Technology News: Tech Blog

Gamers Get a Handle on the Wii's Future Features

Wednesday - July 16, 2008

When it first came out, the main thing that drew me to the Nintendo Wii was its potential for first-person shooter games. Finally, here was a console on which I could play a "Metroid Prime" game despite my infirmity. By my infirmity, I mean my inability to play an FPS game with any degree of skill or finesse without the aid of some sort of motion-sensitive device. Ever since the days of "Duke Nukem 3-D," I've always been tethered to a mouse to aim those tiny little crosshairs at a target. [More...]

Live From E3: PlayStation Gets Its Own Movie Store

Tuesday - July 15, 2008

At its E3 press event, Sony Computer Entertainment of America opened up a new platform for its PlayStation Store on the PlayStation Network -- a movie and TV show download service. It wasn't announced at the end of the event to create some big closer, and it wasn't accompanied by a bombastic demo. Nope, the new PSN service had to settle for a few seconds of a trailer for "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." [More...]

Australia's Illogical Withdrawal From Make-Believe Drugs

Monday - July 14, 2008

The specter of censorship looms over the video game industry. The latest dispute over drug content centers on "Fallout 3." Characters are able to take chems that can have a variety of effects -- both positive and negative -- on their physical and mental state. Despite consequences built into "Fallout 3," Australia has already banned its release. [More...]

iPhone 3G Sold Out in Moscow, Idaho

Friday - July 11, 2008

Even though the sun is up at 5:30 a.m., it's darn cold when you're waiting for an iPhone 3G in the shade of the AT&T store in Moscow, Idaho. I should have worn pants, not cargo shorts. Still, I had the forethought to snag a chocolate chip cookie from the kitchen before I left the house, but by the time I started eating it, it was already hard from the early morning chill. [More...]

Video Game Spinoffs: A New Music Revolution?

Thursday - June 12, 2008

"Rock Band." "Guitar Hero." "SingStar." These music-oriented video games have become fixtures in popular culture, appearing in movies and on television, and sparking a new musical movement. Younger players are not only gaining exposure to a wider variety of genres and artists, but also getting a basic music education. [More...]

For a Ninja, Itagaki Makes a Pretty Noisy Exit

Thursday - June 5, 2008

Tomonobu Itagaki, renowned producer of the "Ninja Gaiden" series and head of Tecmo's Team Ninja, has resigned effective July 1, 2008 -- obviously timing his announcement to coincide with the release of "Ninja Gaiden 2," Team Ninja's latest contribution to the action/adventure genre of the video game industry. [More...]

Is Facebook Ready to Show Us What's Under the Hood?

Tuesday - May 27, 2008

Facebook has come up with a new plan to fight off its competitors: open sourcing its application platform. Citing multiple sources, TechCrunch reports that Facebook is planning to form an open source community around its API, which it launched just a year ago. [More...]

YouTube to Lieberman: Censor This

Tuesday - May 20, 2008

I remember being at the 2000 Democratic National Convention and watching Joe Lieberman give his speech accepting the nomination as Al Gore's running mate. Contrasted with the opposing lines of bandana-faced protesters and riot-geared officers, his speech left me hopeful and uplifted. I've got a whole different view of Joe Lieberman these days. [More...]

Here's Why Facebook Has Trouble Making Friends

Monday - May 19, 2008

It's heartening to see that Mark Zuckerberg is following my advice and seeking a sit-down with Google to hammer out their differences over this Friend Connect thing. It would be heartening as well to see Facebook coming to the defense of my private data as forcefully as it has been -- if only it actually were about my private data. [More...]

HBO Swings iTunes Deal With Some Premium Pricing

Tuesday - May 13, 2008

Leave it to the network that brought us Tony Soprano to break Apple's iTunes video pricing model. The Time Warner subsidiary and Apple on Tuesday announced that some HBO programming is now available at the online store, with a few shows priced at $2.99 per episode. Apple is selling episodes of "The Sopranos," "Deadwood" and "Rome" for $2.99 each. [More...]

Breaches Make a Mockery of PCI Security Standards

Tuesday - May 13, 2008

The restaurant-slash-arcade-slash-bar Dave & Buster's is the latest U.S. outlet to suffer a breach of its credit card processing system. Hackers based in Ukraine and Estonia -- assisted by a guy in Miami -- installed packet sniffer malware at the point of sale systems in several D&B outlets. [More...]

Social Net Data Portability: Too Much Information?

Monday - May 12, 2008

It seems as though everyone wants to be both social and portable these days. Google, Yahoo, Facebook and MySpace all have recently trumpeted their latest efforts at openness. Are they really the same? In some cases -- Yahoo and Google, primarily -- the OpenSocial framework is providing a set of standards to ensure interoperability among the applications themselves. [More...]

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