In this article, learn about the new PHP V6 features in detail. Learn how it is easier to use, more secure, and more suitable for internationalization. New PHP V6 features include improved support for Unicode, clean-up of several functions, improved extensions, engine additions, changes to OO functions, and PHP additions.

Windows XP Mode, the virtualisation tool currently in beta for Windows 7, only works on processors with virtualisation extensions, known as AMD-V and Intel VT-x. Microsoft made this clear from the get-go, but still various news websites regurgitated it as "news" yesterday that some Intel processors do not support XPM. Twenty-four hours down the road, and Intel had a few things to say about this.

"Microsoft is turning the source code for its embedded .Net Micro Framework over to the community and slowly withdrawing from that business, company officials are confirming. On the rumored list of teams most heavily impacted by second wave of Microsoft layoffs announced on May 5 was the .Net Micro Framework team - as well as the related MSN Direct unit. Indeed, both groups were affected, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed on May 6."

When Google released the first version of its Chrome web browser, many eyebrows were raised over the fact that it updated itself automatically and silently, in the background, without user intervention or even so much as a notice. As it turns out, this has been a brilliant move by Google, as Chrome users are the most likely to have up-to-date installations of their browser, followed at a respectable distance by Firefox users. Safari and Opera trail behind significantly.

For users in the United Kingdom, the Cupcake update has already started rolling and will continue to throughout the month. Users in the United States will have to wait until late next week for the updates to begin rolling, but patience is, after all, a virtue. New features include Picasa and YouTube uploads directly from one's phone, and that's spiffy. Cupcakes are quite tasty, so I think.

With the success of the Kindle I and Kindle II still fresh in its memory, Amazon decided to take its line of e-ink digital ebook readers to the next level with the newly announced Kindle DX. The Kindle DX is basically a supersized Kindle II, but it comes with a number of interesting improvements.

As a teaser for the upcoming release of the Genode OS Framework 9.05, the newly added support for the OKL4 kernel has been released to the project's subversion repository. Genode is a framework for building custom microkernel-based operating systems using a capability-based architecture geared towards high security and robustness. Among the features of Genode are a custom GUI, a device driver kit, and native Qt4 support. From the ground up, it was laid out to be highly portable among different kernels.

Normally, this isn't something you'd find on the front page of OSNews, but the amount of craftsmanship and attention to detail going into this project is just mind blowing. In fact, it's so mind blowing that many Apple rumour websites posted this as a possible shot of an upcoming Apple netbook. Well, yeah, if Apple started making laptops out of wood...

This morning, the Itanium Solutions Alliance put out a statement with some vague numbers showing the strength of the Itanium server platform in 2008. By IDC's reckoning of the server space in the fourth quarter, shipments of Itanium-based machines rose by 18 per cent and it was the seventh straight quarter of sales that crested above $1bn for the Itanium server category. Data from Gartner's report covering 2008's server sales indicated that Itanium machines outgrew RISC-based alternatives in terms of sales and shipments, growing share in each category.

Tony Tebby, the author of the Sinclair QL's operating system QDOS, added a long semi-autobiographical essay to the Wikipedia page on QDOS' successor SMSQ/E. However, a Wikipedia moderator deleted it - sad, but fair, since it was not directly relevant to an encyclopaedia entry. Someone has extracted the story and placed it on a Geocities page, unformatted. But as Geocities is closing down, soon that too will disappear - so read it while it's still up! The original, deleted history remains visible in Wikipedia's history, here.

A little earlier than expected, Microsoft has already released the Windows 7 release candidate to the general public. The Redmond company had already put the RC up for download on TechNet and MSDN, but from now on, everyone can download it. I've already updated all my Windows machines to the RC, so let's take a quick look at what I found. Note: The Windows XP Mode beta is also set to arrive today, but has not yet been made available. We'll update this item accordingly once it's released. Update: The Windows XP Mode beta is also available. Get it now!

The Acer Aspire reviews were getting a little old, so instead of adding yet another anectode of the popular netbook, I thought I'd shake things up a little by giving my view of Asus' slightly more expensive (but worth the extra money) EeePC 1000 HE for the enjoyment of all.

"Alone in a room in his home in Bonn, Germany, Friedhelm Hillebrand sat at his typewriter, tapping out random sentences and questions on a sheet of paper. As he went along, Hillebrand counted the number of letters, numbers, punctuation marks and spaces on the page. Each blurb ran on for a line or two and nearly always clocked in under 160 characters. That became Hillebrand's magic number - and set the standard for one of today's most popular forms of digital communication: text messaging."

The internet has been abuzz the entire weekend about Microsoft supposedly forcing Internet Explorer 8 to be the default browser once you upgraded to it. Users reported that upon installing IE8, Microsoft's latest browser was automatically made the default one, without a notification. However, as it turns out, it's all been a bit overhyped.