Linux geeks will rejoice when they hear that the first build of a Linux-based firmware is successfully running on the iPhone 3G and iPod touch. The software is running the 2.6 Linux kernel and basic support for graphics, serial and input over the USB interface. Developers have also created a multi-boot OS selection screen known as OpeniBoot to let users select between Apple’s iPhone OS and alternative platforms.

This is the first we have heard of Linux or any other non-OSX operating system running on the iPhone. It is definitely a step beyond just jail breaking or unlocking the phones. The iPhone dev team is looking to add more full featured support in iPhone Linux for the touchscreen, accelerometer, audio, networking and then later on maybe have the Linux-based Android OS on the iPhone. Isn’t there anything in the terms of use preventing this? We wonder…

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Doing its part to bring the dream of ubiquitous live and pre-recorded television to life, Sling.com has shifted from a private to a public beta. We took a look at Sling Media’s video portal earlier this month and found it to be quite successful. Now, we’ve gone back in to test the Live TV feature with a couple of Slingboxes to see whether the company has scratched our streaming TV itch.

For a recap, Sling.com has two key properties. The first is a well-stocked video portal to streamable TV content from a plethora of partners, including: Hulu, CBS (for long form and clipped content), Discovery, Warner Bros, Sony, MGM, A&E, Reuters, AP, CollegeHumor, 60Frames, 23×6, NHL, Hachette Filipacchi, Lifetime, and Comcast.

This portal looks and works much like Hulu and most other studios’ video portals, in that it presents a video player front and center, and features a handful of recent episodes of most shows. Sling.com pulls ahead in a few niche areas, though, as it has a bit more of a social sharing slant than Hulu thanks to content from a few key players like The Onion.
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Google Maps and Google Street View saw a major design change this morning and the results are pretty spectacular.

Now users are able to drag “Pegman”, the little human figure, over any streets that light up, and get a great preview of the street for that location. Once Pegman lands, the entire map turns into a Street View viewer and provides an overview which areas are covered by this feature. There is also button that expands the entire view to the length of your browser.

With the competition between MapQuest, Google, and Microsoft all increasing, features such as Street View and better image quality are necessary.

Companies are investing both their finances and time into bettering the map and search features because eventually this tool is expected to be an extremely commercialized part of search.

You can see the new features at Google Maps.

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Microsoft is warning users about a new wave of malicious attacks that aim to exploit a vulnerability that was outlined in the firm’s security bulletin MS08-067 . If you haven’t patched your PC yet, it is a good idea to do so asap, the company advises.

Microsoft said that there is another “wave” of exploits coming your way, in addition to more than 50 that have been identified last week. And while initial attacks were mostly targeted at specific systems, there appear to be more general attacks in the wild now. Microsoft stated that the malware was detected as Worm:Win32/Conficker.A.

According to the company, this worm mostly spreads within corporations, but also was reported by several hundred home users. It opens a random port between port 1024 and 10000 and acts like a web server. Once the remote computer is exploited, that computer downloads a copy of the worm via HTTP using the random port opened by the worm. The worm often uses a .JPG extension when copied over and then it is saved to the local system folder as a random named dll file, Microsoft said.

Interestingly enough, the malware also patches the vulnerable API in memory so the machine will not be vulnerable anymore. The purpose of this move? Simple: The patch makes sure the system cannot be taken over by any other malware.

Microsoft said that most reports about infections come from users in the United States, but we also received reports from other countries/regions such as Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Taiwan, Japan, Brazil, Turkey, China, Mexico, Canada, Argentina and Chile. We leave it up to you to conclude why the worm “avoids” infecting Ukrainian computers and why Microsoft has not received reports from that country.

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Sony Computer Entertainment America has unveiled a new PlayStation branded credit card, which will allow savings of over $150 on the purchase of a PlayStation 3 console this year.

As described on the official U.S. PlayStation.Blog website, the card will “offer fans a new way to show off their PlayStation pride and earn reward points towards the purchase of PlayStation and Sony products”.

The $150 introductory rebate offer is valid until December 31st, 2008 and can be used at any authorized PlayStation retailer in the U.S. The discount effectively reduces the price of the 80GB PlayStation 3 model to $249.99.

The card has no annual fees, with full Visa Platinum benefits – including double warranty protection. An additional promotional offer allows owners to get a free Blu-ray movie when purchasing another movie at full price.

A recent post on GeekCondition claims that a Gmail vulnerability, that was supposedly repaired actually was not, and your account could potentially be vulnerable to hijacking and malicious attacks.

In December 2007, David Airey was a victim of this exploit when his website was hijacked. Google claimed to have repaired this vulnerability, however it apparently still exists.

It all starts when you are logged into your Gmail account and visit a malicious website. It does not matter whether you have clicked the link via your Gmail account or not, the malicious site is capable of accessing your internal credentials.
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Microsoft’s search engine Live Search is rumored to be rebranded in 2009. LiveSide reports that the domain name Kumo.com got just transferred to Microsoft and points to an internet server at the company.
Microsoft can name their search engine whatever they want it will not help to compete with Google. Microsoft needs to dramatically offer something new to shift some users away from Google and use Kumo, Live or whatever it is called.
I rarely see somebody clicking through from Microosoft Live to our site. Surprisingly now in the Holiday shopping season the search traffic from Yahoo is on the rise despite their corporate problems. Of course it is nowhere near the amount of visitors that find I4U News from Google.

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