Archive for March, 2008
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Monday, March 31st, 2008Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment
We were kind of wondering when it was finally going to happen: Microsoft’s inked a deal with a production company to do original content for the Xbox 360. The licensed back catalog of stuff is good and all, but this would fill that niche in between Xbox 360’s digital downloads and long-promised IPTV. No word yet on when it’s coming, just that we can expect the usual compliment of Hollywood pap.
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NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX triple-SLI rig benched
Sunday, March 30th, 2008
Looks like the first NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX cards have made their way out in the world — officially announced or not — and TweakTown’s got the benches. Performance gains seem marginal in triple-SLI over dual, but hey, those drivers probably aren’t finished and these cards aren’t official, so we recommend withholding judgment until it’s all legit.
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Windows XP-powered Eee PC laptop: $400, April 9th
Sunday, March 30th, 2008Filed under: Laptops
Sounds like we’ve finally got a price and a date for the XP powered Eee PC: $400, and April 9th. The hardware’s identical to current-gen Eee PCs, though, so if you’re happy with your little white lappy and are itching for XP you might try to pick up a license on eBay. Still, if all goes well for ASUS, they’ll be selling 4x what they did the first time around, innit?
P.S. -If you are, for whatever reason, itching to read more about current hardware running the 7 year old OS, Laptop’s got a hands-on. Nothing that wasn’t already out there though.
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Yet another Microsoft white space device fails FCC testing
Sunday, March 30th, 2008Filed under: Wireless
Although several other companies have submitted white space devices to the FCC — we know Philips has one in, and Google’s making a lot of noise about new and improved reference designs — it looks like Microsoft’s run of bad luck with the tech continues, with yet another white space transceiver unexpectedly failing during FCC tests last week. There’s no word on if the latest unit failed for the same power-related reasons as the previous test devices, but Microsoft’s doing a little damage control and saying that the FCC hasn’t found any interference with TV signals so far, and that it’s easier to pull the plug now and let other, non-MS devices finish out testing. Yeah, we’d say so — at this point Redmond’s bungled attempts to get this stuff working are becoming sort of embarrassing. Google to the rescue?
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Cancer patient has PSP stolen en route to chemotherapy treatment
Sunday, March 30th, 2008Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds
There’s depressing gaming stories, and then there are outright travesties. Unfortunately, this case falls squarely into the latter category, as a 7-year old cancer patient had his beloved PlayStation Portable swiped — right along with his medical records, a backpack full of medication, his games and even his homework — while en route to a chemotherapy treatment for a tumor in his brain. Apparently the boy’s family had stopped at a restaurant while traveling from Oklahoma to Texas, and while inside, thieves had their way with what was left inside the vehicle. Thankfully, authorities from the Dallas police department came to the rescue by purchasing a brand new PSP and raising over $1,000 to repurchase the goods that were lost, and as for the crooks, we’ll just trust karma to handle the rest.
[Via PSPFanboy, image courtesy of Flickr]
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Atom processor to cost Intel just $6 to $8?
Sunday, March 30th, 2008Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops, Tablet PCs
Ever since Intel compared the criticality of its (still) forthcoming Silverthorne (which now goes by Atom, if you couldn’t guess) processor to the original Pentium last June, we’ve all wondered just how fantasmical our worlds would become when this thing finally dropped. Now, however, Tom’s Hardware has discovered that the release may actually do more for Intel than we geeks. After consulting a source it believes to be quite credible, it found that the CPU — which will likely sell for upwards of $30 at the low-end — will cost Intel just “$6 to $8, including production, packaging and shipping.” Without busting out the abacus, it’s still fairly easy to see how profitable said chips could be if Intel can move these at even a snail’s pace, but of course, we’d take the dollars and cents estimates with a grain of salt until they actually hit the market.
[Via Digg]
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Biosensing nanodevice could hasten security checks, health screenings
Sunday, March 30th, 2008Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
We’ll go ahead and warn you: if you’re hoping to purge your mind of all things science this weekend, this post isn’t the one to be reading. For the rest of you knowledge seekers, Arizona State University researcher Wayne Frasch has developed a biosensing nanodevice that could possibly revolutionize health screenings and speed up that grueling airport security process. Put simply (well, as simply as possible), he discovered that the enzyme F1- ATPase can be equipped with an optical probe and “manipulated to emit a signal when it detects a single molecule of target DNA.” Currently, a prototype of the DNA detector is already being worked up, but there’s no word on when (or if) the device will escape the lab and hit the commercial realm. Still not geeked out? Hit the read link and hold on for dear life.
[Via Physorg]
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Hackers embed flashing animations on epilepsy support forum
Sunday, March 30th, 2008Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Shortly after hearing a sad tale of a 7-year old cancer patient having his medication and PSP stolen whilst en route to treatment comes yet another story of the world’s meanest preying on the helpless. This go ’round, a group of griefers (assuming to be members of Anonymous) managed to invade a support forum established by the nonprofit Epilepsy Foundation and use JavaScript code and messages littered with flashing animations to effectively assault dozens of visitors who suffer from the disorder. The Foundation managed to catch wind of the problem within 12 hours of the attack, and while the boards were closed down temporarily to purge it of offending messages, many readers (such as RyAnne Fultz, pictured) experienced headaches and seizures before rescue arrived. Let’s just say we sincerely hope the culprits get what’s comin’ to ‘em.
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Nintendo’s Wii Wheel priced at $14.99
Saturday, March 29th, 2008Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
We’ve known that Nintendo would be bundling a single Wii Wheel in with the forthcoming Mario Kart Wii title, but now it seems that folks riding shotgun (or riding your tail) can grab one of their own. According to a recently released flyer from GameStop, extra Wheels — should the plethora of steering apparatuses already out there not suffice — will be sold for a cool $14.99 each. April 27th just seems so, so far away, doesn’t it? Check the flyer in full after the jump.
[Thanks, Pat]
Continue reading Nintendo’s Wii Wheel priced at $14.99
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Linux becomes only OS to escape PWN 2 OWN unscathed
Saturday, March 29th, 2008Filed under: Laptops
After a week full of Red Bulls, Fruit by the Foot and dreams of In-N-Out, the mighty Sony VAIO loaded with Linux stood as the only machine unhacked by the end of the PWN 2 OWN hacking contest at CanSecWest. As you’re well aware by now, the MacBook Air on display was seized in two minutes by the presumably well prepared Charlie Miller, and after two full days of work, Shane Macaulay and a few of his 1337 associates managed to crack the Vista rig on Friday. Reportedly, Shane and his pals weren’t expecting to do battle with the extra protected SP1 version of Vista, and while the exact loophole won’t be divulged, we are told that it was a cross-platform bug that “took advantage of Java to circumvent Vista’s security.” In the end, it was reported that some folks on hand had discovered bugs in the Linux OS, but many of them “didn’t want to put the work into developing the exploit code that would be required to win the contest.”
[Image courtesy of TippingPoint]
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