Content and news by Rob Williams

Microsoft shipped its one millionth Zune MP3 player after nine months on the market according to Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division. The company had originally expected to top the one million mark in June, but the company achieved the feat a month early.

Competition is fierce and Microsoft realizes this. One million Zunes in nine months is not too bad, but Apple sells more than that in a single month. Will Zune catch up? It would be an incredible feat, to say the least. It’s unlikely, but who knows what else Microsoft has up their sleeves?

Source: Daily Tech

Sharp — the company behind the world’s largest LCD panel — just introduced the world’s smallest blue laser for next current generation optical players. Right, as in Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD formats — your choice OEMs. Measuring just 3.3-mm in diameter, the GH04020A4G semiconductor will be available in Â¥12,000 ($99) sample quantities starting June 13th before ramping up for mass production later in July.

With a $99 price tag for the laser alone, the end result is sure to be pricey. Blue lasers are well known for being difficult to produce, so it might be a while before we see a price drop.

Source: Engadget

Our friend Fabio at SabayonLinux let us know that their website has just undergone an intense makeover, and I must say, it looks fantastic. Dark colors, clean fonts, simple navigation… it’s right up my alley. I particularly enjoy this quote:

Get rid of Microsoft Windows. Install the Sabayon Linux Operating System and unleash the full potential of your Computer. Sabayon Linux features the most advanced Industry Open Source technologies: no hassles.

This is the truth. We’ve reviewed SL many times in the past and have always been left impressed. It’s a distro I always first recommend when someone is looking to step into the Linux world. With this site redesign, the SL team certainly shows no signs of slowing down!

Source: SabayonLinux

A common complaint about Linux is that there is a general lack of games. When emulation is brought into the picture though, it opens up a huge world of gaming possibilities. In this article, we will be looking into what emulation is, installing a gamepad and taking a look at a selection of emulators for different consoles.

So you’ve just installed your second, or third, or ninth Linux distribution and it either didn’t recognize all your installs or you chose to skip that phase of the install. Of course you’d like to be able to boot all of these installs. Editing the grub.conf (or menu.lst) is an easy peasy procedure once you have an elementary understanding of the basic components.

If you are a Linux user and don’t understand the basic principles of Grub, then you are missing out on knowledge that will prove useful in the future. Most likely at a time when you least expect it and could really use it. This how-to explains everything to get you kick started.

Source: Tux Machines

Starting July 1, the Indiana DOT can lower speed limits without previous any study in highway work zones. Then, they can send five-0 to the scene to make sure Joe Q. Driver isn’t trying anything funny, even if there aren’t any workers present. The first time Joe’s foot slips after he passes the 45 mph sign, it’s $300. The second infraction is $500. And if that doesn’t cure his wayward ways, then his gracious donation of $1,000 will gladly be accepted by the good state of Indiana. Oh yeah, and if he fights it and loses it’s another $70.

Snap! This in a state where speeding likely happens often thanks to Indy’s racing heritage. With fines like these, people may just be extra careful when behind the wheel. $5,000 fine for honking at someone in front of you? Go to Indiana if you want one.

Source: Autoblog

Yet another billion dollar acquisition. This one has been in “progress” for months though, so it didn’t exactly come as a surprise.

In a saga which (publicly) began in December last year and has seen Pentax fighting Hoya’s approaches on various fronts including the resignation of their president Fumio Urano last month and talk of selling its headquarters in Tokyo looks to be finally coming to an end. According to numerous reports Pentax’s board of directors has today approved the deal and the merger will go ahead next month.

What this means for Pentax is unknown, but the next few months might prove interesting. It’s doubtful the acquisition will affect their camera line-up, at least right now.

Source: DP Review

Mozilla has met a major milestone in its march to Firefox 3.0, developers said yesterday, by adding another chunk of the new Places feature to the alpha set for release late next week. Places — a complete revamp of the bookmarks and history functions of the browser — was at one point slated to debut in Firefox 2.0, but was yanked a year ago in the run up to that version’s October 2006 release. Instead, it will debut in Firefox 3.0.

I admit that I am not familiar with “Places”, but a revamp of the bookmarks will be welcomed. I know I am not alone in that thinking.

Source: Linux World

The Glide API was created by 3dfx and optimized the overall gaming experience when used in conjunction with the Voodoo hardware. Having a specialized API was both the highlight and the downfall for 3dfx. For the few short years that Glide reigned supreme, there were several games released that implemented this proprietary API. Today we will take a trip down memory lane and remember some of the best games ever that used Glide…

Trip down memory lane indeed. Quake II, Interstate ’76, Tomb Raider II and Need for Speed II are my personal favorites on the list. Some good ones are missing though, such as Rollcage, Descent and SiN.

Source: OCIA

It looks like Google is prepping a new feature for Google Maps that will include a street-level view. While it’s not clear what that view will look like, how users will navigate, or if it will be easier to use than Microsoft’s version (shown to the right), Google has registered a series of domain names related to the project.

It certainly wouldn’t be a bad idea. Microsoft has a similar system although I have found it lackluster in the past. Let’s see how well Google can pull it off.

Source: Download Squad

So apparently last night the Stockton street Apple store in SF was mobbed by… wait for it… flesh-eating hordes. We suppose the obvious joke would be that brain-eating zombies would go hungry paying a visit to an Apple store, but we know better than to arouse the ire of Mac fanboys — and zombies — so we’re leaving this one alone.

Am I the only one that doesn’t understand how this is different from a normal day at an Apple store??

Source: Engadget

Have a few 9V batteries laying around? Then pick up one of these nifty McKenna lamps, which lets anyone “create their own masterpiece using pre-printed parts.” Availability has not yet been announced. More pictures after the break.

It’s too bad that these are not available. Geeky, somewhat educational, but most importantly, they are just damn cool.

Source: TechEBlog

This is the ultimate car guy birthday cake. This advert for the Skoda Fabia is designed to hit you in the warm, gooey center. Right away, you’re drawn in by dulcet tones from The Sound Of Music that trigger flashbacks to a Generation Y childhood and endless preschool sing-a-longs.

This is one of those things that just has to be seen. From a distance, it looks like a real car. Up close, it’s a delicious cake. Good stuff.

Source: Autoblog

Apple on Thursday unveiled the year’s fifth major security update for Mac OS X to patch 17 vulnerabilities, but fewer than one-third of them could lead to hackers injecting their own code into a compromised system. Thursday’s release also marked the first time this year that an operating system security update from Apple did not patch a vulnerability disclosed by the January Month of Apple Bugs project.

Go to your system updater Apple users! Though most are not critical, a few are, so time should not be wasted.

Source: Info World

TrueCrypt is a free software that encrypts data “on-the-fly”. Right now the newest version released is version 4.3. You can create an encrypted hard drive, a separate partition or a directory with TrueCrypt. It doesn’t encrypt simply the content of files but their names and the names of the directories they are in as well. Moreover there is no way to check the size of the encrypted directory/HDD/partition. TrueCrypt is available for Windows and Linux.

TrueCrypt is great software and worth consideration for anyone who is wanting to protect their data. This is a thorough tutorial, so you will not be left confused.

Source: Polish Linux

At a time when much of the world is salivating with excitement over the release of Dell’s new Ubuntu Linux computers in the US, it’s ironic that the market in which Ubuntu originated, Europe, still has not received word on when the new Dell boxes will be available.

It seems like Dell is taking a perfect opportunity, and wasting it. Offering Linux should be a momentous thing, but they keep shooting themselves in the foot with these rules and methods of delivery. Does anyone even care anymore? Just build your own computer and install Ubuntu on it. Simple.

Source: IT Wire

Connecticut’s Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has accused Best Buy of overcharging its customers. His accusation is that customers see one price on Best Buy’s website, in stores salespeople would show them a different internal site from a kiosk. Best Buy denies the charges.

How is this place still in business? I could fill a huge page of the bad things they have been accused of in just the past year. For the sake of time, I won’t.

Source: Slashdot

The firm said that around two per cent of its customers were affected. The data on the laptop was password protected and the credit card number encrypted. In a letter it said: “We also believe that the laptop was stolen for its inherent value and not the data itself.” The firm said the notebook was stolen last Thursday but didn’t say from where. It said that it had reported the theft to the cops.

How does this keep happening? If you are in public with a notebook that has a vast amount of sensitive data, wouldn’t it make sense to watch it like a hawk? If you are a customer of Register.com, be sure to check out your credit card statements for anything out of the ordinary.

Source: The Inquirer

Blizzard has filed a federal lawsuit against the operators of Peons4hire, a popular gold-selling organization which many of you have no doubt seen advertised. As part of the lawsuit, the operators of Peons4hire have been asked to immediately cease all in-game spamming efforts by all entities and websites under their control.

It’s about time? WoW has been around for a few years, so why the sudden change in procedure? Gold selling in WoW has existed since the beginning, so it’s odd that they are suddenly suing the sellers. I won’t complain too much though, I’m all for it. There is no need of it in an MMO.

Source: World of Warcraft Forums

Fans have sent a total of $26,000 for a pooled campaign hosted at Nuts Online to ship over 19,000 pounds of peanuts to CBS. Other efforts acquired over $9,000 to publish full page advertisements in Variety (National Edition) and The Hollywood Reporter for Tuesday, May 29th. This is expected to become the largest ever fan campaign to bring a television show back from cancellation.”

As nuts as this might sound, it’s hard to disagree. It reminds me of Rituals plan to bring 9 episodes of SiN: Episodes and then pulled the plug after the first. It’s depressing!

Source: Slashdot