Ever since uTorrent was first released back in 2005, Mac and Linux users have been begging the developers to code a version compatible with their computers. In 2006, when uTorrent was sold to BitTorrent Inc., the company promised that a Mac version was coming, and in 2008 it was finally released.

Fast forward another two years and a Linux version was announced. Voted as one of the top suggestions for uTorrent in the client’s ‘Idea Bank‘, the massive demand from users for a Linux client was impossible to ignore. In June of this year BitTorrent Inc. officially stated that it was working on Linux programs, and today the first one was released.

BitTorrent’s VP of Product Management Simon Morris realizes that the company pretty much owed this release to the community that played such a vital role in popularizing the protocol.

“If any group has embraced the possibilities and power of BitTorrent for distribution, it is the Linux community. Virtually every distribution is available via torrent download and many even ship with a BitTorrent client in the default configuration,” he saystoday.

“This morning, we are announcing a preview release of the first of two new products for Linux users,” Morris added. “uTorrent Server, an alpha version available immediately for download, is intended for users seeking a fast, powerful and lightweight BitTorrent client without the need of the full features and complexity of the native GUI.”

Labeled as an Alpha release, uTorrent Linux Server precedes a client with a full featured UI which is expected to be released in the coming weeks. Today’s release is aimed at more Linux users, who are encouraged to leave feedback so the development team can prepare releases for specific Linux distros in the future. The server can be managed through an HTTP API or the uTorrent Web UI pictured below, which is included in the release.

“Today’s version is only the first step, and we will continue to support the Linux user community with new versions in the near future. If you prefer to stick to more conventional user experience, rest assured we are working hard to build a full-featured client, coming soon,” Morris announced. There is currently no update on whether the company will make the “summer” deadline they set earlier.

With uTorrent Server, BitTorrent Inc’s main brand is now supported on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms in common with its main competitor, Vuze. Whether it will reach the massive marketshare it has on Windows with the two latter platforms has still to be seen though. Considering the late entrance, uTorrent has a lot of ground to make up.

[source:torrentfreak]

Changelog:

• Browser upgrade into 7.2.6
• Freestyle Baseline 3.0 (latest version) update
• QuickOffice upgrade into 6.2.439
• New languages introduced, Office 2007 compatibility
• OVI Music client Inc9Br5 update
• Music 3.0: full album purchase, PIN less activation
• Lotus Notes Traveller 8.5.1 update
• Smart Connect 1.3.55 update
• OVI Store 1.6 update
• OVI Files widget 1.2.3.0 update

Removals

• Windows Live removal

Improvements

• New chat functionalities for the users
• Microsoft Office Communicator added to vanilla SW UDA content
• Nokia Messaging for Instant Messaging / Nokia Chat 2.0 added to vanilla SW UDA content
• Improved Email, Calendar and Contacts experience
• Performance improvements
• Stability and usability improvements
• Menu layout changes, among other things:
• Maps moved to Main menu from Applications – GPS folder
• Help moved from Main menu to Applications folder
• Main menu re-ordered
• SW update moved from Phone folder to main level of Control panel folder.
• Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Bloomberg moved from Internet folder to Applications folder
• No changes to vanilla memory cards
• Altogether 450+ errors are fixed

Nokia E72 launched last year is powered by Symbian S60 3.2. This phone sports a 5 megapixel camera fixed focus with LED flash support. With over 450 error and bug fix we guess that this device will run faster and smoother. Interested in updating?

[source:emr8]

The problem, which started at around 3:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time, has affected “a small amount of customers,” a spokeswoman for Microsoft said via e-mail. She declined to be more specific about the number of people affected.

“We are continuing to investigate the issue, but can confirm that the majority of customers that were affected are now able to access their Hotmail accounts,” she wrote.

The outage apparently was large enough to warrant the posting of a prominent note at the top of the Windows Live Solution Center stating that Hotmail is experiencing login issues.

The message remains on the page as of 7 p.m., meaning the problem is now entering approximately its 16th hour.

Hotmail has about 355 million active accounts worldwide, the spokeswoman said, citing figures from comScore.

Last week, a network problem at a Microsoft data center affected access to the company’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) and to other hosted software products for enterprises.

Personally I truly recommend The Gmail as an alternative if you wish to switch email providers.

Keep in mind that Places isn’t available everywhere just yet–early reports indicate that it’s United States-only, for now, but with significant gaps at the moment–so you may just have to wait.

Checking In Via Smartphone or PC

Before you can share your location with your Facebook friends, Facebook needs to know where you are. Just opentouch.facebook.com in your Web browser (or use the Facebook for iPhone app on your iPhone, iPod Touch, oriPad), and you’ll see a tab under “Inbox” called “Places.” For the iOS app, it’ll show a new icon in the middle of the home screen.

Tap Places, and you’ll see your recent check-ins as well as your friends’ check-ins. From here, you can find out more details about the places your friends are checking into (map location, description, directions, comments, and other check-ins), or you can check yourself into a nearby location by pressing the Check In button at the top-right corner of the page.

If you can’t find the right place to check in from, you can browse more nearby locations by pressing the right arrow button under the Places tab until you find it (if you’re using the iPhone app, just scroll all the way down and press Show More Nearby Locations).

The list of available locations comes from other people’s check-ins and listings from Bing’s mapping engine, so you might have to add your location yourself–just press Add,and it will take you to a page where you can fill out a name and description.

Once you tap Check In, you’ll be presented with a list of nearby locations where other people have checked in. Tap the one you want to check into, and you can choose to comment on what you’re doing there or add your Facebook friends to your check-in (Press the What are you doing? and Tag Friends With Youbuttons, respectively). Next, press the big Check In button, and it will show up on your News Feed.

While Places is mostly meant for smartphone users, it doesn’t depend on a GPS device to find your location–you can check in from a laptop or iPod Touch, too. Just go totouch.facebook.com in your browser (you’ll need Internet access, of course), and you can check in from your desk or café.

Checking In With Friends

Unless you’re on Facebook just to show everyone what a loner you are, you’ll eventually want to add the friends you’re hanging out with to your Facebook Places check-in. All you have to do is choose the Tag Friends With You option while checking in.

Once you’ve added your friends and checked in, it’ll show up on their News Feed as well. If they haven’t used Facebook Places yet, it won’t show up on their feed until they’ve approved the check-in; they’ll see a little alert the next time they log in, asking them to allow or deny the check-in.

You can add friends only when you’re checking in, so if you forget about adding someone and want to add them later, you’re out of luck.

This can be rather tricky for users concerned about privacy–while researching this piece, I checked several of my PCWorld colleagues into local bars at about 11am on a workday–so if you want to use Facebook Places without letting your friends check you in, you can disable it by turning off Friends Can Check Me Into Places in the privacy settings (click the link for detailed instructions). Once this is disabled, your friends can still try to add you at check-in time, but it won’t display on the actual check-in.

Owning Your Facebook Place

While anyone can add a Facebook Place, business owners can turn the listing in Places into a proper Facebook Page, with Likes and a Wall and all that other fun stuff. (Don’t forget to read “Three Ways Business Can Take Advantage of Facebook Places.”)

Start by checking in from your Place (or adding it, if it doesn’t show up in the list of nearby Places), and click the link on the bottom of the page that says Is this your business?

Facebook doesn’t want people cybersquatting on someone else’s business listing, so you’ll have to check a box certifying you’re an official representative of the business and click Proceed with Verification to continue.

Next, you’ll have to provide your business’s contact information, including your Federal Employee ID number (if applicable) and some kind of official documentation (Certificate of Formation, Articles of Certificate of Incorporation, a local business license, or a BBB accreditation).

Once you’ve submitted that information and received the okay from Facebook’s User Operations team, you’ll be in full control of your new Place. No word on what happens if you’re caught impersonating an employee, and we don’t recommend trying it.

How To Turn Off Facebook Places

Dabbled with Facebook Places and decided it isn’t for you? There are a handful of settings you’ll have to change to fully deactivate it. Start by going to Account, Privacy Settings, and click Customize settings under Sharing on Facebook.

From here, you’ll need to change the settings for Places I Check In, People Here Now, and Friends Can Check Me into Places (under the Things Others Share heading).

You’ll need to change one more setting: Go back to Privacy Settings, choose the Edit your settings option under the Applications and Websites heading, and click Edit settings for Info accessible to your friends.

Uncheck the Places I’ve Visited box, and you’ll be good to go.

[source:PCWorld]

The Family Pack gives consumers three upgrade licenses from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7 Home Premium. The $150 price tag is the same Microsoft put on the package last year when it offered the deal for several weeks after the Oct 22, 2009, launch of the new operating system.

This year’s offer will likely be short-lived, too: Microsoft spokesman Ashley Brown said it would run “while supplies last,” the same phrase the company used in 2009.

U.S. customers can purchase the Family Pack starting Oct. 3, while consumers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the U.K. and other markets will be able to buy it on or after Oct. 22, Brown said.

At $50 per upgrade, the Pack is a bargain compared to Microsoft’s usual pricing, which pegs a Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade at $120. Retailers often knock $10 or so off that price; Amazon.com , for example, sells the stand-alone upgrade for $109. Even at that price, the Family Pack represents a per-license discount of 54%.

In 2009, Microsoft let retailers take pre-orders on the Pack several days before its Oct. 22 launch.

Last year, Microsoft ran the special to no later than Dec. 1, although some users reported that they had seen the Pack disappear from the company’s online store as early as Nov. 26. If Microsoft sticks to the same schedule this time, it could end the deal by Nov. 7.

The sudden disappearance of the Family Pack in 2009 raised hackles as customers complained that there was no warning the offer would vanish. “[I] am frustrated as I had planned on picking up the Family Pack in December,” said someone identified as “TonyB” on an Answer.com message thread last year.

Microsoft did not specify when it would end 2010′s offer.

Family Pack will be sold at select brick-and-mortar and online retail outlets, as well as through Microsoft’s own e-store and the small number of retail stores the company now operates.

Apple on Wednesday announced iTunes 10, a major upgrade to its music jukebox and media management software. Leading the changes in this version is a social networking component aimed at helping users discover new music.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs described that featured-called Ping-as “Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes.” A major new social component of the iTunes Store, Ping is an opt-in social network that lets custo

mers follow their favorite artists, and be followed by friends. Artists can also interact with their fans on their iTunes Store page. You can create a “circle of friends,” view what your friends are buying and listening to or watching, post your thoughts and opinions on artist and album pages, keep track of more than 17,000 concert listings, and mark which ones you’re going to.

Ping will also be available on the iPhone and iPod touch as a new button in the iTunes Store app.

iTunes 10 also gained a new hybrid view that reorganizes the way the application displays album art in music columns. For albums with more than five songs, iTunes can display an album icon and take up no extra space or require the window to be expanded.

iTunes 10 will be available as a free download on Wednesday at Apple.com oriTunes.com.

Jobs also introduced a new iPod Shuffle, the lowest-end music player in Apple’s line. Like the past generation, it can speak the names of playlists and songs. But unlike the most recent of the tiny music players, the new $49 device brings back the square shape and buttons of Apple’s second-generation Shuffle.

Jobs also said iPhone users will be getting a software update that offers the ability to upload high-definition video over Wi-Fi. And when people take photos, the new software will save three slightly different copies that, when combined, make for a sharper image.

The new software is version 4.1 of the iOS system. It will be available next week for free, initially for Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPod Touch.

The iPad currently runs an older version, though Jobs says an update coming in November will add such features as wireless printing to Apple’s tablet computer.

Apple had been criticized for making a powerful device but hobbling it by not including any ports for USB devices such as printers or thumb drives. Jobs appeared at a media event in a crew neck rather than his trademark mock turtleneck.

Smaller than the second-gen version, the new fourth-generation iPod Shuffle returns to a square shape. Yet this one will blend the best of the second and third-generation models with both buttons and voice over playback. Some of the voice over information available will include song titles, artists, album and playlist information.

Buyers can also look forward to the addition of Genius Mixes to the iPod Shuffle. Best of all, the battery should last up to 15 hours of music playback time on a single charge.

Available in five color schemes (pink, green blue and orange with a white trim or silver with a black trim), the new iPod Shuffle will retail for $49 with a 2GB capacity. That is cheaper than the previous $59 version in 2GB, but a 4GB capacity wasn’t mentioned during the keynote. Perhaps (hopefully) it will be posted on the Apple Store site later today. Interested buyers can pre-order the new iPod Shuffle today, and it will be ready for shipping next week.

Oh, and Steve Jobs described the packaging as “cute.”

Images coming soon…

The biggest rumors that have been circulating are that Apple TV will sport an A4 processor, as well as iOS 4 andapps from Apple’s store, but we want to know: how will iOS be optimized to run on a TV? One of the major selling points of the multitouch operating system is that it’s, well, multitouch: interacting with your Apple TV via a remote won’t have the same feel as making swipes on an iPhone or iPad. I really doubt Apple will take away the iOS’s signature feature when migrating it to Apple TV.

Will the Apple TV (or iTV, as it’s rumored to be renamed) have some sort of small touchscreen? Another rumor floating around is that the iPod Nano will get a 3 cm x 3 cm touchscreen, making it somewhat feasible that the Apple TV could have built-in support for multitouch.

Another rumor is that Apple has filed a patent for a touch-screen Mac that can flip between iOS and Mac OS X, so perhaps a version of iOS optimized for a desktop computer/TV set isn’t too far-fetched. Combine that with the $99 probable price for the set-top-box, and I’ll bet the Apple TV will have several USB ports in the back for a mouse and keyboard rather than any sort of touchscreen. Here’s also betting that your iPhone or iPad can serve as a remote for the Apple TV box, allowing you a more consistent touchscreen experience across your multiple Apple devices.

Interface questions aside, another bit of hardware speculation is that Apple TV will only support 720p HD video. Now, the iPhone (even the 3GS) and other current iOS devices can handily display 1080p video, so why are some folks claiming that the A4 processorcan’t handle high-resolution HD video? Only delivering 720p content will certainly make it easier to stream content from Netflix, but will the lack of 1080p support cripple the Apple TV?

With a cost of (in all likelihood) $99, 16GB of built-in storage, and support for 720p HD video (and not 1080p), this latest version of Apple TV might not provided the Apple “wow” factor that most of us have come to expect from Cupertino. Unless Apple absolutely nails apps for iOS on the iTV, I have a feeling that the user experience for this device will be less than stellar. Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments.

[source:PCWorld]

To put it another way: While many action games are Red Bull-infused, machine gun-toting nutjobs with attention spans as short as their hair, Mafia II is the relaxed, serious man in the corner. He’s well dressed, a little bit boring, but tells a good yarn between long drags on his cigarette.

Mafia II BoxArt

In Mafia II, you play as Vito Scaletta. Your family immigrated to Empire Bay (a fictionalized NYC) from Sicily, and you and your best friend Joe Barbaro get involved in a life of crime. In the game’s all-too brief opening mission, you serve in the American army during the Italian campaign. It’s a remarkably clever way to introduce the player to the game’s third-person shooter combat system and also introduces the player to the power of the mafia–even during war. After being sent home due to an injury sustained while fighting the Nazis, Joe and Vito rise through the ranks of the local mafia. They steal, they rough upgreasers, they kill people.

The missions vary from linear slugfests in buildings to epic car chases across town. Your enjoyment of these missions will depend largely on whether Vito is driving, shooting, or brawling. The cars, in a touch of unwanted realism, all handle like oil tankers. You drive to and from virtually every mission and some missions require you to drive as the focus of the mission, making these by far the least enjoyable. Brawling, meanwhile, is a simple light/heavy punch, dodge, and counter system. It’s serviceable, but it’s by no means impressive and the propensity for the developers to throw in segments where fisticuffs are required makes its tediousness more apparent. Finally, the shooting/cover system is smooth, easy to pick up, and fun. The developers seem more at home in these segments too, giving you slaughterhouses, warehouses, oil refineries, office buildings, and other iconic Mafia-esque locales to shoot up. As proven by the brief wartime prologue, Mafia II’s combat system could be equally at home in a wartime shooter. In fact, it’s superior to many.

Mafia II’s story is an amalgam of the gangster films Goodfellas, Once Upon a Time in America, and The Godfather series. Spoilers ahead: While well-worn tropes like whacking guys and disposing of their bodies are present, there are some clever twists here as well. While many games have you avoid jail time or see no consequences for your actions, Vito takes the fall for an earlier job in the game and ends up in jail. While in jail, the tone of the game shifts to something much darker and the narrative really hits its stride. After getting released, the player will notice some major changes to the city; everything from the music to the cars to the neighborhoods all reflect a shift from a WWII-era depression to the boom of the 1950s. The plot and its characters get more depth though no moral choices or side quests are offered. Mafia II has one story to tell, and you’ve already heard it.

While Mafia II features a beautifully detailed, expansive city to explore, it is not a sandbox game. Between missions, you can buy clothing, paint your car, get gas, buy guns, and eat around town. But that’s it. Unlike famed sandbox games like Grand Theft Auto III, there aren’t any side missions to undertake nor is there much to do to keep you distracted from the main plot. There is one story arc, one plotline, and each chapter effectively ends when the mission is completed and you go to sleep each night.

It’s a striking design choice that you’ll either appreciate or hate. 2K Games has built you a wonderful world to explore but has given you almost nothing to do. On the flip side, there are few games out there that are as immersive as much as Mafia II. Licensed era music plays in the background, there are many restaurants and bars (some with nods to various noir iconery like The Maltese Falcon), and there dozens of authentic cars to drive.

But there isn’t much depth here. It seems unfair to compare Mafia II to Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption, and yet all story-driven games must now look to that standard. In addition to offering impressive visuals and a wealth of things to do, Red Dead Redemption had one of the best stories (and endings) in gaming history. Mafia II has a familiar story, but the campaign is short and there isn’t a fraction of the content here to keep you coming back for more.

What’s frustrating is that as tight and as impressive as Mafia II’s immersive world is, there are some weird distractions that break you out of the world. The city is a fictional cross between several East Coast cities, but the world bulletins all refer to real WWII events. The game makes reference to fictional characters and sports teams but also real people like President Franklin D. Roosevelt. There’s also a strange “collect the Playboy magazines” side game, virtually the only optional quest in the game, that lets you find vintage pinups. So first, no, this game is not for your teenager. Secondly, the mixing of fictional and real names and places can be awkward at times. And finally, 2K Games spent money to get the licensing for vintage Playboys but the company couldn’t spend more money on better secondary dialogue, a better driving system, or heck, more content? Just seems like a weird marketing ploy that doesn’t add anything.

The allied artificial intelligence (AI), especially your friend Joe, is one of the bright spots of the game. While the secondary dialogue is forgettable (Joe has about six canned reactions to any combat situation), he takes cover with you, lays down covering fire, shoots well, and is generally useful in a fight. The AI in the rest of the world is also universally smart and realistic. Everyone around you obeys red lights, goes the speed limit, and traffic flows smoothly around town. The police in Mafia II are also vigilant: You’ll be ticketed for speeding, arrested for hit and runs, and shot at for anything more violent. Losing them is easy on foot (just break their line of sight, essentially) but nearly impossible in a car (due again to the cars handling like drunken yaks).

Through OnLive’s service, Mafia II looked absolutely gorgeous. Even with the notch-down resolution, this is a beautiful, beautiful game. While there are moments when the characters perform stiffly or the dialogue doesn’t sync, on the whole the voice acting and realism are up there with the industry’s best.

iTechBlog’s buying advice

Mafia II’s developers have a very narrow path to walk. The game has a strong shooting combat system, but these segments are too infrequent for the game to be purely classified as a “third-person shooter.” The expansive city that requires a great deal of driving would suggest a “sandbox game” but there is too little to do and a linear path and plot to the game. The genre chimera that is Mafia II is best appreciated by those who are looking for an immersive mafia experience with a compelling, if clichéd, story. There are better combat and sandbox games out there, but few that treat the mafia life as seriously or with such reverence. Mafia II doesn’t do anything new for Mafia games, but sometimes a well-worn shoe fits best. Capiche?