Tag: brides-cond

BlackBerry wants SEC to investigate “false reports” of Z10 returns

Yesterday, brokerage firm Detwiler Fenton claimed that more people were returning BlackBerry Z10s than had bought them at retail in the first place. Today, BlackBerry responded , saying not only that the Detwiler report was incorrect, but that it was going to ask the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US and the Ontario Securities Commission in Canada to review the report. Of the reports, BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said, “Return rate statistics show that we are at or below our forecasts and right in line with the industry. To suggest otherwise is either a gross misreading of the data or a willful manipulation. Such a conclusion is absolutely without basis and BlackBerry will not leave it unchallenged.” The smartphone company also noted that Detwiler refused to make its report or methodology available. How more phones could be returned than were sold isn’t clear. Detwiler Fenton is the same firm that predicted that Microsoft would sell 2-3 million Surface Pro units in the fourth quarter of 2012, despite the fact that Microsoft explicitly said the device wouldn’t ship until three months after the Surface RT’s October launch. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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BlackBerry wants SEC to investigate “false reports” of Z10 returns

OS X 10.8.4 beta suggests 802.11ac is coming soon to a Mac near you

Amid the sea of text, a revealing phrase: 802.11ac. 9to5Mac Before rolling them out to the public through Software Update, Apple regularly releases beta versions of its minor OS X updates to registered developers and other selected testers. These patches are normally routine—a security patch here, a new driver there—but they occasionally reveal tidbits about where Apple is taking OS X and, by extension, its Mac lineup. A new build of OS X 10.8.4 was released to beta testers today, and 9to5Mac cracked it open in short order. Hidden in the operating system’s “WiFi-frameworks” folder is a brand-new reference to 802.11ac Wi-Fi , a new standard that promises bandwidth of up to 1.3Gbps. The fastest Wi-Fi chips in today’s Macs support 802.11n at speeds of either 450Mbps (for devices with three antennae like the iMac or MacBook Pro) or 270Mbps (for devices like the MacBook Air with only two antennae), making the new standard quite the potential upgrade. As with previous Wi-Fi upgrades, the new 802.11ac adapters and routers will also be backward-compatible with 802.11n, g, b, and a-based devices. Routers and adapters that support 802.11ac first began to appear on the market last year, and have slowly proliferated as the months have gone on. We saw quite a few 802.11ac routers at this year’s CES , and 802.11ac chips from the likes of Broadcom should begin to show up in many consumer devices this year. Even some smartphones (the HTC One in particular) are beginning to ship with the new standard, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if Apple made the jump in this year’s Macs. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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OS X 10.8.4 beta suggests 802.11ac is coming soon to a Mac near you

Intel wants to kill the traditional server rack with 100Gbps links

If Intel gets its way, old-school server racks will go the way of the dinosaurs. David Monniaux Intel is working to replace the traditional server rack with a more efficient architecture that separates CPU, storage, power, and networking resources into individual components that can be swapped out as needed. Power and cooling would be shared across CPUs, rather than having separate power supplies for each server. Server, memory, network, and storage resources would all be disaggregated and shared across the rack. Incredibly fast interconnects will be needed to prevent slowdowns because disaggregating components pushes them further apart, and Intel is thus building an interconnect that’s capable of 100Gbps. “We are developing a rack-scale architecture,” Lisa Graff, VP and general manager of Intel’s data center marketing group, said in a briefing with reporters last week. “We’re working with end users, OEMs, and ISVs to drive common standards in a reference architecture.” Read 18 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Intel wants to kill the traditional server rack with 100Gbps links

Ubuntu “Raring Ringtail” hits beta, disables Windows dual-boot tool

A ring-tailed cat, a type of raccoon and inspiration for Ubuntu Raring Ringtail. Wikimedia Commons Ubuntu 13.04, scheduled for release on April 25, is now available for testing in its second and final beta release. Nicknamed “Raring Ringtail,” Ubuntu 13.04 is one of the final releases that’s just for desktops and servers. By this time next year, Canonical intends to release a single version of Ubuntu targeting all form factors, including smartphones and tablets. Ubuntu developers decided to disable a tool that allows easy installation of Ubuntu alongside an existing Windows instance. Wubi, short for Windows-based Ubuntu Installer, lets users install Ubuntu on the same disk partition as a Windows instance. “Due to various bugs in Wubi that have not been addressed in time for this Final Beta, the Ubuntu team will not be releasing the Wubi installer with 13.04,” a Raring Ringtail technical overview states . “Combined with the fact that Wubi has not been updated to work with Windows 8, and the focus on mobile client over desktop, the Foundations team does not expect Wubi to be in a releasable state for 13.04.” This doesn’t mean users can’t dual-boot Windows and Ubuntu. Without Wubi, dual-booting is slightly more complicated to set up and requires separate disk partitions. Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Ubuntu “Raring Ringtail” hits beta, disables Windows dual-boot tool

Apple says VPN changes coming in iOS thanks to VirnetX verdict

Apple has been forced to change how iOS devices use VPN following a $368.2 million patent verdict in favor of patent and research firm VirnetX. The company wrote about the changes in a support document posted to its website on Thursday (hat tip to AppleInsider ), saying the behavior of VPN On Demand would be different from expected starting with iOS 6.1, and the changes would come in an update that will be released this April. “Due to a lawsuit by VirnetX, Apple will be changing the behavior of VPN On Demand for iOS devices using iOS 6.1 and later,” Apple wrote. “This change will be distributed in an update later this month.” The changes are relatively minor—devices with VPN On Demand configured to “always” will instead behave as if they’re set up to “establish [a connection] if needed.” Apple says the device in question will then only establish a new VPN On Demand connection if it’s not able to resolve the DNS of the host it wants to reach (these settings can currently be found within Settings > General > VPN). Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Apple says VPN changes coming in iOS thanks to VirnetX verdict

Report: Xbox 360 successor can tolerate only brief Internet interruptions

Kotaku is citing two unnamed sources that it says “have a perfect track record in getting these kinds of things right” to report that Microsoft’s follow-up to the Xbox 360 will need a working Internet connection to start games and apps. And the site goes on to write that the system will only tolerate brief interruptions in that connection while the game or app is being used. “Unless something has changed recently, Durango consumer units must have an active Internet connection to be used,” one source told the site, referring to the internal code name for Microsoft’s next system. “If there isn’t a connection, no games or apps can be started. If the connection is interrupted, then after a period of time—currently three minutes, if I remember correctly—the game/app is suspended and the network troubleshooter started.” Another source said this requirement was still in effect on development hardware as recently as two weeks ago. Information suggesting that the next Microsoft console will need to be online is nothing new; numerous leaks and rumors have pointed in that direction throughout the last year or so. However, this is the first serious suggestion that such connectivity would need to be more or less continuous while a game is being played, rather than just checked once when a game or app is launched. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Report: Xbox 360 successor can tolerate only brief Internet interruptions

Apple puts age ratings front and center on app product pages

The old App Store app page layout, left, and new layout, right. Apple has pushed the age ratings for its App Store apps to the top of the product pages in an effort to make buyers, especially parents, more aware of the type of content they’re getting. The age ratings are now directly below the app-maker’s name, and they sit above the user ratings. Apple has faced some disgraces lately with apps that have gained the spotlight only to blindside unexpecting users with adult content. The short-video sharing app Vine was featured as an App Store Editors’ Choice shortly before porn surfaced within the app’s Editors’ Picks ; the image-sharing app 500px was also yanked for its pornographic pictures. Both apps now have a 17+ rating slapped on them. While Apple’s new prominent app ratings won’t solve the unpredictable-user-generated-content problem, they will get parents and guardians to pay more attention to what kinds of apps they are downloading. This change also follows Apple’s addition of an “Offers In-App Purchases” label to app product pages to help account-owning parents anticipate which apps will allow their kids to wantonly bill items within an app—before they get the credit card bill. Read on Ars Technica | Comments

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Apple puts age ratings front and center on app product pages

How the maker of TurboTax fought free, simple tax filing

This story was co-produced with NPR . Imagine filing your income taxes in five minutes—and for free. You’d open up a prefilled return, see what the government thinks you owe, make any needed changes and be done. The miserable annual IRS shuffle, gone. It’s already a reality in Denmark, Sweden, and Spain . The government-prepared return would estimate your taxes using information your employer and bank already send it. Advocates say tens of millions of taxpayers could use such a system each year, saving them a collective $2 billion and 225 million hours in prep costs and time, according to one estimate. Read 49 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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How the maker of TurboTax fought free, simple tax filing

Jeff Bezos’ new patent envisions tablets without processors, batteries

Bezos’ “remote display” patent envisions tablets and e-readers that are just screens—power and processing is provided wirelessly by a central system. US Patent & Trademark Office It seems like everyone is trying to jump on the cloud computing bandwagon, but Amazon Chairman and CEO Jeff Bezos wants to take it to a whole new level. GeekWire reports  that he and Gregory Hart have filed a patent for “remote displays” that would get data and power from a centrally located “primary station.” The tablets or e-readers would simply be screens, and the need for a large internal battery or significant local processing power would theoretically be obviated by the primary station. The patent sees processors and large internal batteries as the next major roadblocks in the pursuit of thinner and lighter devices. “The ability to continue to reduce the form factor of many of today’s devices is somewhat limited, however, as the devices typically include components such as processors and batteries that limit the minimum size and weight of the device. While the size of a battery is continuously getting smaller, the operational or functional time of these smaller batteries is often insufficient for many users.” The full patent is an interesting read, since it presents other potential use cases for these “remote displays” that wouldn’t necessarily need to wait on this theoretical fully wireless future-tablet to come to pass. For example: a camera or sensor could detect when a hand is passed over an e-reader display and respond by turning the page. A touch-sensitive casing could detect when a child is handling a display by measuring things like the length and width of their fingers and then disable purchasing of new content or the ability to access “inappropriate” content. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Jeff Bezos’ new patent envisions tablets without processors, batteries

Solar power, white spaces bring 16Mbps broadband to towns without electricity

Microsoft White space networks haven’t exactly revolutionized Internet access in the US, but that doesn’t mean the technology can’t have a major impact in countries that lack consistent access to the Internet. The latest project showing the power of white spaces is unfolding in Kenya, where a solar-powered network is bringing the Internet to people who aren’t even connected to an electric grid. Microsoft deployed the network last month in conjunction with Kenyan government officials. It is serving a health care clinic in Burguret, a primary and secondary school in Male (that’s pronounced “mah-lay”), a secondary school in Gakawa, and a library in Laikipia. The network will be expanded to 20 locations in the coming months. “Down in the valley, nobody has electricity,” Paul Garnett, director of technology policy at Microsoft, told Ars. Garnett has been shuttling back and forth between the US and Kenya to get the white spaces network up and running, and he gave me an update on the project in a recent phone interview. Read 17 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Solar power, white spaces bring 16Mbps broadband to towns without electricity