D-Bone's OOE News

This is my personal blog being used as a news portal for another web site. News I find interesting will be posted here and then picked up via the RSS feed to use on another site. Please contact me with any questions.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Hulu Plus Coming To PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

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.

Hulu Plus Coming To PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | GameLife | Wired.com

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Friday, June 25, 2010

Government Mandates New Labels for Light Bulbs

lighting-facts

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.

Government Mandates New Labels for Light Bulbs

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Thursday, June 24, 2010

Steam Kicks Off Summer Sale

image

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."

    Steam 'Perils of Summer' Daily Deals - June 24
    • Killing Floor [PC, Mac] - $5.00 (75% Off)
    • Aion Standard Edition [PC]- $19.99 (50% Off)
    • Trine [PC] - $4.00 (80% Off)
    • Unreal Deal Pack (Unreal, Unreal 2, Unreal Tournament, Unreal Tournament 2004, Unreal Tournament 3) [PC] - $13.60 (66% Off)
    • BioShock 2 [PC] - $14.99 (50% Off)
    • DiRT 2 [PC] - $10.00 (75% Off)
    • Counter-Strike: Source [PC, Mac] - $6.80 (66% Off)
    • Overlord Complete Pack (Overlord, Overlord: Raising Hell, Overlord II) [PC] - $4.50 (85% Off)

In addition, a variety of publisher-specific discounts will run the entire promotion:

Shack PSA: Steam Kicks Off Summer Sale - Shacknews

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Google, YouTube Win in Viacom Suit

image Viacom plans to appeal

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.

DailyTech - Google, YouTube Win in Viacom Suit

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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Firefox 3.6.4 with 'crash protection' released

Stop the press! Mozilla has just released Firefox 3.6.4 -- you can download it by clicking 'Check for Updates' in the Help menu, or by visiting the Firefox website.

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.

Firefox 3.6.4 with 'crash protection' released

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VLC 1.1 is here: hardware acceleration, WebM, extensions

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.

VLC 1.1 is here: hardware acceleration, WebM, extensions

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Write the Video Game Voters’ Rallying Cry



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.

The organization is keen on making gamers aware that the Supreme Court will soon consider the constitutionality of a California law that would restrict the sale of videogames the government deems “violent.”

To submit your gamers’ rights slogan, visit the Video Game Voters Network.

Image courtesy Video Game Voters Network

Write the Video Game Voters’ Rallying Cry | GameLife | Wired.com

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