The next version of Fedora Linux will make new users feel right at home.
When Fedora 13, Goddard, is released on May 25, it's not going to be your usual Fedora Linux release. In the past, Fedora has been seen as a great Linux distribution for Linux experts. Paul W. Frields, the Fedora Project leader, told me though that this release is more new-user-friendly and that is no longer just for experienced Linux users. Based on my early look at this Red Hat community Linux distribution, I agree.
You will be able to see it for yourself soon. After several delays, Frields has no doubt that this time, the Fedora final will be available for download soon. Frields explained to me that the delays were because Fedora has adopted much more "detailed and fleshed-out release criteria. In the past, we would release releases when it felt right. Now, we have criteria that make the process both more transparent to the community and provide strong release guidelines."
Fedora was thrown off its most recent release schedule by an issue with an obscure way of installing Fedora. Frields said that that, in the event, the problem didn't turn out to that bad. "So long as they were at it, there was a silver lining: the developers had time to fix more bugs. So, the delay helped us provide as strong a release as possible."
From what I've seen, Fedora does have a very strong release. Here are the five best features I've seen in it.
1. Professional-level color management
One long-time Linux problem has been that, while it has first class graphics programs like GIMP, it hasn't had great color management. Sure, you could get color to look great on your screen, but getting that same color palette to show up on your printer, that was an image of a different color.
Now, thanks to the work of Richard Hughes, Fedora includes the new and outstanding GNOME Color Manager. This allows people to work in ICC (International Color Consortium) colors across devices. Best of all, it's not just for experts. You can easily set up color profiles for your screen and printers to put together a true color workflow. According to Frields, Fedora will be release a design suite spin of Fedora just for graphic designers.
2. Better printer driver support
Linux would always support almost any printer's basic functionality. What it wouldn't do is load the best possible printer driver - until now. In Fedora's Easy Printing, all you have to do is plug in your printer, Fedora will figure out what printer you have, and it will automatically invoke PackageKit to find, download, and install the printer's appropriate driver and, if available, other software. In short, plug-and-play has finally come to Linux. Nice!
3. Improved open-source graphic drivers
You've long been able to use any graphics card with desktop Linux. You could often use these cards and chipsets advanced 3D and graphic acceleration features as well, if you were willing to use proprietary drivers. Now, Fedora's programmers have been working with other open-source developers to create high-quality 3D-capable drivers for NVIDA cards in the Nouveau project.
You may be wondering why this is such a big deal since probably most Linux users can live with using proprietary graphic drivers. According to Frields, "What users don't understand is that we can't help fix a problem with proprietary driver, but we can and do with open drivers ... Proprietary drivers require low-end sub-system changes that can cause more trouble for free software audio systems or media players." Linux simply works better, Frields argued with "Free software in every part of stack."
4. Improved KVM support
Red Hat has decided that KVM is its virtualization path in the future. You can see the first fruits of that decision in this Fedora. For example, in Fedora 13's take on KVM, you can declare and reserve PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) addresses, the industry-standard bus for attaching peripherals to computers for guest virtual machines. That won't matter to desktop users, but it's a great feature for production servers running multiple machines. If it works out well in Fedora 13, you can expect to see it in RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) 6 or 6.1.
5. Easier to use and more stable to boot
Frields told me, and I believe him that Fedora is both much easier for Linux newbies to use and far, far more stable. Frields claims that even in alpha, Fedora 13 was more stable than some Fedora final releases. All I can say is I've been running the late betas for several weeks now on both virtual machines and on PCs and I've yet to see a stability problem.
It's also quite simple to use. While I wouldn't say it's as easy for a new user to pick up as Ubuntu 10.04, I also can see handing a new user a Fedora 13 USB stick or DVD and not having to worry about them getting good use out of it.
If you've never tried Fedora, or you haven't used it in a while, now is the time to give it a try. I think you'll be impressed.
pcworld
Kamis, 20 Mei 2010
Sabtu, 01 Mei 2010
Sony Sued for Removing Linux Support in PS3 Upgrade
Sony Computer Entertainment is under fire by PlayStation 3 owners. A class-action suit has been brought against Sony for removing Linux support from PS3 consoles in its latest upgrade.
An attorney for PS3 owner Anthony Ventura filed the suit against Sony in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Wednesday after Sony removed support for Linux in its PlayStation 3.21 software update.
After Sony announced the update on March 28, unhappy PS3 owners took their frustrations to the web by flooding Sony's official PlayStation blog with angry comments. A total of 7,454 comments were posted as of Thursday. While some are upset with losing Linux support, others are more angry with Sony for removing a feature for which they paid.
Ventura, however, took his frustrations straight to a lawyer who filed the class-action suit on his behalf.
No Joke
PlayStation 3 owners were anticipating the PlayStation 3.21 upgrade slated for April 1, but thought Sony was playing an April Fools' Day joke when it said the upgrade would remove support for Linux.
Sony quickly warned users that the upgrade was no a joke and, in fact, was an attempt to protect the intellectual property of the content offered on the PS3 system as well as to provide a more secure system. PS3 owners who chose not to upgrade risked losing other PS3 features, according to Sony, including access to the PlayStation Network, newer games, and Blu-ray movies. Gamers who decided not to upgrade also risked losing playback of copyright-protected videos stored on a media server, the company warned.
If Judge Edward Chen allows the class-action suit, it would include all individuals who bought a PS3 between Nov. 17, 2006, and March 27, 2010, according to reports. The suit does not specify any amount in requested damages, but does state damages will not exceed $5 million.
Julie Han, a spokesperson for Sony, said the company does not comment on pending litigation. Rebecca Bedwell Coll, who is listed as Ventura's lawyer, did not respond to requests for comment.
Little To No Impact
Sony Entertainment has had great success with its PS3, with 12 million units sold in the U.S. to date, according to the company. Except, however, for a few bumps in the legal road.
In October 2009, Sony faced a class-action suit brought by John Kennedy, who said a firmware update caused damage to thousands of PS3 systems. After downloading the update, owners said it caused the system to malfunction. The damage resulted in Kennedy having to cough up $150 in repair fees.
Analysts don't expect the new class-action to negatively impact Sony PS3 sales. "I doubt it'll have much impact -- certainly a nuisance and cost, but having Linux on a PS3 was always way down the list of priorities for most gamers," said Lewis Ward, an IDC analyst.
yahoo
An attorney for PS3 owner Anthony Ventura filed the suit against Sony in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Wednesday after Sony removed support for Linux in its PlayStation 3.21 software update.
After Sony announced the update on March 28, unhappy PS3 owners took their frustrations to the web by flooding Sony's official PlayStation blog with angry comments. A total of 7,454 comments were posted as of Thursday. While some are upset with losing Linux support, others are more angry with Sony for removing a feature for which they paid.
Ventura, however, took his frustrations straight to a lawyer who filed the class-action suit on his behalf.
No Joke
PlayStation 3 owners were anticipating the PlayStation 3.21 upgrade slated for April 1, but thought Sony was playing an April Fools' Day joke when it said the upgrade would remove support for Linux.
Sony quickly warned users that the upgrade was no a joke and, in fact, was an attempt to protect the intellectual property of the content offered on the PS3 system as well as to provide a more secure system. PS3 owners who chose not to upgrade risked losing other PS3 features, according to Sony, including access to the PlayStation Network, newer games, and Blu-ray movies. Gamers who decided not to upgrade also risked losing playback of copyright-protected videos stored on a media server, the company warned.
If Judge Edward Chen allows the class-action suit, it would include all individuals who bought a PS3 between Nov. 17, 2006, and March 27, 2010, according to reports. The suit does not specify any amount in requested damages, but does state damages will not exceed $5 million.
Julie Han, a spokesperson for Sony, said the company does not comment on pending litigation. Rebecca Bedwell Coll, who is listed as Ventura's lawyer, did not respond to requests for comment.
Little To No Impact
Sony Entertainment has had great success with its PS3, with 12 million units sold in the U.S. to date, according to the company. Except, however, for a few bumps in the legal road.
In October 2009, Sony faced a class-action suit brought by John Kennedy, who said a firmware update caused damage to thousands of PS3 systems. After downloading the update, owners said it caused the system to malfunction. The damage resulted in Kennedy having to cough up $150 in repair fees.
Analysts don't expect the new class-action to negatively impact Sony PS3 sales. "I doubt it'll have much impact -- certainly a nuisance and cost, but having Linux on a PS3 was always way down the list of priorities for most gamers," said Lewis Ward, an IDC analyst.
yahoo
Are you ready for a GPS app store?
It’s the hottest thing to come along in the tech world since blogging: The app store. And soon you might just have an app store for every gadget in your arsenal.
TomTom is the latest gizmo maker to get in on the app-tion, saying this week that it is now planning to launch an app store specifically designed for its Go Live GPS navigation hardware. The idea: Allow drivers to upgrade the old "drop in an address and tell me where to go" functionality of their GPS units.
The catch with GPS devices, of course, is that you don’t really want people playing games or otherwise mucking about with these units while they’re behind the wheel. TomTom acknowledges that broad GPS apps may be “impractical”; others might say these kinds of applications could be downright dangerous.
So what might the contents of a GPS app store look like, really? Enhanced point-of-interest apps immediately come to mind — think restaurant reviews (“take me to the nearest four-star restaurant”) and real-time gas-price applications. Traffic-planning apps would be a must, and geocachers would certainly love an app that integrates cache locations and contents directly with a GPS unit. I can even imagine a few augmented reality-style games designed for the devices. The possibilities aren’t exactly endless, but there’s more to this idea than there seems to be at first blush.
TomTom hasn’t announced a time frame for the app store’s launch, but it’s speculated it will arrive before the end of the year. Information on typical application pricing is obviously still a ways out as well.
Will apps reinvigorate interest in the stumbling stand-alone GPS market? Apps alone won’t make people put down their iPhones and Nexus Ones, but this is certainly a step in the right direction. North-north-westerly, perhaps.
Yahoo
TomTom is the latest gizmo maker to get in on the app-tion, saying this week that it is now planning to launch an app store specifically designed for its Go Live GPS navigation hardware. The idea: Allow drivers to upgrade the old "drop in an address and tell me where to go" functionality of their GPS units.
The catch with GPS devices, of course, is that you don’t really want people playing games or otherwise mucking about with these units while they’re behind the wheel. TomTom acknowledges that broad GPS apps may be “impractical”; others might say these kinds of applications could be downright dangerous.
So what might the contents of a GPS app store look like, really? Enhanced point-of-interest apps immediately come to mind — think restaurant reviews (“take me to the nearest four-star restaurant”) and real-time gas-price applications. Traffic-planning apps would be a must, and geocachers would certainly love an app that integrates cache locations and contents directly with a GPS unit. I can even imagine a few augmented reality-style games designed for the devices. The possibilities aren’t exactly endless, but there’s more to this idea than there seems to be at first blush.
TomTom hasn’t announced a time frame for the app store’s launch, but it’s speculated it will arrive before the end of the year. Information on typical application pricing is obviously still a ways out as well.
Will apps reinvigorate interest in the stumbling stand-alone GPS market? Apps alone won’t make people put down their iPhones and Nexus Ones, but this is certainly a step in the right direction. North-north-westerly, perhaps.
Yahoo
Sabtu, 03 April 2010
Antivirus: Free vs. Paid Detection
Taking care of your system these days seems to be a less complicated task than it used to be a few years back. Now, protection against malware begins the moment you install your operating system. Windows 7 offers some basic security through Windows Defender and also provides a better solution under the shape of Microsoft Security Essentials, which is free of charge and can be installed on systems passing genuine validation. So, going with Windows 7 may be the winning hand after all.
security software is the way out for most users. The reason behind this choice is given by the extended set of options such solutions come with, but also by the myth that paid antivirus comes with better detection and elimination capabilities. Although the engine is the same, there are some differences between the paid and free versions of security software of the same company with regards to the protection components offered.
In other words, the engine components available in the products are what you are paying for. Thus, free apps may have antivirus or anti-spyware capabilities, but a paying customer definitely receives increased protection for the system through a bunch of components (such as email scanner, web shield, behavioral analysis, etc.) not included in the free edition of the product. Moreover, there are currently no freebies with a EULA that extends their use to corporate environment. So, you are bound to run them for personal use only.
To blast the misconception that freeware antivirus is not equally talented at recognizing malware as paid products, we grabbed five antivirus solutions for comparison and threw them in the ring with 16,704 malware samples (trojans, backdoors, exploits, spyware, worms, etc.). The purpose of the test was not to reveal detection differences between the free and paid product from the same company, but compare a free product from one company with a paid product of another.
In the freeware corner, there was Microsoft’s Security Essentials and Avira’s AntiVir Personal (version 9, as the test was conducted before version 10 came out). Paid products included Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 and ESET’s NOD 32 at first. The fifth product included has a little of both worlds: avast! Pro Antivirus 5.0 brings script shield and sandbox capabilities to the table on top of the features included in the free version. However, none of the two features were relevant for our experiment, which consisted in simply feeding the malware database to each of them and checking up the amount of threats left behind.
The malware database used during the tests was formed by both new and older threats, collected throughout a period of 2 years (2008 and 2009) and included vicious items like Waledac or Downadup. Prior to the experiment, all products were updated to the latest definitions available on March 1, 2010. A second test was carried out on March 22 in order to notice detection improvements with a new set of signatures.
All products benefited from the same treatment and scanned the database offline. To ease their job and quicken the entire process, we eliminated all archives, giving the threats full exposure. So, it all boiled down to the level of detection and elimination each product could offer.
With signatures updated on 3/1/2010, the first antivirus thrown in the malware cage was Microsoft Security Essentials. We have to mention from the beginning that MSE proved to be by far the most problematic of all tested products. Despite its intuitive interface, scanning and elimination of the threats took much longer than we expected. Scan results, however, were pretty good, as MSE managed to kick out more than 14,000 samples, leaving a total of 2,662 threats available on the test system.
Moving to Avira AntiVir Personal 9, the experience improved exponentially, as the application took a little under one hour and a half (1h23’) to clear 15,707 samples. In this case, there was no need for multiple scans as the application took care of the threats from the first pass. Out of the total amount of threats discovered, AntiVir Personal marked 61 as suspicious and they were automatically locked to quarantine.
Both MSE and Avira AntiVir Personal offer an intuitive interface that does not require any effort to handle. Malware management upon detection can be set to an automatic action of your choice, while scan scheduling is supported by both applications. One inconvenience on Avira AntiVir Personal’s side is the advertising window that pops after certain activities have completed. As for MSE, you cannot escape joining Microsoft Spynet and avoid sending anonymous information to Microsoft’s servers about detections and actions taken.
The first paid product put against the malware load was Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010. All the options integrated in the application are the clear sign of paid quality. Besides anti-malware protection, this product can also scan incoming and outgoing mail messages for the presence of malicious code, check HTTP traffic, and verify data sent/received through IM programs. Anti-phishing, a component not seen in free security products, is included in Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010.
Kaspersky Anti-Virus was also faced with our threat database and it did pretty well on the job, which took 3h49'23'' to complete. Although we expected outstanding results, or at least better than in the case of freeware products, there was nothing like that. The set of 16,704 samples was mutilated, leaving behind 1,523 threats.
Just like in the case of Kaspersky, ESET's NOD 32 brings a sturdier collection of options, which includes protection against threats coming through email (POP3 checking), HTTP/HTTPS, not to mention heuristics management. For testing purposes, the application was set up to maximum alert: ThreatSense parameters configured to check out all sorts of files, advanced heuristics enabled and the same goes for Anti-Stealth technology (rootkit detection).
Although we had our hopes up, with NOD 32, things did not get better either when it came to rooting the nasty stuff out of the system. On the contrary, the application managed to chop only 7631 threats in our database.
This sure looks like definite proof of inefficiency in protecting your system, but it is not exactly so because NOD 32 relies quite heavily on behavioral detection, which means that malware content had to be executed for the application to pick it up, which we did for the samples that would initiate the infection procedure immediately. To our surprise, they were promptly detected and eliminated from the damaged system. Unfortunately, because the testing process would have taken too long to complete, we chose to drop NOD 32 from the comparison experiment.
avast! 5 is kind of playing for both teams as the only limitations of the free version compared to the Pro edition are the lack of the script shield, sandbox, firewall and spam protection in the former. Despite the fact that none of these tamper with our experiment, we decided to go with avast! Pro Antivirus instead of the free edition.
With the application updated to the latest files available on March 1, we followed through with the trial. No more than 8 minutes and 13 seconds passed and the avast! lady announced the scan completed, while the Scan window agreed to the statement; we did the test again and this time glued our eyes on the process just to make sure nothing went wrong. With a processing speed of over 9MB of data per second, it couldn't have gone wrong.
The results were pretty encouraging, with a total of 15,305 dormant threats eliminated. That translates into 1,399 malicious items still present on the system. All this in a little over eight minutes.
After the first round of experimenting, the percents recorded were as follows: Avira AntiVir Personal 9 leads with 94% detection and elimination rate, followed by avast! Pro Antivirus with 91.6% and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 with 91%. Falling on the last spot is Microsoft Security Essentials, with 84% detection and elimination rate. It looks like paid products stick close together, while the two freebies are a 10% gap apart.
Running the second test (on March 22) on the set of malware that had not been eliminated the first time made absolutely no change in the statistics. MSE managed to nab another nine samples; Avira reduced the remaining threats by five items, leaving 992 threats behind. Kaspersky had the greatest improvement in the second test because it succeeded in eliminating another 78 items from the test database, thus increasing detection/elimination rate to 91.3%. avast! Pro Antivirus registered the smallest improvement, as it eliminated only three samples after the update.
Conclusion
Judging strictly by the detection/elimination rate on a locally stored malware database, it looks like the freebies are in control. However, paid products, despite less powerful efficiency, provide protection against threats that come your way through various distribution means, such as drive-by downloads, email, scripts, etc.
Additionally, some of them (such as Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010) feature behavioral detection of threats, which increases its efficiency as it can bust malware not yet signed. In other words, security software developers will integrate extra tools in different versions of the same application to convince you to open your wallet.
Security products under freeware license are not without flaws either. Some of them may come with nagging pop up screens, such as Avira AntiVir Personal’s notifier, or simply do not count in protection modules designed to increase security and improve detection. In the end, choosing between a paid or free of charge antivirus depends entirely on your needs and computer usage knowledge.
The test conducted is just a mere example that freeware antivirus products have what it takes to sit at the same table with paid ones. All the products included in the experiment were chosen based on the popularity statistics on Softpedia.
softpedia
security software is the way out for most users. The reason behind this choice is given by the extended set of options such solutions come with, but also by the myth that paid antivirus comes with better detection and elimination capabilities. Although the engine is the same, there are some differences between the paid and free versions of security software of the same company with regards to the protection components offered.
In other words, the engine components available in the products are what you are paying for. Thus, free apps may have antivirus or anti-spyware capabilities, but a paying customer definitely receives increased protection for the system through a bunch of components (such as email scanner, web shield, behavioral analysis, etc.) not included in the free edition of the product. Moreover, there are currently no freebies with a EULA that extends their use to corporate environment. So, you are bound to run them for personal use only.
To blast the misconception that freeware antivirus is not equally talented at recognizing malware as paid products, we grabbed five antivirus solutions for comparison and threw them in the ring with 16,704 malware samples (trojans, backdoors, exploits, spyware, worms, etc.). The purpose of the test was not to reveal detection differences between the free and paid product from the same company, but compare a free product from one company with a paid product of another.
In the freeware corner, there was Microsoft’s Security Essentials and Avira’s AntiVir Personal (version 9, as the test was conducted before version 10 came out). Paid products included Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 and ESET’s NOD 32 at first. The fifth product included has a little of both worlds: avast! Pro Antivirus 5.0 brings script shield and sandbox capabilities to the table on top of the features included in the free version. However, none of the two features were relevant for our experiment, which consisted in simply feeding the malware database to each of them and checking up the amount of threats left behind.
The malware database used during the tests was formed by both new and older threats, collected throughout a period of 2 years (2008 and 2009) and included vicious items like Waledac or Downadup. Prior to the experiment, all products were updated to the latest definitions available on March 1, 2010. A second test was carried out on March 22 in order to notice detection improvements with a new set of signatures.
All products benefited from the same treatment and scanned the database offline. To ease their job and quicken the entire process, we eliminated all archives, giving the threats full exposure. So, it all boiled down to the level of detection and elimination each product could offer.
With signatures updated on 3/1/2010, the first antivirus thrown in the malware cage was Microsoft Security Essentials. We have to mention from the beginning that MSE proved to be by far the most problematic of all tested products. Despite its intuitive interface, scanning and elimination of the threats took much longer than we expected. Scan results, however, were pretty good, as MSE managed to kick out more than 14,000 samples, leaving a total of 2,662 threats available on the test system.
Moving to Avira AntiVir Personal 9, the experience improved exponentially, as the application took a little under one hour and a half (1h23’) to clear 15,707 samples. In this case, there was no need for multiple scans as the application took care of the threats from the first pass. Out of the total amount of threats discovered, AntiVir Personal marked 61 as suspicious and they were automatically locked to quarantine.
Both MSE and Avira AntiVir Personal offer an intuitive interface that does not require any effort to handle. Malware management upon detection can be set to an automatic action of your choice, while scan scheduling is supported by both applications. One inconvenience on Avira AntiVir Personal’s side is the advertising window that pops after certain activities have completed. As for MSE, you cannot escape joining Microsoft Spynet and avoid sending anonymous information to Microsoft’s servers about detections and actions taken.
The first paid product put against the malware load was Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010. All the options integrated in the application are the clear sign of paid quality. Besides anti-malware protection, this product can also scan incoming and outgoing mail messages for the presence of malicious code, check HTTP traffic, and verify data sent/received through IM programs. Anti-phishing, a component not seen in free security products, is included in Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010.
Kaspersky Anti-Virus was also faced with our threat database and it did pretty well on the job, which took 3h49'23'' to complete. Although we expected outstanding results, or at least better than in the case of freeware products, there was nothing like that. The set of 16,704 samples was mutilated, leaving behind 1,523 threats.
Just like in the case of Kaspersky, ESET's NOD 32 brings a sturdier collection of options, which includes protection against threats coming through email (POP3 checking), HTTP/HTTPS, not to mention heuristics management. For testing purposes, the application was set up to maximum alert: ThreatSense parameters configured to check out all sorts of files, advanced heuristics enabled and the same goes for Anti-Stealth technology (rootkit detection).
Although we had our hopes up, with NOD 32, things did not get better either when it came to rooting the nasty stuff out of the system. On the contrary, the application managed to chop only 7631 threats in our database.
This sure looks like definite proof of inefficiency in protecting your system, but it is not exactly so because NOD 32 relies quite heavily on behavioral detection, which means that malware content had to be executed for the application to pick it up, which we did for the samples that would initiate the infection procedure immediately. To our surprise, they were promptly detected and eliminated from the damaged system. Unfortunately, because the testing process would have taken too long to complete, we chose to drop NOD 32 from the comparison experiment.
avast! 5 is kind of playing for both teams as the only limitations of the free version compared to the Pro edition are the lack of the script shield, sandbox, firewall and spam protection in the former. Despite the fact that none of these tamper with our experiment, we decided to go with avast! Pro Antivirus instead of the free edition.
With the application updated to the latest files available on March 1, we followed through with the trial. No more than 8 minutes and 13 seconds passed and the avast! lady announced the scan completed, while the Scan window agreed to the statement; we did the test again and this time glued our eyes on the process just to make sure nothing went wrong. With a processing speed of over 9MB of data per second, it couldn't have gone wrong.
The results were pretty encouraging, with a total of 15,305 dormant threats eliminated. That translates into 1,399 malicious items still present on the system. All this in a little over eight minutes.
After the first round of experimenting, the percents recorded were as follows: Avira AntiVir Personal 9 leads with 94% detection and elimination rate, followed by avast! Pro Antivirus with 91.6% and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 with 91%. Falling on the last spot is Microsoft Security Essentials, with 84% detection and elimination rate. It looks like paid products stick close together, while the two freebies are a 10% gap apart.
Running the second test (on March 22) on the set of malware that had not been eliminated the first time made absolutely no change in the statistics. MSE managed to nab another nine samples; Avira reduced the remaining threats by five items, leaving 992 threats behind. Kaspersky had the greatest improvement in the second test because it succeeded in eliminating another 78 items from the test database, thus increasing detection/elimination rate to 91.3%. avast! Pro Antivirus registered the smallest improvement, as it eliminated only three samples after the update.
Conclusion
Judging strictly by the detection/elimination rate on a locally stored malware database, it looks like the freebies are in control. However, paid products, despite less powerful efficiency, provide protection against threats that come your way through various distribution means, such as drive-by downloads, email, scripts, etc.
Additionally, some of them (such as Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010) feature behavioral detection of threats, which increases its efficiency as it can bust malware not yet signed. In other words, security software developers will integrate extra tools in different versions of the same application to convince you to open your wallet.
Security products under freeware license are not without flaws either. Some of them may come with nagging pop up screens, such as Avira AntiVir Personal’s notifier, or simply do not count in protection modules designed to increase security and improve detection. In the end, choosing between a paid or free of charge antivirus depends entirely on your needs and computer usage knowledge.
The test conducted is just a mere example that freeware antivirus products have what it takes to sit at the same table with paid ones. All the products included in the experiment were chosen based on the popularity statistics on Softpedia.
softpedia
Kamis, 01 April 2010
Google Chrome 5.0.360.4/5 Dev with Integrated Adobe Flash Player
The rumors yesterday tuned out to be accurate, Google has just announced a deeper integration of the Adobe Flash Player in Chrome. Specifically, the latest development builds now come bundled with the Flash Player, though the feature is not enabled by default. Google says this path is more convenient for users, who don't have to download and install the plug-in separately, but there aren't that many other benefits at this moment. Google Chrome 5.0.360.4 dev for Windows and Mac and Google Chrome 5.0.360.5 dev for Linux now come with the Flash plug-in pre-installed.
"The traditional browser plug-in model has enabled tremendous innovation on the web, but it also presents challenges for both plug-ins and browsers. The browser plug-in interface is loosely specified, limited in capability and varies across browsers and operating systems," Linus Upson, VP Engineering at Google, wrote.
"That’s why we are working with Adobe, Mozilla and the broader community to help define the next generation browser plug-in API. This new API aims to address the shortcomings of the current browser plug-in model. There is much to do and we’re eager to get started. As a first step, we’ve begun collaborating with Adobe to improve the Flash Player experience in Google Chrome," he announced.
Google Chrome 5.0.360.4/5 dev
Google Chrome 5.0.360.4/5 dev is a very small update focused exclusively on the new plug-in integration. It bundles the latest Adobe Flash Player 10.1.51.95 (10.1 beta 3) and comes with a basic plug-in manager that allows you to see all the installed and active plug-ins. The integrated Flash Player is not enabled by default. You have to launch Chrome with the --enable-internal-flash command line switch to get the integrated plug-in instead of the global one you may already have installed on your system.
The new plug-in manager lists all the plug-ins you have installed, like video players, Java and Adobe Flash, of course. You can disable any of them, for troubleshooting, for example, and also see where they are installed and what MIME types they handle. It is the first iteration of the newly integrated Flash plug-in, so there are still some issues. The plug-in may be enabled even if you decline the license agreement or specifically disable it in the manager. The integrated plug-in is not available for 64-bit Linux users.
Google says that integrating Adobe Flash saves users the hassle of having to download and install it manually, which can be a problem especially on some Linux systems. There is also the added benefit of having the plug-in updated automatically using Google Chrome's existing update system. The Chrome developers will work with Adobe engineers to make Flash play nice with Chrome's sandbox environment, which isolates web pages from each other and from other software or system components that may be running. The sandbox is one of Chrome's most touted features and is a big improvement to browser security and stability.
Next-generation NPAPI
Google says this is just the first step in creating a "next-generation browser plug-in API," which is currently being discussed by Mozilla along with Adobe and "the broader community." Mozilla is proposing an overhaul of the rather ancient NPAPI (Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface) on which all platform-independent plug-ins are based today. The changes would create a safer and more secure platform and also provide more advanced functionality. The project is at the very early stages.
"The traditional browser plug-in model has enabled tremendous innovation on the web, but it also presents challenges for both plug-ins and browsers. The browser plug-in interface is loosely specified, limited in capability and varies across browsers and operating systems," Linus Upson, VP Engineering at Google, wrote.
"That’s why we are working with Adobe, Mozilla and the broader community to help define the next generation browser plug-in API. This new API aims to address the shortcomings of the current browser plug-in model. There is much to do and we’re eager to get started. As a first step, we’ve begun collaborating with Adobe to improve the Flash Player experience in Google Chrome," he announced.
Google Chrome 5.0.360.4/5 dev
Google Chrome 5.0.360.4/5 dev is a very small update focused exclusively on the new plug-in integration. It bundles the latest Adobe Flash Player 10.1.51.95 (10.1 beta 3) and comes with a basic plug-in manager that allows you to see all the installed and active plug-ins. The integrated Flash Player is not enabled by default. You have to launch Chrome with the --enable-internal-flash command line switch to get the integrated plug-in instead of the global one you may already have installed on your system.
The new plug-in manager lists all the plug-ins you have installed, like video players, Java and Adobe Flash, of course. You can disable any of them, for troubleshooting, for example, and also see where they are installed and what MIME types they handle. It is the first iteration of the newly integrated Flash plug-in, so there are still some issues. The plug-in may be enabled even if you decline the license agreement or specifically disable it in the manager. The integrated plug-in is not available for 64-bit Linux users.
Google says that integrating Adobe Flash saves users the hassle of having to download and install it manually, which can be a problem especially on some Linux systems. There is also the added benefit of having the plug-in updated automatically using Google Chrome's existing update system. The Chrome developers will work with Adobe engineers to make Flash play nice with Chrome's sandbox environment, which isolates web pages from each other and from other software or system components that may be running. The sandbox is one of Chrome's most touted features and is a big improvement to browser security and stability.
Next-generation NPAPI
Google says this is just the first step in creating a "next-generation browser plug-in API," which is currently being discussed by Mozilla along with Adobe and "the broader community." Mozilla is proposing an overhaul of the rather ancient NPAPI (Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface) on which all platform-independent plug-ins are based today. The changes would create a safer and more secure platform and also provide more advanced functionality. The project is at the very early stages.
Selasa, 30 Maret 2010
Two new Sharkoon Stereo Headsets for Gamers
March 17, 2010 - Sharkoon is expanding its “Rush” product line to now include two new stereo headsets, which provide a rich sound reproduction during play, but also offer Multimedia and voice applications such as VoIP or TeamSpeak.
Sharkoon RHS100
The compact and lightweight Sharkoon RHS100 with foldable neckband,cushioned ear pieces, and infinitely rotating microphone comes in flat black with bright optical accents in the typical Rush-orange application on both earpieces. With its built-in sound chip, the RHS100 is simply connected via the USB port on a PC or Notebook, replacing an absent or inferior soundcard, and saves time from having to switch the lengthy cable between the PC-speakers and headset. The speakers Bass effect can be controlled on the RHS100 through the switchable vibrations function. The Bass proportion can be regulated by the cable integrated controller between medium and maximum effect. The two meter long cable also functions with an included volume knob and an orange illuminating microphone mute. The required drivers for Windows 7, as well as configuration software, are provided on the Sharkoon website
for download.
Sharkoon RHS200
The noble Sharkoon RHS200 model offers a padded, adjustable headband and aural earphones provide comfort during prolonged periods of wear. Thanks to the open design of the padded earpieces, gamers can also sit around and not have to stress their ears furthermore to hear other gamer’s offline. For a special look, the frame assumes a high-gloss design with luminous orange applications on the earpieces. The pivoting microphone is equipped with a
mute button on the cable controller. The connection to a PC or Notebook occurs through a 3.5mm stereo jack.
End customers can find the Sharkoon Rush Headsets available immediately from authorized retailers.
Price
Sharkoon RHS100 Gaming Stereo USB Headset MSRP: 23.49 euros
Sharkoon RHS200 Gaming Stereo Headset MSRP: 18.49 euros
Specifications
Sharkoon RHS100 Gaming Stereo USB Headset
Headset
Speaker: Ø 40 mm
Sensitivity: 112 +/-4 dB
Impedance: 32 ?
Frequency: 20 Hz - 20.000 Hz
Max. Output: 100 mW
Connection: USB plug (Type A)
Microphone
Antenna: omni-directional
Sensitivity: -54 dB ± 3 dB
Impedance: 2,2 K ?
Frequency: 100 Hz to 10.000 Hz
Sharkoon RHS200 Gaming Stereo Headset
Headset
Speaker: Ø 40 mm
Sensitivity: 120 +/-4 dB
Impedance: 32 ?
Frequency: 20 Hz - 20.000 Hz
Max. Output: 100 mW
Connection: 3.5mm Stereo jack (stereo)
Microphone
Antenna: omni-directional
Sensitivity: -54 dB ± 3 dB
Impedance: 2,2 K ?
Frequency: 100 Hz to 10.000 Hz
Selasa, 23 Maret 2010
Lapangan Banteng Macet Parah Gara-gara Sop Buntut Hotel Borobudur
Jakarta - Apa hubungannya macet dengan sop buntut? Tentu ada. Kawasan Lapangan Banteng, Jakarta Pusat, malam ini macet parah gara-gara antrean mobil yang ingin masuk Hotel Borobudur. Hotel bintang lima tersebut sedang mengadakan acara diskon masakan murah.
Pantauan detikcom di kawasan Lapangan Banteng, Selasa (23/3/2010), pukul 21.00 WIB, ujung antrean mobil yang ingin masuk hotel, sampai dengan depan gerbang Masjid Istiqlal, Jl Veteran. Banyaknya mobil yang parkir di jalan sekitar hotel juga menambah ruwet lalu lintas.
Humas Hotel Borubudur, Fransiska Kansil, mengatakan acara diskon makanan ini diadakan dalam rangka HUT ke-36 hotel. Berbagai masakan seperti masakan China, Italia, dan Jepang dibanderol dengan harga Rp 36 ribu.
"Di sini kebetulan khasnya Sop Buntut," katanya tentang masakan yang juga dibanderol Rp 36 ribu itu.
Di dalam hotel, para pengujung yang ingin menikmati sop buntut mengisi daftar untuk kemudian dipanggil satu persatu ke dalam ruangan untuk menikmati masakan yang biasanya dihargai Rp 108 ribu itu. Tampak sekitar seratus pengunjung memadati ruang Timor, khusus menikmati sop buntut.
detik
Pantauan detikcom di kawasan Lapangan Banteng, Selasa (23/3/2010), pukul 21.00 WIB, ujung antrean mobil yang ingin masuk hotel, sampai dengan depan gerbang Masjid Istiqlal, Jl Veteran. Banyaknya mobil yang parkir di jalan sekitar hotel juga menambah ruwet lalu lintas.
Humas Hotel Borubudur, Fransiska Kansil, mengatakan acara diskon makanan ini diadakan dalam rangka HUT ke-36 hotel. Berbagai masakan seperti masakan China, Italia, dan Jepang dibanderol dengan harga Rp 36 ribu.
"Di sini kebetulan khasnya Sop Buntut," katanya tentang masakan yang juga dibanderol Rp 36 ribu itu.
Di dalam hotel, para pengujung yang ingin menikmati sop buntut mengisi daftar untuk kemudian dipanggil satu persatu ke dalam ruangan untuk menikmati masakan yang biasanya dihargai Rp 108 ribu itu. Tampak sekitar seratus pengunjung memadati ruang Timor, khusus menikmati sop buntut.
detik
Internet Explorer Loses Share in European Markets
Microsoft's delivery of a browser choice screen to European PC users this month is already beginning to have an effect on the software giant's market share within the European Union. For example, the latest statistics from StatCounter suggest that the new browser ballot is driving Internet Explorer share declines in France, the United Kingdom, Italy and elsewhere.
Mozilla's Firefox browser appears to be the major beneficiary of Microsoft's declines in France, where IE has lost 2.4 percentage points of market share since February 9. Firefox also has received small market-share bumps in Italy and the U.K.
"Early data suggests 50,000 to 100,000 new users chose Firefox as a direct result of seeing the ballot choice screen," said Mozilla spokesperson Erica Jostedt. "We expect these numbers will increase as the ballot choice rolls out in additional countries and will share updated metrics as they become available."
A Steady Global Share
Opera Software said it has been experiencing a dramatic uptake on downloads of its new Opera 10.50 browser, with the increase more than doubling from normal download numbers. "The greatest gains are in countries like Poland, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Netherlands and Portugal," said Opera spokesperson Falguni Bhuta.
StatCounter's latest data also shows that browser users in France and Italy are beginning to turn to Chrome, Opera and Safari. For example, IE's market share in Italy slipped by 1.25 percentage points in the past month, even as Chrome's share rose 0.7 percent.
From a global perspective, however, the Dublin-based web-metrics firm reports that IE's market share has remained steady at about 54.5 percentage points over the past month. So Microsoft's browser losses in Europe are being offset by gains in other markets worldwide.
Microsoft previewed its forthcoming IE9 browser before MIX10 conference attendees in Las Vegas last week. The software giant clearly hopes that the release of its next-generation browser, which does not yet have a firm date, will help it maintain its dominance over the global browser market.
On the downside, IE9 will not be compatible with machines running Windows XP, which continues to be the world's most popular PC operating system. So the incompatibility will limit IE9's initial uptake when it eventually comes to market.
A Wise ROI Calculation
Given that most people never change the browser that comes with their machines, the majority of IE9 users in the long run will be people who get new hardware, noted Al Hilwa, program director of applications development software at IDC.
"For the small subset who actually upgrade a browser and who will specifically upgrade to IE9, they will largely be motivated by graphics performance considerations and will unlikely be the ones running Windows XP at this late stage and less so down the road," Hilwa said.
Supporting Windows XP would not yield the performance improvements that the newer Windows operating systems will deliver through IE9 because of XP's lack of support of Direct2D, Hilwa observed. "Thus the offering would not be so attractive in the first place without a significant chunk of what is new in IE9," he said.
Hilwa thinks Microsoft is making a fairly wise return-on-investment calculation in this instance. "It may be more important for the IE team to support the Macintosh in the long run and to invest their efforts in mobile browsers for the major smartphone platforms," he explained.
yahoo
Mozilla's Firefox browser appears to be the major beneficiary of Microsoft's declines in France, where IE has lost 2.4 percentage points of market share since February 9. Firefox also has received small market-share bumps in Italy and the U.K.
"Early data suggests 50,000 to 100,000 new users chose Firefox as a direct result of seeing the ballot choice screen," said Mozilla spokesperson Erica Jostedt. "We expect these numbers will increase as the ballot choice rolls out in additional countries and will share updated metrics as they become available."
A Steady Global Share
Opera Software said it has been experiencing a dramatic uptake on downloads of its new Opera 10.50 browser, with the increase more than doubling from normal download numbers. "The greatest gains are in countries like Poland, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Netherlands and Portugal," said Opera spokesperson Falguni Bhuta.
StatCounter's latest data also shows that browser users in France and Italy are beginning to turn to Chrome, Opera and Safari. For example, IE's market share in Italy slipped by 1.25 percentage points in the past month, even as Chrome's share rose 0.7 percent.
From a global perspective, however, the Dublin-based web-metrics firm reports that IE's market share has remained steady at about 54.5 percentage points over the past month. So Microsoft's browser losses in Europe are being offset by gains in other markets worldwide.
Microsoft previewed its forthcoming IE9 browser before MIX10 conference attendees in Las Vegas last week. The software giant clearly hopes that the release of its next-generation browser, which does not yet have a firm date, will help it maintain its dominance over the global browser market.
On the downside, IE9 will not be compatible with machines running Windows XP, which continues to be the world's most popular PC operating system. So the incompatibility will limit IE9's initial uptake when it eventually comes to market.
A Wise ROI Calculation
Given that most people never change the browser that comes with their machines, the majority of IE9 users in the long run will be people who get new hardware, noted Al Hilwa, program director of applications development software at IDC.
"For the small subset who actually upgrade a browser and who will specifically upgrade to IE9, they will largely be motivated by graphics performance considerations and will unlikely be the ones running Windows XP at this late stage and less so down the road," Hilwa said.
Supporting Windows XP would not yield the performance improvements that the newer Windows operating systems will deliver through IE9 because of XP's lack of support of Direct2D, Hilwa observed. "Thus the offering would not be so attractive in the first place without a significant chunk of what is new in IE9," he said.
Hilwa thinks Microsoft is making a fairly wise return-on-investment calculation in this instance. "It may be more important for the IE team to support the Macintosh in the long run and to invest their efforts in mobile browsers for the major smartphone platforms," he explained.
yahoo
Selasa, 02 Maret 2010
Microsoft Bangun 'Markas' di Sarang Software Bajakan
Guna meredam penjualan software bajakan yang merajalela, Microsoft membuat langkah taktis. Vendor software raksasa itu membangun 'markas' di salah satu sarang software bajakan di Indonesia.
Markas yang dimaksud bernama Microsoft Zone dan dibangun di pusat penjualan elektronik Mangga Dua. Memang dalam beberapa tahun terakhir, tempat ini menjadi sarang jual beli software bajakan.
Microsoft Zone merupakan salah satu upaya perusahaan milik Bill Gates ini untuk memberikan pengetahuan yang mendalam tentang penggunaan software asli bagi pasar konsumer.
Di tempat ini, konsumen bisa mencoba teknologi baru Microsoft, mengikuti klinik diskusi dan pelatihan serta menjadi tempat mejeng bagi produk baru vendor elektronik mitra Microsoft.
"Pokoknya kita ingin berada di tengah-tengah konsumen, biar mereka kenal kita. Ini (Mangga Dua-red.) kan tempat strategis," ujar Sutanto Hartono, Presiden Direktur Microsoft Indonesia dalam pembukaan Microsoft Zone di Mangga Dua, Jakarta, Selasa (2/3/2010).
Microsoft Zone sendiri dilengkapi dengan 14 unit PC dari berbagai merek seperti Acer, Axioo, Byon, Dell, HP, Sony, Toshiba, dan Wearnes.
"Kami sangat serius dalam mengkampanyekan penggunaan software asli di Tanah Air dengan membawa produk asli lebih dekat dengan konsumen karena negara dengan tingkat pembajakan yang tinggi akan rentan terhadap ancaman keamanan berkomputasi," pungkas Sutanto.
Menurut lembaga analis IDC, tingkat pembajakan software di Indonesia pada 2008 lalu mencapai 87%.
Presentase ini tentu terbilang tinggi, bahkan menempatkan Indonesia di posisi ke-12 dalam negara dengan tingkat pembajakan software tertinggi di dunia.
detik
Markas yang dimaksud bernama Microsoft Zone dan dibangun di pusat penjualan elektronik Mangga Dua. Memang dalam beberapa tahun terakhir, tempat ini menjadi sarang jual beli software bajakan.
Microsoft Zone merupakan salah satu upaya perusahaan milik Bill Gates ini untuk memberikan pengetahuan yang mendalam tentang penggunaan software asli bagi pasar konsumer.
Di tempat ini, konsumen bisa mencoba teknologi baru Microsoft, mengikuti klinik diskusi dan pelatihan serta menjadi tempat mejeng bagi produk baru vendor elektronik mitra Microsoft.
"Pokoknya kita ingin berada di tengah-tengah konsumen, biar mereka kenal kita. Ini (Mangga Dua-red.) kan tempat strategis," ujar Sutanto Hartono, Presiden Direktur Microsoft Indonesia dalam pembukaan Microsoft Zone di Mangga Dua, Jakarta, Selasa (2/3/2010).
Microsoft Zone sendiri dilengkapi dengan 14 unit PC dari berbagai merek seperti Acer, Axioo, Byon, Dell, HP, Sony, Toshiba, dan Wearnes.
"Kami sangat serius dalam mengkampanyekan penggunaan software asli di Tanah Air dengan membawa produk asli lebih dekat dengan konsumen karena negara dengan tingkat pembajakan yang tinggi akan rentan terhadap ancaman keamanan berkomputasi," pungkas Sutanto.
Menurut lembaga analis IDC, tingkat pembajakan software di Indonesia pada 2008 lalu mencapai 87%.
Presentase ini tentu terbilang tinggi, bahkan menempatkan Indonesia di posisi ke-12 dalam negara dengan tingkat pembajakan software tertinggi di dunia.
detik
Jumat, 26 Februari 2010
Windows 7 RTM Cracks Killer Now Live
Microsoft has kicked off the automatic distribution of its Windows 7 RTM cracks killer, namely an update designed to make over 70 illegal activation exploits for the latest iteration of the Windows client go the way of the dodo bird. In the first half of this month, the Redmond company announced theWindows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7, noting that it would be released on the Windows genuine website on February 16th, and on the Microsoft Download Center the next day. Earlier this week, namely on February 23rd, the update was scheduled to go live on Windows Update.
Users of Windows 7 with Automatic Updates enabled will have the refresh automatically downloaded and installed. The Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7 is designed to detect more than 70 activation exploits which Microsoft considers potentially dangerous, and to inform the user of their presence.
It is critical to note that the installation of the update is voluntary. Users that don’t want the refresh need only identify it among the updates served by Microsoft, and hide it in the Windows Update dialog window so it will never be deployed on their computer. In the WU window, the update in question bears the following label “Update for Windows 7 for x64/x86-based Systems (KB971033)." Once identified on the update list, Windows 7 customers can right click KB971033 and choose to hide the refresh.
Microsoft explained that the update was designed to enable Windows 7 customers that acquired a pirated copy of the operating system believing that they were buying a legitimate copy to check their operating systems. The Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7 is already available for download as a standalone refresh, for users that want to grab it and manually deploy it instead of waiting for it to be served through WU. (Here are the links for Windows 7 for x86-based systems, and for Windows 7 for x64-based systems. )
In addition, the Redmond company also noted that it had witnessed an increasing trend for pirated copies of Windows 7 distributed through various illegal sources including torrent trackers, to come bundled with malware. Following the RTM of Windows Vista’s successor, the software giant has been hard at work collecting information on over 70 cracks and activation workarounds, and is attempting to thwart them with the Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7.
softpedia
Users of Windows 7 with Automatic Updates enabled will have the refresh automatically downloaded and installed. The Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7 is designed to detect more than 70 activation exploits which Microsoft considers potentially dangerous, and to inform the user of their presence.
It is critical to note that the installation of the update is voluntary. Users that don’t want the refresh need only identify it among the updates served by Microsoft, and hide it in the Windows Update dialog window so it will never be deployed on their computer. In the WU window, the update in question bears the following label “Update for Windows 7 for x64/x86-based Systems (KB971033)." Once identified on the update list, Windows 7 customers can right click KB971033 and choose to hide the refresh.
Microsoft explained that the update was designed to enable Windows 7 customers that acquired a pirated copy of the operating system believing that they were buying a legitimate copy to check their operating systems. The Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7 is already available for download as a standalone refresh, for users that want to grab it and manually deploy it instead of waiting for it to be served through WU. (Here are the links for Windows 7 for x86-based systems, and for Windows 7 for x64-based systems. )
In addition, the Redmond company also noted that it had witnessed an increasing trend for pirated copies of Windows 7 distributed through various illegal sources including torrent trackers, to come bundled with malware. Following the RTM of Windows Vista’s successor, the software giant has been hard at work collecting information on over 70 cracks and activation workarounds, and is attempting to thwart them with the Windows Activation Technologies Update for Windows 7.
softpedia
Kamis, 25 Februari 2010
Cacat, Kingston Tarik 3 Model USB Flash Drive
Kingston baru saja melakukan penarikan 3 tipe USB drive mereka. Masalah keamanan menjadi alasan penarikan produk-produk tersebut.
Pemberitahuan mengenai 'cacat' yang terjadi, dipublish Kingston di website resmi mereka, Kingston.com. Perusahaan ini mengakui bahwa "orang yang memiliki keahlian tertentu dengan piranti yang memadai dan akses secara fisik, bisa mengambil data yang dilindungi di dalamnya".
3 tipe yang dimaksud ialah:
- DataTraveler BlackBox (DTBB)
- DataTraveler Secure – Privacy Edition (DTSP)
- DataTraveler Elite – Privacy Edition (DTEP)
Kingston tidak merinci bagaimana produk tersebut bisa rawan dibobol. Padahal sebelumnya Kingston mengklaim drive Data Traveler Secure mereka sebagai USB flash drive pertama yang mengamankan datanya 100% via hardware 256 bit yang berbasis enskripsi AES.
Sebelum mengakses data, drive ini meminta usernya untuk memasukkan password yang kuat miniminal 6 karakter. Data akan otomatis terhapus jika user salah memasukkan password sebanyak 10 kali.
Selain menginformasikan mengenai cacat pada produknya itu, Kingston dalam situsnya juga menawarkan penanganan produk pada konsumennya. Mereka menyediakan nomor kontak technical support yang bisa dihubungi di tiap-tiap negara agar para konsumen bisa mengembalikan drive-nya untuk dimodifikasi.
detik
Pemberitahuan mengenai 'cacat' yang terjadi, dipublish Kingston di website resmi mereka, Kingston.com. Perusahaan ini mengakui bahwa "orang yang memiliki keahlian tertentu dengan piranti yang memadai dan akses secara fisik, bisa mengambil data yang dilindungi di dalamnya".
3 tipe yang dimaksud ialah:
- DataTraveler BlackBox (DTBB)
- DataTraveler Secure – Privacy Edition (DTSP)
- DataTraveler Elite – Privacy Edition (DTEP)
Kingston tidak merinci bagaimana produk tersebut bisa rawan dibobol. Padahal sebelumnya Kingston mengklaim drive Data Traveler Secure mereka sebagai USB flash drive pertama yang mengamankan datanya 100% via hardware 256 bit yang berbasis enskripsi AES.
Sebelum mengakses data, drive ini meminta usernya untuk memasukkan password yang kuat miniminal 6 karakter. Data akan otomatis terhapus jika user salah memasukkan password sebanyak 10 kali.
Selain menginformasikan mengenai cacat pada produknya itu, Kingston dalam situsnya juga menawarkan penanganan produk pada konsumennya. Mereka menyediakan nomor kontak technical support yang bisa dihubungi di tiap-tiap negara agar para konsumen bisa mengembalikan drive-nya untuk dimodifikasi.
detik
OCZ Siapkan Eksternal SSD dengan USB 3.0
Teknologi SSD dirasa bakal berkembang di tahun-tahun mendatang. Kini SSD yang menggunakan interface SATA berkecepatan 6 Gb/s dari OCZ, telah dilirik banyak orang. Tak hanya berhenti di situ, OCZ berencana mengeluarkan eksternal SSD terbarunya yang konon memiliki kecepatan transfer 4 Gb/s
Dengan hal itu OCZ akan memiliki barang yang diinginkan beberapa maniak dengan eksternal storage. Pasalnya kepraktisan serta ketipisan SSD OCZ, kini didukung dengan interface berkecepatan tinggi dari USB 3.0
USB 3.0 yang juga dikenal sebagai SuperSpeed USB ini, digadang-gadang mampu melakukan transfer data sampai 4,8 Gbps. Berarti ini merupakan peningkatan signifikan daripada kecepatan 480 Mbps pada USB 2.0 yang saat ini umum dipakai.
Jumat, 22 Januari 2010
The final development milestone of Firefox 3.6 has been released to web and is currently available for download for users of Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Earlier this week, Mozilla was considering either January 21st, or January 25th, for the general availability of Firefox 3.6, formerly codenamed Namoroka. The January 21 deadline was decided just a couple of days ago, and today, Mozilla is moving forward with the release of the latest iteration of its open source browser. At this point in time, Firefox 3.6 is in the first stages of the official launch, but make no mistake about it, the final bits for version 3.6 are indeed available for download.
Yesterday, when I was telling you that Firefox 3.6 Final is scheduled to drop on January 21st, 2010, I also promised that Softpedia would do its best to get the bits to you before the official release. Currently Mozilla’s webpage for version 3.6 still notes: “Firefox 3.6 is coming soon!” and adds “We still have a few things left to do before it's ready. Here's a short video to show you what's new. If you can't wait, download a release candidate for a sneak peek!” Of course, the official deadline when downloads are scheduled to go live is Thursday, January 21st at 9:30am Pacific Standard Time.
However, Mozilla has already published the final development milestone of Firefox 3.6 to its FTP servers, and as a result users can already download the release. Firefox 3.6 is designed as a minor update to Firefox 3.5 which was released in the first half of 2009. Version 3.6 was initially planned for availability in November 2009, a deadline which Mozilla missed due to a variety of blockers (severe bugs) which needed to be resolved prior to GA. But now, Firefox 3.6 Final is here.
Mozilla has enumerated a range of improvements marking the evolution from Firefox 3.5 to Firefox 3.6:
“- Made some changes to how we allow third party software to integrate with Firefox in order to prevent crashes.
- The ability to run scripts asynchronously to speed up page load times.
- Users can now change their browser's appearance with a single click, with built in support for Personas.
- Firefox 3.6 will alert users about out of date plugins to keep them safe.
- Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
- Support for the WOFF font format.
- Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.
- Support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.”
UPDATE: Mozilla has cut access to Firefox 3.6 via FTP, most probably due to the overload on their servers. At the time of this refresh, v3.6 is still only offered officially for download, albeit the release is not just hours away. However, using the links below you will have no problems in downloading Firefox 3.6 Final.
softpedia
Yesterday, when I was telling you that Firefox 3.6 Final is scheduled to drop on January 21st, 2010, I also promised that Softpedia would do its best to get the bits to you before the official release. Currently Mozilla’s webpage for version 3.6 still notes: “Firefox 3.6 is coming soon!” and adds “We still have a few things left to do before it's ready. Here's a short video to show you what's new. If you can't wait, download a release candidate for a sneak peek!” Of course, the official deadline when downloads are scheduled to go live is Thursday, January 21st at 9:30am Pacific Standard Time.
However, Mozilla has already published the final development milestone of Firefox 3.6 to its FTP servers, and as a result users can already download the release. Firefox 3.6 is designed as a minor update to Firefox 3.5 which was released in the first half of 2009. Version 3.6 was initially planned for availability in November 2009, a deadline which Mozilla missed due to a variety of blockers (severe bugs) which needed to be resolved prior to GA. But now, Firefox 3.6 Final is here.
Mozilla has enumerated a range of improvements marking the evolution from Firefox 3.5 to Firefox 3.6:
“- Made some changes to how we allow third party software to integrate with Firefox in order to prevent crashes.
- The ability to run scripts asynchronously to speed up page load times.
- Users can now change their browser's appearance with a single click, with built in support for Personas.
- Firefox 3.6 will alert users about out of date plugins to keep them safe.
- Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
- Support for the WOFF font format.
- Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.
- Support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.”
UPDATE: Mozilla has cut access to Firefox 3.6 via FTP, most probably due to the overload on their servers. At the time of this refresh, v3.6 is still only offered officially for download, albeit the release is not just hours away. However, using the links below you will have no problems in downloading Firefox 3.6 Final.
softpedia
Kamis, 21 Januari 2010
Avast! Free Antivirus 5.0 Compatible with Windows 7
At over a month since it hit the milestone of 100 million users globally, Avast! has released its latest lineup of security products, version 5.0. There are no less than three flavors to the new security solution: Free Antivirus 5.0, Pro Antivirus 5.0, and Internet Security 5.0, with the first one, as the moniker implies, available free of charge to customers. In fact, Avast! Free Antivirus is one of the most comprehensive security products offered completely for free, and the promise from the company building the solution is that version 5.0 takes its free offering to a whole new level.
“With the new Free Version 5.0, we attempted (and we think succeeded) to raise the bar on free security products. We decided that our new free product needed to be the best antivirus product in the world—not just the best free product. We think we have succeeded, or come darn close. Now you the users (and of course the reviewers) can let us know,” revealed Vince Steckler, chief executive officer of Alwil Software, the makers of Avast!.
Users of Avast! are undoubtedly already familiar with the Pro Antivirus edition of the solution, which also got upgraded to 5.0. Avast! Pro Antivirus 5.0 is available for purchase for $39.95, the price covering a license for one year and just a single computer. At the same time, the security company has introduced a new product, Avast! Internet Security 5.0 with a price tag of $59.95 for a 1-year license, but which provides protection to no less than there computers. All the editions of Avast! 5.0 are fully compatible with Windows 7.
“This is our new flagship product and replaces Avast Home Edition (we changed the name to emphasize the product is free). We focus this product on users that use the internet for web browsing and email. If that is what you do on the internet, this is the product you need. We are very proud of this product and we stack it up against anyone else’s paid antivirus,” Steckler added.
Customers will be able to download Avast! Free Antivirus 5.0 either as a standalone product, and update to version 4.8, or through the Google Pack package, since this is the free antivirus that the Mountain View-search giant has chosen for its bundle of free apps. Avast! Pro Antivirus is designed to be the update to the Professional Edition, and is essentially identical to Avast! Internet Security minus the firewall and anti-spam capabilities.
Avast! Internet Security 5.0 “is our brand-new product and is focused on users that do on-line banking or shopping or that have sensitive data on their computer. This product takes the free antivirus and adds a 2-way silent firewall, a sandbox, and anti-spam. The firewall ensures that only trusted applications are able to receive or send data across the internet. The sandbox provides a means of executing your browser (or any other application) in a protected environment—thus even if you get infected, the infection does not leave the sandbox and does not harm your computer. And the anti-spam helps you get rid of all that irritating email you receive every day,” Steckler noted.
softpedia
“With the new Free Version 5.0, we attempted (and we think succeeded) to raise the bar on free security products. We decided that our new free product needed to be the best antivirus product in the world—not just the best free product. We think we have succeeded, or come darn close. Now you the users (and of course the reviewers) can let us know,” revealed Vince Steckler, chief executive officer of Alwil Software, the makers of Avast!.
Users of Avast! are undoubtedly already familiar with the Pro Antivirus edition of the solution, which also got upgraded to 5.0. Avast! Pro Antivirus 5.0 is available for purchase for $39.95, the price covering a license for one year and just a single computer. At the same time, the security company has introduced a new product, Avast! Internet Security 5.0 with a price tag of $59.95 for a 1-year license, but which provides protection to no less than there computers. All the editions of Avast! 5.0 are fully compatible with Windows 7.
“This is our new flagship product and replaces Avast Home Edition (we changed the name to emphasize the product is free). We focus this product on users that use the internet for web browsing and email. If that is what you do on the internet, this is the product you need. We are very proud of this product and we stack it up against anyone else’s paid antivirus,” Steckler added.
Customers will be able to download Avast! Free Antivirus 5.0 either as a standalone product, and update to version 4.8, or through the Google Pack package, since this is the free antivirus that the Mountain View-search giant has chosen for its bundle of free apps. Avast! Pro Antivirus is designed to be the update to the Professional Edition, and is essentially identical to Avast! Internet Security minus the firewall and anti-spam capabilities.
Avast! Internet Security 5.0 “is our brand-new product and is focused on users that do on-line banking or shopping or that have sensitive data on their computer. This product takes the free antivirus and adds a 2-way silent firewall, a sandbox, and anti-spam. The firewall ensures that only trusted applications are able to receive or send data across the internet. The sandbox provides a means of executing your browser (or any other application) in a protected environment—thus even if you get infected, the infection does not leave the sandbox and does not harm your computer. And the anti-spam helps you get rid of all that irritating email you receive every day,” Steckler noted.
softpedia
Kamis, 14 Januari 2010
HTC Touch Pro2
Plus
Feature lengkap
Minus
Dimensi cukup tebal
No Flash
HTC kembali berinovasi dalam dunia ponsel untuk mengisi jajaran handphone kelas atasnya dengan meluncurkan HTC Touch Dual Pro2 yang memiliki desain glossy dengan material berkualitas tinggi. Produk ini memiliki dimensi 116 mm x 59.2 mm x 16.65 mm (4.57 inch x 2.33 inch x 0.66 inch) dan berat 178.5 g (6.3 ounce with battery.) Ukuran layar 3.6-inch TFT LCD touch-sensitive screen dan resolusi 480 x 800 WVGA dan adjustable tilt screen akan menambah kenikmatan Anda dalam bermain game atau pun menyaksikan film kesayangan pada device ini.
Kehadiran prosesor Qualcomm MSM7200A 528 MHz, ROM 512 MB, dan RAM 288 MB, sehingga untuk menjalankan sistem operasi Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional bukan masalah yang berarti bagi HTC Touch Pro2. Produk ini juga dilengkapi dengan TouchFLO 3D dan Zoom Bar, mempermudah penggunaan produk ini. Hal ini berpengaruh cukup signifikan mengingat OS yang dipergunakan adalah Windows Mobile 6.1 dengan menu dan navigasi sedikit menyulitkan bila tidak mempergunakan stylus.
Produk ini juga mempersenjatai dirinya dengan kamera utama 3.2 MP dan secondaryVGA CMOS camera. Hasil jepretan dari kamera ini memang cukup bagus, namun akan lebih baik bila device ini memiliki flash yang dapat dipergunakan pada kondisi low light. Sementara itu, kualitas suara yang dihasilkan oleh device ini akan memanjakan telinga Anda. Dengan dukungan file audio berekstensi AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, QCP, MP3, WMA, WAV, MIDI, M4A, device ini mampu bertahan selama lima jam untuk memutar sebuah lagu dengan ekstensi MP3 dalam keadaan idle.
Kualitas video yang ditawarkan oleh device ini juga memuaskan, dengan dukungan file berekstensi WMV, ASF, MP4, 3GP, 3G2, M4V, AVI, device ini mampu mencapai angka tiga jam penuh untuk memutar sebuah file berekstensi WMV. Produk ini juga dilengkapi dengan FM radio stereo untuk kepuasan Anda. Sementara itu, kapasitas battery yang disediakan oleh HTC sebesar 1500 mAh. HTC sendiri menjanjikan device ini dapat bertahan sampai dengan 390 menit WCDMA dan sampai dengan 510 menit GSM untuk talktime. Waktu yang dijanjikan oleh HTC untuk standby time up to 750 jam (WCDMA) dan up to 500 jam (GSM), sedangkan untuk penggunaan video call sendiri mencapai 160 menit.
HTC menyediakan bluetooth 2.1 with enhanced data rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets, Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g, dan 11-pin mini-USB 2.0, audio jack, dan TV Out in one (membutuh HTC Kabel TV Out) sebagai konektifitas device ini. Untuk keperluan berinternet ria, device ini dipersenjatai dengan HSPA/WCDMA pada range frekuensi 900/2100 MHz dengan kecepatan sampai dengan 2 Mbps uplink dan 7.2 Mbps downlink, sedangkan range frekuensi yang disediakan untuk GSM/GPRS/EDGE adalah 850/900/1800/1900 MHz.
Kualitas video yang ditawarkan oleh device ini juga memuaskan, dengan dukungan file berekstensi WMV, ASF, MP4, 3GP, 3G2, M4V, AVI, device ini mampu mencapai angka tiga jam penuh untuk memutar sebuah file berekstensi WMV. Produk ini juga dilengkapi dengan FM radio stereo untuk kepuasan Anda. Sementara itu, kapasitas battery yang disediakan oleh HTC sebesar 1500 mAh. HTC sendiri menjanjikan device ini dapat bertahan sampai dengan 390 menit WCDMA dan sampai dengan 510 menit GSM untuk talktime. Waktu yang dijanjikan oleh HTC untuk standby time up to 750 jam (WCDMA) dan up to 500 jam (GSM), sedangkan untuk penggunaan video call sendiri mencapai 160 menit.
HTC menyediakan bluetooth 2.1 with enhanced data rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets, Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g, dan 11-pin mini-USB 2.0, audio jack, dan TV Out in one (membutuh HTC Kabel TV Out) sebagai konektifitas device ini. Untuk keperluan berinternet ria, device ini dipersenjatai dengan HSPA/WCDMA pada range frekuensi 900/2100 MHz dengan kecepatan sampai dengan 2 Mbps uplink dan 7.2 Mbps downlink, sedangkan range frekuensi yang disediakan untuk GSM/GPRS/EDGE adalah 850/900/1800/1900 MHz.
Feature lain yang cukup menarik disertakan pada device ini adalah G-Sensor, straight talk, dan noise-cancelling dual microphones serta speakers. Tidak ketinggalan GPS disertakan untuk Anda bernavigasi. Software Google Map pun ikut disertakan dalam device ini.
Kesimpulan: Produk dari HTC ini memiliki semua kebutuhan yang Anda butuhkan baik untuk entertainment atau pun bisnis. Dengan feature yang ditawarkan, nampaknya HTC memang tidak main-main memproduksi device ini. Bagi Anda yang menginginkan sebuah device dengan budget tidak terbatas, HTC menawarkan produk ini sebagai solusinya.
CHIP
Selasa, 12 Januari 2010
Samsung B2100 Xtreme: Tahan Banting
Kata si produsen, Samsung B2100 Xtreme bisa tahan sampai 30 menit di kedalaman 1 meter lagi. Nah, kesempatan ini Sinyal mau jajal seberapa ekstrem nih. Niatnya mau direndam dan dijatuhkan pada ketinggian kurang lebih 2 meter.. Lebih ekstrem lagi, kita taruh pada suhu yang abnormal yuk…Desain
Dilongok dari bodinya yang berbalur warna merah hitam, kesan macho memang terlihat ketika memegang desain tambunnya. Kokoh memang. Enaknya lagi penuh gelombang, jadi memungkinkan untuk tidak terpeleset dalam cengkraman tangan.
Gaya bebas dan tipikal hape ala outdoor melekat dalam tekstur secara keseluruhan. Mulai dari bagian depan hingga belakang semuanya terbungkus rapat dan tanpa sela. Sepertinya sengaja, biar selalu kedap air dan tak kemasukan debu.
Sekarang kita sisir sama-sama, cover depan B2100 Xtreme tampil dengan display layar yang tak terlalu lebar bila tidak mau dikatakan sempit, cuma 1,77 inci dengan kerapatan piksel 120x160, serta hamparan keypad karet yang didesain untuk terlindung dari semua kotoran dan cairan. Tombolnya nyaman ketika dipencet, dan tak terlampau keras, begitupula navigasinya dan tombol eksekusi yang berada di tengahnya.
Pindah ke bagian pinggir hape, B2100 Xtreme mengesankan hape outdoor minimalis dan tak perlu banyak ornamen. Di tepi kiri hanya tombol pengaturan volume plus tombol menghidupkan dan mematikan lampu senter. Tepi kanan, port dual fungsi untuk headset dan charger sudah disiapkan. Sementara di belakang, hanya speaker dan lensa kamera 1,3MP yang disematkan. O ya, satu lagi lampu senter terletak di tepi atas hape.
Uji Xtreme
Nah, sekarang Kita sidik satu satu ketahanannya. Pertama, Sinyal langsung jajal dengan membantingnya pada ketinggian kurang lebih 2 meter. Hasilnya, ancur bro...hahaha...Nggak deng...semuanya fine-fine aja tuh, gak ada masalah berarti dan semua fitur masih bisa jalan normal dan tokcer. Bodinya pun tak tergores..Ujian pertama lolos nih dengan hasil yang memuaskan.
Kedua, Sinyal melakukan eksekusi dengan menggunakan air yang dituang ke dalam gelas kemudian mencelupkan B2100 Xtreme ke dalamnya. Hasilnya, hape tersebut masih sehat wal afiat dan bisa kembali beroperasi seperti sedia kala. Kalau dua sesi pengetesan sudah dilewati, tinggal uji yang paling ekstrem lagi bro...
Sinyal mencoba memasukkan hape B2100 ke dalam lemari pendingin alias kulkas di bagian freezer-nya. Selang waktu 5 menit, dengan titik beku standar membuat es batu ternyata B2100 bisa berjalan sebagaimana mestinya, tak ada yang tak berfungsi semua berjalan sesuai yang dikehendaki Sinyal. Widiiih, beneran tahan banting nih hape, mau tau kenapa? Karena B2100 memang sudah diuji ketahanannya dan memenuhi standar IP57, yakni sebuah sertifikasi ketahanan melalui ujicoba tertentu pada perangkat elektronik di sebuah laboratorium di Eropa.
Bahkan klaim si produsen, dengan sertifikasi IP57, hape B2100 mampu memproteksi dirinya dari debu dan air untuk kedalaman 1 meter selama 30 menit. Termasuk beradaptasi dengan cuaca tak menentu, termasuk bertemperatur sangat dingin atau panas, sesuai dengan standar militer 810F (MIL-STD-810F).
Kamera
Masuk ke fitur, di kamera Anda hanya menemui kualitas 1,3MP. Memang banyak yang menyayangkan kenapa cuma segitu kehandalan sebuah hape outdoor yang seharusnya ditunjang dengan kerapatan piksel maksimal, ya tentunya untuk mengabadikan momen outdoor juga. Ya minimal kalau rentang harga sejutaaan, 2MP bisa jadi kekuatan piksel terendah.
Meski, ditepis oleh hasil foto dari luar ruang yang cukup baik, ketika Sinyal menjajalnya dengan modus normal, serta kerapatan maksimal 1280 x 1024 pixels di siang hari kualitas gambar tergolong lumayan baik di hape, tapi tidak ketika dilakukan pembesaran via komputer, kualitasnya kurang baik.
Kualitas yang minim di segi piksel sepertinya coba ditutupi dengan hadirnya beberapa sub fitur kamera yang ada pada B2100. Anda bisa memanfaatkan variasi efek yang bisa membantu Anda berkreasi dalam menentukan hasil akhir pada foto.
Tambahan lainnya, Anda bisa memainkan bingkai agar mendapat pola gambar lucu yang menampilkan wajah Anda dalam template gambar yang sudah disediakan. Untuk Video, perekam video (15 fps) bisa digunakan untuk memutar gambar bergerak berformat MPEG4, H.263, 3GP.
Audio Player
Seperti yang Sinyal bilang sebelumnya, jika hape outdoor memang tak sepenuhnya dibenamkan fitur-fitur maksimal. Tak terkecuali fitur multimedia!dengan keterbatasan nya, Samsung B2100 coba memberikan sarana hiburan lain lewat perangkat pemutar audio. Beragam format audio pun bisa dimainkan pada B2100. Misalnya, MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, AMR, MIDI, dan WAV. So, Anda bisa memanjakan telinga lewat lagu kesayangan. Selain itu, terdapat radio FM sebagai pelengkapnya.
Kualitas Audio pun masuk kategori pertengahan, tak terlalu bagus tapi bukan berarti jelek juga. Dari hasil trial yang Sinyal lakukan pada uji suara langsung dari bawaan vendor yang bersangkutan bisa dimuntahkan dengan baik oleh speaker bodi. Hanya saja, tak sejernih ketika menancapkan headset pada port sebelah kanan B2100 dan mendengarkannya lewat kualitas stereo-nya. Sayangnya, ketahanan baterai agak kedodoran ketika musik terus dimainkan.
Pendapat Kami
Secara menyeluruh, kualitas hape outdoor dari B2100 memang sudah teruji dalam tes yang dilakukan Sinyal. Benturan, rendaman, dan suhu ekstrem di dalam lemari pendingin adalah buktinya. Yang perlu disangsikan hanyalah ketangguhan baterainya dalam menunjang kegiatan luar ruang. Karena tak terlampau tahan untuk kondisi aktif, sesuai dengan tampilan eksteriornya.
Sumber: Sinyal
PLUS: Tahan banting untuk segala kondisi
MINUS: Baterai boros, minim multimedia.
SPESIFIKASI Samsung B2100 Xtreme
Dimensi : 113x48,9x17,4 mm
Bobot : 102,8 gram
Baterai : Li-Ion 1000 mAh
Jaringan : 2G GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Layar : TFT, 256 ribu warna, 120x160 pixel, 1,77 inci
Memori internal : 7MB
Memori eksternal : microSD (TransFlash), up to 8GB
Konektivitas : GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps, v2.1, Bluetooth dengan A2DP.
Kamera : 1,3MP, 1280 x1024 pixel
Messaging : SMS, MMS
Aplikasi : JAVA MIDP 2.0
Isi paket : Handset Samsung B2100, Baterai Li-ion 1000 mAh, handsfree, charger, manual book, kartu garansi.
Waktu bicara : 600 jam
Waktu siaga : 9 jam
Lain-lain : Audio Player MP3/e-AAC+/WMA/WAV, Stereo FM radio with RDS , WAP 2.0/xHTML, Shock, water and dust resistant (IP57, MIL-STD-810F), Water proof up to 1 meter and 30 minutes, Anti-shock materials (urethane), Noise cancellation with dedicated microphone, Flashlight with dedicated key, MPEG4/3GP/M4V player, Polyphonic(64), MP3 ringtones, Voice memo, Stopwatch, T9.
kompas
Kamis, 07 Januari 2010
Puding Busa Cokelat
PERUT si kecil mulai “keroncongan”, pertanda ia sudah lapar. Masalahnya, mereka sering kali ogah kalau langsung diajak makan nasi, malah maunya ngemil. Kreativitas dan kecerdikan orangtua ditantang untuk mencari siasat melalui perencanaan camilan sehat untuk si kecil.
Tak usah bingung menyediakan camilan sehat. Puding, selain terkenal menjadi makanan penutup, bisa juga dimakan sebagai camilan. Bila sudah bosan dengan mengolah menu puding yang itu-itu saja, Anda bisa coba membuat puding dengan campuran cokelat dan nanas. Rasa manis dan kecut yang hadir dalam satu sajian akan menghadirkan citarasa berbeda.
Bahan:
2 bungkus (14 gr) agar-agar bubuk warna cokelat
2 sdm cokelat bubuk
200 gr gula pasir
1/8 sdt garam
1 liter susu
5 butir telur, ambil bagian putih telur, lalu kocok kaku
150 gr nanas kalengan, tiriskan, lalu potong kasar
Bahan saus leci:
1 kaleng (427 gr) leci, blender beserta air buahnya
350 ml susu cair
2 sdt essence mint
3 butir kuning telur ayam
1 sdm tepung maizena, larutkan dengan 1 sdm air
Cara membuat:
1. Aduk rata agar-agar bubuk, cokelat bubuk, gula pasir, dan garam. Tuangkan susu sedikit demi sedikit sambil aduk terus hingga semua bahan larut.
2. Didihkan larutan di atas api sedang sambil terus diaduk agar susu tidak pecah dan agar-agar matang. Angkat, sisihkan.
3. Tuangkan larutan agar-agar mendidih sedikit demi sedikit ke dalam putih telur kocok sambil terus diaduk dengan mixer hingga rata. Tambahkan potongan nanas kalengan, aduk rata.
4. Tuangkan adonan agar-agar ke dalam loyang bervolume 2000 ml yang sudah dibahasi air matang. Biarkan dingin dan simpan dalam lemari pendingin hingga waktu penyajian.
5. Sementara untuk saus leci, cara membuatnya didihkan jus leci, susu cair, dan essence mint sambil diaduk terus agar susu tidak pecah. Ambil sedikit susu panas, tuangkan ke dalam kuning telur, lalu aduk hingga rata. Tuangkan kembali kuning telur ke dalam larutan susu panas. Masukkan larutan maizena untuk mengentalkan saus. Didihkan sekali lagi hingga semua bahan matang. Angkat dan biarkan dingin.
Cara penyajian: Potong puding sesuai selera lalu siramkan bagian atasnya dengan saus leci.(ftr)
Rabu, 06 Januari 2010
Nasi Tiwul Plus Kalakan Hiu
Hidangan sederhana khas Pacitan ini memang membuat mata merem-melek. Daging kalakan hiu yang gurih sangat pas beradu dengan sambal mentah yang pedas menyetrum lidah. Nasi tiwul, kenikir plus siraman kuah jangan kalakan hiu membuat makan siang kali ini... uenake poll!
Pulang kampung selalu menjadi primadona bagi para perantau termasuk saya tentunya. Salah satu yang membuat saya rindu pulang kampung ke Pacitan adalah makanannya yang kebanyakan sulit didapati di perantauan. Untunglah liburan kemarin saya pun berkesempatan untuk pulang kampung lagi.
Siang itu sekitar pukul 10 pagi seorang teman mengajak keliling kota pacitan tercinta. Mencoba mendatangi teman lama SMA yang lama tak jumpa namun tak menunjukkan hasil. Akhirnya temanku mengajak untuk mencari warung makan. Sayapun mendukung penuh ide teman saya tersebut karena saya baru ingat ternyata dari pagi saya belum makan.
Pencarian warung membuat perut ini semakin keroncongan. Akhirnya kami berdua tiba di sebuah warung yang berada di atas bukit pantai Teleng Ria Pacitan. Warung ini bernama Warung Tiwul Bu Gandos. Setelah memarkir mobil di pinggir jalan karena memang tidak ada tempat khusus parkir, kami berdua memasuki warung Bu Gandos yang ternyata sudah dipenuhi pengunjung.
Konsep warung lesehan ini memiliki pemandangan langsung pantai teleng ria. Angin pantai yang semilir sungguh menjadi nilai tambah tersendiri bagi warung ini. Dikarenakan lagi ramai pengunjung teman saya mengajak untuk mengambil sendiri ke dapur warung. Ternyata teman saya sudah sering datang ke warung ini dan akhirnya sudah hapal dengan seluk-beluknya.
Sayapun memulai mengambil tiwul yang terlihat mringin kemebul dan sedikit saya tambahi nasi putih sebagai pelengkap. Ketika pindah ke meja berikutnya pemandangan urap kenikir campur kacang panjang kesukaan saya tersaji menggoda. Nasi tiwul yang sudah ditemani urap kenikir selanjutnya diguyur jangan kalakan hiu .
Tak banyak kuah yang saya siramkan tetapi hanya sekedar membuat nasi tiwul sedikit nyemek-nyemek yang kemudian dilengkapi beberapa potong ikan kalakan. Sayur kalakan sendiri merupakan salah satu makanan khas kabupaten Pacitan. Sayur ini terbuat dari daging ikan kelong (hiu) muda yang di potong-potong kecil. Kemudian ikan setengah dibakar atau diasap sampai sedikit sangit dengan tampilan layaknya sate. Nah, setelah itu barulah kalakan hiu disayur dengan kuah santan puedes.
Saya rasa makanan yang saya ambil sudah cukup namun pandangan saya terhenti pada udang goreng besar-besar yang terlihat menggiurkan. Saya pun tak tega jika tidak mengikutsertakan udang goreng dalam petualangan kali ini. Sebagai penutup sambal mentah berada di samping udang goreng.
Suapan pertama sungguh menggetarkan lidah. Paduan tiwul, kenikir, kalakan, dan sambel, hmm... membuat lidah bergoyang. Rasa pedes krenyes-krenyes kenikir mendominasi. Rasa yang begitu dahsyat membuat saya terpaksa meninggalkan sendok. Ternyata menikmati hidangan ini pakai tangan membuat saya lebih lahap lagi menyantapnya.
Saya yang doyan pedas sangat kagum dengan tonjokan sambel mentahnya. Daging kalakannya juga terasa gurih. Tak butuh waktu lama untuk menghabiskan menu yang ternyata sangat pas dengan lidah saya. Apalagi sangat sulit mendapati menu seperti ini di perantauan wah uenake poll.
Sebagai penutup es kelapa perawan menetralkan rasa pedas di lidah. Pemandangan pantai dengan angin yang semilir makin menambah nikmat makan siang kali ini. Setelah selesai makan kami berdua pun menuju kasir dan betapa terkejutnya ketika membayar makan siang kali ini. Total habis hanya Rp 20.000,00 saja.
Dipikir-pikir menu yang pilih temanku sama dengan apa yang saya ambil, artinya per orang hanya menghabiskan Rp 10.000,00. Murah banget bukan? Dalam perjalanan menuju mobil saya masih geleng-geleng kepala seakan tak percaya akan harga murah yang barusan saya bayar untuk sebuah hidangan yang menurut saya uenake poll. Lain kali kalau pulang kampung pasti saya akan kembali untuk menikmati nasi tiwul Bu Gandos dengan kalakan hiunya.
Warung Tiwul Bu Gandos
Jl. Raya Pacitan Solo KM 5
Pacitan (Barat Pantai Teleng Ria)
detik
Langganan:
Postingan (Atom)