Wikia search to launch on January 7

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales had set January 7 as the launch date for the Wikia search engine. Wikia Search project has assembled the basic technologies for a search engine, including a search application, search algorithm and Web crawler. The project will allow technology enthusiasts to help filter sites and rank search results, similar to Wikipedia.

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FireWire speeds set to quadruple

Firewire also known as iLink , the IEEE 1394 standard is set to quadruple the speeds. The speed is up from 800 Mbps to 3.2 Gbps. Thus Firewire will be faster than USB and eSATA as well as it can power devices. Moreover the new version can support co-axial cable also providing support for HD connectivity at a cost lower than current HDMI.

FireWire is, according to the association, "the only separable interface today that can record HD programs in their full digital quality while also meeting the content protection requirements of copyright holders."

Google working on Internet encyclopedia

Google is working on an internet encyclopedia similar to wikipedia. Google is expected to release the service soon , initially available only by invitation. The service will be similar to wikipedia , the posting will be done by people around the world. Google is expecting to make ad revenues from this as well by showing relevant ads. More details of the service will be revealed soon.

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Microsoft to release Office 2008 for Mac on January 15

Microsoft plans to ship the Mac version of its popular Office suite by January 15. The suite includes Word 2008, Excel 2008, PowerPoint 2008, and Entourage 2008, which is a contact and scheduling application. Microsoft is also plan to add a feature that allows users to export powerpoint presentations to iPod or iPhone. PowerPoint slides can be projected on a big-screen digital TV through an Apple component AV or composite AV cable plugged into an iPod or iPhone. The same setup is used for showing any picture on the devices on a TV. The full version of suite is priced at $399.95 an upgrade version at $239.95 for existing Office 2004 users. The Media edition costs $499.95.

source: here

iPhone launched in France

Orange, the mobile phone and Internet arm of France Telecom launched iPhone in France. It is available for 399 Euros with a subscription plan, existing customers of orange can buy it for 549 Euros and for 749 Euros it can be used in any network.

Apple opens Holiday guide

Apple is all set to use the holiday season to its maximum. Apple opened a holiday guide in the website which is connected to Apple's online store. I didn't see any special offers with iMac range but a lot of iPod, iPhone accessories are available.

Last year the traffic at Apple iTunes store was so large that the site crawled. The year before it was the iPod that created the buzz. Now with the iPhone, Apple is certainly a having big holiday time.

Visit here

T-Mobile to sell unlocked iPhones in Germany

T-Mobile will be offering unlocked iPhones, without contract in Germany. It is priced at 999 Euros without any contract and 399 Euros for iPhones with two year contract. Vodafone sued DT in German courts arguing exclusive contract for iPhones are violating German competition laws. T-Mobile continues to sell iPhone in Germany.

Why Microsoft's Zune is not as hot as Apple's iPod?

This is my personal experience. I feel that Microsoft is not paying enough attention to the Zune media player. I have been browsing through the website of zune, www.zune.net. I just want to know about features of the player. I got the website with a nice animation, fine. I clicked on Zune orginals in the homepage and , I got the above error page. I tried back , forward buttons to return to home and all in vain. I still don't know why Microsoft doesn't allow users to browse through Zune. How can one make a website for a product on which there is no link to home page from an error page? So I am still "Access Denied " to Zune.

Apple updates Mac OS X Leopard

Apple issues first major update for Mac OS X Leopard. According to Apple, Mac OS X 10.5.1 addresses issues with Airport, Back to My Mac, Disk utilities, iCal, Mail, Networking, Printing, Security and Firewall, System and Finder, and Time Machine. It is considered as one of the most important security update from Apple in recent times. Users can update Leopard from here(Apple's website) or through automatic update mechanism in Leopard. The file size is 110 MB.

Apple releases Final Cut Express 4

Apple Inc releases the next upgrade to its video editing software Final Cut Express. Final Cut Express 4 adds support for the latest AVCHD cameras, allows mixing of standard and high definition content on a single timeline, includes the ability to import iMovie ‘08 projects and FxPlug cinematic effects and filters. It is priced at $199.

Apple's website: click here

Avast reaches 40 million registrations, announces 20 % off on all Avast Products

Avast Antivirus, a popular antivirus software reached 40 million registration recently. Avast is a very popular antivirus solution mainly because its home edition is free for non commercial purpose. Also the updates are very quick a thing home users always love.

As part of 40 million celebration Avast products are available with 20% discount for next 20 days.

Avast website: click here

Flickr reaches 2 billionth photo

Flickr reaches another milestone. yukesmooks uploaded the 2 billionth photo to the Flickr. The photo is of a gum tree. For Visiting the photo click here.

Flickr is owned by Yahoo!

VMware updates Virtualization software for Mac

VMware, the world's leading Virtualization firm launched VMware Fusion 1.1 which includes support for the Mac OS X Leopard. The new version supports Vista 32 and 64 bit editions. It also supports 3D acceleration. VMware also launched beta importer for Fusion. It is available free of cost. It allows to import third party virtual machines to VMware. The Fusion is available for $60 from VMware website.

VMware Fusion website: click here

Facebook launches ad platform

Facebook launches ad platform raising user privacy concerns. The ad policy is similar to referral model. Facebook is following the foot steps of My Space in the social networking arena. Microsoft Corp. signed a deal for $250 million recently for Facebook ad contract till 2011.

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YouTube sued by Indian music label

Super Cassettes, an Indian Company filed a suit against the Google's YouTube service for posting its copyright content in the website. Super Cassettes Industries is seeking a permanent injunction and damages on the dissemination and display on YouTube of the content and on Monday obtained an interim restraint order in the High Court in Delhi. Google has to move the content until final order is received.

source

Skype joins the Leopard Application Casualty List

Application problems with the Apple's newly released Operating System Leopard continue to grow. Users are complaining about various applications like Skype, Warcraft are not working in Leopard. The problem is due to the firewall of Leopard. It digitally signs program when it allows to access. So programs that change while running face problems with firewall. Also there are reports about a wireless connectivity problems as well. The wireless speed dips from 54 Mbps to 3-4 Mbps.

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Reliance and Microsoft to offer IPTV to Indian Homes

Reliance Communications signed a deal with Microsoft Corp. to take IPTV services to Indian homes. According to the deal Reliance Communication will pay $500 million to Microsoft for software service. Reliance plans to launch IPTV service by next March.

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Microsoft to sell ESPN programs through XBOX 360 Live

Microsoft had signed a deal with ESPN to offer downloads of sports shows through XBox 360 Live. Xbox 360 users can buy commercial-free standard-definition versions of select NCAA games for $3, and high-definition versions for $4.50, within 48 hours of the game's conclusion. ESPN TV shows, like the other TV content on the Xbox Live download site, cost $2 for standard-definition and $3 for high-def versions.Microsoft and ESPN said people can purchase complete NCAA basketball and football games, the X Games sports competitions and programs like ESPN's "Madden Nation," which chronicles a competition of "Madden NFL" video game players, from the Xbox Live Web site.
source

Vodafone launches MusicStation service in UK

Vodafone launches music download services in UK. They signed a contract with Omniphone to offer MP3 download services for 1.99 pounds. Users of compatible phone sets can start using the services now. More handsets will be supported later.

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Adobe patches critical PDF vulnerability

Adobe recently issued patches for Acrobat, Acrobat Reader. The fix plugs a hole that exposed Windows XP users to attackers sending PDF files containing malware. According to various reports, exploits are running rampant around the Internet in search of unpatched applications.


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Security firms warns of attacks using PDF files

F Secure, a leading security firm warned about attacks using vulnerability in pdf document files. If those pdfs are read using a vulnerable computer then it will start downloading software from malicious websites. Usually pdf documents are not scanned and filtered at email gateways so the risk is high.

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Apple imposes limit on iPhone sales

Apple Inc. imposes new limit for iPhone for sales. It no longer accepts cash for iPhone purchase. Also Apple is limiting sales of iPhone to 2 per person. Buyers have to use credit card/debit card for making the purchase. The move is to discourage people who are buying iPhone for reselling. Apple estimates about 0.3 million iPhones are unlocked.

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Mac OS X Leopard Review by WSJ

First Leopard Review by WSJ

Apple lowers price for DRM free songs

Apple computers lowers the price of DRM free songs to 99 cents. This is in response to Amazon's new music store which offers music downloads for 89-99 cents. Apple's DRM music is available at 99 cents. The DRM free songs can be played on all players.

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Apple to Release Unlocked iPhone in France

Orange is expected to introduce an unlocked iPhone in the French market. French laws forbids companies to bundle a cell phone to a specific mobile operator. Orange is expected to release a locked iPhone for $560 equivalent and an unlocked version for more. Recently Apple decided to allow third party developers to create applications for iPhone.

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Mac OS X Leopard Up-to-Date Program

If you have purchased an Apple Computer after October 1, 2007 and don't have Mac OS X leopard then you can use Apple's Up to date program for low cost upgrade to Mac OS X leopard. Apple's website claims of as low as $9.95 for upgrade. For more details click here (Apple's website up-to-date page)

Ubuntu 7.10 countdown ends tomorrow

Canonical will launch the Ubuntu 7.10 tomorrow. The new Ubuntu is packed with more punch than all previous versions with improved multimedia capabilities, Software manager, X configurator among many others. Kubuntu and Xubuntu are likely to be released along with it.

Already beta versions and Release candidate versions are available. And if you are planning to download, use torrents instead of http servers because they are likely to flooded tomorrow.

Apple to launch Mac OS X Leopard on October 26

Apple Computers is all set to launch the next big thing in Operating Systems, the Mac OS X Leopard. This major update to Mac OS X comes with a whole new Desktop, Quick Look, Spaces and Time Machine, an utility for roll-backs. Apple claims that it comes with more than 300 new features. There is also boot camp so that you can run Windows over it. If you are new to mac check this page .

If you already have a mac you can preorder the OS X leopard now through apple's website or online stores

iPod Touch hacked: Runs iPhone Applications

iPod Touch hacked. Hacker reports about iPod Touch running iPhone applications like Google maps.

Apple lists iPhone Web Apps

Apple lists 204 Web Applications for iPhone. Various categories are listed in Apple's website.They include Face book Application, ESPN podcaster and many others. The list seem to cater needs of various users.

Apple webapps link: here

Adobe says Acrobat, Reader vulnerable to hacks

Acrobat, Adobe Reader contains unpatched bugs, Acrobat admitted today. These vulnerabilities can allow malicious programs to get on to a PC without the user's knowledge. Adobe promises a patch at the end of this month. But as the programs are so popular there is a good chance of a Zero Day Attack.

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Ubuntu 7.10 to be released in one week

Ubuntu 7.10 , the latest version of Ubuntu Linux , the most popular distribution is due to be released within 6 days. The new version comes with Gnome 2.20, Fast Switching, Graphical Configurator for X and NTFS write support. Apparmour is new addition which is an Application Firewall. The new version promises to be the best Ubuntu ever. Canonical recently signed an agreement with Dell for preinstalling Ubuntu in their PC lineup. The beta version is now available for download.

Microsoft patches Vista, IE

Microsoft released six critical patches on Tuesday. The patches cover both Vista, IE and Microsoft Office bugs. Most the patches are described as critical as well as important. The bugs can be easily used to compromise the system as easy as by clicking a weblink.

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Google buys instant-message startup Jaiku

Google bought Finnish instant message start up Jaiku. Jaiku has strong presence in instant messaing world as well as mobile messaging. Google has been focusing more on mobile market with its recent acquisitions.

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Yahoo mail celebrates 10th birthday and moves out of beta

Yahoo Mail Beta is no longer beta. Yahoo launched the final version of Ajax based mail service as it celebrates 10th birthday. The version comes with faster loading, all new icons and colours plus a wide range features including right click, shortcuts and tabs. Yahoo started mail service by acquiring Rocketmail 10 years ago. Yahoo is currently one of the largest email service in world with over 255 million customers.

EA Games now available for Mac

EA Games 's hot titles are now available for Macs. Currently there are six titles available. It includes big hits like Maddes NFL 08, Tiger Wood's PGA tour 08, Harry Potter, Need For Speed Carbon. EA is likely to announce release of new games soon looking at the demand. You can preorder them Apple store

Apple Store link: click here

Apple Patches Year-Old Windows QuickTime Vulnerability

Apple finally issued a patch for a year old QuickTime vulnerability. The problem was regarding the way the player handles the url. The vulnerability only affects Windows users. Mac OS X users are safe and Firefox already issued a patch to prevent use of exploit through it.

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Novell launches OpenSuse 10.3

Novell announced the release of Opensuse 10.3. It is promised to offer best in both world of Windows & Linux. Novell claims of improved boot up time. The earlier version was too slow in booting. The improvement is as much as 50 %. Also it has experimental KDE 4. Gnome is the default environment but it also has KDE 3.5.
Virtualization support is there with the latest version of Xen.

Download here

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Man Says Nano iPod Caught Fire in His Pocket

PCWorld reports of an incident that Lithium ion battery in iPod nano caught fire. It burned a man's pant. Luckily he was not hurt. There were issues relating to Lithium ion batteries earlier this year with laptops. Many companies like Apple, Dell, Lenovo recalled batteries because of problem.

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Yahoo! upgrades Search

In a recent move to catch up with the competitors like Google, Microsoft and Ask Yahoo upgraded their search recently. Yahoo search now shows suggestions similar to google. Alongside with Flickr Yahoo now has the largest image gallery in the web. Yahoo has been playing a catch up till now. The company is now focusing to reestablishing it as an innovator.

Hackers Post Techniques for Reversing iPhone Update

Hackers posted couple of ways to roll back the iPhone firmware update in a website iPhone dev wiki. The roll back restores some of the features of the iPhone like WiFi but call facility is not yet ready. Security experts believes this move of Apple will make people fear about iPhone updates. The new patch is believed to be a stronger encryption so a difficult one to crack.

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Software update disables hacked iPhones

As announced earlier Apple computers released a new update that render hacked iPhone useless. Many found their iPhone didn't work after the update was applied. Some worked after inserting original AT&T sim. The new update brings iTune WiFi music store and other added features to iPhone

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Security Firm warns of AOL IM Hole

Core Security Technologies has spotted a hole in the popular AOL IM program. The problem is surrounding a bug by which the IM handles emoticons. The IM uses IE's engine to render emoticons. The problem is that it uses too much IE that an attacker can use to redirect to malicious site. AOL reported that they have fixed the problem but the firm reports it is still there. The IM versions 6.1 and 6.2 have the problem.

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Critical vulnerability found in Ask.com toolbar for IE

Security vendor Secunia APS reported a highly critical vulnerability in the ask.com toolbar. By using this an attacker can take control of an user's PC. The vulnerability is associated with ask.com tool bar for IE. The problem of concern is a buffer overflow and an ActiveX vulnerability. Ask.com hasn't responded to the post yet.

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Apple warns hacking iPhone may harm it

Apple had issued official warning against hacking iPhone. Apple warns that the hacked iPhone may become unusable with the future updates. Apple is planning to add many more features to its iPhone including the Apple iTunes WiFi store. Apple didn't mention the list of harmful software but mentioned a few like iUnlock. It also warned users that the process will void the warranty.

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France Telecom to market iPhone in France

Orange, the France Telecom's wireless arm will be offering iPhone in France. Apple launched iPhone in Germany and Britain recently.The latest deal was announced by France Telecom CEO Didier Lombard during a conference in Hanoi. The exact price of the phone is not available yet.

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NBC to offer free episode downloads

NBC will start offering free downloads of episodes of its popular TV shows including Heroes. It will contain ads that cannot be skipped. Also the filed is such a way that it will expire in 7 days. NBC pulled out of Apple's iTunes store recently. This move is regarded as a way to popularize NBC TV shows meanwhile retaining revenue.

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Google launches Adsense for Mobile

Google launches Adsense for websites targeted at mobile users. The service is launched in 13 countries. Mobile ad revenue is expected to grow to 3 billion by end of the year. Google now has complete lineup of Adsense to all types of websites.

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T-Mobile wins the iPhone German contract

Apple's iPhone will be launched in Germany on 9 th November. T-Mobile will be service provider for the device. Apple's iPhone is expected to cost 399 Euros in Germany. Meanwhile O2 won the British contract and is expected to launch iPhone on the same day.

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Apple Expected to Announce iPhone European deal on Tuesday

Apple Inc is likely to announce the European iPhone deal on tuesday. Apple will launch iPhone with carriers in UK, France and Germany. The likelihood carriers are O2 in UK, Orange in France and T-Mobile in Germany. Apple recently sold 1 millionth iPhone last week and it took just 74 days to reach milestone.

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Microsoft Offers Office 2007 for college students for $60

Microsoft is offering its ultimate version of Microsoft Office at $60 for college students. The offer will be launched in Canada, United States,UK this Wednesday. It is likely to extended to France, Spain and Italy next week. The promotion is dubbed as Ultimate steal. To be eligible you need to be a student pursuing higher studies and must have a valid email address from school.

check http://www.theultimatesteal.com/

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Toshiba Technology Could Boost iPod Classic Capacity

Toshiba's perpendicular storage technology could boost iPod classic's capacity. iPod classic model has 160GB harddisk now. It is essentially two 80 GB platters total forming 160 GB. Toshiba is developing technologies that will increase the platter size to 120 GB that is 240 GB 1.8 inch harddisk. The product ios likely to released in 2009.

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Yahoo! signs with bebo for social networking ads.

In an attempt to increase the advertising revenue from outside websites Yahoo signed a deal with bebo , leading UK social networking site for online ads. Yahoo , Google and MSN have been trying to bid as many advertising companies as possible to increase the advertising revenue. Google has deal with Facebook and Myspace. Also it owns orkut a social networking site. This is a desperate movement by Yahoo to match Google.

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Microsoft releases 4 security fixes

Microsoft released four security patches to fix security flaws with its Windows operating system. One of the flaws got highly critical rating. It is one for Windows 2000 operating system. Another patch is the vulnerability with the IM programs like Windows messanger and MSN. The other two are not critical patches. The security vulnerabilities allows hackers to remotely control the victims machines. If your system is set to update automatically it will update itself. Otherwise you have to manually install patches.

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Apple sells one millionth iPhone

Apple Inc. sold their 1 millionth iPhone. It took just 74 days to achieve this. At same time with iPod it took 2 yrs. Apple share rose about 4 % from the drop caused by price cut. Apple aimed at selling 1 millionth phone in the last week of September but was able to reach milestone much early.

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Skype warns users of Windows worm

Skype warns users about a new worm named as W32/Ramex.A. which affects Windows users. Several versions of the worm exists. It prompts the users to download a jpg file which is a dubbed .scr file. An infected system sends similar message to other Skype users. Kasperasky and F-Secure have updated their antivirus program to defend against worm.

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Amazon started taking orders for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

Amazon.com started taking orders for the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. You can now order Apple's new operating system through Amazon.com or one of its partner websites. It comes with a price guarantee that you will get the OS for the minimum cost. Apple's new OS is due to release in this October.

Eudora e-mail program reborn as open source

Qualcomm Inc the creators of the Eudora e-mail program opened it to the open source community last week. Mozilla foundation says that they will support both Thunderbird and Eudora e-mail clients. Eudora is one of the oldest e-mail client and leading one till Microsoft took its crown by Outlook Express. Development was weakened through recent years with the growing popularity of Thunderbird and Outlook.

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Apple attempts to block free ringtones with iTunes update

Apple has released an iTunes update that prevents the users from created cutsom ringtones other than one purchased from Apple's store. Already a workaround has been found and is reported in Macrumors.com. But it no longer works with this update. An engadget posted a new workaround which works with the new update. Also new iToner which works with updated iTunes was released by Ambrosia software.

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AMD To Open Source Some ATI Graphic Specs

AMD plans to opensource some of its ATi drivers. It is mainly intended to improve gaming in Linux. Nvidia is now leading the Linux driver market for 2D and 3D applications. AMD also promises a unified architecture for its drivers. AMD is taking opensource seriously it seems.

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Cell phone use in hospitals poses danger: study

Reuters reports that Cellphoen usage in hospital is dangerous. The electromagnetic radiations can interfere with pacemakers and ventilators. It is reported that using cellphone 1 m within the equipment can stop its working. A Dutch team tested about 61 medical devices and all of them performed badly against electromagnetic radiations

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Apple launches new iPod

Apple launched new iPods on Wednesday. New model include Touchscreen dubbed as iphone touch. It is arguably an iPhone without phone. Apple added video to iPod nano. The old iPod is now iPod classic which comes with a 160 GB harddisk. iPod shuffle seem untouched.

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Apple slashes price of iPhone prices by $200

Apple slashed the prices of iPhone's top end model by $200. Apple removed the 4GB model from the market. The iPhone is available for $399 now. This move actually angered many apple lovers who payed a premium for their iPhones less than 10 week ago. Apple is now offering a $100 Apple account for those who bought iPhone during the period. Those who bough iPhone last 14 days can also ask for a refund.

Meanwhile Apple's new move has created a buzz in the smartphone market. Palm and blackberry are in now direct competition with iPhone with this price cut.
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'Hackers' to share secret for iPhone free of AT&T

Hackers who hacked iPhone to make it AT&T free announced that they will sell iPhone unlocking software. They promised a website iPhoneSIMfree.com on which they will sell the unlocking software. They say they are Apple fans who want to make the iPhone popular with other service providers. Meanwhile iPhones are available in China , Of course unauthorized . It costs twice as much and doesn't work properly.

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also check this

Indian Bank Website restores after malware attack

Bank Of India's website was attacked by a group of hackers. They hijacked the home page and redirected the users to another website which installs trojan and malware on users computers. The users and then redirected to bank's original website. The hackers are not identified yet. The bank site was down due to the problem but was restored later.

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AMD Teams up with Virtual Desktop Pioneer

AMD teams with Virtual Desktop pioneer Nivio to provide virtual desktop services to users. The service is to stream Windows XP desktop to users that can be viewed from any system with a web browser. It plans to include rent services for Microsoft softwares that may not be needed for a long time. The virtualisation technology is ready to change whole the computing world it seems with anywhere computing...

NBC Universal ends contract with Apple

Reuters photo

NBC decided not to renew contract with Apple for its TV shows over iTunes music store. NBC shows includes the most popular one like Heroes and accounts for about 40% apple downloads.

More here

iToner puts custom ringtones to iPhone

Ambrosia Software on Friday introduced iToner 1.0.0, a new utility for Mac OS X that enables iPhone users to create and install custom ringtones. It costs $15. Apple is expected to add custom ringtone feature soon. Apple plans to add application that will set iTunes songs as ring tones. Connecting it will Apple's music store it means more revenue for Apple. iToner currently works with Mac OS X v10.4.10 or later.

iToner website: click here

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CEO: EarthLink to refocus after job cuts

After the job cut earth link now fous more to its core business providing internet service. The company is also looking on improving wireless connections.

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IPhone Hacked Video

Hacked iPhone video. iPhone running on T-Mobile than on AT & T network

Microsoft Revises Anti-Linux Campaign

Microsoft revised the Anti Linux ads with more friendly versions. Rather than directly blaming, now the company focus on while papers and other facts...

Reported by PCWorld.com . For more info click here

LG ready with iPhone rival with 3G

LG electronics is ready with its iPhone rival LG-KS20. It is 3G enables and uses WCDMA unlike Apple's iPhone. The operating system is Windows mobile 6.0. Other features are WiFi, mp3 player, 2.0 megapixel camera and bluetooth almost iPhone similar features.
For more info click here

Welcome back !!!!

Welcome back to opensofts. I know this is after along time. As i am spends lot of time reading tech news now. I think it is time to share some with you...

New iPod expected soon...

New ipod is expected in this Christmas season. The new iPod is rumored to have iPhone like touch screen interface and whole lot of features. Apple was revising its products all through the year; launched iPhone, new iMac and Mac OS X leopard is expected in this October.

For more info click here