iPhone Developers Kept Quiet by Apple's NDA

When the iPhone SDK was first released, Apple instituted an NDA which forced software developers to remain quiet which, at the time, made sense for the company to maintain secrecy - especially with the new 3G iPhone on the way. However, before the App Store was rolled out on July 11, word surfaced that Apple planned to do away with the requirement of secrecy, allowing developers to communicate with one another.

Unfortunately for many, the non-disclosure agreement did not expire. The legal wall that prevented developers from communicating, assisting one another and even creating GPL applications and examples was still visible. This prompted Justin Williams, a developer for Second Gear to create a site called ####ingNDA.com, which takes all tweets from the social micro-blogging site Twitter.com that contain the phrase "####ing NDA" (the expletive version), and congregates them.

William comments, “there is no legal way for developers to talk about they are developing. No way to post tutorials. No way to give code away. It’s hard to interact with other developers and to write code without reinventing the wheel. Normally, you could post [a coding question] on Twitter and get an answer within minutes.” This forces many to re-create the wheel and, in some cases, resort to using an implementation that isn't as good as what could have been done if they had the help necessary.

Apple has yet to comment about the future of the NDA and whether or not it will be removed as a stipulation for development on the platform.

The iPhone development community is growing rapidly, but Apple’s treatment of some of its biggest supporters is drawing more ire than kudos.

Because of the company’s restrictive non-disclosure agreement (NDA), iPhone developers are legally banned from sharing programming tips, discussing code or asking questions of one another in forums or over e-mail.

Source: Webmonkey

AMD Enhances Support for GPGPU Software Development

In case you haven't been paying attention, this week has been a good one where GPU computation is concerned. We posted our semi-in-depth look at Intel's Larrabee earlier this week, and shortly afterward, followed-up with responses by NVIDIA regarding their CUDA architecture. Never one to enjoy being ignored, AMD today issued a release stating their adoption of industry standards in GPGPU (General-purpose GPU).

In order to improve the ease of development using AMD's Steam processing, they have plans to release a substantial set up upgrades for their Stream Software Development Kit, also known as the SDK. The goal is of course to improve efficiency, and given that Intel boasts such simple development on Larrabee and NVIDIA is right there also with CUDA, AMD had to do something. The new upgrades will enhance support specifically for C and C++, something that seems required nowadays.

Also included in the updates is support for DirectX 11, which should show face within the next 18 months. DX10 has yet to truly catch on, but as Vista will only become more widely used within the next two years, DX11 might be the first version past DX9 that people might actually have installed on their PCs.

The improvements are designed to reduce the time and effort needed to produce GPU accelerated applications that run on multiple platforms, by expanding support for industry standard application programming interfaces (APIs) and providing enhanced support for C/C++.

Source: AMD Press Release

First Nehalem Machine Built

Maximum PC was lucky enough to get the opportunity to head into a secret Intel lab which we can only guess was housed 20 floors below sea-level. In their feature, they attempt to build a rig using an unreleased Intel D58XSO motherboard and showcase the ease and potential snags of building a new system when the chips arrive.

They learned that the actual CPU is much bigger than the older LGA775 chips, and as a result, older heatsinks will not be compatible. Motherboard layouts will also be slightly revised, and some boards with six DIMM slots will be a tight fit for some builders. They reported that the move to tri-channel DDR3 didn't give a huge performance increase, but since this is a preview board, these findings will likely be slower compare to what we'll see when the new products are released to the public.

It’s the worst kept secret in the industry: Intel’s next-generation Penryn killer, codenamed Nehalem is just around the corner. We’ve been seeing leaked benchmarks based on early silicon for months, and Nehalem’s Wikipedia page is already packed with unconfirmed specifications. All indications – and this is with more optimizations to come, mind you – is that Nehalem may be a bad mother worthy of having Isaac Hayes pound out a theme song for it.

Source: Maximum PC, Via: Engadget

Brazilian Hackers Turn to Twitter

This may not seem like surprising news, considering hackers tend to hang out where they are sure to get the most eyeballs, but the issue itself is of enough concern to warrant forewarning. Dmitry Bestuzhev of Kaspersky Labs has done some research and uncovered a Twitter profile which promises a pornographic video, but links to a site with a fake Adobe Flash-looking update which is required to view the video. This update, of course, is malware in disguise which installs 10 trajans that are tailored to look like MP3 files.

The attack is dangerous because of a few key reasons. First, it's inexpensive to do. Bestuzhev goes on to say that the bad guy only needs a server and a few purchased trojans. Second, public Twitter profiles can be seen on the main site and are indexed by Google and other search engines. This means that the the more popular the fake profile is, the more likely it is to be linked to one from a search result.

The concept of Twitter makes these security concerns more real. Because there is a 140 character limit, users often resort to avoid posting in proper English and use sites like TinyURL to share web pages with their followers, which increase the likelihood of someone clicking a link by mistake. Even if this example is one of the only attackers out there, the reality is this trend is one that can certainly continue.

Social websites like Facebook and MySpace have attracted a great deal of attention as targets of opportunity for phishing scams, but they are scarcely the only two social networking sites. New information suggests that hackers have tuned in to the newfound popularity of microblogging, and are at the very least evaluating Twitter as a potential target.

Source: ArsTechnica

$12 Computer Based on Apple II in Development

A group of designers are developing an inexpensive computer for use in developing countries based on the now archaic Apple II computer. The idea which, according to the Boston Herald, was pitched by a handful of graduate students involves updating the old technology to provide an opportunity for unfortunate people to learn how to use computers.

Derek Lomas provided the explanation, "If you just know how to type, that can be the difference between earning $1 an hour instead of $1 a day." Even if the computer manages to expose children to computers at an early age, the project would have already accomplished more than enough for future generations.

The team also hopes to allow Internet access through cell phones, and include memory so users are able to write and run their own programs. Other Apple II aficionados have been recruited to program for the computer, and nonprofit organizations in foreign countries have already expressed an interest in ordering them.

Derek Lomas, Jesse Austin-Breneman and other designers want to create a computer that Third World residents can buy for less than you probably spend on lunch.

“We see this as a model that could increase economic opportunities for people in developing countries,” said Lomas, part of a team that’s trying to develop a $12 computer at this month’s MIT International Development Design Summit. “If you just know how to type, that can be the difference between earning $1 an hour instead of $1 a day.”

Source: BostonHerald, Via: Engadget

August 6th Tech Roundup

• GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DQ6 - PC Perspective
• Supermicro X7DWA-N - PC Review

• Gigabyte HD 4850 - Overclockers Club
• BFG 9800 GX2 1GB - TheTechLounge
• Sapphire HD 4850 Toxic 512MB - techPowerUp

• OCZ ReaperX HPC PC2-6400 4GB - Benchmark Reviews
• G.Skill PI PC28800 4GB - Technic3D
• Thecus N3200 NAS - DragonSteelMods
• OCZ SSD 64GB SSD - Overclock3D

• Razer DeathAdder - Pure Overclock
• Creative Aurvana X-Fi Headphones - InsideHW

• Thermaltake MaxOrb CPU Cooler - FrostyTech

• Lian Li A77 - Pro-Clockers
• NZXT Khaos - TechSpot
• Tagan CS Monolize - Legit Reviews
• SilverStone Lascala LC13-E - Phoronix
• Thermaltake Armor VH6001 - Motherboards
• Tagan BZ Series 900W - ThinkComputers

• Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Notebook - ComputerShopper