Content and news by Rob Williams

We posted a few weeks ago that Google was ending their download-to-own video service. This move essentially ended support for the videos that people already downloaded and paid for, but Google offered credits to those people for use with their Google Checkout service.

Well as it turns out, there were far too many pissed-off people that were effected by this, so Google changed their minds. Customers will now receive full refunds, even if they have already vouched for the Google Checkout coupons and the videos will remain playable for the next six months. Seems like a happy ending to a service that shouldn’t have ever existed.

Thankfully, Google appears to have listened to peoples concerns, and has had a change of heart with their policy. According to the Official Google Blog, Google Video customers will receive a full refund via their credit card (once you’ve confirmed or updated your credit card details), any existing Google Checkout coupons can be kept as a way of saying “sorry [Google] goofed”, and Videos will remain playable for another six months.

Source: Download Squad

Cooler Master lets us know that their 2007 Mod Contest is underway, and if you are a modder and happen to use Cooler Master products, this contest is for you. There are two categories, Extreme and Artistic, and depending on what type of case mod you have, you would enter one of them. In addition, your case must include five different CM products, although the case counts as two.

There are three sets of prizes for each category, with the grand prize winner from each receiving a CSX case (picture above, two designs available), 1000W Real Power Pro PSU, GeminII CPU cooler, Xcraft 2.5 and some CM apparel. Contest runs from now until October 15th, so you still have time to build up a fresh mod before entering.

Source: Cooler Master

When Vista launched, I immediately noticed that networking capabilities were over-complicated, but once things were configured properly, it was rather stable overall. However, one problem that did plague me was network performance, which seemed to drop when compared to my XP machines. I am not the one apparently, but there could be other reasons why network performance is ‘lagging’.

A forum thread at 2 CPU has a few posts from Vista users who have noticed a noticeable network performance hit whenever music was playing. Why this is, no one really knows, but Vista is not handling certain tasks as well as it could be. Many people in the forum have been experiencing the same problem, and if you are as well, you can relax in knowing you are not alone.

However, some users over at the 2CPU forums have discovered an unexplained connection with audio playback resulting in a cap at approximately 5%-10% of total network throughput. Whenever any audio is being sent to a sound card (even, several users report, while paused), network performance is instantly reduced. As soon as the audio is stopped, the throughput begins to climb to its expected speed.

Source: 2 CPU Forums, Via: Slashdot

Iconic 80’s uber-car DeLorean will be making a comeback in 2008, according to the VP at the DeLorean Motor Company in Detroit. While this is the same company that produced the originals, the owners are different, but that won’t mean these new cars won’t have the same look and feel of the original. The owners are passionate about DeLoreans, after all. Believe it or not… a price tag is already set: $57,500.

And yes, we’re also told it will look like a DeLorean — square nose, gull-wings and all. This time, instead of attempting to mass produce the cars, the DeLorean folks will be building them by hand at their assembly plant in the li’l town of Humble, Texas. No word yet on issues regarding EPA testing or production numbers (we didn’t think to ask), but the Detroit News is claiming it’ll be one or two a month.

Source: Jalopnik

Those of you PS3 Folders out there should get on downloading the latest client, which I assume you will be prompted to download next time to log on. Two major areas have been addressed, including user requests and improved accuracy of the core that’s running the SPU. Will this mean that the PS3 will become an even more efficient Folder? Yes, but it might not mean that your overall scores will be higher… your submissions might just prove more useful.

Another really cool feature that was also requested by the FAH community is the support of PSP Remote Play. In this latest version we enabled this feature so you can now access FAH remotely from your PSP (that you already own, since it’s such a cool little gadget) which is an awesome combination since the CELL processor is actually doing the Folding job, but the PSP fully controls the UI so you can carry it around with you.

Source: Playstation Blog

If you don’t remember SuprNova.org, welcome to the internet. I hope it’s been treating you well. SuprNova was the first -big- file-swapping site that used torrents exclusively. It first launched in 2002 and became so popular, that my computer illiterate friends knew what it was and how to use it. Thanks to legal pressure, the site ended in late 2004. Earlier this month, previous SuprNova owner, Slonček, donated the domain to The Pirate Bay owners, who decided that it deserved a revival.

The site just relaunched minutes ago (2:00PM EST) and seems to be bombarded with traffic, because it’s quite slow. We don’t condone piracy, but we don’t like how record companies/movie industries are handling things either. A revisited SuprNova is a quick jab to the gut to those who originally demanded it be shut down. Considering that The Pirate Bay owners have kept their site up and running for some time, chances are the new SuprNova will not go away anytime soon.

Suprnova has been down for some years due to some heavy pressure from the copyright lobby. The former owner sloncek donated suprnova to The Pirate Bay – and as you know, we like to kick ass and bow for noone! We were going to keep this site a secret until we had finished it, but of course it leaked, that’s how internet works. So now that the word is out, we’re releasing it!

Source: SuprNova

According to blogs around the web, Adobe today will be releasing an updated beta version of it’s Flash Player 9 software, code-named Moviestar. This update will add H.264 support, a now-common standard. Interestingly enough, the new player will also be able to take advantage of the users’ graphics cards acceleration and is optimized for Dual-Core processors.

The reason this should be of any interest to anyone is that the addition of H.264 support means that high-definition video should be popping up around the web in the months to come. Of course, we won’t likely see it spread around too fast, considering that current standard-definition content is a major bandwidth hog as is. So more than likely, this will be executed in business scenarios more often than on sites like YouTube, at least at first. Either way, I am looking forward to watching some high-definition content instead of having to stare at a 300×250 box.

Support for the H.264 standard will lead to more Web video content being available in high definition, Randall said. He said Adobe chose to support the standard now because it is being adopted more by content producers and media distributors like cable companies. Flash is a de facto standard for streaming video used by YouTube and other high-volume Web sites.

Source: News.com

Often, people are afraid that Linux won’t offer them full support for all of their hardware, but more often than not, full-functionality of peripherals and other hardware can be retained. Sometimes it requires a little effort, but it can be done. Sometimes, nothing has to be done, in the case of blogger John Goerzen. He was impressed that after upgrading a four-year old machine with a crippled motherboard, Linux booted no problem, with no nagging “where the heck is that driver?” errors.

I’ll be the first to admit.. that doesn’t always happen, but I’ve been in the same situation as John before, where things DID go that smoothly. One regard where I feel Linux is superior to Windows is it’s no nonsense hardware detection. The other day, I casually plugged in my Playstation 3 gamepad to charge it (to save turning on the console), only to notice that the computer (Gentoo) actually picked up on it. I was goofing around with an NES emulator only a minute after I plugged it in.. no extra drivers were needed.

Even though I had switched from the default Debian “supports everything” kernel to a K7 kernel, it still booted. And every single piece of hardware was supported immediately. There was no “add new hardware” wizard that popped up, no “I’ve found new hardware” boxes. It just worked, silently, with no need to tell me anything or have me click on anything.

Source: John Goerzen Blog

I grew up playing Final Fantasy games, starting with the first in the series. During those years, I often thought about how cool it would be to have a hard copy of an item I found in the game, such as a key. Well, I am over those thoughts now (I swear), but if you aren’t, you will be pleased to know that Square Enix has -finally- opened up their store to US customers. Canucks… myself included, are not permitted to order anything. We are apparently too great of a threat, despite the fact that all we do is cast Curaja and ride Chocobos all day.

There are a variety of products in the collection, including figuri action figures, pendants, rings, mock fantasy items, and so on. Final Fantasy is not the only game series with items up for sale though. Dragon Quest, Valkyrie Profile and Kingdom Hearts can be found also. Geeky? Yes. Am I intrigued? Shut up.

Source: Square Enix Store

Still have a nagging feeling that you want an iPhone, but aren’t willing to hand over a full $600? How does $100 off sound? That’s a reality thanks to Apple’s refurbished program. $600 iPhones will be $500 and $500 iPhones will be, you guessed it, $400. Although the phones are refurbished, they are still qualified for regular extended warranty service, which you can purchase for $69. Seems a bit odd that refurbs are available so soon after launch, but hey, I’m not one to question Apple.

The news of the refurbished iPhones comes right on the heels of the announcement of a second iPhone lawsuit. Sydney Leung is seeking more than $5 million USD in damages from Apple over the cost and replacement of the iPhone’s battery. The first lawsuit — filed by Jose Trujillo in July — made similar claims. The price cut should be welcome news to potential buyers looking to get a deal on an iPhone. The full one-year warranty should be enough to entice many buyers who might otherwise be turned off by refurbished devices.

Source: DailyTech

Having trouble deciding on which entry-level GPU to pick up? Sparkle’s Calibre series might make your decision easier with it’s P850+. In addition to DX10 support and a unique LED-readout, it offers an additional 200MHz on the core and 320MHz on the memory over reference 8500GTs.

Despite what many are thinking, HD-DVD is not dead yet. Actually, it’s far from it, and today only proves that even more. Movie studio Paramount announced that they have adopted the format instead of Blu-ray, which probably won’t mean that much to Sony, but will mean a lot to Toshiba. Each camp has great support, so it’s still far too early to declare a “winner”. If we will ever be able to at all…

What makes this decision so remarkable is the fact that Paramount was a fence straddler: the company has issued movies in both HD DVD and Blu-ray over the past several months, choosing to evaluate the market. Paramount says that its evaluation uncovered two benefits to HD DVD. First, the format is less expensive to produce, as we have touched on before. Second, Paramount described HD DVD as being superior owing to “market-ready technology.”

Source: Ars Technica

The day.. is finally here. You’ve waded through dozens of favorable reviews and crazy people, and now you want to finally play. What are you waiting for? Run to the store, or hit up Steam to purchase and download the game there. Given the hype that is revolving around this game, I am willing to bet that the download process will be less than perfect though.

If you don’t own an Xbox 360 or simply wanted to hold out for the PC demo, you can finally give it a try now. 2K Games really waited to the last minute, but at least it arrived now, and not days from now. GameDaily and many others are hosting the file, and again, download queues are likely to be intense. Game on!

Source: GameDaily

When a console is discontinued, chances are fans will not be so quick to give up on it. In the case of the Dreamcast, it was killed off right in the middle of developing a huge fan base, so it’s no surprise to see games developed for it years after it was first introduced. At this weeks Leipzig Games Convention, RedSpotGames will be announcing two Dreamcast games, Dalforce, a shooter title and also Wind and Water Puzzle Battles, an action/puzzle game. There have been many great shooters released for the DC since Sega pulled the plug, so hopefully this latest release will be worthy.

The Dreamcast is not the only console getting some love though. Remember the N-Gage? Remember good things about the N-Gage? If so, then you will be pleased to know that I-play is offering a new games: World Rally Championshop and Super Mah Jong, for starters. I still have an N-Gage kicking around in my closet somewhere, and though I have no intentions of looting it, it’s neat to see that support still continues.

Source: Joystiq (Dreamcast), CrunchGear (NGage)

It was revealed last week that Intel’s X38 chipset would be dropping next month, and DailyTech once again has the scoop on ASUS’ first entry, the P5E3. We’ve taken a look at many ASUS P5 boards and have been left impressed, so we expect no less of the P5E3 once we receive it in our labs. This version of the board requires DDR3, but it’s expected that ASUS and others will release X38 boards with DDR2 support, although it won’t be by Intel’s direction.

ASUS opted to implement two PCIe x16 slots for ATI CrossFire multi-GPU support. Unlike some other X38 Express based boards with three PCIe x16 slots, the ASUS P5E3 Deluxe is unable to take advantage of three-way or even four-way ATI CrossFire configurations. However, in exchange for less PCIe x16 slots, the ASUS P5E3 Deluxe has three standard PCI slots. The P5E3 Deluxe also has two PCIe x1 slots.

Source: DailyTech

Last week, the internet went absolutely nuts because Skype was down for a 24+ hour period. Who can blame them though? Some use Skype as their primary phone, so if it’s down, it could mean a lot of things to them. So what was the problem? Believe it or not: Windows Users.

The story goes like this. Windows Updates were deployed last week, which caused a lot of people to reboot their computers at roughly the same time. This in turn overloaded the Skype login servers. Blame Windows users and blame Microsoft for developing Windows in such a way that it needs to reboot whenever some minor update is installed.

Normally Skype’s peer-to-peer network has an inbuilt ability to self-heal, however, this event revealed a previously unseen software bug within the network resource allocation algorithm which prevented the self-healing function from working quickly. Regrettably, as a result of this disruption, Skype was unavailable to the majority of its users for approximately two days.

Source: Skype

It’s been assumed for a while that Unreal Tournament III would be available for Linux, but it’s now confirmed, thanks to a forum posting by Epic Games’ VP Mark Rein. I have to say, Epic is one game developer that has a clue. So many companies shun alternative operating systems like a plague, but Epic embraces the fact that everyone has different tastes, but everyone wants great games to play. Kudos to them for never giving up on non-Windows operating systems, even when sales numbers are not likely uber-impressive.

Mark Rein is the VP of Epic Games as well as being their forum administrator. He had stated earlier this week: “We’re a multi-platform company folks please come to grips with that. We like the PC. We like the 360. We like the PS3. We like the Macintosh. We like Linux. We will deliver UT3 for all of these platforms and it will rock on every one.”

Source: Phoronix

Jack Thompson is a modern-day Superman… nothing will stop him! Seriously though, it’s rare to see someone so stubborn with so much ambition to get things done, so you have to hand it to him for trying. Since not much is going on with Rockstar lately, he’s decided to file a complaint with the FTC regarding Bioshock’s TV commercial, for being shown in the same timeslot as a WWE program.

God knows there’s nothing violent about the WWE, so for the commercial to be shown during it’s commercial’s break is completely inappropriate. Will anything become of this? Hard to say, really, since the program is indeed rated for >17-year-old audiences. Should I sue because I’m forced to watch Viagra commercials during a sitcom? Clearly, no one under >17yo should have to put up with that crap.

Hey, we had no idea Rockstar had anything to do with BioShock … oh wait, that’s right, they didn’t. The FTC has already stated they think the industry is doing a relatively fine job handling itself; however, the FTC does say the movie and video game industry are both guilty of marketing R and M rated content during shows with inappropriate demographics. That’s all good and fine of course, but we’re just way too busy bathing in the irony of a FTC violence complaint being brought upon the airing of BioShock ads during an episode of WWE Smackdown.

Source: Joystiq

Today must officially be “Camera Rumor Day” because they are all over the place, regarding both Canon and Nikon. First up is a rumor that an Australian site is reporting on, regarding the Nikon D3. This to-be professional camera has been in rumor-ville for quite a while, but apparently invitations to a “very special launch” have been passed out to the press. If rumors prove true, this is an amazing camera. It will best Canon’s Mark III by offering 51 auto focus points, but is a tad slower at 9 frames per second shooting. It bests everything else on the market (that I know of) with it’s 3.0″ LCD capable of displaying 920,000 pixels.

Thanks to Amazon, Canon’s upcoming 40D mid-range DSLR camera has had it’s specs leaked. According to the specs (which have now been pulled), the camera will feature a 10.1MP sensor, 3.0″ LCD display with Live View (a la Mark III), 6.5 FPS shooting for bursts up to 65 JPEG/Fine or 17 RAW, 1.6x crop factor and also integrated 802.11b/g WiFi transmitter. For whatever reason, the amount of auto-focus points seems to have been left out, but this camera looks to be a true winner with it’s $1,299 body-only price.

Lastly, Engadget spotted yet another Amazon leak, this time for a Mark III on steroids, the EOS 1Ds Mark III. Included is a staggering 21.1MP sensor (almost hitting Hasselblad territory here), a slower 5FPS continuous shooting, 45-point auto-focus, 3.0″ LCD with Live View, CF and SD/SDHC options, sRAW support and also a hefty $8,000 price.

Update: Canon’s cameras are no longer a rumor. DPReview has a preview of the 1Ds Mark III and 40D.

Source: Livingroom AU (Nikon D3), CrunchGear (Canon 40D), Engadget (Canon 1Ds Mark III)

Read/WriteWeb has posted another interesting article, this time focusing on JavaScript and how it is slowing down the internet. At first thought, this is not too surprising, considering JavaScript powers everything from ad-servers to pop-ups to drop-down menus to fancy web effects to… well, you get the idea. If you wanted to learn more about why JavaScript is slowing things down and explore a few ways to fix it, you can read the article. According to R/WW, blog widgets are a few of the biggest offenders. I guess we can blame apps like FaceBook and MySpace for popularizing it.

The irony of this is that JavaScript was envisioned and designed to be a lightweight language to support minimum interactivity and quick manipulations of HTML documents, on the client site. But because of the twisted paths that our technology trails have taken us, JavaScript evolved to be the programming language for the web. From Ajax to Widgets, JavaScript is being used in a lot of cutting edge projects these days. But the truth is, JavaScript has its issues.

Source: Read/WriteWeb