Tech Blog

[#1]

Apple
Competition heats up in the Tablet market:

Competing tablet makers are reevaluating their pricing strategy in the wake of Apple's iPad announcement, according to a rumor in the Digitimes. The article cites the usual unnamed sources in claiming that companies like ASUS and MSI had expected Apple's iPad to debut at $1,000, and were planning to undercut that price by 20 to 30 percent with their own, presumably Android-based offerings. But with the iPad base model coming in at $499—the price of a decent netbook—the companies are now going to have to compete on something besides price.

Apple Now Lets You Preview iPhone Apps In Your Browser

This morning, Apple activated the iTunes Preview feature for iPhone / iPod Touch applications in addition.

To see this for yourself, open any direct link to an iPhone app (example) in your favorite Web browser.

Microsoft
Windows Phone 7 Details Emerge From The Depths

The User Interface is based upon codename “METRO”. It will be very similar to the Zune HD User Interface with a complete revamp of the “Start” screen. The UI is “Very Clean”, “Soulful” and “Alive”

Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure

On April 15 we will discontinue the Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox v1 games playable on Xbox 360 and Xbox Originals. I want to start by saying this isn’t a decision we made lightly, but after careful consideration, it is clear this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox LIVE community.

Google to send Internet Explorer 6 users packing come March

Although one might think this is a reaction to the Internet Explorer's vulnerabilities notably exploited in the recent series of Chinese-based attacks against Google and 30 other tech companies, which Microsoft has since patched, the truth is Google has already done this with many of its other products. Google's Orkut and YouTube started phasing out IE6 support about six months ago and Google has been using Gmail to convert IE6 users to Chrome for over a year.

Google
We will bring books back to life

...the remainder of the world's books – indeed the majority – are out of print but in copyright. They are hard for people to find unless they know exactly what they are looking for, and it's very difficult for copyright holders to exploit them commercially. Although copies may be available in libraries, they are effectively dead to the wider world.

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Your Turn
So, did I miss anything? What online story really got you going this week? Link to it in the comments!

[#2]

The XBox Live announcement is a bit of a shock. Sure, I've long since stopped playing Hao 2 and Phantom Dust, so there's no issue there, but it reminds us all that there's a hard limit to the life of the stuff you're buying now. All that Rock Band DLC you bought? All those Live Arcade games you're playing? How long will those last before Microsoft finally decides to pull the plug on them?

I mean, if my NES breaks down, I can get another one. When LIVE disappears, all those games will be irreversibly gone. ...Unless publishers release the same games on the newer platforms for even more money.

[#3]

Heh, Tanarus, you're a cynic, but you are correct. That content lives on your device at the whim of the publisher. DLC or virtual objects only exist as long as the platform they were created for exists.

When that closes shop, so too does your real-dollar investment in that virtual object.

As well, these virtual objects exist at the whim of the publisher -- remember when that big online bookstore named after a south-american river nuked Animal Farm and 1984 from the eReaders, retroactively? These folk had thought they had purchased an eBook, and in many cases had annotated the eBook with related notes.

Poof, gone. Everything, at the whim of the platform owner. True, there was some discussion as to whether the original publisher had rights to the property, but that's not the end-user's problem, it's the distributor and platform owners.

[#4]

I don't see what the big deal is.  People will no longer be able to play original XBox games online.  It's not like they won't work at all anymore.

Even if LIVE service is discontinued after a period for the 360, everything that you have on your HDD will still be able to be used.  DLC that you bought doesn't have to be used online.  You just won't be able to play online with it anymore.  While that prospect sucks a bit, it doesn't mean the stuff you have will be useless.  Every game out there that has an awesome online component to it generally has a good single-player/co-op mode to it as well.  Those will still be able to be enjoyed, and games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band will still be able to be used with four people in the room. 

LIVE is not the be all and end all of the XBox experience.  Those people who buy games ONLY for the online play will either have to adjust or move on, but the rest of us who take advantage of all the features a game has will be just fine

JB

[#5]

To add, my comment about DLC applies to things like game add-ons in single player games (like Fallout 3 and Borderlands).  DLC for RB and Gh will still be able to be used as well.  Map-packs for online multiplayer on the other hand will become useless, so your comment isn't without merit, Tanarus.  But it's certainly not all-encompassing

JB

[#6]

Yeah, sorta thought about that after I posted. I think the point I meant to make was more along the lines of, "LIVE dies, you still have your DLC. LIVE dies and your 360 HDD goes? You won't be able to get any of that stuff back."

Mind you, that still won't stop me from trying and buying Live Arcade games... >_>

[#7]

Much like anything else, a back-up is definitely recommended.  It's a bit more difficult with the XBox than a computer, as only one HDD can be hooked up at any given time to one console.  And as long as LIVE is up and running (which I expect it will for at least another 5-8 years), you can re-download items you have spent points on should something happen.

And for all of us hardcore video game nuts, by the time LIVE is shut down for XBox 360 games, we'll have moved onto the next level and won't miss playing those older games online (though I'll still love playing offline - there are some fantastic games out there!).

JB

[#8]

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