Lunarsoft

Mozilla Tuesday updated Firefox 4 to its fourth beta release, adding two major new features: Firefox Sync and Panorama.

Firefox Sync lets users access browser history, password keychain, bookmarks, and open tabs across their different desktop computers, iOS, or Maemo-based mobile devices. Sync is available as an add-in for Firefox 3.5 and 3.6, but in Firefox 4, it is a built-in feature.

Now approaching its third year online, Adobe's Web-based photo editing suite Photoshop Express underwent a significant redesign which launched Wednesday. Adobe Photoshop Express Editor, Organizer, and Uploader are included in the refresh.

Firstly, a Photoshop.com account is no longer needed to use Photoshop Express Editor. Users can simply navigate to the Web app, upload photos directly from their local drive, edit and change the photos, and then save them back on their local storage. Previously, an account was necessary, and photos were uploaded to online storage first before they were edited. This is still an option, as Photoshop.com members can still store and share photos online as well as create albums, but it's no longer the only way to use the Editor.

A phishing scam relies on hijacking users' iTunes accounts linked to PayPal, giving thieves the ability to drain money from someone's online account.

"Sources close to Apple tell me iTunes has not been compromised and the company isn’t aware of any sudden increase in fraudulent transactions," he wrote.

PayPal has said it is reimbursing customers for the fraud, but added that the problem "is happening on the iTunes side." Further questions about the scam were referred to Apple.

An Apple spokesperson told the San Jose Mercury News that the company is aware of the problem.

After making them available to TechNet subscribers last month, Microsoft has released betas of Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to the general public.

This is the same version of the update that was previously released, so don't expect any new features or fixes.  In fact, users of the company's consumer OS who have been keeping up with the monthly security updates won't see any notable changes at all.  Windows 7 SP1 is largely a collection of fixes and updates previously made available through Windows Update.

Server users will of course get all of the patches, but will see a few new features as well.  The most important are dynamic memory support for virtual machines and the introduction of RemoteFX for enhanced desktop virtualisation.

A Texas-based researcher claimed he had discovered that about 40 different Windows apps, including the Windows shell, suffer from a critical vulnerability that could open up users to attacks by hackers. The flaw was originally discovered in iTunes for Windows, and was patched by Apple four months ago with iTunes 9.1.

Rapid7 chief security officer HD Moore detailed his findings to Computerworld in an interview on Wednesday. He said a wide range of applications are affected, and it was found while looking into another flaw involving Windows shortcuts, which Microsoft patched in an emergency update.

The flaw exists in how the programs handle malformed DLLs. While the methods to trigger the hole differ slightly from application to application, execution causes the hole to open which allows the hacker to execute arbitrary code and/or install malware on the infected machine.

On Thursday, August 19th, Microsoft will release an updated engine for their Microsoft Security Essentials software. The Engine Version will be in the range of 1.1.610X. This release is to address the latest in the threat landscape. Forefront Client Security will also benefit from the engine update.

Today is earnings day and Windows continues to have a strong showing. We announced a new milestone in Windows 7 sales - 175 million copies. This continues our record breaking pace of more than 7 copies sold per second. And as of today – Windows 7 is now running on more than 16% of all PCs worldwide. It's exciting to see this kind of response from customers who have helped make Windows 7 the fastest selling operating system in history. We are also seeing some strong momentum with businesses for Windows 7. The PC “refresh cycle” for businesses has accelerated and we recorded the second straight quarter of double digital business license growth. And with Internet Explorer, IE8 is now the fastest growing and most popular web browser in the market and we have IE9 coming!

This strong momentum isn't limited to Microsoft - in fact we're seeing strong growth across the tech industry. Last week we highlighted a recent IDC press release that illustrated the growth of the global PC market - more than 22.4% year-over-year for the second quarter of 2010. Intel reported its best quarter ever with second quarter revenue up 34% year-over-year. And AMD reported a whopping 40% growth year-over-year in its earnings release, due to record sales of their chips for notebook computers. It's great to see this kind of growth across the PC ecosystem and we're pleased to be part of this growth with Windows 7.