Cupertino, CA — Apple today expanded its music marketing to a previously untapped demographic — the unborn.

Apple In-Utero EarPods give parents a chance to “share their love by sharing their playlists.”

In-Utero EarPods are installed in less than five minutes. Expectant mothers can have their own gynecologist perform the procedure or make an appointment at their local Genius Bar (privacy screens available).

“Imagine being locked away for nine months without music,” reads Apple’s press release. “In-Utero EarPods help your fetus relieve the boredom of gestation.”

An update to iTunes provides a new “Rock Me Baby” EQ setting that reduces the possibility of overloading developing eardrums.

“Fetus ears come in all shapes and sizes,” says Apple. “By studying thousands of ultrasounds, our engineers have come up with the perfect shape — round.”

Apple’s In-Uterus EarPods have ignited new debate between the pro-choice and pro-life camps.

Casey Stein, a NY-based pro-life activist, says “If a fetus can appreciate music in the womb, does that not prove that life has begun?”

“Absurd,” counters pro-choice spokesman Kevin Stanger. “Clearly life begins with the ability to choose one’s own playlist, a feature that In-Utero EarPods do not provide.”

In just one day, Apple claims that over 100,000 expectant mothers have made Genius Bar appointments for installation. Current waiting time is 10-14 days — during which time fetuses will be forced to listen only to the muffled sounds of parents’ conversations.

The latest data from Net Applications reveals that Microsoft’s newest operating system is slowly finding its way onto computers the world over. More and more users are making the jump to Windows 8, giving it a 1.01% market share.

Putting it ever so slightly below the 1.37% share that Linux enjoys. All flavors of it, obviously.

Windows 7 still remains the king of the hill with a commanding 45.56%, the second biggest contender being the trusty old Windows XP which came in at 39.50%.

The middle of the table is surrounded by various versions of Mac OS X. They make up anything from a single to two percent of the worldwide OS market share.

One thing worth taking into account is the fact that the 1% figure does not take into account the Windows 8 Touch and Windows 8 RT Touch versions of the operating system.

These two variants barely register in the calculations.

But all that is set to change in the coming months as Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablets find their place in the hands of consumers.

Still, it appears that it will be a few good years (a couple, at least) before the new OS takes over the throne from Windows 7, if at all.

When it comes to build quality, the Microsoft Surface RT is certainly top-notch. It has been ran over, thrown from heights and much more, and yet it still manages to find itself working in all these crazy situations.

Now CNET has put the Surface RT through the paces with a rigorous series of tests.

How well did it do?

The first test was to put the device (with cover on) in the freezer for two and half hours. The tablet survived the cold without a problem, which is actually pretty amazing.

Next up – the Surface was put through the test with an hour in the oven at 250 degrees, this time without the cover on.

Interestingly enough, they decided to put an egg on top of the Surface and cook it during this test.

Results here weren’t as good, but not really surprising when it comes to heat. The device needed to be plugged in for it to start up and the screen was now discolored– though it did still seem to run and respond just fine.

What finally killed the Surface was a glass of wine, which made it so that the touch screen display wouldn’t respond at all, essentially ruining the device.

As if that wasn’t enough, they decided to drop it from heights and destroy the device the rest of the way as well.

Honestly, most of these situations will never happen (or so I would hope) but it does show that the Surface was truly made to take a lot of damage and still keep on going.

Do you own a Microsoft Surface, what do you think of its durability so far?

Has it worked well enough for your needs?

Check out the video below…

Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source Web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. Firefox is also the second most widely used internet browser. Firefox uses the Gecko layout engine, which implements most current web standards in addition to several features that are intended to anticipate likely additions to the standards. Release notes for Firefox 18 have yet to be released.

Download Link: Mozilla Firefox 18 Beta 1

Sapphire is probably best known for producing PC graphics cards, but the company also has a line of mini-desktop computers which it sells under the Sapphire Edge brand. The latest is the Sapphire Edge VS8, which looks like a surprisingly powerful PC for a device that comes in such a small case.

The computer looks more like a modem or router than a full-fledged PC. But it features a quad-core AMD Trinity processor.

The Sapphire Edge VS8 packs a 1.6 GHz AMD A8 processor with Radeon HD 7600G graphics. That means the computer can handle HD video playback and DirectX 11 graphics

It also features a 500GB 2.5 inch hard drive, 4GB of RAM (with 2 sticks of 2GB memory), and Gigabit Ethernet as well as built-in WiFi and Bluetooth.

Sapphire includes an HDMI port, mini DisplayPort, 2 USB 3.0 ports, 4 USB 2.0 ports, an SD card reader, and audio jacks. The Edge VS8 measures 7.8″ x 7.2″ x 1.2 and weighs 1.5 pounds.

The computer ships with FreeDOS, but it can support Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8.

Unfortunately information for this mini-desktop is yet to be determined.

One of the best hidden features of Windows 7 (and Windows Vista too) has found its way to Windows 8 – the very secret, and less-known, GodMode.

Think of it as a special dedicated folder that provides access to pretty much all computer settings.

It provides easy access to every feature that is built into Windows 8, from Administrative Tools to Action Center, Color Management to Family Safety, and everything in between.

All under one roof, or in this case, one window!

If you are an absolute beginner, it is best to stay away. This is too much power in your hands and you can end up pushing the wrong button and breaking down your operating system.

But all others learn how to access the Windows 8 GodMode below.

Go to your Desktop, create a new folder, and put the following string as its name:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

As soon as you hit the enter key, the folder icon will change to resemble the classic Windows Control Panel. A sight for sore eyes, eh?

The folder behaves like any standard folder on Windows, meaning you can adjust the view and layout easily. A very handy search box is included, along you to find your desired setting by typing in a keyword.

Microsoft has included a whole (metric) ton of keywords for every option, so quickly finding what you are looking for is a breeze.

I guess that’s where the God part in the name comes from – quickly finding what one is looking for.

Fans of Firefox have waited what seems like a lifetime for Mozilla to add 64-bit support.

If you are one of these fans, prepare to be disappointed as Mozilla has just announced their decision to pull the plug on the development.

The announcement was posted by Benjamin Smedberg, Mozilla Engineering Manager on the organizations Bugzilla development page:


Development of native 64-bit software has really picked up pace in recent years, with Gartner predicting that 75% of corporate PCs will be running a 64-bit Windows by 2014.

And with companies like Oracle and Adobe bringing in 64-bit versions of Java and Flash respectively, abandoning development practically makes Firefox the odd one out.

The decision leaves Opera and Internet Explorer as the only 64-bit browser options on the Windows platform, though Chrome will soon join the ranks.

A 32-bit browser runs fine on a 64-bit operating system, thanks to Window compatibility libraries, but it is not optimized and suffers some obvious performance penalties.

Of course, it may be a temporary hiatus until a solution is worked out, but it remains to be seen how Mozilla may came to regret its decision to halt development in the future.

Finally some good news amid the recent doom and gloom of numbers and sales!

It has hardly been a month since Microsoft became a player in the tablet market, but the company’s first generation Surface tablets are quickly becoming the top choice for those looking for a tablet.

The only catch here is that people are waiting for the Surface Pro to make the plunge, not the RT version.

In the same study conducted by the fine folks over at Toluna QuickSurveys (that we talked about here), 12.5% said that they would purchase a Microsoft Pro tablet.

Compare this with the 12.9% that chose Apple’s iPad, and you know how neck and neck it is up there at the top. A triple-threat fight to the finish between Microsoft, Apple and Android in the tablet realm is sure to be quite a spectacle.

Dig a little more, however, and you will find that only 2% were up for the regular Surface tab — the one that is available in the market right now. And not a soul would blame them for it.

The ability to run Windows 8 Pro on a powerful tablet, along with all sorts of legacy applications is just too mouthwatering to resist.

Besides, the Surface Pro tablet is a surefire bet in the corporate circles. It’s hard to imagine business users putting in requests for the RT versions of Surface, with its ARM environment and lack of legacy software support.

But give them a choice of a Windows 8 Pro tablet, and then see the devices fly off the shelves. Interesting times ahead, I say.

The Pro variants of Surface are said to be up for grabs in January 2013.

The Verge is reporting that Microsoft may have provided a loophole for Windows 8 pirates.

Apparently, Microsoft’s promotional Media Center upgrade unlocks a lot more than they intended.

From The Verge.


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