God of War III Release Date Confirmed for March 16

Friday, January 29, 2010

Kratos revenge

Sony has sent word that God of War III, one of the most expected PlayStation 3 exclusive videogames arriving in 2010, has received a final release date for March 16. We knew that the game would be coming out at some point in spring since the 2009 edition of E3, but only now is the company committing to a clear date, which signals that the game discs are being prepared and they will be shipping to retailers at some point in late in February.

God of War III will see main character Kratos take on the mighty power of Olympus as he seeks to bring about the downfall of the gods that have caused him so much pain.

The visceral gameplay of the series will be returning, with decapitations and mutilation a common sight and with Kratos gaining a lot of new toys to kill people with. Huge Titans will be used by Kratos to get to Olympus and a lot of fighting will take place as the Spartan warrior aims to battle Zeus himself.

The game will be available in both a $59.99 standard edition and a $99.99 God of War III Ultimate Edition. In addition to the game and decorative Pandora's box packaging, players of the Ultimate Edition will receive an art book, as well as access to downloadable content and in-game bonuses. Gamers will also get a feature-length retrospective on the franchise, the trilogy soundtrack, and a selection of heavy metal tracks inspired by God of War.

Lastly, Sony also announced through the PlayStation Blog today that it would be cutting the price of the God of War Collection to $29.99. The collection includes the first two highly acclaimed God of War titles for the PlayStation 2, with re-mastered 720p high definition graphics and added trophy support. The package includes a playable demo for God of War III as well.

-[Read more>>]- God of War III Release Date Confirmed for March 16

EndWeekGame: January 29

I haven't had this much fun since BioWare's last game

Andrei Dumitrescu: After overcoming some pretty significant obstacles, like the eight-hour power blackout that affected my neighborhood last night, a niggling desire to read spoilers about the game online and a problem with my initial download from GamersGate, I am finally ready to actually fire up Mass Effect 2, import one of the female Shepard characters from the first title and go solve all the problems that the galaxy has by kicking ass in real time and by talking my way out of any complex situation.

Most reviews up until now have offered a lot of praises for the BioWare-made role-playing and action hybrid and I hope not to find any glaring flaws on my own. And for those quiet moments when the burden of being an awesome Spectre is too much for a gamer, I will have access to Tekken 6 for the PlayStation Portable handheld, a fighting game that offers a wide variety of combos and moves to master. Too bad I am hobbled by chubby fingers.

Florian Totu: With a review up and the game finished, you might think that I'm done with Mass Effect 2 and on the prowl for something else. Bad Company 2 PC beta is subtly nudging me and poking me to give it a go, preorders aren't really my kind of investment, so I'm still trying to get my hands on a beta key through the mighty net, while also begging on my knees one of my friends that got it to send me some sort of beta invite.

But truth be told, I'm already on my second playthrough in Mass Effect 2 and I'm having a blast with a Biotic-enhanced soldier. In case you didn't know, after you complete his special quest and a party member becomes loyal, you can learn his fourth skill. And I chose for my Soldier the Biotic Slam. Which is a godsend, working out amazingly paired with the rocket launcher or the hand cannon. As things go with ME2, I might even be in a third playthrough by the end of the weekend, so I'm sprinting home to get things rolling.

-[Read more>>]- EndWeekGame: January 29

Sword of Stars 2 Will Be a Revolution in 4X Gaming

Not just an evolution

Paradox Interactive held its own convention last week and announced quite a few new projects it intends to publish. One of them is Sword of the Stars II, a sequel to the 4X space strategy title set to be released on the PC at some point in 2011. And now both the developers at Kerberos Productions and the publishers at Paradox are ready to say a bit more about how they envision the new project.

Sword of the Stars 2 will feature the six races introduced in the original game and its expansions, while also introducing the Suul'ka, a species that was attacked by the Liir with biological weapons at the end of a bloody war. They are very interested in war and in domination of lesser races and their impact on the galaxy will likely be great.

Kerberos and Paradox are also talking about taking the entire experience to the next level, streamlining mechanics and making sure that players are able to understand everything that is going on in the game. The original Sword of the Stars was pretty opaque and while the expansions helped solve the problem, somewhat a lot of players were already uninterested, although fans are claiming that the game was on par with the experience offered by Sins of a Solar Empire or Galactic Civilizations II.

Fredrik Wester, the Chief Executive Officer of Paradox, said that “Sword of the Stars 2 is in its early conception but is already showing potential of becoming [a] Kerberos great masterpiece and we are very excited to play a part in bringing it to gamers worldwide,” while Martin Cirulis, the CEO of Kerberos, stated that the developers aimed to make Sword of the Stars 2 “far more than just a sequel where the graphics have been tuned up and a new unit or two thrown in. Instead players can look forward to a whole new game that is based on the central SotS experience, but willing and able to grow beyond it to offer even more in terms of strategy, tactics and gameplay.”

-[Read more>>]- Sword of Stars 2 Will Be a Revolution in 4X Gaming

Google Rewards Bugs Found in Chrome

Hopes to get more independent security researchers involved

In a move aimed at getting more security researchers to focus their attention on the Chromium project, Google plans to reward reported bugs. The base bounty is $500 and a special panel of security experts involved in the project will decide which bugs deserve it.

"We will be rewarding select interesting and original vulnerabilities reported to us by the security research community. For existing contributors to Chromium security - who would likely continue to contribute regardless - this may be seen as a token of our appreciation. In addition, we are hoping that the introduction of this program will encourage new individuals to participate in Chromium security. The more people involved in scrutinizing Chromium's code and behavior, the more secure our millions of users will be," Chris Evans of Google Chrome Security writes on the Chromium blog.

The Chromium project produces the open source code at the base of Google Chrome. The browser was designed from the start on a fairly strong security architecture, featuring tab sandboxing; however, as with any piece of software, vulnerabilities are unavoidable.

The idea of rewarding researchers for bugs is not new in the browser development arena. Mozilla has a successful Security Bugs Bounty Program running since 2004. But, unlike Mozilla, which only rewards critical security vulnerabilities that are remotely exploitable, Google's program will be more relaxed.

While bugs with a high and critical impact will be favored, other less serious vulnerabilities can also be rewarded if they are deemed clever enough. The judging panel, formed of Adam Barth, Chris Evans, Neel Mehta, SkyLined and Michal Zalewski, can also decide to offer special rewards of $1,337 (leet in leet speak) for particularly interesting vulnerabilities.

The Chromium development team notes that the most interesting bugs so far have been reported by independent researchers, which is why Google decided to encourage their actions and possibly bring in more. The pay-per-vulnerability model has been applied on a larger scale by programs such as TippingPoint's Zero Day Initiative (ZDI).

-[Read more>>]- Google Rewards Bugs Found in Chrome

BlackBerry Bold 9700 Arrives in India

Available via a wide range of carriers and retailers

Leading handset vendor Research In Motion announced on Thursday the launch of its stylish and powerful BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone in India, while also stating that the device is set to become available all around the country starting with January 28, 2010. According to the mobile phone maker, users in India will be able to purchase the new smartphone from leading retail stores and outlets serviced by Redington India, as well as via carriers like Airtel, Aircel, BSNL, Idea Cellular, Loop Mobile, MTNL, Reliance, Tata and Vodafone. As many of you might already know, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 (also known as Bold 2 or the successor of Bold 9000) comes to the market in a compact form factor, while delivering the same QWERTY keyboard that is already popular among users.

The phone sports great performance capabilities, including support for 3G frequencies, so that users can stay connected at all times to friends or family via email, IM, social networking sites or other communication channels. In addition, the handset features a touch-sensitive trackpad that enables users to easily navigate through menus or applications.

“Building on the success of the original BlackBerry Bold, we are now pleased to introduce the new BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone to customers in India. The new 3G BlackBerry Bold 9700 offers top-of-the-line features and performance in a sleek and elegant design that will appeal to both business professionals and consumers,” said Frenny Bawa, Vice President, India, Research In Motion.

The specs and features list of BlackBerry Bold 9700 also includes a 624 MHz CPU and 256 MB of flash memory, a 3.2-megapixel photo snapper with video recording capabilities, a 2.44-inch display, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) connectivity, Bluetooth, 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, built-in GPS, 1,500 mAhr battery, and a microSD/SDHD memory card slot for up to 32GB of additional storage space. Not to mention the BlackBerry OS 5.0 it runs under, or the support for BlackBerry Internet Service, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, BlackBerry App World and more.

-[Read more>>]- BlackBerry Bold 9700 Arrives in India

Firefox 3.6.2 Next, 3.6 at over 22.6 Million Downloads

Since January 21st

At just a little over a week since release, the latest iteration of Mozilla’s open source browser was downloaded in excess of 22.6 million times, closing in to 22.7 downloads. However, Mozilla is not the one to rest on its laurels. In fact, the company is hard at work cooking the first stability and security update for Firefox 3.6. But while the first refresh should be version 3.6.1, the update that Mozilla plans to deliver next month will be 3.6.2.

Firefox 3.6.2 “will be built off Gecko 1.9.2.2,” Mozilla revealed, indicating that it is considering to “potentially skip the version number of Firefox 3.6.1 in order to stay in sync with platform. [And that it was]hoping for small, mid-February release, co-inciding with Firefox 3.0.18/3.5.8.”

While earlier this week, skipping 3.6.1 was only a possibility, it appears that it has since become reality, as Mozilla was “evaluating the bugs that missed the release candidate but are safe and simple” for Firefox 3.6.2 on January 27th, revealing that only a couple of high priority fixes had been identified. At the same time, the company reiterated its intention to synchronize the release of Firefox 3.6.2 with those of Firefox 3.0.18 / Firefox 3.5.8. The currently launch deadline scheduled for Firefox 3.0.18 and Firefox 3.5.8 is February 16th.

In the meantime, the next version of Firefox is also being built. Mozilla is cooking Firefox codename Lorentz with very early development builds already available for download to testers via the company’s FPT servers. As far as Lorentz is concerned, on January 27th, Mozilla noted that the “out of process plugins was being stabilized on mozilla-central. The project branch was ready for checkins and building nightlies [and that] once stable on trunk, we'll begin the mozilla-1.9.2 backport using this project branch.”

-[Read more>>]- Firefox 3.6.2 Next, 3.6 at over 22.6 Million Downloads

Windows Home Server Vail Leaked and Available for Download

Thursday, January 28, 2010

From BitTorrent trackers

A testing development milestone of the next iteration of Windows Home Server has been leaked and made available for download in the wild. The build leaked to torrent websites is labeled Community Technology Preview 4 (CTP4), and apparently is a version released to a pool of select testers. However, Windows Home Server codename Vail has managed to find its way in the wild and is now up for grab for all users, provided they know where to look. In order to be installed, Windows Home Server codename Vail CTP 4 requires a machine featuring a 2 GHz x64 processor, at least 1 GB RAM and a 120 GB hard drive. (via Mary-Jo Foley)

“Windows Server Code Name "Vail" is the next generation version of Window Home Server. Vail builds upon both on-premises and cloud technologies to deliver a best-in-class solution for home networks and SOHO. Out of the box, Vail provides simple file sharing, remote access, home computer backup, expandable storage through Drive Extender, and media streaming both inside and outside the home. Vail also contains an application catalog and product-wide extensibility model so that new services such as anti-virus, online sharing, and home automation can be seamlessly and easily added to the solution. Vail will be available pre-installed on systems by OEM partners, and a standalone software package will also be available for those who want to build their own systems,” reads an excerpt from the product’s description.

For customers that are not familiar with WHS, the product is a server operating system produced by Microsoft and available preinstalled on machines from various OEMs, including HP’s MediaSmart Server. Windows Home Server is designed for home users with multiple computers in a single household, and provides capabilities such as automatic backup and restore, storage and remote access.

The existing version of Windows Home Server, which is up to PowerPack 3, the third major upgrade which added support for Windows 7, is based on Windows Server 2003. Windows Home Server Vail has Windows Server 2008 R2 at its foundation, and according to third-party, unconfirmed reports will be offered in two flavors Home Standard and Home Premium. Microsoft has yet to comment officially the leaked Windows Home Server codename Vail CTP4.

-[Read more>>]- Windows Home Server Vail Leaked and Available for Download

Free Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 VMs Available for Download

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

2010 Information Worker Demonstration Virtual Machine (Beta)

Microsoft has added a new software package to its list of free product offerings designed to streamline the testing process of new technologies for early adopters. Put together by the SharePoint team, the 2010 Information Worker Demonstration Virtual Machine (Beta) is a set of Virtual Machines focused on Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010. Although the VMs bring to the table a range of technologies, fact is that the downloads are intended to simplify the evaluation and demonstration of the next iteration of Office and SharePoint. The downloads total no less than 13.5 GB, so customers looking to leverage resources should plan ahead.

“Virtual machine “a” contains the following pre-configured software: 1. Windows Server 2008 SP2 Standard Edition x64, running as an Active Directory Domain Controller for the “CONTOSO.COM” domain with DNS and WINS 2. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP2 Enterprise Edition with Analysis, Notification, and Reporting Services 3. Microsoft Office Communication Server 2007 R2 4. Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 Ultimate Edition 5. Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise Edition Beta 2 6. Microsoft Office Web Applications Beta 2 7. FAST Search for SharePoint 2010 Beta 2 8. Microsoft Project Server 2010 Beta 2 9. Microsoft Office 2010 Beta 2 10. Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2,” Microsoft revealed.

The resources made available for download under the 2010 Information Worker Demonstration Virtual Machine (Beta) require the test machines with a consistent hardware configuration. According to Microsoft, customers will need to be running Windows Server 2008 R2 with the Hyper-V role enabled on top of a computer with Intel VT or AMD-V capable processors, at least 8GB of RAM and no less than 50 GB of Hard disk space. If the machine doesn’t have 8GB of RAM, testers could try with a computer with at least 6.5GB or more RAM, but should expect a much more painful experience.

“Virtual machine “b” contains the following pre-configured software: 1. Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Evaluation Edition x64, joined to the “CONTOSO.COM” domain 2. Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Active directory has been preconfigured over 200 “demo” users with metadata in an organizational structure. All of these user profiles have been imported and indexed for search within SharePoint Server 2010, with “contoso\administrator” granted administrator permissions. SharePoint Server 2010 has been configured in a “Complete” farm using Kerberos authentication and the default SQL Server 2008 instance for data, and has a site collection created using the Team Site template and a FAST Search Center,” the company added.

-[Read more>>]- Free Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 VMs Available for Download

Windows SP1, Much Ado about a Standard Service Pack

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Not a repeat of XP SP2

Following the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft started to downplay the relevancy of major upgrades to the Windows operating system delivered via Service Packs. The Redmond-based company’s new perspective is that the best improvements would be delivered via Windows Update and Automatic Updates long before they are available in future service packs. This will be the case for Windows 7 SP1, which Microsoft indicates will be nothing more than a standard service pack release.

While he refused to offer any specific details on the forthcoming Windows 7 SP1, Windows product manager Chris Flores noted that Microsoft has very little issues it needs to address with the first major update for the latest iteration of the Windows client. "The overall quality of Windows 7 is solid, devices are being found, people are happy. Our product support call volumes are incredibly low. We've been extraordinarily happy with the stability of Windows 7 and all of the health metrics. We've been just blown away with the reception. The product is very solid," Flores stated (via TechRadar).

This wasn’t the case with Windows Vista. Customers that were among the first adopters of Windows 7’s predecessor were indeed holding their breath for Service Pack 1. And it was starting with SP1 that Vista actually became usable. This is by no means the case for Windows 7. Vista’s successor has been ready for prime time long ahead of the General Availability deadline on October 22, 2009, and has run into no major speed bumps since. Flores underlines that just as Vista SP1, customers should not expect Windows 7 SP1 to be a repeat of Windows XP SP2.

"Take, for instance, Windows Vista SP1; if you were somebody that was on automatic update, we'd been trickling out updates to you all along and so for most people that have had automatic updates turned on SP1 was almost a non-event for them. We can continually improve Windows over time just with the update technology we currently have," Flores added.

-[Read more>>]- Windows SP1, Much Ado about a Standard Service Pack

Kaspersky Says Google Spreads Malware, but Trojan.JS.Redirector.ar Is a False Positive

Security company hurts legitimate websites and its own users

Kaspersky products incorrectly blocked access to legitimate websites reporting that ads from Google AdSense were infected with a Trojan horse labeled Trojan.JS.Redirector.ar. Russian-based antivirus maker Kaspersky managed to shoot itself in the foot and deliver a blow to its credibility and legitimacy as a maker of security solution. Again. But while shooting itself in the foot, Kaspersky also hurt its own users and damaged legitimate Internet-based businesses, by falsely alerting customers of its most recent and “top of the line” AV product that Google is spreading malware through AdSense. Again!
Despite the erroneous alerts from Kaspersky Internet Security 2010, Google AdSense is not infecting users with malware, and Trojan.JS.Redirector.ar is a false positive. In fact, customers, should disregard alerts from Kaspersky altogether when their very common sense is telling them otherwise. And it’s not just customers running Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 that were affected, but also users of Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010, Kaspersky Internet Security 2009, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0 for Windows Workstations MP4. Users need to know that it has taken extensive measure to ensure that its users are protected, and only serves advertising from legitimate sources, such as Google, that have a proven track record of also protecting customers.

They should definitely ignore reports associated with Trojan.JS.Redirector.ar infections in Google AdSense. “On the 25th of January, 2010, some Google web pages can be blocked by your Kaspersky Lab product because of virus detection. In this case the following message appears on the screen: Access denied. The following error was encountered: The requested object is INFECTED with the following viruses: Trojan.JS.Redirector.ar,” Kaspersky Lab stated.

But there are additional false positive alerts to be ignored. “In such cases Kaspersky Lab products may display the message that the requested object is infected with one of the following viruses:
- Backdoor.Win32.Hupigon.jrpd,
- Trojan.Win32.Generic,
- Trojan.Win32.Swisyn.nik,
- Win32.KillFiles.b,
- Win32.StartPage.c,
- Win32.StartPage.d,
- Win32.StartPage.e,
- Win32.StartPage.f,
- Win32.StartPage.g.
- Win32.StartPage.h,
- Win32.Trojan-Downloader.Generic.ac,
- Win32.Trojan-Downloader.Generic.ad,
- Win32.Trojan-Downloader.Generic.ai.
Such detections of the viruses mentioned above on some Google web pages are false alarms,” Kaspersky added.

Somewhere between mind freezing sub-zero temperatures and cheap vodka, Kaspersky’s virus definitions proved a disastrous cocktail for end users, Google and third-party companies. And this is not the first time that Kaspersky has flagged Google AdSense as spreading malware. In November 2009, just three months ago, Kaspersky (KAV 2009) generated false-positives of inexistent phishing attacks coming from Google.

And as it is prancing from one monumental failure to another, Kaspersky did manage to produce a small and insignificant “Oops!” along with new virus definitions to resolve the issue. Well, to temporarily resolve the issue, since the problem seems to become a repetitive and common occurrence for a company that applauds itself for producing alleged leading security products.

It is clear that Kaspersky has to take immediate and critical measures to ensure that similar false positive failures of Kaspersky Internet Security 2010, and other Kaspersky solutions, never happen again. However, judging from the outfit’s past history, users shouldn’t really start holding their breath anytime soon.Just hours before the Trojan.JS.Redirector.ar false positive fiasco, Kaspersky had blocked the bit.ly web address shortening service. This time around, the Russian based security company erroneously prevented access en masse to bit.ly links alerting users that they were actually phishing sites.

“The problem was quickly resolved and by 19:00 Moscow time the company’s products had stopped generating alerts for legitimate Internet pages. Kaspersky Lab would like to apologize for any inconvenience this problem may have caused users. The company is continually improving its procedures for testing products and releasing updates to prevent such errors from occurring in future,” Kaspersky added.

-[Read more>>]- Kaspersky Says Google Spreads Malware, but Trojan.JS.Redirector.ar Is a False Positive

Intel's GMA HD Benchmarked

Monday, January 25, 2010

Excellent for video, leaves room for improvement when gaming

Intel recently launched the Clarkdale and Arrandale central processing units with integrated graphics, but most focus has been so far on their actual processing power than on their graphics capabilities. This can be seen as rather surprising, considering the fact that these integrated graphics were supposed to be one of the key elements that would differentiate the new processors from the competition. More recently, however, even though somewhat late, the folks over at Bit-tech.net have finally completed their incursion into the 45nm GPU that comes as a part of the new chips.

While the CPU's graphics performance when gaming was, predictably, nothing to be shocked by, it seems that Intel was genuinely successful in making the integrated graphics circuits quite highly adept at handling video. According to the review, the Intel GMA HD actually “has an advanced feature set especially if you're interested in high quality video playback.”

Intel seems to have put special effort into optimizing the graphics solution for video, knowing that, as far as gaming and overall high-end graphics performance was concerned, it was not going to be on par with that of NVIDIA or AMD cards. The GMA HD is capable of bitstreaming, Blu-ray playback with picture-in-picture and HDMI 1.3a support. Also, in addition to the very smooth HD video playback, the chips also showed a power consumption only a couple of Watts higher than that of competing solutions.

The overall conclusion of the reviewers is that the new Clarkdale and Arrandale processors with integrated graphics achieve a balanced combination of raw performance, video features and efficiency. Nevertheless, the CPUs are definitely not very suited for gaming, especially playing the newer titles. In fact, gaming-wise, the graphics were found to only be capable of competing with hardware launched one to two years ago. As such, playful end-users will have to turn to AMD or NVIDIA to sate their appetite.

-[Read more>>]- Intel's GMA HD Benchmarked

Mac OS X 10.7 Records Spotted Too

Build number 11A47 suggests Apple has kicked off development for the next major version of Mac OS X

An entry posted in a database of changes to the open source "launchd" framework, which oversees booting of Mac OS X and administers processes running on the system, hints at the upcoming major version of the Mac OS - 10.7. Just minutes ago, it reported that an analytics firm spotted tablet-like devices being tested under iPhone OS 3.2 in the Cupertino area.

The find, considered a clear reference to OS 10.7, is: “<> 11A47: SecurityAgent no longer visible via Accessibility,” according to MacRumors. The site whose forums attract Apple fans worldwide thoughtfully explains that, “Apple's build numbering scheme utilizes a numerical prefix indicating the major release version, followed by a letter code indicating the minor release version and a numerical suffix indicating iterations of that version throughout its development.” The numbering scheme is simple, really. Just pay attention to the emphasized characters, as they are typical to the respective Mac OS X iteration.

Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) 9A571;
Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) 10A432;
Mac OS X 10.7 (new-cat) 11A47.

As such, the “11A47” entry cited in the launchd change database should refer to the initial version of Mac OS X 10.7. Based on this numbering scheme, the “47” suffix should indicate that Apple has been working on 10.7 builds for at least the last month or two, the analysis goes at MacRumors, while the software appears to be in very early development stages.

Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) is mostly a tweaked Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), even according to Apple. However, Mac OS X 10.7 should up the ante on the Mac OS, at least from a graphical point of view, some believe.

Currently, Apple developers are tasked with resolving an issue with viewing shared photo albums in Front Row causing Front Row to crash in Mac OS X 10.6.3 Build 10D538 issued by Apple last Friday. The build, weighing in at over 650MB, also needs special developer attention in areas like AirPort, GraphicsDrivers, QuickTime, and VoiceOver, according to the seed notes. While Mac OS X 10.6.3 is expected to launch within the following three weeks, the major 10.7 iteration may be years away from now.

-[Read more>>]- Mac OS X 10.7 Records Spotted Too

Linux Mint 8 RC1 KDE Edition Arrives

Helena with KDE 4.3.4 and kernel 2.6.31

Clement Lefebvre and the Linux Mint community are proud to present today (January 21st) the first release candidate of the upcoming Linux Mint 8 KDE Community Edition operating system. Powered by Linux kernel 2.6.31 and built on top of the KDE Software Compilation 4.3.4, Linux Mint 8 KDE RC1 comes with many improvements in various areas of interest. It is now based on the Kubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) Linux distribution.

We kindly remind everyone that Linux Mint 8 (Helena) is based on the current stable release of the popular Ubuntu operating system, and has support for the EXT4 filesystem, various attractive improvements to the update manager and software manager, and many others. Linux Mint 8 KDE Community Edition also has new artwork, including the wallpaper (a custom version of Air Mint by dlkreations) and the brand-new logo redesigned by Henrique Perticarati.
"Community editions now use their own repositories and are now able to pin packages from the main edition. Dependencies were simplified and the Mint tools were made more modular. In particular they can now be installed on Ubuntu without any configuration. The branding used in the Mint tools was removed to make it easier for other distributions to use them and to give a more professional look to the desktop. An OEM installation can now be launched from the liveCD boot menu." - was stated in the official release notes.

The Linux Mint 8 KDE developers, recommend the following system requirements:

· A modern 32-bit processor;
· 512 MB of RAM;
· 10 GB free hard disk space (for installation);
· VGA video card capable of at least 800x600 resolution;
· A CD-ROM drive.

What is Linux Mint? Linux Mint is an elegant, easy-to-use, up-to-date, 100% free and comfortable Linux desktop distribution based on the very popular Ubuntu operating system. It offers paid commercial support to companies and individuals. Also, free community support is available from the forums and the IRC channel.

Download Linux Mint 8 KDE Edition RC1 right now - Linux Mint 8 KDE Edition RC1 (ISO) - Linux Mint 8 KDE Edition RC1 (torrent) Remember that this is an unstable release and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended for testing purposes only! Please report bugs to the Linux Mint 8 RC1 KDE Community Edition bug thread on their forum.

-[Read more>>]- Linux Mint 8 RC1 KDE Edition Arrives

Introducing Ubuntu Electronics Remix 9.10

Ubuntu for electronics

We are proud to present today a new Ubuntu-based (or Remix) Linux distribution, this time for electronics. Called Ubuntu Electronics Remix, or UER for short, it is based on the popular Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) operating system and comes as a Live DVD ISO image with lots of free electronics software. Except for the electronics software, everything else is exactly the same as in the original Ubuntu 9.10 distribution.

The goals of the Ubuntu Electronics Remix operating system are to make Ubuntu easy to use for electronics, to promote the use of 100% and open source applications for electronics, to create a Live CD with electronics programs, and provide good tutorials for using Ubuntu Linux for electronics design. "The software included in Ubuntu Electronics Remix is Free Open Source Software with developed active communities. This means you get all the power of electronic software with all the advantages of open sources software." – was stated on the project's website. You can also access the home page, if you want to get involved in this project!

Among the applications included in Ubuntu Electronics Remix 9.10 we can mention:

· Electric, VLSI design system;
· gEDA schematic editor;
· gEDA attribute editor;
· PCB designer;
· gResistor, resistor calculator;
· Gerber file viewer;
· Piklab, PIC development IDE;
· SDCC and GCC compilers;
· VHDL simulator;
· Verilog simulator;
· gwave, waveform viewer;
· KiCad, electronic schematic diagrams and printed circuit board artwork creator;
· Examples of circuits and code;
· Lots of code editors, such as Anjuta, Geany, Gedit, Emacs, Vi, nano, Kate or Kdevelop;
· Getting Started tutorial;
· Helper scripts for Verilog, VHDL, AVR and others।
Ubuntu Electronics Remix 9.10 (ISO)[iso] [902 MB] - MD5

-[Read more>>]- Introducing Ubuntu Electronics Remix 9.10

Behind Windows 7’s Super-Fast Start-Up

Aaron Dietrich and the Windows Client Performance team

Even when Windows 7 was still in development, early adopters already running the operating system agreed that it bested its predecessor in all aspects. However, Microsoft itself felt pretty confident early on during the building of Windows 7. Back in the first half of November 2009, the Redmond company demonstrated a boot time drag race between Windows Vista and Windows 7 pre-Beta Build 6801 Milestone 3. Windows 7 won, at a distance so to speak, and the rest is history. According to Microsoft, Aaron Dietrich, senior development lead on the Windows Client Performance team along with his group were responsible for making Windows 7 start-up faster than its predecessor.

Dietrich read the first positive review of the Windows 7 improved boot performance ahead of Windows 7 release. "It gave me a really good feeling," Dietrich recalled. "I thought, 'Wow, it's not just that we're on the right path, but we're really making a change in perception for reviewers and the general public here.' It's not a fancy new UI feature," he added. "It's not that thing in your face all the time like a desktop feature or window switcher or something like that."

However, Dietrich doesn’t take credit alone for the boost in speed that Windows 7 brought to the table in comparison to Windows Vista. "I always viewed myself as just one piece of the whole Windows puzzle," he said. "It's really when we brought it all together that we got such a great product."

In fact, the Windows Client Performance team did not own any specific features in the latest iteration of the Windows client. Instead, the group assisted various Windows 7 teams to help them deal with performance issues, and increase the speed of the operating system.

“There were a couple of key features that allowed us to get better boot times. The first was we introduced what we call the fast boot feature, which allows some parts of boot to happen in the background while Windows is discovering and initializing devices. That helped us gain up to 25 percent of our boot time over Windows Vista, depending on the hardware,” Dietrich said.

“The other big one was that we significantly reduced the size of the operating system required to be read from disk in order to boot. Whereas Windows Vista required somewhere on the order of 220 to 240 megabytes of operating system code to boot, Windows 7 requires anywhere from 140 to 180 megabytes, depending on the configuration of the system,” he noted.

In case you were keeping track, Microsoft has set a 15-second boot as the performance target for Windows 7 start-up in the laboratory. However, the Redmond company itself and third-parties have managed to start-up Windows 7 in considerably less than 15 seconds. Illustrative examples are the 11-second and 10-second start-ups for the platform.

“We worked with other teams to try and help them design the right features and do analysis to make sure they were performing the way they expected them to. As the teams built their features, occasionally regressions in performance would come in. Bugs do happen. We have a lot of checks in place called "perf gates" that run on every build produced daily in Windows. That monitors everything from boot times to shutdown time and a bunch of other metrics. If any of them ever regressed, we jumped on that, did some analysis, and tried to help teams resolve the issue,” Dietrich explained.

-[Read more>>]- Behind Windows 7’s Super-Fast Start-Up

BlackBerry Curve 8330 Already Available from Boost Mobile

Along with the BlackBerry Monthly Unlimited plan

Wireless carrier Boost Mobile announced today the availability on its airwaves of yet another appealing smartphone for its users, the BlackBerry Curve 8330. The company announced not too long ago that it would add the device to its offering, and now all went official. Moreover, the carrier also revealed that the smartphone debuted today on its BlackBerry Monthly Unlimited plan, and that the launch shows its commitment to offer its customers what they are asking for.

“The addition of BlackBerry Curve 8330 to Boost Mobile’s broadening line-up of handsets squashes the misconception that ‘no contract’ cell phones and service are low-end,” said Neil Lindsay, chief marketing officer, Sprint Prepaid Group. “A BlackBerry smartphone with BlackBerry Monthly Unlimited service from Boost Mobile is ideal for highly-connected and productivity-minded customers who do not want to sign a long-term service contract.”

The new device comes to Boost Mobile's airwaves with a nice range of features, including Web browsing capabilities, social networking, not to mention that it will also deliver unlimited talk, text and Web when coupled with a no-contract Monthly Unlimited plan from Boost Mobile. Moreover, with BlackBerry Curve 8330, users will also enjoy access to music, videos, games, email or downloadable applications via the BlackBerry App World, the carrier notes.

The specifications list of the handset also shows:
- 3G speeds where available
- Full QWERTY Keypad & Trackball Navigation
- 2MP Camera with Flash, Zoom and Video recording
- Media Player with Standard Audio Jack
- 1GB microSD Card included (supports up to 8GB)
- Stereo Bluetooth Capable
- Multi-Media, Text and Instant Messaging
- GPS and Wireless Web-Enabled
- Speakerphone

The BlackBerry Curve 8330 smartphone is now available for Boost Mobile's customers for a price tag of $249.99 (excluding taxes), and can be purchased from Best Buy, RadioShack and Boost Mobile Exclusive Retail Stores, as well as from select independent wireless dealer locations. The BlackBerry Monthly Unlimited plan will offer users unlimited voice, texts, 3G Web access and unlimited email for only $60 per month on the Nationwide Sprint Network.

-[Read more>>]- BlackBerry Curve 8330 Already Available from Boost Mobile

Macintosh Turns 26

On January 24, 1984, Apple introduced Macinosh with a bang

Getting around to posting this day-old piece of news just now, Today, January 25th, the Apple Macintosh is already 26 years and one day old. Most of all, however, we would like to praise Apple for its advancements. From 128K to Snow Leopard, the Macintosh and its operating system never ceased to amaze us.

Readers should not mistake Apple’s first Macintosh model, released on January 24, 1984, with the Apple I, a case-less computer that shipped without a monitor, or a keyboard. The Macintosh had all these, plus something entirely revolutionary – the mouse!

It was introduced by the famous television commercial “1984” (by Ridley Scott), which aired on CBS during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984.

The computer was designed to achieve an adequate graphics performance at a price accessible to the middle class. It was introduced at a pocket-burning $2,495. Apple dared set the high price as its Macintosh was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a graphical user interface, rather than a command-line interface.

It had an 8 MHz Motorola 68000 microprocessor connected to a 128 KB DRAM by a 16-bit data bus. The lack of RAM proved to be a fatal constraint to many pieces of multimedia software. Later, due to the lack of memory, Apple intentionally chose to exclude the 128K from three of its most important early developments, “banishing” it from the rest of the Macintosh family.

The built-in display was a one-bit, black-and-white, 9-inch CRT with a resolution of 512×342 pixels. It actually established the desktop publishing standard of 72 PPI.

It featured a 400 kB, single-sided, 3.5-inch floppy disk drive and dedicated no space to other internal mechanical storage. The Mac OS was disk-based, as RAM had to be conserved. However, the “Startup Disk” could still be temporarily ejected. The Macintosh shipped with the first System and Finder application, known to the public as “System 1.0.” This saw three upgrades before the original Macintosh was discontinued.

-[Read more>>]- Macintosh Turns 26

More than 95 Percent of All Email Is Spam

According to a new report from a European agency

Email has been around longer than the World Wide Web, yet doesn't show any sign of slowing down or becoming obsolete despite the number of people proclaiming its end days and the number of technologies labeled as email-killers, Google Wave for one. In fact, by all accounts, email usage is going up, the only problem is that most of it is useless spam. In total, more than 95 percent of all email is blocked off as spam according to a new survey by the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA).

The survey looked at 100 ISPs of various sizes from 30 countries (26 of the 27 EU Member States) totaling 80 million mailboxes and the results aren't encouraging. It found that only 4.4 percent of all email traffic is legitimate or at least labeled as such, a decrease since the previous report from the agency.

From the get-go, some 80 percent of all SMTP connections were dropped mostly because the initiators were matched to a spam blacklist, the most popular way of combating email spam. Of the 20 percent that got through, a further 80 percent got filtered out as spam using other techniques, and in the end, only a small percentage of emails got to their recipients.

That is not to say, though, that 95 percent of all email is spam and the rest is clean as no method is 100 percent accurate. Of those that got blocked, a growing number were wrongfully labeled as spam. 60 percent of those surveyed said that they had their addresses erroneously blocked.

Still, blacklisting is the most commonly used protection, followed by blocking accounts which had an unusual amount of outbound emails. Of course, the reverse is also true, of the emails that got through, a percentage clearly was spam missed by the protective measures. The complete report is available here (PDF - view in Google Docs).

-[Read more>>]- More than 95 Percent of All Email Is Spam

Remote Desktop Manager 5.7.1.0: Free Download

Sunday, January 24, 2010

This is a small application used to manage all your remote connection
Remote Desktop Manager is a small program used to manage all your remote connection.

With Remote Desktop Manager you can add, edit, delete organize or find your remote connection quickly. Compatible with Microsoft Remote Desktop or with Terminal Services, it's a good replacement of the Remote Desktops Snap-in.

Here are some key features of "Remote Desktop Manager":

· Small size
· Easy to install, easy to deploy, only one executable
· Add name, image and description to your configuration
· Run in tray icon
· Quick access menu in the tray icon
· Support remote desktop file (.rdp)
· Support Microsoft Remote Desktop and Microsoft Terminal Services
· Search filter
· Auto start on Windows startup
· Auto update
· Nice UI with theme support

Requirements:

· Net Framework 2.0
· Microsoft Remote Desktop Client

download: External Mirror 1 [EXE]

download: External Mirror 2 [ZIP]

What's New in This Release:

· Bug fixes
· Fixed a bug in Windows 64 Bits where the VPN is closed right after the connection
· Fixed a bug when minimizing a modal form
· Fixed a bug with environment variables in the installation path configuration
· Fixed a bug with the batch credential edit
· Fixed a bug with the offline mode
· Fixed a bug with the opened session and addon
· Fixed a crash with embedded Putty or embedded Excel in Windows 7
· Fixed a layout status problem in the menu
· Fixed a notifyicon click problem in Windows 7
· Fixed a multi select bug in the import wizard
· Fixed a possible bug with the add on images
· Fixed a possible crash when loading an addon
· Fixed a possible crash when loading the connection details
· Fixed a possible crash when multiple connections are closed
· Fixed a possible crash when opening a vpn from existing session
· Fixed a possible ghost selected session
· Fixed a possible ping problem when resolving the ip
· Fixed a possible problem with S3 in Europe
· Fixed a possible problem with सोनीकवाल्ल

Remote Desktop Manager 5.7.1.0: Free Download

-[Read more>>]- Remote Desktop Manager 5.7.1.0: Free Download

Multiplayer Campaign, a Sure Thing for Napoleon: Total War

The Creative Assembly, as the developer, and SEGA, as the publisher, are confirming that the multiplayer play element will be available for all three campaigns in the upcoming Napoleon: Total War set to be released for the PC on February 23. The number of players who will be able to cooperate or fight against each other will be limited to two for the three single player experiences delivered in the new game.

Napoleon: Total War is a more focused experience than last year's Empire, allowing players to actually better the achievements of Napoleon or to work against the great tactician in three theaters of war: Italy, Egypt and the whole Europe. The multiplayer campaign has been in beta since December 2009 and more than 15,000 players have been taking part in so far. The feature was initially promised for Empire: Total War but its implementation proved more complicated than The Creative Assembly thought.

Napoleon: Total War is also set to allow so-called drop-in battles. In an effort to add more of a challenge to the tactical battles in the single player mode, gamers can tick an option permitting adversaries to take control of the enemy side via an Internet connection.

Mike Simpson, who is the creative director at The Creative Assembly and one of the people who have worked on Total War since the beginning, said that “Following all the great feedback we've had from our fans for the Empire Multiplayer Campaign Beta, we're proud to announce that all three campaigns in Napoleon: Total War will be multiplayer enabled. We'd like to thank our fans for all their support.”

Napoleon: Total War promises to be a more polished experience than Empire, with a bigger focus on diplomatic relations, more detailed graphics, a more precise campaign map and a new roster filled with units drawn directly from the history of the era.

-[Read more>>]- Multiplayer Campaign, a Sure Thing for Napoleon: Total War

Download Warcraft III 1.24d for Mac OS X

New patch aims to eliminate critical exploit

A revision to Patch 1.24 for Warcraft III is now available for free download, Blizzard Entertainment has announced. The new update is available for Warcraft III and its two installments, Reign of Chaos and The Frozen Throne. Bringing the fantasy real-time strategy game to version 1.24d, the recent release fixes an exploit that allowed malicious players to cause system crashes, various sources say.
The release notes, however, are a tad less specific. Over at the Battle.net forums, Blizzard poster Cydra reveals that Warcraft III Patch 1.24d “fixed a client crash related to queuing too many invalid build commands (‘crash hack’).” During the development of Patch 1.24, Warcraft III Mac gamers have been treated to both an alpha release, as well as a beta release, fixing all sorts of issues and adding new stuff here and there.

In a similar manner, Patch 1.24c delivered mostly fixes, all of which were detailed in the release notes posted at the Battle.net forums. Patch 1.24d further shows Blizzard’s commitment to offering the best gameplay experience for its long-time fans.

For the Mac user base, those who only have Reign of Chaos installed will only need to download and run the Reign of Chaos Patch. Those who also have the Frozen Throne expansion pack installed will only need the Frozen Throne patch. Blizzard asks gamers to note that, if their copy of Warcraft III is already patched to version 1.23, they will only have to install the upgrade patch version 1.24.

Those unaware of their current Warcraft III version can check it by launching Warcraft III on their Mac and taking a look at the bottom right-hand corner of the startup screen. Gamers who have recently installed / reinstalled the title or have not patched Warcraft III in a long time will need to download and install the full 1.24 Universal Patch, according to Blizzard. Use the links below to download your suitable version of the latest Warcraft III patch.

Download Warcraft III: Frozen Throne Patch 1.24d (Free)
External Mirror 1 - EN [ZIP] - External Mirror 2 - FR [ZIP]
Download Warcraft III: Reign Of Chaos Patch 1.24d (Free)
External Mirror 1 - EN [ZIP] - External Mirror 2 - FR [ZIP]

-[Read more>>]- Download Warcraft III 1.24d for Mac OS X

WinRAR 3.92 Beta 1 - NEW

WinRAR is a powerful archive manager (Win32, Linux, Mac). RAR files can usually compress content by 8 percent to 15 percent more than ZIP files can. WinRAR is a powerful compression tool with many integrated additional functions to help you organize your compressed archives. It can backup your data and reduce size of email attachments, decompress RAR, ZIP and other files downloaded from Internet and create new archives in RAR and ZIP file format.
WinRAR puts you ahead of the crowd when it comes to compression. By consistently creating smaller archives, WinRAR is often faster than the competition. This will save you disc space, transmission costs AND valuable working time as well. WinRAR is ideal for multimedia files. WinRAR automatically recognizes and selects the best compression method. The special compression algorithm compresses multimedia files, executables and object libraries particularly well.

Changes in Version 3.92 beta 1:
1. If you start WinRAR command from Explorer context menu in multiple monitor configuration, the command dialog will be displayed on the same monitor as context menu. In previous versions it was always displayed on primary monitor.
2. WinRAR "Compress and email..." context menu command adds the archive name to email subject. Previous versions left the subject blank.
3. In RAR 3.91 -x switch could also exclude folders from archiving even if mask contained wilcard characters and did not contain a path. For example, -x*. excluded all those folders, which do not have the extension in the name. Now -x switch uses RAR 3.80 approach for masks without path, excluding folders only if mask does not contain wildcards and matches the folder name exactly.
4. Bugs fixed:
a) WinRAR 3.91 reported the incorrect "Unexpected end of archive" error, when opening an empty ZIP archive created with "New WinRAR ZIP archive" context menu command;
b) if "Delete archive" option was enabled when unpacking several ZIP archives and if one of archives was damaged, WinRAR did not delete archives after the damaged one, even if they were unpacked successfully;
c) if file matched two different masks in RarFiles.lst, WinRAR could select the last match. Normally, if neither of masks is a subset of another, the first match must be chosen.

Download : WinRAR 3.92 Beta 1 (32-BIT)
Download : WinRAR 3.92 Beta 1 (64-BIT)

-[Read more>>]- WinRAR 3.92 Beta 1 - NEW

Realtek High Definition Audio Driver R2.41

The ALC882 series 7.1+2 Channel High Definition Audio codecs with UAA (Universal Audio Architecture), featuring five 24-bit stereo DACs and three 20-bit stereo ADCs, are designed for high performance multimedia PC systems.
The ALC882 series incorporates proprietary converter technology to achieve over 100dB Signal-to-Noise ratio playback quality; easily meeting PC2001 requirements and also bringing PC sound quality closer to consumer electronic devices.

The ALC882 series provide 10 channels of DAC that simultaneously support 7.1 sound playback, plus 2 channels of independent stereo sound output (multiple streaming) through the Front-Out-Left and Front-Out-Right channels. Flexible mixing, mute, and fine gain control functions provide a complete integrated audio solution for next generation multimedia PCs.
Changes in Driver Package R2.41:
Realtek HD Audio Driver support all of Realtek HD Audio Codec.
1. Vista/Windows 7 WHQL Supporting: ALC882, ALC883, ALC885, ALC888, ALC889, ALC892, ALC861VD, ALC660, ALC662, ALC663, ALC665, ALC260, ALC262,ALC267, ALC268, ALC269, ALC270, ALC272, ALC273, ALC887,ALC670, ALC275, ALC680
2. Windows 2000/XP WHQL Supporting: ALC880, ALC882, ALC883, ALC885, ALC888, ALC889, ALC892, ALC861VC, ALC861VD, ALC660, ALC662, ALC663, ALC665, ALC260, ALC262, ALC267,ALC268, ALC269, ALC270, ALC272, ALC273, ALC887,ALC670, ALC275, ALC680
3. HDMI Device WHQL Support: ATI HDMI Devices
4. OS Supporting: Microsoft WindowsXP, Widnows2000, Windows Server 2003, Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows7 - x86/x64
5. Pack with Microsoft High Definition Audio UAAV1.0a(5013)
6. Add/Fix
1.) Driver :
1. Customizations.

Link : Realtek High Definition Audio Driver R2.41

-[Read more>>]- Realtek High Definition Audio Driver R2.41

Unlicensed vBulletin Installations in Danger

Possibly vulnerable to unauthorized directory listing

A technique used to get complete listings of files and directories from illegal installations of vBulletin has been revealed on a Romanian hacking forum. This vulnerability is generated by a file included in many cracked versions of the forum platform.

vBulletin (vB) is a commercial-only Internet forum software written in PHP and using MySQL as a database backend. Since its release in 2000, the platform has gained a lot of popularity due to its unique set of features and professional support. Searching for "powered by vBulletin" on Google reveals a staggering 1.6 billion results.

Most of these results correspond to legit installations made by people who paid a license fee in order to use the software. However, there are many installs, which are rogue, because similarly to all popular programs, vBulletin is pirated too.

vB versions with their copyright protection mechanism subverted are called "nullified" and one of the most prominent providers of such releases is a group called DGT. It seems that this team of crackers is in the habit of including a file called validator.php in all of its illegal vBulletin packages.

According to the release notes, this file can be used to verify that files included in the package have not been altered by third parties. It is also noted in the instructions that this file should be removed after installation, but obviously most users never read them.

Left on the server, the validator.php file can be executed via the browser by virtually anyone. This is certainly not desirable as it will output the full path of all files within the installation directory and can lead to sensitive information being exposed.

For example, a section in the vBulletin administration interface allows creating database backups, which get saved in a writable directory. It's safe to assume that people who do not bother deleting validator.php are not likely to delete these backups either. Knowing the exact names of these files would make it trivial for an attacker to steal them.

In fact, this is exactly the sort of scenario that led to the public disclosure of this trick on the Romanian Security Team (RST) Center website. "Me and kwe were out smoking two hours ago […] We were wondering how tinkode [another hacker] was managing to get his hands on the databases of all those warez forums," a user called paxnWo writes in the beginning of a post describing the technique. [Translated from Romanian.]

Meanwhile, TinKode, who is known for having hacked into NASA and U.S. Army websites, published an advisory on his own blog, taking credit for the find. However, given the nature of this vulnerability, it is very likely that it has been known for quite some time in restricted hacking circles.

This should serve as a lesson for people who choose to run pirated copies of commercial software - you can never be certain that illegally downloaded code is safe. Nevertheless, if are running a "nullified" vBulletin distribution, check if there is a validator.php file in your installation directory and remove it immediately. Also, remove any potentially sensitive files that you are currently hosting inside that folder.

Edit: Corrected the link to paxnWo's post.

-[Read more>>]- Unlicensed vBulletin Installations in Danger

Twitter Account Hijacking Weakness Revealed

Poor Flash programming responsible

A security researcher used a vulnerability in Twitter's Flash widget in order to demonstrate how an account on the micro-blogging platform can be hijacked. The flaw apparently stems from a rookie programming mistake, widely known since 2006.

"We’ve been notified about a vulnerability in our Flash widget and out of an abundance of caution we’ve disabled access as we assess the situation," Twitter's staff announced yesterday. This widget was used by users to display tweets on their own websites using Flash.

Mike Bailey, a senior security analyst at Foreground Security, and the one who reported this flaw to Twitter, has been busy researching Flash-based attacks and security issues in recent months. Back in November 2009, he got into an argument with Adobe over the efficiency of Flash's Same Origin Policy.

Mr. Bailey has not disclosed any details about the vulnerability yet, because he is scheduled to give a presentation on the subject at the upcoming Black Hat 2010 security conference in Washington. Entitled "Neat, New, and Ridiculous Flash Hacks," his talk will discuss "new flash-based attacks, repurposing of old attacks, and demonstrations of working (and sometimes ridiculously complex) attacks on Gmail, Twitter, and other major websites."

Bailey demonstrated how it is possible to force a Twitter user to post a predefined tweet when visiting a link to a specially crafted XML file. His proof-of-concept attack used a dummy account, but the researcher commented for The Register that "In reality, I have full access to everything your Twitter account has on the web. I can think of a million ways to use this as an attacker."

The vulnerability used in this attack dates back to 2006 and Adobe has already instructed programmers on how to avoid it. However, many of them failed to follow these recommendations and now, thousands of websites, including many high-profile ones, are riddled with buggy Flash files.

-[Read more>>]- Twitter Account Hijacking Weakness Revealed

Samsung Launches Galaxy Portal i5700 with T-Mobile UK

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Exclusive for one month

South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung has launched a new handset running under Google's Android operating system in the UK, namely the Galaxy Portal, which is now available for purchase in the country via wireless carrier T-Mobile. The handheld has already been launched on the market, and is available outside the UK as the Samsung Galaxy Spica i5700. The phone comes with Android 1.5 on board, but will soon receive updates to newer flavors of the OS.

Those of you who may not have encountered the device up until now might want to know that it comes with a body 13.2mm thick, that in boasts a 3.2-inch touchscreen display and that it also includes a great deal of connectivity options. Among these capabilities, we can count the presence of quad-band GSM, HSDPA options, as well as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity.

At the same time, the Galaxy Portal i5700 comes with a built-in GPS receiver, with 180MB of internal memory, and with a MicroSD memory card slot for additional storage space (a 1GB microSD card is included in the box). A 3.5mm headphone jack is present with the phone, as well as a media player with video support for MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV, and DivX.

The Samsung Galaxy Portal i5700 sports a 3.2-megapixel photo snapper, a battery that can provide up to five hours of talk time, and other great features, such as the built-in augmented-reality browser Layar. Those who are not familiar with this solution might want to learn that it offers user the possibility to point their device at the world around and receive information overlaid on the image on the handset.

"The launch of this stunning device clearly underlines our commitment to smartphone products and forms part of our strategy to deliver a wide range of handsets designed to suit a multitude of users. The Samsung Galaxy Portal gives consumers the benefit of the Android platform – including an extensive range of innovative apps to download, multi-tasking with apps running in parallel and pre-installed Google services - at an affordable price," said Samsung UK and Ireland vice president Mark Mitchinson.

T-Mobile UK will have the new Android-based mobile phone from Samsung available exclusively for the next month, and it seems that the black Galaxy Portal model will be a T-Mobile exclusive for three months. The handset is available for free with a £18 monthly plan, which also includes 200 minutes and texts, and can be purchased for £70 on a combi plan from the carrier as well.

-[Read more>>]- Samsung Launches Galaxy Portal i5700 with T-Mobile UK

Windows 7 Professional Volume Licensing Upgrade Licenses Details

Courtesy of Microsoft

Customers already know that the upgrade flavor of Windows platforms is much cheaper than the full version. This is not only valid for the general public, buying upgrade licenses of Windows 7 at retail, but also for volume customers. Traditionally, Microsoft volume customers opt to get their software through Software Assurance agreements with the Redmond company. However, Volume licenses of Windows 7 are available to business customers even without SA. And in fact, the software giant recommends that business customers buy the latest iteration of the Windows client this way, simply because it’s cheaper.

“Volume Licensing is the most affordable way to upgrade your existing PCs to Windows 7. If your PCs are not already covered by Software Assurance, you can purchase upgrade licenses through a Volume Licensing program to gain access to Windows 7 Professional,” Microsoft noted.

However, just as it is the case with the boxed copies of Windows 7 Upgrade editions, Windows licenses offered via Volume Licensing are also upgrade-only licenses. What this means is that customers should only opt for such licenses if they already own a full license for the operating system.

“They do not replace purchasing the initial Windows licenses for software that comes pre-installed on new PCs,” the company emphasized. “Each desktop that runs the Windows 7 upgrade must first be licensed to run one of the qualifying operating systems identified below—otherwise the PC will not have a valid, legal Windows license.”

In the image on the left, customers will be able to see a list of the operating systems that qualify users for Windows 7 Professional Volume Licensing Upgrade licenses. At the same time, the Redmond company is offering a list of conditions which must be met for a PC to be eligible for an upgrade license:

“• Software under the qualifying OS license must already be installed on the device that will be assigned the Volume Licensing upgrade. See chart below of pre-installed OEM versions that are eligible for upgrade.
• You must remove the existing qualifying OS from the device in order to deploy the Volume Licensing upgrade license, unless the PC is covered by Software Assurance.
• Customers who wish to install or run more than one licensed OS at one time (including the qualifying OS), may either: acquire Software Assurance for their Volume Licensing upgrade license; or purchase full Windows 7 licenses, separately.”

-[Read more>>]- Windows 7 Professional Volume Licensing Upgrade Licenses Details

Download Free Windows 7 Theme with Artwork from Greg Straight

From the NZ version of the Windows Personalization Gallery

Microsoft offers an extremely interesting collection of personalization content for the latest iteration of the Windows client, but sometimes users need to know where to look for it. Just one week ago, I was telling you about the free 7 UP theme for Windows 7 that was available exclusively through the Chinese version of the Windows Personalization Gallery. Since then a range of websites have picked up the piece, but just remember you read about it on Softpedia first. And for another premiere, I came across a new free theme offered by the Redmond company, put together using artwork from designer Greg Straight.

“UK born Greg Straight moved to NZ aged 9 when his family emigrated. In his school years he excelled at two things, surfing and art. He scored himself a place at the best art school in the country Elam School of Fine Arts, where under the watchful eye of his tutor and mentor Dick Frizzell he graduated with a BFA majoring in painting and print making,” an excerpt from the About section on his website reads.

Straight is from New Zealand, and in this regard, it not a surprise that the Greg Straight theme for Windows 7 is also available through the NZ variant of the Windows Personalization Gallery. However, users around the world can implement the theme, provided that they have the right link, as there is no actual limitation in terms of access or availability. In addition, users can visit this page on Straight’s website in order to come across the imagery included in the Windows 7 theme, and additional content including “Kings of the deep,” “2 Tui digital print on paper,” “Tui at dusk,” “Swoop digital print on paper” and others.

“In order to widen his horizons in the employment world, Greg decided to learn how to apply his skills on screen instead of just on paper and did a computer graphics course. Soon after he headed for the UK and quickly found himself in demand as a freelance graphic designer working for UK street wear labels Bench, Hooch, Duffer of St.George, Fenchurch and for high street department store Debenhams. Since returning to New Zealand 4 years ago to settle down and start a family Greg has been a popular contributor for iconic NZ clothing brand Huffer,” Straight’s website adds.

-[Read more>>]- Download Free Windows 7 Theme with Artwork from Greg Straight

Windows 7 Black Screens of Death for Some AMD/ATI GPUs

During installation

Installing Windows 7 on some computers is not a simple task, especially if compatibility and support problems exist. According to Microsoft, Windows 7 fails to play nice with machines that have an AMD/ATI Radeon graphics processing unit (GPU) leveraging the embedded DisplayPort (eDP) technology. Customers that attempted to install Windows 7 on such computers found that they were unable to complete the deployment.

“When you install Windows 7 on the computer, a black screen is displayed during the installation process. However, the installation is still running. In this situation, you may be unable to complete the installation. If you have multiple displays, only the primary screen is black when you encounter this issue,” Microsoft explained.

The software giant enumerated some of the AMD/ATI Radeon GPU's that are affected by the issues mentioned above, including: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 (PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9480); ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670 (PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9488); ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 (PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_945A); ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4850 (PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_944A) and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 (PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9552). At the same time, Microsoft underlines that Apple iMac 27" is among the affected systems.

“AMD implemented eDP support after the Windows 7 DVD was finished. Therefore, the AMD Radeon graphics driver on the Windows 7 retail DVD does not support eDP,” Microsoft stated. “AMD has released an updated driver that fixes the eDP issue. The update must be incorporated into the setup process for setup to complete successfully.”

Microsoft has a simple workaround available, provided that customers own a secondary monitor. In this context, all that users need to do is connect the monitor to the computer ahead of starting the installation of Windows 7. In this case, they will be able to see the setup process to the end, and install an updated driver to resolve the eDP issue via Windows Update afterwards.

In addition, there is a solution designed for advanced users, involving the AutoUnattend.xml answer file and the latest graphics driver and a USB flash drive. “Copy the uncompressed graphics driver onto the USB flash drive. To do this, follow these steps: download the latest driver for your graphics adapter from the AMD Web site. Run the downloaded program (.exe) to extract the driver. The program will prompt for an installation location, such as c:\ati\support\. After the extraction is complete, locate the installation folder that is noted in the previous step. Copy the installation folder onto the USB flash drive,” Microsoft explained.

Users will also need to create the AutoUnattend.xml answer file, by opening a Notepad file and copying the text highlighted in blue at the bottom of this screen. The file has to be saved as AutoUnattend.xml using the UTF-8 encoding format, and then it needs to be copied to the root of the USB.

“From the Windows 7 installation DVD, start the computer that has the AMD Radeon GPU that uses eDP.Immediately connect the USB flash drive after the computer starts from DVD. Follow the instructions to complete the installation process. When the system restarts for the first time, disconnect the USB flash drive,” Microsoft added.

-[Read more>>]- Windows 7 Black Screens of Death for Some AMD/ATI GPUs

Next Irrational Games Project Will Be Announced After GDC

Friday, January 22, 2010

Possible E3 showing

BioShock 2 is close to its release date but Ken Levine, the man behind the first iteration in the series, is not talking about it, claiming he was not involved in any way in the development process. The well known game creator is more interested in talking about how his team has taken back its original Irrational Games name, after being known for a while as 2K Boston, and about how they are preparing to approach their next, unannounced project.

The leader of Irrational Games told Gamespot that “This is the year we'll start talking about stuff, and we stop hiding behind the iron curtain of secrecy.”

An official announcement related to the new project will be coming after the 2010 Game Developers Conference, so be on the lookout for more Irrational news after March 13. Levine would not be coaxed into talking about whether an initial look at the game might happen at the E3 trade expo, which is set to begin in June.

There was some speculation that a new Spec Ops title was being worked on by his team but Ken Levine said that “I honestly don't know anything about that game. I like the trailer” when talking about the recently announced The Line. There has also been a lot of talk about Irrational Games working on a revival of the classic X-COM franchise but there has been no official comment delivered related to these rumors.

What Levine is ready to talk about is the fact that Irrational will be growing in the coming period in order to be able to complete its new project and about the fact that quality will be a major concern for the team as all their earlier releases received good marks from reviewers and they are keen on keeping up the standards for their next endeavors.

-[Read more>>]- Next Irrational Games Project Will Be Announced After GDC

BlackBerry Bold 9700 Goes to Turkey

Via Turkcell

Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion announced recently the launch of its high-end BlackBerry Bold 9700 device on the market in Turkey, via leading communications company Turkcell. According to the company, the new BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone is available for Turkcell customers for a monthly plan that starts at 83 TL (around $55), and which brings them free voice calls and SMS messaging with other Turkcell users during weekend.

What the BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone is set to deliver to users includes high-end communications and multimedia features, a compact design, as well as great performance and functionality. The handset comes with a 624 MHz processor, coupled with 256 MB of Flash memory, 3G HSDPA connectivity options, built-in GPS receiver, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities. At the same time, the phone also includes a bright display and a 3.2-megapixel photo snapper, a QWERTY keypad and a touch-sensitive trackpad for easy navigation, along with 3.5 mm stereo headset jack and dedicated volume buttons.
The features list of Bold 9700 also includes:
- a design that measures 4.29" x 2.36" x 0.56" (109 mm x 60 mm x 14.1 mm) and weighs 4.3 oz (122 grams)
- a 2.44” light-sensing display (480 x 360 resolution at 245 ppi)
- highly tactile full-QWERTY keyboard
- BlackBerry OS 5.0, offering users email management and calendar enhancements as well as a better browsing experience with faster JavaScript and CSS processing
- media player for videos, pictures and music (music plays up to 38 hours), and BlackBerry Media Sync for easily syncing photos as well as iTunes and Windows Media Player music with the smartphone
- microSD/SDHD memory card slot that supports up to 16 GB cards today and is expected to support 32 GB cards when available; a 2GB card is included
- support for BlackBerry Internet Service and BlackBerry Enterprise Server
- removable, rechargeable 1500 mAhr battery that provides approximately 6 hours of talk time and 17 days of standby time in 3G mode.

“We are extremely happy to be the first network in Turkey to introduce the BlackBerry Bold 9700 to our customers. With its high level of style and performance, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone will attract the attention of Turkey’s technology leaders, and customers can experience easy access to email and other multimedia features anytime, anywhere with Turkcell’s 3G Network,” said Berna Akyuz Ogut, head of Terminal Management, Turkcell.

-[Read more>>]- BlackBerry Bold 9700 Goes to Turkey