Microsoft Announces Xbox 360 Price Cut

Following an endless series of rumors, and a PlayStation 3 price cut to $300, Microsoft has finally confirmed that the price of the Xbox 360 will drop on Friday, August 28.

According to Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb, the Elite version of the console will be marked down $100 to a total of $299, while the Pro will be drop to $250 until it is phased out.

The new prices follow:

Xbox 360 Elite: $399.99 now $299.99
Xbox 360 Pro: $299.99 now $249.99 (While supplies last)
Xbox 360 Arcade: $199.99

Production of the Pro has already been halted, and only the 120GB Elite and the Arcade will remain on store shelves eventually.

Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg also confirmed to Kotaku that the Elite will no longer ship with an HDMI cable, while denying rumors of an upcoming "slim" version of the console.

Sony recently announced its $300 PlayStation 3 Slim, a svelte version of the system with a 120GB hard drive for $300.

Microsoft Announces Xbox 360 Price Cut - Shacknews

Impressions: Rock Band Network (Creation)

Within seconds, it's clear that Rock Band Network isn't for amateurs. The tools being offered by Harmonix are fully-featured, professional programs that are meant for artists serious about getting their content into Rock Band and, yes, making money. With Harmonix admitting that first-time users will take 20-40 hours to finish a single song "all the way," it's clear that this isn't meant for the average gamers that have a bit of spare time on their hands.

There are four main steps in getting a song onto the upcoming Rock Band Network Store. The most important (and most time-consuming) part of the process is creating the note tracks. Harmonix has partnered with Reaper to create a Rock Band-specific plug-in that allows music producers to start creating Rock Band tracks. Caleb Epps demonstrated the program to us, noting, "what you see is what we use at Harmonix."

For anyone that's produced MIDI music, the interface should be incredibly familiar. What makes the Rock Band version of Reaper special is how everything is already clearly laid out and labeled: each color of each instrument has its own specific track. Producers simply add notes to each of the tracks, and a separate playback window will show how it will look like in-game. It's a time-consuming process made even more complicated by the fact that new tracks must be created for every difficulty: you won't be able to upload an Expert-only song, for example.

Gallery: Rock Band Network

Reaper also allows for deeper audio manipulation, allowing producers to splice, mix and sample as in most professional audio production suites. There are a few automated scripts, however, to make the translation into Rock Band a bit easier. Harmonix joked that there's a "make it loud button," a macro that applies customized normalization across the song that adjusts levels to make the interactive sections more recognizable while playing.

Once the tracks are laid out and aligned properly with the music, the next step is to import the track into Magma. Magma converts the audio and note information into a playable Rock Band track, and automates the various interactive elements of a track. Magma will choose appropriate camera angles, placing in markers to have the game focus on the guitarist or vocalist during a solo, for example. However, those that want total control over this process can export this information out of Magma back into Reaper, and make additional tweaks as they please. There are a few things that Harmonix won't allow you to edit, though: lip syncing, which is rendered automatically, and access to the Rock Band fog peripheral. (Harmonix was concerned that creators would abuse this meta information by overwhelming the fog peripheral to activate every second, for example. Considering the limited use and availability of the peripheral, there was little insurance that the community would be able to properly test for abuse.)

Magma also appends all the meta information required to upload the song to the Rock Band Network, such as author, cover art, price, genre, sub-genre and difficulty. Free songs are not allowed on the Rock Band Network, so bands will be required to charge 80, 160 or 240 ($1, $2 or $3). The number of sub-genres has greatly expanded in Rock Band Network, allowing artists of all kids to show off their goods -- whether it's trip rock, or nu-jazz. When all of the information has been input, Magma converts the file into a .RBA (Rock Band Audition) file and prepares it for use on Xbox 360.

The process of compressing the various audio info and preparing a playable Rock Band song takes about three minutes, depending on the user's computer's processing speed. There is one important restriction to keep in mind, though: because Magma is based on Games for Windows Live, there's no Mac support at all. If you want to get your song into Rock Band 2, you'll need to use a PC.

Once the song is uploaded to the Rock Band Network servers, it will be playable from Rock Band 2's to-be-patched "Audition Mode." While the option will be visible for all Xbox 360 players post-patch release, only members of the XNA Creator's Club will be able to access the service. Here, all in-production songs will be displayed to play and review.

Playing an original Rock Band Network song will look like playing any other Rock Band song. However, there will be a few changes specific to "Audition Mode." For example, players will be able to use the D-pad at any time to slow down a song, almost to a standstill. This will allow creators to make note of any microscopic errors they might discover in the note map. Additional information on the screen, like the MBT, indicates the song's position in Reaper, so producers know exactly where to go when editing their songs.

The Rock Band Network community is already available as a closed beta, but an open beta is scheduled to launch in mid-October, about a month after Audition mode is patched into Rock Band 2. Then, the Rock Band Network Store will be available in November for both Xbox 360 and PS3 users to enjoy. All artists will be paid through XNA, and will receive 30 percent of their chosen selling price. (The remainder will go to Harmonix and the platform holders.) While this may seem like an unbalanced cut, Harmonix notes that this is the same deal that everyone gets when entering the Network: Your band is agreeing to the same terms as a major record label; keeping all artists on equal footing.

In addition to the 30 percent share, publishers on the Rock Band Network must also meet a minimum sales threshold, which wasn't quantified beyond "small," before earning income. Should your song reach that number, the checks will come automatically every month. It's an exciting, but unproven, business model that might provide a new revenue stream for up-and-coming artists. The cost of entry is relatively low for what is, essentially, a new avenue of music publishing: a copy of Rock Band 2, an Xbox 360, a $99 Creator's Club membership, and the $60 license for Reaper. For dedicated enthusiasts and professionals alike, that's an easy price to swallow.

Impressions: Rock Band Network (Creation)

NASA Resumes Countdown for Possible Friday Shuttle Launch

The clock is again ticking down toward launch for NASA's space shuttle Discovery as mission managers prepare to discuss whether the spacecraft is indeed ready for its planned Friday blast off.

NASA resumed the countdown today for Discovery's planned 12:22 a.m. EDT (0422 GMT) launch Friday morning after testing a

suspect valve that prevented the shuttle from lifting off earlier this week.

The valve, which is in the shuttle's main propulsion system, passed five tests to cycle it open and closed late Wednesday. Mission managers will meet this afternoon to discuss those tests and decide whether to press ahead with Discovery's launch or stand down for lengthy repairs.

"[The valve] didn't break itself apart. All five times it did exactly as it was expected to do," NASA spokesperson Allard Beutel told SPACE.com late Wednesday. "They can take that to the mission management team Thursday for discussion."

If NASA decides to forge ahead with Discovery's Friday launch attempt, engineers would have to begin fueling the shuttle's 15-story external tank at about 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) today.

Mike Moses, head of Discovery's mission management team, will hold a meeting of shuttle managers at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT) to discuss the valve issue and whether it is safe to fly the spacecraft as-is. If mission managers decide to replace the valve, the repair work could delay Discovery's flight to October.

Discovery's six-man, one-woman crew actually has two chances to launch on Friday. In addition to the morning attempt, another opportunity arises at 11:59 p.m. EDT (0359 Aug. 29 GMT). The mission, commanded by veteran spaceflyer Rick Sturckow, is a 13-day spaceflight to deliver a new crewmember to the International Space Station, as well as nearly 8 tons of cargo and a treadmill named after television comedian Stephen Colbert.

Suspect valve under scrutiny

During fueling operations Tuesday for a planned early Wednesday launch, the 8-inch valve - known as a liquid hydrogen fill-and-drain valve - failed to indicate as closed during a test.

The unexpected glitch forced NASA to call off its second attempt to launch Discovery toward the International Space Station. Stormy weather earlier on Tuesday foiled the shuttle's first launch try.

The drain valve is part of the plumbing system in Discovery's aft that allows the 526,000 gallons of super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant required for launch to be pumped into the shuttle's huge external tank, and then drained out again if liftoff is delayed.

NASA's launch rules call for the valve system and its liquid oxygen counterpart to work perfectly in order to attempt a launch. The valves must be closed during launch and are reopened once a shuttle reaches orbit to vent its engine manifold of any remaining propellant.

A positioning sensor may be faulty in Discovery's hydrogen valve, resulting in the failure to indicate the valve was closed during Tuesday's prelaunch test, mission managers have said. The tests Wednesday evening were performed at ambient temperature, but the errant position reading came when the valve was immersed in super-chilled liquid hydrogen propellant.

NASA has until Aug. 30 to launch Discovery toward the space station before standing down due to a schedule conflict with other operations on the Air Force's Eastern Range, which the space agency uses for shuttle and rocket launches.

If the shuttle doesn't launch by then, NASA would have to wait until Oct. 17 to try again in order to wait out space traffic at the International Space Station. An unmanned Japanese cargo ship is slated to make its debut flight to the station in September. A Russian cargo ship is also due to leave the outpost next month while another Russian spacecraft, a crew-carrying Soyuz, will launch Sept. 30 carrying a new crew and a Canadian space tourist.

SPACE.com -- NASA Resumes Countdown for Possible Friday Shuttle Launch

Google Uses Crowdsourcing for Traffic Data

Traffic data to eventually be offered for all roads in the U.S.

Tracking the movements of a user with a GPS-enabled smartphone is an easy enough task for application developers to accomplish. The tracking feature is commonly used in navigation applications and other types of software. Palm recently found itself in some hot water over tracking detailed user information including where the user is located.

Google is talking up its maps application and the apps ability to use the location and speed data from a users phone to make a crowdsourced traffic map for an entire city.

Google says that this week it has expanded its traffic layer to cover all U.S. highways and roads when data is available. Google points out that for the service to be truly useful, it needs lots of participants. As Google puts it, by simply turning on the crowdsourcing feature of the maps application users can get a real time image of how well traffic is moving on a given roadway.

One of the big concerns with any application that tracks user's movements is whether a specific device can be located. Google says that on all the data it collects, it takes the starting and ending point data and deletes it. That means that even Google has no access to the data to be able to locate a specific device.

To make things even more private and secure, when there is data from multiple devices available Google will combine all the data and present it in bulk. Owners of the T-Mobile myTouch 3G and the Palm Pre already have Google Maps and the crowdsourcing feature installed, they only need to enable it. The Google maps application for the iPhone lacks the crowdsourcing feature.

Google says that despite the protections it puts in place to protect the user location data, those wishing to opt out of the crowdsourcing feature can do so easily.

DailyTech - Google Uses Crowdsourcing for Traffic Data

PlayOn video streaming beta playing on Wii now

MediaMall Technologies has opened up a beta of the Wii version of its PlayOn streaming media software, already available for PS3, Xbox 360 and other devices. Basically, that means that you should be able to download the PC software and then use the Internet Channel to watch Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and other content on your TV.

There's a 14-day free trial of the software, after which you have to pay $39.99 for the full version -- by the way, we couldn't help but notice that the price has increased, and the duration of the trial decreased, since last year. $40 is kind of a lot, but not when compared to the cost of an Xbox 360 or another Netflix-capable device. Unless it turns out not to work well -- which many of us are no doubt on our way to determining right now.

PlayOn video streaming beta playing on Wii now

Speed up Firefox by cleaning out your SQLite databases

A while back, Jason mentioned giving your Firefox performance a boost by limiting the length of time items are saved in history.

At Mozilla Links, they've shared another handy tip from Mozilla developer Jeremy Orem.
His advice: take a vacuum to your SQLite databases. Here's how to do it:

1. Open the Firefox tools menu and click on error console.
2. Paste the following command into the code box as a single line (as pictured):
   Components.classes["@mozilla.org/browser/nav-history-service;1"].getService(Components.interfaces.nsPIPlacesDatabase).DBConnection.executeSimpleSQL("VACUUM");
3. Hit [enter] or click the evaluate button.

After a momentary hang, you'll be able to close the console and return to your main Firefox window to enjoy your leaner, meaner browser!

Speed up Firefox by cleaning out your SQLite databases

NVIDIA ForceWare 190.62 WHQL

NVIDIA ForceWare software unleashes the full power and features in NVIDIA's desktop, gaming, platform, workstation, laptop, multimedia, and mobile products. Delivering a proven record of compatibility, reliability, and stability with the widest range of games and applications, ForceWare software ensures the best experience with your NVIDIA hardware.

New in this release:

• Adds WHQL support on Windows 7 for Microsoft's new DirectX GPU Computing API: DirectCompute.
• Optimized for the latest PhysX gaming titles: Batman: Arkham Asylum and Darkest of Days.
• Installs PhysX System Software version 9.09.0814.
• Includes several bug fixes. More information can be found in the release documentation.

Download: NVIDIA Forceware 190.62 WHQL

NVIDIA ForceWare 190.62 WHQL

OfficeTab adds tabs to Word, Excel and Powerpoint

Tabbed browsing might be the greatest thing since sliced bread. In fact, after having tabs for so long, it's frustrating to try using an older browser that doesn't support them. We still deal with it in our office applications, though. Granted, it's rare to have as many Word documents open as we do webpages, but even 4 or 5 can turn into a mess. OfficeTab helps out by adding tabs to Word, Excel and PowerPoint, so you can save screen real estate and switch between docs more easily.

You can choose to add tabs to some or all of the apps OfficeTab supports, in case you want them in Word, but not in PowerPoint, for example. OfficeTab doesn't take up much space, it just keeps your tabs in a standard-sized toolbar. You can even view your documents side-by-side in the same window, which is handy for comparing drafts. OfficeTab works in Office 2003 and 2007 on Windows XP, Vista or 7. It's made by a Chinese developer, so both Chinese and English versions are available.

OfficeTab adds tabs to Word, Excel and Powerpoint

First Screenshots of 'LEGO Universe' MMO Released

NetDevil today released the first screenshots of its upcoming cooperative MMO LEGO Universe.

The shots show off some of the ninja, pirate and space-themed LEGO sets players will encounter in the online game. They also provide a look at the character customization.

 

The title promises "several ways to use the iconic LEGO brick, from simple, gameplay oriented building challenges to complex creative designs." At the same time, the LEGO Group says that "safety is priority number one," and the company is currently "exploring many solutions for maximizing children's online safety."

LEGO Universe is scheduled for a 2010 release on PC.

First Screenshots of 'LEGO Universe' MMO Released - Shacknews

Rock Band DLC to hit 1000 tracks by holiday with help of Queen, Nirvana & Elton John

Aside from announcing the first three Beatles albums to be released as DLC for upcoming tear-jerker The Beatles: Rock Band, MTV Games and Harmonix today revealed intentions to bring the Rock Band DLC count to 1,000 songs by this holiday. At the current rate Harmonix is releasing songs for the franchise -- without factoring in the Rock Band Network -- that's roughly 500 songs per year.

Additionally, the companies have revealed a number of the artists that will be contributing to the holiday goal, including Queen, Nirvana, Tom Petty, Elton John, Iggy Pop, The White Stripes, Pantera, Talking Heads, Korn, and The Raconteurs, as well as the ever elusive "and more." You can always find out what new tracks are coming to Rock Band as DLC (and what's on the way) by using our Rock Band Weekly feature.

Rock Band DLC to hit 1000 tracks by holiday with help of Queen, Nirvana & Elton John

Space Shuttle Discovery to Launch Aug. 25

NASA will try to launch the space shuttle Discovery next week after settling outlying concerns with the foam insulation covering the spacecraft's external fuel tank.

Discovery is now slated to blast off next Tuesday at 1:36 a.m. EDT (1736 GMT) from a seaside launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch date decision came after an extended, two-day meeting by top NASA officials to review whether the shuttle was

safe to fly a nearly two-week trek to the International Space Station.

"I think we're ready to go fly," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's space operations chief. "We've got a pretty tough mission in front of us again. These station missions are not easy."

Gerstenmaier told reporters that the decision to try to launch Discovery next week was unanimous, though there was a lively debate over whether more tests should be performed on the shuttle's foam-covered external tank. A handful of engineers favored performing the extra tests - which could delay the flight to October - but ultimately signed off for Tuesday's launch attempt, he added.

More foam than usual fell from the shuttle Endeavour's fuel tank during its launch toward the space station in July. NASA isn't sure exactly why the foam debris popped free from a ridged part of the tank called the "intertank" just above its midpoint. Engineers spent weeks testing foam on the same area of Discovery's 15-story tank, finding it fit for flight.

"We don't expect foam losses in those areas," said John Shannon, NASA's space shuttle program manager, adding that some foam debris shedding may still occur. "That was sufficient flight rationale and that's what we're going to go fly with."

NASA has kept a close watch on the amount of foam debris during shuttle launches since a large piece damaged the shuttle Columbia's heat shield during its 2003 flight, leading to the spacecraft's destruction during re-entry. Seven astronauts were killed in the tragedy.

Stocking up space station

Commanded by veteran shuttle flyer Rick Sturckow, Discovery's seven-astronaut crew is poised to fly a 13-day mission to deliver a new crewmember, a cargo pod packed with 15,200 pounds (6,894 kg) of fresh supplies and experiment gear, and a treadmill named after American comedian Stephen Colbert. Three spacewalks are planned for the mission.

Earlier this year, Colbert attempted to have a new room for the space station named after him by urging fans of his Comedy Central television show "The Colbert Report" to write his name in during a NASA online poll. NASA named the new room Tranquility in honor of the Apollo 11 moon landing, but dubbed the new station treadmill riding on Discovery the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT) as a consolation prize.

NASA officials said Colbert has been invited to watch his namesake treadmill launch into space, but the comedian has said he will not be able to attend.

Discovery's STS-128 mission will mark the fourth shuttle flight of up to five planned for this year. NASA has until Aug. 30 to launch the mission before it would have to consider standing down until Oct. 17 to avoid a space traffic conflict with Japan's first H-2 Transfer Vehicle, an unmanned cargo ship slated to begin its maiden flight to the space station on Sept. 10.

SPACE.com -- Space Shuttle Discovery to Launch Aug. 25

Lenovo Debuts New PCs for the Home

Lenovo offers new computing devices for home users

Lenovo was one of the later entrants into the netbook market with its S10 and S12 machines. The company is also getting into the nettop market and has announced three new computers that are aimed at home users.

The Lenovo IdeaCenter D400 home server is intended to host and store digital content on a home network like photos, video, and music from multiple computers. The D400 supports up to 8TB of storage cobbled together from different types and capacity hard drives. Other features of the D400 include quintet of USB ports and an eSATA port for external storage. The D400 will start at $499.

Lenovo also unveiled the IdeaCenter Q100 and its big brother the Q110 nettops. The main difference between the two is that the Q110 sports some NVIDIA Ion action. Both of the nettops cram their hardware into the same 6 x 6.3 x 0.7 inch chassis and run Atom 230 CPUs, 1GB of RAM for the Q100 and 2GB of RAM for the Q110, 160GB of HDD storage for the Q100 and the Q110 gets 250GB.

The Q100 runs Windows XP and only sucks down 14 watts of power when idle and 40 watts at full load. The Q110 runs Windows Vista and has an HDMI out for connecting to your big screen. The Q100 will sell for about $249, the Q110 will sell for $349, and they should ship in September.

Lenovo also pulled the wraps off an IdeaCenter Q700 multimedia system that is described as a DVD-like home theater PC. The machine promises connectivity for cameras, smartphones, and other devices allowing the video stored on them to be seen in HD on the big TV. The machine sports Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs and up to 1TB of storage.

Lenovo D400

Lenovo Q100  (Source: Engadget)

DailyTech - Lenovo Debuts New PCs for the Home

LEGO Rock Band Rains Destruction

Behold the Rock Power Challenge in LEGO Rock Band, a game mode in which you use the power of rock to demolish a building.

Maybe this isn't exciting for you, but damn if it doesn't do just the trick for me. Why the hell do we need a LEGO Rock Band? This right here. Take the same gameplay everyone loves and give it a new, humorous purpose, and you've got a Rock Band game with charm that goes beyond simply playing the music. I kinda dig it.

LEGO Rock Band Rains Destruction - LEGO Rock Band - Kotaku

Windows Live Movie Maker leaves beta

It's been in beta for some time, but today, finally, Windows Live Movie Maker has gotten its release papers.

Yes, it's got the love-it-or-hate-it ribbon interface. On its tabs are loads of transition effects, filters and fades, caption tools, and ready access to editing functions. Videos can be created in 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratios and resolutions up to 1080p. YouTube uploading is now built-in and other services like Facebook, SmugMug, Picasa, and Drupal-based sites can be added via plugins.

For those of you who, like me, don't want to deal with the Live installer, head on over to Softpedia to download the new version directly.

Remember, this baby is Windows Vista or Windows 7 only.

Quick-fix updates have also been pushed to the rest of the Live suite and the Messenger Geek has a list of links to the individual .msi installers.

Windows Live Movie Maker leaves beta

PS3 Slim hits September 1 for $300, PS3 price cut Wednesday

The PS3 Slim has officially been confirmed by Sony, and it's coming in at a great price: $299.99. The system will be available in the first week of September, feature a 120GB hard drive, and will be around a third smaller and lighter than the first-generation systems. It gets better: if you don't want to wait on the Slim, tomorrow you'll be able to go to your favorite retailer and buy an existing PS3 for $299.99 as well.

Don't expect any changes in hardware or features outside of the smaller and lighter case; the PS3 Slim will do all the things current systems on store shelves can do, and will fail at the things the current hardware fails at. It's time to finally give up the dream of backwards compatibility.

Sony did reveal other things at its press conference, although none were quite as exciting. If you pick up a PSP Go at launch and register before October 10, you'll receive a free copy of Gran Turismo PSP for your shiny new system, which should help you deal with the sticker shock of buying a $250 console with no physical port for games. [Update: this is only for the European launch] There will also be an area of the PlayStation Network for "minis," games under 100MB that should be less expensive than full releases. Think of it as an Xbox Live Arcade for the PSP Go.

There will be minis available on October 1 to go along with the launch of the system, with more added as time goes on. Debut titles include Hero of Sparta, Tetris, and Minigore. In other words, expect to see some iPhone ports.

Sony also announced an upcoming comic reader for the PSP, offering access to hundreds of Marvel Comics, along with Archie Comics and Image titles. There was scant information on the cost of this service and no firm release date, but fans of digital comics should be able to get their fill of new releases through Sony's portable system.

Do you have questions about the PS3? We get the majority of your concerns addressed by Sony's John Koller.

PS3 Slim hits September 1 for $300, PS3 price cut Wednesday - Ars Technica

ATI Catalyst 9.8

AMD released version 9.8 of their ATI video card driver package.

Resolved Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System

• Display and mouse rotation now functions properly after reboot with 3 or more displays in clone mode
• "Unreal Tournament 3" no longer fails to respond after performing a taskswitch to desktop
• Hotplugging a secondary display during HD playback with WinDVD no longer
  causes desktop to go blank
• Intermittent block noise no longer visible during MPEG2-TS content playback with Windows Media Player
• Windows 7 logo no longer displays flickering distortion during Windows 7 loading screen (system reboot up)

View: Release notes
Download: ATI Catalyst 9.8 driver

ATI Catalyst 9.8

Trillan Astra chat client leaves beta

After years of private testing, Trillian launched a public beta of its updated multi-protocol chat client earlier this summer. This week, the company took off the beta label, and Trillian Astra replaces the company's older chat client.

Trillian Astra lets users chat with contacts on a number of services, including AOL Intant Messenger, Windows live Mesenger, Google Talk, ICQ, and Yahoo! Messenger.

It also lets you update your Facebook and Twitter status messages, which makes Trillian Astra a direct competitor to Digsby. So if you were annoyed with Digsby's heavy-handed revenue generating techniques, you might want to take a look at Trillian Astra. To Digsby's credit, the company did roll out an update that makes the "Support Digsby" section easier to spot and configure, along with a link to a Wiki entry explaining how the Digsby Research Module works.

Trillian Astra is available as a free download for Windows. Mac and iPhone versions are in the works. There's also a web client, which pits Trillian Astra against web-based chat service Meebo.

Trillan Astra chat client leaves beta

Researcher Discovers New Cloaking Method

New method could hide buildings from earthquakes or tsunamis

Cloaking objects is a big area of research for many scientists. Much of the research is focusing more on cloaking objects from certain types of waves like sound and vibration more than it is focusing on making things invisible to the naked eye.

A researcher for the University of Utah named Graeme Milton has developed a new cloaking method that may someday allow buildings and other large objects to be shielded from things like sonar, radar, earthquakes, and even tsunamis.

Milton said, "We have shown that it is numerically possible to cloak objects of any shape that lie outside the cloaking devices, not just from single-frequency waves, but from actual pulses generated by a multi-frequency source."

He continued, "It's a brand new method of cloaking. It is two-dimensional, but we believe it can be extended easily to three dimensions, meaning real objects could be cloaked. It's called active cloaking, which means it uses devices that actively generate electromagnetic fields rather than being composed of 'metamaterials' [exotic metallic substances] that passively shield objects from passing electromagnetic waves."

Milton's new breakthrough will allow for the cloaking of objects much larger than a few particles. Milton says that radar microwaves move on a wavelength of about four inches so using his cloaking method an object of about 40-inches could be hidden. The scientists have been able to cloak a copper cylinder about an inch wide in experiments so far.

The cloaking method may be used to cloak objects from incoming waves like sound waves, sea waves, and seismic waves. This may one day lead to the ability to cloak buildings from earthquakes, oil rigs form tsunamis, and submarines from sonar. The researchers do acknowledge that practical optical cloaking for invisibility is years away.

The first cloaking technologies used metamaterials to cloak objects. Milton's new cloaking method sea waves to cancel out other waves. He said, "The problem with metamaterials is that their behavior depends strongly on the frequency you are trying to cloak from. So it is difficult to obtain broadband cloaking. Maybe you'd be invisible to red light, but people would see you in blue light."

Milton's cloaking devices uses "destructive interference" and is very similar in principal to the noise cancellation headphones many people use on long air flights.

DailyTech - Researcher Discovers New Cloaking Method

NASA Completes First Test Rocket to Replace Shuttle

NASA has finished building the first of its new Ares I rockets slated to replace the aging space shuttle fleet and return astronauts to the moon - a gleaming white booster due to blast off this fall.

The Ares I-X rocket is the inaugural booster in NASA's first new rocket line for crew transport in more than 25 years. It is scheduled to launch Oct. 31 on a

demonstration flight to prove the viability of the Ares I rocket to haul NASA's new astronaut-carrying Orion spacecraft into orbit.

The fully assembled test rocket is now the tallest vehicle in the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida since the Saturn 1B rockets that sent astronauts to the Skylab space station in the 1970s. It stands a towering 327 feet (100 meters) high, about 14 stories taller than launch-ready space shuttles.

"More than three years of hard work with the NASA and contractor team has brought us to this historic moment," said Bob Ess, NASA's Ares I-X mission manager, in a statement. "This flight test is a critical step in continuing our design process for the Ares vehicle and the first flight for the Constellation program."

The Constellation program is NASA's plan to retire its aging three-shuttle flight by 2010 or 2011 and replace it with a new system of Ares I rockets and Orion spacecraft by 2015. The new human spaceflight system forms the core of NASA's plan to return astronauts to the moon by 2020.

A White House-appointed review committee has found that NASA's current exploration budget falls nearly $30 billion short of being able to pay for the lofty lunar goal. The committee will file a final report on its review of NASA's human spaceflight plans by Aug. 31, and has drawn four potential future options to be considered by President Barack Obama.

Only one of those options includes the Ares I rocket, which is a two-stage rocket made up of a solid-fueled first stage and a larger, liquid-fueled upper stage.

NASA officials told SPACE.com that the options put forth by the committee will not immediately affect plans for the Ares I-X test flight. Only with direct instruction from the Obama Administration can the agency shift its current exploration plan and test regime, they said.

Critical test ahead

The Ares I-X rocket is not a full version of the Ares I booster. It carries a dummy upper stage and Orion mass simulator. It also includes a fake fifth segment of its five-piece first stage, which is derived from the four-segment solid rocket boosters used to launch space shuttles.

After launch, the first stage is expected to fall away and parachute down to the Atlantic Ocean to be recovered, while the dummy second stage and attached Orion and abort tower simulators crash into the ocean further downrange. The Ares I-X should reach an altitude of about 25 miles (40.2 km) in roughly two minutes after liftoff, mission managers have said.

Engineers have attached 700 sensors to the test rocket and will perform a series of systems checks over the next few weeks to be sure the Ares I-X is ready to fly. They will also perform a so-called "modal test" to gently shake the tall, slender rocket in a stiffness test, NASA officials said.

NASA's goals for the Ares I-X flight are to prove the stability of the Ares I rocket stack, which has a fatter second stage perched atop a skinny first stage, as well as test ground processing and launch pad operations.

Excessive vibrations have also been a concern with the Ares I rocket that prompted engineers to come up with a shock absorbing system to dampen the worst of the shaking. So NASA hopes the upcoming test will yield new insight into booster's stability and performance during first-stage separation.

According to NASA's current plan, the Ares I-X rocket would roll out to the seaside Pad 39B launch site – a modified shuttle launching pad – four days before its planned liftoff, NASA spokesperson Allard Beutel.

The Ares I-X flight is the first in a series of test launches for Ares I and Orion vehicles. The first test firing of a full five-segment Ares I first stage motor is scheduled for Aug. 27.

Three abort system tests are planned between now and 2012, as well as a follow-up Ares I-Y test and the first integrated test of Ares I and an Orion vehicle (called Orion I) in 2015. But the demonstration launch has been plagued by months of delays due to technical challenges.

Beutel said that, barring any unforeseen glitches, Ares I-X engineers are currently on track for the Halloween launch test.

"If the loads testing goes well, then we should be able to make the Oct. 31 target," Beutel said.

SPACE.com -- NASA Completes First Test Rocket to Replace Shuttle

Team Fortress 2 Classless Update Goes Live

After only two days of teasing--an abbreviated period of anticipation for Valve--the latest Team Fortress 2 update has now gone live.

In addition to the 18 new hats, a new community map, and the King of the Hill mode, the update also includes a reworked version of Sawmill for capture-the-flag play.

 

Community map CP_Yukon was also added in an update to the patch notes: "This abandoned mountaintop coalmine was repurposed by shadowy operatives into a top secret surveillance outpost--one which also, so nobody gets wise, insidiously continues to mine coal. There is also a log hanging in the center of the map--possibly as an example to other logs. Logs that said too much."

The full patch notes follow:

New Content:

• Added King Of The Hill game mode.
• Added custom animations played by the losing team during the post-win state. They are moved into third person camera to enjoy them.
• Added lots of new hats.
• Added koth_Viaduct.
• Added ctf_Sawmill
• Added community map Arena_Offblast
• Added community map Cp_Yukon

Additions / Changes:

• Added "Auto Reload" option to the multiplayer advanced options.
• Clip-based weapons that reload a full clip at a time can now have their reloads aborted by firing.
• Pistol now fires at a fixed rate, not based on the speed at which you press the firing button.
• Added a color blind option to add a Jarate icon above enemies who are busy accepting a terrifying existence where they have no dignity.
• Significantly reduced the amount of network traffic being sent.
• Capturing the flag in a CTF game mode gives the entire capturing team 10 seconds of critboost.
• Sappers attached to a teleporter automatically place another Sapper on the other end of the teleporter, if it exists.
• Engineers wrenching a teleporter will repair the other end as well, and remove Sappers from both if they exist.
• Disguised Spies no longer trigger On-Hit effects (like the Blutsauger's heal).
• Removed self-inflicted minicrits. Fixes Jarate'd Soldiers/Demomen having ineffective rocket/grenade jumps.
• Added an item panel to the spectator cam that shows non-standard items being carried by the player you're spectating.
• Added an "Inspect" key that allows you to look at items being carried by your team mates.
• Backpack improvements: - Added drag & drop to move items around. Item positions are maintained on the backend. - Added multi-select, allowing you to delete multiple items at once. - Added a new key to the key binding page that opens your inventory directly to your backpack. - Fixed mouseover panel being incorrectly position when the backpack first appears.
• Cloaked Spies standing in valid backstab positions no longer raise their knife.
• Added current map name and gametype to the bottom right of scoreboard.
• Added class icons to tips on the loadout and loading screens.
• Improved visuals around flags when they're being carried by a player.
• Improved critboosted visuals, making it much clearer when an enemy has critboost.
• Updated the loading panel to show the game type under the map name during level transition.
• In-game chat dialog now supports full Unicode characters.
• Added BLU main menu background.
• Added response caching for some server queries to help reduce the CPU load from DOS attacks.
• Teammates no longer block friendly radius damage. Prevents nearby teammates causing rocket/grenade jumps to fail.

Map Changes:

• Update PLR_Pipeline - Increased the starting advantage in the third round if a team has won the first two rounds. - Fixed carts not continuing to the second round if they're capped at the same time in the first round. - Fixed being able to shoot pipebombs over the starting gates in the first round. - Fixed being able to open the doors in the first round before the setup time was finished. - Fixed players getting stuck in some doors. - Fixed players being able to get onto rooftops and out of the map boundaries. - Fixed other minor bugs and exploits.
• Update Arena_Sawmill - Fixed DirectX8 bug where some models would not be visible. - Fixed exploit with building teleporters outside of the map.
• Updated CP_Granary - Made a few changes to improve balance based on competitive community feedback.

Item Reworks:

• The Force of Nature - The enemy knockback now only `works in close range and behaves more like the Pyro's air blast. - Enemies cannot be juggled by the FaN's effect. - The self-knockback has also changed to respect the firer's view angle. Looking up while shooting will no longer propel the enemy upwards. - Knockback is now scaled by damage done.
• The Sandman - A Scout will receive 1 point for stunning an enemy and 2 points for a long range stun. - Stunned players now take 75% of all incoming damage instead of 50%. - ���bercharged players can no longer be stunned. - Heavies spinning their mini-guns will continue to spin when stunned (whether the left or right mouse button is pressed). - The minimum distance to stun a target has been reduced. - The negative attribute has changed from "no double jump" to "-30 max health".

Fixes:

• Fixed various issues around layout & presentation of items inside the Backpack and "X is carrying" item dialogs.
• Fixed an exploit that allowed players to work around sv_pure.
• Particle files are now protected by sv_pure.
• Fixed critboost effect getting stuck on when you die while critboosted.
• Fixed Timer HUD element backgrounds not being the correct color if you change teams during waiting for players.
• Fixed a couple of issues with the way critboosts affected The Huntsman and the Spy's knife.
• Fixed an exploit where you could reload The Huntsman faster than intended.
• Fixed Heavy "civilian" exploit.
• Fixed a set of exploits using the DXSupport config files.
• Fixed r_screenfademinsize and r_screenfademaxsize exploits.
• Fixed sentries firing at a fully cloaked Spy if they're still the closest target.

Community requests:

• Added a HUD element for hybrid CTF & CP maps. - Supports 1 or 2 flags, and any number of CPs. - Mapmakers need to place a "tf_logic_hybrid_ctf_cp" entity in their map to enable it.
• Added custom kill server log text "train" and "saw" for deaths caused by these environmental hazards. Format: "%s<%i><%s><%s>" committed suicide with "world" (customkill "%s") (attacker_position "%d %d %d")
• Added new "medic_death" event for server logs Format: "%s<%i><%s><%s>" triggered "medic_death" against "%s<%i><%s><%s>" (healing "%d") (ubercharge "%s") - healing is the amount the Medic healed in that life - ubercharge (1/0) is whether they died with a full charge
• Added "func_respawnflag" trigger entity. It will remove & return the flag if a flag carrier touches it, or if the flag falls into it.

Team Fortress 2 Classless Update Goes Live - Shacknews - PC Games, PlayStation, Xbox 360 and Wii video game news, previews and downloads

New games at used prices: Best Buy's Utah plan starts a feud

A new Best Buy promotion in Utah offers new video games at the same prices as GameStop's used titles, but GameStop has already fired back with punishing sale prices of its own. The war for West Jordan has begun.

GameStop is an amazingly profitable company, and those profits are due largely to the margins the company enjoys on used game sales. When GameStop gives you $15 to $20 for a game that has been out a mere week, then sells the same game for $45, they're making money that no retailer selling new games can match; new games have a very thin profit margin for retailers. Which is why it is surprising to see Best Buy make its new game prices competitive with GameStop's used game prices.

In West Jordan, Utah, an eagle-eye Cheapassgamer reader snapped a picture of a sign at a local Best Buy. It said that Best Buy would price-match any used game from GameStop or GameCrazy with a new copy. So instead of going to GameStop for a $45 used game that has been opened—and of course, used—you can go to Best Buy and pay the same price for a brand-new, sealed copy. All evidence is pointing to this promotion being a small test run in a very few locations, but it didn't take long for GameStop to fire back.

GameStop has the margins to make this fight ugly

Soon after the Best Buy story hit the Internet, Kotaku was given a copy of a flier from GameStop that showed some amazing price cuts on a wide selection of used games. Don't be confused if you haven't seen this sale at your local store; it seems to be localized around... wait for it... West Jordan, Utah.

The games on sale are newer titles, with an additional $10 or $15 knocked off GameStop's normal prices for used games. It doesn't take a cynic to realize that Game Stop is hoping customers flood Best Buy locations with the flier, demanding price-matched new copies of these games. And if gamers go into GameStop locations to take advantage of the sale, the company still wins; the margins on GameStop's used games are so high that it can afford to run this sale and turn a profit, while forcing Best Buy to lose money on each game it sells at these prices.

The thought process going on at both companies has been opaque when it comes to the competing promotions—we contacted both Best Buy and GameStop and have yet to hear a comment from either—but the economics of the situation are clear. GameStop can fight the good fight on used game pricing and still come out the victor, because new games purchased from distributors, even with the scale of large retailers, leave only a few dollars of profit when the game is sold.

GameStop doesn't have to buy its games from a distributor; the retailer has a huge base of loyal customers who are more than happy to turn over games for low trade-in amounts, giving GameStop a margin that can be as high as $30. Best Buy has to be wondering if the buzz is worth selling games below cost.

Will this skirmish turn into a war?

It's doubtful, since both companies are fighting in such a way that their bottom lines are compromised. Best Buy may not be ready to turn its entire new game inventory into a loss-leader, and GameStop loves its high-margin used games. The gaming retailer is likely hoping that its counter-attack will make Best Buy skittish about trying this tactic in other markets, and there may be room to dump used prices further in case the message wasn't strong enough. Once Best Buy kills its promotion, GameStop kills its sale.

It's a cat and mouse game between two giants in the gaming world, with only one clear winner: gamers looking for a bargain in West Jordan, Utah.

New games at used prices: Best Buy's Utah plan starts a feud - Ars Technica

Battlefield Heroes Players Spending Big Money

A new report by IGN says that of players purchasing Battlefield Heroes items are spending quite a bit of money doing so.

The average buyer spends $20 at the Battlefield Heroes store, with 76 percent of all money spent going toward in-game clothing. Roughly 20 percent is spent on in-game experience boosts, with the rest attributed to emotes.

 

IGN originally reported that the game might be making up to $30 million for EA, but that was based on the assumption that every player was spending an average of $20 on the game.

EA has since corrected the story to note that while 1.5 million players have logged into the game, not all of them are actively buying items in the store.

Battlefield Heroes Players Spending Big Money - Shacknews

Microsoft Zune HD Release Date Gets Official

Zune HD can be pre-ordered today with in store purchase on Thursday

Microsoft is holding steady at third place in the MP3 player market well behind Apple and behind second place SanDisk. Microsoft is still trying to woo customers to its Zune PMPs and has officially announced pricing and availability for its latest Zune player.

The Zune HD specifications and rumored pricing were leaked this week and today Microsoft has made pricing official. Redmond will be offering the 32GB Zune HD for $289.99 and the 16GB version will sell for $219.99.

Microsoft is taking pre-orders on the platinum 32GB Zune HD and a black 16GB Zune HD now online. The Zune HD devices can be purchased in stores on September 15. The pre-order devices are in the platinum or black colors only, but the device will be offered in five different colors and have ten different art engraving options.

The Zune HD is the first Microsoft PMP to offer a touch screen. While the specs on the HD leaked a while back, Microsoft has officially confirmed them the Zune HD will offer a HD radio receiver, HD video output, an OLED 3.3-inch screen with 480 x 272 resolution, integrated Wi-Fi, and a full internet browser. The device also runs the NVIDIA Tegra HD processor.

Along with the debut of the Zune HD device will come a slew of new accessories as well. The Zune AV Dock will connect the HD to your TV with 720p capability and will sell for $89.99, the Zune HD AV & Power Pack will sell for $49.99 and connect the Zune HD to the TV and keep it charged.

There will undoubtedly be a slew of other accessories coming from third-party vendors as well to lure money out of the pockets of new Zune HD owners.

DailyTech - Microsoft Zune HD Release Date Gets Official

I4I Says It's "Not Out to Destroy" Microsoft Word With Sales Ban

The move is pure legal maneuvering, says firm

Early this week, a Texas judge handed down a painful injunction to Microsoft, banning the U.S. sales of copies of Word that can open .docx files, Microsoft's primary format used in the software.  Microsoft has 60 days to comply with the injunction and cease sales.

The injunction stemmed from a case against Microsoft over its use of XML in its Office Open XML document standard.  The use reportedly violated a patent by Toronto-based i4i, granted in 1998.  I4I pursued the case in Texas federal court, a state known for its aggressive protection of patents.  Indeed, a Texas judge had found that Microsoft had infringed upon the patent and order it to pay $200M USD, prior to the new injunction.

Now i4i's Chairman Loudon Owen is speaking up and says he isn't looking to kill Word with the injunction or start a legal war with Microsoft.  He says the injunction is all about his company getting its fair share of the profits on a technology it developed.  He states, "We're not seeking to stop Microsoft's business and we're not seeking to interfere with all the users of Word out there.  The injunction is not saying there is no more Word for the world.  That is not our intention and that would not be a sensible remedy."

Mr. Owen says that the $200M USD settlement is a big deal for the small company.  He states, "It's obviously a material verdict by US patent verdict (standards), but we think it is fair."

He says that his company's focus is not on the lawsuit, but rather on products.  He says that his company's mission is to bring structure and standardization to global data storage.  He estimates that currently only 10 percent of the world's digital data is structured, something he sees as a big problem. 

The company has only 30 employees, but has been around since 1993.  They have worked with major pharmaceutical companies -- Amgen, Bayer and Biogen -- on software products over the years.  Ironically, the company's biggest contract to date had been overhauling the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's own website for patent submissions.

Asked whether his company could partner with Microsoft for the right price, Mr. Owen showed a bit of humor, quipping, "Microsoft is too big for us to buy at this point...  We are always ready willing and able to partner with any good partner, whoever that is."

Mr. Owen, who co-founded the Mclean Watson venture capital firm, has already brokered one major sale to Microsoft -- a 1994 purchase of 3D animation firm Softimage.

DailyTech - I4I Says It's "Not Out to Destroy" Microsoft Word With Sales Ban

NASA asteroid-tracking program stalled due to lack of funds

NASA, tasked by Congress with keeping track of asteroids that pose a threat to Earth, has made little progress on improving the sensitivity of its equipment due to a lack of funding.

The risk of an asteroid rending civilization into bits is a favorite scenario in disaster movies, but it has been none too popular with the United States government. Eleven years ago, Congress tasked NASA with detecting, tracking, and classifying large asteroids and comets that pose a threat to Earth; these are generically termed near earth objects, or NEOs. Since then, save for a small grant, NASA has funded the project on its own. Now Congress has created new goals for the program and requested that they be achieved by 2020. The National Research Committee has put out an interim report on the NEO project, and it indicates that very little progress has been made since 2005, primarily due to a lack of funding.

Congress kicked off the NEO-tracking project in 1998, requiring that NASA's equipment be able to locate and identify at least 90 percent of all NEOs one kilometer in diameter or larger. Congress selected this size as the lower bound because it is the smallest size that might be globally catastrophic if it ran into Earth. To guarantee a catastrophe, an asteroid would have to be even larger, perhaps 1.5 to 2 kilometers. On impact, an asteroid of this size would create a fireball the size of a continent and a crater fifteen times the asteroid's diameter; if it hits the ocean, there would be an enormous tsunami.

Congress awarded NASA a $1.6 million grant in 1999 to put towards the NEO discovery program. Unfortunately, this was the only funding Congress gave to NASA to pursue this goal; nonetheless, NASA continued the project on its own, and has since successfully achieved the objective of a 90 percent track rate for 1km NEOs. The problem now, the NRC report asserts, is that we shouldn't be satisfied with this.

What NASA has accomplished so far will largely prevent any impacts that would ultimately cause the majority of humans that survive the initial blow to die of starvation. However, asteroids smaller than 1km in diameter are not sufficiently less disastrous than their larger counterparts that we can happily ignore them.

For example, the NRC report states that the body that caused the 1908 Tunguska explosion and destroyed 2,000 square kilometers of Siberian forest was only 30-40 meters in diameter. This realization is what led Congress to change its mind and decide that NASA should track even smaller asteroids. The new goal: track 90 percent of NEOs 140 meters or larger in diameter by 2020.

The NRC report primarily takes issue with the lack of action on this goal from anyone involved: Congress has not volunteered funding for their mandate, and NASA has not allotted any of their budget to it, either. The equipment currently in use to track NEOs can easily see the 1km monsters, but it's not sensitive enough to track the 140m asteroids. As a result, if a Tunguska-sized body were headed for Earth today, its arrival would probably be a complete surprise.

Of course, the Tunguska explosion is the only collision of this sort in recorded history, suggesting that threatening bodies that cross Earth's path are fortunately rare. Considering this, and the fact that the most disastrous varieties of asteroids are fairly well covered, danger is probably not imminent.

However, Congress is not doing its own deadline any favors by squaring off with NASA over funding. The committee that produced the interim report has been asked to focus in particular with evaluating whether the established NEO discovery goals should be modified. The report is decidedly in favor of tracking the smallest asteroids possible, given that even small NEOs have significant potential for destruction. But for the NEO program to move forward toward any goal, Congress will have to pay up.

NASA asteroid-tracking program stalled due to lack of funds - Ars Technica

Team Fortress 2 Update: New 'King of the Hill' Mode

Valve has updated its teaser site for the upcoming "classless" content release, announcing a new "King of the Hill" mode.

The new mode is "focused around a single central capture point that must be defended for three minutes," according to Valve. "Gameplay begins with the point initially locked--after a short time, it will open for capture by either team."

 

"Once the point is captured by a team, their team clock will start a three minute countdown. If the enemy team manages to capture the point back, their clock will start counting down while the other team's clock freezes at the time the point was recaptured."

KOTH_Viaduct (shown above) will serve as the first map specifically designed for King of the Hill, while existing maps "Nucleus" and "Sawmill" have both been converted to support the new mode.

"Viaduct is an all-new map especially built for KotH, set outside of the entrance to a secret underground base," says Valve. "Viaduct is also the first Team Fortress map to take place during a snowfall."

"Both teams start at the base of a low hill, and will have to climb to get to the capture point at the hill's peak. The various elevations of the map and multiple routes to the central point guarantee some frenzied battles as the point changes hands during gameplay."

The updates are joined by yesterday's announcement of 18 new hats and a new community map.

Team Fortress 2 Update: New 'King of the Hill' Mode - Shacknews

Valve Announces 'Classless' Team Fortress 2 Update

In lieu of its normal classy demeanor, Valve today announced that Team Fortress 2 is getting its first ever "classless" update.

As with past updates, the content will be revealed over a number of days. The initial blast included the revelation that eighteen new hats--including a cowboy hat for the Engineer and a Russian ushanka for the Heavy--will be added to the title, in addition to a new community map.

 
Left, Arena Offblast. Right, a hat gallery.

The community map, Arena Offblast, is described as a "fast-paced, high-altitude community map set in a top secret missile silo wedged into the top of a hollowed-out mountain."

Several hilarious hidden pages on the teaser site also hint at unannounced features. Any guesses, readers?

No release date for the update was announced.

Valve Announces 'Classless' Team Fortress 2 Update - Shacknews

Call of Duty: World at War Half-off on Steam

Why wait for the weekend for a weekend deal? Steam is running a "mid-week madness" sale, offering Call of Duty: World at War for $25, or half-off its regular price.

The sale will run for only two days, ending Thursday, so jump on it soon if it suits your fancy.

 

Shack PSA: Call of Duty: World at War Half-off on Steam - Shacknews