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AP: Yeah, we'd better cite pajama-wearing bloggers, too
The Associated Press didn't need any help from a bunch of unshowered bloggers pecking away at their keyboards from the basement offices in which they play "reporter," thank you very much. Now it knows better.
At the AP's 2009 annual meeting, Chairman Dean Singleton reminded his audience (read the speech) that the AP and its members "are the source of most of the news content being created in the world today." The collective remains "the gold standard of newsgathering and reporting throughout the world." And with 62 journalists killed, beaten, or detained in 2008, journalism "is not a profession for the fainthearted, or those who work in their pajamas."
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Netgear offers 500Mbps powerline networking via next-gen standard
Even as the IEEE P1901 working group was set to meet this week to recommend its draft standard for broadband over powerline networks for official status, Netgear announced its line of Powerline AV 500 adapters that incorporate the HomePlug-compatible flavor of the standard. The new devices theoretically promise up to gigabit Ethernet speeds over home electrical wiring, and are the first to incorporate the newest standard.
The Powerline AV 500 comes in either standard or power pass-through versions, and are available in two-adapter "kits" to set up a source and destination point for your network. While hardcore geeks won't settle for anything less than running Cat 6 cable all throughout the house, powerline adapters have the benefit of being able to utilize existing electrical wiring to move data from point to point, and could be convenient for homes or apartments where running new cable would be impractical, prohibitively expensive, or just not allowed by your landlord.
While the IEEE P1901 standard promises speeds up to 1Gbps, no powerline adapters come close to the top theoretical speeds (and to be fair, neither does most wireless networking hardware). Still, it can provide greater and more consistent bandwidth for applications like networked AV equipment or gaming consoles compared to increasingly crowded home WiFi networks.
"Almost every new home entertainment device today can be connected to the Internet. This puts tremendous demand on the home network," Netgear product manager Chris Geisersaid in a statement. The new Powerline adapters are up to 2.5 times faster than competing products and provide a useful supplement to WiFi networks, he said.
The Powerline AV 500 line starts at $159 for a kit, and will begin shipping this fall according to Netgear. The P1901 WG expects its standard to be submitted the IEEE for adoption as an official standard at the end of this month.
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Ubuntu 10.10 beta arrives with new netbook UI
Canonical has announced the availability of the Ubuntu 10.10 beta release. The new version of the popular Linux distribution, codenamed Maverick Meerkat, is scheduled for final release in October. It brings some noteworthy user interface improvements and updated software.
The beta ships with GNOME 2.31, which introduces support for the new dconf configuration storage system. Ubuntu's standard F-Spot photo tool has been replaced by Shotwell, a relatively new application that is developed by nonprofit software group Yorba. Although it's not as feature-complete as F-Spot, it's progressing quickly and has a lot to offer.
Canonical has continued its work on panel indicators, especially the audio indicator which now has playback controls in addition to a volume management slider. This will eliminate the need for individual audio applications to have their own notification area icons.
Work has also continued on the Ubuntu Software Center, which now promotes "Featured" applications and has a section for purchasing commercial third-party applications. The look and feel of the Software Center is more refined and aesthetically sophisticated.
The Ubuntu Netbook Edition has seen particularly dramatic improvements during this development cycle due to Canonical's work on the new Unity user interface. Unity, which was initially introduced in May, has matured very rapidly. It has a global menubar that works surprisingly well.
Users who want to get an early look at the new version can download the beta release from the Ubuntu website. For additional information, you can refer to the release notes.
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Oil sands release pollutants, contrary to government study
The extraction of heavy crude oil from oil sands in Canada is releasing as many as 13 kinds of pollutants into the surrounding air and water, according to a study published in PNAS this week. The independent report directly contradicts the results of the government-administered Regional Aquatic Monitoring Program (RAMP) that claimed neither humans nor the environment were at risk from the oil extraction.
Oil sands are swaths of ground that are laced with heavy crude oil that can be extracted and refined into fuel. Development of oil sands in Canada has been taking place since 1967, but scientists have long been uncertain of the production's impact on the environment.
The RAMP study conducted by the government showed no significant ill effects, but another group of scientists decided to double-check their work. They took samples around an oil sands development facility in Alberta near the Athabasca River from the air and surrounding watersheds, and found some highly contradictory evidence.
Summertime water samples downstream from the development area had concentrations of elements like mercury, arsenic, chromium, and beryllium eight times as high as the background levels. Air samples showed concentrations twice that of the late 1970s, and during the winter, the water concentrations were also twice as high as normal.
The authors speculate that the concentration difference results from the snow capturing many airborne particulates and holding them until summer, when it all melts into the ground and water. The researchers also suspect that many of the airborne contaminants are scattered, lowering their local concentrations but spreading their effects over a wide area.
While this single study doesn't automatically invalidate the RAMP study, this data seriously undermine the government's results and methods, and suggests that the long-term effects of oil sands development bear further scrutiny.
PNAS, 2010. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1008754107 (About DOIs).
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Duke Nukem Forever is back: coming to both consoles and PC
The news of an upcoming announcement at PAX, followed by a tweet that showed the image of a flying pig. These were the hints pointed at a momentous occasion in gaming history: Duke Nukem Forever will see release late this year, or maybe next year, on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Gearbox Software will be taking over development from the now-defunct 3D Realms.
After the studio's closing, litigation began between 3D Realms and Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of Duke Nukem Forever. According to the Wall Street Journal, the suits have now been settled and neither side was willing to discuss terms. The game has not sat still, however:
According to Pitchford, Gearbox began finishing “Duke Nukem Forever” in late 2009. “Clearly the game hadn’t been finished at 3D Realms but a lot of content had been created,” he says. “The approach and investment and process at 3D Realms didn’t quite make it and it cracked at the end. With Gearbox Software we brought all those pieces together. It’s the game it was meant to be.”The game is actually playable at PAX, for both the press and the general public. If you're there and you get to play, send in your report. We'd love to hear what it's like to finally put your hands on it.
If the release slips into 2011, we won't exactly be shocked.
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Google sticks Wave in a box, puts a bow on top
Contrary to popular belief, Google Wave is not quite dead. Google plans to expand upon the open source code it has already released to form a more complete, standalone application known as "Wave in a Box." Wave will work (or not work, depending on how you look at it) as it always has, but with the new app, developers can run their own wave servers and host waves from their own machines.
"Since the beginning, it has been our vision that the Google Wave protocols could support a new generation of communication and collaboration tools," wrote Wave software engineer Alex North on the Google Wave Developer Blog. "The response from the developer community to date has been amazing and rewarding. Even more so now, we believe that developers and other projects are a critical part of this story."
North says the project will include an app bundle with both a Wave server and client, a "fast and fully-featured" wave panel in the Web client, persistent wave store and search for the server, and the ability to import wave data from the Web. Additionally, it will have gadget, robot, and data API support, as well as the ability to federate across other Wave in a Box instances. Even more details are available in Google's Wave Protocol Forum.
Google announced earlier this week that the Web version of Wave would remain online through "at least" the end of the year, and that users would be able to export their waves during that time. It was a blip of good news to those few lamenting Wave's short lifespan, but Wave in a Box should be a major step toward helping the project live on.
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Forgetful Facebook fanatics can remotely kill their other sessions
Forgetful Facebook users and wannabe-burglars can now rest a little easier at night knowing that they can remotely log themselves out if they accidentally left logged-in sessions in other locations. Facebook users will soon be able to see where else they might be logged on, adding another layer of security to the social networking service.
Some of you may know the scenario all too well: you log into your Facebook account at your friend's place or your parents' house to check an event page or post a quick update. Then you forget to log out before you leave, which you realize after your friend has posted 30 penis photos to your profile wall. If you think this doesn't really happen, think again: members of the Ars staff are constantly finding logged-in Facebook accounts at places like the Apple Store, and we aren't always able to resist the temptation to post a (polite, but) embarrassing update to the user's profile, reminding them to log out next time.
You'll be able to go to Account > Account Settings > Account Security in order to see which devices are currently logged into Facebook as you. (The feature is slowly rolling out to all users, so it may not be available on every account just yet.) There, Facebook will provide a list of active sessions along with as much device and location info as it can gather.
You then get the choice to "end" each session by logging it out, and there are extra steps you can take if those sessions aren't your own doing. "In the unlikely case that someone accesses your account without your permission, you can shut down the unauthorized login before resetting your password and taking other steps to secure your account and computer," the Facebook team wrote on its blog.
This update follows one from earlier this year that allows Facebook users to authenticate each device they want to use to log into their accounts. When someone tries to log into a locked-down account on a new device, Facebook will ask a series of questions to ensure the user is who she says she is. And, Facebook says these features are just the beginning: "Stay tuned over the coming weeks and months for more improvements," says Facebook.
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Frustrated Nexus One owner sues Google over "sporadic" 3G speed
Imagine that your name is Nathan Nabors and that you live in the sunny climes of Orlando, Florida. Imagine further that, back when Google announced its own Android phone and called it the Nexus One, you realized that your Orlando-based life would only be complete with the purchase of this shiny new gadget.
So you bought one, paying the full unlocked price of $563.38 from Google's online store. And, because you already had service with AT&T, you dropped a cool $230 to break that contract. Grand total: $793.38, and that doesn't even include a month-to-month service plan from T-Mobile.
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iTunes 10 hands-on: snappier performance, questionable UI choices
By now, most iTunes users have already downloaded and installed iTunes 10. We've already given you the low-down on the biggest addition to the new version of iTunes—the Ping social network—but we also wanted to give our impressions on two "improvements" promised in the release notes: look-and-feel and performance. While we agree that iTunes is "faster and more responsive," we're not sold on the revised user interface.
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Ivy the Kiwi on the Wii, DS is a wonderful, addictive surprise
Ivy the Kiwi was created by Yuji Naka, the co-creator of Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic is a character that continues to enjoy a strong following, and the series gives any follow-up work a huge shadow to live under. Don't worry, this game is up to the challenge.
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We're trudging down the long road to universal 4Mbps broadband
Judging by the Federal Communications Commission's latest survey, we're still pretty far away from the FCC's National Broadband Plan goal of 4Mbps Internet download speeds for everyone. The agency's newest statistics indicate that out of 71 million wireline household connections, less than half (44 percent) matched or exceeded that benchmark, with its upload goal of 1Mbps.
Meanwhile, the number of consumers with full mobile wireless Internet accounts shot up by 40 percent from January through June of 2009, to 35 million subscribers. Twenty-five million had such access at the end of 2008.
But among those 35 million wireless connections, only 45 percent met the Department of Commerce and Agriculture's $7.2 billion broadband stimulus program's definition of "broadband"—advertised speeds of 768Kbps downloads and 200Kbps uploads.
Of the 113 million Internet connections out there all told (residential and business), 87 million or 76 percent reached that level. If you look just at fixed-location connections, 91 percent met that goal.
There were a few bright spots in the statistical picture. There are now four million fiber connections—a 23 percent jump, and the largest increase among fixed-location broadband services.
But cable modem connections only grew by three percent to 41 million and DSL by a mere one percent to 31 million (not that DSL is much of a measure of progress any more).
All-in-all, this latest survey offers the portrait of a nation whose consumers access the 'Net at relatively slow throughput rates. Keep in mind that another benchmark of the National Broadband Plan is 100Mbps to 100 million homes by 2020. We're a long way from that goal.
The data comes from information submitted to the FCC every six months by all ISPs.
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The virtual play-by-play: talking StarCraft 2 with Mike Husky
StarCraft 2 has been doing some serious business: Blizzard has recently announced that the game has sold 3 million copies in the first month of availability. Mike Husky is certainly doing his part to keep the game popular; his YouTube channel has just under 200,000 subscribers, and his videos have over 64 million lifetime views.
The demand is there for high-quality commentary on StarCraft 2 matches, and Husky wants to help fill it. "It is my goal to support and promote StarCraft as much as possible," he told Ars, and his success shows the promise of "on-air" personalities in competitive gaming.
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Chrome reaches second birthday, version 6 goes stable
When Google launched its Chrome Web browser in 2008, it was clear that the product had considerable potential. Its emphasis on performance and its intriguing minimalistic user interface attracted a lot of well-deserved attention. Today, exactly two years later, Chrome has over 80 million users, a 7.52 percent global market share (21.87 at Ars, making it the second most popular browser here behind Firefox), and is gradually creeping into the mainstream.
It wasn't entirely clear at first if the browser would have real staying power or if it would be cast aside unfinished like so many of Google's other ambitious *cough*Wave*cough* experiments. But Google's commitment hasn't waned, and it's increasingly evident that the browser is an important part of Google's platform strategy and long-term aspirations for the future of the Web. To mark Chrome's second anniversary, Google has announced the official release of Chrome 6, a new major stable version of the browser.
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New malware detects browser, shows fake malware warning page
Microsoft is warning about a new piece of malware, Rogue:MSIL/Zeven, that auto-detects a user's browser and then imitates the relevant malware warning pages from Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome. The fake warning pages are very similar to the real thing; you have to look closely to realize they aren't the real thing. The ploy is a basic social engineering scheme, but in this case the malware authors are relying on the user's trust in their browser, a tactic that hasn't been seen before.
Beyond the warning pages, the actual malware looks like the real deal: it allows you to scan files, tells you when you're behind on your updates, and enables you to change your security and privacy settings. Performing a scan results in the product finding malicious files, but of course it cannot delete them unless you update, which requires paying for the full version. Attempting to buy the product will open an HTML window that provides a useless "Safe Browsing Mode" with high-strength encryption. To top it all off, the rogue antivirus webpage looks awfully similar to the Microsoft Security Essentials webpage; even the awards received by MSE and a link to the Microsoft Malware Protection Center have been copied.
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On Digg Today, Everything Went Better Than Expected
Drumroll, please: the top Web scams of the decade
One of the less pleasant aspects of our online Age of Anxiety is that most of us now get anonymous e-mails on a daily basis from people who, given their druthers, would rob us silly as fast as technologically possible. Of late, I've been getting a frenzy of bogus missives thanking me for the five thousand dollars or so worth of software, gadgets, self-help books, and lingerie I supposedly purchased on a famous online shopping service over the last five minutes.
Of course, if this message was a mistake, I'm helpfully directed to an online form, where, upon disclosing my credit card data, someone will presumably clean my financial clock in nanoseconds.
What fun. Good to know that there are so many people out there who care. But better to know what the most common scams look like. Here is security vendor Panda's new list of the biggest Web scams of the decade.
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Hands-on: Twitter officially comes to the iPad
When we interviewed Tweetie developer Loren Brichter in June, he made two things clear: 1) Tweetie (now branded simply as "Twitter" after the company was acquired by the microblogging service) would definitely be coming to the iPad, and 2) Loren was really looking forward to exploring the larger screen touch interface.
Now, the official Twitter client for iPad is finally out in the form of a universal app. The team has clearly put some effort into utilizing parts of the multitouch experience in ways that third-party Twitter apps have not, and the app is certainly feature-rich. However, the interface can be confusing at times, and many of the features are not easily discoverable without some help.
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4-year-old Brooklyn girl weighing only 15 pounds found dead
