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The Best Gaming PC Money Can Buy

2009-01-07T14:28:04+00:00

SlappingOysters writes "Gameplayer has gone live with their best PC hardware configurations for Q1 2009. They've broken it into three tiers depending on the investor's budget. And while the prices are regional, it is comparative across the globe. The site has also detailed the 10 Hottest PC Games of 2009 to unveil the software on the horizon which may seduce gamers into an upgrade."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Federal Trade Commission To Scrutinize DRM

2009-01-07T14:28:04+00:00

Ars Technica reports that the FTC is getting ready to take a hard look at gaming DRM, setting up a town hall meeting to be held on March 25th. They're currently recruiting panelists, and they say the meeting will, in part, "address the need to improve disclosures to consumers about DRM limitations." The controversy over DRM came to a head in 2008 with the release of Spore and the multiple subsequent class-action lawsuits focusing on the SecuROM software that came with the game. Ars Technica says the town hall meeting will also look at "legal issues surrounding DRM" and "the potential need for government involvement to protect consumers."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Retrospect, portable storage headline Iomega booth

2009-01-07T13:11:40+00:00

Filed under: Macworld, Accessories, Software

Iomega and EMC continue to offer plenty of backup and storage options for home and small businesses, including a new version of Retrospect that improves the interface and performance for the first time in years.

Retrospect 8.0 for Mac, in addition to the customizable UI, includes improved backup-to-disk features, tape library management, and email reporting. Its revamped backup engine can perform eight simultaneous disk actions (like copy, backup, and restore), bringing it closer to parity with the Windows version of the tool.

A public beta of Retrospect 8.0 is available now from EMC's website, which EMC recommends not be used in mission-critical environments. The final version is expected to ship before the end of March; pricing starts at $129.

Also available from Iomega (an EMC company) are two storage products for Mac users: Home Media Network Hard Drive, and the eGo Helium for MacBook Air users.The Home Media Network Hard Drive works with iTunes to create a networked repository for music and movies, along with a print server for USB printers. It's available in 500GB and 1TB capacities, and retails for $160 and $230, respectively.

The eGo Helium is designed with the MacBook Air in mind, and features a small, lightweight profile. With a single USB connection for power and data, Helium works with the Air's single (overpowered) USB port. The eGo Helium is 320GB and priced at $150.

Iomega is located at Macworld in the North hall, at booth 4015.

Full disclosure: I previously worked with Iomega for five years starting in 2002, designing their retail packaging.

TUAW Retrospect, portable storage headline Iomega booth originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 06:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CES 2009 Shrinks With Dwindling Economy

2009-01-07T10:47:02+00:00

nandemoari writes " Not long after we first heard murmurs Microsoft may be ready to lay off as much as 17 per cent of its workforce, the popular Consumer Electronics Show, held every year in Las Vegas, is rumored to be shrinking alongside the global economy. The Consumer Electronics Association, host of the CES, estimates that the numbers of both exhibitors and visitors will be down in 2009. The CEA expects about 130,000 people will attend this year, down 11,000 from last year. And about 2,700 exhibitors are expected to attend, down from 3,000 in 2008."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

El cambio de batería en el nuevo MacBook Pro de 17" costará 179 dólares

2009-01-07T11:48:01+00:00

Ayer Apple lanzó el MacBook Pro de 17” con la carcasa unibody de aluminio, completando así la renovación de la gama de portátiles de la marca. Sin embargo, ese portátil tiene una batería irremovible, lo cual ha hecho que nos preguntemos qué es lo que pasaría si dicha batería se estropease.

La respuesta la ha dicho un representante de Apple en el stand de la marca de la Macworld Expo: el programa de sustitución de la batería del MacBook Pro de 17 pulgadas costará 179 dólares (133 euros) y se podrá hacer desde cualquier tienda Apple Store física.

No sabemos todavía qué precio tendremos aquí en España (conociendo la política de la marca, redondearán hacia arriba). De todas formas, la batería promete una vida larga, de modo que esperemos que los clientes no tengan que recurrir a ese programa.

Vía | Macworld

iTunes: Fin del DRM y del precio fijo de las canciones

2009-01-07T09:04:32+00:00

Cuentan en Error500 el Fin del DRM en iTunes y del precio fijo de las canciones: «Fin del DRM en iTunes y del precio fijo por canción. Con lo primero Apple se pone al día y da el paso que prometió y que la aparición de un gigante como Amazon en el sector parecía reclamar. Años después, Apple es la compañía que más negocio ha hecho con la música con DRM, consolidando una posición privilegiada con el 'lockin' entre iTunes e iPod que supone el interfaz entre la música y gran parte de los usuarios. [...] Respecto al precio fijo, Apple cede a una petición antiquísima por parte de las discográficas y a la que otros - de nuevo Amazon - habían dado el sí. Los grandes éxitos pasarán a 1.29 dólares (euros en Europa) y, por otro lado, habrá parte del inventario quedará a 0.69 dólares/euros. Básicamente, los títulos que más venden más caros, la "larga cola" más barata».

Sobre la privacidad en Facebook

2009-01-07T09:04:32+00:00

unf escribe: «Yo soy de esos insensatos que se preocupa de la privacidad por Internet más bien poco. Pero por una entrada bastante estúpida de un blog que han enviado a menéame me he puesto a mirar la "configuración de privacidad" de mi perfil. He descubierto algo que sabía a medias: que estoy repartiendo multitud de información a todo el que la quiera, pero en una medida que desconocía. Veamos un par de puntos que no me han hecho especial gracia: por defecto, cualquier persona que se conecte a Facebook puede encontrar mucha información sobre ti sin ni siquiera tener una cuenta. Como es obvio esta información aparece tabulada de la misma forma para todo el mundo, así que es carnaza perfecta para bots». Recientemente, El País publicó un reportaje sobre la privacidad en las redes sociales.

How Do You Manage Your SD Card Library?

2009-01-07T09:02:43+00:00

txmadman writes "Like a lot of my colleagues and all of my three children, I have several SD , mini-SD, and micro-SD cards for various purposes: cameras, cell phones, my laptop, etc. These things are handy to have around, offer easy and significant storage, but are very easily lost. We have also have run into some instances where it wasn't clear whose SD card was whose, and have also started to see a need for a storage mechanism. I have seen SD card 'wallets' and such, but have never seen anyone actually use one. So: How do you manage and keep track of your SD cards?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Herramientas libres para la visualización de redes sociales

2009-01-07T07:26:46+00:00

Un pobrecito hablador nos cuenta: «Este artículo es una prueba de concepto que mestra cómo hacer aplicaciones para extraer datos de tu red social usando la API de Twitter y generar una gráfica, geolocalizar y visualizarlos». El artículo está en inglés y usa Perl para trabajar con la información.

Git remoza su sitio web

2009-01-07T07:26:46+00:00

DanielSan nos cuenta: «Los reyes magos del desarrollo de software se han portado bien este año. El diseño del sitio web de este popular sistema de control de versiones fue actualizado ayer, redireccionando además automáticamente al nuevo dominio git-scm.com. Después de valorar el rediseño para el sitio web, el equipo de desarrollo ha decidido cambiar la espartana antigua página web de Git por una mucho más agradable, completa y usable. Si aún no has aprendido Git, aprovecha, ¡que ahora es mucho más bonito! ;)»

Freelancing Gods :: Thinking Sphinx Delta Changes

2009-01-07T06:59:53+00:00

There’s been a bit of changes under the hood with Thinking Sphinx lately, and some of the more recent commits are pretty useful. Small Stuff First off, something neat but minor – you can n...

Oprah Sued For Infringing "Touch and Feel" Patent

2009-01-07T05:31:43+00:00

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Oprah Winfrey, or to be more precise, Oprah's Book Club, is being sued by the inventor/patent attorney Scott C. Harris for infringing upon his patent for 'Enhancing Touch and Feel on the Internet.' So Oprah's Book Club is now one of many people and entities being sued over this patent because they allow people to view part, but not all, of a book online before purchasing it. Mr. Harris also sued Google Books for infringing upon this patent. He actually was fired from his position as partner at Fish & Richardson for that, because Google is a client of that law firm and they had conflict of interest rules to uphold." It would be entertaining to see Oprah give very wide and mainstream publicity to the abuses enabled by our current patent system.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Obama Picks RIAA's Favorite Lawyer For Top DoJ Post

2009-01-07T03:39:38+00:00

The Recording Industry of America's favorite courtroom lawyer, Tom Perrelli, who has sued individual file swappers in multiple federal courts, is President-elect Barack Obama's choice for the third in line at the Justice Department. CNet's Declam McCullagh explores the background of the man who won the RIAA's lucrative business for his DC law firm: "An article on his law firm's Web site says that Perrelli represented SoundExchange before the Copyright Royalty Board — and obtained a 250 percent increase in the royalty rate for music played over the Internet by companies like AOL and Yahoo," not to mention Pandora and Radio Paradise. NewYorkCountryLawyer adds, "Certainly this does not bode well for CowboyNeal's being appointed Copyright Czar."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

TUAW Macworld Video: Talking with showgoers

2009-01-07T04:14:01+00:00

Filed under: Macworld, Cult of Mac

Macworld Expo is more than just a lot of vendors, eager booth staffers and tacky giveaways. It's about the people who are Mac fans and come to the Expo every year to see what's happening with their favorite computer platform.

In this short video, I have a chat with Karen Anderson and Tom Whitmore. Karen's from the Seattle area and an editor at Take Control Books, and Tom Whitmore is a Bay Area sci-fi bookstore owner and well-known Science Fiction author with incredible Isaac Asimov sideburns. Their take? Macworld should continue into the future, and it would be great to see it in a different city every year.

Check out our other videos, and be sure to keep coming back to TUAW for all of your Macworld Expo 2009 coverage.

TUAW TUAW Macworld Video: Talking with showgoers originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Phishing Is a Minimum-Wage Job

2009-01-07T01:24:23+00:00

rohitm918 writes "A study by Microsoft Research concludes that phishers make very little (PDF): '...low-skill jobs pay like low-skill jobs, whether the activity is legal or not.' They also find that the Gartner numbers that everyone quotes ($3.2B/year etc) are rubbish, off by a factor of 50. 'Even though it harvests "free money," phishing generates total revenue equal to the total costs incurred by the actors. Each participant earns, on average, only as much as he would have made in the opportunities he gave up elsewhere. As the total phishing effort increases the total phishing revenue declines: the harder individual phishers try the worse their collective situation gets. As a consequence, increasing effort is a sign of failure rather than of success.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

El vídeo de la keynote ya está disponible en Apple.com

2009-01-07T00:35:46+00:00

Ya está disponible en la página oficial de Apple el vídeo con el contenido íntegro de la keynote presentada hoy en San Francisco, con motivo de la Macworld 2009.

De momento, el vídeo sólo puede verse en formato streaming desde la dirección que os pongo al final de esta entrada, aunque en las próximas horas aparecerá también en el feed de iTunes donde Apple publica todas sus keynotes con mejor resolución.

Después de dar un primer vistazo al vídeo, y sin entrar en el contenido de la keynote, vemos como Phil Schiller se desenvuelve sobre el escenario con cierta soltura, aunque se nota que todavía carece de la experiencia de Jobs mostrando productos.

Es de esperar que Schiller sea quien presente futuras keynotes, al menos, hasta que Jobs se recupere físicamente y esté preparado para volver al escenario.

Sitio oficial | Apple – Macworld 2009

Macworld 2009 -- North Hall Photos

2009-01-07T00:10:34+00:00

Filed under: Macworld

Of course you already know it's Macworld Expo time and we're covering the heck out of the show here in San Francisco. We've already got some great info about updated iLife and iWork suites, DRM being removed from iTunes, a "Philnote" line video and a brand-new 17" Macbook Pro. And now, a gallery of photos from the Macworld North Hall.

Among the many interesting things seen in the North Hall was the Acura booth, featuring cool in-car technology, the packed Iomega booth and cool new iPhone case designs from Incipio. Even though the South Hall gets most of the attention, there's still lots to see in the North Hall too so check it out.

Gallery: TUAW at Macworld 2009 -- North Hall

TUAW Macworld 2009 -- North Hall Photos originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A quick walkthrough of the developer booths at Macworld 2009

2009-01-07T00:10:34+00:00

Filed under: Macworld

Here's a quick (and shaky) tour of the developer booths in the South Hall. Enjoy!

TUAW A quick walkthrough of the developer booths at Macworld 2009 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Peek At DHS's Files On You

2009-01-06T23:33:43+00:00

kenblakely writes "We've known for a while that the Department of Homeland Security was collecting travel records on those who cross US borders, but now you can see it for yourself. A Freedom of Information Act request got this blogger a look at DHS's file on his travels. Pretty comprehensive — all the way down to the IP address of the host he used to make a reservation."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

TUAW Macworld Video: Marketcircle announces Daylite Touch

2009-01-07T00:10:34+00:00

Filed under: Macworld, Software, Video, iPhone

For businesspeople who want to take their work with them everywhere, Marketcircle has just created a new way to keep updated on projects, contacts, calendars, and more through the iPhone -- Daylite Touch.

We interviewed Marketcircle CEO Alykhan Jetha this morning at Macworld Expo 2009, where he gave us a demo of the many features built into Daylite Touch. The app, scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2009, will be licensed with another announced product -- Daylite Server -- and will be free of charge to Daylite users. Jetha also noted that Daylite Touch will require the upcoming Daylite 3.9.

Daylite Touch syncs with Daylite Server via Wi-Fi, 3G, and EDGE connections, and doesn't overwhelm the user with too much information on one little screen. This is one of the more complex iPhone apps I've seen since the iPhone arrived on the scene, and a lot of time and effort was obviously directed at the user interface.

Click Read More to see our interview.

Continue reading TUAW Macworld Video: Marketcircle announces Daylite Touch

TUAW TUAW Macworld Video: Marketcircle announces Daylite Touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Macworld 2009 Day One: In Pictures

2009-01-07T00:10:34+00:00

Filed under: Macworld, TUAW Business

The Keynote might not have had everything we were expecting, but Macworld 2009 is still off to a super start.

We're still busy hitting booths and rendering video, you can take a look at some of the fun we've been having.

Highlights:

The Delicious Monster booth looks just like Delicious Library 2
The Iconfactory team
Obviously, the new MacBook Pro unibody.

Gallery: 2009 Macworld Day One

TUAW Macworld 2009 Day One: In Pictures originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Maniacal Rage :: Punch Bout by The Perry Bible Fellowship What really sells this...

2009-01-07T12:06:47+00:00

Punch Bout by The Perry Bible Fellowship What really sells this for me is the look on the trainer’s face in the last frame. It’s perfect.

Researchers Hack Intel's VPro

2009-01-06T23:33:43+00:00

snydeq writes "Security researchers from Invisible Things Lab have created software that can 'compromise the integrity' of software loaded using Intel's vPro Trusted Execution Technology, which is supposed to help protect software from being seen or tampered with by other programs on the machine. The researchers say they have created a two-stage attack, with the first stage exploiting a bug in Intel's system software. The second stage relies on a design flaw in the TXT technology itself (PDF). The researchers plan to give more details on their work at the Black Hat DC security conference next month."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

2009 Macworld Keynote video available

2009-01-06T22:16:36+00:00

Filed under: Macworld

As usual, Apple has released a Quicktime video of the keynote address from this year's Macworld Expo. This one's rather historic, as well all know. It's simultaneously Phil Schiller's first and Apple's last.

Right now it's available as a stream from Apple's website, but it typically shows up in the iTunes Store as a free download shortly thereafter. Be sure to grab a copy and "own a piece of history" as they say. Whoever "they" are.

So, what did you think of this year's presentation? We think Phil did a great job and was greeted warmly by the crowd. Sure, a little bit of fanfare would have been nice, but that was Tony Bennet's role, right?

TUAW 2009 Macworld Keynote video available originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Macworld 2009 keynote line video

2009-01-06T22:16:36+00:00

Filed under: Macworld

Here's to the crazy ones. Although, seeing as how this is the last Apple keynote at Macworld (so they say), perhaps they aren't too crazy...

TUAW Macworld 2009 keynote line video originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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