IT News HeadLines (HardOCP) 30/07/2010

Best Buy to Offer Free invisibleSHIELD
It looks like Best Buy is offering a free invisibleSHIELD to all iPhone 4 owners, regardless whether you bought the phone there or not. Thanks to everyone that sent this one in. It's hard to say for certain what exactly this flyer means, but it sure looks as if at least some iPhone 4 owners will be able to snatch a free invisibleSHIELD 4fix (valued at $9.99 or so) from their local Best Buy. Based on a number of tips that we've received, we're getting the impression that the yellow-tagged retailer could be handing out (and installing) completely free side coverings for any iPhone 4 owner that waltzes into a store. Comments
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Porn Industry Sees Potential In iPhone 4
You know Steve Jobs probably isn't too thrilled about this. Not because it is the porn industryÂ…it's because someone beside Apple is making money off the iPhone. Invent the newest gadget and the porn industry will find a way to cash in. So when Apple Inc. launched the iPhone 4 and its FaceTime videoconference feature, it didn't take long for adult-entertainment companies to develop video-sex chat services and start hiring workers through Craigslist. Comments
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AMD Wrestles Discrete Graphics Crown from NVIDIA
The numbers are in and, according to a 2Q market share report from Mercury Research, AMD is once again the king of the discrete graphics card market. While the full report isn't available just yet, highlights include: For the first time in four years, AMD has taken control of the discrete graphics market from Nvidia, with 51.1% market share, up 10.4 points from Q2 2009. In that same period, Nvidia lost 10.4 points. In the lucrative Desktop discrete market, AMD gained 11 points in the year, standing at 44.5% market share. This was a direct loss for Nvidia, who fell 10.9 points in the same period. In the fast growing mobile discrete market, AMD gained another 2.4 points, now standing at 56.3% market share. Comments
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Libraries Beat Netflix, Redbox in DVD Rentals
Somebody better tell Nextflix and Redbox to step up their game, the old lady at the library is kicking their ass in DVD rentals. Wow, who knew libraries rented DVDs? The nation's public libraries are loaning more DVDs each day than Netflix rents to its by-mail subscribers. So says a new survey from the OCLC Online Computer Library Center, a nonprofit national library cooperative, which found that public library branches in the U.S. lend out a whopping 2.1 million DVDs a day, topping the two million discs rented daily by Netflix and the 1.4 million DVD rented each day by Redbox. Comments
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Stupid "Payment Demand" Letter of the Day
Getting a letter threatening to turn of your internet service for non-payment isn't surprisingÂ….unless of course the amount in question is $0.00. Uh-oh, you'd better cut a check before you are sent to collections! Thanks to "Insert" for the image. Comments
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NVIDIA Warns of 2nd Quarter Revenue Shortfall
The hits just keep coming for NVIDIA. First the company was named as the worst performing stock of 2010, then they lose their case to RAMBUS and now the company is warning of a 2Q revenue shortfall. Ouch. Thanks to R. Groenestein for the heads up. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based graphics chip supplier said it expects revenue for its second quarter ending August 1 to be lower than the guidance provided with the company's financial results for the first quarter. Nvidia supplies graphics processing units, or GPUs, to all major computer makers, including Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Apple. Comments
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100M Facebook Users' Info Published Online
Interested in a little light reading? Then hit up the torrent sites and download the personal details of 100M Facebook users. Don't tell anybody but rumor has it that you can get 5X that info if you go here. The personal details of 100 million Facebook users have been collected and published online in a downloadable file, meaning they will now be unable to make their publicly available information private. Comments
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AT&T: We Don't Intend to Stop Black Hat Demo
A spokesman for AT&T says the company has no plans to interfere with an upcoming Black Hat demonstration that shows how to set up a fake cell tower to intercept phone calls. Then again, the guy behind this demo has probably already intercepted the call so he already knows this. "If you're in the room, need to dial 911 and you have a GSM phone, you can just raise your hand and shout. In the extremely unlikely situation that someone near the room with a GSM phone connects to my demo network and also needs to dial 911, I am taking the extra precaution of ensuring that that person will be connected to someone local who can call for or send help," he said in his blog post. Comments
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Bunker-Busting ATM Attacks Show Security Holes
You know when the Black Hat security conference is in town the conversation is inevitably going to turn talk of hacking ATM machines. Every year a hacker emerges from a basement somewhere to scare the hell out of the general public with this stuff before disappearing again for another year. A hacker has discovered a way to force ATMs to disgorge their cash by hijacking the computers inside them. The attacks demonstrated Wednesday targeted standalone ATMs. But they could potentially be used against the ATMs operated by mainstream banks. Comments
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Microsoft, Adobe Collaborate to Protect Against Online Threats
Today at the Black Hat USA 2010 conference, Microsoft Corp. announced that it will extend its Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) to include vulnerability information sharing from Adobe Systems Inc. Microsoft also discussed the new policy of coordinated vulnerability disclosure — a reframing of responsible disclosure — and introduced new tools and guidance that will improve online security for customers. Comments
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Intel's Graff and Mosgovoy Honored with CRN Awards
Lisa Graff, vice president of Intel's Architecture Group and general manager of the Enterprise Platforms and Services Division, and Annette Mosgovoy, director of market development of Intel's Emerging Markets Platform Group, have been selected as recipients of CRN magazine's Women of the Channel Award. The award recognizes these women, among others, for their professional achievements and impact in the technology channel. Comments
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The Spotlight on Online Gaming
Why CreditScore has compiled all this information on gaming is a mystery to me but it is pretty interesting none the less. Maybe gaming lowers / raises your credit score?
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ASUS ROG Matrix 5870 Platinum Install
Looking to replace my Radeon HD 5970 and decided to go with ASUS' ROG Matrix 5870 Platinum that we recently reviewed. It is loaded with features rarely seen on video cards and I thought it would find a good home in my personal rig. And yes, we have a purpose behind our upgrade too.
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