2008 February « Byte Into It – Computing and new technology

Byte Into It – 13 Feb 08

Byron’s list of essential Macintosh applications/utilities for Leopard 10.5
The Unarchiver – http://wakaba.c3.cx/s/apps/unarchiver.html
Cost: FREE
Multi format de-compression utility. Quick, fast and easy. Takes care of standard stuff like ZIP but also stuff rare to Macintosh like RAR.
1Password – http://1password.com/
Cost: $33 (approx.)
Full featured password management application. Automatically keeps track of any password and/or form you enter into your [...]

February 13, 2008
Categories: Mac . Tags: applications, leopard, macintosh, utilities . Author: byteintoit . Comments: 3 Comments

Byte Into It podcast

Byte Into It - 25 November 2009 November 26, 2009

Phil Wales, Georgia Webster, Jay McCormak and Andrew Fish talking about the week's IT and Tech news.This week Google Chrome OS, Rupert Murdoch vs The Internet, Windows 7, Wordpress, The Pirate Bay, ACTA and more...For show links and news check out the new Byte Into It blog at http://byteintoitlinks.blogspot.com and follow @byteintoit on Twitter.Subscrib […]

Byte Into It - 18 November 2009 November 18, 2009

Mike Bantick, Andrew Fish and Ed Borland talking about the week's IT and Tech news.This week a special interview with Edward Fong Managing Director of Ubisoft, Psystar vs Apple, Telecommunication Interception Bill, Microsoft Security Intelligence Report, Rupert Murdock vs the Internet, Telstra, Games and more...For show links and news check out the new […]

Byte Into It - 11 November 2009 November 12, 2009

Phil Wales, Georgia Webster and the Fake Andrew Fish talking about the week's IT and Tech news (computing, new technology and headphones)This week the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and copyright, Rupert Murdoch vs the Internet, online journalism, community television digital forum, Brizzly, general social media jibber jabber, digital tattoo […]

Byte Into It - 04 November 2009 November 5, 2009

Mike Bantick, Sarah Stokely and Byron Scullin talking about the week's IT and Tech news.This week an Interview with Scotty Iseri, the creator of Scotty Got an Office Job, Secret copyright treaty leaks, NBN Summit, AFACT vs iiNet, Droid, Kristen Boschma, Apple news, Games and more...For show links and news check out the new Byte Into It blog at http://by […]

Digg Technology

3G wireless still holds promise November 29, 2009

The next generation of 4G wireless may get all the headlines, but advanced 3G technology will likely dominate services for the next few years.

Web 'threatens' public services November 29, 2009

The NHS and other public services must re-organise themselves around the needs of users, say social media activists.

Pub fined $13k for Wi-Fi copyright infringement November 29, 2009

A pub owner in the U.K. has been fined £8,000 (about $13,183) because someone unlawfully downloaded copyrighted material over its open Wi-Fi hotspot, according to the managing director of hotspot provider The Cloud.

77 Percent Of Facebook Fan Pages Have Under 1,000 Fans November 29, 2009

In this age of instant Internet celebrity, anyone can become famous for 15 seconds (to rework Andy Warhol’s oft-quoted maxim). But what does famous mean exactly when anyone can have a Facebook fan page—those public pages on Facebook set up by brands, media outlets, celebs, and wanna-be celebs.

Top 10 Cross-Platform Apps that Run on Windows, OS X, Linux November 29, 2009

Whether your must-have data lives in the cloud, on your laptop, or just on a different operating system, you shouldn't have to use sub-par tools to get at it. These downloads work where you do, and they also just work

Steve Wozniak: How I Invented the Personal Computer November 29, 2009

Steve WozniakSteve Wozniak, the mastermind behind Apple, casts off his low profile and steps forward to tell his story for the first time. His new book, iWoz: How I Invented the Personal Computer and Had Fun Along the Way, provides a firsthand account of the humanist inventor who ignited the computer revolution...

New Banking Trojan: A Nasty And Formidable Foe November 28, 2009

Malware is getting more and more sophisticated. Bent on destruction, it is seemingly immune to modern weapons. One such Trojan horse program is very sophisticated and it keeps reinventing itself in its greedy quest to empty bank accounts.

Self-Taught Inventer Creates Homemade Electric Wheelchair November 28, 2009

Li Rongbiao, a 67 year old pensioner and inventer, is making headlines in China because of his handmade electric chairs. Also known as the Walking Chair, it is assembled from spare parts and consists of spare wheels that ease stairway access for wheelchairs.

Apple releases iTunes LP and Extras specs, TuneKit SDK November 28, 2009

Everything needed for nearly anyone handy with web standards to create an iTunes LP or iTunes Extras package is now available from Apple, all free of charge.

iPhone Apps Apple Didn't Want you to Use Revealed on Site November 28, 2009

A new website aims to publicize the details surrounding the much-maligned iPhone application review process - Apple's secretive procedures that have been under heavy scrutiny this year, especially ... According to the site's About page, Martin writes that "it's now gone from 'easy' to 'tricky' to avoid getting your app […]

The Register

Cartoon smut law to make life sucky for Olympic organisers

Internet + iffy logo = Ha ha! Government zeal in pursuing anyone suspected of harbouring paedophilic tendencies may shortly rebound – with unintended consequences for the 2012 Olympic logo.… What is your recession sales strategy?

Finns fail to warm to 2.6GHz auction

Ofcom: 'Gulp' Ofcom may be sweating at the news that the Finnish auction of 2.6GHz raised only €3.8m. The regulator is hoping to raise a lot more when the same spectrum is auctioned off in the UK next year.… Offloading malware protection to the cloud

Serial slurry fetish man jailed again

Lock up your manure A middle-aged man with a sexual fetish for farm waste was sent to prison after a breaching a restraining order that banned him from being around a farm he has terrorised for years.… Offloading malware protection to the cloud

of NVIDIA and hybrid computing

Making hay until Larrabee shines? At SC09, it was hard to travel the floor without running into hybrid computing in some way, shape, or form. In fact, you couldn’t swing a cat without hitting someone or something related to using accelerators to maximize performance. (I know this because I actually did bring in a cat to test this theory… an actual live cat… […]

Blu-ray Players

Crispness viewing for Christmas? Group Test With the nights drawing in, and a shiny flat-screen TV set in the living room, what better way to relieve the tedium of the TV schedules than with a high definition movie? With time off over Christmas, and a looming VAT increase, is now the best time to invest? We’ve rounded up a selection of Blu-ray players that […]

Pitchfork-wielding mobs encircle smart meters

'Fraud meter' fear A push by California's electricity provider to modernize its power grid is turning into a public relations disaster, as allegations mount that it's responsible for stratospheric overcharges.… What is your recession sales strategy?

What ever happened to storing pics with electron cannons?

Blue Blue's digital photo beam This Old Box Features make the system. After all, what good is a gaming rig without superfluous neon-blue lights, an iMac without the almost-matronly lack of sharp edges, or a Verizon phone not forged by the souls of the damned upon an altar of bones?1… The power of collaboration within unified communications

Fujitsu gung-ho on eight-core 'Venus' Sparc

Tofu super glue SC09 Is Japan's 10 petaflops supercomputer on the chopping block? Fujitsu won't say. But it's still bullish on the Sparc chips meant to drive the thing.… Offloading malware protection to the cloud

Cyborg MIT prof touts iPhone-controlled power-jumping legs

Other bionic plugins offer 7' height, climbing claws A cyborg MIT professor has developed and tested innovative lithium-ion powered prosthetic feet which can thrust a wearer off the ground just as normal biological ones can - or be adjusted (using an iPhone app, of course) for greater power, perhaps allowing remarkable leaping and running performance.… […]

Web host Daily recovers after Tux-themed defacement

Lock-down follows cartoon penguin attack UK-based web host Daily has largely restored services following an apparent hack attack on Thursday that replaced content on some sites it hosts with pictures of cartoon penguins.… Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing

Digg – Linux/Unix

The Incredible Guide to NEW Ubuntu (Karmic Koala) [PDF] November 26, 2009

With the release of a new Ubuntu (Linux for human beings) distribution, Karmic Koala, we felt it was time to go back to the roots and beyond. This guide that’s both great for Linux initiates, and Linux intermediates. Over 50 pages of cool copy-paste tutorials and hacks, it belongs in the virtual library of every Linux user!

Google Partners with Canonical for Chrome OS November 24, 2009

Rather than seeing Google's Chrome operating system as competing with Linux desktop distributions, Canonical is working with Google to make the OS.

OMG! UBUNTU!: Docky Gains Panel Mode, Network Docklet & More November 23, 2009

Docky gained a sleek new panel mode and a network manager docklet in an update to users of the Docky PPA yesterday.

Chromium OS Source released November 19, 2009

I noticed that the source released happened during the webcast, so go get it now!Getting and building:http://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/dev/chromium-os/building-chromium-os

Speaking UNIX: 10 great tools for any UNIX system November 19, 2009

The universe of UNIX® tools changes constantly. Here are 10 tools—some you may have overlooked and some new—to tinker with.

The Google Phone Is Very Real. And It's Coming Soon November 18, 2009

The debate over Droid v. iPhone rages on, but lots more Android surprises are on the way. Get ready for the Google Phone. It’s no longer a myth, it’s real.Like the iPhone for Apple, this phone will be Google’s pure vision of what a phone should be.

20 Essential Tips Every Ubuntu User Should Know November 18, 2009

We've compiled a list of the 20 most important skills that every Ubuntu user should have. These tips, ranging from basic GUI manipulation to advanced system recovery, are essential to your Ubuntu computing experience.

PDC09 - Microsoft to Open Source the .NET Micro Framework November 17, 2009

Peter Galli reporting form PDC09 - Today, at the Microsoft Professional Developer Conference (PDC) here in Los Angeles, we announced not only the release of version 4.0 of the.NET Micro Framework, but also that we are open sourcing the product and making it available under the Apache 2.0 license...

Google Could Double Web Speeds With SPDY Protocol November 16, 2009

Slowly but surely, we're getting an idea of what Google's Chrome OS will look like. We know that it will be Linux-based and that the primary interface will likely be the Chrome browser. Still, the search giant was not content to simply turn a Web browser into an operating system.

Linux Contractor Fired for Using Firefox/Linux November 16, 2009

This is a complicated story but one that must be told. I'm not sure there is anything that can be done about it except rage at the moon...

Arstechnica Law and Disorder

FCC posts "Help Wanted" for white spaces database managers November 27, 2009

In another significant leap forward in the Federal Communications Commission's campaign to get unlicensed broadband, or "white space" devices, into the market, the FCC says that it is now accepting proposals from companies that want to run the databases that will prevent these gadgets from interfering with other broadcast services.There's […]

ars@lasarletter.net (Matthew Lasar)

Military wins small battle in war against counterfeit chips November 27, 2009

The US Department of Justice announced [PDF] today that a California man has pled guilty to trafficking counterfeit computer chips to the US military. Neil Fehaly agreed to cooperate with the government as part of his plea deal, and he faces up to five years in prison for passing off bogus versions of chips from Intel, VIA, STMicro, Analog Devices, and other […]

hannibal@arstechnica.com (Jon Stokes)

Sony still subsidizing US military supercomputer efforts November 27, 2009

Consumers aren't the only ones enjoying the PlayStation 3's recent price drop. The US military has announced plans to buy 2,200 more of the game consoles, so that they can massively beef up the processing power of an existing, PS3-based supercomputer. A "Justification Review Document," which has oddly been deleted from Google since I foun […]

hannibal@arstechnica.com (Jon Stokes)

Microsoft issues takedown notices over spilled COFEE November 25, 2009

Microsoft has been issuing takedown notices for publicly hosting its leaked Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor (COFEE) tool. The company sent off "Demand for Immediate Take-Down: Notice of Infringing Activity" to companies hosting websites that offered the tool. The e-mails all start with the following standard statement: "Microsoft h […]

emil.protalinski@arstechnica.com (Emil Protalinski)

MPAA to FCC: critics of video blocking proposals are lying November 25, 2009

The movie studios have a new Holy Grail, it seems: Federal Communications Commission permission to cable companies to shut down the analog streams on video-on-demand movie programming. As Ars readers know, we've been covering this issue for a while. But the Motion Picture Association of America's latest letter to the FCC pulls out all the stops, rh […]

ars@lasarletter.net (Matthew Lasar)

Swedes start buying music; are anti-P2P laws working? November 25, 2009

Is Sweden, the only country to have sent a member of the Pirate Party to the European Parliament, finally giving up its swashbuckling ways? When Sweden's IPRED anti-piracy law went into effect earlier this year, Internet traffic across the country plummeted overnight—a sign that P2P users, fearing exposure at last, were abandoning their existing c […]

nate@arstechnica.com (Nate Anderson)

"Godfather of Spam" goes to prison for four years November 24, 2009

Alan Ralsky, the so-called "Godfather of spam" was yesterday sentenced by a federal judge in Detroit to spend the next 51 months of his life in prison for wire fraud, mail fraud, and violations of the CAN-SPAM act. Not content simply to move boxes of pills or to sign people up for new mortgages, Ralsky's operation instead pulled in millions of […]

nate@arstechnica.com (Nate Anderson)

Libraries dying for bandwidth—where's the fiber (and cash)? November 24, 2009

Most of America's libraries make it a part of their mission to offer Internet access to anyone in the community, but a severe bandwidth crunch is hobbling those efforts. That's one of the conclusions reached by the American Library Association, which says that 59.6 percent of American libraries "report their connectivity speed is inadequate so […]

nate@arstechnica.com (Nate Anderson)

UK hack reveals climate science's ugly side, little more November 23, 2009

Late last week, a collection of e-mails and documents began appearing on a variety of websites, purportedly a selection of a much larger cache of material obtained when hackers gained entry to the UK's Climatic Research Unit. All indications are that the documents are legitimate, and they reveal the scientists behind them as fully human: snarky, dismiss […]

jtimmer@arstechnica.com (John Timmer)

God did it, why can't we? UN ponders 'Net "10 commandments" November 23, 2009

Write a new 10 Commandments of the Internet, Peter proposed, and draft them on a tablet PC on Mount Sinai. The "Peter" in question was Internet historian Ian Peter, and the place was the UN-backed Internet Governance Forum 2009 held last week in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, a few kilometers from Mount Sinai. Peter's model for his proposed commandme […]

nate@arstechnica.com (Nate Anderson)

Ars Technica – Apple

Week in Tech: Large Hadron Collider working, Ubuntu matures November 28, 2009

Version 5 of the popular Mac virtualization package, Parallels Desktop, has hit the streets, and Ars puts it through its paces. Gaming performance, Windows 7, content creation, Linux—it's all here, plus the inevitable comparisons to the most recent VMware Fusion release. After a series of complications and setbacks, the Large Hadron Collider sees […]

hannibal@arstechnica.com (Jon Stokes)

Microsoft enables Silverlight video streaming to iPhones November 27, 2009

At PDC 2009, Microsoft demonstrated Silverlight video streaming to an iPhone. While Microsoft user experience platform manager Brian Goldfarb said that Microsoft "worked with Apple" to make it happen, don't expect plug-ins for Mobile Safari to start flooding the App Store. Instead, Microsoft worked to make its IIS7 server software capable of s […]

chris.foresman@arstechnica.com (Chris Foresman)

Apple releases iTunes LP and Extras specs, TuneKit SDK November 27, 2009

chris.foresman@arstechnica.com (Chris Foresman)

HandBrake goes 64-bit, adds many improvements November 27, 2009

After a year without any updates, the developers responsible for the popular video transcoder Handbrake have released version 0.9.4 of the open-source software. With such a small change in the version number, it would be easy to assume that there isn't much new in this version, but that assumption couldn't be further from the truth. In total, there […]

jeff.smykil@gmail.com (Jeff Smykil)

Music library disaster? How to rip songs from your iPod November 25, 2009

Despite the fact that Apple constantly "encourages" users to back up their music, people still often find themselves in the awkward predicament of needing to download their entire libraries back off of their iPods. Maybe they suffered a catastrophic hard drive crash, or perhaps their laptop was stolen and they no longer have access to their home li […]

jacqui@arstechnica.com (Jacqui Cheng)

Smoking could be hazardous to your Apple warranty November 24, 2009

jeff.smykil@gmail.com (Jeff Smykil)

iPhone and Android in two-horse smartphone OS race November 24, 2009

The latest Mobile Metrics report for mobile ad firm AdMob reveals some interesting aspects of the emerging smartphone market, as redefined by Apple's iPhone in 2007. For one, Apple's iPhone OS is regaining much of the share it had lost after the explosive growth that followed the launch of the third-generation iPhone 3GS this summer. Android is als […]

chris.foresman@arstechnica.com (Chris Foresman)

The counter-punch: a review of Parallels Desktop 5 November 24, 2009

I'm virtually exhausted. After last week's review of VMWare Fusion 3 and this week's review of Parallels Desktop 5, it's been a weird couple of weeks. I'm having this recurring virtualization nightmare where a penguin wants to share something with me but can't. Then Windows Aero calls to me in a fuzzy voice like that teacher fro […]

daveg@arstechnica.com (Dave Girard)

Schiller's spin on App Store issues ignores real complaints November 24, 2009

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, has made another attempt to address numerous complaints about the precarious iPhone App Store approval process that have circulated in the media recently. Schiller's point of view is that the approval process is valuable to developers and consumers, and that Apple is trying to […]

chris.foresman@arstechnica.com (Chris Foresman)

Poll Technica: Mac deals to be had this week; you going? November 23, 2009

If you live in the US, this week kicks off the beginning of the holiday season with Thanksgiving on Thursday and the inevitable day-after-Thanksgiving sales that happen on Friday (we hesitate to call it "Black Friday" this year, since it seems that everyone will probably still be in the red). As usual, Mac fans will be able to get discounts on mach […]

jacqui@arstechnica.com (Jacqui Cheng)

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