http://www.techspot.com TechSpot.com RSS Matthew DeCarlo Sat, 4 Jul 2009 18:55 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35335-weekend-tech-reading-windows-7-to-rtm-july-13.html TS announcement Congratulations Matthew Iselin, winner of our Asus Eee netbook survey giveaway. Jose Vilches Fri, 3 Jul 2009 17:47 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35333-2k-games-offers-huge-game-pack-on-steam-for-54.html Shacknews has spotted another hot deal going on at Steam. Video game developer and publisher 2K Games is bundling 20 of its games, from BioShock and Prey to a bunch of Civilization and X-Com releases, into the appropriately named “2K Huge Game Pack.” The normal running price for this package is $60, but it has been brought down 10% to $54 until July 7. Jose Vilches Fri, 3 Jul 2009 16:48 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35330-dell-adds-gps-navigation-services-to-netbooks-.html GPS and location-related features are undoubtedly gaining popularity on smartphones, but Dell hopes they’ll also become a major selling point for netbooks. The company plans to introduce an optional mini-PCI module with its Dell Mini 10 offering next week that combines both an internal GPS card from Broadcom and Wi-Fi triangulation technology from Skyhook Wireless to find its own location. Erik Orejuela Fri, 3 Jul 2009 16:19 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35331-news-around-the-web-macbook-pros-limited-display.html MacBook Pro Only Displays Thousands of Colors @ Mantia.me Jose Vilches Fri, 3 Jul 2009 14:53 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35329-first-iphone-3gs-jailbreak-hits-the-web.html The first jailbreak solution for Apple’s iPhone 3GS smartphone has been released by George Holtz, a young developer who also unlocked the original iPhone. Called “purplera1n,” the latest hack is currently available for Windows XP and Vista users only, and requires the latest iTunes installed as well as an iPhone 3GS with the 3.0 firmware. A Mac version is promised to follow shortly. Jose Vilches Fri, 3 Jul 2009 13:39 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35325-apple-dumping-nvidia-graphics-on-future-macs.html Former Inquirer writer Charlie Demerjian is reporting (for his new project called SemiAccurate, mind you) that recent negotiations between Apple and Nvidia over next-gen hardware have come to a bitter halt. At issue is supposedly a much publicized problem with previous-generation GeForce GPUs that affected many of Apple’s MacBook laptops, forcing them to offer a costly warranty extension and repai... Matthew DeCarlo Fri, 3 Jul 2009 09:42 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35324-packard-bell-overhauls-imedia-desktop-line.html Packard Bell (subsidiary of Acer) has revamped its “imedia” desktop series – and their logo too, for what it’s worth. While notebooks and mobile technology as a whole has exploded, desktops still offer the best bang for your buck. Keeping this close to heart, the top-end imedia has been outfitted with components which balance cost and performance. Jose Vilches Thu, 2 Jul 2009 18:43 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35321-microsoft-to-offer-threeuser-windows-7-family-pack.html Microsoft may be introducing a Family Pack for Windows 7 Home Premium, according to a pair of reports citing details in the end-user licensing agreement (EULA) of a recently-leaked build. The still-unconfirmed plan would enable users to install a single copy the operating system on up to three computers in a household, and falls in line with similar licensing Microsoft already has for the Home and... Justin Mann Thu, 2 Jul 2009 16:54 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35320-firefox-35-breaks-5-million-downloads-in-24-hours.html When Mozilla made the transition from the Firefox 2.x series to the current 3.x series, they broke a record by netting over 8 million downloads in the first day it was available. Much of this was due to a very successful PR campaign. Firefox 3.5 was released without all that fanfare, but still managed to hold its own. Enough people were interested in the update to net Mozilla over 5 million downlo... Jose Vilches Thu, 2 Jul 2009 16:25 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35318-apple-issues-advice-on-iphone-3gs-overheating-.html For the past few days, users of the new iPhone 3GS have been complaining through various blogs and forums about heat related issues with the device. It’s not clear how severe or widespread the problem really is as Apple has not issued an official comment on the reports. While not admitting to any flaws, however, they have posted advice on keeping the iPhone 3G and 3GS within acceptable operating t... Justin Mann Thu, 2 Jul 2009 14:36 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35315-windows-7-unlikely-to-affect-ssd-sales.html Although Microsoft already supports the use of solid state drives in Windows Vista and XP, Windows 7 will be their first operating system actually optimized and designed with SSD performance in mind. Will its forthcoming release boost adoption of such drives, however? According to Digitimes, their cost is simply too prohibitive to make that a reality, with most drives still on the order of ten tim... Julio Franco Thu, 2 Jul 2009 14:12 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35307-11-awesome-applications-youve-never-heard-of.html The average PC user has a dozen or so applications which they completely swear by – and rightfully so. What gets the job done is what matters the most. There is, however, a treasure-trove of pint-sized utilities and fully blown applications just waiting to be discovered. We’ve scoured the Web to provide a list of 11 useful programs which you’ve probably never heard of. Jose Vilches Thu, 2 Jul 2009 13:40 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35316-fallout-3-gets-50-price-cut-on-steam-this-weekend.html Steam has kicked off another one of its popular weekend sales today, with Bethesda's acclaimed post-apocalyptic title Fallout 3 getting a nice 50% discount. This means the game will be available for just $25 on Valve’s digital distribution platform. Unfortunately, that does not include any of the $10 downloadable expansions, so those looking for the absolute best deal might want to hold on until O... Erik Orejuela Thu, 2 Jul 2009 12:36 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35314-news-around-the-web-apple-admits-iphone-overheating.html Apple Admits iPhone Overheating Issues -- Sort of @ PC World Jose Vilches Thu, 2 Jul 2009 12:16 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35311-psystar-emerges-from-bankruptcy-with-new-hardware.html Just when it seemed like it was all over for Psystar, the infamous Mac-clone maker is reportedly set to emerge from bankruptcy and “again battle Goliath.” In an email newsletter sent to subscribers today, the company said Chapter 11 protection was critical to their daily operations, and suggested it plans to continue churning out products despite its legal and financial troubles. Jose Vilches Thu, 2 Jul 2009 10:49 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35308-palm-pre-sales-top-300000-in-june.html Without providing any actual figures Sprint says the Palm Pre smartphone, which launched early June, broke its own records for first day and weekend sales. Palm, on the other hand, only claims “sales have been strong and growing.” Indeed the device appears to be off to a good start, but with both companies mum on hard numbers, we have only the estimates of analysts with which to gauge its success.... Jose Vilches Wed, 1 Jul 2009 18:38 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35301-usb-30equipped-pcs-due-before-end-of-the-year.html Following the delivery of final specifications and first host controller samples, it appears that the SuperSpeed Universal Serial Bus standard, better known as USB 3.0, is about ready for a commercial rollout. According to a Nikkei report, Taiwanese PC vendors will be among the first to release computers equipped with the next-gen interface, which promises up to 5Gbps transfer speeds, or roughly t... Erik Orejuela Wed, 1 Jul 2009 17:40 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35304-news-around-the-web-sony-walkman-turns-30.html Sony Walkman Turns 30: Memories of an Iconic Gadget @ PC World Jose Vilches Wed, 1 Jul 2009 16:25 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35300-bing-sees-small-market-share-gain-in-first-month.html Microsoft’s latest foray into search, Bing, went live early June amid mixed reviews. So the obvious question many are asking is how has it fared against almighty Google in its first month? Not bad, according to research firm StatCounter, which claims Microsoft's share of the search market increased from 7.81 percent to 8.23 percent since the launch of its search portal. Justin Mann Wed, 1 Jul 2009 14:38 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35299-windows-7-beta-shutdowns-begin-today.html With Windows 7’s release looming on the horizon, Microsoft is busier than ever paving the way for it to arrive. Part of that is cleaning up loose ends with beta testers, hoping to get them spring for a license or at the very least upgrade to an RC release. For those who haven't bothered to update from the beta, Microsoft will be “encouraging” them through forced expiration of their copies. Jose Vilches Wed, 1 Jul 2009 13:56 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35297-dell-accidentally-sells-19inch-monitors-for-15-in-taiwan.html Taiwan consumer regulators have ordered Dell to honor a pricing slip-up on their website that offered 19-inch LCD monitors for only NT$500 (around $15). The pricing mistake was posted late Thursday, and while it has been fixed since, news of the supposed bargain spread quickly via email, blogs and sites like Twitter. In the eight hours before Dell corrected the listing to the intended price of NT$... Justin Mann Wed, 1 Jul 2009 13:22 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35296-apple-preparing-iphone-os-31-update.html While for the most part the release of iPhone OS 3.0 has gone over successfully, there have been problems reported here and there. Without mentioning specific fixes, Apple has been preparing the 3.1 update for customer devices to address certain issues. A beta has already been released for developer perusal, with a public release hopefully available soon. Jose Vilches Wed, 1 Jul 2009 12:08 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35294-top-cell-phone-vendor-plans-tegra-handset-for-q4.html Following confirmation that that Microsoft’s Zune HD will include an Nvidia Tegra system-on-a-chip when it launches this coming fall, Nvidia has revealed the platform is set to debut in the smartphone segment as well. In an interview with TheStreet.com, Michael Rayfield, the company’s general manager of mobile business said he expects Tegra to show up in a handset from “one of the top five cell-ph... Jose Vilches Wed, 1 Jul 2009 10:35 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35292-foxconn-pegatron-get-ps3-slim-manufacturing-contracts.html For the past few months we’ve been hearing rumors about a slimmer, and potentially cheaper, version of the PlayStation 3. Alleged images of the console started making the rounds back in May, followed by a cease and desist letter, which ironically gave rumors a bit more credence. Things quieted down for a while, with no mention of the console at E3, but speculation is once again running rampant. Matthew DeCarlo Wed, 1 Jul 2009 05:03 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35291-years-later-hotmail-supports-incoming-pop.html Windows Live Hotmail has brought incoming POP3 access to the US, Canada and Brazil – something that should have happened years ago. This of course means that you’ll be able to have centralized access to your mail from Yahoo, AOL, Gmail and other services. Residents of the West are behind those in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, UK and Spain, which already had incoming POP3 access. Jose Vilches Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:03 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35287-joost-bows-to-youtube-and-hulu-moves-to-platform-strategy.html Having failed to compete against the likes of YouTube and Hulu, Joost is retreating from the consumer market and will instead focus on building white label video platforms for “cable and satellite providers, broadcasters and video aggregators” – essentially licensing its technology to third parties. As part of the restructuring plan, Joost will also close its Netherlands office, lay off a large nu... Justin Mann Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:02 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35285-interview-with-id-on-future-of-doom.html The gaming community was recently shocked to learn that Zenimax would be acquiring id Software. Mixed feelings regarding the future of the company were tempered by an interview with John Carmack who said that no significant changes were planned. Now, he's back for another round with Tom Mustaine at his side to talk more about the future of Doom and other company prospects. Jose Vilches Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:42 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35286-htc-heros-sense-ui-leaked-running-on-g1.html HTC unveiled its Hero smartphone earlier this week, but the highlight of the launch was not so much the device itself as it was the custom Android interface it ran. Nicknamed Sense, the new interface brings added capabilities such as Flash support, an expanded Home screen with unique HTC widgets and tighter integration with social-networking tools like Twitter and Facebook. Unfortunately, due to l... Jose Vilches Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:28 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35282-china-cracks-down-on-gold-farming.html The Chinese government has announced new regulations that would limit the impact virtual currencies have on the country’s economy, by prohibiting their exchange for cash or real-world goods. The move is widely seen as a crackdown on so-called “gold farming,” in which people amass virtual money on MMO games (usually by repeating mundane actions over and over), and then sell it to other players for ... Justin Mann Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:28 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/35283-blizzard-blames-piracy-for-lack-of-starcraft-2-lan-support.html In a follow-up to yesterday’s announcement that StarCraft II would lack LAN support and the subsequent public outcry, Blizzard has gone on record to explain their controversial move. Unsurprisingly, the company’s decision was rooted in piracy, coming as an attempt to curb illegal downloads after the game is released. Bob Colayco of Blizzard told Joystiq that this “safeguard” against piracy wasn't...