The address is:
Santa Claus,
North Pole,
Canada
And the postal code? Why it’s H0H OHO of course!
Check out Santa’s Corner on the Web!
There are other activities for kids at the site, including cartoons, fun and games, activities, craft suggestions, and recipes.
There’s also an email form here.
Tags: santa’s corner, write to santa, email santa, h0h oho
Charting another industry first for computing enthusiasts, AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the AMD Quad FX Platform with Dual Socket Direct Connect (DSDC) Architecture, the first dual-socket, multi-core desktop PC platform designed to take advantage of the latest enhancements in Windows Vista Ultimate. As the supreme AMD platform for megatasking enthusiasts, the AMD Quad FX Platform is designed to redefine performance on the latest generation of multi-threaded applications.
The AMD Quad FX Platform is powered by pairs of the AMD Athlon 64 FX-70 series dual-core processors, the newest additions to the award-winning AMD Athlon 64 FX processor family. The new platform takes enthusiasts on a megatasking thrill ride, allowing them to make the most of their overall computing experience while gaming, editing audio/video and streaming high-definition content.
As consumers look forward to enhanced PC experiences made possible by Microsoft Windows Vista, and the software industry moves to a multi-threading environment, the AMD Quad FX Platform is poised to meet the needs of enthusiasts who “megatask” - running multiple, demanding applications and multi-threaded games. With the introduction of Dual Socket Direct Connect Architecture, consumers can count on a platform that scales with their compute-intensive [sic] applications today and tomorrow given that the platform is designed for a seamless upgrade path to a total of eight processing cores with planned AMD native quad-core processors in 2007. [Source: AMD]
OK, folks - both Chris and I are getting married next month and we want to put our weddings on a Webcam - me because I have family and friends who won’t be able to attend, and Chris just because he’s that kind of a geek. We asked Jake for help, but he hasn’t responded yet, so I’m going to throw it open to all Gnomies:
What do we need to know? How many cameras do we need, and how expensive should they be? What programs could be useful? What are the pitfalls? In other words, HELP!
Tags: chris pirillo, marc erickson, internet wedding, webcam wedding
Robert McMillan of itWorldCanada writes:
After winning a US$11.7 million judgment against the Spamhaus Project Ltd., e-mail marketer e360 Insight LLC is asking a federal court to shut down the antispam service.
E360 has filed a proposed court order with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois that calls on the organizations responsible for registering the Spamhaus.org Internet address to suspend the organization’s Internet service. Both the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and Tucows Inc., the Spamhaus.org registrar, are named in the order. The proposed order can be found at this website.
The proposal follows a Sept. 13 ruling from Judge Charles Kocoras ordering Spamhaus to pay damages and stop listing e360 Insight in its database of known spammers. Spamhaus, based in London, initially ignored the judgment saying that it could not be enforced in the U.K. But observers worry that e360’s proposal could be approved by the judge, possibly resulting in a shut down of the service. [Source: itWorldCanada]
Chris Preimesberger of eWeek.com writes:
Thanks to new levels of competition in the market sector, storage devices continue to get smaller in footprint and less expensive - while offering increased capacity and more desirable features, such as auto-backup and encryption.
The latest example of this IT storage bonanza for consumers is Buffalo Technology’s new DriveStation Duo, which features USB 2.0 and FireWire interfaces and ranges from 500GB to 1.5TB in capacity.
It runs two 7,200 rpm SATA drives that can be set up in a RAID-1 configuration - for either mirroring or full-capacity modes.
The pricing for this desktop-size box is also noteworthy: the DriveStation Duo USB 2.0/FireWire External Hard Drive will be available later in October at estimated retail prices of:
Dennis Fisher of SearchSecurity.com writes:
A new information clearinghouse for data on phishing attacks is up and running, and unlike similar efforts at other sites, PhishTank includes an open API that enables contributors to submit and access data through various applications.
The new site is not only an archive of suspected and confirmed phishing emails, but it also includes a feature that allows other registered users to examine submissions and verify that they are in fact malicious mailings. This collaborative format is a bit different from the work done by other groups, such as the Anti-Phishing Working Group, which focuses on compiling statistics on phishing and pharming attacks and aiding law enforcement agencies in taking down malicious sites.
PhishTank launched on Tuesday and by Thursday morning Eastern time, the site had received 752 submissions, 447 of which were verified as phish, according to the site’s statistics page. [Source: SearchSecurity.com]
Web3.0log reports:
Social news rave[s] about Browzar - [it] claims it’s a new secure browser leaving no footprints. After looking at it closer, I found out that it’s not a browser at all, and moreover, this software thrusts search via its own PPC-SE full of ads on user[s].
Yeah, it’s just [a] 264K addon to Microsoft Internet Explorer that [a] beginning programmer [could] easily make. More quality and useful [software] based on IE exist, like Maxthon, ex MYIE.
BTW, do you notice that developers blocked the context menu in [the] browser? It hides the standard IE menu. [Source: Web3.0log]
ThinkGeek reports:
Finally, WMD* at an affordable price.
Nobody remembers who started it. Perhaps that guy from HR lobbed a wadded-up piece of paper over the cube wall at you? It could have been one of those accounting dudes with the marshmallow-gun. It doesn’t matter, now. You are armed.
The USB Missile Launcher is the latest desktop weapons platform that elevates your status from mere code-monkey or BOFH Sysadmin to a true Digital Dictator. Laugh maniacally while you zero in on your unsuspecting target. Rain down foam punishment upon him with a click of the mouse. Watch as, one by one, three spring-loaded missiles arc 5 to 8 feet gracefully to your quarry. Giggle girlishly at the realistic sound effects with every launch.
This launcher can pivot 180 degrees horizontally, and 45 degrees up. Controlled by the included PC software, point the missiles at your foe, and press the big red shiny delicious button on screen. FOOM.
The USB Missile Launcher stands approximately seven inches high, is gunmetal grey, with three white foam spring-loaded missiles on top. It requires 3 AA batteries, which are included. Also includes PC Software (currently Windows XP only, but there is third party software available ‘out there’ for Mac and Linux).
* Weapons of Much Distraction.
The California Clean Tech Open, a competition in which participants created technology-enabled, environmentally friendly products and business models, announced its five winners this week in San Francisco.
(more…)
Lucas van Grinsven of Reuters writes:
The format war around next generation DVDs may be over before it has begun, thanks to a breakthrough from a British media technology company.
Britain-based New Medium Enterprises said on Tuesday it had solved a technical production problem that makes it possible to produce a cheap multiple-layer DVD disk containing one film in different, competing formats.
(more…)
Nestor E. Arellano of IT World Canada writes:
If you seek to create a consolidated e-government service network, coveting your neighbour’s IT assets may be a good way to begin, according to one high-profile American CIO.
Teresa Takai, CIO of the State of Michigan, said one way she keeps her network up to date is by “stealing [ideas] from others, especially the Canadians.”
During her keynote on Wednesday at the 2006 Showcase Ontario in Toronto, Takai said Canadian federal, provincial, and municipal governments are leaders in consolidating automated services.
(more…)
Robert Levine of The New York Times writes:
During the last decade, the cost of recording and producing music and video has plummeted, giving amateur auteurs a chance at stardom. But at the same time, the expense involved in making video games has gone up: the development kits needed to create games for the consoles made by Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo cost thousands of dollars, and those companies usually send the kits only to established producers.
Microsoft is trying to change that. Today the company is expected to announce the fall release of a product called XNA Game Studio Express, a basic version of the company’s game authoring tools that will let aspiring designers write games on a PC and test them on an ordinary Xbox 360. (To test games, the designer pays $99 a year to translate the game from the PC into the Xbox format.) [Source: The New York Times]
Tags: microsoft, console gaming, new york times, designer kit, xbox design, robert levine
Like guerilla librarians defending the free flow of information across all borders, the Canadian creators of a particular software designed to bypass governmental censorship mean business! Nestor E. Arellano of ITWorld Canada writes:
The arms race over Internet censorship is escalating.
A new weapon is being developed to help dissidents gain free access to the Web.
A team of Toronto-based “hacktivists” - hackers with a commitment to social responsibility - is beta-testing software that can circumvent Internet censorship by repressive governments.
Dubbed Psiphon, the software enables a third-party computer to act as a proxy that allows Internet users to access banned content.
Psiphon was developed by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s (U of T) Munk Centre for International Studies. Described as a “hothouse that brings together social scientists, filmmakers, computer scientists, activists, and artists,” the Citizen Lab explores hypermedia technologies and grassroots social movements, civic activism, and democratic change within an emerging planetary polity…
Tags: university of toronto, psiphon, citizen lab, hacktivist, munk centre for international studies
Joaquim P. Menezes of IT World Canada writes:
A resolution has been reached in a high-profile “corporate espionage” case with WestJet airlines admitting culpability today, apologizing to Air Canada, and agreeing to pay settlement costs totalling $15.5 million.
The amount includes a $10 million donation that WestJet will make in the name of Air Canada to children’s charities across the country, and payment of Air Canada’s litigation costs of $5.5 million.
If you missed all the uproar last year about the Sony rootkit that was installed when a user played certain Sony BMG music CDs on his computer, Technology Review has done a cover story on it that reprises events very well. It’s in three parts:
Unfortunately, Firefox is like any other software - security holes are discovered by doing things with the software that the developers never comtemplated or never came up in testing. Firefox versions 1.5.0.2 and version 1.0.8 have been released to fix multiple security vulnerabilities that include the possibility of someone taking control of your computer. Once that happens, none of the personal data on your computer is safe - and doing things like online banking, online ordering, eBay purchases, etc. are risky or dangerous.
The newest version of Firefox is available here. The Secunia Security Advisory that details the vulnerabilities is here.
More and more people are buying and loving Macs. To make this choice simply irresistible, Apple will include technology in the next major release of Mac OS X, Leopard, that lets you install and run the Windows XP operating system on your Mac. Called Boot Camp (for now), you can download a public beta today.
(more…)
Zed, CBC Radio 3, and Mobile MUSE, have partnered with the Vancouver International Digital Festival (Vidfest) on a unique contest for all new media producers with a love of the mobile medium.
Starting April 3, 2006, the Vidfest 2006 Content A-Go-Go Mobile Challenge invites digital media creators to upload their podcasts, short films and documentaries, animation, music, and other digital creations.
With every upload, contestants will be entered to win one of five new 60GB Video iPods, each fully loaded with all the Content A-Go-Go submissions, plus additional amazing content from CBC Zed, CBC Radio3 and Vidfest.
(more…)
Remember when having a hard drive with a single gig was a big deal? Remember when it was hard to believe anyone would ever need more than that? Remember when it was hard to believe we’d ever need half of that? It wasn’t that long ago. And what about the needs of the not-too-distant future? Kate Greene of TechnologyReview.com writes:
Holographic storage company InPhase Technologies announced this week that it has broken a storage density record by writing 64.3 gigabytes of data onto a single square inch of disc space. This advance could eventually lead to a holographic disc that can hold more than 100 DVD-quality movies, according to the company. By comparison, magnetic disks, such as those in the hard drives of computers, can manage a storage density of about 37.5 gigabytes per square inch of disk.
The latest industry headlines, news scoops, reviews, opinions, press releases, virus alerts, security updates, and other time-sensitive information.
Tech News Watch Windows Fanatics Tech News Watch
