Reality Bites
Windows only: If you’re a Chrome fan and want to see the very latest in features and fixes, even if potentially unstable, you’ve now got a Canary Build. It’s an auto-updating, near-nightly build that runs separately from your standard Chrome installation. More »
This is simply a brief video played 300 times slower than it should be, showing the birth—and the death—of a lightning bolt. [Science Blogs via Twitter] More »
One of Canada’s top jet fighter pilots is in good condition in hospital following the crash of his jet in Lethbridge, Alta., on Friday.
One man is dead and another is in custody after an early-morning stabbing Saturday in Melville, Sask.
That man in the top of this photo? That’s Captain Brian Bews and he’s lucky to be alive. The skilled pilot barely managed to eject before his CF-18 fighter jet crashed during a practice flight. Update: Video added. More »
These are dark times for Dell. As we reported last month, the computer manufacturer has been under fire for knowingly selling over 11.8 million faulty computers, and is currently embroiled in yet another lawsuit. Now it comes to light that some of the motherboards it recently sent out were filled with malware. The company has admitted as much, saying that the problems have only affected a “small number” of their PowerEdge PCs. According to DigitalTrends, the malware is showing up in the server management firmware embedded in the boards, and is really only affecting enterprise-level servers, not consumer computers.
But, in even worse news, the company settled yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission for fraud charges — to the tune of $100 million. According to the SEC’s allegations, Dell misled investors by padding its quarterly statements with money it had received from Intel during back-room agreements to not use chips made by competitor Advanced Micro Devices. Investors were not made aware of the dealings, and Dell was able to project greater financial results than it had actually achieved. [From: DigitalTrends and New York Times]
Filed under: Computers
Bad Day for Dell: Company Fined $100M and Gets Caught With Infected Motherboards originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
According to modified general relativity equations, our universe may be inside a black hole, the black holes in our universe may contain other universes, and the black holes in those universes may contain other universes… I need a drink. More »
With the box office success of Predators — both domestically and internationally — Robert Rodriguez, who produced the film, told IGN today that sequ…
The FCC has re-defined the minimum requirements of broadband to 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream. That’s a huge jump up from the previous minimum of 200Kbps but is fitting given our video streaming, downloading and cloud living times. As for myself, I could barely live with 4 Mbps down but then the FCC reminds me that 24 million people lack access to high speed internet, so I shut up. [FCC via ExtremeTech] More »
Microsoft reported a strong Q4 revenue thanks to Windows 7, and with that they announced they have sold 175 million licenses for Windows 7, the fastest selling operating system in history.
Windows 7 was released nine months ago, on October 22, 2009. The OS originally released to manufacturing one year ago….
Free health care and enhanced social benefits come at a price. A more socially liberal government also brings a more financially liberal ecosystem as well. Stymied competition in the technosphere has always been a point of strong contention for Canadians. From anti-competitive pricing practices in the media-distribution business to a…
Rogers Communications announced that they will be making adjustments to their current Internet service plans, and not for the better.
Just days after Internet movie streaming company Netflix announced that they would be expanding their empire into Canada, Rogers Communication released their lower monthly download caps. The changes directly affected two…
A local state of emergency was declared in North Battleford, Sask., on Thursday after an intense hailstorm, which led to flooding in some parts of the city.
Today at Comic Con in San Diego, we announced the Xbox 360 Limited Edition Halo: Reach bundle which will be available September 14th when Halo: Reach launches.
Designed by Bungie, the Xbox 360 Limited Edition Halo: Reach Bundle includes all the features of the newly designed Xbox 360 console, such as a 250 GB Hard Drive and the fastest built-in Wi-fi. Additionally, you’ll receive two Limited Edition Wireless Controllers and a standard edition copy of Halo:Reach. The bundle will be available for US $399 in limited quantities and only while supplies last.
Bungie unboxes the console for you
Edit: The bundle is now available for pre-order along with the special edition controller and wireless headset
Stan Lee, that guy with bit parts in all the superhero movies, unveiled three new superheroes at ComicCon: Soldier Zero, Starborn and The Traveler. More »
Okay, it’s a little off the video game beat, but only a little. If you’re not psyched for December’s big event film TRON Legacy, well you should be. The sequel to one of the first video-game movies looks amazing and this trailer shows so much promise. What caught my eye was the digital recreation of the younger Jeff Bridges (Flynn).
Those who haven’t seen the original film should understand how groundbreaking the visuals were in the 1980′s. seeing them upgraded with modern CGI and green-screen techniques is awesome. Anyway.. watch and see…
This time last year, almost to the day, Microsoft saw its first annual sales decline in history. Things are looking much better now, with the company reporting a record $16.04 billion in revenue, a 22 percent year-over-year increase for its Q4 revenue ending June 30th. In fact, revenue is up across all divisions, with Windows and Windows Live seeing the biggest uptick (43.5 percent to $4.55 billion) followed by Entertainment and Devices (27.3 percent to $1.6 billion). Operating income, on the other hand, paints a different picture of E&D, showing a $172 million loss for this quarter (compared to $141 loss in Q4 last year), but looking over the entire fiscal year, the home of Xbox and Zune this year did $679 million in operating income — a sizable jump to the $108 million from 2009. The overall operating income for the company is $5.93 billion this quarter (net income $4.52 billion), a 49 percent increase over last Q4, and $20.36 billion for the year (18 percent compared with fiscal 2009).
We know you’re interested in comparisons, so we’ll just go ahead and break it down for ya: the gang in Redmond is still beating Apple in both revenue ($16.04 billion vs. $15.7 billion) and profit ($4.52 billion vs. $3.25), but that margin feels smaller than it used to. Enough to keep the rumored pressure off Ballmer? Frankly, we don’t even think biplanes could knock the man off the top of a tower, but Windows Phone 7 has a lot to prove, and fast. Microsoft is hosting a webcast of its report later today — usually much ado about nothing, as far as we’re concerned, but we’ll listen in and let ya know if anything interesting pops up.
Update: Some interesting Xbox 360 statistics. 1.5 million consoles were sold this last quarter. Xbox Live has 25 million members, and for the first time since its inception, the revenue from the Marketplace exceeded subscription revenue.
Microsoft reports $4.5b in profit, a record $16.04b in revenue originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
Microsoft | Email this | Comments
The Saskatchewan government has issued cheques totalling $3,000 to nearly 950 flood victims in three communities.