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Hulu unveiled a new subscription model for its video streaming service on Tuesday, and two console makers piped in to confirm that they’d be bringing the all-you-can-watch video offerings to their customers.
Microsoft said today that it would be carrying Hulu Plus on the Xbox 360, but admitted that the service wouldn’t be debuting until early 2011. It’s because they’re taking time to add Xbox Live party support and Kinect functionality to the service, so it says.
Sony, on the other hand, is jumping to offer the service right away via the PlayStation 3. According to the Hulu Plus guided tour, Hulu Plus subscribers will be able to view the service on PlayStation 3 in July.
Hulu Plus delivers high-definition video streams to TVs and mobile devices for a $10 monthly subscription. The premium service gives users access to the current seasons of selected shows from ABC, NBC and FOX as well as access to the entire runs of old shows.
The US Federal Trade Commission has announced a final ruling on new labels for light bulbs. The labels will break down the "lighting facts" of bulbs much like a nutrition label on food products. With CFLs, LEDs and other lighting technologies filling the shelves alongside incandescents, the labels will help consumers find what they're looking for.
The major change that these labels bring is using lumens to indicate the brightness of the bulb instead of watts, that way all bulbs will use the same terminology and consumers can compare them easily. Other statistics listed on the labels will be: yearly energy cost, the bulb's life expectancy, light appearance (on a scale of warm to cool), energy used (wattage) and, for CFLs, a warning that it contains mercury.
The clear labeling of cost and energy savings over time, could help more efficient lighting win over consumers who haven't made the switch yet.
The new labels should start showing up in the middle of next year.
Digital distribution outlet Steam today kicked off a "Perils of Summer" sale that will run through July 4, with each day bringing new daily deals "up to 90% off regular prices."
The battle between music and movie studios, internet users, and ISPs has raged for years. The content producers claim they are fighting to protect their copyrights while major web properties like Google's YouTube say that they are doing all they can to prevent pirated videos and content from being posted on their sites.
In 2007, media giant Viacom sued Google and YouTube alleging that YouTube knowingly allowed pirated video to be posted online violating copyright. Viacom sought damages of $1 billion. The legal battle raged on and in July of 2009, a judge in the case dismissed some of the damage claims Viacom alleged in the case. The judge ruled that damages were not available for content produced outside America. In March 2010, it was discovered that after the suit was filed Viacom managers had still been uploading video to YouTube and some had even tried to hide their tracks.
Reuters reports that Google and YouTube have now prevailed in the Viacom copyright suit. A federal judge in Manhattan has thrown the Viacom suit out saying that it would be improper to hold Google and YouTube liable under copyright law for merely having "general awareness" that illegal videos might be posted on the site.
Judge Louis Stanton wrote in his 30-page ruling, "Mere knowledge of prevalence of such activity in general is not enough. The provider need not monitor or seek out facts indicating such activity."
Viacom plans to appeal the verdict to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals and calls the ruling "fundamentally flawed." Viacom alleges that the decision doesn't reflect recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions or the intent behind the current copyright law. Reuters reports that Google has argued it is protected under the Safe Harbor provision of the digital copyright law that limits the liability of ISPs and providers.
Analyst Benjamin Schachter from Broadpoint AmTech said, "Certainly for Google, there's been so many regulatory and legal negative headlines about them, so to see them on the winning side of something will certainly be a positive."
Judge Stanton noted that the Safe Harbor notification provision works efficiently in this case. Viacom notified YouTube on a Friday in 2007 of 100,000 infringing videos and "virtually all" of the videos were off the site by the following Monday.
Firefox 3.6.4 brings crash protection for Adobe Flash, Apple QuickTime and Microsoft Silverlight plug-ins -- under Windows and Linux (Mac will have to wait, it seems). With 3.6.4, if a plug-in crashes, you will be able to simply reload the tab. The browser (and the rest of your tabs!) should remain unscathed.
There is a slew of other changes under the hood, but nothing to write home about. You will find that 3.6.4 starts up a little quicker, and it might even shut down a little faster! Otherwise, it's simply more stable and secure. Install it.
It wasn't that long ago that VLC finally hit version 1.0. Since then, progress has been steady -- and today, version 1.1 is ready for download just two months after first going beta.
So what's new in VLC 1.1? First and foremost, hardware acceleration has arrived for VLC users who run Windows Vista and Windows 7 or Linux. MKV HD support has been improved, and VLC 1.1 can now play VP-8 and MPEG-4 lossless videos. VLC 1.1 also sports a buffed-up Web plug-in which supports the WebM container and offers generally improved video streaming.
VLC 1.1's code has been optimized as well, yielding big performance gains (up to 40%, according to the official site). "Tens of thousands of lines of code [were] removed," states the VLC 1.1 news page.
Apart from improving VLC's ability to handle various media types, the biggest addition might just be the new add-ons and script framework. Yes, VLC is now extensible -- so expect to start seeing some awesome extensions in the coming days and weeks as developers begin tinkering.
You can have my video games when you pry them from my cold, dead hands.
Think that sounds a little morbid? Well, an organization dedicated to protecting our pastime wants you to help convince the public that videogames are protected speech.
The Video Game Voters Network sent an email plea to gamers on Monday, asking them to help come up with a slogan that will communicate to politicians and the public that gamers won’t stand idly by while they besmirch and attempt to ban the games that we love.
Established by the Entertainment Software Association in 2006, the Video Game Voters Network is a political advocacy group dedicated to protecting videogames from restrictive laws.
A tiny space camera has snapped amazing photos of the world's first solar sail spacecraft to voyage into deep space on an interplanetary mission for Japan.
The solar sail vehicle, named Ikaros, took the opportunity for a self-portrait by deploying a free-floating cylindrical camera just 2.4 inches (6 cm) in both width and height. In the photos, the Ikaros sail shines like a gleaming silver ship in a sea of black space.
The spring-launched camera snapped the new photos of the solar sail as the mission departs for Venus and beyond.
Ikaros, short for Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun, launched in late May and deployed its solar sail in early June to become the first space mission ever propelled only by sunlight. The mission was designed and built by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
JAXA engineers will monitor the power generated by thin film solar cells embedded within the kite-like sail, in hopes that future missions could combine solar sailing with electricity to power ion propulsion engines.
Like the tale of Icarus, which tells the story of a boy who flew too close to the sun, the Ikaros solar sail is also expected to explore our nearest star. It is headed to the other side of the sun after a detour to Venus, JAXA officials said.
"Through these activities, we will ultimately aim at acquiring navigation technology through the solar sail," JAXA officials said in a statement last Friday.
The solar sail mission piggybacked aboard the main launch of Japan's Venus climate orbiter, called Akatsuki ("Dawn" in Japanese).
Both spacecraft launched alongside four small satellites on May 20 (early morning local Japan time on May 21) from the Tanegashima Space Center on Tanegashima island in Japan.
Nintendo silences the competition with a killer lineup
Nintendo's rise to the top in the latest round of console wars was nothing sort of shocking. When the brand suffered through the Gamecube era, many people wrote the company off. However, with the launch of the Wii and Nintendo DS, Nintendo flattened the competition in terms of profitability and console sales.
Now, at Nintendo's annual E3 keynote, the company has unveiled an upcoming lineup that's nothing short of stunning. Leading the way is the Nintendo 3DS. The 3DS reinvents the handheld. Why has 3D TVs and gaming failed to catch on? "It's the glasses, " complains Reggie Fils-Aime.
There are no glasses to be seen with the 3DS. Gorgeous visuals for a handheld, falling between the PS2 and PS1 in quality (plus 3D added on top), greeted viewers of the keynote. The top screen is 3.5-inch display, while a smaller bottom screen does touch input. There's new sensors including a gyroscope and a side slider to adjust the depth of the 3D effect. The unit supports Wi-Fi (according to Nintendo it communicates "without you evening know it") for internet-enabled gameplay.
Nintendo has assembled an arsenal of A-list launch titles and upcoming games. Leading the way are Kingdom Hearts 3D, Resident Evil Revelations, Assassins creed, Metal Gear Solid. And Nintendo is chipping in Kid Icarus 3D and Nintendogs 3D (which will also feature kittens!).
The handheld even comes with a 3D camera, which uses two lenses on the back of the unit. That means that the device may even see use beyond the regular gaming workload.
Meanwhile, the company plans to continue its campaign of dominance on the Wii by expanding its list of titles. The keynote kicked off with the introduction Zelda Skyward Sword. This title allows you to utilize the nunchuk as a shield and the Wii Motion Plus as a sword for freeform combat. It brings back popular Zelda weapons -- the slingshot and bow -- and introduces new ones, like a whip. It will air early next year.
Also coming up is Goldeneye 007 -- the long awaited successor to the best-selling Nintendo 64 title. The game will feature 16 gaming modes for multiplayer mayhem and eight Bond characters -- just in case you find Daniel Craig annoying and want to get you Connery groove on. The game will launch in November.
Other top titles include Metroid: Other M, starring everyone's favorite Nintendo vixen Samus, and Donkey Kong. The new Metroid launches August 31. The new Donkey Kong title, complete with Diddy and Donkey Kong playable, will launch during the holiday season.
Other announced titles include Wii Party, an NBA JAM exclusive version for Wii, Madden, MLB 2K, mario Volleyball, Hockey, Mario Sports Mix 2011, Just Dance 2, Disney: Epic Mickey and Dragon Quest 9.
Even the old homely DS -- the best selling console of all time -- received some love, with the gorgeously animated Kirby's Epic Yarn. Also upcoming for the DS is Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, the latest in a line of popular mobile RPGs. The title will feature real time combat and dual screen boss battles.
Nintendo boasted some impressive numbers -- 22 million copies of Mario Kart for Wii sold internationally, a vast lead in global console sales, and, according to NPD, the distinction of being the console most desired to be purchased. Also according to the recent NPD study people spend more time playing their Wiis than any other console.
Maintaining a sufficient volume of quality game titles has been Nintendo's weak point in recent years. High profile titles have pleased, but have been far too infrequent. If E3 is any indication, that should soon change. And even with Microsoft's motion sensing Kinect (Project Natal), Xbox 360 Slim, and $149 Xbox 360 Arcade edition -- plus whatever Sony pulls out later today -- it looks to be the star of E3 2010's console war. We're guessing that within a year or so they're going to be trying to cook up 3D handhelds of their own, but for now Nintendo is yet again placing itself on the bleeding edge of gaming.
It's hard to believe that it's been nearly five years since the original Xbox 360 launched. The Xbox 360 hit the market a year ahead of the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 and continues to do quite well in the marketplace. Thanks to a relatively healthy stable library of exclusive games and the second-to-none Xbox Live gaming service, gamers keep coming back for more despite years of RROD issues.
Over the years, the Xbox 360 has gone through a number of hardware changes. Advances in manufacturing technologies for GPU and CPU have resulted in smaller, cooler running chips; and HDMI output has made its way to the console. Storage capacities have been bumped, new colors have been added, and special editions have announced.
However, the basic design of the console has remained the same -- until now. Today at E3, Microsoft unveiled a new look for the Xbox 360.
The new Xbox 360 is smaller, sleeker, quieter and comes with an integrated 250GB hard drive (removable) and five USB ports (two in the front, three in the back). And yes folks, it FINALLY has built-in Wi-Fi (802.11n). It will be priced at $299 and will be in stores later this week.
According to Engadget, the current Xbox 360 Elite will drop down to $249 while the Xbox 360 Arcade will fall to $149.
Wouldn't it be great if getting rid of cancer was as simple as flicking a switch?
Well, it might be.
A professor from Tel Aviv University thinks he may have uncovered a way to do just that when he identified a "switch" in plants that halts tumor growth.
The results are published online in the journal Current Biology.
The switch is actually a fat molecule that controls a group of proteins in the plant called ROPs. Humans have a very similar group of proteins. The proteins tell cancer when to metastasize, but they're also responsible for wound healing and neural brain development.
"When these proteins are turned 'on,' they can initiate processes like cell division and growth," Shaul Yalovsky, the lead researcher, said in a university press release. "Through our genetic engineering, these proteins could be manipulated in humans to speed up tissue healing, or turned off to slow or stop the growth of tumors."
Yalovsky's process works by using "mutant molecules" that block the ROP proteins from doing their job, interrupting their message to create tumors.
Applying the technology in a laboratory, Yalovsky says he can now reshape cells, grow new tissues and fight off bacterial or viral invaders. Future applications could even include agriculture and therapies for those with degenerative brain diseases.
Windows only: Soluto bills itself as an "Anti-Frustration Software", and it's not hard to see why—it tracks all the applications in your system boot process, and tells you exactly which ones are slowing you down.
Once you've installed the software and rebooted your PC, Soluto springs into action, tracking every single process that runs during the boot process, and then allows you to easily drill down into the list of processes to see exact times for each one. To make it easier for the layman to understand what processes can be removed, the applications are grouped into "No-brainer" or "Potentially removable" groups.
Once you've identified an application that you'd like to deal with, you can drill down into the details and control it directly from this screen. You can "Pause" the application, which will effectively remove it from the boot process, or you can "Delay" it, which will change the service to run on a delay instead of directly during the boot process—which will get you to a working desktop a little quicker.
The graph next to the buttons shows you what other users did, so if you really have no idea what something is, you can use the wisdom of the crowd—though we'd like to point out if you really aren't sure, you might want to Google it first, or ask a more geeky friend.
Clicking the Read more link next to the application name will bring you to a screen that shows even more details about a process,including the process name, what percentage of Soluto users have it installed, and a lot more information.
Other than tracking your boot process, you can also enable tracking while you are running your PC, which will allow Soluto to try and identify more problems with system slowdowns, compatibility, and other issues. You can choose the "My PC Just Frustrated Me" option, which will pop up a screen with some suggestions on what applications might be cause, and send the report to Soluto—though you won't immediately see any results from doing so.
To better understand how Soluto works, check out this short video which does a great job of explaining the software, how to use it, and how it can help you troubleshoot the boot process:
According to our conversations with Roee Adler from Soluto, the software will always be free for end-users. Soluto's application does send some information about your PC back to Soluto's servers in order to analyze your system, but they assured us that it was limited strictly to data about the processes, drivers, and system components, and no personal information is transmitted or kept anywhere.
Soluto is a free download for Windows only, and definitely worth a look if you'd like to troubleshoot your system boot speed issues.
After months in the release candidate stage, Adobe has finally pushed Flash Player 10.1 out the door. Those of you who follow our site are probably familiar with the biggest addition to the new version -- hardware acceleration -- but there's plenty more under the hood than the ability to harness your GPU for extra muscle.
Flash Player 10.1 also includes accelerometer and multi-touch support, better streaming performance, content protection, and peer-to-peer broadcasting abilities. The new version also plays nice with your browser's private browsing mode -- handy, since many of the sites which use Flash for serving video are... er... the kind you're probably visiting in private browsing mode. That means porn sites. There, I said it.
As Engadget points out, there have been some niggling issues with the Broadcom Crystal HD decoders in some netbooks, but hopefully those have been sorted out by now.
Since it's gone RTM, it shouldn't be long before those of you running Google Chrome with the internal Flash plugin are automatically upgraded to 10.1 via Chrome's built-in updating mechanism (Chrome Dev already reports Shockwave Flash 10.1 r53 in my app data folder).
Even after three Rock Band games, Harmonix hasn’t given up on the dream of making you a rock ‘n’ roll star.
Rock Band 3, which MTV Games will publish this fall on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii, adds a variety of new features that enhance the virtual rock star experience. Up to seven players can jam together on guitar, bass, drums, three vocal parts and a new instrument — the keyboards.
With the full band assembled, you’ll be able to rock bombastic tunes like Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and The Doors’ “Break on Through.” But in the new Pro mode, Rock Band 3 really blurs the line between videogame diversion and musicianship. Turn on Pro mode and you’re actually playing the song, note for note. The screen above shows you how the traditional Rock Band “note highway” changes to tell you exactly which keys to press. New controllers make guitars and drums more realistic, too.
Rock Band 3 will be shown in its full glory at next week’s E3 Expo in Los Angeles, but I got to try it for myself last month at a private demonstration. Bottom line: Rock Band 3 is a game that stays faithful to its core conceit of making music accessible and fun for all, while evolving in multiple exciting directions.
All of Rock Band 3’s instruments will be manufactured by Mad Catz, including the new keytar, a two-octave controller about the size of an old-school Casiotone. We played it on a keyboard stand, but you can totally rock the keytar over your shoulder with a strap if you want.
The new keyboard is also a fully functional MIDI keyboard. (Mad Catz also plans to release a MIDI Pro Adapter Box that will turn any MIDI keyboard into a Rock Band 3 keyboard controller.)
I tried out “The Power of Love” by Huey Lewis and the News, but wasn’t brave or skilled enough to tackle Pro mode keys. Playing keyboards in normal mode reduces the gameplay to five color-coded sections. As long as your hands are in the right general area of the keyboard, you’ll hit the notes.
Playing Pro drums, you’ll see cymbal notations that show you when to smash the hi-hat instead of the snare drums. (Mad Catz will release a new set of cymbal controllers for pre-existing drum sets, adding a better feel and quieter impact.) Pro mode drumming isn’t any easier than in previous versions of the game. I got distracted by the new cymbal symbols cruising down the note highway — luckily we were playing with the no-fail option turned on.
If you’re already a great Rock Band drummer, you should have no problem conforming to the new demands of mandatory cymbal play. But if you’re like me and only ride the hi-hats for fun, there’s a whole new level of challenge to playing drums this way.
Guitar is where Pro mode really gets insane. To play a guitar track on this setting, you’ll need the new Fender Mustang Pro Guitar controller, which simulates the playing of six strings and 17 frets with a whole array of buttons on the neck.
Also, you need to be a savant. Pro mode guitars weren’t available for our hands-on experience, but we saw a video of the Dio tune “Rainbow in the Dark” and it looked damn near impossible — like trying to read tab notation on a piano roll going a hundred miles an hour.
Rock Band 3's Pro mode makes playing virtual instruments identical to playing real ones.
But then, nobody’s expected to be able to sight-read the Pro guitar tracks. It’s meant for actual students of the guitar. And if you use the game’s slowed-down Practice mode, the game packs the potential to become a real tool for learning to play music.
Harmonix says it’s working with another partner to create a controller that actually doubles as a real guitar. The Mustang Pro will work as a MIDI instrument, too.
With all this talk of new, hard-core ways to play Rock Band 3, one might think Harmonix has abandoned casual settings for wannabe musicians. Not so. First of all, the new game adopts the streamlined drop-in, drop-out gameplay pioneered by Guitar Hero 5. Players can join the band or duck out at any time, even in the middle of songs.
In the demo, Harmonix showed us off the game’s new user interface, called the “overshell.” Long story short, it makes adding players, switching instruments or signing in and out of a player profile a lot less work.
Harmonix is also making it easier to navigate the ever-growing Rock Band music library. The game’s menu gives you new ways to sort tracks, a new rating system that allows you to assign scores to all the tracks and a new, robust playlist creation system that you can edit in the game and on a new Rock Band 3 website.
Rock Band 3 is also fully compatible with all existing Rock Band tracks, a library that Harmonix says will reach nearly 2,000 songs by the time 3 launches. (Harmonix hasn’t said if it is going to update its library of tunes to use keyboards, Pro mode or vocal harmonies.)
Singers, too, have a little something to croon about. Rock Band 3 allows for the three-part vocal harmonies introduced by The Beatles: Rock Band.
Throughout our demo, we witnessed a handful of “vignettes” — live-action moments that depict your customized band members strutting in slow-mo to their next gig. These sequences are like the loading screens from Rock Band 2 come to life — and they happen throughout the game, helping you further connect with your rock ‘n’ roll alter egos.
Finally, while taste is a tough thing to argue, Harmonix still boasts the best musical lineup in the biz. Rock Band 3 will feature 83 songs by 83 bands, of which we sampled 22. I can do without Smash Mouth, personally, but there’s already a bunch of great music — much of it heavy on the keyboards, natch. Here’s the first batch of songs announced by Harmonix.
Metric, “Combat Baby” Rilo Kiley, “Portions of Foxes” Them Crooked Vultures, “Dead End Friends” The Vines, “Get Free” The White Stripes, “The Hardest Button to Button” Phoenix, “Lasso” Ida Maria, “Oh My God” Juanes, “Me Enamora” Jane’s Addiction, “Been Caught Stealing” Smash Mouth, “Walkin’ on the Sun” Spacehog, “In the Meantime” Stone Temple Pilots, “Plush” Dio, “Rainbow in the Dark” Huey Lewis and the News, “The Power of Love” Joan Jett, “I Love Rock and Roll” Night Ranger, “Sister Christian” Whitesnake, “Here I Go Again” The Cure, “Just Like Heaven” Ozzy Osbourne, “Crazy Train” Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody” Jimi Hendrix, “Crosstown Traffic” The Doors, “Break On Through”
During a keynote address at WWDC today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the next revision of the company's iconic iPhone hardware. Dubbed "iPhone 4," Jobs called the new iPhone model "the biggest leap since the original iPhone." He said that the new device has over 100 new features, but he detailed just eight of them during his presentation.
Physically, the new iPhone resembles the prototypes that were leaked earlier by Gizmodo and Tinh tế. In particular, Jobs noted that it was 9.3mm thick, or 24 percent thinner than the iPhone 3GS. Jobs called the iPhone 4 the "thinnest smartphone ever."
As expected, it features a camera and LED "flash" on the back, as well as a front-facing camera (more on that later). The stainless steel band that surrounds the outside rim of the device is part of an integrated antenna system for improved reception. Both the back and front surfaces have improved scratch-resistant coatings.
Also as rumored, iPhone 4 has four times as many pixels on its 960 x 640 pixel, IPS LCD "Retina" display compared to previous iPhones. That gives the 3.5" display a resolution of 326 pixels per inch, enough to achieve print-like quality for graphics and text. It has an 800:1 contrast ratio, another 4x improvement over the iPhone 3GS. Existing apps will get improved rendering for text and native controls when running under iPhone OS 4.0, though updating custom controls and graphics will be up to developers to get the best results.
"This is going to set the standard for displays for the next several years," Jobs said.
Internally, the iPhone is now powered by Apple's A4 mobile processor, the same snappy processor that powers the iPad. Because the power efficiency of the A4 is combined with a larger battery, Apple claims 40 percent more talk time on 3G—from 5 to 7 hours for the iPhone 4. It gets about 6 hours of 3G browsing or 10 hours of WiFi browsing. Media mavens will get up to 40 hours of music or 10 hours of video playback. The battery is good for 300 hours of standby time.
In addition to the A4 processor and improved battery, Apple is updating several of the internal components. WiFi is upgraded to 802.11n speeds, and the cell radios support up to 7.2Mbps down, 5.8Mbps up HSPA+. Dual microphones are included for ambient noise cancellation. And Apple has added a MEMS-based gyroscope for six-axis motion sensing, in addition to the accelerometer of previous iPhones. New CoreMotion APIs are available in iPhone OS 4.0 to take advantage of the new motion-sensing capabilities.
As we suspected, Apple has added a 5MP, backside illuminating sensor to the iPhone's camera hardware. In addition to vastly improved low-light shots, the camera is also paired with an LED flash. The camera is capable of recording 720p HD video at 30fps, and can use the LED as a "torch" lightsource. Adding to the software features of the camera, Apple has added digital zoom to take advantage of some of those (in many cases) extraneous megapixels. It has also added tap-to-focus for video recording in addition to still image capture.
Along with the improved image capture tools, Apple is launching iMovie for iPhone—a complete video editing environment complete with scene transitions, editable titles, themes, and more. The app will sell for $4.99 via the App Store, presumably when iPhone OS 4.0 becomes widely available.
As for "one more thing," Jobs announced a new video chat feature called "FaceTime." The new feature works between one iPhone 4 and another iPhone 4 over WiFi—so no compatibility with older iPhones, and you won't have to worry about video calls bumping up against AT&T's new data caps. "FaceTime is gonna be WiFi-only in 2010," Jobs explained. "We've gotta work a little bit with the cellular providers to get ready for the future." Apple is making FaceTime an open industry-wide standard, and expects to ship tens of millions of compatible devices (we're guessing a compatible iPod touch is coming this fall) this year.
"I grew up here in the US with The Jetsons and Star Trek and communicators, dreaming about video calling, and it's real now!" Jobs said during a demo with Apple SVP of industrial design Jonathan Ive. Jobs suggested that FaceTime could be embraced by old college buddies or those in long-distance relationships. However, Jobs showed a video of the true target demographic: families with children. Jobs also noted that those who rely on sign language to communicate could benefit from the feature, though a stand would be needed to sign fully with both hands.
Pricing is as expected, with a 16GB iPhone 4 running $199 with a two-year contract (in the US) and a 32GB model selling for $299 with a contract. The iPhone 3GS moves in to replace the iPhone 3G at $99 with a contract. (Expect comparable pricing worldwide depending on contract options.) AT&T is offering customers who would be eligible for a new iPhone within 6 months of June 24 an early upgrade option without a price penalty—a nice move after frustrating many users with recent 3G data pricing changes.
iPhone 4 will be available in the previously revealed white and black colors. Pre-orders begin June 15, with phones shipping June 24 in the US France, Germany, UK, Japan. It will roll out to 18 more countries in July, 24 more in August, and 40 more in September.
Nokia has just unveiled a pretty cool way to charge your cell phone without hitting up the grid -- a bicycle charger kit. All you dedicated cyclists out there may never have to plug your phone into a wall again.
The Bicycle Charger Kit mounts onto the handlebars of your bike and includes a holder for your cell phone. The charger plugs into the phone and then your pedaling does the work. The faster you pedal, the faster the phone charges. At just shy of 4 mph, the charging starts and if you can up your speed to 8 mph, the phone will charge as fast as being plugged into a wall outlet.
This kit is only for Nokia phones, but I wouldn't be surprised if other companies adopt the technology soon as well.
So, whether you're looking for another reason to get on the bike or just searching for an off-grid charging solution, this gadget's for you.
Lord of the Rings Online publisher Warner Bros. has revealed that Turbine's Tolkien-inspired MMORPG will go free-to-play this fall, supported by microtransactions.
"Expansions, quest packs, items, and account services" are among the goodies players will be able to purchase with points either earned in-game or bought with cash money.
The 'Siege of Mirkwood' expansion pack.
'VIP' subscriptions with access to all premium content will also be available at a yet-unspecified price, similar to the model Turbine's Dungeons & Dragons Online MMORPG adopted when it went free-to-play in September 2009 with 'VIP' status costing $15 per month. Turbine reported a 40% rise in subscriptions following the switch.
"The popularity of DDO validated the extraordinary demand by gamers for quality entertainment they can experience at their own pace and within their budget," said Turbine CEO Jim Crowley in the announcement. Extending free-to-play to LOTRO will offer another premium game to a broad spectrum of fans."
If you're interested, you can sign up for a closed beta test due to begin on June 16.
Along with the repeated indications Redbox would expand its Blu-ray rentals this year, there's been hints that it would have to raise prices beyond its standard $1 / night DVD rate. Home Media Magazine reports President Mitch Lowe mentioned during his keynote address at the Entertainment Supply Chain Academy Edge conference that the likely price is $1.50, which seems low enough to keep customers happy and -- judging by the recent slew of deals -- will apparently keep Hollywood studios happy also. to that end, his speech also cited NPD data indicating customers said they wouldn't rent or purchase many of the movies they obtain at the kiosks any other way, while 41% of customers rent before making a decision to buy. Also on deck for Redbox are sales of catalog titles for $5 / $7 / $9 -- so let us know, would you appreciate the option to buy, not just rent, from your nearest vending machine?
After unveiling what's next for the most popular Windows Live client application, Messenger, and the most popular Windows Live web service, Hotmail, Microsoft is now ready to zero in on (most of) the remaining client applications in the Windows Live Essentials suite.
The Windows Live Essentials team says it focused on updating the applications in a way that complements Windows 7 (and still works on Vista, but not XP). Specifically, Microsoft says it focused on making three tasks easier: creating and sharing polished photos and movies with your closest friends, organizing your e-mail accounts in one place with flexible tools to be productive, as well as synchronizing files across your computers and accessing them from virtually anywhere with an Internet connection. Microsoft is focusing on sharing so much because it says 60 percent of PC users share photos weekly and 25 percent edit and share videos. At the same time, though, 50 percent of photos and 80 percent of videos that users take don't get shared because they find it too hard to do so.
The Wave 4 release of Essentials still includes Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Writer, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Movie Maker, and Windows Live Family Safety. Windows Live Sync has received a major update and is now part of the suite. The Windows Live Toolbar, meanwhile, has been replaced with the Bing Bar.
As we saw with the Wave 4 Milestone 2 leak, there are a lot of changes coming for each application, but Microsoft is only interested in outlining the features in Messenger (already previewied in April), Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, and Sync.
"While you'll see updates across all Windows Live Essentials applications in this release, we prioritized our investment in five primary applications based on the feedback we've received from our customers," a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars. "We don't have any specific details to share right now about the [other three] applications." In other words, there aren't many changes to expect for Windows Live Writer, Windows Live Family Safety, or the Bing bar. Here's what Microsoft is willing to share:
Windows Live Mail
Mail is still all about managing multiple e-mail accounts, calendars, RSS feeds, contacts and newsgroups in one place. Offline access has been improved to encompass e-mails sent or calendar edits made while offline: they're queued up and synced next time you get an Internet connection. Shared calendars can also be accessed, viewed, and edited right from the program. Windows Live Messenger integration means that you'll be able to reply to a contact with an instant message right from the program since you can see their online status in the e-mail header.
As for inbox management tools, there's conversation-threading (different views for organizing messages) and quick views (filters that help you find certain items, such as unread mail from contacts only, flagged e-mails, all mail across inboxes, and so on) for all your e-mail accounts, newsgroups, and feeds. As we've seen in leaked screenshots, you can now view your calendar without navigating away from the context of your inbox (Microsoft is calling this Slim Cal). Finally, Windows Live Mail will let you send up to 10GB worth of photos via a link in one e-mail (pictured above). You can also add captions, layouts, and edit your photos directly while composing your e-mail.
Windows Live Photo Gallery
Photo Gallery is getting two very useful features: 1) Photo Fuse allows you to take the best parts of multiple photos to combine them into one "perfect" photo with an easy-to-use editing tool (pictured above), and 2) facial recognition technology finds pictures with people in them and deduces who is in those pictures based on who you have tagged in past pictures (pictured below).
In addition, there are two new editing features: retouch, which help you remove things like blemishes, scratches, bruises, or stains from pictures, and batch auto adjust, which fine-tunes your photos' exposure, color balance, and sharpness. As for the actual program, the new Find Tab allows you to naturally filter your photos by faces, names, dates, geo-locations, descriptive tags, folder titles, or any combination of those, and the import feature works with Windows 7 to easily get photos and videos off your devices and organize them on your computer.
Windows Live Movie Maker
Movie Maker is getting AutoMovie themes (pictured above). AutoMovie will add a theme, which includes transitions, a title, captions, and a music soundtrack, to your photos and videos. These same themes will be available in Photo Gallery's slideshow mode.
Movie Maker is also getting better at editing audio and video: tailor your movie's soundtrack or trim a video clip from either end. The program can save in high-definition formats (720p and 1080p) or to a portable device, such as a Windows phone or Zune HD player. Sharing online on Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, or SkyDrive is built-in, and there will be plug-ins for other online sharing sites (pictured below). Some of this you've already seen in Movie Maker 14, the most recently updated Windows Live application.
Windows Live Sync
Sync lets you synchronize folders across your PCs and Macs. Update a file on one computer, and it will automatically sync to the rest when they're turned on and connected to the Internet. Once your folders are synchronized, everything is available offline. There's also a remote desktop feature: leave your PC online, and you can access its files and apps from devices.live.com (news of this one leaked back in August 2009 by finding your PC among the list of devices and clicking "Connect to this computer."
What's next?
Microsoft is still refusing to share when it expects to release Windows Live Wave 4. A Microsoft spokesperson did, however, tell us that "tonight is only a preview, and the betas will be released in the coming months." Rumors have placed the public beta somewhere between the weeks of June 7, 2010 and June 21, 2010. That's for Windows Live Essentials, meaning the client applications. But what about the web services? Hotmail could start getting updated as soon as mid-month, but don't hold your breath, as rollouts as large as this one tend to be done gradually. The final release of Wave 4 should be done by the time we see Windows 7 Service Pack 1.
As promised, the first round of SEGA's "evergreen" retro re-releases have begun making their way to PC by way of digital distribution outlets like Steam and GamesGate.
Altered Beast and Comix Zone
In all, eleven "classics"--some more deserving of that label than others--are out thus far:
Windows only: We've mentioned a few of the new, exciting features coming in VLC 1.1, but now you can download the more stable release candidate and try them out, including support for the open, royalty-free WebM video format.
While we've discussed a few of VLC 1.1's upcoming features already, it seems a new one has slipped out with the release candidate: WebM support. We haven't talked much about WebM around here, but with the rising popularity of the efficient, easy-to-stream H.264, many have longed for a more open alternative. Companies like Mozilla would rather support open development, and don't want to pay the royalties to support H.264, so they (as well as other companies like Google) have gotten behind the WebM project, which allows for many of the same benefits but using open standards.
What does this mean for you and VLC practically? With all the support its garnered from large companies like Mozilla, Opera, Google, and Adobe, it means that you may very well be watching your HD video in a different format, and VLC is helping you stay ahead of the game by continuing their tradition of playing any format you can imagine.
The developers are also touting this version as faster and more stable than the current VLC 1.0.5. The release candidate includes web plug-ins for most browsers, too, so you won't be losing any functionality by installing this over 1.0.5. And, if you've been itching to try out a more stable version of the previously mentioned hardware acceleration and extensions, now is a good time to give it a go. You can also check out the full changelog here.
VLC 1.1 RC is a free download for Windows only. VLC is available for Mac and Linux, but the release candidate is not yet available for those platforms. UPDATE: You can download Mac nightly builds of 1.1 here, though do so at your own risk as they are likely less stable than the official Windows RC.
Japanese visionaries at construction firm Shimizu Corporation take that saying "Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood" literally, with six of the boldest megaprojects ever imagined. Topping the list is Luna Ring, a lunar solar power plant. It's a 6,800 mile belt of solar panels built around the moon's equator, whose power is transmitted back to Earth using microwave and laser wizardry.
There's no need to transport all the raw materials to build this gigantic plant to the moon — it will be built by robots using moon rocks and dust. These guys have even figured out a way to create water with lunar soil and hydrogen mixed together. We think unicorns might be involved, too.
Anyway, once all that energy is gathered and transmitted back to Earth, it's converted back into electrical power at numerous terrestrial power stations. This might be a great idea if no one's invented a practical way to achieve fusion yet by the time all this technology is finally figured out.
This is just the beginning for these forward-thinking geniuses. Check out their five additional far-out ideas, and see if you can pick which one will actually happen. Either way, it pays to dream.
Stop the press! 
A tiny space camera has snapped amazing photos of the world's first solar sail spacecraft to voyage into deep space on an interplanetary mission for Japan.
Nintendo silences the competition with a killer lineup
