Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Yahoo has published their “Year in Review,” covering search over 2008.
They’re keen to point out that it isn’t just what the top 10 searches were, but Top 10s of lots of catagories.
Beyond the Top 10s there’s also some analysis of what those things could have meant.

Original post by Simon Perry

JagsLive was one of several readers to point out Jerry Yang’s departure as Yahoo CEO. He’s not leaving the company; he will return to his former role as Chief Yahoo, whatever that entails. Yang has been under fire in recent months from investors for his handling of Microsoft’s recent acquisition attempt.”Yahoo, under fierce financial pressure, has begun a search to replace company co-founder Jerry Yang as chief executive, the company said Monday. ‘Jerry and the board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level,’ Chairman Roy Bostock said in a statement.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by kdawson

I’m getting mighty ticked off with Yahoo! Mail lately. I have industry contacts, family, and friends that use yahoo.com email accounts and I′ve been getting this “defer″ messages lately. Yahoo is using an anti-spam tactic where they “defer″ the message from your SMTP server. It’s also known as “greylisting”.

Yahoo mail denies the first delivery attempt of an email (421 Message temporarily deferred). Yahoo assumes that spammers don’t try sending the same email twice, so they put the IP address of that email server in a list and then if the delivery is retried within a short amount of time, they assume that it is a good email and “accept” the SMTP connection for mail delivery. It’s too resource intensive for spammers to retry emails, which is why spammers mass blast programs give up after one try.

The SMTP protocol, configured on valid email servers, was designed such that it will retry to send an email several times before failing. Unfortunately, Yahoo’s greylisting has gotten super aggressive, often deferring tmcnet.com emails to yahoo.com email addresses so many times that eventually our email server gives up.

Even worse, often times 24 hours goes by before I get an email undeliverable message! I had an important email that I assumed was delivered and I didn’t know until a day later that it bounced!

Here’s an example:

This message could not be delivered. The TMC I.C.E. Box will not make any further attempts to deliver the message.

A record of the delivery attempts made follows:

We were unable to connect to the destination server(s):
On Thu Nov 13 at 14:51 EST, Message exceeded queue lifetime. Bouncing.
On Thu Nov 13 at 14:51 EST, Connected to 216.39.53.2 but greeting failed. Remote host said: 421 Message from (206.252.203.30) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
On Thu Nov 13 at 11:38 EST, 68.142.202.247 failed after I sent the message. Remote host said: 451 Message temporarily deferred - [70] On Thu Nov 13 at 08:38 EST, Connected to 66.196.82.7 but greeting failed. Remote host said: 421 Message from (206.252.203.30) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
On Thu Nov 13 at 05:51 EST, Connected to 206.190.53.191 but greeting failed. Remote host said: 421 Message from (206.252.203.30) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
On Thu Nov 13 at 03:18 EST, 209.191.88.247 failed after I sent the message. Remote host said: 451 Message temporarily deferred - [70] On Thu Nov 13 at 00:58 EST, Connected to 209.191.118.103 but greeting failed. Remote host said: 421 Message from (206.252.203.30) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
On Wed Nov 12 at 22:51 EST, Connected to 216.39.53.1 but greeting failed. Remote host said: 421 Message from (206.252.203.30) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
On Wed Nov 12 at 20:58 EST, Connected to 66.196.97.250 but greeting failed. Remote host said: 421 Message from (206.252.203.30) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
On Wed Nov 12 at 19:18 EST, Connected to 216.39.53.3 but greeting failed. Remote host said: 421 Message from (206.252.203.30) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
On Wed Nov 12 at 17:51 EST, Connected to 66.196.97.250 but greeting failed. Remote host said: 421 Message from (206.252.203.30) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
On Wed Nov 12 at 16:38 EST, Connected to 67.195.168.31 but greeting failed. Remote host said: 421 Message from (206.252.203.30) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
On Wed Nov 12 at 15:38 EST, Connected to 209.191.118.103 but greeting failed. Remote host said: 421 Message from (206.252.203.30) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
On Wed Nov 12 at 14:51 EST, 66.196.82.7 failed after I sent the message. Remote host said: 421 Message temporarily deferred - 4.16.51. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
On Wed Nov 12 at 14:18 EST, Connected to 209.191.118.103 but greeting failed. Remote host said: 421 Message from (206.252.203.30) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
On Wed Nov 12 at 13:58 EST, Connected to 209.191.88.247 but greeting failed. Remote host said: 421 Message from (206.252.203.30) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html
On Wed Nov 12 at 13:51 EST, Connected to 209.191.118.103 but greeting failed. Remote host said: 421 Message from (206.252.203.30) temporarily deferred - 4.16.50. Please refer to http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-06.html

You’ll notice that the IP addresses are all different, since Yahoo has tons of email servers. TMC uses a similar greylisting feature from Sendio’s anti-spam appliance, but I have it set to “permissive” and not “aggressive”. Were I to set it to “aggresive”, then if an email came in from a different IP address, our Sendio appliance would defer the message again even if the email was previously deferred from a different IP address. By setting it to “permissive” it allows the same domain email to come in via different IP addresses.

My guess is Yahoo has their email servers set to “aggresive” and they don’t have a centralized “defer” database. So when I send an email to a Yahoo address, it’s going to be pure luck if I hit the same server again after being deferred. Thus, this will result in bouncebacks after being deferred ad infinitum.

Check out Yahoo’s own Q&A, which essentially puts the onus on the “sender” and places no blame on themselves for failed email delivery :

421 Message temporarily deferred - [numeric code]

If you are seeing the error “421 Message temporarily deferred - [numeric code]”, where “[numeric code]” shows a specific diagnostic code (e.g., “4.16.51″, “4.16.52″) in your SMTP logs, this indicates that:

1. the message you attempted to send exhibited characteristics indicative of spam,and/or
2. emails from your network have been generating complaints from Yahoo! Mail users.

This is a temporary error and your mail server may automatically re-try sending emails at a later time. However, we do encourage you to examine your outbound queues to ensure that spammers are not abusing your mail server.

Are you seeing the same error consistently over an extended period of time? If so, we encourage you to provide us with detailed information, including the error and diagnostic code(s) you see in your logs, so that we can help diagnose your problem.

For bulk mailers, please visit this page to review our best practice recommendations and request assistance.

If your mail server does not primarily send bulk mailings (e.g., you run a personal, corporate, educational, or ISP mail server), please fill out this form instead.

If you’re not the administrator of the mail server in question, please contact the administrator directly with the error message you’re receiving.

This question/answer wasn’t very helpful either:

Q: As a sender, how can I ensure uninterrupted SMTP access and prioritized delivery?

A: Yahoo! Mail has become more aggressive in its acceptance of SMTP connections and denies connections by IP address when these connections do not conform to Internet standard practices. To continue uninterrupted access and prioritized delivery, you should ensure that your email address lists are well maintained. If you are conforming to these standards, then these policies should only affect you positively. We anticipate improvements in delivery times and in available connections.

If you consistently see 451 SMTP error codes you should review your email practices and policies, especially the following:

• Remove email addresses that bounce. Bounces are an indication that the mail could not be delivered because the user does not exist, no longer exists, or is unable to accept your email. List managers should remove addresses that generate bounces. A particularly popular technique for managing bounces is to use VERP to identify the recipient address that has failed.
• Examine your retry policies. Messages that receive permanent errors, such as emails sent to accounts that do not exist or are over quota, should not be retried. Permanent errors that are retried increase the likelihood that delivery will not receive the priority it deserves.
• Pay attention to the responses from our SMTP servers.The SMTP protocol defines response codes that tell your server what to do next. In particular, our server will send “500″ SMTP response codes to indicate problems that you need to investigate. For example, if an email is sent to an invalid recipient, our servers will respond with a “500″ range SMTP code, indicating a permanent error. Large numbers of emails sent to non-existant accounts may be indicative of a systemic problem. Many companies following best email list practices treat email addresses that have received a “500″ range SMTP codes specially. For instance, many companies place these addresses into a special queue that tests for continued bounces after longer and longer periods of time. This helps them maximize delivery to email addresses that exist and minimize wasted bandwidth costs.
• Don′t send unsolicited email. Make sure that all email addresses are confirmed with an opt-in process that ensures the recipient wants to receive your mail. Obtaining permission from a third party to send an email does not ensure the email is solicited. Probably the best way to confirm an email addresses before adding them to a mailing list is by using closed-loop confirmation (sometimes referred to as “full confirmation,” “full verification,” “confirmed voluntary subscription,” or “double opt-in″). In this process, after you receive a subscription request, you send a confirmation email to that address which requires some affirmative action before that email address is added to the mailing list. Since only the true owner of that email address can respond, you will know that the true owner has truly intended to subscribe and that the address is valid.
• Provide a method of unsubscribing from your list in each mail you send.
• Ensure that your mail servers are not open relays, and that your servers attempt to detect and deny connections to open proxies. At a minimum, your SMTP servers should identify the originating IP addresses that of the email and indicate this in the email headers to help you diagnose spam problems. There are a variety of open relay testers available.

If you conform to the above practices and are still seeing delivery problems, please fill out this form so that we can help you diagnose your problem. Please do not use this form to report spam

Tags: 421 defer, defer, greylisting, Sendio, spam, Yahoo, Yahoo Mail

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Copyright VoIP &amp Gadgets Blog

Original post by nafiz

Want to run Mac OS X on a PC? Well, Steve Jobs notorious for forcing his loyal fans to run only Apple-approved hardware let the cat outta the bag once he announced Intel support (previous utilized PowerPC processors.). It was only a matter of time before some hacker found a way to run Mac OS X on PCs with Intel processors.

Of course, the version of Leopard sold by Apple only includes drivers for Apple provided hardware and it requires an Apple Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), which replaces the traditional PC BIOS. So how do you get around these limitations? Well, using Kalyway DVD, a hacked version of OS X, it removes the EFI restriction and includes many device drivers for common PC hardware.

Want to learn more about running Mac OS X on a PC? Well check out the tutorial here!

Also check out the Kalyway DVD thread in forums.

Tags: Apple Extensible Firmware Interface, device drivers, dvd, EFI, Kalyway, Leopard, Mac OS X

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Copyright VoIP & Gadgets Blog

Original post by nafiz

Filed under: Gaming

While it’s not exactly a huge surprise given that Nintendo doesn′t have an overarching account system for the Wii and DS, plenty of folks will no doubt still be disappointed to learn that the company’s new Nintendo Points won′t be transferable between the two consoles. Instead, when you buy a points card (available in 1000, 3000 and 5000 points versions), you’ll have to pick a console and spend all the points in that one place. Not exactly an ideal option, to be sure, but it seems like it’s one that we’ll be stuck with — unless Nintendo has some plans to make some major changes to the way the Wii and DSi do business.

[Via gamesindustry.biz]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Transportation

Honda’s been trying for months now to convince you that “the van is back in style,” and while we’re still not entirely sure that line isn′t just marketing hoopla (okay, it is), at least the company is working to make the thing more technologically advanced. Starting next month in Japan, the automaker will debut a multi-view camera system for its Odyssey minivan, which will utilize the same 360-degree overhead cam tech that Nissan picked up last year. The system will give drivers the ability to see more as they prepare to back out, and the biggest boon is the ability to view ninjas adhered to parking garage ceilings prior to opening the sunroof and facing The Reaper. Unfortunately, there’s no word on when it′ll be available in other corners of the globe, but we’d guess 2009 if we had a Katana put to our throat.

[Thanks, JagsLive]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Didn’t see anything that particularly suited your fancy at CEDIA? Then feast your eyes on CEATEC. As the Japan-based trade show hastily approaches, out pops a mind-boggling new home theater package from Panasonic. The system will include one of its marvelous 103-inch plasma HDTVs, a Blu-ray player and at least one set of fancy 3D goggles. Hailed as a world’s first in some form or fashion, the Full HD 3D package utilizes an undisclosed format “employed by major Hollywood film studios” to “distribute full HD images of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels to each eye via synchronized shutter glasses.” Panny is hoping to promote the technology and possibly get a leg up on Samsung (our assumption) by impressing wealthy homeowners and members of the Blu-ray Disc Association. As expected, there’s no mention of a price, but rest assured — you’ll be stuck choosing between this and a new BMW.

[Via Impress]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

No two ways about it, Mad Catz has a winner on its hand with this one. The Rock Band Portable Drum Kit for Xbox 360 is a complete skins kit designed to be shoved into most any backpack and played on nearly any solid surface. The rubber pads are designed to handle over a million strikes, though that antique coffee table you lay these on may, in fact, not be designed to withstand such abuse. For those not exactly kosher with a full-fledged kit consuming the den, this seems to be the perfect compromise. And hey, it’s only $59.99 to boot. Ships “soon,” but not “soon enough.”

[Via OhGizmo]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Gaming

So, a top-secret document has popped up over at the Cheap Ass Gamer forums from a reliable source, detailing some Xbox 360 name changes. Unfortunately, we have no idea what those names mean for us, since they’re fairly idiotic, could just be internal code names, and could be fake altogether. We’re trying not to believe Microsoft is going to hit the market with the Xbox Lean, Xbox Granite and Xbox Pure, unless the “Lean” is actually slimmed down, and the “Pure” version is truly the purest of all Xboxes. HEXUS has a theory that these could be names for that 65nm unified-chip Valhalla Xboxen due for the end of the year, which may actually be feasible, but implications that the Pure could be a full-on sequel to the 360 seem preposterous at best.

[Via HEXUS.gaming]

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

We’re tempted to say that peripheral makers are taking this whole motion controlling thing a touch too far, but we suppose there’s no stopping “progress,” huh? In2Games, the outfit that already sought to bring motion sensing to the P̀, has just unveiled the first image of its motion controller for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The Wii Nunchuck-esque Gametrak Freedom is explained as being a “remarkable ultrasonic 3D motion sensing technology which delivers performance, control and flexibility far in excess of that offered by existing technologies.” Supposedly, the device tracks the true 3D position and “precise movements of up to four players anywhere within a given environment,” though it remains to be seen how much support it’ll get from software developers. Initially, the controller will launch alongside undisclosed titles that can utilize the tech, but as for now, all you have to look forward to is Squeeballs. Yes, Squeeballs.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Gaming

We’re getting reports that the rumored Xbox 360 price cuts for the UK have gone official. After our exclusive peak (pictured above) at the Woolworth’s catalog, Microsoft has stepped up and slashed prices across the board for the Queen’s own population of punters, boffins, and geezers. Starting Friday, the pricing drops to £130 for the Arcade, £170 for the 60GB Premium console, and £230 for the 120GB Elite.

Update: The rest of Europe too: Arcade (&euro180), Premium (&euro240), and Elite (&euro300).

[Via Gadgetoid]

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Gaming

We received the image above from a supposed Woolworth’s employee who scanned an upcoming retail catalog for our sicko pleasures. We can’t verify the claim, but we understand that Woolies is in the midst of an escalating, retail price war in the UK gaming space. As such, what we’re likely looking at are promotional cuts from the normal, £160, £200, £260 prices for the Arcade, Premium, and Xbox 360 Elite consoles, respectively. Then again, the across the board price cuts in the US seem to have really paid off so who knows.

[Thanks, Adam T.]

Read — Woolworth price war

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Gaming

According to our main homeboys / homegirls at GameDaily, Microsoft has confirmed that it’s dropping the price of that big, delicious Xbox 360 hard drive from the dizzingly high $179 to a totally thrifty $149. According to a Redmond rep: “We reduced the price of the Xbox 360 120 GB Hard Drive to $149 in conjunction with the recent Xbox 360 console price drop. We believe this offers consumers even greater value when selecting accessories that meet their individual gaming and entertainment needs.” Hey, no need to explain — we like things to be cheaper.

[Via Joystiq]

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Gaming

Good things happen when you suddenly become the lowest-priced console in the US. In the first weekend since cutting Xbox 360 prices, Microsoft is reporting a 100% increase in sales of all Xbox 360 models compared to the previous weekend. While not mentioned specifically, Microsoft claims that one model sold at 6x the previous weekend rate. Gee, could that be the $250 Wii-beating, $199.99 Xbox 360 Arcade at the front of Microsoft’s loss-leading lineup?

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Cellphones

Sure enough, there wasn’t anything squished about the image we saw of the LG LX600 a while back — it was just loosening the belt a couple notches to make room for a full QWERTY keyboard running across its naughty bits. Oh, and it’s no longer the LX600; turns out Sprint is releasing it as the Lotus, one of four all-new dumbphones for the autumn months to compliment today’s announcement of the Touch Diamond and Touch Pro. It’ll be available next month for $149.99 on contract. Others in the mix include the Samsung Highnote — a music-focused dual slider that dedicates one slide direction to a hefty little loudspeaker — and the curiously-named Rant, which apes the LG Rumor’s form factor to give text addicts another affordable option. Like the Lotus, the Highnote and Rant will both hit in October for $99.99 and $49.99, respectively. Meanwhile, iDEN freaks (and we use that term in the most loving way possible) will be happy to see that they’re getting their grubby, calloused hands on another rugged option, the Motorola i576 flip. It′ll start getting beaten senseless at retail come October 19 for $69.99.

Sprint’s also using those three new consumer sets (sorry, i576) to premiere “One Click,” a new UI paradigm for its non-smartphone devices that allows folks to drop all sorts of commonly-used features with information-rich icons right on the home screen for… well, one-click access, hence the name. New Katana Eclipse colors coming later this fall will feature the new software, too. Check out Engadget Mobile for a full gallery of all the wares!

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Original post by Chris Ziegler