Microsoft has released further details on the latest version of its graphics API.

Among the major new features, DirectX 11 will introduce a shader technology that “lays the groundwork for the GPU to be used for more than just 3D graphics, so that developers can take advantage of the graphics card as a parallel processor,” according to the chief technical officer of Microsoft’s Entertainment Business Division, Chris Satchell.

The company also revealed that DX11 will bring support for tessellation, allowing for smoother models, and multi-threaded resource handling to exploit multi-core machines.

As with DirectX 10, the latest version will only be compatible with Vista and later versions of Windows, although unlike its controversial forbear DirectX 11 will be backwards compatible with DirectX 10 graphics cards.

Source: PC Pro

A new survey by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has shown that women now make up 40 per cent of computer gamers.

Gaming has traditionally been seen as the preserve of young males, but the study of 1,200 American households found that the number of female players is growing fast and that the average age of computer gamers is 35.

“This new data underscores the fundamental principle that computer and video games are a mainstream entertainment form which captures the imagination of every segment of our society,” said Michael D. Gallagher, chief executive of the ESA. “No longer is there a stereotypical gamer. With deeper market penetration and the broadening of our audience base, video games have incorporated themselves into America’s cultural and social fabric.”

Overall, nearly double the number of women aged 18 or older played computer games (33 per cent) than boys aged 17 or younger (18 per cent).

Source: Yahoo Technology

On Wednesday, Microsoft announced new security features in the upcoming release of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2.

The features are designed to combat the rising tide of drive-by downloads and malicious scripts contained within carefully crafted links embedded in email and web pages. Most of the new features require systems to be running Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Windows XP SP3.

Perhaps the most anticipated addition is Internet Explorer’s (IE’s) new anti-malware protection. Opera 9.5 and Firefox 3 both recently added anti-malware protection. Safari has so far not announced plans for similar protection.

Using mostly its own anti-malware technology, Microsoft will attempt to block emerging threats by masking the entire IE8 browser screen with a warning to users.

Source: ZDNet