Technology News Feeds

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Review  

Ars goes in-depth with Adobe's latest entry in the RAW image processing market: Lightroom 2.0. Does Lightroom 2's robust feature set, complete with Photoshop-style processing of RAW images, have what it takes to dethrone Aperature 2.0?

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Robotripping: hands on with the Android SDK beta  

Google finally released a long-awaited update to the Android SDK. Ars takes a close look at the new platform and the API changes and comes away very impressed.

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IFPI: "Three strikes" efforts hit worldwide home run  

The international music trade group IFPI says that "three strikes" rules against online copyright infringement have taken over the world in the last nine months, and they are an "idea whose time has come."

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Cell phone sales down, average price up in the US  

US consumers just aren't buying cell phones like they once were, according to the NPD Group. Unit sales are at the lowest level since the firm started tracking them in 2005, although consumers do seem to be buying more expensive units.

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Microsoft, Novell Expand Interoperability Partnership  Microsoft and Novell expand their interoperability partnership with Microsoft buying up to $100 million in SUSE Linux certificates. The partnership helps enable SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Windows Server to work together in the datacenter. Moreover, the companies will continue to work collaboratively on virtual-ization, systems management, directory and identity federation, document format compatibility, acces-sibility technology, and the Moonlight multimedia framework.
- Microsoft and Novell have announced an incremental investment in their partnership to promote interoperability between the SUSE Linux platform and Windows, with Microsoft pledging to purchase up to $100 million in certificates that customers can redeem for support. The goal of the Microsoft/Novell ...

Intel Touches on Mobility, Notebook Security at IDF  While most of the 2008 Intel Developer Forum focused on Intel processors that will use the upcoming Nehalem microarchitecture, part of the forum also looked ahead to what Intel would offer for both laptops and notebook security. Intel also introduced its first quad-core processors for laptops called the Core 2 Extreme QX9300 and the Core 2 Quad Q9100. Intel is also expected to offer an anti-theft device for notebooks.
- SAN FRANCISCO While the majority of the 2008 Intel Developer Forum here has focused on Intels Nehalem microarchitecture, the chip makers top executives also took time to emphasize Intels focus on consumer and business notebooks. During his keynote address Aug. 19, Dadi Perlmutter, an Intel executi...

Intel Shines Spotlight on Upcoming Nehalem Processors  At the Intel Developer Forum, Intel's top executives focused on an upcoming series of Intel processors built on the new Nehalem microarchitecture, which will scale up from two to eight processing cores. These new Intel processors, which will eventually find their way into servers, notebooks and desktops, add new power management and virtualization capabilities. The Intel processors will also offer an integrated memory controller, which will rival what AMD has offered with its Opteron processors.
- SAN FRANCISCO Intel lifted the curtain a little more on its upcoming lineup of processors based on the quot;Nehalem quot; microarchitecture, which will include new power management features and enhanced capabilities for virtualization. While the chip maker held back some critical information on...

Intel Unveils Its First Solid-State SATA Storage Drives  Intel has been putting a great deal of R D into developing flash memory SSDs that will withstand the rigors of 24/7 data center server usage, heavy-duty client/server desktop and laptop use, and embedded applications. Intel is convinced that it has added enough storage capacity up to 160GB on these SSDs to more than handle enterprise duty.
- SAN FRANCISCO Intel has been developing solid-state flash memory processors for as long as flash has been around (20 years). But only on Aug. 19 at the Intel Developer Forum here did the world's largest chip maker announce its first-ever flash-based SATA drives for data storage. Intel's High...

Aperture Screencast 5: Managing Previews   Aperture's previews are an important link to sharing your images with the outside world. Previews are JPEG renderings of your processed Raw files and, once generated, are easily accessible via other applications and output methods. In this screencast, Derrick Story shows you how to expertly manage your previews so you are always in control of your images.

Vincent Versace on Photography and Creativity  

Vincent Versace, noted photographer, author, and photography instructor, sits down with Derrick Story to discuss the some of the larger philosophical questions that inform the photographic creative process during this video interview from Photoshop World Orlando.

Review: Edirol R-09HR & M-Audio MicroTrack II   Portable recorder expert Mark Nelson tests version 2 of the popular MicroTrack and R-09 recorders side by side at his Hawaiian guitar camp. Were the upgrades worth it? Listen to his exclusive audio examples and find out.

dekePod Episode 003: Don't Fear the Lab Mode   Color models like RGB and CMYK are frightening enough on their own. But the fact that there's one called CIEL*a*b* D50 (or just Lab), and Photoshop actually encourages you to use it, is terrifying. But Deke says not to worry. RGB and CMYK are for machines. The Lab mode is for you.

Nokia 6301  The Nokia 6301 is your best bet for a voice phone on T-Mobile's HotSpot @Home Wi-Fi calling system. We only wish the Web experience were better.

Velocity Micro Raptor Signature Edition  The unequivocal gaming champ.

Vigor Force Recon QXN  The Vigor Force Recon QXN is an impressive performer, but isn't quite fast enough to be the best gaming PC.

Pageonce  Simplify your Internet experience by using Pageonce to manage all your everything—from your Netflix queue to your utility bills.

Why Corporates Hate Perl  Anti-Globalism recommends a posting up at O'Reilly's ONLamp on reasons that some companies are turning away from Perl. "[In one company] [m]anagement have started to refer to Perl-based systems as 'legacy' and to generally disparage it. This attitude has seeped through to non-technical business users who have started to worry if developers mention a system that is written in Perl. Business users, of course, don't want nasty old, broken Perl code. They want the shiny new technologies. I don't deny at all that this company (like many others) has a large amount of badly written and hard-to-maintain Perl code. But I maintain that this isn't directly due to the code being written in Perl. Its because the Perl code has developed piecemeal over the last ten or so years in an environment where there was no design authority.. Many of these systems date back to this company's first steps onto the Internet and were made by separate departments who had no interaction with each other. Its not really a surprise that the systems don't interact well and a lot of the code is hard to maintain."

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FTC Bans Prerecorded Telemarketing Drivel  coondoggie writes "In the ongoing battle to let us eat dinner in peace without being interrupted by amazingly annoying telemarketer blather, and in this case the even more infuriating recorded telemarketing drivel, the Federal Trade Commission today basically outlawed recorded telemarketing calls. Specifically, the FTC changed its venerable Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) to prohibit, as of Sept. 2009, telemarketing calls that deliver prerecorded messages, unless a consumer has agreed to accept such calls from a given caller/seller. Between now and 2009, telemarketers must provide an obvious, easy and quick way for consumers to opt-out of any call, the FTC said. Such an opt-out mechanism needs to be in place by December 1, 2008."

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Japan Demands Probe of iPod Nano Flameouts  iminplaya sends in an item from TechNewsWorld that begins, "Several incidents of iPod Nanos bursting into flames have created consumer jitters in gadget-happy Japan. Apple is downplaying the problem, pointing out that no major injuries or damage have been reported. The problem is due to defective batteries, the company said, and only a tiny percentage of the devices have caught on fire." Japan has seen 14 such incidents so far, two in recent days. iminplaya adds, "I like that. Only a 'tiny percentage'... Is anybody beginning to understand why I would prefer that these devices not be allowed on airplanes?"

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Adobe Flash Ads Launching Clipboard Hijack Attacks  bullyBEEF writes "Malicious hackers are using booby-trapped Flash banner ads to hijack clipboards for use in rogue security software attacks. In the Web attacks, which affect Mac, Windows, and Linux users running Firefox, IE, and Safari, bad guys are seizing control of the machine's clipboard (probably using the Flash command setClipboard) and inserting a hard-to-delete URL that points to a fake anti-virus program. A number of legitimate sites have been seen to host acs carrying the attack — including Newsweek, Digg, and MSNBC.com. Researcher Aviv Raff offers a harmless demo of how it's done."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

'Why not try nude female midgets?' says Microsoft Adcenter  

Keywords no one bids on for a reason

Microsoft Adcenter helpfully sent me a link to lists of low-cost keywords I could advertise on, categorised by sector, to “unlock new customers”. I had a quick look through the ’sport and rec’ list. Here is a small sample:…

US, EU tech trade row gets serious  

Formal objection made

The US has made a formal request for the World Trade Organisation to review technology import definitions which it accuses the EU of using for protectionist purposes.…

Another day, another iPhone fix  

It's a bug's life

Version 2.0.2 of firmware for Apple's iPhone was made available yesterday, offering improvements on 3G reception for some, but not fixing the crashing applications Steve is promising to sort by September.…

UK MoD tries to resell surplus Eurofighters to India, Japan  

Supersonic chickens coming home to roost

Analysis Reports indicate that British officials have been in talks with several far-flung nations with a view to offloading scores of enormously expensive Eurofighter jets which the MoD has ordered but cannot pay for - or even use.…

HP posts 3Q profit jump; faces stiff competition (AP)  

AP - Hewlett-Packard Co. weathered economic turbulence remarkably well in the fiscal third quarter but the technology bellwether faces another big challenge — stiffer personal-computer competition — that threatens to slow its steady growth.

Some eBay sellers frustrated with rule changes (AP)  AP - Some people who sell things on eBay are fed up with new rules the company has been imposing in hopes of making the auction site more attractive to online shoppers. Now even more changes are coming in the next few weeks, but this time eBay Inc. hopes it can cool tempers.

China limits use of Olympians' names online (AP)  

AP - China has banned the use of its Olympic gold medalists' names as Internet addresses by anyone but the athletes themselves.

Intel unveils new chip design to challenge AMD (AP)  

AP - Intel Corp. cracked the lid Tuesday on a new chip design that is at once a big challenge to smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and an admission that AMD nailed a key design feature before it slipped into a severe financial slump.