GMER. Tiny freeware program which detects and removes rootkits. Which makes it a handy little thing to keep around. You know, just in case.
GMER is an application that detects and removes rootkits . It scans for: # hidden processes # hidden threads # hidden modules # hidden services # hidden files # hidden Alternate Data Streams # hidden registry keys # drivers hooking SSDT # drivers hooking IDT # drivers hooking IRP calls # inline hooks
Posted Jan 16th 2008 3:52AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Features, Portable Video
var Perhaps overshadowed by yesterday’s MacBook Air announcement is Apple’s big move into movie rentals. The fact that all the majors have joined the on-line offering makes it a compelling service to say the least. That is, if it’s as easy to use as they say. Is it? Read on for the first hands-on.
So here we have the new Movie rentals section in iTunes. By our count, 150 films are available to rent at the moment. We’ll chalk that up to the initial ramp up with an expectation of a far beefier catalog in the hours and days ahead.
Hey, where’s the HD version Steve-o was showing off during the keynote? Oh right, HD flicks are only available when rented from Apple TV. What a gyp. Ah well, clicking “Rent Movie” anyway to see what we get for our $3.99 new release.
Yippee Ki-aye muther… we love debt!
Blah blah blah.
Done. But not really. Nothing happens. No download, no activity, just back to a blank page. Huh? Let’s go back and click “Rent Movie” again.
After that hiccup, we’re back in action. The movie has been added to the Downloads queue.
Go Bruce, go.
After 3 minutes and 100MB of data transfered to our disk we’re prompted with an option to start watching the film. Let’s do it.
Uh, we hear the audio but there’s no film. What the hell? Did we just burn lunch money for audio?
After fumbling around looking for the video in Spaces and Expose, we found it. Where? In that little corner window of iTunes. Obvious if you use iTunes regularly for video, not so for the vast majority of people who will be trying this for the first time. A click on the arrow will eventually bring up the Now Playing window.
Click the Now Playing window to expand.
Hello Bruce.
Ah… full screen on a 30-inch, 2560 x 1600 pixel LCD display. Honestly, it looks and sounds surprisingly good. Certainly better than we had expected.
The download continues. Video playback remains smooth throughout.
30 minutes later, the 1.5GB file is down over our 10Mbps DSL pipe.
A new “Rented Movies” directory shows up in our iTunes library. Clicking “More Info” gives you some more information about your rental. The expiration time appears in the upper-right corner. The 24-hour viewing clock is already ticking since we started watching the film during download. Really, who can wait the 30 day maximum before watching a film they just rented?
Don’t worry, Apple is happy to nag you about your rentals.
Damn, have to run out. Let’s try to transfer the rental to our iPods like Steve showed us during the keynote.
iPod plugged in, ready to sync and… er, what’s this? How come our Video tab looks nothing like Steve’s? Oh right, the rental transfers to iPods are for current generation “iPod classic, iPod nano with video and iPod touch models” only. Where’s the firmware love apple?
Conclusion
Despite the few quirks we experienced, the steps required to rent from iTunes were dead simple and the ability to play the movie after just a few minutes of clicking “rent movie” was a big plus for our Type A personalities. Assuming you have the bandwidth that is. Sure, we’re not talking HD video or 5.1 audio here. Nevertheless, the quality was surprisingly good when displayed full-screen on our 30-inch, 2560 x 1600 pixel display — even when sitting at keyboard-length from the monitor.
Perhaps the most telling result of our experience is this: we’re tempted to rent again, soon.
Posted Jan 16th 2008 5:25AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Laptops
Is Acer prepping to go head-to-head with ASUS in the surprisingly hot low-cost laptop market? A Chinese-language Commercial Times report says so. The laptops are expected to carry 8- and 9-inch displays when launched “late in the first quarter or early second quarter” and priced to compete directly with the Eee. Of course, ASUS is planning their own refresh about that time so Acer (and Everex) had better keep on its toes.
This is too sweet… I never knew anything like this existed but have you ever noticed how the picture and sound are sometimes out of sync while watching TV? Irritating isn’t it? This is known as lip sync error. And if you think you are alone with this problem, think again. Lip sync error affects a huge number of users of modern plasma TVs, LCD screens, DLP TVs and digital projectors. Felston’s digital audio delays solve the frustrating problem of lip sync error for anyone with an A/V amplifier or home theater system.
Felston digital audio delays work together with your existing A/V amplifier. It is compatible with any source that has a digital audio output, i.e.: any DVD player and many cable/satellite/HDTV receiver boxes. Sources with stereo (analog) audio output, e.g.: older cable/satellite receivers, can also be connected via a low-cost analog-to-digital converter.
The Felston unit connects between your source and A/V amplifier. It delays the audio signal reaching your amplifier by whatever you require so that sound and picture are once again in perfect sync.
Gimmie!
Suggested Price: $209.99
I hope you didn’t buy a new Apple laptop recently. Steve Jobs announced the MacBook Air at Macworld today.
The MacBook Air is the “World’s Thinnest Notebook” - even thinner than the Sony TZ, which is 0.8 to 1.2 inches thick. It’s so thin it fits in a manila envelope. Seriously. See the image below! Apple’s goal was to make a high performance 3 pound laptop, with a full size keyboard, and large display.
The MacBook Air is so thin, it only has 4 ports: USB 2.0, Micro-DVI, headphone jack and a MagSafe 45w power adapter plug.
So what did Apple leave out? An optical drive. If you really want one, Apple is selling an optional external USB powered SuperDrive for $99. So how do you install software or get files off of CD/DVD? Apple has a new piece of software called Remote Disc which can be installed on any Mac or PC on your wireless network and will let you borrow that machine’s optical drive.
MacBook Air features:
You can pre-order the MacBook Air today. Apple starts shipping them in 2 weeks.
In addition to the MacBook Air, Steve Jobs also made the following announcements at MacWorld today:
methodshop
Alltel has just added two new additions to their My Circle plan, now instead of the current 10, customers now have the option of choosing a 5 or 20 option as well. Each plan will give Alltel customers unlimited free calls to their chosen numbers, regardless of the type of phone it may be. Now instead of just being the My Circle Plan, you will have the option of the “My Circle 5,” “My Circle 10,” or the larger “My Circle 20” option, which will depend on which rate plan you are signed up for.
The 5 plan will be available to customers with a rate plan of $49.99, the 10 plan will be available to customers with a rate plan between $59.99-$79.99 and the 20 plan will go to those with a rate plan of $99.99 or higher.
Sounds like a great set of options to me, I would imagine that for most the 10 or 20 plan would pretty much give you unlimited calling. I only call maybe 10 people a month on a regular basis. Current Alltel customers can have this added to their current plan by giving customer service a call and requesting a switch. Don’t forget Alltel lets customers make plan changes at any time without penalizing you, so there is not any reason to not give them a call.
Read [Alltel]
Posted Jan 16th 2008 5:43AM by Thomas Ricker
If the idea of a $40 Plus! Pack gets your Vista-loin in a sweat then listen up. It appears that Microsoft might be launching a Microsoft Plus! Pack on February 15th. This according to that box art above discovered on the Canadian Future Shop site. However, the text found describing the Plus Pack appears to be describing Vista Ultimate which makes the whole thing a tad, shall we say, suspect. Hey, who needs Vista Ultimate Extras anyway when you can have “4 Games in one!”?
[Via WinBeta]
Posted Jan 16th 2008 2:47AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Rest assured, we’ve seen a fair amount of totally sexy music makers in our day, but Peter Bennett’s BeatBearing has instantly become one of our favorites. The project is described as a “simple tangible user interface that uses ball bearings to program a sequencer,” and it enables the user to create a myriad melodies using sounds from the basic components of a drum kit. As with most musical things, this truly is better appreciated through video, so do yourself a favor and click on through to see it in action. And yes, we too are waiting in tense anticipation for this thing to go commercial.
[Via Technabob]
Is there some celebrity you secretly (or evenly openly) admire and whose autograph you would absolutely love to have? Well, if there is, chances are your quest is over, unless of course you seeking the signatures of Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan, or others who are not only dead but unavailable in the truest sense of the word.
Thanks to Mobile Fun, a popular mobile accessory and content provider, autograph collectors now have an easier way to collect their favorites. Of course, like everything else it life, there is a price tag; namely, $10 each to get their autographs directly onto your phone in the form of a wallpaper. Some notables include: literary great, Charles Dickens and megalomaniac lunatics and mass murderers Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler. (There is truly no accounting for the tastes of some.)
Mobile Fun is also currently involved in a very complicated system to get current celebrities to sign up and cash in by having their autographs distributed. According to Mr. Ruslan G. Fedorovsky, newly appointed Head of Mobile Fun:
“We already have lots of famous actors, sportsmen and even politicians, ready and waiting to use our Autographs System to sell their autographs for tens of thousands of pounds.”
Simon Aston, Premium Autographs System Product Manager of Mobile Fun added:
“Modern mobile phones have enough memory for avid autograph collectors to carry up to 10,000 copyright-protected autographs in their back pocket.”
So what are you waiting for? Get you red-hot autographs now!
Via [MobileWhack]
The Cloudbook is now official and will be available beginning in late January at Walmart.com and will retail for the magic price of $399. With an overall set of specs this should make a nice alternative to the Eee PC.
The Everex Cloudbook will be officially know as the CE1200V and will feature a 7-inch WVGA TFT display, 1.2GHz VIA C7-M ULV mobile processor, digital video output (DVI-I), 4-in-1 card reader and a 1.3-megapixel webcam. In addition the CE1200V will have a 4-cell lithium-ion battery that should offer around 5-hours of battery life and weighs just about 2-pounds. The major difference between the Eee PC and the new Cloudbook will be the 30GB hard drive that is included in the Cloudbook as opposed to the smaller 4 and 8GB flash-based drives of the Eee. Personally for a small mobile computer I would prefer the smaller flash-based storage.
With the success of the Eee PC this could mean good news for the Cloudbook, especially with the device being sold at Walmart.
Read [UMPC Portal]
