Happy day! Playstation Network is back up -- well, almost
Is the waiting finally over, or is Sony making more promises? Today, the entertainment giant announced partial PlayStation Network restoration, after a 24-day self-inflicted outage. PSN is being restored in Europe and the United States and, at that, on a rolling basis. This evening, I downloaded the necessary PS3 firmware update necessary to access PSN only to be confronted by that nasty "PlayStation Network is undergoing maintenance" screen, now in dark gray instead of the previous grim green. However, before posting the service went live.
In a video message announcing PSN's return, Sony Representative Corporate Executive Officer and Executive Deputy President Kazuo Hirai says that PSN, Qriocity, and third-party services like Hulu and Netflix are being "restored in phases, and I'm pleased to say that the first phase has been launched in most regions of the world." He claims that Sony has been "working around the clock" to bring gaming and media services "back online."
Have it your way with Better Facebook
There's pretty good chance that you are one of the millions of people who have a Facebook account. While the social network has an undeniably huge user base, there are few who would claim that there is not room for improvement. If you've ever wished for a way to customize the appearance of your Facebook account, or would like more control over the way the site works, assuming you're using Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome or Greasemonkey, Better Facebook may be just what you have been looking for -- Internet Explorer users are left out in the cold, however.
Better Facebook is a browser extension that can be used to completely change the way Facebook looks and works. In all, there are more than 70 settings that can be applied in various combinations to personalize the social network to your liking. Anyone who has a fairly extensive list of friends will be all too aware that it does not take long for your Facebook news feed to run out of control. Better Facebook adds options such as tabbed news feeds and news filtering so you can concentrate on what is most important or interesting.
Turn your normal desk into a standing workspace in 3 steps
There has been a lot of talk of a "standing desk" movement in the media in the last six months, people who are getting rid of their chairs and doing all their work while standing up. For people who spend all their time in front of a computer (i.e. most of the tech industry) this topic has garnered quite a bit of interest of late.
Men who spent more than 23 hours a week sitting, according to one widely circulated report, have a 64% greater risk of dying from heart disease than those who reported sitting less than 11 hours a week.
Don't believe the hype: PS3 users aren't switching to Xbox 360
Yesterday, Edge reported that the PlayStation Network outage is negatively affecting PS3, with gamers trading in their consoles -- half for cash, the rest for Xbox 360. Today, the story is being picked up everywhere, it seems, and repeated as gospel. One problem: Edge's report is largely about the United Kingdom (there was one Belgian retailer quoted). What about the United States? Based on a massive poll conducted by Betanews and random calls to a half-dozen GameStops, there is no evidence of mass consumer exodus from PlayStation 3 to Xbox 360 -- at least in the States.
The Problem at Hand
Who is dropping Dropbox over terms-of-service changes?
Not surprisingly, Dropbox's recent ToS changes have upset many users. In late April, I posted a poll asking people to describe their reaction to changes that would allow law enforcement access to some subscribers' Dropboxes. About 71 percent of respondents are unhappy with the changes.
The ToS revision was unexpected. Before the change, the service boasted that "Dropbox employees are unable to view user files." Now it's "Dropbox cooperates with United States law enforcement when it receives valid legal process, which may require Dropbox to provide the contents of your private Dropbox." Essentially, Dropbox strips off encryption when the cops come asking for access to specific user files -- or at least I should hope specific instead of broad fishing expeditions.
BitTorrent's massive overhaul, Project Chrysalis, rolls out in Beta
BitTorrent has released the first beta of Project Chrysalis, the next generation redesign of BitTorrent's Mainline filesharing client.
About six months ago, BitTorrent announced it was doing an experiment with the Mainline BitTorrent client that would be "more than a radical aesthetic and UI overhaul, more than cool new features," but "a new beginning."
Remove one of the worst scareware menaces in one click
Microsoft's latest Security Intelligence Report highlights rogue security software as "one of the most common methods that attackers use to swindle money from victims," and it's hard to disagree. We're forever coming across sites that display fake antivirus messages, system "scans" and more, all claiming our PC is "infected" in an attempt to make us download their scareware.
If you're familiar with these cons then there's no real problem: you just close that browser window and carry on as before. But if you follow the links on these warnings, download and run the executable they'll offer, then you're in trouble: the fake antivirus will mess up your system, causing all kinds of odd problems, and demand your credit card details to put everything right. (Although, of course, parting with those will only cause you more problems.)
Chrome OS: The ghost of Netscape rises to haunt Microsoft
Google's Chromebook announcement couldn't have been more timely, for its irony. Yesterday, during Google I/O, the company gave Chrome OS its big official debut and set June 15 as launch date for the first Chromebooks -- from Acer and Samsung. Today, Microsoft antitrust oversight ends -- a decade after an appeals court upheld most of the claims against the company while throwing out a remedy threatening breakup into two entities. Chrome OS and Microsoft's U.S. antitrust problems are strangely linked, as the ghost of Netscape rises from the grave to haunt the company cofounded by Bill Gates. Google couldn't have successfully developed Chrome OS, if not for government oversight.
History of an Antitrust Case
AT&T, T-Mobile heads defend merger plans in DC
The proposed $39 billion merger between T-Mobile and AT&T was the focus of a Senate antitrust committee Thursday, with its chair warning of the "profound implications" of such a deal. While the two companies have repeatedly said the deal would take a year to close, in recent weeks regulators have appeared ready to slow down the process.
Combining the second and fourth largest wireless providers in the US would create a wireless behemoth that would likely far eclipse market-leading Verizon Wireless, and leave current third place Sprint in a precarious and unfavorable position facing two much larger competitors. Such a merger could prove difficult to approve.
Facebook caught attempting to smear Google
Facebook found itself doing damage control Thursday after it was revealed the company had attempted to create negative press for Google. Two employees of the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller had endeavored to pitch stories over the search giant's privacy issues.
News of the botched effort was broken by The Daily Beast's Dan Lyons on Wednesday night. Without specifying how, Lyons said evidence pointed to the social networking site as being the mysterious client of Burson-Marsteller's, and the company admitted to doing so.
YouTube 100: Chart with professional musicians
Move over Billboard. "The times they are a-changin'." Today Google launched a music chart for videos -- the YouTube 100 -- that empowers Jack and Jane Wannabe to stand tall with the likes of Lady Gaga or, gasp, Justin Bieber. The chart tracks "song popularity in user-generated and professional music videos," Chris LaRosa, Google Music product manager, explains in a blog post.
YouTube is still mostly about user-generated content, and opening information -- and possibilities -- is fundamentally in keeping with Google corporate philosophy. So it's very appropriate that Google's music chart should include user-generated videos alongside those from popular, commercial musicians.
Symantec patches Norton Internet Security Suite 2011, adds features
Symantec has announced a major update -- 18.6.0.29 -- to its 2011 security products, including Norton Internet Security 2011 and Norton AntiVirus 2011. This update includes a few new features, such as support for the Firefox 4 browser, plus performance enhancements, improved compatibility with third-party programs and a number of bug fixes.
Version 18.6.0.29 also corrects an issue whereby upgrading from a previous version of Norton resulted in a loss of subscription days being reported. Other enhancements include an "improved" activation process, plus better performance from Internet Explorer 9 plug-ins as well as all previous changes introduced by the previous update (18.5).
MacPaw claws away Windows clutter with CleanMyPC
Kiev-based developer MacPaw, best known for its CleanMyMac tool for Macintosh computers, has ventured onto the Windows platform for the first time with an equivalent cleaning application for the PC, the appropriately titled CleanMyPC.
As the name implies, CleanMyPC includes a suite of cleaning tools for Windows computers. The main cleaning component promises to remove gigabytes of files from your PC, and is backed up by five further maintenance tools: Secure Erase, Complete Uninstall, Registry Maintenance, Autorun and Gadgets & Extensions Manager.
NetworkMiner sniffs out troublesome traffic
When you need to understand what's happening on your Windows network, then logging its traffic with a packet sniffing tool can help. And there are few easier ways to get the job done than with a copy of the free NetworkMiner.
The program is portable, for instance, so there are no installation hassles. It'll automatically detect and work with standard packet capture libraries like WinPcap, or grab raw sockets with its own capture tool. And so all you have to do is point NetworkMiner at your chosen network adapter, click "Start," then watch as it organizes your traffic into twelve different views.
10 years after they broke up Microsoft
Editors Note: 'What if' hypothetical history follows. The events described in this article didn't actually happen. But they might have...
It was all over when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to reconsider the judgement of the Court of Appeals upholding Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's antitrust breakup of Microsoft. A shotgun divorce is an ugly thing in business.
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