Acer recalls Aspire laptops after some casings melt

Acer is recalling about 22,000 Aspire laptop computers after customers reported that some models were overheating.

The problem lies in a microphone wire found underneath the notebook's palm rest, which can short-circuit and overheat, according to an alert published on Thursday by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Acer initiated the recall after three customers (none of them from the U.S.) reported "light melting of the external casing."

The recalled notebooks are the Acer AS3410, AS3410T, AS3810T, AS3810TG, AS3810TZ and AS3810TZG. Affected units were sold between June and October of 2009, the Commission said. U.S. customers who believe they may own a recalled laptop can call 1-800-571-2237.

Acer apparently first notified European customers of the issue back in October, saying that the "microphone cable may overheat when extreme pressure is applied repeatedly to the left palm rest," in a note on its Web site.

The company could not immediately be reached for comment. A customer service representative said Friday that affected customers are being contacted via email, but he declined to provide further information on the recall.

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CES: Bowers & Wilkins launch stylish P5 headphones and MM-1 desktop speakers

British hi-fi company Bowers & Wilkins has unveiled two new products at CES in Las Vegas.

The company has made its first pair of headphones: called the P5, the headphones features leather earpieces and metal construction for comfort and noise isolating sound.

The P5 headphones also feature Made For iPod certification, and a microphone and in-line remote control button on the headphone cord. Danny Haikin, B&W's director of brand management, said that the materials make for a great design and also improve sound. "Everything that goes into a headphone set affects the sound," he said, and because we're Bowers & Wilkins the design was very important to us.

The P5 headphones will cost around 200, and will be available this month.

The company also introduced the MM-1, a new set of desktop speakers designed to sit alongside your computer. "They have been designed to look great alongside an iMac" said Danny Haikin.

The MM-1 connects to your computer via USB, bypassing the Mac's analogue audio output and using its own built-in soundcard capabilities to produce the best possible sound. The speakers feature two separate drive units including an aluminium dome tweeter for refined treble performance. The MM-1 foregoes including a subwoofer. "We felt that, unless you're a hardcore gamer looking for huge bass to fill the room, you don't need a subwoofer in your bedroom or office" said Haikin "this produces high-quality sound without the clutter".

The MM-1 speakers will be available in February for around 400.

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Microsoft won't fix Windows 7 crash bug next week

Microsoft said on Thursday it will deliver a single security update on Tuesday to patch just one vulnerability in Windows.

However, the company acknowledged that it does not yet have a fix for a crippling bug in Windows 7 that went public nearly two months ago.

The expected update will patch a vulnerability rated "critical" - Microsoft 's most serious rating in its four-step scoring system - in Windows 2000. The bug also affects Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, as well as Windows Server 2003, Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2, but is tagged as "low" for those editions.

"The first thing that came to mind was a denial-of-service vulnerability for the newer [operating systems], and a remote code execution on Windows 2000," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security.

Microsoft downplayed the threat even to Windows 2000 users. "The Exploitability Index rating for this issue will not be high, which lowers the overall risk," said Jerry Bryant, a Microsoft security spokesman, in a post to the company's security response center blog on Thursday.

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Storms welcomed next week's light patch load, which follows several months of multiple updates: Microsoft set a security record in October when it patched 34 vulnerabilities in 13 separate updates, for example. "It's nice to have a light month, especially with the uptick in Adobe vulnerabilities," said Storms, referring to a bug in Adobe's popular PDF software that is also slated to be patched 12 January.

Adobe, which last summer committed to releasing security updates for Reader and Acrobat each quarter, will also patch bugs next Tuesday.

Adobe published its own pre-patch notification on Thursday, but as is its practice, declined to say how many vulnerabilities, other than the one now being used by hackers , will be addressed.

For its part, Microsoft is skipping one patch next week, Bryant confirmed: The company will not fix an outstanding denial-of-service vulnerability in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. "We are still working on an update for the issue at this time," he said.

In mid-November, Microsoft confirmed that the bug in SMB (Server Message Block), a Microsoft-made network file and print-sharing protocol, could be used by attackers to cripple Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 machines. Microsoft has maintained that the vulnerability cannot be used to hijack PCs.

The Windows 7 flaw was first reported by Canadian researcher Laurent Gaffie Nov. 11, 2009, just a day after Microsoft shipped that month's patches, when he published proof-of-concept attack code to a security mailing list. According to Gaffie, exploiting the flaw crashes Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 systems so thoroughly that the only recourse is to manually power off the computers.

"From a public [relations] perspective, I would have expected Microsoft to patch the SMB bug this month," said Storms. "On the other hand, I'm not surprised they won't, since it's only a denial-of-service bug."

Microsoft will release the security update at approximately 1 p.m. ET on 12 January.

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CES: Asustek unveils netbook that unfolds to big-screen tablet

Asustek Computer showed off its new 'wave' design concept in a few devices on Thursday at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), including a concept netbook that unfolds into a tablet PC and a 47-inch LED TV.

The netbook concept is to have dual 9-inch touchscreens on a netbook, with one where a keyboard is normally located and one as the display. The device has no physical keyboard, instead using the bottom touchscreen for input.

The device can also be fully unfolded into one large tablet screen. An Asustek representative said the idea is to use OLED (organic light emitting diodes) technology for the screen and make it flexible. The design is a prototype and Asustek has no plans currently to take it to market.

Another flexible OLED screen device on display was a wristwatch that is simply a screen about 2-inches wide that wraps around your wrist with a watch on board and other interactive features.

The 47-inch LED TV sports speakers on either side that can slide in or out to save space. The three devices are made to work together. They are all prototypes.

Asustek screen watch.

Asus netbook.

Asus netbook unfolded.

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CES: Flying quadricopter drone controlled by an iPhone, iPod touch

Buzzing above the heads of marvelled, camera-snapping media representatives at CES Tuesday was a weird looking, smooth-flying toy helicopter from Parrot that can be controlled with nothing more than an iPhone or iPod touch and appropriate software.

The AR.Drone, a four-rotor “quadricopter” which is controlled by Wi-Fi signals, includes wireless cameras that can stream video to a iPhone or IPod touch, thus allowing you to use your actual surroundings as “targets” in a “augmented reality” (that’s what the AR stands for) video game. Want to take out those mean goldfish? You can hover the copter nearby, focus on them with the wireless cameras, target the dangerous beasts and “fire” away.

The copter, made of carbon fiber and PA66 plastic, can be used outdoors with the rotors unprotected or indoors with a shield which protects and allows the copter to bump gently against obstacles - like unwary people - without damaging the rotors.

The quadricopter is controlled by accelerometers and an embedded Linux platform originally designed for mobile phones, according to Parrot. The open-source platform is being made available to software developers at CES, the company said. In unveiling the AR.Drone, Parrot said that software for controlling the copter would be available on a number of platforms, not just the iPhone and iPod touch.

At CES Unveiled, a press-only event, the purple and black AR.Drone buzzed around near the main entrance, drawing a steady stream of wide-mouthed still and video photographers. People were able to walk fairly close to the unit, which was able to hover solidly in a single position and then fly off smoothly. The AR.Drone has a top speed rating of about 11 mph and weighs 12.7 ounces without the protective hull and 14.1 ounces with it.

The unit runs on a necessarily lightweight, three-cell, 1,000 mAh lithium polymer battery. It has a 15-frame-per-second (fps) front camera as well as a high-speed (60fps) vertical camera that looks straight down. The four 15-watt rotors spin as fast as 1,500rpm.

Parrot is better known for its Bluetooth devices such as wireless stereo speakers and handsfree automotive gadgets. It bills the AR.Drone as the “first helicopter with automatic flight stabilisation.”

The unit will be available later this year, the company said. Pricing has not been set.

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Gameloft: 10 million downloads in 18 months on the iTunes Store

Gameloft has announced that it has reached 10 million downloads, an average of 18,215 downloads daily from the Apple iTunes App Store in just 18 months.

"We have had a remarkable year on the App Store," said Gameloft CEO Michel Guillemot,

"Our success is defined not only by great production values, but a vested interest in bringing to market games that are commercially friendly and appeal to a mass consumer base. Taking into account that the App Store is only 18 months old, ten million paid downloads is an achievement we are quite proud of."

Top selling games include a recent major film tie-in with James Cameron's Avatar, Driver, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X, Asphalt 5, Earthworm Jim, Shrek Kart, Assassin's Creed - Altar's Chronicles and Terminator Salvation.

Let's Golf! for iPhone and iPod touch was given away earlier this week as part of Apple's iTunes 12 Days Of Christmas promotion.

Established in 1999, Gameloft has worldwide offices in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, London and elsewhere.

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Adobe testing new automatic updater

Next week, Adobe Systems will begin testing new automatic software designed to make it easier for Reader and Acrobat users to keep their products up-to-date.

The company will begin a beta test of its new updater, called the Acrobat Refresh Manager, with next week's critical security updates, due Jan. 12, said Brad Arkin, Adobe's director of product security and privacy.

The Refresh Manager was quietly installed on users' systems back in October 2009, but it is being turned on for the first time during next week's beta test. If everything goes well, Reader and Acrobat users on Macintosh and Windows computers will be offered the new update mechanism as a default option with the company's next security update, currently scheduled for release on April 13.

Users who do not want automatic updates can chose to download updates manually, or use a "semi-automatic" process similar to the current system. With a semi-automatic update, the patch is automatically downloaded, but does not get installed until the user gives permission.

Adobe's current updater, called the Adobe Update Manager, pops up an installation window when new patches are available, but too many people are holding off on clicking "yes" and actually installing the patches. "We know that getting people updated and keeping them updated is the number-one thing we can do in terms of keeping them protected against attacks," Arkin said.

Reader has emerged as a top hacker target over the past year, and Arkin's team has been sent scrambling several times to fix flaws in Reader and Acrobat after they were exploited by hackers. In fact, next week's Adobe updates will patch a bug that has been used in online attacks for several weeks now.

Security experts say that, aside from keeping Reader up-to-date, the best way to avoid these attacks is to disable JavaScript in Adobe's software (do this by unchecking the "Enable JavaScript" box found under "Edit -- Preferences - JavaScript" in Reader).

Arkin said that Adobe may use the new updater for other products as well, though that decision hasn't been made yet. "We'll learn from it and see if it's applicable for other products," he said.

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