Huge Solar Flare About To Hit The Earth

The British Geological Survey [BGS] has already issued a geomagnetic storm warning. The Earth’s magnetic field is expected to be hit with the eruption over the next two or three days.

The impact is likely to cause an increase in geometric activity on the Earth, being the strongest flare recorded in several years. Electrical power grids, communications systems and satellites may be affected in some areas. Of course, it could just as easily cause no issues at all. There is a good possibility that observers in northern parts of the US and Europe may see aurora borealis [often called the northern lights] in the night sky.

The BGS has just released archive geomagnetic records dating back over 100 years. BGS scientists have said that the studying of past solar events can help give an insight into future events.

Recent events in history show how solar flares have caused interruption to electrical system on the planet, such as the 1972 solar flare that caused long distance telephone communication across the state of Illinois to stop working. In 1989 several million people were in darkness in Quebec, Canada, as the result of a solar flare affecting the power grid.

According to researchers the Sun is starting to go through a period of increased activity, we should expect more sun spots and more solar flares over the coming years. As we now live with an ever increasing dependency on electronics, computerized systems, communication systems, including satellite navigation, we seem to be ever more vulnerable to such activity. How much impact any potential coronal mass ejections can have on our systems is of course speculative until it happens. Although there does seem to be an increased amount of research pointing to the fact that such events could have serious implications.

HP Touchpad

There have been several reports from those that were able to try out the Touchpad, suggesting that it was just a little bit sluggish. Not exactly slow, just tiny little delays between actual touch and movement.

Now if you were excited about the future release of the Touchpad and suddenly started to change your mind after reading about its potential sluggishness, then do not despair. There are a full six months of development time yet before this product hits the market.

Taking into consideration that the Touchpad has a 1.2GHz dual core processor, it may seem a bit odd that it would be even slightly sluggish. Of course, that point of view is not shared by everyone who has managed to get a close up of the Touchpad in action.

So a 9.7-inch tablet, weighing in at around 1.5 pounds, running on the webOS and with a starting price of around $499. Sounds pretty competitive to me and could well rival the Apple iPad. Only time will tell!

Verizon iPhone

While Verizon were not prepared to talk about actual numbers of iPhone orders they had taken, the did confirm that they stopped taking further orders at just after 8pm on Thursday evening. They will not open up for orders again now until Wednesday morning at 3am.

It should be noted of course that orders on Wednesday morning are only open to current Verizon subscribers. The general public will be able to get their hands on the phone from Thursday when it becomes generally available. Of course, as we can expect, the quantity available is going to be a bit limited. Taking into account the extra ordinary high demand and if you want to get your hands on one, you are going to be pretty lucky if you can manage that on Thursday.

For those that are considering moving over from AT&T the fee for breaking their contract early is $325 on an iPhone 4, pro-rated by $10 a month. However, if you have a 16gb iPhone 4 in good condition Verizon is offering a trade in rebate for new customers of over $200, so that could make life a little easier for some.

Sirius Internet Radio

The full-featured TTR1 is easy to set up and use, offering a complete listening solution for subscribers who want to use their high-speed Internet connection to access SIRIUS XM’s online channels without the need for a computer.

The TTR1 has a unique interface that includes a network connection wizard that walks users through a few simple steps to set up and access the Premium Online channels through their wired or wireless high-speed Internet connection.

Premium Content
Bring SIRIUS XM’s exclusive commercial-free music, plus expert sports analysis, news, talk and entertainment to any room in your home with SIRIUS Internet Radio.

Powerful Sound
Enjoy powerful, full-range sound with high fidelity speakers and user selectable sound equalizer settings.

Dual Alarms
Two alarms allow you to set multiple wake times to your favorite channels. Hit snooze if you’re not quite ready yet. Also features sleep timer for drifting off to your favorite programming.

Favorite channel presets
Save and enjoy fast access to up to 10 of your favorite channels. Each favorite channel can be assigned to a number button.

Display Brightness
The TTR1 features automatic display brightness, which automatically adjusts to the light available in the room.

Connection Options
The TTR1 features a headphone jack for personal listening, and an output for connecting to a stereo or other device.

There’s also an auxiliary input for use with external audio devices–listen to your MP3 player using the TTR1′s speakers, for instance.

Programming Information
View artist name and song title on the large display, along with the clock and station info.

Internet Clock
The TTR1 grabs the time automatically over the Internet.

Easy to Use
Plug it in and go–no computer required. All you need is a high-speed Internet connection, wired or wireless (supports 802.11b/g networks with WEP, WPA & WPA2 security).

Remote Control Included
Control the radio from across the room with the full-featured, credit-card-sized remote.

What’s in the Box
TTR1 Radio, Remote Control, User Guide, Quick Start Guide

Highly Anticipated Google chrome 9 Released

Chromes new WebGL support, bring with it native support for hardware-accelerated 3D graphics allowing you to view rich graphical content without any additional plugins, you can check out some of the new WebGL graphical features on a demo page setup by Google to showcase them.

Chrome Instant is essentially Google’s instant search applied to the Chrome browser. Once it’s enabled – it’s off by default – the browser will try to guess what you’re going to enter into the omnibox and then load the most likely page while you’re still typing. The feature applies to general browsing as well as web searches, which means that Chrome can start loading HEXUS before you’ve even typed H-E-X, saving you precious seconds.

Rounding out the feature list is the opening of the Web App store to the wider public. Although the store has been around for a few months, it’s only with Chrome 9 that it becomes a central part of the browser. The store will let you browse and install apps right into Chrome, potentially expanding its functionality.

The browser share numbers show that – for the first time Chrome has broken into the double digits, capturing 10.07 per cent of the global market. Although Firefox has managed to hold steady at around 22 per cent, Internet Explorer continued its long slow decline by hitting a low of 56 per cent.

The Daily i-Newspaper for i-Pad & Other Tablets

So what exactly are you getting for your dollar? Well basically the delivery of a daily newspaper to your iPad, or whatever other tablet you happen to be using. Don’t go expecting live updates throughout the day, with breaking news events, because that is not going to happen.

The Daily is more like a traditional newspaper, in that you get a daily paper delivered each morning. Of course, the traditional newspaper that arrives in your mailbox each morning can’t display live video and let’s face it, it costs quite a bit more as well. So at a dollar for a weeks supply of a newspaper every morning, that can give you more than just still images for particular events, has to be good value for money.

800,000 thousand subscriptions are required to make the project viable, according to industry experts. With iPad sales expected to continue to increase this year, with around 40 million or so in use before the year end, it seems that 800,000 subscribers might not be all that difficult to achieve for a service that is likely to prove to be extremely popular.

If we consider when someone like Rupert Murdoch launches something that has taken a $30 million investment to get it up and running and the fact that there are over 100 journalists working on the project daily, then we just know that this is going to be a highly profitable venture.

Microsoft Stealing From Google?

Last year Google was starting to suspect that one of their biggest rivals Bing was managing to collect search queries that were being carried out on Google, then copying those results across to Bing in its search results.

So how did Microsoft pull of this little bit of cheating? Well, we can’t be exactly sure how they were doing it, but it seems likely that either Internet Explorer or the Bing Search Toolbar was being used to collect search queries made on Google, by its users. with the info collected, it was simply a matter of copying the results over.

Google of course, decided to come up with a plan to catch them in the act and it would seem they managed to do just exactly that. According to a variety of sources, the set up around one hundred different random search queries that has not real meaning and would produce little or no results. Then of course Google created specific pages of their own and placed them in the number one position for those queries, even when they had absolutely no relevance to the original query whatsoever.

Next step was to get google staff to use their own machines at home using Internet Explorer or the Bing Search Toolbar to run search queries on Google for those random terms. Yes, you guessed it, some of those results started showing up in Bing a little later.

Microsoft Windows Vulnerability

Microsoft has stated on its site that they are “aware of published information and proof-of-concept code that attempts to exploit this vulnerability. At this time, Microsoft has not seen any indications of active exploitation of the vulnerability.”

Microsoft has also stated on its site “The vulnerability exists due to the way MHTML interprets MIME-formatted requests for content blocks within a document. It is possible under certain conditions for this vulnerability to allow an attacker to inject a client-side script in the response of a Web request run in the context of the victim’s Internet Explorer. The script could spoof content, disclose information, or take any action that the user could take on the affected Web site on behalf of the targeted user.”

More information can be discovered on the Microsoft website – Microsoft Security Advisory (2501696).

Black Ops First Strike to be Released on...

The Call Of Duty: Black Ops First Strike Map Pack is now available to download exclusively on Xbox 360. “First Strike map pack will be available after 9a ET/6aPT/1400 GMT. It may show up earlier but… The First Strike Pack is tied to the language of your Call of Duty:Black Ops Disc.”

So in other words, make sure you download it in English. CVG readers have told us that so long as you download the DLC in-game rather than through the 360 Dashboard, it appears to be working.

Parents I guess it’s time to say goodbye to your teenagers for the next couple of months until they finish this new version of Tour of Duty

Lord Of The Rings Online

What is Lord of the Rings Online?

The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria drops you into the dark majesty of the world beneath Middle-earth. Explore a truly vast underground environment like you’ve never seen before. Battle the terrors of the Nameless Deep with new legendary items that evolve and grow in power as you do.

Experience the dread and wonder of Moria as one of the new Rune-keeper and Warden classes. Achieve greatness as you seek to claim the knowledge and power lost for generations! This Complete Edition includes the original title Shadows of Angmar, all content updates, plus the Mines of Moria expansion.

Features;

Live the Legend: Join the only massively multi player online game based on the extensive and beloved fantasy universe of J.R.R. Tolkien and adventure through renowned places like the Shire and Bree, and now Moria, and the dark heart of the Misty Mountains.

Reach level 60 with thousands of character customizations: 4 races, 9 classes, 10 professions, 7 vocations, + over 1,000 titles, skills and traits. Over 3,500 monsters & over 500 authentic landmarks in nearly 100 million square meters of Middle-earth!

Explore 3 new regions & 12 expansive areas of Moria. New graphics technology brings this underground realm to life like never before, with stunning vistas crafted by the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm. Delve deeper into the darkness.

Design and create legendary items as renown as Bilbo’s Sting! Your hero’s gear will evolve and grow in power along with you, leading to truly unique end-game items!

Fight for the dark side with monster play, the revolutionary monster vs. player (PvMP) combat feature, now with 5 more ranks, Artifact Control, and a live online leader board to showcase your achievements.