Spacewalking astronauts hook up Harmony module

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- A pair of astronauts went on a spacewalk Saturday to finish wiring up the international space station's newest room, the last hurdle that must be cleared before the shuttle Atlantis can deliver a new European laboratory.

Astronaut Peggy Whitson works on the international space station during a spacewalk Saturday.

Commander Peggy Whitson and Daniel Tani need to hook up more electrical and fluid connections linking the space station with the Harmony compartment that was delivered by the shuttle Discovery last month.

That will allow Harmony to serve as a docking port for the European lab, named Columbus, which is scheduled to be delivered in December. A Japanese lab due to be delivered early next year also will dock to the school bus-size module.

Much of Saturday's work will involve lugging a second 18-foot, 300-pound tray holding fluid lines to Harmony and bolting it down. The lines carry ammonia, a coolant. The astronauts moved and installed another fluid tray on Tuesday.

Tani also plans to spend part of Saturday's 6-hour spacewalk inspecting a jammed joint that is needed to turn one of the space station's two sets of huge solar wings. The gear has been experiencing electrical current spikes and must be repaired over the coming months to continue station construction.

Tani found steel shavings inside the joint while spacewalking last month during Discovery's visit.

On Saturday, he plans to remove one of the joint's covers so he can take digital pictures and collect samples of any debris. He will leave the cover off so the astronauts can shoot videos of the gear later.

The space station's three residents have been working almost nonstop since Discovery's departure on November 5, and just last week moved Harmony to its permanent location. This is their third spacewalk and the last planned before Atlantis arrives.

Atlantis is scheduled to blast off on December 6.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Scientist finds fossilized claw of man-sized sea scorpion

LONDON, England (AP) -- This was a bug you couldn't swat and definitely couldn't step on.

The ancient sea scorpion, at 2.5 meters (8 feet) in length, was bigger than the average man is tall.

British scientists have stumbled across a fossilized claw, part of an ancient sea scorpion, that is of such large proportion it would make the entire creature the biggest bug ever.

How big? Bigger than you, and at 8 feet long as big as some Smart cars.

The discovery in 390-million-year-old rocks suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were far larger in the past than previously thought, said Simon Braddy, a University of Bristol paleontologist and one of the study's three authors.

"This is an amazing discovery," he said Tuesday.

"We have known for some time that the fossil record yields monster millipedes, super-sized scorpions, colossal cockroaches, and jumbo dragonflies. But we never realized until now just how big some of these ancient creepy-crawlies were," he said.

The research found a type of sea scorpion that was almost half a yard longer than previous estimates and the largest one ever to have evolved.

The study, published online Tuesday in the Royal Society's journal Biology Letters, means that before this sea scorpion became extinct it was much longer than today's average man is tall.

Prof. Jeorg W. Schneider, a paleontologist at Freiberg Mining Academy in southeastern Germany, said the study provides valuable new information about "the last of the giant scorpions."

Schneider, who was not involved in the study, said these scorpions "were dominant for millions of years because they didn't have natural enemies. Eventually they were wiped out by large fish with jaws and teeth."

Braddy's partner paleontologist Markus Poschmann found the claw fossil several years ago in a quarry near Prum, Germany, that probably had once been an ancient estuary or swamp.

"I was loosening pieces of rock with a hammer and chisel when I suddenly realized there was a dark patch of organic matter on a freshly removed slab. After some cleaning I could identify this as a small part of a large claw," said Poschmann, another author of the study.

"Although I did not know if it was more complete or not, I decided to try and get it out. The pieces had to be cleaned separately, dried, and then glued back together. It was then put into a white plaster jacket to stabilize it," he said.

Eurypterids, or ancient sea scorpions, are believed to be the extinct aquatic ancestors of today's scorpions and possibly all arachnids, a class of joint-legged, invertebrate animals, including spiders, scorpions, mites and ticks.

Braddy said the fossil was from a Jaekelopterus Rhenaniae, a kind of scorpion that lived only in Germany for about 10 million years, about 400 million years ago.

He said some geologists believe that gigantic sea scorpions evolved due to higher levels of oxygen in the atmosphere in the past. Others suspect they evolved in an "arms race" alongside their likely prey, fish that had armor on their outer bodies.

Braddy said the sea scorpions also were cannibals that fought and ate one other, so it helped to be as big as they could be.

"The competition between this scorpion and its prey was probably like a nuclear standoff, an effort to have the biggest weapon," he said. "Hundreds of millions of years ago, these sea scorpions had the upper hand over vertebrates -- backboned animals like ourselves."

That competition ended long ago.

But the next time you swat a fly, or squish a spider at home, Braddy said, try to "think about the insects that lived long ago. You wouldn't want to swat one of those."

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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A digital game of cat and mouse

Will the game of cat and mouse continue?

Digital Rights Management, or DRM, is a technology that divides opinion.

For some campaigners, it is "defective" software that cripples products and should be abolished immediately.

To the record and film industry it is a "crucial" tool that allows them to protect and sell their goods online.

As a result, the software locks have become the focus of a game of digital cat and mouse. As each new or updated DRM system is released an army of hackers pores over the code and often releases a workaround within hours or days.

For example, in August 2006 a hacker managed to circumvent the Microsoft Windows DRM system within three days of the software giant releasing an update intended to block previous workarounds.

In July this year, updates intended to protect tracks sold through Microsoft's Zune Marketplace were also cracked, whilst Apple's Fairplay DRM system has come under similar scrutiny

"DRM is seen as fair game in the same way as firewalls are for hackers," said analyst Mark Mulligan of JupiterResearch.

Free trials

However, not all DRMs are equal. Music was more likely to be targeted by hackers and critics because of people's expectations, said Mr Mulligan.

People have expectations based on physical formats

"One of the big failings of DRM [on music downloads] is the complete contradiction in ideology behind selling music in CD format versus selling music in digital format," he explained.

Most CDs do not have any form of DRM and so almost all of the content is already available DRM-free, he said. Therefore any hacks of music DRM systems were done "just for fun".

Some music retailers have started to test the waters by selling downloads DRM-free.

In April this year, music giant EMI announced that it would sell "premium" music downloads through Apple's iTunes without the locks, whilst earlier this month Vivendi's Universal Music announced a similar deal as part of a six month trial.

But the vast majority of music downloads are still sold with DRM. The record industry says this is for two reasons.

"One is to enable different business models at different price points," said Richard Gooch, director of technology at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industries (IFPI) "The other is to protect against piracy."

The music and video markets are not parallel. The video industry does not deliver 90% of its content DRM-free

Mr Gooch pointed to services such as Napster that offer a subscription service with access to more than 4 million tunes.

"Those services which give you access to everything for a fixed period of time - it's difficult to see how that type of a service could be offered if it wasn't operated with DRM," he said.

"You can't send a user an e-mail saying - 'by the way, those 4 million tracks I gave you, you wouldn't mind deleting them would you?'."

DRM does the job for Napster by making tracks unplayable at the end of the subscription period.

Cracked disc

Similar technology is used to control movie downloads as part of services such as CinemaNow and Amazon's Unbox service.

Mr Mulligan says that DRM on DVDs does not attract the same level of mirth from the digital community as it does for music downloads.

The DRM used in the iPlayer has been cracked

"There isn't a contradiction of approach between the physical and digital products," said Mr Mulligan.

"Video content and DVD has always been very protected - people do not expect to copy DVDs easily," he said.

Apple boss Steve Jobs made a similar observation earlier this year in an open letter posted on the company's website.

"The music and video markets are not parallel. The video industry does not deliver 90% of its content DRM-free," he wrote, referring to CDs. Other groups such as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) also agree.

However, DRM for movies does still attract attention from the hacking community.

For example, the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) used on next-generation HD DVD and Blu-ray discs was cracked six months after it hit shelves. Other cracks appeared soon after.

Although this had led to some people sharing movie files illegally on the web it is not at the same level as for music.

"There is some demand for it but it is a very different scenario than for CDs," he said.

Endless game

Another potential target for hackers is the burgeoning sector of on-demand television.

The bottom line is there will never be a watertight digital rights management solution

But like with film, Mr Mulligan believes it will not be hit as hard as the DRM used for music.

"DRM is better suited to television content because it fits with demand as well as expectations," said Mr Mulligan.

In particular, he said, people were unlikely to want to keep much of the ephemeral content available on television such as news or soap operas.

Some TV companies also seem sanguine.

The Microsoft DRM system used by the BBC's iPlayer has already been cracked and people using the trial version of the player have already been able to strip programmes of their DRM.

At its launch, Ashley Highfield, director of future media and technology at the BBC admitted: "Piracy is always going to happen."

It is a view shared by Mr Mulligan

"The bottom line is there will never be a watertight digital rights management solution" he said.

The view is disputed by people within the movie and music industry.

"DRM is not going away," said Mr Gooch.

And so until one side wins out, the game of cat and mouse will continue.Shock to system Day in pictures Luxury living

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

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Anti file-sharing laws considered

The government cannot tolerate stealing, said Lord Triesman

The UK government could legislate to crack down on illegal file-sharers, a senior politician has told the BBC's iPM programme.

Lord Triesman, the parliamentary Under Secretary for Innovation, Universities and Skills, said intellectual property theft would not be tolerated.

"If we can't get voluntary arrangements we will legislate," he said.

The comments could prove controversial with privacy advocates and internet service providers.

Lord Triesman called on internet service providers to take a "more activist role" in the problem of illegal file-sharing.

Data banks

There are ongoing talks between internet service providers and the music industry and these are, said Lord Triesman, "progressing more promisingly than people might have thought six months ago".

"For the most part I think there are going to be successful voluntary schemes between the creative industries and ISPs. Our preferred position is that we shouldn't have to regulate," he said.

He admitted that the technology necessary to track illegal file sharing would mean that "it is quite possible to know where it is happening and who it is happening with".

While he said that the government had no interest in "hounding 14-year-olds who shared music", it was intent on tracking down those who made multiple copies for profit.

"Where people have registered music as an intellectual property I believe we will be able to match data banks of that music to music going out and being exchanged on the net," he said.

"We have some simple choices to make. If creative artists can't earn a living as a result of the work they produce, then we will kill off creative artists and that would be a tragedy."

Mere conduit

This week a man was arrested in connection with pirate music site

The debate centre around peer-to-peer (P2P) technology, applications that allow internet users to exchange files with each other directly or through a mediating server.

Computer users with the same type of P2P application can connect to each other and directly access files from one another's hard drives.

Some people are using peer-to-peer applications to copy or distribute files including copyrighted material such as music, films and software without paying royalties.

People who do this may be infringing the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

There have been various crack-downs on such applications. Most recently the UK-run members-only site OiNK was shut down and several properties in the UK and Holland were raided.

'Misbegotten idea'

The Internet Service Providers Association has always maintained that it cannot be held responsible for illegal peer-to-peer traffic because it is "merely a conduit" of such material.

"ISPA does not support abuses of copyright and intellectual property theft," said an ISPA spokesman.

He said: "However, ISPs cannot monitor or record the type of information passed over their network. ISPs are no more able to inspect and filter every single packet passing across their network than the Post Office is able to open every envelope."

"ISPs deal with many more packets of data each day than postal services and data protection legislation actually prevents ISPs from looking at the content of the packets sent," he added.

The British Phonographic Industry was pleased at the government's tough line.

"We greatly welcome the government reiterating its view that ISPs should work with us to tackle the problem of internet piracy, or else face legislation," said Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI.

"ISPs operate the pathways to digital music consumers. Through our talks with the ISP community we are hopeful that together we can arrive at voluntary co-operative agreements that work to the benefit of the whole digital marketplace," he added.

The iPM programme also spoke to renowned blogger Cory Doctorow who described the idea as "misbegotten".

"It represents the opinion of someone who doesn't understand technology very well, and hasn't really thought through the implications of what he's promising.

You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who's an actual computer scientist involved in digital signal processing who believes that you can accurately identify copyrighted works with any kind of reliability in a variety of situations," he said.

He believed the idea would createa "giant toxic pool of personally idenitifying private information" that ISPs would not be able to keep secret.

"You will dismantle the fundamentals of the democratic state, which is to be free in your person, your mind and your conversation from scrutiny and surveillance. So this is a really misbegotten idea," he told iPM.

Shock to system Day in pictures Luxury living

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France unveils anti-piracy plan

Sarkozy: "A decisive moment for the future of a civilised internet"

French web users caught pirating movies or music could soon be thrown offline.

Those illegally sharing files will face the loss of their net access thanks to a newly-created anti-piracy body granted the wide-ranging powers.

The anti-piracy body comes out of a deal agreed by France's music and movie makers and its net firms.

The group who brokered the deal said the measures were intended to curb casual piracy rather than tackle large scale pirate groups.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the deal was a "decisive moment for the future of a civilised internet".

Net firms will monitor what their customers are doing and pass on information about persistent pirates to the new independent body. Those identified will get a warning and then be threatened with either being cut off or suspended if they do not stop illegal file-sharing.

The agreement between net firms, record companies, film-makers and government was drawn up by a special committee created to look at the problem of the net and cultural protection.

Denis Olivennes, head of the French chain store FNAC, who chaired the committee said current penalties for piracy - large fines and years in jail - were "totally disproportionate" for those young people who do file-share illegally.

In return for agreeing to monitor net use, film-makers agreed to speed up the transfer of movies to DVD and music firms pledged to support DRM-free tracks on music stores.

The deal was hailed by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents the global interests of the music business.

"This is the single most important initiative to help win the war on online piracy that we have seen so far," it said in a statement.

French consumer group UFC Que Choisir was more cautious.

It said the agreement was "very tough, potentially destructive of freedom, anti-economic and against digital history".Shock to system Day in pictures Luxury living

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Review: YSP-4000 delivers convincing surround sound

(CNET.com) -- If you're one of those people who don't want to "live with wires and boxes all over my living room," Yamaha's Digital Sound Projector series of single-speaker surround systems may be exactly what you're looking for.

Building on the success of earlier models, the company's 2007 lineup comes in three flavors: the YSP-900 ($900), the YSP-3000 ($1,200), and the subject of this review, the YSP-4000 ($1,800).

The top model is the first to offer 1080p/720p HDMI switching, analog video upscaling to HDMI, XM surround compatibility, and an FM tuner. The long, sleek YSP-4000 speaker has built-in power amplifiers, proprietary signal processing, plentiful connectivity, and uses 40 "beam" drivers to create a convincing illusion of multichannel sound. Just add a disc player and a TV and you're set.

The YSP-4000 is expensive, but it obviates the need to buy an AV receiver. The YSP-4000 delivered the best, most convincing surround sound we've ever heard from just one speaker. We only wish Yamaha invested more time in making the setup routine fully user-friendly: the surround calibration is a snap, but assigning inputs for multiple sources is likely to induce headaches for all but the most experienced users.

Design

A large perforated metal grille dominates the YSP-4000's front panel; the LED display relates volume level and processing status (there's also a volume control and input selector). We mostly used the remote control to handle those functions and execute the setup routines. It's not backlit, but we found the remote fairly easy to use in our dimly lit home theater. The speaker is 40.5 inches wide, 7.6 high, and 5.75 deep, and it weighs 34.6 pounds. It can be wall mounted with the optional SPM-K30 bracket ($80) or positioned on a shelf above or below your TV.

Yamaha's Digital Sound Projection Technology works by reflecting sound off walls, so bare walls work best, and objects in the room such as chairs, drapes, or furniture may have an adverse effect on the quality of the surround sound. Yamaha's IntelliBeam autosetup and calibration system couldn't be easier to use. Just bring up the onscreen menu (available over the HDMI connection), plug in the supplied microphone, and the completely automated procedure takes just a few minutes to complete.

Yamaha now offers two matching subwoofers for use with the YSP speakers--the YST-FSW150 ($280) and the YST-FSW050 ($200)--they're slim, rack-mountable designs. It's also worth mentioning that the YSP-4000 is available in either black or silver.

Features

The YSP-4000 is more than just a speaker -- it has built-in power amplifiers and the switching capabilities of an entry-level AV receiver. The speaker's 40 1.5-inch microdrivers project the front-left, front-right and surround channels' sound to reflect off your room's walls; the center channel's sound is projected directly from the YSP-4000 to the listening position. Yamaha's TruBass technology is said to enhance the two 4.25-inch woofers bass response (the microdrivers and woofers are each powered by their own digital amplifier). Total power is rated at 120 watts.

Surround processing modes include Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II, DTS, DTS Neo:6, Neural Surround and Yamaha's proprietary Cinema DSP technology. The only thing missing is the latest Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD formats found on Blu-ray and HD DVD discs.

Most of the speaker's connectors are recessed into the rear panel: there are two sets of stereo analog inputs; two optical and two coaxial digital inputs (for surround sources); a dock terminal for Yamaha's YDS-10 iPod dock; an XM antenna jack for use with XM's Mini-Tuner Home Dock; and a subwoofer output. The two HDMI inputs (and one output) can handle video and audio. Video-only connectors include two sets of component-video and three composite-video inputs; and one set of component and composite-video outputs. Annoyingly, S-Video connections are completely absent. The RS-232C interface and IR input and output jacks are provided for use in custom installation systems. The front panel has a 3.5mm jack for handy connection with portable players.

We experienced some considerable headaches when setting up the YSP-4000 to use multiple AV sources (an Xbox 360, an Apple TV, a DirecTV DVR, and a Panasonic Blu-ray player). Assigning inputs becomes confusing when you move beyond the two HDMI or two component inputs--one each can assigned as "DVD," for instance.

Be prepared to invest some time and effort, along with possible limitations (one video input seemed to only match with a coaxial audio input, one with an optical, and so on). Likewise, we experienced problems getting the YSP-4000 to lock into our Dolby Digital surround signal, having the display recognize only "stereo" instead. Those with more than three or four sources might want to consider using an HDMI switcher or going with a traditional AV receiver, and using the YSP-4000 simply as the speaker system instead--or do so with one of the less-expensive stepdown models, the YSP-3000 or smaller YSP-800, instead.

On the brighter side, the YSP-4000 offers analog video upconversion to HDMI. That means that any of the composite or component inputs can be output via the single HDMI port, as well as upconverted to your choice of resolution -- 480p, 720p, or 1080i. As a result, you need only a single HDMI cable from the YSP-4000 to your HDTV.

Performance

We started our auditions with a Stephen King thriller, 1408, which some people have compared to The Shining. Well, we wouldn't go that far, but the movie's hyperactive haunted hotel room did show off the YSP-4000's ability to project creepy surround effects way out into the CNET listening room. During the scene where the hotel room turns bitterly cold, we could almost feel the crunch of John Cusack's shoes as he walked across the snowy floor. Later, when Cusack, in panicked desperation, crawls out of the room's window to escape, the traffic sounds of the city below were spatially believable. We noted that Cusack's voice sounded a bit too chesty at times, but we'd prefer that to an anemic or thin sound.

The YSP-4000 projects the left, right, and surround channels' sounds via user selectable modes: 5-Beam mode, 3-Beam mode, Stereo+3-Beam mode, Stereo mode, and My Beam mode, which allows users to focus the sound to a specific position in the room to avoid disturbing others. That might come in handy for late-night movie viewing, but we found the My Beam's sound to be rather nasal and thin. We mostly stuck with the 3-Beam and 5-Beam modes for all of our listening tests. The 5-Beam setting projected sound further into the room, but sometimes at the cost of coarsening sound quality; when that happened we switched back to 3-Beam.

The YSP-4000 stumbled when we played big special effect driven flicks like Mission: Impossible III. The explosions fell flat, the bass was rumbly, and the Yamaha couldn't play loud at all. We hooked up the Acoustic Research HT60 subwoofer to add extra muscle to the sound, and it helped a little, but we still felt the YSP-4000 lacked punch.

While listening to CDs in stereo, the YSP-4000 sounded small. Switching on the 3-Beam mode dramatically opened up the sound, spreading it out to the full width of the CNET listening room. The Perfume soundtrack orchestrated score demonstrated the YSP-4000 refined sound quality. The velvety smooth violins and the score's crisp percussive accents sounded on a par with some of the better $1,000 speaker packages we've heard. The 3-Beam spacious sound wasn't limited to just the listeners seated directly inline with the speaker, the wide-open sound was available for listeners on either side of the couch.

Yes, you could spend the same amount the YSP-4000 costs on a first-class AV receiver and 5.1-channel satellite/subwoofer package that doesn't need to "simulate" surround sound. That system would produce far better overall sound quality, greater dynamic punch, and more spacious surround effects. If the success of Yamaha's previous generations of YSP's means anything, we've learned that buyers will happily pay extra for the elegance of single-speaker surround. And the YSP-4000, despite its performance shortcomings, is the best there is.

Assistant Editor Jeff Bakalar contributed to this review.

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Graphics chips rev up research results

A better graphics card means PC games look more realistic

Every serious PC gamer knows what a difference a good graphics card can make to the fun they have.

But it is not just hardcore gamers who have recognised the worth of a PC graphics card.

Increasing numbers of research scientists have woken up to their potential too.

But the scientists in question are not using the cards to appreciate the detail in PC games such as The Witcher. Instead they are using them as cheap sources of supercomputer-class processing power.

"They give a phenomenal bang for the buck," said Mike Giles, professor of scientific computing at the University of Oxford.

Prof Giles said the way that graphics cards were built made them very good at the repetitive computational tasks many scientists use to test theories, models and predictions.

Spot checks

Professor Susan Hagness from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has turned to graphics cards to quickly analyse breast scans to spot cancer in its early stages.

Dr Hagness said official figures suggest x-rays missed 20% of the cancers that were present when a woman underwent screening.

Women want scan results as quickly as possible

Dr Hagness' team is using microwaves to scan tissue and then pumping the results through hardware made by Canadian firm Acceleware which bolts together several graphics cards into a mini computational cluster.

The dedicated hardware meant that results emerged in a matter of hours rather than days, said Dr Hagness.

This was essential when the technique began to be used in a clinical setting, she said.

"Any woman who undergoes screening mammography wants the results straight away."

Hardware helper

Prof Giles, who is using graphics processors to do financial modelling, said the chips were very good at doing the same thing many different times.

By contrast the Intel or AMD chips inside a typical desktop machine were good at doing many different things at the same time.

Graphics cards had far more processing cores - which execute program instructions - than Intel or AMD chips, said Prof Giles, adding that each one of the cores could do one run of the same simple task.

The financial models that Prof Giles is running test the same algorithm on each core but each one gets different random numbers as input.

With the latest graphics processors having more than 100 processing cores that can add up to a lot of number crunching.

Modelling financial markets helps firms weather stock movements

"Each core is logically very simple but its floating point capability is the same as an Intel chip," said Prof Giles.

Developments in methods of writing code to handle the processing was also making graphics processors much more attractive, he said.

"In the early days you could only use graphics cards for graphics," said Prof Giles.

In particular, he said, graphics card maker Nvidia had released software tools called Cuda (Compute Unified Device Architecture) that made it much easier to write code.

"For a while there were only hard-to-use shader languages," said Prof Giles, "Cuda is a much more usable development environment."

Flow control

By harnessing that processing power many scientists are getting results from simulations far faster than before.

PhD student Tobias Brandvik and Dr Graham Pullan in the Whittle Laboratory at the University of Cambridge engineering department had sped up simulations of turbine blade designs by 40 times by using a few graphics cards.

Each blade, said Dr Pullan, was custom designed for the jet or power plant in which they will be used.

Tiny improvements in efficiency have big rewards in turbine engines

But, he said, even with this formidable level of complexity the design process models the turbulent air rather than accurately representing or resolving it.

"With a cluster of graphical processing units, we could hope to use, say, 10 million cells," he said. The simulation run would take the same amount of time as existing models.

"Then, we would resolve some of the larger turbulent eddies," said Dr Pullan. "In general, the more we resolve and the less we model, the more accurate the theory."

An alternative would be to stick with 500,000 cells and try lots more blade designs or include blades upstream and downstream to get a better overall picture of air flowing through a turbine.

Tiny improvements in design can have a huge payoff, said Dr Pullan.

"It's all about making the absolute best efficiency possible," he said.

"Improvements of even 1% in fuel consumption, for jet engines, or 1% in electricity power generated, for steam or gas turbines for power generation, is highly sought after."Luxury living Day in pictures It's quiz time!

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Review: Wireless sync, podcast integration give Zune an edge

(CNET.com) -- Having survived its freshman hazing, the Zune is back for its sophomore revenge, and the iPod has every reason to be frightened. The Zune 4 (4GB, $149) and Zune 8 (8GB, $199) offer a leaner, lighter version of Microsoft's full-size Zune 80 MP3 player (80GB, $249).

With a new hardware and software design, wireless sync capability, subscription music compatibility, and integrated support for audio and video podcasts, the Zune 4 and Zune 8 are poised to compete directly with the third-generation Apple iPod Nano.

Design

The Zune 4 and Zune 8 are Microsoft's first foray into smaller, flash memory-based MP3 players. Zune 4 and Zune are identical to one another in every way but storage capacity, and both come in red, black, green, and pink. Measuring a slight 3.6 inches by 1.6 inches by 0.33 inch, the flash-based Zunes are considerably slimmer than their 80GB hard-drive-based sibling. In the overcrowded marketplace of flash-based MP3 players, however, the dimensions of the Zune 4 and 8 are hardly noteworthy. That said, the Zune 4 and Zune 8 have a nice shape, which feels reminiscent of the first-generation iPod Nano.

One design feature that distinguishes the Zune 4 and Zune 8 from the competition is Microsoft's decision to use a glass-covered LCD instead of plastic. The 1.8-inch glass screen not only lends the device a sophisticated feel, it also provides a more scratch-resistant surface with less optical distortion than the ubiquitous plastic variety. Although the 1.8-inch screen seems minuscule compared with the opulent 3.2-inch screen on the 80GB Zune, the oversized font on the main menu affords a legibility rarely found on pint-size MP3 players.

Another unique design feature is a completely new navigation control that Microsoft dubs the Zune Pad. Think of the Zune Pad as a cross between a standard four-direction navigation pad and a laptop's touchpad. With the Zune Pad, users can navigate menus by either pressing or sliding their finger in four directions and select items by clicking the middle of the pad. We were initially skeptical about the Zune Pad's usability compared to the tried-and-true click pad of the first-generation Zune, but after just a few minutes we found the Zune's old interface to be positively archaic. Navigating lengthy song lists is a breeze, especially with an accelerated scroll kicking in when the pad is held down. The new Zune Pad interface also lets you skip through songs, photos, and radio stations with just a light brush of the finger. Buttons for play/pause and menu still flank each side of the Zune's control pad, and behave exactly as they did in the first-generation Zune. It's hard to say whether the Zune Pad interface is actually better than Apple's patented iPod wheel navigation, but it is certainly comparable. We found the Zune Pad made scrolling long lists of artists much easier than using a scroll wheel, but the iPod's center select button is more reliable than the ambiguously defined button found on the Zune.

The entire Zune product line uses a new graphic user interface that no longer looks like a rehash of the Portable Media Center operating system found on the Toshiba Gigabeat S. While the critically beloved "twist" interface of first-generation Zune remains, the main menu has been replaced with stunning, oversized text that takes readability to the next level. You can customize this same main menu with a background image from your digital photo collection. Existing Zune loyalists will be happy to know that Microsoft is offering the new Zune operating system as a free upgrade to all first-generation Zune owners.

We're also happy to see that the back of the Zune covered with rugged, matte-finished aluminum, etched with the Zune logo. Microsoft has also partnered with a handful of graphic artists to create custom-etched versions of the 4, 8, and 80GB Zunes, which can be ordered directly from Microsoft at ZuneOriginals.net.

Features With subscription music support, video playback, Wi-Fi music sharing, a high-quality photo viewer, an RBDS-enabled FM radio, and composite video output, the features on the first-generation Zune were already impressive. The second-generation Zunes maintain all of the compelling features of the original and also includes new features such as audio and video podcast support and a unique ability to automatically sync content over a home's wireless network.

Ever since Apple rolled podcast support into its iPod and iTunes products back in 2005, no one has been able to match their seamless integration of audio and video podcast discovery, subscription, and management tools (although Creative's Zencast alternative gets close). With the latest refresh of the Zune PC software, first- and second-generation Zune owners can now enjoy audio and video podcasts with the same ease as their iPod contemporaries. Podcasts now have their own directory within the main menu of the Zune, which is subdivided between audio and video podcasts.

The Zune PC software also includes a new podcast tab that allows users to browse through a growing library of podcasts. If your favorite podcast can't be found in the directory, the software lets you both recommend the podcast for inclusion and lets you add the podcast manually by copying and pasting its URL into the Zune software. In the end, podcast downloads, auto-sync preferences, and subscription management match that of iTunes. In fact, Microsoft takes podcast integration a step further by allowing users to unsubscribe from podcasts directly on their Zune -- a great feature for podcast junkies who want to tidy up their subscriptions on the go. (Editors' note: Microsoft removed the podcast unsubscribe feature from the Zune's initial firmware release due to instability. Microsoft plans to reintroduce the feature in its next firmware update.) We're also happy to see that the Zune includes a playback resume option that automatically bookmarks your place in a podcast when you can't listen to it all in one sitting.

The Zune 4 and Zune 8's piece de resistance is their ability to wirelessly sync content from your PC over your home Wi-Fi network. The feature requires a one-time setup to familiarize the Zune with your home network, after which it will remember to look for the network automatically each time you plug it in for a recharge. If you're within range of your wireless network but don't feel like recharging your player to trigger the wireless sync, you can also initiate the sync manually by digging through the Zune's settings. Of course, you can always connect the Zune directly to your computer using the included proprietary USB cable, but the wireless option is a neat trick.

The Zune 4's and Zune 8's audio, video, photo, and radio features are largely unchanged from the first generation--not a bad thing, really. The Zune's music player supports MP3, WMA, protected-WMA (Zune Marketplace only), WMA Lossless, and AAC music file formats. The continued support for AAC opens the door for iPod converts, although you won't be able to transfer DRM-protected iTunes purchases or Windows' older DRM-9 files.

The Zune supports WMV, MPEG-4, and H.264 video formats natively at a DVD-quality 30 frames per second rate. Windows Media Center users will be happy to know that the Zune also imports DVR-MS recorded video content. Although the Zune's screen displays at a 320x240 resolution, video files stored on the Zune can be as large as 720x480. Unfortunately, the Zune 4 and 8 do not share the same TV output feature included on the 80GB Zune, so the support for 720x480 files is pointless.

The Zune 4 and 8 display RBDS (Radio Broadcast Data System) station information, distinguishing their FM radio as one of the best on a handheld device. Depending on the broadcaster, the Zune's FM radio displays a station's call letters, genre, and occasionally shows the currently playing artist and song information. Users can also switch between European, North American, and Japanese radio bands from the Zune's radio settings menu. The Zune's radio depends on a connected pair of headphones (any will do) to act as an antenna, however, so don't be surprised when the radio doesn't work while the Zune is connected to an AV dock.

Aside from its wireless sync capability, the little Zunes' most notable feature is their ability to share music and photos between users. With the latest version of the Zune PC software, the social aspect of recommending music and showing off your music interests can now reach beyond Zune users who are within range of your Wi-Fi antenna. Zune users are now encouraged to set up their Zune Card, a Last.FM-style Web page that reveals your listening habits and favorite songs to the world, and opens up the opportunity to discover and recommend new music through interaction with other Zune users. The new Zune Card online community may be a bit much for some people, but plans to integrate the Zune Card for use with larger social-networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace may provide an automatic way to update your friends on your musical tastes.

While the Zune is one of the more full-featured MP3 players on the market, it lacks some competitive features. If you're looking for a voice recorder, line-input recorder, or FM radio recorder, you'll need to look elsewhere. Without support for Audible audio books or audio file bookmarking, the Zune is also not our first choice for book lovers. Considering the restrictive capacity of the Zune 4 and 8, we would have liked an SD memory card expansion slot as well. Still, far and away the most shocking feature omission in the latest crop of Zunes is an audio EQ control.

Software

Using the Zune also means using the Zune's PC-only software. The Zune software has seen a major overhaul from its earliest days, with a shockingly clean and bright interface. New icons lining the bottom edge of the software make playlist creation and content syncing much more intuitive. Fans of Windows Media Player will definitely need some time to adjust to the new file and category organization, but we believe the new system is more intuitive.

As with iTunes, the main benefit of the Zune's dedicated software is the ability to integrate an online music store (Zune Marketplace) alongside your own music library. The Zune Marketplace is also seeing a refresh, with added DRM-free download content, more attractive artist pages, better genre-based editorial content, a podcast directory, and more granular subcategories within genres. The Zune Marketplace is still missing the TV and movie content found through competitors such as iTunes, but it does offer music videos. Expect Microsoft to make another big push for its all-you-can-eat Zune Pass music subscription service to coincide with the launch of their MP3 players.

Performance

The Zune's Achilles' heel is its built-in Wi-Fi antenna. As any laptop owner knows, a Wi-Fi antenna sucks a lot of juice and can wreck battery performance. To optimize the Zune's battery life in spite of its Wi-Fi capabilities, Microsoft decided to ditch the built-in audio equalizer found on the first-generation Zune. While one can argue that EQ presets are simply a Band-Aid for poor quality earbuds, there's just no way to feel good about having a perfectly good feature ripped away from a product. We cut Microsoft a little slack on excluding EQ from the 80GB Zune because they bundled it with high-quality dynamic driver earphones. Unfortunately, the basic earbuds that come with the Zune 4 and Zune 8 just don't compare. Listening on our full-sized Ultrasone HFI-700 headphones, we were more than satisfied with the Zune's fidelity (especially considering its support for the WMA Lossless audio format). That said, bass addicts, control freaks, and people with partial hearing loss will certainly be disappointed with the Zune's lack of sound enhancement.

The 1.8-inch screen used on the Zune 4 and 8 is adequate for short video podcast content, but nowhere close to the luxurious, movie-worthy 3.2-inch screen found on the 80GB version. With flash-based MP3 players such as the Creative Zen and Sansa View offering larger screens along with memory expansion and EQ, the value of the Zune 4 and 8 is not as cut-and-dried as its high-capacity kin. Despite its size, however, the Zune's glass-covered, 320x240 LCD presents excellent viewing angles, with above-average clarity and color. Zune's support for Windows Media Center DVR content is a bonus, but you probably won't want to watch an entire TV show on such a small screen.

The battery life of the 4 and 8GB Zune is about average for this type of device, but we expected much better. With the Wi-Fi feature turned off, Microsoft rates the 4 and 8GB Zune's battery life at 24 hours for audio, and 4 hours for video. Those numbers aren't bad, but we doubt many users will think to turn off the Wi-Fi feature. Once testing is complete, we'll update this review with results from our CNET Labs.

Final thoughts

With every MP3 player manufacturer coming out with their own takes on the video-capable, flash-based MP3 player, Microsoft's spin on the theme is somewhat predictable. Wireless sync and podcast integration give the Zune an edge over its competition, however. Still, we're much more enthusiastic about Microsoft's high-capacity 80GB Zune.

Source from: edition.cnn.com

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Topical waters

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Research published last month paints an increasingly gloomy picture of the accelerating rate of climate change, raising genuine fears that efforts to combat carbon emissions may already be too late to restrict seismic changes in the earth's temperatures.

Plankton bloom off the coast of Norway as seen from the ESA satellite Envisat on 10 June 2006.

Compiled by a group of eminent scientists and published in the U.S. journal 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)the report suggests that greenhouse gases are rising at a faster rate now than they did in the 1990's.

The scientists cite three main causes for this alarming rise; Growth in the world economy, increased fossil fuel emissions since 2000 and a decline in the efficiency of the ocean and land 'sinks' to absorb carbon emissions.

In the wake of this troubling new data about ocean carbon absorption, a range of geo-engineering solutions are being hotly debated in the scientific community and piloted by eco-businesses. The hope is that by intervening in the ocean's eco-system we will be able to reverse or stabilize the rates of growth in global warming.

The oceans are natural 'CO2 sinks' (a reservoir that absorbs atmospheric carbon). Phytoplankton -- microscopic organisms that congregate near the ocean surface - absorb atmospheric CO2 through photosynthesis. At the end of their lifetime -- usually only a few days -- they fall to the ocean floor carrying with them the CO2.

Scientists have known for some time that large swathes of the earth's oceans harbor extremely low densities of phytoplankton. These areas are known as HNLC (high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll) zones and are thought to be caused by a scarcity of iron.

This iron-deficiency theory was first postulated in the 1930's by English scientist Joseph Hart.

But it wasn't until the 1980's that the American oceanographer John Martin measured the iron content of the seawater in HNLC zones and found negligible amounts.

He argued that the sea gets it iron from dust swept into the sea from the land, and that wind currents weren't carrying iron to HNLC areas. Martin tested his hypothesis in Antarctica and found that phytoplankton thrived in jars of seawater infused with iron.

Martin's discoveries set in motion further research in this area and it was in the spirit of his work that a ship named Weatherbird II set sail for the tropical waters of the eastern Atlantic earlier this month.

Its mission is to carry out Martin's experiment on a much grander scale, pouring iron ore into the ocean in an attempt to stimulate plankton growth and assess the wider effects on sea life.

The pilot study has been organized by Planktos, a Californian-based eco-restoration company.

"This really might be an incredible solution," Planktos CEO Russ George told CNN.

"In climate change we talk about a tipping point, but in oceans and ocean life we are far over that tipping point," he said.

George has been involved in the carbon credit business for over 30 years. He started a tree planting company in British Columbia and estimates that he has planted over a quarter of a billion trees in Canada alone. A subsidiary company, KlimaFa Ltd is currently restoring forests in the European Union with over 100,000 hectares of land in Hungary being replenished.

It was when the Kyoto accord was first signed in 1997 that George started thinking of new ways to sell carbon credits and started researching iron fertilization. He is confident that it will be a success.

"20 years and 100-200 million dollars of public funds have identified this iron tonic solution as a way to restore the productivity of the ocean," he said.

Yet Planktos is a constant target for groups who don't buy into the idea of carbon offsets.

In a joint statement in August 2006 Greenpeace, the WWF and Friends of the Earth said: "Carbon offsets should only be seen as a last resort" and that "purchasing offsets can be seen as an easy way out for governments, businesses and individuals to continue polluting without making changes to the way they do business or their behavior".

George has had to put up with protesters continually claiming that the technology that Planktos is trialing isn't regulated.

"Any new technology in climate change that produces offsets has to go through a multi-tiered independent third party, transparent certification process. It's the most rigorous regulatory process on earth for any new technology," said George.

But opponents remain unconvinced. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a vocal critic of Planktos, has, according to George, threatened to 'intercept' the Weatherbird II if attempts are made to carry out research.

George believes that the technology is the world's best hope. "We've lost 17 percent of all plant life in the Atlantic, 26 percent in the North Pacific and in the sub-tropical oceans 50 percent or more of plant life has disappeared," he said.

The pilot study is scheduled to last several months and the results will be keenly monitored by scientists.

CNN spoke to Professor Jef Huisman from the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Netherlands about iron fertilization.

"It is often discussed among scientists and we have mixed feelings about it," he said. "We know it could potentially reduce the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, but we don't know what the consequences are."

Asked about the research about to be conducted by Planktos, Professor Huisman said: I think it's an interesting idea as well as a dangerous idea. Interesting because we know that if we can increase the primary production and there will be a larger intake of carbon dioxide in to the ocean.

"But is also dangerous. Just as you fertilize on land you will change the eco-system. Whereas we have experience of what happens in a meadow, we have no experience of what would happen with the eco-system species composition in the ocean. What happens if you do large scale iron fertilization? We have no idea which species are going to profit or whether it will cause harmful algal blooms.

Professor Huisman predicts that once the iron goes into the ocean that there will be a strong increase in phytoplankton species.

"I would expect the small phytoplankton species -- that have a fast growth rate - will be there first," he said. "Secondly you would have slow plankton species that would catch up and start grazing on the phytoplankton species."

Huisman, an expert in aquatic microbiology, is currently researching the phenomenon of the deep chlorophyll maximum -- a layer of phytoplankton found in tropical and sub-tropical oceans. He thinks that iron fertilization studies should be done in water tanks before heading out to sea.

"You could put an entire community from the pacific ocean in a 50 meter tank. There you could have a controlled experiment and the iron will not be eroded by ocean currents," he said.

Despite constant haranguing from eco-protesters, Planktos' Russ George remains defiant and somewhat evangelical about the potential of "iron-seeding".

"We are all here at the behest of the green plants in the ocean," he said. "4 percent of the planet is covered in rainforest. 72 percent of the planet is ocean. In the last five years we've lost all the rainforests worth of ocean plant life."

If the pilot study is successful, George envisages container ships "re-booting" the oceans back to levels they where at 30 years ago. "It is the single great hope we have," he said.

According to two eminent British environmental thinkers, increasing the uptake of CO2 by the oceans could be effected by vast vertical pipes beneath the surface of the ocean.

Writing in the journal Nature, James Lovelock, creator of the Gaia hypothesis and Chris Rapley head of London's Science Museum argue that pumping nutrient-rich water from the depths of the oceans up to the sea's surface would allow the ocean to absorb more CO2.

The idea is to have literally millions of pipes -- 100 meters long and 3 meters wide -- reaching down to the depths of the ocean. They could, the inventors suggest, sequester a sizable chunk of annual human carbon emissions.

Professor Huisman isn't so sure that the plan would work though. "Concentrations of CO2 are higher in the deeper oceans," he said. "The major effect would be that carbon dioxide levels deep in the ocean would be brought to the surface. It is the opposite of what you would want."

But he remains positive about utilizing the oceans. "If you could increase the uptake of the oceans it would really help with the greenhouse effect."

Source from: edition.cnn.com

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Russia to build new space port

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- Russia is planning a new rocket launch facility that will be prepared to put a manned mission in space by 2018, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Wednesday.

The Vostochny, or Eastern, cosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region, which borders China, will take a decade to complete, ITAR-Tass quoted First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov as saying.

The first unmanned launches from the mixed military and civilian facility should come by 2015, with manned launches following in 2018, Ivanov was quoted as saying.

He said would be built in the same area as Svobodny, an existing facility for unmanned launches that the government decided to shut down earlier this year, ITAR-Tass reported. It was unclear whether the new complex would be built on the same site.

Russia launches all its manned missions -- many involving U.S. and other foreign crew members -- from the Soviet-built Baikonur cosmodrome in neighboring Kazakhstan. Russia leases the facility from Kazakhstan, whose government has complained about dangers and environmental damage from failed launches.

Russian space officials have said they plan to use both facilities, at least for some time after the new one is built.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Warning on e-government 'risks'

Trust in government emerges many different ways says the report

Governments need to do more to ensure they preserve trust as they put more services online, says a report.

Emerging from a European Commission project, it warns that technology could lessen the trust governments have instilled in citizens before now.

Officials must move beyond security measures to reassure people about how they are being treated, it said.

The report comes as the UK government tries to reassure Britons after losing data records for 25 million people.

Trust network

The report was written by a research body, bankrolled by the EC's Information and Society Unit, that is looking at "citizen-centric" e-government.

The cc:eGov unit points out that increasingly technology, often in the form of websites, is the means by which citizens encounter local and central government.

Frank Harris, author of the report, wrote: "People learn to trust others through experience, and through judgement based on both direct and referred experience."

The danger, he warned, was that these interfaces did not engender the same feelings of trust that have emerged via more traditional routes.

He added that to engender trust in electronic channels required much more than the basic requirements of security.

Citizens may not recognise the significance of technical measures, such as encryption, which try to stop criminals eavesdropping while they use a government website.

Instead, he said, more obvious means, such as kite marks or privacy seals, may be needed to reassure people.

He called for the establishment of a clear "pact" between citizens and government that says clearly what will be done with information people hand over, and what happens when data is lost or things go wrong.

As evidence of what form this might take, the report cites the Dutch "e-citizen charter", a 10-point code of conduct the government has pledged to abide by.

Without a mechanism for engendering trust, efforts to drive e-government may struggle, wrote Mr Harris.Luxury living Day in pictures It's quiz time!

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

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GameTap Guide: The top five 'E' and 'E-10' games of 2007

(GameTap.com) -- There are hundreds of games published in the E category each year, but not all are worth your while. For parents worried about violence, gore, or fighting, nothing in the E category should be inappropriate for your children.

Super Mario Galaxy serves as both a great game unto itself and a great kids game.

Here are our top E picks (excluding sports games, which get their own category):

Beautiful Katamari (Action, Xbox 360, $39.99)

Simple, fun, innovative, and easy to pick up and play, Katamari enables gamers to roll a growing ball of trash through peculiar environments in an arcade setting.

Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal Skull (Adventure, PC, $19.99)

A single-player adventure game, this Nancy Drew game represents the best of the series as the developers have solved various problems and created a rich atmosphere, good make-work puzzles, and a quality story.

Super Mario Galaxy (Platformer, Wii, $49.99)

Consider by many critics to be the best Mario game since Super Mario 64, the Wii-exclusive platformer boasts excellent diversity, applaudably themed levels, and great craftsmanship. A surefire winner.

Viva Pinata: Party Animals (Action, Xbox 360, $49.99)

Following last year's Viva Pinata (yes, the same game as the CG-Saturday morning show), Microsoft's minigame-rich title is cute, funny, and avoids repetitiveness and excessive menus.

Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl (Role-playing, DS, $34.99)

Nintendo's continuing Pokemon series remains a constant: It's deep, engaging, relatively inexpensive, and always filled with, you guessed it, Pokemon! In all seriousness, either of these titles are worth you hard-earned cash.

Other "E" recommendations:

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Adventure, DS, $34.99)

Rayman Raving Rabbits 2 (Action, Wii, $49.99; DS, $29.99)

Drawn to Life (Action-Adventure, DS, $29.99)

Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Action-Adventure, Wii, $39.99)

Project Gotham 4 (Racing, Xbox 360, $59.99)

The top five "E10" games

These titles are a smidgen racier than "E" rated games, but several of these offer co-op play, an evergreen feature that parents, kids, and friends always love.

Avatar: The Burning Earth (Action-Adventure, DS, $29.99; PS2, $39.99; Xbox 360, $49.99; Wii, $49.99)

Better than last year's event if not Super Mario Galaxy quality, the various versions of Avatar remain true to the series, improving the diversity of fighting and action, and offering a decent amount of role-playing-lite upgrades.

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Action, DS $34.99; PS3, $49.99; Xbox 360, $49.99; Wii, $49.99)

Normally product placement is just annoying. Here, the Lego characters perfectly blend into the game's aesthetics. The title is not only well designed and fun on its own, it's one of the best co-op games around. The only issue with this full collection is that you might already own one of the previous versions, as it's made up of the two prior releases of the Original Trilogy and Lego Star Wars.

Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (Platformer, PS3, $59.99)

The series was made famous on the PlayStation 2, and the first PS3 version of Sony's loveable action-platformer is funny, well-crafted, and gorgeous. The range of weapons and tools is excellent, the story is silly but entertaining, and it's neither short nor shallow.

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (Action, DS, $29.99; PC, $19.99; PS2, $39.99; PSP, $39.99; Xbox 360, $49.99; Wii, $49.99)

Unlike the annoying, bug-filled Spider-Man 3 movie tie-in, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe is a simple button-mashing beat-em-up in which Spider-Man teams up with his enemies. It's also a co-op game for two-players, which makes it double the fun. Nice little RPG-lite aspects complement the rather simple, repetitive landscapes.

Surf's Up (Extreme Sports, PC, $19.99; PS2, $19.99; PS3, $19.99; Wii, $19.99; Xbox 360, $19.99)

Originally full-priced (i.e., over-priced), Surf's Up is now perfectly priced at $19.99. It's a short game based on the movie, but it's an excellent if rather shallow game to play with kids.

Other "E10" recommendations:

Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn (Strategy, Wii, $49.99)

Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party Bundle (Music, $69.99, Wii), or Dance Dance Revolution: SuperNova 2 Bundle (Music, $59.99, PS2), or Dance Dance Revolution: Revolution Universe 2 Bundle (Music, $59.99, Xbox 360)

Naruto: Path of the Ninja (Role-playing, DS, $29.99)

Buzz!: The Mega Quiz with 4 buzzers (Trivia, PS2, $39.99)

Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (Extreme Sports, DS, $29.99; PS2, $39.99; PS3, $59.99; Xbox 360, $59.99; Wii, $49.99)

Source from: edition.cnn.com

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GameTap Guide: The top five 'T' games of 2007

(GameTap.com) -- Once your kids reach the age of "cool," they're going to want to play Teen games. You'll find a little more violence, crude humor, and/or slightly more suggestive themes than there are in E games.

Rock Band may be expensive, but it is the ultimate party game for up to four people in the same room.

Some parents only permit their kids to play E rated games, while many find that most T-rated games are OK to play. (You'll notice that because so many games fit into this category, we included 10 not just five runnerup recommendations).

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (with guitar) (Music, PS2, $89.99; PS3, $99.99; Xbox 360, $99.99; Wii, $89.99)

Note: this games also ships without the new wireless Gibson Les Paul guitar for $49.99 on PS2 and $59.99 on all other consoles.

The third Guitar Hero in three years uses more tracks by the original artists, includes a wireless Gibson Les Paul guitar, has more modes of play, and was generally well received. It's still a great game. But fans many notice slight differences in timing, and the newly introduced boss battles aren't to everyone's tastes.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (First-person shooter, Wii, $49.99)

Utilizing the Wii's controls in the first-person shooter category with skillful precision and creativity, Nintendo arguably has created the best game in the Metroid series. Although it's a shooter, it's just as much an adventure game. Plus, you fight aliens, who spill green alien goop. There is neither sophomoric nor suggestive language.

Rock Band (Music, PS3, $159.99; Xbox 360, $159.99)

Electronic Arts' Guitar Hero spinoff (created by Harmonix, the original makers of Guitar Hero), Rock Band is a great big, expensive music videogame that will take up serious room in your house. It includes a drum kit, guitar, and microphone and includes 45 songs, many of which are performed by the original artists. It's enormous fun, but one must consider the physical room it requires; though it can be played solo, it's much more fun when three friends are present and willing.

The Simpsons Game (Action, DS, $29.99; PS2, $39.99; PS3, $59.99; PSP, $39.99; Xbox 360, $59.99; Wii, $49.99)

Electronic Arts' version of The Simpsons rotates between being funny, stupid, annoying, and great fun. Scores ranged from 6 to 8 out of 10, mostly based on occasionally annoying game design choices, but it's still an ideal parent-child game (provided you let your kids watch The Simpsons). Dialogue and jokes are drawn from the 17-year-old show, which at this point has become practically universal, so its humor is both silly and occasionally crude. One of its best features, however, is the two-player co-op functionality.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (Action-adventure, PS3, $59.99)

One of Sony's standout exclusive games this year, Uncharted follows in the footsteps of games such as Tomb Raider, with its blend of action (shooting) and adventure--physical climbing, exploring, and secret-finding. The story is compelling, the controls are agreeable, and the graphics are appealing. However, this one does push the border in several areas, as it include head-snapping, a healthy amount of blood, zombies, and cursing. This one is clearly a teen-rated game in the true sense.

Other "T" recommendations:

Ace Combat 5 (Flight Sim, Xbox 360, $59.99)

Battalion Wars (Action-strategy, Wii, $49.99)

Heavenly Sword (Action, PS3, $59.99)

Naruto: Rise of the Ninja (Action, Xbox 360, $59.99)

Orcs and Elves (Role-playing, DS, $29.99)

Skate (Extreme sports, PS3, $59.99; Xbox 360, $59.99)

Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron (Action, PSP, $39.99)

Virtua Fighter 5 (Fighting, PS3, $39.99; Xbox 360, $59.99)

WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2008 (Sports entertainment, DS, $29.99; PS2, $49.99; PS3, $59.99; PSP, $39.99) Xbox 360, $59.99; Wii, $49.99)

Eternal Sonata (Role-playing, Xbox 360, $59.99)

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GameTap Guide: The top five 'mature' games of 2007

(GameTap.com) -- Sick of children's games? If you're looking for something that's not on your kids' list, these are some of our favorite games that have come out this fall.

BioShock (First-person shooter, PC, $49.99; Xbox 360, $59.99)

Call of Duty 4 (First-person shooter, PC, $49.99; PS3, $59.99; Xbox 360, $59.99)

Crysis (First-person shooter, PC, $49.99)

Halo 3 (First-person shooter, Xbox 360, $59.99)

Mass Effect (Role-playing, Xbox 360, $59.99)

The Orange Box (First-person shooter, PC, $49.99; PS3, $59.99; Xbox 360, $59.99)

Danger! Violence! Avoid!
If you're worried about your kids being exposed to violence, rough language, and suggestive themes, these are games you will absolutely want to avoid (even if all five are high-quality games).

BioShock (First-person shooter, PC, $49.99; Xbox 360, $59.99)

Call of Duty 4 (First-person shooter, PC, $49.99; PS3, $59.99; Xbox 360, $59.99)

Clive Barker's Jericho (First-person shooter, PC, $49.99; PS3, $59.99; Xbox 360, $59.99)

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (Third-person shooter, PS3, $59.99; Xbox 360, $59.99)

Manhunt 2 (Third-person shooter, PS2, $29.99; PSP, $29.99; Wii, $39.99)

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GameTap Guide: The top five 'co-op' and sports games of 2007

(GameTap.com) -- Cooperative games are those titles designed to allows (when desired) two players to work together to beat them.

The Simpsons Game is a cooperative game that allows parents the chance to play video games with their children.

For parents who want to play video games with their children, these games are perfect. Our list does not include M-rated games.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (with guitar) (Music, PS2, $89.99; PS3, $99.99; Xbox 360, $99.99; Wii, $89.99)

Note: this games also ships without the new wireless Gibson Les Paul guitar for $49.99 on PS2 and $59.99 on all other consoles.

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Action, DS $34.99; PS3, $49.99; Xbox 360, $49.99; Wii, $49.99)

Rock Band (Music, PS3, $159.99; Xbox 360, $159.99)

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (Action, DS, $29.99; PC, $19.99; PS2, $39.99; PSP, $39.99; Xbox 360, $49.99; Wii, $49.99)

The Simpsons Game (Action, DS, $29.99; PS2, $39.99; PS3, $59.99; PSP, $39.99; Xbox 360, $59.99; Wii, $49.99)

Other Co-op Recommendations

Super Mario Galaxy (Platforming, Wii, $49.99)

Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Action-adventure, Wii, $39.99)

The Top Five Sports Games of 2007
Nearly all sports games are rated E for everyone. We've picked this season's best five for your consideration, all of which are rated E.

College Hoops 2K8 (Sports, PS2, $19.99; PS3, $59.99; Xbox 360, $59.99)

Madden NFL 08 (Sports, DS, $29.99; PC, $39.99; PS2, $29.99; PS3, $59.99; PSP, $39.99; Xbox 360, $59.99; Wii, $49.99)

NBA 2K8 (Sports, PS2, $29.99; PS3, $59.99; Xbox 360, $59.99)

NHL 08 (Sports, PC, $39.99; PS2, $29.99; PS3, $59.99; Xbox 360, $59.99)

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (DS, $29.99; PC, $39.99; PSP, $39.99; PS2, $29.99; PS3, $59.99; Xbox 360, $59.99; Wii, $49.99)

Source from: edition.cnn.com

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Gift finder 2007: Parents guide to buying video games

(GameTap.com) -- There is nothing quite like buying a $60 game for your kids and learning withing hours, that you've just wasted hard-earned money on a stinker.

The Simpsons Game offers co-op play, which allows parents to play the game with their children.

While teenage kids and college students have time to read about the intimate details about a game, parents have it the toughest: Many kids want games based on movies and TV shows, typically the biggest culprits of mediocrity, and parents want more than anything to please their kids than to buy them their current favorite game come the winter holiday.

There are many aspects to consider: Quality is certainly one. The amount of violence, harsh language, and crude humor you're willing to expose your child to are others. Cost always comes into play, too.

What's one to do? Our best advice is to check this fully loaded parents' guide to games. We also recommend these easy steps: Find out what the ESRB ratings mean, check good gaming sites (such as GameTap, GameSpot, IGN, 1UP, What They Play), and find a good local retailer with clerks who are willing to explain games to you. Lastly, each console provides the ability for parents to use a "parent control" device, which enables them to lock out games based on their ratings. See the manual for each console or check the options menu to tweak these.

What are the best games for concerned parents? Our feature comprises the top five games in each ratings category (with runners-up listed below) that are high in quality and rated by our team or well-regarded game sites.

Learn your ESRBs
The non-profit, self-regulated board known as the Entertainment Software Ratings Board was started in 1994 and has created a ratings scheme similar to the movie industry's rating system to help consumers become informed so that they buy games wisely.

ESRB ratings shows up on all games in North America, appearing on the lower right corner of the box front and at the bottom of the box's back. There are six rating categories: Early Childhood (EC), Everyone (E), Everyone 10 and Older (E10+), Teen (T), Mature (M), and Adults Only (AO). Nearly all games are rated somewhere between E and M. EC games are very rare, which is why we did not list them here. A rating of AO essentially black-labels any game in North America, as most retailers will not carry AO-rated games. For this reason, most publishers alter or delete parts of their games to conform to the ESRB recommendations.

Early Childhood: These games may have content suitable for children ages 3 and older and contain no material parents would find inappropriate.

Everyone: These games offer content suitable for ages 6 and older. These games might include minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, and might include infrequent use of mild language.

Everyone 10+: These titles should be suitable for ages 10 and older and may contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language, and/or minimal suggestive themes than E games.

Teen: These titles may be suitable for ages 13 and older and will, in some or fashion, include violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language.

Mature: Any games rated M will include content likely to be suitable for anyone 17 and older. M games comprise intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.

Adults Only: Any games rated AO are only designed for people 18 years and older because these titles include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.

Rating Pending: RP means these games have been submitted to the ESRB and are awaiting a final rating. You'll usually see this rating on a game that's still in development.

For more information, the ESRB has a toll-free ratings hotline, 1-800-771-3772.

Parents' Holiday Game Guide 2007
• Early Childhood and Everyone
• Teens
• Co-op and sports games
• Mature games

Source from: edition.cnn.com

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Do you know what they know about you?

Two computer discs holding the personal details of all families in the UK with a child under 16 have gone missing. The scandal of the 25 million missing records has highlighted the vulnerability of data.

It is easy to develop a sense of creeping paranoia when you begin to contemplate just how many companies, government departments and other organisations know your personal data.

She said it would be naive to think that an encounter with one organisation means one isolated database is queried. Typically data is gathered from many sources before a decision is reached.

For instance the USVISIT border system, which is consulted when Britons cross from the UK to the US, mines about 30 separate databases as it checks identities.

Ms Gallagher and colleague Peter Bradwell will release their report in early December.

"Pretty much every organisation you engage with day-to-day - from clicking your Oyster card to ordering your take away - means sharing personal information."

That sharing of data, she said, has become entwined with modern life and it was a mistake to think that sharing information so often only has a downside.

You are not going to get people complying with data protection on the basis of good will

Anyone that tries to stop their personal data leaking away often find they are denied benefits enjoyed by those that are happier to share.

For instance, paying cash for everything will keep your name off credit checking databases. However, without the re-assurance of that check banks and credit card companies may refuse to issue a loan or mortgage. Data control

And there are a lot of people within companies, government and other organisations that are allowed to use data that can be used to identify you.

According to the 2006/7 annual report from the Information Commissioner there are more than 287,000 data controllers in the UK who have a responsibility for making sure that personal data is used correctly.

Personal data in this sense is information that can be used to identify an individual.

Many of those data controllers will oversee many more who actually do the job of maintaining and expanding the databases holding the data.

And it does not stop there. The web is helping that data take wing and travel farther than ever before.

Government departments are increasingly sharing data

What few people realise, said Ms Gallagher, was that handing over data to one organisation can mean that it reaches many others and becomes an entry on the database they maintain.

"There is no awareness of what happens to that data when you give it away," said Ms Gallagher.

"It is not so much the organisations with which you willingly share data," she said, "it is where it goes after that."

Many organisations that collect data, such as credit checking agencies, were under commercial pressure to widen the scope of what they collect, said Ms Gallagher.

No longer are firms just interested in the basic facts about you - now what matters as much as what type of credit card you own is when you go shopping, which stores you visit and what you buy.

That pattern holds as much information as the raw facts about you - it helps companies decide which socio-economic bracket to put you and how to go about tailoring marketing to fit you and your lifestyle.Watching them

Surveillance and the collection of data about people has become so pervasive that it has spawned a dedicated research organisation - the Surveillance Studies Network.

Dr Kirstie Ball, a senior lecturer at the Open University, said that although many social scientists been studied the subject for years the pervasiveness of that scrutiny was prompting an upsurge of interest.

"That personal data held by every organisation you interact with runs the parameters of your existence, your consumption, your entitlements," she said.

Almost every time you fill in a form the data makes it to a database

"We're all interested in the collection and application of personal data and its consequences for individual rights and social science concepts such as trust and discrimination," said Dr Ball.

"It merits study and understanding because its consequences can be tangible," she said.

For instance, she said, an employee ticking the wrong box when they enter your data into a database could mean a person ends up labelled as a former criminal or credit liability.

It is possible to ask to see the data that companies and organisations hold about you, but a very small number of people take up this opportunity to vet what is known about them. Making sure all of it is accurate would be a mammoth task.

For Ms Gallagher at Demos beefing up the power of the Information Commissioner to enforce the Data Protection Act would help redress some of the imbalance between the data companies hold about us.

"Organisations and companies should be responding to the way we live," she said.

Only by using those powers will the creeping spread of that data be held stemmed.

"You are not going to get people complying with data protection on the basis of good will," she said. "Data is just too valuable."

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs has set up a Child Benefit Helpline on 0845 302 1444 for customers who want more details.Spy wars In pictures It's quiz time!

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

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The golden age of videogames

Halo 3, The Orange Box and Super Mario Galaxy have all been awarded one of the highest accolades in gaming - a perfect score from Edge. And plenty of other games have been given near perfect scores also - from Bioshock to Crysis, Drake's Progress and Call of Duty 4.

The Edge scores are just one of a number of signs that reinforce a growing feeling that videogames are enjoying a golden age.

It is not just that the interactive experiences are getting ever more immersive, or the industry is being taken ever more seriously, but hardware and software sales are up significantly on last year - buoyed by a new generation of consoles and the work of developers who are beginning to exploit the tools they have at their disposal.A lot of the games are sequels and I would like to see more innovation

"It's difficult to say across the board that games are getting better. But we are seeing publishers being more careful about the quality of games that they release.

"And there are so many good games out now that some publishers are holding titles back to next year."

The industry also looks to have found a way to blend the loose attractions of casual and social gaming with the hardcore experiences beloved by the seasoned player.

Margaret Robertson, a former editor of Edge and now a games consultant, said long-standing gamers were spending more money on games and a whole new audience had been introduced to gaming for the first time.

"There are now more ways than ever to spend money on video games - from consoles to handhelds, supplementary purchases online via Live Arcade, Virtual Console and the PlayStation Network to games on your iPod.

"The evidence of what Nintendo has done to attract people to games for the first time with the DS and the Wii is unmistakably clear."

This year will be remembered as the year the Wii took centre stage as the console of choice for families, the year PlayStation 3 finally showed its promise in real terms and the Xbox 360 hit its stride with the 5th anniversary of online service Xbox Live.

I have been publicly criticised for saying that we are yet to see a next generation game in terms of gameplay. And I stand by that

David Braben, founder of Frontier games, agreed: "This new generation of machines is now bedding down with developers. A crop of quality titles emerging simultaneously is typical at this point in a console's lifecycle.

"I have been publicly criticised for saying that we are yet to see a next generation game in terms of gameplay. And I stand by that."

Mr Amor added: "I found myself queuing at the local video game store the other day and that hasn't happened for a long time. There is a batch of very good games out at the moment and I'm finding myself putting TV and movies to one side to play video games.

Titles like Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect have also helped raise the profile of games with big budget advertising campaigns, and an emphasis on storyline and production values. Both are expected to join the ranks of million-plus sellers this year.

Margaret Robertson said the market growth for games this year had been "explosive and phenomenal". Sales in the US are up 50% on last year and the Christmas figures are still to come.

First person shooters like Call of Duty 4 are ever more realistic

"On the strength of sales alone 2007 has been the greatest year in gaming - that much is certain," she said

But she said the industry was also showing signs of maturity.

"This year we have had the huge titles like Halo 3, The Orange Box and Super Mario Galaxy, which have had huge success and deservedly so.

"But it's almost the next tier down - games like Project Gotham Racing 4, Call Of Duty 4, Ratchet and Clank and God of War 2 - where there has been such ambition and confidence that you can now almost take the quality for granted. It's very encouraging."

Mr Braben said it was ironic that the games getting all the praise are the least representative of the industry as a whole.

"Games like Bioshock and Halo 3 are made for the hardcore gamer while there is a widening family appeal of games and gaming that is less talked about.

"2007 will probably be remembered as the year of the Wii," he added.

Spy wars Your pictures Voters' views

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

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The etiquette of networking

Facebook proves that I am a 21st Century man

Just 10 days after deciding that social networking was not for the over-forties, I've got 1,007 outstanding friendship requests on Facebook.

My phone is burbling day and night with new Twitter messages, and I've given up trying to maintain my Bebo and MySpace profiles - there's only so much virtual socialising a chap can do between the demands of work and family.

While I am beginning to think there are benefits to joining a virtual community, I am still finding one thing a struggle - the etiquette of networking.

What is the best way to decline an offer of friendship on Facebook? How often should I update my status -"Rory has eaten his toast and is now cleaning his teeth"? Do I want everyone to know my favourite band is Freddie and the Dreamers? And is it acceptable to check the Twitter updates on your phone at the breakfast table?

The answer to the last one, according to my wife, is obvious: "I don't let the kids play with their Gameboys at the table - so you can put that damn thing down..."

Too much information?

But the biggest decision to make is just how much you want to share with your online friends.

The news feed from my Facebook network has just told me that "Jake X and Claudia Y are now in a relationship". Well, I'm very happy for them - but will they want me to know if, God forbid, that relationship ends?

My new friends have been far more forthcoming about their lives than I would want to be.

Should Rory's FaceBook friends know about his favourite band?

George's Facebook profile tells me he is Conservative, his five favourite songs are by Queen, and there are 319 photos of him in various states of inebriation and fancy dress.

Tom is in an open relationship, has interests range from rock climbing to knowledge management and anthropology, and he lists a very catholic range of favourite music, including Vivaldi, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Better than Ezra.

Beth's relationship status is "complicated", her favourite films include Legally Blonde and Bambi - and she has 265 friends at university who know all about that.

Deleting your boss

At school and university everyone knows everyone, but networkers carrying on their habit into the workplace face a new dilemma: Can my boss be my friend?

My workplace, for all its apparent first-name free-and-easy ways, is actually pretty hierarchical.

"What do I do?" asked one colleague nervously.

"The boss has just become my friend on Facebook - what will he think if I delete him?"

Is FaceBook the new golf?

Could Facebook and MySpace become the virtual equivalent of the pub and the golf course where careers can be made and then broken?

In the online world, some of the subtlety of our real life networks is lost.

One friend summed it up nicely.

"The real problem with Facebook," he messaged me, "is that there are no gradations. So all my friends are now in one virtual space, whereas in the real world they are carefully grouped and separated."

Another person had this dilemma: "I had an ex-girlfriend try to contact me the other day on Facebook to become her friend."

The separation had been amicable, he explained, but he had no desire to restart the friendship.

"But there is an incredible guilt in not doing so - and the other person may think ill of you...."

So my latest status update reads: "Rory is thinking about writing an etiquette guide for the nervous networker......"

Oh, and I must change my profile to reflect my love of Dostoevsky and Wagner.One year on Your pictures Voters' views

Source from: news.bbc.co.uk

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