America's Army 3 Coming To Steam

America's Army 3, the upcoming iteration of the real Army's free first-person shooter recruiting tool, will be available on Steam when it launches.

One of the things the first two iterations of the game taught the developers is that they need to make the game as easy to find, download and install as possible, said Marsha Berry, America Army senior executive producer.

The new game, due out sometime this year, will also consolidate the account system to a single sign on and allow players to create multiple soldiers on that one account.

Other tweaks to the game include the ability to quickly jump back and forth between gameplay and training, breaking training down into much smaller easier to digest units, and a lot more unit customization.

"One of the big things we heard was that players like customization," Berry said. "We have a lot of customization on how you can load down your character."

If you're interested in reading up on how the game plays and some of it's amazing features, like tactical sound, realistic ricochet and how gravity effects the bullets your fire, make sure to check out our hands on with the game.

Gdc09: America's Army 3 Coming To Steam

Old Moon Images Get Modern Makeover

WOODLANDS, Texas — Think of it as a space age twist to that adage: Something old, something new...something borrowed, something blue.

Back in 1966 and 1967, NASA hurled a series of Lunar Orbiter spacecraft to the moon. Each of the five orbiters were dispatched to

map the landscape in high-resolution and assist in charting where best to set down Apollo moonwalkers and open up the lunar surface to expanded human operations.

Imagery gleaned from the Lunar Orbiters over 40 years ago is now getting a 21st century makeover thanks to the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP).

By gathering the vintage hardware to playback the imagery, and then upgrading it to digital standards, researchers have yielded a strikingly fresh look at the old moon. Furthermore, LOIRP's efforts may also lead to retrieving and beefing up video from the first human landing on the moon by Apollo 11 astronauts in July 1969.

Digital domain

Dennis Wingo, LOIRP's team leader, detailed the group's work in progress during last week's 40th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.

Teamed with SpaceRef.com, LOIRP's saga is one of acquiring the last surviving Ampex FR-900 machinery that can play analog image data from the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft. Wingo noted that the work is backed by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, the space agency's Innovative Partnership Program, along with private organizations, making it possible to overhaul old equipment, digitally upgrade and clean-up the imagery via software.

LOIRP is located at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. There, project members are taking the analog data, converting it into digital form and reconstructing the images.

By moving them into the digital domain, Wingo said, the photos now offer a higher dynamic range and resolution than the original pictures, he added.

"We're going to be releasing these to the whole world," Wingo said.

Use of the refreshed images, contrasted to what NASA's upcoming Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission is slated to produce, has an immediate scientific benefit. That is, what is the frequency of impacts on the Moon's already substantially crater-pocked surface?

"We'll be able to get crater counts," Wingo told SPACE.com. "LRO imagery of the same terrain imaged decades ago will provide a crater count over the last 40 years."

Frozen in time

There's also a more down to Earth output thanks to LOIRP scientists.

They have used a Lunar Orbiter 1 image of the Earth for climate studies, basically a snapshot frozen in time that shows the edge of the Antarctic ice pack on August 23, 1966.

The team is working with the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado to correlate their images of the Earth with old NASA Nimbus 1 and Nimbus 2 spacecraft imagery that flew at about the same time — in the mid-1960s — as the Lunar Orbiter 1. Nimbus satellites were meteorological research and development spacecraft.

Wingo said that the original Nimbus images may have been recorded on an Ampex FR-900 – so by processing the original Nimbus tapes there is a very good chance that they can provide NASA with polar ice pack data from ten years earlier.

Lessons learned

One treasure hunt outing by LOIRP may lead to finding what some term as "lost" Apollo 11 slow scan tapes, Wingo said.

"We don't think they are lost. People have been looking for the wrong tapes," he said, explaining that they were recorded on Ampex FR-900 equipment — not on another type of recorder as previously thought.

Wingo said those Apollo tapes are stored at the Federal Records Center, labeled and ready for a look see.

"We think for the 40th anniversary of Apollo we may be able to get the original slow scan tapes," Wingo said. If so, the hope is to recover them and give the public a higher-quality, never-before-seen view of human exploration of the Moon.

There is a lesson learned output from LOIRP.

In the beginning, very few people thought this could be done...but now they have seen the results," Wingo said.

It is not enough to have 100 year recording medium, Wingo explains. Without the retention of the specific era equipment that images are archived on, it will be impossible for future generations to recover older NASA or other satellite data, he advised.

This is a general issue, not specific to the Lunar Orbiter program. The retention of critical hardware should be a requirement for flight efforts. The original historic Apollo 11 slow scan images have been lost due to inattention to this critical detail, Wingo concluded.

SPACE.com -- Old Moon Images Get Modern Makeover

Netflix ups Blu-ray surcharge to $9 for heaviest users

Less than six months after Netflix imposed a $1 surcharge for Blu-ray lovers, the company has decided to jack up its rates once again. In an e-mail sent to subscribers today, Netflix said that it would be raising its Blu-ray access charge to as much as $9 per month on top of a normal subscription rate. The changes will go into effect on customers' billing statements on or after April 27, 2009 unless they remove the option from their accounts.

"The number of Blu-ray titles has increased significantly and will continue to do so. As we buy more, you are able to choose from a rapidly expanding selection of Blu-ray titles," reads the e-mail from Netflix. "And as you've probably heard, Blu-ray discs are substantially more expensive than standard definition DVDs."

As a result, the monthly charge for Blu-ray access is going up for "most" subscription plans. The e-mail doesn't go into detail on those differences, but a post on the Netflix blog says that Blu-ray access will remain $1 per month for the lowest plan (1 DVD at a time, limited to 2 per month) while it will go up one dollar per plan tier after that. For example, the 3 DVD at a time unlimited plan will require a $4 Blu-ray access surcharge if customers want to continue renting high-definition movies. If you're one of those heavy movie watchers who pays for the 8 DVD at a time plan, the additional charge will be a hefty $9 for Blu-ray discs.

Netflix has made a significant investment in Blu-ray since the death of HD DVD, and its library of HD titles has grown as a result. The company's hope was that a ready supply of Blu-ray flicks would lure HD fans to the service from brick-and-mortar competitors like Blockbuster and from the growing HD download market.

The imposition of the original surcharge—and now the increased rates—is indication that this strategy isn't working out as well as the company had hoped. The availability of Blu-ray movies was a nice perk for subscribers who already have Blu-ray players, but it is apparently not enough to draw in new customers. In fact, Netflix CEO Barry McCarthy said recently that only a fraction of his company's subscribers currently rent Blu-ray discs and that the format's impact on the business is minimal. Now, not only is Netflix passing the additional costs onto subscribers, it has to do so even more than it originally expected.

Needless to say, customers are not thrilled at the news. Ars Creative Director Aurich Lawson described the move as "weak sauce," adding that he was happy to swallow the $1/month bump, but $4 (for his plan) gives him pause. "If I find I'm not using the service enough, the price jump is enough to make me think of dropping it all together," he said. Another reader wrote in saying that he paid for his Netflix subscription in order to get streaming access—the only physical discs he rented anymore were Blu-ray, so the additional costs were becoming a burden. "Way to annoy their customers twice," he said.

Netflix ups Blu-ray surcharge to $9 for heaviest users - Ars Technica

After Shuttle's Success, NASA Aims to Save Hubble

With the successful landing Saturday of the space shuttle Discovery, NASA is gearing up for its next mission: Saving the Hubble Space Telescope.

As

Discovery touched down at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to end a successful mission to the International Space Station, engineers were priming its sister ship Atlantis for a planned May 12 launch to overhaul Hubble in an 11-day mission fraught with risk.

"I think the only thing that beats a beautiful orbiter landing like this is the next launch," said NASA's deputy shuttle program manager Leroy Cain after Discovery landed at the spaceport in Cape Canaveral, Fla. "So we're looking forward to that as well."

Atlantis is poised to roll out to its seaside Pad 39A launch site on Tuesday. A separate space shuttle, the Endeavour orbiter, is being prepared to serve as a rescue ship should Atlantis suffer critical damage that would prevent the spacecraft from safely returning its seven-astronaut crew back to Earth.

Risky mission

In order to reach Hubble, Atlantis will fly in an orbit that has a higher than normal risk of orbital debris strikes for NASA shuttles, about a 1-in-185 chance. NASA's safety guidelines call for a maximum risk of a 1-in-200 chance, but officials said that they are weighing that risk against ways to offset it for the Hubble flight. They are also studying the risk of new debris caused by the Feb. 10 crash of two satellites in an orbit above Hubble's.

"We have some more discussions to have in terms of mitigations that we already plan to put in place and some other things that we might consider," Cain said.

Commanded by veteran spaceflyer Scott Altman, Atlantis' STS-125 mission to Hubble is expected to extend the iconic orbital observatory's lifespan through at least 2013 or later. Astronauts plan to perform five back-to-back spacewalks to add a new camera, replace gyroscopes and batteries, add a docking ring, as well as perform tricky repairs on equipment that was never designed to be fixed in space.

The mission has been delayed since October 2008, when a part on Hubble unexpectedly failed, prompting engineers to begin assembly a spare and add the new repair to the upcoming mission. It is the fifth and last service call on Hubble by shuttle astronauts.

Two shuttles, two launch pads

NASA space operations chief William Gerstenmaier told reporters that the agency has officially decided to use two separate shuttle launch pads, Pad 39A and Pad 39B, for Atlantis and its rescue ship.

The extra launch pad and shuttle are required because Atlantis and its crew of seven astronauts would not be able to seek refuge aboard the International Space Station if their spacecraft suffered critical damage and could not return to Earth. The Hubble Space Telescope flies in a higher and different orbit than the station, so Atlantis would not be able to reach the outpost, NASA has said. 

The station can serve as a safe haven for shuttle missions like Discovery's STS-119 flight, which boosted the outpost to full power by delivering its final solar arrays, since the orbiters can return to the outpost after undocking if required.

NASA was initially considering using a single launch pad, Pad 39A, to launch Atlantis, as well as its rescue ship - if needed - in order to allow extra time for modifications to Pad 39B. That pad is being converted to launch NASA's new Ares I rocket and Orion spacecraft, with the first test flight Ares I-X slated for July.

Gerstenmaier said work crews were able to make substantial headway modifying Pad 39B, including erecting new lightning masts and an access level on the pad's fixed support structure. With that work complete, NASA officials felt it best use the launch pad to support the Hubble rescue plan.

"We think it's more of a normal plan to have the orbiter out at the pad," Gerstenmaier said. "It gives us a little bit more robustness from a crew standpoint."

Using both launch pads will likely mean a few weeks of delay for the Ares I-X launch test, which was slated for July 11, Gerstenmaier said.

Endeavour is currently expected to move from its processing hangar to NASA's cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building on April 10 to meet its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters, NASA officials said. That shuttle would then roll out to the second launch pad on April 17, they added.

NASA plans to launch up to nine more shuttle missions before retiring its three-orbiter fleet in 2010.

One mission is reserved to upgrade Hubble in May, while the others are aimed at completing the International Space Station and, if funding is available, delivering the $1.5 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) physics experiment to the orbiting lab, Gerstenmaier said.

SPACE.com -- After Shuttle's Success, NASA Aims to Save Hubble

OnLive's 'Cloud Gaming' Could Be a Game-Changer

Imagine being able to fire up your vintage low-end Mac laptop and play Crysis, a gorgeously high-resolution PC game that's famous for overwhelming the GPUs of $4,000 Alienware rigs. Imagine being able to play the same game on a tiny device streaming directly to your TV. That's the kind of service OnLive announced Tuesday.

If the OnLive Game Service actually works, it will change the videogame industry profoundly.

Here's how it works: When you subscribe to the company's service, OnLive is basically running whatever game you choose to play on its computer, and streaming the video feed to you. Simultaneously, the inputs you make on OnLive's proprietary controller -- which looks similar to an Xbox 360 controller -- are being streamed to OnLive's computer.

All you need is a tiny piece of decompressing software on your computer, or a tiny device to hook up to your TV, and you can play any game in OnLive's library. (The company has partnerships with several of the biggest publishers.)

I got to see a demo of the service, and the visual quality was excellent. It remains to be seen whether OnLive has solved the incredibly complex problem of streaming that image without excessive lag or dropped frames.

OnLive, which spent several years developing improved video-compression technology, promises that its streaming alternative to consoles and expensive new graphics cards will work for anyone with a 1.5-Mb internet connection and a standard-definition TV or monitor, or a 5-Mb connection and a high-def TV or monitor. If OnLive's technology actually works, it's sure to shake up the games industry.

Here is OnLive's press release, issued Tuesday:

OnLive Revolutionizes Video Games

State-of-the-Art Games Play Over the Internet Without High-End Hardware

OnLive Game Service Delivers the Hottest Titles From Top-Tier Publishers

San Francisco, March 24, 2009 -- OnLive Inc., the pioneer of the on-demand era of videogames, today emerged from seven years of stealth development within the Rearden incubator to unveil The OnLive Game Service and OnLive MicroConsole at the 2009 Game Developers Conference. OnLive is a revolutionary, on-demand videogame platform delivering the latest and most advanced games instantly, on any TV via a sleek, inexpensive MicroConsole, or on almost any PC or Mac. OnLive is supported by many of the top names in the videogames industry including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive Software, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, THQ Inc., Epic Games, Eidos, Atari Interactive and Codemasters.

Instant, High-performance Gameplay

"OnLive is the most powerful game system in the world. No high-end hardware, no upgrades, no endless downloads, no discs, no recalls, no obsolescence,” said Steve Perlman, founder and CEO of OnLive. "With OnLive, your videogame experience is always state-of-the-art."

Designed for gamers of all skills and ages, the OnLive Game Service is easy to use.  The elegantly designed OnLive MicroConsole — about as small as a deck of cards — easily connects any TV and home broadband connection to the OnLive Game Service and is operated by an OnLive wireless controller. Gamers can enjoy the same experience on almost any internet-connected PC or Mac via a small browser plug-in from OnLive.com — even entry-level computers will play the highest-performance games. Whether on TV, PC or Mac, OnLive provides instant access to the most advanced games in the world, solo and multiplayer.

"OnLive combines the successful components of videogames, online distribution and social networking into one affordable, flexible platform that offers a new way for game fans to access and enjoy content," said Mike McGarvey, COO of OnLive. "By substantially lowering the barriers between content and consumers, OnLive has created an environment that is highly beneficial for every facet of the videogame ecosystem. With OnLive, gamers can play what they want, when they want, how they want. That level of freedom has never been possible until now."

Vibrant Community on a Massive Scale

The OnLive Game Service supports a live community of unprecedented scale. A revolutionary user interface allows videogame fans to watch thousands of live games in action, join in at any point, share their exploits with friends through social networking tools, or make Brag Clips that showcase their skills. With OnLive, gamers have immediate access to demos and can instantly try, buy and play top-tier games, whether playing solo or with friends.

Benefiting the Game Ecosystem

"With OnLive we've cleared the last remaining hurdle for the videogames industry: effective online distribution," said Steve Perlman, founder and CEO of OnLive. "By putting the value back into the games themselves and removing the reliance on expensive, short-lived hardware, we are dramatically shifting the economics of the industry. Delivering games instantly to the digital living room is the promise game fans have been waiting for and OnLive makes that promise a reality that's affordable, flexible and focused on their individual needs."

OnLive offers significant benefits to publishers and developers. It costs far less to develop a game for OnLive, and the economics are far more efficient than retail or download distribution models. It typically only takes a few weeks to extend an existing version of a game to work on the OnLive service, so there is little cost incurred by developers and publishers to support the OnLive platform.

Through a partnership with Epic Games, an industry-leading developer of triple-A games and cross-platform game engine technology, the award-winning Unreal Engine 3 is compatible with the OnLive platform. Games leveraging the cutting-edge technology and versatility of the Unreal Engine will easily run on the OnLive service.

Play Top Games From Top Names

OnLive will be showing 16 great titles playable during the 2009 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco at the OnLive Booth, North Hall #5128.

Coming Soon ...

The OnLive Game Service will be offered through a monthly subscription in winter 2009. OnLive will be available in a variety of different pricing packages and tiers, competitively priced to retail.

About OnLive

OnLive is the pioneer of on-demand game services, delivering real-time interactive experiences and rich media through the internet. Today, OnLive is developing solutions and services specifically for the videogames industry, with the world's first videogame-on-demand platform, the OnLive Game Service, launching later this year. With groundbreaking, patent-pending video-compression technology, OnLive harnesses cloud computing to provide the power and intelligence needed to instantly deliver the latest high-end games titles directly to TVs via a sleek, inexpensive MicroConsole, or on PCs and Macs.

Founded by noted technology entrepreneur Steve Perlman (WebTV, QuickTime), and spun out of Rearden, the media and technology incubator behind MOVA, Ice Blink Studios and Moxi, OnLive spent seven years in stealth development before officially launching in March 2009. OnLive technology is backed by over 100 patents and patents pending. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. OnLive investors include Warner Bros., Autodesk and Maverick Capital. MOVA is a wholly owned subsidiary of OnLive. More information is available at www.OnLive.com.

OnLive, Brag Clips, MicroConsole, MOVA and Contour are trademarks or registered trademarks of OnLive Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used by permission.

OnLive's 'Cloud Gaming' Could Be a Game-Changer | Game | Life from Wired.com

Valve: New Steamworks Feature "Makes DRM Obsolete"

Shortly after Microsoft revealed new features for their Games for Windows Live service, Valve counters with new Steamworks features, including in-game downloadable content, robust matchmaking, and new technology they claim "makes DRM obsolete."

We've already heard about the new downloadable content support for Steam, and the matchmaking is the same we've seen in the PC version of Left 4 Dead, now available to publishers and developers worldwide. The most interesting new feature is Steamworks new anti-piracy technology, Customer Executable Generation, or CEG. CEG basically creates a unique copy of a game for each customer, which can then be played on any compatible PC without install limits or root kits. You buy a copy, and that is your copy, completely unique to you. A simple and elegant solution to PC game piracy that manages to benefit both publishers and the consumer at the same time.

With new publishers flocking to the service every day and innovative new features like these regularly added, it's hard to imagine anyone toppling Steam from the top of the digital delivery heap anytime soon.

Valve: New Steamworks Feature "Makes DRM Obsolete"

Lawsuit: Best Buy has "anti-price matching policy"

Best Buy's alleged "price match guarantee" is less of a guarantee and more of a scam, according to a class action lawsuit in New York. The lawsuit even showcases an internal memo from Best Buy outlining employee tactics to "build a case against the price match," showing that the company isn't so interested in offering a good deal after all.

Best Buy may be forced to change its price matching policy, or at least be more transparent about its practices. A lawsuit against the company alleging false advertising and deceptive practices has been approved as a class action by a US District Court in New York, giving the plaintiffs more steam in their fight against the big box retailer. Even more interesting, however, is that the process of approving the suit has exposed some of Best Buy's dirty laundry.

The original lawsuit was brought by New York resident Thomas Jermyn in January of 2008 and was granted class action status as of last week. In his suit, Jermyn targets Best Buy's "price match guarantee" as a ploy to lure unsuspecting customers into the stores while actively practicing an "Anti-Price Matching Policy" among managers and employees.

Savvy deal hunters in the audience are already aware that trying to get a real price match on something at Best Buy can be an exercise in futility. It's not uncommon to hear anecdotal grumblings that Best Buy will find every excuse to not adhere to its publicly-advertised policy—the store is out of (or low on) stock, Best Buy doesn't match Internet prices, model numbers don't match up, etc. However, according to court documents, these instances apparently aren't just a result of clueless retail drones—it appears Best Buy actively encourages employees to use these very excuses to avoid offering the customer a good deal.

"What is the first thing we do when a customer comes in to our humble box brandishing a competitor’s ad asking for a price match? We attempt to build a case against the price match," reads an internal company memo from October of 2006, which is quoted in the court documents. "Let's walk through the 'Refused Price Match Greatest Hits:' Not same model? Not in stock at the competitor? Do we have free widget with purchase? Is it from a warehouse club (they have membership fees, you know)? Limited Quantities? That competitor is across town? We’ve got financing! Is it an internet price? It’s below cost! What about my NOP?"

Best Buy's defense for the existence of this document is that its author is a "long-standing employee with a sense of humor." Further evidence provided in the complaint belies that claim. Numerous Best Buy customers are cited as saying the retailer refused their requests on multiple occasions, or in cases where they already purchased the item, Best Buy told them to return it and pay a hefty restocking fee if they wanted to buy from a competitor with a lower price. This, of course, defeats the entire purpose of trying to get a price match in the first place.

Additionally, none of these technicalities are mentioned in the public-facing version of Best Buy's policy. "If you are about to make a purchase and discover a lower advertised price offered by a local retail competitor on the same available brand and model, let us know and we'll match that price on the spot," reads Best Buy's website. "Already bought? We'll refund you the price difference from our own sale price, or 110% of the difference from our competitor's sale price, during the return and exchange period on your product." Questions on that page, such as "What is considered a local retail competitor?" come with ambiguous answers that seem to contradict the internal memo encouraging employees to deny matches on the basis that the competitor is "across town."

At best, the retailer is extremely confused about the meaning of its own price match guarantee and has no idea how to treat customers. At worst? We leave that as an exercise to the reader. Either way, the end result is a group of buyers who are done feeling jerked around and want to make Best Buy pay for it. HD Guru, which has been following the story closely, spoke with the attorney representing Jermyn, Michael Braunstein, who said that readers who have been refused a price match should contact him by e-mail or phone (mbraunstein@kgglaw.com or 845-356-2570). Though this particular lawsuit is limited to New York residents, those outside of New York are encouraged to voice their concerns as well.

Lawsuit: Best Buy has "anti-price matching policy" - Ars Technica

Windows Home Server Continues to Improve With Power Pack 2

Windows Home Server PP2 adds high-def streaming, improved remote connectivity, and much more

Many have contemplated putting together a home server network to streamline their storage and other tasks, but have been wary to do so for lack of a beginner-level hardware/software solution.  When Microsoft Home Server first debuted, it aimed to provide exactly that.  And after being initially crippled by file corruption issues, last year brought a fix to these issues in the form of the July Power Pack 1 update which helped WHS finally start to realize its promise.

The WHS team has been hard at work since and today they will release the sum of their efforts, WHS Power Pack 2.  Like other Power Packs (PPs) it bears a resemblance to the professional Windows Server and PC Windows Service Packs (SPs), in that it packages bug fixes and minor improvements.  While is certainly not a major release, it does deliver some key improvements, that users or potential customers will certainly appreciate.

One of the key improvements that the PP2 brings is to streamline the setup or out-of-box experience (OOBE).  The update reduces the setup stems from 23 to 13.  For seasoned users, it brings an improved SDK to develop for WHS.

Remote access is one key focus of PP2.  WHS already featured remote access capabilities, allowing you to connect while away from home to your server's administrative controls, shared files, and networked computers.  However, the technology relied on UPnP, which many routers don't support -- so many users were out of luck.

While WHS PP2 doesn't change the communication scheme from UPnP, it does offer new connectivity wizards.  One eliminates the annoyance of configuring remote access and thinking it’s working, only to discover it’s not.  The new wizard tests the remote connection, allowing the user to know whether their router supports UPnP, or if a return might be in order.  Router detection/configuration has also improved and the Remote Access section of the admin console's Settings window has been streamlined as well.

Another key focus of PP2 is media sharing.  One key improvement is the addition of new Windows Media Center (WMC) features.  Media Center users in the past could not "see" by default their network shares, and had to go through relatively complex steps to make them visible.  PP2 brings the Windows Media Center Connector, which automatically adds the server-side Music, Photos, Videos, and Recorded TV folders to the appropriate locations in WMC.

From there you can stream content to devices like the Xbox 360 via Windows Media Center Extenders (MCXs).  Content flows from your server to you WMC PC, then into the extender device.  The extenders group can be configured with folder-by-folder permissions (Full, read or none) (though one desirable feature, permissions by extender, still is not implemented).
Perhaps most important, though, PP2 allows you to stream high-definition MPEG-4 media formats content at last, including H.264 video and AAC audio files.  As the Xbox 360 already supports these formats, you now have the tools need to create an easy high-definition streamed content network.

WHS PP2 is available today on Windows Update.  Initially it will only be available in English, but Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish versions will be available by the end of April. 

In related news, Microsoft has opened up WHS for free download by developers.  The soon-to-be-available OS download should help spur even more improvements to WHS.  In summary -- things are looking up for Microsoft's Windows Home Server.

 

DailyTech - Windows Home Server Continues to Improve With Power Pack 2

Office 14 to ship in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors

Beta releases have become a great way to discover potentialy unannounced products by snooping around in the files that accompany the beta. Ed Bott did said snooping and is now claiming that Office 14 will ship in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors.
Located within the Migwiz.xml file shows the code extensions that prove that a 64-bit version does exist.



This is great news for users that can take advantage of the 64-bit flavor and should come as welcomed news that Microsoft is expanding support for 64-bit. One day soon we will hopefully be able to drop 32-bit forever.

Office 14 to ship in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors

New Wolfenstein trailer and info exclusively from GameTrailers TV

Geoff Keighley and co. got the scoop on the newest trailer and a ton of info for the upcoming Wolfenstein game from Raven Software on last night's GameTrailers TV. The game, unsurprisingly, seeks to bring back most of what we remember from the classic id Software title, from main character B.J. Blazkowicz to the gauntlet of Third Reich baddies taking aim at B.J. along the way. This may or may not be a good thing, considering when we last saw Wolfenstein at the NY Comic Con, we were less than impressed.

Additionally, the next-gen current-gen update to Wolfenstein brings with it some new weapons (a particle gun that vaporizes enemies, for instance) as well as a twist on the gameplay called "the veil," which the game's creative director, Eric Beissman, describes as, "An alternative reality that sits on top of where we live." From what we can glean from the gameplay in the video, this "veil" business seems to be Wolfenstein's version of bullet-time, as well as a means to employ various powers.

To find out everything Mr. Keighley discovered, peep the interview with Beissman after the break. Oh, and yeah, no mech Hitler! Seriously?!

New Wolfenstein trailer and info exclusively from GameTrailers TV

Notepad++ 5.3

Notepad++ is a free source code editor which supports several programming languages running under the MS Windows environment. Notepad++ supports the following languages: C, C++ , Java , C#, XML, HTML, PHP, javascript , RC resource file, makefile, ASCII art file, doxygen, ini file, batch file, ASP , VB/VBS source files , SQL , Objective-C , CSS, Pascal, Perl, Python and Lua.

What's new:
1. Add Line change state vertical bar.
2. Drop (or open in dos command line) a directory in Notepad++ to open all files in the directory recursively.
3. Add "Find all in current file" feature.
4. (Most of) Find/replace dialog settings are remembered.
5. Add a hidden setting (dlgAlwaysVisible in config.xml) to allow user set it manually to not hide the Find/Replace dialog if any result found.
6. Fix uncomment block erasing first character bug.
7. Enlarge some strings displayed zone for the translation.
8. Fix ESC key for column mode behaviour.
9. Fix read only file SaveAs bug.
10. Change behaviour : no popup dialog while closing an unsaved empty untitled document.
11. Changing "Search result" stylers via Styler Configurator takes visual effect on the fly now.
12. Fix for L_EXTERNAL in loadSession.
13. Variable $(CURRENT_WORD) is enlarged to 2039 charraters.
14. Fix the bug the Notepad++ is launched several instances but show nothing.
15. Fix Find in files regression : The result panel doesn't show Unicode characters correctly.

News source: Official website
Download: Notepad++ 5.3

Notepad++ 5.3

Is There Half-Life In The Box?

An amazing 9-minute long film on YouTube has Half-Life fans shouting viral teaser. Is "What's In The Box" teasing something new from Valve, or is it just a damn fine homage?

Half-Life 2 sound effects, references to Black Mesa, and music from the television show Lost lead many Half-Life fans to believe that this first-person "demo film" is something more than a fan-made homage to the game, and the movie's website certainly lends itself to that idea. Whatsinthebox.nl features a pulsing cube with a question mark, along with credits naming Tim Smit as the primary creator of the video. Tim Smit is a young Dutch man who once won appeared on the Discovery Channel program Mythbusters, debunking a myth about phone books. The website's title promises that "Soon the world will find out", while poking about in the CSS files we find the phrases "Every medium, as its ancestors" and "Every pro, has his anti's, now you think about that."

Further poking about reveals an image, found here, which highlights some numbers in red and offers several lines of text, which YouTube commentors have discovered come from a variety of scientific papers.

So what the hell is going on? Honestly we've got no clue. It certainly could be a viral video of some sort, especially with the Game Developers Conference just around the corner, or it could just be a special effects demo for an up and coming effects studio, referencing the Half-Life series out of sheer love.

We've contacted Valve for comment on the video, but for now we'll just have to struggle over the initial question: What's in the box?

(I recommend viewing the actual YouTube video for higher quality :D-Bone)

Clips: Is There Half-Life In The Box?

Internet Explorer 8 coming today

More than a year after releasing the first public beta of Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft plans to give the browser a good and proper launching today at noon EDT. You'll be able to download the browser from the IE8 page at that time. Right now clicking the download link will get you Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1.

Here are a few of the new features that Internet Explorer 8 offers:

• Accelerators that make web-based services available through a right-click context menu. For instance, you can click on a word or phrase and map it or email it.
• Web slices provide information from web sites like Wikipedia or Digg available in little pop up windows that you can check out without navigating away from the page you're on.
• Improved search box features including visual previews and "quick pick" search engine selection.

You can find some of our favorite tips and tricks for making Internet Explorer 8 even more useful in our Pimp Internet Explorer series.

Internet Explorer 8 coming today

Team Fortress 2 Update Adds Multicore Rendering

The latest patch to Valve's multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2 officially adds multicore rendering support, allowing users with fancy CPUs to take advantage of their myriad cores for faster framerates.

Though multicore support is now an official option rather than a hidden console command, Valve notes that it is testing the compatibility of the feature, so the option is turned off by default. To enable the option, go to "Options->Video->Advanced" in the game's menu.

 

The brief patch notes follow:

Added Multicore Rendering

• This initial release is aimed at testing compatibility, so the option is OFF by default
• To turn it on, go to the Options->Video->Advanced dialog, and check the "Multicore Rendering" option

Other Changes

• Several performance improvements to decals and client bone/flex setup
• A variety of alt-tab and mode switch fixes
• Improvements to the way the engine initializes surround sound, fixing some specific hardware cases
• Fixed a crash on exit in Vista 64

Team Fortress 2 Update Adds Multicore Rendering - Shacknews - PC Games, PlayStation, Xbox 360 and Wii video game news, previews and downloads

Apple Announces iPhone OS v3.0

OS v3.0 coming in June, will bring MMS, Copy Cut and Paste, turn by turn directions (third party), FM radio (third party, hardware), push notifications, and landscape email

Apple, struggling amid a rough economy continues to look to the iPhone as its brightest sales star.  Today Apple announced the new version of its iPhone OS, version 3.0 at a special presentation to the press.

At the start of the presentation, Apple lauded the iPhone's performance pointing out that it is now sold in 80 countries.  Stated presenter, Greg Joswiak, "Before we shipped our first phone, we set an aggressive goal -- we said we'd sell 10 million phones. And we sold 13.7m. We blew it away.  We've sold 17m altogether, you can see how people have accepted the 3G. But the touch also runs the same OS, and if you look at the time period, we've sold over 30m units of iPhones and iPod touch."

Apple also plugged the development community, saying that it has received 800,000 SDK download requests and has 50,000 companies and individuals working on developing Apps.  Apple defended its track record of approvals, which has received a lot of attention of late, saying that it approved 96 percent of submitted Apps, rejecting a mere 4 percent.

Scott Forstall, Apple's SVP of iPhone software was on hand to demo the new v3.0 OS and new SDK.  He started by announcing 1,000 new APIs in the new SDK.  He states, "Let me tell you what we're doing for developers. Our goal was to make devs successful, we gave them the best tools ever. It blew us away what they did. We've spent the last year working hard to make the SDK even better."

In a major announcement he revealed that developers will now have the ability to create Apps with so-called "in App purchases."  This means that subscription Apps like magazines or shareware should now be possible.  The purchase is tied to iTunes just like a standard App download and like downloads, Apple gets a 30 percent cut, including fees, and hands the rest to the developer.

More SDK announcements include the addition of Bluetooth and automatic discovery APIs.  This should allow multiplayer Apps.  Also new, developers will have new APIs to talk to hardware peripherals -- like attached speakers.  The APIs will likely bring one feature the iPods have long lacked -- FM radio -- to the iPhone and the iPod Touch via third part hardware, says Apple.  Apple also says that medical device makers like blood pressure cuff makers are interested in using the iPhone as a readout for their devices.

Apple is including a Maps API in the new OS/SDK for use with creating turn-by-turn directions. 

One of the biggest pieces of news, though, was that Apple has revised its server setup to support push notification, a feature the presenters admitted was "overdue".  Push notifications are a means for non-running Apps like IM clients to receive and display alerts to the user while they're using another program -- say Safari.  Apple says in testing push notifications only dropped battery life 20 percents, versus full background (running multiple Apps at once), which dropped batter life 80 percent or more.

EA was on hand to announce The Sims for the iPhone.  At the original SDK launch they had announced Spore for the iPhone.  In a decidedly different application announcement, Johnson and Johnson announced an iPhone blood sugar reade.
Oh, and after about an hour and five minutes of other stuff, Apple announced that the OS v3.0 is bring cut, copy, and paste, as rumored, to the iPhone. Copy and paste is accomplished by double clicking words to copy them and then sliding your finger to select a block of text.  Shaking undoes paste jobs.  The feature will work in SMS messages, Safari and more.

Speaking of "more" -- Apple announced MMS support as well.  Support for landscape email was also announced.

The SDK is available in beta form today, while the new OS will be released to customers in June as a free iPhone update.  Disappointing for some is that iPod Touch owners will have to shill out $9.95 for the new OS.  Also iPhone first generation customers won't have access to MMS.

In all Apple has delivered on many rumors -- push notifications, copy and paste, turn by turn, FM radio support (via third party), MMS messaging, and landscape email.  It has failed to deliver on others, though -- Flash, new hardware, tethering, and background applications.  As with the iPhone itself, the new OS is still a work in progress, but one with a lot of attractive features at least.

In-App purchases, will enable shareware and subscription applications on the iPhone for the first time.  (Source: Engadget/Apple)

Push notifications will allow users to interact with non-running iPhone Apps, while preserving battery life.  (Source: Engadget/Apple)

One picture says it all -- iPhone copy and paste is here at last!  (Source: Engadget/Apple)

DailyTech - Apple Announces iPhone OS v3.0

Death by Laser, Bacteria, and More -- Mosquito Research Advances

A new scheme has the scientific community buzzing with excitement

Mosquitoes are among the biggest spreaders of blood-borne diseases such as malaria.  Many Third World countries with poor medical care are in warm, relatively moist regions yielding lots of mosquitoes and little treatment for the illnesses they transmit -- a deadly combination.  Malaria alone kills one million people annually.

The solution is to kill the mosquitoes, but insecticides and repellants are typically toxic, expensive, and have the possibility of not working on "super strands" which become resistant to the chemicals.  Vaccines for mosquito-borne illnesses like malaria are safer, but still expensive and can only prevent certain diseases.  So researchers in Seattle have turned to the decades old Star Wars program for answers for today's mosquito problem. 

The Star Wars program aimed to shoot down nuclear missiles with lasers.  The new program aims at a much smaller target; it seeks to kill mosquitoes in mass with deadly laser pulses.  The researchers, led by Jordin Kare, an astrophysicist formerly with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, have created a laser that can "tag" mosquitoes with pulses of light from 100 feet away.  The current laser is non-lethal, but the next version will be a lethal one -- a veritable weapon of mass mosquito destruction (WMMD).

States Kare, "We'd be delighted if we destabilize the human-mosquito balance of power."

The mosquito laser was built of parts scrounged on eBay.  And it’s not the only mosquito killing superweapon.  With weighty donors like Bill Gates, the United Nations, the U.K. and non-profits such as Malaria No More pouring money into anti-mosquito research, many are creating new forms of death for these pests of the skies. 

Szabolcs Márka, a Columbia University researcher who usually specializes in black holes has turned his efforts on these little pests, creating a flashlight that blinds them.  He says of mosquito researchers and the explosion of new funding, "You can say we are very lucky -- the right place at the right time."

A myriad of methods including microwaves, rancid odors, poisoned blood and other weapons that disrupt the sense of sight, smell and heat are being tested in labs worldwide.  Some are genetically engineering bacteria to kill all mosquitoes, others are genetically engineering superior mosquitoes which are malaria resistant, which will overtake and naturally deselect their malaria-bearing brethren.

One creative Japanese researcher even wants to make mosquitoes into "flying syringes" carrying vaccines to the general public.  However, the one scheme that perhaps receives the most attention is the mosquito laser, dreamed up first by Lowell Wood.  Mr. Wood worked closely with Edward Teller, who helped develop the first hydrogen bomb and later dreamed up the Star Wars scheme.  While the Star Wars program has yet to become a basis of our national defense, Mr. Wood believes a similar scheme can become the basis of our mosquito defense.

Nathan Myhrvold, a former Microsoft Corp. executive and owner of Intellectual Ventures LLC, has helped fund the effort with help from former boss Bill Gates.  Dr. Wood has assembled a team which includes Dr. Kare, another Star Wars scientist, an entomologist with a Ph.D in mosquito behavior, and other experts. 

Dr. Kare describes, "We like to think back then we made some contribution to the ending of the Cold War" with the Star Wars program.  Now we're just trying to make a dent in a war that's actually gone on a lot longer and claimed a lot more lives."

Deployment schemes still have to be worked out -- laser defense perimeters surrounding villages are one possibility, while laser-equipped aerial drones are another.  The power of the lasers also needs tweaking to be strong enough to kill mosquitoes, but weak enough to not kill desirable insects like endangered butterflies.  States Mr. Myhrvold, "You could kill billions of mosquitoes a night, and you could do so without harming butterflies."

The current implementation uses a Dell computer as the "brains" of the mosquito killer.  It uses Maglite flashlights to illuminate mosquitoes, creating silhouettes on a backdrop.  A camera spots these silhouettes and blasts the mosquitoes with the laser.  Colonies of anopheles stephensi, one species of mosquito that transmits malaria, are cultivated as test victims of the new weapon. 

In recent testing, the device scored a number of hits, killing mosquitoes with deadly efficacy, leaving only smoldering carcasses littering the ground.  The laser even distinguished, based on wing beat, blood sucking female mosquitoes and relatively innocuous male mosquitoes which feed off of sugary nectar (in the lab they're fed sweet raisins).  While the females met death by laser, the males were left blissfully untouched, albeit without female companionship.  Mr. Myhrvold describes, "If you really were a purist, you could only kill the females, not the males."

However, he adds that ultimately humans will probably "just slay them all."

DailyTech - Death by Laser, Bacteria, and More -- Mosquito Research Advances

Telescope Captures Grouping of Oddball Galaxy and Supernova

The Very Large Telescope has taken one of the best ever images of two galaxies locked in a slow motion, disruptive collision, scientists say.

The

image has also given astronomers a peak at an unusual exploding star in the same area of the sky.

The colliding galaxies are known collectively as Arp 261, from Halton Arp's catalogue of Peculiar Galaxies. With the the FORS2 instrument on the ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile, astronomers were able to photograph the oddball in greater detail than ever before.

Arp 261 lies about 70 million light-years away in the constellation of Libra, the Scales. Its chaotic and very unusual structure is the result of the galactic close encounter.

Although individual stars are very unlikely to collide in such an event, the huge clouds of gas and dust in the galaxies crash into each other at high speed, leading to the formation of bright new clusters of very hot stars, which are clearly seen in the picture.

The paths of the existing stars in the galaxies can be dramatically disrupted, creating the faint swirls extending to the upper left and lower right of the image.

Both interacting galaxies were probably dwarfs not unlike the Magellanic Clouds orbiting our own galaxy.

The images used to create this picture were not actually taken to study the interacting galaxies at all, but to investigate the properties of the inconspicuous object just to the right of the brightest part of Arp 261 and close to the centre of the image. This object is an unusual exploding star, called SN 1995N, that is thought to be the result of the final collapse of a massive star at the end of its life, a so-called core collapse supernova.

SN 1995N is unusual because it has faded very slowly — the glow still shows clearly on this image more than seven years after the explosion took place.

It is also one of the few supernovae to have been observed to emit X-rays. It is thought that these unusual characteristics are a result of the exploding star being in a dense region of space so that the material blasted out from the supernova ploughs into it and creates X-rays.

The image also captured two small asteroids from our Solar System that lie between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter and happened to cross the images as they were being taken. They show up as the red-green-blue trails at the left and top of the picture. The asteroid at the top is number 14670 and the one to the left number 9735. They are probably less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) across.

There is also a star captured at the bottom of the image. Though it appears bright, it is still about one hundred times too faint to be seen with the unaided eye. It is most likely a star like the Sun and about 500 light-years from us.

Arp 261 itself, and the supernova, are about 140,000 times further away again than this star. Much more distant still, perhaps some fifty to one hundred times further away than Arp 261, lies a cluster of galaxies visible on the right of the picture.

SPACE.com -- Telescope Captures Grouping of Oddball Galaxy and Supernova

Researchers Create Battery That Recharges in Seconds

The new battery isn't ready for commercial development, but it shows great promise

A new battery material created by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) could lead to much faster recharge times for batteries.

MIT professor Gerbrand Ceder and researcher Byoungwoo Kang said the material can discharge energy and recharge nearly 100 times faster than batteries currently used in mobile phones.  Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in laptops as well, and could allow longer battery life and faster recharge time if a user is away from a power source for long durations of time.

"The ability to charge and discharge batteries in a matter of seconds rather than hours may open up new technological applications and induce lifestyle changes," Ceder and Kang sad in the latest edition of Nature.

The duo created a small battery that normally takes six minutes to charge, but used their new traffic flow to recharge the same battery in just 10 to 20 seconds.

It was widely believed the ions and electrons inside the battery moved too slowly, but the researchers noticed that wasn't the case.  They focused on how ions enter nano-scale tunnels aimed at moving electrons around the battery, and eventually created a lithium phosphate coating that helps push ions to the nano-scale tunnels.

Rechargeable lithium batteries used today have the ability to store high amounts of energy, but don't normally release that power, so they discharge very slowly.    

The battery has been supported with federal research money, and two companies have already licensed the technology, MIT announced.  It'd be possible to start mass producing the batteries in two to three years, the MIT researchers said.

DailyTech - Researchers Create Battery That Recharges in Seconds

Self-healing polymer advance could mean scratch-free iPhones

When we get scratched, our skin can repair itself. Nonliving coatings can't currently do the same thing, so we cannot put self-repairing surfaces on cars, cell phones, laptops, and many other items. As the commercial applications are numerous and the financial payoffs are potentially huge, material scientists have been actively developing polymers that can self-heal. Everything from nanoparticles to expandable gels have been tried. While some of the developments are certainly promising, nothing is quite at the stage where it's ready to be commercialized.

In today’s issue of Science, Biswajit Ghosh and Marek Urban from the University of Southern Mississippi present a new polymer design that can employ UV light from the Sun to activate a latent self-pair capacity. Their strategy involves using the combined functions of three chemical components.

At the core of their design is polyurethane, which is an elastic polymer that already has decent scratch resistance. To enhance its ability to withstand mechanical damage, Ghosh and Urban added two more components, OXE and CHI. OXE has an unstable chemical structure (a four-membered ring containing three carbons and one oxygen) that makes it prone to being split open. CHI is UV sensitive.

The idea is that, if the polyurethane gets damaged by a scratch, the unstable ring structure of OXE will open to create two reactive ends. Then, UV light can trigger CHI to form new links with the reactive ends of OXE and thereby fix the break in the polymer.

Ghosh and Urban purposefully created scratches in films of their polyurethane-CHI-OXE material and tested to see if it mended itself under UV light. When they placed the damaged film under a 120 W fluorescent UV lamp, the scratches became negligible within half an hour. This repair reaction can work under a variety of conditions, ranging from dry air to high humidity.

IR and optical images of a self-healing scratch. Credit: Marek Urban/Science

They estimated that the UV lamps used in the experiments generated about a 0.3 W/m² per nm power density, which is only a little more than what the Sun gives off on average (0.25 W/m² per nm). Thus, they propose that the repair would take about the same amount of time under sunlight. Of course, the time of the year would matter—the process could take much less time under the harsh summer sun or much longer on a gloomy winter day.

The ability to use natural sunlight for self-repair and the simple design are advantageous, but this polymer system still needs some work before it can be released commercially. For example, the authors must figure out what happens if a second scratch occurs directly where a previous scratch was mended. They also need to determine the shelf life of their three-component polymer.

Self-healing polymer advance could mean scratch-free iPhones - Ars Technica

ioDrive Duo: unbelievably fast solid-state drive ships next month

Behold, the hard drive of the future. Most of today's hard drives are metal boxes with rapidly spinning disks nestled inside, but this Fusio-io ioDrive Duo is all solid-state, has no moving parts, and reads and writes data ten times faster than the quickest conventional hard drives.

For the propellerheads, that's 1.5 gigabytes per second of sustained throughput. Hey, wait a minute — that's even faster than that mind-blowing Samsung 24-drive array we showed you last week. The result will be much faster computing, less heat, lower power consumption, and much tougher durability.

And someday, all this will be reasonably priced. While this 640GB Fusio-io ioDrive Duo will be prohibitively expensive (untold $thousands) when it's available next month, that's just because the tech is so new and economies of scale haven't set in yet. Later this year, Fusio-io, which now has Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak on board as Chief Scientist, will release a 1.28-terabyte model. Wow.

DVICE: ioDrive Duo: unbelievably fast solid-state drive ships next month

Space Shuttle Launch Delayed to March 15

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. – The launch of NASA's space shuttle Discovery will fly no earlier than March 15 after a gas leak thwarted an attempted liftoff on Wednesday, mission managers said today.

NASA

postponed  Discovery's spaceflight earlier today after detecting a leak in a hydrogen gas vent line as the shuttle began fueling up for a planned launch tonight at 9:20 p.m. EDT (0120 GMT March 12).

Mike Moses, head of Discovery's mission management team, said engineers will begin inspecting the faulty gas line on Thursday and shuttle officials will meet that afternoon to review launch plans.

Moses said that delaying until March 15 will mean having to cut one spacewalk and three days from Discovery's flight, which was planned to last 14 days and include four spacewalks.

If the mission is delayed even more, to March 16, Discovery astronauts would complete only two of four spacewalks and the mission will run only 10 days, Moses said during a briefing here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center after the launch attempt.

The changes are necessary to make room for a Russian Soyuz spacecraft that is already scheduled to launch toward the International Space Station on March 26. If Discovery doesn't launch by March 17, NASA would have to stand down until after the Soyuz launch and a space station crew change. The next launch window would open on April 7.

"This is life in the space business. Sometimes things happen," said Moses. If Discovery's flight shifts to April, it would likely cause a ripple of delays for NASA's other shuttle launches this year and the planned shift to a larger, six-person crew aboard the space station this May, he added.

At about 2:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) today, about two hours after ground crews began fueling Discovery's massive orange external tank, engineers noticed a leak in a gaseous hydrogen line coming from the tank. The line vents off flammable hydrogen gas, created as the super-cooled liquid hydrogen propellant in the tank boils, in order to keep the tank at the right pressure.

NASA officially scrubbed the launch plan at 2:37 p.m. EDT (1837 GMT).

"Our business requires perfection and our vehicle was not perfect today," said NASA launch director Mike Leinbach.

Mission managers say today's scrub has nothing to do with earlier issues on the shuttle related to fuel control valves in the orbiters main engines. This problem forced Discovery's launch to be delayed about a month from an initial launch date set for Feb. 12.

Engineers ultimately replaced the three valves on Discovery with a set proven to be free of damage, after a similar valve cracked on the shuttle Endeavour during its November 2008 launch. Though that issue posed no problem to Endeavour, mission managers spent weeks testing to make sure Discovery would be safe.

Discovery's seven-astronaut crew, commanded by veteran astronaut Lee Archambault, is due to head toward the International Space Station on NASA's first construction flight of the year. The shuttle will ferry up a final pair of U.S.-built solar wings and the last segment of the space station's backbone-like main truss.

It also is set to deliver Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who will serve as his country's first long-duration astronaut when he stays aboard the station as an Expedition 18 flight engineer for six months. Wakata is set to replace NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus, who will fly home aboard Discovery.

Filling out Discovery's crew are STS-119 pilot Tony Antonelli and mission specialists Joseph Acaba, Steven Swanson, Richard Arnold II and John Phillips.

SPACE.com -- Space Shuttle Launch Delayed to March 15

Google relaunches GrandCentral as Google Voice

Nearly two years after acquiring "one telephone for life" service GrandCentral, Google is finally preparing to relaunch the service with new features. GrandCentral has been in private beta for the last two years. Over the next few days Google will be prompting existing beta users to upgrade to Google Voice before rolling out the service to new users in a few weeks.

GrandCentral lets you set up a single phone number that you can give out to anyone. When they call that number, it will ring any phone number you've linked to the account. So you can print a single number on your business card, and people will be able to reach you on your home, work, and cellphones. The service also lets you record phone calls, screen calls, create rules for calls coming from specific numbers, and receive email notifications of voicemail messages.

Google Voice has all those features, plus a few new ones, like the ability to make free calls to US numbers and cheap calls to other numbers, make conference calls, and send, receive, store, and search SMS messages.

You'll also get transcripts of all your voicemail messages. That alone is pretty cool. Google will use an automated method to convert speech to text - a service other companies are charging for. Why? My guess is because Google wants to monetize GrandCentral the same way it has Gmail: With contextually relevant ads that will show up in your sidebar. And in order to determine what ads are relevant, Google needs to translate speech to text.

The company admits that the automated transcripts won't be perfect. But the company has been fine tuning its speech recognition software for the last year or two with the Goog-411 service.

You can find a more complete list of Google Voice features at the Google Voice homepage.

Google relaunches GrandCentral as Google Voice

Unreal Tournament 3 Free to Play This Weekend on Steam

Coinciding with the release of the big 2.0 patch and Titan Pack update for the PC version of Unreal Tournament 3, Steam plans to offer the game as a free-to-play title this weekend.

In addition to the weekend trial, Unreal Tournament 3 Black--a download including the original game and updates--has now been discounted 40% through March 15 on Steam, making the entire package a $12 buy.

 

Shack PSA: Unreal Tournament 3 Free to Play This Weekend on Steam - Shacknews

Massive Unreal Tournament 3 Patch, Titan Pack Hit

Now available on FileShack are the two latest updates for Unreal Tournament 3 on PC : the massive 2.0 patch and the free Titan Pack downloadable content.

 

Those that have activated their copy of Unreal Tournament 3 through Steam need not bother with the manual downloads, as Steam will automatically download the files.

The Titan Pack adds two new game modes--Greed and Betrayal--along with new vehicles, items, and a total of 19 multiplayer maps that are new to PC and PS3 users. Meanwhile, the patch adds Steam achievements for those playing on a Steam install, which any UT3 PC owner can have, and includes many major tweaks for the game.

In all, players will find that the two downloads deliver:

• Two new game types: Greed, a "tug of war" skull-toting team points battle, and Betrayal, a cutthroat style of play where alliances and teams can shift fluidly through a match.
• The Titan Mutator, where you can become a 30 foot tall behemoth in any game mode.
• Nineteen maps for Deathmatch, CTF, Vehicle CTF and Warfare modes, including 11 new maps plus eight popular maps from the first UT3 bonus pack and Xbox 360 version.
• New vehicles and pickups, including the X-Ray field deployable, the link station deployable for vehicle repair, the slow field powerup, the Stealthbender vehicle, the Eradicator artillery piece, and the Stinger rail turret.
• Client-side demo recording.
• Revamped User Interface, including an improved server browser, improved server filtering options, all new advanced options menu, streamlined and polished the whole system.
• Awards: Fifty-seven different awards mark your progress and mastery of UT3. Progress screen in the UI shows which awards you have earned, and your current progress on awards not yet completed.
• Maplists and voting: New maplist system and mid-game voting support for gametypes and mutators as well as maps.

And as for the full patch notes:

Improved Steam integration
• Steam Achievement support for Steam installations of UT3.
• Integrated Steam Authentication support.
• 57 achievements mark your progress and mastery of UT.
• Progress screen shows which awards you have earned, and completion progress on all awards.
• You can activate a non-Steam purchased version with Steam (making it a full Steam version) by:
• Open Steam main window
• In Games menu, select Activate a Product on Steam...
• Type in your CD Key
• Install UT3 via Steam
• Note this make an entire new UT3 installation, so uninstall the previous version (your settings/profile should not be affected)
Server Browser:
• Server Browser updates, expanded query filtering, clientside filters and a new UI option list.
• Added mutator filtering to the server browser (filter by installed mutators, mutator classes and mutator names)
• Now displays each servers IP in the server details box
• Added 'Join IP' and 'Spectate IP' buttons to the join game menu
• Added an 'Add IP' button to the favourites menu
• Modified the main menu to return to the server browser after disconnecting
• Added a new button to the midgame menu 'Add Favorite', and a new console command: AddServerToFavorites
• Updated server browser code, so that custom gametypes are properly filtered.
• Added a 'List All Game Modes' selection to the server filter menu.
• Added more information to the server browser player list.
• Fixed servers not being added to history, when following a friend to a server
• You can now attempt to directly connect to offline servers in History and Favorites (even during master server downtimes).
• Show "+" for player counts that are populated by bots.
UI:
• Major visual and menu flow overhaul for improved useability.
• Made the instant-action and host-game menus keep their settings.
• Scoreboard double click functionality for kicking, messages to specific players.
• Enabled gamepad stick sensitivity setting in UI.
• Improved gamepad support on PC.
• Added support for a whole mess of options on Advanced video settings page.
• Easier to click buttons by fixing cases where mouse went just past them.
• Max player counts always fit on all scoreboards.
• Modifier cards should take display priority in toasts over character unlocks.
• Improved voice command menu positioning and offsets.
• Fixed showing as teleport destinations on map nodes which could not be teleported to.
• Added tooltip while deployed in stealth vehicles to show drop deployable button.
• Bot count UI changed from "Number of opponents" to "Number of combatants" to be less confusing.
• Added support for showing top weapon user in end of match scoreboard. This shows which player got the most kills with a particular weapon. If a player was the leader with more than one weapon, it picks the weapon he or she got the most kills with.
• Show beacon with name of enemies in DM if they are close enough.
• Fixed ammo number on HUD pulsing on armor pick up instead of ammo pick up.
• Third position for powernode beacon, when just looking at base.
• Added speaking icon to player beacons.
• Portraits shown for player speaking with VOIP.
• Fixed onslaught teleporter tooltip not always displayed correctly.
• fixed toasts that don't shut down properly popping up later unexpectedly
• More delay before going back to ambient music from action.
• Fixed text being obscured after removing a friend from the friends list
• Fixed showing proper weapon icon on weapon bar for selected weapon when two weapons are in same slot.
• Fixed issue where playercard and friend message screens were disappearing.
• Reduced chat log spam.
• Fixed rules for showing "change team" button.
• Added John Barrett (programming contractor), Michiel Hendriks (programming contractor), and Pancho Eekels (level design contractor) to credits.
• Fixed duel match rules in scoreboard.
• Fixed player information on server browser history page not refreshing correctly.
• Fix a crash caused by some mod UI scenes during the gamne
Vehicles:
• Increased radius/volume of Manta, Raptor, and Viper engines.
• Fixed scavenger legs disappearing in kill volumes.
• Force occupied manta to rise if underwater.
• Added sound effect and recharge bar to SPMA to indicate when the weapon is ready to fire
• Increased water damage taken by vehicles.
• Increased Goliath health.
• Fixed nightshade beam weapon accuracy.
• Fixed spidermines confused about nightshade that switches teams.
• Tank shell is always relevant, so you'll see it if it kills you from a hidden tank.
• Leviathan shield doesn't stay around after death.
• Fixed leviathan passenger beacon positioning.
• Fixed hoverboard rooster tail positioning when traveling over shallow water.
• Fixed flag positioning on tracked turrets.
• Fixed flying Manta exploit.
• Fixed boost exploit with Fury vehicle
• Fixed exploit to damage own core/nodes with rocket turret.
Weapons:
• Added burn trail for link gun beam.
• Weapon pickups now disappear for the player who picked it up, until it can be picked up again (now works like weapon lockers).
• Weapon throwing always enabled.
• Improved force feedback for various weapon and pickup actions.
• Simpler crosshair for instagib rifle.
• Third person translocate sound.
• Stinger now higher priority than flak cannon by default.
• Back splatter decals for hits with sniper rifle, stinger, and enforcer.
• Improved spidermine aiming help on console with hitscan weapons (enforcer, stinger, sniper).
• Fixed enforcer anim problems when become dual during initial loading.
• No ammo display for instagib rifle.
• Improved spidermine herding with Avrils.
• Improved redeemer blast screen shake.
• Spidermines work properly in deathmatch.
• Fixed translocator discs being able to get embedded in geometry with zero extent collision on but box collision off.
• Fixed deployable exploit (run over deployable while firing weapon, get in vehicle while still firing, and never switch to deployable).
• Fixed trans discs getting stuck on instigator's head.
• Fixed redeemer bug where redeemers impacting ceiling sometimes had explosion center imbedded in ceiling, affecting damage dealt.
• Fixed stinger alt-fire stops with 1 ammo.
• Fix for rare stinger shard crash when shard tries to impale two overlapping dead bodies at the same time.
• Fixed fast avril firing exploit.
AI:
• Added Drop Flag/Orb command (accessible through voice menu) to get bot teammates to drop the flag they are carrying.
• Improved bot handling of navigation failures, don't stay stuck.
• Bots understand ducking under obstacles with the Darkwalker.
• Bots understand getting off hoverboard to use a lift.
• Adjusted bot new enemy acquistion speed.
• Low skill bots don't slow down if carrying flag.
• Bots understand how to effectively use Orbs in Warfare much better.
• Bots use the hoverboard more effectively.
• Improved bot AI for using Translocator.
• Improved AI for picking best weapon to use.
• Improved AI for Leviathan, including aiming with the leviathan, and navigating the Leviathan.
• Improved AI for using the Hellfire SPMA.
• Improved Scorpion AI for trying to run over enemy foot soldiers and self destruct into big vehicles.
• Improved Manta/Viper AI for trying to run over enemy foot soldiers.
• Improved stealth vehicle deployment AI.
• Improved bots yelling "same team" when player is actually trying to hit nearby enemy.
• Fixed bots not able to get in Darkwalker secondary turret in some cases.
• Fixed bot AI issues in secondary turrets.
• Bots go after countdown nodes if core can't be attacked.
• Fixed bots grabbing orb without getting all the way to orb spawner.
• Improved AI for bots deciding whether to get out of vehicles and continue on foot.
• Automatic fix for not letting bots in vehicles try to go into areas that are blocked for vehicles by turnaroundvolumes.
• Bots are move aggressive about driving vehicles without slowing down too much for slight turns.
• Bots fully understand kismet disabled nodes.
• Improved bot AI for fighting enemies in Slow Fields.
• Improved bot understanding of targeting occluded powernodes.
Demo Recording:
• Added support for clientside demo recording.
• Demo playback is now delayed until precaching completes.
• Fixed SPMA camera crash during demo playback.
• Fixed demo playback log spam.
• Added DemoFF and DemoSlomo console commands. Can be bound to a key in UTInput.ini. DemoFF toggles between 1x, 3.3x, and 10x fast forward. DemoSlomo takes a float between 0.1 and 10 which adjusts playback speed by that factor.
Networking:
• Fixed localization of certain networking messages received from different language server.
• Improved dynamic netspeed system based on player counts.
• Improved hoverboard smoothness in net games.
• Friend following now attempts to place friends on the same team.
• Added team balancing between matches.
• Fixed reachspecs occasionally keeping level references across seamless travel, causing levels not to be properly unloaded.
• Increased net priority of movers with viewer based on them. Reduces mover popping in large playercount games.
• Networking bandwidth use optimizations.
• Improved prioritization of actor replication.
• Improved network pawn position update smoothing using mesh translation.
• Tweaked finding floors for simulated falling pawns.
• Yaw and pitch change smoothing for other players on clients.
• Fixed character mesh not getting onto hoverboard right away in high player count games.
• Improved turret replication in high player count games.
• Fixed remaining cases where team color skins weren't being properly set.
• Fixed clients auto-switching to better weapon when they stop firing.
• Don't dynamically adjust listen server client netspeed above max client has requested (for modem clients).
• Make sure all audio components get cleaned up on seamless travel.
• Fixed various exploits.
• Try multiple STUN servers if first one fails. Fixes users incorrectly getting the "Your network configuration may not be compatible..." warning.
• Fixed spectator choppiness when camera is following a player.
• No spectating bar when spectating in first person.
Server Administration:
• Removed download speed limitations, when hosting LAN servers.
• Implemented auto-reconnect code for Gamespy uplink and advertising. Servers now continuously try to advertise to the master server upon failure.
• Fixed buggy URL parsing function, which was breaking mutator advertising
• Added code to recreate serveractors after seamless travel
• Fixed case insensitivity issue with admin and game passwords
• Added session banning, with the command: AdminSessionBan
• Security fixes.
• Added config variable 'SpawnProtectionTime' to UTGame.ini.
• Optimized stats sending bandwidth.
• Support 'n as n in MOTD.
Engine:
• Collision Octree optimizations
• Particle system optimizations
• Safe handling of inversing nil matrices. Addresses rare ragdoll physics crashes.
• Removed unnecessary profile saves, improved saving progress when player expects it.
• Improved Garbage collection performance.
• Optimized decals.
• Warfare Teleporter portal rendering updates are now disabled by default, even for high end systems (for performance reasons). To enable, add the following to your UTGame.ini file

  [UTOnslaughtNodeTeleporter] bRealtimeCapture=true

• Reduced non-warfare teleporter update range if bRealTimeCapture is false.
• Added a dialog warning users of nvidia driver version that are known to crash UT3, and to upgrade.
• Fixed Engine.* localization files being in the wrong location
Game:
• Option to allow for custom characters to load at all times (no default characters, but may get hitches when new players join).
• CTF flag is hidden for player carrying it.
• Can no longer teleport to node that is under attack.
• Improved victim death messages (precise cause of death).
• In game types using weaponlockers, players spawn with weapons from nearest weapon locker.
• Fixed scoreboard issues during seamless travel.
• Fixed lifts returning if you jump or get shot while on them.
• Play taunts on upper body only for moving players.
• Fixed black boxes on Leviathan shock balls.
• Fixed lighting on first person spidermine death effect
• Improved code for leaning players which are going around turns.
• Reduced foot jittering on stairs.
• No team change penalty for automatic swaps.
• Improved lighting for characters.
• Reduced mesh offsetting on slopes, removing exploit allowing players to hide.
• Fixed winner pawn rotating after round ends.
• Fixed sender not hearing autotaunts.
• Fixed krall missing footstep sound notifies.
• Fixed bots leaving game affecting TDM team score.
• Fixed bad low LOD meshes (spiky when feigning or dead).
• Fixed gamespy rank query results. Now always properly centers the querying player in the returned list.
• Added GameInfo.bForceNoSeamlessTravel config var to completely disable seamless travel
Mod support:
• UTHUD now responsible for drawing player and vehicle beacons, making it easier to support custom beacons for custom game types.
• Added support for stretching IK limbs (see SkelControlLimb.uc).
• Merged PC version script functionality to PS3 to improve mod compatibility for mods on PS3.
• Added spectator notification hooks to Mutator.uc:
• AllowBecomeActivePlayer: Allows mutators to prevent spectators from joining the game
• AllowBecomeSpectator: Allows mutators to block players from spectating (not fully implemented).
• NotifyBecomeActivePlayer: Notifies mutators when a spectator successfully becomes an active player
• NotifyBecomeSpectator: Notifies mutators when a player becomes a spectator (not fully implemented)
• Added two new functions to Object.uc, 'IsNetScript' which returns true if the current code was remotely executed, and 'GetNetFuncName' which returns the name of the replicated function where script execution began
• Added a new function flag, 'DemoRecording', which replicates the function into the demo file when recording demos NOTE: Implicitly flags the function as simulated
• Added the ability for mods to specify custom settings scenes, through new values in UTUIDataProvider_GameModeInfo.uc:
• 'ModGameSettingsScene', allows mods to specify a custom settings scene which is accessible through a 'Mod Settings' button in the Instant Action and Host Game menus
• 'ModClientSettingsScene', allows mods to specify a custom settings scene which is accessible through the main menu settings page, and the mid game menu settings
• Added ClearConfig and StaticClearConfig functions to Object.uc
• Added team change notification hooks to Mutator.uc
• AllowChangeTeam: Allows mutators to prevent players from changing team
• NotifySetTeam: Notifies mutators when a player successfully changes team
• Added bCanRagdoll flag to UTPawn for mod authors.
• Added slight player glow support for darkmatch (maps with DARKMATCH at start of worldinfo name
• Made UIObject 'ResolveStyles' function accessible to script.
• Added support for loading a Splash.bmp in a mod directory.
• Fixed server browser not being able to filter custom gametypes; in the gametype data provider, set 'GameSearchClass' to: UTGameSearchCustom
• Added code to reinitialize ServerActors after seamless travel
• Added editable 'MouseBounds' property to UIScene, which allows you to configure mouse boundaries for the current scene
• 'MouseBounds.BoundaryObject' is set through the 'Set Mouse Boundary' submenu in the UIEditor context menu
• Also added a selection to the UIEditor View menu, 'Mouse Boundaries Outline', for viewing the current mouse boundaries
• Mouse boundaries can be changed during runtime using 'UIScene::SetMouseBounds' and 'UIScene::ResetMouseBounds'
• Now writes mod config files to mod directory, and auto-find config files in moddirconfig or moddir.
• Now autofinds localization files in moddirlocalization.
• Now finds splash image in moddirsplash.
• Supports compiling script code with -mod
• Supports publishing with -mod
• Fixed not being able to publish default (startup) map
• No longer copies RefShaderCache files when publishing
• Supports Bink movies in -mod dir (ModDirMovies)
• Fixed problem with completely overriding UTCustomChar.ini in the mod config directory
• Added -solomod option to restrict game looking in non-loaded .ini files for maps/gametypes/etc
• When using -mod, LocalShaderCache is ignored, instead it uses ModShaderCache*, which can be pre-generated with PrecompileShaders commandlet
• Fixed bug when cooking for PS3 that manta shots are black
Level specific:
• Fixed redeemers nopt able to damage power cores in Islander.
• Don't allow disabling of fog volumes. Fixes VCTF-Sandstorm exploit.
• Fixed collision issues in VCTF-Suspense and Suspense_Necris.
• Fixed real-time teleporter portal updates in WAR-Avalanche.
Maplists
• The old maplist system has been replaced with an entirely new one, which is configured through UTMapLists.ini, this allows mods using custom .ini files to have map cycles setup from the ingame menus
• To recover the old server maplist settings, you need to open UTGame.ini and go to the [UTGame.UTGame] section, then for each 'GameSpecificMapCycles' entry you need to find (or create) an entry in 'GameProfiles' under [UTGame.UTMapListManager] in UTMapLists.ini, which has a 'GameClass' value that matches the 'GameClassName' value in 'GameSpecificMapCycles'.

  Then you need to find the maplist in UTMapLists.ini which is specified by 'MapListName' value in the 'GameProfiles' entry, (e.g: [DMMapList UTMapList]), and then you must manually transfer each map name in 'GameSpecificMapCycles' to the maplist in UTMapLists.ini.

  For example, Maps=("DM-Arsenal","DM-Biohazard") in 'GameSpecificMapCycles' would become:
  [DMMapList UTMapList]
  Maps=(Map="DM-Arsenal")
  Maps=(Map="DM-Biohazard")

• Configuration options for [UTGame.UTMapListManager]:
• GameProfiles: This is a list which is used to define custom game type settings (mainly for game voting), options include:
• GameClass: The FULL class name of the gametype, including package name as well as class name (e.g. "UTGame.UTDeathMatch")
• GameName: The name that is displayed on the vote menu when selecting a gametype (e.g. "Deathmatch", "Warfare
• No Orbs")
• MapListName: The name of the maplist that this game profile will use (e.g. "WARMapList")
• Options: Additional URL options which are used when switching to this gametype (e.g. "? WarmupTime=60")
• Mutators: Mutators to be loaded for this gametype (e.g. "UTGame.UTMutator_LowGrav,UTGame.UTMutator_Instagi b")
• ExcludedMuts: Mutators which are disallowed for this gametype (e.g. "UTMutator_Instagib,UTMutator_Slomo")
• bIsTeamGame: Specifies whether or not the current gametype is a team game (used internally for game voting)
• MapReplayLimit: The number of matches which must pass before any one map can be played again
• ActiveGameProfileName: The 'GameProfiles' entry which is currently active; mainly used by the game during runtime
• PlayIndex: A value used for keeping track of when maps were last played, represents the total number of games played
• AutoStripOptions: A list of URL options which are automatically removed upon map change (e.g. "LinkSetup")
• AutoEmptyOptions: The same as 'AutoStripOptions', except these options are given an empty value on the URL (e.g. "GoalScore,TimeLimit")
• Configuration options for [UTGame.UTMapList]:
• Maps: The list of maps used by the maplist, options:
• Map: The filename of the map (minus the file extension)
• ExtraData: An array of arbitrary data which can be associated with each maplist entry; mainly used by the game at runtime
• AutoLoadPrefixes: Maps with the prefixes defined here will be automatically added to the maplist (e.g. AutoLoadPrefixes=CTF,VCTF)
• LastActiveMapIndex: The index into the 'Maps' list which was last active; mainly used by the game during runtime
Voting
• Added support for midgame voting for maps, game types, and mutators.
• All vote related variables have been moved to UTVote.ini
• To recover the old vote configuration values, you need to open UTGame.ini and go to the [UTGame.UTGame] section, then manually transfer the vote configuration values to the [UTGame.VoteCollector] section in UTVote.ini; the affected values are: 'bAllowMapVoting', 'VoteDuration' (now 'MapVoteDuration' and 'GameVoteDuration'), 'bMidGameMapVoting' (now 'bMidGameVoting'), 'MapVotePercentage' (now 'MidGameVotePercentage'), 'MinMapVotes' (now 'MinMidGameVotes'), and 'InitialVoteDelay'.
• Added new configuration options 'InitialVoteTransferTime' and 'RushVoteTransferTime'; the first slows down the speed at which vote related data (e.g. maps, game info) is transferred, to spread out bandwidth usage and prevent lag; the second speeds up the remaining transfers, for when the client opens the vote menu
• Added gametype voting, allowing players to vote in a different game type before voting for a map (if map voting is enabled). Gametype configuration is setup in UTMapLists.ini, through 'GameProfiles' under [UTGame.UTMapListManager]; configuration options in UTVote.ini:
• bAllowGameVoting: Enable/Disable gametype voting
• Added mutator voting, allowing players to decide which mutators get enabled/disabled in the next match; configuration options:
• bAllowMutatorVoting: Enable/Disable mutator voting
• VotableMutators: The list used to determine which mutators should be votable, options include:
• MutClass: The FULL class name of the mutator, include package name as well as class name (e.g. "UTGame.UTMutator_Slomo")
• MutName: The name that is displayed on the vote menu for this mutator (e.g. "Instagib", "Low Gravity") N.B. When left blank, the game will attempt to set this automatically
• MutatorVotePercentage: The percentage of votes required to enable or disable a mutator; percentages are only checked at endgame
• Added kick voting; configuration options:
• bAllowKickVoting: Enable/Disable kick voting
• bAnonymousKickVoting: If true, then the voters name is not shown when performing a kick vote (except to admins)
• MinKickVotes: The minimum number of votes required in order to kick a player
• KickVotePercentage: The percentage of votes required in order to kick a player

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