IBGerm

Today, Illinois-based Incredible Technologies announced that its popular Golden Tee Golf game found in more than 10,000 bars worldwide, will soon be integrated with Facebook .

The games already present players with the option to upload 720p screencasts of their "Great Shots" directly to YouTube. When the player makes an unusually difficult shot such as a hole in one, it can be posted to YouTube and be live within five minutes. Incredible Technologies says that more than 70,000 of these videos have been posted in the year the feature has been live.

"Since 80% of Golden Tee players are also Facebook users, IT sees opportunity in developing programs that interface with Facebook," the company said today.

So if you have the type of friends who spend hours slamming the Golden Tee trackball in sports bars on the weekends, look forward to seeing plenty of status updates about it. Oh joy!!!!!

In the world of Apple, being a Netbook is a bad, bad thing. During Apple’s keynote for the newly-announced iPad, the Netbook was called out by Steve Jobs, who said "they’re not better at laptops than anything, they’re just cheaper." The affordable, tiny and yes, often barebones Atom processor-running device we’ve come to know and love, or hate, as the Netbook is often clunky and frequently disappointing, true enough. On the other hand, the Apple iPad was promised to be a better solution for those in the market for a Netbook.

While the iPad might win out on some particular functions–video playback quality, in particular–the truth is there are a great many things Netbooks can do that an iPad just can’t. Right now, at least. And while that may not make a Netbook better than a laptop, in some instances a Netbook certainly seems better than an iPad.

• Video chat. Most Netbooks, even low-end ones, now have webcams enabling basic video chat over Skype or any other program. The iPad, however, does not. We wish the iPad had a camera and iChat, especially since it would make the tablet a unique communications device to rival the iPhone. Perhaps cost was a factor, even though most Netbooks manage the feat in a package under $500.
• Run Flash. While Steve Jobs called the iPad "the best web experience you’ve ever had," there is a big missing piece right now, and that’s the whole web. Browser-based apps and Flash-driven content are a huge element of cloud computing and of many websites, and right now it’s not even clear whether the iPad can even run Hulu or Netflix. Atom Netbooks can be slow and stuttery when playing web video, but at least they can.
• Programming. Most people aren’t programmers, or anything close to it, but most Netbooks do run on a full Windows 7 OS that can be used for programming or modification. For the friendly hackers out there, that’s a dealbreaker on the iPad.
• Upload photos from a camera. No USB ports on the iPad mean no connecting cameras or other peripherals, which can be a drag if the iPad is meant as a portable computing replacement for bloggers. Netbooks have at least 2 USB ports standard.
• Store more than 64GB of data. We expected a little more memory on the iPad. Even the most basic Netbook has a 160GB hard drive. Cloud storage can assist with data, but it’s still no replacement for onboard capacity.
• Play Facebook games. Without the aforementioned Flash, browser games aren’t really possible on the iPad. Those looking to play Farmville will have to wait for the App or just flock to a Netbook.
• Swapping batteries. Sure, the iPad is slim, attractive and very showy. But its battery is fixed, while a Netbook can not only swap its battery, but upgrade from a three to a six-cell or more.
• Install CD media (or any media other than from an App Store) With the addition of a simple USB DVD/CD-ROM drive, disc-based software can be installed on a Netbook even without an optical drive built in. Netbooks can also install files off USB drives, or via any other input method. The iPad wasn’t designed with this flexibility in mind, but it’s still nice to be able to do.
• Type on your lap. Yes, the iPad has a virtual keyboard, and even a cool keyboard dock that turns the tablet into a quasi-desktop device. But the dock can’t be used for lap typing, and the Apple demos didn’t make iPad typing seem as comfortable as pounding away on an old-fashioned hinged Netbook. For long-term writing on the go, a physical Netbook keyboard with an attached angled screen still wins.
• Upgrade. Netbooks can upgrade their RAM–albeit slightly–and with a little effort that hard drive can be swapped too. The iPad is a fixed entity, so there’s no going back once you’ve picked 16, 32 or 64GB.

Windows 7 install discs are edition-specific—if you’ve got a valid license key, you still need the right disc for installation. The ei.cfg Removal Utility, however, lets you create a new, universal installation ISO for Windows 7.

Although your Windows installation disc may say "Home Premium Edition," it still contains the other versions (such as Pro or Ultimate) on the disc—it just has a very small file called ei.cfg that tells the disc what version to install. The ei.cfg Removal Utility creates a new ISO of your install disc that ignores this file, thus letting you choose what edition you want when you start the installer.

While this tool is especially useful for computer technicians who have to install Windows a lot, it’s also nice to have for those of us that tend to lose discs often—especially in this day and age of emailed product keys. Now, if you need to reinstall Windows but can’t find your disc, you can just borrow a friend’s—even if it’s an edition that’s different than yours. You just need let the installer know which edition matches your product key (Note: Your disc still needs to be the same kernel as your key (i.e. 32 or 64-bit).

The ei.cfg Removal Utility is a free download, Windows only, and requires a Windows 7 install disc to use.

Windows 7 ISO Disc Image Utilities [via Technibble]

CanYouSeeMe.org’s open port check tool is a simple but useful web-based utility for figuring out if your ISP or firewall is blocking certain ports you need to get things done on your computer. It’s a handy way to determine if connection issues you’re having—like difficulty sending email or trouble accessing an instant messaging client—are a problem with your internet connection or the computer itself.

CanYouSeeMe.org

The pared down webapp is useful for running a quick check to see if a port you need is open. For a more robust look at your accessible ports, check out  MyPorts to get detailed information on any open port, including its state, remote IP address, and app that’s currently using it.

MyPorts is a free download, Windows only.

MyPorts [via gHacks]

A pub owner in the U.K. has been fined £8,000 (about $13,183) because someone unlawfully downloaded copyrighted material over its open Wi-Fi hotspot, according to the managing director of hotspot provider The Cloud. 

Graham Cove told CNET sister site ZDNet UK on Friday he believes the case to be the first of its kind in the U.K. However, he would not identify the pub concerned, because its owner–a pub that is a client of The Cloud’s–had not yet given their permission for the case to be publicized.

Cove would say only that the fine had been levied in a civil case, brought about by a rights holder, "sometime this summer." The Cloud’s pubco clients include Fullers, Greene King, Marsdens, Scottish & Newcastle, Mitchell & Butlers, and Punch Taverns.

The law surrounding open Wi-Fi networks and the liability of those running them is a grey area…

I’ve been using INTERNET EXPLORER 8 for awhile now. I’ve found a very annoying feature MICROSOFT has decided to embedded into its Internet Explorer browser. The uses of accelerators as they call it. Everything I highlighted, I received this stupid blue arrow icon. I went to the Internet Explorer tools and disabled all the “accelerators ”, but still have this stupid blue arrow. I’ve found the fix… 

Open the Control Panel -> Click on the Internet Options icon -> Click on the Advanced tab. (See screenshot below)

To Turn Off Display Accelerator Button on Selection -Uncheck the Display Accelerator button on selection box, then click on OK. (See screenshot below step 3)

*****Update***** It appears I may have a slight mis-step on this…..

its not control panel.. its.. tools (at the top of the internet explorer page)then internet options then advanced–then uncheck display Accelerator. (thank you for the fix)…. I hope this helps.

IDG News Service – Social networking sites MySpace and Facebook have apparently fixed coding errors that could have allowed an attacker access to all of their users’ data and photos.

The simple coding errors are alarming considering the extent to which social networks have gone to reassure their users that their data will be safe. The problem involved the way the sites handle requests for data from other domains, known as the "cross-domain policy."

Sites such as MySpace and Facebook typically block other domains from requesting and receiving data for privacy reasons, except for their own vetted  subdomains.

Facebook disallowed access from other applications on its main domain, but a developer in the Netherlands, Yvo Schaap, found that Facebook would allow data to be given out from one of its subdomains. 

Since the subdomain also hosted all of Facebook’s data, it would be possible to steal data by luring a victim to a URL with a Flash application rigged to grab the data if the victim had their auto-login enabled, which most people do, according to Schaap’s blog.

A "more invasive and hidden exploit could harvest all the user’s personal photos, data and messages to a central server without any trace, and there is no reason why this wouldn’t be happening already with both Facebook and MySpace data," Schaap wrote on his blog.

He also found the problem on MySpace, which allowed a domain called "farm.sproutbuilder.com" to access data. A Flash application could be uploaded to that site, which would then be allowed access to the data if a victim visited a malicious URL.

MySpace disagreed with the severity of the error, saying it would have only exposed information that was already public. The problem was with the sproutbuilder domain, and it has since been fixed, a spokeswoman said in an e-mailed statement.

"No public MySpace data was exposed and the vulnerability was never exploited," the statement read.

A look at Facebook’s latest crossdomain.xml file shows that the bug appears to have been fixed. MySpace also appears to have taken "farm.sproutbuilder.com" out of its cross-domain list.

In an e-mailed statement, Facebook said it "worked with the researcher who identified this issue to fix it. We have not received any reports that it was ever exploited."

Sales of Windows 7, the newest offering in the Microsoft line, are 234% higher in the same period in their release than Windows Vista was. Profitability for the product, however, is only 82 percent higher.    

Microsoft has been pushing Windows 7 Home, with its lowest price point, as the successor to Vista, considered by many to be less than successful. Microsoft’s goal is to have Windows 7 do what Vista failed to do: replace its aging Windows XP.

Linux is brilliant at serving files.All you need is a relatively low-powered PC, a decent amount of storage and somewhere safe to hide it.

1. Install the software

We’ve chosen to use Ubuntu Server Edition for two reasons. First, it’s the same distribution that most people know and love, only optimized for use on a server. Second, you still have access to exactly the same packages and repositories as you do with with the desktop version, which makes installing and using software easy.

Put the disc into the machine you want to use as the server and select your language followed by ‘Install Ubuntu Server’. Unlike the desktop version, there’s no graphical installer. Instead you’ll need to choose your configuration settings from the pages of options that appear throughout the installer.

Don’t let this put you off; there aren’t any questions that can’t easily be answered, and the installation is effectively no different from a standard desktop installation.

The first question asks you again for the language, the second for your location and the third for your keyboard layout. After a brief pause, you’ll be asked for a hostname. You might want to change this to something like ‘mediaserver’, rather than the default ‘ubuntu’ to avoid confusion with any other Ubuntu installations you may have running on the same network.

2. Partition the disk

The next installation step is disk configuration. This is a much more important consideration for a media server than it is for a standard desktop installation, because of the sheer volume of files that you’ll be storing on it.

The most convenient solution is to use an old disk of around 10GB (or less) for the Linux installation and a high capacity drive for your media content. You can then select ‘Guided – Use Entire Disk’ on the installation page, then select the disk to install to and give Ubuntu complete control over how it creates the installation. Your media storage disk can be configured later.

PARTITION YOUR DRIVE: If you create a separate root partition, you’ll be able to update your system without worrying about your files

The second-best option is to create two partitions on a single drive, using the smaller partition for the root file system and the other partition for your data. This way, you can update the root partition if you need to, or easily back up your data partition without infecting it with system files.

After skipping through the partition section you’ll be asked for your real name, username and password. You should give this a little more thought than with the desktop, as it’s likely that your server will be on all the time and accessible from the internet, so a secure username/password combination is vital.

Press Continue to skip the HTTP proxy installation, and choose to install security updates automatically when asked. Finally, don’t select any of the default server packages unless you want to enable SSH for remote administration, then click on Continue to install the system.

3. Configure MediaTomb

We’re now only a couple of steps away from completion. When your machine restarts after installing all the main packages, you need to log in and type sudo apt-get install mediatomb into a terminal. This will grab the media-streaming software and install it on your system.

All you need to now is type mediatomb to run the server. Watch the output, because you should see something like the following:

2009-07-16 15:20:52 INFO: MediaTomb Web UI can be reached by following this link: 2009-07-16 15:20:52 INFO: http://192.168.1.89:49152/

This is the port and the IP address for the server, and you should now be able to point a web browser on the same network at this address and use the simple user interface to add the files and folders that contain your various bits of media.

After a few moments, the media should appear on any UPnP streaming client, such as those on a Playstation 3 and XBox 360.

You should note that the new Windows 7 taskbar allows you to dock items to the taskbar, combining the features of both the normal taskbar as well as the Quick Launch. For more on this, be sure to read through our coverage of the Windows 7 beta if you haven’t already.

The above screenshot is the Windows 7 taskbar after changing back to XP/Vista mode, and adding the quick launch bar back. Looks just like Vista doesn’t it?

Adding the Quick Launch Bar Back to Windows 7

To add the toolbar back, you’ll want to right-click on an open area of the taskbar, and choose Toolbars \ New Toolbar from the menu. You should probably also unlock the taskbar at this point.

Now’s the slightly tricky part… you’ll want to paste the following path into the location bar:

%appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

Make sure that the location bar shows the full path, like the next screenshot, before you choose the “Select Folder” button.

You’ll immediately notice the Quick Launch toolbar on the taskbar, but it’s all the way over on the right, so you’ll want to click on the dotted lines and then drag the toolbar all the way to the left (which is slightly tricky sometimes). Note that you’ll need to right-click and unlock the taskbar before you can move the toolbar.

There we go, it’s over on the left… but now you’ll want to adjust the regular taskbar toolbar to be closer to the left, so use the dotted lines to drag it over as well.

The normal Quick Launch that we’re used to doesn’t have text, so right-click on the dotted lines and uncheck “Show Text” as well as “Show Title” from the menu.

Once you’re sure it’s the way you want it, you should check the “Lock the taskbar” again.

And there you are, the quick launch bar has returned and there’s virtually no way anybody would know this is Windows 7.