Microsoft Promises More Firmware Updates for Phones, Update-pocalypse Part II is near

Last week four of our beloved Windows Phones had received specific firmware updates in a single day. I called it "Update-pocalypse" and it included unlocked Dell Venue Pro's, the HTC Mozart, the LG Optimus 7 and the Samsung Omnia 7. Now Eric Hautala has posted a quick message on the Windows Phone Blog saying we can expect to see even more hardware-specific updates heading our way in the near future. No timeline was given nor were any specific phones discussed, but give it a few days and you'll probably start seeing them roll out.

In a related note, many Samsung Focus owners (myself included) have been wondering where the heck that 7392 security update is for our v1.3 devices (v1.4 have already received all of their updates). Well Hautala mentioned that the Samsung Focus v1.3 does not have issues updating to 7392 (which is what some were guessing) and that the update "will be bundled in our next update for AT&T customers with Focus 1.3 phones."

I know minor updates are, well, minor but damn it I just enjoy seeing that manufacturers actually care enough to update their more than 8-month old phones with tweaks and bugfixes. The last round of Update-pocalyspe went well, so I'm hoping round two goes even smoother.

Source: Windows Phone Blog

Free Download KDE Software Compilation 4.7

KDE Software Compilation 4.7 was in development for about two months, since May 25th when the first Beta was released, and it brings very nice new features, various software improvements, and overall stability.

KDE Software Compilation 4.7.0 is composed of the KDE Plasma Workspace, the KDE Applications and the KDE Development Platform.

Highlights of KDE Software Compilation 4.7.0:

· New IM (Instant Messaging) solution for KDE, integrated directly into desktop;
· Adium themes support in the default Instant Messaging client;
· Support for OpenGL-ES 2.0 on the KWin window manager;
· Major improvements on the Dolphin file manager;
· Support for the GRUB2 bootloader on KDM (KDE's login manager);
· Support for offline address search on Marble;
· Plasma Workspaces has been improved for touchscreens and mobile devices;
· Updated Oxygen icons;
· Better blending of GNOME/GTK applications in KDE;
· Activity Manager allows grouping of applications, documents and widgets;
· Initial support for NetworkManager 0.9 in Plasma Workspaces;
· Bluetooth tethering support in Plasma Workspaces;
· VPN, 3G, and MAC spoofing support in Plasma Workspaces;
· Added breadcrumbs to the Kickoff application launcher;
· Konsole doesn't block the removal of USB flash drives;
· PulseAudio support in KMix;
· Semantic capabilities in KDE.

Over 12,000 bugs have been fixed in the new KDE Software Compilation 4.7, since the previous 4.6 release, making it even more stable than ever before.

Lots of other applications included in KDE Software Compilation 4.7 have been updated to new versions, especially Kontact and Digikam. KDE Software Compilation 4.7 is translated into more than 55 languages.

Download KDE Software Compilation 4.7 

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G Coming Soon to TELUS

Although Samsung confirmed that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G tablet will reach Canadian shores this summer, the Korean handset manufacturer has yet to announce the exact release date of the device.

However, it appears that TELUS has picked the tablet, as the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G is now listed on the carrier's “Coming Soon” webpage, which means that its launch is imminent.

There's no information regarding the tablet's price options yet, but customers who wish to purchase it should know that the Wi-Fi version is going for $499.99.

As the name suggests, the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G features an impressive 10.1-inch touchscreen display with resolution of 800 x 1280 pixels.

This is TELUS’ first 4G tablet and can be purchased with the Tablet Flex Plan, which provides customers with cost certainty and usage flexibility, without unexpected overage fees.

The tablet is equipped with a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor and is powered by Google's Android 3.1 Honeycomb operating system.

Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G is thinner (8.6mm) and lighter (600g, battery included) than an average tablet, and features a sleek form factor with allows for impressive power and mobility.

In addition, the tablet comes with Samsung's proprietary TouchWiz UX user interface and offers users a wide range of rich multimedia features, refined multitasking capabilities, customized user interface options, unique Samsung Hub services, integrated Office programs and more.

With full support for Adobe Flash 10.2, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G makes it easier for users to stay connected while on the go within TELUS' 4G network.

TELUS Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 TELUS sports a 3.0-megapixel photo snapper with LED flash and video recording capabilities (720p HD), as well as a secondary 2.0-megapixel front-facing camera for video calls.

The tablet packs 16GB of internal memory and 1GB of RAM, but lacks a microSD card slot for memory expansion.

Download AMD OverDrive 4.0.3 Utility with FX-Series CPU Support

Together with the 11.7 version of the Catalyst graphics driver, AMD has also released today a new edition, 4.0.3 to be more precise, of the OverDrive utility which now brings official support for the company's Family 15h processors, known to enthusiasts by the name of Bulldozer.

AMD OverDrive is a hardware tweaking and overclocking utility that works right from Windows and enables users to control and monitor a wide variety of system settings.

This includes fan speed settings, CPU voltages, CPU FSB, memory voltages and timings, to name just a few. The utility also supports smart profiles for saving customized overclocking settings for the applications installed.

The most important feature brought by this latest version is the support for AMD's Family 15h of processors, which includes all chips based on the Bulldozer architecture.

To complement this change, OverDrive also received support for the recently released 900-series chipsets, which together with the FX-series CPUs form the Scorpio desktop platform.

In addition to the newly supported hardware, AMD's tool now comes with a redesigned user interface skin and layout as well as with an improved benchmark calculation algorithm.

Users who own older processors based on the Daned architecture have also received a minor update as AOD now features a DQS reading enhancement for Family 10h and later memory controllers.

As usual, this latest version of OverDrive also includes a series of bug fixes for issues ranging from temperature reporting on SB800 south bridge controller chips to some strange AOD behavior when attaching two displays via VGA and HDMI.

The newly released AMD OverDrive 4.0.3 is available for download by following this link. The utility is compatible with Windows XP or newer operating systems (32 or 64-bit).

Free Download AMD Catalyst 11.7 Graphics Driver

AMD released their monthly update to the Catalyst driver suite for Radeon HD graphics solution, which has now come to version 11.7 and introduces a series of bug fixes and WHQL certification for the recently introduced AMD A-Series accelerated processing units.

According to the documentation released by AMD, this latest release doesn't bring any new features of performance improvements and instead focuses on improving stability.

On that note, AMD introduced quite a few bug fixes, including one for those annoying mouse cursor lag issues that have been plaguing so many users until now.

Consumers who use monitors connected through HDMI and DisplayPort can also rejoice as Catalyst 11.7 resolves the system hangs that were introduced with the previous version of the driver.

Together with these, the Catalyst driver team also fixed a series of video playback problems, some of them application-specific and some generic. This includes the hardware acceleration issues spotted in VLC Player version 1.1.9.

On the gaming front, the list of bug fixes is greatly smaller than the one regarding video playback. Arguably the most important of these is the removal of the chequerboard corruption witnesses in DirectX 10 titles when using a CrossFire configuration with Eyefinity enabled.

Other fixes regard Shogun II, Portal 2, and Hamilton’s Great Adventure. According to AMD, the latter will now function correctly when using CrossFire configurations.

As is usually the case with Catalyst driver, this latest version supports cards from both the desktop Radeon and Mobility Radeon series, together with AMD's FireStream GPGPU solutions and integrated (chipset and APU) graphics cores.

The AMD Catalyst 11.7 driver. can be downloaded by using the following links. Please download the version that corresponds to your operating system.

AMD Catalyst Display Driver 11.7 for XP
AMD Catalyst Display Driver 11.7 for XP64
AMD Catalyst Display Driver 11.7 for Vista, Win7
AMD Catalyst Display Driver 11.7 for Vista64, Win7 x64

Free Download Citibank for iPad Application

Citibank is continuing its efforts to become the world’s first digital bank with the release of an iPad application specifically designed for the masses.

Providing U.S. consumer banking clients with an engaging, visually rich tool to track, analyze and plan their finances, Citibank for iPad is the first app from a major U.S. bank to offer graphs and visual representations of consumer accounts and transactions, departing from traditional ledger-style banking.

Thanks to its intuitive user interface, clients can easily check balances, control their cash flow, pay bills, transfer funds, access rewards and find nearbyATMs and branches.

Commenting on their release, Tracey Weber, head of Internet and Mobile Banking, North America Consumer Banking, Citi, said “Our iPad app is all about listening to our clients and understanding that they need their digital banking experience to be more engaging and dynamic – beyond the standard static tables you find with other iPad apps.”

“We’re offering a whole new way of banking, with enhanced visuals and interactive tools. We’re focused on continually offering modern solutions that help put ease into our clients’ financial lives, wherever and whenever,” added Weber.

The app not only provides all the necessary services with a few taps, it also offers access to resources and information that help users manage their financial lives.

This includes direct access to an exclusive Citibank service - Citi Personal Wealth Management and Women & Co., with continually updated content.

Advanced features allow users to view information and take actions like:

- Plan cash outflows with the help of a unique interactive chart of past and future payments and transfers;
- Analyze personal spending habits through automatically generated, customizable charts of payee spending;
- Compare personal spending habits with general consumer data, filtering by location, age group, income bracket and purchase category.

Citibank for iPad is an exclusive tablet app (which means it’s not available on iPhone and iPod touch) and requires iOS 3.2 or later.

Download Citibank for iPad (Free)

How to Uninstall OS X 10.7 Lion Server

Customers who wish to have OS X Lion server uninstalled from their computers can do so following a few easy steps outlined by Apple in a Support document issued this week.

Unlike previous versions of Mac OS X, the Server side of OS X 10.7 Lion comes as an application that behaves much like an add-on for the Client OS. Lion Server is a $39.99 download from the Mac App Store in the Productivity section.

Designed both for Mac computers and iOS devices, Lion Server makes it easy to share files, schedule meetings, synchronize contacts, host your own website, remotely access your network, publish wikis, distribute podcasts, and everything else you can do with a server.

By making Mac OS X Server a set of applications users can purchase right from the Mac App Store, Apple aims to enable anyone to quickly and easily turn a Mac running Lion into a home, office, or school server.

The Cupertino, California-based technology giant behind Mac OS X specifically notes that “Lion Server is an app and collection of services that can be added to OS X Lion.”

For those who have installed Lion Server and decide that they no longer want to use it (for whatever reason), Apple has laid out the instructions to properly disable this portion of Mac OS X.

The steps are reproduced below, in their entirety. The original Apple Support document is located here.

1. Open Server app.

2. If you see a Welcome screen and a button named Configure, you have not yet set up Lion Server; quit Server app and skip to step 8.
Otherwise, if you don't see a Welcome screen and a Configure button, continue to step 3.
 
3. Check the Services list on the left side of the Server app window. Select each one that is on (as indicated by a green dot) and flip the switch in the upper right from On to Off.

4. Click on the icon for your computer in the Hardware list, on the left beneath the Services list.

5. Click the Settings tab.

6. If the box next to "Dedicate system resources to server services" is checked, uncheck it. This will display a message telling you that you must restart your computer for the change to take effect. Click "Restart Later".

7. Quit Server app.

8. Remove Server app from your Dock. You may delete it from your Applications folder, but it is not necessary. You may also remove the Server folder containing the advanced Server Admin Tools if you installed them separately.

9. Restart your computer, if you were instructed to in step 6.