Archive for August 3rd, 2008

Grenade attack kills 16 in China ahead of Games

Aug 3, 2008 World News

BEIJING (Reuters) - A police station in China’s restive Xinjiang region was attacked on Monday morning, four days before the Beijing Olympics begin, killing 16 officers and wounding 12, state media reported.

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China bid for supremacy revives East-West duel

Aug 3, 2008 World News

BEIJING (Reuters) - After nearly ending the U.S. hegemony over the Olympic medal table in Athens four years ago, China could overtake their sporting superpower rivals in the race for global supremacy in Beijing.

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Creative’s 2GB / 4GB ZEN Mozaic DAP now available

Aug 3, 2008 Blogs, Technology

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Creative got a bit more creative with the ZEN Mosaic’s name since we spotted it in Singapore last month, but the freshly rechristened ZEN Mozaic is now available (and in stock, just to be exceptionally clear) in the US of A for your purchasing pleasure. For those seeking a brief refresher, here goes: there’s a 1.8-inch display (160 x 128 resolution), up to 36 hours of audio playback / 5 hours of video playback, support for MP3 / WAV / WMA / JPEG / BMP files, a 5-band custom equalizer, calender / contacts / task list and USB 2.0 connectivity. The oddly designed DAP can be procured in both 2GB and 4GB flavors (but only in black, at least for now), with the former going for $59.99 and the latter $79.99.

[Thanks, Oscar]

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Forget “The Great Firewall of China”, please

Aug 3, 2008 Technology

BEIJING (Reuters) - No more dragons rising. Enough of Beijing as a city of stark contrasts.

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More health workers needed to fight AIDS: experts

Aug 3, 2008 World News

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Many developing countries that are combating AIDS are facing dire shortages of qualified doctors and nurses as healthcare workers leave for developed countries where they are paid many times more.

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Sneak Peek: Lenovo’s Upcoming $399 IdeaPad S10 Ultraportable [Lenovo]

Aug 3, 2008 Blogs, Technology

Liliputing links to a video this evening of what they describe as a first look of Lenovo’s upcoming low-cost ultraportable laptop. The video’s creator said he shot the video at an “electronics holiday preview show in New York a few weeks ago.” These mystery Lenovo laptops will purportedly come in 8.9 inch and 10.1 inch screen sizes with a 160GB hard drive, for a $400 to $600 price point. Due date? September, possibly, and not a boring black case in sight. Update: Turns out it’s the IdeaPad S10 and it’ll start at $399. [Liliputing]


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Sneak Peek: Lenovo’s Upcoming Low-Cost Ultraportable? [Lenovo]

Aug 3, 2008 Blogs, Technology

Liliputing links to a video this evening of what they describe as a first look of Lenovo’s upcoming low-cost ultraportable laptop. The video’s creator said he shot the video at an “electronics holiday preview show in New York a few weeks ago.” These mystery Lenovo laptops will purportedly come in 8.9 inch and 10.1 inch screen sizes with a 160GB hard drive, for a $400 to $600 price point. Due date? September, possibly, and not a boring black case in sight. [Liliputing]


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Xbox 360 Arcade dropping to $199 on September 7?

Aug 3, 2008 Blogs, Technology

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We’ve been hearing whispers that an Xbox 360 price cut is in the works, and now we’re starting to see some evidence — VGChartz scored this image of an unknown retailer’s inventory system showing the 360 Arcade dropping to $199 on September 7th. There’s no word on whether the rumored 60GB and Elite price cuts are coming as well, but they’d certainly be welcome — and with Rock Band 2 scheduled to hit just a week later, we’d say next month is looking like a good one for Xbox fans.

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Open Source Switzerland Network Testing Tool Catches ISP Throttlers In the Act [Switzerland]

Aug 3, 2008 Blogs, Technology

As part of an effort to thwart future ISP infractions, a la Comcast, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has released Switzerland, an open source software tool for “testing the integrity of data communications over networks, ISPs and firewalls.” If you’ve been following Comcast for any amount of time over the past year or so, you know exactly what that means.

It’s available for download now, but be warned: this is an alpha release command line tool (read: newbies need not apply just yet). Serious code monkeys are encouraged to download and kick the tires a bit to see if it does as advertised. Mainly, that means detection of packet modifications or injections as they travel over IP networks. Past culprits in this category include anti-P2P tools from Sandvine (Comcast vs. BitTorrent), AudibleMagic, advertising injection systems like FairEagle, and censorship programs like those used in China.

Here’s a little bit more on Switzerland from the EFF:

The software uses a semi-P2P, server-and-many-clients architecture. Whenever the clients send packets to each other, the server will attempt to determine if any of them were dropped, forged, or modified [...] Switzerland is a much more sophisticated successor to the pcapdiff software that we released last year. It automates many of the things that had to be done by hand with the earlier code.

One advantage this architecture has over other network testing tools is that it can spot arbitrary kinds of packet modifications in any protocol — it doesn’t assume that the interference comes in the form of TCP reset packets or web page modifications, and it isn’t limited to BitTorrent or any other specific application.

[EFF]


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The Joystiq Weekend: August 2 - 3, 2008

Aug 3, 2008 Blogs, Games

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Joystiq reader Whetzell sent us in this video he made of animated Ico box art, hand drawn and then put together in after effects. With that concept in mind, we now have a pretty good idea what Duke Nukem Trilogy’s box would look like if animated. Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Japanese hardware sales, July 21 - July 27: Expansion edition
PS Fanboy Week in Review: 7/28 - 8/03
Source: First images from 360 Avatar creator leaked
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup has a case of mistaken identity

News
Square Enix establishes casual gaming brand in Japan
Parasite Eve follow-up moves onto PSP
Japanese Advent Children directors cut includes FFXIII demo, will come in new PS3 bundle
Red Faction: Guerilla multiplayer beta video dump
An altogether new Call of Duty planned for 2009
Achievements coming to Diablo III and Starcraft II, linked to Blizzard account
Red Faction: Guerilla beta open on 360 for IGN Insider and FilePlanet subscribers
New North American development studio hiring help for Mythos, Hellgate: London
PS2 getting sexier with Ar tonelico 2 this December

Rumors & Speculation
OPM: EA developing Left 4 Dead for PS3

Culture & Community
Dead Space Animated Comic: Issue 4

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South Africa’s Zuma seeks case dismissal as backers rally

Aug 3, 2008 World News

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Jacob Zuma, the leader of South Africa’s ruling ANC, goes to court on Monday in an attempt to win the dismissal of a corruption case that could wreck his chances of becoming the nation’s president next year.

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TUAW Sleep-off: Ambiance vs. aSleep vs. your Mac

Aug 3, 2008 Blogs, Technology

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Everybody needs to sleep, and more than just a few hours each night. It’s not just a matter of being in a foul mood all day; there are some pretty serious physiological effects of sleep deprivation. Since you tend to learn the most when you do things incorrectly, I know plenty about lost sleep. Anything that helps my insomnia is worth checking into, so I’ve spent some time looking at ways my Mac and my iPhone might help me lay down, and stay down. I took a look at the iPhone first; there are more than a few apps available which make me drowsy, but only two that I could find which do it intentionally: aSleep and Ambiance. Fluff your pillow and read on to see how they stack up against each other and a few desktop applications.

Continue reading TUAW Sleep-off: Ambiance vs. aSleep vs. your Mac

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Bluetooth Two-Way Earpiece Communicators Reviewed (Verdict: Spy Movie Fun at 250 Feet Or Less) [Secret Agent Headsets]

Aug 3, 2008 Blogs, Technology

Like many geeks, the New York Times’ David Pogue watches movies, like the Bourne Supremacy or Mission: Impossible, and yearns for the wireless earpiece tech they use to communicate with their buddies without microphones, headsets or cellphones. He’s right, they’re cool, and recently he had the chance to review two consumer versions, the SM100 (SoundID.com, $86), and the Dragon V2 (CallPod.com, $100). The final verdict? Both are *really* just average yuppie Bluetooth earpieces like the ones you see stuck in people’s ears on the subway. The catch, however, is that with the press of a button, they become “secret-agent two-way radios.”

It works exactly the way it works for Tom Cruise: As you climb, work, drive or bike, both your hands remain busy with what they’re supposed to be doing. And yet you’re also in constant two-way conversation with whoever is wearing the other earpiece. It feels natural and creepy at the same time, as if you have one of those little angels (or devils) sitting on your shoulder feeding advice or wisecracks directly into your head. And it’s free forever. No air time, no minutes, no monthly bill.

Unfortunately for the SM100, its standard Bluetooth connection keeps those conversations limited to 30 feet or less. The Dragon, however, is Bluetooth Class 1, and as such got to about 250 feet before the static started to kick in on Pogue and his son.

As a bonus, the Dragon can also pair up with two sources at once (are we sensing the winner yet?). This means you can have your easy listening tracks playing on your PC, and when a call comes in the Dragon switches automatically, and vice versa.

Further boosting the Dragon’s spy cred is the accompanying Phoenix device, sold separately for $300, which sits on a table top and expands your network to up to five earpieces at once. We thin it’s a small price to pay for keeping your team of spy guy super geeks connected, informed, and ready to respond to a flamebait blog post at a moment’s notice. [New York Times]


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Stampede kills 145 Hindu worshippers in India

Aug 3, 2008 World News

CHANDIGARH, India (Reuters) - At least 145 people, mostly women and children, were crushed to death under the feet of thousands of pilgrims in a stampede at a temple in northern India on Sunday, police said.

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U.N. council must increase sanctions on Iran: U.S

Aug 3, 2008 World News

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States said on Sunday that Iran has left the U.N. Security Council no choice but to increase sanctions on the Islamic Republic for ignoring demands that it halt sensitive nuclear activities.

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