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Control 360 with your Voice
One Voice Technologies has developed a means to control your Xbox 360 with the power of your voice. Media Center Communicator v3 for Windows Vista was announced yesterday, and can control up to five Xbox 360s with your voice commands. While having a variety of PC related features, MCC v3 allows gamers to watch video content, play music, or play photo slideshows on your 360. We're guessing this is all done with your PC's content via Media Center, so unless you have it on your computer, you're probably not going to be saying "Xbox Play Halo 3 Trailer" anytime soon. That being said, if they developed a way to control your 360's dashboard and allow you to browse content stored on the 20 14 GB Hard Drive, that would be far more appealing. While it seems kind of gimmicky, surely it must appeal to someone. Availability and pricing are to be announced. Would you be interested if it only applied to streaming PC content onto your Xbox 360 with voice commands? How about if you could control your Dashboard with MCC v3?
Remote "exploit" of Vista Speech reveals fatal flaw
Run for the hills, everybody, Windows Vista has been proven vulnerable to the hax0rs mere days after its release -- Steve Ballmer should clearly just give up now and resign while he still has a bit of dignity left. Or not. The vulnerability in question is hardly a hack at all, at least of the traditional variety, instead this one relies on you turning up your speakers and leaving your microphone on. See, the new Windows Speech Recognition in Windows Vista has all sorts of new abilities, but unlike Mac OS speech recognition of yore, no keyword is required to make your computer start listening to what you have to say, meaning any stray word could be interpreted as a command by Windows if it has the right tone and is within Vista's repertoire. Microsoft also hasn't done anything to ensure speech recognition doesn't listen to the sounds coming out of your computer via the speakers, all of which means that if you visit a malicious website with the speakers turned up and the mic turned on (and Speech Recognition loaded, of course) an audio file could wake SR, open Windows Explorer, delete the documents folder and then empty the recycle bin. Not exactly the most likely of occurrences, but certain security types are already up in arms, and Microsoft has confirmed the potential problem, but merely recommends users turn of their speakers and/or microphone, along with killing any apps trying to attack them with such verbage. Not the greatest vote of confidence, so perhaps we'll be seeing a fix for this from Microsoft before too long.[Via Slashdot]Read - Vista Speech Command exposes remote exploitRead - Microsoft confirms
Vista casual game problems are 'grossly overstated'
Earlier this week, WildTangent CEO, Alex St. John, lashed out against Windows Vista and claimed that most casual games were drowing in the moat surrounding the operating system's impenetrable castle. With many downloadable titles lacking official ESRB ratings, St. John suggested that Vista's security architecture was blocking all manner of family friendly games, including titles from MSN, AOL and Yahoo. In a communication with TG Daily, Microsoft has responded to these claims, labeling them as "grossly overstated." Rick Wickham, director of Games for Windows, notes that "a fraction of casual games are encountering temporary upgrade issues - a situation we have largely corrected and are committed to fixing within days." He goes on to say that out of the 100-plus MSN casual games available, only five have displayed problems in working with Vista. Those issues are expected to be resolved by the end of the week.
Clean install workaround for Vista upgrade discovered
Well, it looks like those hoping to do a clean install of Windows Vista with an upgrade-only edition of the OS may not be entirely out of luck after all, although they'll still have to jump through a few hoops to get it done. According to Daily Tech, you can get around that pesky requirement to have Windows XP or Windows 2000 already installed on your PC by instead using the upgrade DVD to first install a 30-day trial version of Vista --that's done simply by not entering the product key when prompted to do so during the installation. Once you've got the trial version of Vista up and running, you simply start the installation process all over again from within Vista, this time entering the product key when prompted. After that's done, you should be staring at cleanly-installed, fully-functioning version of Vista, not once having set foot in Windows XP or 2000. As Daily Tech points out, this seems to suggest that any Vista upgrade DVD can function as a full retail copy of Vista, although it would also seem to be something that Microsoft could put the kibosh on pretty quickly, so you may not want to lose sight of that copy of your old OS just yet.
eMachines kicks out new desktop lineup for Vista
There's a good chance your dealing with some eMachines boxes when the "high-end" boasts a hefty $530 pricetag. The Gateway-owned budget PC builder has a new lineup of desktops out today to support Windows Vista, ranging from the Celeron-based T3604 to the Pentium D T5224. In the low-end, the T3604 sports a Celeron D 356 3.33GHz processor, with 512MB (hardly adequate for blazing Vista performance) of RAM, a 120GB HDD, CD-RW/DVD combo drive, Intel 950 graphics, Vista Home Basic and a $350 pricetag after a $50 instant rebate. Next up is the T5082, which runs a Pentium 4 631 3GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, a 160GB HDD, a super-multi DVD drive, 15-in-1 card reader, ATI Radeon X300-based integrated graphics, Vista Home Basic and a $400 pricetag after the $50 rebate. Finally, the T5224 really does it up fancy for an eMachines box, including a Pentium D 820 proc running at 2.8GHz, 1GB of RAM, a 250GB HDD, super-multi DVD drive, card reader, Intel 950 graphics (bleh), and Vista Home Premium. The box is Viiv compatible, and will run you $530 after the $50 rebate. All of the PCs have 5.1 surround sound, DirectX 9.0 graphics, and a PCI Express x16 slot for upgrading the graphics -- which seems highly advisable. You should be able to find these things at retail outlets before too terribly long.
ATI / NVIDIA Vista gaming performance compared
While most of us now have a pretty good idea of how Vista itself performs, of even greater importance to some is how well the OS will meet the demands of their insatiable gaming habits. Stepping up to that plate, the folks at PC Perspective loaded up Vista on a pair of ATI and NVIDIA-based gaming rigs to see if one played more nicely with the OS than the other. After going through the usual battery of gaming-related tests, they found that ATI came out clearly ahead in most respects, although both left them somewhat disappointed in terms of overall experience. Most notably, they found ATI's Catalyst drivers to be far more capable than NVIDIA's Forceware package, which they describe as "rushed and hacked together." In both cases, however, they're recommending that gamers take the time to weigh the benefits of upgrading to Vista, with most likely to encounter a hit in performance and more than a few snags along with the way. For those who consider gaming their utmost priority, they take things one step further, telling them flat out to hold off on upgrading until ATI and NVIDIA get their software up to speed.[Thanks, Ryan]
Is Vista the end? Ballmer says there's "plenty more where that came from"
All those cool kids with their messy hair and loud rock music like to talk about how Vista is the "end of an era," and from now on the OS will move towards modular updates and internet service-based functionality. But before they get too smug, Steve Ballmer warned on Monday that there's "plenty more where that came from." He sort of dodged the questions about when to expect a service pack, saying "We'll put one out if we need to," but he also mentioned "We've got a very long list of stuff our engineers want to do, a long list of stuff all of the companies here want us to do," and that "There are so many areas where we need innovation." Hard to really tell what he's hinting at -- other than the fact that he obviously wants you to buy his shiny new OS -- but while Fiji does seem destined for our desktops sooner rather than later, it's hard to discount rumors of the tantalizing upgrades and reworkings we're hearing about in Vienna, which would be Microsoft's first big break in Windows backwards compatibility, and could provide much more power to the OS. 'Cause you know how we do: we're doing our Flip 3D thing, tagging our photos and burning those DVDs, and we can't help but wonder, "is this all there is?"
Windows Vista review roundup
The time has come, friend, to grab that plastic box, curse a few times while you try to figure out how to open up the dang thing, and then finally fire up that historic DVD: Windows Vista. What was that? Waiting around for the pundits to have their say? Well, we suppose that wouldn't hurt -- if you want to be all namby pamby about it. The overall verdict right now seems quite lacking in enthusiasm. Sure, it won't bust up your box or anything, hardware support is mostly alright, and improvements to stability and eye candy are commendable, but Vista just doesn't seem to have a whole lot of must-need features to make it a must-have for most users. David Pogue, in his December review, calls it "Looks, Locks, Lacks." Things are much easier to use in general, but inconsistencies are often jarring, and certain added features don't seem entirely fleshed out, making the OS -- which was five years in development -- feel rushed and in noticeable need of that SP1 update. There's also a penchant for preferential treatment of Microsoft stuff, such as IE RSS feeds, which some Mac users might find disappointingly familiar. On the numbers side of things, bit-tech has discovered a 10 percent performance hit in most operations in comparison to XP, which isn't noticeable on high-end PCs, but might be enough of a reason for low-end users to hold off for the moment. Walt Mossberg found that, at times, "Vista could be maddeningly slow even on new, well-configured computers." Conclusions definitely varied, though most reviewers do agree on one point: the number of different versions is way too confusing, and the full versions of the OS are too expensive. Most still agree that Vista is the best version of Windows yet, but it looks like you'll still have to figure out if it's the best for you.Read - CNET (7.0 HB, 7.4 HP, 7.4 B, 7.8 U)Read - Walt MossbergRead - David PogueRead - PC Mag (3.5/5)Read - bit-tech (9)Read - Technology Review (switching to Mac)
Windows Vista launches with megaton title
Today marks the launch of Vista and the killer app that will bring it into the home of millions of gamers. No, not Reversi ... it's Klondike Solitaire!Wired has taken a look back on the history of this incredible franchise which debuted way back on the Windows 3.0 operating system in 1990. The success, however, was expected as Microsoft had the incredible foresight to capture the casual market a whole twenty years before we even realized it existed.Microsoft is pushing the Games for Windows brand hard with Vista, taking valuable lessons from the console circuit such as proper marketing and standardization and applying it to a market in dire need of a refresher.And if any one title can do it, it's Klondike Solitaire.
Asus's Vista Special Edition tablet PC, for execs only
Looks like Microsoft is upping the stakes of its in-house Vista-related goodies considerably, following up its custom-made Vista soft drink with this specially designed tablet PC courtesy of Asus. Sharp-eyed readers will no doubt recognize the tablet as Asus's recently released R1F model, although as the above shot courtesy of Sean Alexander shows, it's been hit with the Vista branding stick, sporting that shiny new logo we'll all be seeing a lot more of soon. Alexander also got word of a few leather-bound models floating around, but wasn't able to spot 'em first hand. From the sound of it, however, the tablet appears to be otherwise unchanged from the plain-old R1F, with the same widescreen display and enough power to show of Aero and other Vista features to their fullest (check it out it action after the break). Not surprisingly, these should prove quite a bit harder to get a hold of than a can of Vista lemon lime, with the tablet PCs strictly reserved for a "select number of partners."[Via jkOnTheRun]
Vista upgrade needs old OS already installed
It looks like some folks upgrading to Vista may be in for a bit of surprise when they take a closer look at the installation instructions, with Ars Technica reporting that Microsoft has decided to shake up the upgrade procedure a bit this time around. The main change is that, unlike earlier versions of Windows, you apparently won't be able to simply use a license key from your old OS to install one of the upgrade editions of Vista on your PC, with Vista instead requiring that Windows XP or Windows 2000 already be installed. Those looking for a clean install won't be entirely out of luck, however, with Vista offering the option to back up your old OS and install Vista into a fresh directory. Although that'll no doubt be a small consolation to those looking to start from scratch on a PC without shelling out the big bucks for a full version of Vista, with them now having to go through two complete installations to get up and running.[Via Slashdot]
Niveus releases new media boxes for Vista launch
Niveus has been teasing us with various 2007 hotness for the past few months, with those oh-so-pricey Intel-based systems it's been trotting by. Well now that Vista is out, Niveus is throwing Vista into new versions of its Rainier and Denali PCs, alongside its Pro Series n7 and Pro Series n9 media servers, for a nice little family of beefy Windows Vista Media Center boxes. Highlights in the various PCs include full home theater outs, including HDMI; built-in HD DVD drives; dual CableCARD and that fancy quad-core QX6700 processor in the n9; and of course ridiculous pricetags to the tune of $15k for the "low-end" n9 box.
Bill Gates headed for Daily Show on Monday
Just in time for the launch of Microsoft's new game enabled operating system, Windows Vista, Bill Gates will be on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Monday. We imagine Billy boy will take a little time to tout the success of the Xbox 360 as well. Who knows, if we're lucky, we might even get to hear a little corporate mudslinging. That's always fun. We have to wonder if Bill will have a few choice words for John Hodgman though.Check out the show (or set your TiVo) Monday 11:00/10:00 Central on Comedy Central.[Via Digg]
South Korea warns against willy nilly Vista upgrades
So, you've saved up your won for one of those overpriced Vista Ultimate upgrades, or maybe even scraped together enough change to grab yourself a spankin' new Vista-based box come January 31st, but the South Korean government doesn't recommend you pull the trigger just yet. See, South Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication, Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs, and Financial Supervisory Service have all come out against widespread Vista upgrades, advising Joe Consumer -- er, Kim Consumer -- to hold off on upgrading until ActiveX compatibility issues can be worked out. Apparently banks, portals, online games and online shops have relied a bit too heavily on the sometimes insecure ActiveX controls, and are scrambling to make their sites compatible with Windows Vista's new approach to ActiveX. Microsoft has been working with banking services and others to promote compatibility, but the changes are taking longer than it expected, and its not delaying the OS further to appease the stragglers. So the best the South Korean institutions can do is issue said warnings and hope for the best when the 31st rolls around.[Via The Inquirer]
Toshiba's new Satellite A135 laptop lineup sports Vista
Just in case any manufacturing stragglers out there hadn't caught on yet: if it ain't packing Vista you might as well go home at this point. We know the changes might not be huge in Microsoft's upcoming OS, but it's shiny and it's fresh, so get on that. Anyways, no complaints here -- Toshiba didn't hold back with its new A135 15.4-inch laptops, and you can nab your own with Windows Vista Home Premium of Windows Vista Ultimate on January 30th. As for specs, there's nothing too incredibly surprising here, but Toshiba did manage to squeeze dual 2.4-inch drive bays into the 6 pound, 1.47-inch thick laptop, which is a bit of a feat in itself. The 15.4-inch display rocks a 1280 x 800 resolution, graphics are provided by an Intel 950 integrated number, while WiFi is of the 802.11a/b/g variety. Other perks include a 5-in-1 memory card reader and a PCMCIA slot, but it really seems Toshiba left a lot of the usual media-friendly suspects out to make room for those dual 120GB SATA drives. Prices start at $900 for the A135-S4427 1.73GHz Core Duo laptop with 1GB of RAM and a single 120 gigger, ranging up to the $1500 A135-S4499 which packs a 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo proc, 2GB of RAM, dual 120GB disks and of course Vista Ultimate.[Via Laptoping]
BenQ gifts Joybooks with Vista
Having decided that it would be marketplace suicide to continue offering an all-XP lineup while the rest of its competitors were loading their machines up with Vista, BenQ has joined a growing list of manufacturers in adding Microsoft's brand new OS to a trio of its Joybook laptops. As with most of the other Vista upgrades we've seen, specs on the R55V, S73V, and S31V remain almost identical to those on the models' non-"V"-labeled counterparts (the R55, S73 (pictured), and S31, respectively). To wit, you're still getting a Core 2 Duo processor and NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400 graphics on the 15.4-inch R55V, while the 14.1-inch S73V maintains its predecessor's dual core chip and ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 video card. As you might expect, nothing much has changed with the 13.3-inch Joybook S31V either; it's still a Centrino Duo-based system featuring a 1.3 megapixel webcam and SRS TruSurround XT audio. Expect these models to hit foreign shelves sometime within the next few weeks (along with Vista itself, of course) for perhaps a slight premium over the older, dustier XP-powered notebooks.
Microsoft to offer downloadable Vista option
It sure waited 'till the last minute to announce it, but it looks like that in addition the to multitude of Vista variations it's busting out at the end of the month, Microsoft's also going to be making the OS available in more than one method of distribution, announcing today that the whole shebang will be available for download online (no, not like that). If that's not enough to push your bandwidth (and patience) to the limit, Microsoft's going to making the complete Office 2007 lineup available for purchase and download at the same time as well. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that you'll be getting any discount for your downloading trouble, and only those in North America will be able to snag the disc-less versions. In related news, Microsoft's also confirmed a few more details on the upgrade options for people that purchase one version of Vista and later find themselves craving a beefier version of the OS. Using the "Windows Anytime Upgrade" feature in Vista, users will be able to click their way from Home Basic to Home Premium for $79, Business to Ultimate for $139, Home Premium to Ultimate for $159, and all the way from Home Basic to Ultimate for $199. Those springing for the top end Ultimate edition will also be getting a bit of break from Microsoft, with the company revealing plans for a promotion that'll let you grab two copies of the Home Premium edition to go along with it for fifty bucks apiece.[Via TG Daily]
Dell intros digital cable-ready Home Media Suite
As you may have seen in our coverage of that other keynote going on today, Dell seems to have gotten into a bundling mood, announcing the Dell Home Media Suite set to launch soon after the release of Vista later this month. At the core of the setup is the familiar-looking XPS 410 desktop, packing a Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of memory, a 1 terabyte RAID disk array, and, especially notable, a digital cable tuner so you can fill up all that space with recorded HD programming. Dell's also not skimping on the monitor, throwing its just-announced 27-inch LCD into the mix, alongside a slew of other peripherals, including a set of Creative speakers, a Creative Live! Voice webcam, a Dell Photo All in One 966 printer, a Linksys Draft N router, and a Linksys powerline AV bridge. While Dell hasn't announced how much it'll cost to get all that delivered to your door just yet, if you add it up the parts (even with the inevitable discounts) you know it isn't going to come cheap.
SideShow finds a partner in Lagotek's home automation tech
If Windows Vista's various desktop enhancements and purtifications haven't managed to get you excited about the new OS, don't write it off altogether just yet. The new "SideShow" feature -- which allows for lightweight PC-powered functionality on a secondary display without actually booting or interrupting Windows -- has quite a bit of promise, and Lagotek's home automation integration seems to be a good sign of things to come. Based on the upcoming version 3.0 of Lagotek's Home Intelligence Platform, the new home automation controls tie into Vista Media Center Edition and and allow you to select "scenes" via the SideShow interface for activating certain lighting, home entertainment and other automated functions. HIP works with wireless music systems like the Squeezebox, IP-enabled video cameras, and Z-wave lights and thermostats, while Z-wave RF mesh networking and 802.11g keep it all connected. So no big surprises on the automation front, but at least now you'll be able to use one of those nifty SideShow controls built into your future laptop, desktop or remote instead of having to dedicate an entire PC interface to dimming the lights for those romantic dinner dates you've been having with your Wii.
