Disney/ABC Joining Hulu - 04/30/09 03:43 PM
Disney is looking to acquire as much as a 30% stake in Hulu and begin start streaming their content on the Hulu service. ABC now joins Fox, NBC. and other prominent broadcasters on the popular ad-supported website.
ABC currently provides it's own service through it's website where popular shows such as Desperate Housewives and Lost but this will expand ABC's online offerings to a larger group of casual viewers.
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Android 1.5 Update Being Pushed out to G1 Users - 04/30/09 11:30 AM
Reports are coming in that some T-Mobile customers, that currently have the Google Android based G1, are receiving over the air updates of the much anticipated Cupcake (1.5) update. The new update brings customizable widgets, messaging enhancements, virtual keyboard, video recording, more responsive GPS functionality, and UI tweaks. Many enhancements around other Google products such as GMail, Calendar, Documents, etc.
T-Mobile stated that the updated will be rolled out throughout May
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Zoho Mobile Expands Mobile Device Coverage - 04/29/09 10:19 AM
In a press release yesterday Zoho.com announced an expansion of it's popular online office suite to additional mobile devices. Zoho Mobile includes Mail, Calendar, Writer, Sheet, Show, and Creator. Prior to the announcement their mobile service focused on iPhone and Windows Mobile platforms but they have now added support for Android, BlacBerry, and Symbian making them more compatible on more phones than Google Docs.
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The Swine Flu Panic on Twitter - 04/28/09 10:41 AM
Twitter has proven to be a very useful tool in communicating to a large group of people (followers) but it also can be a bed of misinformed people spreading panic and speculation. The latest example of this is regarding the Swine Flu, doing a quick search on Twitter reveals post after post of wild speculation and misinformation.
There are a number of other reliable resources on the Internet to find out details about the Swine Flu:
Google's Flu Trends
Google's Swine Flu Map
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
You can even follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Twitter.
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GE Announced Breakthrough in Digital Storage - 04/27/09 03:22 PM
Digital storage technology has reached a new level with GE announcing a breakthrough that will allow standard-size discs to hold the equivalent of 100 DVDs. The new holographic storage could be the next generation in low-cost solutions with a wide range of potential uses in commercial, scientific, and consumer markets. The new technology also promises to be backwards compatible allowing the use of CD, DVD, and Blu-ray disks but the GE disks could hold as much as 500GB of data, in comparison a standard DVD hold 5GB and Blu-ray currently max out at 50GB.
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Verizon to See iPhone? - 04/26/09 10:06 PM
The rumors keep coming but it's getting noisy again around the thought that Apple will be bringing the iPhone to Verizon. Although it's unlikely that Apple would release a CDMA phone, and the CEO of Verizon himself stated it was a CDMA iPhone wouldn't be happening, what could be happening is that Verizon is rolling out their new LTE (4G) Network and a 4G iPhone would be a great way to inaugurate the new network in 2010.
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MortgageReliefOnline.com - 04/24/09 05:27 PM
The federal government's Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan is aimed at assisting owners who are struggling with their current mortgage. But borrowers and home owners may be finding it difficult in knowing if they home owner qualifies for this program. That is where MortgageReliefOnline.com comes in, an easy questionnaire can be filled out in order to determine if the home owner qualifies for the government plan.
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Microsoft Reports First Quarterly Revenue Fall in 23 Years - 04/23/09 04:45 PM
The worlds largest software company reported it's first revenue dip in 23 years today. Net income dropped from $3 billion, or 33 cents per share, for its third quarter, a 32% drop in profits from the $4.4 billion, or 47 cents per share, reported in the same period the previous year.
The company's total revenue fell 6% to $13.7 billion from $14.5 billion from the previous year.
Earnings include 6 cents per share of charges related to layoffs and impairments to investments.
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Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope - 04/23/09 09:10 AM
We can't be a true Tech Blog if we didn't occasionally post something about Linux so today Ubuntu 9.04 or Jaunty Jackalope was release. Ubuntu has proven to be the most popular Linux distribution available. The new version promises to boot faster, have better power management, broader device support, immediate wake up after system sleep, and a new system wide notification service.
Although, Linux has historically been a difficult entry Ubuntu has helped push Linux to more mainstream appeal with a partnership with Dell and being installed on many small netbooks.
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Geek Speak: DRM - 04/22/09 04:15 PM
DRM (Digital Rights Management) - DRM is a software restriction that prevents use of digital content (such as software, music. etc.) to be used on any other hardware device in which it wasn't originally intended. The use of DRM is very controversial with many users against the restriction referring to DRM as Digital Restrictions Management since the user is unable to move the digital content from their various devices.
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The Apple Tax - 04/21/09 09:00 AM
A number of news organizations have been picking up on Microsofts newest ad campaign which points the the higher prices of the Mac vs. the PC. Microsoft and others refer to this as the Apple Tax. Instead of defending the price of the Mac I thought we'd do an actual comparison in oder to determine the actual price difference. The biggest problem with this commercials that we should address is that the feature set on a $699 laptop vs. a MacBook Pro is really not comparable due to hardware differences.
Since most of the ActiveRain users are professionals I'll compare the newest MacBook … (0 comments)
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Oracle Buys Sun - 04/20/09 11:31 AM
Yesterday Oracle Corporation and Sun Micosystems announced they have entered into an agreement where Oracle will acquire Sun stock for $9.50 per share in cash. The transaction will run Oracle and estimated $7.4 Billion.
Questions remain on how this will impact the open source projects that Sun holds that a lot of the Internet runs on which include MySQL for databases and Java for coding, and the popular OpenOffice.org as an alternative to Microsoft Office.
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iWork Trojan Horse - 04/17/09 03:01 PM
Mac users have been typically comfortable with the Apple OSX platform being free of Malware but an iWork Trojan may be turning Macs into Zombies. The Trojan horse was embedded in an iWork '09 trial version that was making the rounds on file-sharing networks. Researchers have now discovered two other variants of the malware, each using different techniques to compromise the machine.
This kind of malware requires the user to download and install the software to be infected so, even if you are on a Mac, please download and install software from trusted sources.
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The Pirate Bay Founders Head to Prison - 04/17/09 09:00 AM
The founders of Pirate Bay, the most popular BitTorrent site on the Internet, were sentenced to 12 months in prison and a $3.56 Million fine after the court filed a ruling against the group. What's interesting is that the court did not find the defendants guilty of hosting material illegally but of "providing a website with sophisticated search functions, simple download and storage capabilities, and a tracker linked to the website (that helped users commit copyright violations)."
The case is being seen as a landmark verdict but, oddly enough, the verdict did not include an order to shut down The Pirate Bay website.
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Geek Speak: Easter Egg - 04/16/09 04:25 PM
We're late on this one but since it's still near Easter we thought we'd review what the term easter egg means in Geek Speak. An easter egg is a secret message, credit or screen hidden in an application, game, or DVD. Easter eggs typically include a bonus feature or item but can include the names of the developers responsible for the application, extra levels, or bonus content.
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Microsoft Preps Auto IE8 Update - 04/14/09 06:06 PM
Microsoft has stated they they are making preparations to include Internet Explorer 8 in an upcoming Automatic Update/Windows Update release. The update will likely roll out during the 3rd week of April and will target Internet Explorer 6 and 7 users, which currently makes up 93% of Internet Explorer users.
Microsoft is currently loosing market share at an accelerating rate to competing browsers and discussions online are speculating that this may be a move in hopes to stop the bleeding.
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Windows XP transitions out of Mainstream Support - 04/14/09 03:52 PM
Microsoft confirmed today that, as planned, Windows XP has finally and officially transitioned from the Mainstream Support phase to the Extended Support phase. Most users are likely not to experience any difference in service since Microsoft will continue to provide regular security updates and occasional hotifxes until April 8th, 2014. This also reaffirms that Microsoft will be closing down distributions of XP and what is in the Market Place is likely to be what remains until sold out.
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Geek Speak: Beta - 04/13/09 04:27 PM
The meaning of the term Beta has had some changes in recent years but most still believe that it represents the first version of software that is considered stable enough to be released for testing, but not yet ready for commercial release. However, many companies have been using the term Beta as more of a designation that the software may still have a few bugs but is ready for everyday use.
Google is notorious for putting a product out and keeping it in Beta for an extended period of time, believe it or not GMail is still in Beta.
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Original Skype Founders may Buy Skype Back - 04/11/09 07:46 PM
The original founders of Skype have been approaching several equity firms in hopes to make a bid for the now eBay company. The two men sold Skype to eBay in 2005 for 2.6 billiion and since then have formed a capital firm and backed the online video service Joost.
eBay has been attempting to sell Skype for years and this acquisition could solve a number of problems they have been having including the need for a cash injection into their eBay operations.
One crucial factor that may scare off potential suitors, outside of the Skype founders, is that the Skype founders have … (0 comments)
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Twitter: Tweetdeck - 04/11/09 12:43 PM
Twitter is becoming more and more popular and there are various companies trying to jump on the Twitter bandwagon and attempting to build applications to facilitate a better user experience. Tweetdeck is one of these applications, still in Beta it's shown to be one of the better organized Twitter aggregators we've come across. Tweetdeck will sort out the tweets by All Friends, Replies directed to you, and Direct Messages in a nice User Interface. Lastly the application is built on the Adobe Air platform so it works well on Mac, Windows, and Linux machines.
If you try out Tweetdeck follow Apex Effect on Twitter.
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Microsoft Ending Support for XP - 04/08/09 03:25 PM
Next week marks the end of mainstream support from Microsoft for Windows XP. Support will end on April 14th, over seven years after the operating system debuted. Microsoft stated that it will continue issuing security updates to Windows XP until 2014, any future bugs found in the operating system will not be addressed. According to online statistics Windows XP still makes up 64% of PC's that connect to the Internet.
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Goole's New Gmail Mobile Application - 04/07/09 02:38 PM
Google released their updated and much anticipated Gmail for Mobile application today. Expect more robust cache that utilizes Gears which will allow you to compose messages and access recently read messages without a network connection, an improved look and feel, and the all new floaty bar that keeps popular menu commands from scrolling off the screen. The new features will be rolled out throughout the day to Android, iPhone, and iPod touch users.
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Geek Speak: W3C - 04/06/09 07:58 PM
W3C (Short for World Wide Web Consortium) The International group of companies set up to develop open standards so that the web can develop in a single direction instead of being splintered by competition.
W3C also engages in education and outreach, develops software and serves as an open forum for discussion about the Web.
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Verizon Announces It's Own Music & App Store - 04/03/09 11:04 PM
In a move to be in direct competition with Apple's iTunes music store and App Store Verizon announced it's own. The music store will house more than 5 million songs with most of them DRM free so that they will be able to be played on more than one player. Much like the Apple Music Store they will also have tiered pricing with prices ranging from 69 cents to $.1.29 per track.
The App Store is still a little vague but any Verizon phone that is capable of the Get It Now application will be able to make use of the new store front for … (0 comments)
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Geek Speak: Spyware, Malware, Trojan, Virus - Part 2 - 04/02/09 09:58 PM
In Part 2 we look at Trojan and Virus.
Trojan (horse) - describes a class of computer threats (malware) that appears to perform a desirable function but in fact performs undisclosed malicious functions that allow unauthorized access to the PC, key logging, or giving them the ability to save their files on the user's computer or even watch the user's screen and control the computer.
Virus - a software program capable of reproducing itself and usually capable of causing great harm to files or other programs on the same computer. Many people use the term to describe malware, trojans, or malware but this these troublesome pieces … (0 comments)
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Gmail Autopilot - 04/01/09 02:34 PM
Gmail announced a new feature today claiming to be the easiest email could possibly be.
Gmail Autopilot states as more and more everyday communications takes place over email, lots of people have complained about how hard it is to read and respond to every message. THis is because they actually read and respond to all their messages.
More information can be found at Google's Gmail Autopilot page.
April Fools!
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