Service Site for Xbox 360 Goes Live
Microsoft has opened a special Web site to help customers track their Xbox 360 repairs, which follows last month's 3-year warranty extension that was made due to high failure rates for the Redmond company's flagship game console.
From the site, customers can register their Xbox, schedule a repair, and track the status of the entire process. For now, the service appears only to be open for those in the United States, but Microsoft's warranty extension does apply worldwide. According to some reports, as many as 3 out of every 10 Xbox 360 units had some sort of problem.
80GB PS3 Hits Stores, 60GB PS3 Sees Sales Surge
Sony on Monday announced the immediate availability of the 80GB PlayStation 3 model, offering a free copy of off-road racing game MotorStorm to all buyers of the $599 USD game console. The new PS3 is nearly identical to the discontinued 60GB model, but features a larger hard drive and lacks the "Emotion Engine" chip used for supporting older PS2 titles.
Sony has dropped the price of the 60GB PS3 to $499 while supplies remain, and the company says the lower cost has brought about "a surge in sales." According to Sony, retail sales of the 60GB PS3 have jumped 113% compared to the four weeks prior to the price drop. Inventory of the 60GB PS3 is expected to be depleted by the fall, Sony added.
NASA to Use Microsoft Photosynth for Shuttle Launch
Microsoft said Monday that it had partnered with NASA to give an unprecedented look at the Endeavour Shuttle launch through Photosynth, its platform that uses standard camera images to create navigable 3D views. 360 degree views of the shuttle boosters, Vehicle Assembly Building, and launchpad will be available, NASA and Microsoft said.
MSNBC, a joint partnership between NBC and Microsoft, will also provide additional multimedia surrounding the launch, as well as linking back to the Photosynth collections. "This collaboration with Microsoft gives the public a new way to explore and participate in America's space program," NASA Space Operations Associate Administrator William Gerstenmaier said. He added that the technology could be used for future missions.
Lenovo to Ship Linux on Select Notebooks
Following in the footsteps of Dell, Lenovo said Monday that it plans to give both consumers and businesses the option to have Linux installed as the default operating system over Windows on select models. The company announced a partnership with Novell that puts SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 on laptop models aimed at commercial customers, although they would also be available to individual customers as well.
Support for the OS would come from Lenovo itself, with Novell providing the maintenance updates directly to customers. "We have seen more customers utilizing and requesting open source notebook solutions in education, government and the enterprise since our ThinkPad T60p Linux announcement, and today's announcement expands upon our efforts by offering customers more Linux options," Lenovo notebook business chief Sam Dusi said.
Third-Gen HD DVD Players in October
Although they have not been officially announced, Amazon may have let slip the release date for third-generation HD DVD players from Toshiba. Several sites linked to product pages -- which have since been pulled -- that indicated three new models are set to debut on October 1.
The HD-A3, HD-A30, and HD-A35 will retail for $299, $399, and $499, respectively, according to the pages. Specifics on the players were not available, although an announcement may be forthcoming at CEDIA. The event is scheduled for September 5-9 and commonly is a launch pad for new audiovisual products.
Microsoft Discounts Vista in China
Aiming to curb piracy, Microsoft said it had slashed prices on its Windows Vista as much as 67 percent to encourage consumers to purchase genuine copies of its software. As of Wednesday, the price of its Home Basic edition dropped from $201 to $66, and Home Premium was reduced to $118 from $238. The company hopes that the move will continue the downtrend in piracy in the country.
Piracy rates are still high: in 2006, about 82 percent of all software used in China was pirated according to IDC. However, this was down from 86 percent the previous year. Some of the reduction could be due to a new policy in China that requires manufacturers to ensure that legally-obtained operating system software is installed at factories.
PS3 Sales Recover in Japan
Sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 recovered somewhat in Japan in July, closing the gap between it and market leader Nintendo according to sales data compiled by Japanese gaming publisher Enterbrain. The PS3 is now being outsold by the Wii by a four to one margin, as opposed to the six to one margin in June. By the numbers, the Wii sold 396,752 consoles to the PS3's 91,987 units. The Xbox 360 sold 17,970.
There really is no single reason that the uptick in sales can be pinned to. However, Sony has made a concerted effort to get more gaming titles on store shelves. This, along with the PS3's high price, have been seen as the biggest problems that it needs to overcome. The Wii sells for 25,000 yen in Japan, half the price of the base-level PS3.
VMware Completes Mac Virtualization Software
VMware on Thursday announced it has completed development of "Fusion," the company's desktop virtualization software for Macs, which enables Apple computers to run Windows or Linux from within Mac OS X. VMware said over 250,000 people had downloaded the Fusion beta release since December.
VMware is going head-to-head with Parallels, the current market leader for virtual machine software on Macs, which has become possible with Apple's switch to Intel processors. Both Parallels 3.0 and VMware Fusion cost $79.99 USD and are available to download online. VMware says Fusion supports more operating systems and includes power management safeguards so a virtual machine isn't corrupted if a laptop runs out of battery. More information can be found on VMware's Web site.
Apple Renews Microsoft Font License
At TypeCon2007 Thursday, Apple renewed its font licensing agreement with Microsoft, which gives users of Mac OS X access to the core fonts in Windows. The deal covers popular document and Web fonts, including Times New Roman, Arial and Verdana.
The two companies did not say how long the new agreement will last, although it's unlikely that Microsoft would ever prevent Apple customers from using its fonts - especially since the company offers software for the rival platform. The joint press release notes that, "Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications."
Microsoft Blames Family for Xbox Fire, Infant Death
In a move that was largely expected legally, but could prove more difficult to explain to the media and consumers, Microsoft is asking a court to dismiss a lawsuit that claims an Xbox caught fire and led to the death of an infant. Microsoft says the baby's parents are to blame for abusing the Xbox.
It's not clear what exact "abuse" Microsoft is claiming, although it says the Kline family "knowingly, willingly, intentionally, and voluntarily exposed themselves to said danger and assumed the risk of incident." Microsoft had recalled over 14 million Xbox power cords in February 2005 due to fire risks, and it's not clear if the family participated in that recall. Microsoft is also demanding the Klines pay for the company's legal costs.
Adobe Drops Kinko's Button from Reader, Acrobat
Responding to a swarm of criticism regarding its integration of a prominent button in its Reader and Acrobat software that enables customers to print their .PDF files at a local FedEx Kinko's, Adobe said Thursday it will be removing the option in a software update this October.
Most complaints came from "mom and pop" establishments who do not have a large customer base to begin with and could lose customers due to the convenience factor of the built-in button. Adobe claims it needs some time to remove the feature, which it turns out was an easy decision because the company makes little money from the FedEx deal. A special version of Adobe Reader with the button will be offered from the Kinko's Web site.
Bluetooth SIG Approves 2.1+EDR Spec
The Bluetooth SIG said Wednesday that it had approved a new specification that would allow some devices to pair faster and easier, as well as bringing other enhancements to improve the overall experience. Called Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, it would pave the way for devices that use Near-Field Communication (NFC) and even auto-paring among devices that support it.
Power optimization features are part of the new specification, which in some cases would increase battery life of devices using Bluetooth. In addition, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR includes enhancements to improve security, the SIG said in a statement. "This leap forward in usability further improves the Bluetooth experience and makes the technology easy for anyone to enjoy," Bluetooth SIG executive director Dr. Michael Foley said.
Store Ads Detail Xbox 360 Price Drop
Although Microsoft has remained mum on the subject, a number of retail store ads being prepared for mid-August have disclosed that the price of the Xbox 360 will be lowered by $50. The move was largely expected following Sony's $100 price drop on its now-discontinued 60GB PS3.
The Xbox 360 Premium will now be sold for $349.99, and include a copy of "Table Tennis" from Rockstar. The Xbox 360 Elite will also see a price drop, but only of $30, bringing the HDMI-equipped console to $449.99. The Xbox 360 Core, meanwhile, will cost $279.99, $20 cheaper than its original price. There are rumors, however, that Microsoft will be discontinuing production of its Core console.
NVidia Updates Game Development Tools
Graphics card manufacturer NVidia does more than simply power the displays of many laptops and PCs; the company also offers a number of professional software tools for animation and game development. On Tuesday, NVidia released updated versions of tools designed to lower the cost of creating games.
FX Composer 2, is an integrated development environment for shader authoring, enabling fast creation of real-time visual effects. It support Microsoft's XNA platform for the Xbox, as well as becoming the standard for shader authoring on Sony's PlayStation 3 and Windows. PerfKit 5, meanwhile, offers a heads-up display that overlays real time DirectX debugging information and frame analyzation. Both tools are available for download from NVidia's developer Web site.
AT&T to Offer Mobile Music Downloads from eMusic
AT&T on Tuesday announced the launch of its over-the-air music download service for its cellular subscribers, joining forces with eMusic to offer a catalog of 2.7 million songs. But the service won't run cheap: customers can pay $7.49 per month to download up to five tracks.
eMusic, which focuses primarily on independent artists, will provide two versions of purchased songs -- one for the phone and one full-quality MP3 version for the PC. Initially, handsets from Samsung including the a717, a727 and SYNC will support the service, along with the Nokia N75. Those wanting to buy additional tracks can do so in 5-song bundles for $7.59 each. Of course, AT&T customers who have an iPhone can simply purchase songs from eMusic for 33-cents or less and transfer them to the handset via iTunes.
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