 Apple issues mega-monster security update
Apple Tuesday issued a record-breaking security update that patched nearly 90 vulnerabilities in both its own code and the third-party applications it bundles with its Tiger and Leopard operating systems. Security Update 2008-002 plugged 87 holes in the client and server editions of Mac OS X 10.4 and Mac OS 10.5, This single update's total patch count nearly equaled half of all the fixes Apple released in 2007, and easily dwarfed the biggest updates that year, both which saw 40 or more bugs patched.
"What a dizzy double take," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security in an e-mail. "Right on the heels of an unprecedented giant Safari fix, we now have a frighteningly large set of updates for OSX 10.4.11 and 10.5.2." Earlier today, Apple updated its Safari browser for both Mac and Windows, patching 13 vulnerabilities.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: March 20, 2008, 12:36 pm
News Source : Infoworld
Apple to Offer Unlimited Music Plan?
Financial Times reports that Apple is currently in discussions with music companies to allow customers to have unlimited access to the entire iTunes music library in exchange for paying a premium for its iPod and iPhone devices (presumably for the life of the device).
The plan sounds similar to Universal's Total Music plan in which the cost of music is embedded into the music player itself. Based on the wording of this article, it seems Apple's version of the plan adds the cost on top of the iPod or iPhone.
The negotiations are currently being held up due to disagreements in pricing. Apple is reportedly only offering $20 per device, while Nokia is playing almost $80/handset for a similar plan. Other possibilities appear to include a subscription based service for iPhone users ($7-8/month, for example) with the capability to keep up to 40-50 tracks/year even after the subscription lapses. Historically, the Financial Times has been a reliable source of information with early details of Apple's plans to introduce iTunes Movie rentals well ahead of its release.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: March 20, 2008, 12:36 pm
News Source : Mac Rumours
 Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Released
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) is an update to Windows Vista that addresses feedback from our customers. In addition to previously released updates, SP1 will contain changes focused on addressing specific reliability, performance, and compatibility issues; supporting new types of hardware; and adding support for several emerging standards. SP1 also will continue to make it easier for IT administrators to deploy and manage Windows Vista. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Five Language Standalone version can be installed on systems with any of the following language versions: English (US), French, German, Japanese, or Spanish (Traditional).
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: March 20, 2008, 12:34 pm
News Source : Neowin
YamiPod 1.4
YamiPod is a freeware application to efficiently manage your iPod. It can be run directly from your iPod and needs no installation. It also has extra features such as rss news and podcast support, remove duplicates, easy notes editor (with multipage support), songs synchronization, playlists export and much more. It has been translated in 12 languages.
News Posted by : Googlefreak On
: June 16, 2007, 4:19 pm
News Source : Neowin
Download : YamiPod 1.4 - Windows
 Any Video Converter Free 2.03
Any Video Converter is an All-in-One video converting tool with easy-to-use graphical interface, fast converting speed and excellent video quality. It allows you to effortlessly convert video files between every format! It can convert almost all video formats including DivX, XviD, MOV, rm, rmvb, MPEG, VOB, DVD, WMV, AVI to MPEG-4 movie format for iPod/PSP or other portable video device, MP4 player or smart phone. It also supports any user defined video file formats as the output. Any Video Converter makes it easy for anyone to enjoy any format video with your iPod, PSP, mobile phone or MP4 player.
News Posted by : Googlefreak On
: June 16, 2007, 4:18 pm
News Source : Neowin
Download : Freeware
Intel Pentium E2140 and E2160 review
The Core 2 range has been highly successful for Intel, delivering unbeatable performance at a price many have been unable to refuse. However, not to be outdone with such a successful product Intel has quietly unleashed a few new - even more affordable - dual-core processors based on the Allendale core.
Intel is relaunching the ever so popular ?Pentium? brand name. So what are these new Pentium dual-core processors? Well, in essence they are stripped down Conroe processors featuring a tiny 1MB L2 cache with an 800MHz FSB.
There are two versions currently available, the Pentium E2140 and the E2160. Clocked at 1.8GHz the E2160 matches the E4300 in terms of clock speed while featuring half as much L2 cache. The E2140 on the other hand is now the slowest desktop ?Core 2? processor, clocked at just 1.6GHz. With both CPUs priced below the $100 mark ($84 and $99, respectively), this should make for an interesting race against its more expensive siblings.
News Posted by : Googlefreak On
: June 16, 2007, 4:13 pm
News Source : Neowin
Update November 2006
Just a little update to celebrate our first year in operation.
Sorry for the lack of updates to the news items of late. Several personal commitments have prevented me from finding the time, but these should be resolved pretty soon. In the meantime please bear with me.
Also we are thinking of branching out somewhat. Up until now we have focused on international technology news, PC/console gaming etc. but we were thinking of allowing Joe Public to advertise his/her events on our site. So if you run events relating to technology whether it be a lan party, computer fair or similar please let us know about it by sending your info to news@cheesenibblets.co.uk
So that's it for now. If you have any queries regarding the above, please get in touch.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: November 23, 2006, 10:51 am
 North American Gothic 3 Gold, In Stores By November 20
Aspyr Media confirmed today that its highly anticipated PC RPG Gothic 3 will ship on November 13 in North America, ensuring that it lands on store shelves by November 20.
?Obviously, Gothic 3 is an important title for Aspyr, but as a gamer I can?t wait for the holiday's best PC RPG to land in stores next month,? said Michael Rogers, President and CEO of Aspyr Media. ?I can already picture folks across America grabbing a turkey leg, rolling up the sleeves of their snowflake sweaters and gathering the ones they love around the PC hearth to stomp orcs - as a family. After all, that's really what the holidays are all about."
Gothic 3 is rated T for Teen by the ESRB and will carry a SRP of $39.99. To learn more about Gothic 3, and to enter for your chance to win a high-end gaming PC, go to http://aspyr.com/product/info/54. Contest ends November 30.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: October 30, 2006, 8:45 pm
News Source : BluesNews
Anarchy Online Free Play Extended Until 2008 + Expansion
Funcom announced last Friday that they were extending the play all you can play promotion of Anarchy Online all the way through 2008 now. The promotion was already extended once until 2007, now you can play free until 2008. But that's not all! In addition to the extension through 2008, Funcom is also giving all free players the PvP centered expansion "Notum Wars" as well!
Notum Wars which was actually voted "Best expansion of the Year" by Computer Gaming World when it came out, adds Player Versus Player combat to the Anarchy Online world of Rubi Ka. Notum Wars allows you to fight other players for control of land, build towers to control that land and then fight it out to continue holding that land. It has been done before in games obviously, but I think Anarchy Online was the first MMORPG to add it through PvP content. I could be wrong of course. To continue, please be aware for you new guys interested in this offer, if you do play Anarchy Online through the free promotion, you will see "dynamic in-game advertising" which of course means you will see ads in game. Now I've never played the free promotion for more than a few minutes, so I haven't seen any of these ads, but I would imagine they are not horribly large nor do they detract from the overall gameplay experience.
So head on over to the Anarchy Online website, register an account if you don't have one already, download the game (using bit torrent) and play some Anarchy Online with the new Notum Wars expansion!
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: October 30, 2006, 8:43 pm
News Source : Neowin
Paint.NET 3.0 Alpha 2
Paint.NET is image and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows. It supports layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools.
It started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft, and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it. Originally intended as a free replacement for the MS Paint software that comes with Windows, it has grown into a powerful yet simple tool for photo and image editing.
The programming language used to create Paint.NET is C#, with a small amount of C++ for installation and shell-integration related functionality.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: October 30, 2006, 8:42 pm
News Source : Neowin
Download : Pain.NET 3.0
 Opera Mini for Treo and Blackberry
Opera Mini is a fast and tiny Web browser, that allows you to access the full Internet on your phone. Take all your favorite Web sites on the go with Opera Mini! The new version further improves the browsing experience by enabling download of images, MP3s, etc directly to your phone.
"Opera Software today announced that Opera Mini?, the free Web browser for mobile phones, is available for the popular BlackBerry? and Palm? handsets. Opera Mini? offers BlackBerry? and Palm? Treo? users a faster delivery of Web pages and overall better user experience.
Opera Mini? offers faster and better page rendering while saving on memory and data usage, which reflects as a healthier handset and smaller bill for those with limited data plans. Opera Mini? achieves this via a server-based component that compresses Web pages, ultimately reducing the size of data transferred and associated costs."
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: October 30, 2006, 8:41 pm
News Source : Neowin
Download : Opera Mini
FireTune v1.1.3 for Firefox available
FireTune for Mozilla Firefox v1.x and v2.x was developed for an easy and fast optimization of your browsing experience with Firefox. It is based on a collection of popular and well working optimization settings used and tested by the experts. Usually you have to optimize Firefox manually, which can be time consuming and difficult for the novice user. FireTune helps you here - it includes all the performance optimizations. The only thing you must do is: make your selection. FireTune does the work for you.
According to your specific computer speed and internet connection speed, FireTune will optimize several internal settings of Firefox for better performance. FireTune does NOT modify the Firefox executable, or any other Firefox binary file. Everything can be undone easily provided you saved your original profile configuration file with FireTune's profile backup feature before.
In most of all cases you'll notice an improved browsing speed after optimizing Firefox with FireTune. FireTune is Freeware and can be downloaded from the link below.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: October 30, 2006, 8:40 pm
News Source : Neowin
Download : Firetune 1.1.3
Scientists Research Brain Implant Chip
University of Washington researchers are working hard on an electronic chip that may help establish new nerve connections in the part of the brain that controls movement. This implantable chip strengthens weak connections and may rehabilitate patients with brain injuries, stroke, or paralysis.
When awake, the brain continuously governs the body?s voluntary movements. This is largely done through the activity of nerve cells in the part of the brain called the motor cortex. These nerve cells, or neurons, send signals down to the spinal cord to control the contraction of certain muscles, like those in the arms and legs. The possibility that these neural signals can be recorded directly and used to operate a computer or to control mechanical devices outside of the body has been driving the rapidly expanding field of brain-computer interfaces, often abbreviated BCI. The recent study suggests that the brain?s nerve signals can be harnessed to create changes within it.
The researchers tested a miniature, self-contained device with a tiny computer chip. The devices were placed on top of the heads of monkeys who were free to carry out their usual behaviors, including sleep. Called a Neurochip, the brain-computer interface was developed by Mavoori for his doctoral thesis.
The researchers said that a likely explanation for these changes is the strengthening of pathways within the cortex from the recording to the stimulation site. This strengthening may have been produced by the continuous synchronization of activity at the two sites, generated by the recurrent brain-computer interface. Timing is critical for creating these connections, the researchers said. The conditioning effect occurs only if the delay between the recorded activity and the stimulation is brief enough. The changes are produced in a day of continuous conditioning with the recurrent brain-computer interface, but last for many days after the circuit are turned off.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: October 30, 2006, 8:39 pm
News Source : Daily Tech
UK Urged to Update Copyright Laws
In the United Kingdom burning CDs and DVDs for personal use is common. Now the ministers of the UK are being urged now to modify copyright laws to allow users to legally rip CDs and DVDs! The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) wants users to have a ?private right to copy? digital content. The IPPR acknowledged that the music and film industries are justified in battling illegal file sharing. But the IPPR argues that making copies for personal use does not have significant impact on copyright holders.
Millions of Britons are violating current copyright laws by ripping CDs onto their MP3 players and/or PCs. Currently, Britons are violating an outdated 300-year-old law when copying CDs and DVDs. The British Phonographic Institute has already stated that it will not pursue its rights to bring private copying cases against users if the copying truly is for private purposes only.
An independent research study reports that around 59 percent of Britons believe copying CDs and DVDs to other devices is legal. The chairman of the culture, media and sport select committee inquiry admits that he and his children are in violation of the law. ?My own view is that the current laws are unsatisfactory as it is difficult to say to consumers that this bit of the law matters and this bit doesn't matter,? Conservative MP John Whittingdale was quoted as saying.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: October 30, 2006, 8:37 pm
News Source : Daily Tech
Web 2.0: How High-Volume eBay Manages Its Storage
The ultrapopular auction/sales Web site continues its exponential growth and finds itself adding 10 terabytes of new storage every week. That's a lot of data. eBay, like Xerox and Google, is fast becoming its own generic verb for what it does ("Oh, just eBay it". And when a company itself becomes the name for what it does, then a certain level of success has been reached.
A very high level of success. Among Web 2.0 companies, San Jose, Calif.-based eBay is right up there with Google, Amazon, Yahoo, eHarmony, SalesForce.com, and social networking sites MySpace.com and FaceBook.com as far as traffic, popularity and profitability are concerned.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: October 30, 2006, 8:37 pm
News Source : eWeek
Microsoft offers free small-business software
Microsoft Corp. has turned its accounting suite for small businesses into two separate offerings, one of which users can download for free starting Monday. Updated version of Office Small Business Accounting 2006, will be available here for free, said Rajat Taneja, a Microsoft general manager for small business applications and services.
Microsoft also will begin offering a slightly higher-end version of the software, Office Accounting Professional 2007, from retailers early next year. The professional edition of the software has more robust features than the free version for handling inventory management, budgeting, cash flow and other tasks mature small businesses require, Taneja said. Office Accounting Express 2007 is aimed more at small businesses that are just getting off the ground and need help starting up.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: October 30, 2006, 8:36 pm
News Source : Infoworld
Seagate Readies Secure Drive
Early in 2007, Seagate Technology will begin shipping its first widely available hard drives with built-in encryption. The Momentus 5400 FDE.2 (which stands for Full Disk Encryption 2) will include a special encryption chip that will make it impossible for anyone to read data off the disk, or even boot up a PC, without some form of authentication. Designed for notebook computers, the 2.5-inch, 5400 rpm drive will come with a storage capacity of 80GB, 120GB, or 160GB.
Users could give a password to gain access to the drive, but Seagate expects notebook vendors to also develop other authentication systems such as fingerprint and smart card readers.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: October 30, 2006, 8:35 pm
News Source : PCWorld
 AMD unveils ATI Radeon X1650 XT
AMD's ATI operation has unveiled the Radeon X1650 XT, as expected, pitching the part at the upper reaches of the mainstream graphics card segment. Boards based on part will, like the X1950 Pro, sport an internal CrossFire connector. The reference card clocks the new GPU - aka RV560 - to 575MHz, while the 256MB of GDDR 3 video memory runs at an effective 1,350MHz. AMD touted the GPU's 24 pixel shader processors and high-dynamic range rendering.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: October 30, 2006, 8:35 pm
News Source : The Reg
Buffalo Touts 1200MHz, 1250MHz DDR2 Memory Modules
uffalo Technology, a well-known supplier of memory modules from Austin, Texas, is expected to unveil memory modules at 1200MHz and 1250MHz in the near future, according to reports from Japan. The company already sells 1150MHz Firestix-series memory modules, which are already the fastest in the industry and have slightly higher clock-speed than leading-edge products from Corsair Memory and OCZ Technology Group.
Akiba PC Hotline reports that Buffalo initiated sales of Firestix 1150MHz memory modules in Tokyo, Japan, whereas CFD Sales, a distributor of Buffalo, claims that the company also will shortly start sales of 1200MHz memory modules, while 1250MHz memory sticks are also planned. Earlier it was claimed that 1200MHz is absolute maximum for DDR2 memory under normal conditions, but Buffalo?s new Firestix do not require any exotic cooling systems and come with typical heat-spreaders.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: October 30, 2006, 8:34 pm
News Source : Xbit Labs
Windows Media Player 11 Released
As promised and revealed by Neowin, Microsoft has released Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP.
Windows Media Player 11 is re-designed to support the URGE music store, Zune and provides better synchronisation for existing MP3 players.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: October 30, 2006, 8:33 pm
News Source : Windows Media
Download : Windows Media Player 11
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