64-bit

As with much of Apple's software, iChat is easy to use despite running a variety of complex technologies (video, audio, themes, screen sharing, etc.). On occasion, these may not run as smoothly as one would expect. With a high-speed internet connection for instance, you should be able to run smooth video, and yet some people are experiencing choppiness or dropped audio during video conferencing. Additionally, the program may crash when running video in 64-bit mode.… Read more

NASA is sending a rocket into the moon Friday morning to study the composition of lunar material. But really, you stopped listening when you heard "blow up the Moon." And so did Cooley. For one small second, that made him love space. We also talk about the world's largest phishing sting and Windows 8. Yep, 8.

Operation “Phish Phry” nabs largest number of phishers ever. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8295945.stm

Wife bans FBI head … Read more

Apple's Snow Leopard operating system, released Friday, by default loads with a 32-bit kernel, despite running 64-bit applications.

While Mac OS X version 10.6 ships with a number of 64-bit native applications, the kernel itself defaults to 32-bit, unless the user holds down the "6" and "4" keys during boot time, at which point the 64-bit kernel is loaded. Only Apple's X-Serve products, using Snow Leopard Server, boot into a 64-bit kernel by default.

"For the most part, everything that they experience on the Mac, from the 64-bit point of view, the … Read more

Google has begun work on a 64-bit version of Chrome for Linux, a move likely to whip Linux loyalists into a lather of excitement.

"The V8 team did some amazing work this quarter building a working 64-bit port. After a handful of changes on the Chromium side, I've had Chromium Linux building on 64-bit for the last few weeks," said Chrome engineer Dean McNamee in a mailing list message Thursday.

V8 is Chrome's engine for running programs written in the JavaScript language common on the Web. Chromium is the open-source project behind Google's branded and supported Chrome browser, and McNamee shared instructions for programmers to build 64-bit Chromium.

Virtually all PCs today come with 64-bit processors from Intel or Advanced Micro Devices, but for desktop computing, 32-bit operating systems and software are common. The transition to 64-bit software is well under way--notably with Linux and Mac OS X--but the change isn't simple. In the browser world, for example, it can be problematic running a 64-bit browser with a 32-bit plug-in such as Adobe Systems' Flash, Microsoft's Silverlight, or Sun Microsystems' Java. … Read more

We're back live! Or as live as we ever get, which is about three days old actually. So, yeah, LIVE!

First off, we get into an impromptu conversation about Bing, the past tense of Bing and how such tense is rife with comic possibilities. What follows is our attempt to exploit this.

After that, we discuss the movie "Idiocracy." I finally got a chance to see it and promptly perched myself upon my soapbox. That's fair warning to you and your loved ones.

For technology this week, we're all over Windows 7 64-bit. Dong holds … Read more

Consumers have had the option of 64-bit Windows computing since the release of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition in May 2005, four years after the release of Windows XP 32-bit. At the end of 2006, Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit versions were released simultaneously. Yet chances are you're currently using a machine that runs the 32-bit version of Windows.

This is about to change. Windows 64-bit has started to gain a significant foothold in the past two years as more systems ship with 3GB or more of memory. However, with Windows 7, 64-bit computing is likely to become even more common.

What's the difference between 32-bit and 64-bit computing? In a nutshell, the numbers refer to the amount of bits a computer can process in one computation. They also translate into the amount of random access memory (RAM) a computer can address. A 32-bit Windows computer can address a maximum of 4GB of RAM, while a 64-bit Windows machine can address up to 128GB and even more (64-bit applications can address theoretically up to 16 billion gigabytes of memory). So the higher number of bit means better computing, both in terms of precision and capability.

Despite the potential, the transition to the new platform has been slow. This is because of the high price of RAM and the lack of device drivers and 64-bit software applications. (Drivers are a special type of software that make hardware components work with the operating system. Without the sound driver, for example, your computer wouldn't be able to play music.)

Back when Windows Vista was released, 2GB of RAM, which is the recommended amount to make Vista run properly, could easily cost a couple hundred dollars. (This is one of the reasons Vista failed so badly as a new OS release.) There was virtually no 64-bit application then, either, other than a few game demos, and most hardware vendors didn't provide the 64-bit version of the drivers. Apart from this, 32-bit computers have been able to satisfy most of our daily computing needs. … Read more

Microsoft on Tuesday confirmed that the next version of Office, code-named Office 14, will come in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

The 64-bit version is a first for both Office and for Microsoft's mainstream desktop applications, though a number of its server products, such as SQL Server, are already available in 64-bit versions.

Office 14, which is expected to be called Office 2010, is slated to ship next year. Among its other notable features is the fact that Microsoft will offer browser-based versions of Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and OneNote, in addition to the traditional Windows-based desktop programs.

By extending … Read more

Starting to answer the clamorous demand from open-source fans, Adobe Systems plans to release an alpha version of its Flash Player technology on Monday for those using 64-bit Linux software.

Linux has moved more rapidly than Windows or Mac OS X to support 64-bit processors, in part because the developer-friendly compile-your-own-software ethos that prevails makes it easier for the technically savvy to make the switch. But one of the obstacles in the switch is that people could only use the 32-bit Flash plug-in, which meant that they only could use the 32-bit version of Firefox.

The company plans to release … Read more

How about a 64-bit operating system with that 64-bit processor?

The 64-bit version of Windows Vista is not new. It arrived when Vista did. But making it standard on a crush of new consumer laptops being sold at Best Buy is a recent change.

All PCs now ship with Intel or Advanced Micro Devices 64-bit processors. Until recently, however, most consumer laptops have come with a 32-bit version of Vista. There are many reasons for this, two of the biggest being a lack of driver support and the larger memory requirements for the 64-bit OS.

But memory is no longer … Read more