Nokia Gaming Phone Has Been Revealed

After so many rumors regarding a Sony Ericsson PSP phone, finally someone gives us an idea of how a gaming phone should look. The entire mobile community awaits the so-called ‘gaming phone’, either from Sony Ericsson, Nokia or any other handset manufacturer. We already have camera phones, music phones, how long till a dedicated gaming phone will be out on the market?

Well, by the look of it, there’s not much time left till we’ll put our hands on one of these devices. Just recently it has been revealed that Nokia registered a strange patent that looks just like the above mentioned ‘gaming phone’.

The released patent speaks about a ‘handheld electronic device’ comprising a housing and a retractable handle, the device being arranged to allow the handle to be retracted into the housing along a sliding axis to provide a retracted handle position and extended out of the housing along the sliding axis.
Enlarge pictureMoreover, Nokia’s patent looks more like a portable gaming console with camera and phone capabilities. The slim and easy to carry form of the device suggests that it will be an all-in-one device that will definitely make dedicated devices like MP3 players, PSP’s, mobile phones or cameras less desirable.

More excerpts from the patent: “… is a computer gaming console, input elements 121, 122 being provided for user input by the left hand of a user and input elements 123, 124 being provided for input by the right hand of user. The games are displayed on the display 110, but in other embodiments, the games can additionally or alternatively be provided for display on another electronic device associated with the device. In the present case, the device 100 also allows the user to make radiotelephone calls (e.g. using cellular telephone functionality), take pictures (camera on reverse of device 100 is not shown), and play recorded/streamed audio (e.g. music/speech etc).”

Sadly, after the announced delay of the N-Gage mobile gaming platform, we’re rather pessimistic about a possible official announcement anytime soon. Still, the idea looks great, maybe even better than Sony’s PSP phone, but I wonder how viable is it?

How to Steal World’s Greatest Invention and Get Away with It

That’s what it was at the time and could easily still be today. The telephone. You might have heard the story on the television or from certain science reports of the first telephone device and how the patent was stolen, but the truth is that nothing was concrete up until a few years ago. So, who is the real inventor of the telephone. Well, one thing is for sure, it wasn’t Alexander Graham Bell!

In a book recently published by journalist Seth Shulman, called “The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell’s Secret”, the author details the whole story of how, with the use of aggressive lawyers and corrupt patent examiners, Bell obtained the ‘honor’ of viewing the patent of the telephone invented by Elisha Gray, after which he constructed a relatively similar device and was credited with the invention of the first telephone.

It seems that the details of the plot can be found nowhere else except in Bell’s own lab notebook that, curiously enough, has been restricted for publication by Bell’s family until the year 1976, after which it has been made widely available with the help of digital technology. Incriminatory evidence show as Bell struggled with his assistant, in the year 1876, to make a successful transmission over a metal wire with the help of electric currents. However, being unable to reach his goal, he rushed to the patent office in Washington to ask details about the patent filed by Gray.
Enlarge pictureShortly after that, he came up with a working prototype of the telephone device, which strangely enough, similar to Gray’s patent, includes a rough sketch of a person speaking into the telephone. Other suspicions hovering over the patent filed out by Gray involve the presence of a rushed description of the design of the prototype on the margin of the patent paper. On top of that during the lawsuit that took place in 1878 in order to establish the original inventor of the telephone, Bell refused to testify in the court of law and was rather nervous when he was asked to demonstrate the device in the presence of Elisha Gray.

Nevertheless, all the conflicts might have been to no use as the German inventor Philipp Reis invented a telephone device well before the two Americans, and not only that, albeit it also used an original design that worked on a totally different principle. The irony about the whole telephone patent controversy is that, most of the people today still view Bell as the father of the telephone, Bell stole the patent from Gray, none of them were the first telephone inventors, and the United States Congress declared by resolution, against all common sense, that the true inventor of the telephone was the Italian Antonio Meucci, not Philipp Reis.

i201, PQI’s Shiny, Colorful Family of USB Flash Drives

Teenagers and young people are among the earliest adopters of new technologies, and this is the reason why most CE manufacturers come up with certain products designed especially for this particular category of consumers. And this is also the case with the latest announcement from PQI, namely the Traveling Disk i201, which offers a range of features that will surely appeal to youngsters (in fact they might the only ones appreciating the wacky colors).

Thus, the drive is available in strawberry pink, banana yellow or blueberry blue, and can be very easily used as a dongle accessory for the mobile phone. Furthermore, a quick release strap is also in place for instant detachment, and the drive is also water, dust, shock and vibration proof, which means that it can pretty much protect the user’s data at any cost.

In terms of storage capacity, the Traveling Disk i201 offers no surprises as it comes in 1 GB, 2GB and 4 GB versions.

Moreover, the new drives from PQI are compatible with the most common operating systems on the market, including here Windows Vista, XP, 2000, Mac 9.X, Mac 10.X, and are extremely portable, measuring just around 46.5 x 24 x 2.7 mm, at a weight of just around 1.35 grams. It’s tiny alright, but be careful not to sit on it!

Moreover, much as most other modern drives, the i201 also supports the setup of a software suite. Thus, users can always download and install “My Drive” from PQI’s website, a collection of applications that includes file security management, PC-Lock and My Favorites synchronization functions with user friendly interfaces.

According to the company’s statement, the new family of USB flash drives will mostly likely make its “grand” debut at CES 2008, and perhaps that’s the moment when we’ll receive some much needed pricing information as well.

Simple Tips for a Safe Christmas

Security has always been one of the top concerns for us no matter if we’re talking about viruses, malware, Trojan horses, credit card fraud or hack attacks. They’re all dangerous and capable of causing important damages or financial losses, so it’s extremely important to apply the most powerful security measures as soon as possible. Christmas is not only that time of the year when you finally get the chance to spend some time with family and friends, but it’s also one of the busiest periods when it comes to computer security. Although we’re all expecting Santa and his nice gifts, don’t be too surprised if you get only Viagra, watches and drugs as spam messages have always been so generous.

So, I believe we all understood that Christmas can easily turn into a dangerous threat for every vulnerable computer out there. Now, what can we do in order to be sure that Christmas remains the same friendly and calm period of the year? Here are the simplest but extremely important tips that may help you avoid a disaster before the end of the year:

1. Do NOT download email attachments unless you have an updated antivirus application to scan the files before they are executed. It has been proved several times that attackers attempt to exploit vulnerable systems by attaching infected Christmas greetings, e-cards or other files, to email messages.

2. Do NOT open the email messages coming from untrusted or unknown sources. Spammers are always out there, sending millions of unsolicited messages to inboxes from all over the world, so all these emails should be ignored as soon as they reach the inbox. Recent studies have revealed that nearly 90 percent of the total email traffic is SPAM!

3. Do NOT click on the links included in email messages unless you’re sure they’re secure. Phishers and hackers attempt to lure people on malicious websites by sending them attractive Christmas offerings and products by email. Once you load such a webpage, it asks for your credentials which could be then used for credit card fraud or identity theft.

4. Do NOT download files from untrusted websites. In the recent few weeks, a shocking avalanche of infected websites indexed on the main search engines has been spotted by many of us so just try to avoid pages that may look suspect or dangerous.

5. For those of you using instant messaging applications: do NOT click on links sent by unknown contacts and do NOT receive the files they send. An important part of the online scams are conducted through instant messengers as attackers attempt to lure users on malicious pages and steal their login credentials.

6. The members of social networking services must be extremely careful when they communicate with new users. Do NOT accept files or click on links provided by unknown people as the recent months came with several exploits conducted through MySpace, Facebook and other similar technologies.

Sony Updates Software For PS3 and PSP

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) announced new software updates for PLAYSTATION 3 and PSP(PlayStation Portable) systems.

PS3 system will be upgraded to v. 2.10, which further enhances the system’s home theater capabilities by enabling playback of DivX-formatted videos and upgrading to Blu-ray Disc (BD) Profile 1.1. PSP will be upgraded to v. 3.80, expanding the system’s music functionality with the addition of Internet Radio via AOL’s SHOUTcast Radio and icecast.org’s icecast . PSP users will be able to listen to their choice of more than 22,000 stations whenever they’re at a Wi-Fi hotspot, giving them significantly more options beyond the music stored on their Memory Stick Duo.

“Consumers are seeing the incredible depth of PS3 and PSP as entertainment systems, and these new features expand each platform’s media capabilities and provide more options for enjoying content – whether it’s movies on a high-definition setup with PS3 or music on the road with PSP,” said Peter Dille, senior vice president, marketing and PLAYSTATION Network, SCEA.”Both PS3 and PSP continue to evolve with new upgrades that consumers are asking for, all delivered with the ease of free system software updates that keep our consumers at the forefront of innovation.”

PS3 system’s value as a gaming and home entertainment center will be expanded with the PS3 system software 2.10 upgrade. Consumers will be able to playback videos in the popular DivX format. DivX is the format of choice for uploading personal video content to a PC or downloading content from the Internet because of its high visual quality and small file sizes. Many PS3 users may already have DivX videos stored on their PC, and now they’ll be able to enjoy this content in their living rooms on their PS3. Consumers will have the option to access DivX videos stored on their PC over Wi-Fi via PS3 system’s Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) technology.

PS3 system software 2.10 also includes the BD Profile 1.1, making PS3 one of the first Blu-ray players on the market capable of advanced features for movies, such as secondary video and audio decoders for picture-in-picture viewing and interactive audio commentary. The first BD movies to take advantage of BD Profile 1.1 are slated for release in January 2008, making PS3 owners among the first consumers who will be able to enjoy the enhanced movie-watching experience that Blu-ray technology makes possible.

PSP system software 3.80 delivers free Internet Radio to all PSP users whenever they’re at a Wi-Fi hotspot via AOL’s SHOUTcast Radio and icecast.org’s icecast . With AOL’s SHOUTcast, PSP users can tune in to their choice of more than 21,000 stations streaming a variety of musical genres, from pop and hip-hop to rock and talk. Icecast offers an additional 1,500 streams.

The Internet Radio feature is compatible with both the original PSP (PSP- 1000 model ) and the recently released PSP (PSP- 2000 model ) . To access the feature, an Internet Radio icon will be available on the XMB (XrossMediaBar) under the Network category, and a Memory Stick Duo is required to register the application.

Both PS3 and PSP systems were designed to continually evolve with regular system software upgrades that deliver new features and functionality. With no additional investment, consumers simply update their systems and can immediately enjoy these upgrades. This process lengthens the lifecycle of PS3 and PSP, and consumers no longer have to worry about their hardware becoming outdated or missing out on exciting new capabilities.

Download Firefox 2.0 in Windows Vista without Touching IE7, or Any Other Browser

Microsoft is still a long way away from a scenarios where it will have to unbundle Internet Explorer from the Windows operating system. But thanks to an antitrust complaint filled by Opera with the European Union Antitrust Commission, if the succession of events will lead to a similar result as the precedent delivered by the 2004 decision, against the Redmond company involving the removal of Windows Media Player from the platform, Microsoft might just well have to offer Windows without IE. The Redmond company has already been forced by a 2004 decision of the EU antitrust regulators to sell Windows XP N and Windows Vista N editions for the European market without Windows Media Player.

Opera is accusing Microsoft of abusing its Windows monopoly by bundling its proprietary browser with the operating system and of limiting user choices. While it is obvious that Microsoft will fight a potential forced divorce between Internet Explorer and Windows, and that the removal of the browser component from the operating system won’t happen over night, I am the adept of a “better prepared than sorry” strategy. In this context, there is a way to download and install Firefox on Windows Vista without touching Internet Explorer, or any other browser for that matter. All you need is a network connection.

“The ongoing issues and questions about Internet Explorer raised an interesting question: On Windows, if Internet Explorer doesn’t work for some reason, how would you get a working web browser? It turns out the command line “ftp” tool (included with windows) could be used to get Firefox from an ftp mirror of the Mozilla software collection. Get to a command prompt (“Start”, “Run” and type “command”)”, revealed William Stearns from ISC.

The Windows and “R” keys pressed concomitantly also open the Run dialog box. Users can alternatively enter “cmd” in the Search box under the Start menu, right click the selected result and select “Run as administrator”. In “cmd” enter the following command without the quotes: “ftp ftp.osuosl.org“. You will be asked for your user name, and just type “anonymous”, and specify a password. Simply pressing Enter will deal with the password request, and you have logged in successfully. Now, type “cd /pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/2.0.0.11/win32/en-US/” and hot Enter. Then, “mget *.exe” to access Firefox Setup 2.0.0.11.exe. After the download will be completed, write “Firefox Setup 2.0.0.11.exe”, this time with the quotes to install the open source browser.

Windows Media Player Infection Sends Users to QuickTime

Enlarge pictureWORM_VB.ZAA is a new kind of worm that attempts to infect the Windows computers, being executed once the user starts Windows Media Player. Security company Trend Micro wrote that the worm affected most versions of the operating system powered by Microsoft, including Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and Server 2003. But, what’s more important is that it has a high distribution potential bundled with a medium damage potential, so extra-caution is recommended, if you want to keep your computer protected. Now, let’s see more details about the infection.

Just like many other 2007 worms, WORM_VB.ZAA attempts to spread itself by copying its files on every clean removable drive connected to an infected computer. When the device is plugged into a clean system, the infection is automatically executed and copies its files on the computer. Classic, I would say. Obviously, it also drops an Autorun.Inf file to be sure it is executed every time a new drive is connected to the PC.

Trend Micro informed that WORM_VB.ZAA can be easily downloaded by visiting malicious websites equipped with the worm. In addition, it can also be deployed by another malware that has already been installed on the system.

And now, the juicy part: the worm is executed once the user starts Windows Media Player and displays the following message: “Please Install QuickTime Player to play this file!”

“This worm modifies a certain registry entry to hide file extension names. It also hides files with System attributes by modifying another registry entry”, Trend Micro wrote.

So, next time you’re advised to switch to another media player (such as Apple’s QuickTime) and abandon the famous application that comes with the Windows operating system, you should start a full system scan, because you may be infected with WORM_VB.ZAA…

BitDefender Reviewer’s Comments

Ease of Use:  

Softwin has covered all of the bases with BitDefender. This comprehensive product has an attractive, easy–to–use design that is consistent throughout the software and the manufacturer’s website. Because it is simple to use and updates itself automatically, you can install it on your system, then practically forget it’s there—an ideal solution for any user.

BitDefender creates a small window called the “File Zone” on your desktop that indicates how many files the program has scanned in the past few minutes. You can also drag and drop files into the File Zone for an immediate scan. The program prepares a report of each completed scan so you know exactly what your files do or do not contain and you can instruct BitDefender to disinfect or remove any infected files or messages.

You can also customize BitDefender’s security settings for features such as AntiVirus, Firewall, Antispam, Antispyware and Parental Control.
Effectiveness:  

BitDefender’s customizable settings make the program effective for a variety of users. For example, if you receive legitimate commercial email, you can set BitDefender’s spam filters to allow specific or all emails.

Virus Bulletin rated BitDefender a VB100%, the highest honor for anti–virus software.

The VB 100% logo is awarded to anti–virus products that detect all current “in the wild” viruses during both on–demand and on–access scanning in Virus Bulletin’s comparative tests.

Additionally, BitDefender passed the ICSA 2007—a similar test that certifies the software can detect viruses, prevent virus replication, and doesn’t generate false positives.
Updates:  

The live update feature checks for product and virus definition updates at either a user–defined interval, manually or default (every hour). When you do a manual check for updates, you can decide which updates to install. When the software automatically checks for updates, it can update the files immediately or at a specified time that you can determine during setup.

Feature Set:  

BitDefender uses the ICSA Labs certified scanning engines, so you can feel secure about their virus protection.

The program creates a summary log of events that shows the last definitions updates, details on any virus the software encounters, the last time you ran a scan, definitions number and more. And new in 2008, Bitdefender has added a Gamer Feature so it won’t tax your memory during intense gaming. 

BitDefender’s startup guard will tell you if a program is trying to load itself upon start up so you can choose to allow it or not. This software suite also comes with adware and spyware detectors. Though we recommend using an antispyware scanner, as they are designed specifically for this purpose, it is nice to have two programs working towards a common goal, to keep your computer clean.
Ease of Installation:  

This product is easy to download from their website.

Help/Support:  

When you purchase BitDefender you also receive one year of virus signature and scan engine updates. The manufacturer offers qualified technical support live via the Internet and telephone.

There is also an online database with answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) and they have an email address–they answered our email within 6 hours. An online forum is located at http://www.halstats.com/button_press.php?url=http%3A//forum.bitdefender.com/.

Summary:  

BitDefender is easy to use, simple to install, has a great feature set and at $24.95, it won’t break your bank account. Anyone who spends time on the Internet knows the importance of anti–virus software; BitDefender will keep your computer virus–free and running smoothly.

SpamTitan Blocks 99 Percent of Spam

Following the recent spam avalanches that assaulted our computers, here comes a powerful solution supposed to fight against them and protect the systems. Its name: SpamTitan. The company proudly announced today that West Coast Labs has awarded the Checkmark Premium Anti-Spam Certification for its Vmware email solution, after it managed to block 99 percent of the spam messages with zero false positives. SpamTitan is a security technology supposed to block most threats coming by email, including spam, Trojan horses, viruses, phishing scams and any other malicious content that may harm the data.

This Checkmark PREMIUM rating is a testament to our commitment in providing the power, performance and usability that our customers need in the fight against the growing spam problem”, stated Ronan Kavanagh, SpamTitan President and CEO. “We are extremely pleased that an independent testing lab further validates SpamTitan’s effectiveness as we have always excelled at providing new performance functionality, optimized spam filtration, and an ease of use and scalability that is unique in the market.”

The spam messages have always been pretty annoying and dangerous for some of the Internet consumers. Just think at the phishing scams coming into your inbox that attempt to get your financial credentials and steal your money. So, a powerful technology such as SpamTitan would be welcomed for everyone of us, as long as it manages to block 99 percent of the malicious content coming by email.

Today, for instance, I received an email message claiming that I had won a 800,000 pounds lottery prize, so all I needed to do next was to contact the representatives to get my money. Obviously, contacting them would request me to disclose my sensitive information just like any other web scam attempting to steal money or information for future identity thefts.

Lindsay Back to Her Lesbian Ways

I just love Lindsay Lohan. I really do. If there was ever such a category in the Guinness Book of Records about “The most in denial person in the world”, Lindsay would sure win, and she wouldn’t even have to try too hard. I mean, ever since she got out of rehab, she has been in such a frenzy to show us all just how repentant and reformed she is, that she probably lost track of the fact she has been struggling so hard to keep up an illusion. And yes, over the past few months, LiLo has been known to fall off the wagon – getting drunk, getting hooked up with some of the old pals she had claimed she wanted to avoid, meeting people with whom she used to do drugs – and slowly falling back into her old routine of shopping in the morning, eating lunch at a paparazzi-infested restaurant and partying in the evening.

And since it’s back to the old routine, how about a little “lesbian affair” touch to make everything tie together nicely? Well, coming right up. And no, it’s not Samantha Ronson this time, it’s a chick who looks slightly better and has a whole lot of money – which, you may think, is the perfect combination for LiLo’s appetite. And you may very well be right. This new lady in Lindsay’s life is called Courtenay Semel and her daddy is none other than the Yahoo! CEO, Terry Semel – so as far as money goes, she’s about as hight up the food chain as she could be. And knowing Lindsay’s cold love for the cash, it would be enough to make Courtenay look like the beauty queen of all the planets in the Solar System.
Enlarge pictureThese two ladies have been spending an awful lot of time together lately, and even went to a party hosted by so-called “Power Lesbian” Jeanette Longoria together, and reportedly held hands – which I’m sure made for a very nice, romantic evening. “Lindsay came with Courtenay to the party around midnight and they stayed for an hour” a witness at the party states. “The girls held hands and were with each other the whole time. Every time I see Lindsay, there’s Courtenay. They are always together” the witness said, also adding that the two girls often referred to themselves as “roommates” – and implied they have been sharing a house somewhere in the Los Angeles area for about a month.

In that case, I guess things are pretty much obvious. The other, naughty things, I mean. I pretty much doubt LiLo is so broke that she can’t afford to live alone anymore, and the daughter of the Yahoo CEO sure doesn’t have financial troubles – but if this is true, I have a feeling we’re in for an interesting winter. Knowing LiLo, she won’t be keeping her nose clean, and I’ll bet you anything we’ll have some pretty spicy headlines coming soon. Stay tuned and we’ll keep you up to speed – as always.