New Apple mouse really is 'Magic'

Even though a computer mouse rightly can be thought of as one of the more peripheral of peripherals, a new one just arrived that can honestly claim the adjective "transformative."

Apple Inc.'s $69 Magic Mouse truly brings change this reviewer can believe in.

Until now, a mouse had a singular purpose, more or less: to move a cursor, or pointer, around the screen in a graphical environment such as Microsoft Windows or Apple's Macintosh operating systems. A "click" function would let you select from various menu options or open, close or move a program "window" or an on-screen "folder" of data. Stuff like that.

As computer environments became more graphical, however, other needs arose. Wouldn't it be nice, for example, to be able to enlarge part of a computer screen to read the type more easily or appreciate the detail in a photograph? What about scrolling up and down or from side to side in an application window? And wouldn't it be nice to have the functionality of left- and right-click buttons without some of the mechanics that could break or jam?

Enter the Magic Mouse, announced a few weeks back. Although it is a "normal" computer mouse in the sense of being able to move the cursor around, its clicking, scrolling and "sweeping" actions make it more like the latest notebook touch pads than the older mice this new device has rendered obsolete.

The firm calls it "the world's first Multi-Touch mouse" and is including it with the new iMac computers, also introduced recently. The rest of us have to shell out the simoleons to buy one. Believe me, it's really, really worth it.

Within minutes of installing the hardware and updating my copy of Mac OS X 10.6, I was computing with the same ease that users of those latest notebook touch pads have. Clicking was a simple press of the mouse — once on the left side for a left-click, once on the right for a right-click. Scrolling is now supereasy and very fast: The software controls for the Magic Mouse let you control the scroll rate.

But it's the very act of scrolling with the Magic Mouse that is, well, magical. Unlike using the scroll wheels on many (most?) of today's mice, the simple move of gliding one's fingers up and down the mouse feels more natural than I can describe in words. It just works better.

I would submit, though, that while such simple things as easier scrolling and clicking may seem beyond improvement, the changes the Magic Mouse brings to these operations will mean easier and better computing for me, which means some amount of time savings, which means happier computing. You can't really put a price tag on that, but if Apple wants to say it's worth $69, I won't fight them there.

This is the place where it's good to note that Apple says the Magic Mouse will work only on a Mac-based computer with a Bluetooth connection and the latest Wireless Mouse Software, which an Internet-connected Mac will seek out once the mouse has been "paired" with the device. It's powered by two AA batteries, and I don't have an estimate on how long those batteries will last. Apple says the device can work for southpaws as well as for right-handers, and the very comprehensive software lets you switch left- and right-click buttons to make a left-hander feel more comfortable.

Until a user spends a few minutes with the Magic Mouse, I fear that any description, no matter how enthusiastic, won't properly convey how good a product this is. After decades of using computer input devices, I think this is the finest mouse ever.

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Microsoft Banning Modded Xbox 360 Consoles

icrosoft has gone ahead with its plan to ban from the Xbox Live service those users that have modified their gaming consoles and are using it in order to run pirated videogames. The move comes as more and more developers, as revealed by a survey from TIGA, are saying that they are afraid of the impact piracy can have on their businesses and are actually looking for new ideas, like digital distribution and free-to-play models, in order to combat it.

A representative of Microsoft told Gamesindustry.biz that “We have taken action against a small percentage of consoles have been modified to play pirated game discs. In line with our commitment to combat piracy and support safer and more secure gameplay for the more than 20 million members of our Xbox Live community, we are suspending these modded consoles from Xbox Live.” Why anyone is using a modded console actually registered to access Xbox Live is another question.

The software giant has refused to actually say how many consoles were banned but some are speculating that the number is close to 600,000 accounts, which is significant. Getting banned from using Xbox Live means that players will not be able to actually engage in multiplayer matches or socialize with their friends who are also playing on the Microsoft home console. The recent ban might be connected with the release of Modern Warfare 2, a game that is an obvious target for pirates because of its blockbuster nature.

Another company that has recently stepped up its anti modding measures is Nintendo. The popular DS handheld is easily modded with the R4 chip, which is widely available. The Japanese console manufacturer is aiming to make the mod chip illegal in a number of territories and it is also pressuring manufacturers and distributors with legal action.

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Microsoft Windows 7 Hit By Zero Day Vulnerability

Laurence Gaffié, a security researcher, has discovered a weakness in Windows 7 and published all the relevant details on the full disclosure mailing list archives at Insecure.org.

The bug has been recognised by Microsoft but its importance has been minimised by the software company. On his blog, Gaffié went as far as providing with a proof of concept which he used to remotely crash Windows 7 (and Windows Server 2008 R2) on a local area network.

Such an attack is also possible through any version of Internet Explorer even older ones (or broadcasting NetBIOS Name Server "trick") even if the system's firewall is activated. The vulnerability, which is found in the Server Message Block (SMB) file sharing protocol, could effectively be used to perform a denial of service (DOS) attack through an infinite loop.

Canada-based Gaffié also maintains that the bug was a "real proof" that Microsoft's Security Development Lifecycle had failed. The temporary solution, according to him would be to, "Close SMB feature and ports, until a real audit is provided." However, the flaw doesn't allow hackers to gain unauthorised remote access to information on any machine.

Read more: http://www.itproportal.com/www/news/article/2009/11/15/microsoft-windows-7-hit-zero-day-vulnerability/#ixzz0X0pf1aTa

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Microsoft to launch Office Mobile 2010 for Windows Mobile 6.5 OS

Bangalore: Microsoft is reportedly preparing for the launch of new software for the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system (OS), the latest version of its platform for mobile phones. The new software is none other than Office Mobile 2010, which might not make users of a WinMo-based device wait too long before it becomes available for them.

Office Mobile 2010 can be launched from one's start menu on any phone running Windows Mobile 6.5.4. One can also open Office file attachments within his/her e-mail or documents stored on his/her Windows phone directly.

Also, one can publish his/her documents to SharePoint Server 2010 or Windows Live services, and access and view documents from his/her smartphone browser. One can also access InfoPath forms via a full-featured mobile browser powered by SharePoint Server 2010.

In addition, Office Mobile 2010 will run exclusively on Windows Mobile 6.5. This means that older versions of the platform won't see it available for them, but that does not meant that the future Windows Mobile 7 will not support it. Previous reports already suggested that Office Mobile 2010 was set to be launched sometime at the beginning of the next year, and that launch time frame might not have been changed so far, yet more details should emerge shortly.

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Brightcove 4 Adds Support For The iPhone, Facebook, Live Video, And More

It’s been about a year since Brightcove released the last upgrade to its professional online video platform with Brightcove 3. On Monday, it’s going to release Brightcove 4, and it’s a massive upgrade.

Brightcove 4 now supports a native video player on the iPhone, in Facebook, and live video streaming on the Web. It’s got Twitter integration for sharing videos, faster-loading video players, the ability to switch between Flash streaming and HTTP, adaptive streaming based on a user’s device and bandwidth, behind-the-firewall video delivery, support for most major ad servers, better analytics, and a new, cheaper, entry-level subscription service called Brightcove Express.

The biggest new feature is the iPhone player. Instead of clicking off into the Quicktime player, Brightcove uses the Quicktime APIs to render the player within an app. Developers are going to love this because they can skin the player any way they want, tie it into the same ads served through a publisher’s Brightcove player on the Web, add email and Twitter sharing, and Coverflow-style browsing.

The Facebook integration will also be popular. Brightcove 4 offers a template which allows for Facebook Connect logins with realtime comments which appear in each commenter’s Facebook stream. Brightcove videos shared on Facebook will also be playable within the stream, just like YouTube videos.

Brightcove 4 will also support live video streams for the first time. Live videos of events can be scheduled, archived, mixed with on-demand videos, and tied into the same advertising backend. If a publisher has a huge event and would rather use their own CDN, they can do that as well. Why now? “We waited until there was sufficient market demand,” says CEO Jeremy Allaire. Yet more evidence that live video on the Web may be finding its legs.

So far Brightcove is mostly used by media companies and professional video publishers who can afford to pay at least $500 a month for the service. But with this release, Brightcove is also trying to broaden its appeal with service plans which now begin at $99 a month. It’s still not a consumer platform, and probably never will be. But for professional Web video publishers and companies with video marketing budgets, the new entry point should help to expand Brightcove’s market.

I am not sure why Brightcove holds all of this good stuff back until they can package it in a new, numbered release, since it is a Web-based service, which could just as easily upgrade on a rolling basis. But doing it all at once like this does highlight all the changes to the code-base, and shows why Brightcove is considered the leading Web video platform for professional use. Brightcove boast 800 customers which use its players across 2,500 different Web sites. Collectively, they reach 135 million unique viewers per month, according to Allaire.

He won’t disclose exact revenues other than to say that it is in the “tens of millions” of dollars a year, and growing at a 50 percent annual rate. But he does say that the company, which has raised a total of $91 million in venture capital, isn’t burning any more cash. “During the first half of this year we were profitable and cash flow positive,” he says. Like everyone else, Brightcove cut back on expenses last year, and even went through layoffs of 13 percent of its workforce. The fourth quarter was the low point, but demand started picking up again at the beginning of the year, especially from branded goods companies, marketing departments, and even manufacturers looking to add video to their sites. Last quarter, Allaire hired 30 people, and currently employs 180. Next quarter he is looking to hire 30 more.

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Apple Launches New iPod with Camera

Apple has launched the new line-up of world’s famous portable music player iPod Nano, and by continuing further with its innovations, it has added a built-in camera, mic and speaker to these new models of iPod Nano.

The new iPod Nano will enable you to shoot videos and you can easily share them using YouTube, it also has a FM radio on it, and has a new thin design, a display of 2.2 inches and available with polished aluminum and glass enclosure in nine different colors. These new iPod Nano models are available in 8GB and 16GB models, the price will be $149 and $179 respectively
Well, Apple has not introduced any new technology with this product, instead it has added some advanced and attractive features with it, you can also visit: iPod Nano Homepage

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Judge Stays Microsoft Word Ban

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) can continue to sell its Word document processing application until an appellate court hears the company's appeal of an earlier ruling that found the product violates the patent of a Canadian software maker.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday effectively stayed a lower court's ban on Word sales that would be effective in mid-October if upheld. Microsoft's appeal is slated for Sept. 23.
Microsoft Office, which includes Word, accounted for more than $3 billion in worldwide sales in Microsoft's most recent fiscal year and is used by literally millions of businesses and consumers for everyday tasks like word processing and creating spreadsheets and presentations.

Judge Leonard Davis, of U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas, ruled in August that Microsoft "unlawfully infringed" on a patent that describes how programs go about "manipulating a document's content and architecture separately." The patent, No. 5,787,449, is held by Toronto-based i4i, Inc. i4i develops "collaborative content solutions," according to its Web site.

i4i originally sued Microsoft for patent infringement in 2007.

Davis ordered Microsoft to pay $240 million in damages to i4i, plus court costs and interest. More significantly, he enjoined Microsoft from continuing to sell Microsoft Word, in its current form, in the U.S.

Specifically, Davis said Microsoft can't sell versions of Word that can open documents saved in the .XML, .DOCX, or .DOCM formats that contain custom XML. Those formats were at the heart of the patent dispute. .DOCX is the default format for the most current version of Word, which is included in Microsoft Office 2007. Custom XML is used by businesses to link their corporate data to Word documents.

Davis also prohibited Microsoft from providing technical support for infringing products sold after the injunction takes effect, or from "testing, demonstrating, or marketing the ability of the infringing and future Word products to open an XML file containing custom XML."

Davis said the injunction does not apply to versions of Word that open an XML file as plain text or which apply a transform that removes all custom XML elements—possibly paving the way for Microsoft to issue a patch that rectifies the problem.

InformationWeek has published an in-depth report on application development. Download the report here (registration required).

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Is Windows Mobile 7 in beta already?

What if Windows Mobile 7.0 wasn't as far off as some would expect? What if the operating system was already in early beta testing phase somewhere deep inside the caverns of Redmond? What if Windows Mobile 7.0 devices arrived less than a year after the first Windows Mobile 6.5 devices? Microsoft might just stand a chance then. It's a long stretch, but Hand Huang's LinkedIn profile, which says he's a Chinese Senior Engineer at Motorola, puts the words "Windows Mobile 7.0" and "Beta" right beside each other:

3. Joining Caesar product development, lead a team to do telephony feature and other applications development. Migrated relative applications from Windows Mobile 6 to Windows Mobile 7
Language: C++
Tools: VS2008, AKU, Platform Builder
Runtime Environment: Windows Mobile 7.0 (Beta)

UX Evangelist found this mention of Windows Mobile 7.0, and a ton of other ones, while scouring LinkedIn. If you're wondering, the "Caesar" reference is likely the same one as the one on Siddharth Saxena's LinkedIn profile: "Responsible for the integration of BCM4325 wlan chip on Caesar Platform (OMAP3430) on WM7 as a native host driver." In other words, it's just one of the many chips Microsoft is making sure the next version of Windows Mobile will work with.

Windows Mobile 7.0 being in beta so soon is not as farfetched as it might sound at first. The operating system has already been in development for years and last month, we noted how the Windows Mobile 7 Search and Windows Mobile 7 Browser teams were looking for internal testers.

Rumors have April 2010 pegged as the month the OS will hit RTM, and November 2009 the month Windows Mobile 7.0 gets put into testers hands. For that to be true, Windows Mobile 7.0 would have to be in some beta form by now. So what's so special about November? Unsurprisingly, it's when PDC09 is taking place. (Will attendees get a beta copy or at least some glimpse of the new mobile OS?)

At the same time though, we have a separate rumor from last month that states Microsoft will update Windows Mobile 6.5 in February 2010 (new whispers are calling it Windows Mobile 6.7), positioning it against Google's Android, while in Q4 2010 the company will unleash Windows Mobile 7 against the iPhone. April 2010 doesn't fall into Q4 2010, and although Microsoft might end up taking its sweet old time between RTM and actual devices, that's a rather long wait, even for the software giant. Nevertheless, we always love to note how Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer declared in March 2009 that Windows Mobile versions need to start coming out faster, so there's still hope.

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