Microsoft's Summer Xbox Deal Is Back!

Microsoft had a nifty back to school special last year that awarded customers a brand new Xbox 360 with the purchase of any new Windows PC. Well, it seems as though the promotion was a success, enough of one at least to make the company want to do it again this year as well. Starting on Sunday, May 20, U.S. students who buy a new Windows 7 PC will also receive a free Xbox 360 as well.

The deal doesn't just apply to U.S. students, however, as Canadian students also qualify for the deal which started on the 18th. In order to be eligible you will have to be a high school or college student with proof of status, like a campus ID or an email address that ends in .edu. If you qualify, you will receive a 4GB Xbox 360 with the purchase of a Windows PC for $699 or more. If you're a Canadian student, you only have to buy a $599 PC.

Power Generation

What is a SQL Server

Internet Speed Test

Computer Talk - Lost Conversation

What is Java Programming

The Xbox that students will receive is Microsoft's current $199 console, which is the lowest priced model the company offers and the one that doesn't come with a Kinect motion sensor. Best Buy was the only retailer partner that Microsoft paired with for the offer the last time, though the company has greatly increased their partners this time around. In the U.S. Microsoft is partnering with Best Buy and Fry's Electronics while the company will be teaming up with Best Buy, Future Shop, Staples and The Source in Canada. You can also get the deal online through Dell, HP and Newegg in the U.S. and through Dell in Canada.

If you happen to live close to an actual Microsoft store, you can also get the deal there as well. There are 21 Microsoft stores currently open (or expected to open in the summer), all of which are located in the United States. Microsoft's online store will also support the deal. Also new this year is the amount of control Microsoft has left in the hands of the retailers. This means that the deal won't last the same amount of time for every retailer so make sure you check your dates before you go in for the deal.

Source: PC World - Buy a Windows 7 PC, Get an Xbox

Read More

6:09 AM | 0 komentar

Internet Disappearing for Thousands of People in July

The FBI has warned hundreds of thousands of people that they could lose their internet connections in July. That is, of course, if they don't take steps to diagnose and disinfect their computers. The problem that these individuals are facing is related to malware known as DNSChanger, which was first discovered in 2007 and has since infected millions of computers around the world.

Basically, what this malware does is that whenever you type a web address into your browser, your computer contacts DNS servers to discover the numerical IP address of the site you are looking for and then takes you there. The DNSChanger malware messes with an infected computer's settings and directs it to a rogue server set up by an internet Network Security crime ring.

According to an Attorney General for the United States in an FBI press release, these criminals "were intentional cyberbandits who hijacked millions of computers at will and rerouted them to Internet Web sites and advertisements of their own choosing -- collecting millions in undeserved commissions for all the hijacked computer clicks and Internet ads they fraudulently engineered."

However, the FBI busted up the crime ring last year and took control of the rogue servers. Considering so many infected computers relied on the servers to reach the internet, the agency decided not to shut them off and instead converted them to legitimate DNS servers. However, running these servers is costing the government money, which is why they are being turned off in July. If you are one of the unfortunate ones whose computer got infected, the internet will no longer exist for you.

The DNSChanger Working Group (DCWG) has created a website designed to help you diagnose your computer and see if you are infected and remove the DNSChanger if necessary. I'd recommend checking it out, especially before July 8, or you can say goodbye to Facebook, Google and whatever else you use the internet for.

Source: CNET - Web Design could vanish for hordes of people in July, FBI warns

Read More

6:58 AM | 0 komentar

Identity Theft Vulnerability Affects All iPhones, Not Just Jailbroken Ones

A report surfaced recently about a vulnerability in Facebook that allowed people to access someone else's account. The report initially stated that this vulnerability only affected people on a jailbroken iPhone, however, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore as two new reports are stating that it isn't only jailbroken phones that are at risk.

Gareth Wright, an app developer from the U.K., along with The Next Web have each confirmed, separately, that this new vulnerability affects any and all iPhones, not just jailbroken ones. In addition to that, it has been discovered that the vulnerability originated in Facebook's iPhone app.

Wright released his report earlier in the week and claimed that the iPhone Facebook app includes a vulnerability that fails to encrypt log-on credentials whenever you get on Facebook on your iPhone via the app. Wright also said that he also discovered a Facebook access token in the Draw Something game. Wright copied the token, used the Facebook Query Language and extracted the information.

According to Wright's report, "Sure enough, I could pull back pretty much any information from my Facebook account." Wright also mentioned that the property list of the app contained any and all information needed to allow someone other than you to access your Facebook account, send private messages and do anything else imaginable.

However, Facebook is sticking by their claim that the vulnerability only affects jailbroken phones. In a statement from the social media giant, the company said, "Facebook's iOS and Android applications are only intended for use with the manufacture provided operating system, and access tokens are only vulnerable if they have modified their mobile OS (i.e. jailbroken iOS or modded Android) or have granted a malicious actor access to the physical device."

That may have been believable had The Next Web not released their very own report separate from Wright's. The Next Web confirmed themselves that the vulnerability also affects non-jailbroken phones. However, The Next Web also found that Dropbox also suffers from the same vulnerability, leaving the application open to a property list hack.

According to The Next Web, "We copied the .plist from one device, with the app installed and logged in, over to another which had a fresh installation of Dropbox on it. The profile copied and it worked seamlessly, as if we had logged on ourselves, which we had not." The Next Web also added that the Dropbox vulnerability works on phones that are passcode protected.

Facebook keeps saying that the vulnerability is only on jailbroken phones, though with the reports from Wright and The Next Web, I don't know how much longer the social media company can keep that story going.

Source: CNET - facebook ID theft impacts all iPhones, Dropbox

Read More

5:23 AM | 0 komentar

AOL Saves Nearly $5 Million by Decommissioning 10,000 Servers

In recent news it has been discovered that AOL has decommissioned nearly 10,000 servers, saving the company almost $5 million on its way to winning a competition that highlights the cost of running inefficient or underutilized IT equipment.

Nobody really realizes how much underutilized or inefficient servers can cost until they see the numbers. Decommissioning a 1U rack server could potentially save you $500 a year in energy costs, $500 a year in operating system licenses and $1,500 a year in hardware maintenance, and that's just one server!

Uptime Institute is behind the competition, which it is calling the Server Roundup Contest. Companies that participate could move workloads to newer, virtualized equipment or even into the cloud. In addition to that, each company had to provide paperwork to verify what they had done, which included work requests and recycling receipts and even photographs.

AOL decommissioned 9,484 servers over the past year, which accounted for nearly 1.4 of its worldwide servers. The savings included nearly $1.65 million in energy bills, $2.2 million in operating systems licenses and $62,000 in maintenance costs. AOL also gained $1.2 million from scrap and resale while reducing its carbon emissions by 30 million tons.

AOL was the best in the competition by far, beating out five other companies. The closest competitor was NBCUniversal, which removed 284 servers. However, AOL may have benefited from the fact that the company is in the middle of a multi-year effort to reinvent itself from an internet access provider to a content and advertising company. A majority of the servers AOL replaced were running applications and web properties that had become useless, according to the company.

Lung Disease

Health Benefits of Chocolate

Early Signs of Pregnancy

New Internet Download Manager Final

Jellyfish Fish Attack CWP

Eid Adha Sms

Source: Computer World - AOL unplugs 10,000 servers, saves $5M

Read More

5:21 AM | 0 komentar

Mozilla Finally Succumbs to H.264 Support

Mozilla just announced that it is about to begin supporting the H.264 video codec, a move the computer company has said goes against its better judgment. Mozilla suggested that it had been forced into this decision, which is patent laden, and also assured users and developers that it would continue to offer its software free of charge as it currently does.

According to a blog post by Mitchell Baker, Chair of the Mozilla Foundation, "Mozilla is on the cusp of changing our policy about our use of video codecs and making use of a format known as 'H.264'. We have tried to avoid this for a number of years, as H.264 is encumbered by patents. The state of video on the web today and in mobile devices in particular is pushing us to change our policy."

Baker also added that Mozilla resisted the move to H.264 support because it wants to build products that people "love". He also added that using standards that are laden with patents is not supportive of this goal. "We've declined to adopt a technology that improves user experience in the hopes this will bring greater user sovereignty. Not many would try this strategy, but we did. It's time to shift our weighting. It's time to focus on shipping products people can love now, and to work on developing a new tactic for bringing unencumbered technology to the world of audio and video codecs."

Mozilla CTO Brendan Eich posted an additional blog post covering Mozilla's decision in greater depth and also suggests that Mozilla could have avoided this transition altogether if it had support from firms like Google and Adobe. In case you missed it, both Adobe and Google started talks about supporting more open standards recently. Unfortunately both Google and Adobe had to drop those ideas due to the commonplace of H.264.

According to Eich, "Some say we should hold out longer for someone (Google? Adobe?) to change something to advance WebM over H.264. Others say we should hold out indefinitely and by ourselves, rather than integrate OS decoders for encumbered video. What I do know for certain is this: H.264 is absolutely required right now to compete on mobile. I do not believe that we can reject H.264 content in Firefox or Android or or in B2G and survive the shift to mobile. Losing a battle is a bitter experience. I won't sugar-coat this pill.... Failure on mobile is too likely to consign Mozilla to decline and irrelevance."

Source: The Inquirer - Mozilla grudgingly adopts H.264
Mitchell's Blog - Video, user experience and our mission
Mozilla Hacks - Video, Mobile, and the Open Web
Engadget - Mozilla caves, will support H.264 to avoid 'irrelevance'

Read More

4:00 AM | 0 komentar