FocuSoft Tech Blog

iBUYPOWER launches Core i7-packin’ Paladin XLC desktops
GSM Pre to launch on O2 in UK
NVIDIA said to be prepping Ion 2 for late 2009
I Dare You to Not Buy This PlayStation iPhone Case Immediately [Playstation]
Details On The Upcoming New Facebook iPhone App. Now With Events!
Microsoft’s "Pink" smartphone to be Microsoft-branded?
Michael Jackson Thriller Headphones Have Dual Meanings Now [Thriller]
Energizer Energi To Go DSLR Charger Gives Paparazzi More Portability [Batteries]
One in four U.S. Internet users ’snacked’ on entertainment news in May
The Looming Facebook Privacy Fiasco

iBUYPOWER launches Core i7-packin’ Paladin XLC desktops

Posted: 01 Jul 2009 02:33 PM PDT

Nearly a month to the day after iBUYPOWER launched its gamer-centric M865TU gaming laptop, the outfit has now given the desktop gamers in attendance something to consider. The liquid cooled Paladin XLC series is comprised of three well appointed models, the XLC V1, XLC V2 and XLC V3. All three of ‘em are stored in the monstrous Coolermaster HAF 922 (the V3 gets a HAF 932), while even the lowest end model gets a Core i7-920 processor. Other specs include up to 12GB of DDR3 RAM, as many as three NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 GPUs, upwards of 1TB of HDD space, optional Blu-ray support and Windows Vista Home Premium. The trifecta can be ordered now for $1,399, $2,159 or $4,299 in order of mention.

Gallery: iBUYPOWER launches Core i7-packin’ Paladin XLC desktops

Filed under: Desktops

iBUYPOWER launches Core i7-packin’ Paladin XLC desktops originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GSM Pre to launch on O2 in UK

Posted: 01 Jul 2009 01:58 PM PDT

We heard earlier this morning that the GSM Pre was set for a UK launch, and now it sounds like things are coming together: The Guardian says the Palm’s baby will launch on O2. That makes perfect sense, O2 owner Telefonica reportedly secured broad global rights to the Pre back in March. Of course, this is all yet to be official, but with actual GSM handsets floating around out there and an announcement expected next week, we’re guessing we don’t have too much longer to wait.

Filed under: Cellphones

GSM Pre to launch on O2 in UK originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA said to be prepping Ion 2 for late 2009

Posted: 01 Jul 2009 01:38 PM PDT

NVIDIA obviously isn’t doing much talking about it itself just yet, but Fudzilla apparently has it on good authority that the company is indeed already hard at work on Ion 2, which promises to bring with it plenty of improvements over the already impressive Ion chipset. Chief among those is a decreased die size, “much faster graphics,” and more than twice the shaders of the original Geforce 9400M /MCP79 chipset that the current Ion is based on (which uses 16 shaders). Not many more details than that, unfortunately, but NVIDIA is supposedly looking to launch Ion 2 by the end of this year — although not before it sells plenty more Ion 1s, of course.

[Via SlashGear]

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

NVIDIA said to be prepping Ion 2 for late 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I Dare You to Not Buy This PlayStation iPhone Case Immediately [Playstation]

Posted: 01 Jul 2009 01:20 PM PDT

7a6b1dcfddpscase.jpg I Dare You to Not Buy This PlayStation iPhone Case Immediately [Playstation] Question: is this a great iPhone case, or is it the greatest iPhone case?

I’m going to go with the latter. I mean, look at it! The disc cover opens so you can put in your iPhone! It comes with a super-detailed controller charm! It’s absolutely fucking adorable. And for $20 (plus $7 for the controller), I really don’t know how I’m going to show the restraint to not buy one right this minute.

ebd213e728scase2.jpg I Dare You to Not Buy This PlayStation iPhone Case Immediately [Playstation] [Etsy via iPhone Savior]

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I Dare You to Not Buy This PlayStation iPhone Case Immediately [Playstation]

Details On The Upcoming New Facebook iPhone App. Now With Events!

Posted: 01 Jul 2009 01:04 PM PDT

0de5b1c7a3eshot1.png Details On The Upcoming New Facebook iPhone App. Now With Events! It’s been a big day for Facebook, with news earlier this morning that the social network will soon be totally revamping its privacy settings and making it easier to share with the entire web. Now developer Joe Hewitt, who is responsible for Facebook’s massively popular iPhone application, has posted a note to the site describing some of the new features we can expect from the latest iteration of the app, which he says is “98% done”. Hewitt doesn’t give an exact release date, but we can likely expect it very soon.

From Hewitt’s post:

1. The “new” News Feed
2. Like
3. Events (including the ability to RSVP)
4. Notes
5. Pages
6. Create new photo albums
7. Upload photos to any album
8. Zoom into photos
9. Easier photo tagging
10. Profile Pictures albums
11. A new home screen for easy access to all your stuff, search, and notifications
12. Add your favorite profiles and pages to the home screen
13. Better Notifications (they link to the comments so you can reply)
14. Quickly call or text people right from the Friends page
15. Messages you are typing will be restored if you quit or are interrupted by a phone call

All of these will be welcome additions, particularly the ability to view and respond to events listings, which were oddly missing in the iPhone Facebook app until now (I routinely found myself having to access the web version of the site in order to look up details). Unfortunately, Hewitt writes that Push notifications, which Apple enabled with the release of the iPhone 3.0 update, will not make it into this release — we’ll have to wait for the next point update later this summer.

Update: Hewitt has provided us with some screenshots of the upcoming app. Looks like a big improvement.

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Microsoft’s "Pink" smartphone to be Microsoft-branded?

Posted: 01 Jul 2009 01:03 PM PDT

Ready for even more rumors about Windows Mobile 7 and Microsoft’s mysterious “Pink” smartphone project? Good, cause we’ve got a few — and the first is potentially huge. CNET’s Mary Jo Foley says her best understanding of “Pink” is now that it’s a Microsoft-branded phone running a custom UI on top of Windows Mobile 7, developed by what’s left of the Danger team and targeted at the Sidekick market. Yep, Microsoft-branded — as in, the exact thing Microsoft has been denying for ages now. What’s more, Redmond wouldn’t be letting third parties use this new UI — Pink would be manufactured only by Sharp or Motorola, who’ve made Sidekicks in the past. It all makes sense, even if it does feel a bit like MS is knifing its partners in the back — companies like HTC and Samsung have been equally aggressive in layering their own UIs like TouchFLO 3D and TouchWiz on top of WinMo, but it’s another thing entirely to compete against Microsoft itself, especially now that AdWeek says Microsoft’s selected an agency to develop a Pink ad campaign. Yeah, things are starting to get a little wild — we haven’t even mentioned the open questions of whether the Zune HD is running Tegra because it’s based on Windows Mobile 7 Chassis 1, or whether Pink will launch on Verizon, or whether Zune will appear on other phones, or… you get the idea. Hey Microsoft — you want to clear any of this up by shipping some products?

Read – CNET
Read – AdWeek

Filed under: Cellphones

Microsoft’s “Pink” smartphone to be Microsoft-branded? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Michael Jackson Thriller Headphones Have Dual Meanings Now [Thriller]

Posted: 01 Jul 2009 01:00 PM PDT

4f7ce969feriller.jpg Michael Jackson Thriller Headphones Have Dual Meanings Now [Thriller] These Michael Jackson Thriller headphones are pretty fantastic cause, well, they’re Thriller headphones, but the graveyard imagery might be a little bit too soon. Still, awesome. [Thriller Headphones via Josh Spear]

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Michael Jackson Thriller Headphones Have Dual Meanings Now [Thriller]

Energizer Energi To Go DSLR Charger Gives Paparazzi More Portability [Batteries]

Posted: 01 Jul 2009 12:40 PM PDT

13a88035a4sbclip.jpg Energizer Energi To Go DSLR Charger Gives Paparazzi More Portability [Batteries] Need to hide in the bushes for eleven hours outside Megan Fox’s house while taking the occasional super-zoom shot? Need to recharge your batteries but have no outlet? Energizer’s portable charger clip is there.

This DSLR battery clip charges via a special USB source (like Energizer’s own portable battery pack, which has a higher voltage than standard USB) and clamps on to “any” digital camera or camcorder battery. The compatibility list is probably high, but we’re unsure if any actually means any, so check out the site before buying. The entire Energi To Go line will be available next month. [Gearlog via Oh Gizmo]

One in four U.S. Internet users ’snacked’ on entertainment news in May

Posted: 01 Jul 2009 12:39 PM PDT

The Looming Facebook Privacy Fiasco

Posted: 01 Jul 2009 12:22 PM PDT

326c5dfac9ookeye.png The Looming Facebook Privacy Fiasco Facebook’s privacy conference call just ended, and it’s clear some major changes are going to be coming to the social network soon. Some of these, like a totally revamped privacy control page, are both long overdue and very welcome. But others, like the Transition Tool, seem ripe for disaster.

Facebook clearly wants its users to become more comfortable sharing their content across the web, because that’s what needs to happen if the site is going to take Twitter head-on with real-time search capabilities. Unfortunately that’s far easier said than done for the social network, which has for years trumpeted its granular privacy settings as one of its greatest assets. Now, those settings are turning into problematic obstacles.

But Facebook sees its redesigned control panel as an opportunity to invite users to start shrugging off their privacy. So it’s piggybacking the new ‘Everyone’ feature on top of the Transition Tool, which is designed to help users acclimate themselves to the new settings. Facebook is planning to test out six different versions of the Transition Tool, and will probably settle on around two different versions for its general release (apparently different tools will be shown depending on your current settings).

To get an idea of just how badly this might mess things up, one need only look at the wording for “Transition Tool 2″, which was shown to the press during the conference call (screenshot below). The tool’s heading invites users to update their privacy settings, which is fair enough given that they’re getting totally reworked. But it also says “While updating your new settings, make it easier for friends to connect with you by making a few fields visible to Everyone. Please note that Everyone means everyone on the Internet.” That may be intended as a suggestion, but it sure sounds like more of a command. And you can be sure that the millions of Facebook users who have no idea what the implications are of sharing their personal data with Google and the world will be happy to tick off those “Everyone” radio buttons.
fc548ce81abpanel.png The Looming Facebook Privacy Fiasco

And that’s my real problem with all of this. Facebook has allowed users to share some of their information with ‘Everyone’ for a few months now, but those options have been nestled under Facebook’s privacy settings (most people probably didn’t even know it was there). Now these users are going to be seeing invitations front-and-center to share with everyone, and Facebook is telling them that this will somehow make it easier to connect with friends. Perhaps Facebook is confident that its users are smart enough to realize that sharing those drunken party photos with the world is a bad idea, but I’m not.

Many of Facebook’s users are still in high school. Some are even younger than that (it isn’t hard to lie about your age on the Internet). And many of these people simply don’t understand that Google is forever. Just look at Facebook’s Vanity URLs for proof: Facebook made it very clear that these are permanent, which means that you’re going to be stuck with the same username five or ten years down the line. Yet there are still countless users grabbing names like ‘drunkdude’. That’s going to look great when your boss tries to add you as a friend.

Fortunately Facebook seems to be preparing itself for the worst. During the call, VP Communications Elliot Schrage noted that while Facebook is using a broad definition for “Everyone” right now — meaning the entire Internet — it isn’t going to actually start sharing the data with search engines immediately. Rather, it sounds like Facebook is going to keep these posts contained inside the social network at first, just in case users start over-sharing with reckless abandon (which they probably will).

In any case, Facebook is going to achieve its biggest goals with these updates: people will soon be sharing far more with the web than they were previously, and the social network will be able to mount a substantial challenge against Twitter. Of course, this isn’t the way Facebook is positioning the changes. One of my favorite parts of the conference call was when ReadWriteWeb’s Marshall Kirkpatrick noted that Facebook was clearly looking to encourage users to open up their data to the public and asked for the social network’s motivations. Facebook’s response? It wants people to make their data public because it helps disambiguate users will similar names. My phone was muted at the time, but I was laughing heartily.

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The Looming Facebook Privacy Fiasco