HOT HEADLINES
No, it wasn't a bad Windows Update patch that caused the massive Skype outage that started last Thursday and continued into the weekend. It was the semi-synchronized massive reboot across the globe, which exposed a bug in the Skype Code. On Thursday, 16th August 2007, the Skype...
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Netflix has recently lowered their prices for 3 DVDs to $16.99, and for a select few (million) customers, they’re trying a lower price point of $15.99 to see where the ‘sweet spot’ is.These price cuts come on the heels of Blockbuster acquiring Movielink earlier this month, a move that many claim will be a major part of Blockbuster’s strategy...
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We first reported on a possible new addition to AMD's Athlon 64 X2 line-up back in July. The rumored chip was somewhat of a surprise, since official AMD roadmaps clearly pegged the 6000+ as the last member of the Athlon 64 X2 family as we currently know it, with no further additions until the Phenom was out in force. The rumors have turned...
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After troubles that caused users to be unable to log in to the peer-to-peer VoIP service for up to two days over this weekend, it looks like Skype has ironed out their software issue.What exactly was the problem? Other than knowing that it’s allegedly software related, Skype has been awfully tightlipped about the origin of the difficulty...
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George Ou must like getting hate mail. He had the nerve to point out that "Vista puts Mac OS X font rendering to shame," and has the screen caps to demonstrate it. George does not seem to understand that for five percent of the population, anything that ships from Redmond is made in a cauldron of snake's venom in Sauron's cave, while Steve...
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Piling on the cores is nothing new. Intel demonstrated an 80 core processor last year. But there's always been a problem. The computing power of multiple cores has been like a huge boat you built in your basement. You could go sailing, but it won't fit out the door. In multicore chips, the...
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When AMD came out with their first 65nm X2 CPUs, a lot of fans were wondering if AMD was going to be in a good position to ramp up their existing X2 line. If that happened, AMD might have been able to close some of the performance gap between the Core 2 Duo and the X2.Sadly, that never happened. Instead, fans and hardware aficionados ended...
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All cell phones have the ability to make a 911 call even if the service on the phone is disconnected. This is a requirement of the Federal Comunications Commission, and while this is an obvious safety measure, it's also being mis-used by some to make prank calls to 911. Emergency dispatch...
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You have to scroll down through the list of available options to see it, but it’s there. The only 2 CPU options are both Quad-Core desktop CPUs! At first glance, you might think that this is a typo, but a quick call to the sales confirmed it.Too bad there aren't options for a screen larger than 17 inches. A laptop with this much horsepower...
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Comcast users who have recently reported that their download speeds have dropped and/or their inability to seed has started making waves, after all, Comcast is a major player in the broadband arena.It is no surprise then, that Comcast is now officially doing something about piracy: they’re throttling BitTorrent activity on their own network....
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For an old-timer like me, C|Net's tour of the DigiBarn, a 19th-century farmhouse deep in the Santa Cruz mountains, about 90 minutes south of San Francisco, brings back a lot of memories. Late nights huddled in front of my C64 using Nibble-Copy to "backup" some games, hammering my way through Sword of Sodan on the IIGS and Shadow of the beast...
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In Coral Gables, Florida, an enterprising pastor wants to bribe (his words) new people into attending its iSermons. This is the same church, Church of the Glades, that in January drew 50,000 hits to its website with a billboard proclaiming "The Bare Naked Truth on Sex." Anyone who comes to its iThemed services for the first...
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Apple has been making impressive inroads in numerous markets, regaining ground in arenas that they once dominated. There is, however, one arena which was arguably never dominated by Macintoshes: Gaming.Companies like id and Blizzard have offered Mac software for the past several years, but recently mega-publisher EA decided to throw their...
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I know that it's crazyI know that it's nowhereBut there is no denying thatIt's hip to be square(Huey Lewis & the News)Admit it: Silicon Valley is the land of the Geek. For startups, this generally translates to things like video games, foosball and table tennis. Now the latest "stress...
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Dominos Pizza has been experimenting with different forms of digitally ordering pizza in recent years. It all started with opening a web-site to take online orders (something Papa John’s Pizza made quite popular), then moved on to the infamous /pizza command in EverQuest 2, and now has moved on to the wonderful world of SMS.The big question...
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Recently we told you about the Wikiscanner, and how it had uncovered several suspicious additions and edits by several businesses and government bodies.The scanner has now uncovered a few other organizations abusing the online encyclopedia: “Virgil Griffith's "Wikiscanner" points to Central Intelligence Agency computers as the sources of...
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About a year ago we decided our living room furniture was on its last legs. It had been a cheap sectional set, and it was badly in need of replacement. We had never tried buying furniture online before, except for small items such as TV stands or footstools. With the trend toward lower...
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In what can only be termed "incredibly ironic" due to the way China and Chinese firms are usually portrayed with regards to intellectual property (IP), a Chinese firm has sued Blizzard over alleged use of its fonts in World of Warcraft. Founder Electronics is asking for compensation of...
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Skype isn’t commenting just yet on the major outage that has befallen the service. Since the trouble began, Skype has ceased allowing users to download the client while they iron out what is believed to be a software issue.The problem started late on the 15th, when both log-in and connectivity issues struck the Skype. Current estimates are...
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Guarding sensitive data is an extremely complex task and often requires a skilled IT team that stays on top of modern technology. Of course, if your IT team does things like turning off firewalls in order to perform lengthy maintenance on servers (while leaving them connected to the internet), they might not really be a ‘good’ IT team to...
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Apple and AT&T have been sued for a second time over the controversial battery replacement plan for the iPhone. You may recall that last month Jose Trujillo of Melrose Park, Ill. sued the companies for $75,000 in damages over the battery. Monday a second lawsuit was filed, this time in...
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Gaming on integrated graphics? You've got to be kidding, right? I mean, standalone cards are pushed to the limit by games. You would expect that a system "saddled" with integrated graphics would be too handicapped. According to an Intel blog, with the latest release of their G965...
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