Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000

This is the keyboard I want. End of story.

Video: Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000
Now I just have to find an exact date (and price) for when it will be available.

Hands on with the PlayStation 3

I just stopped by my friendly local Target and discovered that they had a PlayStation 3 much to my surprise. A bit of disclosure, I was actually looking for a demo of the Zune, but I settled for playing the PS3 instead. Here are some of my thoughts about the PlayStation 3:

User Interface:

I browsed through the system interface a bit and was completely unimpressed. If you’ve ever used or seen a PSP then you will not be surprised by the system interface. That being said, the interface they duplicated directly from the PSP was not exactly the best thing since slice bread anyways. The overall feel of the interface is a little odd and a bit clunky to be honest. You have several top-level icons that have sub-levels that contain the additional options. For example, the top-level icons were: Music, Games, Videos, Photos, System, Friends (I don’t remember the exact name they used) and then under Music for example they had the songs organized by album (or year, genre, artist, etc). The real benefit of the Xbox 360’s “blade” interface becomes apparent once you’ve used the PlayStation 3. With the Xbox 360’s interface when you switch between the blades you are shown a colorful (while not overly busy) overview of all the options within that specific categorical blade. The major problem with the PS3’s interface is that when you switch to the Music icon it displays a drop down list of the options you can do with the Music, but they are specifically labeled until you move the cursor over them. This is just a tiny, but fairly important problem in that the user is not immediately presented with the options they are likely looking for. They will have to scroll over each icon to see it’s description before then can then select the action they want. The common phrase has always been “keep it simple stupid”, and it applies very accurately here. Don’t make your users work more, don’t make them guess what an icon represents, and definitely do not only display the description for an icon when it’s hovered over.

Summary: Bad implementation of something that should have been fairly easy to pull off. The Xbox 360 wins hands down.

Games/Graphics:

I’ll keep this brief as I haven’t bothered to follow which games are coming out for the PS3 and which are going to be unique to the PS3. The game I played on the demo unit was NBA Live 2k7. To be honest the graphics were absolutely unimpressive. Perhaps it’s just this game, but most other in-game footage I have been seeing from PS3 games has been similarly less than impressive. It’s on par with the Xbox 360 (or in the case of NBA Live 2k7, below actually) regardless of who tells you otherwise. The controls were easy to pick up, and the overall feeling of the controller was actually a little awkward. It’s pretty simple, the PS3 controller (which is virtually identical to the older PS2 controller) takes a little getting used to for a new comer who just picks up the controller. That being said, existing PS2 users will obviously be quite at home with the same exact controller. Where is the innovation Sony? Oh you mean the “motion sensitive controller”? Nope, you stole that idea directly from Nintendo.

Summary: I won’t comment on the selection games because the system is not even available yet, but the game I had a chance to play was unimpressive. The graphics are definitely not any better than the Xbox 360 and perhaps in some instances will actually be worse. This is likely a tie between the PS3 and the Xbox 360, though the 360 gets a slight advantage simply for being available for a year now.

Other Issues:

Oh, did I mention that this demo unit crashed 4 times in the 30 minutes I played on it? Yes, you read that correctly: it crashed (requiring the unit to completely reset) 4 times in 30 minutes. I’ll give Sony the benefit of the doubt and say that this is only a early demo unit and they haven’t worked out all the bugs yet…blah blah blah. Nope, sorry. They are going to be releasing the PS3’s to actual paying customers in about 1 month’s time and it definitely does not seem to be stable. I am aware that these kiosk units apparently have all kinds of heat issues which may have caused the problems I observed, but this is still Sony’s fault. If they are perfectly aware of these so called “overheating issues” with the kiosk units then they need to figure out a different way of having these kiosks setup. If a normal person walks by, sees the PS3 and picks up the controller and begins to play, only to have the system crash 4 times on them …well you can imagine they aren’t going to be very happy and they will definitely not run out to purchase a PS3 either. Sony needs to fix this problem, and pronto.

These are just my own personal thoughts/experiences with a single PlayStation 3 unit. I could have just had a bad experience with a rogue demo unit, but I am sure if you browse the web you’ll see that the crashing problem in particular is not a rare occurrence.

[tag]Tech News[/tag]
[tag]Hardware[/tag]
[tag]Internet Related[/tag]
[tag]Software[/tag]
[tag]Thoughts[/tag]
[tag]Life[/tag]

The Truth About PatchGuard: Why Symantec Keeps Complaining

Why Symantec Keeps Complaining

PatchGuard effectively blocks any changes to the OS kernel, and stops unsigned kernel-level code from executing. Why? The answer is simple. The kernel is the lowest level of code in the OS. Its stability is critical to the stability of your system. Microsoft recognizes this, and now kernel-level code must go through extremely rigorous testing as part of the Security Development Lifecycle. Anything that hasnâ€™t gone through that process does not get executed at the kernel level. So understanding that no one but the Windows Core Team should be putting OS code in the kernel, Microsoft revoked everyoneâ€™s free pass into the kernel. Itâ€™s that simple.

Patching fundamentally violates the integrity of the Windows kernel by replacing actual kernel code with unknown third-party code. As a result, patching introduces problems in three primary areas: reliability, performance and, most importantly, security.

Symantec’s argument goes as follows:

It seems a bit disingenuous of Microsoft. They are getting into the security market and are disallowing this whole class of security products that they don’t have,” McCorkendale said. “It does not feel like a level playing field at that point.

According to Symantec, PatchGuard is really there so nobody but Microsoft can build Windows security products. Looks like someone has their tin foil hat on too tight. Symantec is trying to build up a case to try Microsoft as being anti-competitive in the court of public opinion. But this line of reasoning is pure crap. None of Microsoftâ€™s other products have access to the kernel, either.

So Why is Symantec Complaining?

As if it wasn’t already obvious. Look, Symantec has every reason to be worried in this space. Windows Live OneCare grabbed 15.4% marketshare in its first month, and 10.1% of that was from Symantec. Why? Because it’s less bloated then Symantec’s product.

Symantec is pissed that, in order to build a product for Windows Vista, they’re going to have to totally rewrite their security suite. And they might even have to put some effort into doing it right. And that’s a problem for a company who has been profiting from Microsoft’s security problem for the last 15 years. Now that Microsoft has gotten their security act together, Symantec can’t be innovative, and has to resort to inventing problems to stay relevant.

I chose to quote virtually all of the information above from this other article because this guy essentially says it exactly what needs to be said in a perfectly concise manner. Symantec has no rational reason to be complaining, they are simply whining because they may have to rework their program (which sucks up memory and can actually slow your system by the way)

[tag]Tech News[/tag]
[tag]Hardware[/tag]
[tag]Internet Related[/tag]
[tag]Security[/tag]
[tag]Software[/tag]
[tag]Thoughts[/tag]
[tag]Life[/tag]

Remember Ring Gives You a Burning Reminder

The Remember Ring has a special nagging feature, using its “Hot Spot” technology that warms up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 seconds, every hour, on the hour, beginning 24 hours before that “special day,” apparently honoring the anniversary of your voluntary servitude.

I just had to laugh out loud when I saw this. What a ~~stupid~~ brilliant idea! As I have been informed, this is not a novel idea, it was likely stolen from Harry Potter, but I’d like to think it’s original…it’s funnier that way.

p.s. For the record, just ask my girl, I don’t forget our anniversaries.

[tag]Chaos[/tag]
[tag]Tech News[/tag]
[tag]Hardware[/tag]
[tag]Thoughts[/tag]
[tag]Life[/tag]