Linux News: Technology

Sony Pulls Update Following PS3 Firmware Fiasco

Thursday - July 3, 2008

Sony's 2.40 firmware update for the PlayStation 3 video game console ran into problems less than an hour after the company made it available for download Wednesday. Owners began reporting problems as a result of the download on the PS3 Forum, leading Sony to pull the update from availability. "A limited number of PS3 users have reported that the XMB is not displayed after updating to the PS3 system software ver. 2.40. We have temporarily taken the 2.40 update offline and are currently conducting tests to determine the cause of this problem," said Al de Leon, a Sony spokesperson. [More...]

Pew Study Shows Sizable Chunk of US Still Not Online

Thursday - July 3, 2008

A new study shows the majority of Americans still on dial-up Internet access are keeping the slow connection by choice. The Pew Internet and American Life Project's "Home Broadband Adoption 2008" report finds only 55 percent of Americans are now using high-speed broadband connections -- up 8 percent from this time last year. [More...]

NASA Probe: Our Solar System Is Smooshed

Thursday - July 3, 2008

When viewed from the rest of the galaxy, the edge of our solar system appears slightly dented as if a giant hand is pushing one edge of it inward, far-traveling NASA probes reveal. Information from Earth's first space probes to hit the thick edge of the solar system paint a picture that is not the simple circle that astronomers long thought, according to several studies published Thursday in the journal Nature. [More...]

Network Simulation and Emulation: Try It Before You Deploy It

Thursday - July 3, 2008

Best-in-Class organizations are three times more likely to leverage solutions for network simulation and emulation than Laggards, according to a February report by Aberdeen. Deployment of these solutions resulted in Best-in-Class companies being twice as likely to report improvements in their ability to accurately estimate the impact of new technology rollouts on network performance. [More...]

Microsoft to Release Office as a Service in Mid-July

Wednesday - July 2, 2008

Microsoft on Wednesday took the wrapper off its new subscription service, formerly code-named "Albany." The company had previously been operating a beta version of the service. The service, Microsoft Equipt, combines applications from the software maker's Office productivity suite and its Live OneCare, an all-in-one security and PC management service, as well as several applications from Windows Live. [More...]

Motion-Based Gaming on Phones: The Ticket to Public Humiliation

Wednesday - July 2, 2008

I am an unrepentant gaming enthusiast, and there are lengths I will go for my hobby that might puzzle normal people with normal lives. I'll stand in the rain for a Nintendo Wii on launch day; I'll surf the Web at all hours for the latest gaming reviews or demos; I'll scream creative obscenities at hordes of Covenant aliens and grotesque Flood monsters who keep me from advancing to the next level of "Halo 3." [More...]

How Nokia's Symbian Move Helps Google

Wednesday - July 2, 2008

Nokia rocked the wireless industry June 24 with news it would purchase the portion of Symbian, a maker of mobile-phone software, that it didn't already own -- and then give away the software for nothing. The prospect of free software would surely lure users away from competing cell phone software makers including Google. [More...]

Law to Fine Kid Buyers of 'Mature' Games Costs Minnesota

Tuesday - July 1, 2008

Following its failed effort to curb youngsters' access to video games with "Mature" or "Adults Only" ratings by fining kids for obtaining them, the state of Minnesota on Monday was the one paying. The state paid the Entertainment Software Association $65,000, reimbursing the organization for attorney fees and expenses that resulted from the group's successful challenge to Minnesota's video game law. [More...]

Pentagon Builds Collection of Sky Spies

Tuesday - July 1, 2008

The Pentagon will buy and operate one or two commercial imagery satellites and plans to design and build another with more sophisticated spying capabilities, according to government and private industry officials. The satellites could spy on enemy troop movements, spot construction at suspected nuclear sites and alert commanders to new militant training camps. [More...]

Virtual Worlds: And the Children Shall Lead

Tuesday - July 1, 2008

Virtual worlds, despite all the press attention of late, are still in the early stages of development. Virtual worlds came into existence several years before YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, but their adoption rates pale in comparison to these services. Only 7 percent of Internet gamers ages 13 and older visit a virtual world on a weekly basis, according to a recent Parks Associates survey. [More...]

Google Media Server: A Giant Toe in the Door?

Tuesday - July 1, 2008

It already dominates the Internet -- why not the TV? Probably Google wasn't thinking exactly in those terms when it conceived the idea for Google Media Server, its latest addition to a ballooning product line. But planting a foothold in a medium in which it so far only dabbles is clearly the driver behind this release. [More...]

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