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iSuppli: Dell retakes second place in computer market 5 Sep 2010, 9:02 am
After falling to third place last year behind perennial leader HP and Acer, iSuppli has reported this week that Dell has retaken second place in the PC manufacturing market.
Overall, PC shipments increased this quarter to 82 million, with Dell taking a 12.8 percent share, just beating out Acer at 12.4 percent.
HP remained the leader at 18 percent.
Despite a decent jump in overall sales, all three of the top manufacturers saw a sales decline. Lenovo, on the other hand, saw an 18.6 percent jump in sales, good enough to take 10.1 percent of the market.
Acer and HP saw the largest declines, with sales falling 6.2 and 6.3 percent, respectively, from the quarter preceding this one.
HP has spent the last sixteen quarters in first place.
Graph via iSuppli:
New scam alert: Fake copyright infringement letters 4 Sep 2010, 6:06 am
The French high authority HADOPI, which was put in place to oversee the country's recently passed "three strikes" anti-piracy laws has a new problem on its hands; phishers and scammers using the authority's name to trick people into giving up personal information.
The group is allowed to issue sanctions and fines to Internet users accused of piracy, with a "third strike" meaning disconnection from the Web, and a blacklisting.
E-mails, purportedly being sent from HADOPI, have been hitting thousands of inboxes this week, all claiming that the recipient has been accused of copyright violations.
The accused are then pushed to a website to pay off their fine, which leads to phishers stealing their personal info along with the money.
"As expected, this is classic Internet," says HADOPI's Secretary General Éric Walter (via Ars).
HADOPI says it will begin sending out the first real violation letters in the coming months.
(Article pic found here)
Court rules in favor of German man fired over using 2 cents worth of electricity 3 Sep 2010, 9:10 pm
Last May, network administrator Oliver Beel was fired from his job after he charged his Segway vehicle using the firm's power source for 90 minutes.
It was revealed that Beel had used 1.8 euro cents worth of electricity and he was fired two days later.
This week, a court has ruled that the firm had no grounds to fire Beel, dismissing the firm's appeal against his reinstatement, says Reuters.
The court says the firing was not appropriate given Beel's offense.
"Minimal electricity cost involved, the plaintiff's 19-year employment by the company and the fact other employees charged mobile phones and digital photo frames at the firm's expense without punishment," were all cited as reasons for the dismissal.
Buffalo Japan releases portable 3D Blu-ray drive 3 Sep 2010, 8:39 pm
Buffalo Japan has announced this week the launch of the BG3D-PI6U2-BK, a portable 3D Blu-ray drive.
Owners can plug the device into their Windows PC via the USB port and view 3D Blu-ray movies. Of course, you will need a 3D-enabled display.
The drive is very thin at 5.39 x 5.78 x 0.78-inches and weighs 340g.
Buffalo's BG3D-PI6U2-BK writes data to BD-R/RDL6 discs at 6x and BD-RE/RE DL discs at 2x.
The drive will sell for 30,000 yen (a bit over $350 USD). It will hit Japan next month, with an expected North American launch later in the year.
Toshiba recalling 41,000 notebooks 3 Sep 2010, 8:21 pm
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a recall for 41,000 Toshiba notebooks this week, following reports that some are overheating or even melting.
Before the official mandate, Toshiba posted its own recall of the Satellite T130 notebook.
The CPSC said they had 129 reported instances of "overheating and deforming the plastic casing area around the AC adapter plug."
Four of the reports lead to minor injuries or minor property damage, says the CPSC.
Toshiba explained that the problem came from a "faulty DC-In harness," which could lead to melting.
A BIOS update will fix the problem, says Toshiba. The affected models are: Satellite T135D-S1326, T135D-SP2012L, T135-SP2909R, T135D-SP2012M, T135-SP2013L, T135-SP2013M, T135D-S1322, T135-S1330, T135D-S1328WH, T135D-S1328RD, T135D-S1328, T135D-S1327, T135D-S1325WH, T135D-S1325RD, T135D-S1325, T135D-S1324, T135D-S1320, T135-SP2911R, T135-S1312, T135-S1310WH, T135-S1310RD, T135-S1310, T135-S1309, T135-S1307, T135-S1305WH, T135-S1305RD, T135-S1305, T135-S1300WH, T135-S1300RD, T135-S1300, T135-SP2911C, T135-SP2911A, T135-SP2910R, T135-SP2910C, T135-SP2910A, T135-SP2909C, T135-SP2909A and the Satellite Pro T130-W1302, T130-EZ1301.
LG prices 31-inch 3D OLED TV 3 Sep 2010, 7:28 pm
LG showed off the 31-inch 3D OLED HDTV, as promised last week today during the IFA 2010 event, pricing the model as well.
The 1080p screen is detachable from its stand, and the TV can be rotated in place. The stand is bulky as it contains all the ports standard on an HDTV.
Coming in at 2.9mm thick, the OLED display is the thinnest TV yet.
LG says the TV has an "infinite" contrast ratio and has 3D-support if you have special glasses.
The OLED set will begin shipping in March with a handsome price of £6,000.
Pics via Pocket-Lint:
Happy 2nd birthday, Google Chrome 3 Sep 2010, 6:41 pm
Google has celebrated Chrome's second birthday this week by launching Chrome 6 for Windows, Mac and Linux computers.
The search giant introduced the browser on September 2nd, 2008.
Chrome 6 has been placed in Google's "stable" channel.
"The last couple of years we've been focused on speed," added Brian Rakowski (via CW), Chrome's director of product management. "A lot of things have changed in the last two years [in browsers], but the one thing we've learned is that speed matters. It's something Google's always believed in and it resonates with people."
Chrome 6, very importantly, is three times faster at parsing JavaScript than Chrome 1. "That's a pretty big deal," says Rakowski, of the achievement, "but we have a lot more speed improvements to come."
Being tested for the latest versions of Chrome is hardware acceleration, which will move some tasks from the CPU to the GPU in an effort to boost performance.
Furthermore, Chrome 6 will have some minor cosmetic changes, like the bookmark icon being moved to the right side of the URL bar.
Sony re-hauls e-reader line, increases price 3 Sep 2010, 4:51 am
Sony has re-hauled their e-reader line, increasing the price while adding new features.
The new Reader Pocket Edition will cost $179, up from $149 for the last edition.
Sony's revamped Touch Edition will jump to $229, and the high-end Daily Edition will cost $299.
Each of the devices now features a slimmer and lighter body, more sensitive touchscreens, and higher contrast e-ink screens with better clarity.
Sony's biggest rivals, the Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook sell for under $150, so Sony may be facing an uphill battle trying to steal market share from cheaper and more established devices.
Furthermore, B&N and Amazon have repeatedly cut the prices of their devices while updating new features. Just last week, Borders said it was slashing the price of the Aluratek Libre e-readers to $99.99, the first e-reader to drop under the $100 threshold.
Samsung to prioritize Android, Bada 3 Sep 2010, 3:59 am
Samsung, the world's second-largest phone maker has said today that it will prioritize the Android and Bada mobile operating systems, making them key software platforms for their smartphones.
Says YH Lee, head of marketing at Samsung Mobile: "We are Prioritizing our Android platform. Android is very open and flexible, and there is a consumer demand for it."
Android has quickly become the third biggest mobile OS in the world, behind Symbian and RIM, surpassing Apple and Microsoft, which had head starts.
Samsung launched the Bada OS last year and have introduced two phones running the software, the Wave and the Wave 723.
Lee says the company will launch a full lineup of Bada phones in the upcoming quarters.
Despite prioritizing the other smartphone OS', Samsung does say they are releasing a Windows 7 device later in the year.
72 percent of adults now text 3 Sep 2010, 3:29 am
According to a new study from the Pew Research Centers Internet & American Life Project, 72 percent of American adults now text from their phones, with 87 percent of teens texting, as well.
Adult texting use is up from 65 percent in September 2009 and 58 percent in the same period of 2007.
While more adults are texting now than ever, they still don't do it very often. Typically, adults only send and receive 10 texts per day. Teens average over 50.
Pew surveyed 2,252 adults earlier this year.
"Weve reached a point where enough other people are texting that (adults) are drawn into using it because they can finally use it to communicate with a substantial number of their friends and family," writes Amanda Lenhart, Pew senior research specialist, via MSNBC.
"It may be that folks have been pushed by pricing into unlimited texting plans, which has the effect of encouraging people with those plans to text more, because they no longer think of the cost, and then text more people more often."
Sony unveils 3D Vaio laptop 3 Sep 2010, 2:49 am
At this week's IFA 2010 tech fair, Sony has unveiled a 3D Vaio notebook, one that includes a button that, when pressed, will convert 2D images to 3D.
While the premise is intriguing, there is, of course, a catch. Users will need to wear active shutter glasses to view the 3D.
The glasses, besides being an annoyance, are easy to lose and expensive to replace, making the proposition less interesting.
Sony CEO Howard Stringer says the notebook will be available next Spring, but no word on cost.
The display is full 1080p HD, and can handle 240 fps. Additionally, Sony's "black frame insertion" tech is used, which "which inserts a black frame between normal video frames to improve pixel response and improve black levels," says PCW.
Verizon 3G phones now available with pre-paid plans 2 Sep 2010, 11:26 pm
Verizon has announced new monthly pre-paid data packages for users that have 3G smartphones and "multimedia" phones.
For $30 per month, Verizon is offering unlimited data. If you opt for the cheaper $10 multimedia phone plan, you will only get 25MB, with each extra MB costing 20 cents.
The unlimited plan is available to users with the BlackBerry Curve 8330 and 8530; BlackBerry Storm 2; BlackBerry Tour; BlackBerry Bold 9650; Palm Pre Plus; Palm Pixi Plus; Motorola Droid; Droid X; Droid 2; Droid Eris; Droid Incredible; and LG Ally.
Verizon "multimedia" phones include the LG enV Touch; LG enV3; LG Chocolate Touch; LG VX8360; Samsung Alias 2; Samsung Renown; Nokia Twist; and the Casio EXILIM.
Both bundles are available in-store as of today and online on the 28th.
"Our prepaid customers will now have the freedom to enjoy all of the capabilities that these phones have to offer, while controlling costs and without being tied to a contract," added Jim Sullivan, director of marketing for Verizon Wireless.
Twitter increases security requirements for third party access 2 Sep 2010, 6:53 pm
Two days ago Twitter began requiring third party applications to use a secure method for accessing your account.
Using this login method, called OAuth, a program requests access to your Twitter account without first getting your login information. Twitter then forwards that request to you through their own web interface, allowing you to confirm or deny access.
For example, when you use the 'retweet' link on an Afterdawn news article for the first time you're prompted to connect the TweetMeme service to your Twitter account.
Clicking the 'Yes' button sends the request to Twitter. Twitter then checks to see if you are logged in. If you're not logged in Twitter sends you a login window.
Once you're logged in you will be prompted with the OAuth connection request. If you were already logged in, but wish to connect with a different Twitter account you can do that from this window as well.
Once authorized, the service will appear in your Twitter Settings under Connections. You can deauthorize the connection directly from this screen on the Twitter website at any time.
The now unsupported alternative to OAuth was called Basic Authentication. It required a program to collect your username and password and then pass them on to Twitter every time a connection was made. Besides the obvious security hole created by having third parties collecting and saving private information, there was also a functional problem with this approach.
If you changed your Twitter password you would also have to update that information for every program or service you gave access to.
Most people probably won't notice this change since developers were informed of the change last year. Most applications were using OAuth long before the deadline.
Group releases open-sourced PSGroove PS3 jailbreak 2 Sep 2010, 1:53 am
Last month PSJailbreak showed the world that the PS3's security model was open to be exploited, and Sony was quick to shut down the project.
This week, PSGroove, the "open source PSJailbreak," has been released for the masses, giving owners a chance to jailbreak their PS3 for a lot cheaper than the $170 PSJailbreak.
The code can be run on a hacked PSP, a TI-84 calculator, a $25 Teensy++ USB development board or a $30 AT90USBkey.
Currently, the Teensy is on backorder and buyers will likely receive it a week or so after they order it.
While the software initially had any piracy features disabled, a second build has been released with all features of PSJailbreak enabled. The software will allow for the execution of unsigned 3rd-party apps and games as well as ISOs of PS3 games.
You can view more info here: PSGroove
Sony shows off unlimited Qriocity streaming music service 2 Sep 2010, 1:20 am
Sony has launched their own challenge to Apple's iTunes this week, dubbed Qriocity, which will be an unlimited, cloud-based music service available via the PlayStation 3 and other Internet-connected devices such as HDTVs and Blu-ray players.
The service will go live by the end of the year, giving users a chance to stream millions of songs in the cloud.
Besides the PS3, the service will be available on Sony portable media devices, Sony Blu-ray players, Sony home-theater systems, 2010 Web-enabled Bravia HDTVs and Windows PCs.
"We are excited to offer our customers high quality, cloud-based entertainment experiences across many of Sony's network-enabled devices," says Kazuo Hirai, president of Sony's networked products and services group. "Services 'powered by Qriocity' will revolutionize the way that users play, listen, watch, share, communicate, learn, discover and create their digital entertainment content."
Sony has said it will expand the Qriocity "Video on Demand" service which launched in April in the U.S. to France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.K. in the fall.
The video service has content from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Lionsgate, MGM, NBC Universal, Paramount, Sony, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros.
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