Nalgene offers its Nalgene Refill Not Landfill 32-oz. Water Bottle for $1. Order 10 (or otherwise spend $10 or more) and pay $10 with free shipping. A buck per bottle is a very low price for water bottles. For comparison, our last mention of a Nalgene water bottle (this summer, from REI) was for $12. (That one was BPA-free, however. This one makes no such claim.)

Update: Add coupon code "2choice" for 20% off. Order 13 for $10.40 after discount and still bag free shipping. That's 80 cents per bottle and the best total price we've seen.

Filed under: Internet, Microsoft, Browsers

It's only three weeks into its development, but Internet Explorer 9 has officially been unveiled today at the Professional Developers Conference (PDC). In fact, as I write this now, they're still talking about IE9 and other tech advances over on the Microsoft PDC09 website.

Their goals with IE9 seem pretty obvious from the graphs shown in their presentation: faster, more standards-compliant website rendering. If you look at the slide above, lower is faster. And that's just three weeks into their development of a new browser and web rendering engine!

They're also including 'hardware accelerated' rendering using your graphics card using the DirectX D2D technology. Whether you're trying to perform funky stuff with CSS3, Javascript or DHTML, IE9 should render things a lot faster.

There's a big video (that requires Silverlight!) after the break. It explains and impressively-demonstrates the new DirectX D2D speed-up.

[via GeekSmack]

Continue reading IE9 unveiled. Faster, more standards-compliant -- DirectX accelerated!

IE9 unveiled. Faster, more standards-compliant -- DirectX accelerated! originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft - Professional Developers Conference - Internet Explorer - Download Squad - DirectX

Filed under: Fun, Search, Humor

Google's autocomplete feature for searches can be pretty useful when you're looking for a common search term. Hey, neat! You don't have to type the whole thing! Sometimes, though, Google's suggestions take a turn for the hilarious or just plain weird. A site called Autocomplete Me collects some of the strangest ones for your amusement. Admittedly, some of these might be offensive, so viewer discretion is advised.

Who knew that searching for "the air s" would show you Monty Python's famous "air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?" I suppose that's not too surprising, but "i like to t" will find you a number of strange results, notabiy "I like to tape my thumbs to my hands and pretend I'm a dinosaur" and "I like to pretend Jesus was a mischievous badger." If you took this site and added Bill Cosby, you'd have a show called "Kids Search for the Darndest Things."

Have any favorite Google autocomplete results of your own? Put them in the comments (and send them to Autocomplete Me, of course).

Autocomplete Me is a gallery of Google users' bizarre searches originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google - Download Squad - Search - Monty Python - Search Engines

Filed under: Windows, Social Software, Microblogging

Seesmic sure picked a weird time to announce a new Windows-native Twitter client. It's one of the most popular clients running on Adobe's cross-platform AIR platform, which just hit version 2.0. AIR was everyone's biggest complaint about Seesmic, so it makes sense that they'd want to ditch AIR on at least one OS. Creating a native app also allows for drag-and-drop Twitter list management and plug-ins for various third-party Twitter services.

Plugins so far include the user recommendation service MrTweet and the index of popular links, Tweetmeme. Other Twitter-like services will also be able to integrate with Seesmic through the new service. This doesn't necessarily mean the end of development for the AIR version of Seesmic, unless they come out with a native Mac client too. The Mac Twitter space already has a lot of great apps, though, so I'm not sure that'll happen.

To get beta access to the new Windows client, you'll have to sign up for Team Seesmic.

Seesmic launches native Windows Twitter client originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Download Squad - Adobe Systems - Twitter - seesmic - Microsoft Windows

Filed under: Windows, Office, Open Source

Adobe has done a lot to improve Reader in recent versions. I'm more than happy to run an open source alternative, however. Sumatra PDF is ridiculously small (a 1.2Mb download), lightweight, and handles the PDFs I throw at it without skipping a beat.

Today, Sumatra has finally hit version 1.0. Sumatra's a pretty bare-bones application, so don't expect any mind-blowing changes. What the new update boils down to is better compatibility, bug fixes, and performance tweaks.

Installed, Sumatra barely makes a dent in your drive space (not that you're counting at a few cents per gig), and it's very light on memory usage as well. The 277-page ebook I've got open is using just under 20Mb.

There's also a portable version available - an excellent way to make sure you've got a slim, speedy PDF reader with you wherever you take your flash drive. Both the installer and zip file are available for download from the author's site.

Open source Adobe Reader alternative Sumatra PDF hits version 1.0 originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OpenSource - Sumatra PDF - Download Squad - Adobe Acrobat - Adobe Systems

Filed under: OS Updates, Google

Remember that rumor last week about how Google was going to unveil the first beta release of its upcoming Chrome operating system this week? Yeah, it's looking like that's not going to happen. But the company is holding an event Thursday morning to talk about Chrome OS and show some honest-to-goodness demos for the first time so that we can all stop using conceptual mockups with every blog post on the topic.

Google Chrome OS is expected to be available sometime next year, although it's still possible that a beta could be launched before the end of 2009. From what we know, the operating system, which will be initially aimed at netbooks is designed to blur the lines between desktop and cloud by essentially treating an always-open browser as the desktop. For instance, that will make it just as easy to save documents to Google Docs as to your desktop, if not easier.

Google to show off Chrome OS Thursday, release it in 2010 originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google - Google Docs - Google Chrome OS - Google Chrome - Operating system

Filed under: Photo, Web services, Google, Search

Google Image Search is already a great way to find images from all corners of the Interwebs, and it just got more interesting with a new way of visualizing results. It's called Image Swirl. Searching for an image with swirl will give you a list of 12 images, and clicking on each one brings up a cluster of related pictures. Picking one of those will spin the wheel around and give you even more to look at.

This new way of exploring images may be more fun than it is useful, but it does definitely deliver the goods. If you're a visual thinker, it's probably a quicker way to browse results than the existing "similar images" link in Google Image Search. The underlying technology for Image Swirl comes from Similar Images and Picasa's face recgonition features. If you want to give Image Swirl a spin (har har) it's available in Google Labs now.

[via Official Google Blog]

Google Image Swirl serves up a tasty blend of related images originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google - Google Lab - Similar Images - Google Image - Google Image Search

BNet.com offers downloads of Nitro PDF Professional v6 for Windows for free. That's the lowest total price we could find by $85. This software is capable of editing and creating PDF files.

Filed under: Internet, Google

In exciting, but not unexpected news, Google has has put its name behind the brainchild of three of their in-house genius programmers. But it's not a web app, nor is it an enterprise solution -- it's not even a downloadable tool like their Chrome browser. They've actually gone and invented a new language. It's called Go. (That's their mascot, the Go-Gopher, over on the right.)

Citing difficulties with existing languages and arbitrary restrictions that prevent them from making the Google services as good as they could be... they did the only really sensible thing they could do: they made their own superior language. To put it into simple terms: imagine trying to communicate with grunts and squeals. That's how Google feels with today's languages, and why they've made their own one. It's why we speak English today, rather than Tarzan Talk.

And in true Google style, they've done it right. Go is fast. It's secure. They even go as far as to call it 'fun' on their homepage!

I don't want to bore you with specifications -- they're all there on their site if you're a developer and want to get going immediately (it's open source, of course!) -- but I will tell you that this is big, big news.

We haven't seen a new systems-oriented language for over a decade. Technology has moved on a lot. Heck, Google themselves have pushed the requirements of computer systems. When you're trying to build a system that scales to hundreds of thousands -- or millions -- of servers, it's no surprise that existing languages don't quite hit the spot.

Say they're only squeezing 40% of the max theoretical output from their server farm. If Go could push that utilization up to 60 or 70%... imagine the gains! For them, for us! This is even good news for the environment!

Of course, it's free to download and use, and there are tutorials that are very easy to get started with. There's even a little video showcasing just how fast it is, after the break.

Continue reading Go-go Google Gopher... Go! Google invents its own programming language

Go-go Google Gopher... Go! Google invents its own programming language originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google - Google Chrome - Search - Open source - Search Engines

Filed under: Design, Internet, Features, Microsoft, Search

MSN.com, Microsoft's search, news and services portal page, hasn't weathered the years well. Tweaking the same basic design for a decade left it far behind the times in terms of design and usability. With today's clean, whitespace-friendly, reimagining of MSN.com, Microsoft ditches the spectre of MSN search and delivers a site that's a little more worthy of showcasing the company's new search hotness, Bing.

A prettier, less cluttered layout and a prominent Bing search bar aren't the only upgrades to the homepage. In a touch that says Microsoft actually knows what year it is after all, you can add your Facebook newsfeed and your Twitter stream to an area on the right side of the page. The news is still there, but it's more customizable, and the layout presents fewer stories at a time than the cluttered old MSN.com did. There's also a local focus, with local weather and a Bing-powered local news widget at the bottom left.

I have to say that, compared to the MSN of old, this new design looks attractive and functional. Speaking of comparisons, though, have a look at our gallery of MSN.com designs since 2001. Looking at how slowly the site changed over the years only underlines how much it just changed overnight.

MSN.com gets its first major redesign in a decade originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft - Facebook - Bing - MSN - Twitter

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft, How-Tos

A number of message boards around the net have been receiving comments from users upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7 who have been unable to complete the upgrade install.

Once the installer hits 62% complete, it locks up. You can sit and wait as long as you want, but it's not going anywhere.

The problem occurs when the Windows IPv6 helper service (which allows automatic IPv6 connectivity over a much more common IPv4 network) stops responding . Microsoft has posted a fix to this particular problem, and it's not terribly complicated.

1. Restart the computer - your system will automatically roll back to Windows Vista.
2. Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties.
3. System Properties will open. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Environment Variables.
4. Click the New button.
5. Enter MIG_UPGRADE_IGNORE_PLUGINS into the Variable name field.
6. Copy the following bold text: iphlpsvcmigplugin.dll and paste it into the Variable value field (or type it manually)
7. Click OK three times to close the dialog boxes.
8. Re-launch your Windows 7 Upgrade installer!

Please note that this fix won't help if your install is stuck at some percentage other than 62. Strange but true. This is a specific fix for a very specific issue.

You may also want to run the System Readiness Tool for Vista and Windows 7 before trying the upgrade again. It can detect and correct certain issues that may cause trouble during the process.

How to fix a Windows 7 upgrade from Vista that is stuck at 62% originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows Vista - Windows 7 - Microsoft - Operating system - Microsoft Windows

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Troubleshooting

Programs like XP Quick Fix Plus. The tiny, portable application launches a dashboard with one-click fixes for 40 common Windows XP problems. Quick Fix makes short work of irksome situations like a disabled task manager, missing Device Manager tab, and the infamous CD/DVD missing/not reading bug.

The program is essentially a collection of registry fixes, since that's where most of these problems originate. You might want to create a system restore point prior to running Quick Fix (or backing up your registry) just in case.

XP Quick Fix is a free, portable download and - not surprisingly - runs on Windows XP systems.

Fix common Windows XP errors with portable XP Quick Fix Plus originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows XP - Microsoft Windows - Download Squad - Operating system - Device Manager

Filed under: Security, Utilities, Windows, Microsoft, Freeware, Windows x64

In AV Comparative's most recent report on malware removal, MSE was the only free antivirus rated Advanced+. That ranking placed it alongside big names like Norton, Kaspersky, and F-Secure. Security Essentials also beat out technician favorite ESET, which managed only an Advanced rating.

It's also worth noting that only three antivirus apps - Norton 2010, eScan, and Security Essentials - scored marks of good or better in removal of malware and removal of leftovers. So not only has MSE beaten free competitors like AVG (version 8.5 tested, not 9.0), Avira, and Avast, it also posted test scores equal to or better than a dozen antivirus programs you'd have to pay for.

Well done, Microsoft!

[via Ars Technica]

Microsoft Security Essentials rated best free antivirus for Windows originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sponsored Topics: Microsoft Security Essential - Microsoft - Download Squad - antivirus - Avast

Buy.com offers the Thermor BIOS Home Television Weather Station, model no. BW971, for $34.99 with free shipping. That's $5 under our mention from earlier this month and the lowest total price we could find. Hook this weather station up to your TV or monitor to display weather conditions with the included outdoor sensors.

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft

Paul Thurott and a friend over at the SuperSite Blog have worked out how to perform a clean Windows 7 install using the upgrade disc. Come again?

That's right: save $80 and buy the Windows 7 Upgrade disc, because you can use it to perform a clean, full-featured installation. Awesome!

The instructions are as follows:

1. Perform a clean installation using the Upgrade disc -- this should work without a hitch.

2. Make sure there are no Windows Updates pending -- if there's an orange shield icon next to the Shutdown button in the Start Menu, that means you need to reboot before attempting the next steps.

3. Open 'regedit.exe' from the Start Menu -- just type it in there, where it says: Search programs and files. Accept the User Account Control dialogue that pops up to give yourself Windows 7 superpowers.

4. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/

5. Change MediaBootInstall from '1' to '0'

6. Open the Start Menu again and type 'cmd' -- use ctrl+shift+enter to run it as an elevated-permissions user

7. Finally, type slmgr /rearm -- and press enter.

Your computer will now reboot and run the Activate Windows utility. Type in your product key aaaaaaand, as the SuperSite Blog says: voila! Much love, Paul.

Save $80 on your Windows 7 purchase - the Upgrade does full installs, too originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sponsored Topics: Windows 7 - User Account Control - Download Squad - Start Menu - Operating system

Filed under: Video, Beta

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

Kitschy soundtrack, good voiceover and an intensely thorough demo add up to one cool re-imagining of our conventional human/computer interaction. In other words: this looks as close to the UI in Minority Report as I've ever seen. The key seems to be rewarding the user for having 10 fingers, and using all 10 to do a high number of operations in clever ways. This is really, really clever, too, just check out the name: 10/GUI. Check it out, you won't be disappointed. Well, if you hate using your fingers you might.

UI Nerdgasm Alert: 10/GUI is sweeping us off our fingers originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sponsored Topics: Download Squad - User interface - Minority Report - Vimeo - C. Miller

System76.com offers Four "Powered by Ubuntu" stickers bundled with Four "Ubuntu Key" stickers for free when you include a self-address stamped envelope. That's the best such deal we could find on these stickers.