SuperSite Blog

October 2007 - Posts

• Dueling MST3Ks

  So this is odd but wonderful (kind of like the reconstituted Van Halen with David Lee Roth, which I saw last night in Boston). I'm a long-time fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) and wish the show could have just continued forever. I have a box of VHS tapes of the show's episodes and several of the DVD sets that Rhino has put out. It's just an absolute favorite. Anyway, in the past year or so, Mike Nelson, the MST3K lead writer and, for the second half of its existence, host, started up something called Rifftrax, sort of a low budget version of MST3K (well, even more low budget) that gets around the movie licensing issues that plagued the original show by requiring you to supply the movie on DVD. This way, he and his buddies (including a number of former MSTies) can riff on high budget movies now too. It's a neat idea. And then there's this. Joel Hodgson, who started MST3K and was its host for the first half of the show's run, has just launched a similar project called Cinema Titanic. This is a bit closer to the original MST vision, in that they'll be licensing actual movies and thus creating a "complete" experience out of the box. And Joel will be joined by virtually everyone important from MST3K (except Mike, which I find vaguely disturbing). Awesome. Almost. But wait. There's more. In yet another MST-related announcement, MST3K writer and original cast member Jim Mallon has announced that Best Brains Inc. (creators of MST3K, pay attention now) is being reconstituted and will be found at MST3K.com starting November 5. The site will feature brand-new animated adventures of Crow, Tom Servo and Gypsy. We're told the goal is to have one new adventure each week (though "some settling may occur with shipping," they added). The Web site will also feature work from the original series (which BBI is now calling "the legacy series"), behind-the-scenes footage and other material culled from the BBI vault. The new adventures of the 'bots are being produced by BBI President, MST3K series writer and the returning voice of Gypsy, Jim Mallon. He will be joined on this new experiment by veteran MST3K series writer and performer Paul Chaplin (who will be on the writing team and will be providing the voice of Crow) along with new writing and performing talent. It's an embarrassment of riches. Posted Oct 31 2007, 07:01 PM by pthurrott with 4 comment(s) Filed under: Personal, Content

• October 2007 Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista

  Microsoft: Microsoft has released the October 2007 Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista. This update rollup is intended for computers that are running Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate. In addition to the fixes that are contained in the updates that are listed in the "Hotfix replacement information" section, the October 2007 Cumulative Update for Media Center for Windows Vista resolves the following issues: Several issues that are related to the Media Center Extensibility Platform. An issue that affects digital cable card components when you use Scientific Atlanta cable cards. Interaction issues that occur between Media Center PC and Microsoft Xbox 360 when Xbox 360 is used as a Media Center Extender. Autolaunch issues that occur with video CD (VCD) media. Posted Oct 31 2007, 06:17 PM by pthurrott with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Media Center

• Fastest notebook of 2007: Apple MacBook Pro

  PC World will delight Mac users with this, but of course they're not telling the whole story: In addition to being far more expensive than the competition, the MacBook Pro also doesn't come with Windows, which is an expensive retail purchase, though it does come with a non-standard Apple keyboard that will prove vexing to Windows users. I suppose the "fastest" label must be accepted in isolation. That said, the MacBook Pro is a pretty machine: The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year is a Mac. Try that again: The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year--or for that matter, ever--is a Mac. Not a Dell, not a Toshiba, not even an Alienware. The $2419 (plus the price of a copy of Windows Vista, of course) MacBook Pro's PC WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 88 beats Gateway's E-265M by a single point, but the MacBook's score is far more impressive simply because Apple couldn't care less whether you run Windows. In a weird coincidence, I'm traveling to Redmond this coming week and will be taking a Vista-enabled MacBook (not Pro, not the "fastest" at anything). This is for my ongoing "Windows Vista Installation SuperGuide" series and because it is reasonably light and portable. I'm also bringing an Ultra-Mobile PC (along with a slim external keyboard and a mouse) for an article about that device and the Microsoft software that drives it. For someone like me, traveling with these kinds of machines represents quite a departure. I prefer ThinkPads by a wide margin. Posted Oct 31 2007, 05:49 AM by pthurrott with 119 comment(s) Filed under: Apple, Mac

• Remove the Windows BSOD icon in Leopard, make OS X a little less smug

  Engadget tells potential switchers how to get around one of the silliest new features in Leopard: We didn't actually think the shipping version would include something so pompous and galling. Hidden away deep within the recesses of Leopard, far, far away from the reaches of Spotlight, is an unassuming icon file that's doing a great job at perpetuating the myth of Mac users' disdainful sense of self-superiority. Luckily it's an easy fix, and we'll show you the three easy steps necessary to get rid of the BSOD and make your Mac a little less condescending. And a bit of UNIX fiddling later, no more juvenile BSOD icon. Posted Oct 31 2007, 05:45 AM by pthurrott with 4 comment(s) Filed under: Apple, Mac

• Microsoft blogs about the next version of Small Business Server

  Microsoft Small Business Community Blog:  There have been a few questions floating around about "Cougar," the next version of Windows Small Business Server, and what it will include and be based on.  I thought I would post some of the information that is publicly available to help address some of these questions: Based on the Windows Server 2008 platform and technology wave Cougar will include these technologies: Windows Server 2008 Exchange Server 2007 Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SQL Server 2005 System Center Essentials Dramatically improved management, protection, and business productivity Emphasis on simplicity and integration Providing value for new and existing partners Embracing Live Services 64-bit only I saw the "Is Cougar 64-bit only?" question come up earlier today, so I wanted to be sure to call that one out.  Ever since we announced Exchange Server 2007 would be 64-bit only and that Cougar would include Exchange Server 2007, that was a pretty clear indicator of what the answer to the 64-bit question would be.  :-) This one's been on a serious slow burn. I believe I was first briefed about Cougar over a year ago, but I'll need to look. Along with Centro, Microsoft's got a lot coming for those businesses don't quality for the "enterprise" label. That's most of 'em. I can't wait for more info. Cougar is going to be amazing. Posted Oct 30 2007, 09:32 AM by pthurrott with 7 comment(s) Filed under: Windows Server 2008

• Why Leopard Isn't Better than Vista

  Joe Wilcox shoots for the easy hits and I comply: There is much to like about Leopard, but this cat scratches—oh, am I wounded. What's bugging me about Leopard is what bugged me about Vista eight months ago: Feature or UI changes made without really good reasons Application compatibility problems Diminished performance compared to the predecessor operating system Irksome sense the software shipped before being really ready If you're not up on Apple's SOP, that last point is what they always do, Joe. In fact, the company shipped its first Leopard update less than 24 hours after it hit retail. Expect plenty of updates in the weeks ahead. Like Microsoft, Apple has added new and annoying security prompts to the operating system. This morning, I downloaded an updated NewsFire RSS reader and got a warning popup asking if I really wanted to open this application—because it came from the Internet. Maybe Apple's user interface designers should watch their own TV commercials Um. No offense, but Apple had their version of UAC well before Microsoft did. That it's even more annoying in Leopard says a lot about the company's hypocrisy obviously. Leopard is no better than Vista, in the sense that some—perhaps many—of the same migration complaints and problems apply. Windows' visibility and exponentially large number of applications amplify its complaints. There are more potential problems to have with Windows compared to Mac OS X. Besides, Microsoft is the successful company so many people love to hate. Criticism is easy, and it's frequent. Exactly. Both companies sell OSes, so it seems like a fair comparison. But there are one billion people using Windows right now, compared to about 25 million on Mac OS X. Do the math. By comparison, Vista's shakedown is largely over. I have little to complain about and lots more to like about Vista than I did in February. Yep. It just keeps getting better, no doubt about it. It will be interesting to watch the Mac lobbyists go nuts on this guy, BTW. After all, his blog is called "Microsoft Watch."    Posted Oct 30 2007, 09:19 AM by pthurrott with 29 comment(s) Filed under: Apple, Mac

• Apple Sells Two Million Copies of Mac OS X Leopard in First Weekend

  Apple PR: Apple today announced that it sold (or delivered in the case of maintenance agreements) over two million copies of Mac OS X Leopard since its release on Friday, far outpacing the first-weekend sales of Mac OS X Tiger, which was previously the most successful OS release in Apple’s history. Sales included copies sold at Apple’s retail stores, Apple Authorized Resellers, the online Apple Store, under maintenance agreements and bundled with new Mac computers. I'm surprised they don't count copies downloaded via Bit Torrent in that total; they've pretty much counted everything else. Still, good numbers, and probably about 40-50 percent of what the overall retail sales will look like for the life of the system. Posted Oct 30 2007, 09:13 AM by pthurrott with 16 comment(s) Filed under: Apple, Mac

• WSJ: Expect Google Phone announcement within in two weeks

  The Wall Street Journal reports that the long-rumored Google Phone is happening: Google Inc. is close to unveiling its long-planned strategy to shake up the wireless market, people familiar with the matter say. The Web giant's ambitious goal: to make applications and services as accessible on cellphones as they are on the Internet. Within the next two weeks, Google is expected to announce its plans to bring Google-powered phones to market by the middle of next year, people familiar with the situation say. In recent months Google has approached several U.S. and foreign handset manufacturers about the idea of building phones tailored to Google software, with Taiwan's HTC Corp. and South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. mentioned in the industry as potential contenders. Google is also seeking partnerships with wireless operators. In the U.S., it has the most traction with Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile USA, while in Europe it is pursuing relationships with France Télécom's Orange SA and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.'s 3 U.K., people familiar with the matter say. A Google spokeswoman declined to comment. The Google-powered phones are expected to wrap together several Google applications -- among them, its search engine, Google Maps, YouTube and Gmail email -- that have already made their way onto some mobile devices. The most radical element of the plan, though, is Google's push to make the phone's software "open" right down to the operating system, the layer that controls applications and interacts with the hardware. That means independent software developers would get access to the tools they need to build additional phone features. Put simply, it seems like the exact opposite of the iPhone, though of course Apple is racing to change that. I wonder whether the 'gPhone" influenced that decision at all?  Posted Oct 29 2007, 07:16 PM by pthurrott with 2 comment(s) Filed under: iPhone, Google, Alt. Windows, Mobile, Cloud computing

• Sometimes, hubris comes back to bite you

  So a number of readers spied something in my Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard screenshots that I was trying to subtly get out there: Apple is so lame and so childish that the icons it uses in Leopard for networked Windows PCs are CRT displays with a Windows blue screen of death. (See this image for details.) Normally, I'd see this for what it is--typical juvenile stupidity from Cupertino--but now that Leopard is shipping in the real world, a bit of irony is afoot. You see, Leopard has its own blue screen of death. And it's happening to an alarming number of people who buy the new OS and install it on their Macs. Apple has been forced to acknowledge the problem and even use the term "blue screen" to describe it. And they've posted a fix, well, really more of a workaround, that involves an insane series of UNIX terminal commands. Have fun with those blue screens, Apple. My advice: Describe this as feature number 301. Heck, you might be able to wrangle 3 or 4 new features out of it. :) Posted Oct 29 2007, 07:25 AM by pthurrott with 50 comment(s) Filed under: Apple, Mac

• Microsoft blocks FairUse4WM v2 after 3 months of DRM free music

  George Ou casts a light on a dirty little secret for Microsoft: It's Windows Media DRM platform was open to the world for a whopping three months. Just over a year ago when hacker “Viodentia” wrote FairUse4WM and broke Microsoft’s Windows Media DRM scheme wide open, Microsoft responded with record urgency in a mere 3 days.  But when Viodentia came back as “Divine Tao” and wrote a second major revision of FairUse4WM this July and broke Microsoft’s Windows DRM scheme wide open again, Microsoft didn’t seem to be as concerned and spent their usual 3 months to patch the issue.  As of the last patch Tuesday, the current version of FairUse4WM no longer works so the ball is in the hacker’s court again to break Microsoft’s latest DRM revision. For those customers who wish exercise their fair use rights, they’ll have to go back to the old analog method of converting their music until the next version of FairUse4WM comes out. I just have one question here. What took so long? When I first heard about this breach back in July, I did what I always do: Buy a song online that I already own and use the tool in question to see if I can bypass the DRM. It worked flawlessly, and if I'm not mistaken, it worked on songs purchased from the Zune Marketplace as well.  Posted Oct 29 2007, 07:15 AM by pthurrott with 13 comment(s) Filed under: Zune, Windows Media, Digital media

• Red Sox do it again

  Is there anything more heartwarming than this?   And for the record, it's called Soxctober, not "Rocktober." Obviously. :) Posted Oct 29 2007, 07:11 AM by pthurrott with no comments Filed under: Personal

• Halo 3 skulls

  I shouldn't have written so quickly about not playing Halo 3 single player again: I forgot about the skulls. :) If you're not familiar, basically Bungie has turned a few Halo 2 easter eggs into a full-blown feature of Halo 3: Now there are 13 of them, and each time you find one, you can alter the game experience in various ways, usually to make it harder. There are silver skulls, which aren't actually worth any achievement points, and gold skulls, which are worth 10 points each. Some are very easy to find, some are quite difficult and some even disappear when certain conditions are met. Anyway, I guess I'll tool around with the skulls for a few days before completely giving up on single player.  Posted Oct 26 2007, 03:21 PM by pthurrott with 9 comment(s) Filed under: Xbox 360, Video games, Halo 3

• Microsoft: 88 Million Copies of Vista Shipped

  I guess that 85 million copy figure I used earlier was off a bit, or a ton if you factor in Microsoft's biggest market, corporations: Windows Vista's numbers keep growing, with Microsoft Corp. saying Thursday that it has now shipped 88 million copies of the operating system, almost double the number of copies of XP in the same amount of time at its launch. In late July, Microsoft said it had hit the 60 million shipment mark with Vista. Microsoft had previously said that it had shipped 20 million copies of Vista in its first month and 40 million copies of Vista in the first 100 days. Three-quarters of the copies sold of Vista were higher-priced 'premium' versions, compared to 59 percent of the copies of Windows -- primarily XP -- available a year ago. The 88 million figure mostly includes Vista-installed PCs bought by consumers and small businesses, as well as packaged copies of Vista sold in stores or online. It does exclude the tens of millions of Windows corporate volume licenses ... Nevertheless, revenue from companies renewing their volume licenses for Windows, which gives them the right to upgrade to Vista, was up 27 percent. Also some interesting Xbox numbers: Halo 3 generated $330 million in revenue; Xbox 360 console unit sales increased 90 percent, driven by a price cut in August and Halo 3-related demand; Interesting stuff. Posted Oct 26 2007, 03:09 PM by pthurrott with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Xbox 360

• Microsoft quarterly revenues up 27 percent YOY on strength of Vista, Office 2007, Halo 3

  Once again, Microsoft has made a gajillion dollars, all while dispelling myths about Vista's supposed problems: Microsoft Corp. today announced revenue of $13.76 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2007, a 27% increase over the same period of the prior year. Operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $5.92 billion, $4.29 billion and $0.45, respectively. “This fiscal year is off to an outstanding start with the fastest revenue growth of any first quarter since 1999,” said Chris Liddell, chief financial officer at Microsoft.  “Operating income growth of over 30% also reflects our ability to translate revenue into profits while making strategic investments for the future.” Microsoft’s businesses of Client, Microsoft Business Division, and Server and Tools grew combined revenue in excess of 20%, and experienced robust demand for Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Windows Server, and SQL Server. “Customer demand for Windows Vista this quarter continued to build with double-digit growth in multi-year agreements by businesses and with the vast majority of consumers purchasing premium editions,” said Kevin Johnson, president of the Platform and Services Division at Microsoft. But wait, there's more. Microsoft announced that it has sold over 85 million copies of Windows Vista so far, 25 million of those in the past 3 months alone. And thanks to Halo 3, Microsoft's entertainment and devices division posted its second ever profit, this time for $165 million. Fear not, I'm sure they'll be back to losing money again next quarter. Posted Oct 25 2007, 04:16 PM by pthurrott with 13 comment(s) Filed under: Xbox 360, Microsoft Office

• Halo 3 on Legendary finished ... for real

  Phew.  :) As hoped, finishing Mission 7 on Legendary (for the second time, ahem) did the trick: I got the hoped-for "2 for 250" achievement pop-up. (You get credit for finishing it on Heroic too; they're each worth 125 points.) Now I can never, ever play that game again, at least the single player campaign. On to multiplayer...   Posted Oct 25 2007, 03:45 PM by pthurrott with 7 comment(s) Filed under: Xbox 360, Video games, Halo 3