- Qualcomm Launches Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 Mobile Platform
- AMD Launches Ryzen PRO 7000 Series Mobile & Desktop Platform
- Intel Launches Sleek Single-Slot Arc Pro A60 Workstation Graphics Card
- NVIDIA Announces Latest Ada Lovelace Additions: GeForce RTX 4060 Ti & RTX 4060
- Maxon Redshift With AMD Radeon GPU Rendering Support Now Available
Social & RSS Feeds
Latest Videos
Latest News
Tech News
Microsoft Silverlight to Copy Flash
Silverlight was launched predictably at NAB, the National Association of Broadcasters conference, and was described as a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications. Just how many people will use the Silverlight plug in, in preference to Adobe’s Flash player remains to be seen.
Considering the fact that Flash is used by “98%” of internet users, it is going to be incredibly difficult for Microsoft to seriously compete. On the other side of the coin, Adobe announced a “WMP killer”, so it will be interesting to see where that goes.
Source: The Register
Safeguards For RIAA Hard Drive Inspection
(1) RIAA imaging specialist makes mirror image of hard drive; (2) mutually acceptable computer forensics expert makes make two verified bit images, and creates an MD5 or equivalent hash code; (3) one mirror image is held in escrow by the expert, the other given to defendant’s lawyer for a ‘privilege review’;
There are many steps the RIAA takes as soon as they have your hard drive, it’s almost scary. The best protection? Not using your computer at all, it seems.
Source: Slashdot
Xbox 360s Backwards Compatability List Updated
Microsoft has just updated their backwards compatible list to include: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Breakdown, CoD2/3, Cars, Crash: Wrath of Cortex, Jet Set Radio Future, Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee, Tony Hawk Underground and more. I’m glad to see the list is still being updated, but there are still so many left in the cold.
Source: Xbox.com
Punk Drummer Arrested For Soap
A lawyer hired by a liquid soap maker will defend a punk rock drummer arrested in Newport Beach on suspicion of possessing a date rape drug inside a bottle. Bruce Margolin, who specializes in marijuana cases, said he will substitute in on Friday as attorney for Don Bolles when the drummer for the punk group, The Germs, appears in a Newport Beach courtroom for a pretrial hearing.
Now we have to be careful what kind of soap we carry around? Bolles noted that he used the soap for over 35 years. I bet he didn’t expect this.
Source: CBS2
HP Extends Market Lead Over Dell
Hewlett-Packard extended its lead in PC world market sales in the first quarter, as Dell falls further behind. The first calendar quarter of 2007 saw HP also post record operating profits. According to a report published by IDC, HP’s current PC shipment unit share has reached 19.1 percent, 3.9 percentage points over the closest competitor.
HP was not the only one with a large increase in sales, but Acer as well. I wonder if Dell will go back on the increase when they begin offering Linux?
Source: Daily Tech
Adobes Strict Photoshop Name Rules
The Photoshop trademark must never be used as a common verb or as a noun. The Photoshop trademark should always be capitalized and should never be used in possessive form, or as a slang term. It should be used as an adjective to describe the product, and should never be used in abbreviated form.
These rules are beyond strict. Might want to think about it next time you utilize Adobe® Photoshop® software.
Source: Adobe.com
Circuit City and Napster Partner On Music Service
Circuit City announced today that the company has partnered with Napster to offer its own subscription music service. The electronics retailer says that the service will be (somewhat uncreatively) called “Circuit City + Napster” and will offer “all the same great music discovery and community features such as personalized recommendations, message boards, and the ability to browse other members’ collections and share music and play lists” as Napster currently offers.
Circuit City’s marketing team is built on sheer brilliance! “Circuit City + Napster” is easily one of the most unique names I’ve seen in a while. Add on top of that the fact that the new service is identical to Napster itself, it makes one wonder if Circuit City could even have any creativity left!
Source: Ars Technica
Jack Thompson and Take-Two Reach Settlement
GamePolitics is reporting that Thompson and Take Two have reached a settlement whereby Thompson will not sue or threaten to sue to block sale or distribution of any game published by Take Two, nor will he communicate to the company or its partners any accusation that the company committed any wrongdoing by selling its games.
This is a tough one to figure out. Jack essentially will not be able to attempt a block on future Take-Two titles. Who will he go after next?
Source: Daily Tech
Magic 8 Ball Revealed
It’s the weekend, news is slow. So I must scour the web to find the strangest stories so you can have your fix. Well, this fits the bill. Ever wonder what would be found inside a Magic 8 ball if you cracked one open? My guesses were close, but there were a few surprises. No, there is no fortune teller shoved inside.
Source: Hanttula
Chicago Skyscraper to Become Tallest In US
The city’s planning board has endorsed a proposal for a twisting lakefront tower that would become the nation’s tallest building. With Thursday’s approval from the Chicago Plan Commission, the design and site plan for the 2,000-foot Chicago Spire goes to the city zoning committee next week.
It’s too bad they do not have a larger version of the picture, because this building looks incredible!
Source: CNN.com
The Inkjet Investigation
This is why third-party ink and paper has proved so popular. At a fraction of the price of manufacturer’s own products, you can buy look-alike consumables which appear to do exactly the same job as the originals. But there’s a nagging doubt in the back of the mind that the quality of the resulting prints won’t be up to the original manufacturers’ standard – a doubt which is played upon by all the main printer makers.
Who makes the best ink for your printer? I’d be betting not the official stuff, since it costs an arm.
Source: Trusted Reviews
Mayor of Boston Bans Boing Boing
Jake tried to access Boing Boing from Boston’s free WiFi network and got this notice — topped by the seal of the Mayor of Boston no less! Banned in Boston — first they came for the Mooninites, then they came for the Boingers.
I’d say something, but I don’t want Techgage to be banned in Boston as well ;-)
Source: Boing Boing
50% Good News Is the Bad News in Russian Radio
At their first meeting with journalists since taking over Russia’s largest independent radio news network, the managers had startling news of their own: from now on, they said, at least 50 percent of the reports about Russia must be “positive.”
Ouch, talk about a non-freedom radio station. It’s hard to figure out what exactly could be considered positive, as is mentioned in the article. I wonder who has to keep track of the ratio?
Source: NY Times
WalMart to sell $199 HD-DVD player in Q4 2007?
If the source and translation is correct, Taiwan based manufacturer Fuh Yuan and TDK have been contracted by the retail giant to produce the blue laser drives for 2-million HD-DVD players. Broadcom will reportedly supply the system-on-a-chip decoder and China’s Great Wall Corporation will handle final assembly.
This is exactly the kind of boost HD-DVD will be dying for. Though, you can be sure Sony has an idea or two up their sleeves as well.
Source: Neowin
Hack A Mac Contest Successful
The successful attack on the second and final day of the contest required participants to surf to a malicious Web site using Safari–a type of attack familiar to Windows users. CanSecWest organizers relaxed the rules Friday after nobody at the event had breached either of the Macs on the previous day.
It’s too bad that the rules had to be a little more lax in order to find a winner, but hey, at least a new vulnerability was found (and hopefully fixed soon). I would have personally just taken a hammer to it. By far the easiest way to break security.
Source: News.com
Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite Dissected
Microsoft has revised power delivery on the new Elite. The Xbox 360 Elite makes use of smaller capacitors arranged in slightly different arrangements. Microsoft has also reduced the amount of MOSFETs installed in the power supply section of the PCB. There are also fewer resistors located above the CPU as well.
It looks like the Elite might run cooler than the previous versions, ahe motherboard looks a lot cleaner as well. I almost want my Premium to die so I will have an excuse to pick one up.
Source: Daily Tech
Mac vs. Bloated PC
Apple commercials have the ability to make Mac fans happy and Mac haters very upset. For the rest of us, they can make us laugh our ass off, and the latest one is no exception. It deals with all the trial software that’s packed in with a new PC, to give it that bloated effect.
Source: YouTube
Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2 Top Console Sales for March
Sales of the new video game systems cooled slightly, according to sales numbers released by NPD for the month of March. Sales of Nintendo DS nearly doubled that of anything else, selling over a half-million units. The PlayStation 2 demonstrated impressive staying power at second place at 280,000 sold, outselling each of the new consoles.
These are incredible numbers! The Nintendo DS has been out for a while now and still manages to sell half a million units in one month.
Source: Daily Tech
Porn Becoming Less Popular… Online
In Britain search sites overtook sex sites in popularity last October—the first time any other category has come out on top since tracking began, says Hitwise. In America, the proportion of site visits that are pornographic is falling and people are flocking to sites categorised “net communities and chatâ€â€”chiefly social-networking sites such as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook.
Liars! Well perhaps not, but with the growing popularity of “web 2.0” sites along with the five billion social networking sites, it’s no surprise.
Source: Economist
Teens Do Protect Their Online Profiles
The Pew Internet and American Life Project reported Wednesday that two-thirds of teens with profiles on blogs or social-networking sites have restricted access to their profiles in some fashion, such as by requiring passwords or making them available only to friends on an approved list.
That’s quite a high fraction, and it’s good to see. It goes on to mention that 1/3rd disclose their last name while only 2% list their cell phone number.
Source: CNN.com
Microsoft Hopes To Extend Its Reach With $3 Bundle
The program, an expansion of the “Microsoft Unlimited Potential” effort, will involve selling a bundle of software that includes Windows XP Starter Edition, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Microsoft Math 3.0, Learning Essentials 2.0 for Microsoft Office, and Windows Live Mail desktop, for an average cost of $3. The offer will only be extended to qualifying governments that purchase and supply PCs directly to students.
It’s hard to disagree with Microsoft’s move on this one. It’s great to have a wider reach in developing Countries. Though it seems simple, it could have a big affect.
Source: Ars Technica
Colbert Triggers Google Bomb
Google, you’ve got another “bomber” on your hands, and this one has an insane pack of followers behind him. Earlier this week, Colbert announced on his late-night show, The Colbert Report, that he wanted to rank first on Google’s search results for the phrase “giant brass balls.”
Well, Colbert doesn’t rank first for the query he had his heart set on, but thanks to his fanbase, Greatest Living American shows his website at the top. Google probably won’t allow that to stick around too long.
Source: News.com
Hack a Mac, get $10,000
Originally a successful hack would be rewarded with the MacBook. There had been some rumblings among event attendees that the reward was not big enough to draw interest. To qualify for the $10,000 a successful attack has to be carried out with a new, yet-to-be-patched vulnerability, a TippingPoint representative at CanSecWest said.
Even $10,000 isn’t a huge prize in the large scheme of things, considering how much time hacks could take to complete. Still, this will be an interesting competition to keep an eye on.
Source: News.com
Lyrid Meteor Shower Arrives This Weekend
If you want to take a chance on the Lyrid Meteor Shower you should be looking this weekend. This shower is usually a quiet one but can result is spectacular displays from time to time. Earth & Sky gives viewing times as the very early hours of Sunday and Monday morning. The moon will have set by then.
The quoted Earth & Sky website has some great tips on watching for meteors. Nothing is a sure thing when it comes to Lyrid meteors, but it would be wise to take along a camera if you plan to go watching.
Source: Slashdot
MySpace takes on Google News and Digg
MySpace is going into the news business with a service that will scour the internet for news stories and let users vote on which ones receive the most exposure. This approach blends elements of Google News and sites such as Digg and Netscape, which rely on readers to submit stories and determine their prominence.
MySpace is not sticking to the exact route Digg is, as they automatically round up news from around the web. No submissions might mean only mature news will hit the front page. No, “OMG!1! girl plays video games!” and such.
Source: Times Online