duplication
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H1Z1 suffers overnight downtime, whispers of server wipes [Updated]
It's not an easy time to be playing H1Z1 right now, especially since you sort of can't. The game's servers went down last night for a quick fix, according to Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley; they've been down since, with players getting increasingly vocal and anxious about what comes next. No further updates have come from the company after Smedley's assurance that there are issues to be fixed that cannot be solved simply by rolling back to the previous patch. Once players can get back in to the game, there may very well be a server wipe greeting them (a possibility suggested by the technical director), although perks like tickets, crates, and cosmetic recipes will not be lost in the event of a server wipe. SOE has promised to give plenty of notice before taking such drastic measures. Players are divided on whether this is a good thing or not, although widespread reports of item duping sit at the root of the issue. There's still no ETA on when the servers will be back online or what will be fixed when they come back up, but players could be looking at a very different environment. [Update: Servers appear to be up again now. SOE has said that the promised European servers are still incoming: "getting MORE servers, still calculating what we can fit."]
App disqualified from App Store because it 'duplicates iTunes functionality' (updated)
An iPhone developer who created an app that manages and plays podcasts says the app was disqualified from the App Store because "it duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes." That's right, iTunes for the desktop. This opens up unsettling possibilities for other developers. There are many applications that duplicate the functionality of Apple software for both the desktop and mobile devices. For instance, there are many calculators that duplicate the functionality of Calculator. Twitterrific has a small browser built in, duplicating the functionality of Safari. NetNewsWire duplicates some RSS reading functionality in Mail for Mac OS X. There's a well-defined slippery slope here. While Apple is within its rights to accept or reject any app into the App Store for whatever reasons it sees fit, its communication with the developer community leaves a lot to be desired. (We talked a little about this on last Sunday's Talkcast.) Even though the developer says he followed all the rules, there's still a chance that an app will simply fall ill of Apple's fickle fancy. Will this latest move by Apple chill relations with developers? Or are the upsides still too great to ignore? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment. Update: And commenters think I'm overreacting: Frasier Speirs, developer of Exposure, isn't writing any more iPhone apps because of this whole mummalum. [Via Metafilter.] Thanks, Mike!
ILY Enterprise unveils "world's first" 6x SATA Blu-ray duplicator
ILY Enterprise is totally playing word games here with its "world's first" 6x SATA Blu-ray duplicator, but we suspect it actually is a tad quicker than Vinpower Digital's comparable unit. As the company states, this unit boasts a controller that is "specifically designed and built for a SATA connection to reduce the cost and work more reliably than IDE-converted-SATA units," though we can't say if you'll actually notice the difference in speed without a stopwatch. Whatever the case, those interested in firing up their own piracy farm movie production company can acquire one now (from 1 to 11 targets) for a presumably lofty price. Oh, and judging by those logos, we reckon these drives could be used to play back some of your old HD DVDs during off-hours -- talk about a nice perk.
Vinpower Digital rolls out 6x Blu-ray Disc duplicator
Nary a fortnight after Aleratec unveiled its three-drive BD duplicator, along comes Vinpower Digital with the "world's first" 6x version. The standalone tower, part of the firm's SharkBlu series, relies on LG's GGW-H20L to toast Blu-ray copies at 6x, and these buggers can apparently be purchased with 1 to 15 drives depending on your needs. Additionally, you'll find 500GB to 1TB of hard drive space for temporary storage while burning, and the built-in USB interface ensures that it can double as a traditional external Blu-ray writer, too. No word on pricing at the moment, but we'd estimate they won't run you cheap.
Aleratec launches three-drive LightScribe Blu-ray Disc duplicator
Blu-ray duplication systems have been on the block for a good while now, but apparently, Aleratec's flavor does something that none of the other cool kids can even dream of: it supports LightScribe. The 1:3 Copy Cruiser Blu LS houses a trio of LightScribe-enabled SATA Blu-ray burners that can toast BD-Rs at 6x as well as vanilla DVDs and CDs at much higher speeds. You'll even find a built-in eSATA connector and a dual channel eSATA host adapter bundled in for those who need one. Here's the rough part -- this critter will set you back a staggering $3,199, so you best be making some serious coin on whatever you're duplicating for this to be even close to a sound investment.
Dymo's DiscPainter skips the labels, inks directly to disc
Those fed up with printing out circular labels and hoping to get things lined up when customizing a CD can finally look forward to a (relatively) cost effective alternative. Dymo's DiscPainter, which is slated to land sometime this fall, reportedly inks your designs directly to the disc in around 60 seconds at 600dpi, while doubling the resolution is said to increase the wait time to a still-reasonable three minutes. Additionally, the device looks to work with both Windows and OS X-based machines, and will come bundled with one ink cartridge for $279.[Via SlashGear]
Primera intros first Blu-ray pirating, er... duplication system
Primera has started shipping the world's first Blu-ray disc duplication system, the Bravo XR-Blu Disc Publisher, able to burn up to 50 discs in one session. The core of the unit is actually Pioneer's recently announced BDR-101A Blu-ray burner, but it's backed up by some sweet built-in robotics to keep the discs moving (we hope -- we've heard this things are a little buggy) and full-color direct-to-disc inkjet printing to ensure a professional-looking job. This being the first unit of its kind, however, it should come as no surprise that it only uses single-layer discs, able to store a measly 25 GB, but Primera says an upgrade will be available "shortly" to allow for dual-layer burning. And if you thought regular, single-disc Blu-ray burners were expensive, you better look away now, 'cause this beast will set you back a whopping $5295.[Via CDRinfo]
