News Bits: SingPlayer for Macs, Vista Sales Boost Microsoft, Samsung 16GB NAND memory

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Samsung begins mass production of 16GB NAND flash memory

Samsung today announced that it is the first company to begin mass production of 16GB NAND flash memory. The company's 51nm variants are 60% more efficient than their 60nm stablemates. They are also almost 80% faster than the 60nm versions. The multi-level cell (MLC) design offers read speeds of 30MB/s and write speeds of 8MB/s.

The flash memory is targeted for mobile devices, specifically in the form of digital memory cards, MP3 players, and cell phones. The 16GB NAND flash memory is now shipping and should be available in the mainstream market by the end of the year.

Read More (DailyTech.com)

Sling Media announces SlingPlayer for Macs

Sling Media today announced its new SlingPlayer for Macs, which is a software client for Slingbox customers. It allows for the viewing of home TV or Apple TV on a Macintosh desktop or laptop computer. The player is available in the U.S. and Canada, and is available for download free of charge from Sling Media.

SlingPlayer for Mac v1.0 offers full remote controls and content can be watched from customer's home entertainment system. It supports PowerPC and Intel platforms running OS X 10.3.9 and later.

U.S. Software Download Link

Canada Software Download Link

Read More (BusinessWire.com)

Lenovo remains largest notebook brand in China during Q1

Lenovo retained its lead as the largest notebook brand in China, shipping 34.1% of the 1.214 million notebook PCs shipped in the country during Q1. The average shipped notebook price dropped to about US$1,018 from about US$1,066 in Q1 as well

Read More (DigiTimes.com)

Vista sales help Microsoft boost profits

Microsoft's profit for Q1 totaled $4.93 billion (50 cents per share), up from $2.98 billion last year. Market analysts had forecasted a profit of 46 cents per share. Microsoft shares rose 5% to $30.48 after electronic trading closed. Further rises are likely.

Microsoft started selling Vista at the end of January; Vista was the first new operating system Microsoft shipped in five years since XP was introduced. Microsoft's new Office 2007 was also launched in January along with Vista. Microsoft offered discounted upgrades to Vista from XP to those buying PCs during the holiday season, which greatly helped the company's Q1 profits.

Read More (news.bbc.co.uk)

Viruses and malware to evolve on Windows Vista

Microsoft's Mark Russinovich says that despite Vista's overhauled security model, it will still become a victim of malware and viruses, and will also promote development of new attack methods. According to Russinovich, &quot;Malware will evolve to run as standard user, where it can accomplish many of its goals, not that Vista somehow enables malware - in fact, ASLR, service security hardening, Defender, SDL, and other security enhancements raise the security bar in Vista.&quot;

The point is that Vista can't stop malware, even with the controversial UAC feature. Russinovich explained that &quot;there is no guarantee that malware can't hijack the evaluation process or compromise an elevated application.&quot; Russinovich believes UAC will work and that it will help prevent significant damage.

Read More (ArsTechnica.com)

American households spend $1,200/yr on gadgets

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) ran a study and concluded that the average American household spends roughly $1,200 per year on gadgets on average. Televisions are the most popular electronic product according to the study; 92% of American households have one. HDTVs are found in approximately 25% of households. Cell phones are the most common consumer electronic device.

The largest growth over the past year was in network devices (wireless access points) and digital video recorders; each saw an 8% increase. 25% of American households own a DVR and 30% network hardware according to the study.

Another interesting fact that was uncovered was that the average American teenager spends half of their total discretionary income on consumer electronics products; they may spend over $500 more than the national average.

How much do you spend a year on consumer electronics devices? 

Read More (ArsTechnica.com)

 

Maybe if UAC wasn't so annoying, it would do a better job. As it stands, most people will either disable it or ignore as much as they ignore the IE pop-ups, at which point it will do no good. And the problem is that you generally don't have to input your password. It's too easy to just click "Allow," but making you enter your Administrator password as Linux and Mac do makes you stop and think for a minute, as well as making sure only the TRUE administrator can do things.

The NAND update is good to hear. Flash-based memory is coming a long way, and I'm glad to see it come.