October 2008 Newsletter
SchoolBooksOnSale.com, a subsidiary of Sierra Corporation, is a resource for people to buy and sell cheap text books online. We help users to sell their textbooks from any level of education, from Kindergarten to Intermediate School, to High School, to College. |
Dell-Paramount Deal to Offer Preloaded “Iron Man” |
Dell and Paramount Pictures are offering to preload into newly purchased computers the movie “Iron Man.” This personalization will begin on Tuesday, September 30th, the same day as its DVD release. The cost will be $20 and will include exclusive bonus footage.
Dell hopes to sign other studios and intends to offer a larger selection of preloaded content, and in time, also help consumers to buy films once they have already bought computers. Dell could be moving towards a digital storefront to take on iTunes with a plan involving a company they acquired in 2007, Zing Systems, whose founder, Tim Bucher, previously worked at Apple.
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First-Ever Blackberry Flip Phone |
Research In Motion (RIM) has introduced a new member in the Pearl Smartphone family - “The Blackberry Pearl Flip 8220,” which will be available later this fall through T-Mobile.
Like RIM’s original Pearl model, it will come loaded with multimedia features such as a music player, video, 2-megapixel camera with flash, as well as a Web browser and an abridged keyboard. It has an LCD on the outside of the phone, that you can use to preview e-mails, text messages and phone calls. When flipped open, the phone reveals a larger screen and a qwerty keyboard.
The quad-band phone will operate on GSM networks in the Americas, Europe and Asia, and can connect to EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) data networks; it also has Bluetooth short-range wireless interface for connecting to headsets and GPS receivers, and a  Wi-Fi 802.11b/g. This phone comes with a set of stereo headphones in it, and like all other Blackberry models, it includes media player software. The Blackberry Pearl Flip is also capable of using up to 16 GB capacity removable MicroSD memory cards to store music and files. This device is loaded with software, which lets users edit Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents. |
Save As PDF in Office 2007 |
Microsoft Office 2007 users can download a free add-in to save or export PDF or XPS files. This add-in will let you export PDF files from any Office 2007 app without having to buy Adobe Acrobat Pro.
To download and install it, Click Here. |
Serious Security Flaw Found: Clickjacking |
A serious security flaw common across all modern browsers has been partially revealed by security experts Robert Hansen and Jeremiah Grossman. It affects Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera, and Adobe Flash. The flaw was to be the subject of a speech at the OWASP NYC AppSec 2008 Conference, but it was voluntarily pulled by those set to give the speech, out of deference to Microsoft, Mozilla, et. al.
According to one source at the OWASP presentation, "In a nutshell, it’s when you visit a malicious website and the attacker is able to take control of the links that your browser visits. The problem affects all of the different browsers except something like lynx. The issue has nothing to do with JavaScript so turning JavaScript off in your browser will not help you. It’s a fundamental flaw with the way your browser works and cannot be fixed with a simple patch. With this exploit, once you’re on the malicious web page, the bad guy can make you click on any link, any button, or anything on the page without you even seeing it happening."
While the flaw has not been publicly described in its entirety, a proof of concept has appeared at PlanB Security (http://www.planb-security.net/notclickjacking/iframetrick.html) describing one of the ways an exploit of this type could be carried out.
Currently there are no patches available for any major browser. According to Ryan Naradine of ZDNet, the Firefox plug-in NoScript (http://noscript.net/) is effective at combating most possible forms of Clickjacking within Firefox. In the near-term Firefox + NoScript is the best defense, particularly if you commonly access private or secret websites in the course of your business. Hopefully, Microsoft, Apple and Mozilla will release patches for their browsers soon.
Click Here to download Firefox (free)
Then Click Here to get the NoScript Firefox plug-in (free)
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The T-Mobile G1 will be available in the United States on October 22nd, 2008 and will be the first phone ever to be run by Google’s Android operating system. The G1 is most likely to set two trends in the industry: to have consumers customize their favorite functions that best suit their needs on the phone, and to increase the use of internet on the go.
The G1 is made by the Taiwanese company HTC. Just like the iPhone it has a large color touch screen, but unlike the iPhone it includes a full QWERTY keyboard. This gives the G1 an extra point ahead of the iPhone because one of the complaints iPhone users give regarding the touch keyboard feature is that it is “irritating” to use. The G1 also has a 3 mega-pixel camera, G.P.S. navigation, Wi Fi access and an internet browser. It will sell for $179 which is $20 less than the iPhone, with a two year voice and data plan. This phone will sell only with a T-Mobile service plan.
The G1 shares several features with the iPhone, but also differs significantly:
- The G1 has a QWERTY keyboard; the iPhone does not.
- The iPhone supports Microsoft Exchange server; the G1 does not.
- The G1 is built on an open-source, Linux-based platform; Apple iPhone applications are tightly controlled by Apple, and must be “approved” for use on the phone.
Each phone offers certain wow features:
- The iPhone 3G has some killer games and the best phone music player on the planet.
- The G1 Compass feature: It uses Google Maps, the street-level photos Google's been capturing for the past few years, and the accelerometer to give you a virtual 360-degree view of an intersection, even if you're not there.
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Google Transit Released for NYC |
Google Transit Trip Planner (http://www.google.com/transit), Google's dedicated mass-transit mapping tool, has been released for NYC. Google Transit now includes 70+ cities and is working directly with municipal bus lines to set up service for other cities. The NYC launch coincides with the announcement of the T-Mobile G1 Smartphone, which runs Google's mobile operating system, Android. Consequently Google Transit will be available on the G1 along with other Google apps, greatly increasing the phone's usefulness.
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PhotoSynthese Solar Charger |
Solar Tree: Designed by Vivien Muller
When you look at this gadget, the first three words that should come to your mind are innovative, environmentally ingenious. This 54 photovoltaic cell solar tree not only has a beautiful aesthetic design to make your office desk look great, but also plays the role of a charger for phones or compatible gadgets by harnessing the power of the sun.
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