By Aaron Heibert - Source : Tom's Hardware

Pretty much everyone is familiar with ‘On-line’ virus scanning services provided by some of the big players in the removal industry.

You go to the site, run the On-line scan, find out you have a virus, then you pay for the full version of the software to effectively remove the infection. Some companies, mainly open source based, offer everything for free.

Symantec believes that virtualization could put an end to long-term software licensing in favor of a pay-per-use model. Virtualized or streaming applications, software that is run on centralized machines and streamed to computers over a network allows monitoring precisely how long each instance of the software is used for. Licensing deals could be structured per day, per hour, or even per second.

Ken Berryman, Vice President of endpoint virtualization at Symantec, quoted:

“You can detect application usage so you can cut the number of licenses down to what is being used. There are a lot of customers that would like to use that to only have to pay when using the software, but there is resistance among vendors to change the licensing model. What you cannot do today is go down to a charge-per-use model.”

Licensing periods are becoming shorter, and one day may go down to the individual use model. Symantec is currently working on a virtualization prototype security service that allows protection to systems without installed security applications.

Using a built-in hypervisor would allow Symantec to screen and intercept code before it is run on the virtual machine on a user’s computer.

“Whenever a machine asks for some code, before you give it to them, you would give it to us, and we will scan against 47,000-plus virus definitions, and if it looks like a virus, we can inject our agent into that machine and kill the processes, and delete the files associated with that.”

Symantec is currently deciding on how to deploy such a virtualized security model and when there will be a market for it, according to Bruce McCorkendale.

Techno-babble aside, the Pay-Per-Use model is already being implemented in some ways by some PC Makers, such as Dell. Dell preloads its systems with antivirus software that is good for a trial period, and on top of that, they offer their Dell-On-Call (DoC) service. DoC is an instanced fee based service that gets used quite heavily by its consumers for virus and spyware removal – even within the trial operating period of the pre-loaded security suite software. Essentially, this IS a pay-per-use service for the purpose of infection removal – mostly.

The virtualization technology sounds intriguing, but power-users may find it a little ‘too integrated’ for their liking. Development and potential deployment of such a service should prove to be quite interesting in the future.

Read 15 comments

By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Guide

More talks about an optional Blu-ray disk player for the Xbox 360 has resurfaced, however this time the rumors are (possibly) backed by Toshiba-Samsung.

According X-bit Labs, Microsoft contacted the company to produce the Blu-ray disc player for its Xbox 360 console. Previously Microsoft offered an external HD-DVD player, however once Toshiba pulled the plug on the format (story), buckling under its knees at the mercy of Sony’s might, Microsoft remained hesitant in jumping on the Blu-ray bandwagon, waiting for consumer demand despite its feud with Sony.

Now with Blu-ray as the standard HD format and snaking into more North American households, apparently Microsoft have given the green light to manufacture the Blu-ray player. So does this mean Microsoft will have to suck it up and settle on the BD-Java technology rather than insist on its proprietary HDi? Probably so if the company wants to get the hardware out there quickly. Perhaps there’s a "happy medium" that both Sony and Microsoft can deal with (outside the inclusion of Microsoft’s VC-1 codec).

While nothing official has been released to the press, it is speculated that Microsoft will need to price the add-on device between $100 to $150 in order to compete with Sony’s PlayStation 3 (which has the Blu-ray player built right into the console).

Currently there are no dates set for the release of the Blu-ray player, however it’s highly likely that the device could hit retail outlets before the holiday season kicks off. Releasing the player next month would actually be ideal, coinciding with the release of the Xbox 360 exclusive game from Epic, Gears of War 2. Both products would be extremely competitive against the PlayStation 3 and even Nintendo’s Wii console.

Keep in mind that all of this is not set in stone. Microsoft may well stand firm with its HDi technology and take another route altogether. After all, Blu-ray is a Sony by-product, and admitting defeat by incorporating the enemy’s technology clearly isn’t a characteristic of Microsoft.

Update: Microsoft has denied the rumor of the Blu-ray peripheral again. ""As we’ve said before, Microsoft has no plans to introduce an Xbox 360 Blu-ray add-on," Microsoft told Edge (story). The company says its focus is on blockbuster games.

Be the first to comment!

By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Hardware

YouTube comments can be a lot of things they shouldn’t be. Those who frequent Google’s video sharing site are often responsible for harsh, offensive, tangential or just downright irrelevant comments. The powers that be over at GooTube have implemented a feature that will read back users comments before they post.

The Audio Preview button might ring a few bells with anybody who’s a regular visitor to Randall Monroe’s xkcd.com. In a recent comic, Monroe depicts a girl writing a virus that would read YouTubers’ comments back to them before posting, in the hopes that those posting inane or seemingly pointless remarks would realize they were morons.

When posting a comment, in addition to the Post Comment and Discard buttons, you’ll also see an Audio Preview button that will have a speech synth read your post back to you. While it’s not all that exciting (no emotion or expression more than likely takes the fun out of calling someone a tool), it’s nice to see the nice people at YouTube have a sense of humour. Either that or they too are sick of the lamer comments that go around.

All jokes aside, we’re fairly sure this will increase the amount of spam in the comments section, at least for the first couple of weeks (that is, if YouTube plans on keeping it). Anywhere there’s a speech synth, you can expect to see a sizeable group of kids typing in as many dirty words as they can to see what they can “make the dude say.”

Naturally XKCD fans are pleased about the addition. Click here for the xkcd blag. Click here for the original comic.

Be the first to comment!

By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide

Following the recent announcement of updates to the Yahoo! homepage, the company has announced a revamp of the company’s calendar, a feature the company hasn’t changed in the ten years since it launched.

The company announced the changes via its official blog, Yodel, saying that as it stands “a mere 8 million” people are using Yahoo! Calendar every month. Yahoo!’s vice president of Mail says the company feels a workover is necessary and expects that the “time is right for these web-based applications to take off” because the miracle of broadband means we’re practically living on the internet and open standards means all online calendars can be friends and share schedules.

So what can those 8 million people expect with the new calendar? Well for one, it’s compatible with calendars from Google, Apple, Mozilla and Microsoft, which means you’ll be able to share your schedule with colleagues or family and friends who are using another service.

One of the features we actually quite like is that you can add reminders and choose whether you get bugged by email, instant message or text. We also like that you can drag and drop to change the date of events. One of the features we don’t get is why you’d want to add photos from Flickr to your calendar.

To try the beta, click here and to view the beta demo, click here.

Be the first to comment!

By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Hardware

Intel has bought netbook.com and rumour has it the company plans on turning it into a portal for Atom-based netbooks. Currently, visiting netbook.com redirects users to the Intel’s page about the company’s Atom processor.

The amount of netbooks on the market today is getting a little ridiculous. Given that the near ubiquitous Atom processor appears in pretty much all of their product specs, such a problem is confusing for the consumer.

Those who are not well versed in the trends of the consumer electronics industry likely wouldn’t know their arse from their elbow. So for someone who can’t tell the difference between an Eee PC and a Sylviana G (who seem to be moving away from the lucrative lightbulb business to make netbooks), the fact that they all have similar attributes is a nightmare.

While so many are criticizing “me too” products coming from every other company in the business, Intel is busy powering all of them. The customer’s nightmare of which netbook to buy is contrasted by the money it’s making for Intel. For the company dishing out processes, it’s a case of the more the merrier. The idea that Intel may be considering constructing a consumer-friendly website for Atom powered netbooks is not only useful for the consumer, but a good strategy for Intel. The more people who know what a netbooks is, the more people that will want to buy one. The more netbooks, the more processors.

Be the first to comment!

By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Hardware

California based Super Talent Tuesday announced the launch of a new line of mini PCI-Express SSDs that were designed explicitly for the Asus Eee PC.

Available in 16GB, 32GB or 64GB the mini PCI-Express cards give EeePC owners the ability to upgrade the storage on their Asus netbook at pretty cheap prices. The standard EeePC has 20 GB of storage, which, if you’re using the computer for light work such as browsing the web or for writing university assignments, is probably alright. However, anything more than that means you could find yourself lugging the netbook itself and an external to store all your files. Fine for a lot of people, but most buy the Eee so they can carry something light.

Pricing for the SSDs looks pretty decent. All with maximum read/write speeds of 40/15 MB per second, 16 GB will set you back $53, while 32 GB and 64 GB will cost you $79 and $149 respectively. Super Talent say the cards are sampling now but say they’ll go into mass production in November.

One of the big questions asked when the Eee came out was why there wasn’t more space and the reason most people favored was cost. In order to keep the price down, Asus had to decide what would seem like a decent enough amount of space but wouldn’t drive the price into the rough. In reality, these cards would likely be a pretty decent gift for someone who bought an Eee because they liked the fact that it was small and portable, but soon realized that 20 GB wasn’t enough space for all the pictures they can’t stand to take off the computer.

Read 6 comments

By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Guide

Sierra is shutting down a long list of dedicated gaming servers, including No One Lives Forever 2, Homeworld, Caesar IV and more. Is this a sign of financial hard times for Sierra, or standard procedure?

This post over on the Sierra forums shows a list of twenty-one dedicated game servers that Sierra will be shutting down as of November 1. Although the company gives no indication as to why the dedicated servers are coming down, the games listed are rather old, and it’s likely that these PC games have reached the end of their lifespan.

Then again, shutting down the servers may be Activision Blizzard’s way of flushing out old, pre-2004 Sierra Entertainment games. The company, a part of Vivendi Games, endured a complete overhaul that included the loss of 350 jobs. Vivendi’s ultimate plan was to re-launch the Sierra brand with new management, new studios, and new IP. Thus, the new line of products assigned to Sierra included Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot, Scarface and more.

In 2007, parent company Vivendi Games merged with Activision to create Activision Blizzard. While the Sierra branding still exists, currently there are no mentions of returning to pre-2004 Sierra IPs. As for the list of servers going offline, here they are:

1. Alien vs Predator 2
2. Arcanum
3. Caesar IV
4. Dark Reign 2
5. Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom
6. Empire Earth
7. Empire Earth 2
8. Empire Earth: Age of Conquest
9. Ground Control
10. Ground Control2
11. Homeworld
12. Homeworld: Cataclysm
13. NOLF2
14. Red Baron
15. Sanity
16. Star Trek: Armada
17. SWAT3: EE
18. SWAT3: GOTY
19. The Incredible Machine
20. Tribes2
21. Vampire

There’s no question that many gamers will be effected by the shut-down, however it’s disappointing that Sierra did not present final statistics, showing what games are still being played online as compared to when the servers actually went online. These great games lived a good life. Cross your fingers that perhaps one day some of these great IPs will return again.

Be the first to comment!

By Steve Seguin - Source : Tom's Hardware

Microsoft will be launching a new cloud computing service later this month to compete with the Google App Engine.

Last week Steve Ballmer chatted up the notion of a Microsoft-based cloud-computing environment expected for release later this month, calling it “Windows Cloud”. While some, including Ballmer, have described Windows Cloud as an operating system for the Internet, that may not quite be the best way to describe what it actually is. In essence, Windows Cloud is a lot like the Google App Engine and Amazon EC2, none of which are really an operating system.

While “Windows Cloud” is not the final name or codename of the project, Ballmer had said “I bet we’ll call it Windows something.” Cloud computing has become a popular marketing term these days, with the term ’Cloud’ being considered a metaphor for the Internet. According to Wikipedia, cloud computing is described as “a style of computing where IT-related capabilities are provided as a service, allowing users to access technology-enabled services from the Internet.” Several months ago we heard that Microsoft was working on a cloud computing project codenamed Red Dog, which in all likelihood is this “Windows Cloud” we are hearing about now.

One analogy that has been used to describe Windows Cloud is that it is like a grown-up’s version of Facebook’s application platform. Developers are provided the tools and the platform to easily create and host web applications, although unlike with Facebook, applications that use Windows Cloud are much less limited. A better description of Windows Cloud though might be offered by Google with its description of its App Engine, along with a few word substitutions. “[Windows Cloud] lets you run your web applications on [Microsoft]’s infrastructure. [Windows Cloud] applications are easy to build, easy to maintain, and easy to scale as your traffic and data storage needs grow. With [Windows Cloud], there are no servers to maintain: You just upload your application, and it’s ready to serve your users.”

It would seem that there are some preconceived notions that applications using Windows Cloud must be fully server-sided, which does not seem to be the case. One such scenario where Windows Cloud could be used is in the design of a massive multi-player online game. Developers could use Windows Cloud to easily implement an application that manages the players in the game, which scales effortlessly as performance demands vary. Windows Cloud will likely be offered as a service by Microsoft, like the Google App Engine, rather than end-user server software

It is no surprise really that both Google and Microsoft have developed such similar cloud computing services; for years now Microsoft has tried to be more like Google and Google has tried to be more like Microsoft. Although the Google App Engine and Microsoft’s Windows Cloud may turn out to be very similar, there will be differences, but how they will differ exactly is still unknown. It may be that the Google App Engine will focus more heavily on web applications, but that is speculation at this point.

Although Windows Cloud is not yet announced, one known application using Windows Cloud is Microsoft’s Live Mesh, which is currently in open beta. Live Mesh offers a service that keeps information synchronized over the Internet across multiple devices, such PCs, Macs and mobile phones. For those who are familiar with the service called Dropbox, Live Mesh works in a similar fashion, but with greater capabilities. Users using Live Mesh are able to create multiple shared folders, are able leave comments for other folder members and users have 5 GB of free storage available.

Steve Ballmer, when talking about Windows Cloud, also mentioned that a light-weight online version of Microsoft Office was under development. Whether or not this ’web-enhanced’ version of Microsoft Office will be using Windows Cloud is unknown, but it makes for a good example of what should be possible with Windows Cloud. From what we have been told by industry insiders, this online version of Microsoft Office will be far superior to that of other competitive offerings, including Google Docs. We are told that this online version of Microsoft Office will have similar functionality and appearance to that of Microsoft Office 2007, but it will be accessible through a web browser. This online version of Microsoft Office will also be accessible by non-browser means, although we can only speculate about what that means right now.

Windows Cloud will likely be announced at the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) taking place from October 27 to 30, 2008. Also at PDC, it is rumored that there will be a preview of the upcoming version of Microsoft Office.

Read 9 comments

By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Hardware

Gamers will never hear the end of developers and publishers crying that pirates are killing PC gaming sales.

It’s true: the subject has been beaten down to the point where it probably does turn away avid gamers from PC versions simply by the thought of it. With the endless war between creator, publisher and stealer ensuing in earnest, honest consumers either are left to deal with the side effects of anti-piracy embedding itself on their PCs, or suffer from a market that seems to get more scarce at the turn of each month.

Recently Ubisoft Shanghai creative director Michael de Plater fired off his mouth to VG247, all hot under the collar and pointing the death of PC gaming towards the pirates who leech from the industry. He said that the PC version of Tom Clancy’s EndWar would have shipped with the console versions had pirating not been an issue.

“To be honest, if PC wasn’t pirated to hell and back, there’d probably be a PC version coming out the same day as the other two,” he told the website. “But at the moment, if you release the PC version, essentially what you’re doing is letting people have a free version that they rip off instead of a purchased version. Piracy’s basically killing PC.”

Although the PC version will likely ship later on, he seemed rather reluctant to mention that a release date even existed. But his words ring true, echoing the overall attitude towards PC gaming by developers and publishers alike.

In a recent interview with Tom Ohle of CD Projekt (formerly with BioWare before taking on The Witcher), he stressed that perhaps developers and publishers should focus on making great games that people will actually buy rather than worry about pirates. "Everything gets pirated, so it’s not limited to PC gaming," he told Tom’s Games earlier this year. "But really, you just want to put out a game that’s solid for your platform. If you’re making a PC game, make a great PC game and people will buy it. I don’t know of any pirates that buy games. They all seem to be pirates for life, y’know? So why fight it? Just make a good game that people want to pay for."

The problem now is that PC games are becoming the minority of the industry. Recently Wal-Mart scaled back its PC software stock altogether, and retail outlets such as GameStop and EB Games have limited the offerings to just a few racks. Already it seems like the PC market is steadily going down hill, and with anti-piracy software sneaking its way on consumers’ PCs as seen with the recently released Spore, gamers who once delighted in picking up a PC game might look towards the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 consoles instead

Yes, it’s the same old speech: tired, worn out and ready to be put out to pasture. It will continue to be in the forefront of PC gaming until the issue is resolved, whether publishers give up on the genre altogether or something is devised that will make everyone happy. Until then, PC gamers will have to dig in and wait out the storm.

Read 82 comments

By Steve Seguin - Source : Tom's Guide

Asus has admitted that Eee Box PCs released in Japan last week were infected with a virus. So far it would seem that the incident only affects systems sold in Japan, but that fact has not yet been confirmed by Asus.

The virus is reported to be the W32/Usbalex worm, which comes as a hidden file on the D: drive; a partition of the 80 GB hard drive. The virus apparently is contained in a file named recycled.exe, which is triggered to run when the D: drive is opened, thanks to the use of an autorun.inf file.

Once executed, the virus attempts to copy itself to the main C: drive partition and any other connected drives, such as USB flash drives or networked mapped drives. According to Symantec, the virus only affects Windows computers, has a low damage level and is easily removed. It is not yet known how the virus found its way onto these computers and whether or not the infection was intentional.

The Asus Eee Box PC is considered to be a nettop, which are essentially inexpensive Internet-centric desktop PCs. The particular model of Eee Box PC that is known to be infected is the Eee Box B202, which uses the Windows XP Home operating system. The system also features an Intel Atom N270 processor, 1 GB of memory, gigabit Ethernet, 80 GB hard drive, 802.11n and DVI-out. Nettops do not offer high-performance, but they are quickly becoming popular due to their low price, small size and power efficiency.

Be the first to comment!

By Michael Brown - Source : Tom's Guide

Why are Korean digital media player manufacturers so much more open than their U.S. counterparts when it comes to supporting popular audio and video formats?

Take iRiver’s new Spinn MP4 Player, for instance. This device supports not only the MP3 and WMA audio codecs, but also Ogg Vorbis, Monkey’s Audio (a proprietary lossless codec), and FLAC (an open-source lossless codec).

In comparison, Apple’s iPod supports only MP3 (as well as AAC, with or without DRM; Apple Lossless; and WAV; codecs the Spinn does not support), and Microsoft’s Zune supports only MP3 and WMA (as well as AAC, WMA Pro, and WMA Lossless; codecs the Spinn also does not support).

The Spinn is named for its unique spindle-based control mechanism mounted on the right side of the device. You can navigate through player’s graphical user interface either by twisting the spindle with your thumb or by tapping the 3.3-inch active-matrix OLED touch-screen.

Since OLEDs (the acronym stands for organic light-emitting diode) are naturally luminescent, they don’t require a battery-consuming backlight, unlike the LCDs used in most portable digital media players. The touch-screen uses a haptic interface, which means it reacts to vibrations.

In addition to the audio formats listed above, the Spinn has a built-in FM radio and can record either from the radio or built-in microphone. The player supports video in the MPEG4, WMV9, and XVID formats, and digital photos in BMP, JPEG, PNG, and GIF formats.

The feature list is impressive, but the Spinn had better sound—and look—utterly fantastic if it’s to justify iRiver’s lofty pricing: The lesser of the two models comes with just 4GB of flash memory and is priced at $249.99; the 8GB model is expected to fetch $289.99—$60 more than Apple’s 8GB iPod Touch.

Be the first to comment!

By Steve Seguin - Source : Tom's Hardware

Acer unveiled on Wednesday its first WiMax-enabled notebooks in support of the first WiMax wireless network in the United States - Baltimore’s XOHM network. The Intel Centrino 2-based Aspire 4930-6862 and Aspire 6930-6771 notebooks are the first to use Intel’s new WiMax/Wi-Fi module, previously codenamed Echo Peak.

The Acer Aspire 4930-6862 and Aspire 6930-6771 both seem to be well rounded notebooks and share similar system specifications. The only apparent difference between the two is that the Aspire 4930-6862 features a 14.1-inch WXGA (1280 x 800) LCD display, while the Aspire 6930-6771 features a larger 16-inch WXGA (1366 x 768) LCD display.

Both notebooks come with an Intel Core 2 Duo T7350 processor, running at 2.0 GHz, with 3 MB of L2 cache, a 1066 MHz FSB and a TDP of 35 W. Graphics are powered by the Intel GMA 4500HMHD, which should be enough for most users, although gamers will want to look elsewhere. Also included is 3GB of memory, a 320 GB 5400 RPM hard drive, a DVD drive, a 5-in-1 media card reader, a webcam and Windows Vista Premium. Last but not least, both notebooks feature an Intel WiMax/Wi-Fi Link 5050 module, offering WAN/802.11a/b/g/n connectivity. There is no word on battery life or weight, which is usually not a good sign.

The Aspire 4930-6862 and Aspire 6930-6771 will be available through Newegg.com and Tigerdirect.com for a price of $899.99, although it seems they will be limited to the residents of Baltimore. WiMax is a wireless broadband technology, offering average downlink speeds of about 3 Mbps and uplink speeds of about 2 Mbps.

Unlike with Wi-Fi, WiMax has a greater range, making it possible to turn an entire city into essentially one giant wireless Hot Spot. WiMax connectivity is currently available in many countries, although in the United States WiMax has only recently been introduced. XOHM currently supports a WiMax wireless network in parts of Baltimore, charging around $30 a month for access, with service in more cities soon to come.

Read 4 comments