8/5 Ars Technica - All Ars Technica Content

Please add updates@feedmyinbox.com to your address book to make sure you receive these messages in the future. Ars Technica - All Ars Technica Content Windows Live Events dies next year, Calendar named successor August 4, 2009 at 9:01 pm Microsoft has announced that Windows Live Events is set to retire sometime in 2010. The software giant is asking users to plan and manage social events via Windows Live Calendar instead. As of next month, Windows Live Events users will be unable to create new events, and eventually the site will be closed down completely and simply redirect Windows Live Calendar. Microsoft details porting an iPhone app to Windows Mobile August 4, 2009 at 8:49 pm Microsoft has published a detailed case study on how to port an iPhone application to the Windows Mobile platform. The case study centers on the port of the iPhone application Amplitude, which uses a mobile device's microphone to amplify and graphically represent a sound near the user, to Windows Mobile 6.5. The process is well documented by Crimson Consulting, a third-party consulting group. According to Microsoft, Amplitude is apparently a good example as it is difficult to port. Microsoft is hoping the document ends up being helpful for developers wishing to build Windows Mobile applications for Windows Marketplace for Mobile, which started accepting submissions last week from registered developers in 29 countries. Leaked: new images of Zune HD show black color option August 4, 2009 at 8:36 pm T03 has managed to grab a few pictures of the upcoming Zune HD before they are officially posted (an NDA might have been broken in the process), sometime soon in company of a juicy announcement. There's nothing too major in the leaked gallery, except for the unveiling of a black color option for the device. We've seen the silver one already but now it appears that the portable media player will come in black as well, and frankly, we prefer the black one. If images aren't your thing, you might want to check out the first Zune HD videos to see what all the commotion is about. Energy software startups set to fight off Google, Microsoft August 4, 2009 at 7:45 pm Consumer-level energy management has suddenly become a hot topic. The Department of Energy has made it a major part of its stimulus spending, hardware makers from GE to Cisco have announced initiatives, and both Google and Microsoft have announced Web-based energy management software. The fact that these companies can enter the market just as it appears poised to take off is the result of years of work by various companies and consortiums, which have been pushing to have open standards adopted by everything from appliance makers to utility data centers. Those standards are what allow the latecomers like Google and Microsoft to enter the market with bigger bank accounts and higher brand recognition among consumers. To get a sense of how companies in the energy management field are adapting to rapidly growing markets and the entry of large competitors, we talked to two companies with a history in energy management software:  Fat Spaniel, which focuses on photovoltaic systems, and Tendril, which makes smart grid software for everyone from individual consumers to entire utilities. The general impression they gave is that open standards are too important for their business to avoid simply because of the threat of competition, and that they both see ways of staying out of the way of their larger competitors. Beating a quantum computer by simulating quantum mechanics August 4, 2009 at 5:21 pm One of the hotter areas of physics research over the last few years has been quantum computing. Newly published research may put a damper on some of the enthusiasm about the ability of adiabatic quantum computers to outperform classic computers in some algorithms. Early research showed that if information were stored in such a way that the value of one bit was correlated to that of another bit, then several algorithms will run faster than their classical counterparts. Examples of such algorithms include finding prime factors of large numbers, simulating quantum systems, and certain types of database searches. Updated plist suggests new Apple device "iProd" coming soon August 4, 2009 at 4:25 pm An updated USBConfiguration.plist in the most recent version of iPhone OS 3.1 beta offers compelling evidence that Apple has continued development on an unknown device, referred to as "iProd," that was first discovered in March. A developer alerted us to the appearance of the new device description for iProd1,1 inside the configuration file. As most Apple devices are assigned the "1,1" designation in the first revision, this leads us to believe that there is indeed an unknown product inside of Apple under active development running the iPhone OS. When the iPhone OS 3.0 SDK beta was first seeded to developers, an entry inside the USBConfiguration.plist indicated that a device identified only as iProd0,1 existed inside of Apple. The .plist item was nested among the usual iPhone and iPod Touch identifiers, as well as iPhone3,1, which turned out to be the iPhone 3GS that was released this past June. As shipping products from Apple don't have a leading zero in the identifier, we speculated then that it was a prototype device that was in active testing. Intel introduces distributed computing to Facebook August 4, 2009 at 3:57 pm Intel has announced a new partnership designed to increase the prominence of volunteer grid computing. Its new Progress Through Processors program will see the chipmaker partner with Facebook and GridRepublic to promote several of the projects that are run through BOINC, a distributed computing client that runs during idle time on volunteers' machines. Although there are a whole host of projects that can be run through the BOINC interface, Intel has chosen to focus on three: Rosetta@home, Climateprediction.net, and Africa@home. The technology behind the endeavor is fairly well established. BOINC, run out of the University of California, Berkeley and supported by the National Science Foundation, was developed in response to the success of several early distributed computing projects, most notably SETI@home. It's designed to provide a single piece of client software that runs while a user's machine is idle. Different projects can provide computational engines that are loaded and run by the BOINC client. The single client infrastructure is intended to make it easier for individual projects to roll out updated software and for users to divide their machine's time among multiple worthy projects. Office for Mac SP2 causes incompatibility with PC XML files August 4, 2009 at 3:40 pm Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 Service Pack 2 included tons of welcome speed improvements and bug fixes. However, things may not be all smooth sailing, as the Mac Business Unit has discovered that the update also introduced incompatibilities with Office Open XML format files created with Office for Windows. The problem doesn't seem to affect every file, but there appears to be some differences between the XML generated by some Windows versions of Office and the official Office Open XML spec. Office for Mac 2008 updated with SP2 in some cases can't identify which version of the XML format is used and won't be able to open that file. New Left 4 Dead campaign, with revamped Vs., in September August 4, 2009 at 2:33 pm Left 4 Dead is getting some new content in September with a new content pack called "Crash Course." The content "bridges the gap between the end of the 'No Mercy' campaign and the beginning of 'Death Toll' in the original game, expanding the game universe with new locations, new dialogue from the original cast, and an explosive finale." Are you excited yet? The content will include Survival maps and a co-op campaign, but the real story is in a revamped version of the Versus mode. The goal is to be able to play a complete game in 30 minutes. "A recharge timer for infected teammates has also been added, and item spawn behavior has changed for more balanced gameplay," Valve explains. There's not much more information to share, although PC gamers have it over on 360 fans: the update will be free via Steam, but will cost 560 Microsoft points ($7) on Xbox Live. With Left 4 Dead 2 coming by the end of the year, fans of co-op zombie killing have much to look forward to. Your choice of college major may affect your religious views August 4, 2009 at 2:24 pm Does the level of one's personal religious level affect what one studies in college, or even if they go to college? Does a path of study influence a person's religious development? A new study released by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan examines the correlation between these two aspects of young people's lives. A lot of people might expect that those who study physical sciences become the least religious during their tenure at school. The research found that this is not the case; a course of study in the sciences, such as physics or biology, leads to little change in what the authors term religiosity. The survey found that the greatest positive change—those who become more religious during their studies—are those preparing for an education degree. Those who become the least religious relative to their starting point are those majoring in the social sciences. New petition demands an end to Kindle DRM, faces long odds August 4, 2009 at 2:02 pm When it came to selling music downloads, Amazon was all about openness. Apple had already locked up the market for DRMed downloads, and of course it had a license (the iPod) to print money. Amazon's challenge to Apple took the form of openness as the giant retailer launched a DRM-free music store with support from all four major labels. But when it came to the nascent e-book market, Amazon dropped its commitment to openness and instead followed Apple's playbook so exactly that it looked like a case of "Seattle, start your photocopiers!" Slick hardware that used a proprietary DRM format quickly made the Kindle brand the hottest name in the (admittedly still small) e-book circles. It was that decision to link the Kindle hardware and store with a new DRM scheme that led the Free Software Foundation (FSF) to add the Kindle to its "Defective by Design" anti-DRM campaign. Windows XP Mode RC adds new features August 4, 2009 at 1:10 pm Microsoft has released the Release Candidate build of Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC over on Microsoft.com/Windows/Virtual-PC as well as the Microsoft Download Center: Windows XP Mode RC (460.4MB) and Windows Virtual PC RC (5.9MB for 32-bit and 6.6MB for 64-bit). Windows XP Mode, a tool to help businesses ease the migration process to Windows 7 by providing additional compatibility for their older productivity applications, now works with the RC and RTM versions of Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, and Windows 7 Enterprise. Need an early advantage in PSP Gran Turismo? Pre-order August 4, 2009 at 12:50 pm As Ben was rather overjoyed to point out at E3 this year, Gran Turismo is still coming to the PSP and actually plays great. Now, with the game's October 1 release date fast approaching, Sony has revealed the bonus items that will be available to those who pre-order the game. According to the Playstation Blog, players will receive a voucher for one of the game's top cars in a custom color if they pre-order Gran Turismo. This includes the 2009 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 in the Black M color, the 2002 Enzo Ferrari in Giallo Modena (yellow), the 2008 GTbyCitroen in yellow, a metallic blue version of the 2009 Nissan GT-R Spec V, and the 1974 Lamborghini Countach LP400 in Arancio (orange). Aside from the fact that any of these cars' superior speed and handling will give players a huge advantage in terms of unlocking new cars, "this means that on day one, you’ll be able to smoke your friends in 4-player Ad Hoc Mode multiplayer races with one of these rare sports cars while they are just getting started saving up credits." Undoubtedly, many players are excited by this news, and will be signing up to pre-order Gran Turismo before October. The game is set to feature over 800 licensed drivable cars and will be available for purchase at retail locations and over the Playstation Network. Malware, oversharing lead Marines to ban social networks August 4, 2009 at 12:05 pm Marines who are fans of Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace will have to wait till they go home to get their social networking fix. The US Marine Corps has just instituted a ban on social networking sites (SNS) on the Marine Corps Enterprise Network (MCEN) due to malware concerns and "information exposure" to adversaries. The ban will be in effect for one year and effective immediately. All publicly available social networks fall under the ban. According to the all-caps order (hey, let's all be like Kanye), "THE VERY NATURE OF SNS CREATES A LARGER ATTACK AND EXPLOITATION WINDOW, EXPOSES UNNECESSARY INFORMATION TO ADVERSARIES AND PROVIDES AN EASY CONDUIT FOR INFORMATION LEAKAGE THAT PUTS OPSEC, COMSEC, PERSONNEL AND THE MCEN AT AN ELEVATED RISK OF COMPROMISE." This includes, but is not limited to, Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. "THESE INTERNET SITES IN GENERAL ARE A PROVEN HAVEN FOR MALICIOUS ACTORS AND CONTENT AND ARE PARTICULARLY HIGH RISK DUE TO INFORMATION EXPOSURE, USER GENERATED CONTENT AND TARGETING BY ADVERSARIES," reads the order. iTunes Store finally touches down on Mexican soil August 4, 2009 at 11:51 am The iTunes Store has finally arrived in Mexico, bringing with it a wide selection of music from both major and independent labels. In addition to prominent Mexican artists (such as Paulina Rubio, Vicente Fernandez, and Zoe), a "wide range" of international musicians are also selling their music through the store. Apple claims that most songs cost 12 pesos (which currently converts over to US$0.91) and albums are at 120 pesos (roughly US$9.12). Just like the US store, the musical offerings on iTunes Mexico are in Apple's DRM-free iTunes Plus format with 256kbps encoding. And, of course, the App Store is also available through iTunes Mexico, allowing iPhone and iPod touch users to access the thousands of third-party applications that have practically defined the platform. Music videos are also available for download, and many are priced at 24 pesos. Before today, Latino content was available through the US iTunes Store, but Mexican users had to either wait or use a crafty US gift card workaround. Now, users in Mexico can not only access the iTunes Store directly, they can even buy their own gift cards from brick-and-mortar retailers such as Liverpool, Mixup, Office Depot, El Palacio de Hierro, Sanborns. ¡Disfruten! G-Force video game is... wait... it's actually good? Yup August 4, 2009 at 11:50 am The video game tie-in for the Disney film G-Force—featuring all sorts of furry animals decked out in spy gear—has been pushed on me at every meeting with Disney. Before you can say "I'm mostly here for Split/Second," you're getting the hard sell about an action game for kids. The surprise? The game is much better than you'd expect. A rare Nintendo stumble as Vitality Sensor lacks killer app August 4, 2009 at 10:33 am Nintendo is a company that can do little wrong in the current marketplace, but the introduction of the "Vitality Sensor," a piece of hardware that fits onto your finger and measures certain types of biometric feedback, was one of the famously flat notes of this year's E3. It was announced during the press conference with an image, to a tittering crowd, with no indication of how it would be used in a game. In short? Nintendo messed up: the Japanese giant can only get away with its crazy moves when it has the software to back it up. First Sims 3 expansion detailed. Martial arts! Egypt! DLC! August 4, 2009 at 10:30 am Now that The Sims 3 has been out for a few months, Electronic Arts is finally getting around to announcing details about the game's first expansion pack. Dubbed World Adventures, the new content will let players and their Sims escape the confines of suburban life and explore exotic new locations. The adventures available range from learning martial arts in China to going on a romantic getaway in France, or even exploring ancient ruins in Egypt. The expansion will feature new skills to learn, challenges to complete, sims to interact with, and, of course, new downloadable content to purchase. Like the main game, World Adventures will include 1000 SimsPoints to get players started on downloading additional content. Netflix set to stream Watch Instantly flicks to iPhone, Wii August 4, 2009 at 10:18 am This just in: Netflix appears to be set to launch Watch Instantly for some new devices—namely, the Nintendo Wii console and the little handheld platform from Apple. The source of this rumor is "an industry executive familiar with Netflix's plans" who spoke on (we assume) the condition of anonymity to Multichannel News. That executive says that Netflix plans to launch streaming for the iPhone, iPod touch, and Nintendo Wii very soon. The closest we can come to corroborating this information is that some of us in Orbiting HQ received surveys from Netflix a couple months ago asking us if we would take advantage of streaming to these devices if it were available, and, if necessary, would we be willing to pay a small fee to install the software. Earlier this year, we heard a similar rumor from a Lionsgate executive that said Wii streaming was coming soon, after the success of streaming to the Xbox 360. And in April, Netflix posted a job listing for "engineering leader" for gaming platforms. It's not hard to imagine Netflix would extend this feature to the most popular mobile application platform on the planet, as well as gaming consoles. Batman: Arkham Asylum demo coming this week August 4, 2009 at 10:10 am Batman: Arkham Asylum may just be the first game to actually do the character of Batman justice. We enjoyed it at GDC, explored the fighting system when Eidos sent in a playable demo of the Challenge Rooms, and now everyone is going to get a chance to get jazzed about the title: a playable demo of the game is coming to both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on August 7, this Friday. What can we expect from the demo? "The Batman: Arkham Asylum™ demo opens as the DARK KNIGHT and COMMISSIONER GORDON return The Joker back into confinement at ARKHAM ASYLUM," the announcement explains, with liberal use of caps. "But things soon fall apart as THE JOKER gains the upper hand and springs a trap, setting Arkham Asylum’s occupants upon Batman." We're promised a look at the combat system, the Invisible Predator mechanic, and we'll see some of the enemies of the "infamous foes" from the game. Even better is that the voice talent from the wonderful Batman: Animated Series is back reprising their roles for the game. This is a game to watch, and a demo coming so soon is great news. Batman: Arkham Asylum is coming to the 360, PS3, and PC on August 25. P2P-like Tahoe filesystem offers secure storage in the cloud August 4, 2009 at 9:15 am Tahoe is a secure distributed filesystem that is designed to conform with the principle of least authority. The developers behind the project announced this month the release of version 1.5, which includes bugfixes and improvements to portability and performance, including a 10 percent boost to file upload speed over high-latency connections. Tahoe's underlying architecture is similar to that of a peer-to-peer network. Files are distributed across multiple nodes in a manner that allows data integrity to be maintained in the event that individual nodes are compromised or fail. It uses AES encryption to protect file contents from tampering and scrutiny. Tahoe can be used to establish a relatively fault-tolerant storage pool that spans a number of conventional computers over a local network or the Internet. This approach to cloud storage might be more appropriately described as "crowd" storage. Super speed: a brief history of USB 3.0, 2007-2018 August 4, 2009 at 12:30 am USB 3.0 is coming, and the hour approaches when the computer and electronics industries can sink their collective teeth into a new, faster USB interface for the first time in ten years. USB 2.0, with 480Mbps High speed, launched in April 2000, and USB 3.0, with 4.8Gbps Super Speed, will launch in the first consumer devices in early 2010. As this happy day draws closer, USB 3.0-related news has come fast and brisk, and it has been hard to follow. Let's review the milestones of the past and take a look ahead to see what the future has in store for USB 3.0.   This email was sent to topblogsofthenet@gmail.com.  Manage Your Account Don't want to receive this feed any longer? Unsubscribe here.