Facebook's hiring like crazy again

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to increase the company's head count by as much as 50 percent this year. The young founder said in an interview with Bloomberg that since there are a significant number of engineers and developers looking for work, Facebook--still flush with venture funding, and with revenues on the rise--can scoop them up.

As you may recall, Facebook had aimed to hit 1,000 employees by the end of 2008, but the market crash stalled that aim. The company currently has 1,000 employees, the Bloomberg article said.

But Zuckerberg also said he's trying to keep down costs so that the company can finally achieve profitability. Facebook has been keeping a lid on employee perks for some time now, even though it does feed its minions for free, Google-style.

"The thing I want to remind people of is we're way closer to the beginning than the end," Zuckerberg said in the Bloomberg interview, published Monday, explaining why Facebook moved to a stripped-down, concrete-walled office building when it needed a bigger headquarters. "A lot of times buildings can be a signal that you've made it. I would rather that our building feel much more like a very large garage."

Not everything he said was tinged with humility: he did confirm that he eventually hopes Facebook will have a billion users. Right now, it's over a quarter of the way there.

Apple to Release Snow Leopard on August 28

Dan Moren, Macworld.com

The wait for Snow Leopard is over: on Monday, Apple announced that the latest version of its Mac OS X operating system would be available starting Friday, August 28. The company had previously said that the update would ship in September, but speculation intensified that it would ship earlier than anticipated after a glitch on Apple's Web site late last week.

First announced at Apple's 2008 Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple later confirmed that the update would bring performance enhancements, under-the-hood improvements, and feature refinements instead of focusing on brand new capabilities.

Among Snow Leopard's most prominent new technologies are a transition to 64-bit applications; Grand Central Dispatch, which lets multicore machines take better advantage of those capabilities; and OpenCL, a system that allows Macs to use graphic processors for improved performance.

In addition, Snow Leopard builds in support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 in Mail, Address Book, and iCal, allowing users to seamlessly take advantage of those services in their e-mail, calendaring, and contact management.

The update's focus on under-the-hood improvements should yield dividends in terms of performance, too. Apple boasts of faster times for everything from installation to waking from sleep to system shutdown. And Snow Leopard packs all of that performance into a smaller footprint, reducing the size of its installation by around 6GB.

And with all of that, Apple has still had time to make a few tweaks and enhancements to the Snow Leopard's user features. Exposé now features a more organized overview of windows, as well as the ability to view all of an application's windows via the Dock; Stacks are now scrollable and allow you to navigate through sub-folders; and the Services menu has been revamped to be friendlier and more usable.

Apple's added a few new features as well. The Date & Time preference pane now allows you to set your time zone automatically, based on your Mac's location, and Preview now allows users to easily select text from a single column in a PDF. QuickTime Player has received perhaps the most attention, getting an interface facelift that features a black control overlay that fades out when not in use, and new video editing and sharing features.

As Apple announced at June's Worldwide Developers Conference, Snow Leopard will be available at the price of $29 for those customers upgrading from Leopard; a family pack of five licenses is available for $49. Users upgrading from earlier versions can buy the $169 Mac Box Set which also includes iLife '09 and iWork '09 or the five-user family pack for $229. Those who purchased a qualifying Mac on or after June 8, 2009 can take advantage of Apple's $10 Snow Leopard Up-to-Date Program. All versions of Mac OS X Snow Leopard require an Intel processor, 1GB of memory, and 5GB of free disk space.

Vista Tweaks & Tips

If you are like me I was looking for the RUN command in the start menu but its not there!! Dont threat just type the command you want in the search box and its acts as both. :)

The Windows Vista default setting is to show the Welcome Center on startup. While the Welcome Center is interesting the first time you see it, you will quickly be anoyed of it appearing every time you boot up. This is easily changed by unchecking the Run at Startup button located at the bottom left of the Welcome Center window.

Reduce Desktop Icons
By default, the Windows Vista uses what it classifies as "Medium" icons on the Desktop. Medium in this case is really HUGE. (There is also a Large icon setting, but we won't go there.) To bring the icons back to a less eye-popping size:

Right click on the Desktop
Choose the View menu item and change to Classic Icons POOF your done...

Download Here
Mozilla on Monday posted Firefox 3 Beta 1, a developer preview release of the popular open source Web browser.
The latest iteration of the browser relies on the new Gecko 1.9 Web rendering engine, which is designed to enhance performance and stability, among other things. The latest version also includes a variety of improved security features, such as the ability to click on the site favicon (the graphic displayed in the URL address bar) to show site ownership information.

Firefox 3 Beta 1 also includes malware protection. But the effectiveness of using a blacklist to identify sites that distribute malware remains to be seen, given that new malware sites appear and disappear on a daily basis specifically to avoid blacklisting.

Other Firefox security features may prove more useful, like Web Page Forgery Protection, clearer SSL Error messages when invalid SSL certificates are found, automatic plug-in checking that can disable insecure plug-in updates, integration with anti-virus programs, and compliance with Microsoft Vista's Parental Control settings.

Firefox 3 Beta 1 introduces a number of ease of use enhancements. There's improved password management and add-on installation. There also a new download manager that lets you resume downloads interrupted by a crash or loss of connectivity.

"You're gonna find that it's not only fast, nimble, and featureful, but such an advance from Firefox 2 that you won't want to go back," said Mozilla's community quality advocate Asa Dotzler in a blog post on Monday.

Despite the warning that the software is being made available for testing purposes only -- to find flaws beyond the ones already known -- reviewers have been critical of Firefox 3's security.

Responding to a report last week that 80% of the bugs found in Firefox 3 would remain unrepaired by the time the software is officially released, Dotzler said in a blog post, "That claim is simply [not true]. We've already fixed over 11,000 bugs and features in Firefox 3 and now we're discussing how to handle the remaining 700 issues we wanted to get fixed for Firefox 3."

The browser's release notes offer similar assurance. "Over 300 individual memory leaks have been plugged, and a new XPCOM cycle collector completely eliminates many more," the release notes say. "Developers are continuing to work on optimizing memory use (by releasing cached objects more quickly) and reducing fragmentation."

Version 3.0 was first demonstrated at the Black Hat security show in Las Vegas, back in August.

AMD Springs Spider On Market

Advanced Micro Devices launched a package of microprocessors and graphics chips on Monday dubbed Spider, in a bid to grab a bigger swath of the high-end PC market.

Along with a microprocessor that serves as a PC's core calculating engine, Spider includes graphics technology for serving up the advanced graphics beloved by gamers and a chipset that ties those elements together and connects them to other resources such as the main memory.

Spider is a step towards AMD's goal of putting high-end graphics capabilities on a single slice of silicon with its processors, a project AMD has dubbed Fusion. The problem, observers say, is that AMD is still lagging Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ) in microprocessors, while trying to recoup lost market share in the graphics market.

"I see a continued struggle for AMD through the next few years," said Roger Kay, president, Endpoint Technologies Associates. "They can survive, they can even thrive, but it won't be a situation where they'll have a technology edge on Intel for any appreciable period of time."

AMD needs hits, badly. The company's shares have sagged 40% so far this year as it worked to integrate graphics specialist ATI—which AMD purchased for $5.4 billion last October— while fending off tough competition from Intel in microprocessors. By contrast, shares of Intel and ATI rival Nvidia are up more than 20% over the same period.

AMD Phenom

Well AMD started Shipping it new CPU this week the (Phenom) but all the places I see our sold out allready :)

Click Here

2 websites knockout!

I finished 2 small website this week, If you want you can view them here

BobSamInc.com

Waterdamagepro.net

Over the last 8 year I bet i have created around 300+ Websites its been a blast coming up with new ideas & keeping up with the ever-changing face of technology ...

Google Android

The Android platform is a software stack for mobile devices including an operating system, middleware and key applications. Developers can create applications for the platform using the Android SDK. Applications are written using the Java programming language and run on Dalvik, a custom virtual machine designed for embedded use which runs on top of a Linux kernel.

If you want to know how to develop applications for Android, you're in the right place. This site provides a variety of documentation that will help you learn about Android and develop mobile applications for the platform.

An early look at the the Android SDK is also available. It includes sample projects with source code, development tools, an emulator, and of course all the libraries you'll need to build an Android application.

Advanced Micro Sells Stake to Abu Dhabi's Mubadala

Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the world's second-largest maker of computer microprocessors, sold an 8.1 percent stake to an investment company owned by the Abu Dhabi government for $622 million.

Mubadala Development Co. paid $12.70 a share for the 49 million new shares, Advanced Micro said in a statement today. The company filed documents with regulators yesterday in the U.S. to sell as much as $700 million in new stock.

Middle Eastern funds such as Mubadala are snapping up stocks around the globe as governments in the region invest the windfall revenue from surging oil prices. So-called sovereign wealth funds, through which governments buy equities and other assets, will grow to $7.9 trillion by 2011 from $1.9 trillion now, Merrill Lynch & Co. economists wrote in a report last month.

Spending on a new plant, a $5.4 billion acquisition and competition with the semiconductor industry's richest company have hurt Advanced Micro's finances. Advanced Micro posted more than $2 billion in net losses in the past four quarters and analysts estimate it won't return to profit until 2009 as it struggles to keep pace with Intel Corp.

The chipmaker will use the proceeds for general corporate purposes. The Sunnyvale, California-based company said it received $608 million in proceeds after reimbursing Mubadala for about $14.6 million of expenses.

Advanced Micro shares fell 2 cents to $12.68 at 10:43 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock had declined 38 percent this year before today, giving the company a market value of $7.04 billion.

Overseas Funds

Sovereign wealth funds, usually formed using surplus currency reserves, are seeking investments that deliver higher returns than investing in U.S. Treasuries. China, with reserves of $1.33 trillion, is the largest such investor, followed by Japan, with $907.3 billion, Merrill said in an Oct. 12 report.

The funds provide an additional slate of investors for private-equity and hedge funds, as well as for companies.

Mubadala agreed in September to buy a 7.5 percent stake in Carlyle Group, the Washington-based private-equity firm with $76 billion in assets, for $1.35 billion. Mubadala's investments also include stakes in Ferrari SpA and Swiss aircraft maintenance company SR Technics.

Dubai International Capital LLC is buying a 9.9 percent stake in New York-based hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC for $1.26 billion. The firm, an arm of the Dubai government, has spent more than $10 billion since 2004 buying stakes in companies including India's ICICI Bank Ltd., European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. and HSBC Holdings Plc.

Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates and owner of almost 10 percent of the world's oil reserves. Neighboring Qatar in September bought 20 percent of London Stock Exchange Group Plc.

Ruiz's Challenge

Analysts say Chief Executive Officer Hector Ruiz won't deliver a profit until the first quarter of 2009, according to a Bloomberg survey. Ruiz obtained graphics chips through the purchase of ATI Technologies Inc., Advanced Micro's biggest acquisition, and said he wants plants that can supply at least 30 percent of the processor market.

Advanced Micro had a 23.5 percent market share in the third quarter, little changed from a year earlier. Santa Clara, California-based Intel has the rest.

Advanced Micro ended the third quarter with $1.53 billion in cash and marketable securities, a drop of $66 million from the previous period. Some $118 million of that total is in the form of shares of former affiliate Spansion Inc.

In the third quarter, Advanced sold a $1.48 billion convertible bond. It used the proceeds and $200 million in cash to repay a $1.7 billion loan used to fund the ATI acquisition.

The company has $1.9 billion of bonds due for repayment in 2012 and a further $2.2 billion due in 2015. It had total liabilities of $8.5 billion at the end of the third quarter.

Microsoft Offers IE7 to All, Pirates Included

Microsoft has removed the Windows Genuine Advantage validation requirement for installing Internet Explorer 7.


From the moment it released IE7 almost a year ago, Microsoft has restricted the browser to users who can prove they own a legitimate copy of the operating system. Before Microsoft allows the browser to download, it runs the user's PC through a Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) validation test, a prime part of XP's antipiracy software.

When it instituted the requirement in 2006, Microsoft said rights to IE7 was one of the rewards for being legal. It changed its mind Thursday, saying the move is in users' best interest.

Because Microsoft takes its commitment to help protect the entire Windows ecosystem seriously, we're updating the IE7 installation experience to make it available as broadly as possible to all Windows users," said Steve Reynolds, an IE program manager in a posting to a Microsoft company blog. "With today's 'Installation and Availability Update,' Internet Explorer 7 installation will no longer require Windows Genuine Advantage validation and will be available to all Windows XP users."

Microsoft has consistently touted IE7 as a more secure browser, and post-launch patch counts back that up. In the past 11 months, IE6 for Windows XP SP2 has been patched for 22 vulnerabilities, 20 of them rated critical. IE7 for XP SP2, however, has been patched only 13 times; 10 of those fixes were ranked critical. In fact, when Microsoft announced that IE7 would not be offered to users running illegal copies of XP, some analysts questioned the company's commitment to security.

Seagate Hybrid Just The First Of Many

Seagate's 2.5" SATA Momentus 5400 laptop drives, offered in 80-160GB sizes, come with 256MB of Flash to add some fast-as-all-hell precaching when needed — so long as the operating system remembers to get its digital ducks in a row, of course.

In practice, Seagate says, the hybrid drives will chop average boot times by about a quarter (40 to 32 seconds) and nearly halve the power consumption of the drive, compared to nonhybrid spinning disks. Getting Vista to get better results, however, is another matter entirely: ExtremeTech has Seagate's Melissa Johnson on record blaming the OS for "not getting the orders-of-magnitude experiences that Microsoft originally touted."

Hybrids won't deliver huge benefits, she said, until issues with the BIOS and device drivers are fixed by Redmond.

Seagate told us, however, that the hybrid tech was still a "sea change" that would ultimately spread across the entirety of its line. Volume shipments will hit the channel some time this month, and it'll be on Newegg well before Christmas.

Halo Games Maker to Be Independent of Microsoft

Microsoft said yesterday that it was giving up its controlling ownership of Bungie Software, the video game subsidiary that developed the hugely popular Halo franchise, including its latest iteration, Halo 3.

Bungie, based in Kirkland, Wash., said it planned to return to its roots as an independent game studio, a move that eventually will cost Microsoft exclusive ties to one of the most successful and sought-after teams of game developers.

Harold Ryan, president and studio head of Bungie, said that he had been working for months on a plan to separate the studio from Microsoft, based in nearby Redmond, Wash. Mr. Ryan said that the companies had a good working relationship, but that developers at Bungie yearned to work for themselves, not a corporate owner.

“It’s an emotionally creative point of view,” he said of the decision to take the studio independent. “That’s the state we wanted to be in.”

Neither Mr. Ryan, nor Shane Kim, the head of Microsoft’s game studios, would discuss the financial terms. Microsoft originally acquired Bungie in 2000 for an undisclosed amount.

Bungie’s Halo games have been of singular significance to Microsoft in the development of its video game machine business.

Halo has been available exclusively on Microsoft’s Xbox video game consoles. That has meant the game’s popularity has helped drive consumers to the Xbox consoles rather than to competing systems made by Nintendo and Sony.

Microsoft said that since Halo 3 hit the market last week, it had rung up more than $300 million in sales. It has been selling at a faster pace than Halo and Halo 2, which combined sold nearly 15 million copies, Microsoft has said.

Mr. Kim said the separation furthered Microsoft’s aim of getting blockbuster hits for its consoles. “It was in our best interest to support Bungie’s desire to return to its independent roots,” he said.

At least initially, important aspects of the relationship between Microsoft and Bungie will remain intact.

Mr. Ryan said that Bungie planned to continue to develop games exclusively for the Xbox platform. He said that at some point, Bungie would have the right to develop games for other platforms, but he declined to say when.

Bungie has 113 employees. Evan Wilson, a video game industry analyst with Pacific Crest Securities, said that leading employees of Bungie had bought out majority ownership from Microsoft. “Bungie and Microsoft clearly had different creative directions,” Mr. Wilson said.

He added, “Bungie lost some key employees over the years, which while not uncommon for studios, may be an indication of that.”

Geforce 8800 GTX

The Geforce 8800 GTX is the eighth generation of Nvidia's Geforce graphics cards. It is the world's first DirectX 10 card. DirectX 10 (DX 10) is available exclusively to Vista, which means that computers that aren't running Vista will not be able to run later applications which require DX 10. This will be very disheartening piece of news for many and the only way, for now, to play DirectX 10 titles will be an OS upgrade path.