MMORPG News

MMORPG News

General: GDC Online: Game Narrative with Tom Abernathy

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 10:55 AM PDT

In the final "pre-GDC Online" article for MMORPG.com, Industry Relations Manager Garrett Fuller chats with Microsoft's Tom Abernathy about the art of storytelling in today's games. It's a terrific insider's look at writers and writing in the industry. Check it out!

Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Lure of Star Wars: The Old Republic

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 10:42 AM PDT

In today's column, MMORPG.com Managing Editor Bill Murphy, or Captain Obvious as we sometimes call him, writes about the ever-present elephant in the room, Star Wars: The Old Republic. He calls on those who already love the game and those who've predetermined their hatred to put all that aside until the game actually is released. Check out what else Bill has to say in his latest column. Then don your Teflon undies and weigh in on the discussion.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Dark or Light?

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 11:05 AM PDT

In his latest column for MMORPG.com, Community Manager Mike Bitton looks at the idea that players' decisions will send them down a path of light or dark, regardless of their faction alignment. Check out what Mike has to say and then leave us your thoughts in the comments.

Rift: Ashes of History Impressions

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 11:24 AM PDT

Last week's Rift: Ashes of History update has been heralded as one of the most publicized and anticipated patches since the game's launch in February. MMORPG.com Associate Editor Suzie Ford has a few thoughts to share about Ashes. See what she thinks about her experiences as a level 50 in Rift. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Diablo 3: Hello, My Friend. Stay Awhile & Listen

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 11:13 AM PDT

MMORPG.com's Ripper X goes into the Diablo 3 Beta and offers up some first impressions on the epic RPG as well as thoughts about playing the Wizard class. Check out Ripper's thoughts in our Diablo 3: Hello, My Friend. Stay Awhile & Listen" feature. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Final Fantasy XIV: Final v1.19 Patch Notes Posted

Posted: 05 Oct 2011 06:51 AM PDT

The Final Fantaxy XIV site has been updated with the finalized patch notes for the v1.19 patch deployed on October 4th.

General: War of the Immortals Beta Key Handout!

Posted: 03 Oct 2011 05:09 PM PDT

War of the Immortals is Perfect World's latest chapter in the Immortals universe following its hit action-MMORPG, Battle of the Immortals. Built with Perfect World's latest Cube graphics engine, players can look forward to destructible, interactive environments with 3D textures and monsters that bring the game to life. Get your free beta key now!

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Beta Testing Weekend Incoming!

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 04:55 PM PDT

If you're one of the ten people in the universe who have yet to sign up for beta testing events for Star Wars: The Old Republic, you might want to swing by the official site and get with the program.

Age of Conan: Unchained: Win a Premium Lifetime Subscription

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 03:33 PM PDT

Age of Conan: Unchained fans will want to check out the sweepstakes that the team is promoting via its Facebook page. Lucky players can take home a Premium Lifetime Subscription that includes, among other things, a "pleasure" companion.

Uncharted Waters Online: First Anniversary Event Kicks Off

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 11:53 AM PDT

Uncharted Waters Online players will want to check in to the game as the first anniversary event kicks off.

AdventureQuest Worlds: They Might Be Giants to Appear In-Game

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 11:46 AM PDT

Fans of both AdventureQuest Worlds and the Grammy award winning band, They Might Be Giants, will want to check into the game on October 14th for an in-game anniversary event spanning two weeks.

DC Universe Online: Fate of the Fortress Update Live

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 11:40 AM PDT

Sony Online Entertainment and the DC Universe Online team have sent word that Update 5 "Fate of the Fortress" is now live across all servers.

Star Trek Online: The Path to Free to Play Blog Updated

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 10:22 AM PDT

The Star Trek Online blog has been updated with three new entries into the "Path to Free to Play" series.
Posted by Shri Krishna

MMOGaming News

MMOGaming News

WoW 4.3 PTR Notes: Dungeons and Raids Changes

Posted:

WoW 4.3 PTR Notes: Dungeons and Raids Changes


Recently, Patch 4.3 PTR notes made a big change. It'll be easier to go through the dungeons after Patch 4.3 befalls. You wanna know the reason? Read the following information.

WoW 4.3: Valor Changes

Posted:

WoW 4.3: Valor Changes


With the 4.3 patch we'll be introducing some changes to the way Valor Points (VP) are obtained, as well as the items that they can purchase.

Continue reading WoW 4.3: Valor Changes.

Bright Shadow(EU) Gets Halloween Expansion

Posted:

Bright Shadow(EU) Gets Halloween Expansion


Gamania Digital Entertainment Europe is happy to announce that it's popular free to play MMORPG Bright Shadow will get a long awaited Halloween expansion today.
Posted by Shri Krishna

MMORPG Videos

MMORPG Videos

Diablo 3: Diablo 3 - 1st Impressions Overview with Ripper X

Posted: 30 Sep 2011 05:07 PM PDT

Ripper X goes into the Diablo 3 Beta for some 1st impressions on the epic RPG as well as some fun playing as a Wizard.

Black Prophecy: Black Prophecy: Episode 2 Trailer

Posted: 30 Sep 2011 01:03 PM PDT

The Black Prophecy dev team has released a new trailer for Episode 2: Species War. The content expansion was recently released for Black Prophecy in September and features the new Warzone system and a complete balance overhaul.
Posted by Shri Krishna

MMORPG Reviews

MMORPG Reviews

Dungeon Defenders has presented its third developer diary

Posted: 05 Oct 2011 01:28 AM PDT

Trendy Entertainment has presented the third developer diary for the upcoming co-op action-RPG tower-defense game, Dungeon Defenders. The developer diary unveils more information on the defense building, upgrading and action in the combat phase and get a sneak peak at some of the game's epic boss fights. Dungeon Defenders will be available for PC on [...]

Uncharted Waters Online celebrates its first anniversary

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 09:48 AM PDT

Uncharted Waters Online has announced the arrival of its first birthday. Today marks one year of exciting service, and with its North American partner gPotato. To show their appreciation to all UWO players, the team has prepared daily item giveaways and boosts for the entire month of October. · Three Week Marathon Event – Players [...]

City of Heroes Freedom has announced a new primary power set

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 09:17 AM PDT

Paragon Studios and NCsoft have announced the launch of Street Justice, a new primary power set for City of Heroes Freedom, suitable for the Brute, Scrappers and Stalkers archetypal character classes and a cast of secondary powers for Tankers. The melee attacks to improve and allow players to strengthen their powers to destroy opponents with [...]

Black Prophecy celebrates the World Space Week with two especial events

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 06:56 AM PDT

In honor of the World Space Week, the free-to-play space combat MMOG Black Prophecy will be conducting two special events that week. Since 1999, World Space Week is the largest annual space event on earth, and has acted as both an important educational resource and inspirational tool that has led millions of people each year [...]

Bright Shadow has received a new expansion today

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 05:56 AM PDT

Gamania Digital Entertainment Europe has announced that it's free to play MMORPG Bright Shadow will get a Halloween expansion today. New Content – The expansion will enlarge the current world with new areas and dungeons to explore. During your travels you will be able to fight new monsters such as goblins, vampires and mummies. When [...]

The closed beta of Golden Age is going to start the next October 19

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 04:39 AM PDT

Aeria Games, has announced that Golden Age, its latest browser-based real-time strategy title, will begin its closed beta test the next October 19, 2011. Golden Age blends traditional browser-based RTS gameplay with RPG features to deliver a beautifully-rendered, immersive experience, playable from any web browser. Golden Age allows players to interact in Sanctum City, the [...]

Dungeon Fighter Online new update, Act XIII: Chaos Reigns has arrived

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 03:33 AM PDT

The Altar of Infinity has opened up its gates in Arad this month during the Act XIII: Chaos Reigns Update in Dungeon Fighter Online. Nexon's arcade-style massively multiplayer online game now offers to the players between levels 30-70 the Altar of Infinity, a massive new dungeon which is Reaper Dreyfus' third structure in the Valley [...]

Hellgate Global has announced a series of new events

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 02:53 AM PDT

After the successful release of Hellgate Tokyo, Hellgate Global rewards its players with tons of new challenges. T3fun has announced a series of events that will challenge both new and veteran players of Hellgate Global and will surely keep them busy fighting and hunting during this upcoming month. Breaking the Curse – This event is [...]
Posted by Shri Krishna


General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

Belgian ISPs Forced to Block The Pirate Bay

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 02:58 PM PDT

tpbA Belgian appeals court has ordered two Belgian ISPs to begin blocking The Pirate Bay or face fines. The ruling comes after a two year long court battle that originally had the ISPs protected from forced filtering. Now the ISPs have 14 days to comply with the ruling, but The Priate Bay says there is no reason for concern.

According to Pirate Bay, they only see an uptick in traffic when an ISP blocks them. There are numerous methods for circumventing an DNS-level block. They cheekily added their thanks to the Belgian Anti-Piracy Federation (BAF) for the free advertising. BAF takes the situation much more seriously, though, saying that the ISPs were creating a safe haven for piracy. Digital rights groups are hopping mad, pointing out that the block censors all content, even that which was legal.

The wide availability of alternative DNS systems and VPNs seems to negate any efforts to block The Pirate Bay, but copyright holders keep trying, much to TPB's delight. Do you think ISPs should block sites?

Kindle Fire Selling 2000 Units Per Hour

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 02:37 PM PDT

fireAmazon has always been coy when it come to releasing sales numbers, and the case of the new Kindle Fire is no exception. But  if the newest leak is to be believed, someone working for the company is a little less secretive. A spreadsheet detailing the pre-orders to this point shows some incredible numbers. In just five days, over 250,000 Kindle Fires have been ordered.

With a little math, that works out to over 2000 devices per hour, and it's not even shipping for over a month. At this rate, Amazon will have sold 2.5 million Kindle Fires be the time the device is out. That would surpass the numbers seen when the original iPad launched by a wide margin. It looks like the attractive price point is enough to persuade buyers to pick one up.

Some analysts have speculated that Amazon might actually be making about $50 per device, and that would mean huge profits out of the gate for the Kindle Fire. The tablet would also be one of the most prolific Android devices on the market, and it doesn't even run Google's apps. Have you ordered a Kindle Fire?

Get It Together: Seven Apps and Services to Organize Your Life

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 02:32 PM PDT

todoIn an increasingly complex world we're expected to think faster, do more, and rest less than ever before. In most occupations, multitasking is a must, making the ability to manage one's time and tasks effectively arguably the most vital skill any employee can bring into the modern workplace—and that's just during the work week. After hours and on weekends (if you're lucky enough to have them), keeping track of family events, time with friends and personal projects can be enough to bring those with even the sharpest of minds to their knees. Fortunately, there's a ton of technology in place to help you make the transition from being a failed life planning chump to an organizational champ. To get you started, we've put together a list of a few of our favorite organizational apps. No matter whether they're web-based, free or bound to your PC, they all have one thing in common: They'll help you organize that herd of cats you call a life. 

Evernote

When it comes to taking notes and keeping all of your ducks in a row, it's pretty hard to beat Evernote. For the low, low price of absolutely free, Evernote can be downloaded to most platforms including Windows, OS X, iOS, WebOS (sigh), Android and Blackberry's QNX Playbook operating system. Lacking that, your Evernote account can also be accessed via any modern web browser.

Evernote makes it easy to take, edit, and review typed notes, lists, voice, and video memos on the fly. Should your workflow require you to keep tabs on online content, Evernote's got your back, offering up a web clipping extension compatible with most major internet browsers. Just click the Evernote icon in your browser bar, select the content you're interested in and then raise your arms like Steve Holt in a gesture of victory as the web content is clipped, captured and sent to your Evernote account for review at a later time. What what's more, the PC version of Evernote will even allow you to share all of that crucial content via a number of popular social networks including Twitter, Facebook and email.

Additionally, power users can extend the service's functionality even further through the use of Evernote Trunk applications, which allow Evernote to integrate with popular mobile application like Quickoffice Pro HD for Android and iOS, Skitch, Reeder and Instapaper. If for some reason all of this still isn't enough for you, it's also possible to rock a premium Evernote account which'll allow you to transfer up to 1GB of content per month, upload and search through PDF files, and wicked fast image recognition. 

To be honest, it's pretty hard for us to find a downside to using this user friendly, highly customizable service. 

Google Calendar

When it comes to organizing your life, it doesn't get any more basic than a calendar. For the majority of Westerners, the Gregorian calendar has been the way to go since first being introduced by Pope Gregory XIII back in 1582. In 2006, Google upped the Pope's Gregorian game by introducing Google Calendar—the free time management web application that we all know today. Subject to the company's legendarily long trial periods, Google Calendar didn't come out of beta until 2009, but once it did, the web app proved stable and reliable enough to become the de facto scheduling and task planning application for countless amateur and professional taskmasters around the world. 

Google Calendar is free to use, but requires that each user of the web app sign up for a Google account. The greatest strengths of Google Calendar are the web app's flexibility, ability to be accessed via multiple platforms, and the ease of which it allows users to share their calendars and collaborate with other Google account holders. By using Google Calendar, you'll be able share your calendars with the important people in your life, compile tasks lists, set up multiple calendars to deal with a wide variety of scheduling duties, receive email reminders of impending appointments and tasks, and make it accessible via most smartphones applications and web browsers (as well as select calendar desktop clients like Microsoft Outlook). 

Until recently, if Google Calendar had an fault, it was that it wasn't available for offline use. Fortunately, the good folks from Mountain View are now offering the web app's users the ability to access, interact, and edit their calendars offline through the Google's Chrome browser. 

Microsoft OneNote

If you prefer a little more freedom to decide how to organize your life, Microsoft's insanely versatile OneNote application might be the way to go. Available as an individual application or as part of Microsoft Office 2010, OneNote allows for free-form entry of your important information as you see fit. Users are invited to organize their information into virtual notebooks and pages, each of which can hold a wide variety of information including typed notes, screenshots, image files, audio, HTML, video, hyperlinks, handwritten text (provided your PC or Windows tablet supports it), tables, and information from other Microsoft applications like OutLook, Excel and Word.

There are appliances to set up checklists, send snippets of text or whole notebooks to email recipients, and schedule meetings all from inside of the application. OneNote saves data automatically as it is entered, making it a great choice for over tasked academics or scatterbrained freelancers, and boast the ability to save information locally synchronize to a Sharepoint server or through Microsoft's SkyDrive service. As with Google Calendar and Evernote, OneNote users are also able to access their data through their smartphones, provided they're rocking an iOS, Android or Windows Phone handset. 

Without a doubt, OneNote is a powerful tool, but it has a few serious faults. First, let's talk about the price: As a lone application, it'll set you back over $100. As part of Microsoft Office? Well, let's not get into how crazy expensive that can be. With so many other free alternatives out there, it's hard to justify forking over that kind of cash. Second, and perhaps more importantly, for individuals looking to organize their lives, the anything-goes nature of the OneNote could end up being more of a hinderance than an actual help, as even with powerful search capabilities, all of those free form notebooks and pages can quickly spiral out of control.

Remember The Milk

We'd be remiss if we forgot to enter Remember the Milk on this list. Ideal for individuals who thrive and survive by checklists, Remember the Milk has been an indispensable part of thousands of people's organizational lives for years. Using the service requires setting up a Remember the Milk account, but the two minutes it takes to complete the setup process will be amongst the best you've ever spent on an administrative task.

Once you're good to go, simply navigate to Remember the Milk's homepage, sign in and get that life of yours in order. New tasks are entered into a field at the top of the screen, and can be sorted by priority, due date and category, making it easy to stay on top of what's important. While the web-based version of Remember the Milk is powerful on its own, upgrading to a pro account for $25 a year brings even more functionality to an already stellar service, by giving subscribers access to Android, Blackberry and Outlook synchronization. Additionally, subscribers who have iOS devices and opt in for pro account will be treated like the special snowflakes that they are by Remember the Milk's adding functionality to the iPhone and iPad's already very respectable Remember the Milk applications. 

While there's no denying that Remember the Milk can be an invaluable organizational tool if used on a regular basis, the fact that it is so dependant upon an internet connection for most platforms can cripple it in some situations. 

Toodledo

Another great option in the same vein as Remember the Milk is Toodledo, Available for use via your web browser and as an app for Blackberry, Android and iOS devices, Toodledo keeps user's lives in line through the use of customizable filters, alarms and as with Remember the Milk, a checklist. Toodledo's interface is insanely customizable, allowing users to decide what tasking information appears in the service's user interface and where it shows up. While this may seem like a minor feature at first blush, having the ability to control the amount of information you're dealing with can have a huge impact on your productivity.

As with Evernote and OneNote, Toodledo provides users with some basic word processing functionality through the use of a notebook interface. User generated notes can be organized into notebooks for easy reference.  There's also an option to Toodledo also allows users to import data from in a number of popular formats including CSV, XML, text files as well as offering support for Palm Pilots and iCal.

In a bid to provide an added layer of security to your organizational life, Toodledo even offers users the ability to back up and restore their Toodledo database to their PC. Perhaps the most interesting feature offered by Toodledo is its ability to help users schedule their busy days and prioritize tasks through the use of a few sweet algorithms. In our experience, the service does a decent job of figuring out what's a priority for us, and was able to schedule tasks accordingly. Still, as with any mathematical equation designed to do our thinking for us, it's not an exact science. You may find that you and Toodledo won't always agree about what's important in your life, or where a task should be placed in your day's pecking order.

Todoist

Again with the online services! Designed for use by project-oriented users, Todoist makes project management planning child's play. When it comes to a GUI, it doesn't get much more user friendly than what Todoist has on offer. Users are invited to get the organizational ball rolling by creating a project, which in turn allows for the building of a task list. Tasks can be assigned completion dates, alarms and a priority rating. Todoist makes it possible to move tasks from one project to another, making it easy to modify your workflow as your priorities change.

As with the other organizational apps and services discussed in this feature, users can also organize their tasks and projects with meta tags to make searching for data a breeze, even if your list of tasks or projects number in the hundreds. Firefox and Chrome users have the option of installing an extension to their web browser that adds Gmail integration, the ability to clip pages for reading at a later time and a number of other useful features into the mix. Should your day take you away from your desk (perish the thought), you can take Todoist with you thanks to the fact that as with Remember the Milk and Toodledo, Todoist also boasts mobile app versions of its web-based interface with support for most modern smartphones. As an added bonus, their mobile apps provide offline support, making it easy for you to manage your projects and tasks anywhere your life takes you. 

Don't be fooled by the simplicity of its interface—Todoist is one powerful organizational tool that's more than worth your attention.

Thinking Rock

There's more than a few disciples of David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) task management philosophy, and with good reason: by routinely taking stock of one's tasks, it becomes a lot easier to figure out what's a priority in your life and what can be pushed to the side for a while or discarded all together. That kind of task streamlining means less stress for you, and that, friends, is a win. Thinking Rock allows GTD devotees to get their task management on with a simple, but powerful, mind-map based interface that provides an at-a-glance understanding of what you've got cooking at any given time.

Tasks entered into Thinking Rock can be filed into the traditional GTD categories of actions, projects, sub-projects, reference items, someday/maybe items, or goals.  Having the ability to structure tasks into projects and sub-projects provides invaluable organizational flexibility, making it easier to make sense of the chaos that comes from too many unwrangled tasks. Best of all, as Thinking Rock is Java-based, users can install it to Windows PCs, Apple computers, or Linux boxes and enjoy the same feature set right across the board.

Unfortunately, unlike the other applications we've outlined here, Thinking Rock's mobile offerings are bleak at best. As far as we could see, there's no dedicated app allowing smartphone users to interact with their Thinking Rock database on the go, and as the Getting Things Done method to task management is fluid to say the least, the fact that Thinking Rock's developer suggests users take their GTD worklist with them on their Android or iOS devices as a PDF, or print it out as a Jasper or pocketmod note almost seems like a cruel joke. 

 

Mad Catz Cyborg Gaming Lights

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 02:09 PM PDT

They're a trip, but are these lights fantastic?

When we review something, we assign a verdict based on the strengths and weaknesses of that product relative to the other products in its field. When there are no other products in that field, things get a little weird.

Such is the case with the Cyborg Gaming Lights, the latest member in the rapidly expanding family of Mad Catz PC gaming peripherals. This pair of lights uses amBX ambient technology to enhance gaming. You position the lights so they face the wall behind your monitor, plug them in, and then enjoy a display of colored lights that match the background of whatever game you're playing. So while you're in the Firelands in World of Warcraft, the wall behing your computer will be washed in a fiery orange-red light. The lights change color in real time as you play, they work with almost any game, and they can also be used while watching movies.


The Cyborg Gaming Lights' three LEDs combine to form up to 16 million colors of backlighting.

The lights may be unique, but we've seen the technology before. Back in March 2007, we reviewed a set of funky Philips speakers with the full amBX ambient setup: lights, fans, and vibrating wrist pads. Although the technology was ahead of its time, the main fail was paltry game support (one title to be exact). The Cyborg Gaming Lights suffer no such problem: Because they simply hook into DirectX to receive the color information, they work with almost any game.

It's a little hard to visualize the Gaming Lights without seeing them in action, but the effect is actually surprisingly pleasing. They do next to nothing in a brightly lit room, but once you close the curtains and dim the lights, they add noticeably to your games' immersiveness.

They're not without their downsides, though. There are some glitches in the software that occasionally cause the lights to not turn on with the computer or to not recognize a game that they're supposed to. The software glitches are a bit of a pain, but this is a new product for Mad Catz, and we expect that updated drivers will smooth things out. Less likely to go away are our qualms about the amount of wiring involved in the gaming lights. Each light has a USB and a power cable, adding substantially to the already terrifying wad of cords behing our desks. We shudder to think what it would look like to use more than two lights.

In all, the Gaming Lights' effect is surprisingly cool. After a few weeks of playing games with them installed, we don't want to give them up. At $100, they're not cheap, and there are a couple of drawbacks that keep this from being an unqualified buy recommendation. But if you have the extra money, and you're looking for a novel way to enhance your gaming experience, you won't be disappointed.

$100, cyborggaming.com

Fusion-io Announces Super Fast ioDrive2 and ioDrive2 Duo

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 12:29 PM PDT

There are fast storage devices, like 7200 RPM mechanical hard drives with 64MB of cache and built on a SATA 6Gbps interface; really fast storage devices, like high-end solid state drives with snappy controllers; and then there are ridiculously fast (and uber expensive) hardware like the new ioDrive2 and ioDrive2 Duo from Fusion-io.

Primarily aimed at the enterprise (though enthusiasts with deep pockets are welcome to join the fun), these new drives boast nearly symmetrical read and write access (up to 1.5GB/s read and 1.3GB/s write speeds for the ioDrive and up to 2.6GB/s read and 2.4GB/s write for the ioDrive Duo), up to 2.4TB capacity (ioDrive Duo), 15ms write latency, over 700,000 read IOPS and 900,000 write IOPS, an intelligent self-healing feature called Adaptive FlashBack for complete chip level fault tolerance, and extended support for all major OSes, including Windows, Linux, OS X, Solaris x86, ESXi 5.0, and HP-UX.

Fusion-io will over MLC versions of the ioDrive2 and ioDrive2 Duo in 365GB, 785GB, 1.2TB, and 2.4TB capacities beginning in late November, followed by SLC variants in 400GB, 600GB, and 1.2TB capacities shortly after. Pricing for Fusion's new ioMemory platform starts at $5,950.

Image Credit: Fusion-io

Tech Champions: 15 Geek Heroes from Movies and TV

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 12:20 PM PDT

Douglas Horton suggested that we should all be our own heroes as it's a lot cheaper than a movie ticket. While he might be right, we think it's a lot more fun to take in a film (or kill a few braincells watching TV). Additionally, these lean economic times demand a certain level of fiscal responsibility: Spending a few bucks on a movie ticket versus the hospital bill most of us would have to foot after taking on a bunch of thugs in a downtown back alley? Please--The math speaks for itself.

We suggest staying safe and snug at home while more qualified individuals do all the difficult, dangerous work for you. Fighting evil with brains, gadgets and gear, these 15 geek heroes beat down evil-doers and ne'er-do-wells for the price of admission. Let's take a look at what you get for your hard-earned money...

 

Beware of Fake iPhone 5 Emails Containing Malware

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 12:04 PM PDT

Apple's much hyped iPhone press event has brought the Web's worst out of the woodwork (we're talking about hackers, not Apple fanyboys, in case that's not clear) who are trying to get gullible users to click on malicious links. The email appears to come from Apple and seemingly provides details about "the new Apple iPhone 5GS," and that alone is a dead giveaway that something's fishy. Apple announced the iPhone 4S today, not the iPhone 5GS.

According to security firm Sophos, the spoofed email contains links that direct users to Windows malware. Sophos detects it as Mal/Zapchas-A.

The email has been making the rounds since yesterday, and now that Apple has unveiled its next generation smartphone, don't be surprised if the creators tweak the message to reflect the iPhone 4S. As always, safe computing practices apply -- rather than click on links in emails, type the URL directly into your browser.

Apple Uncorks iPhone 4S, Same Exterior with Better Hardware

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 11:48 AM PDT

Apple's much anticipated "Let's Talk iPhone" press event is underway, and after lots of chest thumping over iOS, Mac sales, iTunes, and everything else, the Cupertino company has finally and officially unveiled its iPhone 4S smartphone. It looks just like the regular iPhone 4, including the same retina display, but there's plenty new underneath the hood, including a dual-core processor.

We're wrangling details from various live blogs around the Web so expect some of the finer points to be left out, at least until Apple tosses up press release. Until then, here are the main things you should know about the iPhone 4S:

  • It's equipped with an A5 processor, the same one found in the iPad 2. This is a powerful processor that purportedly makes the iPhone 4S twice as fast as the regular iPhone 4. It also sports an improved graphics core that Apple claims is seven times faster.
  • The iPhone 4S has an updated camera with an 8MP sensor. It's capable of snapping pictures at up to 3264x2448 and has improved backlight illumination resulting in 73 percent more light. Other features include a hybrid IR filter, better color accuracy, more color uniformity, 30 percent sharper images due to to the five element lens, a new Image Signal Processor enabling face detection, 26 percent better auto white balance, and faster capture speeds. Apple says it takes 1.1 seconds to snap the first photo, and 0.5 seconds to snap the second. For the sake of comparison, it takes the Motorola Droid Bionic 3.7 seconds and 1.6 seconds to snap the first and second photos, respectively.
  • 1080p HD video recording with video image stabilization and temporal noise reduction.
  • The iPhone 4S has dual antennas to transmit and receive (up to 5.8Mbps upload and 14.4Mbps download). Being able to switch between dual antennas for improved call quality is a first, according to Apple. 
  • Battery life: 8 hours of talk time on 3G; 14 hours of talk time on 2G; 6 hours of Web browsing on 3G; 9 hours of Web browsing on Wi-Fi; 10 hours of video playback; 40 hours of music playback.
  • Includes "Siri," a new voice assistant that lets you use your voice to make calls, send messages, set reminders, schedule meetings, and more. You can see how this works here.

The iPhone 4 will be available for pre-order on October 7th and ship October 14th. AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon will carry the iPhone 4S with two-year contract pricing set at $199 (16GB), $299 (32GB), and $399 (64GB). Like the iPhone 4, it will be available in both black and white.

Live blog coverage: USA Today, Engadget, Technobuffalo

Image Credit: Apple

Firefox Keeping Rapid Release, But Adding Silent Update Option For Irritated Users

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 11:04 AM PDT

Firefox's relatively new rapid release schedule lets developers implement and unveil new features and updates quickly, but there's one thing we hate about it. No, it's not the headache it causes enterprise users, although that sucks, too. It's the constant update notifications. Geez, Firefox needs to update again, we get it already! Fortunately, Mozilla gets that we get that, and they're looking to move to silent updates sometime in 2012.

"In the past we have been very careful to make sure people know something is changing with their web browser before it changes," Mozilla Chair Mitchell Baker said in a blog post yesterday. " Our position was to err on the side of user notification.  Today people are telling us — loudly — that the notifications are irritating and that a silent update process is important.  This work is underway."

While Baker claims that some improvements will be made in the coming months, he pointed readers to a blog post by Mozilla dev Brian Bondy, who was assigned the task of quelling the update noise. Long story short, his solution is on track for an early 2012, Firefox 10-ish implementation and involves adding an optional "Mozilla application updater" to Windows services, which should stop the Windows User Account Control from prompting users whenever a Mozilla product – including Firefox – needs to update. Users will be able to disable or uninstall the updater service at any time. There's tons of technical information linked to in Bondy's blog post, if you're a nitty-gritty kind of Firefox user.

Intel Slips Four New Atom Chips into Low Power Lineup

Posted: 04 Oct 2011 10:47 AM PDT

Everyone's attention is currently fixated on handheld devices like tablets and smartphones, but at least one chip maker hasn't forgotten about netbooks and nettops. Intel has quietly come out with four new Atom processors split evenly between these two segments, including the N2600 and N2800 for netbooks, and D2500 and D2700 for nettop systems.

The Inquirer discovered the new processors outlined in a seemingly obscure PDF on Intel's website. Here's how the new silicon shakes out:

  • Atom N2600: 1.6GHz or 1.86GHz, <=3.5W TDP
  • Atom N2800: 1.86GHz or 2.13GHZ, <=6.5W TDP
  • Atom D2500: 1.86GHz or 2.13GHz, <=10W TDP
  • Atom D2700: 2.13GHz or 2.4GHz, <=10W TDP

All four chips come with 512KB of L2 cache, and save for the D2500, support Hyperthreading. They also support up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, though it's limited to single-channel.

Image Credit: Intel
Posted by Shri Krishna
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