$100 laptop: The end of Moore's Law?

by Rory Reid
The One Laptop Per Child organization's XO computer, aka the $100 laptop, has just started mass production. And while Crave is happy that thousands of underprivileged African children will reap the benefits of a PC and the Internet, we can't help but feel a little jealous--and even embarrassed.

Here we are, extolling the virtues of laptops such as the $4,000+ Sony Vaio TZ, when for most users the $100 XO would be just as effective. Sure, it doesn't have a premium badge on the lid, and its 433MHz AMD CPU won't win any speed records, but it'll let you surf the Web, send email, enjoy audio and video, and even, as some Nigerian children have discovered, allow you to browse for porn.

Think about your own PC usage--does it honestly include anything more demanding than Facebook stalking, laughing at idiots on YouTube or hitting the digg button underneath the latest lolcat? Can you justify spending $4,000 when a machine costing $100 pounds will do exactly the same thing? Crave thinks the world can learn a lot from the XO, the ClassMate PC and its ilk. These devices could change the computing world as we know it. And despite its makers saying it's exclusive to the developing world, the XO absolutely should be brought to the West.

Since 1965, the tech world has obsessed about keeping pace with Moore's Law--an empirical observation that computing performance will double every 24 months. Concurrently, consumers have lusted after the latest and greatest computing hardware, encouraged in part by newer, fatter, ever more demanding operating systems and applications.

Moore's law is great for making tech faster, and for making slower, existing tech cheaper, but when consumers realise their personal lust for faster hardware makes almost zero financial sense, and hurts the environment with greater demands for power, will they start to demand cheaper, more efficient 'third-world' computers that are just as effective?

We think so. The amount of interest generated by the XO, the ClassMate PC, and more recently the £200 Asus Eee PC is phenomenal. Most people in the Crave office are astounded by their low price and relatively high functionality, and are finding it difficult to justify buying anything else. If you want to play the latest games, well, the latest games consoles, while power-hogs, are relatively cheap and graphically very impressive.

It's almost poetic that the poorest nations in the world have the potential to push the Western tech industry in a new direction. Don't get us wrong--we love fast, outlandish laptops and PCs as much as the next blog, but we'd be idiots not to show you the alternative. And what a fantastic alternative it is. We predict some very interesting, and money-saving times ahead.

Nokia buys media-sharing site Twango

by Caroline McCarthy

Media-sharing site Twango updated its Web site on Monday to announce that it's been chomped up by cell phone manufacturer Nokia. With its cool new toy, Nokia hopes to make it easier for handset owners to share multimedia content among desktop, Web, and mobile platforms.

"The Twango acquisition is a concrete step towards our consumer Internet services vision of providing seamless access to information, entertainment, and social networks--at any time, anywhere, from any connected device, in any way that you choose," said Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia's executive vice president and general manager of multimedia at Nokia, in a joint statement We have the most complete suite of connected multimedia experiences including music, navigation, games, and--with the Twango acquisition--photos, videos, and a variety of document types."

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

I played around with a Twango account for a bit after testing it out when the Redmond, Wash.-based start-up (yes, it was founded by Microsoft alums) came to the DigitalLife trade show in New York last October. It's sort of like a mix between Flickr and multimedia "channel" creator Kyte.tv, facilitating the storage and sharing of a variety of media types and allowing them to be organized into "channels." To be honest, the structure of the site confused me somewhat (are "channels" like Flickr "albums" but with audio and video too?) Then again, I also can't seem to wrap my head around all those fancy Nokia N-series handsets that you can play with at the company's nightclub-like flagship store in midtown Manhattan.

But the match makes sense: it's clear that both companies pursue a strategy that focuses on the ultra-functional, the feature-heavy, and the if-it-counts-as-media-we'll-help-you-share-it mentality. It's unlikely that this acquisition will affect a whole lot of people who aren't Nokia customers (and it's not yet very clear as to how Twango itself will change) but it'll be interesting to see how this affects mobile media-sharing.

Harry Potter release resources: Unleash your inner nerd

By Josh Lowensohn

Legions of Harry Potter fans will be gathering at bookstores all across the world to pick up the final installment of the series. If you haven't already preordered it on Amazon, or hunted down the digitally photographed pages of the leaked copy--tsk, tsk--your best bet is to exercise patience, or give in and pick it up with the throngs of other fans at one of the midnight release parties.

But where do you find ones worth going to? Short of browsing your local paper's A&E section, there are some handy tools online for either securing a copy in style, or finding something to do in the painful hours of waiting that lay ahead. Either way, you'd better batten down the hatches and read it in time to avoid the inevitable plot spoilers you'll hear at work or around the Web come Monday morning.

Potterparties.com offers a simple search by zip code to track down book release parties, complete with maps. I found the results to be a bit off, listing mostly Borders Book locations over local establishments. The site also features party descriptions, although those, too, were incomplete. The site's real draw is its recipes and games section, which gives you instructions on making such delicacies as jelly slugs, squid shooters, and troll toes. Delicious.

Scholastic, the publishers of the Potter series have their own party finder for retail locations hosting midnight soirees. The results don't show what's going on at each location, but they do list the start time so you don't show up too early. Like Potterparties, Scholastic has a smattering of Potter-themed activities, such as user forums, desktop wallpapers, a handful of games, and a countdown clock you can stare at.

Upcoming.org is one of the best resources for finding out the specifics of each Potter party. I found several different stores listed around my neighborhood, including times to get there, an attendee list, and store-specific information such as preorder discounts and parking tips.

Eventful.com has a surprisingly large number of listings for Harry Potter parties. Like Upcoming, it lists good things to know, like presale discounts, costumes, and activities to keep children busy and/or awake.

King.com launching new revenue-sharing games site

By Josh Lowensohn
King.com is launching its new user-generated casual games site, MyGame.com. The service combines some of the professionally made casual games offered on King.com alongside user-generated titles and those made by users with a Web-based game creation tool. Game creators who publish on MyGame.com can opt-in to a revenue-sharing program, which pays off ad clicks. The service is also promoting an advanced payment scheme similar to recording industry contracts that pays in advance to popular titles.

I had a go with MyGame's game creator yesterday, and had a good time with the three titles that are currently available for editing. Users can upload a picture either off their hard drive, or by using their Webcams. MyGame will do its best to map your face, as well as give you a quick and dirty cropping tool to fine-tune. You can then test the game to make any last-minute adjustments to your face.

Once done, users (even unregistered ones) get quick-sharing links, along with embed codes to put their creation on a blog or Web site, which I've done below. Users who decide to register with the service are given some extra power tools, like a stats manager, high-score list, and guest book.

I'm looking forward to seeing some of MyGame's future game offerings, along with some of the user-submitted content, although between Kongregate's recent inclusion of badges, and that oh-so-addicting McDonald's Flash game, MyGame must compete for my unfortunate lack of attention span.

Teach English in your spare time with TalkBean

By Rafe Needleman
At a conference today about South Korean tech companies, I got a demo of TalkBean, a marketplace that connects people who want to learn English with those who can teach it.

I'll get the snarky bit out of the way up front: The site needs to take its own lessons. Marketing slogans like, "TalkBean will do our best to provide you with diverse culture and profitable experiences," and error messages such as "You need to put number for this section," seem out of place on a site that's trying to help its customers play in the global job market for English speakers.

That said, the economics of such a matchmaking service are interesting. Eighty percent of all Koreans are "English Learners," the company says, while 6.8 million "Native English Speaker are unemployed in USA." Obviously only a small subset of those are qualified to teach English (I can see an amusing Saturday Night Live sketch emerging here), but why not hook up learners and teachers?

Working in TalkBean's favor is its technology. The site connects students to teachers via voice, video, and text chat, and there's a screen-sharing window for exercises (text or drawing) where tutors can mark up a student's work. There's a nice scheduling system. Also, TalkBean has an arrangement with Korea's government bank so learners can easily pay for their lessons online, even though the money is going to overseas contractors.

Working against TalkBean is a lack of guidance for teachers. There are no prebuilt lesson plans and there's no guidance for pricing. Tutors can charge between 5 cents and 10 dollars a minute (TalkBean collects a commission of 27 percent). What should you charge if you want to try this service out? Good question, although the pitch I heard said that some of the 500 teachers already online were making $300 a day when they worked, so do the math. Also, the beta site is painfully slow.

Skype, and other services such as Ether, also offer marketplaces for voice and video consulting. TalkBean's focus is good, though. While the site needs to mature quite a bit, it looks like a marketplace with a strong base of both buyers and sellers.

Haute Secure pledges safe-surfing toolbar for IE

By Robert Vamosi

A new security company, Haute Secure, is offering a free beta version of its safe surfing toolbar for Internet Explorer that blocks malware from downloading onto your desktop. Firefox support is expected soon. Entering an already crowded field, the Haute Secure toolbar hopes to distinguish itself by taking the best of Exploit Prevention Labs Linkscanner Pro and McAfee SiteAdvisor, and then adds additional layers of protection. If they can pull it off with the final release, Haute Secure could be a must-have add-on for both Internet Explorer and Firefox.

The Haute Secure toolbar hooks into 70 processes running on your Windows XP or Windows Vista machine. Forty of these are related to browsers (in the initial release, Internet Explorer). The remaining hooks will be used for specific applications such as Microsoft Office PowerPoint and Adobe Acrobat.

Unlike McAfee SiteAdvisor, which tends to block an infected site entirely, Haute Secure allows access to the page after stripping out the malicious elements. And unlike SiteAdvisor, Haute Secure doesn't use a database, but analyzes each page on the fly, similar to the approach used by Linkscanner Pro.

And like Linkscanner Pro, the Haute Secure toolbar is also able to block specific elements of a page that are deemed malicious, allowing you to view the page safely. Haute Secure also uses phishing reports from Stopbadware.org, and can warn you of fraudulent sites, although in initial testing Linkscanner Pro blocked more phishing sites than did Haute Secure on our test machine.

In addition to proactive scanning, the Haute Secure toolbar also uses white and black lists to block known bad sites. Haute Secure was founded in 2006 by former Microsoft security engineers.

Slow, but very pretty searching with SearchCrystal

By Josh Lowensohn
A new alternative search engine that caught my eye this morning is SearchCrystal, a very experimental-looking tool that combines multiple search engines in a rich visual design. Each search engine gets its own color code, and results that show up in a large circle. When an item is listed on more than one search engine, it's given its own geometric shape showing which engines picked it up, along with lines that link up identical results. The goal is to give you a visualized results page that lets you compare a few engines at a time without having to scroll down one large list.

The results are split up into five different areas--one for each search engine. These engines vary by what you're searching for, be it photos, videos, news, or blog postings. In the case of blogs, SearchCrystal will pull results from Sphere, Bloglines, Google Blog search, Technorati, and BlogPulse. There's also a mode to just view Wikipedia articles. Each string shows the top 10 results in order, with the ones closer to the middle of the sphere being more important. The end result makes it look similar to a dartboard.

The one real hurdle with SearchCrystal is that it's slow. Most searches took about ten seconds a pop, with the longest taking just over 20 seconds. This is just simply too long for a casual search. Likewise, it has a learning curve--you're probably going to stare at the swarm of results the first time you try it out before knowing what you're supposed to do. While not difficult to pick up, I can see someone like my mom not knowing where to start.

As usual, there's a Facebook app for SearchCrystal. You can also e-mail it, or embed it in a blog or site with the query of your choice, which I've done after the break.

Latest Firefox 2.0.0.5 update fixes nine flaws

Mozilla patched nine vulnerabilities including the Firefox portion of the Internet Explorer-Firefox flaw identified last week. That flaw occurs when IE passes malformed URLs from IE to another application such as another browser. Mozilla wrote, "this fix only prevents Firefox and Thunderbird from accepting bad data." And it stated in boldface, "this patch does not fix the vulnerability in Internet Explorer."

This security update also addresses known issues involving browser crashes, privilege escalation, and cross-site scripting vulnerability. Current users of Firefox 2.0.0.4 or earlier will be automatically prompted to install the new version starting today. You can learn more about the update or download a fresh copy of Firefox 2.0.0.5 at this site or Mozilla site.

Firefox and IE together brew up security trouble

by Dawn Kawamoto
That's the latest update from security researchers who initially laid the blame on Microsoft's Internet Explorer for the latest zero-day exploit that also can afflict those using the Firefox Web browser.

Users could face a "highly critical" risk if they have both IE and Firefox version 2.0, or later, loaded on their computer. The trouble begins when browsing a malicious site while using IE and it registers a "firefoxurl://" URI (uniform resource identifier) handler, which allows the browser to interact with specific resources on the Web. As a result, users may find their systems remotely compromised.

Earlier Tuesday, security researcher Thor Larholm, who discovered the IE flaw, and security research giant Symantec put much of the blame on IE, while Secunia's Thomas Kristensen, chief technology officer, attributed the problem to Firefox versions 2.0 or later.

"It's a little bit of both," said Oliver Friedrichs, director of Symantec's Security Response Center. "You have two very complex applications that are not playing well together and leading to a security issue. The components themselves are secure as stand-alone products but not together."

"Firefox is the current attack vector, but Internet Explorer is to blame for not escaping...characters when passing on the input to the command line," said Larholm, in response to a reader's comments. "I agree that Firefox could have registered its URL handler with pure DDE (dynamic data exchange, the protocol for information exchange) instead and thereby have avoided the possibility of a command-line argument injection, but IE should still be able to safely launch external applications."

Friedrichs noted that while Firefox, which released version 2 in October, has gained in popularity, most Firefox users will also have IE loaded on their computers, since it comes with the Windows operating system.

The number of people who may be at risk could be substantial, he added.

Meanwhile, Kristensen of Secunia said: "A new URI handler was registered on Windows systems to allow Web sites to force launching Firefox if the 'firefoxurl://' URI was called, like ftp://, http://, or similar would call other applications."

But because of the way the URI handler was registered by Firefox, it causes any parameter--which activates a program to perform a particular task--to be passed from Microsoft's Internet Explorer, or another application, to Firefox, when firefoxurl:// is activated.

An attacker may use "chrome" context--the interface elements of a browser that create the frame around its page displays--to inject code on a user's system that would be executed within Firefox, Kristensen said.

"Registering the URI handler must be done with care, since Windows does not have any proper way of knowing what kind of input potentially could be dangerous for an application," said Kristensen. "For example, how should Windows know that the string 'chrome' could be dangerous for Firefox."

Other than avoiding malicious Web sites, system administrators could unregister, or remove, the "Firefox URL" URI handler, as well as change the way Firefox accepts the chrome input, Kristensen said.

Beta of Norton Smartphone Security Premier Edition released

Symantec has released a public beta for its new suite of smart phone protection, called Norton Smartphone Security Premier Edition. Features in this release include antivirus protection, antispam for SMS, firewall, personal data protection through encryption, and locking the device via password protection.

The beta software requires a mobile device running Windows Mobile 5.0 PocketPC with 4.5MB of storage or Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone with 4.2MB of storage. Access to the public beta can be found here.

Vertu gets into luxury leather

All of this touch-screen talk sometimes makes us pine for simpler times, when products were made with more tactile aesthetics in mind. We're apparently not alone, as manufacturers such as Lenovo are making such items as notebooks clad in leather.

Now Vertu, the king of luxury phones, is bringing the cowhide concept to its latest handset, identified as the "Ascent T" in FCC filings. The proposed phone has a 3-megapixel camera, a scratch-proof LCD and UMTS mobile Internet access, according to BornRich, but it's the bovine component that's most easily noticeable. It's not the first time that Vertu has incorporated leather into its designs, but this one has a natural, almost retro look that's reminiscent of the old "Brownie" cameras made by Kodak in the 1930s.

Best of all? It has actual buttons. So there.

Nokia fights touch screens with geometry

So here's the deal: If there's going to be any meaningful backlash against touch screens, it may require some innovative thinking on the part of button proponents. But we hope that it won't depend on the likes of Vertu and their $310,000 phones.

Nokia, at least, appears to be doing its part with a new design for the "7500 Prism" handset destined for the Chinese market for about $290, according to Gizmodiva. Its contribution to the cause? Triangular buttons that form a diamond pattern on the keypad.

We were just relieved to find that its "diamond" description wasn't referring to something like this. Or this. Or this...

The Best Accessories for the Xbox 360

So what are the best accessories for the Xbox 360? For any gaming console, there are two kinds of accessories: the ones you really need to get any joy out of the system, and the extras that are just for fun. With their usual marketing savvy, Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 with everything you needed to use the system available, and then over the last year, drip-fed the pure toys onto the market.

This year's Christmas present for the Xbox fanatic is the Xbox Live Vision Camera. It's available in two packages. The Standard Kit, at US$40, comes with a month's Gold subscription to Xbox Live, a wired headset, and Uno and Totemball from the Xbox Live Arcade. The US$80 Gold Kit comes with all that, a year's Gold subscription, 200 Microsoft points, and Robotron: 2084. A fully-functioning webcam, Xbox Live Vision allows video chat and personalised avatars. Games like World Series Poker use 'digimask' technology, that uses the camera to map the player's actual facial expression onto their avatar. It also allows for gesture-based gaming, promising the ability to, say, direct troops with a few finger-points, just like in the movies.

Filling the same functions for audio is the Xbox wireless headset. Given how much players thrash around in pressure situations, going wireless is worth the US$60. The headset, like the wireless controllers, works up to 30 feet from the console, which can support four headset-controller combinations at once. The headset allows for both in-game and private chat, as well as supporting voice-command-based gameplay. The headset is lightweight, fits over either ear, and comes with two sets of removable ear grips. It has an eight-hour battery life and comes with an AC charger.

If you're spending a lot of your gaming time immersed in Project Gotham Racing or Need for Speed, you've got to have the new wireless force-feedback racing wheel. Demonstrated at the 2006 E3, the system features standard gamepad buttons on the wheel itself, and floor-mounted accelerator and brake pedals. At US$150, it's at the top end of peripherals price-wise, but it's a top-quality product and comes with a copy of Project Gotham Racing 3. The game contains the drivers for the wheel: if you already own PGR3, you'll still need to install what's basically an update. There's a detachable clamp section so you can secure the dashboard to a desk, or just rest it in your lap.

With all the wireless peripherals, charging is a major factor with the 360. You want to be able to do it quickly and without losing playtime. There are two options for this. The first is the 'play and charge' kit. For about US$20, this allows you to charge your controller through the USB port, while you're using it. It takes longer for the controller to recharge, but on the other hand, you still get to use it. Or for US$30, you can go for the Quick Charge Kit. It's easy to use and even quite styly, and recharges batteries in about two hours.

If the Xbox 360's own 20Gb hard drive (which doesn't come as standard but should) is creaking at the seams on your system, you might want to consider getting an XSATA. At a reasonable US$40, this allows you to transfer files from your Xbox 360 to your PC, as if your Xbox was a USB drive. You can clear space by shifting saved games and cinematics to your computer, so you can load more fresh content onto your 360 without losing anything.

If you're looking for the best accessories for an Xbox gamer and they have 'everything', then any one of a plethora of licensed faceplates and controllers might just go down as a treat. Whatever your style of gaming, it will be a while before you run out of new toys for your Xbox 360.

Refurbished xBox 360

If you're thinking about buying an xBox 360, you might have noticed that you can save money by buying a "refurbished" xBox. Sometimes the price difference is pretty significant. You may be wondering what exactly a refurbished system is, and why it's so much cheaper.

A refurbished xBox 360 is one that has been pre-owned, but unlike a regular used system, it has been tested by the manufacturers to make sure everything works properly. They use the exact same technology to check a refurbished system as they do a new system. So, if you get one that's refurbished, that means that it should theoretically be up to the same standards as a brand new model.

Refurbished machines are often used as replacements for xBox 360's that don't work. If you know anybody who has had to return their xBox because of overheating problems or faulty hardware, they'll get a refurbished one sent to them in return. If you're past warrantee, you have to pay for that refurbished machine, which costs $129 from xBox directly.

Refurbished xBox 360's from the manufacturer are like new. They test them the same way they test new units to make sure they meet quality standards. Some gamers have had problems with the refurbished consoles, but they are usually the same problems people have with the brand new ones, like the "red rings of death" caused by overheating. The problems with the consoles are due to some kind of faultiness from the get-go, not because they are refurbished.

Even though it's as good as new, some gamers feel kind of ripped-off by Microsoft for not replacing their new, malfunctioning units with other new units. Instead, they send you a refurbished one that has been used by somebody else. It's easy to see why that would be a little insulting.

Buying a refurbished system is only about as risky as buying a new one, but still it's probably a good idea to go ahead and pay for that extra warrantee. They offer warrantees of different lengths, and the prices for the warrantees vary accordingly.

Aside from buying a refurbished xBox directly, you can find refurbished consoles for sale on eBay and other online shops. You might be able to get one for under $100, but make sure you have a good warrantee.

There have been some stories about people buying refurbished machines off the internet (not directly from the company) that had some cosmetic damage, or that had some minor problems, so buyer beware. Any time you buy anything off the web, make sure you are dealing with a reliable dealer and there is some kind of warrantee or money back guarantee.

There are also lots of stories out there about gamers having trouble with their new xBoxes, sending them back, and getting refurbished machines that didn't work any better. Again, this is due to a problem with the system's design. It can't be stressed enough: get the warrantee. Shell out the money for the longest warrantee and make sure you are covered in case anything happens.

Cheats And Codes For xBox 360: February's Top 4

All xBox 360 fanatics who want to have an edge with the most popular titles know how important it is to get their hands on the latest cheats and codes. If you are one of the brave who isn't concerned with the "ethical" issues of using this information to your advantage, please read on. Below you will find five of the most popular cheats and codes for top xBox 360 titles as uncovered for February, 20007.

Cheat Number 1: Increase Your Chainsaw Power In "Dead Rising"

If you enjoy fighting zombies as Frank West in "Dead Rising", you already know how helpful many of the items in the shopping mall can be. In some cases, they can even add more power to the weapons you collect. For example, after destroying Adam the clown, you've likely picked up his chainsaws to use against the undead. Here's the cheat: As soon as you've got his chainsaws, go to a bookstore and get a copy of the book "Engineering". As long as this book is in your possession, your chainsaws will last several times longer. Saw away!

Cheat Number 2: Unlock All Boxing Venues In "Fight Night Round 3"

Fight Night Round 3 is one of the top ranked boxing titles for the xBox 360. The realism of fist-to-face action comes alive with the incredible graphics and audio. On top of that, there are so many great venues to battle in, that this game never seems to go stale. If your patience does wear thin though and you want to unlock all the venues at once, just do the following. First, go to the "create champ" mode. Next, create a new character and give him the firstname "NEWVIEW". When you save this character, all the boxing boards will be unlocked for you!

Cheat Number 3: Restore Your Health In "Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter"

Based on the Tom Clancy novel, this Ghost Recon title is a graphically superior tactical fighting game that has become very popular since it's release. As your character Scott Mitchell is fighting in Mexico City though, he might take a few more hits than you'd like. Before Scott kicks the bucket, try this cheat:

First, press pause during game action. Now, hold down the back button and the right and left triggers at the same time. While these are held down, enter LB, LB, RB, X, RB, Y. If you do this, your health should be restored back to 100% and you can continue the battle.

Cheat Number 4: Instant Weapons In "Saints Row"

Being a member of the 3rd Street Saints and trying to take back the city of Stilwater has plenty of challenges. Luckily, the fight becomes a little easier if you know how to spawn extra weapons when you need them. Want an instant rocket launcher? No problem, just dial "#Rocket Enables". How about a pipe bomb? Punching "#Pipebomb Enables" into your cell will get you one. And if you're about to engage in some hand-to-hand combat, call "#Knife Enables" and you'll have a knife at your disposal.

Keep in mind though, never save your game when using any of the above cheats, as it will disable all of your achievements!

With theses cheats and codes for the xBox 360 added to your gaming arsenal, you'll soon find you have an advantage over your competitors. Remember to use this information judicially though, as incorporating too many cheats into your gameplay can destroy some of the thrill of the more challenging titles.

Buyer Tips When Purchasing A Used Xbox 360

Need some buyer tips when purchasing a used Xbox 360? Maybe we can help. Microsoft's Xbox 360 has been out for a year now, and with the PS3 and the Wii bursting onto the market in time for Christmas, this is the perfect opportunity for the smart budget-conscious gamer to look at buying a second-hand 360.

The best place to start looking is eBay. Now that 360s are no longer scarce, the over-inflated prices are gone, and with a bit of persistence, you'll probably be able to pick up quite a good deal. It pays, though, to be very careful you know what you're getting. If the price is suspiciously cheap, there's going to be a reason.

Make sure you know whether what you're bidding on is a Core System or a Premium Package. The core system initially retailed for US$300, the Premium for US$400. The easiest way to tell which one you're looking at from the photo is that the Core comes with a wired controller, and the Premium with a wireless one. It's really not worth buying the Core system, because it doesn't come with the 20Gb hard drive. Without the hard drive, you can't access Xbox live, save your games, or even play your old Xbox games. If you're looking at buying a second-hand Xbox 360 core system, you'll need to find out how much the hard drive is going to cost you and factor that in to what you're prepared to pay for the system.

Then there are a couple of questions you need to ask the seller. Was this one of the systems that crashed to blue screen of death straight out of the box? Was the 2006 Fall Update installed? If it wasn't, you won't be able to access Xbox Live until you download it. If it was, did it make the console brick, as it did about one percent of 360s? Has it ever been shipping back to Microsoft for repairs? Is there any warranty left on it? Retailers like EB Games offer excellent warranties on the consoles they sell for a small extra charge. You still have to be able to return the console to the store, though, and if that store is in Los Angeles and you're in Chicago, you may find that the shipping cost is dangerously equivalent to the price of a brand new Wii. The same goes for shipping a faulty Xbox back to Microsoft for repairs.

Then you need to look at the accessories you're getting with the bundle you're buying. If someone's offloading their console, they're probably getting shot of their games, too. What you really need to look for, though, is the 20Gb hard drive, and at least one extra controller - unless you have no friends. Every system should come with a composite-video/stereo audio A/V cable, and second-hand Premiums should have a component HD AV cable and an ethernet cable. Most premium packages came with the headset, though some came with the media remote instead. That last is a handy wee item that makes it much easier to use your Xbox for playing DVDs and music. All the accessories that you're going to need without getting into things like steering wheels would cost you up to US$200 to buy individually, but will probably get thrown into a sale package for only about US$50 more.

Remember to factor in the cost of shipping, too. With something this big, that could end up being a hefty portion of what you pay. Look for a console close to home.

There are other avenues to try for buyer tips when purchasing a used Xbox 360, too. Look out for places like EB Games and GameStop taking trade-ins - that means they'll have second-hand stock for sale. And while the normal retail price of the Xbox 360 hasn't budged from launch, if you keep an eye out, you might be able to find a bargain. Amazon.com ran a brief promotion where they sold band new 360s of US$100. If you're prepared to put in a bit of time and in no hurry to buy, you can save yourself a lot of money on your gaming experience.

XBox 360 Overheating Issues

Since the new XBox 360s came out, there has been lots of talk about overheating issues. According to Microsoft, this accounts for just a tiny percent of all their machines, but there are an awfully lot of overheating stories out there. Lots of XBox fans aren't happy with the way they're dealing with the problem.

Here's what usually happens: In the middle of a hot game your console freezes up. This happens a few more times, and then you see the Red Rings Of Death. The RR of D is not a feature of XBox, nor a foe in a fantasy game. The RR of D means that you're machine is overheating. Some people have reported seeing an orange screen flashing as well. The Rings shut down your machine and you lose your unsaved data. What it means is that it's overheated.

Some machines overheat after hours of play, but some do in as quickly as 10 minutes. Either way, the machine is defective and something has to be done about it.

Now, you can either send the machine in for repairs, or you can fix it yourself. Lots of gamers have been peeved at Microsoft's slow response to their overheating woes. They say that Microsoft is slow to repair the units. Often, they will offer a refurbished unit instead. Refurbished machines are as good as new, so it sounds pretty good, but there are tons of stories online of defective replacement machines. Some XBox owners have gone through 3 or 4 machines, all of which overheated!

It's a pretty sad state of affairs. Overheat sufferers claim that the company's customer service is less than helpful, and that they fail to adequately take responsibility for their faulty machines.

There are a few things you can do on your own to deal with overheating. Just like any other electronics, try to keep the back of the console clear so that the hot air can escape. With a well-made machine, this shouldn't be a problem, but if you have it all the way back against the wall, it might be a factor in why it overheats.

Supposedly, the root of the overheating problem in XBox 360s is that they tried to cut corners by using cheaply made, slow fans. There are 2 fans on either side, and they are really important for cooling the console. You can always reach back there and feel if the unit feels very cold or super hot. If one of the fans is not turning, or if it is going too slowly, you might want to replace the fan yourself. Of course, it shouldn't be YOUR responsibility to do that, but considering all the headaches customers have had with Microsoft's replacement machines, it just might save you some trouble.

If you send the machine in for a new fan, they may try to gouge you for it. If you look on the web (check eBay), you can find the exact same fans that are used in the XBox 360 for as low as $10. It isn't too difficult to replace the fan yourself, and you can find schematics and tutorials online to help you.

Another minor repair you can do yourself is to put some Arctic Silver 5 on the heatsink. This is a cooling compound that you can buy online. If you apply it on the heatsink, which is located just between the CPU and the fans, it will cool down the components. People who have used Arctic Silver report great results. It seems to keep the unit from ever overheating again.

Remember also that your XBox 360 has a year long warrantee. The original warrantees were six months, but they've since extended it, and it's retroactive. That means if you bought yours within the last year, it still should be covered.

All About XBox 360 Mod Chips

What is a "mod chip?"

A mod chip is a tiny silicon accessory that can be installed into your gaming console. It "modifies" your console, hence the name. A console with a mod chip is also known as a "modded console" or a "chipped system."


What does a mod chip do?

The mod chip takes control of your system and removes limitations that were put on by the manufacturer. It can access all the functions of your xBox 360 that have been blocked or restricted. You can import, back-up, homebrew and bypass security features. 9 times out of 10, mod chips are used to play pirated games.

Gaming consoles like the XBox 360, Play Station 3, Nintendo Wii and Gamecube are designed by the company to only play their copyrighted games. These machines also have region codes, like DVD players, so that you can't play a Japanese or Australian version of a game on an American box. In the case of the XBox, you can't play anything that isn't licensed by Microsoft, including your own creations or customized games.

The main reason for these security features is to protect against pirating games. While most mod chip users use the chip to copy games or play pirated games, there is a small minority of amateur coders and serious gamers who use the mod chip to customize their games and get more out of playing them.


Are mod chips illegal?

This is where things get tricky. In the United States, at the current moment, mod chips are legal. But, using pirated software, which is what almost all mod chip users do, is illegal. If you buy a mod chip and install it in your XBox, you will be okay, but chipping your XBox will definitely void your warrantee. It will also keep you from being able to do XBox Live.

Mod chips are illegal in the UK, but legal in Australia. They are increasingly being made illegal in more and more countries. Although some mod chip dealers have been fined and even jailed, this was usually because they offered pirating software as part of the deal. Microsoft is dealing with the problem on a case-by-case basis, but in general they are not aggressively pursuing mod chip dealers. It's possible that they let it go on because of the small minority of those who actually use the mod chip for legitimate purposes, who say, "It's my machine, why can't I do what I want with it?"

Keep in mind that mod chips do permanently alter your console, so use at your own risk.


How do I get a mod chip?

There are tons of mod chip dealers online. Most are in the $55-$85 range, although you can find them as low as $30 or $20. As a general rule of thumb, a deal that cheap is probably too good to be true. There are lots of shady dealers out there who take advantage of the fact that there is such high demand and mod chips are hard to get. Be sure to check out the dealer before you buy. I would go with a dealer that allows you to track your order.

Installing your mod chip is another consideration. They're not easy to install. It requires soldering the chip to the motherboard. If you have some experience soldering, it's a pretty easy job. But, if you've never soldered before, this might not be the best time to give it a shot.

There are some mod chips advertised as "solderless," but these are probably best to avoid. You can also get installation kits, but these will cost you. If you don't want to do the installation yourself, your best bet is probably to send your console to an installation service and have them do it. In this case, make sure they are a reputable company. Don't take any chances with your XBox!

Using a mod chip is risky. Make sure you know what you're getting yourself into before you get one!

Two Players, One xBox 360 Live Account: Can It Be Done?

Especially for families, being able to have multiple players using the same xBox 360 is very important. Luckily, the xBox 360 comes with the ability to set up different profiles for every family member allowing them to keep track of their games, media, stats and more. When it comes to using xBox live though, things get a bit trickier. Here's what you need to know.

1. xBox Live Gold Accounts

This is a very important point - two profiles cannot be configured to share the same xBox live Gold account without using techniques that go against Microsoft's terms of service. If you want to give these types of hacks a try, expect to get banned. Otherwise, if everyone in your family wants to use xBox Live Gold, you have two options.

Option #1 - Buy an xBox Live Gold account for each player in your family. Although this will allow each family member to have their own profile to use with xBox Live, this option can be very expensive. xBox Live Gold accounts cost around $49 per year per account, so multiple accounts can add up fast. If you do decide to go this route, make sure to look for discounts. Amazon frequently offers sales on 12 month xBox 360 Live Gold memberships, so it can pay to shop around first.

Option #2 - Learn to share. That's right, just buy one xBox Live Gold account, create a profile and let family members take turns sharing it. This will save you a lot of money, depending on how many in your household, and it will also teach the younger players important lessons about taking turns. When you really stop and think about it, if everyone wants to play at once, why not just play some of the games in multi-player mode and compete with your own family members?

2. xBox Live Silver Accounts

If the members of your family want to have their own profiles and enjoy some of the online features the xBox live has to offer, why not just create Silver accounts? Silver accounts are completely free and Microsoft will usually allow you to set up enough on one console so each family member can have their own. Granted, you won't be able to play the online multi-player games with a silver account, but when you're ready for that, go back to step one and learn to share.

Silver accounts still allow players to access arcade games, shopping and other media though. Plus, players can access voice chat and text messaging with their other online friends, making this free level very entertaining all on it's own.

Remember though, if you've ever been banned from xBox live before, you won't even be able to get a free silver account. That still beats being a Korean kid though. In Korea, nobody under the age of 14 can use xBox live!

Hopefully, the above information will set the record straight for anyone trying to figure out how 2 players can share an xBox live account. Just remember to stay on the right side of Microsoft's TOS and you shouldn't run into any problems.

Microsoft facing $1bn Xbox bill

From BBC News
Microsoft has said that it is facing a bill of more than $1bn to cover the cost of offering extended warranties, after failings with its Xbox 360.

The company admitted it had been forced to make "an unacceptable number of repairs" to the consoles after key hardware failed.

Customers who suffer the problems will now be given a free three-year warranty, the company said.

The failures are indicated by three red flashing lights on the console.

Microsoft, has not revealed how many of its machines have suffered the problem, but said the number was "bigger than we are comfortable with."

It added that the move - which will also see some people reimbursed for postage and repairs on consoles which were out of warranty - was aimed at keeping the loyalty of its customers.

"The majority of Xbox 360 owners are having a great experience with their console and have from day one," said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division.

"But this problem has caused frustration for some of our customers and for that, we sincerely apologise."

It added its Xbox division was still expected to make a profit during the financial year beginning 1 July 2007.

Migration manoeuvre

Separately the company has announced an October launch of its advanced version of the Xbox - the Xbox 360 Elite - in Japan, where it lags behind Nintendo and Sony in the console market.

And the company has also unveiled plans to open a software development centre in Canada which it said was a way of hiring talented people from abroad who would struggle to obtain a US working visa.

The Vancouver location would "allow the company to continue to recruit and retain highly skilled people affected by the immigration issues in the US", Microsoft said.

Olympics 2012

From CNN.com
LONDON, England (CNN) -- London has defeated European rival Paris to host the 2012 Summer Games, bringing the Olympics back to Britain for the first time in more than half a century.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge made the announcement after IOC members voted 54-50 to eliminate the French capital in the fourth and final round of secret ballots Wednesday in Singapore.

"The International Olympic Committee has the honor of announcing that the Games of the 30th Olympiad in 2012 are awarded to the city of London," Rogge declared after opening a sealed envelope containing the result.

Thousands of people in London's Trafalgar Square cheered as they watched the announcement on giant TV screens. (Full story)

London has twice played host to the Olympics, in 1908 and 1948. It becomes the first city to host the Olympics three times.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed the victory as "a momentous day for London."

London bid leader Olympic gold medalist Sebastian Coe said: "I'm absolutely ecstatic, we have the opportunity to do what we always dreamed about, getting more young people into sport.

"This is our moment. It's massive. It's huge. This is the biggest prize in sport," The Associated Press quoted Coe as saying.

England soccer captain David Beckham said: "In 2012, I can take my children to an Olympics which we might never had had the chance to do. ... This is such a huge lift for our country."

Rogge also expressed joy at London's victory.

"We are very, very pleased with the victory of London," AP quoted the IOC chief as saying. "People we trust, people we know will give us a superb games."

In the French capital, groans of disappointment swept through a crowd of thousands gathered at Paris Town Hall.

It was the third defeat for Paris in 20 years, with bids for the 1992 and 2008 Games also failing.

Moscow, New York and Madrid were eliminated in the first three rounds of voting respectively. (More reaction)

Although it was a favorite, Paris never led throughout the voting, AP reported.

In the first round, London got 22 votes, Paris 21, Madrid 20 and New York 19. In the second round, Madrid had 32 votes, followed by London with 27 and Paris 25, AP said.

In the third round, London led Paris 39-33 after picking up several New York votes. In the last round, Madrid's votes were spread about evenly, giving London enough to win.

Last-minute lobbying

The decision followed a final, furious lobbying effort by an elite "who's who" of politicians and athletes at the IOC's annual meeting.

Among the dignitaries who traveled to Singapore to lobby IOC members were Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, Queen Sofia of Spain and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov.

The five cities bidding to host the 2012 Summer Games delivered their final presentations ahead of the vote.

London used royalty to get its message across, with Princess Anne kicking off the city's one-hour presentation with a message from Queen Elizabeth II.

"I've been impressed by the way everyone has united behind London's bid. As a country we share a passion for sport," the queen's message said, according to Reuters.

Blair, who held a string of meetings with IOC delegates before flying home to host the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland this weekend, underlined London's message Wednesday with a pre-recorded video clip.

"Our vision is to see millions of young people participate in sport and improve their lives. London has the power to make this happen," Reuters quoted Blair as saying.

Chirac spoke passionately to the IOC, saying, "The heart of Paris and the heart of France are beating in unison in the hope of becoming Olympic host in 2012," AP reported.

"You can put your trust and faith in France, you can trust the French, you can trust us."

Paris also utilized the talents of actress Catherine Deneuve and French singer Johnny Halliday to highlight the wonders of Paris.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton and bid leader Dan Doctoroff used New York's readiness and its multicultural traditions to woo judges.

Bloomberg reminded the IOC of the city's recovery from the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"In our city's darkest hour, we asked ourselves, can we recover?" AP quoted him as saying. "New Yorkers stood up then and said, 'Yes, we can recover, we will rebuild and we must continue to welcome everyone. That spirit will be given to your Games."

U.S. President George W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton spoke in prerecorded video messages, AP said.

New York's delegation also included U.S. Olympic Committee Chairman Peter Ueberroth and a host of decorated Olympians, including Muhammad Ali, Nadia Comaneci, Ian Thorpe, Janet Evans and Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's live video clip -- delivered in English -- urged the IOC to grasp a "unique and truly historic opportunity" by selecting Moscow, Reuters said.

"Moscow is a meeting place of cultures. Moscow is perfectly suited to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games," he said.

Russian swimming great Alexander Popov added: "If we can convince you to take this historic opportunity today, together we can change the world tomorrow."

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Queen Sofie pressed Madrid's case.

"The whole Spanish royal family is convinced that Madrid fully meets the conditions to offer to the world the best Olympic Games," AP quoted the queen as saying.

Responding to questions from delegates, Madrid officials downplayed threats from the Basque extremist group ETA.

"Absolute security is assured," AP quoted Zapatero as saying.

"It's our main priority. Those who have tried to attack our candidacy will see that this is something that is doomed to disappear in Madrid and all of Spain."

Voting has gone to four ballots in four of the last five votes to pick a host for the Summer Games. The only exception was in 2001, when Beijing was selected for the 2008 Olympics on just the second ballot.

Windows users download 1 million copies of Safari

By Tom Krazit
Safari was an early hit with Windows users, who have downloaded 1 million copies of the browser since Monday, according to Apple.
CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the Windows version of the browser as a beta release Monday during his keynote speech at the Worldwide Developers Conference. Safari makes up around 5 percent of the browser market, trailing Internet Explorer and Firefox with its 18.6 million users, a figure Jobs used in his speech Monday.

Cynical colleagues at CNET wonder how many of those downloads were started by hackers and security professionals probing for weaknesses, which is probably a fair point. Nine security vulnerabilities have already been discovered in the Windows beta, and Apple released an updated version of the browser in the wee hours of Thursday morning to plug some of the flaws.

Still, there had to be more than a few downloads from outside the security community. The 1 million copies are of the initial beta release, tagged 3.0.

PS3 DVD upscaling: A big improvement

by Matthew Moskovciak
Before yesterday's firmware update, the PlayStation 3 couldn't upscale standard-definition DVDs to high-def resolutions--a once high-end feature that's now built-in to nearly all DVD players with HDMI outputs. But what's the real benefit of upscaling (or upconverting, as it's also known)? Despite some of the marketing hype claiming that upscaling will make your DVDs appear in true high-def quality, the increase in picture quality will never come close to matching that of native HD material (HDTV broadcasts, HD DVD, and Blu-ray). Moreover, the video quality improvement is completely dependent on how good the upscaling and deinterlacing technology in your TV already is. Every HDTV is already capable of upscaling and deinterlacing; the only benefit an upscaling DVD player can bring to the table is to do it better. In some cases, the difference is easily discernible. In others, it's much more subtle. Ultimately, an upscaling DVD player might be able to make your DVDs look better, but the difference will be worth it only to "critical viewers" who pay close attention to image quality.

As the PS3 formerly did a pretty poor job of just deinterlacing DVD to 480p, there was a lot of room for improvement. We put the PS3 through Silicon Optix's HQV test suite in 1080p mode on our Pioneer Pro-FHD1 reference display. For the most part, we were satisfied. It passed the initial resolution test, which means it can display the full resolution of DVDs. The next tests didn't go as well. For example, we saw artifacts on third line on the test with three shifting lines. We've seen better performance on this test on players with HQV processing, such as the Toshiba HD-XA2, or even with the older Denon DVD-3910. On the other hand, the PS3 did a decent job with a waving flag, as there were definitely some slightly noticeable jaggies, but we've seen worse. It did even better on the 2:3 pulldown processing test, as it kicked into film mode almost immediately.

Test patterns performance is fine for the lab, but we also took a look at some actual movies. The introduction to Seabiscuit can be difficult for some players, but the PS3 handled it well, with only a few slight artifacts--occasionally we could see some flashing behavior in the old photos as the camera panned over them. We also watched a bit of King Kong, which looked fantastic (as it does on almost all DVD players).

The bottom line is that the PS3's upscaling is pretty good, although it doesn't compare to top-of-the-line players such as the Oppo DV-981HD or the new high-def disc players with HQV processing, such as the Samsung BD-P1200 and the Toshiba HD-XA2. On the other hand, the PS3's DVD performance is definitely a big step up from that of the Xbox 360 Elite. In the final analysis, when you consider that upscaling is just one of the many functions of the PS3, we think the performance is pretty impressive.

Another resolution issue worthy of note: it appears the 1.80 firmware update has fixed the 720p issue on the PS3 (the system would downconvert games and movies to 480p on HDTVs that couldn't handle 1080i or 1080p resolutions). Post-update, we were able to play a DVD movie, a Blu-ray movie, and a game (Motorstorm), all at 720p resolution. That'll be welcome news for the legions of TV owners whose sets have 720p native resolution.

Autobots, transform and nerd out!

by Will Greenwald
If you've looked at a television, a movie screen, or a billboard at any time in the last year, you're probably already aware that Transformers is coming. And if you've done any of those things in the last 20 years, you probably already know the story: transforming robots from another planet fight other transforming robots while Earth hangs in the balance.

Let's see...robots, cartoons, new movie coming out...yep, this means merchandising and lots of it. The Transformers movie is going to get toys, toys, and more toys. Transformers is getting everything from action figures to board games to, obviously, video games. Hasbro, the company behind the original Transformers toys, is making the bulk of these products, while Activion is handling the upcoming video game release.

We received a big box from Hasbro today that included previews of their various transforming toys. It came with (and I'm in no way kidding about this) a transforming press kit with secret compartments. The Transformers merchandise they sent ranged from the standard (Transformers action figures) to the curious (a Transformers novel) to the downright awesome (Transformers Nerf gun).

The greatest toy in the bunch is the Transformers Optimus Prime Battle Rig Blaster. It's a big plastic truck that transformers into a Nerf gun shaped like Optimus Prime's blaster. It's huge (even my large fists can fit into it), and even though it won't make you feel like Optimus Prime, it'll at least convince your friends and co-workers that you're a giant lunatic. Granted, I'm probably the only giant lunatic who actually walks around the office with a giant Nerf gun mounted on my hand, but I like to think that simply makes me awesome.

Second greatest toy out of them is the Transformers Optimus Prime Voice Changer. It's a big plastic helmet that transforms your voice and shouts Optimus Prime quotes really, really loudly. It's big enough for even my head to fit inside, so I really have to ask who Hasbro is marketing these toys for.

Among the various Transformers action figures, a handful stand out as particularly interesting. The Transformers Real Gear figures are Transformers based on everyday electronics. Speed Dial 800 is a cell phone, Spy Shot 6 is a digital camera, Power Up VT6 is a portable game system, and so on. We haven't seen them up close yet, but they sound pretty interesting. They don't actually call people, take pictures, or play games, though.

Transformers hits July 4, but you don't have to wait until then to get your Transformers stuff. Hasbro's Transformers toys start to ship June 2, and the video game hits all major consoles June 26.

A joystick built like a tank

by Will Greenwald
It's hard to get old-school arcade action with today's controllers. Whether it's the Wii's motion-sensing remote or the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3's wireless gamepads, they just don't capture the frantic, rugged joystick-beating and button-thumping of yesteryear. Don't worry, though. $200 will get you the glory back, thanks to X-Arcade.

X-Arcade makes retro arcade controllers, and the Tankstick is the company's beefiest, most fearsome unit. This massive controller weighs 20 pounds and sports two joysticks, 22 buttons, and a trackball. Most impressive is this bad boy's lifetime warranty; X-Arcade will repair or send replacement parts for the Tankstick (or any of their other controllers) if it ever breaks. If it breaks in the first year, they'll even send you a replacement and foot the bill to send your broken stick back to them. I wouldn't worry too much about them breaking, though. The Tankstick is unbelievably sturdy, and X-Arcade claims its buttons are designed to withstand 1 million presses in their lifetime.

Xbox 360 getting next-gen 'Pac-Man'

Microsoft, together with Namco Bandai Games America, on Tuesday announced a new version of the classic arcade Pac-Man at the Pac-Man World Championships in New York's Times Square. Pac-Man Championship Edition will have the first new mazes in 26 years. The new title is set to be available Wednesday morning on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 Microsoft points.

Finalists Robert Glashuettner from Austria (age 28) and Carlos Romero from Mexico (age 27) went head to head on the new version, in lieu of the classic '80s title. Both were competing for the chance to win 100,000 Microsoft points (valued at about $1,250), a special Pac-Man edition of the Xbox 360, and free Quizno's sandwiches for the next 26 years. Romero, who has been playing video games since age 6, won the face-off, beating Glashuettner 22,160 to 17,730. As a runner-up, Glashuettner nets 40,000 Microsoft points, which is valued at about $500.

Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani also announced that he is retiring from game development to teach at Tokyo Polytechnic University. He had previously taught character design studies at the University of Arts in Osaka.

For Paris Hilton, 'The Prison Life' is all games

From GSN, the creative minds who brought us such enduring game classics as Kim Jong-Il: Missile Maniac, Rosie vs. Trump and Foley's Follies, comes The Prison Life: Paris, which offers players a behind-the-bars peek at the hotel heiress' life in the clink.

Orange is the new pink in this online title, in which an animated Hilton in stiletto heels, designer sunglasses and an orange jumpsuit attempts to undertake her prison duties under the watchful eye of a baton-wielding warden. "Paris is in jail and the warden has assigned her to design and build license plates. Help her with her job and watch out for her little dog "Clinkerbell"! explain the directions on GSN.com.

Players position the smirking Hilton between levers that "stamp" the blank California vanity license plates as they roll by on a conveyor belt. Line up the stamper with the plates using arrow keys and win a point. Miss and get slapped with an insult like: "Ouch--Lindsay Lohan plays better than you!" In a nod to Hilton's celebutante existence, the plates sport such phrases as PRTYGRL, DUI4ME, DRV2FST and PRVTCEL.

The tabloid story du jour started last year, when Hilton was arrested for driving under the influence and sentenced to probation. She also had her license suspended. In February, the paparazzi favorite was stopped for driving 70 mph in a 35 mph zone and charged with violating her probation. That occurence led to her current 23-day stint at the not-so-glam Century Regional Detention Facility in suburban Los Angeles.

PS3 is tops in Australia and a failure in the US

Michael Ephraim, managing director of Sony Australia, has officially announced that the Playstation 3 is the console war king - in Australia. According to Ephraim, sales figures in the Land Down Under have shown the "PS3...outselling Wii and Xbox 360 every week, except for last week."

The recent stories like this one out of the Sony camp are becoming pathetic at best. The company who formerly touted its dominance over the video game industry is left touting a 50,000 unit sale for March and a sales lead "for every week, except for the last week." Which brings me to another issue: what happened last week? Is this a sign of things to come?

Sony has gone to the well one too many times and now it's living with the ramifications of its poor decisions. Sony may be the leader in Australia, but it will never be the leader in the United States and within a few years, will finish dead last in Japan as well. The end is near for Sony's game division and time is running out on a new plan. There is no way the company will rise to the top of the console wars, but in the United States, look for Sony to finish second.

Yes you did just read that. And just to make you a little more confused, Nintendo will finish dead last. Why you ask? It's simple: the video game industry is controlled by software developers and very few of those companies will be willing to drop the time and money it takes to develop a new control scheme for the Wii.

I know this may sound like the same old story that most Wii fanboys have been laughing at for the past six months, but as we move into the summer and the holiday season, the future is becoming all too clear.

Microsoft is leading the console wars right now regardless of Wii shortages because it offers more to the developers than the Wii or the PS3. We can talk all we want about the innovative Wii console and how it sets a new standard for the video game industry, but it is not a money-maker for software developers like the Xbox 360 is. If I was writing this ten years ago, then that argument would not only be valid, it would be true. Unfortunately, we are knee-deep in an era of cash flow dictating what we play and how we play it. And believe it or not, the Wii doesn't fit into that business model.

In order to turn a profit in this business, most developers need to take your favorite game and port it to other systems. And because the Xbox 360 and the PS3 are so much more powerful than the Wii, developers typically start their work on these consoles. Once the game is complete on say, the 360 for example, they can easily map the entire game's controls to the PS3 controller because it offers the same layout: four buttons, two analog sticks and a D-pad. For the Wii, it's not so easy. Instead, developers need to create an entirely new control scheme and some kind of interaction with the Wii functionality or else the game will be hammered by video game reviewers begging for better controls.

Now I know what you're thinking: it may be difficult, but with the number of Wiis in homes in the US, it makes sense to spend the extra time and money to port a game to the Wii. Wrong. There are a number of issues that may arise when developing and porting games and with suits dictating a release schedule and a budget that often times runs over on the original port, it quickly becomes impractical to develop a new control scheme for the Wii.

The Wii will become (or has it already?) a mini-game console that will feature big games from Nintendo and the like, but will never reach the pinnacle that Microsoft will enjoy in this generation.

So where does that leave Sony? A distant second to the Xbox 360. Over the course of the next five to ten months, Sony will be releasing a slew of wildly popular games like Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy and Killzone. Not only will these games help bolster sales of the system, an impending PS3 price drop will significantly increase the number of people who will choose a PS3 over a Wii or Xbox 360.

With that said, Sony has already done enough damage that it cannot recover from. Why you ask? It's simple: Microsoft obviously understood this business far better than Sony and wooed software developers. Microsoft understood that hardware doesn't drive sales and make a console king, it's the software that dictates who will come out on top. Sony on the other hand, rested on its laurels and thought an advanced (and expensive) device would be enough to run Nintendo and Sony out of the video games industry for good. Obviously Sony was wrong. By relying on hardware, developing for the console was difficult and the centerpiece of the device: its Blu-ray player, has been all but ignored by the average video game player who only wants to play Madden and couldn't care less about the high-def DVD wars.

So, in an age where money takes center stage and innovation is relegated to other forms of entertainment, the video game industry trudges on with executives claiming victories and fans screaming obscenities at each other in a Halo death match. And while some people believe their own favorite console will become the leader of this generation, time is running out. The Xbox 360 has an installed base that demands developer attention, while the Wii has the most entertaining experiences we have ever enjoyed and the Playstation 3 is nothing more than an expensive piece of machinery that has yet to prove its worth. But within a few shorts months, all of the cards will be on the table and each member of the pack will take its rightful place in order: The Xbox 360, followed by the Playstion 3 and the Wii.

With GreenBorder, Google gets deeper into Net security

Google's purchase of GreenBorder Technologies--a browser virtualization software company that creates a sandboxed environment for your existing Firefox or Internet Explorer browse--follows on the heels of Google announcing a blog from its nascent antimalware team. With rumors of a possible forthcoming antivirus acquisition, the Mountain View search giant has jumped into the Internet security business feet first.

Nerves must be raw at traditional security vendors Symantec and McAfee. Last year Microsoft announced its own security suite, Microsoft Windows Live Onecare, and proceeded to capture a lion's share of sales in the Internet security suite space. Now Google is arming itself with online security products, possibly providing these tools for free. Unlike Microsoft, Google's drive is more focused. Where Microsoft is providing tools to defragment your hard drive and backup files in addition to their firewall and antivirus choices, Google appears to be protecting their main asset: online businesses.

In a paper, "The Ghost in the Browser" (in PDF), Google's antimalware researchers looked at several billion Web sites. They studied a subgroup of 12 million web sites, within which they found 1 million engaging in drive-by downloads of malicious code. Overall that's only 0.1 percent (less than 1 percent) of all the Web sites, but any one bad experience on the Internet is enough to threaten Google's long-term usefulness. By purchasing software technology that protects the end-user from malicious code, Google is ensuring that most people enjoy an event-free experience while surfing the Internet.

Mozilla issues security updates for Firefox 2 and 1.5

By Robert Vamosi
Mozilla has released Firefox 2.0.0.4 and Firefox 1.5.0.12 to address six security vulnerabilities. Most users will automatically receive this update and be asked to restart Firefox to install it. This update will probably be the final one for Firefox 1.5. As such, Mozilla provides an easy upgrade path for current 1.5 users to upgrade to 2.0. All Firefox users are urged to install this update, as it addresses the following security issues CVE-2007-2871 (XUL Popup Spoofing); CVE-2007-2870 (XSS using addEventListener); CVE-2007-1362 (Path Abuse in Cookies) CVE-2007-2869 (Persistent Autocomplete Denial of Service) CVE-2007-2867 and CVE-2007-2868 (Crashes with evidence of memory corruption).

This update also enhances Firefox support within the Windows Vista operating system, although links within some applications still may not open in Firefox even if you have chosen Firefox as your default browser; a Windows Media Player plug-in still doesn't exist for Firefox; Windows Vista Parental Controls are not completely honored yet within Firefox; and cookies and saved forms from Internet Explorer still have to be manually imported. Mozilla has posted workarounds for these.

Finally, this release of Firefox adds language support for Afrikaans and Belarusian.

YouTube Trojan horse rides in on Web TV show's fame

According to Trend Micro, a Trojan horse that downloads a certain YouTube video could compromise your computer. The video appears to be an episode of Afterworld, a Web TV series about a society where technology is dead. Security vendor Websense has also been tracking this Trojan horse and has traced the video to a .su domain, which was originally assigned to the former Soviet Union and still remains in use today.

The use of online media files to infect end users with malware is not new. A worm last October used a JavaScript flaw in Apple Quicktime to spread on MySpace. For this attack, Websense has produced, ironically, an informative YouTube video demonstrating what happens to your computer. This YouTube Trojan steals personal information from a compromised PC and then broadcasts it to an undisclosed location.

Playboy.com aims to make the iPhone even sexier

By Caroline McCarthy
The iPhone hype has either reached a high point or totally jumped the shark, depending on your personal opinion. Playboy.com just announced that it has launched its official iPhone effort, which it calls "iPlayboy."

We'll just say that it sure gives "touch screen" a whole new meaning.

Playboy's virtual goodie bag for the iPhone consists of 12 "sexy non-nude wallpapers" for the sleek Apple handset, a special photo album with another dozen photos of Playmates, an episode of Playboy's Sirius Satellite Radio show, and a video customized for the iPhone's interface. It's free, and available on the main Playboy Web site.

Now that the adult entertainment world has officially penetrated the iPhone hype machine, the next step is obvious: naughty toy add-ons!

Photos: Gamers compete at Playboy Mansion

When you picked your team on Halo, was there a scantily-clad model present? When you entered your guild on Warcraft, did a Playboy Bunny frolic in the corner? No? Then you must not be among the Championship Gaming Series inaugural draftees. Too bad for you!

To soothe your sorry situation, we suggest you click on the image at left to experience the vicarious thrill of the Carolina, Chicago and San Francisco gamers who convened at Hugh Hefner's infamous Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills this week. Do you think the draft picks will play better knowing the Bunnies are behind them? A little skimpy moral support never hurt.

A racing simulator with 3 LCDs? Sign us up

Of all the over-the-top racing simulators out there, this one is probably our favorite so far. But then again, we're suckers for anything that sports three LCD TVs. These aren't just any flat screens either, but 37-inch Sharp Aquos displays in full 1080p clarity. And that's just the beginning.

VRX's "Triple Screen Limited Edition 001" is a behemoth that includes "four Xbox 360 Elites, four copies of Forza Motorsport 2, an Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on player, camera/wireless headset, a Zune, force feedback wheel," according to Engadget. The system is built with a polished aluminum frame that will complement the industrial decor of your office or living room. That, at least, is what you'll have to tell your spouse or significant other.

The price is available only by contacting the company, but how bad can it be? Nothing, after all, can top the $300,000 price tag for FAO Schwarz's "Morphis ESP." We hope, anyway.