RAGHUL - The Geekofied Dude

INTANT PR-7 -BUG-

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:18:00 +0000

News is around the net that you can make an instant PR7 website without any backlinks or visitors. Is this true? Yes but it is a Bug!!

It is true I have tried it out and it did show PR7 the instance the site with subdomain name as hyves was created. I had created a website as hyves..com and this site did show as PR7 at PR Checker.

So beware of users selling the domain/sub domains with this name as PR7. Even though it shows as PR7 it is just a bug from google which will surely be rectified soon. Also this PR7 is not going to get you any visitors or backlinks.

To check the actual PR, I recommend checking your PR at CheckPageRank Net. This will clearly tell you that anything with hyves sub domain actually points to social networking site www.hyves.nl because of some bug. Also it does clearly indicates “Pagerank seems to be forged”.

CES: Adamo, awesome lappy from DELL

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 21:54:00 +0000

Dell got things rolling this morning with an announcement on the software distribution side. Where Dell.com recently began offering music and movies, there will now be downloadable software as well. Next up was a subsidized netbook partnership with AT&T similar to the one the company announced with Vodafone in September. The next announcement was where things began to pick up steam. Adding to Dell’s Mini line of netbooks, the company unveiled the Atom Z530-powered Inspiron Mini 10 this morning. Their “perfect 10″ netbook offers a 16:9 720p HD display, a full edge-to-edge keyboard, a built-in TV tuner, built-in mobile broadband connectivity, GPS, 802.11n, a multi-touch and gesture touchpad, and design studio customizability.

Aesthetics was an important theme in today’s Dell gathering, with the hallways lined by artists’ design studio laptop shell creations, and Kidrobot artist Tristan Eaton putting his trademark designs on Dell products in the background. Dell is drawing a sharp line between performance and design in its product line, the company’s peak performers fall under the Alienware line, and the peak examples of design will come under the new Adamo line. The product which had various accessory leaks happen several months ago has caused a great deal of speculation among fans of the company. Today, a production model of Adamo was shown off, ever so briefly, ever so distantly, and with no information regarding specs. We do know that there is both a black model and a white model.

Source: Betanews, AP

Google Is Generous To Its Employees....check this out

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 13:54:00 +0000

While the G1 is a nice handset - and a free one isn't to be sniffed at - you can't help but think that any Google employee that wanted one would already own a unit.

With the credit crunch still making things tough for companies the world over, many corporations are looking to cut back on traditional Xmas bonuses – and Google thinks it's on to a cost-reducing winner.

According to CNet, the company has ditched the traditional holiday bonus payments in favour of giving staffers a free Android-based G1 smartphone. While the handset is a developer version – i.e. unlocked and not tied to a particular network – there are rules attached to the gift.

Gizmodo has got its hands on a list of questions and answers the company is including with the free G1 announcement, and it's interesting to see the number of limitations on the 'free' handset. One such question, which asks “what happens to my holiday bonus [if] I already have an Android phone” is answered with a strict warning that the handsets are “a personal gift [...] please do not resell them as this is against Google policy.” Which – you'll notice – doesn't actually answer the question: the answer being, of course, “you don't get a holiday bonus, bucko.”

The handsets will be provided to around 85 percent of the company's staff worldwide, with employees in nations unable to receive the G1 getting a more traditional cash gift instead.

While the move is clearly an effort to reduce costs at a difficult time, communications from Google to recipients explain that it also represents an opportunity to “dogfood a product” - in other words, to get all staff using the handsets in order to increase consumer awareness and encourage suggestions and improvements from employees. Whether the suggestions will take the form of “give us the cash instead” remains to be seen.

Recession Hit Gaming World Too!!!

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 13:47:00 +0000

The current economic climate has apparently delayed the relaunch of the Gizmondo.

The relaunch of the Gizmondo handheld gaming platform has been delayed by company head Carl Freer because of adverse economic conditions apparently.

The Gizmondo originally launched back in 2005 but the company was forced to bankruptcy by poor sales and an association with organised crime through certain members of the company. After the release of Stefan Ericksson from jail in early 2008 though the company was rapidly relaunched.

The credit crunch however has impacted on that relaunch and prevented the Gizmondo from hitting a Q4 2008 launch deadline.

"Unfortunately, we've had to reschedule the launch of Gizmondo. It's due to the economic climate in the US, as well as in the rest of the world. It has affected us in our ability to fund and get funded in regards to the manufacturing of components," Carl Freer told The Nordic Link.

"We've had some very, very touch and go moments here for three months. It has affected everyone. I was at one point thinking of abandoning the whole project, because I didn't see a way out of it; a way to fund it.

"I don't have half a billion dollars or 300 million dollars. You can only try and do your best," he said.

The company apparently ran into problems with manufacturers too, prompting Freer to rethink the entire design. The Gizmondo will now apparently relaunch as an open platformed, 3D enabled smartphone - but we'll believe it when we see it.

Hackers already exploiting Sony’s PlayStation Home

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:13:00 +0000

Already suffering through complaints of user boredom, disappointing content and outdated presentation, the PlayStation 3’s much-delayed virtual world Home has now fallen into the cross hairs of the online hacker community. More pointedly, exploits uncovered within Home’s software coding have enabled opportunistic hackers to customise the apparently bland virtual world so that it includes interactive elements not officially included by creator Sony Computer Entertainment. Specifically, one such hack allows users to watch their own movies on display screens located within the expansive three-dimensional world. It also allows for the implementation of text and music-based changes to fit the user’s personal taste, reports The Telegraph.

Not so playfully inoffensive in its delivery, another hack sees users able to download private files from the PlayStation Home servers, which includes having access to the profiles and in-world avatar representations of other users. Beyond the potentially harmless content applications associated with the security crack, the unexpected intrusion is being seen as somewhat of a worry in that it enables those ‘in-the-know’ to upload files to the Home server and also delete any files held therein. Industry concerns are now suggesting the PlayStation Home vulnerability could be utilised by cyber criminals to execute malware attacks that capable of culminating in the virtual world being forced offline completely.

Source: Tech Herald

Yahoo adjusts data retention time

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:12:00 +0000

In an attempt to bolster trust with its users, Yahoo has revamped its global data retention policy, promising to anonymise user log data within 90 days, half the period stipulated by the EU. The company added that the new policy will apply to page views, page clicks, ad views and ad clicks as well as search log data, but also said that there would be exceptions when forced to keep the information for fraud, security or legal reasons. Recently Microsoft announced that it would fall in line with EU regulation and reduce the retention time of search information to just six months, while Google still holds on to the data for nine months. According to Yahoo, the move follows a comprehensive review of its data practices across the globe working with privacy and data governance teams to examine the data needs for global products and services.

The company reckons the new limit will still allow it to provide the same level of service to users and advertisers while maintaining the ability to fight fraud, secure systems, and meet legal obligations. “This policy represents Yahoo’s assessment of the minimum amount of time we need to retain data in order to respond to the needs of our business while deepening our trusted relationship with users,” added Toth. However, there are a few provisos added to this new policy. In the case of potential fraud and system security issues, Yahoo will retain system specific data in identifiable form for no more than six months, and the search engine admits it may have to retain some data for longer periods to meet other legal obligations.

Source: Vnunet

Microsoft releases emergency fix for IE7

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:07:00 +0000

Microsoft is planning to release an out-of-band patch for Internet Explorer on Wednesday to address a critical security vulnerability that is being actively exploited.The company on Saturday warned that 1 in 500 Internet Explorer users worldwide may have been exposed to malware hosted at both legitimate Web sites and porn sites that exploit an unpatched vulnerability. Microsoft confirmed finding exploit code on a search engine in Taiwan and on a Web site in Hong Kong that serves adult entertainment content.”Based on our stats, since the vulnerability has gone public, roughly 0.2% of users worldwide may have been exposed to websites containing exploits of this latest vulnerability,” Microsoft Security Response Center researchers Ziv Mador and Tareq Saade said in a blog post. “That percentage may seem low, however it still means that a significant number of users have been affected. The trend for now is going upwards: We saw an increase of over 50% in the number of reports today compared to yesterday.”

Microsoft’s estimate works out to as many as 1.4 million potential victims, assuming there are a billion active Internet users (estimates range from 800 million to 1.5 billion), about 70% of whom are using Internet Explorer. The number of potential victims would drop to 940,000 if only Internet Explorer 7 users (47% browser market share) were affected. And those numbers represent only potential victims: Not all those exposed would be necessarily become infected. Since last Tuesday, Microsoft has updated its advisory four times. It expanded the list of potentially affected versions of Internet Explorer to include not only IE 7, but also IE 5.01 SP4, IE 6, IE 6 SP1, and IE 8 Beta 2. It also added several workaround options that involve disabling certain features.

Source: InternetWeek

Opera 10 Alpha 1 now available

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:30:00 +0000

Opera has long been the pioneer of the browser world; many of the features that we take for granted in Firefox, IE and Safari actually began life in Opera. The browser also tends to have the best web standards support around, and the latest alpha preview of Opera 10 is no exception. Although the new Opera 10 is an alpha preview, and not recommended for anything more than testing, its noteworthy for being the first release to grab a perfect score on the ACID 3 browser stress test. The ACID tests are designed to push a browser’s limits when it comes to rendering web pages. The idea is that if browsers can render the ACID test pages, then they should be able to handle just about anything on the web.

Although the ACID 3 test has been around for some time, Opera 10 is the first release to pass it. Apple’s Safari browser, which was the first to pass the ACID 2 test, also passes ACID 3, but only using the developer nightly builds. Of course cutting edge web standards support isn’t the only thing coming in Opera 10. The first alpha also packs in revamped and much faster rendering engine, on-the-fly spell checking for text fields, support for HTML messages in Opera Mail, and an auto-update feature to force browser updates. We don’t recommend rushing out and downloading Opera 10 in its current alpha state, but the preview release is good news for Opera fans. So far Opera has not announced a time line for the final release of Opera 10.

Source: Wired

Facebook infected with Koobface virus-PPI

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:25:00 +0000

Attention new viewers: those 5000 “friends” you have on Facebook? They might not actually be your friends. In fact, some of them might be scammers trying to infect your computer with a new virus dubbed “Koobface”. Koobface, which already made the rounds on MySpace, is now worming its way through Facebook. The Koobface virus uses Facebook’s private messaging system to infect computers via a shared video. Unsuspecting users will see a video link (shared by an infected friend) with the message, “You look just awesome in this new movie.” Click the link will lead you to an outside site where you’re told that you need to download a Flash update, which is actually a virus file. Once the virus is installed, it will try to grab sensitive data off your PC, like credit card numbers.

In a way this a very old virus; it operates much like mass-mailing worms that used to infest Usenet and e-mail lists. But it’s proving an effective tactic on social networks where private messages from friends seem more trustworthy than traditional e-mail, which even the most neophyte web users have come to distrust. With its some 120 million users, Facebook is not only a potentially lucrative target, but it’s well into the mainstream, which means more gullible, less internet-savvy users for virus creators to prey on. The virus watchdog blog for McAfee labs reports that Facebook is aware of the Koobface attack and is already working to remove the spammed links from its system. But with dozens of Koobface variants known to exist, McAfee warns that “the situation is likely to get worse before it gets better.” Should your PC be infected the Koobface worm, the Facebook security blog suggests resetting your password and running updated anti-virus software to purge the worm from your system.

Source: Wired

Botnets revived, spam back to prior level

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:17:00 +0000

Spam levels could take an upwards spike after researchers detected a malicious network of computers designed to push out junk mail and malware was brought back to life Tuesday. The Srizbi botnet, comprising more than half a million PCs, was deemed responsible for approximately 40 to 50 percent of the world’s spam. Up until recently, security experts believe that Srizbi was completely defunct after botnet was knocked offline two weeks ago as part of a collaborative effort within the security community. Now that Szribi is partially revived, it is anticipated to spew out malicious content at alarming rates, experts say.

According to MessageLabs, now part of Symantec, the spike in spam levels was only at 37 percent of what they were before Internet Service Provider McColo was disconnected from upstream provider Hurricane Electric, who disassociated with the provider because of its connection to some of the world’s largest malicious botnets. McColo’s shut down came shortly after the release of a scathing report by a group of notable security researchers and vendors lambasting McColo for hosting numerous Web sites known to cater to child pornography and malware. Spam levels experienced a sharp drop — anywhere from 60 to 80 percent– in the weeks following McColo’s takedown. However experts say that spam levels are steadily returning to “normal” levels, rising to two thirds of what they were before the McColo shut down as the spammer reconnected with other providers.

Source: CRN

Russian hackers infiltrated into Pentagon systems

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:34:00 +0000

Computer hackers suspected of working from Russia successfully penetrated Pentagon computer systems in one of the most severe cyber attacks on US military networks. The electronic attack was so serious that Adm Michael Mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, briefed President George W Bush and Robert Gates, the defence secretary. Defence officials told the Los Angeles Times that the attack struck computers within the US Central Command, which oversees Iraq and Afghanistan, and involved malicious software - known as “malware” - that permeates a network. “This one was significant, this one got our attention,” said an official, speaking anonymously.

Officials did not disclose the extent of the damage and would not elaborate on the reasons for believing the assault originated in Russia. The Pentagon and other US government departments face repeated cyber attacks, especially from Russia and China, either from individuals or indirectly from those countries’ governments. Within the past 18 months Russia has been accused of orchestrating major electronic attacks on neighbours Estonia and Georgia.

Source: Telegraph

Negotiations: The Beatles finally on iTunes?

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:06:00 +0000

Apple’s iTunes Music Store has come to be the biggest seller of music in the digital age with many of the most popular and influential bands offering their tracks and albums. There are still some notable holdouts that aren’t on the iTunes store including The Beatles. Negotiations have been ongoing to get The Beatles music on iTunes with some of the issues revolving around a legal battle between Apple Inc. (the company behind the Mac and the iTunes store) and Apple Corp. (the holding company that The Beatles set up to manage their music catalog). In February of 2007, the two companies set aside their legal issues and were moving forward with negotiations to bring Beatles music to the iTunes store. Sir Paul McCartney, one of the surviving members of the band, has now come out and said that negotiations to add The Beatles to iTunes have stalled.

McCartney told BBC News, “We’d like to do it. We are very for it, we’ve been pushing it. But there are a couple of sticking points, I understand.” EMI was the label behind The Beatles during the bands heyday and owns the tracks. However, the label needs the permission of Apple Corp. to release the band’s music in new formats. A spokesperson from EMI said, “We have been working hard to secure agreement with Apple Corps to make the Beatles’ legendary recording catalogue available to fans in digital form. Unfortunately the various parties involved have been unable to reach agreement but we really hope everyone can make progress soon.” McCartney didn’t comment specifically on what exactly EMI wanted Apple Corp. to agree too that it wasn’t willing to offer. In these sorts of negotiations, the sticking points typically revolve around money.

Source: DailyTech

XboX 360 finally outsold original XboX

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:06:00 +0000

Microsoft has confirmed that the the Xbox 360 has now outsold the original Xbox, meaning that it has sold over 25 million units worldwide since its 2005 launch. “We’ve already surpassed the installed base of the original Xbox–which is a really significant milestone,” Microsoft entertainment VP Chris Lewis told MCV. “We’re at a price point that is uniquely placed–not least of which because we’re in somewhat of a challenging economic time,” he added. ” Ever since we dropped the price seven weeks ago, we’ve outstripped PS3 on a weekly run rate in all the territories we care about in EMEA–specifically the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Russia.”

Lewis did not provide an exact figure as to how many Xbox 360s have been sold worldwide thus far. As of September 30, Nintendo had sold 34.55 million units of the Wii hardware, with Sony’s PlayStation 3 sitting at 16.84 million units worldwide. Another survey discovered the three major video-game consoles needlessly add a significant amount to consumers’ electric bills each year, with much of the unnecessary energy use caused by people keeping their machines on when not in use. On average, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 use 150 watts and 119 watts of electricity, respectively, more than prior generations of the consoles.

Source: Shacknews

HP Touchsmart tx2: first multi-touch tablet

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:05:00 +0000

Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday introduced its first consumer-oriented multi-touch tablet PC. The TouchSmart tx2 tightly integrates hardware and software to offer an interface that lets people use their fingers or a stylus for on-screen manipulation of digital entertainment. The software foundation of the tx2’s multi-touch capabilities is HP’s MediaSmart 2.0, which makes it possible to use a variety of gestures, including swipes, pinches, double-taps, and finger rotations, to manipulate content in a way that’s similar to Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch. In addition, HP has entered into a partnership with MTV Networks to bring video in from MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon. The content is organized and automatically updated in MediaSmart.

The tx2 has a standard keyboard and a 12.1-inch screen that can be placed upright for use like a typical notebook. In addition, the screen, which has a resolution of 1,200 by 800 pixels, swivels and can be laid flat. Besides the multi-touch capabilities, the system’s stylus can be used to write or draw on the screen. The PC weighs 4.5 pounds and is available with either an Athlon X2 or Turion X2 dual-core processor from Advanced Micro Devices. The system is also available with an ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics processor, up to 8 GB of memory and a 500 GB hard drive. Other features include Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless technology, an integrated camera and a DVD burner. The tx2 is available for pre-order from HP and is scheduled to start shipping at the end of the month. Pricing starts at $1,149.

Source: InfoWeek

Only 20 percent of games make a profit

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:03:00 +0000

According to analyst research only 20 percent of released games will ever turn a significant profit.

Granted, this bit of rather shocking news only caught our attention thanks to Forbes magazine making a mistake, but it's still worth reporting that apparently only 20 percent of games ever turn a significant profit.

The information, which is based on data gathered by the Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst firm (EEDAR, originally showed that only 4 percent of games ever make a profit but EEDAR has now issued a correction to those figures.

According to the correction as posted on Kotaku the research actually shows that a full 20 percent of released games are able to turn a significant profit. The confusion stems from the fact that only 4 percent of all games that enter into production ever make a profit; but most games that begin production are never released.

According to EEDAR, a major problem for game developers and publishers is that often more than 60 percent of a games allotted budget will be spent on redesigning fundamental aspects of a game.

It has to be said of course that 20 percent would still seem to be a shockingly low figure, but given the amount of awful games out there and the endless Wii cash-ins that flood the market we'd say that only 20 percent of games ever really deserve to make a profit.

Microsoft studies cyberchondria

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:00:00 +0000

Microsoft's research might lead to a HealthVault that not only stores your medical information but diagnoses you as well.

A study undertaken by Microsoft has revealed a dark side of browsing for medical information on the web: the snappily-titled 'cyberchondria'.

The survey, which the New York Times highlights as covering “health-related Web searches on popular search engines as well as a survey of the company's employees,” seems to have uncovered evidence of a widespread digital analogue (if there can be such a thing) to medical students' disease – the condition by which an overworked medical student will frequently consider him or herself to be suffering from the very maladies currently being studied.

Study leader, AI researcher at Microsoft Eric Horvitz, says that the problem comes from people treating a search engine as if it were capable of answering a question rather than just providing keyword-driven links to information. “People tend to look at just the first couple [of] results, [and] if they find 'brain tumor' [sic] or 'A.L.S.', that's their launching point.”

An example of the issues this can cause for the cyberchondriac is in the example of searching for information on a recurrent headache: as many links are given describing the symptoms of a brain tumour as are given for the rather more likely case of caffeine withdrawal.

Estimating that around two percent of all queries to search engines are in some way health related, the study showed around a quarter of the one million individuals monitored searching for medical information during the sample period. A third of those went to to explore information regarding serious illnesses relating to their original search.

While Horvitz's message is clear – don't worry yourself into an early grave based on what the web might think you have, and consult someone with a medical qualification if you're unsure – the main outcome of the upcoming study of the results gathered will be for Microsoft to create a more expert-like search engine capable of giving 'answers' to queries of this nature rather than just blind links. Whether such a service would be of interest to those convinced they're suffering from some incredibly rare malady is something that Microsoft will have to think long and hard about.

Midway stock faces de-listing

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 08:52:00 +0000

Midway faces de-listing from the New York Stock Exchange, with all hope now resting on Mortal Kombat vs. DC.

Midway has revealed that the New York Stock Exchange has warned the company that its stock may soon be de-listed if the situation doesn't change for the company. Currently the company is failing to meet the minimum requirements for listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

Most critically, Midway was told that it may soon be de-listed as the publisher and developer had failed to achieve a minimum closing price of $1.00 USD per share for the last 30 consecutive days, claims GamesIndustry.biz.

The warning comes with a prohibition period which allots a six month for the company to correct the situation and ensure it re-qualifies for listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Throughout the six month period Midway will continue to be listed and available for trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The warning isn't entirely unexpected either as the company has endured some hard times lately, with losses doubling this year up to $76 million USD. Recent titles such as Unreal Tournament 3 and Blacksite have underperformed for the publisher as well and now the company is pinning its hopes almost solely on Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.

Within the company things haven't been great either, with Midway firing 20-30 staff and the company chairman stepping down.

4.7 Million copies of Fallout 3 shipped

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:21:00 +0000

Bethesda’s crowing this morning about record sales of its post-apocalyptic role-playing games Fallout 3. Probably justified. UK sales checker Chart-Track says Fallout 3 has already outsold every prior game in the franchise combined. That sounds slightly more illustrious than it is, because of course all those older Fallout games (except for what-was-Interplay-smoking spinoff Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel) were strictly computer-based. Console sales routinely trump PC sales nowadays, and of course there’s that thing about the market exploding since Fallout and Fallout 2 arrived in the late 1990s. But at least 90 percent illustrious, with Chart-Track stating the game has already outsold Bethesda’s Oblivion by 57%, pulling in sales of 55% on Xbox 360, 28% on PS3, and 17% on PC.

Bethesda dropped a note this morning stating it’s shipped approximately 4.7 million units of Fallout 3 for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, “representing retail sales in excess of $300 million.” The game went on sale at midnight on October 28 in North America, as some 2,000 retailers held special late night launch parties. I’m not sure if that’s a record midnight opening for a video game, but if it’s not, it’s got to be close. Also: That’s 4.7 million units shipped to stores, not necessarily sold-through. We’ll see best-guesses at the sell-through numbers shortly from NPD. More info about Fallout 3 in our post.

Source: PC World

ExtremeFFS: SanDisk’s 100x faster SSD drives

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:20:00 +0000

The future of storage is heading away from the spinning magnetic disks inside most of our computers and towards solid state drives. Besides the advantage of being much more reliable and durable, solid state drives (SSD) also have the advantage of being quicker to deliver data. SanDisk detailed today a new technology that it hopes to cement SSD as the performance choice, coupling it with new metrics. SanDisk explained its new file system technology for SSDs, which it calls the ExtremeFFS, at WinHEC 2008 in Los Angeles and boasts that it could boost random write speeds by up to 100 times over existing systems. The “FFS” in the brand stands for Flash File System (not the other use of the acronym) and the Extreme, of course, relates to SanDisk’s brand of premium flash products.

SanDisk appears to have geared its technology towards the needs of Windows Vista. ExtremeFFS operates on a page-based algorithm, which means there is no fixed coupling between physical and logical location. SanDisk explains that when a sector of data is written, ExtremeFFS puts it on the SSD where it is most convenient and efficient. This should result in an improvement in random write performance by up to 100 times in best case scenarios. SanDisk products with ExtremeFFS are expected to ship in 2009.

Source: Tom’s Hardware

Hackers misuse Obama’s victory with malware

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:19:00 +0000

President-elect Barack Obama is already targeted as the subject of a malicious malware campaign designed to steal information from infected computers. Following Obama’s presidential victory Tuesday, malware authors were quick to create a Trojan exploiting the high volumes of Web traffic surrounding Obama, security experts said. And so far, researchers say that spam capitalizing on Obama’s victory has experienced a sharp upward spike, comprising about 60 percent of all spam messages in what has become a globalized attack. “The hackers are taking advantage of Obama-mania,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for SophosLabs. “So many people have been excited or interested in (the election), that they might be susceptible to it.”

Specifically, malware authors are exploiting users’ post-election curiosity with an e-mail purporting to offer news of Obama’s victory. The legitimate-looking message then offers the viewer a link, allegedly of a video featuring Obama’s acceptance speech. However, in order to view the clip, users are advised to click on a link that will allegedly download the latest version of Adobe Flash player. Once users open the link, a Web site actually links to a file called adobe_flash_exe, a malicious Trojan downloader designed to distribute information-stealing software on unsuspecting victims’ computers. Upon execution, the compromised machine receives a RootKit that sends the user’s personal data to numerous command and control centers. Researchers at Web security company Websense said in a blog that they have seen at least 25,000 e-mails through the systems using that particular technique, which, in addition to distributing data-stealing malware, also incorporates the victim’s computer into a botnet, a network of computers programmed to perpetuate spam campaigns.

Source: CRN

Netflix will stop selling DVDs

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:15:00 +0000

The days of unlimited data transfers may be dwindling. AT&T is now testing the idea of a monthly data cap for its broadband Internet users, the company has confirmed, and could move toward a more widespread rollout in the future. Users in Reno, Nev. will be the first to see the limits pop up, spokesman Michael Coe indicates, though a secondary test market may soon be added. Beginning this month, AT&T will restrict new customers in the affected areas based on their Internet plans. Users with the slowest speed DSL service will be limited to 20GB of bandwidth per month, while users of the fastest plan will receive a cap of 150GB a month. Any data transferred above the limit will be billed at a rate of $1 per gigabyte following a one-month grace period.

Existing AT&T customers will not yet be affected but will be added into the test later this year. All existing users will automatically receive the highest cap of 150GB a month, Coe notes. AT&T believes the caps are more than sufficient for average users, pointing out that a small subset of its customers — about 5 percent — uses a full 50 percent of the network’s bandwidth, slowing things down for the remaining majority. AT&T isn’t the first provider to move toward bandwidth caps, but as America’s largest ISP, it’s certainly the one with the heaviest impact. Comcast started enforcing bandwidth limits of 250GB per month — a slightly larger number than the maximum cap being tested by AT&T right now — at the beginning of October.

Source: PC World

Alienware unleashes M17 gaming notebook

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:26:00 +0000

Alienware’s new M17 features a Core 2 Extreme processor, ATI CrossFireX graphics, dual hard drives…and prices starting at $1,399. Dell subsidiary Alienware has announced its new M17 gaming notebook, marking the first time an Alienware notebook has offered ATI CrossFireX technology, offering dual ATI mobility Radeon HD 3870 graphics controllers to push those pixels around. The system also sports a Intel Core 2 Duo or Intel Core 2 Extreme QX93000 processors, DDR memory, and a 17-inch 1,920 by 1,200 pixel display. The M17 is available in a wide range configurations to satisfy gamer cravings, but the highlights are either Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Extreme quad-core processors, up to 4 GB of DDR3 memory, single and dual-graphics options using ATi Mobility Radeon HD 3870 controllers, single and dual hard drive options, ATSC TV in with an optional TV tuner, HDMI and VGA video output.

There’s also support for 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth wireless networking, gigabit Ethernet, and a 17-inch display sporting either a 1,920 by 1,200-pixel resolution, or 1,440 by 900 pixels. The M17 features Alienware’s stealth black matte finish, along with Alienware’s Skullcap case design. The unit is available with a dual layer DVD burner (with or without LightScribe), or a burner that can also read Blu-ray media. Prices for the M17 start at $1,399, although, of course, prices go up as you add components. Still, a Core 2 Extreme config with 3 GB of RAM, CrossFireX, and that 1,920 by 1,200-pixel screen is (barely) under $2,000.

Source: Digital Trends

Netflix application for Mac in public beta

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:25:00 +0000

Netflix has opened the doors for Mac users who want to try their “Watch Instantly” feature — you can now sign up to be part of a public beta program to test the service before its general roll-out. Netflix announced in late October that it had begun the rollout of its long-awaited media player for the Macintosh. The player enables Netflix subscribers to “watch instantly” thousands of the movie and television show titles Netflix also offers for home delivery on DVD as part of its subscription-based service. Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” capability is dependent on Microsoft Silverlight, Microsoft’s multimedia delivery system that’s positioned as a competitor to Adobe Flash.

Mac users who visit the opt-in link above are required to install the latest version of Silverlight before they can proceed. The videos are copy-protected via Silverlight’s built-in digital rights management (DRM) technology, and Netflix claims there are presently about 12,000 videos that can be viewed using the service. Unlike Apple’s iTunes Store, which enables users to download videos and transfer them to an iPhone or iPod or view them on a television using Apple TV, Netflix’s service streams content to a Mac only — there’s no way to transfer the video to another device.

Source: Macworld

24 Wonderful Works of Green Art, Design and Tech

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:27:00 +0000

What makes art or design both amazing and green? Sustainability is a factor, but so is style - and the degree to which something is integrated with its environment. From transforming green boxes to rotating dome homes, creative eco-art to exotic eco-landscapes and dizzying tree houses to dazzling tree sculptures, here are twenty of the greatest (and strangest) works of contemporary green art, architecture and design. Click the thumbnails below for more images and information:

Nintendo: Wii production might not meet demand

noreply@blogger.com (The Maverick) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:22:00 +0000

Nintendo has again been forced to admit that demand for the Nintendo Wii might exceed the supply.

Nintendo has again been forced to confess demand for the Nintendo Wii might exceed the supply this Christmas as families seek to buy a console of their very own.

In an interview with the LA Times (via Joystiq), Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said that though the production has been increased in anticipation for the holiday season, it's still very likely that the Wii will sell out.

Nintendo is now making a staggering 2.4 million consoles a month, which is a production increase of 33 percent and up from last years 1.6 million consoles a month, but demand is still emptying shelves faster than Nintendo can fill them.

Reggie was keen to put those figures in perspective too, telling the LA Times how those sales figures compare to Sony.

"They will sell 10 million consoles worldwide this year," said Reggie. "For us, that's three months of production."

The Wii has currently been on sale for 708 days and the sales are still showing no signs of slumping thanks to the huge appeal the Wii has with families and casual gamers. Contrary to popular opinion it also has a fair few decent games coming out too from Sega's Madworld to Steven Spielberg's Boom Blox.