Microsoft Readies Windows Patches, Five 'Critical'

windows security patch

Microsoft said it will deliver nine security updates, all but one affecting Windows. Five are pegged 'critical', the company’s highest threat rating.

One researcher speculated that most of the updates will tackle bugs introduced when a Microsoft programmer added an extra "&" character to a vital code library.

Read More...

Social stress makes you fat

Social stress could lead to heart disease by causing the body to deposit more fat in the abdominal cavity and could also speed up harmful plaque build-up in blood vessels, according to new research.

Read More...

Smoking pot ‘as harmful as tobacco’: Study

A new study by Canadian researchers has shown that smoking pot can cause as much damage to cells and DNA as tobacco smoke, challenging the increasingly popular belief that marijuana is less harmful than cigarettes.

Read More...

Microsoft’s Unquenchable Thirst for Search Data

What does Microsoft hope to pump from Yahoo in their newly forged search agreement? Search data. Once the two combine powers, search queries that users send to Yahoo will be handled by Microsoft, which will also find out what users end up clicking after a search. More data means Microsoft can better sharpen its search power. However, will even that be enough to catch Google?

Read More...

New Wi-Fi standard, 802.11n, nearing completion

According to Wired’s website, the new standard for Wi-Fi is near completion and offering up to 600mbps promises lightning fast speeds along with a great deal of other bells and whistles.

Read More...

Logitech release new gaming mouse: the Logitech G500

When Logitech released the G9 mouse, a big fuss kicked up in regards to the design and appearance of the mouse, with a lot of people disliking the square, hard shape of it. Now, Logitech have introduced their latest mouse, which aims to get loyal customers that stuck with their much loved Logitech G5s when the Logitech G9 was released, to consider an upgrade.

Read More...

Apple’s tablet will be more than a niche product

A new financial analysis predicts that Apple’s yet-to-be-announced tablet will launch in early 2010 and sell about 2 million units in its first year — and at an estimated $600 each, that would be an additional $1.2 billion in revenue.

Read More...

Mac OS X Update Polishes Its Image

Even though Snow Leopard is on track to hit the market, Apple has pushed out a new set of updates for its current platform, Leopard. Many of the fixes involve securing the way the operating system handles images. The update also includes some patches for Tiger, Apple’s previous version of OS X.

Read More...

Reseller lists TomTom iPhone kit for £99.00 ($168.50)

A U.K Web site has made the TomTom cradle and accompanying software available for pre-order at a cost of 99 pounds, or about $168.50 U.S., though a company spokesman would not confirm that price.

Read More...

Apple dumps app developer and his 900+ apps from App Store

One developer has run afoul of a clause in Apple’s iPhone Developer Program agreement by flooding the App Store with hundreds of questionable apps. Apple has since given him and his apps the heave-ho.

Read More...

Ringtone-Hating Company Intros Collections of Grown-Up Ringtones

A ringtone company that professes to hate ringtones has introduced three new sets of  ringers for the iPhone that address cellphone etiquette.

Available now for $10 each, the three new collections from San Francisco-based iRingPro are designed to make your ringing iPhone less shrill, annoying and intrusive.

Read More...

Report: iPhone grabs 32% of global handset profits

Apple’s iPhone now accounts for 8% of all mobile phone revenue and a whopping 32% of the industry’s handset profits, according to figures published by Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi.

Read More...

Updated plist suggests new Apple device "iProd" coming soon

The latest beta of iPhone OS 3.1 contains a configuration for "iProd1,1," suggesting that the mysterious device is closer to being released. Whether it’s a tablet or some other product is still anyone’s guess.

Read More...

Toshiba to launch world’s largest and fastest SD card

Toshiba has announced it will be launching a 64GB SDXC card, which they claim will be the world’s fastest and largest SD card. The card boasts write speeds of 32MB per second and read speeds of 60MB per second, and is compliant with the latest SD memory standard. In addition to the 64GB SDXC, Toshiba also announced they would be releasing two more storage cards: a 32GB SDHC card and a 16GB SDHC card – and importantly, both offer the same speeds as the 64GB SDXC.

Read More...

New Zune HD images leak, shows black and silver colors

New images of Microsoft’s Zune HD has leaked, and according to the pictures shown, the Zune HD appears to be sporting black and silver color options.

Read More...

Microsoft details how to port programs from Apple’s App Store

In an attempt to encourage developers to bring their software to Windows Mobile, Microsoft has published a technical document describing how to port applications from the iPhone to the platform one company official said has a superior Web browser.

Read More...

Apple bans third-most prolific developer from the App Store

When the App Store launched, it was relatively bare, leaving it an untapped resource for new (and seasoned) developers. There have been many success stories, which have led to other developers wanting in; if you look around the store today, you might see hundreds of applications that do the near exact same job, except all by the same developer. This is a classic example of monetizing the community, without regard for quality, and Apple seems to have had enough of it.

Read More...

Google Launches A Major Offensive Against Microsoft With “Going Google”

Microsoft and Google have seen their rivalry kicked up a notch in recent weeks. First, Google announced Chrome OS, the company’s first operating system. Then Microsoft announced the new version of Office with major cloud app support. Then Microsoft announced its deal to take over Yahoo’s search business. Google is back on the offensive, with a major promotional campaign to get the word out about organizations switching to Google apps for their daily computing needs.

Read More...

NetNewsWire beta beginning of transition to Google Reader

The latest beta of NetNewsWire 3.2 includes the oft-requested support for Google Reader. In fact, NewsGator is ditching its online feed reading and synching service and transitioning all of its clients to use Google Reader.

Read More...

iPhone/GSM phones vulnerable to SMS hacks, patch coming soon

Demonstrations at the Black Hat computer security conference revealed that smartphones based on iPhone OS, Android, and Windows Mobile are indeed vulnerable to hacking via SMS messages. Those aren’t the only phones that are vulnerable, though, and security experts are working with mobile carriers and handset vendors to patch the problem.

Read More...

Steve Ballmer calls Apple’s Mac growth a "rounding error"

Speaking to a group of market analysts, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer repeatedly mentioned Apple, including a suggestion that a growing rate of Mac adoption is statistically insignificant.

Read More...

Why Apple Hates Jailbroken iPhones

Jailbreaking an iPhone could cause repercussions unimagined by the user who’s merely interested in running some unauthorized third-party apps, according to Apple. It could allow poaching of network services or open the door to a denial-of-service attack that could crash a cell tower, disrupting wireless communications and creating a potential threat to national security.

Read More...