Blog Title: AMCP Tech Blog

...A Heads Up!

Hello everyone! I know it has been awhile. I sometimes browse around the archives - how nerdy of me - and it hit me once...This blog has been up for over three years! All I can say is...WOW! Amazing how times flies....Anyways, enough reminiscing. I'll be blogging about GPS technology & GTX, a company the specializes in miniature GPS tech gadgets over at GPS Tech. It's a paid gig lasting until July 5th, so show some support! If you are offering a paid gig for a blogger or writer, shoot me an email.

YouTube Handed Out User Data

Millions of people use YouTube (Correction, "GoogTube") to watch thousands of videos online, but you might not know that YouTube might be watching you. After getting a subpoena in May, YouTube has been keeping tabs on users who are known to post copyrighted materials, and has even given a name to lawyers from a movie studio.

The studio turned out to be Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures and they went ahead and sued Chris Moukarbel, for copyright infringement, in federal court. Even though Chris broke the law, the point here is that YouTube gave user data without putting up a fight. Now you'll need to be careful when you post copyrighted material on the popular service because you won't receive YouTube's protection.

Lawyers defending the music industry use tatics such as warning users, and later suing them for piracy. And it now appears that others are using the same idea against YouTube users. This choice by YouTube goes against everything Google has fought for (Now that YouTube is owned by Google). Recently, the United States government sent a subpoena to numerous search services, such as Yahoo!, Microsoft and Google. While Yahoo! and Microsoft complied to hand over user information, Google fought back to defend user's rights to privacy. Google is now fighting the Brazilian and Indian governments over user privacy. MarketWatch expects that over 40 million of YouTube's users might now be in legal trouble after this latest example, but could this signal the end of video online?

Apple Ships Virus-Infected iPods

Apple Computer has confirmed that they have accidentally shipped a small number of video iPods with the Windows trojan, RavMonE.exe. While only 1% of the units shipped after September 12 were affected, it should still raise concern. RavMonE.exe, a mass storage virus which only affects Windows, allows hackers to get into your computer after contacting remote servers to alert the attackers of infection. It goes under a few names, such as Win32.RJump.a and Troj/Bdoor-DIJ. Sophos, a security vendor, rates it as a low-grade infection and reports that most up-to-date antivirus programs should remove it. A statement on Apple's website now clarifies that the problem never affected iPod Nanos, Shuffles or Mac OS X. If you think you're infected and don't currently have any antivirus (Shame on you!), Windows Live OneCare Safety, which scans within your browser, will remove the trojan for free (Microsoft finally did something right...). Additionally, Apple noted that the virus will stay on the iPod, but the "restore" feature of iTunes should wipe your 'Pod free of the infection. So, Apple shipping Windows-only trojans - What's next?

Update: As InsideMicrosoft reports, Apple Computer is now blaming Microsoft for "not being more hardy against such viruses". This just keeps getting better and better!

U.S. Gov: Taxing Virtual-World Economies?

Thousands of dollars are exchanged in virtual worlds and games, such as World of Warcraft and Second Life, and now the big question is whether it should be taxed. After launching a probe into many online games sporting virtual economies, the U.S. congressional committee is wondering if virtual assets and transactions should be taxed. Over $500,000 is exchanged in Linden Lab's Second Life game each day, and now the US government wants to get their share of the virtual economy bubble.

For now, the US government gets a slice of the pie from real-world earnings when you cash out of a game, but now they are considering taxing you on in-game profits as well. However, the details about this are a little sketchy. For instance, users of Second Life can make income based on investments made in-game, but it's unclear how you'll be taxed on it. Should you pay in Second Life's currency, Linden Dollars after selling property, even if you don't cash out using American currency? Personally, I think that doing this will cause a lot of problems. Not only is the currency problem a game-by-game issue (think about it, different games use different in-game currencies), but what about games being governed by real-world laws? Share your thoughts in the comments and don't forget to vote in our new poll, "Should Virtual Economies be Taxed?".

Camera Autopsy

I had nothing constructive to post this week, so I decided to post something destructive.

My digital camera died a few months ago, and I decided on the spur if the moment last weekend to take it apart for a blog article. Here are the photos!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76558968@N00/tags/camera/

Google snaps up YouTube

Monday night the web-based video company YouTube was acquired by Google, the notorious search giant. The deal was worth over a billion dollars in Google stock.

Because I am writing for a weblog and not a newspaper, I feel compelled to offer my opinions on this deal, despite the fact that it is not my weblog. There are a few interesting aspects to this deal. Firstly there's the fact that it is being paid for in stock, not cash. I'm no business analyst, so I don't know what, if anything, to read into this. Maybe Google is trying to avoid using liquid assets...in which case maybe they're readying themselves for another takeover? Just idle speculation there, as I have not the slightest idea what I'm talking about in the field of economics.

Secondly, and far more ominously, it seems to me that the YouTube acquisition epitomizes Google's changing of attitudes. I've talked about this before, but it seems like the people who are noticing this are very few, so I'll talk about it again. It seems to me like Google is gradually and tragically turning away from the creative, iconoclastic, idealistic, "we-can-do-it" attitude that started their success, and becoming more and more like their big brothers, Yahoo and (oh, dread) Microsoft. Google's original strategy was always to take something that already exists, make it better, and beat the competitors on sheer guts and brillance, not by throwing billions of dollars at the project or buying out the competition. They demonstrated this beautifully with Google Search, the majority of their other search-based projects, and Gmail, which is the crowning example. But it seems like the more money they make, the more they drop this approach. They've bought out Keyhole (Google Earth) and Picasa (Picasa ;-). Additionally, it's been a very long time since they've released a truly exciting product. I have no problem with that. It's folly to expect any company to roll out another Gmail every other month. But I do have a problem with Google's product releases: they feel that they have to have an image of youth and extreme productivity, so they continue to overextend; to release into continual beta products that are not innovative and are bad copies of existing products, and to not update other failed beta projects that badly need tweaking. But this buyout was really worse than all of this to me. The buyout did not just represent lack of innovation, which I can understand (I can't remember the last time I wrote a brilliant program used by millions of people), but a laziness and sloth that I find unacceptable in a company that I've adopted like my firstborn son.

They couldn't beat 'em, so they stuffed them with money and confiscated their brand.

So that you know who to yell at in the comments, this article was written by Joseph Wilkinson, standing in for Alex Morganis.

SearchMash, Google's New Search Site

SearchMash is a low-profile search tool created by Google that mixes normal search results with Google Images. As shown in this screenshot, the idea is similar to an older version of A9. The Google Operating System has the run-down:

Search results are numbered and you can reorder them. Clicking on the green URL, you'll see a list of options like "cached copy", "similar sites". You don't have click on the search box to type your query. There is no search button, you just have to type enter. Google shows the number of visible search results in the top right corner. Clicking on the "more" link, Google loads a new set of results using Ajax and scrolls to the first result of the new set using a nice animation (this seems broken in Firefox). Actually the entire site uses a lot of JavaScript and Ajax, and it can't be used if you disable JavaScript.

Facebook Users Get "Unfaced"

Anyone remember Unfaced, a tool that could check user's Facebook profiles to see whether they were romantically compatible? As good as that may sound to some of our more weirder readers, Facebook sent a cease-and-desist letter to Unfaced's creator, John Arrow, and disabled his Facebook account until the site has been removed. Facebook argues that it breaks several parts of their terms of service, including breaking privacy policies by "automating against the site and storing site data locally." The popular social networking site also points out that the "Face" used in "Unfaced" may infringe on their trademark. Arrow created the site out of good fun, saying that it's a good experience with viral marketing. While Unfaced is still up-and-running and accepting registrations, Arrow says he has no plans to removing the site.

LimeWire Countersues RIAA for Damages

Following the lawsuit launched by the RIAA, LimeWire has decided to take the offensive and countersue the music industry for anti-competitive activities, illegal restraint of trade, tortious interference and deceptive trade practices. To start, LimeWire plans to make sure that courts understand how their software works, pointing out that it is much different from the original versions of Napster. They claim that users agree not to use LimeWire to infringe copyrights when they install the software, but similar arguments haven't been successful in court in the past. Also, they point out that they plan to educate users about the consequences of illegally downloading music and wants to encourage them to pay for them using "legal" sites, such as Apple's iTunes. Following their plan to stick it into music labels, they commented that their new filtering technology never had a chance to hit the fan because music labels were unwilling to cooperate. According to them, music labels join forces to make sure that services such as LimeWire, who wishes to clean their plate of past illegal activities, never get off their feet. LimeWire is seeking damages and fees from the RIAA. Someone start playing "Another Bites the Dust".

Wal-Mart: Wii Don't Want any Accidents!

When you visit your local Wal-Mart over the next few weeks, you might be to surprised to find that there might not be a demo unit of the Nintendo Wii to play with. According to an article from Joystiq, the electronic department at Wal-Mart will not offer any demos of the Wii because children could hurt themselves using the Wiimote, a wireless controller that will sense movement. The tipster also asked his manager at Wal-Mart about the issue and was told they have the "fear of some kid getting hurt or injuring others in the process of flailing his arms around." Although Joystiq goes on to speculate that it could be a ploy by Sony to stop the corporate giant from displaying the Wii (Which is highly unlikely - It has corporate scandal written all over it!), Wal-Mart employees have repeatedly stated that this is simply due to timing issues and we should expect demo units in Q1 2007. On the other hand, they did stress that we will be seeing Wii in-stores come this November.

Motorola Selling Products via Vending Machines

Motorola has started to sell phones and accessories using vending machines in the United States. Called "Instantmoto", the machine will vend about 30 Motorola products, including the ever-popular RAZR and Motorola Q. For now, you'll be able to fine these machines in 20 airports and malls around the country, but you might start to see more depending on the success of the vending machines. Zoom Systems, a San Francisco-based company, will be managing the vending machines though a central location. Although many electronic vending machines are new to the United States, Japan has had them for years. Apple Computer has been taking advantage of this fact by placing vending machines offering iPods in airports worldwide. Even though it's a great concept to simply swipe your credit card and get a gadget in return, adoption here in the United States has been slow as people become accustomed to iPods and phones in machines that normally sell candy :-). How do you feel about vending machines for electronics?

Yahoo Plans New Marketing Campaign, Free Coffee

Yahoo! is planning to launch a new media campaign that will spread from radio to television. The campaign is slated to start this Thursday, and will be the biggest marketing push from Yahoo! in two years. Besides buying prime-time television and radio advertising spots, you'll also see the search engine in theaters across the United States. To top that whole deal of, Yahoo! will be offering anyone who makes the popular search their homepage a free cup of coffee at Dunkin' Donuts this Friday. Yahoo! is explaining that this multi-million dollar deal with Dunkin' Donuts will celebrate some of the recent improvements to their website, such as the launch of their new homepage design and the release of the new Yahoo! Mail Beta. You'll know where I'll be Friday morning ;-). Thanks to Andy Beal, I've heard that Google is planning to offer a similar offering through Krispy Kreme.

Easter Egg Discovered in Google's Picasa

There has been an "Easter Egg" discovered in Google's photo-editing suit, Picasa, which displays a teddy bear upon typing certain keys. An Easter Egg is a message or feature hidden within programs, websites, books or video games (Or basically anywhere someone places one, including DVDs and CDs). Although they are against computing policy to include them in programs, many developers do it for the fun of it. To view the oh-so-cute teddy bear in Picasa, hit Ctrl + Shift + Y. Recently, people discovered that the Yahoo! homepage included an Easter Egg (Featured in our Friday Linker last month). Click on the "!" and you'll hear the Yahoo! Yodel. If you're looking for even more information about Easter Eggs, or want to learn of more, head over to the The Easter Egg website (Thanks Gecko & Fly for pointing this out!).

Microsoft and NY Times Release "Reader"

Through a partnership with Microsoft, The New York Times has released a desktop application that will allow you to read NY Times updates electronically using advanced screen reading technology. The software, known as Times Reader, is built off of Windows Presentation Foundation, which is Microsoft's way of designing advanced user-interfaces for applications. For now, it's unclear whether Times Reader will require an actual NY Times subscription, but it will be ad-supported. The new software will allow the NY Times to replicate its looks, including their fonts and layouts. You'll be able to use it and read NY Times articles while being offline and online and will support Linux, Mac and mobile devices in the future. The prototype was first revealed by Bill Gates Arthur Sulzberger Jr. at the American Society of Newspaper Editors in April 2006. You can see a screenshot of the software, while being run on Windows Vista, to your right. Meanwhile, Richard MacManus has a handful of useful screenshots showing many of the Times Reader's features in-action.

The Friday Linker (for 09-15-06)

End your weekend with a list of our favorite news items from around the 'Web, as well as websites that we find interesting. Welcome to "The Friday Linker". Have any "cool" news items that you think should be here? E-mail Alex Morganis with your suggestions or visit his del.icio.us page to see even more links...

Tech News:

• Top Ten Requests for Future iPod Games: At an event held earlier this week, Steve Jobs announced that the new iPod will now support gaming. However, only a handful of games will be offered, including Mahjong, Pac Man, Tetris and Texas Hold 'Em. Check out this article from OSNews listing ten games that should be offered. I would really love to see Chess, a driving game of some sort and JawBreaker. If only Apple would open it up and allow people to develop games and have them be open source...
• Is Steve Jobs the New Lord of the Rings?: If you thought that the combination of Sauron and Saruman was a force to fear, then comparing Lord Jobs to the New Lord of the Rings is an even scary thought. This thought-provoking guest article really makes you wonder where Jobs is going with Windows integration with the Mac OS X environment.
• How old is digg's median user?: Although Digg has millions of page views a month, it isn't a secret that there are many younger users on the popular website. Most range from the ages 21-24.
• Now with 50% More Candles: Del.icio.us, a social bookmarking service owned by Yahoo!, is now three as of today. They're celebrating by replacing the logo with a birthday cake and a party sometime next month.
• Google on 9/11: After the attack on 9/11, Google was being hit with thousands of search terms per second, such as "World Trade Center," "Osama bin Laden," "Pentagon" and "American Airlines." See what Google's homepage looked on this historic day.
  

• Lost Apple iPod Introduction: Thanks to this video hosted on YouTube, you can see when Steve Jobs first revealed the iPod, the revolutionary media player that would rock our world. In this video, Jobs talks about some of the key features of the iPod and why you should buy one.
• Deploying the Airbag: Google and Mozilla are working closely to create a new way to report bugs and send crash reports, called the "Airbag". Basically, it will read symbolic debugging information from binaries, collect crash information from Firefox, and process the crash information on a server. It seems Mozilla and Google are starting to work even more closely now that Google practically pays their bills!
• How to dress like a Mac: Be one with your inner Mac.
  
• Photos of Apple's Second-Gen iPod Nano: After releasing updates about the iPod and iTunes Music Store, Apple updated their Nano and Shuffle line-up, and now AppleInsider has some photos of what the next generation Nano will look like. Still small and sexy, but it's starting to look like the Mini.
  

Yahoo! Mail Beta Now Open to All

Yahoo! has just released their new, AJAX-powered version of Yahoo! Mail to all United States users and in 18 international markets. Giving a more desktop-like experience, the new version utilizes the innovative technology that it gained when the search giant acquired Oddpost, such as drag-and-drop functionality, an instant preview pane and an upgraded searching tool. The new Yahoo! Mail also features an integrated RSS-reader and calendar. However, the company hasn't commented on when it plans to make this new version the default version of Yahoo! Mail.

*On a side-note: Sorry about the lack of posting going on, I've been sick in bed with the flu and Joe has been stuck inside a virtual world for the past week (They're trying to get him out right now). Hopefully, we'll return to normal coverage of the technology world next week. Thanks for bearing with us!

Apple Releases Slew of Updates, iPod and Movies

During an event held at an Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Performing Arts, Apple Computer released a few expected and unexpected pieces of news. Steve Jobs, the CEO of the tech giant, first said that the popular iPod lineup would be updated with two new iPods, which will both sport 60% brighter screens, as well as upgraded versions of the iPod Nano and Shuffle. In 30 and 80GB flavors, the new iPods will offer increased battery life - Up to 3 hours of video playback. And for the gamers out there, you'll now be able to purchase games from the iTunes Store for $4.99 a pop. Using the iPod's famous scroll wheel, titles such as Mahjong, Pac Man, Tetris and Texas Hold 'Em will be offered through a partnership with EA. Additionally, new headphones will be shipped with all iPods, which have been in development for 18 months. This is actually an awesome update to the iPod, and I'm just mad I bought one for the Holiday's instead of waiting until now!

But, Jobs had "one more thing" planned for today - Full length movies on iTunes. Although this has been expected before, it was thought Apple would use movie rentals over full length movies because of the demands of music executives. There was a catch, however. Apple will only offer 75 movies for now, that are all owned by Disney, which recently bought Pixar making Jobs the largest shareholder in the company. New releases will cost $12.99, when pre-ordered during the first week, and $14.99 after that. Once downloaded, movies are your's forever and won't expire unlike many other services, however you can't burn them onto a DVD to watch. However, I'm sure a crack in the software will be discovered and you'll be able to get around this limitation. For the time being, movies are only being offered in the United States, but you can expect internation support sometime next year.

Adware to Increase Exponentially, Study Shows

The amount of spyware and adware is expected to increase exponentially on the Internet, according to a recent study published by McAfee today. The study also points out that only one out of 33 Internet users can determine if a website is safe or malicious. This is certainly bad news to security experts, who are looking to intensify work to stop these "badware" applications. Even more shocking is the fact that many mainstream users can't decide if they're visiting a safe website. SiteAdvisor, a McAfee service, surveyed users to see which websites were free of spyware and adware - Only 3% correctly did so.

But, is this such a surprise? Ever-since early 200, the adware business has been booming. However, at fist, there were about 40 different families of adware. Now, nearly finished with this year, there are thousands upon thousands of different variants that are using increasingly better ways to infect your system with some truly nasty pieces of software (Trust me, I've seen them all - Being "the computer guy" means cleaning out your friend's PCs of spyware and adware). McAfee's study also gave researchers more insight into where this spyware was actually coming from - Another important question. Normally, you'd expect adult and pornographic websites to be the heavy hitters. On the contrary, celebrity and gossip/star websites lead the pack with 16.3% of all files being malicious. Following that was screensaver sites at 11.5%, and adult sites trailing with 11.4%.

To make sure that your system stays spyware-free, use a handful of good and well-known antispyware programs. Try AdAware SE Personal, Spyware Doctor, SpyBot Search & Destroy and Windows Defender. Having a software-based firewall, such as Zone Alarm is also suggested; They can block some of the most basic and sometimes more intrusive types of spyware that are trying to download themselves onto your computer. And of course, use an antivirus program to make sure you don't get hit with a virus, trojan or worm.

The Friday Linker (for 09-08-06)

End your weekend with a list of our favorite news items from around the 'Web, as well as websites that we find interesting. Welcome to "The Friday Linker". Have any "cool" news items that you think should be here? E-mail Alex Morganis with your suggestions or visit his del.icio.us page to see even more links...

Tech News:

• Why windows takes so long to start up: Can you make a cup of coffee in the time that it takes for Windows to start up? Check out Steve Wiseman's guide for information about speeding that Mammoth you call Windows during start up.
• The Next Step In Social Networking: Interested in where social networking is headed? Check out this interview with Fox Interactive President, Ross Levinsohn about where he plans to take MySpace in the future.
  
• Wii Rumble Not Dead After All: Should we count the Nintendo Wii out of the next-generation gaming system fight? Kotaku gives some compelling reasons to believe that the Wii might have the "rumble" to take down the PS3 and Xbox 360.
  

• Webwag: Webwag is an AJAX-powered personalized start page that offers an one-stop service for searching and reading the latest news. Similar to competitors, such as Netvibes and Pageflakes, Webwag is hoping to "wag" your experience on the Web.
• Skip Windows?: Google Blogoscoped gives us an amusing PhotoShop'ed version of the Windows log-in screen offering to "go straight to Google".
• Digg Compatible Site For Mobile: Wave Broadcast points out a new, un-released mobile version of Digg, called Digg River. Still no word on when Digg will officially acknowledge this website, but it appears that it is infact being run by Digg, according to the WhoIs database.
• Become a del.icio.us Power User: Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking service that is one of the best on the Internet, and now you'll know how to fully take advantage of it with David Brunelle's tips and tricks. I've been using the service for a few months now, but I commonly forget to post anything onto my page.
• Vista’s UI is Better Than This!?: You have to see this screencast created by Chris Pirillo which shows one of the coolest user-interfaces. Seriously, the computer that he was using must of had at least 4GB of RAM and a very highend graphics card. Insane!
  

Beginning Linux Testing....Test Completed

This article was written by a hardcore Opera fan, known as Stephen. He enjoys writing, talking about his love for Google and playing around with Linux. If you're interested in more information about Linux, check out our previous articles, such as Linux vs. Windows. As an editors note, Stephen will be joining as an editor here at the AMCP Tech Blog! Welcome!

Slax is a new Linux distribution, based on slackware. For those new to the words "Linux", "distribution", "slackware" - I'll go over them. If you know what they are, just skip to the next paragraph. Linux is an alternative operating system for computers, like Windows (Which you might be using). An OS controls everything on the computer, along with all your interaction with the computer. To some it up, an OS is the brain of the computer, it instructs it to boot and load programs. It also understands hardware interaction, such as keyboard strokes and mouse movements, so it's the most important piece of software on your computer. Linux comes in distributions or "distros". They're a little like different flavors of ice cream, or different versions of Windows, like Windows Me, 98, XP, or Vista. Linux has numerous distros, which are most generally free, and downloadable. Linux has many advantages over Windows, such as security, pricing and it offer a unique way of running. Linux can be run over a network, a flash drive, a CD, or from the traditional hard drive. This is most useful when looking around at Linux distros, or for first time Linux users wanting to learn Linux.

Linux has many advantages of Windows, but which Linux distribution is the best? Well, unlike the Windows world, there is no such thing as one being better than the other. Each Linux distro is suited for one person's taste. So why Slax? Slax ability to run of a Flash drive or CD was the most unique for me. While running off of a CD is slower than running off a hard-drive, a Flash drives are the fastest media most computers can handle. So using and booting Slax, from a Flash drive is a big plus, not too mention that it's more portable than a CD.

Slax runs the KDE interface, along with the XFCE interface additionally. Slax by default comes with only minimal programs, decreasing the size of the download, which is a major plus for dialup users. But, not to fear, Slax can have plenty of extra power, with things called, "modules". Modules are additional programs that you download, and place in your module's folder. This makes installing and uninstalling overly easy, because all you do is place/delete the file, a big plus over traditional Linux program installs. So, it's really easy for the first time Linux to use, all you do is stick it in and boot from it, and now your using Linux. Congrats, you've entered the relm of open source software, where the greedy claws of Microsoft can no longer harm you!

Now that we know that it's easy, the next question is, "Can I use my regular Linux programs instead of these little module things?" Well, although this is possible from a Flash drive, it is most practical to use it in the for of modules because modules stay, which unlike prorgrams, aren't deleted once you unplug your Flash drive or CD. That is why you either make a module based off of a slackware package or you search through the 1,000+ module database for what you want. There is the module for everything that you'll need; All you have to do is find it.

Wrapping it up, you went from really easy to understand to a complicated answer, but I think I heard you say that you want keep your changes? Well, that would be LiveCD's downfall. But, that feature is great for certain situations. Because it's the same thing every time you reboot, this is exactly what your local school and library should be using, because anything installed, written or broken is gone. This is useful for first time Linux users because lets say you were messing with settings, then all of a sudden you clicked the wrong thing and now you don't know how to get it back. But if you want to save your settings, simply run this:

Office Depot Selling a $99 PC

Looking for an low-cost computer, but don't mind paying a pretty steep shipping and handling charge? You maybe in luck, because Office Depot has started to offer a PC on their website for $99, however the deal ends on September 9. The system being sold is a Hewlett Packard desktop computer featuring an 80GB hard-drive, 256MB or RAM, and a Celeron D 352 processing chip. This PC normally retails at about $429. But, as with many great things in this world, there's a catch. You'll need to pay a $99 shipping fee, making the final cost run you up at around $200 (Which, honestly, still isn't a bad deal). Office Depot didn't comment on how many computers would be available to buy.

Poll Study: What Gaming Console Will PWN?

As another week begins, it's time to take a look at last week's poll, which asked you which gaming console would pwn (Another term for "own"). The results have come in, and you can view them here. You can now vote in this week's poll, which asks if you use "meme trackers". For now, however, let's take a look at some of the gaming consoles that were mentioned in our recent poll...

The Microsoft Xbox 360 -

During development, we heard quite a few codenames for the Xbox 360, including Xenon (It's official code-name), Xbox 2, Xbox Next or NextBox, when it was first thought up in 2003. Two years later, on MTV, Microsoft started their viral marketing attempt with information about the console. More would be revealed later, at that year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, commonly known as "E3". Microsoft is hoping that the support for high definition (HD) televisions and their Xbox Live, an online gaming service where users can preview games and download themes, will pull it to success.

The Xbox 360 was released in a handful of countries on November 22, 2005, giving Microsoft the competitive edge over Sony and Nintendo. However, because manufacturing started only 69 days before its release, there weren't enough systems to supply demand. This led to highly priced auctions on eBay, which could range to over $2 thousand (My friend sold his the week before the Holidays and got $700 for it!). By the end of 2005, Microsoft had sold over 1.5 million units, including 900,000 in North America, 500,000 in Europe, and 100,000 in Japan. Now, well into 2006, many are reporting that Microsoft has sold about 5 million units.

The Sony PlayStation 3 -

The Sony PS3 is the third gaming console created by Sony and will compete with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii consoles. The PS3, which is set to ship on November 11, 2006 (Nearly one year after Microsoft depute their Xbox 360), will ship with two different configurations - The main difference being a 20GB hard-drive vs. a 60GB drive. The PS3 was officially announced on May 16, 2005, at last year's E3 event. While a functional PS3, ready for showcasing, wasn't ready at E3 2005 or the Tokyo Game Show in September 2005, Sony did have a working unit at this recently past E3. Sony has announced that they will have 27 titles and the final hardware at this upcoming Tokyo Game Show, this month. It remains to be seen how well the PS3 will do and Sony's stock prices have plummeted because investors feel that Sony won't deliver with the PS3.

The Nintendo Wii -

The Nintendo Wii (Pronounced as in "we") is Nintendo's fifth gaming console and succeeds the Nintendo GameCube. At E3 2005, Nintendo revealed the official codename for the Wii, The Nintendo Revolution. The major feature of the Wii will be the wireless controller, which will be used as a handheld pointing device that can detect motion and three dimensions. The controller, called the Wii Remote, will contain a rumble feature and built-in speakers. WiiConnect24 will be Nintendo's version of Xbox Live, allowing the system to receive important software updates and multimedia while using very little power.

While the pricing and release date for the Wii is still unknown, numerous reports have confirmed that the console will cost less than $250 and will be released around September or October. On the other hand, Nintendo has said that they plan to announce release details before the end of September. No other official information about the console has been revealed by Nintendo.

I'd like to thank you all for voting in another weekly poll run by the AMCP Tech Blog. We now invite you to vote in this week's poll, and to read up on some of the older Poll Studies, including "Do you Blog", "Do you use an RSS Reader" and "What search engine do you use?".

Browzar Might be More than a Privacy Browser

In last week's Friday Linker, I pointed out a new browser that was marketed to protect your privacy to deleting your cookies, history, caches, and auto-complete forms, called Browzar. In less than three days, it's been mentioned on BBC, Digg, C/Net and Slashdot. People were calling it one of the newest browsers to enter the market that could give leaders, such as Microsoft and Mozilla, a run for their money. When it first started to make headlines, there were rumors that it was just a stripped down version of Internet Explorer with some extra functionality.

The Web3.0log wrote a great article that gave good reason to believe that Browzar was much more than a privacy-focused program, but a browser that forced its users to click on the Overture advertisements and wouldn't let users change the homepage from their search engine. The creators didn't even write a script to allow the cache and history to be properly deleted, but passed it off as the browser's main features. A commenter on Slashdot.org would later write that after logging to Gmail in Browzar, and then visiting gmail.com in Internet Explore, found that it was still authenticated. Another commenter on Reddit gave even more compelling reasons to believe that Browzar wasn't up to par with their marketing team.

Although many people are saying that this is another way for a start-up to create a business model, there are other ways for Internet browsers to get some extra cash. Mozilla has monetized Firefox by have search companies bid for the default engine. Flock, another browser based on Mozilla, is also doing the same. If the people behind Browzar plan to stick with this model, they should at least provide a disclaimer and allow users to opt-out. Whatever your thoughts are about this program, at least understand what it does before downloading it ;-).

The Friday Linker (for 9-1-06)

End your weekend with a list of our favorite news items from around the 'Web, as well as websites that we find interesting. Welcome to "The Friday Linker". Have any "cool" news items that you think should be here? E-mail Alex Morganis with your suggestions or visit his del.icio.us page to see even more links...

Tech News:

• 21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic: I always enjoy reading about how to improve my blog, whether through better interaction with my readers or adding new features. SEOmoz has a great article up about using different techniques to increase blog traffic, including the decision to allow readers to comment and using images to intrigue readers.
• British Airways Flies With Google Earth: British Airways became the first airline company to allow users to book hotels and car rentals using Google Earth. Once you find what you're looking for, simply clicking on it brings up the details on the British Airways site.
• YouTube Stats Revealed: According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, people have watched 9,305 years worth of videos. The article also pointed that the total hosting being used is 45 Terabytes (That's equal to 5,000 home computers) and requires several million dollars in bandwidth costs to transmit. Ouch.
• New themes for Firefox and Thunderbird: Ever wonder why Mozilla wanted to switch to a different theme for the default in Firefox 2.0? Rakaz speculates that they might want to move away from the standard "Windows XP look" and into something more creative - screenshots and side-by-side comparisons given.
  

• Browzar: Browzar will keep your usage of the Internet private by deleting cookies, history, caches, and auto-complete forms. With support for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, this looks like a promising browser that will grant you even more privacy (And, it doesn't even require an installation or registration!).
  
• Test Your Web 2.0 Awareness: This new tool will determine which Web 2.0 services you have used or recently visited and give you a score based on that. Although you might be thinking this is a privacy issue, it's all done using simple JavaScript (Which can be used on almost every website on the Internet). Lets see...I scored a zero. Darn.
  
• AJAX Driven Website Screenshot Creator: This new tool will allow you to enter any URL and get a snapshot to place on any website. However, it's currently offline after being on the frontpage of Digg.
• Top 10 Firefox Web 2.0 Add-ons: It's no secret that Mozilla Firefox is the best browser for using extensions or add-ons, and now Read/WriteWeb has taken a look at some of the top 10 add-ons available for Firefox. I'm really starting to fall in love with how
  Richard MacManus writes and displays large amounts of information. Rock on!
  
• Which Image Format is Best: Jonathan Snook, a freelance Web developer, gives a great run-down about which image formats are better than others, as well as some backround information on each type. I personally prefer PNG images because they retain great quality, while not taking up as much storage (Such as .bmp does).
• Beautiful Hi-Res Vista Wallpapers: Don't you just love the new Windows Vista wallpapers? Now you can download them (Note: This website has a ton of ads on it and might take a few moments to load - Yes, even on a broadband connection).
  

Microsoft Updates WMP 11 with Beta 2 Release

Microsoft just released the second beta update for Windows Media Player 11, which provides some performance improvements, bug fixes, and integration with Windows Media Connect within the program. In the release notes, Microsoft commented that users can now automatically share their WMP libraries with compatible devices over a wireless network. Although you might not be seeing as many noticeable improvements in this latest beta build, integration is still in progress with URGE, a joint initiative between Microsoft and MTV to provide a music download service to compete with Apple Computer’s iTunes. You can now download it via Microsoft's website.

The fact that Microsoft has yet to add a podcast directory to WMP 11, similar to iTunes, which would allow me to subscribe and manage my podcasts on my portable devices, is still my biggest complaint about the program - And the reason why I don’t use it. I understand that the term “podcast” helps promote the iPod (notice the “pod” in each word?), but maybe Microsoft will find success by simply appealing to commonly used Internet jargon. Now, with a Microsoft-made media device on the horizon, named Zune, Microsoft could refit the word “podcast” to fit Zune. Maybe, a “zunecast”?