We appreciate the information provided to us about SMS vulnerabilities which affect several mobile phone platforms. This morning, less than 24 hours after a demonstration of this exploit, we've issued a free software update that eliminates the vulnerability from the iPhone. Contrary to what's been reported, no one has been able to take control of the iPhone to gain access to personal information using this exploit.
During a conference call, Sony CEO Nobuyuki Oneda announced that the PlayStation 3 is 70% cheaper to manufacture, then it was at launch. That means that the manufacturing cost went from about $800 to $240.
If what Oneda says is correct, it means Sony can significantly reduce the price of the console and remain profitable. Dropping the price would be a good move, if Sony which's to bean Microsoft and Nintendo.
Sims 3 Collector’s Edition includes:
Ready to manufacturers (RTM) is the final stage in Windows 7 development. PC manufacturers are given the final code for installation on new computers, DVDs are pressed, boxed and packaged up, and stores can begin to prepare to offer machines with the new OS installed. In other words, Windows 7 is completed.
Below I’ve embedded a slideshow showing the installation process of Windows 7. Its basically the same as Windows 7 Beta’s installation, except for the slightly quicker installation.
Ever since Microsoft announced they would be opening a chain of Microsoft stores we’ve been wondering how bad the stores are going to be. Well, according to a PowerPoint presentation which was leaked to Gizmodo, its not too bad. In fact it makes the Apple store seem boring.
The presentation is by Lippicott, a "design and brand strategy" consultant firm with extensive retail experience that it appears Microsoft has hired to help develop the store's concept, principles, and design. The presentation seems legitimate; and if its fake I congratulate the creator.
Microsoft will be taking the best things from the Apple store the Sony store and other retail outlets and bringing them all together in the Microsoft store. The main focuses are going to be Windows 7, Xbox, PCTV (Windows Media Center) Surface and Windows Mobile.
Here are some highlights of the slideshow:
•There's going to be a Digital Media Wall--a massive screen--that wraps around the entire store, which you can see in some of the slides
• Lots of Surface demos
• Stage areas for Windows 7, Windows Media Center (PCTV), Windows Mobile and netbooks
• Their take on the Genius Bar is the Answers Bar (or Guru Bar, depending on which slide you look at, showing it's slightly up in the air, though we prefer Answers Bar since its sounds like slightly less of a Genius Bar ripoff)
• They're already planning out huge demos and events around Project Natal and their secret mobile project Pink
• A fancy Microsoft shopping bag
• You can pay to have your birthday party at the Microsoft Store.
You can check out the slides below:
Palm had this to say on their blog:
"That's right — you once again can have seamless access to your music, photos and videos from the current version of iTunes (8.2.1)."
But there are a bunch of other sweet new features, especially "person reminders," which let you set individual reminders for each person in your contact list (imagine a buddy calls, and a message pops up, reminding you to, say, congratulate him—or, if you're like me, to ask him to pay you back the money he owes you). So cool. Below is the full list of updates.
Version information
* Version: webOS 1.1.0
* Release date: 23 July 2009
* Configuration: Sprint 1.7New applications
NFL Mobile Live from Sprint* Watch or listen to live NFL games right on your phone.
Feature changes to existing applications
Calendar* For Calendar accounts you create on your phone, the default reminder intervals are 15 minutes for timed events and one day for all-day events. A few notes:
o This change applies only if software version 1.1 was on your phone when you bought it, or if you did a partial or full erase on your phone and signed in to your Palm profile again after updating to version 1.1. If you simply update your phone to software version 1.1, the default reminder intervals in Calendar do not change.
o This change applies only to Calendar events you create on your phone, not to events that are synchronized to your phone from an online account.Camera
* The Photos application opens more quickly when launched from the camera.
Clock
* Enhanced support for time zones in Clock.
* When you set an alarm in Clock, an alarm icon appears in the notification area at the bottom of the screen. Tap the icon to display alarm details. Alarm details include the following:
o If the alarm is set for the current day, the alarm time appears.
o If the alarm is set for tomorrow, the alarm time and "Tomorrow" appear.
o If the alarm is set for any day other than today or tomorrow, the day of the alarm appears.Contacts
* Friends added and deleted in Facebook on the web are now correctly added and deleted in the Facebook account in Contacts on the phone.
* As soon as you create or makes changes to a Google contact on the phone, the phone begins a sync to reflect those changes in Google on the web.* When you set up an Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) email account, you can enter the mail server name as an IP address.
* Support for self-signed certificates with multiple common names has been added.
* When you reply to an email in HTML format using an EAS account, the formatting of the sender's original message is now retained in the reply.
* Palm's EAS implementation now supports several Exchange ActiveSync Policies, including the following:
o PIN/Password Required. IT administrators can ensure a password is assigned to the phone. Administrators can also specify the minimum length of the password.
o Inactivity timeout. IT administrators can ensure that an inactive phone goes into a locked state after a certain time period. You cannot set a higher timeout interval for your phone, but you can set a shorter interval.
o Remote Wipe. IT Administrators can remotely erase all data on a phone from their Exchange console. IT administrators can also have the device wipe itself if an incorrect password is entered more than a specified number of times.Messaging
* You can enter emoticons in new text, multimedia, and instant messages. Emoticons also display in incoming messages.
* If you set the phone to use a 24-hour time format, the message times shown in a conversation appear in 24-hour time.
* If you go into an IM account's preferences, all the options are available even if you are signed in to the account. You can tap Remove Account to delete the account, enter a new password to update the password, or tap Sign In to sign in with your updated password. Previously, you needed to sign out of the account before you could use these preferences.
* When you delete an IM account, a message now appears asking you to confirm that you want to delete the account.Phone
* When multiple missed call notifications are displayed on the dashboard, the time of the most recent missed call is shown.
* When you slide the ringer switch off, a bell icon with a slash is displayed. Previously, the icon was a speaker with a slash.
* In Phone Preferences, the Show Contact Matches preference is now turned on by default. When typing on the keyboard in the phone app, the phone automatically displays both the numbers being entered and any contact matches for the characters entered.System
* Improved functionality of person reminders. A person reminder is a notification that you create in a contact entry. The notification appears when you have a call or exchange an email, text, multimedia, or IM message with a contact.
* Resolves an issue preventing media sync from working with latest version of iTunes (8.2.1).
* When you enter a search term in Card view or the Launcher to perform a universal search, if you select the Wikipedia web search option, results are shown in the Wikipedia Mobile site instead of the Desktop site.Web
* You can now use symbols from the symbols table (Sym Sym key icon + key) when you enter text into a web page dialog box.
* If you have a page open at a certain zoom level, leave the page, and use the onscreen Back Web Back button button or the back gesture to return to the page, the zoom level is restored right away.
* A new gesture is now available that works the same as the onscreen Forward Web Forward button button. To move forward through open web pages, make a short swipe left to right in the gesture area.
* When using the Wikipedia drop-down search feature in the address bar, results are shown in the Wikipedia Mobile site instead of the Desktop site.
* When you tap a link, the link appears highlighted to indicate it has been activated, even if it takes a moment for the linked page to open.YouTube
* After you enter search text, you can tap the Search Search icon icon to perform a search. You still have the option of pressing Enter Enter key to perform the search.
Toshiba's first Blu-Ray player should be launched sometime around Christmas "sources" say it'll be called the BD-18. We don't yet know anything else about the player.
Microsoft's Chief Operating Office, Kevin Turner told audience members during his Worldwide Partner Conference keynote told his employees about how Apple's lawyers wanted Microsoft to take down their Laptop Hunter ads. Here's the story he told.
And so we've been running these PC value ads. Just giving people saying, hey, what are you looking to spend? "Oh, I'm looking to spend less than $1,000." Well we'll give you $1,000. Go in and look and see what you can buy. And they come out and they just show them. Those are completely unscripted commercials.
And you know why I know they're working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey -- this is a true story -- saying, "Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices." They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I've ever taken in business. (Applause.)
I did cartwheels down the hallway. At first I said, "Is this a joke? Who are you?" Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we're just going to keep running them and running them and running them.
The whole keynote is available on Microsoft Presspass.
The most recent Laptop features Matt and Olivia, who were looking for a $700 laptop that they can use to share photos. It needs to have a large screen and great battery life, and of course they find their dream machine:
Microsoft just announced the details of the next Xbox Live dashboard update, which should start rolling out in waves later this summer. Highlight features include support for Games on Demand (coming in August), a slew of Netflix updates including the ability to browse the library and manage your queue, the long-awaited Movie Party system that allows Gold members to share a flick in a virtual theater, and a ton of other little tweaks like user ratings, avatar enhancements, friends list sorting, and a streamlined Party invite system. Yeah, we think we'll take it.
You may soon see a real, physical Google map markers everywhere around the world. Google has asked famous people to share their favourite spots with them, Google will then place a marker at the location.
These markers will have an icon and plaque to identify them. If I was famous enough to have the opportunity to place a marker somewhere, it would be the CN Tower to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I love that tower.
Palm warned Pre users that the iTunes syncing feature could be broken at a moments notice by Apple. It’s no surprise that Apple broke the feature. I'm able to confirm that iTunes version 8.2.1 will break the Pre’s iTunes syncing ability, meaning you’ll have to copy your music the old fashion way. Palm may find a way to make iTunes syncing work again, but of course Apple would just break it again. This could end up being a very fun game of cat and mouse, but will leave consumers stuck in the middle.
Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, has already expressed his negative thoughts towards Google’s Chrome OS and now Bill Gates has taken a shot at the upcoming operating system. In an interview with CNET Gates described Chrome OS as just another Linux distribution.
"there's many, many forms of Linux operating systems out there and packaged in different ways and booted in different ways," adding that, "in some ways I am surprised people are acting like there's something new. I mean, you've got Android running on Netbooks. It's got a browser in it."
Gates went on to take another shot at Google by saying that “the more vague they are, the more interesting it is," before getting a little philosophical by asking: "What's a browser? What's not a browser?" His answer? "In large part, it's more an abuse of terminology than a real change."
And stay tuned, because we're going to have some retail stores opened up that are opened up right next door to Apple stores this fall. Stay tuned, just stay tuned. – Microsoft COO Kevin Turner
There are no details about the actual strategy except that it will start happening this fall. I can't wait. I love this kind of war.
Microsoft Office 2010 Build 14.0.4302.1000 has just leaked onto the internet, so it looks like there's more happening today than just build 7600 of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Office 2010 will be available both in 32 Bit and 64 Bit versions.
In January the first screenshots of an alpha build of Office 2010 leaked onto the internet. In May a Technical Preview of Office 2010 in 32-Bit and 64-Bit was leaked.
This build of Office 2010 includes Access 2010, Excel 2010, InfoPath 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, PowerPoint 2010, Project 2010, Publisher 2010, SharePoint Designer 2010, SharePoint Workspace 2010, Visio 2010, and Word 2010.
Below are the latest screenshots:
I don’t know why, but the iSoft team has decided to run Windows 95 on an iPhone 3G. The horrible background music and unfocused camera makes my stomach turn.
The hack uses the normal Windows 95 image and runs on the Bochs emulator. As everyone would expect, the speed is awful They are currently working on getting Windows XP to run on the iPhone, which will be even slower. This is a huge disgrace to tech.
Another set of unverified screenshots of Chrome OS has been leaked to the internet. An Engadget tipster says most applications run on the internet. Picasa runs locally for photo and movie viewing, and the "System" tab displays the contents of SD cards and digital cameras. Though this image is probably fake, it is interesting. The screenshots are below, tell us what you think by commenting below.
Microsoft Office 2010 Build 14.0.4302.1000 has just leaked onto the internet, so it looks like there's more happening today than just build 7600 of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Office 2010 will be available both in 32 Bit and 64 Bit versions.
In January the first screenshots of an alpha build of Office 2010 leaked onto the internet. In May a Technical Preview of Office 2010 in 32-Bit and 64-Bit was leaked.
This build of Office 2010 includes Access 2010, Excel 2010, InfoPath 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, PowerPoint 2010, Project 2010, Publisher 2010, SharePoint Designer 2010, SharePoint Workspace 2010, Visio 2010, and Word 2010.
Below are the latest screenshots:
“Mondo” is "Microsoft Office Limestone Test Application". Its not a new name for Office 2010.
InfoPath Editor 2010 has been renamed to InfoPath Filer 2010. There are also Microsoft Office 2010 Developer Resources (why Visio 2007 and not Visio 2010?), which were not in the previous leaked build.
Above is the previously leaked build and below is the latest. The big difference is that the Office logo has been replaced with File F. The difference in title bar is due to the Operating System.
When actually clicking on the menu, the biggest change is the fact that you have access to all the other tabs, a small but positive improvement. In the New submenu, it's obvious that some icons have been updated (like Blank Document, Recent Templates, and Sample Templates).
I recommend agenst using leaked builds of Office 2010, your better off waiting until the Official Beta comes out next summer.
If parents need more evidence that texting teens is becoming increasingly dangerous, 15 year old Alexa Longueira from Staten Island walked into an open manhole while texting. Alexa is fine but she did loose a shoe and scraped her back.
Alexa fell about 5 feet into the manhole. Her mother noted that she was also mentally injured, as the sewer was "putrid" and one of her shoes remains there. Apparently, DEP workers were looking for cones to mark the open manhole.
The family said they will sue, but it is unclear who. Alexa really should have been watching where she was walking.
An XBOX 360 program manager "Fitret” has posted on Twitter a photo of the Zune HD showing the Zune Marketplace selection, specifically an artist sub-menu for The Hold Steady. It does not show much but it does look nice. We just hope there is an app store.
I’m just going to assume this video of a PlayStation 3 Slim, which was purportedly "stolen” at a Philippine street market is fake, but given the piling up evidence and the continuing leaks it just might be real. The video is blurry video of a plastic box with a new rounded logo. We’ll just have to wait and see if any legitimate sources have anything to say about this video.
Microsoft has chosen Steven Sinofsky as the new head of Windows division, making him responsible for Windows Live, Windows OS, and Internet Explorer. Steve previously was responsible for developing Windows 7 and his success with delivering Windows 7 on time has led to the promotion. Not only is Windows 7 ready for launch, it is full of new and useful features.
Sinofsky has an excellent record of delivering huge products before product deadlines. The next step is to insure that Windows 7’s launch wont be an embarrassment, like Windows Vista’s. Windows 7 will be launched on October 22, just in time for the holiday season.
The Office 2010 Movie Trailer makes the life of a geek seem, filled with action, danger and beautiful women. Reality is a little more boring. Fourteen hour days spent in pyjamas, cereal for breakfast and dinner (we don't get lunch breaks), and families who constantly struggle with the question, "do you even have a job"? But most geeks are still mourning the loss of Clippy.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt was caught snapping a photo from a Blackberry. Yes, Google makes apps for the blackberry, but Google makes its own phone too. It feels like Scgmidt is cheating on Google. We guess the big, ratty Google sticker adds back a sliver of street cred, but it's not like this thing's packing some furiously awesome camera that a Magic, Dream, or Hero doesn't. Lets just hope he is not using Bing or Yahoo as well.
China Unicom will likely be selling an iPhone sooner than expected, but it will not have Wi-Fi capabilities.
The Government of China, which controls the 3 major cell phone networks in China said in the past that it objected to Wi-Fi in phones, perhaps because it's harder to sniff local packets than ones drifting through a wide-area network.
According to unconfirmed reports, China Unicom plans to sell a GSM based iPhone, but its licence is for something where Wi-Fi is blocked. As TradingMarkets.com puts it: "Apple has to cancel the Wi-Fi function without changing other components."
The good news is that, China has been waiting for the iPhone for a long time and they are finally getting it now. I just wonder how adept the Chinese jailbreakers will be at reactivating that Wi-Fi.
According to a police report a 19 year old Jessie Phoutthaphaphone was using a browsing MySpace beside a cracked window when a thief came in a stole his laptop right off his lap.
"I was typing and all of the sudden just woosh! I was like oh, what the hell?" Phoutthaphaphone said.
"This is clearly a real desperate act, I mean he (the suspect) stole the computer out of his hands while he's in his house," Minneapolis Police Sgt. Jesse Garcia explained.
"He was probably just creeping right here, I was typing, and then all of the sudden he just yanked it," the victim remarked. He only saw the suspect's hands; then saw his back as he ran around the corner of his home.
Jessie chased the suspect until he cornered him at a garage. A homeowner saw the commotion and pinned down the suspect, until the authorities arrived. Naturally, he incident described as both "bold and bizarre" has left authorities baffled.
Jessie’s last name was not available due to police restrictions.
Google has released a partial list of Chrome OS partners and it includes most of the big manufacturers you would expect, from all sectors of the computing world, from full-featured PCs to netbooks to handhelds, plus Adobe for some Flash support.
The full list is: Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments. Google made sure to note that this is a partial list, but we can see a range from primarily small-form computer makers like ASUS to bigger PCs like HP and Lenovo, and the addition of Qualcomm and TI means they've got low-powered chipset makers on board. Adobe is an interesting pull—can we expect heavy use of Flash in the OS's core?
The biggest company that is missing is Dell, although smaller PC makers like Sony and Toshiba are not included either. We are not to sure why Dell did not want to become a partner They make pretty popular netbooks and Chrome OS could be as big a boon for them as anyone else. Perhaps they will stick to Windows 7.
Combined with an extra microprocessor and some custom scripts, the RGB LED illuminates with a different color depending on whether it's email, an IM or a new tweet awaiting one's perusal. With all of the useless software that are bundled with laptops these days, you’d think that Dell or HP would do something similar.
Gear Live has found a clever way to stream Zune Pass songs to your iPhone. Why would you do that. Zune Pass gives you an unlimited amount of songs for about $15/month. The issue is that they don't play natively on the iPhone.
You first need to set up Orb on a Windows based computer to transcode, on the fly, your already downloaded Zune songs. Then you can listen to all of your songs (not just 16GB or 32GB of them) wherever you have internet access. It works well on 3G and Wi-Fi but EDGE is too slow for full quality music. For a full guide on how to do it click here.
If you bought a Silent EX Mouse and you want to pair it up with a silent keyboard, you don't have to wait anymore. Thanko and has now updated its venerable Silent Keyboard with the EX moniker and an extra shot of quiet.The value of cutting 16.5 dB from the sound of a keyboard tap is somewhat lost on us. This silent keyboard retails at $52.79. You have the choice of bundling it with the mouse for $77.
Sony’s PSP Go was a god attempt to smother PSP2 rumours but it failed miserable. A new rumour is out saying that the PSP2 will have the PowerVR GPU, which is just as powerful as iPhone 3GS GPU. The SGX543MP cited has four cores, and generates 113 Polygons per second on the low end potable 200 megahertz model. What's interesting is that GamesIndustry.biz calls the PSP2 just a "ballpark match" for the original Xbox. They also point out that Imagination Technologies calls the chip a GP-GPU, capable of handling computing tasks in addition to graphics, and potentially giving the PSP2 the power savings of not needing a separate CPU to operate.
One huge problem people face when downloading a Windows 7 ISO from sketchy services is that they have to verify that it was not tampered with. In other words, they need to verify that the Windows 7 they asked for is the Windows 7 they got.
The Windows 7 ISO Verifier has been created by Long Zheng and Sven Groot, and allows users to test to see if the ISO of Windows 7 they have has not been tampered with. ISO images can simply be dropped onto the exe after download.
The program calculates the hash of the local ISO and compare it with an online database, which is constantly updated. The process is very fast. It can obviously happen that a hash is not listed in the online database either because the release is to new, human error or because it has been tampered with (say another language was added).
Synology's just-announced DS409Slim NAS which is nice simple and very compact. Despite its puny size you can fit four 2.5 inch hard drives, along with some standard issue NAS specs like a 1.2GHz Marvell processor, 128MB of RAM, a pair of USB ports, and a single eSATA port. It can handle up to 2 TB of space. Look for this later this month at a price of $400.
Microsoft is warning users of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 of a security hole in Internet Explorer that allows hackers to remotely install malicious software on computers.
The hole, which is caused by Internet Explorer and ActiveX, has been used for about a week to install viruses on users who click certain links in spam emails. Microsoft’s solution is available here is used to disable the video software. Microsoft is working hard to fix the problem.
Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) pushes his employees to make some
Jobs, for all of his virtues, clings to the Great Man Theory of Leadership - a CEO-centric model of executive power that is outmoded, unsustainable, and, for most of us mere mortals, ineffective in a world of non-stop change. A Wired magazine cover story from last year made the point well. The article begins with a memorable anecdote - the CEO, in search of a space in the company's crowded parking lot, regularly leaves his Mercedes in a handicapped space, sometimes taking up two spaces. The pattern became so noticeable that employees, according to the article, put notes on his windshield that read, Park Different.
"Jobs' fabled attitude toward parking", writer Leander Kahney says, "reflects his approach to business: For him, the regular rules do not apply." That means shrouding his company in secrecy; treating his employees to tyrannical outbursts; and refusing basic accommodations that would make beautifully designed products more customer-friendly. (As one wise-guy blogger commented, in decidedly bad taste: "I can't believe Steve Jobs's liver is replaceable but the battery in my iPhone is not.")
Neowin.net has reported that July 13, 2009 will be the day that Windows 7 reaches RTM (release to manufacturing). This is great news for people who are anxiously awaiting the launch of Windows 7, on October 22. This means that the code will be finalized and manufacturing will begin.
July 13 will be a huge milestone for Windows 7. There will be no more testing, leaks, by-hourly testing, or shutdowns. The RTM will be the real Windows 7. The only thing that should delay the RTM is major bugs, but that is unlikely to happen.
We are still on track for general availability (GA) on October 22, 2009. That is the day when you can walk into a store and take Windows 7 right off the self and buy it. That is when we will finally know if the average person likes it.
In the next few months there will be a huge surge in Windows 7, as Microsoft makes more announcements and releasing ads. Its the beginning of the end!
We knew that we would see very cheap netbooks in the near future, and here it is: Sprint and Best Buy are providing a 99 cent Compaq-branded HP Mini 110c when you sign up for a two year data agreement. This offer looks great, especially because AT&T sells the same netbook for $199.99, but looks are deceiving. You’ll be dishing out $60 a month which adds up to approximately $1,440 for two years of pain with that 1.6GHz Atom, 1GB of RAM and three-cell battery. You are much better off getting a 3G USB stick you can use with any computer you wish. It will cost the same, $60 a month, but remember, you can use it on millions of computers. But that is just my opinion.
Microsoft has attempted to make everything in Windows 7 easier to use, including the packaging.
One of Windows Vista’s biggest criticisms was its insanely hard to open packaging. In an effort to prevent theft and piracy, Microsoft created boxes that required their own set of instructions to open.
In a blog post Microsoft said Windows 7’s packaging would be similar to Vista’s packaging, except that it would open like a standard DVD case.
The case will be recyclable and will contain only the Windows 7 DVD and starting guide. Microsoft said that overall it reduced the packaging weight by 37 percent.
Windows is scheduled to be launched on October 22 although pre-sales of the product as well as a free upgrade program for new PC buyers have started.
I am quite surprised that over the years there have not been many holes discovered on the iPhone. In fact the last exploit that was patched happened over two years ago and now, thanks to OS X security expert Charlie Miller -- we're seeing yet another come to light. At the SysScan conference in Syngapore, Miller talked about a vulnerability, which would allow hackers to "run software code on the phone that is sent by SMS over a mobile operator's network in order to monitor the location of the phone using GPS, turn on the phone's microphone to eavesdrop on conversations, or make the phone join a distributed denial of service attack or a botnet." Miller is planning to further discuss the vulnerability at the Black Hat conference. Apple is hoping to have the hole patched by the end of the month.
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