Technology Blog

posted by on Jan 3

Eager to use your mouse / keyboard combo on your Xbox 360? Eager enough to drop $179.95 for the privilege? If so, then you should probably know that XIM’s ready and willing to oblige. The XIM 2 module, which is supposedly plug ‘n play in nature, is at long last available for ordering, though it’s not quite ready for shipment. Seriously though, for this price you may be better off investing in a few controller mastering lessons and using the remainder on Bawls and Cheetos.

[Thanks, K.Green]

XIM 2 Xbox 360 mod ready for pre-order, you aren’t ready to pony up originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Jan 2009 13:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

posted by on Jan 3

Well, here’s an interesting twist to this story. That mysterious and completely enraging “Zune bug” that cropped up on the final day of 2008 may not have been restricted to Microsoft PMPs. A much smaller cadre of Toshiba Gigabeat users reportedly experienced similar issues, and some even noted that the whole “discharge and re-date” rigmarole fixed their unit right up as well. Upon further investigation, it seems that the issue may actually reside in the Freescale MC13783 processor, which — coincidentally enough — is used in the Zune 30 and a few of Toshiba’s alternatives. We suppose it’s a little late to ask, but did any non-Zune owners experience similar issues just prior to the dawn of ‘09? Or were you too busy, um, partying like it was 1999?

[Thanks nywytboy68]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Y2K8 Zune quirk really a Freescale bug? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Jan 2009 02:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

posted by on Jan 2

Sorry folks — we know that you were looking forward to a future of “pay to play” computing, but it seems that Microsoft’s application has been soundly dissed by the patent office. Reasons for the decision include the company’s “occasional use of fuzzy terminology” and the fact that much of this stuff has already been patented. Of course, the decision can be appealed — but for the time being, if you still want to pay monthly for a computer AT&T has a netbook for you.

[Via Electronista]

Filed under: Desktops

Microsoft pay-as-you-go patent application rejected originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

posted by on Jan 2

The year 2008 have been of many ups and downs in the technology industry with companies like Apple, Google making some great impressions in the industry. It was a year of credit crunch largely felt on world’s biggest developed economies which include US and UK. Even then there were some great tech releases from one of the very well known companies around the world which are further discussed below.

More:
Top Tech Reviews of 2008

posted by on Jan 2

Most of the professionals in the Software Testing & Quality Assurance world must be aware of IBM’s Rational Functional Tester, popular by its nick name - RFT. IBM’s Rational Functional Tester is most powerful next generation functional-testing and automation tool from Rational and is based upon object-oriented technology. Due to its extreme simplicity & robustness, It is in great demand all across the industry involved in Application Development & Testing.

Rational Functional Tester Interview Questions - Popular in MNC’s

posted by on Jan 1

AP - This is not just a place people are born and live. Las Vegas is an enterprise.

Read more:
Slump means identity crisis for Las Vegas
(AP)

posted by on Jan 1

CNET - Mark January 15 in your calendar: Rumors of layoffs at Microsoft peg that as the day the bad news will come.

Read the rest here:
Microsoft planning big layoffs for January?
(CNET)

posted by on Jan 1

Reuters - A malfunction of some Microsoft Corp Zune music players was caused by an error in the way the device accounts for leap years, Microsoft said.

View post:
Microsoft blames leap year for Zune glitch
(Reuters)

posted by on Jan 1

Well, that was a wild way to end 2008, but Zune 30 users should be back in the saddle now that 2009 is here, as of about 7 am EST. In case you missed Microsoft’s sage advice on the issue, you’ll need to let the player completely drain its battery, then plug it back into a power source and all should be right as rain. Hopefully you didn’t do anything drastic like removing the battery (voids the warranty) or use up all 10 of your free Zune Pass songs during those dark, dark hours of Zunelessness.

[Via Zunerama]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Welcome (back) to the Social originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jan 2009 09:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

posted by on Jan 1

This year we’ve seen the PS3’s Cell processor pitch in and help break the petaflop barrier, exploit a major security hole in SSL encryption and enable adolescent hijinks on PlayStation Home. Obviously, this is one serious piece of kit. According to The Race For A New Game Machine, written by two of the folks responsible for designing the thing, the Cell (a partnership between Toshiba, Sony and IBM) was the product of a deal that opened the door to IBM selling key parts of the chip to Microsoft before they had even finished building it — even though this was clearly not part of the plan. Essentially, Sony’s R&D money was spent creating a component for their rival, helping the Xbox 360 make its launch date of November 2005, while the PlayStation 3 was pushed back a full year. It seems somewhat fitting that the troubled game system should have such dysfunctional origins, no?

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Filed under: Gaming

Book details how Sony paid for Xbox 360 dev, let Microsoft borrow its car, acted like a doormat originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jan 2009 09:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

posted by on Jan 1

AFP - A Chinese court has issued tough sentences to members of a huge software counterfeiting ring, which distributed more than two billion dollars’ worth of fake Microsoft goods, the company said.

View original here:
Tough sentences in China over huge piracy ring, Microsoft says
(AFP)

posted by on Jan 1

A new report from Fudzilla claims that Microsoft is getting ready to lay off 15,000 employees, or about 17% of its worldwide staff. The axe will apparently fall on January 15th, exactly one week before its second quarter earnings report, and they expect MSN division to be hit hardest, while the successful Xbox crew will probably make it out relatively unscathed. Meanwhile, an anonymous blogger who goes by the name Mini-Microsoft and claims to be an employee well-versed in the goings-on inside the company has been fielding questions from other purported Microsoft workers on recent cutback concerns. This past Monday he posted a handful of anonymous comments saying that the rumored layoffs aren’t happening — at least not in January — although a re-organization might be in the cards. Both reports should be taken with a grain of salt, but one thing’s for certain — Windows 7 is gonna rule.

[Via Joystiq]

Read - Fudzilla report
Read - Mini-Microsoft

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Microsoft preparing for new layoffs? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

posted by on Jan 1

CNET - Facebook has sprouted pages that pay tribute to notorious mafia bosses, and relatives of mafia victims are none too happy about that fact, according to the U.K. publication Times Online.

Source:
Facebook godfather groups spark mafia victims’ ire
(CNET)

posted by on Dec 31

For all of you Zune 30 owners who woke up this morning to find your PMP frozen in despair at the thought of spending another year alone, Microsoft has finally acknowledged their boo-boo and explains it thusly: There is a bug in the internal clock driver causing the device to choke on the last day of a leap year. Rest assured, however — although they may not be releasing an update for the device any time soon, the issue should resolve itself whenever January 1, 2009 rolls around. So have a safe and happy New Year, and let’s hope they do something about this by 2012.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Zune 30GB brickification acknowledged, Microsoft says to wait it out originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

posted by on Dec 31

AP - Happy New Year from Microsoft Corp.: Your Zune is dead.

See original here:
Microsoft’s Zune players freeze on New Year’s Eve
(AP)

posted by on Dec 30

NewsFactor - The small image of a padlock in the corner of your browser may not accurately indicate that a Web-site connection is secure, according to new research. A team of U.S. and European researchers used a computing grid of more than 200 Sony PlayStation 3 video-game machines to create fake certificates and fool a browser into thinking it had a secure connection with a trusted site.

See original here:
Researchers Show ‘Secure’ Sites May Not Be Safe
(NewsFactor)

posted by on Dec 30

Yes, Virginia, there’s a leaked copy of Windows 7 beta floating around, and if you aren’t the type to “break the law” and check it out yourself, the folks at Tech Cast News have made for you a picture-laden walkthrough of the installation process and some of the OS’s new features, including Alt+Tab doppelganger Aero Peek, the icon-only Taskbar interface, and the Smart Folder-esque Libraries. Overall, they found the beta a major improvement over Vista and predict the final release will put Microsoft in consumers’ good graces again. Here’s hoping that apparent January beta release comes to fruition so we can sweep that other OS under the rug a little bit faster.

Update: Looks like Tech Cast News is down, standby for innovative Ballmer-based conspiracy theories.

Update 2: … and it’s back!

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Windows 7 beta tested, photo’d, deemed ‘massive improvement’ over Vista originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

posted by on Dec 29

Considering the way that the Wii flew off shelves last month, this next item probably won’t come as a shock to anyone. According to the Wall Street Journal, both Nintendo’s console and the Xbox 360 trounced the PS3 in holiday sales, with U.S. sales falling nine percent from this month last year. During this same period, sales doubled for the Wii and rose eight percent for the Xbox 360. Perhaps none of this should be a surprise, as Sony declined to cut prices on their system, while a lack of exclusive game titles and a number of inexpensive Blu-ray players went a long way towards making the PS3 the least attractive option in an already difficult retail climate. If anything, it looks like Sony won’t be able to rely on the console to help prop up a flagging electronics division that just announced it will be cutting thousands of jobs in a bid to boost profitability going into 2009. Happy New Year, indeed.

Filed under: Gaming

PS3 unable to hold its own against Wii, Xbox 360 this holiday season originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Dec 2008 17:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

posted by on Dec 29

Heavily subsidized computers are hardly a new idea, as evidenced by the number of carriers now offering “free” netbooks, but a recently revealed patent application indicates that Microsoft might be thinking about taking the idea a few steps further. Apparently, the company is at least toying around with the idea of offering a computer with “scalable performance level components” and selectable software, which sounds somewhat similar to the “managed PC” that Microsoft developed with Korea’s KT telecom a few years back. That would effectively let users only pay for the features that they used, with some added graphics performance or storage space simply a few bucks an hour away, as helpfully illustrated above. To prevent folks from “unlocking” the PC, each computer would also come equipped with a security module and metering agent that locks the PC to a particular supplier, and presumably offers up a whole host of other restrictions. Of course, this is a Microsoft patent application and, as we’ve seen, that hardly assures an actual product.

[Via Electronista]

Filed under: Desktops

Microsoft patent application hints at pay-as-you-go PCs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

posted by on Dec 29

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Windows 7 beta ISO leaked to internet, world originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read