IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (Overclockers Club) 29/04/2010

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Android News: Flash Coming, Microsoft Claims Android Patent Violations

Google's Android is proving to be increasingly popular as an operating system for mobile devices and Google is now saying that the next version of the OS, Android 2.2, will offer support for Adobe Flash. First though, Adobe has to fulfill its promise to deliver Flash Player 10.1 by the end of June. Flash 10.1 will run on all major smart phone operating systems except the iPhone. Besides Android, the other mobile systems include phones powered by the Blackberry OS, Symbian OS, Windows Phone 7 and Palm's WebOS.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Microsoft is now putting forth claims that the Android OS violates certain aspects of its intellectual property. While electing not to get into specifics at this time, the violations allegedly cover areas ranging from the user interface to the underlying OS itself. According to Microsoft's deputy general counsel, Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft is not a fan of lawsuits and prefers to settle issues such as this through negotiated licensing agreements. His comments coincided with an announcement that Microsoft and mobile phone maker HTC have signed an agreement whereby HTC will pay royalties for the right to use certain Microsoft technologies in Android-based mobile phones. According to Microsoft, the company is also in discussions with other mobile phone manufacturers.

AOL Sells ICQ to Digital Sky Technologies

Do you remember ICQ? A homophone for the phrase "I seek you", ICQ was the first internet wide instant messenger. Originally created in 1996 by Israeli-based Mirabilis, it was acquired by AOL in June 1998 for an amazing $407 million. Since the AOL purchase not much has happened with the program aside from AOL providing interoperability between the ICQ network and the AOL AIM network. Now AOL has sold ICQ off to Digital Sky Technologies for $187.5 million, less than half of what AOL originally paid.

Digital Sky Technologies is an investment firm based in Moscow which has investments in Mail.ru (domain used by a lot of spammers) and a couple of Russian social networks. DST also owns a 1.96% stake in Facebook. [via Mashable]

Apple Purchases a Chip Maker

In its quest for outfitting its mobile devices with the best processors, Apple has purchased Intrinsity. The small company from Texas specializes in mobile processors, and this appears to be a great fit for Apple. Apple hopes that this acquisition will help it to create faster processors that also use less power, and therefore prolong battery life. Many industry experts believe that the A4 processor found in the iPad owes its long battery life to technology developed by Intrinsity. This purchase adds even more engineers that specialize in low-power design, as Apple had previously purchased PA Semi, which does similar business. And all of this only cost Apple a tiny sum of $121 million.

Apple iPhone is No. 1 Device for Opera Mini in US, No. 3 Worldwide

Hardly anyone believed that Apple would actually allow the Opera Mini browser onto the iPhone. When Apple approved the app, it didn't take long for Opera Mini for the iPhone to become the top downloaded app in every App Store market. Now, in a "State of the Mobile Web" address, Opera co-founder Jon von Tetzchner has released some more details that show just how popular Opera Mini for the iPhone is.

Opera Mini for the iPhone was downloaded more than 1 million times in the first day.
In the US, the iPhone is the number one device for Opera Mini. It is now well past BlackBerry, which was the previous top spot.
Worldwide, the iPhone is the number three device for Opera Mini. Everything else in the top 20 is Nokia and Sony Ericsson handhelds.

Since Opera Mini for the iPhone has only been available since April 14th, the data used in the figures above is based on just a half month of usage.

iTunes 9.1.1 Available for OS X and Windows

iTunes 9.1.1 has been released and is available via software update or download. This update addresses a number of bugs and stability issues, including:

Addresses several stability issues with VoiceOver
Addresses a usability issue with VoiceOver and Genius Mixes
Addresses issues with converting songs to 128 kbps AAC while syncing
Addresses other issues that improve stability and performance

Apple released iTunes 9.1 on March 30th which allowed syncing of the iPad and purchases from the iBookstore.

A Brief Look at Windows Live Messenger for the iPhone

Instant messenger apps on the iPhone are a dime a dozen. Both Yahoo and AOL have official IM apps and there are a slew of multi-protocol clients such as Trillian, Meebo, and Beejive. Later this year Microsoft will bring Windows Live Messenger to the iPhone and Neowin has an exclusive first look at the app.

Aside from the chatting aspect that is obvious in an IM client, the Windows Live Messenger app will include photo sharing and a social stream. The app is expected to have a limited private beta in May, and release sometime after that. No word if the app will include Yahoo interoperability.

New AMD CPU Featured in CyberPower Rigs

The new AMD Phenom II X6 processor has hit the market, and some fans of the processor manufacturer just cannot get enough of the product. In certain cases, it proves to be a very versatile and great product, while in other cases different processors beat it out from the competition, Intel. CyberPower is offering the new AMD processor however in some of its rigs, and is starting some of its computers with the CPU at just $699. All of the computers that feature the Phenom II X6 come paired with the AMD 890FX chipset, while upgraded motherboards from various vendors are offered, but obviously cost more. The gaming units in the range include the personal computers known as the CyberPower Gamer Dragon CrossFire Ultimate as well as the Gamer Ultra CrossFireX Pro.

Windows 7 Fastest-Selling Windows OS

Barely six months have gone by since Windows 7 was formally released and now Microsoft has confirmed that it is on one in every ten computers worldwide. That translates to more than 100 million Windows 7 licenses sold which, according to Microsoft, makes it the fastest-selling Windows OS of all time. Microsoft also reported a revenue of $14.5 billion in the fiscal quarter that ended on March 31st, with CFO Peter Klein saying that Windows 7 "continues to be a growth engine." In fact, Windows revenue is up 28 percent year-on-year, so it is indeed growing in user base. It looks like Windows 7 has been a huge success for Microsoft, one that it can hopefully keep building on.

We'll have to Wait Until Q4 for SATA 6Gbps Indilinx and Sandforce SSD Controllers

The pace of development for solid state drives has continued apace since we first saw them make their début on the consumer hardware stage. A number of companies now offer a strong lineup of SSDs targeted at enthusiasts or those looking for more affordable options. Currently Micron's RealSSD controller is the only one you'll be seeing that supports the new 6Gbps SATA standard, with it appearing in Crucial's recently released RealSSD C300 drives. Drives using Sandforce's SF-1200 controller (such as ADATA's S599) are now beginning to hit the limit of the 3Gbps SATA interface (around 280MB/s) and it is now being reported by bit-tech that next generation parts from Indilinx (the company behind the popular Barefoot controller) and Sandforce aren't due to be introduced until Q4 of this year.

That means that Micron's controller is the only option at the moment for those looking to offer 6Gbps compatible drives. ADATA already has plans to release a drive based on the controller and has also made comments about SATA 6Gbps chipset performance. ADATA says that AMD's SB850 southbridge currently provides better throughput performance than any 3rd party chipsets (which is what you'll find on Intel motherboards currently), so that seems to be the way to go for maximum drive performance for now.

Sanwa Debuts Wattage-Monitoring Power Strip

Sometimes products launch that do not directly fit into a market, but this does not appear to the be case for the latest Sanwa product. Sanwa had debuted a new power strip that will also m onitor how many watts you are using. The new power strip, the 700-TP1052DW, has a built-in LCD screen that will display the total watage being used by all the devices plugged in to it. You plug in your devices and then flip the corresponding switch above the socket, which will supply the power to whatever it is you have plugged in. If the device you are using is drawing a lot of power, the power strip will alert you as you are approaching the critical level. The critical level is 1500 watts so you should have plenty of headroom before you reach it.

No word on pricing or availability was announced at this time.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

IT News HeadLines (Overclockers Club) 29/04/2010

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