Salvia online - Sally D news

Apple has released the Aluminum Keyboard Firmware Update 1.0 via Mac OS X’s Software Update utility and on the Web.

What to do about the many young people in our colleges and Universities who insist on file-sharing with their friends? Nothing? Oh, okay. But the RIAA really do want to do something about it, and their solution, predictably, involves nasty letters, courts and big fines.

The RIAA’s sue-happy approach doesn’t seem to be working for them, though, and a new approach is being used. Obviously encouraged by the RIAA (with a stick rather than a carrot, I guess) learning institutions are encouraging their students to forsake well functioning and popular applications like Ares in favor of Ruckus, a music-downloads service.

I can see – and I think they probably can too – that this isn’t a like for like swap. File-sharing is the sharing of files whereas Ruckus allows students to download DRM-protected music. That’s like offering a skipping rope instead of a PS3. An easy choice for many. Filesharing is endemic in our colleges and universities and it will take more than this lame attempt to shift the thoughts of those involved.

Gadget Wrap today announced its debut along with its first product offerings, the Gadget Wrap KeySkin Keyboard Protector series for Apple wired and wireless keyboards, as well as MacBook keyboards.

LaCie has announced the latest model of its Hard Disk, Design by Neil Poulton - a new triple interface version consisting of USB 2.0, eSATA, and Firewire 400 in capacities of 500 GB, 750GB and 1TB.

Apple has released Keynote 4.0.3 via Mac OS X’s Software Update utility and on the Web.

Downloading torrents seems a simple and intuitive process to the casual user: the double click the file to open it in a BitTorrent client and the file slowly appears. The technology behind this simple process is, however, a little more involved.

The actual files that torrents come packaged in – usually identified with a .torrent suffix – do not contain anything other than information about the downloads. They certainly don’t contain the files themselves. When you open torrents in the client it contacts an online ‘tracker’ to ask where it should look for these files. The tracker then provides to the client a list of the peers (other computers) that have the files (or some parts of the files) specified in the torrents.

Once the torrents’ files are located, downloading can begin. Sections of the files are treated individually: your client may download the last part of an MP3 track first. Once you have a section of the file on your computer it becomes available to other computers who are looking for this torrents’ files.

Torrents and P2P file downloads may be an accept part of modern life, but the technology behind them is novel and interesting.

Apple has released iTunes 7.6.2, QuickTime 7.4.5 and Front Row 2.1.3 via Mac OS X’s Software Update utility and on the Web.

WD today introduced its My Book Studio Edition II dual-drive storage systems. According to the company, the new external drives are designed to seamlessly work with Mac computers and provide an ideal blend of power savings and high performance.