Hasta La Gadget!

It might not look it, but the images above actually make up a font designed especially to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Mac.

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iOS 7.1 has been in the works for quite a while now. The update is expected to introduce a host of new changes and redesign to the operating system, and it was just recently that Apple released the iOS 7.1 beta 5 to developers. Well the good news is that for those looking forward to the update is that apparently beta 5 will be the last beta that will be seeded to developers, and that the next release will be for the public. This information comes from the folks at BGR who claims that their sources informed them beta 5 will be the last beta and that iOS users can look forward to the public release sometime in March, although no specific dates were mentioned.

However BGR thinks that the March date is a bit too “far” for their liking and that they expect a GM build to be released much sooner. Either way iOS 7.1 will introduce a fair amount of changes to the platform. According to BGR, they state that iOS 7.1 feels more “cohesive” and more “thought out”. Earlier screenshots of the operating system have revealed that there will be redesigns introduced to the platform, such as to its keyboard as one of the examples. While the upcoming release of iOS 7.1 is probably something to look forward to, those who jailbroke their devices might not be so eager to update as beta 5 had reportedly closed additional exploits used by jailbreakers. In any case take it with a grain of salt for now, but hopefully we will hear more about a possible release soon.

iOS 7.1 Could See March Release [Rumor] original content from Ubergizmo.

Bitcoin, for those unfamiliar, is a form of virtual currency which some out there hope will become a legal and widely accepted currency in the future. It may or may not be the currency of the future but as it stands, there is a lot of interest in it at the moment where prices of individual bitcoins have been valued over $1,000. That being said, it would seem that Apple is not a fan of the virtual currency, or at least that’s what they seem to be letting people believe. The Cupertino company has recently removed a bitcoin wallet called Blockchain from its App Store. (more…)

Apple Removes Bitcoin Wallet App From Store original content from Ubergizmo.

We know that Apple has huge cash reserves that is in the billions, but if a German patent troll has their way, they could be taking a huge chunk of cash from Apple in the form of $2 billion in damages. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, it seems that a German patent troll by the name of IPCom has demanded Apple to pay them close around $2 billion for apparently infringing upon a piece of technology that they own. However this piece of technology is not some obscure patent, but rather one that is used by every mobile phone in the market and is also required by law.

The patent in question is related to a chip that is used to help identify mobile phones used by emergency services to give them priority access to networks in the event that the networks are heavily congested, such as during a major disaster. These phones will also be able to circumvent carrier blocks who might choose to block off all phones in a particular area to prevent said congestion, only allowing devices from rescue personnel, such as police and firefighters, to go through. Apple, along with Google, HTC, Ericsson, and Vodafone have in the past asked the European Patent Office to declare the patent invalid as it was a required standard, although the EPO has since denied their request. The hearing is expected to take place on the 11th of February.

Patent Troll Demands $2 Billion From Apple original content from Ubergizmo.

This article was written on February 01, 2007 by CyberNet.

There’s good news is you were a Vista Beta Tester! According to Windows-Now.com, the Ultimate Vista key that was issued for participating in the Beta will qualify you for the Vista Family Discount. Remember, the family discount means that with a purchase of Windows Vista Ultimate, you can purchase two copies of Windows Vista Home Premium for $49.99 each. Your Vista key counts as a retail copy which means your three copies of Vista will only cost you $100.00. Make sure to use your non-Beta key for your copy of Vista, because the Beta key will not work. I guess this is Microsoft’s way of saying thanks!

The Vista Family Discount is of course available to everybody with the difference being that if you weren’t a Beta tester, you will have to purchase Vista Ultimate at full price ($399.99) before you can get the discounted copies of Home Premium. Either way, it’s a reasonable discounted offer from Microsoft and will give multiple computer households the chance to upgrade more affordably.

Source: Windows-Now

–Extend the 30-day Windows Trial–

In our review on Vista, we mentioned the 30-day trial of Windows Vista that anybody is able to take advantage of.  Because you could potentially be dishing out quite a bit of money for this new operating system, it’s nice that you have the option to ‘try before you buy.’ I’ve come across two different sources that explain how to extend the 30-day grace period to 120 days. They also say that no hacks are required, and that it’s supported by Microsoft.

All you have to do is start a command prompt as an Administrator and then issue this command:

slmgr -rearm

After you have issued the command, you’ll need to restart your computer for the extension to take effect.  Now, this doesn’t extend you to 120 days, instead it gives you an additional 30 days.  You’re able to issue the command 3 times which will give you 120 days to try it out. This gives you plenty of time to determine if it’s worth the money or not.

Source: Bink.nu

–Microsoft Confirms Vista Speech Recognition Remote Execution Flaw–

According to George Ou over at ZDNet, Microsoft has confirmed that a flaw with Vista Speech Recognition could allow an attacker to verbally execute commands using the speech recognition feature. The UAC wouldn’t give the attacker control over administrative level commands, but anything outside of that could potentially be at their disposal. A few things would have to be in line for an attacker to be able to do anything harmful.

First, you’d have to have a microphone and speakers connected to your system.  Remember, this is a verbal attack.  And secondly, you’d also need speech recognition to be configured. The odds of this actually happening are probably very slim, but the fact that it could potentially happen means that it’s something that Microsoft needs to address.

You can read more about this here and here.

Source: Thanks wlancowboy!

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