At this years Tokyo Game Show , Sony President Ken Kutaragi announced the price cut of the PS3 in Japan by 20%. The 20GB model will sell for $429 (U.S. dollars), down from the original $515. It was also announced both models will feature the high-definition HDMI connector, which was originally only slated for the higher end model. This price cut is currently for the Japanese market only, but there was wide speculation on whether this will translate into a price cut for the U.S. also. So...
Microsoft released Vista RC1 (build 5600) to users who participated in the Customer Preview Program today. If you participated in the Beta 2 release, you should have received an e-mail with information on the RC1 release. You will need to use the key given to you in Vista Beta 2 for this new release If you were not part of the Customer Preview Program before don't worry. Microsoft will be taking new participants soon, so check the CPP website for information on signing up. Vista Custom...
An EU review panel is investigating whether to bring antitrust charges for "unfair competing" against AMD. The Commission has been considering charges for months, but has been delayed because of doubts about the case. In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission has shown little interest in pursuing this case. AMD has also sued Intel in the United States, and is also pursuing cases in other countries.
Since Vista will obviously not be released for this upcoming holiday season, they have come up with a coupon plan to ease the minds of new computer buyers. Microsoft reportedly plans to offer coupons with new PC purchases valid for either a free upgrade to Vista, or a discounted upgrade. The upgrade program will begin on October 26, and will run until March 15. Only PC's cabable of running Vista will be eligible for the upgrade coupons. So if you plan on buying a new PC for the upcomin...
Halloween Skins Halloweenisapproaching and I wanted to put a list together of some great Halloweeninspired skins. Please feel free add any you think are"scary"enough. Bootskins HalloweenHades Halloween CursorXP HalloweenPumpkins MyHalloween HalloweenCursors Creepers DesktopX CreepersDesktop HalloweenLights AeroHalloween 2004 ...
Google plans to build a solar-powered electricity system at it's Silicon Valley headquarters. When finished it will be the largest U.S. corporate complex powered by solar energy. The rooftop system will reportedly supply 1.6 megawatts of electricity to nearly a third of it's 1 million square foot complex. Read more at the article below.
A couple of months ago I posted a story about a researcher at the "Black Hat" convention who showed how to bypass some security measures in the upcoming Windows Vista. Joanna Rutkowska, a Polish researcher, tried her exploit on the recently released Vista RC2 and discovered it no longer worked. However, she apparantly feels there could be some problems with Microsoft's "fix". Rutkowska said on her blog, "This is good news, but it might hold some problems. Microsoft appears to have thwa...
Microsoft plans to roll out its "Office Live" service in mid-November. Office Live, which doesn't include any online Office programs, is a set of online business services such as e-mail and web hosting. Over 100,000 people have enrolled in the beta which was unveiled earlier this year. Office Live Basics (free) will include 500MB's of storage, and 25 e-mails accounts with 2GB of storage available. There are also several other paid plans which include extra services such as a business conta...
Today, Microsoftreleased Windows Media Player 11. This final release includesupdates and fixes to the previous public betas in which many havepreviously downloaded. Microsoft has addedcompatibility with the Microsoft Zune, and more musicplayers. They have also updated content and integration tothe URGE online store.
Recently there has been much fuss over the reported licensing terms for Windows Vista. The previous license terms were very restrictive on retail users who wanted to upgrade or transfer Vista to another machine. Well today Microsoft changed the license to let users transfer Vista to another computer. A breakdown of the licensing changes can be found at the article below.
We are in the final stretch of the GUI Champs, and what a great competition it has been so far. We saw some great entries this time around, and the judges have made their decisions in the Best Overall Wallpaper and Best Overall Icon Package. These winners were selected from the finalists as picked by user voting a few weeks back. These represent some of the best wallpapers and icon packs in this year's competition. Best Overall Wallpaper Winners Best Overall Icon...
In this years GUI Championship competition, over $12,000 in cash, software, site subscriptions, and prizes were up for grabs. We saw some fantastic submissions from around the world in the Icon Package, Wallpapers, and Visual Style categories. We have already given away two video cards from EVGA and NVIDIA, a few Xbox 360's, cash, and a bunch of software. Now it's time to announce the Best Overall Skinner of the 2006 GUI Championships. The prize for this winn...
The winners of the final event of the GUI Championships have been announced. The finalists in the Overall Best Visual Style category were all great submissions, and I'm sure it was a tough decision for the judges. The prizes for the Best Overall Visual Style competition includes an Xbox 360, over $375 in cash, and software bundles. Congratulations goes to JJ Ying taking the gold for his Azenis 2 Visual Style. He will be taking home an Xbox 360 for his efforts. ...
Skinbase.org is having a Christmas Holiday Competition which is being sponsored by Stardock. The contest will run from November 27th through December 23rd. Some of the prizes include a subscription to Object Desktop , a copy of Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords , and more! More information about the contest and prizes can be found at the competition announcement page over at Skinbase.org.
The Windows Geniune Advantage tool is something that has drawn a lot of controversy in the past few months. Mainly because users accused it of being "spyware" since the tool would "check in" with Microsoft after Windows would start. The WGA tool is parts of Microsofts plan to combat piracy of Windows. The WGA tool will display a message to users who have illegitimately obtained copies of Windows XP. In this update Microsoft has changed the installation procedure so that user...