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AT&T is planning to put some extra shine on the even sleeker new Apple iPhone.

When the 3G iPhone is introduced this summer, AT&T, the exclusive U.S. iPhone sales partner with Apple, will cut the price by as much as $200, according to a person familiar with the strategy.

AT&T is preparing to subsidize $200 of the cost of a new iPhone, bringing the price down to $199 for customers who sign two-year contracts, the source says. Apple is expected to have two versions of the new iPhone, an 8-gigabyte-memory and a 16-gigabyte-memory model with price tags widely expected to be $399 and $499.

AT&T and Apple declined to comment.

Link: Fortune

ActiveWin reports that Messenger for Mac 7 has been made available to Mac users, Messenger for Mac 7 is an integrated communications client that enables you to communicate with contacts within and outside your organization. Messenger for Mac 7 is a Universal application that is built to run on both PowerPC-based and Intel-based Macs and makes it easy to take advantage of the full power of real-time communications.

Download: Messenger for Mac 7 (.dmg file) 21 MB
Link: Messenger for Mac 7 Overview

Some of the coolest OS features are nowhere to be found in Windows XP or Vista. Here are 18 brilliant features that Microsoft should beg for, borrow, or steal–plus tips on how you can add many of them to your PC now. Love it or hate it, Microsoft Windows is the world’s most dominant operating system. But when you look at some of the hot features found in competitors such as Linux and Mac OS X, both XP and Vista can seem a little incomplete.
From intuitive interface features like Apple’s application dock and Cover Flow to basic media capabilities such as ISO burning, Windows often falls short on built-in goodies. And some features that other operating systems offer by default– such as 64-bit processing and business-networking tools–require a premium-version license in Windows.
We took a good look at a variety of OSs, from the Mac to Linux to PC-BSD and beyond, and we rounded up a list of our favorite features–few of which come standard in any version of Windows. We even considered some operating systems of yore, and recalled a couple of cool features that Microsoft still hasn’t caught on to. Some of these features simply aren’t available for Windows at all, owing to the way the OS is designed. But you can add most of them to XP or Vista with the help of third-party applications, and we’ll show you how to get them.

View: Full Article @ PCWorld

Windows XP SP3 is finally here for those that use Windows Update, and here is a direct link to the stand-alone version of SP3 for x86 XP systems (32 bit). Thanks Bink! Neowin reader WindowsNT says: “There won’t be a 64bit version until Windows Server 2003 hits SP3 since they share the same code base.”
Here is an interesting article regarding SP3 performance, ignoring the fact that Vista SP1 is still faster than XP SP2/SP3 users will enjoy a performance boost over SP2. When will people learn that Vista ain’t all bad!
Windows® XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, which do not significantly change customers’ experience with the operating system. This white paper summarizes what is new in Windows XP SP3.
Download: Stand-alone installer for Windows XP SP3 English, 32 Bit (316 MB)
Link: Service Pack 3 for Windows XP via Windows Update (Size varies)
Read more for additional languages..
Additional languages:

• Windows XP SP3 for Chinese Traditional, 32 Bit Systems
• Windows XP SP3 for Spanish, 32 Bit Systems (308 MB)
• Windows XP SP3 for German, 32 Bit Systems (313 MB)
• Windows XP SP3 for Polish, 32 Bit Systems

Thanks to our readers for submitting the different language stand-alone installers!
Known issues:
On some hardware configurations, you may encounter the Windows XP SP3 BSoD Endless Reboot Loop with Stop c0000139 on GDI32.dll Error, follow this guide to repair your XP installation. Thanks daPhoenix for the tip!

Link: Explanation on MSDN TechNet forums

As predicted, Apple released new iMacs today. The new iMacs include faster processors bringing the low end up to 2.4GHz and with the top end reaching 3.06GHz. The high end 24″ 3.06GHz iMac also introduces the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS (512MB) video card.
“The iMac’s gorgeous aluminum and glass all-in-one design has been an incredible hit with our customers and is just one of the reasons Mac sales are growing three and a half times faster than PC sales,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With the latest Intel processors, a faster new graphics option and more memory, customers now have even more reasons to love the iMac.”
The iMacs also incorporate the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors with 6MB L2 cache and faster 1066 MHz front-side bus (up from 800MHz). Specs are listed below:

• 20″, 2.4GHz, 1GB RAM, 250GB Hard Drive, ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT 128MB. $1199
• 20″, 2.6GHz, 2GB RAM, 320GB Hard Drive, ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO 256MB, $1499
• 24″, 2.8GHz, 2GB RAM, 320GB Hard Drive, ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO 256MB, $1799
• 24″, 3.06GHz, 2GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS 512MB, $2199

The new iMacs are available at the Apple Store.
View: MacRumors

So we’ve got it on authority that the second-gen iPhone is already well into testing, and numerous units are floating around in super secret pockets. A trusted source got a chance to check one out, here’s what we’ve heard.

• The first thing people will notice: the 2nd gen iPhone will be about the same size and shape as the first gen.
• It will, of course, have 3G. And proper GPS!
• The most noticeable physical difference is back of the phone is no longer metal — the whole thing is glossy black, from top to bottom. The volume buttons are now chrome.
• Because it’s got a little less metal to deal with, it doesn’t have quite as many angular edges. The battery is (still) not removable.
• The phone itself will be slightly thicker than the first gen device.
• The headphone jack will no longer be recessed, and will finally be flush with the body.
• The device itself uses roughly the same size and resolution screen as the first generation product.
• No solid word on battery life or storage capacity.

It could ship (or be introduced) as early as July — but it’s worth noting that none of this is necessarily finalized, and any of it could change between now and its introduction. You really never know with Apple!
P.S. -Image via iPod Observer, MacRumors points out it’s probably just a case (which we’d likely agree with); we’re not by any means claiming the image above is the new iPhone, just an example of what it could look like given the info we received.

Source: Engadget.com

Hundreds of thousands of Web sites - including several at the United Nations and in the U.K. government — have been hacked recently and seeded with code that tries to exploit security flaws in Microsoft Windows to install malicious software on visitors’ machines.
The attackers appear to be breaking into the sites with the help of a security vulnerability in Microsoft’s Internet Information Services (IIS) Web servers. In an alert issued last week, Microsoft said it was investigating reports of an unpatched flaw in IIS servers, but at the time it noted that it wasn’t aware of anyone trying to exploit that particular weakness.
On Thursday, Spanish anti-virus vendor Panda Security said that it had alerted Microsoft that a flaw IIS was the cause of all the break-ins. When I asked Microsoft whether they’d heard from Panda or if the hundreds of thousands of sites were hacked from a patched or unpatched flaw in IIS, a spokesman for the company didn’t offer much more information.
According to Finnish anti-virus maker F-Secure, the number of hacked Web pages serving up malicious software from this attack may be closer to half a million.

View: Full Article @ The Washington Post

The UK is a nation of broadband speed freaks, according to figures released by broadband comparison site Top 10 Broadband. Based on over 90,000 tests captured in March, the monitoring site said that download speeds seems to be the primary factor in deciding customer satisfaction.
The top three fastest providers were also the three highest rated in terms of customer satisfaction. O2 topped the rankings in terms of speed and customer ratings, with an average speed of 6.41Mbps and customer rating of 3.82 out of 5. Second and third for speed and rating were Be and Virgin Media respectively.

View: the full story @ vnunet

Internet phone company Skype has announced the introduction of an unlimited calling plan to over 34 countries as part of its new subscription packages. These packages have no contract and are paid for on a month-to-month basis, with the international plan going for $9.95/month. The plan includes countries like France, Mexico, China, Italy, and the Netherlands. However, there is a caveat in the fine print: unlimited for home users actually means only about 10,000 minutes a month. Any higher, and you’ll need to move up to a business class plan.
Stefan Oberg, VP & GM telecoms at Skype said, “This move is a natural step for Skype…Our subscriptions give people an easy, hassle-free choice for how and when they want to catch up with their loved ones.“

View: Skype Subscriptions

The 3G iPhone will be announced June 9, the likely date of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ keynote at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference, analysts said in research notes on Thursday.
The 3G iPhone will be the “first of an impressive wave of new products” from Apple, wrote Citi analysts Richard Gardner and Yeechang Lee. They also expect an updated Mac laptop and iPod lines. The Apple conference is scheduled for June 9-13 in San Francisco.
In addition to a 3G iPhone release in early June, the 2.5G model could have a “minor casing change” and a price drop to between US$299 and $349, compared to the current $399, wrote Shaw Wu, an analyst with American Technology Research, in a research report.
Those predictions are consistent with a February prediction Gardner made that 3G iPhones will be announced by midyear. The 3G iPhone release will help Apple meet its target of shipping 10 million iPhones in 2008, Gardner wrote at the time. Apple is confident it will sell 10 million iPhones this year, officials said during a conference call on Wednesday to discuss the company’s second-quarter earnings.

View: The Full Article @ Yahoo