The Bumpy Road to Mobile Media Convergence

Industry participants and observers are looking for big things to happen in the smartphone space this year. A bevy of emergent technical standards and formats constrain the distribution of content that should be available to smartphone users -- for example, more and varied information, communication and entertainment "feeds." On the technology side of things, network speeds, routing management, data storage capacity, power usage and digital rights management all continue to hamper the industry.

New Vista, Old Software: Can't We All Just Get Along?

It's the best of times and the worst of times whenever Microsoft releases a new operating system. Both business and consumer users are filled with excitement to try out the latest and greatest technology from Redmond, Wash. All too often, however, the thrill of purchasing a new OS is tempered by the awful realization that key software is not compatible with the upgraded OS.

Calling All Jugglers, Cranky Ninjas and Aspiring Directors

As video sites look for ways to attract higher-quality content, they are dangling cash, usually offering to give creators a cut of the advertising revenue that their work generates. Revver, the Los Angeles-based company that pioneered the practice, shows a still-frame ad at the end of a video and funnels money to the creator every time a viewer clicks on the ad.

Router Hack Attack Could Expose Home Network Users

Home network users could be vulnerable to attacks from hackers who can alter the configuration of a broadband router or wireless access point. Symantec released its "Drive-By Pharming" attacks report Thursday, roughly two months after security researchers at Symantec and Indiana University first published their conclusions in a white paper.

Apple, Cisco Still Playing iPhone Name Game

Cisco Systems gave Apple nearly one more week to respond to its trademark infringement lawsuit over the iPhone name, a sign that the two companies are close to striking a licensing deal. The networking gear maker said late Thursday it would give Apple until Feb. 21 to file a formal reply in U.S. Federal Court. Cisco's lawsuit alleges that the proposed Apple iPhone dilutes its trademark.

Ballmer Dampens Wall Street's Vista Optimism

CEO Steve Ballmer has cautioned Wall Street that analysts' fiscal year 2008 expectations for Windows Vista sales may be too "optimistic" and "overly aggressive." Vista is more of an opportunity to sustain Windows revenue -- not necessarily grow it, Ballmer reportedly said Thursday during a meeting for financial analysts.

Sharp Claims First Blu-ray Disc Recorder

Sharp has introduced a new Blu-ray recorder that is the first player capable of recording high-definition content directly from television. The new BD-HP1, a standalone device set to go on sale in Japan next month, allows the transfer of content from the company's Aquos digital tuner or Aquos HD Recorder to the Blu-ray Disc without losing the high-definition quality.

OLPC Orders Reach One Million Milestone

The One Laptop Per Child project is close to making computer users out of a million children in developing nations. The company building the inexpensive laptops for OLPC, Quanta Computer, has received an order for a million of the lime green notebooks, according to published reports.

DAoC - 1.88patch has some interesting additions

Camelot Vault have published the 1.88 patch notes for The Dark Age of Camelot. This includes the interesting addition of allowing players to buy their master levels through bounty points instead of having to go through the long PvE grind. If this goes down well with the player base or not, we can only wait and see.

The availability of rewards which can be purchased with Bounty Points has been greatly increased. Many of these rewards are designed to reduce much of the need to continue PvEing after reaching 50 for those who would rather focus immediately on RvR.

- Realizing their Atlantean masters are not returning, four sphinxes have traveled to the Hall of Heroes to offer ML credit, artifact credit, and scrolls in exchange for stories from the frontiers (represented by bounty points). Credit is obtained by purchasing the tokens they sell, then handing the tokens to them. If a token is purchased for an encounter the player already has credit for, handing the token back to the sphinx will return the Bounty Points spent.

- Bounty Point Masters have been added to each realm’s primary border keep (Castle Sauvage, Svasud Faste, and Druim Ligen). These new NPCs sell a variety of items including: realm respecs, Champion Level respecs, Master Level respecs, the chestnut horse, hastener speed gems, experience-granting scrolls (in both a 1% and 10% variety), and special new jewelry items.

Tabula Rasa - Voodoo Extreme interview “Lord British”

Voodoo Extreme have published part 1 of an interview with Richard “Lord British” Garriott of Ultima and more recently Tabula Rasa fame. He talks about his views on the development of the new MMO in this two page interview, and its a must to check out if you are following the game.

VE3D: I haven’t seen Tabula Rasa since E3. What’s been happening?

Richard Garriott: So just before Christmas break we started with outside beta testers—what we call “friends and family”—[and] we’ve been slowly expanding a few hundred at a time. In the next build, we’re going to be moving up to the point where we’ll be bringing in thousands of people at a time—and pretty soon going to closed beta within a month or so, where we’ll have hopefully tens of thousands…then later in the summer to Open Beta where we have basically anyone who wants to play. So we’re in that final push to launch at this stage. Tabula Rasa will come out this year. We don’t have a public specific date yet, but definitely the light is at the end of the tunnel. We’re tying up the loose ends and polishing it up so we can get it out the door.