IT Update

Google wants to know if you're sick

2009-05-14T20:05:00.001+07:00

Google is attempting to find out how much of a role Internet searches play in the self-diagnosis process.

The company plans later Wednesday to start rolling out a subtle question at the bottom of pages with search results for a few common ailments, such as "Did you search because you or someone you know may have an ear infection?" That question will only appear for a very small number of users who search for terms such as "ear infection," but it will help Google start to understand how many people are searching on such terms looking for treatment remedies or options as opposed to doing research, said Dr. Roni Ziegler, a product manager forGoogle Health.

Understanding how many people are searching on Google for help diagnosing their health could improve future search results, the company thinks.

(Credit: Google)

In a way, this is an extension of the work Google has done tracking the flu with Google Flu Trends. The company noticed that search activity related to the flu tends to rise about two weeks before a similar rise is reported to the Centers for Disease Control by doctors, but years of data on flu patterns validates those trends, Ziegler said. Similar data does not exist for more common health issues.

Google is not exactly sure what it wants to do with that data, or how much useful data will be produced by the experiment. Ultimately, however, everything at Google goes back into the search process, so it's possible that the data could be used to offer searchers more options, such as "Did you mean to search for treatment options for X?" at the top of the search page.

This is a temporary project: Google plans to gather data for several weeks, starting Wednesday afternoon.

Apple Patch Day: 67 Mac OS X, Safari vulnerabilities

2009-05-14T20:03:00.002+07:00

On the same day Microsoft shipped a bundle of patches for gaping holes in its PowerPoint software, Apple followed suit, dropping a monster Mac OS X update to correct 67 security vulnerabilities.

The sudden Apple Patch Day also included a patch to cover a trio of flaws in the Safari Web browser (Mac OS X and Windows).

The OS X update covers flaws in 31 different components, including several known (and dated) issues in open-source packages used by Apple. These include vulnerabilities in Apache, BIND, CUPS, OpenSSL, PHP and Kerberos.

The update also fixes what Apple describes as “arbitrary code execution” vulnerabilities in ATS, CFNetwork, CoreGraphics, Cscope, Disk Images and Spotlight.

The full list of affected software, components and discussion of risk isavailable on Apple’s support site.

Separately, Apple shipped new versions of its Safari 3 and Safari 4 (beta) browsers to cover the following issues:

libxml (CVE-2008-3529) A heap buffer overflow exists in libxml’s handling of long entity names. Visiting a maliciously crafted website may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. This update addresses the issue through improved bounds checking. Affects both Mac OS X and Windows XP and Vista.
Safari (CVE-2009-0162) Multiple input validation issues exist in Safari’s handling of “feed:” URLs. Accessing a maliciously crafted “feed:” URL may lead to the execution of arbitrary JavaScript. This update addresses the issues by performing additional validation of “feed:” URLs. These issues do not affect systems prior to Mac OS X v10.5. Also affects Windows XP and Vista.
WebKit (CVE-2009-0945) A memory corruption issue exists in WebKit’s handling of SVGList objects. Visiting a maliciously crafted website may lead to arbitrary code execution. This update addresses the issue through improved bounds checking. Apple credits security researcher “Nils” for reporting this issue, suggesting it is the flaw exploited during this year’s CanSecWest contest.

EC wants software makers held liable for code

2009-05-10T19:11:00.001+07:00

Software companies could be held responsible for the security and efficacy of their products, if a new European Commission consumer protection proposal becomes law.

Commissioners Viviane Reding and Meglena Kuneva have proposed that EU consumer protections for physical products be extended to software. The suggested change in the law is part of an EU action agenda put forward by the commissioners after identifying gaps in EU consumer protection rules.

A priority area for possible EU action is "extending the principles of consumer protection rules to cover licensing agreements of products like software downloaded for virus protection, games, or other licensed content," according to the commissioners' agenda. "Licensing should guarantee consumers the same basic rights as when they purchase a good: the right to get a product that works with fair commercial conditions."

"Digital content is not a tangible good and should not be subject to the same liability rules as toasters."

--Francisco Mingorance, BSA director of public policy

EU consumer commissioner Kuneva said that more accountability for software makers, and for companies providing digital services, would lead to greater consumer choice.

"If we want consumers to shop around and exploit the potential of digital communications, then we need to give them confidence that their rights are guaranteed," Kuneva said. "That means putting in place and enforcing clear consumer rights that meet the high standards already existing in the main street. (The) Internet has everything to offer consumers, but we need to build trust so that people can shop around with peace of mind."

The Business Software Alliance (BSA), which represents the interests of software makers including Apple, IBM, and Microsoft, criticized the proposals.

"Digital content is not a tangible good and should not be subject to the same liability rules as toasters," Francisco Mingorance, BSA director of public policy told ZDNet UK on Thursday. "Unlike tangible goods, creators of digital content cannot predict with a high degree of certainty both the product's anticipated uses and its potential performance."

Mingorance said the performance of a piece of software depends on the environment it operates in, how the code is updated, whether it is possible to adapt and modify the software, and whether the code is attacked.

According to Mingorance, the proposed regulatory extension would cover all software, including beta products, and would cover both proprietary and open-source software.

Right now, under the current EU Sales and Guarantees Directive, physical products are expected to carry a guarantee of two years. Extending those terms to software would have the effect of limiting customer choice, as contract terms would have to be extended to a minimum of two years, Mingorance added.

"Extending the scope would force the businesses to maintain update services for such contracts beyond the contractual term and ultimately limit the choice of offers," the BSA director said. "It is like renting your house for a summer month and being then obliged to extend the rent for another 23 months."

In addition, Mingorance said that extending consumer regulation to software could lead to less interoperability between software products, as manufacturers might decide to limit how far third-party developers could access their code.

Software companies have long argued against accepting responsibility for the security and efficiency of their code. Linux kernel developer Alan Cox in 2007 told a House of Lords Committee that neither proprietary nor open-source developers should be held accountable for their code.

Windows 7 RC gets its first bug, and it's a doozy

2009-05-10T11:47:00.001+07:00

The first documented bug in the Windows 7 Release Candidate (build 7100) is a doozy.

Yesterday, Microsoft published Knowledge Base article 970789, which provides details of a problem that affects the 32-bit (x86) English-language version of Windows 7 build 7100. The problem, in short, is that the installer incorrectly sets access control lists (ACLs) on the root of the system drive. The longer version is described as follows:

In the English version of Windows 7 Release Candidate (build 7100) 32-bit Ultimate, the folder that is created as the root folder of the system drive (%SystemDrive%) is missing entries in its security descriptor. One effect of this problem is that standard users such as non-administrators cannot perform all operations to subfolders that are created directly under the root. Therefore, applications that reference folders under the root may not install successfully or may not uninstall successfully. Additionally, operations or applications that reference these folders may fail.
For example, if a folder is created under the root of the system drive from an elevated command prompt, this folder will not correctly inherit permissions from the root of the drive. Therefore, some specific operations, such as deleting the folder, will fail when they are performed from a non-elevated command prompt. Additionally, the following error message appears when the operation fails:

Access is denied.

Furthermore, the missing security descriptor entries protect non-admin file operations directly under the root.In the English version of Windows 7 Release Candidate (build 7100) 32-bit Ultimate, the folder that is created as the root folder of the system drive (%SystemDrive%) is missing entries in its security descriptor. One effect of this problem is that standard users such as non-administrators cannot perform all operations to subfolders that are created directly under the root. Therefore, applications that reference folders under the root may not install successfully or may not uninstall successfully. Additionally, operations or applications that reference these folders may fail.
For example, if a folder is created under the root of the system drive from an elevated command prompt, this folder will not correctly inherit permissions from the root of the drive. Therefore, some specific operations, such as deleting the folder, will fail when they are performed from a non-elevated command prompt. Additionally, the following error message appears when the operation fails:
Access is denied.
Furthermore, the missing security descriptor entries protect non-admin file operations directly under the root.
A hotfix is available as an important update that should be delivered and installed automatically by Windows Update, assuming you have set up automatic updates. On one test system that I checked just now, the update had already been installed overnight. On two other systems, the update had been downloaded but was awaiting installation.
The hotfix package fixes the security descriptor of the root of the system drive, but it does not repair applications that are already installed, nor does it affect the permissions of folders that were created after the installation.
If you installed the x64 version of Windows 7, you are apparently unaffected by this issue.
If you haven’t yet installed the Windows 7 RC, it’s important to install this hotfix after you set up Windows and before you install any programs or restore any backed-up data.
This sounds like a pretty serious bug, and I’m surprised that it slipped through into the release candidate. I haven’t observed any deleterious effects from this issue yet but am doing further testing today. If anyone has any firsthand reports of being bitten by this bug, please leave a comment in the Talkback section with more details.

SILICON POWER

2009-05-08T19:47:00.001+07:00

SILICON POWER’ s first step to enhance the Branding image: expanding the channels in Taiwan

May 7, 2009(Taipei, Taiwan) The World leading SSD manufacture company, Silicon Power, today announce it will decide to expand it’s channel in Taiwan along with the recognition from consumer in Japan. To build up the long term relationship with partners through various tactics to create the win win situation, Silicon Power will cooperate with all major channels in Taiwan, including Carrefour, Far Eastern Geant, Tatung 3C, TKEC, rainbow3C and so on. They covered from 3C channel stores to super market stores. To celebrate the announcement of its channel strategy, Silicon Power will also launch the “channel spring promotion program”. Hope can attract more consumers to make a success in the first hit through the promotion event.

For Silicon Power, 2009 is the very important mile stone to enhance its company branding around the world. Silicon Power won the success in Japan market and keeps cultivating its branding image with the experience in Japan more proactively. First, Silicon Power will show the commitments to gather more reliable partners and distributors in Taiwan. Second, Silicon Power will extend more on line channels to reach more consumers. To open more new business opportunity, we take step by step approach to create the win-win situation for the long term relationship, also to win the strong branding image over the next year.

'News games' put public in charge of hot topics

2009-05-08T19:30:00.002+07:00

This Flash game based on the infamous incident last winter in which an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at former U.S. president George W. Bush has spawned at least seven so-called 'news games.' Other topics that have inspired such games include the swine flu, the water landing of US Airways flight 1549, the British financial bailout and more.

(Credit: Flashgressive)

Here's a conundrum: when the world is deep into hysteria over a potential pandemic like the swine flu, how does someone who wants to poke fun at the problem do so?

For Jude Gomilla and Immad Akhund, the answer was a single sleepless night about 10 days ago during which the two San Francisco entrepreneurs built what has become a massively popular Flash game called Swinefighters.

In Swinefighters, players--dressed as giant-syringe-wielding and mask-wearing doctors--are tasked with killing off rogue viruses in the form of sneering pigs. Each time you hit a pig with the syringe, it is wiped out, and the goal is to do that as many times as possible in 20 seconds. And because the game presents a running total of all the pig-like viruses killed by everyone who has played the game, we know that in total, Swinefighters have destroyed nearly 14.5 million viruses since the game's launch.

Swinefighter players have 'destroyed' nearly 15 million viruses. The game's creators argue that because the present tips from the CDC on how to combat swine flu, that their game serves an educational purpose.

(Credit: HeyZap)

Swinefighter is hardly the only game of its kind. In fact, in the last few months, there's been a proliferation of what some call "news games," little Flash-based exercises that are based on the very latest mega-stories sweeping the globe. Among the targets of these titles' satirical eye have been things like the George W. Bush shoe-throwing incident, the water landing of US Airways flight 1549, the British financial bailout, and even Britney Spears' haircut. And next up is a game that is expected to be released in a few days parodying the Bernard Madoff scandal in which players can manage their own Ponzi scheme.

Controversial? Or not?
And while some may find such premises beyond objectionable, those making the games--not surprisingly--don't think they're crossing any social taboos.

"To me, it's a bit strange, because some people see these games as controversial," said Gomilla, "when usually the point is a positive one. Most are expressing something that users want to be. They want to be the heroes of landing the plane, or they want to beat the virus, but they can't (personally) make political decisions. (So) in a sily way, they can go and vent their frustrations in the game."

Others feel that those who are up in arms are missing the point, or overreacting. After all, no one was ever harmed by a flying digital shoe.

"We were quite surprised at the level of controversy (our game) created," said Louise Doherty, of Fubra, which currently publishes Sock and Awe, one of at least seven games devoted to the Bush shoe-throwing incident. It's only a bit of fun, but we had hundreds of emails telling us that we were evil, that we should close the site (and) that no matter what Bush had done, 'no one deserves to have shoes thrown at them.' They're virtual shoes. Even the real shoe that was thrown didn't hit him."

Of course, there are different ways of approaching delicate subjects, and the people behind some of these games have chosen different ways to have fun with the subject matter. In both Hero on the Hudson and Double Bird Strike, for example, players must try to land an airplane that has had its engines knocked out by birds.

But in Hero on the Hudson, if you don't handle the rapidly descending plane properly, it crashes into the water. To Dominic Tocci, the creator of Double Bird Strike, that's not the best way to confront the potentially impolitic nature of a game based on a well-publicized airplane accident.

"Some topics are a little delicate, but it's all in how you present them," said Tocci. "For example, when I designed Double Bird Strike, I intentionally made it so that crashing the plane was impossible."

Tocci's attempts at political correctness aside, not everyone would agree that making play out of a near disaster is funny, or useful, even if players don't have to actually see the plane crash. And not everyone would agree with Tocci's assessment of what's fair game and what's not.

A game that is about to be released leverages the attention that Bernard Madoff has generated and tasks players with managing their own Ponzi scheme.

(Credit: Cellufun)

"Personally, if I think a game idea is in poor taste, I won't make it," Tocci said. "Of course, there will always be someone out there who might get offended by something I made, but you can't please everyone."

One such group might be fans of Britney Spears or those who feel for the personal travails the pop superstar has gone through in recent years. Yet Tocci took Spears' dramatics head-on with his first news game, Britney Wigged Out, in which players have to try to place a wig on the head of a bobbing and weaving Spears caricature.

Money to be made
But there's no denying that these projects, most of which are created by individuals or small teams, are resonating with the Internet public. And that can be profitable.

Doherty's Fubra bought Sock and Awe from its original creator on eBay for more than $8,000, but said ads on the game earned the money back in just 48 hours. And Tocci said his creations earn money from royalties paid by the casual games sites that host the titles.

Not everyone is trying to profit though. Gomilla said that he and his partner decided not to attach ads to Swinefighter because of the sensitive nature of the game. But he suggested he wouldn't have a problem making money off of less controversial topics.

Flash games like these have been around almost as long as Flash itself. But in the past, they've tended to center on harmless fare like throwing things at penguins. And while they've managed to spread far and wide, it's likely they haven't done so with the urgency of the news games. And that has to do with the fact that these new titles, like so many other Web-based projects these days, can spread like wildfire on social-networking services like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.

That leads to staggering numbers like the 14.5 million viruses tackled in Swinefighter and the 93.5 million shoes tossed at Bush in Sock and Awe alone. Tocci's Double Bird Strike has been played more than 400,000 times.

The games are also coming faster these days because the tools available make it possible for someone with even rudimentary skills to make something like Swinefighter in an evening.

To Sree Sreenivasan, the dean of student affairs and a professor at the Columbia University School of Journalism, things like news games and other Web phenomena prove that there's little point in trying to understand people's sensibilities or taste. After all, he points out, someone might post a video on YouTube of their grandmother's funeral only to have others' mocking responses to the video catch viral fire.

"On the Internet, you've lost control of this stuff," Sreenivasan said. "It would be nice if everything on the Internet had redeeming value, but I don't think that's possible."

News game creators like Gomilla and Doherty, however, think their offerings do present some social value, even as they poke fun at topics that make some people very nervous.

Gomilla, for example, points out that Swinefighters features advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how to combat things like swine flu. And Doherty indicated that while she might have little sympathy for Bush having had to dodge flying shoes, she cared about the fate of the Iraqi journalist who threw the footwear at the president.

"When it became clear that reporter Muntadar al-Zaidi could be in serious trouble as a result of his actions we decided to display news about his arrest and charges on the site so people would be kept aware of his plight," Doherty said. "People that were visiting the site to play the game and laugh were also getting news that they may not have seen otherwise."

News games as education
In fact, Doherty said that the educational value of these games can outstrip even what respected government institutions offer the public.

"It's a shame the innovation (of providing CDC advice about swine flu in Swinefighters) was left to two entrepreneurs," said Doherty. "It would have been great if the World Health Organization had realized they could use a game to raise awareness about preventing swine flu."

Sreenivasan, too, recognizes that the creators of news games have the time and energy on their hands to move a lot faster than traditional organizations.

"I think (news games) can be engaging and helpful," Sreenivasan said, "and that's why you see some news organizations trying to do this. The problem is when breaking news happens, structured organizations don't have the time or work flow (to act), whereas someone working alone in the basement" does."

Nvidia posts loss as inventory eases

2009-05-08T19:30:00.001+07:00

On Thursday, Nvidia reported a first-quarter loss, as revenue fell 42 percent from last year. But the graphics chipmaker said inventory was easing.

The company announced a net loss of $201.3 million, or 37 cents a share. Last year in the same period, the company posted a profit of $176.8 million, or 30 cents a share.

Revenue was $664.2 million, down from $1.15 billion for the same period last year. This was better than the analysts' average estimate of $534.4 million, however.

Adjusted net loss was 9 cents a share. Analysts had expected a loss of 10 cents a share, according to Reuters estimates.

"We made good progress managing expenses and significantly reducing inventory," said Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of Nvidia, in a statement. Inventory decreased from 144 to 64 days sequentially. Revenue grew 38 percent sequentially from the previous quarter.

Boom times for prepaid cell phone operators

2009-05-08T19:28:00.000+07:00

repaid wireless providers are scooping up subscribers as cash strapped consumers downgrade to lower cost cell phone service.

First quarter earnings reports from MetroPCS Communications and Leap Wireless on Thursday provided further evidence that consumers are flocking toward no-contract, unlimited prepaid services. These carriers, which operate primarily in smaller urban areas, each reported they had nearly doubled their subscription rate compared to a year ago.

MetroPCS said its new subscriber additions increase 51 percent compared to the same quarter a year earlier. In total it added 684,000 new subscribers, bringing its customer base to 6 million. This was the third quarter in a row in which the company had a record breaking increase in subscribers.

Leap Wireless, which sells its service under the Cricket brand, also had a big quarter, increasing subscribership by 40 percent compared to the same quarter a year earlier. In total, the company added 493,000 new customers, ending the quarter with 4.3 million wireless subscribers. A year ago, Leap ended the first quarter with 3.1 million customers.

MetroPCS increased revenue 20 percent to $795.3 million and posted earnings of $44 million.

Leap actually posted a wider first quarter loss, mostly due to the company's expansion into new markets, such as Chicago and Philadelphia. The company lost $47.4 million, or 74 cents a share, compared a loss of $16.9 million, or 28 cents a share, in the first quarter of 2008. Revenue increased 25 percent to $587 million.

All of this news comes just days after Sprint Nextel reported huge subscriber gains in its prepaid service from its subsidiary Boost Mobile. Boost added about 764,000 customers to its service.

What all three services have in common is that they offer low-cost, prepaid plans with all-you-can-eat voice, text messaging, and Web browsing. The Boost Unlimited service, which launched in January, costs only $50 a month. And MetroPCs's and Leap's services are in the same neighborhood.

Based on these strong subscriber numbers, it appears that consumers are looking for more affordable cell phone plans. This is likely a direct result of the ailing economy, which has resulted in high unemployment throughout the country.

While it's true that cell phone service has become essential for most Americans, that doesn't mean consumers are willing to pay a lot of money for it. And as finances tighten, people are looking to reduce their monthly expenses by finding cheaper options for phone service. Prepaid service plans, which allow customers to pay in advance for service without signing a contract, provide a good alternative. And now the low-cost unlimited plans make it an easy choice even for wireless subscribers that talk and text a lot.

MetroPCS and Leap Wireless have each been offering their low-cost prepaid unlimited plans for quite some time, but as these carriers move into bigger markets, such as Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York, they are putting pressure on other wireless operators to match or beat their prices.

Sprint's Boost was the first to answer that challenge with its $50 unlimited plan. Virgin Mobile followed with its own all-you-can-eat plan for $50 a month. And T-Mobile USA, owned by Deutsche Telekom, is also getting more aggressive with its prepaid cell phone plans.

The question now is whether the two biggest cell phone companies, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, which make millions of dollars in profits from postpaid subscribers, will also go after the prepaid market. And if they don't, will they slash prices on their postpaid contract service plans? AT&T is already rumored to be considering lowering the price of its iPhone service plan by $10 when the new iPhone comes out this summer.

Is Lala's DRM new way to lock up music?

2009-05-08T19:27:00.000+07:00

Michael Robertson, the gadfly of digital music, is once again pestering rivals about their business practices.

Robertson--the controversial founder of MP3.com, Linspire, andMP3tunes.com--has accused Lala, of attempting to transfer control of its users music to the recording labels.

Robertson claimed last month on his personal blog that Lala had developed an "insidious new plot" to entice music fans to upload music to the company's servers, and then trap the music there by embedding digital rights management into the servers. This would enable Lala and the big music labels to exercise greater control over the tunes. He compared Lala's digital-locker service to a "roach motel," where songs check in but they can't check out.

Robertson's accusations generated little attention, possibly because he operates a competing site, MP3tunes.com. Both companies enable customers to store their music in digital lockers, and one competitor badmouthing another won't stop the presses. But with regard to his accusations about Lala and DRM, the best support for the claims comes from Lala.

Robertson directed CNET News to a patent owned by Lala called Network Based Digital Rights Management System. In the document, Lala describes the invention it patented.

"The system also allows for the 'revoking' of ownership of digital media. For example, if a user is known to have illegally shared a file, the copyright owner may choose to revoke their ownership."--Lala said in a patent document

"A network-based DRM system manages digital media assets stored in the network," Lala wrote. "The system provides consumers with access to the digital media from any device connected to an electronic network such as the Internet, while enforcing the intended uses by the copyright owners.

"The Web restricted nature of the offering," Lala wrote elsewhere in the filing, "means that the digital assets are at all times controlled by the system and thus result in minimal piracy."

The patent proves Lala is trying to develop a new type of DRM, according to Robertson. Instead of wrapping individual songs in DRM, Lala's plan calls for a network to act as a fortress that surrounds an entire music ecosystem. Lala CEO Geoff Ralston confirmed that Lala filed the patent but denied the company is trying to wrest control away from users.

"It's a patent around Web Songs," Ralston said.

Web Songs are one of the cornerstones of the company's latest business model. Lala, which scrapped two prior models, now offers three main features: MP3s unprotected by DRM can be purchased and download for rates comparable to iTunes. A second option offers users unlimited, ad-free streaming access to music they already own. The way this works is users allow Lala to scan their hard drives and preserve a list of the songs the person owns. Lala's system will then stream it's own copies of the songs to the user.This way users don't have to worry about losing their music to hard-drive meltdowns or misplaced music players.

Lala's last feature allows users to listen to streaming music--they don't already own--for 10 cents per song. Lala calls these Web Songs. One of the ways Web Songs are different than MP3s is they can't be downloaded to a portable device.

"A Web song by definition has a limited set of rights associated with it," Ralston said. "One right you don't have is the right to take it with you. It's not a portable song. Another right you don't have is to copy it. Everything has limited rights, even an MP3. You're not allowed to take an MP3, copy it and sell it."

Does DRM have some value?
Lala says Web songs offer users a chance to obtain streaming access to a song for the price of a grocery store gum drop. If customers later want to upgrade and buy an MP3 version of the tune, the dime is counted against the price of the download. To offer inexpensive Web songs in such a way, Ralston said that Lala had to promise the major recording companies to protect their music from piracy.

Michael Robertson found Lala's DRM patent and says it proves company is taking orders from record labels.

(Credit: Michael Robertson)

That makes sense. The problem is, however, the patent isn't restricted to Web songs, as Ralston said. In Lala's patent, under a section titled Overview of Present Invention, the company lists the many applications of its invention. Here, Lala describes the company's digital locker system exactly.

The patent indicates that Lala's DRM invention is designed to lock down music that its users already own. Lala's system doesn't allow users to listen to their own music via anything but a Web browser and the songs cannot be downloaded. Ralston argues that people can do all these things with the original music files they own.

But if Lala's users own music the company stores, why does Lala restrict it this way? Are these restrictions rooted in some technology limitation or do the major labels require them?

"We're trying to provide a way so that users can have more access to their music than they had in the past," Ralston said. "Look at the iPhone. I can't easily throw brand-new graphic cards into it. It's all closed up. But it's a much better consumer proposition. We're not acting as an agent of the record companies in any way except that we resell their goods. There's nothing nefarious there at all. We repackaged some stuff that we think provides a better consumer proposition."

Music sales have been falling for years and piracy is at least one of the main causes. Nonetheless, the four top record labels over the past year have appeared to give up on DRM as a piracy-busting strategy. This trend culminated in January when Apple announced it would strip DRM from the entire iTunes library. So, why then is Lala attempting to come up with a new DRM scheme?

In the patent, the company offers some clues.

Lala notes that DRM produced by Microsoft and Apple "suffered from lack of interoperability caused by competitive and licensing issues." Most DRM, Lala points out, can also be cracked or broken. Lala says in the patent that its DRM approach avoids these issues.

"A network-based approach protects against rampant piracy," Lala wrote. "By delivering the product directly from the network, only authorized users and devices can access the media. Access by users and devices is controlled on the Web and can be constantly adapted to changing technologies and market pressures."

Robertson claims that network DRM is simply the latest attempt by the recording industry to jerk control of music away from consumers. He said what may be most alarming about Lala's system is its potential to snatch away someone's songs.

"The system also allows for the 'revoking' of ownership of digital media," Lala wrote in the patent. "For example, if a user is known to have illegally shared a file, the copyright owner may choose to revoke their ownership of the digital media in the system, limiting the rights of such user to the media."

When asked about this, Lala's CEO was unapologetic.

"Is it controversial that a store has the right to terminate someone that steals from them?" he asked.

Intel and Novell take aim at Android with Moblin

2009-05-08T19:26:00.000+07:00

Google's still-nascent efforts to dominate the mobile market, already reeling from Apple's surging iPhoneplatform, were dealt another blow on Thursday when Intel and Novell announced that they will collaborate to promote Intel's Moblin operating system, a rival Linux distribution for mobile devices.

Whereas Google is initially targeting smartphones with Android (though an Android-based Netbook has apparently been released), Intel is targeting Moblin at Netbooks.

Additionally, Android and Moblin aren't simply two different Linux distributions, in the way that Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server are. Android and Moblin use Linux in different ways, as Dirk Hohndel, Intel's chief Linux and open source technologist, suggested to me:

Moblin is Linux for mobile devices, (and its) first focus is on Netbooks. Android is an (operating system) for phones that uses a Linux kernel...very different.

Novell's Justin Steinman, vice president of solution and product marketing, said in a follow-up conversation:

Moblin 2.0 is the first open-source Linux software stack and technology framework designed from the ground up for the Netbook device type. Essentially, Moblin plans to start at the Netbook layer of the stack, and then work its way down to the smaller mobile devices. Given Novell's strength in delivering desktops based on Linux, it made sense for us to collaborate closely with Intel to deliver the optimal user experience on Netbooks.

Given Apple's rising dominance in smartphones and Symbian's lingering power in other mobile devices, this seems like a smart, strategic move. The Netbook market is still wide open, with Apple currently disdaining to enter it and Microsoft bleeding cash to hold its ground against Linux.

Though Ubuntu made the first forays for Linux in the Netbook market, could it be Novell and Intel that end up dominating it?

Maybe. Maybe not. The one sure thing, at least for now, is that Microsoft may win the short-term Netbook war, but it still needs a long-term, winning game plan for mobile.

The mobile market is fascinating because it is uprooting long-held beliefs about how and where to compete in software. Intel, Google, and Apple, each fiercely contending for dominance, share a common strategy: they're investing in the operating system but planning to make their money elsewhere (Atom chips, in Intel's case; advertising and revenue-sharing with application vendors, in Google's; hardware and revenue-sharing with application vendors, in Apple's).

Such strategies stand in stark contrast to Microsoft, which persists in trying to monetize its mobile Windows platform.

Small wonder, then, that Microsoft is losing the mobile battle. It's fighting with the wrong ammunition.

Back to Google. While it seems clear that Intel's Moblin initiative is an attempt to fend off Google's looming Android threat, there's probably enough time for Intel and Novell to stake out a strong position in Netbooks that Google will struggle to overcome.

Regardless, the one player left out in the cold in all this activity is Microsoft. Google, Novell, Intel, and Apple are each putting hefty resources into winning the mobile market, but doing so in a way that undermines Microsoft's traditional approach of licensing only the software. Microsoft's Xbox experience suggests that it can do hardware right, but will it be able to catch up if it starts chasing its competition?

AMD reorg merges microprocessor, graphics units

2009-05-07T18:27:00.001+07:00

Advanced Micro Devices has launched a reorganization that will see the chipmaker's microprocessor and graphics units merged into a single group.

The products group--one of four new groups announced Wednesday--will be headed by graphics chip executive Rick Bergman, who joined AMD after its $5.4 billion acquisition of graphics chip company ATI in 2006. The chipmaker said the other three groups would focus on technology, marketing, and customers.

"The next generation of innovation in the computing industry will be grounded in the fusion of microprocessor and graphics technologies," AMD CEO Dirk Meyer said in a statement. "With these changes, we are putting the right organization in place to help enable the future of computing."

The company also announced that Randy Allen, who oversaw processor and chipset development as senior vice president of AMD's Computing Solutions Group, is leaving the company. His departure comes one year after being elevated to that position in another companywide reorganization.

There was no indication of what Allen's plans are, but Meyer called Allen "an important engineering and business leader who has played a key role in many of AMD's most significant achievements in recent years."

The changes come as AMD tries to compete better with chip giant Intel in the aftermath of the botched roll-out of Barcelona, its first quad-core server processor. Hector Ruiz, then CEO of AMD, in 2007 blamed the chip's "complicated" design for the delay of more than six months before the chip was ready for release, causing AMD to lose market share and revenue to Intel.

In November, the troubled chipmaker announced its second round of layoffs in 12 months, part of plan announced in April 2008 to reduce its workforce by 10 percent.

Microsoft to defend its IE policies in closed-door antitrust hearing

2009-05-07T18:26:00.002+07:00

The antitrust case involving Microsoft’s browser-bundling policies is continuing to wind its way through the European courts — with a closed-door hearing on the matter now slated for early June.

Microsoft officials are slated to present orally between June 3 and June 5 the arguments the company submitted in written form on April 28 to the European Commission (EC) regarding Opera Software’s complaint filed in December 2007 over Microsoft’s browser-bundling policies.

Here’s a quick recap of what’s going on.

Opera’s antitrust complaint had two parts: Opera charged that Microsoft’s policy of bundling IE with Windows hurt consumer choice. It also argued that Microsoft’s failure to comply with Web standards with IE resulted in a lack of browser interoperability.

The EC released its preliminary findings, charging Microsoft with abusing its dominant monopoly position, earlier this year. So far, the EC has not said what kinds of financial or other remedial actions it intends to require if it rules in Opera’s favor. As part of a previous antitrust case in the EU, via which Microsoft was found guilty of abusing its Windows monopoly, Microsoft was required to offer versions of Windows with Media Player removed and to pay billions of dollars in fines.

Since Opera filed its complaint, Mozilla, Google and members of the European Committee for Interoperable Systems have joined in to help back Opera’s case. Microsoft, for its part, added a new “remove Internet Explorer” option to the latest build of Windows 7 — a move that many industry watchers see as an attempt to blunt the potential impact of any kind of antitrust-related ruling.

Opera execs said last year that Opera is in favor of seeing Microsoft be required to distribute its competitors’ browsers via its Automatic Update mechanism and/or to bundle its compeitors’ browsers with Windows.

Microsoft currently has close to 68 percent of the worldwide browser marketshare, according to Net Applications. Microsoft’s biggest competitor for IE 8 is older versions of IE, rather than Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera or any other third-party browser.

What’s your guess as to what’s going to happen next in this case? As I’ve said before, I think there is a case to be made that Microsoft’s browser-bundling policies have hurt competition. But I think it’s harder to prove Microsoft’s policies have hurt consumers.

Microsoft’s failure to keep IE up-to-date and release newer/better/faster versions in a timely manner has resulted in it losing a hefty chunk of marketshare in recent years. Would the market continue to “right” itself even if the courts don’t intervene? Perhaps….. I think the EC is going to intervene, however, given its past track record, and the result is not likely to be to Microsoft’s liking. What do you think?

Execs reveal why newspapers don't block Google

2009-05-07T18:26:00.001+07:00

To hear the poobahs of traditional media tell it, Google is to print media what global warming is to the polar caps. At many once-stalwart print publications, profits are melting away.

For several months, leaders at some of the nation's most influential newspapers and periodicals, including The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, and the online arm of Forbes magazine have begun blaming Google and similar Web services for at least some of their deepening financial troubles. Google sells ads against news blurbs it "scrapes" from news sites. It links back to the Web sites from which it acquired the content but doesn't share ad revenue with them. This isn't fair, many media execs say.

In all the very public bashing of Google, however, few if any of the critics has answered why they don't just cut Google out of the equation by preventing the search engine from indexing their Web pages. The task could be accomplished by inserting a single line of code into their URLs. If Forbes.com added a line such as forbes.com/robots.txt, content from the site would be rendered invisible to Google.

Representatives from the Journal and AP declined to comment for this story, but their Web sites speak volumes for them. None of the companies has severed ties with Google and risked losing access to the search engine's millions of users. Traditional print publications, which have seen ad revenue plummet, mass layoffs, and in some cases the shut down of operations, are now hopelessly dependent on Google to lure readers, says media executives. Jim Brady, the Washington Post's former digital chief says the question of whether Google is good or bad for print journalism is almost irrelevant at this point. Print publications are helpless to do anything about it.

"Get out a sheet of paper and write down all the things Google does for you," said Brady, former executive editor of Washingtonpost.com, as he offered advice to his former peers in old media. "Google allows your content to be exposed to people who would never see it otherwise. If you're able to code your pages well, then you can get an awful lot of leads from Google. It's up to your site to turn those leads into loyal customers...Google is not going away."

That's not exactly how Jim Spanfeller sees it. The CEO of Forbes.com questioned in an opinion piece he wrote for the blog PaidContent.com, "is Google being disproportionally compensated for what is fundamentally other people's work?" He said the answer appears to be yes. He claimed Google "makes roughly $60 million a year directing folks" to Forbes.com.

So why doesn't Spanfeller prevent the search engine from indexing the magazine's content?

"I don't know that this isn't a bad idea," Spanfeller said in a phone interview with CNET News. "But I think that would be hard to do without everyone's competitors shutting (Google) out as well."

The sounds like an acknowledgment that Forbes needs Google to compete and that the search engine may provide publications like his a valuable service. That's at least what Marissa Mayer, a Google exec, told Congress on Wednesday during a hearing on the future of journalism. Google sends 1 billion page views every month to print publications, Mayer testified during the hearing.

He argues, however, Google does do harm. For example, the blurbs the search engine obtains from news sites often includes enough information to satisfy the major questions about a story. For many people, reading a headline and synopsis about three more people dying of swine flu in Mexico is all some readers want to know. There's little motivation to click on links to the site that actually produced the news. To some in media, this violates copyright law.

Spanfeller says there's also frustration when a news organization pays professional journalists to do original reporting and then see links to stories written by amateurs--or worse, blogs that are little more than flimsy rewrites of their content--with higher visibility on Google than their own.

Spanfeller wants Google to do a better job of showcasing professionally created content, and "cease stepping on or over the line of fair use." This means he wants Google to start providing less information in its news blurbs and crack down on sites that use stories without authorization.

"We show users just enough to make them want to read more," wrote Alexander Macgillivray, Google's associate general counsel, wrote last month. "Even though the Copyright Act does not grant a copyright owner a veto over such uses, it is our policy to allow any rights holder...to remove their content from our index."

So what do print execs want from Google. First, the search engine could cure a lot of ills by sharing ad revenue with print companies. After all, it's their content Google is selling ads against. Forget it; not going to happen, predicts Brady.

"There was a fair amount of pushing from people at the (Washington Post) news group who said: 'We should make Google pay us for our content,' Brady said. "I told them 'They're never going to do it. They wouldn't give us a dime.' (They responded) 'Well then, we should block it.' I said 'Fine, we can go ahead and do that and that's suicidal.'

"Google built a better mousetrap than the newspapers were able to build," Brady continued. "That's part of the reason they're making the money they're making. At some point I don't know what you can do about that other than to try and work it to your advantage."

There are some media execs looking for new ways to get their content in front of readers without help from Google. Amazon on Wednesday showcased a new large-screen e-reader called the Kindle DX. The device is partly geared toward readers of newspapers, and magazines. Newspaper publishers Hearst Corp., and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. have said they will create their own e-readers, which they will use to deliver their own content.

This kind of effort is fine with Brady, only he would like everyone in traditional media to stop obsessing about the past.

"We have to ask, 'what's next?'" said Brady who plans to open his own consulting business. "That's where everybody needs to get to. Because Google isn't going away and they aren't writing us checks. Let's move on. We're all getting way too hung up on the past, with all the things we should have done 10 years ago, could have done...well, we didn't. Game over. We should be asking 'What are the new rules of this game and how do we best take advantage of them.

FBI agent looks back on time posing as a cybercriminal

2009-05-07T18:25:00.001+07:00

In September 2008 police began arresting alleged members of Dark Market, an underground Internet forum for buying and selling credit card data used for identity fraud. The sting wouldn't have been possible without the work of FBI agent J. Keith Mularski who spent two years infiltrating the group.

FBI Special Agent J. Keith Mularski spent two years posing as a cybercriminal as part of an undercover sting operation.

(Credit: U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation)

Mularski became hacker "Master Splynter," a play on the name of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle character called "Master Splinter," a rat who lives in New York City's sewers. He was so successful in his online disguise that he ended up running the server that hosted the Dark Market forum from his offices at the National Cyber Forensics Training Alliance in Pittsburgh.

Mularski, a supervisory special agent with the FBI's Cyber Initiative & Resource Fusion Unit, spoke about the Dark Market sting during a session at the RSA security conference last month. CNET News caught up with him this week on the telephone to find out what it was like hanging out with cybercriminals.

Q: You were central to the Dark Market sting. Tell me what happened and what role you played.
Mularski: We kicked off an undercover operation to try to penetrate these underground crime groups that are running these forums on the Internet. We developed the persona of a spammer/hacker and I assumed that role. Our intention was to try to penetrate the groups and dismantle them like we would with organized crime. In this case we were very successful in getting to the upper echelons of the Dark Market group and we were actually able to run the server and host all the communications that were going on there to make our cases against the criminals. Worldwide we had 60 arrests. It was a two-year operation and we had arrests in the U.K., Germany, Turkey, and here in the U.S.

What measures did you take to try to prove you were legitimate?
I acquired the reputation of one of the world's top 5 spammers. The Spamhaus Project, which tracks spammers, made a listing for me as being a top spammer and that gave me credibility so that I didn't necessarily have to do any criminal activity. I could talk the talk. If someone wanted me to mail (send spam) for them I would (get out of it by giving them the excuse) that they were too small of a fish. If they were a big fish I'd just say I didn't have any openings or time to work with them.

What sorts of crimes were they doing on Dark Market?
They were doing all sorts of identity theft. They were hacking into companies and stealing credit card numbers and selling them. They were selling counterfeit drivers' licenses and other photo documentation, as well as manufacturing fake credit cards. They were selling harvested bank accounts and brokerage accounts and selling different types of malware or spyware programs or Trojan horses that you could infect peoples' computers with. The whole gamut of the cyber underground was available there. If you needed it you could get it there on the site.

How did being undercover interfere with your life? What extremes did you have to go to to keep up the facade?
I would have to be online all the time, basically, in case someone needed to get ahold of me. If I was at home I would always have a computer on, even while watching TV. If I went on vacation I took the computer with me to make sure I was able to log in. I would tell the (Dark Market) guys I was traveling to go surfing or something like that and I would tell them I'll be online at these times if you need to get me. I had a cell phone connected to a Gmail account and I would tell them if they had to get ahold of me to send an e-mail and it would ping me. It was like that for two solid years almost every day. My wife wasn't too happy about it (chuckling).

No doubt! Was there ever a moment when you thought the jig was up and that they were on to you?
There were a couple of those. We had a problem with our backstopping right at the beginning of the operation when I took over the server. One of our rivals had hacked into the Dark Market server and was looking at who was logging in. He traced the IP address doing a "who is" (lookup) and the phone number connected to our covert IP address, which was supposed to be unlisted but instead it showed the address here at the National Cyber Forensics Training Alliance. By doing some research they determined that the IP address came from this building and they thought it came from me. I had to go on the offensive and say that it wasn't me and that it was already in the server. Eventually they believed me. There were a lot of wars between rival groups at the time. A lot of people were accusing each other of being "feds" and "cops" and I was able to use that to my advantage to create a smoke screen and create doubt.

How were you able to become administrator of the Dark Market server?
I had good relations with the administrator whose alias was "Jilsi." He wasn't a very technical guy and was having problems running the site because it was getting attacked by a rival group. So I told him about my background as a spammer and told him how good I was at setting up sites. I did some demonstrations and set up some test sites to show him I had the skills. Then there was just a lot of talk and rapport building. One night when Dark Market was getting attacked by a rival group I said I was ready and that I could secure the server for him and he said "let's move." That gave me full access to everyone using it and what they were doing.

Any anecdotes to tell about your dealings with these people?
It was like a soap opera. There was constant drama going on. A lot of people were accusing one another of being cops. It was funny being part of the discussion as people were talking about whether so and so was a cop or a fed and I was sitting there knowing full well that the person wasn't. There were a lot of egos, and a lot of funny stories where guys would brag about their close brushes with the law and how close they got to being arrested. You get 20-year-old guys, 30-year-old guys who are single and making a lot of money, so you hear a lot of stories of partying and things like that.

Did you get a sense of what these carders are like as people; what their characters are like?
There are a lot of guys who I think their curiosity just got the best of them and it led them down a dark path. One of the guys, Max Butler, who ran our rival site called Carders Market and used the hacker name Ice Man, was arrested in San Francisco. He was very intelligent. He could have been an excellent security expert. He could have given talks at RSA about vulnerabilities. A lot of these guys are just misguided. They get into a hotel and see that they have credit cards and one thing leads to another. I think that's how it all starts off and then they find they can make a lot of money and it becomes a business, a job. If you met them in person they were actually nice guys. I enjoyed a lot of my chat sessions when we were talking about other things, like traveling the world and things like that.

How old are they?
The average guy is in his mid-20s or so. We've seen guys in their 40s. Ages range from 17 to 40something, typically. A lot of the guys who we arrested were in their mid-30s.

How tied to organized crime are they?
One of the guys, "ChaO," kidnapped someone. He viewed himself as a traditional organized crime member. He was connected with organized crime groups in Turkey and they resorted to violence when they kidnapped someone who was talking too much about the operations. We're seeing more of that, especially in Romania. Also in Russia.

Did you hear from any of your former carder cohorts after the arrests?
I heard from sources that they couldn't believe I was an FBI agent. One of the guys whose house we raided wasn't at home and he sent me an expletive-filled message saying 'you're never going to catch me.' I told him he should give himself up rather than spend his life on the run and a week later he turned himself in.

This work sounds kind of dangerous. Did you ever feel you were in danger or are you worried now?
When you are an FBI agent there's always that threat of danger working crimes undercover. We never intended for my name to come out in this operation. But FBI agents' names are in affidavits. There was always that risk that my name could be exposed. It's always in the back of your mind but you try not to think about it.

What impact did the sting have?
It showed that we can get you no matter where you live. We were able to make internal relationships and work cases jointly with law enforcement in other countries. In the future there will be other joint cases in Europe and around the world. You don't necessarily have to be in the U.S. for us to bring you to justice. That is one of the most significant impacts it had. Another one is that it showed these guys that, yes, we do have a presence out there (on the Internet) and the U.S. is serious about targeting cybercrime. We are going to throw our resources at this problem.

How have things changed since you started the Dark Market operation in 2006?
With every operation the bad guys learn more of the undercover techniques that law enforcement is using. Everything that was successful for us in this operation would have to be tweaked because of that. The level of sophistication is so much higher. The days of a cyber investigation where you just track an IP address and that leads you to a hacker's house, those days are long gone. There are many different anonymization services the bad guys are using. The exploits and botnets they are using are so much more sophisticated than they were a couple of years ago. Just two years ago the majority of the botnets were IRC botnets, which are fairly simple. Now we're seeing botnets like the Storm worm that are very sophisticated and running peer-to-peer networks and that makes it harder for us to track down the command and control servers.

Have you been involved in any of the efforts to track down the people behind the Conficker worm?
I can't comment on that.

Anything else to add?
The message I'm trying to preach is that we have international cooperation and that other countries are starting to recognize this problem. Also, the attackers have changed with the emergence of organized crime into these cybercrimes. It's not just an 18-year-old pimply faced kid in his room committing these crimes. These are organized crime groups doing it. It's all about the money now and not just about how elite my hacking skills are to get into this Web site. Profit is driving these groups.

Windows 7 security fail

2009-05-07T18:23:00.000+07:00

The good folks at F-Secure uncover the first Windows 7 security fail … and it’s a classic.

The issue in question is nothing new. In fact, it’s been around for so long that I didn’t even bother checking to see if it had been fixed.

You see, in Windows NT, 2000, XP and Vista, Explorer used to Hide extensions for known file types. And virus writers used this “feature” to make people mistake executables for stuff such as document files.
The trick was to rename VIRUS.EXE to VIRUS.TXT.EXE orVIRUS.JPG.EXE, and Windows would hide the .EXE part of the filename.
Additionally, virus writers would change the icon inside the executable to look like the icon of a text file or an image, and everybody would be fooled.
Surely this won’t work in Windows 7.
Lets try.
Hmm. It sure looks like a text file in Explorer:

OK, the sort of person who reads ZDNet would immediately spot what’s going on here, but for everyone else out there in “computerland” this sort of trickery could well go unnoticed.

Personally, the whole idea of being able to hide file extensions just doesn’t make sense to me, and it’s still one of the first “features” that I turn off when I install Windows. Combined with the ability to change the icon on certain potentially dangerous file types such as .EXE files, it’s a very easy way to get people clicking on the wrong sorts of files.

What could Microsoft do? Maybe disable the ability to hide file extensions and add some sort of overlay image onto executables that aren’t digitally signed.

[UPDATE: Just to be clear here, I'm not labeling this as a high risk, but rather as a piece of legacy from a bygone era where the risk that someone is fooled outweighs the benefits of trimming four characters off the end of a filename.

Mind Controller Wheel Chair

2009-05-07T16:23:00.001+07:00

A research team of the University of Zaragoza has developed a prototype of a brain-actuated wheelchair. During May 2008, five subjects, only using their thoughts, successfully carried navigation and manoeuvrability tasks with the wheelchair in the University. The non-invasive method to record the human neural activity was the EEG and the wheelchair was robotized and equipped with a laser sensor.

This web describes a new non-invasive brainactuated wheelchair that relies on a P300 neurophysiological protocol and automated navigation. When in operation, the user faces a screen displaying a real-time virtual reconstruction of the scenario and concentrates on the location of the space to reach. A visual stimulation process elicits the neurological phenomenon and the electroencephalogram (EEG) signal processing detects the target location. This location is transferred to the autonomous navigation system that drives the wheelchair to the desired location while avoiding collisions with obstacles in the environment detected by the laser scanner. This concept gives the user the flexibility to use the device in unknown and evolving scenarios. The prototype was validated with five healthy participants in three consecutive steps: screening (an analysis of three different groups of visual interface designs), virtual-environment driving, and driving sessions with the wheelchair. On the basis of the results, this paper reports the following evaluation studies: (i) a technical evaluation of the device and all functionalities; (ii) a users’ behavior study; and (iii) a variability study. The overall result was that all the participants were able to successfully operate the device with relative ease, showing a great adaptation as well as a high robustness and low variability of the system.

iTunes

2009-05-06T17:40:00.002+07:00

iTunes is a free application for Mac and PC. It plays all your digital music and video. It syncs content to your iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV. And it’s a store where you can find more to entertain you, any time of the day.

Entertainment made easy.

Forget rifling through stacks of CDs or flipping through channels. iTunes puts your entire music and video collection a mere click away, giving you an all-access pass to thousands of hours of digital entertainment. Browse. Organize. Play. All from your Mac or PC.

Browse.

View your library by artist, album, episode, year, rating — any way you want. Find what you’re looking for with a quick search that reveals results as you type.

Organize.

Turn CDs into digital music by importing them to iTunes. Organize your entire collection with custom playlists.

Play

Shuffle songs to mix up your groove. Listen to music from other computers on your network. Play video using onscreen controls.

Take a look at new features that will make iTunes 8 your favorite iTunes yet

iTunes music. Now 100% iTunes Plus.

Now, every song available on the iTunes Store is an iTunes Plus song. That means you get high-quality music with 256-Kbps AAC encoding, making every song you download virtually indistinguishable from the original recording. iTunes Plus songs are all free of burn limits and digital rights management (DRM). So the music you buy will play on iPod, Apple TV, all Mac and Windows computers, and many other digital music players. It’s also easy to upgrade songs you previously purchased from iTunes to iTunes Plus. You don’t have to buy the song or album again. Just pay the 30¢ per song upgrade price. (Music video upgrades are 60¢ and entire albums can be upgraded for 30 percent of the album price.)

Millions of songs for just 69¢, 99¢, or $1.29

Browse over 10 million songs on the iTunes Store and discover new favorites to add to your collection. Purchase songs for just 69¢, 99¢, or $1.29. And, as always, most albums are $9.99.

Genius Playlists

How Genius Works

Meet Genius: a brilliant way to create perfect playlists. Play a song, click the Genius button, and iTunes creates a playlist of other songs from your library that go great together. Genius playlists help you discover songs in your library you never knew you had — and rediscover forgotten favorites.

Genius Sidebar

Let Genius introduce you to new music, movies, and TV shows you’ll love. Select a song, movie, or show in your library, and the Genius sidebar displays recommendations from the iTunes Store that go great with it. The Genius sidebar won’t recommend anything already in your library, and you can preview and buy recommended items directly from the sidebar

HD TV Shows

Purchase select episodes of your favorite TV shows in high definition for just $2.99. Or get the whole season in HD with a Season Pass. And when you buy HD, iTunes doubles your viewing pleasure: You also get an iPod-ready version with a file size and resolution that's ideal for smaller screens.

HD Movies

Rent or buy the movies you love in high definition directly from your Mac, PC, or Apple TV. See every brilliant detail as your movie plays in stunning 720p resolution. And when you buy an HD movie, you also get a standard-definition version that’s perfect for viewing on your iPhone or iPod.

New Visualizer

Turn on the new Visualizer and lose yourself in a 3D-scape of spheres, ribbons, and lights that pulsate to the beat and tempo of the song you’re playing.

Enhanced Accessibility

iTunes 8 is now screen reader friendly on both Mac and PC. Manage your iTunes library using VoiceOver in Mac OS X Leopard or Window-Eyes for Windows XP and Windows Vista. Or use your screen reader to purchase or download content from the iTunes Store — including iTunes U.

Songs to play. Shows to watch. Movies to rent and to own. Whatever keeps you entertained, iTunes keeps it handy.

Music
iTunes puts your entire digital music collection all in one place and just one click away.Learn more
Movies
Browse thousands of movies to buy or rent and watch them in minutes. Learn more
TV Shows
Shop the iTunes Store for your favorite TV shows, available in standard and high definition.Learn more
Applications
Browse thousands of games and applications for iPhone and iPod touch. Learn more
Podcasts
Choose from over 100,000 free audio and video shows, some in HD. Learn more
Audiobooks
Buy audiobooks on the iTunes Store and catch up on your reading — just by listening.Learn more
iPod Games
Get games for your Click Wheel-based iPod for on-the-go fun. Learn more
iTunes U
Sit in on classes from the world’s top colleges and universities — free.Learn more
iTunes Gifts
Give music and more with Gift Cards, gift certificates, and allowances. Learn more

True LaunchBar

2009-05-06T17:25:00.000+07:00

True Launch Bar is a Superior replacement for the standard Quick Launch bar. All functions presented in Quick Launch are also in True Launch Bar. However, the True Launch Bar is fully compatible with Quick Launch because it uses the same folder for shortcuts. But there is one huge difference. True Launch Bar allows you to combine your shortcuts into groups. This feature looks like popup menus. This vastly improves the management of your shortcuts and save working space on your desktop. By using True Launch Bar, you speed up the launching of your applications like never before.

rue Launch Bar has many flexible settings. You may configure just the way you like it. The "Auto popup menus on mouse hover" option (with adjustable time) allows you to run shortcuts with one click. Large icons make your work more comfortable on large screen resolutions.

True Launch Bar fully supports Windows Drag&Drop technology. You can easily create new popup menus. Simply right-click on True Launch Bar and select "Create menu". After creating the new menu you can easily drag your shortcuts to this new submenu.

You can use hot keys to launch applications from True Launch Bar. You can add separators into True Launch Bar also. Separators help you to group shortcuts inside menus or the toolbar.

Control Panel, Printers, Network... and any other folder. Now you can place them onto the True Launch Bar. Simply right-click True Launch Bar, select New and create a Virtual Folder. You can to control items in the Virtual Folders by using the context menu. This like in the explorer window. Try right-click on the printer and select Properties. Add your Favorites folder to True Launch Bar and if you add or delete some link, this changes take effect in True launch Bar too.

True Launch Bar support plugins. You can easy add buttons like Mail Monitor, Weather Forecast, Media Control and other. Visit our Plugins Library to find more plugins.

You can change the look of your True Launch Bar using skins. Visit our Skins Library to download new skins. And certainly True Launch Bar completely supports Windows XP Visual Styles.

True Launch Bar allows you completely forget about Start Button. We recommend you remove it from your task bar and free space for more useful things. Try our utility Start Killer. Start Killer is a free tool that removes Start Button from task bar.

True Launch Bar key features

Compatibility with standard Quick Launch

True Launch Bar is fully compatible with the standard Windows (TM) Quick Launch toolbar. It uses the same folder for shortcuts. If some program installs an icon into Quick Launch, then the program also installs the icon for True Launch Bar as well. True Launch Bar can be docked into the taskbar like just like Quick Launch.

Grouping links into popup menus

The huge advantage of True Launch Bar is popup menus. You can create menus on in the True Launch bar panel and place your shortcuts there. This will save space on your taskbar and give you another dimension in using the taskbar. True Launch Bar is Quick Launch on steroids!!!

Full support of Windows XP Visual Styles

True Launch Bar completely supports Windows XP Visual Styles. You turn on the Flat Menus option and TLB will begin to look like All Programs menu from the Start Button.

Virtual Folders

You can also create virtual folders on the True Launch Bar. When you create a virtual folder, you select the folder's content you want to see in the toolbar menu. It can be any folder on your disk or on a local network (Favorites, Programs, Recent, etc.); or you can add file system folders such as Printers, Control Panel, My Computer, Dialup Network or other similar folders. If you right-click on an item in the virtual folder, you can see a full context menu like in the Explorer window, and you can perform any action from this menu (Properties, Open, Delete...). In fact you can use True Launch Bar as small file manager. In addition you can add separators with titles into Virtual folders. This can greatly improve the grouping of items inside Virtual Folders.

Drag & Drop

True Launch Bar fully supports Windows Drag&Drop technology. You can simply drag your shortcuts onto the toolbar or menu. You can use the left and right mouse button to drag shortcuts to the True Launch Bar. Using the right button dragging you will see a context menu with common actions.

Skinable

True Launch Bar is skinable. This means that you can change the appearance of buttons, menu items... Visit our Skins Library to download new skins. If you want to make your own skins please read Skins specification.

Plugins

The main feature of True Launch Bar is its active content. Now you can use buttons not only for launching your applications but have button work like small applet. In most cases you will have a button to run your email client (like Outlook Express). If you add Mail Monitor onto the True Launch Bar this button can actually tell you when you have new mail and can run your email client. Visit our Plugins Library to find more plugins such as System Monitor, Media Control, Volume Control etc.

To see complete list of features visit TLB Features Page

Installation

True Launch Bar uses the same technology as standard Quick Launch. This means that True Launch Bar do not have executable file. To open True Launch Bar right-click on empty space of taskbar point to Toolbars and select True Launch Bar menu item. See the flash animation»

True Launch Bar also shows title "True Launch Bar" of toolbar. This is standard feature of desktop toolbars. If you do not like it right click on title and select Show Title menu item.

Initially True Launch Bar contains all button like Quick Launch. To add new buttons you can simply drag them to True Launch bar. To create menu right-click on True Launch bar point New and select Menu. In the right-click menu you can find other options for True Launch bar and access to the Settings dialog.

2009-05-06T17:24:00.001+07:00

Start Killer v3.0

Start Killer removes the Start button from your taskbar. When you run Start Killer it remove the Start button from taskbar and give you additional space on taskbar, when you close Start Killer the Start button is again shows.

Though the Start Button is removed, you can still open Start Menu using CTRL+ESC or WIN key. StartKiller place icon into system tray. Right-click on icon to close StartKiller or to open Settings dialog. You can remove icon from system tray. In this case use CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+F12 to open settings dialog box.

Start Killer is free, you can use this utility as you want.

I recommend to use StartKiller together with True Launch Bar to forget about Start Menu

system requirement:

Start Killer can be installed on Windows 9x/Me/2000/NT4/XP/XP64/Vista/Vista64. In case of Windows 95/NT4 you must have Internet Explorer 4.0 or greater installed with integrated shell (Active Desktop).

Flyakite OS X

2009-05-06T17:18:00.001+07:00

Flyakite OS X

Flyakite OS X is a transformation pack for Windows XP, which changes the complete look and feel of Windows XP into the style of Mac OS X. In addition to the appearance of the windows, it also changes the start menu and most XP icons, the boot screen, screensaver, and many critical system files.^[1] Since version 3.5 released on February 25, 2006, no new versions have appeared.

Features

The current version of this pack is version 3.5 and has a download size of 30MB.^[3] It changes hundreds of Windows system files in the installation. An uninstallation file is also available. For safety, a restore point in Windows is set, that restores all of the changed system files, in case the installation or the uninstallation fails. Completed transformation is about 200MB and should be fully reversible (however, usually some things remain).

RIOT

2009-05-05T21:09:00.001+07:00

RIOT key features:

open multiple graphic file formats by looking first at the magic number (it does not need file extension to recognize format)including support for uncommon images types (up to 128 BPP, integer and floating point. EX: hdr images, 16 bit grayscale, etc). Adaptive logarithmic tone mapping algorithm (Drago) used for HDR images
save and optimize JPEG, GIF and PNG with a simple, clean user interface
works in dual view: (original - optimized image) or single view (optimized image). Automatic preview of resulting image
in-place compare function (alternativelly display the original image over the optimized image to notice small pixel changes)
compress files to desired filesize threshold
fast processing (all is done in memory); see instant results including resulting filesize
decide if you want to keep metadata (comments, IPTC, Adobe XMP, EXIF profiles, ICC profiles). Unsupported metadata is removed
transfer metadata between image formats (destination format must support them)
common tools: pan and zoom, rotate, flip
resize image by using well known resample filters (ex: Lanczos3, Catmull Rom, Bicubic, and others)
the compression and the results are comparable to those of commercial products.

Input image types

common bitmap images as well as Adobe Photoshop PSD files.

Optimization details

JPEG settings

You can find the following JPEG settings:

quality (compression)
advanced chroma subsampling (none,low 4:2:2,medium 4:2:0,high 4:1:1)
save as 8bit grayscale
save progressive

Supported output bit depths: 24 bit color, 8 bit grayscale

GIF settings

The following GIF settings are currently implemented:

color reduction
- color quantization downto 256..2 colors (no dithering) using Xiaolin Wu or NeuQuant neural net
- grayscale 8bit palette
- floyd-steinberg dithered 1bit monochrome
save interlaced

Supported output bit depths: 4, 8 bit color, 8 bit grayscale, 1 bit monochrome

PNG settings

The following PNG settings are currently implemented:

true color support (24 bit RGB, 32 bit RGBA)
color reduction
- color quantization downto 256..2 colors (no dithering) using Xiaolin Wu or NeuQuant neural net
- grayscale 8bit palette
- floyd-steinberg dithered 1bit monochrome
save interlaced
maximum ZLIB compression flag

Automatic pnglib filtering optimizations apply.

Supported output bit depths: 4, 8, 24, 32 bit color, 8 bit grayscale,1 bit monochrome

Metadata settings

Choose to keep or remove the following metadata:

comments
Adobe XMP info
IPTC info
EXIF profile (including GPS and maker notes)
ICC color profiles

Unknown or unsupported metadata is automatically removed.

Mask settings

The program lets you choose several transparency options:

Keep transparency
(use threshold for conversion from alpha to indexed transparency)
Blend with solid background
(choose a color for blending the transparency into the background (alpha composition))
Set opaque
(remove transparency information by making all pixels opaque)

Known issues:

memory leaks when using the IrfanView plugin (especially visible in batch mode) - this will be fixed in the next release

Future plans:

batch processing multiple images
Adobe Photoshop Filter support (8BF) - add GML Matting plugin for object extraction.
twain scanner support
basic image processing (brightness, contrast, etc)
jpeg smoothening
PNG compression optimizations (I need time for this)
define transparent regions (with variable transparency)
crop function
overlay image watermark

You can suggest new features and create polls for implementing them in the official forum.

Available as stand-alone executable (portable app) or dynamic link library for developers. The plugin is already included into the best image viewer worldwide (in my oppinion) - IrfanView. This software uses a modified version of FreeImage open source image library. See http://freeimage.sourceforge.net for details. FreeImage is used under the FIPL license version 1.0.

Intel 32 Nanometre

2009-05-04T21:13:00.001+07:00

Intel Corporation President and CEO Paul Otellini today outlined new products, chip designs and manufacturing technologies that will enable the company to continue its quickened pace of product and technology leadership.

Speaking to industry leaders, developers and industry watchers at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), Otellini showed the industry's first working chips built using 32 nanometer (nm) technology, with transistors so small that more than 4 million of them could fit on the period at the end of this sentence. Intel's 32nm process technology is on track to begin production in 2009.

Otellini also described the near-term advantages computer users will experience with Intel's upcoming 45nm family of Penryn processors, which are based on its revolutionary high-k metal gate transistor technology. The industry's first 45nm processors will be available from Intel in November. The company also demonstrated for the first time the next-generation chip architecture codenamed Nehalem, due out next year.

"Our tick-tock strategy of alternating next generation silicon technology and a new microprocessor architecture -- year after year -- is accelerating the pace of innovation in the industry," said Otellini. "Tick-tock is the engine creating today's most advanced technologies and keeps them coming out at a rapid cadence. Our customers and computer users around the world can count on Intel's innovation engine and manufacturing capability to deliver state-of-the-art performance that rapidly becomes mainstream."

When Intel introduces Penryn in November, it will be the world's first high-volume 45nm processor. Penryn, along with the Silverthorne family of 45nm processors (available next year) will have the small feature size, low-power requirements and high-performance capabilities to meet a wide variety of computing needs from handheld Internet computers to high-end servers. Intel will quickly ramp the technology with plans to introduce 15 new 45nm processors by the end of the year and another 20 in the first quarter of 2008, extending Intel's leadership in product performance and energy efficiency. Intel has already achieved more than 750 design wins for the Penryn processor.

"We expect our Penryn processors to provide up to a 20 percent performance increase while improving energy efficiency," said Otellini. "Intel's breakthrough 45nm silicon process technology allows us to provide low-cost, extremely low-power processors for innovative small form factor devices while delivering high-performance, multi-core, multi-featured processors used in the most advanced systems."

Otellini also announced that Intel's 45nm processors and 65nm chipsets would use halogen-free packaging technology beginning in 2008. The result will be that Intel's 45nm processors will not only be more energy efficient but also better for the environment.

Looking to 2008, Otellini made the first public demonstration of Intel's Nehalem processor and said the company is on track to deliver the new processor design in the second half of the year. The Nehalem architecture will extend Intel's leadership in performance and performance-per-watt benchmarks, and will be the first Intel processor to use the QuickPath Interconnect system architecture. Quickpath will include integrated memory controller technology and improved communication links between system components to significantly improve overall system performance.

"Nehalem is an entirely new architecture that leverages Intel's Core Microarchitecture, bringing leading-edge performance advantages, power efficiency and important new server features to market just a year after Intel leads the industry to 45nm technology," said Otellini.

Describing other advanced Intel technologies destined to quickly come to market, Otellini showed the world's first 300mm wafer built using next-generation 32nm process technology. The development of advanced test chips serves as a critical milestone in the company's march toward high-volume manufacturing of 32nm process technology. With plans to introduce processors built on 32nm technology in 2009, Intel will maintain its industry lead delivering the most advanced manufacturing technologies.

Intel's 32nm test chips incorporate logic and memory (static random access memory --SRAM) to house more than 1.9 billion transistors. The 32nm process uses the company's second-generation high-k and metal gate transistor technology.

This additional performance made possible by Intel's push to drive chip design and manufacturing technology forward will not only be seen in computing, but will enable more true-to-life entertainment and realistic graphics capabilities. As a result, the company said it will be placing increased emphasis on using the power of its processors to enhance key technologies such as visual computing and graphics.

"Satisfying demand for ever-greater computer performance increases means we need to move rapidly to the next manufacturing technology." said Otellini. "Intel engineers and researchers deserve a great deal of credit for setting the pace for the industry. As our advanced technology reaches consumers and businesses in the next couple of years the amount of computing power they'll be able to harness will help them become even more productive, creative and innovative."

Otellini also announced that a version of a Penryn dual-core processor operating at 25 watts will be available on the upcoming Montevina platform, which will include Intel's mobile WiMAX silicon. Several equipment manufacturers are already planning to introduce Montevina-based notebook PCs starting next year when the platform is introduced. Overall, WiMAX is expected to reach more than 1 billion people worldwide by 2012.

The reach of WiMAX along with Intel's efforts to bring computing technology to developing nations through the World Ahead program and innovative products such as the Silverthorne processor will help bring computing to the next billion people worldwide according to Intel.

Wi-Fi Tools

2009-05-04T21:09:00.000+07:00

Xirrus has developed a set of free tools that are useful for monitoring and troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks. In addition, we have assembled a collection of cool Wi-Fi tools freely available on the Internet that we found to be of great value in planning, deploying, and managing Wi-Fi networks

Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector

The Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector is a powerful tool for managing and troubleshooting the Wi-Fi on a Windows XP or Vista laptop. Built in tests enable you to characterize the integrity and performance of your Wi-Fi connection. Applications include:

Searching for Wi-Fi networks
Managing and troubleshooting Wi-Fi connections
Verifying Wi-Fi coverage
Locating Wi-Fi devices
Detecting rogue APs

Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector for Windows Vista or XP SP2 or later
Download Wi-Fi Inspector v1.0.1
Download Wi-Fi Inspector User's Guide v1.0.1

Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor Gadgets/Widgets

The Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor allows you to monitor your Wi-Fi environment and connection in real time from your desktop in an easy-to-use mini-application. Nine different color skins allow you customize the Wi-Fi Monitor to your desktop. Applications include:

Searching for Wi-Fi networks
Verifying Wi-Fi coverage
Displaying laptop Wi-Fi settings
Detecting rogue APs
Education on Wi-Fi

Gadget for Windows Vista
Download Vista Gadget v1.11
Download Vista Gadget Guide v1.1

Yahoo! Widget for Windows XP (requires Yahoo! widget framework - download here)
Download XP Widget v1.1
Download XP Widget Guide v1.1

Yahoo! Widget for Apple Mac OS X (requires Mac OS 10.5 or greater and Yahoo! widget framework - download here)
Download OS X Widget v1.01
Download OS X Widget Guide v1.01

Desklet for Linux ((requires gDesklets framework - download here)
Download Desklet v1.0
Download Desklet for Linux Guide v1.0

BgInfo v4.0

BGInfo automatically displays relevant information about a Windows computer on the desktop's background, such as the computer name, IP address, service pack version, and more. You can edit any field as well as the font and background colors, and can place it in your startup folder so that it runs every boot, or even configure it to display as the background for the logon screen.

For more information on BgInfo v4.0, click here.

Iperf

Iperf is an easy to use and very popular tool that every IT professional should have that measures maximum throughput. Iperf provides you the data to tune TCP and UDP characteristics. Iperf reports throughput, delay jitter, and datagram loss in easy to understand tables and graphs. You can run Iperf from and command line or a GUI interface.

Iperf is copyrighted by the University of Illinois, except for the gnu_getopt.c, gnu_getopt_long.c, gnu_getopt.h files, and inet_aton.c, which are under the GNU General Public License.

Iperf 2.0.2 installer for Windows - Provided by Ted Fines (fines@macalester.edu) at Macalester College, St. Paul, MN.

To download iPerf, click here: kperf_setup.exe

OmniPeek

Use OmniPeek Personal to analyze traffic from a local network segment allowing you to not only view “top talkers”, but also drill down to see which nodes are communicating, which protocols and sub-protocols are being transmitted, and which traffic characteristics are affecting network performance.

For more information on OmniPeek, click here.

PingTest Tool

Ping Test Tool is a handy, powerful, visual ping utility and IP Scanner for IT professionals to check network connections. Ping Test Tool is a graphical ping utility that lets you watch the states of the network and test the connection speeds of various locations. It can save IP addresses and host names and its intuitive interface shows the route, hosts, packet loss percentage, min/max/average response times, etc.

To download PingTest, click here:

http://www.tucows.com/get/501817_201691

Qcheck

Qcheck is a must have and handy tool for any IT professional. It does much more than the traditional “ping” command. As a comparison, here is a summary of the benefits of using Qcheck:

Qcheck vs. Ping	Qcheck	Ping
Tests the response time of traffic on IP networks.
Emulates real application flows across the network to test connectivity and performance.
Tests network throughput.
Tests whether a network can support multimedia traffic.
Tests a network link using the application flows generated by streaming multimedia applications.
Determines at what rate streaming traffic is received and how much packet loss occurs.
Tests the connectivity between your own computer and another computer.
Supports a variety of protocols and can test network performance using TCP, UDP, IPX, and SPX networks.
Shows a workstation's physical memory, operating system levels and CPU utilization.
Runs traceroute between any two workstations on your network, regardless of their locations.

To get Qcheck and use it:

Install Qcheck on the computer you'll use to run the Qcheck console. Qcheck runs on any computer running Windows 2000, NT or XP.

Install an Ixia Performance Endpoint (or Qcheck itself, which has the endpoint built in) on any other computers. (You can downloadPerformance Endpoint software free from Ixia!)

Based on the parameters you select, the Qcheck console will instruct any two endpoints to run a test and return the results to you at the Qcheck console.

For a response time test, Qcheck returns the minimum, maximum and average number of seconds it took to complete a transaction.
For a throughput test, Qcheck returns the amount of data per second that was successfully sent between the two endpoints.
For a streaming test, Qcheck returns the rate at which the streaming data was received by the second endpoint and the amount of packet loss that occurred.
For a traceroute test, Qcheck returns the number of hops, average hop latency, and the address and names of the host at each hop.

TCPView

TCPView is a Windows program that will show you detailed listings of all TCP and UDP endpoints on your system, including the local and remote addresses and state of TCP connections. On Windows NT, 2000 and XP TCPView also reports the name of the process that owns the endpoint. TCPView provides a more informative and conveniently presented subset of the Netstat program that ships with Windows. The TCPView download includes Tcpvcon, a command-line version with the same functionality.

TCPView works on Windows NT/2000/XP and Windows 98/Me. You can use TCPView on Windows 95 if you get the Windows 95 Winsock 2 Update from Microsoft.

For more information on TCPView,

WireShark

WireShark® is a network protocol analyzer, and is the de facto standard across many industries and educational institutions. It is the continuation of a Ethereal that started in 1998.

Veriwave WLAN Capacity Calculator

The VeriWave WLAN Capacity calculator determines expected performance of your 802.11 and 802.11n network. Plug in parameters such as number of users, channel bandwidth, and rates to see how your wireless system stacks up.

Fujitsu Siemens Zero Watt Monitor Concept

2009-05-04T20:29:00.001+07:00

Cool Removeabel Drive Background

2009-05-03T20:53:00.004+07:00

If you are boring your old handy drive background. You can make you handy drive backgroud more beautiful.

First, you copy this code in to note pad and save it in your Handy Drive.

[ExtShellFolderViews]

{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}={BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}

[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]

Attributes=2

IconArea_Image=wallpaper.jpg

[.ShellClassInfo]

ConfirmFileOp=4

Then, you find a beautiful picture that you want yo be background.

At last, you open that file and change "wallpaper.jpg" to that picture name.

This will not happen until you open the Handy Drive again.

And this can use with LogicalDrive or PrimaryDrive in some PC too.[C:\,D:\,E:\,etc.]

Windows Live Essentials

2009-05-03T20:30:00.002+07:00

Windows Live Essentials (previously Windows Live Installer) is a service by Microsoft which aims to offer integrated and bundled,e-mail instant messaging photo-sharing, Blog publishing, security services and other Windows live entities into a “seamless whole”. Windows Live Essentials will be integrated with Windows 7 (but not "bundled" with Windows 7) and available to be downloaded from Windows Live Download

Windows Live Essentials allows users to select and install the following Windows Live software applications:

Windows Live Family Safety
Windows Live Mail
Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Movie Maker (Beta version, Windows Vista and Windows 7 only)
Windows Live Photo Gallery
Windows Live Sync (integrated with Toolbar and Photo Gallery)
Windows Live Toolbar
Windows Live Writer
Microsoft Office Outlook Connector
Microsoft Office Live Add-in
Microsoft Silverlight

Windows Live Essentials and its applications (except for Windows Live Family Safety) support 64-bit versions of Windows Vista.

Windows Live Essentials

Windows Live Essentials
Developed by	Microsoft
Latest release	2009 (Build 14.0.8064.0206) /2009-02-12; 80 days ago
Website	http://download.live.com

Windows Live Downloads allows users to download Windows Live Essentials

History

On August 25, 2006, Microsoft began seeking testers for their invitation-only Windows Live service named Windows Live Essentials. It was very similar to Google's Google Pack. The service was integrated with Windows Live Dashboard, an application which offers a view of the services the user already has and what new Windows Live software and services are available. Windows Live Dashboard required users to sign-in with their Windows Live ID to check whether the service has been downloaded or not. At that time, web-based services such as Windows Live Hotmail (then Windows Live Mail) was also part of the list.

Shortly after its initial beta release, Windows Live Essentials became unavailable and the website was redirected to Windows Live Betas(then Windows Live Ideas). Subsequent reappearance of a version of Windows Live Dashboard is seen with the initial "Windows Live 2.0" Suite installers from Windows Live Messenger 8.5, Mail and Writer that was released on May 30, 2007. Windows Live Installer have been significantly updated with the subsequent "Windows Live Wave 3" release of applications, with the new inclusion of Windows Live Movie Maker and Microsoft Office Outlook Connector to its suite of products. On October 29, 2008, it was announced at the Professional Developers Conference 2008 that Windows Live Installer will be renamed back to Windows Live Essentials and will be integrated into Windows 7 to allow users to download the included Windows Live applications. However, the Windows Live Essentials applications will not be "bundled" with the Windows 7 operating system. This should allow more frequent updates to the Windows Live Essentials applications outside of major operating system releases. ^[4]

On December 15, 2008, the "beta refresh" versions of Windows Live Essentials applications were released.^[5] This release included many changes since the previous beta release based on user feedback. A significant visual change in this release was the introduction of new application icons which added a common design theme to all the Live Essentials applications. The words "beta" were removed from most of the build numbers. On January 7, 2009, the "beta refresh" versions were released as the final versions.^[6]

Screenshots of the original Windows Live Essentials website and Windows Live Dashboard application available back in 2006, together with the Windows Live Installer website and application released back in 2007 are shown below:

Screenshot of Windows Live Essentials website

Screenshot of Windows Live Dashboard

Screenshot of the Windows Live Installer website

Screenshot of Windows Live Installer application

[edit]See also

[edit]References

[edit]External links

Windows Live Downloads

[hide]

Windows Live

Web services

Account · Admin Center · Alerts · Calendar · Events · FrameIt · Gallery · Groups · Home · Hotmail · ID · Messenger IM Control · OneCare Safety Scanner · People · Personalized Experience ·Photos · Profile · Silverlight Streaming · SkyDrive · Spaces · Video Messages

Software applications

Essentials · Family Safety · Mail · Messenger (Agents · Call) · Movie Maker · OneCare · Photo Gallery · Sync · Toolbar · Writer

Live Search

Club · Farecast · Health · News · Maps · Products (Product Upload) · Translator · Video · Webmaster Center · xRank

Developer services

Live Services · Data · Tools

Mobile services

Hotmail Mobile · Messenger Mobile · Search Mobile · Spaces Mobile

Microsoft Live Labs

Clipboard · FeedSync · Listas · Photosynth · Volta · Seadragon (DeepZoom)

Discontinued services

Windows Live	Barcode · Betas · Expo · Favorites · Help Community · Search Center · Shopping · TV · WiFi Center & Hotspot Locator

Live Search	Academic · Books (Publisher Program)

Microsoft Live Labs	Deepfish

BumpTop

2009-05-03T20:04:00.002+07:00

Intuitive Organization

Organize Different

Piles are how we organize on our real desks but computers force us into rigid, hierarchical folders. Piles are lightweight, flexible and its easy to see what's inside. Let order evolve naturally or quickly get a mess organized with a pile, you’ve got options.

Piles are Agile

BumpTop piles work like in the real world. Toss items at a pile to add them or pop them into a grid, flip through them with your scrollwheel or fan out a pile to quickly see what’s inside. Converting between folders and piles is seamless too.

Pin Up Reminders

Jot down a Sticky Note or pin up commonly used shortcuts and important documents on your BumpTop walls. Make them real big to remind you to finish that task, without getting in the way of your desktop.

“In real life, I make piles of paper documents & notes that are related to a particular client or project — then I stack or organize those piles on my work desk. With BumpTop, I can now extend the exact same methodology on my desktop… and it feels completely natural.”— Merrell Lastick, President/Founder Lasticko Technologies, LLC

Minimum Requirements

A 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7, with latest service packs
A Pentium 4/Celeron 1.8GHz or Athlon XP/Sempron 2200+ or desktop/mobile equivalent
Minimum 1GB system memory
15 MB available hard disk space.
Intel 915 integrated graphics or Nvidia GeForce 6200 or ATI X300 or better with updated drivers
OpenGL 2.0 driver support required (may require additional drivers available at bumptop.com/drivers)
Internet connection required for activation

Revision History

Current: 1.02 build 2859, April 17th 2009

Fixed glitch that caused Pro users to receive warning about trial expiration.
Fixed issue with certain XP configurations causing TexHelper to crash.
Improved quality of desktop background image.
Potential fix for recycle bin crashing

Buffalo’s Latest Micro Speakers

2009-05-03T19:45:00.002+07:00

Maybe not the sexiest micro speakers on Earth, Buffalo and Kokuyo are proud to present the iPod Dice Speaker Series…

Now move along!

Google Chrome: a new web browser for Windows

2009-05-02T21:13:00.002+07:00

Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.

Search from the address bar
Type in the address bar and get suggestions for both search and web pages.

Thumbnails of your top sites
Access your favorite pages instantly with lightning speed from any new tab.

Private browsing
Open an incognito window when you don't want to save your browsing history.
very time you open a new tab, you'll see a visual sampling of your most visited sites, most used search engines, and recently bookmarked pages and closed tabs.
Use web apps without opening your browser. Application shortcuts can directly load your favorite online apps.
You can drag tabs out of the browser to create new windows, gather multiple tabs into one window or arrange your tabs however you wish -- quickly and easily
Every tab you're using is run independently in the browser, so if one app crashes it won't take anything else down.
Don't want pages you visit to show up in your web history? Choose incognito mode for private browsing.

Google Chrome warns you if you're about to visit a suspected phishing, malware or otherwise unsafe website.
Want to bookmark a web page? Just click the star icon at the left edge of the address bar and you're done
When you switch to Google Chrome, you can pick up where you left off with all the bookmarks and passwords from your existing browser

No intrusive download manager; you see your download's status at the bottom of your current window

A-Patch

2009-05-02T20:52:00.001+07:00

Features

Total: 84

Updated: 17/5/2008

The current features for the latest build (8.5.1302.1018) are as follows:

:: Contact List (38)

Remove Windows Live Logo
Remove "Messenger" Title

Remove the top of the Contact List
-- Remove Display Picture Container
-- Remove My Display Name & Status Button
-- Remove Personal Message Bar

Remove the Main Toolbar
-- Remove E-mail Button
-- Remove Sharing Folders Button
-- Remove My Space Button
-- Remove Windows Live Today Button
-- Remove Make a Call Button
-- Remove Mobile Button
-- Remove Color Button
-- Remove The File Menu Dropdown Button

Remove Contact Manager Bar
-- Move Contact Manager Bar to the Bottom
-- Remove "Add a Contact" Button from the Contact Manager Bar
-- Remove "Manage your Contacts" Button from the Contact Manager Bar
-- Remove Contact Search Field from the Contact Manager Bar

Remove Contacts' Personal Message
Remove Gleam Notification
Remove Emoticons from Contact Nicknames
Remove Yellow Information Bar
Remove Advertisement
Remove Search Bar
Center Buttons on the Main Toolbar
Disable Song Links
Disable "Edit a Group" Dialog
Remove Help Dropdown Button
Remove Display Picture in Sign-In Window
Remove Bottom Links in Sign-in Window
Remove Windows Live ID Branding
Disable MSN Spaces Contact Card Integration
Change Display Picture Link
Remove Toast Windows Live Logo
Remove Toast Messenger Title
Remove Toast Display Picture

:: Instant Message (36)

Remove Windows Live Logo
Remove Contacts' Personal Message and E-Mail (To: Bar) Remove Invite Button
Remove Send Files Button
Remove Web Cam Button
Remove Call Button
Remove Activities Button
Remove Games Button
Remove Block Button
Remove Color Button
Remove The File Menu Dropdown Button
Remove Status Information Bar
Remove Emoticons Button
Remove Winks Button
Remove Nudge Button
Remove Voice Clip Button
Remove Font Button
Remove Backgrounds Button
Remove Formatting Toolbar Separator
Remove Send Button
Remove Search Button
Remove Advertisement
Change Ink Tabs to Text
Remove Web Cam Icon from Avatar/DP Containers
Remove "says" Text (english only!)
Remove "Get Accessories" Link
Remove My Display Picture Container
Remove Convert Tab
Remove What's Hot Section
Remove Nudge Delay
Disable Nudge Shake
Remove User Is Writing Message
Center Buttons on the Standard Toolbar
Center Buttons on the Formatting Toolbar
Remove "Share Files" drop-down menu (back to MSN 7 1-click functionality)
Accept more than 3 files (transfers) at a time

:: Miscellaneous (10)

Polygamy (Multi-MSN)
Show Idle Status (english only!)
Shorten Status Info in Info Bar
Install WinAMP Plug-in for Now Playing feature
Remove Advertisement in Sharing Folders Window
Remove Billing Info Menus
Hide the "My Sharing Folders" Entry from My Computer
Enable Sending of "unsafe" Files (.exe, etc)
Enable Accepting of "unsafe" Files (.exe, etc)
Enable Opening of "unsafe" files (.mp3, etc)