Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is my name and I see myself as a devoted and hard working software engineer striving to keep up to date with the latest inventions and technologies in the IT world. Likeness for writing is one of the reasons that brought me here.I relish and strive on facing challenges and coming out of them with flying colors.
Homepage: http://www.geekword.net/
Posts by Muhammad Ali
Microsoft will offer Family Pack for Windows 7
Jul 22nd
Previously, there have been rumors regarding the introduction of Family Pack for Windows 7. Well the rumors are no longer there since Microsoft has confirmed the news regarding the availability of Family Package. They will be providing family pack for Windows 7 Home Premium and will provide support at most 3 PCs. Brandon LeBlanc stated:
I know there have been some rumors going around about a “family pack” for Windows 7. We have heard a lot of feedback from beta testers and enthusiasts over the last 3 years that we need a better solution for homes with multiple PCs. I’m happy to confirm that we will indeed be offering a family pack of Windows 7 Home Premium (in select markets) which will allow installation on up to 3 PCs.
One thing that remains to be known is the price tag that this Package will be fixed with.
Kingston comes up with the first ever 256 GB USB
Jul 21st
Kingston just keeps coming up with the goods. This time they have come up with something that others are yet to announce. Here it is, Kingston has launched world’s first ever 256 GB USB Flash drive. This is what Kingston has to say for their latest sensation
Kingston’s new DataTraveler® 300 is a convenient way to store, carry and transfer files. With its 256GB capacity, DataTraveler 300 contains plenty of room for storing photos, music and important files. Secure data with Password Traveler software, which allows you to create and access a password-protected, secure area of the drive called a “Privacy Zone.”
The specifications are:
- Capacity — 256 GB
- Speed — Data transfer rates of up to 20 MB/sec. read and 10 MB/sec. write
- Safeguarded — includes Password Traveler security software for Windows
- Convenient — does not require Administrator rights to access the Privacy Zone
- Dimensions — 2.78” x 0.67” x 0.87” (70.68 mm x 16.90 mm x 21.99 mm)
- Operating Temperature — 32° to 140° F (0° to 60° C)
- Storage Temperature — -4° to 185° F (-20° to 85° C)
- Simple — just plug into a USB port
- Practical — durable, capless design
- Guaranteed — five-year warranty
- Enhanced — for Windows ReadyBoost™ on Vista-based systems
The Kingston DataTraveler 300 is ideal for netbook users who want to extend the limited capacity of their machines. It can also be used by business consumers who work with large databases, or even designers who need to transfer large graphic files from one place to another.Kirsty Miller, Product Marketing Manager – Consumer, Kingston Technology Europe said:
The DataTraveler 300 will enable users to carry huge volumes of data with them everywhere they go – up to 365 CDs for example. That’s one album for every day of the year, and it demonstrates how far flash technology has developed
Miller in relation to the security provided by the largest USB said:
Business users and consumers can also safeguard their data by initializing the Password Traveler software which will allow them to password protect their data in a privacy zone without the need of administrator rights.
MAC version of Blackberry Desktop Manager coming soon
Jul 21st
Do you happen to own a BlackBerry phone then you must probably be aware of the BlackBerry Desktop Manager. BlackBerry Desktop Software offers the best of both worlds by allowing you to manage aspects (such as syncing your iTunes playlists, personal information and so on) of your BlackBerry® smartphone from your computer system1.Want to use it on MAC, if yes then I have got news for you. The release of Blackberry Desktop Manager for MAC is just around the corner as we gather from InsideBlackBerry, the official BlackBerry blog. The key features that the initial release will provide are:
- Sync your iTunes® playlists, calendars, contacts, notes and tasks
- Add/Remove applications
- Update your device when new software becomes available
- Backup and restore your device data with such features like automatically scheduled backups and optional encryption.
- Manage multiple devices
This version will provide support to Mac OS 10.5.5 and above. In order to be aware and get notified when the said software becomes available you might want to consider signing up here, so that you get to know when the software is rolled out and available for you to use.
Firefox 3.7 GUI might be redesigned for Windows platform
Jul 21st
What we gather from Mozilla wiki, GUI of Firefox 3.7 for Windows platform might be redesigned to include Aero glass effect. Mozilla wiki have published initial revamped themes for the Windows OS. But don’t get your hopes too high as they have clearly said “These are NOT FINAL! THEY ARE ONLY FOR BRAINSTORMING/EXPLORATION! “. With the passage of time, we will get to know whether we will get the redesigned GUI or not.
The notable changes are:
- Embracing Glass: Toolbar and Tabs using Glass. Buttons translucent and slightly glossy to meld with the toolbar. Raised 3D lookachieve tactile “feel”.
- Page Button: Connect the Page button to the left side of the tab area. Directly connected to the Page.
- Tools/Bookmark Bar: Connecting the Tools button to the side of the Window to emphasize the fact that it is used for customizing and changing the UI. Adding a button next to that to toggle the Bookmarks Bar which is turned off by default.
Page updates comes to Facebook for iPhone 3.0
Jul 21st
Good news for iPhone users. Want to update your status on the facebook and do other social and funny things while on the go, using your iPhone, you can do that: the process for page updating while on the go got much easier. Jon Hewitt, a leading developer revealed the fact the Facebook for iPhone 3.0 which is to be released pretty soon will bring page updating.
Presently the facebook app for iPhone does not support Pages at all, but all that is about to change. With the latest version, page administrators will have the power in their hands to post status updates and upload photos to their Facebook page directly from the their iPhone. Besides that, the other features that the upcoming version will bring includes:
- The “new” News Feed
- Like
- Events (including the ability to RSVP)
- Notes
- Pages
- Create new photo albums
- Upload photos to any album
- Zoom into photos
- Easier photo tagging
- Profile Pictures albums
- A new home screen for easy access to all your stuff, search, and notifications
- Add your favorite profiles and pages to the home screen
- Better Notifications (they link to the comments so you can reply)
- Quickly call or text people right from the Friends page
- Messages you are typing will be restored if you quit or are interrupted by a phone call
Wait, we got news for iPhone 3Gs users as well, the version 3.0 for iPhone will allow you to upload videos. This news is surely going to make you guys happy. Be sure to use this latest version once it is released.
WordPress 2.8.2 has been announced
Jul 20th
Was just surfing through the web as usual, when all of a sudden I came across this news. The news is small in length but large in significance. Well the news is that WordPress 2.8.2 has been announced. The need to release the version 2.8.2 was felt because of the XSS vulnerabity found in a previous version. This is how Ryan Boren broke this news
WordPress 2.8.2 fixes an XSS vulnerability. Comment author URLs were not fully sanitized when displayed in the admin. This could be exploited to redirect you away from the admin to another site.
There are two ways to get your hands on WordPress 2.8.2 which include
- Download 2.8.2
- Automatically upgrade by going to the Tools and navigating to the Upgrade page after signing in as the administrator of the blog.
Yet another vulnerability issue arises for Firefox 3.5.1 [Updated]
Jul 19th
It has been just a few days since we informed you about the Firefox 3.5.1 update that was aimed at resolving a Javascript vulnerability found in Firefox 3.5. Well unfortunately another vulnerability has been found in Firefox 3.5.1. The latest vulnerability appears to be a critical one. This undesirable issue can be exploited remotely. It uses a stack based buffer overflow that is triggered by an overly large and long string containing Unicode data. It has the potential to allow
- Remote code execution
- Crashes
- Freezes
- Allocating huge and I mean huge amount of memory.
A proof of concept that showcases this vulnerability has already been developed. Uptil now no patch has been made available from Firefox team. So it is advised and recommended to disable Javascript until a patch is made available that resolves this critical issue. This is the only way you can protect and avoid your computer being exposed to a remote attack. To disable Javascript just go the Tools tab -> Options -> Content Tab-> Uncheck Enable Javascript option.
Thanks to Mike Shaver who has corrected us and enlightened us on the issue. He has informed us that the latest bug is not capable of code execution and the only thing that it will do is it will result in an unexploitable crash (in the worst case scenario). According to the Mozilla Security Blog:
On Windows, Firefox 3.0.x and Firefox 3.5.x are terminated due to an uncaught exception during an attempt to allocate a very large string buffer; this termination is safe and immediate, and does not permit the execution of attacker code.
On the Macintosh in Firefox 3.0.x and 3.5.x, a crash occurs inside the ATSUI system library (part of OS X), due to what appears to be a failure to check allocation results. This issue is likely to affect any application using the recommended text-handling libraries on OS X. We have reported this issue to Apple, but in the event that they do not provide a fix we will look to implement mitigations in Mozilla code. We recommend that other developers who use these libraries consider a similar practice, and we have added mitigations in the past for similar bugs in these libraries.
As a result of our analysis, we do not believe that this represents an exploitable vulnerability in Firefox.
Facebook launches a wizard for account recovery
Jul 19th
Most of you just like me have not been in the uncomfortable and undesirable situation in which your facebook accounts have become victims of security attacks such as phishing attacks and so on. But since world is not a perfect place there are also those users who have unfortunately become victim of such attacks. Although they can recover their accounts but that process is quite a painful one as many users will tell you. Facebook has realized this fact and has launched a new process that will expectedly make account recovery process more easier and convenient
Previously, Facebook used email as the communication medium for informing the users that their accounts have been compromised. In the same email, Facebook also provided the essential instructions for restoring their account. Well now all that has been replaced with a wizard. This wizard provides a more efficient way of checking security, verifying your account and changing your password. The new wizard looks like this
Speaking about the changes, Jake Brill who is the project manager of Facebook’s site integrity team said
It can be an embarrassing experience to log in to Facebook to find that unauthorized messages have been sent from your account and then face questions from friends who have received spam from you.
We’ve spent the last few months improving the way to guide people through the process of regaining access to their account after it’s been compromised and used to send spam. Currently, we send emails explaining what happened and provide links to remedy the situation. Now we’re moving towards a new model that also involves clear and simple steps taken within Facebook itself. In doing so, we can ensure that the person logging in is the true owner of the account, thereby preventing hackers from using it to send spam in the future.
With facebook’s popularity increasing day by day one feels that the account recovery process will be needed more and more importantly it will be essential that the account recovery process be made smoother and easier to use.
Stream publishing API now open to all developers
Jul 19th
Attention! All those developers who were waiting to use the stream publishing API . I have got good news for you. If you are guessing that now any developer can use the publishing API without requiring acceptance , then you are bang on target. In order to use the stream publishing API, you will no longer be required to have be accepted into the Facebook’s white list in order to use this API for the general public of the facebook
The call to stream.publish API allows a facebook app to publish updates directly into the specific user’s stream. All this happens automatically once they are given the permission.
In the past, when the API was in Beta, it was a requirement for the developers to apply for getting accepted onto the white list if they wanted to increase the domain of the API call besides the developers of the application
Although an official statement is yet to arrive from Facebook (not announced as we write) regarding the upgrade of the API from the Beta status. But it is confirm that the restriction is no longer existent. The white list requirement has been removed from the Developer Wiki page. Currently the applications will have the power and the ability to publish updates to any user’s stream once the app has been authorized by the user to carry out the intended action.
Google growth takes a back seat
Jul 19th
Unfortunately Google‘s performance in terms of growth is not improving or increasing. Instead the growth rate continues to slow down and drop in the second quarter. What this means is that the online ad market is in a bad situation.
Search Engine giant’s revenue dropped down from 6% growth in the first quarter. In the second quarter, it fell below the 39% growth Google saw in the second quarter.
These results do not bring good news for the U.S. Internet Advertising market. It suggests that it will take time for the market to rise again to the desired level. Market research firm eMarketer predicts that U.S. online advertising will show a 4.5 growth for the current year (2009).
Eric Schmidt, Google’s Chief Executive in a conference call stated that the results were good keeping in mind the current recession scenario. In a cautious manner, he stated
it is too early for us to tell when the recovery materializes.
However the Californian based company’s profit increased about 19 percent. Schmidt further identified that some advertisers marketing their products in certain areas/categories were recovering. The categories which showed a positive trend include shopping and travel. However fields such as finance still remain on the weaker side. Sticking to the positive side, Google has managed to perform rather outperform its competitors such as Yahoo and Time Warner‘s AOL even in the economic downslide.
Google in order to manage this slow growth rate might need to consider and perform cost reduction activities. That is what we have observed as Google has released 300 employees, closed a few engineering offices and has delayed its expensive projects like finishing and completing its new data center.
Google continues to invest in new businesses for instance online software for businesses and bringing advertisements to cell phones.
