After all the ruckus that happened on Sony’s side, I’m thinking whether people would actually still go and buy their products anymore, especially their PS3 and PSN services. But apparently Sony is not giving up, and funnily they’re slowpoke at it too!
Sony’s PlayStation 3 game console system has been out for quite some time now, and if you haven’t have one, then most probably you never thought about having one either. But Sony’s not giving up. The company just announced a limited edition PS3 bundle pairing Call of Duty: Black Ops with a 160GB console. Right, as if people are still interested in Black Ops!
For $299, Sony’s also throwing in the First Strike content pack — not too shabby, considering that’s the standard price for a bare console. It’s going to be available starting May 31, so if you’re so loving a PS3 and don’t have one, and fancy first person shooter on a console, which is extremely ridiculous, then go ahead and get one, and go to 147 floor the next day and turn left please.
NFC has been heavily discussed all these while, but there have been no solid implementation, well until now that is. Google had NFC on their Nexus S lineup, and you’d think they’ll only play with Google Check-in? Nope, there’s more to that, and it seemed that Google may finally iron out their NFC payment system.
Well, according to the Wall Street Journal, Google will tomorrow show off its NFC technology at an event in New York City. WSJ’s sources say that retailers signed up to participate from launch include Macy’s, American Eagle Outfitters and Subway. Matching a rumour that has been reported previously, WSJ reports that the program will launch in NYC and San Francisco first with a broader rollout to follow at a later stage.
Other reports regarding Google’s NFC payments system suggest the app may come with an integrated loyalty points system. Retailers could also offer customers close to the store special deals.
The ‘Mango’ update that Microsoft will bring this autumn will include a new web-based Marketplace, something that Microsoft didn’t mention during their big Windows Phone event.
That will of course let you browse and buy apps right from your favourite web browser, and then have them installed on your phone over-the-air using its regular notification system. SMS would only be used in instances where that service is not already turned on, and in that case there would still be “no links or added engagement on the phone.” Customers can also choose to send themselves an email with a link to the app but, again, it expects most folks to simply let apps install in the background.
You’ll also be able to take advantage of various social networking tie-ins to share apps with your friends, and the Marketplace will hang onto your download history so you can easily reinstall all of your apps if you switch phones.
Last time car windshield are just windscreen, acting as shield to block wind from blowing you and deforming your face. But ever since BMW introduced projection HUD on their M5, it started a tick in the automobile as to what we can do to improve our windshield.
We spent almost all of our time looking through our windshield while we’re driving, but what if there are useful and important information that we can see ON the screen while we’re driving. Thus we don’t have to look elsewhere to know things about our cars, and get distracted. But what if the information on the windshield is also very distracting?
The folks at Autoglass envision a smart windshield that does away with a navigation screen on the centre stack in favour of all the necessary information being displayed on your auto’s most important piece of glass.
The video below is a simulation that shows what that windshield might look like from the driver’s seat. Among the displayed information is data for navigation, music, speed and fuel. The futuristic, king-of-all-head-up-displays also warn of pedestrians and an arrow even points to potential destinations.
Yes, let’s show more stuff, like mum’s Twitter account and my best time for my route to office too.
Now here’s a cool stuff yet again stuffed with Wireless. Ubiquitous has exhibited the iRemoTap at the Embedded Systems Expo. Would you believe that, a power strip which features a built-in wireless LAN! Yes, now you can control your power strip wirelessly! Lazy nerds are going to dance in rejoice, and this is not a concept, but it’s going to hit retail very soon.
The device can display the power status of devices connected to it from a PC or mobile phone, and switch their power On and Off remotely. This smart power strips can also be configured to send you a tweet or a text if a device has been left running for too long. Regarding future development, Ubiquitous and its partners plan to investigate the possibilities, through R&D and prototypes.
The aim is to offer this kind of power tap for a retail price below 10,000 Yen ($122).
Last Friday, it’s Sony BMG Greece that got more than 8,000 of their user information stolen. This time, the hackers are at it again, as Sony Music Japan and Sony Ericsson Canada is also breached.
A team calling itself LulzSec released a database of Sony Japan Music’s via a pastebin link posted to the team’s Twitter account. According to Sophos, this group of attackers also used a SQL injection similar to the method used on Sony BMG Greece, but the database information obtained does not contain names, passwords or other personally identifiable information. The hackers say there are two other vulnerable databases but whether or not these contain sensitive user information is unknown.
Well Sony Music Japan isn’t alone at it. Sony Ericsson was also targeted by an intrusion and this time it’s even worse. The personal data of 2,000 Canadian Eshop customers was stolen. The company says passwords were encrypted and no credit card details were stolen. Of course, the Eshop has been taken down temporarily to avoid fraud cases.
Sucks to be Sony right now eh? All they did is go against some punk name GeoHotz and they get all the shit storms. Not cool man…
Have you played DiRT 3? Because it’s out now. If not, then here’s a new video that hopefully will be able to tick your inner racing instinct. “Racing never stops” is the subtitle of the Dirt 3 launch trailer, which suggests a bold new take on racing in which there are no finish lines, only an eternity of overtaking. In reality, the new video celebrates the launch of Codemaster’s highly anticipated new racer with plenty of exciting footage of impossibly slick super-cars sliding around icy courses.
Google had been hardworking sniffing out rogue apps in their Android markets and doing some server-side security issues to help things out, but there’s still one last standing security of Android, and that is app permissions. But of course, hardly anybody pays attention to the permissions.
Well, good news. The latest build of the CyanogenMod custom ROM include a clever patch allowing users to grant and revoke permissions individually. This is actually a dangerous attempt thought, because this may effectively cause rogue apps running blatantly wild if handled carelessly.
Then again, if you’re able to run an aftermarket firmware on a rooted phone, the developers are expecting you to be quite vigilant yourself, so hopefully you are. If you’re interested, then just download it away at the link down there, and don’t think too much!
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