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Filed under: OS Updates, Google, Open Source, Beta

How not to fake Google Chrome OS

This morning, a commenter on Brad's post regarding the now debunked beyond reasonable doubt video "demo" of Google Chrome OS said "Sure is fake why don't you download and boot it up..." and offered a URL to the download.

What the hell, I'll bite. I followed the link.

The first thing I noticed is that the link doesn't point to a Google Code project. That's kind of odd, since all of Google's other open source goodies are hosted there - like Chromium, for example. I'll play along anyway. I clicked through and downloaded the torrent from Mininova.

What's provided is a tarballed VMWare machine image. Built with SUSE studio. ORLY?

Upon loading the machine, I'm given a pretty standard (though Chrome-themed) Grub loader. The failsafe entry made me chuckle, because it's safe to assume that this thing is fail. Moving on!

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Filed under: Apple, Social Software

Are these iTunes 9 screenshots for real?

Download Squad isn't the only blog that gets dubious screenshots sent in by anonymous tipsters. Just a couple of weeks after we got some purported screenshots of the Google Chrome OS, gadget blog Boy Genius Report received some unsourced images of Apple's upcoming iTunes 9. Highlights include the Facebook support that blogs have been buzzing about lately, and the ability to sync non-iPod devices.

The screenshots depict a Facebook menu that contains shared playlists, and then a user's Facebook activity stream with a shared item in it from "My iTunes." I'm not sure I wouldn't just block the My iTunes app on Facebook if I started seeing these - hell is other's people's terrible musical tastes, after all - but Apple would inevitably sell more music this way. It's like free advertising for the iTunes store!

There's also a screenshot of a Samsung device apparently syncing in iTunes. Maybe this could be for real, but after killing Palm Pre syncing with the 8.2.1 update, Apple doesn't seem to be two keen on third-party devices working with iTunes. On the other hand, maybe they want compatibility on their own terms, instead of through slightly shady mimicry of iPod device IDs.

What say you, Download Squad readers? Are these screenshots the real deal, or just clever fakes?

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Security, Mozilla, Freeware, Browser Tips, web 2.0

Firefox add-on stops accidental MySpace encounters: it's actually useful!

amionmyspace.com?
Have you ever accidentally visited MySpace? Yeah, we probably have too, though, it was never a noticeable problem. In fact, we can't even remember it happening, but it seems like it has to have happened... right?

Well, this Firefox add-on promises to detect MySpace in Firefox, and provide a pop-up menu to stop unsuspecting web-browsers from hitting up the social network. The plug-in is obviously a joke, but we found a great use for it anyway -- avoiding phishing.

It's called AmIOnMySpace.com? and it can be used to detect the real MySpace site. If for any reason the message doesn't pop-up upon first visiting the social network, you're not on the real site. The biggest problem with using this as a way of avoiding phishing sites is that it doesn't alert users when leaving MySpace, so it's still possible to get attacked from within.

[via Digg]

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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