Sam Kennedy from 1up has written an amazingly funny, and in some points even true, article about how similar the XBox 360 is similar to the old Dreamcast. Call me an idiot, but I am still one of the persons that believe that the Dreamcast had great visuals, features and designed. If it were my call, it would be the #1 console even now. Quick update: also from 1up, another article that gives 10 reasons why the XBox 360 will be successful where the Dreamcast wasn’t. Click here. Read more »

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Yoshihiro PSP homebrews drama. In this week’s episode, Yoshi gave a PSP news site (PSP3D) a beta version of their newest project, the 1.50 to 1.0 downgrader. And since the PSP3D site managed to successfully downgrade all “virgin” 1.50 PSPs (“virgin” being a PSP that was never downgraded or upgraded before) and the PSP3D site released it saying that it was done in collaboration of both parties. And so we end another episode of the PSP homebrew drama scene, with yet another mess with Yoshihiro’s signature on it… Tune in next week for the continuing saga. Read more »

Trend Micro has gone on record saying that RSS feeds will be the “next big thing” in worm attacks, especially after Internet Explorer 7 is released with its embedded RSS capabilities. “The easy way of taking advantage of the popularity [of RSS] is to hijack the existing configured feed clients to automatically download new copies of worms and other threats to the infected computers. This is accomplished by pointing the already-configured client to different and malicious Web content,” Sancho wrote. I wondered if this would happen or not. With the deep level integration into the OS that IE has, and the numerous security holes that are always going to be Read more »

But in at least one early test, according to a top manufacturing executive who asked to remain anonymous, a manufacturing line for HD DVD discs produced nearly twice as many usable discs as a similar line pumping out the Blu-ray format, over the same period of time. That translates into higher costs for Blu-ray producers. Moreover, component costs for Blu-ray can be nearly double HD DVD costs, because elements are still hard to find, the executive said. I really don’t know what to say on that except if the manufacturing gets better (which it usually does), then won’t that reduce the cost of a HD DVD disc to below the Read more »

A decade ago when the Webby Awards began, they would have been lucky to coax a backstreet bar in Brooklyn into giving them a free space. But 10 years on, everything has changed. The event launched the 10th anniversary cavalcade, which will not be staged here until next June. So as not to peak too early, there was a philosophical theme on offer – what lies ahead for the web in the next decade? The Webby’s bubbly founder, Tiffany Shlain, told the BBC News website that, like it or not, a second boom was now under way. I don’t really like the talk of a second boom. I would rather Read more »

If the X1800 XT is not enough of a video card for a person, then maybe the one that is going to replace it will do? The R580 is coming soon, atleast that is what some sites are saying. According to DigiTimes sources, ATI is wrapping up development on the successor to today’s RADEON X1800 XT, codenamed R580. The new chip is in the final stages of testing and is now in volume shipments for sampling I think ATI has lost its footing a bit lately, and I think the R580 might help them get it back, but they really need to work on speeding up the process of getting Read more »

Macsimum News is reporting that the U.S. Patent Office has granted a re-issue of a patent for “apparatus and method for rotating the display orientation of a captured image” that was associated with Apple’s discontinued QuickTake camera. Could Apple be planning a digital camera in 2006? Seems logical with the release of Aperature, their already popular iPhoto and the photo storage and display capabilities of the iPod. Read more »

Firefox 1.5 has been officially released by the Mozilla organization. In addition to the official release announcement, Mozilla has also launched a new site for Firefox and Thunderbird at www.mozilla.com Firefox 1.5 introduces several new features, including an improved software update system, faster Back / Forward page navigation, a new options to clear private browsing data, drag-and-drop reordering of browser tabs, a redesigned Options/Preferences window and more robust popup blocking. Standards support is also improved, with support for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), JavaScript 1.6 and additional CSS properties. Accessibility is much improved (including new DHTML accessibility features), security has been enhanced and Mac OS X support has also been improved. Read more »

Today Digg.com introduced a few new features. The features, as of this writing do not appear to be very significant. Definately not worth a 3.0 upgrade but maybe a 2.x upgrade. I think the features were pushed out too early, and some of them were unnecessary. The features: Block Article This Block Article functionality makes the selected article disappear, but there doesn’t appear to be a way of bringing it back. If you reload the page, the article appears for a brief instance before it disappears. Also, on this feature the story just disappears, without any prompt so if you accidentally block a story, it’s gone. Block User Block user Read more »

We have all heard the rumors of an Intel-base Mac Mini being released in January. ThinkSecret has more information supporting that fact, as well as the possibliity that the new Mactel Mini will be re-introduced as a digital hub for the home. The new project is codenamed Kaleidescope and includes Front Row 2.0 and a Tivo-like recording application. While the specific model and speed of the Intel processor in the new Mac mini is unknown, sources are confident the system will be ready for roll-out at Macworld Expo San Francisco, in line with other reports Think Secret has received that Intel-based Macs will be ready some six months sooner than Read more »