Just in time for the appearance of the Verizon iPhone tomorrow, VoIP calling service Skype is updating its iPhone app to include support for the H.264 video format. H.264 is the most widely accepted encoding standard for high-definition video.

In addition to boosting image quality, the enhancement means that Skype for iPhone users can place and accept calls from and to Skype callers using a select bunch of Skype-enabled TVs.

The free Skype update is available in the App Store.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Microsoft said today that it had sent the first service pack for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to original equipment manufacturers, with a consumer release to follow later this month.

The news comes several weeks after Microsoft's Russian Windows localization team had reported the update as being finalized from its first and only release candidate, and released to manufacturers.

Microsoft says the update will go out to consumers through Windows Update on February 22. TechNet subscribers and Microsoft's volume license customers will get their hands on it a week earlier, on the 16th.

SP1 includes an updated version of Microsoft's remote desktop client, alongside a round of hot fixes, and dynamic memory support for Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2.

On the company's server team blog, Michael Kleef, who is a senior technical product manager on the team, said that the dynamic memory feature alone has made a dramatic increase in machine density within the company's testing:

Dynamic Memory lets you increase virtual machine density with the resources you already have--without sacrificing performance or scalability. In our lab testing, with Windows 7 SP1 as the guest operating system in a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) scenario, we have seen a 40 percent increase in density from Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM to SP1. We achieved this increase simply by enabling Dynamic Memory.

Kleef goes on to praise the new RemoteFX technology that's included with SP1, which virtualizes the graphical processing unit on the server instead of on local hardware. This means thin-client machines can run more graphically intensive applications on hardware that wouldn't otherwise support it, which as a side effect can cut down on electricity used by those machines. "Together, these technologies will drive down the end-point cost and reduce end-point power consumption to as little as a few watts," Kleef said.

Microsoft rolled out the first beta of SP1 back in July, with its first and only release candidate appearing in late October.

Originally posted at News - Microsoft

I love 99-cent games. Wait, that's not right: I love games that are priced at 99 cents. Which is why today is my lucky day: three major game developers have slashed prices on some of their bestselling titles.

Between them, Capcom, EA Games, and Gameloft are selling nearly 50 iPhone/iPod Touch games for 99 cents apiece--and a handful of iPad titles as well. (Update: SEGA titles are on sale as well.) That's fairly unprecedented. The only tricky part is figuring out where to spend my shiny new dollar. (Oh, who am I kidding, I'll probably end up spending a dozen of them.)

Capcom's list is the shortest, so I'll start there:

• Devil May Cry 4 Refrain
• Phoenix Wright
• Resident Evil 4 (also for iPad)
  
• Street Fighter IV
  

On the flipside, EA Games (which is "welcoming Verizon users to the iPhone") has the longest list of goodies, including:

• Battlefield: Bad Company 2
• FIFA 10
• FIFA 11
• Madden NFL 11
• Mirror's Edge
• Monopoly
• Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition
• NBA Elite 11
• NCAA Football
• Need For Speed Hot Pursuit
• Need For Speed Shift
• Need For Speed Undercover
• Pictureka! (also for iPad)
• Reckless Racing (also for iPad)
  
• Risk: The Official Game
• Scrabble
• SimCity Deluxe
• Snood (also for iPad)
  
• Tetris
• The Game of Life Classic Edition
• The Sims 3
• The Sims 3 Ambitions
• The Sims 3 World Adventures
• The Simpsons Arcade
• Yahtzee (also for iPad)

Whew! Quite a list. Finally, we come to Gameloft, which has 13 titles on sale as part of a Valentine's Day promotion (which ends Feb. 14, natch). Here's the rundown:

• Brothers In Arms 2: Global Front
• Driver
• Fishing Kings
  
• Hero of Sparta II
• Let's Golf! 2
  
• Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
• Rayman 2: The Great Escape
• Real Golf 2011
• Shadow Guardian (also for iPad)
  
• Shrek Kart
• Spider-Man: Total Mayhem
• Star Battalion (also for iPad)
  
• Zombie Infection

Gameloft is also letting users vote on a 14th game, one that will go on sale for 99 cents on Feb. 14. The only catch: to cast your vote, you have to "like" Gameloft on Facebook (a step I know some users won't want to take).

My question for you: if you had only $1 to spend, which of these games would you buy--and why? I'd probably have to give the nod to Madden NFL 11, but, man, it's a tough call.

Update: SEGA also has a bunch of games on sale for 99 cents, including Altered Beast, ChuChu Rocket (also for iPad), and Super Monkey Ball 2.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Adobe Systems released Flash Player 10.2 today, bringing a technology called Stage Video designed to be easier on computing devices' processors and therefore batteries.

Tom Nguyen, product manager for Flash platform runtimes, offered this glowing account for the Flash Player 10.2 announcement:

Stage Video lets websites take advantage of full hardware acceleration of the entire video pipeline...Stage Video hardware acceleration means that Flash Player can play even higher quality video while using dramatically less processing power, giving users a better experience, greater performance, and longer battery life. In our testing across supported systems, we've found it's up to 34 times more efficient.

Put another way, Flash Player using Stage Video can effortlessly play beautiful 1080p HD video with just 1 to 15 percent CPU usage on a common Mac or Windows computer...Many millions of additional PCs, from Netbooks to desktops, can now become slick HD home theaters on the Web.

CPU usage during video has been a particular sore spot with Flash, in particular with Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs lambasting Flash video as battery-sucking software. Stage Video, among other things, uses hardware acceleration to combine ("composite," in technical terms) video with other elements such as text or graphics--think subtitles, pop-up ads, and player controls. (Adobe already added hardware-assisted decoding of H.264 video in Flash Player 10.1.)

Web developers need to update their software to use the new Stage Video interface; Flash evangelist Lee Brimelow offers a tutorial for those interested in how to do so. Google already has for its Flash-based player at YouTube, Adobe said.

Speaking of hardware acceleration, Flash Player 10.2 also takes advantage of that ability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 for higher performance and smoother compositing. It also comes with the ability to show full-screen video on one monitor in a dual-monitor setup.

Flash faces a host of challenges beyond power consumption. Also on the list are a variety of competing Web standards in varying degrees of maturity and the fact that Flash Player is a rarity on mobile phones.

The Flash Player 10.2 plug-in can be downloaded from Adobe's download site, but things are somewhat different for users of Google's Chrome browser. Google builds Flash Player directly into Chrome and it issued a new stable version 9.0.597.94 and developer version 10.0.648.45 with Flash Player 10.2; the new versions download automatically and are installed upon restarting the browser.

Originally posted at Deep Tech

Free security suites have long been offering protection for Windows computers that has ranged from adequate to excellent. After using the Avast 6 beta for the past week, it looks like Avast 6 will land far closer to the high end of the spectrum thanks to its new WebRep browser add-on and sandbox environment, unique in the free antivirus marketplace.

The security suite is available in three forms: Free Antivirus, which replicates the features available in the upcoming Avast 6 Free; Pro Antivirus, which offers a 30-day trial for checking out Avast's first level of paid security; and Internet Security, which ramps up the feature set to include more security tools.

The biggest new feature is the AutoSandbox, which walls off suspicious programs, preventing them from potentially damaging your system while allowing them to run. Few details have been provided so far as to how the AutoSandbox works, however a response from an Avast employee on Avast's forums gave some indication of how it works. Avast's sandbox allows the program to run, while keeping track of which files are opened, created, or renamed, and what it reads and writes from the Registry. These permanent changes are virtualized, so when the process terminates itself, the system changes it made will evaporate.

The AutoSandbox settings are accessible from the new Additional Protection option on the left nav. It defaults to asking the user whether a program should be sandboxed, although you can set it to automatically decide. There's a whitelist option for programs that you always want to exclude from the sandbox, and you can deactivate the feature entirely.

Avast 6 will come with an optional browser plug-in for Internet Explorer and Firefox called WebRep, which is Avast's new Web site reputation service. It uses a combination of data from Avast's virus labs and user voting to determine a safety score for a site. Similar add-ons are a common tool available in most antivirus suites, so it's good to see Avast join them. Like its competitors, Avast appears to have ignored Google Chrome and its 10 percent market share when it comes to search result rating add-ons. However, Avast has promised that the Chrome add-on will be released soon.

The browser add-ons install when installing Avast 6. If you don't want them, it's actually easier to remove them from within Avast instead of within the browser. Currently, removing the add-on using the browser's interface will cue Avast to re-install the add-on the next time the computer is rebooted.

Other new features have been introduced in Avast 6 beta. The Troubleshooting section now comes with a "restore factory settings" option, there's a new sidebar gadget for Windows 7 and Vista, and you can set automatic actions in the boot-time scan. Two features that have filtered down to the free version are the Script Shield and site blocking. The Script Shield now works with Internet Explorer 8 and 9's protected mode. Meanwhile, the paid versions have gained some new features, such as SafeZone, a virtualization feature for secure online banking. The installer has shrunk for all versions by about 20 percent.

The initial build of the program was buggy and actually caused my computer to enter into a crash loop that I escaped by booting into Safe Mode and removing it. However, subsequent builds have proven to be far more stable. Note that if you do install the beta, you'll have to completely uninstall your current antivirus program, even if it's Avast 5. The company expects to have an upgrade mechanism in place by the time Avast 6 is ready for wide distribution.

Other known problems in the beta include the fact that the SafeZone feature doesn't work yet and that the firewall in the paid versions contains a conflict with uTorrent.

Performance benchmarks are not available because of the in-development nature of this release. It's simply changing too quickly for benchmarks to provide any useful information, given the time it takes to conduct them.

Although the suite looks good and bodes well for the coming public release, this is a beta product and so it's not recommended for security duties on your primary or only computer. However, it's well worth exploring on secondary machines, and it's encouraging to see Avast not laying fallow after the gains made in version 5.

The beta announcement thread on the Avast forums can be read here.