Xeon CPU price cuts said to be slated for Sunday
This Sunday, January 18, Intel is already expected to launch a few new desktop processors and cut prices on current models but, according to reports, this is only half the story as the company also intends to slash Xeon price tags. Said to be anywhere between 13% and 40%, the price cuts are expected to make Intel's offer more attractive compared to AMD's 45nm Opteron line-up and lay the foundation for the coming launch of the Nehalem-based Xeons.
And that's why we love competition.
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Microsoft patches up critical SMB vulnerabilities
Yesterday, on the first Patching Tuesday of 2009, Microsoft has delivered one update to address two privately reported vulnerabilities and one publicly disclosed vulnerability in Microsoft Server Message Block Protocol. Allowing remote code execution, the bugs affect Windows operating systems including Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Server 2003 and Server 2008.
The update requires a restart.
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OCZ makes the Apex SSDs official
Seen last week at CES, the Apex series solid state drives have now been officially announced by OCZ. Targeting enthusiasts, system builders and mainstream computer users, the new 2.5-inch drives come in 60, 120 and 250GB capacities, weight about 77 grams each and provide read and write speeds of up to 230 MB/s and 160 MB/s respectively. The Apex SSDs also feature a SATA 3.0 Gbps interface and a MTBF (mean time before failure) of 1.5 million hours.
"As the adoption of SSD drives continues to ramp, it is our goal to enable everyday consumers to take advantage of the benefits of solid state drives," said Eugene Chang, Director of Product Management at OCZ Technology Group. "The new Apex Series is positioned at the center of our lineup and features an updated controller and internal RAID design to deliver superior performance to mainstream consumers at a very aggressive price."
Yet unpriced, the Apex drives will be offered with a two-year warranty.
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Serious security flaw found in Apple's Safari browser
A security researcher has found a serious flaw in Apple's Safari web browser that could allow exploiters to steal information from users running Mac OS X 10.5, or even Safari for Windows. Open source software developer Brian Mastenbrook found that when the browser interacts with RSS it can make the personal information of the user vulnerable for exploitation.
"Safari is vulnerable to an attack that allows a malicious web site to read files on a user's hard drive without user intervention," Mastenbrook wrote on his blog. "This can be used to gain access to sensitive information stored on the user's computer, such as emails, passwords, or cookies that could be used to gain access to the user's accounts on some web sites."
There are naturally no literal details describing how the exploit works, but he does say that on Mac OS X they are vulnerable regardless of what browser they are using. Mastenbrook is seen as a reliable source who has in the past found other flaws with Appleأ¢آ€آ™s software.
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Pidgin 2.5.4 update
Pidgin is a graphical IM program that lets you sign on to AIM, Jabber, MSN, Yahoo!, and other IM networks. It runs on Microsoft Windows and Unixes, is written in C and uses GLib and GTK+. Pidgin is an easy to use and free chat client used by millions. Connect to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and more chat networks all at once.
Updates include:
libpurple
- Fix a connection timeout with empty Gadu-Gady buddy lists.
- Don't ignore namespace information when parsing XMPP data.
- Fix a crash that occurred when retrieving certain Offline Messages on MSN.
- Extended purple-url-handler to handle "gtalk" URI's.
- Fix the hang on exit in Network Location Awareness for Windows XP and Windows Vista.
MSN
- Change Contact Server to temporarily fix connection problems.
XMPP
- Support for XEP-0191 blocking.
- Don't put SASL PLAIN or IQ Auth passwords in debug logs.
- Fix removal of avatars (both PEP and vCard), we weren't removing them correctly before.
Pidgin
- Fix a crash in the Add Account dialog when changing protocols under certain circumstances.
Finch
- Redirect stderr outputs to the debug window.
- Fix rebinding actions with the arrow-keys and tab.
Windows-specific changes
- Fix the "Hang on Exit" issue that a number of users encountered.
- Updated GTK+ to 2.14.6
Download: Pidgin 2.5.4 (Windows)
Website: Pidgin IM
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First 2009 Opera 10 snapshot is up for grabs
After a well-deserved holiday rest, the Opera Software Desktop Team is back with a new build of the upcoming Opera 10 browser. The fresh release features:
General
- Added ability to open mailto links in webmail providers, such as Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Windows Live Hotmail.
- Fixed loading web pages when clicking on a link while the document still is loading.
- Fixed "Bookmark All Open Pages" action.
- Fixed skin color schemes - you can use your favorite color scheme again!
- "Lock Tab" icon should now be better visible on locked tabs.
- Several stability fixes.
Opera Mail
- Improved message composition window context menu.
- Fixed loss of mail drafts if several drafts were open when closing Opera.
- Fixed sending link by mail in plain text format.
- Improved message encoding detection.
- Fixed several bugs in the compose window related to navigation and editing (also applies to designMode and contentEditable).
Windows-specific
- Fixed problem with text styled with opacity.
- It's no longer necessary to restart Opera after changing the external source viewer.
Available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, the Opera 10 snapshot can be downloaded from this page.
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AVG acquires Sana
AVG, a major player in the Anti-Virus market is poised to overtake an ID theft prevention company known as Sana Security. Although no information has been released on the price of the deal, it's known that it will see Sana's head offices in Redwood City, California, USA would serve as Amsterdam based AVG's US headquarters in Silicon Valley.
Sana sells security software meant to block or prevent the loss of identity information for it's users, often using behavioral patterns to detect a potential thread. It also provides basic spyware and malware protection.
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Sling Media executives leave
A number of executives of Sling Media, the creators of a box utilized for networking and streaming media between computers and numerous other entertainment devices including mobile phones, announced today that they are leaving the company.
The company spokespeople refused to comment however one employee pointed out that Sling' co-founders, Blake and Jason Krikorian were leaving immediately as the two prefer run their own businesses separately. The company, Sling Media, was actually sold over a year ago to EchoStar, who are behind the satellite technology that run the US satellite provider, Dish Networks.
Jason Hirshhorn, president of Sling's entertainment group; Ben White, chief creative officer; and Gregg Wilkes, VP of sales, are all planning to leave the company.
Sling Media announced recently that it was working on a device meant to communicate with Apple's iPhone and iPod touch, they also recently released a product meant to communicate with some Blackberry products.
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New Google Earth update is pretty as a painting
Google Earth, the global mapping application provided by Google is adding to it's very unique repertoire of images, landmarks and buildings. As reported by CNet, an update to the software is meant to unlock a new feature in which people will be able to view priceless works of art via the application by just clicking on specific parts of museums while using it.
As of right now only one museum has approved this option, Museo del Prado (Museum of Prado), and only 14 works of art are available.
Not only has Google provided this option they have also started to implement what is called "sky view" which allows you to turn "outward" away from "Earth" to view the stars and constellations.
It seems only a matter of time before Google Mars becomes on application, then Google Solar System, then Google Galaxy, then Google Universe and then...
Image courtesy of Google Earth Blog.
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Learning Assessment funded by major IT companies
Cisco, Intel, and Microsoft has recently joined forces to provide funding for educational research into learning assessments. These investments are intended to be applied on a global scale.
None of the companies will comment on exactly how much investment has been made on the subject, though Microsoft alone is no stranger to educational investment after investing in a program called Partners in Learning which it is set to donate over $500 million over a 10 year period.
The companies have chosen the director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne, Barry McGaw to lead the research. The program is intended to assess classroom practices and teaching methods and ensure their effectiveness in teaching children.
The trio is also hoping this will provide an inspiration to other non-government based organizations to invest in similar ideas.
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