October 2011 ~ Vicaego

October in Memoriam

11:07

October in Memoriam

October in Memoriam, In October we said farewell to many noteworthy individuals, including Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and Indy driver Dan Wheldon. Read on to learn more about them and others who passed away this month.

Google Maps to charge for usage

10:31

Google Maps to charge for usage, Users of Google Map links for their websites will be charged for heavy
usage of the service, it has been revealed.
From 1 January 2012, Google will charge for the Google Maps API service when more than the limit of 25,000 map "hits" are made in a day.
Websites, especially travel firms, use Google Maps to link customers to a view of the destinations they inquire about.
Google is rumoured to be charging $4 per 1,000 views in excess of the limit.
Google maintains the high limit of 25,000 free hits before charging "will only affect 0.35% of users".

'Secure future'
Google said it was aware that developers needed time to evaluate their usage, determine if they were affected and then take action as appropriate.
"We understand that the introduction of these limits may be concerning," said Thor Mitchell, product manager of the Maps API at Google.
"However, with the continued growth in adoption of the Maps API, we need to secure its long-term future by ensuring that even when used by the highest-volume for-profit sites, the service remains viable. "
Via Bbc

Extend iOS 5 And iPhone 4S Battery Life

10:06 Apple

Extend iOS 5 3gs, 4g, ipod 4g, ipad 1, 2 And iPhone 4S Battery Life.I’ve been a bit quiet lately while considering the possible reasons why my new iPhone 4S has the worst battery life of any iPhone I’ve ever owned. Normally by now I would have written some battery troubleshooting tips to share with all of you. However, this time around the problem is anything but normal and the usual tips aren’t helping. So I’ve been quiet about this.
I cannot say the same thing about Apple’s discussion forums since the conversation about battery life there is reaching epic proportions and the conversation there is rather loud.
Test your iPhone 4S or other devices supporting this feature starting with a full charge for one day. Let me know whether it works for you or not. Preliminary tests and several comments I read about it show it might have helped a few other people besides me out, but like I said I won’t feel comfortable until I’ve used the fix for an entire day.

It might be about to get a lot quieter with this tip, which seems to be working for me.
The problem might be caused by how iOS 5 handles location services. According to one source I found the problem might be caused by a bug in how iOS 5 handles time zone switching based on your current location.
There is a setting in Location Services in the Setting App that might resolve the battery issues we’ve all been experiencing. I tried it for about half a day and it looks like it helped, but I really need to spend a full day with it and a fresh 100% charge before I get to excited. However, so far it looks good so I thought I’d share what I found.
Open the Settings app , tap Location Services and then tap System Services. Now find the “Setting Time Zone” setting and toggle it Off.

Test your iPhone 4S or other devices supporting this feature starting with a full charge for one day. Let me know whether it works for you or not. Preliminary tests and several comments I read about it show it might have helped a few other people besides me out, but like I said I won’t feel comfortable until I’ve used the fix for an entire day.

[via iPhone Hacks]

steve jobs final words

00:33 Apple

Steve Jobs’ Final Words Shared in Sister’s Eulogy

steve jobs final words, Steve Jobs’ sister Mona Simpson shared in the eulogy she delivered at the late Apple CEO‘s memorial service that his surprising final words from his deathbed were, “Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow.”
In the intimate eulogy, which was printed in The New York Times on Sunday, Simpson describes Jobs’ final days and moments in a Palo Alto hospital, which was spent surrounded by his family as his breathing gradually became shorter.
His breath, she said, “indicated an arduous journey, some steep path, altitude.”
Delivered at the October 16 service for Jobs at Stanford Memorial Church, Simpson, an accomplished novelist, began by describing her initial meeting of her brother for the first time when she was in her mid-20s. Simpson was born in 1957, two years after Jobs, who was given up for adoption as an infant.
“Even as a feminist, my whole life I’d been waiting for a man to love, who could love me. For decades, I’d thought that man would be my father. When I was 25, I met that man and he was my brother,” Simpson said.
Simpson went on to describe her strong relationship with the man now know for the revolutionizing computer world, while explaining Jobs’ work ethic and capacity for love — particularly for his wife Laurene and as a doting father to their three children.
“Steve was like a girl in the amount of time he spent talking about love. Love was his supreme virtue, his god of gods. He tracked and worried about the romantic lives of the people working with him,” she said.
In describing his illness from pancreatic cancer, which Jobs was diagnosed with in October 2003, Simpson paints a picture of Jobs as an enduring, “intensely emotional man.”
She concluded her eulogy by sharing Jobs’ final moments, which were spent staring lovingly at his family, and his final three monosyllabic words as he stared into the distance past their shoulders: OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW.
Simpson is currently a professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. She has written five novels, and won the Whiting Prize for her debut, “Anywhere But Here.”
Via: Abc news

Halloween With Apple Themed Costumes & Pumpkins

11:57 Apple

Halloween With Apple Themed Costumes & Pumpkins.The most wonderful time of the year isn’t Christmas, it’s Halloween.This Halloween with Apple. No other day on the calendar gives you an excuse to dress up like Han Solo and go out on the prowl in search of the sexiest version of Princess Leia you can find. A lot of our readers decided to celebrate Halloween with a tribute to their favorite computer company.
Here’s some of the best pictures of Halloween With Apple Themed Costumes & Pumpkins.

Siri Successfully Connected To Apple’s Servers On iPhone 4

09:15 Technology

Siri on iPhone 4g, 3gs, iPod 3g, 4g, ipad 1, 2 finally coming.Yes, you read it absolutely right! A couple of hackers successfully got Siri connecting to Apple’s servers on an iPhone 4. The news comes from the iPhone developer Steven Troughton-Smith who was the first to be able to port Siri on iPhone 4 two weeks ago.

The well-known iPhone developer, @chpwn, worked with Troughton-Smith on Siri on iPhone 4. Chpwn tweeted that they’ve made great progress, then, after few minutes, he said “Actually, it just worked.”
Troughton-Smith posted a screenshot from his iPhone 4 showing Siri responding and fully connected to Apple’s servers. That’s great news to everyone who owns an old device and want to get Siri on it. And of course, it’s a jailbroken iPhone 4 running iOS 5.

Now what? Well, you’ll surely need to wait some more time but not a lot. We’ll be back with guides as soon as the essential tools available for download. Follow me on Google+ and Twitter to get the news the moment it’s on the web!

UPDATE 1: iPhone developer Chpwn showed Siri running on iPod touch 4G:

UPDATE 2: The guys over 9to5mac could get an exclusive video that shows Siri fully working on an iPhone 4 compared to the iPhone 4S too.

Moreover, Mark Gurman interviewed the developer. Full interview below:

Mark: Where do you go from here with the port?
Steven: At this point it’s all about confirming this works across devices, making it reproducible (we got it working on two devices today), and documenting everything. It does require files from an iPhone 4S which aren’t ours to distribute, and it also requires a validation token from the iPhone 4S that has to be pulled live from a jailbroken iPhone 4S, and it’s about a 20-step process right now.
Mark: In its current state, is the port 100% functional, is there anything you would like to see work better?
Steven: Yes, it seems to be 100% functional. I’m working on the rough edges, but everything that works on the iPhone 4S seems to work here
Mark: Do you ever see Siri showing up in Cydia (or another jailbreak store) for non natively supported devices?
Steven: No, I could not be a part of that. I have no doubts that others will package this up and distribute it quasi-illegally, or try and sell it to people. I am only interested in the technology and making it work; proving that it works and works well on the iPhone 4 and other devices
Mark: So, you also got Siri working on the fourth-generation iPod touch, how is that working out?
Steven: We got chpwn’s iPod touch up and running with Siri after proving it works on my iPhone 4. Unfortunately the microphone on the iPod is nowhere near as good as the iPhone – you will notice that the Siri level meter hardly moves when you talk to it. While it does work, you have to speak loudly and clearly to the iPod
Mark: How long did porting take you, what was the “I got it” moment?
Steven: Basically, I already had everything I needed to make it work. I had spent a lot of time mapping out in my head exactly how Siri works on the iPhone. All I needed was access to a jailbroken iPhone 4S to put my hunch to the test. It literally took no longer than 10 minutes to put all the pieces in place and perform our first test on my iPhone 4, and it was an instant success.

Source: cydia help

Brad Pitt bans computers

08:42 lifestyle

Brad Pitt bans computers. Washington, Oct 29(ANI): Brad Pitt has reportedly banned his children from using the computer, as he was worried that they were spending too much time playing video games.
The 47-year-old actor, who is said to be sick of his kids' obsession with technology, has even hid the computers and wants them to spend more time playing together.
"The kids have five laptop computers that they share. Brad took them and hid them in storage," Contactmusic quoted a source as telling the National Enquirer.
"He wants them playing in the dirt, reading books and interacting with each other."
"Brad believes their minds are turning to mush from staring at the screens all day," the source added. (ANI)

Cher Lloyd thinks she has met `The One'

08:19 Entertainment

Cher Lloyd thinks she has met `The One'Cher Lloyd has reportedly been infuriating her fellow X Factor
stars, by bragging about her time in America.
The 17 year old singer shot to fame on last years series of the ITV singing show and has since landed a recor deal with Simon Cowell’s SYCO label and worked with red One and will.i.am on her debut release.
However, it was back to earth with a bump last month as Lloyd returned to the UK and began rehearsing for the show’s nationwide tour and an insider told Star magazine that she is irritating the likes of Paije Richardson and Katie Waissel, by acting like she ‘owns the stage.’
A source said:
“It’s as if Cher things she’s too big for this tour. She struts around like she owns the stage.
“It makes the other singers so angry – they barely speak to her. She seems to have let it all go to her head and has been acting like a total diva.”
“Cher keeps talking about the States and says she wants to buy a house there because she loves the lifestyle.”
However Mary Byrne recently defended Cher, saying that she’d changed and calmed down a lot since the X factor ended.
Source: unrealitytv

Developer has been able to get Siri working on iPad 1.

07:02

As of now we know that a Siri port for devices other than the iPhone 4S is a long way from release. However developers are hard at work trying to come up with a solution to bring Siri to other iOS devices. Another developer has been able to get Siri working on iPad 1.

The problems developers are facing right now is making Siri contact Apple's servers. It may take a while before developers are able to make any device other than iPhone 4S contact Siri's servers at Apple and enable full functionality for it.

Developer @Jackophone who ported Siri to iPad 1 has been working hard on this project. However it remains to be seen whether the hardware on devices other than iPhone 4S can provide the necessary power required for flawless working of Siri.

We'll keep updating more on this as it comes in.

iPhone 4S Jailbreak Done by iPhone Dev-Team, Release Imminent [ScreenShot]

07:01

iPhone 4S Jailbreak Done by iPhone Dev-Team, Release Imminent

Good News! iPhone Dev-team has successfully jailbroke iPhone 4S as MuscleNerd just tweeted about the very preliminary iPhone 4S jailbreak on his Twitter account. He also posted two pictures that shows Cydia running on iPhone 4S on iOS 5.

Along with this good news, there is a bad news too. It is clear from the statement of MuscleNerd that there is still a lot of work left in the jailbreak for 4S that is preventing public release. But it is confirmed that the release of iPhone 4S jailbreak is imminent. Also jailbreaking iPhone 4S on iOS 5 means we have iPad 2 jailbreak as well because both iPad 2 and iPhone 4S has the same bootrom. But for all this, you have to wait as you did for iPad 2 jailbreak on 4.3.3.

Please don't fall for the scammers that tell you we can bring untethered jailbreak on iOS 5 . They all are scammers. Please stay away from them. When untethered jailbreak for iOS 5, iPhone 4S and iPad 2 becomes official, we will let you know.

"Beavis and Butt-Head" comeback try begins

07:00 Entertainment

"Beavis and Butt-Head" comeback try begins

Thursday night marked the return of "Beavis and Butt-Head," a big part of the cultural landscape of the 1990s. MTV's animated dimwits are back with their first new episodes in more than a decade. As national correspondent Ben Tracy reports, times have changed -- but the boys have not.
Just as they did in the '90s, Beavis and his buddy Butt-Head provide a dim-witted commentary on pop culture.

Mike Judge, the show's creator, hopes older viewers will tune in for the nostalgia factor, but says it's easy for new viewers to catch on, as well. "The thing about 'Beavis and Butt-head' (is that) there's not a whole lot of back-story," he explained, laughing. "They're not really complicated characters. And that's maybe that's part of the appeal: They're a couple of weirdo's, you know?"

When the show debuted in the early '90s, parents were outraged.

"There was an assumption that animation was something that was for young people. But here came a show that took this genre and made it a very adult property," Variety's Andrew Wallenstein explained.

"I think, now, Beavis and Butt-Head seems kind of innocent relative to, like, you got '16 and Pregnant' on MTV. Beavis and Butt-Head are virgins, you know?" Judge said.

"They're kind of like idiot savants," Wallenstein said. "Idiots because there's no one dumber than these two guys, but savants in the sense that they're watching pop culture from a distance and making fun of what needs to be mocked."

"I always felt like there was this kind of silent majority of people who liked 'Beavis and Butt-Head.' And now it's OK to like it again," Judge said.

Or once again, pretend that you don't.
Source: Cbs news

Lady Gaga mulls wearing lettuce dress at India concert to promote vegetarianism

07:00 Entertainment news

Lady Gaga, a meat eater who made headlines for sporting a dress made of real meat at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, is considering wearing a dress made entirely of lettuce to promote vegetarianism.

PETA Asks Gaga Not to Eat Meat During India Stay

Gaga will perform Oct. 30, 2011 after the inaugural Formula One car race in New Delhi, India, and has been asked by PETA India to honor the country's reverence for animals by not eating meat during her India visit and to pose for photos in a lettuce gown.

"If she agrees, we'll make her a dress entirely of lettuce and held together by pins and threads," said Sachin Bangera of PETA India. "It will be a full length gown, and we'll make sure it looks sexy."

The lettuce dress could take 5-6 hours to make, and would have to constructed leaf by leaf on Gaga's body.

"Someone will be on hand to spray the lettuce with water so that it doesn't wilt," Bangera said.

Gaga, 25, has not yet responded to PETA India's request.

Animal-Rights Groups Slammed Gaga For Meat Dress

In September 2010, Lady Gaga was condemned by PETA for wearing the garish meat dress, which the animal-rights organization says promoted violence against animals. In its statement PETA said:

"No matter how beautifully it is presented, flesh from a tortured animal is flesh from a tortured animal. Meat represents bloody violence and suffering.
Meat is the decomposing flesh of an abused animal who didn't want to die, and after being under the TV lights it would smell like the rotting flesh that it is and likely be crawling with maggots. Not too attractive, really."

In response, Lady Gaga, who is not a vegetarian, insisted she meant no disrespect to vegetarians, saying, "As you know, I am the most judgment-free human being on the earth.

"However, it has many interpretations, but for me this evening, if we don't stand up for what we believe in and if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones. And I am not a piece of meat."
Source: examiner

2011 October Product Recalls

06:59 academic news

October 2011 Recalls

October 2011 Recalls, Cereal bars, contact lenses and Corvettes were all taken off the market this month. Read through to find out what other products landed on October’s recall list.