The major new features in Beta 2 are: 

Firefox support: Support for Firefox. If you use Firefox to visit an HD View site, for example our Gigapixel page, you will now be prompted to install a Firefox plugin.  The install page is also available directly here for Firefox and the new IE plugin here.   I've worked with most of our partner's to have them make the necessary changes to support Firefox.

Auto Tone Adjust:

You will now see one of these icons in the top right corner.  feature has been described a bit here: http://research.microsoft.com/ivm/HDView/HDhelp.htm and provided some screen shots of the effect.  The basic idea is that HD View now acts a bit like the auto-gain of your camera.  So as you zoom into dark regions you should see additional shadow details.  It actually is more sophisticated than auto-gain and generally produces better looking images.  For example in regions of the big images that are flat due to haze, the auto tone-adjust feature increases the contrast. The icons here represent none, medium and strong adjustment that you can cycle through.  Below are the none (left) and strong (right) settings for the Mt. Rainier portion of Kerry Park Gigapixel image.  Notice some of the flatness due to the haze has been removed.  Click on either image to be redirected to the HD View. 

Another fun new site to visit that shows off this feature is the Bohonus survey of Seattle area artist studios: http://www.bohonus.com/artists/ The indoor environments shown here have a variety of shadows and highlights that really show the usefulness of auto tone adjustment.  

More Info : hdview.spaces.live.com

• Process Monitor v1.22 : This update adds the ability to specify the level of information saved when you export to XML.
• Tcpview v2.51 : This fixes a bug in the endpoint status bar statistics when you toggle between showing unconnected and connected ednpoints.
• DebugView v4.7 : This update allows you to enable or disable verbose kernel debug output.
• Autoruns 8.72 : Version 8.72 fixes a couple of minor bugs

More Info : blogs.technet.com

This download installs Microsoft® Windows® Script containing Visual Basic® Script Edition (VBScript.) Version 5.7, JScript® Version 5.7, Windows Script Components, Windows Script Host 5.7, and Windows Script Runtime Version 5.7.
Windows Script 5.7 for Windows Server 2003
Windows Script 5.7 for Windows XP
Windows Script 5.7 for Windows 2000

Today Microsoft is announcing the final product name for what was previously known as Windows Live Folders. Windows Live SkyDrive gets not only its final product name but also a few new features and enhanced UI reflecting changes coming across many of the Windows Live services including Windows Live Spaces.

So what's Windows Live SkyDrive? Windows Live SkyDrive is a brand new Windows Live service that gives users 500MB of web space for the storing and sharing of files. Think of it as a personal "harddrive" on the internet - or "the cloud". By default, you get several protected directories which you can store your files in. These directories are completed protected from the public. Only you can view them. However, Windows Live SkyDrive allows you create or choose specific folders to share with everyone (Public folders) or specific people on your Windows Live Contacts list. You can set specific permissions for those viewing your folders as well - such as someone who can contribute (add and remove files) or someone who is simply just a reader. Your Public folder allows ONLY reader permissions for the public in viewing files within the folder. No need to worry about people maxing out your account with files.

Windows Live SkyDrive

Tcpview v2.5

This update to Tcpview adds support for Vista, including IPv6, and displays counts of active and connected endpoints in a status bar.

Process Monitor v1.21

This release adds XML as a new export format, includes performance optimizations, and fixes a number of minor bugs.

PsExec v1.85

PsExec v1.85 adds a new switch that takes advantage of new memory and I/O priorities on Vista, -background, for running processes with low CPU, memory and I/O priority.

TechNet Magazine Spotlight on Bginfo

Check out the August issue of TechNet Magazine for an article by Lance Whitney on Sysinternals BgInfo utility.

Mark's Blog: "The Case of the Failed File Compression"

Check out Mark's new blog where he dives into a mysterious conflict between Window’s File Explorer and E-Trust using advanced techniques with Sysinternals Process Monitor.

Source: www.microsoft.com

The Signals the Military uses may be for a different purpose but here they have been given a different interpretation altogether.