Skip to content
Categories:

More Than 100,000 Google Wave Invites Being Sent Out

moregooglewaveinvites.pngStephanie Hannon, who is the Google Wave product manager, has tweeted that Google will be sending out more than the previously announced 100,000 invites to Google Wave. This should give some hope to people who were not amongst the very first to sign up for invites.

Hannon also mentions that that invites will go out in bursts rather than in a continuous stream, stating that “Some days lots of invites will go, some days none.”

If you are still looking for a Wave invite, there are websites popping up allowing users to share and receive invites, but they are predictably one-sided, with demand being much greater than supply. You are more likely to get one from a friend or eventually from Google directly.

Posted in Tech.

Tagged with , .

rev="post-357" No comments

By Antoniu – October 3, 2009

PwnageTool Adds Support for iPhone OS 3.1

PwnageTool has added support for the latest version of iPhone OS, 3.1. PwnageTool is used to jailbreak an iPhone or iPod touch to allow it to run third-party software that is not approved by Apple. This gives users access to alternative app stores with apps that would not have been approved by Apple for their App Store. While iPhone OS 3.1 has been out since last month, users with jailbroken iPhones have had to wait until now to update.

PwnageTool 3.1.3 supports all of the iPhone models and the first and second generation iPod touches, though there is currently no support for the third generation iPod touch. The update requires that you have a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch that is running iPhone OS 3.0 or 3.0.1, if you have already updated to 3.1 then the update does not work and there is no jailbreaking solution at the moment. Also, PwnageTool is a Mac OS X-only program, there is no Windows version.

pwnagetool.png

Posted in Tech.

Tagged with , .

rev="post-355" No comments

By Antoniu – October 3, 2009

Facebook Now Available in Latin

facebooklatin.pngFacebook has been translated into Latin, adding to the more than 70 languages that it supports. The website has been translated into many languages, ranging from ones with millions of speakers, to those spoken by only a small community and some just for fun, such as “English (Pirate)”.

It cites the continued study of Latin as the reason for the translation, stating that:

“To students of Latin, the availability of the language on Facebook may be just what’s needed to narrow the distance between themselves and the venerable language. After all, the experience of studying Latin can frequently seem somewhat far and away. Even the readings prescribed by Latin teachers have an air of detachment about them: Cicero and Demosthenes, Caesar and Virgil.”

You can view Facebook in Latin by changing your language in the language tab under My Account.

Posted in Tech.

Tagged with .

rev="post-353" No comments

By Antoniu – October 2, 2009

Amazon Settles “1984” Deletion Lawsuit

1984.jpgIn July, Amazon remotely deleted copies of George Orwell’s “1984”, which ironically describes a world full of censorship and constant remote monitoring, from Kindles. This sparked a lawsuit from a high school student whose marginalia was useless with the book itself.

Amazon has settled the suit with the student and a co-plantiff, agreeing to pay $150,000 to their lawyers, according to TechFlash. As part of the settlement, Amazon also agreed not to remotely delete e-books unless:

“…(a) the user consents to such deletion or modification; (b) the user requests a refund for the Work or otherwise fails to pay for the Work (e.g., if a credit or debit card issuer declines to remit payment); (c) a judicial or regulatory order requires such deletion or modification; or (d) deletion or modification is reasonably necessary to protect the consumer or the operation of a Device or network through which the Device communicates (e.g., to remove harmful code embedded within a copy of a Work downloaded to a Device).”

Amazon faced a barrage of negative press when it deleted “1984”, though it later claimed that only illegally sold copies of the e-book were affected. Due to this, Amazon probably would not have deleted e-books in the future anyway, but this settlement commits them not to. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, has since apologized for the deletion, calling it “stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with [Amazon’s] principles.”

The complete settlement is available below:

Posted in Tech.

Tagged with , .

rev="post-335" No comments

By Antoniu – October 2, 2009

Website Allows People to Give and Receive Google Wave Invites

googlewaveinvites.pngGoogle Wave Invites is a website where you can request Google Wave invites if you need them or give them away if you have extra invites. While the website was created with good intentions, it is predictably one-sided, with 14939 invites requested and only 70 invites given, with 4 invites confirmed to have been received. The only way that the community there can survive is if the people who receive invites then give their invites back to the community, adding 7 invites to the system per invite received.

It only takes a minute to sign up there and there is a system in place for hiding your e-mail address from spammers, so it is worth it to try even if your chances of receiving an invite are slim. In the end, you are more likely to receive an invite from Google itself or from a friend than through the website. If you are already using Wave and have extra invites, you can donate them to the community there if you wish. The website may load slowly because of the high amount of traffic it is receiving.

[Image from Google Wave Invites]

Posted in Tech.

Tagged with , .

rev="post-332" No comments

By Antoniu – October 2, 2009

Malware Links Being Spread Via Facebook

Mashable reports that malware is being spread by fake Facebook accounts. This follows the Facebook phishing scam that made its rounds last week. While the goal of that scam was the steal Facebook account details, this new link sends users to a webpage that attempts to download malware onto visitors’ computers. The website falsely claims that the visitor’s computer has been infected by a virus and prompts him to install their antivirus program, which is actually malware. Unlike the previous scam, this one utilizes Facebook accounts that it creates rather than using compromised accounts to propagate the link. These accounts have pages like the one below:

facebookmalware.jpg
Firefox, and possibly other browsers as well, is already detecting the website as an attack site and warns the user before he goes on. Exercise caution when clicking on links from people you do not know well until Facebook is able to remove these accounts.
[Image from Mashable]

Posted in Tech.

Tagged with , .

rev="post-322" 1 comment

By Antoniu – October 1, 2009

Google Adds New Search Options

Google originally added search options in May, which allows users to filter search results by criteria such as date indexed, and has now added additional filters that can be used:

  • Past hour shows only the results that have been indexed within the last hour.
  • Specific data range shows results indexed within a certain time period.
  • More/Fewer shopping sites either shows or does not show sites that sell a product. For example, if you are looking for the best price on a product, you can enable more shopping sites, but if you are looking for reviews you can disable it.
  • Visited pages/not yet visited shows either pages that you have already visited or pages that you have not visited. You must be signed into a Google account and have web history enabled to use this filter.
  • Books, Blogs and News filters allow you to see results only from these sources.

googlesearchoptions.jpg

[Image from googleblog.blogspot.com]

Posted in Tech.

Tagged with .

rev="post-319" No comments

By Antoniu – October 1, 2009

MySpace Music Launches in Australia and New Zealand

MySpace announced that it has launched MySpace Music in Australia and New Zealand. The features it offers are the same as in the United States, allowing users to listen to licensed music, providing them an option of purchasing songs and allowing them to create and share playlists. The service will launch with featured playlists from several Australian politicians and artists, including Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, The Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbull, Environment Minister Peter Garrett Deputy Leader of the Opposition Julie Bishop and Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey as well as Missy Higgins and The Veronicas.

The ad-supported platform allows for unlimited streaming of music from EMI Music, Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as two indie music aggregators, The Orchard and IODA catalogues. In Australia, MySpace is offering users the option to download songs via iTunes, whereas in the United States it uses Amazon.

MySpace Music has seen a growth of 1,017% in annual traffic since its launch in September 2008, growing from 4.2 million unique visitors in September 2008 to 20 million in September 2009.

myspacemusicaustralia.jpg

Posted in Tech.

Tagged with .

rev="post-317" No comments

By Antoniu – October 1, 2009

Twitter Announces Lists

Twitter announced that it will soon add a new feature: lists. The feature will allow users to create lists of Twitter accounts to which other users can then subscribe. This provides an alternative to the suggested users list for new users looking to find interesting Twitter accounts to follow as they will be able to follow all of the Twitter accounts a trusted user has recommended with the click of a button. Lists will also have an API, allowing it to be integrated into third-party Twitter apps as well.

The feature is currently being tested by a select group of people, but will later be enabled for all users.

twitterlists.png

Posted in Tech.

Tagged with .

rev="post-314" No comments

By Antoniu – October 1, 2009

Google Wave Invites Going Out

googlewavenow.jpg After having been delayed earlier today, Mashable reports that, according to a tweet by Stephanie Hannon, who is the product manager for Google Wave, invites for Wave are now beginning to go out. The invites will take “many many many many hours” to get out, according to Hannon, so don’t be disappointed if you don’t get yours immediately.100,00 invites are going out to developers that have been active in the developer preview, the first users who signed up for an invite at wave.google.com and offered to give feedback and some Google Apps users.

If you haven’t signed up for an invite, you can do so at wave.google.com but you probably won’t get an invite at this time.

Posted in Tech.

Tagged with , .

rev="post-312" No comments

By Antoniu – September 30, 2009