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FTC says Silicon Valley giant also trying to dominate graphics chip arena SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Intel Corp. has made peace with arch-rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc., but the Federal Trade Commission's suit against the chip behemoth points to the rise of its new nemesis on the legal front -- Nvidia Corp.The FTC complaint focuses on Intel's alleged anticompetive behavior against AMD in the market for central processing units, or CPUs, that run personal computers. But it also zeroed in on the market for graphics processing units, or GPUs as graphics processors are known, an arena where Nvidia and Intel...

But not until 2011 Broadcom has hinted that 20Mp cameraphones able to record 1080p video could be available by 2011, following the release of its latest multimedia processor. The BCM2763 VideoCore IV multimedia processor for mobile devices was developed using 40 nanometer CMOS process technology, Broadcom said. This means it boasts a smaller footprint and lower power consumption than existing 65 nanometer chips, Broadcom promised, but perhaps more importantly that the 40 nanometer design can support 20Mp image processing and one gigapixel 2D and 3D graphics rendering.

BRUSSELS -- More than 100 million Europeans will get to pick a Web browser after Microsoft agreed to offer Internet users a choice to avoid fresh fines - a move that could represent a real thawing of long-standing tensions between the software company and the European Union. The deal announced Wednesday ends all current antitrust charges brought by European Union regulators. Beginning in March, Microsoft Corp. will provide a pop-up screen to all European users of its Windows operating system, asking them to choose one or more of five major browsers - including Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla's Firefox, Google Inc.'s...

TOKYO—Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) today announced the launch of a 64 gigabyte (GB) embedded NAND flash memory module, the highest capacity yet achieved in the industry. The chip is the flagship device in a new line-up of six embedded NAND flash memory modules that offer full compliance with the latest  e•MMCTM standard, and that are designed for application in a wide range of digital consumer products, including smartphones, mobile phones, netbooks and digital video cameras. Samples of the 64GB module are available from today, and mass production will start in the first quarter of 2010. The new 64GB embedded device...

If Facebook is taking over your life, a new website is offering you a way out. The site, Seppukoo.com, offers ritual suicide for Facebook users’ virtual profiles by deactivating your account. And it doesn’t stop there. If you’re willing to end it all, the site will feature a RIP memorial page on its site and sends the page to all your Facebook friends.

flight simulator-Just follow your cursor... http://electricoyster.com/esp3d/

After months of contentious litigation, Judge Alsup today granted Apple’s request for a permanent injunction and ruled that the injunction encompasses not only includes Snow Leopard, but Psystar’s Rebel EFI software as well. As a quick reminder, Rebel EFI is a piece of downloadable software available on Psystar’s website that allows users to install OS X onto non-Apple hardware. The order notes that Psystar has until December 31, 2009 to cease all infringing activities, with the Court specifically stating that Psystar “must immediately begin this process, and take the quickest path to compliance; thus, if compliance can be achieved within...

The stereotype of computer scientists as geeks who memorize Star Trek lines and never leave the lab may be driving women away from the field, a new study suggests. And women can be turned off by just the physical environment, say, of a computer-science classroom or office that's strewn with objects considered "masculine geeky," such as video games and science-fiction stuff. "When people think of computer science, the image that immediately pops into many of their minds is of the computer geek surrounded by such things as computer games, science-fiction memorabilia and junk food," said lead researcher Sapna Cheryan, an...

BetaNet on Monday filed a lawsuit against 18 companies, including Apple, Adobe and Microsoft. Filed in the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, the lawsuit claims the companies violate the ‘134 patent, entitled “Secure System for Activating Personal Computer Software at Remote Locations.” The patent was issued on June 22, 1993, according to the lawsuit. BetaNet specifically mentions Apple’s iTunes, Aperture, QuickTime and MobileMe as infringing on its patent. The lawsuit describes Apple’s violation like this: “The program file contains a first executive control program, representing a limited version of the program file. License transaction information is entered in the...

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Intel Labs Pittsburgh (ILP) have combined low-power, embedded processors typically used in netbooks with flash memory to create a server architecture that is fast, but far more energy efficient for data-intensive applications than the systems now used by major Internet services. An experimental computing cluster based on this so-called Fast Array of Wimpy Nodes (FAWN) architecture was able to handle 10 to 100 times as many queries for the same amount of energy as a conventional, disk-based cluster. The FAWN cluster had 21 nodes, each with a low-cost, low-power off-the-shelf processor and a four-gigabyte...

I've noticed that I get different numbers of URL suggestions on different machines. On my main desktop, I get six, but on my laptop three, for example. Five or six seems about right to me, but I've looked and looked as well as Googled and can't find how to adjust the number of suggestions. And why do different machines have different amounts, especially if it's not adjustable? Is it a screen resolution thing?

A resident of the Jewish community of Eli in Samaria has discovered that the giant Google search engine is apparently not waiting for Israel and the Palestinian Authority to complete final status negotiations. In Google's Internet world, life for Jews in the region has already taken on a new reality. Eliezer Tabor picked up a connection on the community’s wireless router as usual this week. But he found that despite the fact that the rest of the sites he surfed recognized his location as within Israel, Google named his location as within “Palestinian territory.”

As Apple fans, we've loved Apple's "Get a Mac" ad campaign. With Justin Long as the cool, laid-back Mac and John Hodgman starring as the stodgy, uptight PC, the ads have managed to make us laugh since they first appeared in 2006. The campaign has spawned the "I'm a PC" response ads from Microsoft, which aren't nearly as fun or effective as the original (if we do say so ourselves). The ads have been incredibly effective at getting Apple's message across -- Macs just work, with no bloatware, few viruses and little malware, and Mac users can do a lot...

SISZYD32.exe has possibly killed my FR computer. Yesterday it hit suddenly despite the anti-virus and other utilities I run to protect against such stuff. The victim computer is one I only use for FR and the sites it cites. That is the only clue I have to offer as to where it came from. I run several computers off a network and my FR computer is the only victim. This is the worst I have ever encountered and a search for it shows that it is very dangerous and it showed up only about a week ago (AFAICT). From years...

Linux and open source middleware JBoss has made its mark in the enterprise, and it is just a matter of time before open source becomes mainstream in other functional parts of the IT infrastructure as well. Where exactly that will happen, however, is the interesting question.With most companies spending 10 to 20 percent of their revenue on enterprise software, many IT managers would love to see more enterprise-class open source options. However, IT architects and project managers of IT tend to be cautious -- the back office has a low tolerance for risk, which makes it difficult for projects to...

Hackers have released Decaf, a tool which hinders the work of Microsoft's 'Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor' (COFEE). COFEE was developed for use by law enforcement agencies and collects system-wide information about the PC under investigation. It starts an automatic scan after a COFEE-containing USB flash drive is inserted into a USB port and the program generates a report when the scan has finished. The tool, intended exclusively for investigative agencies, entered the public domain in November.Decaf (Detect and Eliminate Computer Assisted Forensics) attempts to detect when a USB drive containing COFEE is inserted and launch countermeasures. It's reportedly able...

Does anyone know if there is a podcast of Rush's show other than paying for it on Rush 24/7?

UPDATED: It’s a nightmare scenario: Imagine coming into the office and not being able to access any of your organization’s vital documents. That scenario became reality today for an untold number of Microsoft Office 2003 customers who use Microsoft’s Rights Management Service (RMS), a technology for controlling access to documents.Office 2003 users receive the error, “Unexpected error occurred. Please try again later or contact your system administrator,” when they attempt to open or save protected documents. The bug affects Office 2003 products including Excel 2003, Outlook 2003, PowerPoint 2003, and Word 2003. It does not affect Office 2007 or Office...

The military is a major user of supercomputers (the fastest computers on the planet). These machines were first developed, as were the first computers, for military applications. These ultra-powerful computers are used for code breaking, and to help design weapons (including nukes) and equipment (especially electronics). The military is also needs lots of computing power for data mining (pulling useful information, about the enemy, from ever larger masses of information.) Because there's never enough money to buy all the super-computers (which are super expensive) needed, military researchers have come up with ways to do it cheaper. A decade ago, it...

SNIPPET: "It remains unclear whether as-Sahab is really on the skids, but signs increasingly point to yes. Meanwhile, I'd like to point out that the files as-Sahab uploaded include a .pdf statement. The file is called "azzam to pakistan november 09.pdf" while the document properties identify it as "SH AIMAN TO PAKISTAN RAHE HALAKAT JULY 2009.INP". I think it is in Urdu - my version of Adobe Acrobat claims it can't render the font correctly. As for the name mismatch, I'm not sure what to make of that. Did they actually upload the wrong file?! The document is hosted by...

is there a way to watch Fox News on the internet?

Sometimes when I use spell check, every word is highlighted as being incorrect. It just happened again, so I looked at the properties of the page, but I don't know what any of it means. Are there any technical people who could tell me what it says? Also, does this happen to any of you? Are you having any other strange problems?

Have you checked out that game-changing HQ for political news and analysis, the Huffington Post, lately? The site is a trove of deepthink policy analysis. Take “Political Grandstanding: Excessive Compensation and the Health Care Bill.” You tell ’em, Aaron Zelinsky! Your analysis of Section 162 (m) of the Internal Revenue Code drew 13 comments. President Obama’s freshly-announced effort to do something about Afghanistan inspired the op-ed, “Talking the Talk: An Exercise in Irony from West Point to Oslo,” that accused Obama of being a cog in Eisenhower’s military-industrial complex. It sprouted 14 comments. Keep scrolling down the front page on...

ON THE INTERNET: www.revolutionmuslim.com/index.php?option=com_yvcomment&view=comment&ArticleID=2117&url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5yZXZvbHV0aW9ubXVzbGltLmNvbS8jeXZDb21tZW50MjExNw==#yvComment2117 www.revolutionmuslim.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2117:upwards-a-onwards-yousef-al-khattab&catid=1:yousefalkhattab&Itemid=4 "Upwards & Onwards-Yousef al-Khattab Saturday, 12 December 2009 23:09 Revolution Muslim" Last Updated on Saturday, 12 December 2009 23:15 # Note: Includes slideshow. www.revolutionmuslim.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2110:salute-to-israel-day-parade-spring-2009&catid=18:protests&Itemid=37 "Salute to 'Israel' Day Parade Spring 2009 Saturday, 12 December 2009 08:19 Revolution Muslim" SNIPPET: "RM's Speech There: Israeli Cancer State – Resisting the Historical Lies, Deception, and Violence of the "Jewish” Nation" SNIPPET: "We seek a resurrection of the Islamic system that the entire collective body of nation states and its dogma of secular nationalism gathers to combat in the global arena today. We implore all to participate in rescuing...

www.youtube.com/user/AsSarabMedia "CHECHEN MUJAHIDIN FISHING (UNEDITED)"

Note: The following text is a quote: Pop-Up Security Warnings Pose Threats The FBI warned consumers today about an ongoing threat involving pop-up security messages that appear while they are on the Internet. The messages may contain a virus that could harm your computer, cause costly repairs or, even worse, lead to identity theft. The messages contain scareware, fake or rogue anti-virus software that looks authentic. The message may display what appears to be a real-time, anti-virus scan of your hard drive. The scareware will show a list of reputable software icons; however, you can’t click a link to go...

Apple beat Google to LaLa deal after failed bid for AdMob - report By Brian Garner Published: Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 08:00 PM EST Google was in serous discussions with music streaming service Lala before it was sold to Apple earlier this month. Google and Apple have been battling to purchase some of the same companies in an attempt to gain leverage in the highly competitive tech sector. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google had been in serious talks with online music streaming company La La Media Inc. before Apple closed the $85 million deal earlier this month....

Why Apple should keep a closer eye on prolific app store developers In the most recent example of a developer attempting to milk Apple customers out of their hard earned money, a Chinese-based development company named Molinker engaged in a scheme to artificially inflate the number of positive reviews that appeared alongside many of their apps, which altogether totaled over 1,000. By Yoni Heisler Fri, 12/11/09 - 2:17am. It's no secret that a well-reviewed and popular iPhone app can potentially net a developer hundreds of thousands of dollars.  But the potential to make a lot of money inevitably causes...

iPhone App Store reaches 300,000 available apps by end of November 2010? Submitted by David Kuan - 12.11.2009 According to IDC, Apple's App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch will hit the 300,000 apps mark before 2011. This may seem like an amazingly large number, but Apple passed the 100,000 apps available for download milestone last month. In addition, more than 200,000 have been submitted, at a rate of 8,500 new apps and updates every week. It's not hard to imagine Apple approving its 300,000th app well before the end of the year. Unless, of course, app developers put...

AT&T and the All-You-Can-Eat Dilemma By Chris Maxcer MacNewsWorld 12/11/09 4:00 AM PT Some AT&T customers are fuming about comments a company executive made recently about why the carrier is having such rotten network issues -- some users tend to use up an awful lot of bandwidth. AT&T certainly isn't the hero of this story, but it is worth taking a closer look at what was really said why some of it actually makes sense. Listen. Wow. If you're reading this, there's a decent chance you've seen the inundation of whiny news stories and blog posts over the widely reported...

I have a website using Frontpage. It has been good to me. Easy to use, but Frontpage is showing its age. Tried Dreamweaver but had to send it back because it would not run with my Vista 64 bit machine. Adobe was very nice about it. I would love to find a more flexible solution that I could just upgrade my site into. Microsoft has a new website software called Expression and a newer version called Expression 3. I am not looking for slam-bang software, my site is mostly text and links. I am looking to be able to place...

Merry Christmas Freepers! Here's a 'Partridge in a Pear Tree' for you all. Enjoy!

The Apple iPhone doesn't make coffee. It can't print photos. It doesn't read VHS tapes. And it doesn't come in "every color that exists." But the xPhone, currently all the rage on YouTube, is all of those things. Could this new product from Germany literally nuke the iPhone into nonexistence? Watch the official video on the revolutionary iPhone killer, the new phenomenal xPhone. Yes, that's actual German, mostly just narrating what you're seeing on the screen - except for the bit about the colors. The entirely imaginary xPhone was a graduation project for Martin Fischer, a 25-year-old computer graphics designer...

A DOCUMENT HAS COME TO LIGHT that details the lengths to which Nvidia has gone to cover up the problems it has been having with its graphics chips. The most recent lawsuit against it by the National Union Fire Insurance Company (NUFI) claims the company has withheld information on the nature of its bad bumps. The very same information it has withheld from us or any other nosy hack or awkward analysts.The story was broken by a certain Mike Magee at TG Daily on Friday, and it has a lot of juicy bits. The short story is that the list...

Windows 7 is less secure out-of-the box than Vista, despite Redmond's protestations to the contrary, a top security firm has claimed. Trend Micro said that the default configurations of Windows 7 are less secure than Vista. Raimund Genes, CTO of Trend Micro, said that Windows 7 had sacrificed security for useability - at least for default configurations. "I'm not saying Windows 7 is insecure, but out of the box Vista is better," Genes told El Reg. The User Account Control (UAC) feature that debuted with Vista was a security safeguard that asked users for permission before allowing applications to run....

With the intention of expanding its server lineup, International Business Machines (IBM), has rolled out a new mainframe system which is specifically designed for Linux, targeting high-end x86 systems. The new server system, which uses IBM’s specialty Linux processors, will either run on Novell SUSE or Red Hat based systems thereby bypassing the z/OS mainframe operating system. Instead, the server includes mainframe management software as well as IBM's z/Virtual Machine system which come together to form IBM’s low-cost integrated stacks for mainframe. Interestingly, the new system is designed to compete directly with large multicore systems used for virtualization consolidation and comes in two...

If the data devoured in the United States last year were converted to text there would be enough books to bury the country under a pile seven feet (two meters) deep, according to a study released Wednesday. US residents consumed about 1.3 trillion hours worth of information from radios, televisions, computers, newspapers, mobile telephones, and other sources, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego.That translated into an average of nearly 12 hours spent daily by each US resident watching television, listening to MP3 players, scouring the Internet or tapped into other sources of data. The information tally...

I don't think about Adobe Flash much. I just use it. I think that's the case for most of us. Almost all the video on the Web is in Flash, and we just take it for granted. That's a mistake. Like any other popular application, it can be an easy way for a cracker to hack into your computer. Take Adobe Flash's latest round of patches. Adobe doesn't say a lot about exactly what it's fixing in its security advisory, but out of the seven security bugs they're fixing, six of the repairs are on problems that "could potentially lead...

A Surrey pastor was sentenced to 15 months in jail for making a sexually explicit video of a young teen girl using photographs from Facebook that also encouraged her rape, RCMP said yesterday. Larry Robert Collins, 45, was pastor at the Guildford Church of Nazarene when the video was created and distributed online. He was removed after confessing about a year and a half ago. RCMP Const. Rosiane Racine said Collins also used photos of the victim taken from Facebook to impersonate her online and encourage people to click on a web link to the video. He also posted the...

AT&T (NYSE:T) is already facing growing dissatisfaction from subscribers over service quality, and it looks like the exclusive U.S. iPhone carrier is about to throw some gasoline on that fire. At an investor conference in New York City Wednesday, Ralph de la Vega, chief executive of AT&T Mobility, said the carrier may change the way it bills customers for wireless data usage in response to the heavy load that iPhone users have been placing on its network. AT&T currently charges iPhone customers a flat rate of $30 per month for wireless data. Although a usage-based pricing model isn't coming right...

Hate mail from Nisar. (See posts below)

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb), an Amazon.com company, has just released a free iPhone app [iTunes Link] that puts the power of the huge repository of movie facts, fables, and trivia into the palm of your hand. I use IMDb regularly, so when I saw that the app had been released, I downloaded it immediately. Upon launching, the app will ask if you wish to let it use your location -- this is used to display show times and movies for local theaters. While IMDb doesn't exactly have a beautiful interface, it's perfect for navigating the huge amount of information...

Windows 7 is nice, Bing is neat, Sharepoint is solid, and Azure is promising. But does Microsoft scare the crap out of any of its competitors anymore?Quick—when was the last time Microsoft dazzled you with breakthrough thinking and agenda-setting innovation? What was the last Microsoft product you couldn't wait to get your hands on, that would make a huge impact on your enterprise? When you and your team put together your list of Five IT Vendors We Can't Live Without, does Microsoft still make the cut? Now consider Steve Jobs and Apple: They took on the incredibly hidebound and entrenched...

Probably still reeling from all publicity around these shots, Microsoft reportedly told journalists gathered for a company press event in Germany not to use or mention Apple products. Our German is a bit rusty and Google's is even worse, but according to Handelsblatt and our bad translation: "While at a Windows Mobile 6.5 demonstration in Munich, Germany a journalist was warned by a Microsoft spokesman not to mention or use Apple products...since it was a Microsoft event the journalist had previously told everyone that he had never owned an easier to use cell phone than the iPhone." Now, you...

Video Linky

Why Apple succeeds, and always will By Joe Wilcox Published December 9, 2009, 9:45 AM Simply put: Apple doesn't play by the rules. It reinvents them. Apple applies what I call "David Thinking" to its broader business, product development and marketing. Apple is David to Microsoft Goliath -- and other ones, too. Goliath plays by one set of rules. David choses to change the rules, which favor his strengths rather than those of Goliath. David Thinking is most provocative and surprising when Goliath acts like David. After all, David sometimes becomes Goliath; Apple is a giant in music with iPod...

Sorry about the vanity, but, since FReepers are the best out there, I hope one of you will be able to help me out with a vexing computer problem with Skype. Thanks to the massive mishandling of Michigan's and the Nation's economy, I've been forced to move from Michigan to Maryland for a new job. The family is back home and much of our communication is via Skype. Whenever we talk (audio and video) there is a consistent beeping coming from the computer speakers in Michigan. It happen on both their desktop and laptop and only on calls from me....

Just in from our computer tech. Last night/early this morning. MS forced an update patch on all Windows users. We know it affected all running XP. It may have hit Vista and 7 as well. Many users had a forced Windows reboot/restart this morning. Seems the patch is causing havoc in email systems nationwide. Our computer guy normally gets 8-20 trouble calls a day. So far today, it's more than 250. His affiliates across the country report the same. Our internet access is fine (as others seems to be to) but emails are very slow (3 to 5 minutes from...

1. We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people. 2. We will NOT obey orders to conduct warrantless searches of the American people 3. We will NOT obey orders to detain American citizens as unlawful enemy combatants or to subject them to military tribunal. 4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a state of emergency on a state. 5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty. 6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps. 7. We...

Google (finally) released beta versions of its Chrome browser for Mac and Linux on Tuesday, along with over 300 extensions for Windows and Linux. Sorry, Mac users - extensions "aren't quite beta-quality on Mac yet", according to a Google blog posting announcing the new-release trifecta. Google offers an introductory video for the long-delayed Mac beta, which notes that the Webkit-based browser integrates Mac OS X's spell-checker and Keychain, plus OS X's built-in sandboxing system. There's also a four-video collection of marketing fluff touting Chrome's speed, stability, and features - if watching cutesy Rube Goldbergian contraptions is your cup of tea....