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If you are one of those geeks that love testing out beta programs and drivers then you probably already know that Nvidia released some new drivers. If not, well then it's time to get your geek on! These are for just about every GeForce since 6 and also includes Ions.  If your hardware fits the bill, and you are feeling a little naughty, then head on over, grab the download and fire it on up. Let us know how it goes!  Links: 32 bit download & 64 bit download

"The popular file-hosting service RapidShare is not guilty of copyright infringement, the United States District Court of California has ruled. The ruling is an important victory for RapidShare, which has been increasingly targeted by the entertainment industries. rapidshare

Last year, adult media company Perfect 10 filed a lawsuit against the leading file-hosting service, RapidShare. Among other claims, Perfect 10’s lawsuit stated that RapidShare was guilty of infringing the copyrights of many of its images." source

"Don't start lining up the global dominos just yet but Blockbuster is filing for bankruptcy in Portugal. In the 90s, an era predating internet streaming and digital downloads, Blockbuster was rocking some 100 stores in Portugal. Today that number is around 27, most of which are struggling to survive. Blockbuster blames government's flaccid response to internet piracy for its insolvency. And here we thought short-sighted executives distracted by their brick-n-mortar profits carried some of the blame." source

"It is understood that more than 150 people in the UK have been wrongly accused of illegal file-sharing in new crackdowns, and sent threatening letters demanding an out-of-court settlement of £500, according to the BBC.

Consumer publication "Which?" has been approached by over 150 people who say they have no knowledge of the illegal file-sharing of which they have been accused. ACS:Law, the London-based firm behind the letters said its methods were accurate and that more letters would be sent soon. " source

"Well, we knew it was coming today, and it's here now—Sprint is pushing WebOS's latest update to Palm Pres and Pixis as you read this. It's supposed to bring better performance and battery life as well as a bunch of minor features—let us know in the comments what y'all think." Source

"Opera 10.5 has leaked to the web ahead of its December 22nd release. Along with a new interface, the browser offers better compatibility with Windows 7, private browsing, and a new rendering engine that should provide for faster web browsing.

A screen shot of the updated browser is posted below and provides a similar look to Google's Chrome. Opera has stated that the screen shots posted below are legitimate but are from an older build according to techie-buzz.com.

The leaked browser, while available on the web right now, is most likely far less stable than the version that will be released tomorrow. Expect to see a slightly tweaked interface with the newer version and you will be able to try out Carakan, their new ECMAScript/javascript engine, which is not present in the leaked version." Source

ATI Catalyst™ 9.12 Driver – What’s New?

It’s that time again for the ATI Catalyst™ driver update! We have been getting great comments and feedback from the community because of this blog site. Please continue to send us your feedback as we do review them all*. Source

"Microsoft said Wednesday it has reposted a tool to the Internet that aids installing Windows 7 on Netbooks and computers without an optical drive.

The software maker pulled the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool off its Web site last month after it was pointed out that the software appeared to use open-source code licensed under the GNU Public License (GPL v2). Microsoft later apologized and said that the code did in fact use GPL code. Microsoft said it would repost the tool and make it open source under the terms of the GPL.

Microsoft posted the open-source version of the tool on Wednesday, although it took longer than the company had originally anticipated." Source

"Mozilla Messaging pushed the stable release of Thunderbird 3 out of the nest on Tuesday, and there's a lot to like in case you haven't been following the beta development of this Outlook alternative. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, the long-overdue Thunderbird 3 introduces several hefty new features and some long-needed improvements, including an overhauled search and message indexing, tab support, and a revamped setup wizard that's designed to make new account setup quick and painless.

One feature that isn't included is the calendaring add-on, Lightning. Originally, Mozilla had planned to bake the extension into the program, but decided back in February 2009 to change course and leave it up to users to download. Although Thunderbird natively comes with Microsoft Exchange support, there's no calendar and therefore no meeting support in the default Thunderbird installation. Along with Lightning, there's an essential Google Calendar add-on for Lightning that gives Google users calendar support in Lightning." Source

"The World Wide Web Consortium has published a draft of an interface that browsers can use to manipulate files better, one of a series of steps aimed at gradually improving the sophistication and polish of Web site interfaces.

The draft File API (application programming interface) defines a number of ways that browsers and Web sites handle files better. One big part of it: being able to select multiple files for upload, such as on photo-sharing sites or Web-based e-mail, a task that often relies on Adobe Systems' Flash today.

But there are other aspects, too. For example, the interface governs the use of "blobs," or packages of raw binary data such as video files. Google has touted blobs for its Gears browser plug-in as a way to divide large videos into small chunks so that uploads can be more easily resumed if a network problem interrupts the process. " source