Archive for January 25th, 2008
Filed under: Computers
One of the United States’ best-known, no-frills airlines may be getting a bit, well, frilly, as Southwest has just announced it will be testing a new broadband, satellite-delivered Internet access service to its passengers starting this summer.
Dallas, Texas-based Southwest is working with Row 44 (self-described world leader in airborne broadband communication) to equip four aircraft for trials this summer so customers can have access to e-mail, music, shopping, and virtual private networks (VPN) via a high-speed connection.
Row 44 is the same company working with Alaska Airlines to implement its in-air wireless access tests this Spring.
Virgin America is also promising in-air internet access, although the timetable for that service has not yet been set. American Airlines and JetBlue have also announced plans for in-flight Internet access, although JetBlue’s plans may be limited to a few types of devices and services. American is working with AirCell, a competitor to Row 44. No exact timetable is available for their full service roll-outs, either.
From BetaNews.
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Filed under: Audio/Video, TV, Home Audio, Home Video, CES 2008
It appears that the high-definition disc format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD is nearing the mop-up stages, as Blu-Ray sales have accounted for 93% of the market share for set-top players since the second week of January. Coming on the heels of Warner’s announcement to support Blu-ray rather than its rival, HD-DVD, these figured indicate that HD-DVD could be in its death throes. Interestingly, sales were almost evenly split during the first week of January, before the Warner announcement.
While the numbers suggest that the general public is taking the pragmatic approach in supporting the supposed victor, HD-DVD nevertheless continues to insist on business as usual. One aspect of the issue to consider is whether or not the mainstream media bears some responsibility for the skewed sales, as most media outlets reported the Warner story as the nail in HD-DVD’s coffin. Did the media “make” news which the public followed? You decide, but it may be a moot point if Blu-Ray continues to enjoy its current market share for DVD players.
From The Digital Bits Via Engadget
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Filed under: Computers
If you bought a 10.4-inch Insignia-branded photo frame with model number NS-DPF-10A from Best Buy during the holidays, then beware: The device may come with a virus that can infect Windows-based computers.
Best Buy has taken all the remaining Insignia-branded frames off its store shelves and has discontinued producing them. According to the Insignia Web site, “this is an older virus which is easily identified and removed by current anti-virus software.” The company is also providing telephone support for any consumers concerned they have one of the infected frames at 1-877-467-4289.
(Note: Insignia is a brand name created and owned by Best Buy to create several lines of consumer electronics products for distribution through its stores. This is similar to store brands of other types that consumers typically see in everything from grocery stores to auto parts dealers.)
This isn’t the first time a consumer electronics product comes installed with a little something malicious that the consumer wasn’t counting on. GPS maker TomTom found out the hard way in late 2006 that a batch of its GO 910 units were infected at the factory level with a virus. And even the beloved iPod hasn’t been immune, with an incident also in late 2006 where a collection of its 5.5-gigabyte MP3 players sprung up with a virus that was inserted at the manufacturing point. (That virus only infected Windows machines, as well.)
How does this happen? Typically, it’s not the work of some nefarious factory employee who wants to sabotage a product line. Instead, the people who work at these manufacturing points are just as susceptible as the rest of us to mistakenly downloading a virus onto their work computers. This virus then replicates itself and ultimately makes its way onto one of the computers that is tasked with setting up the consumer electronics products destined for store shelves.
Both Apple and TomTom stated at the time that they were reviewing their manufacturing processes to prevent this from happening again and issued warnings and advice to consumers, just as Best Buy and Insignia are doing now.
Best Buy has not issued a recall of the photo frames. Since the flaw is (apparently) easy to correct, we don’t think a panic is forthcoming — or necessary.
From ComputerWorld.
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Filed under: Computers
 People can get awfully paranoid when it comes to their jobs. Some people can’t help but think that everyone is out to get them, which seems to be the case for Marie Cooley of Jacksonville, Florida.
Cooley is currently in jail after confessing to deleting files worth an estimated $2.5 million at her former employer, all because she thought she was about to get fired. As it turns out, she wasn’t getting the boot, but we’re not entirely sure she’s the one with the most questionable judgment in this story.
It turns out that Cooley saw an ad in the classifieds for a job that sounded a lot like hers posted by her current employer, Steven E. Hutchins Architects, also in Jacksonville. She got angry, went in to work, and deleted all the company’s work from its servers. She cleaned out seven years’ worth of designs and drawings, designs the owner of the company estimated were worth $2.5 million. Cooley confessed to what is a second degree felony, potentially punishable by a five-year sentence.
She obviously wasn’t quite right in the head when doing this, but we’re inclined to think that the owner of the business isn’t all there either. Despite estimating the worth of the company’s files at $2.5 million, the architecture firm had no backup systems in place. That’s a recipe for disaster regardless of the sanity of your employees. Even the local Sheriff’s office knows better than that, issuing the following statement:
The lesson to be learned here is that you can’t depend on having just one set of records or files and having your employees have access to them. You’ve got to have some kind of backup.
Thankfully the files were able to be recovered, but backups of important files are not something you should take lightly. These days, backups are easy to implement, regardless of what kind of computing you do. On the Mac, OSX 10.5 Leopard includes the Time Machine functionality which, when stored on an external USB drive, makes backing up easy. On Windows you can copy your important stuff to an external drive yourself or invest in a Windows Home Server box to automatically and securely back up your stuff daily.
Oh, and that job posting that sent Cooley off? Turns out it was for another company run by the boss’s wife. Go figure.
From First Coast News
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Filed under: Computers
You know that UFO that was spotted in Texas last week? The one that was supposedly a mile long and traveling at 3,000 miles per hour while being chased by military F-16’s? Well, the military has a fairly simple explanation. It turns out it wasn’t a UFO that was being chased by F-16’s, it actually was F-16’s — ten in fact — flying in formation with lights on that may have created the illusion of a large craft.
The 301st Fighter Wing at the Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base indicated that it was indeed performing some exercises that evening and that the sightings were simply its jets. Mystery solved? For most, yes, but conspiracy theorists won’t be able to stop thinking about this one just yet. It seems that after the sightings last week, the 301st indicated that it didn’t have any jets in the area at the time. So, was this an innocent mistake, or is this some government cover-up? You decide.
From cbs11tv.com and MSNBC
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Once again, while I should be doing homework and getting ready to go out and seize the day, I am trapped on my computer trying desperately to keep the creeps off my desktop.
No, I’m not on drugs. Though this game is just as addictive as anything on the market.
Thanks, Hand Drawn Games!
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Filed under: Demos
We know only too well just how impatient you guys can be, which is why we’re letting you know that you don’t have to wait any longer. The Devil May Cry 4 demo is available right now on the Japanese PSN Store and, yes, it’s in English. The American PSN Store will be updated later today with the demo, but Europeans will have to wait until next week to get their hands on that. That is, of course, unless you go ahead and load up your Japanese or American PSN accounts and get it today.
Expect plenty more coverage of the game to come in the next couple of weeks, along with plenty of emails to SCEE asking why Europe has to wait for a demo again. In the meantime, chill out with Nero and while away the hours wielding a ridiculously large sword against impossible creatures.
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Filed under: Hardware
 Click for high-resolution image. An anonymous Best Buy employee has sent us a scan of an internal letter, which notifies employees that the 80GB system is being discontinued. “The 80GB version of the PS3 is going closeout and won’t be replaced at this time,” it reads. “It will come off the planogram on Jan. 28. The 60GB version should already be gone from stores. Only the 40GB version of PS3 will be sold in Best Buy stores at this time.”
The 40GB model currently costs $399, and is the cheapest PS3 available. However, it does have a few limitations: it lacks memory card readers, features only two USB ports, and most importantly, loses backwards compatability, as noted in the memo. “This means that there currently isn’t a version that is PS2 compatible,” it notes.
There have been very shady rumors suggesting Sony is planning on introducing a cheaper $299 version of its console (although that has been repeatedly denied by Sony). Earlier in the week, we also discovered an FCC filing for a white model PS3. Whatever’s going on, it appears that Sony’s making moves for a big change. Stay tuned.
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