migration
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Belkin's Switch-to-Mac USB Cable
Peripheral maker Belkin has taken note of the fact that a lot of people are switching to Macs. Their new Switch-to-Mac USB Cable, available in the US now for US$49.99, is designed to streamline the process of moving files from your PC running Windows XP or Vista to your Mac running Tiger or Leopard. The cable comes with a Migration Assistant that performs a similar function to Apple's Migration Assistant -- it copies music, movies, photos, files, and Internet preferences from the PC to the Mac at USB 2.0 speeds. At the completion of the migration, the software provides a summary of all of the content that has been copied and the location of the files. Belkin says the Switch-to-Mac USB Cable is on sale in the US now, and it will be available in Canada, Asia, Europe and Australia beginning in February, 2009.
WoW players coming back from the WAR
It was inevitable that a wave of World of Warcraft players would be taken away from the game for Warhammer Online. It is also inevitable that many of those players would return to WoW after trying out the new shinies. Yet, according to a recent interview with Blizzard COO Paul Sams at GamesIndustry.biz, more than half of the players that left WoW for WAR have since returned.Sams states that this a typical trend for new MMO releases. "We've certainly had some of that happen, which is the same thing we experienced with Age of Conan and each time an MMO has come out we've seen some amount of reduction of use." He also gives his respect to Mythic and everything they're doing, stating that he thinks "Warhammer is best positioned to succeed out of the various products that have come out thus far since World of Warcraft has come out."
More migrations for Europe
It seems like there have been free character migrations for Europe constantly for the past few months. Well, this week is no different. Thundgot announced the following free moves, available from today, April 9th, to next Wednesday, April 15th, all for PvP realms (I think): From: Frostmane, Grim Batol, Magtheridon, Twilight's Hammer To: Bladefist, Dragonmaw, Spinebreaker From: Molten Core To: Stonemaul Those of you who want to switch, get your move on soon, because transfers may close early if they get the population balance they want (although I can only remember this happening once). Out of curiosity, European readers: what countries are you in?
SOE begins migration of Station Exchange to Live Gamer
The EverQuest 2 Players page has a post up on the start of the Station Exchange's migration over to the Live Gamer service. Sony Online Entertainment and Live Gamer made the announcement of their alliance last month, with the third-party company soon to be in control of SOE's unique publisher-supported RMT service. The 27th, specifically, is the last day that Sony Online will be running the service.Starting on the 31st, Exchange (operating only on the Bazaar and Vox servers) will be completely transferred to Live Gamer. Already users are no longer allowed to start auctions with a 12-day timespan. Service users will have to register with the Live Gamer Exchange prior to using the service. Users who register before the 27th will actually be given a unique in-game EQ2 house item: a Pot of Gold. Somehow strangely appropriate, eh?
Free migrations for Europe
Man, you European players just can't seem to balance server load, can you? /cast Evasion. Once again, here's a round of free character migrations for European servers, open from yesterday to next Tuesday, March 18 (my birthday!). From: Burning Legion, Crushridge, Kazzak, Magtheridon, Shadowmoon To: Auchindoun, Jaedenar Standard disclaimer: the transfers may be closed early if the desired population levels are attained, so transfer ASAP if you want to. However, I'm not sure that this happens very often; in fact, last time the transfers were extended for another week because not enough people had taken advantage of it. Standard closing questions: if you're on one of the "from" realms, will you be taking advantage of this? If you're on one of the "to" realms, do you welcome the newcomers?
TVMAX cable provider aims to go all digital
TVMAX, a Texas-based cable provider for MDU (multiple dwelling unit) housing communities, is apparently gearing up to make the switch to all digital. Curiously enough, the move was announced on the same day that RCN began migrating its Chicago customers to a purely digital network, too. Reportedly, the firm has laid down the coin for a complete headend solution from Scopus in order to support the cutover, and it will also rely on that firm to manage and monitor the system once installed and flipped on. When exactly the whole "flipped on" thing will go down, however, still remains a mystery.
RCN goes all digital in Chicago, shoots for 100 HD channels
Starting today, RCN will begin switching to all digital programming in Chicago, Illinois, a full year (and change) before all broadcast channels must do the same. Reportedly, the move will enable the cable provider to reclaim excess spectrum and recreate its cable offerings. More specifically, the 80 channel Signature package will be re-launching with 180 channels for the same price, and while we're not told exactly what new HD additions we'll find, a few newcomers are nevertheless promised. Additionally, subscribers in the area can expect more video-on-demand content and new channel pods which will purportedly "provide customers with the ability to pay only for the programming they want to watch." With all this freed up space, the firm's VP and General Manager Tom McKay has boldly proclaimed that it hopes to "make good on the promise of offering approximately 100 HD channels in the future," but sadly, "future" is as detailed as it got. 'Course, some users will need to grab a digital converter box or CableCARD to continue receiving service, but you already knew that, now didn't you?
More EU migrations
The European free character migrations on some PvP servers continue, since apparently they haven't had quite the intended effect yet. Thundgot says:Due to population differences between some of the highest and lowest populated PvP realms, the following Free Character Migration will be available November 7th to 13th:From: Crushridge, Frostmane, Grim Batol, Kazzak, OutlandTo: Boulderfist, Daggerspine, Vek'nilashPlease note that the migration may be closed at any time should a destination realm's population rise too high.This is the same source realms as before, and one of the same destination realms (Boulderfist). It looks like not too many people chose to take advantage of this move last time. So get moving, people!Oh, and to answer a question that was asked in another thread: Europe will be getting patch 2.3 on November 14th, a week from today (source).
Servers Coming Back Online
After a few hours' extended maintenance, most realms are starting to come back online. Not coming back up yet are the realms involved in the migration. At 11:10 AM PDT there was an update saying that we should expect the migrating realms (Cenarius, Cenarion Circle, Hyjal, Lightbringer, and Uther) to be down for 10 more hours. Several realms from the migration site (Blackrock, Frostmourne, Frostwolf, Khaz'goroth, Kil'Jaeden, Kilrogg, Ner'zhul, Proudmoore, Sen'Jin, Silver Hand, Tichondrius, and Vek'nilash) will be down for another 4 hours. All other realms should be online by 12:10 PTD, so within the next ten minutes or so.
Maintenance, Patches, and Migration
Today's maintenance will be extended by two hours (to 11:00 AM PDT) to apply a minor bug fix patch. Of course, what all of us are wondering is which bugs are getting fixed... I guess we'll see when the servers come back up.Also during (and beyond) this maintenance window, realms Doomhammer, Icecrown, Deathwing, and Kel'Thuzad will be migrated to new hardware. This migration may take as long as 24 hours, so users on those realms should plan for extended downtime. All active players with characters on those realms will receive an extra day's credit on their account to compensate for the downtime.
Switched On: A moving experience
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a weekly column about the future of technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:As PC penetration inches closer to saturation in the U.S., more PCs sold every year are replacement units. Upgrading should be a joy for consumers. Who wouldn't want improved speed and expanded capabilities? Instead, however, receiving a new PC is bittersweet because of the chore of migration. Worse, the more consumers have taken advantage of their PCs by installing applications, the bigger a hassle migration is.Windows provides support only for migrating files and settings, not applications. A couple of years ago, I'd tried a popular commercial product that promised the same. Not only was I stuck with reinstalling all the programs, but it failed to transfer certain Outlook Express email accounts and Palm Desktop data. It was the most horrendous jerky movement since Elaine danced on Seinfeld.Last year, though, I was intrigued when LapLink Software introduced PCmover. I tried out the product migrating a server and it worked pretty well. However, it wasn't much of a test. There were only a few programs that needed to be transferred to the new computer and no personal data or e-mail. About the only program that complained was iTunes, which worked on the new PC, but warned that it needed to be set up again to work properly with the new PC's CD burner.
