Archive for the ‘Internet’ Category
The Dell XPS One will hit retail on November 19 according to
this teaser on Dell.com. Apparently no one told Dell that everyone and their grandmother has already seen what the XPS One looks like, both inside and out. Still, we’re with Engadget in pretending to be totally surprised. [Via
Engadget]Sony Ericsson’s much-anticipated announcement today turned out to be an utter disappointment. Only three phones were announced, all of which were leaked well before the announcement. You can read all the specs and details at
GSMArena although we don’t see anything “new” or “special” about these devices. SE is recycling designs and new phones within a product class carry identical feature sets. The only bright spot is the revelation that the W890i will come with version 3 of their Walkman software. Oh and the K660 and W890 actually come with both EDGE and 3G. Amazing!
In SE-related news that is interesting however, we’re hearing rumors about a successor to the P990i and P1i in the form of the P5i. For all we know, this device could be in the fantasies of those SE-fans on eSato but we’re hoping for the best!
If you’ve always wanted an email address ending with @live.com, then boy are you in luck. Microsoft has opened up registration for @live.com email IDs for good and you can snag yours at http://get.live.com [Via CNET News]
Apple updated Quicktime to version 7.3, fixing seven bugs in the process. Six of these bugs can allow hackers to gain access to a PC as they can bypass QT’s security layer altogether. Recommended update if you use Quicktime. [Via TG Daily]
Popularity: 44% [?]
- By Vivek on Nov 7, 2007
Another weekend is behind us folks and it barely made its presence felt. Not a lot happened over the weekend, as you might imagine. But we have a job to do, and we’re going to do it damnit!
New phones from Sony Ericsson could be unvelied on November 6, or so sayeth CellPassion. We’ve already seen leaked shots of the W890 and the W380 while the K660 was made official by SE. So really, the only thing to look forward to is the confirmation of the existence and specs on the W890 and W380. Maybe, just maybe, if we’re lucky, SE will unveil more than these three. [CellPassion via Boy Genius Report]
In more rumor-mongering, noises are being made about the Google Phone/OS/Whatever might finally be announced on November 5. It seems that the technology in development is a full-fledged mobile OS with tight integration of existing Google products. The OS will be open and distributed freely under an ad-supported revenue model. Whatever it is, we hope it’s good. This kind of hype is usually only reserved for Apple products. [Via The New York Times]
Firefox has released version 2.0.0.9 and we recommend you download it. The release contains bug-fixes for problems found in earlier versions. Download it here.
The Wall Street Journal now has over a million subscribers for its online edition. Quite a milestone, we must say. A lot of websites, including The New York Times have ditched their pay-for-access models and are now completely free in order to attract more visitors. In such a time, it’s a wonder that WSJ.com has managed to attract such a large subscriber base. [Via Yahoo! News]
Swedish glam-rock band Lamont has collaborated with, wait for it, The Pirate Bay, to freely distribute their music via P2P. Their new album is available in multiple file formats and over 100k users downloaded it on the first day. It’s a sign of musicians finally warming up to the idea of P2P distribution. Besides, a lot of music fans will go out and buy CDs of music that they like. [Via TorrentFreak]
Popularity: 34% [?]
- By Vivek on Nov 5, 2007
Lucky number seven today! We haven’t been getting too many comments to our round-up posts but we’re eager to hear what you have to say. What you like, what you despise, suggestions, whatever. Bring it on folks. At least then I don’t have to keep cribbing about the lack of good news to summarize. Wait. Never mind. I’ll still be cribbing about that.
Eye-Fi SD cards are now shipping. In case you are not familiar with what’s so special about these cards, here’s a hint: what starts with Wi and ends with Fi? Give up? Wi-Fi! Yes, dear readers, these SD cards can turn any ordinary digital camera into one that can send pictures to your computer or any one of 17 online photo service wirelessly. The card costs $100 and is available in a 2GB capacity right now. They definitely to make one for mobile phones that come with browsers but lack Wi-Fi. Seriously. [Via Engadget]
In another highly successful Apple product launch, Leopard sold 2 million copies in its first weekend. It seems as though the $129 price is not stopping anyone with Tiger to grab Leopard as well. The press release mentions that Tiger had the best launch for any Apple OS until now.
Everyone’s favorite savior against the RIAA/MPAA/etc., The Pirate Bay, is developing a new P2P protocol of its own. It will use the .p2p (clever) extension and be backward-compatible with the .torrent extension. According to TPB, this move comes as response to certain new additions to the source code of BitTorrent being closed. TPB also claims that the protocol will be developed to deter spammers and anti-piracy organizations from the ground-up. [TorrentFreak]
Briefly Noted:
1. The 40GB PS3 features cooler, less power intensive 65nm chips.
2. Intel is having trouble meeting processor demand for laptops.
3. Panasonic unleashed a new, $500 Blu-ray with support for the latest BD-Video Final Standard Profile 1.1.
Popularity: 35% [?]
- By Vivek on Oct 31, 2007
Did that weekend go by quick or what? Obviously, not a lot of tech news to report since weekends tend to be slow in terms of news. The biggest story from the weekend is multiple reports of Leopard crashing! Yes, the Mac OS X 10.5 is crashing. The problem seems to be with the Unsanity Application Launcher third-party app. Uninstalling it before updating Leopard seems to fix the problem for most people. Read more at Engadget
here.
It appears as though major US games-retailer GameStop has stopped offering a replacement warranty on all Xbox 360s sold through its brick-and-mortar stores. We wouldn’t blame them. The 360 is notorious for its high failure rates and with Microsoft extending the warranty to 3 years anyway, the GameStop warranty was kind of useless. [Via GamerReports]
We could soon be seeing terabyte-capacity flash-drives. If these researchers have their way. A team at the University of Arizona has come up with a new technology based on nanoscience that will open the doors to super-high capacity flash drives in the near future. We won’t bother you with the technical details which you can read over at Wired.
Finally, some music news to wrap up our first weekend update. Several indie bands are now inviting their fans to fund their new albums. With the help of websites such as Sellaband.com, these bands can ask for donations from fans. This money goes into securing a recording studio and the contributors get a copy of the album once it’s done. Some bands also interact with their donors via webcast during the recording of the album. All the money goes straight to the bands and they are not under the RIAA. How could this possibly be any more perfect? [Via Yahoo! News]
Popularity: 39% [?]
- By Vivek on Oct 29, 2007
See? We really are back for good! Two posts in two days is an achievement if you look at the past month! Lets look at some of the big news now, shall we?
Popular private BitTorrent tracker OiNK.cd was shut down today after officials confiscated their servers and arrested the administrator. The website was home to several music torrents and was well-known for getting leaked albums and new music before other public trackers. The entire operation was handled by the Interpol and was done at the behest of the IFPI and the BPI. Ironically enough, this comes two weeks after English band Radiohead practically gave away digital copies of their new album and still made boatloads of money. The record labels and anti-piracy organizations still don’t seem to get it. [Via TorrentFreak]
In gaming news, Microsoft finally outed the Arcade edition of the Xbox 360. It has been in stores for a few days now and people already knew what was in the box. It’s basically a Core version with a 256MB memory card, HDMI port, wireless controller, and a disc with 5 (!) arcade-type games to get you gaming right out of the box. Since it costs the same as the price-reduced Core ($279), this definitely represents a much better deal. It’s also a good competitor to the Wii, albeit more expensive. But then again, the holiday bundle coming out for Christmas is much sweeter – the Pro with two games for just $350! [Via TeamXbox]
Dell today announced availability of their new XPS desktop, the XPS 420 featuring aggressive multimedia options. As is usual with XPS systems, this one offers up a variety of high-end components and costs a bomb. We’re talking $1500 and up for this bad boy!
In more Dell news, Engadget has found information on an as yet unannounced XPS all-in-one desktop. FCC documents reveal a 22″ LCD with a 1680×1050 resolution, slot-loading blu-ray burner, built-in webcam, and other goodies. Engadget leaks are generally reliable so keep an eye out for this XPS!
The flash-based MP3-player market might just get a bit of a shake-up as DAPReview.net found info on a 32GB SanDisk Sansa View coming up. Both Creative and Apple offer 16GB devices but neither has gone beyond that. SanDisk has the advantage of being a flash-manufacturer will can help keep prices down. Although, judging from the picture, it looks like the 32GB version will cost $330.
Popularity: 20% [?]
- By Vivek on Oct 24, 2007
Well, it looks like AutoPatcher is gone for good. According to the official blog,
Today we received an e-mail from Microsoft, requesting the immediate take-down of the download page, which of course means that AutoPatcher is probably history. As much as we disagree, we can do very little, and although the download page is merely a collection of mirrors, we took the download page down.
It’s unfortunate that this had to happen. Several users love AutoPatcher and the ease of use associated with updates clubbed together monthly. Good bye AutoPatcher. It was nice knowing you.
AutoPatcher Blog
Popularity: 14% [?]
- By Vivek on Aug 30, 2007
YouTube will soon start overlaying adverts on videos that users upload. The overlay will be semi-transparent and placed at the bottom of the video which viewers can either close by clicking a cross on it or expand by clicking on the advert itself. Doing the latter will pause the video so that you can watch the ad. Are they really serious? Why would I want to click on an ad and unnecessarily pause the poor-quality video?
Content owners will have the right to decline certain or all ads while advertisers will have to fork out $20 per thousand views, regardless of the number of clicks received. I guess YouTube fellas are smart that way. They know very few people will want to click on ads, so they’re charging per view. Finally, the revenue will supposedly be shared with content owners, although details on that aspect have not been released.
Yahoo! News
Popularity: 8% [?]
- By Vivek on Aug 22, 2007
In continuing good new for Indian IT companies, Wipro Technologies has been designated by the Wi-Fi Alliance as an authorized test laboratory. For members in India and other countries in Asia, the Bangalore center will help streamline the certification procedure and cut the time-to-market of new products. Prior to this move, Wipro was an authorized “pre-certification” facility that would prepare products for certification. From DigiTimes,
Wipro will now provide members with interoperability testing on core 802.11 radio standards, as well as Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA2) for security, and Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) and WMM Power Save for quality of service.
DigiTimes
Popularity: 10% [?]
- By Vivek on Aug 22, 2007
Is it ironical that a website called “Monster” was the target of an attack? Or are we being too harsh? Especially considering that personal data of hundreds of thousands of users were compromised?
The BBC is reporting that a computer program used stolen login credentials and accessed personal user data such as email addresses, phone numbers, residential addresses, etc. It’s interesting to note that data were exposed because the program logged in to the employers’ section of the website. Already, the information is being used to send out phishing and spam emails.
The stolen data came from a remote web server that stored 1.6 million entries with personal information belonging to hundreds of thousands of employment-seekers, mostly from the US.
BBC
Popularity: 7% [?]
- By Vivek on Aug 21, 2007
So now you can definitely pester those friends who stubbornly refuse to join the wonder of social networking that is Facebook. Basically, just like you can send messages to Facebook members, you can now send them to non-members in the form of an email. Which will inevitably lead to people not using their email accounts because they can send all their email from within Facebook itself. Of course, for professional emails, they will have to stick to regular email.
Also interesting is the fact that you can share stuff with these friends who are not yet members of Facebook. Â The website will also remember email addresses for you so you don’t need to enter them each time.
Facebook Blog
Popularity: 9% [?]
- By Vivek on Aug 21, 2007
