Monthly Archives: May 2009

MacBook Pro’s MagSafe connector burns laptop and injures its user

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It appears Apple’s new Macbook pro also suffers from the known issues related to the Magsafe connectors.As Neowin reports, one Magsafe connector of the new unibody Apple Macbook pro burned completely charring the end of the cable. Because of this unfortunate incident, considerable damages were inflicted onto the laptop as well. Here is how it happened.

Ken Brinkman who owns the faulty Macbook Pro was sleeping and woke up around 1.30 no thanks to the smell of burning plastic. It was his luck, that he got up in time and unplug the laptop to prevent any further damages. Here is what he had to say

Smoke was pouring out the seam between the unibody and bottom enclosure. I actually burned my hand pretty badly ripping the adapter out. Oh man. This is reallllly scary because what if I didn’t wake up? It could of burned my house down.

These issues are more likely to cause damage to houses as well, since people normally dont give much attention to their laptops when they are charging

Windows 7 likely to be in stores on 15th October

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Paul Thurrot is quite famous for his predictions and believe me his predictions are quite accurate. This time around Thurrot has made a prediction regarding Windows 7. According to him, it is highly likely that Windows 7 will be avaialable to the general public on 15th October as per the current schedule. One thing which makes this prediction a strong one is that it matches with Acer’s claims. Acer last month claimed that it will be offering Windows 7 with Aspire Z5600 PCs when it is released on 23rd October. Well all can change, who knows Windows 7 might go through some changes that might require some more time. Let us see what happens.

 

Google News add YouTube videos for news content

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Most of us are more comfortable in watching news rather than having to read it. I think Google News has realized this fact and has decided to add YouTube videos alongside its collection of news content. This move enables users to watch YouTube video clips if available related to the news.

If there exists a video clip for a given story, you will observe a YouTube icon below the snippet about the news. Just click on it, which will show the YouTube media player, and you can watch the related video right from the Google News page. Personally speaking, I love this feature. Do tell me your thought about this new feature.

Attackers building botnet via pirated Windows 7 RC

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Attackers are busy in building botnet with the help of pirated Windows 7 RC containing malware. As Eweek reports, researchers at Damballa got their hands on a trojan that was hidden inside pirated copies of Windows 7 RC and was distributed to P2P sites. Damballa was able to shut down the botnet’s command and control server successfully on May 10. However by that time,damage was already done and infection rates rose high at about 552 computers per hour.

Trojan did its dirty part by attempting to install malware on the infected machine. According to Damballa

We continue to see new installs happening at a rate of about 1,600 per day with broad geographic distribution. Since our takedown, any new installs of this pirated distribution of Windows 7 RC are inaccessible by the botmaster. The old installs are accessible. The countries with the largest percentage of installs are the U.S. (10 percent), Netherlands (7 percent) and Italy (7 percent).

So all those who have downloaded the Windows 7 RC from P2P sites, please consider downloading from Microsoft.

Specs leaked for next iPhone?

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A Chinese Apple website recently published what seems to be the specifications for the next model of iPhone. It is still not sure wether it is true or it is just another rumor. Anyhow the next iPhone is expected to contain32 GB of storage – A solid increase from the current max of 16 GB.

• An upgraded 600 Mghz processor.
• 256 MB of RAM.
• 3.2 Megapixel camera with support for autofocus.
• Digital compass
• FM radio

It remains to be seen wether it is just another rumor or not.

Plans for establishing Yahoo data center in New York

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Internet giants, Yahoo and State officials of America are working together in an attempt to establish a Yahoo data center at Western New York. Within that center, computer systems and other equipment would be housed.

State officials have accepted that such an act would not result in creating job opportunities. However collaborating with world renowned company would assist in other economic development efforts. Governor David Paterson has urged the New York Power Authority to come up with a low-cost power plan for Yahoo which would result in attracting Yahoo to the Buffalo area.

Scoopler – a realtime meta search engine

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The real time search engines are something that is really in these days. But the general trend is that most of the real time search engines just focus on one service (Twitter in most cases). You might have wished for a real time search engine that searches from more than one service. That is where Scoopler comes in. Scoopler is a real time meta search engine that searches from Twitter, Digg, Flickr and Delicious. They intend to incorporate more services with the passage of time.

Scoopler, a startup that was funded by Y Combinater, is available in Beta version as of now. Scoopler as many other real time search engines is splitted into two screens, one showing the real time streams, while other is reserved for showing popular images, videos,  and links.

Scoopler also has a couple of interesting options which I personally like. These are

  • Peek: When you hover over a link you have the ability to peek at the link without having to leave the site.
  • Share: If you find a link that seems interesting to you and want to share it with others, you can do so right from the results page.

scoopleramazingoptions

How Scoopler performs in the competitive market, it remains to be seen. But all in all a nice tool.

Apple rolls out pre-release of OS 3.0 beta 5

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Previously I informed you about iPhone OS 3.0 Beta 4 release. In this post, I will be informing you about the Beta 5 release of iPhone OS 3.0. As per the trend the Beta 5 contains bug fixes but that is not all that it contains. Reports say that MMS is a thing in the past and is no longer available. The methods used to enable WiFi are now prevented. Also improvements have been made to the YouTube as well. Now YouTube will stream high quality videos for users using 3G, the same was previously reserved for WiFi users. Last but not the least, ammendments have been made to the StoreKit.To get hold of this latest beta release developers can go to the Developer Center.

Wolfram | Alpha : Making of the Google Killer

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Google has dominated the Search Engine Market since the 90′s.  Now many experts are suggesting Wolfram Alpha as Google’s Killer. 

Alpha is not like the normal search engines we use, but it’s tagline - “Computational Knowledge Engine” explains why it’s different. 

When we type a query in Google we get results where Google only provides sources of information but Alpha instead of the Sources it directly provides us with the Information itself. Along with that it also provides related information.

Mathematica is a software designed which does all the work, behind the scenes which is developed Stephen Wolfram. It crunches trillions of  piecies of information to answer your query.

Cuil.com was another searh engine which was recently developed and was termed as Google Killer by many but it gave it’s answer. Now Will Alpha Make it?

Apple to buy twitter possibly

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Previously Google attempted to own Twitter which ended in vain. This time around it seems that Apple wants to get their hands on the ever popular microblogging network Twitter. Having said that all this is attributed towards being a rumor as TechCrunch reports.

A source, pretty reliable one went on to say

Apple is in late stage negotiations to buy Twitter and is hoping to announce it at WWDC in June.

With Apple’s WWDC just around the corner, who knows we might end up hearing something in relation to this latest rumor. However, considering Twitter’s stance of not being in a mood to be sold, it is highly likely that Apple will end up with the same fate as Google. Let us wait and see what happens. By the way, what is ur opinion regarding this. Should Apple go for Twitter???