Cali. Laptop Thief May Get Life in Prison
Here's a lesson for those of you trying to find love online: watch what kind of access you give them to your home. A state appeals court this week in California upheld a ruling against a man who broke into the apartment of a woman he met through an online dating service. Stolen was her laptop and accessories, which was then pawned off for about USD $250. However, the man made one fatal mistake: he changed the administrator username to his online dating access.
Now, here's where the story gets interesting. Ronnie Henning was already in trouble with the law, and had several felonies on his record, including previous thefts from the objects of his online trysts. In California, there is a law known as "three strikes," which gives repeat offenders stiff sentences for repeat violations. As a result, Henning could face 31 years to life in prison as a result of his crimes.
2,600 Web Sites Using Windows Server 2008
According to Web statistics firm Netcraft, about 2,600 Web sites are already using Windows Server 2008 with Internet Information Server 7.0, including Microsoft's main site. Data shows that while a good portion of those servers using the OS are indeed the company's own, the majority are not, showing that Microsoft already has traction for the next server OS release.
Microsoft has been providing a 'Go Live' license, which allows users to deploy the beta platform in a live environment for free. In any case, it will likely take years for the Windows Server 2008 user base to overtake that of previous versions: it took several years for Windows Server 2003 to overtake Windows 2000, and even today there is a significant number of sites still using the latter version.
Apple Preps Macs for iPhone
Apple released an update for iTunes on Friday in preparation for the iPhone. Version 7.3 allows the user to activate their iPhone service through the application. In addition, the new version also allows the user to sync their media with the device. Non-iPhone related updates include the ability to share digital photos from any computer with a user's Apple TV, the company says.
Microsoft's recent update for Exchange Server may have also targeted the iPhone: it fixed a problem with the platform and Mac Mail with the IMAP protocol, and could potentially have been targeted at the device as well. In addition, to the iPhone releases, Apple has also released a firmware update for MacBook Pro users, "provides important bug fixes and is recommended for all 2.2/2.4GHz MacBook Pro models."
Yahoo Hires Ethics Officer
Yahoo's announcement Thursday that it had created a new position called "Chief Compliance and Ethics Officer" is raising eyebrows, and some are speculating that it may have something to do with the criticism it received at its annual shareholder's meeting about its cooperation with the Chinese government. David Farrell, formerly chief compliance officer at Sun, has been hired for the position.
Among Farrell's responsibilities would be to ensure that the company is complying with the best practices of the industry at large, as well as being socially responsible and protecting the privacy of its users. In the most widely publicized example of Yahoo's cooperation with China, a writer was sentenced to a 10-year prison team after Yahoo provided access to the man's e-mail account to authorities. Yahoo has since been sued over the incident.
Comcast Certifies TiVo Software
Over six months after Comcast set-top boxes utilizing TiVo's software debuted at CES, the cable giant has officially certified the platform for deployment to customers. The companies originally announced a deal to work together in March 2005.
Neither Comcast nor TiVo said when customers could expect to receive the TiVo software, which will be delivered over the cable network to Comcast's Motorola digital video recorders. Due to specific Comcast and hardware requirements, the interface differs greatly from TiVo's standalone offerings, but the basic features are the same. TiVo inked a similar agreement with cable provider Cox last August.
Slideshow: Digital Experience in NYC
At Digital Experience in New York City Wednesday night, almost three dozen companies attempted to capture the attention of the press and generate buzz for their products. As expected, the heavyweights like Lenovo, SanDisk, HP, and Dell -- to name a few -- made their presence known. However, from the looks of Wednesday's event, in the next few months we may be talking about how a few lesser-known companies are making a splash in the techworld. Click to the right to begin a slideshow from the event.
Blu-ray Lures Customers with Free Movies
Learning from its HD DVD rival, the Blu-ray Disc Association has launched a new promotion in which it will offer five free movies to purchasers of Blu-ray players -- including Sony's PS3 -- between July 1st and September 30th. Customers can choose 5 titles out of a list of 21.
Toshiba took a similar tack to increase sales of HD DVD players, offering a $100 discount and five free movies. The promotion seemed to work, with the HD DVD Promotions Group announcing earlier this month that sales doubled in May. In turn HD DVD regained the lead in the market with 60 percent of all high-definition players. Blu-ray's biggest problem remains its low attach rate; customers simply aren't buying movies for the PS3. The 5 free movie promotion could help, assuming there is demand for title like Pearl Harbor and Transporter 2.
Netflix Drops Price of 2-DVD Plan
Faced with increasing competition from rental giant Blockbuster, Netflix is taking the expected step of lowering the price of its 2-at-a-time DVD rental plan by $1. The move follows a similar price drop earlier this month by Blockbuster for it's 3-DVD plan.
Netflix customers can now keep two DVDs at once for $13.99 per month. The company's 3-DVD plan remains $17.99 USD. These prices are the same as Blockbuster, although that company offers a $1 discount to those customers who only return their DVDs by mail.
GPLv3 Set to Release Friday
The Free Software Foundation will release GPLv3 at 9am Pacific on Friday, the group said this week. The event will include a live stream of the announcement via the groups website, and marks the end of a contentious 18-month process that included four drafts, and very public disagreements over its contents.
Chief among the changes are policies that would prevent future patent agreements like the one struck between Novell and Microsoft, which many in the open-source community have taken issue with. "With the release of GPLv3, we will see new defenses extended to free software," FSF executive director Peter Brown wrote in an e-mail. "These defenses will continue the long history of fighting all efforts to make free software proprietary." The newest version of the GPL is the first in 16 years.
Google Adds Image View to News
Google on Tuesday took the wraps off a new approach to viewing events going on around the world. Instead of clicking on a headline to read articles, Google News Image Version displays photos related to the day's top stories. When a photo is moused over, a bar on the right displays the headline and first paragraph.
"In looking at how people use Google News and based on feedback we've received, we've found that many people prefer to read the news in a more visual way," explained Google software engineer Lieping Tang. "Even if you prefer a standard headlines page, viewing News through Images can be very useful. One classic example is sports."
Nintendo: Make Your Own Wii Games
Nintendo has announced WiiWare, a platform for developers small and large to create their own Wii games that can be downloaded to the company's enormously popular console. Home brew are an increasing trend; Microsoft has offered a similar tool called XNA Game Studio Express for its Xbox.
Developers can use WiiWare to develop low-cost titles that take advantage of the Wii's unique remote and nunchuk controllers. Because few people enjoy working for free, created games can be sold via the Wii Shop Channel. "Independent developers armed with small budgets and big ideas will be able to get their original games into the marketplace to see if we can find the next smash hit," said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. WiiWare-built games are expected to begin arriving early next year.
Adobe Lightroom 1.1 Supports Vista
Adobe on Wednesday rolled out version 1.1 of its Photoshop Lightroom application, the company's image processing application for professional photographers. The update brings support for Windows Vista, a new image management system, improved noise reduction and sharpening, and additional RAW file support.
"Although the beta period has ended, we are happy to say that Photoshop Lightroom continues to incorporate user feedback with this latest update," remarked Lightroom product manager Tom Hogarty. Adobe's goal with Lightroom is to offer consumers the simplest such tool for managing RAW files, and the company says it has no plans to compete with Apple's Aperture feature-wise. The update, for Mac and Windows, is free to existing customers. Photoshop Lightroom is priced at $299 USD.
80GB Second-Gen Zune on the Way?
Often forgotten amid all of the iPhone hype, Microsoft, too, makes a portable music player that is holding its own in the marketplace - at least for a first generation product. The company is now reportedly preparing a second revision called the "Scorpio" with an 80GB hard drive, which will join a new flash memory based Zune dubbed "Draco."
According to Web site ZuneScene, Scorpio will enter production at the end of July, which means consumers could see both new Zunes in time for the holidays. Although it remains fair behind the iPod in market share, Microsoft is happy with Zune sales and expects to sell 1 million devices by the end of the month. According to retail statistics, the pink Zune helped keep sales reasonably high during the spring season.
Apple Releases Safari 3.0.2
Apple continues to patch holes in its Safari for Windows, releasing version 3.0.2 of the browser. Again, several security holes are the focus of the release, including the patching of an issue that allows an attacker to spoof the address bar to trick a user into visiting malicious sites.
On Apple's website, the description of the update doesn't list the vulnerabilities remedied, saying only that it includes the "latest security updates." Stability issues as well as text display and start-up time adjustments, and additional fixes for non-English systems are also included. Since its release at WWDC two weeks ago, several security researches have discovered critical security flaws in the product.
TorrentSpy, ISOHunt to Begin Search Filtering
Two major torrent sites have announced plans to start filtering their search results in an effort to block copyrighted content. Both would use technology from FileRights, a company that produces software that helps content owners automatically remove their content from torrent sites around the world. Participating sites include ISOHunt and TorrentSpy.
By using the system, TorrentSpy will likely be able to show that it is making efforts to end illicit use of its site. A judge has ordered the site to start tracking users, although it has appealed and indicated it will shut down first, before identifying users. That decision is under appeal. FileRights uses a hash-based system in order to identify any copyrighted material, the company says on its website.
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