Apple being targeted for a new patent lawsuit

California-based NetAirus Technologies LLC is pursuing a patent infringement case against Apple and its iPhone.

The Loop reports that the company filed with the US District Court of California’s Western Division last Friday, contending that Apple’s popular iPhone device infringes on one of their patents concerning a "small light weight modular microcomputer based computer and communications systems, designed for both portability and desktop uses”.

The patent in question was granted to NetAirus on September 5, 2006 and seems to cover the broad concept of a “Wireless Handset Communication System” that almost any modern smartphone would infringe upon. NetAirus is claiming patent infringement for all iPhone models and is seeking payment for damages and a manufacturing suspension.

The patent states:

A small light weight modular microcomputer based computer and communications systems, designed for both portability and desktop uses. The systems make use of a relative large flat panel display device assembly (2), an expandable hinge device (10), battery power source (9), keyboard assembly (16), and wireless communications devices (32, 51). The systems are capable of bi-directional realtime communications of voice, audio, text, graphics and video data. Both wire-based or wireless communications methods and devices are implemented. Wireless communications devices may include one or more telephone-like handsets (14) and/or earset (34). The wireless communication devices may include one or more antennae (32). Systems can be configured in a portable arrangement similar to conventional notebook computers, but can be quickly and easily disassembled and re-assembled for office desktop uses. Systems may consist of a base computer unit (100) comprising wireless communication devices may act as a relay station relaying voice and other data between the handset or earset and external wide area communications networks. The system may be capable of performing, personal digital assistant (PDA), cellular telephone, conventional notebook computer, desktop computer functions.

www.neown.net

Gran Turismo 5 still "about 90%" done

Gran Turismo 5, perhaps one of the most hotly anticipated PlayStation 3 titles since its announcement at Sony's E3 conference back in 2006, is still "about 90%" done, according to Polyphony Digital boss Kazunori Yamauchi.

Speaking to Inside Line in an exclusive interview, Yamauchi said, "About 90 per cent of the game is done. We are just working on the last 10 per cent and polishing up everything. There are currently around 140 people working on the project."

The developer added that Gran Turismo will not be released until it has "satisfied everyone's wishes and then exceeded them."

As reported by Eurogamer, Yamauchi previously stated that the game was "about 90%" done at January's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, indicating that the game is no closer to completion than it was five months ago, or that at the very least some late features may be being added.

Sony previously announced a March release for the game in Japan, but delayed it again in January. According to information on the PlayStation blog from Episode 4 of online magazine FirstPlay, the game is currently slated for a "Winter 2010" release.

 

www.neowin.net

Bill Gates, "Microsoft has a lot of different tablet projects that we're pursuing"

A lot of Microsoft fans were disappointed when Microsoft announced that Courier project had been canceled.  While no one on the outside knows for sure why it was canceled, many suspect that the device will live on in another project in the near future.

Bill Gates, according to gurufocus.com, is reported to have said “Microsoft has a lot of different tablet projects that we're pursuing. We think that work with the pen that Microsoft pioneered will become a mainstream for students. It can give you a device that you can not only read, but also create documents at the same time.”

What Bill Gates is describing sounds very similar to the Courier concept that was shown off.  It was a pen based input system that allowed you to not only read on the device, but to also create documents.  For those who were waiting for the Courier from Microsoft, it’s probably safe to say that the device is still coming but it won’t be as soon as you might have hoped.

 

www.neowin.net

StarCraft II gets July 27 worldwide release date

Speaking in a press release, Blizzard Entertainment has confirmed a July 27 worldwide release date for its highly-anticipated real-time strategy game, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. While the date is only for retail sales, the title will be available on the developer’s download service “shortly after” launch.

"We’ve been looking forward to revisiting the StarCraft universe for many years, and we’re excited that the time for that is almost here,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Thanks to our beta testers, we’re making great progress on the final stages of development, and we’ll be ready to welcome players all over the world to StarCraft II and the new Battle.net in just a few months."

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the sequel to Blizzard Entertainment’s 1998 hit StarCraft, which has been hailed by players and critics worldwide as one of the top real-time strategy games of all time. Sporting a vibrant new 3D-graphics engine, StarCraft II will once again center on the clash between the protoss, terrans, and zerg, with each side deploying legions of veteran, upgraded, and brand-new unit types.

The title is currently in a closed beta test with users on both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.

 

www.neowin.net

28 days later...1 Million iPads sold

Apple announced on Monday that it had sold 1 Million iPads in just 28 days.

Apple is expected to shift 4 Million iPads by the end of the year according to early estimates from analysts prior to the tablet computers launch on April 3. Apple CEO Steve Jobs was upbeat about the news, "One million iPads in 28 days—that’s less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone," he said in a statement. Jobs' also confirmed that demand continues to exceed supply chains for the device. According to Job's the company is working hard to "get this magical product into the hands of even more customers."

Apple also confirmed that iPad users have already downloaded over 12 million apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from the new iBookstore. Apple launched the 3G iPad version on April 30 in the U.S. and according to early estimates it shipped 300,000 units in the first weekend of sales. The international version of the device is expected to go on sale later this month after a delay due to supply issues.

 

www.neowin.net

Pachter: Xbox 360 Slim is coming

Speaking on the latest episode of GameTrailer’s Pach Attack, Wedbush Morgan Analyst Michael Pachter has said that he believes that the long-rumored Xbox 360 Slim is in fact real and will be bundled with Project Natal and a 250 GB hard drive, all for around $299.

Pachter said the following in response to a question regarding the existence of the unit:

"I think there is a 360 Slim, although I don’t think they will call it Slim since the PS3 is called that. I think there is a cheaper version of the Xbox 360 console coming out. I think it will probably have a different graphics card and processor, and if it does exist they will save around $20/30 on each unit.

"They won’t cut the price on this unit. Instead they will bundle it with Natal and perhaps a 250GB HDD for $299, see if they can get 8-10 million units out there and make Natal their future platform.

"So yeah, I think a Slim SKU is coming out, but no, you won’t be able to buy it cheaper than $299 until at least next year."

A Slimline Xbox 360 has been heavily rumored since Microsoft announced Project Natal at 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.

Fan Made Image: VGChartz

 

www.neowin.net

Firefox add-ons gets an overhaul

As pointed out by mozillalinks, Mozilla is planning to do a major overhaul of their add-on manager UI for Firefox.  The new add-on manager will change from the existing popup window, to its own tab.

The add-on manager will move from the existing top navigation to side-tabs, keeping the same list view of available and installed add-ons.  Users will be able to manage their languages, search engines, extensions, themes and plug-ins all in the same window, being able to search for addition add-ons through the built in Mozilla search.

The add-on manager now includes search engines, where previously only available on its own, apart from the add-on window.  Mozilla has not announced their default list of search engines yet, but will allow a undo and restore search engine option.

Some of the functionality and UI isn't final yet, and is currently very buggy.

image courtesy of mozillalinks.org

www.neowin.net

Spirit jailbreak for iPad released

The iPhone Dev-Team wasn't messing around when they promised to release an iPad jailbreak soon after the iPad 3G's release. Today, on their site, they have posted the official release of Spirit. Spirit is the codename for the team's latest endeavor, allowing an untethered jailbreak for Apple's latest and greatest devices.

Spirit is a "userland" jailbreak. This means that it exposes a security weakness in the Apple firmware itself. The jailbreak is applied after the OS kernel is already running, making this weakness something that Apple is sure to patch in a timely manner.

Spirit will work for all devices. The Dev-Team states that the jailbreak is "most useful" for the iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3G, and both versions of the iPad. As with any modification to your iPad, be aware that any unofficial modification could void your warranty and is done so at the users own risk.

 

www.neowin.net

Browser Wars: IE falls below record 60%, Chrome continues to grow

April was an interesting month in the browser wars. Computerworld reports that Net Applications' analysis shows Google's Chrome browser increasing it's share of the browser market by .6 of a percentage point. It did significantly better than Firefox or IE, and it's the biggest monthly growth since its release in September 2008. While Firefox did show growth, it was only by .07 of a percentage point, and that's the second month of growth after four straight months of shrinkage starting in November 2009. IE fell to 59.95%, the first time IE has ever fallen below the 60% mark. While Firefox has generally been stable since the release of Chrome, IE has since dropped by 9%, leading analysts to infer that the lost market share is primarily being eaten up by Google. StatCounter posts diffferent numbers for each browser (IE: 51.42%, Firefox: 32.62%, Chrome: 8.82%), but both agree with the trend of IE losing significant share to Google.

Image courtesy of ConceivablyTech

ConceivablyTech sees an explanation for IE's troubles in the numbers. Net Applications shows that 62.6% of its users upgraded to version 3.6, while IE8 is at 27.6% compared to older version of IE. This points to a loyalty among Firefox users who are willing to stick with a product and upgrade it when newer versions of release. According to ConceivablyTech, this shows that IE simply isn't "compelling enough" anymore.

ConceivablyTech predicts a battle between Google and Microsoft at the end of all this. Even though Chrome's market share is a paltry 6.73% compared to the competition, it has sustained an almost double-digit growth rate (9.79%) growth rate, and doesn't seem to be letting up. ConceivablyTech doesn't see Mozilla as a likely contender due to a simple lack of resources. When up against two of the technology titans, Firefox won't have the size, clout, and money to put up a proper fight.

 

www.neowin.net

Microsoft Reveals the New Windows Live Messenge

In keeping with its strategy to slowly reveal different components of Windows Live wave 4 over time, Microsoft today unveiled the next version of Windows Live Messenger. The product was officially unveiled during a talk Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave in Sao Paulo, Brazil called "Five Dimensions of the Cloud." But you can find out more on the newly-available Windows Live Preview web site. Don't be fooled by the prominent "Download" button, however: It's not available for public consumption quite yet.

The New Messenger

Windows Live Messenger is the most meaningful way to stay in touch with the people that matter most and has great new ways to connect and share.

Consumers Prioritize Their Friends Differently

Like most online consumers, you probably accept social networking invitations all the time from friends, family, co-workers and distant acquaintances, steadily expanding your circle of online interaction — and often, you’ll likely accept an invite simply because you feel bad saying no. However, even though you’re “connected” to a vast network of people online, you typically end up communicating regularly with a smaller group of “real friends” — those are the close friends whose profiles you’ll visit, who you’ll send private messages to, who you’ll allow to interrupt you in real time and connect over instant messaging (IM). Moreover, conversations and sharing with those close friends compose a significant amount of the time you spend online.

Sharing Is Exploding — in More Ways, on More websites, From More Devices

As internet usage continues to explode, consumers everywhere are spending more time across a variety of different websites, communicating and interacting with friends, family, acquaintances and co-workers. In the process, you are likely racking up different credentials on multiple networks and subsequently have to share the same photo or video in multiple places to make sure it reaches those people you care about. This leads to tons of duplication and social overload in trying to stay in touch with your friends. Some online services are trying to solve this by making you do everything on their website and with their network. But we believe that you shouldn’t have to stop using the services you enjoy — someone just needs to make this easier and help you navigate through all that social clutter. What you need are tools that help you prioritize your closest friends and find the social updates, photos, messages and other data from those important people.

Consumers Want Control Over Their Privacy

As you start communicating and sharing more online, you end up placing personal information, data and content all over the internet. This has resulted in a growing concern about online privacy, with more than 75 percent of consumers today admitting they are worried about their online privacy and more than 50 percent of users saying they are confused about the extent of what’s public, what’s private, what content is viewable and by whom.

At Microsoft, our goal is to ensure that you are in control of the privacy. You shouldn’t have to feel like you don’t have control over your privacy and that your data could potentially be made public without your permission.

The New Messenger — Transformed to Help You Stay in Touch With the People That Matter

The new Windows Live Messenger is designed to address all these challenges, make your conversations more meaningful, and give you the tools to bring together all your social updates and help you connect with the people that matter. We have reinvented Messenger to do four important things:

• Deliver the best IM — making common tasks easier and personal interactions more meaningful
• Seamlessly integrate into the things you’re already doing on the web and on your phone
• Give you the ultimate social dashboard for staying in touch while eliminating the noise
• Provide tools that are designed to put you in control and keep your private life private

 

www.winsupersite.com

'Thoughts on Flash', by Steve Jobs

Here’s the full letter:

"Apple has a long relationship with Adobe. In fact, we met Adobe’s founders when they were in their proverbial garage. Apple was their first big customer, adopting their Postscript language for our new Laserwriter printer. Apple invested in Adobe and owned around 20% of the company for many years. The two companies worked closely together to pioneer desktop publishing and there were many good times. Since that golden era, the companies have grown apart. Apple went through its near death experience, and Adobe was drawn to the corporate market with their Acrobat products. Today the two companies still work together to serve their joint creative customers – Mac users buy around half of Adobe’s Creative Suite products – but beyond that there are few joint interests.

I wanted to jot down some of our thoughts on Adobe’s Flash products so that customers and critics may better understand why we do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads. Adobe has characterized our decision as being primarily business driven – they say we want to protect our App Store – but in reality it is based on technology issues. Adobe claims that we are a closed system, and that Flash is open, but in fact the opposite is true. Let me explain.

 

First, there’s “Open”.

Adobe’s Flash products are 100% proprietary. They are only available from Adobe, and Adobe has sole authority as to their future enhancement, pricing, etc. While Adobe’s Flash products are widely available, this does not mean they are open, since they are controlled entirely by Adobe and available only from Adobe. By almost any definition, Flash is a closed system.

Apple has many proprietary products too. Though the operating system for the iPhone, iPod and iPad is proprietary, we strongly believe that all standards pertaining to the web should be open. Rather than use Flash, Apple has adopted HTML5, CSS and JavaScript – all open standards. Apple’s mobile devices all ship with high performance, low power implementations of these open standards. HTML5, the new web standard that has been adopted by Apple, Google and many others, lets web developers create advanced graphics, typography, animations and transitions without relying on third party browser plug-ins (like Flash). HTML5 is completely open and controlled by a standards committee, of which Apple is a member.

Apple even creates open standards for the web. For example, Apple began with a small open source project and created WebKit, a complete open-source HTML5 rendering engine that is the heart of the Safari web browser used in all our products. WebKit has been widely adopted. Google uses it for Android’s browser, Palm uses it, Nokia uses it, and RIM (Blackberry) has announced they will use it too. Almost every smartphone web browser other than Microsoft’s uses WebKit. By making its WebKit technology open, Apple has set the standard for mobile web browsers.

Second, there’s the “full web”.

Adobe has repeatedly said that Apple mobile devices cannot access “the full web” because 75% of video on the web is in Flash. What they don’t say is that almost all this video is also available in a more modern format, H.264, and viewable on iPhones, iPods and iPads. YouTube, with an estimated 40% of the web’s video, shines in an app bundled on all Apple mobile devices, with the iPad offering perhaps the best YouTube discovery and viewing experience ever. Add to this video from Vimeo, Netflix, Facebook, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ESPN, NPR, Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, People, National Geographic, and many, many others. iPhone, iPod and iPad users aren’t missing much video.

Another Adobe claim is that Apple devices cannot play Flash games. This is true. Fortunately, there are over 50,000 games and entertainment titles on the App Store, and many of them are free. There are more games and entertainment titles available for iPhone, iPod and iPad than for any other platform in the world.

Third, there’s reliability, security and performance.

Symantec recently highlighted Flash for having one of the worst security records in 2009. We also know first hand that Flash is the number one reason Macs crash. We have been working with Adobe to fix these problems, but they have persisted for several years now. We don’t want to reduce the reliability and security of our iPhones, iPods and iPads by adding Flash.

In addition, Flash has not performed well on mobile devices. We have routinely asked Adobe to show us Flash performing well on a mobile device, any mobile device, for a few years now. We have never seen it. Adobe publicly said that Flash would ship on a smartphone in early 2009, then the second half of 2009, then the first half of 2010, and now they say the second half of 2010. We think it will eventually ship, but we’re glad we didn’t hold our breath. Who knows how it will perform?

Fourth, there’s battery life.

To achieve long battery life when playing video, mobile devices must decode the video in hardware; decoding it in software uses too much power. Many of the chips used in modern mobile devices contain a decoder called H.264 – an industry standard that is used in every Blu-ray DVD player and has been adopted by Apple, Google (YouTube), Vimeo, Netflix and many other companies.

Although Flash has recently added support for H.264, the video on almost all Flash websites currently requires an older generation decoder that is not implemented in mobile chips and must be run in software. The difference is striking: on an iPhone, for example, H.264 videos play for up to 10 hours, while videos decoded in software play for less than 5 hours before the battery is fully drained.

When websites re-encode their videos using H.264, they can offer them without using Flash at all. They play perfectly in browsers like Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome without any plugins whatsoever, and look great on iPhones, iPods and iPads.

Fifth, there’s Touch.

Flash was designed for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers. For example, many Flash websites rely on “rollovers”, which pop up menus or other elements when the mouse arrow hovers over a specific spot. Apple’s revolutionary multi-touch interface doesn’t use a mouse, and there is no concept of a rollover. Most Flash websites will need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices. If developers need to rewrite their Flash websites, why not use modern technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript?

Even if iPhones, iPods and iPads ran Flash, it would not solve the problem that most Flash websites need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices.

Sixth, the most important reason.

Besides the fact that Flash is closed and proprietary, has major technical drawbacks, and doesn’t support touch based devices, there is an even more important reason we do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads. We have discussed the downsides of using Flash to play video and interactive content from websites, but Adobe also wants developers to adopt Flash to create apps that run on our mobile devices.

We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform. If developers grow dependent on third party development libraries and tools, they can only take advantage of platform enhancements if and when the third party chooses to adopt the new features. We cannot be at the mercy of a third party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our developers.

This becomes even worse if the third party is supplying a cross platform development tool. The third party may not adopt enhancements from one platform unless they are available on all of their supported platforms. Hence developers only have access to the lowest common denominator set of features. Again, we cannot accept an outcome where developers are blocked from using our innovations and enhancements because they are not available on our competitor’s platforms.

Flash is a cross platform development tool. It is not Adobe’s goal to help developers write the best iPhone, iPod and iPad apps. It is their goal to help developers write cross platform apps. And Adobe has been painfully slow to adopt enhancements to Apple’s platforms. For example, although Mac OS X has been shipping for almost 10 years now, Adobe just adopted it fully (Cocoa) two weeks ago when they shipped CS5. Adobe was the last major third party developer to fully adopt Mac OS X.

Our motivation is simple – we want to provide the most advanced and innovative platform to our developers, and we want them to stand directly on the shoulders of this platform and create the best apps the world has ever seen. We want to continually enhance the platform so developers can create even more amazing, powerful, fun and useful applications. Everyone wins – we sell more devices because we have the best apps, developers reach a wider and wider audience and customer base, and users are continually delighted by the best and broadest selection of apps on any platform.

Conclusions.

Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.

The avalanche of media outlets offering their content for Apple’s mobile devices demonstrates that Flash is no longer necessary to watch video or consume any kind of web content. And the 200,000 apps on Apple’s App Store proves that Flash isn’t necessary for tens of thousands of developers to create graphically rich applications, including games.

New open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win on mobile devices (and PCs too). Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.

Steve Jobs

April, 2010"

Photo Credit Zadi Diaz.

Coming soon to Hotmail, push email for mobile phones via ActiveSync

Microsoft is planning to introduce Hotmail push email support for a wide range of phones including the iPhone, Windows Mobile devices and Android.

Microsoft will introduce the support using Exchange ActiveSync, available on nearly 300 million phones. With push email you will be able to sychronize email between your phone and the web, and also synchronize calendar and contacts.

Targeting Gmail

Microsoft has traditionally used a closed door approach for access to Hotmail compared to offerings from its rivals. Google offers Exchange ActiveSync support with its Gmail service and Microsoft is aiming to ensure Hotmail offers everything gmail does and more. The new Hotmail will also include a single contact list of all online contacts including those from services like Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. Microsoft is also introducing Active Views to integrate the content and functionality of other websites directly into emails that users receive. If a contact sends you an email with a link to a YouTube video or a Flickr photo album, you will be able to view the video or photo slide show within the email itself.

Security improvements

Microsoft is also planning to improve the security features of Hotmail. The new Hotmail introduces increased security in the form of "account proofs". Proofs allow users to recover access to their Hotmail account using mobile phones or PCs as proof of account ownership. Similar to the secret security questions, users will be able to send an account recapture code via an SMS message or regain access to their Hotmail accounts by using a computer that is registered with Hotmail. Microsoft also plans to introduce single use codes. The codes will be available for when you sign into Hotmail from public computers. By using a code you will not have to enter your password to access Hotmail, preventing it being stolen by key loggers that could be installed on the machine. A one time code will be sent to users via an alternative email or mobile phone.

Push email support will be introduced with Windows Live Wave 4 in June.

 

www.neowin.net

Sony set to launch Google TV in May

Bloomberg reports that Sony is planning to introduce new TVs with Intel chips and Google software next month.

According to the report, Sony and Google plan to discuss the new products at a conference sponsored by Google in San Francisco on May 19 and May 20. The trio has also picked up Logitech to design the remote control for the new set-top box, including a tiny keyboard for navigation.  The set-top box is said to be Android powered, Google’s popular smartphone operating system, and require an Internet connection.

 

Google and Sony have their work cut out for them, entering a market that already has heavy competition, including Cisco, Motorola, Microsoft, Apple, TiVo, Roku and Boxee.  Not to mention Yahoo, who demonstrated Widgets on the new lineup of LG HDTV’s.

Intel will be providing the Atom processors for Google TV, while Google will be providing the open-source Android platform, opening it up to developers in the coming months to design and develop applications.

Image Credit: sonyinsider.com

 

www.neowin.net

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Released

After three alphas, two betas and a release candidate, we are pleased to announce that Ubuntu 10.04 LTS is here, today (April 29th), available on mirrors worldwide (see the download links at the end of the article). It is our greatest pleasure to introduce you guys to the highlights of this new release dubbed Lucid Lynx. It all began on September 22nd, 2009, when Mark Shuttleworth announced the Lucid Lynx operating system, the next major release of the popular Ubuntu Linux operating system. Ubuntu 10.04 LTS is also the twelfth release of the Ubuntu OS and, being an LTS (Long Term Support) release it will be supported for 3 years on desktops and 5 years on servers.

Under the hood of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx):
· GNOME 2.30.0 desktop environment;
· Linux kernel 2.6.32.11;
· Nouveau video driver;
· X.Org 7.5;
· X.Org server 1.7.6;
· Compiz Fusion 0.8.4;
· Plymouth graphical boot manager;
· New artwork.

The Ubuntu 10.04 LTS feature tour:
· Improved boot times - Once again, the boot speed has been improved through various modern tweaks;
· New boot splash theme - Plymouth replaced Usplash. It is slicker, better looking, but it does not work good with proprietary video drivers;

· Home encryption - Available in the installer's "Who are you?" step;
· Revamped login screen - GDM (GNOME Display Manager) has a new skin (in tone with the new artwork), and has been greatly improved with lots of features;
· 15 new wallpapers - from various photographers around the world;
· Two new themes - the default theme one is black and features Mac-style window buttons;
· Ubuntu One Music Store - enables users to easily buy music online via Rhythmbox. It allows them to preview files!;
· Ubuntu One File Syncing - it's easy now to sync files with the Ubuntu One service, just by right clicking on them and selecting the "Synchronize on Ubuntu One" option;
· MP3 support - can be easily installed just by opening the Rhythmbox music player;
· Ubuntu Software Center - offers better descriptions and screenshots for many programs. Installing applications has never been easier!;
· New blogging client - Gwibber is a new piece of software that helps you stay in touch with your friends;
· Easy-to-use search tool - Search for Files has been added to the Accessories menu and it allows users to search a folder or the entire system for various files;
· Create and edit your home movies - With PiTiVi, you can edit video files or create movies with chapters;
· Revamped Terminal client - the GNOME Terminal application is now fully skinned to be in tone with the new artwork;
· Support for Digg, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr - ...and other popular social networking services;
· Revamped Indicator Applet - with support for social networking, and other useful features;
· Open Source video driver for Nvidia graphics cards - Nouveau is now the default video driver for Nvidia GPUs.

 

www.softpedia.com

Firefox for Android pre-alpha released

Mozilla today put out a very early look at Firefox for Android. Code named “Fennec”, today’s pre-alpha release was put together by a group of Mozilla developers mainly for testing and feedback purposes.

Thus far it has only been tested on the Motorola Droid and Google Nexus One because of its requirements and early stage in development. Mozilla developer Vladimir Vukićević has compiled a list of caveats that testers should keep in mind when previewing the browser:

• It will likely not eat your phone, but bugs might cause your phone to stop responding, requiring a reboot.
• Memory usage of this build isn't great -- in many ways it's a debug build, and we haven't really done a lot of optimization yet.  This could cause some problems with large pages, especially on low memory devices like the Droid.
• You'll see the app exit and relaunch on first start, as well as on add-on installs; this is a quirk of our install process, and we're working to get rid of it.
• You can't open links from other apps using Fennec; we should have this for the next build.
• This build requires Android 2.0 or above, and likely an OpenGL ES 2.0 capable device.

Users wishing to test it out can either download it directly from their browser at bit.ly/fennec-android or by using the QR code above. Be sure to allow non-Market app installations in Settings -> Applications -> Unknown Sources.

 

www.neowin.net

HP buys Palm for $1.2 Billion

HP said on Wednesday that it had entered into an agreement to purchase Palm for $1.2 Billion.

In a press release issued by HP, the company said the acquisition would allow HP to "participate more aggressively in the fast-growing, highly profitable smartphone and connected mobile device markets." HP plans to take advantage of WebOS by using the multitasking features and always up-to-date information sharing across applications.

“Palm’s innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP’s mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices,” said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. “And, Palm possesses significant IP assets and has a highly skilled team. The smartphone market is large, profitable and rapidly growing, and companies that can provide an integrated device and experience command a higher share. Advances in mobility are offering significant opportunities, and HP intends to be a leader in this market.”

Palm’s current chairman and CEO, Jon Rubinstein, is expected to remain with the company. More details about the acquisition will be revealed during a conference call .

 

www.neowin.net

BlackBerry OS 6.0

At WES 2010 on Tuesday, RIM announced a lot more details about the next version of its OS platform, which it’s now officially calling “BlackBerry 6,” and provided a demo of the new software in action.

Here is a punch list of the new features:

• Updated GUI that extends the black OS 5 theme with new animations and transitions
• New home screen
• New Web browser based on Webkit, with multiple sessions and tabbed browsing
• Multiple views in the UI for apps (such as All, Favorites, Media, Downloads)
• New context-sensitive pop-up menus
• Multi-touch, including pinch-to-zoom in Web browser and photos
• Universal search
• New app that will pull in feeds from both RSS and social media
• New media player
• Most of BlackBerry’s core apps redesigned for the new platform 

 

www.zdnet.com

Apple announces WWDC 2010

Apple announced on Wednesday that this year’s World Wide Developers Conference will take place in San Francisco from June 7 to 11.

Held annually in the summer by Apple, the conference targets iPhone and Mac developers to work in over 100 technical sessions and hands-on labs with Apple engineers. More than 1,000 Apple engineers will be available on deck at the Moscone West Center for instruction and tutorial. This years conference will center on five key tracks:

• Application Frameworks: Implementing Local and Push Notifications; Future Proofing Your App; Understanding Foundation; What’s New in Foundation for iPhone OS 4; Advanced Cocoa® Text Tips and Tricks; API Design for Cocoa and Cocoa Touch®; Advanced Gesture Recognition; Integrating Ads with iAd; Building a Server-driven Personalized User Experience; Using Core Location in iPhone OS 4; and Calendar Integration with Event Kit.
• Internet & Web: Delivering Audio and Video Using Web Standards; Getting the Most Out of Safari® Integrated Developer Tools; Using HTML5 Local Data Storage; Adding Touch and Gesture Detection to Webpages on iPhone OS; and Creating Info Graphics with Standard Web Technologies.
• Graphics & Media: OpenGL ES Tuning & Optimization; OpenGL ES Shading & Advanced Rendering; OpenGL ES Overview for iPhone OS; OpenGL for Mac OS X; Game Design and Development for iPhone OS; Introduction to Game Center; Setting Up Games on Game Center; Game Center Techniques; Core Animation in Practice; Discovering AV Foundation; Editing Media with AV Foundation; and Advances in HTTP Live Streaming.
• Developer Tools: Developer Tools Overview; Designing Apps with Interface Builder; Working Effectively with Objective-C® on iPhone OS; Mastering Core Data; Advanced Objective-C and Garbage Collection Techniques; Advanced Performance Analysis with Instruments; Mastering Xcode for iPhone Development; and Adopting Multitasking on iPhone OS.
• Core OS: Network Apps for iPhone OS; Core OS Networking; Creating Secure Apps; Developing Apps that Work with iPhone OS Accessories; I/O Kit Device Drivers for Mac OS X; and Simplifying Networking Using Bonjour®.
• 

 

www.neowin.net

U.S. senators raise Facebook privacy concerns

Four Democratic senators have raised concerns over Facebook's privacy controls in a letter due to be sent to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The Associated Press received a draft of the letter due to be sent out which was signed by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) and Sen. Al Franken (D-MN).

Facebook's announcement offering a like button and its other projects to expand over the internet raise "new concerns for users who want to maintain control over their information," the draft letter read.

Schumer himself has also recently sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission telling the regulators to create clear privacy guidelines for Facebook and other social networking sites to abide by. Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes responded saying the company hoped to meet with Schumer to explain its privacy policies.

Some of the senators' privacy concerns are:

• Other businesses can store users' data for over 24hrs.
• Users' accounts can have their information published on outside websites without the user "opting in".

The current system requires Facebook users to opt-out of allowing Facebook to share their data with other websites. Facebook has continuously had issues regarding its privacy policies in the past and in some cases has consulted with its users directly to try resolve them.

 

www.neowin.net

Android 2.2 already in testing, new features highlighted

Google’s next Android OS has already been spotted in Android and Me’s server logs. Codenamed ‘Froyo’, Android 2.2 should be approaching completion soon as Google employees only receive new point releases for testing once development nears finalization.

While user agents are easily faked nowadays, Android and Me has confirmed from several sources close to Google that the Froyo is indeed being tested.

Although Google stopped publicly posting roadmaps for Android last year, sources confirm that the release is mainly targeting performance improvements and bug fixes. Froyo is rumored to include the following new features and fixes:

• JIT compiler (confirmed)
• Free additional RAM (from newer 2.6.32 Linux kernel)
• OpenGL ES 2.0 enhancements
• Flash 10.1 support (1H 2010)
• Fixed problem with “crazy screen” / Resolution of cross multitouch
• Activation of Color Trackball
• Enable FM radio

The rumored release day for Android 2.2 is May 19, the start of Google’s I/O developer event. A free Motorola Droid or Nexus One has been promised for every developer attending the conference. (registration is now closed)

Image credit Android and Me.

www.neowin.net

Expert: Invalid Warrant Used in Raid on iPhone Reporter’s Home

Police raided the house of an editor for Gizmodo on Friday and seized computers and other equipment. The raid was part of an investigation into the leak of a prototype iPhone that the site obtained for a blockbuster story last week. Now, a legal expert has raised questions about the legality of the warrant used in the raid.

 

On Friday, officers from California’s Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team in San Mateo, California, appeared at the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen while he was not there and broke open the front door.

Chen and his wife discovered the officers when they returned from dinner around 9:45 that evening. According to an account he posted online, Chen noticed his garage door was partly open, and when he tried to open it completely, officers came out and told him they had a warrant to search the premises. The warrant had been signed just hours earlier, at 7:00 p.m., by a San Mateo County Superior Court judge. It allowed the police to search Chen, his residence and any vehicle in his control.

The officers were in the process of cataloging the items they had already taken from the premises and told Chen they had been in his home a “few hours already.” According to California law, a search warrant may be served between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. unless otherwise authorized.

The officers told Chen he could request reimbursement for the damage to his front door.

Jennifer Granick, civil liberties director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said Chen is protected from a warrant by both state and federal laws.

The federal Privacy Protection Act prohibits the government from seizing materials from journalists and others who possess material for the purpose of communicating to the public. The government cannot seize material from the journalist even if it’s investigating whether the person who possesses the material committed a crime.

Instead, investigators need to obtain a subpoena, which would allow the reporter or media outlet to challenge the request and segregate information that is not relevant to the investigation.

“Congress was contemplating a situation where someone might claim that the journalist was committing a crime [in order to seize materials from them],” Granick says.

California state law also provides protections to prevent journalists from being forced to disclose sources or unpublished information related to their work.

“California law is crystal clear that bloggers are journalists, too,” she says.

Apple is on the steering committee for the REACT task force that raided Chen’s house. Formed in 1997, REACT is a partnership of 17 local, state and federal agencies tasked with investigating computer- and internet-related crimes.

Among the items seized from Chen’s house were four computers and two servers, an iPhone, digital cameras, records from a Bank of America checking account and the printout of an e-mail sent to Chen from Gawker Media Managing Editor Gaby Darbyshire earlier that day. The e-mail referred to California’s shield law and specifically stated that police cannot use a search warrant against a journalist to identify a confidential source, or obtain notes and other unpublished information from a news story.

Darbyshire and Chen wouldn’t respond to requests for comment, but according to a letter Darbyshire sent to Detective Matthew Broad, of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department, when Chen encountered officers in his home Friday evening, he asked if they had seen a copy of Darbyshire’s e-mail, which he had printed out earlier in the day. The officers said they had seen it and took it into evidence. One officer told him that in 25 years of working such cases, he’d never seen a letter like that.

The e-mail did little good, however. The officers told Chen and his wife to stand aside while they finished sweeping the house. Before they left, one of the officers told Chen “something about this possibly being a misunderstanding that could be cleared up if I answered some questions.”

Earlier this month, Gizmodo, which is published by Gawker Media, published a story about a new iPhone prototype that it had received from an anonymous source who had seized the device after an Apple engineer named Gray Powell reportedly left it on a barstool at the Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City, California. According to Gizmodo, the source didn’t initially know what he had until he removed a fake cover from the device and realized it was Apple’s next-generation iPhone. The source offered the device for sale to several journalists. Gawker Media paid $5,000 for it, but has subsequently returned it to Apple after the company requested it.

Chen is a fulltime journalist for Gawker Media and works from home. He did not respond to a question from Threat Level asking if he encrypted his computers and servers.

Granick notes that the warrant involved in the search of Chen’s house was also overly broad since it allowed officers to seize entire computers instead of limiting the search to material directly related to the iPhone story in question.

“Certainly when you’re talking about a journalist’s computers, you’re talking about [other] sources and information and reporting,” she says. “There’s nothing in the warrant that limits the search, once the computers are seized, to whatever it is that they’re investigating in this case.”

 

www.wired.com

Android passes iPhone OS traffic in US, growing faster than ever

AdMob today released their March 2010 Metrics Report for mobile devices. The mobile advertising company outlined the growing demand for Android-based devices and found that Android’s traffic has now passed Apple’s iPhone OS in the United States.

 

 

In its report, the company found that the significant increase in Android’s growth was attributed to its larger variety of devices on different carriers. Back in September 2009, only two devices represented 96% of Android’s traffic: the HTC Dream and HTC Magic. As of March 2010 though, eleven different devices make up that 96% share, with the Motorola taking almost half (44%) with their Motorola Droid and CLIQ. HTC came in a close second with 43% and Samsung following with 9%.

The entire Android platform carried a strong 32% monthly growth rate, starting from a small 72 million requests in March 2009 to over 2 billion in March 2010. Also illustrated was the problem of OS fragmentation for in platform, with 1.5 Cupcake and 1.6 Donut still representing the majority of traffic.

iPhone OS traffic was divided between the iPhone and iPod Touch, with each taking 60 and 40 percent respectively. The 3GS now leads the iPod Touch in terms of traffic and the two latest OS revisions (3.1.3 and 3.1.2) lead the platform’s total traffic at 86%.

 

www.neowin.net

Cellphones, Peripherals, Mobile Peripherals iRetrofone Base: perfect for homes with cutting-edge GPRS reception

Still looking for that perfect iPhone dock? Struggling to convince ma and pa that ditching the landline really is the best thing to do? Freeland Studios is up for helping with both quandaries, as the handmade iRetrofone Base provides both a perfect resting place for your iPhone (or any phone, really) and a pinch of vintage to boot. Cast from resin with the utmost care, this here adornment can be ordered in both black and clear, though you'll have to wait around a fortnight for one of the $195 devices to actually ship. Up next? A resin-based bag phone holster for those who constantly lose their smartphone between the seat and center console. Thanks for repeating yourself, history.

 

www.engadget.com

iPhone apps way more popular than Blackberry apps

In the smartphone market RIM's Blackberry is number one with Apple's iPhone in a distant second place. But in the app world Apple is leading the way. Currently the iPhone app store gets 10 to 20 times more downloads per day over the Blackberry app store.

Business Insider says that the Blackberry App World has 20 million registered users and nearly 1 million apps downloaded daily according to RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie. Where Apple has anywhere between 10 to 20 million app downloads per day.

Currently the top free app in the Blackberry App World is RIM's own Blackberry Messenger followed by a text to speech application that can read your text messages and emails. Where the top free apps right now in iTunes are Spill Da' Milk and Little Metal Ball. The top two Blackberry apps are boring but the top iPhone apps are fun and interactive. If RIM wants to gain shares in their app store they need to make the Blackberry more accessible to gaming which seems to be what users want.

 

www.neowin.net

iPad users on Windows targeted with malware

Scammers are distributing e-mails designed to trick iPad owners into downloading software that they think is an iTunes update, but which turns out to be malware that opens a back door on the computer, researchers warned on Monday.

The e-mails have a subject line that says "iPad Software Update" and offer a link to a Web page that looks like a legitimate iTunes download page, according to BitDefender. Instead, the link installs malware identified as Backdoor.Bifrose.AADY, according to the BitDefender blog.

The malware injects itself in to the "explorer.exe" process and opens up a back door that attackers can use to take control of the system whenever they want, the post said. It also attempts to read the keys and serial numbers of the various software programs installed on the computer and logs passwords to the victim's ICQ, Messenger, and POP3 mail accounts, and protected storage, BitDefender said.

For more on this story, read iPad users on Windows targeted with malware on CNET News.

 

www.zdnet.com

Oper 10.52 for Windows is here

After spending a little over a month in development, and after no less than five Release Candidate development milestones, the second update to Opera 10.50 is now being offered to the public. Opera 10.52 Final is available for download for both Windows and Mac OS X users, with the release for the open source Linux operating system lagging behind. Version 5.2 is a minor refresh to Opera 10.51, focused mainly on introducing stability and security fixes.

“We are pleased to announce that Opera 10.52 for Mac and Windows is now out on the track. There’s been a lot of under-the-hood work, but also some intense polishing over the last couple of weeks. The end result is faster and shinier than ever! And it’s totally environmentally friendly,” a member of the Opera Desktop team revealed.
Opera 10.51 was released to web on March 22nd, 2010, at that time a Windows-only release, as the development process was not synchronized with the Mac OS X or Linux flavors of the browser. Version 10.52 of the browser from Opera Software is not all that different for Windows users. “Opera 10.52 is a recommended stability upgrade. Opera highly recommends all users to upgrade to this version to take advantage of these improvements,” an excerpt from the changelog accompanying the release reads.
The changelog offers an exhaustive list of modifications introduced to Opera 10.52, since the previous minor update, including changes impacting the user interface, the mail, news, chat features, display and scripting, Opera Unite and Opera Widgets for Desktop. According to the Norwegian browser maker, Opera 10.52 is not designed to fix any security vulnerabilities, but does feature enhanced security information dialog entries.

The Opera Desktop team representative “highlighted bug fixes since Opera 10.51:
“- Fixed a crash on closing tab with PDF plugin;
- Fixed issues with pages never stop loading;
- Fixed issues with caching;
- Fixed an issue with opening email attachments;
- Fixed an issue with access to Unite administration pages;
- Fixed a crash with various third-party apps on Facebook;
- Fixed an issue were mails could be lost when upgrading from Opera 9.27.”

 

www.softpedia.com

Android Market hits 50,000 apps; PayPal support coming

With Google I/O just around the corner, the Internet giant is expected to show off the progress of their app market and the staggering growth that it's seen. Last month alone, the Android Market had over 9,000 app submissions. Back in January, the Android Market hit the 30,000 apps mark. Now, just 4 months later, AndroLib.com is reporting the Market to be nearing the 50,000 mark.

The plethora of new apps being introduced into Google's app store means more opportunity for developers to make money. On that note, it's been nearly impossible for Android users in many foreign countries to get their hands on paid apps (Google Checkout is not available everywhere). Phandroid has pointed out that sometime in Q2 2010, PayPal will become a payment option in the Android Market. No longer will users be limited by their geographic location. If you're worried about Google knowing too much of your personal information, this would be a great way to limit yourself from their services, while still enjoying their products.

 

By Benjamin Rubenstein

 

www.neowin.net

Sony to discontinue 3.5 inch floppy disk in Japan

Sony announced on April 23rd that they will be discontinuing sales of the classic 3.5 inch floppy disk in Japan in 2011. The news marks a major end to a nearly three decade history of the disk type that the company helped to pioneer.
According to Sony, they introduced the 3.5 inch floppy disk size to the world in 1981, and began sales within Japan in 1983. Sony had shipped approximately 47 million disks within the country at its peak around the year 2000, but that number had fallen to around 8.5 million by 2009, Sankei News reported.
In 2008 Sony accounted for around 40% of the world’s market share in 3.5 inch floppy disks, Nikkei wrote; within Japan, Sony has held about 70% of the market share in recent years, the Asahi added.
Sony will stop sales within Japan in March of 2011, and with the exception of a few niche markets such as in India, the company’s worldwide sales finished in March of this year, the Mainichi stated. Sony ceased its outsourced production of the 3.5 inch floppy in 2009.  It is also noted that most other major manufacturers of the disk type have already withdrawn from the market entirely.
Lack of demand was stated as the major reason for the decision, with many pointing to the rapid expansion of other media saving methods, such as CDs, DVDs, and USB drives, as well as a significant decrease in floppy disk-supporting hardware.
Beyond the floppy, the 3.5 inch size is still used for Sony’s magneto optical disks.

(image: Sony Japan)

 

www.examiner.com

New Core i7 MacBook Pros reach 100 °C

Apple finally put out new MacBook Pros earlier this month, but the launch with Intel’s latest processors hasn’t come without a few problems. PC Authority’s hands on testing with the new 17” MacBook Pro found that the internal Core i7 topped out at around 100 degrees Celsius. 

The computer review company found that when performing various benchmarks with the laptop, the processor generated so much heat that they had to stand the MacBook Pro on its side in order to complete their testing. (as pictured above) Testing in both Mac OS X and Windows cranked up the heat output to over 100 degrees.

The 2.66 GHz Core i7 620M inside the laptop reached 84 degrees in the Dwarf Fortress graphics benchmark and 100 degrees in the Cinebench 3D rendering benchmark. For comparison, they tested a Fujitsu Lifebook SH760 that used the same processor and found that it only reached a maximum of 80 degrees and kept cool to the touch thanks to its thicker plastic casing which allowed for greater airflow and a larger copper heat sink.

Engadget’s own testing found that the new MacBook Pros were actually cooler than previous models in real world usage, so new owners should not worry too much. They do recommend that Apple should consider sacrificing its low noise output when the CPU gets worked though, as it can get toasty at times.

Image credit PC Authority

 

www.neowin.net

Windows Home Server Code Name "Vail" public preview announced

Microsoft has announced a public preview release of Windows Server Code Name "vail".

"Vail” is the version 2 release of Windows Home Server based on Windows Server 2008 R2. Vail provides simple file sharing, remote access, home computer backup, expandable storage through Drive Extender, and media streaming both inside and outside the home. Vail also contains an application catalog and product-wide extensibility model so that new services such as anti-virus, online sharing, and home automation can be seamlessly and easily added to the solution. Vail will be available pre-installed on systems by OEM partners, and a standalone software package will also be available for those who want to build their own systems.

Vail supports a number of Windows 7 technologies including "PlayTo" DLNA support to stream digital media to DLNA enabled devices. HomeGroup is also supported allowing simplified file sharing. Vail also includes Remote Streaming using Silverlight. Users can access their media remotely over the internet, anywhere. MPEG-4, 3GP, H.264, ADTS, AVI, MPEG-2, AAC, MP3, LPCM, MPEG-1. AC3 should be supported in RTM. MPEG2 and AC3 support are not available in the public preview version, but are planned to be supported in the released version.

Vail originally leaked in January as build number 7360. Today's Public Preview release is build 7495. Vail is 64-bit only and requires 1GB of RAM or more, and minimum 160GB hard drive for installation. More information is available over at Microsoft's Connect site or the "Vail" Public Preview beta forums.

Download: Windows Home Server Code Name "Vail" build 7495

 

www.neowin.net

Top 10 Best Firefox Add-Ons for Improved Browsing

Firefox has quietly become a forgotten browser lately, with Google Chrome taking on the mantle of preferred geek browser. Don't let the hype fool you. Firefox holds roughly 30% of the browser market, second only to Internet Explorer.  Below is the top 10 best Firefox add-ons to improve your browsing experience.

1. Xmarks Bookmark and Password Sync: Anyone who uses multiple PCs will appreciate Xmarks since you maintain one set of bookmarks across all PCs. Just install Xmarks into Firefox and it will record your current bookmarks roster, as well as the saved passwords in your Firefox password manager. On any other computer running Firefox, just download Xmarks, use your Xmarks login, and all your passwords and bookmarks are ported into the current browser. Sign out and the import is revoked. As a guy who logs into multiple VPNs on several machines - each with long, convoluted URL structures - Xmarks is a lifesaver.

2. Web of Trust (WOT) Safe Browsing Tool: Similar to the McAfee Site Advisor we previewed in our Internet Safety Guide, Web of Trust appends starred safety ratings to search results, so you know how "safe" a page is before clicking a link. WOT works with every major search engine, and the safety rankings are derived from WOT user feedback. Don't let the crowdsourcing angle throw you off, WOT is among the most popular Firefox add-ons out there, so it has more than enough support to provide accurate and timely safety ratings.

3. Google Gears: An oldie but a goodie, Google Gears is the Firefox add-on that's not a Firefox add-on; you can use it with any browser to store your Google Web app data to your hard drive. Why would you want to drag your Gmail, Google Calendar or Google Docs offline? So you can use them without a Web connection, of course. Frequent air travelers will understand how helpful this can be, especially since it's easier to get free Wi-Fi in-flight than at airports these days. Google Gears also works with several non-Google Web apps, including Remember the Milk and Zoho Office.

4. DownThemAll!: For you compulsive downloaders out there (who, me?), DownThemAll! is what you've been looking for. It's a highly customizable download manager that lets you pause, resume, accelerate and automate your Web downloads. Best of all? It offers the option to download all the images or links on a page, saving you the trouble of endlessly right-clicking every element of a gallery or, say, a list of great Firefox add-ons.

5. Adblock Plus: Yes, blocking ads will kill your favorite websites(or not), but a lot of us have had our fill of autoplaying video ads, scroll-preventing takeover ads or pages that never load because the ad server stalls. Enter Adblock Plus, which recodes web pages on the fly to exclude annoying advertisements. You'll never browse faster or with more peaceful sanity than the moment after you install Adblock Plus.

6. Session Manager: Don't just bookmark web pages, save them with Session Manager. What's the difference? Any tab you save with Session Manager can be reloaded exactly as it was when you saved it, with your credentials logged in, your preferences entered and even form-fields filled out. Want to open your private corporate web mail without jumping through three login challenges every time? Just save your inbox with Session Manager. It's more useful than you'd expect.

7. FastestFox: A virtual researcher's Swiss Army Knife, FastestFox allows you to save on-page video to your hard drive, even if there isn't a download link. Highlight on-page text and FastestFox will offer a Wikipedia definition as well as quicklinks to multiple search engines to query against the selection. If you click the Wikipedia link, all related Wikipedia articles are preloaded into a handy left-column list. If you query Google instead, you'll never have to click Next Page again, as FastestFox autoloads each successive results page so you can scroll seamlessly forever. If you regularly research on the Web, FastestFox is your new best friend.

8. Copy Plain Text: Its function is in the name: Copy Plain Text offers you the option of copying text from a web page (or Thunderbird email) without taking the bold/italic/underline/link/font style with it. Very handy for quoting source materials or just cleaning up those punchlines before pasting them into Facebook status messages.

9. IE Tab: Some websites remain stubbornly coded explicitly for Internet Explorer, especially where Microsoft-centric products like Outlook Web Access are concerned. That's where IE Tab comes in; it creates a new Firefox tab that simulates all the native functionality of Internet Explorer, but without requiring a second browser.

10. Feedly: An old school print newspaper meets a modern RSS feedreader, Feedly Firefox automatically imports your Live Bookmarks, Google Reader Feeds and Twitter followers, and combines the data into a clean, eye-friendly magazine interface that's immediately readable. While you won't scroll quite as fast through your data with Feedly as you might in GReader, you will enjoy the content a bit more, and you'll have access to more of it from the homepage. Recommended for information junkies everywhere.

Didn't find what you're looking for? Mozilla curates an almost exhaustive list of Firefox add-ons on its website. Look around; you're likely to find an add-on that sounds useful to you.

One final note: Greasemonkey is an add-on conspicuously absent from this list. This is because Greasemonkey is an add-on designed to replace all other add-ons by virtue of lighter, faster userscripts. Unless you know your way around userscripts, Greasemonkey is of questionable value. Once you've got the hang of Firefox add-ons, Greasemonkey is a logical next step, but it's not one I recommend most users adopt right away.

Greasemonkey notwithstanding, if you think I've overlooked a vital Firefox add-on, feel free to name it in the comments area.

 

By Jay Garmon

 

www.notebookreview.com

One more thing... two iPod touch prototypes with camera briefly show up on eBay

The two devices bear the prototype identification codes "DVT-1" and "DVT-2" ("DVT" stands for "design verification test" in Apple-speak, according to Daring Fireball), while the DVT-2 model wears an extra bar code label seemingly stamped by the "Apple Development Team."

What's interesting is that the model number "A1318" at the bottom matches the current iPod touch's, which may suggest the camera feature was ditched just before the current line went into mass production, or that we may see this variant as a minor update instead of a redesigned iPod touch in the coming months.

www.engadget.com

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Release Candidate Out Now

The Ubuntu development team unleashed the Release Candidate (RC) version of the upcoming Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) operating system, due for launch at the end of this month. As usual, we've downloaded a copy of it in order to keep you up-to-date with the latest changes in the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS development.

What's new in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS RC? Well, there's not much to talk about this release, except that Ubuntu 10.04 LTS RC is now powered by Linux kernel 2.6.32.11.

 

www.softpedia.com