Apple likes exclusives, as evidenced by O2’s alleged offer for the iPhone. But it looks like it goes the other way, too, as Apple has gained for itself a deal with Samsung to be the exclusive outlet for that company’s beautiful new piano-black printers.Anyway, the printers will be available at Apple Stores and apple.com at $300 or $200, depending on whether you grab the standalone or the all-in-one.

 

EW SLEEK, ULTRA-COMPACT SAMSUNG PRINTERS TO BE SOLD EXCLUSIVELY AT APPLE RETAIL STORES

World’s most compact printers are both stylish and easy to use

IRVINE, Calif., September 18, 2007

Samsung Electronics America, Inc., the world’s second largest manufacturer of laser printers, today announced that its ultra-compact monochrome laser printer, the ML-1630, and multifunction printer, the SCX-4500, will be available exclusively at Apple Retail Stores nationwide and online at www.Apple.com. These two new printers are perfect products for consumers who value both style and functionality. The devices – which are two-thirds the size of traditional laser printers – feature high-glossy and seamless exteriors that create a truly ultra-minimalist design. Samsung’s new, innovative laser printers meet consumer demand for reliable electronics that aesthetically harmonize with any office or home environment. The ML-1630 and the SCX-4500 will be sold exclusively at Apple Retail Stores until they are widely released in January 2008.

“Samsung is consistently looking for opportunities to enrich and diversify the global printer market,” said Jang-jae Lee, Senior Vice President of the Digital Printing Division, Samsung Electronics. “In turn, we are thrilled to team up with Apple, a true leader in its field, for the U.S. release of our newest printers. The ML-1630 and the SCX-4500 include button-less touch-sensor panels that reduce the user interface. Plus audible alerts and blue LED scan-process indicators ensure that the devices are extremely user-friendly.

“Among electronic products, printers are very complex and sophisticated,” said Jun Won Bae, Senior Designer, at Digital Printing Division of Samsung Electronics. “In turn, we wanted to create a printer with a simple exterior design that would serve as a counterbalance to its interior complexity.”

“Samsung has taken the printer – which is often considered as an add-on device – to an entirely new level of artistic refinement,” Lee added. “These days, consumers are looking for products that are not only functional, but that also reflect their own personal styles.” Samsung’s new printers will available at Apple Retail Stores and apple.com.

MSRP is $299 for the SCX-4500 and $199 for the ML-1630.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced two new iMacs at the start of an event held this morning (Tuesday 8/7/07) at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.

The latest iMacs are a 20 inch and 24 inch model, both made from aluminum and glass and come with the new keyboard featured in my previous post here. The new iMacs along with the new keyboard are much much thinner than the previous versions. Both of these iMacs are now available from the Apple Store.

The specs:
20 Inch Version:

• $1,199
• 20-inch, 1680 x 1050 LCD
• 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 1GB RAM
• 250GB SATA
• 8x SuperDrive
• ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT

20 Inch Version Souped Up:

• $1,499
• 20-inch, 1680 x 1050 LCD
• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 1GB RAM
• 320GB SATA
• 8x SuperDrive
• ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro

24 Inch Version:

• $1,799
• 24-inch, 1900 x 1200 LCD
• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 1GB RAM
• 320GB SATA
• 8x SuperDrive
• ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro

The $599.00 80GB Sony PlayStation 3 is now available for sale online in North America. Sony didn’t previously give us a date or anything, but it looks like GameStop / EB Games is stocking the $599 80GB console (bundled with MotorStorm), and claims shipment in 24 hours. Here it is on the EB Games website.

So we’ve all grown to love our nifty lil iPhones.  They can make phone calls, play your music and videos, let you surf the web and allow you to watch Youtube videos, and a whole lot more.  But the question is…will it blend?

Well the curious guys over at WillItBlend.com put it to the test.  Click here to watch the video.

The guys over at Engadget have received images of the rumored new iMac keyoard. It looks pretty slick.

Click here to check out the pics.

Nine Million Now Live in World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft has hit yet another milestone – this time clocking up a massive nine million subscribed players worldwide.

Blizzard Entertainment said yesterday that the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is currently working towards releasing its first expansion pack in China which is expected to further swell player numbers.

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade is being prepared for release in mainland China with Blizzard’s market partner The9.

“We’re thrilled that gamers around the world have continued to embrace World of Warcraft so enthusiastically,” said Blizzard president Mike Morhaime.

“We’ve worked hard to provide a compelling experience for our players, and we plan to continue updating the game with exciting new content for them to enjoy for many years to come.”

World of Warcraft debuted in America in November 2004, and was the best-selling PC game for the next two years.

Available in seven languages, the ground-breaking game still sits at, or near, the top of PC games lists worldwide.

Source: NZ Herald

So you win a PS2 on eBay, make the payment to the seller, and a few days later a box arrives at your house. But to this kid’s amazement, instead of a PS2 it was a box full of cash…lots of cash! $$$ If this happened to you, what would you do? Stay quiet and keep the cash, living with the fear that someone may show up looking for their 90 grand at your doorstep, or keep the 90k and move out of town!

A British teenager who bought a Sony PlayStation 2 on eBay for £95 ($194) got more than he bargained for when he opened the package. Instead of a shiny, happy gaming console, there was a whole heap of euros – €65,400 ($90,000) to be precise—stacked neatly inside. A spokesman for eBay said that the parcel’s contents were “somewhat unusual,” but that they would help the police in any way they could. When the parcel arrived, on March 20, the boy’s parents contacted the Norfolk Constabulary, who are now holding the money under the Proceeds of Crime Act. If the owner does not come forward by September 22, then the family can apply to have the cash returned to them—unless the police apply to hold onto the money for a longer period.

A couple of weeks after Microsofts announcement to spend $1 Billion to fix defective XBox 360s, the sales of new 360 units have drastically declined.

Microsoft said it shipped 700,000 Xbox 360 units in its latest fiscal quarter, compared to 1.8 million in the same quarter in 2006.
Microsoft’s growing troubles with the Xbox 360 video game console appear to be catching up to the company. Sales of the gaming machine plunged 60% in the fiscal fourth quarter, Microsoft disclosed Thursday.

In its earnings statement for the quarter, Microsoft said it shipped 700,000 Xbox 360 units during the period, compared to 1.8 million in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2006 — a fall off of 61%.

Microsoft’s Xbox operations are housed within the company’s Entertainment and Devices Division. The group saw fourth quarter revenue drop 10% year-over-year to $1.16 billion on an operating loss of $1.20 billion. The group lost $423 million the previous year.

Microsoft blamed the 183% increase in the EDD operating loss on a $1.06 billion charge against earnings that the company incurred to cover the cost of extending the warranty period for the Xbox 360 to three years. The move came following Microsoft’s recent admission that the gaming system was suffering from an “unacceptable” number of general hardware failures. Microsoft has also been hit with two class action lawsuits in the past two weeks claiming that a design flaw in the Xbox 360 causes the system to irreparably scratch game discs. Microsoft has denied the claim.

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that Xbox chief Peter Moore was leaving the company “for personal reasons.” It was later disclosed that he had jumped ship to video game publisher Electronic Arts.

In the meantime, rivals Sony and Nintendo have been stepping up competitive efforts. Sony recently announced a $100 price cut on certain PlayStation 3 units while Nintendo continues to enjoy robust sales of its new Wii system.

Microsoft introduced the Xbox 360 in November 2005. It has since shipped 11.6 million of the consoles. The company is doubtless looking forward to the holiday 2007 season and hoping that new game releases like Halo 3 revive the Xbox 360’s flagging fortunes. Microsoft on Thursday said overall profits in the fourth quarter increased 7% to $3 billion, while revenue increased 13% to $13.4 billion.

Hackers have found a way to hack into the iPhone using exploits via the built in Safari browser:

Source: New York Times

A team of computer security consultants say they have found a flaw in Apple’s wildly popular iPhone that allows them to take control of the device.

The researchers, working for Independent Security Evaluators, a company that tests its clients’ computer security by hacking it, said that they could take control of iPhones through a WiFi connection or by tricking users into going to a Web site that contains malicious code. The hack, the first reported, allowed them to tap the wealth of personal information the phones contain.

Although Apple built considerable security measures into its device, said Charles A. Miller, the principal security analyst for the firm, “Once you did manage to find a hole, you were in complete control.” The firm, based in Baltimore, alerted Apple about the vulnerability this week and recommended a software patch that could solve the problem.

A spokeswoman for Apple, Lynn Fox, said, “Apple takes security very seriously and has a great track record of addressing potential vulnerabilities before they can affect users.”

“We’re looking into the report submitted by I.S.E. and always welcome feedback on how to improve our security,” she said.

There is no evidence that this flaw had been exploited or that users had been affected.

Dr. Miller, a former employee of the National Security Agency who has a doctorate in computer science, demonstrated the hack to a reporter by using his iPhone’s Web browser to visit a Web site of his own design.

Once he was there, the site injected a bit of code into the iPhone that then took over the phone. The phone promptly followed instructions to transmit a set of files to the attacking computer that included recent text messages — including one that had been sent to the reporter’s cellphone moments before — as well as telephone contacts and e-mail addresses.

“We can get any file we want,” he said. Potentially, he added, the attack could be used to program the phone to make calls, running up large bills or even turning it into a portable bugging device.

Steven M. Bellovin, a professor of computer science at Columbia University, said, “This looks like a very genuine hack.” Mr. Bellovin, who was for many years a computer security expert at AT&T Labs Research, said the vulnerability of the iPhone was an inevitable result of the long-anticipated convergence of computing and telephony.

“We’ve been hearing for a few years now that viruses and worms were going to be a problem on cellphones as they became a little more powerful, and we’re there,” he said. The iPhone is a full-fledged computer, he noted, “and sure enough, it’s got computer-grade problems.”

He said he suspected that phones based on the Windows mobile operating system would be similarly “attackable,” though he had not yet heard of any attacks.

“It’s not the end of the world; it’s not the end of the iPhone,” he said, any more than the regular revelations of vulnerabilities in computer browser software have killed off computing. “It is a sign that you cannot let down your guard. It is a sign that we need to build software and systems better.”

Details on the vulnerability, but not a step-by-step guide to hacking the phone, can be found at www.exploitingiphone.com, which the researchers said would be unveiled today.

Hackers around the world have been trying to unveil the secrets of the iPhone since its release last month; most have focused their efforts on unlocking the phone from its sole wireless provider, AT&T, and getting unauthorized programs to run on it. The iPhone is a closed system that cannot accept outside programs and can be used only with the AT&T wireless network.

Some of those hackers have posted bulletins of their progress on the Web. A posting went up on Friday that a hacker going by the name of “Nightwatch” had created and started an independent program on the phone.

The Independent Security Evaluators researchers were able to crack the phone’s software in a week, said Aviel D. Rubin, the firm’s founder and the technical director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Rubin, who bought an iPhone the day after the cellphone was released, said in an interview that he had approached three colleagues, Dr. Miller, Joshua Mason and Jake Honoroff, and offered them an enticing prize if they would try to crack the iPhone. “I told the guys I would buy them iPhones.”

Dr. Miller had already been exploring weaknesses in the computer versions of Safari, Apple’s Web browser, and was planning to reveal that vulnerability, a relatively common kind of flaw known as a buffer overflow, at the Black Hat computer security conference next month. Dr. Miller instantly thought to see whether the phone, which uses a version of Safari, would be as vulnerable.

Mr. Rubin said the research was not intended to show that the iPhone was necessarily more vulnerable to hacking than other phones, or that Apple products were less secure than those from other companies. “Anything as complex as a computer — which is what this phone is — is going to have vulnerabilities,” he said.

There are far more viruses, worms and other malicious software affecting Windows systems than Apple systems. But Mr. Rubin said that Apple products have drawn fewer attacks because the computers have fewer users, and hackers reach for the greatest impact.

“Windows gets hacked all the time not because it is more insecure than Apple, but because 95 percent of computer users are on Windows,” he said. “The other 5 percent have enjoyed a honeymoon that will eventually come to an end.”

The iPhone is becoming a victim of its own success, he said. “The irony is that the more popular something is, the more insecure it becomes, because popularity paints a large target on its back.”

Mr. Rubin said his goal was to discover vulnerabilities and warn of them so that companies would strengthen their products and consumers would not be lulled into thinking that the technology they use was completely secure.

Mr. Rubin said, “I will think twice before getting on a random public WiFi network now,” but his overall opinion of the phone has not changed.

“You’d have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands to get it away from me,” he said.

Well looks like it’s all over for SunRocket! SunRocket, the second-largest independent VoIP company was having problems as the fundamentally poor economics of the the VoIP business caught up to it, and VoIP patent issues hindered its ability to attract further funding. Now, with this latest news it looks like the company is finished and shutting down for good. This email was sent out by Sonya Jefferson, Director of Routing and Carrier Services yesterday morning. Jefferson is also looking for a new gig:

“Unfortunately this email contains very bad news. We have just been informed that any and all last ditch efforts to keep operations running as well as a potential sale of the company have not gone through and that SunRocket will cease operations at COB today. As such, today is my last day and everyone else you may have worked with at SunRocket. … Regarding outstanding and future invoices: Sherwood Partners out of Palo Alto will be handling the close down of all invoices, current and outstanding.”

I wonder what the customers who signed up for the $199/2 yrs deal can do to get some of their money back. I’m with Vonage, and they seem to be going through some of the pains as well. Lets see what happens…