Developages - Development and Technology Blog

We all knew that the second expansion pack for the World Of Warcraft (WoW) gaming phenomenon was going to do well but, it seems to have exceeded expectations by smashing the one-day sales record for a PC game. Figures just released by developer Blizzard show that Wrath of the Lich King, which hit stores last week, managed to shift a massive 2.8m copies in the first 24-hours, becoming the fastest ever selling PC title. The figure eclipsed the record created by the first WoW expansion, The Burning Crusade, which sold 2.4m copies in January 2007. The indicators were good from the outset with more than 2,500 Warcraft fanatics queuing for the latest instalment on London’s Oxford St. Sales were also helped by the fact that 15,000 stores around the world opened at midnight to feed the frenzy. “After a single day of availability, Wrath of the Lich King is already the bestselling PC game of 2008 at GameStop and ranks as one of our top-selling products so far this year,” said Bob McKenzie, GameStop’s senior vice president of merchandising. Blizzard recently announced that WoW had passed the 11m subscriber mark, proving that being a Level 80 Death Knight is more important than saving for a recession. See the cinematic trailer below.-Martin Lynch games warcraft

Original post by nafiz

SnT2k writes “Adobe recently release the beta version of Alchemy which compiles C/C++ code into AS3 bytcode (which runs on AVM2) that can run on the Flash or Flex platform and boasts increased performance for computationally-intensive tasks (but still slower than native C/C++). It was demonstrated last year during the Chicago MAX 2007 to run Quake. A few months later it has been demonstrated to run a Python interpreter and Nintendo Emulator. One interesting tidbit is that the thing is built upon the open source LLVM Compiler Infrastructure.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by samzenpus

It seems that not all digital photos are the same and scientists have now worked out how to trace back photos taken with specific makes and models of cameras. Each camera has its own digital fingerprint which, using the right process, can be revealed and used to identify which type of camera took the shot. Some in law enforcement believe the breakthrough could help in kidnapping situations by allowing investigators to track back a captured victim’s photo to the camera model that took it. This could then be combined with regional sales information. Agreed, it’s a long shot technique that would narrow down things to some degree but it’s still better than nothing. The same technique could also be used to trace the cameras used by child pornographers and paedophiles.The ID process concentrates on the “demosaicing″ software algorithm used in cameras to help translate the colour and brightness needed for each pixel. The software is different in each camera type and the team at the Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, New York, have figured out how to work backwards through neighbouring pixel values in a photo to discover which demosaicing algorithm was used, thus revealing the camera type. Early tests have been 90% accurate.-Martin Lynch [New Scientist] technology camera software

Original post by nafiz

Can’t be bothered typing Internet searches on your iPhone? Then try talking. Google has added voice functionality to its Mobile App for the iPhone which it claims allows you to speak your searches into the phone. This voice search facility was announced recently but Google has finally launched it. The only question is whether Apple has managed to get it up on the App Store? Despite its official launch a few days ago, Apple failed to put the new and improved Google application up on the App Store. There’s new version of the Google Mobile App up there now but it doesn’t list the voice functionality in its new features list. I’ve been told it’s there though, but you’ll have to activate the feature yourself.. Google product manager, Gummi Hafsteinsson, jokingly explained voice app: “Have you ever been in a hurry and really needed to find an answer to something, but there was no one to ask? Like when you’re grocery shopping and looking for the last item on your list, the kids are running around you in circles, you’re holding a basket in one hand, and you have no idea what “fennel bulbs” look like. That’s why we’ve added voice search to Google Mobile App for the iPhone — and made it super easy to use. Once the app is running, you don’t have to tap any buttons. Just hold the iPhone to your ear, wait for the beep, and say what you’re looking for.” For those of you that wish to voice search for things other than fennel bulbs, you can find it on App Store by searching for ‘Google Mobile App’. Let us know if it’s any good or, if there’s some funny UK-to-US English anomalies.-Martin Lynch google iphone software

Original post by nafiz

UK Internet users could be worth as much as £14,500 each to online fraudsters according to the latest figures from consumer online safety group, Get Safe Online. Working adults [based on an average salary of almost £24,000] could be had for up to £14,500 per online fraud attempt. Get Safe Online experts claim that internet fraudsters take as much advantage of a person’s accessible finances as they can in a short space of time, before moving on to the next victim. This includes emptying current and savings accounts, and spending the full limit of their credit cards. Now that an estimated 6 out of 10 of us manage our finances online, Get Safe Online - backed by the government, police and banks - thinks UK citizens need to be more vigilant than ever. Tony Neate, managing director of Get Safe Online commented: “We are actively encouraging more people to go online, but in doing so, to ensure that they are safe and secure. We want to draw attention to the fact that online criminal activity can be a sophisticated business, but that each of us can take steps to prevent ourselves from becoming a victim. If internet users invest a relatively small amount of time and money in ensuring they are fully protected and up-to-date, the risk of such financial loss is almost negligible. To install the essential software and learn about the key safety measures on the Get Safe Online website takes a matter of a few hours - a small but worthwhile inconvenience compared to the potential loss.” UK citizens though are not complete fools it seems, with 85% now using some form of anti-virus software. That said, almost half of all UK Net users do not update their AV software frequently enough, 23% have no anti-spyware protection and 47% do not have any protection against ‘phishing’ attacks. Victims of phishing attacks in the UK have trebled in the past 12 months. If you need to know more about protecting the pennies and your ID online, find out more here.-Martin Lynch crime internet

Original post by nafiz

UK Internet users could be worth as much as £14,500 each to online fraudsters according to the latest figures from consumer online safety group, Get Safe Online. Working adults [based on an average salary of almost £24,000] could be had for up to £14,500 per online fraud attempt. Get Safe Online experts claim that internet fraudsters take as much advantage of a person’s accessible finances as they can in a short space of time, before moving on to the next victim. This includes emptying current and savings accounts, and spending the full limit of their credit cards. Now that an estimated 6 out of 10 of us manage our finances online, Get Safe Online - backed by the government, police and banks - thinks UK citizens need to be more vigilant than ever. Tony Neate, managing director of Get Safe Online commented: “We are actively encouraging more people to go online, but in doing so, to ensure that they are safe and secure. We want to draw attention to the fact that online criminal activity can be a sophisticated business, but that each of us can take steps to prevent ourselves from becoming a victim. If internet users invest a relatively small amount of time and money in ensuring they are fully protected and up-to-date, the risk of such financial loss is almost negligible. To install the essential software and learn about the key safety measures on the Get Safe Online website takes a matter of a few hours - a small but worthwhile inconvenience compared to the potential loss.” UK citizens though are not complete fools it seems, with 85% now using some form of anti-virus software. That said, almost half of all UK Net users do not update their AV software frequently enough, 23% have no anti-spyware protection and 47% do not have any protection against ‘phishing’ attacks. Victims of phishing attacks in the UK have trebled in the past 12 months. If you need to know more about protecting the pennies and your ID online, find out more here.-Martin Lynch crime internet

Original post by nafiz

UK Internet users could be worth as much as £14,500 each to online fraudsters according to the latest figures from consumer online safety group, Get Safe Online. Working adults [based on an average salary of almost £24,000] could be had for up to £14,500 per online fraud attempt. Get Safe Online experts claim that internet fraudsters take as much advantage of a person’s accessible finances as they can in a short space of time, before moving on to the next victim. This includes emptying current and savings accounts, and spending the full limit of their credit cards. Now that an estimated 6 out of 10 of us manage our finances online, Get Safe Online - backed by the government, police and banks - thinks UK citizens need to be more vigilant than ever. Tony Neate, managing director of Get Safe Online commented: “We are actively encouraging more people to go online, but in doing so, to ensure that they are safe and secure. We want to draw attention to the fact that online criminal activity can be a sophisticated business, but that each of us can take steps to prevent ourselves from becoming a victim. If internet users invest a relatively small amount of time and money in ensuring they are fully protected and up-to-date, the risk of such financial loss is almost negligible. To install the essential software and learn about the key safety measures on the Get Safe Online website takes a matter of a few hours - a small but worthwhile inconvenience compared to the potential loss.” UK citizens though are not complete fools it seems, with 85% now using some form of anti-virus software. That said, almost half of all UK Net users do not update their AV software frequently enough, 23% have no anti-spyware protection and 47% do not have any protection against ‘phishing’ attacks. Victims of phishing attacks in the UK have trebled in the past 12 months. If you need to know more about protecting the pennies and your ID online, find out more here.-Martin Lynch crime internet

Original post by nafiz

99BottlesOfBeerInMyF writes “Yesterday Apple quietly slipped out an update to their Safari Web browser to version 3.2. The notable feature is that it finally adds anti-phishing technology, an area where Safari has lagged behind competitors. Aside from that, it provides some security fixes, improved JavaScript performance, and a slightly newer version of Webkit, pulling their Acid3 score up to 77.” Apple forums across the Net are reporting frequent crashes in Safari 3.2, some possibly caused by 3rd-party add-ons, others perhaps related to the anti-phishing feature.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by kdawson

I’m not sure if you’ve ever nurtured an inner hippie, or Zelda, urge to play an Ocarina but iPhone owners can get their musical kicks now thanks to a new app. The unsurprisingly named Ocarina app actually turns the iPhone into a full-blown wind instrument since you have to blow to get it working. Place your fingers over the four virtual holes on the iPhone screen and then blow gently into the microphone hole to create incredibly realistic ocarina notes. Also, the notes, which can be altered with tilting the device, are not pre-generated but created by the software on the fly so it can sound subtly different all of the time. Above, you can see a pretty solo performance and, if your hippie ass hasn’t been kicked around the tube station by roaming neanderthal Chavs, you can get together with other iPhone Ocarina dudes to play some very cool Led Zeppelin, like in the video below. Sweet.-Martin Lynch [Source] iphone music

Original post by nafiz

Christoph Derndorfer writes “Last year OLPC’s XO-laptop was among the hottest Christmas gadgets thanks to the organization’s G1G1 program, where you could donate $399 to give one XO-laptop to a child in the developing world and receive one yourself in return. However in 2007 the program was only available for US and Canadian citizens. This year’s program, which takes off November 17, is also available to citizens in the EU member states, Switzerland, Russia, and Turkey. This is certainly awesome news for all the OLPC / Linux / gadget enthusiasts here in Europe! P.S. Before anyone asks, these XOs will come equipped with the child-friendly Sugar platform, which is based on Fedora 9, and not Windows XP.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by kdawson

jammag writes “Both OpenOffice and Google Apps are free, so the choice is purely down to which is better. Bruce Byfield, after looking at both, concluded, ‘comparing Google Apps to OpenOffice.org is like clubbing a staked-out bunny — Google Apps is so far behind that the whole exercise seems like an exercise in pointless cruelty.’ Ouch, that hurts.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by timothy

World’s most popular mobile browser offers incremental upgrades and speed boost promise.

Original post by Mike Slocombe

We’d been faithful and steadfast to Wordpress for a very long time. Over the years, the increasing numbers of people that asked for recommendation for a blogging tool, we’d enthusiastically promote Wordpress as the tool of choice.
We’ve held the Wordpress faith until we upgraded Isle of Wight News site, VentnorBlog, a sister site of Digital-Lifestyles, […]

Original post by Simon Perry

We all know that the future of interaction with our PCs and consumer technology will involve gesture control but start-up Mgestyk Technologies claims to have cracked it now. What’s more, they claim their system uses nothing more than an ‘affordable 3D camera’ and its custom software to make playing games, opening applications and surfing the Web a mouse and keyboard-free experience. In the video you can see plenty of demonstrations of people doing all of the above but we’d be surprised if the reaction times of this system could in any way match those of a decent gaming mouse. That said, market watchers Gartner, have predicted [optimistically] that the mouse will be dead in just 3-to-5 years. However, the Mgestyk video is certainly fun to watch and the company promises - because it hasn’t launched anything yet - that the end result will cost the same as a high-end webcam. If you′re interested, you can sign up for the system here.-Martin Lynch [Source] PC software future

Original post by nafiz

haroldag writes “I thoroughly enjoyed the recent post about Unix tricks, so I ask Slashdot vim users, what’s out there? :Sex, :b#, marks, ctags. Any tricks worth sharing?”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by timothy