From Reg Hardware:

Sony has been forced to withdraw the anticipated 2.4 PS3 firmware just a few hours after the update became available, because the new code has apparently been playing havoc with consoles.

Patrick Seybold, Sony's public relations bigwig, last night posted a message on the official PS3 blog admitting that the consumer electronics giant has “temporarily taken Firmware 2.40 offline” just hours after the update was posted.

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 OpenMoko has announced plans to launch the Linux-based FreeRunner mobile phone on July 4.

By Ryan Paul | Published: July 03, 2008 - 08:57AM CT

 The highly-anticipated open source handset will be distributed through OpenMoko's web-based store and will begin shipping on July 7. The FreeRunner will also be available from several vendors in Europe and India.

 The FreeRunner, which is designed from the ground up as a hackable and open device, was first unveiled in January at CES. It is the successor of the Neo1973, OpenMoko's first handset. Unlike the Neo, which was primarily intended for an audience of developers and hardcore enthusiasts, the FreeRunner is aimed at the broader consumer market. Although the software is still a work in progress, OpenMoko will provide software updates following the launch that are expected to incrementally improve the product and increase its viability for a nontechnical audience.

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 Google scored a legal victory in keeping its search source code secret from Viacom, but YouTube users were not so fortunate with their privacy.

July 2, 2008 6:45 PM PDT
C/Net news

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the search giant doesn't have to turn over the code to Viacom, which filed a $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against Google in 2007. In granting Google's motion for a protective order, U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton in Manhattan agreed with Google's characterization of the source code as a trade secret that can't be disclosed without risking the loss of business.

"YouTube and Google should not be made to place this vital asset in hazard merely to allay speculation," the judge said. "A plausible showing that YouTube and Google's denials are false, and that the search function can and has been used to discriminate in favor of infringing content, should be required before disclosure of so valuable and vulnerable an asset is compelled."

[Comments...] 

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  Group of enraged shareholders file class action for backdating practices which sunk their shares' worth
Jason Mick (Blog) - July 2, 2008 11:45 AM
DailyTech

Angry investors have filed suit against Apple Inc., CEO Steve Jobs, former financial officer Fred D. Anderson, former general counsel Nancy R. Heinen, and several members of the company's board of directors on Friday. They allege that as a result of Apple's security fraud, they experienced massive losses on the stock market. They filed their case in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California.

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Supposedly no one knows how they did it

From The Inquirer:

NOW WE KNOW WHY early this year - in the midst of the banking liquidity crisis caused by mounting downgrades of toxic over-leveraged debt based on souring subprime mortgage loans - Citibank abruptly cut its daily limit on ATM withdrawal amounts in half.

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If you haven't popped into the forums and checked out the case mod contest, you really should:

Contest: What can you do with a $30 case*?

Join in the fun, and have a blast!

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From the BBC:

Surfing the web unprotected will leave the average web user with 70 spam messages each day, according to an experiment by security firm McAfee.

It invited 50 people from around the world, including five from the UK, to surf without spam filters.

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To build a better Phenom

By Joel Hruska | Published: June 30, 2008 - 11:01PM CT
ARS Technica

AMD hasn't launched a new Phenom X4 processor since late last March, when the B3-based 2.5GHz Phenom 9850 hit the market. Today, the company is making up for lost time, debuting two new 65W energy-efficient Phenom X4s at 1.8GHz and 2GHz, while simultaneously releasing a new higher-end chip at 2.6GHz. This triple play is aimed at boosting the attractiveness of the company's quad-core products in the eyes of both consumers seeking energy-efficient parts and enthusiasts who want top performance from an AMD solution.
[Comments...]

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 Internet Security 2009 will include anti-keylogging protection, making Kaspersky the first major security vendor to include the feature in a standard suite

By John E. Dunn, Techworld
July 01, 2008
InfoWorld

 Full details have yet to be confirmed, but it is understood that the program will let users bring up the keyboard from which to enter login details for websites such as online banks that might be vulnerable. The on-screen keyboard will cache the keystrokes, protecting them from recording programs that would pick up physical keystrokes coming via the keyboard driver.

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From The Register:

This week marks another first in the 33-year history of Microsoft - life without Billg. The company and the man who co-founded it and rose to become the world's richest geek have parted ways. Bill Gates is no longer chief software architect and will be checking in only as company chairman.

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 Microsoft has stubbornly stuck to its decision to stop selling XP after today. It's a wrong decision, which InfoWorld hopes your voice can still change at this very last minute.

By Eric Knorr, InfoWorld
June 30, 2008
InfoWorld

Last Friday, we FedEx'd the Save Windows XP petition to Steve Ballmer. I have to say that sliding the memory stick into the envelope was an emotional experience: Over 210,000 users have made their voices heard to the world's largest software corporation. I think there's still a slim chance that Microsoft will change its mind about making XP available after today, particularly if we get more major media pickup and another wave of signatures today. Meanwhile, here's the full text of the cover letter I sent along with the petition: 

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 New grid storage companies, good for the consumer, good for the utility, good for the environment
Jason Mick (Blog) - June 30, 2008 8:27 AM
DailyTech

DailyTech recently covered Beacon Power's flywheel mechanical power storage system for grid leveling. Grid leveling, an uncharted field is exploding in terms of interest, but much work remains to be done.  The promise is intriguing. Current power in terms of infrastructure is crude – it’s a simple in-out system. If power leveling technologies were modestly adopted it could make the power grid equivalent of RAM, able to handle varying demand without crashes (brownouts). In time, serious power storage adoption could equate to long-term storage driving down prices during times of peak consumption or high commodity prices, similar to a hard drive, to use the computer analogy again.

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Microsoft fixes 360 DRM with license tool—over a year late

By Ben Kuchera | Published: June 27, 2008 - 09:44AM CT
ARS Technica

There are a few different reasons you might not be playing on the same Xbox 360 system that you originally bought. You might have upgraded to an Elite system for the bigger hard drive and black HDMI. More likely, your original system died and you were forced to have it replaced. Gamers who received new systems were in for an unpleasant surprise when they redownloaded their Arcade games or hooked up their old hard drive: the games they paid for would only work when connected to the Internet. No network connection, and they all reverted to demo versions. Microsoft has just released a tool that allows you to move those licenses over to a new console, but the question remains: what took so long?  [Comments...]

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