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Microsoft tells IE faithful on Windows XP to avoid F1 key
Still hanging around on Windows XP? Perfectly acceptable. Still using Internet Explorer to browse the world wide web? Just a wee bit less forgivable, but we understand that some of you simply can't get around it. If we just rung your bell, you might want to rip the F1 key right off of your keyboard (at least temporarily), as a recently discovered vulnerability in VBScript -- which can only bother Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 -- could allow malicious code to weasel its way right into your life with a single keystroke. As the story goes, some ill-willed web sites are encouraging users to smash the F1 key in order to access a Microsoft Help file, and when said key is depressed, "arbitrary code could be executed in the security context of the currently logged-on user." Microsoft has promised to fully investigate and resolve the issue in due time, but 'til then, we'd highly suggest avoiding your F1 key like the plague switching to Firefox.
PS3 issues apparently resolved, game on
Rejoice: PS3s across the land are now once again playable. That's the word according to our friends at Joystiq, who say that the clock issue affecting "fat" PS3s has been somehow resolved and games are once again working correctly. We're not sure if this means Sony's fixed something on the network side or if the internal clock just ran past a certain time, but at least our long nightmare is seemingly over. Hit up Joy for a quick Q/A on the whole situation, including a way to potentially save lost trophy data.
PS3 clock bug squashed; games are playable [update]
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/playstation/PS3_leap_year_bug_is_gone_games_are_playable_now'; We've apparently made it through the worst of the storm, friends. We've received a number of tips informing us that the internal clock bug that was affecting non-Slim PS3s for the past 24 hours has been fixed, rendering all games playable once more. We tempted fate shortly after receiving these reports by testing out a few of our PS3 Phat units and can confirm that they're running games just fine. Additionally, our "lost" Trophies appear to be properly re-synced to our PSN accounts. The extent of the damage incurred during the bug-out is unknown, but will likely surface in the next few hours. No Joystiq staffers lost any of their hard-earned Trophy data, but we're an awfully small sample group for a problem that affected every living being on Earth. Update: PlayStation Blog confirms that PSN service has been restored and all PS3 systems should be operating normally. Click past the jump for additional information.
Sony: 'Don't use your PS3' until internal clock bug is fixed
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/playstation/Sony_Don_t_use_your_PS3_until_internal_clock_bug_is_fixed'; After a night of radio silence, Sony has finally spoken up about the game-crashing issues currently plaguing non-Slim PS3 models. A post on PlayStation Blog has confirmed that the problems are "being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system." The statement puts a loose timeframe on a fix for the issues, saying, "we hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours." Additionally, the PlayStation Blog post includes a word of warning to PS3 Phat owners: "if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained Trophies, and not being able to restore certain data." (Read Sony's full statement after the break.) We know you're curious to see what the console apocalypse looks like, but trust us -- it's just not worth it. We'll let you know when it's safe to turn your system back on. Update: The issue has been resolved.
PSN inaccessible, Trophy-supporting games unplayable on non-Slim PS3s [update 4]
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/playstation/PSN_is_down_some_titles_experiencing_game_crashing_errors'; A wide rash of game-crashing errors is spreading among the PS3-owning community at the moment, most of which can be chalked up to a 8001050F error code. This has led to a variety of unfortunate side-effects for those affected, including corrupted Trophy information and an inability to access the PSN. When combined, those two issues prevent players from launching certain games, such as Heavy Rain, without being kicked back to the XMB. We've contacted Sony to find out what's causing the issue, and when we can expect to get back to chasing down the Origami Killer. He might just be able to make a clean getaway while we suffer through this downtime. Update: Sony has acknowledged the issue, and is "looking into it." We've yet to hear an official word on what the problem is, though it seems to be a bit larger than just the PSN. Owners of PS3 Phats are reporting that the date on their console has reverted to 12/31/1999, which is likely the cause of the data-corrupting errors. Some Phat-owners have reported receiving the errors while their console was offline, which is upsetting, to say the least. We'll let you know when we hear official word from Sony. Update 2: It's been 11 hours since our last update from Sony, and Phat PS3s worldwide are still unable to play Trophy-supported games. The issue is almost certainly non-PSN related, and appears to be a firmware issue caused by the screwy time and date settings. The issue is also affecting debug consoles, which Develop reports is preventing PS3 game developers from working on their projects. We'll keep pushing Sony on this issue. Happy New Year, everyone! Update 3: Sony has responded to the internal clock error, and is advising PS3 Phat owners to leave them turned off until the issue can be fixed -- hopefully within the next 24 hours. Read here for more info. Update 4: The issue has been resolved.
Windows XP patch fiasco gets even crazier, Microsoft now scrambling for solutions
If you ever needed a reason to go Linux, here you go. The noise surrounding this patently obscure Windows XP bug / patch fiasco has just reached a fever pitch, and now we've got engineers within Redmond scratching their heads, too. As the story goes, Microsoft recently patched a security hole that took care of an antediluvian DOS vulnerability, and in doing so, some users began to see BSODs and endless reboots. Today, we've learned that the patch has been yanked, and Microsoft is suggesting that malware is to blame. But here's the skinny -- the patch simply disturbed the malware, which called a specific kernel code that directs your PC to keel over; in other words, any application that calls that same code could theoretically leave your machine in dire straits. And that, friends, probably explains the software giant's following quote: "In our continuing investigation in to the restart issues related to MS10-015 that a limited number of customers are experiencing, we have determined that malware on the system can cause the behavior. We are not yet ruling out other potential causes at this time and are still investigating." Rock, meet hard place.
Patch for ancient DOS bug in latest Windows XP update causing blue screen errors
Looks like Patch Tuesday turned into BSOD Tuesday for some Windows XP users -- Microsoft's latest security updates for the venerable OS are causing blue screens and endless reboots for people. That's the word according to a growing support thread on Microsoft's site -- and making matters just slightly worse / funnier, it's apparently the patch for that 17-year-old DOS vulnerability that's causing all the trouble. You win some, you lose some, right? Microsoft's identified a fix for those with access to an XP install disc and an optical drive, but that leaves most netbook users out in the cold -- and considering netbooks are where most of the recent XP action's been going down lately, we're hoping a better solution comes down the pike soon. P.S.- That's the BSOD tattoo guy in the photo -- remember him? [Thanks, HyperSl4ck3r]
Solar flares set to wreak havoc on GPS signals
The sun's activity isn't usually a hot topic around these parts, but when it threatens to derail satellite navigation services around the world, it must surely take center stage. UK researchers have corroborated Cornell's 2006 warning that our solar system's main life-giver is about to wake up and head toward a new solar maximum -- a period of elevated surface activity and radiation. It is precisely that radiation, which can be perceived in the form of solar flares, that worries people with respect to GPS signaling, as its effects on the Earth's ionosphere are likely to cause delays in data transmission from satellites to receivers and thereby result in triangulation errors. Still, it's more likely to be "troublesome than dangerous," but inaccuracies of around 10 meters and signal blackouts that could last for hours are being forecast in the absence of any intervening steps being taken. So yes, you now have another reason not to trust your GPS too much. [Thanks, Mike]
AT&T fixes bug that logged users into random Facebook accounts
Okay, so we were under the impression that Facebook login credentials were a locally-managed affair, but it looks like almost anything can break when AT&T's involved -- according to CNET, the carrier just fixed "several problems" that had users logging into the wrong Facebook account from their phones. The issue was apparently related to subscriber identification numbers being mistranslated into bad URL session IDs, and AT&T says it's taken some security measures to prevent it from happening again, while Facebook's just shut off the automatic login feature that used the ID number entirely. Excellent work all around. Unfortunately, there's also a pesky incident in Atlanta where someone was able to login to another Facebook account from an AT&T phone due to a bad cookie, but AT&T says that was an "isolated" case and that it's "unclear how this cookie was set on the phone." How very reassuring. Back to Friendster!
GPS leads couple into Oregon wilderness, snow and lack of common sense keep them there 3 days
So you're cruising along, in your GPS-equipped SUV, taking your dear wife back home to Reno. The trusty onscreen guide instructs you to "turn right" and you follow its typically reliable instructions. At what point in the next three days of plowing deeper and deeper into snow-covered Oregon do you start suspecting that maybe something is amiss? Alright, so this isn't quite on par with others driving buses into low-clearance tunnels, dipping their cars into rivers, or jamming heavy load trucks into unsuitably tight farm lanes. But we don't discriminate here, all instances of idiotic GPS dependency deserve their moment in the sun, so here's to Mr. John Rhoads and his tastefully named wife, Mrs. Starry Bush-Rhoads, who are now safe and sound after their phone pinged out its coordinates to emergency services when it began losing signal.
Palm and Sprint issue statement acknowledging Profile backup issue
Even in a world full of racket, it seems that the squeaky wheel still gets the grease. In yet another blow to this whole "cloud" agenda, a vocal segment of Palm users began to notice that information transferred from their online Palm Profile was only a fraction of what it should have been. Today, both Palm and Sprint have issued a joint statement acknowledging the issue and promising to work much, much harder in order to avoid having something like this ruin your life once again. To quote: "We are seeing a small number of customers who have experienced issues transferring their Palm Profile information to another Palm webOS device. Palm and Sprint are working closely together to support these customers to successfully transfer their information to the new device." Between this mess and the T-Mobile fiasco, we're pretty certain we're being forced to stay on the manual backup bandwagon for the foreseeable future. [Thanks, Mike]
Palm Pre backups can be easily overwritten by a replacement device: replacers beware!
We've just been alerted to an unsettling trend in Palm Pre land, where strings of replacement devices are a bit too common for comfort: some users have been losing their Palm Profile backup, or a large majority of it, once they pair up their new device. The big issue is that since this problem is rather sporadic, Palm doesn't seem to have a good way to deal with it yet -- the trend in the forums seems to be a complaint sent to Palm, followed up by word of an inability to restore data from Palm a few weeks later. Lucky for these hapless Pre replacers, a particularly repeat offender (working on his seventh Pre) has posted instructions for making sure this sort of data loss doesn't happen to you. His theory is that it has something to do with a refurbished device loaded with an old firmware trying to sync with the newer-firmware-styled backup your dead device made with Palm's servers, and messing stuff up in the process. He recommends walking out of the store before Sprint tries to trip you up, and upgrading and wiping the phone before reactivating it and syncing. Sounds foolproof enough, right? Let's hope. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] %Poll-37250%
27-inch iMacs having performance issues?
It's not at all clear what the root cause of the problem is, but we've noticed a big uptick in people complaining about performance issues on new 27-inch iMacs on Apple's support boards. The most common symptom seems to be incredibly slow Flash video playback, but people are also claiming that there's a bug forcing the hard drive to spin down, that there's a corrupted Snow Leopard build preinstalled, and even that the problem is bad permissions, which is basically how an OS X user gives up trying to figure things out. Apple hasn't said anything yet, but neither of the 27-inchers we have here are having problems, so we're keeping our fingers crossed while we wait for an official resolution. Video of the issue after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Read - First Apple Discussions thread Read - Second Apple Discussions thread
Intel pulls SSD Toolbox for killing drives under Windows 7
Well, that was a short honeymoon -- Intel's now pulled its SSD Toolbox and associated TRIM firmware update amid reports that it was bricking drives under Windows 7. We haven't heard more than anecdotal evidence about this, but we'd definitely pick having a functional drive over the promised 40 percent speed boost from the code, so you should probably hold off if you've downloaded but haven't updated yet. We're looking into things, we'll let you know -- but man, the X-25M just hasn't had an easy life, has it? Update: Intel just gave us its official statement on the matter: Yes, we have been contacted by users with issues with the firmware upgrade for our 34nm SSDs and we are investigating. We take all sightings and issues seriously and are working toward resolution. We have temporarily taken down the firmware link while we investigate. [Thanks, Joseph and Ty] Read - Former SSD Toolbox download page Read - Intel support forum page
Zune HD stops syncing playcounts with nary a firmware fix in sight
This isn't exactly the same magnitude as last year's Z2K scare, but it's still an all-around bummer for all you Zune nuts. According to a spate of complaints posted to the Zune.net forums as of late, certain Zune HD units are not syncing their playcounts properly with the user's PC and Zune Social accounts. To be a little more specific, it seems that if you let a song play through on the device it will not be counted as played -- but if you skip to another tune before it has a chance to complete (but after 20 seconds or so), the play will be counted. A real pain, right? Of course, this is not only bad news for obsessive list keepers, but for Zune Social fans as well: if your listening habits aren't being properly tabulated, how are you supposed to make new friends and discover new music? Certainly not by going to noisy rock clubs and talking to people! Apparently a Microsoft Zune support team member has acknowledged the issue, but the company has made no statement relating to the bug -- or possible firmware fix -- as of yet. We'll keep you posted.[Thanks, Jon]
iPhone MMS on AT&T showing incorrect sender number? (poll)
It all started with an iPhone-borne MMS video of a Kirby plush toy that I tried to send. You see, I don't have a 510 number -- that AT&T mobile number belongs to a friendly gentleman living in Fremont, CA, about 40 miles from where I reside -- but that didn't stop the message from going through the airwaves with his number listed as sender. Confused? Yeah, so are we, and a quick look through various forums say we're not alone. We've contacted AT&T for more information, but in the meantime, let us know if you've noticed any similar problems. %Poll-35607% Read - MMS coming from wrong sending address? Read - MMS messages I send showing received from different phone number iPhone
Poll: Is your Zune device out of sync with Zune software?
Are older Zune models going the way of the brick? We've received a handful of tips pointing us to the official Zune forums, where reports are coming in that apparently a number of the non-Zune HD units haven't been able to sync with Zune 4.0 software. Although a few people have elaborated on some steps to take (hint: it involves a lot of downgrading and reinstallation of both firmware and Zune software), there doesn't seem to be a clear consensus on its effectiveness. Honestly, it's hard to tell from our end if this is really a widespread issue and we haven't seen it ourselves, so we're putting it to you, deer reader: has your Zune device forgotten how to sync with the mothership?%Poll-34945%Read - Sync Error Code C1010007Read - More info on sync errors
Poll: Has iPhone OS 3.1 screwed up your phone?
It's pretty much as reliable as the sun: a new iPhone OS update generally leads to at least a handful of issues. But iPhone OS 3.1, which was made available on September 9th, seems worse than most. We've seen tip after tip pour in, and we've watched Apple's support forums grow increasingly ugly with irate iPhone users dealing with horrid battery life, random shut downs and the occasional screen freeze. A few of our own have also experienced some of these quirks, though others have escaped without a scratch. So, we're putting it to you all -- has the latest iPhone update borked your handset? If so, in what way? %Poll-34495%
Snow Leopard: what's broken (or working) for you?
Remember that time you installed Windows XP before it even hit the market? Remember how your AGP video card would only display a maximum resolution of 800 x 600 and your audio card would only emit bleeps and bloops? Ah, those were the days. Quite a bit has happened since XP landed to wash away the awful stain that was Windows ME, though it's still no shock to hear that new operating systems leave more than a few applications broken. Over the past few days, we've seen oodles of gripes from across the web from loyal Mac users who just can't believe Snow Leopard has borked their favorite software, but we're wondering how things have been on your machine. Have you realized that your Optimus Maximus no longer boogies with OS X 10.6? Are you bummed that iStat pro isn't giving you the details it used to? What kind of hell has broken loose since you threw caution in the garbage and updated your machine? %Poll-33949%
Fileplanet wants you to play Earth Eternal really badly
What's this taking up one of the center links on Fileplanet? Is it the upcoming MMO Earth Eternal? Why yes it is! Sparkplay Media's Earth Eternal has made it to the top of the free games listing... except for the fact that EE is still in closed beta.Fileplanet's link, while enticing, will not get you instant access into the closed beta. What it will do, however, is sign you up for an account that will let you be eligible to be selected for the closed beta. It will not let you play the game immediately, but it will certainly net you a chance at playing sooner rather than later.According to Sparkplay Media, Fileplanet will be involved with getting the game and the word out there, but it seems they've jumped the gun in releasing their link for the game. It's cool, we all make mistakes.As to what special in-game items Fileplanet members will be receiving for signing up and playing, well, that's still a secret to everybody.
