Microsoft, Washington State Sue Scareware Firms

Microsoft sues software maker who tricked Windows users into buying software for non-existent problems

Spam isn't the only computer nuisance that lawmakers and corporations are going after these days. The Washington State Office of the Attorney General filed a suit in cooperation with Microsoft against a software market that allegedly tricked consumers into buying software they didn’t need.

Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna said in a statement, "The Attorney General’s Office along with Microsoft has yanked the fear factor dial out of the hands of businesses that use scareware as a marketing tool and have spun it toward them."

The filing of the suit was allowed after the improvement of a law in Washington State called the Computer Spyware Act. McKenna continued, "We won’t tolerate the use of alarmist warnings or deceptive ‘free scans’ to trick consumers into buying software to fix a problem that doesn’t even exist. We’ve repeatedly proven that Internet companies that prey on consumers’ anxieties are within our reach."

The Computer Spyware Act not only bans and makes illegal spyware, but any other program that misleads consumers into believing that a problem is present and a fix is needed for security.

Named in the suit are several defendants including makers of Registry Cleaner XP, Branch Software, and Alpha Red. Specifically named in the Registry Cleaner XP filing is company owner James Reed McCreary IV.

The complaint is that the defendants sent multiple pop-ups to Windows users that mimicked the look of actual error messages from Microsoft. The messages reportedly read "CRITICAL ERROR MESSAGE! – REGISTRY DAMAGED AND CORRUPTED" directing users to a site where they could pay for the software, which allegedly did nothing.

According to the Attorney General office statement, the software firms were able to send these pop-ups by taking advantage of computers capable of receiving Windows Messenger Service pop-ups. The service is intended to be used by system administrators on a network to contact computer users and is different from the Windows chat application.

Any computer capable of receiving Net Send messages was vulnerable. The messages routed the user to the site for a free scan of their computer, which always found errors and asked for $39.95 to download software to repair the errors.

Senior Counsel for the Attorney General's Consumer Protection High-Tech Unit, Paula Selis said, "Consumers who visited the Web site were offered a free scan to check their computer – but the program found ‘critical’ errors every time. Users were then told to pay $39.95 to repair these dubious problems."

According to Microsoft, the 50% of its customer support calls are related to crashes blamed on spyware. The penalty if convicted is a fine of up to $2,000 per incident, restitution, and attorney's fees. Some reports say that one IP address received as many as 200 of the pop-ups per day.

Ironically, this suit isn’t the first brought against the same people from Microsoft since 2005 when Washington State's Computer Spyware Act was enacted. The firms were previously sued under the act and the plaintiffs were granted injunctions and settlements.

Microsoft Senior Attorney for Internet Safety Enforcement said, "Microsoft is honored to assist Washington Attorney General McKenna in helping to protect consumers from online threats. Cybercrime continues to evolve, but with public/private collaboration such as this, we can work to champion tougher laws, greater public awareness and, ultimately, stronger protections for online consumers.”

DailyTech - Microsoft, Washington State Sue Scareware Firms

Hubble Space Telescope Suffers Serious Failure

A serious equipment failure aboard the Hubble Space Telescope is preventing it from relaying data and images to scientists on Earth and delayed plans to launch a shuttle mission to overhaul the observatory next month, NASA officials said Monday.

The glitch occurred Saturday in one of two sides of a device known as a Control Unit/Science Data Formatter that is responsible for sending data from Hubble to scientists on Earth, said Allard Beutel, a NASA spokesperson at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., where the shuttle Atlantis was being primed

for an Oct. 14 launch.

"The hardware failed, it's unrecoverable," Beutel told SPACE.com. "They did testing and it's no longer fixable from the ground."

Side A of the data formatter failed late Saturday, with flight controllers in the Hubble's control center at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., working to switch to the backup Side B to regain data relay capabilities. The data formatter is vital to science operations for Hubble, which had been using the Side A unit since it launched in 1990.

"It's used to store and transmit all the science data from all the instruments," Beutel said.

The malfunction will delay NASA's plans to launch Atlantis and a seven-astronaut crew to Hubble next month to perform an intense overhaul aimed at extending the observatory's mission life through at least 2013.

"Fixing the problem will result in delaying next month's Hubble servicing mission," NASA officials said in a statement. The mission has suffered a series of slight setbacks recently due to schedule slips from Hurricane Ike and payload delivery issues, and could be delayed to early February to allow more time to fix the new glitch.

Options weighed

While flight controllers work to switch to the backup formatter, NASA shuttle mission managers are weighing options for Atlantis and its STS-125 astronaut crew, which were gearing up to launch toward Hubble next month.

"I think it's safe to say that we're not going to launch on Oct. 14 because they're going to need at least a couple of days to see if they can bring up the backup portion of this system before we can commit to launching," NASA spokesperson Mike Curie told SPACE.com from the agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Leaving Hubble reliant solely on its backup data formatter would also leave the observatory with no redundancy and one glitch away from a permanent failure, Curie said. A spare unit is available at the Goddard center, but it will require tests to ensure it is working properly after years in storage, he added.

Switching Hubble over to its backup data formatter is a tricky task, requiring the transition of five separate systems over their respective backups as well. The backup device has also not been powered on since the late 1980s or early 1990, before Hubble launched into orbit, NASA officials said, adding that if all goes well, the system could be powered up later this week.

Mission managers must decide whether the replacement task can be added to the already packed scheduled for Atlantis' STS-125 crew, or which chores can be pulled from the flight to make room.

"This morning, Hubble, shuttle and agency managers are meeting to discuss what options they might have, and there are a lot of options," Beutel said. "And they're also evaluating possible effects they might have on Atlantis' coming mission to the Hubble Space Telescope."

Hubble's last overhaul

Atlantis is slated to launch seven astronauts toward Hubble on Oct. 14 to pay one final service call on the space observatory. The mission is NASA's fifth and final planned service flight to Hubble.

Commanded by veteran spaceflyer Scott Altman, Atlantis' STS-125 astronauts are preparing to perform five back-to-back spacewalks to add a new camera, replace aging batteries and gyroscopes and upgrade Hubble's guidance equipment during their 11-day mission. The spaceflyers also plan to add a docking port and make unprecedented repairs to instruments never designed to be fixed in space.

Top NASA mission managers were expected to set a formal launch target on Oct. 3 after a traditional two-day flight readiness review, but that meeting has been postponed as they tackle the new Hubble malfunction.

While mission managers discuss how Hubble's recent glitch may affect flight plans for Atlantis and its STS-125 crew, the shuttle's launch preparations have been going well, Beutel said.

Atlantis is currently perched atop Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The new instruments and spare parts for Hubble were successfully delivered to the launch pad last week after a slight delay.

SPACE.com -- Hubble Space Telescope Suffers Serious Failure

SpaceX Falcon 1 lifts off successfully, first privately-funded spacecraft in orbit

For the privately-developed SpaceX rocket project, apparently the fourth time is the charm. After three dismal failures, the fourth launch attempt resulted in the two-stage Falcon 1 streaking into orbit last night after a flawless liftoff at 7:15pm EDT. Even though this orbital insertion occurs 45 years after the first time NASA did it, it's a first for a privately-funded commercial venture.

What's next? SpaceX plans to perfect the design of the vehicle, allowing for re-use of the first stage after a Pacific splashdown, and then launch 1,256-pound payloads atop the 68-foot rocket into low earth orbit. Next summer, the company plans to launch a bigger design called Falcon 9, destined for cargo hauling to the International Space Station. Someday, the company may even compete with Richard Branson and take tourists into space.

Hit Continue to see a video of the launch from the U.S. Army's Ronald Reagan Ballistic Defense Test Site on the Kwajalein Atoll in the south Pacific Ocean.

DVICE: SpaceX Falcon 1 lifts off successfully, first privately-funded spacecraft in orbit

Jack Thompson Disbarred

Jack Thompson, a controversial crusader against violence in games, will be permanently disbarred as of October 25, reports GamePolitics.

In handing down its decision, the Florida Supreme Court cited Thompson's extensive history of public misconduct, along with recommendations from Judge Dava Tunis, the official who presided over Thompson's 2007 ethics trial.

Along with disbarring Thompson, the official court order (pdf) also demands monetary restitution of $43,675.

In response, Thompson has filed a request with the U.S. District Court seeking an emergency stay of the Florida Supreme Court's decision, as well as publishing a press release that claims the Court's decision is "in retaliation for Thompson’s Tyndale House book Out of Harm’s Way, published in 2005, which blew the whistle on the Florida Supreme Court’s earlier efforts in the 1990’s to literally pathologize his faith-based and successful activism against the American entertainment industry."

Jack Thompson Disbarred | Game | Life from Wired.com

New Xbox Experience site adds interactive demo

Are you on the fence about the upcoming changes to the Xbox 360 dashboard? Apprehensive about the unceremonious subtraction of your beloved blades? Perhaps it would be wise to check out an interactive demo of the New Xbox Experience (or, as the hip kids are calling it, the NXE) that was recently added to Xbox.com. You can get a good idea of what the new layout will look like -- though you'll have to wait until the NXE lands on your 360 before trying your hand at breathing life into your cartoonish, digital representation.

New Xbox Experience site adds interactive demo - Joystiq

Study Shows Average User Is Pretty Stupid When It Comes to Popups

A new study is giving computer savvy users a look at the "other" users' behavior

You often wonder how users fall for seemingly obvious ploys -- you know, the letter from Makib in Ethiopia seeking for donations for an orphanage, or perhaps the most recent fake ticket emails that claim to have your ticket in a ZIP file.  To the computer savvy, these silly attempts might make for a good morning laugh, but security experts say there's nothing to laugh about when millions of naïve users fall for the scheme and their computers become part of a botnet, used to launch devastating DoS attacks.

A new study from the Psychology Department of North Carolina State University gives some insight into just how easily tricked many users are.  On compromised websites one form of malware distribution is through popup windows.  If users click to dismiss them, they often download malware onto their computers.  So just how many users would be tricked into clicking?
The researchers crafted 4 dialog boxes and exposed 42 college students to them in a normal browsing atmosphere.  Each box contained the cryptic message "The instruction at '0x77f41d24 referenced memory at '0x595c2a4c."  The first one bore the markings of a standard Windows dialog, but the remainder had noticeable differences that should have warned users that it was malware.

In each of the dialogs putting the mouse over the "OK" button turned the cursor into a hand, a sign that it was a browser control, not a Windows dialog.  The dialogs also all had minimize and maximize buttons.  Starting with the second one, a browser status bar was added to the bottom.  Finally the last one was made blatantly obvious by text that flashed from black on a white background to white on a black background.

To properly lure the college students into the ruse, they created a series of fake medical websites in Flash.  The students were told they were going to be quizzed on the information on the sites after the test.  The popups were then activated as the students were browsing the sites.
Of the 42 college students, 26 clicked the "OK" button on the most normal looking dialog, 25 clicked on each of the more obvious fakes, and 23 clicked on the most obvious fake, the one with the flashing text.  This study should be welcome news to malware crafters -- college educated users will click obviously dangerous dialogs over 50 percent of the time.

In all only 9 users closed the dialogs.  The rest minimized them, or dragged them out of the way, risky behaviors, as the next user at the computer could be exposed to the dialog.  The time between the dialog appearing and the user clicking remained approximately constant for all the dialogs.  This seems to indicate that the users did not even think much before clicking the foreign message.

In follow up questions, over half of students said the dialog boxes were a distraction from the task at hand and they would do anything to get rid of them.  The study seems to indicate that computer exposure, with lack of understanding has bred an atmosphere where users are unsurprised by dialogs and GUIs, and care little for their contents.

While the study's authors suggested education of students to warn them of these kind of dangers, the apathy of the students towards the dialogs seems to bring the fruits of such education into question. 

The study is appearing soon in the journal Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

DailyTech - Study Shows Average User Is Pretty Stupid When It Comes to Popups

LHC Particle Accelerator Offline Until Spring

The downtime for the damaged LHC has been extended several more months

DailyTech was pleased to report that the the world's largest particle accelerator, CERN's Large Hadron Collider was brought online early this month.  After several successful test firings, the initial testing was going ahead of schedule.  Then the excitement evaporated, with the failure of one of the transformers that cooled the collider.  Without its cooling, researchers could no longer operate the tunnel -- repairs were the only option.

Within a week, the transformer was replaced and hopes were high that firing would recommence.  Then came word that inspections after the repair revealed extensive wiring damage, and that the collider would be offline for 2 months.

With winter fast approaching, the downtime has been extended to 5-6 months, with researchers saying the collider will not be online until the spring.  Located on the Swiss-French border, the collider's repairs will likely be slowed by snowfall and weather.

The LHC is scheduled to shut down each year in mid-November due to these concerns.  It is expected that the repairs will not be complete before the shutdown.  The bad news was announced by spokesman James Gillies of the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

It will take several weeks just to warm up the damaged area from near absolute zero.  Then repairs can begin.  After repairs are complete, a month of rechilling will be necessary.
The shutdown will end in late March or early April.  The collider is expected to be fully operational and ready for testing by then.

Mr. Gillies described the developments, stating, "They're going to have to open up and really investigate what went on there.  So that's going to be two or three weeks before we can put out something that we're sure of.  We are not going to be done with this before the winter shutdown, so there will be no more beam in the LHC this year."

Aside from technical difficulties the collider has been plagued with criticism, with some even directing death threats towards its scientists.  These individuals fear that the reactor could spell doom for the world with such particles as micro black-holes, despite the fact that the same theory that predicts micro-black holes, predicts they would evaporate almost instantly.

DailyTech - LHC Particle Accelerator Offline Until Spring

Microsoft releases new Ultimate Extras - Microsoft Tinker

Microsoft has silently released 3 updates for Windows Ultimate users today.
Microsoft Tinker, Ultimate Extra sounds from Microsoft Tinker and Windows DreamScene Content Pack #4 are all available on Windows Update now.

Microsoft Tinker is a puzzle based game where players get a set amount of moves to move a robot around a puzzle and solve the level. The DreamScene content pack adds some new high definition videos for use on the desktop and the sound pack allows you to set your sound scheme to that of Microsoft Tinker.

Previously, Microsoft released a set of extras back in April and promised more offerings in the future. Like the update in April there has been no official announcement that these extras have been released on UltimatePC.com or Microsoft's main site.

View: Windows Vista Ultimate Extras
View: Ultimate PC

Neowin.net - Microsoft releases new Ultimate Extras - Microsoft Tinker

Portable Rock Band drum kit rids your living room of clutter

Rock Band is one of the most fun video games to come out in some time now, offering mere mortals to get in on the fun of being a rock star. The only problem is that it requires a whole slew of extra equipment to play, with guitars and microphones taking up some space and then a huge honking drum set taking up way more space.

The solution? Get one of these Mad Catz portable Rock Band drum kits. It boils the peripheral down to its essence, delivering just the pads and the pedal. You can lay the pads out on your coffee table, and when it's time to put the game away you can toss them in a drawer rather than cluttering up the corner of your living room with something as dorky as a video game drum set.

DVICE: Portable Rock Band drum kit rids your living room of clutter

Mysterious New 'Dark Flow' Discovered in Space

As if the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy weren't vexing enough, another baffling cosmic puzzle has been discovered.

Patches of matter in the universe seem to be moving at very high speeds and in a uniform direction that can't be explained by any of the known gravitational forces in the observable universe. Astronomers are calling the phenomenon "dark flow."

The stuff that's pulling this matter must be outside the observable universe, researchers conclude.

When scientists talk about the

observable universe, they don't just mean as far out as the eye, or even the most powerful telescope, can see. In fact there's a fundamental limit to how much of the universe we could ever observe, no matter how advanced our visual instruments. The universe is thought to have formed about 13.7 billion years ago. So even if light started travelling toward us immediately after the Big Bang, the farthest it could ever get is 13.7 billion light-years in distance. There may be parts of the universe that are farther away (we can't know how big the whole universe is), but we can't see farther than light could travel over the entire age of the universe.

Mysterious motions

Scientists discovered the flow by studying some of the largest structures in the cosmos: giant clusters of galaxies. These clusters are conglomerations of about a thousand galaxies, as well as very hot gas which emits X-rays. By observing the interaction of the X-rays with the cosmic microwave background (CMB), which is leftover radiation from the Big Bang, scientists can study the movement of clusters.

The X-rays scatter photons in the CMB, shifting its temperature in an effect known as the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect. This effect had not been observed as a result of galaxy clusters before, but a team of researchers led by Alexander Kashlinsky, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., found it when they studied a huge catalogue of 700 clusters, reaching out up to 6 billion light-years, or half the universe away. They compared this catalogue to the map of the CMB taken by NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite.

They discovered that the clusters were moving nearly 2 million mph (3.2 million kph) toward a region in the sky between the constellations of Centaurus and Vela. This motion is different from the outward expansion of the universe (which is accelerated by the force called dark energy).

"We found a very significant velocity, and furthermore, this velocity does not decrease with distance, as far as we can measure," Kashlinsky told SPACE.com. "The matter in the observable universe just cannot produce the flow we measure."

Inflationary bubble

The scientists deduced that whatever is driving the movements of the clusters must lie beyond the known universe.

A theory called inflation posits that the universe we see is just a small bubble of space-time that got rapidly expanded after the Big Bang. There could be other parts of the cosmos beyond this bubble that we cannot see.

In these regions, space-time might be very different, and likely doesn't contain stars and galaxies (which only formed because of the particular density pattern of mass in our bubble). It could include giant, massive structures much larger than anything in our own observable universe. These structures are what researchers suspect are tugging on the galaxy clusters, causing the dark flow.

"The structures responsible for this motion have been pushed so far away by inflation, I would guesstimate they may be hundreds of billions of light years away, that we cannot see even with the deepest telescopes because the light emitted there could not have reached us in the age of the universe," Kashlinsky said in a telephone interview. "Most likely to create such a coherent flow they would have to be some very strange structures, maybe some warped space time. But this is just pure speculation."

Surprising find

Though inflation theory forecasts many odd facets of the distant universe, not many scientists predicted the dark flow.

"It was greatly surprising to us and I suspect to everyone else," Kashlinsky said. "For some particular models of inflation you would expect these kinds of structures, and there were some suggestions in the literature that were not taken seriously I think until now."

The discovery could help scientists probe what happened to the universe before inflation, and what's going on in those inaccessible realms we cannot see.

The researchers detail their findings in the Oct. 20 issue of the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.

SPACE.com -- Mysterious New 'Dark Flow' Discovered in Space

T-Mobile Launches Google Android-based G1 Phone

T-Mobile makes waves with its new G1

It's been nearly a year since Google first officially announced its plans to develop an operating system for mobile phones and today we see the launch of the first phone using Android. The T-Mobile G1 was launched today at a press event in New York City.

Starting with the hardware, the phone itself measures 4.60" x 2.16" x 0.62" and weighs in at 5.6 ounces. The device features a 3.17" touchscreen with a 480x320 resolution. The G1 supports GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA and of course GPS, Bluetooth, and WiFi.

For those that aren't quite sold on the Apple iPhone's touchscreen-based "soft" keyboard, the T-Mobile G1 features a qwerty keyboard which is revealed by turning the device on its side and sliding the keyboard upward. Other niceties include a built-in 3.1MP camera and a microSD slot (a 1GB microSD comes pre-installed).

The T-Mobile G1 will be available at launch in black, brown, and white.

Microsoft has already announced that it is developing an applications store similar in concept to Apple's iTunes App Store called "Skymarket". Google will launch what it calls Android Market. Given that the T-Mobile G1 uses a Google-based operating system, Google Maps (complete with Street View and Traffic View) and YouTube applications are pre-installed on the device. Google’s newly launched Chrome web browser will also make an appearance on the G1 in the form of “Chrome Lite”.

Another direct shot is taken at Apple in the form of a dedicated Amazon MP3 Music Store application designed for Android. Customers will have access to over six million DRM free songs starting at just $0.89 each. Customers will be able to download the songs directly to the G1, but a WiFi connection is required for over the air downloads.

"Amazon wants to make it easy for customers to discover, buy, and play their music wherever they happen to be--whether sitting at their computer or on the go," said Bill Carr, Amazon.com Vice President for Digital Music and Video. "We look forward to the release of the T-Mobile G1, which will put Amazon MP3's vast selection of low-priced DRM-free music at the fingertips of even more customers in more places."

The T-Mobile G1 will be available October 22 for $179 with a two-year contract. Data plans will start at $25 for unlimited data and limited messaging; while unlimited data and messaging will set you back $35.

According to BusinessWeek, T-Mobile is expected to sell 200,000 to 400,000 of the phones before the end of 2008. Analysts for iSuppli expect that figure to grow to as many as 9 million units globally for all of 2009.

You can catch Walt Mossberg's first impressions of the device here.

 

DailyTech - T-Mobile Launches Google Android-based G1 Phone

New features let you bring your Rock Band band into the real world

Harmonix web director Jeff Chausse posted some of the community features in store for RockBand.com. The web site will be getting a complete overhaul. Among the new features is an online photo creator that lets you do photo shoots with your virtual Rock Band 2 band and then use the pictures online. You can even link these photos to real-world merchandising to make poster, T-shirts, and stickers for your band. And if that weren't awesome dweeby enough, you can get action figures made from your band members "for about 70 bucks". If there's one way to convince your girlfriend that action figures aren't for losers, it's presenting her with an action figure of the chick she uses as her singer in Rock Band.

Pretty cool stuff. My guess is that Harmonix is feeling the pressure from the upcoming band customization features in Guitar Hero: World Tour. If you've ever messed around with a Tony Hawk character creator, you know what you're in store for when Neversoft's rock band comes out next month. It's going to make Rock Band 2's rock band customization look as limited as it really is. And it's another sign that music games are no longer just song lists, note charts, and fake instruments. There's a little RPG in here for a lot of us.

New features let you bring your Rock Band band into the real world | Fidgit

Top Music Publishers Back slotMusic Format

Music publishers make a play for new physical music format

For most of recorded music's life, delivery was tied to a physical medium of some sort. Physical formats included the vinyl record, cassette tape and the CD many of us still use today. With the advent of the digital age and digital music, the physical medium for music is a dying breed.

The lack of interest in physical media for music has led to sharp declines in profits for music publishers. Most every music publisher sells digital tracks today, but the profit margins on digital music are much slimmer than what music companies see on CDs and other physical mediums.

Today, some of the largest music publishers in the world announced that they are backing a new physical music format that they hope music lovers in the digital age will embrace. The format is called slotMusic and is nothing more than MP3 tracks stored on a microSD card. Many mobile audio devices from MP3 players to mobile phones can use the microSD format.

The format will allow users to purchase digital tracks without needing to have access to a PC or internet connection. To hear the music on the slotMusic cards would require no software or passwords, the tracks are DRM-free as well. Tracks would reportedly be encoded at up to 320 kbps in MP3 format.

"slotMusic offers consumers an immediate, tangible, and high quality alternative to CDs and digital delivery," said Danielle Levitas, vice president, Consumer, Broadband & New Media, IDC. "This year, more than 1.2 billion mobile phones will ship globally, outstripping portable media players by nearly an order of magnitude - and this trend is accelerating."

One significant detail that the backers of the new physical format have yet to announce is the price of slotMusic cards. The card themselves are nothing more than standard 1GB microSD cards. If music publishers try and sell them at a premium simply for the microSD card the format will have a tough road ahead.

Another big potential problem for the new format is that the top music player on the planet -- Apple's iPod -- lacks support for microSD. The iPod alone accounts for nearly 60% of all music players on the market. Another huge potential issue for the slotMusic format backers is that programs like the Nokia Comes with Music plan are starting to gain momentum.

With music fans being able to buy a phone and get all of the music they want free for a full year -- from the same publishers that are backing the slotMusic format -- the future doesn't seem very bright for slotMusic. Sony Ericsson is also going to offer music phones with unlimited music downloads.

On top of portable devices with free music, the fact that the iPod doesn’t support microSD coupled with the fact that the iTunes store is the largest music retailer around, overall slowing sales of music is another factor to contend with.

Music based video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band are fast becoming one of the preferred music buying formats. A perfect example is Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, the game massively outsold the latest Aerosmith album. Even established bands with significant followings like Metallica are realizing that playable tracks for music-based games are potentially one of the best formats for music distribution available today. Many credit the renewed popularity of Metallica to Guitar Hero and Rock Band. If the slotMusic format isn’t doomed from the start, it certainly has some major hurdles to overcome.

DailyTech - Top Music Publishers Back slotMusic Format

The New Xbox Experience Avatars Video

Xbox Live Director of Programming Larry Hryb, aka Major Nelson, takes us through a quick walkthrough of the New Xbox Experience, showing how Avatars are going to work.

First, you choose your Avatar from a series of random models. You can modify it at any time. If you want to tweak your Avatar, simply go to My Xbox channel and select "Customize Avatar." There you will find five options: "Change My Features," "Change My Clothes," "Gamer Picture," "Start Over" and "Save and Exit".

The New Xbox Experience Avatars Video - Xbox

First wave of 'Real PC' ads go public

As expected, Microsoft unveiled their first wave of "Real PC" ads tonight featuring a wide range people who break the PC stereotype that has been set by Apple in their ads.

According to Microsoft "the ads will feature green architect Edouard Francois, astronaut Bernard Harris and celebrities such as Eva Longoria and Deepak Chopra, but the main focus is on real PC users of all ages and from all walks of life, such as teachers, cabbies, designers and fish mongers."
The ads also feature a Microsoft engineer, dressed as the sterotype PC from the Apple ads, who looks so much like John Hodgman... it's scary.

You can upload your own "I'm a PC" clip on Microsoft's new "Life Without Walls" site, which may be featured in online ads or on the big screen in Times Square, New York.

Video: Pride | Not Alone | Sterotype
View: imapc.lifewithoutwalls.com
View: Microsoft Press Release

Neowin.net - First wave of 'Real PC' ads go public

Shuttle Endeavour Moves to Launch Pad as Rescue Ship

The space shuttle Endeavour rolled out to a Florida launching pad early Friday to serve as a rescue craft for its sister ship Atlantis in what is expected to be the last time in history that NASA has two orbiters in launch position at the same time.

Riding atop NASA's Apollo-era crawler carrier vehicle, Endeavour completed the slow 4.2-mile (5.6-km) trek

to the seaside Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., at about 7:00 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT) after a nearly eight-hour journey from the massive Vehicle Assembly Building. The shuttle Atlantis, meanwhile, stood perched atop the nearby Pad 39A for its planned Oct. 10 launch toward the Hubble Space Telescope.

"This is the last time that this is ever going to happen," NASA spokesperson Allard Beutel told SPACE.com from the Florida spaceport.

NASA is preparing to launch seven astronauts aboard Atlantis next month on the final service call to the Hubble Space Telescope, where the spaceflyers plan to perform five back-to-back spacewalks to install new cameras, replace aging batteries, gyroscopes and other components, add a docking ring and make tricky repairs to equipment never designed for in-flight maintenance.

A container packed with the spare parts and new instruments for Hubble will be delivered to Atlantis atop its launch pad late Saturday after a slight delay so engineers could clean up contamination in one of the cargo elements. The orbital overhaul is expected to extend the 18-year-old Hubble's mission through at least 2013.

But unlike recent missions to the International Space Station, where shuttle crews had the option of awaiting rescue aboard the outpost if their spacecraft suffered critical heat shield damage, Atlantis astronauts have no such safety net because they must fly higher and in a different orbit than the station to reach Hubble.

Instead, NASA plans to have Endeavour and a skeleton crew of four astronauts standing by in the unlikely event Atlantis' heat shield is damaged beyond repair and the orbiter is unable to return to Earth. Under that plan, Endeavour would rendezvous with Atlantis and astronauts would stage a series of three spacewalks to retrieve the Hubble astronauts before discarding the stricken spacecraft.

"They would come up and they'd rendezvous with us," explained Atlantis shuttle pilot Gregory C. Johnson in a NASA interview. "We would grapple each other, robotic arm to robotic arm, essentially, and then would transfer crew members between the shuttles."

NASA mission managers and Atlantis astronauts consider the rescue plan an extremely unlikely scenario and are confident their mission will go as planned. Once Atlantis and its crew return safely to Earth, NASA will move Endeavour from Pad 39B to Pad 39A for its planned Nov. 12 launch to haul fresh supplies and equipment to the International Space Station.

Pad 39B, meanwhile, is due to be turned over to NASA's Constellation program to be modified to launch the new Ares I rockets designed to loft the agency's Orion shuttle successor into orbit by 2014 and on to the moon by 2020. The first Ares I test flight is set for June 2009.

"So it will no longer be a space shuttle launch pad. It will become an Ares rocket launch pad for NASA's next-generation spacecraft," Beutel said.

Meanwhile, NASA is enjoying a shuttle flight rarity with both Endeavour and Atlantis atop their respective launch pads. Two shuttles have stood simultaneously atop the two launch pads just 17 times before in the NASA's 27-year orbiter history, the last time in 2001 during the STS-105 and STS-104 missions. Atlantis' October launch will mark NASA's 124th space shuttle flight.

"People around here are proud of the shuttles and the work they've done on them, so they're looking forward to seeing two of them prominently displayed on the launch pad for everyone to see," Beutel said. "Knowing this will be the last time makes it a little extra special."

SPACE.com -- Shuttle Endeavour Moves to Launch Pad as Rescue Ship

Cryptic Reveals Star Trek Online Details

Cryptic Studios has posted their latest internal Q&A session revealing a number of details about the upcoming Star Trek Online no doubt designed to make Trekkies salivate.

The entire post is packed full of geeky Trek details, but even those of us who can't tell a Tribble from a hamster should be excited about certain confirmations. Specifically, that the game will feature Cryptic's legendary level of character customization (see City of Heroes, Champions Online), and that Federation ships will accurately reflect the Trek television shows.

Unfortunately, it's not all good news. Trek's memorable three-dimensional chess games may not appear in Star Trek Online: "We are always looking at gameplay elements to enhance the Star Trek experience. 3D chess is a Trek classic, and it's on the list. But it may not be in for launch –- maybe an expansion."

Image courtesy Cryptic Studios

Ask Cryptic [Star Trek Online]

Cryptic Reveals Star Trek Online Details | Game | Life from Wired.com

Historic first look at an alien world, 3106 trillion miles away

You see that dot to the upper left of that star? You're looking at the first picture of a planet from an alien solar system, 500 light years from Earth. It's a planet eight times bigger than Jupiter. While it looks close to this sun-sized star in the picture, it's actually 11 times farther away from it than Neptune is from our sun.

While scientists have found numerous planets by detecting gravitational "wobble" in stars, “this is the first time we have directly seen a planetary mass object in a likely orbit around a star like our Sun,” said the lead author of a paper about the discovery, David Lafrenière. The University of Toronto astronomers who took this shot say the planet is probably orbiting this star, but add there's a slight chance it could be just hanging there in space. They're still not even sure if it's moving in sync with the star, which will take two more years of observation to determine.

This could change everything for scientists, who thought planets could only be formed by dust and matter close to a star. Equally interesting is how this picture was taken of an object 3106 trillion miles away, using a an infrared adaptive optics system and the near-infrared imager on the Gemini North telescope atop Mona Kea in Hawaii.

DVICE: Historic first look at an alien world, 3106 trillion miles away

ATI Catalyst 8.9 Display Driver released

This particular software suite updates both the AMD Display Driver, and the Catalyst Control Center. This unified driver has been further enhanced to provide the highest level of power, performance, and reliability. The AMD Catalyst software suite is the ultimate in performance and stability.

View: ATI website
Download: ATI Catalyst 8.9 Display Driver
View: Release Notes

Neowin.net - ATI Catalyst 8.9 Display Driver released

Mirror's Edge is delivered onto consoles Nov. 11, PC version delayed

EA has announced that its parkour, rebellion and delivery girl simulator, Mirror's Edge, will release November 11 for Xbox 360 and PS3. Giving credence to the rumors already floating around, the PC version of the game is now confirmed for "later in the winter."

EA also confirmed that a demo will be available featuring "the tutorial" and a scene from the single-player campaign. Those who pre-order at "select retailers" after September 26 will receive a code that unlocks "Time Trial" in the demo. Hopefully, the game will be delivered on time -- watch the rooftops!

Mirror's Edge is delivered onto consoles Nov. 11, PC version delayed - Joystiq

DirecTV to deliver HDTV to your computer?

Watching HDTV on your computer isn't an easy thing to get setup, despite the obvious benefits as computer screens get larger and convergence becomes more of a reality. That might change, however, as soon as the DirecTV HDPC-20 hits store shelves.

This dual-tuner allows you to watch and record programming on your PC, allowing you to hook a computer up in your living room and use it as the most robust DVR ever. Other features aren't entirely clear, but it may be possible to stream recorded content from it to Windows Media Extender devices such as the Xbox 360. It would make setting up a home theatre PC much easier than it is now, but right now there's no release date and the product specs are sketchy. We'll keep our eyes on this one for you.

DVICE: DirecTV to deliver HDTV to your computer?

Video peek inside the futuristic interior of the 2011 Chevy Volt

You've seen (and maybe yawned at) the exterior of the upcoming 2011 Chevy Volt, now take a close-up video look at the interior of the GM electric car. Two 7-inch displays, touch screen and capacitive touch controls, a gear shifter that fits into the center console and a whole lot more coolness is in store for those early adopters adventurous enough to take a chance on the giant U.S. automaker in late 2010.

While we're a little disappointed with the homogenization of the exterior design (look at it before it got aerodynamically enhanced but aesthetically dumbed down), this interior has us stoked. And that 40-mile limit of a battery charge will be just enough for about 99% of our driving, hardly ever requiring us to use the Volt's gas engine to charge its batteries on the road.

Yeah, GM. It's about time. If this works out, we may just forgive you for killing the electric car the first time.

DVICE: Video peek inside the futuristic interior of the 2011 Chevy Volt

Guitar Hero 4's New Instrument Revealed

The fabled "new instrument" for Guitar Hero World Tour is actually no instrument at all. Instead, it's a feature that will let PC users import MIDI tracks into the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game, Neversoft project director Brian Bright has informed Shacknews.

 

The MIDI sequencer functionality encompasses rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass, keyboards and drum tracks on the PlayStation 3, but will be limited to drum tracks on the Xbox 360 due to unspecified "hardware issues." The feature will arrive as part of a week-one patch for the game, which hits October 26.

Word of a new instrument, specifically dedicated to the game's music creation mode, recently emerged. However, Bright claims his comments were "misconstrued."

"We have full, basically, computer editing control, at least on the PS3, through the music studio," he stated in a Shacknews interview, to be published in full later. "And that's where I was going when I said that [about a new instrument]."

"If you really want to compose on your PC, obviously you're going to use the samples in-game, but if you really want to compose on PC or turn your band's MIDI...into a GH Tunes song, you can do that," he explained. "You can press play on the computer, and if you have it connected through MIDI, you can record into the music studio."

When asked about the specifics of the recording process, Bright noted that "it's going to take an FAQ on the Guitar Hero site--it's not something that your average user is gonna do."

"If you're a musician or you do any sequencing, it really just makes the pathway to getting your songs in the game that much easier--once you get it down. We just really want to give people enough tools to be able to make good music," he concluded.

Guitar Hero 4's New Instrument Revealed - Shacknews

Feast Your Eyes: The 2011 Chevy Volt

General Motors just unveiled the final production version of the Chevrolet Volt, a car that some say will save the company while others believe it will bankrupt it. The Volt is a new kind of car, so new that nobody's quite decided what they're going to be called.

People seem to be settling on calling it an Extended-Range Electric Vehicle (or EREV.) Others are calling it a REEV (range extended electric vehicle) while still others prefer the technical term "series hybrid." One thing it is not is just another hybrid vehicle. Whatever they're going to be called, car companies are drooling over the possibilities. After GM announced the Volt, Mazda, Ford, VW, Volvo, and Jeep began planning their own EREVs.

EREVs (which have never been mass-manufactured) never use gasoline to move the wheels. Instead, the electric engine drives the car 100% of the time. However, when the batteries get low, an on-board gasoline generator kicks in to re-charge the batteries.

The end result is that the Chevy Volt will be able to travel 40 miles without a drop of gasoline. Since most commutes and errands take less than 40 miles, the car won't use gas at all in regular daily use. However, unlike other electric vehicles, if you run out of charge, you aren't stuck. The gasoline generator can always fill up the batteries, and you can always fill up the gas tank.

This is possibly the only solution that could make electric vehicles work with existing technology. Because we in America tend to refuse to purchase cars that don't have four seats, a top speed over eighty, a range of over 300 miles, and a price under $30,000, there is simply no other solution.

The solution that comes closest to the Volt (and takes us further into full-electric vehicles) is Project Better Place. Unfortunately, Project Better Place would require a major infrastructure investment. Plus, PBP's battery replacement system would require that all cars use the same battery. And in America, where choice (or at least the illusion of choice) is king, those preferring larger cars might not be so happy with smaller batteries.

GM expects the Volt to be more expensive than the average American will want to pay at first. But hopefully mass manufacture of the lithium ion batteries will bring the price below $30,000 without too much trouble. But the prospect of having a car that the majority of people would fill up only on long trips is a game-changer.

While most companies are rushing to release their own extended-range EV, the one company not doing anything in EREVs right now is Toyota, who has repeatedly affirmed their belief that the Volt will be a complete failure. Those of us with a history in green car journalism might feel a little bit of Deja Vu...that's exactly what GM said about the Prius.

The Volt won't be available until late 2010 at the earliest, and speculations at GM indicate that it will cost more than $35,000. But by 2010, gas prices might be so high that $35k looks awfully cheap for a car that you never have to fill up.

More Pictures Below

Feast Your Eyes: The 2011 Chevy Volt | EcoGeek

Best Buy to Purchase Napster

Best Buy will pick up Napster in an attempt to compete against more successful online music services

Best Buy kicked off this week by announcing that it purchased Napster for $121 million in cash in an attempt to compete against Apple iTunes and Amazon's online music store.  The deal should be closed by the fourth quarter.

“This transaction offers Best Buy a recognized platform for enhancing our capabilities in the digital media space and building new, recurring relationships with customers,” said Best Buy President and COO Brian Dunn.  “Over time we hope to strengthen our offerings to consumers, who we believe will increasingly seek devices and solutions that enable them to access their content wherever, whenever and however they want.”

Since Napster has about $67 million in cash and short-term investments, Best Buy will actually end up paying just $54 million, or $2.65 per share, which is a 50 percent increase in the stock's closing price last week.  The company purchased several smaller online music stores over the past few years, but its stock price continued to drop -- but the turnaround started in May, when the company launched its new store.

Both Best Buy and Napster have their own digital music download services, but both services have had a hard time competing with Apple which controls 70 percent of the music market.  Best Buy will be able to collect Napster's 700,000 subscribers, along with the Napster customer service platform and mobile service.  The deal does not include the company's peer-to-peer platform, which is a strong sign that it is no longer relevant.

Napster's online music store is one of the largest in the world, and generated $127.5 million in revenue over the last fiscal year.

Napster has 140 employees in its Los Angeles headquarters and Best Buy does not have immediate plans to make drastic changes among the employees.

DailyTech - Best Buy to Purchase Napster

Scientist Transmits Solar Power on Earth, Next Up: Space

New advances in power transmission would make Tesla proud

After decades of dormancy, interest in transmitting power wirelessly is finally heating up in the tech community.  Intel recently demoed its new wireless charging tech which it says could power its next generation chipsets.  Now, a former NASA researcher is revealing even grander plans to transform the business of power generation as we know it.

Funded by the Discovery Channel, John C. Mankins finished a four month experiment which began by collecting solar power, nothing out of the ordinary.  What happened next was relatively extraordinary, though -- he transmitted the power 92 miles (148 km) between two Hawaiian Islands. 

Terrestrial power transmission is only of interest to Mr. Mankins as a proof of concept.  Mr. Mankins' true plans are out of this world.  He envisions a network of 1,102 lb. (500 kg) satellites beaming solar power collected from panels back to Earth, satisfying all the world's power needs.

After working loyally for NASA for 25 years, he resigned after the solar program at the agency was terminated.  Now he's completed one of the more ambitious transmission experiments in history -- enough to make Nikola Tesla, the man who first envisioned wireless power transmission, proud.

The work still has a long way to go, though.  The transmission only successfully received one one-thousandth of the total power sent, a very low efficiency.  This was primarily because the receivers were so tiny.  Larger receivers, would still be rather inefficient, but could in theory, achieve much higher efficiencies.  Furthermore, the costs were relatively high at $1M USD, but Mr. Mankins believes the costs would decrease as the technology was scaled up.

In total each of the nine solar panels in the transmission assembly sent 2 watts of power.  They were originally equipped to send 20 watts, but the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration would only approve the lower power transmissions.

The encouraging results have reaffirmed Mr. Mankins' commitment to one day bring space-based solar power to the world.  His vision is that one day a fleet of satellites will beam power down to lake-sized receivers.  He enthuses, "The test was in no way fully successful, (but) I think it showed it is possible to transmit solar power quickly and affordably."

Mr. Mankins is president of ARTEMIS Innovation Management Solutions LLC, a startup which provides "strategic planning, technology assessment, and R&D management objectives" to government agencies.  He is also president of the Space Power Association.

The U.S. military is investigating similar plans to use satellite based solar power to beam power to troops on the battlefield.

DailyTech - Scientist Transmits Solar Power on Earth, Next Up: Space

Possible First Photo of Planet Around Sun-Like Star

Astronomers have taken what may the first picture of a planet orbiting a star similar to the sun.

This distant world is giant (about eight times the mass of Jupiter) and lies far out from its star (about 330 times the Earth-Sun distance). But for all the planet's strangeness, its star is quite like our own sun.

Previously, the

only photographed extrasolar planets have belonged to tiny, dim stars known as brown dwarfs. And while hundreds of exoplanets have been detected by noting their gravitational tug on their parent stars, it is rare to find one large enough to image directly.

"This is the first time we have directly seen a planetary mass object in a likely orbit around a star like our sun," said David Lafrenière, an astronomer at the University of Toronto who led the team that discovered the star. "If we confirm that this object is indeed gravitationally tied to the star, it will be a major step forward."

Further study will be needed to prove that the planet is in fact orbiting around the star, as opposed to the possibility, however unlikely, that the two objects just happen to lie in the same area of the sky at roughly the same distance from us.

"Of course it would be premature to say that the object is definitely orbiting this star, but the evidence is extremely compelling," Lafrenière said. "This will be a very intensely studied object for the next few years!"

The researchers used the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii to glimpse the planet and its star, 1RXS J160929.1-210524, which lies about 500 light-years from Earth. Though the star has about 85 percent the mass of the sun, it is younger than our star. In order to image the far-flung system, the team utilized adaptive optics technology, which uses flexible mirrors to offset the distortion light suffers as it passes through Earth's atmosphere.

The strange planet so far from its parent star is unexpected based on current theories of star and planet formation. For comparison, the farthest planet in our solar system, Neptune, lies only 30 times the Earth-sun distance away from the sun.

"This discovery is yet another reminder of the truly remarkable diversity of worlds out there, and it's a strong hint that nature may have more than one mechanism for producing planetary mass companions to normal stars," said team member Ray Jayawardhana, also of the University of Toronto.

The distant exoplanet, at about 1,800 Kelvin (about 1,500ºC), is also much hotter than our own Jupiter, which has a temperature of about 160 Kelvin (-110ºC).

The team discovered the new planet as part a survey of more than 85 stars in the Upper Scorpius association, a group of young stars formed about 5 million years ago. The researchers have detailed the study in a paper submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Letters and also posted online.

"This discovery certainly has us looking forward to what other surprises nature has in stock for us," said University of Toronto team member Marten van Kerkwijk.

SPACE.com -- Possible First Photo of Planet Around Sun-Like Star

Guitar Hero World Tour Setlist Revealed

Activision has finally unveiled the full 86-song setlist for the upcoming Guitar Hero World Tour.

The game includes tracks from Blondie, Joe Satriani, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Nirvana, Sublime, Tool and Ted Nugent -- a full list can be found below.

Guitar Hero World Tour hits North American retail shelves on October 26. European and Australian territories will see the game on November 7 and November 12, respectively.

• 311 - “Beautiful Disaster”
• 30 Seconds To Mars - “The Kill”
• Airbourne - “Too Much Too Young”
• The Allman Brothers Band - “Ramblin' Man”
• Anouk - “Good God”
• The Answer - “Never Too Late”
• At The Drive-In - “One Armed Scissor”
• Beastie Boys - “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”
• Beatsteaks - “Hail to the Freaks”
• Billy Idol - “Rebel Yell”
• Black Label Society - “Stillborn”
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - “Weapon of Choice”
• blink-182 - “Dammit”
• Blondie - “One Way or Another”
• Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - “Hollywood Nights”
• Bon Jovi - “Livin’ On A Prayer”
• Bullet For My Valentine - “Scream Aim Fire”
• Coldplay - “Shiver”
• Creedence Clearwater Revival - “Up Around The Bend”
• The Cult - “Love Removal Machine”
• Dinosaur Jr. - “Feel The Pain”
• The Doors - “Love Me Two Times”
• Dream Theater - “Pull Me Under”
• The Eagles - “Hotel California”
• The Enemy - “Aggro”
• Filter - “Hey Man, Nice Shot”
• Fleetwood Mac - “Go Your Own Way”
• Foo Fighters - “Everlong”
• The Guess Who - “American Woman”
• Hush Puppies - “You're Gonna Say Yeah!”
• Interpol - “Obstacle 1”
• Jane's Addiction - “Mountain Song”
• Jimi Hendrix - “Purple Haze (Live)”
• Jimi Hendrix - “The Wind Cries Mary”
• Jimmy Eat World - “The Middle”
• Joe Satriani - “Satch Boogie”
• Kent - “Vinternoll2”
• Korn - “Freak On A Leash”
• Lacuna Coil - “Our Truth”
• Lenny Kravitz - “Are You Gonna Go My Way”
• Linkin Park - “What I've Done”
• The Living End - “Prisoner of Society”
• Los Lobos - “La Bamba”
• Lost Prophets - “Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)”
• Lynyrd Skynyrd - “Sweet Home Alabama (Live)”
• Mars Volta - “L'Via L'Viaquez”
• MC5’s Wayne Kramer - “Kick Out The Jams”
• Metallica - “Trapped Under Ice”
• Michael Jackson - “Beat It”
• Modest Mouse - “Float On”
• Motörhead - “Overkill”
• Muse - “Assassin”
• Negramaro - “Nuvole e Lenzuola”
• Nirvana - “About a Girl (Unplugged)”
• No Doubt - “Spiderwebs”
• NOFX - “Soul Doubt”
• Oasis - “Some Might Say”
• Ozzy Osbourne - “Crazy Train”
• Ozzy Osbourne - “Mr. Crowley”
• Paramore - “Misery Business”
• Pat Benatar - “Heartbreaker”
• R.E.M. - “The One I Love”
• Radio Futura - “Escuela De Calor”
• Rise Against - “Re-Education Through Labor”
• Sex Pistols - “Pretty Vacant”
• Silversun Pickups - “Lazy Eye”
• Smashing Pumpkins - “Today”
• Steely Dan - “Do It Again”
• Steve Miller Band - “The Joker”
• Sting - “Demolition Man (Live)”
• The Stone Roses - “Love Spreads”
• Stuck In The Sound - “Toy Boy”
• Sublime - “Santeria”
• Survivor - “Eye of the Tiger”
• System of a Down - “B.Y.O.B.”
• Ted Nugent - “Stranglehold”
• Ted Nugent’s Original Guitar Duel Recording
• Tokio Hotel - “Monsoon”
• Tool - “Parabola”
• Tool - “Schism”
• Tool - “Vicarious”
• Trust - “Antisocial”
• Van Halen - “Hot For Teacher”
• Willie Nelson - “On The Road Again”
• Wings - “Band on the Run”
• Zakk Wylde’s Original Guitar Duel Recording

Image courtesy Activision

Guitar Hero World Tour Setlist Revealed | Game | Life from Wired.com

Extra Life charity lets gamers battle cancer

With billions of loyal fans visiting our site each hour, we have a considerable, almost daunting amount of power. It's a power we occasionally use for evil or just for stupid, but we decided this morning that we'd do something good with it for a change and direct your attention to Extra Life.

Fresh from the victory of their non-boycott, Sarcastic Gamer is once again rallying the troops, this time asking them to set aside Oct. 18 for an all-day gaming marathon. All you have to do is get friends and loved ones to sponsor your decadence with money that goes straight to the Texas Children's Cancer Center. It's like a charity fun run, but for fat people.

It's a great effort, but do us a favor and take at least a couple of breaks, will you? The last thing you want to do is fight cancer while you die of dehydration.

Extra Life charity lets gamers battle cancer - Joystiq

Report: Windows 7 Beta 1 Slips from October to December

It appears testers will have to wait longer to get their hands on Vista's successor

Windows 7 is one of the hottest topics in the tech community today.  Set to debut in late 2009 or early 2010, Microsoft's latest version of Windows promises to make up ground in areas Windows Vista lacked, by offering a leaner build, innovative user interface technology such as touch inputs, and better hardware partner support.  With regular blogs streaming from Microsoft's Redmond, Washington Windows 7 development team, the company is in full swing preparing for the release.

Fans, developers, and customers are eagerly awaiting the release of the first beta candidate of the new OS.  Initially speculation was that Microsoft would roll out beta 1 at its late October Professional Developers Conference (PDC), or at the latest, at its early November Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC).

However, it appears that the release has been pushed back.  ZDNet cites inside sources as saying that the earliest the beta 1 might be released would be mid-December.  A scant few already have their hands on the new OS.  Some hardware partners and a select group of customers were given access to the two milestones -- alpha builds of sorts -- M1 and M2.  The Windows team is supposedly in the process of wrapping up M3 for release.

The slip has led many to speculate that Microsoft may release an interim Community Technology Preview (CTP) build for release to a broader group of testers.  However, if it has such plans, Microsoft is leaving its customers and hardware partners in the dark about them.  Most reticently believe that Microsoft will not release Windows 7 previews to a wider audience until it’s nearly feature-complete.

One thing that is known is that Microsoft is collecting testers for the eventual beta release through its Connect site.  A post on the Windows 7 Engineering blog by Christina Storm, a program manager on the Windows Customer Engineering feature team, states:

When we release the Windows 7 beta we will also be collecting feedback from this (Windows Feedback) panel and asking for participation from a set of Windows 7 beta users.Our current plans call for signing up for the beta to happen in the standard Microsoft manner on http://connect.microsoft.com. Stay tuned!

If the beta 1 does drop in December, it will mean that there will be less than a year between it and the targeted release to market date (late 2009).  Some speculate that this may be because Windows engineering chief Steven Sinofsky routinely delivered short betas for the Office team he once headed.  While some are speculating that this could be a significant mistake, leading to Vista-like compatibility issues, its virtually set in stone that Microsoft is going to take things at its own pace.  In the meantime, the rest of the tech community is left to patiently wait.

DailyTech - Report: Windows 7 Beta 1 Slips from October to December

Firefox 3.1 To Add Private Browsing?

With similar features already built in to Safari, IE8, and Google Chrome, the Mozilla gang is once again looking to add private browsing to Firefox.

While the Stealther addon can already provide this functionality, FIrefox is looking to implement it in the 3.1 release before year's end.

The goal will be to store as much data from private browsing sessions as possible in memory to avoid writing to the hard drive. Information that users save explicitly - bookmarks, for example - will still be written to the disk. Subtlty appears to be a goal as well, since IE's Inprivate mode notification "is fail," according to developer Mike Connor. I'll assume he's not a fan of Chrome's tiny Spy Guy either.

Why add the feature? There are a number of reasons given at the wiki, including planning a surprise party, viewing porn, or cheating on your spouse. I believe I see a pattern forming. Others - like me - probably just want the assurance of being able to browse without leaving traces of activity on a local machine.

Specifics about Mozilla's goals for private browsing can be viewed at the wiki.

Firefox 3.1 To Add Private Browsing? - Download Squad

Microsoft SideWinder X8 gaming mouse uses new BlueTrack laser

Whoa. Microsoft blasted its mice into the next level yesterday with its BlueTrack laser tech, and one of the first out of the gate is this seven-button SideWinder X8 gaming mouse. Gamers will be skeptical of its wireless nature, fantasizing that their reflexes are faster than the X8's 13,000 frames per second, 75g maximum acceleration, 120 inches per second maximum speed and 2.4GHz transmitter, but they may like the way it can hold up to 30 hours of nonstop gaming before it needs a charge. This oughta beat its predecessor handily.

That "4000" festooned on its side boasts of the SideWinder X8's impressive-sounding 4000 dpi resolution, getting well into the spec-derby range and far beyond anything meaningful. Maybe numbers like that can help to justify its $99.95 price, or convince hard-core gamers to wait until February for its release. Take a look at another pic of the mouse tethered to its spool-like charging cable minder, as well as Microsoft's press release:

Microsoft's Press Release:

Experience Untethered, Uninterrupted Gameplay With Microsoft’s New SideWinder X8 Mouse

First wireless SideWinder mouse features Microsoft BlueTrack Technology for the best speeds and feeds available.
REDMOND, Wash.  Sept. 10, 2008  Microsoft Corp. today unleashed the SideWinder X8 Mouse, offering wireless freedom with wired performance with a 2.4GHz wireless connection that is built for lag-free play. The latest SideWinder mouse features an innovative play-and-charge system to ensure a nonstop gaming experience — up to 30 hours of active gaming on a single charge — with no need to stop the game to change batteries. The SideWinder X8 Mouse is a top performer thanks to Microsoft’s new, proprietary BlueTrack Technology that gives this mouse the best frame rate, speed and acceleration on the market and a tracking range from 250 to 4,000 dots per inch (dpi).

“When conducting our research, we found room for improving on the wireless experience for gamers, especially as it related to perceived delay or lag time of response. The SideWinder X8 Mouse will put those wireless gaming mouse fears to rest,” said Bill Jukes, product marketing manager for Microsoft Hardware. “We designed this mouse to perform to the highest gaming standards — with near-zero latency, uninterrupted gameplay and the world’s most advanced tracking with BlueTrack Technology.”

Innovation for Gaming Performance
The SideWinder X8 Mouse is a top-performing wireless gaming mouse, with a combination of BlueTrack Technology tracking that provides the best speeds and feeds available, 2.4GHz wireless technology built for lag-free play, and an easy recharging system that keeps gamers in action.
• BlueTrack Technology. The world’s most advanced tracking offers next-generation tracking technology for gaming with image processing of 13,000 frames per second, 75g maximum acceleration and 120 inches per second maximum speed.
• 2.4GHz wireless. The device is built for lag-free play with virtually no latency.
• Play and charge. Get up to 30 hours of active gaming on a single charge, or use the play-and-charge cable for nonstop action. The winding cord management system offers easy charging — simply unwrap the cord from around the storage box and snap it onto the underside of the mouse.

Designed for Gaming
Comfort continues to be one of the main needs of PC gamers, and the SideWinder X8 Mouse features a unique, comfortable design that gamers will appreciate for extended sessions of play. Features include the following:
• Scroll wheel with tilt. The mouse has better feel and response with detents for precise control.
• Engineered for speed. The shape was designed for quick, balanced and precise gaming actions.
• Vertical side buttons. The top and bottom design makes locating side buttons easier and reduces unintentional activation. The X8 also offers smart features to enhance the gaming experience, including an LCD screen on the mouse to quickly view dpi settings and macro-recording icons, and a Quick Launch button that provides one-touch access to Microsoft’s PC gaming features.

Custom Tuning
Gamers also like to customize their gaming mouse to fit their needs, which is why the SideWinder X8 Mouse offers the following adjustable features:
• DPI switching. Instantly switch sensitivity among high, medium and low with one click, ranging from 250 to 4,000 dpi.
• Replaceable mouse feet. Choose from three materials for glide preference.
• Seven programmable buttons. Customize five programmable main buttons, plus left and right tilt.
• Macro record button. Easily record macros while in game with the dedicated button.

Pricing and Availability
The SideWinder X8 Mouse will be widely available in February 2009 for an estimated retail price of $99.95 (U.S.).2 The mouse is available now for pre-sale on Amazon.com and will ship in February when it is released. The SideWinder X8 Mouse will be backed by a worldwide three-year limited hardware warranty from Microsoft Corp. More information about this and other Microsoft Hardware products can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/hardware.

About Microsoft Hardware
For more than 25 years, the Hardware Group has employed innovative engineering, cutting-edge industrial design and extensive usability testing to create products of exceptional quality and durability that enhance the software experience and strengthen the connection between consumers and their PC. Microsoft Hardware leads the industry in ergonomic engineering, industrial design and hardware/software compatibility, offering consumers an easier, more convenient and more enjoyable computing experience. Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer, which launched in 1999, earned a place on PCWorld.com’s December 2005 list of “The 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years” as the first mainstream optical mouse that “brought gunk-free pointing devices” to a broad consumer base. More information about the Hardware Group is available at http://www.mshardwareguide.com.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

DVICE: Microsoft SideWinder X8 gaming mouse uses new BlueTrack laser

Swype to make typing on a touchscreen faster and easier

When we all started texting on numerical pads, we needed a system to make it bearable. T9 texting, the system of predictive text that made tying on a number pad doable, revolutionized texting. And now the guy behind it, Cliff Kushler, is about to take writing on a touchscreen keyboard to the next level.

He's developed Swype, an amazing new system for writing on a touchscreen that allows you to keep your finger on the screen and simply move it around to the letters you want to hit. By doing so, the system can see exactly what word you're going for (even if you aren't precise), and you can write at up to 50 words per minute or faster. It's hard to understand just how awesome this is until you see it in action, so check out the video above. Let's bring this thing to the iPhone, and fast.

DVICE: Swype to make typing on a touchscreen faster and easier

Scream of Black Hole's Birth Detected Halfway Across the Universe

Six months ago, satellite telescopes spotted an exceptionally bright burst of energy that would have been the most distant object in the universe ever visible to the naked eye, if anyone saw it.

Even though no humans have reported seeing it directly, the gamma-ray burst, an explosion that signals the violent death of a massive star, is changing theories of how these events look. Gamma ray bursts are typically accompanied by intense releases of other forms of radiation, from X-rays to visible light.

This burst, dubbed GRB 080819B, was

first detected by the Swift satellite on March 19, while the spacecraft was serendipitously looking at another gamma-ray burst in the same area of the sky.

The light it emitted in the visible part of the spectrum was so intense that the burst would have been visible to the naked eye in the constellation Bootes for about 40 seconds — no other gamma-ray burst has ever been visible without a telescope.

The incredible amount of energy given off across the entire electromagnetic spectrum during a gamma-ray burst is what Jonathan Grindlay of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics calls "the birth pangs of a black hole. This is the scream."

It took the light of GRB 080819B about 7.4 billion years to reach Earth, placing the explosion "more than halfway back to the Big Bang and the origin of our universe," Grindlay wrote in an editorial accompanying a new study of the burst in the Sept. 10 issue of the journal Nature.

This means that the explosion happened 3 billion years before the sun or Earth even formed, Grindlay added. When astronomers see such distant objects, they are in effect looking back in time.

After the Swift detection, telescopes around the world were alerted and trained their eyes onto the new gamma-ray burst, giving scientists a highly detailed view of these explosions — the most luminous in the universe — whose formation and structure still hold many mysteries. The findings in the new study of GRB 080819B challenge some of the commonly-held views of gamma-ray bursts.

A violent death and birth

Gamma-ray bursts are something of an extreme form of supernovas, the bright explosions that mark the deaths of massive stars.

But possibly one in every 1,000 supernovae is not one of these "normal" explosions; instead of the star simply dying, its core collapses to form a black hole — that event generates a gamma-ray burst. (Just what the conditions are that boost a normal supernova into a gamma-ray burst are not known.)

The gamma-ray burst is actually a powerful jet of material sent out by the spinning accretion disk that surrounds a newborn black hole. This bright part of the burst typically only lasts between 3 and 100 seconds, and an afterglow follows that can last for days or weeks.

GRB 080819B's jet was one of the brightest ever observed in terms of gamma rays, and it was unusually bright in optical wavelengths.

"It was unexpected that it was this bright," said lead author of the new study Judith Racusin, a graduate student at Penn State University.

Narrow jet

The study suggests that the jet of the gamma-burst actually has two components: a narrow, ultra-fast jet at the core of a wider, slightly slower jet.

The narrow part of the jet of GRB 080819B was so fast that it shot material directly toward Earth at 99.99995 percent the speed of light.

Scientists think that it was because the jet was pointed straight at us that it appeared so much brighter than previously-observed gamma-ray bursts. The researchers speculate that it is rare to detect the inner core of the jet because it is so narrow — only about 1/100^th the size of the full moon as seen from Earth.

For this reason, astronomers think they may have missed the narrow core of the jet in previous bursts: "We're primarily just seeing the outer jet," Grindlay told SPACE.com, because we are not seeing those bursts head-on.

Racusin said that it isn't know for sure that all gamma-ray bursts have this two component structure to their jets, but that the theory fits what they saw with GRB 080819B.

To see a similarly bright burst, astronomers would have to catch another one aimed directly at Earth, which Racusin and her colleagues calculated should happen about once ever three to 10 years.

Swift may not still be around in 10 years, but the recently launched GLAST satellite (recently renamed Fermi) and other missions in the planning stages could catch a glimpse of them.

But whether or not they do, Racusin knows one thing: With GRB 080819B, "we got lucky."

SPACE.com -- Scream of Black Hole's Birth Detected Halfway Across the Universe