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Design, Technology and Marketing For Web: Current News
Comcast Announces Gains Attributed To Internet Services
February 4th, 2010Comcast reported a profit gain directly attributed to internet services and the mobile web. Propelled by such gains, Comcast plans on launching a new brand for it’s cable operations, internet and phone services called Xfinity. Comcast, as a media conglomerate, is building strength. It is working out a deal to have a controlling stake in NBC Universal Comcast. In the short-term, the company plans on introducing more high definition channels and faster internet broadband services.
Comcast is currently the nation’s largest wired broadband provider.
Video Game Sales Dropped 7 Percent Globally In 2009
February 3rd, 2010Video game sales dropped 7 percent in 2009 globally, as represented in the top game markets: United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The UK had the greatest drop in sales with 14%. The annual Top Global Markets report by The NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track, and Enterbrain agreed with the NPD study of the 2009 U.S. market.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 defied the overall industry performance by becoming the fastest selling video game of all time.
Google Announces Its Browser-based Chrome OS For Tablets
February 2nd, 2010Google, two days before the announcement of the iPad by Apple, put mock-ups of a new product that would ride on the hype of the device–a browser-based Chrome OS for tablet computers.
Chrome OS was designed primarily for netbooks. Netbooks will not be the extent of it’s use however–it will work with an array of web enabled devices–each with very different input methods, available screen space, and processing power.
Stephen Shankland writing for “DeepTech” at CNET believes that Chrome OS may be a better sell for tablet computers than netbooks, because netbooks are often used as a primary computer which may make a browser-based OS a less appealing option.
More Language Support For Web Analytics
February 1st, 2010
Analytics, Google’s web traffic analysis tool, has added six new language options. The new languages are: Bulgarian, Catalan, Greek, Lithuanian, Slovak and Vietnamese. Now Google Analytics supports 31 languages.
To switch to another language option, there is a control button at the top right corner of the Analytics login page.
Bar Code Reinvented For A Digital World–Microsoft Custom Tags
February 1st, 2010Microsoft is seeking to reinvent the bar code.
In essence, Microsoft seeks to make the bar code more stylish–allowing businesses to use the area of packaging dedicated to the bar code to appeal to consumers as well as be a content transmission device between businesses.
Microsoft Custom Tags will allow graphic artwork to be incorporated into the bar code. Custom Tags will work with current mobile Tag Readers. Although there are guidelines for proper usage of the Custom Tag approach to bar code and machine readable codes, this will provide more flexibility to packaging design and manufacturers.
Client IP information To Be Included In DNS Requests–A New Commercial Project
February 1st, 2010Google will be teaming up with Neustar UltraDNS to work on a proposed extension to DNS. The concept of the project would make it so that the first three quarters of a user’s IP address would be included in a DNS request. Each DNS request would then have a built-in geographic awareness, which would improve the responsiveness and accuracy of the Domain Name System.
49 House Websites Attacked Following State Of The Union
January 28th, 2010Following the State of the Union address, 49 websites of the House of Representatives were hacked. The websites were defaced with clear anti Obama messaging. The websites were all managed by a single company. The incident occurred when the company was working on a system update.
Twitter Website Adds Local Trends Data To Sidebar
January 26th, 2010Twitter added a new feature to give users more current information based on it’s aggregated behavior data. In the right hand navigation bar of the Twitter website, you will notice a new feature called “Trending.” This link allows you to select from a collection of geographic regions to see popular trends. Currently, only 15 U.S. cities and five non-U.S. countries are on the “Trends” list, but it is highly likely that Twitter will expand the aggregated data tools since there is overwhelming interest.
Cyberattack Targets Chinese Human Rights Websites
January 26th, 2010The websites of Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), Independent Chinese Pen (ICPC), New Century News, Canyu and Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch (CRLW) were attacked on January 23 and 24 by hackers of an unknown origin.
A distributed denial of service (DDOS) brought down the websites for approximately 16 hours. At the height of the incident, the frequency of the attack was at 2GB per second. It was the most intense attack that their Internet Service Provider has experienced in the history of their business.
Prior to this DDOS attack, malware was installed on the server of the websites for CHRD and New Century News. Some of the attacks have coordinated with “sensitive” dates for the country of China.
How to calibrate a Macbook battery
January 21st, 2010Apple computer batteries can be calibrated to perform better and last longer. This quick guide will help you calibrate your battery for a iBook, PowerBook, MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro.
Battery Calibration For iBooks and PowerBook G4
(Does not include PowerBook G4 (15-inch Double-Layer SD)
It is a good idea to calibrate your battery every 6 weeks to one month.
1. Fully charge your computer battery by plugging your computer into a powersource and charging to 100%. You will notice that the light on your power plug will turn from orange to green.
2. Disconnect your power adapter, and allow the computer to run on just battery power. Allow all the power to drain from your battery until the computer turns off as a result of no more power in the battery.
3. Once you have drained your computer battery of all it’s power, plug the computer back in and recharge it.
By fully charging and discharging the battery, you have performed a calibration that will extend the life of your Apple battery.
For more information about battery calibration for other models, consult the apple website. (PowerBook G4 (15-inch Double-Layer SD), MacBook (all models), MacBook Pro (all models), MacBook Pro (17-inch) (all models) and MacBook Air) http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490