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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 15 Issue 05
Volume 15, Issue 05 Atari Online News, Etc. February 1, 2013
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2013
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
Fred Horvat
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1505 02/01/13
~ Grand Theft Auto Delay ~ People Are Talking! ~ Google To Appease EU!
~ Twitter Has 2nd Outage ~ Steam for Linux in Beta! ~ No Wii U Price Cuts!
~ THQ Is Dead and Gone! ~ Microsoft Patent Suit! ~ Hack Threat Warning!
~ Google Hacking Prizes! ~ Facebook To Save Gay Dog ~ Office 365 Released!
-* How China Justifies Attack! *-
-* CNN Temporarily Blacked Out in China *-
-* Apple: New iPad Has Double Storage Capacity *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
At the moment, it's the first of February and we currently have no snow on
the ground! Note, I said currently. We've had snow; and we've had arctic
temperatures lately, but it's nice to not see snow for a change!
I don't have much to say this week, hence the weather report. I could talk
some politics, but it's the same old thing in Washington for the time-being.
So, let's get to the news and this week's issue, shall we!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Elected Officials Continue to Blame Games For Violence!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Nintendo Rules Out Wii U Price Cuts!
THQ Is Dead And Gone!
And much more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Elected Officials Continue to Blame Games For Violence
Gamers have no credibility in this argument.
Update: Senator Yees chief-of-staff, Adam Keigwin, responded to our
inquiry with a phone call. He wanted to note that Senator Yees choice of
words wasn't the best: It wasnt the most artful thing he ever said. He
also said that, although the Senator was quoted accurately, his statement
was in the context of the gaming industry; the quote was not directed at
individual gamers.
His chief-of-staff noted that he himself is a gamer, as well as other
staffers in the Senators office, and even the Senators children.
In short, Yee feels that the gaming industry doesnt have credibility, but
rather a vested interest in continuing the status quo, as violent games
are successful. As such, their position isnt relevant in this debate.
Rather, the Senator wants to know whats the science? behind any
correlation between violent games and violent acts.
Our original story is below.
In the wake of the tragic shooting at an elementary school in Newtown,
Connecticut, politicians from across the spectrum have been sounding off
on what they think the various causes of violence in the United States
are. President Obama himself requested Congress fund a study on violent
video games, otherwise leaving the entertainment industries on their own
to continue unabated.
But that hasnt stopped other vocal politicians from getting in on the
action with a finger squarely pointed at violent video games.
In a piece in the San Francisco Chronicle, California State Senator
Leland Yee (Democrat) was quoted as stating: Gamers have got to just
quiet down. Gamers have no credibility in this argument. This is all about
their lust for violence and the industrys lust for money. This is a
billion-dollar industry. This is about their self-interest.
Leland Yee is perhaps best known in gaming circles for AB1179, a
California state bill written in 2005 and designed to require violent
games to be labeled as specified [in the bill] and would prohibit the sale
or rental of those violent video games, as defined, to minors. The bill
would provide that a person who violates the act shall be liable in an
amount of up to $1,000 for each violation. The bill passed the state
legislature and was signed by the governor, but overturned by the Supreme
Court of the United States.
Newly-elected Connecticut Senator Christopher Murphy (Democrat) is also
getting in on the act. As The Washington Examiner points out (via
GamePolitics), Murphy stated (in the video below) that theres a question
as to whether [the Sandy Hook shooter] would have driven in his mothers
car in the first place if he didnt have access to a weapon that he saw in
video games that gave him a false sense of courage about what he could do
that day.
In the United States, the content of video games regardless of how
violent or offensive is considered to be protected under the First
Amendment, as is the case with other media. The Amendment reads, simply:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press; or the right of the people to peacefully assemble, and
to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
As noted above, the Supreme Court overturned Yees violent video game law,
citing the First Amendment. As pointed out by the Chronicle, the majority
opinion read, in part: Like protected books, plays, and movies, [video
games] communicate ideas through familiar literary devices and features
distinctive to the medium
Any demonstrated effects [from video games]
are both small and indistinguishable from effects produced by other
media.
Nintendo Rules Out Wii U Price Cuts
$300 AND RUN: Nintendo's president ruled out price cuts for its new Wii U
as a way to boost sales, even after a subpar performance during the
holiday shopping season. The Wii U sells for about $300 in the U.S.
RISE OF THE PHONE: Game machine sales have suffered as consumers play more
games on smartphones and tablets.
PROFIT PROMISE: Nintendo expects an operating loss of 20 billion yen, or
$220 million, in the year ending March 2013. But Satoru Iwata made a
"commitment" that Nintendo would post operating profit of more than 100
billion yen in the year ending March 2014.
Sony Likely To Unveil Next PlayStation on Feb. 20
Sony is poised to unveil the next PlayStation game console on Feb. 20, a
date that would give the Japanese electronics company a head start over
Microsoft's expected announcement of an Xbox 360 successor in June.
Sony Corp. invited journalists to an evening press event in New York City.
The company has not said what it plans to show off, but signs indicate
that it'll be the PlayStation 4. Sony would only say that it "will
deliver and speak about the future PlayStation business."
Such a console would follow Nintendo's Wii U, which launched last fall,
and precede Microsoft Corp.'s next Xbox game console, which will likely be
unveiled in June at the E3 video game conference in Los Angeles.
Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said it's a "super smart" move for Sony to
pre-empt Microsoft. This way, the PlayStation 4 will get the spotlight
without much competition.
The currently available PlayStation 3 went on sale in 2006, a year after
the Xbox 360. But Xbox 360 has been more popular, largely because of its
robust online service, Xbox Live, which allows people to play games with
others online. The Wii is still the top seller among the three consoles,
though it has lost momentum in recent years.
The Wii U was the first of the newest generation of video game consoles to
launch, but sales so far have been disappointing. Nintendo Co.'s
president, Satoru Iwata, acknowledged recently that the Wii U and the
handheld Nintendo 3Ds didn't do well over the holidays, but he ruled out
a price cut for the new console.
All three console makers are trying to position their devices as
entertainment hubs that go beyond games as they try to stay relevant in
the age of smartphones and tablet computers. Such hubs can deliver TV
shows, movies and music. The Wii U has a TV-watching feature called TVii.
With it, the console's touch-screen GamePad controller becomes a remote
control for your TV and set-top box. TVii groups your favorite shows and
sports events together, whether it's on live TV or an Internet video
service such as Hulu Plus. And it offers water-cooler moments you can
chat about on social media.
THQ Is Dead And Gone
We've been covering the ongoing THQ apocalypse all day, and the
publisher's demise is now official. Follow the links below to catch up on
individual news stories surrounding the future of THQ.
CEO Jason Rubin sent out the following letter to all THQ employees today:
To All THQ Employees:
We now have the answers we've been seeking through our financial
restructuring and Chapter 11 case. While much will be written, here are
the facts of the bids and auction that occurred:
Yesterday morning, we received a competing bid for the operating business,
along with Clearlake's offer, and numerous offers for separate assets.
During an auction process that lasted over 22 hours, the final conclusion
was that the separate-asset bids would net more than a single buyer for
the majority of the company.
Shortly, we will present the results to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, which
must concur with our assessment.
The proposed sales of multiple assets is as follows :
Sega agreed to purchase Relic
Koch Media agreed to purchase Volition and Metro
Crytek agreed to purchase Homefront
Take 2 agreed purchase Evolve
Ubisoft agreed to purchase Montreal and South Park
We expect these sales to close this week.
Some assets, including our publishing businesses and Vigil, along with
some other intellectual properties are not included in the sale
agreements. They will remain part of the Chapter 11 case. We will make
every effort to find appropriate buyers, if possible.
What this means for employees
We expect that most employees of the entities included in the sale will be
offered employment by the new owners. However, we cannot say what these
owners may intend, and there will likely be some positions that will not
be needed under the new ownership. You should receive notice this week or
early next week if the new owners intend to extend employment to you.
Please note that the terms of your new employment, including pay and
benefits, may be different from the current terms of your employment with
THQ.
If you are an employee of an entity that is not included in the sale, we
regret that your position will end. A small number of our headquarters
staff will continue to be employed by THQ beyond January 25 to assist
with the transition. THQ has sufficient resources to pay these employees
for work going forward, and we will be contacting these employees
immediately to ensure their continued employment during this transition
period. We are requesting the ability to offer certain severance pay to
minimize disruption for employees of non-included entities as they
determine the next steps in their careers.
We know you will have many questions about this news. We'll be meeting
tomorrow when we return to talk through this announcement and to answer
any questions you have. You will receive a benefits fact sheet and FAQs
with answers to some questions that may be on your mind. Please review
these materials closely.
The work that you all have done as part of the THQ family is imaginative,
creative, artistic and highly valued by our loyal gamers. We are proud of
what we have accomplished despite today's outcome.
It has been our privilege to work alongside the entire THQ team. While the
company will cease to exist, we are heartened that the majority of our
studios and games will continue under new ownership. We were hoping that
the entire company would remain intact, but we expect to hear good news
from each of the separate entities that will be operating as part of new
organizations.
For those THQ employees who are part of entities that are not included in
the sale, we are confident that the talent you have displayed as part of
THQ will be recognized as you take the next steps in your career.
Thank you all for your dedication and for sharing your talent with the
THQ team. We wish you the best of luck and hope you will keep in touch.
Sincerely,
Brian Farrell
Chief Executive Officer
Jason Rubin
President
Far from surprising news, but it's still sad to see a longtime publisher
go under like this. Also of note is Vigil's absence. Signs as of right now
point to the Darksiders developer ceasing to exist. We'll continue to
update as news rolls in.
Take-Two Delays Launch of Grand Theft Auto V Video Game
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc said on Thursday it has pushed back the
launch of the latest game from its hit "Grand Theft Auto" franchise to
September 17 from its previously announced release window of spring 2013.
Shares of Take-Two were down six percent at $12.31 in early afternoon
trading on the Nasdaq.
The delay was to allow Take-Two's Rockstar Games studio, which develops
"Grand Theft Auto" games, additional development time, the video game
company said.
"Grand Theft Auto V" will be released worldwide for Microsoft Corp's
Xbox and Sony Corp's PlayStation3 game consoles on September 17, the
company said.
The action-adventure game lets players complete criminal missions in
urban settings. The franchise's last title "Grand Theft Auto IV" has
sold over 25 million units since its release in 2008.
Grand Theft Auto V is set in a fictional city inspired by present-day
Southern California.
The delayed launch pushes earnings from Grand Theft Auto V sales from
June to September, Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia said. The new title
of the massively popular franchise has the potential to rake in close to
$1 billion in retail sales and sell 15 to 20 million units, according to
Bhatia.
"It adds to their development cost and it's launching closer to what we
think is going to be a period where new consoles will be coming out and
there will be more competition from other titles," Bhatia said.
The video game industry has been struggling to cope with flagging sales
over the last year. Analysts say consumers are holding back from buying
hardware and software as they wait for rumored next-generation versions
of Sony Corp's PlayStation and Microsoft Corp's Xbox, expected later
this year.
The delay could mean Take-Two is possibly creating a "cross-generation"
title that could work on current and next-generation consoles, said
analyst Mike Hickey of National Alliance Capital Markets.
"Remember, Xbox signed an exclusive deal with Rockstar at the beginning of
the prior cycle for episodic content, and Sony provided exclusive
resources for the completion of Grand Theft Auto IV," Hickey said.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
CNN Temporarily Blacked Out in China During Segment on NYT Hacking
Chinese censors temporarily blocked CNN International's broadcasting
signal Thursday night, during a segment about Chinese hackers
infiltrating the New York Times' computer network, a CNN spokeswoman told
TheWrap.
On Wednesday night, the Times reported that it had suffered four months
of persistent cyber attacks after publishing a front-page story about the
wealth amassed by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao's family.
CNNI reporter Hala Gorani aired a segment on her show about the hacking
on Thursday. Her entire six-minute segment was blacked out in China.
It wasn't the first time CNN faced the wrath of Beijing's censors. Last
May, Anderson Cooper's report on a blind dissident was blocked in the
country.
Nor is it the first time CNN has been shunned by the Chinese.
In 2009, a 23-year-old student name Rao Jin started a website called
Anti-CNN.com, on which he skewered the network and other Western media
outlets for critical coverage of the Chinese government's actions in
Tibet.
How China Justifies Its Cyber Attacks
Suppose that the United States government learned that a foreign newspaper
planned to run a series of (true) articles that, in the judgment of its
intelligence establishment, had the potential to create great collateral
damage and hurt the ability of the president to prosecute its agenda.
Any government in that position with that mindset would almost certainly
order its intelligence apparatus to try to obtain advance notice about
the content of the article as well as information that could be used to
discredit the authors.
Although the U.S. government now regularly trolls through the
transactional records of reporters to ferret out leaks (and also to
potentially chill serious reporting on national security issues," the
U.S. is not China in many ways; it would be hard to see how a president
could order a cyber attack to protect his family from a reputational
smear. But the political system in China is not a representative
democracy; there is no tradition of press freedom; the government is
much more fragile. So IF you're an intelligence analyst, it is, from
your perspective, quite rational to New York Times expose about the
President's ill-begotten money as a legitimate threat to the country.
What fascinates me about the exploits of officially sanctioned Chinese
cyber attacks is how limited they are. The Times found that the hackers
were interested in and only interested in what the Times would say about
the Wen family. "Experts found no evidence that the intruders used the
passwords to seek information that was not related to the Wen family."
Read that again. Based on what our government tells us, we think the
Chinese government's hacking efforts are indiscriminate. But they're not.
The net is sometimes wide, but the hackers seem to play by their own
peculiar set of rules. If a person has information that pertains to the
security environment as perceived by the Chinese government, then
they're fair game for computer network attack.
The United States plays by these informal rules too. Our NSA has probably
broken into the e-mail accounts of journalists and human rights activists
in other countries. The lawyers who supervise these covert operations
probably make sure to place limitations on what our cyber-spies are able
to gather and collect, all in the name of limiting both the footprint of
the attack and the self-inspection that comes with snooping on anyone's
e-mail.
Chinese cyber espionage is scary. It's also not surprising. The U.S. cannot
easily claim the moral high ground.
U.S. Government Warns of Hack Threat to Network Gear
The Department of Homeland Security urged computer users on Tuesday to
disable a common networking technology feature, after researchers warned
that hackers could exploit flaws to gain access to tens of millions of
vulnerable devices.
The U.S. government's Computer Emergency Readiness Team, on its website,
advised consumers and businesses to disable a feature known as Universal
Plug and Play or UPnP, and some other related features that make devices
from computers to printers accessible over the open Internet.
UPnP, a communications protocol, is designed to let networks identify and
communicate with equipment, reducing the amount of work it takes to set
up networks. Dave Marcus, chief architect of advanced research and threat
intelligence with Intel's McAfee unit, said hackers would have a "field
day" once the vulnerability in network devices is exposed.
"Historically, these are amongst the last to be updated and protected
properly which makes them a gold mine for potential abuse and
exploitation," said Marcus, who advises government agencies and
corporations on protections against sophisticated attacks.
Disabling UPnP once networks have already been set up, will have little
impact on the operation of the devices.
The new security bugs were initially brought to the attention of the
government by computer security company Rapid7, in Boston, which released
a report on the problem on Tuesday. The company said it discovered
between 40 million and 50 million devices that were vulnerable to attack
due to three separate sets of problems that the firm's researchers have
identified with the UPnP standard.
The flaws could allow hackers to access confidential files, steal
passwords, take full control over PCs as well as remotely access devices
such as webcams, printers and security systems, according to Rapid7.
Rapid7 has alerted electronics makers about the problem through the CERT
Coordination Center, a group at the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering
Institute that helps researchers report vulnerabilities to affected
companies.
"This is the most pervasive bug I've ever seen," said HD Moore, chief
technology officer for Rapid7. He discussed the research with Reuters late
on Monday.
CERT in turn has tried to contact the more than 200 companies whose
products Rapid7 have identified as being vulnerable to attack, including
Belkin, D-Link, Cisco Systems Inc's Linksys division and Netgear.
Linksys said it is aware of the problem. "We recommend Linksys customers
visit our website to understand if their home router is affected, and
learn how to disable UPnP through the user interface to avoid being
impacted," Linksys said in a statement.
Belkin, D-Link and Netgear did not respond to requests for comment.
Chris Wysopal, chief technology officer of security software firm
Veracode, said he believed that publication of Rapid7's findings would
draw widespread attention to the still emerging area of UPnP security,
prompting other security researchers to search for more bugs in UPnP.
"This definitely falls into the scary category," said Wysopal, who
reviewed Rapid7's findings ahead of their publication. "There is going to
be a lot more research on this. And the follow-on research could be a lot
scarier."
Andres Andreu, chief architect at networking security company Bayshore
Networks said they expect an increase in cybercrime as hackers begin to
figure out ways to take advantage of the newly identified
vulnerabilities.
"Simple targets such as home routers now become targets of greater
interest," he said.
Moore said that there were bugs in most of the devices that Rapid7 tested
and that device manufacturers will need to release software updates to
remedy the problems.
He said that was unlikely to happen quickly.
In the meantime, he advised computer users to quickly use a free tool
released by Rapid7 to identify vulnerable gear, then disable the UPnP
functionality in that equipment.
Moore said hackers have not widely exploited the UPnP vulnerabilities to
launch attacks, but both Moore and Wysopal expected they may start to do
so after the findings are publicized.
Still, Moore said he decided to disclose the flaws in a bid to pressure
equipment makers to fix the bugs and generally pay more attention to
security.
People who own devices with UPnP enabled may not be aware of it because
new routers, printers, media servers, Web cameras, storage drives and
"smart" or Web-connected TVs are often shipped with that functionality
turned on by default.
"You can't stay silent about something like this," he said. "These devices
seem to have had the same level of core security for decades. Nobody seems
to really care about them."
Veracode's Wysopal said that some hackers have likely already exploited
the flaws to launch attacks, but in relatively small numbers, choosing
victims one at a time.
"If they are going after executives and government officials, then they
will probably look for their home networks and exploit this
vulnerability," he said.
Google Moves Closer To Resolving EU Investigation
Google Inc has offered to change some of its business practices to appease
European competition authorities and avoid billions of dollars in fines.
The European Commission said on Friday it had received detailed proposals
from the world's most popular search engine, which has been under
investigation for two years following complaints from more than a dozen
companies, including Microsoft, that Google has used its market power to
block rivals.
If the Commission accepts the proposals under its settlement procedure, it
would mean no fine and no finding of wrongdoing against Google.
Companies found to be in breach of EU rules can be fined as much as 10
percent of global turnover, which could mean up to $4 billion if there is
no resolution in Google's case.
EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia declined to give details of
the proposal but told Reuters: "We are analyzing it".
Google spokesman Al Verney said the group continues to work cooperatively
with the commission.
Google's offer includes labeling its own services in search results to
make them stand out from rival services and also imposing fewer
restrictions on advertisers, according to people familiar with the
matter, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the
issue.
They said the proposed deal does not mention the way Google enforces its
patents against competitors as the company has already agreed with the
U.S. Federal Trade Commission that it would no longer seek sales bans
when suing companies which infringe on key patents.
The FTC ended its investigation last month without any action, handing
Google a major victory.
Google ranks first in Internet searching in Europe, with an 82 percent
market share, versus 67 percent in the United States, according to
research firm comScore.
Lobbying group ICOMP, whose members include complainants Microsoft,
Foundem, Hot-map, Streetmap and Nextag, said any solution should include
measures ensuring that rivals could compete on a level playing field with
Google.
The FairSearch coalition, whose members include online travel agencies
and complainants Expedia and TripAdvisor, said a third-party monitor
should be appointed to ensure that Google lives up to any promises.
The Commission, which acts as competition regulator in the 27-member
European Union, is now expected to seek feedback from Google's rivals and
other interested parties, before launching an official market test.
The Commission has said Google may have favored its own search services
over those of rivals, and copied travel and restaurant reviews from
competing sites without permission.
The EU executive is also concerned the company may have put restrictions
on advertisers and advertising to prevent them from moving their online
campaigns to competing search engines.
Microsoft Sued Over Search-related Patents
A lawsuit filed on Thursday alleges Microsoft Corp has been infringing
patents that allow Internet search engines to most effectively place
advertisements.
I/P Engine Inc said in the suit filed in Manhattan federal court that
Microsoft uses search technology based on inventions by two employees of
I/P Engine's parent company, Vringo Inc.
Microsoft uses the technology in systems that generate advertisements and
associated links for users of the world's largest software company's
search engine, Bing, the lawsuit said.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A
spokesman for Vringo declined to comment.
In November 2012, a Virginia jury awarded I/P Engine approximately $30
million in damages after it found that companies including Google Inc and
AOL Inc had infringed the same patents that are at issue in the Microsoft
suit.
Following I/P Engine's announcement of the verdict, however, its parent
company's stock slid by as much as 10 percent. The company had been
seeking damages of at least $696 million.
In the lawsuit filed Thursday, I/P Engine claimed that Microsoft has
willfully infringed its patents. I/P Engine said that one of its patents
was referenced by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office in 2003 when the
agency rejected a similar Microsoft patent application.
In patent cases, a party can win higher damages if infringement is found
to be willful.
Vringo shares were last up 10 cents, or 3.2 percent, at $3.24 in midday
trade on the American Stock Exchange.
Microsoft shares were down 30 cents, or 1.1 percent, at $27.55 on the
Nasdaq.
The case is I/P Engine, Inc v. Microsoft Corp, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York, No. 12-688.
Twitter Has 2nd Outage in a Month
For the second time this month, Twitter has experienced an outage.
While service has been restored, many experienced issues accessing
Twitter.com and Twitter's third-party mobile applications earlier this
morning.
Twitter's new video sharing service, Vine, also experienced a service
disruption.
"Some users may be experiencing issues accessing Twitter. Our engineers
are currently working to resolve the issue," Twitter posted on its status
blog at 10:25 a.m. ET on Thursday.
After resolving the issues Twitter said that users "experienced
intermittent issues" for close to three hours. "This incident has now been
resolved. We apologize to users who were affected by this, and we're
working to ensure that similar issues do not occur," it said.
Just 10 days earlier, on Inauguration day, Twitter had the same issue.
Many were unable to send 140-character messages or get to the site.
Twitter used to be infamous for such periodic outages and the appearance
of the "fail whale" error page, which many are seeing today. It has
substantially improved its server capacity in the past two years. However,
in July there were similar widespread outages.
Google Offers $3.14159 Million in Hacking Prizes
Whoever successfully cracks Google's Chrome operating system at this
year's Pwnium hacking contest will walk away with a piece of the pi.
Google, which had previously offered totals of $1 million, then $2
million, in prizes for successful hacks, is upping the ante at the
contest, to be held in March at the CanSecWest security conference in
Vancouver, B.C. The company is offering a total of $3.14159 million in
cash rewards.
That's a nod to pi, math's most intriguing irrational number, and to the
added challenges that come with cracking Google's ever-improving security
measures.
It's unlikely that any single hacker will get the whole pi. Instead, many
contestants could win $110,000 for each temporary compromise of Chrome OS,
or $150,000 for each compromise that survives a system reboot.
All exploits must be delivered via webpages on a basic-model Samsung 550
Chromebook using a Wi-Fi connection.
"We believe these larger rewards reflect the additional challenge involved
with tackling the security defenses of Chrome OS, compared to traditional
operating systems," Google Chrome developer Chris Evans wrote on the
official Chromium blog.
Google's previous two Pwnium contests, last March at CanSecWest 2012 and
last October at the Hack in the Box conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
were for successful exploits of its Chrome browser, not the similarly
named OS.
Google created Pwnium last year as an alternative to the longer-running
Pwn2Own contest, also held at CanSecWest, after Pwn2Own temporarily
changed its rules so that successful crackers no longer needed to reveal
their methods.
That change was a bonus for commercial hackers such as the French company
VUPEN, which specializes in keeping exploits secret and selling the
information only to the highest bidders.
This year, the full-disclosure rules are back in effect at Pwn2Own, and
Google is back as a co-sponsor, along with Hewlett-Packard.
But since the Chrome browser is one of the targets at Pwn2Own, Google's
having the Pwnium participants across the hall take aim at the company's
new operating system instead.
Unlike Pwn2Own, Pwnium doesnt require contestants to use their real
names. A teenager known only as Pinkie Pie, after the "My Little Pony"
character, has won $60,000 at each Pwnium contest held so far.
Google touts Chrome OS as the most secure operating system on the market.
Yet its market share is so small that the OS hasn't truly been
field-tested in the real world.
It's noteworthy, however, that the Pwn2Own prize for cracking the Chrome
browser is $100,000, as opposed to $60,000 for Mozilla Firefox and
$65,000 for Apple Safari.
Cracking Internet Explorer 10 running on Windows 8 yields $100,000 at
Pwn2Own; IE 9 on Windows 7 is worth $75,000.
Pwn2Own winners also get to keep the contest-provided laptops used in
their successful hacks.
The Pwnium rules don't mention if winners can keep their Chromebooks, but
since Google sells the machines for a relatively inexpensive $450, the
company probably won't mind.
Google has never had to pay out the full amount offered for Chrome browser
cracks, and it's unlikely that it'll be writing checks totaling $3.15149
million for the operating-system hacks. But the Pwnium publicity probably
won't hurt efforts to drum up buzz about Chrome OS.
Microsoft Releases Office 365 Home Premium
Microsoft Corp. today announced worldwide availability of Office 365 Home
Premium, a reinvention of the companys flagship Office product line for
consumers. Office 365 Home Premium is a cloud service designed for busy
households and people juggling ever-increasing work and family
responsibilities. The new offering includes the latest and most complete
set of Office applications; works across up to five devices, including
Windows tablets, PCs and Macs; and comes with extra SkyDrive storage and
Skype calling all for US$99.99 for an annual subscription, the
equivalent of US$8.34 per month.
Todays launch of Office 365 Home Premium marks the next big step in
Microsofts transformation to a devices and services business, said
Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. This is so much more than just another
release of Office. This is Office reinvented as a consumer cloud service
with all the full-featured Office applications people know and love,
together with impressive new cloud and social benefits.
Microsoft also announced it will now deliver many new features and
services to the cloud first, transforming the companys traditional
three-year release cycle. Now, new features and services stream to
subscribers as soon as they are ready, keeping subscribers always up to
date while eliminating the hassles of upgrading.
This is a major leap forward, said Kurt DelBene, president of the
Microsoft Office Division. Peoples needs change rapidly, and Office 365
Home Premium will change with them.
Simultaneously, Microsoft today released Office 365 University for college
or university students, faculty and staff at a price of just US$79.99 for
a four-year subscription the equivalent of US$1.67 per month. Globally,
the company also released updated versions of the traditional Office
suite: Office Home and Student 2013, Office Home and Business 2013 and
Office Professional 2013. Office 365 for businesses will be released
globally with new capabilities on Feb. 27.
In a recent global survey,* nearly 60 percent of people said they dont
have the time to do the things they want to do, and more than 80 percent
said they could save one or more hours a day if they were better
organized. Office 365 Home Premium is designed to help people be more
productive from virtually anywhere and find the flexibility to do the
things they want.
Between kids and career, Im never completely at home or completely at
work and thanks to technology, that suits me just fine, said Jen
Singer, an author, blogger and mom of two teen boys. With Office 365
Home Premium, I can work around my kids schedules, so I can drive the
soccer carpool, coordinate errands while at a doctors office and still
hit my deadlines at work. And, with one subscription for everyone in my
family, its an absolute steal.
To help people find more time to do the things they want, Microsoft is
introducing Time to 365 (http://www.office.com/timeto365), a new
crowd-sourced website where people can find and share tips, tricks, ideas
and inspiration from around the world. Contributors include experts such
as techorating pro Janna Robinson (http://www.jannarobinson.com) and
everyday working parents who have found ways to simplify their lives.
Tips on the site include, for example, an idea for organizing your
grocery list with OneNote on your phone, a pointer on how to pick the
right-sized TV for your living room, and ways to use Office applications
to help plan a childs birthday party.
Office 365 Home Premium is available in 162 markets in 21 languages and
includes the following:
The latest and most complete set of Office applications: Word, Excel,
PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access
One license for the entire household to use Office on up to five
devices, including Windows tablets, PCs or Macs, and Office on Demand
available from any Internet-connected PC**
An additional 20 GB of SkyDrive cloud storage, nearly three times the
amount available with a free SkyDrive account
60 free Skype world calling minutes per month to call mobile phones,
landlines or PCs around the world***
Future upgrades, so you always use the latest time-saving technology
People can learn more about Office 365 Home Premium or try it free for 30
days at http://www.office.com.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services
and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full
potential.
* Microsoft surveyed more than 10,000 people in over 20 countries.
** App availability varies by operating system, device and language.
*** Skype world minutes not available in all countries. Calls to select
countries.
Apple Confirms It Will Cease Shipping Mac Pro in Europe
Apple has been forced to remove the Mac Pro from sale in Europe after an
amendment to a safety regulation left the professional Mac incompliant.
Today the company has reached out to its sales and channel partners to
confirm that orders for the Mac Pro must be placed by 18 February as the
company will be unable to ship the model to these countries from the
1 March.
Apple told Macworld that the amendment to the IEC 60950-1 regulation
increases requirements around electrical port protection and the fan
guards in the system.
The Mac Pro met the previous standards prior to the amendment 1 addition.
Apple told us that it considers the Mac Pro to be a very safe and very
reliable product.
At issue are the large fans within the Mac Pro. Since they are
unprotected, it would be possible to touch the fan blades.
According to Apple, the new requirements necessitate fan guards and some
increased protection on the ports on the electrical system.
The Amendment 1 of regulation IEC 60950-1, Second Edition goes into effect
on 1 March throughout the EU countries and the EFTA trade zone.
Apple told Macworld that it wished to warn customers and partners about
the change so that they would have sufficient time to order Mac Pro units
and meet any needs prior to 1 March.
Apple confirmed that the deadline for orders would be 18 February since
it will need to ship units by 28 February.
If customers and channel partners wish to purchase a Mac Pro they must
order by 18 February to ensure delivery prior to 1 March.
Apple emphasised that reseller partners will be able to continue to sell
Mac Pro products that they have in inventory after 1 March. However,
Apple won't be able to ship its pro Mac into those countries.
Concerns about future of Mac Pro
News that Apple is taking the Mac Pro off sale in Europe will no doubt
raise concerns from the professional Mac market. While the Mac Pro
received a minor update following WWDC last summer, the last significant
update was in 2010 and that has lead to speculation that Apple will retire
the Mac Pro.
However, Apple CEO Tim Cook laid concerns to rest in an email to a
customer last year in which he stated:
"Our Pro customers like you are really important to us. Although we didn't
have a chance to talk about a new Mac Pro at today's event, don't worry as
we're working on something really great for later next year. We also
updated the current model today."
The IEC 60950-1 amendment 1 applies to EU countries and EFTA states who
follow those requirements.
This means that the full list of countries includes:
EU countries:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom
Countries on the road to EU membership:
Croatia, Iceland, Montenegro, Serbia, The former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, Turkey
European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries:
Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland
Apple emphasised that countries outside of these areas are not impacted
and Mac Pro will continue to be available worldwide.
The company also confirmed that it would continue to support the hardware
and software so that customers who require service parts of have any
issues should have no concerns as far as maintaining parts and existing
equipment.
Apple also emphasised that the Mac Pro is the only Mac product affected by
this. "Our entire Mac line is compliant with this amendment 1 standard,
with the exception of Mac Pro," said the company.
Apple sent the following communication to the channel
Mac Pro no longer sold in EU Countries after March 1, 2013
As of March 1, 2013, Apple will no longer sell Mac Pro in EU, EU
candidate and EFTA countries because these systems are not compliant with
Amendment 1 of regulation IEC 60950-1, Second Edition which becomes
effective on this date. Apple resellers can continue to sell any
remaining inventory of Mac Pro after March 1.
Apple will take final orders for Mac Pro from resellers up until February
18th for shipment before March 1, 2013.
Countries outside of the EU are not impacted and Mac Pro will continue to
be available in those areas.
Apple Announces iPad With Double Storage Capacity
Apple Inc said on Tuesday that it will sell a version of its iPad tablet
computer with 128 gigabytes of storage, which is twice the capacity of
its existing models.
Apple, which has sold more than 120 million iPads so far, said that the
new iPad will go on sale February 5, in black or white, for a suggested
retail price of $799 for the iPad with just Wi-Fi model, and $929 for the
version that also has a cellular wireless connection.
64 GB Surface Pro Will Only Have 23 GB Free?
A company spokesperson has confirmed to The Verge that the 64GB edition of
Surface Pro will have 23GB of free storage out of the box. The 128GB model
will have 83GB of free storage. It appears that the Windows 8 install,
built-in apps, and a recovery partition will make up the 41GB total on the
base Surface Pro model.
Computers, tablets, and smartphones have always had less usable space than
their advertised storage capacities because of preinstalled software.
If your computers 1 TB hard drive has 50 GB of preinstalled software
and unusable space, you still have 95% of its space for user storage,
which is hard to complain about. But advertising a 64 GB Surface Pro
that only has 35% of its space available to the user is a very different
story.
This is deceptive enough advertising that the FTC should consider taking
action. As tablets become more computer-like and mobile OSes get larger,
this is only going to get worse.
Everyone should play by the same rules. A proposal: storage capacities
referenced or implied1 in the names or advertisements for personal
computers, tablets, and smartphones should not exceed the amount of space
available for end-user installation of third-party2 applications and
data, after enough software has been installed to enable all commonly
advertised functionality.3
With todays OSes, iPads could advertise capacities no larger than 12,
28, 60, and 124 GB and the Surface Pros could be named 23 and 83 GB.
If those numbers dont sound as good, or the manufacturers dont leave
themselves any room for OS-update expansion without changing the names of
their products mid-cycle, thats their problem to solve, not ours.
To prevent manufacturers from getting around this by dropping the GB
and just using model numbers that imply a size, e.g. the iPad 32 and
iPad 64. ?
To prevent manufacturers from cheating by shipping devices with
minimal OS installs that require additional downloads to get functionality
that almost every user would want or expect to be there already.
To prevent, for example, Microsoft from excluding the size of Office
from the Surface or Apple excluding the size of iBooks from iOS devices.
Steam for Linux Is in Open Beta
IconIt seems to have so far escaped OSNews' notice (if the top few hits
for a site-search for 'Steam' is any indication) that Steam for Linux is
now in Open Beta; you can get the Linux steam client from
steampowered.com. So far, they appear to only be making an Ubuntu .deb
available, and the client will require closed-source GPU drivers in order
to work.
It bears repeating that the limited distribution availability fits with
Valve's primary objective in porting Steam to linux - enabling an
Ubuntu-Linux-based Steambox. It remains to be seen if Valve will provide
packages for other distributions, but I won't be shocked if they don't -
or if they do as Dropbox, Skype and Google have done, and provide
packages only for the latest Ubuntu and Fedora distributions. So users of
slightly more obscure distributions (I'm using Mint/Debian here at school)
are S.O.L., and can probably expect to be so for a while.
In the grand OSNews tradition, now that I've said a few words about what
is ostensibly the topic, I'd like to take a moment to prance, preen and
provoke.
As of right now, getting actual games to work will require installing the
proprietary drivers for your platform. There are several possible reasons
that this could be the case, among them that the proprietary drivers are
known to offer slightly higher 3D performance. However, I strongly suspect
that there is one major reason for the requirement; on most platforms, the
closed-source drivers will provide a GL3+ context, while the open-source
drivers still provide a GL2.1 context.
This should be an embarrassment for all parties concerned; we (by which I
mean, the community of Linux users, developers and enthusiasts; I am not
a developer or distributor) are still shipping on modern systems a
graphics API that is now six years old, and that was superseded four
years ago. I had to check Wikipedia for my chronology; GL2.1 was 2006,
and 3.0 was 2008. GL4.3 is the current standard. And yet, on the shiney,
new Fedora 18 install I set up a few days ago, I get GL2.1, in spite of
my somewhat-recent Radeon 6650.
This in particular points up Gallium's failure to live up to its promise.
The entire point, as far as I understood it, of moving to Gallium was to
avoid replicating the OpenGL interface layer across all drivers
needlessly; the idea was that, once there was an OpenGL3 state tracker,
all Gallium drivers would be able to use it, and we'd all get OpenGL3
cheaply. That clearly has not happened.
Facebook Is About to Save This 'Gay' Dog from Being Euthanized
This dog was surrendered to the Jackson Rabies Control Animal Shelter in
Tennessee on Tuesday entirely because his owner saw him mounting another
male dog and thought the pitbull/American bulldog mix was homosexual. The
dog was scheduled to be put down at 1 p.m. today ... until some sane
people on Facebook got involved. Jackson Rabies Control explained the
circumstances on a Facebook posting that went up last night:
This guy was signed over to RC, not bc he's mean or bc he tears
things up, but because... His owner says he's gay! He hunched another male
dog so his owner threw him away bc he refuses to have a "gay" dog! Even if
that weren't the most assinine thing I've ever heard, its still
discrimination! Don't let this gorgeous dog die bc his owner is ignorant
of normal dog behavior! He's in kennel 10L and he WILL be put down
tomorrow bc there is no room at the inn!
"Assinine" is putting it mildly. The anti-gay (dog) owner was not only
bigoted, but he also didn't realize that dogs often mount each other to
show dominance which is likely what this pooch was doing. The shelter's
Facebook post has since been shared over 3,000 times and received more
than 500 likes, and the viral rescue seems to have worked: As of this
morning, it looks like a woman named Stephanie Fryns, who is affiliated
with the no-kill shelter Woof Connections, is literally knocking on the
shelter's door:
We tried calling the shelter, but its voicemail box was full, and now
we're just getting a busy signal so they're definitely getting an
earful in Jackson. But it looks like Fryns is at the ready!
=~=~=~=
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