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Report: Microsoft registers bundle of 'Halo Spartan Assault' domains
Microsoft, by way of private domain registrar service MarkMonitor, has registered a handful of domains related to the Halo universe, Fusible reports. The addresses, HaloSpartanAssault.com, Halo-SpartanAssault.net and similar other variants were all registered within the last few days, and while Microsoft's name is not explicitly attached to any of the related whois reports, the behemoth company has historically used MarkMonitor to claim sensitive URLs in the past. As of press time, the newly-registered domains do not resolve or redirect to any websites, Halo-themed or otherwise. If we had to guess, which we absolutely do not, we'd wager that Halo: Spartan Assault is the name of an Xbox One football game set in the Halo universe, running on the NFL Blitz 2000 Gold Edition engine.
Microsoft files to claim Xboxone.com, .net from UK resident
It's difficult to register a domain without it quickly becoming a matter of public record, which may be why Microsoft has waited until now to try and secure ownership of Xboxone.com and Xboxone.net, according to Fusible. The megalithic company has filed a dispute (case #1501205) with the National Arbitration Forum – the company that resolves reports of domain squatting and trademark infringement in URLs, in order to gain control of the two address that have, until now, been controlled by an unnamed resident of the United Kingdom. In order for Microsoft to win its dispute, it'll need to prove to the NAF that the domains are identical and/or confusingly similar to a trademark that Microsoft owns, that this random person in the UK has no rights to the Xbox One trademark and that the domains in question were registered in bad faith.
Microsoft snags domains for 'Xbox Fusion'
Microsoft has registered numerous variants of XboxFusion.com (XboxFusion.biz, XboxFusion.de, XboxFusion.co.uk, etc), all of which currently redirect to the official English Xbox website. While the majority of the URLs were actually registered back in February, it was only very recently that their existence was uncovered by the sleuths at Fusible. Obviously, registering multiple domains for something no one has ever heard of – remarkably close to unveiling a new console – carries heavy implications, but let's not get too crazy here. "Xbox Fusion" is probably just a new flavor of Mountain Dew.
Google+ offers custom URLs for verified accounts, other profiles to come 'over time'
Do you happen to be David Beckham or Toyota? Well, congratulations -- you now have a Google+ vanity URL. The rest of us looking for the football star or car manufacturer need only type "google.com/+davidbeckham" or "google.com/+toyota" to reach those respective pages, enabling easy access to that must-see picture in front of a private jet, or a vehicle recall notice. Sadly, you're probably not eligible for a custom shortcut of your own -- here's the word from Google: At first, we're introducing custom URLs to a limited number of verified profiles and pages. But over time we plan to offer custom URLs to many more brands and individuals, so please stay tuned! So, for now, you better get comfy with "plus.google.com/108326689306432447266," or whatever the good Goog has granted.
Smattering of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Vita domains registered by Sony
Hey, in case you didn't know, that Smash Bros.-esque PlayStation 3 game, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, is very likely also heading to PlayStation Vita. How likely? Pretty freakin' likely, especially considering the recently discovered group of domain registrations from Sony Computer Entertainment of America tied to URLs like "PlaystationAllStarsVita.com," "PS-AllStarsVita.com," and "PSAllStarsBattleRoyaleVita.com."As with so many of these discoveries, Superannuation spotted the URLs – URLs that pretty clearly identify a Vita-based version of the brawler. We'll be saying this a lot this week, so get used to it: we've reached out to Sony for more info, but only got "we don't comment on rumor or speculation" in return. We expect more info next week during E3.
Google files trademark for 'Spot,' programming language to follow?
It looks as though our old pal in Mountain View might have its sights set on developing another programming language. Avid coders probably recall the company's Go offering that was announced last year. Now, Google is looking to stake its claim on the trademark for "Spot." Sorting through the USPTO mumbo jumbo, it's clear that the project centers on a coding language and its related computer programs. Also of note: the internet powerhouse gobbled up four case-related domains including spotlang.com, spotlanguage.net, spot-lang.com and spot-lang.net. For those looking to See Spot Run, perhaps you'll be able to sprint over to the aforementioned URLs in due time. [Photo credit: brionv]
WebSaver turns web content into a screensaver, free promotion right now
Sandwich Lab sent along word of their app WebSaver, which allows you to create a custom screensaver out of any web content you want. Once you install the screensaver, you can then go into the options and add URLs (like your Twitter feed, a Facebook page, or anything really -- you can make the front page of TUAW pop up as your screensaver), and then choose durations for each of them to show, from just a few seconds up to much longer. And you can control the brightness of the webpages, as well as disable Javascript or Flash as you want. You can even add web-based content like Vimeo videos or a webcam feed. It's surprisingly powerful and very easy to use. It's free for a limited time, too -- they've got a Twitter promotion going on, so if you RT their message, you can pick up a free copy to try. There's also a trial version to check out as well that limits you to just four different sources, but in the full version you can cycle through to as many as you want, and even calibrate the view so you can get it just right. If you're looking for a screensaver that's a little more functional for your Mac, WebSaver may be it.
App Store devsugar: Browser-based previews and URL tricks
TUAW reader Gabby tipped us off this morning that Apple has expanded its new browser-based iTunes previews to include App Store offerings. Sure enough, I pasted a standard App Store URL for Apple's Remote application into Safari and was treated to the preview shown just above. This new preview option is just one of many App Store URL tricks you may want to take advantage of. You can find some of the most useful tricks right after the break on this post. Got another URL trick for App Store? Let us know in the comments.
TagWoW shrinks your WoW URLs [Updated: NSFW]
There are already quite a few "shrink your URL" sites out there, from the famous TinyURL to my favorite, is.gd. But former Wowhead honcho Tim Sullivan has seen fit to add one more to the mix, and who knows, maybe the tiny bit of functionality it adds will be worth it. TagWoW will shrink your Warcraft-related URLs (well, it'll shrink anything, but it's meant for Warcraft stuff) into whatever tiny URL you want, and then it'll track the most popular pages on the homepage.Sure, it's just another URL-shrinking site, but there is some usefulness to be found here -- Blizzard forum URLs, many guild websites, and talent builds on Wowhead and elsewhere all have gigantic URLs, and shrinking them down to a memorable phrase could be helpful. Not to mention that Tim tells us that they want to "heavily moderate" the service -- gold farmers, keystroke loggers, and phishing sites are supposed to be kicked right out of the system, so if you see a TagWoW link on the forums, you will hopefully always be able follow it without worrying about compromising your security.Like I said, there's just enough functionality added here that it could end up being something big. Currently, there's apparently only a few URLs saved in the system (the site only went live last week), but you can probably expect things to pick up with our post here -- and hopefully we won't burn the site down. With the right URL submissions and, as Tim promises, some serious moderation to make everything trustworthy, TagWoW could be a nice service.EDIT: Be advised that as of this writing one of the links on the front page of TagWoW leads to an adult site though it doesn't say so in the link description. Click the links on TagWoW at your own risk.
Apple adds new mobile protocol handlers
I've now spent a good deal of time hunting and searching through the updated SpringBoard executable. Much of what I found is dull; some is useful. While hunting around during the adding-Apps-to-SpringBoard effort, I discovered a number of items that appeared to be new Safari-style protocol handlers. These items were each listed near a host application, for example itms near com.apple.MobileStore. Not surprisingly, opening an itms:// URL launches the iTunes mobile store. Here are the working protocols, both old and new itms:// Launches Mobile iTMS store. maps:// Launches Google Maps. (iPhone only) feed://, feeds:// Launches dotMac reader tel:// Dials a number, specified in the URL. (iPhone only) mailto:// Launches the iPhone mail app. (iPhone only) youtube:// Launches YouTube. Other items that were listed but do not seem to work are: calshow://, callto://, vmshow://, prefs://, nowplaying://
Armory changes URLs
Just a quick note: the Armory, which used to be located at armory.worldofwarcraft.com (and still is, actually), can now be found at wowarmory.com. Neth confirms that it's not a bug or a hack or a spammer or anything-- apparently Blizzard just wanted to simplify the URL.Well, that, and "wowarmory.com" is a lot closer to "wow.com." And we all know that's what you think of when you want to find your favorite information about World of Warcraft, right?
Play Audio URLs from the iPhone Command Line
You never know when instant karma is gonna getcha. Take my playaudio application. Yesterday, I was chatting with some developer buddies about maybe putting together an Internet radio application and discussing the fact that the Celestial iPhone framework is essentially QuickTime repackaged. While talking, I decided to try using my existing playaudio app with a URL rather than a local audio file. So I typed the following at the iPhone command line: playaudio http://steiner.math.nthu.edu.tw/ne01/tjy/music/06.I%20Just%20Called%20To%20Say%20I%20Love%20You.mp3 And...it worked. Just like that, the instrumental-only cover began to play back through my iPhone speakers. Apparently, Apple has merged the concept of "local file" and "URL" a lot more closely than I'd thought. I haven't had any luck connecting to .pls or any other live radio feed but if you'd like to play back Internet-based files, playaudio works just fine.
