accelerator

Researchers accelerate proton cancer treatment

For bone cancer patient Nicole McLaughlin to get proton-beam radiation therapy--a treatment to which she owes her life--it took traveling across the country to what then, in 1999, was the only facility providing such technology.

But new research being developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which could reduce the size of proton accelerator machines from that of a football field to that of a traditional X-ray machine, could soon make proton therapy more easily accessible to all.

Better-known X-ray radiation goes all the way through the body and can cause healthy cell death, which could be potentially catastrophic depending on … Read more

Computer speed creator

Internet Tweak aims to help users with slow computers and Internet connections. However, its complicated functionality is certain to turn more than a few users off.

The program's interface is well organized and, while the functions may be confusing, is intuitive to navigate through. By balancing the various computer sections it speeds up through six tabs, users can cycle through and make their choices by simply clicking a radio button. The Help file will most likely be a necessity unless you are well versed in computer terminology. While navigating the program is simple, actually knowing how you are tweaking … Read more

Unstable download manager

Software that claims to boost the speed of your downloads invariably seems to disappoint, and Download Direct is no exception. The interface is straightforward and the program offers a number of customizable settings, but in our download tests, the application did not meet expectations.

When targeting the manufacturer's Web site, Download Direct performed admirably, pulling down a 3MB file in 22 seconds. But when we tried to download a 41MB MP3, the application slowed to a painful 2.2 KBps, even using the application's fastest setting. We were able to download the same file using Firefox's built-in … Read more

CERN's collider won't chill next winter

The Large Hadron Collider, currently undergoing repairs, will change its schedule and run through the winter to make sure the experiment provides workable results.

The European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) flagship particle accelerator has been out of action since September, when an electrical fault called a halt to an experiment to understand the fundamental physics of matter. It is scheduled to restart in September 2009.

On Wednesday, James Gillies, head of communications at CERN, said the LHC could carry on running over the subsequent months. Normally, CERN particle-acceleration operations cease in November for the winter, because energy costs throughout … Read more

Disappointing download accelerator

Download Accelerator Manager from Tensons is a free, highly customizable application for users who want to download many things, fast. Unfortunately, it didn't work for us.

In the main application view, DAM categorizes downloads as All, Unfinished, and Finished; within those categories, the application automatically organizes files by type (e.g., Music). The interface, while not gorgeous, follows standard Windows conventions and is easy to understand. It's easy to add URLs for downloading, and you can pause and restart downloads with one click. We liked the option to choose the order in which files are downloaded.

DAM does, … Read more

Hands-on with IE 8: A giant step for Microsoft

It's no secret that when judged by several popular Web browser speed tests, Internet Explorer 8 doesn't hold up well. Beta versions of IE 8 have been available to the general public for more than a year, and today's release of the stable build didn't include anything revolutionary.

Using the SunSpider JavaScript test, the official IE 8 scored 9849.4 ms on a Windows Vista machine with 2 GB of RAM and a 3.00 Ghz clock. This is significantly slower than most other major browsers. Not surprisingly, Microsoft claims (scroll down to Case Study Videos) … Read more

IE 8's more secure, interestingly innovative: video

Internet Explorer 8 takes some long-needed strides to bring it up to speed with its competitors. It's more secure, with tab sandboxing and more aggressive malicious site warnings, and introduces some slick new features like Accelerators and Web slices.

Even with better support for Web standards, it's far from perfect. Check out what's hot and what's not in this First Look video.

No transparency

With more app upgrades and service packages adding burdens to our systems every day, finding a reliable means of optimizing and accelerating a system is very important. That makes System Accelerator, a simple-to-use optimizer, very appealing. However, its methods aren't visible to the user, and its online Help file shines no light on how it performs. As a result, determining the effectiveness of its tweaks is difficult.

System Accelerator opens an appealing tabbed interface that's easy to follow. Tick a checkbox for items with performance you want to improve, and hit Next. You'll have to reboot after … Read more

First Look video: DAP 9

Download Accelerator Plus 9 sticks a nitrous feed in your download habit. Grab files of all sizes quickly--sometimes 45 percent faster.

This First Look video will show how to satiate your need for download speed, but watch out for an inelegant design weighed down with excessive and disquieting advertisements.

Internet Explorer 8 in pictures

As Microsoft counts down the final days to when it feels that Internet Explorer 8 is ready for public use, you can take a look at what's coming in this slideshow of IE 8's first Release Candidate.

Click on the image to your left to launch the gallery.