[gallery]
Steve Jobs says fix for crashing iPhone apps coming in Sept.AppleInsider is reporting that one of its readers has received one of Steve Jobs's legendary one-line e-mails in response to his complaints of third-party iPhone app crashes. The e-mail reads, simply, "This is a known iPhone bug that is being fixed in the next software update in September."
The issue seems to manifest at random and prevents any third-party applications from launching. The issue does not seem to affect all users, but it has generated at least one thread on Apple Discussions with 178 replies. According posts there, neither the 2.0.1 nor this week's 2.0.2 firmware update fixes the problem. It appears to be related to the FairPlay DRM, and some users have found temporary relief by deleting applications from the phone and re-syncing them manually. Others had success downgrading to iTunes 7.7 from 7.7.1 and re-syncing apps.
Apple's customer satisfaction up despite struggling industryThe most recent results of the American Customer Satisfaction Index puts Apple ahead of all other computer manufacturers with a rating of 85 percent, a new high for the industry. The Cupertino company saw an improvement of 8 percent since the last measurement, putting it 10 full percentage points ahead of its nearest competitor in an industry where the general satisfaction rating has gone down for the second straight time. The report attributes Microsoft's launch of Vista as responsible for at least some of Apple's numbers
MobileMe users get (another) extension, 60 days this timeApple apparently recognizes that MobileMe "issues" are ongoing—after all, things are still occasionally going up and down and are otherwise unreliable. That's why the company has decided to extend every MobileMe user's account by another 60 days. Yes, apparently on top of the 30 days given out to MobileMe users last month.
Pixelmator 1.2.2 brings live gradients, laughs at PhotoshopPixelmator, the feature-packed contender to everything from Photoshop to MS Paint, has received a minor update to 1.2.2 with a major new feature: live gradients. Pixelmator's gradient tool will now render a gradient's colors live while dragging its end point. This makes it much easier to plot out a gradient and play with a design, minimizing the need for cmd-z. This is something even Photoshop CS3 Extended can't flaunt, and according to a Pixelmator blog post, it required converting all gradient types from Cocoa to Core Image kernels "for performance." As a nice bonus, the gradient tool in Pixelmator's tool palette now displays a live color rendering of the current gradient you're using.
Use Fluke to add FLAC files to your iTunes libraryThe are quite a few audio and media formats out there, one of which is FLAC, the Free Lossless Audio Codec. This format serves a purpose similar to that of the Apple Lossless format, but many Apple users haven't heard of FLAC. This is due in large part to the lack of FLAC support in iTunes. Still, many Mac users have large FLAC libraries, so a number of attempts have been made to shoehorn FLAC files into iTunes. One of the newer utilities, Fluke, offers an easy way to add FLAC files to your iTunes library.
Fluke is actually just an AppleScript disguised as an application bundle, which by itself isn't enough to make the magic happen. Luckily, the Fluke installer will download the rest of the necessary components, including the XiphQT plug-in and two other libraries. One installation is complete, all you have to do is restart iTunes, drag FLAC files to the Fluke icon, and they'll be added to your library for your listening pleasure.
Robotripping: hands on with the Android SDK betaGoogle has announced the availability of the first Android SDK beta and also disclosed the roadmap for the upcoming 1.0 release. The platform has improved significantly since the early prereleases, and the API is now richer and more complete.
Android applications and user interface
The user interface has been completely redesigned, with a strong focus on attractiveness and usability. The application with the most impressive improvements is the web browser. Ars recently gave Opera Mobile 9.5 a rave review. Android's built-in browser delivers all of the same features but with a cleaner and less clunky user interface.
Linux Foundation gets a boost as Canonical signs onCanonical, the company behind the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution, has joined the Linux Foundation. This move reflects the growing relevance of Canonical in the Linux ecosystem and indicates that the company has achieved a level of growth that empowers it to contribute additional resources back to the Linux community.
The Linux Foundation was formed last year when the Open Source Development Labs merged with the Free Standards Group with the aim of pooling resources and collaboratively defending the Linux platform from fragmentation. The organization employs Linux kernel creator Linus Torvalds and also leads the Linux Standard Base (LSB) initiative, an effort to standardize and define the structure of the Linux platform.
Georgia cyberattacks lead to questions about risk to USCNN's report on the United States' vulnerabilities doesn't explicitly state that the Russian hackers who attacked Georgia were directly attached to the Russian military, but implies that the online assault was, at the very least, coordinated with the real-world attacks. The problem is, there's apparently not much evidence to support this claim. Historically, online attacks have often followed real-world events that create controversy or tension between two opposing sides. Relations between Georgia and Russia have never been good, and grown increasingly fractious of late, so it's not surprising that hackers began attacking Georgian websites, including that of the President, in late July.
The attacks themselves, meanwhile, were absolutely nothing new. Botnets are readily available (and cheap), and DDoS assaults are practically the infantry of cyberwarfare. Such attacks require neither significant funds nor sophisticated attack vectors, and could conceivably be the work of a mere handful of people. The Russian government may have been involved in these attacks, but it certainly didn't need to be in order to guarantee their efficacy.
According to a recent report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the United States has no effective means of unilaterally preventing coordinated attacks from striking US websites. Scott Borg, director of the United States Cyber Consequences Unit (a nonprofit organization), has stated that the US isn't necessarily vulnerable to the types of DDoS attacks that brought down Georgia, thanks to an abundance over server bandwidth, but could be the target of other, more sophisticated attacks, or attacks that physically originate within the United States itself. "We can command so much bandwidth that it's hard to overwhelm our servers," Borg told CNN. "We are vulnerable to more sophisticated attacks, but right now most of the people who want to do us harm don't have those capabilities."
The only problem with Borg's remarks is that he apparently neglected to include a "yet," at the end of them.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Stellar result in MoD challengeThe Ministry of Defence today announced the winners of its Grand Challenge, a contest to identify promising battlefield robot technologies.
The contest began in 2006, with a shortlist of seven contestants battling it out 16-18 August.
The final phase included sniffing out a range of threats placed in a mock battle theatre.
Saturn, the winner, included integrated ground and aerial robots with visual, thermal, and radar sensors.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Windows 7 details to be releasedA first glimpse at the technology inside the next version of Windows will be given in October.
Microsoft has said that engineering information about Windows 7 will be shared with attendees at two technical conferences it runs.
Windows 7 developers will show off their work at both the Professional Developers Conference and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference.
Based on Vista, Windows 7 is expected to be released in January 2010.
Featured Firefox Extension: Tagmarks Makes It Easy to Tag Your Firefox 3 BookmarksFirefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): If you like the concept of bookmark tags introduced in Firefox 3 but just can't seem to get into the habit of using them, Firefox extension Tagmarks adds tag images to your awesome bar for quick and easy bookmarking and tagging. Once installed, you'll see several new images next to the default star when you hover your mouse over the star. Click one to both tag and bookmark that page in one fell swoop. You can click on as many of these tags as you want, and when you view your bookmarks, you'll notice text tags have been automatically assigned. Tagmarks is free, works wherever Firefox does. Hopefully we'll see a more customizable version of Tagmarks in the future.
Featured Firefox Extension: AutoPager Automatically Loads the Next Web Page InlineFirefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): The AutoPager Firefox extension automatically loads the next page of a site inline when you reach the end of the current page for infinite scrolling of content. By default AutoPager works with a ton of sites, including Lifehacker, the New York Times, Digg, and, of course, Google. At first blush AutoPager is a little difficult to understand, but just set it as Always Enabled by clicking the AE link on supported sites and it'll take care of the rest. If you want to add your own custom autopaging to unsupported sites, the site wizard feature makes it easy (first pick the Next link, then pick only the content you want loaded (in Lifehacker, for example, the posts). AutoPager is free, works wherever Firefox does.
Featured Firefox Extension: RIP Permanently Removes Elements from a Web SiteFirefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Firefox extension Remove It Permanently (RIP) selectively removes any element from a web site. If you've ever looked at a site and wished you could get rid of some unsightly image or an element that throws off the flow of a site, just right-click it with RIP and remove it permanently. You can select to remove it from that page only, all similar pages, from the web site, or from the entire domain—in addition to a few other options. Don't think of it as an ad-blocker—you should just install an extension like AdBlock Plus if that's what you're looking to do; think of it more as an all-purpose annoyance remover. Unfortunately RIP hasn't been updated for Firefox 3.0.1, but this tweak will do the trick until it has. RIP is free, works wherever Firefox does.
Featured Firefox Extension: Drag & Drop.io Makes Sharing Files Dead SimpleFirefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): The Drag & Drop.io Firefox extension makes it easy to quickly share a file in Firefox 3 with previously mentioned file sharing site Drop.io by simple dragging and dropping the file in your browser. The best part of the extension is that you don't need to go through any tedious Browse for file dialogs to upload files you're probably already staring at anyway. The extension has a few subtle differences in how you can use it to upload and share files, so check the demo video for a full overview. If you want to be able to drag and drop files into any upload box at any site, check out previously mentioned dragdropupload.
Featured Firefox Extension: Google Redesigned Facelifts Gmail and GCalAll platforms with Firefox: Globex Designs, makers of the popular Gmail Redesigned skin, have released a standalone Firefox extension which applies the style without Stylish (or Better Gmail and/or Better GCal). Download the extension to completely redesign your Gmail and Google Calendar with the latest and greatest style from Globex.
Featured Firefox Extension: Evernote Web Clipper Adds Content from Any Web PageFirefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Free, cross-platform note-taking application Evernote offers a handful of tools for clipping content into your Evernote account, including the newly released Web Clipper Firefox extension. Aside from a Clip to Evernote entry in the right-click menu and a new toolbar button, the extension works just like the Clip to Evernote bookmarklet (perfect in its own right if you don't want to install another extension). The inline dialog autocompletes tags and adds the item to your Evernote account without interrupting anything you're doing. A Web Clipper keyboard shortcut would be nice, too, but the extension or bookmarklet are a must-have for anyone getting started with one of the best note-taking tools available.
Google Maps:
http://m.google.com/mapsBeeJive - Instant Messaging:
http://www.beejive.com/Sprite - Backup software:
http://www.spritesoftware.com/Worldcard Mobile - Contact management helper:
http://www.penpowerinc.com/Skype:
http://www.skype.comActive Synch Remote Display:
http://tinyurl.com/56rdboTouchPal - Soft keyboard replacement:
http://www.cootek.com/Opera Mobile - Browser:
http://www.opera.com/products/mobile/Battery Pack Pro - Bunch of utils:
http://www.omegaone.com/batterypack/
