Just months after Apple Computer was found guilty of breaking Norwegian law with its iTunes downloading service, a native of the nippy European country has just returned the favor.
John Lech Johansen, a 22-year-old hacker known to those of his ilk as "DVD Jon," claims to have cracked the code that Apple uses to tie iTunes files exclusively to iPod players.
He has typically posted license-circumventing codes on the Internet free of charge, having most infamously release a software system that scrambled DVD licensing codes when he was 15. Seven years later, it seems the young techie has caught the capitalist
source - forbes - for more info click here
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Is 'Bully' fun to play? Like, for real
Though not perfect, new game gets high marks for depth, concept.
Anyone who thinks video games are teaching our children how to be vicious, cruel and perhaps even violent has forgotten just how vicious, cruel and perhaps even violent children can be all on their very own.
Especially brutal are those tween years — 12 to 16 — that time when kids are beginning to flex their growing mental and physical muscles and often do so with no real sense of how they're affecting the people around them. Yes, if memory serves, teens don't need a game to show them how to act like a school of piranhas on the hunt for blood. It just comes naturally.
source msnbc.com for full review
Anyone who thinks video games are teaching our children how to be vicious, cruel and perhaps even violent has forgotten just how vicious, cruel and perhaps even violent children can be all on their very own.
Especially brutal are those tween years — 12 to 16 — that time when kids are beginning to flex their growing mental and physical muscles and often do so with no real sense of how they're affecting the people around them. Yes, if memory serves, teens don't need a game to show them how to act like a school of piranhas on the hunt for blood. It just comes naturally.
source msnbc.com for full review
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
AMD Planning Combined Processor-Graphics Chip
The combined processors are aimed at laptops, desktops, workstations, servers, and consumer electronics devices geared for emerging markets.
Aiming to leapfrog archrival Intel Corp., Advanced Micro Devices will deliver a wide range of merged x86 CPUs with on-board graphics accelerators starting in late 2008.
AMD announced its so-called Fusion program Wednesday (Oct. 25) upon the formal completion of its $5.4 billion acquisition of graphics and chip set designer ATI Technologies Inc. The merged company will ship versions of the combined processors for laptops, desktops, workstations, servers and consumer electronics devices geared for emerging markets.
for more info click here
Aiming to leapfrog archrival Intel Corp., Advanced Micro Devices will deliver a wide range of merged x86 CPUs with on-board graphics accelerators starting in late 2008.
AMD announced its so-called Fusion program Wednesday (Oct. 25) upon the formal completion of its $5.4 billion acquisition of graphics and chip set designer ATI Technologies Inc. The merged company will ship versions of the combined processors for laptops, desktops, workstations, servers and consumer electronics devices geared for emerging markets.
for more info click here
Upbeat Investors Seek Microsoft Assurances
The bottom line is that Microsoft must ship Vista as now scheduled, or risk drops in its stock price, now trading near a two-year high.
Microsoft Corp. investors want to hear the company say this week that much-delayed upgrades to its Windows operating system and Office software suite will pay rich dividends soon.
for more info click here
source - Reuters
Microsoft Corp. investors want to hear the company say this week that much-delayed upgrades to its Windows operating system and Office software suite will pay rich dividends soon.
for more info click here
source - Reuters
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
The Five Best BitTorrent Clients
Got an itch to ride the file sharing wave? Just choose your chariot. Here's our roundup of the five best bets for BitTorrent bliss.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
The City of Chicago goes Linux, saves over 85%!
The City of Chicago's announced successful migration to Red Hat Enterprise Linux for essential government programs including the vehicle registration system online job applications restaurant inspections ethics training and more. The City of Chicago migrated to Red Hat in order to reduce costs and improve support performance and scalability.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Saturday, October 21, 2006
AVG Anti-Virus 7.5 Free Edition Finally Released
Grisoft a few weeks ago released AVG 7.5 but I refrained from posting about it because they did not update the free version at that point. They finally upgraded the free version to AVG 7.5 which is great for people looking for a free anti-virus solution.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Get potentially ANY TV Channel On The Internet free | Copyright Nightmare?
A new controversial player has appeared on the internet and could be the TV studio's biggest enemy since Bittorrent. This new player allows you to watch any TV channel in the world on your PC.
Channels include CBS, ESPN, NBA TV, ABC, NBC, FOX DIsney and more including sports channels.
This already impressive lineup of channels is available from any internet enabled Windows PC in the world and could potentially expand to include many more channels.
click here for more info
Channels include CBS, ESPN, NBA TV, ABC, NBC, FOX DIsney and more including sports channels.
This already impressive lineup of channels is available from any internet enabled Windows PC in the world and could potentially expand to include many more channels.
click here for more info
Saturday, October 14, 2006
How many seconds old are you? - What was the day of your conception?
What was the moon like on your birthday? What egyptian month was it? And your life path number? What about your birthstone? What was the population then? How much do you really know about YOUR special day?
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Friday, October 13, 2006
Microsoft quietly lifts lid off Vista RC2
Microsoft quietly made Windows Vista Release Candidate 2 available for download late last Friday to technical beta testers and MSDN/TechNet subscribers.
The new build of Windows Vista offers a higher level of performance and stability as well as fixing many of the bugs in RC1, according to the Windows Vista team blog.
Windows chief Jim Allchin posted a special announcement which read: "People asked for it and here it is, Windows Vista RC2.
"There are thousands of quality improvements since RC1. You'll probably notice improvements in performance, application compatibility, as well as fit and finish work."
The new test build (5744) has a number of improvements and updates on previous builds, and has been through daily testing processes to refine quality and performance, Microsoft said.
The company warned that this build may not have the same level of support or servicing via Windows Update as RC1, and that users may not be able to upgrade from this build to the final version of Windows Vista.
"We are just around the corner from release to manufacturing [RTM] and shipping this great product to the world. This will be the last build prior to RTM, so please keep the feedback coming so we can hit the finish line," said Allchin.
The RC2 release will be available for a limited time only from Microsoft's Windows Vista Download site.
Clement James, vnunet.com
The new build of Windows Vista offers a higher level of performance and stability as well as fixing many of the bugs in RC1, according to the Windows Vista team blog.
Windows chief Jim Allchin posted a special announcement which read: "People asked for it and here it is, Windows Vista RC2.
"There are thousands of quality improvements since RC1. You'll probably notice improvements in performance, application compatibility, as well as fit and finish work."
The new test build (5744) has a number of improvements and updates on previous builds, and has been through daily testing processes to refine quality and performance, Microsoft said.
The company warned that this build may not have the same level of support or servicing via Windows Update as RC1, and that users may not be able to upgrade from this build to the final version of Windows Vista.
"We are just around the corner from release to manufacturing [RTM] and shipping this great product to the world. This will be the last build prior to RTM, so please keep the feedback coming so we can hit the finish line," said Allchin.
The RC2 release will be available for a limited time only from Microsoft's Windows Vista Download site.
Clement James, vnunet.com
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Hackers Claim Zero-Day Flaw in Firefox
The open-source Firefox Web browser is critically flawed in the way it handles JavaScript, two hackers said Saturday afternoon.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Unlocking the Mysteries of 'Svchost.exe'
Svchost.exe can, and usually does, run several instances of itself at any given time, each instance running several associated services. How do you find out what these "services" are?
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Watch more than 200 channels on your PC - Nothing to install.
ChooseAndWatch is a free TV portal where you can watch only the best online TV channels. Now with bigger screen and more channels than ever.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Saturday, October 07, 2006
A Cast By Any Other Name...
Submitted by Leo Laporte on Sat, 2006-09-23
According to Wired News's Listening Post blog, Apple has sent a cease and desist letter to Podcast Ready claiming that the terms "Podcast Ready" and "myPodder" infringe on Apple's trademarks, and that they cause confusion among consumers.
If Apple is claiming that the term "Podcast Ready" infringes their iPod trademark, then they're claiming ownership of the word podcast. Needless to say this could precipitate a crisis in the *cast community.
Truth is, I've never liked the word podcast. It causes confusion. In the past couple of days two people have told me that they can't listen to my shows because they "don't own an iPod." I have to explain constantly that podcasts can be listened to on computers, phones, MP3 players, and CDs, as well as iPods, but because of the name the confusion persists. And now Apple is threatening people who use the word.
I think it's time for a change. I'll address this in my keynote at *cast Expo next week, but I'd like to know what you think. Can't we come up with a better word for what we do?
I propose the word "netcast." It's a little clearer that these are broadcasts over the Internet. It's catchy and even kind of a pun.
I know that "podcast" is in the dictionary now, and that Apple likely has little hope of claiming it, but who wants to fight it? Especially when it's not such a hot name anyway. Of course the term is relatively well known, but we are in the very early days of the medium. Changing it now will be a lot easier than changing it in a few years.
I realize that changing the term unilaterally may make me seem like a kook. And I haven't done a thorough trademark search on netcast, so it may be even more encumbered than podcast (although CBS is using it and I think they have a few lawyers). I do think it's time to take a stand. Apple didn't invent podcasts. Podcasts don't require an iPod. iTunes isn't the only way to subscribe to podcasts. Maybe a name change will help people understand that.
What do you think? Leave a comment here.
According to Wired News's Listening Post blog, Apple has sent a cease and desist letter to Podcast Ready claiming that the terms "Podcast Ready" and "myPodder" infringe on Apple's trademarks, and that they cause confusion among consumers.
If Apple is claiming that the term "Podcast Ready" infringes their iPod trademark, then they're claiming ownership of the word podcast. Needless to say this could precipitate a crisis in the *cast community.
Truth is, I've never liked the word podcast. It causes confusion. In the past couple of days two people have told me that they can't listen to my shows because they "don't own an iPod." I have to explain constantly that podcasts can be listened to on computers, phones, MP3 players, and CDs, as well as iPods, but because of the name the confusion persists. And now Apple is threatening people who use the word.
I think it's time for a change. I'll address this in my keynote at *cast Expo next week, but I'd like to know what you think. Can't we come up with a better word for what we do?
I propose the word "netcast." It's a little clearer that these are broadcasts over the Internet. It's catchy and even kind of a pun.
I know that "podcast" is in the dictionary now, and that Apple likely has little hope of claiming it, but who wants to fight it? Especially when it's not such a hot name anyway. Of course the term is relatively well known, but we are in the very early days of the medium. Changing it now will be a lot easier than changing it in a few years.
I realize that changing the term unilaterally may make me seem like a kook. And I haven't done a thorough trademark search on netcast, so it may be even more encumbered than podcast (although CBS is using it and I think they have a few lawyers). I do think it's time to take a stand. Apple didn't invent podcasts. Podcasts don't require an iPod. iTunes isn't the only way to subscribe to podcasts. Maybe a name change will help people understand that.
What do you think? Leave a comment here.
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