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Shuttle XPC 1337 systems are different from the regular XPC system offerings. These differences include specific hardware components, internal case designs and hand painted cases. A paint-matched mouse and keyboard are also included with XPC 1337 systems. XPC 1337 systems offer the absolute best technologies available. This all comes together to make one unique system with performance to boot—only the 1337 apply.

iZ3D 3D DisplayFirst up is Neurok Optics‘ latest iZ3D 22-inch widescreen LCD monitor, which succeeds an existing 17-inch model. Though the iZ3D can function just like any other 2D monitor, it contains two LCD panels to display into- and out-of screen 3D images when you’re wearing the company’s polarized eyeglasses (available in seven styles). I briefly tested the new display at the ShowStoppers event here at CES, and found the glasses to be lightweight and the effect surprisingly non-fatiguing.

Neurok Optics’ brochures state the monitor is “compatible with all major games,” but you might want to check for your favorite titles on the company’s FAQ page.

The 22-inch iZ3D has a maximum resolution of 1680 by 1050, a stated 5ms response time, 600:1 contrast ratio and requires a dual-output Nvidia graphics card. It’ll be available in May for $1000 and is $800 if preordered by the end of January.

HeadPlay Personal Cinema SystemI also had the chance this week to try HeadPlay’s new Personal Cinema System. Once you’ve easily adjusted the headset for your sight and facial proportions, you get the impression that you’re viewing a 52 inch display from six feet away. The viewer supports resolutions up to 1024 by 768 and for 3D content, from movies to a range of Nvidia-driven PC games, its single LCoS micro display delivers identical images to each eye to reduce strain.

After you read the article, I bet you’ll want to try it yourself.

A hands-on test drive is just the thing to help you decide whether it’s worth the $239 upgrade. Go to the Test Drive Microsoft Office page and take it for a spin. It’s a virtual, online sandbox where you can play with any Office product for as long as you want — without downloading it. All you need is a current version of Internet Explorer (6 or 7), a willingness to accept an ActiveX control, and a broadband connection.

And just as with the Vista Test Drive I wrote about recently, your bandwidth — or more possibly, lack thereof — may hinder performance.

A Look at the FutureThe online test drive also gives you a look at the future of Microsoft’s online applications. You think I’m joking? Microsoft’s looking at Google and facing some tough challenges. Here are two articles to give you some perspective: The IDG news service talks about word processing and spreadsheets in Google Refines Online Apps and Michael Lasky take a look at other ways to work online in Your Online Office.

The Whole Office ShebangSome of you with lots of time may want to download a 60 day trial of one of the Office suites. There are plenty to choose from, too. Would you like Office Standard or Office Professional? How about Office Small Business, or maybe the Office Home and Student version.

I can see that look of confusion on your face (it’s the furrowed brow). Check out TackTech‘s handy Comparison Chart to figure out which one’s best for you.

Article by: Steve Bass’s Tips & Tweaks, PC World

For the first time, the giant software maker is acknowledging the help of the secretive agency, better known for eavesdropping on foreign officials and, more recently, U.S. citizens as part of the Bush administration’s effort to combat terrorism. The agency said it has helped in the development of the security of Microsoft’s new operating system — the brains of a computer — to protect it from worms, Trojan horses and other insidious computer attackers.

“Our intention is to help everyone with security,” Tony W. Sager, the NSA’s chief of vulnerability analysis and operations group, said yesterday.

The NSA’s impact may be felt widely. Windows commands more than 90 percent of the worldwide market share in desktop operating systems, and Vista, which is set to be released to consumers Jan. 30, is expected to be used by more than 600 million computer users by 2010, according to Al Gillen, an analyst at market research firm International Data.

Microsoft has not promoted the NSA’s contributions, mentioning on its Web site the agency’s role only at the end of its “Windows Vista Security Guide,” which states that the “guide is not intended for home users” but for information and security specialists.

The Redmond, Wash., software maker declined to be specific about the contributions the NSA made to secure the Windows operating system.

The NSA also declined to be specific but said it used two groups — a “red team” and a “blue team” — to test Vista’s security. The red team, for instance, posed as “the determined, technically competent adversary” to disrupt, corrupt or steal information. “They pretend to be bad guys,” Sager said. The blue team helped Defense Department system administrators with Vista’s configuration .

Microsoft said this is not the first time it has sought help from the NSA. For about four years, Microsoft has tapped the spy agency for security expertise in reviewing its operating systems, including the Windows XP consumer version and the Windows Server 2003 for corporate customers.

With hundreds of thousands of Defense Department employees using Microsoft’s software, the NSA realizes that it’s in its own interest to make the product as secure as possible. “It’s partly a recognition that this is a commercial world,” Sager said. “Our customers have spoken.”

Microsoft also has sought the security expertise of other U.S. government and international entities, including NATO. “I cannot mention any of the other international agencies,” said Donald R. Armstrong, senior program manager of Microsoft’s government security program, citing the wishes of those agencies to remain anonymous.

Microsoft’s concerns extend beyond the welfare of its software when it seeks the security expertise of government agencies. “When you get into an environment where a Microsoft product is used in a battlefield situation or a government situation where if a system is compromised, identities could be found out,” and it could be a matter of life and death, Armstrong said.

Other software makers have turned to government agencies for security advice, including Apple, which makes the Mac OS X operating system. “We work with a number of U.S. government agencies on Mac OS X security and collaborated with the NSA on the Mac OS X security configuration guide,” said Apple spokesman Anuj Nayar in an e-mail.

Novell, which sells a Linux-based operating system, also works with government agencies on software security issues, spokesman Bruce Lowry said in an e-mail, “but we’re not in a position to go into specifics of the who, what, when types of questions.”

The NSA declined to comment on its security work with other software firms, but Sager said Microsoft is the only one “with this kind of relationship at this point where there’s an acknowledgment publicly.”

The NSA, which provided its service free, said it was Microsoft’s idea to acknowledge the spy agency’s role.

The NSA’s primary mission is signals intelligence — monitoring the communications of foreign powers, terrorists and others. But its secondary objection is “information assurance,” under which the security of Microsoft’s operating system falls.

Industry observers suggest that both the NSA and Microsoft have good reason to disclose their relationship. For Microsoft, the NSA’s imprimatur may be viewed as a vote of confidence in the operating system’s security.

“I kind of call it a Good Housekeeping seal” of approval, said Michael Cherry, a former Windows program manager who now analyzes the product for Directions on Microsoft, a firm that tracks the software maker.

Cherry says the NSA’s involvement can help counter the perception that Windows is not entirely secure and help create a perception that Microsoft has solved the security problems that have plagued it in the past. “Microsoft also wants to make the case that [the new Windows] more secure than its earlier versions,” he said.

Armstrong, the Microsoft manager, said: “The entire crux of Vista was security. . . . Security is at the forefront of our thoughts and our methods in developments and is critically important to our customers.”

By: Alec Klein and Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post Staff Writers, Tuesday, January 9, 2007