PSP Price Drops, New Features on Tap
On the heels of a PS3 delay announcement, Sony Computer Entertainment America did have some good news to share with fans of its gaming empire Wednesday. The company said beginning March 22 it would offer the popular PSP with just an AC adapter and battery pack for $199.99 USD.
Previously, Sony had only offered the PSP Value Pack, which bundles the handheld console, 32MB Memory stick Duo, AC adaptor with battery pack, and soft case with cleaning cloth for $249.99 USD. From the announcement, it is not clear if the company would still offer the package deal.
It's Official: No PS3 Until November
Sony confirmed Wednesday reports that it will delay the launch of its highly anticipated PlayStation 3 console until November. At that time, the company will launch the product simultaneously in Japan, Europe and the United States, Sony officials said.
However, Sony will be facing availability issues that Microsoft will likely have resolved with the Xbox 360 by the holidays, analysts say.
Microsoft Patches Multiple Excel Flaws
Microsoft rolled out two patches for vulnerabilities as part of its monthly Patch Tuesday effort, fixing six vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office, and a less significant but still dangerous flaw within Windows.
The patch dealing with the Office vulnerability contained fixes for five issues within Excel, including malformed range, file format parsing, description, graphic and record flaws. In each case, an attacker could take complete control of an affected system if the user was logged in as an administrator.
Mac Office, Messenger Get Updates
Microsoft on Tuesday updated both its Office and Messenger applications for the Mac platform, adding tighter integration with Apple's Tiger OS and improved functionality with Live Communications Server. The enhancements are being provided as a free update and are available immediately.
The updates for Office 2004 for Mac are focused around Microsoft's Mac OS X version of Outlook, called Entourage. The update will now allow for users to sync their information with handheld devices and other applications that use Apple iSync.
Judge to Demand Google Release Data
UPDATED A U.S. federal judge indicated Tuesday that he would grant at least part of a Department of Justice request to access search result data from Google. The feds say the data would be used to defend a law against pornography, but the search giant says the demand violates the privacy of its users.
The federal government is attempting to gather data to support a child protection law that was struck down two years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court. Under that law, the government could punish pornography sites that made content easily accessible to minors.
Amazon Moves into Online Storage
Amazon's Web services arm on Tuesday introduced S3, a servicefor software developers that aims to provide a scalable and reliable data storage service at a low cost. S3 -- short for Simple Storage Service -- costs $0.15 per GB per month for storage, and $0.20 per GB of data transferred.
Developers would gain access to the same data storage infrastructure Amazon uses to run its network of Web sites. The company said it aims to pass the benefits of "Web-scale computing" on to developers.
Two-Thirds of U.S. on Broadband
Nearly two-thirds of regular Internet users in the United States now use broadband according to a recent survey by research firm Neilsen/NetRatings. That number shot up 28 percent in the past year alone, with 95.5 million Americans now using some form of high speed Internet.
The firm said that broadband use has grown vigorously since 2003, when only 33 percent of Internet users had high-speed connections. A likely cause of this rapid growth is a rapid decrease in the cost of broadband, especially DSL.
Windows Live Safety Settings Unveiled
Microsoft on Tuesday confirmed plans to offer a new service that gives parents more control over the Internet content their children can view without supervision. Called Windows Live Safety Settings, it includes content filtering for the Web, contact list management tools for communication services, and online activity reports.
The program is currently in a limited beta. A version of Live Safety Settings with filtering and reports will be released in summer, with contact management coming by the end of the year, Microsoft said. Both users of Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista would be able to run the application.
French Law Could Force Open iTunes
With Apple refusing to allow iTunes Music Store downloads to work with any music device other than the iPod, the French legislature proposed a law Thursday that would make it permissible for consumers to use software to convert digital content from a closed format.
The law's supporters said while it would still be illegal to crack digital right management-protected tracks for other uses, it would legalize conversion from one format to another. They also say the bill is aimed at forcing proprietary systems to open up.
Patent Ruling Could Affect Sony PS3
A federal judge denied an effort by Sony Monday to overturn a jury verdict that awarded $90.7 million to Immersion over accusations of patent infringement. The ruling came after Immersion sued the PlayStation maker over the use of "haptic technology," which Sony calls DualShock.
Haptic technology is the term game manufacturers use to describe what makes game controllers vibrate in response to game activity. An Oakland, Calif. jury found Sony guilty of violating patents surrounding the technology in September 2004.
McAfee Gaffe Deletes Excel, Other Apps
An error within the virus definition file for McAfee's antivirus software marked several Microsoft Office components, some Adobe product applications, and several other programs as viruses. Depending on the settings, these files would be either quarantined or deleted.
The update was released Friday, and by the afternoon the company was made aware of the issue after it began receiving unusually high reports of the virus known as W95/CTX. By the evening, McAfee had pushed an update to its servers to fix the problem.
VeriSign Acquires P2P Firm Kontiki
Verisign said Monday that it had entered into a definitive agreement to purchase file-sharing firm Kontiki. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company was bought for $62 million, and the transaction is expected to close by the end of the month.
The technology acquired from the deal would power VeriSign's new Broadband Content Services platform, which would aim to deliver rich media content to personal computers, television sets and portable devices.
GoDaddy Petitions to Block .com Deal
Domain name registrar GoDaddy.com said Monday that it had filed a petition with the Department of Commerce to block an agreement between ICANN and VeriSign. The company said it wanted the deal sent back to the Internet's governing body to ensure fairer terms on the stewardship of the .com top-level domain.
GoDaddy said that it, along with a majority of .com registrars, believe the terms of the agreement are unacceptable. VeriSign would be able to raise registration fees without justification in four of the next seven years, and retains "presumptive renewal" rights when the agreement ends in 2012.
Microsoft: No Vista on Intel Macs
Microsoft confirmed reports that at least the initial Intel Macs from Apple would not support Windows Vista, telling BetaNews Friday that its next generation operating system would not support the EFI boot process being used by the new systems.
Apple decided to use Intel's new Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) over the older Basic Input Output System (BIOS). As previously reported by BetaNews, Windows XP cannot run on the Macs due to its lack of EFI support, however Windows Vista was expected to change that.
Blockbuster Eyes Digital Movies
Blockbuster's CEO gave hints in a conference call Thursday that the company may be looking at ways to digitize its business through online rentals or digital delivery. This follows a tough 2005, where the company faced increasing pressure from online DVD rental service Netflix.
Blockbuster is already an investor in the online video service CinemaNow, however CEO John Antioco said a profitable business model has yet to emerge in that space. Thus, any first move outside of its standard in-store rental business would likely be to some Netflix-like scenario.
Ed's Bio
Ed Oswald is a freelance journalist from the Reading, PA area. Although he has written across a variety of subjects, Ed’s passion and focus has been on technology and gadgets. His work regularly appears on tech news sites BetaNews, PCWorld, and Technologizer, and has been syndicated to eWeek, Time’s Techland blog, VentureBeat and the New York Times.
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