WinAmp Media Payer shutting down after 15 years

Posted by David Bernstein

If you have been a Windows user for a long time you most likely have used or at least heard of WinAmp Media Player. It was a very popular free program that would play audio and video files and was used by a lot of people. It was also used to stream audio from internet radio sites and the like. WinAmp supported a variety of file types making it popular for end users.

Once Windows Media Player and iTunes became the standards for audio and video playback WinAmp started fading away except for the faithful old school users. WinAmp was created in 1997 and soon bought out by AOL in 1999.

The latest version of WinAmp was released this Wednesday and the last time you will be able to download the software from their site will be on December 20^th. All of their associated web services will be shut down on the 20th as well. Even though former employees claim that WinAmp was pulling in 6 million a year the company has not commented on why they are shutting down.

 

Personal computer sales still on the decline

Posted by David Bernstein

If you think about it, when was the last time someone talked about some new software they got for their personal computer compared to the new app they downloaded to their smartphone or tablet? This is because PCs are old news while smartphones and tablets are still the new hot ticket.

With that being said it’s no wonder that personal computer sales have been declining for some time and are still on their way down. We don’t think they will be going away any time soon but their popularity seems to be. Apparently for the 6^th quarter in a row, PC sales have been dropping which of course causes concern for PC manufactures and PC operating system vendors such as Microsoft.

Research group IDC said the market fell nearly 8% and expects the PC market to bottom out next year and then start to recover in 2015 when people will have to replace their current computers assuming they don’t just switch to tablets. The drops were from other countries outside of the US according to their research.

IDC said Acer and Asus suffered declines of about 34% but report that Lenovo, HP and Dell have actually grown up to 3% thanks to the US market for PCs.

Backdoor vulnerability found in D-Link routers

Posted by David Bernstein

If you have a broadband internet connection at home you most likely have a router between your modem and computer, or at least you should have one. Even if you don’t use a wireless connection you should have a router to get an extra layer of security to protect you from the outside world.

There are a handful of top brands of routers you will find in your local electronics store such as Netgear, Belkin and Linksys. There is one major brand (D-Link) that has recently been discovered to have a security hole that can allow remote code execution and allow the hacker to login to the router without knowing the name or password. After they are in they can do things such as change the router’s settings and redirect computers to malicious websites. A researcher from Tactical Network Solutions named Craig Heffner discovered the vulnerability out of boredom while reverse engineering the web server software contained in the router’s firmware.

This security hole does not affect all D-Link routers. The most likely affected models include the DIR-100, DI-524, DI-524UP, DI-604S, DI-604UP, DI-604+, TM-G5240 and possibly DIR-615. The BRL-04UR and BRL-04CW routers made by Planex Communications might also be vulnerable because they also appear to use the same firmware. D-Link plans on having the issue fixed by Halloween.

YouTube is redoing the way comments are posted on videos

Posted by David Bernstein

 You might have noticed that when you go to watch a YouTube video that there are comments underneath and many of them are either irrelevant to the video’s content or just negative comments that are posted for no other reason but to be negative.

Google is now changing the way YouTube comments are shown to make them a better and more relevant experience for the viewers of that video. This will also cut down on trolling and spam like comments that don’t have anything to do with the video.

Comments will change from having the newest comment on top to the most relevant comments being at the top of the list. And people that you know that post comments will get top billing on your video’s page. If you post a comment on your own video it will also get more attention than other viewers. YouTube will also be using Google+ to personalize what different people see based on their friends and which other posters they interact with the most.

And if you don’t have the time to weed out the comments you don’t want shown on your videos page then you can use their new tools to filter out unwanted commenters or certain keywords that you choose. You can also have the option to hold these comments for review in case you decide later on that you want to post them.

Windows 8.1 pricing released

Posted by David Bernstein

You may or may have not “upgraded” to Windows 8 and may or may not ever plan to. If you are planning on buying a new Windows computer then you will be stuck with Windows 8 unless you format the drive and put a different version of Windows or a whole other operating system on it.

You may have also heard about Windows 8.1 which brings back the Start button but not the Start menu which is borderline pointless. But it will let you boot to the traditional Windows desktop if that’s what you like to see when you first log in.

If you are already running Window 8 then you will be able to upgrade to Windows 8.1 for free but if you don’t then you will have to pay. Starting on October 17^th you will be able to download Windows 8.1 or buy it on a DVD for $119.99 for the Standard version and $199.99 for the Pro version which will let you connect to a corporate network and use features such as Remote Desktop.

As of now Windows 8.1 is an upgrade only but when the 17^th comes around it will be available as a full download for clean installations. If you are doing an upgrade then it’s best to upgrade from a Windows 7 computer since Vista and XP upgrades are not recommended and may not work that well because files, settings and programs will not transfer.

Intel claims they can overclock SSD drives

Posted by Jim Bernstein

If you are a PC geek of any kind you know that it’s possible to overclock your processor to get more performance out of it. You also know that the latest craze in hard drives is the SSD or solid state drive that is much faster than traditional spinning disks and is more like using a flash drive for a hard drive.

PC giant Intel is saying that they can overclock an SSD drive and will demonstrate it at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco. They haven’t said how it will be done but if it can then that opens up a whole new world for hard drive performance.

Since SSD drives are driven by a clock\timings just like processors are this should be able to be done but it’s hard to say if it will affect the reliability of the drive or not. Doing so may or may not even increase performance too much and may in fact reduce the life of the drive. Some are speculating that Intel is just doing this for fun and to prove that it can be done. If it can be done and does make a difference it will be up to the consumers to decide if they want to risk the life of their drive for a little more performance. I guess we will find out on September 10^th.

Windows 8.1 to officially launch in October

Posted by David Bernstein
 

The first major update to Windows 8, Windows 8.1 will officially launch in October of this year. The free update will start rolling out on the 17^th in New Zealand first of all places and will be available in the Windows store as well as for download online. The 8.1 update will also be available to retailers and on new devices starting on the 18^th. You may have got your hands on for the 8.1 preview last June to see how it worked and the final release should be pretty much the same.

Windows 8 has had less than stellar sales number thanks to its total redesign which is better suited for touchscreen devices such as tablets rather than personal computers. The 8.1 update brings back the Start button even though there is no Start menu. The Start button just brings you to your apps instead. One nice feature is the option to be able to boot right to your desktop rather than the “metro” screen. Other improvements will be Internet Explorer 11 and some new built in apps. If you are into cloud computing there will also be built in access to Sky Drive.