Darren Straight's Blog

The recently discovered asteroid/planet orbiting the sun in our solar system has been given the unofficially name of Xena, after the TV series starring Lucy Lawless. The official name for Xena is 2003 UB313. It is still being debated whether or not this newly discovered planet is actually our 10th planet at all in our solar system because it’s still being debated whether or not Pluto should be our 9th planet or not.

Image above: This artist’s concept shows the planet catalogued as 2003UB313 at the lonely outer fringes of our solar system. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Read the story here

This morning I received an email from Microsoft Inviting me to join the Windows Installer 6.2 Beta Program.

I have accepted the invite as it looks quite interesting and because I haven’t done any beta testing for Windows Installer before and I’m always up to try something new, I look forward too doing it and hopefully will receive a welcome e-mail by August 8th and soon after that I shall be beta testing it.

Yesterday evening there was a low-speed collision crash on the Screamin rollercoaster at Disneyland’s California Adventure park, the impact was minor with only 15 of 48 riders suffering from minor injuries.

For more information check out the following sites:

The Disney Blog Article
LATimes Article

While searching on the web last night for anything interesting related to Windows Vista, I came across a very interesting blog article on how to make a “Windows Vista” (Longhorn) Auxiliary Display (now) for your laptop.

I currently don’t have a Laptop so I wont be able to try it out, though I do have a pda so I guess I’m half of the way too doing it, if you do try this out please let me know how it turned out, Thanks.

View it here!

Astronomers have discovered an object in our solar system that is larger than Pluto. They are calling it the 10th planet, but already that claim is contested.

The new world’s size is not at issue. But the very definition of planethood is.

It is the first time an object so big has been found in our solar system since the discovery of Pluto 75 years ago.

The announcement, made today by Mike Brown of Caltech, came just hours after another newfound object, one slightly smaller than Pluto, was revealed in a very confusing day for astronomers and the media.

The new object, temporarily named 2003 UB313, is about three times as far from the Sun as is Pluto.

“It’s definitely bigger than Pluto,” said Brown, a professor of planetary astronomy. The object is round and could be up to twice as large as Pluto, Brown told reporters in a hastily called NASA-run teleconference Friday evening.

His best estimate is that it is 2,100 miles wide, about 1-1/2 times the diameter of Pluto.

Space.com article
Wikipedia page

Microsoft has won the first round of legal action against Google, after Kai-Fu Lee a former Microsoft employee went to work for Google, a restraining order is now in place that prevents Kai-Fu Lee from engaging in any competing work at the search company.

Beta 1 of Internet Explorer 7 has now been released to developers for testing, new features include the following:

Dynamic security protection through a simplified architecture that defends against malware, and new dynamic ways to protect against personal data theft from fraudulent Web sites (a practice known as “phishing”).

Improved design to make everyday tasks easier and faster, with better navigation through tabbed browsing; inline search right from the toolbar; shrink-to-fit Web page printing; and a streamlined, redesigned user interface (currently in its early stages in Beta 1).

New tools to take you directly to the information you want through support for Web feeds (RSS) that includes automatic discovery of web feeds (RSS) on Web pages, basic Web Feed (RSS) reading capabilities, and basic support for saving Web feeds (RSS) as a new kind of favorite.

Platform enhancements for developers to improve compatibility and manageability, including improved support for Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) as well as transparent PNG support.

Internet Explorer 7 Site

MSDN subscribers now have access to Windows Vista.

Download Beta 1 and start testing your applications today!

Windows Vista also has a new home on TechNet.

Windows Vista on MSDN
Windows Vista on TechNet
WindowsLonghorn.net
Longhorn Blogs

Microsoft’s PressPass now has a Windows Vista section with a Windows Vista Fact Sheet and Some Screenshots:

Windows Vista Virtual Pressroom
Windows Vista Beta 1 Fact Sheet.

Within the next few hours or so, Microsoft should be releasing betas for the following products:

Windows Vista Beta 1
Internet Explorer 7 Beta 1
WinFX Beta 1

So far I haven’t got an invite to any of these including Windows Vista which I’ve eagerly been awaiting for a long time now, so I really hope I get an invite from Microsoft asking me to join.