TechPortal

The iPhone’s early possessors have been anxiously awaiting software updates for Apple, hoping new bits would bring new capabilities, such as allowing custom ringtones or compatibility with Exchange e-mail servers.

Well, the first iPatch for The Object of Your Desire is here, but it brings no new powers. Instead, it fixes security flaws in the existing ones. Specifically, it fixes five issues in Safari and Web-related components of the iPhone.

In addition, Apple released an update for the various versions of the Mac OS X that fixes 24 different issues. There’s also an update for the beta of Safari 3.0 that fixes security vulnerabilities in both the Macintosh and Windows versions.

Finally, there’s also an update for the AirPort Wi-Fi cards in all Intel-based Macs. There are no details on what patch does, other than that it “improves the reliability of AirPort connections.”

Mac owners can get their fixes via Software Update. The Safari update for Windows users is here.

And to update the iPhone, connect it to your computer and iTunes will handle the chore. Note that, after the update is complete, your phone will reactivate with AT&T.

Speed hungry PC users keen to get their hands on a shiny new box at a good price have a double reason to be cheerful this week.The combination of a strong Aussie dollar and some hefty price slashing by Intel means machines equipped with the latest quad-core CPUs are set to fall in price.

The chip giant took many by surprise by slashing the price of its new 2.4GHz Q6600 Core 2 Quad processor by a whopping 50 per cent, down to $US266.

The company has also taken the knife to the E4400 Core 2 Duo, dropping it by 15 per cent to $US113, while two Celeron M processors (the 530 and 520) have had a 20 per cent haircut.

The drops are good news for Australian customers who are already seeing the benefits of a dollar that’s been hovering around 87 US cents for the past couple of weeks. In the highly competitive PC hardware sector, any currency fluctuations can make big differences to retail prices.

Locally, PC vendors are yet to announce any cuts as a result of Intel’s move, but it’s logical that the prices of high-end machines will come down.

Dell offers the Intel Q6600 quad processor in its XPS 720 desktop which it aims squarely at power-hungry gamers. It’s also available in some of the company’s workstation models. The company’s yet to make any pricing changes.

Although Intel has made no official announcement to coincide with the price cuts, it’s obvious they’re in response to AMD’s aggressive attempts to win back a bigger slice of the market.

According to a range of industry analyst firms, AMD managed to claw back some lost market share during its most recent quarter, however the firm is yet to launch its own quad core chip, the Phenom, won’t be available until later this year.

Have you ever heard of a hidden music track in Windows XP? Unbelievable as it may seem, there is actually a 5:25 minutes track named Title.wma in every Windows XP installation, in the C:\WINDOWS\system32\oobe\images folder. It is actually played everytime Windows is installed or activated successfully. But if you still have installed or activated Windows 100 times, you might not have heard it, because at that time, you did not probably have your soundcard drivers installed.

Note : You need to select “Show hidden files and folders” and uncheck “Hide protected operating system files(recommended)” to view the “C:\WINDOWS\system32\oobe\images” folder