Oct 29
Apple faces yet more flack from the Mac faithful over the discovery that the operating system won’t run the latest version of Java. It’s one of several beefs relating to the OS X upgrade that is sparking vitriol among the normally docile crowd.
Leopard may have 300 new features, but it is unable to run Java 1.6, even though that same version is available for both Windows and Linux. That has taken some Mac users by surprise, including some on this user forum on Apple’s website. Several users there say 1.6 is so central to the development work they do on a daily basis that they will be forced to use an OS other than Leopard if it remains incompatible. Continue reading »
Oct 29
BOFFINS working at the Arizona State University’s Center for Applied Nanoionics say they have come up with a low-cost, low-power computer memory that could create a terabyte-sized thumb drive.
The drive uses a new technique for manipulating charged copper particles at the molecular scale. Memory is a tenth of the the cost and a thousand times energy-efficient as flash memory.
Top boffin Michael Kozicki said a a thumb drive using the memory could store a terabyte of information. He claimed that all the current limitations in portable electronic storage flee in the face of the technology. It would be finally possible to video your life and store it. Continue reading »
Oct 29
AFTER sticking its fingers in its ears and going la-la-la really loudly, HP has finally admitted that there are problems with the built-in Wi-fi on its 6000 and 9000 series Pavilion notebooks.
For a while the HP forum, here, has been all a-buzz with problems about the lappies’ Wi-fis not working. The wireless card detected the network with all the efficiency of a blind person trying to find a black cat in a dark room that was not there.
However there had not been a dicky bird from HP until hacks at ZDNet wrote an attack on the outfit for ignoring its users. Continue reading »
Oct 29
This miniature budget notebook may not be preloaded with Windows, but it ably serves most on-the-go computing needs.
To me, the ultrasmall, ultralightweight computer remains the Holy Grail. Unfortunately, you still pay a premium for miniaturization. The $399 Asus Eee PC 701 (available November 1) shatters that perception, though. For a fraction of the cost of competing ultramobile computing devices, Asus delivers a highly functional portable, without the fancy specs. Continue reading »
Oct 29
U.K. mobile phone operator Huchison 3G UK on Monday rolled out the Skypephone, a handset designed to simplify use of the Skype VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) application.
Huchison 3G, branded as “3″ in the U.K., is offering free calls between Skype users through the 3G mobile phone, which goes on sale Friday in the U.K. The Skypephone will be released by the end of the year in Australia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Macau and Sweden.
Continue reading »
Oct 29
Only days after the official launch of Mac OS X Leopard, the software is already said to be running on PCs based on Windows. Members of OSx86 Scene claim to have hacked the OS, and are providing detailed install guides and troubleshooting. Leopard is reported to be partially crippled without Mac hardware, however, most notably in the lack of Wi-Fi support, which may render the OS useless for some. Continue reading »
Oct 29
Apple has posted a QuickTime version of the new user-created iPod touch television ad that began airing on Sunday evening. Based on student-created advertisement that was posted to Youtube, the ad spot was made “broadcast-ready” by Apple’s advertising agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day, according to an online report. The commercial features a fast-paced overview of the portable player song with “Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex,” The spot’s creator, Nick Haley, is an 18-year-old student and Apple fan in the UK who created the content and uploaded his video to YouTube. Continue reading »
Oct 29
Simplifying hacks of v1.1.1 iPhones and iPod touches even further, beyond applications such as iJailBreak, a new website called Jailbreakme (iPhones/iPods only) offers a solution to unlock Apple’s latest devices without first docking them to a computer. Upon directing Safari to the site, users are prompted to read directions and install AppSnapp, after which the necessary “Installer.app” icon will appear on the Home screen. The site is so far reported to be safe and easy to use.
Users who want SSH access can do so by installing the BSD subsystem, Community Sources and then Open SSH, the last of which allows Finder drag-and-drop access to iPhone/iPod contents. All of these do however require a desktop computer to be available, as well as more technical knowledge. Jailbreakme also does not provide an easy means of installing the third-party software it is meant to open access for. Continue reading »
Oct 29
The creators of APE (Application Enhancer) on Saturday denied that their application-enhancement framework is responsible for blue-screening Macs being upgraded to Leopard. Apple Inc., however, blamed the software in a support document advising users to delete APE from their machines.
Within hours of Leopard’s Friday debut, users began reporting a “blue screen of death” that appeared after running the default Upgrade option. On affected Macs, the blue screen stymied the required restart after the install, locking users out of their computers. Continue reading »
Oct 29
The latest embarrassment for Apple’s iPhone is a report from ecoadvocacy group Greenpeace which says the revolutionary new cell phone has traces of two toxic chemicals that have been eliminated by some of Apple’s rivals from their products.
The group arranged for an independent UK lab to test the phone’s components. “An independent scientific laboratory tested 18 internal and external components of the iPhone and confirmed the presence of brominated compounds in half the samples, including in the phone’s antenna, in which they made up 10% of the total weight of the flexible circuit board,” according to a statement on Greenpeace’s website. “A mixture of toxic phthalates was found to make up 1.5% of the plastic (PVC) coating of the headphone cables.” Continue reading »
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