http://www.techspot.com TechSpot.com RSS Matthew DeCarlo Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:30 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37075-samsung-intros-2tb-esatapacking-story-station-plus-external-hdd.html Samsung is preparing to launch a revamped version of its Story Station external hard drives. The new Story Station Plus drives have both eSATA and USB 2.0 connectivity, and will be available in 1TB, 1.5TB as well as 2TB capacities. With the inclusion of eSATA, users will be able to access and transfer data more quickly. Matthew DeCarlo Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:37 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37068-gartner-pc-shipments-to-grow-28-in-2009-revenue-down-11.html According to a report released by Gartner today, worldwide PC shipments will grow 2.8% this year -- though, revenue will fall 11%. The firm's preliminary fourth-quarter forecast indicates that global PC shipments will total 298.9 million units in 2009, and may reach 336.6 million units in 2010, a 12.6% increase from this year. Justin Mann Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:00 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37073-microsoft-issues-warning-for-ie6-ie7-security-hole.html Users of Internet Explorer will want to take note of a warning Microsoft posted today, as the company has discovered a vulnerability in several versions of the browser. Redmond has indicated that the new exploit could affect IE6 and IE7, but users of IE8 were immune -- another good reason to upgrade. The flaw is dangerous, potentially resulting in system compromise. Matthew DeCarlo Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:11 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37069-lg-x120-netbook-to-launch-in-the-us-for-180-with-twoyear-att-contract.html LG has announced that it will be rolling out its first netbook in the US. The LG X120 will be available exclusively through RadioShack (or "The Shack"), and comes complete with the traditional netbook fixings. Crammed into a 2.8lb package is a 10.1" LED-backlit display with a native resolution of 1024x576, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, as well as a built-in 1.3 meg... Matthew DeCarlo Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:33 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37072-intels-sixcore-gulftown-processor-benchmarked-months-early.html The folks at PCLab.pl have gotten their hands on a sample of Intel's upcoming Gulftown Core i9 processor and put it through its paces. PCLab pitted the six-core chip against Intel's Core i5, Core i7, Core 2 Quad and AMD's Phenom II. The chip was tested in three separate motherboards, the Gigabyte EX58-Extreme, Asus Rampage II Gene, and Asus P6T SE. Justin Mann Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:30 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37071-another-iphone-worm-spotted-this-time-its-dangerous.html About two weeks ago, the first real worm for the iPhone began making its rounds, infecting vulnerable iPhones around the world. It was a benign attack made many jailbreakers aware of a commonly overlooked (but easily fixable) hole. Another worm for the iPhone has been spotted, and this time it isn't so friendly. It has been recognized as the first dangerous worm for the device. Matthew DeCarlo Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:32 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37070-stardock-ceo-steam-holds-70-of-digital-game-distribution-market.html Brad Wardell, Stardock CEO, recently stated that Steam is leaps and bounds ahead of competing digital distribution services -- including "Impulse", Stardock's own gaming content delivery service. In terms of dollars generated per month, Wardell estimates that Steam enjoys some 70% of the digital distribution market, while Impulse makes up about 10%. All other services combined account for the rema... Jose Vilches Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:15 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37066-google-android-chrome-os--to-converge-eventually.html Google ventured into the operating system world last year with the introduction of Android, an operating system intended for mobile phones, and most recently with the netbook-oriented Chrome OS. For now, the two projects are evidently separate, but according to the company's co-founder Sergey Brin they are likely to become a single operating system in the future. Jose Vilches Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:00 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37060-microsoft-to-showcase-natal-at-gamefest-in-february.html Microsoft today announced that it will reveal more details about its upcoming motion sensing peripheral for the Xbox 360, codenamed Project Natal, to developers at its Gamefest conference this February. According to the event's website, one session will focus on designing games for the peripheral while another gets into the technical aspects of it, giving advice on gesture recognition, avatar reta... Julio Franco Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:22 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37064-microsoft-and-news-corp-potential-alliance-against-the-open-web.html On several occasions over the last few months, News Corp chairman, Rupert Murdoch has been quoted hinting at changes he foresees for his high-profile Web properties. Most notably the Wall Street Journal and its network of sites, Murdoch believes in the paid subscription model for online properties and that aggregation sites like Google News are hurting not only newspapers, but online news sources ... Jose Vilches Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:43 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37059-opera-1010-launches-with-unite-sharing-technology.html It has been quite some time since Opera promised to "reinvent the web" with Unite, but the feature has finally been rolled into the latest version of its free browser. For those who missed the announcement back in June, Unite basically turns any computer into both a client and a server, allowing things like file transfer, media streaming and photo sharing without having to resort to third party we... Erik Orejuela Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:11 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37061-news-around-the-web-cell-processor-dead-in-the-water.html Cell Processor: “Dead In The Water” @ TheSixthAxis Julio Franco Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:18 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37058-techspot-holiday-picks--toptechgiftscom.html As it's become self-evident, this year we have not published an in-house holiday gift guide. The reason is that rather than giving you a PC-centric gift guide, we've built a coalition of nine tech websites delivering technology gift picks in each one of our specialties. Julio Franco Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:33 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37056-techspot-blog-disable-windows-automatic-check-for-solutions-after-a-program-crashes.html Introduced in Windows Vista, the infamous “Windows is checking for a solution…” message that appears right after a program crashes is downright annoying. Matthew DeCarlo Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:11 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37057-weekend-tech-reading-how-to-run-chrome-os-as-a-virtual-machine.html How-to: run Chrome OS as a virtual machine Itching for some Chrome OS? Well, we all are, but you might be a bit disappointed at the fact that while Google has open-sourced its progress on the OS so far, the version that is currently available for download seems eons behind what Google showed off at its event yesterday. Still, if you just have to see it for yourself, the good news is that it's a to... Jose Vilches Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:32 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37055-weekend-open-forum-google-chrome-os-and-the-future-of-cloud-computing.html After much speculation Google introduced Chrome OS this week, a feature-stripped operating system aimed at netbooks that's built around the company's browser and relies on web applications. Actual data and programs are stored and run online, while local storage is only meant to be used to speed up those processes. Matthew DeCarlo Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:57 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37054-sony-playstation-3-to-be-3dcapable-via-firmware-update.html In a presentation with investors, Sony revealed that it would introduce 3D stereoscopic technology to the PlayStation 3 as a part of its strategy to achieve profitability. The company plans to introduce a system-wide firmware update that will add 3D functionality to the PlayStation 3. Matthew DeCarlo Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:07 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37050-isuppli-ddr3-to-account-for-over-half-of-dram-shipments-by-q2-2010.html The shift from DDR2 to DDR3 has been long underway, and research group iSuppli believes the transition will reach a critical point in the second quarter of next year. The outfit predicts DDR3 shipments will rise to account for over half of the global DRAM market by spring 2010, leaving DDR2 behind for the first time. Justin Mann Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:57 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37052-facebook-named-third-most-popular-video-website-behind-youtube-and-hulu.html If you needed any more proof of just how large and important social networking has become, the following bit of news should convince you. When you think of online video, sites like YouTube and Hulu probably come to mind, but you should add Facebook to that list. The social networking giant is ranked number three for video streams worldwide, according to research by Nielsen. Matthew DeCarlo Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:06 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37053-patriot-introduces-new-ps100-ssd-series.html Patriot has announced the release of its PS-100 solid-state drive series. The new lineup is the latest in the company's "cache-based" SSDs, and targets budget-minded consumers seeking the performance and reliability of solid-state technology without having to spend big. Matthew DeCarlo Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:19 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37048-sony-working-on-digital-store-for-music-movies-books.html Sony is reportedly gearing up to launch an online portal for digital entertainment. The new store, named Sony Online Service, will sell music, movies, and books along with other downloadable applications for mobile gadgets. The company's new service will enter into a competitive market, with Apple's iTunes and many other digital content providers. Matthew DeCarlo Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:01 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37049-details-of-intels-32nm-atom-emerge-on-track-for-2011.html According to Fudzilla, some new information has emerged about Intel's 2011 Atom platform, which will be a successor to the imminent Pine Trail platform. Codenamed Cedar Trail, the 2011 refresh should bring the first Atom processors built with a 32nm fabrication. Behind the scenes, Fudzilla says those 32nm chips are codenamed Cedarview. Jose Vilches Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:15 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37045-xbox-live-bans-prompt-class-action-lawsuit.html Looks like the recent wave of Xbox Live bans -- in which as many as one million users were cut off from the service -- is ready to evolve into a into a full on legal showdown. A Texas-based law firm by the name of AbingtonIP is reportedly organizing a class-action suit claiming Microsoft timed the bans to extract the maximum amount of money out of customers. Erik Orejuela Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:51 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37046-news-around-the-web-why-chrome-os-will-fail.html Why Chrome OS will fail -- big time @ InfoWorld Jose Vilches Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:57 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37044-ocz-to-unveil-usb-30-solid-state-drive-at-ces-2010.html There just seem to be no stopping OCZ Technology when it comes to solid-state drive development. The company recently expanded their already impressive lineup with the 3.5-inch Colossus series, and touted a new and improved generation of drives based on controllers from startup SandForce. Now they are looking to introduce the first external SSD to hook up via the super speedy USB 3.0 interconnect.... Justin Mann Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:30 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37039-radeon-hd-5970-supplies-dry-up-quick-not-a-big-surprise.html The expected took place this week after ATI launched their latest dual-GPU graphics card. In our review we praised the card for its performance and relative efficiency, however we were quick to conclude that its immediate success would primarily depend on availability. Other cards in the Radeon 5000 series have been equally well received, however shortage issues have kept them out of enthusiasts' ... Jose Vilches Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:20 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37020-tech-tip-of-the-week-unearth-regionspecific-windows-7-themes.html Microsoft stepped up its game in more ways than one with the advent of Windows 7. The graphical user interface, for example, looks and functions better in than previous releases and is easy to customize. Without digging deep, even inexperienced users coming from Windows XP and Vista can see that Microsoft really attempted to bring a degree of style to its latest and greatest operating system. Matthew DeCarlo Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:23 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37038-mozilla-reveals-2008-revenue-rumors-say-firefox-coming-to-ps3.html The Mozilla Foundation has revealed some financial figures from last year, showing 5% rise in revenue to $79 million during 2008. Much of that money came from the foundation's search ad deal with Google, which currently lasts through 2011. Matthew DeCarlo Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:27 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37037-dell-intros-the-multitouchcapable-studio-17-touch.html Dell quietly rolled out the Studio 17 Touch today, making it the company's first multitouch laptop. The system kicks off at $800 and sports a 17.3" (1600x900) LED display, a 2.1GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core T4300, 4GB of DDR3 1066MHz RAM, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570, a 320GB 7200RPM HDD, a dual-layer DVD burner, 802.11g connectivity, a six-cell battery, and Windows 7 Home Premium x64. Justin Mann Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:33 -0500 http://www.techspot.com/news/37036-dell-profits-fall-54-on-quarter-slim-enterprise-budgets-to-blame.html Computer giant Dell took a huge hit in profit for the previous quarter, following a slump in sales. Overall, Dell says their profit has been cut by more than half, falling 54% below the previous quarter. The largest losses have primarily come from enterprise and business customers, which represent the bulk of Dell's profitable sales.