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A judge on Wednesday refused to reduce the $5 million bail of a San Francisco technology expert accused of rigging the city’s computer system to malfunction during routine maintenance. Terry Childs has been jailed since July 13 on four felony counts of computer tampering. He is accused of creating secret passwords that gave him exclusive access to the city’s new multi-million-dollar computer network, which stores records such as officials’ e-mails, city payroll files, confidential law enforcement documents and jail bookings. Authorities said Childs initially refused to reveal correct passwords to them, but that he turned them over to Mayor Gavin Newsom during an unusual jailhouse visit Tuesday.

The city is still experiencing computer problems, said San Francisco Deputy District Attorney Conrad del Rosario. He told San Francisco Superior Court Judge Lucy McCabe that the Sheriff’s Department is “locked out” and that other city departments are having problems. Defense attorney Erin Crane said her client was the subject of a smear campaign by co-workers jealous of Childs’ computer savvy and work ethic. In arguing for reduced bail, Crane said in a motion that Childs was merely trying to protect the network after “co-workers and supervisors had in the past maliciously damaged the system themselves, hindered his ability to maintain it … and shown complete indifference to maintaining it themselves.” Crane also said Childs, 43, posed no danger to the public.

Source: AP

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Intel announced prices for some of its latest, most powerful chips that might disappoint digital gaming enthusiasts because they’re more expensive than reports had speculated. The latest Intel processors for gamers, the Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core processors for desktop PCs that run at 3.2GHz will cost US$1,499 each in lots of 1000 processors, with a slightly different version for $1,399. Another version of the chip that runs at 3.0GHz will cost $999 in the same amounts, according to Intel’s latest price list. Gamer blogs and some news reports had speculated the new 3.2GHz Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core might come out priced at around $999, far less than Intel actually announced.

Each of the new chips comes with four calculating engines on board for more realistic 3D images and ultra-fast gaming speeds, according to Intel. Several gaming PCs have already been designed around the chip family, including Velocity Micro’s Raptor Signature Edition for around $5,995, which will ship next month and Gateway’s FX541XG for around $2,707.99, which starts shipping this week. The Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core chips had been code-named Bloomfield. A price war with rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) over the past few years has helped push microprocessor prices generally lower. Microprocessors made for laptop PCs have held up better in price because the laptop PC market has been growing at a breakneck pace.

Source: PC World

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At present, Sony PlayStation 3 is the worst selling latest-generation video game console. However, Kazuo Hirai, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., hopes that the latest system will eventually outsell its predecessor, Sony PlayStation 2 with 150 million units sold worldwide. “It’s not fun for me replicating the PS2 numbers. I’ve seen that movie already. I want to try to see if we can exceed the PS2 numbers after nine years, otherwise why are we in this business?â€� said Mr. Hirai in an interview with Financial Times. The original Sony PlayStation that was launched in 1994 was sold in 102 million units quantity worldwide, whereas the PlayStation 2, which was released in 2000, passed the 140 million units mark recently. The market of video games is increasing dramatically, particularly in the U.S., these days, hence, setting an unprecedented goal for the PlayStation 3 is not something strange.

But there is one thing that should be kept in mind when comparing PS2 and PS3: the former dominated the previous round of console war for the market and neither Microsoft Xbox  or Nintendo GameCube could rival it. Nowadays Nintendo Wii has outsold both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, moreover, the latter is still ahead of its Japanese rival in terms of installed base. Game developers already recognize Wii as the winner of the current round and predict that both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 will trail Nintendo’s latest video game system. Mr. Hirai did not reveal any strategies or initiatives that would help PlayStation 3, which is sold for $399 in the USA, to outsell Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii substantially in the coming years. Still, he indicated that he would work hard in order to PS3 to surpass sales of the PS2 over a similar time period.

Source: Xbit labs 

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U.S. sales of video game hardware and software rose 53 percent in June from a year ago, with Konami Corp’s “Metal Gear Solid 4″ helping to fuel a dramatic increase in the number of Sony Corp’s PlayStation 3 units sold, market researcher NPD reported on Thursday. “Metal Gear Solid 4″ claimed the top slot as June’s best-selling game, overtaking the two month reign Take-Two Interactive Software Inc’s “Grand Theft Auto 4″ enjoyed since its launch in April. The Konami game is made exclusively for the PS3. PlayStation 3 console sales jumped 94 percent from the prior month. U.S. consumers bought 405,500 PlayStation 3 consoles in June, up from 208,700 consoles in May.

“Exclusive content usually fuels hardware system purchases and PS3 sales certainly reflect the impact of Metal Gear Solid 4,” NPD analyst Anita Frazer wrote in the report. PS3 unit sales hit a record for a non-holiday month, she said. Nintendo sold 660,000 Wii consoles during June, a slight decrease from the 675,100 Wiis sold the month before. But the Wii’s solid sales have secured its spot as the best-selling video game console in the U.S. of the current generation of machines. The console has sold 10.9 million units since its November 2006 release. “The Wii appeals to people of all ages, generations and ability, and more and more new consumers continue to discover the Wii,” Cammie Dunway, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Nintendo of America, told Reuters.

Microsoft sold 219,800 Xbox 360 consoles, a 17.8 percent increase from May. For the first half of 2008, the U.S. video game industry has generated $8.3 billion in sales. This is a 36 percent increase in sales from the same period a year before, indicating that the sluggish economy is not hurting the industry’s performance as people turn to home entertainment, NPD said.

Source: Reuters 

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Attorneys representing Facebook have filed a lawsuit against a German-based social networking web site that has a user interface that is virtually identical to Facebook. StudiVZ, the most popular social networking site in Germany, has 10 million regular users and also is the most popular networking site in German.  Even though Facebook has a German language web site, it has had a hard time trying to get new users due to sites like StudiVZ and others.  The English Facebook web site reportedly has as many as 80 million users spread across the world. Facebook claims the slight changes were “nominal” and the German site simply replaced “Facebook’s blue color scheme with a red one.” Also in the lawsuit, the German site also copied the Facebook wall, groups, friend feed, and other features used in Facebook.

A quick glimpse of the web site does reveal that even from the sign-up page onward, it is almost 100 percent identical to the English version Facebook web site, except in a different color. Facebook could launch lawsuits to stop at least nine other Facebook clone web sites to get shut down, with Xiaonei, operating in China, likely Facebook’s next target.  Xiaonei closely mimics Facebook and its user interface, and is the most popular social networking site in China.

Source: Dailytech

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Ubisoft, the French video game developer and publisher, was recently caught with its pants down, releasing a pirated hack as an official fix. Ubisoft sells the PC version of its game Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 (RSV2) in a boxed copy format and through the online store, Direct2Drive. When the publisher released a new patch for the RSV2 this month which added play modes and other goodies, customers were eager to update. Unfortunately the patch also added a check to confirm that a CD was in the PC before the game could play. This was obviously a problem for customers who downloaded the game through Direct2Drive and lacked physical media to validate.

Naturally, this theft prevention tool was meanwhile no problem for software pirates. A hacked executable removing the CD-check was soon readily available — although Ubisoft understandably forbade and punished discussion of the crack on its website forums when Direct2Drive customers came for help and advice. Complaints about the physical media snafu kept coming, so a zip file was eventually uploaded by an Ubisoft employee to the help/support site, named “R6Vegas2_fix.zip.” But then Fileforums.com user Twingo discovered Ubisoft’s little secret. The fix was, in fact, a cracked version of the .exe file modified by the pirate group ‘Reloaded.’

Users on Ubisoft’s official forums have provided proof, the “official” fix was Reloaded’s crack by running the executable through a hex editor. The file has since been removed from the website, so can’t verify the claims. The response from Ubisoft via a forum post by a “UK Community Manager” was obviously negative: “we doubt it has come from an external source [..] the matter is being thoroughly investigated by senior tech support managers.” Talk about getting owned…

Source: Register, Ubisoft Forums

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Bloomberg reports that the Nintendo Wii outsold the Sony PS3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 in the U.S. last month. Nintendo sold 666,000 of its Wii consoles in June compared to the 405,500 PS3’s sold and 219,800 Xbox 360’s. It’s interesting to note that the PS3 sold nearly 200,000 more units for the month than the Xbox 360. Both Sony and Microsoft recently increased the size of the hard drive inside their respective consoles to lure new buyers. The minimum hard drive on the PS3 will now increase to 80GB with the Xbox 360 growing to 60GB. NPD Group says 10.9 million Wii consoles have been sold since it launched in November of 2006 – that tally pushes the Wii past the Xbox 360 in total U.S. sales despite the Microsoft’s consoles one-year head start.

The Nintendo Wii is still all but impossible to find in many areas of the country, something Nintendo keeps promising to remedy with increased production of the consoles. The gaming industry as a whole is booming right now with total industry sales rising by 53% to $1.69 billion in June, up from $1.1 billion in June of 2007. Bloomberg reports that console sales have grown 54% to $615.1 million from $399.2 million last year despite. NPD analyst Anita Frazier says that total sales for the gaming industry in 2008 are likely to reach $22 billion.

Source: DailyTech

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Amazon.com has opened the Amazon Unbox, removing the need to download content and instead streaming it to customer’s televisions sets. Called Amazon Video on Demand, it is expected to be introduced Thursday, The New York Times reports. Apple’s iTunes store and Amazon’s initial foray required customers to download movies before they could begin watching them. Amazon Video on Demand streams the content, eliminating the wait. To access the service, potential users will have to purchase a $300 Internet video link, which is offered by Sony Bravia. Currently, Sony is the only company to support the service, but Amazon is working with other vendors to come on board. Amazon’s initial offering will include 40,000 movie and television titles.

Amazon joins Netflix, Microsoft and Apple in the digital video fray, as each company continues to expand their footprint in the living room. Apple iTunes is a well-known entity and, paired with the recently updated Apple TV, has a head start. However, the competition for streaming video is stiffening. Microsoft and Netflix recently announced a partnership that will allow users to stream video through their Xbox. Customers must have an Xbox Gold membership to take advantage of the 10,000 movies and television shows that the pairing will offer.

Source: CRN

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When Florida-based Psystar, a small startup, announced that it was going to make Mac clones for dirt cheap, many rolled their eyes — they’d heard that line before. During Gil Amelio’s tenure at Apple, clones were briefly allowed, but when Steve Jobs returned to the company he carried out a campaign to purge the market of every last clone. So when Psystar announced a $399 Mac with strong specs comparable to a $949 Mac Mini desktop, many figured the end was near for the company. These thoughts were put on hold about whether Psystar would deliver, as some found a handful of evidence to indicate the company might be a farce. However, Psystar proved itself to be real, shipping units to reviewers. It also unveiled a small server lineup to compete with Apple’s niche offerings in the server market.

Not anymore. With Steve Jobs manning the helm, Apple filed suit against Psystar looking to destroy it as it has destroyed many which came before. The suit was filed July 3 in federal district court of northern California. Apple accuses Psystar of violations on shrink wrap license, trademarks, and copyright infringement. Much of this revolves around the fact that Psystar will preinstall OS X for you; a move which legal analysts said would put it in peril. Details of the complaint are finally emerging. In it, Apple tries to paint itself as simply fed up about missing components on the computers, allegations that Psystar was trying to promote itself as an Apple product, and claims that it was concerned about Psystar’s quality control.

Source: Dailytech

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At the E3 Media & Business Summit, Sony announced it was introducing a new PlayStation 3 model with a built-in 80 GBhard drive for $399, replacing Sony’s current 80GB PS3 which retails at $499. The new 80GB model essentially doubles the storage capacity of Sony’s currently offered 40GB PS3 model, which is also priced at $399. The new 80GB PS3 will start shipping in September, according to a statement on Sony’s Web site. The new 80GB PS3 will also include integrated Wi-Fi and a built-in Blu-ray player, but like the old 40 GB model it will not be backwards compatible with PlayStation 2 games. The 40GB version of the PS3 will eventually be phased out, Reuters reported.

Sony’s announcement comes after Microsoft cut the price of the 20GB Xbox 360 to $299 from $349. Microsoft also plans to introduce a new 60GB Xbox 360 model that retails for $349, to eventually replace the 20GB model, which will be gradually phased out. This price cut is not Sony’s only salvo against Microsoft. Sony announced earlier at E3 that it would be introducing a new video distribution service, as competition for Microsoft Xbox Live, according to Reuters. In addition to watching videos on their PS3s, users will also be able to transfer downloads to their PSPs for portable viewing. With these new announcements from both Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo’s next move is open to question.

Source: CRN

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A computer engineer has been arrested and accused of hijacking San Francisco’s FiberWAN (Wide Area Network) computer system, which holds details of city payroll files and confidential law enforcement documents. City prosecutors have charged Terry Childs, a 43-year-old computer network administrator, with four counts of computer tampering on the network. They allege he has locked out all passwords except his own and is refusing to hand it over. “Defendant Childs was arrested on Sunday, July 13, 2008 at his home in Pittsburg, California by members of the San Francisco Police Department and was immediately taken into custody,� said the city’s DA office in a statement.

“The felony counts against the defendant were charged the following day by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.� City officials are now working on the system to get access and control back and to date Childs is still not helping them. The media are reporting that Childs was facing disciplinary action for poor performance and had set up a software alert if anything changed in his personnel file. He may also have passed password information on to third parties. Childs faces a possible seven years in prison and will be back in court on Thursday.

Source: Vnunet

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Intel Corp said on Tuesday quarterly net income rose 25 percent, helped by strong sales of microprocessors used in notebook computers, and gave a revenue forecast that topped expectations. The world’s biggest chipmaker also reported an improved gross margin for the second quarter, but it was slightly below the midpoint of its own forecast range due to price pressures. For the current quarter, Intel said it expects revenue of $10.0 billion to $10.6 billion, compared with the average analyst forecast of $10.0 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

Intel has been benefiting from brisk sales of notebook PCs, which are on track to outpace sales of desktop PCs this year. On Monday, Intel rolled out the latest generation of its Centrino wireless chip after a delay of several months. Shares of Intel ticked higher following the results, after gaining 1.2 percent in regular Nasdaq trading. “I like the revenue outlook and the gross margin outlook,” said Doug Freedman, an analyst with American Technology Research. “The only slight negative is the spending level on marketing and general administration is slightly higher.”

Source: Reuters