Archive for October, 2005

Xbox Controllers Work on PCs

The new controllers for the Xbox 360 will work on Windows XP based computers as well. The controller, when sold by itself will include a driver for the Windows XP operating system, and the one that comes with the Xbox 360 will work with Windows XP based PCs after the driver has been downloaded. This from News.com

“Gamers can simply unplug their controller from their Xbox 360 system and plug it into their Windows XP-based PC,” Chris Donahue, director of Windows gaming at Microsoft, said in a statement. “This is a great breakthrough for the gaming industry as we make it easier for developers to create multiplatform titles.”

The controller features a new design meant to improve ergonomics. It also offers “force feedback vibration support” and a button layout.

This is a great feature, now you won’t be buying two seperate controllers, unless, ofcourse, you need different functionality, such as a joystick or steering wheel. Good move Microsoft.

The controller, which features a 9 foot cable, will sell for $39 and is already available in the US, and will be released soon in Asia and Europe.

Last month, Microsoft said the Xbox 360 would come in two flavors: a base model for $299 and a souped-up version with a 20GB hard drive and wireless controllers for $399.

The company is trying to alter a current-generation console landscape in which archrival Sony has sold 75.6 million PlayStation 2s worldwide, compared with Microsoft’s global sales of just 19.8 million Xboxes, according to IDC analyst Schelley Olhava.

180Solutions Reduces It’s Workforce by 20%

180solutions, facing a class action lawsuit, just recently laid off 20% of it’s workforce, or about 50 employess, according to an article at MediaPost. Note: Registration is required to read the article, I’ve quoted it below.

The layoffs took place across all departments, said Sean Sundwall, director of corporate communications at 180solutions.

He added that the layoffs were part of a reorganization that will better position the company to focus on three core initiatives: its search assistant, search suite, and an automated platform for publishers. “We’re confident this realignment will better position us to accomplish our long-term goal,” he said in an e-mail to OnlineMediaDaily.

180solutions isn’t the only adware company to struggle in the face of consumer backlash against pop-up ads. Rival company Direct Revenue–also facing a class-action lawsuit–recently laid off 40 staffers, or one-third of its workforce.

It’s funny how these adware companies are just now trying to clean up their acts, wonder if it has anything to do with lawsuits, consumer backlash or investigations by people like the Attorney General in New York, Spitzer.

180solutions has made efforts to buff its public image lately. Just last week, the company announced that it no longer allows third parties to distribute 180solutions software through Active X, unless 180solutions itself controls the installer. In another measure to curtail drive-by installations, the company has brought litigation against former distributors.

Can’t believe someone would try to take advantage of poor ol 180solutions that way.

180solutions also has cut off at least 500 distributors since the beginning of the year, and has implemented new procedures that make it harder to install software on consumers’ computers without first displaying the license agreement that informs them that 180solutions will serve pop-up ads.

Ya, well it’s too little too late I say. If these people had some sense and some morals whenever they started this PIECE of software, then they wouldn’t have to back peddle and explain their actions, if they hadn’t started out stealing from website operators, they might get a little co-operation from webmasters. If they had morals and sense of fair play, they wouldn’t be hounded by attorney generals, they wouldn’t be targeted by spyware removal software. No one will miss their company when it’s gone, and it will be a sorry little footnote on the big ol’ internet.

Windows Patch May Lock Users Out

A patch for Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 operating systems that is meant to fix a critical flaw, can lock users out, the windows installer service may not start, and more. Systems that have changed the default Access Control List permissions on the %windir%\registration directory may experience these and other problems.

On a computer that is running Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, or Windows Server 2003, one or more problems may occur after you install the critical update that is discussed in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS05-051. These problems include the following:
The Windows Installer service may not start.
The Windows Firewall Service may not start.
The Network Connections folder is empty.
The Windows Update Web site may incorrectly recommend that you change the Userdata persistence setting in Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Active Server Pages (ASP) pages that are running on Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) return an HTTP 500 Internal Server Error? error message.
The Microsoft COM+ EventSystem service will not start.
COM+ applications will not start.
The computers node in the Microsoft Component Services Microsoft Management Console (MMC) tree will not expand.
Authenticated users cannot log on, and a blank screen appears after the users apply the October Security Updates.

The resolution is posted on this page discribing the problem, it just invloves changing the permissions on a couple folders as it has to do with your system not being able to access the COM+ catalog files.

Via News.com.

Microsoft to Help Fight 419 Scammers

Microsoft is teaming up with the Nigerian government to help fight the 419 email scammers, with the 419 coming from the after the relevant section of the Criminal Code of Nigeria. 419 scams have been around forever it seems like, and have scammed people out of billions of dollars. From the 419 Coalition website,

The Scam operates as follows: the target receives an unsolicited fax, email, or letter often concerning Nigeria or another African nation containing either a money laundering or other illegal proposal OR you may receive a Legal and Legitimate business proposal by normal means. Common variations on the Scam include “overinvoiced” or “double invoiced” oil or other supply and service contracts where your Bad Guys want to get the overage out of Nigeria (Classic 419); crude oil and other commodity deals (a form of Goods and Services 419); a “bequest” left you in a will (Will Scam 419); “money cleaning” where your Bad Guy has a lot of currency that needs to be “chemically cleaned” before it can be used and he needs the cost of the chemicals (Black Currency 419) ; “spoof banks” where there is supposedly money in your name already on deposit; “paying” for a purchase with a check larger than the amount required and asking for change to be advanced (Cashier’s Check and Money Order 419); fake lottery 419; chat room and romance 419 (usually coupled with one of the other forms of 419); employment 419; and ordering items and commodities off “trading” and “auction” sites on the web and then cheating the seller. The variations of Advance Fee Fraud (419) are very creative and virtually endless, so do not consider the above as an all-inclusive list!

At some point, the victim is asked to pay up front an Advance Fee of some sort, be it an “Advance Fee”, “Transfer Tax”, “Performance Bond”, or to extend credit, grant COD privileges, send back “change” on an overage cashier’s check or money order, whatever. If the victim pays the Fee, there are often many “Complications” which require still more advance payments until the victim either quits, runs out of money, or both. If the victim extends credit on a given transaction etc. he may also pay such fees (“nerfund” etc.), and also stiffed for the Goods or Service with NO Effective Recourse.

We’ve all recieved them in one form or another, and even from different countries where some new enterprising individual is trying to replicate the success of the Nigerian 419 email scams. I recieve a couple a week I believe, could be more, I don’t remember if I have added any to my spam filer or not.

Microsoft will help the Nigerian government track down and prosecute the criminals involved. The EFCC has arrested more than 1,000 people, brought 300 prosecutions and seized a billion dollars in assets but this has only resulted in 17 convictions to date. From Silicon.com,

Microsoft will provide technical expertise, training and other security resources to Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is tasked with fighting cyber crime in the country.

Nigeria was initially slow to respond to the problem of 419 email scammers operating in the country who were duping innocent internet users out of thousands of pounds by promising a share of the secret multimillion pound fortune of a deposed African dictator.

Sure they were slow, this scam is ranked as the 3rd to 5th largest industry in Nigeria, and monies stolen are almost never recovered from Nigeria. It’s about time this was cleaned up, and many other scams and illegal activities on the net, but we wont get into any others here.

“Nigeria is one country where there are examples of everything that is bad when it comes to technology,” he said. “It’s a big, big problem for us. 419 scams are still the main problem but we are also witnessing other problems such as credit card fraud and lottery scams as well as the hacking and cloning of websites.”

But Ribadu said that is now changing for the better with new legislation that allows the government to prosecute anyone helping to facilitate the scammers – from cyber caf? owners to ISPs.

Neil Holloway, president of Microsoft in Europe, Middle East and Africa, said the agreement with the Nigerian government is part of Microsoft’s wider security strategy, which includes the rewards for bringing prosecutions against virus writers.

You go Microsoft, anything I can do to help, just let me know.

Toy Makers Pushing Electronics

To help increase sales, toy manufacturers are pushing electronics this year, cell phones for six year olds, projectors for 8 year olds, Disney is selling mix sticks, a $49 digital music player for children 6 and older. Hasbro is pushing a digital video camera, called the Vcam, that can take still photos and short movies for only $79 and is target for children 8 and up. This from News.com,

For decades, toy makers have designed products that allow children to mimic adult behavior, but it was, in the end, always make-believe. No matter how many electronic bells and whistles the latest toy truck had, it was still a toy. But with the latest crop of electronics for children ages 6 to 12, there is little pretending. The adult product and the child’s are often one and the same.

Bratz, a line of dolls whose curvy figures and up-to-the-minute fashions have turned it into a $2.5 billion global brand, has discovered a threat even bigger than Barbie: 12-year-old girls like Ashley Rivera.

A member of the first generation to embrace Bratz, which reached the market in 2001, she is looking past Cloe, Roxxi and Sasha this holiday season in favor of–what else?–an iPod.

But instead of giving up on the girls who turned Bratz into a blockbuster, the dolls’ manufacturer is aggressively chasing after them, not with bigger and better Bratz characters but with digital video cameras and MP3 players. “We don’t look at ourselves as a toy company,” said Isaac Larian, chief executive of MGA Entertainment, the private company that owns Bratz. “The toy market, to be frank, is just shrinking.”

Great, this is just what I need, my seven year old and my two year old yelling for cell phones just like my twelve year old. I realize things are different nowadays, but when I was growing up, Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars were the big toys, along with the Tonka trucks, toys you had to build stuff to go with, you had to use your imagination to have any fun with them. Today, the most imagination you need is where to set the Xbox or the TV, sure, you can get creative in some of these games, but how many kids really do? My kids will get some toys from Hasbro, LeapFrog and others, but none of them will be cell phones or video projectors.

“There is a whole muddling of what is means to be a child,” said Gary Cross, a professor of history at Pennsylvania State University and author of “Kids’ Stuff: Toys and the Changing World of American Childhood.” Referring to this year’s electronics, Duncan Billing, chief marketing officer at Hasbro, conceded, “It’s tough to classify them as pure toys.”

Critics of the trend say high-tech gadgets offer a limited range of activities–like taking a photo or making a phone call–and most are designed for an individual, rather than a group, reducing their value as a tool for teaching children how to share and solve problems.

“Too much technology in a toy reduces time spent developing the social, personality and character skills needed for life,” said Marianne Szymanski, creator of Toy Tips, an independent research firm based in Milwaukee.

Okay, you might be able to imagine someone talking to you on a cell phone, my two year old already does, but what else could you do with it, other than argue with your friends about who gets to play with it? If these toy companies want to make more money, I say don’t advertise as much, save money on branding, etc, the only good electronics toys for kids are the ones that help them learn or help them use their imagination.

UNICEF Bombs the Smurfs

In an effort to show people that war is hell, UNICEF has been airing a commercial on tv in Belgium that has Smurfette is left for dead. Baby Smurf is left crying and orphaned as the Smurf’s village is carpet bombed by warplanes ? a horrific scene and imagery not normally associated with the lovable blue-skinned cartoon characters.

The video is peacefully introduced by birds, butterflies and happy Smurfs playing and singing their theme song when suddenly out of the sky, bombs rain down onto their forest village, scattering Papa Smurf and the rest as their houses are set ablaze.

“We see so many images that we don’t really react anymore,” said Julie Lamoureux, account director at Publicis, an advertising agency that drew up the campaign for UNICEF Belgium. “In 35 seconds we wanted to show adults how awful war is by reaching them within their memories of childhood.”

The UNICEF campaign was launched Friday with the Smurf TV spot and will last until April.

The title on the left at the bottom says in French, “Don’t let war deystroy the world of children”.

It’s probably a good commercial for what it is doing, but, I just hope no little kids get to see it, they see enough crap on tv the way it is, we start blowing up their favorite cartoons and those people who believe this stuff causes violence, just might end up correct.

From Seattle Times.

Apple FINALLY Releases Video iPod

Apple has finally had the news conference where they annouce the new video iPod. They also announced a partnership with ABC where they will sell episodes of hit tv shows, such as Desperate Housewives or Lost, the day after they are broadcast. They will sell them in the iTunes online store for $1.99 an episode, “It’s never been done before, where you could buy hit TV shows and buy them online the day after they’re shown,” said Jobs. From Yahoo.com,

Videos will now be sold alongside songs on Apple’s iTunes Music Store.

The iTunes store will sell episodes of hit shows “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost” for $1.99 each online, making them available the day after they air on television, in a deal with ABC.

The new video iPod, available in black or white, will be able to play video and podcasts. A 30-gigabyte version will sell for $299 and a 60-gigabyte, $399. Extra features on both versions include a clock, a calendar that Jobs said never looked better, a stop watch and a screen lock.

With support for up to 150 hours of video and a 2.5-inch color display, the new iPod lets you take music videos and TV shows on the road.

Not sure if it is because they are busy, or something wrong on my end, but www.apple.com was not reachable when I typed this up. The iTunes website came up for me, but it was very slow. They are already advertising the fact that they will be selling the tv shows online, and have a nice big graphic for the new iPod on the front page. They would wait until after I bought my first iPod, dangit. Note: The apple.com site was flying by the time I finished typing this up.

From News.com,

All that speculation that Apple Computer would unveil a video iPod at a press event Wednesday was right.

The company also rolled out a new iMac and a new version of iTunes, iTunes 6, just five weeks after the debut of iTunes 5.

The iPod has “been a huge hit for us, so it’s time to replace it,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said as he showed off the new video-capable product at the San Jose, Calif, event. “Yes, it does video.”

Click here to get yours from the Apple store before they sell out.

John Thompson is no Complainer

In an article posted at news.com, John Thompson, CEO of Symantec, says we’re not going to whine about Microsoft competing with us in the security arena, and let’s face it, given Microsoft’s record with security, you can’t really blame him.

Microsoft is set to enter the security arena next year, but Symantec won’t compete by complaining to antitrust regulators or suing the software giant.

“We’re not looking to go whining to the EU or the DOJ for anything,” Symantec Chief Executive Officer John Thompson said Tuesday, referring to the European Union and the U.S. Department of Justice. Thompson was responding to questions from reporters after an event at the Commonwealth Club here.

Symantec, based in Cupertino, Calif., has responded to questions from EU competition authorities about its role in the security industry but has no intent to file a complaint about Microsoft, Thompson said.

“We’re not involved with anything with the EU,” Thompson said. “We don’t need competition in the courtrooms.” Instead, Thompson said Symantec will compete with its products, which he said are superior those Microsoft has yet to launch.

My experience with Symantec’s antivirus products has generally been good and a positive experience overall, although we did standardize on McAfee VirusScan, which I think is a better product. BUT, that does not be any stretch mean I wouldn’t dump them for a better product from Microsoft, especially if that product came already installed and ready to go. Microsoft may not do everything well, but they aren’t afraid to buy a company who does do it well and go from there. I like their anti spyware product and it’s ease of use, even though I don’t like some of the companies they mark as ignore, so there are tradeoff’s in almost every product. I’ll be cautiously pessimistic as always and try it out when they release it.

Word to your Mother

Microsoft is aiming for your sister’s, wives, and your mother’s.

When they launch the XBox 360, they want to target females, to try and take some of Sony’s lead in the gaming console market, by promoting a more family-friendly image for the new Xbox. From an article in the International Herald Tribune,

In 2001, when Microsoft introduced the first Xbox, it focused heavily on hard-core gamers, typically males age 17 to 24 , who wanted a high-end machine with more sophisticated graphics and more complex game functions. The PlayStation and the Nintendo GameCube, meanwhile, put more emphasis on reaching the mainstream market, analysts said.

This time, Microsoft is planning a wider attack. Brochures going out to major retailers like Best Buy prominently describe the 360′s ability to double as a DVD player, play music from an MP3 player through a television’s speakers and even display digital photos on a TV. Its game functions, while impressive, are now only part of the message.

The point, said Bill Nielsen, who oversees marketing for the Xbox 360, is to help a game player convince the women in the family that “this is for you, too,” The brochure even says, “Here are some things you might want to tell your wife this thing does.” Over Labor Day weekend, Microsoft and Pepsi began a radio promotion to give away 9,000 Xbox 360s by Nov. 22. Nielsen said those ads were meant not just to reach hard-core gamers, but their mothers.

From Realtechnews,

In an eye-opening study (at the time) women who raise kids were found to use Gameboys more than any other demographic including their kids. And the merging of entertainment and TV makes the female of the species worth trying to land in a serious way and not with pink Barbie and hairstyling games.

So, this makes a lot of sense, my wife has been a big gamer in the past, but she’s not dedicated, she’ll play a game that catches her fancy for awhile, we had some killer fights when Mortal Kombat first came out, and then not play them for years. Nowadays, she mainly plays some of those online games like any of the numerous bejweled clones, text twist and others. They are a huge market, all you have to do is create the right games and you could definately make some money promoting the Xbox to females.

Sony PSP Virus Discovered

This from 1up.com,

Today Symantec Security Response experts identified the first Trojan that targets Sony Playstation Portable systems, Trojan.PSPBrick, as a Category 1 threat (Category 5 being the worst). As of today, there are no confirmed infections, and we’d like to keep it that way!
The virus is designed to look like a downloadable hack that lets users run their own games on the PSP. Once installed, it deletes system files and breaks the PSP. The user must choose to download it – which means you’re safe if you don’t go around taking files from strangers.

Click here for more.

As long as you don’t download a mod and run it on your PSP, you are currently safe. Symantec says they are looking at solutions to protect your PSP in the future.

From news.com,

“The types of people who would be affected wouldn’t be everyone who has gotten the PSP,” he said. “It would be affecting the people who are trying to ‘mod,’ or update, their devices.”

The PSP went on sale in March, with most people snapping it up for its gaming or music- and movie-playing abilities, not to see if they can run Linux. Sony also added Web-surfing capabilities in August.

Still, while the numbers of people likely to be hit are low, the cost is high, Chien said.

“There’s definitely people who have run it and are something on the order of $300 poorer now,” he said. It’s also an indication, Chien said, that virus writers are looking beyond the PC.

“People are writing malicious code for all kinds of devices,” he said.