New Yahoo! Messenger version fixes some login issues
Following the release of version 9.0.0.2112, Yahoo! Messenger users have started complaining that they couldn't sign into the IM application because they kept receiving an error and every time they pushed 'Try again' the error would simply be displayed again. In response, Yahoo delivered YMess version 9.0.0.2124 which, although not fixing all issued causing the sign-in problems, it does address one of them, hopefully the most common one.
Those still wanting to see that yellow smiley face can downloads Yahoo! Messenger 9.0.0.2124 from this page.
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AMD has specially made Catalyst 9.1 for Radeon HD 4850 X2
A Sapphire exclusive, the Radeon HD 4850 X2 has apparently been left out of the official Catalyst 9.1 release so AMD simply went on to provide a separate set of drivers, just for this one card. Available for both Windows XP and Vista, the 4850 X2-ready driver most likely includes everything the 'regular' Catalyst 9.1 has like OpenGL 3.0 support and a long list of fixes.
The dedicated driver can be downloaded from this page.
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Apple & AT&T to be working on MacBook 3G?
According to some recent comments made by AT&T execs, Apple and the United States' largest telephone network company may be working on a 3G capable MacBook together. This is a logical step for both companies as wide area network access is becoming a more common theme in laptops, with Dell providing access to Verizon's mobile broadband network, and others offering access to other mobile broadband carriers, it is only logical that Apple would take this step with their MacBooks.
The iPhone already operates on a 3G network which provides internet access for the device, and in a recent in conversation with Fortune magazine AT&T's Emerging Devices President, Glenn Lurie pointed out AT&T has already tested a 3G subscription plan using a $99-priced Acer Aspire One netbook with good results.
At the end of the interview Glenn Lurie states that he recently had a sit-down with Apple Chief Operating Officer (COO), Tim Cook, who is currently filling in for Steve Jobs, and said that AT&T were interested in working more with Apple when asking for comments on MacBooks. Pairing up Lurie's statement with Apple's recent comment about them 'watching the space" when concerning netbooks, suggests that the Cupertino company is likely thinking of building a 3G enabled notebook, or even a netbook.
Neither company is providing exact information, or let alone providing valuable comment, though people are beginning to wonder how AT&T will handle pre-existing iPhone owners with a data plan.
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Elitist Apple App Store?
Rumors surfacing online that Apple has plans to expand its App Store capabilities to high level publishers and allow "high quality" content at a "high quality" price.
The rumors state that Apple may be in talks with mobile games publishers EA Mobile, and Gameloft, though no one will talk, as is the case with most, if not all Apple rumors.
The prices for products on this upgraded App Store range up to $19.99 (USD) per-product, though this is all an assumption, as even right now, most App Store products come in a wide range of prices - from $0.99 to $9.99 and sometimes more. Because no standard has been implemented it's probably still market research for Apple, as well as for developers, figuring out what products sell at what prices.
The $19.99 price tag would be no surprise, especially when looking at other handheld or mobile platforms, with for example Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS, which have games at prices as high as $45.
Perhaps the App Store will become a low price venue for high quality hand held games for iPod touch and iPhones. Only time will tell.
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iPhone 2.2.1 firmware has hidden info about new iPhone
According to MacRumors there's some leftover bits of information on Apple's latest firmware for the iPhone and iPod Touch that may be linked to the next version of Apple's popular smartphone.
The information, a bit of XML based code, points out a version key that states iPhone2,1. These are unique identifiers for iPhone models, the first iPhone being iPhone1,1 the first iPod Touch being iPod1,1, while the iPhone 3G was iPhone1,2.
The iPod Touch has actually gone onto a new design and in its firmware has the version iPod2,1. Little more is known about the supposed new iPhone, but what is known is that it is most likely being worked on. One user has even found out that PinchMedia serving reports have indicated that there are at least two iPhone2,1 models.
Rumors about the new iPhone include upgrades to the CPU and higher graphical capabilities as Apple has been building a new team of engineers for it, and it includes Senior Vice President of iPhone and iPod development Mark Papermaster leading their ARM CPU branch.
Apple has yet to comment.
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Zombies Ahead so says Texas road sign
"It was clever, kind of cute, but not what it was intended for," said Lippincott, who saw the sign during his morning commute. "Those signs are deployed for a reason أ¢آ€آ” to improve traffic conditions, let folks know there's a road closure. It's sort of amusing, but not at all helpful." says Chris Lippincott, director of media relations for the Texas Department of Transportation speaking about a series of road signs that apparently were hacked to warn about a possible undead threat to the area.
The state run department points out that it always knew that there was a possibility of the digital signs being hacked, and they try their best to prevent it from happening. Tampering with the road signs is a misdemeanor in the state of Texas and its punishments range from fines to jail time.
Apparently this comes after a recent report on i-hacked.com which it states that it is fairly simple and easy to hack the electronic road signs as their force-default settings is nothing but a series of holding keys that require pressing in the right combination, with most of the time departments of transportation choosing not to change the default password. However it does point out that the signs should never be tampered with as they are safety devices.
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No Windows 7 Beta for university students
According to a recent e-mail notice that was sent out to Georgetown University (Washington D.C., United States), students and faculty are not allowed to download and install the beta version of Microsoft's upcoming operating system, Windows 7. The University Information Services (UIS) states "Installing any beta version of software is extremely risky".
The notice also goes on to state "UIS does not support Windows 7 -- UIS typically does not support beta versions of any software unless otherwise stated, so UIS will not provide any support of any kind if you choose to install it and encounter any of the above mentioned problems. In fact, Microsoft has stated that it will not even support Windows 7 Beta."
However, the college's Information Services department does go on to say that it will support Windows 7's final version after it has been thoroughly tested. The Windows 7 Beta has actually been so popular to users that Microsoft recently had to remove its download cap on it and changed its closure date to February 10th, 2009.
The success of the beta may or may not be a signal to a successful operating system launch, as Microsoft recently reported an 8% decrease in operating system sales over the last year. To many of us Windows Vista is to Windows 7 as Windows ME was to Windows XP, and if you go back in time a little, Windows 95 is to Windows 98. But always remember, it's not a bug, it's a feature.
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Government sponsored mortgage lender finds logic bomb
A senior Unix engineer at one of the United States' largest government-sponsored mortgage firms, Fannie Mae, found a logic bomb, a malicious script, designed to wipe Fannie Mae's over 4000 servers set to be executed on January 31st, 2009.
According to Fannie Mae engineers if the script was allowed to execute it would have cost millions of dollars in damages and shut down the company for over a week. Through some research and determination the engineers established who created the bomb and has indicted an IT contractor who worked in Fannie Mae's Urbana, Maryland facility named Rajendrasinh Makwana.
Makwana is an Indian citizen who resides in the United States under a work visa, he was indicted for unauthorized computer access in a Maryland District Court on Tuesday.
According to the engineer who found the malicious script, finding it was an accident. The script was at the bottom of a legitimate script separated by about one page of blank lines, most likely in an attempt to hide it.
The script was discovered on October 29th, 2008, five days after Makwana was terminated from working at the company, at which point Makwana was believed to have formulated this 'plan' as his company supplied laptop was not needed to be turned in until the end of the day. According to a report, not long later was there an SSH login with the user name assigned to Makwana which quickly gained root access to the server.
This comes as a good thing for most, as the likely week-long down time of one of the largest mortgage companies in the United States may have create a drastic downturn in the economy as well, especially the mortgage and housing market, which is already having problems.
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AdMob receives an additional $12.5 million in funding
AdMob has been rather prominent in the technology news world lately, and so here they are again with more information on the fact that they have gained a further $12.5 million in Series C4 funding from what it began compiling at the end of the summer last year.
In total, the Series C total is now all the way up at $28.2 million. The massive new additional investment is mostly coming from the Draper Fisher Jurvetson Growth Fund and Northgate Capital, which will add to the round's current key investor Sequoia Capital, and their most frequent investor Accel Partners.
"We believe that now is a critical moment for us to cement our leadership position by making the investments that will help us to come out of this challenging economic environment even stronger than when we went in," AdMob's blog post read. "As mobile Web and application usage continues to grow rapidly worldwide, and smartphones--from the iPhone to the G1--gain in market share, we see a real opportunity to expand the mobile-advertising market."
AdMob actually set up an all new business section organised specifically to handle the advertisements going out over the Google Android platform. The company's main concern is to keep up growth and soldier through the economic hit on the advertising industry.
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New LED technology to recover our uneconomical lifestyles
We all know that LED lamps have been around for decades, and have never been anything particularly special, other than that they function on a minimal energy requirement.
Current LED technology is utilizes sapphire bulbs making the physical lamps rather expensive, however, a group of scientists have now discovered a way to manufacture the items using silicon instead, dropping the average price of the bulbs from $30 per bulb way down to $3 per bulb.
"This could well be the holy grail in terms of providing our lighting needs for the future," said Prof Colin Humphreys, who helped develop the bulbs. "The five-year timescale is a conservative estimate," he said. "I'm hoping the bulbs will be on the shelves much sooner."
This in itself is great news, but better still - the bulbs are designed to last up to 60 years, burning for 100,000 hours. The bulbs are also 12 times more energy efficient than existing traditional household lamps, meaning that the technology could drop the cost of electricity in homes by up to 75% within the first 5 years of their installation!
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