isp
Latest
WoW Radio fighting claims of malware
A few readers (thanks!) have sent us news that visiting the website of our good friends at WoW Radio has caused their Firefox browser to flag that there's malware present over there. I visited the site last Sunday, and my browser tossed up error messages aplenty at me. But after talking with Totalbiscuit and Duncor, I'll repeat their message here, so just so everyone knows: there is no malware problem with WoW Radio.Totalbiscuit has posted a notice on their front page explaining what happened -- sometime last week, a hacker attempted to post some kind of malware nonsense on their forums, and was headed off at the pass. Unfortunately, Google just happened to catch one look at a possibly negative piece of code, and thus the site was flagged (strange that just one flag would cause the kinds of alerts that Firefox is spitting out, but that's a discussion for another day). But at this point, we know for certain that there is no malicious code on WoW Radio, and even Google admits that the one piece of code it saw was the fault of a third party, not the WoW Radio folks.Both Totalbiscuit and Duncor tell me they're working with their ISP and Google as much as they can to get the warnings removed. But in the meantime, you've got nothing to worry about -- you can listen to our podcast (or any of the other podcasts over there) without worry.
Mitsubishi's 3D plans brought into focus, PC gaming to play a role
When Mitsubishi admitted that it was holding hands with NVIDIA and Aspen Media for no other reason than to prove that they all three hearted 3D, we must say, we were miffed. Now, however, it seems that plans are finally coming to light, and everything is starting to make a whole lot more sense. Reportedly, the three firms are gearing up to showcase how well they can work together to produce eye-pleasing 3D PC gaming results in select retail outlets this July. At first, none of the components will be sold together per se, but bundle deals are definitely in the works. Whether or not budding PC gamers are ready to switch to a DLP-based HDTV as their primary monitor, however, remains to be seen.
Mitsubishi's new iSP 149 series LCDs have it all in one place
If you're a lazy ass consumer (the very best kind), bent on pulling a device out of the box, plugging it into a wall, and never messing with another bit of "setup" again, you're certainly not alone. In fact, most folks never lift a finger to calibrate their displays, plug better speakers in, or place those speakers in actually advantageous spots. To that end, Mitsubishi is debuting its new LT-46149 and LT-52149 LCDs with integrated 16-speaker sound projectors. Similar to the sound bars offered up by many home audio manufacturers, the "Integrated Sound Projector" (iSP) is designed to bounce sound off walls and around the room to give the illusion of surround sound. The perk of TV integration is an easy to use room configuration on-screen tool to specify your room's dimensions, couch placement and preferred sweet spot size. At the end of the day, your sound is all coming from one spot, so directionality isn't going to quite match a for-realsie surround sound setup, and the system we listened to was a little sharp in the high end, but it's certainly a unique and appealing offering from Mitsu to the everyman TV watcher. The TV itself is CableCard ready, can support sound over HDMI and PCM inputs, and offers Mitsu's 120Hz film dejuddering -- that rather awkwardly makes your favorite films look like they were shot by a TV news crew. The 46-inch and 52-inch LCDs will sell for $3,299 and $3,699, respectively.
WotLK Wiki is back in action
Don't count the WotLK Wiki out yet -- after going down late last week due to a suspected cease-and-desist order from Blizzard's lawyers (now confirmed), they have returned with a completely different host and all the information from the leaked Alpha they were originally hosting. They say that their original wiki hosts, Wikidot, were extremely supportive on both the traffic and legal fronts, as they upgraded their servers just to keep the site up, and originally did help with legal troubles. When Vivendi Universal took legal action against their ISP, however, Wikidot had to fold, and the wiki has now moved hosts to wotlkwiki.info.Last week, there was also mention that the C&D didn't ask them to remove all information, only "over-the-line" info, such as screenshots or video. But apparently that clause doesn't apply to the new host -- there are still screenshots all over the site, and though Vivendi has pulled video from YouTube before, it's still there as well.Of course, any C&D sent to the old site would still apply to the new one -- it's just a question now of whether the wiki's new host will comply with Vivendi's demands (the wiki's creators sound very sure that they won't). And after that, it'll be up to Vivendi to determine how far they want to take this -- if they really feel that having this leaked information on that site has hurt them in a justifable way, there is a possibility that an actual lawsuit could be issued, and if this escalates even further, the two parties could eventually end up in court. As always, we'll be watching to see what happenes.
AT&T says internet data caps and overage fees 'inevitable'
Is a time really coming when internet use in America will be capped? AT&T sure seems to think so and we're inclined to wonder if they're right. Internet service providers could go about capping bandwidth in a couple of ways. They could be reasonable (hah!) and set the cap up high where it will only hurt people who're constantly downloading large amounts of files through P2P networks or -- and this is more likely, we think -- they could setup a tiered system. This could be problematic for online gamers depending on how the tiers are setup. A higher cap means a higher price. So then depending on your gaming, surfing and -- most importantly -- downloading habits you could feel some monthly bill-burn. If you were recently involved in the Age of Conan betas just think back to all that downloading you did. Consider all the game trailers you've either streamed or downloaded. Also, one computer playing an online game may not hurt much but we're fairly certain there are plenty of homes with upwards of two or three computers hooked up to the network.Another issue is how this system reeks foul of classic greed. As time goes on and the internet infrastructure hopefully improves throughout America, will the internet service providers fairly adjust the monthly, weekly or daily caps to represent that? We also have to wonder whether or not this problem is stemming from a lack of infrastructure investment from these companies to begin with, which is a possibility as well.
Virgin Media CEO threatens to put UK net traffic in the "bus lane"
We've heard before about lots of trouble with WoW players in the UK experiencing lags, disconnects, and high latency (though the problem seems to be all over lately), and reader Hugh sent us this possible reason: Virgin Media, which is a large internet service provider in the UK, has had their CEO spouting off about net neutrality lately, calling it a "load of bollocks," and claiming that if content providers (like Blizzard) don't pay up, he'll be happy to stick them in the "bus lane."Not quite cool. The latest tactic of ISPs everywhere to make more money is to charge not customers, but content providers for their traffic -- i.e. if YouTube wants their site to work fast on your ISP, they need to pay the ISP a certain amount, and then everyone on that network will experience the site quickly. So in this case, Virgin would be asking Blizzard, responsible for all the World of Warcraft traffic, to pay a premium price for customers to receive it quickly. And anyone who knows Blizzard knows they probably aren't too excited about paying such a price -- they'd likely call Virgin Media out for slowing the connection down before paying protection money for their data.At any rate, it seems like there's a battle coming, and your character's information may be caught in the middle of it. As always, you've got to fight with your wallet -- if Virgin or any other ISP threatens to hold data hostage like this, it's time to find a different ISP to pay your money to every month.
Sell your soul to AT&T for three free months of WoW
Blizzard is in bed with the ginormousness that is AT&T; if you're presently using cable internet and you choose to switch to SBC AT&T DSL, AT&T will send you a free game card good for 3 months of World of Warcraft.There's no way for us to either recommend or discourage this deal, because the quality of the different high-speed internet services varies from city to city. But hey, it's kind of cool if you don't mind shameless corporate promotions and if for some reason or another your cable internet provider isn't doing its job. You do need to be an already-existing subscriber of World of Warcraft to be eligible for the deal. That's okay, though, since one would expect that only the WoW hardcore (if even them) would actually switch ISPs for three free months of game time.[Via WoW Insider]
Free WoW, courtesy of AT&T
It looks like WoW gametime is the new iPod shuffle, in that it's something companies give out to try to entice you to switch away from your current providers. Now AT&T is offering three free months of game time to anyone who is willing to switch from cable internet to "high speed Internet from AT&T," which I assume means DSL. Normally I wouldn't recommend DSL over cable, since it tends to be (much) slower, but if you use your connection mostly for WoW, email, and web type stuff anyway, it doesn't really matter. DSL does tend to be a bit cheaper.There are a few caveats, of course. You need to be a new customer, and as far as I can tell, you need to keep your account open at least a month to get the reward, and there was something about a $75 modem charge, but there was also something about $125 cash back (the fine print is a little confusing). The offer is open until January 31, 2008, so you have a little while to make up your mind. If you've got cable but don't like it, free WoW is never a bad thing. Did anyone take advantage of the DirecTV offer from a few months ago? If so, how did it go?
Apple sends takedown notice to iPod hacker's ISP
Yesterday, Erica posted in her state of the iPod touch jailbreak that a hacker named "Martyn" had obtained a broken iPod touch, and was planning to dive in and download every bit of code on it in the increasingly complicated effort to put 3rd party applications on the iPod touch. He didn't plan to release the code to the public, but he did plan to upload the code to a secured area of his site in order to let the other touch hackers have a crack at it.But even before his upload finished, we're told, his ISP showed up, with a takedown notice in hand. Apple had somehow found his site, had contacted his ISP, and let them know that it would be against copyright law for him to upload that code to the Internet. Martyn isn't interested in breaking the law (and it would be illegal to share that code), so he pulled the page off. But what's amazing here is how fast Apple moved on this-- either they've got someone listening in on the development wiki, or they're taking cues from us on how things are going over there (hi, Apple!).Despite what we've heard before, clearly they are very, very interested in making sure the iPod touch doesn't get hacked. Martyn tells me, as has Erica, that Apple has clearly gone out of their way to keep hackers out of their latest iPod. We're also told that progress continues despite all that, but Apple is apparently bending over backwards to do everything they can to keep the iPod touch closed.
Utah lawmakers condemning open WiFi networks
We've already seen where mooching off an open WiFi signal can land you in Singapore, but are we really to that point here in the US of A? Apparently, Utah lawmakers are considering "penalizing those who leave their wireless networks open" as they trial "various methods of quelling free speech controlling questionable internet content." The paranoid officials are seemingly attempting to "reward ISPs that self-police access to pornography," as the primary concern seems to stem from open signals leading to unmonitored porn surfing by kiddos under 18. Interestingly, one proponent of the plan actually goes so far as to criticize the "unregulated internet," presumably suggesting that a world of controlled, censored, and dictated material would create a much more amicable environment. Still, one (level-headed) local ISP owner stated that shutting down free WiFi zones would damage Utah's reputation, as it would appear as a locale that "is restricting technology rather than expanding it." Truthfully, we tend to agree.[Via Wired]
French ISP Free opens up subscribers' WiFi to each other, adds handsets
In what appears to be a potentially disruptive move, French ISP Free has just opened up its network of 300,000 subscribers' WiFi networks across France to its subscribers. What does that mean? If you're a Free subscriber living in Paris, and you and you come across a Free WiFi network while in Lyon for the day on business, you can log in and use up to 64kbps of bandwidth no problem. All new Freebox HD subscribers will have this feature turned on by default, so we assume that also means you can turn it off if you're concerned about privacy. Now for those of you who might not be familiar with Free, it isn't just your garden-variety ISP, no sir. For €30 per month ($38), Free will give you a pair of boxes (known collectively as the Freebox) that comes with a DSL modem at 24Mbps, includes a digital TV receiver, 4-port switch / WiFi router with MIMO, built-in VoIP with free calls to 28 countries, and can stream TV to your computer and DVDs from your computer to your TV. Also, Free recently introduced two new handsets (pictured): its white model (WiFi-only) goes for €60 ($75), while the black model is WiFi and GSM and goes for €200 ($250). So to recap, let's say you want to roam around l'Hexagone with your laptop or your WiFi handset, and you're a Free subscriber, then you've now got one of (potentially) 300,000 locations around the country to choose from. Some industry watchers like Yannick Laclau are convinced that if companies like France Telecom or Telefonica (Spain's incumbent telco) or Verizon were to make a move à la Free, it would mean better and less expensive service for everyone, and also might wipe out FON in the process.Read - GigaOmRead - Yannick LaclauRead - Net Economie
Slightly Extended US Maintenance Tomorrow
Tomorrow's regularly scheduled maintenance has been extended to open up a window for some required ISP maintenance. Nothing else exciting to expect, and patch 1.12 is still a ways out, considering the test servers are still online. However, tomorrow all US realms will be offline between 2:45AM and 11:00AM PDT. I know a lot of people play at that time, especially those in Oceanic time zones, so now's the time to make new plans. (Though fishing isn't really an option for those playing in North America...)
Spain cracks down on file sharing
It's a sad day for Spanish content pirates, as formerly lax laws allowing P2P file sharing for personal use have just been overturned in favor of strict new rules that make file swappers financially liable for any unauthorized downloading they partake in. Furthermore, the new regulations -- which, unsurprisingly, have been blessed with the MPAA's seal of approval -- also hold ISPs accountable for the P2P activity of their customers, which could be seen as an incentive for service providers to block what they consider suspicious traffic. Even regular law-abiding citizens will be affected by the recent crackdown, as a small tax will now be levied on all blank media to reimburse copyright holders for earnings lost to piracy. While we're totally in support of intellectual property owners getting paid for their content, we worry that these tough new rules will discourage and even prohibit the many legitimate uses of P2P networks that have nothing to do with stealing movies and music -- as usual, a few bad apples (well, maybe more than a few) have caused everyone else to suffer.[Via Slashdot]
Software lets neighbors securely share WiFi bandwidth
Instead of fighting about property lines and whose dog is keeping everyone up at night, researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign want you and your neighbors to get together and share your WiFi signal in a method that supposedly delivers better performance to each individual user. Assistant computer science professor Haiyun Luo and graduate student Nathanael Thompson of the school's Systems, Wireless, and Networking Group have released a free download that analyzes local airwaves and exploits unused bandwidth from one network to complement ones experiencing heavy usage, but always gives users priority access to their own signal. Part of the two-year-old PERM project, the application uses flow-scheduling algorithms to determine bandwidth allocation, and has so-far undergone testing on Linux clients and with Linksys routers. Security is obviously a key concern in such a sharing setup, so PERM developed the software to both "preserve a user's privacy and security, and mitigate the free-riding problem."[Via PCWorld]
Select US Server Outages Tonight
Emergency maintenance by AT&T will cause the following realms to be unavailable from 2:00 to 4:00 AM PDT (while Drysc's post dated this 4/20, it only makes sense for it to be on 4/21 - otherwise he's posted warning rather late). Aggramar, Argent Dawn, Arthas, Azgalor, Bleeding Hollow, Bloodhoof, Burning Blade, Burning Legion, Durotan, Earthen Ring, Elune, Eonar, Eredar, Gilneas, Gorefiend, Kargath, Laughing Skull, Lightning's Blade, Llane, Lothar, Magtheridon, Malygos, Mannoroth, Medivh, Shadow Moon, Shattered Hand, Skullcrusher, Stormrage, Thunderhorn, Thunderlord, Warsong, and Zul'jin. Hopefully this is at a sufficiently odd hour that it will be mostly unnoticed, though there are always players somewhere...
Connection Woes
In addition to authentication difficulties and emergency maintenance on several servers, there are also, apparently, ISP issues that are causing players to become disconnected. Maybe this is some sort of message suggesting that we should spend more quality time watching television. Hopefully some of you are having better luck tonight than I am!
