows you to grip the device a bit more easily.

Most importantly, this model comes with a set of AA-size NiMH rechargeable batteries you can charge in the unit by simply connecting the camcorder (via its trademark flip-out USB connector) to the USB port on your computer. Alternatively, you can swap in a pair of standard AA alkaline batteries if you don't have time to charge. That standard battery backup option is a nice convenience, but there's a drawback: the batteries are bulkier and heavier than the slim lithium ion type built into the MinoHD. So by default you're getting a bigger, heavier camcorder--the UltraHD weighs 6.1 ounces versus 3.3 ounces for the MinoHD. That said, the UltraHD is still pocket-friendly, just not as pocket-friendly as the MinoHD.

One thing we don't like about the new design is the chrome plastic trim on the sides of the unit. It looks good but you'll find your self continually wiping off fingerprint smudges with the soft, velvety pouch that ships with the product. We would have preferred some sort of brushed metal, or a brushed-metal look. Another minor ding: there's an HDMI output on the side for HDTV connections, but no bundled cable. That's not a huge deal, but Kodak, for instance, includes an HDMI cable with the Zx1, which retails for about $50 less.

Like the MinoHD, the UltraHD shoots 720p video at 30fps, H.264 compressed, and encoded as MPEG-4. The unit lacks a memory card slot, which is too bad, but its 8GB of internal memory allows you to record 2 hours of video. That should be ample recording capacity for most folks, but if you're on a vacation and shoot a lot of video, it would help to have a laptop along for the ride to offload your video as you run out of memory.

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