Another Friday, another leaked photo from Half-Blood Prince! This time, it's of Snape, Draco, and Filch at Slughorn's party. It looks like they're deep in thought, perhaps pondering how the photo appeared online. Thanks to Potterish and Oclumenciafor this one!
Jim Dale, the narrator of the U.S. Harry Potter audio books, was the recipient of an Audie Award last night in Los Angeles for his work on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Dale was the winner in the category of "Solo Narration-Male" and was also nominated for "Audiobook of the Year" for his voicing of the final installment of the Potter series.
Don't forget that Mr. Dale will be a guest speaker this July at Portus 2008 in Dallas, Texas. You can hear our interview with him from Episode 137 back on March 16th, where he discusses this summer as well as his career, Potter and much more!
For the past few weeks there have been several new Half-Blood Prince pictures appearing online (1, 2, and 3), and today there's another one. It's a nicely framed photo of Harry in one of Hogwarts' corridors, looking lonely and worried over something.
We love Transformers here at Giz, but it looks like the UK's already slightly-crazed authorities don't. A guy called Brad Jayakody was recently barred from boarding a flight at Heathrow Airport's new Terminal 5 because his T-shirt had a picture of Optimus Prime brandishing a gun.
Yup, you got it: a cartoon robot with a stylized cartoon laser gun pissed off an airport guard so much that Jake had to swap it before flying. He even asked to speak to a security supervisor, who supported the guard and warned Brad not to put the shirt back on or he could be arrested.
A spokesman for the British Airports Authority said "If a T-shirt had a rude word or a bomb on it for example, a passenger may be asked to remove it," and that sounds pretty fair. But this was a cartoon giant gun-toting robot... on a T-shirt, not a detailed photo recreation of a Glock that might be mistaken for the real deal at a quick glance.
Looks like Britain's safe from cartoon robot gun attacks, at least.
Recently, fan site Pottersphere inquired with Warner Brothers about creating a massively multiplayer online role playing game centered around Potter. The movie studio came back to them with this intriguing statement:
The notion of creating a Harry Potter massively multi-player role playing game (MMORPG) is something that we've been discussing at Warner Bros. At this current stage, we are investigating the possibility of creating our own MMORPG.
Some of you may remember that back in August 2005, we told you of a "Hogwarts Online" concept developed by New Pencil for EA Studios (the same company who has created all of the other Potter video games). We then learned that EA canceled the game "years" prior.
We'll let you know what Warner Brothers has to say. Thanks to Ali for the tip!
Hi all just a note to say im on holiday for 2 weeks from tommorrow onwards, im actually hoping i can get internet access like i did the last time i went to Florida 2 years ago but if not i will be away for the next 2 Weeks plus. Shrygue and Jkkdark post all the commercial gaming and PC Emulation News, which means we need all the help we can posting Homebrew News across the console scene while im away. Please use our Submit Homebrew Releases/ News forum to help post as many releases as possible. or indeed directly into news forums should you have the access needed.
I've decided to start accepting members for Team Heaven, a group dedicated to producing music for people to use in their homebrew games.
I want it to be a place where coders can come to hear samples made by the team, and pick members best suited for the job based on the style of each person.
For example. I'm good at writing music for role playing games...
But, I'm not so great at doing music for let say, Sci-Fi shooting games. If someone else on the team is better at that genre, they would get the job. Or, if they need a variety of song types, they could pick multiple people to work together.
I've written music for 6-7 games myself... For the PSP, DS and PC. So it's not really a matter of finding coders. Not too long ago, I wrote the music for a commercial DS game produced in Germany as well. If all goes the way I hope, the possibility is there for working on big name projects.
Right now the team consists of two members that actually produce music, and is based on a homebrew dedicated forum (which is linked to in the picture above)... But I would like this to change. We're working on getting our own site set up and hosted, so we wont be cramped up between all sorts of other things.
It doesn't matter if you're a novice. We're currently writing up some tutorials for writting music in popular sound editing programs, as well as producing them in popular video game friendly formats.
If you're interested in joining/have questions to ask, feel free to post them here or sign up at the following site (which is where Team Heaven is based):
GamePolitics - a website run by the Entertainment Consumers Association - and the Entertainment Software Association are currently in a row with each other over the choice of keynote speaker for this year's E3.
The keynote address will be delivered by Texas Governor Rick Perry, whose qualifications were called into question by GamePolitics when Perry's selection was announced several weeks ago.
Yesterday, Wired reported that Governor Perry affirmed comments of controversial minister John Hagee who said in a sermon that those people who don't live according to Christian values are "going straight to hell with a nonstop ticket."
"In my faith, that's what it says, and I'm a believer of that," Governor Perry told the Dallas Morning News following the sermon. He later clarified is comment by stating: "That's what the faith says. I understand, and my caveat there is that an all-knowing God certainly transcends my personal ability to make that judgment black and white."
Following this news, GamePolitics called upon the ESA to rescind the offer.
In the letter, the ESA's senior director of communications, Dan Hewitt, wrote: "If the ESA posted a blog and called it a news site, journalists would rightfully balk and it wouldn't pass a smell test. Remarkably, GamePolitics doesn't face the same scrutiny even though it's funded by the ECA and tainted with anti-ESA vitriol. At the end of the day, calling GamePolitics a news site is as laughable as saying there's a Cuban free press."
GamePolitics responded by indicating that ECA president Hal Halpin has insisted that the site retain its editorial independence since it was acquired in October 2006.
"I suspect that, given its current difficulties retaining member companies, the ESA is uncomfortable with the level of scrutiny directed at it by some news outlets," said GamePolitics' Dennis McCauley in a communication to Joystiq.
"Ultimately, an organization like the ESA is judged by its performance, and, right now, it's fair to call that performance into question. When a politician is keynoting E3, that's worth questioning. When the politician has made divisive comments, like those attributed to Gov. Perry, that's really worth questioning."
Boeing has just tested its new thin-disk laser, the most powerful solid-state laser ever made. It fires at over 25 kilowatts, with the scalability proven to go up to a 100 kilowatt laser in the coming years. A 100 kW laser would be the most powerful ever made, one that has a lot of challenges to overcome, including reducing the excess heat generated by such a powerful laser and maintaining the quality of the beam over distances. But even a 25 kW laser is extremely powerful. As the press release says, it "will damage, disable or destroy targets at the speed of light, with little to no collateral damage, supporting missions on the battlefield and in urban operations." Hit the jump for the full release.
Boeing Fires New Thin-Disk Laser, Achieving Solid-State Laser Milestone
ST. LOUIS, June 03, 2008 — The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] fired its new thin-disk laser system repeatedly in recent tests, achieving the highest known simultaneous power, beam quality and run time for any solid-state laser to date.
In each laser firing at Boeing's facility in West Hills, Calif., the high-energy laser achieved power levels of over 25 kilowatts for multi-second durations, with a measured beam quality suitable for a tactical weapon system. The Boeing laser integrates multiple thin-disk lasers into a single system. Through these successful tests, the Boeing team has proven the concept of scalability to a 100-kilowatt-class system based on the same architecture and technology.
"Solid-state lasers will revolutionize the battlefield by giving the warfighter an ultra-precision engagement capability that can dramatically reduce collateral damage," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. "These successful tests show that Boeing has made solid progress toward making this revolutionary capability a reality."
The thin-disk laser is an initiative to demonstrate that solid-state laser technologies are now ready to move out of the laboratory and into full development as weapon systems. Solid-state lasers are powered by electricity, making them highly mobile and supportable on the battlefield. The Boeing laser represents the most electrically efficient solid-state laser technology known. The system is designed to meet the rapid-fire, rapid-retargeting requirements of area-defense, anti-missile and anti-mortar tactical high-energy laser systems. It is also ideal for non-lethal, ultra-precision strike missions urgently needed by warfighters in war zones.
"This accomplishment demonstrates Boeing's commitment to advancing the state of the art in directed energy technology," said Gary Fitzmire, vice president and program director of Boeing Directed Energy Systems. "These successful tests are a significant milestone toward providing reliable and supportable lasers to U.S. warfighters."
Boeing's approach incorporates a series of commercial-off-the-shelf, state-of-the-art lasers used in the automotive industry. These industrial lasers have demonstrated exceedingly high reliability, supportability and maintainability.
A high-power solid-state laser will damage, disable or destroy targets at the speed of light, with little to no collateral damage, supporting missions on the battlefield and in urban operations.
Broadband users who have become frustrated by dodgy advertising touting line speeds of 8MB and upwards should be encouraged by recent news from Ofcom.
As we all know, these sorts of consistent speeds are the stuff of fantasy, making it all but impossible for the consumer to work out exactly how fast a connection with a specific ISP will end up being.
While it can't do anything about the marketing terminology, Ofcom is encouraging ISPs to provide clear assessments of speed estimates on their websites. It's also pushing to offer better customer service in resolving line problems and notifications of fair use limits.
Unfortunately it's a voluntary process, and Ofcom can't do anything about it if people don't get on board, but it has a range of ISPs signed up already and if consumers are aware of the scheme it'll make it easier to avoid those who refuse to chip in.
You can view a list of providers that have already signed up here.
Sega is one of the most recognisable publishers in the business, yet the company still hasn't cracked the top five.
Sega UK MD wants that to change as soon as humanly possible. And the ball is already in motion to make it become a reality.
“We have always been very clear in our ambition to become a top five publisher,” Pritchard said in an interview with MCV. “And the company has made acquisitions and investments as part of that strategy."
"April was our best ever month, with an 11.4 per cent value share and second place, but we have to be realistic about the impact other publishers’ big releases will have on that. Year to date, we are number three pub in value, with a share just short of 10 per cent. That may drop a little, but we have a good chance to improve on last year’s market share and to improve on our profitability.”
While the company stumbled early on, "we’re really starting to get going on 360 and PS3," he added.
Forget boring hydrogen-hybrid supercars and the like: a one-off vehicle mod like this recently-spotted Rocket Car is how to really impress passers-by. Built by Baron Margo, its shiny bullet-shape is all pipes, rocket exhaust (with what look like real jet engine parts), dials and a whirling propeller that apparently spins as you drive, keeping time with a ring of flashing lights. Basically it's like the car that Chitty Chitty would dream of being when it grows up, and I can almost forgive its steampunk-esque nature as it's just so astonishing.
Guitar-playing American pop star John Mayer has had a go at Guitar Hero, arguing nothing can compare to playing a real musical instrument.
"I don't ever want to be the kind of guy who rails against whatever progress has taken place," he told Rolling Stone. "But Guitar Hero was devised to bring the guitar-playing experience to the masses without them having to put anything into it."
And he should know. "Having done both, there's nothing like really playing guitar. I mean, what would you rather drive, a Ferrari or one of those amusement-park cars on a track?"
Thanks for that, John. Could you also let us know if having a go of the real Jessica Simpson is better than fwapping over pictures of her on the Internet.
The UK government has issued an official response to a petition on the Prime Minister's 10 Downing Street website stating that it "takes seriously" the role that the videogames industry plays, and that it is currently reviewing evidence for introducing culturally-influenced tax breaks following a recent decision in France.
"The government takes seriously the contribution of the UK's creative industries to the economy and to the UK's cultural richness. Creative Britain - New talents for the New Economy, published earlier this year, set out the 26 commitments with which the Government would support the creative industries," said the statement.
"In that document, the Government committed to making sure that the creative industries, including the games sector, were aware of and made the best use of the generous Research and Development tax credits for small and medium-sized enterprises, introduced by the Government in 2000. The Government has already been promoting the credit within the industry.
"The Government must be mindful of the need to ensure fair competition and value for money for tax payers whilst ensuring that any tax incentives are supported by evidence. The Government is conscious of the recent approval of a cultural tax relief for games in France and is working with the UK industry to collect and review the evidence for introducing such a credit in the UK."
While the statement doesn't commit to anything specific, it is an indication that the issue has been noted - which will be of interest to UK developers, for whom the country is fast becoming one of the most expensive territories to work in, especially when compared to incentive-laden countries such as Canada.
The original petition text as published on the government website, which was signed by over 2100 people, is as follows:
"We are looking on in horror as flagship UK company Eidos who created the iconic Lara Croft, is facing problems of competing in a global environment. The UK games industry requires tax incentives or some other assistance to maintain a competitive market for global publishers.
"According to Tiga, the trade association for UK developers, the number of independent studios has shrunk from about 400 in 2001 to 150 today. Much of this is because publishers such as Ubisoft of France, Sony of Japan and EA of the US have purchased the high performing studios.
"It is evident that studios based elsewhere are making efforts to extract what grassroots talent the UK has. The FT wrote in 2007 Montreal is offering to pay about 40 per cent of the salaries of the SCi developers and to give them a tax holiday. Such grants have enticed global publishers, such as EA and Ubisoft, to set up in the city.
"We need the same to support UK talent in this industry that is expected to grow phenomenally in the next 3 years, but with rising costs in development more staff are required and it is increasingly less attractive to fund these larger projects here, and almost impossible for independent studios to start production."
25 years ago today, CAPCOM Co., Ltd.was established in Hirano, Osaka for the purposes of selling software. Now it's two and a half decades later and Capcom is still going strong, with flagship franchises like Street Fighter more popular than ever, and old favorites like Bionic Commando ready to reclaim their popularity in this anniversary year. In celebration, Capcom CEO Kenzou Tsujimoto has released a special message to fans and investors (mainly investors) thanking them for their support and pledging continued success in the future, along with the image you see here.
If you squint and suddenly gain the ability to read Japanese you'll notice the in the bottom right hand of the image they list the Clock Tower movie for a 2009 release and the Onimusha movie for 2011, joining Street Fighter: the Legend of Chun-Li as part of some freaky Capcom movie triple-play.
Either way, Happy Birthday, Capcom! Meet you back here in another 25 for the release of Street Fighter VI!
As if we weren't confused enough about what's going on with the now-mysterious Splinter Cell Conviction, various websites are starting to report that Sam Fisher's lost his voice.
And by that we mean Michael Ironside, cult actor and Splinter Cell series mainstay, who is now rumoured to have lost his gig as the voice of Ubisoft's stealth hero.
According to Sarcastic Gamer, who've supposedly heard the rumour themselves from various "people", Ubisoft has quietly axed Ironside from his role in 360-exclusive Conviction and even he himself doesn't know it yet.
We've contacted Ubisoft UK who've been quick to say nothing on the report, but we for one would be a bit gutted if Ironside parted ways with Fisher. Can you imagine the outcry if Solid Snake lost his distinctive grunt?
Far from confirmed, but lets' hope this one's nothing more than internet chatter.
If by chance you're looking for yet another LED-heavy DIY project to tackle, you may want to take a gander at this so-called persistence-of-vision LED sphere, which will let you pump out some super-low res still images or video on a spinning 3D screen. That's accomplished using a single ring of tri-color LEDs, which spins at a rate fast enough to display any combination of red, green or blue pixels along the surface of the resulting sphere, giving you an impressive 3-bit color depth (no video of it in action though, sadly).
That, of course, is slightly easier said than done, and there unfortunately isn't a step-by-step how-to to guide you through the process, though we're guessing anyone actually pondering such a project will be able to make do well enough on their own.
The US videogames trade body, the Entertainment Software Association, spent USD 714,000 on lobbying the federal government in the first quarter of 2008, according to its latest disclosure.
High on the agenda were First Amendment issues as well as measures to promote the interests of children with respect to videogames, such as parental controls and ratings awareness, reports AP.
On the trade side the ESA attempted to tackle IP protection and piracy issues, as well as patent reform and trade, with US Congress and a number of other offices - including the US Trade Representative and the Commerce Department - on the hitlist.
The ESA, which is responsible for organising the E3 trade event in Los Angeles, has recently been hit with some high profile departures, including Activision and LucasArts, and was also embroiled in a public spat with the Entertainment Consumers Association last week.
While most of us wonder why planes aren't built of the crash-proof "black box" flight recorder material, one modder has requisitioned a black box of his own to use as a PC case. While the package itself is quite large (and disappointingly red), the interior is so cramped that only a Mini-ITX motherboard could fit inside, running Slackware Linux on a 800MHz Via C3. But have you ever seen the inside of a black box before?
That padding? It's not fluffy down. From the modder:
To clear out the storage half, I used a large auger bit and a drill. I also occasionally soaked the asbestos to help keep it from finding its way into my lungs. I started to question whether this mod was worth lung cancer, then decided it was.
(Ed note [on Gizmodo]: we'd make a joke about death here, but were the modder to actually die of lung cancer, we'd feel like douches for the rest of our lives. So pardon our restraint.)
More pictures and full building instructions at Brett's Projects
After what seems like an age of to-ing and fro-ing between Microsoft and Yahoo it looks as though a conclusion has finally been reached regarding an acquisition.
It's the geek equivalent of the 'will they, won't they' scenario you'll read about in Heat magazine between attention-starved Hollywood celebrities and Z-list wannabes, and we're pleased to be able to finally draw a line under the whole affair.
At least this is the situation from Yahoo's point of view, Microsoft is still optimistic that an 'alternative acquisition' could still be on the cards, but Yahoo conclusively states that "Discussions with Microsoft regarding a potential transaction - whether for an acquisition of all of Yahoo or a partial acquisition - have concluded."
It's a blow for Microsoft, who has seen its own carefully developed Live Search fall at the hands of everyone's favourite engine, but in comically typical fashion it's trying to make out that it'll be us, the consumer, who'll lose out. "This partnership would ensure healthy competition in the marketplace, providing greater choice and innovation for advertisers, publishers and consumers."
As a final kick in the teeth, Yahoo recently agreed a deal with Google to use Adsense adverts on its pages in North America, which it is suggested will make it more money anyway.
Read the hype on every new web browser released or due out this year, and you'll see claims that every one of them is "faster" than all the others. You could compare super-specific tests and decipher all the code-brain terminology, and you'd still be left wondering which browser starts quicker, uses less memory, and slides through dynamic interfaces like Gmail the fastest. Since our squadron of independent analysts had the week off, we ran the latest editions of Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera 9.5, and Safari for Windows through some unscientific but highly geeky tests ourselves on a plain old Windows computer. Take a look at the full (and somewhat unexpected) results after the jump.
Remember Sony's Walkman brand? It used to be synonymous with portable music players until Apple's iPod wiped the floor with it, yet it's Sony that's come out on top of a recent survey on brand innovation.
Apple had to settle for second in the list after the Incite survey asked 500 people between the ages of 18 and 65 to name the brands they consider to be the most innovative.
Nintendo, renowned for innovation among the gaming community, ironically placed the lowest out of the three major console makers, slotting in at seventh below Microsoft at third. It seems that, despite selling a billion Wii consoles a day, Nintendo is yet to defeat Sony's brand power among the masses.
According to the concluding report (via Brand Republic), 74 percent of people like brands that are 'constantly moving forward', but 60 percent however opposed the creation of something new for the sake of it.
The top 20 brands the survey considered to be innovative are:
Sony
Apple
Microsoft
Virgin
Nokia
Dyson
Nintendo
Tesco
Sky
Panasonic
Honda
Samsung
Google
Phillips
Dell
Toyota
eBay
Amazon
BT
Toshiba
Ever since New York's attorney general specifically targeted newsgroups and usenet for child pornography (which is deplorable), there's been a backlash of ISPs dropping support for the network altogether. Crunchgear lists Time Warner, Verizon and Sprint either cutting off all support or limiting it to various non-binary categories, making people who access usenet for an easy way to download free movies pretty angry. Will ISPs dropping it mean the start of a slow death of usenet as a whole, or will third-party usenet access sites (which charge fees) keep it alive for a while yet?
Remember I wrote about the floating home solution that Dutch builders are using to counteract rising sea levels? Architect Vincent Callebaut has started with that idea, and taken it much further down the arcology-meets-ark route, and created Lilypads: floating eco-cities. Each 50,000-person pad is a designed as a zero-emission floating home that uses solar, wind, tidal and biomass power to generate energy for its inhabitants. Plus it's got a titanium dioxide skin that helps it tackle rising atmospheric CO2. It's a fantasy right now, but rising sea levels may one day tempt builders to take on mega structures like this... just keep Kevin Costner away from the project, is all I'm saying.
The majority of people find having proper adverts in games has no impact on their enjoyment, according to new research conducted by Nielsen BASES and Neilson Games.
The study, conducted on behalf of IGA Worldwide, concluded that 82 percent of its participants were not affected by advertisements.
Neilson surveyed over 1,300 PC gaming enthusiasts in their homes whilst they played a variety of titles provided by EA and Activision. They were periodically bombarded with advertisements from Taco Bell, Jeep and Wrigley.
In addition, Neilson also discovered that there was an average 61 percent increase in consumers favourable opinions of products advertised.
So we're concluding that those playing felt like driving a Jeep to Taco Bell whilst chewing Spearmint after a gaming session.
The survey was apparently the largest study done of its kind. We expect this information is starting to appear in the boardrooms of distributors as we speak.
Die Hard 4.0 director Len Wiseman is going to be at the helm of the upcoming Gears of War film.
That's according to Variety, which reports that studio New Line has been in talks with Wiseman for several months.
We're also told that The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift writer Chris Morgan has been added to the roster to help redraft the script Stuart Beattie (of Collateral and Pirates of the Caribbean fame) originally produced.
The report also confirmed that the project had been pushed back and is now expected to hit cinemas in summer 2010.
Epic boss Mark Rein doesn't seem too bothered, though, as long as the right talent is on board.
"It's like with our games, you can have it right or have it right now," Rein told Variety.
"We want to get it right. There's no timetable for us. We just want to make as good a movie as we can, and we think [Wiseman's] the guy who will do it."
We caught up with Mark Rein earlier this year to talk about the film, among other things, and he told us he wouldn't blame people for being extra sceptical about it.
But he was impressed with the early Beattie script - we hope he likes this new draft - and with Cliff Bleszinski on board to ensure nothing is lost in translation, he feels his goal of not harming the franchise will be successful.
"We came very close to saying 'not this time', but the studio gave us some really good assurances in the contractual stage that they've got some really good people together with this," Rein told Eurogamer.
"I mean, this is the studio behind Lord of the Rings - they're not afraid to spend a lot of money, and to do something good and artistic, so we just felt we stacked the deck with the people we're working with and, if there's a chance for this to be a good movie, we're dealing with the guys who can do it."
Meanwhile, Epic will be concentrating all of its efforts on Gears of War 2, which is scheduled to arrive this November.
I realise that it sounds abhorrent but UK phone users could soon be facing the prospect of being charged for receiving calls, never mind making them.
Telecom industry insiders claim that mobile telecoms companies may do just that as a backlash against the European Union's plans to force them to reduce their charges for receiving calls from rivals networks. Also, in a couple of weeks, EU Telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding, who has already forced telcos to cap roaming charges, plans to tackle them on roaming data and text charges.
You might think it's a bizarre concept but being charged to receive calls is already the norm for phone users in the US and some Asian countries.
In the US, all those free minutes you get are eaten up not just by the calls you make but by those you receive too.
While it's somewhat unnerving to think that the mobile operators might try and pull this stunt, it's downright terrifying when you hear that Reding says she'll probably let them. Speaking to the FT, about them charging folk to receive calls, she said:
'Why not? The whole market is developing, so we should not stay on the rules that have been in place 10 years . . . I think the business models are not for the European commissioner to decide. Business models are for the operators to decide."
Following the very public resignation of Tomonobu Itagaki two weeks ago, Tecmo has appealed to the Tokyo District Court seeking to restrict Itagaki from making further public remarks about ... any and every -thing that begins was a capital "T" ands ends with an "ecmo." The company filed with the court last Tuesday, June 10, but has yet to receive a verdict, Famitsu reports. The gag order seeks to prohibit Itagaki from:
Disclosing, destroying or leaking Tecmo's trade secrets, especially those concerning software, development and marketing
Making false or misleading statements about Tecmo's business policies and strategies, or criticizing games developed by other Tecmo employees
Making defamatory remarks to damage Tecmo's reputation
Making public statements about Tecmo, or accepting media invitations (e.g., interviews) to discuss Tecmo while still employed (until July 1) by the company
No word yet on whether or not Tecmo has ordered up an additional 300 gags. But buying in bulk certainly saves time and money.
We'll admit, we reckoned we were coming along alright with our bar chords, but now we're teetering on the edge of just giving up. Yeah, we've seen robotic mechanisms programmed to make meaningful sounds before, but The Trons are a bona fide band, man. We hear they're going on tour as well -- talk about a guaranteed sell out. Totally killer Sister Robot video after the jump.
Judging by the numbers, a good amount of you downloaded Firefox 3 during World Download Day on Tuesday. Curious as to how the HTML rendering engine in Firefox looks rendering your websites? Yeah, you probably weren't, but now that there are these neat videos of how it works, maybe you are? Above is a visualization of Gecko processing a Wikipedia page. After the jump, Mozilla.org. Science!
Hi all just got back off my 2 and a half week holiday, looks like the site has had a lot of issues in my absence and still some that are encountering now (ie not counting members for some reason)
Hopefully i can get things fixed as soon as possible, im jetlagged to hell, ive actually been awake 30 hours and no matter how hard i try i cant fall to sleep i dont fly easy but somehow i managed to get a cold in 90degree temperatures ?? and ive got a ruddy sore throat, but anyway whilst im half awake ill get caught up with all the missed homebrew news over the last 2 weeks
London Mayor Boris Johnson mixed a bunch of elements into one great stew of silly for thelondonpaper. MCV reports the eccentric mayor, writing about the "London knife crisis," states he wants to show young people that "knives are not cool." He wants to do that by counteracting the damaging influences of drug-addicted celebrities, "violent video games" and the lure of gang life. Did he just lump violent video games in with narcotics and organized crime?
Last year Johnson wrote in a piece that "computer games rot the brain" and that readers should "garrotte the Game Boy and paralyse the PlayStation." Meanwhile, the British games industry reports a shortage of young skilled labor.
Mozilla set out to have the world download 5 million copies of its Firefox 3 browser in 24 hours when it launched on Tuesday, in order to create a new Guinness World Record.
While the Guinness experts are still counting - Mozilla is claiming 8.3 million in 24 hours - that record is probably theirs but downloads are still zooming, now topping 11.5 million.
After a slow start on Tuesday, UK surfers bounced back against their European rivals with downloads now standing at more than 420,000, against France's 385,000, Spain's 392,000 and Italy's 325,000. The Germans are running away with the European Firefox Fan Trophy though with more than 960,000 downloads.
Overall, the US is the biggest downloader, with 3.4 million.
There have been some reports of crashing with Firefox 3.0, and issues with rollbacks, but we want to know how you're getting on. Is Firefox 3.0 the dog's bollocks or just bollocks?
hi all im still very jetlagged with no sleep for nearly 40 hours now but im just about spent, ive managed to get the PSP, PS2, AHE, Apple Iphone/iPod, GBA, Dreamcast, Xbox360, Gp2x and GP32 sites up to date with homebrew releases, Tommorrow ill get the remaining sites back up to scratch ie the DS, Wii and Gamecube, Other sites have no releases in my time away so no worries there.
As always if we are missing any homebrew/emulation releases then please post in our submit news forum, it really does help and with over 50 releases to post tommorrow ill need it
back when i wake up to continue the onslaught, ( i do wish i had internet on holiday)
as for the forum errors saying we have only a few members online i am waiting for martin to fix that, problems problems problems
Hey all finally i got to sleep after over 40 hours of non sleep through travelling/jetlag and slept for 12 hours :P
We are now up to date on all but Wii and Gamecube which ill be starting in the next few minutes.
the amount of homebrew releases in the 2 weeks i was away is nothing short of staggering, ive made at least a 100 newsposts since my return yesterday and will catch up on wii and gamecube and then do a full news sweep to make sure we are back to normal and back on top as you would expect from us. Thankfully im not on holiday for a long time now so no more gaps of irregluler homebrew newspostings.
anyway back to work
and finally this reminder
the forum errors saying we have only a few members online is a load of rubbish, i am waiting for martin to fix that, problems problems problems
Just when you think you've given your dog everything it could ever want (gold plated water dish, rhinestone collar, a copy of Tegan and Sara's "The Con" on vinyl) the Japanese go and one up you. A Tokyo-based content provider named Dwango announced today that it would start selling specialized ringtones which can be heard only by dogs. The service, called Inu ni shika kikoenai chakushinon (ringtones only dogs can hear) will make free downloads available to current DoCoMo i-mode subscribers. No word on whether the company will provide Bluetooth headsets and holsters suited to our canine friends, but we understand plans are in the works for a line of bacon-themed wallpapers
Next time you're camping, instead of digging a hole or using one of those suspect comfort castle port-a-johns to dispense with No. 2, why not infuse a little portability into nature's call with the Shit Box? It's completely cardboard, fully biodegradable, and utterly ridiculous. And yet, I'm drawn to it. I want to see if it can hold my weight (170 lbs., colon empty). I want to know why designer Richard Wharton named his talking poo mascot "Little Jack," and how the hell a company like this gets away with a returns policy page. But most of all, as a writer named Jack who also happens to go to the bathroom in the woods, I want to test one.
Finally after a bloody lot of newsposting and site searching we are back up to date (i do have the sites to update but later this week), all homebrew is now on across the network and what a lot of news and releases the last few weeks.
Time for me to do some work in my house for a few hours now :P
and yes we still have problems with the forums/stats not counting properly. Hopefully Martin will be around soon
SK Telecom Co., South Korea's leading mobile company, said Monday it has secured rights to publish two online games produced by Sega Corp. in an effort to expand its business into the rising gaming industry.
The South Korean company said it has recently agreed with Sega Publishing Korea, the local unit of the Japanese game maker, to release "Sangokushi Taisen Online" and "Let's Make a Pro Baseball Team Online."
SK Telecom said the company is in the process of localizing the games and plans to begin service near the end of the year after creating a new game portal to be run by its gaming subsidiary.
The company said it is continuing discussions with Sega to secure rights for additional games, such as "Splash Golf" and "Let's Make a Pro Football Team Online."
SK Telecom also signed a deal to purchase a 30-percent stake in a Chinese online game company in May as it seeks to find new revenue sources amid the saturation of the local mobile market, the company added.
So, we hear that Planet Earth is home to four billion phone lines. Now it can claim to house over one billion installed PCs -- what do those neighboring planets have on that, huh? According to research firm Gartner, the number of "installed PCs worldwide has surpassed 1 billion units," and it estimates that said figure is growing at around 12-percent annually. Should this trend continue, we'll be reporting on 2 billion sometime during 2014.
It should be noted that this figure accounts for computers in use rather than units shipped, and while the current ratio remains slanted towards mature markets, Gartner expects emerging markets to (expectedly) account for a larger share as we climb to 2 billion. Unsurprisingly, the firm also suggests that around 180 million PCs will be replaced this year, with around 35 million of those hitting landfills "with little or no regard for their toxic content." Kind of puts a damper on things, wouldn't you say?
High Street retailer GAME has told GamesIndustry.biz that it is "very disappointed" that one of its stores has sold an 18-rated game to a minor.
Consumer group Which? sent teenagers to a number of retailers to test age restrictions in the UK, and found that three chains – GAME, entertainment retailer Woolworths and electronics store Maplin – all sold 18-rated games to youngsters.
"We are very disappointed that this incident occurred," said GAME. "A full investigation has been conducted, and we have taken appropriate action to ensure that it does not happen again."
The High Street retailer – the dominant games specialist in the UK – said that it takes its legal obligations seriously, and that its in-store staff receive extensive training to ensure age-ratings are adhered to.
"GAME is a responsible retailer and takes its legal obligations exceptionally seriously.
"At GAME we want to sell the right games to the right customers. To ensure that this happens our store teams receive extensive and regular training about their responsibilities and our procedures to uphold the law, but this is only one element of our comprehensive systems," added the retailer.
Under the video recordings act, the maximum penalty for selling a mature-rated game to a minor is a GBP 5000 fine and/or six months in jail.
Sarah Kidner, editor of Which? Computing said: "It's shocking and surprising that 18-rated games have been sold to a child as young as 15 by household names."
GamesIndustry.biz has contacted Woolworths and Maplin for comment.
Greenpeace has released another of their "green"-rankings of leading electronics, video game, PC, phones, etc manufacturers.
Seems like none of our favourite brands are very green with Sony and Sony Ericsson in the lead, scoring barely 5 points with 10 being the best score. At least they're miles ahead of Nintendo who doesn't even score 1 whole point.
You know that feeling that nags at the back of your skull, reminding you that you've forgotten something, but stopping just short of recalling what exactly that something is. Well, we've been struggling with that for a few days, and let me tell you, it's been enough to drive us crazy. It turns out, however, that what we overlooked was none other than Sega's 'tude-fueled azure marsupial's 17th birthday.
Sonic first sped into North America households on June 23, 1991 in Sonic the Hedgehog for the Genesis as Sega's answer to a certain Mushroom-hungry plumber, and has since been featured in numerous games, toys, and breakfast cereals. Happy belated birthday sonic. We hope you didn't forget to blow out your candles and make a wish. We suggest something simple, like a game that doesn't continue to dilute your good name. That, or you know, a pony.
Leipziger Messe, the organiser of the Games Convention, has confirmed that the event is still planned for 2009, despite the German publisher association BIU announcing a rival event in Cologne.
In a recent press release announcing an increased international presence for the event this year Wolfgang Marzin, CEO at the Leiziger Messe, responded to media speculation and confirmed earlier reports that the event was scheduled to return next year.
"The GC - Games Convention is not moving," stated Marzin.
Look no further for the follow-up to last year's multi-region Blu-ray players, with Bluraymods.com advertising a completely region free Panasonic DMP-BD30, available in either pre-modified or DIY kit formats. That's all 6 DVD regions and three Blu-ray regions for those keeping count, and it claims to still work with any firmware updates. The good news for import lovers is a price of €499, considerably less than previous hardware, or €69 for a mod kit. We're still not sure how well this will play with future DRM updates, but taking the leap appears to be getting cheaper and more convenient.
It seems as though the music industry is finally starting to fold to consumer demand in the digital downloads arena.
Recently we reported that 80% of people would be happy to pay for a legitimate P2P service and following long overdue talks between ISPs and music suppliers, this could well be possible in the UK before the end of the year.
South Korea has already adopted a similar approach and the UK is next in line as music businesses look to address falling sales with a licensed file-sharing service.
The major details are yet to be ironed out, but any such scheme would allow future services to allow and encourage the exchange of music between subscribers, which involves copyright holders suspending the exclusive right to copy recordings.
A license fee will obviously need to be hammered out to make this feasible, but if all parties can agree then it could offer advantages all round.
ISPs will be able to focus on above-ground services and should see a reduction in bandwidth-hungry protocols like Bittorrent, so networks should become faster an cheaper to operate.
The phrase 'it's about bloody time' has never been more apt, so here's hoping a mutually acceptable model is decided upon so we can all enjoy our tunes in peace.
Of all the ware Microsoft churns out from its sweatshop of "lightning bolt, lightning bolt" nerds, Windows is the one most inexorably tied to the public image of the company. As Bill Gates leaves the building, we look back on the last baby birthed—if not fully gestated—under his watch, the swan song operating system that he himself has issues with. Although we agree that Vista could have used a bit more time shoved back into the silicon womb for some feature buffing and bug fixing, it's not nearly as bad as most people are making it out to be. That's right, I'm actually happy with Windows Vista, which I use about one-third of the time I spend at a computer.
This may be counterintuitive, seeing as our guy who defended Windows doesn't even like Vista, but I've used Mac OS X and Vista side by side and simultaneously for over a year (and before that, Mac and XP) thanks to the dual-computer-controlling app Synergy. Here's why Vista's not that bad:
1. It's more secure than Windows XP. After being implicitly responsible for botnets and security breaches through the incredible popularity of their Windows XP, Microsoft went back and made sure Vista is more secure than its predecessor. And it is. According to security firm PC Tools, Vista had 639 unique threats over a six-month period, whereas XP had 1021. This came from much internal restructuring under the hood, but there's a chance that it might be due to Vista being a smaller target than XP for malware as well.
2. It's the best looking Windows yet. Despite any complaints users may have about Aero hogging up too many CPU cycles or requiring a video card from this millennium to use, it's still the best looking Windows yet. I mean really, do you remember what XP looked like out of the box? With that gigantic balloon of a task bar and the green Start button. Vista's glass definitely trumps that. And then there's the underlying graphical framework changes which allow new features like live thumbnails. All these visual effects may require more power, but you can't deny that it's pleasing to look at.
If you want to disable Aero for certain applications for performance or compatibility reasons, see here.
3. Games work just about as well as under XP. There's a slight performance degradation under Vista when compared to Windows XP using the exact same hardware. Is it noticeable? Probably, but it's somewhere around the level of 10%. There's also the consideration of DirectX 10 and the visual improvements you'll get in the future when more developers really take advantage of it. With a slightly better video card, you won't even really notice that you're going at 90FPS versus 100FPS.
4. Vista Media Center is a fantastic DVR. Microsoft integrates their fantastic Windows Media Center Edition into Home Premium and Ultimate, and its pretty much the best DVR you can get outside of getting a TiVo. Combine it with various Media Center Extenders, of which there are lots (such as the Xbox 360), you can get HDTV streamed to anywhere in your house from one computer in your office. Our only complaint is still that Cable Labs doesn't allow you to stick a CableCARD tuner onto just any appropriately spec'd Vista PC—you actually have to buy a machine pre-made for CableCARD.
5. The sleep mode works. Sleep mode in Windows XP was essentially a shortcut for locking up your computer and forcing you to reboot. It actually does what it's supposed to in Vista.
6. Built-in search is better and more useful. Vista's searching feature relies on cataloging your hard drive, then searching the resulting database to quickly (and easily) find your files. By default it's just limited to a couple user folders, but if you expand it to your entire hard drive, you'll be able to find anything fast, much like the way Spotlight works on a Mac. The downside is that during the first day or two, everything slows down while Vista indexes your computer. Best to leave it on overnight or over a weekend while you're away.
7. User Account Control is useful for some people. I have to admit that I've turned this off but UAC—the thing that pops up and asks you for your password whenever you do something on the system level—is useful in theory for many people, especially those who share a family computer. Hide the administrator password from your parents/grandparents/kids so they won't be able to install any weird apps they're not supposed to. In practice, it's a bit annoying in that it pops up for mundane things that shouldn't really need system-level clearance. It's a step in the right direction; however, if you want to disable UAC for certain programs, see here.
8. Drivers support isn't as bad as it's made out to be. Although "Man gets Windows Vista to work with printer" may be an actual non-Onion headline, the root cause of his original woes was that the man installed a Windows XP printer driver instead of the correct Vista one. But there is a smaller percentage of users who—no matter how old or new their peripheral is—can't get it to work with Windows Vista. The blame for this lies on peripheral manufacturers who either can't or won't update their drivers to support the new OS. There's not much you or Microsoft can do here, but it's rarer than you'd think from reading the internet.
9. It's not any buggier than Windows XP. This is a bit of a corollary to #1, but out of the many, many Vista users we've seen, they almost all agree that the only times Vista has crashed or blue-screened on them was when they were doing something they usually don't do. The OS by itself rarely crashes in everyday use, and compared to even OS X Leopard, it's pretty damn sturdy. In a year's worth of daily use, we think the OS has probably only crashed once, if that.
10. Vista is not slow if you have enough RAM. One of the main complaints that users have is that Vista is slow, but they either upgraded Vista from an old machine or they purchased a "Vista Ready" system with only 512MB to 1GB worth of RAM. You can run Vista with 1GB of RAM, but like OS X, you really want to have at least 2GB. Modern operating systems get fatter because they DO more stuff for you under the hood, such as optimizing your memory for the applications you run often so they load faster.
We're not saying that Vista doesn't have its faults or that Windows 7 won't be better, we're saying that Vista is just not as bad as people are making it out to be. If you're on XP and you're afraid to upgrade, don't be. It's no worse than Windows XP if you pay attention to the stuff I mentioned above. As long as you've got a reasonably decent machine—and if you're reading Giz it's likely that you do—you're pretty safe in upgrading.
That said, we do have some major complaints:
1. Things aren't where they used to be. Holy sh*t. This one is the worst. Various settings are hidden under levels of menus, and for some inexplicable reason, Add/Remove Programs is no longer Add/Remove programs. What's the point of this? So people can use the hundreds of wizards more?
2. File transfers are slower than on XP, which is slightly fixed with Service Pack 1, but still has problems. Here's the reason why. And if you've got problems with slow browsing, see here.
3. Wireless networking is a pain. Windows has never been great at presenting wireless networking with an intuitive UI, and Vista might be even worse than XP in this department. Stuff's buried behind various weirdly-named menus, which you have to (at least the first few times) guess at to see.
4. Lots of balloon notifications pop up on the taskbar. Here's how to shut them off.
5. Folder view in Windows Explorer doesn't remember your settings. Here's another huge pain users have run into when browsing a folder and all of a sudden having Explorer think that these are photos because there's just one photo in the directory. Here's how to turn that off.
Bonus Vista Tip: How to recover files from Vista's built-in shadow copy here.
Out of the millions eligible, less than 3,000 have come forward to collect their money in the 'Hot Coffee' settlement. While the plaintiffs' lawyer is surprised by the development, Theodore Frank of the Legal Center for the Public Interest at the American Enterprise Institute seems convinced that the lawsuit was 'meritless' and will result in no payment for the legal counsel opposing Take-Two
Children are becoming increasingly worried about their parents' Internet habits, according to a report just released in Sweden. Unsurprisingly, dads surfing for pornography is the most common problem, but chatroom addiction also featured in the report — as is a mother who has become obsessed with World of Warcraft. 'This summer she has been sitting up all day and all night and she forgets what's important to me,' wrote the woman's 13-year-old daughter. 'And when she's not at the computer she's like a lost soul. She just looks straight ahead and says nothing.'"
There are also a lot of scammers out there who like nothing better than to find retirees who they can sucker into get-rich-quick schemes involving real-estate, stock options, and convincing the neighbors to be part of a "downstream" for MLM marketing ploys
A 21-year-old student from the UK has designed a cardboard bicycle that he has dubbed "the ultimate green machine." Supporting anyone up to 168 pounds, the frame, which costs around $6 to make, is made from the cardboard used in industrial packaging, whilst the wheels and chain are standard bike issue, and will cost around $24.
While Audi is over there planning to produce an electric car within the next decade, Mercedes-Benz is hoping to be completely petro free within seven years. At least that's the word according to a recent report in The Sun. Dr. Herbert Kohler, who is responsible for Mercedes' advanced engineering, has reportedly suggested that "by 2015 motorists will have switched almost completely to alternative fuel cars." In order to make sure it's not left out, the automaker already has an electric car in the works for 2010 as well as plans to use its DiesOtto engine which will give motorists the ability to use biofuels should they choose. Still, aiming to phase petroleum completely out of its lineup by 2015 sounds overly ambitious from here, but we certainly won't complain if it achieves said goal.
i dont fly easy but somehow i managed to get a cold in 90degree temperatures ?? and ive got a ruddy sore throat, but anyway whilst im half awake ill get caught up with all the missed homebrew news over the last 2 weeks 
