Role-playing game leads to Xbox 360 shortage in Japan
According to an apology Microsoft has issued to Japanese consumers, the demand for Xbox 360 consoles has far outstripped supplies in Japan, and inventories will remain totally sold out until new shipments arrive in September.
Reports began surfacing early this month of major consumer electronics retailers such as Yodobashi Camera and Bic Camera running out of Xbox 360s at metropolitan locations.
Gag order against 'subway hackers' lifted
After reviewing the merits of the case, Judge George O'Toole has denied the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority's motion to issue a five-month injunction to further prevent three MIT students from talking about their subway hack.
The restraining order against the students expired on Tuesday. Judge O'Toole explained that the transit agency had no likelihood of success on the merits of the case under federal computer intrusion laws. In addition, the MBTA in filings yesterday admitted that its fare collections system did indeed have flaws and would take approximately five months to fix.
The economy's loss appears to be HP's gain
Typically a "recession" is defined by two successive periods of negative growth. But wherever that recession may be taking place must be another planet, from HP's perspective, as it has yet to see even one such period in the Mark Hurd era.
It's the type of quarterly report that makes one ask the increasingly pertinent question, "Carly who?" In an unequivocal validation of its re-invention strategy under CEO Mark Hurd, Hewlett-Packard last night posted fabulous numbers, earning way more than it has before on seasonally weaker, though still very strong, revenue.
Muxtape suspends its mixtape service, citing RIAA 'problem'
Music "mixtape" sharing site Muxtape has been pulled offline, with a notice saying it has to "sort out a problem with the RIAA." Its blog today contains the glib but equally nebulous statement, "No artists or labels have complained."
The message on Muxtape's main page predicts Muxtape will only be down "for a brief period." But the message contained in the site's Tumblr blog is slightly more foreboding, saying, "The site is not closed indefinitely."
Palm's magic act makes Treo Pro 850 appear, disappear
Inexplicably, for the second time in four days, Palm has leaked and then pulled information from the Web about its (still forthcoming?) Treo Pro (a.k.a. Treo 850) smartphone, a product originally slated for announcement today.
Last Thursday, Palm briefly posted an entire Flash presentation about the new phone on its own Web site. A few minutes later, the whole presentation was taken down, but not before being captured by various bloggers for redistribution all over the Web.
Pandora: Last gasp for Internet radio can't be further prolonged
Since March 2007, when the Copyright Royalty Board exacted a per-performance, per listener fee on streaming online services, pundits have declared a deathwatch on Internet radio. Recently, Pandora's founder expressed the same dire outlook.
This weekend, Pandora founder Tim Westergren told the Washington Post that his service is nearing the point where shutting down is the only feasible option. Despite the fact that Pandora is among the top 200 most popular United States Web sites (and climbing), and that the Pandora iPhone application is among the App Store's 10 most downloaded, Westergren said his company is still losing money.
Has Firefox 3 certificate handling become too 'scary?'
In a scenario reminiscent of the fairy tale about the fellow who cries "wolf" too often, security engineers are actively wondering whether Firefox' "blowing of the whistle" on self-signed certificates is a) frightening, and b) fair to developers.
One of the oft-touted improvements in Mozilla's Firefox 3.0 Web browser has been its improved handling for sites that authenticate their own identities using SSL certificates -- the kind used to initiate encrypted transactions with HTTPS protocol. For instance, a site whose authentication is verified will be indicated in Firefox's address bar by having its icon expanded to a full name, printed on a green background. Supposedly, this is to reassure the user that everything's copacetic.
Apple gives MobileMe subscribers more free time
Subscribers who have remained with MobileMe through its continued growing pains will be rewarded with another 60 days free, bringing the total free time to 90 days.
To be eligible for the new extension, customers must be enrolled members by midnight Tuesday. Those who have already enrolled will see their free trial periods extended another 60 days.
Microsoft supports Blu-ray mastering in Windows; is Xbox next?
Finally giving up the last vestiges of its exclusive support for the HD DVD format, Microsoft has quietly launched a beta test of Windows-based mastering software for Blu-Ray discs.
Microsoft's new Image Mastering API update for Blu-Ray media is now available for download from the Microsoft Connect Web site as part of Windows Feature Pack for Storage, a software package in pre-release for Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server platforms.
Japan says iPod nanos may pose overheating risk
The country's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry said Tuesday that it had received two additional reports of iPod nanos that caught fire after overheating.
The incidents involve the following model numbers: MA004J/A, MA005J/A, MA099J/A, and MA107J/A, which encompass about 1.81 million units sold in Japan between September 2005 and September 2006. Neither of these most recent events caused injury, although earlier incidents were to blame for at least two cases of minor burns.
Users to Microsoft: 'Just make Windows faster'
Continuing an unprecedented public dialog on the future of Windows begun last week, a Microsoft senior vice president admits that the request he's hearing most often from users is pretty simple: Speed it up.
Though we won't make it a point to post a story every time a Microsoft Senior Vice President, such as Steven Sinofsky or Jon DeVaan, issues an utterance about the next edition of Windows on its newly launched corporate blog, one statement from Sinofsky this morning will raise eyebrows: In response to the blog's inaugural call for ideas from the general public about what features they'd like to see in "Windows 7," he surprisingly acknowledged that many were more interested not so much in features but in behavior.
TSA-approved laptop bags: $220+
The US Transportation Safety Administration's recent relaxation of rules on removing laptops from luggage at airport checkpoints, carried an announcement of soon-to-be available TSA pre-approved bags. This fall, we should see the first.
"The Checkpoint Flyer" by Tom Bihn adheres to TSA guidelines as presented in the group's five-month design challenge. To achieve this, it integrates a protective laptop sleeve into a messenger-style bag that allows the two to be separated for scanning in "less than three seconds" (re-attachment times were not included).
Apple releases iPhone 2.0.2 update, 3G problems remain
Just two weeks after the initial update to the iPhone's second generation firmware, another has appeared with promises of more "bug fixes."
At a little under 249 MB, the latest iPhone firmware update, version 2.0.2, is about the same size as the previous patch. While many had hoped for fixes to the 3G connectivity issues the device has been experiencing, reports on Apple's support forums seem to indicate there may be no fix in this patch.
Google: Android-based HTC Dream may not be alone for long
Hot on the heels of FCC approval of HTC's "Dream" phone, Google has hinted to BetaNews that the "Dream" isn't the only Android phone already under way.
"To prepare for Android's public launch, we are testing the platform on a variety of devices," a Google spokesperson said, in an e-mail to BetaNews.
Yahoo to open up Buzz submissions to public
While news aggregator Buzz has been up for about six months, until now, users could only vote for content, and the link inclusion process was limited to suggestions from only 400 publishers. That's about to change.
Beginning next Monday at 10:00 pm EDT, users will be able to submit content suggestions to Yahoo Buzz, as it emerges from beta. If a content item gets enough votes, it will appear on the front page of Yahoo.
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