CEO of Google joins Apple's board of directors

Google is all over the place.

They have made many partnerships with many companies in a very short amount of time, including companies like eBay and Yahoo. Just this week we learned about Google and eBay teaming up to provide free VoIP. Now, they are even going after Apple. Just recently, Erc Schmidt, CEO of Google, has been appointed to Apple's board of directors. The appointment was approved yesterday, and Mr. Jobs had this to say about it... more

August 2006 Newsletter

August newsletter is available now.

Online shopping, SEO, singapore blogs, BAK2u blogs, sgpets, Youth for Causes, PETFuze.com, YourChoice, Dopod 838

http://www.bak2u.com

News: Google expands into business software market

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc. is making a concerted move beyond search and advertising into the business software market, starting with a set of Web programs for e-mail, scheduling and communications, it said on Sunday.

The online search leader said it has created a software platform to run basic business activities -- based on programs it already offers separately. The move marks a stepped up challenge to rival Microsoft Corp. as the software giant prepares to upgrade its Windows and Office franchises...more

BAK2u.com down

Due to some errors from GoDaddy.com, the site is currently down.

Updated:
Site is up this morning.

News: Apple recalling batteries in laptops

SAN FRANCISCO — The Sony battery bug has bitten another PC maker.

Less than two weeks after a battery recall affected more than 4 million laptops, Apple Computer told customers Thursday to return 1.8 million lithium-ion batteries used in Mac laptops because they could cause the computers to overheat and ignite.

The Apple recall was prompted by nine reports of overheating batteries, including two cases in which people suffered minor burns.

On Aug. 14, Dell Inc. recalled 4.1 million faulty batteries — the largest involving electronics in the history of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Both recalls involve batteries made by a Sony Corp. subsidiary at a Japanese plant, where the manufacturing process introduced metal particles into battery cells. Makers of battery cells strive to minimize the presence of such particles, which can cause computers to short-circuit, overheat or catch fire, but it’s nearly impossible to eliminate the metal dust.

Lithium-ion batteries have become the lifeblood of an array of consumer electronics — mobile phones, digital cameras, iPods and countless other devices.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has received nearly 340 reports of lithium-ion cellphone and laptop batteries malfunctioning between 2003 and 2005. The problems have ranged from smoking and charring to explosions.

Videos of some of the worst incidents circulate on the Internet...more

News: Apple to pay US$100 million to Creative

Apple Computer will pay $100 million to rival Creative Technology to settle patent lawsuits over technology for navigating through songs on the popular iPod digital music player, the companies said Wednesday.

The settlement allows Cupertino, California-based Apple to recoup a portion of its payment if other electronics companies license Creative's technology.

In June, the U.S. International Trade Commission agreed to investigate whether Apple's iPod infringes on one of Creative's patents. Singapore-based Creative filed the ITC complaint and a federal lawsuit, alleging that iPods infringed on its patent for a navigation system used to organize and access music on its Zen media players....more

CNet: Theft in the City

At this point, I assumed that:

a. He used a service like Bak2u, which helps lost notebooks to be returned to the owner.
b. He attached a notebook lock with a motion-activated alarm like the Targus DEFCON 1 Ultra.
c. He used a product like PacSafe's Exomesh to secure the bag to the car.

Link

Video: YouTube Launches Advertising Channels

YouTube Inc., which allows users to watch and share videos online, said Tuesday it is rolling out participatory videos and branded channels as part of new advertising strategies.

The channels and videos allow companies to advertise specific products or services on YouTube's site. Warner Brothers Records is the first to use the brand channel technique to promote Paris Hilton's debut album "Paris," which arrives in stores today. The Paris Hilton Channel is being sponsored by Fox Broadcasting Co.'s "Prison Break," which started its second season on Monday...more

PhoneBAK: Discount offers to SMU

BAK2u is proud to offer SMU students and staffs a 20% discounts on PhoneBAK program! See http://www.bak2u.com/phonebak

PDA: Palm unveils GPS Navigator Smartphone Edition

Palm has unveiled the Palm GPS Navigator Smartphone Edition, featuring new TomTom Navigator 6 software.

The launch is aimed at Palm Treo smartphone users and GPS enthusiasts. Drivers using the new GPS Navigator with their Treo smartphones can receive voice-guided, turn-by-turn directions to easily find their destinations as well as millions of points of interest. TomTom Navigator 6 is available exclusively for Palm's GPS Navigator Smartphone Edition.

Palm's new Bluetooth-enabled SiRFstarIII GPS receiver pairs with Palm Treo 650, Treo 700w and Treo 700p smartphones. The product has a 1GB memory card preloaded with maps. No desktop syncing or downloading of maps is required. The GPS Navigator Smartphone Edition has an estimated street price of USD 299.

Source: Larry, New Jersey
Link

Video: VMD Another Video Disc standard

Versatile Multilayer Disc – VMD, is all set to become the latest video disc standard - the format of choice for high-definition video content, by providing increased storage capacity per disc. In order to play a full length motion picture in HD, the minimum storage requirement lies around 20 GB, whereas the latest DVD9 can only contain 8.5 GB. VMD is the much awaited breakthrough and compelling solution for cost effective High-Definition pre-recorded discs and players.

VMD is precisely the same size and thickness as DVD. While DVD technology utilizes two layers of a disc, VMD technology has conceived multi-layering, whereby the storage capacity is dramatically increased. Each additional layer adds approximately up to 5 GB of memory over a standard DVD disc. VMD provides the ability to place up to 20 layers on a single disc with no quality loss in the content stored. This means capacity to record 100 GB or more.

Presently, all optical laser devices such as DVD operate on red laser technology, have a frequency or wavelength of 650Nm (nanometres), and deliver Standard Definition (SD) quality pictures. New technology has since emerged using blue laser, an inferior wavelength or frequency of 405Nm that can store more information .The downside of this technology is that manufacturing production lines of drives and discs will have to be dismantled and changed entirely, naturally incurring significant costs to the producers, which in turn will trickle to the consumer....more

OS: Mac Leopard

Apple Computer has showcased its Leopard operating system, due out next year, to the cheers of software developers gathered for a major conference in San Francisco.

Apple Computer has showcased its Leopard operating system, due out next year, to the cheers of software developers gathered for a major conference in San Francisco.

With its trademark flair, the maker of Macintosh computers and iPod music players demonstrated Leopard features that included playful "iChat" video-conferencing and a "Time Machine" that resurrects lost data.

"With our entire digital lives on the computer, Time Machine is none too soon," Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said in an opening speech. "We think iChat for Leopard is going to be a grand slam."

Apple was providing a preview version of Leopard software to developers at the conference so they could begin crafting applications to complement the operating system, Jobs said....more

OS: Microsoft Patch Flaw, Urges US Security

US-based Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has reportedly issued a security alert, warning users of Windows-based PCs to urgently patch a flaw in the Microsoft operating system (OS).

Just Tuesday this week, Microsoft patched 23 security vulnerabilities as part of its monthly security bulletin, MS06-040.

Of these, one flaw, described as buffer overflow vulnerability in the Windows Server component, was rated "critical". The vulnerability was said to affect Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003.

Microsoft warned that the vulnerability was such that if exploited, could allow a hacker to take complete control of an affected system, making it possible to install malicious programs and change/delete data. ... more

RFID: Biometric passports cracked

A German security consultant says he can clone RFID chips.

Biometric passports used by the UK, US and other countries have been cloned by a German security consultant, raising further doubts over the £415m UK scheme.

Lukas Grunwald, a consultant with DN-Systems, told a Defcon security conference in Las Vegas that the data, stored on RFID chips, could be copied on to blank chips which could then be used in fake passports.

'The whole passport design is totally brain damaged,' Grunwald told wired.com. 'From my point of view all of these RFID passports are a huge waste of money. They're not increasing security at all.'... more

OS: Windows Vista gets hacked

Despite being touted as the most secure version of the Windows operating series, Microsoft's upcoming Vista has already been hacked at a hackers' conference last week, reports CNET News.com.

Microsoft handed out early copies of their new operating system to attendees at the Black Hat hacker conference last week, inviting them to take their best shot at hacking into it.

The company hoped to convince the industry that their latest operating system will be the most secure and malware-proof system on the market.

The result has been a mixed grill of sorts, with Polish researcher Joanna Rutkowska demonstrating that the security systems in Vista can be sidestepped by using a piece of malicious software that she named "Blue Pill", according to CNET News.com.

However, Microsoft wasn't too perturbed by this..... more

Email Program: Pando

Pando is free software that lets you send and receive files and folders of any size* with your existing email address.

• Bypasses email attachment limits
• Opens .pando attachments emailed to you
• Accelerates downloads of huge files and folders
• Uses your existing email address
• Drag, drop and send entire folders
• Sends small .pando attachments, never clogs inboxes
• Easy: No web uploads or compression, just send via email!

Source: http://www.pando.com/beta/what

AMD and IBM Blast the Server Market with Opterons

First there was the three-letter alliance AMD-ATI. Now it’s another three letter alliance IBM-AMD, in the server market.

The move made by IBM was apparently generated by…. Move Inc., which is looking to “consolidate its existing infrastructure onto a virtualized IBM BladeCenter system based on the AMD Opteron processor to help dramatically increase computing performance and datacenter power efficiency,” according to a press release.

IBM servers powered by AMD’s Opterons is not a surprising move though. Other giants in the server domain have also preferred the cost and energy efficiency of Opteron chips, among which Sun Microsystems, HP and Dell are big names for everyone.

The Opterons have ensured AMD a lot of positive reviews since the launch of the chips in 2003, and have also become one of Intel’s worst nightmares. The server market share for Intel has continuously dropped in the last couple of years and Opteron was the main responsible. Now, Intel tries to fight back with X5100, a dual-core server processor based on the new Core Microarchitecture, and previously code-named “Woodcrest”....more