Problems & Solutions –Tech Tuesday

Mon, 11 Nov 2008 14:42:36 GMT

posted by bluebadger

Today is about problems and solutions. Problems? Apple and Adobe have them. Those gorgeous MacBooks are sticking when they wake up and Adobe is still trying to get Flash fixed. Solutions? Microsoft and MySpace (that’s right) think they have those. Microsoft wants to open a rival to iTunes, and MySpace wants to build an iPod rival. “MyPod” perhaps? The jokes are endless. It’s Tech Tuesday.

New MacBooks Freezing Upon Wake-up

via MacWorld UK, November 10,2008

“Several users are reporting issues with new MacBooks freezing when waking from sleep, sometimes with the screen turned on but the cursor frozen and other times with the screen completely blank according to MacFixIt. A lengthy Apple Discussions thread includes comments from MacBook owners.

“Several times now my computer has completely frozen just after it comes out of sleep mode, and I’ve had to manually shut it down using the power button.”

“This is happening a few times a day for me now. It doesn’t always do it after sleep anymore either. No kernel panics, no warning, just frozen everything. The only option is a manual restart. Very infuriating. I should note that I just did a restart and it did it within 5 minutes. Also, I’m connected to a power outlet in every case.”

“The Apple error report states that it’s the Intel CPU Power Management is causing the problem. I clicked send report to Apple. Lets hope they fix it.”

“My MacBook is now two weeks old and nothing will wake it up. I had the problem from day one but as time went by it became worse, got to the point I was scared to close the lid.”

It is suggested Apple will issue a firmware update to address this and other issues with new MacBooks. In the meantime MacFixIt suggests can try not connecting or disconnecting any devices while the system is asleep, and disable the screen saver by setting the activation delay to “Never.”"

Microsoft to Launch Apple App Store Alternative

by Gregg Keizer, Computerworld, November 10,2008

“Following in both Apple and Google’s footsteps, Microsoft has announced plans to develop a software distribution scheme similar to Apple’s App Store.

However, Microsoft has no plans to mimic Apple, said CEO Steve Ballmer at a developers conference in Australia last week. Ballmer rejected the idea of using the open-source webkit rendering engine to power the company’s Internet Explorer (IE) web browser. Apple relies on webkit as the foundation of its Safari browser, as does Google for its Chrome browser.
Microsoft said it will soon launch a service that will let programmers sell their wares directly to consumers.

“I actually will agree that there’s some good work, particularly at Facebook and also with the iPhone, where both of those companies have made it easier for developers to distribute their applications,” Ballmer said when asked whether Microsoft would provide a way for developers to create software and distribute it directly to users.

“[They’ve] made it easier to kind of get exposure for your applications,” Ballmer continued. “There’s not much money being made, but the general concept of giving developers a way not only to get their code distributed, but to really get visibility for the code, is a good idea.”

Apple’s App Store, which launched in July along with the iPhone 3G, has been a phenomenal success, according to CEO Steve Jobs, with users downloading 200 million programs from the App Store since its debut. The online shop is the only officially sanctioned way to add new capabilities to an iPhone and features more than 5,500 applications. Facebook, meanwhile, has allowed third-party developers to market software on the social networking site since May 2007.

Ballmer hinted that something similar would be coming soon from Microsoft. “We debated long and hard before the [Professional Developers Conference] whether we ought to disclose some of the things that we’ve got in progress,” Ballmer said. The Professional Developers Conference (PDC) was held in the US last week.

“We decided the answer was ‘Not ready to talk about those yet’,” Ballmer continued. “But fear not, we’re hard at work, and you’ll see some of the benefits [of that] with some of the concepts, particularly Facebook’s.”

Ballmer’s lean toward Facebook makes sense. In June, Microsoft said it had prototyped a Facebook knock-off dubbed ‘TownSquare’ and was testing it inside the company. According to Microsoft, TownSquare was designed to run inside enterprises.”

MySpace Rival To iPod “Possible”

via MacWorld UK, November 10,2008

“Social networking website, MySpace, has said it would consider producing an iPod-challenging MP3 player for users to listen to tracks they have downloaded.

When questioned at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco last week, CEO Chris DeWolfe, one of the founders of MySpace, said such a device could be “possible,” but he added: “Right now, we’re just focusing on the service,” according to Reuters report about MySpace’s plans to produce an MP3 player.

DeWolfe also said that, for now, MySpace, is helping to drive iTunes sales. “If anything, we’ll be accretive to iPod sales, unless we develop a device.”

Currently MySpace and major music labels, including Sony BMG Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group allow users to access a range of new music services, including streaming, music and ringtone downloads, videos, ticketing and merchandising.

Warner Music Group Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman has said that MySpace is different from iTunes because it focused on “community and sharing” rather than simply selling music.”

Adobe Fixes 6 Flaws In Flash

by Gregg Keizer, Computerworld, November 10,2008

“For the second time in two days, Adobe Systems has warned users of multiple vulnerabilities in one of its most-popular programs and issued a security update to plug the holes.

Wednesday’s update was the fourth patch job on the ubiquitous Flash Player this year, and followed by one day an even larger collection of fixes for Adobe Reader, the Web’s default PDF (Portable Document Format) application.
The Flash Player update addressed six bugs in version 9.0.124.0 that run the range from cross-site scripting and information disclosure vulnerabilities to flaws that could be used to inject malicious HTML code in Web sites and launch “DNS rebinding” attacks.

Adobe first quashed DNS rebinding bugs in Flash in December 2007; the latest fix again credited researchers from Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley for reporting the flaw. DSN rebinding vulnerabilities, which make up a subset of cross-site scripting bugs, can let hackers circumvent firewalls and launch large-scale IP address hijacking attacks.

Another flaw fixed in the update also has a long history. “This update prevents an issue with the Flash Player interpretation of jar: protocol on Mozilla browsers that could potentially lead to information disclosure,” Adobe said in one of the accompanying advisory’s terse descriptions. Mozilla Corp. patched its Firefox browser nearly a year ago to crush a pair of bugs associated with the “jar:” protocol handler. At the time, the move was notable because Mozilla had let a fix languish for nine months.

Wednesday’s update brought the older version of Flash to version 9.0.151.0. Users running the newer Flash Player 10 do not need to update their software. Users can check which version of Flash Player they currently have installed by visiting this page on the Adobe site.”

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Technorati Tags:
Apple Products, iPod, iTunes, Mac, MacBook Pro, Microsoft, Operating Systems, Technology

iPods and iTunes - Articles - Zimbio

Problems & Solutions –Tech Tuesday

New MacBooks Freezing Upon Wake-up

via MacWorld UK, November 10,2008

Microsoft to Launch Apple App Store Alternative

by Gregg Keizer, Computerworld, November 10,2008

MySpace Rival To iPod “Possible”

via MacWorld UK, November 10,2008

Adobe Fixes 6 Flaws In Flash

by Gregg Keizer, Computerworld, November 10,2008