Content and news by Rob Williams

Layoffs all over the industry have been announced, in a variety of different areas. Last week Dell announced they were partnering with Wal-Mart; this week they are planning a ten-percent reduction in their global workforce. Motorola was already going to cut some 3500 jobs by the end of June; they’re now adding another 4000 pink slips to that number (and hoping that next month’s RAZR2 launch will boost profits).

Ouch, job cuts are appearing left and right lately. Brick and mortar established with layoffs wouldn’t be that surprising, but this is hitting the likes of Motorola and Dell as well. Bad time to work in the tech industry it seems.

Source: Slashdot

Specifically, the Wiimote packs a $2 chip described as an “audio translator,” which CNN says “converts analog data such as human speech into a digital data stream.” That would obviously also require a microphone, one of which has already been announced, although that one (designed for use with EA’s forthcoming Boogie game) will apparently connect directly to the Wii’s USB port, not the Wiimote itself.

Nintendo undoubtedly has something up their sleeves. At $2 per chip, I am sure they are geared up to have every portion of that Wiimote utilized.

Source: Engadget

IGN has taken the liberty of testing the upscaling feature of the latest 1.80 PS3 firmware. Upscaling is not the only feature however, smoothing is there also, which will do the obvious.

We’ve put a number of PSone and PS2 games to the test. We went about capturing screens from each in a number of different settings so that you can compare them right here from the comfort of your computer. Hopefully it’s cushioned… We captured everything at 1080p through equipment more expensive than many BMWs to simulate what these titles would look like on some of the best TVs available.

From personal tests, I believe smoothing should be enabled on a per game basis, although scaling seemed to work well for all games I tested. IGN doesn’t appear to have a clear conclusion, but you can see their examples and decide for yourself.

Source: PS3 IGN

Although Microsoft promised to look into the problem, apparently that’s not good enough for Meglena Kuneva, the European Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, who has given Redmond exactly one week to detail how it’s handled the bad DVD drive situation in the Netherlands, how widespread the problem is in other markets, and how many complaints have been received in those markets.

It doesn’t matter what Microsoft does… Europe will not stay off their backs! I will agree that it’s a problem though, although I’ve never had it happen to my twenty odd 360 games personally.

Source: Engadget

Apple (as always) made big news when it become known that Apple TV would be able to play YouTube videos natively. However, there are delays that have consumers scratching their heads. As Mac Rumors found out, it’s due to the fact that video is being encoded to MP4 format, one that Apple TV can use.

According to Moody, not all of the Youtube catalog will be available on day one. Instead, “thousands of videos designed for Apple TV” will be available at launch, but that the remainder will become available by the fall.

Hence the delay. It’s also interesting to note that the iPod also will not utilize flash video, but rather MP4. Is YouTube video on an iPod in Apples plans as well? YouTube is certainly catering themselves to Apple. Re-encoding that much video to a format that the Apple TV can use is a big deal.

Source: Mac Rumors

If you have been scouring the web in an attempt to find the best spot to watch the entire Gates vs. Jobs discussion at the All Things D conference, Gizmodo has got you covered.

Now that all seven parts of the Gates vs. Jobs videos are available, we thought we’d give you easy one-stop access to them all right here. Above is a highlight reel of the festivities, and after the jump, starting with the first video, watch all seven of the excerpts of Gates and Jobs going at it in the All Things D (otherwise known as D5) conference.

I still have yet to watch it, but plan to later this afternoon. The videos run just over an hour, so set aside some time and get on it.

Source: Gizmodo

This will not come as a surprise to most people, but Blizzard has confirmed that Starcraft II will not make a showing this year.

When asked about the game’s release date, Pardo said, “The only thing I can give you [that’s] concrete is it’s not going to be this year. Some people were hoping, because of how advanced the game looks, that we’d have it out by Christmas, but that’s definitely not happening.”

“Definitely not happening” sounds as though we will not see the game until well into 2008. It’s going to be a tough wait, but hopefully a worthwhile one.

Source: Gamespot

One of the biggest drawbacks of using a laptop on your lap is the fact that it can make you feel like an oven. Well, some people claim that there could be health side-effects as well.

London’s Daily Mail claims that “girls as young as 12 are being diagnosed with nerve damage” from slouching over laptop screens. The main problem appears to be bad posture when using the laptop on your, uh, lap — hunching over in this way apparently causes chronic back problems in all sorts of people.

There’s never been a published report regarding this theory, so take it with a grain of salt. Better posture = better health.

Source: Engadget

Apple has been in the news all week thanks to their iTunes Plus release, which offers both DRM-free songs and also at a higher bitrate, of 256Kbit. You might believe that double the bitrate means double the clarity, and it was one thing that Maximum PC was set to find out.

So we decided to test a random sample of our colleagues to see if they could detect any audible difference between a song ripped from a CD and encoded in Apple’s lossy AAC format at 128K/s, and the same song ripped and encoded in lossy AAC at 256Kb/s.

In their tests, they found that the $30 earbuds that came with the iPod didn’t show off the subtle differences in the songs, while the majority of their testers did notice a difference with the Shure ($400) earbuds. So, if you want to hear music in better clarity, it may just depend on your headphones.

Source: Maximum PC

One of the ways the RIAA operates is by donating money to politicians who then enact favorable legislation on their behalf. Don’t let the optimist in you believe that this doesn’t work. It does. But wait, aren’t these representatives supposed to work for you? Sure. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of 50 congresspeople who took campaign contributions from the RIAA in the last election cycle.

This is a comprehensive list, which no doubt took a lot of effort on the Consumerists part. In first place is Robert Wexler, who received $9,000 from the RIAA to date. Lamar Smith rolls in at second wtih $7,500 and Orrin G Hatch in third with $6,000.

Doesn’t that just piss you right off? Wouldn’t it be great if the Consumerist also gave you the contact information to each one of these politicians? You are in luck.

Source: Consumerist

According to O’Brien, Electronic Arts is backing the Wii in a big way. But beyond simply bringing The Godfather and Tiger Woods to Nintendo’s console, Electronic Arts is making use of one of the Wii’s most popular features. As O’Brien wrote, “its latest FIFA soccer game will use Mii characters.”

Say it ain’t so! While cute, Miis have no place in a soccer game, or am I wrong? I very well could be, but I couldn’t imagine playing a serious game of soccer and seeing Miis in the background or on the field. Regardless of personal feelings, it will be interesting to see exactly what it is they are going to pull off.

Source: Gamespot

Democracy Player is a conglomeration of utilities mashed into one. It’s a video player first that plays an extremely wide-range of formats. It also allows for video search with the ability to download whatever you watch. Other features include handling of BitTorrent, FTP and even RSS. Mozilla enjoys the project so much, they felt a $100,000 donation was in order.

In our last board meeting, it was decided that Mozilla would give a $100,000 grant to the Participatory Culture Foundation, the makers of the Democracy Player. PCF, like CC, aligns well with Mozilla and its manifesto. Additionally, PCF has projects that are built partly on Mozilla’s technology.

It’s great to see such an amazing project getting support like this. Democracy Player pushes the idea of freedom, so it’s no surprise that it’s available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. More reason for you to give it a try if you haven’t already.

Source: Seth (Mozilla) Blog

Chances are, since you are on our website, you know how to properly protect yourself while on the computer. It seems that some do not, and here is a perfect example of what can happen:

Armed with a spyware program, the thieves tracked Avilla’s moves on her laptop and obtained bank passwords. They wired $90,000 to a “Diego Smith” in North Carolina. One day later, on May 24, the thieves got bolder as they wired $358,000 from the city’s bank account to a bank in Kalamazoo, Mich.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather someone not steal my $450,000. At least not until I finish saving up for a second 8800GTX so I can run SLI.

Source: LA Times

RealPlayer has never been known as the “ultimate” video player, considering it’s support was lacking. This upcoming release has high hopes however, supporting Windows Media and Quicktime files, in addition to having the ability to rip streaming video.

The new version of the player will also allow users to download video streams onto their computers. This means that users will be able to save their own copies of videos from sites like YouTube, MySpace, Soapbox, Revver, and more with a single click instead of relying on more convoluted methods.

There might be the one single reason to get excited over the new player. It’s important to note that you will be unable to rip copy-protected content, but since none of the popular video sharing sites have that protection, you should be good to go. Mac OS X support will be available later this year, with no mention of Linux support.

Source: Ars Technica

iTunes Plus was launched on Tuesday to much fanfare. It ushered in the new era of DRM-free songs with the service, although still restricted to EMIs library. Sadly, not everything has been going according to plan.

We’re hearing reports that the new iTunes Plus “Upgrade My Library” feature doesn’t work as expected (when it works at all), that Plus downloads are incredibly slow and frequently time out, and that the preference to always see iTunes Plus tracks when they’re available occasionally resets itself.

There is also word that the DRM-free songs still contain user information, although it appears to be the name and not much else. There isn’t too much to be concerned over, unless you plan on throwing your legal tracks on file-sharing networks.

I’m still a big fan of purchasing my own music, ripping it the way I like, and not having my user information embedded. I guess you could call me old school.

Source: Engadget

While early rumors had Viacom preparing to purchase UK-based internet radio site Last.fm for $450 million, it looks like the CBS corporation has snatched up last.fm for the bargain price of $280 million. (If you’re scratching your head, yes, CBS used to be part of Viacom, but the two split up last year).

Please CBS, do not screw Last.fm up. It’s one of the few web services I actually use on a regular basis. I have discovered so much new music through it, it’s an invaluable tool as far as I am concerned. Congrats to the new millionaires ;-)

Source: Download Squad

I’m all for mapping, but this feature literally gives me the shakes. I feel like I need to close all my curtains now. I’m going to look into whether it’s possible for a person to have pictures of their home removed from Google Maps. Meanwhile, I’m happy to show bb readers the photo in the interest of illustrating creepy privacy violations. Heck, the whole world can see him anyway.

I’ll be the first to admit that this is a great feature that has serious drawbacks. In the image provided by the Boing Boing visitor, you can clearly see in his window and even see what kind of cat he has.

While Street View could prove to be an undeniably useful tool, these security risks outweigh the benefits. Street View will no doubt be useful to dishonest people, as the detail is incredible. You are essentially walking down a virtual street without people looking over your shoulders. Great way to conjure up an evil plan without attracting attention.

Source: Boing Boing

IGN takes a first-hand look at the upcoming Guitar Hero game (yes there is one already on the horizon) and it looks good. It utilizes a new guitar peripheral as well.

Neversoft’s driving philosophy behind Guitar Hero III is a simple one: Give the fans what they want. That means the development team won’t rock the boat too hard, staying true to the gameplay first laid out by Harmonix. But it also means that more of the songs and features we’ve all been clamoring for will finally make it in.

I admit it, I have never touched a Guitar Hero game, but my interest is becoming increasingly piqued.

Source: IGN PS3

There has been recent speculation surfacing around the iPhone in regards to third party apps, and Steve Jobs made a very interesting comment regarding it.

“This is an important tradeoff between security and openness. We want both. … we’ll find a way to let 3rd parties write apps and still preserve security on the iPhone. But until we find that way we can’t compromise the security of the phone. … I’ve used 3rd party apps… the more you add, the more your phone crashes.”

So it looks as though that once third-party apps can be produced without compromising security, then we will see them surface. The iPhone is looking ever better, but I still gripe about the forced provider.

Source: Engadget

The expected 2.0.0.4 release hits today, and if you are a Firefox user, you likely already received a prompt if you have the auto-updater enabled. This release adds no major features, but fixes many security bugs and also adds better Windows Vista support. Afrikaans and Belarusian languages have also been added.

There are still many known bugs that have not been ironed out yet, as you can read in the release notes.

Source: Mozilla.com