 Battlefield 2 update now available
The scope of war is ever-changing. New technology, tactics, and ethics are always altering the way soldiers fight and the way armies approach battles. Just ask Electronic Arts--it thinks troops shouldn't be able to shoot while jumping.
The update comes in two flavors, a full patch (366.2MB) that will update a fresh install of BF2 to v1.2, or an incremental patch (83.5MB) that will update v1.03 or later to v1.2. Several bugs, including "Prone Spamming" and the "Sprint Exploit," have been fixed, and several weapon ratings have been adjusted. While players can no longer jump and shoot at the same time, they can now reload while in a full-blown sprint. A full list of adjustments is available at the links above.
The PC first-person shooter is the sequel to Battlefield 1942, but it updates the time period to the modern era. The game was expanded in November 2005, when the Special Forces expansion was released. A Battlefield 2: Modern Combat spin-off was released on the Xbox and PlayStation 2 late last year, and Xbox 360 and PSP versions are currently in the works.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 26, 2006, 1:26 pm
News Source : GameSpot
San Andreas faces further lawsuits
Two law firms have confirmed that they have filed lawsuits against Take Two on behalf of shareholders, claiming they lost money when the controversial GTA: San Andreas faced legal action over sex scenes unlocked in the game.
Rockstar, the game's developers, had to clean up and re-release the title last September after the "Hot Coffee" modification allowed users to have sex with their in-game girlfriends. Politicians furiously criticised the game, and claimed Rockstar had failed to mention the sexual content in hope of receiving a lower rating.
The game was re-released with an "Adults Only" rating in the US, which meant many retailers who refuse to stock AO titles pulled the game from their shelves.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 26, 2006, 1:25 pm
News Source : BBC News
Rush races for PSP
Midway has revealed its first details on Rush for the PSP console. Rush is the latest in its long line of California-based cruising games and the first for PSP.
Game Information:
Rush will include a story mode set in a shortcut-laden City of Angels, which will feature more than 50 rides (at least 36 of them licensed), some of them downright pimped-out rides courtesy of West Coast Customs. However, Rush will also include some extras, including 30 new cruise missions, a hip-hop and rock soundtrack with new tracks from Lil' Kim and Twista, and the ability to play any cruise mission with another player by way of the PSP's Wi-Fi capabilities. Also featured on the PSP Rush will be stunt arena and battle race modes. The latter mode will let players go head-to-head with each other in a power-up-propelled race to the finish, while the stunt arena calls upon players to launch their cars off ramps and sail through the air performing various twists and turns before (hopefully) landing on all four wheels. As in the stunt mode in the Dreamcast version of San Francisco Rush 2049, golden tokens that unlock extra content in the game will be placed amid the mayhem.
Rush for the PSP is set for release in September and has not yet been rated or priced.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 26, 2006, 1:24 pm
News Source : GameSpot
 ATI Preps First HDMI-HDCP Video Card
Photos have been popping up depicting what appears to be the first true HDMI-HDCP ATI video card, complete with HDMI connector and onboard SPDIF audio jack. This card appears to be HDMI only - it features no DVI or VGA connections. The card's low profile would make it particularly suited for small form factor PCs, which many find perfect for home theater operations. The job of encoding and serving the protected HDCP video signals will fall to a Silicon Image HDCP TMDS transmitter.
ATI card partner Sapphire Technologies, which produces its own line of video cards as well as ATI-branded cards, has confirmed it is working on an HDMI compliant card. Other details such as availability are not yet known, but it is clear that HDMI compliant video cards are on their way.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 26, 2006, 1:23 pm
News Source : Trusted Reviews
 NVIDIA to release new Vista driver today
According to a very trustworthy source, NVIDIA are set to release a new forceware driver for the Windows Vista Feb CTP release. The driver version is 87.15 and should fix some very annoying lag issues that beta testers are having with the default WDDM (Microsoft) driver.
The previous forceware release for Vista Beta 1 was pulled from the site shortly after the February CTP release was made available to testers. v75.03 does not work on build 5308 and actually causes the display adapter to not work at all in Vista giving NVIDIA users nothing but a black screen.
More info as it becomes available.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 26, 2006, 1:21 pm
News Source : OSNN
Download : NVidia
 Google Infringes on Nude Photo Site: Court Papers
Google Inc.'s image search service violates the copyrights of adult magazine and Web publisher Perfect 10 Inc. by displaying thumbnail-sized photographs, a federal judge has ruled. However, Google is likely not responsible for displaying the underlying images from Perfect 10's Web site, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California said in a ruling last week that was made public on Tuesday.
The order could effectively bar Google from featuring thumbnail pictures -- small versions of photos that are linked to a bigger version of the same picture -- but not limit Google from linking to actual photos which exist on other Web sites. The judge accepted that people who click on full-size images from Perfect 10 are not viewing images that Google has stored or served up on its computers but links to other sites.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 26, 2006, 1:21 pm
News Source : Reuters
 Kaspersky AV Update Troubles Microsoft Users
Kaspersky Labs and Microsoft have recovered from an error that caused significant email troubles for some users of Microsoft's Antigen email security software.
Antigen users started receiving updates for their Kaspersky Labs antivirus engine again on Tuesday. Kaspersky and Microsoft had put those on hold after a flawed update caused trouble last week, representatives for the two companies said on Tuesday. Steve Orenberg, president of Kaspersky's North American operations, said: "As far as both parties are concerned, the problems have been addressed and its business as usual."
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 26, 2006, 1:20 pm
News Source : Silicon
 HP Charges Into Retail Photo Printing Market
Hewlett-Packard Co. on Wednesday announced its entry into the $35 billion retail-photo-printing market, introducing a self-service photo kiosk and an in-store photo studio that will initially installed in Albertsons Inc. supermarkets and Longs Drug Stores.
HP, already the world's largest maker of computer printers and a leader in digital photo printers, already is strong in home printing of digital photographs and in online photo printing, with its Snapfish acquisition. Now, it hopes to complete the cycle by moving into retail photo printing.
It would be the first inkjet technology introduced into the kiosk market, aiming to take share from the more traditional dye-sublimination printing process used in photo printing kiosks, HP said. HP is targeting its HP Photosmart Studio, which also uses inkjet technology, at would-be competitors such as Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd. and Eastman Kodak.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 26, 2006, 1:20 pm
News Source : Reuters
Yahoo Mail Reverses Ban on 'allah' in Usernames
Yahoo Mail will now let people register usernames that include the word "allah," after a ban designed to thwart prejudice went astray.
The policy reversal, announced Wednesday, came too late for Linda Callahan of Ashfield, Mass., who set up a Google Gmail account after being rejected by Yahoo Mail because of the presence of "allah" in her name, said her son, Ed Callahan.
"She was disgusted by (Yahoo's policy) and saddened," he said. "It was discriminatory. They disallowed 'allah' but allowed 'jesus' and 'god,' and I don't think there is a rational explanation for that." The existence of the ban made a bit of a splash on the Web after it was reported in The Daily Hampshire Gazette on Friday and picked up by The Register and Slashdot this week.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 26, 2006, 1:19 pm
News Source : CNet News
IBM Issues Subpoenas for Tech Giants' SCO Dealings
The long-running legal battle over claims that IBM's version of Linux violates SCO Group's intellectual property took another twist on Tuesday when IBM sent subpoenas to four other tech players.
Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems and BayStar Capital must hand over details of their involvement with SCO, according to the subpoenas, which were filed in U.S. District Court in Utah, where the case between IBM and SCO is being heard. IBM, meanwhile, is building its defenses against the charge that it included SCO's Unix code in its version of Linux.
The subpoenas demand that Microsoft, HP, Sun and BayStar hand over a range of information, including details of their dealings with SCO, by March 7. They will also have to appear in court later in March to give depositions. Groklaw, a legal Web site that had been following the case closely, believes that the subpoenas could help bring important information about the case to light.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 26, 2006, 1:18 pm
News Source : ZDNet
Windows Vista Enterprise Feb CTP Released
Brad Goldberg, General Manager of Windows Client Product Management has announced the availability of the enterprise CTP today.
Vista will include new deployment and imaging technologies driving deployment costs down and patching reboots down. Vista is now officially feature complete and we will see a combination of Beta 2 with a CTP in 2Q 2006. General availability targetted for 2nd Half 2006 - exact date depends on quality.
Main points of Vista for the Enterprise:
Deployment Costs Go down
Secure and compliant desktop
Connecting people to information
Increasing mobile and remote productivity
5308 is now available from connect as:
FebCTP_5308_64bit_Main_Staged_DVD.iso, 3,675.94MB
FebCTP_5308_32bit_Main_Staged_DVD.iso, 2,780.79MB
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 26, 2006, 1:17 pm
News Source : Neowin
Intel Plans Quad-Core Processors for 2007
Intel has demonstrated its first working quad core sample microprocessors for servers a mere two years after the introduction of the first dual core processors. The chip, codenamed Clovertown, features a new micro-architecture that will likely be detailed at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) this spring.
While the new processors will be manufactured using a 65nm processes, it is not clear whether all four cores will be on one die or separate. Intel CEO Justin Ratner said the company was so pleased by the design's performance that it decided to show working samples even though the design was still currently in the validation process.
The server used to showcase Clovertown was designed for two physical CPUs. Intel's CTO Pat Gelsinger said the company's research and development priorities recently have focused on increasing the number of execution cores on its processors as well as training software designers to utilize them more efficiently.
Mr. Ratner also theorized that microprocessors in a decade will have ten to hundreds of execution engines each.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 13, 2006, 4:11 pm
News Source : Xbit Labs
Jeeves to retire this month
The iconic mascot of Ask.com, Jeeves the butler, will be retired from the site at the end of the month.
The decision was taken in September of last year, but the search engine's bosses left him in place to monitor users reactions. Jeeves was originally intended to add a friendlier feel to the search engine.
Since his debut in 1996, Jeeves has become somewhat of an internet icon, but after the purchase of Ask.com by IAC/InterActive the butler's position has been in jeopardy.
Ask.com's rebranding co-incides with rival search engines making some changes of their own, offering extra services such as news and email.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 13, 2006, 4:10 pm
News Source : Neowin
100Mb Broadband to be debuted in UK
Cable company NTL will be trialling a new service in March. In partnership with Arris and BitTorrent the trial will take place in Ashford, Kent. The 100Mb speed will be 10 times the highest speed offered by NTL at the moment.
NTL aren?t just offering this speed increase out of the goodness of their hearts, the bosses at NTL have been working hard over the past few months, with a takeover of Telewest broadband currently taking place and a proposed bid for Virgin Mobile. This move will add another direction to their plans. With a 100Mb service HD videos will be readily available, and with the support of BitTorrent these can easily be shared, with appropriate licenses of course.
A 100Mb service will mean that the UK will finally compete with the rest of the world in terms of high speed broadband, with countries in Europe and Asia offering speeds of 10Mb or higher years ago. It will also be a huge push for HD technology in the next year, with on demand movies available and the possibility of a service that could rival Sky?s ?Sky+? package.
It?s definitely a rollercoaster of a time at NTL at the moment, just a fortnight ago broadband users around the country were subject to regular cuts in their service and there have been frustrated calls from users disappointed with their new 10Mb connection. One things for sure though, when a 100Mb service becomes available speed enthusiasts will be queuing up to put pen to paper.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 13, 2006, 4:10 pm
News Source : NTL
 iTunes Countdown to One Billion Downloads
Apple have launched a countdown webpage to their one billionth purchased download. With this countdown, Apple have taken the opportunity to launch a competition in which you can win numerous high value Apple products. For every 100,000th download, the lucky user will receive a 4GB Black iPod Nano with a $100 iTunes voucher. The grand prize winner that is lucky enough to download song number one billion will bag a 20" iMac, 10 60GB Video iPods (5 white, 5 black) and $10,000 worth of iTunes downloads (suitable for music and video). Also, Apple will create a full-ride scholarship in the winner's name to a world-renowned music school.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 13, 2006, 4:09 pm
News Source : Neowin
 Cut Off Date Set for US Analogue
U.S. President George Bush has set the date that analogue TV will be cut off in the U.S, leaving a large chunk of highly sought after radio spectrum available for services such as mobile broadband applications and emergency and military services.
While a proposed cut off date has been in place in the UK for a while now it was only this week that a new legislation was signed by President Bush. The legislation states that by February 19th 2009, all broadcasters must end transmission of analogue television signals and move to all-digital broadcasts. Also included in the legislation is a scheme worth $1.5 billion offering households up to two $40 vouchers for use in upgrading television sets so that they can receive a digital signal.
The valuable radio spectrum left over will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. According to Yahoo the upper-700-MHz band would allow wireless signals to travel four to five times as far as existing mobile phone signals can, which would make them suitable for companies looking to offer mobile wireless broadband.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 13, 2006, 4:08 pm
News Source : National Association of Broadcasters
NVIDIA SLI in a Laptop
High performance PC maker WidowPC recently unveiled plans to release its Sting 919 laptop featuring dual NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GPUs based on nForce 4 SLI core logic. The system will likely come equipped with an AMD processor and feature a 19-inch widescreen display.
However, if you're looking for a highly portable gaming platform, this most likely won't fit the bill. To dissipate the heat generated by two high-end graphics processors in addition to other components would require quite an elaborate cooling system and decent sized enclosure. Naturally, such a large laptop would not be considered very portable, due to its weight and power requirements. It may, however, find its niche in the hearts of gamers who frequent LAN parties or lack desk space.
The price point for the WidowPC Sting 919 is not clear, but given the price points for current high end gaming laptops from companies like Dell, Alienware, and Sager, it won't come cheap. WidowPC was also forced to remove the announcement from its website, citing a "pending agreement with NVIDIA."
Look for more on the WidowPC Sting 919 as information becomes available.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 13, 2006, 4:08 pm
News Source : Xbit Labs
Microsoft Tells Device Makers, We'll Foot Your Legal Bills
Amid a legally charged environment for makers of mobile computing devices, Microsoft said Thursday it would expand the protections against intellectual property lawsuits it offers to manufacturers who make devices that run Windows.
Microsoft lifted caps on the amount of legal fees it would reimburse to makers of embedded devices that are sued for intellectual property infringement as a result of licensing Microsoft code. The amount had previously been capped based on Microsoft's volume of business with a device maker that licensed its embedded operating systems.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 13, 2006, 4:07 pm
News Source : Information Week
MP3 Inventor Develops Tool to Fight Piracy
Fraunhofer Institute has developed prototype technology to help curb the sharp rise in online music piracy, which, ironically, has been enabled through another invention of the renowned German research group: MP3 audio compression.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Integrated Publication and Information Systems Institute have successfully tested a software system, based on the group's own digital watermarking technology, for tracking pirated audio files in peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, says Michael Kip, a spokesperson for the institute. Kip referred to the Fraunhofer approach as an alternative to DRM (digital rights management) systems, which he says require special players and are prone to hacking.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 13, 2006, 4:07 pm
News Source : PCWorld
Advertise with Adware and Face Humiliation
Many companies may face public humiliation by the United States Federal Trade Commission if they continue to serve ads through adware, according to reports. FTC Commissioner John Leibowitz said Thursday at an event hosted by the Anti-Spyware Coalition that such a move could help curb the growing threat of adware on our PCs.
The FTC would publicly announce and publish the names of companies that use adware which installs itself on a user's computer without their knowledge. Many of the event's attendees agreed that the idea is a good one, but others outside the community feel it could be a problem for companies which handle their advertising in a hands-off fashion through third parties.
"There are well-intentioned advertisers out there that do not understand where their ads are appearing," said Trevor Hughes, directory of the Network Advertising Initiative. "It is easy to shame those advertisers, but that does not solve the problem."
One such advertising company is AzoogleAds, which handles advertising for many prominent companies such as eBay and Netflix. Azoogle used to serve many of its ads through adware, but today that number is under 5 percent, according to COO Don Mathis.
"Advertisers rely on us to provide this service for them," Mathis said. "Two years ago nobody ever thought about adware, but everything from enforcement action to legislation has raised the profile of the risk and liability associated with it."
However, other companies which offload advertising to less reputable agencies may face public humiliation and scrutiny simply by not paying close enough attention to their associate's policies. It is then up to these possible target companies to reel in their advertisers and understand their methods.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 13, 2006, 4:06 pm
News Source : CNet
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