http://news.softpedia.com Softpedia News - Global Softpedia News en-us 2001 - 2009 Softpedia. All rights reserved. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:08:49 GMT Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:08:49 GMT News http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 10 http://www.softpedia.com/base_img/softpedia_logo.gif http://news.softpedia.com/ http://news.softpedia.com/news/No-Embedded-Hulu-Videos-on-Other-Sites-127651.shtml It is already a common fact that Hulu is not willing to make any exceptions when it comes to other companies embedding its content, and the latest site to find this for itself is Rippol. Therefore, it is not only Boxee and TV.com that were forced to remove Hulu videos from their platforms, and probably Rippol will not be the last one either.

What's more, this project is so recently launched that it still has the “Beta” label displayed on its webpage and it was based on complex algorithms integrated with user recommendations to provide visitors with relevant video suggestions that are most likely to interest them.

Regardless of how interesting this seems to be, Hulu representatives have reacted within a few hours from the official launch and informed Rippol that they were not allowed to embed any of the Hulu videos on their website, because they were violating the Terms of Service (ToS) of Hulu (which clearly states that all its content is exclusively for private, non-commercial usage). The response was that Rippol does not intend to publish any type of advertisements within the streams or around them, but it seems that the mere fact that the website plans to generate revenue comes in contradiction with the ToS.

As a solution to the entire situation, Hulu offered them the possibility to link... (read more)]]> Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:35:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/No-Embedded-Hulu-Videos-on-Other-Sites-127651.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/No-Embedded-Hulu-Videos-on-Other-Sites-127651.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Giorgiana Bursuc) http://news.softpedia.com/news/A-Gamer-s-Week-22-November-127583.shtml This Sunday, you can check out the Softpedia review for Modern Warfare 2, which is already selling like hotcakes, read the journal related to playing Dragon Age: Origins, read a Weekend Reading piece linked to videogames and movies or check out the EndWeekGame piece we've put together. But you can also take a look at the most important news stories of the week that passed.

On Monday, we talked about Final Fantasy XIII, which was confirmed as coming to the West on March 9, 2010, and we also heard that another game set for next year, Dead Space 2, could actually be getting multiplayer.

Tuesday was the day when Sony confirmed the existence of the 3.10 firmware update for the PlayStation 3 and showed off some of its features, while the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 seemed to have been hacked.

On Wednesday, Microsoft released a strongly worded statement insisting on players not buying any modded Xbox 360 consoles because of the void warranty and also put out a free downloadable content pack for Forza Motorsport 3.

On Thursday, we found out that No More Heroes was headed for both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 with an estimated time of arrival of late 2010, while Dan Houser confirmed that Rockstar was searching for a new venue for Grand Theft Auto V.

On Friday, we talked about BioWare's announc... (read more)]]> Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:41:02 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/A-Gamer-s-Week-22-November-127583.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/A-Gamer-s-Week-22-November-127583.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Andrei Dumitrescu) http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/PhotoJoy-Review-127048.shtml The desktop is one of the most important parts of your operating system. It works like a bridge between all your applications, files and folders and serves as a support for your shortcuts or other widgets. A handy feature is the fact that you can customize it according to your needs. You can change the background picture, screensaver, theme, add widgets and other tools to ease your work.

PhotoJoy is the application that can do all of the aforementioned operations and even more. It can drive away the monotony from your desktop and bring a touch of novelty. You'd be amazed of what this tool can do with your desktop.

The interface is simple and intuitive without fancy options that could mislead you from your main goal: to customize and beautify your desktop. PhotoJoy comes as freeware, another reason to give it some attention. The only thing that can be annoying is the additional shortcut it creates on your desktop, which leads to one of the developer's websites.

PhotoJoy will surprise you with its simplicity and ease of use. The upper part of the main window features the four major tabs that you will be dealing with: Collages, PhotoToys, Screensavers and Photo Library. Apart from these, only a few clicks keep you away from the full desktop customization it offers.

The Collages tab is the first you will encounter when ... (read more)]]> Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:31:02 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/PhotoJoy-Review-127048.shtml Global http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/PhotoJoy-Review-127048.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Cosmin Anton) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Divorce-Cake-Business-Is-Flourishing-127630.shtml They say marriage is for life or, as we hear so often in movies and books, “‘till death do [us] part.” Still, divorce is also part of our life, being the logical choice when things no longer work out, to put it in the simplest terms possible. As rates for divorce are soaring in most countries, a new trend is beginning to catch on with the speed of light: that of divorce parties, as the Daily Mail can confirm.

While a wedding is the manifestation of the joy felt at the thought of two people uniting their destinies for life, a divorce party is, of course, the exact opposite. Newfound freedom is generally the theme of such a party, which makes it so that divorce is no longer seen as reason to pine and mope around, but rather as a fresh start in life. This is also the motto of most divorce cakes.

Again, like with the nuptials, divorce cakes are the reverse of wedding cakes – and they’re selling like crazy as more and more people want to make of their divorce a celebration of a new start. Most of them feature either the bride or the groom (depending on which spouse is filing the papers) pushing the partner off the cake, or stabbing them in the back or otherwise inflicting some serious bodily harm. There are also predominant themes like blood, broken hearts and scattered luggage, admittedly ... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:31:01 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Divorce-Cake-Business-Is-Flourishing-127630.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Divorce-Cake-Business-Is-Flourishing-127630.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Elena Gorgan) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Weekend-Reading-On-the-Biggest-Entertainment-Launch-Ever-127562.shtml Activision was right. Bringing in 550 million dollars in revenue in the first five days on sales, Modern Warfare 2, the sequel created by Infinity Ward, has become the biggest entertainment release in history, beating out videogames like Grand Theft Auto IV and movies like The Dark Knight and the various Harry Potter releases. The talk about the Citizen Kane of videogames should subside for a while as analysts discus about how videogaming is set to displace movies as the big medium for entertainment releases.

The question is whether videogaming really wants to take the place of movies in the entertainment area. The budgets are similar, especially for the biggest releases, and the development times are in the same general range. The gains are similarly impressive and the media attention is getting similar levels for the most important launches, like GTA IV, Modern Warfare 2 or New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Wii. And both the world of movies and that of videogames are now dominated by huge franchises, big explosions, macho main characters and the 18 to 45 male demographic.

One huge area where the two industries are still radically different is availability of product. Most indie movie releases, until they make it really big like Slumdog Millionaire or Juno, are only offered in a few theaters... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:21:01 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Weekend-Reading-On-the-Biggest-Entertainment-Launch-Ever-127562.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Weekend-Reading-On-the-Biggest-Entertainment-Launch-Ever-127562.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Andrei Dumitrescu) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Adam-Lambert-For-Your-Entertainment-Album-Review-127650.shtml It’s extremely hard and close to unfathomable to speak of a music album as of an “instant classic” when it’s not even out in stores, yet this is precisely what’s happening with Adam Lambert’s debut material “For Your Entertainment.” Due out on November 23, Lambert’s first studio album is a wonderful collection of intoxicating tracks oscillating from insane electropop / disco / rock to powerful, emotion-laden ballads hailing the arrival of the next glam rock idol.

Very high hopes were pinned on Lambert and this was even before he finished off last season of American Idol – and surprisingly came out in second place – which also means that a lot of pressure was put on him to deliver a debut album that would break the mold. In this respect, he more than delivers, with this piece that is mainstream pop yet not, by being so uniquely overboard and beautifully eccentric. Critics agree Lambert has literally taken a page out of music history with “FYE,” a very versatile album that swerves from one sound to another with ease from track to track, taking the listener into that glitzy world where Glambert, the unleashed diva, reigns supreme.

For starters, suffice to say that all comparisons between Adam Lambert and Freddie Mercury are not w... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:15:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Adam-Lambert-For-Your-Entertainment-Album-Review-127650.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Adam-Lambert-For-Your-Entertainment-Album-Review-127650.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Elena Gorgan) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Aptina-wants-Micron-s-Fab-as-a-CIS-Production-Site-127649.shtml Currently unable to quickly respond to short lead-time orders from customers, Aptina imaging seems to be interested in transforming Micron's Japanese semiconductor manufacturing plant into a producer of CMOS image sensors. Aptina CEO David Orton stressed the fact that the cause for this current inability was in no way due to insufficient capacity on Aptina's side, instead saying that its clients were the ones placing too many short lead-time orders.

Just like the Italy-based fab owned by the same company, the Japan-based semiconductor manufacturer is capable of producing 40,000 wafers per month. While trying to preserve and, perhaps even improve, yields, the plans are intended to cross from the current 8-inch process manufacturing to putting together 90nm process, according to Orton.

As the president and managing director of Aptina, Greg Helton, reveals, there is another reason why the Japanese fab is the intended setup. Thus, it would be in the company's best interest to build closer relationships with the many Japan-based DSC (digital still camera) makers, namely Canon, Nikon, Sony and Panasonic.

Aptina imaging is an independent CMOS imaging leader, which serves all of the major mobile handset OEMs and module integrators. It is has design wins with virtually every PC camera manufacturer a... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:21:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Aptina-wants-Micron-s-Fab-as-a-CIS-Production-Site-127649.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Aptina-wants-Micron-s-Fab-as-a-CIS-Production-Site-127649.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Sebastian Pop) http://news.softpedia.com/news/YouTube-to-Add-Support-for-IPv6-127648.shtml The underlying technology powering the Internet is going through a major overhaul as IPv6 is slowly replacing the aging IPv4, the most widely used networking protocol. The adoption rate has been slow but more and more companies are implementing the new protocol. Google is already one of the biggest adopters and is now working on introducing support to its hugely popular video site YouTube.

Implementing the new protocol isn't a big technical hurdle, Google says, but YouTube is one of the biggest and most heavily trafficked websites, so the company isn't setting any hard deadlines for the moment. "YouTube is the IPv6 team's number one priority right now," Erik Kline, IPv6 software engineer at Google, told NetworkWorld. "We haven't said anything about the timeframe for that yet."

Google's IPv6 team has already implemented the protocol for many of the company's online proprieties like its search engine, Alerts, Docs, Finance, Gmail, Health, iGoogle, News, Reader, Picasa, Maps and Wave. However, it's still pretty much a provisionary measure for now as few people access the sites through IPv6 at the moment largely due to the fact that the feature has been implemented by only a small number of ISPs.

"It's somewhere on the order of the 0.2% range of Google users have IPv6 access," Lorenzo Colitti, network engineer a... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:18:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/YouTube-to-Add-Support-for-IPv6-127648.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/YouTube-to-Add-Support-for-IPv6-127648.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/Nero-InfoTool-Review-127040.shtml Nero InfoTool is another instrument in Nero 9 Reloaded toolbox. It is tailored to offer the user the most important information on installed drives, inserted discs or detailed data on drive properties (buffer size, firmware, serial number, production date or DVD region code). Moreover, the application extends its talents to briefing the user on hardware configuration and burning software currently ready on the system.

If you are familiar with this instrument in the new Nero suite, you'll notice that very little has changed in terms of looks. Leaving some design brush up aside, all the components of the last version are the same.

Just like in the previous edition of the application, a total of eight tabs are ready to offer you relevant information about the burning software, system configuration, drive and disc properties. There is also the HD readiness area, which gives you a heads up about the system's capabilities to render high definition videos.

Before accessing all the data, a brief assessing session needs to take place. The duration of the scan depends on the type of disc inserted in the optical unit and its quality. In some cases, when smart USBs are detected, Nero InfoTool will try to test the speeds of the virtual optical unit, which may come as a downfall as it should skip that test. However, you can manually by... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:11:02 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/Nero-InfoTool-Review-127040.shtml Global http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/Nero-InfoTool-Review-127040.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Ionut Ilascu) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Living-Your-Life-by-a-Book-127646.shtml I don't think it's a secret that I have something against organized religion. I've never tried to keep that a secret, and I've struggled to explain why throughout my articles. In my quest to discover people with similar points of view to my own, I came across some fairly interesting speakers, as well as upon some conspiracy theorists that believe everyone is out to get them. This duality in people who shun religious beliefs resembles the duality of religious people as well. More accurately, the duality of various religious groups. We shall call them the moderates and the fundamentalists, or fanatics.

The former group is the mass. We will stick to talking about groups in the United States, because here the divide is the most visible, and almost asks to be analyzed. In the US, at this point, it is considered OK to talk about all possible subjects, including politics, sports, climate change and leisure time, but this freedom of expression stops when it comes to speaking about religion. This is considered a taboo, something pertaining to each individual, and which cannot, and should not be changed. I will cover why this is limiting, and detrimental to society later on.

The second group is smaller, but also more dedicated and subversive. The fanatics are all the more dangerous because they actually believe that they are right. The... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:01:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Living-Your-Life-by-a-Book-127646.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Living-Your-Life-by-a-Book-127646.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Tudor Vieru) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-Sued-for-Scamming-Users-Via-Game-Ads-127647.shtml Recently, yet another suit hit Facebook, and this time it is caused by various game advertisements that scammed numerous users. The second defendant in this federal class-action lawsuit is Zynga, and the two companies are requested to pay more than $5 million to the social network users who had been scammed through the displayed game ads.

This action was predicted by several voices over the web, since the representatives of a law firm from Sacramento, Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff, announced that they were searching for people who had been scammed by the same ads while playing Mafia Wars or Farmville. They were trying to gather enough data to file a class-action suit, and when they found the appropriate information, they went to the federal district court.

In all fairness, it is worth mentioning that neither of the two defendants is the real originator of the advertisements in question. The situation appeared because third-party companies place ads within the Zynga games listed on Facebook, thus generating great revenue for the two companies. The scams are conducted by encouraging users to sign up for unauthorized cell phone charges, as well as highly priced mail order products (such as CDs), which are presented as “free,” “free trials,” or parts of “online quizzes.”
read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:01:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-Sued-for-Scamming-Users-Via-Game-Ads-127647.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-Sued-for-Scamming-Users-Via-Game-Ads-127647.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Giorgiana Bursuc) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Verizon-Deploys-New-Cell-Site-in-Woodland-Hills-CA-127645.shtml Mobile phone carrier Verizon Wireless recently announced that it deployed a new cell site in Woodland Hills, CA, meant to offer improved 3G connectivity to residents, businesses and visitors in Los Angeles County. According to the company, the new roll-out should improve the coverage from Santa Rita Street South to Rosita Street, and from Corbin Avenue East to Vanalden Avenue.

The new cell site deployed by Verizon will enable it to offer both increase network coverage and enhanced capacity in the area, which will result in “more calls, emails, text and picture messages for locals, plus expanded wireless access to the web.” The wireless carrier noted that it invested a great amount of money in improvements brought to its 3G network in California, so as to be able to offer better Mobile Broadband and email services to its customers.

In addition, Verizon also said that small businesses could benefit from a series of attractive features when choosing its Mobile Broadband service, including:
- An online forum to share experiences and connect with other business owners
- Access to Small Business Specialists in each Verizon Wireless store
- Discounts and promotions to help businesses stretch their budgets
- Summaries of mobile solutions like email, wireless Internet and Push t... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:58:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Verizon-Deploys-New-Cell-Site-in-Woodland-Hills-CA-127645.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Verizon-Deploys-New-Cell-Site-in-Woodland-Hills-CA-127645.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Ionut Arghire) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Blu-ray-Demand-Set-to-Grow-Over-the-Next-Three-Years-127644.shtml In tune with making the top 10 CEA Christmas wish list, where they got eighth place, Blu-ray players, along with Blu-ray disks, are expected to see a surge in popularity over the next three years, after the volume sales of BD movie disks rose during this year's first three quarters by 183%, 200% and 180%, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2008. This phenomenon is directly tied to the popularity surge of High-Definition media and home theater PCs.

Taiwanese Blu-ray player manufacturers recently held a forum in Taipei regarding the sales of such products. After they recognized the significant sales surge, the participating companies reached the conclusion that, in tune with the growing demand, prices would drop accordingly until a 25GB Blu-ray ROM disk cost a mere $1.50 per piece, compared to the current price of $5 in the US market. Similar price drops are expected to occur on the European and Japanese markets.

HD media files can only be stored in their true quality on Blu-ray disks, and such drives are also the only ones capable of HD media playback (unless the files are copied on a high-end system). HD quality is also the only one suitable for viewing on home theater personal computers, since normal-quality video will suffer a significant drop in detail when played on large displays. By... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:42:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Blu-ray-Demand-Set-to-Grow-Over-the-Next-Three-Years-127644.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Blu-ray-Demand-Set-to-Grow-Over-the-Next-Three-Years-127644.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Sebastian Pop) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Office-2010-Beta-Build-14-0-4536-1000-75-Screenshot-Gallery-127643.shtml The first public testing milestone of Office 2010 is now available for download, with Microsoft imposing no limitations on the number of users that can grab the bits, or on the period of availability. Office 2010 Beta Build 14.0.4536.1000 is offered in both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) flavors and can be used until October 2010, when the product is set to expire. Microsoft slaps expiration dates on all its pre-release and trial software, allowing testers to run the software for free in exchange for their feedback. This is the case of the various editions of Office 2010 Beta, which were launched at the Professional Developers Conference 2009 in Los Angeles.

“At PDC we announced the availability of the public betas of Microsoft Office 2010, SharePoint Server 2010, Visio 2010, Project 2010 and Office Web Apps for business customers. If you’d like to be one of the millions of people who try, test and give feedback on the latest and greatest, you can download the betas,” revealed a member of the Office 2010 team.

As far as testing Builds go, this particular release of Office 2010 is the second milestone offered to early adopters. In mid-2009, Microsoft made available for download the Technical Preview of Office 2010, but only to a limited pool of testers. As I’ve already sa... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:38:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Office-2010-Beta-Build-14-0-4536-1000-75-Screenshot-Gallery-127643.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Office-2010-Beta-Build-14-0-4536-1000-75-Screenshot-Gallery-127643.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Marius Oiaga) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Lindsay-Lohan-s-Days-with-Ungaro-Are-Numbered-127642.shtml Aging fashion house Ungaro thought Lindsay Lohan, with the kind of publicity she can generate without even breaking much of a sweat, was the perfect solution for their campaign of revamping the brand. As it turns out, Ungaro bosses have come to the conclusion that having Lohan as a creative advisor was a very bad business move, and are therefore about to terminate the collaboration with her, PageSix has learned.

When CEO Mounir Moufarrige announced the decision to take Lohan on board for the upcoming line back in September, he also expressed some doubts about the success of the collab but was nevertheless hopeful that it would raise the house’s profile in the media. This happened as expected but, unfortunately, it also implied Ungaro had to pay a high price in the resignation of designer Esteban Cortazar because of Lohan’s arrival on the scene.

Now, chairman Asim Abdullah is putting pressure on Moufarrige to kick Lindsay to the curb because Ungaro is starting to lose partners, PageSix says. “Asim wants her out now. Department stores in the States have already told him they won’t be picking up the line if Lohan remains a collaborator, so it’s a serious issue. [But] Mounir wants to keep her on because it was his idea to hire her in the first place. He’s trying to save face.... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:34:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Lindsay-Lohan-s-Days-with-Ungaro-Are-Numbered-127642.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Lindsay-Lohan-s-Days-with-Ungaro-Are-Numbered-127642.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Elena Gorgan) http://news.softpedia.com/news/T-Mobile-to-Partner-with-AT-T-Clearwire-or-MetroPCS-127641.shtml Telecom service provider Deutsche Telekom is reportedly looking out for partners for its U.S. Subsidiary, T-Mobile USA, and might consider teaming up with AT&T, Clearwire or MetroPCS, recent reports suggest. Moreover, it seems that there might also be the perspective of unnamed financial investors from outside the wireless industry, at leas this is what the German newspaper Handelsblatt states, cited by fiercewireless.

“The report, citing unnamed sources from the German telecom giant, said that the company is looking for a partner to help finance T-Mobile's network expansion. If Deutsche Telekom were to partner with a financial firm, the paper reported, that company might take a minority stake in T-Mobile. The carrier, the nation's fourth largest, is in the midst of building out its 3G network, and plans to upgrade its network to HSPA+ beginning next year to capitalize on the growing demand for mobile data,” the news site notes.

Deutsche Telekom has been said a few times before to plan including its US subsidiary in a joint-venture, and a Bloomberg report from September suggested that Clearwire and MetroPCS were possible partners for T-Mobile. According to the report, the aim was gaining access to the spectrum holdings of the partner companies.

Some other rumors that emerged e... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:23:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/T-Mobile-to-Partner-with-AT-T-Clearwire-or-MetroPCS-127641.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/T-Mobile-to-Partner-with-AT-T-Clearwire-or-MetroPCS-127641.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Ionut Arghire) http://news.softpedia.com/news/USocial-Stops-Selling-Facebook-Friends-After-Cease-and-Desist-Letter-127640.shtml With Facebook counting over 325 million users, it's little wonder that many are trying to profit from the social network and not always with the nicest of methods. One company that was selling fans and friends to customers wanting to boost their counts, USocial, was sent a Cease and Desist letter by Facebook for violating its Terms of Service with the methods it employs to get its customers more followers.

Facebook didn't make it clear whether it had an issue with USocial's business, selling followers, and only said that the company “violates its rights by sending spam, using web tools to harvest pages, getting login names and by accessing accounts that did not belong to the marketing firm.” The social network threatened legal actions unless USocial stopped the activities it had issues with. Facebook doesn't allow users to profit from their profiles, for example getting paid to friend someone, but it hasn't taken a stance on service getting Facebook users without offering them money.

USocial has decided to comply with the request and said it would stop offering to sell friends but would not shut down the service completely. The company stated it would delete the login information it had gathered up and also put a notice on its site, buried at the bottom, saying it isn't a... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:18:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/USocial-Stops-Selling-Facebook-Friends-After-Cease-and-Desist-Letter-127640.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/USocial-Stops-Selling-Facebook-Friends-After-Cease-and-Desist-Letter-127640.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/New-Details-on-How-Crystals-Form-127637.shtml Crystallization is the name given to the process that sees the transformation of a solution, melt or gas into solid crystals, through precipitation. The phenomenon takes place relatively slow when compared to other types of chemical reactions, and scientists have recently discovered one of the reasons for that. It would appear that the angles present in the vessels used during crystallization are a very important factor, ScienceNow reports.

In a paper published in the latest issue of the respected Journal of the American Chemical Society, experts at the University of Surrey, in the United Kingdom, explain that the process can take place at up to 48 orders of magnitude faster at angles of about 70 degrees, as opposed to forming on flat surfaces. The main reason why crystal formation is usually slow is the fact that the arrangements have a very specific and precise internal structure, which cannot be achieved during fast chemical reactions.

The trick is to get the first molecules to self-organize, a process known as nucleation. As this happens, the first particles to crystallize basically turn into a template for those around them, facilitating the entire process. In the standard crystallization process – the one that is taught in college chemistry classes – teachers ask students to scratch the inside of a fla... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:00:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/New-Details-on-How-Crystals-Form-127637.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/New-Details-on-How-Crystals-Form-127637.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Tudor Vieru) http://news.softpedia.com/news/I-m-No-Puppet-Out-Editor-Crossed-the-Line-Lambert-Fights-Back-127638.shtml Earlier this week, the unspeakable happened and Adam Lambert, a singer very open about his orientation, came under fire with Out magazine for trying to come across as “straighter” in a recent number of the mag. The Editor-in-Chief and interviewer both assured that Lambert’s team made absurd demands, and did not fail to go public with it, thus causing quite a stir.

Adam tweeted about it saying nothing is as “deep” as the two made it seem, but it’s just now that he’s talking about the entire brouhaha in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. Strictly on the topic of his team asking the people at Out to make the issue and conduct the interview in such a way that Adam came across as straighter than he was in real life, Lambert is adamant everything was said and done on the occasion was taken out of context.

The problem is, he says, that, by doing so, Out made him look like a puppet on a string, just a cog in the ever-grinding pop machine, which is far from the case. The Out controversy made him look like a hypocrite for saying one thing and then doing another, also because he has no freedom as regards his own actions. Again, this couldn’t be farther from the truth, Adam insists in the frank interview with EW, adding that he has no hard feel... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:58:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/I-m-No-Puppet-Out-Editor-Crossed-the-Line-Lambert-Fights-Back-127638.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/I-m-No-Puppet-Out-Editor-Crossed-the-Line-Lambert-Fights-Back-127638.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Elena Gorgan) http://news.softpedia.com/news/ATI-Radeon-HD-5700-and-5800-Series-Won-t-Be-In-Short-Supply-Much-Longer-127639.shtml Not much time after being released, the ATI Radeon HD 5700 and ATI Radeon HD 5800 series was revealed to be in relative short supply, due to, said AMD representative Chris Hook, Advanced Micro Devices' relative short supply of high-end and mainstream DirectX 11 products. This shortage of components is mostly generated by the yield issues the Taiwan Semiconductor manufacturing Company (TSMC) is currently faced with. The AMD spokesman reinforced the fact that the problem would soon be alleviated.

“What is important is that we have shipped hundreds of thousands of ATI Radeon 5000-series so far. The supply is going to open up quite a bit further in December. We are a couple weeks away from an improvement in supply. It has been a little bit slow in November, but you are going to see an improvement in supply in December,” said Chris Hook, a spokesperson for AMD.

Not surprisingly, AMD's series of graphics adapters are very popular thanks to their high-end capabilities. The processor developer is finally starting to come out of the insecure financial situation it has been in for the past 18 months. The $1.25 billion received from Intel, after the antitrust settlement, aided in the settling of various debts that had been restricting the company's freedom of action. With its curre... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:57:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/ATI-Radeon-HD-5700-and-5800-Series-Won-t-Be-In-Short-Supply-Much-Longer-127639.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/ATI-Radeon-HD-5700-and-5800-Series-Won-t-Be-In-Short-Supply-Much-Longer-127639.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Sebastian Pop) http://news.softpedia.com/news/FunMail-Now-Available-for-the-iPhone-127636.shtml iPhone users around the world now have yet another free application available for them, FunMail. The new software solution is meant to enable them to add relevant, real-time images to the text messages they plan on sending, all in a very simple manner. The app “presents cute, comical or irreverent images” while users are typing their messages, enabling them to easily include the image in the text. The feature is delivered by FunMail's “Media Brain.”

“The Media Brain that powers FunMail’s advanced text analysis is an open system fueled by the Semantic Media Project. The Project ingests content in real time from Flickr and Creative Commons sources and encourages users and artists to contribute content and tuning directly via the FunMail website. The Media Brain is a learning system that tunes itself based on usage patterns and supports over 50 languages via Google Translate,” the company explains.

The new application is available for download via the iTunes store and on Facebook, as well as for Twitter on its website. The FunMail messages that will result from using the application will include the text written by the user, but it will be “artfully rendered into the image, creating a unique, eye-catching, and fun blend of communication and self-expression.” The cre... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:56:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/FunMail-Now-Available-for-the-iPhone-127636.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/FunMail-Now-Available-for-the-iPhone-127636.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Ionut Arghire) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Comcast-Domain-Hijackers-Indicted-127635.shtml Three individuals were charged on November 19 for their role in an attack, which involved hijacking the comcast.net domain name and redirecting its traffic to a rogue website. According to the indictment, the defendants used social engineering in order to obtain information that facilitated their plans to alter the domain's DNS records.

In May 2008, the comcast.net domain name, belonging to one of the largest Internet service providers in the United States, started redirecting to a Web page reading "KRYOGENIKS Defiant and EBK RoXed COMCAST sHouTz to VIRUS Warlock elul21 coll1er seven.” This made it impossible for Comcast customers to use Web-based services provided by the company, such as email or digital voicemail for several hours.

The subsequent FBI investigation led authorities to 19-year-old Christopher Allen Lewis, a.k.a EBK, of Newark, Delaware, 20-year-old James Robert Black, JR., a.k.a. Defiant, of Tumwater, Washington, and 27-year-old Michael Paul Nebel, a.k.a. Slacker, of Kalamazoo, Michigan. All three were identified as members of the Kryogeniks hacker group.

The hackers were indicted in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where Comcast is headquartered. The defendants "conspired and agreed to commit an offense against the United States, that is, to kno... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:49:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Comcast-Domain-Hijackers-Indicted-127635.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Comcast-Domain-Hijackers-Indicted-127635.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Constantin) http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-Nickel-Was-First-Minted-127634.shtml Nickel is one of today's most popular metals, and chances are that, as we speak, you have at least a few nickel coins in your pocket. But, in spite of its massive use in several industries, no one really knew for sure, until just recently, how the metal came to form on our planet. A new research comes to clarify this old mystery, and proposes that ancient volcanoes, which erupted billions of years ago, where in fact the triggers that allowed for nickel's formation. In charge of the recent study were experts at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, in Washington, DC, led by geochemist Douglas Rumble.

He proposes that the old volcanoes blasted impressive amounts of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere billions of years ago, and that this process is linked to nickel formation. As proof of this idea, he argues that the nickel in ore deposits is actually nickel sulfide. This means that the compound is abundantly rich in sulfur, the element that was released during past geological activities. According to Rumble, the element is “critically important” in the development of nickel supplies, and also a factor that currently facilitates the metal being extracted from dedicated mines, ScienceNow reports.

The mystery around nickel formation stemmed from the fact that the origin of its sulfur was unknown. Out of all the place... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:39:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-Nickel-Was-First-Minted-127634.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-Nickel-Was-First-Minted-127634.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Tudor Vieru) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Mobile-Voice-Service-Revenues-to-Decline-in-2011-127633.shtml Mobile voice service revenues are expected to start going on a downward route as soon as 2011 is here, a recently published report from ABI Research shows. According to the research firm, the revenues in the mobile voice area are expected to reach their peak in 2010, which started to decline during the following year.

“Mobile voice has had a meteoric rise since digital cellular networks such as GSM were deployed in 1992. ABI Research forecasts annual mobile voice revenues to reach $580 billion in 2010. From 2011 on, rising subscriber saturation will increasingly erode mobile voice revenues, not just in developed markets but also in a number of emerging markets. By 2014, mobile voice revenues will have contracted by 9.6%,” stated vice-president for forecasting Jake Saunders.

There are a wide range of services available today from mobile phone operators all around the world, and it seems that the substantial boost they receive from value-added services, including messaging and Mobile Internet, is putting a lot of pressure on a variety of other services and on carriers. According to ABI Research, the mobile data services are expected to reach $169 million in revenues in 2009, and they will grow at a CAGR of 9% until 2014.

However, the research firm also notes that declines in annual a... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:38:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Mobile-Voice-Service-Revenues-to-Decline-in-2011-127633.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Mobile-Voice-Service-Revenues-to-Decline-in-2011-127633.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Ionut Arghire) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Google-Chrome-4-0-249-4-127632.shtml Google has pushed a new build to the Chrome dev channel with the usual number of small fixes and tweaks. It's only a minor update but if you want to be on the bleeding edge, you should grab the latest build, Google Chrome 4.0.249.4, from the download link below. The updated version fixes a number of issues across all platforms but the extensions gallery hinted at lately still isn't here.

Anthony Laforge, Google Chrome Program Manager, listed the bug fixes that apply to all platforms, “Some extensions crash after installing 4.0.249.0. Reload on crash infobar causes more crashes.” On Windows, the update “[f]ixed top windows crasher. Fixed a crashing race condition in bookmark synchronization. Make the character encoding indicator visible again on Windows.”

Mac users finally get Silverlight support and some bookmark bar improvements and “[p]asting some text into the Omnibox should no longer crash Google Chrome” on both Mac and Linux. With a big extensions announcement likely coming soon, the dev team is putting some finishing touches ahead of the broader launch like fixing the tab traversal in popups on Windows and several other bugs.

Finally, Google wanted to make sure users realize the fact that the new extension links in the fresh tab page that don't work are not a bug and... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:29:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Google-Chrome-4-0-249-4-127632.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Download-Google-Chrome-4-0-249-4-127632.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Lucian Parfeni) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Lenovo-ThinkPad-Laptops-Get-3G-Connectivity-from-Qualcomm-127631.shtml Qualcomm's Gobi2000 solutions for laptops and netbooks provide such systems with support for the world's leading 3G technologies and integrated GPS services. There is a wide availability of both EV-DO and HSPA wireless networks around the world and Qualcomm's Gobi2000 technology allows for easy switching between each of these networks' 3G carriers. This is especially convenient for those who travel and often leave the home coverage area. Qualcomm's solution removes the need for additional data cards or new laptops by providing multiple broadband access worldwide, automatically switching between carriers to provide true, high-speed, worldwide Internet access.

“Gobi mobile Internet connectivity will give our business PC users the convenience of using one simple, built-in device to provide mobile broadband access around the world,” said Sam Dusi, vice president, worldwide ThinkPad product marketing, Lenovo. “This flexible, multi-carrier solution allows mobile workers to seamlessly connect to new broadband networks as they change locations, while simplifying the work of IT managers, to support users around the globe with a single laptop model.”

Through the Gobi2000, customers will have worldwide access to extensive wireless broadband networks and, by removing the need for extr... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:27:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Lenovo-ThinkPad-Laptops-Get-3G-Connectivity-from-Qualcomm-127631.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Lenovo-ThinkPad-Laptops-Get-3G-Connectivity-from-Qualcomm-127631.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Sebastian Pop) http://news.softpedia.com/news/BlackBerry-Curve-8530-Now-On-Sale-at-Verizon-127629.shtml Mobile phone carrier Verizon Wireless has just put on sale yet another BlackBerry device from the Canadian handset maker Research In Motion, the BlackBerry Curve 8530. The new device comes tot he market as the CDMA version of the Curve 8520, which has already been launched on the United States market via wireless carrier T-Mobile USA.

The new RIM smartphone has a 2-megapixel photo snapper, an optical trackpad for navigation, a built-in GPS receiver and geo-tagging capabilities. The handset enables users to configure a number of up to ten personal email accounts, and offers them the possibility to upload images and messages over Verizon's 3G EV-DO network. Speaker independent voice dialing capabilities are also present with the phone.

In addition, the BlackBerry Curve 8530 comes with Wi-Fi connectivity options, as well as with a built-in microSDHC memory card slot that offers support for up to 32GB of storage space, for users to be able to carry with them favorite music files. A 3.5mm stereo headphone jack has been included in the package, and the device also sports dedicated music controls for a great music listening experience.

Other features the new BlackBerry Curve 8530 comes around with are support for the BlackBerry App World, from where users will be able to download a wide range of applica... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:18:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/BlackBerry-Curve-8530-Now-On-Sale-at-Verizon-127629.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/BlackBerry-Curve-8530-Now-On-Sale-at-Verizon-127629.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Ionut Arghire) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Oprah-Makes-Tearful-Announcement-About-End-of-Show-127628.shtml Yesterday, television was shaken to the core by reports saying that Oprah Winfrey, the ultimate Queen of Television, as fans endearingly refer to her on occasions, was preparing to make an announcement that her show, the successful The Oprah Winfrey Show, would end in 2011. The announcement came as expected – and, of course, it was a very emotional, tearful and moving matter.

Standing in front of the audiences that have been with her for over two decades, the talk show host began by saying that, all these years, she has come to learn that she was not doing just another television show but connecting with real people, like family members would. After a few very touching moments, where tears are well up in her eyes and her voice falters with emotion, Oprah goes on to say that, while the announcement marks the beginning of the end, she will make sure the remainder 18 mounts will be one of the best rides her viewers will ever take.

“After much prayer, and months of careful thought, I’ve decided that next season – Season 25 – will be the last season of The Oprah Winfrey Show. And over the next couple of days, you may hear a lot of speculation in the press about why I am making this decision now, and that will mostly be conjecture. So I wanted you to hear this directly from me. ... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:07:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Oprah-Makes-Tearful-Announcement-About-End-of-Show-127628.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Oprah-Makes-Tearful-Announcement-About-End-of-Show-127628.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Elena Gorgan) http://news.softpedia.com/news/Giraffes-Make-Use-of-Supercharged-Hearts-127627.shtml Although they look stunningly beautiful, with their long necks stretching over the top of trees, giraffes also posed a difficult challenge for evolution, in terms of making them capable of surviving. What is beautiful about them – the long and thin neck – also comes with a disadvantage, and namely the fact that the head is very far away from the heart. In humans, the distance is between 20 and 40 centimeters, between the brain and the “blood pump.” In the savanna animals, the distance is longer than 1 meter, maybe even two, so getting blood to the brain is difficult, the BBC News reports.

Evolution had three options when it “constructed” the giraffe. It could have made its heart extremely large, such as the one dinosaurs had. A larger heart means more muscles, and therefore more power transmitted to the bloodstream, which could thus reach the brain. The second option was to create an average-sized, but extremely powerful heart, capable, in short bursts, of sending the blood to its destination. The third option was do nothing altogether, and leave the animals to die off.

As history shows us, natural selection decided on the second, providing the giraffe with a “supercharged” heart. Details of the discovery are currently published in the latest issue of the respected... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:05:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Giraffes-Make-Use-of-Supercharged-Hearts-127627.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/Giraffes-Make-Use-of-Supercharged-Hearts-127627.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Tudor Vieru) http://news.softpedia.com/news/World-s-Most-Efficient-HPC-QPACE-Stands-at-the-Top-of-the-Green500-list-127626.shtml The Quantum Chromodynamics Parallel Computing on the Cell (QPACE) is a German research supercomputer used in elementary particle physics simulations, mostly aimed at research in the area of quantum chromodynamics (QCD, which describes, for instance, how protons are composed of quarks and gluons). The system is a four-rack conglomerate capable of 100 trillion floating point operations per second (in other words, 100 TeraFlops) based in Research Center Julich and at the University of Wuppertal. Yesterday, at the 2009 Supercomputing Conference in Portland, Oregon (USA), the Top500 list placed it at the very top of energy-efficient HPCs.

Each installation of the QPACE is capable of a maximum performance of 100TeraFlops. The system is powered by an IBM PowerXCell 8i processor, which is an enhanced version of the Cell/B.E. Unit originally developed by Sony, Toshiba and IBM for the Sony PlayStation 3. It has nine cores and can run a very large amount of simultaneous high-speed calculations. QPACE uses FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) to connect processors through a network of programmable units, creating a scalable and efficient computing environment. This scalability hypothetically allows for increasing performance up to one quadrillion operations per second (the PetaFlop scale).

"... (read more)]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:59:00 GMT Softpedia News - Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/World-s-Most-Efficient-HPC-QPACE-Stands-at-the-Top-of-the-Green500-list-127626.shtml Global http://news.softpedia.com/news/World-s-Most-Efficient-HPC-QPACE-Stands-at-the-Top-of-the-Green500-list-127626.shtml#review_zone Softpedia News (Sebastian Pop)