Posted 03/19/09 at 01:34:27 PM by David Murphy

So you've just downloaded that hip new open-source replacement for your favorite paid-for application and you're ready to crack it open and unleash all the awesome community-driven features contained inside.  Well, if this application is Songbird, you might want to hold off for a moment.  A recent blog post by the application's developers has revealed that the media player's iPod add-on does more than just transfer music to your device.  It also has the potential to corrupt or otherwise delete music straight from your hardware device.  Yikes!

Bugs are the bane of any software, but they can especially affect the open-source world in unpleasant ways.  Read on to find out what we mean -- but first, unplug your iPod!

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Posted 02/04/09 at 07:44:25 PM by Norman Chan

Bill Gates (the philanthropist, not the technologist) capped off the “reboot” segment of today’s TED speeches with a presentation about two of the important global problems the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have been addressing since Gates retired from day-to-day operations at Microsoft: eradicating malaria and boosting education. 

With regard to the Malaria issue, Gates noted that though the disease claims the lives of one million victims each year, this is a greatly reduced number from when Malaria was a global epidemic a hundred years ago. Now, the epidemic is centralized in poorer countries, whereas first-world nations have largely dismissed the problem. In fact, Gates noted more money was spent on developing baldness medication than on curing malaria – Malaria simply isn’t the rich man’s problem.

Gates then proceeded to release a handful of mosquitoes into the air, joking that there was no reason that only poor people should get malaria. These mosquitoes obviously didn’t carry the disease, though the surprise move drew more than a few nervous laughs from the 1,300 in attendance.

How did TED curator Chris Anderson react?

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Posted 12/04/08 at 12:26:16 AM by Nathan Grayson

Welcome to the latest installment of Disappointment Theater -- starring Your Life. Today's guest star: Grand Theft Auto IV! Wrecking one of the year's best games definitely seems like an impossible task, so read on and be astonished.

According to Steam's fuming masses, as well as gaming site Shacknews, GTA IV's creepy crawlies are all over the place. Topping players' lists of things not to be thankful for, however, are missing textures (apparently caused by corrupt graphics drivers) and the ever-popular crashing bug, which can potentially keep you from even loading the game at all.

Fortunately, one intrepid Steam user has tossed together a forum thread outlining all known issues and possible fixes, so as a (highly prestigious) reward we're putting his name on the site. Thanks, Ramzy!

Additionally, while it's not exactly a bug, the majority of wannabe-crime lords are being forced to run their game of choice at low graphical settings -- a complaint to which Rockstar has issued a response:

"Higher settings are provided for future generations of PCs with higher specifications than are currently widely available," claimed the developer.

Rockstar also released a statement promising that it'll unscrew this pooch as quickly as possible.

So, unless you want to pay $50 for a glorified beta test, wait a couple weeks before taking the plunge.

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Posted 07/05/08 at 01:38:29 AM by Paul Lilly

This holiday weekend many of you will be kicking back with a cold one, firing up the grill, spectating your local fireworks display, and perhaps catching up on a videogame or two when the festivities all come to an end. But while you're busy unwinding, hackers continue to look for ways to distribute malicious code and exploit vulnerabilities. Don't let what's supposed to be a relaxing weekend turn into a hair-pulling experience because you were caught off guard.

Update to Opera 9.5.1

Opera Software unveiled version 9.5 of its flagship browser less than a month ago, and the first major update is now available. Patching Opera to version 9.5.1 addresses several bugs and stability issues, and at least one "highly critical" vulnerability that could be used to execute arbitrary code. And it's not just Windows users that should install the update, but Mac OS X and Linux lovers too. Areas addressed in the update include:

• User Interface
• Mail/News
• Display and Scripting
• Security
• Miscellaneous

View the 9.5.1 changelog for a detailed list of changes, and then hit the jump to see why you should be extra cautious about using the VLC Media Player.

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Posted 08/06/06 at 08:04:01 AM by The Maximum PC Staff

The complete PDF archive of the February 2006 edition of Maximum PC, every article included, every page posted! Download it now!

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