FaKeeRa's World: 2008

Friday, October 3, 2008

Samsung Pixon the 8.0 megapixel camera phone

Alright that day was just pre-announced in Russia, today Samsung has officially announced its Samsung Pixon 8 megapixel camera phone. The pixon has been claimed as the slimmest full-touch 8.0-megapixel camera phone. Measuring 13.8mm slim, and the 8.0-megapixel camera boasts 16x digital zoom, auto-focus, fast-shutter, face detection and geo-tagging. It will be available first in France in the mid-October and soon to most of European countries and Asian countries. Check out the specs after the break and more pictures.

Specifications:

Network: GSM/GPRS/ EDGE Quad Band (850/ 900/1800/1900 MHz)
HSDPA 7.2 Mbps (2100 MHz)
Display: 3.2″ 240×400 262K WQVGA TFT LCD
Camera: 8-megapixel camera with Auto focus
Dual Power LED Flasho ASR (Advanced Shake Reduction) WDR (Wide Dynamic Range)
Face Detection, Smile Shot, Face Link (face tagging), Geo-tagging, Auto Panorama Shot, Photo memo
Photo Browser (Accelerometer Sensor, Tilt and flip, Sorting by Face/Time/Color/Folder)
Online Widget (News, weather, stock, etc)
Video recording & playing (MPEG4, WMV, DivX, XviD)
30 fps D1 (720 x 480) & 120 fps(QGVA) high quality video recording
SRS (Surround Sound System) Virtual 5.1CH
Music Player (MP3, AAC, e-AAC+, e-AAC+, WMA)
FM Radio with RDS• DNSe (Digital Natural Sound engine)
Bluetooth v.2.0 / USB 2.0 HS
TV Out connection
Internal Memory: 200MB External Memory: Micro SD
Size: 107.9 x 54.6 x 13.8 mm, 121g
Battery: 1000 mAh
Talk time: 3h 40min
Standby time: 290h

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Zardari Calls Palin "Gorgeous"

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Pakistan's new president called GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin "gorgeous" when the two met in New York on Wednesday.

Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin meets Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in New York on Wednesday.

Palin has been in New York meeting international leaders in town this week for United Nations meetings.

On entering a room filled with several Pakistani officials Wednesday, Palin was immediately greeted by Sherry Rehman, the country's information minister.

"And how does one keep looking that good when one is that busy?" Rehman asked Palin, drawing friendly laughter from the room.

"Oh, thank you," Palin said.

Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali Zardari, entered the room seconds later. Palin rose to shake his hand, saying she was "honored" to meet him.

Zardari then called her "gorgeous" and said: "Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you."

"You are so nice," Palin said, smiling. "Thank you."

A handler from Zardari's entourage then told the two politicians to keep shaking hands for the cameras.

"If he's insisting, I might hug," Zardari said. Palin smiled politely in response.

The Alaska governor did not answer questions from reporters at her first two appearances on Wednesday, when she joined running mate Sen. John McCain in meetings with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko and then traveled downtown to meet with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

But she did offer brief remarks to a reporter at the Zardari meeting who asked about her day.

"It's going great," Palin said. "These meetings are very informative and helpful, and a lot of good people sharing appreciation for America."

Source

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Microsoft Pledges Windows XP Support Until 2014

Although it may be moving down in availability with computer manufacturers it looks like Microsoft is going to be standing by Windows XP for a good while yet. The company has pledged to keep supporting the OS until 2014. According to Microsoft senior VP Bill Veghte, the support will include security patches and "other critical updates," and he adds that "customers who still need Windows XP will be able to get it," despite plans to stop selling a retail product and stop licensing it directly to PC manufacturers after June 30th of this year. This extension means that Microsoft will be supporting the OS for 13 years since its initial release.

News Source: Engadget

Newly Released Google Webmaster Tools API

Webmaster Central blog of the Google has finally announced the vigin release of the Webmaster Tools API via it blog.[its ironical to find solar cooker and cooking related title of the post ].In short the main benifits of the features in this first version of the Webmaster Tools API are as following:

For Managing Sites (Adding and deleting sites)
1. Retrieving the Sites feed
2. Adding a site to an account

Some Free Alternatives to Pricey Software

Most of us don't want to spend $600 for a program to edit pictures (Adobe Photoshop or CS3 Suite) or $400 for a text editor and spreadsheet program. And for those of us that detest Outlook, but like the calendar features, we've felt left out since Thunderbird doesn't offer a calendar in its standard install. And then there's that pesky problem with Adobe Acrobat Professional; unless you are an educational buyer, Adobe Acrobat licenses are a bit on the pricey side.

There are some free alternatives to all of these things that I'd like to share with you today.

Microsoft Office: For most purposes, you can replace the expensive Microsoft Office 2007 with OpenOffice, the free office suite. OO comes with frequent and regular updates and patches, and offers complete versatility. You can even save your text documents in an MSWord format when you're done, so you can send it to your client who doesn't have OO. Open Office also has a spreadsheet program and presentation program, so is virtually a full replacement for the MS Office Suite.

Adobe Photoshop/CS3: If owning Adobe Photoshop is too rich for your budget, and all you're doing is editing your digital photos and making a few signs or drawings, then a decent replacement is GIMP. GIMP provides all the tools you need to crop, resize, adjust, and retouch your photos before you send them to your printer or to the store for printing.

Outlook Calendar: While I am a huge fan of Thunderbird and use it for all of my pop3 and imap email, the one thing missing is a calendar. You can download and install the Lightning plug-in to add a calendar to Thunderbird, or you can download Sunbird instead, which runs as a standalone product. Visit Mozilla.org for these two products.

PDF: Creating PDF's is about 50% of what I do on a daily basis at work. I have Adobe Acrobat Professional at work to accomplish this, but when I'm doing things at home that have nothing to do with work, I am in need of a stable PDF-production tool that won't cost me anything, and gives me all the same tools that Adobe does. I'm using PDF Creator for most things, and find it to have all the tools I need for basic PDF production.

Microsoft Publisher: Need to make a flier, brochure, or handout but don't have MS Publisher? Never fear, Scribus is here to do your dirty work for you. This intuitive, easy-to-use, tiny-footprinted program is the best free tool I've found to replace Publisher and the well-loved Adobe Pagemaker (long gone from Adobe's lineup these days).

QuickBooks: Need to do your home or small business finances but would rather not spend the big dollars to get QuickBooks? Try out TurboCash. And for a $49 optional support fee, you get access to technical support and corruption help, should that ever happen to you.

Why buy it when you can get it for free? That's my motto.

Source

Facebook Suffers it's First App Problem

CNet is reporting that Facebook has banned the "Top Friends" by Slide because it violated the app agreement. The installed application would apparently bypass information a user set to private. CNet found the error and reported it to Facebook. The Social Media giant then suspended the app from running on the site.

There have been a couple other applications that have had security issues, like Super Wall and SuperPoke. Both issues were resolved quickly. I am guessing the Slide apps could not be.

MySpace also has Slide applications on their site. CNet contacted them and they are looking into the matter.

It really is a "Too many Chefs in the Kitchen" scenario here. All it takes is either one mistake of code, or someone like Facebook to make updates that could change the way an application works with the site. Not sure what the case was with Slide. Maybe it's a bigger fix than just plugging a hole, maybe the company was using your information in the wrong way.

I have a Facebook profile (add me as a friend), and I did have this application. My profile is open to all so I didn't notice the problem. I have some other applications on there, too (Feel free to send me a hug or a plant) and new apps appearing daily from friends. I have even went to the extreme as to not accept new applications. It not only clutters up the page but you also don't know what could become a security hole.

Bottom line - a site like this invites error because so many can contribute. Limit the applications and watch those apps you decide to install. Importantly, just because an app looks safe now doesn't mean in 3 months wont have a gaping security hole to it. One small "fix" to the app or to Facebook or MySpace can change all that.

Source

Friday, June 20, 2008

Google Street View Showing more than Expected

A few weeks ago it was a guy in Chicago waiving a gun. Now it's possible Hookers in California. It's turning into a Where's Waldo game - except it's "Who's on Street View"?

I wonder how many hours it takes to scan the Google website to find something interesting to report about. The only thing more hilarious is the fact that Google is not looking at what they are taking pictures of. There are even some people that, when they see the Google car coming, they plan a last minute improvisation. Jalopnik has a couple pictures of that.

So get out there and start scanning the street view. You never know what you are going to see....

Source

Bandwidth Caps used to Force more TV Watching!

Let’s see here. Time Warner Cable provides Internet and Cable Television Service. TV is very profitable for the cable company. The Internet is not because they cannot control it.

Put in place bandwidth caps and you scare people into stopping how much time they spend on the Internet for the fear of going over their bandwidth caps.

So enter Time Warner and those with the highest speed service fully employed will spend about a $1.00 every 6 minutes or so once you bust the cap.

Time Warner does not care about Bandwidth or heavy users, they simply want you to watch more TV that you pay them to watch. Get the full breakdown of Time Warners Bandwidth Caps Cost!

Source

Hilton Hotel Chains Internet Access and other Issues!

Over the past six months I have been traveling a great deal. I have stayed around 40 days in a variety of Hilton properties and another 20 days in Marriot hotel chains. I usually stay in Hilton properties to gain reward points.

Over the past three or four stays at Hilton properties on the east coast, I have been completely frustrated with Internet connectivity and other issues. I will obtain Hilton’s highest VIP status before the end of July which shows I have been a pretty loyal customer but my loyalty is starting to shift.

I am going to put this as nicely as possible, Internet Access has really sucked. The hotels I have been in, have not been full of geeks sucking up bandwidth they have had average occupancy with regular travelers. Here are the main issue and it applies to wired and wireless properties. Continual website time outs, which causes pages to fail to load, very slow connections last hotel had wireless clocking in at 128k up and 128k down with full signal Wi-Fi access.

I swear that the contracted Internet Service providers are blocking access to sites or slowing them to a crawl.

The issues do not stop with Internet Access. My current stay started with the room not even having a desk? Come on now, I have not been in a hotel in 10 years that did not have a desk. While they brought me a desk after I complained they did not bring me a light, ever try to work at a desk without a light. Trip to Target solved that. Guess I will have to pack a lamp from now on.

I would have changed hotels but the hotels are full this weekend. If you are going to cater to business travelers you better have “Good Internet Connectivity”, and room furnishings to support those travelers. My experience with Marriot lately has been the opposite. Great Bandwidth and a Great Business traveler experience.

From here on out I am going to start doing extensive reviews of all of the hotels I stay at. I will name the properties and do my best to make sure they are at the top of the search engine results. Piss Poor service deserves Internet attention so that other business travelers will not have to pull their hair out.

Source

Verizon Please bring FIOS to Hawaii! PLEASE!!

After hearing todays news of Verizon offering some insane speeds to FIOS customers in the 16 states that they have the service available in. I really just wanted to stick my head in a pillow and scream.

Can my headline be anymore obvious? Our broadband service provider Time Warner which has a Virtual Monopoly in Hawaii is getting ready to impose ridiculous bandwidth limits on us. If there was any market that is prime for the service Hawaii is it. But the problem remains that most service providers do not want to pay back haul cost to the US Mainland.

With Verizon introducing new tiers of service with FIOS customers being able to get 50/20 Mbps, and 20/20 Mbps service just completely depresses me.

While I realize that the oceans will probably freeze over before Verizon or some other brave company tries to come to Hawaii and bring this level of service one can only wish.

Well you know what they say about wishing. Wish in One hand and well you know the rest. One things for sure Verizon is not going to be implementing stupid bandwidth limits like AT&T, Time Warner & Sprint are going to!

Way to go Verizon for pushing the envelope!

Source

Verizon Please bring FIOS to Hawaii! PLEASE!!

With Verizon introducing new tiers of service with FIOS customers being able to get 50/20 Mbps, and 20/20 Mbps service just completely depresses me.

While I realize that the oceans will probably freeze over before Verizon or some other brave company tries to come to Hawaii and bring this level of service one can only wish.

Way to go Verizon for pushing the envelope!

Source

Google's Trying to Help with NetNeutrality

"We're trying to develop tools, software tools...that allow people to detect what's happening with their broadband connections, so they can let [ISPs] know that they're not happy with what they're getting -- that they think certain services are being tampered with,"

This came from Google senior policy director Richard Whitt the other day. Google seems to have taken a firm stance on what ISP's are proposing to monitor. And why wouldn't they? In the end, Google would be the one that takes the hit.

People "Google" over any other search site. If you use Firefox, Opera or Safari, you have the Google search right at the top. For IE users, it's just a "Change Default" away. If you run a website with Google Adsense, chances are you are using the Google search engine to bring in a little revenue.

If ISP's start looking at what you do online, then people will stop searching for stuff. Other search sites might pop up to counter the ISP trafficking - masking information so it looks like your searching for flowers when it's really the Hulk movie. Google will loose it's 60-70 percent stature in all internet searches.

Now we all know that you should not download software, music or movies. It gets drilled in our heads on a daily basis. While Google is not trying to promote this, they know that if people need something and don't know where to get it, they will search first. Even if you do know where it is, you still will search for it.

"Feeling Lucky" is Googles' way of getting you to go through their webpage. According to statbrain.com, there are an average 91,201,253 visits per day. If people stop searching on a popular topic, imagine how that number would drop. If they feel they cannot safely go to the site, they will stop going to the site.

I am not saying this is what drives Google to help with Net Neutrality. However, if I was in the search engine market, I would definitely have a project team watching over these items. Any type of policing like this can really hurt on those who's life is online.

I don't torrent nor go to content that could raise a red flag for ISPs. Therefore I would continue to use Google on a constant basis. Even in writing this article I searched on Google about 10 to 12 times. It's really just a way of life on the internet for me. Before Google (and this dates myself), I was Metacrawling and Dog Piling.

So this brings up the question: Would your internet usage drop if you knew people were watching where you were going?

Source

Microsoft gives three-year reprieve to MSN Music users

Bowing to end user pressure, Microsoft has admitted a change of heart with regard to a decision it announced in April, to discontinue authorization for music downloaded through its old MSN Music service.

French bill would ban Internet use for illegal downloaders

France's Cultural Minister Christine Albanel introduced a bill to discourage the consumption of pirated media, under the threat of revoking the perpetrator's Internet access. Yesterday, that bill was approved by the Council of Ministers.

Landrush for new Yahoo Mail addresses begins at 3 pm ET

With hundreds of millions of user names already tapped out, Yahoo has now decided to add two more domains -- ymail.com and rocketmail.com -- to its e-mail addresses for Web users.

Australians will have choice of three carriers for iPhone

Sources told Australian IT Thursday that Telstra will offer the iPhone 3G, making it the third carrier to do so in the country.

Sprint Nextel tries again to hang onto some 800 MHz spectrum

Late Tuesday, Sprint Nextel filed for an extension in its relinquishment of portions of the 800 MHz spectrum which will be used for public safety purposes.

Apple's iTunes passes 5 billion tracks sold

Continuing its dominance in the music industry, iTunes has passed yet another milestone in its storied history.

First reports of a Firefox 3 vulnerability

A group of researchers collaborating on behalf of security firm TippingPoint has claimed it has written a report concerning a "critical vulnerability" in the just-released Firefox 3.0, and has presented that report to the Mozilla organization.

Verizon sweetens FiOS deal with speed bump

Verizon will double its speeds across its entire fiber-based Internet footprint, with promised speeds topping out at 50 Mbps.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Heavy AT&T DSL users could see additional fees

A spokesperson for AT&T says the company is mulling an additional charge atop the standard monthly rate for those who use a large amount of bandwidth.

Google goes out of its way to make Facebook roadblock obvious

After Google and Facebook could not come to terms over Google's Friend Connect service, the Mountain View-based search company has further snubbed Facebook, publicly noting Friend Connect users' incapability to access it.

Dueling streaming video services prepare for iPhone launch

Yesterday, competing services Flixwagon and Qik both announced that they will be offering their live streaming phone-cam services for Apple's iPhone.

How LG's 'Scarlet' snared a global spotlight

Just what -- or who -- is "Scarlet"? A senior LG Electronics official explained that LG wants people all over the world over to ponder the answer. Yes, Scarlet is a TV series...specifically, a series of TVs.

Facing pressure from Facebook, MySpace regroups

As competition heats up with Facebook, social network MySpace is set to launch a major redesign of its Web site next week.

Yahoo execs provide more details on Google deal

The headend of Yahoo's search results, come this October, will probably continue to look the way Yahoo always intended it would. It's the tail that will change, in a deal where Google has apparently been offered the tail first.

FCC debates regulation of wireless early termination fees

With complaints to the FCC rising over the long-held practice of fining those who end their cellular contracts early, the agency looks poised to intervene. And for the first time, all sides may be nearing some sort of agreement.

Canadian copyright reform bill to lock down digital content

A sweeping copyright reform bill officially introduced in the Canadian Parliament yesterday would impose stiff penalties on individuals circumventing DRM protection, including on TV programming, and would illegalize DRM-breaking tools.

AP sends anti-Drudge blogger a DMCA takedown notice

On June 10, the Associated Press sent Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown orders to Rogers Cadenhead's site The Drudge Retort for seven different articles the news service claims violated copyright.

GTA IV leads surge in US video game sales for May

NPD reports that US video game sales were up 37 percent over last year, with Take-Two's blockbuster title leading the charge.

Concept video from Mozilla Labs gets developers thinking, talking

A typical developer may often leave a major developers' conference thinking that most everything relating to how a graphical operating system works, has already been invented. But a new video from Mozilla Labs blows away that illusion.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Firefox 3 Being Released Tuesday

Firefox 3 is ready to jump out of Beta and onto our laptops starting Tuesday. Improved features include being able to add keywords to bookmarks to more easily sort them, as well as a new feature that allows users to add "places" and easily access websites they visit regularly but haven't bookmarked.

Firefox also has improved their download feature, allowing downloads that have been interrupted due to power or connection failure to resume where they left off. This single feature is the most relevant for me, as I often am trying to download something "heavy" and chew up my home network's wireless connection and have to start over.

Security features have also been improved, including outright blocking of phishing sites, rather than just warning about them to the user.

FF3 is also going to be a little speedier, eat up a bit less RAM when left running for long periods of time, and offer easier and more visible navigation. I'm a keyboard person myself and will not notice the difference in navigation with buttons, but I know others will.

I've been using Firefox since it first came out, and have no intention of ever using Internet Explorer again.

Source

Sirius + XM merger still under fire from broadcasters, legislators

A senior Republican US Senator has accused Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Mel Karmazin of misleading Congress and the Justice Dept. about the XM + Sirius merger deal. But this round of opposition has a familiar flavor to it.

Google, Yahoo make the deal: AdSense on Yahoo Search

Late Thursday afternoon, the news came from Google that it will indeed become a full-time provider of AdSense advertising for Yahoo's search pages, and the two companies' IM protocols will become interoperable.

Physics engine could become common in future ATI cards

AMD and physics simulation tools provider Havok announced they will work together to study the benefits of optimizing the Havok Physics engine for future AMD CPUs and ATI video cards.

Opera releases version 9.5

In its plan to gain back usage share it has steadily been losing to Firefox in recent months, Opera this morning released version 9.5 of its Web browsers for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Sprint gains the Instinct, but can it 'kill' the iPhone?

After Apple's announcement earlier in the week regarding plans to launch iPhone 2.0 for a lower price of $199.99, Samsung announced that its Instinct smart phone will launch on June 20 with a similar $199.99 price tag...after you take those rebates into account.

Microsoft has closed the door, says Yahoo

A statement issued by Yahoo this afternoon says that all talks with Microsoft over any possible combination of their businesses has effectively concluded, and that it wants to maintain its own search business.

FTC continues to be thorn in EA's side over Take-Two bid

EA has postponed the deadline for its planned hostile takeover of Take-Two entertainment four times. Now it appears as if EA is ready to play hardball with the FTC itself.

Are Web services replacing some consumer hardware?

Will Web services fulfill the same functions found on today's CE devices? Some panelists answered "yes" and others "no," during a panel presentation at a pre-CES briefing in New York today.

Monster Cable announces a wireless HD combo system

Building upon technology from Sigma Designs Inc., renowned cabling company Monster has announced the upcoming availability of its Wireless Digital Express HD wireless HD and ultra-wideband-over coaxial system.

What do consumers want in an HDTV?

How many consumers base their HDTV purchase decisions around style? At the CEA's Digital Downtown show in New York today, panelists discussed whether consumers will still pay a premium to be fashionable, especially with gas at $4/gallon.

Palm Centro finally makes its way to Verizon Wireless

Palm and Verizon Wireless today jointly announced that the popular Palm Centro smartphone will launch for the VZW network starting tomorrow.

RIAA backs away from one file-sharing case

Court documents from late May indicate the RIAA asked for the dismissal of a case that would have argued whether simply making one's files available for download constitutes copyright infringement.

Doing the math: 3G iPhone not really cheaper in the long run

There's evidence of a lot of savvy business deals having taken place between AT&T and Apple, with both sides getting more of what they want from the new iPhone, while customers get the impression that they're getting a better deal too.

Analyst's own research contradicts his iPhone forecast

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster sent out mixed signals regarding his view of the future success of third-party apps on the iPhone.

Comcast gets a theoretical upstream speed boost

Comcast announced today that it has increased the upstream speeds nationwide for customers of two of its residential Internet packages, from 384 and 768 Kbps to 1 and 2 Mbps respectively.

House Rep claims IT breached by China, calls for trade crackdown

Yesterday, Congressman Frank R. Wolf (R - Va.) issued a belated clarion call for procedurally improving the US' data security, citing data breaches that took place two years ago believed to have been perpetrated by China.

Expert: public utilities may be at risk for hacking

Researchers with security firm Core Security Technologies are warning that flaws within the software that manages the nation's public utility systems may be vulnerable to incursion via the Internet.

On Bluetooth's horizon: high speed, ultra-low-power specs

With Bluetooth now celebrating its ten-year anniversary, a senior official with the Bluetooth SIG foresees new devices that will support emerging Ultra Low Power and High Speed specifications.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

A new alarm clock speakerphone for iPhones and iPods

Appropriately enough for the week of Apple's 3G iPhone launch, iHome Wireless today started shipping its first Bluetooth-enabled Alarm Clock Radio Speakerphone with support for iPhones.

Mozilla Firefox 3.0 to be released June 17

Late Wednesday evening, a Mozilla spokesperson confirmed to BetaNews that the day the final edition of Firefox 3.0 would be made available to the general public, will be this upcoming Tuesday, June 17.

Expect crash recovery features in new IE8 builds

Late Wednesday, a Microsoft spokesperson told BetaNews that a TechEd session in Orlando today summarized some of Internet Explorer 8's key new features for administrators, one of them being crash recovery.

Analyst: Xbox 360's overheating problems began with GPU

Gartner analyst Bryan Lewis has said that in trying to save money in producing the graphics chip for the Xbox 360, Microsoft actually ended up paying much more due to repairs.

Symantec acquires 'cloud' storage company, charges buckets

Originally signing a deal in February of this year, Symantec has completed its acquisition of online backup and storage service SwapDrive and related properties for a reported $125 million.

Sneak preview: Polaroid PoGo printer for instant digital photo printouts

Today at the Bluetooth SIG press event in New York City, Polaroid previewed a pint-sized, inkless portable printer dubbed the PoGo, that can turn your digital camera into a modern equivalent of the old Polaroid Instant.

LG and Verizon Wireless preview Decoy Slider phone

LG Electronics and Verizon Wireless unveiled the LG Decoy Slider -- a 3G cell phone with a built-in detachable Bluetooth 2.1-enabled headset -- at a Bluetooth press event in New York today.

Third-party iPhone developer has an open source MobileMe alternative

For users looking for a free and open source alternative to Apple's MobileMe synchronization tool, announced Monday, Funambol will transfer personal information management data, and is based upon the iPhone 2.0 SDK.

New 160 GB 1.8-inch drives could revive HDD-based small devices

Toshiba today announced plans to launch two new 1.8-inch serial ATA hard drives that will ship as much as 160 GB -- the first in that form factor with such a high storage capacity, the manufacturer claims.

SanDisk looks to Wi-Fi music with MusicGremlin buy

SanDisk could be considering offering customers of its Wi-Fi enabled music players a method to download music directly to players, if its latest acquisition is any indication.

Firestar, Datatern settle patent claims with Red Hat

Red Hat said Wednesday that it had settled claims against it from two companies related to a method of interfacing with a database.

New York's Cuomo deals with ISPs to block child porn

Andrew Cuomo, New York's high-profile Attorney General, announced yesterday his office has made agreements with Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Sprint to block child pornography newsgroups and known sites.

Mozilla issues Firefox 3.0 RC3 bug fix for Mac

This morning, Mozilla's FTP servers were updated once again with a new round of release candidates for its next Web browser, but curiously, we noted RC3 for Windows was identical to RC2 for Windows.

New beta of an employee salary-sharing service

Glassdoor.com, a site that allows users to anonymously share workplace information -- including salary, job satisfaction, and workplace and protocol reviews -- has opened in beta.

ZoneAlarm Pro misidentifies Yahoo Messenger as a Trojan...again

It's getting more difficult to keep track of the various stages and permutations of malware, whose definition has expanded to mean "anything you didn't ask for and don't want running." But since when did Yahoo IM become malware?

So what is 'OpenCL,' Apple's next enhancement to Mac OS X 10.6?

On Monday, Apple made mention of a curious new technology it said would help accelerate the development of CPU-to-GPU process sharing, calling it OpenCL. But the lack of information about what it is makes us all the more curious.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

WiMAX patent group formed to spur wireless consumer devices

To help get more consumer electronics (CE) devices out the door for WiMAX wireless broadband networks, Intel, Clearwire, and several other members of the WiMAX Forum today rolled out the Open Patent Alliance (OPA).

Microsoft wipes egg off face with Home Server "Power Pack" beta

Microsoft has released a public beta of the first Windows Home Server update in order to show the world it has finally fixed an embarrassing data corruption bug it discovered six months ago and has been trying to correct since.

SQL Server 2008, at last, attains Release Candidate status

Although there have already been public betas of Microsoft's new relational database, most notably one launched last February, the latest release candidate lets you reliably test the development environment's most critical new feature.

Nearly a million NEC laptops eligible for free repair

NEC is offering the remedy to an issue which causes its computers to smoke and smell as if plastic is burning.

WWDC: Dissecting the iPhone, Part 2

In this second part of BetaNews' interview with analyst Carmi Levy yesterday, he discusses the iPhone's pricing, as well as the importance of Apple's mobile synchronization service, MobileMe.

DivX to find its way to more handsets, courtesy of AMD

AMD and DivX today announced a licensing agreement in which DivX technology will be implemented into future AMD Imageon processors commonly used in mobile phones and other handheld products.

Xerox releases a 'universal print driver' for printers besides its own

The ability to plug a laptop into a network and quickly print documents on any available printer has historically been difficult, if not impossible. Now, a new Xerox software tool designed for office workers could change that equation.

Microsoft to pilot a consumer health records management system

Just a few weeks after Google's release of its personal health care record tools, Microsoft has launched a pilot of its competing HealthVault platform, conducted with the help of the largest HMO in the US, Kaiser Permanente.

Here come the Caviar 1 TB drives

As more manufacturers aim for the 1 TB storage high-water mark, Western Digital pushed the pace further today with the announcement of its new 7200 rpm 3.5-inch SATA Caviar hard drives, in 750 GB and 1 TB capacities.

Disney to stream full-length films this summer

Disney Entertainment has begun streaming full-length movies on its Web Site immediately following their airing on ABC television this summer.

TWC to fight FiOS in NYC with 100 HDTV channels

Time Warner Cable now plans to boost its high-def TV line-up to 100 channels by the end of 2008 in New York City, its COO said. Yet elsewhere -- including Los Angeles, where it's currently being sued -- it has no similar plans.

Bertelsmann looks to get out of Sony BMG a year early

An agreement first signed in 2004 called for Sony and Bertelsmann music groups to continue their joint venture Sony BMG through 2009. Now media reports indicate Bertelsmann is ready to exit early.

AOL to share ad money with AIM developers

With search and social networking sites vying hard for developers' attention, AIM Money -- an incentive launched today -- is giving developers a cut of the action on ad revenues derived from their AIM-based applications.

Details surface on AT&T, Apple iPhone 3G deal

Among the changes in AT&T's updated deal with Apple are the end of revenue sharing and special plans for the iPhone, as well as a new requirement for phones be activated in-store. The data plan will also be $10 more.

Apple details Mac OS X 'Snow Leopard' at WWDC

Don't expect the next version of Cupertino's operating system to be anything new. However, it will focus on performance and quality, to "lay the foundation" for the future.

RIAA suit over XM recording device draws to a close

EMI has withdrawn from the RIAA complaint against XM Satellite Radio over the Pioneer Inno, an XM receiver that allows users to record the satellite service directly to MP3 or WMA.

Microsoft will exit the classifieds business

Users of a classified ad service running on Windows Live, called Expo, began receiving on-screen notices last week that the service will cease to exist on July 31, and that no new applications for accounts are being taken.

WWDC keynote: Some notable no-shows

With the spotlight growing every time Apple puts on a major show, many feel it would be nice if the company would leave some real estate open for some Mac-related innovations. The keynote came and went, and the Mac was absent.

In-Stat: 3G mobile TV to reach 42 million users by 2012

The 3G mobile TV market will skyrocket from 6 million subscribers worldwide to 42 million by 2012, and Europe isn't necessarily ahead of North America right now in this space, according to an analyst for In-Stat Research.

IDC: Recession or no, Internet ad sales will boom

Times might be tough on the whole, but spending on Internet advertising is growing by leaps and bounds anyway, with total revenues up 23.9 percent in the first quarter of 2008, said an IDC analyst.

WWDC: Dissecting the 3G iPhone

AR Communications Senior Vice President Carmi Levy sits down with BetaNews' Ed Oswald to make sense of Apple's announcements at WWDC 2008. In the first of two parts, the enterprise and data features of the iPhone are discussed.

DOE supercomputer broke the petaflop barrier, conference acknowledges

Though unofficial news leaked this morning, this afternoon, independent sources are acknowledging a new fact: A computer made with IBM Cell and AMD Opteron processors can process a thousand trillion operations per second.

Amazon goes down for the count twice

While Amazon is not disclosing what exactly caused its site to fail for two hours on Friday, the world's largest online retailer may find its problem comes from the site design itself.

EC's Kroes advocates mandatory enforcement of open standards

Europe's legislator and administrator for competition suggested this morning that free enterprise alone -- letting markets decide standards -- may not be an effective means of ensuring interoperability, and that penalties should apply.

Updated AOL Radio launches in beta

Today AOL opened a new version of radio.aol.com, with CBS terrestrial radio stations now available through a dramatically revised front console.

FCC to consider MPAA proposal to lift DVR control ban

A new round of petitioning by movie studios to the FCC has triggered a renewed debate over whether studios and content providers have the right to send signals to consumers' DVRs, disabling their ability to record certain programs.

Last.fm streams lose music from Warner

CBS-owned social Internet radio service Last.fm once had content from all four major labels, but now Warner Music Group, which had been licensing to Last.fm on a month-to-month basis, has pulled its catalog from the service.

Stolen PCs spur ID theft worries at Stanford, U. of SC, AT&T

In a wave of apparently unrelated PC thefts, workers at Stanford University, the University of South Carolina (USC), and AT&T have been warned by their respective employers that their personal data might have been compromised.

HP and Acer end their patent litigation

Engaged in patent-infringement lawsuits in three federal courts, and under two US International Trade Commission investigations for well over a year, HP and Acer summarily ended their battle on Sunday.

WWDC: With iPhone 2.0, the SDK is now the key element

UPDATED Apple CEO Steve Jobs began his keynote with a discussion on the new firmware for iPhones, complete with enterprise support, the final release of the SDK, and new end-user features.

WWDC: MobileMe to replace .mac, sync iPhones with Macs, PCs

UPDATED Calling it Exchange for the rest of us, Apple debuted MobileMe, which allows users to push e-mail, contacts, and calendars directly to devices.

It's official: iPhone goes 3G for $199

UPDATED Confirming months of speculation, Apple has announced that it will begin shipping two 3G versions of the iPhone. A 16 GB version will feature your choice of black or white backing, and will sell for $299 through AT&T.

Will Samsung's Omnia rival Apple's 3G iPhone?

As some see it, Samsung's forthcoming Windows Mobile 6.1-based Omnia smartphone will act as a retort of sorts to Apple's new 3G iPhone. Although the Omnia isn't slated for full rollout until June 17, Samsung prereleased some details today.

HP Blackbird 002 gaming rig finally comes to retail

HP has announced that its Blackbird 002 will be made available for the first time through select retail channels beginning June 29.

Left with the short end of the croissant, T-Mobile sues Starbucks

Left with the short end of the croissant, T-Mobile sues Starbucks

After Starbucks pleased its customers by announcing it will give away two hours of AT&T Wi-Fi access per day, former Wi-Fi partner T-Mobile took exception and has filed a lawsuit.

PGP pre-boot authentication coming to Mac OS X

Data protection company PGP says that increased usage of the Mac platform has prompted it to deliver a port of its pre-boot authentication scheme for those users.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

DriverMax - Download, backup and restore the drivers installed on your Windows Vista or Windows XP computer

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Zell expects a social network platform to save the newspaper industry

Part of the plan for rediscovering profitability for the troubled Tribune Co. of Chicago involves fishing for revenue -- somehow -- from a thus-far-undeveloped social networking platform, according to a memo to employees from their new CEO.

How cool is that IBM supercomputer?

Some time over the next five to ten years, IBM expects to replace a new water cooling method for its Hydro-Cluster supercomputer -- just unveiled in April -- with an emerging approach based on 3D chip stacks.

Next round of Microsoft 'Patch Tuesday' addresses Bluetooth problem

On its next "Patch Tuesday," slated for June 10, Microsoft plans to release seven security fixes, including three critical updates.

Zell expects a social network platform to save the newspaper industry

Silverlight 2.0 Beta 2 goes live, just in time

UPDATED Just making an "end of week" deadline, Microsoft has kept its promise and has released Beta 2 of its graphical Web application development engine.

Crytek, EA confirm development of Crysis Warhead

Gamers who liked the original Crysis now can look forward to Crysis Warhead, currently in development by Crytek and Electronic Arts.

U2 band manager compares ISPs to 'shoplifters'

Speaking during a music conference in Hong Kong, the manager of U2 did not hold back, going on a public tirade against large Internet service providers, alleging they're profiting from illegal file sharing.

Comcast plans aggressive push for ultra-fast Internet

With Verizon's fiber-based FiOS product becoming more of a threat, cable provider Comcast said that by early 2010 much of its coverage area will be able to access the net at speeds of 100 Mbps.

The 'Watch Video' link in Google Search is conspicuously missing

A feature that enabled Google users watch videos hosted on either YouTube or Google Video without leaving the search results page, has been quietly removed from the search site.

Register your favorite digits now as a URL in the .NU domain

While numerically-named sites such as 123.net and 1337.com already exist, on June 10 the landrush will begin for the .NU domain, an internationalized name which is being marketed in the US as the "number domain."

Linux to land on 23% of smartphones by 2013, says ABI

Spurred by support from legions of developers -- as well as from two currently warring industry groups -- Linux will constitute 23 percent of the world smartphone market by 2013, according to analysts at ABI Research.

Microsoft confirms more details on Windows for small devices

The development suite that will come with the new XP kernel-based Windows Embedded standard -- which entered beta on Wednesday -- will indeed allow virtual OS instances to run as virtual machines on developers' desktops.

FCC delays plans for free wireless Internet

The FCC had hoped to vote on a proposal that would require the winner of a spectrum auction next year to build out a free wireless broadband network in June, but those plans have been hindered yet again.

FCC delays plans for free wireless Internet

Qik streaming video begins alpha, adds Windows Mobile support

Qik, a service that allows its users to stream video from their phones live on the site, has begun its invitation-only alpha period and extended the list of supported devices to include select Windows Mobile handsets.

Google opens up a lab for others to test new Gmail features

With Gmail finally nearing the end of its nearly four year long beta, Google is looking to test out a few new features before it goes live.

Google opens up a lab for others to test new Gmail features

With Gmail finally nearing the end of its nearly four year long beta, Google is looking to test out a few new features before it goes live.

Apple Store aims for the Paris Louvre's glass pyramid

According to French financial daily La Tribune, Apple has received approval to build one of its eponymous stores in Paris. The location? Where else but under the glass pyramid in the Carrousel du Louvre.

BlackBerrys and iPhones rise among IT buyers, Palm falls

BlackBerrys keep soaring in popularity among corporate IT spenders, while Palms continue to slide; and Apple iPhones are expected to pick up steam in the third quarter, say new survey results from analyst firm ChangeWave Research.

Intel subpoenaed by FTC over CPU business practices

Though the US Federal Trade Commission has yet to issue a statement as of 1:30 pm EDT, Intel has acknowledged it has received a subpoena from the FTC, effectively formalizing its inquiry into Intel's US business practices in the CPU market.

Facebook asks, 'How do you like this ad?'

Innumerable Web sites have been inviting readers to rate and comment about articles and blogs for ages already. Now, Facebook has added a considerably rarer function: Users can give "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" to ads.

Turkmenistan may finally join the online world

Restrictions have reportedly been loosened in the nation of Turkmenistan, the Southernmost nation of the former Soviet Union, and private citizens are gradually -- about 20 per day -- being connected to the Internet.

AMD pushes USB 3.0

USB will be getting an upgrade in 2009 as we move to the USB 3.0 standard. This will improve the speed up to ten times faster than USB 2.0. That is approximately 4.8 gigabits per second, or about 600 Megabytes per second (USB 2.0 runs up to 480 Mbit/s). It will even surpass current Firewire standards (The Firewire 800 standard can run up to 3.2 Gigabits per second).

Intel has been controlling the specification and so far is not giving the new technology to any competetor. An unofficial AMD source announced they are working on their own USB standard. It will be an "open" specification, but an Nvidia representative says it will also be "productized".

What does this mean? Simply put we might see "Intel USB" and "AMD USB" - and the remote possibility that they won't work with one another. The greatest part about the USB standard was that we could use it on any PC - whether Intel, AMD or other - on an Apple product or any other device that contains the standard.

It's items like this where universal standardization should be implemented. We don't need these standards "segregated but equal". It hurts production - especially for the independent companies that make USB peripherals. Will your Intel USB 3.0 Flash drive work properly on an AMD USB 3.0, or will it corrupt your data?

Opening the USB standard is key if we want to continue using it. No one company should be able to "hoard" the technology. After all, "Open Productization". Is that an Oxymoron, or what?

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Friday, June 6, 2008

EC approves Nokia's acquisition of Qt platform producer Trolltech

It was widely reported today that the European Commission approved the buyout of "widget maker" Trolltech, by Nokia. What isn't widely known is that Nokia has acquired something of real substance...and maybe even Nokia doesn't know it.

Time Warner Cable sued for causing 'major distress'

Time Warner Cable is being hauled into court by a Los Angeles city attorney over complaints of Internet and e-mail outages, TV line-up changes, and service delays. This while the head of TWC's regional office was given the heave-ho.

CBS announces Web video sharing deal with Yahoo

Yahoo said it will join CBS' Audience Network on Wednesday, continuing the close relationship of the two companies.

Wal-Mart endeavors to lure customers to Blu-ray

While Wal-Mart seemed to be firmly in the HD DVD camp early in the format war, it's now gearing up for a nationwide promotion to drum up interest in the format war's survivor.

Study: Mobility of workers tracked via their cell phone usage

An academic study charting the daily mobility of people based upon their mobile phone data has raised ethical concerns regarding privacy and nondisclosure.

IBM's Lotus Symphony 1.0 emerges from beta

Emerging from a public beta process which began last September, the Lotus brand once again represents a suite of general purpose applications...and it doesn't look to make much money from that just yet.

South Korea fines Intel for anti-competitive behavior

Korea's fine against Intel ends a two-year-long investigation by the Korean Fair Trade Commission into allegations of abuse of Intel's dominant position in the CPU market.

Yahoo launches beta of Search Gallery

Based upon the SearchMonkey platform, Yahoo users can now enhance their searches with developer-created apps.

Icahn's war of words forebodes an ugly August for Yahoo

Last month's shareholders lawsuit filed against Yahoo has revealed the existence of a poison pill to defend the company against hostile takeover -- one which investor Carl Icahn is now publicly working to have extricated.

Mozilla provides more details on Firefox 3.0 RC2

The official release notes are now live on Mozilla's servers, along with Release Candidate 2 of the organization's next Web browser, which was published yesterday.

WWDC may see beta debut of Mac OS X 10.6

While much of the buzz surrounding Apple's annual developer event has been about the iPhone, news reports indicate the company may also debut the newest release of its operating system at WWDC.

Verizon FiOS TV to expand in July

Verizon has announced it will be rolling out 60 new channels to the FiOS TV lineup region-by-region beginning in July, at least 25 of these will be HD.

Verizon Wireless, Alltel sign $28.1 billion deal

Confirming market speculation, the two companies released a joint statement Thursday that said Verizon Wireless would acquire the equity of Alltel as well as assume its debt.

In-game advertisements coming to Sony PS3

Sony has selected IGA Worldwide as its first partner to provide dynamic in-game advertisements for PlayStation 3 games, with an initial focus on the frequently delayed MMO undertaking called Home.

Wikia search engine now lets users add their own results

The Wikia search engine, controversial brainchild of Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, this week added groundbreaking social networking-oriented features that give Web users the ability to make adjustments to the search results others see.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Comcast, TWC test curbs on heavy Internet use

Time Warner Cable and Comcast are launching tests this week of new management controls for bandwidth consumption -- alternatives to the approach of throttling packets outright, though they may not prove to be any more popular.

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Microsoft's Search 4.0 for desktops emerges from beta

No, it's not WinFS, the file system that was supposed to revolutionize the way files and documents are stored in Windows. But if it gives users tools that accomplish the same things WinFS was supposed to provide, does Search 4.0 come close?

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Fanning's payday: $30 million from Electronic Arts

Computer programmer Shawn Fanning, known for having created the original Napster, has sold his latest company ThreeSF to game maker EA.

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Craiglist's newest competition in the online classified space: Wal-Mart

Although some may question how this latest move fits into the strategy of the retailer, the retailer has launched a test of a free classified ads service.

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Is Google living up to privacy legislation?

Google is coming under fire from members of 14 advocacy groups, who want the search engine giant to post a link to its privacy policy directly from its home page so as to assure compliance with a California privacy law.

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Windows XP lives on in the next embedded OS upgrade

The versatility of Microsoft's previous generation of operating system is about to be shown off some more, with a new edition that will be customizable for various embedded devices, using a special version of Visual Studio.

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SpiralFrog signs on EMI for free music downloads

The ad-supported music service said today it had struck an agreement with major record label EMI, meaning it will now carry content from two of the four majors.

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Mozilla issues Release Candidate 2 of Firefox 3.0

While Web users everywhere have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the final edition of Firefox 3.0 -- an event which some thought could happen this very week -- late yesterday, Release Candidate 2 of the browser appeared on Mozilla's FTP site.

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Pandora launches a new beta of its desktop music app

The Music Genome Project has released a beta of its music-recommending internet radio service Pandora as a gadget that works independently of browsers, based upon Adobe AIR.

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Graphic overlays soon to be added to YouTube videos

YouTube has been given a feature upgrade which allows for annotations to be added to a user's already uploaded videos.

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Microsoft will fix its 'Live' branding problem, says exec

With Google entrenched at the top of the search industry, and a deal with Yahoo looking less likely, a Microsoft division president said yesterday it's time for his company to deal with the confusion spawned by its own multiple online brands.

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Music recommendation site listens to what you're listening to

Created by music artist Peter Gabriel, TheFilter.com looks to recommend music, movies, and Web video based on the individual users tastes and mood.

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Toshiba looking to get high-def out of standard DVDs

Despite its exit from the next-generation DVD race, the one-time champion of HD DVD is not giving up on the promise of high definition on optical disc. Rather, it seems to be working to improve standard DVDs.

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Newest Windows Installer will enable multiple package installs

Managing a massive Windows installation has already been likened to administering a colossal database. Today, Microsoft added new functions to its Installer for setup packages, that really does start treating Windows like one.

Rapidshare Increases Download Limit For Premium Users

Rapidshare yesterday changed their website design and along with that they also increased the download limit for premium users which earlier was 25 GB per five day and has been now updated to 50 GB per five days which comes as good news for many premium account holders after their account were limited to counter website which used to offer free users to download like premium users giving them direct links to the download created using premium accounts.

In my opinion if they want to limit the accounts then rthey should introduce data based packages instead of the current time based packages which will be much more convenient for the customers as in the current scenario even if one doesn’t downloads from rapidshare his account gets expired in the given time, and when the amount of download is already limited it wont be a problem for the customers, as theoretically in a month account one can only download 50*6=300 GB of data per month so they should offer 300 GB of downloads for the same price as the 1 month account and let users download to their own convenience.

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Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Intel unveils new 4 series chipset at Computex

At the Intel keynote today at Computex, EVP Sean Maloney officially unveiled the new 4 Series chipsets and prognosticated a bright, high definition future delivered via WiMAX.

In-game advertising 'enhances realism,' says focus group

Microsoft subsidiary Massive Inc. teamed up with media research firm Interpret LLC to study the efficacy of in-game advertising, and today released its findings.

Google refutes Android device delay, cites T-Mobile plans

Disputing rumors that the first Android-enabled phone won't ship until 2009, a Google spokesperson today pointed BetaNews to "public statements" made by T-Mobile as corroboration.

New Google Site Search lets Web sites shape search results

Tuesday, Google launched Site Search, a rebranded overhaul of "Google Custom Search Business Edition" that gives Web site owners tools to influence the search results that appear on their sites' custom search pages.

Microsoft reports security problem with Apple's Safari

Microsoft, of all companies, has issued a security advisory warning users about a possible security exploit involving Apple's Safari for Windows browser.

Unsealed documents add to Yahoo-Microsoft drama

Newly uncovered documents in Yahoo shareholders' battle with the company allege that CEO Jerry Yang worked actively to undermine a deal with Microsoft, perhaps in some cases unethically -- and possibly illegally.

Live Search to become the latest to try 404 redirects

In its scramble to avoid sliding to as low as fifth on the scale of search engine providers this year, Microsoft today has begun grabbing misspelled URLs pointing to its own hosted domains, and redirecting those users to Live Search.

Facebook releases its open source platform

After last week's confirmation of plans to make its developers' platform an open source project, Facebook this week followed through by releasing most of the code that runs its platform, including the most frequently used methods and tags.

AT&T settles suit over third-party ringtone downloads

AT&T has agreed to settle a class action suit issued against it in Georgia, for allowing third parties to charge customers on unclear or wholly undisclosed terms for downloads.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 now slated for August

Citing heavy customer feedback, Microsoft officials as high up as Bill Gates himself revealed today that the next public beta of IE8 won't be going home with Tech·Ed attendees this year.

Next Silverlight 2.0 beta to appear this week

Developers going home from TechEd 2008 in Orlando (just as the admin folks arrive for the following week's demos) could find a delightful surprise in their annual tote bags: the newest plug-in for Visual Studio.

Acer launches new netbook, promises WiMAX

Call them sub-notebooks, netbooks, UMPCs, or what one clever Engadget poster deemed them: "Liliputers," the biggest hardware launches at Computex in Taipei this week fall into the umbrella category of "smallest."

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Thursday, June 12, 2008

Wednesday, June 11, 2008