uTorrent for Mac The Fastest Torrent Client


Long recognized as the fastest torrent client for Windows, the Mac version of uTorrent finally discarded its beta status today. After nearly three years of development, two of them in the public eye, the stable version of uTorrent for Mac contains the same protocol enhancements that make the Windows version so flexible.
uTorrent for Mac
uTorrent for Mac
(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)
Built natively in Cocoa, these include the new uTransport protocol, protocol encryption, distributed hash table, and peer exchange support. uTP is a relatively new protocol that slows down all connection traffic when a congestion has been detected until the problem has been cleared. It basically prevents one person's connection from crowding out others, and this is the first time it's been available to Mac users.
In the blog post announcing the new Mac version, the vice president of product management for uTorrent's parent company BitTorrent, Simon Morris, noted, "Feature parity is the goal for all of our consumer clients." Though there still are some minor features not in the Mac version, such as autoshutdown after completion, what's missing doesn't seem to affect the program's overall behavior.

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Michigan takes first place at the 2010 American Solar Challenge




University of Michigan Solar Car Team celebrates their fourth first place victory at the American Solar Challenge.
The University of Michigan Solar Car Team celebrates its sixth first-place victory at the American Solar Challenge.
(Credit: American Solar Challenge)
For the sixth time, the University of Michigan Solar Car Team won the 2010 American Solar Challenge, a long-distance road rally across the U.S in a car powered only by the sun.
Seventeen teams took part in the 1,200-mile race, which alternates years with the Global Green Challenge (formerly the World Solar Challenge) held in Australia. The North American race began in Tulsa, Okla., on June 20 and ended six days later in Naperville, Ill.
The University of Michigan's Infinium solar car was an obvious front runner. With five wins under their belt andboasting a top speed of more than 100 mph, University of Michigan placed first at the Formula Sun Grand Prix, the qualifying event leading up to the the race, and led every segment of the race.
But it takes more than speed to win the multistage race. The Michigan team posted on its blog that the Infinium often got caught in traffic, erasing its lead and giving University of Minnesota a chance to catch up.
Despite traffic setbacks and a 15-minute delay caused by rain damage to the vehicle's lighting board, the Michigan team sprinted across finish line at around 10 a.m. Sunday, sealing its sixth victory in the race's 20-year history with an elapsed time of 28 hours, 14 minutes, and 44 seconds.
University of Minnesota took second place in the race, with an elapsed time of 30 hours, 26 minutes, and 53 seconds, and German team Hochschule Bochum crossed the finish line in third place approximately 10 minutes later.
The University of Michigan team will now focus on the 2011 Global Green Challenge.


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Mozilla tweaks new plug-in for protection


Mozilla pushed out a minor update to Firefox on Saturday, slightly adjusting the new plug-in crash protectionfeature that was introduced last week. Firefox 3.6.6 for Windows and Linux delays the amount of time that the plug-in protection module will wait before terminating an unresponsive plug-in.
Firefox 3.6.4 incorporates out-of-process plug-in protections that prevent plug-in crashes from taking down the entire browser.
Firefox 3.6.4 beta incorporates out-of-process plug-in protections.
(Credit: Mozilla)
Mozilla evangelist Mike Beltzner said in a blog post on Saturday that although Firefox 3.6.4 was beta-tested with nearly 1 million users, after its release the company began hearing complaints from some users, especially those playing games on older computers. The crash protection feature would only wait 10 seconds before aborting a plug-in; that's now been extended to 45 seconds.
Firefox for Mac has also been updated to version 3.6.6, but it's not clear why. The out-of-process plug-in crash protection feature has not yet been implemented in the Mac builds of Firefox. Also, some users have reported crashes related to Norton and Skype, and some users who had been using the Firefox 3.6.4 beta builds have reported having to manually install the update the 3.6.6.
A request for comment from Mozilla was not immediately returned.
The Firefox 3.6.6 release notes are available at the Mozilla Web site.

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Dead Rising 2 delayed Till September


In February, Capcom announced that the sequel to its hit zombie-apocalypse action game Dead Rising would arrive on August 31. However, much like the lumbering undead masses players must fight in both games, Dead Rising 2's release date has fallen behind.
The Japanese publisher announced Monday that the new installment in its franchise will now arrive in North America on September 28, in Japan on September 30, in and Europe on October 1.

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OnLive - Might Be The Future Gaming


OnLive could be one of the most disruptive gaming technologies since Steam.
OnLive could be one of the most disruptive gaming technologies since Steam.
The much-hyped OnLive PC gaming service has soft-launched to a limited preview audience, and we've spent the past several days putting the streaming service through its paces. OnLive allows nearly any laptop or desktop to play high-end PC games, by offloading the CPU and GPU-intensive tasks of actually running the game software to a remote render farm, then beaming the gameplay back to you as a streaming video.
As unlikely as that scenario sounds, in practice the system actually works quite well, at least at these initial stages. The game selection is decent, the hardware requirements are very flexible, and the overall image quality and gameplay experience runs from acceptable to very good. The big question mark in OnLive's future is how well the system will scale for a mass audience.
For high-end PC gamers, OnLive won't replace your turbocharged, water-cooled quad-GPU gaming rig, and the insane screen resolutions it can pump out (OnLive is currently limited to 1,280x720 pixels), but for casual gamers who are interested in sampling the latest PC games, there's a lot of promise here.

My first hands-on experience with OnLive at the 2009 Game Developers Conference was a mixed bag. The online gaming service felt like an overly ambitious idea that was sluggish in execution, with plenty of unanswered questions about its technology and business model.
The final version of OnLive is finally, well, live, and Rich Brown and I have spent the past several days testing it across a wide range of laptop and desktop computers, with overall very satisfying results.
The main interface is very widgetlike, almost easier to navigate with a game pad than a mouse. One of OnLive's only onerous requirements is a hard-wired Internet connection, and the software wouldn't even install on a Wi-Fi network (OnLive says good-quality Wi-Fi connections can theoretically work, and may be implemented in the future).
The built-in game store offers recent games such as Splinter Cell: Conviction and Borderlands, alongside a handful of casual games, including World of Goo. Demos give you time-limited access to the full games, and paid access options vary by game, but generally offer three-to-five-day access for a few dollars, or the full game at its current retail price (up to $59.99).

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Google Voice incompatible with your iPhone 4?


Google Voice became available Tuesday to all U.S. residents, but it seems not everyone will be able to use it on the iPhone 4.
The Google Voice service offers a number of features, one of which is forwarding calls made to a central number to multiple mobile phones and landlines.
The call forwarding feature, which calls your preselected phones when someone dials your Google Voice number, is functioning spottily on my iPhone 4, in any event. Set-up worked just fine--I was able to call my iPhone 4 number and activate the phone, but on a couple occasions, ringing Google Voice caused every phone I had to trill except the iPhone 4. The times calls to my Google Voice number didn't go through, I was able to receive text messages and view missed calls.
I'm not the only one. One CNET reader e-mailed a detailed account of how he tried to fix the problem on his own, after activating the iPhone 4:

"When I activated the new [iPhone 4,] it took me back to AT&T's voice mail. I tried setting it up again in Google without success. The problem is that to use Google Voice voice mail, you need to do a "conditional forward," which for at&t the code is *004*1[number to forward to]#. When I enter this code on the iPhone 4, it gives me a bunch of errors and nothing happens...I also read somewhere that I needed to use two "**" instead of one, but that didn't work either."
When calling AT&T's customer support line, our reader said he was told his fix should work.
We're looking deeper into the issue, which could be one more of a number of complaints buyers have had with Apple's iPhone 4 since snapping it off store shelves yesterday, or receiving it on preorder as early as Tuesday.
Google was not immediately available for comment, and we're in the process of reaching out to AT&T and Apple.
In the meantime, if you're a Google Voice user who also has an iPhone 4, let us know in the poll if you're experiencing problems or, if like the antenna issue, this is a rare incompatibility on certain iPhone 4 handsets.

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Now No Account Needed Just PayPal to take your credit card



If PayPal has its way, you'll be using its service to pay for all kinds of apps and software updates with your credit card.
PayPal X logo
Last week, the electronic payments company announced a new service for developers that will let software-writers accept credit card payments using PayPal without requiring buyers to have a PayPal account. 
The program, called Guest Payments, will let software developers offer credit card payments for an app in addition to PayPal's electronic transferring of funds between a buyer and seller. Publishers will be able to add PayPal's credit card payment options to any app--desktop, mobile phone, and Web.
One reason PayPal's electronic payments service has historically been so appealing is the anonymity it affords the customers and the convenience it lends the merchants. Customers--like you and me--can let PayPal handle secure money transfers without handing over credit card or bank account details to every small-time publisher. 
PayPal will give developers a chance to let users pay by credit card.
For their part, merchants can get the buyer's name and payment without having to set up shop to handle security standards or deal with fraud--in exchange for a transaction fee.
It will be interesting to see how this new PayPal service pans out on the mobile phone front in particular. Many smartphone platforms already offer their own application stores, and methods for application-buyers to pay through some combination of credit card or carrier billing. 
BlackBerry-maker RIM has notably relied solely on PayPal to sell apps, requiring users to register for a PayPal account if they wanted to buy any software. A forthcoming update to BlackBerry App World will add a new credit card payment option and carrier billing, both which will exist outside of PayPal.
While PayPal's new payment option will crop up in app payments, we're not expecting to see it take over those mobile storefronts that have payment systems already in place.

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Firmware 3.40 for PlayStation 3 Is Out Now Brings Facebook Integration



Firmware upgrade






Sony has launched the 3.40 firmware update for the PlayStation 3 home console, bringing some new features to the console and adding the changes needed for the fresh PlayStation Plus subscription service. All those interested in getting the firmware need to turn on their device and follow the prompts.



Apart from the changes made to the PlayStation Network service, the 3.40 firmware upgrade is also set to introduce features to the core user experience of the PlayStation 3 home console. The Photo Gallery is now getting an entirely new network based feature permitting users to share photos on sites likes Facebook and Picasa Web Album directly from their home console. A set of options allows for photos to be printed from the fresh interface.

The PS3 is also receiving a new feature called Video Editor and Uploader that will show up in the XMB enabling users to save video, edit it and then upload content to external sites like YouTube and Facebook. The PlayStation Store is getting a feature that allows any user who buys a piece of content to rate it using a five star system, building a clear hierarchy that can guide those looking for quality entertainment.

With the 3.40 firmware, the PlayStation 3 is also getting new power saving settings, with the default setting for auto turn off now set to 2 hours, making sure players will be able to better manage the electricity consumption of their device.

Sony is also launching a PlayStation Network application on Facebook, allowing more integration between the PSN profile of the user and that on the popular social network. Gamers can see which of their buddies also have PSN accounts, plus send and accept requests for friendship, while showing whether they are online or not.

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Kindle for Android Now Available Absolutely For Free

The owners of a mobile phone running under Google's Android operating system can now enjoy a new application recently made available as a free download for them, namely Kindle for Android. According to Amazon.com, Inc., the latest addition to its suite of free Kindle reading apps is meant to offer Android phone users in the US the possibility to easily access a number of over 620,000 books in the Kindle Store, including New York Times Bestsellers and New Releases from $9.99.




Kindle for Android released as a free mobile application




“Like all Kindle apps, Kindle for Android includes Amazon's Whispersync technology, which saves and synchronizes a customer's books and bookmarks across their Kindle, Kindle DX, BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, PC, and now Android-powered phones so customers always have their reading material with them and never lose their place. Customers can learn more about Kindle for Android at www.amazon.com/kindleforandroid and can download the free app from Android Market,” Amazon announced.

When it comes to the features list of the new mobile application, we can count access to a wide selection of books, among which users would find 108 of 111 New York Times Bestsellers, along with thousands of popular classics for free directly from their Android device. The app offers users the possibility to read the first chapter of the book before purchasing it, customize background color or font color, read in portrait or landscape mode, adjust screen brightness from within the app, or to synchronize last page read between multiple devices, including Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, PC, Mac, BlackBerry and Android-powered phone.

“Our customers tell us they love the convenience of having their Kindle library with them everywhere and their reading synchronized across multiple devices,” said Dorothy Nicholls, director of Amazon Kindle. “With Kindle for Android, customers can choose from a vast selection of over 620,000 books to read on their Android-powered phone, no matter where they are – on the bus, waiting for a cab, or in between meetings. Kindle for Android and the rest of the free Kindle apps are the perfect companions for readers who don’t have their Kindle with them or don’t yet own a Kindle.”

The Kindle for Android application also offers users the possibility to access their library of previously purchased Kindle books stored on Amazon’s servers for free. Newer features are expected to be added into the mix in the near future, such as the possibility to make full text search, or to purchase Kindle books from within the application. The software solution is available for mobile phones powered by Google's Android 1.6 or higher operating system.

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Zbot Pushers Claim Eminem Is Dead



Fake Eminem car crash rumors exploited by Zbot distributors


Security researchers warn that cybercriminals are employing fake rumors of Eminem's death to infect users with the Zbot trojan. A fake CBS News mail claiming to link to footage of his car crash is actually directing unsuspecting victims to a malicious website.
Fake news of Eminem, also known as Slim Shady, one of the world's best-selling music artists, dying in a car crash have been circulating around the Internet lately, most likely in a bid to generate traffic. Trend Micro reports that malware pushers have jumped at the occasion and are using the rumor in one of their Zbot distribution email campaigns.


"The email pretends to be from CBS News informing the recipient of the news about Eminem's alleged car crash. It also asks if the user wants to see more information about it. A link is provided in the email to show the user the supposed video. Instead of the video, however, the link redirects to a site that downloads an executable file," Maydalene Salvador, anti-spam research engineer at Trend, warns.

The file is an installer for a new ZeuS variant, detected by Trend Micro products as TROJ_ZBOT.HBI. Zbot, also known as ZeuS, is a family of information stealing computer trojans that have proven particularly effective in stealing online banking credentials. Since ZeuS is sold as a crimeware kit, allowing any of the buyers to customize the malware for themselves, new variants of the trojan and command and control servers pop up on a daily basis.


As strange as it might seem, Eminem is not the first celebrity whose fake death was used to spread malware. In October last year, similar fake rumors of Kanye West dying in a car crash were exploitedto distribute scareware via black hat search engine optimization techniques.

Then, in February this year, a BHSEO campaign capitalized on false news that famous actor and comedian Bill Cosby passed away at the age of 72. The poisoned search results on the topic tricked users into downloading rogue antivirus software.

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Angelina Jolie Want To Retire From Hollywood



Angelina Jolie says she will not grow old making movies, talks retirement






She’s always said that children and family life come before her job as an actress and, this time, it seems that Angelina Jolie has set a deadline of sorts as regards the time she’ll continue working. In an interview with the latest issue of Vanity Fair magazine, in which she’s promoting her upcoming spy action flick “Salt,” the star talks about thinking of retiring, focusing on family life and what it’s like to be mother to six. 


Neither she nor partner Brad Pitt have any interest of growing old making movies, Jolie says very matter of factly: not because they don’t love what they’re doing but rather because they have learned that their priorities lie elsewhere, namely, with their six children. Of course, that’s not to say that they’re not doing their best right now, with the projects they have, but rather that they’ve decided the time will soon come to say good-bye to that and focus on something else.

“It’s not the most important thing in my life,” the star says of working in the movie industry. “Acting helped me as I was growing up. It helped me learn about myself, helped me travel, helped me understand life, express myself, all those wonderful things. So I’m very, very grateful, it’s a fun job. It’s a luxury. Look, I’m at work today in the middle of Venice. But I don’t think I’ll do it much longer. Because I have a happy home… I got back from work last night, and everybody was playing music and dancing and I suddenly found myself dancing around with a bunch of little fun crazy people,” Angelina adds.

And, while she says she could see both herself and Brad doing something else, for the time being, Angelina is focused on her upcoming projects: the spy movie “Salt,” a film with Johnny Depp, and a reported take on the classic Cleopatra story, where she’d play Cleopatra, while Brad Pitt is said to be considered for Marc Anthony. Jolie doesn’t say anything about this last project, but what she does mention is that fans should probably not hold their breath for a “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” sequel – or a film that would see her opposite Brad, for that matter.

“People have tried. And it’s strange: do we have kids in the movie? We’ve thought about that, but it becomes personal now that we actually have kids. And if we work on it, we pull from our own life, which is funny to us, but you feel strange sharing too much. We did ask somebody to look into Mr. & Mrs. to see if they could crack a sequel, but there wasn’t anything original. It was just, Well, they’re going to get married, or they’ve got kids, or they get separated. Never great. I’d love to. We’ve talked about it. We’d have to figure out who’s going to watch the kids, but it’s really about finding the right thing, because we’ve looked. When you’re a couple, there are certain things people don’t want to see you do. It becomes too indulgent, too personal,” Jolie says of sharing the same screen and movie set again with the man who is now her partner and the father of her children. 

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Playstation Plus Launched Today


Playstation Plus Launches Today


Today is the day that Sony will begin offering it’s Playstation Plus paid online service.  On top of the current Playstation Network multiplayer and PSN Store features gamers already have, Playstation Plus will add a handful of additional features and bonus content not available to free users.  Here is a rundown of all the extras that gamers will get if they subscribe for Playstation Plus:
Here are more details on the features of PlayStation Plus:
Games & Special Offers: As a subscriber, you can expect to get your hands on free monthly PSN games, minis and PS One Classics from the PSN Store. You will be able to download these games during the month they are available until the new selection replaces them.
Once downloaded, the games are yours to keep and play as long as you are a member of PlayStation Plus. If your subscription lapses and then you re-subscribe, the games you have already downloaded will reactivate, so you still have access to them. Additionally, if you delete one of the titles from your PS3, but decide you want to get it back, then you can re-download from the PlayStation Plus section of the PSN Store if the game is still there, or, if the game has expired from the PlayStation Plus section of the PSN Store, you can simply search for it on PS Store and download it again at no extra cost.
Each month there will be dynamic themes, premium avatars and premium game elements/add-ons for you to download and many will be exclusive to PlayStation Plus members only. These are yours to keep forever once you have downloaded them.
PlayStation Plus subscribers will also be given exclusive PlayStation Store discounts each month that are above and beyond the current PSN Store discounts available to everyone. These discounts will range from 20% to 50%, and anything you buy with these is yours to keep and enjoy forever.
Finally, wherever possible we’ll be making sure that members are included in selected demos and beta trials before they go live to everyone else, so you can be the one to tell all your friends about the next big game they ‘must’ get.
Subscribers will get hundreds of dollars of value through the year and, in the first month alone, will receive more than $50 worth of content.
Full Game Trial: Each month we will be offering members the chance to download full games and try them out for a period of time (one hour, unless otherwise stated). After the game trial is complete, simply purchase the game to carry on where you left off. This is a unique way to trial the full game experience and means you don’t have to be restricted to certain levels/game modes when you test out a game.
The games in Full Game Trial will become available to all PS Store users to purchase, but only PlayStation Plus members will have the chance to ‘try before you buy’.
The other great thing about this feature is that you can continue from where you were at the end of the trial period if you decide to buy the game. All game saves and trophies earned during the trial will be unlocked and will show up on your trophy list and your trophy level when you purchase the game. You don’t even have to re-download the game, just purchase and go back to the XMB to access the game.
Automatic Download: Subscribers will be able to set their PS3 to wake up from standby at any time of the day or night, download and install any game updates for the games you have been playing so you don’t have to think about it. Also, select demos and videos will be pushed to your PS3 ready to go. System software updates will also download automatically (manual install still required) and then the PS3 will turn itself off again.

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Windows 8 leaked on internet


Although still early in the process, newly leaked documents about Windows 8 offer some keen insight into where Microsoft wants to head with the next version of the operating system.
One thing that is made abundantly clear is that Microsoft has been paying attention to Apple. In the documents, which appear to come from an April meeting with computer makers, Microsoft discusses its Cupertino, Calif.-based rival and outlines plans to offer a Windows Store similar to the way Apple distributes software on itsiPhone. The documents, which Microsoft has declined to comment on or authenticate, also talk about plans to give Windows a more iPad-like response time through new power management settings.]

Among the Windows 8 details outlined in a leaked presentation are plans for a Windows Store, where consumers could go to directly buy PC software.
(Credit: Courtesy of Microsoft Kitchen)
In particular, one slide titled "How Apple Does It: A Virtuous Cycle," talks about the need for simplicity in design. "Apple brand is known for high quality, uncomplicated, 'it just works,'" the slide says, adding that "This is something people will pay for!"
Other slides don't directly reference Apple, but talk about the need for a number of features popularized by its products, including the App Store, as well as a more instant-on feel.
Although Windows has continued to dominate the PC market, still holding roughly 95 percent of global market share, it faces a significant threat from mobile operating systems looking to encroach on the low end of the computer market, including the iPad and Android-based devices.

Hewlett-Packard, which originally talked about plans for a Windows 7-based slate PC in January, now refuses to say whether it will build that product and has since announced plans to buy Palm in a deal expected to close shortly. Microsoft has been working on tablets for nearly a decade and, as early as 2005, outlined the hardware trends that would enable a device like the iPad. Thus far, however, only Apple has been able to create a hit with consumers.
Among the goals outlined for Windows 8 are some features that would appear to be aimed at making Windows more competitive in this market, including improved simplicity, better support of touch and gestures, as well as support for smaller-size screens.
Although the iPad is not referenced directly, the presentation does refer to the slate form factor as a "center of gravity," alongside laptops and all-in-ones.
To achieve quicker boot-up, Microsoft is looking at several things, including a new combination of logging off and hibernating a machine that would offer a faster boot-up than a full restart. That combination would become the default on-off behavior, though just what to name the setting is still a question mark, according to the documents. The company is also looking to resume from sleep in less than a second, according to the documents.
"Windows 8 PCs turn on fast, nearly instantly in some cases, and are ready to work without any long or unexpected delays," reads one of dozens of slides posted to enthusiast site Microsoft Kitchen, among other places.
Of course, the goal of instant-on PCs is a long held, but as yet unrealized aspiration. Microsoft significantly improved its boot-up, resume, and shut-down times with Windows 7, but they all pale when compared to the nearly instantaneous response one gets from a mobile device such as the iPhone or iPad.
As for the store, Microsoft apparently plans to let each computer maker brand the store under their own name. Among the benefits to consumers would be the ability to access those applications on any PC they own. It is also outlined as an opportunity for partners to make money after the PC sale, though it is described as "revenue neutral" for Windows, suggesting that perhaps Microsoft is not planning to take a cut of sales.
One slide suggests that, in an earlier forum with hardware makers, Microsoft heard that such a store is seen as needed as soon as possible, though this is clearly a tricky undertaking with Microsoft having to balance the needs of software creators, consumers, partners, resellers, and the PC makers--not to mention Microsoft itself.
The slides also offer up a time frame for Internet Explorer 9, suggesting a beta of the new browser is expected by August. Microsoft has had developer platform previews of IE9, but those have lacked a significant user interface and other features. The beta, according to the slides, will be the "first release of full IE functionality."

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