New Norton AntiVirus and Internet Security Packages Announced

Slashdot It! Adds what Symantec calls "threat interceptor" defense to prevent execution of malicious code enabled through a drive-by download. Symantec unveiled the 2008 editions of its Norton AntiVirus and Internet Security desktop protection products, adding what it calls "threat interceptor" defense to prevent execution of malicious code enabled through a drive-by download. Used by consumers and small businesses, Norton AntiVirus 2008 and Norton Internet Security, which includes the antivirus capability plus a desktop firewall and host-based intrusion prevention, will now be able to block drive-by downloads from Web sites where visitors with unpatched computers can easily be infected and their machines compromised. Symantec's 2008 edition security products are designed to run on Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista. "There are multiple infection vectors for drive-by downloads, both Web sites where malicious code is deliberately posted and legitimate Web sites that have been compromised," noted Ed Kim, director of product management at Symantec's consumer division. One striking example of this was the compromise of the Web sites of Dolphin Stadium and the Miami Dolphins in advance of the Super Bowl football game last winter when Web site visitors encountered drive-by downloads intended to take over their desktop machines. Kim pointed out that unpatched Web browsers aren't the only means that drive-by downloads exploit to dump malicious code on Web site visitors. "Hacks are becoming highly focused not only on Web browsers but on third-party applications as well, such as Adobe or QuickTime," he said. Failure to stay completely up to date on software patches can provide the hole for drive-by downloads to slip through. The threat interceptor technology -- branded as Browser Defender -- works by inspecting function API calls to execute what might be a malicious attack, and proactively blocking them. Kim said in most cases this would still allow the user to continue browsing the Web site, but in some instances it might cause a delay as threat interceptor blocks code execution. "Generally, you'd get a quick notification that we detected an attack," said Kim. The threat interceptor technology is not included in today's versions of Symantec's corporate antivirus and Internet Security software, but Symantec's history of product rollouts has often entailed adding capabilities introduced in consumer products to corporate editions. Symantec didn't disclose whether that would occur as regards threat interceptor. Other security upgrades to Norton Internet Security 2008 (but not Norton AntiVirus 2008) include a password-protected encrypted store for sensitive information, such as credit card numbers and addresses. Called Norton Identity Safe, the functionality prevents autofill on a Web site until the Web site's validity is first checked, and allows a "card metaphor persona" for business and personal use. It's also intended to prevent keystroke loggers from stealing sensitive data. Symantec says other improvements for both Norton Internet Security and Norton AntiVirus entail reducing scan time on a 1GB file from 2 minutes and 15 seconds in the 2007 editions to 1 minute and 55 seconds for the 2008 edition. Norton also says it has shrunk Norton Internet Security 2008 down to 10MB from what was closer to 15MB in earlier editions. Symantec is also releasing a beta of an upcoming Norton Smartphone Security product for the Windows Mobile and Symbian platforms, which is expected to be generally available in the fall. Norton Internet Security 2008 costs $69.99 for use on three PCs. It includes a way to recommend and determine configuration settings for wireless security such as WEP and WPA, with one of the three licensed machines now able to monitor the wireless-security configurations for all three used locally. A small-office version of Norton Internet Security 2008 for five to 10 users would cost US$109.99 and $199.99, respectively. Norton AntiVirus 2008 costs $39.99 per user, with Norton AntiVirus 2008 Small Office Packs for five to 10 users retailing for $89.99 and $149.99 respectively. Power Supplies Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Winchip DDR2 1200MHz PC2-9600 2GB RAM Kit @ Benchmark Reviews

Slashdot It! Ever since Intel released the 3 series chipset, DDR2 has had the wind taken from its sails so that DDR3 could make waves. This was meant with the best intentions, but as DDR3 was released to public it didn't take long for people to realize it was still too immature to compete against DDR2 in regards to performance. This put the weight of the world back on the shoulders of DDR2, which has just earned a repreive from execution. But now that manufacturers are tooling up for DDR3 production, there are only few names remaining on the shrinking list which are still releasing high-performance system memory for the DDR2 platform. Winchip still knows that DDR2 has performance potential left in it, and offers the 1200MHz PC2-9600 2GB DDR2 RAM Kit to Benchmark Reviews for testing. ARTICLE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=67&Itemid=1 IMAGE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/images/reviews/Winchip%20PC2-9600/frontpage.jpg Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Apple shares rise on new iPod buzz

Slashdot It! Apple shares rose more than 4.5 percent, fueled by excitement over the pending launch of new iPod digital music players, which could entice current users to buy upgraded models. The stock climbed $5.74 to $132.56 in early trading, after Apple distributed invitations to a September 5 event in San Francisco. Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients that the date would bring "the almost certain launch of a new family of iPods." "The product announcement is likely to include a full lineup of revamped iPods with significantly greater functionality at current price points, including the much-anticipated full-screen video iPod," Goldman said. Goldman recommended clients buy Apple shares, saying the next video iPod could drive "an accelerated upgrade cycle." Apple shares are up about 55 percent this year, driven by the steady strength of the iPod, which dominates the portable music player market, and the late June launch of the iPhone. The share gains come despite top mobile-phone maker Nokia's unveiling on Wednesday of its own online music store, new top-end handsets aimed at rivaling Apple. Separately, Apple said on Wednesday it will sell television programs in Britain via its iTunes Store as part of a push to become a one-stop shop for digital entertainment. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Patch service shuts after Microsoft request

Slashdot It! AutoPatcher, a 4-year-old project to distribute Microsoft patches and other updates to software that runs on Windows, has shut down because of a Microsoft request. "Today we received an e-mail from Microsoft, requesting the immediate takedown of the download page, which of course means that AutoPatcher is probably history," said project manager Antonis Kaladis in a post Wednesday. "As much as we disagree, we can do very little, and...we took the download page down." AutoPatcher had a variety of uses. For example, people with limited bandwidth could download patches once and install them on multiple computers, or people setting up new machines could apply security updates without having to expose the computer to network security risks. AutoPatcher could handle updates from Microsoft as well as third-party software such as Sun Microsystems' Java. Microsoft said it "discourages" others from distributing supplemental software such as hot fixes, security patches and service packs and that doing so infringes the company's copyright. "This policy is in place due to concern for the safety and security of our customers, as we can only guarantee the download's contents when it comes from a Microsoft Web site," the company said in a statement. "We contacted AutoPatcher earlier today to request that they stop redistributing our Microsoft intellectual property." According to a post on the Neowin news and discussion site, which hosted the official AutoPatcher forum, the company wants to be the sole distributor of its own software updates. Microsoft's legal department notified Neowin co-founder Steven Parker of the company's objections and had requested Neowin cut a tie it had to AutoPatcher. "I had a call from Microsoft Legal this morning and they have told me that we are no longer allowed to endorse AutoPatcher on Neowin. Microsoft will only allow updates to be downloaded from its own servers," Parker said in the post. Microsoft indicated it acted now because it just found out about the site. "Microsoft tries to contact anyone who is in violation of our policy as soon as we can once we are aware of what they're doing," the company said. However, the company has had plenty of time. AutoPatcher and its network of download "mirror" sites have been operating for four years, and the project's frequently-asked-questions page describes it as legal. "The AutoPatcher project has been going strong since 2003 and never had a sniff of trouble from Microsoft," the page says. "Kaladis once spoke to a Microsoft employee and apparently they know about us but don't care what we do," the page also says. Parker reported that Windows Genuine Advantage, a Microsoft antipiracy program that checks legitimacy of a version of Windows, apparently isn't involved. WGA certification is required to install some software updates. "I asked the representative if Windows Genuine Advantage had anything to do with it, and he categorically told me this was not the case," Parker said. "The concern at Microsoft had more to do with the possible malicious code that could be redistributed with certified Microsoft updates." The representative also told Parker that Firefox, an open-source Web browser rival to Microsoft's Internet Explorer, now can be used to access Microsoft's Windows Update service for versions of Windows predating Vista. However, some forum posters said they were unable to do so. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

1000 Boeing 777 being delivered

Slashdot It! The Boeing Company announced that an order from Brazil's TAM Airlines [BOVESPA: TAMM4 and NYSE: TAM] for four additional 777-300ERs brings to 1,003 the number of 777s ordered since the first order of the popular widebody in 1990. Today's announcement also means that, to date in 2007, Boeing has received orders for 100 of the popular 777s. TAM is Brazil's largest airline, flying both domestic and international routes. TAM became the first Latin American airline to incorporate the 777-300ER into its long-range fleet plan when it booked its initial order for four 777-300ERs earlier this year. TAM's first 777-300ER is scheduled to be delivered in June 2008. Prior to ordering these eight 777s, TAM was an exclusive Airbus operator. "TAM's recent orders confirm airline preference for the 777 family which commands more than a 65 percent market share in its category because of its lower operating costs, passenger pleasing cabin and unmatched reliability, " said Larry Loftis, vice president, Boeing 777 Program. "We have continually enhanced and improved the performance of the 777 family of airplanes. Today, we have grown that family to include two, new, longer range 777s and a freighter version that will enter service in the fourth quarter of 2008." Marco Antonio Bologna, TAM's CEO said the 777-300ER acquisitions are an important step for TAM's growth in the long-haul international market. "The Boeing 777 provides TAM with unmatched revenue-generating capability, beginning with fuel savings and environmental benefits," Bologna said. "Further, this is a plane long-haul passengers recognize for its spaciousness, comfort and award-winning interiors." The fuel-efficient 777-300ER is the world's largest long-range twin-engine jetliner capable of carrying 365 passengers up to 7,880 nautical miles (14,594 kilometers). The efficient twin-engine design provides the lowest fuel consumption and overall operating costs in its class. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

WGA error is caused by human error

Slashdot It! Microsoft is now talking about the cause and scope of this past weekend's WGA outage. As expected, the problem was indeed Microsoft's WGA "validation service," which Microsoft says began experiencing problems processing validation requests on Friday, around 3:30 PM Pacific Time. The outage was caused by "human error." Alex Kochis, a Microsoft senior product manager for WGA, says that Microsoft learned of the outage "through a combination of posts to our forum and customer support." The company is now working to improve its monitoring so that it does not need to rely on customer notification in the event of future WGA problems. The failure was caused when "preproduction code" was sent to the production WGA servers. "The production servers had not yet been upgraded with a recent change to enable stronger encryption/decryption of product keys during the activation and validation processes," Kochis says. "The result of this is that the production servers declined activation and validation requests that should have passed." Even though this situation was fixed within 30 minutes, the effects on the WGA processing system could not be reversed as quickly. "While the issue affecting activations was fixed in less than thirty minutes (by rolling back the changes), the effect of the preproduction code on our validation service continued after the rollback took place," he said. The scope of systems affected is considerable, yet only a fraction of the world's installed Windows user base. "Our data shows that fewer than 12,000 systems were affected worldwide and that many of those have already revalidated and are fixed," said Kochis on the WGA blog. "This is encouraging news but we want to emphasize that one bad customer experience is one too many and that we're committed to learning from this experience and working to prevent this type of event from occurring again." In a more recent update, Kochis says that it's wrong to call this failure an "outage" because the servers were not down; they were just functioning incorrectly. Kochis says that were the servers completely down, clients would not have been misidentified as having pirated software. The good news is that Microsoft's system appears to be more fault-tolerant than we thought, at least in theory. Spinning whether or not this was an "outage" seems like an academic point, but Microsoft's emphasis here is that this failure was due to a very specific set of conditions that it believes won't be repeated. Windows Vista users who failed validation would have had the Aero user interface, ReadyBoost, and Windows Defender disabled, although Defender (like Windows Update) will still function for "critical" scans and updates. Kochis says that the full reduced functionality mode was not triggered for users because no 30-day grace period had been passed. Kochis also said that the company is going to look into why some of its support techs told users that a fix would not be forthcoming. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2-800 2GB Memory Kit @ TheTechLounge

Slashdot It! “Good RAM wouldn't be good if it didn't have rows of flashing lights under its heatspreader. Wait, that makes no sense. RAM is good when it, and, therefore, your computer, blazes. It should be about lower latencies and higher bandwidth, not Blinken- and ground lights. But are the two mutually exclusive? If we apply rice theory, spinners and lights may be added to any vehicle (import or domestic--although it's pretty hard to be impressed by a pimped-out Taurus) and imply, but are not evidence of, high performance. OK, so hear me out--there's a place where that metaphor comes back to fit, fer rills. Real racecars don't have lights and junk. That's heavy. Can high-performance RAM have lights? Will the extra stuff and/or heat weigh down the memory just as surely as would a tail fin lovingly crafted from Bondo?” Article Link: http://www.thetechlounge.com/article/445/Crucial+Ballistix+Tracer+DDR2800+2GB+Memory+Kit/ Image Link: http://www.thetechlounge.com/files/articles/445/index_197.jpg Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Kingston 2GB HyperX DDR3-1375 CL7 @ Techgage

Slashdot It! Last Friday, we took a look at one of the first DDR3 kits on the market, OCZ's DDR3-1333 Platinum. This week, we are continuing that theme with Kingston's DDR3-1375 CL7, also one of the first kits available. How does this one compare to our OCZ kit? Read on to find out. Link: http://techgage.com/article/kingston_2gb_hyperx_ddr3-1375_cl7/ Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

The problem with the new upgraded Windows Live Hotmail interface

Slashdot It! I am having some problems with the new interface of Windows Live Hotmail. They do not allow me to reply to emails. Shall update if I face more problems. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Paper Airline Tickets Become So Last Year

Slashdot It! By next summer, paper airline tickets will become collector’s items, according to the International Air Transport Association, which represents the majority of international airlines around the world. It said it has placed its last order for paper tickets and by next June 1, air travel will go entirely to electronic ticketing. Guardian Unlimited reports 84 percent of ticketing is done electronically, up from just 16 percent three years ago. The move is expected to save $9 per ticket, though there’s no word on whether that savings will be passed along to passengers. And responding to environmentalists’ criticism of the industry, IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani said e-ticketing will save 50,000 mature trees a year. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Google AdSense Replaces Yahoo on CNN.com

Slashdot It! The cash cow keeps getting healthier. CNN.com has agreed to join Google's AdSense advertising program, which has made the search vendor the multibillion-dollar Internet ad realtor it is. Neither the financial terms nor the duration of the deal were made public, but a CNN spokesperson confirmed for me that Google is replacing Yahoo as the provider of choice for contextually relevant text, image and video ads. Google will be the exclusive provider of auction-based text advertisements throughout CNN.com. Such deals are common and often circular. Google's leadership in search rankings may give it an edge in landing the bulk of such contextual ad deals. But it's partly through such deals that Google continues to be the search leader. To be sure, the CNN agreement is a coup over not only Yahoo but also Microsoft and AOL. All of the search and online portals covet advertising dollars and eyeballs for their content and additional Internet services. In July, Google renewed a multiyear deal with Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive whereby the search provider drives contextually targeted ads and Google Web Search functionality to washingtonpost.com's Web pages. A year ago this month, Google became the exclusive search and keyword ad sales provider for the properties of News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media, including MySpace.com. But Google's rivals aren't strangers to such deals either. Earlier in August, Yahoo added Philly.com, online home of the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News as an online ad partner. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Google CFO Reyes to retire by end of year

Slashdot It! Google said that George Reyes plans to retire as chief financial officer by the end of the year, and that the company will begin a search for a replacement. Reyes, 53, has served as CFO of Google, the world's leading provider of Web search and online services, since 2002. He helped spearhead the company's initial public offering in August 2004. A veteran of Silicon Valley high-tech companies, Reyes previously served as interim CFO of optical networking equipment company ONI Systems before it was sold to Ciena in 2002. For 13 years, he held various financial executive positions at computer maker Sun Microsystems. Reyes serves on the board of directors of two Silicon Valley-based software makers: Symantec and BEA Systems. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Apevia X-Telstar Black Aluminum Mid-Tower ATX Case @ Benchmark Reviews

Slashdot It! Today I'm reviewing the Apevia X-Telstar Black Aluminum Mid-Tower ATX Case. You might know Apevia from their many other products or particularly their very nice X-Navigator cases. The X-Telstar's prominent features are: large see-through side window panel; and a front LCD display; twelve drive bays; solid aluminum chassis; and three 120mm (large) fans. It is marketed as a gaming case however I'm sure you could load up Photoshop or a web browser up if your computer was inside, too. I wouldn't go so far as to say that any accounting or legal/law related programs would open on a computer in this case. ARTICLE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=51&Itemid=1 IMAGE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/images/reviews/Apevia%20X-Telstar/frontpage.jpg Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Apple now sells more than one in six laptops in U.S.

Slashdot It! Apple Inc.'s share of the laptop market is growing -- the company now sells more than one in every six laptops purchased in the U.S., a research firm said today. "Apple's definitely up," said Stephen Baker, an analyst at Port Washington, N.Y.-based NPD Group Inc. "Their sales are continuing to grow faster than the rest of the marketplace." NPD, which collects its data primarily from retail sources and excludes most online and all direct sales, said Apple's MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops accounted for 17.6% of June's unit sales, an uptick of more than three percentage points from May's 14.3%. Baker attributed the jump in market share to refreshes that both laptop lines recently received. The lower-priced MacBook was updated in mid-May with faster processors and more memory, while 15-in. models of the high-end MacBook Pro were outfitted with new backlit LED screens in early June. The market share increase pushed Apple past Gateway Inc. into third place on NPD's list of laptop sales leaders, behind Hewlett-Packard Co. and Toshiba Corp. Research firm IDC also has Apple in the third spot; data it released last month put Apple's share of U.S. sales at 5.6%, far behind leaders HP (28.4%) and Dell (23.6%) but tied with Gateway. Back-to-school sales during this month and next, Baker said, should be strong for Apple, but his forecast is that the company's share will remain stable through the quarter. "I don't expect it to improve any from the June numbers," said Baker. The next move by Apple, said Baker, will likely not be in its computer business -- it refreshed the iMac family earlier this month -- but on the iPod side. "I'll stay firmly in the path of conventional wisdom and say that it's iPods next," Baker said. "They haven't been refreshed in almost a year." Although bloggers and Apple-centric Web sites have been touting rumors of iPod announcements coming as soon as next Tuesday, Baker didn't have any inside information on possible release dates or even details. However, he did have some predictions. "Apple will up the capacity of the Shuffle," he said. The diminutive player, which sells for $79, currently maxes out at 1GB. "And Apple has to decide where they want to go with the Nano. It's a music player now, so the question is what can they do if they want to keep it in that form factor?" Some reports have surfaced with photos showing a shorter, wider Nano, with a screen better suited to video. At least one such posting has pulled the photos at Apple's request, fueling speculation that the images were legitimate. "I think we'll also see a whole revamp of the iPod video line," added Baker, citing talk of an iPod with the same size and shape -- including screen size -- as the iPhone as one possibility. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

New Digg Home Page breaks the Linux section on IE?

Slashdot It! So I'm sitting here eating lunch and go to see if there is anything new on Digg. Saw the new layout, looks nice, haven't really had a chance to play around with it yet. However, when i got to the Linux/Unix section, it wouldn't show up in Internet Explorer (6). It works fine in FireFox. Does someone over at Digg have a sense of humor or is my browser just acting on the bunk? Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Why changing your blog template would help you

Slashdot It! Two A-List bloggers have recently overhauled their site design in big ways. Both Problogger Darren Rowse and Dot Com Mogul John Chow went new from top to bottom with their designs. While both bloggers received mixed reactions from their fan base, there are a few perks that come with almost any new design. So, with two high profile examples at my disposal, I figured now would be a great time to discuss the Benefits of a Blog Redesign. Before we get too far into things, let’s take a look at the designs in question. First up is Darren’s incredibly popular Problogger. He had announced that a redesign was coming and even offered a sneak peak of the new logo but I don’t think anyone was quite prepared for this dramatic change: As I mentioned earlier, both new blog designs were met with somewhat mixed reactions. For example, on John’s site, many people felt that the header was now way too busy and didn’t put enough emphasis on the content. On the other hand, many others gave the new look rave reviews and one reader even mentioned they were so impressed they had already contacted the designer about redesigning their own site. Now that we’ve all seen these snazzy new designs, I’m sure many of us (including myself) are considering giving our site’s a facelift. What are the benefits to be gained? Well I’m glad you asked… Buzz When you visit a website on a regular basis, chances are you’re a fan. When that website then does something as dramatic as a redesign, that’s going to get you talking. These two examples have been perfect examples as both sets of readers have been analyzing, critiquing, and discussing the new looks. People who normally read the content via RSS feeds are making a point of clicking through to check out the new look and feel of the site. Bottom line, after a redesign, whether good or bad, there’s a lot of buzz. Obviously you’d like that buzz to be positive in nature but you’re never going to please everyone. Linkbait In the online world we live in, buzz almost always translates into links. While these two redesigns we’re using for examples certainly weren’t done with an eye on linkbait, they’ve turned out to be just that. I’ve read about both new designs on multiple other blogs. Whether people love or hate your new design, chances are they’ll link to your site to when letting their readers know that they love or hate it. Shoot, even this post is an example of this. Again, you’re hoping that the bulk of the links are from positive reviews and people raving over your new look but in the end, the search engines couldn’t care less. In the offline world there’s a saying that there’s no such thing as bad press. Well ladies and gents, I’m here to tell you there’s no such thing as bad links. (Note: I really don’t want to get into an SEO debate here, you get my point so roll with it.) Renewed Ad Exposure One thing that happens naturally over the course of time is ad blindness. Frequent visitors to your site know where the content is and they’ve probably already seen the ads on your site hundreds of times. Another benefit of a redesign, albeit a somewhat short lived one, is renewed exposure for your ads. It will take a while for your readers to become acquainted with your new look or layout and that means there’s a better chance of your ads catching their attention. As I said, this benefit won’t be all that long lasting but more attention placed on your ads, even for a short time, likely means a quick infusion of cash in your pocket. Refreshing Similar to the previous benefit, changing the appearance of your blog can have a very refreshing effect… on you! I don’t know about you but a few days after I put a site up (sometimes quicker) I start to see the little things that I want to change or a few things I’m not real fond of. It’s a bit like painting a room in your house. At first you love it because you’ve got the new color on the walls. As time passes you start to notice spots you missed or didn’t cover well enough. After a while, those little things start to annoy you and a while later they start to drive you nuts. The same thing applies to your blog. You probably loved it for a while but after a bit even the little things can drive you nuts. If you’re struggling with blogging burnout or just can’t stand to work on your site, a redesign might be just what the doctor ordered. More ROOOOM The last benefit I’m going to discuss is the one that’s most obvious. While you can’t see it in my small screen shots above, both the “after” designs are wider than their predecessors. As technology improves and prices drop, more and more people are viewing your site on larger and larger monitors. Not long ago, 800 pixels was the maximum width for your website if you didn’t want your readers to have to scroll to the left or right (and believe me, NO ONE wants to do that). Now, screen resolutions of 1000 pixels wide are common place if not the standard. You should always check out your stats before blowing out the side wall of your design and adding on, however, chances are you can give yourself quite a bit more room to work with. Now, whether that means more ad space or an extra row of navigation or just more room for your content, that’s up to you. Whatever you do with it though, extra space is always nice. Just look at the increasing size of our houses, I mean who doesn’t want to spread out a bit? So there you have it. While it’s always a good idea to improve your site when you decide to take the plunge and begin a redesign, these benefits accompany just about any new look, whether it’s good or bad. As I mentioned the redesign bug seems to be going around and as you might have guessed, I’ve apparently caught it. I’ve been very happy with the theme from BloggingPro but I feel it’s time for some improvements. A new design is in the works and it will include (finally!) a Blogging Experiment logo as well. I’m not 100% sure when it will roll out but the target is the middle of next week. Now that I think about it, maybe I should make a big event out of it and push the new look out with the post announcing the winner of the Complete Blogging Package contest. We were up to 133 subscribers yesterday but have fallen back into the 120’s today. The goal of 150 is mighty close but if you’d like any of the extra prizes time is running out! Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Ultra X-Pro 800W Aluminum PSU ULT33185 @ Benchmark Reviews

Slashdot It! Ultra has been in the business of producing good looking products which are known to perform well, and still not cost a fortune. We recently reviewed the Ultra ULT33186 Chilltec TEC CPU Cooler, which offered a unique blend of technologies into one product. Equally as unique is the Ultra X-Pro 800W Aluminum PSU ULT33185, which matches a very attractive power supply chassis with high-performance electronics previously found in mission critical components. Offering 800 watts of power gives the X-Pro a very wide range of applications: from pedestal servers to hardcore gaming systems. Benchmark Reviews has seen plenty of power supplies that look good, and they often promise more than they deliver. Ultra's X-Pro 800W will need to prove that function still comes before fashion. ARTICLE URL: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=70&Itemid=1 Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Acer to acquire Gateway for $710 million

Slashdot It! Acer plans to acquire Gateway in a deal worth $710 million that Acer says will make it the world's third-largest PC vendor. Under terms of the agreement announced Monday, Acer will purchase all of Gateway's outstanding shares for $1.90 per share. The deal has already been approved by the boards of directors at both companies and should be completed by the end of this year, subject to government approval, Acer said in a statement. Gateway's shares ended at $1.21 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. "This is the biggest acquisition in Acer's 30 year history," said J.T. Wang, Acer's chairman, speaking at a news conference in Taipei. "After this acquisition, we are solidly number three in the global PC market," Wang said. Acer's acquisition deal with Gateway also derails rival Lenovo Group's plans to acquire Packard Bell. Alongside the acquisition deal with Acer, Gateway unveiled plans to exercise its right of first refusal to acquire shares in Packard Bell's parent company, PB Holding Co. SARL, from John Hui. Hui is the founder of eMachines, which Gateway acquired in 2004, and the largest shareholder in Packard Bell. Gateway did not disclose how much it has offered for Hui's stake in PB Holding. Acer's efforts to overtake Lenovo will get a big boost from Gateway, which was the world's eighth largest PC vendor during 2006. Together Acer and Gateway shipped 18.6 million PCs during 2006, compared to 16.6 million PCs shipped by Lenovo. The Gateway acquisition will have the greatest impact in the U.S., where Acer has been growing fast but remains in sixth place among PC vendors. "This is definitely a good play for them from the U.S. consumer perspective," said Bryan Ma, director of personal systems research at IDC Asia-Pacific. However, the big question is how Acer plans to integrate Gateway with its own operations, and how smoothly the integration process will go, he said. Acer's share of the U.S. PC market grew 164 percent during the second quarter of 2007, compared to the same period last year. Acer shipped 888,000 PCs to U.S. customers, giving the company a 5.2 percent share of the market. By comparison, Gateway was the fourth-largest PC vendor during the second quarter, shipping 965,000 PC and taking 5.6 percent share of the U.S. PC market. The Gateway acquisition vaults Acer into the number three spot in the U.S. PC market, behind only HP and Dell. "Acer is an outstanding strategic partner for Gateway," said Ed Coleman, CEO of Gateway, in a video feed at the Taipei news conference to announce the deal. Gateway reported net income of $1.9 million for the second quarter, compared to a loss of $7.7 million one year earlier. The company said gains in its retail division during the period were offset by declining revenue in its professional and direct divisions. However, talks are currently underway to sell off the professional division to a third party, Gateway said. The company did not offer details of those discussions. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Google might buy Godaddy

Slashdot It! It can be a lot of fun to predict who Google may buy next. So when a colleague pointed out a blog post on Domain Name Wire last week that suggested Google could buy GoDaddy, I went fishing. Noting that registrar GoDaddy has been on a veritable patent filing rampage (more than 50 pending), Domain Name Wire editor Andrew Allemann specifically pointed to a search patent application GoDaddy filed in May 2006 for presenting search engine results based on domain name related reputation data. A glance at the patent summary on UPTO's Web site confirmed the filing is right in Google's bailiwick: "The search engine may sort or order search engine results based on domain name related reputation data. In some cases links connected to low reputation domain names may be excluded from search engine results. Alternatively, the search engine may show reputation ratings next to the links in the search engine results. Thus, allowing the Internet user to determine whether to visit the link or not. The reputation data may be tracked on the domain name itself, URLs, domain name purchaser or registrant, or email addresses associated with the domain name." There is also a filing for providing a user with domain name suggestions in response to a search performed on a computer network, as well as numerous filings for e-mail, VOIP and other patents the ever-expanding Google may find valuable. Wouldn't the GoDaddy patents go along way toward helping Google's goal to get more information from search queries? As Allemann pointed out "Google would get its hands on reams of data about the very domain names it is indexing, as well acquire its patent portfolio." Oh, and Google has been an official registrar for two years and partners with GoDaddy and ENOM to distribute domain registrations for $10 a year. I haven't heard a peep from Google and GoDaddy is getting back to me later. Could it be that GoDaddy is ramping up its IP filing cycle to defend against any Google power moves here, or maybe even to make itself more attractive to the search giant? Can you imagine the marketing campaigns in the wake of this union? The GoDaddy's girls would swap their tight tees for Google shirts. The "oo" letters in Google would certainly be strategically placed. Marketing minds will hit warp speed for new Web and TV campaigns for the Super Bowl. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Logitech G9 Laser Gaming Mouse @ Techgage

Slashdot It! Looking for the ultimate gaming mouse? Logitech's latest G9 offers a lot... and then some. Included is a switchable body, color-changing LEDs, 3200 DPI capabilities, MicroGear scroll-wheel, braided cable and much more. The question: Is it worth your $99? Link: http://techgage.com/article/logitech_g9_laser_gaming_mouse/ Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Linux in every A380 seat

Slashdot It! To make flying more enjoyable for its passengers, Singapore Airlines Ltd. is adding bigger screens, more in-flight movies and a PC, running Red Hat Inc.'s distribution of the Linux operating system, in every seat on its newest planes. Unlike many U.S. airlines, the carrier doesn't view in-flight service as a cost center where cutbacks can be made to reduce losses or boost profits. Instead, Singapore Airlines' latest investments in cabin service are designed to help it stand out from the competition and attract more passengers KrisWorld, Singapore Airlines' in-flight entertainment system, is a main focus of these efforts, offering on-demand movies, television shows, games and music to passengers. Now, the airline aims to raise the bar, rolling out a new version of KrisWorld that improves significantly on existing systems and hints at what passengers can expect to see on the Airbus S.A.S. A380 and The Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner, when these aircraft enter service. In recent years, video-on-demand and audio-on-demand have become common offerings on many airlines. "It's become expected," said Eric Tong, senior manager of inflight entertainment product innovation at Singapore Airlines, during a recent interview. Carriers have to push the boundaries of what's possible with these systems to stand out from the competition, he said. The latest version of KrisWorld is based on Panasonic Avionics Corp.'s eX2 in-flight entertainment system and was jointly developed by the two companies. The system consists of a central Linux server that connects to a network of PCs installed in every seat on the aircraft. The KrisWorld software offers an improved user interface and each economy-class seat is fitted with a 10.6-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) screen that offers resolution of 1,280 pixels by 768 pixels. They are larger in business and first class, where each seat comes with a 15.4-inch and 23-inch screen, respectively. The heart of the KrisWorld system is the main server, which is equipped with "terabytes" of storage capacity to hold the content that's made available to passengers, Tong said. When passengers choose to watch a movie or listen to a CD, the content is streamed from the KrisWorld server to the seat's computer, which has 40G bytes of local hard-disk space and is based on a Via Technologies Inc. processor. The amount of content that's available on the latest KrisWorld system for passengers to choose from is staggering: 100 movies, 150 television shows, 700 music CDs, 22 radio stations, and 65 games. Movies and television shows are refreshed on a monthly basis, meaning frequent fliers will always find fresh content. In addition, the system offers Berlitz language lessons, travel guides from Rough Guides, and live text news, among other choices. KrisWorld can also be used as a PC and includes Sun Microsystems Inc.'s StarOffice application suite, which offers a word processor, spreadsheet, and a presentation program. Every seat is fitted with a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port that lets passengers access documents carried on a thumb drive or portable hard disk. The port can also be used to connect a USB keyboard or mouse, making it easier for business travellers to create and edit documents without having to dig out their laptops and power cords, Tong said. Don't want to carry a keyboard with you? No problem. You can buy one on board the aircraft. Alternatively, the handsets installed in each seat that offered controls for the in-flight entertainment system on one side and a phone on the other, have been replaced with a model that offers user controls on one side a QWERTY keypad on the other. Unfortunately, since the demise of Boeing's Connexion service, Internet access hasn't been available on Singapore Airlines. But the carrier is looking for another way of providing Internet access, hoping to offer yet one more way to for passengers to spend all those hours in the sky. "We are reviewing options and once we find that there are viable options, sustainable ones over the longer term ... we will certainly look at it," Tong said. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Google is releasing the Google Phone in India in two weeks time

Slashdot It! Reports out of India suggest that Google will be releasing their rumored "Google Phone" worldwide in two weeks. The report is questionable for a number of reasons, the first of would probably have to be that it is only coming out of India, and the second of which is the unlikelihood that Google would stab their tech buddy Apple in the back by releasing a phone so soon after iPhone. Maybe Google's CEO Eric Schmidt sits on Apple's Board of Directors just so he could eavesdrop on conversation Steve Jobs was having when the iPhone was still in development. Now THAT would be a story. While the two-week timeline may be very questionable, it does seem to be fairly well assumed that Google is going to release a cellphone at some point in the future - and that it might even be free thanks to advertisements that would run on it. Also fairly likely is a phone from Microsoft, which may or may not be a ZunePhone. I see it now: in 2010 the three biggest selling cellphones in the U.S. are going to be the iPhone, the gPhone, and the zPhone - all made by crossovers from the computer/Internet industries. While there will still be the majority of the population using cellular technology - a sizeable portion will have begun using their phones with services like Skype over WiFi or WiMAX - or Google's gNetwork. Then Microsoft will launch a competitor called Skynet (come on, is Live SkyDrive that far off?...) and Arnold will step down from his new Senate seat to fight them... Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Windows Genuine Advantage server down

Slashdot It! Late last night we started receiving reports from readers experiencing problems with Windows Genuine Advantage authentication. Users of both Windows XP and Windows Vista were writing to say that they could not validate their installations using WGA, and one user even said that his installation was invalidated by the service. We contacted our sources at Microsoft, who told us off the record that the company is aware of a major WGA server outage affecting users across the globe. The Windows Genuine Advantage support forum has exploded with complaints, as a result, and Phil Liu, WGA project manager, says that he won't sleep until the problem is fixed. Windows Vista and XP are affected, 32- and 64-bit versions. Microsoft is telling users who are affected that they should "try again" later, with some support techs telling readers that Microsoft is aiming to have a fix in place by Tuesday, August 28. That would mean the outage will last more than three days, given that it started last night (and may have started earlier; we're hearing reports of some users running into this earlier in the week, on a limited basis). Reader Aaron Woolf tells us he was unable to validate patches for installation on a developer's copy of Vista pulled from MSDN. He writes, "My legitimate MSDN-acquired Vista Ultimate, which has been running, activated and validated for several months, now fails WGA." Others have reported similar difficulties. How does this affect you? If you use Windows, do your best to avoid anything that requires a ping to WGA. That means you should stay away from patches and add-ons until the coast is clear. WGA will not reach out across the Internet and deactivate your copy of Windows, but you should avoid talking to a WGA server for any reason. For those of you doing installations and upgrades this weekend, we recommend that you avoid activation at this time. Remember that you can run Windows legally for 30 days without activating. If you attempt a validation and it fails, your install may be marked as non-genuine, which could lead to several annoyances. First things first, do not reboot a Windows machine that has been marked as non-genuine. Once you do so, you will lose functionality and the Aero interface. It would be best to wait until this problem has been resolved. The cause Right now we don't have official word on a cause, but one source with familiarity with WGA tells us that the issue may be caused by updates to the service that were required after Microsoft expanded the number of activations keys available for Windows XP. However, the sense we get from Phil Liu is that Microsoft is pretty much in the dark right now. More as this develops... Update: Word from Microsoft is that this problem has been fixed, and all users affected should revisit the WGA site and re-validate. There's no explanation as to why Microsoft was originally telling people to wait until Tuesday, but the good news is that the problem has been solved. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

The challenge of algae fuel

Slashdot It! Making fuel out of algae is one of those ideas that everyone loves. An acre of algae can produce 50 times more oil than an acre of soy, estimates John Sheehan, now vice president of strategy and sustainable development at LiveFuels. "It can produce a lot of oil," he said in an interview on Wednesday. The oil can be used to make biodiesel or synthetic forms of petroleum or both. Many hope that algae-based fuel can sell for around $40 to $50 a barrel, or a lot less than crude. Algae facilities can also suck significant amounts of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. The fumes coming out of utility smokestacks can be piped into algae growing facilities. And to top it off, algae's not a massive food crop at the moment, so you aren't using a valuable food crop to gas cars. Sheehan's not new to the field. He oversaw biomass, ethanol and algae programs at National Renewable Energy Labs. An NREL paper on algae--along with research from some of the national labs--forms the basis of a lot of the thinking around algae. Right now, though, no one is producing it commercially. Companies such as LiveFuels, GreenFuel Technologies and Solazyme hope to start seeing algae oil get into the fuel markets in a substantial way over the next few years, but it's still mostly experimental. GreenFuel recently hit some snags and changed CEOs. One challenge is removing the water. It's not uncommon to have 1 gram of usable algae in every liter of water. "That's 1,000 parts of water for every part of algae," he said. The industry is also in the midst of a few religious wars. One is controlled versus open ponds. In controlled facilities, engineers can regulate the growth of organisms and control what kinds of species grow in the environment. These facilities cost quite a bit. Controlling the rate of growth can also be a problem. "Open ponds are the cheapest, simplest solution," he said. "But it is much harder to maintain consistency." Then there is the question of using biologically enhanced organisms or a mixture of naturally occurring species. Enhanced organisms can produce more oil per cell. However, they may not thrive if foreign species enter the pond. LiveFuels is an open pond/multispecies company, by the way. "The issue is: is it doable?" he said. "The question is: can we get the costs down to where it can compete" with fossil fuels? Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Some Halo 3 updates

Slashdot It! Does this gun make me look fat? New weapons like the Gravity Hammer (capable of fungoing a charging vehicle) will add a chaotic dimension to multiplayer combat, while old favorites like the Sniper Rifle have undergone minor tweaks. Remember how tough it was to kill Hunters in Halo 1 and 2? Not much has changed for H3. They’re still 12 feet tall, still packing deadly Fuel Rod Guns, and still some of the toughest bastards anywhere in the game. Halo 3 will see some new grenade types, undoubtedly making for some fresh and exciting ways to kill opponents. You know what else is good for killing opposing players? Shooting them in the throat... Guardian, a remake of the Halo 2 map, Lockout, contains carefully engineered vantage points, rooms, and weapon placement. The result? A far more balanced playing experience than its predecessor. Is that a Needler in your pants, or are you just happy to see me? A player’s secondary weapon now appears attached to his back or holstered at his side — no more surprise rocket attacks! Yep, you'll be able to play as an Elite in campaign, co-op, and multiplayer game modes. New for multiplayer, however, is the ability to design and customize different aspects of Spartan armor. What’s the Mosh Pit game type like? It’s exactly like a mosh pit at a concert, only everyone is 7 feet tall and a killing machine armed with weapons from the future. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Australian teenager cracks $84-million Internet porn filter in 30 minutes

Slashdot It!

Tom Wood, a Year 10 student, probably 15 - 16 years old has cracked the federal government's $84-million internet porn filter in just 30 minutes. He can deactivate the filter in several clicks in such a way that the software's icon is not deleted which will make his parents believe the filter is still working. Tom says it is a matter of time before some computer-savvy kid puts the bypass on the Internet for others to use. "It's a horrible waste of money," he said. "They could get a much better filter for a few million dollars made here rather than paying overseas companies for an ineffective one."

Australian communications Minister Helen Coonan said the government had anticipated kids would find their ways around the NetFilter. Yes Minister but 30 minutes for a teenager to crack a 84 million dollar filter is simply ridiculous.

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Firefox Campus Edition

Slashdot It! Later today Mozilla will do something a bit out of the ordinary and release a special “Campus Edition” of their Firefox web browser, just in time for back to school. Firefox Campus Edition is your typical run-of-the-mill Firefox release bundled with three school friendly add-ons: Zotero, FoxyTunes and StumbleUpon. Zotero is a research tool that helps you collect, manage and cite your research sources. FoxyTunes lets you control your media player from within Firefox while the StumbleUpon toolbar helps you discover interesting web content based upon your preferences. Firefox Campus Edition isn’t the first Firefox “edition” of something. Last month, Mozilla released an eBay Edition. Now, I can’t help but wonder how much money Mozilla stands to make off such partnerships. You can download Firefox Campus Edition at firefox.com/backtoschool later today. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

World’s First Mode-Locked Silicon Evanescent Laser

Slashdot It! Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have announced they have built the world's first mode-locked silicon evanescent laser, a significant step toward combining lasers and other key optical components with the existing electronic capabilities in silicon. The research provides a way to integrate optical and electronic functions on a single chip and enables new types of integrated circuits. It introduces a more practical technology with lower cost, lower power consumption and more compact devices. The research will be reported in the September 3 issue of Optics Express and is published online today. Mode-locked evanescent lasers can deliver stable short pulses of laser light that are useful for many potential optical applications, including high-speed data transmission, multiple wavelength generation, remote sensing (LIDAR) and highly accurate optical clocks. Computer technology now depends mainly on silicon electronics for data transmission. By causing silicon to emit light and exhibit other potentially useful optical properties, integration of photonic devices on silicon becomes possible. The problem in the past? It is extremely difficult, nearly impossible, to create a laser in silicon. Less than one year ago, a research team at UCSB and Intel, led by John Bowers, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, created laser light from electrical current on silicon by placing a layer of InP above the silicon. In this new study, Bowers, Brian Koch, a doctoral student, and others have used this platform to demonstrate electrically-pumped lasers emitting 40 billion pulses of light per second. This is the first ever achievement of such a rate in silicon and one that matches the rates produced by other mediums in standard use today. These short pulses are composed of many evenly spaced colors of laser light, which could be separated and each used to transmit different high-speed information, replacing the need for hundreds of lasers with just one. Creating optical components in silicon will lead to optoelectronic devices that can increase the amount and speed of data transmission in computer chips while using existing silicon technology. Employing existing silicon technology would represent a potentially less expensive and more feasible way to mass-produce future-generation devices that would use both electrons and photons to process information, rather than just electrons as has been the case in the past. This research builds upon the development of the first hybrid silicon laser, announced by UCSB and Intel a year ago, enabling new applications for silicon-based optics. The research was supported by funds from the Microsystems Technology Office of DARPA. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Sony runs Walkman off sugar-based bio battery

Slashdot It! A year ago it seemed Sony couldn't even get a laptop battery right. A massive recall of lithium-ion cells tainted its image and had the company scrambling, but on Thursday it reported a sweet breakthrough in bio battery technology. Sony, one of the world's largest battery makers, said it had succeeded in creating a battery that produces electricity by breaking down sugar. The bio cell, which measures 39 millimeters cubed, delivers 50mW (milliWatts) -- a world record for such a cell, according to the company. A video provided by Sony shows four of the cells connected in series delivering enough energy to power a Walkman music player. The battery uses glucose solution as a fuel. A second video shows a small fan being powered by the cell with a glucose-based sports drink used as the fuel. As in other cells, power is produced through a flow of electrons between a cathode and anode. In the bio cell sugar-digesting enzymes at the anode extract electrons and hydrogen ions from the glucose. The hydrogen ions pass through a membrane separator to the cathode where they absorb oxygen from the air to produce water as a byproduct. The electrons flow around the circuit outside the device producing the electricity needed to power it. Details of the bio battery were accepted as a paper at the 234th American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition that is taking place this week in Boston. Sugar is naturally occurring so the technology could be the basis for an ecologically-friendly energy source. Companies like Sony are researching numerous technologies that could replace the dominant lithium ion cells as a clean power source for portable electronics. One of the most talked about is fuel cell technology. While hydrogen-based cells have taken off for home or automobile use, versions based on methanol for use in electronics products have yet to be commercialized. Toshiba and NEC are among the companies that promised methanol fuel cell-based laptops in previous years, but each time technology launches have been delayed. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

eBay makeover looks like Amazon

Slashdot It! If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Amazon.com should look with pride at the changes going on at eBay. The Web's largest auctioneer is revamping page designs, overhauling search functions and launching new services that bear a strong resemblance to features that work well at Amazon, the Internet's biggest retailer. To be sure, this is no casual face-lift for eBay. For more than 10 years, eBay, with its fat margins and zealous user base, has been the dominant force in the battle between the two e-commerce superpowers. Currently, however, the momentum appears to be with Amazon. Wall Street has rewarded Amazon for its ease of use, growing selection, low prices and success at persuading greater numbers of merchants to sell goods on its site. By comparison, some say eBay looks frumpy, with its helter-skelter search results and cluttered product pages. Sure, eBay has seen sharp growth from two significant units--payment service PayPal and Internet telephone service Skype, but investors are showing signs of wariness that Amazon may be eating into eBay's market share. "E-commerce is growing at 20 percent," said Scot Wingo, CEO of ChannelAdvisor, which sells e-commerce software tools to small and medium-size businesses. "Amazon is growing at 30 percent. What everyone wants to know is why eBay is failing to keep pace with e-commerce?" Here are the metrics that disturb most eBay watchers. Growth in gross merchandise volume (GMV), a marquee metric in measuring eBay's health, is slowing, while listings are in decline. For the quarter that ended June 30, eBay reported worldwide listings fell 6 percent and GMV grew 12 percent to $14.46 billion, compared with growth of 18 percent in the same period a year earlier. The company has tried to explain that listings no longer have the same relevance as the company has diversified. "What we said about the second quarter was that we were really pleased with our growth," said Hani Durzy, eBay's spokesman. "The second quarter was a good one." The company saw profits for that quarter shoot up 50 percent to $375 million, and revenue increased 30 percent. Nonetheless, eBay's message has been met with mostly skepticism. Amazon's shares as of Friday afternoon were trading at around $78, while eBay was at around $34. Since March, Amazon's share price has risen 50 percent, while eBay's has risen 13 percent. Wall Street is convinced that the buying experience at eBay is broken, and the message to CEO Meg Whitman is clear: fix the bread-and-butter part of your business. And that's likely why visitors to eBay have seen a new, less-cluttered home page recently and a service that allows buyers to bid on several items at the same time. Another feature lets consumers track eBay auctions while logged in at other Web sites. Meanwhile, eBay's engineers continue to tinker. The company has quietly tested new product pages, search features and product displays with a look and feel that is unmistakably Amazon. For example, eBay is experimenting with a new, smarter search. Key the words "Nikon D40" into eBay's traditional search, for instance, and the results page shows an 18-55mm lens at the top, followed by three cameras, another lens, a reversing ring for the lens and later a camera bag. But earlier this week, a search for the Nikon D40 returned a page with two photos of different models of the camera. (The search pages aren't showing currently, since they're only now being tested.) The pictures were much larger than the thumbnails typically found in eBay's results. Below the photos were ratings of the cameras, links to customer reviews, and the range of prices. Wingo said that eBay's search retrieves scads of items that are only peripherally related to a product, and that the company is working on narrowing its searches. Someone entering "Nikon D40" into a search field is likely looking for the camera and not a lens cap, according to Wingo. "They are trying to parse their findings," Wingo said. "When someone punches in 'Nike, blue, size 10,' the search will know that Nike is a brand, blue is a color and 10 is a size. This will lead to a much cleaner result." Product pages could see big changes. Soon, eBay will offer customers photos to enable them to see a product from multiple angles, something it does not do now. Further down the page are tabs labeled Overview, Listings, Reviews--similar to what Amazon shows on a Nikon search: a single large photo is posted to the page and underneath are images of the camera from different angles. This is followed by technical and product details and descriptions, as well as a listing of products that other customers have bought after purchasing the camera. "These features have existed on the site, but never in an aggregated or simple way to find," Wingo said. "This is a much more Amazon way of buying." Sean Ditterle agrees. After reviewing some of eBay's tests, the auditor from San Francisco who looks for deals on eBay about four times a week, welcomed the upgrades. "The search takes you to where you want to go quicker," said Ditterle, 25. eBay is after what Amazon has succeeded in doing for years now: SKU authority. SKU stands for stock-keeping unit, a numbered system that retailers have used for decades to keep track of inventory. Amazon has done a good job of cataloging the goods it sells, Wingo said. But eBay faces a much harder challenge in this regard, according to Durzy. "The technical challenge that we face to help people find things is we have a much larger offering," Durzy said. "At any given time there are 100 million items on eBay. There are a lot of things that you can't find anywhere else and there's not a catalog or SKUs offered by our customers. The product names are whatever millions of people want to call them." Durzy denied that eBay used Amazon's design as a model for its redesign. Presumably, investors won't care where eBay got the inspiration. They just want the features to work. Said Durzy: "The most important thing for us is to focus on improving the buyer experience and increase engagement on the site, encourage return visits and help them find the things they are look for...all this is paramount for us." Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

iPhone cracked

Slashdot It! No one ever doubted that the iPhone would be unlocked. It was only a matter of time before someone figured out how to crack the armor that heretofore has kept iPhone users from popping in a SIM card other than the iPhone-specific one that AT&T Wireless supplies with every new iPhone. It seems that the team of someones at iPhoneSimFree.com are the first to successfully pull off this feat. The group says it has unlocked the phone, and will be releasing its software for sale starting next week. Unlocking the iPhone dramatically widens the phone's appeal. For one, it means that you won't be tied to AT&T Wireless' services and network; you can use whatever local GSM network operates best for your needs--and potentially save money while doing so. Once it's been unlocked, you can take the phone with you anywhere, and pop in the SIM card of choice. For me, that would mean sticking with T-Mobile, where I already have a family plan and a service I don't want to change. For others, that may mean inserting a SIM purchased locally while traveling in Italy. While we haven't tried this unlock yet ourselves, technology blog Engadget has given it a try, and found that the unlock works as advertised. Notably, Engadget says that at the moment, the hack appears "restore-resistant"--meaning you won't have to re-hack your phone after you apply an iPhone update. This is key to the success of any iPhone unlock process; Apple appears well on its way towards having multiple iPhone updates over time, and each software update so far has managed to undo any existing hacks on the iPhone. I'll be interested to see what the response will be from Apple and AT&T Wireless. Considering you still have to buy the iPhone with a two-year AT&T Wireless contract, I'm not clear on how much of an advantage the iPhone unlock will be to the average consumer. You'll still have to pay to get out of your AT&T contract--which in turn will raise your overall cost-of-ownership on the iPhone. Another consideration--if you plan to use the iPhone's Internet access over the cellular network--you'll want to pay for an unlimited data plan. The iPhone's Safari browser delivers the real, graphical Internet--which translates into lots of megabytes of data being transferred via the network. If you don't have unlimited data access, I'd shudder to think about the overage charges. Addendum: More iPhone unlocks are surfacing now. One is from Rochester Institute of Technology-bound teenager from New Jersey came up with this solution, as documented on his blog. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

BitTorrent Admin Monitored by US Government

Slashdot It! Sk0t, an ex-administrator of the EliteTorrents BitTorrent tracker is to have his internet connection forcibly monitored by the US Government. If that wasn’t bad enough, the monitoring software is Windows based - which means he is being forced to ditch Linux - or face being barred from the internet. Scott McCausland (sk0t), the ex-administrator of the EliteTorrents BitTorrent tracker isn’t having much luck lately. Back in September 2006, he pleaded guilty to two charges - ‘conspiracy to commit copyright infringement’ and ‘criminal copyright infringement’. Both charges relate to him uploading ‘Star Wars: Episode III’ onto the internet hours before the theatrical release, earning him 5 months in jail and 5 months home confinement. Sk0t has now been released from jail but this doesn’t mean that everything is back to normal. Back on 17 July, sk0t had to see his Probation Officer for the first time and two days later he had to have a special ankle bracelet attached. This monitoring device is there to enforce the terms of his release: Monday to Friday 08:30 to 21:00 he is free to do as he pleases. Weekends are more restrictive - freedom is allocated between 08:30 to 17:00. The one good thing about this device is that it will be removed before Christmas (Dec 19th). According to a post on his blog, following another meeting with his Probation Officer, it seems sk0t is having more trouble: So, I am getting shafted by the Justice Department again…” sk0t was informed by his Probation Officer that he has to have special software installed on his PC so that the government can monitor his online activities. However, what is a more bitter pill to swallow for him is that the monitoring software is Windows only and as sk0t is an Ubuntu user, the Justice Department is forcing him to switch operating systems. I had a meeting with my probation officer today, and he told me that he has to install monitoring software onto my PC. No big deal to me, that is part of my sentence. However, their software doesnt support GNU/Linux (Which is what I use). So, he told me that if I want to use a computer, I would have to use an OS that the software can be installed on. Sk0t is left with a tough choice. Give in to the evils of the monitoring software, format his hard drive and install Windows - or be barred from using a PC completely. Sk0t told TorrentFreak: “I think that this whole situation is just one more way that they can impose their will onto me. I have contacted my attorney, and we are going to fight this. It isn’t the fact that I have to be monitored that bothers me, it is the fact that I have restructure my life (different OS, different software on that OS) and that they would require (force) me to purchase software while I a currently unemployed and relatively unemployable with the 2 felonies that they gave me. It is just a ridiculous situation. Why should I conform to them when I am consenting to the software… they should have software that conforms to me.” Unfortunately, thanks to the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, some BitTorrent users are considered criminals these days, which means these unusual measures can be forced upon them. In a society where ‘the punishment should fit the crime’, you can’t help but think that somewhere along the line there’s been a big miscalculation when regular citizens are turned into criminals for sharing files. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Odex loses case against PacNet

Slashdot It! IN a surprise ruling that throws a new twist into the ongoing Odex saga, a court has ruled that Pacific Internet (PacNet) does not have to release the names of its subscribers accused of ripping content from the anime distributor. The decision has raised some eyebrows because two other Internet service providers (ISPs) — SingNet and StarHub — had earlier been ordered to reveal the identities of their subscribers accused of a similar violation. In a closed-door hearing at the Subordinate Courts yesterday, District Judge Ernest Lau ruled that PacNet did not have to give up the names of about 1,000 subscribers who were accused of illegally downloading Odex's anime — Japanese cartoon and animation — series. It was not clear if Odex would appeal against Mr Lau's decision. Odex co-director Peter Go did not return telephone calls. The judgment surprised observers and those who were served letters of demand by Odex. "You're kidding," said lawyer Siew Kum Hong. "You would expect the outcome of the three cases to be the same." The Nominated Member of Parliament added: "StarHub and SingNet users are now likely to start asking questions, and we can also expect Odex to appeal." StarHub spokeswoman Jeannie Ong said the company was assessing its options. "We don't know the specific situation under which the judge in PacNet's appeal ruled in their favour. It was a different judge handling their case," she said. A SingNet spokesman told Today that the telco had provided Odex with the names only after the firm produced a court order "and served it on us". Since May, Odex has been cracking down on freeloaders and was successful in getting SingNet and StarHub to reveal the identities of customers who downloaded its anime illegally. The company, which is the main anime distributor here, subsequently served legal letters on the freeloaders — many of them teenagers — reportedly demanding payments of between $3,000 and $5,000. While the law appeared to be on Odex's side, the company's tough action has angered some users. Its other director, Mr Stephen Sing, has reportedly received death threats from angry anime fans. There were also criticisms from observers that Odex's monetary demand from the freeloaders was excessive. But in a letter to the media, Odex said that the settlements it is seeking are not for damages, but "reimbursement" of expenses incurred "in pursuing these enforcement matters". Meanwhile, an Indonesian woman, whose teenage nephew was issued a letter by Odex to pay a sum of up to $5,000, is meeting Odex representatives today. "I have spoken to several lawyers who have all asked me to pay the money and settle the case," she said. "The question now is 'how much' because $5,000 is too much." ISP need not reveal names of alleged anime freeloaders Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Seagate to offer solid-state drives in 2008

Slashdot It! Seagate Technology LLC plans to add solid-state drives based on flash memory chips to its lineup of storage products sometime in 2008, the company said Thursday. Seagate will introduce the drives across a range of products including desktop and notebook PCs, offering various storage capacities, said Woody Monroy, a Seagate spokesman. Monroy confirmed comments made by the company in published reports earlier in the day. "We have solid-state drives on every road map that we have," Bill Watkins, the company's CEO, told The Wall Street Journal in an interview. SSDs, as solid-state drives are also known, use flash memory instead of magnetic disks to store information. Flash is a type of non-volatile memory, which means the chips retain stored information when power is off. Other memory types, such as DRAM, lose data when the power goes off. SSDs offer a couple advantages over disk-based drives: they're lighter, consume less power, and more rugged, making them ideal for laptops and mobile devices. They are also more expensive, but the price gap is narrowing as flash memory becomes increasingly cheaper. Seagate already makes hybrid drives, which combine flash memory with magnetic disks. Its Momentus 5400 PSD hybrid drive stores the most commonly accessed data on flash memory instead of on disks, which improves read time and speeds up the process of booting a computer, the company said. The drives are intended to be used in laptops and are available in capacities up to 160GB, according to Seagate's Web site. Seagate will use the new flash drives to augment its product lineup for certain applications, but predicts far greater demand for its hybrid, or "flash-embedded," drives. "We have a pretty compelling product in hybrid drives; that's where we see a large part of the storage market going in the future, much bigger than SSD," Monroy said. In January, Seagate joined an industry alliance of storage vendors promoting hybrid drive technology, also including Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Inc., Fujitsu Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. That capability also complements a feature of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista OS, designed to remove the delay often encountered while a computer searches for and retrieves files from its hard drive. Intel Corp. also uses a similar approach to speed the performance of its Centrino Duo notebook platform. As the high cost of flash and hybrid drives drops closer to traditional hard drives, consumers will soon fuel increased demand for the superior performance of solid state, analysts said. In June, iSuppli Corp. forecasted that by the end of 2009, 12% of notebooks would include SSDs, and 35% of notebooks would use hybrid hard drives. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Intel to Move NOR Flash Memory Products for Embedded to 65nm Process Technology

Slashdot It! To support its embedded technology customers, Intel Corporation announced today plans to extend its embedded NOR flash products to the 65-nanometer (nm) generation. According to the company, the move to 65nm process technology will provide price/performance balance and ensure support for extended product life cycles, both important factors to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) designing for embedded market segments. Intel's 65nm products, which are typically used in consumer electronics devices, wired communications equipment and industrial applications, are expected to start sampling to customers in the first half of 2008. "Most embedded designs remain in production longer than cell phones or other consumer devices," said Glen Hawk, general manager, Intel Flash Products Group. "Intel NOR wireless products are already being manufactured in high volume on this leading edge process. We are using this knowledge and expertise to accelerate our product development and production schedule." The move to 65nm process for embedded will enable Intel to support the longer product life cycle, as well as offer enhanced product features and cost efficiencies. Intel NOR product offerings for embedded market segments include both parallel and serial solutions. Intel StrataFlash® Embedded Memory (P30/P33) is Intel's lowest cost-per-bit, high-density, high-performance single chip code and data solution. Intel® Embedded Flash Memory (J3 v.D) offers drop-in compatible upgrade paths for legacy designs. Its enhanced features support mainstream embedded applications that need value and scalability. The industry-standard Intel® Serial Flash Memory (S33) simplifies board design and saves board space with a low pin-count interface and smaller package for a range of applications such as TVs, DVDs, PCs, modems and printers. Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Most Active Open Source Projects in Codeplex

Slashdot It! It is nice to see the open source projects' progress in Microsoft world, especially it is been extremely fast growth after the Codeplex launched, and also GotDotNet suggests their hosted projects to move on to Codeplex. As you might remember, I have submitted a post about Codeplex a few weeks ago; Microsoft Open Source Projects. This time, it is proud to list most popular and active top 25 projects that has been hosted in Codeplex. * AJAX Control Toolkit - a collection of samples and components which make it easier than ever to build and consume rich client-side controls and extenders built on the Microsoft AJAX Library and ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions. The Toolkit provides both ready to go samples and a powerful SDK to simplify the creation and re-use of your own custom controls and extenders. * BlogEngine.NET - a full featured blog engine targeted at .NET developers. It is light weight and very simple to modify and extend. * SharpMap - an easy-to-use map rendering and display engine, including AJAX-powered ASP.Net UserControl and a WinForm 2.0 control. You supply it with GIS data for use in web and desktop applications, and it generates eye-catching, useful maps. Written in C# 2.0. * VMukti P2P Multipoint Real-time Rich Media Collaboration Platform - Web2.0, distributed, peer-to-peer, grid computing, unified communications SAAS platform for web, phone, and IM rich media collaboration & conference. This Multipoint VoIP, VVoIP Video service delivery platform is based on C#, WPF, WCF, & .NET 3.5. * GoTraxx - C# program that plays the game of Go. * DocProject for Sandcastle - drives the Sandcastle help generation tools using the power of Visual Studio 2005/2008 and MSBuild. Choose from various project templates that build compiled help 1.x or 2.x for all project references. DocProject facilitates the administration and development of project documentation with Sandcastle, allowing you to use the integrated tools of Visual Studio to customize Sandcastle's output. * IronPython - a new implementation of the Python programming language on the .NET Framework. It supports an interactive interpreter with fully dynamic compilation. It is well integrated with the rest of the framework and makes all .NET libraries easily available to Python programmers. * umbraco - a Content Management Platform (CMS) written in c# on the Microsoft .NET platform. It's fast, flexible and with a user interface that makes it a charm to use. * Coding4Fun Developer Kit - a collection of components, controls and samples in both Visual Basic and Visual C#. The features of the kit include a single installation file that provides users easy access off the Windows Start Menu to the documentation, sample executables and source code; a toolbox entry within Visual Studio for all components and controls for easy drag 'n drop experience. * Community Kit for SharePoint - a set of best practices, templates, Web Parts, tools, and source code that enables practically anyone to create a community website based on SharePoint technology for practically any group of people with a common interest. * Facebook Developer Toolkit - the original Facebook Developer Toolkit for the Microsoft Visual Studio Express Team. This project contains .NET wrappers to the Facebook API. Also, includes sample projects and controls. We are going to start by trying to maintain both the vb.net and C# code bases. * TheBeerHouse - CMS & e-commerce StarterKit, an ASP.NET 2.0 website which features a layout with user-selectable themes, a membership system, a content management system for publishing and syndicating articles and photos, polls, mailing lists, forums, an e-commerce store with support for real-time credit card processing, homepage personalization, localization and more. * Vista Battery Saver - tinny program will save up to 70% of your battery by disabling those nice, but greedy Vista features. Running in task bar with private workset of 5.5M and 0% CPU it will do all work for you, by enabling and disabling customizable features when power source changed or battery power fall under certain percent. * Ajax.NET Professional - one of the first AJAX frameworks for Microsoft ASP.NET and is working with .NET 1.1 and 2.0. The framework will create proxy classes on client-side JavaScript to invoke methods on the web server with full data type support working on all common web browsers including mobile devices. * Sandcastle Help File Builder - consists of a GUI front end that lets you interactively build help files using Sandcastle. A console mode version is also supplied that allows you to build help files as part of the normal project build. The GUI front end provides access to project settings that let you configure various aspects of the resulting help file including the ability to add additional content, build HTML Help 1, HTML Help 2, or website output. * dashCommerce - a free, open source e-commerce storefront written specifically for ASP.NET 2.0. It features out-of-the-box product catalog and shopping cart functionality that allows website owners to setup, run, and maintain an online store with little or no costs, license fees, or limitations. dashCommerce offers .NET developers of all skill levels the ability to create an e-commerce site quickly and efficiently. The project is built in C# and takes advantage of features of the Microsoft.NET Framework 2.0. It also supports PayPal Website Payments Standard and Pro as the payment engine. * PHP Excel 2007 classes - a set of classes for the PHP programming language, which allow you to write to Excel 2007 files and read from Excel 2007 files. * Power Toys Pack Installer - one-stop download utility for all things power toys. Get latest releases and updates from just a single executable. * ProMesh.NET Web Application Framework - a MVC-ready lightweight web application framework for .NET 2.0. It includes a full unit testing framework. * Terminals - a multi tab terminal client to ease the work of anyone who needs to connect simultaneously to more then one terminal server/remote desktop. Terminals uses Microsoft Terminal Services ActiveX. * Vista Virtual Desktop Manager - A virtual desktop manager made for Windows Vista using the new thumbnail APIs to create a live preview of all of your desktops. * DinnerNow.net - a fictitious marketplace where customers can order food from local restaurants for delivery to their home or office. This sample application is designed to demonstrate how you can develop a connected application using several new Microsoft technologies, including: IIS7, ASP.NET Ajax Extensions, Linq, Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation, Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Powershell, and the .NET Compact Framework. * SQL Server Hosting Toolkit - A suite of tools designed to enable shared hosters to provide a great experience around hosted SQL Server. * Ionics Isapi Rewrite Filter - a small, cheap, easy to use, URL rewriting ISAPI filter that combines a good price (free!) with good features. It is implemented in about 1700 lines of C code, works with IIS 5.x and 6, does regular-expression matching, rewriting, redirects, and RewriteCond. IIS7 will have a nice model for managed ISAPI, but IIRF is available now. * PowerShell Community Extensions - provides a widely useful set of additional cmdlets, providers, aliases, filters, functions and scripts for Windows PowerShell that members of the community have expressed interest in but didn't make it into PowerShell v1.0. Examples of these cmdlets are Get-Clipboard, Out-Clipboard, Get-Hash, Get-ShortPath, Set-FileTime, New-SymLink, Format-Hex, Format-Xml, Test-Xml, Test-Assembly, Ping-Host, etc. * QuickGraph 2.0 - provides generic directed graph datastructures and algorithms for them. It also comes with algorithms such as depth first seach, breath first search, shortest path, network flow etc... * SharePoint 2007 Features - add new functionality to a SharePoint 2007 farm, site collection, or site. This project will create Features to address deficiencies in SharePoint 2007 or add new capabilities. You should understand a little about Features before trying these out. The packages here use batch files or WSP files to install the Features. After installation, be sure to activate the Features to see them in SharePoint. * iTunes 2.0 - an online rich internet application. Using ajax.asp.net and silverlight im going to bring the iTunes experience completely online. * Facebook.NET - a framework for creating Facebook applications in .NET. It is optimized for creating ASP.NET-based Facebook applications. * ASP.NET RSS Toolkit - gives ASP.Net applications the ability to consume and publish to RSS feeds. * BDCToolkit - The MOSS BDC & DAL generator is a tool that generates typed webservices and a typed c# data access layer from an BDC application definition. It also ensures that the code that has been generated is used on the correct application definition. * DbEntry.Net - a lightweight Object Relational Mapping (ORM) database access compnent for .Net 2.0. By using Generics and Anonymous Method, it has clearly and easily programing interface. It based on ADO.NET, and supported C#, Visual Basic, ASP.NET, Access, SqlServer, MySql and SQLite etc... * System Search to LinQ - create a LinQ extension to interact with the new functionality of desktop search using de advantages of the elegant and efficient programming model introduced by C# 3.0 * D.NET (DDotNet) - a "Development for .NET" framework, created to help all developers to create a better applications. Contains a implementation of ORM (Object Relational Mapping) framework with Business Objects Framework and other components. * TFSBuildLab - simplify the day to day operations when using automated builds and Team System. * Blind Shark - a musical game, where you have to find the music being played before your opponents. * Balder - A 3D game engine for Silverlight and possibly other .net based technologies. * Elephant Game Framework - a small Game Framework, currently set with a focus on game development through Microsoft XNA. * PoshConsole - a more modern PowerShell Console. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Linux Fund Visa Card

Slashdot It! The all-new Linux Fund Visa Card launches today. "It's back, and better than ever" said David Mandel, Executive Director. The Linux Fund began in 1999. Since then, the organization has handed out over one-half million dollars in grants to Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS) projects like Blender, FreeGeek and the WikiMedia Foundation. "We don't represent a wealthy patron or a long-dead industrialist," says Mandel. "Our donations come from engineers, managers, and ordinary working geeks who use The Linux Fund Visa in the course of everyday living. The way it works is actually quite cool. Just by using The Linux Fund Visa card, ordinary geeks can participate in serious philanthropy, at no out-of-pocket cost to themselves." Participate in serious philanthropy, at no out-of-pocket cost to yourself. Each time a cardholder uses their card, a donation is made to The Linux Fund by the card issuer, U.S. Bank. These donations add up to tens of thousands of dollars per year which The Linux Fund then gives out in grants. The Linux Fund has donated to new ideas and teams who maintain things like Debian. "The new card is a clear upgrade from the old card," said Mandel. "There is a new program for College students and another program where the card holder and The Linux Fund share the rewards. Most cardholders will elect to give all of their rewards to charity, but some want to split it. That's fine by us, we're pleased to now offer both options." Beginning today, applications are being accepted online. The Linux Fund will also be accepting applications in person at OSCON 2007 in Portland, Oregon on July 25-26, 2007. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Number of Linux users jump

Slashdot It! According to DesktopLinux.com's just completed survey, the number of Desktop Linux users has more than doubled in the past year, and Ubuntu remains their Linux distribution of choice. Since DesktopLinux.com's recently completed survey is a self-selected group, we can't claim scientific proof that the number of desktop Linux users has more than doubled in the past year. Still, this year's survey produced 38,500 votes versus 14,535 votes over the same number of days in a similar survey one year ago. Part of the increase undoubtedly was because this year's survey received front page coverage on both Digg and the German news site, Heise Online. That said, we've also seen an increased interest in Desktop Linux, based on our own website statistics. We've seen significant increases during the last year both in terms of unique visitors and site page hits. You don't need to believe our numbers or surveys, though. Dell and Lenovo didn't invest in pre-loading Linux desktops to win points with the cool Linux kids. Both companies did it because they want to make money with the Linux desktop. Dell, in fact, has expanded its Ubuntu Linux offerings both in the U.S. with its 1420 laptop line, in Europe, and in the Chinese office desktop market. Today, Linux desktops are a business, not just a hobby. So, what are desktop Linux users of 2007 using? Desktop distributions The leading Linux distribution is the Ubuntu family -- 30 percent of our survey respondents are using Ubuntu or one of its sister distributions: Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and Edubuntu. While there are other distributions that owe a great deal to Ubuntu -- Linspire, Freespire, MEPIS, Linux Mint, and Pioneer all come quickly to mind -- we decided not to count them for Ubuntu this year, since some, like Freespire, have just made the switch, while others, such as MEPIS, are switching back to Debian, and Pioneer is going in its own direction.

Which Linux distros do you use on your home or office desktop system(s)? (Click to enlarge) Next in popularity, after the ever-popular Ubuntu family, comes the SUSE Linux family with 21 percent. In our survey, we found mostly openSUSE users (19.7 percent) with a scattering of SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop) users (1.3 percent). This isn't too surprising, since our preliminary analysis of our survey data showed that the majority of our respondents were individual rather than corporate users. It's also noteworthy that the SUSE Linuxes have taken a major step forward. In 2006's survey, the SUSE family came in a distant second place with only 13 percent of the user base. In terms of year-over-year growth, openSUSE and SLED were the real winners, in fact, with a jump of 8 percentage points. The Ubuntu family, by comparison, built on its lead by only 1.2 percent. In third place this year we have "other Debian," which includes Debian and all of its relatives besides Ubuntu: Debian, Freespire, Linspire, Linux Mint, MEPIS, and Xandros. While this group, at 14.2 percent, may have dropped behind SUSE this year, if you add in Ubuntu -- the most popular Debian-based distribution of them all -- Debian once again dominates the desktop Linux landscape, accounting for near half -- 44.6 percent -- of this year's distribution votes. The Red Hat/Fedora family -- which this year includes CentOS -- came in at the fourth spot with 9 percent. This represents a small loss from last year when Fedora had 7 percent, while Red Hat added in a mere 2.2 percent, for a total, including smaller Red Hat/Fedora-based distributions of less than 10 percent. Finally, in our "top five," we have Gentoo, which also declined -- from 9.6 percent to 7 percent. After that we come to a group of smaller, independent distributions. Of these also-ran distributions Mandriva showed the best. Perhaps the most surprising result of our survey was that PCLinuxOS showed so poorly. On DistroWatch, PCLinuxOS has been at the top of the site's page hit ranking for the last 30 days. Frankly, we're not sure why this popular, easy-to-use community distribution didn't do better. The site supporting it had recently had problems, but that problem's long been history. Perhaps, it's simply that unlike the other popular community distributions -- Ubuntu, openSUSE, and Fedora -- PCLinuxOS doesn't have corporate backing. Canonical, Novell, and Red Hat all provide support and hardware partnerships for their community distributions that PCLinuxOS can't match. Desktop environments The desktop environment results held little in the way of surprises. GNOME, in large part because it's Ubuntu's default desktop, came in first with 45 percent of the users. KDE took second place with 35 percent. Interestingly, this is the first time in DesktopLinux.com's surveys that GNOME has out-polled KDE. Signs of a looming upset in standings were apparent last year, when KDE scored 38 percent and GNOME was right behind it at 35 percent. The only "shocker" this year was that Xfce took third with a substantial 8 percent of the vote. In fact, 20 percent of our survey's respondents indicated that they use desktop environments other than the big two. Given this, and the loss of KDE's desktop dominance, it strikes us that there's still a chance for some other Linux desktop environment to make a go of it. Which windowing environments do you frequently use on your Linux desktop(s)? (Click to enlarge) Browsers You can probably guess without even looking at our graph of the survey's results what the most popular Linux web browser is. If you guessed Firefox (aka IceWeasel), you'd be right. Which web browsers do you frequently use on your Linux desktop(s)? (Click to enlarge) Linux users love their Firefox, with 60 percent of all users making it their web browser of choice. Trailing in the rear, you'll find KDE's Konqueror, with 14 percent, followed by what I find an interestingly strong performance by Opera, with 12 percent, and then the rest of the crew. Email clients Thunderbird, Firefox's email sibling, is the most popular Linux email client, but it's not nearly as popular as Firefox. Thunderbird commands the loyalty of 37 percent of Linux users, but Evolution is right behind it at 32 percent. KMail takes third place with 17 percent. We also found that many Linux users -- over 10 percent -- have abandoned email clients for web-based email systems like Google's Gmail or Yahoo Mail. Which email clients do you frequently use on your Linux desktop(s)? (Click to enlarge) Running Windows applications on Linux When it comes to running Windows applications on Linux, nearly half of our survey's respondents -- 39 percent -- say they simply don't bother. Which of these methods do you use to run Windows apps on your Linux desktop(s)? (Click to enlarge) Of those that do, many turn to Wine (Wine Is Not an Emulator ), which runs the Windows API (application program interface) on top of Linux. More than 44 percent use Wine for their Windows applications needs. I suspect that many Wine users actually use Wine with the help of programs that makes deploying Windows applications on Linux easier. However, of the two most important of these programs, Cedega, which specializes in running Windows games on Linux, and CrossOver, which focuses on Windows business and productivity applications, only 6 percent of our survey respondents said they used Cedega, while even less, 5 percent, said they used CrossOver. What they did use, however, was VMware, the well-known proprietary virtualization program, which was selected by 27 percent of all users. In third place was something of a shocker: VirtualBox, with 8 percent. Why a shocker? Well, here at DesktopLinux.com, we like to think we've at least heard of all the popular Linux virtualization programs -- Xen, KVM, etc. -- but we've never heard of this one. Needless to say, we're going to be taking a closer look at VirtualBox soon. Based on our survey results, we think that everyone should be taking a closer look at desktop Linux. What we see here is a quickly maturing line of desktops that are capable of replacing Windows desktops for both home and business uses. The Linux desktop is gaining quickly in popularity, and it's not because of technology-happy fans. It's gaining users because it's an inexpensive, secure, and efficient alternative to today's mainstream desktop operating systems. After all, 38,000 plus users and two major PC companies can't be wrong. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Video game sales up 37 percent in July

Slashdot It! U.S. sales of video games and hardware rose 37 percent in July, with Sony's struggling PlayStation 3 console getting a major boost from a price cut in the month, industry data showed on Thursday. Total sales hit $925.5 million in the month, compared with $675.6 million a year earlier, spurred by strong interest in consoles from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, figures from market research firm NPD showed. Sony sold 159,000 units of the PlayStation 3, which had seen monthly sales drop to less than 100,000 units in each of the previous three months, after cutting the price by $100, to $500. "That was exciting and very much in line with expectations, especially since we're talking about the doldrums of summer," Jack Tretton, head of Sony Computer Entertainment America, said in an interview. It was the best month for the PS3 since January, when U.S. consumers bought 244,000 of the machines. The PS3 includes a 60-gigabyte hard drive and a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player, but its high price and dearth of must-have games have hampered sales. "It certainly has us very optimistic, along with the software lineup we have for the fall," Tretton said. Sony also sold 222,000 units of its older PlayStation 2 console. NPD said console sales rose more than 140 percent from a year earlier, to $286 million. Total software sales rose 11 percent on the year to $419 million. Nintendo's Wii console held onto the top spot with sales of 425,000 units. The machine's $250 price is the lowest of any new console, and its unique motion-sensing controller has drawn buyers outside of the core gaming crowd. Microsoft sold 170,000 of its Xbox 360 console, down 18 percent from a year earlier but better than some analysts had expected given the company's admission last month that widespread failures of the machines could cost it more than $1 billion in repairs and warranty extensions. On the software front, NCAA Football 08 for the Xbox 360 was the top title, selling 397,000 copies. The PS2 version of the game sold 236,000 units, while the PS3 version sold 156,000 units. The game is published by Electronic Arts. Activision's Guitar Hero franchise also took three of the top 10 spots, with Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, released only on the PS2, placing second with 339,000 copies sold. Nintendo's best game was "Wii Play," which is bundled with an extra controller and whose 278,000 units sold was good enough for second place. Nintendo's Mario Party 8 came in fifth place while Pokemon Diamond for the DS handheld was seventh. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Symantec detects Monster Trojan

Slashdot It! Yesterday, they analyzed a sample of a new Trojan, called Infostealer.Monstres, which was attempting to access the online recruitment Web site, Monster.com. It was also uploading data to a remote server. When we accessed this remote server, we found over 1.6 million entries with personal information belonging to several hundred thousand people. We were very surprised that this low profile Trojan could have attacked so many people, so we decided to investigate how the data could have been obtained. Interestingly, only connections to the hiring.monster.com and recruiter.monster.com subdomains were being made. These subdomains belong to the “Monster for employers” only site, the section used by recruiters and human resources personnel to search for potential candidates, post jobs to Monster, et cetera. This site requires recruiters to log in to view information on candidates. Upon further investigation, the Trojan appears to be using the (probably stolen) credentials of a number of recruiters to login to the Web site and perform searches for resumes of candidates located in certain countries or working in certain fields. The Trojan sends HTTP commands to the Monster.com Web site to navigate to the Managed Folders section. It then parses the output from a pop-up window containing the profiles of the candidates that match this recruiter’s saved searches.

The personal details of those candidates, such as name, surname, email address, country, home address, work/mobile/home phone numbers and resume ID, are then uploaded to a remote server under the control of the attackers.

This remote server held over 1.6 million entries with personal information belonging to several hundred thousands candidates, mainly based in the US, who had posted their resumes to the Monster.com Web site.

Such a large database of highly personal information is a spammer’s dream. In fact, we found the Trojan can be instructed to send spam email using a mail template downloadable from the command & control server.

The main file used by Infostealer.Monstres, ntos.exe, is also commonly used by Trojan.Gpcoder.E, and both also have a similar icon for the executable file that reproduces the Monster.com company logo—hardly a coincidence.

Furthermore, Trojan.Gpcoder.E has reportedly been spammed in Monster.com phishing emails. These emails were very realistic, containing personal information of the victims. They requested that the recipient download a Monster Job Seeker Tool, which in fact was a copy of Trojan.Gpcoder.E. This Trojan will encrypt files in the affected computer and leaves a text file requesting money to be paid to the attackers in order to decrypt the files. The code for Gpcoder is rather similar to that of Monstres, which may indicate the same hacker group is behind both Trojans.

We have informed Monster.com of the compromised Recruiter accounts so they can be disabled. To protect your identity when using recruitment sites, or at least limit your exposure to identity theft, you should limit the contact information you post on these sites, use a separate disposable email address and never disclose sensitive details such as your Social Security number, passport or driver’s license numbers, bank account information, etc to prospective employers until you have established they are legitimate.

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India is now the second most important market

Slashdot It! India has replaced the United States in the second quarter as Nokia's second-biggest market by sales after China. The world's top cell phone maker shipped 60 million handsets from its factory near the southern Indian city of Chennai in the 18 months up to August. CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo expects demand to remain strong as India's user base surges. "India has quickly become one of the largest markets," he told reporters in New Delhi, adding he expects demand will not be limited to cheaper phones. "India is not a low-end market. It is a very versatile market in all price points, in all segments," he said. Kallasvuo is on a three-day visit to India to meet government officials, clients and component suppliers. Globally, Nokia sold 100.8 million phones in April-June quarter and, according to research firm Gartner, had a market share of 36.9 percent. The Finnish firm reaffirmed that Nokia Siemens Networks, its joint venture with Siemens, would invest $100 million in India over the next three years. Nokia had earlier said it expected India to become its No. 2 market by volume by 2010, if not sooner. Nokia has set up a design studio in India, the first in a series of global satellite studios to develop ideas for emerging markets. Seven global component makers have invested $500 million in the Nokia Telecom Park near Chennai and are likely to employ more than 30,000 people when fully operational, Nokia has said. Nokia employs 9,000 people in India--up from 450 in 2004--and will continue to invest in India, Kallasvuo said, adding that production can be enhanced as demand grows. India had 185 million mobile customers at the end of July, with more than 6 million new customers signing every month, lured by call rates as low as 1 U.S. cent a minute. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

University using sewers for web access

Slashdot It! A web connection via the toilet bowl may sound like Google's most recent April Fool, but the University of Aberdeen plans to welcome students back with a high bandwidth internet network connected via the sewers. The university tapped H2O Networks to provide a high capacity link for the next 10 years, enabling students to access the internet from their halls of residence. H2O Networks is a deploying dark fibre in the UK's waste water network to enable connectivity to those who have limited access. The network is known as 'fibre via the sewer'. Garry Wardrope, network services manager at the University of Aberdeen, said: "Making university life as rich as possible for our students is the main aim of everything we do. "When embarking on our 'internet to room' project we wanted a cost-effective method that would offer the kind of bandwidth students demand when researching for course projects or writing their dissertations." As existing networks become increasingly congested with more cable types, it has become difficult for network companies to find new pathways. The H2O Networks development allows universities to use the sewers to set up their own secure IT and telecoms network, rather than the traditional disruptive method of digging up roads. The deployment process is a least 80 percent faster than traditional methods, resulting in operational networks within weeks rather than months. Every city and town has ready-made ducts that can be used without causing disruption, the company said. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

: OCZ 2GB DDR3-1333 Platinum Edition

Slashdot It! Although DDR3 is still fresh to the computing industry, there are surprisingly many different kits available right now. For our first DDR3 review, we are taking a fresh look at one of the first kits made available back in May, OCZ's DDR3-1333 CL7. Read more at http://techgage.com/article/ocz_2gb_ddr3-1333_platinum_edition/ Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W LCD UPS

Slashdot It! The CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W LCD UPS, designed for mid to high-end computer systems, features dynamic line conditioning and an Intelligent LCD diagnostic display. Real-time system vitals can be viewed from this display and the unit can be conveniently mounted in a workstation cabinet or directly on the desktop. The CP1500AVRLCD also guards against surges/spikes, and offers battery backup in the event of brownouts or total power loss. Benchmark Reviews tests to see just how well the 1500 VA UPS compares to the competition, and crowns a new king of the hill. Read more at http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=82&Itemid=47 Pic link at http://images/reviews/CyberPower%20CP1500AVRLCD/frontpage.png Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Google Video feedback

Slashdot It! When your friends and well-intentioned acquaintances tell you that you've made a mistake, it's good to listen. So we'd like to say thank you to everyone who wrote to let us know that we had made a mistake in the case of Google Video's Download to Own/Rent Refund Policy vs. Common Sense. To recap: we decided to end the Google Video download to own/rent (DTO/DTR) program, and are now refocusing our Google Video engineering efforts. The week before last, we wrote to Google Video DTO/DTR program customers to let them know that videos they'd already bought would no longer be playable. We planned to give these users a full refund or more. And because we weren't sure if we had all the correct addresses, latest credit card information, and other billing challenges, we thought offering the refund in the form of Google Checkout credits would entail fewer steps and offer a better user experience. We should have anticipated that some users would see a Checkout credit as nothing more than an extra step of a different (and annoyingly self-serving) kind. Our bad. Here's how we're hoping to fix things: * We're giving a full refund -- as a credit card refund -- to everyone who ever bought a video. We'll need you to make sure we have your most recent credit card information, but once we know where to send the money, you'll get it. * You can still keep the Google Checkout credit that you've received already. Think of it as an additional 'we're sorry we goofed' credit. * We're going to continue to support playing your videos for another six months. We won't be offering the ability to buy additional videos, but what you've already downloaded will remain playable on your computer. We take pride in moving quickly, and we think this philosophy helps to create lots of new and innovative products. But it also leads to errors that -- upon reflection and your feedback -- we need to rectify. This was one of them. We make mistakes; we do our best not to repeat them -- and we really do try to fix the ones we make. That said, the very least that our users should expect from us is that our mistakes be new and innovative, too. ;) We appreciate your responses, and hope our actions convey just how seriously we take everyone's feedback. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Wal-Mart ditches DRM

Slashdot It! Like a frog slowly turning into a princess, Wal-Mart's music download store has grown far more attractive now that it offers 256kbps unrestricted MP3 tracks from both EMI and Universal. It won't win over fans who like the other features of iTunes, but it can finally compete with Apple's media store for at least the value segment of the music download market. DRM isn't yet dead in the music business, but it has a nasty, hacking cough. Wal-Mart is the latest company to ditch the DRM in an attempt to crack the coveted iPod market, which for years has been out of reach. The company announced this morning that it has embraced high-bitrate MP3s from Universal and EMI (iTunes only has DRM-free files from EMI, not from Universal), and it promises to continually expand its offerings.

Wal-Mart has actually run a download store for years, selling DRM-encumbered WMA files at $0.88 a pop. They couldn't play on either the iPod or the Zune, but at least they were cheap!

Now that the DRM shackles are loosening, Wal-Mart can offer a store with at least a chance of attracting customers. As a sign of how badly Wal-Mart want to attract iPod users, the music store doesn't list tracks as being DRM-free, but as being ready to "play on the iPod."

Because neither Warner nor Sony BMG are yet licensing their catalogs without DRM, many of the tracks at the store are still DRM-encumbered WMA files—it's a confusing situation and a huge drawback if the company wants iPod users to shop there. Most users don't think in terms of what record label their favorite artists appear on, so finding music for download can be a hit-and-miss affair. Still, there's not much that Wal-Mart can do except try to compete on price with its current selection of tracks and stress the fact that it has MP3s from Universal as well.

And pricing is competitive. The 256kbps MP3 tracks are available for $.94 apiece, which compares well with iTunes' $1.29 for 256kbps AAC files (though AAC is a more modern compression scheme). Wal-Mart's store can be accessed either through the browser or through Windows Media Player (version 9 and later); oddly, the browser-based store cannot be accessed when using Linux or Mac.

In a statement sent to Ars, Maura Corbett of the Digital Freedom Campaign praised the move. "Wal-Mart has become the world's largest retailer by putting their customers first and offering the products they want; today they took that philosophy digital," she said.

Common is commonly edited

It's a bit hard to believe that all the customers who shop at the world's largest retailer want censored versions of music, though, but that's what they get. Only edited versions of albums with parental advisories are available, just as they are in Wal-Mart's offline stores. This isn't a new policy; Wal-Mart's online music store has carried only edited versions for years, but it's worth pointing out to potential new users tempted by the lower prices and lack of DRM.

The policy is in contrast to iTunes, which offers both versions for sale and allows users to choose which version they wish to purchase. Wal-Mart has already made the decision for you, though, as part of its corporate policy, and it hits hard in the rap section of the site: six of the top ten rap and hip-hop albums have been edited.

Despite its best efforts, though, Wal-Mart warns users that "the use of the Edited notice does not necessarily mean that all content that all listeners might find objectionable has been removed from the recording." We'll have to wait and see whether the company's practice of selling only edited music will hamper its online efforts.

Universal thinks outside the gBox

DRM-free is the new black, apparently, and everyone is wearing it. Universal, which is snubbing Apple with its own restricted tracks, has instead agreed to an interesting marketing plan with new music site gBox. TechCrunch has a nice writeup of the deal, which will see Universal purchasing Google AdWords for its artists. Those AdWords ads will then point to gBox.

Rather than encouraging people to buy music for themselves, gBox hopes to popularize the idea of buying tracks and whole albums as gifts for friends. People create wish lists at the site, friends purchase tracks from those wish lists, and the list creator can then log in and download the tracks. Sounds like a neat idea, as most current stores make it difficult to buy digital content for others. Again, although it's browser-based, gBox only works on Windows due to a download plugin it uses.

We haven't yet entered the DRM-free paradise, but at least it's visible atop a distant hill. Hopefully, it's caused by something in the Perrier that all these executives are drinking and will soon spread to the movie business, which would do well to stop crippling movie download services with DRM and preventing burns to DVD. Removing AACS and its invasive demands on hardware and PC makers would also be great, but we'll keep that one in the "Winged Pigs" file for now.

After years of widespread piracy and thousands of deeply unpopular lawsuits, the music business is at least considering the idea that since they aren't going to thwart determined pirates, they might as well make it easy and cheap for consumers to make legal purchases. Hassling those who want to give you their money was never a solid business strategy, and the faster it fades away, the better.

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Youtube new ad format is ok with users

Slashdot It! Matt Harding, creator of one of YouTube's all-time most-watched videos, had a strong immediate reaction to the video site's new advertising experiment: "I'm annoyed." Harding, who is seen dancing in famous spots around the world in the clip "Where the Hell is Matt?" hadn't viewed the ads until CNET News.com sent him a link to a video featuring one of YouTube's mini-commercials, which the company started testing today against a handful of videos (but not Harding's). "As a viewer, I don't like this at all," said Harding, whose video has been viewed more than 7 million times since it was posted a year ago. "As someone who makes videos, I would object to allowing them to put an ad on the screen. Put it on the margins, above the player but not on the screen itself." Fans of Google's YouTube are starting to react to overlay advertisements the company began testing on Wednesday. Some find them jarring, some in international quarters wish they could see them, and still others are wondering if they can make money off their own videos with these ads. While there's hardly a unanimous opinion, one thing is for certain: Google is finally looking to cash in on its $1.65 billion YouTube acquisition. "If YouTube starts with accessory advertising while the video is playing, I leave YouTube," said one poster on YouTube's blog with the screen name "Amgervinus." Another viewer who refers to himself on YouTube as "quepasakoolj18" put it more succinctly in his post: "Yuck." But the poll according to Cnet, shows that 57.8% people do not mind the ads. The ads appear at the bottom of a video shortly after the clip starts to play and disappear after 10 seconds. They resemble the TV-style ads that often feature the image of a celebrity walking onto the bottom of a TV screen for a few brief moments. YouTube executives said Tuesday that extensive testing showed that viewers rejected any format that forced them to sit through a commercial prior to a clip being played, a process known as a pre-roll. Using overlays, executives said, was the least intrusive way to get a message in front of their audience, or so they believe. Critics don't have to worry about the ads appearing on the iPhone or AppleTV--at least at this point. Google has said that the ads will appear only on the YouTube site "at this time." The ads only show up at YouTube in the United States, and some international users were upset when they couldn't check them out.

A demonstration of an ad for a movie on the bottom of a YouTube video. Real ads would not reflect the content of a video.

One British user responded, appropriately, in a video blog he posted to YouTube. "Now, this idea will thrust the adverts in people's faces, which means the click-thru rate might be a bit higher," said the YouTube video creator who calls himself Nuodai. "In my estimation, if an advert comes up, people are going to be just as uninterested as, say, a banner ad at the top of the page. "Eventually people are going to get used to these adverts popping up and their automatic reaction will be to click the close button or just letting it go away, which is why I don't think this is going to be as effective as they make it out to be," he said. "Personally I think this is a very disruptive way of advertising." A smaller number of those who posted to YouTube's site were taking a wait-and-see approach. ThoughtScientist wrote that "as long as the situation doesn't evolve to the point where ads are forced on all videos, there should be no problems." Others sympathized with YouTube's plight. The company has long said it was looking for a way to post ads but in a way that wouldn't irk users. "(YouTube fans) can't really complain about it annoying them or being intrusive to the video because you can manually click it away easily," said "123woow." "Good job YouTube." Plenty of others who posted comments to YouTube were confused about whether video creators could profit from it. YouTube has said that it will insert ads only into videos created by a select number of "partners." Google, which acquired YouTube last October for $1.65 billion, is planning to charge advertisers $20 for every 1,000 times ads are displayed. Google also will share the ad revenue with those partners. Even the promise of money couldn't sway some YouTube fans to embrace the videos, and they threatened to unsubscribe to any video makers who were too commercial. But Internet viewers, of course, are often fickle with any sort of ad. "I'm okay with this," said Rrandiicom on YouTube's blog. "But eventually it would get boring. I wouldn't subscribe to anyone who does this, but it wouldn't stop me from watching one of their videos. It'd be great though to get money for the videos you've made." Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

AMD's sales chief to leave company

Slashdot It! Henri Richard, head of Advanced Micro Devices' sales and marketing, will step down from his post in September, the company officially announced late Wednesday. "After 20 years in the PC industry--and five of the most professionally rewarding years here at AMD--I have decided to make a move to a different business segment," Richard said in a press release. He could not be reached directly for comment on his future plans. AMD characterized the move as coming on "completely amicable terms," although the company appeared to be caught a little flat-footed by the news. The departure was first reported by Hexus.net and confirmed earlier Wednesday by CNET News.com. Hard OCP published an internal AMD memo--which appeared accurate to an AMD representative--from CEO Hector Ruiz, announcing Richard's departure to employees and thanking him for his service. "When Henri joined AMD in 2002, his primary mission was to establish a world-class global Sales and Marketing organization. It is safe to say that he has accomplished that mission, and he is now ready for a new challenge in his career," Ruiz wrote. Richard's departure may be leaving AMD in a short-term management lurch during a difficult time for the company. Last month saw the departure of Dave Orton, the head of AMD's graphics business following AMD's acquisition of ATI Technologies. Ruiz said AMD hasn't developed a leadership plan yet for Richard's replacement, although his organization will now report directly to the office of the CEO, which consists of Ruiz and President and Chief Operating Officer Dirk Meyer. An AMD representative would say only that Richard is planning to leave in September, right as AMD prepares to launch Barcelona, its quad-core server processor, which has been beset by delays and glitches. AMD could not confirm whether Richard will be present on September 10 for what the company is billing as "the most anticipated premiere of 2007." He had been expected to take part in a series of Barcelona launch events from Europe, but it is uncertain whether he'll continue with those plans. Ruiz will be present at the San Francisco launch event. Richard came to AMD in 2002 after a stint at WebGain, a Java software company. He was previously at Bell Microproducts and IBM in a variety of sales and marketing roles. Trouble in Barcelona Richard's loss is a very significant development in what has been a disastrous year for AMD. Ruiz confirmed speculation that Barcelona is very late--six months later than expected--after the company encountered technical glitches. AMD has lost a ton of money in the interim, trying to compete against Intel's quad-core chips by slashing the prices of its dual-core chips. Richard has been a very public figure at AMD, where Ruiz and Meyer are much less visible. He tends to field questions from the public far more often than Ruiz or Meyer, most recently heading the AMD press delegation after its July analyst meeting. More significantly, he oversaw AMD's rise from a company focused mainly on small niche suppliers to a company that counts the world's largest PC and server companies among its customers. "He made a very significant contribution when you look at how much AMD has changed," said Dean McCarron, principal analyst with Mercury Research. But the past year has seen AMD give back some of those gains. Serious problems with its channel distribution strategy forced AMD to write off significant amounts of inventory and damaged its relationship with channel partners, who seem to think AMD had forgotten them while wooing the big boys such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard. Despite AMD's characterization of his departure, the question must be asked: Is Richard the fall guy for AMD's problems? It's not easy to assess. Clearly, AMD has underperformed during the last year or so by anyone's standards, and there's plenty of blame to spread around. Richard's blunt, aggressive style was an accurate reflection of AMD's confidence in 2005 and the first half of 2006, when it had superior products and was gaining on Intel. But after Intel's Core processor launches during the summer of 2006, Richard's aggressive tone started to ring false as AMD began to relinquish its market share gains and faced hard questions about its decision-making process regarding Barcelona. The timing of Richard's departure does seem curious, given the pending launch of Barcelona. He would have undoubtedly played a major role during that event and in the subsequent months afterward as AMD tried to hit back against Intel. There's a sense that AMD might require some changes, known vaguely as "asset-light" that might be easier for a new executive to implement, rather than one who has been around for some time. And if Richard received an offer to run a company, he wouldn't be the first executive to make a career-oriented decision and escape a difficult situation. Now a new executive will have his or her work cut out for them, figuring out how to sell Barcelona against Intel's current quad-core chips and its forthcoming Penryn processors. Regardless of the circumstances of his departure, he leaves AMD a better place than he found it, McCarron said. "They stopped being a small player, and they stopped acting like a small player, during his time frame," he said. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Nokia to include Windows Live services

Slashdot It! Setting aside its handset rivalry with Nokia, Microsoft on Wednesday announced it has inked a pact to put mobile versions of its Windows Live services onto handsets made by one of its chief competitors. Under the deal, Nokia will start offering Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger on its most powerful Series 60 handsets this year. Later in the year or early next year, the services will be made available on Series 40 phones. The services will initially be free, though the two companies may later charge for them, splitting the revenue. "We look at where the market is," said Steve Berkowitz, senior vice president of Microsoft's online services business. "Nokia is the largest handset maker." It's not the first sign of detente between the two companies. Nokia has for some time licensed Microsoft's ActiveSync technology for connecting to an Exchange e-mail server. Earlier this month, Nokia also said it had licensed Microsoft's PlayReady mobile digital rights management technology. The handset maker also includes Microsoft's Live Search in its mobile search service. Berkowitz said Microsoft will continue to develop versions of Windows Live services for its own Windows Mobile operating systems as well as slimmed-down WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) versions that can run on a wide array of phones. As for whether it would develop any sites tailored for Apple's iPhone, Berkowitz quipped, "If the iPhone were ever to get any distribution, maybe." He added that the company will go where the marketplace and its customers demand. "Our best place to invest is where the reach is," he said. "Nokia is a great example of that." The latest deal has been in the works for more than a year, the companies said. "It's taken a bit of time and a bit of learning on both sides," said Nigel Rundström, Nokia's vice president of multimedia experiences. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Youtube is down

Slashdot It! Youtube is currently down. It was down for a site maintenance. The login feature is not available since 2.30pm Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

iPhone sales can top 800,000

Slashdot It! Apple may sell more than 800,000 iPhones in the current quarter, UBS said in a research note. That suggested the company would easily top its own target of some 730,000.gm "Our checks continue to indicate solid demand for the iPhone despite typical moderation in excitement from launch and extremely high expectations," analyst Ben Reitzes wrote. "Our findings point toward modest upside to our fiscal 4Q07 (fourth quarter, 2007) shipment estimate of 800,000 units. In addition, we believe the Mac story is exciting as demand is strong for notebooks and recently introduced iMacs," he said. Apple on July 25 had said it expected to sell its millionth iPhone in its fiscal fourth quarter ending in September, after selling 270,000 in the third quarter. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

YouTube tests viewer-friendly ad format

Slashdot It! Google is finally rolling out an advertising format for YouTube that could succeed where many others have failed: it's not annoying. Google's YouTube will feature ads that are similar to a model used by TV broadcasters for years, the company said Tuesday. TV viewers have grown accustomed to watching a show and seeing the image of David Letterman or some other star walk across the bottom of the screen as part of a promotion. YouTube's new ads are very similar. YouTube's mini commercials, which are produced through Flash animation, appear at the bottom of a video, are mostly transparent, and disappear after 10 seconds. Once the ad appears, a user has the option of clicking on it while the video pauses. The viewer is then taken to a "player within the player" where he or she is encouraged to interact with the advertiser's content. When the person clicks out of the ad, the video resumes. Google announced that it has begun testing the new advertising format for YouTube with a small number of advertisers. Google, a company that made its fortune on Web advertising, is ignoring the long-held belief by marketing gurus that a video-sharing site has only two choices when deciding where to place ads: before or after the video. The new commercials, which will begin appearing Wednesday, are the fulfillment of a promise, analysts say. Google had long said that no ad format would be launched unless the company was sure it wouldn't spoil the viewing experience, as well as offer marketers a chance to get in front of YouTube's 130 million subscribers. "This is a relatively unobtrusive way to get an ad in front of viewers. This shows a lot of thoughtfulness." --Joe Laszlo, JupiterResearch analyst "This is a relatively unobtrusive way to get an ad in front of viewers," said Joe Laszlo, an analyst with JupiterResearch. "This shows a lot of thoughtfulness. To avoid alienating audiences, we have to create overlays and bugs that don't get in the way of the viewer and then allow them to get rid of it if they want." To Google, which acquired video-sharing giant YouTube last October for $1.65 billion, the ad format may be the answer to cashing in on its investment. The experiment, if successful, could mean billions of dollars in advertising revenue to other video sites. Those trading in user-submitted video have long wrestled with how to advertise to viewers who have demonstrated a reluctance to sit through 15-second commercials for a 30-second snippet. For more than a year, YouTube teased marketers by saying that an ad format was forthcoming. Critics predicted that Internet viewers had become spoiled, that YouTube fans had grown accustomed to watching ad-free videos at YouTube and would never tolerate them. But Shashi Seth, YouTube's group product manager, said the company took pains to prevent the ads from annoying the viewer. The ad appears 15 seconds into a video, but vanishes after a 10-second run. If a person tries to watch a video a second time, the ads won't reappear. Shashi said the company has tested the format and is satisfied that Flash-animation ads--tucked discreetly into videos for a brief period--won't upset the apple cart. According to Seth, the man Google sent over in January to fix YouTube's advertising problems, the tests have so far revealed the new ads produced click-through rates 5 to 10 times higher than traditional display ads. He said that 75 percent of users who clicked on to the overlay ad came back and continued watching the video. Google said the ads will be inserted into a select inventory of video clips that have been screened for copyright and inappropriate material. To take advantage of YouTube's new format, marketers must come up with entertaining and engaging new content, said Greg Sterling, an independent marketing analyst. "They are going to have to come up with material that is creative, intriguing and compelling enough to get them to click on those ads," Sterling said. "That's the first step. But once they do click they will then have to engage them with interactive content." Seth that he was surprised to see how prepared advertisers were to create Flash content. Of the 20 or so companies Google is dealing with during the test, most already have staff who are experienced with Flash. "We found that the advertisers were in tune with this even though the model doesn't exist," Seth said. But Laszlo warned that there's no guarantee that YouTube's audience will take to the ads. First, the overlays could obscure some of the picture. Then, there's the problem of guaranteeing advertisers that their brands won't appear alongside copyrighted content, violence, sex or other dodgy material. "YouTube is still in a situation where they can't run ads against every video," Laszlo said. "Advertisers are very leery of posting even display ads next to iffy material. You can just imagine how much more cautious YouTube would have to be if, say, David Letterman were to be featured inside one of these ads." Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Suprnova.org Is Back Online

Slashdot It! One of the most infamous pirate sites, Suprnova.org, is back on the Web, teamed up with arch-villain (to the MPAA) ThePirateBay. While we'd like to say the site rose again with a Robin Hood-esque swagger, but the site's attitude is, well, in its words: "We like to kick ass and bow for noone [sic]". What is Suprnova? Depends on who you are. The site claims its back in a limited beta mode, its hand forced by the news of the site's re-emergence, which leaked out on the Web several days ago. There is absolutely no doubt that the site links to torrents (downloaded via a BitTorrent client) which represent blatant copyright infringement. There is also no doubt that a good deal of the world's Internet population doesn't care, believes they have a right to the free (and paid) video and music on the world's airwaves, and the right to "try before they buy". There's a large percentage of Hollywood that absolutely hates this and (I suspect) a smaller percentage that takes advantage of the free content, anyway. And, finally, there's a percentage of people that believe that piracy is simply immoral, and would rather drive down to the closest big-box retailer and pay for content that would otherwise take a day or two to download. We don't make any judgments here. It's clear that major media firms such as ABC, Comedy Central, and others have responded to the piracy craze and made their shows viewable on their Web sites. I think it's inevitable that future Internet-equipped TVs will be able to "log on" to "the ABC channel" and watch any episode of Boston Legal with a site-wide subscription. For now, however, the Internet is here, as is piracy. And, whether you agree with Suprnova's moral stance, the site's disclaimer has the ring of conviction, if not truth: "This is how it works. Whatever you sink, we build back up. Whomever you sue, ten new pirates are recruited. Wherever you go, we are already ahead of you. You are the past and the forgotten, we are the internet and the future. Y'arr!" Oh, and please don't argue that we're condoning piracy by writing about this. We're not. After all, it costs the U.S. economy $12.5 billion a year. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Paramount to Drop Blu-Ray for HD DVDs

Slashdot It! Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. will offer next-generation DVDs in the HD DVD format and drop support for Blu-ray, further complicating the race between the competing technologies. Monday's announcement affects the upcoming DVD releases of the blockbusters ''Shrek the Third'' and ''Transformers,'' along with movies distributed by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films. Movies directed by Steven Spielberg, however, will continue to be released in both formats. Paramount, which owns DreamWorks Pictures and handles home sales for the separate company DreamWorks Animation, previously released movies in both Blu-ray and HD DVD. ''Part of our vision is to aggressively extend our movies beyond the theater, and deliver the quality and features that appeal to our audience,'' said Brad Grey, chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. ''I believe HD DVD is not only the affordable high-quality choice for consumers, but also the smart choice for Paramount,'' he said. The competition between Blu-ray and HD DVD has kept confused consumers from rushing to buy new DVD players until they can determine which format will dominate the market. Until recently, many consumers were able to defer the choice because players have been so expensive. But prices have been slashed by about half -- Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray player now sells for $499, and Toshiba Corp.'s cheapest HD DVD player sells for $299, with both likely to include as many as five free movies as an incentive. Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation, said consumers seeking to switch to high-definition DVDs will be enticed by the movies available for HD-DVD players. He added the lower price for the Toshiba devices will appeal to the family market. ''It's a game-changer, what they're doing, and it's why we decided to throw in with them,'' Katzenberg said. Standalone HD DVD players have a bigger slice of the market than Blu-ray players. But when you count Sony's PlayStation 3 game console, which comes with a Blu-ray drive, there are more Blu-ray players in U.S. homes. Rob Moore, president of Paramount Worldwide Distribution, said market data shows that people who own gaming consoles buy fewer movies than those who invest in a movie-only player. Andy Parsons, chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association trade group, questioned the studios' decision to adopt HD DVD over Blu-ray, saying price differences between players have diminished in recent months. He said the trend ''is on its way to eliminating any perceived cost advantage the HD DVD format has claimed to have.'' Blu-ray discs can hold more data -- 50 gigabytes compared with HD DVD's 30 GB -- but the technology requires new manufacturing techniques and factories, boosting initial costs. HD DVDs, on the other hand, are essentially DVDs on steroids, meaning movie studios can turn to existing assembly lines to produce them in mass. Studios and retailers have been choosing sides in recent months. With Paramount dropping Blu-ray support, Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. remains the only major studio releasing movies in both formats. ''Spider-Man 3'' will only be available in the Blu-ray DVD format when it is released by Sony Pictures, while people with Blu-ray players won't be able to enjoy the action-thriller ''The Bourne Ultimatum,'' which Universal Pictures will release only in HD DVD. The Blu-ray format recently got a big boost as Blockbuster Inc. announced it would stock only Blu-ray titles when it expands its high-def DVD offerings this year. Target Inc., the nation's second-largest retailer, said it will only sell Blu-ray DVD players in its stores in the fourth quarter. Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures, News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox, The Walt Disney Co., and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer are releasing only in Blu-ray. Universal, owned by General Electric Co., backs HD DVD exclusively. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

What has Firefox gone wrong

Slashdot It! Firefox... what happened to you? Consuming gross amounts of memory, slower and slower as releases go by. You were supposed to be a slim browser usurping Mozilla by virtue of simplicity, shedding the feature creep and lack of engineering that had convoluted the Mozilla suite. Now you have become the very thing you were created to kill: a bloated browser. I installed Opera today. It may be closed source, but it's a breath of fresh air - fast, snappy, simple. Innovative features (speed dial, notes) and a clean, minimal UI. In general it just works and is a lovely UI experience. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Would watermarking replace the DRM?

Slashdot It! Watermarking has been in the news twice in the past week. First, Wired's Eliot Van Buskirk revealed that Universal will insert watermarks in the DRM-free files it's distributing through Rhapsody, Amazon.com and other online stores. Then, Wednesday, Microsoft announced that it's licensing audio watermarking technology developed by its research division to a company called Activated Content. (Microsoft Research used to be devoted entirely to building technology that would later be incorporated into Microsoft products, but a couple of years ago it began to license technology through its IP Ventures program.) So what's watermarking? It's the insertion of extra data into an audio stream that can help identify where that audio came from. It's not enough to attach data to a digital audio file--users can just burn that file to a CD and then re-rip it, changing the file format and stripping off all the data associated with the original file. (This is also the classic way users get around DRM.) Instead, the data is inserted into the audio track itself. It's inaudible to human ears, but detectible by various other tools. In the case of Universal, the watermarking data won't identify each individual file--a method that would allow the company to trace pirated files back to their first purchaser. Instead, it will only identify the particular song. Eventually, Universal will look at popular file-trading networks, and see which of the DRM-free songs released through its experimental program ended up on these networks. Universal can then use this data to help decide whether the risk of piracy outweighs the increased sales from DRM-free MP3 files, segmenting this decision by particular markets. For example, it might find that new Top 40 singles are more likely to find their way onto file-trading networks than classic rock from the 1970s. Activated Content hasn't explained exactly how it'll use the Microsoft technology, but the company's Web site promotes a very interesting service called ActiveNow. The idea: whenever a watermarked file is played on an ActiveNow-enabled device, the service could dynamically insert some sort of advertising--presumably audio, but perhaps video or text depending on the device being used. (This service sounds a little like techno-voodoo to me, and the Web site doesn't really explain how it works. However it does have some interesting white papers on watermarking and why Activated Content believes its watermarks are superior.) I could see watermarking eventually taking the place of DRM, which is both ineffective and alienating to consumers. Instead of trying to prevent users from copying and sharing audio files, content owners could simply trace the paths of these files, then establish some sort of remuneration system. Activated Content's idea of dynamic advertising is interesting, but it seems more reasonable to me to build some sort of pooled payment system (for instance, a blanket charge on Internet service and audio software), then distribute the money from these pooled payments to copyright owners based on usage. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Affiliates Reviews

Slashdot It! Introduction Since DDR3's launch this past May, things have died down a bit on the DDR2 front. This past January, Corsair released fast PC2-10000 ram, which is basically touching the DDR2 ceiling, at least right now. Other companies topped that kit after it's release, but Corsair's is the only one I've ever seen on sale (and it still is today). The sad fact is, DDR2 only became popular for most people in May 2006 with the launch of AMD's AM2 platform, and it seemed to have been ousted as soon as it was becoming truly popular. So we have the DDR3 launch, and all is fine and good. Except that it happens to be expensive as heck. Not many people really want to pay $500 for a 2GB kit, so as far as that's concerned, DDR2 is still king. Add to that, I have not really seen a real-world scenario where DDR3 has an advantage. MHz for MHz, power consumption is lower, but the slight increase in your power bill will likely be overshadowed by the $300 premium you are paying for the ram to begin with. Now that my DDR3 rant is out of the way, let's get right to the review of Kingston's latest DDR2 kit, the HyperX 2GB PC2-6400 CL3. Though pricing is not available at this time, I assume that it will fall in line with other similar kits on the market and not go beyond the $170USD mark. One thing is for sure... this is a fantastic time to buy ram. Not long ago, a nice kit would run you at least $300, but now it's half that. It's prices like these that make 4GB rigs so much more attractive. There are few PC2-6400 CL3 kits on the market, for a few reasons. First is that having a CAS Latency of 3 on most modules isn't that possible without an asinine amount of voltage. Even this kit uses 2.35V which is getting high as is. Most kits with similar speeds stick to CL4 and some even use CL5. But with prices as they are today, you might as well get your money's worth. Closer Look As mentioned above, what makes this kit special is the CL3. Here's where I am uncertain though. This kit could either be 3-4-4-8 or 3-3-3-8... I was unable to retrieve an answer regarding it from Kingston prior to writing this review. I will add an addendum once I find out for sure. Although, it doesn't matter, because as you will find out on the next page, this kit proved completely stable at 3-3-3-8 with stock timings. Arriving in the usual tight-blister-pack, the blue modules are well protected during shipment. No timings information can be found, but the voltage is.

Once freed from their plastic prison, you can see the modules in their full glory. Though simple, I love the look of Kingston's modules, which may or may not be due to the fact that I love the color blue. That aside, they are well equipped to dissipate heat, but fans should be used if you plan on doing some big overclocks.

The back of the modules look even cooler, thanks to the fact that it's sticker-less. But it doesn't have the bold "ASSY IN USA" statement as the front does though.

Let's hop right into our testing methodology and then our testing.

Read more at http://techgage.com/article/kingston_2gb_pc2-6400_cl3/

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Affiliates Reviews

Slashdot It! Water cooling has evolved in becoming almost a mainstream cooling product for anyone trying to push the boundaries of their computer. Making it more silent and cooling efficient. Water cooling products are available for all kinds of people and it's really not that difficult anymore to build a system that's safe, cheap and efficient. Swiftech is a long time player in the water cooling market and they are no stranger to using brute force to cool things down a bit. Swiftech recently launched another high end water block featuring a powerful peltier element to deliver temperatures below zero. The last product we reviewed that had a peltier element was the MCW60-T GPU water block. It only had a 188watts TEC element, but now it's time to step it up a notch and see what the 225watts strong MCW6500-T has to offer. Swiftech was kind enough to supply us with one of these blocks, but also a Meanwell Auxiliary psu kit to power the element. "The MCW6500-T is a thermoelectric CPU water-block designed to be integrated with high-end liquid cooling systems such as Swiftech's H20-220 Apex Ultra." What does a peltier do? If you search the internet for information about TEC elements, you will find lots of good information. Sites like Peltier-info.com are really helpful when it comes to better understanding of how these devices work. I therefore used bits of information from their site, as well as from other sites on the web. Peltier devices, also known as thermoelectric (TE) modules, are small solid-state devices that function as heat pumps. A "typical" unit is a few millimeters thick by a few millimeters to a few centimeters square. It is a sandwich formed by two ceramic plates with an array of small Bismuth Telluride cubes ("couples") in between. Bismuth telluride is a thermoelectric compound of tellurium and bismuth. It is a semiconductor, usually doped both positively (deficiency of electrons) and negatively (excess of electrons) for increasing its thermoelectric power. Since its thermoelectric power is remarkable especially between -10 and 130 C, the material suits most thermoelectric cooling applications.

When a DC current is applied heat is moved from one side of the device to the other - where it must be removed with a heat sink. The "cold" side is commonly used to cool an electronic device such as a microprocessor or a photo detector. If the current is reversed the device makes an excellent heater.

Read more at http://www.burnoutpc.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=266 Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

MIT releases new 64-core CPU

Slashdot It! A new startup out of MIT emerged from stealth mode today to announce that they're shipping a 64-core processor for the embedded market. The company, called Tilera, was founded by Dr. Anat Agarwal, the MIT professor behind the famous and venerable Raw project on which Tilera's first product, the TILE64 processor, is based. Tilera's director of marketing, Bob Dowd, told Ars that TILE64 represents a "sea change in the computing industry," and the company's CEO isn't shy about pitching the chip as the "first significant new chip architectural development in a decade." So let's take an initial look at what was announced about TILE64 today, with further information to follow as it becomes available. TILE64 Tell me if this sounds familiar: a grid of processor "tiles" arranged in a mesh network, where each tile houses a general purpose processor, cache, and a non-blocking router that the tile uses to communicate with the other tiles on the chip. If you've followed my coverage of Intel's Terascale research project—especially the 80-core Polaris prototype—then you know that this description fits what Intel has been working on for the past few years and aggressively publicizing for a year or so.

But the basic tile + processor/cache + router + mesh network idea was pioneered by Dr. Agarwal and MIT's RAW project about a decade ago, and now those same ideas also form the basis for TILE64. TILE64 consists of a mesh network of 64 tiles, with each tile containing a general-purpose processor core and a non-blocking router. The short-pipeline, in-order, three-issue cores implement a MIPS-derived VLIW ISA with a few important and peculiar features. Tilera's PR department is extremely focused on the mesh network and larger SoC architectures as the initial selling points of the processor, so information on the individual cores is hard to come by. Based on my discussion with Tilera and the diagrams that the company provided (see below), each core has a register file and three functional units: two integer ALUs and a load-store unit. The cores also have a split L1 cache (probably 16K), and a 64K chunk of L2 that has an interesting feature. When there's a miss in one core's L2, the core checks the L2 caches of the other cores for the needed data before propagating the miss out to main memory. In this respect, the L2s collectively act like a large 4MB L3. As you can probably make out from the diagram above, TILE64 has four DDR2 controllers, two 10-gigabit Ethernet interfaces, two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, two four-lane PCIe interfaces, and a flexible I/O interface that can be software-configured to handle a number of protocols. TILE64 is fabbed on TSMC's trailing-edge 90nm process and runs at speeds from 600MHz to 900Mhz. The launch of a 90nm product at a time when the processor market is moving from 65nm to 45nm was undoubtedly done in order to keep costs down. Tilera won't be able to afford to migrate this product to a smaller process node until they get enough volume to justify the investment. The initial entries in the TILE64 line are now shipping on PCIe daughterboards for development and production purposes. The processor is also available in lots of 10,000 for $435, and further entries to the TILE family are planned to include different core counts. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Google's growth has come at a price

Slashdot It! It's been three years since Google's historic IPO, and the Mountain View search giant has an anniversary present for its founders: Not only did Larry Page and Sergey Brin beat Bill Gates in developing a better search engine, the young technologists also can boast of bringing shareholders a bigger reward. Since Google went public Aug. 19, 2004, at $85 a share, its market value has grown nearly 500 percent to $156 billion. In comparison, Microsoft's value had not quite quadrupled on its third anniversary way back in March 1989. But Google's precocious performance has come at a price: Antitrust regulators in the United States are probing its proposed $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick, an Internet advertising company, and European regulators are poised to follow suit. Meanwhile, open-source activists are developing alternatives to Google's popular search engine. It's a position that Google's top rival, Microsoft, knows all too well. Less than a decade ago, the same combination of colorless bureaucrats and colorful coders helped end the software giant's spectacular growth spurt, sending its stock into a seven-year slump. Industry experts say there are cautionary lessons to be drawn in comparing the two companies. "There's clearly a strong parallel on the antitrust front. You can draw a line from IBM through Microsoft to Google," said Tom Eisenmann, a Harvard Business School professor who has written a case study on Google. Market share But Eisenmann noted that Google's market share in Internet search - about 50 percent in the United States - is significantly less than the 70 percent share of the computer mainframe market that IBM enjoyed before regulators cracked down, or Microsoft's share of the personal-computer software market, which was more than 90 percent. "I don't think that is going to be the comeuppance of Google," he said of current antitrust review. Others say trouble appears to be brewing. "Just as concerns about Microsoft gradually increased until they reached critical mass, I think that is starting to happen with Google," said Lauren Weinstein, co-founder of People for Internet Responsibility. "We are starting to approach a tipping point in all this, where the risks to Google are becoming greater and greater." Microsoft faced its first antitrust probe four years after it went public. That investigation ended in July 1994 after the software giant agreed it would not use its dominance in computer operating systems to undercut competitors. However, Microsoft's antitrust problems continued. An order from a federal judge to break up the company was replaced by a settlement in 2002. A European Commission ruling against the Redmond, Wash., company is currently on appeal and is expected to be decided next month. In Google's case, opponents in the United States and Europe are already citing Microsoft's dominance of office applications to bolster their arguments. They contend the Mountain View company's acquisition of DoubleClick could help it dominate the rapidly growing market for Internet advertising, combining Google's leadership in search-related ads with DoubleClick's strength in display ads. `Confident' of purchase They also warn that the vast amount of data about people's behavior on the Internet held by the combined company could threaten consumer privacy. In a statement to the Mercury News, Google said it is "confident that this acquisition poses no risk to competition and respects consumer privacy." But Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, one of several consumer groups that asked the Federal Trade Commission to review the acquisition, said it would eliminate meaningful competition, not only because the new entity would control so much of the market, but because publishers might fear that if they did not deal with Google, their ranking in Google's search engine might be affected, making their content harder to find. "There's more at stake here than just control of online advertising and privacy," Chester said. "I believe the future of online content will be determined by the shape of the market" for Internet advertising. Similar concerns are driving the effort to develop an open-source search engine. "Search should be transparent, open and participatory," said Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia written by volunteers, who is spearheading the effort. When Wales talks about Wikia Search, he consciously echoes the same concerns voiced by the developers who took on Microsoft in the 1990s as a way of rebelling against the control Microsoft was exerting over applications for personal computers. Wales says Internet search is plagued by the same problems that bedeviled proprietary software - lack of accountability, transparency and freedom. Google closely guards its top-secret formula for ranking Web sites, making it impossible for a publisher to know why a site might enjoy front-page ranking one day in the search results and drop to Page 100 the next. Just as open-source developers openly published the software code behind alternatives to the Windows operating system and Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Wales' programmers will publicly disclose their algorithms for ranking results in the Wikia Search project. Still, open-source software could be far less of a challenge for Google than it was for Microsoft. Google already makes liberal use of open-source software, including Linux, GNU tools, OpenSSL, MySQL and computer languages like Python and C. Hundreds of Googlers have worked on improving Linux. And Google has published more than a million lines of code under open-source licenses, according to a company representative. Openads challenge "Open source benefits Google in many ways and it creates commercial challenges for Google in many ways," said Paul Saffo, a respected technology forecaster. One test could come from Openads, a London company whose free ad-server software competes with DoubleClick. Openads is headed by James Bilefield, a veteran of Skype and Yahoo, and backed by Index Ventures and Mangrove Capital Partners, who also backed Skype, as well as First Round Capital and O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures. Unlike DoubleClick, Openads does not collect consumer information from the publishers who use its software. While its 20,000 customers are primarily small publishers, larger players who are concerned that DoubleClick could end up sharing information with Google are looking at Openads as an alternative. Rather than hurt Google, however, Openads' very existence could help it persuade regulators to approve the DoubleClick merger. Indeed, Microsoft's defense to regulators - that competition would inevitably emerge - has been validated in part by the success of open source. "There was really a lot of justice to the complaints against Microsoft," said tech publisher Tim O'Reilly. "They did have a monopoly position and they appeared to abuse it, but they were also right in saying that the market would correct, their monopoly wouldn't be forever." Despite widespread admiration of Google's success, O'Reilly said, there is growing animosity against the company, especially in Silicon Valley, where Google's growth has made it increasingly hard for other companies to compete for talented employees. "They are powerful, they are arrogant, but I don't think they are winner-takes-all competitors in the way Microsoft was," he said. "People got burned so badly by Microsoft they are kind of overreacting." Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Windows Update brought down the Skype service

Slashdot It! Skype has identified the smoking gun that brought down the service last week: Windows Update. Say what? According to a post today by Villu Arak on the Skype Heartbeat blog: "The disruption was triggered by a massive restart of our users' computers across the globe within a very short timeframe as they re-booted after receiving a routine set of patches through Windows Update. The high number of restarts affected Skype's network resources. This caused a flood of log-in requests, which, combined with the lack of peer-to-peer network resources, prompted a chain reaction that had a critical impact." I hadn't realized that Microsoft had in Windows Update a weapon against peer-to-peer networks. Maybe record labels and movie studios should rejoice. If Windows Update can bring down Skype, what could all that massive rebooting do to P2P illegal file sharing networks? The question is asked in jest. Arak acknowledged that the massive reboot triggered a "previously unseen software bug within the network resource allocation algorithm." Windows Update may have set off the outage, but the ultimate flaw lies with Skype. Not So Super Nodes Skype relies on supernodes—user computers acting as proxies for others—to maintain the network's data connectivity. If too many supernodes fall off the network too quickly, service integrity could collapse. Based on Arak's explanation, too many supernodes shut down while too many re-log-ins occurred. The re-log-ins overwhelmed the remaining supernodes, leading to a cascading failure. At some point, a critical mass of supernodes failed, making a service restart nearly impossible. I wouldn't be surprised if the service only recovered after a critical mass of Skype users gave up their log-in attempts. The real questions: Why then? Why now? Microsoft issues new patches every second Tuesday around 1 p.m. ET, which during Daylight Savings Time is 17:00 GMT. But the Skype outage occurred on Thursday. Also, Microsoft has used this second Tuesday schedule for about four years. Windows' default automatic update time is daily at 3 a.m. local time. I've reset my computer to 8 p.m. When set to automatic mode, Windows Update checks for updates when the computer connects to the Internet. The user can then optionally install the updates, otherwise Windows will automatically do so at the scheduled time. Windows also can force installation when the computer is put to sleep or shut down. At first glance, the math doesn't quite add up, getting from 3 a.m. local time on August 14 or 15 to a service failure on August 16. For example, 3 a.m. in Beijing comes two hours after Microsoft is supposed to release second-Tuesday updates. But the updates often aren't available everywhere at once. It's conceivable then that many computers in Asia would have started installing updates on the afternoon of August 15 in the United States. From there, it's not a stretch to see a service problem starting late on August 15, as would appear to be the case. So, I buy the idea of Windows Update as the trigger—as computers rebooted or shut down across time zones for the installation of second-Tuesday updates. If enough supernodes shut down fast enough, service interruption would be inevitable. But why now, when Microsoft second-Tuesday updating is a longstanding practice? Skype doesn't offer any real explanation. Off the Hook at a Bad Time The timing is fortuitous for Microsoft, which is making a major push into unified communications, including voice over IP. Skype is used by some enterprises and probably by even more small businesses. Skype has been adding presence and call routing features that are reminiscent of some Microsoft Office Communicator capabilities. Microsoft and Skype are moving from opposite sides into the same business market segments. Businesses depend on reliability—for smaller shops perhaps even more so because they might not have a backup option. Additionally, their small size magnifies the impact of any services outage. Microsoft has new versions of Office Communicator and Office Communications Server in the queue. Granted, these products cost a whole lot more than does Skype. But Microsoft can tout reliability. For many businesses, reliability will matter more than cost. Skype's service problem is a Microsoft sales opportunity to generate some fear, uncertainty and doubt. The outage also calls into question Skype's broader services architecture. Rather than rely on dedicated servers, Skype infrastructure depends on its users—particularly those designated as supernodes. What happens in the future should a worm spread across the Skype network, possibly one designed to choke IP traffic among supernodes? This outage reveals potential weakness that somebody is sure to try and exploit. It's a good week for Microsoft to tout Office Communicator. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Antec P182 Casing review

Slashdot It! Today I am going to review the Antec P182 Casing. Some details and photos The casing Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Fighting against the lawsuit by Odex

Slashdot It! Updating people with the Odex lawsuit with Singaporeans who downloaded Japanese Anime illegally. Odex sought the identities of 1000 Starhub customers. This would net Odex around $9 Million to $15 Million with the fines ranging from $3,000 to $5,000 per person. Some Questions about why they are doing this? Is this sum of money to compensate royalties, investigation cost or Admin costs? Is it right of Odex to charge a 10% interest rate on instalment agreement for people especially for people who cannot afford the payment Second Odex is not the sole distributor of all Japanese animation in Singapore. Unfortunately, Odex did not allow average internet users to know which series that Odex owns the copyright. It's website is under construction and the only way you can find information is from Wikipedia. How can Singaporeans respect their copyright when they do not know if Odex owns it? The anime film is released about 4 years. This is too long a wait for a film. How can Singapore be trusted when ISPs gives the customer's information when requested by the court. Why can't the ISP send warning letters and if it does not stop, then would they sue them. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

CDs turn 25

Slashdot It! Gather 'round kids cuz Grandpa Buzzblog is gonna tell a story. Remember how your jaws all dropped the first time you saw HD-TV and realized how much better it was than crappy ol' regular TV? Well, your Gramps and his homies had a similar epiphany 25 years ago when the compact disc first emerged as an alternative to records. What's a record? … Another story for another day, kids, lemme go on here while I still have the wind. You see it was 25 years ago tomorrow to the day, Aug. 17, 1982, when Philips made the first CD in Germany. I'm gonna read to you from a press release now: Exactly 25 years ago tomorrow, on August 17, 1982, Royal Philips Electronics manufactured the world's first compact disc at a Philips factory in Langenhagen, just outside of Hanover, Germany. The invention of the CD ushered in a technological revolution in the music industry as CDs — with their superior sound quality and scratch free durability — marked the beginning of the shift from analog to digital music technology. The CD became a catalyst for further innovation in digital entertainment, helping pave the way for the launch of DVD and the current introduction of Blu-ray optical media. Since that day Philips estimates that more than 200 billion -- that's billion with a "B" -- have been sold worldwide, although I know that none of you young whippersnappers have bought any lately what with those iPod buds stuck in your ears all the time. Anyway, I'm not going to drone on here much longer cuz I see you're getting fidgety, but I want you to believe your Grandpa Buzzblog when he tells you he can remember hearing a CD for the first time as clearly as the first time he kissed your Grandma Buzzblog -- not as fondly, mind you. And lastly -- hey, hey, hey, wait just another second, those video games aren't going anywhere … And lastly, I want you to know exactly how close the manufacturing of that very first CD came to killing -- and I mean killing deader than Elvis -- the entire music industry. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

People using the Forbes 400 to steal identity

Slashdot It! A 24-year-old Russian and four co-conspirators are accused of stealing $1.5 million by obtaining victims' personal identifying information. Government authorities arrested and indicted five members of an alleged identity theft ring that was targeting billionaires from Forbes magazine's ranking of the 400 richest Americans. Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced on Thursday that the defendants -- four of whom were arrested Thursday and are in custody in Michigan, Texas, Florida, and Kentucky -- have been charged with stealing $1.5 million and attempting to steal another $10.7 million from their victims' financial accounts. Another defendant, Igor Klopov, was arrested in May and is in custody in New York. Klopov, a 24-year-old Russian, was the alleged ring leader who mined the Internet to obtain victims' personal identifying information. The DA's office in Manhattan reported that he was arrested in May after he came to New York to claim $7 million in gold that he thought had been purchased with money stolen from one of his victims. Forbes.com reported that Texas billionaire Charles J. Wyly Jr. and other wealthy victims were the targets of the identity theft ring. Wyly, 73, and his brother, Sam, headed the world's largest arts and crafts chain, Michaels Stores, before it was sold last year for $6 billion. The year-long investigation into the criminal conspiracy broke open when an investigator with the Manhattan District Attorney's Identity Theft Unit went undercover, taking on the online identity of a Klopov accomplice and pursuing an on-line relationship with him. The DA's office reported that the undercover investigation revealed that Klopov created dossiers of background research on his targeted victims and even hired private investigators to provide him with additional information on his targets. He used on-line job hunting sites, such as Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com, to recruit accomplices. The DA also noted that he provided his co-conspirators with fake identification and documents, background information on the identity theft victims, and even made all their travel arrangements, including reservations at five-star hotels and town car limo services. Klopov paid for the recruits' travel expenses using stolen credit card numbers. Investigators reported that it was difficult to nail down Klopov's actual identity for some time because he used a variety of cyberidentities, like "kirill," "trancer," "239855403," "rayescrowchk," "topfinancegroup," and "stayintheshadows." He also only communicated with his co-conspirators via e-mail or instant messaging. The DA's office reported that in one instance, Klopov allegedly contacted Fidelity Investments on Dec. 15, 2005, and requested that approximately $1 million worth of stock, which was held in the account of a Silicon Valley couple, be sold. On that same day, a co-conspirator showed up at the Fidelity Investments office in San Jose, Calif., with a counterfeit power of attorney, ostensibly signed by the couple. On Dec. 20, 2005, $1,050,000 was wired from the couple's account to an account at Washington Mutual Bank in the name of one of Klopov's co-conspirators. Later that same day, at Klopov's alleged direction, almost $1 million was transferred by wire to bank accounts in Russia. The group of five defendants faces a myriad of charges, including conspiracy in the fourth degree, grand larceny in the first degree, attempted grand larceny in the first degree, money laundering in the first degree, attempted money laundering in the first degree, and identity theft in the first degree. Money laundering in the first degree and grand larceny in the first degree are both punishable by up to 25 years in prison. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Affiliates Reviews

Slashdot It! Nothing is worse than losing power while working on the computer. Even if you are playing a video game, it still warrants the cursing that follows after a total power loss kills your playtime. You don't have to be a business person or computer enthusiast to reap the benefits of working though a power out. Since it is easier to purchase a battery backup solution than it is to learn the habit of frequently saving your work, it makes perfect sense to pair a computer system to a decent UPS. In fact, one day it may make as much sense to pair the two together as much as it does to have a keyboard and mouse. But what determines a "decent" uninterruptible power source?

The CyberPower Systems CP1500AVRLCD UPS, designed for mid to high-end computer systems, features dynamic line conditioning and an Intelligent LCD diagnostic display. Real-time system vitals can be viewed from this display and the unit can be conveniently mounted in a workstation cabinet or directly on the desktop. The CP1500AVRLCD also guards against surges/spikes, and offers battery backup in the event of brownouts or total power loss. Additionally, CyberPower stands behind its projects by offering an industry-leading 3-year warranty, coupled with our award winning Technical Support and Connected Equipment Guarantees of up to $500,000. Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR) ensures that all your electronics are receiving clean power and stabilizes the voltage to a nominal 120VAC. PowerPanel PE Management Software automatically saves and closes open files and then shuts down the computer system in an intelligent and orderly manner. The CP series are also equipped with full dataline protection: RJ11/RJ45 (phone, fax, Ethernet, network, DSL) and RG-6 coax (DSL, cable modem, satellite, cable TV). Surge-Only outlets are perfect for the addition of peripherals such as monitors, printers, scanners, iPods, or CD/DVD players.

About the Company:

Founded in 1997, CyberPower Systems (USA), Inc., designs, manufactures and markets a feature-rich line of affordable high quality Uninterruptible Power Systems. CyberPower is a true manufacturer with two company owned manufacturing facilities. We have a full R&D department, over 60 engineers, and a solid ISO 9001 certified supply chain. Our warranties are three years on UPS instead of the industry standard of two and lifetime warranties on our surge products to include some of the highest connected equipment warranties in the industry.

Since CyberPower first opened its office in the United States, the worldwide distribution of CyberPower products has grown significantly. In fact, Today, CyberPower Systems is the #2 UPS and Surge Manufacturer in both unit and dollar share in the retail channel. CyberPower boasts a complete line of emergency battery backup systems for computer systems, electronics and telecommunication equipment.

CyberPower has recently expanded its line of products to include both lower cost UPS units for the general consumer, as well as higher end units for those applications needing automatic voltage regulation or pure sine wave output. This new product line fully compliments our retail line of products and is capable of serving the reseller community in the SMB sector. The new Reseller line of products is conveniently segregated into three main categories to help enable simplicity in application choice. Those three categories are; The Utility line which is standby Off line UPS, the Office line consisting of line interactive AVR UPS and the Professional line that is Pure Sine wave line interactive AVR UPS. These units are produced in tower form factors and Rack mounted versions in both 1U and 2U designs currently. The addition of these products into the CyberPower line makes CyberPower a true leading global supplier of power protection solutions.

Read more at http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=82&Itemid=47 Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Comcast slows Bittorent traffic

Slashdot It! Over the past weeks more and more Comcast users started to notice that their BitTorrent transfers were cut off. Most users report a significant decrease in download speeds, and even worse, they are unable to seed their downloads. A nightmare for people who want to keep up a positive ratio at private trackers and for the speed of BitTorrent transfers in general. ISPs have been throttling BitTorrent traffic for almost two years now. Most ISPs simply limit the available bandwidth for BitTorrent traffic, but Comcast takes it one step further, and prevents their customers from seeding. And Comcast is not alone in this, Canadian ISPs Cogeco and Rogers use similar methods on a smaller scale. Unfortunately, these more aggressive throttling methods can’t be circumvented by simply enabling encryption in your BitTorrent client. It is reported that Comcast is using an application from Sandvine to throttle BitTorrent traffic. Sandvine breaks every (seed) connection with new peers after a few seconds if it’s not a Comcast user. This makes it virtually impossible to seed a file, especially in small swarms without any Comcast users. Some users report that they can still connect to a few peers, but most of the Comcast customers see a significant drop in their upload speed. The throttling works like this: A few seconds after you connect to someone in the swarm the Sandvine application sends a peer reset message (RST flag) and the upload immediately stops. Most vulnerable are users in a relatively small swarm where you only have a couple of peers you can upload the file to. Only seeding seems to be prevented, most users are able to upload to others while the download is still going, but once the download is finished, the upload speed drops to 0. Some users also report a significant drop in their download speeds, but this seems to be less widespread. Worse on private trackers, likely that this is because of the smaller swarm size Although BitTorrent protocol encryption seems to work against most forms of traffic shaping, it doesn’t help in this specific case. Setting up a secure connection through VPN or over SSH seems to be the only solution. More info about how to setup BitTorrent over SSH can be found here. Last year we had a discussion whether traffic shaping is good or bad, and ISPs made it pretty clear that they do not like P2P applications like BitTorrent. One of the ISPs that joined our discussions said: “The fact is, P2P is (from my point of view) a plague - a cancer, that will consume all the bandwidth that I can provide. It’s an insatiable appetite.”, and another one stated: “P2P applications can cripple a network, they’re like leaches. Just because you pay 49.99 for a 1.5-3.0mbps connection doesn’t mean your entitled to use whatever protocols you wish on your ISP’s network without them provisioning it to make the network experience good for all users involved.” Customers on the other hand like to fully use their connection, and don’t agree that traffic shaping is the correct solution. One reader commented: “If you pay for an internet connection, that’s what you should get from your ISP — an internet connection. Not a connection that will let you browse the web and check email, but little else. If an ISP has issues with the amount of data a customer is transferring, then the ISP needs to address that issue with that customer, and not restrict every user in one class of traffic.” I guess this battle will go on for a while and I would advise Comcast users to try setting up a VPN connection to get around the traffic shaping, other users who find out that they are throttles might try BitTorrent encryption first, that seems to work quite well in most cases. More details about the Sandvine application can be found here. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Bungie tuning down Halo 3's Development

Slashdot It! Development on Halo 3 is winding down. While there’s still a considerable amount of dudes here on site, playing through the game, testing the game, filing bugs and fixing bugs, the game is roughly 99.9% complete. That last .1% percent is pretty important, however. Right now, some testing is being done in a controlled retail environment via our Halo 3 Epsilon. You’ve probably seen reports online or even folks on your friends’ list playing it, so here’s the scoop: The Epsilon is a closed, final phase testing for Halo 3. We won’t be making the Epsilon available for public consumption, so while that’s immensely disappointing for folks hoping that Friends and Family invites would be extended for the Epsilon, just know that each day you wait in agony is another day closer to September 25. The Halo 3 Epsilon includes: The Forge Halo 3’s Forge is a mode that allows for both play and design to co-exist and cooperate. A multiplayer focused tool, Forge will allow players to customize multiplayer maps, changing and resetting spawn points, weapon spawns, weapon timers, vehicle spawns and timers, vehicle spawn points, and add existing geometry to the map’s existing structure in the form of crates, boxes, fusion coils, lifts, teleporters and more. The amount of items you can drop is regulated by an economy budget system, with different items having different values and each map having an overall Budget that the items you place cannot exceed. By deleting existing things off of a given map, you can actually place more things. Players can modify and create their versions of maps, save them and share them with their friends, but that’s only half or so of what Forge allows. In addition to functioning as creation-driven tool, Forge is also a playspace. Up to eight players can be on a given map at a time, shifting back and forth between their chosen multiplayer model and the Forge model – a Monitor. Players can play actual games in Forge, goof around, kill each other, play Slayer where each team designates a Monitor to supply weapons, vehicles, equipment and cover on the fly. The three beta maps plus Last Resort and Sandtrap A lone mission from Halo 3’s Campaign, Tsavo Highway Various U.S. and worldwide enthusiast outlets have played Tsavo Highway now, and you can find their impressions through the Internetz tubes. If you’re not inspired to track down the impressions yourself, here’s the skinny on Tsavo Highway. Beginning in a subterranean labyrinth somewhere in Africa, the Master Chief and a squad of marines need to rendezvous at the semi-nearby city of Voi. Just how long that trip will take depends on if you’re going to cross this sun-scorched African savannah, dotted with massive remains of the destroyed space elevator, Covenant outposts and Covenant checkpoints is up to you – you can go by foot, or perhaps more appropriately by Warthog. There’s going to be much more surfacing about Forge all over the Internet soon. Additionally, folks attending the upcoming Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle and the Leipzig Game Convention next week are due for an injection of Infinite Win. Size Matters No, this isn’t hyperbole about moving units of Halo 3, instead it’s about playing Halo 3 on a monstrous iMAX screen early this morning. I met up with a couple of Microsoft marketing dudes down at the Seattle Pacific Science center and fired up the build of Halo 3 I brought chained to my wrist in giant-screen glory. Before I saw it, I didn’t think an iMAX sized presentation would work, I doubted the might of technology and top flight projection software alike. When I booted up Sierra 117, with its God rays streaming through trees, reflecting softly off of the water the kind folks from iMAX and the gentle-hearted Microsoft dudes simultaneously uttered “Holy -blam-“ Rightfully so, I’d say. We were only displaying the game on roughly 70% of the full iMAX screen real estate and I was playing from the back row enjoying the sounds and vision of Halo 3 in dinosaur-like sizes (big dinosaurs, not those crappy little ones that eat vegetables). If I could’ve made everyone else leave for the weekend, I would’ve played through the game, but the deal they wanted to make was if I wanted to play through the whole game, they had to sit and watch the whole game. Studio Head and Sith Lord Harold Ryan would’ve force choked Captain Needa-style if he felt non-Bungie employees seeing Halo 3 in its entirety. Frankie, had he been here, would’ve been in A/V heaven, but alas he’s airborne on an epic flight back from Australia. How the Pros Do Roger Wolfson, Bungie’s still reining database programmer extraordinaire chimed in to talk about an optional bonus for Halo 3 consumers – Bungie Pro. Roger sez: Hey folks, Roger here. The Bungie server-programming team has been working on some cool new features to integrate with Halo 3, and it’s time to spill some details (all of which may, of course, change before launch. Or even after, really; anytime we have a whim to mess with you guys.) Topic of the day: file sharing. You saw the basics of this during the public beta: custom game and map variants, screenshots, saved films and film clips can all be uploaded to your personal (but public) file share on our servers. The current plan is that everyone with a copy of Halo 3 and an Xbox Live Gold account gets 6 slots where you can place up to 25MB of these files to share with the world. Saved films take up the most space, and 25MB should be enough to hold several longish 16-player games. We don't think the average user will be hurting for space. "But wait!" you exclaim, "I'm not a merely *average* user! I plan to win every motion picture award there is with my exquisitely choreographed, epic-length saved films!" And *that* is where Bungie Pro comes in. "Bungie Pro?" you ask, an eyebrow raised. "I'm listening." While we can't give huge amounts of free storage to every one of our users, (note that unlike webmail sites, Bungie.net remains ad-free,) we're happy to accommodate power users with a premium storage option that we've dubbed Bungie Pro. Inside your file share, you'll find a button that will lead to an Xbox Live Marketplace panel, offering you a one-year "subscription" to Bungie Pro for a planned 750 Points. Buy this, and for the following year, your file share will balloon to 24 slots and 250MB. At the end of the year, you'll be asked to either re-subscribe, or else bring your share back under the default limit before you can upload new content. (750 Points comes to about 78 cents per month, by the way.) "But wait!" a much smaller set of people calls out. "Why pick 24 / 250MB?" That's really a design decision - we figure that users of the file share don't want to have to page through endless lists of other people's files to see if there's anything good. Keeping it limited will make content authors do their part to keep their shares clean of the less interesting stuff. But if this *still* doesn't sound like enough for you, we have yet another option - while the free file share is restricted to Gold accounts for obvious reasons, we're making Bungie Pro available for purchase for your Silver accounts as well. You've created "mule" accounts in an MMO, right? Betcha never guessed you'd get to do it in Halo, too! But wait, there's more! (That's me saying "But wait!" this time, not you.) Browsing file shares in-game is one way to find content, but it can get a little cumbersome. That's where Bungie.net comes in. When you visit the website, you'll be able to look at your file share, and everyone else's as well. Saved films and variants, of course, aren't viewable on the PC because they're just a sequence of game data, but you'll be able to pass around links, see the file descriptions, and even click a button to add it to your download queue - next time you sign in to Halo 3, the game will auto-download the files (up to 8, currently) that you selected on the website. Screenshots, though, you can view directly on Bungie.net and save off as wallpaper -- and they look *great*! Add to that features like "copy to my share" where you can import a file you like on someone else's share directly to your space (or your mule's) so you and your friends can find it in-game, file ratings, and discussions, and we think you'll find this to be an essential part of the Halo 3 online experience. File sharing is only one of the Halo 3 server-side features that we've been working on, so stay tuned over the coming weeks and we'll have even more to discuss.

Bam. Roger, Roger. An additional note, the file share that each Halo 3 user has by default is not the extent of their stored files, just what they choose to upload and share with other players. Players can choose to upload up to six files, be they films, screenshots, map variants or gametypes, to their file share but when they want to share something else, they can replace any of the six currently being shared. The six files are just what is actively being shared, not what is being stored on your hard drive.

Gone ‘Kamping The above image shows just how to scale the Warthog that WETA has been making is – that’s a real life human manning the gun. While there’s still not too much to talk about regarding the excellent work of Neill Blomkamp, the studio did get a sneak peak of his next short earlier this week. It prompted a number of “Wait, was that a…” and “ZOMGz” from the various folks around here, and needless to say, when it surfaces next, you’re in for a gritty and delightful treat.

Finally We’ve put up some new screenshots in the Gallery area. In addition to a new image from Tsavo Highway, there’s a handful of screenshots from a never before multiplayer map, Narrows.

Previously referred to as both NewMap001 and Long and Lean, Narrows takes place on a large, chilly Forerunner bridge. While symmetrical in nature, that symmetry is slightly interrupted by varied power-ups on either side of the map. A Rocket Launcher rests atop the central bridge, while a Shotgun sits below it on the low bridge. Battle Rifles and an assortment of dual wieldables decorate the bases at either end of the bridge. For fast travel from base to base there are Man Cannons that allow for in-air collision and general hilarity if two people take flight at the same time. Speaking of general hilarity, next week's special guest on the Bungie Podcast will be none other than the angry one himself: Mat Noguchi. We'll make sure the Noguchi train is driving straight toward fury-town, but in order for him to be appropriately vitriolic, he'll need a little prodding from you folks. So shoot me your questions for Noguchi here at Bungie.net and we'll pick some and see what unfolds (other than a lot of editing). Download the latest episode of the Bungie Podcast here. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

IBM changes directions in magnetic memory

Slashdot It! At IBM, manipulating magnetic fields are out, and spin-polarized electrons are in. IBM has linked with Japan's TDK to develop so-called spin torque transfer RAM (random access memory) or STT-RAM. In STT-RAM, an electric current is applied to a magnet to change the direction of the magnetic field. The direction of the magnetic field (up-and-down or left-to-right) causes a change in resistance, and the different levels of resistance register as 1s or 0s. Under the current plan, IBM and TDK, an integral player in magnetic recording components for hard drives, will develop a 65-nanometer prototype within the next four years. Grandis, a Silicon Valley start-up, is also trying to commercialize STT-RAM. Grandis is making samples for potential customers in its current facility and hopes to hit the market late next year. Previously, IBM had been working on a more conventional type of magnetic memory called MRAM. However, the company has been having trouble shrinking the transistors on these chips. "As you make that device smaller (MRAM), you need to increase the magnetic field, and to continue to write (data), it becomes impractical," said Bill Gallagher, senior manager of exploratory nonvolatile memory at IBM. "To scale beyond 65-nanometer, we have to find a new mechanism to write information." The 65-nanometer process is currently used to make processors today, though most other chips are made on older processes like 90-nanometer or even 13-nanometer. (65 and 90 nanometers refer to the average feature size inside the chip. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. Smaller features lead to faster, and often more energy-efficient, chips.) IBM has made MRAM prototypes, but on older manufacturing processes. IBM has not released MRAM chips commercially. Freescale Semiconductor has released MRAM chips commercially, but has recently expressed doubt about the technology's longevity. At the Flash Memory Summit last week, Freescale's David Bondurant said MRAM "may not go beyond" 65 nanometers. STT-RAM and phase-change memory are probably the two leading candidates of nonvolatile memory to go commercial in the future, Gallagher said. STT-RAM is faster, but phase change is denser. STT-RAM may also last longer, he said. In phase-change memory, microscopic bits on a chip are heated up to several hundred degrees Celsius. Heating changes the crystalline material to amorphous. The difference on how the host computer interprets the crystalline and amorphous surfaces is registered as a 1 or a 0 in the computer. Intel and STMicroelectronics have worked extensively in phase change. Some sources in the memory business believe that the joint venture between the two, Numonyx, will soon announce plans on how it intends to bring phase change memory to market. (Phase change has been discussed as a memory technology since 1970 but has not yet come to market.) Why does IBM care about memory chips when it makes its money mostly from services and servers? Big Blue also makes chips and licenses intellectual property. Developing nonvolatile memory will give it a necessary ingredient for making chips for itself or others. "You can't make a system on a chip without some kind of nonvolatile memory," Gallagher said. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Nokia Asks for Ban on Qualcomm Chip Imports

Slashdot It! Several developers of technology used in mobile phones are engaged in all-out hostilities over royalties and license fees on patents. In the latest phase, Nokia, the mobile phone maker, said Friday that it had asked United States trade officials to intervene in an increasingly bitter dispute with Qualcomm, which makes computer chips for phones. Nokia, based in Finland, has asked the International Trade Commission to bar import of phones into the United States that include Qualcomm chips that Nokia asserts violate its patents. Nokia said it was not being properly compensated for the use of its technology by Qualcomm, based in San Diego. Nokia’s move to seek government intervention comes two months after Broadcom, a rival chip maker, won a ruling from the International Trade Commission that Qualcomm had infringed on an important patent. That decision gave Broadcom new ammunition in its negotiations with Qualcomm as well as with mobile phone carriers like Verizon Wireless that sell mobile phones based on Qualcomm chips. “Nokia was likely emboldened by Broadcom’s success,” said Thomas Carpenter, an industry analyst with Hilliard Lyons, a securities firm. “Both sides are doing every big thing they can legally to fight this battle,” Mr. Carpenter said. “It definitely ups the stakes.” The dispute between Qualcomm and Nokia underscores an increasingly bitter conflict over who will profit from the huge sums of money being generated by the mobile phone industry. Patent holders who have developed pertinent new technologies — from the delivery of video on phones to power management — are at odds over royalty licensing rates. Qualcomm has suffered a handful of legal and regulatory setbacks, particularly with regard to its disagreements with Broadcom. At the same time, industry analysts said, Qualcomm remains in one of the most powerful patent positions in the industry. The Nokia patent dispute involves technology used to improve performance of wireless devices, reduce product size and manufacturing costs, and increase battery life, Nokia said. Qualcomm said it was reviewing Nokia’s complaint and declined to comment. Telecommunications industry analysts said that the dispute was not likely to lead to the barring of imports but, rather, was an escalation of tactics used by the parties as part of their negotiations over licensing fees. In recent years, Nokia has paid Qualcomm around $100 million a quarter to license its chip technology, according to Paul Sagawa, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Company. But the licensing agreement expired in April and Nokia thinks it should be paying a lower royalty rate because, it says, it controls important technology with its own patents. Mr. Sagawa said he hoped that Qualcomm and Nokia would not engage in a protracted battle. “Both Nokia and Qualcomm understand that a lengthy litigation war is value-destroying, not just for themselves but for the industry as a whole.” Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

AA sues Google

Slashdot It! American Airlines, the world's largest airline, said it was seeking damages from Internet search leader Google for selling search words involving its name. The dispute relates to Google's practice of selling search terms such as "American Airlines" or "AA.com" to other companies for advertising. American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp., said it does not want to prevent the display of search terms, but wants Google to stop selling its trademarks and related terms. "We are seeking relief for the damages such practices are creating," the company said in a statement. It didn't estimate the amount of damages. Google believes its on solid ground. "We are confident that our trademark policy strikes a proper balance between trademark owners' interests and consumer choice, and that our position has been validated by decisions in previous trademark cases," Google said in a statement. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

Google still wins the customer's mind

Slashdot It! It is not enough to be able to state your favorite movie, your favorite song or your favorite color. In the 21st century, you should also be ready to answer this question: What’s your favorite Internet brand?

That is what JupiterResearch did recently in a survey, and it should come as no surprise that Google won this popularity contest. Next in line was Yahoo, followed by Amazon, eBay and MySpace. Yahoo, which has been less able than Google to translate its strong brand recognition into strong financial growth, may want to take note: results varied by gender. “Yahoo fans skew female but tend toward the mainstream, while Google fans are more likely to be male, a little more wealthy, and influential on the subject of consumer electronics, “ Jupiter states. MySpace, the social networking site, was as popular as Google and Yahoo among the younger set (ages 18 to 24). But among all adults, it is highly unlikely to unseat Google as the “Gone With the Wind” of the Internet age. Surf the web faster with Mozilla FireFox

PlayStation 3 Stress Tested

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With all the coverage of how the Xbox 360s are failing left and right in the past few months, there hasn't been much coverage of how sturdy the PS3 is. PS3 Vault took a PS3 into harsh environments, continuously using it for 108 hours with various games and Blu-ray movies. Their findings? The PS3 is pretty much indestructible.

The guys did three tests, one at room temperature, one down at 0 degrees F (below zero), and one at 120F. Besides slight condensation on the cord in the cold and a burning smell in the heat, the PS3 actually held up perfectly fine. It went back to a working environment and plays just like normal. [PS3 Vault via Kotaku]

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The impact of pirated software on free software

Slashdot It! A recent column on Zdnet, by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, discussed the reasons why people won't change from a retail operating system to a free one. The implication is that Linux can't even give away their software. That sounds pretty dire. Windows retails for around 200 US dollars, give or take depending on which version and where you buy. If the above statement by Mr Kingsley-Hughes was true, it means that Linux is so bad that people would gladly pay 200 dollars to avoid it. Do users really think Linux is that lame? This article is not to defend Linux and counter the points that Mr Kingsley-Hughes made. Instead, the intention here is to simply use his article as a starting point to discuss in depth an issue which, so far as I've ever seen, is missing almost entirely from the debate over Windows versus Linux versus Mac. M