Tech Industry

4,113 'Tech Industry' stories June 2007 - November 2012

Use Sophos antivirus? Watch out

Seth Weintraub Nov 5 2012 - 12:19 pm PT

A working exploit for Sophos 8.0.6 on Mac is available, however the
techniques used in the exploit easily transfer to Windows and Linux,
due to multiple critical implementation flaws described in the paper.
Testcases for the other flaws described in the paper are available on
request.

Sophos responded with a post on the multiple vulnerabilities, and it responded over and over that “Sophos has seen no evidence of this vulnerability being exploited in the wild.” But, is that really good enough? How about issuing a fix in the two plus months that they’ve known about these issues? It only takes one wild exploit.

Sophos gave 9to5Mac the following comment:

Some were fixed last month, and for others we started rolling out patches to our users today. :-)

Users of Sophos products should be automatically updated, but if anyone wants to be sure they can initiate a manual update.
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Windows RT 32GB tablets actually only have 16GB of usable space nullifying storage cost advantage over iPad

Seth Weintraub Nov 5 2012 - 10:25 am PT

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Here’s the Fun FAQ for Microsoft Surface users who are wondering why the 32GB version they bought actually only has 16GB of usable space:

While Microsoft will certainly get off on the wrong foot here in terms of customer expectations, they are still technically accurate—at least in the old desktop world. When you buy a Windows/Mac machine with a 100GB HDD, you expect some of that (but certainly not half of it!) to be used by system software. However, with the paired-down iOS/Android OSes currently so optimized, you pretty much get what it says on the box.

We reported on a Microsoft Engineer last month, saying users would have more than 20 GB of space.

This is part of Microsoft’s no compromises approach. You get a bunch of legacy stuff that requires a lot of legacy space.

[Via Engadget]

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First Nexus 10 reviews show off a laggy Android 4.2 (Video)

Jordan Kahn Nov 2 2012 - 10:25 am PT

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt1ZKiZaem8&feature=youtu.be&start=72]

Reviews are starting to hit the web for Google’s new Nexus 10 tablet, its first true 10-inch iPad competitor. Most reviewers are praising the device’s display—some even calling it equal to or better than the full-sized iPad’s Retina display. Hardware aside, it appears even the latest version of Android might be the biggest source of frustration as perfectly highlighted at 1:17 in The Verge’s hands-on review above.

Stay tuned for the 9to5Google review of the Nexus 10 this weekend.

OWC announces 480GB SSD upgrade for 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro

Jordan Kahn Oct 30 2012 - 9:46 am PT

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Like it does for the 15-inch model, OWC announced today it is offering its 480GB Mercury Aura Pro SSD for Apple’s new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro. As noted by OWC, the $580 aftermarket upgrade option will cost you approximately $220 less than Apple’s comparable 512GB built-to-order upgrade, and will also allow you to keep your original base flash module. The press release (below) also said additional capacities would be available sometime in November, while an OWC Envoy Pro Enclosure for re using the factory flash module will be landing in December:

Available in 480GB capacity for immediate ordering and with additional capacities to be announced in November, the 6G (6Gb/s) SandForce Driven Mercury Aura Pro offers rMBP owners up to nearly 3x more storage and/or backup capacity than the factory 128GB flash module… In addition to offering significantly more capacity over the factory base 128GB SSD, the 480GB Mercury Aura Pro offers a $220 savings over the comparable sized 512GB factory capacity upgrade costing $800. Savings, however, aren’t always measured just in dollars. A key benefit for Apple notebook owners when choosing an OWC SSD is the retention of the original factory flash module.

OWC Announces Mercury Aura Pro as Industry’s First Solid State Drive Upgrade for the New 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display

October 30, 2012, Woodstock, IL — Other World Computing (OWC®) http://www.macsales.com, a leading zero emissions Mac® and PC technology company, announced today the OWC Mercury Aura® Pro is the industry’s first high-performance Solid State Drive upgrade for the new 2012 13″ MacBook® Pro with Retina display (rMBP) computers introduced by Apple® last week.

Available in 480GB capacity for immediate ordering and with additional capacities to be announced in November, the 6G (6Gb/s) SandForce-Driven™ Mercury Aura Pro offers rMBP owners up to nearly 3x more storage and/or backup capacity than the factory 128GB flash module.

Offers $220 Savings, Continued Use of Factory Flash Module

In addition to offering significantly more capacity over the factory base 128GB SSD, the 480GB Mercury Aura Pro offers a $220 savings over the comparable sized 512GB factory capacity upgrade costing $800. Savings, however, aren’t always measured just in dollars. A key benefit for Apple notebook owners when choosing an OWC SSD is the retention of the original factory flash module.

When upgrading directly with the factory, consumers pay for the base flash capacity module, but do not get that original base flash module returned to them for re-use. Thanks to the OWC Envoy Pro USB 3.0 bus-powered portable enclosure (available late December), rMBP owners upgrading with a Mercury Aura Pro SSD can re-task the original factory flash module as an external drive for additional storage and/or backup duty.

Expert Tested and Reviewed

Several leading technology sites have noted the Mercury Aura Pro’s performance advantage compared to the Apple factory SSDs. Electronista.com pointed out “new and improved” Apple SSDs reach read speeds of 461MB per second and write speeds of 364MB per second, while the Mercury Aura Pro is rated at up to 500MB/s. Expert SSD industry source TheSSDReview.com found LSI SandForce-Driven™ based SSDs offer “excellent performance” over 500MB/s and that these SSDs “excel in highly compressible data testing which is the bread and butter of typical consumer use.” The Mac Observer performed extensive benchmark testing and declared “The Aura Pro SSD outperforms the Apple SSD in nearly every way. For rMBP owners (or soon-to-be-owners) who ordered a model with the stock SSD, the upgrade to the Aura Pro is a no brainer if you need more capacity, speed, or both.”

Pricing, Availability
The Mercury Aura Pro for the 2012 13″ MacBook Pro with Retina display is available immediately for $579.99. Additional capacity models will be announced and made available for ordering in November. For more information on the Mercury Aura Pro for 2012 MacBook Pro with Retina display, visit: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Aura_Pro_Retina_2012/

“When we introduced the Mercury Aura Pro for the 15″ MacBook Pro with Retina display this past June, we had received significant user feedback that the factory base 256GB flash capacity just wasn’t adequate,” said Larry O’Connor, Founder and CEO, Other World Computing. “Considering that the new 13″ models offer as little as 128GB standard, the need for greater capacity is quite apparent. The Mercury Aura Pro offering nearly 3x the capacity, higher performance, and the ability to reuse the factory drive as a high speed external drive is an unbeatable combination upgrade value.”

New Model Continues OWC’s First-to-Market Streak

The Mercury Aura Pro for the 2012 13″ rMBP continues OWC’s two-year streak as being the first manufacturer offering an SSD upgrade for the latest Apple notebook computers. There’s an Aura Pro/Envoy enclosure bundle for 2010 and 2011 MacBook Air computers and an Aura Pro SSD upgrade for 2012 MacBook Air owners.

In addition offering first and only upgrades for the latest Apple machines, OWC also offers world record-breaking 3G (3Gb/s) and 6G (6Gb/s) Mercury SSDs for nearly every Mac and PC produced over the past decade in capacities from 30GB to 1TB with prices starting from $49.99. For more information on the complete OWC Mercury SSD line, including expert benchmark reviews, visit: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/.

For more information on the OWC catalog of over 2,900 performance upgrades and accessories, or for reseller inquires, visit: http://eshop.macsales.com/

If Apple adopted Samsung’s product strategy

Jake Smith Oct 30 2012 - 8:24 am PT

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[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J2Au80BmHc”]

Google’s launches Android holiday lineup: LG Nexus 4, Samsung Nexus 10, $299 4G 32GB Nexus 7

Jordan Kahn Oct 29 2012 - 10:16 am PT

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pHuoDqcIyqk]

Google is making some big product announcements today, despite having to cancel its event due to Hurricane Sandy. Among the announcements: a new Nexus smartphone from LG, a Samsung-built Nexus 10 tablet, and updates to Google’s 7-inch Nexus 7 lineup.

LG Nexus 4: Google is launching the much-rumored LG Nexus 4 on Nov. 13 starting at $299. Much of the specs were confirmed previously, but Google has interestingly decided to not offer an LTE-capable model of the device. It is, however, including a wireless charging dock. T-Mobile is Google’s premier launch partner for the Nexus 4. Full specs on 9to5Google.

Samsung Nexus 10: Clearly, Google’s iPad competitor, its new 10-inch offering, is a Samsung-built tablet that packs in iPad-like specs starting at $399. The Verge said its 10-inch 2,560-by-1,600-pixel resolution (same as 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro) display is “on par with the iPad’s Retina display, with sharp text, excellent color fidelity, and great viewing angles.” Full specs and more here.

Nexus 7: Google has also confirmed today that its 7-inch Nexus 7 lineup is being refreshed. Google’s iPad mini competitor will now start at $199 for 16GB, and it will offer a 32GB model for $249. Those are both Wi-Fi-only, but Google will also offer an HSPA+ 32GB model for $300, $30 less than Apple’s entry-level iPad mini. The 8GB model is gone. That 32GB HSPA+ Nexus 7 is going up the bigger iPad mini that starts at $329.

Head over to 9to5Google.com for more coverage of Google’s leaked product announcements. Oh, and Microsoft is launching Windows Phone 8 as well.

Philips launching app controlled ‘hue personal wireless lighting’ bulbs at Apple Stores tomorrow

Jordan Kahn Oct 29 2012 - 7:09 am PT

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT5W_Mjuz5I]

Philips announced today that it would launch what it called “the world’s smartest LED bulb” exclusively at Apple stores starting tomorrow. The bulbs themselves work like any standard light bulb, but they use a bridge plugged into your router to allow you to personalize lighting settings and timers. This of course is not the first app-enabled product for the home to hit Apple Stores. Apple already sold the first and second-generation of the Nest Learning Thermostat.

The hue bulbs provide all “shades of white, from warm white light to cold with light,” as well as a selection of colors and pre-programmed settings. You can even use a photo from your device as a color palette and save and program settings to activate at certain times of day. Philips said the hue bulbs consume 80 percent less power than traditional bulbs.

Philips will sell a hue starter kit at Apple stores tomorrow that consists of three 50Watt hue bulbs and the hue bridge. That will sell for $199. You’ll also have the ability to purchase additional individual bulbs for $60 and add up to 50 to your existing hue bridge.

Philips is even offering the hue app and an open source platform to developers:

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Ron Johnson’s leadership lessons from Apple: No shortcuts and shield team from tough times

Jordan Kahn Oct 25 2012 - 12:04 pm PT

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Fortune is asking 21 luminaries the best advice they ever got. One of them is Apple’s former Senior Vice President of Retail Ron Johnson:

-Ron Johnson (CEO of J.C. Penney) on leadership lessons from Apple and how he’s applying them to his new position: “I remember when Apple went through a tough period. I didn’t feel the pain as much as Steve [Jobs] did. When you are in the leadership position, the tough times can be much more difficult, because your job is really to shield your team through that, to keep them from taking shortcuts. We are building J.C. Penney for the next century. It’s not about the quarter or the year.”

Here’s what early reviews of Microsoft’s new Surface tablet are saying

Jake Smith Oct 23 2012 - 9:17 pm PT

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Early reviews for Microsoft’s new Surface tablet have been released this evening, giving us a look at the company’s supposed “saving grace.” According to the pundits who got their hands on it early, things aren’t looking too good for Microsoft. Many are complaining about a lack of apps, awkwardness of the Windows 8 RT operating system, and a buggy platform. It sounds like the iPad will remain unchallenged by Microsoft…for now.

Wired:

The Verge:

It does the job of a tablet and the job of a laptop half as well as other devices on the market, and it often makes that job harder, not easier. Instead of being a no-compromise device, it often feels like a more-compromise one.

There may be a time in the future when all the bugs have been fixed, the third-party app support has arrived, and some very smart engineers in Redmond have ironed out the physical kinks in this type of product which prevent it from being all that it can be. But that time isn’t right now — and unfortunately for Microsoft, the clock is ticking.

ABCNews

The Surface is full of potential, but until its software performance and apps are as strong as its hardware, I, unfortunately, will still drag both a laptop and an iPad through security.

TIME:

My 48-year-old eyeballs have no trouble telling the difference between iPad Retina text and the Surface’s ClearType — but overall, the Surface’s screen is one of the best I’ve seen on a tablet.

The screen, incidentally, is 16:9, an aspect ratio designed with Windows 8′s panoramic interface in mind. It lets you see more apps without panning, and is well suited to the feature that allows you to snap a widget-like version of one app on the side of the primary program you’re using. Microsoft thinks Surface buyers will use the tablet mostly in landscape mode; it works in portrait orientation too, although the aspect ratio leaves it looking like a small-but-tall magazine.

Gizmodo:

In the end though, this is nothing more than Microsoft’s tablet. And a buggy, at times broken one, at that, whose “ecosystem” feels more like a tundra. There’s no Twitter or Facebook app, and the most popular 3rd party client breaks often. The Kindle app is completely unusable. There’s no image editing software. A People app is supposed to give you all the social media access you’d ever need, but It’s impossible to write on someone’s Facebook wall through the People app, Surface’s social hub; the only workaround is to load Internet Explorer. Blech. Something as simple as loading a video requires a jumbled process of USB importing, dipping in and out of the stripped-down desktop mode, opening a Video app, importing, going back into the Video app, and then playing. What.

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Zynga lays off over 100 employees during Apple keynote, discontinues ‘The Ville’ [Update: company memo]

Mike Beasley Oct 23 2012 - 12:59 pm PT

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[tweet https://twitter.com/303/status/260801024732827649]

Justin Maxwell tweeted during today’s Apple event that Zynga, the developers of popular iPhone and iPad games such as Words with Friends, has laid off over 100 employees at the company’s Austin, Texas location, giving them only two hours to vacate their offices.

According to The Next Web, the company also announced they would discontinue its clone of EA’s popular The Sims Social game, The Ville, and it may continue laying off employees by shutting down their Boston office in the near future.

Update 3:08PM: Zynga CEO Mark Pincus issued a note to employees confirming the layoffs. You can find it below.

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Samsung/Google’s new ARM-powered Chromebook looks like a MacBook Air, costs just $249

9to5 Staff Oct 18 2012 - 10:41 am PT

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The price is right, and the processor is an interesting choice (ARM), but unfortunately, the look is unmistakably Apple.
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Amazon making moves to displace iPads in schools

Jordan Kahn Oct 17 2012 - 11:34 am PT

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We know Apple has had a lot of success pushing iPads in education, and during Apple’s Q3 conference call, CEO Tim Cook said the company would continue to be “very aggressive”. Apple’s iPad 2 sales in the K-12 market doubled y-o-y in Q3 thanks to a price drop to $399. In Q2, Apple said it sold about a million iPad units to the United States education market. With Apple’s upcoming iPad mini announcement possibly bringing an even lower price point for iPads in education, Amazon is announcing its plans today to get Kindle tablets into schools.

Reuters reported today that Amazon is launching a service, called “Whispercast”, aimed at allowing schools to easily deploy and manage multiple kindle devices:

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Sharp announces first IGZO 7-inch tablet, claims battery life increased over 2X with new tech rumored for Apple’s mini iPad

Jordan Kahn Oct 17 2012 - 6:35 am PT

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We heard reports in the past that Apple passed on Sharp’s IGZO display tech for the third-generation iPad due to Sharp not having the tech ready in time. Going with Sharp’s IGZO tech would have allowed for a thinner display assembly, a brighter display with less LEDs, and the ability to use a smaller battery or extend battery life specs as a result. It could have also helped shave off some of the increased weight and depth of the new iPad. These are all things we witnessed first hand when we got up close and personal with a few IGZO demos at IFA this year. Sharp is announcing today its first 7-inch tablet to use the display technology, claiming the 1,280-by-800 IGZO display allows for 2.5 times the battery life from the tablet’s 2,040mAh battery (via ComputerWorld).

With the iPad mini launch coming later this month, it is a possibility the tech is finally ready for Apple to take advantage. Sharp also has 10-inch and 13-inch variants of the IGZO displays, but the 7-inch would of course make a lot of sense for iPad mini given what we already know about the device. Apple’s ability to increase battery life, or simply have the ability to use a smaller battery (in a smaller form factor) while maintaining battery life specs, is just one benefit. Another big benefit for Apple would be narrow borders: rumor has it—which is something we also talked about a lot in the past—the iPad mini will have a much narrower border than previous-generation iPads. Sharp told us its IGZO LCDs can be built with a bezel under 2mm, and it was showing off a demo display with a 1.75mm border at IFA. That would definitely fit the bill for the narrow-border, one-handed experience we expect from iPad mini.
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Microsoft’s entertaining Surface Stomp commercial still doesn’t show how it works [Video]

9to5 Staff Oct 15 2012 - 7:12 pm PT

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Great commercial—except they did not really show how or if it even works. It reminds me more of an iPod shuffle commercial than a hybrid tablet/laptop introduction.

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SNL switches from Final Cut Pro to CS6/Adobe Premiere Pro

Jordan Kahn Oct 15 2012 - 8:48 am PT

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJh2eylm5BY]

Pros are apparently still not happy about the recent overhaul of Final Cut Pro X: Adobe linked us to story from StudioDaily about Saturday Night Live’s Film Unit making the switch from Final Cut to CS6 following the release of Final Cut Pro X:

The turning point, says Epstein, came when Apple released Final Cut Pro X. “We thought, ‘Well, this just isn’t going to work at all.’ So much of what I do is After Effects-specific, so when CS5.5 came along with Dynamic Linking—definitely the killer feature for me thus far—we decided to try that out on a simple piece featuring Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell toward the end of last season. It went so smoothly that once CS6 came out, we decided to dial the full workflow in and make sure it fit our needs. So far, it really has.”

Japanese Softbank taking 70 percent stake of US carrier Sprint for $20B

9to5 Staff Oct 14 2012 - 1:59 pm PT

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As rumored last week, Japanese Softbank has taken a controlling 70 percent stake in Sprint according to CNBC:

Softbank and Sprint have reached a deal under which Softbank will pay $20 billion for a 70 percent stake in the wireless telecom operator, according to people close to the situation.

Softbank will buy $8 billion worth of shares directly from Sprint and tender for another $12 billion worth of the shares from existing holders.

(Update: Confirmed by Sprint)

The deal will allow Sprint to purchase the half of Clearwire that it does not already own, according to the report. Softbank expects to take use of its expertise in LTE networks to bolster Sprints position in the market.

AT&T is now the sole remaining U.S. carrier not under foreign control. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture with Vodafone, while T-Mobile is obviously German.

Sprint and Softbank both carry Apple’s iPhone. Softbank was the original Japanese carrier while Sprint was the third U.S. carrier to adopt the iconic phone.

The deal is expected to close in roughly six months.

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Apple poaches top Samsung chip designer for its staff

Jake Smith Oct 11 2012 - 1:18 pm PT

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The Wall Street Journal reported that Samsung chip designer Jim Mergard has left the South Korean-based company to work for Apple. According to the report, Mergard’s duties before his short stint at Samsung were to lead the development of a “high-profile AMD chip that carried the code name Brazos and was designed for low-end portable computers.”

Mergard’s work at Samsung was rumored to be focused on building ARM chips for servers. It would be interesting to see Apple pick up this capacity.

Apple and Samsung have an intense rivalry in the smartphone space, but Samsung produces all of Apple’s Ax processors. Samsung opened a factory in Austin, Texas just last year that is responsible for making chips to power Apple’s iOS devices.

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Apple lands No. 2 spot for ‘most inDemand employer’ globally, considered desirable among students and recent grads

Élyse Betters Oct 11 2012 - 11:19 am PT

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Apple just landed the No. 2 spot on LinkedIn’s fresh list of most “inDemand” employers from around the world.

The occupation-aimed social network pinpointed the most attractive companies for job seekers, and it subsequently broadcasted the list, along with its new Most InDemand Employers website, at the Talent Connect event in Las Vegas this afternoon. LinkedIn further detailed a few insights regarding the results, including: tech/software as the most represented on the list, consumer brands ranked highly, and 50-percent of the top 100 companies had under 7,000 employees.

Apple also earned third-place in the United States, just behind Walt Disney, and students and recent graduates perceive it as the second-best possible employer after Google.

Check out more details in the infographic below, or read LinkedIn’s blog post to learn more about the list’s ranking metrics.

This article is cross-posted on 9to5Google.

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Report: Softbank in talks to buy Sprint for $19B

Jordan Kahn Oct 11 2012 - 6:15 am PT

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Update: Sprint provided the following statement to The Wall Street Journal:

Sprint (NYSE: S) today confirmed that it is currently engaged in discussions with Softbank regarding a potential substantial investment by Softbank in Sprint. Although there can be no assurances that these discussions will result in any transaction or on what terms any transaction may occur, such a transaction could involve a change of control of Sprint. Sprint does not intend to comment further unless and until an agreement is reached.

According to a report from Nikkei (via Bloomberg), Japan’s Softbank, the third-largest mobile carrier in the country, is currently seeking to acquire two-thirds of U.S.-based Sprint Nextel Corp. The price is rumored at roughly $19 billion USD and would make AT&T the last fully U.S.-based carrier:

Softbank Corp. (9984), Japan’s third- largest mobile-phone company, is in talks to buy control ofSprint Nextel Corp. (S), according to two people familiar with the matter…The deal would give Softbank a base for entering the U.S. market with a compatible carrier that uses similar equipment made by Sweden’s Ericsson AB, the Nikkei reported.

Google Chairman talks Maps and Apple

Jordan Kahn Oct 11 2012 - 5:32 am PT

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Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt sat down for an AllThingsD talk last night with Walt Mossberg. Among other topics, they not-surprisingly discussed Android and his thoughts on Apple. Much of the talk centered around Schmidt’s thoughts on the Android-Apple platform fight, which he called “the defining fight in the industry today.” He also noted there is a “huge race specifically between Apple and the Android platform for additional features,” and he commented on Apple’s Maps situation:

The Android-Apple platform fight is the defining contest. Here’s why: Apple has thousands of developers building for it. Google’s platform, Android, is even larger. Four times more Android phones than Apple phones. 500 million phones already in use. Doing 1.3 million activations a day. We’ll be at 1 billion mobile devices in a year.

At the 17:30 mark, Schmidt began to talk about Apple’s new Maps app controversy: “Apple should have kept with our maps”…
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Gartner and IDC see Apple’s share of declining US PC market grow to 12.5-percent to 13.6-percent

Jordan Kahn Oct 10 2012 - 2:42 pm PT

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Both IDC and Gartner are out with their reports for PC shipments in the third quarter today. While Apple is not in the top five vendors for worldwide shipments, estimates from the two firms place Apple’s share of the United States market at 12.5-percent to 13.6-percent.

According to IDC’s numbers (above), Apple captured 12.5-percent of U.S. PC shipments in the third quarter. This is up from 11.8-percent in the same quarter last year. Apple faced a year-over-year unit decline of 7 percent, but market leaders HP and Dell posted shipment declines of 18.8-percent and 16 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, shipments for the U.S. market in total were down 12.4-percent.

In comparison, the same numbers from Gartner have the total market decline at 13.8-percent. Apple hit 13.6-percent of the U.S. market, where as it had a 12.5-percent estimate for Q3 2011. Estimates from both firms put Apple’s market position firmly behind HP and Dell, despite IDC estimating fourth-place Lenovo’s growth at over 9 percent for the quarter:

Four of the top 5 vendors in the U.S. market experienced shipment declines. HP maintained the No. 1 position in the U.S. market despite a shipment decline of 19.3 percent (see Table 2). Lenovo was the only vendor among the top 5 to increase shipments. Both Acer and Toshiba shipments declined significantly due to the tough environment in the consumer market. Apple expected to have a PC shipment decline due to softness in the public market, but the company faced a slowdown in the consumer market.

LaCie updates Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series with SATA III SSDs and speeds up to 635MB/s

Jordan Kahn Oct 9 2012 - 10:46 am PT

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LaCie issued a press release today announcing an update to its Little Big Disk Thunderbolt series that now includes a pair of 2.5-inch SATA III SSDs. The new Little Big Disk provides read speeds up to 635MB/s, according to the company, approximately a 33 percent increase from the previous generation. It is also capable of daisy chaining up to six devices via its dual Thunderbolt ports:

The product features a pair of 2.5” SATA III SSDs. A RAID array can be configured using the Mac OS Disk Utility for performance (RAID 0) or security (RAID 1). It supports daisy chaining up to six compatible devices such as displays and other peripherals.

An example of just how quick the it is: LaCie said the new Little Big Disk can transfer a 50GB project in under two minutes or edit six uncompressed 422 streams simultaneously…
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Sprint says ‘accidental dual fibercut’ on network causing nationwide outages, attempting to fix issues

Élyse Betters Oct 8 2012 - 12:09 pm PT

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Update: Sprint tells us service is restored.

A widespread network outage on Sprint’s network started at 7:30 a.m. PST today and hit Portland, Ore., Seattle and Tacoma Wash., Minneapolis, Minn., and San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif. Sprint just confirmed it is working diligently to fix the issue.

Sprint’s statement to 9to5Mac:

“Earlier this morning, an accidental dual fibercut occurred on Sprint’s network causing a disruption in data and voice services for some Sprint customers in parts of Portland, Oregon; Seattle and Tacoma Washington; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and San Francisco and Sacramento, California. Sprint network technicians are working aggressively to resolve this issue and we hope to have service restored soon.”

This article is cross-posted on 9to5Google.

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Apple teams up with W3C, Google, Facebook, & others for new Web Platform developer resource

Jordan Kahn Oct 8 2012 - 8:29 am PT

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ug6XAw6hzaw]

A new website recently launched by the W3C, in partnership with a number of the biggest tech companies, aims to be the ultimate resource for developers looking for information on HTML5, CSS3, and other open-web standards. Accessible at webplatform.org, the new website includes documents, forums, chat, and tutorials, and it will act as a Wiki of sorts in an attempt to “become a comprehensive and authoritative source for web developer documentation.” Apple, Adobe, Facebook, Google, HP, and Microsoft are among the many contributors to the project.

This site has the backing of some of the biggest players on the Web: Adobe, Apple, Facebook, Google, HP, Microsoft,Mozilla, Nokia, and Opera. These organizations are stewards for the project, enabling W3C to convene the community and grow the site. Beyond their strong organizational commitment, dedicated individuals from these organizations have invested time to make this happen… WebPlatform.org will have accurate, up-to-date, comprehensive references and tutorials for every part of client-side development and design, with quirks and bugs revealed and explained.

It will have in-depth indicators of browser support and interoperability, with links to tests for specific features. It will feature discussions and script libraries for cutting-edge features at various states of implementation or standardization, with the opportunity to give feedback into the process before the features are locked down. It will have features to let you experiment with and share code snippets, examples, and solutions. It will have an API to access the structured information for easy reuse. It will have resources for teachers to help them train their students with critical skills.

(via TNW)