Tuesday 30 August 2011

Visa to speed up migration to mobile wallet

Visa Inc. (V-N87.931.351.56%) said it would accelerate the move to chip technology and speed up the use of mobile payments in the United States, as the world's largest payment processor tries to corner a share in the nascent smartphone payments market.

High-end smartphones are now shipping with “near-field communication” (NFC) technology that allows shoppers to make payments with little more than a wave of their phone.
NFC technology passes encrypted information between devices at close range without contact. Instead of swiping a card, shoppers can wave their smartphone near a terminal, effectively turning an NFC-enabled phone into a “mobile wallet.”

“As NFC mobile payments and other chip-based emerging technologies are poised to take off in the coming years, we are taking steps today to create a commercial framework that will support growth opportunities,” Jim McCarthy, Visa's global head of product, said in a statement.

With a new method of payments poised to take off, technology giants like Google and mobile service providers such as Sprint Nextel are also jostling for a share of the pie.

Last month, Isis, a venture of three of the top four U.S. mobile providers, said it plans to launch mobile payments services with major payment networks Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express.

Isis, which plans to kick off its service in the first half of 2012, will compete with Google and Sprint Nextel, which plan to launch services this summer.

Visa said it would continue to support a range of cardholder verification methods, including signature and PIN methods.

Chip payments are generally considered to be more secure and can reduce the payment processor's fraud costs.

Visa also intends to institute a U.S. liability shift for domestic and cross-border counterfeit card-present point-of-sale (POS) transactions, effective October 1, 2015.

Meet the new summer black: 5 purple eye-shadows you can use


In ceviche weather, black smoky eyes feel more like chowder. The perfect substitute? Purple, which carries the right amount of moodiness without the excess weight. On cue, a fresh crop of violet shades have surfaced across the brands, from bright, shocking plum to soft metallic lilac.
1. Bourjois Paris shadow in Prune Intense, $17 at Shoppers Drug Martand Murale.

2. The Body Shop shadow in Amethyst, $8.
3. NARS single shadow in Daphne, $26.
4. Rimmel shadow in Plum Romance, $4.99 at drugstores.
5. Annabelle shadow in Extra Violet, $5.75 at drugstores.

New Windows worm spreads by attacking weak passwords

A new Windows worm is working its way through company networks by taking advantage of weak passwords, security researchers said over the weekend.

The worm, dubbed "Morto" by Microsoft and Helsinki-based F-Secure, has been circulating since at least last week, when company administrators noticed systems generating large numbers of unexplained connections to the Internet.

According to Microsoft, Morto is the culprit.

"Although the overall numbers of computers reporting detections are low in comparison to more established malware families, the traffic it generates is noticeable," said Hil Gradascevic, a researcher with the Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC), in a Sunday blog.

Morto spreads using RDP, or Remote Desktop Protocol, the Microsoft-made protocol for controlling one computer by connecting to it from another.

All versions of Windows from XP on include client software that uses RDP to remotely access machines. The software, called Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) in XP, Vista and Windows 7, requires a username and password to log in to a remote system.

Windows PCs infected with Morto scan the local network for other machines that have RDC switched on, then try to log in to a Remote Desktop server using a pre-set list of common passwords, said F-Secure. If one of the passwords works, the worm then downloads additional malware components to the just-victimized server and kills security software to remain hidden.

The scanning for potential targets generates significant traffic on TCP port 3389, the port a Remote Desktop server monitors for incoming access requests.

That traffic caught the attention of puzzled network administrators starting last Thursday.

"Every 10 min. or so, a flood of TCP 3389 connection attempts out to seemingly random IP addresses," reported a user identified as "BarrySDCA" in a Friday message posted to a Microsoft support forum. "Our firewall is blocking it from getting out and it keeps trying."

That thread currently has nearly 70 messages and has been viewed by others almost 6,000 times, both large numbers for a discussion that started only days ago.

Analyses done by Microsoft and F-Secure identified the list of weak passwords the worm tries, which includes such too-easy examples as "password," "123456" and "abc123."

"This particular worm highlights the importance of setting strong system passwords," said Microsoft's Gradascevic. "The ability of attackers to exploit weak passwords shouldn't be underestimated."

Morto's purpose may be to crank out denial-of-service attacks against hacker-designated targets, said Microsoft in the write-up published Sunday.

Although Microsoft patched RDP just three weeks ago as part of August's monthly security update, Morto does not exploit that vulnerability, or any other in the protocol.

Women not good at math? Blame nurture, not nature: study

Girls are good at languages, boys are best at math.

At least, that’s what academics such as former Harvard president Lawrence Summers would have us believe – not to mention the infamous talking Barbie (“Math class is tough!”) reprogrammed by Mattel after public outcry over the phrase.

But a new study of tribes in rural India suggests that nurture, not nature, accounts for the gender math gap, Time.com reports.

Hit the Reset Button: A New Guide to Facebook Safety and Privacy

Facebook is now in the process of releasing dramatic updates to its ever-evolving privacy features. These updates contain some new tools to help secure your privacy and online identity. And if you haven’t reviewed your settings recently, now it the perfect time to do so. How do you know if the new features are available

Digital readers are changing the traditional library system

Those wanting to borrow the e-book version of the bestseller, The Kite Runner,from the Vancouver Public Library will have to get on the waiting list fast – there are only nine copies available, and nearly 50 people are waiting to get their scrolling finger on that book.

That’s how popular e-book downloads are. The Vancouver Public Library has had downloadable audio books and e-books for more than 10 years. In 2009, it started offering downloadable e-books specifically for electronic readers, but it wasn’t until the spring of 2010, when the Kobo eReader and Apple’s iPad were launched in Canada, that the number of downloads really began to soar. The number of e-books borrowed last month is ten times as high as it was a year ago.

Dog trainer makes money in his sleep

I recently had dinner with a guy who trains dogs. He used to train them one-on-one for an hourly rate but he decided to shift from selling his time to selling a product.

Now he markets a set of pre-recorded dog training videos through his website and earns more than $1-million a year selling something people buy while he sleeps.

Amazon may sell 3-5 million tablets in fourth quarter, Forrester

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN-Q210.924.392.13%) may sell as many as five million tablet computers in the fourth quarter, making the largest Internet retailer the top competitor to Apple Inc. (AAPL-Q389.990.020.01%) in this fast-growing niche of the consumer PC market, Forrester Research said Monday.

Amazon.com has to price its tablet “significantly” below competing products and have enough supply to meet demand, but if the company can pull this off it can “easily” sell 3 million to 5 million units in the final three months of 2011, Forrester’s Sarah Rotman Epps predicted.



Why tech giants are spending billions on patents

When 2011 comes to a close, it’s a good bet that at least three of the biggest deals in the technology sector this year will have involved the transfer of patents.

Last month, a consortium led by Apple AAPL-Q, Microsoft MSFT-Q and Research In Motion RIM-T bid a whopping $4.5-billion (U.S.) for 6,000 Nortel patents. This week, Google GOOG-Q offered $12.5-billion for Motorola Mobility MMI-N, acquiring its war chest of 17,000 patents. Also this week, Canadian patent licensing firm Wi-LAN WIN-T made a $480-million (Canadian) offer for another Canadian patent company, Mosaid MSD-T.

HP may resurrect short-lived TouchPad

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ-N) may resurrect its TouchPad as it weighs a spinoff of its personal computer arm, the head of its PC division said, suggesting HP might revive a tablet that lasted just six weeks in the face of stiff competition from Apple Inc.

HP stunned markets two weeks ago, when it announced it may shed its PC business – the world’s largest after the $25-billion (U.S.) acquisition of Compaq in 2002 – as part of a wrenching series of moves away from the consumer market. Those included killing off the TouchPad tablet computer.

Small BlackBerry developer in patent company’s sights

One of the most sprawling patent disputes in the world has now ensnared a BlackBerry app maker, raising the prospect that Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM-T31.911.936.44%) the company behind the BlackBerry, may intervene to protect its developers from patent-licensing demands.

Yissachar Radcliffe, a York University student who runs a one-person app development shop called Rotten Ogre, received a patent-infringement notice from U.S. licensing firm Lodsys on Thursday. The letter asserts that Rotten Ogre’s lone app, a BlackBerry PlayBook game called Lonely Turret, infringes on a Lodsys patent relating to in-app payment and purchases.

Bye-bye analog, hello bidding war for digital airwaves

At the stroke of midnight on Wednesday night, the switch from analog to digital signals will be completed in most major markets across Canada – and the country’s private TV broadcasters will have spent more than $70-million to free up space on the airwaves at the government’s command.

Google investor sues board over Canadian drug ads

Google Inc. (GOOG-Q540.701.620.30%)’s board of directors faces a lawsuit for previously allowing Canadian pharmacies to advertise prescription drugs to U.S. customers via the Web search leader.



The civil lawsuit, filed on behalf of a Google shareholder Monday, claims the ads – which Google stopped displaying in February 2010 – led to what it calls the “illegal importation” of the drugs.

Monday 29 August 2011

UK Installs First XZERES Wind Turbine

Rotary Renewables, the Sheffield based renewable energy company, is pleased to announce the addition of a new class leading XZERES wind turbine to their range.

Read more....

Sunday 28 August 2011

Nikon D5100 an affordable upgrade from entry-level DSLRs

So you’ve used your entry-level consumer DSLR avidly for a few years and want to take your picture popping pastime one step further. You don’t have the budget for a proper professional camera, but you’d still like something a little speedier and a bit more robust than your current model. Nikon’s solution: The $899.99 D5100. The successor to the Japanese company’s popular D5000, this new camera offers significant upgrades that range from improved image quality to enhanced functionality.

A tale of two tablets: Samsung vs Toshiba

Android tablet offerings are becoming more compelling by the month. From the “pure” Android experience of Motorola’s Xoom to Asus’ versatile and inspiringly inexpensive Transformer, fans of Google’s operating system for slates now have several compelling hardware options, and the selection is only growing.

Keep your laptop running on the road

The summer may come to an end sooner than we’d like, which could mean squeezing in an extra road trip or two before the leaves start changing colour. Charging a laptop on a long drive is possible with these three gizmos, and you’re able to charge other devices at the same time.



5 smart phones for students on the go


Solar-powered NASA spacecraft begins five-year trip to Jupiter

A sun-powered robotic explorer named Juno is rocketing toward Jupiter on a quest to discover the secret recipe for making planets.

Hundreds of scientists and their families and friends – among thousands of invited guests – cheered and yelled “Go Juno!” as the unmanned Atlas rocket blasted into a clear midday sky Friday. It will take five years to reach Jupiter, the solar system’s most massive and ancient planet.

Wi-Fi routers for today’s multimedia-heavy homes

Today’s home networks are under more strain than ever before. High-definition video requires fat, empty pipes to flow smoothly, and families are using more connected devices simultaneously.

To mitigate congestion and keep high-bandwidth content flowing smoothly, some consumers are upgrading their home networks to dual-band routers that offer persistent streaming speeds as high as 450 megabits per second.

Headphone roundup: Cans that carry a tune

Those earphones that came in the box with your phone or MP3 player are fantastic – so long as you don’t mind music that sounds as though it was filtered through a cardboard box, think nothing of the painful red marks left in your canals by their hard plastic earbuds, and have no need for useful features such as noise isolation and Bluetooth. If, on the other hand, you demand a superior personal audio experience, you may want to consider some of the options below.

Google gets some good news

Google Inc.’s (GOOG-Q) attempt to catch up to rival Facebook Inc. in the race for social networking dominance got a boost on Thursday, as the search giant’s second-quarter results easily beat analyst expectations.
The company posted revenue of $9.03-billion (U.S.) for the quarter ended June 30, 2011 – a 32-per-cent increase from the same period last year. Profit in the second quarter rose to $2.51-billion or $7.68 a share, from $1.84-billion or $5.71 a share in the year-ago period. Excluding stock option costs, share profit for the quarter was $8.74. Analysts had expected profit of $7.86, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.


Apple going after Google in tablet spats?

Apple Inc.’s (AAPL-Q383.589.862.64%) increasingly effective patent war against rivals like Samsung Electronics may mask its real target: arch-foe Google Inc. (GOOG-Q526.866.821.31%) The maker of the iPad and iPhone has sued three of the largest manufacturers of Google’s Android-based devices – Samsung, Motorola and HTC – for multiple patent infringements across multiple countries, pointing out “slavish copying” of design and “look and feel.”

Google’s Motorola deal ‘by and large a defensive play’ in patent wars

Google Inc. (GOOG-Q526.866.821.31%) is writing the biggest cheque in company history to save its Android operating system from a slow, litigious death.

The Web search giant, which earlier this summer lost a high-stakes battle for Nortel’s 6,000-patent portfolio to rivals Apple, Microsoft and Research In Motion, will purchase handset manufacturer Motorola Mobility for $12.5-billion (U.S.). The acquisition target’s primary asset? An arsenal of 17,000 existing and 7,500 pending patents.

Music channels set to launch on mobile phones

Stingray Digital has built its business on the cluster of Galaxie music stations found in the upper reaches of the cable dial. But now the Montreal-based company wants to bring its commercial-free channels out of the stratosphere, and in to the palm of your hand.

On Tuesday, Stingray will launch a subscription-based streaming music service for mobile phones. Customers will access its 45 audio-only TV channels through an app on the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and all Android-based mobile devices. Users can also skip songs and download tracks they like through Apple Inc.’s iTunes store.

RIM near BlackBerry music launch: sources



BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM-T28.660.772.76%) is close to rolling out its own music streaming service that will work across its mobile devices, according to four people familiar with the plans.

The new service is likely part of an attempt by RIM to improve its BlackBerry Messenger service as it competes with the mobile media platform strengths of rival Apple Inc. (AAPL-Q383.589.862.64%) and Google Inc.’s (GOOG-Q526.866.821.31%)Android

Samsung, Nokia join Apple in cheap smart phones push


The world’s two largest cellphone vendors, Nokia and Samsung Electronics , unveiled new cheaper smartphone models on Wednesday hoping to defend their stronghold from Apple .

The U.S. firm – which has conquered the high-end of the phone market – is set to launch a lower-cost version of the iPhone 4 soon, sources told Reuters this week.

Apple's Tim Cook and Jack Layton's successor face tough slog

Two of the toughest jobs in 2012 will be new leader of Canada's NDP and new CEO at Apple.

Both people will follow legends who are being attributed abilities far beyond the realm of the possible by the rosy colouring of hindsight. This mountain of expectation makes replacing a legend a near-impossible challenge.

Microsoft licensing enhancements aid service model approach

Microsoft has tweaked its licensing program again. This time the changes give IT shops with Software Assurance more flexibility whether they install application servers on premises or they are hosted by service providers. These changes go into effect on July 1 of this year.

The new license mobility will cover SQL Server, Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, Lync Server, System Center servers, and Dynamics CRM.

Andrew Wolfe, Microsoft’s senior product manager of worldwide licensing and pricing met with Ed Scannell, executive editor of SearchWindowsServer.com at TechEd this week to discuss what the enhancements mean for enterprises and why Microsoft's licensing rules are so hard to decipher.

Top five security tips for domain controllers

A domain controller is just that—a controller. They control authentication, possibly authorization, some accounting, and generally hold the lifecycle of security identities for everything in your company that uses any part of Windows.

As such, special security considerations exist for domain controllers. How do you score on this front? Check out these five tips for hardening the entire environment around your domain controllers (DCs).

1. Limit physical access. This is the single biggest mitigating factor you can provide to your overall domain controller security package. The overarching issue here is, your domain controller is the central security authority over everything on your network, and as you well know, there are many trivial ways to obtain information right off a hard disk if you have local, physical access to a machine. Hashes themselves offer everything a cracker needs in order to pass himself off as a true, legitimate, authenticated user, and these are easy to grab if you have the domain controller’s disk in hand. Not to mention the possibilities of actually logging on via those hashes and modifying logon scripts, installing malicious programs that replicate to other domain controllers, and so on.

If you have physical (not virtualized) domain controllers, then before you do anything else, buy a cage and a secure lock and put them behind it. Don’t let a DC run under the admin’s desk, or have your data center be a small closet with no lock. It holds the keys to the kingdom, your company’s security treasury, so secure it like you would blank checks: under lock and key.

2. Design correctly from the start. A properly designed Active Directory topology will contain threats so that even if a DC is compromised, your entire network of forests doesn’t have to be flattened and rebuilt. Make sure your forest and domains reflect the real, physical locations you have in different cities, counties, and countries; have your organizational units match the types of machines and people you have in your company; and let security groups represent the hierarchy of your organizational chart. Then, if a DC in one forest for Europe is compromised, you don’t have to rebuild Asia.

3. Virtualize your domain controllers. By using virtual machines (VMs) as your domain controllers, you can then encrypt the disks on which your virtual hard disks reside using BitLocker or some other full-drive-encryption product. Then, ensure the host machines running those VMs are not joined to the domain. If by some chance someone makes off with your host machine and the DCs, the chances of decrypting the hard drive to get access to the VHDs presents yet another obstacle to an attacker planting nefarious things in your directory.

4. Follow security trust best practices. Know your boundaries, as security experts say. There’s a fantastic guide to understanding trusts and the various considerations therein on TechNet. Pay close attention to the Selective Authentication section, a great way to prevent random access attacks.

5. Secure the Directory Services Restore Mode password moreso than any other password. Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM) is a special mode for fixing Active Directory offline when something’s gone wrong. The DSRM password is a special back door that provides administrative access to the directory. You use this in an offline, text mode state. Protect this password like it’s the one thing that can sink your forest, because it is just that. You can also download a hotfix for Windows Server 2008 that will sync the DSRM password with the domain administrator account—or, if you already have installed Service Pack 2, you have this utility already. Just use this command:

ntdsutil "set dsrm password" "sync from domain account
" q q

Overall, if a domain controller is stolen or otherwise leaves your company’s possession in an unauthorized way, you can no longer trust that machine—but unfortunately, since that domain controller contains everything valuable and secret about your IT identities, the best (and most regrettable and painful) advice is simply to destroy that forest and rebuild it. Which makes the first point in this article the most prescriptive and proactive best practice there is.

Atrocities raise concerns about Libyan rebels’ ability to control country


When a young soldier for Colonel Moammar Gadhafi tried to surrender to rebel forces, he faced the same problem now confronting remnants of the loyalist army: street justice.

Mohammed Abdul Wahab, 21, threw his hands in air and walked towards a group of rebels on Tuesday evening, calling for mercy. His captors put him inside a mosque, but an angry mob saw his green uniform and dark skin and assumed he was a foreign mercenary. The crowd called for blood. Terrified, he broke out of the mosque and ran away – but fell down in a spray of bullets.

MADE IN CANADA How high-tech Canadian drones gave Libyan rebels a boost

Nearly a month ago, while Colonel Moammar Gadhafi’s artillery pounded Misrata in central Libya, a fishing boat brought a former Canadian soldier to the besieged rebels stronghold carrying with him two small cases packed with high-tech gear.

Charles Barlow, who heads a private security firm, was bringing the rebels a remote-controlled aerial drone they had purchased from an Ontario robotics manufacturer.

Troubleshooting Windows Server 2008 R2 with MSinfo32


MSinfo32 has been around since the Windows NT 4.0 days, back when it was being built into the operating system. The tool can be used interactively to gather real-time configuration data, or it can be used in batch mode to capture the data to a log file for later review.

MSinfo32 is accessed from the Accessories menu under System Tools or by typing msinfo32.exe at the run or command prompt. A graphical user interface is provided to expose the configuration details. The data is divided into several categories as seen in the table below.


System Summary
provides a high-level overview of the system configuration including the OS version, hardware model and BIOS revision, time zone, physical and virtual memory and page file size
Hardware Resources
detailed listing of hardware devices and their resource address mappings including memory, DMA devices, I/O and IRQ resource mapping and any conflicting or sharing devices
Components
displays a comprehensive listing of devices and their properties that are installed such as network adapters, storage devices, display, printing and any problem devices
Software Environment
reveals detailed information about installed device drivers, services, environment variables, network connections, program groups and Windows error reporting

If managing multiple servers, displaying the System Summary screen will show a quick, concise view of this particular server. For example, the System Summary screen displays the operating system version and service pack revision level, which allows one to know that a set of hotfixes may be appropriate for this server. Or, one might notice that the hardware BIOS revision level is out of date and needs to be updated. This information and more is available with just a glance (Figure 1).


From a hardware perspective, the MSinfo32 tool provides comprehensive details about the various components that are installed. The Hardware Resources category will reveal all the device mappings to addresses and IRQ's. But more importantly for troubleshooting, this category provides information on conflicting devices that share resources such as I/O ports, memory addresses or IRQ's.
From a system administrator perspective, users can leverage the Components category to view items such as network, storage or USB devices. It is not uncommon to have several different NIC's installed in a server and by viewing the network adapters from MSinfo32, it displays a quick, detailed view of what adapters are installed, their corresponding device driver and MAC address. This shows driver information and whether it is up to date.

The same is true for the storage subcategory of Components that shows the disks and drives that are installed, their corresponding sizes, file format and device drivers. This allows users to quickly determine if any disks are running low on space, or have out-of-date device drivers installed. One can also determine which storage controllers are configured as well as any IDE devices.

The Components category also contains a subcategory called Problem Devices. This is a good place to check if any newly installed devices are not appearing or functioning as expected. For example, a PS/2 Compatible Mouse may be flagged as not being present, which is okay if a USB-based mouse is connected instead.

Finally, the Software Environment category contains massive amounts of troubleshooting information from a software perspective that can be leveraged by system administrators or programmers. The information includes system drivers, services, environment variables and loaded modules. It also includes a Windows Error Reporting subcategory that identifies any abnormally terminated or hung applications (Figure 2).

A powerful feature of MSinfo32 is the ability to search the configuration data for a particular string, like the name of an application vendor. If an admin knows the vendor name, but can't find the related drivers, he can use the "Find what:" prompt in the lower portion of the GUI to specify a particular string like "McAfee."

Another useful feature of MSinfo32 is the ability to collect the server configuration data into a log file for later analysis. This can be accomplished by issuing the command:

Msinfo32.exe /nfo where is the output nfo log file name

Once ready to analyze the nfo log file, just double-click the file name or type it at the command prompt and it will be read by MSinfo32 and the configuration data will be displayed as if it were being viewed on a live system. MSinfo32 can generate a text-based report instead of using the GUI by using the /report option, or running the tool remotely by using the /computer option.

A wealth of information can be obtained from the System Information Tool. MSinfo32 collects detailed information about a variety of areas including a System Summary, Hardware Resources, Components and the Software Environment. And with features such as batch execution on a remote server, there is no need for users to be logged into the problem server to analyze the data.

Four Indians among MIT's top 35 innovators

Two Indians and two persons of Indian origin figure among Top 35 Innovators under 35 in the latest list of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Technology Review, the world's oldest Technology Magazine established in 1899.

Ajit Narayanan, Invention Labs, Chennai and Aishwarya Ratan, Yale University, who were part of TR35 India Winners announced in March 2011, have made it to the annual list of people who exemplify the spirit of innovation in business and technology.

The honourees are blazing new paths in a wide range of fields, including medicine, energy, communications, IT, consumer technology, entertainment, and robotics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, based institution announced Wednesday.

Chennai-based Ajit Narayanan, 30, was selected for his work on affordable speech synthesizers He is currently working with the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, to improve the quality of the speech synthesis. He also plans to use mobile app stores to distribute a version of his software with about 90 percent of the full Avaz system's functionality.

Aishwarya Ratan, 30, was working with Microsoft Research in Bangalore when she won the prestigious honour for her work on converting paper records to digital in real time. Ratan has since moved to Yale University, but the NGO that she was partnering with continues to test the slate in villages.

Two winners of Indian origin include Bhaskar Krishnamachari, 33, University of Southern California who has been selected for his work on smarter wireless networks and Piya Sorcar, 33, for Teachaids software that can be localised to teach taboo topics.

The TR35 will present their work and be honoured at an awards ceremony during the 2011 EmTech MIT conference, taking place Oct 18-19 at MIT's Media Lab, USA.

Mario, Princess Peach and Bowser Love Triangle


The top video game romance is undoubtedly between Mario and his eternal damsel in distress, Princess Peach. While the tubby plumber's eye has wandered more than once, with his old Donkey Kong flame Pauline and Daisy his princess from a different kingdom in Super Mario Land. No matter how deep down into the dating pool he dips, Mario always returns to Peach; mostly to find her kidnapped by that obsessive stalker King Bowser.

Bowser undying obsessive love for Princess Peach has put this damsel into distress through a plethora of classic and modern Mario games. While his wanton ways aren’t reciprocated, her royal hijackings constantly keep Mario returning to her rescue, creating the most oddball love triangle in video game history.

Greatest Retro Video Game Romances

Romance always springs eternal, even in the world of gaming. While most of the lady loves are princesses who need rescuing by their dashing working-class heroes, video games have continually shared the same goal we all have in the real world: true love.
see more



Facebook Freezer v.2.5 selects random login id and password combination to login to victim account. Due to wrong login attempts, Facebook temporarily bans the victim from logging in to his account. But, if Facebook Freezer v.2.5 is allowed to run on computer for a long time, Facebook bans victim from logging in to his account as long as Freezer is running. Thus, inspite of correct login id and password, victim is unable to login to his Facebook account. Thus, we are able to hack Facebook account using Facebook Freezer.

* Price: $39.95 * Version: 2.5
* File/Size: .exe/8.69 MB * OS: 7/Vista/2003/XP/2000/Mac
* Requirements: WinRAR * Publisher: Limited Hacks


Facebook Hacker is a software project developed by Limited Hacks (LH) that uses a powerful dictionary hack attack to crack facebook accounts. The purpose of Facebook Hacker v.2.0 is to help a user recover a forgotten password, to gain unauthorized access to any facebook account, or as a preventive measure by system administrators to check for hackable passwords. Facebook Hacker is one of the most popular password breaking / hacking programs as it combines a number of password crackers into one software. Download Facebook Hacker v.2.0

Skype Hacker is a password hacking tool that is used to recover / hack lost or forgotten passwords for any skype accounts. The program is very simple to use, just launch it, make a few mouse clicks and you will get all information about your desire Skype accounts including passwords. You are not required to be a password recovery professional and make it through a lengthy configuration process. Skype Hacker works in a fully automatic mode. Even better, you don’t have to wait for hours for the password hack process to complete. Download Skype Hacker v.1.2



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* Price: Freeware Free * Version: 1.0
* File/Size: .exe/8.10 MB * OS: 7/Vista/2003/XP/2000/Mac
* Requirements: WinRAR

Age of Empires


Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is the sequel to the award-winning, best-selling real-time strategy game Age of Empires. Age of Empires II spans a thousand years, from the fall of Rome through the Middle Ages in which players lead one of 13 civilizations into greatness. The game keeps the epic scope of Age of Empires' game play while evolving the combat and economic features.


Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is earning countless accolades from the gaming press as well as real-time strategy fans around the world. To see the latest honors bestowed upon Age II, please visit the awards page.

Introducing Google Scribe in Blogger

Hello Bloggers! Do you ever find yourself writing slowly, staring at a blinking cursor or looking for words to express yourself? Today we are happy to announce the availability of the text suggestions and autocomplete feature of Google Scribe, which is graduating from Google Labs and can now be found in Blogger in Draft.

Google Scribe helps you write more efficiently by suggesting common words and phrases as you type. Google Scribe supports Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. The language is automatically detected using the text in the post.

Enabling Google Scribe is easy. Simply click the pencil icon in the toolbar within the Post Editor.

After Google Scribe is turned on, suggestions will appear in gray as you type, and you can accept them by hitting the spacebar or by typing a punctuation mark, such as a comma, period or question mark.

If you would like to receive more than one suggestion at a time, select "Show Multiple Suggestions" from the drop-down menu next to the pencil icon. You will then be able to see several options in a drop-down menu as you type.

Here are some keyboard shortcuts you may find handy. If you use a Mac, you can use the shortcuts below by replacing Ctrl with Command key (or 'Apple' key)
Ctrl-j to enable and disable Scribe
Ctrl-Shift-j to select and deselect multiple suggestions
ESC to temporarily remove a suggestion
TAB to restore a suggestion
We hope you like this new feature. We would love to hear from you, so let us know your feedback on our Product Ideas page.

MY TRICKS


My Tracks is an application for your AndroidTM phone that enables you to record GPS tracks and view live statistics – such as time, speed, distance, and elevation – while hiking, biking, running or participating in other outdoor activities. Once recorded, you can share your tracks, upload them to Google Spreadsheets and visualize them on Google My Maps.

Mozilla Launches New Version of Thunderbird

Yesterday, Mozilla announced a new version of Thunderbird. You can read full details here. Below is an excerpt from the blog post.

The latest version of Thunderbird includes more than 390 improvements and performance enhancements that make Thunderbird more responsive, faster to start up and easier to use. Thunderbird delivers several improvements to some favorite features such as RSS feeds, Attachment management, and Tabs which can now be reordered and dragged into a new window.

New Tools in Mozilla Firefox Help Developers Drive the Web Forward

Mozilla, a global, non-profit organization dedicated to making the Web better, today released an update to Firefox for Windows, Mac and Linux that includes new and enhanced tools to make developing for the Web faster and easier.

The new “Web Developer” menu in Firefox provides easy access to tools that help developers build and debug websites directly in the browser. Developers will enjoy the new Scratchpad tool, which makes it simple to quickly enter, execute, test and refine JavaScript snippets in Firefox without needing to work in a one-line console. The Web Console is improved with an auto-complete feature and the ability to customize the console’s location to save developers time.

With support for additional APIs in Firefox, developers can build rich and compelling Web experiences. The new Window.matchMedia API helps developers optimize their website or Web app across different devices and platforms. Prefixed WebSockets and server-sent event APIs create faster communication between Firefox and Web servers, making it easier for developers to build more responsive and interactive real-time messaging applications and HTML5 games on the Web.

Panorama users will enjoy faster start-up times because tab groups are only loaded when selected. Users will also notice the Awesome Bar (URL bar) highlights a website’s domain name and the identity block is more prominent to help quickly identify where you are on the Web.



To get the latest version of Firefox for Windows, Mac or Linux click on “check for update” under the “About Firefox” menu or look out for a prompt to update automatically in the next few days.

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