*HOT* Tech News And Downloads, I Would Read This Thread And Post Any Good Info

Mac OS fails to interest anyone

Market share starts to fall

By Nick Farrell: Tuesday 19 September 2006, 16:54
THE LIMITED interest in Apple's operating systems is starting to dwindle.

According to Techweb, data gathered by Net Applications shows that the Mac OS had 4.35 per cent of the world's operating system share last December. Now it only has 4.33 per cent.

While this is not much of a dip, it reverses a trend that saw interest in Apple's operating system actually growing a few years back.

What is worse, from Apple's perspective, is that its operating system is losing ground in favour of Windows XP, which even Microsoft admits is a bit out of date. XP has 84.18 per cent of the operating systems used by machines accessing the Web sites measured by Net Applications during August.

One has to wonder why Apple can't compete when the opposition has been blasted for its security holes and has a product that is years out of date. Apple executives might be wondering what will happen to its operating system if Vista takes off, or Linux ever turns itself into a proper desktop.
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34491
More here. µ
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=5

 

iTunes online movies...

p2pnet.net News:- Apple boss Steve Jobs is well pleased with himself.

He says Disney, to whom he sold his Pixar movie company for $7.4 billion, has managed to hawk 125,000 film downloads in less than a week after he "agreed" to make them available on iTunes owned, of course, by Apple.

With each flic going out at between $10 and $15, the news also bears out the oft-quoted maxim, 'There's a sucker born every minute'.

"The volume of Disney sales was particularly noteworthy because they occurred without the benefit of Apple’s new iTV device, which will allow consumers to send iTunes files from their computer to their television," says The Financial Times. "It is expected to go on sale early next year."

The iTV is a $300 TV box that'll "allow" anyone foolish enough to buy one to play $10 and $15 movies they can rent for a couple of dollars from the local video store.

The story says Disney's Bob Iger, "who expressed confidence that revenues from the new film venture could reach $50m in its first year," shed light on his relationship with Steve Jobs, who's both Disney’s largest shareholder and a member of its board.

"For me, he has become just a tremendous sounding board," Iger is quoted as saying, adding he "regularly" turns to Jobs for advice on new media strategies.

Also See:
Pixar movie company - Disney buys Pixar for $7.4B, January 25, 2006
The Financial Times - Disney’s iTunes sales hit 125,000, September 19, 2006

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(Thursday 21st September 2006)
http://p2pnet.net/story/9920?PHPSESSID=2d94514bd98bb78ffdbf5072d92e024d

 

Microsoft 'civil rights coup'

p2pnet.net News:- You are a wallet with legs waiting to be raped, believes The Inquirer's Charlie Demerjian.

He's talking about revelations that turn up in Microsoft's voluminous Release Notes for Windows Media Player 11 Beta 2 for Windows XP, full of if's, but's and maybe's, and packed with tricky qualifications.

From the look of it, Bill and the Boyz have staged a "civil rights coup," and, "most people are dumb enough to let it happen," Demerjian declares, talking about the fact Windows Media Player 11 will no longer allow you to back up your licenses, which are now tied to a single device.

If you lose it, "you are really SOL," he observes, suggesting you read the links, and saying the entire page is, "scary as hell".

But, he states, the licensing part takes the cake.

Under Backing up and restoring licenses, "Windows Media Player 11 does not permit you to back up your media usage rights (previously known as licenses)," say the release notes.

However, depending upon where your protected files came from, you might be able to restore your rights over the Internet," says Microsoft helpfully.

If you encounter an error message that indicates you are missing play, burn, or sync rights for a file and you had these rights previously, you might be able to resolve the problem by restoring your media usage rights. You have several options to do so:

*If you obtained the file from an online store, contact the store to find out if it offers media usage rights (license) restoration (some stores refer to this procedure as computer activation, computer authorization, or license synchronization).

The procedure for restoring your rights varies from store to store. For example, you might be able to right-click the file in your library or click an Error button or an Information button next to the file, and then click a command. Or you might be required to delete the file from your computer and then download the file again.

The store might limit the number of times that you can restore your rights or limit the number of computers on which can use the songs or videos that you obtain from them. Some stores do not permit you to restore media usage rights at all.

For details, see the store's customer support or Help links.

*If the file is a song you ripped from a CD with the Copy protect music option turned on, you might be able to restore your usage rights by playing the file. You will be prompted to connect to a Microsoft Web page that explains how to restore your rights a limited number of times.

Translation? - says The Inquirer. "Not our problem, and get bent, we got your cash."

But it gets worse, as the story points out, referring to this, from the MS site:

If the file is a song you ripped from a CD with the Copy protect music option turned on, you might be able to restore your usage rights by playing the file. You will be prompted to connect to a Microsoft Web page that explains how to restore your rights a limited number of times.

And there's more:

Recorded TV shows that are protected with media usage rights, such as some TV content recorded on premium channels, will not play back after 3 days when Windows Media Player 11 Beta 2 for Windows XP is installed on Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. No known workaround to resolve this issue exists at this time.

And ....

Content that is protected with media usage rights cannot be played in Windows Media Player 10 if a computer already has the Windows Media Format 11 Runtime installed (which is installed with Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP). In some situations, Windows Media Player 10 may quit unexpectedly when trying to play protected content and licenses for protected content might be lost.

And ...

You might not be able to play music from your Library if you are using a digital media receiver with Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP. This issue might occur if music files in your Library are not stored in a monitored folder when you upgrade from Windows Media Player 10 to Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP.

And ...

Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP might not be able to find a digital media receiver on your home network and therefore, won't be able to share digital media content with the device if Windows Live OneCare is installed on your computer.

It's a bit like the old, black joke, 'Apart from that, Mrs Kennedy, did you enjoy the ride?'

Bill and the Boyz arrogantly suggest various 'work-arounds' without the hint of an apology for the trouble they're causing.

For technically non-savvy people, it'll all be highly daunting. And why should they have to bother in the first place? This is, after all, no more than technology invented specifically to pour even more gold into Billionaire Bill's coffers.


CLICK HERE TO READ Backing up and restoring licenses
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/readme.aspx#1608319

Also See:
The Inquirer - Microsoft Media Player shreds your rights , September 21, 2006

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(Thursday 21st September 2006)
http://p2pnet.net/story/9918?PHPSESSID=75505f7e1a326a134292ad201656fcb4

 

Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick, aka HDTV everywhere
Posted by geno888 on 21 September 2006 - 22:10 - Source: Pinnacle

Now it is possible to watch over the air HDTV about everywhere, even on a laptop computer, with the new Pinnacle USB PCTV HD Pro Stick. We mention this device here, as you can use it to make your PC into a digital video recorder, easily enabling you to archive your favorite TV shows to DVD.



Features:

* Watch live high quality digital HD and SD TV without service fees from anywhere on your laptop
* Break free and PlaceShift with the sleek USB 2.0 powered portable PCTV device
* Sit back and relax from afar with full remote control access
* The options are unlimited with full support for both analog (NTSC) and digital (ATSC) reception
* Instantly transform your PC into a personal digital video recorder (DVR)
* Take complete control of when you watch your favorite shows with TimeShifting
* Never miss a critical part of your favorite show again with pause, rewind and replay
* Schedule recordings with the integrated Electronic Program Guide
* Turn your Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) computer into a full featured analog and digital TV set (MCE remote sold separately)
* Eliminate the guess work by automatically recording shows direct-to-DVD and/or in the destination file format of choice (i.e. iPod, PSP, DivX, etc.)
* Capture from most consumer devices with analog outputs (e.g. VCRs, camcorders, DVD players, etc.) and then edit and enhance with the included Pinnacle Studio QuickStart software

On Pinnacle's website you can see a price of $129.99 (about €100), but browsing the Internet, maybe it's possible to find better prices
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/13995


More information and pictures can be found here.
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSi...PCTV+Analog_Digital+PVR/PCTV+HD+Pro+Stick.htm





Technical Specifications

Minimum System Requirements

* Windows® XP (SP2 or higher)
* Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz, Pentium M 1.3 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 processor (for HDTV reception, a Pentium 4 2.8GHz or Pentium M 1.7 GHz or equivalent AMD Athlon 64 processor is recommended)
* 256 MB RAM (512 GB recommended)
* DirectX® 9 or higher compatible graphics card
* DirectX 9 or higher compatible sound card (Creative® Audigy® or M-Audio® recommended)
* 1 GB of disk space to install software (20 GB recommended for TV recording)
* USB 2.0 port
* DVD-ROM drive to install software


Hardware Specifications
Inputs & Outputs:

* TV antenna input (F-connector)
* S-Video (via included adapter)
* Composite Video (RCA, via included adapter)
* Stereo audio (3.5mm headphone plug, via included adapter)


TV Standards

* ATSC (HDTV up to 1080i, SDTV)
* NTSC (cable, over the air)


Package Contents

* USB 2.0 TV tuner for ATSC/NTSC reception
* Mini remote control including batteries
* Telescopic antenna
* A/V adapter cable
* USB extender cable
* Printed QuickStart guide
* CD-ROM with Pinnacle MediaCenter

 

Symantec lashes out at Firefox

Insecure says Symantec

By Nick Farrell: Friday 22 September 2006, 07:35
SECURITY OUTFIT Symantec has unleashed a stinging attack on the Open Sauce browser Firefox.

According to CNet, Symantec claims that Firebadger is more insecure than its rival Internet Explorer. It claims that the only reason it gets away with this is that hackers have more fun upsetting IE users, who are a bit more common.

This will be news to Fireferret users who have been told by the Mozzarella Foundation that the browser is more secure than IE. In fact the popularity of the browser has soared on that basis.

Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report says that 25 vendor-confirmed vulnerabilities for the Mozzarella browsers during the first half of 2005 were the highest of any browser studied. Eighteen of these flaws were classified as high severity.

Internet Exploder had only 13 vendor-confirmed vulnerabilities and eight of which were high severity.

There are some problems with the Symantec figures. The first is that it only reports flaws that have been confirmed by the vendor. Vole does not have to do this, and there is also a backlog of some 19 that Microsoft has to fix in comparison to only three for Firepossum.

Before Open Saucers have a go at Symantec for being pro-Microsoft, we should point out that his is the same outfit who is leaning on the EU to take Vole to the cleaners for anti-trust issues in Vista.

Microsoft might think that with friends like this who needs enemas. More here. µ
http://news.com.com/Symantec+Mozill...rable+than+IE/2100-1002_3-5873273.html?tag=nl

 

Wow, the only thing is I thought Firefox is Open Source. If I am correct then these flaws could easily be fixed as compared to the closed-source, bug-fest that is Internet Explorer.

 

IE 7 No Longer a Secret Agent
By Jim Rapoza

One surprising problem that IE 7 betas have run into over recent months is that Web sites that were coded to work specifically with IE weren't working with IE 7. The cause of this problem was that, since it's a new version of the browser, IE 7 has its own unique user agent string, which is how browsers identify themselves to Web sites (for the record, IE 7's string on Windows XP is Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1)) The new string caused many sites to reject IE 7 as incompatible with IE-only Web sites. As the newer betas of IE 7 have increased in visibility this problem is now less common. And for those IE 7 beta testers still running into incompatible sites, there's a utility that can help you work around the problem

go here to get the download fix for ie-7

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...9C-3C0D-47FE-BD04-FAD82A9AAC9F&displaylang=en

 

Activists unveil stealth browser

Hacktivismo, a group of human-rights advocates and computer security experts, has released a Firefox-based browser designed to allow anonymous Web surfing.

The Web browser, called "Torpark," is a modified version of Portable Firefox. Released last week, it can be run directly from a USB drive, meaning it can be used on public terminals in cybercafes. It creates an encrypted connection to the TOR (The Onion Router) network, which supplies a succession of different IP addresses.

"Torpark causes the IP address seen by the Web site to change every few minutes, to frustrate eavesdropping and mask the requesting source," Hacktivismo said in a statement.

For example, a user could be in London and Web sites would see an IP address from a university in Germany, or other addresses belonging to the TOR network.

Hacktivismo operates under the aegis of the influential group the Cult of the Dead Cow. Developers said the browser is different from other anonymous browsers, such as Anonymizer or SecretSurfer, in that it doesn't cost anything and is small and portable.

Torpark uses English by default, but includes language packs for Arabic, German, French and simplified Chinese. More than 30 other language packs are available via links built into the browser,
which is available here.

http://torpark.nfshost.com/

rest of article here
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-6118547.html?part=rss&tag=6118547&subj=news

 

WAL-MART Threatens Studios Over DVD Downloads

Well the folks at Walmart are going to play hard ball. Personally I hate Wal-Mart as they have been responsible for more economic devastation to small towns in America than any other retailer. Here is what they are up to now.

"Wal-Mart has told some of Hollywood's biggest players it will retaliate against them for selling movies on Apple's iTunes."

This smells to me of Anti-Competition and if I were a Movie executive it would feel like someone was trying to Blackmail me. However you define it Wal-Mart is pissed that Apple is selling DVD titles cheaper than they are and they are going to do everything in their power to stop it.

My advice to the studios tell Wal-Mart to shove of and ink deals with every online vendor their is. [NYPost]
http://www.nypost.com/business/retail_iation_business_tim_arango.htm



RETAIL-IATION

WAL-MART WARNS STUDIOS OVER
DVD DOWNLOADS

go here to read the article


http://www.nypost.com/business/retail_iation_business_tim_arango.htm

 

I found this cool little mini-itx mod on Hackaday, which i felt like sharing here : CLICK!.
The full scoop can be found here : CLICK!!

 

Folder2Iso Version 1.3 ( Freeware )



An interesting tool for burning addicts: Folder2Iso
Posted by geno888 on 24 September 2006 - 03:22 - Source: TrustFM

Surfing the web I found this interesting, and free, tool, named Folder2Iso.What is it? From the developers webpage you can read:

Folder2Iso just creates an iso from any kind of folder (with the subfolders). Its a GUI of mkisofs.

No need of installation, really small exe.

Some of you can say : 'What is the point of this tool? Seems useless.'

Well, dvddecrypter/imgburn can burn cd/dvd for free so if you make an iso easily you can burn your movies on cds/dvd for free. It is also usefull for the dvd2avi guide.

So: dvddecrypter/imgburn + Folder2Iso combine a totally freeware burning kit for all kinds of avi/ogm/mkv!

Folder2Iso Version 1.3 ( Freeware )
About : Folder2Iso just creates an iso from any kind of folder (with the subfolders).
Its a GUI of mkisofs.
No need of installation , really small exe.
Some of you can say : "What is the point of this tool? Seems useless."
Well dvddecrypter/imgburn can burn cd/dvd for free so if you make an iso easily you can burn your movies on cds/dvd for free. It is also usefull for the dvd2avi guide ...
So : dvddecrypter/imgburn + Folder2Iso combine an totaly freeware burning kit for all kinds of avi/ogm/mkv !

Usage :
1) Just press Select Folder and add your folder that you want to make iso. ex : f:\movies\Matrix
2) Select the output path and add a name like test.iso. Please note that you can not save it at the same path of the step 1 . (choose something like : f:\movies\Matrix.iso )


Whats new in ver.1.3 :
Fixed : Process bug [100% cpu utilization]

Whats new in ver.1.2 :
Fixed : Serius bug. If some files where over 2gb folder2iso didn't calculate correctly the folder dimenson.

Whats new in ver.1.1 :
Added : Charsets support
Added : Button deactivation when the iso creation is in progress
Added : Size label looks better

Whats new in ver.1.0 :
First public release...
http://www.trustfm.net/divx/SoftwareFolder2Iso.html

 

Dld it and tried it. Absolutely easy and quick. Excellent little .exe

 

i seen a couple of posts about testing office..i am not to sure ye can still get it....but check it out...

Download 2007 Microsoft Office System Beta 2
Download your 2007 Microsoft Office system Beta 2 software today.

To help complete your download please select the country where you live.

Announcement We are thrilled with the incredible excitement around the upcoming 2007 Microsoft Office system as evident by nearly 3 million people using the Beta 2 since its release two months ago. Having exceeded our Beta 2 technical participation goals we are now offering this on a cost recovery basis for future downloads of Beta 2. We continue to offer the 2007 Office system Beta 2 orderable by mail, by download, or you may take the test drive.

check here
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/beta/download/en/default.mspx

and here
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/beta/getthebeta.mspx

 

The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities

There are a lot of great freeware products out there. Many are as good or even better than their commercial alternatives. This list features my personal pick of the "best of the best."

All the utilities in this list have featured in past issues of my free monthly newsletter "Support Alert" More freebies are published in each new issue. If you are interested in great utilities and freeware you really should consider subscribing. It's free.

Listed below are 46 different freeware categories with my selection of the best products in each category. The list is ordered by program function rather than merit so you'll get the most out of it by browsing down this page at leisure. The pathologically impatient can consult the index below.

GO HERE
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm

 

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) -- The format war around next generation DVDs may be over before it has begun, thanks to a breakthrough from a British media technology company.

Britain-based New Medium Enterprises (NME) said on Tuesday it had solved a technical production problem that makes it possible to produce a cheap multiple-layer DVD disk containing one film in different, competing formats.

"Current technologies to create multiple layer disks mostly don't work. We've created a technology for mass production of multiple layers that does not suffer from the well known problem of low yields," said NME Chief Technology Officer Eugene Levich.

A low yield means that many DVDs coming off the manufacturing lines are not working and have to be discarded.

The production costs of a multi-layer DVD using the new NME technology are estimated to be around 9 cents, compared with the 6 cents for a standard single-layer play-back DVD, according to Dutch company ODMS, one of the world's leading makers of production lines for optical disks.

This 50 percent cost increase compares favorably with the current generation of multi-layer recordable DVD disks which cost 3 to 5 times as much to produce than a single layer disk, due to low yields.

The technological breakthrough comes one week after three employees at movie studio Warner Bros. filed a patent for the application of multiple formats on a single DVD disc.

"There's no collision between Warner and us. They patent the application, we are patenting the technology. These are complementary patents. I'm glad it's happened. Warner opened our eyes, because it shows they really want to do this and create multi-format, multi-layer disks," Levich said.

Time Warner is the world's largest media company and owns Warner Bros. Former Warner Home Video President James Cardwell joined NME as a board member last month.

Nipped in the bud?
Multiple format DVD disks can solve the emerging war between the two new high capacity DVD formats: Blu-Ray, which is backed by Sony Corp., and Toshiba-supported HD-DVD.

High capacity DVD disks are needed to store high definition movies on a single disk. Movies stored in high definition provide five to six times more picture detail than standard definition which is used in normal DVDs.

Hollywood studios have been choosing sides in the DVD format war, each supporting one of the two formats. Some have said they will produce films in both, in addition to the standard DVD format.

By putting the same film on a single disk in the two competing formats, movie studios can save money and consumers do not have to worry if they are buying the right disk for their player.

The technological breakthrough by NME was confirmed by ODMS.

"I can confirm this. We were very skeptical when NME approached us. We have experience with producing dual layer recordable DVD discs and the yield is below 50 percent. But their technology gives a much higher yield and also brings other cost savings," said ODMS Chief Executive Jadranko Dovic.

ODMS said it will have the first prototype production line using NME's technology running by early 2007.

NME said it had also created new technology for the machines which have to read and write the disk, which is another bottleneck with multi-layer disks. The current generation of DVD players can read up to two layers.

NME has created DVD disks with up to 10 different layers that were still readable. It has created its own player, but it is willing to license the technology to mainstream consumer electronics companies, Levich said.

Movies on a DVD are stored at different depths depending on the technology. Blu-Ray discs store information only 0.1 millimeter from the surface while HD-DVD discs store it at 0.6 millimeters.

Movies longer than two hours would need to be stored on two layers of the same format very close to each other.

 

Hacker steals M*cro$oft DRM technology & cr*cks it!

Story:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6119892.html?tag=nl.e589

M*cro$oft sues over source code theft
By John Borland, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: September 26, 2006, 4:19 PM PT

All I can say is...sweet justice! HAHAH !!

updated @8:10PM EST, 9/27/06:
Here is a copy of the subpoenas they sent, to get the identify of the program's coder:
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/library/viodentia.pdf
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/library/viodentiatwo.pdf

 

LMAO

You just made my day...

 

hey, thanks for reminding me.

I went to the website, then flipped over to their forums. I used the name of the program on the search. It gave me several results, once of which was a thread with exactly 15 pages. I logged in, then went to page 1 of that thread.

I clicked the link, and it downloaded a zipfile of exactly 254,505 bytes. There is a single .exe file inside of the same program name.

Get the instructions from that thread, download the file, and keep it safe. You have just unlocked yourself a ****load of formally DRM protected content. Have a nice day...

...and oh yeah, Eff You M*cro$oft.

 

Lol, burn in hell MS!

 

Just had to show you guys this : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryXDhXqR-SE&eurl=
And http://www.theage.com.au/news/techn...k-off-worldwide/2006/10/02/1159641255911.html